Steve Berry is a former attorney, an internationally renowned thriller writer, and founder of History Matters. He has over 20 million books in print in over 50 countries and 40 different languages. As part of his tour for his latest, The Kaiser’s Web, he will appear virtually with the Thurber House on February 26.
I’ve been wanting to send my recurring character Cotton Malone into an adventure that deals with World War Two for a long time. That subject fascinates me. And I just couldn’t come across anything that was fresh or new or different. And I stumbled onto something a couple of years ago, while I was researching another novel, and it it just became the Kaiser’s Web.
If you’re looking for a break from the various crises filling our lives right now, you might find some solace in reading up on a volatile moment in the United States’ past. This week we talk to Columbus author Karin Cecile Davidson on her first novel, Sybelia Drive, which released on October 6th from Braddock Avenue Books. Sybelia Drive is interwoven with the perspectives of characters living in the Gulf Coast through the tumultuous ‘60s and ‘70s as they attempt to grapple with the Vietnam War and its impact on their communities.
Sybelia Drive is interwoven with the perspectives of characters living in the Gulf Coast through the tumultuous ‘60s and ‘70s as they attempt to grapple with the Vietnam War and its impact on their communities.
Davidson holds an MFA from Lesley University, is the interviews co-editor at the Newfound Journal, and is the recipient of several awards for her writing, including an Ohio Arts Council Residency and an Ohio Arts Council Individual Excellence Award. Karin’s favorite things to write are short stories (many of which have been published in Five Points, the Massachusetts Review, and elsewhere), and she explained that her Sybelia Drive “started out as a story” until her graduate adviser helped her realize she wasn’t “writing linked stories—[she was] actually writing a novel.” Listen in to learn all about the Vietnam War, how Karin crafts a vivid image of a Gulf Coast lake town, and what it’s like to write a novel.
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The incredible impact of COVID-19 has been felt by everyone but few have been hit as hard as restaurants, live performance venues, and other public gathering place. In a series I’m calling “How Are You Doing?,” I’ll be talking with central Ohio businesses to find out how they’re weathering the storm.
My first guest is Charlie Jackson, part owner of Natalie’s Coal Fired Pizza in Worthington and Grandview. We discuss the impact of the shutdown and the innovations this local business has put in place. Listen in to hear a success story that’s music to our ears.
Charlie Jackson with Natalie’s Coal-Fired Pizza
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Carrie Newcomer has been touring and writing albums throughout her long career. But, like it did for all of us, COVID-19 disrupted her life completely: “I’ve toured a lot over the last years, and within a month and a half, I’d been home longer in a stretch than I had been in 30 years,” Newcomer says.
But that didn’t stop her from taking a journey, this time into the complexities of livestreamed performances. “I just started learning, and started learning about video production … how to do live production.”
Her learning will be put to great use on January 30 when she will livestream with Columbus’ Six String Concerts. As she explained, the move to livestreaming came from her sense of wanting to connect with her listeners:
How do I continue to put this music into the world, give the spirit that I most want to give in the world? [I knew] that it would be different: online performance is another animal. And I think sometimes people will just put up a camera, and it's like the same, but it's really not. I've done performances of my songs and created concerts and community events for years, and I would say recording, like recording albums, that's an animal. That's like apples. Live performance in person, that would be oranges: apples and oranges. But there's things that translate across, right, but they are different animals. And online performance is yet another animal, and it shares certain kinds of skills and abilities and, you know, spirit. But it's a different animal.
Check her different animal out on January 30 and report back with your comments on her performance. It’s sure to be well worth your time.
If you’ve watched Bruce Campbell in movies like the Evil Dead series or Bubba Ho-Tep or TV shows like The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.; Jack of All Trades; Hercules: The Legendary Journeys; Xena: Warrior Princess; Burn Notice; or Ash vs. Evil Dead (whew!), then you know fun. He’s bringing his trademark charisma and humor to Columbus (sort of) with a worldwide watch party of the Evil Dead on January 23. Groovy! Listen in for more about his career and what you’ll hear at the watch party.
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Joel Silverman, celebrity animal trainer and host of Animal Planet’s “Good Dog U,” joins Craft to describe some of the best training techniques that you may want to use on that new puppy you got over the holidays or during the COVID-19 shutdown. Grab some treats and find out who’s a good dog? Who is? Yes, you are!
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What could be scarier than 2020? This was the problem that faced the crack writing and performing troupe here at the Craft Media Tower and Deli. We got straight to work to solve it and came up with the audio stories on this podcast. It’s guaranteed to drag you screaming into an abyss of terror and madness that wraps tighter around you with each second, crushing out your life force and any hope of salvation.
Oh, sorry. That last sentence was meant for an essay about this year’s politics.
Credits:
Desert Bloom was written by Brendan McIntyre, Doug Dangler and Cody McNulty Voice actors in order of appearance:
Brendan McIntyre as The Old Man
Ethan Dale as The COVID kid
Lincoln Dangler as Dog #1
The Chamber was written by Doug Dangler, with input from Brendan McIntyre and Cody McNulty Voice actors in order of appearance
Jason Dale as Jeremy
Eva Dale as Dr. Baxter
Elizabeth Falter as Female Guest
Elizabeth Falter as Ghost Chorus
Terry Bradley as Mother
Elizabeth Falter as Amy Stelling*
Four Horsemen was written by Doug Dangler, Brendan McIntyre and Cody McNulty Voice actors in order of appearance:
Brendan McIntyre as COVID
Cody McNulty (as always) as Pestilence
A PERSONAL NOTE: A big shout out to my therapist, Dr Jorton Smithee, for assuring me that horror fiction author is NOT an entry in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Also, good luck on your stay at the Palmetto Springs Sanitarium, Doc. Thanks for saying that it was unrelated to our sessions.
Ohioana 2020 author Jodi Andes has worked at the Columbus Dispatch and was a senior investigator at The Ohio Attorney General’s office, where she conducted an inquiry into the con artist Bobby Thompson, the subject of her book, Master of Deceit. Listen in to hear why this conman was able to get access to the top American politicians of the time, like George W. Bush, Rudy Giuliani, Karl Rove, John Boehner and Mitch McConnell, while defrauding American veterans of $100 million.
Currently a doctoral candidate at Xavier University, 2020 Ohioana Book Festival author Kiya Renae has written three books: Through Her Own Eyes: This is Only the Beginning; It’s Ok to Be Broken: Highs, Lows, and Happy Mediums; and an as-yet untitled third book. Listen in to hear Ms. Renea share some of her writing and her story ahead of her participation in the virtual Ohioana Book Festival on August 28-30.
