The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

Writing Fantasy And Urban Fantasy With Jim Butcher | SCC 110

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
The Olympian Affair (The Cinder Spires Book 2)
Jim Butcher is the author of the Dresden Files, the Codex Alera, and a new steampunk series, the Cinder Spires. His resume includes a laundry list of skills which were useful a couple of centuries ago, and he plays guitar quite badly. An avid gamer, he plays tabletop games in varying systems, a variety of video games on PC and console, and LARPs whenever he can make time for it. Jim currently resides mostly inside his own head, but his head can generally be found in the mountains outside Denver, Colorado.
Jim goes by the moniker Longshot in a number of online locales. He came by this name in the early 1990’s when he decided he would become a published author. Usually only 3 in 1000 who make such an attempt actually manage to become published; of those, only 1 in 10 make enough money to call it a living. The sale of a second series was the breakthrough that let him beat the long odds against attaining a career as a novelist.
All the same, he refuses to change his nickname.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Stories That Defy Genre With Mark Helprin | SCC 109

The Oceans and the Stars: A Sea Story, A War Story, A Love Story (A Novel)
Mark Helprin belongs to no literary school, movement, tendency, or trend. As many have observed, and as Time Magazine has phrased it, “He lights his own way.” His three collections of short stories (A Dove of the East and Other Stories, Ellis Island and Other Stories, and The Pacific and Other Stories), seven novels (Refiner’s Fire, Winter’s Tale, A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir From Antproof Case, Freddy and Fredericka, In Sunlight and In Shadow, and Paris in the Present Tense), and three children’s books (Swan Lake, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows, all illustrated by Chris Van Allsburg), speak eloquently for themselves and are remarkable throughout, for the sustained beauty and power of their language. Helprin’s academic training, military service, decades of journalism, and involvement in politics and statesmanship as an obligation of citizenship, although secondary at best, have gained some attention nonetheless.
Translated into a score of languages, his books include A Dove of the East & Other Stories, Refiner’s Fire, Ellis Island & Other Stories, Winter’s Tale, Swan Lake (with illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg), A Soldier of the Great War, Memoir from Antproof Case, A City in Winter, and The Veil of Snows (both with illustrations by Chris Van Allsburg), The Pacific & Other Stories, Freddy and Fredericka, Digital Barbarism, In Sunlight and in Shadow, A Kingdom Far and Clear, and Paris in the Present Tense.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Is This The End Of Drizzt? | SCC 108

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
Lolth's Warrior: A Novel (The Way of the Drow Book 3)
Thirty-four years ago, R. A. Salvatore created the character of Drizzt Do’Urden, the dark elf who has withstood the test of time to stand today as an icon in the fantasy genre. With his work in the Forgotten Realms, the Crimson Shadow, the DemonWars Saga, and other series, Salvatore has sold more than thirty million books worldwide and has appeared on the New York Times bestseller list more than two dozen times. He considers writing to be his personal journey, but still, he’s quite pleased that so many are walking the road beside him! R.A. lives in Massachusetts with his wife, Diane, and their two dogs, Dexter and Pikel. He still plays softball for his team, Clan Battlehammer, and enjoys his weekly DemonWars: Reformation RPG and Dungeons & Dragons 5e games. Salvatore can be found at RASalvaStore.com
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.
 

Dark and Twisted Mysteries With Lisa Jewell | SCC 107

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
None of This Is True: A Novel
Lisa Jewell is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of nineteen novels, including The Family Upstairs and Then She Was Gone, as well as Invisible Girl and Watching You. Her novels have sold over 10 million copies internationally, and her work has also been translated into twenty-nine languages. Connect with her on Twitter @LisaJewellUK, on Instagram @LisaJewellUK, and on Facebook @LisaJewellOfficial.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Ironic Workplace Humor With Ben Purkert | SCC 106

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
The Men Can't Be Saved: A Novel
Ben Purkert is the author of the poetry collection For the Love of Endings. His work appears in The New Yorker, the Nation, and the Kenyon Review, among others. He is the founder of Back Draft, a Guernica interview series focused on revision and the creative process. He holds degrees from Harvard and New York University, and he currently teaches at Rutgers.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Heart Stopping Thrillers With Gillian McAllister | SCC 105

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
Just Another Missing Person: A Novel
Gillian McAllister is the Sunday Times and New York Times bestselling author of the following novels: 
Everything But The Truth (2017)
Anything You Do Say (2018) called The Choice in America 
 No Further Questions (2018) called The Good Sister in America 
The Evidence Against You (2019) 
How To Disappear (2020) 
That Night (2021) 
Wrong Place Wrong Time (2022) 
All are standalone and can be read in any order. 
Her latest release is Wrong Place Wrong Time, available now and selected for the Radio 2 book club and was the Reese's Book Club August '22 pick. It debuted at number 4 on the Sunday Times Bestseller List and number 2 on the New York Times Bestseller List. She has been selected for the Richard & Judy Book Club, the Radio 2 Book Club and is published in over 25 languages.
You can find her on Twitter and Instagram @gillianmauthor and at http://www.gillianmcallister.com.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Writing The Great American Saga With William Kent Krueger | SCC 104

