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Matt Lubbers-Moore Talks ReQueered Tales and the Reissue of Grant Michaels’s Stan Kraychik Series
My return guest on the podcast is Matt Lubbers-Moore, one of the founders of ReQueered Tales. Listen as we talk about their reissue of the late Grant Michaels’s Stan Kraychick mystery series. ReQueered Tales has a mission to bring select queer fiction back into circulation, with an emphasis on gay mysteries, that flourished in the 1960s through the early 2000s. I had the privilege of writing the foreword for the just-released Time to Check Out, the 5th book in the series.
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The End, One Way or Another
October 6, 2020 (Tuesday)In the past three years, it has so often felt like things were reaching the breaking point. But the image of Trump on the balcony of the White House last night, defiantly taking off his mask as he gasped for breath, truly looked to me like the beginning of the final chapter. – Heather Cox RichardsonHeather Cox Richardson offers among the most astute and sober analysis available. Reading it agitates me, but I know I have to stay awake to everything that’s happening. We really are at a precipice in America and, frankly, I want to say I was there when it happened, not pretending it wasn’t.
There is no word in the English language (“fury” comes closest but is still far too mild) to express how I feel about Republicans and Trump steamrolling Americans to put a religious extremist on the Supreme Court. But note that the real pressure to do this is not from gullible pro-lifers. It’s from corporations and mega-rich donors who could not care less about abortion, a service they will always be able to avail themselves of. They want entrenched oligarchy and corporate minority rule over the United States. Hard stop. Overturning Roe is just the meat they’ve thrown to Christians. They really don’t care about that. A 6-3 majority will help ensure that “we the people” have almost nothing to say about those who govern us. Jesus has nothing to do with it.
I’m going to be 62 this month. Never in my darkest fantasies, even though I remember the 60s somewhat and lived through the AIDS years, did I imagine I would see a cartoonish authoritarian with a spray tan line around his face, gasping for air on a balcony like some high-school production of Evita, bringing the United States to the brink of ruin. But that is where we are. Millions of businesses can go under, tens of millions of Americans can go hungry, untold jobs lost, over a thousand people dying every day from a virus that doesn’t care about tough guys, real or fake, and all that matters is a court packed with judges who serve the rich and the rabid. Wow.
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Two October Promos: Books with a Halloween Twist, and Paranormal Roundup
It’s my favorite time of year, when ghosts and black cats roam the land. I’m participating it two fabulous deep-discount promotions this month with dozens of fellow authors at Book Funnel. Just click on the links below and browse to your heart’s horror … er, content. You’ll find lots of books to choose from at killer prices.
My two books, both reduced to .99 cents for this promo, are Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Mystery, and my supernatural chiller, A House in the Woods.
Books with a Halloween Twist CLICK HERE
Paranormal Round-Up CLICK HERE
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One Thing or Another: The Joys of Being a (Almost) Halloween Baby
By Mark McNease
It’s always One Thing or Another … a lighthearted look at aging, life, and the absurdities of it all.
I’m reprinting this column as an annual tradition, knowing that the current pandemic has altered the reality it presents for all of us. But the fun of Halloween remains and its pleasures will return someday. Nothing can keep a good witch down!
October has always been my favorite month. It’s the month when autumn really makes its presence felt, especially if you live where the seasons are discernible. (It recently went from air conditioner weather at the tail end of a relentlessly hot summer, to a sudden and unexpected freeze with a 30-degree drop). It’s flu season, which is always good for a sick day or two spent lying on the couch taking over-the-counter cold remedies that do nothing to stop you from feeling like death is close by. Honey, is the healthcare directive in place? You’re sure you’ve still got your copy? And how about the will? Can I change it by tomorrow? My sister forgot my birthday, I’m not sure she deserves the belt buckles.
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Author Fay Jacobs Talks Humor, Writing, and ‘Sit-Down Comedy’
Fasten your headphones for a conversation with author, humorist, activist, and sit-down comedian Fay Jacobs. We talk about her life and career, her writing, and what’s in store for the tireless writer.
