Podcast appearances and mentions of Sue Grafton

My co-host today is hilarious comediean Zygy Susser.  Very funny man, check him out on YouTubeZygy Susser on YouTube  TikTok  https://www.tiktok.com/@zygysusser  Instagram and facebook and you can just talk to him at zygysusser@gmail.com  We talked comedy and - National Pigs in a blanket day.  Entertainment from 2005.  Greeks use the Troy horse, Iranian hostage rescue mission disaster, Inda passes China for most people.  Todays birthdays - Shirley MacLaine, Sue Grafton, Jill Ireland, Barbra Streisand, Jack Blades, Cedric the Entertainer, Kelly Clarkson, Tyson Ritter, Carly Pearce.  Estee Lauder diedIntro - God did good - Dianna Corcoran   https://www.diannacorcoran.com/I love pigs in a blanket - The Hungry Food BandCandy shop - 50 Cent   OliviaAnything but mine - Kenny ChesneyEvergreen - Barbra StreisandStill rock in America - Night RangerMy life would suck without you - Kelly ClarksonGives you hell - All-American RejectsExit - Silver - Kirstie Kraus  https://www.kirstiekraus.com/countryundergroundradio.com History and Factoids website

This week Natalia, Meka, Georgina, and Shannon are sharing books that feature memorable characters. Titles mentioned include:J.D. Robb, Naked In Death (In Death #1)Sharon Shinn, Mystic and Rider (Twelve Houses #1)Sue Grafton, A Is for Alibi (Kinsey Millhone #1)Stacia Kane, Unholy Ghosts (Downside Ghosts #1)Richelle Mead, Succubus Blues (Georgina Kincaid #1)Hailey Edwards, How To Save an Undead Life (The Beginner's Guide To Necromancy #1)Diana Gabaldon, Outlander (Outlander #1)Jacquelyn Mitchard, The Most WantedMolly Harper, And One Last ThingH.D. Carlton, Where's MollyJude Deveraux, Twin of Ice (Chandler Twins #1)Kennedy Ryan, Reel (Hollywood Renaissance #1)You can always contact the Book Bistro team by searching @BookBistroPodcast on facebook, or visiting:https://www.facebook.com/BookBistroPodcast/You can also send an email to:TheBookBistroPodcast@gmail.comFor more information on the podcast and the team behind it, please visit:https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/book-bistro

In Ep. 188, we are kicking off our new “Best of…” series with Sarah's Bookshelves Live team member, Chrissie, for the Best of Fantasy. Today, Chrissie brings you her all-time top ten favorite fantasy novels. Also, as a long-time reader and evangelizer of the genre, Chrissie talks about how she started reading fantasy, the wide scope of the genre, and ways those new to fantasy might jump in! This post contains affiliate links through which I make a small commission when you make a purchase (at no cost to you!). CLICK HERE for the full episode Show Notes on the blog. Highlights How Chrissie got started reading fantasy. What draws her to the fantasy genre. From sci-fi fantasy to epic, high fantasy, Chrissie talks about the wide scope of the genre. Her favorite sub-genres and what doesn't work for her. Chrissie's All-Time Top Ten Fantasy Books [16:36] The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [17:44] A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas (2015) | Amazon | Bookshop.org[22:11] The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (2012) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [27:24] The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss (2007) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [32:10] A Murder in Time by Julie McElwain (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [35:36] Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell by Susanna Clarke (2004) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [37:35] Griffin & Sabine by Nick Bantock (1991) | Amazon | Bookshop.org   [39:58] The Queen of Blood by Sarah Beth Durst (2016) | Amazon | Bookshop.org   [42:15] Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer (2001) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [44:16] The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [46:40] High-Profile Fantasy Books That Did Not She Didn't Love [48:39]  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness (2011) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [48:52] Babel by R. F. Kuang (2022) | Amazon | Bookshop.org  [50:55] Other Books Mentioned Fourth Wing (2023) [25:07] Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas (2012) [25:43] Flowers in the Attic by V. C. Andrews (1979) [26:36] Heaven by V. C. Andrews (1985) [26:46] The Listeners by Maggie Stiefvater (June 2025) [31:27] A Game of Thrones (1996) by George R. R. Martin ([33:04]) The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss (2011) [33:09] The Doors of Stone by Patrick Rothfuss (TBD) [33:15] A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (1982) [37:16] Piranesi by Susanna Clarke (2020) [39:46] Twilight by Stephanie Meyer (2005) [50:03] The Black Bird Oracle by Deborah Harkness (2024) [50:28] Books from Our Discussion Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling (1997) [4:23]  Charlotte's Web by E. B. White (1952) [6:23]  Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH by Robert C. O'Brien (1971) [6:26]   The Dream Book by Meg Wolitzer (1987) [6:37]  The God of the Woods by Liz Moore (2024) [11:15]  11/22/63 by Stephen King (2011) [12:10]  The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C. S. Lewis (1950) [12:30]  The Fellowship of the Ring by J. R. R. Tolkien (1954) [14:29] The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien (1937) [14:30]   The Neverending Story by Michael Ende (1979) [15:36] 

Reading the mysteries of the past 100 years. Books mentioned in this episode: — 1925: The Paddington Mystery by John Rhode — 1935: Gaudy Night by Dorothy L Sayers — 1945: Coroner's Pidgin by Margery Allingham (also published as: Pearls Before Swine) — 1955: Tour de Force by Christianna Brand — 1965: At Bertram's Hotel by Agatha Christie — 1975: Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters — 1985: B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton — 1995: The Mermaids Singing by Val McDermid — 2005: Still Life by Louise Penny — 2015: The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins — 4.50 from Paddington by Agatha Christie Related Shedunnit episodes: — Whodunnit Centenary: 1924 — The Shedunnit Centenary — A Century of Whodunnits — A Second Century of Whodunnits Support the podcast by joining the Shedunnit Book Club and get extra Shedunnit episodes every month plus access to the monthly reading discussions and community: shedunnitbookclub.com/join. NB: Links to Blackwell's are affiliate links, meaning that the podcast receives a small commission when you purchase a book there (the price remains the same for you). Blackwell's is a UK bookselling chain that ships internationally at no extra charge. To be the first to know about future developments with the podcast, sign up for the newsletter at shedunnitshow.com/newsletter. The podcast is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram as @ShedunnitShow, and you can find it in all major podcast apps. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't miss the next episode. Click here to do that now in your app of choice. Find a full transcript of this episode at shedunnitshow.com/whodunnitcentenary1925transcript. Music by Audioblocks and Blue Dot Sessions. See shedunnitshow.com/musiccredits for more details. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Join petroleum engineer Malvina Lerma as she talks about her cozy mystery series, Oilfield Mysteries, and her amateur sleuth, Charlie, a woman working in a man's world. Malvina and Jennifer talk about the oil industry, Bakersfield, the BP catastrophe, well drilling, as well as a bunch of writing-related topics: how to convey technical expertise in a novel, what makes a cozy, Malvina's influences (especially Agathie Christie), and how to get better as a writer. An upbeat conversation great for writers and mystery lovers.Malvina's website:https://oilfieldmysteries.com/Thoughts? Comments? Potshots? Contact the show at:https://booksshowstunes.discreetguide.com/contact/Support us!https://booksshowstunes.discreetguide.com/support/Sponsored by Discreet Guide Training:https://training.discreetguide.com/Social Media:YouTube: @MadActsXTwitter: @Mad_ActsBlueSky: @mad-acts.bsky.socialFB: @BooksShowsTunesIG: @Mad_ActsLI: Jennifer K. Crittenden

Sue Grafton died on December 28, 2017 at the age of seventy-seven. Best known as the author of a series of mysteries featuring the detective Kinsey Millhone, Sue Grafton was at the forefront of the Sisters in Crime movement — women authors who wrote crime fiction – starting with her first mystery, A is for Alibi in 1982, and continuing the alphabet through Y is for Yesterday. The final book in the series, Z is for Zero, was never written. On April 17, 1989, on a book tour for F is for Fugitive, and again on April 13, 1992, for I Is for Innocent, Richard Wolinsky and Richard A. Lupoff  spoke with Sue Grafton about the history of her career and her writing process. This program is taken from those two interviews. Originally posted on January 9, 2018. Complete 1989 interview Complete 1992 interview   The post Sue Grafton (1940-2017), G is for the Grafton Mysteries appeared first on KPFA.

JOEL GOTLER is CEO of Intellectual Property Group, a literary management company based in Los Angeles, whose film clients include Michael Connelly, John Scalzi, Piers Anthony, Joyce Carol Oates, Richard Russo, Viet Nguyen, JD Barker, Debbie Macomber, David Wiesner and Andre Dubus III, as well as the estates of Sue Grafton, James M. Cain, Stephen Ambrose, Roger Ebert, Frank McCourt and John O'Hara. He is also executive producer of MR. POPPER'S PENGUINS, THE WOLF OF WALL STREET and FERDINAND.     Host Jason E. Squire is Editor of The Movie Business Book and Professor Emeritus, USC School of Cinematic Arts. Music: “The Day it All Began and it All Ended” by Pawel Feszczuk (License: CC by 4.0).  

