May 31, 2024 • 30 mins
Jason takes the hot seat on his own podcast! Join us as Jason's beta readers and good pals Emma Wierschke and Annabelle White ask him questions about his new middle-grade novel Scar Dakota and its journey to bookstores.
Jason opens up about writing, what he learned from the Zoom beta reading group, and all three share their favorite scenes and characters. You'll absolutely love these two spunky hosts!
Buy Scar Dakota:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CTJ6TMDX
Learn more about Jason:
http://www.jasonfwright.com
Watch trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnaUQSX9cfE
About the book:
Shane Dakota's world is falling to pieces. He's just moved over Christmas break from North Carolina to the very strange mountain land of Utah. Suddenly Shane's grandparents are raising him and he's spending way too much time teaching his grandpa about Netflix while learning more than any seventh grader ever should about pickleball.
But even Shane knows those aren't his biggest problems. His mother, a member of the National Guard, has just passed away and Shane is struggling with the truth. Plus when the holiday break ends, Shane has to walk into a huge new school with a story, a secret, and a fresh scar on his right cheek.
Shane tries to fit in, but he can't stop thinking about his mother, wondering about a father he's never even met, and remembering the bizarre accident in North Carolina that sent his world spinning. Just when it all feels upside down, Shane makes friends with his new neighbors Kabir, Ink, and a crew of almost-famous YouTubers. Shane even scores a new nickname - Scar - and he actually likes it!
But just as Scar finally finds his place, he betrays a friend and receives a mysterious text message that threatens to expose his secret. Can Scar face the truth about friendship and his family in front of the entire seventh grade on the biggest stage he's ever seen? Will he learn lessons about the power of religious and cultural diversity in time?
More than anything, Scar must learn that everyone has scars, and if we choose, they have power to become beautiful.
This podcast is brought to you by InkVeins, your source for book publicity, promo, press releases and more. Text 540-212-4095 for more information.
Listen
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello world.
Welcome to this specialtakeover of Book Drop.
Mike.
This is Emma Wierschke, comingto you from Washington State,
and my co-host today isAnnabelle White.
Hello from New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Is this where I get to say hello?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We'll get to you.
Annabelle, do you want to telleveryone why we're doing a
takeover episode?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, it'll be kind of hard for Jason to interview
himself about his books.
So we are his two writingpartners and we're going to ask
him about his new book, ScarDakota.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I like that.
All right Now.
I assume I now get to say hello.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Almost.
So, like Annabelle said, we'retaking over the book drop mic
today to interview Jason aboutScar Dakota, his new middle
grade book that he shared withabout 50 kids like us last year,
right.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, as Jason was writing the book, he would have
these Zooms, and kids from allover would join in and listen to
him read the chapters, and thenhe'd give feedback.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And finally the book is out and Annabelle and I are
on the back cover.
And finally, the book is outand Annabelle and I are on the
back cover.
Okay, now you can say hello.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you, hello, hello, you are both on the back
cover, which was one of myfavorite little surprises that
you I don't think either one ofyou knew that your names were
going to be on the back cover,did you?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, pretty awesome.
Your moms are super secretkeepers and so I worked with
them and we put your littleendorsements on the back of the
book.
That was super fun.
Thank you for taking over mypodcast.
It's kind of strange to be theguest on a podcast that I
normally host that's now beinghosted by two people whose
(01:42):
combined age is 22.
Let's have some fun.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Let's dive into the questions.
So, like you ask all of yourguests, jason, you have to tell
us about yourself first beforeyou talk about the book.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I was really hoping I would just get to talk about
the book.
Yeah, that's a very fair pointand that is how the show works.
I always ask guests to tell alittle bit about themselves
first, and then the book, andthen what's coming next.
So I guess following formatmakes sense.
So I'm a writer.
Newsflash big secret.
I'm a writer and I live inWoodstock, virginia, which is a
(02:20):
little town about an hour and ahalf-ish west of Washington DC.
We're in the Shenandoah Valley,which is we're kind of in the
northwest corner of Virginia andI love it out here.
I'm looking out my window as Ido this interview at Main Street
here in our little town, andit's a really nice, cozy place
(02:42):
to write books.
So we have lived here a longtime.
Let's see, my youngest is 17and we moved here a couple
months after he was born.
So we've been here about 17years and um, I write and I
travel and talk about my booksand, as you two know, because
we've been working on umprojects together and I'm sure
(03:04):
we'll talk about that later onbut I have said many times that
I really write books so that Ican meet people, like the books
are kind of an excuse to getinto schools and to book clubs
and libraries and and corporateevents, just to have an
opportunity to sort of meetpeople and to hear their story.
So as much as I love tellingstories I've always kind of been
(03:27):
a storyteller I really, reallylike hearing other people's
stories.
I think everyone has a story totell and so I love meeting
people and getting to know themand and it has been loads and
loads of fun getting to know thetwo of you over this last year.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Now what we're all actually here for.
Tell us about your new book.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I think it's called Scar Dakota.
Is that the one we're talkingabout today?
I?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
don't know.
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, scar Dakota, yeah, that's a good topic.
Well, you two ladies probablycan answer this question better
than I can.
That's why we're that's.
I mean, that's why we're onthis podcast, because the two of
you were so fortunate to be apart of my little beta reading
group.
I was fortunate to have the twoof you and those other 50 or so
kids that were a part of thatgroup.
(04:13):
So, as you know, this was myfirst middle grade book.
I'd written a lot of adultcontemporary novels, we would
call them, and I know yourwonderful parents have been
readers your mom's in particularof my books through the years,
but I'd never written anythingfor readers your age.
(04:34):
And so I sort of came up withthis idea.
I wanted to tell a story abouta seventh grader in particular
who went through a tough seventhgrade experience.
Because I went through a prettytough seventh grade year as
well and while in my real lifewhen I was in the seventh grade,
my experiences weren't quitelike my main character, scar
(04:58):
Scar Dakota, I do feel like someof the things that my main
character experiencesemotionally and just sort of
socially they kind of link upwith some of the things I went
through.
So Scar Dakota was kind of.
