The Lost Archive is a collection of stories that delve into universal themes of resentment, betrayal, and redemption.Some stories are about friendship, relationships, lost chances, and the search for love, others are about mysterious happenings, mistaken identities, and end of life decisions. < Back The Lost Archive Lynn C. Miller November 28, 2023 The Lost Archive (U Wisconsin Press, 2023) is comprised of a cast of characters who are mostly dealing with, or in the aftermath of a crisis of some kind. Or they are making big decisions about their lives. The stories bump up against each other, some longer, others shorter, from different time periods, geographical locations, and circumstances. There are several ex-husbands trying to weasel back in or extort, several women haunted by previous relationships, and several people who need to move, want to move, or just moved. Some stories are about friendship, relationships, lost chances, and the search for love, others are about mysterious happenings, mistaken identities, and end of life decisions. The Lost Archive is a collection of stories that delve into universal themes of resentment, betrayal, and redemption. Lynn C. Miller is the author of four novels. Her third novel, The Day After Death , was named a 2017 Lambda Literary Award finalist in lesbian fiction, and her short story, “Words Shimmer,” won an Editor’s Prize at Chautauqua journal. Previously, Miller taught performance studies and writing at the University of Southern California, Penn State University, and the University of Texas at Austin. Since 2020, she’s co-hosted the podcast The Unruly Muse, which features original music and performances of fiction and poetry by living writers. She’s toured performances of Gertrude Stein, Edith Wharton, Katherine Anne Porter, and Victoria Woodhull. Hiking and swimming are favorite pastimes, as is exploring Puebloan ruins in New Mexico, Utah, and southwestern Colorado. She and her wife, Lynda Miller collaborate with the poet Hilda Raz as publishers of Bosque Press, and publish ABQ inPrint, a magazine of visual art and writing featuring artists with a New Mexico connection. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

When a young reporter comes to interview Margaret Kenyon, the oldest practicing nurse in the Texas panhandle, she tells him that he’ll have to listen to her story before she answers any questions. < Back Far From Uncertain: One Woman’s Life of Crime & Other Righteous Deeds Teddy Jones April 1, 2026 When a young reporter comes to interview Margaret Kenyon, the oldest practicing nurse in the Texas panhandle, she tells him that he’ll have to listen to her story before she answers any questions. It’s 2000, but her story begins in 1925, with Frankie, a beautiful 15-year-old who has never known anything other than violence, hunger, and fear. Frankie grabs the opportunity to escape her home with a charismatic gambler who shows her the world of bootlegging and uses her beauty for his own ends. After being violently abused, Frankie finds solace in a quite hospital laundry room and begins to rebuild her shattered life. Today we're discussing Far From Uncertain: One Woman’s Life of Crime and Other Righteous Deeds (Stoney Creek, 2026). Since completing a graduate degree in creative writing in 2012, Teddy Jones has made creating fiction her full-time occupation. She’s written six novels—including A Family of Good Women, which first introduced readers to Frankie—and a collection of short stories. Jackson’s Pond, Texas, was a finalist in the Women Writing the West Willa Award for contemporary fiction in 2014, and one of her short stories won the Faulkner-Wisdom Creative Writing Competition first prize medal in 2015. Marva Cope , another novel, was named as a finalist for the Sarton Award in 2024. Jones earned a degree in nursing and a doctorate in education, worked as a family nurse practitioner, and was the founding dean of the School of Nursing at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. She focused on rural health promotion and was a monthly columnist for The Farmer Stockman for thirteen years. When she and her husband decided in 2001 to leave their “real jobs” and begin farming, opportunity presented itself. “If you’re going to write fiction, now’s the time,” she told herself. She’s been at it ever since. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Serve as shown in sections in the bowl because it looks awesome. Then mix at the table. < Back Mango-Avocado Salad June 11, 2020 Prep Time: 10 Minutes Cook Time: 0 Minutes Serves: 4 Servings Tags: Vegan, Vegetarian, Entrees About the Recipe Ingredients 1 Mango cut in small pieces 1 Medium Avocado cut in small pieces 1 cup (or more) chopped Napa cabbage 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley 1/2 cup chopped red onion Juice and zest of one medium lime 1/4 cup Trader Joe’s Chunky Salsa (my favorite – has a smoky flavor) Salt and Pepper to taste (optional) Preparation Serve as shown in sections in the bowl because it looks awesome. Then mix at the table. Or just serve it already mixed. It’ll taste delicious either way! Previous Next

