#bookpodcast

As a life-long cowgirl, licensed psychotherapist and teacher, Beth Anstandig has 25 years of experience developing, implementing and training people in Natural Leadership—a model she pioneered. She’s trained thousands of leaders and teams from some of the most renowned corporations, universities, and nonprofits, helping them awaken their innate power and awareness to live, lead and work with more authentic relationships and connection.

Beth owns Take a Chance Ranch in Morgan Hill, California providing leadership, culture and well-being programs through The Circle Up Experience. Together with an ever-growing menagerie of animals, Beth works with human herds onsite and online.

Her fresh perspective and work integrating basic animal practices into everyday human life have been featured in global media including BBC World Service, PBS, and Forbes. Beth has built a life with animals at its center so she can continue listening to the voice of her own animal, reclaiming the mammalian signal system that is alive and well within each of us. Her book is an invitation to you to do the same.

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Barbara Bourland is the author of Fake Like Me, a finalist for the 2020 Edgar Best Novel Award. Fake Like Me was published by Grand Central in North America, and riverrun abroad, and in Japan by Hayakawa. It was written with support from The Wassaic Project in Wassaic, NY.

Her debut novel, I’ll Eat When I’m Dead, was a Refinery29 Best Book of 2017 and Irish Independent Book of the Year. It was published in North America by Grand Central Publishing; in Ireland, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa by riverrun; and in Hebrew by Matar Press in Israel. 

Her third novel, The Force of Such Beauty, follows a retired Olympic athlete who marries a prince. It will be published by Dutton in 2022. 

Bourland's novels use imaginative escapism to process an emotional condition (in chronological order: I'll Eat When I'm Dead, the compulsion to control our appearance; Fake Like Me, the worry that we aren’t good enough; The Force of Such Beauty, the desire to be special) endemic to contemporary women’s lives. Cast in the mold of universal literary forms—the detective story, the thriller, the fairytale—they weave in and out of their genres, until the plot turns inside out and the narrative, upon reflection, appears to be something else entirely.

She's at work on her fourth novel, Fields and Waves, forthcoming from Dutton in 2024.

She lives in Baltimore.

Learn more at barbarabourland.com.

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Marilyn Simon Rothstein is the author of three novels: Crazy to Leave You (May, 2022), Husbands and Other. Sharp Objects (2018) and Lift and Separate 2016), winner of the Star Award presented by the Women's Fiction. Writers Association for Outstanding Debut. All are published by Lake Union.

Visit: https://www.marilynsimonrothstein.com/

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Eileen Grace Brill is a painter, writer, and Sign Language Interpreter who grew up outside of Philadelphia and graduated from Carnegie Mellon with a B.S. in Economics. She has written professionally for the restaurant, hotel, and commercial real estate industries. A Letter in the Wall is her first novel, though she has been a writer all her life, beginning at age four when she wrote a poem (filled with spelling errors!) for her babysitter. Eileen’s short story “Christmas Angel” appeared in the international literary magazine Beyond Words in 2021. She and her husband Eli raised their sons in her hometown of Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, where they still live, along with their two adopted mutts, Athena and Gaia.

Learn more: eileenbrill.com

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Book Blogger Susan Matheson is back to discuss her top picks to stuff in your beach bag this summer. Her selections range from frothy to serious. Amy and Susan discuss the power of book cover art.

Books and Resources Discussed:

The Thirteenth Tale by Diane Setterfield
Evening by Susan Minot
The Dutch House by Ann Patchett
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
You Had Me at Pet-Nat: A Natural Wine-Soaked Memoir by Rachel Signer
Buttermilk Graffiti by Edward Lee
Save Me the Plums by Ruth Reichl
The Measure of My Powers: A Memoir of Food, Misery, and Paris by Jackie Kai Ellis
Letter to a Stranger: Essays to the Ones Who Haunt Us by Colleen Kinder
We Measure Earth with Our Bodies by Tsering Yangzom Lama
Carolina Built: A Novel by Kianna Alexander
Horse by Geraldine Brooks
Year of Wonders by Geraldine Brooks
Caleb’s Crossing by Geraldine Brooks
March by Geraldine Brooks
Left on Tenth by Delia Ephron

