I had the pleasure of appearing on Larry Davison’s final 2024 episode of his podcast, The Artful Periscope, which just dropped on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and other platforms this week. I was the first of Larry’s two interviews for his non-fiction-focused episode and was followed by best-selling author Daniel de VisΓ©, who talked about his latest book, The Blues...
Carla Conti
Carla Conti is a journalist and the award-winning author of Chained Birds: A Crimemoir. Her next true crime book, The Jacklighter, is set for release in 2026. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, who supports her true crime habit.
We are in the End Times. I am aware. Just because I don’t write, tweet, or engage socially about it doesn’t mean I don’t know or care. I’m just trying to preserve my mental health. To that end, I have submitted my request toΒ Lumon Industries to be severed like Mark, Helly, Irving, and Dylan, the courageous data mining employees...
I am ecstatic to report that Chained Birds has been short-listed for CIBA’s 2024 Nellie Bly Book Awards! So naturally, I’ve done a deep dive into all things Nellie Bly β¦ get ready for a primer. π Sponsored by the Chanticleer International Book Awards and Novel Competitions (CIBAs), this award recognizes emerging new talent and outstanding works in the...
Winnie Schrader, host of YouTube’s Mysteries, Mayhem and Merlot, was destined to become a true crime podcaster, even if she didn’t know it. Her show, which dives into all things true crime, is the product of a radio background, a love of journalism, a family podcasting mentorship, and a personal experience within the genre. She credits her early interest...
I’m not sure which is more exciting β getting a trio of book prizes for Chained Birds or my new gorgeous cover with a shiny fresh award sticker … do I have to choose? I’ll tackle my prizes first and say I have a lot of love for BestThrillers.com, Independent Book Review, and Literary Titan. I’ve been honored with...
Like with so many worthwhile things, it really did take a village to publish and promote Chained Birds. It feels more than appropriate, in this last blog post of the year, to reflect upon my 2024 publishing whirlwind and all the folks who helped bring Chained Birds into the world and shout it from the bleachers. It was exactly...
I had the pleasure of appearing on Larry Davison’s final 2024 episode of his podcast, The Artful Periscope, which was a bittersweet finale as Larry said goodbye to his longtime sound engineer Chris DeChristofaro. For five years, Larry, whose career spans decades in radio, TV, and other podcasts, has recorded The Artful Periscope in a library sound booth on...
In the spirit of Thanksgiving, I’m especially thankful and pleased to share a lovely, hometown interview I had with WriteNowPhilly.com, which posted on its website today. Drexel computer science major Tahsin Ahmed had the assignment of reading my debut, Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir, and his deep, introspective interview questions are still serving as a roadmap for my...
This was a big week for me in podcasting with three shows recorded, including a really fun, birdseye view talk with Joe Dimino on his YouTube podcast FAMOUS INTERVIEWS WITH JOE DIMINO. We covered a lot of ground outside my book Chained Birds and in particular, what inspired me to become a journalist in the first place. (The interview...
This is my second shout-out this week to Ed Opperman and my appearance on his talk radio show the OPPERMAN REPORT, which appeared on a handful of radio stations (KCAA AM/FM- WWPR AM- WWNN AM/FM- WHSP AM- KYAH AM) and now has episode links on Spotify and Patreon. Ed was kind enough to invite me on his show to...
It was my pleasure to call into an old-timey radio station and chat it up with the grandfather of true crime radio and podcasting Burl Barer on his show TRUE CRIME UNCENSORED WITH BURL BARER. And when I say old-timey, my instructions were to call in on a landline if I could manage it β sorry, Burl, I haven’t...
This week a friend shared a link to a Philadelphia Magazine story about the “Little Scandinavia” prison program in Chester … and boy, was that alert timely because I then got to mention the article and the program while appearing on THE OPPERMAN REPORT radio show with Ed Opperman. (I’ll link to that episode when it drops.) I’ve recorded...
Last week I talked with journalist and author Dan Zupansky for his TRUE MURDER podcast, and it was the longest, most in-depth interview to date on all things Chained Birds. Dan covered the entire book from start to finish and just released the almost 90-minute interview on all his platforms, includingΒ Apple PodcastsΒ andΒ Spotify. There was much I didn’t know about...
Today’s log in the promotional tour for Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir brings two firsts β a sit-down with an international journalist and a live YouTube recording. I enjoyed a 30-minute chat this morning with journalist Khudania Ajay for his daily live show KAJ Masterclass LIVE! Ajay, who’s had media roles with CNBC (India), Reuters, and PTI, brings...
I’m enjoying watching the marketing rollout this week for Chained Birds, including this 19-second Instagram reel created by Kapp Co Digital. My publisher, WildBlue Press, has just onboarded with the marketing firm, and my book is its first beneficiary. Candice Kapp, the firm’s founder and marketing specialist, has been delightful to work with and has embraced all the book’s...
Literary Titan has posted an author Q-A on their home page, which sheds light on the Lewisburg, PA, experimental prison program at the heart of Chained Birds and the safety issues I faced while writing it. Here’s a sample of the interview: What is one thing you found in your research that surprised you? I mentioned NPR and The...
Episode 214 of Jim Harold’s CRIME SCENE podcast dropped today, and I’m delighted to share it with true crime fans and potential readers of Chained Birds. Jim is an experienced, top-notch interviewer, and his probing questions centered on the prison abuses and corruption I reveal in the book, as well as the failings in our criminal justice system. CRIME...
It was a busy launch day at Chained Birds HQ in Philadelphia yesterday, and I’m grateful to all my well-wishersβvirtual and in-personβfor making my book launch so special π₯Ή Yesterday morning, my wonderful write-up from Independent Book Review went live on their site, and I’m happy to post theΒ review’s permanent link. IBR also named Chained Birds as one of...
I’ve been waiting for publication week to post (and boast) about my glowing Midwest Book Review write-up, which just went live on the review site’s Bookwatch page. MBR Senior Reviewer D. Donovan highlights the snowball at the book’s beginning, which was the nexus that led to my involvement in a federal prison case and eventually to my book Chained...
This supplement appears at the end ofΒ Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir in the print and eBook editions, but I am giving it a permanent place on my blog as a point of reference, especially for audiobook listeners.Β My sound engineer, who guided me through the audiobook narration process in the summer of 2024, said listeners would not want to...
This is a big week for Chained Birds book reviews as they go live on their respective websites ahead of Tuesday’s November 12, 2024 launch. And this 4-star review by Literary Titan is the first in-depth write-up of the book’s “courtroom drama” component. From the second paragraph: This memoir stands apart from the typical true crime genre. It isn’t...
In this final stretch before Chained Birds: A True Crime Memoir launches on Tuesday, I wish to thank a talented, generous group of fellow debut authors who formed an alliance and brought me into their fold. I’m speaking of the 2024Debuts. Long before I joined, some entrepreneurial authors with books coming out this year banded together and created a...
Who were we kidding? A woman of color to be the next U.S. President? No can do. That mountain of American racism and misogyny is just too steep. Pundits and others will debate and blame Trump’s assassination attempt, defecting Latinos, or lies about migrants eating cats that stuck and held. But it really just comes down to racism and...
Yeah. I’m gonna go there. I need to get this out of the way … In recognition of my wonderful BestThrillers.com book review going live on their website, I’m going to expand on one theme from its critique that no other reviewer has mentioned, and that is politics. But before I dive into that cesspool, I want to highlight...