"We can't all be heroes. Some try and succeed. Others posture and pretend. And a few--just a few--set off on their hero's quest only to discover that failure was within them all along." < Back Compass Murray Lee December 13, 2022 We can't all be heroes. Some try and succeed. Others posture and pretend. And a few--just a few--set off on their hero's quest only to discover that failure was within them all along. Murray Lee's Compass (Publerati, 2022) recounts the adventures of a man who, after traveling the world shilling stories for a major geographic magazine about historic expeditions and explorers, sets out on an adventure of his own--an ill-advised and poorly planned trip to the Arctic floe edge under the disorienting twenty-four-hour summer sun. When the ice breaks and his guide disappears, the narrator ends up alone and adrift in the hostile northern sea. He draws on his knowledge of historic expeditions to craft his own, inept, attempt at survival. As time passes and he becomes increasingly disoriented, his obsession with Sedna, the Inuit goddess of the sea, becomes terrifyingly real. Part Life of Pi, part Into the Wild, Compass draws heavily on true historical adventures, Inuit mythology, and its Arctic setting. The narrator, a self-aware buffoon who remains nameless throughout, is both remarkably well-informed and entirely useless. He knows just enough to steer himself into the path of disaster--repeatedly, often comically, and ultimately tragically. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

The perfect recipes for a picnic lunch! < Back Cold Sesame Noodles November 19, 2020 Prep Time: 5-10 Minutes Cook Time: Varies Serves: 6-8 Servings Tags: Entrees, Vegetarian About the Recipe Ingredients 1 14.5 oz. box/package any kind of pasta 1 nearly empty jar of Tahini (1 or 2 TBSPs) ¼ cup very hot water 1 TBSP toasted sesame oil 3 TBSP rice vinegar 3 or 4 TBSP soy or tamari sauce 2 TBSP maple syrup 1 tsp garlic powder 4 or 5 scallions, cut in small, diagonal pieces 1 TBSP or a sprinkle of toasted sesame seeds ¼ tsp crushed red pepper (or regular black pepper) Optional: grated carrot, and/or grated zucchini, 1 small red or yellow pepper, cut into thin strips, a handful of chopped parsley or cilantro Preparation In a medium pot, boil water and cook pasta according to instructions. Add very hot/boiling water to a nearly empty jar of tahini. Cover and shake -scrape sides if needed. Add oil, vinegar, maple, garlic, and shake more. Pour into a large serving bowl and stir in the scallions and whatever chopped vegetables you have. Drain the pasta, add it to the sauce in the serving bowl, and toss to coat. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and pepper. Cover or refrigerate until ready to serve. Yum. Previous Next

Kudzu salesman James T. Cullowee arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in the spring of 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu. It can apparently feed cattle, improve soil, grow with no effort, be turned into jam, and cure headaches. < Back The Kudzu Queen Mimi Herman January 24, 2023 Kudzu salesman James T. Cullowee arrives in Cooper County, North Carolina in the spring of 1941 to spread the gospel of kudzu. It can apparently feed cattle, improve soil, grow with no effort, be turned into jam, and cure headaches. Mattie Lee Watson is struck from the moment she sees Mr. Cullowee, and dreams of both becoming Cooper County Kudzu Queen and strolling on the Kudzu King’s arm. But Mattie’s best friend is faced with calamity, Mr. Cullowee seems to be as sneaky and destructive as kudzu, and Mattie realizes that she’s the only one who can fix the mess. Mimi Herman's The Kudzu Queen (Regal House, 2023) is a gripping coming-of-age story about family, trust, race relations, and friendship in the face of divisiveness, alcoholism, mean girls, prejudice, and evil. Mimi Herman is a Kennedy Center teaching artist and director of the United Arts Council Arts Integration Institute . She has taught in the Master of Education programs at Lesley University, served as the 2017 North Carolina Piedmont Laureate, and been an associate editor for Teaching Artist Journal. Since 1990, she has engaged over 25,000 students and teachers with her warm and intuitive teaching style. Mimi holds a BA from the University of North Carolina and an MFA in Creative Writing from Warren Wilson. She is the author of A Field Guide to Human Emotions, Logophilia and The Art of Learning . Her writing has appeared in Michigan Quarterly Review , The Carolina Quarterly , Shenandoah , Crab Orchard Review , The Hollins Critic , Main Street Rag , Prime Number Magazine and other journals. Mimi has performed her fiction and poetry at many venues including Why There Are Words in Sausalito, Memorial Auditorium in Raleigh and Symphony Space in New York City. When she's not writing, Mimi codirects Writeaways writing workshops at a chateau in France, a villa in Italy, an adobe in New Mexico and a manor house in Ireland--and does her own plumbing and carpentry work on her almost hundred-year-old house. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

