Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

For further information on Mark - visit: https://markfryday.com/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Sana has been described as honest, enthusiastic and someone who dares to be different in her approach. Her ability to really listen creates connection and trust with the audience. She holds space for meaningful conversations and the ability to provide a safe space for people to share and be vulnerable.

Located in the beautiful Busselton-Margaret River Region in Western Australia, Sana is a motivational keynote speaker on courage-related topics and she facilitates individual and workplace programs on A Healthy Mind in Business and Holism & Mindset in Business: The new success currency.

In this episode of Book Realities she discusses why she wrote the Courage Journal and also how she is dealing with a recent medical revelation in her life.

You can follow Sana at : https://courageunravelled.com/about/

And listen to her Courage Unravelled Podcasts at: https://courageunravelled.com/podcasts/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Discover more at

https://bookreality.com/project/mark-anthony/

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dean was born in Perth, Western Australia. Growing up in the southern suburbs of Rockingham he cultivated a small but close group of friends who shared his love for gaming, reading, and eventually writing. For as long he could remember, Dean has always loved the idea of writing a book, often writing fan fictions that never got past five chapters, or original ideas that never got past one.

Eventually one stuck, and what was originally a half-formed concept he came up with for him and his friends to play around with, evolved into an ongoing project that would go on to see the light of day as his first book, The Order of Elysium. Influenced by Nordic and many other myths and legends, Dean has woven these into a stunning lore of his own.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2020, US-based author, Rica Keenum, suggested the possibility of an anthology based on the topic of Forgiveness. As the world ground to a halt under the restrictions of the Covid-19 pandemic the idea took a back seat, but in 2021, during the prolonged lockdowns, twenty-one women from across four continents were invited to write about their experiences of forgiveness through the medium of poetry or prose, fiction or non-fiction. The result is an anthology that lays bare the shared need to forgive or to be forgiven. Featuring the writing of multiple-award winning authors, hailing from Las Vegas to Florida, from South Africa to Northern Ireland and from near Perth in Scotland to near Perth in Western Australia, Forgiveness is the Hardest Thing is an inspiring collection to draw from when you too are wondering, how can I forgive?.

One of the authors who submitted a piece for the anthology was, Lee Gaitan. An award-winning author of four books, including the Amazon #1 Bestseller My Pineapples Went to Houston, First Edition, and Lite Whines and Laughter, which garnered three international book awards and for which she was named a First Place Winner for Georgia Independent Author of the Year. She has authored chapters in several bestselling books and award-winning anthologies. Her work has been featured on The Huffington Post, Erma Bombeck Humor Writers’ Workshop, The Good Men Project, Mothers Always Write, Enchanted Conversations, and Bella Grace among others. Her blog entries have earned a first-place win and honorable mention from the National Society of Newspaper Columnists, and she is a winner of the Nickie’s Prize Writing Competition. Her 2021 release, My Pineapples Went to Houston, Second Edition, has already won two awards.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether he’s producing radio documentaries and screenplays about the enchanting world of Light Entertainment, podcasting with industry icons like Jimmy Tarbuck, Barry Cryer, and Ben Elton, or authoring books like this one, Barry has consistently shown that a disability is no match for bucket loads of passion and even more talent. However, while the bright lights of showbiz may be calling, Barry remains happiest when he’s back home, in the company of friends and family, enjoying a leisurely summer evening’s stroll along the Cowes' seafront. You can also find Josh’s autobiography “Adapted” for sale online or by order from all good bookstores.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This is the latest in our series of Book Realities.

Alix is based in Australia and is a fantasy and sci-fi fan first and foremost, as well as being a member of the Institute of Professional Editors. She holds a Master of Arts, specialising in publishing and editing. Having edited more than 50 manuscripts for independent authors, in addition to academic articles and journals, she was formerly the in-house editor for the University of Southern Queensland’s Social Engagement and Marketing Team. She also has extensive experience in the editing of complex technical papers for Public Service Departments. 

Website: https://moxieediting.com.au/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MoxieEditing

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An accomplished classical singer, Robert C Littlewood was born in Catford in the Borough of Lewisham, London. He emigrated to Australia with his family arriving in 1964 initially in Perth, Western Australia. He went on to work in many different jobs before completing a Bachelor of Education and going on to be a Primary School teacher. After 15 years in the classroom he left to become a consultant in industrial relations and HR management.

In his singing career, Robert was a chorus member and soloist in the 1990’s with the West Australian Opera Company subsequently being billed as one of WA’s leading operatic tenors. He still maintains an interest in singing and performs on the amateur stage now in his adopted home of Bunbury, Western Australia where he lives with his wife Marilyn.

With a deep and abiding love for the genres of science fiction and fantasy, he decided, like one of his literary heroes, CS Lewis, that he wanted to write the kind of novel he would like to read himself. Hiving completed the first two books, Deviance and Convergence in ‘The Balance Wars’ trilogy, he is currently working on Book 3 Equilibrium. 

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Barbara Ann Quinlan was, by her own admission, the archetype "wild child" in her teens and early adulthood. Romantically linked to Zohar Argov, widely known in Israel as 'The king of Mizrahi music', she also rubbed shoulders with Elizabeth Taylor, Rod Steiger and many more of Hollywood's elite.

An actress, trained by world-famous theater director, Jerzy Grotowski, at his Theater Laboratory in Wroclaw, Poland, Barbara also studied Kathakali, No and Kabuki Theater, ancient Chinese resonator techniques for the voice, Thai Chi and Chi Gong, among countless other exercises aimed at breaking down one’s resistances in order to develop the actor as an uberman,

After many years studying Chi Gong, she became a Chi Master and for the next 20 years had a successful career as a massage therapist, uniquely incorporating Chi Gong to do energy healing.

Having lived in Paris, she has traveled extensively including long stays in Israel, (holding dual citizenship with Israel and the United States).

With a life story as remarkable as hers, there's a good reason it took three volumes to document it. The Love Seeker trilogy is a tour de force of a force of nature.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Born in Tasmania, Peter spent his childhood growing up on a dairy farm in the north of the state, before joining the Australian Defense Forces while still in his teens. He spent the following twenty seven years living around Australia with many deployments overseas.

On leaving the ADF, he and his wife moved back to Tasmania to enjoy a life of semi-retirement. This was short-lived as he decided to move back into the permanent workforce for another twenty years.

In 2021 he retired ‘properly’ and lives with his wife near Hobart, Tasmania so as to be close to family. His new novel Glacier is set on the island of Malta in pre-history and follows the adventures of a boy called Ka'desh,

In 1991 the natural mummy of a 5000-year old man was found in the Otztal Alps between Austria and Italy. He was unique.

Until now.

In the pre-history of the Mediterranean, a boy growing towards manhood is identified as the subject of a prophecy. Ka’desh, wanting a quiet existence, is thrust into a life that will be far from ordinary as it has been foretold that he will rewrite his people’s history. From his island home on Malta, he must cross the open seas to the island of Sicily and eventually to the Italian mainland. Each step of his journey will be fraught with danger and strengthened with human friendships that are timeless.

And when the ages pass and some 5,000 years have come and gone, is it his body that is found high up in the alps, near to Otzi? Is it his body and the artefacts surrounding him that will rewrite history?

Is he the boy in the Glacier?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A former Commonwealth Games double silver medalist in cycling, Murray brought his first book out in 2018, a non-fiction account of his great-grandfather's experiences in the First World War. Now though, he is back with his first fiction novel, Unlikely Barons, set in Western Australia's "wild west". The Kimberley town of Broome in the 1990's.

Join him and host, Ian Hooper in discussion about this fictional (but set on so much fact) book of crime capers and the most unlikely criminal barons you'll ever meet.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this last episode we meet Mark Anthony, author of the supernatural thriller series, LIT. Completing the first instalment whilst working as a registered nurse during the COVID-19 pandemic, Mark described the time as, “Tension ran the globe. Everyone felt it. If I was going to write something unsettling, the atmosphere was right.”

With a talent for writing strong characters and creating macabre realities for them to live in; LIT is a psychological horror that collides two worlds with raw, eerie and terrifying consequences. When your anger literally raises hell, how do you live?

Mark is currently completing the second instalment and hopes to continue producing stories that captivate the reader with fully realised characters and original storylines.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this, the penultimate episode of season 1, we meet poet, Wanda Penalver Bevan. Born in Ithaca, New York, as early as elementary school, she was involved in activities that had a focus on writing; from winning the “Very Best Writing” award for penmanship in the first grade, to editor of the school newspaper in the 12th grade. In between, she recalls being asked by her ninth-grade teacher to write a stage adaptation of O. Henry’s 1905 short story, “The Gift of the Magi”, which became the school play that year.

