Starfish and Coffee

Hello again people of earth.

This week, my guest on Starfish and Coffee is the writer Keith A. Pearson.

As you’ll come to see - I randomly came across Keith’s first book by chance and perhaps ten days later, found I had read six on the bounce. That’s good innings by any standard - this man’s words are like cracked cocaine for people who just can’t help themselves.

For want of a better description, I would suggest his work is something like: “Richard Curtis writes Doctor Who” (and now that’s written in stone, he can steal it for public consumption).

Having found them hyper-enjoyable in every way imaginable (and is that not, after all, the entire point of reading fiction), I figured let’s get this man on the show and see what makes him tick.

Thus… here lies episode twenty-two of the podcast - it’s a good one. Aside from being fun, if you’re in the writing game yourself, you’ll find some useful business conversation going on too.

This week, my guest is Alex Smith - author of the much loved (by me and many others) DCI Robbie Kett series of crime novels. Alex is an indie author, so much of our talk revolves around that and when we really get into it, you’ll see why so many authors prefer that route to the traditional one (though I did forget to mention that perhaps not everybody who can string 80,000 words together should publish - much like the long forgotten phrase “just because you can get into it doesn’t mean you should wear it”.

The new Kett novel - Lucky Number Seven - is released this coming Friday (August 4th if you’re late to the party), so that’s my weekend sorted, but as I aways say, if you’re intrigued, you’ve got to start at the beginning.

Footnote: We did this interview a few weeks ago but I figured it would be smart to hold it back until the new book was within striking distance, thus any mentions of said item ‘coming down the line’ are now null and void because it’s here.

I’ve looked forward to doing this one for a long time! The story of Gef The Talking Mongoose (late of the Isle of Man) sadly gets less notorious every year. I’ve tried my best to spread the word but this episode features Christopher Josiffe who is an actual expert on Gef - maybe between us, we can spread this incredible tale further afield in all the right ways… though as you’ll hear in the episode, a movie is coming down the line any time now featuring Neil Gaiman as Gef. I can’t beat that, but I can certainly back it up.

Sometimes you can dream a dream that’s so dumb, it just might come true.

Paul Manzi is one such person. One day you’re belting out rousing renditions of Hellraiser and Fox On The Run on the top deck of the school bus… next thing you know, you find yourself standing next to Andy Scott and belting out those very same Sweet songs in front of thousands.

I’m a huge fan of Sweet (or The Sweet if you prefer). As we discuss, they’re a strange band. Most often, they’re labelled as a glam rock band (which they were) with throwaway singles (which they very much weren’t) but dig into their albums and you’ll find a powerhouse rock band who drift in and out of prog rock, hard rock - damn, you name it and they pulled it in. The fact of the matter is, Sweet were a complex band both musically and internally - but then, what band isn’t, but even their glam rock hits have layers of magic pounded into them.

So, I figured what better way to dig about in the modern day incarnation of the band than to quiz their singer… the rest you can find out by listening.

Caroline Tudor - better known as CJ Tudor to her readers - is killing it. 

From The Chalk Man across to her fifth novel, The Drift, she’s publishing quality work every time. Not just quality, but also different. I like the way she pushes herself to be a different version of herself each time a book comes out - it might not sound like much - maybe you’d expect it to be the case all the time with writers - but it’s not. I rate her highly and if you like thrillers that are dipped in er… something other-worldly, I think you will too.

In this feisty episode - which includes dogs barking from both sides of the mic (which is thoroughly encouraged) - we go from Enid Blyton to Stephen King in 60 seconds, talk about publishing, foreign book covers, getting your book picked up for TV… and then it actually happening, hard work, Star Trek, agents, Yellowjackets, what your parents think of you, what your kids think of you and well… it’s basically just a great, fun hour talking about books and writing.

It’s always a good day when you get to speak to Jason Bieler. Jason is probably most well known from that period in the early nineties when his band Saigon Kick where making waves in the world. This, of course, is a good place to start but since those halcyon days, Jason has gone on to work up quite a collection of songs for his Owl Stretching project and more recently under his own name - Jason Bieler And The Baron Von Bielski Orchestra - which has delivered two superb albums (available at all the usual places blah, blah but you should probably go buy them at his bandcamp page linked down below).

Across this far too short hour, we talk about Saigon Kick (natch), how Owl Stretching came into being and how he played it for creativity rather than cash, how he gets along with bandcamp as an online home, his home studio set-up and of course, his new album and hitting the road with his buddy Jeff Scott Soto.

Let’s get it on…

You can find his homepage here (and links to his social feeds): 

Today, I got to chat to a couple of the world’s biggest Ouija Board nerds on the planet: Robert Murch (known throughout the episode as ‘Murch’) who is Chairman of the Board for the Talking Board Historical Society (Colorado) and John Kozik from the Salem Witch Board Museum (in Salem, funnily enough).

The Ouija Board is a staple of modern horror movies, but it has a varied past that goes right back to the late 1800s - a past these two gentlemen have spent their entire lives unravelling, researching, hunting, arranging and making available to the public. This is where we begin our conversation. I’ve assumed a lot of prior knowledge on behalf of the listeners here - there’s no in depth discussion about the dead/demons/spirits/whether it’s fake or real. Sit yourself down in front of one with some friends and figure it out or yourself. We did.

I’ve always loved the Board and the mystery behind it. How such a simple thing - sold as a mass production game - could single handedly (well, maybe with a little help from That Movie) kick-start the Satanic-Panic movement (can we call it a movement?) is absolutely worth buying somebody a beer over.

