Desire, Consequences, and the Art of Listening: Babette Fraser Hale on Narcissi

What happens when a man’s greatest gift is making women feel truly seen—even when being seen isn't the same as being safe?

In this episode, host Terry Shepherd sits down with author Babette Fraser Hale to discuss her interconnected novel in stories, Narcissi. Set across the sprawling Texas landscape during the pivotal early 1980s, the book follows Cole Burnett—a dangerously magnetic writer whose lanky Western charm, restless movement, and rare ability to listen draw women into an orbit fraught with unintended harm, self-love, and midlife vulnerability.

Babette opens up about:

• The Architecture of Narcissi: Why telling Cole’s trajectory through interconnected short stories allowed her to explore the perspective of the women in his wake.
• Listening as Seduction: Whether Cole’s attentive ear is sincere, manipulative, or a novelist's natural compulsion.
• The 1980s Backdrop: How a transitional era of sexual freedom, evolving feminism, and midlife reckonings shaped the characters' choices and relationships.
• Crafting Texas Dialogue & Landscape: Eavesdropping as a writer’s tool, overcoming early creative blocks, and how the vast Texas backroads mirror the freedom and escapes of "Slow Travel."
• The Core Takeaway: Why the book ultimately asks readers for tolerance and empathy toward deeply flawed, self-involved human beings.

About the Guest:

Babette Fraser Hale is a fiction writer, former journalist, and author of Narcissi and This Familiar Heart. To learn more about her work and pick up your copy of Narcissi, visit Winedale Books.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

What happens when an 18-year-old secret resurfaces under the unforgiving glare of the public eye?

In this episode, host Terry Shepherd sits down with New York Times and USA Today bestselling author Steena Holmes to dive into her gripping psychological suspense novel, When You Tell. With over 3 million books sold and more than 55 thrillers to her name, Steena takes us into the volatile intersection of fractured friendship, influencer culture, buried trauma, and the brutal reality of cancel culture.

Steena pulls back the curtain on the contrasting dynamics between her protagonists: Brie, a traumatized ghostwriter determined to stay completely invisible, and Miranda (known to millions online as Randy F. Alexander), a larger-than-life lifestyle influencer who needs Brie's help writing her next book. Together, Terry and Steena explore what lives behind our curated online personas, how quickly a reputation can unravel, and why dark secrets make the best thrillers.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Inspiration Behind When You Tell: Contrasting an invisible ghostwriter with a vivacious, Instagram-famous personality.
• The Illusion of Influencer Culture: How Steena’s background in ministry shaped her fascination with curated public images versus private truth.
• Setting the Scene: Why the winding canals and historic brown cafés of Amsterdam provided the perfect backdrop for secrets.
• The Craft of Suspense: How Steena evolved from an instinct-driven "pantser" into a dedicated "plotter" over the course of 60+ novels.
• The Reality of Imposter Syndrome: Why even bestselling authors with millions of readers still worry that people will hate their work.
• Writing as Therapy: Channeling personal fears, motherly instincts, and difficult realities into emotionally charged fiction.

Connect with Steena Holmes:

• Website: steenaholmes.com
• Book: When You Tell (Available wherever books are sold)

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

In 1966, 24-year-old Jerome Loving arrived in Vietnam as a commissioned officer, spending nearly nine months between Saigon and Cam Ranh Bay. Returning home to an indifferent and often hostile America, he put the war behind him to build a distinguished academic career as a scholar of Walt Whitman and Mark Twain. Decades later, Loving revisits his service in his newly published book, After the Good War: A Vietnam Memoir.

Host Terry Shepherd sits down with Professor Emeritus Loving to discuss his deeply personal reckoning with the Vietnam War, the lasting trauma borne by returning veterans, and how his career studying American literature helped him process his own history. Loving explains why he considers his memoir a "lament" for the nearly 60,000 young men lost and the ongoing struggles of those who survived, including his own brother-in-law.

