The Story Craft Cafe Podcast

Native American Suspense Thrillers With Deborah J. Ledford | SCC 120

Redemption (Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran Book 1) 
DEBORAH J LEDFORD is the award-winning author of the upcoming Eva "Lightning Dance" Duran thriller REDEMPTION from Thomas & Mercer Amazon Publishing, set in Northern New Mexico.
Her first series, the Smoky Mountain Intrigue Native American police procedural series, includes the titles, CAUSING CHAOS, CRESCENDO, STACCATO, and The Hillerman Sky Award Finalist SNARE. CAUSING CHAOS and CRESCENDO, are Anthony Award Finalists for Best Audiobook. The recordings are produced by the media production company IOF Productions Ltd, available from Audible.
Edgar Award winner, and three-time nominee for the Pushcart Prize, she is a former adjunct professor for Arizona State University's Piper Writer Center for Creative Writing, and past-president of Sisters in Crime Desert Sleuths (AZ chapter).
Part Eastern Band Cherokee, Deborah spent her summers growing up in the Great Smoky Mountains region of North Carolina, where her Smoky Mountain Inquest novels are set. She lives in Phoenix, Arizona with her husband and an awesome Ausky. DeborahJLedford.com
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Cozy And Whimsical Rom-Coms With Meg Cabot | SCC 119

Enchanted to Meet You: A Witches of West Harbor Novel
The Princess Diaries
Meg Cabot is a #1 New York Times bestselling author of books for both adults and tweens/teens. Born in the year of the Fire Horse (a notoriously unlucky astrological sign) and raised in Bloomington, Indiana, Meg also lived in Grenoble, France and Carmel, California (the setting for her bestselling Mediator series) before moving to New York City after graduating with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts from Indiana University.
After working for ten years as an assistant residence hall director at New York University (an experience from which she occasionally draws inspiration for her best-selling Heather Wells mystery series), Meg wrote the Princess Diaries series, which was made into two hit movies by Disney. While over 25 million copies of Meg’s nearly 80 published books have been sold in 38 countries, Meg’s most proud of the letters she’s received from fans thanking her for helping them to overcome their “dislike of reading.”
Some of Meg’s fan favorites include the 1-800-Where-R-You? series (which has been reprinted under the title Vanished and was made into the Lifetime series called Missing), as well as All-American Girl and Avalon High (on which an original Disney Channel movie was based), and several books told entirely in emails and text messages (Boy Next Door/Boy Meets Girl/Every Boy’s Got One). A fourth book told in this format, The Boy is Back, was published by HarperCollins in 2017.
Meg’s first ever adult book in the Princess Diaries series, Royal Wedding, was published in 2015, along with a new Princess Diaries series for younger readers, From the Notebook of a Middle School Princess, which Meg also illustrated. The 4th book in the Middle School Princess Series, Royal Crown, was published in August of 2018, as well as paperback editions of the 2nd and 3rd editions series.
Remembrance, the 7th and first adult book in the Mediator series, became available in 2016, along with a novella titled Proposal. In 2020, Meg signed a franchise deal with Netflix for screen rights to The Mediator series, along with writer/director Sarah Spillane and media powerhouse Debra Martin Chase.
In 2019, Meg authored a Black Canary graphic novel for DC Zoom for middle-grade readers with illustrator Cara McGee, and also launched a new adult contemporary series set on the fictional Little Bridge Island in the Florida Keys. While each book in the series focuses on a different couple and their sometimes humorous, sometimes serious struggles, all guarantee a Happily Ever After (with plenty of sunshine and margaritas). The latest, No Words, debuted in September 2021.
And finally, Meg has written Quarantine Princess Diaries, a new novel for adults in The Princess Diaries series, was released in March of 2023! 10% of Meg’s proceeds from the sale of this book will go to real life royal Princess Mabel van Oranje of the Netherlands’ charity to end child marriage www.vowforgirls.org. 
Meg Cabot (her last name rhymes with habit, as in “her books can be habit forming”) currently lives in Key West, Florida with her husband and various cats. If you see her husband, please do not tell him that he married a fire horse, as he has not figured it out yet.
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.