In early-seventeenth-century Portugal, Spain, France, and Germany, dangers are plentiful—especially for those of Jewish heritage. Non-Catholics have been expelled from Spain, and the Inquisition has come to Portugal to impose its prohibitions. < Back Isabella's Way Barbara Stark Nemon September 30, 2025 Isabella’s mother recently died, and her father is in Europe making contacts for the family embroidery business. She’s 14 years old, alone in her house, working long hours to finish an embroidery commission for the local priest. It’s 1605, and Isabella has been raised as a Catholic in a small town in Portugal. But Isabella doesn’t know that her parents are “new Christians.” Then a mysterious foreign woman appears with a message that Isabella has been hired to embroider a trousseau in France. Isabella isn’t sure how to proceed, but her childhood friend David de Sousa, now in charge of their “New Christian” community, explains that the Inquisition has begun attacking small communities like theirs, and tells her that they must all leave Portugal as soon as possible, perhaps forever. Barbara Stark-Nemon, author of award-winning novels Even in Darkness and Hard Cider , lives, writes, cycles, swims, does fiber arts and gardens in Ann Arbor and Northport, Michigan. She has degrees in English literature, art history and speech-language pathology from the University of Michigan and worked with deaf and language disabled children. Even in Darkness is historical fiction based on a family story in 20th century Germany. Hard Cider , contemporary fiction, is set in northern Michigan. Find her online at https://www.barbarastarknemon.com/ Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

INSIDE THE MIRROR centers on twin sisters growing up in 1950s Bombay, who aspire to become artists. The family is still recovering from the Partition of India in 1947, especially the twins’ grandmother, who once fought for justice against the British regime. < Back Inside the Mirror Parul Kapur March 5, 2024 INSIDE THE MIRROR (Parul Kapur, University of Nebraska Press 2024) centers on twin sisters growing up in 1950s Bombay, who aspire to become artists. The family is still recovering from the Partition of India in 1947, especially the twins’ grandmother, who once fought for justice against the British regime. One sister is supposed to study medicine, but she is a talented painter, and other studies education, but she is highly trained in a classical Hindu dance form called Bharata Natyam. They live in a Bengali community in which parents choose their daughters’ husbands and society demands conformity. Jaya’s paintings and Kamlesh’s dancing could destroy their chances of finding a good husband, ruin their father’s career, and affect the family’s standing in their community. Jaya moves out of the house, an aberration not only affects her medical schooling, but also disturbs the bond she has with her twin. This is a beautifully written novel about family, art, British colonialism, and coming of age in a time and place in which women could not easily choose their own paths. Parul Kapur was born in Assam, India and immigrated to the United States with her family when she was seven. She received a BA in English Literature from Wesleyan University and an MFA from Columbia University. Returning to India, she worked for a year as a reporter for the city magazine Bombay, covering social issues, and culture and the arts. A journalist, literary critic and fiction writer, Parul was a press officer at the United Nations in New York and a freelance arts writer for The Wall Street Journal Europe, New York Newsday, ARTnews, and Art in America during a decade spent in Germany, France, and England. Her articles and reviews have also appeared in The New Yorker, The Paris Review, Esquire, GQ, Slate, Guernica , and Los Angeles Review of Books . Her short stories appear in Ploughshares, Pleiades, Prime Number, Midway Journal, Wascana Review , and the anthology {Ex}tinguished & {Ex}tinct . In 2010, she founded the Books page at ArtsATL, Atlanta’s leading online arts review, covering the literary scene for four years. She was also a co-founder of the global voices program, showcasing a diversity of authors, at the Decatur Book Festival, formerly the nation’s largest indie book festival. She created programs such as visits to collectors’ homes and artist studio visits for members of the High Museum in Atlanta. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

