Writer and producer Mike Robinson joined me Monday at 9am!

Thanks to Mike Robinson for calling in to today's show!
If you missed Mike, listen to our conversation here!

An avid writer since age 7, award-winning author Mike Robinson began selling professionally at 19, placing various speculative fiction stories in magazines, anthologies, e-zines and podcasts. He is the author of the novels Skunk Ape Semester, The Prince of Earth, the short story collection Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray and the non-linear trilogy "The Enigma of Twilight Falls", which includes the novels The Green-Eyed Monster, Negative Space and Waking Gods. Forthcoming is a mainstream literary novel The Atheist and the metaphysical monster-romp Dreamshores.

A native of Los Angeles, he is also a screenwriter and producer with 5 Rainbow Productions, having co-written the short film Chrysaline, currently in post-production, and developed a TV anthology series. He also edits the online magazine Literary Landscapes, the official publication of GLAWS, The Greater Los Angeles Writers Society. His official website is www.mikerobinson-author.com.


Mike Robinson

Novelist / Editor

www.mikerobinson-author.com (Official Site)

Too Much Dark Matter, Too Little Gray (Weird Short Stories)

Negative Space (Surreal Thriller)

The Prince of Earth (Metaphysical Horror)

The Green-Eyed Monster (Horror/Mystery)

Skunk Ape Semester (Paranormal)

Joining me today at 9am was the very talented Victoria Pratt, Film and Television star and author of “Double Down"

Did you miss Victoria Pratt on today's show?
Listen to our conversation here!

VICTORIA PRATT: THE AUTHOR
Victoria has spent her adult life playing superheroes, supervillains, and cops on television and in movies. From her start on the action series, John Woo’s Once a Thief, to Marvel Comic’s Mutant X, to ABC’s Daybreak, to a mountain of Lifetime movies, Victoria has learned a thing or two about crafting strong female characters.

Victoria’s writing career actually started long before her acting career, with a monthly column in Oxygen Magazine. Next came screenplays, women’s magazines, and finally, this, her debut novel, Double Down.

Victoria spends her time between her home in the Hollywood Hills, and her family in Canada. Currently, Victoria recurs as Casey McMurtry on Canada’s longest running hour-long drama, Heartland, where she literarily… that’s right… runs the rodeo.

VICTORIA PRATT: THE ACTRESS

On her first audition, Victoria Pratt landed a role on John Woo’s Once A Thief, soon leading to her becoming a series regular. Next came a recurring role on Xena and later, the lead in both Cleopatra 2525 and Mutant X.

Victoria next shifted to film, including roles in What Love Is, Murder At The Presidio, and Journey To The Center Of The Earth. She has also appeared in several pilots, as well as roles on CSI, NCIS, Cold Case, Ghost Whisperer, Life, Lie to Me, and Castle, and her lead role as an undercover homicide detective on the ABC series Day Break.

Victoria’s most recent movies include Christmas Twister, A Nanny’s Revenge, The Virginian, the noir thriller Death Valley, A Daughter’s Nightmare, Patient Killer, and June. Currently, she’s enjoying a recurring role as Casey on Canada’s longest running hour-long drama, Heartland for CBC, and has also recently secured a publishing deal for her very first novel, Double Down.

Visit victoriapratt.co for more!

How to have the Best Valentine’s Day…February 15th!

Valentine’s Day – the National holiday to shower those you love/like with tasteless heart shaped candy, chocolate and other decadent treats, oh and spend a small fortune on those overpriced cards and stuffed animals. Bah humbug! I became a Valentine’s Day scrooge a long time ago…way back in 7thgrade. I had a mouth full of braces and was a no make-up kind of girl. I also had little to no fashion sense, but I did have the attention of a really cute boy. Let’s call him Jeremy. I really liked Jeremy and when he lead me at recess to the back of the woodworking building to plant a kiss on me, I floated off to my next class barely paying attention.

The next day was Valentine’s Day and we agreed to exchange gifts. After kissing me again, Jeremy gave me the cutest little red, stuffed monster that said, “Be Mine!” No problem. In my mind, I was already there. My gift, unfortunately, was a deal breaker. For some ridiculous reason, I thought I would give him music, well, a specific song actually. You might be thinking, “How nice! What’s wrong with that?” My song choice was horrible and embarrassing, but I didn’t realize it at the time (thank goodness I switched schools for 8thgrade).

