October Lineup
The month of October welcomes our 250th episode with award-winning author Craig Nova and his latest thriller, along with eight other talented authors and their stories.
We have a short story collection set in small town Appalachia, a novel set in L.A. featuring a modern day fixer facing moral decisions, a novel about a divorced man with a scheme to avoid alimony, a novel set in Chicago about a self-obsessed absent father trying to become a real dad, a short story collection of love, loss and the intricate facets of relationships, a novel where a young woman searches for her father who she believes may be a famous rock musician, a memoir about love and sports in a complicated South, a novel about a band on their journey to fame or disaster, and a children’s book about a boy who is kidnapped on Halloween night by three witches.
Here’s the line-up:
October 1 Michael Cody Chronicles Twelve Transformative Stories in Fictional Runion, NC in “A Twilight Reel”
In this episode 249, we visit with Michael Cody, author of “A Twilight Reel,” a collection of short stories chronicling transformation among the inhabitants of the fictional town of Runion, North Carolina.
Robert Morgan, author of “Chasing the North Star,” had this to say about the book, “A Twilight Reel is a vivid portrait of a community in an age of rapid change. Some citizens are angered, and some more tolerant of the clash of the past with the future in the uncertain present. Michael Amos Cody is one of the most authentic and inspired voices in contemporary Appalachian fiction, addressing such subjects as AIDs, bias, troubling history, marriage, ghosts, dementia, and abiding loyalty and love. In these linked stories he speaks for both the region and the world beyond.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Writing Short Stories with Michael Cody
October 5 Double Solitaire” is First in Craig Nova’s New Thriller Series
In this episode 250, we visit with Craig Nova, award-winning author of “Double Solitaire,” the first in a new series of LA-based thrillers featuring modern-day fixer Quinn Farrell.
As a fixer, Quinn is hired by Hollywood moguls, celebrities, and other LA professionals to clean up their messes, a job that requires moral ambiguity. After falling in love with his lovely new neighbor and her terminally ill patients, his morals are tested, and his ethical house of cards comes crashing down.
Ann Beattie, author of “A Wonderful Strike of Luck” and “The Accomplished Guest,” had this to say about the book, “Reading a new Craig Nova novel is thrilling. He’s one of our very best writers, creating characters who walk a knife blade sharpened with bleak humor as they simultaneously act out their dangerously excessive plans. The figurative language in Double Solitaire sometimes immerses us more deeply, sometimes lifts us out of a creepy, convincing nightmare; it’s up to us where we land. When Craig’s not looking at America head-on, it’s in his peripheral vision. He’s amazing.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Brook Trout and the Writing Life with Craig Nova
October 8 An Explosive Divorce Leads to a Hitchcockian Scheme in Steve Grossman’s Debut, “Palimony”
In this episode 251, we visit with Steven Grossman, author of “Palimony,” in which two recently divorced men attempt to con their way out of paying alimony by wooing each other’s ex-wives. When he falls in love with his target, he finds himself in a heap of unintended consequences.
Set in Charlotte, NC, this romantic comedy flips the script and tells the story of a marriage gone wrong, a Hitchcockian scheme, and some local flavor.
Morris Ardoin, author of “Stone Motel: Memoirs of a Cajun Boy,” had this to say about the book, “Steve Grossman gives us an insider’s lived-in view on the absurdities of life, love, and, well, divorce, and does so with sharply written prose, hilarious dialogue, and a hard-to-put-down narrative that pushes the reader to the brink and then gently nudges him over the edge. All done in great tension and suspense, and with just enough romantic sweetness to balance the tang of the journey these unforgettable characters have taken on.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Lessons Learned by a Debut Author with Steven Grossman
October 12 Money, Greed, Death, and Fatherhood in Chicago During the 2008 Recession in L.C. Fiore’s “Coyote Loop”
In this episode 252, we visit with L. C. Fiore, author of “Coyote Loop,” a novel of a father, John Ganzi, his estranged teenage daughter, and the great recession of 2008.
When his daughter, Jeanie, unexpectedly moves in with him, he takes this as an opportunity to one-up his absent father and become a real dad. They make an unusual pair, but when tragedy strikes, they must work together to resolve their differences, or risk losing everything.
Emily Gray Tedrowe, author of The Talented Miss Farwell, had this to say about the book, “As gritty and shrewd as Chicago itself, Coyote Loop brilliantly probes the underbelly of our city’s famed trading pit in the nadir of 2008, where brutality and grace collide in John Ganzi: South Sider, struggling dad, and a character I won’t soon forget.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Publishing with an Independent Publisher with L.C. Fiore
October 15 Much Like The Tides, Robert Wallace’s “As Breaks the Wave Upon the Sea” Ebbs and Flows Around Perceptions of Change
In this episode 253, we visit with Robert Wallace, awards-winning author of “As Breaks the Wind Upon the Sea,” a poignant and introspective collection dealing with love, loss, and the intricate facets of relationships.
