Storybeat with Steve Cuden

My guest today, P.S. “Pat “Conway has published more than 50 poems across four online journals and 16 poetry anthologies. Two of those anthologies have been Amazon Best Sellers. Pat released his first poetry collection, Echoes Lost in Stars, in March 2024. To date, it’s garnered significant critical acclaim. In 2025, Pat released Life Sucks: Memories and Introspections During the Great Covid Lockdown, a compilation of satirical essays written during the pandemic. I’ve read Life Sucks and can tell you it’s a witty, acerbic, wry look at life and its many foibles as viewed through Pat Conway’s unique lens on the world. If you like satire written with tongue firmly placed in cheek, I highly recommend Life Sucks to you. A two-time Pushcart Nominee, Pat also has served as the 2024-25 Poet-in-Residence for the online literary journal, The Fictional Café. He finds fascination in words birthed from dark, literate, and emotive places.

The novelist, John David Bethel, is appearing for the second time on StoryBeat. David’s the author of award-winning political and psychological thrillers, including Mapping the Night and Holding Back the Dark. His short fiction has been published in popular consumer magazines, and his essays and opinion editorials have been published in respected political journals. David spent 35 years in politics and government. He served in the Federal Senior Executive Service as Senior Adviser/Director of Speechwriting for the Secretaries of Transportation, Commerce, and Education; Editorial Director for the U.S. Small Business Administration; and Assistant Administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of Communications and Citizen Services. David also worked as a press secretary/speechwriter to Members of Congress. During our first conversation, we discussed Mapping Night. Recently, I read 2 of David’s newest books, Squinting at Shadows and Thy Brother’s Keeper, both of which are in the thriller mold of David’s earlier novels They are intense, page-turning mysteries that kept me wondering what would happen next. If you like reading thrillers, I highly urge you to check out David’s books.

My guest today, British author and pop culture historian Jon Kremer is appearing on StoryBeat for the second time. He’s best known for his memoirs and books detailing the 1960s pop and rock music scene. A long-standing friendship with “Year of the Cat” singer-songwriter, Al Stewart, along with owning his hometown Bournemouth’s original vintage vinyl shop led to Jon experiencing many aspects of the UK music industry. The recently released updated version of Jon’s book Bournemouth A Go! Go! – A Sixties Memoir features meeting the Beatles in 1963 at the height of Beatlemania in England. Jon also explores his ringside seat for the journey of his close friend, Al Stewart, from playing guitar in a local beat group to international success and hit double platinum albums in the ‘70s. I’ve read the revised version of Bournemouth A Go! Go! and can tell you it’s a fascinating, fun look at what life was like in England during the heady, music-filled ‘60s and ‘70s when everything in the culture was rapidly changing, and possibilities abounded. If you’re interested in the beginning of modern rock and pop music in England, and the early years of Al Stewart’s career in particular, I highly recommend Bournemouth A Go! Go! to you. In 2024, Jon also published Chain Reaction – Rock ‘n’ Pop’s Magic Moments, which we chatted about during his first appearance on StoryBeat.

Thomas Cullen is a federal trial judge and former U.S. attorney in Virginia. He was recently honored as the 2024 Carter O. Lowance Fellow from the William & Mary Law School, which is his alma mater. A native of Richmond, Virginia, Thomas studied history and ran track at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina, from which he was recently awarded an honorary doctorate. Thomas is also an accomplished writer. For more than ten years, he regularly published op-eds and essays in national and regional media outlets until his appointment to the bench made publishing further such articles prohibitive. However, he didn’t stop writing. In 2025, he published his first novel, Charlie-Man, which I’ve read and can tell you is a beautifully written, fictional coming-of-age story that reads like a powerful, heartfelt memoir. Charlie-Man is for readers of all ages, from teens on up. It will have a strong resonance for anyone who has ever struggled with love and loss throughout their teenage years.