As I handed over my gift, he was speechless. I would be, too if someone handed me a 45 of Rod Stewart’s “Do you think I’m sexy?” I was so far from sexy and didn’t even know what sexy was or what sex was. (My kids would laugh at me. I hope they aren’t reading this. If you are, GO DO YOUR HOMEWORK! And there was NO tongue with the kissing. It was actually on his cheek girls. Really. It was. JUST DO YOUR HOMEWORK!).

I guess I thought a gift from home would be sufficient. My gift selection was so bad that the next day, I was kicked to the curb. Dumped. He never spoke to me again. Of course, I completely freaked Jeremy out. I would dump me, too. He was “way too cool and popular anyway,” I rationalized; it was bound to happen.

By tenth grade, my best friend Shannon filled me in on the real importance of Valentine’s Day. “It’s not about the cards, gifts and boyfriends,” she explained. “It’s about the deals you get…the day after!” And of course, it was all about the chocolate. “Here! Try these!” she said, offering me an unlimited amount of chocolates from the biggest heart-shaped box I had ever seen. The box was massive, and I watched as she dove in, trying a bite of almost half the box. And if she didn’t like something, she simply just spit it out…and tried another.

So, you see, Valentine’s Day is not about being in a relationship with the pressure of buying gifts, and cards that could pay for a Grande Starbucks drink. It’s a time to work the system people! Now, go out there February 15th and have the best day-after Valentine’s Day ever!

Kevin Hazzard author of A THOUSAND NAKED STRANGERS joined me Monday at 9am pst

Did you miss Kevin on today's show? Listen to our conversation here!

Kevin Hazzard worked as a paramedic for 10 years in Atlanta.

Lauren Pressey/Simon & Schuster 

Kevin Hazzard worked as a paramedic from 2004 to 2013, primarily at Grady Hospital in Atlanta. His freelance journalism has appeared in Atlanta Magazine, Marietta Daily Journal, Creative Loafing, and Paste. He is the author of a novel, Sleeping Dogs, and A Thousand Naked Strangers. He and his family live in Hermosa Beach, California. -

See more at: http://authors.simonandschuster.com/Kevin-Hazzard/502979869#sthash.17lO5tFK.dpuf

Mollie Gregory, screenwriter, documentary filmmaker, and author of Stuntwomen: The Untold Hollywood Story joined me Monday at 9:30am pst

Did you miss Mollie on today's show?
Listen to our conversation  here!

Mollie will be appearing at Book Soup this coming Friday February 19th, 2016. 8818 W Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 310-659-3110 www.booksoup.com

About the Author: Mollie Gregory
STUNTWOMEN: The Untold Hollywood Story

Mollie Gregory began as a documentary filmmaker. She wrote a book about her experiences, and it changed her life. She became an author of fiction and non-fiction books, a sought-after speaker, particularly on the role and treatment of women in the entertainment industry, and an officer in national and international groups.

In Women Who Run the Show, How A Brilliant and Creative New Generation Stormed Hollywood, published by St. Martin’s Press, Mollie interviewed 125 women from trainees to studio heads in the Hollywood film/TV industry. “We are indebted to Gregory for committing to history those who would underestimate their own gains . . . how a band of sisters crashed the all-boys party that was Hollywood.” Lynda Obst, Los Angeles Times Book Review.

Gregory has been interviewed widely—Moguls and Movie Stars: A History of Hollywood, Turner Classic Movies’ 7-part TV series; E! entertainment, CNN, EXTRA!, the WashingtonPost Online, “Type Writing, Diversity in Hollywood," Words into Pictures, Writers Guild of America. She is a frequent speaker on film subjects, "Hollywood, Sex Discrimination and the Law," Southwestern University, School of Law; keynote speech, "Pioneers in Film," The Nell Shipman/Silent Film Festival, University of Idaho; a panel at Show Biz Expo; A Conversation with Mollie Gregory, presented by the Business and Professional Women’s Council the Women's Bar Association of D.C., and Women in Film & Video at the National Women's Museum of the Arts, Washington, D.C; keynote speaker, Equal Rights Advocates, San Francisco, CA; Women in Film, Atlanta, Georgia; CSU San Francisco; University of California Irvine, Center for Life Long Learning; Claremont Graduate School and Scripps College; LA Times Book Festival, the High Falls Film Festival, and the Festival Internacional de Cortometraje, Expresión en Corto, Guanajuato, Mexico, “The Global Conversation: Women in Film Today . . . and Tomorrow.”

