Could you pick the 5 books that have shaped you most? Every week actress and avid reader Sonya Walger invites a guest to explore their five most formative books and how they affected their lives.
Podcast Categories: Literature
Mom Writes Podcast
Two writer moms and a book coach meet each week for coffee and chat about writing and parenting. Follow along as veteran book coach Jennie Nash of Author Accelerator helps writer-moms Abby Mathews and Melanie Parish write a book from start to finish, along the way sharing the dirty laundry behind writing with kids.
Kissyman and The Gentleman by Scott Sigler – Scott Sigler
New York City, 1946. No one knows his real name, but when the job is too dirty, too dangerous, you call Kissyman. Once he was an elite Nazi SS commando, an honorable soldier, a taker of lives. When he was assigned to Dachau and saw what he was actual fighting for, he went AWOL and ran as far away as he could — to America.
He still makes his living with a gun, but he no longer kills for his country. Now, he kills for cash.
A dashing, high-profile bodyguard known as “The Gentleman” is hired to protect Beth Copenhaver, an up-and-coming Hollywood starlet. When a man named Mathis Wren surfaces from Beth’s past and threatens her life, The Gentleman hires Kissyman to make Mathis see the error of his ways.
It should be a simple job, but there is far more to the connection between Wren and Beth than the bombshell lets on. She’s starring in a new movie with John Wayne called Western Dawn. As the premier approaches, Kissyman has to get to Wren before Wren can get to Beth.
KISSYMAN AND THE GENTLEMAN is two-fisted, nonstop noir action that draws you deep into the murderous world of this most unlikely hero.
The Reporter – Scott Sigler – Scott Sigler
Yolanda Davenport, star reporter for Galaxy Sports Magazine, is searching for the truth about Ju Tweedy’s involvement with the murder of Grace McDermot. Ju, a former star running back for the OS1 Orbiting Death, had to flee Orbital System One following the murder accusation. That incident let him to join Ionath Krakens, but Ju still claims innocence. Are the Krakens knowingly employing a murderer, or was Ju framed for this horrible crime?
This novella is part of the Galactic Football League series, which is described as THE BLIND SIDE meets THE GODFATHER meets STAR WARS.
GFL TIMELINE:
The story takes place between Week Three and Week Six of the 2684 GFL season, the season that encompasses THE ALL-PRO (GFL Book III).
Title Fight by Scott Sigler – Scott Sigler
Undefeated galactic heavyweight champion Korak the Cutter has defeated all challengers, destroying everyone in his path, but the wins aren’t as easy as they used to be. After a decade of perfect fighting, his age is catching up with him. For a Quyth Warrior, that means he’s slowing down, and speed is the name of the game in mixed martial arts.
At this late stage in his career, he faces a nightmare savage and unpredictable Chiyal “The Heretic” North. As crime lords and promoters try to fix the fight, and as managers cling to dreams of lost glory, Korak and Chiyal must find their way into the octagon to decide once and for all who is the greatest of all time.
Co-written with Parsec Award-winning author Matt Wallace, TITLE FIGHT delivers a scifi/mma one-two knockout.
This novella is part of the Galactic Football League series, which is described as THE BLIND SIDE meets THE GODFATHER meets STAR WARS.
Hey YA
From great new books to favorite classic reads, from news to the latest in on-screen adaptations, Hey YA is here to elevate the exciting world of young adult lit.
Approaching Shakespeare
Each lecture in this series focuses on a single play by Shakespeare, and employs a range of different approaches to try to understand a central critical question about it. Rather than providing overarching readings or interpretations, the series aims to show the variety of different ways we might understand Shakespeare, the kinds of evidence that might be used to strengthen our critical analysis, and, above all, the enjoyable and unavoidable fact that Shakespeare’s plays tend to generate our questions rather than answer them.
The MVP by Scott Sigler – Scott Sigler
“In the Galactic Football League, wars are no longer fought in space, but on the gridiron. If you like aliens and football then I suspect you’re unlikely to find a better combination than than THE GFL.” — Phil Plait, Discover Magazine
THE MVP is the fourth book in the Galactic Football League series, following on THE ROOKIE, THE STARTER and THE ALL-PRO. Set in a lethal American professional football league seven centuries in the future, THE MVP puts huge humans on the field with four alien races, creating a game that is faster, stronger and deadlier than anything we know today.
Star quarterback Quentin Barnes has spent three seasons putting together a hard-hitting, hard-fighting team that combines rookies, rejects, discarded free agents and seasoned veterans from all five species. He has fought against racism and bound his team together through shared sacrifice, blood, tragedy and victory.
But this season, Quentin faces the biggest challenge yet — the deadly threat of the mysterious Prawatt, who seized the ship carrying Quentin and his teammates. As THE MVP begins, the Ionath Krakens face certain death at the hands of this unknown race.
Alive
For fans of The Hunger Games, Divergent, and Red Rising comes a gripping sci-fi adventure in which a group of teenagers wake up in a mysterious corridor with no knowledge of who they are or how they got trapped. Their only hope lies with an indomitable young woman who must lead them not only to answers but to survival. A teenage girl awakens to find herself trapped in a coffin. She has no idea who she is, where she is, or how she got there. Fighting her way free brings little relief – she discovers only a room lined with caskets and a handful of equally mystified survivors. Beyond their room lies a corridor filled with bones and dust but no people and no answers. She knows only one thing about herself – her name, M. Savage, which was engraved on the foot of her coffin. She finds herself in charge. She is not the biggest among them or the boldest, but for some reason the others trust her. Now, if they’re to have any chance, she must get them to trust one another. Whatever the truth is, she is determined to find it and confront it. If she has to lead, she will make sure they survive. Maybe there’s a way out, a rational explanation, and a fighting chance against the dangers to come. Or maybe a reality they cannot comprehend lies just beyond the next turn.
The Crypt Book 01: The Crew
It is the best-kept and worst-kept secret in the Planetary Union navy. The PUV James Keeling, a warship that does things that no other ship can do. It is a weapon, and a liability. The rumor is that eighty percent of the people assigned to the Keeling die before their two-year stint is up. That rumor is the reason for the ship’s nickname — The Crypt, a vessel full of the dead.
Those with a promising career, those with connections, those that can can avoid service on the Keeling do just that. But still, the ship must fight, and for that, it needs a crew. The navy assigns the worst of the worst: cowards, thieves, murderers, rapists or those with nowhere else to go, no way to opt out. Your choice is simple: be executed for your crimes, or serve two years on the keeling. If you make it out alive, your record is wiped clean and you get a fresh start.
For this crew of just over 100 souls, it will be the longest two years they have ever faced. What is this ship? Where did it come from? And why, oh, why, won’t everyone stop screaming …
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