Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet! Bill McCormick is an award-winning and critically acclaimed author of several novels, graphic novels, and comic book series, and has appeared in numerous anthologies. He began writing professionally in 1986 for the Chicago Rocker Magazine in conjunction with his radio show on Z-95 (ABC-FM) and went on to write for several other magazines and blogs. He wrote a twisted news & science blog at WorldNewsCenter.org. It provided source mate...
Jun 19, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 74
Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet! Clay Gilbert has always believed in the power of the imagination to dissolve differences and forge connections between people. Since 2013, he has published thirteen novels, from science-fiction and horror to YA dystopia and urban fantasy. His works include the science-fiction series Children of Evohe, which began in 2013 with Annah and the Children of Evohe, as well as the horror novel Dark Road to Paradise and the dark fantasy novel Pea...
May 27, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 73
Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet! Michael Modzelewski (Mojo-less-key) grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, the son of a famous NFL football player with the Cleveland Browns, Ed “Big Mo” Modzelewski. Michael graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English Literature. He is the author of five books, including INSIDE PASSAGE, about a two year stay on a wilderness island in the Inside Passage to Alaska. After living “date-less” on the wild island, Michael was chosen a “Bac...
Apr 30, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 72
Bestselling author Beth Duke's Anywhen is the ultimate outsider story—a young woman yearning to belong across time itself. With universal themes of love, jealousy, sacrifice, friendship, joy, loss, and forgiveness, this genre-defying novel is a story like no other...one that will stay with you long after the final page. Beth read from her latest book, Anywhen, that combines sci-fi, time travel, and historical fiction. We talked about Woodstock, the central event of Anywhen, about southern fictio...
Mar 31, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 71
A lifelong Sherlockian, Richard T. Ryan is the author of nine Sherlock Holmes novels and currently working on his tenth. He’s also written a well-received murder mystery “Deadly Relations which has been produced twice off-Broadway. He pursued graduate studies at Notre Dame where he majored in medieval literature. Our talk ranged from Knights Templar finding Minnesota in the 1300s to the reasons Arthur Conan Doyle killed Sherlock Holmes to the inefficient bombers of the 1880s and the Scarlet Pimp...
Feb 27, 2025•58 min•Ep. 70
Books and Brews: the place where beer and literature meet! Michael Colon is a novelist and freelance writer, born and raised in New York City. His author's story is about hard work, perseverance, and believing in the power of imagination. His inspiration comes from various societal abnormalities, the beauty in cultural differences, and his own life experiences. His debut novel, The Gift from Aelius, is about an artificial intelligence’s growing awareness of purpose and life. There is not a scien...
Jan 25, 2025•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 69
John Graham shipped out on a freighter when he was 16, hitchhiked through the Algerian Revolution at 19 and was on the team that made the first ascent of Denali’s North Wall at 20, a climb so dangerous it’s never been repeated. He hitchhiked around the world at 22, working as a correspondent in every war he came across. A US Foreign Service Officer for 15 years, he was in the middle of the 1969 revolution in Libya and the war in Vietnam. As a global peace builder, post Foreign Service, he contri...
Dec 29, 2024•57 min•Ep. 68
J.P. Reedman lives in Wiltshire near to Stonehenge. Born in Canada, she has had a lifelong interest in ancient and medieval history, and is often found lurking around prehistoric sites, ruined castles and abbeys, and interesting churches with camera in hand. She became a full-time writer in 2018. Series include: I, Richard Plantagenet, 5 books chronicling Richard’s life from childhood to Bosworth, and Medieval Babes, a set of standalone novels about lesser-known medieval queens and noblewomen. H...
Nov 26, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 67
Michael C. Keith is the author of an acclaimed memoir–– The Next Better Place – a young adult novel–– Life is Falling Sideways–– and 20 story collections, including, Of Night and Light, Everything is Epic, Sad Boy, And Through the Trembling Air, Hoag’s Object, The Collector of Tears, If Things Were Made To Last Forever, Caricatures , The Near Enough , Bits, Specks, Crumbs, Flecks , Slow Transit, Perspective Drifts Like a Log on a River, Let Us Now Speak of Extinction, Stories in the Key of Me, I...
Oct 22, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Steve Downes is a contemporary Irish poet and novelist, currently living and working in Ireland. Educated in N.U.I. Maynooth, he holds a Degree in Classical History and a Masters in Cultural Anthropology. Steve has published poetry; science fiction, including Cosmogonic Marbles, Temporal Tome, Gadzooks Armageddon and Botolf Tales (the Botolf Chronicles), Warworld: Shadows & Dominions (part 1), Murder on the Alpha Centauri Express and The Deaths of Guner Zoon; and four children’s Books: The U...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 65
Kathy Murray is a certified personal trainer with over thirty years’ experience in the fitness industry. She is a graduate of The Ohio State University where she was a member of the 1983 National Cheerleading Championship Team. After college she competed in and won the United States Aerobic Championship in 1986 and spent the year traveling the world as a Fitness Ambassador and worked as a free-lance educator to teach fitness to European Instructors. While in Munich, she coached the Munich Cowboy...