A member of the Writers Guild of America, a past president of Women in Film, past president of P. E. N. Center USA, she has also served as a U.S. Vice President of the International Quorum of Motion Picture Producers. As a trustee of the Women in Film Foundation, she created its History Preservation Plan, and now chairs "For the Record," a program that compiled (2010-2014) a history of the 43-year-old organization to expand and encourage Women in Film and other women's groups to preserve their history. To that end, she has drafted a narrative version to be released as a CD to the public.

A cinema school graduate of New York University (BA, MA), she has taught a variety of film and writing courses at the University of Southern California ("Writing the Documentary"), San Francisco State University ("Movies as Role Models"), UCLA ("Writing the Novel"), Los Angeles City College ("Screenwriting and Film Criticism"), Chapman College, Department of Cinema ("Writing for the Screen, fiction and nonfiction, television and film"), CSU Northridge ("Film Financing and Distribution"), drawing on her documentary work recounted in her book, Making Films Your Business. The Los Angeles Times dubbed it "a cogent and impressively thorough book that may become as indispensable as your film, tape or talent."

Mollie’s published novels include Equal to Princes, Triplets, Privileged Lies. Currently, she is finishing a new novel, Separate Screens, the story of two families in the movie industry, one black, one white, as well as a suspense novel around the legal and not-so-legal antics in a Hollywood talent agency, titled, LoveYouBye.

Caroline Webb, author of "How to Have a Good Day," management consultant and executive coach joined me Monday at 9:30am!

Did you miss Caroline Webb on today's show? Listen to our conversation here!
New findings in behavioral science are giving us a better understanding of how our brains work, why we make the choices we do, and what it takes for us to be at our best. But it’s been challenging to see how to apply these insights in the real world—until now.

In HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY economist and former McKinsey partner Caroline Webb shows readers how to use recent discoveries from behavioral economics, psychology, and neuroscience to transform our approach to everyday working life. She translates three big scientific ideas (the Two-System Brain; the Discover-Defend Axis; and the Mind-Body Loop) into step-by-step guidance that enables us to ace each of our tasks and conversations, even when we’re feeling under pressure. Webb gives us specific tools to navigate the typical challenges of modern workplaces—from conflict with colleagues to dull meetings and packed inboxes—with skill and ease. And she shows us exactly how to build these science-based techniques into our daily routines to give us more control over the quality of our days.

HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY is arranged around seven practices that are central to having a good day:

• PRIORITIES: Setting Intentional Direction for Your Day
• PRODUCTIVITY: Making the Hours in Your Day Go Further
• RELATIONSHIPS: Making the Most of Every Interaction
• THINKING: Being Your Smartest, Wisest, Most Creative Self
• INFLUENCE: Maximizing the Impact of All You Say and Do
• RESILIENCE: Sailing Through Setbacks and Annoyances
• ENERGY: Boosting Your Enthusiasm and Enjoyment

Caroline Webb has worked with hundreds of businesses to help their leaders and employees be more productive, energized, and successful at work—first as a partner at McKinsey, where she worked for more than a decade and continues to serve as an advisor, and now as CEO of Sevenshift. As an economist and a renowned executive coach trained in psychology and neuroscience, she has both academic credentials and years of hands-on practical experience in designing science-based interventions to help people thrive. As a result, her new book, How to Have a Good Day, is a powerful blend of science, stories, and practical steps that readers can immediately apply in their own lives.

Filled with examples of people who have used Webb’s insights to boost their job satisfaction and performance at work, HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY is the book so many people wanted when they finished Nudge, Blink, and Thinking Fast and Slow and were looking for practical ways to apply this fascinating science to their own lives and careers. Finally, there is an engaging book of real scientific merit that offers the trustworthy advice we need to improve our day.

A remarkable and much-needed book, HOW TO HAVE A GOOD DAY gives us the tools we need to have a lifetime of good days.

ABOUT CAROLINE WEBB
Caroline Webb is a management consultant and executive coach who has spent fifteen years at McKinsey and at her own firm, Sevenshift, showing clients how to use behavioral science to boost their professional effectiveness. An Oxford- and Cambridge-trained economist, Webb and her work have been featured in the Financial Times, New York Times, Washington Post, The Economist, Forbes, and on the BBC.

Irina Maleeva, a true multifaceted international performer, joined me Monday at 9:00am!

Did you miss Irina Maleeva on today's show?

Listen to our conversation here.

Irina Maleeva is a true multifaceted international performer.

Born in Bulgaria, the daughter of a famous stage actress and an aristocratic Italian statesman, Ms. Maleeva, who speaks seven languages, first established herself as a child performer in Italy.