Art Bell is a writer and former television executive. While at HBO, Art became known for developing and launching the Comedy Channel, which later became Comedy Central. As President of Court TV, he oversaw daily live courtroom coverage and the production of hundreds of hours of original true-crime TV series, documentaries, and movies. Art’s memoir, Constant Comedy: "How I Started Comedy Central and Lost My Sense of Humor", was a finalist in the 2020 Best Book Awards in both the memoir and business categories. Art has had short stories, nonfiction, and satire published in several journals, including The Lowestoft Chronicle, Aethlon: The Journal of Sports Literature, The Ocotillo Review, Fiction Southeast, Castabout Arts and Literature, High Shelf Press, and Writers Read. Art recently published his first novel, "What She’s Hiding", which I’ve read and found to be an action-packed legal-noir-thriller with some terrific surprises and twists. If you like John Grisham, then you’ll enjoy "What She’s Hiding".

Rusty Austin was a reality TV show producer for over three decades and is now the author of six published books, including an illustrated children’s book series. Rusty broke into Hollywood as a freelance electrician on dozens of movies, including Terminator 2. After a few years, he decided to give up movies because everything in the lighting and grip department weighed no less than 50 pounds. He then spent 35 years producing reality TV shows like: Real Stories of the Highway Patrol, Big Brother, Survivor, Nanny 911, COPS, and Hell’s Kitchen, which he worked on for 16 seasons, and from which he retired in 2018. His books include: Baseball’s Unlikely: A Constant; Dave and Me; and four children’s books: The Carrot Is Orange, The Unicorn Has One Horn, Beware The Grizzly Bear, and An Awesome Bird: The Pelican. I’ve read An Awesome Bird: The Pelican, and can tell you it’s a wonderfully charming compendium of Rusty’s short and sweet poems about lots of different animals set against whimsical artwork created by middle schoolers from Cathedral City, CA. If you have kids and are looking for a truly entertaining and educational book, I highly urge you to check it out.

Brad Oscar is a two-time Tony Award nominee for his performances on Broadway as Franz Liebkind in Mel Brooks’ The Producers and as Thomas Nostradamus in Something Rotten! Brad has performed in more than 15 shows on Broadway, including being in the original casts of the stage version of Schmigadoon, Mrs. Doubtfire, Big Fish, Aspects of Love, and a show I know a little bit about called Jekyll & Hyde. He’s performed in Wicked, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Addams Family, and Spamalot. He’s also starred in The Producers in both the West End and Las Vegas productions. National tours in which Brad has performed include: The Phantom of the Opera, Young Frankenstein, and, of course, Jekyll & Hyde. Off-Broadway, Brad has appeared in Little Shop of Horrors, Broadway Bounty Hunter, Sweeney Todd, and Forbidden Broadway. Stages he’s worked on in America include: the Arena Stage, the Old Globe, the La Jolla Playhouse, the McCarter, Barrington Stage, and more. In film and on TV, you can find Brad on such shows as: Ghost Town, The Producers, Smash, The Good Wife, and three Law & Orders.

JJ Nelson is a Michigan native who, as a kid, made schlocky home movies with his best friend. He then built his comedic chops as an editor of his high school newspaper, writing irreverent Onion-inspired articles mocking the establishment. Somehow, he got away with all of it, diploma in hand. JJ honed his writing skills as an undergrad at the University of Michigan before earning an MFA in Screenwriting from UCLA’s renowned School of Theater, Film, and TV, where he also received the prestigious Samuel Goldwyn Award for screenwriting. He interned at Will Ferrell and Adam McKay’s Gary Sanchez Productions, where he met a number of comedy titans he’s since gone on to work with. JJ has had projects either set up or in development with Sony Pictures, Paramount Insurge, Di Boneventura Pictures, Broken Road, Green Hat, Virgin, and Jake Paul’s Team 10. Ultimately none of them got made, which is, truth be told, exactly like 99% of every other screen project in Hollywood. But one of them did! The film, Bad Man, an action/comedy starring Seann William Scott, Johnny Simmons, Rob Riggle, Lovi Poe, and Chance Perdomo in his final screen performance, was released in the fall of 2025, earning JJ his first produced feature film writing credit. I’ve seen Bad Man and can tell you it’s an offbeat, dark, action-comedy with heart and a clever twist at the end. For the record, JJ and I have known one another for more than 15 years as we attended the UCLA MFA in Screenwriting Program at the same time.

