Caroline Bicks is a Shakespeare scholar and the inaugural Stephen E. King Chair in Literature at the University of Maine, a position which led her to being the first scholar granted extended access to King's private archives. The process of her close reading and study of early manuscripts led to her writing MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES, out now from Hogarth.

We chat about

Go to https://carolinebicks.com/ to check out more of Caroline's work, grab a copy of MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES if you want to dive into King's writing and learn more about his early drafts of some great novels and short stories, as well as read about Caroline's journey into those stories and her own life. You can pick the book up at the Bookshop.org affiliate link in the show notes if you want to support the show. Thank you so much to Caroline for stopping by!

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Follow my Substack, where I publish short fiction and more at https://substack.com/@austinrwilson

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson including my Patreon where you can get Shibboleth: Some Call It Fiction, a fictional underground newspaper of UFO sightings, the strange and unknown, and some stories sprinkled in from reality, but tweaked by fiction. All written by me, NO LLM/AI SLOP, and that includes the art. Original art by Luca Vassallo, Seth Hahne, Andrea Atwood, and more.

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org. MONSTERS IN THE ARCHIVES is available through an affiliate link here: https://bookshop.org/a/107245/9780593736722

Thank you so much!

David O'Leary is the creator of the TV show Project Blue Book, which ran for two seasons on the History channel and starred Aidan Gillen as the real life UFO investigator Dr. J. Allen Hynek. He's also currently writing an audio series for PocketFM called The Ghost Walker and shopping around a new TV project.

We talk about Project Blue Book evolved into a series called Project Blue Book where the eponymous program already exists in the first episode (and yes, Surf Dracula is mentioned); what it was like "competing" with other shows the History Channel was thinking of buying/greenlighting straight to series (and how Robert Zemeckis, Mr. Back-to-the-Future himself helped); how much the job of TV show creator/executive produce, and yes also writer, equates to doing things that AREN'T writing, and also, what's the ol' work-life balance like while the TV show you created is currently running?

Thank you to David for stopping by and thank you for listening!

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Follow my Substack, where I publish short fiction and more at https://substack.com/@austinrwilson

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Nick Mamatas is an author and editor whose work has been nominated for the Stoker, Hugo, World Fantasy, and Shirley Jackson awards. His newest novel "Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest" is out now from Clash Books. It's a sci-fi retelling of The Tempest, and yes, it also includes a play.

Nick stopped by to talk Kalivas, why "writing-shaped activities" can both help and hurt you as a writer (inspired by essays in his book "Starve Better,"), the realities of trying to be a full-time writer, and also that he loves plays, loves pizza, and loves doing stuff.

Make sure you follow Nick on Bluesky, visit his website, and follow him on Substack. You can buy a copy of "Kalivas! Or, Another Tempest" from this affiliate link to support the show if you'd like.

Thank you to Nick for stopping by, and thank you for listening!

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I published two flash fiction pieces in April and one in May on my Substack, which you can find here: https://substack.com/@austinrwilson

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Joe Bond is the author of "Hope House," his debut novel that is out now from Hub City Press. The novel is set in 1980s Kentucky and told from inside a treatment home for troubled teenagers, where lost boys become more than their pasts and dare to imagine different futures.

There’s AWOL, who won’t stop running away. There’s Smoove, who’s been shot in his feet. There’s Damico, Karvel, Peanut, and Tonyboy Malopelli. Their futures promise prison or worse, but for now they’ve been brought together to see about getting themselves—and each other—right.

Hope House follows its ensemble cast through a five-phase program as the boys search for the one thing none of them have ever really had: a family.

He stopped by Ledger to talk about the genesis of the novel from a short story; figuring out he was "writing about the wrong stuff" before writing the novel, and that revelation's connection to fatherhood; on "reporting the novel" for years, even from his own adolescence; how the good pressure from people he worked with helped shape the novel; and perhaps most importantly, why he refused to cut the dog out of the book!

One big topic that comes up is the idea of getting to writing and/or literature "late in life" - you know, in your 20s! (That's not late, for anyone reading this. Not even close.)

Pick up a copy of "Hope House" from our affiliate link on Bookshop.org to support the show. Thank you to Joe for stopping by, and to you for listening!

Visit Joe Bond on his website - https://joebondwriter.com - and read his Paris Review essay - https://www.theparisreview.org/joe-bond- and his Lit Hub essay as well - https://lithub.com/five-things-i-got-wrong-in-my-first-novel-according-to-my-dad/ .

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I published two flash fiction pieces in April and one in May on my Substack, which you can find here: https://substack.com/@austinrwilson

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

R.L. Maizes is the author of the novels "A Complete Fiction" and "Other People's Pets" as well as the short story collection "We Love Anderson Cooper." Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, Oprah Magazine, Lit Hub, and more. 

She stopped by to talk about "A Complete Fiction," how she engages with her own ideas (and the how the world influences those ideas), and we have a candid and revealing conversation about mental health. She also discusses how "A Complete Fiction" was on submission for 18 months when she pulled it, made a storyline change, and sold it within two weeks!

We discuss that and so much more! Thank you to Ms. Maizes for her time, honesty, and sense of humor. Visit https://www.rlmaizes.com/ to learn more about her and her work.

