Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers hosted by Mark Stevens

We’ve got writer and editor Anita Mumm on the podcast this time for a sneak peek of her free October workshop—A Feast for the Senses, Writing Fiction Readers Can Taste. That workshop is Oct. 12, Saturday afternoon from 2 to 4 p.m. in Denver. Anita says the workshop is geared to help writers notice the world in a different way and to work on the small building blocks that come together to make a ri...

Marc Graham is in the middle of a busy book-launching year. Last Spring, Graham’s second novel Song of Songs, a novel about the Queen of Sheba, was published by Blank Slate Press and in a few short weeks Graham takes us to the age of the Visigoths with Son of the Sea, Daughter of the Sun, also from Blank Slate Press. Kirkus Reviews called Song of Songs “ingeniously conjured” and Foreward Reviews h...

The podcast this time is a live recording of two speeches given Saturday, Sept. 7 at the annual three-day Colorado Gold conference. The first speech is by Writer of the Year Margaret Mizushima and the second by Independent Writer of the Year Stephanie Reisner. The speeches were given in the ballroom at the Renaissance Hotel in Denver with about 400 or so writers and friends listening. Margaret Miz...

What if you had a husband and wife who each suspected the other of murder? That simple plot idea into Drowning With Others, the second novel from the writing team of Linda Hull and Keir Graff, officially launching on October 1. Drowning with Others is focused on the lives of prep school sweethearts Ian and Andi Copeland, now all grown up with successful businesses, a beautiful house in St. Louis,...

After a fourteen-year break since her last book, Stephanie returns with a new novel coming out next month. A Perfect Eye is a mystery-thriller set in and around the Denver Art Museum featuring painting conservator Lily Sparks. On the podcast, Stephanie Kane talks about the reasons she took the hiatus, what drew her back, and why it’s not a bad idea to step away and get some perspective on the busi...

The first novel from Mark Pleiss is called April Warnings and it’s a series of interconnected stories set in and around Baxter County in Nebraska as a twister bears down. The narratives are connected by the Midwestern ritual of going into an underground tornado shelter, the disappearance of a young boy, and a growing mythology about aliens and cultists near the railroad tracks of the Callahan Ranc...

Chuck Greaves new novel, The Church of the Graveyard Saints, is a literary mystery with a love triangle and an eco-thriller finish and it’s also the first novel Chuck has written that’s set in and around his adopted hometown of Cortez, Colorado. Chuck tells the remarkable story about getting noticed in the publishing world for the first time and talks about the two sides of his writing life—one wr...

So you’ve finished a draft of your novel and you’re ready to submit to agents and editors. You’ve checked it, you’ve read it. A few friends said it’s good to go. Not so fast. Susan Smith has just the class for you—a special extended class at Colorado GOLD, one of the Friday morning “intensives” and it’s called “Hands on Honing.” (Colorado GOLD is Sept. 6 - 8.) As Susan puts it, we all need to lear...

Among the special guests at this year's Colorado Gold conference is Sara Dahmen, whose is heading to Denver from Wisconsin to teach a master class called “All the Secrets – An In-Depth Guide on Book to Film.” On the podcast, Sara talks about her Flats Junction historical fiction series, which has already been opted for multiple feature films and is in production. To say the least, Sara’s world is...

As Anne Hillerman describes it, she was shaking in her boots when she first set about writing new mysteries featuring the iconic characters Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn—characters created by her father, Tony Hillerman, and the lead protagonists in 18 award-winning novels. But Anne Hillerman brought her own approach to the series and, with the release of The Tale Teller this spring, has added five new...

Writers, John Gilstrap thinks you should cut yourself a bit of slack. Let the story flow. Get comfortable in your own writer’s skin. Stop copying the style of other writers. Sure, learn the so-called rules, but don’t let them hold you back. Gilstrap, one of the keynote speakers at the 2019 edition of RMFW’s big, annual three-day Colorado Gold conference, coming up in September, thinks are writers...

Claire L. Fishback, who enjoys scaring readers more than a little, is having a busy year. In March, she released LUMP: A Collection of Short Stories, some 51 tales in all. Among those is “Remembra,” the story she published as part of the RMFW short story anthology FOUND. And this month she is releasing The Blood of Seven, a novel that has been in the making for eleven long years. As she recounts o...