Twisty Psychological Thrillers With Jamie Sogn | SCC 118

Salthouse Place: A Novel 
Jamie Lee Sogn is a Filipina American author of adult thriller novels. She grew up in Olympia, Washington, studied Anthropology and Psychology at the University of Washington and received her Juris Doctor from the University of Oregon School of Law. 
She is a "recovering attorney" who writes contracts by day and (much more exciting) fiction by night. While she has lived in Los Angeles, New York City, and even Eugene, Oregon, she now lives in Seattle with her husband, son, and Boston Terrier. 
Learn more about her debut novel, Salthouse Place, on her website at www.jamieleesogn.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.

Practice Makes Published With Joe Bunting | SCC 117

Joe Bunting is a bestselling writer, novelist, and dad. He has written nine books, is the host of the podcast Character Test, and his organization, The Write Practice, has helped over 10 million people become better writers. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia with his wife Talia and their three children. You can follow Joe on Instagram (@jhbunting), Facebook, or on his website, joebunting.com.
https://thewritepractice.com/
https://thewritepractice.com/join
https://thewritepractice.com/the-write-structure/
https://thewritepractice.com/book-coach-certification/
 
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.
 

Mysteries With Heart And Humor With Nina Simon | SCC 116

Mother-Daughter Murder Night: A Reese Witherspoon Book Club Pick
Nina Simon has worn many hats: NASA engineer, slam poet, game designer, museum director, and nonprofit CEO. Her work on community participation in museums, libraries, parks, and theaters has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, NPR, and the TEDx stage.
Mother-Daughter Murder Night is Nina’s first novel. She wrote it as a love letter to her mother, as a way to entertain, comfort, and connect with her during a major health crisis. Born and raised in Los Angeles, Nina now lives off-the-grid in the Santa Cruz Mountains. More information can be found on her website, ninaksimon.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.

Love, hope, dreams, ambition...and family secrets with Denene Millner | SCC 115

One Blood: A Novel
New York Times best-selling author DENENE MILLNER is a highly respected and sought after award-winning journalist whose captivating books, columns and essays have secured her foothold in the entertainment, parenting, book publishing and social media industries. The veteran author has written and collaborated on 31 critically acclaimed and bestselling books, penning tomes with Taraji P. Henson, Will Smith, Charlie Wilson and Jessye Norman, among other celebrities, and co-authoring “The Vow,” the novel on which the hit Lifetime movie, “With This Ring” was based. She also has been a frequent contributing entertainment, parenting and relationships writer for some of the nation’s most well-read and respected magazines, penning high-profile cover stories on everyone from hit filmmaker Tyler Perry and Scandal’s Kerry Washington to super star George Clooney and The Walking Dead’s Lauren Cohan, for Essence, Women’s Health, Ebony and other top publications.
Denene also is vice president and publisher of Denene Millner Books, a Simon & Schuster imprint that publishes books featuring African American children. In its debut year, "Crown: An Ode to the Fresh Cut," won Newbery and Caldecott honors and the Kirkus Prize for Children's Literature. She has since gone on to publish a plethora of critically-acclaimed picture books and young adult novels, all with a singular focus: to celebrate the everyday humanity of Black children. As the sole African American woman with her own children’s book imprint at a Big 5 publishing house, Denene acquires, conceives and edits books for the imprint, oversees their artistic development, and helps conceptualize and execute all aspects of the publishing process, including marketing, publicity and sales, with a focus on creating opportunities for marginalized writers, artists and their stories.
In addition to running her imprint and penning books and magazine cover stories, Millner spent a decade working as a columnist, contributing editor, and blogger for Parenting, a national magazine for which she provided witty, engaging, mom-to-mom advice on everything from childrearing and marriage to work and friendship. Denene is also the founder and editor of MyBrownBaby.com, an oft celebrated, award-winning website that examines parenting and motherhood through a distinctive multicultural lens. Her work as a parenting and relationships expert has been covered extensively on national television, earning Millner regular appearances on the Today show, The Meredith Vieira Show and HLN, and guest appearances on CBS’s The Early Show, NPR, CNN, MSNBC, VH-1, The Nate Berkus Show and The Rachel Ray Show. In 2018, she became a founding co-host on Georgia Public Broadcasting's "A Seat at the Table," a talk show about black women, which led to her founding of the critically-acclaimed NPR podcast "Speakeasy with Denene," a celebration of the beauty of the African American experience.
Denene's upcoming novel, "One Blood," an epic triptych on Black motherhood, publishes on September 5, 2023 from Forge Books.
Denene lives is a graduate of Hofstra University and lives in Atlanta with her two daughters and their adorable Goldendoodle, Franklin.
www.denenemillner.com
Instagram
Facebook
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.
 

