 Nonfiction that reads like a novel, and a novel steeped in modern California history are approached by Suzanne M Lang in conversation with Joanna FitzPatrick and Jeanne Baker Guy. FitzPatrick’s novel, The Artist Colony is a murder mystery set at a women’s art colony in the dynamic environment of 1924 Carmel-by-the Sea. Though a work of fiction, it vividly paints the weather and landscape of the area, that has so inspired artists, and is set in the early Twentieth Century, when women, who just got the vote, were struggling to be taken seriously as artists.         Jeanne Baker Guy has produced a memoir of a time in her life when her ex-husband kidnapped their two children; the story of her struggle to locate them and bring them home is the story of You’ll Never Find Us. Both books are published by She Writes Press.           Click the icon below to listen.       

KRCB-FM: A Novel Idea

Joanna FitzPatrick and Jeanne Baker Guy on A Novel Idea (Aired: October 3, 2021)  

Author Kent Wong's memoir, Swimming to Freedom -My Escape from China and the Cultural Revolution, an Untold Story is a riveting tale of his life in China as a boy during the Cultural Revolution. Wong joined the dissident underground and became one of the half million other Chinese who braved the waters of the South China Sea, escaping to Hong Kong, then under British rule. Join Suzanne Lang in conversation with Kent Wong.    A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB 104.9 / streaming @ krcb.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play!                       

Suzanne Lang talks with Kent Wong on A Novel Idea (Aired: September 5, 2021)

Fiction can be fantasy, fiction can reflect back to us who we are, and at its best it does both while being an entertaining read. Such is the case with two books we feature and the conversations with their award-winning authors   Jessica Barksdale Inclán brings us the time-traveling literary fantasy, The Play’s the Thing.            Nancy Econome brings us her debut novel of Greek immigrants in the 1940’s, The Classic Grill, a Tale of Greek Gods and Immigrant Heroes. Join Suzanne M. Lang in conversation with these two novelists.   A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB 104.9 – Sonoma County’s NPR station / streaming @ krcb.org/radio /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play!               

Award-Winning Authors Jessica Barksdale Inclán and Nancy Econome on A Novel Idea (Aired: August 29, 2021)

Scampering across balconies, rooftops, and even Mick Jaggers house, to string antenna wire across London, Arnold M.D. Levine details the antics and achievements of the pirate radio movement in the UK in his fun and informative memoir Banned by the BBC, How I Became a Radio Pirate, a memoir of 1970's London.  Levine is a Sonoma County radio broadcaster and host of Tommy's Holiday Camp on KOWS-Occidental and joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation.    A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB 104.9 – Sonoma County’s NPR station / streaming @ krcb.org/radio /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play!         

Sailing the Early Seas of Pirate Radio in the U.K. on A Novel Idea (Aired: August 1, 2021)

“I believe in Rock-and-Roll, books, and movies to upset the world” says Jonathan Taplin author of The Magic Years, Scenes from a Rock-and-Roll Life. Taplin has been riding the waves of American art and culture for 50 years, from road manager for Dylan and the Band, to producing movies for Martin Scorsese and Wim Wenders, working in high finance, creating the first video-on-demand service in the 90’s, and heading up the Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism at USC. He’s got some great stories that he tells with wit, candor, and humility. Jonathan Taplin joins Suzanne Lang in conversation. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB 104.9 – Sonoma County’s NPR station / streaming @ krcb.org/radio /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play!         

A Novel Idea Features Jonathan Taplin (Aired: July 4, 2021)

 Sometimes we move through life and are blindsided by catastrophe, and each individual’s response is unique and their own. No roadmaps, but there are touchstones along the way. Suzanne Lang talks with two authors who recount their journeys of shock and loss with candor, humor, and compassion.       Cheryl Krauter’s husband died one night within the span of 5 minutes, leaving her stunned. Odyssey of Ashes, A Memoir of Love, Loss, and Letting Go is her story of moving with and through significant loss. Rachel Michelberg’s candid and gripping memoir, Crash, How I became a Reluctant Caregiver is her story of her husband suffering a traumatic brain injury in a plane crash, and the difficult decisions she made with regard to his care and her family life.         

Cheryl Krauter & Rachel Michelberg on A Novel Idea (Aired: June 6, 2021)

 The year is 1597. The setting is the Upper Arctic. In search of a northeast passage to the Orient, Dutch cartographer William Barents and his crew become locked in ice and must wait out the months of polar night if they want to return to civilization. Suzanne Lang is in conversation with journalist and adventurer Andrea Pitzer on her account of this outrageous and harrowing journey in her book ICEBOUND, Shipwrecked at the Edge of the World. Pitzer’s previous work includes One Long Night: A Global History of Concentration Camps, and The Secret History of Vladimir Nabokov. Join us Sunday, May 30th at 10am PT. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos courtesy of the author)            

A Novel Idea Features Andrea Pitzer (Aired: May 30, 2021)

 There is the promise of life, even at its end. Richard Alther’s novel Bedside Matters explores the ultimate question: what matters most? Alther, whose previous works include Roxie & Fred, The Scar Letters, Siegfried Follies, and the Decade of Blind Dates, joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation this month on KRCB’s A Novel Idea. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos: Courtesy of the author)         

Richard Alther Discusses His New Novel Bedside Matters on A Novel Idea (Aired: March 7, 2021)

Bohemians West — Free Love, Family, and Radicals in Twentieth-Century America is the story of free love and the radical movement of the early twentieth century through the lens of two lovers, Sara Bard Field and Charles Erskine Scott Wood, both married to others when they met with families of their own. Their tumultuous love story spanned thirty years, the same amount of time that separated them by age, in the midst of the progressivism of the pre-WWI years, the women’s suffrage movement, and beyond. Historian Sherry L. Smith brings us this story of two poets, activists, and lovers. Sherry joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation. It’s A Novel Idea. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos courtesy of the author)             

Bohemians West: Free Love, Family, and Radicals in Twentieth-Century America on A Novel Idea (Aired: February 7, 2021)

 Lynn Downey is a historian of the American West, longtime archivist with Levi Strauss & Co, and has two new books worth talking about, whether you’re a history buff or not!  Arequipa Sanatorium: Life in California’s Lung Resort for Women is a lively chronicle of the early Twentieth Century in the San Francisco area where tuberculosis was raging, and dedicated doctors and community members supported a unique facility in Fairfax California to give women a new chance at life. Lynn’s also written a novel set in Arizona on a dude ranch, and she joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation on A Novel Idea. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos: Courtesy of the author)         

Historian Lynn Downey Joins Suzanne Lang on A Novel Idea (Aired: January 3, 2021)

 “Radio saved me.” Brandon J McDermott grew up pretending to be a baseball announcer and ranking all the songs he knew said just this about himself: “radio saved me.”  McDermott, a successful NPR broadcaster in Lincoln, Nebraska, is local host of NPR’s “Morning Edition” and news reporter at NET, Nebraska’s PBS & NPR Stations. He’s just received a national award from the Radio Television Digital News Association and National Endowment for Financial Education, the 2020 Personal Finance Reporting Award for his story “Nebraska Schools Tackle Financial Literacy." Brandon’s life, however, hasn’t always been so focused and productive. His boyhood years were troubled and troubling. His parents were not equipped with parenting skills and subjected Brandon to emotional and physical abuse that no child should experience, but unfortunately many have. Brandon J McDermott tells his story in Abandon Brandon, A memoir.  Along with being a broadcaster, Brandon is an advocate for stepping out of the silence of shame. It has been a key element in his own transformation. Join Suzanne M Lang in conversation with Brandon J McDermott, Sunday, December 6th at 10am PT. Broadcasting at 90.9 and 91.1 and streaming at Radio (norcalpublicmedia.org). A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play!         

Join Suzanne M Lang in Conversation with Brandon J McDermott on A Novel Idea (Aired: December 6, 2020)

 Northern California writer Joan Frank is a woman who quotes Dorothy Parker with ease and whose conversations are as good as her books. Joan’s published her third book of 2020; The Outlook for Earthlings is a stunning work of prose and an insightful look into lives over time and experience. Joan Frank joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos: Courtesy of the author)           

Joan Frank joins Suzanne M. Lang on A Novel Idea (Aired: November 29, 2020)

 David Stebenne unwraps how the middle class was created but then could not hold in his book Promised Land, How the Rise of the Middle Class Transformed America, 1929-1968. Stebenne details the social, economic, and political realities that picked us up from the Great Depression, especially if you were white and male, and by the 1950’s had hoisted the country into prosperity with a burgeoning middle class; by 1968 the cracks were too wide to ignore, and the country has been yearning and grumbling ever since. David is a specialist in modern American political and legal history, is widely published, teaches at Ohio State University, and joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation, Sunday, November 1st at 10am on KRCB’s A Novel Idea. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photo: Courtesy of the author)       

David Stebenne Joins Suzanne Lang for A Novel Idea (Aired: November 1, 2020)

 Charmian Kittredge London was a great American writer, Jack London’s second wife, and is the subject of Iris Jamahl Dunkle’s biography Charmian Kittredge London -Trailblazer, Author, Adventurer. Iris joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation, telling the story of the bold and somewhat misunderstood life of Charmian. A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos: Courtesy of the author)               

Charmian Kittredge London Biographer Iris Jamahl Dunkle on A Novel Idea (Aired: October 4, 2020)

 Aerobatic flying, as described and practiced by Cecilia Aragon, a world champion aerobatic pilot, is a dance in the sky, with spins and turns and gravity-defying grace. Her memoir is Flying Free, My Victory over Fear to Become the First Latina Pilot on the US Aerobatic Team —a true adventure story. Her descriptions of flying are as riveting as her personal story is inspiring. Cecilia is not only an air-show pilot and author but the first Latina full professor in the College of Engineering at the University of Washington. She joins Suzanne M. Lang in conversation on KRCB’s A Novel Idea.  A Novel Idea airs on the first and fifth Sundays of every month at 10:00 am on KRCB-FM Radio 91 / streaming @ norcalpublicmedia.org /Download the FREE KRCB mobile app @ iTunes & Google Play! (Photos: Courtesy of the author)             

Flying Free with Cecilia Aragon on KRCB’s A Novel Idea (Aired: September 6, 2020)

Non-fiction to pulp fiction, host Rosemary Manchester and producer Suzanne M. Lang explore the world of books featuring conversations with writers, academics, and readers. It’s a novel idea.

hubhopper

KRCB-FM: A Novel Idea

hubhopper