Spirit Talk Show - Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups

He spent four years at the Air Force Academy. Twenty years flying fighter aircraft. Fifteen years at NORAD, the command responsible for watching the skies over all of North America. Thirty-nine years of vigilance, discipline, and mission. And when the uniform finally came off, the silence was deafening.

So Terrence Rotering sat down and wrote 5,000 pages in two years.

Eleven books. A trilogy of trilogies plus two. An epic saga called The Chronicles of Trinith that braids together fantasy, science fiction, and spiritual warfare into a single unified world — one that keeps expanding with every bo...

In this extended episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with award-winning author Gerald Everett Jones for a wide-ranging conversation about writing, publishing, Hollywood, history, and what success really means for a working storyteller.

Gerald reflects on his journey from nonfiction and technical writing to fiction, screenwriting, and historical novels, sharing hard-won insight into the realities of traditional publishing, self-publishing, book promotion, and the often painful gap between creating a story and watching the industry reshape it.

The conversation also explores Gerald’s upcoming novel Jonathan’s Journal, a work of historical fiction inspired by a...

He was in the pub with Rowan Atkinson when John Cleese called. He watched Rick Mayal and Adrian Edmondson do their very first television appearance. He stood at the back of an empty auditorium the night Stefan Grappelli made a seasoned guitarist stop mid-conversation just to watch. He was there for so much of it — the golden age of British comedy, the writers' rooms, the charity stages, the moments that became television history.

And then, decades later, he sat down alone one night to play a role-playing game with twenty-four strangers across the world. And thought: what wo...

Every season begins with a spark.

For the Season 7 premiere of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes a guest who feels perfectly at home in the world of imagination, storytelling, and the power of the human voice.

Scott Miller, host of the acclaimed Lost Sci-Fi Podcast, joins the show for a lively and unforgettable conversation about vintage science fiction, the golden age of radio storytelling, and the magic of bringing written stories to life through voice and performance.

Scott has spent years narrating classic science fiction stories from the public...

After we aired our Season 6 tribute to Evelyn Dorothy Parker, something stayed with me. Not just her story, but the voices of the people she made.

This bonus companion episode is something I have never done before on this show. What you are about to hear is the memorial gathering held for Evelyn by the people who loved her — her sons, her colleagues from the Krasnow Lab at Stanford, the young researchers she took into her home, the daughter-in-law she welcomed in a moment of grief with nothing but warmth, and a son she gave up at bi...

As Season 6 of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups comes to a close, we pause—not with noise, but with reflection.

In this special tribute episode, Doyle sits down with his friend Russ to honor the life of Russ’s mother, Evelyn Dorothy Parker—a remarkable woman whose story quietly spans immigration, science, motherhood, and a lifetime of perseverance.

Born in 1937 to a family who fled Nazi Germany, Evelyn’s life began in upheaval but unfolded with extraordinary purpose. She grew up on a dairy ranch in Northern California and quickly revealed a rare brillian...

What if the greatest threat to humanity isn’t scarcity — but excess?

In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes speculative fiction author Diana Colleen for a fascinating conversation about wealth, power, climate change, and the human psychology behind extreme accumulation.

Diana shares the deeply personal journey that led her to write her bold new novel — including how psychedelic-assisted therapy helped her through a suicidal period and ultimately inspired the story she felt called to tell. The result is a provocative work of speculative fiction that asks a daring questi...

What does it look like when a man stands in a thunderstorm, dares lightning to strike him, and discovers his entire purpose instead?

Steve Gamlin -- keynote speaker, stand-up comedian, vision board coach, and self-described "beach bum philanthropist" -- has built a life out of beautiful wreckage. A ten-year radio career that imploded. A divorce. Tens of thousands of dollars in debt at 35. And then, one afternoon on a golf course in the middle of a thunderstorm, something shifted.

That moment launched everything: a speaking career, seven years of stand-up comedy, the Vision Board Mastery...

What happens to the families left behind after the headlines fade?

In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with novelist and therapist Debbie Show, author of Paper Roses, and audiobook narrator Laurieann Hart for an intimate conversation about sibling abuse, narcissistic family systems, generational trauma, and the long shadow of public scandal.

Debbie’s sister’s crimes became national spectacle — even featured on television — but Paper Roses refuses sensationalism. Instead, it explores the deeper questions: How does trauma move through generations? How does betrayal reshape identity? And how do y...

There are people you meet in life who remind you that you are more than the story you have been telling about yourself. Wil Fisher is one of those people.

This week on Spirit Talk Show, Doyle gets deeply personal. He opens by sharing something that happened to him at a retreat he nearly did not attend, a weekend where he cried not once but three times, not from sadness, but from something rarer and harder to name: recognition. The relief of finally being seen.

