019: Albert Wendland - Author, Haunted Stars

Albert Wendland is the author of three sci-fi novels and a poetry collection, all featuring his character Mykol (pronounced "Michael") Ranglen as a universe-exploring poet adventurer. His newest novel is "Haunted Stars" and is available now from Dog Star Books. Apart from the poetry collection - which features poems written by Ranglen - the books are adventures colored by Golden Age sci-fi yearnings but with a noir sensibility added in. You wonder who to trust. You wonder what the next discovery will mean for the humans bouncing between stars. You turn each page with wonder. Wendland is also co-founder of the Seton Hill University Writing Popular Fiction MFA, alongside Lee McClain. He still teaches there in an adjunct capacity while also writing and doing things other than writing to stay sane, just like his character Ranglen. We chat about the MFA program, how he came to create his sci-fi alter ego, what it's like writing multiple stories with a recurring character, plus how teaching plays into his reading and writing. Find his work at https://albertwendland.blogspot.com/ and to learn more about the Writing Popular Fiction program visit https://www.setonhill.edu/academics/graduate-programs/writing-popular-fiction-mfa/faculty/. Thank you to Albert for the discussion and thank you for listening! -- -- -- -- Links to all of my work are available here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson. If you'd like to support the show, you can buy books from my Bookshop affiliate link https://bookshop.org/lists/ledger-guests, leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts, or share the show with someone you think will love it. Thank you so much!