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The Best Regional Storytellers you've never heard of yet!JIll Carey Michaels

About the Radioshow
Jill travels throughout local towns and counties to writer's nights, open mics and theater spaces; exploring the nooks and crannies, gin joint haunts that creative folks flock to. Then she invites a talented writer to share a favorite story and chat one on one. What she discovers in these inspired moments is a gem of a tale.
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nterview with Author Jack Bell Stewart


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Jill Carey Michaels

In between teaching Creative Writing at State University of NY, Jill travels throughout local towns and counties to writer's nights, open mics and theater spaces; exploring the nooks and cranies, gin joint haunts that creative folks flock to. She invites a talented writer to share a favorite story and chat one on one. What she discovers in these inspired moments, is a gem of a tale.

Listen to Jill's "Girl Pearls"

Jack

On May 30, Spotlight Writer Jack Bell Smith previews his crime adventure story "Identity Games " .
Jack Bell Stewart's first novel, Identity Games, is based on a real life experience he had in 1994, when he took in a roommate who turned out to be an identity thief.  After receiving a call from a NYPD detective, he agreed to help capture the suspect, however, there were several adventures and misadventures which complicated the plan. The novel explores what can happen when the wrong person gets a hold of your personal information, credit cards, and everything else he needs to manipulate and control you in every way. From New York City to the small artistic town of New Hope Pennsylvania, Alaska and across the mountains into Canada, the identity thief manages to escape using cunning manipulation  and mind games
Jack lives in the Catskill Mountains with his partner of 15 years, 4 cats, and 12 Koi; and shares an eighteen acre no-hunting-zone with critters such as bear, deer, coyote, bald eagle, ducks, pheasant, and wild turkey. He plays jazz piano, paints and designs stuff, and works on his writing every day. Until Identity Games finds a publisher, the novel can be found online at www.jackbellstewart.wordpress.com Jack is currently working on his second novel, Water Wars, a thriller about terrorism and the New York City water supply.
Jack Bell Smith story

Lesley Diehl

Spotlight Writer Lesley Diehl reads her murder mystery, "A Deadly Draught" which takes place in a brewery. Lesley Diehl retired from her life as a professor of psychology and university administrator; reclaining her country roots by moving to a small cottage in the Butternut River Valley in upstate New York .  She migrates winters to old Florida —cowboys, scrub palmetto, and open fields of grazing cattle; a place where spurs still jingle in the post office.  Back north, she devotes her afternoons to writing and, when the sun sets, relaxing on the bank of her trout stream, sipping tea or a local microbrew.
Lesley Deihl story

Gelen Nilson
Spotlight Writer Glenn E. Nilson reads his desert adventure, "The Mexican " from his short story about an outlaw and a tracker. Don't miss it!
A native of California, Glenn grew up in the Sierra Nevada foothills, spending his time doing farm chores, hiking, and even panning for gold.  After earning his doctorate, he moved east to teach sociology in Connecticut.  Upon retirement, the West drew him back, this time to New Mexico, the setting for a novel and several short stories.  He still revisits the West by motorcycle, camping and visiting old riding buddies.  Currently Glenn divides his time between living in rural portions of central Florida and up-state New York, refurbishing an 1870’s era creek-side cottage and writing.  He can be reached by e-mail at ride2write@yahoo.com

Glen Nilson story
spotlight_writers/Matthew Quinn Matthew
Spotlight Writer Matthew Quinn Martin previews his cutting edge, genre bending sci-fi story of intrigue "Hazardous Waste" Matthew Quinn Martin is a New York based writer. His original screenplay Slingshot was made into a feature film starring Juliana Margulies, David Arquette, Thora Birch, Balthazar Getty and Joely Fisher. Slingshot had its premiere at the TriBeCa Film Festival, 2005, has been featured on Access Hollywood, and is currently on DVD, distributed by the Weinstein Co. Matthew's prose fiction has been published (or is forthcoming) in Transition Magazine, The Crossing Chaos Anthology: Quantum Genre on the Planet of Arts, and Big Pulp (co-written with Libby Cudmore), Thuglit, MFA/MFYou Literary Journal, A Twist of Noir
Matt Quinn Martin story
Lauren Groff
Lauren Groff is the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Monsters of Templeton, which was shortlisted for the Orange Prize for New Writers, and the short story collection Delicate Edible Birds: And Other Stories. Her fiction has appeared in journals including The Atlantic Monthly, One Story, and Ploughshares, and the anthologies Best New American Voices 2008, The Pushcart Prize Anthology 2008, and the 2007 and 2010 editions of Best American Short Stories. Her second novel, Arcadia, is slated to come out in  2011.www.laurengroff.comShe lives in Gainesville, Florida with her husband and son.
Lauren Groeff
teepee

Grammy Award Nominated Native American musician Aaron White has toured with his music for many years and it has been featured in commercials, radio, Indie films and PBS documentaries. His unique mix of acoustic guitar and Native American flute is his specialty and songwriting; his passion. Aaron received a Grammy Nomination in 2003 for his work with Burning Sky on their CD "Spirits in the Wind", with special guest John Densmore of the Doors. Flutist Andrew Wakeman and percusionist, singer songwriter Ed Michaels accompany Aaron White at The Native American Art Festival, Litchfield Park Az.
Native American Music Festivalerican_jan_23.mov en!

Shannon

Spotlight Writer Shannon Delany previews her contest winning story, "13 to Life " . Shannon Delany is the winner of the first-ever cellphone novel contest in the western world and the author of the 13 to Life series through St. Martin's Press. 13 to Life is already available and Secrets and Shadows hit stores 2/15/11 with Bargains and Betrayals landing on shelves 8/16/11 (already available for pre-order!)and two more as of yet unnamed novels coming out in 2012 from St. Martin's Press. Previously a teacher and now a farm owner, Shannon enjoys traveling and talking to people about nearly anything. For more about Shannon, visit her author website: www.ShannonDelany.com or her series website: www.13toLifeseries.com ; You can also find Shannon on Facebook and on Twitter at http://Twitter.com/Shannon_Delany

Shannon Delany story

Ed
Spotlight Writer Edward R. Michaels has spent the last three decades touring the country and the world, playing drums with such acts as; Alvin Youngblood Hart, Commander Cody, Roy Rogers, Marty Balin, Jason Ricci, Job Cain, Blue Stone Project and many others; he has shared the stage with Bonnie Raitt at the Hollywood Bowl and The Allman Brothers at Red Rocks Amphitheater in Colorado, and toured in support of such artists as Stevie Ray Vaughn, B.B. King, Robert Cray, Galactic, Ben Harper and others. He also writes and sings songs; recently scoring a pick to click hit, "Keep The Wolf From My Door" on XM Bluesville Satellite Radio.
Ed transcribed and edited a collection of Civil War letters and documents written be his Great-Great grandparents Captain Sylvester Rynearson and Mollie Clarke; he reads from his introduction to the book and as well as a few of the letters written from the homefront and the battlefront.
http://www.edmichaels.com
Civil War Letters story
David Krajicek

David J. Krajicek is a crime writer, newspaper columnist, author and former journalism professor.Krajicek is a special correspondent for the New York Daily News, for which he writes "The Justice Story," a long-running Sunday feature that looks back at interesting crime cases. He was the "Crime Beat" columnist with APBnews.com, a crime news web site.He is the author of Scooped! Media Miss Real Story on Crime While Chasing Sex, Sleaze, and Celebrities (Columbia University Press), an unblinking look at coverage of crime and crime policy. Eric Alterman of The Nation described the book as "smart, well written, politically powerful, and culturally relevant."His first crime fiction, a short story entitled "Sutphin Blvd.," was published in the fall of 2003 by Midnight Mind Press in an anthology of crime stories set in the New York City area.Krajicek was police bureau chief of the New York Daily News and has covered crime for the Council Bluffs(Iowa) Daily Nonpareil and the Omaha(Nebraska) World-Herald. He has written for dozens of other publications, including The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Manchester(U.K.) Guardian, Newsday, Mother Jones, Woman's World, EmpireStateReport, Prague's Lidove Noviny, Nosotros magazine, Canadian Law Enforcement Review, and the Center for Foreign Journalists Review.Krajicek, who holds degrees from the University of Nebraska and Columbia University, taught criminal justice reporting, among other things, as an assistant professor at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism from 1990 until 1998, when he returned to writing full time. He has spoken about crime journalism at the Newseum, Florida's Poynter Institute, on C-Span, and at the Radio and Television News Directors Association national convention, among other venues. He has appeared on dozens of TV and radio shows, including Britain's BBC, NPR's "On the Media," Fox News Channel and the CBC's "Sunday Morning Live."
David Kricheck story

Brian
The Spotlight Writer April 18th was Brian Kamsoke, with his riveting short story "Flightplan".
Brian Kamsoke is a writer, editor, and publisher born and raised in Norwich, NY.  His stories and poems have appeared in numerous small literary magazines over the years.  His first collection of short fiction was published in 1999.  He currently teaches writing at Wichita State University where he is pursuing his MFA in Creative Writing.
Brian Komsocke story

Spotlight Writer Libby Cudmore reads her sassy stories about modern times ." Libby Cudmore's stories and essays have appeared in recent issues of The Yalobusha Review, The Chaffey Review, The Southern Women’s Review, Sunsets and Silencers, Red Fez, Inertia, Battered Suitcase, Shaking Like a Mountain and Xenith and the anthology Relationships and Other Stuff .  She is a regular contributor to Celebrities in Disgrace, Hardboiled, a Twist of Noir and Thrillers, Killers ‘n’ Chillers, where her story “Unplanned” won a Bullet award in 2009 and was nominated for the 2010 Derringer award in flash fiction.  Her work will also be featured in upcoming issues of The MacGuffin, the Chick-Lit Review, Thrilling Detective, Crime Factory, as well as the anthology Quantum Genre on the Planet of the Arts (with Matthew Quinn Martin).  She blogs at www.recordofthemonth.blogspot.com

Libby Cudmore story

Kristina

Writer Kristina Zill previewed her story of intrigue and wit "My Adventures with the FBI" .
Kristina Zill ’s featured radio story on Telling Tales is a true encounter she had with the FBI when her grandfather was the victim of a con artist.  The adventure inspired her to write a kids’ detective story, The Ketchum Kids; which she is developing through the Writers’ Evenings at 76 Main in Stamford.   Kristina has previously worked as a playwright and screenwriter.  The detective story is her first foray into prose.

Christina Zill

mary bright carr
Mary Bright Carr was raised for the most part in the UK, her mother's country, with one brief sojourn in Morocco.  She graduated from Trinity College in Dublin and returned to the US, her father's country, to receive her doctorate in psychology at NYU, later specializing in cognition and memory.  She was a professor at SUNY Oneonta for many years, publishing two books and various articles in her field.  She lives amid the wonderful scenery on the borders of Oneonta/Milford. 
Mary Bright Carr story
Marylou

On June 13th, Spotlight Writer Marylou Trask-Curtain previews endearing family tales " .
Marilou Trask-Curtin is a local  Oneonta author/screenwriter/playwright.  Her debut book "In My Grandfather's House: A Catskill Journal" published by ProStar Publications is a memoir that chronicles the author's life growing up in her hometown of Oneonta, NY.  The book spans the years from about 1951-the present.  It has been reviewed as "...an offering of warmth, understanding, love, devotion, and unselfish contributions made over a lifetime.  It is a work of genius which is timeless forever." (J. Briant, author)  Ms. Trask-Curtin's screenplays have placed highly in several contests.  She also hosts a writer's group in her home.  The group is known as The Pleasant View Angels Writers Group.  Ms. Trask-Curtin is currently working on several writing projects to include a biography with input from Emmy and Tony award winning actor, Hal Holbrook, who the author had the opportunity to meet in April in Elmira, New York when he was putting on his show Mark Twain Tonight!  Marilou has also written for newspapers and has appeared on several cable television shows throughout New York.  She and her husband Dan and their cat "Pretty" still reside in Oneonta in her grandfather's house.
The book is available on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Border's Express, Southside Mall, Oneonta, NY.  She will be giving a speech and holding a booksigning "Reminences of Main Street Oneonta" on July 30th, 2010 at the Greater Oneonta Historical Society, Main Street Oneonta at 6PM.
Mary Trask story
new_marytrask.mov

Libby Cudmore
Spotlight Writer Libby Cudmore's witty stories about modern life" Libby Cudmore's stories and essays have appeared in recent issues of The Yalobusha Review, The Chaffey Review, The Southern Women’s Review, Sunsets and Silencers, Red Fez, Inertia, Battered Suitcase, Shaking Like a Mountain and Xenith and the anthology Relationships and Other Stuff .  She is a regular contributor to Celebrities in Disgrace, Hardboiled, a Twist of Noir and Thrillers, Killers ‘n’ Chillers, where her story “Unplanned” won a Bullet award in 2009 and was nominated for the 2010 Derringer award in flash fiction.  Her work will also be featured in upcoming issues of The MacGuffin, the Chick-Lit Review, Thrilling Detective, Crime Factory, as well as the anthology Quantum Genre on the Planet of the Arts (with Matthew Quinn Martin). 
Libby Cudmore short story
Marie
On May 16, Spotlight Writer Marie Wilder previews her unique memior "Lillian " .
I’ve walked on the Sahara Desert, attended the birth of a child; high in the Andes Mountains, sat in many cafes, including ones on the Riviera and I thank my God for these opportunities and many more that I’ve not mentioned.I‘m a late bloomer, “The Grandma Moses” of memoir writing. Marie is  working on a collection of short stories; soon to be completed and has written a children’s book, which is currently being illustrated.

Marie Wilder story
Joanne
JOANN BERTONE CHMIELOWSKI,  a wife, mother, grandmother, teacher, self-taught linguist, photographer,  and professional pianist now makes her debut as a writer of short stories and poetry,  as influenced by her many roles in life, as well as by the interesting and varied company she keeps as a result. The origins of the stories you will hear today have been based in part on a rich family history.  For more of JoAnn's writing go to www.joannbertone.blogspot.com   
Joanne Chimolosky storyi