Rian Krieger's Journey Continues in "The Coachman"

10/21/23 • 27 min

Philadelphia, 1837. Twelve-year-old tomboy heroine Rian Krieger has successfully escorted "self-emancipated" slaves from Philadelphia to their next station on the Underground Railroad. When her father, Otto finds out, he renews his plans to send Rian off to a finishing school in Switzerland. This, however, Rian will not have--she would have to wear dresses all the time! For Rian, the Philadelphia of this time is one of industrialization and change. Increased prosperity and commerce lead factory owner Otto to make decisions that come back to haunt him. The Panic of 1837 has threatened the social and economic fabric of the city, and the Krieger business and home face foreclosure. When two visitors from Tsarist Russia present themselves at the factory, Rian believes their mission may save her father's business, and solve her own problems as well. The fantastic journey of Rian Krieger continues in "The Coachman," book two of the series from the pen of Roger A. Smith. He returns to the Sunbury Press Books Show to speak with host Lawrence Knorr about not only Rian's growth, but provides a historical background to the US in pre-Civil War days. Smith is a former high school history teacher who has had many careers: farmer, summer camp and wilderness expedition program operator, cofounder of a participatory science museum, and woodworker. With "The Conductor" and "The Coachman," Smith may with all justification add "author" to his resume. He lives on Cape Cod, Massachusetts; find out more about Roger here.

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"The Class Assignment is Murder" Author Carolyn Kleinman on the SPB Show!

A teacher's quest to investigate a horrific murder leads Hannah Stein and her students into an adventure and shadows of her past in "The Class Assignment is Murder." Author Carolyn Kleinman draws on her own life and experiences as a teacher to bring this, her second novel for Sunbury Press Books. Hannah discovers her move to Parkerville, a small town in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is not the idyllic place everyone says it is. She discovers that in 2005, a teenage boy named Matthew Baker murdered his family and raped his cousin. Fifteen years later, Matthew now says he is innocent. Hannah enlists the aid of three of her students to investigate the Baker case and dredges up a past that some do not want disturbed. For Hannah, the assignment brings up her own past, having witnessed her mother's murder at the age of five (but did not see her attacker's) face. Carolyn Kleinman grew up in the Twin Cities and earned Bachelor's and Master's degrees from the University of Minnesota. She has taught English and English as a Second Language, and is also the author of "Love, Faith and the Dented Bullet." She discusses with host Lawrence Knorr what drew her to create her own stories, and how drew upon true crime and incidents for her works. She lives with her husband Steven in Lancaster, PA.

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"Days of Reckoning" Author Ronald Waldo on the Sunbury Press Books Show

Author Ronald T. Waldo returns to the Sunbury Press Books Show with the latest in a series of detailed looks back at the "Deadball Era" of baseball, in Days of Reckoning: Players Punching Their Ticket Out of Pittsburgh During the Barney Dreyfuss Era. The book focuses on the Pittsburgh Pirates and the years 1900 to 1932, during the ownership of Barney Dreyfuss. A powerhouse of the National League in the early 20th century, the Bucs were home to numerous players who would go on to the Baseball Hall of Fame, or at least became household names. Players such as Rube Waddell, "Happy Jack" Chesbro, Honus Wagner, "Rabbit" Maranville, Dick Bartell and many more are recalled in Waldo's work. Despite Dreyfuss being one of the more generous owners, many players found their way out of Pittsburgh, often due to issues with their boss. Waldo also talks about the early structure of Major League Baseball, and how the upstart American League made its own way to prominence. Waldo's first book, Fred Clarke: A Biography of the Baseball Hall of Fame Player/Manager was published in 2010. He also the author of Deadball Trailblazers: Single-Season Records of the Modern Era, which was a Modern Era finalist for the Larry Ritter Book Award. That work is talked about in length on a previous episode of this program. Fans of baseball, history and especially the Pirates will most certainly enjoy Waldo's new book, available at Sunbury Press dot com.