Neighborhood Bookstore

On the Season One Finale of Neighborhood Bookstore, historian and journalist April White discusses her narrative nonfiction book THE DIVORCE COLONY.This episode particularly warms my heart. First, it is the culmination of all our work to make season one of Neighborhood Bookstore happen. Second, I have known this author, April White, since high school. It is such a privilege to see her career blossom and to chat about her amazing book.On this episode:Accidentally writing a Feminist narrativeRecording the forgotten corners of American historyHow 19th century “paparazzi” made it possible to research the Divorce ColonyWriting a women’s story, a frontier story, a story about scandal, a railroad story, a western, and a history bookDeadwood in the days after Wild Bill Hickok’s murderThe amazing record keeping of Sioux Falls, South DakotaWhat The Divorce Colony can tell us about our lives todayComing off of Smithsonian Magazine, the Washington Post, Boston Globe Magazine, Philly Magazine, and Atlas ObscuraThe emergence and (maybe) the end of no-fault divorceFollowing your curiosity back through historySpecial thanks to: my co-host, Craig Duster, owner and head ne’er-do-well at my favorite used bookstore Pop Art Books Culture. Craig always brings an enthusiastic, important, and original perspective to our interviews; my co-producers Eliza Osborn and Julie Cancio Harper, who helped this show get off the ground as well as cross the finish line; I must acknowledge the (uncredited) feedback I received from Robert Osborn, who surfed the first big wave of podcast production and shared his wisdom and experience with me; my narrator, Adam Federman, who donated his time and craft in between jobs in Los Angeles; my guests, who made time and space to talk with me about their craft and their experiences: James Grady, Christopher Barzak, Abby Vandiver (aka: Abby Collette), Peter Brandvold, David Morrell, and April White; and most of all, I must thank you, reader and listener, for showing up, for sharing community with me, and for providing encouragement and feedback. I enjoyed spending time with you so much.Neighborhood Bookstore podcast will be back, after a brief hiatus, for Season Two.You’re going to love it.

On episode 5 of the Neighborhood Bookstore podcast, bestselling author David Morrell (creator of Rambo) discusses his Bram Stoker Award-winning horror novel CREEPERS.In this episode:Researching and writing an urban exploration (UrbEx) thrillerWriting in “real time”The fascination of life frozen in timeNever getting over The Wild Bunch, and Peckinpah’s influence on writing action in First BloodCombining thriller, horror, mystery, and historyWriting the weird-but-true thingReaders feel more than they understandBeing a fan of James GradyDan Brown . . . IYKYKThe limiting nature of modern mediaHow Creepers the novel became Do Not Enter the (forthcoming) movieWriting a western, and what Taylor Sheridan got wrongEdgar Allen Poe’s theory of compositionJohn Barth’s triangulation of the senses: 3 senses in every scene.

Welcome to Episode 4 of Neighborhood Bookstore! Host Eric Harper talks with popular western author Peter Brandvold about his bounty hunter novel THE DEVIL AND LOU PROPHET.In this episode:•Baking bread and talking books•Writing a lighthearted western•Being classmates with David Foster Wallace•Writing for a market, being practical, and making money•Sex and violence!•The marketing genius of Mike Bray at Wolfpack Publishing•Wanting to be Norman Maclean, Jim Harrison, or Roger Welsh•The versatility of the western genre•Willa Cather is a western author•The challenge of wrapping up a series•Getting Craig started reading westerns•Will the western survive the next 10 years?•How Lou Prophet joined the Daisy Gumm Mysteries by Alice Duncan•Writing nonfiction about dogs•Planning a Viking series, exploring the rhinestone

Welcome to the third episode of Neighborhood Bookstore, an author interview podcast. Each month I’ll talk to an author about a book from their back catalog, then take a look at what they have coming up next.This time around, co-host Craig Duster and I chat with cozy mystery author Abby Collette about her novel A Deadly Inside Scoop.In this episode:• Learning the rules of writing cozy mysteries• The mysteries and charms of Chagrin Falls, Ohio• Does Crewse’s Creamery really exist?• The similarities and differences between indie publishing and mainstream publishing• Tackling a book series• Creating characters that are educated and professional• Writing a book in 30 days, and teaching others how to do it too• Transitioning from being an attorney and economics professor to full-time author• Receiving monthly checks from Amazon versus earning out an advance from Penguin• What makes a thriller?

Host Eric Harper talks with fantasy, horror, and Young Adult author Christopher Barzak about his haunted town novel The Gone Away Place.Listen to Neighborhood Bookstore here: <http://EricHarperPresents.Substack.com> or on other major podcast platforms. Coming soon:• Transcripts and Closed Captioned VideoBuy The Gone Away Place here: Buy Christopher Barzak’s latest books, MONSTROUS ALTERATIONS and A VOICE CALLING here and support POP Art Books Culture: <https://bookshop.org/shop/popabcstore> In this episode:• Having a book banned• When the countryside is dark and creepy• Sad ghosts and haunted towns• The tornadoes that attacked Ohio• Studying Clarissa Pinkola Estes and writing about community trauma• The supernatural: do you believe?• Having your work adapted: the novel One for Sorrow into the movie Jamie Marks Is Dead, and The Gone Away Place into a youth theater play• Sophomore slumps and new audiences• Recreating myths for a modern audience• No guilty pleasures, no gatekeeping

Host Eric Harper talks with bestselling author James Grady (Six Days of the Condor) about his hard-boiled crime novel Steeltown — based on Youngstown, Ohio and Butte, Montana. In this episode:• Riffing on Dashiel Hammett’s Red Harvest• Visiting Youngstown in 1988 and finding an underground casino five years before the FBI• 58 car bombings in a year • “The Bug” (IYKYK)• Hammett’s murder-for-hire contract • The killing of union organizer Frank Little• Organized crime in the heartland • Bruce Springsteen, the greatest author of a generation• Next time it will be Stealtown with an A• Changing pop culture with Six Days of the Condor• Day of the Locust by Nathanael West• Starting a new crime trilogy, and writing about working people