Novelist, Nonfiction Author and Podcaster Patricia V. Davis on Word By Word (Aired August 16, 2020)

Our Word By Word conversation for august is the novelist, nonfiction author and podcaster, Patricia Volonakis Davis, Better known as Patricia V. Davis. Davis was invited to attend a women’s conference by California’s First Lady, Maria Shriver, and the only available hotel room in Long Beach, CA was on the RMS Queen Mary. Her experience aboard the ship was the inspiration for her first novel, Cooking for Ghosts; Book I of the Secret Spice Cafe Trilogy.[5][6] This book is the story of four diverse women that meet online and decide to open a restaurant together aboard the historic RMS Queen Mary.[7] It’s about food, ghosts, friends, “and long-ago losses that never quite go away.”

(Photo: Courtesy of the author)

David Perry on Word By Word – April 12, 2020

In the midst of the pandemic, you may not be aware that the Bulletin of Atomic Scientists re-set their so-called ‘Doomsday Clock’ to 100 seconds before midnight—the closest the clock has ever been to catastrophic nuclear annihilation. That recalibration is the focus of one of the episodes of Nuclear educator David Perry’s soon to launch podcast At The Brink.”

Word By Word host Gil Mansergh welcomes David Perry to the show for an engaging chatt about what is involved in being the education director for the Former US Secretary of defense’s  William J. Perry Project and coordinating the development of a brand new podcast series.

Perry, the son of former US Secretary of Defense, William Perry, is the Education Director of the William J. Perry Project and former professor of Pharmacology and Physiology at George Washington University in Washington, D.C. His current project is the creation and evolution of a podcast entitled At the Brink. “It’s a show about the risk of nuclear disaster- how close we’ve come and how close we still are today.”

(Photo: Courtesy of William J. Perry Project)

Gil Mansergh Welcomes Eleven-Year-Old Author Josie Campbell on Word by Word (Aired: February 9, 2020)

Eleven-year-old Josie Campbell is the youngest published novelist Gil Mansergh has hosted on Word by Word; Conversations With Writers, and she was only in second grade when she began writing the story that eventually grew into her book called The Thunderinions: Evil’s Rise. Pronounced Thunder-in-Yons, these are the occasionally visible and often audible imaginary friends attached to Glory and her high school mates, Forest, Misty, Ray and Phoenix, as they grow up in Hawaii.

Josie is reflective when she talks about these characters. “High school kids are usually moody and depressed—but these guys aren’t. They have childish personalities and will hold on to being a kid as long as they can. I love these guys and would take a bullet for them. Glory is a lot like me…sarcastic and humorous, but my favorite character is Ray because he recklessly jumps into everything.”

(Photo: Josie Campbell, author – Courtesy of Catherine Campbell)

Gil Welcomes Stay-at-Home Dad Turned Author, David Hightower on World By Word – November 10, 2019

We have all probably seen or heard something in the news that made us say, “Someone should do something about it.” The difference with today’s Word By Word: Conversations With Writers guest, David Hightower, is that he did do something. He wrote a book.

Hightower explains,” I’m not a writer. I was a day trader in the East Bay before my wife and I came to Petaluma. My wife was pregnant when we moved, and I’ve spent a great deal of my time since then being the Dad to my four-year-old and 2-year-old boys.”

“Part of that job,” Hightower continues, “is reading more than my fair share of Dr. Seuss books, so, when I read a tweet the President had done in rhyme, I responded by jotting down my response in Seussian-style poetry. I guess I was frustrated—very, very, upset with no outlet. So I wrote my book entitled The Sun Also Sets: A Seussical Indictment of Trump.

Host Gil Mansergh chats with David about the steep learning curve transitioning from a stay-at-home-Dad, to becoming a book author, publisher, distributor and marketer.

Word by Word Conversations with Writers is hosted by Gil Mansergh and can be heard on the second Sunday of the month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Listen on the go – download the FREE KRCB App for your favorite mobile device.

(Photo: David Hightower, author of The Sun Also Sets – Gil Mansergh/courtesy of Petaluma Argus Courier)

The Multi-Talented Leslie Sbrocco Joins Gil Mansergh’s Word By Word for October

Leslie SbroccoGil Mansergh’s Word By Word timely conversation for October is the passionately multi-talented Leslie Sbrocco, host of Check Please Bay Area for 14 years, and executive producer, writer, and presenter of her brand new PBS series 100 Days, Drinks, Dishes & Destinations. The series will begin airing on public television stations across the country starting in October and November.

