Inside Scoop Live!

Steve Bassett was born, raised and educated in New Jersey, and, although far removed during a career as a multiple award-winning journalist, he has always been proud of the sobriquet Jersey Guy. He has been legally blind for almost a decade but hasn’t let this slow him down. Polish on his mother’s side and Montenegrin on his father’s, with grandparents who spoke little or no English, his early outlook was ethnic and suspicious. As a natural iconoclast, he joined the dwindling number of itinerant newsmen roaming the countryside in search of, well just about everything. Sadly, their breed has vanished into the digital ether. Bassett’s targets were not selected simply by sticking pins in a map. There had to be a sense of the bizarre.
First there was The Long Branch Daily Record on the New Jersey shore. Mobsters loved the place. It was one of their favorite watering holes. A mafia soldier was gunned down not far from the paper. Great fun for a cub reporter. Curiosity got the better of him with his next choice the Pekin Daily Times located in central Illinois. Now a respected newspaper, it had once been the official voice of the Ku Klux Klan during the 1920’s. Pekin had saved its bacon during the Depression by tacitly approving two time-honored money makers, prostitution and gambling, earning an eight-page spread in Life.
Next it was the Salt Lake Tribune. The Pulitzer Prize winner was then, and still is, considered one of the best daily newspapers west of the Rockies. Bassett’s coverage of the invective laden contract talks between the United Mine Workers and the three copper mining giants led to his recruitment by the Associated Press. 
Bassett’s series for the AP in Phoenix uncovered the widespread abuses inherent in the Government’s Barcero program for Mexican contract workers. The series exposed working and housing conditions that transformed workers into virtual slave laborers, forced to buy at company stores, live in squalid housing and pay illegally collected unemployment taxes that went into the pocket of their bosses. The series led to Bassett’s promotion and transfer to the San Francisco bureau.
His final AP posting was in San Francisco. Bassett’s five-part series on the Wah Ching gained national attention by exposing the Chinese youth gang as the violent instrument of Chinatown’s criminal bosses.
Then came CBS television news in Los Angeles, three Emmy Awards for his investigative documentaries, and the prestigious Medallion Award presented by the California Bar Association for “Distinguished Reporting on the Administration of Justice.” Along the way he found time to author “The Battered Rich” (Ashley Books) exposing seldom discussed but widespread marital abuse among the affluent.
 
His book, “Golden Ghetto: How the Americans and French Fell In and Out of Love During the Cold War,” published in 2013 by Red Hen Press under its Xeno imprint, traces the sixteen-year history of what was then the largest U.S. Air Force base in Europe. It pieces together a love affair that defines trust, hope, renewal, prosperity, and finally the discovery that it was all a Cold War delusion.
His first fiction work, “Father Divine’s Bikes,” is a historical, noir crime novel set in 1945 Newark. A gangster war, three murders, a gun-toting paperboy, and the numbers racket punctuate the tragic story of two gritty altar boys adrift in a world of poverty, crime and hopelessness. The boys live in a world ripe for grifters like Father Divine and his promise of heaven on earth.
Bassett currently resides in Placitas, New Mexico with his wife Darlene Chandler Bassett.
To learn more about Steve Bassett, visit his website at www.stevebassettworld.com.
Topics of Conversation:
About Father Divine’s Bikes and the Inspiration Behind the Story
America’s Urban History
Who is Father Divine?
Multi-Generational Characters
Interests Outside of Writing
The VA and Assistance for Veterans with Disabilities

Lucinda Clark is the Founder of P.R.A. Publishing and the Poetry Matters Project Ltd. Born and raised in Philadelphia, Pa. now residing in Georgia. She has written and published a four-part poetry series titled View From the Middle of the Road with various emerging writers from many areas of the arts. She is currently a contributor to the Accentuated Reading Project. Her mission is to build community connections through collaborations based on literary arts.
Lucinda describes herself as follows: “I am a woman who went on a journey of self-discovery and found that my view(s) on life are determined by updates to my perspective based on new things I experience, meaning, things can change at any time.”
Learn more about Lucinda and her work at www.poetrymattersproject.org
Topics of Conversation:
History of the Poetry Matters Project
Poetry Matters Project Literary Prize – 20 Year Anniversary
Where are they now? Update on some of the past contest winners.
Getting involved – as a contestant, judge or volunteer
Poetry Diversified 2019 Anthology
Poetry Readings by Lucinda Clark

