AUTHOR

C25-50. Kate King’s MEND OR MOVE ON

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Choose Positive Living with Sara Troy and her guest Kate King, on air from December 16th

Katie King, licensed professional counselor and author of MEND OR MOVE ON: A Guide to Healing or Leaving Toxic Relationships (January 13, 2026), helps people navigate the complexities of harmful relationships — from manipulative partners and domineering bosses to abusive parents and family dysfunction. She explores the controversial yet increasingly necessary decision to choose estrangement or no-contact with toxic family members, including parents, and why this step is often essential for emotional safety and long-term well-being. King clarifies what truly defines a toxic relationship versus one that has simply run its course, while outlining seven common traps that keep people stuck in damaging dynamics. She offers practical tools for breaking free from psychological and emotional harm, releasing guilt, and setting boundaries that can actually strengthen healthy connections. King also distinguishes interdependency from codependency, shares communication strategies to avoid triggering conflict, and emphasizes the role of curiosity, compassion, and everyday kindness in building relationships rooted in dignity and mutual respect. As she notes, no one should settle for a bond that diminishes their autonomy or wellbeing — because toxic is toxic, and everyone deserves to grow in healthy connection.

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Kate King, MA, LPC, ATR-BC, is a licensed professional counselor and board-certified art therapist with nearly twenty years of experience helping individuals heal their inner wounds so they can positively contribute to the evolving collective. Her work incorporates a dynamic synergy of brain and nervous system science, psychological teachings, spiritual practices, and art therapeutic creative expression to provide a unique and effective approach to healing and growth, personally and relationally. King is also a professional artist, podcast host,  creative entrepreneur, and multi-award-winning author. Her previous books include The Radiant Life Project (2023), a psychological self-help guide to cultivating a deeply healthy, empowered life, and The Authentic Mother (2014), a creativity-based companion book for new parents. She lives with her husband and two children in Morrison, Colorado.   

For more information, visit Johns Hopkins University Press   

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FIND KATES LAST SHOW WITH SARA HERE

 theradiantlifeproject.com. 

https://theradiantlifeproject.com/podcasts
https://www.facebook.com/TheRadiantLifeProject
https://www.instagram.com/theradiantlifeproject

https://www.youtube.com/channel
https://www.tiktok.com/@theradiantlifeproject

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AK25-48. Dr. Sheldon Greaves, The Guerrilla Scholar’s Handbook

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Dr. Sheldon Greaves, on air from December 2nd

The Guerrilla Scholar’s Handbook: A guide to the pursuit of learning for pleasure, empowerment, and changing the world. 

How to join the ranks of independent scholars, citizen scientists, recovering academics, makers, artists, activists, and other intellectual ne’er-do-wells pursuing a life of the mind—and changing the world.

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Sheldon Greaves completed a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley in ancient Near Eastern Studies on a shoestring while living and working in Silicon Valley during the dot.com boom. Facing a sparse academic job market after graduating, he developed an unconventional approach to a life of the mind, what he calls “guerrilla scholarship”. Among his adventures was starting an educational software business, promoting science literacy in the nonprofit sector, publishing in his field, and co-founding the first private university designed to offer degree programs to members of the intelligence community. “The Guerrilla Scholar’s Handbook” is about how regular people can enjoy a life of the mind outside of academia and enrich their communities along the way.

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Book page on Spines:

https://book.spines.com/books/the-guerrilla-scholars-handbook

https://www.facebook.com/sheldon.greaves

https://www.facebook.com/guerrillascholar

https://guerrillascholar.substack.com

https://bsky.app/profile/guerrillascholar.bsky.social

https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheldongreaves

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AK25-47. A Complete Fiction by R.L. Maizes

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

An Author’s Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest R.L. Maizes, on air from November 25th

 A Complete Fiction  Told in a humorous vein, R.L. examines the very serious questions of who has a right to tell a story, and has cancel-culture gone too far in our social media–drenched world?

With little evidence, would-be author P.J. Larkin serves a “nibble” on the trendy new social media app Crave, accusing editor George Dunn of stealing the novel she submitted to him for publication. The nibble shoots to the top of the site’s Popular Menu Items, and before you can say “unpaid literary labor,” George is embroiled in a scandal, his job and book deal in jeopardy. P.J. ‘s novel is snapped up amid the publicity, but has she revealed her sister Mia’s secrets in the book? Some diners on Crave think so, and now it’s P.J.’s turn to feel the public’s scorn.

Fiction can give us a breather from the relentless churn of the news, and A Complete Fiction does just that—offering a thoughtful look at serious issues while keeping readers laughing along the way. Its very creation carries a touch of irony: a book critiquing the intrusiveness of social media must still rely on those same platforms for promotion. The author explores what makes social media so objectionable to her, from its noise to its pressure, while also touching on the quieter indignities of the writing life—like receiving the dreaded “remaindered” letter for earlier books.

