por Tanya Sedneva
In this episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva talks with Will Whitney, General Manager of the Billy Jones Wildcat Railroad. From the story of Billy Jones himself to the volunteers, locomotives, and behind-the-scenes work that keep the railroad running, this conversation explores why a small train in Los Gatos continues to delight generations of families. A conversation about community, craftsmanship, nostalgia, and the magic of places that bring people together.
In this episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva talks with investor, TEDx speaker, and community builder Marina Davidova about loneliness, trust, women’s communities, book clubs, social media, and the strange paradox of modern life: we are constantly connected, yet often feel deeply disconnected from each other.
In this episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva talks with writer and educator Nicole Marie, author of the YA sci-fi series After Intelligence. A conversation about AI, sci-fi, creativity, teenagers growing up in a tech-filled world, and the complicated questions around technology, ethics, originality, and what it means to stay human while the world changes so quickly.
In this episode we talked about: why reading still matters how books help you slow down and focus how reading shapes the way we think and feel
In this episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva talks with author Millie Abecassis about writing, publishing, and everything in between. From how stories begin to what it really takes to get a book into the world, this conversation offers a real look at the life behind the pages.
In this first episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva shares how a failed teenage attempt to become a radio DJ somehow led her back to the mic years later — this time as the owner of an independent bookstore. What starts as a personal story quickly turns into a glimpse of what really happens inside a small bookstore. It’s not quiet or predictable — it’s full of people, moments, and stories you don’t expect. From an impromptu SAT test at the counter, to a homecoming proposal between the shelves, to a letter that arrived from prison — this episode is about the life of a bookstore, and the people who make it what it is.
In this episode, I talk with sci-fi author Tina Chan about writing, space, and imagination. We explore how working close to science influences storytelling, what draws her to sci-fi, and how her characters navigate worlds shaped by change.
In this episode of Booked In with Beyond Text, Tanya Sedneva is joined by Alison Carpenter Davis, author of Letters Home from Stanford: 125 Years of Correspondence Collected from Students of Stanford University. Together, they explore why letters — even in a world of instant messages — still feel so powerful. Through real excerpts from over a century of correspondence, this conversation brings the past unexpectedly close. A student writing home after hearing about the assassination of John F. Kennedy. A young woman describing an earthquake, convinced it might be the end of the world. And lighter, almost timeless moments — like a student asking their mother not to embarrass them in public. Funny, intimate, and deeply human, these letters reveal something simple: we haven’t changed as much as we think.