Laurence O'Bryan is an Irish author, entrepreneur, and internationally recognized book marketing expert whose career has been built around a simple belief: great books deserve to be discovered. As the founder of BooksGoSocial, he has helped thousands of independent and traditionally published authors reach readers worldwide through innovative advertising, promotion, and publishing services. Drawing on decades of experience in sales, digital marketing, and publishing, he has become a respected voice on book promotion, speaking at conferences across Europe and North America and training authors in modern publishing strategies.

Socials

https://internationaldublinwritersfestival.com/

https://booksgosocial.com/

His books: The Istanbul Puzzle, First of five Puzzle books

The Sign of the Blood, First of A Dangerous Emperor series

The Rise of Synne, The First of The Last Seer series

The International Dublin Writers' Festival

David Gutierrez, Non-Fungible Book Club, nfbclub for Audio Books

Prolific Writers Life

Find a Company You can Trust with Trustpilot

Leif Bristow is an Emmy winning producer, director, screenwriter, and bestselling author who has spent decades bringing unforgettable stories to life for audiences around the world. But Dancing Through the Shadow is far more than just another project. It is a story that found him personally.

The inspiration came through Tia Zhang, an internationally celebrated dancer, Shen Yun artist, and survivor whose extraordinary life story recently earned her the prestigious King Charles III Coronation Medal for her contributions and impact. Tia once taught ballet to Leif and Agnes Bristow's daughter, and through that connection, the family came to learn the unimaginable truth of her life, surviving oppression under Mao era China, enduring extraordinary hardship, and ultimately escaping to freedom.

Agnes Bristow knew this was a story the world needed to read, which led her to write the award winning bestselling novel Dancing Through the Shadow. Leif, as a filmmaker and storyteller, knew it was equally a story that needed to be brought to the screen.

Podcast audiences will gain a fascinating behind the scenes look at how a real life friendship uncovered one of the most remarkable untold survival stories of our time, the journey of transforming truth into powerful storytelling, the creative process behind adapting books to film, and why stories of courage, freedom, resilience, and the human spirit matter now more than ever.

Website, Facebook, (X), Instagram, LinkedIn, Leif's IMDb page where you can see his entire filmography

Dancing Through the Shadow, Agnes Bristow

Love on Safari (2018) Starring Lacey Chabert and Jon Cor, Brittany Bristow

Mao's Last Dancer (2009) Starring Chi Cao, Bruce Greenwood and Kyle MacLachlan

Dr. Robert J. Wolf, Story-Power episode 138, 20 Miracles and 4 Escapes from Tyranny

Love on the Danube: Royal Getaway (2025)

A Sweet Austrian Holiday (2024)

Beyond Black Beauty (2024)

John Rhys-Davies, Actor, Lord of the Rings, and much more

Ken Weene loves words. At times he is so captivated by them that they cannot hold the flow back and they tumble out as novels, short stories, poems, essays, and stage plays. Although Ken desperately tries to hold back those word floods and endlessly edit them, they find their ways into print and electronic form, which can be found by looking for Ken's name anywhere on the internet. He is, after all, the only Kenneth Weene in captivity so he cannot hide from your searches, not on Amazon, YouTube, Facebook, X, Bluesky, Truth Social, or LinkedIn. 
When you do that search, you will learn that Ken grew up as a broody New Englander, has a PhD in Psychology, worked for years as a therapist and teacher in New York, and moved/retired to Arizona in 2003 when he decided to focus on his writing. Married for 58 years to the late artist Rosalyn Weene, much of Ken's work is dedicated and about the love of his life and their love for life.
Website, Facebook, (X), LinkedIn, Bluesky, TruthSocial, YouTube, Amazon
Books and Plays
Coursing, The Boat and Ashes (With Umar O. Abdul) Memoirs From The Asylum, Jumping Over the Ram (With Deng Atem) Times To Try the Soul of Man
Mario Puzo, The Godfather, book and screenplay
Sleeping Dogs (2024) Russell Crowe
Guy Morris, Story-Power guest, Episode 140 aired on November 19, 2025, Books: Swarm, The Image, The Last Ark
Red Bird, Diandra Ford, Story-Power Episode 132 aired on July 30, 2025
John Steinbeck, The Grapes of Wrath, Of Mice and Men, Travels With Charlie
John Dos Passos, Upton Sinclair, authors
Canio's Books, Shelter Island, NY
One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest, Ken Kesey
The Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis, Minnesota
The Gadsden Hotel, Douglas, Arizona
Dave Dahl, Story-Power guest, Episodes 1 aired on July 22, 2020, and 21 aired on July 21, 2021

Tamara is a Creator & Connector with an undeniable gift for inviting others into Community. She focuses on fostering hope, community, and belonging through art and teaching, inspiring a joy that transforms hearts and mindsets.

Tamara is a creative entrepreneur passionate about kids, families, and communities. Through her work as the founder of Love In A Big World, her impact is evident across the US and beyond. With a Master's degree in education from Vanderbilt University, she has devoted over thirty years of service as an educator and program developer. As a seasoned leader of both nonprofit and for-profit businesses, she models community support and engagement. With an unwavering commitment to making a positive difference in the world, she has persevered through life's ups and downs. Through her writings, songs, and paintings, she shares her story of finding her voice. Her healing journey inspires others to seek wholeness.

Tamara lives in Nashville, Tennessee, and is the proud mother of three adopted adult children.

Tamara Fyke's Website

https://www.loveinabigworld.com/

Tommy E. Black, musical collaborator

BMI, Broadcast Music Inc.