Michael McCord, the former political editor and columnist for The Portsmouth (NH) Herald, is an award-winning journalist and writer.
A U.S. Army veteran, he covered his first presidential primary campaign in 1980 and has written for dozens of publications – including the Boston Globe Magazine, Boston Globe, New Hampshire Business Review, Boston Herald, New Hampshire Magazine – and has won New England & New Hampshire press association awards for investigative reporting, political commentary, feature and historical writing, and business journalism.
Among many adventures, he profiled James Dougherty, Marilyn Monroe’s mostly unknown unknown first husband, for Boston Globe Magazine. He also co-wrote the produced theatrical play “think twice before you think” about the life and writings of e e cummings. His essay on the history of the New Hampshire presidential primary was included in the 2008 analogy The American Presidency.
His Real America saga includes The Execution Channel: A Political Fable (2013) & End Times: More Great Adventures in Real America (2019). Penelope will be the final book in the trilogy.
He lives in Exeter, NH with his artist wife Anne and their cat Vito (the Twitter star of the family).
To learn more about Michael McCord visit his website at www.michaelmccordauthor.com.
Topics of Conversation:
A vision of “Real America”
How the Real America in the book compares to the current political climate in the U.S.
Satire – a fun book to write
How the Information Warfare plot plays out
Promoting and Self-Publishing
and more!

Jeannine Kellogg loves a grand adventure and a great story. She has traveled to fifteen countries and her adventures include hiking in New Zealand, sea-kayaking above the Arctic Circle, and wading through rice fields in Thailand. Yet she has grown certain that the great inspirations are found not in distant adventures, but in the often-overlooked details of everyday life.
Jeannine’s career has spanned a variety of industries and roles, but it has mostly involved analyzing lots of numbers and telling stories in numbers. Mid-career she switched it up and starting telling stories in words. She loves ice cream. Guinea pigs. Mathematics. Children. History. Practical jokes. Family. Thai food. Friends. Music. And, of course, writing.
Her first novel, The Tukor’s Journey, began in a windstorm as Jeannine and her nephews dove deep into sheltered waters seeking sparkling blue stones only visible when sunlight broke through the clouds. She built a story around that diving adventure, and over time, inspired by the encouragement of her nephews, it grew into The Tukor’s Journey series.
Jeannine enjoys nothing more than encouraging kids to seize life’s wonderful adventure and take the lead in their own powerful journey. She invites you to connect with her on social media. And she would be delighted to visit your school.
To learn more about Jeannine Kellogg visit her website at www.jeanninekellogg.com.
Topics of Conversation:
Introducing a world of adventure through extraordinary animals and locations
Encouraging outdoor adventures
Characters who use their own skills and imagination to invent and solve problems
Storytelling and instilling hope
The Publishing Industry vs. The Gaming Industry

Susan Braudy is the bestselling author of six books. Her writing has also appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, Ms. Magazine, New York Magazine, Jezebel, The Week, and the New Journal at Yale. The Men’s Issue she created and edited for Ms. Magazine was the highest selling in the magazine’s history. She’s a recipient of the Dick Goldensohn Fund Award for investigative reporting and was a judge for the J. Anthony Lukas Prize at Columbia University. Alfred A. Knopf nominated her last book for the Pulitzer Prize. Her blogs are Writers Celebrate Writers and Manhattan Voyeur.                                                       
For more information on Susan Braudy and her book – visit her website at www.susanbraudy.com.
Topics of Conversation
A young woman’s sexual awakening.
America’s infatuation with the Kennedy’s
Researching historical figures
The power of language
Susan’s current project – a mystery/thriller based on a true story!
Advice for emerging authors

