Mary Schlegel grew up in the American Midwest, spending as much time outdoors as indoors, acting out imaginary adventures with her dog and horse, fancying herself a Medieval princess, and devouring literary fiction. She is now a full-time mom, homemaker, author, and artist. She writes fantasy and science fiction that are heavily inspired by her love of nature, science, and history, and her style is influenced by the literary fiction she loves to this day.
Mary is an unashamed tea fanatic, and was formerly a professional tea taster and brewer. She also has an unusual superpower for finding four-leafed clovers everywhere she goes, including foreign countries. She considers free-climbing a two-hundred-foot cliff on the coast of Northern Ireland, and working on a dinosaur excavation in Colorado to be among her more remarkable accomplishments. She, her husband, and their children live in a quiet village in the south of Ireland, where she enjoys working in their orchard and hunting for sea glass on the beach.
We talk about Mary's project for her Princess & the Pea retelling. We go down a rabbit trail about tea right off the bat. But we get back on track and have a lengthy discussion about skinwalkers and how they figure into her current project.
We also discuss losing her husband, Aaron Schlegel, in 2022, and everything that happened in its aftermath. Aaron was also an author, and we discuss the various aspects of dealing with another author's body of work after their death.
Mary spills the tea about her remarriage and the lengths her church went to put her and her second husband together, and moving to Ireland earlier this year.
Be sure to check Mary out on Substack!
Substack.com/@MarySchlegelAuthor
The Victorian City by Judith Flanders
Alyssa Hazel is a writer and poet who enjoys exploring the weird, wonky, and wonderful through her work. Though she specializes in Odd Tales and Horror, she dabbles in Fantasy and Science Fiction. Her pieces have found homes in Bluestem, the Red Coyote, and the Dark River Review. Her six books include; The Twitching Light Trilogy, The Third Test, To Those Who Haunt You, and Among the Juniper Trees. Her latest release--as of the day of this recording!--is the Twitching Light Omnibus.
We discuss the Twitching Light Omnibus, as well as her book coming out in July "The Beta Initiative", the sequel to "The Third Test."
Alyssa offers advice for marketing for authors and how she works her strategy. She talks about the time and intentionality it takes.
We rabbit trail on how insidious the IRS is (they can find us in space!)
And discuss her brainstorming techniques (you won't believe how she achieves it!) She recommends this YouTube channel for inspiration.
Overall, we really enjoyed having Alyssa on and hope the best for her upcoming projects!
You can find out more about Alyssa and her upcoming works on her website.
** Note: there was some issue with Aaron's audio and he couldn't be heard a chunk of the time. Not sure what was going on there...
We talk to the always awesome Tosca Lee, discussing her latest book, The Long March Home, a fictionalized account of the Bataan Death March from WWII.
She discusses the difference in writing process as a solo author, working Ted Dekker, and writing with Marcus Brotherton.
Tosca discusses what's the most difficult thing for her to write, and you'll never guess what that is!
Tosca and Liberty geek out about Midwest life. And who would Tosca sit down with for a monthly lunch?
You can find out more about Tosca at her website, ToscaLee.com .
Today, we're talking to Lauren Brandenburg.
We talk about Lauren's favorite book as a kid (The Last of the Really Great Whangdoodles by Julie Andrews Edwards), her upcoming 10th book in the Gardener series, being the MC for Realm Makers, her hall of art on her website from her readers, and her guidance she offers to new writers.
Lauren H. Brandenburg drinks hot cocoa every single morning and unashamedly has an alarm clock with bunny ears. She’s a multi-award-winning author, including an American Christian Fiction Writers’ Carol Award winner, Realm Award and Selah Award finalist, as well as a finalist for the People’s Book Prize in the UK. Lauren writes to give young readers and grown-ups epic stories and cozy tales of fantastically lovely places to dwell. But most importantly, she’s a wife and mother who loves our Heavenly Father so very much! She currently lives with her husband, Jamie, and their children in a lovely little town just south of Nashville, Tennessee.
Visit her at LaurenHBrandenburg.com
It's our first solo episode in ...mutters...
Well, we're not exactly sure how long. But still!
Aaron, Josh, and Liberty sit down to discuss what we're currently working on, our most recent projects, and among the rabbit trails, we also discuss the things we wish we knew when we first started publishing. Overall, for a free-wheeling show like ours, we managed to keep it on track. cough, cough uh-huh.