The man responsible for creating that room is Wil Fisher...

This is a special episode of Spirit Talk Show.

In one of the most personal and emotionally revealing conversations of the season, Doyle sits down with Eldra DeBarge Jr. for a powerful conversation about family legacy, music, fatherhood, pain, purpose, and the courage it takes to become yourself when the world thinks it already knows who you are.

As the son of a legendary musical bloodline, Eldra has lived with the weight of expectation, comparison, and assumption for most of his life. But this conversation goes far deeper than fame. With honesty, vulnerability, and remarkable...

In this powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with Josh Tomeoni for an honest, deeply personal conversation about masculinity, divorce, identity collapse, addiction, failure, and the long road back to yourself.

Josh opens up about the moment his life cracked open—when shame, loss, and the collapse of the life he thought he had forced him to confront who he really was underneath the roles of husband, father, provider, and “good man.” What follows is a raw and thoughtful exploration of what happens when the white-picket-fence dream falls apart and a man has to decide...

What happens when the person behind the camera becomes part of the story?

In this episode of Spirit Talk Show, Doyle sits down with novelist and crisis communications expert John David, author of the award-winning thriller The Bystander.

Inspired by a real-life active shooter intervention, the novel follows TV reporter Pete LeMaster, who captures the moment a bystander stops a shooter. The footage goes viral — and his career changes overnight. But as John says, “all is not as it seems.”

spirit-talk-show-studio_john-da…

With more than 30 years in public relations and crisis communic...

There is a quiet memory many of us carry — even if we don’t have language for it.

A sense that life was once gentler.
That cooperation came before competition.
That learning once meant becoming more human, not more efficient.

In this reflective episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with psychotherapist, yoga philosophy teacher, and author Catya Batalha to explore what it means to remember who we were before the world told us who to be.

Drawing from her book Echoes of the Timeless, Catya shar...

What happens when someone decides to stop waiting for life and start sailing directly into it?

In this adventurous and reflective episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle welcomes sailor, author, and podcaster Paul Trammell, a man who quite literally followed the wind to a new life.

Paul lives aboard his sailboat in the Caribbean waters of Panama, writing novels, recording podcasts, surfing, and spearfishing for his dinner. But the journey that led him there wasn’t just across oceans — it was a personal transformation that began with sobriety, courage, and a...

What if happiness isn’t something we force or choose on command, but something that slowly emerges as we come to understand ourselves more deeply?

In this thoughtful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Australian author and philosopher Adam Brownlie to explore happiness through the lenses of neuroscience, philosophy, and lived experience.

Drawing from his book Happypedia, Adam shares a science-informed perspective on how our brains shape emotions, decisions, and behavior. Together, Doyle and Adam explore forgiveness not as excusing the past, but as a way of easing em...

Some stories take a lifetime to find their voice.

In this engaging and heartfelt episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with author Jean Burgess for a conversation that spans decades of storytelling—from childhood performances in the living room to a late-in-life journey into fiction writing.

With over 40 years in theater as a performer, director, and educator, Jean brings a rich and deeply human perspective to storytelling. Her work blends personal experience with imagination, creating what she calls “retro fiction”—stories set in the 1970s and 80s that explore identity...

What if confidence isn’t something you earn—but something you remember?

In this inspiring, funny, and deeply affirming episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Simone Knego—international speaker, two-time TEDx presenter, bestselling author, podcast host, and the voice behind The Extraordinary Unordinary You and the upcoming book Real Confidence.

Simone’s story doesn’t begin on a stage. It begins at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro—far from home, far outside her comfort zone, and face-to-face with a question many of us carry quietly for years: Am I enough...

History tells us who mattered.
Stories tell us who lived.

In this sweeping and deeply illuminating episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Cinda Gault, an acclaimed novelist whose work resurrects the lives of women history barely paused to record—women who crossed oceans, paddled into wilderness, defied expectation, and claimed meaning on their own terms.

Cinda is the author of Everything I Hope For, A Small Compass, and This Godforsaken Place—historical novels set across the Orkney Islands, Quebec, the Canadian frontier, and Toronto in the 1970s. H...

Some people search for miracles.
Others trip over them daily—and laugh while doing it.

In this joyful, funny, and deeply thoughtful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie sit down with Kirsten Rudberg—author, screenwriter, podcaster, spiritual explorer, and self-described panentheist who believes the divine is not somewhere else, but everywhere, all at once, including squirrels, spilled coffee, and awkward public moments.

Kirsten grew up across continents—from Guyana to Pakistan—immersed in a childhood where cultures, languages, and faiths coexisted naturally. That global upbringing shaped a worldvie...

Some people don’t speak loudly.
They speak deeply.

