We saw this week’s guest in early fall at Carmichael’s Bookstore when she read aloud from her latest book, Don’t Call Me a Hurricane. Ellen Hagan has roots in Kentucky and is part of Spalding University’s low residency MFA faculty but lives and works in New York City. She is a poet, fiction writer, performer, and teacher for several programs including the The DreamYard Project and the International Poetry Exchange Program, programs geared towards young people. She is also the author of many books for teens, including Watch Us Rise, a book she wrote in collaboration with Renee Watson.

Don’t Call Me a Hurricane is a YA novel written in verse that addresses climate change, romantic, family, and friend relationships, as well as the tension between tourism and ecology.

Books Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Don't Call Me a Hurricane by Ellen Hagan

2- Watch Us Rise by Renee Watson and Ellen Hagan

3- The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo

4- Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse

5- Rivers of London/Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch, narrated by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith

6- Naruda on the Park by Cleyvis Natera

7- Vinyl Moon by Mahogany L. Browne

8- I Came All This Way to Meet You by Jami Attenberg

9- Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau; audiobook narrated by Cailtin Kinnunen

10- Reckless, Glorious, Girl by Ellen Hagan

To close out October this week, we chat with Lee Mandelo, author of Summer Sons, which recently went into paperback. This creepy novel is hard to categorize because it’s queer Southern Gothic, dark academia, and ghost story. It also touches on issues of race and class. The book is an amalgam of a lot of different ideas rolled into a complex story of friendship, grief, and family curses. We’re so glad Lee joined us to chat about their novel as well as an upcoming novella titled Feed Them Silence which comes out in spring 2023.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

2- Feed them Silence by Lee Mandelo

3- Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver

4- Factory Girls by Michelle Gallen

5- The Haunting of Hajji Hotak and Other Stories by Jamil Jan Kochai

6- Alive At the End of the World by Saeed Jones

7- Prelude to Bruise by Saeed Jones

8- How We Fight For Our Lives by Saeed Jones

9- The Wehrwolf by Alma Katsu (Amazon Original Story)

10- The Fervor by Alma Katsu

Shows mentions--

1- Queer for Fear: The History of Queer Horror

Online Store Website and Instagram1- Gothic Bullshit @gothicbullshit - www.gothicbullshit.com

Many book lovers could spend hours in a library wandering around perusing the shelves, but the Willard Library in Evansville, Indiana is a little more unique because it houses not only books and magazines but some spooky residents. In the 1930s, staff members and patrons first started seeing apparitions including a woman in Victorian clothing named The Gray Lady, a gentleman named Frank, and a little boy named Billy Bobby who likes to play on the stairs. These are friendly ghosts and each year the Willard conducts free ghost tours to the public. You can also keep track of the ghosts for yourself through their ghost cams that they have set up in various locations through the library.

This week we speak to Stacie Dotson, a staff member at the Willard Library who is considered their ghost guru. She is a lover of the paranormal and in fact has a fairly unique background herself which makes her perfect for this job. Stacie has had several encounters with the ghostly residents and she fills us in.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- A House at the Bottom of a Lake by Josh Malerman

2- Bird Box by Josh Malerman

3- Deserter (manga) by Junji Ito

4- The Trial of Lizzie Borden by Cara Robertson

5- Starvation Heights by Gregg Olsen

6- The Stranger Beside Me by Ann Rule

7- Foote by Tom Bredehoft

8- Yours Cruelly, Elvira: Memoirs of the Mistress of the Dark by Cassandra Peterson

9- Disney Villains series by Serena Valentino

10- The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai

11- Devolution: A Firsthand Account of the Rainier Sasquatch Massacre by Max Brooks

Shows mentioned--

1- Ghost Hunters

2- Promised Neverland series (2019 - 2021) - Netflix

In this week’s episode, we chat with Tyler Miller, founder of Reluctant Reader Books, a company that makes books for kids who hate to read. He is also author to several books for young readers in the Nevermore series, including We Bury the Living. In our conversation, Tyler tells us about why he started Reluctant Reader Books and how these books pull in younger readers who don’t normally find books appealing. He also tells us about other authors whose horror-lite novels are ones he recommends.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Nevermore series by Tyler Miller (We Bury the Living, The Thirteenth Floor, Death Cab)

