Tag: Authors

258: The Last Comics on Earth: Too Many Villains by Max Brallier

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Steve chats with Max Brallier, author of The Last Comics on Earth: Too Many Villains, the second book in the Last Comics graphic novel series spun off from his bestselling Last Kids on Earth series. They chat about balancing an apocalyptic background with a light-hearted tone, the differences between the Last Kids and Last Comics series, which jokes may’ve been 4am jokes that slipped through editorial, and much more!

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During a quick pause from defeating monsters, Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk face their trickiest challenge in THE LAST COMICS ON EARTH: TOO MANY VILLAINS!, the second graphic novel in the best-selling spin-off starring the beloved heroes, monsters, and side-kicks from THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH series.

Set on creating an epic follow-up to their Z-Man: Defender of Apocalyptia spin-off graphic novel, Jack, June, Quint, and Dirk plan an action-packed story featuring tougher villains, puzzles, and more in THE LAST COMICS ON EARTH: TOO MANY VILLAINS! Their superhero alter-egos discover that supervillains will do whatever it takes to stop the even more mysterious evil boss from carrying out the biggest evil plan ever and destroying the world, featuring monsters our heroes have battled in the pages of THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH.

THE LAST COMICS ON EARTH: TOO MANY VILLAINS! is the second story in a four-book spin-off series features original content in Max Brallier’s signature witty storytelling style along with Emmy-Award-winning writer, Joshua Pruett. Full-color illustrations by Jay Cooper and Douglas Holgate share bright and engaging scenes that’ll bring readers into the middle of the action. Leaping into new territory, younger and newer fans, as well as existing fans can enjoy new adventures within the apocalyptic world of THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH.

THE LAST KIDS ON EARTH novels continue to bring monsters into the lexicon with over 10 million copies in print worldwide, toys, video games, an Emmy-award-winning animated Netflix series, and a graphic novel spin-off series in THE LAST COMICS ON EARTH.

Max Brallier is a #1 New York Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal bestselling author. His books and series include The Last Kids on Earth, Eerie Elementary, Mister Shivers, Galactic Hot Dogs, and Can YOU Survive the Zombie Apocalypse? He is a writer and producer for Netflix’s Emmy Award-winning adaptation of The Last Kids on Earth. Visit him at MaxBrallier.com.

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THE LAST COMICS ON EARTH: TOO MANY VILLAINS! [affiliate link]

254: Three-Inch Teeth by C. J. Box

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Steve welcomes C. J. Box, author of the new book Three-Inch Teeth, the newest entry in his Joe Pickett series, back to the show. They chat about how Box keeps the series fresh after 24 novels, the world of Joe Pickett, the research Box has done on grizzly bears and falconers, and the return of one of Joe Pickett’s deadliest adversaries.

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Wyoming game warden Joe Pickett faces two different kinds of rampaging beasts—one animal, one human—in this riveting new novel from #1 New York Times bestseller C.J. Box.

A rogue grizzly bear has gone on a rampage—killing, among others, the potential fiancé of Joe’s daughter. At the same time, Dallas Cates, who Joe helped lock up years ago, is released from prison with a special list tattooed on his skin. He wants revenge on the people who sent him away: the six people he blames for the deaths of his entire family and the loss of his reputation and property.

Using the grizzly attacks as cover, Cates sets out to methodically check off his list. The problem is, both Nate Romanowski and Joe Pickett are on it.

C. J. Box is the author of twenty-four Joe Pickett novels, eight stand-alone novels, and a story collection. He has won the Edgar, Anthony, Macavity, Gumshoe, and two Barry awards, as well as the French Prix Calibre .38, the Western Heritage Award for Literature, and two Spur Awards. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He has been executive producer on shows based on his books, including ABC TV’s Big Sky and Joe Pickett on Paramount+.

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Three-Inch Teeth (affiliate link)
C. J. Box

249: All You Have to Do Is Call by Kerri Maher

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Steve chats with Kerri Maher, author of All You Have to Do Is Call, about her personal experiences with libraries, how she researched the Jane Collective, why she decided to feature original characters rather than real, historical people, and how her stories reveal themselves in the writing.

