Greg Sarris, PhD and tribal leader serving his sixteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria, about his latest story collection, The Forgetters. The stories are connected to two sister crows who sit all day and night on Sonoma Mountain talking about the creation of the world, human frailty, silliness, and suffering. One crow sister can only ask the questions, and one can only answer in tales about Native American Indians struggling to remember the stories that made them who they are. < Back The Forgetters Greg Sarris April 16, 2024 In Greg Sarris' book The Forgetters (Heyday Books, 2024), Answer Woman, a crow, cannot come up with a story until she is asked by Question Woman, her sister. But they both want to remember those who forgot the stories – because only by retelling the stories can they learn lessons of the past. From the time before creation to the near future, Answer Woman knows stories about clouds and sky, people who might be animals, storytelling contests of the past, and lessons learned from mistakes. Greg Sarris’s creation stories represent age old Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Native American storytelling traditions, whose goals are to comfort and inspire while understand human frailty and striving. Greg Sarris is an accomplished author, university professor, and tribal leader serving his sixteenth term as Chairman of the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria. He is the current board chair of the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian. In 1992, he co-authored the Graton Rancheria Restoration Act which restored federal recognition and associated rights to the Coast Miwok and Southern Pomo Native Americans of California, including the right to reestablish tribal lands. Sarris graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English from the University of California, Los Angeles and received his Ph.D. in Modern Thought and Literature from Stanford. He has taught American and American Indian Literature, and Creative Writing at UCLA, Stanford, Loyola Marymount University, and Sonoma State University. Currently, he serves as a member of the Board of Regents for the University of California and is an elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He is also a producer, playwright, and the author of several books, including the award-winning How a Mountain Was Made (2017), starred Kirkus review Becoming Story (2022), and Grand Avenue (1995), which he adapted for an HBO film, and co-produced with Robert Redford. He is co-executive producer of Joan Baez: I Am A Noise (2023) and a recent short story, Citizen (2023), was adapted by San Francisco’s Word for Word theater. He is passionate about riding his horse and remembering to connect with the landscape around him. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Shmulie Shimmer is the inventor of LERBS, the most popular designer drug ever to be created. Turns out that it leaves people brain dead, and Shmulie should be in prison, but his business partner took the rap. < Back Nick Bones Underground Phil M. Cohen November 9, 2021 Shmulie Shimmer is the inventor of LERBS, the most popular designer drug ever to be created. Turns out that it leaves people brain dead, and Shmulie should be in prison, but his business partner took the rap. Now Shmulie’s father hasn’t heard from him in over a year and half. He approaches Shmulie’s high school friend, Professor Nick Friedman, aka Nick Bones, private detective. Nick’s beautiful daughter was a victim of Lerbs, and Nick never wants to see the guy again, but Shmulie’s father has cancer and only a few months to live, so NIck takes the case. It’s a future in which the world no longer works the way it did, and sharp-witted, colorful characters roam above and below ground in what is an unrecognizable New York City. Now, Nick needs the help of his AI computer to make his way in the Velvet Underground, previously known as part of the subway system. Phil M. Cohen's Nick Bones Underground (Koehler Books, 2019) is a mystery, a wild ride through the future, a science-fiction nightmare, and an exploration of religion and humanity. Phil M. Cohen is a rabbi who has been engaged in Jewish storytelling for a very long time. In addition to a B.A from Dickinson College and rabbinic ordination from Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, Phil holds a Ph.D. in Jewish thought from Brandeis University and an MFA from Spalding University in Louisville. From his rabbinic education, he learned how to create and interpret stories. From his doctoral experience, he learned how to grapple with philosophical questions. In earning an MFA, he learned how to write fiction. From his work as a rabbi, he gained deep insight into the Jewish and broader world. And from realms unknown and a bit scary, Rabbi Doctor Cohen discovered his creative imagination. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Rebecca Cohen and her family live in Istanbul, until they lose all their wealth and are forced to leave. It’s also no longer safe for Jews, and many are trying to find a place to go. Rebecca’s father, once a successful businessman, now cleans a synagogue in Barcelona. < Back Kantika Elizabeth Graver August 1, 2023 Rebecca Cohen and her family live in Istanbul, until they lose all their wealth and are forced to leave. It’s also no longer safe for Jews, and many are trying to find a place to go. Rebecca’s father, once a successful businessman, now cleans a synagogue in Barcelona. Rebecca finds work as a seamstress and marries a man who is barely at home. He later dies, leaving her with two young sons to raise on her own, but she’s already started her own business. A second marriage is arranged, but she has to get to Havana to meet her potential husband, and he has to lie to get back to the states faster than the usual bureaucracy allows. Finally, married and in her new home, she’s challenged with helping her disabled stepdaughter, learning yet another new language, and building a new life. Rebecca was a tenacious heroine whose story has been lovingly fictionalized by her granddaughter, author Elizabeth Graver. Elizabeth Graver’s fourth novel, The End of the Point , was long-listed for the 2013 National Book Award in Fiction and selected as a New York Times Notable Book of the Year. Her other novels are Awake , The Honey Thief , and Unravelling . Her story collection, Have You Seen Me? , won the 1991 Drue Heinz Literature Prize. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Short Stories, Prize Stories: The O. Henry Awards, The Pushcart Prize Anthology , and Best American Essays . She teaches at Boston College and tends to a field of rocking horses known to her and her family by a secret name but to the wider world as Ponyhenge. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Jennifer Ashley: Kat Holloway Mysteries < Back Jennifer Ashley Author of The Kat Holloway Mysteries February 20, 2020 Jennifer Ashley is one of those writers with limitless energy and a treasure trove of untold stories in her head. She writes historical, paranormal and contemporary romance as Jennifer Ashley; mysteries as Ashley Gardner; and paranormal romance/urban fantasy as Allyson James. Her over 100 books have been translated into over ten languages, and she is a N.Y.T and U.S.A. Today bestselling author. Her website informs us that although she loves reading and writing above all else, she also has a bunch of hobbies including cooking, hiking, playing flute and guitar, painting, and building miniature rooms and dollhouses. One can only assume she is another one of those people who requires no more than four hours of sleep at night (or she is the most organized woman in the world). I love reading Kat Holloway mysteries, each of which is carefully researched so that the young cook’s preparations and meals are what might have been served in Victorian England. I was so enamored of her seed-cakes that I’ve spent the past two weeks trying to recreate a healthy version without butter or eggs. I love her evening preparation of yeast dough that rises all night so that she can do the second rising in the morning before baking it – exactly how I do it! It’s delightful to hear how Mrs. Holloway plans and executes the meals she’ll serve ‘above stairs,’ in addition to how she puts together her own and the other servants’ meals. There’s usually something in the oven that needs tending, or a complete meal that needs serving when Mrs. Holloway leaves to help a friend solve a problem. Ancillary characters like vivacious, cross-dressing Lady Cynthia, mysterious, renaissance man Daniel Macadam, and snooty butler Mr. Davis are well-drawn and interesting. Mrs. Holloway is always putting on her apron and getting to work in the kitchen or removing her apron and donning her coat, hat and gloves to venture into the bustling city. She treasures her days off with her little daughter, tries to convey proper behavior to her staff, and strives to make the lives of poor beggars a little easier with coins and extra food that she brings outside after the evening meal. Solid Mrs. Holloway is indeed a most charming and dependable hero. Death Below Stairs (2018) Scandal Above Stairs (2018) Death in Kew Gardens (2019) Murder in the East End (2020) Death at the Crystal Palace (2021) The Secret of Bow Lane (2022) Speculations in Sin (2024 Previous Next

Louise Penny: Armond Gamache Mysteries < Back Louise Penny Author of The Armond Gamache Mysteries February 14, 2023 Canadian author Louise Penny is a little younger than me and has written one of the most beloved mystery series of all time ( I think). Her Inspector Gamache has a complex personality and has experienced much anguish but still maintains his kind dignity. She writes that he is based on her husband Michael, who developed dementia and died in 2016 at age 83. Penny credits her husband with having given her the ability to stop working and focus on writing . She was already forty when she published Still Life, the first of the Gamache books (which I loved). I think highly of Louise Penny’s ability to portray her characters with so much humanity. They feel the range of human emotions and seem like they could walk off the page and continue their conversations. I’ve devoured at least five Inspector Gamache novels and would continue reading the entire set if I wasn’t trying so hard to read at least one book of every author I know (and those I don’t)! Previous Next