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Website: https://bedsidetablebooks.com/

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Multiple New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Jill Shalvis lives in a small town in the Sierras full of quirky characters. Any resemblance to the quirky characters in her books is … mostly coincidental. Look for Jill’s bestselling, award-winning heartwarming and full of humor novels wherever books are sold and visit her website for a complete book list and blog detailing her city-girl-living-in-the-mountains adventures. Her most recent book, The Family You Make, was just published last month and her next book, The Friendship Pact, comes out in June.

To learn more, visit jillshalvis.com

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MONKEY BUSINESS is writer-producer Carleton Eastlake’s debut novel about a conflicted TV writer on location in Florida who becomes obsessed with a mysterious woman at a nightclub when she upends everything he thought he understood about life, limerence, bonded love, power, creativity, paintball combat, and what psychologists and philosophers refer to as the Hard Problem of human consciousness. Monkeys – and parrots – do play a role. As does Chairman Mao. And, in a cameo appearance, NASA. 

For more, visit carletoneastlake.com.

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Amy's resident artsy friend Myriam is back on the podcast. This time the topic is screenplays as literature. A screenplay is a cross between a book and a play.  Unlike a favourite book, Myriam says that reading a screenplay is complement to watching a movie. Amy and Myriam both agree that reading about harder topics like fights and violence can be easier to read than watch on the Big Screen.

Books and Resources discussed:

Mend the Living (The Heart) by Maylis de Kerangal
Lost in Translation, movie (2003), written and directed by Sofia Coppola
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, movie (2019), written and directed by Quentin Tarantino
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, book by Quentin Tarantino
CODA, movie (2021), directed by Sian Heder
Fargo, movie (1996), written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen

Further recommendations from Myriam Beague:
Collected Screenplays 1 by Ethan and Joel Coen
The Screen-writer's workbook by Syd Field
The Before Trilogy screenplays by Richard Linklater
Jules and Jim by Francois Truffaut
Day for Night by Roger Crittenden
Final Draft, Screenwriting Software

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Carlisle Webber refused to major in English in college because she didn’t think there was anything fun to read on the required lists. No Stephen King? No R.L. Stine? No thanks! After college, she took her love of commercial, YA, and middle grade fiction to the University of Pittsburgh School of Information Sciences, where she earned a Master of Library and Information Sciences. She worked as a public librarian for years before deciding to move to the business side of publishing. She attended the Columbia Publishing Course and holds a Professional Certificate in Editing from UC-Berkeley. She is a literary agent with Fuse Literary. 

Learn more at fuseliterary.com. 

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JENNY MOLLEN is a writer, actor, Instagram personality and New York Times bestselling author of the essay collections I Like You Just the Way I Am and Live Fast Die Hot. Her digital series, “I Like You Just the Way I Am,” which she wrote and in which she stars, currently streams on ABC Digital. Heralded by The Huffington Post as one of the funniest women on both Twitter and Instagram and named one of “Five to Follow” by T Magazine, Jenny wrote a standing column for Parents magazine and has contributed to Cosmopolitan, Glamour, New York, Elle.com, Grub Hub, and Wake Up Call with Katie Couric.

With her Instagram handles @jennymollen and @dictatorlunches, Jenny has more than half a million followers.

Learn more at jennymollen.com

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After a short career in law, Leanne Kale Sparks is returning to her first love—writing about murder, mayhem, and crime. Currently, she is an author with Crooked Lane Books and is working on a new series featuring an FBI agent hunting down her best friend’s murderer. The backdrop is the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, the playground of her youth, and the place that will always be home. She currently resides in Texas with her husband and German Shepherd, Zoe.

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Karen Winn received her MFA from Fairleigh Dickinson University. She also holds a doctoral degree in nursing. Born and raised in New Jersey, Karen now lives in Boston with her husband and two children. Our Little World is her first novel.