Aug 20, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 64
Like any good soldier’s son, Frank Warner moved with his family from fort to fort, accepted each change, and was ready to move again. Then, in 1960, Frank’s father was ordered to Fort Huachuca (WahCHOOka), Arizona. This was the fifth Army post of Frank’s childhood, the first place he never wanted to leave. So when his father was ordered to Vietnam in 1963, sending Frank and the rest of the family to Pennsylvania, the uprooting wasn’t easy. Frank’s book, “Tumbleeweed Forts: Adventures of an Army ...
Jul 01, 2024•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 63
Sharon Bennett Connolly is the best-selling British author of several non-fiction history books. A Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, Sharon has studied history academically and just for fun – and has even worked as a tour guide at a castle. She also writes the popular history blog, www.historytheinteresngbits.com and co-hosts the podcast A Slice of Medieval, alongside historical novelist Derek Birks. Sharon regularly gives talks on women's history, for historical groups, fesvals and in sc...
Jun 13, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 62
Robert Heath grew up in different places around the world, beginning in Japan in the late ‘40s. Robert and his eight siblings followed the assignments of their father, a sergeant in the U.S. Army. He ultimately became an educator for 37 years, serving all grade levels from Pre-K through doctoral programs in South and North Carolina. He now lives in the mountains of NC, where he loves writing and hiking. You can find him at face book at BratBob3of9 We talk about Bob's adventures growing up in Tai...
May 04, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 61
J.S. Absher is a poet, memoirist, and independent scholar. As a teetotaler—he is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints—he can’t add much insight into brews, but he can hold his own when it comes to books. Stan’s first full-length book of poetry, Mouth Work (St. Andrews University Press) won the 2015 Lena Shull Award from the North Carolina Poetry Society. Stan’s second full-length book of poetry, Skating Rough Ground , was published in 2022 by Kelsay Press. Poems have recen...
Apr 09, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 60
Theresa Halvorsen has a “don’t tell me I can’t do that,” attitude about life and is an author, publisher, editor, and YouTuber. She’s overly-caffeinated and at times, wine-soaked. The author of multiple cross-genre works, including Warehouse Dreams, Lost Aboard and River City Widows, Theresa wonders what sleep is. She’s the owner of No Bad Books Press and one of the hosts of the popular YouTube channel, the Semi-Sages of the Pages. In whatever free time is left, (ha!) Theresa enjoys board games...
Mar 10, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 59
Peter is the Author of 30 books, fiction and non-fiction and published on 4 continents. He is a resident expert and regular of Top 50 USA radio and TV markets including Fox, CBS, ABC, ESPN, Coast to Coast, iHeart and over 100 major radio and TV networks. Peter is a multi-award-winning, director, cinematographer, actor and producer on 7 continents Peter has written more than 800 articles (self-help and fiction) appearing in major news media world- wide He has been a university professor for 28 ye...
Feb 06, 2024•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 58
Stephanie Sanders-Jacob is an author and artist from Sandusky, Ohio. Her alien abduction novel, Singing All the Way Up, debuted with No Bad Books Press in July 2023. Her short fiction has been featured by Books of Horror, Hearth & Coffin, Mixer, Mosaic, and Ether Arts. You can find her online at www.sandersjacob.com and her artwork at www.rabbitandrain.com Stephanie's Readings: Things were better before I killed my dad – 8:28 Airship, 1897 – 28:51 Running from the fighting – 44:50 Chris's Co...
Jan 06, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 57
M. B. (Michael) Zucker has been interested in storytelling for as long as he can remember. He devoted himself to historical fiction at fifteen and earned his B.A. at Occidental College and his J.D. at Case Western Reserve University School of Law. He lives in Virginia with his family. He is the author of four novels: The Eisenhower Chronicles, A Great Soldier in the Last Great War, Theodore Roosevelt and the Hunt for the Liopleurodon, and The Middle Generation: A Novel of John Quincy Adams and t...
Dec 04, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 56
MJ Williams is the pen-name for the writing duo, Peggy Joque Williams and Mary Joy Johnson. Peggy is a freelance writer and book editor. A retired elementary school teacher, Peggy has taught creative writing classes and workshops for Madison College and the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Department of Continuing Studies. She is a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, Sisters in Crime, and the Wisconsin Writers Association. She will be debuting her first solo historical novel, Cou...
