International journalist, filmmaker, and author Debra Denker brings us back to Afghanistan with the new edition of her debut novel Love and War in The Land of Cain, chronicling the hardships under the Soviet occupation of the 1980s through the eyes of a fictional character she calls Elizabeth. We discuss the lifelong friendships she made during her months in Afghanistan and the real concerns she has now for her friends who she is unable to contact directly. At that time her insightful story was published in National Geographic, but the rest of the world was looking away. Until now. Debra is the author of Sisters on The Bridge of Fire and 2019’s prophetic climate change novel, Weather Menders.
Santa Fe songwriter, musician and explorer Bird Thompson introduces his delightful memoir Nine Lifetimes in One (The Last 300 Years). Readers may initially think this is a book about reincarnation, but far from it. It perhaps belongs in a History niche as Bird reveals little-known facts about people many of us have admired. Bird (his real name and that of his father and grandfather) reflects on the lives of the nine famous people who have most influenced him throughout his life and helped to guide his own journey which he sets in the context of more than 50 years practicing Tibetan Buddhism beginning during his days at MIT. We’ll “meet” Ludwig van Beethoven, Chief Cornplanter and John Lennon among others as we listen and learn. birdthompson.net