Fay, a native New Yorker, has had a 35-year career in journalism, public relations & theater. As an author, Fay has five published books of humorous and activist essays. All were originally published by A&M Books, a successor to Naiad Press and are now published by Bywater Books. Fay’s first book, As I Lay Frying is in its 4th printing. A second, Fried & True won the 2008 National Federation of Press Women Book of the Year for humor.
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The Twist Podcast #138: Supreme Injustice, All the President’s Taxes, and the Week in Headlines
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for this week’s podcast as we talk about another Supreme Court heist, Trump’s tax dodges, National Coffee Week, and the week in headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
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The Twist Podcast #137: RIP RBG, Selfie Madness, COVID Deniers, and the Week in Headlines (YouTube Edition Included)
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose for this week’s podcast as we talk about the loss and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, COVID deniers, selfie madness, and the week in headlines.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing
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Book Review: My Own Words, by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams
By Terri Schlichenmeyer
The Bookworm
“My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams
c.2016, Simon & Schuster
$30.00 / $39.99 Canada 374 pagesPlease and Thank You.
Those were The Magic Words you learned at your mother’s knee, the ones that opened doors and gained favors. That was also when you learned something important, as you’ll see in “My Own Words” by Ruth Bader Ginsburg (with Mary Hartnett and Wendy W. Williams): letters, when properly collected, can move mountains.
Born in working-class Brooklyn in 1933, Joan Ruth Bader was her parents’ second daughter; sadly, their eldest died of meningitis just fourteen months later.
Theirs was a close-knit neighborhood, and the family had many of the luxuries of the day. Bader attended public school a block from her home; there, because of other girls in her class who shared her first name, she started using her middle name “for more official purposes.” She was raised to be independent and was an avid reader, a notably talented storyteller, and she loved gymnastics but “was not… especially fond of math.” And since she grew up in the shadow of World War II and was Jewish, she was fully aware of anti-Semitism.
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Lee Lynch’s Amazon Trail: Nah, We Ain’t No Sissies
Guest Column
The Amazon Trail: Nah, We Ain’t No Sissies
By Lee Lynch
Photo by Sue Hardesty I have been resting. A strange activity for me, but I had no choice. I was so worn out, I remember promising myself that I would never hurry again as long as I lived. The first two of six weeks I mostly slept, or lay unmoving beside my sweetheart. Awake, I read thrillers, and when those books didn’t ease my mental and emotional exhaustion, in desperation I read Ann Rule, the master of true crime.
So many people are afflicted or have died from what my sweetheart coined trump flu; so many people have died or lost their homes to the fires around us; so many people are suffering under the current administration; so many people are fighting the loss of democracy in the United States; so many people are victims of blatant and insidious racism—I feel like a sissy to have needed rest.
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Author John Morgan Wilson Talks Writing and the 25th Anniversary Reissue of His Mystery ‘Simple Justice’
John Morgan Wilson An early standout in the gay mystery genre, author John Morgan Wilson is about to enjoy a resurgence in popularity with the 25th anniversary reissue of his first book in the Benjamin Justice series. Releasing today (September 15, 2020), the Edgar Award winning Simple Justice introduces us to Wilson’s protagonist, Benjamin Justice, a reporter for the Los Angeles Times who’s seen his career and his life crash following a scandal involving the Pulitzer Prize. I spoke with John about his career, his life in West Hollywood, and his partnership with ReQueered Tales to issue revised editions of all eight books in the Benjamin Justice series. Fasten your headphones and join us for a lively conversation.
John Morgan Wilson is an American journalist and author of crime fiction, notably the Benjamin Justice mystery novels. The books feature a reclusive ex-reporter, ruined by a Pulitzer scandal and haunted by personal loss, who operates out of West Hollywood, becoming enmeshed in murder investigations in and around Los Angeles.