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Kerri Maher is the USA Today bestselling author of The Paris Bookseller, The Girl in White Gloves, The Kennedy Debutante, and, under the name Kerri Majors, This Is Not a Writing Manual: Notes for the Young Writer in the Real World. She holds an MFA from Columbia University and lives with her daughter and dog in a leafy suburb west of Boston, Massachusetts.

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All You Have To Do Is Call
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247: Nocturne by Alyssa Wees

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Steve chats with Alyssa Wees, author of Nocturne and The Waking Forest, about her youth services work in libraries, writing Beanie Babies fan fiction, her love of ballet, the appeal of fairy tales and the dark fantasy genre, and why she probably won’t ever write your next beach read.

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Alyssa Wees is the acclaimed author of The Waking Forest and Nocturne. She grew up writing stories about her Beanie Babies in between ballet lessons. She earned a BA in English from Creighton University and an MFA in fiction writing from Columbia College Chicago. Currently she works as an assistant librarian in youth services at an awesome public library. She lives in the Chicagoland area with her husband and their two cats.

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Nocturne

244: The First Ladies by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

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Steve chats with Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray, authors of The First Ladies, about their thoughts on libraries as professional writers, why readers are fascinated by Marie’s and Victoria’s friendship and writing partnership, how the friendship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Mary McLeod Bethune developed, and what Marie and Victoria have learned from each other as friends and authors.

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photo credit: Phil Atkins

Marie Benedict is a lawyer with more than ten years’ experience as a litigator. A graduate of Boston College and the Boston University School of Law, she is the New York Times and USAToday bestselling author of The Only Woman in the Room, The Mystery of Mrs. Christie, Carnegie’s Maid, The Other Einstein, and Lady Clementine. All have been translated into multiple languages. She lives in Pittsburgh with her family.

Victoria Christopher Murray is an acclaimed author with more than one million books in print. She has written more than twenty novels, including Stand Your Ground, a NAACP Image Award Winner for Outstanding Fiction and a Library Journal Best Book of the Year. She holds an MBA from the NYU Stern School of Business.

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The First Ladies
Marie Benedict
Victoria Christopher Murray
CI204: The Personal Library by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray

238: Storm Watch by C. J. Box

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Steve chats with C. J. Box, author of Storm Watch, the 23rd book in his bestselling Joe Pickett series, about his early experiences with libraries, how he gets started with a new book, how his characters have changed over the years, and what it’s like to see his creations adapted for the screen.

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C. J. Box is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of 30 novels including the Joe Pickett series. He won the Edgar Alan Poe Award for Best Novel (Blue Heaven, 2009) as well as the Anthony Award, Prix Calibre 38 (France), the Maltese Falcon Award (Japan), the Macavity Award, the Gumshoe Award, two Barry Awards, and the 2010 Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association Award for fiction.  He was recently awarded the 2016 Western Heritage Award for Literature by the National Cowboy Museum as well as the Spur Award for Best Contemporary Novel by the Western Writers of America in 2017.  Over ten million copies of his books have been sold in the U.S. and abroad and they’ve been translated into 27 languages.  Two television series based on his novels are in production (BIG SKY on ABC and JOE PICKETT on Spectrum Originals and Paramount+). He is an Executive Producer for both series.

Box is a Wyoming native and has worked as a ranch hand, surveyor, fishing guide, a small town newspaper reporter and editor, and he owned an international tourism marketing firm with his wife Laurie. In 2008, Box was awarded the “BIG WYO” Award from the state tourism industry. An avid outdoorsman, Box has hunted, fished, hiked, ridden, and skied throughout Wyoming and the Mountain West. He served on the Board of Directors for the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo and currently serves on the Wyoming Office of Tourism Board. They have three daughters and two grandchildren. He and his wife Laurie live on their ranch in Wyoming.

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Storm Watch

236: Promoting African American Writers by Grace M. Jackson-Brown

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Steve chats with Grace M. Jackson-Brown, author of Promoting African American Writers, about her path to librarianship, her involvement with the African American Read-In program, why libraries should include programs promoting African American writers, teaching critical thinking skills through reading, and how writing the book was beneficial for her.

