Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers hosted by Mark Stevens

The guest this time is Marc Graham--an actor, singer, bard, engineer, Freemason, and whisky aficionado. And writer. Graham just sold "Of Ashes and Dust," his first historical novel, to Five Star. Graham talks about the long journey to publication, his approach to researching historical fiction, his writing process and the chance meeting that led to a publication contract.

Wendy Terrien has been writing stories since she was in grade school. Her debut novel The Rampart Guards (February 29, 2016) is the first in her intriguing urban fantasy series. Inspired by an episode of Bones that suspected a killer to be a fabled chupacabra, Wendy was fascinated and dove into research about cryptozoology - the study of animals that may or may not exist, or cryptids. Pouring over...

The guest is Gwen Florio, author of the mystery series featuring reporter Lola Wicks, who first appeared in the novels Montana and Dakota. Lola is back in the brand new Disgraced and Florio stops by to talk about the third installment as well as the intersecting worlds of non-fiction and fiction when it comes to journalism. Florio talks about her writing process, about capturing small town life in...

This is a live recording from the February 13 workshop held in Denver with Suzie Brooks, Pamela Nowak and Wendy Howard. The workshop was organized to offer suggestions, ideas and advice for those submitting proposals to present at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' three-day Colorado Gold conference in September.

RMFW member Judith Briles' is a strong advocate for taking the "indy" route to publishing. She has decades of experience all over the publishing landscape and this episode provides a sampler of the topics she can discuss in depth including editing, marketing, networking and figuring out the best publishing option for you.

On Saturday, Feb. 6, Jack Marshall Maness delivered a presentation titled "Filling the Gaps in Historical Fiction." The talk was given at the Bear Valley Branch Library in Denver to a packed room. Maness, the winner of the 2015 Colorado Book Award for best historical fiction for his novel Song of the Jayhawk, talked about his research process and how he finds the space between fact and imagination...

Kerry Schafer writes fantasy with its teeth sunk into reality. She also writes mystery that delves into the paranormal and women’s fiction that embraces the dark and twisty realms of humanity. On this podcast, we chat with Kerry Schafer about “Dead Before Dying," coming out in early February, and “Closer Home,” written under the name Kerry Anne King and due next month, in March. Kerry talks about...

J.D. Dudycha has ten years of experience in baseball at the collegiate level. He retired from the sport shortly after the birth of his son. Since his retirement, he developed a love for writing, an outlet he so desperately needed in the absence of playing the game. His first novel, Paint The Black was published last summer on Amazon and his second, Sitting Dead Red, comes out in February just as p...

The guest is Nathan Lowell, a writer who clearly starts by taking what’s typical and turning it inside out. Nathan Lowell goes his own way. Nathan has been writing for only nine years yet has developed multiple series under the broad category of speculative fiction. As you’ll see, he sets a hard-charging pace for his daily production. Nathan has developed a large and adoring audience. His latest t...

Colleen Oakes is making the jump from indie publishing to Harper Collins with a three-book deal based on her prequel to the Lewis Carroll classic, Alice in Wonderland. Her young adult novel Queen of Hearts has been out for two years through an independent publisher but buzz drew the attention of the big New York house and, next May, the book will make a splash on a whole new level, all with two se...

The guest this time is Lisa Manifold, who serves Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers in a double capacity as newsletter editor and IPAL rep. She’s also a busy writer – with plans, as you’ll hear, to become much more productive. IPAL is The Independent Published Authors Liaison, a relatively new slot within RMFW that exists for the purpose of providing networking and promotional opportunities for indepe...

After years of entering and frequently winning writing contests at Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's annual Colorado Gold contest, Colorado writer Kevin Wolf entered and won the Tony Hillerman Prize for his novel, "The Homeplace." The win means the novel will be published by St. Martin's Press next fall. On the podcast, Kevin talks about his writing process, provides a glimpse of the storyline for "...

First-time author Margaret Mizushima, whose debut mystery Killing Trail launches on Dec. 8 (2015), talks about her path to publication and how she developed a police dog, Robo, as a major character. She also talks about a key moment at the Colorado Gold conference where she opted for patience—a moment that led to a key pitch and a book contract. After earning a master’s degree in speech pathology,...