You can check out our personal projects on the following sites:
Aaron:
His website, AaronDeMott.com
Josh:
X.com
Today, we talk about the upcoming Realm Makers Expo, the outgrowth of the Realm Makers Writer's Conference. It's happening July 18 - 20, 2025 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
To find out more, check out RealmMakers.com .
Find the RealmSphere here.
Today we have returning guest, Lindsay Franklin! Our longtime listeners might remember her from our VERY FIRST episode in 2016!
We talk about her upcoming release, The Unraveling of Emlyn DuLaine. We discuss the starts of the character of Emlyn, which reach back to her first story as an adult writer.
Other topics discussed:
Lindsay A. Franklin is the Carol Award–winning author of The Story Peddlerand ECPA best-selling author of Adored. By day, she wrangles chaos as Managing Editor of Enclave Publishing. By night, she spins whimsical tales fueled by hot drinks, rainy days, and the thunderous purrs of her spoiled cats. Lindsay lives among the misty evergreens of thePacific Northwest with her family. She is currently on a quest to discover the sparkliest nail polish on the planet.
You can find out more about Lindsay and her work at LindsayAFranklin.com.
Today with our 5th Season Debut, we have 4-time returning guest, H.L. (Heidi) Burke!
We talk to her about the upcoming DOSA Files Anthology (Volume 2!) which our very own Aaron DeMott is a part of.
We also talk the RPG writing she's doing and the perils of doing a book launch just before Christmas.
Also : MUTANT CARIBOU!
H. L. Burke has written more books than she can count—because she's written a lot of books, not just because she can't count very high.
Easily distracted by shinies, she has published in many subgenres including fantasy romance, Steampunk, and superhero, and always creates story worlds with snark, feels, and wonder.
Married to her high school crush, a now retired Marine, she spends her time writing, spoiling her cats, and supervising her two supervillains in training (aka her precocious daughters).
Originally from Oregon, but currently living in a forest in West Virginia, she wilts without trees and doesn't mind the rain. She is a fan of delicious flavor, a follower of the Light, and a believer in happily ever after.
You can find more about H.L. Burke's books at HLBurkeAuthor.com.
Kerry Nietz is an award-winning science fiction author. He has twelve speculative novels in print, along with two novellas, a handful of short stories, and a non-fiction book, FoxTales.
Kerry’s novel A Star Curiously Singing won the Readers Favorite Gold Medal Award for Christian Science Fiction and is notable for its dystopian, cyberpunk vibe in a world under sharia law. It is often mentioned on “Best of” lists.
Among his writings, Kerry's most talked about is the genre-bending Amish Vampires in Space. AViS was mentioned on the Tonight Show and in the Washington Post, Library Journal, and Publishers Weekly. Newsweek called it “a welcome departure from the typical Amish fare.”
Kerry is a refugee of the software industry. He spent more than a decade of his life flipping bits, first as one of the principal developers for the now mythical Fox Software, and then as one of Bill Gates's minions at Microsoft. He is a husband, a father, a technophile and a movie buff.
In this episode, we talk about his latest book, Rhats Free, set in the Takamo Universe--which was an education for us as the hosts because we weren't old enough to know about this.
The show kind of runs the gamut in topics as we talk writing, marketing, and Kerry's other creative pursuits.
Learn more about Kerry at Nietz.com.
Back in the day, Gretchen E K Engel enjoyed penning her English teacher’s favorite essays as
much as earning highest marks in physics. But science won over the arts, and Gretchen pursued a
career as a chemical engineer. Her love of the written word was not neglected as she authored
hundreds of technical documents including such riveting works as Spill Prevention, Controls and
Countermeasure Plans and Storm Water Pollution Prevention Plans.
She lives in Tucson with her husband, her daughter aka Young Realmie, and her extroverted
tuxedo cat, plus a college-aged son across town. Ms. Engel enjoys playing tennis, biking, hiking,
traveling, or lying on a pool float doing nothing.
An environmental consultant by day and speculative fiction writer by night, Gretchen researches
STEM characters in a professional setting and gets paid to do it. She has published short stories
in anthologies and magazines. Her manuscript The Barber Surgeon won the ACFW Genesis
Award for speculative fiction.
Havok Legendary Anthology: https://amzn.to/4frjSGM
Stalk Gretchen on Instagram: Instagram.com/GretchenEKEngel