In this week's episode, I take a look back at my SILENT ORDER science fiction series, and answer twelve of the most common questions from readers about the books. TRANSCRIPT 00:00:00 Introduction and Writing Updates Hello, everyone. Welcome to Episode 205 of The Pulp Writer Show. My name is Jonathan Moeller. Today is June the 14th, 2024 and today we are doing a question and answer session on my Silent Order science fiction series. Before we get to that, we will have an update on my current writing progress and then Question of the Week. My main project right now is Shield of Darkness, a sequel to Shield of Storms and the second book in the Shield War series. Progress has not been as quick as I would like, but there still has been progress and as of this recording, I am about 84,000 words into the rough draft. It really helped that I had a 10,000 word day on June 12th. That really propelled things forward. I'm not entirely sure how long the rough draft is going to be. I think it's probably going to end up around 120,000 words, maybe 115,000 words. We'll see when get there. But I'm still hoping to have it out in July, sometime after the 4th of July. After that is done, my next project will be Half-Orc Paladin, the third book in the Rivah series, and I'm currently 24,000 words into that and I think that one will be around 75,000 words (give or take) once it's done. I'm also 9,000 words into Ghost in the Tombs, but that will come out later in the year. In audiobook news, I'm pleased to report that the collection Tales of the Shield Knight, which contains sixteen stories from the Sevenfold Sword and the Dragontiarna series, is now out in audiobook, as excellently narrated by Brad Wills. You can get that at Audible, Amazon, and Apple Books at the moment, and should gradually be making its way onto the other audiobook stores as it gets through processing. Be sure to subscribe to my new release newsletter because sometimes I will give away individual audio short stories for free from that collection in my newsletter. 00:01:50 Question of the Week Now let's move on to Question of the Week. Our Question of the Week segment is designed to inspire interesting discussions of enjoyable topics. This week's question: if you read mystery novels, what was the first mystery novel you ever read? No, wrong answers obviously, and as you'd expect, we had quite a few different responses. Justin says: A Study in Scarlet by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I was 12. I had chicken pox and was confined to my room. I begged my father for something to read, and he handed me a massive book, The Complete Sherlock Holmes. Two days later, I asked for other books by him. I'm still not a fan of mysteries, but Doyle was a great author. Our next comment is from Ray, who says: Hardy Boys, also Sherlock Holmes for school. As an adult, the first I recall by choice were the Father Blackie Mysteries by Andrew Greeley. Our next comment is from Jake who says: can't remember. It had to be back in the late ‘70s, early ‘80s. But I agree with you, it's great to diversify in reading. Someone gifted me a copy of Water for Elephants. I would never have read that by choice, but I'm glad I did. Our next comment is from Jeff, who says: Tom Swift books and Hound of the Baskervilles. Tom Swift was even science fiction-ish with their far-out inventions. Our next comment is from Jonathan (not me), who says: the Hardy Boys Hunting for Hidden Gold. The reprinted Flashlight edition was my first mystery read for me by my mom when I was about 8. This would have also been my first mystery that I read independently. When I was 10 through 11, I read the original Hardy Boys While the Clock Ticked. I was too young to know about the different editions of novels until much later, but I was always dissatisfied with the Flashlight version because it lacked the ending that I remembered. It was years later that I discovered the history of the series, which led to me finding and purchasing all or most of the original novels. Our next comment is from Becca, who says: Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys in early grade school. No idea which one, but I had quite a few of them. First adult mystery series was probably middle school and was The Alphabet Series by Sue Grafton and the Joe Grey series by Murphy. My mom really encouraged me to read pretty much anything and everything. Wish you would write more mystery books. They're so great. Thanks, Becca. I am glad you liked the mystery books, so I don't think too many other people did, which is why I have not written more of them. Our next comment is from Justin who says: first mystery novel was The Hardy Boys in grade school. Michael says: not my first, but I really like the Pendergast series by Lincoln and Child. Worth the read if folks haven't tried. John says: The Three Investigators series by Alfred Hitchcock. I don't know where I got the first one. My mom probably got it at a yard sale or something, but I was hooked. Was able to check out the others in the series for my school's library. I was probably in 3rd or 4th grade. Juana says: The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Our next comment is from Ann-Marie, who says: Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, and The Boxcar Children. Jeremiah says: Sherlock Holmes. Andrew says: As a young'un in grade school, I read The Mystery of the Green Ghost. It has stuck with me all these years. As a little more mature reader, I got a hold of The Complete Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Quite entertaining indeed. My own answer to this was I think it was Tell No One by Harlan Coben. This was way back in 2001 and I had a long car ride coming up. At the time I didn't read anything except fantasy and science fiction, but I got Tell No One as a present and I didn't have anything else to read while in the car. So I started reading Tell No One during the ride. The book is about an ER physician whose wife was murdered eight years ago. Then one day out of the blue, the physician gets a message that could only have come from her. Suddenly people show up to kill the physician and he finds himself on the run from the agents of a sinister billionaire. I was definitely hooked, and I've read mysteries and thrillers on and off since. I think this was good for me long term since I ended up a writer and it's good for writers to read widely in different genres. You always tell what a science fiction novel, for example, was written by someone who has never heard anything but science fiction. Additionally, when I wrote out the Question of the Week, I did not have Hardy Boys in mind because I was thinking of them as you know, books for children and I was thinking about adult books, but I did indeed read a bunch of The Hardy Boys books when I was a kid, but it was that was long enough going out that I can't clearly recall the plots of any of them, I'm afraid. 00:06:04 Main Topic: Silent Order Question and Answer Time (Note: Some Spoilers for the series in this section) Now on to our main topic of the week, Silent Order question and answer time. Why talk about this now, about a year after I finished the Silent Order science fiction series? Well, the reason for that is Silent Order Omnibus One had a very successful Bookbub feature deal at the end of May. Silent Order Omnibus One was briefly the number 2 free ebook on Amazon US and the number 1 free ebook on Amazon UK. So thanks for that, everyone. As you can imagine, this resulted in a lot of new eyes on the series, which inspired many reader questions, which is funny because I've been getting most of the same questions about the series and its particular idiosyncrasies for about seven years now. So let's have some answers below. First, some basic facts about the series. I published the first five books in September and October of 2017. It ended up at about 14 books, and I published the 14th and final book in September of 2023. All books are available on all ebook platforms. I've dabbled with Kindle Unlimited for it in the past, but not anymore. It's available wide and will remain so. There are also six tie-in short stories to the series that I've given away for free to my newsletter subscribers at various times. Now, with the basic facts out of the way, let's proceed to the most common questions from the last seven years of Silent Order. Question #1: Why do the characters still use kinetic, chemically propelled firearms 100,000 years in the future? By this question, people are usually wondering why at times the characters in the Silent Order are using, you know, traditional guns that fire metal bullets as opposed to like blasters or lasers or plasma cannons or whatever. And the answer is, not to be flippant, but why wouldn't they? People forget that firearms technology has been used for military applications, at least in the West, for at least nearly 700 years. Cannons were used in the 100 Years War and the 100 Years War started in 1337. Firearms technology has been refined and improved considerably since then, and no doubt it will continue to receive refinements and improvements in the future. Additionally, chemically propelled firearms offer many advantages over more advanced weaponry like lasers, rail guns, blasters, or particle weapons, especially for handheld levels of weaponry. A chemically propelled firearm doesn't require electricity or a power source and can't be disabled by an EMP. It's also more durable and rugged than a more advanced weapon, which would almost certainly require delicate electronic components. In fact, some models of firearm can famously be exposed to harsh conditions and continue to function. There's just no way you could do the same thing with a laser. Some devices, some machines are just the apex of their technological niche. Despite all the advanced weaponry available in the 21st century, soldiers still carry combat knives because in a situation where you need a knife, it is the best tool for the job. I suspect chemically propelled firearms dominate their niche in the same way. Question #2: Why isn't the technology in Silent Order as advanced as I think it should be? Well, they do have faster than light travel, artificial gravity, inertial absorption, anti-gravity lifts, shields, plasma weaponry, and ion thrusters. You can't exactly order any of that stuff off Amazon today. Medical technology is rather more advanced as well. The average human lifespan in Calaskar and other “developed” worlds at this time period is about 160 years due to advances in genetic engineering and better understanding of mitochondrial DNA. Cloned replacement limbs and organs are common medical procedures. When a replacement limb can't be cloned, installing a cybernetic one is typically a one day medical procedure. In the back story of the series, there are five very large Terran empires that rose and collapsed before the start of the series, which is about, as I've said, 100,000 years into the future. Those Terran empires each tended to have more advanced technology in certain areas than is common at the start of the series. One was a lot better at genetic engineering, another built super advanced sentient AI (more on that later) and so forth. When the particular empire fell or disintegrated into smaller successor states, there was some technological backsliding, and some of the more super advanced technology was lost. Question #3: The protagonist Jack March has the same initials as the author, Jonathan Moeller. Was that deliberate? Oh no, it wasn't. One of the original inspirations for the series were the James Bond books, so I chose a name that was the opposite of James Bond. After all, March is kind of the opposite of Bond in the sense of movement versus stasis and stagnation. In the original books, James Bond was always a sort of self-destructive alcoholic who gets somewhat worse as the series goes along and he doesn't have much in the way of character development. By contrast, I wanted March to have much more character change and growth. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that gave Jack March the same initials as me until three or four years into writing the series. The obvious is only obvious in hindsight, alas. Occasionally people say March is an authorial self-insert, but I guarantee you that he is not. If he were, he'd be a cranky middle aged former IT worker who doesn't like to go out very much. Question #4: Why doesn't March sleep with any of the beautiful women he meets in the first four books? Because he didn't want to. Like I said, he's sort of the opposite of James Bond and doesn't like unprofessionalism like that on the job. Also, by the time the series starts, he's old enough that casual flings no longer interest him and ultimately, he would really rather be on his own. It isn't until he meets a woman who truly understands him that this starts to change and the woman understands him because she hates the Final Consciousness just as much as he does. Question #5: Why do the characters still use phones? Well, they're not “cellular telephones” in the way that we think of them. They're more like personal handheld telecommunication and computing devices that are significantly more powerful than anything available today. That said, words sometimes long outlast the original purpose. The word mile originally came from the Latin language and described the distance a Roman soldier could cover with 1,000 steps. There is no longer a Roman Empire or Roman legionaries, but the term remains in use. There's a good chance that the word phone will outlast our current civilization and continue to refer to a telecommunications device just as miles still refers to a unit of distance, even though it doesn't have anything to do with marching soldiers or the Roman Empire. Additionally, phone was the simplest word available and using a sci-fi ish term like a mobile data pad or personal communicator or handheld computer just seemed a bit try hard. I used the metric system for distance in the series because the majority of Earth's population uses it today, so I assume it will eventually win out over time by pure weight of numbers. Question #6: Why does March work for repressive government like Calaskar? Whether or not Caesar is repressive depends on one's perspective. I expect someone from the 1850s or even the 1950s United States would find the Calaskaran government rather liberal and shockingly egalitarian. But many people from 2024 America would probably find it repressive. That said, I think Calaskar is better described as conformist. If you don't criticize the king or the official doctrines of the Royal Calaskaran church, you can say pretty much anything you want, and Calaskar doesn't have anything like the social problems of the 21st century United States, though that is partly because dissidents are eventually encouraged to leave and seek their fortunes elsewhere. Some of Calaskar's neighbors like Rustaril and the Falcon Republic were originally Calaskaran worlds that split off due to ideological differences. Rustaril opted for a form of socialism that led to its stagnation and ongoing decline, while the Falcon Republic is more hyper-capitalistic and libertarian and therefore very unstable, albeit with a cloned army that steps in and takes over when things get out of hand. Calaskar claims that its government combines the best aspects of monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy, though opinions differ among the characters in the books whether or not this is actually true. However, the series is mostly written from the perspective of Jack March, and he doesn't much care about everything we just discussed in the previous paragraph. He primarily works for the Silent Order, which is a Calaskaran intelligence agency that answers only to its own leaders and the King. The ultimate mission of the Silent Order is to monitor the elite and upper classes of Calaskaran society, whether political, business, or entertainment elites. If they start acting in a destructive way that will harm Calaskar and civilization, the Silent Order either discredits them, sabotages their careers, or arranges an accident (depending on how severe the particular elite's brand of corruption is). Obviously, many people would have severe moral qualms about arranging the fatal extrajudicial accident of a corrupt government or judicial official. Since March's own home world of Calixtus was betrayed to the Final Consciousness by its elite classes, he has no problem doing this kind of work. For March's perspective, Calaskar opposes the Final Consciousness and has been the primary rival to the Final Consciousness for some time, which is good enough for him. The fact that life on Calaskar is vastly better than anywhere ruled by the Final Consciousness just reinforces his decision. Question #7: Was this series inspired by the computer game Starfield? I have to admit I LOLed at this question. I started writing Silent Order on New Year's Eve in 2016 and the final book in the series came out in early September 2023. In fact, if I remember it, Starfield came out like two or three days after I published the final Silent Order book. So I can confidently say that the series wasn't inspired by Starfield in any way. That said, I would say that the video games which did help shape my thinking about the books were Wing Commander: Privateer, TIE Fighter, and Master of Orion 1 and 2. All those games were from the 1990s, of course, so I suppose I'm dating myself. Question #8: What actually did inspire the Silent Order series? The video games I mentioned above, for one. Also, the original James Bond books. When I started thinking about writing a science fiction series, I decided that I wanted to do a spy thriller, but in space. The Final Consciousness was sort of the idea of cybernetic space totalitarians. James Bond originally went up against SMERSH and then SPECTRE in the books, but March would go up against the covert agents of the sinister cybernetic Final Consciousness. There are also Lovecraftian themes in the books, as is gradually revealed throughout the series, that the Final Consciousness is in fact controlled by cosmic horrors from another universe. Believe it or not, the various malfunctions of ChatGPT also helped inspire some of the later books. I had established way back in Silent Order: Iron Hand that a true AI always goes homicidally insane. So when I actually did have to run an AI supercomputer character from one of the later books, I based its behavior on some ChatGPT and Bing Chat's more hilarious public meltdowns, though if I had waited a little longer and based it on Google's AI, the AI supercomputer character could have suggested that the protagonist add glue to their pizza cheese or perhaps eats are real small rocks a day for minerals. The day I wrote this paragraph (which was June 10th, 2024), Apple announced they're adding a bunch of AI stuff to both the iPad and iPhone, and no doubt more AI will soon reach meme status on the Internet. Needless to say, my opinion of generative AI in general is quite low. Question #9: Have the covers for the series changed? They look different on Goodreads. Not only have the covers changed over the last seven years, they have changed a lot. The covers went through five different iterations. At first I did them myself in GIMP and then I tried a couple different variations. During COVID I took a Photoshop class which I admit leveled up my cover design skills significantly, so I tried some character-based covers but they never had the results I was hoping to see in terms of sales. Then in 2022, I saw a Penny Arcade comic that made a joke about how science fiction readers want to see book covers that show spaceships and planets in close proximity. And while this was a joke, I realized it was nonetheless true, so I redid the covers to the current look that features spaceships in close proximity to planets, and the series has sold the best overall with the new set of covers. Science fiction writers take heed: the readers want to see planets and spaceships in close proximity on their covers. Question #10: Why aren't there audiobooks for the series? In all honesty, it would just be too expensive. At a rough back of the envelope calculation, I think it would take about $30,000 U.S. dollars to bring the entire series into audio, and it would take years to see that money back. Plus, I think the series would end up at about 85 hours long, give or take, and that's like 2 full work weeks just to listen to the audiobook for proofing. So to sum up, it would cost too much and I don't want to take on another project of that magnitude at this time. Question #11: What is your favorite book in the series? Silent Order: Eclipse Hand, for reasons unrelated to the plot. I read an article in 2017 saying that the iPad was a better productivity computer than a Linux desktop, and I thought that was just nonsense for a variety of reasons. So I wrote, edited, and did the entire cover on a Ubuntu Linux desktop for Silent Order: Eclipse Hand just to prove a point. I work less with Linux now than I did back in 2017, though given how bad Windows 11 has gotten with all the AI integration, I might go back to writing on a Linux desktop at some point. Even though it's my favorite book for reasons other than plot, I do quite like the plot of Eclipse Hand as well. The basic idea was something that's been knocking around inside my head for a while, so I was glad I was finally able to get to write it down. And now our 12th and final question: Weren't they originally only supposed to be nine books in the series? Why are there fourteen? Yes, I had planned to stop at nine because the Silent Order books never sold quite as well as I had hoped. However, there were enough dangling plot threads, specifically the mystery around the Pulse weapon of the Final Consciousness, that I was persuaded to continue and bring the series to a more epic ending than it had in book nine. I started working on book 10 in late 2019, but then COVID happened and derailed things for a while. At the end of 2021, I was able to pick it up again and in 2023 I decided would be my “summer of finishing things” and I pushed on to the final book in the Silent Order series. Hopefully it was a suitably epic ending. I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who read through to the end of the series, encouraging me to continue with it. The years 2020 through 2023 were frustrating ones for a variety of reasons (and I'm sure everyone listened to this had their own frustrations in those years as well) and one of the ways I tried to reduce those frustrations was to put Silent Order on the side for a while, but I'm glad I persevered and continued on with the series, even if it took me a while. Now that it is finished, I can look back on it with a sense of pride for all the hard work that went into it. But mostly what I feel when I look back at it is gratitude for all the readers who read the books and enjoyed them. So that's it for this week. Thank you for listening to The Pulp Writer Show. I hope you found the show useful. A remind you that you can listen to all the back episodes on https://thepulpwritershow.com, often with transcripts (note: transcripts are for Episodes 140 to the present episode). If you enjoyed the podcast, please leave a review on your podcasting platform of choice. Stay safe and stay healthy and see you all next week.

Episode 142 June 6, 2024   KQED interview with Ruth Whippman about her new book: BoyMom. On the Needles 1:55 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Ranunculus by Midori Hirose, Saredo されど Watakami re: Lily in kujyaku WL99– DONE!! Really and totally   Weather or Knot Scarf by Scott Rohr, HolstGarn Coast in Butterfly, Black, Charcoal, Silver Grey, Wisteria, Freesia, Passion Flower   OMG Heel Socks by Megan Williams, Mountain Colors Crazyfoot in Yellowstone   ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien, Canon Hand Dyes Victorian Gothic Advent set   Gridlines by Susanne Sommer, Lemonade Shop simple sock in Ugh People and yarntini sock in ginger ice– DONE!! Cortney is swatching for Pressed Flower Pullover by Amy Christoffers in Neighborhood Fiber Co. studio DK in Ramblewood and Suri Loft in Mondawmin.     On the Easel 16:06 Secret 100 Day sketchbook project Plein Air studies Lena Rivo Color Mastery Class On the Table 23:01 The Microwave Makes Quick, Easy Work of Fried Shallots and Garlic Chili Crisp Wedge (with crispy shallots and yogurt) | Patreon   Cast Iron Pressed Pizza Sandwiches | The Kitchn   Thai Style Salad from Jamie Oliver Veg   Simple Potato and Lentil Salad with Tomatoes   My Big Giant Dinner Salad - by Jenny Rosenstrach   Buffalo soft serve at Palace Market in Point Reyes Station!   Matzo Ball Soup from Alison Roman   Popovers!  On the Nightstand 37:01 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton (audio) The Bodyguard by Katherine Center West by Carys Davies  Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig  City of Bones by Martha Wells  The Palace: From the Tudors to the Windsors, 500 Years of British History at Hampton Court by Gareth Russell Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees by Aimee Nezhukumatathil   Two media recommendations: Billy & Molly; an otter love story (on Disney+/Nat'l Geo, Hulu) Animal, a new NYT podcast with Sam Anderson  Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan The River King by Alice Hoffman Bingo  Starts friday may 24, ends Mon Sept 2 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2024 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry.    Monica: Cook tomato focused: Tomato sauce Read something by a POC: Bite by Bite Finish a WIP: gridlines (or HS grad!)   Cortney: Cook for a cause: soup for sick neighbors

On today's 185th episode of The Thriller Zone, host David Temple interviews New York Times bestselling author Meg Gardner. They discuss a wide variety of topics, including Meg's collaboration with Michael Mann on Heat 2, her writing process, and her latest book, Shadowheart.They also deep-dive Meg's other books, as well as discussing Meg's experiences with research, and the challenges of writing a sequel to a popular movie. A terrific insight comes when Meg discusses researching dark and disturbing subjects, which can be challenging, but Meg balances it by finding joy in other activities and maintaining a positive mindset.The conversation is filled with humor and insights into Meg's writing journey, and as is the case of her third appearance, Meg entertains in a truly engaging way.To learn more visit: MegGardiner.comWATCH & SUBSCRIBE to our channel at YouTube.com/thethrillerzoneSIGN UP & JOIN us on our website at TheThrillerZone.com FOLLOW us on X.com/thethrillerzone, Instagram.com/thethrillerzone & Facebook.com/thethrillerzone LISTEN to us on ALL the popular Podcast Channels like: ApplePodcasts @ https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-thriller-zone/id1577303372Spotify @ https://open.spotify.com/show/4f5vHVcT6DvXpZJ8nopIAU?si=6823127df7044420iHeartRadio @ https://www.iheart.com/podcast/338-the-thriller-zone-107694289Chapters00:00 Introduction and Welcome02:37 Talking about Art and Getting Started03:19 Collaborating with Michael Mann on Heat 205:13 Recovering from a House Fire06:12 Congratulating Meg on Her Collaboration with Michael Mann07:37 Geeking Out over Jeopardy08:40 Favorite Crime Headlines09:59 Talking about Meg's New Book, Shadowheart11:17 Upcoming Book Tour12:15 Praising Meg's Writing13:12 Discussing Meg's Writing StyleMeg Gardner, interview, collaboration, Michael Mann, Heat 2, writing process, research, Shadowheart, The Thriller Zone, David Temple (00:00) - (00:18) - Introduction and Welcome (02:55) - Talking about Art and Getting Started (03:37) - Collaborating with Michael Mann on Heat 2 (05:31) - Recovering from a House Fire (06:30) - Congratulating Meg on Her Collaboration with Michael Mann (07:55) - Geeking Out over Jeopardy (08:58) - Favorite Crime Headlines (10:17) - Talking about Meg's New Book, Shadowheart (11:35) - Upcoming Book Tour (12:33) - Praising Meg's Writing (13:30) - Discussing Meg's Writing Style The Story Factory is an entertainment company representing some of the best authors in the business.

Welcome to the Instant Trivia podcast episode 1201, where we ask the best trivia on the Internet. Round 1. Category: Decade Of Discovery 1: DNA's double helix. the 1950s. 2: Frank Sinatra by Harry James. the 1930s. 3: Quasars by astronomer and Faye Dunaway by Hollywood. the 1960s. 4: Hispaniola by Europeans. the 1490s. 5: Americium (atomic number 95). the 1940s. Round 2. Category: To Grind 1: Keeping this body part "to the grindstone" means applying yourself. nose. 2: Most waiters consider this tool a real grind when using it to add seasoning to salads. a pepper grinder (or pepper mill). 3: Grinding guides can help you efficiently get to level 10 in this Blizzard game set in Azeroth. World of Warcraft. 4: To grind their food, birds use this organ that also starts with "G". gizzard. 5: Mt. Suribachi was the site of a famed flag raising on this WWII island; Meat Grinder Hill was also a tough battle there. Iwo Jima. Round 3. Category: The Edgars 1: Part of "The Bazaar of Bad Dreams", "Obits" won the 2016 Short Story Edgar Award for my Maine man, this horror master. Stephen King. 2: "G" is for grand master as well as this woman who received the 2009 Grand Master Award. Sue Grafton. 3: 2018's best episode in a TV series was "Somebody to Love" by Noah Hawley for this Midwestern-set show spun off from a film, you betcha. Fargo. 4: This pseudonym of 2 authors got a special Edgar in 1950 for a "Mystery Magazine". Ellery Queen. 5: The Scotch was good. Too good. I tried to remember. It was 1955, and this writer had won for "The Long Goodbye". and now he had my gun. (Raymond) Chandler. Round 4. Category: Refugees 1: Turkey has more than 3 million refugees from this country racked by Civil War since 2011. Syria. 2: In 2021 the area called "Little" this city in Fremont, California prepared for a new wave of Afghan refugees. Little Kabul. 3: Many refugees from Africa dwell in Kara Tepe II, a refugee camp on this Greek island also known for its poetic heritage. Lesbos. 4: Political instability and other causes have sent thousands of refugees from this country into its neighbors. Burundi. 5: Term for the largest Muslim group of mainly Buddhist Myanmar; many of them have become refugees. the Rohingya. Round 5. Category: Sports Franchises' Previous Homes 1: The Los Angeles Dodgers. Brooklyn. 2: The Indianapolis Colts. Baltimore. 3: The Los Angeles Rams. St. Louis. 4: The Colorado Avalanche, oui, oui!. Quebec City. 5: The Atlanta Braves. Milwaukee. Thanks for listening! Come back tomorrow for more exciting trivia!Special thanks to https://blog.feedspot.com/trivia_podcasts/ AI Voices used

Episode 140 May 9, 2024 On the Needles 1:20 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Weather or Knot Scarf by Scott Rohr, HolstGarn Coast in Butterfly, Black, Charcoal, Silver Grey, Wisteria, Freesia, Passion Flower   NoCKRs   Knitted Knockers in Cascade Ultra Pima in rose dust and sandstone– DONE!!   Sun Salutation by Celia McAdams, Neighborhood Fiber Co Studio DK in 1600 Pennsylvania Ave– DONE!!   Gnome News is Good News by Sarah Schria, Woolens and Nosh Targee Sock in Tulip- DONE!!   Sockhead slouch by kelly mcclure, super glo super sock in hulu hulu   Winterview scarf by Cecelia Campochiaro, A Verb for Keeping Warm Nibble in Marine Layer   Ranunculus by Midori Hirose, Saredo されど Watakami re: Lily in kujyaku WL99 On the Easel 17:53 4 Book covers for Nancy Robards Thompson via Tule Publishing!!! Color Mastery Essentials class with Lena Rivo Self-guided master studies On the Table 28:20   Sausage meatballs with halloumi and tomatoes from Cup of Jo   Hot Honey Peach Margarita    Hot Honey Shrimp   Death by Croissant. Best in San Francisco, in Cortney's opinion. On the Nightstand 39:59 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   X by Sue Grafton (audio) Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle  The Extinction of Irena Rey by Jennifer Croft The Other Valley by Scott Alexander Howard  North Woods by Daniel Mason James by Percival Everett   The Princess of Las Vegas by Chris Bohjalian The Wedding Party by Jasmine Guillory The Antique Hunter's Guide to Murder by C.L. Hunter Bury Your Dead by Louise Penny

National Pigs in a blanket day.  Entertainment from 1973.  Greeks use the Troy horse, Iranian hostage rescue mission disaster, Inda passes China for most people.  Todays birthdays - Shirley MacLaine, Sue Grafton, Jill Ireland, Barbra Streisand, Jack Blades, Cedric the Entertainer, Kelly Clarkson, Tyson Ritter, Carly Pearce.  Estee Lauder diedIntro - Pour some sugar on me - Def Leppard    http://defleppard.com/Geico CommercialI love pigs in a blanket - The Hungry Food BandTie a yellow ribbon round the old oak tree - Tony Orland & DawnBehind closed doors - Charlie RichBirthdays - In da club - 50 Cent    http://50cent.com/Evergreen - Barbra StreisandStill rock in America - Night RangerMy life would suck without you - Kelly ClarksonGives you hell - All-American RejectsExit - Its not love - Dokken    http://dokken.net/On Facebook - Jeff Stampka

Tonight on We Are Paradox Media's "Late Night in the Rockies" Weekend Host TessaTNT will be reading from "K is for Killer" by Sue Grafton followed by a creepy video.

