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A journey of a strong and proud little tree! Once remarked upon for her tall stature and growing limbs, an incredible storm leaves her scarred and the tree must fight all odds to regain the strength and beauty once marveled at by passersby. The Lollipop Tree is a beautiful and unusual story that young readers will come to love through seasons of change. Join me in conversation with author Karen Schaufeld about the mechanics of writing a children's book.

A coming-of-age story, meet Jamey Fuller, a cocky California kid who achieves his wildest ambition: admission to The Juilliard School in New York City, the country’s most prestigious acting school. Once there, he is sure, he will find fame and glory. He will dance on tables, as in “Fame.” He will take his place among the Great Actors of his time, freed from the fear of becoming just like his father, a director of Hollywood TV spots. He will be worthy of the famous artists adorning his bedroom wall, from Jim Morrison to Jack Kerouac. Jesse's podcast is much more about the philosophical side of acting and writing than the details of his story, and can be used as an aid to becoming a better writer. Join me in this fascinating conversation with author, playwright and teacher Jesse Wilson.

Join me and Demelza Carlton, author of the Ocean’s Gift series, Brian Larson, author of The Secret of the Crystal Series and James Hill, author of Pegasus: A Journey to New Eden, as we examine the methods and techniques of how to build worlds in this enjoyable roundtable discussion.

As the world of newspapers imploded and jobs in her field became scarcer than gold, Sonja let her dream of winning a Pulitzer while working at The New York Times die. When she did, she discovered a new dream: to continue earning her living at the thing she loves best by starting her own writing business. She is now the Chief Wordsmith for her Writer’s Chat Stew and utilizes her journalistic edge and quick wit as an editorial consultant, helping business owners and other writers with social media, website content, and all of their writing needs. Follow Sonja on twitter @ChiefWordsmith, to learn even more about how to treat writing as a business.

Jameson Frame is a minor poet, a disinterested scholar, and a sometimes television talk show guest who is haunted by the idea that the best part of life is behind him.  He impulsively trades the cold canyons of Manhattan for the sun-drenched Bedouin village that is Venice, California, home to wiccans, vegans, transients, artists, drummers, plastic surgeons, tarot card readers . . . and Chase, a youth of such arresting beauty that he becomes the object, the subject, and the reason for Frame’s obsessive yearning. Yearning, for Frame, becomes a hair-trigger thing, as his desire for youth—the restoration of his own, the possession of the boy’s—sets him off, unmoored, on a journey through all that modern culture has to offer by way of consumption, enjoyment and release, only to find himself ultimately caught in a downward spiral.

There are many methods an actor may choose to study. There is Stanislavski,Meisner, Adler, Alexander, Hagen, that random British director you met in college who changed your life, that Spanish actor you watched in that play who has been your entire inspiration, etc. What do all of these methods really do for the actor's instrument? How can these methods help you in your writing? Learn about acting, writing and character development in this fascinating podcast with author Jessie Fahay.

Chrissie Laursen doesn’t date models. Having barely survived her battle with alcoholism and just out of a ten-year marriage that lasted nine years too long, she’s laser focused on her thriving Miami Beach business: promoting erotic photographers in local galleries. She has no time for the ego driven pretty boys that proliferate in that business. For so long she’s wondered if life and love would ever truly touch her that she decides to go it alone. Then she sees the glacial blue eyes and rugged, animal intensity of Nick Jessup, and her resolve begins to fracture. Irresistibly drawn to him, she begins a relationship with Nick and soon becomes obsessed with his dominant, controlling personality. Even his dangerous past doesn’t scare her. But before their charged sexual energy culminates in passion, the peril of Nick’s past explodes into the present and he is sentenced to thirty-five years in prison for a horrific crime. Faced with the reality that her life can either return to the empty normalcy she’s always known or continue through the terrifying and exhilarating doorway that Nick’s arrival has opened…she makes a decision to do something that will never allow her to go back to the fragile life she’s just rebuilt.

A serial killer is on the loose in Green Valley, but what if he's the good guy? The year is 2036 and the United States is pulling out of an economic crisis, thanks to new industries and technologies that thrive in Green Valley, Ohio. Regarded as "America's Hope," the city also boasts being named the safest city in America for five years running. But now Green Valley, one of only a handful of cities protected by the still-experimental Unified Enforcement Police, struggles to catch a new-era murderer who continues to kill and elude capture. As the elite federal police close in on the killer, they discover that something darker has infiltrated their perfect city. Happily bumbling through his predictable life, Milton Simon comes face-to-face with murderer Clarence Jasper and is surprised to find that the killer has a message for him: JOIN ME. Milton soon learns that not only is Green Valley not the safe haven everyone perceives it to be; it’s Hell on Earth.

