Charlotte Readers Podcast Welcomes 2021 with its January Line-Up
It’s time for a New Year in more ways than one. We continue to offer interesting authors and engaging bookish content to you in the New Year. Check out the January line-up below:
Jan 1 Kim Wright Takes Readers To The Carolina Coast in “The Longest Day of the Year” where Four Women Discover The Truth About Their Lives
In this episode 171, we visit with award-winning writer Kim Wright, author of “The Longest Day of the Year,” set in a single day on the Carolina coast, with a wonderful cast of characters.
“The Longest Day of the Year” explores the longing and regrets of four very different women whose lives converge around their love for this one particular beach. Sounds sweet? Don’t be fooled. The twist ending will drive you back to the book for a second reading. Love, after all, is full of surprises.
Mary Alice Monroe, New York Times bestselling author of “ A Lowcountry Wedding” says of the book that “the twists and turns kept me captivated from start to finish” and RT Book Reviews says “A perfect pick to add to your summer TBR list…Wright creates memorable stories with interesting and unique backdrops that feature three-dimensional characters on a self-discovery path that reels readers in.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Establishing a Writing Practice – Five Tips For Writers With Award-Winning Author Kim Wright
Jan 5 A.J. Hartley’s Fantasy Thriller “Impervious” Turns a Normal School Day Upside Down
In this episode 172, award-winning author Cathy Pickens serves as guest host to interview A.J. Hartley, best-selling author of “Impervious” a fantasy thriller about a young girl whose normal day at school is upended, propelling her into an unfamiliar world of magic, monsters and danger and forcing her to try to save herself and her friends.
Faith Hunter, NYT and USA Today bestselling Author, says that this is a “story where reality and unreality are braided together until the very last page. It hit me in the gut. Must Read!”
D.B. Jackson, author of Time’s Assassin, call the book, “Searing, powerful – a story every person in this country should read. A.J. Hartley is as skilled a storyteller as I’ve ever encountered. To step into his imagination is to place yourself in the hands of a master.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Writer Identity With Best-Selling Author A.J. Hartley – “Write the book you want to read!”
Jan 8 Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle’s Novel “Even As We Breathe” Examines Race and Class in the Secluded Microcosm of Asheville’s Grove Park Inn During 1942
In today’s episode 173, we visit with Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle, author of “Even As We Breathe,” a coming of age story for a young Native American set in the Western mountains of North Carolina.
The novel examines race and class in the secluded microcosm of Grove Park Inn in Asheville, North Carolina during the summer of 1942.
David Joy, author of “When These Mountains Burn,” says this is “a period piece that illuminates and echoes our current time. A powerful story told by voices that ring true as scripture…a masterful debut from the writer we need right now.” Silas House, author of “Southernmost” observes that “Even As We Breathe” is a remarkable and important debut novel that announces a major new voice in southern literature, and one that we have waited far too long to hear.
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Lessons Learned on the Writing Trail with Author Annette Saunooke Clapsaddle
Jan 12 David Oakley Reveals the Humorous Side of Family Life in “Nobody Eats Parsley: And other things I learned from my family.”
In today’s episode 174, we visit with David Oakley, author of “Nobody Eats Parsley: And other things I learned from my family.”
Dave’s book ushers us front and center to the inner circus of his family life with stories so ridiculous you might think they‘re fiction. Like the time David went to an X-rated drive-in without realizing his parents were in the next car, or the time he let his kid throw a rock through their living room window, or the time he bought a camouflage thong in a bait shop and the time he ruined a kid‘s birthday party and the other time he ruined a kid‘s birthday party.
Tracy Lee Curtis, Humorist and Author of “ Trophy Mom” says she “wouldn’t last a week in David Oakley’s wacky family, but I would pay money to attend their reunion!” Each chapter is filled with humorous events from Dave‘s world and he’s gotten some great praise from the book from his family, like the blurb from his mother who says the book “helps me fall asleep at night” and the one by his wife who says David really makes her laugh, “especially in bed.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: How Authors And Publicists Can Work Together –with Author David Oakley and Publicist Lynda Bouchard
Jan 15 Susannah Marren’s “A Palm Beach Scandal” Twists Sisterhood and Secrets Together In A Glamorous World
In this episode 175, Guest Host Danielle Stewart, a best-selling author and previous guest on the show, interviews Susannah Marren, author of “A Palm Beach Scandal,” a book that follows two sisters as one offers the ultimate selfless act to the other, in this novel of artifice and intrigue.
