On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author John Antonik about his latest book ALMOST HEAVEN, a story of Bobby Bowden's ten years as a football coach at West Virginia University. John Antonik is senior director of athletics content at West Virginia University. He has authored four books on Mountaineer athletics: Saturday Snapshots: West Virginia University Football; The Backyard Brawl: Stories from One of the Weirdest, Wildest, Longest Running, and Most Intense Rivalries in College Football History; Roll Out the Carpet: 101 Seasons of West Virginia University Basketball;and West Virginia University Football Vault: The History of the Mountaineers.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews historian Tim Silver about his new true-crime thriller DEATH IN BRIAR BOTTOM. Tim is a professor emeritus of history at Appalachian State University and is the author of MOUNT MITCHELL AND THE BLACK MOUNTAINS and coauthor of AN ENVIRONMENTAL HISTORY OF THE CIVIL WAR.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews book publicist and author Joe Walters about his latest book THE TRUTH ABOUT BOOK REVIEWS: THE INSIDER'S GUIDE TO GETTING AND USING REVIEWS TO GROW YOUR READERSHIP. Joe is the founder of Independent Book Review: A Celebration of Indie Books. He's been on the marketing teams of indie presses like Sunbury Press, Paper Raven Books, and Inkwater Press, and he is the author of The Truth About Book Reviews: An Insider's Guide to Getting and Using Reviews to Grow Your Readership. When he's not writing, assigning, or editing reviews in a Pennsylvania Panera Bread, he's playing with his daughters or reading indie books by Kindle light. Look for more of his book marketing tips on the IBR blog and the Write Indie newsletter.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet and novelist Laura Treacy Bentley about her latest novel GLASS MOUNTAIN. s an internationally published writer from West Virgina. She is a poet, novelist, and point-and-shoot photographer. Born in Hagerstown, Maryland, she has lived most of her life in Huntington, West Virginia, and divides her time between the mountains of West Virginia and a cabin in western Maryland. Laura is the author of the forthcoming LOOKING FOR IRELAND: AN IRISH-APPALACHIAN PILGRIMAGE (both poetry chapbook and art book), THE SILVER TATTOO (a psychological thriller set in Ireland), NIGHT TERRORS: A SHORT STORY PREQUEL to THE SILVER TATTOO, and LAKE EFFECT (a poetry collection).
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Lee Cole about his new novel FULFILLMENT. Lee is also the author of GROUNDSKEEPING. He was born and grew up in rural Western Kentucky. A recent graduate of the Iowa Writers Workshop, he now lives in Houston, Texas.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kevin Wilson about his latest novel RUN FOR THE HILLS. Kevin is the New York Times bestselling author of five novels, including Now Is Not the Time to Panic, Nothing to See Here, and The Family Fang, as well as two story collections. His work has received the Shirley Jackson Award and been selected as a Read with Jenna book club pick. He lives in Sewanee, Tennessee, with his wife and two sons.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Benjamin Bradley about his latest mystery WHAT HE LEFT BEHIND. Benjamin Bradley is a member of both Mystery Writers of America and International Thriller Writers. He's the author of the Shepard & Kelly Mystery series through Indies United Publishing House and his short fiction has appeared in literary magazines including Reckon Review and Flash Fiction Magazine. He works in public health and homelessness and lives in Raleigh, North Carolina with his wife, their cat Fox, and their dog Harper.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot profiles publisher Loblolly Press with poet and founder Andrew Mack. Loblolly Press champions underrepresented Appalachian and Southern stories by empower emerging writers. Andrew is also the author of the poetry chapbook BEASTS OF CHASE which is a haunting chapbook that explores the intersection between nature and humanity, survival and violence. He lives with his husband in Asheville, North Carolina.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kelly Mustian about her new novel THE RIVER KNOWS YOUR NAME. Kelly Mustian is the USA Today bestselling author of The Girls in the Stilt House and The River Knows Your Name. She is the recipient of the Mississippi Library Association's 2023 Author Award for Fiction, and The Girls in the Stilt House was shortlisted for the 2022 Crook's Corner Book Prize for best debut novel set in the American South. Her work has appeared in numerous literary journals and commercial magazines. Originally from Mississippi, she currently lives in North Carolina.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Cody about his new thriller STREETS OF NASHVILLE. Michael Cody was born in the South Carolina Lowcountry and raised in the North Carolina highlands. He spent his twenties writing songs in Nashville and his thirties in school. He's the author of the novel Gabriel's Songbook (Pisgah Press) and short fiction that has appeared in Yemassee, Tampa Review, Still: The Journal, and elsewhere. His short story collection, A Twilight Reel (Pisgah Press) won the Short Story / Anthology category of the Feathered Quill Book Awards 2022. Cody lives with his wife Leesa in Jonesborough, Tennessee, and teaches in the Department of Literature and Language at East Tennessee State University.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Wes Browne about his new novel THEY ALL FALL THE SAME. Wes has lived and practiced law as a criminal defense attorney, prosecutor, and public defender in Appalachian Kentucky for over twenty-four years. He also helps run his family’s pizza shops.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Allison Gunn about her new gothic thriller NOWHERE. Allison Gunn is a professional researcher, writer, and podcaster with a penchant for all things whimsical and strange. An alum of the University of Maryland, she has extensively studied marginalized communities as well as Appalachian folklore and the occult. She currently resides in the wonderfully weird land of West Virginia with her twin daughters, a precocious pup, and one seriously troubled tabby. Nowhere is her first novel.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Karen McElmurray about her new essay collection I COULD NAME GOD IN TWELVE WAYS. is the author of Wanting Radiance: A Novel. Her memoir Surrendered Child: A Birth Mother's Journey is a National Book Critics Circle Notable Book and winner of the AWP Award Series for Creative Nonfiction. She has received numerous awards, including the Annie Dillard Prize, the New Southerner Literary Prize, the Orison Anthology Award, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, and multiple notable mentions in Best American Essays. She is a visiting writer and lecturer at various programs and reading series across the United States.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jackie Flaum about her new novel THE PRICE OF A FUTURE.