Nov 07, 2023•1 hr•Ep. 55
RALPH JARRELLS became an author after retirement from more than four decades in marketing, advertising, and publishing, much of it in senior executive positions. He writes mostly historical fiction with religious themes. His first book was published August 4, 2017 when he was 75—a great example that you’re never too old to start a new chapter in your life. His firth book, The Essential Last Supper debuted this month. Ralph's Readings: · Three Kings – 11:55 · A Lady and a Pirate – 41:05 · Fightin...
Oct 14, 2023•1 hr 2 min
DAN COONAN has worn many hats through the years – Conference Commissioner, Athletic Director, CEO, Attorney, Novelist, Senior Congressional Campaign Advisor, Fundraiser, Nonprofit Chairman of the Board, College Adjunct Professor, Political Essayist, Youth Sports Coach, Bartender, Batting Practice Pitcher, Wedding Officiant, Dock Talk Facilitator, devoted husband and father. His books are Presidential Spirits: Part history lesson, part magical realism these well-researched books imagine conversat...
Sep 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 53
KAREN ESSEX is an award winning, bestselling author of six books including Leonardo’s Swans & Stealing Athena. She has recently co-written a pilot based on her two-volume novel, Kleopatra, for Netflix, which Lauren Hissrich, creator of The Witcher franchise, will executive produce. She adapted Anne Rice’s The Mummy for James Cameron and Fox Studios and collaborated on adapting her novel Dracula in Love as a series for A&E Studios & Lifetime. She just completed a historical novel abou...
Aug 19, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Military brat, voracious reader, and now writing books in her favorite genre, Patty Perrin who writes as PTL Perrin grew up in Europe and speaks several languages. A misfit by any account, Patty shares her love for people, Native cultures, our amazing world, alien encounters, astounding mysteries, and the Creator of it all in her writing. Author of Reflections of a Misfit, an inspirational collection of faith journey snippets, and the four-book TetraPhere series, Patty is working on another YA S...
Jul 07, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 51
This month at Books & Brews, with Michael on sabbatical, Laura and Dr. Chris Powell visit Hoops Brewery in Duluth, MN. We talked with Bjorn Erickson, one of the brewers about brewing...and books. Bjorn had a great story about how he got from earning a degree in German to brewing beer. We talked about the blending of science and artistry, the hard parts of being a brewer, and the reasons Bjorn loves his job, and the numerous books and genres Bjorn reads. If you're in Duluth, we highly recomme...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 50
I grew up in Scotland, graduating from Edinburgh University with a degree in genetics. Back then, genetics was all about statistics and probability. So, I became a statistician until I took up the more chancy career of writing children’s books. Exploring the Insect World was published nearly 50 years ago. I then switched to time-slip fantasies and historical fiction. I’ve written nature-activity books, biographies, and more books about insects, which I now look on as my true calling. I married a...
May 08, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 49
Born and raised in west Michigan, Sharlene MacLaren attended Spring Arbor University. Upon graduating with an education degree, she taught second grade for two years then accepted an invitation to travel internationally for a year with a singing ensemble. In1975, she returned to teaching and married her childhood sweetheart. They’ve raised two lovely daughters, both of whom are now happily married and enjoying their own families. Retired since 2003 after 31 years of teaching, “Shar” loves to rea...
Apr 10, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 48
Elizabeth Tucker is a Distinguished Service Professor of English at Binghamton University who specializes in children’s and adolescents’ folklore, folklore of the supernatural, and legends. Her books include Campus Legends: A Handbook, Haunted Halls: Ghostlore of American College Campuses, Children’s Folklore: A Handbook; Haunted Southern Tier; and New York State Folklife Reader: Diverse Voices, co-edited with Ellen McHale (2013). She is co-author of Legend Trips: A Contemporary Legend Handbook ...
Mar 13, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 47
Eva Glyn writes emotional women’s fiction inspired by beautiful places and the stories they hide. She loves to travel and her last trip before the covid lockdowns was to Croatia, where she met a man with an incredible story of growing up during the country’s Homeland War in in 1990s. It inspired The Olive Grove , set on the island of Korcula. Two more Croatian novels have followed, both taking their inspiration from the Second World War. An Island of Secrets was published in 2022 and The Collabo...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 46
Jen Gilroy writes women’s fiction for Orion Dash and sweet western romance for Harlequin Heartwarming—uplifting stories about women finding home, family and new beginnings–and finding themselves too. She’s a Romance Writers of America® Golden Heart® finalist and was shortlisted for the Romantic Novelists’ Association Joan Hessayon award. A dual British-Canadian citizen, Jen lived in England for many years and earned a doctorate in geography, focusing on British cultural studies and social histor...
Jan 03, 2023•59 min•Ep. 45
