We All Overate, How About You? Part 1 of 2

Sharon and Bruce catch up following Thanksgiving 2022 and talk about their panels at TusCon, including panels of writing PTSD in your work and another about reading scientific studies. 

Ed note: Bruce references Val “Kitteman” but we think he meant Val McDermid.

Things and people that get mentioned:

• https://johnaconnell.com
• https://www.valmcdermid.com
• https://alixeharrow.wixsite.com/author
• https://tusconscificon.com/

This episode was originally recorded December 11, 2022

Join authors Sharon Skinner and Bruce Davis as they record the next episode of their Brick Cave Podcast. Covering a wide gamut of literary topics, you are sure to find the listen an engaging and entertaining event.

About Sharon Skinner

Sharon Skinner is the author of numerous books and a number of short stories, including the Tavara Tinker Series. Her most recent title, The Exile's Gift, is available now from Brick Cave Media. She is online at https://sharonskinner.com or https://bookcoachingbysharon.com

About Bruce Davis

Bruce Davis is the author of many books and several short pieces of fiction. He writes science fiction, fantasy and non fiction. His most recent title, Silver Magic, is currently available from Brick Cave Media. He is online at https://brucecdavis.com

About Brick Cave Media®

The Brick Cave Podcast is ©2024 Brick Cave Media LLC., all rights reserved. for more information on Brick Cave Media, visit the organization's website at https://brickcave.media. The Brick Cave Membership Community is called the BC Book Club, and you can join at http://bcbookclub.com.

Wanna Hear Their Thoughts on YOUR first Page?

First Words is the segment of the show where Bruce and Sharon each select the first page of someone’s work, read it on air, and discuss it with feedback.

You can submit your first manuscript page to have them read it during the show, learn more here:

https://brickcave.media/index.php/brick-cave-podcast/about-the-podcast

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello, and welcome to the Brick Cave Media podcast. My name is
Sharon Skinner. I'm the author of Return to Honoria from Brickcave
Books, as well as my latest books, Lost and
Found and Blood from a Rose. You
can get them now in time for Christmas.
The Brick Cave Podcast is brought to you by the BC Book Club, Brick Cave

(00:22):
Media's community portal for readers that love Brick Cave Books and
authors. You can join today and be a part of the Brickcave
story at Brick Cave Media's website, brickcave.media.
And my name is Bruce Davis. I'm author of the imminently forthcoming
Silver Magic, also from Brickcave Books. And we're here tonight
in the Brick Cave Studio at the Brick Cave office right here in

(00:46):
beautiful downtown Mesa, Arizona. Yeah.
So how you been? I've been good. You know, we just
had Thanksgiving, so we all, I'm sure, over 8,
which, I mean, that's kind of the standard thing. It's 4? Is it yeah. Isn't
that it? Right? Just like, what what else would you
do for that holiday? Right? Well, except for maybe play a little World of

(01:07):
Warcraft which is Yeah. I've heard about that.
A little online gaming, little reading, little more eating, little
more eating, you know. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I had a good,
I got a a good decompression weekend. That's what I go for for
Thanksgiving these days. Oh, good. How about
you? I had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner at my oldest

(01:30):
son's house and went into a food coma and didn't
awake until Sunday. Nice.
Another Thanksgiving dinner that couldn't be beat. Exactly. Is that right?
So we were both also recently
at Tuscon. Yeah. So let's talk about that. Let's
talk about that. What did you do down there? Well, let's see. I did a

(01:53):
couple of panels and I did a presentation. So
I I did a talk which when I do a presentation,
a solo presentation at Tescon, it's really more of a conversation. I don't
like to do solo presentations. It's just kinda not my
thing down there because it's much more of an intimate audience.
And so I like to have a conversation, and we talked about,

(02:16):
how to make characters accessible if not
likable. Right? Right. Right. So that was a good
talk. I thought it was a good talk. I liked your talk. I liked your
presentation. What could go wrong? Well, I did
that, which basically was talking about all of the
things that will get you into the trauma unit in daily

(02:38):
life, not the things that we tend to worry about
actually, but things that we probably should worry about. You
mean, like, tripping and falling over the cat. Falling over your own feet or the
or the cat. Yeah. Or the or the water that the cat dumped down for.
Almost half of our admissions, by the way. Yeah. I was
on a very affecting panel,

(03:01):
the first night on writing about PTSD
and PTSD in writing and
in real life and the differences in how it's portrayed
sometimes in the media. And we actually had people who know
whereof they speak. Yeah. Wes Oakes was there
and Wes has some very deep experiences with that.

