Bookshop Interview with Author Mark Mustian, Episode #236
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Release Date: 04/09/2025
Bookshop Interview with Author Butch Phelps, Episode #255
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Butch Phelps discusses his new book Stretch n’ Release: The Missing Piece to a More Pain-Free Life. Butch knows what pain feels like firsthand. At age 18, a car crash left him with a broken arm and a broken pelvis. By age 40, he was in such terrible shape and his back pain so severe that he had to roll out of bed in the morning onto his knees and crawl out of his car, using the door handles to pull himself upright. Butch began to study muscle therapy, eventually becoming a licensed therapist and certified health coach, and developed his own stretch-and-release technique over the span...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Amy Weinland Daughters, Episode #254
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Amy Weinland Daughters discusses her book, You Cannot Mess This Up: A True Story That Never Happened. Amy kicked around the idea for a funny little time travel story for very long time before actually writing it, finishing it, and sending it out into the world. You Cannot Mess This Up is the story of Amy going back in time to her childhood home in 1978 to spend 36 hours with her family over the Thanksgiving holiday. She meets her ten-year-old self and rediscovers what a wonderful, funny, vibrant person she used to be. By the end of writing this story, Amy wanted to be that 10-year-old...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Claire Barner, Episode #253
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Claire Barner discusses her debut novel, Moonrising. This sci fi romance takes place approximately 50 years in the future and is set largely on the moon’s first colony. Main character, Dr. Alex Cole, has spent her life looking for ways to solve earth’s growing food problem. When her funding is threatened, she finds herself being thrown a lifeline by a charismatic businessman who hires her to create a sustainable food source for the moon’s first hotel. While living on the moon and trying to grow food is challenging enough, back home on earth support for her plans to save the...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Candace Kade, Episode #252
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Candace Kade discusses her new novel, Augmented—the third and final installment in The Hybrid series. Our heroine, Lee Urban, is a Natural (someone born without genetic enhancements) who is fighting to dismantle the enhancement programs while trying to outmaneuver those who wish to erase her existence. Lee is someone who straddles two worlds—that of the Naturals and the Enhanced—but feels that she doesn’t really belong to either one. Is it possible that she is the one person who can be a bridge between them? Maybe—if she can stay alive long enough to find out. Candace also...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Alex R. Johnson, Episode #251
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Alex R. Johnson discusses his debut novel, Brooklyn Motto. This book, set in New York City in 1998, is Alex’s take on classic noir detective fiction. In it, Nico, a disillusioned private investigator, makes his living by photographing municipal employees suspected of insurance fraud. He’s approaching thirty, wondering where his career is going, and realizing he has to grow up and start making active choices about his life. During one of his PI jobs, Nico witnesses a murder involving a corrupt police officer. While he has no desire to entangle himself in anything involving police...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Lois Melbourne, Episode #250
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Lois Melbourne discusses her new sci fi novel, Moral Code. Lois was inspired by the idea of an ethical Artificial Intelligence that could protect children. In Moral Code, her main character, Dr. Keira Stetson, creates such an AI. Dr. Stetson begins by using it as her assistant, which she names Elly, and eventually uses it to help the FBI and other agencies identify dangers to kids. As the AI learns and grows, Elly becomes more vigilante than humble assistant. Lois admits that it took work to strike the right balance between technology and creativity when writing this novel, but at its...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Geoff Loftus, Episode #249
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Geoff Loftus discusses his new book, The Devil’s Vacation. It is the tenth book in his Jack Tyrrell thriller series. The main character, Jack Tyrrell, is a former Special Forces veteran and Deputy U.S. Marshall who solves crimes and rights wrongs with the help of his guardian angel. In The Devil’s Vacation, which is set on a small island off the coast of Rhode Island, Jack finds his summer vacation interrupted by a brutal double murder. The deaths have familiar hallmarks, and Jack and his guardian angel are forced into a confrontation with evil in the form of a serial killer and...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Peter Gribble, Episode #248
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Peter Gribble discusses his new City of Magicians series. The first three books in the series—Threat, Within, and Quickening—are available now, and Peter is hard at work on books four through six. In this fantasy series, a society built on intellect and pacifism is forced to confront a brute-force barbarian invasion. Can the society survive? Peter’s stories challenge the ideas of war, power and the control of knowledge as a weapon. He was inspired by his early childhood spent in France, where he was taught to never speak about WWII. This silence about the war and the practice of...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Veeda Bybee, Episode #247
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Veeda Bybee discusses her new cookbook, A Few of My Favorite Things: Recipes Inspired by Family-Friendly Musicals. Once upon a time, Veeda Bybee was a food blogger. But as family and other commitments grew, maintaining the blog became too much work, and she eventually gave it up. This cookbook marks a return to writing about food and cooking, and she admits that it is a dream come true. During the pandemic, Veeda and her family began enjoying Family Musical Fridays, during which they watched a musical together, and Veeda prepared a recipe mentioned in the movie or inspired by the...
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Bookshop Interview with Author Joan Fernandez, Episode #246
The Bookshop at the End of the Internet
Author Joan Fernandez discusses her new novel, Saving Vincent. This work of historical fiction is the story of Jo Van Gogh, sister-in-law of painter Vincent Van Gogh and wife of Vincent’s brother Theo. After the death of her husband, who died only six months after his brother, Jo inherited Vincent’s artwork. At that time, the paintings were worthless, but Jo worked tirelessly to persuade people to take Vincent’s art seriously. Eventually, people began to appreciate his art and buy his paintings. Thus, it was Jo who promoted the work, developed a market for the paintings, and rescued...
info_outlineAuthor Mark Mustian discusses his new Southern Gothic novel, Boy with Wings. In this work of historical fiction, a boy named Johnny Cruel is born with wing-like appendages on his back. Is he a miracle, or is he cursed? Johnny ends up in a freak show traveling through the South in the 1930’s. While he bares his back for the entertainment of onlookers, he finds that the very thing that shocks people also gives him power. Mark had long wanted to write a book about “odd people,” and he knew he finally had something special when he struck upon the idea of Johnny Cruel, the boy with wings. In this story, Mark delves into the idea of what it’s like to be different, as well as issues of race and religion in the South during the 1930s.