September Podcast Lineup
We kick off September with Khalisa Rae’s poetry collection, “Ghosts in a Black Girl’s Throat” and “The Night She Disappeared” by Lisa Jewell, one of the most popular fiction authors in the United Kingdom. We also feature New York Times bestselling author Wiley Cash’s new book, “When Ghosts Come Home,” and the novel “America,” by Mike Bond, who the Washington Post called one of the 21st centuries most exciting authors.
Other episodes include a novel involving a North Carolina family during the Civil War, a memoir of the father of an NBA basketball player, a novel involving several nurses set in the early 1900s and 1960s Appalachian mountains near Chimney Rock, and a meditative story of love and reconnection set on the coast
Here’s the line-up:
September 3 Khalisa Rae’s Collection “Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat” Summons Ghosts of Ancestral Pain
In this episode 241, we visit with Khalisa Rae, author of “Ghosts in a Black Girl’s Throat,” a vivid collection of poems that explore Black pain, agency, reclamation, and the ghosts—past and present—that haunt them.
Jaki Shelton Green, author of “I Want to Undie You,” had this to say about the book, “If storytelling in the griot’s hands is a form of resistance, then Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat is a form of control. Khalisa Rae’s poetics are unbreakable glass knives that own uncharted and unmarked underground burrows, providing refuge for righteous indignation… This powerful collection bears witness to the fraught overlap between women’s bodies and minds. Ghost in a Black Girl’s Throat reframes the Black body politic as sacrament, benediction, delicacy, and tenderness.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Writing and Publishing as a Multi-genre Writer with Khalisa Rae
September 7 A Mystery Writer Stumbles on a True Crime in Lisa Jewell’s “The Night She Disappeared”
In this episode 242, we visit with Lisa Jewell, #1 New York Times bestselling author of “The Night She Disappeared.”
Kim, a concerned mother and Sophie, a mystery writer cross paths when Sophie discovers a clue to the disappearance of Kim’s daughter, Tallulah.
New York Times Bestselling author Lee Child had this to say about the book, “No one tells stories like this better than Lisa Jewell . . . she gets right into it, doesn’t mess about, puts real-seeming characters with rich interior lives through 350 pages of insane suspense—and then hits us with an ending we never saw coming. I love it.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: The Writing Life with Bestselling U.K. Author Lisa Jewell
September 10 In “Cartledge Creek,” Sam McGee’s Civil War Ancestors Experience the Conflict as Confederates
In this episode 243, we visit with Sam McGee, author of “Cartledge Creek,” a gripping novel of the Civil War in which his own family’s story is told.
Jim Dockery, the youngest of Alfred Dockery’s sons, is shipped off to fight for the Confederacy. His father is one of Richmond county’s most prominent opponents to succession and a vocal advocate for black suffrage. He is also one of the county’s largest plantations with many enslaved working the fields. Despite this contradiction, Jim and his five older brothers enlist in the army. The horrors of war and the inhumanity of slavery are illustrated through the eyes of the Dockery family.
Walter Bennett, author of “The Lawyer’s Myth” and “Leaving Tuscaloosa,” had this to say about the book: “”Cartledge Creek is a vivid journey into the heart and heat of the Civil War, both a moving family saga and an arresting story of defeat and lost time. Sam McGee spreads it out before us in well-crafted prose, a complex and intricate plot, and unforgettable characters. Battle, cold, disease, death, sometimes even hope and joy – McGee takes us into the smell and feel of it. We march along with the people and the indomitable spirit that carries them through. This novel is a good read, but more than that, it’s a deep and meaningful look at the past.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Balancing Truth and Fiction in Historical Fiction with Sam McGee
September 14 Father of NBA Star Documents Love of Basketball in Marvin Williams Sr.’s “Secondary Break”
In this episode 244, we visit with Marvin Williams Sr., author of “Secondary Break: An NBA Dad’s Story,” a powerful memoir of one father’s journey from his roots in Brooklyn to small-town North Carolina and the love of basketball instilled in both himself and his son, an NBA player for the Charlotte Hornets.
With sharp wit and stark honesty, Marvin recalls growing up in Brooklyn—with gangs, The Black Panther party, and a diversified community—and moving to rural North Carolina where segregation and racial prejudice reigned.
