Season 5 Coming Soon!
Get ready for an exciting new season of History Through Fiction: The Podcast! Season 5 starts Monday, September 18 and includes a fantastic lineup of fourteen weekly episodes that you won't want to miss.
To kick off the season, we have an engaging interview with Vanessa Riley, the esteemed 2023 Georgia Author of the Year in Literary Fiction. But that's not all! We also have special episodes featuring our very own founder, Colin Mustful, author of Reclaiming Mni Sota, as well as Gin Hammond, a talented actor, playwright, and author of Returning the Bones. And if that wasn't enough, we're thrilled to have New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon joining us for an insightful interview.
In a new twist for this season, each episode will include a captivating excerpt from the author's latest novel, read by the author themselves. So you can truly immerse yourself in their storytelling.
Make sure to subscribe to History Through Fiction: The Podcast wherever you listen to your podcasts, so you don't miss out on these incredible conversations with historical novelists. They'll be sharing fascinating insights about their books and their craft. Don't wait – mark your calendars and get ready for an unforgettable journey through history!
September 18 – Vanessa Riley
Vanessa Riley is an award-winning author of Island Queen, A Good Morning America Buzz Pick and her newest novel Queen of Exiles. Riley's historical novels showcase the hidden histories of Black women and women of color, emphasizing strong sisterhoods and dazzling multicultural communities. Her works encompass historical fiction, historical romance, and historical mystery and have been reviewed by the Washington Post, Entertainment Weekly, NPR, Publisher Weekly, and the New York Times. In this episode, we’ll be talking to Riley about her new novel, Queen of Exiles.
September 25 – Linda Joy Myers
Linda Joy Myers has always been haunted by the power of the past to affect people in the stream of time. Her grandmother's stories about World War II sparked her interest in history, which she later integrated into her personal struggles with intergenerational trauma and her work as a therapist and writer. As the founder of the National Association of Memoir Writers, Linda Joy has authored four books on memoir writing, including The Power of Memoir and Journey of Memoir. Her own memoirs, Don't Call Me Mother and Song of the Plains, have received prestigious awards. When she's not writing, Linda Joy enjoys traveling, tending to her garden, and sharing her passion for history with her children and grandchildren. In this episode, we’ll be talking to her about her latest novel, The Forger of Marseille.
October 2 – Tracey D. Buchanan
Tracey D. Buchanan is an award-winning journalist and has worked as a magazine editor and freelance writer for over thirty years. She’s now happily planted in the world of fiction with her debut novel, Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace. She and her husband Kent live in the UNESCO Creative City of Paducah, Ky. They have two married sons, seven shockingly perfect grandchildren, and one very mixed-up dog. In this episode, we’ll be talking to her about her debut novel, Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace.
October 16 – Colin Mustful with guest host Stephanie Landsem
Colin Mustful is an independent historian, author, and publisher. His work, which includes five historical novels, focuses on the tumultuous and complicated periods of settler-colonialism and Native displacement in American history. He has a Master of Arts degree in history and a Master of Fine Arts degree in creative writing. He is the founder and editor of History Through Fiction, an independent press that publishes compelling historical novels that are based on real events and people. As a traditional publisher, he works with authors who want to share important historical stories with the world. He believes that learning history is vital to understanding our world today and finding just, long-lasting solutions for the future. In this episode, Stephanie Landsem talks with Mustful about his new novel, Reclaiming Mni Sota.
October 16 – Emily Hourican
Emily Hourican is a journalist and author. She has written features for the Sunday Independent for fifteen years, as well as Image magazine, Condé Nast Traveler and Woman and Home. She was also editor of The Dubliner Magazine. Emily's first book, a memoir titled How To (Really) Be A Mother was published in 2013. She is also the author of the novels The Privileged, White Villa, The Outsider and The Blamed, as well as two bestselling novels about the Guinness sisters: The Glorious Guinness Girls and The Guinness Girls: A Hint of Scandal. She lives in Dublin with her family. In this episode, we’ll be talking with her about her Guinness Girls novels.
October 23 – S. Lee Fisher
S. Lee Fisher is the pen name of clinical pharmacist Dr. Sherri Lee Fisher Progar. Retired from pharmacy practice in 2015, Fisher decided to use her 'right brain' to pursue more creative endeavors. Now a full-time novelist, Fisher lives on the gulf coast of Florida with her husband of 37 years, Ralph. In this episode, we’ll be talking to her about her novel series The Women of Campbell County
October 30 – Amy Harmon
Amy Harmon is a Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and New York Times bestselling author. Her books have been translated into thirty languages around the world. Amy has written nineteen novels in multiple genres, including the bestsellers, WHAT THE WIND KNOWS and WHERE THE LOST WANDER. Her fantasy novel, THE BIRD AND THE SWORD was a Goodreads Best Book finalist. FROM SAND AND ASH was named the 2016 Whitney Award winner for Book of the Year. In this episode, we’ll be talking to her about her latest novel, A Girl Called Samson.