Virginia DeLuca is a writer and psychotherapist. She’s the author of the award-winning novel, As If Women Mattered. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, Modern Love, The Boston Globe, Vulture, The Huffington Post, the Iowa Review, and The Writer. Virginia’s also a graduate of GrubStreet’s 2020 Memoir Incubator. Her most recent book is If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets, a candid, funny, and emotionally rich memoir about her divorce and reinvention in her 60s. She published this debut memoir at 72, proving it’s never too late to tell your story. I’ve read If You Must Go, I Wish You Triplets, and found it to be inspiring, particularly regarding not giving up despite numerous challenges in your personal life. Virginia’s book will resonate with readers who may be navigating heartbreak, identity shifts, and the complicated freedom that comes with starting over. Virginia believes emotional resilience is built through humor and friendship, both of which are well expressed in her book.

Haris Orkin is a prolific novelist, playwright, screenwriter, and game writer. His play Dada premiered at The La Jolla Playhouse. His feature film, A Saintly Switch, was produced by Disney and directed by the great Peter Bogdanovich. Haris has written screenplays for Universal, Sony, Fox, and Paramount. He’s also has written numerous video games, many of which have been nominated for the WGA and BAFTA Film Awards. Games he’s worked on include Call of Juarez, Red Alerts, Shadow Warrior, Black Hawk Down, and many others. Haris recently released the sixth book in his James Flynn Escapade series, called From Lompoc With Love. I’ve read the first book of the series, You Only Live Once, which is one of the cleverest, wittiest, and most fun takes on the superspy genre I’ve had the pleasure to read. I’m a huge James Bond fan, and I was thoroughly caught up in James Flynn’s hilariously delusional and unexpected exploits. The book series has been optioned by producer Sherry Marsh and Will Arnett’s company and is currently being shopped to streaming studios.

Debi Derryberry is one of the most in-demand voiceover actresses in Hollywood. She’s perhaps best known for voicing Jimmy Neutron in both the Academy Award-nominated film Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius and in the TV series The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron, Boy Genius. Debi’s also played dozens of memorable characters in features like the original Toy Story in which she’s one of the aliens, The Boy and the Heron, Despicable Me 2, Kiki’s Delivery Service, The Christmas Chronicles and many more. She’s also appeared in well more than 100 TV series, including Monster High, Sharkdog, Bugs Bunny Builders, Pokemon Horizons, and The Loud House. Debi’s video game work includes Cookie Run Kingdom, Crash Bandicoots, Final Fantasy, Guild Wars 2, Genshin Impact, and World of Warcraft. For Anime, you can hear Debi in Netflix’s Rising Impact, Zatch Bell, Sailor Moon and Glitter Force. Debi’s also written and recorded 5 award-winning children’s music albums. Her 2 most recent are: Go to Sleep-Lullaby Album and Gotta Go Green. Debi’s song Baby Banana hit #1 on Sirius/XM Kids. Her music can readily be found on all digital streaming platforms. Look for her new kids single, Compost Bin, with Grammy Award winner Lisa Loeb. You can also find Debi at debiderryberry.com and on her YouTube channel, Debi Derryberry KIDS! which has animated videos to accompany her children’s music. Her TikTok page has over 1.3 million followers and over 28 million likes!

The highly renowned classical clarinetist, David Singer, has performed many times at Carnegie Hall. He was a principal member and soloist with the Grammy Award-winning Orpheus Chamber Orchestra for 36 years and is featured on many of the group’s 70 CDs on Deutsche Grammophon. David began with Orpheus when the group was playing for free. He has played with many of the world’s greatest classical musicians, including legends like Yehudi Menuhin, Itzhak Perlman, Rudolf Serkin, and Yo-Yo Ma among others. David has also performed at the White House with Music from Marlboro and The Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society for Presidents Carter and Clinton. David’s recently published memoir, From Cab Driver to Carnegie Hall, is more than a musician's autobiography; its inspiring narrative will resonate with anyone who has faced life's challenges head-on. It’s an ode to the power of never giving up while giving oneself every chance to succeed. I’ve read David’s book and found it to be a fascinating, uplifting reflection of a life in music that’s been full of challenges, triumphs, and the transformative power of music. If you enjoy stories about artists succeeding despite difficult obstacles, I highly urge you to read David’s entertaining memoir.

