Our first graphic novelist on the pod! Our first fellow podcaster on the pod! Our first fellow comedian on the pod! Our first fellow recovering youth group go-er on the pod!

This week’s guest is Jordan Morris! Jordan is a graphic novel writer and long-time comedy writer/podcaster. He is the host of the popular podcast Jordan Jesse Go, cohosted by NPR’s Jesse Thorn, as well as recurring cast member on Youtube’s premier daily talk show, Good Mythical Morning. Jordan’s newest graphic novel, Youth Group (First Second Books, 2024), dropped July 16. Illustrated by Bowen McCurdy, the graphic novel explores a group of Orange County evangelical youths who must team up with youth of other religions to exorcize demons!

Books recommended by Jordan Morris

Lunar New Year Love Story

Written by Gene Luen Yang, Illustrated by LeUyen Pham

Vampires in the Lemon Grove by Karen Russell

The Worst Ronin

Written by Maggie Tokuda-Hall, Illustrated by Faith Schaffer

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions?

Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please consider leaving us a review!

Rosanna Xia gives us perspective. A fresh and thoughtful conversation with the busiest Los Angeles Times' environmental reporter, Rosanna was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in 2020 for explanatory reporting. She wrote “California Against the Sea: Visions for Our Vanishing Coastline" (Heyday 2023), which won the 2023 California Independent Booksellers Alliance Golden Poppy Award for best nonfiction, the 2023 California Book Awards gold medal, and was recently selected by the Library of Congress as part of its 2024 “Great Reads from Great Places” program.

Books recommended by Rosanna Xia

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong

Beloved Beasts: Fighting for Life in an Age of Extinction by Michelle Nijhuis

Mill Town: Reckoning with What Remains by Kerri Arsenault

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

Did Julia or Jared win in trivia? Guess which co-host is better at retaining obscure knowledge… Find out on this episode! This week’s guest is Buzzy Cohen - the 9-time "Jeopardy!" winner. Buzzy later won the 2017 "Jeopardy!" Tournament of Champions. In 2021, Buzzy Cohen served as a guest host for Jeopardy’s Tournament of Champions. On this episode, Buzzy discusses his newest book full of trivia - Baby Got Facts: Totally 90s Trivia, released April 2024.

Books recommended by Buzzy Cohen

Brainiac: Adventures in the Curious, Competitive, Compulsive World of Trivia Buffs by Ken Jennings

A Swim in the Pond in the Rain by George Saunders

What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver

The Dharma Bums Guide to Western Literature by Dean Sluyter

Book recommended by Village Well Bookseller, Peggy

The Women by Kristin Hannah

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

We have the honor and privilege of talking with writer/author/poet/folklorist GennaRose Nethercott. Gennarose gives us the lowdown on all things magical realism and weird fiction. Her 2024 release, Fifty Beasts to Break Your Heart, is a collection of short stories that show the uncanny yet spooky nature of human affection. Gennarose wrote the 2022 fantasy release, Thistlefoot, declared one of NPRs best books of the year.

In this episode, we also talk to Village Well's owner, Jen Caspar, about the upcoming Village Well Expansion! Stay tuned to the end for the scoop!

Books recommended by Gennarose Nethercott:

The Black Lord by Colin Hinckley

The Book of Love by Kelly Link

Tender by Sofia Samatar

The Bloody Chamber by Angela Carter

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

⁠Village Well Books & Coffee⁠ is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!

We are joined by award-winning anthology editor and author and blogger Jared Shurin, editor of the new, massive, absolutely sleek and dope-looking cyberpunk anthology book The Big Book of Cyber Punk! He has edited or co-edited over 12 anthologies in his life, and has been a finalist for the Hugo and British Science Fiction awards, and founded and led the geek culture website Pornokitch for many years.

Books recommended by Jared Shurin:

The Immortal King Rao by Vauhini Vara

Sweet Harmony by Claire North

Desert Rain by Pat Murphy (unavailable)

Recommended by Art Nomura:

Mizuko: True Spirit by Art Nomura

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

⁠Village Well Books & Coffee⁠ is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!

Samara Bay is a downright truth-giver. She is the author of Permission to Speak: How to Change What Power Sounds Like, Starting With You (Penguin Random House, 2023). Samara coaches rising business leaders, political hopefuls, and public figures. In Hollywood, Samara worked as a speech and dialect coach on Wonder Woman 1984 with Gal Gadot, American Crime Story: Versace with Penelope Cruz and Edgar Ramirez, and Avengers: Infinity War. Her work has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, TIME, Fast Company, Glamour, Entrepreneur Magazine.

Books recommended by Samara Bay:

Cassandra Speaks: When Women Are the Storytellers, the Human Story Changes by Elizabeth Lesser

Women and Power: A Manifesto by Mary Beard

How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy by Jenny Odell

Recommended by VW bookseller/co-host, Julia:

How Much of These Hills Is Gold by C Pam Zhang

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

Village Well Books & Coffee is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!

Pearl AuYeung is the absolutely delightful author and illustrator of the 2022 children’s picture book The Best Kind of Mooncake (Page Street Kids). Based in Los Angeles, born in Hong Kong, and raised in Shanghai, China, Pearl works as a Mattel Toy Designer. She is the illustrator of the upcoming children’s picture book Nearly Almost Exactly Like Me (Simon and Schuster, 2025).

Books recommended by Pearl AuYeung:

Babel by R F Kuang

These Olive Trees by Aya Ghanameh

Recommended by VW bookseller, Akosa:

shima by sho yamagushiku

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com. If you love the show and want us to keep creating, please leave us a review!

Village Well Books & Coffee is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!

Brian Sonia-Wallace is a multifaceted author and poet raised in Culver City, California and Santiago, Chile. His memoir, The Poetry of Strangers (Harper Collins, 2020), details his experiences engaging with the world through poetry. Brian has contributed to notable publications like the Guardian, LitHub, and Rolling Stone. His latest publication is Maze Mouth (Moontide Press, 2023). Brian fosters LGBTQ+ voices through a poetry column for The Pride LA and teaches creative writing at UCLA Writers’ Extension and the nonprofit Get Lit—Words Ignite. Sonia-Wallace's impact on the literary community is further recognized by his role as the fourth poet laureate of West Hollywood.

Books recommended by Brian Sonia-Wallace:

A poem is a house by Linda Ravenswood

When I Grow Up I Want to Be a List of Further Possibilities by Chen Chen

Gay Bar: Why We Went Out by Jeremy Atherton Lin

Recommended by VW community member, Buzzy Cohen:

Tenth of December by George Saunders

SHELF TALKERS is a podcast from Village Well Books & Coffee in downtown Culver City, CA, where we interview authors on their books, writing process, and what they are themselves reading. A new episode is released every other Wednesday! Need to reach out or have questions? Feel free to email us at podcast@villagewell.com.

Village Well Books & Coffee is an independent book and coffee-shop in the heart of downtown Culver City. Come through, grab a drink, and read a book!