Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers hosted by Mark Stevens

Wendy Portfors currently lives in Diamond Valley, Alberta, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains. She had a successful 36-year career with a Canadian Bank, and she has drawn on her experience in banking as the basis for the novel she is currently writing. Her first book titled Remembering Love, Balboa Press, was released in 2016, chronicles her journey following her husband’s cancer diagnosis. S...

Karen C. Whalen is the author of two mystery series for The Wild Rose Press: the Dinner Club Mysteries featuring Jane Marsh, an empty nester who hosts a gourmet dinner club, and the Tow Truck Mysteries starring Delaney Morran, a super feminine shoe-a-holic who drives a tow truck. Both are cozy mysteries about strong friendships and family ties set in Colorado. The first book in the Dinner Club ser...

Pamela Nowak’s historical fiction tells the stories of real women whose stories have been forgotten via a deft combination of research and character development. She’s won a Will Rogers Gold Medallion and a Laramie Award as well as being a dual Feathered Quill finalist and a finalist for the New Mexico-Arizona Book Award. Her historical romance novels have garnered critical acclaim for her ability...

Steve Stratton started his military career at the White House Communications Agency supporting the needs of Presidents Ford and Carter, Vice Presidents Rockefeller and Mondale and Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. His work took him around the world introducing him to new cultures, ways of thinking, and the various agencies tasked with projecting and protecting American interests abroad. The jump...

This time on the Rocky Mountain Writer podcast, a chat with the co-editors of the next Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers short story anthology, to be published in 2024. Those co-editors are Linda Ditchkus and Paul Martz. Linda (L.V.) Ditchkus has written her whole life. But until eight years ago, her writing was either technical, scholarly, or in travel magazines. In 2015, she jumped into novel writi...

Chris Goff is an award-winning author of six novels based on environmental themes and two international thrillers. A longtime member of RMFW, she has served as in nearly every capacity from critique chair to President, received a Jasmine Award in 1997, received her PEN Award in 1998, was named Writer of the Year in 2002. She counts among her best friends, many of those she met upon joining RMFW. C...

Donald Paul Benjamin is an American novelist who specializes in cozy mysteries and high fantasy. He also writes about Colorado history. A U.S. Army veteran, he served three years as a military journalist, including a tour in Korea. Before retiring, the Colorado native worked as an educator for five decades. He lives in Cedaredge, a small town on the Western Slope of Colorado, where he hikes and fi...

Luann Koester taught high school language arts, as well as college composition for over 26 years. A fellow of the National and Colorado Writing Projects, she considers herself a writer teaching writers. Luann graduated Cum Laude from Colorado State University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English, received a Masters of Arts in Teaching from Colorado College, and a Post Graduate Certificate of...

Mike Torreano is an award-winning author with a military background and a particular interest in American history and the Old West. His debut western mystery, The Reckoning, set in South Park, Colorado in 1868, was released in 2016 by The Wild Rose Press. The sequel, The Renewal, also set in South Park, was released in 2018, with a third western mystery, A Score To Settle, released in 2020. White...

Debra Bokur is the author of The Dark Paradise Mysteries series from Kensington. She’s traveled the world as a writer, journalist and staff editor for various national media outlets, with more than 2,000 print pieces carrying her byline to date. Debra's work has garnered multiple awards, including a 2015 Lowell Thomas Award for Travel Journalism. For more than a decade, she served as the poetry ed...

Jasmine Cresswell was born in Wales and educated in London, England. Recruited by the Foreign Service, she was assigned to the British Embassy in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. While in Rio, she met and married Malcolm Candlish and together they immigrated to the United States where he had been offered a job with Colgate Palmolive at corporate headquarters in New York City. Malcolm's career took him to A...

Dr. Dan Lutz began his education career and passion for international education as a high school teacher in the Teacher Corps in New York and the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. His career has included training new Peace Corps Volunteers in Iran, helping initiate the development of Korean Heritage Camp for families with adopted children from that country, serving on the Board of Directors for Colorado...