Episode Highlights:

• The Reality of a Combat Zone: Loving shares the constant tension of serving as a commissioned officer in Saigon, detailing how he slept with a .38 and a .25 caliber weapon under his pillow and stacked glasses by his hotel door as a makeshift alarm.
• The Distance Between Wars: Loving contrasts the Vietnam experience—and the poor reception veterans received back home—with the patriotic legacy of World War II, noting the high suicide rates and enduring struggles of surviving veterans.
• A "Civil War at Home": Loving draws striking parallels between the deep domestic divisions during the Vietnam War and his extensive scholarly research into the American Civil War era.
• A Scholar's Journey: Learn how a veteran who utilized the GI Bill transitioned into a highly respected academic, eventually taking his family to teach in Leningrad in 1978 and at the Sorbonne in Paris.
• Echoes of History: Loving reflects on the cyclical nature of geopolitical conflicts, comparing the escalating quagmire of Vietnam—where troop levels rapidly surged from 125,000 to over half a million—to subsequent wars and modern international tensions.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

What happens when a man whose entire life is built around separating fact from fiction can no longer tell the difference? In this episode, host Terry Shepherd interviews sociologist-turned-fiction-author Todd Brown about his newest psychological thriller, Anna So Knows 'Ya. Brown discusses his transition from writing nonfiction to exploring the terrifying, uncertain territory of the human mind. The novel follows John Simmons, a crime reporter whose reality destabilizes when a mysterious man in a dark hat begins appearing at the edges of his life, leaving John to wonder if he is uncovering a story or disappearing inside one.

Topics discussed in this episode include:

• The Anatomy of Paranoia: How human discomfort with randomness and the compulsion to invent patterns out of fear drive the story's psychological dread.
• Neurodivergence and Interpretation: Brown shares his personal experience living on the autism spectrum, which inspired his exploration of intent versus literal interpretation in the dynamic between characters John and Anna.
• Grief as a Lens: How the gray, unpredictable nature of grief alters John's perception of reality and dictates his responses to the world around him.
• The Craft of Writing: Brown explains his character-driven approach to plotting, the challenge of writing a structurally opposite book to his debut novel, When Shadows Burn, and how his wife acts as his most brutally honest daily editor.
• Balancing Horror and Humor: Why psychological horror provides the leeway to explore the liminal space between reality and the unknown, and why injecting humor is essential for balancing tension.

Brown intentionally wrote Anna So Knows 'Ya as a broader commentary on society, hoping to challenge readers to reflect on how labels, words, and actions ripple outward to affect how we treat one another.

Discover more about Todd Brown's work and his novels at toddbrownwrites.com.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

Terry Shepherd welcomes author Susan L. Katz to discuss her new book, Pole Dancers at the Red Barn, a collection of 14 interconnected stories spanning the 1940s through the 1980s. The novel explores the lives of five dancers, the club's owners, and their mothers, delving into how experiences with addiction, mental illness, betrayal, and abuse echo across generations. Katz explains how her characters build a "found family" at a Pennsylvania pole dancing club, creating a space for deep acceptance and healing.

During the interview, Katz breaks down the three cultural touchstones that inspired the club's unique atmosphere:

• Cirque du Soleil: Influenced the acrobatic skill and physical artistry of the pole dancers, challenging the stigma often associated with the profession.
• Gypsy Rose Lee: Inspired the dancers to speak directly to the audience during their routines, sharing their inner thoughts and intelligence.
• Cheers: Provided the blueprint for the Red Barn as a welcoming, home-away-from-home venue where everyone is known and accepted.

Drawing on her 40-year career as a psychotherapist, Katz discusses the concept of "emotional excavation," emphasizing the importance of acknowledging and working through both significant and everyday traumas rather than simply trying to move on. She also shares how her background as a professional photographer influenced the book's visual elements, noting that each of the 14 stories begins with a photograph that resonates with the characters or themes, and that she even shot the book's cover.

Listeners can learn more about Katz and her work by visiting susanlkatz.com.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

Edward McDonald didn't just prosecute the mob; he lived the stories that inspired cinema history. As the leader of the Justice Department's Organized Crime Strike Force in Brooklyn during the 1980s, McDonald helped convict top figures from four of New York's five crime families, corrupt union officials, and members of Congress. In this episode, Terry Shepherd sits down with McDonald to discuss his new memoir, Chasing Goodfellas, written with Jake Brown.

McDonald takes us behind the headlines to reveal the real mechanics of the justice system and the extraordinary personalities behind two legendary cases.

