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The Twist #218: Combat Queens, Monks in Heels, and the Latest in Resistance Wear
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose we catch fire stoking the resistance, chat about regional foods, salute the combat queens, and scan the heinous headlines.
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Back in Wide Distribution – Save Even More and Buy Direct!
After doing very well as a Kindle Unlimited exclusive publisher the last several months, I’ve released several of my books ‘wide,’ as we say. You can find me at Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and my own Payhip storefront where you’ll save even more!
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Book Review: Code Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER, by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm SexCode Gray: Death, Life, and Uncertainty in the ER, by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D.
c.2023, Simon & Schuster $27.99 256 pagesYou know exactly who’s in charge here.
It’s the person in the white coat, a physician with a stethoscope around their neck and a packed pocketful of paper notes and pens. The white coat instantly gets your attention. It’s meant to quickly convey authority, and it does – so much so that you trust your very life to the person wearing it. In “Code Gray” by Farzon A. Nahvi, M.D., that white coat won’t leave you in the dark.
It was only supposed to be a friends-catching-up kind of text thread but for Farzon Nahvi and his colleagues around the country, the flurry of messages they exchanged during the pandemic became a lifeline. For each, it was good to know that their hospital’s reaction to the Covid-19 pandemic wasn’t the only one lacking.
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Bella DuBalle Fights Back Against Drag Bans (YouTube)
Bella DuBalle, a drag entertainer and the show host at Atomic Rose in Memphis, TN, explains how the new drag show ban law signed by Governor Bill Lee is affecting performers in the state, and what they are doing to fight back.
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The Weekly Readlines March 10
Now with a side of audio, brought to you by WondervoxAI
The Weekly Readlines (rhymes with headlines!) offers news you can use every Friday.
Say it ain’t so: Tennessee House passes bill eviscerating marriage equality, sealed with a kiss to SCOTUS.
Quote for the Week: “Drag queens are the Marines of the queer movement …And by the way, a social media post has never been as powerful as a registered vote.” – RuPaul
BIG CUP: THE WEEK’S TOP STORIES
First the good news: Boston still rocks! Don’t believe me? Check out the Verb Hotel (my review here). It’s a great place to stay, filled with rock ‘n roll memorabilia without a trace of must or dust. And the golden tiger-patterned bathrobes are good enough to buy – which Frank did!
The fascist takeover by Republican legislatures continues across the country, with one vicious bill after another gleefully torturing all who beg to differ. Trans kids and their families are living with particular terror, as Florida gets set to take the children from their parents, even if the kids have been moved to another state for their own protection. Annie got her gun, that’s all I’ll say.
LGBTQ+ HEADLINES
988 Suicide Prevention Line Ramps Up LGBTQI+ Chat, Text Services
Bloomberg Law NewsThe Anti-Drag Bill Passed In Tennessee Is Straight From History’s Playbooks
NPRIowans Stage Massive Rally Against Anti-LGBTQ Bills
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The Twist Podcast #217: Back from Boston, Madonna Flashbacks, Grocery Therapy, and a New Guest Listicle!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose we catch up after Mark’s whirlwind trip to Boston, hear Rick’s headlines and headaches, and enjoy a new guest listicle from the University of Iowa’s Lauren Swanson.
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‘Rough and Tumble: A Dystopian Love Tragedy’ Now Available as an Audiobook from WondervoxAI / MadeMark Publishing
So much to say, so little time to say it right now: My newest venture is WondervoxAI, creating AI-narrated audio for myself and potential clients. Blog posts? Fiction? Non-fiction? Anything you want narrated and turned into an audio file, I’m your source. Affordable, precise, and determined. I can even clone your own voice!
This is in the very (very) early stages, so stay tuned. For now, I’ve got my extended short story, Rough and Tumble: A Dystopian Love Tragedy, available as an audiobook at my Payhip storefront. It’s just $3.99. Purchase it and immediately get your own MP3 file to enjoy at your leisure. Expect much more from this brave new frontier. You can listen to a sample HERE. The technology is amazing and exciting.
“Rough and Tumble were not their names by birth.” Boy meets boy at the end of civilization in this extended short story. The year is distant, the reality of those living appears dark and harsh. Among them, surviving by wit and easy violence, are Rough and Tumble, two young men whose lives became entwined so long ago neither of them remembers exactly when, only that it was love at first sight. Now, as Rough imagines an escape from the Slopes, the area they live and expect to die in, he yearns to take Tumble with him. But is it possible? Does Tumble want to go across the murky water, too, or are dreams for the foolish and the dying? Join them as they go on a last nightly prowl, looking for loot and any way out.