I don't know a way for me todive back into middle school a
little bit and to revisit someof that.
(05:20):
It's just a weird time, right.
Middle school can be a reallytough time actually for a lot of
people.
So the book is about a young manwho loses his mom that's not a
real spoiler, because it happensright before the book opens
actually and he lives in NorthCarolina and he's kind of alone
in the world.
So now he's going to move allthe way across the country to a
(05:41):
place called Highland, utah, andhe's going to be raised by his
grandparents, who he kind ofknows from visits through the
years.
But this is really a new familyfor him, new city, new family,
new house, new school, neweverything and new friends.
And so when the book reallygets going, he's arrived in Utah
(06:02):
and it's January, february andover the next several months our
lead character is going to makesome friends, learn a little
bit about friendship and honesty.
And one of my favorite ways todescribe the book is that it's
about a boy with a story, asecret and a scar, and I just
(06:23):
like the way that.
I like the way that sounds,because that really does sum up,
I think, what, um, what scarkind of goes through, and and
maybe maybe the two of you cankind of relate to some of those
experiences, I don't know, uh,annabelle, what do you?
If you had to answer thatquestion, annabelle, what the
book is about, uh, what wouldyou say?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I would say that it's about a boy moving and
basically starting his life allover again different place, with
different people and having tolearn a lot of lessons about
growing up not just in general,but also growing up like as the
(07:08):
person that he is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Mm, that's good.
I love that.
The idea of starting your lifeall over again.
I had not thought of it thatway before.
That's a really brilliant wayto describe what Scar goes
through.
By the way, for those listeningwho don't know, his name is
Shane.
In the book, his name is ShaneDakota, but pretty quickly he
picks up this name, scar, thisnickname, so that's why you'll
hear it.
(07:31):
What about you, emma?
If you had 10 seconds todescribe what the book is about
to a friend, what would you say?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I would go with the exact same thing Annabelle said,
but I would also add that hedoesn't only learn how to grow
up for who he is also, but healso learns that everyone has
scars and everyone has thingsthat they could either choose to
be ashamed of, learn from orjust act on them.
(07:58):
And so that's, yeah, what Ithink too.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So I was chatting with a newspaper reporter
actually today and we talked alittle bit about our little Zoom
group.
I bet some of our regularlisteners to the show might not
really understand what thatlooked like and we sort of
glossed over that.
So, emma, why don't you take ashot at kind of describing what
(08:22):
was this?
We keep referring to this betareading opportunity that we did
together.
What was that like?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
It was really cool being able to like know that I
was like listening to you read abook that no one has ever heard
before, and, uh, it was alsolike really cool to like watch
my mom as she listened in too islike her reactions to certain
(08:52):
things compared to like otherpeople's reactions on the beta
reading group too.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So, yeah, yeah, well, and your mom was kind of nosy,
right, I mean it's, we're beinghonest, right?
What about you, annabelle?
You were on most of those zooms.
I should add real quick, if, ifthe folks couldn't be on the
zoom live, we sort of had a kindof an unwritten rule that you
had to watch the recordedsession before you hopped on to
(09:21):
the next live.
So if you're listening to thisepisode and you're wondering how
in the world did we heard allof these middle school cats
together on a Zoom, you know,for two or three months?
We never had, I think maybeonce or twice we had almost
everybody, um, but we, we gotwho we could get at the
(09:41):
scheduled time and then folkswould watch the recorded
sessions later.
So, annabelle, what was thatall like for you?
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, well, as you said, I pretty much the first
half of the book.
I was just like watching therecordings the first half of the
book I was just like watchingthe recordings, but that's right
.
That's right.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun, likebeing able to be there,
listening to you read it andalso being able to give you our
(10:07):
feedback.
I feel like that's somethingthat, like a lot of times, you
wouldn't be able to do, butreally being able to like know
that we were impacting, like howit turned out.
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So so someone listening might hear that and
wonder if that's hyperbole or,you know, if we're just sort of
saying this for the show.
But that's really true that youand you said it beautifully you
, as my beta reading listeningaudience, had actual impact on
the book, whether it's characternames or plot ideas.
(10:48):
Again to this reporter I wastalking to earlier today.
She asked kind of a similarquestion about what the process
was like and if I really madesome changes based on feedback
and I said absolutely there werethings that I improved and
clarified based on the questionsthat you all asked.
And I don't know if youremember, but when we finished
(11:09):
the book at the very end thatvery last session, there were a
couple of questions that were alittle more direct and bold,
which I very much appreciated.
That really helped me.
When I went through my firstedit of the book, my first kind
of full-length edit, some prettyimportant changes actually
(11:30):
toward the end of the bookhappened as a result of very
pointed questions that that youalso boldly asked.
Yeah, and I again I'll share alink to the article in the show
notes for this episode, but Itold this reporter that beta
reading group and writingexperience was the most
(11:51):
meaningful of my professionalcareer.
I have not.
I've not had a more meaningful,memorable maybe educational
even for me as a writerexperience in my career.
It was.
It was that much fun.
I would love to do somethinglike that again.
Would the two of youparticipate in something like
that again if we did it?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Of course I definitely would.
So what's coming next?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, what is coming next?
Well, you two can see becausewe're on Zoom.
Obviously, those listeningcan't, but I'm sitting in front
of a pile of books.
So, scar Dakota, the hardcovers, finally arrived after
quite the journey around theworld.
So what's coming next is I amshipping out a lot of books.
(12:38):
I am walking to and from.
It's a good thing the postoffice is only about a block
away, because I'm making lots oftrips to the post office over
the next week or two.
But in terms of writing, shouldwe make some new?
Should I share something thatI've not shared yet?
Um, just today, like today,this very day I don't know when
(13:02):
people are listening to this,but the day we're recording it.
Um, cody, my wife and I signeda contract for a christmas jars
craft and cookbook that will beout next year and it is
celebrating the 20, 20 year, 20year anniversary of the book,
(13:23):
which is crazy to me.
But this, this new project,will have craft ideas and a
recipe, ideas for Christmasthemed treats, and what makes
the book kind of unique is thatwe're staying right on the cover
.