Historical Romance Authorpreneurship With Laura Beers | SCC 114

An Improper Courtship: A Regency Romance (Lords & Ladies of Mayfair Book 3)
Laura Beers is an award-winning author. She attended Brigham Young University, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Construction Management. She can't sing, doesn't dance and loves naps.
Laura lives in Utah with her husband, three kids, and her dysfunctional dog. When not writing regency romance, she loves waterskiing, hiking, and drinking Dr Pepper.
You can connect with Laura on Facebook, Instagram, or on her site at www.authorlaurabeers.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.

The Western Renaissance With Craig Johnson | SCC 113

The Longmire Defense: A Longmire Mystery
Craig Johnson is the New York Times bestselling author of the Longmire mysteries, the basis for the hit Netflix original series Longmire. He is the recipient of the Western Writers of America Spur Award for fiction and the Mountain & Plains Independent Booksellers Association's Reading the West Book Award for fiction. His novella Spirit of Steamboat was the first One Book Wyoming selection. He lives in Ucross, Wyoming, population 26.
Walt Longmire faces one of his most challenging crime scenes as he tries to reckon with the revelations of his last case where he confronted the ghosts of his past and questioned the very nature of justice and mercy in the hard country of the West.
Deep in the heart of the Wyoming countryside, Sheriff of Absaroka County, Walt Longmire, is called to a crime scene like few others that he has seen.  This crime brings up issues that go back to Walt’s grandfather’s time in Wyoming, as the revelations he learns about his grandfather come back to offer clues and motives for Walt’s investigation.  Filled with back-country action, and with the great cast of characters that readers have come to love with the Longmire series, this new book will be sure to satisfy both long-time readers and those new to the series.
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.

A Thriller Veteran Talks About The Author Life With Kyle Mills | SCC 112

Code Red: A Mitch Rapp Novel by Kyle Mills
Kyle Mills is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of twenty-three political thrillers, including Code Red, Total Power, Lethal Agent, and Red War for Vince Flynn and The Patriot Attack for Robert Ludlum. He initially found inspiration from his father, the former director of Interpol, and still draws on his contacts in the intelligence community to give his books such realism. Avid outdoor athletes, he and his wife split their time between Jackson Hole, Wyoming, and Granada, Spain. Visit his website at KyleMills.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram @KyleMillsAuthor.
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.

White Knuckle Thrillers That Read Like Action Movies With Don Bentley | SCC 111

Forgotten War (A Matt Drake Novel Book 4)
Don Bentley is the New York Times Bestselling author of the Matt Drake thriller series including Hostile Intent, The Outside Man, and Without Sanction as well as one forthcoming title. Don also writes in the Tom Clancy Jack Ryan, Jr. universe with Zero Hour, Target Acquired, and one forthcoming title.
Don spent a decade as an Army Apache helicopter pilot during which time he was stationed in South Korea, Germany, and Texas. While deployed to Afghanistan as a Troop Commander in support of Operation Enduring Freedom VI, Don was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with “V” device for valor. Following his time in the military Don worked as an FBI Special Agent and was a member of the Dallas Office Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team.
After leaving the FBI, Don worked for companies that developed technology for the U.S. Special Operations Community. He holds a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the Ohio State University, and an M.F.A in Writing Popular Fiction from Seton Hill University.
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.