Speaking of Writers
432 episodes - English - Latest episode: 1 day ago - ★★★★★ - 4 ratingsWelcome to Speaking of Writers. Veteran broadcaster Steve Richards interviews local, regional and best selling authors. For more info email steve @ [email protected].
Cover art photo provided by Janko Ferlič on Unsplash: https://unsplash.com/@thepootphotographer
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Episodes
David Baldacci- Redemption
May 10, 2019 01:50 - 12 minutes - 11.4 MBAmos Decker and his FBI partner Alex Jamison are visiting his hometown of Burlington, Ohio, when he's approached by an unfamiliar man as he pays his respects at the graves of his wife and daughter. But Decker instantly recognizes the man’s name: Meryl Hawkins. The first person Decker ever arrested for murder. Though a dozen years in prison have left Hawkins unrecognizably aged and terminally ill, one thing hasn’t changed: He maintains he never committed the murders. Could it be possible that...
Mark Obmascik-The Storm on Our Shores One Island, Two Soldiers, and the Forgotten Battle of World War II
May 04, 2019 03:01 - 14 minutes - 13.5 MBThe heart-wrenching but ultimately redemptive story of two World War II soldiers—a Japanese surgeon and an American sergeant—during a brutal Alaskan battle in which the sergeant discovers the medic's revelatory and fascinating diary that changed our war-torn society’s perceptions of Japan. May 1943. The Battle of Attu—called “The Forgotten Battle” by World War II veterans—was raging on the Aleutian island with an Arctic cold, impenetrable fog, and rocketing winds that combined to create som...
MALLORY O’MEARA- THE LADY FROM THE BLACK LAGOON Hollywood Monsters and the Lost Legacy of Milicent Patrick
March 31, 2019 15:52 - 8 minutes - 7.49 MBMilicent Patrick should be a recognizable name and a role model for several generations of young girls with filmmaking dreams. As the only woman ever to design a classic movie monster, The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and one of the first female animators at Disney, she blazed a trail that up-and-comers should have been able to follow. But instead, her story was lost. She was denied credit for her work. And for over sixty years, her legacy was buried. When author Mallory O’Meara fi...
Art Shamsky and Erik Sherman- AFTER THE MIRACLE The Lasting Brotherhood of the ’69 Mets
March 31, 2019 15:19 - 19 minutes - 18.1 MBThe 1962 New York Mets set a record for futility in baseball, losing 120 games, a record that stands to this day. Seven years later, after languishing in the National League cellar year after year, the Mets won the World Series. The “Lovable Losers” suddenly became the “Miracle Mets” in perhaps the greatest worst-to-first transformation in sports history. Art Shamsky played right field for the 1969 Mets. In AFTER THE MIRACLE: The Lasting Brotherhood of the ’69 Mets (Simon & Schuster, March ...
Gina Marie Guadagnino- The Parting Glass
March 31, 2019 15:11 - 10 minutes - 9.27 MBIn the vein of Disobedience by Naomi Alderman—but sexy, unique, and Irish—comes The Parting Glass by Gina Marie Guadagnino , an evocative historical fiction debut about a 19th century love triangle between two Irish-immigrant siblings and a young heiress. Booklist recommends it to fan of All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. By day, Mary Ballard is lady’s maid to Charlotte Walden, and Mary loves her with an obsessive passion that goes beyond a servant’s devotion. But on her nights ...
Dwight Douglas- Gold, God, Guns & Goofballs: A Collection of Essays on America
March 22, 2019 23:40 - 12 minutes - 11 MBThis book is not an antidote for the left or right. It’s an accelerant to move the middle off their collective asses to do something positive for America. These essays on America reflect a blunt assessment of where we find ourselves and a call for open minds to think about how to fix things in the US of A. The author explores the notion of the corporate state of Gold, scrutinizes the meaning of God in our society, questions our unhealthy need for Guns and lays out the damage that the Goofbal...
Don Winslow - The Border
March 17, 2019 16:10 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBThe Border is the highly anticipated conclusion to the epic Cartel trilogy from the New York Times bestselling author of The Force. What do you do when there are no borders? When the lines you thought existed simply vanish? How do you plant your feet to make a stand when you no longer know what side you’re on? DON WINSLOW is the author of twenty acclaimed, award-winning international bestsellers – including the New York Times bestseller and sensation The Force, the #1 international bes...
