Inside Scoop Live!
đ§ Inside Scoop Live! â THE OFFICIAL PODCAST OF READER VIEWS â Thought-provoking conversations with indie and small press authors. Go beyond the book and meet the people behind the pagesâwhat drives them, what inspires them, and how their stories came to life.
đ§ Inside Scoop Live! â THE OFFICIAL PODCAST OF READER VIEWS â Thought-provoking conversations with indie and small press authors. Go beyond the book and meet the people behind the pagesâwhat drives them, what inspires them, and how their stories came to life.
Episodes

Apr 12, 2023
The Final Steps by Mark M. Bello
Apr 12, 2023
Apr 12, 2023
30 min
As an attorney and civil justice advocate, author Mark M. Bello draws upon over 40 years of courtroom experience in his Zachary Blake Legal Thriller Series.
A Michigan native, Mark received his B.A. in English Literature from Oakland University and his law degree from Thomas M. Cooley Law School. After working extremely high-profile legal cases, Mark wanted to give the public a front-row glimpse of what victims face when standing up for justice.
Combining his legal experience and passion for justice with a creative writing style, Mark not only brings high-quality legal services to his clients but captivating novels to his readers.
When Markâs not writing legal and political novels, he writes and posts about fairness and justice in the civil justice system on his website, Legal Examiner and NotFakeNews. In his spare time, Mark enjoys traveling and spending time with his family. Mark and his wife, Tobye, have four children and 9 grandchildren.
Learn more about Mark and his work: https://www.markmbello.com/Â
TOPICS OF CONVERSATION:
Catching up with Mark Bello
About The Final Steps
Branching Out - Writing in new genres and developing new characters.
Reading his work as a reader
Whatâs next for Mark?
The Final Steps
Summary: Who murdered a popular law professor on a northern Michigan college campus?Judge Rosaline Maxwell is living the good life. Retired from the circuit court bench, she now lives in the home of her dreams, lakefront in scenic Harbor Springs, Michigan. Sheâs written a fascinating new book and is invited to speak at a local college. But her idyllic existence is rudely interrupted by a call from her best friend, Tyler Guthrie, the college president.A popular law professor has taken his final stepsâhe is found dead at the bottom of a popular outdoor staircase. The police suspect foul play. There are no witnesses, but key pieces of evidence make Tyler the number one suspect. After his arrest, Rosaline doubts her friendâs innocence but still jumps into the fray, abandoning the law, antagonizing local police, becoming an amateur sleuth with one goal and one goal only: To prove, conclusively, that Tyler Guthrie is innocent of this brutal crime.Along the way, Rosaline receives anonymous death threats, warning her to stay away from the investigation, but the former judge will not be deterred from her quest for the truth. There is no shortage of interesting and quirky suspects as attorney/award-winning author Mark M. Bello keeps you guessing âwhodunnitâ until the very end.
CONNECT WITH MARK BELLO!
Website:Â https://www.markmbello.comFacebook:Â @markmbellobooksTwitter:Â @markmbelloInstagram:Â @markmbellobooks
PODCASTS MENTIONED IN THIS INTERVIEW:
Links:
Inside Scoop Podcast â You Have the Right to Remain Silent
Justice Counts Podcast â Pushing Back Against Book Bans
Apr 12, 2023
30 min

Apr 5, 2023
Like Sapphire Blue by Marisa Billions
Apr 5, 2023
Apr 5, 2023
29 min
Marisa Billions is a high school English teacher in Southern California. She holds a bachelorâs and masterâs degree in Criminology. She is the author of the fiction novels, This Too Shall Pass, Like Sapphire Blue, and Into the Blue Again and is supposed to be working on her upcoming fourth novel. She lives in Southern California with her wife, Stephanie and son Alexander and two Dogs, Max and Bonnie.
Learn more about Marisa and her work at https://authormarisabillions.com/
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TOPICS OF CONVERSATION:
Catching up with Marisa Billions
Literary Awards and about Like Sapphire Blue
Writing the characters with authenticity and being fearless
Sapphic Novels and LGBTQIA+ LiteratureÂ
Growing as a reader and a writer
What's next for Marisa?
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LIKE SAPPHIRE BLUE
Synopsis:
âYour eyes are amazing. Iâve never seen a blue like that.âEmma Landry is tough, independent, beautiful, and smart. Being an outcast unable to identify with her classmates, she was willing to do whatever it takes to climb her way out of poverty.âWhat color would you say they are?âLike Sapphire BlueHaving never known a motherâs love, her father âBearâ, raised her on the wrong side of the tracks in a wealthy town.When success beckons, the woman sheâs been in love with is, finally, within her grasp. Life is now worth living and loving. That is, until a dark family secret is revealed. A secret tied into the very fabric of who she is, and what she spent a lifetime working to overcome.Faced with a foundation shattering treachery, Emma finds herself at the crossroads. Can she overcome a destiny stronger than death, destitution, and murder, to prove she is more than just her fatherâs daughter? Or will this new knowledge lead her to destroy the world sheâs spent a lifetime building?
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CONNECT WITH MARISA BILLIONS!
Website:Â https://authormarisabillions.com/
TikTok:Â https://www.tiktok.com/@authormarisabillions
Instagram:Â https://www.instagram.com/authormarisabillions/
Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMarisaBillions
Apr 5, 2023
29 min

Mar 28, 2023
Disrobed by Syl Tang
Mar 28, 2023
Mar 28, 2023
27 min
Syl Tang has been a futurist for 25+ years with an eye towards world events such as natural disasters, geo-political clashes, and economic cycles.
In addition to her book Disrobed, she has written hundreds of articles on the confluence of world events and soft goods for print outlets such as the Financial Times, predicting and documenting occurrences such as the Trump election, the Apple watch and other smart wearables, lab-made diamonds, and the effects of global warming on the South Seas.
As CEO and founder of HipGuide Inc, her work has helped more than 50 companies and governments. In addition to helping them navigate the future, she is behind the launches of some of the most well-known beauty, beverage, automotive and urban development efforts, including revitalizing Detroit and product category changers such as frozen alcohol and mineral makeup.
In 1999 she created the first mobile lifestyle texting product in the market and predicted mobile couponing as it exists today. Her company HipGuide is a case study taught in universities around the world, from Dubai to Nova Scotia to Purdue, through a textbook series with McGraw-Hill.
Her book Disrobed can be found at over 1000+ libraries including Harvard, Oxford, Yale, and the New York Public Library, as well as at all major bookstores including Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Waterstone's, and Blackwell's.
Learn more about Syl Tang and her work at: https://linktr.ee/hipguide
TOPICS OF CONVERSATION:
A bit about Syl Tang
Inspiration for writing Disrobed
Clothing and Societal Issues
It's not always about clothing
What's next for Syl Tang?
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DISROBED: How Clothing Predicts Economic Cycles, Saves Lives, and Determines the Future
AMAZON SUMMARY: We may not often think of our clothes as having a function beyond covering our naked bodies and keeping us a little safer from the elements. But to discount the enormous influence of clothing on anything from economic cycles to the future of water scarcity is to ignore the greater meaning of the garments we put on our backs. Disrobed vividly considers the role that clothing plays in everything from natural disasters to climate change to terrorism to geopolitics to agribusiness. Chapter by chapter, Tang takes the reader on an unusual journey, telling stories and asking questions that most consumers have never considered about their clothing. Why do bankerâs wives sell off their clothes and how does that presage a recession? How is clothing linked to ethanol and starvation on the African continent? Could RFID in clothing save the lives of millions of people in earthquakes around the world?
READ OUR REVIEW OF DISROBED!
Mar 28, 2023
27 min

Mar 20, 2023
A Whisper in the Shadows - by Scott MacFadyen
Mar 20, 2023
Mar 20, 2023
22 min
Scott Macfadyen is a Canadian author who loves to spend his time with his wife Tabitha and his dog Carly traveling or off grid where he can work on his writing. Scott spent over 20 years as a chef in restaurants, Pubs and resorts but had always had an interest in writing stories ever since elementary school. In his younger years he was known to write many stories and shared them with his school mates. Scott had a true passion for the escapism of story telling and over the years he had come up with the idea of his first published novella, A Whisper In the Shadows. Scott continues to write and looks forward to bringing you new stories and adventures in the future.
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TOPICS OF CONVERSATION
Scott's Writing Journey
Writing a novella
A strong female lead and character motivation
On reading and Stephen King
His personal writing escape
Advice for aspiring author
What's next for Scott?
A WHISPER IN THE SHADOWS
"Layla is a devoted mother and wife, but when someone from her past is gunned down and left for dead, she returns to her previous life that her family knows nothing about.Now Layla must keep her secret safe from her family, and find the people who shot the man who rescued her from living on the streets and who turned her into a professional hitwoman.Layla races against time while navigating twists and turns before her dark past catches up to her and her family becomes a target."
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CONNECT WITH SCOTT MACFADYEN!
Website: https://scottmacbooks.com/
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@scottymacwrites
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/scott.macfadyen.author
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Scott.macfadyen_author/
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Mar 20, 2023
22 min

