Episodes
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Author hiker Joan Young completes 4,800-mile NCT trail
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Joan Young is a long-distance hiker and prolific author, blogger, and avid photographer. She has conquered the North Country Trail (NCT) twice which is an unprecedented feat. She finished hiking the NCT on June 18, 2023, at Timber Creek after 18 months and 18 days on the trail averaging 13.2 miles per day.
Here is an excerpt from Joan's adventures on the trail.
The heat was brutal. But I was walking along the Garrison Diversion canal at the time and I kept pouring water over my head. On the hottest day, I did 18 miles, but I had to do a shorter day the next day because I was so worn out. Then I started getting up and hiking at the crack of dawn so I was pretty much done before the temp hit 100 around 2 in the afternoon.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger, edited by Douglas Kelly of Evolve Solutions
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Author S. W. Raine pens The Elemental’s Guardian
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Friday Jul 21, 2023
Canadian-born author S. W. Raine has written The Elemental's Guardian, which is the first book in The Elementals Trilogy, during NaNoWriMo.
Everything changed the day he ran into her with his jet thousands of feet in the sky.
Freelance pilot Ferenc Janos's life is turned upside down when Olivia Gillies, a woman who can control air and travel through lightning, tells him he's the guardian of the air elemental. Around the same time as her sudden arrival, masked figures have been appearing around the city with the ability to summon and control strange creatures. Their target? The homeless girl who happened to steal his wallet.
Listen in for the details of the book giveaway.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Fantasy author pens romance novel Assassinating the Godslayer
Friday Jul 14, 2023
Friday Jul 14, 2023
A polygamous author, Jacob Bullen has delved into the romance genre from a fantasy point of view in his newest release Assassinating the Godslayer.
After her plan to assassinate Harker the Dragon Slayer fails, Audra must grow close to him, intimate even, to find his truest weakness. Can she ignore her growing feelings for the man whose saddened gaze mirrors her own? Will she succumb to the embers of passion, or will they both burn in the flames of vengeance?
He is most passionate about his family and often leaves secret references to his wife and daughter in his work. Bullen is currently penning several novels in different genres while working to finish his established series.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Assassinating the Godslayer.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Michigan Authors at Lakeshore Art Festival Part 2
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Lakeshore Art Festival Part 2
Come join us this weekend in downtown Muskegon for the Lakeshore Art Festival (LAF) on June 24 & June 25.
Listen to part 2 of the special episode about Michigan Authors at LAF. More than 20 authors will be participating in this unique event.
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Author Chloe Holiday pens Fly Boy
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Friday Jun 23, 2023
Author Chloe Holiday's Fly Boy is the second book in the All-American Boy series.
"The book had to have a boy in the title, but all the good ones, like Lover Boy, had been taken," Holiday said. "I am a pilot so I wanted to bring a little bit of sky to people."
There's conflict in the air...
Tricia Carlisle returns to Texas to settle her beloved grandmother’s estate, only to find that foreclosure looms. Her hopes for an easy solution—selling the family’s crop duster—are dashed when Travis Walker, her high school sweetheart-turned-enemy, claims he had a handshake deal with Nana to buy the plane.
Listen in to the episode for a chance to win a signed copy of one of Holiday's books.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent, The Lowell Ledger, and author Larry Maley
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Monday Jun 05, 2023
Douglas Kelly of Lowell has been a partner at Evolve Solutions since 2002 when the company was founded. Evolve Solutions is an experienced web design and development firm, specializing in website design, marketing strategy, eCommerce application installation, and Internet business development.
Currently the principal at Evolve Solutions, he directs web development and consults on everything from social marketing to user interface design. Evolve Solutions has created and collaborated on hundreds of internet and intranet projects for small firms to multi-billion dollar corporations.
Kelly also offers voice acting for audiobooks, as well as tips on marketing strategy for authors.
"I would recommend Clubhouse to authors to talk about their books," Kelly said.
Kelly has acted in a series of old-time radio dramas bound for YouTube. He has recently been featured in a documentary slated for streaming media. Douglas has done a series of comedy improv events hosted on a social media application called Clubhouse.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent, The Lowell Ledger, and author Larry Maley
Friday May 26, 2023
Shining new U.P. Reader Volume 7 released
Friday May 26, 2023
Friday May 26, 2023
Just in time for the unofficial opening of summer, U.P. Reader hit the stands with its shining new volume 7 graced by the beautiful cover of a mining shaft at Painesdale on the Keweenaw constructed in 1902.
The hefty annual publication takes you on a road trip across Michigan’s Upper Peninsula from the Mackinac Bridge to Menominee with nonfiction and fiction pieces by UP authors who embody the life of a Yooper.
“Yoopers are born, not made,” said publisher Victor Volkman. “That’s why I can never be a Yooper.”
The 60 short works in the issue span the entire Upper Peninsula and include imaginative fiction from young winners of the Dandelion Cottage contest.
The cover is by author Mikel Classen.
Listen in for a chance to win a copy of U.P. Reader, Vol. 7
Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Author Wendy Thomson pens The Man from Burnt Island
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
Thursday Apr 27, 2023
In her historical fiction novel The Man from Burnt Island, author Wendy Thomson weaves the family story into the tapestry of Detroit's rich history during the Great Depression, Prohibition, World War II, and the booming automotive industry starting in the 1950s and beyond.
It was a tough life for the Scottish Sharp family at the turn of the twentieth century. Coal miners, they were exempt from the World War I draft. Frank, the fourth of five sons, was the only one that went off to war. Luckily, he survived the trenches, only to return to poor job prospects and poorer wages. When most of the family sailed across the Atlantic in search of a better life, Frank stayed behind for a while... for a little too long, it so happened.
What Frank sacrifices to achieve material and career success takes its toll on his family and personal life. After all is said and done, this is the saga of a determined and ambitious man who was hell-bent on leaving his poverty-stricken past behind.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of The Man from Burnt Island.
All April episodes sponsored by Doc Chavent, The Lowell Ledger, author Jen Rinaldi
Friday Apr 21, 2023
AuthorJen Rinaldi pens One Day Closer to Death
Friday Apr 21, 2023
Friday Apr 21, 2023
In her debut book, author Jen Rinaldi tells the story of a cancer survivor Alex, who almost dies on the operating table. While she lingers between heaven and earth, she hears a voice that beckons her to stay, only to lose that voice when she is brought back, feeling as though she is missing more than her breast.
After Alex recovers, she takes a vacation while delivering the artwork for her boss. It is then that she hears a mysterious voice connected to the SUV that she has rented. Alex and 'Bec' as the voice asks her to call him, set out on a cross-country adventure that involves a jewel heist and an evil stalker who will attempt to kill Alex for the artwork she carries. Will Bec save Alex from the evil that is pursuing her?
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of One Day Closer to Death.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent, The Lowell Ledger and author Jen Rinaldi
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Author Mandy Jo Rindhage pens A StormyTravel Thru Time
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Friday Apr 14, 2023
Drawing on her knowledge of family ancestry combined with historical fiction, author Mandy Jo Rindhage creates a time travel novel inspired by real-life characters, great grandfather Heinrich and great uncle Gustav.
"A Stormy Travel Thru Time has multiple time hops each is when a storm crops up," Mandy Jo said. "They're trying to get to Saginaw, Michigan."
Rindhage is a multi-genre author who has no trouble switching gears between a fitness book, fantasy, and historical fiction.
The real challenge in the book was aging all the characters appropriately, according to Rindhage when they crossed paths on different occasions.
Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of A Stormy Travel Thru Time.
Sponsored by Doc Chavent and The Lowell Ledger