Randy and I attended Graceland University, acted in plays together, and eventually both of us got theatre degrees. We haven’t seen each other in many years, but we keep in touch via social media. I was excited to talk with Randy since he’s a fellow writer. This is part two of a long conversation about our passion for stories.
Randy Murray was born in rural Southern Illinois, the 5th generation on the family farm. He attended Graceland College (now university) in Lamoni, Iowa, where he received a BA in Theatre and Speech Communications, followed by a Masters of Fine Arts in Playwrighting at the Southern Illinois University at Carbondale.
After college he began work in the early high tech industry as a training developer and instructor, followed by roles leading marketing departments and product management, and ultimately, business management. He capped his career as a business writing and communications consultant for large businesses and marketing agencies.
His play, Grimaldi: King of the Clowns, was performed after his graduation in the SIU main stage season in 1986 as well as preformed for the American College Theatre Festival. It has subsequently been preformed at Howard Payne University and at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.
His book, Writing Assignments, is available on Amazon.com.
He remains active as a writer and playwright and is an avid ukulele player and performer. He lives in Westerville, Ohio, outside of Columbus, with his wife, Diane. His two adult daughters, one a musician, the other a painter, both have careers in the arts.
Plays, myths and stories discussed in part 2
Birthright a novel in progress by Randy Murray
The Space Between Time by Lucinda Sage-Midgorden (Title not mentioned in recording.)
Grimm’s Fairytales (in original form)
Myth of Prometheus
Myth of Sisyphus
The Myth of Sisyphus by Albert Camus
The Plague by Albert Camus
The work of James Thurber at The New Yorker
John McNulty at The New Yorker
The Fringe Festival in Edinburgh, Scotland
This Place on Third Avenue by John McNulty
The Mists of Avalon and The Forest House by Marion Zimmer Bradley
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Truman Capote
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, American Gods, and Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman
Orpheus and Eurydice on which the Broadway Musical Hadestown Anaïs Mitchell is based
The Brothers Grimm Fairytales, Demon Voices, and His Dark Materials series by Philip Pullman
The Story Telling Animal: How Stories Make Us Human by Jonathan Gotshall
Shogun by James Clavell
The Master and Commander series (The Age of Fighting Sails) by Patrick O’Brian
Jane Austen’s body of work
His Majesty’s Dragon, The Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik
Poldark series by Winston Graham
Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell
Roots by Alex Haley
The Autobiography of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
Aaron Mahnke podcast, “Lore”
Lucinda is the author of The Space Between Time, an award finalist in the “Fiction: Fantasy” category of the 2017 Best Book Awards.
Have you ever experienced life shattering events? Yeah, most of us have. In The Space Between Time, Jenna Holden gets slammed by her fiancé walking out, her mother’s untimely death, and losing her job all in one week. But she receives unexpected help when she finds her three-times great-grandmother’s journals and begins the adventure of a lifetime.
The Space Between Time is available in all ebook formats at Smashwords and for Kindle at Amazon, or you can find the ebook at iBooks or Barnes and Noble. If you prefer a physical copy, you can find a print-on-demand version at Amazon. Stay tuned for news when the audiobook version is published.
Sage Woman Chronicles 