Episode 137– Bay Area Yarn Crawl! March 28, 2024 On the Nightstand 1:53 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   Wild and Distant Seas by Tara Karr Roberts Mislaid in Parts Half-Known by Seanan McGuire W is for Wasted by Sue Grafton (audio) Anita de Monte Laughs Last by Xóchitl González   Book Lovers by Emily Henry On the Table 11:50 Seriously, all the repeats.  Banana butterscotch pie, corned beef (salt and vinegar cabbage), pizza beans, peanut broccoli & protein   Baked Lemon Pudding   Matcha and Strawberry Creme Twunkie OMG the strawberry creme!!!   Chez Panisse!   On the Easel 23:59   Irving Penn (thru july 21) and Fashioning San Francisco (thru Aug 11) at the DeYoung Museum   On the Needles 27:00 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info   AVFKW indigo dyeing class   Bay Area Yarn Crawl!

Brook and Sarah start a new series exploring the life and writing of modern masters of the mystery genre. This week, they discuss Sue Grafton, author of 25 novels in the Alphabet series featuring PI Kinsey Milhone.Titles mentionedKeziah Dane (1967) Sue GraftonThe Lolly-Madonna War (1973) Sue GraftonA is for Alibi (1982) Sue GraftonE is for Evidence (1988) Sue GraftonU is for Undertow (2009) Sue GraftonY is for Yesterday (2017) Sue GraftonWriting Mysteries (2002) Sue Grafton (ed.)Kinsey and Me: Stories (2013) Sue GraftonThe Gashleycrumb Tinies (1963) Edward GoreyStephanie Plum series (1994-present) Janet EvanovichGrafton's writing journals: https://www.suegrafton.com/journal-notes.phpReferences"Sue Grafton's ‘Z Is for Zero' Will Remain an Unwritten Mystery" Bookbub (September 10, 2020) Kristina Wright"Sue Grafton's Alphabet Novels to Be Adapted for Television" Hollywood Reporter (October 7, 2021) The Associated PressFor more informationInstagram: @cluedinmysteryContact us: hello@cluedinmystery.comMusic: Signs To Nowhere by Shane Ivers – www.silvermansound.comSign up for our newsletter: https://cluedinmystery.com/clued-in-chronicle/Join the Clued in Cartel: https://cluedinmystery.com/clued-in-cartel/Transcript

Episode 134 February 15,  2024 On the Needles 0.48 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Cortney's knit! Mondo Cable Cardi by Bonnie Marie Burns in Madeline Tosh Chunky in Thunderstorm. DONE DONE DONE!!! Joyful sweater finishing Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)    ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien, Canon Hand Dyes Victorian Gothic Advent set   Weather or Knot Scarf by Scott Rohr, HolstGarn Coast in Butterfly, Black, Charcoal, Silver Grey, Wisteria, Freesia, Passion Flower   OMG heel socks by Megan Williams, Schachenmayr Regia Pairfect Nordland in 6819 Ilha by Orlane Sucche, SugarPlum Circus sock in Scorpio   Bikey Beanie by Andrea Rangel, Knit Picks Swish DK in dove heather and black – DONE! AlterKnit Stitch Dictionary KnitOvation Stitch Dictionary         On the Easel 13:30 Quarter 1 project Field Guide project–keep an eye here for updates. Cortney's next sweater? On the Table 20:30 IN THE ROTATION: French Onion Turkey Burgers crispy potatoes with mushrooms – smitten kitchen   Creamy cauliflower from Vegetable Kingdom   Ditto on the Smitten crispy potatoes with mushrooms – smitten kitchen White Beans ala Delfina Restaurant with Royal Corona White Bean from Rancho Gordo Shrimp “My Way” from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything (I absolutely peel the shrimp for this entree).   On the Nightstand 32:26 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   V is for Vengeance by Sue Grafton (audio) Deal with the Devil by Kit Rocha (mercenary librarians #1) Nettle and Bone by T. Kingfisher (audio) Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson (audio) Weather by Jenny Offill  The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins    The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal The Butcher's Daughter by Victoria Glendinning

Ann Shepphird has written a little bit of everything including travel, sports, gardening and various other topics. She is now publishing her stories in her favorite genre cozy mysteries and rom-coms for 4 Horseman Publications. The Destination Murder Mysteries combine her experiences as a travel journalist with a stint working for a private investigator (because of her love of Sue Grafton novels), and the University Chronicles a series of satiric rom-coms are drawn from her days as a college-level communications instructor. She also shares her love of Bruce and his music. Check out her website for more details. https://annshepphird.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ann Shepphird has written a little bit of everything including travel, sports, gardening and various other topics. She is now publishing her stories in her favorite genre cozy mysteries and rom-coms for 4 Horseman Publications. The Destination Murder Mysteries combine her experiences as a travel journalist with a stint working for a private investigator (because of her love of Sue Grafton novels), and the University Chronicles a series of satiric rom-coms are drawn from her days as a college-level communications instructor. She also shares her love of Bruce and his music. Check out her website for more details. https://annshepphird.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Episode 131 January 4, 2024 On the Needles 2:14 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Ilha by Orlane Sucche, SugarPlum Circus sock in Scorpio   Christmas is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Lollipop Yarn Quintessential in We Need a Little Christmas (started December 2022, yarn 2016)-- DONE!!   Zemy's 2023 advent by Tricia Weatherston, Sincere Sheep Coastal in Firsts (made here club 2021) – so close!!  Gingerbread House Socks by Helen Stewart, NNK hand dyed yarns DK 8 ply sock in Gingerbread House– DONE!! Make gnome mistake by Sarah Schira, christmas tree in snow by Jeannette Murphy, Cascade Yarns Heritage Sock in Snow, Porter Wool Co Fingering in Huntress– DONE! And DONE! Snow Matter What by Sarah Schira, christmas tree in snow by Jeannette Murphy, Cascade Yarns Heritage Sock in Snow, Porter Wool Co Fingering in Huntress– DONE! Montage Hat by Helen Stewart, Three Irish Girls Springvale DK in Atlantis– DONE!   ADVENTuresome Wrap by Ambah O'Brien, Canon Hand Dyes Victorian Gothic Advent set   Weather or Knot Scarf by Scott Rohr , HolstGarn Coast in Butterfly, Black, Charcoal, Silver Grey, Wisteria, Freesia, Passion Flower     15,639 yards in 43 projects view details   On the Easel 21:08 Field Guide series? Nate's big painting Q1 project Calendar SOLD OUT! Thank you to all who purchased one!   23 Podcast paintings ~100 other paintings and sketches for 2023   On the Table 26:41   Polenta Lasagna With Spinach and Herby Ricotta Recipe - NYT Cooking   Rustic Cauliflower and Tomato Gratin from the Wimpy Vegetarian   Whipped feta with honey from Dinner a Love Story The one I used is for paid subscribers only but this one from It's Not Complicated is pretty close   Gado gado– Ali Slagle idea, peanut sauce from East by Meera Sodha     Flourless Sea Salt brownies from Skinnytaste Simple New empanada press 2023 WINS: temple lunches, teaching my boys how to cook, leaning into lentils, kale, & quinoa. On the Nightstand 35:49 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   Faking Christmas by Kerry Winfrey  Murder at Midnight by Katharine Schellman U is for Undertow by Sue Grafton (audio) The Death I Gave Him by Em X. Liu (audio) System Collapse by Martha Wells So Late in the Day by Claire Keegan Iron Flame by Rebecca Yarros Bookshops and Bonedust by Travis Baldree Second Best by David Foenkinos, trans by Megan Jones  Queen Hereafter by Isabelle Schuler Menewood by Nicola Griffith Heaven and Earth Grocery Store by James McBride (audio)   Goodreads: 190 books   The Book of More Delights by Ross Gay Grimoire Girl by Hilarie Burton Morgan Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin Cacophony of Bone; Circle of a Year by Kerri ni Dochartaigh   I keep track in my analog planner–84 books in 2023! On the Horizon 1:03:46 On the Needles  2023 Knitting 3 sweaters with yarn from pre-2022 stash3 full sweaters: 2022, 2023 x2 (stitches) Top: 2022 Baby sweater: 2023 Charity– hats and knitted knockers ✔ Quarterly knit from deep stash ✔1st: joshua tree beanie, yoth yarn 2015 (feb) 2nd: socks, yarntini stripe 2009 (may) 3rd: sockhead slouch, swoonish walker twist 2010 (aug) 4th: montage hat, 3IG springvale dk 2010 (dec) Kits Cross stitch Bracelet Xmas- figures or 12 days 2024 Repeat knitting stuff– pre2022 sweaters Kits Cross stitch Bracelet Xmas- figures or 12 days   Lobsters in sweaters!   Weather or Knot scarf   On the Easel 2023 23 podcast illustrations Over 100 sketches, paintings, etc. Gallery stuff didn't sell, but I'll keep trying. 2024 Big Q1 project  Field guides? Follow mu curiosity & hopefully a fall Open Studio!   On the Table 2023 New ingredients: preserved lemon? ✔  What else? Make homemade gnocchi ✔   Temple lunches were a success. Taught the boys some cooking basics. 2024 Entertaining Using recipes from substack   Keep exploring kale, lentils, quinoa, and beans (aka fiber & plant protein) Continue temple lunches!   On the Nightstand 2023 Storygraph challenges: 5/10 reads the world, 7/10 genre  Argentina: Eartheater Trinidad & Tobago: Mermaid of Black Conch Columbia: Love in the Time of Cholera Nigeria: A Spell of Good Things Norway: Aliss by the Fire Contemporary Fiction with disability: Tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow Fantasy novel by AOC: The world we make Mystery by woman: world of curiosities Non fiction start up: Place at the Nayarit Sapphic romance: a restless Truth Kids book: Echo West Portal Books Irish Book Subscription  Foster by Claire Keegan Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Kala by Colin Walsh I actually aimed to read a little less if it meant painting more. 2024 Storygraph again Irish bookclub again Tacoma library extreme reader challenge (Cortney loves the structure of this list!)   Also, it's okay to DNF a book.

Episode 129 Friday, November 24, 2023 On the Needles 1:48 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall– DONE!!   Christmas is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Lollipop Yarn Quintessential in We Need a Little Christmas (started December 2022, yarn 2016)   Ilha by Orlane Sucche, SugarPlum Circus sock in Scorpio   Explicate by Hunter Hammerson, Hue Loco Merino Sock in Blue laced red wyandotte–DONE!!   On the Easel 14:51 Gouachevember Calendar prep check here for shop updates On the Table 21:15 Monster Cookies | Cup of Jo   Crispy Honey Balsamic Glazed Brussels Sprouts - Caroline Chambers   Paper Plane Wild Rice and Mushroom Pilaf Recipe   Ad hoc chicken pot pie with the BEST crust! (used icy cold vodka instead of water). Carmelized Shallot gravy  Yellow Curry Chickenturned into Handpies with leftover crust from above. Cocktail from Episode 61 New cocktail! We're calling it The Franciscan. I part Orange Curacao, 1 part Gin, splash of ginger allspice simple syrup*, garnish with cara cara orange. *Ginger Allspice Simple Syrup: 1 cup sugar, 1 teaspoon allspice berries, 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped. Combine in saucepan & bring to boil. Cook till sugar is melted. Remove from heat & let steep for 30-60 minutes. Strain into a jar, cover & refrigerate. And an epic quantity of green beans! On the Nightstand 36:36 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   Goodreads best of 2023 voting   T is for Trespass by Sue Grafton (audio) Malice by Keigo Higashino, trans by Alexander O. Smith (audio) Waking Gods by Sylvain Neuvel (audio) Only Human by Sylvain Neuvel (audio) Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman The Death of Ivan Ilyich by Leo Tolstoy, trans by Richard Pevear and Larissa Volokhonsky (this link goes to a different version) Under the Smokestrewn Sky by A. Deborah Baker/seanan McGuire Little Thieves by Margaret Owen  The Keeper's Six by Kate Elliott    48:00 Starter Villain by John Scalzi  Evil Eye by Etaf Rum  August Blue by Deborah Levy  Beyond the Door of No Return by David Diop, trans by Sam Taylor  Aliss at the Fire by Jon Fosse, trans by Damion Searls  Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros    All Good People Here by Ashley Flowers Happy Place by Emily Henry Mrs. Porter Calling by AJ Pearce The Museum of Failures by Thrity Umrigar All Wrapped Up 1:09:19 Needles   Weather or Knot Scarf Kit – The Yarnery   Faux suede tags, handmade, this is the back   Knitting cady yarn bowl Uncommon Goods   CABLE KNIT LEATHER BANDS FOR APPLE WATCH birdie parker   Nudge Brass Counter Budget version counter Handmade: knitting tags   Easel Caran D'ache Bi-color set of colored pencils (unfortunately, I cannot find the set I have. Here's an example). Klee Marble Pencil Set from LACMA Blackwings! Leuchtturm1917 sketchbook Talens Art Creations sketchbook Hahnemuhle Bamboo (lightweight paper) sketchbook Field Notes small sketchbooks   Blick Acrylic Portrait Set Charvin Acrylic Portrait set   Handmade: sketchbook ideas Table   Snacking Bakes by Yossi Arefi   Substack subscription   State baking dish, serving dish, platter, historic map trays   Diaspora & Co spices also, check Whole Foods Lucky Iron fish Big Sur Elote Salt or Maldon bucket!   Handmade: giftable spice blends   Nightstand   Demon Copperhead   Everyman's Pocket Classics: Scottish Stories, Garden , New York, Detective   Literary women book locket necklace   Tequila Mockingbird (10th Anniversary Expanded Edition): Cocktails with a Literary Twist Museum Book Shops: MFA Boston, SFMoma, DeYoung/Legion, The Met, etc. The Simple Art of Rice by Danica Novgorodoff and Joseph Johnson Here We Go Again by Tiffani Thiessen The Invisible Hour by Alice Hoffman The Backyard Bird Chronicles by Amy Tan (boo! Not out till April!--sorry friends). Day by Michael Cunningham America's Test Kitchen 2023 & others. Handmade: bookmarks!