In the title story, a husband and wife alternate points of view as the husband, a soldier returned home, struggles to adjust back to his life. In another story, a man picks up kayaking after his wife’s death from colon cancer.
Kim Church, author of “Byrd,” had this to say about the book, “For the characters in these stories, loss is a jumping-off point. The question is, what comes next—into what new worlds will loss lead? This is rich territory, and Robert Wallace mines it with skill and imagination. His characters pulse with life; his settings are vividly drawn—North Carolina, Michigan, pandemic-era New York, where the streets are empty and ‘the air simply smells like air.’ This is transporting work by a gifted storyteller.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Narration and Point of View Tips with Robert Wallace
October 19 Love, College Sports, and the South in Ed Southern’s “Fight Songs”
In this episode 254, we visit with Ed Southern, author of “Fight Songs: A Story of Love and Sports in a Complicated South.”
Why do sports mean so much that so many will play and watch them in the face of a global pandemic? How have college sports shaped how southerners construct their identities, priorities, and allegiances? Why is North Carolina passionate about college basketball when its neighbors to the South live and die by college football? Fight Songs explores the connections and contradictions between the teams we root for and the places we plant our roots; between the hopes of fans and the demands of the past, present, and future.
Travis Mulhauser, author of “Sweetgirl,” had this to say about the book, “I promise that you have never read a book that so beautifully and intimately reveals the soul at the center of sports fandom—that understands so fully what it means to root. Fight Songs is a book about love and history and culture. Its truths are arrived at honestly and without pretense and it is, quite simply, one of the greatest sports books you will ever read.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Literary Community with Ed Southern
October 22 Luna Kane Connects with Her Mother Through a Search for Her Father in Christy Hallberg’s “Searching for Jimmy Page”
In this episode 255, we visit with Christy Hallberg, author of “Searching for Jimmy Page,” a coming-of-age tale that takes the reader from eastern Carolina to the streets of London.
When Luna Kane recovers a memory of her dead mother—a mentally ill woman obsessed with Jimmy Page—she seeks a connection with her mother by searching for her father.
Liza Wieland, author of “Paris, 7 A.M.,” had this to say about the book, “”In her wondrous first novel, Christy Hallberg gives us a mystery, a mother-daughter love story, a paean to rock and roll, and a window into the culture of eastern North Carolina, all joined seamlessly by the elegance and poetry of her writing. It’s a book that begs to be read twice, first to find out the true story of Luna’s parentage, and then again, immediately but more slowly, to savor the beauty of the language.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Rock N Roll Pilgrimage as Literary Research with Christy Hallberg
October 26 Love, Music, and the Rise and Fall of One Rock Band in Brett Marie’s “The Upsetter Blog”
In this episode 256, we visit with Brett Marie, author of “The Upsetter Blog,” the story of an unknown rock band on their journey to fame, documented by an aging writer on their months-long tour.
Henry Barclay, along with his adult son Patrick, join The Flak Jackets as they go on tour across the US, documenting the increasingly erratic and volatile behavior of the band’s enigmatic lead singer, Jack Hackett, while fighting his feelings for Jack’s girlfriend, Wendy.
Orlando Ortega-Medina, author of Jerusalem Ablaze, had this to say about the book, “Brett Marie’s exhilarating debut is at once a loving homage to music told in the most lyrical of prose and a cautionary tale that reminds us that before a phoenix can rise, it must first crash and burn. I couldn’t put it down.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Playing the Long Game in Publishing with Brett Marie
October 29 Rhyming, Riddles, and Witches on Halloween Night in Lynda Bouchards’s “The Witches Three”
In this episode 257, on this, our Halloween episode of Charlotte Readers Podcast, we visit with Lynda Bouchard, author of “The Witches Three, Count on Me!”, an enchanting picture book about a mischievous boy who is kidnapped by three witches on Halloween night, only to escape using his wits.
Inspired by her late husband and co-author Yates Davis and with beautiful illustrations by Kody Kratzer, this Halloween tale is perfect for young readers and adults alike.
Mary Jane Clark, New York Times best-selling author of the Piper Donovan Mysteries had this to say about the book,”Imaginative, fun and oh-so-clever, ‘The Witches Three Count on Me!’ casts a captivating spell on readers young and old.”