Episode Highlights:

• McDonald's surreal experience being cast as himself in Martin Scorsese’s Goodfellas after a fully ad-libbed screen test.
• The brutal reality of the mafia versus their polished Hollywood myths, including the ruthless nature of Jimmy "The Gent" Burke.
• The high-stakes investigation into the Lufthansa heist, where McDonald successfully targeted inside man Lou Werner after finding Burke's crew entirely impenetrable.
• How a casual comment from mob informant Henry Hill blew the lid off the Boston College basketball point-shaving scheme involving a player and Pittsburgh gangsters.
• The daily chaos of managing Henry Hill as a cooperating witness, including rescuing him from repeated narcotics arrests while he was in the witness protection program.

Listeners looking to dive deeper into these landmark investigations can grab a copy of the book, releasing October 13th, by visiting chasinggoodfellasbook.com.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

In the fall of 1969, a chilling rumor paralyzed the music world: Paul McCartney had died in a 1966 car crash and was replaced by a lookalike. Join host Terry Shepherd as he sits down with author Andru J. Reeve to deconstruct the greatest conspiracy theory in rock history. Decades before the internet, this viral hoax spread through whispered dorm-room gossip, underground college newspapers, and late-night radio broadcasts. Reeve shares his exhaustive, pre-digital research journey through the Library of Congress to trace the origin and explosion of the "Paul is Dead" myth, exploring the sociological and religious undertones of a fandom obsessed with deciphering hidden messages.

Discover the analog contagion that gripped a generation:

• The pivotal October 1969 phone call from a nervous college student to Detroit DJ Russ Gibb that broadcast the rumor to the masses.
• A breakdown of the most infamous "clues" planted on the Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper's album covers, from hidden backwards audio to barefoot tableaus.
• Why Paul McCartney's retreat to a Scottish farm with his wife Linda inadvertently fueled the public's paranoia.
• The strange cottage industry of hoax-inspired novelty songs, including Terry Knight's "St. Paul" and Jose Feliciano's disguised contribution as "Warbly Finster".

Explore the complete story in Andru J. Reeve's definitive book, Turn Me On, Dead Man: The Beatles and the Paul is Dead Hoax, featuring an annotated list of 140 clues from the height of the frenzy. Available wherever cool books are sold.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo

In this episode of "In Conversation," host Terry Shepherd sits down with London-born author Julie Esther Fisher to explore her new book, A Pearl Is Just an Accident. Set across 15 interconnected stories, the book follows Eliza James, a paintings conservator dedicated to carefully repairing damaged artwork by penetrating layers of surface grime and old overpaintings. As Eliza peels back these obscured layers professionally, she embarks on a parallel, non-linear journey back to London to uncover her own buried origins and grapple with intergenerational trauma, discovering that human damage is far more difficult to restore than art.

During their conversation, Fisher and Shepherd discuss:

• The Pearl Metaphor: How the slow, 5-to-20-year formation of a pearl—where an unwanted irritant is gradually covered by protective layers until something luminous emerges—mirrors the lifetime process of carrying and transforming inherited damage.
• The Creative Journey: Fisher's realization that her work naturally formed a "novel in stories" rather than a conventionally arced novel, and how extracting her interconnected James family stories from earlier, "failed" drafts ultimately saved the project.
• Writing as Healing: The therapeutic power of strict free writing to bypass a strong inner critic, and how transforming difficult childhood moments into creative acts provided an essential path to joy and self-trust.
• The Influence of Poetry: How shifting to writing poetry taught Fisher the importance of experimental structures, brevity, and allowing silences to speak just as loudly as language on the page.
• Finding Grace: The evolution of her fictional family members from classic abusers into nuanced individuals carrying their own agonies, a choice driven by Fisher's desire to leave readers with a profound sense of hope.

To learn more about Julie Esther Fisher and her work, visit julieestherfisher.com.

We all inevitably become the brand. And that's why I wrote, "How to Become a Dynamic Podcast Guest and Sell Stuff." It's a sweet and short primer that teaches you about the gear, the appearance and the messaging that can grab and hold today's micro-attention spans and motivate your listeners to take action. It's Just a dollar ninety nine at Amazon. Grab your copy today and sell mo