Episode 128 November 1, 2023   Renaming birds On the Needles 2:16 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Snow Matter What December gnome mkal is available Knitvent 2023 by Helen Stewart   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Diamonds in the Light by Lisa K. Ross/Paper Daisy Creations, Candy Skein Creations Yummy Fingering in Goonies Grub– DONE!! Possible Sweaters Casual by Katrin Schneider Vuolle by Meiju K-P Ilha by Orlane Sucche Calluna by Fiona Alice  final pompom

Episode 127 October 26, 2023 On the Needles 1:11 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Diamonds in the Light by Lisa K. Ross/Paper Daisy Creations, Candy Skein Creations Yummy Fingering in Goonies Grub   Suspicion Shawl by Forbidden Fiber Co., Forbidden Fiber Fortitude Fingering– DONE!!   Mondo Cable Cardi by Bonne Marie Burns On the Easel 12:58 Rabbit Show! Gouachevember Flora & Fauna series On the Table  16:33 Roasted butternut squash with quinoa crunch from Veg Forward   Spicy Stir-fry chicken and Brussels sprouts Thai Yellow Chicken Curry Interview with Nate! 22:21 From the college kid interview: Ninja air-fryer Ninja Bullet blender On the Nightstand 32:10 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   R is for Ricochet by Sue Grafton (audio) Sleep No More by Seanan McGuire Legends and Lattes by Travis Baldree (Viv the orc) No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister (audio) Outer Sunset by Mark Ernest Pothier (jim finley) Land of Milk and Honey by C. Pam Zhang   The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman A Fire Endless by Rebecca Ross

Episode 126 Friday, October 13, 2023   HAPPY ANNIVERSARY! On the Needles 1:58 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Lemino Socks by Sarah Jordan, Arkaik Fibres Fremont Tweed in Let the Great World Spin– DONE!!   Buggiflooer Beanie by Alison Rendell, Jamieson's of Shetland Shetland Spindrift– DONE!!   Diamonds in the Light by Lisa K. Ross/Paper Daisy Creations, Candy Skein Creations Yummy Fingering in Goonies Grub   Suspicion Shawl by Forbidden Fiber Co., Forbidden Fiber Fortitude Fingering On the Easel 12:33 Stickers and *new* account for Gouachevember. Flora & Fauna series? Rabbit piece, work-in-progress On the Table 23:56 https://www.onceuponachef.com/recipes/french-apple-cake.html#tabrecipe   Japanese Sweet Potatoes and Roasted and Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad from Veg Forward   Ali Slagle's 40 Ingredients Forever: Bruschetta Beans (with Brown Butter)   One-pot lasagne from Sailor Bailey Kale with Curry & Coconut from America's Test Kitchen Vegetarian Kale Salad with feta & pepitas from Veg Forward   On the Nightstand 35:26 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you! Q is for Quarry by Sue Grafton (audio) A Share in Death by Deborah Crombie (audio) The Blonde Identity by Ally Carter  Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI by David Gran The Fragile Threads of Power by V.E. Schwab Normal Rules Don't Apply by Kat Atkinson   Maeve in America by Maeve Higgins A River Enchanted by Rebecca Ross Podiversary! On Reflection 55:42 Sock madness, dissent cardigan, alaska cowls  Calendars and chapbooks, underwear Grace's chicken, keep on cooking, SKED, turkey chimichanga, seasonal pilaus Addie la rue, gamache, mirror and the light, The River, Hamnet Plan!  But be flexible   Dissent Cardi, Dark Academia sweater New image groups for podcast advertising Angry Grandma Pizza Demon Copperhead & The Overstory That it holds me accountable to moving forward, trying new things, looking for great books, and frequent chats with Monica.

Hope you guys enjoy this episode this story involves suicide or possibly foul play Kenzie is investigating a woman who jumped off the San Francisco bridge. Her husband hires her to investigate. Her suicide could possibly be foul play. Read a book to find out. Hope you guys enjoy.

This book is about a kidnapping plus other plot twist. Hope you guys enjoy plus updates as well.

This is a story about an old man who is being abused by a caretaker, and the caretaker has stolen someone's identity or is using someone else's identity. I should say hope you guys enjoy.

If you like books about people going on the run and money, exchanging hands, and being spent and gambling and things of that nature in this book is for you

Episode 124 September 15, 2023 On the Needles 2:08 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Coloring Book Raglan by Aimee Sher, Loop Fiber Studio YIN YANG (Worsted) in Once and For All– DONE!!   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Simple Baby Cap 1 by Susan B. Anderson, Nicole C. Mendez Soft Sock DK in Favorite time of the Year– DONE and DONE!!   Lemino Socks by Sarah Jordan, Arkaik Fibres Fremont Tweed in Let the Great World Spin On the Easel 16:32 Sewing: deManta clutch diy for myself 3X3 miniature typewriter for SFPL branch Tiny Art Show Still lifes in process On the Table 22:00 Salt and pepper eggplant or more complete version   Evaporated milk swap–FAIL. Mini Shrimp Tostadas–guac, roasted shrimp on a tortilla chip! Veg Forward Review 28:01 Veg Forward: Super-Delicious Recipes that put Produce at the Center of Your Plate by Susan Spungen   Monica tried: BBQ tofu, roasted tomato vinaigrette, zucchini carpaccio, Everything Sauce, Tahini Peach Cobbler, cauliflower tacos with salsa macha, heirloom tomato tart, green beans with toasted buckwheat, grilled cabbage with spicy thai-inspired dressing   Cortney tried: Buttermilk dressing, Sungold Spaghetti Carbonara, Peach & Almond Galette (best crust ever!), the excellent Smoky Corn Salad, Chocolate Zucchini Bread, Mushroom Risotto, Mushroom Risotto cakes (go with Mozzarella), delicious Pinkalicious Pasta!   On the list for fall/winter: pull-apart Foccacia, Heirloom Tomato Tart, Cauliflower Tacos, Apple Brown Butter Buckle, Okonomiyaki, & Smashed Japanese Sweet Potatoes with Nori. On the Nightstand 48:11 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   O is for Outlaw by Sue Grafton (audio) P is for Peril by Sue Grafton (audio) Open Throat by Henry Hoke (audio) The Emissary by Yoko Tawada, trans by Margaret Mitsutani (audio) This Other Eden by Paul Hastings  Family Lore by Elizabeth Acevedo  Watch Us Shine by Marisa de los Santos  Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour Horse by Geraldine Brooks The Last Ranger by Peter Heller  Shark Heart by Emily Habeck   Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith Exiles by Jane Harper   Bingo 1:11:06 All done!     Monica: BLACKOUT!

Perry and David talk about their latest reading, listening and watching in the crime genre, from a classic PI novel to the latest best-seller. Introduction (05:56) General News (11:06) Ned Kelly Awards 2023 (02:13) Dragon Awards 2023 (07:00) Queensland Literary Awards 2023 (01:43) What we've been reading and watching (55:24) In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty (11:43) No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child (11:46) The Sisters by Dervla McTiernan (05:01) D Is For Deadbeat by Sue Grafton (08:54) Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron (07:58) The Lincoln Lawyer (Season 2) (06:01) Deadloch (03:54) Windup (01:10) Click here for more info and indexes. Image generated by Ideogram.ai "Arrogant priest, this place demands I keep calm, Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonor'd me. or you would be punished for your insult. Think not, although in writing I preferr'd Do not think that just because I wrote down The manner of thy vile outrageous crimes, the details of your revolting terrible crimes That therefore I have forg'd, or am not able that I have made anything up or cannot verbatim to rehearse the method of my pen." Henry VI Part I, Act 3 Scene 1

Perry and David talk about their latest reading, listening and watching in the crime genre, from a classic PI novel to the latest best-seller. Introduction (05:56) General News (11:06) Ned Kelly Awards 2023 (02:13) Dragon Awards 2023 (07:00) Queensland Literary Awards 2023 (01:43) What we've been reading and watching (55:24) In the Morning I'll Be Gone by Adrian McKinty (11:43) No Plan B by Lee Child and Andrew Child (11:46) The Sisters by Dervla McTiernan (05:01) D Is For Deadbeat by Sue Grafton (08:54) Down Cemetery Road by Mick Herron (07:58) The Lincoln Lawyer (Season 2) (06:01) Deadloch (03:54) Windup (01:10) Image generated by Ideogram.ai "Arrogant priest, this place demands I keep calm,Or thou shouldst find thou hast dishonor'd me.or you would be punished for your insult.Think not, although in writing I preferr'dDo not think that just because I wrote downThe manner of thy vile outrageous crimes,the details of your revolting terrible crimesThat therefore I have forg'd, or am not ablethat I have made anything up or cannotverbatim to rehearse the method of my pen." Henry VI Part I, Act 3 Scene 1

Episode 123 September 1, 2023 On the Needles 2:50 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Sad about end of bingo?  Pigskin Party starts Sept 7!   Westknits shawl kal December gnome along   Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure, Swoonish/the yarn side Walker/the yarn side Twist in Road to Home (2010)-- DONE!!   Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom– DONE!!   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Coloring Book Raglan by Aimee Sher, Loop Fiber Studio YIN YANG (Worsted) in Once and For All On the Easel 18:12 Needles: vest remake, diy dye disaster…   September Doodle-a-Day by Ellolovey Peachtober by Furry Little Peach Gouachevember by Daria Penta (Cortneysf co-hosting!)   Florasaurus, tattoos, & dog portraits On the Table 24:48 Lemongrass coconut corn bisque (love and lemons) Tahini chickpea soup (Love &Lemons)l pesto potato salad with green beans – smitten kitchen   Simple Rosti Baked stuffed pork chops with panko & parmesan. Boring cream cheese cookies Rice salad with components from America's Test Kitchen Complete Veg Cookbook   On the Nightstand 34:34 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you! The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki Georgie, All Along by Kate Clayborn  N is for Noose by Sue Grafton (audio) Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt (audio) tova, cameron A Heart So White by Javier Marías, trans by Margaret Jull Costa Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein Silver Nitrate by Sylvia Moreno-Garcia montserrat, tristan Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead The Absent One by Jussi Adler Olsen Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel Bewilderment by Richard Powers The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec ** The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie (This turned out to be problematic due to Alexie's personal behavior. Still an excellent YA novel, with relevance and humor). Bingo 1:03:05 DONE!! Listen in to see if you won! 1:08:40   Wip dark academia Cort rec Remarkably Bright Creatures Bird book Study for Obedience   Cortney's Bingo: Blackout! Pickled Bell Peppers ( very pickle-y!!) Award winner, but tricky The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian

Episode 122 August 17, 2023 On the Needles 1:28 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Contrast Blast Socks by Stephen West, mominoki yarn sock fine 4 ply in aqua flash and teal blast– DONE!!   Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre)   Sockhead Slouch Hat by Kelly McClure, Swoonish/the yarn side Walker/the yarn side Twist in Road to Home (2010) On the Easel 11:25 Reupholstered my dining room chair!!   Bird Prize for #ccrrsummerbingo2023 Still life series Photo shoots around the Bay Area On the Table 17:10   Microwave corn! Weeknight chicken wings from Smitten Kitchen Keepers Ricotta gnocchi and pistachio pesto from Smitten Kitchen Keepers Zucchini carpaccio from Veg Forward– bingo farmers market   Easy baked honey mustard chicken Strawberry Creme Fraiche bars from 100 Cookies Angry Grandma Pizza party from Smitten Kitchen Keepers   And recipes for the big kid.   On the Nightstand 31:26 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   M is for Malice by Sue Grafton (audio) Alias Emma by Ava Glass (audio) Kala by Colin Walsh   Irish Book Subscription | Bookshop West Portal   Glaciers by Alexis M. Smith A Place of Greater Safety by Hillary Mantel    The Whispers by Ashley Audrain The Creative Act by Rick Rubin Bingo 50:48 Starts friday may 26, ends Mon Sept 4 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2023 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry. Complete all three bird themed squares for bird themed prize.   Gnocchi! Made from scratch Zucchini carpaccio from the farmer's market   Cortney's Bingo: Smoky Corn Salad from Veg Forward Local food: Harley Goat Farm cheese, and Archangeli artichoke bread.

Episode 121   August 7, 2023 On the Needles 1:26 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info   Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, White Birch Fiber Arts in LIttle Birdie (2016)-- DONE!!    Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Knit Picks Felici in Beyond the Wall   Contrast Blast Socks by Stephen West, mominoki yarn sock fine 4 ply in aqua flash and teal blast   Roam by Dawn Barker, Rainbow Peak Yarns super sock in Luminosity II (Lula Faye Fibre) On the Easel 14:02 Nenuphar Jacket for the trip Rabbit Rabbit Show for Faye's Video/Bench Gallery in October Travel sketching On the Table 15:49 Wisconsin old fashioned!   Cheesy Mexican Quinoa Casserole with Black Beans | The Wimpy Vegetarian   Easiest Summer Dinner: Soup and a Sandwich | Cup of Jo (for the Vegetarian Reuben)   Peach corn salad and watermelon arugula salad from Love and Lemons Simple Feel Food Good   Switzerland/Romania mentions:  Best pretzel sandwich ever–pretzel with herbed cream cheese, roast beef, egg salad, lettuce & tomato.  Rӧsti “Fitness plate” Pickled everything Kürtőskalács-chimney cake Sarmale-cabbage rolls Vișinată-sour cherrry, brandy & sugar On the Nightstand 33:06 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you! Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe by Laurence Bergreen (audio) The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny & Murder by David Grann (audio) The Discord of Gods by Jenn Lyons A Spell of Good Things by Ayọ̀bámi Adébáyọ̀ K is for Killer by Sue Grafton (audio)  L is for Lawless by Sue Grafton (audio) A Killing of Innocents by Deborah Crombie (audio)  The Secret Service of Tea and Treason by India Holton Who is Maud Dixon? By Alexandra Andrews Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs   You Could Make this Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith The Crow Trap by Ann Cleeves Gone Like Yesterday by Janelle M. Williams No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister Lady Tan's Circle of Women by Lisa See Gilded Mountain by Kate Manning Bingo 56:41 Starts friday may 26, ends Mon Sept 4 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2023 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry. Complete all three bird themed squares for bird themed prize.   Craft bird & remake project: little birdie vanilla is the new black socks (#10)   Cortney's Bingo: Monica rec with Ann Cleeves BIPOC read Gone Like Yesterday Vacation reading & sketching

Episode 118 Tuesday June 20, 2023 On the Needles 2:04 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Stephen West sock MKAL!  4 clues July 6-27 Shetland Wool Week hat! Sept 23- Oct 1, 2023   Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, White Birch Fiber Arts in LIttle Birdie (2016)-- remake a project Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom  The More You Gnome by Sarah Schira, Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet in Miss Manners, Yarntini Sock in Match Point and Ginger Ice– DONE!! Rocky Mountain Beanie by Nancy Bates– DONE!! Gemini by Jane Richmond, zombie yarns Thriller in Bumbleberry (dk, 75% cotton 25%linen, stitches 2022 $5 GOOB sale) On the Easel 12:42 New Heron tattoo, being inked on Friday! Lots of floral paintings in the sketchbook New pencil easels!!   On the Table 16:11 Pickled strawberries from Strawberries by Susan Spungen (!) Stewed Chickpea with zucchini from Simply Julia Back to saucy business– roasted tomato vinaigrette, dill sauce for socca   Angry Grandma Detroit-style (well, Sicilian, actually) pizza from Smitten Kitchen Keepers. Fire Cracker Chicken from Masonfit.com Breakfast for dinner Lasagne dinner party   On the Nightstand 27:32 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise by Colleen Oakley Last Heir to the Blackwood Library by Hester Fox J is for Judgment by Sue Grafton (audio) Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto The Lock-Up by John Banville Happy Place by Emily Henry True Love Experiment by Christina Lauren Witch King by Martha Wells  Gone Like Yesterday by Janelle M. Williams (audio) Diary of a Void by Emi Yago (transl. David Boyd & Lucy North) The Trackers by Charles Frazier The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie Bingo 53:20 Starts friday may 26, ends Mon Sept 4 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2023 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry. Complete all three bird themed squares for bird themed prize.   Pickled strawberries Craft an accessory– rocky mountain hat   Cortney's squares: Debut author Diary of a Void Pizza–my way! Bird-themed craft: heron tattoo & incoming bird patch for travel sketch kit Started new project: pencil easels Finished a (7-year+) work-in-progress: 3 remaining upholstered chairs for patio

Episode 117 June 8, 2023 On the Needles 4:58 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Gridlines by Susanne Sommer, Lemonade Shop simple sock in Ugh People Mahalle toe up sock by Urth Yarns, Uneek in color 66– DONE!! Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom  The More You Gnome by Sarah Schira, Plucky Knitter Plucky Feet in Miss Manners, Yarntini Sock in Match Point and Ginger Ice On the Easel 12:43 June art focus & a little poetry?   On the Table 15:28   New cookbook review coming later this summer: Veg Forward by Susan Spungen   Fast tomato curry with eggs from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian   Asparagus soup and Sugar snaps with ricotta from Weekday Vegetarians   https://smittenkitchen.com/2023/05/easy-strawberry-lemonade/   Strawberry Creme Fraiche Bars from 100 Cookies My gosh, these were SO GREAT! Parmesan Crackers from Savory Baking Duck-fat potatoes Ricotta Meatballs from I Dream of Dinner Temple lunch salads On the Nightstand 29:51 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   The Tudors in Love by Sarah Gristwood The Queen's Gambit by Elizabeth Freemantle (audio) Gigi, Listening by Chantel Guertin  A Spinster's Guide to Danger and Dukes by Manda Collins I is for Innocent by Sue Grafton (audio) Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone (audio)  Symphony of Secrets by Brendan Slocumb  Echo by Pam Muñoz Ryan (audio) The Fires by Sigríður Hagalín Björnsdóttir, trans by Larissa Kyzer  Some Desperate Glory by Emily Tesh Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld  Hang the Moon by Jeannette Walls Fashionopolis by Dana Thomas   Bingo 54:39 Starts friday may 26, ends Mon Sept 4 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2023 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry. Complete all three bird themed squares for bird themed prize. Debut author: gigi listening Someplace to visit: Iceland/the Fires New project: gnome POC: Symphony of Secrets    Taught Nate to make granola Read a different genre re: Fashionopolis Baked Parmesan Crackers from scratch Cooked bird-themed/duck-fat potatoes!