It will say that the recipesand ideas in this book are not
(13:44):
for you.
You may not make these thingsfor yourself.
The whole point of the book isthat you make these treats and
crafts and little holidaymementos for people in your life
friends, neighbors, co-workers,people from church, whatever
you want to do and that will beout I don't know, I'm guessing
like the first week of Octoberof 2025.
(14:07):
So, super excited about that.
That's kind of the main thingthat I'll be diving into next
and then, as the two of youalluded to at the beginning of
our interview, I am taking onsort of I would say, in
Annabelle's case, kind of aconsulting role on Annabelle's
manuscript, helping with edits,and it's fantastic and we won't
(14:33):
give too much away here, but itis unbelievable.
Annabelle is an unbelievablygifted writer.
This project is super excitingand it's been fun to sort of
help her and to watch asAnnabelle.
You have taken on more and moreof the writing, the writing,
(15:01):
and Miss Emma and I we have beenthrough quite a few ideas and
starts and stops and trying tofigure out what we're going to
do, but we landed on a certainCandy Mountain idea, I think,
when I was out there, when I hadan opportunity to spend a few
days with the Worshke family inWashington state, and so we're,
we're about to dive back intothat idea.
So that's what's coming next,along with my, my publicity and
(15:24):
PR company, that I'm doing andI'm trying to help some other
people get their books publishedthrough ink veins publishing,
and I'm trying to, you know,raise a couple of kids still at
home and remind my wife what myface looks like every now and
again when I happen through thehouse.
You know, just the usual.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That's all so awesome , but since it's our show today,
we have a couple of extraquestions for you.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I'll start off.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Full disclosure audience audience.
I have no idea what they'reabout to ask me no, you do not.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm not sure.
Even I do um.
So, to start off with your newbook, star dakota, what was your
favorite part of the book towrite?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Oh, that is a tasty little question, annabelle.
I would say a couple things.
I love his first visit to theHindu temple, when our main
character goes with his Hinduneighbor and their kind of third
best friend, inc, and thefamily goes off to visit this
(16:39):
temple for the first time and itwas one of my favorite to write
.
I spent a lot of time on thatparticular chapter and scene and
then kind of linking to that.
I knew when I wrote that Ididn't necessarily know how the
book was going to unfold fromzoom session to zoom session, um
(16:59):
, but I did know when I wrotethat scene of their first visit
to the temple that they would beback at the temple at the end
of the book, that he would beback at the temple.
I should say and I don't wantto give too much away but when I
actually cry, I actually criedwhen I wrote.
I kind of cried through thelast few chapters, to be honest,
like it really gets.
(17:21):
His little story just gets meevery time, even though it came
out of my head, it really getsme.
But that particular scene whenhe goes back and reconnects in
the temple there toward the endof the book, I just love that
and I loved the scenes with theRIP YouTube crew.
There's this group of kind ofwannabe influencers in the book
(17:44):
called RIP, r-a-p exclamationpoint and they make these kind
of funny mostly harmless but notalways prank videos and those
scenes were really fun to writebecause I, um, I, I knew and, by
the way, that was somethingthat you all helped me with from
your YouTube watchingexperience to make sure that I
was getting that kind of thingRight.
But I knew that would be, um,in a book that's kind of heavy.
(18:07):
There are some, there's somepretty heavy scenes and scar
goes through some pretty hardthings.
So, having those lighter scenes, those were fun to write to
give the reader a little bit ofa chance to breathe and laugh a
little bit.
Great question, annabelle.
Great question.
Can I ask, annabelle, what yourfavorite chapter in the book?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
is love.
When scar first gets to his newhome in utah, pretty much
immediately how priya and kabiryeah and how, like from the very
(19:01):
beginning, he's not completelyalone and he has these friends
yeah, that's, I'm glad youmentioned that.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I love that too, that , that, um gosh, I just fell in
love with priya in that openingscene and when folks read the
book and and you get to thatchapter, you'll know, because
it's, she's just this.
You know, the little sisterthat can be a little bit of a
pest but it's just so adorablethat you just want to, you just
you'll want to talk to her allday because she's so
entertaining.
(19:31):
But yeah, I, I like thatchapter too and I like that,
that message that if we keep oureyes open, we're generally not
alone very long.
There are people out there thatare ready to kind of pull us in
and, yeah, be our friends.
All right, miss Emma, what yougot for me.
You got a question for me.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Is it fine if I have two questions?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Oh my heavens Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So first, before the questions, I just want to say my
mom cried at the end andthrough the book.
Every time she's read it, hmm,well, your mom does have
exceptional taste in middlegrade fiction.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Okay, now my two questions.
Number one why did you picklike the Hindu religion to be so
prominent in the book,especially nowadays when
everything's so like, everyone'slike, antagonistic, especially
towards certain religious groups?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, that is a great question and I'm glad you're
asking it because I suspect thatwhen I start visiting schools
in the fall to talk about thebook I'm going to be getting
that question a lot.
So I liked the idea that, firstof all, for anyone listening,
(20:57):
you know that Utah has a verypredominant faith, and
particularly in what's calledUtah County, that area of Utah
where Scar arrives to live withhis grandparents, it's a very
heavy faith influence, but he'snot of the predominant faith.
Scar kind of grew up in a kindof an unusual household with his
(21:22):
mom and their faith in churchgoing on a regular basis wasn't
really a part of his life.
So here he arrives in thisdeeply religious community where
everybody seems to go to thesame church, where everybody
seems to go to the same church,and his best friend that he
meets on day one, as Annabellejust reminded us, also isn't of
(21:43):
that predominant faith.
He's not a Christian, he'sHindu, very practicing and
faithful Hindu with his family,and he looks very different too
because his family's from India,so he doesn't look like anyone
else in the neighborhood, hedoesn't go to the same church as
anyone else in the neighborhoodand so you have these two kids
that are sort of fish out ofwater a little bit that's what
(22:05):
we might say in the fictionworld.
And their third best friend isa young lady we mentioned before
.
Her name is Ink, that's hernickname, and she is of the
predominant faith of thecommunity.
So the idea of these threereally different kids kind of
coming together was reallyinteresting to me.
And there's some again, withoutgiving too much away, some of
(22:27):
the deities in the Hindutraditions.
Those deities focus on some ofthe things that Scar needed to
learn in terms of findingcourage and forgiveness and
healing, and so I just I likedthe idea that this young man
from North Carolina would landin this deeply Christian
(22:50):
community of Highland Utah and,rather than the reader assuming
that he's just going to getbombarded with the local faith
and invitations to go to churchfive times a week, actually it's
another kid who kind ofsometimes feels out of place too
, who is from India.
So Hindus are the mostwonderful, peaceful, kind,
(23:18):
generous, graceful people.
I know that both of yourfamilies, the whites in Jersey
and the Wurskis in WashingtonState, have both been to visit
Hindu temples in your respectiveparts of the world, and so you
know what I'm talking about.
There's just something reallypeaceful and lovely about their
(23:38):
traditions, and I just thoughtthat would be a really
interesting juxtaposition tohave Scar, our main character,
kind of coming into this worldand trying to navigate it.
And as much as the book isabout Scar I mean it's called
Scar Dakota, it is his storyobviously I thought it would be
interesting if the othercharacters in the book also had
(24:01):
some interesting elements totheir lives as well and kind of
their own story to tell Boy.
That was a very long answer toa very simple question.
Did that help?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yep.
My second question is if youcould meet anyone in the book
who would you meet, and why?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh man, that is a good question.
I, oh boy.
All right, you asked me twoquestions, so can I give two
answers.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
To one question.
I love Miss Stella.
She is the guidance counselorin the book and a friend and a
kind of a mentor, and I love herso much and I would love to
meet her and talk about herjourney to being a guidance
(24:54):
counselor and some of the thingsshe's experienced.
And I just I wish that when Ihad been in the seventh grade, I
wish I had had a Miss Stella inmy life, and I really mean that
Besides her, I would say,obviously any of the kids would
be interesting to meet in thebook the Rip kids, the YouTube
(25:15):
wannabe kiddos would beinteresting to meet.
But I think Jeeps the grandpathat's his nickname, obviously A
lot of nicknames in the book,but he goes by Jeeps I think he
would be really fun to hang outwith.
He's just funny and silly andtells a lot of dad jokes, and I
think he would be kind of fun tohang out with.
(25:36):
I'm going to ask you, though,the same question both of you,
emma who would you want to meetfrom the book?
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I would.
You know probably all of theProvekers.
They're super kind and justnice, especially like when you
meet them in the book yeah, Ilove that.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
What about you, miss annabelle?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I'm with you.
Jeeps, for the record.
I knew that you were going tosay jeeps.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I knew it yeah, jeeps was what jeeps was.
My first thought, um, right offthe bat, and and that will
probably be my answer every timeis Jeeps.
But I have been thinking aboutMiss Stella a lot lately and
what a and they're two suchdifferent characters, right,
like they're so such differentpersonalities.
But but I think if people readthe book and don't want to hang
(26:28):
out with Jeeps, then there'ssomething wrong with you, right,
ladies?
I mean, he's just so much fun.
I love Jeeps.
I think people will really likegetting to know Jeeps and I
think one of the one of thethings about the book, one of
the reasons that I guess I dolike Jeeps so much, is we get a
little deeper look at him.
There's a grandmother, memes,who we get to know a little bit
(26:52):
in the book, but Jeeps has a fewmore scenes with Scar, where we
really get to see what it'slike to be a grandparent who, in
this case, jeeps loses hisdaughter at a pretty young age,
and I don't know.
There's something kind ofinteresting about how Jeeps is
(27:13):
also learning to navigate grief,the way that young scar is.
But okay, so before we go, andsince this is still technically
my podcast, I have an idea Iwould love for my two writing
partners on literally oppositecoasts of this beautiful country
(27:33):
of ours to ask each other aquestion.
So, emma, if you could askannabelle anything about writing
, about reading, um, what wouldyou ask her?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
has there anything that's been significant, minor,
but like when you were youngerthan the younger than the age
you are now, or just this age?
Has there anything that you'vewritten independently, without
anybody, like a poem orsomething?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
well, yeah, actually, um, just this year on my school
computer I have like probablylike seven on my school computer
.
I have like probably like sevendrafts of books that are all
like one to ten pages long.
Yeah, I write a lot randomlyand most of it never turns out
(28:32):
well, or I just abandon it orhave other things to do.
But yeah, I love just writingbasically anything that pops
into my head, and now, workingwith Jason, it's forcing me to
actually finish something.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah, that's, that's it and I'll pipe in and say she
is a phenomenal writer, such agreat writer, and we were having
lots of fun learning about kindof the elements of pacing and
storytelling and and wordproximity and all kinds of fun
stuff together.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
So, um, all right, annabelle, you could ask emma
anything you want if you couldchoose any book that you want to
have written, what would it be?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
oh, that's a good question no offense, jason, but
definitely uh, a couple ofBrandon Mull's books.
I like those books yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Annabelle, I would give the same answer.
I would love to have writtenany of his books.
He is such a great writer and apretty good guy too.
That's a good question, Allright, have we done all the
damage we can possibly do todayat the Book Drop Mike?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
All the damage we could possibly do.
Yep.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That's it.
Thanks for joining us on thistakeover episode of the Book
Drop Mike.
Jason said that we are legallyobligated to tell you that you
(30:26):
can pick up Scar Dakota onAmazon, deseret Books and Barnes
Noble.
And also don't forget that thisepisode is brought to you by
Inkvane's, your Source for bookpublicity, promo and press
releases.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And I think I might be out of a job.
Great job, ladies.
I'm applauding wildly from mylittle home studio.
Very well done.
We're going to have you back onthe show when each of your
books are out.
You will be back on the show asthe guest and I get to be the
host again.
How's that sound?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Okay, bye, bye.
Hello world.
Welcome to this specialtakeover of Book Drop.
Mike.
This is Emma Wierschke, comingto you from Washington State,
and my co-host today isAnnabelle White.