2-Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

3- Goosebumps series by R.L. Stine

4- The Jack Henry novels by Jack Gantos

6- The Haunting of Avaline Jones (and others in series) by Phil Hickes

7- The Goolz Next Door series by Gary Ghislain

8- I Know Your Secret by Daphne Benedis-Grab

9- The Smashed Man of Dread End by JW Ocker

10- Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark series by Alvin Schwartz

11- Monsterstreet series by J.H. Reynolds

12- Fright Vision series by Culliver Crantz

13- Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

14- Dracula by Bram Stoker

15- Uncle Silas by J. Sheridan Le Fanu

16- This Appearing House by Ally Malinenko

17- Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte

18- Wylding Hall by Elizabeth Hand

19- Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

20- Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

21- We Sold Our Souls by Grady Hendrix

Movies/Shows mentioned--

1- Bohemian Rhapsody (2018)

2- Studio 666 (2022)

3- The Why Files (YouTube)

This week’s show gave us an opportunity to speak to Erin Keane, who is the editor in chief of Salon.com but also a well-known Louisville writer who has recently published a book that defies classification a bit—it is a family memoir, but it is also an examination of history and culture.

Erin’s book, Runaway: Notes on the Myths That Made Me, covers a lot of ground. While it is based on her mother’s runaway experience in her early teens in the 1970s, it is also about how her parents met and married when Erin’s now deceased father was in his 30s and her mother was 15. Erin explores the myths she held about her father, how they shaped her life, and how certain myths shape all of our lives. The LA Times listed Runaway as one of its 30 most anticipated books of fall.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Runaway: Notes From the Myths That Made Me by Erin Keane

2- Out Came the Sun by Mariel Hemingway

3- A Botanist's Guide to Parties and Poisons by Kate Khavari

4- The Year of the Horses by Courtney Maum

5- All I Should Not Tell by Brian Leung

6- We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson

Movies mentioned--

Manhattan (1979)

Our show this week is for people who love music….or even just like music. And it doesn’t matter what type of music you like so long as you like it. Our guest is Susan Rogers, a professor at Berklee College of Music who holds a PhD in psychology. But before she was a professor, she was a staff engineer and record producer for artists such as Prince, Barenaked Ladies, and David Byrne, making her one of the few women in the industry to have those accomplishments.

Her book which she wrote with Ogi Ogas, a writer who trained as a computational neuroscientist, is called This is What it Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You and it came out just this week. It is a fascinating read but also very approachable for people who aren’t neuroscientists or musicians but like to listen to music.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- This is What it Sounds Like: What the Music You Love Says About You by Susan Rogers and Ogi Ogas

2-Dark Horse: Achieving Success Through the Pursuit of Fulfillment by Todd Rose and Ogi Ogas

3- Ariadne by Jennifer Saint

4- Circe by Madeline Miller

5- The Witch's Heart by Genevieve Gornichec

6- Mythology by Edith Hamilton

7- The Stone Loves the World by Brian Hall

8- I Should Be Extremely Happy In Your Company: A Novel of Lewis and Clark by Brian Hall

9- The History of the World in 100 Animals by Simon Barnes

Shows mentioned--

Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom

We love finding book lovers who are doing innovative things with words. This week we are talking about making poetry fun and accessible to the person on the street, literally. Our guest is Sean Petrie, a poet in Austin, Texas who, along with his fellow poets in the group Typewriter Rodeo makes poetry become a sensory experience. Sean and his colleagues Jodi, David, and Kari Anne click their vintage typerwriter keys and create poems on the spot for guests who attend all kinds of events in the Austin area and around the country.

Typewriter Rodeo has published their own book of poetry from their nine years of poetry meeting real people with Andrews McMeel Press. And Sean is also the author of books for young readers called The Jett Ryder series and has penned several books of poetry.

Books Mentioned in this Episode:

1- Typewriter Rodeo: Real people, real stories, custom poems by Jodi Egerton, David Fruchter, Kari Anne Holt, and Sean Petrie

2- Pet Poems (also not just pets) by Sean Petrie

3- How to Read the Constitution (and Why) by Kim Wehle

4- Flash Boys: A Wall Street Revolt by Michael Lewis

5- Moneyball: The Art of Winning an Unfair Game by Michael Lewis

6- The Big Short: Inside the Doomsday Machine by Michael Lewis

7- The Guncle by Steven Rowley

8- The House in the Cerulean Sea by TJ Klune

Movies mentioned

1- Moneyball (2011)

2- The Big Short (2015)

3- Schitt's Creek - HULU (2015-2020)

One of our guests from this past summer, Kate Wickers, introduced us to the work of British nonfiction writer Ben Aitken. His books are funny, intelligent, poignant and we’re thrilled he agreed to speak with us from his home in London. We chatted with him about his many books, particularly The Marmalade Diaries which was just published in the US in June. Ben is funny in that understated way that Americans like us find charming.