Mary Simses, author of “The Irresistible Blueberry Bakeshop & Café” and Palm Beach resident calls the book “a wickedly fun and entertaining story about high society life in one of America’s toniest towns.” And Elyssa Friedland, author of “The Intermission” calls the book “a riveting tale filled with betrayal, passion, aspiration and deep emotion set in fascinating and alluring Palm Beach.” She says “A Palm Beach Wife doesn’t pull any punches. I couldn’t put it down.”
In this story, Aubrey, a free spirit, isn’t interested in marriage or children, yet when her sister asks her to carry her child, she can’t say no, despite her mother’s warnings. And then one stupefying secret, meant to be buried forever, is unearthed and no one in the Cutler clan is able to turn back. As the family is shaken to their core, Aubrey and Elodie must realize their places in the world and the lives they want to lead.
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: From Non-Fiction to Fiction: The Why and the How with Prolific Non-Fiction Author Susan Shapiro Barash to Fiction Author Susannah Marren
Jan 19 Dale Neal’s “Appalachian Book of the Dead” Leads Readers to the Dark Side of Reality in this Southern Buddhist Thriller
In today’s episode 176, we visit with award-winning writer Dale Neal, author of “Appalachian Book of the Dead,” a thriller filled with meditation, reincarnation, marriage and betrayal, death and rebirth, and how our fears give flesh to our hungry ghosts. Think Cormac McCarthy meets the Dalai Lama.
Best-selling author Ron Rash says “Appalachian Book of the Dead is a novel whose excellence defies easy categorization. To call it a metaphysical thriller conveys only a part of the novel’s strengths, for the novel’s characters are as complex and vividly realized as we’d expect in more character-driven fiction. Dale Neal’s novel, once begun, will be hard for any reader to put down.”
Award winning author Joan Silber says, “I was properly scared throughout this book, and properly delighted. It begins with a double murder and a disappearance, and then the Tibetan Book of the Dead guides us through a landscape of human miscalculations. It had me enthralled from page one.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Award-Winning Author and Teacher Dale Neal Shares Tips for How to Write Past Appalachian Stereotypes Like Moonshine and Snakehandlers
Jan 22 Claire Fullerton Examines Southern Life and the Bonds of Love and Friendship in “Little Tea”
In today’s episode 177, we visit with Claire Fullerton, author of Little Tea, a captivating story of Southern life and the complexities of friendship and family in 1980’s Mississippi.
When childhood friends Celia, Renny, and Ava reunite at Denny’s lake house, Celia realizes there is no better place to accept her own past than in this circle of friends who have remained beside her throughout the years.
Cassandra King Conroy, author of The Same Sweet Girls had this to say about Little Tea, “Claire Fullerton skillfully draws us into the lost world of Southern traditions and norms where the past tragedies cast long, dark shadows on present-day lives and no one ever truly escapes.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: From the Pre-publication Platform to the 6 Month Launch – with Award-Winning Author Claire Fullerton
Jan 26 In “The Gift Best Given,” Edward Di Gangi Pieces Together the Extraordinary Life of His Birth Mother, Genevieve
In today’s episode 178, we visit with Edward Di Gangi, author of The Gift Best Given, a moving and extraordinary memoir about the three-year genealogical search for his origins that began in a New Jersey cemetery, and the life of an extraordinary woman—his birth mother.
Genevieve Knorowski left home at the age of seventeen in the midst of World War II to join an ice-skating troupe, and embarked on a five-year journey across the US as she rose to fame. And then life intervened and she had to make a decision on an Easter Sunday in New York City that will forever connect the story of a woman pursuing her dreams with the life of a man searching for answers.
Edward Di Gangi’s heart is in this story in more ways than one. His heart beat fast when he committed to the path to find answers to his past and when he made one discovery after another, his heart became more full for the love of a mother who had the courage and grace to give him life and lead him to relatives he never knew he had.
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: The Search for One’s Past and How to Write About it – With Memorist Edward Di Gangi
Jan 29 Dori Ann Dupré Tells A Heartwarming Tale of Love and Found Family in “Good Buddy”
In today’s episode 179, we visit with Dori Ann Dupré, author of Good Buddy, a tender tale of love and family that asks the question, “What really makes a father?”
Good Buddy is a 2019 Readers’ Favorite International Book Award Winner. It is a story about families, secrets, loss, life, and the special bonds that we have with our fathers, stepfathers, and surrogate fathers. This story was written for and in eternal memory of Dori’s husband who was, himself, a “good buddy.”
Scott Thomson, author of Eight Days says, “This is a touching story about love and what makes a real family. It’s a story about doing the right thing, healing, and second chances. It’s a story about life.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Writing as a Tool for Grief – With Award-Winning Author Dori Ann Dupre