Mar 14, 2023
Mar 14, 2023
29 min
In addition to a career as a newspaper editor, publisher, and manager, Robb Grindstaff has written fiction most of his life. The newspaper biz has taken him and his family from Phoenix, Arizona, to small towns in North Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin, from seven years in Washington, D.C., to five years in Asia. Born and raised a small-town kid, heâs as comfortable in Tokyo or Tuna, Texas.
The variety of places heâs lived and visited serve as settings for the characters who invade his head.
His novels are probably best classified as contemporary southern lit, and heâs had more than twenty short stories published in a wide array of genres. His articles on the craft of fiction writing have appeared in various writer magazines and websites, and one of his seminars was presented at the Sydney (Australia) Writers Festival. He also has taught writing courses for the Romance Writers of America, Romance Writers of Australia, and the Novel-in-Progress writers retreat.
Robb retired from the newspaper business in the summer of 2020 to write and edit fiction full time. He and his wife relocated to the beautiful Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri.
Robb also edits fiction and non-fiction books for authors from around the world. It helps that heâs fluent in five languages: US English, UK English, Canadian English, and Australian English, plus his native language, Texan.
Robb Grindstaffâs books are available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Apple iBooks, and many other online retailers. They are also available in paperback, e-book, and audiobook.
TOPICS OF CONVERSATION
Robb's writing journey
All about Slade
Writing a story using interviews
The most surprising thing he discovered while writing Slade
Being a fulltime writer, fiction editor and working with other authors
What's next for Robb Grindstaff?
SLADE
Synopsis:
A car crash thirty years earlier left Slade Bennington severely disabled but with a new outlook on life. His book about overcoming trauma becomes a bestseller and a box office hit movie. Slade strikes up an unusual friendship with Schuyler, the six-foot-tall teenage actress who portrays his sister in the movie. She encourages him to continue writing, and his pithy musings about life spur a nationwide following of devotees who study his books like Holy Scriptures.
Slade becomes a counselor to the celebrity in-crowdâthe Shaman to the Stars. While thousands adore Slade, others call him a Svengali or Rasputin-like character who controls and manipulates his clients.
One disillusioned fan spends years plotting revenge.
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CONNECT WITH ROBB GRINDSTAFF!
Robbâs website (Discover Robbâs books and learn about his editing services)
Robbâs Amazon page
A Writerâs Block (Robbâs Substack with tips and discussions on writing and editing)
Robbâs books on Evolved Publishing
Robb on Facebook
Robb on Twitter occasionally
Email: robb(at)robbgrindstaff(dot)com.
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Mar 14, 2023
29 min

Feb 6, 2023
Feb 6, 2023
28 min
Matti Silver has been storytelling for most of his life. He loves working, reading, writing books and creating worlds for himself and others to immerse themselves within. A lover of film, comic books, fantasy and anime, he takes it upon himself to combine all the best ideas and present them to the world, like a master curator of fine taste and limitless free time.
Besides his endless energy and eclectic taste in everything, Matti loves nothing more than reading everything except speed limit signs and expiry dates on his government documents.
To learn more about Matti Silver and his work visit his website at www.evwpress.com.
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TOPICS OF CONVERSATION
Becoming an Author
About the series and the inspiraton behind the stories
Writing in the choose-your-own-path genre
Challenges in writing a series
Working with an AMAZING illustrator
What's next for Matti Silver?
Feb 6, 2023
28 min