ASCAP, The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers

SESAC, Society of European Stage Authors and Composers

Hello Story-Power listeners. I wanted to let you know that after several years of producing Story-Power, I've started running ads through Libsyn to support the show. These are programmatic ads, in other words I don't pick the brand, but I have blocked categories that don't align with my values. Your support of this show over the years has meant a lot to me. Running these ads will help me pay for producing all the great content I've been providing. I plan to continue to bring you stories of innovative creators that will helpfully inspire you. Thanks so much for following Story-Power.

David Gutierrez is the co-founder of Non-Fungible Book Club (NFBC), an independent audiobook platform focused on helping authors retain greater ownership, control, and revenue from their work. Built around a creator-first philosophy, NFBC was founded on the belief that writers deserve a more meaningful relationship with both their audience and the success of their art.

David is also the author of Punkz Awaken: Disconnecting the Minted, a young adult science fiction novella that blends action, rebellion, and retro-futuristic themes inspired by 90s internet culture. Filled with callbacks to the era of 56k dial-up modems, underground digital culture, and analog nostalgia, the story follows a young protagonist who grows disillusioned with the pressures and inequities of the adult world and ultimately joins a rebellion searching for something more human, authentic, and free.

David's experience as an independent author helped inspire his passion for supporting creators and building better opportunities for writers within the audiobook industry.

Today, through NFBC, David and his team work with independent authors and publishers to help bring audiobooks directly to audiences while allowing creators to keep significantly more of their earnings than traditional industry models typically allow. NFBC's mission centers on empowering authors, preserving creative independence, and building deeper communities around books and storytelling.

Instagram: @NFBCSocials (https://www.instagram.com/nfbcsocials/)

YouTube: @NFBCSocials (https://www.youtube.com/@NFBCSocials)

X: @NFBCSocials (https://x.com/NFBCSocials)

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-gutierrez-507340276/

Website: www.nfbclub.com

Prolific Writers Life

Punkz Awaken: Disconnecting the Minted, 4th ed., David Gutierrez

Story-Power Guest Episode 80 8/2/23 Cheryl King, Sitting on Top of the World, and Under the Paw Paw Trees

Edgar Allan Poe Greatest Works

Shut Up and Write Global Community

Story-Power Guest Episode 140 11/19/25 Guy Morris, Swarm, The Last Ark, The Image

Story-Power Guest Episode 24 "Every Life is a Library"

PodMatch for Podcasters

Story-Power Guest Episode 41 2/2/22 Ali Khamseh

Story-Power Guest Episode 42 2/16/22 Lola Drona

Classic Cinema With the Sage Sisters YouTube channel

Films for Writers on Prolific Writers Life

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe (1979) (1989) (2005), Book by C. S. Lewis

Hello Story-Power listeners. I wanted to let you know that after several years of producing Story-Power, I've started running ads through Libsyn to support the show. These are programmatic ads, in other words I don't pick each brand, but I have blocked categories that don't align with my values. Your support of this show over the years has meant a lot to me. Running these ads will help me pay for producing all the great content I've been providing. I plan to contiue to bring you stories of innovative creators that will hopefully inspire you. Thanks so much for following Story-Power.

Fran Hawthorne has been writing novels since she was four years old, although she was sidetracked for several decades by journalism. During that award-winning career, she wrote eight nonfiction books, mainly about consumer activism, the drug industry, and the financial world, and was also an editor or regular contributor for The New York Times, Business Week, Fortune, and many other publications.

But Fran never abandoned her true love: Her first two novels, The Heirs and I Meant to Tell You, were published in 2018 and 2022 and together won or were named a finalist for nine awards, including the Eric Hoffer Book Awards and the Sarton Award. HER DAUGHTER, Fran's third novel, has just been published by Black Rose Writing.

Website, Instagram

Hello Story-Power listeners. I wanted to let you know that after several years of producing Story-Power, I've started running ads through Libsyn to support the show. These are programmatic ads, in other words I don't pick each brand, but I have blocked categories that don't align with my values. Your support of this show over the years has meant a lot to me. Running these ads will help me pay for producing all the great content I've been providing. I plan to continue to bring you stories of innovative creators that will hopefully inspire you. Thanks so much for followiing Story-Power.

I've been producing Story-Power for six years now and have dedided to include ads with the episodes to offset the costs of producing the content you've been consuming. I appeciate each of you who listen. I hope you will continue to enjoy the stories of my fabulous guests.

Over the years, I've used comedy, music, and film as ways to process life and connect with people in a real, unpolished way. My latest project, The Loneliest Boy on Earth, came out of that impulse — it's part experiment, part personal confession, and part attempt to make sense of love and identity in the modern world. What I've learned is that vulnerability, when shared honestly, can be both healing and entertaining (also provocative and dangerous) — and that's the kind of conversation I want to bring to your audience.

Across all mediums — whether film, music, or live conversation — my work is about pushing boundaries, experimenting with form, and ultimately creating something that is both meaningful and entertaining.

My most recent project, The Loneliest Boy on Earth, is a hybrid of documentary and narrative filmmaking that examines relationships, identity, and self-transformation in a deeply personal way. Right now, I am most interested in discussing this project; but am open to discussing art, creativity, philosophy, and other related topics.

YouTube Channel

Instagram

TikTok

(X)

Hello Story-Power listeners. I wanted to let you know that after several years of producing Story-Power, I've started running ads through Libsyn to support the show. these are programmatic ads, in other words I don't pick each brand, but I have blocked catefories that don't align with my values. Your support of this show over the years has meant a lot to me. Running these ads will help me pay for producing all the great content I've been providing. I plan to continue to bring you stories of innovative creators that will helpfully inspire you. Thanks so much for following Story-Power.