Real Talk

By Allison Beckert

REAL TALK

A COME FOLLOW ME PODCAST

This year’s study of the Old Testament opens up a lot of questions. While Come Follow Me: Old Testament 2022 squarely focuses on Christ and the restored gospel, the material can still be overwhelming, and full of nuance and questions that aren’t addressed directly in the manuals. Thankfully, the Real Talk podcast aims to share some knowledge and help members add to their study in a way that’s accessible, insightful, and uplifting.

Real Talk, produced by Seagull Book, is a short form podcast currently hosted by Ganel-Lyn Condie and John Fossum. The concept started with Sister Condie’s Instagram page and Seagull Book’s recognition for the need of the kind of discussion found on her page. Biblical podcast content is often packed and overwhelming, often approached with long episodes, expert guests, extra sources, and sometimes multiple long-form parts to each week’s study. These are wonderful things, but not always the best fit for listeners with families, busy schedules, and a wish for candid personal discussion on how the subjects touch their lives directly.

Amy Parker, who’s been working on Real Talk since its beginning, explained that “We have come to find that this is what our audience loves about Real Talk. It is short enough to listen to on the school drop off/pick up. Commutes. Doing a task at home.” The podcast’s personal and open-hearted touch has been a core feature and draw as well. “[We are] ensuring that we were having the conversations you wish you were having in Sunday School but are not. We want to keep it real with our viewers/listeners because we know everyone is struggling with something and we are not afraid to be vulnerable and to speak directly to those issues with a faith-promoting gospel lens.”

New episodes drop each week and several support Come Follow Me. Sister Condie brings a fearlessly intimate connection with the scriptures of the week’s block, and often mentions questions and conflicts unique to women and the marginalized. Brother Fossum’s insights and powerful testimony are also key to the power of each presentation. As a full-time seminary teacher, he approaches the material with a very “liken all scriptures unto us” (1 Nephi 19:23) angle that makes otherwise lofty tales and old-testament culture personally valuable.

Real Talk is an excellent fit for anyone pressed for time who wants a bit more to their Come Follow Me study than what’s provided in the manuals. It is a helpful resource for anyone who finds the Old Testament a bit daunting, or even a little impersonal.

Listen to Real Talk through all major podcast services, and look for new episodes released Sundays, covering the each week’s Come Follow Me lesson.

Photo by Seagull Book Hosts John Fossum and Ganel-Lyn Condie.

The Dragon Keeper

Book 1 of the Mystic’s Tale

By Cindy R Williams

“D ragons are real! But they live on the other side of the portal…mostly,” says Arizona author Lizzie Anne Love.

The heroine of the series, Loretta, finds she is not who she thought she was. She even has a new name, an Elvin name.

Love says, “Loretta accidently summons a mystic who brings her a dragon egg, which hatches and bonds with her. How can she hide a mythical creature from her family and friends, especially when she can’t tell anyone about him? Who would believe her since the Mystic enchanted dragon looked like the family dog that ran away months before?”

Love says there are “battles with evil Mystics, their minions, and host of otherworldly creatures who’ve come through the portal.”

The inspiration for the book came from a rock formation that juts from the forest floor near a spring in a camping and hiking area called Brown Creek, east of Show Low, Arizona.

Love says, “There is no rhyme or reason for it to be there. I examined the cracks

and fissures. Could they be a portal to another realm? From there, my imagination went wild.”

The first book in the new Mystic’s

Tales, The Dragon

Keeper is now available on Amazon. “There will be up to three more books in the series. Book two, The Dragon Warrior, is scheduled for an end of February to mid-March

Beehive BOOK REVIEW

release,” says Love.

Lizzie Anne Love is a pen name for Betsy Love. Love has twelve published books including several series. She also has at least seven more projects in various stages. “My next series written under Betsy Love will be my small town, cowboy Romance set in Texas, titled A SweetHart’s Café,” says Love. She also has a paranormal Young Adult series “floating in her brain” called Ginger Grayscale. The theme is of this series is “What if you woke up tomorrow with only what you thanked God for today?”

Love is offering a free copy of The Healer’s Art - Mail Order StarBrides Series, Book 1 when signing up for her newsletter at BetsyLove.com.

Readers can contact Love at AuthorBestyLove@gmail.com.