If you were struggling through a bitter divorce from an alcoholic spouse, and unable to communicate with your son, and finally enjoy a night out where you drink just one more beer, and a couple of people on a bike ride straight at you while you’re driving into the entrance, when they should have been taking the exit, and it’s impossible to see through the fog….is it really your fault if you hit them and they die? Tandem (Andy Mozina) is about a Kalamazoo economics professor who bargains with himself about how much good he can do if he stays out of prison, to make up for the deaths of two innocent kids. < Back Tandem Andy Mozina November 21, 2023 An economics professor at a Michigan college is struggling through a bad divorce, having a tough time with his only son, and then, through hardly any fault of his own, he must avoid getting caught by the police. He only had one extra beer and it was late and foggy outside, plus the two college kids were biking out of the entrance to the deserted beach, instead of the exit, without a headlight, so was it really his fault when he hit and killed them? Also, couldn’t he do more for the world and right his wrongs, if he was still teaching and making contributions, than if he was stuck in jail forever? Mike will do anything to avoid being caught in this moving novel about the lengths a person will go to avoid facing uncomfortable truths. Born and raised in Milwaukee, Andy Mozina majored in economics at Northwestern, then dropped out of Harvard Law School to study literature and write. He’s published fiction in Tin House , Ecotone , McSweeney’s, The Southern Review , and elsewhere. His first story collection, The Women Were Leaving the Men , won the Great Lakes Colleges Association New Writers Award. Quality Snacks , his second collection, was a finalist for the Flannery O’Connor Prize. His first novel, Contrary Motion , was published by Spiegel & Grau/Penguin Random House. His fiction has received special citations in Best American Short Stories , Pushcart Prize , and New Stories from the Midwest . He’s a professor of English at Kalamazoo College. His passion is grading papers, and his hobbies include listening to legal podcasts and rooting for Wisconsin professional sports teams. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

The Beauty and the Hell of It and Other Stories (Guernica, 2025) conjures up images of women who struggle through difficult transitions, unpleasant encounters, or ghastly boyfriends and husbands. < Back The Beauty and The Hell of It and Other Stories Lynda Williams September 2, 2025 The Beauty and the Hell of It and Other Stories (Guernica, 2025) conjures up images of women who struggle through difficult transitions, unpleasant encounters, or ghastly boyfriends and husbands. One woman is a lesbian who sees the man who raped her a decade before, another suffers from bipolar disease, and a third is harassed by her professor. Some of them are grieving and others want vindication but few of them are living the lives they’d imagined. And then there’s Liam, who is devastated by his young son’s death, and who’d always loved the daughter of one of his father’s wives. These are beautifully written, sensitive stories about a range of human reactions to the harsh realities of life and death. Lynda Williams is a freelance copyeditor and short fiction writer based in Calgary, Alberta. Her stories have appeared in Grain, The Humber Literary Review, and The New Quarterly, among others. Her literary influences include Raymond Carver, Pam Houston, and Lorrie Moore. Born and raised on a dairy farm in the Eastern Townships of Quebec, Lynda arrived in Calgary after a 40-hour trip on a Greyhound bus, after which she took the best shower of her life. She has called Alberta home ever since. When she’s not writing, Lynda can be found experimenting with gluten-free baking and bingeing New Girl on one of many streaming services. She has been married to her partner in crime for 12 years, and they share their home (and food) with the world’s most adorable mini–Australian Shepherd, Cooper. She is a recipient of the Lieutenant Governor of Alberta Emerging Artist Award. For more information about Lynda and her work, visit her website here . Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Theo Sterling is eleven when his grandfather kidnaps him, just for the afternoon. He learns that his father had shed his Jewish identity, married a very Catholic woman from Mexico, and stopped talking to either of his parents. < Back The Palace at the End of the Sea Simon Tolkien June 24, 2025 Theo Sterling is eleven when his grandfather kidnaps him, just for the afternoon. He learns that his father had shed his Jewish identity, married a very Catholic woman from Mexico, and stopped talking to either of his parents. At fourteen, Theo’s father makes him drop out of school to work in his clothing factory. Theo is disgusted at his father’s treatment of the workers and upset when he realizes that one of the men at his mother’s church has been inching into her affections. The 1929 crash leads to his father’s death, after which Theo and his mother barely survive until she marries her wealthy suitor. Now in England, Theo is enrolled in an upper-crust English boarding school. A friend inspires him to fight against Fascism and Theo nearly gets kicked out of school. After graduation, he spends the summer in Spain, where he’s again inspired, this time by a beautiful girl, to fight against the system. But it’s the 1930s and Fascism is simmering in Spain and Germany. Theo will have to make a serious decision about his future. Simon Tolkien is the author of No Man’s Land, Orders from Berlin, The King of Diamonds, The Inheritance, and Final Witness . He studied modern history at Trinity College, Oxford, and went on to become a London barrister specializing in criminal defense. Simon is the grandson of J.R.R. Tolkien and is a director of the Tolkien Estate. In 2022 he was named as series consultant to the Amazon TV series The Rings of Power . He has lived with his wife, vintage fashion author Tracy Tolkien, and their two children, Nicholas and Anna, in Santa Barbara for the past sixteen years. He loves the city with its wonderful Spanish architecture and unique position between the mountains and the sea. He is passionate about his garden which has taken almost as long to build, an enthusiasm he shares with his beloved pug, Sadie. He plays tennis twice a week and golf when he can and loves good TV drama - Silo was his favorite show last year. He is a devoted follower of Aston Villa Football Club, and tries to remain curious about the world, even when the news is upsetting. For more information, visit www.simontolkien.com Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Lorna is a social worker who helps countless depressed and disturbed patients pull their lives together, but she can’t begin to communicate with her miserable 19-year-old son, who will barely communicate and speaks in passive voice. She needs to drive up to Vermont to see to her aging mother, now suffering from a possible broken ankle, and dreads being with her because the mother disappeared without a word when Lorna was a child, and only came back in her life after her son was born. Then there’s her ex-husband out on the west coast – Lorna’s job is communicating, but she hasn’t found a way to do so in her own life. < Back The Blue Window Suzanne Berne October 17, 2023 Today I talked to Suzanne Berne about her novel The Blue Window (Marysue Rucci Books, 2023). Lorna is a clinical social worker, trained to talk to people, but she can’t get through to the two people most important to her; her miserable teenage son and her distant, unhappy mother. She grew up with a deaf father who never explained to her or her brother why their mother suddenly disappeared. Her brother died of AIDS in the 1980s and her father is also gone, but her mother had coming for Thanksgiving Day since Lorna’s son Adam was born. Now, a neighbor calls to say that her mother, Marika, has hurt her ankle and needs help. Lorna prepares to drive up, and hopes Adam will join her for the drive. Adam hopes to torture and negate himself, so he agrees to the journey. Lorna doesn’t expect that her distant son and mother will bond, or that she will be left out of their relationship. Suzanne Berne is the author of four previous novels: The Dogs of Littlefield , The Ghost at the Table , A Perfect Arrangement , and A Crime in the Neighborhood , which won Great Britain’s Orange Prize, now The Women’s Prize. She has also published a book of nonfiction, Missing Lucile , about her paternal grandmother. Berne has written frequently for The New York Times and The Washington Post , and published essays and articles in numerous magazines. For many years she taught creative writing, first at Harvard University, and then at Boston College and at the Ranier Writing Workshop in Tacoma, WA. She lives outside of Boston with her husband. They have two daughters. When she is not writing--or thinking about the writing she is not doing--she is often walking her dog or thinking about walking him. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next