In this reflective and quietly powerful episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome Joseph Bolton—a former Army officer, folklorist, and creator of the richly imagined Old Grandmother’s Tree series, a body of work rooted in ancestry, myth, and the enduring wisdom of story.

Joseph spent 25 years in the U.S. Army, including time at West Point and a deployment to Afghanistan—experiences that shaped his understanding of mortality, meaning, and what it truly means to live with int...

What if dyslexia isn’t a learning disability — but a differently wired brain that’s been taught the wrong way?

In this powerful and thought-provoking episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Russell Van Brocklin — known as “The Dyslexic Professor” — whose journey from a first-grade reading level to law school sparked a mission to transform how we teach reading and writing.

After being failed despite excelling in a New York State Assembly internship, Russell refused to accept the limits placed on him. What followed was groundbreaking dyslexia research, a state-funded i...

Why do so many books disappear—while a few quietly change lives?

In this candid and thought-provoking episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie sit down with Doug Crowe, founder of Author Your Brand and a strategist who has helped hundreds of leaders become bestselling authors—often without writing a single word themselves.

Doug isn’t interested in vanity metrics, viral hype, or chasing attention. He’s interested in what lasts.

Together, they explore the uncomfortable truths most authors avoid:

Why nobody actually wants a book—and...

What does it mean to leave something behind that truly lasts?

In this deeply uplifting episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle and producer Howie welcome author, speaker, and podcaster Dom Brightmon, a self-described Positive Thought Catalyst whose life’s work centers on one powerful idea: advance others so they can advance themselves.

From becoming the youngest Area Director in Toastmasters at just 23, to writing bestselling books like Going North and Stay the Course, to hosting over 1,000 conversations with authors and leaders on the Going North Podcast, Dom’s journey is a mast...

What if success as a writer isn’t measured in bestseller lists—but in persistence, purpose, and showing up anyway?

In this deeply grounding episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle is joined by Terry Whalin—editor, author, acquisitions professional, and publishing mentor whose decades-long career has helped thousands of writers navigate the often confusing, myth-filled world of publishing.

With more than 60 books written, contributions to over 50 magazines, and years spent on both sides of the editorial desk, Terry brings rare clarity to questions writers quietly struggle with:
Why isn’t my book...

Some stories entertain.
Others quietly keep us alive.

In this powerful and deeply human episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle is joined by Richard Spiegel, a prolific fantasy and dark speculative fiction author whose work lives at the intersection of imagination, trauma, love, and resilience.

Richard is the author of five published novels—with many more already written—and the creator of expansive story worlds including the Wolves and Ravens trilogy and the ongoing Eternal Nights saga. His writing blends fantasy, paranormal elements, romance, and psychological realism, not as escape, but...

What happens when you stop chasing spectacle—and start chasing truth?

In this richly layered episode of Spirit Talk Show: Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups, Doyle sits down with Sacramento filmmaker, actor, musician, and creative instigator Sean Kilcoyne for an evening that drifts effortlessly between laughter, philosophy, memory, and imagination.

Sean is the kind of storyteller who builds entire worlds from small rooms: public-access studios, festival-bound short films, late-night scripts, and borrowed light. From Chowder Heart and Family to Regional Treasures: Digging for Freedom, his work reminds us that storytelling doesn’t need million-dollar budgets—just heart...

Dantro and Pat risk everything as they slip into Marston’s palace through a hidden tunnel, searching desperately for Billy and Jane before it’s too late. Deep behind enemy lines, every step brings new danger. Meanwhile, across the galaxy, the League of Planets prepares for open war against Marston, setting the stage for a conflict that could determine the fate of multiple worlds. Tension rises on all fronts in this suspenseful chapter of The Planet Man.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
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In this moving episode of Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups, Doyle sits down with writer, paraglider pilot, and rare cancer survivor Jonathan Hutton, author of Unflappable: Soaring Beyond Diagnosis.

Jonathan’s journey begins with an unassuming runny nose that turned out to be a rare, incurable head and neck cancer. What followed was a 16-year odyssey through surgeries, treatments, loss, and rediscovery. Yet, amid the pain and rebuilding, Jonathan found new meaning—in the air. As a paraglider, he learned to trust the invisible, to find lift where others saw only gravity, and to write...

The war escalates beyond Earth as Dantro takes the fight into space itself. With Martian forces pressing their advantage, the Planet Man and his allies engage in a high-stakes confrontation among the stars. As ships collide and strategies are tested, courage and ingenuity become Earth’s last defense. Victory is uncertain, danger is everywhere, and the future of two worlds hangs in the balance in this pulse-pounding chapter of The Planet Man.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
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Author, adventurer, and lifelong dreamer Alison Gieschen—known as the nautical novelist—shares her remarkable story of courage, creativity, and reinvention.