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Grace M. Jackson-Brown is a professor for research and instruction at Missouri State University Libraries in Springfield, Missouri. She is chairperson of the Springfield African American Read-In and recipient of the 2014 Zora Neale Hurston Award for promoting African American literature and the Educational Partnership Award of the NAACP Springfield Chapter. Her career spans more than twenty-five years as an academic librarian, much of it devoted to library outreach diversity programming. She holds a master’s degree in library and information management from Emporia State University, Emporia, Kansas, and a PhD in mass communication from Indiana University–Bloomington.

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Promoting African American Writers: Library Partnerships for Outreach, Programming, and Literacy

235: Romance Novels, with Falon Ballard and Robin Bradford

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Steve first chats with Falon Ballard, author of Not My Type and Lease on Love, about her experience with libraries, her writing process, her two novels and her podcast, and which Marvel romance she would love to write. Then, Steve gets the rundown on the romance genre with Robin Bradford, author of the Readers’ Advisory Guide to Romance!

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Falon Ballard is the author of Just My Type and Lease on Love. When she’s not writing fictional love stories, she’s helping real-life couples celebrate, working as a wedding planner in Southern California.

Robin Bradford has earned a BA and MA in English, an MS in Library Science, and a JD, but has found a home in building reader-focused, popular collections in public libraries. She was recognized as RWA’s 2016 Librarian of the Year, and Emerald City Library Conference’s Librarian of the Year in 2022. She is addicted to books and dedicated to helping others discover a love of reading. She has worked with authors to help get their titles into these collections, and wrote the forthcoming ALA’s Guide to Romance Fiction to further help libraries with their romance collection. She also worked with libraries to push for equal treatment of genre fiction, and worked with readers so that they can find their favorite authors on their library’s shelves.

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Just My Type
The Readers’ Advisory Guide to Romance

229: The Librarian Spy by Madeline Martin

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Steve chats with Madeline Martin, author of The Librarian Spy, about her childhood experiences with libraries, her love of history and historical fiction, how she does her research, and the wonder of visiting the Library of Congress!

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Madeline Martin is a New York Times and International Bestselling author of historical fiction and historical romance.

She lives in sunny Florida with her two daughters (known collectively as the minions), one incredibly spoiled cat and a man so wonderful he’s been dubbed Mr. Awesome. She is a die-hard history lover who will happily lose herself in research any day. When she’s not writing, researching or ‘moming’, you can find her spending time with her family at Disney or sneaking a couple spoonfuls of Nutella while laughing over cat videos. She also loves to travel, attributing her fascination with history to having spent most of her childhood as an Army brat in Germany.

SPONSOR:

Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing.
Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including reader’s advisory, cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards

To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of libraries’ top titles and other stories of interest to the library community. Again, that’s Syndetics.com, to learn more about today’s sponsor, Syndetics Unbound.

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The Librarian Spy

225: The War Librarian by Addison Armstrong

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Steve chats with Addison Armstrong, author of The War Librarian and The Light of Luna Park, about her experiences with libraries, what she likes about writing historical fiction and dual timelines, finding story ideas in her historical research, and how her love of school supplies and ants fueled her writing life as a young girl!

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Addison Armstrong graduated from Vanderbilt University in 2020 with degrees in elementary education and language and literacy studies and received her master’s degree from Vanderbilt in Reading Education in 2021. The Light of Luna Park was her first novel. She lives with her husband in New York, New York, where she teaches elementary school.

SPONSOR:

Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing.
Today’s show is brought to you by Syndetics Unbound, from ProQuest and LibraryThing. Syndetics Unbound helps public and academic libraries enrich their catalogs and discovery systems with high-interest elements, including reader’s advisory, cover images, summaries, author profiles, similar books, reviews, and more. Syndetics Unbound encourages serendipitous discovery and higher collection usage, and was awarded Platinum distinction in the LibraryWorks 2021 Modern Library Awards. To learn more about Syndetics Unbound, visit Syndetics.com. While there, be sure to visit the Syndetics Unbound Blog for news and analysis, including a break-down of libraries’ top titles and other stories of interest to the library community.

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Addison Armstrong
The War Librarian