Word by Word Conversations with Writers is hosted by Gil Mansergh and can be heard on the second Sunday of the month at its new time of 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org / Listen on the go – download the FREE KRCB App for your favorite mobile device.

(Photo: Courtesy of https://www.lesliesbrocco.com)

Novelist and Particle Physicist Ransom Stephens and His Newest Book, Too Rich To Die on Word by Word – September 8, 2019

Word by Word host, Gil Mansergh, welcomes a return visit with novelist and particle physicist Ransom Stephens and his newest book Too Rich To Die. A fifth generation Californian Ransom tells people “My family insists that “Ransom” is an Irish name, so I went to Ireland and asked around and no one had heard of it… So I don’t know where it came from.”

Word By Word listeners best know Ransom as the Author of a nonfiction book about the neuroscience of innovation in art, science and life called The Left Brain Speaks but the Right Brain Laughs),and four novels including The God Patent, The Sensory Deception, and two others which are part of Ransom’s Times Weaver trilogy which began with the 99% Solution and continues with the book we will chat about today, Too Rich To Die.

(Photo: Ransom Stephens – Courtesy of Author/via Twitter)

Rhys Bowen in Conversation with Gil Mansergh on Word By Word – August 11, 2019

Word By Word host Gil Mansergh suggests that before listening to today’s show, you might like to pack your bags for both your honeymoon and an African Safari. You will soon find out why, because our guest is the New York Times multiple bestseller and winner of over 20 writing awards Rhys Bowen with her latest Royal Spyness book Love and Death Among the Cheetahs.

Our guest originally wrote children’s and young adult books using her married name, before she turned to writing mysteries using her pen name Rhys Bowen. She set her Constable Evans series in North Wales near the Mount Snowdon where she had spent many vacations in her childhood. After visiting Ellis Island the created the spunky Irish lass Molly Murphy whose first book, “Murphy’s Law”, won an Agatha Best Novel award.

Rhys created a second heroine named Lady Georgiana as part of the Her Royal Spyness series. She draws from her life in England to write the series in whichGeorgiana is distantly an heir to the British throne but is flat broke, and trying to make her way through The Great Depression. The series was a bestseller and “Naught In Nice”  won an Agatha Award for Best Historical Mystery.

In Love and Death Among the Cheetahs, just married Georgina new husband surprises her by announcing they are going to spend several honeymoon weeks in far off Kenya.

Hosted by Gil Mansergh, Word By Word – Conversations with Writers is heard every second Sunday at 4:00 pm on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / Streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /  On-demand with the FREE KRCB App @ iTunes App Store & Google Play!

(Photo: Janet Quin-Harkin is an author best known for her mystery novels for adults written under the name Rhys Bowen – Courtesy of the author)

Since our Word By Word host, Gil Mansergh is on a tour of Ireland, here’s an encore of his conversation with Elizabeth George – July 14, 2019

Since many Word By Word listeners first encountered Scotland Yard’s dapper Detective Inspector Thomas Lynley and his down-to-earth partner, Sergeant Barbara Havers on PBS’ British produced Masterpiece Mystery TV shows, they may be surprised to learn that Elizabeth George is an American who lives on picturesque Whidbey Island in Washington state.  In this show,  George introduces us to her 19th book in the Inspector Lynley series, A Matter of Consequences.

Word by Word Welcomes Murder Mystery Writer Cara Black – June 9, 2019

Word by Word listeners (and mystery writers) will enjoy the conversation (and pick up a few writing tips), during Gil Mansergh’s informative conversation with Cara Black, the New York Times bestselling author of 19 Aimee Leduc murder mysteries. Each novel takes place in a different Parisian administrative district. Known as arrondissements, these 22 districts circle outward in a clockwise spiral from the center of Paris. Cara’s newest novel takes place in the 12th district, and we learn how this specific locale prompted her latest mystery, Murder in Bel Air.

NYT Bestselling Historian Julia Flynn Siler Joins Gil Mansergh on Word By Word – May 12, 2019

Word By Word host Gil Mansergh welcomes the NYT bestselling historian Julia Flynn Siler with her newest work, The White Devil’s Daughter.

Subtitled The Women Who Fought Slavery In San Francisco’s Chinatown, the book lays bare the corruption and complicity of the police, judges, landlords, and businessmen who aided and profited by keeping thousands of young Chinese and Japanese women as sexual slaves in San Francisco.