Hello from New Jersey.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Is this where I get to say hello?
Speaker 1 (00:16):
We'll get to you.
Annabelle, do you want to telleveryone why we're doing a
takeover episode?
Speaker 3 (00:20):
Well, it'll be kind of hard for Jason to interview
himself about his books.
So we are his two writingpartners and we're going to ask
him about his new book, ScarDakota.
Speaker 2 (00:33):
I like that.
All right Now.
I assume I now get to say hello.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Almost.
So, like Annabelle said, we'retaking over the book drop mic
today to interview Jason aboutScar Dakota, his new middle
grade book that he shared withabout 50 kids like us last year,
right.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
So, as Jason was writing the book, he would have
these Zooms, and kids from allover would join in and listen to
him read the chapters, and thenhe'd give feedback.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
And finally the book is out and Annabelle and I are
on the back cover.
And finally, the book is outand Annabelle and I are on the
back cover.
Okay, now you can say hello.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Thank you, hello, hello, you are both on the back
cover, which was one of myfavorite little surprises that
you I don't think either one ofyou knew that your names were
going to be on the back cover,did you?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
No.
Speaker 2 (01:20):
Yeah, pretty awesome.
Your moms are super secretkeepers and so I worked with
them and we put your littleendorsements on the back of the
book.
That was super fun.
Thank you for taking over mypodcast.
It's kind of strange to be theguest on a podcast that I
normally host that's now beinghosted by two people whose
(01:42):
combined age is 22.
Let's have some fun.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
Let's dive into the questions.
So, like you ask all of yourguests, jason, you have to tell
us about yourself first beforeyou talk about the book.
Speaker 2 (01:58):
I was really hoping I would just get to talk about
the book.
Yeah, that's a very fair pointand that is how the show works.
I always ask guests to tell alittle bit about themselves
first, and then the book, andthen what's coming next.
So I guess following formatmakes sense.
So I'm a writer.
Newsflash big secret.
I'm a writer and I live inWoodstock, virginia, which is a
(02:20):
little town about an hour and ahalf-ish west of Washington DC.
We're in the Shenandoah Valley,which is we're kind of in the
northwest corner of Virginia andI love it out here.
I'm looking out my window as Ido this interview at Main Street
here in our little town, andit's a really nice, cozy place
(02:42):
to write books.
So we have lived here a longtime.
Let's see, my youngest is 17and we moved here a couple
months after he was born.
So we've been here about 17years and um, I write and I
travel and talk about my booksand, as you two know, because
we've been working on umprojects together and I'm sure
(03:04):
we'll talk about that later onbut I have said many times that
I really write books so that Ican meet people, like the books
are kind of an excuse to getinto schools and to book clubs
and libraries and and corporateevents, just to have an
opportunity to sort of meetpeople and to hear their story.
So as much as I love tellingstories I've always kind of been
(03:27):
a storyteller I really, reallylike hearing other people's
stories.
I think everyone has a story totell and so I love meeting
people and getting to know themand and it has been loads and
loads of fun getting to know thetwo of you over this last year.
Speaker 3 (03:41):
Now what we're all actually here for.
Tell us about your new book.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
What was?
Speaker 3 (03:45):
it.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
I think it's called Scar Dakota.
Is that the one we're talkingabout today?
I?
Speaker 3 (03:50):
don't know.
Yeah, I think so.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
Yeah, scar Dakota, yeah, that's a good topic.
Well, you two ladies probablycan answer this question better
than I can.
That's why we're that's.
I mean, that's why we're onthis podcast, because the two of
you were so fortunate to be apart of my little beta reading
group.
I was fortunate to have the twoof you and those other 50 or so
kids that were a part of thatgroup.
(04:13):
So, as you know, this was myfirst middle grade book.
I'd written a lot of adultcontemporary novels, we would
call them, and I know yourwonderful parents have been
readers your mom's in particularof my books through the years,
but I'd never written anythingfor readers your age.
(04:34):
And so I sort of came up withthis idea.
I wanted to tell a story abouta seventh grader in particular
who went through a tough seventhgrade experience.
Because I went through a prettytough seventh grade year as
well and while in my real lifewhen I was in the seventh grade,
my experiences weren't quitelike my main character, scar
(04:58):
Scar Dakota, I do feel like someof the things that my main
character experiencesemotionally and just sort of
socially they kind of link upwith some of the things I went
through.
So Scar Dakota was kind of.
I don't know a way for me todive back into middle school a
little bit and to revisit someof that.
(05:20):
It's just a weird time, right.
Middle school can be a reallytough time actually for a lot of
people.
So the book is about a young manwho loses his mom that's not a
real spoiler, because it happensright before the book opens
actually and he lives in NorthCarolina and he's kind of alone
in the world.
So now he's going to move allthe way across the country to a
(05:41):
place called Highland, utah, andhe's going to be raised by his
grandparents, who he kind ofknows from visits through the
years.
But this is really a new familyfor him, new city, new family,
new house, new school, neweverything and new friends.
And so when the book reallygets going, he's arrived in Utah
(06:02):
and it's January, february andover the next several months our
lead character is going to makesome friends, learn a little
bit about friendship and honesty.
And one of my favorite ways todescribe the book is that it's
about a boy with a story, asecret and a scar, and I just
(06:23):
like the way that.
I like the way that sounds,because that really does sum up,
I think, what, um, what scarkind of goes through, and and
maybe maybe the two of you cankind of relate to some of those
experiences, I don't know, uh,annabelle, what do you?
If you had to answer thatquestion, annabelle, what the
book is about, uh, what wouldyou say?
Speaker 3 (06:44):
I would say that it's about a boy moving and
basically starting his life allover again different place, with
different people and having tolearn a lot of lessons about
growing up not just in general,but also growing up like as the
(07:08):
person that he is.
Speaker 2 (07:11):
Mm, that's good.
I love that.
The idea of starting your lifeall over again.
I had not thought of it thatway before.
That's a really brilliant wayto describe what Scar goes
through.
By the way, for those listeningwho don't know, his name is
Shane.