The Marmalade Diaries: The True Story of an Odd Couple follows Ben’s experience being a millennial lodger with a 80 year old widow as COVID shut everything down in 2020. But we also cover his various travel books including The Gran Tour and A Chip Shop in Poznan.

Books mentioned in this episode:

1- J and C / The Cafe--plays by Ben Aitken

2- Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett

3- Bridget Jones' Diary by Helen Fielding

4- The Gran Tour by Ben Aitken

5- The Marmalade Diaries by Ben Aitken

6- Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson

7- Dear Bill Bryson by Ben Aitken

8- A Chip Shop in Poznan by Ben Aitken

9- The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera

10- Hello Stranger by Will Buckingham

22- Ban This Book by Alan Gratz

23- From the Mixed Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg

24- Two Degrees by Alan Gratz

Movies mentioned--

The Way (2010)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button (2008)

TV series mentioned --

1- The Sandman - Netflix (2022 - )

2- Game of Thrones - HBO (2011-2019)

3- The Witcher - Netflix (2019 - present)

4- The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power - Amazon (2022 -)

Our guest this week is Natalie Martin, a voracious romance reader from Illinois who we met through Tabby Pawlitzki, host of Modern Life podcast. Natalie is the owner of Just Ask Nat! and a virtual assistant for authors and small businesses including the romance podcast Heaving Bosoms where she has also served as guest co-host.

We wanted to dig deep with a fellow book lover who reads romance almost exclusively to find out why this genre is so important to her and what authors she recommends for someone new to this category of novels. We talk about all kinds of romance tropes and themes and have a grand old time that devolves into a discussion that neither of our moms should listen to. But we don’t, as far as we know, violate any FCC regulations.

Books and Authors Mentioned In This Episode:

1- Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul by Jack Canfield

2- All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

3- Nancy Drew series

4- Summer Sisters by Judy Blume

5- Again the Magic by Lisa Kleypas

6- The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

7- A Brush With Love by Mazey Eddings

8- Queen Move by Kennedy Ryan

9- Reel by Kennedy Ryan

10- Everything for You by Chloe Liese

11- Always Only You by Chloe Liese

12- Devil's Daughter by Lisa Kleypas

13- Xeni: A Marriage of Inconvenience by Rebekah Weatherspoon

14- Bridgerton series by Julia Quinn

15- Shirley Jackson: A Haunted Life by Ruth Franklin

16- Shirley by Susan Scarf Merrell (fiction)

17- The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

18- We've Always Lived in the Castle

19- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson

20- Things We Never Got Over by Lucy Score

21- Maggie Moves On by Lucy Score

22- Wretched Waterpark (Sinister Summer #1)by Kiersten White

23- Vampiric Vacation (Sinister Summer #2) by Kiersten White

24- Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snickett

TV/Movies mentioned--

1- Chopped (Hulu)

2- Bridgerton (Netflix)

Podcasts mentioned--

1- Heaving Bosoms

2- The Modern Life Podcast

This week we are joined by Shelley Sackier who has had an interesting literary journey. She is a young adult fiction writer who has recently published a book about scotch whisky called Make It a Double: From Wretched to Wondrous: Tales of One Woman’s Lifelong Discovery of Whisky. It is part Scotch history, a love letter to the country itself, and part memoir about how her love for the spirit developed especially after she completed an internship at a Scottish distillery. Over the course of 20 years, it has changed the trajectory of her life. Shelley works as a whiskey educator at Reservoir Distillery in Richmond, Virginia.

Books Mentioned in This Episode:

1- Make it a Double: From Wretched from Wondrous: Tales of One Woman's Lifelong Discovery of Whisky by Shelley Sackier

2- The Monsters of Rookhaven by Padraig Kenny

3- The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier

4- A Season to Taste: How I Lost My Sense of Smell and Found My Way by Molly Birnbaum

5- The Babysitter: My Summers With a Serial Killer by Jennifer Jordan and Liza Rodman

6- The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan