Desideratum

10 Days : Dee Rommel Mystery #1 is just the beginning for novelist Jule Selbo.  Her plans for Dee Rommel - the justice seeking cop who was injured on the job - include a countdown style series starting with 10 Days, then 9 Days, then 8 Days... each book's action set in that specific time frame.  Jule has worn several career hats preparing her for this work - playwright, screenwriter, and professor. She shares WHY the mystery an...

Desideratum is a Latin word meaning 'things that are desired as essential'. The Desideratum Podcast celebrates storytelling as an essential thing - the art of telling and the journey of listening. I am Theresa Bakken - an audiobook narrator. Join me and my wordsmith friends for new episodes every Friday showcasing the talents of authors and narrators. Listen to conversations with writers and scenes from their audiobooks. I ...

The real story of The Second Mrs. Astor is told with rich detail and a romantic's touch.  When Madeleine Force fell in love she was a teenager. Who she fell in love with fascinated the press and the public. How the love ended is revealed on the very first page. But, then there is so much more to her story.  New York Times, USA Today, Publishers Weekly & Wall Street Journal Bestselling Author Shana Abé shares how she envisio...

Our featured story comes from freelance photographer and writer Jeannee Sacken.  In her debut novel, Behind the Lens, Sacken honors strong women. She champions their education and freedom to follow their hearts and passions.  Her characters are courageous and complicated.  She takes us to a war zone with a photographer who focuses on truth and witnesses cruelty, love, cultural beauty and betrayal. It's a riveting, multifaceted ...

Our featured story is a harrowing tale, a heart wrenching story about a journey through compassion and cruelty.  Author Debra Thomas spent years writing the novel Luz and more years finding just the right publisher for the story - She Writes Press.  In our conversation, she shares personal insight into the life lessons about perseverance and living with regrets that she wove into the characters. She talks about real life experience...

Our featured story comes from Marjorie Herrera Lewis. Marjorie is a career sports writer covering football at all levels in Texas. In fact, she was the first female sports writer to cover the Dallas Cowboys. So when, through a happy set of coincidences, she found out about another female sports enthusiast who stepped up during WWII and coached high school football in Texas,  she knew it was a story she had to tell. Tylene Wilson...

Our featured story is from Claire Fullerton, a storyteller who visits the past and studies how it shapes us over and over again in her writing.  We talk about how being an outsider and an observer sparked her study and love for the south. She shares her unplanned writing style - you won't find it in any writing class. And, she describes her first trip to Como, Mississippi, where she set part of the novel Little Tea. You will he...

Our featured story is from Frank Oliva's debut novel Walking Among the Trees.  The Psychological Thriller is a journey through secrets and past sins.  You will hear the beginning of the book as the two priests venture into the trees. And then, you will walk a little farther into the trees with the author to hear about: what he researched to get just right in the story; how the seed of the story was planted when he was a teenage...

Our featured story comes from author Brian Malloy's new novel After Francesco.  You will hear his talented and award winning narrator Michael Crouch read an excerpt from the audiobook - a scene where the main character Kevin measures his grief not by remembering what was, but by thinking about what will never be.  You will also hear Brian explain - in his even and calming voice - how this emotional ride of a story is anchored i...

Our featured story comes from author Pamela Skjolsvik.  She always considered herself a non-fiction writer, trained to tell the truth, but then one day she discovered she likes to make things up and she's good at it.  She's written a vampire novel called Forever 51 that she says is not your daughter's vampire story. She's funnier than her last name and she's open and direct in surprising ways.  I've been ask...

Today's featured story is an excerpt from the historical thriller Hunting Teddy Roosevelt. The story takes place during Roosevelt's well documented safari in Africa in 1909. Author James Ross places an assassin on the trip hired by forces who want to keep Roosevelt out of politics forever. And he creates a female journalist / explorer who travels with the safari and whose work shines a light on colonial atrocities in the Co...

Our featured story is from author Meredith Stoddard who writes folklore inspired fiction.  You will hear the beginning of her Book One, The River Maiden, in her Once and Future Series. There are five books in this contemporary fantasy series - so far. Meredith says she has more story to tell. 'These characters have mountains to climb, caves to feel their way through and emotional swamps to navigate.'  Listen for how Meredit...