Greg Iles- Cemetery Road
March 06, 2019 03:26 - 12 minutes - 11.5 MB“Iles sits alongside the icons at the top of today's crime-fiction mountain. He has made Mississippi his own in the same way that James Lee Burke has claimed Cajun country and Michael Connelly has remapped contemporary Los Angeles.” (Starred review, Booklist, CEMETERY ROAD) And with his newest novel, #1 bestselling author Greg Iles illuminates the intricate and complicated relationships that define not just one small town—but that define human nature. CEMETERY ROAD (William Morrow) is an ele...
Fiona Barton- The Suspect
February 18, 2019 14:57 - 13 minutes - 11.9 MBFiona Barton’s debut novel THE WIDOW was an instant international sensation when it published in 2016. Upon release it drew rave reviews, spent seven weeks on the New York Times hardcover fiction bestseller list. Barton quickly followed up with 2017’s THE CHILD, which was selected by librarians nationwide as a Library Reads selection and hit the USA Today and Publishers Weekly bestsellers lists. Barton returns with her highly anticipated third novel THE SUSPECT, again featuring fan-favorite...
Jane Healey -The Beantown Girls
February 18, 2019 14:48 - 10 minutes - 9.16 MBIn this historically accurate and poignant account, set in 1944 against the backdrop of World War II, a young woman is forced to alter the path to the future she had envisioned for herself in Jane Healey’s highly-anticipated second novel, The Beantown Girls. Fiona Denning had it all planned out: work at Boston City Hall until her fiancé returned from the war, then settle down in the suburbs. But when her husband-to-be is declared missing after being shot down over Germany, Fiona’s life is u...
James Lee Burke- The New Iberia Blues
January 29, 2019 03:08 - 13 minutes - 12.1 MBABOUT THE BOOK:Detective Dave Robicheaux’s world isn’t filled with too many happy stories, but Desmond Cormier’s rags-to-riches tale is certainly one of them. Robicheaux first met Cormier on the streets of New Orleans, when the young, undersized boy had foolish dreams of becoming a Hollywood director. Twenty-five years later, when Robicheaux knocks on Cormier’s door, it isn’t to congratulate him on his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations. Robicheaux has discovered the body of a young...
Charles Krauthammer- The Point of It All
January 29, 2019 02:59 - 11 minutes - 10.6 MBAbout The Point of It All Created and compiled by Charles Krauthammer before his death, The Point of It All is a powerful collection of the influential columnist’s most important works. Spanning the personal, the political and the philosophical, it includes never-before-published speeches and a major new essay about the effect of today’s populist movements on the future of global democracy. Edited and with an introduction by the columnist’s son, Daniel Krauthammer, it is the most intimate a...
Joseph Finder-Judgment
January 29, 2019 02:53 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBJuliana Brody is a rising star in the judicial world. A judge in the Superior Court of Massachusetts, she is rumored to be in consideration for the federal court, and maybe even someday the highest court in the land. At a conference in Chicago, she meets an attractive yet vulnerable man, and in a moment of weakness has an unforgettable night with him. They part with an explicit understanding that this must never happen again – Juliana is married with a family. But back home in Boston, it be...
Ron Barak-The Puppet Master
January 13, 2019 02:51 - 10 minutes - 9.81 MBD.C. homicide detective Frank Lotello returns to find a mysterious vigilante serial killer who is bent on putting an end to political corruption. “Have you ever killed anyone? I have. I’ll do it again. If I need to.” The serial a killer is tried in Judge Cyrus Brooks’ courtroom. Discovering an illicit White House connection suggesting that things may not be as they appear, Lotello quietly approaches Brooks. Putting both of their careers in jeopardy, Lotello and Brooks secretly form an allian...
Tom Clavin- Valley Forge
December 15, 2018 01:13 - 10 minutes - 9.22 MBThe #1 New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is return with one of the most inspiring—and underappreciated—chapters in American history: the story of the Continental Army’s six-month transformation in Valley Forge. December 1777. It is 18 months after the signing of the Declaration of Independence, and some 12,000 members of America’s beleaguered Continental Army stagger into a small Pennsylvania encampment 23 miles northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia. The...