This book introduced the intrepid 11-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce, who lives in an enormous manor house in England, with her widowed father and two sisters. It’s 1950, and England is still rebuilding itself after WWII. < Back The Flavia de Luce Mystery Series Alan Bradley October 11, 2019 Alan Bradley ’s first mystery, The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie , came out in 2009, and received the Crime Writers’ Association Debut Dagger Award, the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, the Arthur Ellis Award, the Macavity Award and the Spotted Owl Award. This book introduced the intrepid 11-year-old protagonist, Flavia de Luce, who lives in an enormous manor house in England, with her widowed father and two sisters. It’s 1950, and England is still rebuilding itself after WWII. Another book has followed each year. Golden Tresses of the Dead , the 10th novel in the series, was released in early 2019, and continues the escapades of now orphaned Flavia, who is being cared for, along with her annoying little cousin Undine, by a staff of servants. Flavia collaborates with the estate gardener, Dogger, who was her father's previous army companion and has a surprising repertoire of talents. Together, they solve whatever crimes pop up in the seemingly peaceful little English town of Bishop’s Lacey. In addition to the Flavia de Luce Mystery Series, Canadian-born author Alan Bradley is the author of many short stories, children's stories, newspaper columns, and the memoir, The Shoebox Bible. He co-authored Ms. Holmes of Baker Street with the late William A.S. Sarjeant. Alan Bradley and his wife live on the Isle of Mann in the middle of the Irish Sea. He began writing the series after retiring from the University of Saskatchewan, where, among other things, he taught television broadcast engineering and designed engineering studios. When not writing, he can be found reading, and often, both take place in his bed. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Cass Raines left the Chicago Police force after a morally bankrupt cop nearly got her killed. Now she runs her own Private Detective agency. < Back What You Don't See Tracy Clark September 22, 2020 Cass Raines left the Chicago Police force after a morally bankrupt cop nearly got her killed. Now she runs her own Private Detective agency. When her old CPD friend and partner, Ben Mickerson asks Cass to join him for a side gig, she’s happy to do it. Then she meets the client – the wealthy, powerful owner of a fast-growing media empire. Vonda Allen is loved by the public but hated by her employees and also by whoever is sending her death threats. Cass isn’t thrilled about babysitting a heartless diva, but when two of Vonda’s staff members are murdered, the case gets serious. Then, at one of Vonda’s book signings, a mysterious fan stabs Ben. Although Vonda fires her, Cass is worried that Ben won’t pull through. Now, there’s no way she’s going to sit this one out even though that same morally bankrupt cop and his friend are trying to trip her up. She’s hell bent on figuring out Vonda’s secrets and determined to get answers before anyone else, including Vonda, dies. Tracy Clark is the author of the highly acclaimed Chicago Mystery Series featuring ex-homicide cop turned PI Cassandra Raines, a hard-driving, African-American protagonist who works the mean streets of the Windy City dodging cops, cons, killers, and thugs. She received Anthony Award and Lefty Award nominations for her series debut, Broken Places, which was also shortlisted for the American Library Association’s RUSA Reading List, named a CrimeReads Best New PI Book of 2018, a Midwest Connections Pick, and a Library Journal Best Books of the Year. In addition to her Cass Raines novels, Tracy’s short story “For Services Rendered,” appears in the anthology Shades of Black: Crime and Mystery Stories by African‑American Authors. A native of Chicago, she works as an editor in the newspaper industry and roots for the Cubs, Sox, Bulls, Bears, and Blackhawks equally. She is a member of Sisters in Crime, PI Writers of America, International Thriller Writers, and a Mystery Writers of America Midwest board member. When she isn’t working, reading or writing, Tracy loves watching old movies, especially those involving monsters. