Dark Waters

We're joined by attorney and author Russell W. Johnson to his Mountaineer Mystery series to discuss some of our favorite topics - dark fiction in dark times, dealing with rejection, and whether Jessica Lange was secretly the real killer all along.

We also get a sneak peek at the second book in the series, The Mountain Mystic, and discuss character morality, conspiracy theories, and Ron Earl Phillips covers.

Dark Waters is OPEN for submissions for our second anthology. Check out our website ⁠www.darkwaterspodcast.com, ⁠our ⁠Twitter,⁠ or our ⁠Instagram⁠ for more info.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by HWA NY chapter coordinator James Chambers and discuss his body of work, using horror as a way to process the world, and Lovecraftian writing in contemporary settings. We also get a sneak preview of his collection A Bright and Beautiful Eternal World and collectively wonder at how certain stories find their place in the children's section.

James Chambers is a Bram Stoker Award® and Scribe Award-winning author and a four-time Bram Stoker Award nominee. He is the author of the short story collections A Bright and Beautiful Eternal World, described as “stellar” by Publisher’s Weekly, On the Night Border and On the Hierophant Road, which received a starred review from Booklist, which called it “…satisfyingly unsettling”; the novella collection, The Engines of Sacrifice, and the novellas, The Devil in the Green, Kolchak and the Night Stalkers: The Faceless God, Three Chords of Chaos, and many others, as well as the original graphic novel, Kolchak the Night Stalker: The Forgotten Lore of Edgar Allan Poe. His short stories have appeared in anthologies and publications in multiple genres, including crime, fantasy, horror, pulp, science fiction, steampunk, and more. He edited the Bram Stoker Award-nominated anthologies, Under Twin Suns: Alternate Histories of the Yellow Sign and A New York State of Fright as well as Even in the Grave, an anthology of ghost stories. He has also written the comic books Leonard Nimoy's Primortals, "The Revenant" in Shadow House, and The Midnight Hour. 

Dark Waters is OPEN for submissions for our second anthology. Check out our website www.darkwaterspodcast.com, our Twitter, or our Instagram for more info.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by the fantastic Jahmal Mayfield to discuss his incredible debut novel Smoke Kings, as well as the beauty of rom coms and Japanese philosophers.

We also get a sneak preview of Smoke Kings and discuss tunnel vision in looking at political/socio-economic issues, and having honest conversations through a fictional lens.

Jahmal Mayfield writes gritty crime novels that touch on large social issues. He was born in Virginia but currently resides in New Jersey. In addition to writing, he serves as the director of a nonprofit program that provides employment support to people with disabilities. Mayfield is a husband and father of two young adults who are both embarrassed by his frequent forays down the rabbit holes of YouTube to view old 90s hip hop videos. Smoke Kings was inspired by Kimberly Jones’ passionate viral video, “How can we win?”

Follow him on Twitter and pre-order the audiobook of Smoke Kings at Barnes & Noble.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

Our audio recording of our crowdcast with editor Barbara Byer and writers from Motel: An Anthology, celebrating the it's release.

Featuring contributors:

Casey Stegman

Nils Gilbertson

Cole Beauchamp

Tessa Rossi

and M.E. Proctor

Barbara Byar is a working-class American (CT and CA) writer living in Ireland for over 25 years. Her critically acclaimed collection of stories: Some Days Are Better Than Ours (Reflex Press) was short-listed for the Saboteur Awards. Her short fiction has been published and prize-listed widely. She was shortlisted for the Irish Book Awards Irish Short Story of the Year in 2023 and longlisted in 2021. A recipient of an Irish Arts Council Literature Bursary and an Agility Award, she is a Fiction Editor at Variant Literature and is currently writing a novel set in motels. Find her at her website, or on Twitter.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

Our audio recording of our crowdcast with the crew from the fantastic mag Rock and a Hard Place celebrating the release of their anthology The One Percent: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved

Featuring the editors:

Roger Nokes

Jay Butkowski

Albert Tucher

Paul J. Garth

R.D. Sullivan

and Rob D. Smith

And writers:

James D.F. Hannah

Curtis Ippolito

Scott Von Doviak

and C.W. Blackwell.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by the phenomenal talent that is award-winning author Jordan Harper to talk about Everybody Knows, late stage capitalism, horseshoe theory, and universal guilt. We also discuss his other works She Rides Shotgun, and The Last King of California, his past experience in music journalism, and Western society being a catalyst for noir stories.

Jordan Harper is the Edgar-Award winning author of She Rides Shotgun, The Last King of California, Everybody Knows, and the short story collection Love and Other Wounds. Born and educated in Missouri, he now lives in Los Angeles, where he works as a writer and producer for television.

She Rides Shotgun has also been optioned for a movie staring Taron Edgerton

Find him on Twitter, Everybody Knows at Mulholland Books, and his other work at HarperCollins.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by the awesome Beau Johnson to discuss facial recognition skills, reading as a family activity, and his latest release The Abrum Files. We also talk about time travel, tackling heavy topics through a variety of mediums, and rawness in writing certain genres.

Find him here & his work here.

The Dark Waters anthology is also out now! Find it at ⁠Barnes & Noble⁠, ⁠Amazon⁠, and ⁠many other outlets⁠.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by the incredible talent that is Ai Jiang and talk about their projects both released and upcoming, whether AI will take over the world, and if the apocalypse can come before we've written the books we want to write. We also get a snippet of I Am AI and talk about using horror as a way to discuss grief.

Ai Jiang is a Chinese-Canadian writer, a Nebula Award finalist, and an immigrant from Fujian. She is a member of HWA, SFWA, and Codex. Her work can be found in F&SF, The Dark, Uncanny, The Masters Review, Prairie Fire, among others. She is the recipient of Odyssey Workshop’s 2022 Fresh Voices Scholarship and the author of Linghun and I Am AI. Find her on Twitter and online.

The Dark Waters anthology is also out now! Find it at Barnes & Noble, Amazon, and many other outlets.

Want to submit your writing? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We debrief from our first ever Bouchercon - talk about things we loved, people we loved, and books we're looking forward to.

We are also opening for submissions for a Dark Waters anthology! Check our Twitter @podcastwaters for more info.

Want to submit your writing for an episode? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.

We're joined by the wonderful Holly West and second-time visitor C.W. Blackwell to talk about Bouchercon 2023, editing anthologies, blind submissions, and efforts to widen submission pools to as wide a group as possible. We also talk about the Bouchcon anthology Killin' Time In San Diego, hear a sample of C.W.'s story within it "Hard Rain on Beach Street," and get excited for a West Coast trip.

Holly West (she/her) is the Anthony Award-nominated author of the Mistress of Fortune historical mystery series and the editor of Murder-A-Go-Go’s: Crime Fiction Inspired by the Music of the Go-Go’s, and the 2023 edition of the Bouchercon anthology Killin Time in San Diego. Her novella, The Money Block, about a pair of grifters who set up a cryptocurrency con, is out now from Down & Out Books. More at https://hollywest.com/https://hollywest.com/.

C.W. Blackwell is an American author from the Central Coast of California. His recent work has appeared with Down and Out Books, Shotgun Honey, Tough Magazine, and Reckon Review. He is a 2021 Derringer award winner and 2022 Derringer finalist. His folk horror novella Song of the Red Squire was published in 2022 from Nosetouch Press. His crime fiction novella Hard Mountain Clay was published in January 2023 from Shotgun Honey Books.

Want to submit your writing or be a guest editor? Email [email protected]

Intro/Outro music: www.bensound.com

Disclaimer: Any and all opinions expressed are the opinions of the participants and not of the organizations or institutions with which they are affiliated.