Jim Hirtle
135 episodes listed below
Author talks with room to breathe.
J Hirtle The Last Storyteller gives authors room to talk through the book and the road that made it possible. The conversations move from memoir and faith to fantasy structure, money lessons, humor, AI, and the ordinary persistence behind publication.
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J Hirtle The Last Storyteller is a long-form author-interview show centered on books, writing lives, and the uneven path to publication. It is not tidy literary criticism. It sounds closer to a careful conversation after someone has read the book, taken notes, and wants to know how the author got from first idea to finished work. The show gives memoirists and fiction writers similar room. One episode can linger on trauma, healing, faith, and the slow work of recovery. Another can shift into debt, business advice, and a fictional protagonist trying to understand money. Science fiction, dystopian thrillers, fantasy, satire, unfiction, and transmedia storytelling all sit within reach. The through-line is craft. The interviewer often turns a guest’s premise into a question about structure, point of view, pacing, publication, or what a reader needs to know before spoilers take over. That makes the show especially useful for people who like books as made objects, not just as plots. It notices chapter counts, prologues, cover design, dialogue tags, research habits, and the ways indie authors use tools such as AI without handing over the work. The tone is conversational and sometimes wandering. That is part of its shape. A memory of reading a book can become a question about storytelling itself, while a guest’s publishing schedule can open into a practical talk about discipline, drafts, and business instincts. The show also carries a faith-adjacent, morally attentive streak, especially when discussing suffering and recovery. It avoids treating hard stories as simple lessons. Episodes with authors such as Nancy Bonet, Aaron Ryan, Shannon Brown, and Gabrielle Marie Kozak show a range from practical nonfiction to ambitious genre writing. The best fit is a listener who enjoys authors explaining the machinery behind their books in plain language, with room for digressions and human context.
Made for: Best for readers, writers, indie-author watchers, and book-club-minded listeners who enjoy process as much as plot. It also suits people drawn to memoir, faith-adjacent reflection, genre fiction, and practical publishing talk.
What sets it apart: The show stands out by treating each author interview as both a book conversation and a craft conversation. It is less polished pitch than marked-up, curious table talk about why the story exists and how it was made.
Everyone has a story, they just need someone to tell it to.Season 9 is dedicated to Indie, first time, and veteran authors. They join me on The Last Storyteller podcast to discuss (and brag) about their books and talk about their journey to publication.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Author conversations make the practical and personal realities of independent publishing unusually visible.
J Hirtle The Last Storyteller turns author interviews into working conversations about how books are imagined, revised, and brought into print.
A guest reads drafts to his wife to catch mistakes; your own red pen can take a seat.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A faith-centered conversation about leaving a cult and the long work of healing.
An honest, faith-centered conversation about leaving a cult and naming what healing can require. It keeps the focus on the human scale of recovery, from body, soul, and spirit to the slow work of rebuilding after trauma.
Five published books and five more on pre-order frame a practical look at indie publishing rhythm.
Gabrielle Marie Kozak comes through as an indie author focused on motion and follow-through: five published books, five more on pre-order, and a plan to release monthly for a year.
A grounded author chat about humor, politics, and getting through tense times.
This episode follows an author talking through a deliberately funny book, how quickly it came together, and the harder job of making comedy land when the world feels tense.
A relaxed fantasy-author chat that turns writing, editing, and publishing into practical work.
This is a relaxed author conversation that keeps its feet on the ground. Michelle Nieder talks through how she builds her books, fits the work around a busy life, and keeps a long series moving with blueprints, chapter counts, editing, research, AI, and typesetting.
A speculative premise that turns into a study of parenthood, tenderness, and the work of shaping another life.
Patrick Cirillo's conversation keeps returning to a shy man, Laura the robot woman he is meant to guide, and the way that odd setup opens into parenting, moral example, and nurture.
A grounded talk about writing, continuity, and the discipline of editing yourself.
An unhurried conversation follows a writer who started young and never quite stopped, and the topic editor keeps circling one practical issue: how to move a story forward without breaking the thread.
Tough love for literature.
Books, art, and culture in deep context.
Oz fandom with feeling and footnotes.
The host opens the conversation around a book about leaving a cult and the life that follows.
This episode features an interview with Nancy Bonet, a CPA and author of 'Tame Your Money Monster,' discussing financial literacy through storytelling to help people overcome debt and money anxiety.
This episode features an interview with award-winning author Aaron Ryan discussing his latest novel Talisman Nexus and his storytelling journey.
The host reflects on discovering the difference between writing and storytelling through reading Hemingway's 'The Old Man and the Sea' as a child and introduces the concept of 'unfiction' as a new form of transmedia storytelling.
Author Shannon Brown discusses her memoir 'Because of Jane,' which explores her survival of domestic violence and childhood abuse through the literary device of personification centered on her childhood doll Jane.
Gabrielle Marie Kozak says she is launching a book every month, with five published books and five more on pre-order, while also planning to keep the pace going beyond the first year.
The show starts in a very familiar, very human place.
The conversation centers on a book the guest wanted to make funny and how quickly he wrote it.
He lays out a story about a shy man.
Bill joins W.D.
This episode features author Angela Jamison discussing her book about an unconventional topic, likely related to bodily functions or waste, on the Last Storyteller podcast.
This episode features an interview with author Stephen Joyce about his political thriller book 'Seeds of Vengeance', discussing his background and how the story reflects current world events.
This episode features an interview with author and wedding photographer Sara Rieth about her romance novel 'Photographing the Best Man' and her experiences in the wedding industry.
Author Lily Tesla discusses her two biographical books about surviving a 30-year domestic violence marriage and explaining her experiences to her children.
This episode features an interview with mystery writer Warren Haddock (real name Tim Johnson) discussing his books and personal background.