"Now, Appalachia"

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Bobi Conn about her new novel SOMEPLACE LIKE HOME. Bobi Conn is the author of A Woman in Time and the memoir In the Shadow of the Valley. Born in Morehead, Kentucky, and raised in a nearby holler, Bobi developed a deep connection with the land and her Appalachian roots. She obtained her bachelor’s degree at Berea College, the first school in the American South to integrate racially and to teach men and women in the same classrooms. She also attended graduate school, where she earned a master’s degree in English with an emphasis in creative writing. In addition to writing, Bobi loves playing pool, telling jokes, cooking, being in the woods, attempting to grow a garden, and spending time with her incredible children. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell W. Johnson about his latest novel THE MOUNTAIN MYSTIC. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by ​Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association’s Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft’s Cinematic Novel competition. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Ellen Burkett Morris about her debut novel BEWARE THE TALL GRASS. Morris is also the author of Abide and Surrender, poetry chapbooks. Her poetry has appeared in The Clackamas Literary Review, Juked, Gastronomica, and Inscape, among other journals and in eight anthologies. Morris won top prize in the 2008 Binnacle Ultra-Short Edition and was a finalist for the 2019 and 2020 Rita Dove Poetry Prize. Her poem “Abide” was featured on NPR’s A Way with Words. Her essays have appeared in Newsweek, AARP’s The Ethel, Oh Reader magazine, and on National Public Radio. Morris holds an MFA in creative writing from Queens University-Charlotte and lives in Louisville, Kentucky. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author MB Mooney about his latest speculative fiction novel THE SHIELD OF THE KING. MB Mooney believes Great Stories Change the World, and he loves to live and tell great stories. In the 2nd grade, Mooney was bored and getting in trouble, so his teacher said, “Why don’t you write me a story?” He’s been writing science fiction and fantasy stories ever since. Check out his YouTube channel, Great Stories Change the World, for reviews and tips on writing. MB Mooney lives in the Atlanta, GA area with his amazing wife, three creative kids, and a mischievous dog. You will often find him fueled by coffee and rocking out to heavy metal when he writes. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author John Copenhaver about his latest novel HALL OF MIRRORS. won the 2019 Macavity Award for Best First Mystery for Dodging and Burning and the 2021 Lambda Literary Award for Best Mystery for The Savage Kind. He is a co-founder of Queer Crime Writers and an at-large board member of Mystery Writers of America. He cohosts on the House of Mystery Radio Show. He’s a faculty mentor in the University of Nebraska’s Low-Residency MFA program and teaches at Virginia Commonwealth University. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Karen Spears Zacharias about her new novel NO PERFECT MOTHERS. Karen Spears Zacharias is an American writer whose work focuses on women and justice. She holds an MA in Appalachian Studies from Shepherd University and an MA in Creative Media Practice from the University of West Scotland. She lives at the foot of the Cascade Mountains in Deschutes County, Oregon. Zacharias taught First-Amendment Rights at Central Washington University and continues to teach at writing workshops around the country. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews western author R.G. Yoho about his latest western BITTER WATER. R.G. Yoho is a West Virginia native with a passion for history and tales of the American West. Raised on a cattle farm, he is the prolific author of multiple Western novels, along with works of fiction and nonfiction. Yoho is a former president of the West Virginia Writers. Living with his wife near the banks of the Ohio River, Yoho is also a proud member of the Western Writers of America. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Carter Taylor Seaton about her latest novel GUILT. Carter Taylor Seaton is the author of three novels: Father's Troubles (Mid-Atlantic Highlands Pub, 2022); amo, amas, amat.an unconventional love story (CreateSpace Independent, 2011); and The Other Morgans (Koehler Books, 2020), as well as numerous magazine articles, and several essays and short stories. Her non-fiction works include Hippie Homesteaders (West Virginia University Press, 2014), The Rebel in the Red Jeep (West Virginia University Press, 2017), Me and Mary Ann (2018), and We Were Legends In Our Own Minds (Mountain State Press, Inc., 2020). --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Chris McGinley about his new novel ONCE THESE HILLS. Chris lives in Lexington, Kentucky where he writes crime fiction set in the hills of Appalachia and teaches middle school social studies and English. His story "Hellbenders" made the "Other Distinguished Stories of 2018" list in BEST AMERICAN MYSTERY STORIES of 2019. His work has appeared in Mystery Tribune, Mystery Weekly, Tough, Pulp Modern, Switchblade, and on other sites and outlets. COAL BLACK (Shotgun Honey Books) is his first collection. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Susan Zurenda about her second novel THE GIRL FROM THE RED ROSE MOTEL. Susan taught English for thirty-three years to college and high school students. Her debut novel, BELLS FOR ELI, has received several awards including first place for Best First Book--Fiction in the 2021 Independent Publisher Book Awards. Zurenda has also published and won numerous awards for her short fiction. A life-long South Carolinian, she lives in Spartanburg. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, David Joy returns to the program to discuss his latest novel THOSE WE THOUGHT WE KNEW. David is the author of When These Mountains Burn (winner of the 2020 Dashiell Hammett Award), The Line That Held Us (winner of the 2018 SIBA Book Prize), The Weight of This World, and Where All Light Tends to Go (Edgar finalist for Best First Novel). Joy lives in Tuckasegee, North Carolina. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Kelly Ford about her latest thriller THE HUNT. Kelly Ford is the author of Real Bad Things and the award-winning Cottonmouths, a novel of “impressive depths of character and setting” according to the Los Angeles Review, which named it one of its Best Books of 2017. An Arkansas native, Kelly writes crime fiction set in the Ozarks and the Arkansas River Valley. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot welcomes back author Meagan Lucas to talk about her new short story collection HERE IN THE DARK. Meagan Lucas is the author of the award-winning novel, Songbirds and Stray Dogs (2019) and the forthcoming collection, Here in the Dark (Shotgun Honey, July 2023). Meagan’s short work can be found in places like Santa Fe Writers’ Project, Still: The Journal, Bull Magazine, Change Seven, and Pithead Chapel. Meagan is Pushcart, Best of the Net, Derringer, and Canadian Crime Writers’ Award of Excellence nominated, won the 2017 Scythe Prize for Fiction, and Songbirds and Stray Dogs was North Carolina’s selection for the Library of Congress Center for the Book’s 2022 Route 1 Reads program. She teaches Creative Writing at Robert Morris University and is the Editor-in-Chief of Reckon Review. Born and raised on a small island in Northern Ontario, she now calls the mountains of Western North Carolina home. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author M. Hendrix about her young adult debut novel THE CHAPERONE. M Hendrix is the author of two previous books. She lives in Bowling Green, Kentucky, with her husband, novelist David Bell. The Chaperone is her YA debut. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Jim Minick about his latest non-fiction work: WITHOUT WARNING: THE TORNADO OF UDALL, KANSAS. Jim is the author or editor of seven books, including the award-winning Fire Is Your Water and The Blueberry Years: A Memoir of Farm and Family. His work has appeared in numerous publications, including the New York Times, Poets and Writers, Oxford American, Orion, and Shenandoah. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews poet Susan O'Dell Underwood about her latest collection titled SPLINTER. Susan O'Dell Underwood is a native of East Tennessee, where she has lived most of her life. She's the director of creative writing at Carson-Newman University. She has published one earlier collection, The Book of Awe (Iris Press, 2018), a novel, Genesis Road (Madville Publishing, 2022), and two chapbooks. Her poems and fiction have appeared in journals and anthologies such as A Southern Poetry Anthology: Tennessee, Oxford American, Alaska Quarterly Review, Tupelo Quarterly, and Still: The Journal. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Michael Farris Smith about his latest novel SALVAGE THIS WORLD. Michael Farris Smith is an award-winning writer whose novels have appeared on Best of the Year lists with Esquire, NPR, Southern Living, Garden & Gun, Book Riot, and numerous other outlets, and have been named Indie Next, Barnes & Noble Discover, and Amazon Best of the Month selections. He has also written the feature-film adaptations of his novels Desperation Road and The Fighter, titled for the screen as Rumble Through the Dark. He lives in Oxford, Mississippi, with his wife and daughters. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Russell Johnson about his latest crime thriller THE MOONSHINE MESSIAH: A MOUNTAINEER MYSTERY. Russell is a fiction writer and North Carolina attorney. His debut story, "Chung Ling Soo's Greatest Trick," was published by ​Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine in January 2015 and won the Edgar Award's Robert L. Fish Memorial prize for best short story by a new author. Since then he's been published in a number of outlets and recently won the West Virginia Writers Association’s Pearl S. Buck Award, as well as first place for book length fiction. In addition, he has been a nominee or finalist for the Pushcart Prize, Claymore Award and Screencraft’s Cinematic Novel competition. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews Ohio crime fiction author Andrew Welsh-Huggins about his latest thriller THE END OF THE ROAD. Andrew is a former reporter for the Associated Press, editor of “Columbus Noir” and author of the Andy Hayes detective series; “An Empty Grave,” the seventh book, was nominated for a Shamus Award in the Best Original Paperback PI Novel category by the Private Eye Writers of America. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support

On the latest episode of Now, Appalachia, Eliot interviews author Travis Rountree about his new book "Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia's Most Notorious Shoot-Out."Travis an assistant professor of English at Western Carolina University. His writings have appeared in North Carolina Folklore Journal, Appalachian Journal, Journal of Southern History, and Storytelling in Queer Appalachia: Imagining and Writing the Unspeakable Other. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/eliot-parker/support