Sharon Mignerey is an author who loves sharing what she has learned with other authors. She has been a workshop presenter at local and national conferences, including Romance Writers of America, RMFW's Colorado Gold conference and Pikes Peak Fiction Writers. She has taught numerous online classes on the art and craft of writing. She is the author of 12 published novels, and has been a contributor...

Paulla Hunter is a long-time resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming. She lives in the historic downtown area of the city with her husband, Roger Schreiner, a volunteer and past chairman at Cheyenne Frontier Days. She is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Wyoming Writers. She earned her B.A. from the University of Wyoming in English, Speech and Drama. She has a passion for his...

Jason Evans always wanted to be a writer, he just didn’t know it. He grew up in Southern California and taught high school social studies after college until he got married and moved to Denver in 2004. He continued in education and earned an MA in History, until he realized his heart was in fiction. Since 2012 Jason has had over a dozen short stories and essays published, ran an online magazine, a...

For the first time in more than seven years of producing this podcast, the host, Mark Stevens, takes the hot seat as a guest. The excuse is The Fireballer, a novel coming out rom Lake Union on January 1, 2023. The writer firing the questions on this episode is Shannon Baker, the author of the Kate Fox Mystery Series, the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, the Michaela Sanchez Southwest Crime Thrillers, a...

tenderbastard is a songwriter, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, activist, pancake enthusiast. He and his dog are public intellectuals. The tenderbastard pledge: "I do solemnly swear to be intelligent, kind, helpful, and to have fun as often as possible," reflecting our commitment to inspire creative conscientiousness. tenderbastard’s latest novel, released in September, is Poof. More: https://w...

Tamara Cribley is a self-professed formatting junkie who believes beautiful books don’t happen by chance. Having worked as a Commercial Photographer, Graphic Artist, and Art Director, Tamara’s unique skills enable her to put together classy and professional books that keep the reader focused on the story. She resides on the Palmer Divide and, in her free time, enjoys reading, photography, and expl...

Award-winning journalist Gwen Florio has covered stories ranging from the shooting at Columbine High School to the glitz of the Miss America pageant and the more practical Miss Navajo contest, whose participants slaughter and cook a sheep. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as well as Lost Springs, Wyoming (population three). Florio turned to fiction in 2013 with the publication of...

Karen is a hopeless foodie, award-winning novelist, produced screenwriter and writing coach. Many of her stories are inspired by her experience marrying into a Taiwanese family. Mu Shu Mac & Cheese and American Moon: A Chinese Immigrant Story are available on Amazon. She, her husband, and their two boys have traveled the world as she researches recipes for a literary cookbook. She teaches for Prin...

T.O. Paine is a suspense novelist whose authentic characters triumph over extreme situations in challenging, true-to-life settings. Though his novels are contemporary, things always get out of control. Cults are real, anger is a disorder, and everyone loses when a friendly competition becomes an obsession. T.O. holds multiple degrees in computer science and spends extreme amounts of time running a...

Warren Hammond is known for his gritty, futuristic KOP series. By taking the best of classic detective noir, and reinventing it on a destitute colony world, Hammond has created these uniquely dark tales of murder, corruption and redemption. KOP Killer won the 2012 Colorado Book Award for best mystery. His last novel, Tides of Maritinia, was released in December of 2014. His first book independent...

David R. Slayton grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read. David’s debut, White Trash Warlock, was published in October 2020 by Blackstone Publishing and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Book...

Francelia Belton’s love of short stories came from watching old Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents television shows in her youth. Her fiction has appeared in various publications, including "Dreaming of Ella" in Denver Noir by Akashic Books, and most recently, "Red Riding in the Hood" in Bizarre Bazaar by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Francelia's short story, “Knife Girl,” was a finalis...

This time on the Rocky Mountain Writer podcast, a chat with the co-editors of Bizarre Bazaar, the brand new short story anthology from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers that will debut in a few short weeks. Veronica R. Calisto is a massage therapist, an alto, a writer of speculative fiction, and a big nerd. One of those rare Colorado natives, she has a degree in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Bio...