Life Slices

D.C. Fontana was perhaps best known for her work on a number of Star Trek TV series and subsequent novels. Lynn Barker has been a journalist and writer for a number of TV shows. The two friends teamed up to produce a novel of King Arthur’s return to a future  post-apocalyptic world to help defeat a despotic regime. D.C. didn’t live to see the completion of the tale but Lynn and audio book narrator Stacey Lind join host Steve Fisher to talk about the challenges of getting the book and it's audio version of Futurus Rex to fruition. On Lifeslices.

When her father died tragically in his early 50's, Laura Carney was devastated. Finding his bucket list, and taking it upon herself to complete it, gave her a new life.

When MacGyver ran on television, first for 7 years on ABC and then, rebooted, on CBS for 5, people of all ages and genders imagined what it would be like to be MacGyver. A new immersive stage experience, with songs, is giving those people a chance. MacGyver is not played by a professional performer, but by an audience volunteer. Series creator Lee David Zlotoff and composer/Lyricist talk about how they pull it off with some songs from the show. On Lifeslices.

It has the biggest growth of any sport in the last three years. It's not baseball or football or basketball. Not even tennis or golf. It's called Pickleball and despite the funny name, it's serious business. Roger BelAir has been teaching it on courts around the country. But it's in prisons where it might be having the greatest impact. 

The best characters in a movie or TV show are rarely the stars. It's often the character actors playing those idiosyncratic kooks or villains or comic best friends who steal the show. Podcaster Cullen Dixon focuses the spotlight on them in his new program What a Character!

As a follow up to our last episode about why we're not getting along, we offer two young politicians -- one a Democrat, the other Republican -- who have forged a partnership to get things done. And they're doing it. By starting with respect, friendship and a determination to find common ground.

Why cant' we agree on anything? Is it a recent phenomenon or have we been grappling with it since the dawn of humans? Law professor James Steiner-Dillon ponders those questions and more tackling why we're not Getting Along. On Lifeslices.

Imagine an atlas of roadmaps for aspects of life. It exists in the form of Septemics, a new philosophy to understand where you are in life and how to get to where you want to be. Jim Marshall spent 25 years developing it and joins Lifeslices to talk about his discovery.

When it comes to life in the universe, there's no question. Considering the vastness of space, there must be. The question is where and when will we find it ... and will it be sentient or basic one-cell creatures? Will it be friendly or hostile? Will they kill us or will we kill them? Okay, actually there are lots of questions. Dr. Amy Williams is one of those looking for answers.

What does it take to create a TV show? Writer René Balcer has done it several times on shows such as Law & Order: Criminal Intent and FBI: Most Wanted. He joins host Steve Fisher to share his expertise and experience.

No longer the thing of science fiction, thanks to CRISPR, genes can now be edited to remove disease and unwanted traits or to add more beneficial traits. But many of the advances are copyrighted by pharmaceutical companies that either charge millions for treatment or bury the code because of the lack of profit. Some scientists are trying to free up the biotech to democratize the technology. Health and science reporter Lana Schwartz tried it out and shares her knowledge on this episode of Lifeslices.

Mitchel Wu wasn't a big toy guy until he started shooting them. With a camera. Then, he created new meaning for the term "action figures."

People think doing voice-overs for advertising and TV shows is easy if you have a good voice. But there's much more to it than that. Jodi Gottlieb is a voice-over coach and helps actors to achieve what it takes for success.

Bobby Logan went from the mean streets of East L.A. to being a highly regarded comedy writer for some of the top names in show business. From there he took his talents to TV and the big screen and is now sharing his knowledge with the up and coming.

Happy Holidays from Lifeslices.

Fitness trainers are not hard to find. But you might have a hard time finding one like Canadian expert Mike Kelly. For one thing, he doesn't believe in "no pain, no gain." Hear what he does believe and it might just change the way you approach your training regimen.  

Brad Schmitz is a social worker, an adventurer and an entrepreneur. Seeking ways to help people and build a future, he travelled the world then settled in Alaska to create a travel adventure company that helps people learning to speak English.

Studies show that the number of people who belong to an organized religion is on the decline, but the number of people searching for a community of shared beliefs is on the rise. Anthony Pinn is a professor of humanities and religion at Rice University and a secular humanist himself, and joins Lifeslices to help sort it all out. 

Do you really know yourself? Explore your chakras with Jenna Davi to truly learn what makes you tick.

There are many recognizable names among the purveyors of science fiction. Andrew Gilsmith is not one of them. Yet. But with the release of his first novel, Our Lady of the Artilects, he proves his is a name to know.