Mark Mangini is a six-time Oscar-nominated, two-time Oscar-winning Sound Designer. He won his Oscars for Dune and Mad Max Fury Road. Mark’s also well known for designing sound for numerous films, including: Blade Runner 2049, Star Treks I, IV and V, Beauty and the Beast, TheFifthElement, Space Jam, Poltergeist,Gremlins, Aladdin, and Raiders of the Lost Ark, among many more. Mark has spent his 49-year career in Hollywood imagining and composing altered sonic realities for motion pictures. He’s a frequent lecturer, an outspoken proponent for sound as art, and a guitarist/songwriter with compositions that can be heard in sex, lies and videotape, Star Trek IV, and more. Mark believes that all organized sound is music. He sees his work in movies as every bit a composition as those of Beethoven and the Beatles. He just happens to use dissonance, melodic content and arrhythmia to its fullest advantage. His work is no less considered, designed, created or manipulated. It just isn’t usually what we think of as hummable. His first job in the entertainment industry was at the age of 19 in the sound department of Hanna Barbera Studios making funny noises for children’s cartoons. His ears have been keenly trained by years of language study and playing guitar, which suited him well for a career of critical listening and creating unimagined aural worlds and fabricating sonic realities for motion pictures. Mark founded and ran the successful post-production sound company, Weddington Productions, for 25 years. Today he works at Formosa Group in Hollywood, continuing his work as a Supervising Sound Editor, Sound Designer and Re-recording mixer.

Christopher Fryer is the co-author of the books Jack Nicholson: The Early Years; Bruce Dern: Things I Said, but Probably Shouldn’t Have, and Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder. Chris’s non-fiction work has also appeared in Conde-Nast Traveler, Playboy, and the New York Times. I’ve read Crane: Sex, Celebrity, and My Father’s Unsolved Murder, and have chatted about it once before on StoryBeat with Chris’s writing partner, the outstanding author, Robert Crane. I’ve also read Chris’s short story, Hunting License, which is a very entertaining tale about a hunter who doesn’t like to kill. You’ll need to read it to see how it twists in an unexpected way. Hunting License is the first tale in the wonderful short story collection, Beyond Where the Buses Run, which was edited by another terrific StoryBeat guest, Theresa Griffin Kennedy.

Joe Wos is the 6-time Emmy Award-winning creator and host of “Cartoon Academy” as seen on PBS affiliates nationwide. Joe’s been a professional cartoonist since the age of 14. Over the past 35 years, as he’s sought new and innovative ways to pursue his passion for the cartoon arts, his career path has taken as many twists and turns as one of his wonderful mazes. For example, he spent 30 years touring the U.S. as a performer, illustrating stories live as he told them. He founded and ran a cartoon art museum here in Pittsburgh called the Toonseum. He illustrated symphony performances live with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. And he’s exhibited his art in museums worldwide. Beyond all that, Joe’s been the visiting resident cartoonist of the Charles M. Schulz Museum for over 23 years. With MazeToons — his unique hybrid illustration that is part cartoon and part puzzle — Joe has fulfilled a lifelong dream to appear in the funny pages. He’s the author and illustrator of a dozen books, including “A-Maze-Ing Peanuts”, “Mega Maze Challenge,” “Our A-Maze-Ing National Parks,” “A-Maze-Ing America,” “A-Maze-Ing Animals,” “The Exploding Kittens Activity Book,” and many more. Joe’s also the Brand Character Integrity Consultant and artist for Charlie the Tuna of StarKist fame. Joe won the 2020 Divisional Reuben Award for the Variety Category as presented by the National Cartoonists Society. For the record, Joe and I have known one another for more than a decade, from his days running the Toonseum here in Pittsburgh.

The award-winning author, TEDx speaker, screenwriter, Gestalt practitioner, and patient advocate, Risa August, has been living with a pituitary tumor and the rare disease acromegaly for over a decade. From being a girl with sparkles in her hair to an Ironman athlete, Risa still has a passion for her bike and barbells. With genuine curiosity and a love for trying new (and old) things, you may find Risa taking Bollywood or Hip-Hop dance lessons, trying out aerial silks, a boxing class, going indoor skydiving, or guiding inspirational workshops in creativity. Through her personal transformation, Risa has learned and practiced removing limiting beliefs, shifting her perspective, and embracing an expansive life unleashed. Risa shares her insights and perspectives on stage, offering words of inspiration to audiences. Additionally, Risa works one-on-one with clients, guiding them through the many roadblocks of life and toward living in a more fully inspired way. Recently, Risa published her book, The Road Unpaved: Border to Border with a Brain Tumor and a Bike. I’ve read The Road Unpaved and can tell you I was deeply moved and awestruck by Risa’s struggles to overcome the strains of a grueling 1000+ mile bike ride along the U.S. Pacific Coast while contending with her tumor and acromegaly. If you’re interested in stories about people engaging in their deepest will power to triumph over extreme challenges, then I highly urge you to check out The Road Unpaved.