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Ruthie dropped off a tray of frozen sweet potato-black bean empanadas. < Back Oven-Baked Sweet Potato-Black Bean Empanadas July 23, 2019 Prep Time: 45 Minutes Cook Time: 15 Minutes Serves: 24 Servings Tags: Entrees, Vegetarian, Vegan About the Recipe 125 Battered: A Whipped and Sipped Mystery That night, Brianne invited the sixth-floor neighbors for dinner, including Joan, who didn’t answer her phone or respond to Brianne’s text. Elderly neighbor, Gloriadine declined, explaining that the funeral had exhausted her for the day. Alene vowed to have Kacey join them instead of sitting alone in her room but she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage it. Brianne was planning to order in, but Ruthie dropped off a tray of frozen sweet potato-black bean empanadas with fresh garlic bread, a big salad, and a jar of her homemade, garlicky salad dressing. Alene decided to send Sierra to get Kacey, who wasn’t responding to texts. It was a chance, but Sierra could be very persuasive. Quinn and Noah were reading comic books on the couch in front of Brianne’s coffee table while Alene and her father joined Brianne at her round kitchen table. Sierra rushed back into the kitchen looking flushed. “Joan just screamed at me,” she said in a hushed tone. “It was unbelievably scary.” Brianne gulped and Cal covered his mouth in surprise. “What did she say?” Alene asked. How dare she scream at a child? Sierra reported the story as if it had been a big adventure. “She opened the door and said, ‘Get away from me, you little shit. I’ve had just about enough from all of you.” “Oh, my goodness,” said Cal, “kindness really doesn’t come naturally to that woman.” Brianne shook her head. “She’s in mourning. We should be patient with her – but who talks that way to a little girl?” “I’m nearly twelve-and-a-half. I’m not exactly a little girl,” said Sierra with a sigh. Ingredients 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour 2 tsp baking soda 1 tsp kosher salt 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil 2 TBSP apple cider vinegar ¾ cup ice cold water 1 cooked medium sweet potato 1 cup black beans (reserve some of the liquid from the can to moisten the filling) 1 red pepper (or poblano if you want heat) roast, remove seeds and membrane, chop 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (toss in heated pan until fragrant, or use powdered cumin) 1/3 cup chopped scallions 2 or more tablespoons chopped cilantro (use parsley if someone hates cilantro) ½ to 1 teaspoon chili powder (depending on how much heat you want) 1/2 teaspoon salt Preparation Use a food processor to pulse together flour, baking soda and salt Add in oil, cold water, and vinegar: pulse 2-4 times just to combine Remove from the food processor and form into a loose ball Wrap in plastic and place in refrigerator for at least one hour Mash the sweet potato with the rest of the ingredients (add more liquid from can if needed) Remove the dough from the fridge, divide and shape into 8 equal balls On a lightly floured surface, roll each ball of dough into an approximately 5” circle Spoon about 2-3 TBSP of the sweet potato mixture onto each circle Moisten edges of the dough with water and fold over the filling Seal edges with a fork on both sides Place on a large greased baking sheet (or parchment paper/silicone mat) Cut diagonal slits across each empanada and bake at 400° 15 minutes until golden Great for appetizers (Serve 2-3 per adult with salad, guacamole and salsa for dinner) Recipe also works with store-bought pie dough Previous Next

Hailey Gelman just learned that her soon-to-be ex-husband was murdered in his home. < Back We Would Never Tova Mirvis February 11, 2025 After her husband Jonah asks for a divorce, Hailey Gelman’s difficult life in Binghamton turns into six weeks of litigation and custody battles in Tova Mirvis’s new novel, We Would Never (Avid Reader Press 2025). After she files a motion to move with their young daughter to Florida, the tension escalates, and Jonah is suddenly murdered. Hailey is the prime suspect. Hailey’s father, who had to rebuild his life after his academic advisor took credit for his work is dying of Parkinsons; her mother, whose reason for living is to make sure her family is safe, makes reckless decisions, her brother Nate, the troublemaker who managed to graduate from medical school and works in his father’s dermatology practice. tries to protect his sister, and her other brother Adam, can’t stand their mother’s interference, moves to Maine, and refuses to participate in family events of any kind. Based on a true story, We Would Never is about family loyalty, the damage of divorce, and the fierceness of parents’ love for their children. Tova Mirvis grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and attended Columbia College in New York City, followed by the Columbia School of the Arts where she received an MFA and was a teaching fellow. Her first novel The Ladies Auxiliary, which was set in the Memphis Jewish community, was a national bestseller and an Independent Bookstore bestseller. She is also the author of the novels The Outside World and Visible City. Her memoir The Book of Separation stemmed from an essay she wrote for the New York Times “Private Lives” column and was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and excerpted in the New York Times Modern Love Column. She has been a visiting scholar at the Hadassah-Brandeis Institute at Brandeis University and a fellow at the Brandeis Women’s Studies Research Center. Her essays have appeared in many publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe Magazine, Real Simple, and Psychology Today, and her fiction has been broadcast on NPR. She lives in Newton, MA with her family where she is working on a new novel. When she is not writing, she enjoys running, learning to play tennis and talking to her dog. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Stephen Cane is a guitarist – he’s already walked out on one band to join another one that subsequently falls apart. He gets himself to New York City to try to rejoin his first band, the one headed by his best friend and former bandmate, Dylan John. It’s 1967, drugs and girls are everywhere, Dylan is on the verge of becoming a rock n’ roll star, and Stephen makes some extremely poor choices. < Back We are All Together Richard Fulco November 29, 2022 Stephen Cane is a guitarist – he’s already walked out on one band to join another one that subsequently falls apart. He gets himself to New York City to try to rejoin his first band, the one headed by his best friend and former bandmate, Dylan John. It’s 1967, drugs and girls are everywhere, Dylan is on the verge of becoming a rock n’ roll star, and Stephen makes some extremely poor choices. When Dylan quits just before a big show, Stephen is given a huge opportunity, but it doesn’t take long before he starts making more bad decisions. He’s in turmoil, as is the entire country, and his choices in love and loyalty cause him to spiral into self-doubt. Is being a rock star worth losing everything he holds dear? Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

A decrepit house in Greendale, Mississippi once belonged to Billie James’s father, a renowned black poet who died unexpectedly when she was four years old. Her mother dies of cancer. Then years later, her paternal grandmother dies and leaves Billie the old Mississippi Delta house. < Back The Gone Dead Chanelle Benz July 27, 2020 A decrepit house in Greendale, Mississippi once belonged to Billie James’s father, a renowned black poet who died unexpectedly when she was four years old. Her mother dies of cancer. Then years later, her paternal grandmother dies and leaves Billie the old Mississippi Delta house. At age 34, Billie returns to the house, encounters the locals, and learns that on the day her father died, she went missing. She doesn’t want to leave Mississippi until she finds out what happened, but someone doesn’t want Billie to know the truth. Told from several perspectives, The Gone Dead (Ecco, 2019) is a story about family and memory, justice for those who were never given a chance, and some of the wounds caused by racism in America. Chanelle Benz has published work in Guernica, Granta.com, The New York Times, Electric Literature, The American Reader , Fence and others, and is the recipient of an O. Henry Prize. Her story collection The Man Who Shot Out My Eye Is Dead was named a Best Book of 2017 by The San Francisco Chronicle and one of Electric Literature’s 15 Best Short Story Collections of 2017. It was also shortlisted for the 2018 Saroyan Prize and longlisted for the 2018 PEN/Robert Bingham Prize for Debut Fiction and the 2017 Story Prize. The Gone Dead was a New York Times Book Review Editor’s Choice and a Tonight Show Summer Reads Finalist. It was long-listed for the 2020 PEN/Hemingway Award for Debut Novel and the 2019 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize. It was also named a best new book of the summer by O, The Oprah Magazine , Time , Southern Living , and Nylon . Benz currently lives in Memphis where she teaches at Rhodes College. Whenever possible, she loves to listen to true crime and history podcasts. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next

Nineteen-year-old Martha gets pregnant, her father banishes her, and she’s sent to a home for unwed mothers in neighboring West Virginia. < Back Stoking Hope C. K. McDonough December 23, 2021 Stoking Hope (D.X. Varos, 2021), C.K. McDonough’s debut novel, opens in an early 1900’s southwest Pennsylvania coal town. Nineteen-year-old Martha gets pregnant, her father banishes her, and she’s sent to a home for unwed mothers in neighboring West Virginia. She gives birth, and when her daughter Frances is taken from her six years later, Martha agrees to marry her widowed boss with hopes of getting her daughter back. The loveless marriage allows Frances to stay in school and pursue her dream of becoming a chemist, until long-held secrets cut that dream short. Stoking Hope is a family saga that travels through five decades of challenges and heartache with moments of unexpected generosity and joy. The novel culminates with the creation of Kevlar, a life-saving fabric. A Uniontown, Pennsylvania native, C. K. McDonough has a journalism degree from West Virginia University’s Perley Isaac Reed School of Journalism, and twenty years’ experience in the communications industry. She says writing video scripts and advertising copy is fine but writing a novel is bliss! A self-proclaimed history nerd, Caren has turned her love of research and the written word into Stoking Hope, her first novel . When not writing, Caren is reading, devouring books of every genre. She also loves to ski, hike, and garden but her favorite pastime is hanging with her pets. Listen to Episode Buy Book Previous Next