For the Love of Books Podcast

Author Jessica K. Foster pens Andy and the Extroverts

When an introvert winds up at a summer leadership camp, it's a comedy of errors and a romance she'll never forget. Seventeen-year-old bookish Andy has no friends.

 

When her over-involved mother dares to ship her off to summer leadership camp, she's thrust into an introvert's nightmare.

Everyone is a Communicator with a capital C, icebreaker activities are scheduled into every waking moment, and horror of all horrors: there's no coffee. Even the girls who take her under their wing are the self-assured people Andy could never dream of becoming.

Then she meets Lucas—hot, attentive, and everything Andy reads about in her books. Though the girls in her cottage try to warn her about him, she's swept into the first romance of her life. But when she discovers her friends may be right, she'll have to find her inner confidence to save her summer and become the leader she was always meant to be.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Andy and the Extroverts

Sponsored by Doc Chavent

Copyright (c) 2024. Emma Palova

Author Marie LaPres pens Beyond the Fort

In Marie LaPres' young adult fiction Beyond the Fort, the main character Christine Belanger has always loved learning about the past. Still, she may get more history than she bargained for when she finds herself at Colonial Michilimackinac in the year 1775. In the past, Christine meets fellow time travelers, Henri and Jacques, French fur traders, and British soldiers.

She quickly learns that the tensions are high between the French and British, and Henri and Christine uncover the plot of a British Leftenant who plans to eradicate all French settlers in the Mackinac Straits area. It's up to Christine and Henri to save the settlers, and possibly change the course of history. Can Christine and Henri outwit Lewis and save the fort? Will Christine be able to survive Colonial America without all of the amenities she is used to…especially her cell phone?

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Beyond the Fort.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent.

Author H. William Ruback pens Scribe: The Apprentice

In an age where magic and the wizards that wielded that power, have faded into disputed myth. The Darkness and the evil it shrouds is an all too real presence.

Young Gareth has spent his life training, dreaming of following in his father's footsteps as the greatest warrior to have served the Crescent Lands.

Knowing the true horror of battle, his father has other plans for his son. He has used the last vestige of his political favor, to secure an apprenticeship for his son in the venerable Guild of Scribes.

The Order of Scribes has recorded every event since the dawn of history. They are present at every political or academic gathering. They walk the battlefields for every conflict. They are held in awe and feared at length: for no man truly wants history to speak ill of them. And in that way, their presence has altered the exact events they were sent to chronicle.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Scribe: The Apprentice

Sponsored by Doc Chavent

Author Jennifer DiVita pens Not Your Shoe Size

DiVita's debut novel tells the story of two opposite characters Julia and Colette who age from 10 to 100. “It’s a coming-of-age story told through vignettes,” DiVita said. “As women, we don’t have to play by the standards of an ageist society. Cosmetics is a multi-billion dollar industry.” Listen in to win a signed copy of Not Your Shoe Size.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent

Copyright (c) 2024. Emma Palova. All rights reserved.

Author Pamela Withrow pens memoir Madam Warden

Pam Withrow was an Indiana farm girl transplanted to Michigan. After a teen marriage and a stint on welfare, she graduated from college and began work with the Michigan Department of Corrections. Within seven years she was named the first woman to head a prison for men in Michigan. She then worked at the Michigan Reformatory in Ionia for 15 years.

 

Madam Warden takes the reader with Pam as she moves through progressively responsible positions in the Michigan Department of Corrections, introducing you to the people who lived and worked in the institutions she managed. Evidence-based programs and the story of one prisoner who benefitted from cognitive restructuring are featured.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Madam Warden.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent

Author Kenneth Harmon pens In the Realm of Ash & Sorrow

When bombardier Micah Lund dies on a mission over Hiroshima, his spirit remains trapped in the land of his enemies. Dazed, he follows Kiyomi Oshiro, a war widow struggling to care for her young daughter, Ai.