In the book, his name is ShaneDakota, but pretty quickly he
picks up this name, scar, thisnickname, so that's why you'll
hear it.
(07:31):
What about you, emma?
If you had 10 seconds todescribe what the book is about
to a friend, what would you say?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I would go with the exact same thing Annabelle said,
but I would also add that hedoesn't only learn how to grow
up for who he is also, but healso learns that everyone has
scars and everyone has thingsthat they could either choose to
be ashamed of, learn from orjust act on them.
(07:58):
And so that's, yeah, what Ithink too.
Speaker 2 (08:02):
So I was chatting with a newspaper reporter
actually today and we talked alittle bit about our little Zoom
group.
I bet some of our regularlisteners to the show might not
really understand what thatlooked like and we sort of
glossed over that.
So, emma, why don't you take ashot at kind of describing what
(08:22):
was this?
We keep referring to this betareading opportunity that we did
together.
What was that like?
Speaker 1 (08:28):
It was really cool being able to like know that I
was like listening to you read abook that no one has ever heard
before, and, uh, it was alsolike really cool to like watch
my mom as she listened in too islike her reactions to certain
(08:52):
things compared to like otherpeople's reactions on the beta
reading group too.
Speaker 2 (08:57):
So, yeah, yeah, well, and your mom was kind of nosy,
right, I mean it's, we're beinghonest, right?
What about you, annabelle?
You were on most of those zooms.
I should add real quick, if, ifthe folks couldn't be on the
zoom live, we sort of had a kindof an unwritten rule that you
had to watch the recordedsession before you hopped on to
(09:21):
the next live.
So if you're listening to thisepisode and you're wondering how
in the world did we heard allof these middle school cats
together on a Zoom, you know,for two or three months?
We never had, I think maybeonce or twice we had almost
everybody, um, but we, we gotwho we could get at the
(09:41):
scheduled time and then folkswould watch the recorded
sessions later.
So, annabelle, what was thatall like for you?
Speaker 3 (09:47):
Yeah, well, as you said, I pretty much the first
half of the book.
I was just like watching therecordings the first half of the
book I was just like watchingthe recordings, but that's right
.
That's right.
Yeah, it was a lot of fun, likebeing able to be there,
listening to you read it andalso being able to give you our
(10:07):
feedback.
I feel like that's somethingthat, like a lot of times, you
wouldn't be able to do, butreally being able to like know
that we were impacting, like howit turned out.
It was really cool.
Speaker 2 (10:25):
So so someone listening might hear that and
wonder if that's hyperbole or,you know, if we're just sort of
saying this for the show.
But that's really true that youand you said it beautifully you
, as my beta reading listeningaudience, had actual impact on
the book, whether it's characternames or plot ideas.
(10:48):
Again to this reporter I wastalking to earlier today.
She asked kind of a similarquestion about what the process
was like and if I really madesome changes based on feedback
and I said absolutely there werethings that I improved and
clarified based on the questionsthat you all asked.
And I don't know if youremember, but when we finished
(11:09):
the book at the very end thatvery last session, there were a
couple of questions that were alittle more direct and bold,
which I very much appreciated.
That really helped me.
When I went through my firstedit of the book, my first kind
of full-length edit, some prettyimportant changes actually
(11:30):
toward the end of the bookhappened as a result of very
pointed questions that that youalso boldly asked.
Yeah, and I again I'll share alink to the article in the show
notes for this episode, but Itold this reporter that beta
reading group and writingexperience was the most
(11:51):
meaningful of my professionalcareer.
I have not.
I've not had a more meaningful,memorable maybe educational
even for me as a writerexperience in my career.
It was.
It was that much fun.
I would love to do somethinglike that again.
Would the two of youparticipate in something like
that again if we did it?
Speaker 1 (12:10):
Of course I definitely would.
So what's coming next?
Speaker 2 (12:16):
Oh, what is coming next?
Well, you two can see becausewe're on Zoom.
Obviously, those listeningcan't, but I'm sitting in front
of a pile of books.
So, scar Dakota, the hardcovers, finally arrived after
quite the journey around theworld.
So what's coming next is I amshipping out a lot of books.
(12:38):
I am walking to and from.
It's a good thing the postoffice is only about a block
away, because I'm making lots oftrips to the post office over
the next week or two.
But in terms of writing, shouldwe make some new?
Should I share something thatI've not shared yet?
Um, just today, like today,this very day I don't know when
(13:02):
people are listening to this,but the day we're recording it.
Um, cody, my wife and I signeda contract for a christmas jars
craft and cookbook that will beout next year and it is
celebrating the 20, 20 year, 20year anniversary of the book,
(13:23):
which is crazy to me.
But this, this new project,will have craft ideas and a
recipe, ideas for Christmasthemed treats, and what makes
the book kind of unique is thatwe're staying right on the cover
.
It will say that the recipesand ideas in this book are not
(13:44):
for you.
You may not make these thingsfor yourself.
The whole point of the book isthat you make these treats and
crafts and little holidaymementos for people in your life
friends, neighbors, co-workers,people from church, whatever
you want to do and that will beout I don't know, I'm guessing
like the first week of Octoberof 2025.
(14:07):
So, super excited about that.
That's kind of the main thingthat I'll be diving into next
and then, as the two of youalluded to at the beginning of
our interview, I am taking onsort of I would say, in
Annabelle's case, kind of aconsulting role on Annabelle's
manuscript, helping with edits,and it's fantastic and we won't
(14:33):
give too much away here, but itis unbelievable.
Annabelle is an unbelievablygifted writer.
This project is super excitingand it's been fun to sort of
help her and to watch asAnnabelle.
You have taken on more and moreof the writing, the writing,
(15:01):
and Miss Emma and I we have beenthrough quite a few ideas and
starts and stops and trying tofigure out what we're going to
do, but we landed on a certainCandy Mountain idea, I think,
when I was out there, when I hadan opportunity to spend a few
days with the Worshke family inWashington state, and so we're,
we're about to dive back intothat idea.