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
The River We Remember: A Novel
Raised in the Cascade Mountains of Oregon, William Kent Krueger briefly attended Stanford University—before being kicked out for radical activities. After that, he logged timber, worked construction, tried his hand at freelance journalism, and eventually ended up researching child development at the University of Minnesota. He’s been married for fifty years to a marvelous woman who is a retired attorney. He makes his home in St. Paul, a city he dearly loves.
Krueger writes a mystery series set in the north woods of Minnesota. His protagonist is Cork O’Connor, the former sheriff of Tamarack County and a man of mixed heritage—part Irish and part Ojibwe. His work has received a number of awards, including the Minnesota Book Award, the Loft-McKnight Fiction Award, the Anthony Award, the Barry Award, the Dilys Award, and the Friends of American Writers Prize. His last eleven novels were all New York Times bestsellers.
Ordinary Grace, his stand-alone novel published in 2013, received the Edgar Award, given by the Mystery Writers of America in recognition for the best novel published in that year. The companion novel, This Tender Land, was published in September 2019 and spent nearly six months on the New York Times bestseller list.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Using Social Media To Find Your Audience With Mariana Zapata | SCC 103

Do you have a recommendation for a guest on the show? Want more of a particular direction of guests? Drop me a line at hank.garner@dabblewriter.com and let me know!
Join us at our YouTube channel to join in LIVE for upcoming author interviews! 
https://tinyurl.com/dabbleyoutube
The Wall of Winnipeg and Me: A Novel
Mariana Zapata lives in a small town in Colorado with her husbandand two oversized children—her beloved Great Danes, Dorian andKaiser. When she’s not writing, she’s reading, spendingtime outside,forcing kisses on her boys, or pretending to write.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Bringing Fireworks To Summer Reads With Brad Thor | SCC 102

Dead Fall: A Thriller (The Scot Harvath Series Book 22)
https://youtube.com/live/ET522mLtHQQ
BRAD THOR is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-two thrillers, including RISING TIGER, BLACK ICE (ThrillerFix Best Thriller of the Year), NEAR DARK (one of Suspense Magazine’s Best Books of the Year), BACKLASH (nominated for the Barry Award for Best Thriller of the Year), SPYMASTER (“One of the all-time best thriller novels” —The Washington Times), THE LAST PATRIOT (nominated Best Thriller of the Year by the International Thriller Writers Association), and BLOWBACK (one of the “Top 100 Killer Thrillers of All Time” —NPR).
MEDIA CONTRIBUTORBrad has appeared on ABC, CBS, NBC, PBS, FOX News Channel, FOX Business Channel, CNN, CNN Headline News, and MSNBC (among others) to discuss terrorism, as well as how closely his novels of international intrigue parallel the real threats facing the world today.
BACKGROUNDBrad has served as a member of the Department of Homeland Security’s Analytic Red Cell Unit. He has also lectured to law enforcement organizations on over-the-horizon/future threats, and has been a keynote speaker for the National Tactical Officers Association annual conference.
In 2008, Brad shadowed a Black Ops team in Afghanistan to research his thriller, The Apostle.
Brad graduated cum laude from the University of Southern California where he studied creative writing, film, and television production. Prior to becoming a novelist, Brad was the award-winning creator, producer, writer and host of the critically acclaimed national public television series, Traveling Lite.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.

Using Fiction As Scathing Social Commentary With Jessie Gaynor | SCC 101

The Glow: A Novel
A desperate young publicist tries to save her career by turning the charismatic leader of a grungy retreat center into the hot new self-care brand in this “wildly funny, laser-eyed” (Michael Cunningham) debut novel.
Jane Dorner has two modes: PR Jane, twenty-five, chummy, and eager to sell you a feminist vibrator or a self-care/bereavement subscription box; and Actual Jane, twenty-nine, drifting through mediocre workdays and lackluster dates while paralyzed by her crushing mountain of overdue medical bills. When her job performance is called into question, Jane’s last-ditch effort to preserve her livelihood and pay off her debt is to land a white whale of a client.
Enter the impossibly gorgeous Cass—whom Jane discovers scrolling through Instagram—and her unassuming husband, Tom—proprietors of a “wellness retreat” based out of a ramshackle country house that may or may not be giving off cult vibes. Suddenly Jane realizes she might have found the one ladder she can climb—if she can convince them that transforming Cass herself into a high-end wellness brand is the key to all three of their futures. Magnetic yet mysterious, Cass is primed to be an influencer: She speaks in a mix of inspirational quotes and Zen koans, eats only zucchini (the most spiritually nourishing vegetable), and has baby-perfect skin. Despite Tom’s reticence about selling out, Jane sets out to mold Cass into the kind of guru who can offer inner peace and make your skin glow—all at a hefty price, of course. As Jane reckons with her own long-dormant ambitions, she wonders: Can a person really “do good” for others while profiting off them? And what parts of our selves do we lose when we trade power, influence, and beauty?
Sparklingly plotted, deliciously deadpan, and irresistibly entertaining, THE GLOW is a razor-sharp sendup of an industry built on the peculiar intersection of money and wellness, where health is a commodity and self-care a luxury. ABOUT THE AUTHOR:Jessie Gaynor’s work has appeared in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, The New Yorker, WSJ Magazine, and elsewhere. She is a senior editor at Literary Hub and she has an MFA in poetry from the Iowa Writers’ Workshop, where she was a Rona Jaffe fellow. Jessie Gaynor lives in Richmond, Virginia with her family.
When you click a link on our site, it might just be a magical portal (aka an affiliate link). We're passionate about only sharing the treasures we truly believe in. Every purchase made from our links not only supports Dabble but also the marvelous authors and creators we showcase, at no additional cost to you.