Fridays this Fall: Who’s Under the Covers in September, October and November?
The Friday Fall 2020 Under the Covers Line-Up
Sept 4 [Ep 137] Charles Israel Poetry and short stories
Charles Israel is the author of the poetry chapbook, “Stacking Weather.” His poetry and stories are published in numerous journals.
Morri Creech, author of “Paper Cathedrals” and “Field Knowledge,” says of “Stacking Weather,” that Charles Israel performs an impressive balancing act, supporting the precarious gifts of birth and fatherhood against the insistent gravities of age and death.”
Charles is an English professor at Queens University in Charlotte, specializing in creative writing, professional writing, and American Studies. In this episode, we explore his love of writing poetry and prose and hear him read his work.
Sept 11 [Ep 139] Karen McElmurray Literary fiction
Karen McElmurray is the author of “Wanting Radiance.”
Crystal Wilkinson, author of “The Birds of Opulence,” says “this book is brimming with haints and lives full of magic, and Karen McElmurray’s storytelling is the most haunting of all.”
Published by University Press of Kentucky, this is a story of fortune-telling, murder, passion and love lost and finally found.
Sept 18 [Ep 141] Amy Williams Adventure and inspiration
Amy Williams is the author and creator of “Love catches up with Wanda Petunia” and other books in the Wanda adventure book series.
Wanda Petunia is the imaginary pig friend of Amy Jane Williams, a Charlotte creative, social justice activist and therapist/owner of her own practice Amy Williams Wellness. Wanda came to Amy as an adult to share meaningful stories of inspired teachings on betrayal, hope, true love, soul mates, positive self-talk, loss of loved ones and body healing.
Laurie Helgoe, Ph, psychologist, author of “Introvert Power: Why Your Inner Life is Your Hidden Strength” says that “Wanda is the yearning heart free of defenses. As I flew with her around the world, I felt free too. Wanda captures and gives back everything we forget to be.”
Sept 25 [Ep 143] Colin Cerniglia Sports and leadership
Colin Cerniglia is the author of “Culture of Excellence: What We Can Learn From The Yankees About Leadership.”
Andrew Rotondi, co-host of the Bronx Pinstripes Show, says of the book that “it was fascinating to read a take that wasn’t just about wins and losses. Culture of Excellence gets at one of the age-old sports questions: How does leadership and team culture affect the on-field product? The Yankees, with their eccentric leaders, compelling cast of characters, and sustained greatness, are the ideal organization for this study.”
In “Culture of Excellence,” Colin offers lessons learned from his study of one of the premier franchises in Major League Baseball about how to motivate people and improve team performance.
Oct 2 [Ep145] Katherine Snow Smith Memoir with a southern twist
Katherine Snow Smith is the author of the book “Rules for the Southern Rulebreaker: Missteps and Lessons Learned.”
Award winning North Carolina author Lee Smith, says of the book, “Katherine Snow Smith’s sure voice, deft pen, hilarious sense of humor and always original slant on things offer the reader much to enjoy in these delightful essays.”
The book has 22 chapters, or rules, such as “Always Wear Sensible Shoes,” “Never Arrive at the Funeral Home Late,” and “Always Know Your Date’s Pedigree,” and as Katherine says in the Forward to the book, she broke them all. She finds humor and tenderness in these many moments known as life.
Oct 9 [Ep147] Eliot Parker Short Stories With a Twist
Eliot Parker is an award-winning author whose recent book, “Snapshots: A Collection of Short Stories,” is set largely in Eastern, Kentucky, Southern Ohio and West Virginia. It was a 2020 finalist in the American Fiction Awards for short story anthology.
Diane Donovan, Senior Reviewer, Midwest Book Review, says that these stories “challenge readers to think about their expectations and prejudices” and are “strong in tension development, plot, and the ability to craft something unexpected and different from disparate life experiences.”
Meredith Sue Willis, author of “Out of The Mountains and Re-Visions,” says that “Eliot is an observer and imaginer of life’s quirky, ironic, random pay backs. His stories almost always have some twist or turn or surprise at the end– in many cases the punishment of a nasty main character.”
Oct 16 [Ep 149] Renea Winchester Southern fiction
Renea Winchester is the author of the novel, “Outbound Train.”
Bestselling author Michael Morris says: “Renea Winchester writes about the people of the hardscrabble south with compassion and conviction. Her debut novel, Outbound Train, is an inspiring story of three generations of women who not only seek to survive a life of poverty in Appalachia but also dare to dream. With pitch-perfect dialogue and believable characters, Winchester has crafted a story that will make readers stand up and cheer.”