After three decades running an equestrian program, Alison and her husband sold everything to pursue a dream many only imagine: circumnavigating the globe on a 43-foot sailboat. Their voyage has taken them through 46 countries, across the Panama Canal, and into the heart of what it means to live freely and fully.

From terrifying storms and miraculous rescues to the quiet awe of Polynesian sunsets and island friendships, Alison transforms every experience into art. Her work...

The threat becomes reality. As Mars launches its long-anticipated assault, Earth faces destruction from the skies and beyond. With defenses failing and panic spreading, Dantro races against time to counter Marston’s plan and protect the planet he has sworn to defend. Loyalties are tested, sacrifices loom, and the true cost of interplanetary war comes into focus as The Planet Man pushes the story into full-scale conflict.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
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We launch the new year with a guest whose life reads like a classified dossier—and whose message may define the decade ahead.

Michael D. Selig, former Marine Corps aviator turned bestselling author of Hush, steps into the Spirit Talk Show studio to reveal what he believes is humanity’s most important, most suppressed truth: we are not alone, we have never been alone, and the world is racing toward an event that will change everything.

Selig’s novel may be fiction, but the research behind it—military recoveries, multidimensional beings, covert programs...

This is not just the start of a new season — it’s one of our longest, most powerful, and most beloved episodes yet. We are honored to launch Season 6 of Spirit Talk Show with a true icon: Shelita Taylor, the Queen of the Treasure Coast. A dazzling drag performer, activist, and storyteller, Shelita’s journey from small-town Florida to the heart of Sacramento is as riveting as it is inspiring.

In this special season opener, Shelita opens up about:

Her early awakenings and the “second coming out” of becoming a drag artist

Building community...

In this thrilling installment of The Planet Man, the stakes skyrocket as Dantro and Pat find themselves prisoners of Marston, the ruthless ruler of Mars. With Earth’s fate hanging in the balance, the intrepid Planet Man must confront betrayal and danger head-on—especially when Slats appears to switch sides. As alliances shift and peril mounts, the battle to defend Earth and resist Martian domination begins in earnest.

Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown-Ups
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In the chilling and unforgettable Spirit Talk Show Season 5 finale, Doyle welcomes bestselling thriller and horror author Scott Wells, whose breakout novel Marked by Ouija has captivated readers around the world. Wells—an award-winning screenwriter, immersive event architect, and survivor of his own real-life haunting—joins Doyle for a deeply personal and eerie conversation that blurs the line between truth and fiction.

Together, they unpack the terrifying true story that inspired Marked by Ouija: a teenage night gone wrong, a mysterious death, and a warning from beyond that still echoes 38 years later. Scott opens up a...

Special Engagement by Spirit Talk Show

With the crew of Earth’s first Moon rocket now safely aboard Dantro’s interstellar craft, the journey to Planeria Rex—capital of all planets—begins in earnest. The humans, still stunned from their near-fatal lunar mission, discover that their rescue is only the beginning of a much larger destiny.

But the voyage is suddenly interrupted.

A vast swarm of meteors erupts across their course, hammering the ship with deadly precision. Dantro realizes instantly that this is no natural occurrence. A force is targeting them. A warning. Or a tra...

For this Christmas Eve episode of Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grown Ups, Doyle welcomes the radiant and inspiring Steve Gallegos — a man whose life reads like a movie, and whose message will stir your soul.

Known as America’s Ambassador of Success, Steve’s journey spans from a childhood in Chile to the United States Marine Corps, the courtroom, the stage, and beyond. He’s been a police officer, trial lawyer, singer-songwriter, entrepreneur, and TEDx speaker — but his true calling is helping others reclaim authorship of their lives.

In this heartfelt, laughter-filled, and deeply movin...

Special Presentation by Spirit Talk Show

Earth’s first rocket ship hurtles through space on its historic voyage to the Moon — until catastrophe strikes. Systems fail. Trajectory falters. And the crew faces the terrifying truth that their mission, and their lives, may never return home.

At the final moment, a mysterious ship appears. Onboard is Dantro — The Planet Man, a guardian of interplanetary peace who intervenes just as the doomed lunar craft spirals toward destruction. His daring rescue sparks an alliance that will carry Earth’s explorers far beyond the Moon and into the unfolding wonders...

In this deeply moving episode of Spirit Talk Show – Bedtime Stories for Grownups, Doyle sits down with Ann Russo, founder of AMR Therapy, feminist therapist, educator, and visionary leader in inclusive mental health care.

From her early curiosity about faith and identity to the creation of the groundbreaking Religious Trauma Treatment Model (RTTM), Ann shares a journey rooted in empathy, courage, and radical honesty. Together, they explore the intersections of spirituality, queerness, and healing—how communities of faith can both wound and restore, and what it truly means to reclaim authorship over your own story.

Ann...