 

Food is scarce, work at the factory is brutal, and her in-laws treat her like a servant. Watching Kiyomi and Ai together, Micah reconsiders his intolerance for the people he’d called the enemy. As his concern for the mother and daughter grows, so does his guilt for his part in their suffering. Micah finds a new reality when Kiyomi and Ai dream—one which allows him to interact with them. While his feelings for Kiyomi deepen, imminent destruction looms. Hiroshima is about to be bombed, and Micah must warn Kiyomi and her daughter.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of In the Realm of Ash & Sorrow.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent

Holiday Author Talk & Moravian Sons Liquor Tasting

Get into the holiday spirit this Saturday at The Book Nook & Java Shop in cozy Montague with four authors and four spirits.

The special holiday event organized by Written in the Mitten starts with author founder Ingar Rudholm talking about book descriptions, followed by Rudholm on memoirs and short stories, authors H. William Ruback and Marie Lapres.

Moravian Sons Distillery based in Lowell will offer free samples of 100 percent Michigan-made liquors and cocktails, available for purchase at the bar of The Book Nook.

Come and enjoy the spirit of the season on Dec. 16 from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m. at 8744 Ferry Street in downtown Montague.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent.

Author Cassie Veselovsky creates sing-along Bingo Books

Making reading time a bit more musical with Bingo Books.

 

 

Author librarian Cassie Veselovsky makes reading time a bit more musical in her sing-along books for the five-year-olds and under crowd, and their grown-ups.

"I've taken my old rhymes and converted them into books," she said in the podcast interview.

A librarian of 40 years, Veselovsky also loves pairing books with readers to see the joy in kids' eyes when they say, "I loved the book."

In her sing-along books, Veselovsky matches up the rhymes with online purchased illustrations.

"Rhyming books are not easy," she said, "so they don't sound silly."

She would like to disperse a common misconception about her Bingo Books that they are like a bingo game.

"They're not a game," she said. "They're sing-along books with five-letter words."

Veselovsky will be at Winter Whimsy in Hartford on Dec. 8.

She has attended Reading Rocks in Rockford, hosted by the Rockford branch of the KDL system.

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of 'Tis the Season."

Happy Holidays.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent and author Ed Bentley.

 

 

NaNoWriMo special panel advises to keep on writing

Are you up to the 50k-word marathon challenge that starts on Nov.1 aka NaNoWriMo?

The NaNoWriMo special panelists suggest just keep on writing without any interruptions even if you hit the proverbial wall. Make November your writing month.

"This is my writing month," author Jean Davis said.

Davis will be participating in the 18th year of the challenge.

That sentence resonated with all the panelists because as Jane Smiley said, 

"Every first draft is perfect because all the first draft has to do is exist. It's perfect in its existence. The only way it could be imperfect would be to NOT exist." 

Don't be too hard on yourself. Don't punish yourself, and have fun. Enjoy the camaraderie.

"I try to keep the momentum going," author John Winkelman said.

The panelists are authors- Vera West, Emma Palova, Jean Davis, John Winkelman, Andrew Smith, and Ed Bentley.

Listen in for a chance to win some free E books, and mainly to win the challenge.

Sound editing and effects by Douglas Kelly of Evolve Solutions, LLC.

Sponsored by Doc Chavent, Emma Palova, Ed Bentley, John Winkelman, and Andrew Smith.

Author Ed Bentley pens What a Way to Go! Death in Oshkosh in the 1880s

Author Ed Bentley's hobby as a researcher in genealogy led him to research early American artists and journalism in the 1880's. The writing enabled him to literally visualize the incredible loss of life as if it were happening in front of Ed at that moment.

"My intention in assembling these life-ending stories is to share the fascination with, and the appreciation for, journalism in the 1880s. Such a relief it is that our own future is hidden from us."

                                                    -Ed Bentley-

 

 

 

Listen in for a chance to win a signed copy of Ed's book What a Way to Go! Death in the 1880s. 

Sponsored by Doc Chavent and authors Ed Bentley and Hilton Everett Moore.