And New York Times bestselling author Julie Cantrell calls the book “a powerful tale of heartache and healing delivered with the skills of a true southern storyteller.”
Oct 23 [Ep1 51] Sara Johnson Mystery set in New Zealand
Sara Johnson is the author of the mystery novel, “The Bones Remember,” the second book in the Alexa Glock forensic mystery series.
Like the first novel in the series, “The Bones Remember” is set on a New Zealand island where forensic investigator Alexa Glock must deal with the controversy of shark cage diving tourism in her effort to solve two murders. Set against a down under and rugged landscape of land and sea, Alexa confronts the jaws of death and those who love and hate the shark cage diving industry in her pursuit to land the real killer.
Publisher’s Weekly calls protagonist Alexa Glock a “refreshingly normal heroine” and one Net Galley reviewer gave the book high marks, saying: “This was a quick and thrilling read [with] characters [so] beautifully flawed [that] sometimes I wanted to yell at them, but that’s what makes a book enjoyable.”
Oct 30 [Ep 153] Michelle Tracy Berger Psychological horror
Michele Tracy Berger is the author of “Reenu – You,” a novella that explores the politics of beauty, corporate conspiracy and unlikely female heroes battling a horrific virus that appears to be targeted against their race.
What if a visit to the salon could kill you? What if a product billed as a “natural hair relaxer” harbored a deadly virus? Reenu-You is about that virus. One reviewer says that in telling this story, Michele uses “the language of horror, of alienation from one’s own body, not the language of joy,” and that “the novella never leaves horror and alienation entirely behind.”
Much of Michele’s work explores psychological horror, especially through issues of race and gender.
Nov 6 [Ep 155] Natasha Boyd Historical fiction
Natasha Boyd is the author of “The Indigo Girl,” the true and riveting story of Eliza Lucas Pinckney, a woman ahead of her time and mother of one of the United States’ founding fathers.
So influential was she in the formation of the nation that President George Washington, at his own request, served as a pallbearer at her funeral.
The New York Journal of Books call the book “an outstanding work of fiction that introduces a historical figure with whom few will have heard of, but who played a vital role in the economic history of the colony of South Carolina … Natasha Boyd incorporates the social issues of racial inequality, lack of women’s rights, and class distinctions into a story of one of America’s most remarkable women.”
Nov 13 [Ep 157] David Collins Non-fiction: Marriage Equality
In this Under the Covers episode, we visit with David Collins, author of “Accidental Activists: Mark Phariss, Vic Holmes and Their Fight for Marriage Equality in Texas.”
Dale Carpenter, professor of law at the Dedman School of Law (Southern Methodist University) says that “Accidental Activists” is a “beautifully written book” that tells “the story of two men who did the extraordinary in order to live a life of the ordinary.”
Accidental Activists is, first and foremost, a love story of two men, who sixteen years after they met and fell in love, decided that the time had come to bring the fight for same-sex marriage to their home state of Texas. The book deals with the crippling anxiety they felt growing up gay, the pain and suffering inflicted on them by straight society and, most of all, the ultimate triumph of two courageous men who rose up against determined political and cultural adversaries, fought the legal battles that made gay marriage the law in Texas, and joyfully claimed their right to love in the country they loved.
Nov 20 [Ep 159] Natasha Tynes Jordanian-American Literary murder mystery
Natasha Tynes is the author of They Called Me Wyatt, a literary murder mystery that draws on the author’s Jordanian-American heritage.
Rana F. Sweis, author of Voices of Jordan, calls the book “a brilliantly imaginative and riveting tale of cross cultures as well as personal triumph and struggle.”
Gwen Florio, author of Silent Hearts, observes that Natasha’s book “starts with an irresistible concept—a murder victim’s soul trapped in a toddler’s body, unable to communicate what happened beyond screams and tantrums—and only gets better from there…it explores the lives of young Jordanians simultaneously bound by the strictures of their home country, and experiencing the freedom—and the bias—of life in the United States. An absorbing read.”
Nov 27 [Ep 161] Lauren Jacobs Historical Fiction
Lauren Jacobs is the author of “Shelamzion: Queen of Israel,” a work of historical fiction that shines a light on a much-forgotten queen of Israel.
Professor Kenneth Atkinson, author and biblical scholar, says that “Lauren Jacobs has written an exciting novel that captures the spirit of the historical Queen Shelamzion and her tumultuous world. It accurately reconstructs the details of her life and times through an engaging narrative that never fails to entertain, and awe the reader.”
Author Lauren Jacobs says that one of the purposes of this book is to “display the value of female leadership, increase female representation in the Ancient Near East and add value to the theological discussion of female leadership.”