A.C. Fuller

On episode 29 of the show, I spoke with novelist, poet, and cookbook author Paula Marie Coomer. We discussed:

• how she reluctantly became a cookbook author
• the process of putting together a cookbook
• how food photographs can trick us
• the rise of gluten free options and why all her baked recipes are gluten free
• her Day at the Beach Cocktail or, as I dubbed it, The Enlightened Margarita (recipe is here, scroll down)
• her new book BLUE MOON VEGAN.

For lots of free recipes, check out Paula’s site.

Plus, on Today in Writing: the birthday of James Ellroy.

About our Guest:

Paula Marie Coomer is an artist, poet, novelist, essayist, cookbook author, and a writer of innovative short stories. The daughter of many generations of Kentucky mountain people, she lived most of her childhood in the industrial Ohio River town of New Albany, Indiana, dreaming of New York City and the glamour of the creative—art, literature, the theatre. A vision gleaned from the pages of magazines and catalogs. It took 20 more years, several treks across the continent, a family, and a career in nursing before stories and poems began making their way to the page. Coomer’s work has appeared in many journals, anthologies, and publications, most recently Perceptions, Spilt Infinitive, and forthcoming in the anthology, Teaching as a Human Experience, to be released by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Additionally, she is the author of six books including Blue Moon Vegan, Blue Moon Vegetarian, Dove Creek, and Nurses Who Love English. A new novel, Jagged Edge of the Sky, is scheduled for a 2015 release from Booktrope. An early 2016 release is planned for Blue Moon Medicine Woman, a collection of meditative essays on the healing nature of various herbs, plants, and spices. Coomer lives with her husband, Phil, near the mouth of Hell’s Canyon in southeast Washington State, where she teaches writing and organizes writing retreats and workshops, and is at work on a third novel.

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