So that's what's coming next,along with my, my publicity and
(15:24):
PR company, that I'm doing andI'm trying to help some other
people get their books publishedthrough ink veins publishing,
and I'm trying to, you know,raise a couple of kids still at
home and remind my wife what myface looks like every now and
again when I happen through thehouse.
You know, just the usual.
Speaker 3 (15:42):
That's all so awesome , but since it's our show today,
we have a couple of extraquestions for you.
Speaker 2 (15:52):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (15:53):
I'll start off.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
Full disclosure audience audience.
I have no idea what they'reabout to ask me no, you do not.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
I'm not sure.
Even I do um.
So, to start off with your newbook, star dakota, what was your
favorite part of the book towrite?
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Oh, that is a tasty little question, annabelle.
I would say a couple things.
I love his first visit to theHindu temple, when our main
character goes with his Hinduneighbor and their kind of third
best friend, inc, and thefamily goes off to visit this
(16:39):
temple for the first time and itwas one of my favorite to write
.
I spent a lot of time on thatparticular chapter and scene and
then kind of linking to that.
I knew when I wrote that Ididn't necessarily know how the
book was going to unfold fromzoom session to zoom session, um
(16:59):
, but I did know when I wrotethat scene of their first visit
to the temple that they would beback at the temple at the end
of the book, that he would beback at the temple.
I should say and I don't wantto give too much away but when I
actually cry, I actually criedwhen I wrote.
I kind of cried through thelast few chapters, to be honest,
like it really gets.
(17:21):
His little story just gets meevery time, even though it came
out of my head, it really getsme.
But that particular scene whenhe goes back and reconnects in
the temple there toward the endof the book, I just love that
and I loved the scenes with theRIP YouTube crew.
There's this group of kind ofwannabe influencers in the book
(17:44):
called RIP, r-a-p exclamationpoint and they make these kind
of funny mostly harmless but notalways prank videos and those
scenes were really fun to writebecause I, um, I, I knew and, by
the way, that was somethingthat you all helped me with from
your YouTube watchingexperience to make sure that I
was getting that kind of thingRight.
But I knew that would be, um,in a book that's kind of heavy.
(18:07):
There are some, there's somepretty heavy scenes and scar
goes through some pretty hardthings.
So, having those lighter scenes, those were fun to write to
give the reader a little bit ofa chance to breathe and laugh a
little bit.
Great question, annabelle.
Great question.
Can I ask, annabelle, what yourfavorite chapter in the book?
Speaker 3 (18:26):
is love.
When scar first gets to his newhome in utah, pretty much
immediately how priya and kabiryeah and how, like from the very
(19:01):
beginning, he's not completelyalone and he has these friends
yeah, that's, I'm glad youmentioned that.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I love that too, that , that, um gosh, I just fell in
love with priya in that openingscene and when folks read the
book and and you get to thatchapter, you'll know, because
it's, she's just this.
You know, the little sisterthat can be a little bit of a
pest but it's just so adorablethat you just want to, you just
you'll want to talk to her allday because she's so
entertaining.
(19:31):
But yeah, I, I like thatchapter too and I like that,
that message that if we keep oureyes open, we're generally not
alone very long.
There are people out there thatare ready to kind of pull us in
and, yeah, be our friends.
All right, miss Emma, what yougot for me.
You got a question for me.
Speaker 1 (19:51):
Is it fine if I have two questions?
Speaker 2 (19:53):
Oh my heavens Sure.
Speaker 1 (19:56):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (20:07):
So first, before the questions, I just want to say my
mom cried at the end andthrough the book.
Every time she's read it, hmm,well, your mom does have
exceptional taste in middlegrade fiction.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
Okay, now my two questions.
Number one why did you picklike the Hindu religion to be so
prominent in the book,especially nowadays when
everything's so like, everyone'slike, antagonistic, especially
towards certain religious groups?
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yeah, that is a great question and I'm glad you're
asking it because I suspect thatwhen I start visiting schools
in the fall to talk about thebook I'm going to be getting
that question a lot.
So I liked the idea that, firstof all, for anyone listening,
(20:57):
you know that Utah has a verypredominant faith, and
particularly in what's calledUtah County, that area of Utah
where Scar arrives to live withhis grandparents, it's a very
heavy faith influence, but he'snot of the predominant faith.
Scar kind of grew up in a kindof an unusual household with his
(21:22):
mom and their faith in churchgoing on a regular basis wasn't
really a part of his life.
So here he arrives in thisdeeply religious community where
everybody seems to go to thesame church, where everybody
seems to go to the same church,and his best friend that he
meets on day one, as Annabellejust reminded us, also isn't of
(21:43):
that predominant faith.
He's not a Christian, he'sHindu, very practicing and
faithful Hindu with his family,and he looks very different too
because his family's from India,so he doesn't look like anyone
else in the neighborhood, hedoesn't go to the same church as
anyone else in the neighborhoodand so you have these two kids
that are sort of fish out ofwater a little bit that's what
(22:05):
we might say in the fictionworld.
And their third best friend isa young lady we mentioned before
.
Her name is Ink, that's hernickname, and she is of the
predominant faith of thecommunity.
So the idea of these threereally different kids kind of
coming together was reallyinteresting to me.
And there's some again, withoutgiving too much away, some of
(22:27):
the deities in the Hindutraditions.
Those deities focus on some ofthe things that Scar needed to
learn in terms of findingcourage and forgiveness and
healing, and so I just I likedthe idea that this young man
from North Carolina would landin this deeply Christian
(22:50):
community of Highland Utah and,rather than the reader assuming
that he's just going to getbombarded with the local faith
and invitations to go to churchfive times a week, actually it's
another kid who kind ofsometimes feels out of place too
, who is from India.
So Hindus are the mostwonderful, peaceful, kind,
(23:18):
generous, graceful people.
I know that both of yourfamilies, the whites in Jersey
and the Wurskis in WashingtonState, have both been to visit
Hindu temples in your respectiveparts of the world, and so you
know what I'm talking about.
There's just something reallypeaceful and lovely about their
(23:38):
traditions, and I just thoughtthat would be a really
interesting juxtaposition tohave Scar, our main character,
kind of coming into this worldand trying to navigate it.
