Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
In this episode of Writer’s Voice, we explore the what’s going on with the current resurgence of psychedelics. My guest is Joe Dolce, whose new book, Modern Psychedelics: The Handbook for Mindful Exploration, dives deep into what these substances really do, why so many people are using them, and how science, politics, medicine, and culture are reshaping the conversation.
Dolce tells us why this is both an “exciting and confusing time” in psychedelic history—a time when reliable guidance is urgently needed in a moment of expanding access and misinformation.
“I thought it was a good opportunity… there’s still so much confusion and so much misinformation about what these are, how they work, why they work, who they don’t work for, who should take them, who shouldn’t take them.” — Joe Dolce
We talk about what psychedelics can help heal — from PTSD and addiction to depression and traumatic brain injury, why set and setting matter so deeply, how to micro dose psychedelics and how these substances can change not only individual consciousness, but maybe even how we relate to each other, to nature, and to the world we’re trying to save.
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Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
Francesca speaks with Jonathan Slaght about his remarkable book Tigers Between Empires: The Improbable Return of Great Cats to the Forests of Russia and China.
Slaght tells the story of the 35-year Siberian (Amur) Tiger Project, one of the longest-running wildlife studies in the world, and how science, persistence, and cross-border collaboration helped bring a species back from the edge of extinction.
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Key Words: Jonathan Slaght interview, Tigers Between Empires, Amur tiger conservation, Siberian Tiger Project, wildlife conservation Russia China, endangered species recovery, human–wildlife conflict
Writer’s Voice: compelling conversations with authors who challenge, inspire, and inform.
This week on Writer’s Voice, we look at two stories from history that illuminate the choices people face as they confront evil: collaborate or resist?
First, independent scholar Charles Dick joins us to discuss Unknown Enemy: The Hidden Nazi Force That Built the Third Reich — the first full account of Organisation Todt, the massive construction arm of the Nazi regime that operated across Europe with lethal brutality. His book reveals how ordinary engineers and builders became central participants in enslavement and murder — and how much of this history remained hidden for decades.
“If you’re told… your prisoners are subhuman, you’re more likely to work them to death.” — Charles Dick
“If she believed in something, she was unbending — and always willing to pay the price of her convictions.” — Carla Kaplan
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Key Words: Unknown Enemy Charles Dick, Fritz Todt, Holocaust studies, Jessica Mitford biography, Troublemaker Carla Kaplan, The American Way of Death, muckraking journalism, civil rights history, Freedom Rides, Mitford sisters,Francesca Rheannon interview,
Drawing on interviews, archival materials, and Butler’s own journals, Morris shows how Butler’s discipline, political analysis, and upbringing shaped some of the most influential speculative fiction of our time.
“Now there is such a plethora of Black folk… writing science fiction and fantasy. It’s really exciting. And we have Octavia to thank for it.” — Susana Morris
The conversation covers Butler’s formative years; her neurodivergence and self-diagnosed dyslexia; her relationship with her mother; the creation of Kindred; and her prophetic insights into climate collapse, fascism, hierarchy, and the contradictions of American democracy.
Then, we air a clip from our 2012 interview with the late, great science fiction master, Ursula K. Le Guin.
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Key Words: Octavia Butler biography, Octavia Butler interview, Positive Obsession Susana Morris, Parable of the Sower prophecy, Black women writers, Afrofuturism, science fiction history, Black feminist literature, Francesca Rheannon interview,
