Tag: Fiction

24 Jase Peeples interview

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Jase Peeples, award-winning journalist and author of Twirl and Square Zair Pair, joins host Cody Sisco in conversation about his debut YA MM romance novel in the competitive world of Color Guard. They discuss Jase’s inspirations competing in and coaching the sport, writing about young love, San Francisco as a significant setting, and the power of representation in fiction for queer youth and families.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Jase Peeples is an award-winning journalist, author, and storyteller. He is the former entertainment editor of The Advocate and currently works as a features and global news editor at RVO Health. His debut novel, TWIRL (Evernight Teen), and his first children’s book, Square Zair Pair, are available worldwide.

His writing has been featured in a variety of outlets including Healthline, Healthgrades, Out, Queerty, and WGI Focus Magazine. In 2014, he was named “Journalist of the Year” by the L.A. Press Club at the National Arts & Entertainment Journalism Awards, recognized for his “original angles and points of view” that cast “new light on many beaten tracks of entertainment journalism.”

Jase earned his BFA in Creative Writing from San Francisco State University and calls San Francisco home.

Jase’s Book Recommendations

What I’m Currently Reading

A Book That Changed My Life

Books That Shaped My Storytelling

23 Joe McClean interview

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Joe McClean, screenwriter, director, and author of Sins of Survivors, joins host Cody Sisco in conversation about his debut novel rooted in the history of Black Bottom, Detroit. They discuss the Great Migration, the Carter brothers’ struggle to build an empire and leave their criminal pasts behind, the legacy of segregation and redlining, and adapting from screenwriting to prose. Joe shares how his research uncovered hidden histories, why he portrays the era’s violence unflinchingly, and what to expect in the upcoming sequel set during Detroit’s 1943 race riots.

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ABOUT THE AUTHORS

Joe McClean is a screenwriter and director whose 2013 breakout indie feature, Life Tracker, screened at dozens of film festivals and sci-fi conventions before streaming on demand in 100 million homes through cable providers. His follow-up, the indie-darling The Drama Club, premiered at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 2017 before finding a home on Tubi. His most recent endeavor, Viral, written and produced by McClean, was directed by and stars Blair Underwood.

Blair Underwood is a two-time Golden Globe and Tony nominee, as well as an Emmy, Grammy, Peabody and eight-time NAACP Image Award-winning actor, director, and producer. He made his acting debut in the 1985 musical film Krush Groove, and, from 1987 to 1994, starred as attorney Jonathan Rollins in the NBC legal drama series L.A. Law. Underwood has starred in numerous film, television, and stage productions, including Longlegs, Three Women, Deep Impact, Sex in the City, Set It Off, Madea’s Family Reunion, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madam C. J. Walker and many more. Underwood received his first Tony Award nomination as Best Lead Actor in a Play after starring in the 2020 Broadway revival of the Pulitzer Prize-winning drama A Soldier’s Play.

Joe Mentioned These Books

What I’m Currently Reading

Books That Shaped My Storytelling

20 Rasheed Newson interview

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Rasheed Newson, television writer and producer and author of My Government Means to Kill Me, discusses the fallout from the HIV/AIDS crisis. In conversation with host Cody Sisco, Rasheed talks about the ascendance of sex positivity thanks to PrEP, how his novel imagines a young gay Black man in 1980s New York encountering ACT UP, and the legacy of the Gay Liberation and Civil Rights movements.

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Photo credit: Christopher Marrs

Rasheed is the author of My Government Means to Kill Me, which examines the political and sexual coming of age of a young, gay, Black man in New York City in the mid-1980s. The novel was a 2023 Lambda Literary finalist for Gay Fiction and was named one of the “The 100 Notable Books of 2022” by The New York Times. Rasheed lives with his husband and their two children in Pasadena.