Maggie Lynch interviews author David Starkey, a novelist, poet, and non-fiction writer. His most recent book is The Fairley Brothers in Japan. He is adept at combining humor along with deep emotional situations. He is most known for his poetry and served as Santa Barbara’s 2009-2011 Poet Laureate. David is also the Publisher and Co-editor of Gunpowder Press. Over the past thirty years, he has published eleven full-length collections of poetry with small presses and more than 500 poems in literary journals such as American Scholar, Georgia Review, Prairie Schooner and Southern Review. As an educator, he has written and edited a number of non-fiction books David is also a founding editor of the California Review of Books and the host of Santa Barbara’s Creative Community. You can learn more about him and his books on his website: https://davidstarkey.net/

In this episode I interview Children's mystery book writer, Sherrill Joseph. She is a retired K-12 literacy teacher. Her current work is The Botanic Hill Detectives Mysteries series, written for children ages 9-14. (Though I have to say, some adults will enjoy these as well) She has garnered multiple awards for these books. I won’t list them all but among these awards are: the Mom's Choice Book Awards, the Moonbeam Children's Book Awards, and a Reader’s Favorite Book award.

She says she has been inspired by the children she taught, and she uses her writing to stay connected with "kids who rock." Her stories present responsible, role-model children detective characters who provide readers with a fun mystery to solve and something to learn, while showing that being respectful and helpful citizens can be cool!

She lives in San Diego, California, in a 1928 Spanish Mission Revival bungalow. Her inspirations for her series include her historic neighborhood, the Nancy Drew mysteries she grew up reading, and her unique brain which includes lexical-gustatory synesthesia. We we talk about during the interview. To learn more about sherrill, check out her website at https://sherrilljoseph.com

My special guest today is E. J. Russell. She as an author of at least 37 published books, including 5 series to date. She writes across several genres: romantic comedy, historical, paranormal mystery, paranormal romantic comedy, and supernatural romantic suspense.

E.J. describes herself as a mother of three and a recovering actor who writes romance in a rainbow of flavors. You can count on high snark, low angst and happy endings. Reality? Eh, not so much. She lives in rural Oregon, enjoys visits from her wonderful adult children, and indulges in good books, red wine, and the occasional hyperbole.

You can contact E.J. and learn more through these connections.

Website: https://ejrussell.com/

FB Profile: https://ejr.pub/ws-fb-profile

FB Group: https://ejr.pub/ws-reality-ops

Instagram: https://ejr.pub/ws-insta

Twitter: https://ejr.pub/ws-twitter

BookBub https://ejr.pub/ws-bookbub

Pinterest https://ejr.pub/ws-pin