The rock and roll legend, Billy J. Kramer, grew up in Bootle, a Liverpool suburb. Upon leaving school, he became a trainee engineer by day and aspiring singer by night, performing under the stage name Billy Kramer. Billy’s performances at local rock clubs around Liverpool soon brought him to the attention of the one and only John Lennon. John urged Brian Epstein to sign Billy to an exclusive management contract. Billy jumped at the opportunity to become a full-time entertainer. Soon after, Billy was summoned to Brian’s office to find John there waiting for him with the suggestion that he add the “J” to his name to give it a “rock and roll edge”. From that day forward, Billy has been known as Billy J. Kramer. In March of 1963, Billy was the first person to have a hit record with a Lennon-McCartney song, “Do You Want To Know A Secret,” which was written specially for him by John and Paul and produced by George Martin at Abbey Road Studios even before The Beatles recorded it. Billy toured extensively throughout the UK as the opening act for The Beatles both before and during Beatlemania. Billy also headlined tours with such greats as Del Shannon, Gene Pitney, and The Everly Brothers. Billy’s recordings of the Lennon-McCartney compositions, “Bad To Me” along with “I’ll Keep You Satisfied”, “From A Window”, and “I Call Your Name” all became international million sellers. He also had a smash hit with the Mort Shuman/John Leslie McFarland song, Little Children. Released as a double sided single, Bad To Me and Little Children have the unique distinction of being the highest entry into the Billboard charts at #8. That accomplishment has never been equalled. Billy’s appearances on the Ed Sullivan show, Shindig, and Hullaballoo secured his place in rock ‘n roll history. In 1964, Billy performed as part of the legendary T.A.M.I. show along with such artists as James Brown, Chuck Berry, The Beach Boys, Marvin Gaye, The Supremes , Smokey Robinson, The Rolling Stones and many others. To commemorate his 50th anniversary in the music business, Billy recorded and released new material entitled “I Won The Fight”. Billy recently released his autobiography, “Do You Want To Know A Secret.” Billy continues to record, perform and promote his Storytellers show to international audiences. Please stick around at the end of the show for a really fantastic treat. Billy has lent us his brand new Christmas song, “Christmas Kinda Feeling…”

Charlie Adlard has been a veteran of the comics industry for over 25 years. From 2003 to 2019 he spent the majority of his time drawing The Walking Dead through the conclusion of its run as a comic book series. He received many industry awards for his work on the series, culminating in winning the 2019 Sergio Aragonés International Award for Excellence in Comic Art. In his time as a cartoonist, Charlie has worked on many other projects as far-reaching as Mars Attacks, the X-Files, Judge Dredd, Savage, Batman, X-Men, and Superman. He’s also drawn many creator-owned projects closer to his heart, like Astronauts In Trouble, Breath Of The Wendigo, Codeflesh, Rock Bottom, Vampire State Building, White Death, Damn Them All, Heretic, and Altamont.

Lorie Kleiner Eckert thinks of herself as a cheerleader with the message: life is difficult, but you can handle it! For ten years, she worked as a motivational speaker, addressing more than 22,000 people during more than 250 appearances in 11 states. She’s spoken to every sort of group from PTAs to Procter & Gamble. What makes her programs unique is that they’re illustrated by her artwork, quilts with words and symbols pieced into the design. For three years, she wrote an award-winning motivational column that was syndicated in regional newspapers across the United States. Lorie also sells her motivational quilts on Etsy. In all formats – the spoken word, the written word, and the quilted word – Lorie uses the same M.O. She tells the stories of her life, hoping that her audience will glean life lessons from them. Her fifth book, Chai on Life, was published by Bancroft Press in April 2025. I’ve read Chai on Life and found it to be deeply inspiring in how I think of my life and how I can be a better me. I highly recommend Chai on Life to you.