Episode 116 May 25, 2023 On the Needles 3:13 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     No more stitches

Episode 115 May 11, 2023 On the Needles 1:39 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     New gnome mkal coming! The More You Gnome on sale until June 1 Splash Pad Party sign ups open  One more knocker, 4 total and i won a prize from Alpenglow Industries! Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Vintage stripe sock by Yarntini (May 2009)-- DONE!! Dogwood Blanket by tincanknits, KnitPicks swish worsted in rose heather– DONEish! Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom  Gramps by tincanknits, knit picks swish worsted in mimic and marble heather Mahalle toe up sock by Urth Yarns, Uneek in color 66 Gridlines by Susanne Sommer   Lemonade Shop simple sock in Ugh People On the Easel 15:38 Visited LACMA, and finally found the multi-colored Koh-I-Noor magic pencils! Pulp Fiction show submission Charvin landscape and seascape sets from Jerry's Artarama in Houston. On the Table 23:21 Coffe_and_yarn: melissa clarks dinner in one review I'm cooking my way through it and it's as incredible as you said! I've tried 3 recipes so far and they've all been creative, easy, and fulfilling. Plus her adaptations make it easy to accommodate the multiple dietary preferences in my house. Thanks so much for introducing me to this book!   How to Cook Everything Vegetarian corn chowder with snowcap beans because they taste like potatoes   Strawberry rhubarb cobbler   Sesame chicken meatballs from I Dream of Dinner by Ali Slagle   Chicken & Potatoes with capers from Dinner in One by Melissa Clark  Kolache from Houston On the Nightstand 32:28 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   D is for Deadbeat by Sue Grafton (audio) E is for Evidence by Sue Grafton (audio) F is for Fugitive by Sue Grafton (audio) Lady's Code of Misconduct by Meredith Duran  The Duchess Deal by Tessa Dare  The Dead Queens Club by Hannah Capin   The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman Cursed Bread by Sophie MacIntosh Bingo 51:53 Starts friday may 26, ends Mon Sept 4 Need to post a photo of completed Bingo with #CCRRsummerbingo2023 to instagram or Ravelry.  Get a blackout for a second entry.   

Episode 114   April 26, 2023 On the Needles 2:17 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Gridlines by Susanne Sommer   Lemonade Shop simple sock in Ugh People Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Vintage stripe sock by Yarntini (may 2009) Knitted knockers, cascade ultra pima in chocolate– DONE!! Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom  Dogwood Blanket by tincanknits, KnitPicks swish worsted in rose heather   Cortney Sewing: Linden Sweatshirt from Grainline Studio On the Easel 10:26 Pulp Fiction Show submission   Still Life with very fragrant lilies On the Table 15:03 Green beans with preserved lemon Pasta primavera with preserved lemon   White Bean, Roasted Tomato + Polenta Pie from Julia Turshen   Sesame Asparagus & Carrot Chop from Smitten Kitchen Keepers   Sweet Korean Lentils  It Doesn't Taste Like Chicken   Greek Meatballs with Oven Fries and Olive dressing On the Nightstand 26:19 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai Galatea by Madeline Miller C is for Corpse by Sue Grafton (audio) The Jane Austen Society by Natalie Jenner (audio) To Love and to Loathe by Martha Waters Trespasses by Louise Kennedy Edie Richter is Not Alone by Rebecca Handler My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite Girls They Write Songs About by Carlene Bauer  

Episode 113 Conversation about crafting, food and books   I'm monica   April 17, 2023   THANK YOU LISTENERS old and new We hope this podcast will continue to be something you put on repeat On the Needles 1:58 ALL KNITTING LINKS GO TO RAVELRY UNLESS OTHERWISE NOTED.  Please visit our Instagram page @craftcookreadrepeat for non-Rav photos and info     Morning Sunshine Cowl by Stephanie Lotven/Tellybean Knits, Nanostitch Lab Microsock in California Poppy bundle (also available in DK)-- DONE!! Gridlines by Susanne Sommer   Lemonade Shop simple sock in Ugh People Vanilla is the New Black by Anneh Fletcher, Vintage stripe sock by Yarntini (may 2009) Knitted knockers, cascade ultra pima in chocolate Dark Academia by Sharon Hartley, Porter Wool Co fingering in Huntress, Serendipidye Coastside in Blossom  Knitty City Wool hat at the Cloisters, flower notebooks   On the Easel 17:52 Ai WeiWei interview via The Tate Modern about “Sunflower Seeds” Still Life with Daffodils Birds of Sayulita On the Table 22:45 Momofuku Noodle Bar!   Winter caprese   Garbanzo salad with cucumber, tomato and arugula from Rancho Gordo with preserved lemon!   Mexican Vanilla Extract On the Nightstand 32:15 We are now a Bookshop.org affiliate!  You can visit our shop to find books we've talked about or click on the links below.  The books are supplied by local independent bookstores and a percentage goes to us at no cost to you!   A is for Alibi by Sue Grafton (audio) B is for Burglar by Sue Grafton (audio) River Woman, River Demon by Jennifer Givan  VenCo by Cherie Dimaline  The Twyford Code by Janice Hallett  Restless Truth by Freya Marske (storygraph challenge) How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu  Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton Edie Richter is not Alone by Rebecca Handler   Strand Books Morgan Library   Women's Prize Long List 2023 VenCo by Cherie Dimaline Thin Air by Ann Cleeves Galatea by Madeline Miller I Have Some Questions for You by Rebecca Makkai

Welcome to our newest show at Impact Radio USA, "INTERVIEWS and MORE", the show that features past interviews from our guests on "Dr. Paul's Family Talk" radio show. In addition to continuing to promote our guests, this show also gives our listeners another opportunity to hear the great information that our guests have provided. As for the "More", we will cover everything from food, to cars, to Bible verses, to music, and so much "MORE"! NEW SHOWS ARE DROPPED EACH MONDAY AT 10:00 AM ET. On today's segment, we will play the interview with children's author and illustrator, SIVAN HONG; and author/musician, DAVID E. FELDMAN. SIVAN HONG, a bestselling children's book author and illustrator from Connecticut, will join us to discuss her bestselling series, "The Super Fun Day Books", including the titles, “Benny J. and the Horrible Halloween”, “George J. and the Miserable Monday”, “Emily D. and the Fearful First Day” and "Avery G. and the Scary End of School", as well as her latest release, "The School Collection: Super Fun Day, Books 1-4". FROM HER WEBSITE: "Sivan Hong's career spans over two decades in several industries and professions, including holding esteemed positions as a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and former partner at The Bridgespan Group. Today, Sivan authors and illustrates the best-selling children's book series The Super Fun Day Books, including Benny J. and the Horrible Halloween, George J. and the Miserable Monday, Emily D. and the Fearful First Day and Avery G. and the Scary End of School. Her inspiring books focus on neurodiverse children, who overcome their challenges with perseverance and bravery. Sivan also serves as a Trustee on the Boards of the Rita Allen Foundation, Multicultural Children's Book Day and the ASPCA. When she's not working, Sivan enjoys being a wife to her lovely husband and a mother to their two wonderful children. They have a dog and cat and live in Connecticut." sivanhong.com DAVID E. FELDMAN, an author, musician, and painter from New York, will join us to discuss his work as a musician, as well as all of his books, including his "Dora Ellison Mystery Series". FROM HIS WEBSITE: I write mysteries, crime fiction and the occasional standalone novel, which might be called literary fiction, historical drama or family saga. Social justice is often a theme or a backdrop or figures in some way in my stories. Along the way I have overcome drug addiction, spinal problems that were heading for paralysis, 2 hip replacements, intestinal resection with colostomy and cancer, all with God's and my doctors' help. I am also a working musician and painter. I have many favorite authors. They include but are not limited to Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Emma Straub, Anne Tyler, Arthur Miller, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, John Sandford, Lisa Gardner, Sue Grafton, and Tana French. I consider John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller and Pete Seeger to be American heroes. https://www.davidefeldman.com/books.shtml https://www.davidefeldman.com/press.shtml

Welcome to our newest show at Impact Radio USA, "INTERVIEWS and MORE", the show that features past interviews from our guests on "Dr. Paul's Family Talk" radio show. In addition to continuing to promote our guests, this show also gives our listeners another opportunity to hear the great information that our guests have provided. As for the "More", we will cover everything from food, to cars, to Bible verses, to music, and so much "MORE"! NEW SHOWS ARE DROPPED EACH MONDAY AT 10:00 AM ET. On today's segment, we will play the interview with children's author and illustrator, SIVAN HONG; and author/musician, DAVID E. FELDMAN. SIVAN HONG, a bestselling children's book author and illustrator from Connecticut, will join us to discuss her bestselling series, "The Super Fun Day Books", including the titles, “Benny J. and the Horrible Halloween”, “George J. and the Miserable Monday”, “Emily D. and the Fearful First Day” and "Avery G. and the Scary End of School", as well as her latest release, "The School Collection: Super Fun Day, Books 1-4". FROM HER WEBSITE: "Sivan Hong's career spans over two decades in several industries and professions, including holding esteemed positions as a professor at New York University's Stern School of Business and former partner at The Bridgespan Group. Today, Sivan authors and illustrates the best-selling children's book series The Super Fun Day Books, including Benny J. and the Horrible Halloween, George J. and the Miserable Monday, Emily D. and the Fearful First Day and Avery G. and the Scary End of School. Her inspiring books focus on neurodiverse children, who overcome their challenges with perseverance and bravery. Sivan also serves as a Trustee on the Boards of the Rita Allen Foundation, Multicultural Children's Book Day and the ASPCA. When she's not working, Sivan enjoys being a wife to her lovely husband and a mother to their two wonderful children. They have a dog and cat and live in Connecticut." sivanhong.com DAVID E. FELDMAN, an author, musician, and painter from New York, will join us to discuss his work as a musician, as well as all of his books, including his "Dora Ellison Mystery Series". FROM HIS WEBSITE: I write mysteries, crime fiction and the occasional standalone novel, which might be called literary fiction, historical drama or family saga. Social justice is often a theme or a backdrop or figures in some way in my stories. Along the way I have overcome drug addiction, spinal problems that were heading for paralysis, 2 hip replacements, intestinal resection with colostomy and cancer, all with God's and my doctors' help. I am also a working musician and painter. I have many favorite authors. They include but are not limited to Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Emma Straub, Anne Tyler, Arthur Miller, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, John Sandford, Lisa Gardner, Sue Grafton, and Tana French. I consider John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller and Pete Seeger to be American heroes. https://www.davidefeldman.com/books.shtml https://www.davidefeldman.com/press.shtml

Recorded Wednesday, February 22, 2023 Book talk begins at 32:25 Come join us knitting or crocheting your projects with CABLES! That's right, cables.  Come on over to the Cables KAL Chatter Thread to check out the rules and chat about your plans.  Dates are now until 5/15/23.   Virtual Knitting Group via Zoom Events Tracie and Barb will be at: Stitches West 2023 - March 2-5 at the Sacramento Convention Center in Sacramento, California.  Stay tuned for Episode 263, which will be our Stitches recap! The Northern California Knitting Retreat (NoCKRs) - April 27-30, 2023 at the St Francis Retreat Center in San Juan Bautista, California.  The retreat is now full, but you can still be put on the waiting list - message Tracie at 2knitlitchicks@gmail.com for info and the registration form. The TKGA Retreat 2023 - November 2-5, 2023 at the Hilton Charlotte University Place Hotel in Charlotte, North Carolina   KNITTING Finished Tracie has finished: Velvet Pullover by EweKnit Toronto (discontinued online) in Western Sky Knits Merino 17 Light dyed by Kim and me Penelope Romper by Linnea Nyman with a different cable pattern substituted in Berroco Pure Pima Soizic Headband by Along avec Anna in Plymouth Encore 4 Knitted Knockers in Cascade Ultra Pima and  Cloudborn Fibers Pima Cotton DK Barb has finished: Colourwheel DK 1 Ball Scarf, using a Sirdar Colourwheel in the Perfectly Pretty colorway Burgos vest by Rosa Pomar, using Plymouth Galway Worsted in the Grey Heather colorway Koko Bean Hat, using 5 colors of acrylic bear yarn   Tracie has frogged: Calyx by Elizabeth Doherty in Cloudborn Fibers Pima Cotton DK, knit in 2021   She has cast on: Zephyr Mark II by Celia Cahill in Laneras Barefoot in Coral Vanilla socks in Emma's Yarn Super Silky in Hot Tamale Vanilla socks in Western Sky Knits Merino 17 Light held double   Barb continues to work on: Hermione's Everyday Socks by Erica Leuder using Canon Hand Dyes sock set Blushing Braids Beanie by Amy Kate Sutherland, using Red Heart bear yarn in a light gray color   She has cast on: Low-key Cowl by Elizabeth Smith, using Cascade 220 in the green colorway (very old stash) Winters Beach by Andrea Mowry, using Madelinetosh Tosh DK in the Tart colorway.   And frogged: Citadel by Joji Locatelli, using Rowan RYC Wool Tweed   BOOKS Tracie read: The Good Wife: The Shocking Betrayal and Brutal Murder of a Godly Woman in Texas by Clint Richmond - 4 stars All That Fall by Kris Calvin - 3 stars Apples Never Fall by Liane Moriarty - 4 stars The Liar's Club by Mary Karr - 5 stars Stiff Arm Steal by AJ Stewart   Barb read: Y is for Yesterday by Sue Grafton - 4 stars Sunburn by Laura Lipman - 3.5 stars The Couple on Cedar Close by Anna-Lou Weatherley - 3.5 stars West with Giraffes by Lynda Rutledge - 5 stars Dead to Her by Sarah Pinborough - 3 stars   Barb recommends the film She Said on Peacock Premium or available to buy or rent on other streaming services

DAVID E. FELDMAN, an author, musician, and painter from New York, will join us to discuss his work as a musician, as well as all of his books, including his "Dora Ellison Mystery Series". FROM HIS WEBSITE: I write mysteries, crime fiction and the occasional standalone novel, which might be called literary fiction, historical drama or family saga. Social justice is often a theme or a backdrop or figures in some way in my stories. Along the way I have overcome drug addiction, spinal problems that were heading for paralysis, 2 hip replacements, intestinal resection with colostomy and cancer, all with God's and my doctors' help. I am also a working musician and painter. I have many favorite authors. They include but are not limited to Ray Bradbury, John Steinbeck, Emma Straub, Anne Tyler, Arthur Miller, Lee Child, Harlan Coben, John Sandford, Lisa Gardner, Sue Grafton, and Tana French. I consider John Steinbeck, Arthur Miller and Pete Seeger to be American heroes. https://www.davidefeldman.com/books.shtml https://www.davidefeldman.com/press.shtml