Jan 31, 2023
A Warm Touch - A Conversation with Connor Shane
Jan 31, 2023
Jan 31, 2023
32 min
Connor Shane is an âalmostâ 20-year-old author currently making his way through community college. He hopes to become an ecologist one day in order to help better understand and protect the wildlife of our planet.
Connor loves a story that carries a message and believes art is one of the most beautifl ways to teach lessons, allowing us to live our best days. He prefers deep discussions about life as opposed to throwing opinions about the weather into the wind. Heâs also a serious gamer.
Connor goes by the pen name Curon. A Warm Touch is his debut novel.
TOPICS OF CONVERSATION
Connor's Writing Journey
About A Warm Touch and the inspiration behind the story
Friendships and Mental Health
Favorite Authors
Future Projects
A WARM TOUCH
After hundreds of years since humanityâs extinction, with a whole new world of technology and animal-like intelligent life living in a reconstructed society, the pain of friendship persists. It doesnât seem to matter how strong Similic and Drift want their relationships to be, since without passionate effort held together through the thickest of conflicts, they are never meant to be.
The question that always haunts them is one that seems so awfully simple, yet thatâs exactly why it rips them to shreds. How do we maintain and improve our closest friendships? At that rate, how do we keep track of our relationships with ourselves, with all the surging thoughts that make us who we are? The answers may or may not lie in an obvious light, but the only way to truly fail is to choose to give up. What seems like such a wonderful party get-together between once close friends ends up becoming the very reason they may never see each other again. It would be simple enough if it were left at that, however Similic and his best friend Drift are determined to keep their connection to their friends and themselves intact. If they are able to do so, and if they are able to figure out this mysterious person who somehow knows too much about them, is a question they might not be able to answer well. But will they ever say that this uncertainty will stop them from trying? So far, the answer seems to be never!
CONNECT WITH CONNOR SHANE!
Amazon Author's Page: https://amzn.to/3jjBXyQÂ Fanfic.net: https://www.fanfiction.net/u/10038066/Â Booksie.com: https://www.booksie.com/users/curon-238850Instagram at curon2014 Twitter at konablaze73
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Jan 31, 2023
32 min

Jan 17, 2023
Jan 17, 2023
25 min
For the past 50 years, professional ecologist and conservationist Budd Titlow has used his pen and camera to capture the awe and wonders of our natural world. His goal has always been to inspire others to both appreciate and enjoy what he sees. Now he has one main question: Can we save humankindâs place â within natureâs beauty â before itâs too late?
Buddâs two latest books are dedicated to answering this perplexing dilemma. PROTECTING THE PLANET: Environmental Champions from Conservation to Climate Change, a non-fiction book, examines whether we still have the environmental heroes among us â harking back to such past heroes as Audubon, Hemenway, Muir, Douglas, Leopold, Brower, Carson, and Meadows â needed to accomplish this goal. Next, using fact-filled and entertaining story-telling, his latest book â COMING FULL CIRCLE: A Sweeping Saga of Conservation Stewardship Across America â provides the answers we all seek and need.
Having published five books, more than 500 photo-essays, and 5,000 photographs, Budd Titlow lives with his music educator wife, Debby, in San Diego, California.
You can learn more about Budd on his website www.buddtitlow.com.
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Mariah Tinger is an author and educator teaching sustainability at Boston Universityâs Questrom School of Business. Additionally, she is pursuing her Ph.D. in climate communication at Otago University and applying her knowledge as a co-host on the podcast, The Climate Minute.Â
When she is not chasing chickens or her children in her Massachusetts home, she is dreaming of new ways to tell the climate story.
You can learn more about Mariah on her website www.mariahtinger.com.
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TOPICS OF CONVERSATION:
About Coming Full Circle and the inspiration behind the storyline
Writing the story as a fictional tale as opposed to a non-fiction narrative
Climate Change and Biodiversity Loss
Sanctity and equality of all living things
The biggest danger to our planet and ways we can fix the problem
COMING FULL CIRCLE
Amazon Synopsis: Is there a winning re-write of United States history that everyone will feel good about? Following a multi-generational family across America and back again, this book sets the record straight. The skillful, entertaining story-telling shines a light on the origins of our current conservation crisesâclimate change and biodiversity lossâwhile convincing readers that we have immediate solutions right at our fingertips. Only one question remains: Will we use these solutions in time? Buy a copy of "Coming Full Circle" and find out what happens! (from Budd Titlow and Mariah Tinger, the authors of "Protecting the Planet")
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CONNECT WITH BUDD TITLOW!
Facebook:Â https://www.facebook.com/protectingtheplanetashome/
Instagram:Â https://www.instagram.com/budd.titlow/
LinkedIn:Â https://www.linkedin.com/in/btitlow/
Jan 17, 2023
25 min