And as much as the book isabout Scar I mean it's called
Scar Dakota, it is his storyobviously I thought it would be
interesting if the othercharacters in the book also had
(24:01):
some interesting elements totheir lives as well and kind of
their own story to tell Boy.
That was a very long answer toa very simple question.
Did that help?
Speaker 1 (24:10):
Yep.
My second question is if youcould meet anyone in the book
who would you meet, and why?
Speaker 2 (24:20):
Oh man, that is a good question.
I, oh boy.
All right, you asked me twoquestions, so can I give two
answers.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
To one question.
I love Miss Stella.
She is the guidance counselorin the book and a friend and a
kind of a mentor, and I love herso much and I would love to
meet her and talk about herjourney to being a guidance
(24:54):
counselor and some of the thingsshe's experienced.
And I just I wish that when Ihad been in the seventh grade, I
wish I had had a Miss Stella inmy life, and I really mean that
Besides her, I would say,obviously any of the kids would
be interesting to meet in thebook the Rip kids, the YouTube
(25:15):
wannabe kiddos would beinteresting to meet.
But I think Jeeps the grandpathat's his nickname, obviously A
lot of nicknames in the book,but he goes by Jeeps I think he
would be really fun to hang outwith.
He's just funny and silly andtells a lot of dad jokes, and I
think he would be kind of fun tohang out with.
(25:36):
I'm going to ask you, though,the same question both of you,
emma who would you want to meetfrom the book?
Speaker 1 (25:42):
I would.
You know probably all of theProvekers.
They're super kind and justnice, especially like when you
meet them in the book yeah, Ilove that.
Speaker 2 (25:59):
What about you, miss annabelle?
Speaker 3 (26:01):
I'm with you.
Jeeps, for the record.
I knew that you were going tosay jeeps.
Speaker 2 (26:07):
I knew it yeah, jeeps was what jeeps was.
My first thought, um, right offthe bat, and and that will
probably be my answer every timeis Jeeps.
But I have been thinking aboutMiss Stella a lot lately and
what a and they're two suchdifferent characters, right,
like they're so such differentpersonalities.
But but I think if people readthe book and don't want to hang
(26:28):
out with Jeeps, then there'ssomething wrong with you, right,
ladies?
I mean, he's just so much fun.
I love Jeeps.
I think people will really likegetting to know Jeeps and I
think one of the one of thethings about the book, one of
the reasons that I guess I dolike Jeeps so much, is we get a
little deeper look at him.
There's a grandmother, memes,who we get to know a little bit
(26:52):
in the book, but Jeeps has a fewmore scenes with Scar, where we
really get to see what it'slike to be a grandparent who, in
this case, jeeps loses hisdaughter at a pretty young age,
and I don't know.
There's something kind ofinteresting about how Jeeps is
(27:13):
also learning to navigate grief,the way that young scar is.
But okay, so before we go, andsince this is still technically
my podcast, I have an idea Iwould love for my two writing
partners on literally oppositecoasts of this beautiful country
(27:33):
of ours to ask each other aquestion.
So, emma, if you could askannabelle anything about writing
, about reading, um, what wouldyou ask her?
Speaker 1 (27:48):
has there anything that's been significant, minor,
but like when you were youngerthan the younger than the age
you are now, or just this age?
Has there anything that you'vewritten independently, without
anybody, like a poem orsomething?
Speaker 3 (28:07):
well, yeah, actually, um, just this year on my school
computer I have like probablylike seven on my school computer
.
I have like probably like sevendrafts of books that are all
like one to ten pages long.
Yeah, I write a lot randomlyand most of it never turns out
(28:32):
well, or I just abandon it orhave other things to do.
But yeah, I love just writingbasically anything that pops
into my head, and now, workingwith Jason, it's forcing me to
actually finish something.
Speaker 2 (28:52):
Yeah, that's, that's it and I'll pipe in and say she
is a phenomenal writer, such agreat writer, and we were having
lots of fun learning about kindof the elements of pacing and
storytelling and and wordproximity and all kinds of fun
stuff together.
Speaker 3 (29:11):
So, um, all right, annabelle, you could ask emma
anything you want if you couldchoose any book that you want to
have written, what would it be?
Speaker 1 (29:26):
oh, that's a good question no offense, jason, but
definitely uh, a couple ofBrandon Mull's books.
I like those books yeah.
Speaker 2 (29:41):
Annabelle, I would give the same answer.
I would love to have writtenany of his books.
He is such a great writer and apretty good guy too.
That's a good question, Allright, have we done all the
damage we can possibly do todayat the Book Drop Mike?
Speaker 1 (29:57):
All the damage we could possibly do.
Yep.
Speaker 3 (30:03):
That's it.
Thanks for joining us on thistakeover episode of the Book
Drop Mike.
Jason said that we are legallyobligated to tell you that you
(30:26):
can pick up Scar Dakota onAmazon, deseret Books and Barnes
Noble.
And also don't forget that thisepisode is brought to you by
Inkvane's, your Source for bookpublicity, promo and press
releases.
Speaker 2 (30:35):
And I think I might be out of a job.
Great job, ladies.
I'm applauding wildly from mylittle home studio.
Very well done.
We're going to have you back onthe show when each of your
books are out.
You will be back on the show asthe guest and I get to be the
host again.
How's that sound?
Speaker 1 (30:52):
Okay, bye, bye.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by Audiochuck Media Company.
Betrayal Season 5
Saskia Inwood woke up one morning, knowing her life would never be the same. The night before, she learned the unimaginable – that the husband she knew in the light of day was a different person after dark. This season unpacks Saskia’s discovery of her husband’s secret life and her fight to bring him to justice. Along the way, we expose a crime that is just coming to light. This is also a story about the myth of the “perfect victim:” who gets believed, who gets doubted, and why. We follow Saskia as she works to reclaim her body, her voice, and her life. If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal Team, email us at betrayalpod@gmail.com. Follow us on Instagram @betrayalpod and @glasspodcasts. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations, and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience, and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack.