Book Lights Podcast
Bestselling author Lisa Kessler interviews authors from every genre, shining a light on the stories, voices, and inspirations behind their books. Each week you’ll discover new reads, fresh perspectives, and the magic that keeps us turning pages. 🔦 Shining a light on good books
Episodes
Kristine Jensen is a lifelong storyteller whose career has included writing scripts, screenplays, and narratives for some of the world’s most recognizable brands. With a talent for bringing characters and ideas to life, she has spent decades distilling complex ideas into language that resonates.
Born and raised on a farm in South Dakota, Kristine found the spark for her debut novel in a box of handwritten club minutes ...
USA Today bestselling author, Mary Leo, writes small town, swoon worthy, sexy romance with enough humor to give you a giggle or two. She loves Italian food, a bubbly flute of Prosecco, meeting her fabulous readers, the company of other writers, and a cup of hot tea every morning. She's a city girl who adores a small town. When she's not writing, she's reading or binging on a great comedy series.
Mia Heintzelman is a bestselling author of novels including Monopolove, The Friendship Contract, and The Accidental Crush. Her work has appeared on Book Riot, Romantically Inclined, and Readers Entertainment Radio. She writes fun, flirty, fiery romances about strong women and men with enough heart to fall for them. She lives in Las Vegas, Nevada. You can learn more at her website: https://www.miaheintzelman.com/ Ente...
T. Kingfisher is the vaguely absurd pen-name of Ursula Vernon, an author from North Carolina. In another life, she writes children's books and weird comics. She has been nominated for the World Fantasy and the Eisner, and has won the Hugo, Sequoyah, Nebula, Alfie, WSFA, Coyotl and Ursa Major awards, as well as a half-dozen Junior Library Guild selections.
This is the name she uses when writing things for grown-ups...
Angela Shupe’s debut novel, In the Light of the Sun is available now. Her short stories have appeared in various literary journals, and her essays have been featured in publications such as MetroParent, Women’s Adventure, and Relevant Magazine among others. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from the University of Detroit, and has worked as an editor and communications coordinator. She’s a proud member of the Wom...
Lisa Morton is a screenwriter, author of non-fiction books, and prose writer whose work was described by the American Library Association’s Readers’ Advisory Guide to Horror as “consistently dark, unsettling, and frightening.” She is the author of four novels and 200 short stories and is a world-class Halloween and paranormal expert, and her awards include the Bram Stoker Award, the Rondo Hatton Award, and the Black Q...
Kelley Armstrong is the author of over 50 novels in mystery, fantasy and horror. believes experience is the best teacher, though she’s been told this shouldn’t apply to writing her murder scenes. To craft her books, she has studied aikido, archery and fencing. She sucks at all of them. She has also crawled through very shallow cave systems and climbed half a mountain before chickening out. She is however an expert cof...
Jeri Bronson was originally from Southern California. She now lives in Texas with her Coroner Investigator husband, who is the perfect resource for suspense novels. They have two grown children and two feisty part Siamese cats. Jeri enjoys outdoor hiking and exploring her new state. She takes long walks in the forest trails near her home for inspiration. In her spare time Jeri is a tennis fanatic sometimes watching ma...
Jason Offutt teaches journalism at Northwest Missouri State University. He's the author of four previous books on paranormal topics, including Haunted Missouri and Paranormal Missouri (Schiffer), in addition to several novels. He has been interviewed on Whitley Strieber's Dreamland, Destination America, Binnall of America, Darkness Radio, The Paracast, and other prominent paranormal podcasts. Visit him at, w...
Alma Katsu is the author of eight novels, most recently Red London, The Fervor, Red Widow, and The Deep. Prior to the publication of her first novel, she had a thirty-five-year long career as a senior intelligence analyst for several U.S. agencies, including the CIA and NSA, as well as RAND. Katsu is a graduate of the master's writing program at the Johns Hopkins University and received her bachelor's degree...
Maureen Johnson is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of several YA novels, including 13 Little Blue Envelopes, Suite Scarlett, The Name of the Star, and Truly Devious. She has also done collaborative works, such as Let It Snow (with John Green and Lauren Myracle), and The Bane Chronicles (with Cassandra Clare and Sarah Rees Brennan). Her work has appeared in publications such as The New York Times, B...
Sandra L. Barone is a writer, storyteller, and community leader whose work blends honesty, humor, and heart. A moderator for The Mom Link, Sandra supports a global community of women, men, and families seeking prayers, healing, and connection after loss.
Her writing career spans multiple genres, from deeply emotional non-fiction to fiction that explores the complexities of the human spirit. For years, Sandra penned a ...
Jeffery Deaver is the award-winning #1 international and New York Times bestselling author of numerous series, including Lincoln Rhyme, Colter Shaw, and Kathryn Dance, as well as the Sanchez & Heron series with Isabella Maldonado. Deaver’s work includes fifty novels, more than one hundred short stories, and a nonfiction law book. His books are sold in 150 countries and translated into twenty-five languages. A form...
Sebastien de Castell had just finished a degree in Archaeology when he started work on his first dig. Four hours later he realized how much he actually hated archaeology and left to pursue a very focused career as a musician, ombudsman, interaction designer, fight choreographer, teacher, project manager, actor, and product strategist. He sternly resists the accusation of being a Renaissance Man in the hopes that more ...
Joel McKay is an award-winning writer based in Northern British Columbia. His fiction includes the fantasy adventure novel The Dungeoneers and the Treasure of Roan, the werewolf novella Wolf at the Door and short dark fiction anthology It Came From the Trees and Other Violent Aberrations. His short fiction has been published by Tyche Books, Eerie River Publishing, Sley House Publishing, Brigids Gate Press, Black Cat b...
Tara Hodgson has called herself a teacher of teenagers for 17 years and is now thrilled to call herself a published author as well.
When she isn't teaching or writing, she is reading. She loves all genres of books, but especially YA Contemporary, Fantasy, and Dystopian.
She spends her downtime walking, camping, boating, and at home with her family and animals. You can learn more at her website: http://www.tarahodgs...
J.M. Shaw lives in Alberta, Canada with her husband and two young children. She and her family embarked upon a journey of understanding, acceptance, and life-long learning when they discovered their shared diagnosis of autism and ADHD. Writing is her passion and, with experience and interests in healthcare, psychology, martial arts, and personal training, she pours her unique insights and knowledge into all her creati...
Paulette Kennedy is the bestselling author of The Witch of Tin Mountain and Parting the Veil, which received the prestigious HNS Review Editor’s Choice Award. She has had a lifelong obsession with the gothic. As a young girl, she spent her summers among the gravestones in her neighborhood cemetery, imagining all sorts of romantic stories for the people buried there.
After her mother introduced her to the Brontës as a t...
CC Robinson has been writing stories - mostly in her mind - since she was little. Since then, she’s undertaken various non-fiction and fiction works, blogs, and pens far too many emails. By day, she is a wife, mom, pastor and director of finance for her church in Cincinnati. By night, she throws on her superhero cape to rescue her own dystopian world, Divided. You can often find her in her garden, on the dance floor (...
Mark Everglade is a cyberpunk author whose first novel hit #5 in its genre. His most recent book, Inertia, won the 2024 Fire and Ember Award for best sci-fi novel from a small publisher. His short stories have been featured beside authors such as Cory Doctorow, Cat Rambo, Walter Jon Williams, and Jim Keen. After spending his life studying sociology, he has been interviewed by NBC News and a BBC correspondent. You can ...
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