(03:25):
The other gentleman that was there was actually a, counselor who
deals with not so much veteran PTSD, but
PTSD in children who have grown up in violent situations.
Mhmm. And there were a lot of, very cogent
interesting points made. I hope it was helpful to people who want to
write the real deal. And then

(03:48):
we had what I'd actually pitched as a solo
presentation, how to read a scientific study,
with, a number of panelists, all of whom had at least
some background in the sciences and in
reading science. So that was also an interesting take on
things. So Yeah. Yeah. Some fun panels. I

(04:11):
enjoyed your talk, particularly. Can't
say there are others that were super memorable. I
threw a few bombs here and there, which is my kind of
thing to do. Just asking people to
question their assumptions about Yeah. Certain issues.
Yeah. I was on a panel that where I was questioning the assumption of the

(04:34):
panel. So I I found that to be very, interesting
and also enjoyable. So I Yes. Every once in a while, you get to stir
the pot. Yeah. There were a couple of panels. So there
was, like, there were at least one panel that I had actually
pitched but didn't get put on. Didn't get put on. Was interesting too. So
I did go and I did, you know, hang out and hear other

(04:56):
people talk because that's always very interesting. But,
and then, we had a book signing. We had a little book signing. Sold the
new books. Yes. Went to a
party for upcoming, CocoCon.
Right? Because you're the guest of honor? Because I'm the local author guest of honor
at CocoCon this spring. Woo hoo. But I got to sample

(05:19):
some truly amazing
cordials and liqueurs. Nice. And,
fortunately, all I had to do was make it to the elevator and get back
up to my room afterwards. Yeah. I wasn't drinking this time at
Tuscon. I was avoiding anything where I could where
they'd put alcohol within my reach because I just got back

(05:41):
from traveling. So I was in New York for 4 days, and then I was
in Kentucky for 5 days. And in New York, I was with a
bunch of writers and in Kentucky, I was with with a bunch of grant professionals
and and we know how to decompress.
So I didn't I just didn't really wanna pick up another glass of
alcohol, because it's just kinda I do it now and

(06:03):
then. I just don't do it all the time. I will say though that I
did have a lovely dry cider for Thanksgiving,
compliments of a relative of mine. So
Okay. Yeah. Homemade stuff. So Yeah. That's what we had at our
dinner too. It was truly amazing Yeah. As always.
Yeah. So any other highlights from Tuscon

(06:24):
that you could think of? Just I had a lot of fun
meeting and talking to people that I don't get to see except
there. Yeah. I I really enjoy spending some time
with, you know I got a chance to do that too. Authors that, you
know, we we don't see all the time. Well, and I hadn't
been there for, a while because I was traveling the last

(06:47):
well, first, we had, you know, we had COVID and then we so we didn't
have anything. And then I think that I was also traveling a couple of years.
So I it's been kind of hit and miss for me. So it was nice
to be back. Right. Right. And so, it's one of
my favorite little cons to go to. It's just always feels kind of
homey and comfy. Yeah. And lots of familiar
people and Yeah. People that we could catch up with. I do like that.

(07:10):
Yeah. So how about
a reading update? Oh, nothing of any weight.
Oh, goody. What have you been reading? A lot of
detective thriller type fiction.
I, I finished

(07:34):
the Madness in the Ruins that I
was reading before. Let me get the author up
here, because I can never remember the man's name, and I should because I'm enjoying
his books. John Kanell,
and I'm now in Haven for Vipers.
These are stories of a military

(07:58):
police detective in post war
Germany immediately after the surrender. So
everything's in ruins and nothing is
there's no government essentially and he's trying to track
down people who do evil things. Nice.
Yeah. It's it's an interesting it's it's historical

(08:20):
fiction, but it's also a, you know, very,
well grounded police procedural type book.
I'm also reading, A Distant Echo,
by, Val Kitterman, which has
been made into a, BBC TV

(08:41):
show Karen Peary, which is currently making the rounds
on BritBox and the streaming services. And it's
it's an interesting,
procedural that takes place in 2 different time frames. 1 in the
late nineties and the other current, all around the same
cold case. So you you kind of get both

(09:03):
Seesaw back and forth. Yeah. Seesaw back and forth,
between the two investigations and try to figure out who did it.
Interesting. Okay. So it's it's well written.
It's set in, Saint Andrews, Scotland on the
firth of 4th. I've always loved that name,

(09:24):
the 4th river, and and it's very lots of very
local dialect and local, you know,
lore that is also quite interesting. So yeah. But it's
not, you know, not heavyweight reading Not heavyweight. By any exchange stretch of the imagination.
I haven't read I haven't been reading anything that's all that heavyweight
either. I I read A Spindle Splintered by Alex Harrow which

(09:46):
is a novelette. So that's a thing. So
apparently,
between short story and novella
now.