For the Love of Books Podcast

Indie book collector supports authors in a unique way

Hauling a cartful of books, you can find Diana Duell at just about any festival in West Michigan, but her favorite one is the Lakeshore Art Festival (LAF) in Muskegon.

"That's where I started my book collection," she said. "I was looking for something new."

Right off the bat, Duell bought 60 to 70 books that the first year when she discovered Indie local authors.

Her collection of Indie authors counts 60 authors, 171 books read, and 350 TBR. She spends approximately $1,000 a year on books.

"It's disposable income," Duell said. "It's my vacation. I fell in love doing this and I collect more books every year."

Now, as an established collector, she knows most Indie authors and writes reviews on Facebook and Goodreads.

"It's all about supporting local businesses and writing a book is a craft," she said.

She has built-in three bookcases with six shelves, all full.

"There has to be a meaning behind a good book," she said. "A great book is one you can escape into. Keep on writing and I will keep on buying. That's a promise."

Depending on her mood, she likes to read anything from a cozy mystery to a short story, and everything in between.

Among her favorite authors are Ingar Rudholm, DA Reed, and Andrew Allen Smith.

"I wouldn't want to be on DA Reed's or Andrew Allen Smith's bad side," she said.

Duell is always on the lookout for new authors and new books.

Watch for Duell at LAF this year on June 25 & 26. Listen in to the interview for a chance to win a signed copy of your next favorite read.

In Healing Childhood Trauma author Robin Marvel offers tools to heal

Author Robin Marvel of Hersey, MI is that girl who has survived mental, domestic, and drug abuse; homelessness, and kidnappings throughout her childhood. Being addicted to alcohol and partying at age 15 resulted in a sexual assault, and later she became a teen mother at age 16.

Since May is mental health awareness month, Marvel opened up to talk about her story captured in her book “Healing Childhood Trauma” from a PTSD standpoint of view.

“I didn’t want to repeat the cycle, and I started working on myself,” she said. “I realized I was in control of what happened to me.”

As a motivational speaker, Marvel talks about self-respect and determination. She strives to be a role model for her five daughters. She chose to grow through the trauma she had endured as a child.

“I didn’t have any role models,” she said witnessing how her mother was abused by her father with subsequent kidnappings of her.

“It was always the same,” she said. “He took me to his mother to get supplies and we slept in a car. I grabbed my blanket.”

But facing all these hardships, Marvel found the strength to overcome being a victim of circumstance.

"It doesn't happen at the flip of a switch," she said. "I had to work on myself."

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Marvel's life-changing book.

Author Michael Carrier releases To China with Love

Hot off the presses, the long-awaited To China with Love is out there wherever its author may be at the present moment. That too could be a mystery. Two years in the making due to sabotage efforts, the first book in the Jack Unchained series follows Jack Handler, a retired Chicago homicide detective on his covert mission.

 

The previous 14 books, all fiction, are divided into a series of seven books each that successfully sustain Jack as the main character, despite the reader's evolving apprehension of Jack's accomplishments.

"I have yet to see the nerves that I touch in this book," Carrier said. "All chains are off. He is who he is. I am having a lot of fun with this series."

Carrier draws inspiration from his private security contractor career for three decades.

"I write strictly fiction," he said. "My stories are plausible based on real crime. I don't intend to write non-fiction about crime."

His biggest advice to other authors is not to shy away from returning to various events.

"It pays to go back and revisit venues where you didn't do well," he said.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Carrier's To China with Love.

Author Phil Bellfy pens UP Colony struck by contrast between twin cities

In his UP Colony, Author Phil Bellfy, P.h. D. poses the ultimate question: why has the Upper Peninsula's vast wealth, nearly unrivaled in the whole of the United States, left the area with poverty nearly unrivaled in the whole of the United States. "Where did the $1.5 billion earned from copper mining, $1 billion from logging, and nearly $4 billion in iron ore go?"

 

 

Struck by the contrast between two cities on different sides of the American Canadian border, Bellfy has published an update to his 1980s MA thesis, UP Colony.

It is the story of resource exploitation in Upper Michigan in one of the oldest US cities Sault Sainte Marie. The book was published on its 350th anniversary in 2018.

"Sault Michigan was clearly a city on the decline, while Sault Ontario shared none of the malaise that infected the Michigan half of these "Sister Cities," Bellfy writes in the new introduction. 

Bellfy grew up in the Detroit suburb of Livonia and moved to Sault Sainte Marie in the fall of 1970. "We were urban Indians growing up in Detroit, but Chippewa County is most native populated East of Mississippi," he said. "I was exposed to the native community."

"I was also struck by the raw beauty of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and perhaps, even more struck by the raw beauty of the landscape across the St. Marys River," he wrote.

However, just around the time of his arrival, all the major industries shut down, and Sault Michigan was little more than a "resource colony" or "Internal Colony" without any residuals left from the mining industries.

"My own personal history adds a lot to my perception of the situation up here," Bellfy said.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of UP Colony.

 

 

Lowell author Amanda Filkins pens debut book ”Be Still”

Looking for answers to life's big questions like what do I want to do with my life?  Based on her individual experiences, author Amanda Filkins puts her heart out in her brand new book "Be Still: God's Grace is Bigger than Worldly Deceit."

"I wanted to be organic and stay away from preaching," she said. "This book is from my heart. It's very pure. I hope a fire is lit inside of the readers' hearts."

The book is meant for young women under the age of 30 who may be struggling with life's purpose. It is divided into 10 chapters with subjects such as sex, status, money, and more.

Filkins focuses heavily on body image and societal pressures.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of her new book.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent, the Lowell Ledger, Modern History Press

 

 

U.P. author Elizabeth Fust pens ”The Hungry Kitten’s Tale”

As a little girl, Fust was distracted at church during the long readings, and maybe hungry as well. Many years later this distraction transpired into a delightful tale of a mischievous kitten based on Luke's Gospel account of the feeding of the 5,000 in the Bible.

"I wondered about other characters," she said. "I fleshed out a skeleton from the snippets of history."

Illustrated by Mary MacArthur, the book is set in the town of Bethsaida.

Fust treated the tale of Kit from a historical perspective and did research on the location of the feeding of the 5,000.

"Luke gave a lot of details," Fust said.

Protagonist Kit is always looking out where his next meal is going to come from when a man visits Bethsaida followed by 12 guys and 5,000 people.

Find out who this stranger was and what it takes to make a miracle in this Easter episode for a chance to win a signed copy of "The Hungry Kitten's Tale."

 

 

 

Author Mikel Classen digs out lost stories in ”True Tales” from the U.P.

Digging deep into the past, U.P. author & historian Mikel Classen uncovers hidden stories in his newest release "True Tales- The Forgotten History of Michigan's Upper Peninsula."

Stories of piracy, lost gold mines, the origin of the Copper Boom, profiles of people of note, Starvation on Isle Royale, and one of the darkest periods of Michigan history, are all True Tales of the early days of the Upper Peninsula Frontier.

"Some subjects I've researched over the years as a journalist," Classen said. "It's been several years in the making."

The tales are broken up into moments in U.P. history like Chapter 15- "Peter White: The Founding of Marquette" or the story about a native American woman marooned on Isle Royale with her husband facing starvation.

One story, in particular, captured Classen's inquisitive mind and set him off on a wild chase across the rugged northern peninsula hunting down the truth to rectify myths. During his research, Classen visited the historical societies in 16 towns.

"The local communities and historians sometimes intentionally buried the stories," Classen said.

In seven towns, he was able to confirm the unimaginable.

"I was shocked," he said. "Some things you find out can creep you out."

Find out what it was by listening to this intriguing episode with a true U.P. expert for a chance to win a signed copy of Classen's "True Tales."

Author Caroline Topperman’s memoir ”Your Roots Cast A Shadow” slated for publication

"Some stories need to be told in their original form so history is not forgotten. Those stories are slowly dying......."

Memoir Your Roots Cast A Shadow is a shocking family history story spanning three generations and several continents from Europe to the Middle East countries of Iraq and Afghanistan.

Canadian author Caroline Topperman was born in Sweden, raised in Canada with a recent stint of living in Poland where she traced her roots and did the research for the memoir.

Listen in to the episode for a chance to win a signed copy of "Tell Me What You See," an inspirational book of photographs to spark your imagination."

In her memoir, Caroline tells the story of grandparents Paula and Fryderyck Toperman, Communist Jews, who fled Poland for Uzbekistan, returning to their homeland in 1944 to help rebuild their country. Their story is one that’s seldom told--they survived the Holocaust, and the war, by plunging eastward.

On the other hand, Franciszek and Wanda Wichrzycki were Polish Catholic Communists who had been living and working in Afghanistan. They too returned to Poland.

Their children, Caroline's parents, fled Poland as political refugees, settling in Toronto by way of Baghdad, Paris, and Sweden. Caroline bailed from Vancouver to move to Poland in 2013, to find a new life. That journey led her to the capitals of Europe and deep into the maze of shocking family history.

Author Virginia Johnson pens ”The Blood of Abigail” in the two-book series

 The Blood of Abigail is a story about a demon and ghost as the main couple, a perfectly mismatched pair. Both characters have troubled backstories and missing pieces of their souls that only the other can complete, according to one review.

Listen to this episode for a chance to win a signed copy by the author.

Aside from writing, Johnson owns and operates Anytime Author Promotions (AAP). AAP offers quality book graphic needs at a price and Indie author can afford.

Here is an excerpt from the book.

"Darkness welcomes me as I embrace the choices that I have made. With fire in my eyes and revenge having already condemned my soul, Salem has created a demon. Born from the ashes and convicted with no sin, I was forced to reign in the underworld while I waited for the right time to avenge my wrongful death. The cost was of no concern, until I met my match in a ghost, 300 years later. He had one job; collect the soul and release it to me. That's it. Timothy carried his own past into the dark side. With conscience and a fondness for humans, I questioned his loyalty as I protected my secret."

 

 

Romance author Melinda Clark pens ”Love and Bloodlust: The Sacred Objects”

Inspired by dreams & paranormal experiences, romance author Melinda Clark spins tales of love and lust for blood with biblical undertones, action, and happily ever after endings.

The protagonist Avery Langdon is a self-taught demon hunter with a vendetta.

Talon is a 300-year-old, blood-bag-drinking vampire with a fascination for her, and clearly death itself, as he persists in following the slayer on every hunt and pestering her with his advances.

Despite their differences, and regardless of Avery nearly putting a stake in his heart, the two will find themselves joining forces to try and stop an ancient evil from awakening and wreaking havoc: the first vampire, Cain.

Avery is adamant, despite Talon’s pursuit of her, that this collaboration remains geared toward accomplishing the greater good only. 

Listen to the episode for a chance to win a signed copy of "The Sacred Objects."