The Word Count Podcast: Episode 99

R. B. Wood

Former technologist, world traveler, & storyteller.
WCPep99_Prompt

Humans of the Present

As I mentioned last time, after the 100th show, the sun will finally be setting on the Word Count Podcast after ten years.

Ten years. My God.

But before I tear up and get all “old man nostalgic,” we still have two shows left to knock out of the park.

Episode 99 continues our “Human” trilogy of shows and we have six brand new stories about Humans of the present.

The #WordCountIrregulars certainly have outdone themselves this time ’round!

The picture for the prompt and inspiration?

WCPep99 Prompt

You can listen to the episode here:

In the meantime, allow me to introduce you to my talented friends starring in this episode:

Our Guests:

Jack Gwaltney & John McCaffrey“I Feel Love…I Think”

john and jack

Jack Gwaltney was born in Virginia, went to the University of Virginia and lives in New York, fortunate to perform as an actor on stage, television and in film. Collaborating with John McCaffrey is one of the wisest things Jack does. Thanks to The Word Count Podcast!

John McCaffrey grew up in Rochester, New York, attended Villanova University, and received his MA in Creative Writing from the City College of New York. He is the author of The Book of Ash and Two Syllable Men. He lives in Hoboken, New Jersey.

MariaHaskinsMaria Haskins – “From A Distance, Constellations”

Maria Haskins is a Swedish-Canadian writer and reviewer of speculative fiction. Her work has appeared in Black Static, Mythic Delirium, Fireside, and elsewhere. She was born and grew up in Sweden but currently lives in Canada with a husband, two kids, a snake, several birds, and a very large black dog.

Website: https://mariahaskins.wordpress.com

Twitter: @mariahaskins

RobEdwardsme with glassesRob Edwards – “Doctor Deathray and the Girl in the Orchard”
Rob Edwards is a British writer and podcaster living in Finland. What he would mostly like you to know though is that his debut novel The Ascension Machine, a scifi superhero adventure was released last month. He’s still slightly excited.
Twitter: @storycastrob

smaller wbj williamsW. B. J. Williams – “An Old Grudge”

W. B. J. Williams, the author of The Garden at the Roof of the World (Dragonwell Publishing) and the InfoCoup (Abyss and Apex Magazine, October 1, 2019 http://www.abyssapexzine.com/), holds advanced degrees in anthropology and archeology. He is an avid historian, mystic, poet, and author who manages an information security program at a prominent New England firm. He is noted for his bad puns, and willingness to argue from any perspective. He is endured by his beloved wife and two daughters, and lives in Sharon Massachusetts. When he is not at home or at his computer, he can often be found haunting the various used bookstores of Boston.

 

Websites:

http://www.wbj-williams.net

https://www.facebook.com/wbjwilliams

http://wbjwilliams.wordpress.com/

Twitter: @wbjwilliams

MJKingheadshotM. J. King – “Pay Attention”

Melissa lives in the woods of coastal Maine with her family and writes many flavors of fantasy. Her short stories have been published in the crowd-funded anthologies Fight Like a Girl and What Follows, and she is a co-founder of the blog Anxiety Ink.
Twitter: @Mwithpen
Instagram: @writinginterrupted

 

bill banner 22

Eden Baylee & Bill Kirton – “I Am What I Am”

Eden Baylee left a twenty-year banking career to write and is now a full-time author of multiple genres.

She has written three collections of erotic novellas and flash fiction ~ SPRING INTO SUMMER, FALL INTO WINTER, and HOT FLASH.

In 2014, she launched the first novel of her STRANGER TRILOGY with Dr. Kate Hampton–a psychological mystery/suspense called “Stranger at Sunset.” In addition to working on her next novel, Eden created the LAINEY LEE SERIES about a feisty divorcée who finds adventure and romance in Hawaii.

An introvert by nature and an extrovert by design, Eden is most comfortable at home with her laptop surrounded by books. She is an online Scrabble junkie and a social media enthusiast, but she really needs to get out more often! 

Bill Kirton was born in Plymouth, England, studied French at Exeter University, and graduated in 1962. While teaching at Hardye’s School, Dorchester, he started his Ph.D. on the theatre of Victor Hugo and was a lecturer at Aberdeen University from 1968 to 1989.

He’s also been a voice-over artist, TV presenter and has extensive experience of acting and directing. His directing credits include many French language plays as well as works by Shakespeare, Orton, Beckett, and Ionesco. He spent a sabbatical year at the University of Rhode Island Theater Department, which commissioned translations of 3 Molière plays from me, one of which he directed himself. The script also won third prize in the British Comparative Literature Association’s Annual Translation competition, 1999.

Bill wrote and performed songs and sketches in revues at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, stage plays, two of which were commissioned by Aberdeen Children’s Theatre, and radio plays for the BBC, two of which were also broadcast in Australia.

Since the late 1990s, his writing has concentrated on prose fiction. He has written many short stories and ten novels, two of which have won awards, with a third being long-listed for the Rubery International Book Award.

Bill has held posts as a Royal Literary Fund Writing Fellow at universities in Aberdeen, Dundee and St Andrews and, since 2015, have been the organiser of a Scotland-wide scheme which places professional writers in schools to help students with the transition to writing at university. He still gives workshops in schools from Orkney to Dundee as part of the scheme and he’s written five books in Pearson Educational’s ‘Brilliant’ series on the study, writing, and workplace skills. Bill also co-authored ‘Just Write’ for Routledge.

Website (and blog): http://www.billkirton.com

Facebook pages:
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=620980849
https://www.facebook.com/bill.kirton/