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Q Audiobooks: I’m So (Not) Over You, by Kosoko Jackson, Narrated by Timothy Bell Reese
I’m So (Not) Over You
By: Kosoko Jackson
Narrated by: Timothy Bell Reese
Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
4.5 out of 5 stars (50 ratings)“Shine[s] with a beautiful, blooming sense of wonder.”—New York Times Book Review
A chance to rewrite their ending is worth the risk in this swoony romantic comedy from Kosoko Jackson.
It’s been months since aspiring journalist Kian Andrews has heard from his ex-boyfriend, Hudson Rivers, but an urgent text has them meeting at a café. Maybe Hudson wants to profusely apologize for the breakup. Or confess his undying love. . . But no, Hudson has a favor to ask—he wants Kian to pretend to be his boyfriend while his parents are in town, and Kian reluctantly agrees.
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Savvy Senior: How to Protect Seniors from Scam Calls
Dear Savvy Senior,
What tools can you recommend to help protect trusting seniors from scam calls? My 74-year-old mother gets tons of unwanted telemarketing and robocalls on her cell and home phone and has been duped out of hundreds of dollars.
Frustrated Daughter
Dear Frustrated,
It’s a great question! Scammers are always looking for new ways to dupe people out of money, and in the U.S., phone calls remain the primary way swindlers hook older victims.
The Federal Trade Commission recently found that 24 percent of adults over age 60 who reported losing money to a scam in 2021 said it started with a phone call – the largest percentage of any method, including email, text and mail.
To help protect your mom from the onslaught of robocall scams, telemarketing and spam calls, here are some tips and tools you can help her employ.
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Hotel Review: Boston’s Verb Hotel Gets 4.5 Fresh Towels
Prefer to listen? Just click for the audio version.
Hotel reviews are based on a Fresh Towel rating. Five means a top destination, one means check in at your peril.
Welcome to the first hotel review. It’s being added to my restaurant reviews (1-5 Yums), and my general travel reviews and blog posts.
Like a lot of people, we’ve been traveling a lot since the removal of pandemic restrictions. We’ve been to Delaware, Atlantic City, and we’ll be heading to California and Las Vegas soon, as well as taking a cruise to Canada in October that arrives back in Bayonne, NJ, on my birthday!
I was especially prompted to kick these off because we’ve come to Boston to visit one of Frank’s oldest friends (who takes the ferry to Provincetown every year in August when we head their for our annual time share). Frank booked us into The Verb Hotel, and I was wowed!
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Dreamshaping Podcast #19: My Robot’s Name is Josh (Adventures in AI Narration)
This is my first adventure in AI, using a service called ElevenLabs voice synthesis. It’s frankly amazing, and it opens up a lot of new opportunities for me as a creator. Podcasts, blog posts, short stories, anything I wanted to have narrated can now be offered as audio. It’s very exciting, and I’m looking forward to new frontiers as a writer and podcaster.
This first one is called ‘When You’re Older, Son,’ and the Slippage of Time.’ As with all things Dreamshaping, it’s a look at the human experience and how we create and experience the ultimate dream of our lives.
‘When You’re Older, Son’ and the Slippage of Time
Are human beings the only animals aware of time passing? Do cats know they’re getting old? Do fish ever wish they’d swum in this direction instead of that one? Is a tree concerned at all with the number of years it has stood rooted in one spot?
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The Twist Podcast #216: Headlines and Horse Feathers, Brad Shreve Joins the Chat Room, and a New Guest Listicle!
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we scan the headlines, introduce our new Chat Room feature with our first chatterbox, author and podcaster Brad Shreve, and treat listeners to a listicle from Allison DeMarcus on the best things about sharing your life with a country musician.
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Q Audiobooks: Enemy of My Enemy (Executive Office, Book 2) by Tal Bauer, Narrated by John Solo
Enemy of My Enemy
Executive Office, Book 2
By: Tal Bauer
Narrated by: John Solo
Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
4.8 out of 5 stars (153 ratings)President Jack Spiers and former Secret Service agent Ethan Reichenbach throw caution to the wind, committing themselves publicly as the first out male lovers and partners to occupy the White House. Jack moves Ethan into the Residence, but as Ethan settles into his new role as first gentleman of the United States, not everyone is thrilled with their choices. When it seems like the world turns against them, Jack and Ethan must turn to each other, finding the strength together to press on.
In the chaos, Jack’s relationship with Russian President Sergey Puchkov grows closer, and the two nations find themselves working almost as allies. But President Puchkov has secrets of his own, secrets that could rip everything apart. And Ethan steps back into the action with Lieutenant Adam Cooper, taking charge of a covert kill team tasked with hunting down General Madigan once and for all.
But Madigan is elusive, and his dangerous reach is long. He strikes at Jack and Ethan from the shadowy corners of the globe, unraveling their entire world. As the mad general draws new allies together, he is single-minded in his quest to destroy the only two men who ever beat him.
Contains mature themes.
©2017, 2020 Tal Bauer (P)2020 Tantor