Doug "10" Rose tells his stories of 35+ years hitchhiking. This (mostly) true story reads like a fantasy. Fearless Puppy is a transfictional self-help book that is part adventure, part travel, part 1960's counter-culture. It is both comedic and dramatic—a butt kicking, page-turning adventure story that makes deep spiritual impressions. Within this book you will meet several saintly Tibetan Lamas. You will also meet a man who is his own uncle, specialists in smoke, mirrors, and invisibility, spirited sex, oxygen orgasms, heavenly Hell’s Angels, phony preachers, domestic violence/domestic solutions, racist killers in America, Canadian race wars, Native American wise men, a bit of Christian ethics and Jewish ritual, angelic witches, benevolent heroin addicts, magical birds, an all-lesbian band playing a rock concert for the deaf, the musician raised by multi-ethnic golden-hearted prostitutes, martial artists battling neo-Nazis, the modern-day Robin Hood, and many other strangely wonderful people. Buckle your seatbelt tightly, take a deep breath, and enjoy the ride.

Three mermaids - Vanessa, Belinda and Maria - swim ashore to pick humans’ brains and indulge their taste for chili, chocolate and ice cream. They encounter Joe, a foul-mouthed fisherman with an eye for nice boobs and quite a handy man to have around when the lights go out. He’ll fix your generator and have the lights back on in no time, no worries. Just as long as the dolphins don’t get him first. A story about fishing, lobsters, beer and boobs, on some cursed islands off the West Australian coast.  At least that’s how Joe tells it. For the mermaids, it’s a slightly different story.

Nadia’s Obsession continues the story of a young Russian woman introduced in Charles Martin’s first novel, Provocateur. A brief prologue enables readers to jump right into this second novel, if they have not read the first. Nadia was born an orphan and had a troubled, desperate early life, but was blessed with superior intelligence and beauty. She escapes her impoverished circumstances, coming to America through a mail-order-bride program. In America she becomes involved with an ex-CIA agent named Olga and, as part of her unique enterprise, is catapulted into a thrilling and dangerous high life filled with suspense, intrigue and sexual tension.

What do you do when a nightmare threatens your dream? In the disturbingly funny new novel from the authors of Vampire Vic, Brian Lawson receives a dread diagnosis: cancer. But he won't spare a moment from saving his struggling coffeeshop, even if success comes with his dying breath. Divorced and ostracized in the rural community, Andrea Goldine sets her sights on the charismatic java man. Brian's doctors ravage him with chemo and radiation, yet the tumor on his shin grows. Brian drafts Andrea into his battle with a competing coffeeshop, desperate to tap the college campus's retail gold mine. But Andrea yearns for a different partnership. Passions simmer below the surface of the tight-lipped community. Fresh from prison, North Dakota's legendary basketball goddess dangles a ticket to Brian's campus coffee dreams, and a disgraced scientist's toxin treatment tantalizes. Two miracles for two maladies--with one cure more deadly than the next.

Harrikh was a military leader and a hero on the world of Lonari, until he was condemned for crimes against that world and his people, the Ynan.  In his exile, he transformed from pariah to monster, and undertook a life’s mission written in blood and fire. Jan Baker, a young man raised on Earth, is one among many Ynan refugees who were scattered amongst the stars when Harrikh returned to Lonari to fulfill a terrible promise in a single act of unparalleled barbarity. Valerie Phillips, a young Philadelphia art student, comes to love Jan and provide for him an anchor of reality, while he, in turn, makes her life more surreal than she could have ever imagined. With their numbers gradually dwindling as Harrikh continues his mission of genocide, the last of the Ynan must fight for the right to exist, and Jan must face his destiny.

Carter Montgomery spent most of his life blending in, and he liked it that way. It was always better to be seen, not heard. And while a theatric streak and friendly demeanor might have fooled most people, he knew the truth—he was the shy one. The quiet kid most people forgot about. Some might have considered that a bad thing, but those people all wanted to be in the spotlight. The only place Carter didn’t mind attention was on stage, with The Hellions. Once content in his comfort zone in Seattle, Washington, he only knew three things: confrontation was to be avoided, keeping the peace was priority, and the moment he lost Kate Parker to Professor Ryan Campbell, he had no clue what to do with his life. Playing gigs, working at Pike Place Market, and watching BBC after the love of his life sailed off into the sunset just wasn’t going to cut it anymore.

In Sicily, 1935 a four-year child walks away from her loving family, her mother, her sister and an infant brother, with a great-aunt for a vacation. She spends the next eight years of her life absent from their lives. It was not an abduction nor was it an adoption. Tina lives in a one-room house in one of the poorest regions of Sicily. She sleeps between a loving aunt and a deranged uncle. She shares her breakfast with goats and chickens while living in the shadow of fascism. The child grows up while WW II ravages the town. Her school is taken over by German soldiers and the things like bread and eggs that were once plentiful, no longer exist. Less than 25 kilometers away her family leads a very different life. After eight years, she returns home to find her childhood interrupted again. This time sickness, warfare and destruction are her enemies. In wartime Europe, childhood does not exist. The child witnesses and experiences many disturbing things from her uncouth, unsanitary living conditions to the failed paratroopers dangling from trees during the allied invasion. Tina is a survivor. She is able to forgive those who took so much away from her. Her spirit trumps over adversity during the war times within and around her.