Lisa Unger- Under My Skin
December 15, 2018 01:07 - 10 minutes - 9.56 MBWhat if the nightmares are actually memories? It’s been a year since Poppy’s husband, Jack, was brutally murdered during his morning run through Manhattan’s Riverside Park. In the immediate aftermath, Poppy spiraled into an oblivion of grief, disappearing for several days only to turn up ragged and confused wearing a tight red dress she didn’t recognize. What happened to Poppy during those lost days? And more importantly, what happened to Jack? The case was never solved, and Poppy has final...
Linda Gartz- Redlined
December 07, 2018 19:19 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBAt a time when the home ownership gap between whites and African Americans is greater than it was during the Jim Crow era, it seems important to recall some of the historical roots that gave rise to such inequality. And at a moment when the administration in the White House is actually weakening standards that banks must meet when considering community investment rather than strengthening them, the need to reflect becomes all the more urgent. In Redlined: A Memoir of Race, Change, and Fractu...
Peter Vronsky- Sons of Cain
December 07, 2018 03:23 - 9 minutes - 8.48 MBInvestigative historian Peter Vronsky’s new book SONS OF CAIN: A History of Serial Killers from the Stone Age to the Present Peter Vronsky is widely considered an expert in this specific field of history and has been featured on true crime podcasts in anticipation of the publication of SONS OF CAIN, which takes an in-depth examination of sexual serial killers throughout human history, how they evolved, and why we are drawn to their horrifying crimes. Delving further back into human history...
Mike Lupica-Robert B. Parker's Blood Feud
December 06, 2018 18:18 - 12 minutes - 11.8 MBRobert B. Parker's iconic and irresistible PI Sunny Randall is back in ROBERT B. PARKER’S BLOOD FEUD, written by the popular sports journalist, New York Times–bestselling author, and longtime friend of Parker, Mike Lupica. This is Lupica’s first Sunny Randall novel, and the seventh n the series. In Lupica’s first installment in the popular series, the stakes are higher than ever as Sunny Randall races to protect her ex-husband—and his Mafia family—from the vengeful plan of a mysterious rival...
Bob Lederer- Beyond Broadway Joe
November 30, 2018 21:34 - 13 minutes - 12.2 MBOn the eve of the fiftieth anniversary of the New York Jets' historic achievement, a nostalgic, inside look from the men who composed the team behind Joe Namath’s Super Bowl III win, filled with exclusive insights and stories from the surviving players, coaches, and management of that championship team whose victory changed the landscape of American football. On January 12, 1969, the New York Jets astonished the nation when they beat the favored Baltimore Colts to win Super Bowl III. The key...
Diarmaid MacCulloch- Thomas Cromwell: A Revolutionary Life
November 30, 2018 21:30 - 10 minutes - 9.24 MBHistorian and New York Times bestselling author shares the complete biography of Thomas Cromwell, the man behind Henry VIII Since the sixteenth century we have been fascinated by Henry VIII and the man who stood beside him, guiding him, enriching him, and enduring the king's insatiable appetites and violent outbursts until Henry ordered his beheading in July 1540. After a decade of sleuthing in the royal archives, Diarmaid MacCulloch has emerged with THOMAS CROMWELL: A Revolutionary Life, a...
John Feinstein The Prodigy
November 21, 2018 21:35 - 11 minutes - 10.2 MBFrom award-winning sportswriter John Feinstein, a YA novel about a teen golfer poised to blaze his way into Masters Tournament history—and he’ll face secrecy, sacrifice, and the decision of a lifetime to get there. Seventeen-year-old Frank Baker is a golfing sensation. He’s set to earn a full-ride scholarship to play at the university of his choice, but his single dad wants him to skip college and turn pro—golf has taken its toll on the family bank account, and his dad is eager to start cash...
David Baldacci Long Road to Mercy
November 21, 2018 21:19 - 10 minutes - 9.53 MBAbout LONG ROAD TO MERCY: Eeny, meeny, miny, moe. Catch a tiger by its toe. It’s seared into Atlee Pine’s memory: the kidnapper’s chilling rhyme as he chose between six-year-old Atlee and her twin sister, Mercy. Mercy was taken. Atlee was spared. She never saw Mercy again. Three decades after that terrifying night, Atlee Pine works for the FBI. She’s the lone agent assigned to the Shattered Rock, Arizona resident agency, which is responsible for protecting the Grand Canyon. When one of the ...
