Books Shows Tunes & Mad Acts

Dec 23 2024 200 ep. 46 mins 52
Books Shows Tunes & Mad Acts Podcast artwork

Mostly books but also television & movies, music, and stuff people make or do. Author, creator, and fan interviews with host Jennifer Crittenden.
Podcast website: https://booksshowstunes.discreetguide.com/

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Episode 282: South of the Yangtze with Flora Qian

Dec 23 2024 51 mins  
Welcome Flora Qian with her first novel "South of the Yangtze," a coming-of-age story of a thoughtful and curious Chinese girl, born and raised in Shanghai during the one-child years.* Flora discusses the origins of the novel which maps some of her own experiences as a young woman educated in China who then moved to Hong Kong. The intriguing novel, written in English, explores the

Episode 281: Melinda Blau and Her Wisdom Whisperers

Dec 16 2024 58 mins  
Relationship expert Melinda Blau is back with her new book, "The Wisdom Whisperers: Golden Guides to a Long Life of Grit, Grace, and Laughter." Melinda began collecting her "old ladies," as she calls them, in mid-life and shares here the tremendous wisdom and benefit she has received over the past twenty years or so from these relationships with women much older than she is. Not so

Episode 280: Oilfield Mysteries with Malvina Lerma

Dec 01 2024 53 mins  
Join petroleum engineer Malvina Lerma as she talks about her cozy mystery series, Oilfield Mysteries, and her amateur sleuth, Charlie, a woman working in a man's world. Malvina and Jennifer talk about the oil industry, Bakersfield, the BP catastrophe, well drilling, as well as a bunch of writing-related topics: how to convey technical expertise in a novel, what makes a cozy, Malvin

Episode 279: Talking Music with The Tattletale Saints

Nov 17 2024 59 mins  
The two parts of the Americana duo Tattletale Saints, Simon Stanley and Vanessa McGowen, join us today to talk about tons of music stuff: their formation and evolution, Simon's foray into kids music, Vanessa's bass playing, their move to Nashville, what makes a good cover, and why music from New Zealand might be especially innovative. Simon also talks about songwriting, and Vanessa

Episode 278: Two Novels with Christina Hoag

Nov 04 2024 51 mins  
Join us to talk about "Law of the Jungle" and "Skin of Tattoos," two of Christina's novels, both replete with interesting characters and quite absorbing . One is about a biochemist deep in the Amazonian jungle who falls in love with the perfect guy only to discover—well, you can imagine. What you might not imagine is what she does next. Drawn from Christina's experience working w

Episode 277: Sarah Langan and her Novel "A Better World"

Aug 26 2024 52 mins  
Sarah Langan, author of "A Better World" and "Good Neighbors," talks about her new dystopian novel and its frightening similarities to our current real life. In Sarah's novel, our hero, Linda, doctor and mom, is initially thrilled to be accepted into Plymouth Valley, a safe refuge for her family from an outside crazy world, but too soon she discovers that there are disturbing dark

Episode 276: Campus Protests and Free Speech

Jun 24 2024 62 mins  
Joining us to talk about the recent campus protests and their ramifications for free speech is Kristen Shahverdian of PEN America. Kristen discusses the various balls that campuses must keep in the air, considering the participants' right to free speech, safety on campus, and viewpoint-neutral policy decisions. She discusses the advice that PEN America offers to campus administrato

Episode 275: Sam Hinton, Folk Singer, Scientist, and Amazing Person

May 27 2024 55 mins  
The Sam Hinton Folk Heritage Festival at Old Poway Park in San Diego will be held June 1! We're delighted in this episode to share Sam's history through the eyes of his granddaughter Katrina Hinton-Cooper. In this wide-ranging conversation, we discuss Sam's music, his tremendous work for the Aquarium Museum of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, and his outlook on the world, as

Episode 274: How To Write Better About Drugs

May 20 2024 68 mins  
Join us as pharmacist Miffie Seideman talks about her new book from Indiana University Press, "The Grim Reader: A Pharmacist's Guide to Putting Your Characters in Peril," a great resource for fiction writers who would like to bring a bit more accuracy to their drug-related scenes. Jennifer and Miffie talk about the most egregious errors that show up in books and movies (provoking e

Episode 273: An Appraisal of "Splinters"

May 13 2024 60 mins  
Okay, so the new memoir "Splinters" wasn't our favorite book ever, and sometimes it downright irritated us, but our investigation into what worked (and what didn't!) makes for a fascinating conversation about the nature of memoir and new trends in the genre, from "woe is me" themes to shameless self-exposure which apparently appeals to voyeuristic readers. John Julius Reel and Jenn