Kelly Brakenhoff is an author of six books and an ASL interpreter from Nebraska. She has served as an interpreter for deaf and hard of hearing persons now for over 30 years. You can tell how much she likes her chosen professions by listening to her as you get to do in this episode.   Kelly is especially excited by a series of books she has started involving Duke the Deaf Dog where she introduces readers to ASL, American Sign Language. She is working to help readers, especially children, better understand the deaf and hard of hearing community. On top of everything Kelly has done, she has used the crowdfunding program, Kickstarter, to help fund her newest book. It turns out that another famous author also used this program to fund their efforts. You get to hear all about it.   I very much hope you enjoy our episode this time and that you will give us a 5 rating. Thanks for listening.   About the Guest:   Kelly Brakenhoff is an author of six books and an ASL interpreter from Nebraska, US. She divides her writing energy between two series: cozy mysteries set on a college campus, and picture books featuring Duke the Deaf Dog.  Parents, kids, and teachers love the children's books because they teach American Sign Language using fun stories. And if you like a smart female sleuth, want to learn more about Deaf culture, or have ever lived in a place where livestock outnumber people, you'll enjoy the Cassandra Sato Mystery series.   Social media links:   kellybrakenhoff.com and follow her social media or blog by using this link: https://kellybrakenhoff.com/quicklinks/   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes* Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:21 Hi, and here we are once again with unstoppable mindset, the podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected me. And the unexpected, as always, is the fun part of the podcast. We love to carry on different kinds of conversations with people learn about them. And you know what I'm going to say once again, for any of you listening out there, I'd love to have conversations with you. I'll bet you have stories that we should talk about. So definitely reach out. Michael hingson.com/podcast or Michaelhi@accessibie.com. And I'd love to chat with you. But for now, we have Kelly Brakenhoff, who is here with us. She is an author, and ASL interpreter, and a Kickstarter campaign runner par excellence. But does that elevate you are what Kelly Welcome to unstoppable mindset. How are you?   Kelly Brakenhoff  02:18 Hi, I'm great. Thank you for having me. today. I'm really excited to be talking to you.   Michael Hingson  02:24 Well, I'm really excited to have a chance to chat with you and learn all about you and and learn why you're unstoppable. When I started this podcast, because we think that everyone has a story to tell, we all have had challenges in our lives and, and we've overcome them. And it doesn't need to be a huge challenge. But still a challenge is a challenge. And when we overcome it, that's great. And when we recognize that we did something that we didn't think we can do, then I think we fall into this concept of being able to move toward a mindset of unstop ability. And so we started unstoppable mindset, and we have a lot of fun with it. Well, why don't we start with your story a little bit? Why don't you tell us about you kind of growing up or anything about that that you think we ought to know?   Kelly Brakenhoff  03:12 Well, sure. Um, yeah, I'm a fan of your, your mindset, your your podcast, I think this is just the coolest thing. So like I said, just super excited to be here today. Um, I've been an ASL interpreter for more than 30 years, and an author for just over three years. So although I'm a veteran interpreter, I'm still a baby author and publisher. I learned new things every day. So I guess you can teach an old dog new tricks. I guess. I've moved around. One thing that's interesting about me as I've moved around quite a bit. I grew up in Connecticut. I've lived in Nebraska, Boston, Hawaii, Seattle. And then now we've been in Nebraska for quite a while since Austin. Last Boston, Boston. Yes.   Michael Hingson  04:01 So can you say it pack your car and have a yard? Of course.   Kelly Brakenhoff  04:07 My uncle is from South Boston and so he married my aunt who's from upstate New York and listening to the to talk was so fun. I lived with them for a summer in college. And and I just had such is such a fun time, especially if they like had a little discussion or something you know, and they they get the voices raised and they'd start going in their accent they revert.   Michael Hingson  04:35 I lived in Winthrop, Massachusetts for three years and spent some time in the in the Boston area before then and back a little bit but I love the accent but I love Massachusetts. I love New England in general. And my wife and I have a story about Mr. Connecticut. We were going there for something and And I don't even remember what it was. And we were we were traveling the right way but we were traveling a lot further than we thought we needed to to get to Mystic So ever since I've been saying that one of the things about mystic is it moves around and doesn't stay in one place. So I'm sticking   Kelly Brakenhoff  05:17 to memory of mystic is going there on probably a sixth grade field trip. And you know afterwards, the field trip they take you through the gift shop and I bought a little pewter whale. Yeah, sure. I still have it somewhere in the bookcase somewhere in my house.   Michael Hingson  05:39 We stopped at a restaurant there. The second time we went to mystic and I'm still convinced it wasn't in the same place. It was the first time we went to a restaurant and sat right along the river and watch the drawbridge coming up, which was   Kelly Brakenhoff  05:55 that is really fun. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  05:57 definitely. Yeah. We love New England. And I hope that we get a chance to go back there. I have all sorts of stories about Boston. We went I went a lot over to Daniel hall into Quincy Market and ADA Durgan. Park. Have you ever eaten there?   Kelly Brakenhoff  06:13 I have it in there. Yes, I love Faneuil Hall.   Michael Hingson  06:16 I don't know whether Durgin Park is still open. I've heard it. I've heard that it is. But I'll have to tell you. Well, I'll tell you the story about Durgan Park. It's a Durgin Park, for those who don't know, is a restaurant that if it's still there, serves food family style, and they have tables along the side. That will seat for people. But you have to have four people, if you want to sit at one of those tables. If you have three, you sit at the long tables in the middle. If you have too long tables in the middle. They're very snotty about it. In fact, waitresses and waiters are hired to be snots. It's all an act, but they're supposed to be absolutely obnoxious. They're just what some people would say the typical clothes New England style of of being, if you will, but anyway, we go into the restaurant one night, and it was me and two other people and my guide dog Holland, who is a golden retriever with the most luscious eyes in the world. And the hostess said, you know, I'm just going to let you guys sit at one of the tables for four. So she seats us and the waitress comes over. And she says what are you people doing here? You can't sit at this table. And I said, well, the host has put it put us here. No, she didn't you just snuck in here. You can't sit at this table. And she yelled at us. And we said no. We got to sit be seated here because we have a guide dog under the table. No, you don't I don't believe that. You're not going to fool me with that. You can't sit here and she just went on. Then she goes away. And she comes back and she said you can't sit here I said, look under the table. Finally she looks. There's these eyes just staring back at her. And she just melts. And the next thing we know she goes away. One of the things about Durgin Park is that they serve a when they serve prime rib. It's a huge piece of prime rib that takes the whole plate. She comes back with this plate. She said somebody didn't eat much of their prime rib. Can I give it to the dog? And oh, it was great. But it's just fun memories of all over Boston. So I'm glad you had a chance to be there. Well, enough about me in that. So you've lived all over?   Kelly Brakenhoff  08:29 We have we've moved a lot and you haven't moved a lot recently. But when when I was younger, I moved quite a bit.   Michael Hingson  08:35 Yes. What caused you to be moving around. Um, we   Kelly Brakenhoff  08:39 grew up in Connecticut. And then in high school, my parents decided my mom's from Nebraska so and my dad's from upstate New York. So when I was in high school, we moved our family moved to Nebraska. And then when my husband and I first got married, he worked for a construction company who moved us to Hawaii for five years that works. That worked. That was a great honeymoon, We'd only been married six weeks. And so that was that was a five year honeymoon. That was awesome. Our first couple of kids were born there. And we decided that we after a year or so they really didn't get to see their grandparents very often. So he decided to move back to the mainland and we made a stop first in Seattle and then we came back to Nebraska. So we've been in here for quite a while but I really enjoyed getting to experience all the different cultures and all the different places and I also have a very soft spot in my heart for New England to   Michael Hingson  09:35 Well, it's great to live in various parts of the US shows what a wonderful and just incredible country we are with all sorts of different cultures that can really blend and meld together to form what we get to experience if we only keep the culture going as as really we are the melting pot and that just makes it so Great when we get to see that,   Kelly Brakenhoff  10:01 I totally agree i Yeah.   Michael Hingson  10:04 So how old are your kids now?   Kelly Brakenhoff  10:07 They are grown up. We have four kids, three boys and one girl. And so the oldest is 21 going to be 29. And our youngest just graduated from college last year. So he's 22 in Nebraska, and Nebraska. Huskers everybody's a Husker.   Michael Hingson  10:28 Go Huskers Go Big Red. Yep.   Kelly Brakenhoff  10:31 So um, but we have four grandkids too. So that's a lot of fun. And we're really lucky. They all live in town, so I get to see them quite a bit.   Michael Hingson  10:38 That works. So you see you fix it up. So you now have this this Braden half ghetto, if you will,   Kelly Brakenhoff  10:45 yes, my Twitter handle is actually in Brockville. Because one of my friends quite a while ago used to tease me that I was trying to create my own village. So we call it in Brock anvil.   Michael Hingson  10:59 There you go, that works. Nothing wrong with that. Well, so I know you're an author. And I know that you are an ASL interpreter, and so on, tell me how you got into being involved with ASL. And a little bit more about all that.   Kelly Brakenhoff  11:16 Sure. Um, I in high school, I volunteered at a camp for deaf kids. My parents wanted me to do something in the summer and stay out of trouble. So they kind of sent me to go volunteer. And at this camp. In the end, I didn't know any sign language. So I got a book. And I started trying to figure out a few signs before I first went to this camp. Of course, the first few weeks I was there, I had no idea what anyone was saying, because they were all using sign language. And I didn't know it. But by the end of the summer, I had learned quite a bit and I had made some really good friends. And I just kept learning during the school year, when they went when they were all gone. I kept taking classes and reading more books. And it actually turned out to be my, the language that I took when I was in college, it counted as my foreign language. And I just kept learning and hanging around with Deaf people. And eventually, my mentors in ASL, the deaf people that I was friends with, invited me to try interpreting for them. And I didn't, if I had known, I wasn't very good, but they were very kind. And they they asked me to interpret so I did and it just ended up kind of something I fell into. It wasn't something I intended to do. But it's become my whole life's work, and I really like it.   Michael Hingson  12:40 So is that kind of a full time job? Or are your vocation then?   Kelly Brakenhoff  12:43 Yeah, I would say it, it's my Well, it's hard to say what's my vocation because I also really love being an author, even though I haven't been published until recently. But I've been a writer my whole life in college, I actually majored in English. And I always wanted to be a writer, it just, I guess the interpreting thing just kind of was a very long detour. But I always wrote even when I was interpreting and so in raising my family and stuff, so once my kids started getting into high school and college, and I started looking around for something to fill some of my empty hours. That was when I really got serious about finishing my first book.   Michael Hingson  13:27 Well, from from an ASL standpoint, and interpreting it certainly is something that's, that's a little bit different. What have you learned about deafness and disabilities and so on from being involved in all of that,   Kelly Brakenhoff  13:41 oh, my goodness, we don't have enough there's not enough time in the day to talk about it's just changed my whole mindset, like, like, you've talked about that. I think it's just a way of looking at the world. Like a lot of people think that people who are deaf and hard of hearing, it's about your ears being broken, but it's really just a different way to move through life. So instead of a hearing world do like they have a visual world, so everything is visual. So it's like the opposite of what you experience now. So it's, it's just a way of moving through the world, you know that. And so instead of being like broken and something that needs to be fixed, it's just kind of a way of life. I guess. I just have a lot of respect. I've worked a lot in at the University of Nebraska. So I work with a lot of college students. And I've over the years done just Gosh, 20 Something different majors. I sit in on all the classes. I interpret what the teachers seen at the front of the class, and the discussions that the students do. And so I've gotten to learn a lot of things just by osmosis over the years and I have a really deep respect for the students because you know, their classmates sitting in the same room with them, they can listen to the lecture, write notes, you know, go online and do stuff all while this is all going on, whereas the deaf student has to sit there and watch me. If they want to take their own notes, they kind of have to look down and take their own notes, but then still keep an eye on me. And then if there's a PowerPoint, they're trying to watch that. And if there's a video, they're hoping that it has good captions, and so like, there's so many things going on, that it's amazing that they can get as much as they do out of the classes. And then of course, they have to study so much more afterwards, because a lot of times, they have to go back over the notes or back over the reading to see what they missed, because they were just, you know, a lot of their attention during the class is on me. So it's just given me a really healthy respect for how intelligent and how hard workers the students are. And I've just kind of seen that in all walks of life. I've interpreted for a lot of different situations, and different businesses and all kinds of things. And I just, I'm always in awe of how, how hard workers, the deaf students and just deaf adults in their job, or   Michael Hingson  16:13 how did the students then really get the job of notetaking done? Do they oftentimes have people who take notes for them? Or are they successful enough at taking notes themselves,   Kelly Brakenhoff  16:26 it really depends on the student and their preference. You know how some people don't mind having someone else take the notes, because then they can pay more attention to the interpreter and the PowerPoint and the teacher. But then other people maybe don't, you know, when you take notes, we could listen to the same speaker and your notes would be different than mine. And so some students don't really trust that another student is going to write down the same things that they would have written down if they were taking their own notes. So it really is a personal preference. But luckily, now, with the technology, I have a couple of students who, so they're deaf, and they use ASL and they use interpreters, but they also use cart, which is the captioning service. And so they'll have a laptop, or they also use like an otter, which is an app that the teacher wears a microphone and then it, it makes a transcript of everything that the teacher has said, and then they can save it. So I have a few students who even though they're, you know, pretty much dependent on the sign language for comprehension, they still use the transcript, because then they can go back later and like highlight the parts that they thought were important. And then it's kind of I think more in their control. Or if sometimes, like an English word has, you know, five different signs for it. And so if I do a sign, and they want to know what the exact English word was, they can look at the transcript and see oh, okay, that's the word that, you know, I need to remember or that's the word that I want to know. So I think it's great that they have all these tools. Because, gosh, back in the day, when I first started, none of that existed. And a lot of times, they would just have someone else take notes for them. And if that person wasn't a good note taker, they were kind of out of luck.   Michael Hingson  18:25 We use otter actually to do the transcribing of all of these podcasts. So that one unstoppable mindset is published. There's a written transcription as well. So we use otter to do that. And oftentimes, I will use otter to transcribe a meeting, or make it possible, make it possible for for people to come into the podcast, and listen and watch if you will in real time, which makes a lot of sense. So I found that otter works really well.   Kelly Brakenhoff  19:00 Yeah, I've tried several different apps and different services, because I have a thing to like you, I really want to make my website as accessible as possible, and my appearances as accessible as possible. So I get transcripts made of all the podcasts that I do whether the provider does or not. And so I've tried several different services, and I do agree that I think otter is a it produces a good product, and the price is good, too. So   Michael Hingson  19:33 I certainly right, you're right, the price is certainly right. But also, it does a good job and it's improving over time. Some people have said they're better systems than otter and I haven't really tried other services. And the people who help with the podcasts have looked at various things and we all end up settling on otter it really works well.   Kelly Brakenhoff  19:54 That's good to know. That's good to know, because a couple of years ago I tested several and I haven't read rechecked back into it. And the last six months, it's great. I think the one of the good benefits of the pandemic has been, how everyday people have realized that speech to text. And other, just things that we used to think of as being accessible for people with disabilities are now helpful for like everyone. And people have just come to realize that with all the Zoom meetings, and all of the the work from home solutions, so things that used to be just in the realm of special are now every day and they're all getting better, because we all demand that they get better. So the AI captions and everything are so much better than they were even just a few years ago.   Michael Hingson  20:47 Well, and then look at that you bring a very good point to light, which is that oftentimes, there are things that we use, that when other people start to use them first of all makes them much, much more affordable. But also, that will cause them to improve a lot more than otherwise they would have look at Dragon Naturally Speaking that started out as Dragon Dictate and did okay. And now Dragon is a lot better. I don't think that it transcribes as well as otter does in terms of plugging in punctuations, and so on. But I'm not surprised or wouldn't be surprised if that improves over time. But when you look at what otter does, it's pretty incredible.   Kelly Brakenhoff  21:31 It is it really is. And the What's incredible to me is the the short amount of time that it's gotten better. So I think that's great. But like you said, I think I guess it's sad to me that it takes it took a pandemic for enough people to use the tools that we've all been using for years to you know, demand a higher quality and a lower price. But I guess you know, if that's one good thing that comes out of all this, and that's great.   Michael Hingson  22:02 I think we tend to just get locked in to doing things one way and we, for whatever reason tend to be very slow at looking at other options. And you're right, the pandemic has made a significant difference and look at how many people are using zoom as opposed to pre pandemic, yet, Zoom has been there. The other thing that we've noticed along the way with Zoom is that they have deliberately and absolutely focused on accessibility and inclusion. So when a person who is blind encounters a problem with zoom in something is working right. There is a process to report that and we find that very quickly, it gets resolved, because they have a whole team working on issues to make sure that Zoom continues to be very inclusive.   Kelly Brakenhoff  22:55 Yes, I agree. Because I think when we first started with Zoom, the there was no, the only way you could have captions was hiring a person to do the captions. And then once they started making them automatic and everything that that was huge. That was that was huge. That's I'm glad to hear that they have a team doing it. And I agree, their improvements have have been amazing.   Michael Hingson  23:23 I don't want to put zoom on the spot, but have you compared otter with, if you compare it to otter with the zoom, automatic closed captioning,   Kelly Brakenhoff  23:31 um, I have, I guess if I just stop and think about it, I think they're pretty similar. What's actually kind of funny is when I will do a large meeting on Zoom, where I'm one of the interpreters. So I'm one of the little heads in the Brady Bunch group of people on Zoom. So I'll interpret for some of the deaf people in the meeting. And what I'll do sometimes is I'll turn on the captions because, you know, occasionally I might have a hard time hearing someone talking, or I might miss something or whatever. And so I can look at the captions and see if you know try to correct myself or, you know, check my accuracy. And yeah, so I have seen some pretty bad interpretations on our transcript on on Zoom and on otter, where things just don't come out. Right. It's, it's definitely for people who speak like standard slow American English once you have any kind of an accent or any kind of, if you speak too quickly, then the captions pretty much everywhere are a lot harder to understand. But they like I said, I still think they've gotten a lot better, which   Michael Hingson  24:48 I only asked that just out of curiosity because I know that the service is there to do automatic transcription or captioning. And I've never, never asked anyone exactly how well it does, except I've heard that it does a good job, but I've never compared it to like otter or something. And I bought otter for teens. And the reason I did that is so that it is now set up and integrated with Zoom. So it automatically starts when I opened a Zoom meeting. And what I do usually is unless there's a need to I will stop it. But it automatically starts when I come into a meeting that I that I initiate, and that's great, because then I don't even have to think about it. And it's a an effort of volition if I want to stop it.   Kelly Brakenhoff  25:42 Oh, yeah, that's great. I didn't realize you can set it up that way. That's awesome.   Michael Hingson  25:45 Yeah, the otter for teams. Home, I think, unless the price has changed, it was like $240 a year. And if you're a nonprofit, or whatever, it's half that. So it's not even a lot of money to do it, which is what's great.   Kelly Brakenhoff  26:00 That is That's awesome. Well, thank you. So the more users that use things, then the cheaper the price for everyone. And I think that's what we're seeing now with a lot of these tools.   Michael Hingson  26:12 It is ironic that we have to go through something like a pandemic to see things become more available, and for people to start to see that maybe some of the tools that say a person who is blind or low vision, or a person who is deaf or hard of hearing uses might very well be relevant for the rest of us. I'm still amazed that in driving with people using cell phones, we don't find more automatic use of the verbal technology voiceover for Apple and talkback on an Android, I'm surprised that we don't see more use of those verbal systems. In the driving experience, there's no reason not to do that, and do more to keep people's eyes on the road. Unfortunately, we're going the other way, we're getting more driving experiences with touchscreens, which means somebody's got to watch the screen, or look down and then quickly look back at the road. Why should that even have to happen today? Because we have such good voice technology. And we can also have good voice input technology to go along with it.   Kelly Brakenhoff  27:21 That's an excellent point. That's, that's so true. Yes, there's definitely you know, all the fancy touchscreens. But when I got my latest car, I had to sit in the driveway with the owner's manual for an hour just to figure out how to reprogram the clock. So you definitely don't want to be doing any of that while you're on the road. Well,   Michael Hingson  27:42 if you and I, I love Tesla's and I think that the technology is great, it is demonstrating the state of the art technology that's out there. But it's all controlled by a touchscreen, which means a blind passenger, I can't even do what a passenger would do to tune the radio or turn on a podcast or turn on whatever the services are available, much less anything else, because it's all touchscreen. And there's no reason for that today, we should be able to keep people's eyes more on the road. Even if you have the Tesla copilot function, which can take over a good part of the driving experience. It's not an autonomous vehicle software, but it can help with the driving experience. People should be keeping their eyes on the road not watching a touchscreen. And I'm still amazed that we're not seeing more people recognize the value of audio input and output.   Kelly Brakenhoff  28:36 I did not realize that I wrote in my first Tesla just a few months ago, and it was really neat, but I didn't I guess I just assumed that they had voice input things. I mean, wow, that's that's really shocking. as fancy as that whole system is that is very surprising. Well, let me let me rephrase that Ilan and say, hey,   Michael Hingson  28:59 well, let me rephrase it a little bit. There is availability of voice input for some things, but it's not an automatic process. So you have to invoke it, then you have to do something, I think to make it work every time you want to use it. What I'm saying is, it should be as much a part of the driving experience as anything else. And I'm saying it should be more part of the driving experience than using a touchscreen, it should be automatic. And we don't do that. We're too young to eyesight and we think that eyesight is the only game in town. Just like I'm sure that people who are deaf and hard of hearing would say that most people think that hearing is the only game in town. And in the in reality is neither is true. Exactly. I've said for years that I've said for years that people with disability, well, people who have eyesight, have their own disability and that is their light dependent. They can't do things without light Thomas Edison as the Americans with Disabilities Back would define it developed a reasonable accommodation for light dependent people when he created the light bulb. Let's get real, and I and I don't have the stitches. Lee it's true. You know, it's it's unfortunate that people are so locked into doing things one way that they're missing opportunities to make driving safer. But there you go.   Kelly Brakenhoff  30:22 I love that. I love that idea. I love that idea. I think that should be used to make that a thing as a political movement. I love that.   Michael Hingson  30:31 Yeah, well, we got to get Elon to go along with it.   Kelly Brakenhoff  30:34 Well, you know, he's kind of busy with Twitter right now. So maybe that all wrapped up, then he can he can focus his brain power on this?   Michael Hingson  30:43 Well, once he gets it set up, and if he's gonna do Twitter, then we'll start doing tweets. Oh, there you go. There you go. What a world we live in right now. So you said that you've done a lot of writing, you've been very much involved in writing, since college and so on. Why do you like writing so much?   Kelly Brakenhoff  31:07 Honestly, I don't know. I think it's just how I think how I process things. It's communication, talking to people talking to people like you. That's just kind of how I think it's just, just what I do is is who I am. That's a pretty simple answer.   Michael Hingson  31:26 We'll put Hey, it works. It works. So you said you just pretty recently got involved in starting to actually write books?   Kelly Brakenhoff  31:36 Yeah, I think it was 2014. I joined NaNoWriMo for the first time, which for people who haven't heard of that, it stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's in November, where, gosh, by this day, by last year, I think it was around 750,000 people around the world, try to write 16 167 words a day for 30 days, and you come up with a 50,000 word manuscript by the end of the month. And that was signing up for that challenge was because I'm kind of competitive. So if I sign up for a challenge like that, I'm gonna do it. So that was like the thing that broke the barrier for me of just having ideas and just wanting to write and whatever and actually finishing a manuscript for the first time. That's what kind of gave me that push to actually do it.   Michael Hingson  32:33 So what did you publish your own books? Are they published through a publisher or what?   Kelly Brakenhoff  32:38 Yes, they are. They're self published, I tried for about a year to publish my firt, or to find an agent and all of that for my first one. And then at the same time, I was also checking into self publishing. And I don't know I think just a lot of factors kind of all converged. And I just decided at the end that self publishing was was the way to go. I'm kind of a control freak. And I like to, I like to have the my input into how to make you know, I hire my whole team. So I have an editor and a cover designer and and proofreaders and all of that stuff. And I get to decide what the finished product ends up to be. And it turns out that, yeah, I'm kind of bossy I guess.   Michael Hingson  33:23 You have a publicist who helps with the PR, and all that. I do.   Kelly Brakenhoff  33:27 I do. It's a it's called creative edge is the one that I use. And, and they've really, I've really enjoyed being part of that group.   Michael Hingson  33:37 I met Mickey a couple of months ago, actually, for the first time, he was introduced to me by someone else that we interviewed on the unstoppable mindset podcast. And she said, you know, he works with a lot of authors who might very well have interesting stories for you. And so that's how we met him. And we've actually started working with him as well. We're just getting started. But having written thunder dog, which was, and we're blessed by the fact that it was a number one New York Times bestseller, and then was published by Thomas Nelson part of HarperCollins. Now, but then we self published our second book, which was called running with Roselle, which was kind of more for youth, but more adults by it than then kids do. And it's the story of me growing up and Rozelle growing up. And then how we met after she became a guide dog in training, and she became my guide dog, and you know, kind of went from there, but I love writing, but I haven't done that much of it. We are starting to work on a third book, and that'll be a lot of fun. And we just got a book contract for that as well. So that's pretty exciting.   Kelly Brakenhoff  34:46 That's great. Congratulations. I didn't know that. That's awesome.   Michael Hingson  34:51 But But I'm curious. You've written I guess basically what two different kinds of books children's books and mysteries. How do you do mystery How do you come up with a plot? And how do you? Do you make it all come together? Because I think mystery writing has to be if you do it well, it has to be a real challenge to come up with a not only a plot, but create all of the scenes, do all the things that you need to do. And essentially, keep the solution hidden until the end of the book unless there's some value in presenting that earlier. And it's really how you get there.   Kelly Brakenhoff  35:30 Yeah, that's a funny question. Because I definitely write in extremes. I mean, I write 70,000, word mysteries, and then I write 500, word picture books for the children's books. So very different, very different approaches. But yeah, the mysteries and thrillers are kind of the things that I have always read my whole life. So I thought when I wanted to do that first NaNoWriMo challenge, I decided to kind of mash up all of my experiences. Like I said, I've lived in Hawaii and Nebraska, the East Coast, Seattle. So I kind of took all of those different elements working at a college and I put them all together into this murder mystery. And I got about two thirds of the way through and realized exactly what you said that writing a mystery is hard. It's actually one of I think, the most difficult genres to do because exactly for the reason you said, you want to make that mystery puzzle complicated enough that it can't be solved too early. Mystery readers are very smart people. And so it's very challenging coming up with enough suspects and clues to keep people guessing until the end. I guess I just love a challenge. I think it's it's fun, but it's also just what I love to read and write. So a read so it was kind of the most natural thing to write.   Michael Hingson  36:59 I think you just hit on it. Essentially. mysteries are puzzles and puzzles are as good as it gets. Who are your favorite mystery writers?   Kelly Brakenhoff  37:10 Oh, I have so many.   Michael Hingson  37:12 Yeah, me too. Yeah.   Kelly Brakenhoff  37:15 I think like my, you know, the ones I kind of grew up with was like Sue Grafton. So that letter A is for those Jana Ivanovic. There's Stephanie Plum Siri   Michael Hingson  37:27 plum. Hey, come on. We all love diesel, but that's another story.   Kelly Brakenhoff  37:30 Oh, yeah, diesel's awesome, too. Well, I'm sure being you live. You said you live in New Jersey, right? Oh, yes. Yeah. So you're very familiar with tenants. Definitely. Trenton definitely fun. And then I also just love like John Grisham and James Patterson and Michael Connelly. I mean, gosh, I just, that's all. I haven't really met very many mysteries that I didn't like.   Michael Hingson  37:54 Yeah. My my favorite still is Rex Stout with the neuro wolf series. Oh, yeah. Yeah, they I've never solved any of his books before the end. And I worked at it. I love Mary Higgins Clark. But I was able to basically figure out all of the, the mean people in that before the end of the book, still, they were fun to read   Kelly Brakenhoff  38:20 is fun, right? I mean, as long as it's a good story, even if guests are having an idea of did it by the end, as long as the character still keep you in it. And a lot of times this setting is kind of a character to then I don't mind, you know, reading to the end to confirm that I was right. I think what's funny since I became a writer, and I don't know, you can tell me if this is true for yourself. But since I became a writer, an author, I kind of ruined for reading, like I read a lot. But I read now to learn and to see what when I read a really good book, I love to pick it apart and and see why it's good. And not just the structure of it. But like if I if that paragraph was beautiful, I'll go back and read that paragraph several times and try to figure out what is so great about that paragraph, or when someone throws a twist or a turn in or I thought I knew who it was. And then at the end, I find out it was someone else. I just love that. That thrill of like, oh, you fooled me, you know, and I really like to think about all of that. But that means that a lot of times I'm not really enjoying the book. I'm like studying the book. And so I have found that if if I really get so sucked into a book that I am not doing that, that means that it's a really, really good book because if it took me out of my analysis into just enjoying it, then that's a me that's the mark of a very good book.   Michael Hingson  39:53 Sue Graf passed away from cancer did her last book ever get published? Because I don't think she finished it, did she?   Kelly Brakenhoff  39:59 It did not odds are one of those.   Michael Hingson  40:01 Zero Yeah,   Kelly Brakenhoff  40:03 yeah. The sad things. Is it never it's, it's not finished. I don't even know how far she got in it. But it wasn't finished enough to be published. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  40:12 yeah, I guess that's kind of what happened. But her mysteries were definitely some of the best. And we read them all. And some twice, which is always fun if I if I want to read a book a second time. And I don't have that many hours in the day that that's easy to do. But if I want to read a book a second time, then I know that there is something about it that I must have enjoyed. And we read here, a lot of books on audio, audible and other sources. The reason we do is that instead of watching TV, we pipe books through the house, my wife has learned to listen to audio. So we listen to books together. What I've been occasionally finding are editor mistakes where they said something and then later on referring back something, they say something different. Somebody messed up in editing it, and I don't see it often. But I do occasionally see it and I always find them. Which is a fun.   Kelly Brakenhoff  41:15 It is it's i It's funny, because, you know, even though my books are self published, I work really hard not to have those kinds of errors. Yeah, they go through an editor, at least one editor, numerous BETA readers, numerous proofreaders. And then, you know, six months after I published it all open it up, and I see a typo. And it's like, at first I used to get so frustrated at that. And then now I saw something one time on Facebook, it was like, cheers to you, you typo you made it through three rounds of editing, 10 proofreaders and you still made it you you go, you know,   Michael Hingson  41:58 I when I was in college, we used in freshman and sophomore physics, a series of books called the Berkeley physics series, because it came out of there. And I had a dorm mate, who looked in detail at every single book, looking for a mistake, because he said a lot of books, there are editing mistakes. And he said he finally found one in one of the Berkeley physics books, but he said it was so fun looking just to see any error. And he couldn't find them in the Berkeley physics series. It was just incredible that he spent that time. On the other hand, he was an excellent student. So I guess he learned from it as he was reading.   Kelly Brakenhoff  42:43 Have a niece who's a doctor and they actually some textbook company paid her. I don't know if she just got free books. Or if she actually got paid her last year of med school, they they paid her to go through the as she was going through the textbook to note down any errors that she found.   Michael Hingson  43:03 See, it's always good to to read as much as possible and proofread as much as possible. And you're right. There's nothing like a good editor to help.   Kelly Brakenhoff  43:12 Right, exactly, exactly.   Michael Hingson  43:14 So how hard was it to write your first mystery? Oh, must have a lot   Kelly Brakenhoff  43:22 of courage. And it was a lot of it was a lot of I think I must have gone through 10 or 15 jobs. It took me five years to finish it, it was ugly, there was a lot of tears. But you know, you just learned so much I kind of consider it like getting a master's degree. I just did it at home with my, my own process. But you know, I just had to learn a lot. You have to be humble, you have to be willing to accept criticism and advice from other people. But I feel like it taught me a lot. And of course, then the second book teaches you even more and the third and you know, each one you do, I think you just learn more, either about yourself or about writing. I'd love to read books about writing craft and how to do better. You know, I want every single book that I write to be better than the last. I think most authors are that way.   Michael Hingson  44:15 They get easier the more you write. That's a   Kelly Brakenhoff  44:18 funny question, because I'm right in the middle of writing my fourth mystery right now. And I've been stalled for quite a while. And what it's taught me is just about myself and my process and what I thought my process was versus what I'm finding. I thought I could speed it up, but it's actually making me slow down. So that means that I was not speeding it up correctly. If that makes sense.   Michael Hingson  44:46 Yeah. Well, and I don't know whether it becomes easier or not. I have been very blessed when we did thunder dog. I had someone to collaborate and help with it Susie Florrie And that happened because she actually found Me, because she was writing a book called Dawn tales, which was 17 stories about dogs who had stories. And she wanted to include Roselle in that. And she did. But as we discussed my story, she said, You should really write a book. And so we got started down that road. And I met her agent who became my agent, Chip McGregor on thunder dog. And we, we had a good time and collaborated well. And I think that there was a lot of value in that for me, because I know that I don't have the writing experience as such. But I know what's good when I read it. And I also know that I can add value. So we really had a very collaborative process of writing thunder dog, a lot of it is hers, and a lot of it is mine directly. And we blended the two which was great. Now with the third book that we're getting, which is getting ready to do, which is going to talk about fear and controlling fear and people learning that they can overcome fear and not let it blind them, if you will, to being able to make decisions. The working title is a guide dogs Guide to Being brave, and I'm doing that with a friend of Susie's Carrie, Carrie Wyatt can't. Because Suzy is in a Ph. D. program. Yeah, we love the title. We'll see what the publisher does. We've got a contract for it. We'll see what the publisher does with it over time. But so far everybody likes it. That was a carry creation, because I was going to call it blinded by fear, which was more accurate in some senses. But I think a guide dogs Guide to Being brave is a lot better title.   Kelly Brakenhoff  46:35 Yeah, it reminds me of that one. Is it the Art of Racing in the Rain? Yeah, yeah, it kind of reminds me of something like that, where it's it's a little off of what the theme of the book is, but it's still engaging, and it makes you want to know more about it.   Michael Hingson  46:54 It was a good book. And so   Kelly Brakenhoff  46:57 you said something that really resonated with me, you said, I know, it's good when I read it. And I think that's a big obstacle for beginning writers. And is that usually, if you're a writer, you're a reader first. And so I've read tons and tons of great books, and I know what great literature is, and I know what a great story is. And then when I write my first one, it's not very good. So you kind of have that, that huge gap between what you know is good and what you've produced. And so it's, it's, it's hard, you have to overcome that, that feeling of, of my stuff is really bad, you know, and then you have to work really hard to make it as good as, as you want it to be, you know, as good as it is to be able to actually share with the world, you know, to get up to that level of what your your bar is the bar that you've set. And so I think that's something that stands it's a barrier to a lot of people. And that's where I think a good editor comes. Yeah.   Michael Hingson  48:05 Yeah. Well look at John Grisham. You mentioned earlier the first book he wrote If I recall was a time to kill but it was the third one published the first one that he wrote, and it was published was the firm and then I'm trying to remember what the second one was. Was it the Pelican Brief the Pelican Brief right? And then A Time to Kill, which was the Jake Brigantes initiator, if you will. But if you look at all of them, you can see how the the books evolved over time in his writing style. So it's it is a natural progression. And I mentioned Rex Stout, a Nero Wolf, if you go back and read fair to Lance, which was his first book, and you compare it with especially much later writings, you can see changes, but you can see where everything is starting from and you get engaged in in fact, fair Lance was not the first mirror wolf book I read. by a longshot. It wasn't the first, but having gone back and read it. Even though everyone in the book all the characters developed a fair amount and since then, and his writing style improved. It was engaging. Mm hmm. Well, tell me about your mystery series,   Kelly Brakenhoff  49:26 sir. Um, it's about a college administrator named Cassandra Sato and she lives in Hawaii. She gives up her her life in Hawaii to move to Nebraska because she wants to accept her dream job at a tiny college called Morton college in the middle of nowhere in Nebraska. And she and her eventual goal is to become a college administrators or college president. So she thinks this is you know, the Path is gonna get her there. But of course, moving from Hawaii to Nebraska is a very, very large cultural, cultural shift. And so she encounters all kinds of problems, discrimination, barriers, everything. And a few months into her job, a student turns up dead on campus and see has to be part of the group of people who figures out what happened to the student and then find justice.   Michael Hingson  50:28 Yeah, come on. Cassandra really did. And she's been hiding a whole series. Yeah, that's   Kelly Brakenhoff  50:33 the end of the series. It was Cassandra.   Michael Hingson  50:35 That will come later on about the hundreds book, right. That's awesome. When Karen and my wife and I are talking about who did it in various books, we, we usually do things like that. We've been reading a lot of the JE NACHA as well, we read a chance to but the JD Robb books, the in depth series, have you read those. And so I read very many of those now, we we oftentimes will spin a story how Eve Dallas really did it. Or Roark did it and had just a lot of fun with it. But again, a great series of books is there's a lot of sex in those books, but they're still taking Ross. Yeah, they're great mysteries.   Kelly Brakenhoff  51:20 Yeah, a lot of times people like the ones that I write well, obviously, I have four kids and grandkids. And my kids would cringe if I if they had to read a sex scene that I wrote. So, you know, my kids were like, high school and college age when I started writing. So I decided all the sex in my books, there's gonna be behind closed doors, and yeah, nobody, nobody wants to have their mom. Yeah, no.   Michael Hingson  51:46 I've, I've talked to several authors who say that who, one who said I would never any more, I would never let my daughter or my wife, wife read the books, or I changed the sex so that they could read them. But the value of having them read them as they're great critics, and so it's worthwhile. But yeah, it is fun to to see how people react. But, you know, a mystery. Doesn't need to have all the violence thrown at you right out in the open, which is why puzzles are so great. At James Patterson tends to be a little bit more violent, but not nearly as violent as he could be. So we we've always enjoyed Of course, the Alex Cross series.   Kelly Brakenhoff  52:33 Yeah, it's there's such a huge variety in Yeah, the violence level and all that stuff. I myself, I have a pretty vivid imagination. I don't really need people to spell some of that stuff out for me. My mysteries are technically like cozy mysteries, which kind of means that there's no like blood on the page. There's no swearing, there's no sex. So like, even you know, high school kids can read them and, and that kind of thing. So I guess that's just, I just write what I like. So that's only because I like to read. So that's what I like to write.   Michael Hingson  53:12 Come on. That's only because Cassandra is trying to hide everything, but we know the truth.   Kelly Brakenhoff  53:18 That's right. She's really Voldemort.   Michael Hingson  53:21 Yeah, she's really Voldemort. Speaking of another good series of books   Kelly Brakenhoff  53:28 that's that's a whole different ballgame.   Michael Hingson  53:30 But but you know, looking at the Harry Potter books, again is another one where going from Book One through Book Seven, just how it evolved. And they're so fun.   Kelly Brakenhoff  53:42 They are they're definitely one of my I, I like all genres. So yeah, I loved Harry Potter Lord of the Rings, Narnia. I mean, you name it, it's I thought during the pandemic that I would just read all day every day but it turns out I actually have to do other stuff too.   Michael Hingson  53:59 So I hate it when that happens.   Kelly Brakenhoff  54:02 There is no laundry fairy I hate to be the person to tell you this but there is no laundry fairy,   Michael Hingson  54:07 I haven't found one either. And I get to do the clothes washing at our house which is fine. So for me, I love the brainless activities on Sunday. So there are three tasks that well for that I do on Sundays. It starts with doing the laundry or starting the laundry. Another is we I take the cat box out we use a litter called litter one it's not sand, it's all pine kernels. And you buy them and they come in a disposable box. So we just use in different new box every week. And it's about the same as using regular sand that you buy in the in the store. But at the end of the week, you just throw the whole box out and put a new one up and the cat is very demanding when it comes time to change the box. So that happens on Sunday. I take the trash out on Sunday. And then we have a little If we do get housecleaning help during the week, Karen's in wheelchairs, he has been in a chair her whole life. So it's kind of hard for us to do some of those things. So we do have a housekeeper that comes on Thursdays, in fact, and today's Thursday. So Jeanette is here, but we have a robot vacuum and I do the vacuuming again on Sunday with the robot in our bedroom, because that's also where Alamo my guide dog sleeps. So we get all those. So those are my four tasks on Sunday. And they're they're all pretty brainless in a sense. So I can read while they're going on, which is fun. And Karen is a quilter. So she's usually in sewing. And and she's reading the same thing I read. So it's a question right now, who finishes which JD Robb book first?   Kelly Brakenhoff  55:44 Yeah, that is definitely the the good thing about audiobooks is being able to multitask on some of those things that you don't have to pay so much attention to.   Michael Hingson  55:54 Tell me about your dupe the deaf dog ASL series.   Kelly Brakenhoff  55:58 Well, that is the second series that I started after I finished the mystery novels, I kind of had a moment where I realized that I, you know, I started my own publishing company. And I just had a thought, I mean, it's kind of cliche, it was actually a dream that just came to me of like, what I could do with this publishing company, if I just kind of unleashed it. And so I came up with the idea of, of this orange, English spaniel dog who is deaf and all of the people in his or all of his family can hear. And so it's just about different experiences that he has as the only person in a family of hearing people, and trying to get deaf and hard of hearing children to see themselves and their everyday life experiences on our pages of our books. But I also want kids who can hear to understand what it's like to hear differently. We just finished the third book, and I'm actually actually we just finished the fourth book, the third book just came out. But the fourth book is in production right now. And I had no idea when it started, what it was going to end up being but it's actually turned out to be more successful. And I would say even more fun than my mysteries, the mysteries are kind of like my thing that I enjoy. As far as, like you said, creating the puzzle and, and the challenge of it, but the Duke, the deaf dog ASL series, is kind of what I feel like I'm taking my 30 Whatever years of interpreting and hanging around with really cool Deaf people, and then like sharing that with the world.   Michael Hingson  57:49 So it's not a mystery series.   Kelly Brakenhoff  57:53 No, it is not. They are picture books. So they're only like less than 500 words. And each one is a different situation that do gets into so there's like a different message. And each one more than 90% of children who are born deaf or hard of hearing have parents that can hear I did a lot of research to before I started the books, and there's very few books for young children that have deaf and hard of hearing characters. Once you get into like high school age, or even beyond, there's more books that have deaf and hard of hearing characters. But at the kindergarten, first grade age, there's very few books. And you know, my kids had lots and lots of choices of books to read. So I feel like deaf kids did have lots and lots of choices, books that have characters like them in there. So each book has a different message like the first one was called nevermind. And the message is that everyone deserves to be included in conversations. I mean, how many times do we tell people nevermind when they ask us to repeat ourselves? Or maybe we have, like a older parent or spouse who doesn't hear well, or even like someone who's just a little bit slower to act, or to understand a lot of times we just get impatient and say forget it. I'll explain later. And this book like after I published that first book, I've had so many deaf people come up to me and tell me stories of times when they've been told nevermind. And they thanked me for sharing their stories because they want hearing people to understand how hurtful those words are and what it feels to be left out. So I have a pretty long list of situations I've seen throughout the years that I plan to incorporate into the books and I I'm only stopped by my amount of time and and money to hire illustrators at this point.   Michael Hingson  59:55 Back to mysteries. Of course there's the cat who series Lily and Jackson Brown and also Rita Mae Brown and sneaky pie Brown. But in thinking of the cat who books, why not have a Duke, the Duke, the deaf dog series, solving mysteries, and also deal with all the frustrations that Duke has of trying to get his humans to listen? And how he has to figure things out, not being in a hearing world himself.   Kelly Brakenhoff  1:00:27 Yeah, that's a good thought. I'm actually like I said, I have so many ideas that it's really limited by my time and money, but um, the picture books are more like so Duke's a dog. Right? It's more like he's like a pitbull, like, they stand on their hind legs. And they kind of like even his dad wears like a tie. So they kind of are like human, but they're dogs. But it's a nice way to be able to show diversity and like breeds of dogs and colors of dogs and abilities and body types and stuff without actually having like different children in there. So it's kind of like, like, I don't know, if you remember the Mercer Mayer series, little critter. That's kind of what I thought of, as I   Michael Hingson  1:01:13 was able to read them. Yeah,   Kelly Brakenhoff  1:01:15 that was like my, my model, I guess of who I thought of it's like, so Duke is more just like a character, a fictional character. But I do have a couple of other ideas for series for like middle grade age kids. And those would be mysteries, and those would use some characters. I have a couple of young characters in the Cassandra Sacco series. I did a Halloween short story last year called scavenger hunt. And that two of the main characters in there were 10 year old kids. And so I think I want to do a separate series with them and have those be mysteries because I agree, I think I can incorporate a lot of the things that I know about the Deaf community and Deaf culture and ASL into a mystery, and they get kind of fun that way. And   Michael Hingson  1:02:05 it's great that you're using this opportunity to teach people more about deaf and hard of hearing. And not only as a culture, but as just as much an included an inclusive part of society as everyone else. I am concerned when you're talking about do looking like a character and looking a little bit like people. I just don't want to see a new book coming out about do the deaf dog ASL series goes to Animal Farm just saying. But Duly noted. So So you you did one of your books. As a Kickstarter campaign?   Kelly Brakenhoff  1:02:43 We did. Um, the the most recent one that just published in January, I did my first Kickstarter campaign.   Michael Hingson  1:02:51 Now why did you do that? What brought Kickstarter into it.   Kelly Brakenhoff  1:02:54 I went to this conference last fall in Las Vegas, and I met some authors who publish their books first on Kickstarter, before they release them more widely and other stores. And listening to them made me realize that Kickstarter might be a good way for me to reach new readers. The nice thing about Kickstarter, which I think you said that you've supported a couple of campaigns, honestly, before I had gone to this conference, I did not think starter was something I needed to do, I hadn't really gone on there, I hadn't pledged sponsored anybody else's project. So I just kind of went into it blindly. But I realized that the cool thing about Kickstarter is you get to develop a direct relationship with people who want to buy your product. So in my case, it's a book, but I've gone on there. And since then, I've supported all kinds of different projects. I've done a board game, and a coloring book and a purse. And I mean, there's so many neat, creative ideas that people come up with and put them on Kickstarter, just to see. So then the the customers can come on and pledge money towards that product and say, Yes, I think that's a great idea. The world needs that. And I'm willing to plunk down my money to pre order that thing that you want to make. And so if enough of those people say that they'll pre order the product, then the project is successful, and it funds and then the person who listed the project goes ahead and makes it. So that's been really exciting. But you have this direct relationship where the creator is sending you messages and keeping you updated on the progress like, okay, you know, we're finished in publishing, you know, in the case of publishing, you say, Okay, we finished the illustration and we're waiting for them to be printed and then I actually personally boxed everything up and mailed them to the people with personal note and some extra stickers and everything. So I think I'd really enjoy that contact with people and that communication because it goes both ways, then people can actually respond to me. If I just sell stuff on Amazon or in the local bookstore, I don't really know who buys my, my books. And so the Kickstarter has been a really cool way to just kind of, I guess, learn more about what people want and what people like about them. And it's kind of a neat way to have this direct relationship. It made me I funded my first project successfully, we raised $2,500, which was enough money to buy some hardcover books. In the past, I haven't been able to afford doing those books, as a small publishers. So it's great to be able to order those books and get those into people's hands they came with, they're very well done on nice thick paper with really vivid color illustrations. And then there's photos on each page of different ASL signs. And the photos are really clear. So it was definitely worth I guess, the experience. So I'm actually going to be doing another one in July for the, for the next Duke book. But as a person, like you said, you you have a contract to do your next book. And so you get a lot of times authors will get paid in advance, this is kind of almost the same thing where I'm making this idea. And then I'm, like pre paying some of the costs that it cost to produce the book, like, you know, the illustrating, or the printing, or all the different things that are associated with making the book, it's like a way for me to almost get like an advance except this directly coming from the customers instead of from the publishing company.   Michael Hingso