David W Blight Frederick Douglass
November 21, 2018 21:02 - 14 minutes - 13.1 MBAs a young man Frederick Douglass (1818-1895) escaped from slavery in Baltimore, Maryland. He was fortunate to have been taught to read by his slave owner mistress, and he would go on to become one of the major literary figures of his time. He wrote three versions of his autobiography over the course of his lifetime and published his own newspaper. His very existence gave the lie to slave owners: with dignity and great intelligence he bore witness to the brutality of slavery. Initially mento...
H. W. Brands Heirs of The Founders
November 21, 2018 20:54 - 10 minutes - 9.99 MBFrom New York Times bestselling historian H. W. Brands comes the riveting story of how, in nineteenth-century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and decide the future of our democracy In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, s...
Nick Bunker Benjamin Franklin The Birth of Ingenuity
November 16, 2018 16:43 - 10 minutes - 9.61 MBIn YOUNG BENJAMIN FRANKLIN: THE BIRTH OF INGENUITY, Pulitzer Prize finalist Nick Bunker presents a fresh account of one of the most important figures in American history. From the fascinating story of the first 40 years of his life, Franklin emerges as a complex, even conflicted human being: ambitious, tough, and even ruthless as he picks his way through a harsh colonial world, but also poetic and imaginative, with strong emotions and a rebellious streak. YOUNG BENJAMIN FRANKLIN contains a...
Andrew Roberts Churchill Walking with Destiny
November 15, 2018 07:36 - 10 minutes - 9.66 MBBestselling, award-winning author shares a landmark biography of WINSTON CHURCHILL, based on extensive new material—from private letters and diaries to transcripts of war cabinet meetings When we seek an example of unalloyed courage, the man who comes to mind is Winston Churchill: the visionary leader, immune from the consensus of the day, who stood firmly for his beliefs when everyone doubted him. But how did young Winston become Churchill? What gave him the strength to take on the superior...
Gordon Wood FRIENDS DIVIDED: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson
November 15, 2018 07:33 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBAcclaimed historian shares a riveting account of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson: two beloved early Americans who forged a nation despite wildly different personalities, backgrounds, philosophies and values New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 No relationship in America’s history better represents our nation’s internal struggles and our remarkable ability to mend division than that of Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, figureheads of America’...
Nathaniel Philbrick In The Hurricane's Eye
October 26, 2018 15:45 - 13 minutes - 12 MBA conversation with Nathaniel Philbrick about his new book IN THE HURRICANE’S EYE. The book chronicles the remarkable year leading up to the siege of Yorktown, the battle that ultimately broke a years-long stalemate with the British and earned America her freedom. A narrative filled with historically misunderstood naval engagements such as the Battle of the Chesapeake, which was fought without a single American soldier, and unsung heroes lost to history like Spain’s Francisco Saavedra, who pr...
Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah Friday Black
October 26, 2018 14:35 - 8 minutes - 8.02 MBA conversation with University of Albany Alum Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah about his debut collection FRIDAY BLACK. By placing ordinary characters in extraordinary situations, Nana reveals the violence, injustice, and painful absurdities that black men and women contend with every day in this country. To set the scene: think Black Mirror meets Black Lives Matters. In the knockout opening story “The Finklestein Five,” we’re confronted by a man who is acquitted after using a chainsaw to massacre fi...
Kyle Mills Red War
October 24, 2018 00:00 - 11 minutes - 10.1 MBKyle Mills talks about his new Vince Flynn/Mitch Rapp novel "Red War". In recent years, a number of extremely dangerous world leaders have managed to increase their already considerable power. Some are busy tightening their grip on their countries like Recep Erdogan in Turkey or President Xi Jinping in China. Others, like Kim Jong-un in North Korea, already have uncontested control but are increasing their military capability. And finally, in a class by himself, is Vladimir Putin—a man who c...
Mitch Albom The Next Person You Meet in Heaven
October 22, 2018 18:28 - 12 minutes - 11.7 MBMitch Albom talks about his new book " The Next Person You Meet in Heaven". In this enchanting sequel to the number one bestseller The Five People You Meet in Heaven, Mitch Albom tells the story of Eddie’s heavenly reunion with Annie—the little girl he saved on earth—in an unforgettable novel of how our lives and losses intersect. Fifteen years ago, in Mitch Albom’s beloved novel, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, the world fell in love with Eddie, a grizzled war veteran- turned-amusement...