At the age of 15 she was discovered by the great Federico Fellini and performed in three of his movies.

With degrees in painting and set design from Accademia di Belle Arti in Rome, and studies at the Cinecitta Drama Film School and RADA in London, she received the training that propelled her into a successful worldwide career in films, records, television, stage and cabaret.

Her motion picture roles have been with the giants of the film industry, including a lead with Orson Welles in “The Merchant of Venice,” Fellini’s “Satyricon,” “Spirits from the Dead” and “Roma,” as well working with Visconti and Rossellini. She has had over 30 leading roles in European and American movies, starring opposite James Mason, Valentina Cortese, Therence Stamp, Anthony Franciosa and Charles Grodin.

She was honored with a supporting actress award at The Toronto Film Festival for her portrayal of the “Demented Contessa” in the film “Union City” opposite Debbie Harry and Pat Benatar. Most recently in Los Angeles, she played a role in the film “Wasabi Tuna.”

In addition to her film achievements she was the lead of the Italian-French co-production TV series “Poly in Venice” and “The Girl without Identity.” In the USA she has been a guest star on “Days of our Lives,” “The Gilmore Girls,” “Pensacola,” “Just Shoot Me,” “Six Feet Under,” “Angel” and “Threshold.” She was a principal recurring actress on the TV series “Cracking Up” and “The Bold and the Beautiful.” She then Guest Starred on “American Body Shop” and the TV hit series “Heroes,” as well as the role of Ruba in “Twelve Miles of Bad Road.” Most recently, she co-starred opposite Susan Sarandon in Sony Classics’ “The Meddler” that opens April 22nd and guest starred in the NBC TV series “Aquarius” with David Duchovny.

To fulfill her insatiable desire to perform, Irina has added to her acting ability a unique singing voice, which has enabled her to travel the world with her one-woman musical comedy shows from New York to Rio de Janeiro to Tokyo. Her hits include “Passion, Pain and Occasional Vodka Tonic” and “Irina A-Broad.”

Her passion is flying, cruising around the world performing, playing with her beloved dogs and sharing quiet times with her husband, Nate.

In keeping with the Valentine’s Day spirit, Irina launched her CD “Illusions” featuring several classic love songs, including Irving Berlin’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” and Amanda McBroom’s “Crimes of the Heart.”

More about “Illusions” at:

http://www.irinamaleeva.com/Music/

Listen to her song Illusions.

Amanda Haas, author of THE ANTI-INFLAMMATION COOKBOOK and Williams-Sonoma Culinary Director, joined me at 9:30 AM PT

Amanda Haas

Did you miss Amanda on today's show?
Listen here!

Williams-Sonoma's Culinary Director
Author of The Anti-Inflammation Cookbook (2/2/16)
Founder One Family One Meal

Recent research reveals that inflammation has a negative impact on general wellness and can worsen many common health conditions, including migraines, diabetes, heart disease, weight gain, arthritis, and gastrointestinal disorders. The good news? Eating certain foods and avoiding others can be a highly effective way to diminish and manage inflammation. In The Anti-Inflammation Cookbook, professional cook and inflammation sufferer Amanda Haas joins forces with Dr. Bradly Jacobs to explain which foods are beneficial and why and to share 65 delicious, simple inflammation-busting recipes. Sometimes good food can be the best medicine


Biography
Amanda Haas is a cookbook author, professional recipe tester and developer, and the Culinary Director of Williams-Sonoma, Inc. Her passion for improving people's lives through food has culminated in two cookbooks. Her first, Cooking Light Real Family Food, focuses on cooking delicious, simple meals the entire family will love. Her second book, The Anti-Inflammation Cookbook: the Delicious Way to Reduce Inflammation and Stay Healthy (Chronicle, Feb. 2016), combines her pursuit of wellness through food with her desire to bring her family together around the table.

Since graduating from Tante Marie's Cooking School in 2001, Haas has contributed to over 2 dozen cookbooks, including Chef Todd English's Cooking in Everyday English; the James Beard Award-Winning book A16: Food + Wine; and SPQR. Haas continues to encourage families to cook at home through her blog One Family One Meal. She lives in the Bay Area with her husband and two sons.

About the Author
Amanda Haas is the culinary director for Williams-Sonoma. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Dr. Bradly Jacobs is an integrative medicine physician who is focused on helping people optimize their health, sense of well-being, and vitality. He lives and practices in the San Francisco Bay Area.