Michael: "Listen, David, I would like to do this ad in house. I want to use only the creativity that we have right here in the office. And I will send it to you tomorrow morning, take a look at it, and if you do not think that it's ready to air, send the ad agency back down here, and we'll do it on my dime." David Wallace: "This is weird." Break me off a piece of that Fancy Feast, this week we're talking about Local Ad from season 4! We go through all the major storylines, including Michael's grand vision for the commercial, Operation Fallen Angel with Dwight, Andy, and Angela, and Pam's logo animation. And of course we mention all of the Second Life characters, voicemails from Eddie Murphy, and Sue Grafton autograph signings that make up this episode. Then we head to the Conference Room where we answer listener voicemails on uncommon character pairings, Robert California's favorite ice cream flavor, and more. And thus, the Michael Scott Podcast Company sealed their own destiny. In a good way. Support our show and become a member of Scott's Tots on Patreon! For only $5/month, Tots get ad-free episodes plus exclusive access to our monthly Mailbag episodes where we casually pick through every single message/question/comment we receive. We also have Season 2 of our Ted Lasso podcast Biscuits with the Boss available to our Patrons. On top of that, a portion of all show proceeds are donated every month to organizations that help fund education opportunities for minority students. Help us serve the mission that Michael Scott could not. You can also rep our show with some merch! Head over to mspcstore.com and get your hands on some nifty gifties. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this bonus episode we welcome back friend of the pod Dr Jodi McAlister, who sits down with Kate to discuss how romance novel serialisation works, and what that means for this and future seasons of Bridgerton on Netflix. Features: - Vampires and werewolves and sports teams, oh my! - Genre as defined by ‘vibes' - HEA…and post-HEA - The benefits of time travel - The benefits of sex scenes - Peneloise & Bi-nedict - Books and other Media We Discuss: - Bridgerton, the TV show - The Bridgerton series, by Julia Quinn - The Duke and I - It's in His Kiss - Romancing Mr Bridgerton - To Sir Phillip, With Love - The Outlander series, by Diana Gabaldon - The Fifty Shades of Grey series, by EL James - The In Death series, by JD Robb - Happily Ever After...and After: Serialization and the - Popular Romance Novel, by An Goris - The Troubleshooters series, by Suzanne Brockmann - The Cynster series, by Stephanie Laurens - The Bow Street Runners series, by Lisa Kleypas - A Song of Ice and Fire series, by George RR Martin - Scarpetta series, by Patricia Cornwell - The Kinsey Millhone Alphabet series, by Sue Grafton (Kate mistakenly conflated this series and that of Sue Grafton in the recording. Apologies to both Patricia and Sue!) - A whole new set of horny lords and ladies: how Bridgerton brought romance book serialisation to television, by Kate Cuthbert and Jodi McAlister - Adoring Outlander, edited by Valerie Estelle - Frankel (featuring a chapter by Jodi McAlister - A Natural History of the Romance Novel, by Pamela Regis - The Crossfire Series, by Sylvia Day - The Inside Out series, by Lisa Renee Jones - Virgin River, the TV series - Sweet Magnolias, the TV series - The Virgin River series, by Robyn Carr - Love in the Western World, by Denis de Rougement You can find Jodi on twitter as @jodimca and instagram as @jodimcalister, and she's brand new on TikTok also as @jodimcalister. Don't forget you can find us on twitter and facebook @bridgertonpod and instagram @wwddpod and join the conversation using the hashtag #WWDDpod. You can also leave us a rating or review on your preferred podcast provider. Leaving a review makes you a perennial favourite recurring character. This episode was recorded on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri, Boonwurrung, and Gadigal peoples and edited by Rudi Bremer on Gadigal country. What Would Danbury Do is a proud member of Frolic Media. You can find great romance content and other fantastic podcasts by visiting the Frolic site.