Learn more at karenlwinn.com

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Best selling author Susan Juby is on the podcast to talk about her delightful murder mystery Mindful of Murder. The novel features Helen Thorpe as a smart, preternaturally calm and insightful butler who uses her sleuthing skills to unravel the mystery of the death of her former employer. Susan talks about the joys of owning her first Instant Pot and how her British Columbian upbringing informs her writing. Mindful of Murder is part of the Red Fern Book Review book subscription box.

Books and Resources Discussed:

Mindful of Murder by Susan Juby
The Woefield Poultry Collective (Home to Woefield) by Susan Juby
Alice, I Think by Susan Juby
Nice Recovery by Susan Juby
Republic of Dirt: Return to Woefield by Susan Juby
Me Three by Susan Juby
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

Follow Susan Juby:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/susanjuby
Website: https://susanjuby.com/

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Jessica Brody is the author of more than 20 novels for teens, tweens, and adults including The Geography of Lost Things, The Chaos of Standing Still, I Speak Boy, A Week of Mondays, 52 Reasons to Hate My Father, the Unremembered trilogy, and the System Divine trilogy which is a sci-fi reimagining of Victor Hugo's Les Misérables, co-written with Joanne Rendell. She’s also the author of Save the Cat! Writes a Novel (the #1 bestselling plotting guide for novelists) and several books based on popular Disney franchises like Descendants and LEGO Disney Princess. Jessica’s books have been translated and published in over 25 countries and several have been optioned for film and television.  She lives with her husband and three dogs near Portland, OR.

Visit her online at JessicaBrody.com. Follow her on Twitter or Instagram @JessicaBrody

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Fantasy Fiction aficionado and Instagram mixologist Jeanette Bruce joins Red Fern to discuss fantasy fiction and a classic thriller. The Starless Sea is a luminous fantasy novel heavy on imagery and lighter on world building. The Shadow of the Wind is a timeless, modern classic set in Barcelona about a young man who owns a copy of a rare book at his own peril. Jeanette and Amy discuss cocktails and tea, what constitutes a fantasy novel and the role of women in The Shadow of the Wind.

Books and Resources discussed:

The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Greenwood by Michael Christie

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Book Subscription Box: The Red Fern Book Review Spring Book Box

Follow Jeanette Bruce:

Instagram: @liljables

To read Jeanette's book reviews: Armchair Books

Info on the next Whistler Community Book Club, April 25 at 7 p.m.: Greenwood

To hear another Red Fern podcast episode with Jeanette click here:

Short Stories and Fantasy Fiction

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Fellow bibliophile Lorraine Weir joins the podcast to talk about Vancouver Writers Festival  event The Spectacular Complexity of Womanhood with authors Mona Awad, Zoe Whittall and Rachel Yoder. All three authors have written fresh, new novels borne out of their own life struggles. The books are also all anchored by strong female protagonists who also happen to be artists. Lorraine and Amy talk knitting, travel and book recommendations.

Books and resources discussed:

Into the Abyss by Carol Shaben
Ru by Kim Thuy
The Spectacular by Zoe Whittall
The Best Kind of People by Zoe Whittall
Schitt's Creek, Netflix
Bunny by Mona Awad
13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl by Mona Awad
All's Well by Mona Awad
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig
Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder
draft: the journal of process
The Girl with the Louding Voice by Abi Daré
The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah
The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
Have you Seen Luis Velez? by Catherine Ryan Hyde

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Newsletter: https://redfernwriting.com/newsletter

Follow Red Fern Book Review:

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Newsletter: https://www.redfernbookreview.com/newsletter

Liza Nash Taylor, a Hawthornden Fellow, discusses how her Keswick Farm home has inspired her historical novels. 

Jeanette Escudero discusses The Apology Project and her path to publishing. 

Matthew FitzSimmons discusses the surprising origins for his ideas and how his latest novel, Constance inspired a series. 

Juliette Fay discusses her new book, Catch Us When We Fall