That's Life

Guest cancelled. Had to wing it. Started with some jazz. Then read the opening chapter from Gordon R. Dickson's science fiction classic "Spacepaw" (first published in 1969, paperback published by Ace in 1983) which I had gotten years ago and still like. Another jazz interlude. Then the second reading was from "The Tao of Pooh" by Benjamin Hoff (1982). Jazz played was Louie Armstrong "West End Blues" (from Don Shor's compilation CD); Charlie Parker Quintet "Embraceable You" (from Smithsonian art Institute's "Classical Jazz Album"); and the Gary Mulligan Quartet played "Lullaby of the Leaves" (from "Cool Jazz" album).

Construction guru and former KDRT host, Mike Pesola joins Lois to talk about his new book "Courting Sense; the Game Behind the Game of Racquetball".  This is a collections of tales from racquetball which are then related to situations in the business world.  This might seem an odd correlation, but Mike has been playing racquetball as long as he has been in business -- about 30 years -- and has noticed the applicability of lessons from one to the other.  Today's show includes a brief explanation to the game (which was foreign to Lois!) and several readings from Mike's brand new book.  Lulu.com reviews this: "A humorous look at the business world as it relates to the game of racquetball; with a few anecdotes thrown in. This book will ring familiar to all of you racquetball players and also will appeal to all of you in the workforce.

Msgr James Murphy is both a Catholic priest and an historian.  Together these passions have led to his writing “Saints and Sinners in the Cristero War: Stories of Martyrdom from Mexico”.  The book recounts the lives of eight people who were involved in a Catholic rebellion against the Mexican Revolution.  In today's interview, Father Murphy gives us the general history of that time in Mexico and explains how the political changes effected (and were affected by) the Catholic church. This is the setting in which to place his stories.

Well-loved children's author Nikki Shannon Smith chats with Lois about her books, her career, and life in general.  The book in hand is "Charlotte Spies for Justice: A Civil War Survival Story", which is one of the books in the "Girls Survive" series.  That series has different authors sharing survival stories from different times and places. Nikki's two books are about the Civil War and the sinking of the Titanic.  These books have fictional girls inserted into historically accurate stories; so doing the research for each book is quite a chore.

From life lessons to details of writing, this is a wide-ranging interview.