Voted “One of the best new basketball books” in Book Authority’s Top 25 must-reads in 2021, “Secondary Break” is perfect for any sports fan.
September 17 Murder, Race, and a High-Stakes Election Haunt Oak Island in Wiley Cash’s “When Ghosts Come Home”
In this episode 245, we visit with Wiley Cash, the New York Times bestselling author of “When Ghosts Come Home,” a thrilling and suspenseful mystery against the backdrop of the Coastal Carolinas in 1984.
When a plane crashes in the middle of the night at a nearby airfield, Sheriff Winston Barnes discovers the body of a Black man shot dead in the grass near the crash site. With a long suspect list, including the pilot of the downed plane, simmering racial tensions, and an uncertain future, Barnes sets out to do his duty amongst extraordinary circumstances.
Lauren Wilkinson, author of “American Spy”, had this to say about the book, “Wiley Cash’s latest is an unputdownable knock-out: written in deft, thrilling prose, this book is both a gripping murder mystery and a thoughtful exploration of systemic racism in America. The perfect novel for our present moment.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Writing with New York Times Bestselling Author Wiley Cash
September 21 Four Youths Come-of-Age During the Turbulent and Transformative Sixties in Mike Bond’s “America”
In this episode 246, we visit with Mike Bond, author of “America: Volume I,” a novel set against the backdrop of the transformative and turbulent 1960’s.
Following the lives of four young people as they navigate the political and social landscape of the time—the Vietnam War and the fight for equality, the assassination of a young, idealistic president, the rise of rock ‘n roll music, and the scientific discoveries of the decade.
The Washington Times called Mike Bond, “One of the 21st century’s most exciting authors…spellbinding readers with a writing style that pits hard-boiled, force of nature-like character against politically adept, staccato-paced plots.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Creating Interesting and Engaging Characters with Mike Bond
September 24 Two Appalachian Nurses Traverse the Same Path a Generation Apart in Rose Senehi’s “Falling Off a Cliff”
In this episode 247, we visit with Rose Senehi, author of “Falling Off a Cliff,” a novel of the Appalachian Mountains, in which two women decades apart traverse the same path—one woman searching for her past, the other looking toward the future.
In the 1920’s Lula Mae traverses the harsh terrain of the Blue Ridge Mountains with another woman, a doctor determined to heal those in the oft-forgotten mountain community. Forty years later, Holly journeys to uncover the mysteries of her origins and search for the mother she’s never known.
Mark de Castrique, author of the Sam Blackman mystery series, had this to say about the book, “In Falling Off a Cliff, Rose Senehi plunges us into a world rich with a unique sense of time and place. This haunting tale is more than setting, more than a glimpse into the ways of a disappearing Appalachian culture, but rather a story of two strong women, a generation apart, whose sole ambition is to bring healing to their community despite the challenging terrain and suspicious attitudes. But for one of them, healing must also come from within as she searches for her lost past shrouded by a dark, impenetrable secret. The satisfying mixture of history and mystery yields a novel that will be remembered well beyond the turn of the last page.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Indie Publishing and the Historical Novel with Rose Senehi
September 28 High School Sweethearts Reminisce and Reconnect in Walter Bennett’s “The Last First Kiss”
In this episode 248, we visit with Walter Bennett, author of “The Last First Kiss,” a meditative novel of love and last chances set against the backdrop of an oncoming hurricane in the Outer Banks.
Ace Sinclair welcomes his high school sweetheart, J’Nelle Reade, for a long weekend in his home in the Outer Banks for a weekend of reconnection and reminiscence. The duo search through their memories for betrayals, mistakes, missed chances, and hard truths. Meanwhile, a looming hurricane approaches swiftly, threatening to interrupt their weekend of memories.
New York Times Bestselling author Lee Smith had this to say about the book, “Here is the story of an American generation, the ’60s, of all our lost young loves, and a brilliant meditation on the passing and relevance of time. An approaching hurricane adds increasing drama to the revelations from the past and the growing attraction between these two absolutely real and deeply drawn characters. Walter Bennett has written a compulsively readable novel that rings true all the way through.”
Plus, exclusive Patreon episode: Importance of A Sense of Place in Storytelling with Walter Bennett