College Professor Pens Legal Thrillers

Mary Vermillion, Author of Seminal Murder

Mary Vermillion, Author of Seminal Murder

A Professor of English at Mount Mercy College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, Mary Vermillion pens legal thrillers to highlight social issues. So far, she’s written three books in her Mara Gilgannon mystery series. The fictional Mara, a radio talk show host, has gotten entangled in mysteries involving a small town resisting the opening of a new Walmart store and a rape charge involving college basketball players. Seminal Murder, the latest installment in the series, focuses on crimes taking place in an artificial insemination clinic.

Mary teaches a broad range of courses, including Shakespeare, Creative Writing, and Law and Literature. She and her students host book clubs with inmates at Anamosa State Penitentiary. Mary and a colleague recently  toured England with students.

Mary will be featured Friday, Sept. 14th at 1 PM CT on “Writers Voices.” The show will be rebroadcast Monday, Sept. 17 at 8 AM.  Listen in at kruufm.com.

Legal Thriller Explores Sexual Harassment

Kate-McGuiness

Kate McGuinness, Terminal Ambition

Friday, Sept. 7 on Writers Voices I’ll interview a very learned and accomplished guest. Kate McGuinness studied writing at the University of Southern California where one of her teachers was Janet Fitch, the author of the Oprah book club selection, “White Oleander.” Kate studied creative writing at UCLA, too. Earlier she’d earned a J.D. from the University of San Diego. For 17 years Kate practiced law at a major international law firm, where she was one of a handful of women to achieve partnership status. Later, a Fortune 500 company recruited Kate to be its General Counsel. Eventually Kate decided to leave the corporate world and devote herself to writing. Today she uses her writing career to advocate for women’s rights. Her essays on women’s issues have appeared in many publications, including Forbes Woman, The Women’s Jezebel, and The Girls Guide to Law School. In 2012, Kate’s first novel, Terminal Ambition, was published: it’s a legal thriller that explores issues of discrimination and sexual harassment. An appendix defines sexual harassment, sexual discrimination, and other pertinent terms. Kate also includes 12 steps people faced with these problems can take. Join us Friday at 1 PM CT on Writers Voices at kruufm.com!

BK Loren, Theft

BK Loren, Author of TheftB.K. Loren has been a naturalist, large predator monitor for Colorado State Parks, professional brainstormer, assistant chef, ranch hand, furniture maker, UPS driver, and college professorwhile still managing to produce prose that reviewers deem visceral, lyrical, and incandescent. Her writing has garnered Pushcart nominations, fellowships, and inclusion among Best American Spiritual Writing anthologies. BK lives with her partner, two dogs, and two cats in Colorado, where long, daily walks enrich her reflections on life. Join us for a discussion of her debut novel, Theft, categorized by writer Ann Pancake as “part environmental novel, part elegy to place, part family tragedy, part murder mystery.” A riveting combination!

Listen via livestream on Friday, Aug. 17 at 1 PM CDT or Monday, Aug. 20 at 8 AM CDT: go to kruufm.com; at the top left, find “Playing On Air Now” and click “Listen Live.”

Anne Greenwood Brown on Writers Voices!

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Minnesota author Anne Greenwood Brown’s young adult trilogy about three menacing mermaids who live in Lake Superior with their slightly more compassionate brother was snapped up by Random House. Told from the brother’s perspective, “Lies Beneath,” the first book in the trilogy, has just been released. On Writers Voices, Anne explains how music helped her write from a teen boy’s perspective, how Michael Hauge’s teachings aided her plotting, and how she wrote, produced, and directed her own book trailer to increase sales. Listen in via livesteam today at 1 PM or Monday at 8 AM at kruu. (Click “Listen Live” under “Playing Now” on the top left corner of the screen.)

Anne will read from Lies Beneath at Prairie Lights Book Store in Iowa City Saturday, June 30th at 2 PM.

Eric Johnson on Writers Voices!

Tomorrow on KRUU’s Writers VoicesEric Johnson and I will discuss how to write, format, and publish an ebook. The show airs on KRUU FM at 1 PM. Listen in at kruufm.com.

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Eric Johnson, founder of Inkslinger Industries, will discuss writing, formatting, and marketing ebooks and other topics related to new trends in publishing. Eric’s latest book, How to Make a Book with iBooks Author, was created in an ebook format.

Eric explored book arts at Brown University, where he handcrafted books using fine arts techniques taught by Walter Feldman, whose artists’ books are included in over 150 public collections. Eric also studied the interdisciplinary artistic practice of Cave Writing under author Robert Coover’s direction. (Cave Writing takes place in a CAVE simulator, a virtual reality environment typically reserved for scientific visualization.) While at Brown, Eric also served as a Writing Fellow.