Melissa Muldoon is the author of three novels set in Italy: “Dreaming Sophia,” “Waking Isabella,” and “Eternally Artemisia.” All three books tell the stories of American women and their journeys of self-discovery to find love, uncover hidden truths, and follow their destinies to shape a better future in Italy.
Melissa is also the author of the Studentessa Matta website, where she promotes the study of Italian language and culture through her dual-language blog written in Italian and English (studentessamatta.com). Studentessa Matta means the “crazy linguist” and has grown to include a podcast, Tutti Matti per l’Italiano and the Studentessa Matta YouTube channel, Facebook page and Instagram feed. Melissa also created Matta Italian Language Immersion Programs, which she co-leads with Italian schools in Italy to learn Italian in Italy. Through her website, she also offers the opportunities to live and study in Italy through Homestay programs.
Melissa has a B.A. in fine arts, art history and European history from Knox College, a liberal arts college in Galesburg, Illinois, as well as a master’s degree in art history from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. She has also studied painting and art history in Florence. She is an artist, designer, and illustrated the cover art for all three of her books. Melissa is also the managing director of Matta Press.
Melissa designed and illustrated the cover art for Eternally Artemisia, Waking Isabella, and Dreaming Sophia. She also curates the Dreaming Sophia Art History blog site and Pinterest site: The Art of Loving Italy, where you will find companion pictures for all three books. Visit MelissaMuldoon.com for more information about immersion trips to learn the language with Melissa in Italy, as well as the Studentessa Matta blog for practice and tips to learn the Italian language.
To learn more about Melissa Muldoon visit her website at melissamuldoon.com.
Topics of Conversation:
Artemisia Gentileschi’s influence on the art world and her relevance to today’s women
Italy – its history and beauty
A common theme connecting all of her books
Incorporating history into historical fiction
Artistic expression
Advice for emerging authors
 
 

Bob Gebelein graduated from Harvard with a BA in Mathematics in 1956, and then went on to have a legendary career as a computer programmer and creator of software systems.
But the main focus of his adult life has been to create a new civilization, because of the threat of nuclear annihilation and other cultural problems. His methods were psychotherapy, withdrawal from the culture, and dream analysis. He succeeded in his quest by discovering how “human nature” itself can be changed, to compassion and altruism, to create a new kind of human being, who will then create a new civilization. He is a new civilization with a population of one.
His book, RE-EDUCATING MYSELF, describes his search and the answers that he found. THE MENTAL ENVIRONMENT describes the network of lies from which he extricated himself. His original songs, on “Uncle Bobby’s Record,” now have an international following.
Because he is writing from a new civilization, he can view the scientific establishment with some perspective, especially because he is not controlled by it. Also he brings to DIRTY SCIENCE original concepts such as “the mental senses,” “mental warfare,” and “psychological age,” which make this work a step ahead of the present culture.
To learn more about Dirty Science – visit dirtyscience.net. To learn more about Bob Gebelein and his other works visit bobgebelein.com.
Topics of Conversation:
What is dirty science?
Which areas of research are being targeted?
The spiritual and the psychic
How to recognize unscientific methods and educating the public
Getting the word out – read the first chapter

Aimee Cabo Nikolov is a Cuban American who has lived most of her life in Miami. She is a trained nurse and the president and owner of IMIC, Inc, a medical research company in Palmetto Bay, Florida.  She lives with her husband, Dr. Boris Nikolov, and her three children, Danielle, Sean and Michelle.  Love is the Answer, God is the Cure is her first book.
To learn more about Aimee Cabo Nikolov and her book, Love is the Answer, God is the Cure, visit her website at www.godisthecure.com.
Topics of Conversation:
Writing her memoir
The different forms of abuse and how to recognize it
Consequences of abuse
Healing
Helping Others
Inspiration