An audio reading of a Chapter 5 excerpt from the upcoming novel Mantids by Ron Dakron. See more info at www.rondakron.com

This is a disturbing story. Jessica Queller talks about her biographical book Pretty Is What Changes, that chronicles her decision to have a prophylactic double mastectomy at a young age after discovering she has the breast/ovarian cancer gene mutation.

Harriet the Spy was controversial when it came out in the 60s, says Anita Silvey, author of 100 Best Books for Children, in part because Harriet was a very flawed character. Some critics hated the book, and some schools even banned it. Harriet saw too much, said too much. She even threw temper tantrums and had to visit a psychiatrist. But Silvey says that that's all part of Harriet's charm.

2008 marks the 400th anniversary of the birth of John Milton. Biographer Anna Beer talks about the times in which he lived, his attitude towards women and the power of Paradise Lost, his greatest creation.

Richard reads over 200 book titles a year! On that solid experience he and Hans make fun of everyone!

An excellent podcast with episodes full of advice for budding new writers of fantasy, horror and science fiction. Subscribe to it in iTunes and set your iPod to auto-sync and you can spend that bus or train ride every morning learning something useful to improve your writing!

A Study in Emerald draws listeners in through carefully revealed details as a consulting detective and his narrator friend solve the mystery of a murdered German noble. But with its subtle allusions and surprise ending, this mystery hints that the real fun in solving this case lies in imagining all the details that Gaiman doesn’t reveal, and challenges listeners to be detectives themselves.

Historian David McCullough, discusses the importance of reading and education. “They [books] become part of the furnishings of our lives, literally. And the quality of what we read, and particularly the quality of what our children and grandchildren read is of the utmost importance…We are what we're reading…” So, what are you reading?

In his new book, The Science of Leonardo, Fritjof Capra writes about Leonardo's investigations of the natural world and advances a new interpretation of the Renaissance man’s work. Capra claims that Leonardo applied the empirical method a century before Galileo, and thus better deserves the distinction of ‘father of science.” This is a very short but informative audio interview.

Now here’s a concept; children reviewing books for children. CNN, going with the idea that kids know what kids like, have chosen three of them to review eleven books. The audio slide shows let kids listen to the reviews.

The NPR revival of the "This I Believe" essay series includes some classics from the original series. This installment features classic science fiction author Robert A Heinlein. "I believe that this hairless embryo with the aching oversized braincase and the opposable thumb—this animal barely up from the apes—will endure ... longer than his home planet, will spread out to the other planets."

Really fun quiz, course they don't ask if you are a male or a female taking the quiz. I had to fill out another form to get the answer and thought I had better pass.

NPR's All Things Considered interviews Stephen Colbert about his new book (released today), I Am America (And So Can You!). "If animals are endangered, it's because God doesn't love them."

NPR Morning Edition had a charming discussion with Linda Sue Park, Ruth Ozeki and Arthur Levine about the newly-released Click, a novel written by ten authors. Each author gets a chapter and the result, rather than being a train wreck, is delightful.

Come Lykas from your desecrated corpse and give us what we desire then lead us to the goddess through the magic of Sappho's golden lyre.

I determined to marry Henry especially after witnessing his sexual prowess with my sister Mary. The only impediment was his wife Catherine, oh, well.

Too many people have been led to believe that wow stands for we have heard a radio signal from outer space and this is our response. Good sci-fi but if you want to play you have to know the rules.

They call it an audio sermon,(shudder) I admit I havnt downloaded it myself, but Im posting it here, Im sure a few will be interested.
Perhaps if threre was a debate involved I would have grabbed it in a heart beat.
This is a little familiar, let me know if its been covered, :))

Why the Booker longlist—short as it is—is creating a stir in the literary/publishing world.

Here’s one for Jakob and other science fiction (sci-fi?) aficionados. Vanderbilt physicist and science fiction writer Robert Scherrer talks about the rules of science in the science fiction genre. How predictive is science fiction? Do scientists have an edge in science fiction writing?