Today, I sit down with my friends Kirsten and Cathy to book club the book “A is for Alibi” by Sue Grafton. We give our reviews of the book and then we talk about our Womens health Girl Scout meetings. The Girl Scout meetings included nutrition, mental health, body health, yearly checkups, and much more!    Our next book club will be “The Nickel Boys” by Colson Whitehead    This episode is also brought to you by Magic Spoon. Go to http://www.magicspoon.com/wife and use the code “Wife” to get $5 off.   This episode is brought to you by Todaytix. Go to http://www.todaytix.com/wife and use the code “Wife” for $10 off your first purchase.   Check out the new Wife of the Party Facebook groups here: https://www.facebook.com/wifeotp/groups    I have WOTP merch! You can buy a brand new Wife of the Party mug, shirt, or a tote bag at http://www.wifeotp.com     If you have any questions you would like me to answer on the podcast feel free to email me from my website at http://www.wifeotp.com     Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast!

Today, I sit down with Paulina Pinsky to talk about what it's like to be dating these days. We also talk about being sober for 90 days, getting dumped by her therapist, high school vs college dating, dating after college, hook up culture, dating apps, how to make friends, and much more!      Follow Paulina Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mizpiggy111  Twitter: https://twitter.com/mizpiggy111    Our next book club will be “A is for Alibi” by Sue Grafton   This episode is brought to you by Hello Fresh. Go to http://www.hellofresh.com/wife16 and use the code ”Wife16” for 16 free meals and 3 free gifts.   This episode is also brought to you by Solo Stove. Go to http://www.solostove.com to get up to 30% off fire pits all month long and use the code “Wife” at checkout for an extra $20 Off     Check out the new Wife of the Party Facebook groups here: https://www.facebook.com/wifeotp/groups    I have WOTP merch! You can buy a brand new Wife of the Party mug, shirt, or a tote bag at http://www.wifeotp.com     If you have any questions you would like me to answer on the podcast feel free to email me from my website at http://www.wifeotp.com     Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast!

Today, we are back in the studio with my friends Cathy and Kirsten to book club the book “Poison for Breakfast” by Lemony Snicket. We also get an update from Kirsten about her heart, our teens getting in trouble, spring break plans, Girl Scouts, and much more!    Our next book club will be “A is for Alibi” by Sue Grafton   This episode is brought to you by Todaytix. Go to http://www.todaytix.com/wife and use the code “Wife” for $10 off your first purchase.   This episode is also brought to you by Magic Spoon. Go to http://www.magicspoon.com/wife and use the code “Wife” to get $5 off.   Check out the new Wife of the Party Facebook groups here: https://www.facebook.com/wifeotp/groups    I have WOTP merch! You can buy a brand new Wife of the Party mug, shirt, or a tote bag at http://www.wifeotp.com     If you have any questions you would like me to answer on the podcast feel free to email me from my website at http://www.wifeotp.com     Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review the podcast!