If you want to go digging your own rabbit hole on the subject of the Ouija, here’s the related links for you - if you wish, you can find the socials on each of the individual sites:

Talking Board Historical Society:

And so it came to pass that Episode 14 is an episode with a man from the very heart of my own pop-culture existence: Mr Shannon Wheeler - cartoonist extraordinaire and creator of the most anti-hero of all anti-heroes in the shape of Too Much Coffee Man. 

It’s entirely possible that you’ve never heard of Too Much Coffee Man - and I'm here to tell you, you really missed out - it was after all the underground of the underground but for a brief period in the mid nineties - which is when music started to suck but all of the things that satellite around it where better than ever - TMCM was a real find. Damn these comics were hard to find in the UK but somehow, much like all those banned movies we weren’t supposed to see and the Japanese album releases with different tracks on board, there was always a way.

Anyway, in this episode we discuss - amongst other things - shooting comics with guns, the Black Panthers, the cult leader Jim Jones, indie publishing, photocopiers and the harrowing story of the kid with a micro-penis. Yep - you read that correctly.

...or as I like to call him - The Exorcist, though as you'll discover as you listen to the interview, the instances of genuine demonic possession that I've been searching for are a little thin on the ground. Still, I found it quite fascinating that some of the topics Jason talks about are actually stranger than an actual 'haunting'. I guess if you say "that's definitely a ghost", there's nowhere else to go because a ghost is a ghost, but to ascribe bizarre happenings to humans is another thing entirely.

Hanging on the other side of the Z-Phone this week, is the inimitable Mr Phil Lewis. To most, he is the frontman of L.A. Guns but to me, he will always be the face of one of my favourite bands: Girl.

Across this fine, fine hour we spent together, we discuss both of these bands and do our best to mention all of those that came between as well - side projects and mis-steps included. (Worth noting here if Girl passed you by, the ‘guitarist’ called Phil who joins the band is Phil Collen of Def Leppard).

Anyway: Tormé, New Torpedos, London Cowboys, Filthy Lucre, the music business, the highs and lows of having a record deal, touring, London vs L.A. - it’s all here along with a truckload of extras - or as much as either of us could remember anyway.

As luck and good timing would have it, L.A. Guns also have a new album out in a few weeks (12 November). It’s called Checkered Past and it sounds fantastic - I’d say out loud if it didn’t but it truly does. The single Cannonball is up on YouTube already and it will give you a good idea of what’s coming down the line:

Episode 11 Show Notes:

Episode 10 Show Notes:

My guest today is Andrew Kaufman. He's the (magical realism) author of The Tiny Wife (one of the greatest novels ever written in my opinion), Born Weird, All My Friends Are Superheroes, Small Claims, The Waterproof Bible and, most recently, The Ticking Heart.

Today’s guest is Jon Spira - a film-maker, ex-video shop owner and an all-round digger of things that only exist in your peripheral vision.

His most recent documentary is called Hollywood Bulldogs. If you’re in the U.K. you can watch it on BritBox (I believe there’s a 7 day free trial available for that and you too can complain to nobody who cares that they have renamed The Avengers as Steed & Peel on there). It documents the rise and many falls of the unsung heroes of the movie industry - the humble stuntman. 

Today’s guest on Starfish & Coffee is Ross Allison.

Based in Seattle, Ross is a ghost hunter - one of the best in the world. Aside from his interest in a subject (surely) everybody on the planet has been curious about at some point in their life, he’s also one of the most scientific and takes his quest seriously.

For once, we managed to stick closely to the subject in hand. This is a small miracle from beyond the grave in itself, but what you’ll find is exactly what you need in a ghost hunter interview. For all his passion, Ross is well aware of the pitfalls of gathering enough scientific evidence (aka: data) to give 100% proof to what he has witnessed many times first hand. 

Across this hour we touch on ghosts (natch), shadow people, demons, exorcism, scientific equipment, spirituality vs religion and I also win a £10 bet because I sneaked in mention of Scooby Doo. I should have gone for the £20 option because I also mention Sam & Dean Winchester. You can't win 'em all.

In a world that will accept nothing short of an event straight out of The Conjuring as proof of the paranormal, being a serious ghost hunter is a Herculean task of the highest order… listen, see for yourself and make your own mind up.

Episode 6 Show Notes:

My guest this week is Sam Weller. He is the biographer of the mighty Ray Bradbury, an author in his own right and a serious Kiss fan (which we try very hard not to dwell on but temptation is always there, so please forgive us). He’s also as knee deep in pop culture as I am, making this week an easy ride, which is always a bonus. Talking of bonus features, check out the occasional Chicago PD sirens in the background. Got to love it when that happens.

Sam currently has a book of short stories in the world called Dark Black which I can’t rain praise on enough without it becoming embarrassing - if you’re in the market to support him, you can buy a copy directly from the publisher, Hat and Beard, right here:

Episode 5 Show Notes: 

Back in the late 80s/early 90s, my buddy JJ and myself used to spend a crazy amount of time together at club gigs, in the record store and most importantly, in each other’s kitchen throwing rock n roll philosophy at each other. It’s something we’ve kept up for over thirty years and so it continues except now, we're recording them. In episode five, we lovingly present part two on our thoughts of what it takes to move up the ladder as an emerging artist or band by throwing around some of the things we’ve learned, some of the things we’ve seen and more importantly perhaps, some things that we haven’t seen and should have. As always, it’s more food for thought than concrete answers but you know what… I think that’s OK. That’s the way it should be because you’re all smart enough to figure it out.