When Wanda received her bachelor’s degree from Northwestern University, many were surprised that she hadn’t studied at the university’s Medill School of Journalism. However, after high school, she had decided her interest in writing was second to her passion for theatre, which ultimately became her major.

Following college, Wanda moved to Los Angeles, where she had a mildly successful career in acting for stage and TV. She’s also worked as a legal assistant, event specialist, and hotel industry professional. Throughout these career changes, Wanda continued to write.

In addition to two screenplays, she’s the songwriter of Little Girl, a tribute to the youngest victim of the 2011 Tucson shooting, and her poem America’s Child is on display at the Oklahoma City National Memorial honoring those who lost their lives in the Murrah Federal Building bombing in 1995. In 2016, she published her first novel, Their Souls Met in Wishton.

Wanda lives in Phoenix, Arizona, after residing three decades in southern California, whose ocean shores will always have a piece of her heart. She loves to travel, and doesn’t fully trust anyone who doesn’t like animals. Greater than any gift she’s received in life, are her three daughters, and she hopes to become just like them when she grows up.

Her anthology, A Slow Dance in Memoriam, contains poems that provide windows to the author’s deeply personal experience of emotions influenced by the things in life we all encounter at some point or another. Including poems written throughout the past four decades, the style combines prose and free verse, and reflect the musings of a woman from young adulthood through maturity.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode we meet Tricia Trevaskis, who was born into a family of six girls in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. After gaining her teaching qualifications at Geelong Teacher’s College, she worked as a primary school teacher while continuing to study for her Bachelor of Arts, majoring in Creative Writing. Leaving Geelong, aged 25, she and her husband lived in various towns in regional Victoria and NSW, before heading with their family to Western Australia, in 2002.

Despite a brief foray into journalism, she always maintained her passion for teaching. With four children and five grandchildren, she lives with her husband, Greg in Bunbury, WA, close to the ocean and not too far from the golf course. Having nurtured the draft of a manuscript for a considerable amount of time, in late 2021, Tricia dusted it off and updated it. Her resultant novel, The Wildcards is a sports fiction tale of two brothers, whose chance introduction to tennis surprises them when they discover an aptitude and untapped skills.

Their new obsession leads to dreams of a tennis future, but they are late starters in a game where some prodigies have been playing since kindergarten. How much are the brothers prepared to sacrifice and will they ever manage to close the gap on those who have been playing for years?

In the era of major sponsors and all time Grand-Slam Champions, can a couple of Aussie wildcard teenagers really make a breakthrough in the world of tennis?

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If you meet Lee-Ann, she probably won’t say much, but you can read some of her thoughts at leeannkhoh.com.

Her first novel, Black and Blue is a Black is a contemporary coming-of-age story about mental health, the power of music and trying to find a place in the world.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Both multi-award winners in their own disciplines, artist Tina Salvesen and writer, Celia Straus have been friends for a long time. During the Covid pandemic they decided to collaborate (over long-distance) to produce the first in a children's illustrated series called the BoBo and Iris Series.

BoBo is an orphaned baby elephant who lives in a Sanctuary in Kenya. His new best friend, Iris, a wise and whimsical Egret, teaches him how to survive and thrive in his new elephant family. The books are intended to explore the life skills learned by elementary schoolers, as well as themes of endangered African wildlife. 

A portion of proceeds from this series is donated to global charities dedicated to saving elephants and other endangered species.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On finishing school he completed a Medical degree at Sydney University and went on to complete a PhD in Molecular Medicine at the John Curtin School of Medical Research at the Australian National University. From there he undertook at Post-doctoral fellowship in the USA before returning to Australia and moving to Perth where he continued his basic Science and Clinical research as a Professor at the University of Western Australia. Currently an Adjunct Professor, he continues his research work having published over 120 peer-reviewed research papers and a number of book chapters. With four children and as yet no grandchildren, outside of his medical discipline, Ian is involved in the arts as an ambassador to STRUT Dance, plays the Alto Sax and learnt vocal technique for several years. He even considered pursuing a Musical Theatre career.

As an avid Fantasy and Science fiction reader as a teenager he loved the way new worlds could be created and populated by the imagination. He also loved the classics, particularly Jane Austen and the way she wrote in such beautiful melodic waves of prose. Having talked about writing a fantasy novel for over 30 years it has finally come to fruition. He wanted to try to write it in a way that was a little bit different to the standard fantasy novel and so here is the result, his debut novel the first of a three part series, Blood Influence Vol 1.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After a short nursing career, Helene married a school teacher and raised a large family, whilst all the time writing ‘covertly’ as a young mother – short fiction, private journal writing and poetry, honing her craft through TAFE correspondence courses. After studying Education and English and obtaining a degree as a mature student at Edith Cowan University in Bunbury, Western Australia, she wrote her first book; Operation Clancy (1994) inspired by a wish to produce an ‘easy to read’ thriller for reluctant older readers.

Since then, the sheer joy of invention and a fascination with the writing process has kept Helene in there. An experienced presenter and writer/facilitator in schools, community centres and institutions for adult learners she delights in sharing the writing process with others.

Her latest book, Aberash - A Mysterious Land Downunder, is a thrilling adventure of fantasy and magic, yet grounded in the real world of relationships that we all must live in.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim, still living in Larne with his Annette, (where they regularly entertain their five children and five grandchildren) is joined in conversation with Ian Hooper, a fellow-Larne native, although now living in Australia. Together they discuss, Seasons of Affection, and how it explores the cares, life’s and loves of his hometown’s inhabitants across the generations. These are the people you could meet on any day in any town. But the folk within this collection of stories all live in the author’s home town. A small, ordinary town inhabited by ordinary people, busy with the everyday task of living.

Yet within the stories that span a century or more, is a central thread of caring; for partners and children, for wider family and friends. For the town itself; its heritage and history. Each of the characters is also searching for friendship, independence, affection, love and self-respect. As the seasons in the natural world transition in colour and personality, so too do the ordinary people in this ordinary town, revealing their hidden needs and their hidden selves in the pursuit of happiness. From tales set within the pandemic, as young and old feel their way through a dramatically changing world bedeviled by fake news, to tales from the Victorian era, it seems that the season may pass, but our affections remain true.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

With a BA under his arm, he worked at many different jobs before spending sixteen years as a senior secondary teacher in English and Classical Studies. His first visit to south east Asia in 2008 developed within him a burning interest to write about that area.

His articles have appeared in the Sydney Review of Books, Mekong Review and journals of the Universities of Barcelona and New Delhi. He is the prize-winning author of two books of short stories and completed a Master of Arts in 2012, and in 2017 a Doctor of Creative Arts in Creative Writing. He is now a freelance editor of academic writing, as well as an interested gardener and grower of organic vegies. But it is the flame of fiction writing that still burns most strongly in him.

His novel, Made in Cambodia is a story set in the midst of the upheavals of a developing nation forcing its way into the 21st Century. Ex-Khmer Rouge cadres must live among their former victims, modernism challenges millennia-old spirit beliefs, and young women, who yesterday were destined to remain the centre of village life, today must leave to be factory workers or medical students. It may not be enough that two people are right for each other, the world must be right for them.

Robert was also a long list selection of the ARA Historical Novel Prize, for The Glass Harpoon.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

An author who is always searching for the silver lining—even when writing tough topics and painful truths. That, paired with her unique ability to find the high ground, gives her work an incredible perspective and a fresh twist. She’s a lifetime creative writer of multiple genres and disciplines and has an education in the arts and culture. She’s an NGO founder/director of an arts and cultural organization.

Living in sunny Southern California with her husband, along with her human neighbors she lives on a mountain side and shares the land with a mother bear, her two cubs and a deer family. When she’s not writing, EB enjoys walking and yoga (but not at the same time), traveling, creating art and engaging in thoughtful conversations.

Rosedust, her debut novel, is a modern, multi-cultural romance. As family ties and family lies twist and turn towards their climax, the life of a mother and a daughter will parallel through generations. Ultimately, the dust of the past must be swept away, the present reckoned with and the future… well it must be paid for.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

A wonderful career in the sport of Cycling followed. Riding professionally for sixteen years, he competed at the highest levels of the European Circuit, winning a prestigious championship of Berlin and on two occasions was crowned British National Champion. A multiple Australian Champion, he represented his country on many occasions including in 1974, when he was a double Commonwealth Games’ Silver Medalist.

The sport allowed him to travel the world extensively and he was based out of Belgium and Denmark for long periods. It was during his time in Belgium, living in and around the major battlefields of the First World War, that he also developed an interest in the life of a forebear, Many years later, following the death of Murray's mum, he discovered a raft of paperwork detailing the life and times of this same forebear, his Great Uncle Ernest Alfred Hall. His 5-year mission to uncover the details behind the paperwork resulted in, Walk a War in My Shoes. The Story of an ANZAC on the Western Front.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.