Avid water aerobics swimmer, amateur jewelry-maker, and mystery writer Jackie Ross Flaum began as a reporter for The Hartford Courant in Hartford, Conn.After moving to Memphis and abandoning reality for fiction, she won first place for romantic suspense in the 21st annual Duel on the Delta and second place in the spring 2019 Short Story Land online competition.
Thus encouraged, she tested several flavors of writing--chic lit, mystery, suspense, crime—and had short stories published in anthologies of all genres.To her shock, her first novel of the South is considered historical fiction because it is set in the 1960s. “Justice Tomorrow,” introduces investigators Madeline Sterling and Socrates Gray, who are also featured in a short story published in “Now There Was A Story.”
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews historian Nigel Hamilton about his latest book: LINCOLN VS. DAVIS: THE WAR OF THE PRESIDENTS. Historian Nigel Hamilton is a New York Times best-selling biographer of General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, President John F. Kennedy, President Bill Clinton, and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, among other subjects. He has won multiple awards, including the Whitbread Prize and the Templer Medal for Military History.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jessica Strawser about her latest thriller CATCH YOU LATER. Jessica Strawser is the USA Today bestselling author of The Last Caretaker, The Next Thing You Know, A Million Reasons Why, Forget You Know Me, Not That I Could Tell (a Book of the Month selection), and Almost Missed You. She was editorial director at Writer’s Digest for nearly a decade before becoming a novelist. Jessica is also a Career Authors contributing editor, popular speaker at writing conferences across the US, and freelance editor and writer with bylines in the New York Times Modern Love column, Publishers Weekly, and other venues.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Sharon Short about her latest thriller TROUBLE ISLAND. Sharon Short is the author of sixteen published books. Her newest, Trouble Island, is historical suspense and will be published by Minotaur Books on December 3, 2024. As Jess Montgomery, she writes the historical Kinship Mysteries set in the 1920s and inspired by Ohio’s true first female sheriff. Sharon is a contributing editor to Writer’s Digest, for which she writes the column, “Level Up Your Writing (Life)” and teaches for Writer’s Digest University.
She is also a three-time recipient of the Individual Excellence Award in Literary Arts from Ohio Arts Council and has been a John E. Nance Writer in Residence at Thurber House (Columbus, Ohio).
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Susan Williams about her new book "Unresolved Lives: Seven Stories of Mayhem Including the Mad Butcher, Sodder Children, and Cabin 13." Susan is a native of Fayette County West Virginia and a former police and courts reporter for The Charleston Gazette.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews authors Wendy Atkins-Sayre and Ashli Quesinberry Stokes about their new book HUNGRY ROOTS: HOW FOOD COMMUNICATES APPALACHIA'S SEARCH FOR RESILIENCE. Ashli Quesinberry Stokes is professor of communication studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Wendy Atkins-Sayre is professor and chair of the Department of Communication & Film at the University of Memphis. The two have collaborated on Consuming Identity: The Role of Food in Redefining the South and coedited City Places, Country Spaces: Rhetorical Explorations of the Urban/Rural Divide.
On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Laura Leigh Morris about her new novel THE STONE CATCHERS. Laura is the author of Jaws of Life: Stories and has previously been published in the Notre Dame Review, the Louisville Review, Pithead Chapel, Laurel Review, and other literary journals. She teaches creative writing and literature at Furman University and lives in Greenville, South Carolina with her family.