Linda Joffe Hull is the guest on this episode. Linda is the author of two standalone novels, The Big Bang (Tyrus Books) and Frog Kisses (Literary Wanderlust). She has also written three books in the Mrs. Frugalicious Mystery series, published by Midnight Ink. That series features bargain hunter and sleuth, Maddie Michaels: Eternally 21 (2013, Midnight Ink), Black Thursday (2014, Midnight Ink), and...

Angie Hodapp is the guest this week, providing a behind-the-scenes look at the Nelson Literary Agency. Angie Hodapp holds a bachelor's degree in English and secondary education and a master's in English and communication development. She is a graduate of the Publishing Institute at the University of Denver and has taught courses on the craft and business of writing at Writer’s Digest University, L...

The guest on this episode of Rocky Mountain Writer is author, performance artist and educator Margo Christie. Margo is on a mission to blur the lines between high- and low-brow art. Her debut novel, "THESE DAYS, A Tale of Nostalgia on a Burlesque Strip," won a second prize in Amazon's 2012 Breakthrough Novel Award and was labeled "as original as it is addictive" by Publisher's Weekly. A 16-year re...

On the podcast this week, author, artist, and video game developer Joshua Viola. In addition to creating a transmedia creative franchise around The Bane of Yoto, honored with more than a dozen literary awards, Josh is the author of Blackstar, a novel based on the work of Celldweller. He’s also the editor of the horror anthology, Nightmares Unhinged, and has published Bram Stoker, Hugo and Nebula A...

Current Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers president Pamela Nowak is the guest. Pam recently released her fourth historical romance, Escaping Yesterday. Recently, one of Pam’s titles was named as one of the best 101 romances of the past ten years by BookList. On the podcast, Pam talks about her love of research, her reaction to the BookList pick, and also chats about the rewards of getting involved in...

Longtime Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers member Chris Goff, a.k.a. Christine Goff, is the guest. Chris was there in the early days of RMFW and just published her first international thriller, Dark Waters. Chris talks about making the switch in styles and genres and reports on her trip to Ukraine for the research for her next thriller. Sh also discusses the power of networking, the importance of lea...

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' own Ken Kirchner has discovered solid success as an independent writer, publishing books only on Amazon. The former U.S. Air Force weapons system officer talks about the two series of books he's writing and the one stand-alone novel that has outperformed all the others. He also talks about the steps that led him to the "indy" route and offers a few tips for those th...

Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers' Western Slope Coordinator Terri Benson chats about workshops and related activities around Grand Junction. She also talks about her writing career, about the advantages of getting involved in RMFW, and the thirty years of work that preceded publication of her romance novel, An Unsinkable Love.

Writer of the Year finalists Susan Spann and Cindi Myers of offered their thoughts, insights and advice during a late August panel at the Tattered Cover in downtown Denver. (Writer of the Year finalist Joan Johnston was unable to attend the event.) The night was moderated by the 2014 Writer of the Year, Shannon Baker. This is a recording of the live event, held Tuesday, August 25, 2015.

Longtime RMFW member Mario Acevedo talks about the Sept. 5 workshop held in Grand Junction: "Everything You Need to Know About the Next RMFW Anthology. Mario, who has agreed to step in as editor for the anthology, talks about hte submission schedule and selection process and reveals the selected theme. In addition, Mario chats about writing short stories and about his ongoing detective series feat...

Erotic romance writer Desiree Holt, one of the two keynote speakers at the 2015 Colorado Gold conference in Denver, drops by for a chat about her six series of books, her daily writing schedule and a preview of the three classes she will be teaching at the annual writers conference sponsored by Rocky Mountain Fiction writers. The conversation is mild, given the spicy subject matter, but some of th...

Aaron Michael Ritchey, a highly productive writer and frequent workshop presenter, talks about the three writing workshops he's part of at RMFW's Colorado Gold conference in September 2015. He talks about his daily dedication to writing and the series he's producing for Wordfire Press called The Juniper Wars. As he puts it, the series is "cowgirls with machine guns on a post-apocalyptic cattle dri...