And now for something completely different. And funny. Feeling a little down? Feeling a little blue or stressed out? This interview with Rebecca Rowley just might cure a few ills. Rebecca is here with her new book, How To Be Funny and Make People Fat, a cozy comedy memoir featuring recipes and vignettes about how one humorist's mother influenced her comedic, culinary, and life skills in and out of...

What do stalkers, erotica, and the Russian mob have in common? That’s right--today’s interview with Stephanie Reisner. Aside from the flashy stuff, we also talk about the nuts and bolts of making a living as a writer, and how Stephanie manages her various pen names. Stephanie Reisner makes her living as a full-time writer and publisher and is published both traditionally and independently. With fo...

It started with a novel called Tongue-Tied, her first Harlequin Temptation title in September of 1984. Now, for Kay Bergstrom, it’s 87 books later – not including two 2 audio plays and 2 screenplay treatments and some short stories. Kay, who is one of three Writer of the Year finalists this year for RMFW and who also writes under the name Cassie Miles, has been on best-seller lists including USA T...

The guest is Scott Graham, who is launching the first entry in his National Park Mystery Series next month. The new book is called Arches Enemy and it’s set in Utah, not too far from Scott’s home in southwest Colorado. The series features archaeologist Chuck Bender and Chuck’s wife, paramedic Janelle Ortega. The series, published by Torrey House Press, has already visited four other national parks...

Amazon bestselling author Lori (L.A.) Johnson—one of three Independent Writer of the Year nominees for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers--writes humorous sci-fi and urban fantasy including the Neon Octopus Overlord Series, Neon Octopus Ally Series, and the Shadow Slayer Series. In fact, the Shadow Slayer Series is launching this month. Lori also has participated in several bestselling humorous sci-fi...

This time on the podcast, Writer of the Year Finalist Margaret Mizushima chats with Natasha Watts. This episode also features an installment of Writer's Rehab. The topic is a common issue that plagues amateur writers. In the interview, Margaret talks about the recognition her books have garnered, how RMFW helped her find her publisher, and how she writes books with so many animals. One of the main...

For the third year in a row, Bernadette Marie is one of three finalists for the Independent Writer of the Year. With some 35 books in print and many more in the pipeline, Bernadette Marie is the definition of prolific. She also runs a publishing company that has helped shepherd 100-plus titles into the daylight. On the podcast, part of our ongoing series with Writer of the Year and Independent Wri...

Aimie K. Runyan gives credit for the ideas for her last two books to fellow members of RMFW - Jamie Raintree gave her the nugget that led to Daughters of the Night Sky and Sean Vogel for Girls on the Line, proving yet again the power of networking and developing a solid crew of writer friends. Aimie’s career took off with Daughters of the Night Sky. New York Journal of Books raved, “Fans of histor...

Ian Shane’s second novel, Postgraduate, comes out April 5. It’s a love letter to the music of the ‘80s and ‘90s, when the main character, Danny, worked at his college radio station. The resulting story is one of nostalgia, disappointment, rivalries, and romance. We talk about the tools Ian uses to publish, the influence of his Indiana hometown on his stories, and the important part music plays in...

Charles McNamara says the idea for his first novel had been percolating in his mind since the 1980’s. That book, Ineke’s Mitten is the story of Nels Torkle, the Nazi occupation of his Norwegian hometown, and the famous assault on Riva Ridge in World War II. Now, Charlie is getting ready to release his second novel, Fiddler’s Lament, later this year. On the podcast, Charlie talks about that initial...

If there has ever been a reason to declare "Breaking News" around Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, this might be it. For more than 20 years now, editor Otto Penzler has been publishing a volume called the Best American Mystery Stories. As part of that process, he reads some 500 short stories and passes along the best 50 to a guest editor. That guest editor then chooses the top 20 to be published. T...

Low Country Blood is the second book in Sue Hinkin’s Vega & Middleton Mystery Series and it launches in a few short weeks, on April 1. The new story focuses on Los Angeles TV journalist Beatrice Middleton, who has lost her job. With a possible employment offer in Atlanta, she heads home to Savannah to reconnect with her contentious African-American family, arriving to find that her 15-year-old nep...

This week we interviewed editor, writer, and all-around interesting guy James Persichetti. We discuss his recent career move from managing foreign rights at a literary agency; the difference between all the many types of editing; and the best tactics for making your novel stand out to agents, editors, and readers. James Persichetti is a freelance developmental editor for a wide variety of genres a...