November 6 – Lola Jaye
Lola Jaye was born and raised in London, England, where she still makes her home; she has also lived briefly in Nigeria. By the Time You Read This--Lola's first U.S. novel--was published by HarperCollins in 2009. Her inspirational essay "Reaching for the Stars: How You Can Make Your Dreams Come True," in which she charted her journey from foster child to author, was released in 2009 as part of the U.K.'s wildly popular Quick Reads program. In this episode, we’ll be talking with Jaye about her novel, The Attic Child.
November 13 – Gin Hammond
Gin Hammond is a graduate of Harvard University and Moscow Art Theatre. She has performed nationally and internationally at theatres such as the Guthrie, the Long Wharf Theatre, and the Studio Theatre in Washington, DC, where she won a Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Lead Actress. A certified associate teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework™, Hammond teaches voice, voiceover, public speaking, and dialect coaching. In this episode, we’ll be talking to Hammond about her debut novel, Returning the Bones.
November 20 – Jennifer Cody Epstein
Jennifer Cody Epstein is the USA Today bestselling author of the novel Wunderland. Some of her other works include The Gods of Heavenly Punishment, winner of the 2014 Asian Pacific Association of Librarians Honor award for outstanding fiction, as well as the international bestseller The Painter from Shanghai. Epstein has written for The Wall Street Journal, The Asian Wall Street Journal, The Nation (Thailand), Self and Mademoiselle magazines, and the NBC and HBO networks, working in Kyoto, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Bangkok as well as Washington D.C. and New York. Epstein has an MFA from Columbia, a Masters of International Relations from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and a BA in Asian Studies/English from Amherst College. She lives in Brooklyn, NY with her husband, filmmaker Michael Epstein, her two amazing daughters and an exceptionally needy Springer Spaniel. In this episode, we’ll be talking with Epstein about her new novel, The Madwomen of Paris.
November 27 – Cy Stein
Cy Stein comes from suburban NYC and still lives in the area. After a successful career in medical oncology, he returned to his first love: historical fiction. He has written four works of historical fiction, two are set in ancient Rome; The Medicus Codex and Becoming Caligula. His other two works are alternate WW2 era histories, Rocket’s Red Glare and his newest, a McCarthy era thriller, A Time For Lies. Praised for his historical accuracy, diverse characters, and believable dialogue, Stein’s work reads like commercial page-turners while exploring an unexplored historical question: how do amoral, narcissistic individuals achieve power and how do normal individuals trapped in their orbit survive? In this episode, we’ll be talking with Cy about his new novel, A Time For Lies.
December 4 – D.G. Schulman
D.G. Schulman is a publishing executive who married the boy next door and lives in the Midwest where she and her husband raised their two daughters. She is a night owl who loves to write fiction into the wee hours of the morning. When she's not in front of a keyboard, she enjoys making chocolate, growing herbs, cooking, reading, and spending time with her married children and growing brood of grandkids. In this episode, we’ll be talking to Schulman about her novel Anna’s Promise.
December 11 – Marlie Parker Wasserman
Marlie Wasserman writes historical crime fiction. Her debut novel, THE MURDERESS MUST DIE, tells the story of Martha Place, the first woman to die in the electric chair. Her second novel, PATH OF PERIL, is a twisty tale of multiple assassins scheming to murder Teddy Roosevelt in 1906 at the Panama Canal. Her forthcoming novel, INFERNO ON FIFTH, is based on the true story of a deadly hotel fire in Manhattan in 1899. When she is not writing, Marlie sketches and travels. Topping her bucket list is a visit to each of the United States’ sixty-two national parks. She has visited forty-two to date. In this episode, we’ll be talking with Wasserman about her novel Path of Peril.
December 18 – J.L. Oakley
Award-winning author J.L. Oakley writes historical fiction that spans the mid-19th century to WWII with characters standing up for something in their own time and place. Her writing has been recognized with a 2006 Surrey International Writer's Non-fiction award, a 2013 Bellingham Mayor’s Arts Award, the 2013 Chanticleer Grand Prize, the 2014 First Place Chaucer Award, the 2015 WILLA Silver Award for Timber Rose, and the 2016 Goethe Grand Prize for The Jøssing Affair. When not writing, she demonstrates 19th century folkways in the schools and at San Juan Island National Park. In this episode, we’ll be talking with Oakley about her novels The Jossing Affair and The Quisling Factor.