Simple Justice led the series in 1996, winning the Mystery Writers of America Edgar Award for Best First Novel. Six of the eight Justice mysteries, including Simple Justice, were nominated for Lambda Literary Awards for Best Gay Men’s Mystery, three of them winning in that category. (Wikipedia)
“It’s 1994, an election year when violent crime is rampant, voters want action, and politicians smell blood. When a Latino teenager confesses to the murder of a pretty-boy cokehead outside a gay bar in L.A., the cops consider the case closed. But Benjamin Justice, a disgraced former reporter for the Los Angeles Times, sees something in the jailed boy others don’t. His former editor, Harry Brofsky, now toiling at the rival Los Angeles Sun, pries Justice from his alcoholic seclusion to help neophyte reporter Alexandra Templeton dig deeper into the story. But why would a seemingly decent kid confess to a brutal gang initiation killing if he wasn’t guilty? And how can Benjamin Justice possibly be trusted, given his central role in the Pulitzer scandal that destroyed his career? Snaking his way through shadowy neighborhoods and dubious suspects, he’s increasingly haunted by memories of his lover Jacques, whose death from AIDS six years earlier precipitated his fall from grace. As he unravels emotionally, Templeton attempts to solve the riddle of his dark past and ward off another meltdown as they race against a critical deadline to uncover and publish the truth.”
Coming up on the One Thing or Another Podcast
Book reviewer Terri Schlicenmeyer talks books for fall.
Humorist and author Fay Jacobs talks life in the funny (and not so funny) lane.
Matt Lubbers-Moore talks ReQueered Tales and the reissue of Grant Michaels’s ‘Time to Check Out’ (foreword by yours truly!)Enjoy the One Thing or Another Podcast on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and at OneThingOrAnotherPodast.com
Join my email list for updates, podcasts, giveaways, and my monthly newsletter!
Copyright MadeMarkPublishing
Comments or questions? You can reach me at Mark @ OneThingOrAnotherPodcast. com
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‘Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller’ Audiobook Now Available!
Fasten your headphones! The audiobook edition of Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller is now available. Narrated by the terrific Sean Rhead, Beautiful Corpse is the second book in the Marshall James series, to be concluded in 2021 with a final installment. It’s 1984. Marshall survived the perils of Murder at the Paisley Parrot and believes he’s living happily ever after with his detective boyfriend, Mac McElroy. Life seems perfect, until everything goes wrong …
About Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller
It’s been over a year since Marshall James first became intimately familiar with murder. He’s six months sober now and happily living with the love of his life, LAPD Detective Mac McElroy. Despite the coming storm of AIDS and its devastating toll on the world Marshall knows, his dark days seem to be behind him. Then one night he says the wrong thing, storms out in anger, and walks straight into a nightmare. Someone is setting him up to take the fall for a beautiful corpse. But who would do something so evil, and so planned? Within hours he finds himself running from the police and the mob, and running toward a killer he must apprehend before the only chance left is no chance at all.
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Fee Audiobook Codes Available for All Titles!
Are you listening? I have a limited number of complimentary audiobook codes available for all of my audiobooks, including the brand new Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller, narrated by Sean Rhead! Just click the image or HERE to email your request for a code. Please specify the title(s), and a US or UK code. You can read about them all at my Audible author’s page. So enjoy … and fasten your headphones!
Available Titles:
Beautiful Corpse: A Marshall James Thriller
A House in the Woods
Black Cat White Paws: A Maggie Dahl Thriller
Murder at the Paisley Parrot: A Marshall James Thriller
Last Room at the Cliff’s Edge
Death by Pride: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
Pride and Perilous: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
Murder at Pride Lodge: A Kyle Callahan Mystery
Stop the Car: A Kindle Single
Strange Company: Nature Essays by Jean Ryan -
The Twist Podcast #136: Plastic Planet, Sergeant Loser, State of the States, and This Week’s Headlines
Mark (L) and Rick (R)
Join co-hosts Mark McNease and Rick Rose as we take a look at our planet’s plastic peril, losers and suckers in the armed forces, another state or two, and the week in headlines. Can’t find us? Just ask Alexa … And enjoy our YouTube edition for those who like to watch.
Enjoy The Twist on Libsyn, iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, iHeart Radio, and TheTwistPodcast.com.
Copyright 2020 MadeMark Publishing