Blue Fish Clothing Comes to Fairfield!

Blue Fish Founder and Friends

Jennifer Barclay & Friends - Photo by Cheryl Fusco Johnson

Tonight a new store opens on the Fairfield Square! Read my article about Blue Fish Clothing and its founder Jennifer Barclay in the Iowa Source. Jennifer started this company when she was only 17 years old! Now she has two–soon to be three–retail locations for her line of artisanal women’s clothing, which is made in the U.S.A. One short sentence from a caring, wise mentor set her on the path to success in designing women’s clothes. You’ll find it here.

Sharelle Byars Moranville on Writers Voices

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Sharelle Byars Moranville explained how writers infuse their personal passions and issues into their work while discussing her latest book, The Hop, on Writers Voices. Tune in live on kruufm.com Friday, May 25 at 1 PM CST or Monday, May 27 8 AM CST. Afterwards find Sharelle’s discussion of her creative process in the archives of kruu.

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Humorist Polly Frost on Writers Voices!

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Polly Frost photo by Erik Kragh

Polly Frost and I chatted recently by phone to record an interview on her humor writing for the radio show Writers Voices. She was a gracious, knowledgeable and entertaining guest. The show airs tomorrow, Friday, May 11 at 1 PM CST and Monday, May 14 at 8 AM CST. Listen in on KRUU!

Polly’s humorous essays have been published in The New YorkerThe Atlantic, and The New York Times. Many of her essays have  been anthologized, including in two of The New Yorker’s “best of” collections.

“With One Eye Open,” a collection of her humorous essays, was published in 2010. In reaction to this book, Elle columnist and life advisor, E. Jean Carroll, called Polly “the Edith Wharton of her generation.”

Polly also writes satirical erotic horror. Her monologues in this genre were performed at Cornelia Street Cafe in NYC from 2003 to 2007. Polly’s married to Ray Sawhill. Together they co-wrote, directed and produced another theater project that also was produced  at Cornelia Street Cafe. Ray and Polly adapted her short story, “The Last Artist in New York City,” as a play. It was selected for “Best American Short Plays 2008-2009.”

Polly will be performing in the Englert Theatre Saturday, May 19th. She’ll visit Des Moines soon, as well. Check out her schedule. I’m sure she’ll put on a great show!

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Wendy McClure on Writers Voices!

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At 1 PM tomorrow on Writers Voices on KRUU I’m interviewing Wendy McClure!

Wendy McClure is an author, editor, blogger, and humorist. Her published works include essays in The New York Times Magazine; columns for Bust magazine (a publication for women who have something to get off their chests); and the weblog Poundy, which she launched in 2000 to explore body image issues and to make fun of aerobics instructors.

She’s also written children’s picture books, such as The Princess and the Peanut Allergy; two-book length memoirs, I’m Not the New Me and The Wilder Life: My Adventures in the Lost World of Little House on the Prairie; and a recently released e-book, Don’t Trade the Baby for a Horse and Other Ways to Make Your Life a Little More Laura Ingalls Wilder. In 2006 her infamous online collection of vintage Weight Watcher recipe cards and commentary was published in book form as The Amazing Mackerel Pudding Plan.

Wendy was born in Oak Park, Illinois and lives in Chicago with her husband, Chris. She holds an MFA in Poetry from the Iowa Writers Workshop, and, as senior editor at Albert Whitman & Company, she’s edited over fifty novels and picture books for children.

Deborah Halverson – Revision Week Prizes = Free Edits!

During our radio chat last Friday, award-winning author and editor Deborah Halverson announced that March 5 -10 will be Revision Week on her writers’ advice website DearEditor.com. Eight prolific, bestselling, award-winning guest authors will provide revision tips. Daily drawings for Free Partial Edits and a grand prize Full Manuscript Edit giveaway will be featured, too. Visit DearEditor.com for details.

Now the award-winning author of teen novels, Deborah edited children’s books for 10 years. Her debut book Honk If You Hate Me was published by Delacorte Press in 2007 and promptly won the Gayle McCandless Literary Award. Deborah followed up that success by penning her second teen novel Big Mouth (also with Delacorte) the very next year while caring for triplet infant sons. Deborah’s currently working on three books in a forthcoming series for struggling readers and a forthcoming picture book about Santa Claus.

During our Writers Voices interview, we discussed her newest book, released by Wiley Publishing in 2011, Writing Young Adult Fiction for Dummies.