Why she had her husband block her social media accounts for her while she wrote the book

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R.L. Maizes’s debut novel, Other People’s Pets, won the 2021 Colorado Book Award in Fiction and was a Library Journal Best Debut of Summer/Fall 2020. She also is the author of the short story collection, We Love Anderson Cooper. Her short stories have aired on National Public Radio and can be found in Electric Literature’s Recommended Reading and in The Best Small Fictions 2020. Maizes’s essays have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, O Magazine, and McSweeney’s Internet Tendency, and have aired on NPR. She is a Virginia Center for the Creative Arts Fellow and the recipient of a Fellowship Grant from the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture for 2024–2025 for her novel-in-progress. Maizes was born in Queens, New York, and lives in Boulder County, Colorado, with her husband, Steve, and her muses: Rosie, a dog who spent her first year homeless in South Dakota and thinks Colorado is downright balmy, and the ghost of Arie the Cat.

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Www.rlmaizes.comes.com

https://www.facebook.com/rachel.maizes

https://www.instagram.com/r.l._maizes

https://bsky.app/profile/rlmaizes.bsky.social

https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17595826.R_L_Maizes

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AK25-47. Age of Consent by Mark Thompson

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Authors Kiss with Sara Troy and her guest Mark Thomson, on air from November 25th

Age of Consent is a daring, tender novel that challenges assumptions about romance, power, and the boundaries of first love—its risks, its sweetness, and its lingering imprint. Mark Thompson delivers a story that resists easy judgment and stays with you. As Sonia Pilcer notes, the book moves not through scandal but through humanity—where desire, conscience, and vulnerability collide.

M.J. Moore adds that this is no “Mrs. Robinson” trope but an unorthodox, mythic love story set in the experimental seventies, where kindred spirits meet beyond stereotype.

A provocative coming-of-age romance, Age of Consent follows fifteen-year-old Rusty Rasmussen and 24-year-old Carla Levy, whose bond over music and social justice evolves into a clandestine relationship once Rusty turns sixteen—the legal age of consent. Their connection raises enduring questions about responsibility, authenticity, and the rules we impose on love.

Reminiscent of One Day and Call Me By Your Name, Thompson offers a raw male perspective on taboo love and asks:
– Can infatuation grow into something real?
– Can such a relationship survive judgment?
– How do we recognize a first love that lasts?
– What role should age differences play—then or now?

Bold and emotionally honest, Age of Consent explores how love defies boundaries. “When love carries a power imbalance, we are playing with fire,” Thompson says. “That fire can destroy or illuminate.” Drawing from his own experience loving an older woman, he notes, “True romantic love can overcome any boundary or obstacle.”

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Mark Thompson is the author of two novels, Age of Consent and What Makes A Man Run. He is a triathlete who began competing in high school in the late 1970s while growing up in Connecticut. Formerly a competitor for Team USA Intermediate, Thompson has participated in more than 20 marathons and triathlons, winning age group awards in many.He also plays accordion with The Zydeco Hogs, a nationally-recognized band that brings the music of southwest Louisiana across the United States. He has performed with artists including the Grammy-nominated Basin Brothers and the late, legendary D.L. Menard.Thompson, 63, is retired after working for two decades as a physical therapist assistant. He graduated from Keene State University, studying business management. Born in Chicago, his family moved to Weston, CT, where he grew up. Thompson now lives in Mamaroneck, NY and Sag Harbor, NY with his wife, author Catherine Hiller.

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www.markthompsonauthor.net

https://www.facebook.com/mark.thompson.9828456

https://www.instagram.com/mark_thompson_runs

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All of our shows/interviews are done by donation; if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscribe and support. Thank you. Please support Our Forgotten Seniors anthology and help to bring this book to awareness.

BB25-46. Matt Rouse – Will AI Take My Job? 

Self Discovery Wisdom Podcast

Building Your Business with Sara Troy and her guest Matthew M. Rouse, on air from November 18th

When I started doing research for my own company, I found out that AI was going to potentially kill our business if we didn’t make changes soon… very soon! So we pivoted our business (so far so good) but also I found that no one in the business world was seeing what I was seeing, so I wrote the book, Will AI Take My Job?

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Matt is the host of the Digital Marketing Masters Podcast and author of eight books on topics important to small businesses and business owners. He is the co-founder of Hook DM and Hook DM Canada, SMB Autopilot.

Matt started out decades ago working for several Fortune 500 organizations, contracting in IT for marketing groups at companies like Intel, Nike, and Shaw Communications. After crowdfunding his first book, Crush SEO, he followed that up with several Amazon Category Bestsellers, including his first two AI-related books of the same name, “Will AI Take My Job?”.

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https://matthewrouse.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/mattmrouse

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All of our shows/interviews are done by donation, if you enjoyed this show, please support us here with either a one-time donation or subscribe and support, thank you. And please support Our Forgotten Children’s anthology and help to bring this book into production.