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I published two flash fiction pieces in April on https://substack.com/@austinrwilson, and have more coming in May, along with...three more interviews!

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Juliette Lin is a 2025 graduate of Lena Waithe's Hillman Grad Foundation, a 2026 Writer's Guild Foundation Support Staff Trainee, and a cancer survivor. She stopped by Ledger to chat about submitting to competitions/fellowships (and how getting into one doesn't mean instant success), how she learned self-advocacy as a writer/creator, how improv helped her confront and accept failure and ultimately empowered her life and writing, and how reading other peoples' work helps you understand your own so much more!

This episode is particularly helpful for any screenwriters out there who are pre-Writers Guild Association (WGA) because it lays out a path forward for refining your craft and intentionally molding your career as a writer. We also talk about how *external* deadlines help, meaning deadlines that someone other than you has set. So seek those out and get writing!

Visit Juliette Lin online at www.juliettelinwrites.com and check out the Hillman Grad Foundation at www.hillmangradfoundation.com 

Thank you!

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I have an article called "The Big Lessons I Learned from Writing Short Stories" up at RemoteWritingJobs.org and an interview with Penguin Random House publicist Abigail Monti at MossHeartBooks.com and austinRwilson.substack.com.

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Lincoln Michel is the author of the novels "Metallic Realms" and "The Body Scout" as well as co-editor of the flash fiction anthologies "Tiny Nightmares" and "Tiny Crimes." He also regularly publishes on Counter Craft, his Substack dedicated to the craft and enjoyment of writing and reading.

His article "Turning Off the TV In Your Mind" is about writing that overly relies on visuals in a way that doesn't lean into the strengths of prose fiction. It's an interesting read and one that immediately made me afraid I was failing in that very specific way.

We heavily discuss that article and also his piece called "Why Literature Needs a Punk Rock Mindset," along with the ways in which the internet may be affecting our reading/writing, why writing with intention can typically support almost any stylistic choice, and even how LLMs are almost certainly more of a problem in undergraduate college courses than anyone is actually reporting.

Definitely check out his Substack, Counter Craft, and grab his books from your local bookstore or through the affiliate links to Moss Heart Books on Bookshop.org.

Thank you!

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I have an article called "The Big Lessons I Learned from Writing Short Stories" up at RemoteWritingJobs.org and an interview with Penguin Random House publicist Abigail Monti at MossHeartBooks.com and austinRwilson.substack.com.

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Kathy Fish is a flash fiction author and teacher, with work published in Ploughshares, Copper Nickel, Washington Square Review, Waxwing Magazine, Electric Literature, Guernica, Smokelong Quarterly, F(r)riction and many more.

She runs The Art of Flash Fiction Substack and is running a Flash Fiction Extravaganza from March 1st to 22nd, 2026 for paid subscribers. This isn't a sponsored show, I just love flash fiction and am having a blast there.

We talk about how she starts writing a short-short story, how she came to teaching, how deadlines help, and the differences between vignettes and prose poems.

Go to https://artofflashfiction.substack.com to see Kathy's work and join in on the flash fiction fun!

Thank you!

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I have an article called "The Big Lessons I Learned from Writing Short Stories" up at RemoteWritingJobs.org and an interview with Penguin Random House publicist Abigail Monti at MossHeartBooks.com and austinRwilson.substack.com.

Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Kyle Winkler writes weird-horror and is the author of "The Ship of Death," which comes out from Harper Collins on September 29, 2026. He's also written "The Nothing That Is," "Tone-Bone," "Enter the Peerless" and more, all of which are either partially or completely set in Indiana. We chat about the publication of his first novel, his life inside academic and its influence on the genre he writes, where the word "necropotent" comes from, the ol' familiar specter of self doubt and its role in a writer's life, but also how community plays a role in each of our creative lives. It's an awesome chat that left me ready to get back to the keyboard!

Read more about Kyle's work at KyleWinkler.net and go to Bookshop.org to preorder "The Ship of Death" which Wil Wheaton has already blurbed by saying, "You're giving me cosmic horror, literary found footage, and a tabletop game, all in the same novel? It's wickedly funny and weird? Sign me the f*ck up right now." You won't want to miss this one folks.

Thank you!

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Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks and order books through our website or our Affiliate link on Bookshop.org.

Thank you so much!

Ira Rat is the owner/operator, publisher, editor, and graphic designer behind Filthy Loot Press, one of the best publishers for transgressive, weird, and underground fiction, both horror and otherwise.

Is there such a thing as *too* weird for Filthy Loot? Should your poop-centric story have at least some artful storytelling? (Yes.) We also discuss why you should pay EXTRA SPECIAL ATTENTION (all caps, so you know it's legit) to a publisher's call for stories, rather than just submitting whatever the heck you have. And, finally, straight from a publisher and editor: how should you respond to having your work rejected?

Find Filthy Loot on Instagram @filthyloot and head to FilthyLoot.com to buy books.

Thank you!

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Please rate and review Ledger wherever you can - Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, etc. - and tell people if you think they'd like it. Swing by austinRwilson.com to see my publishing credits, to contact me, or to read free fiction.

Links to all my work can be found here: https://linktr.ee/austinRwilson

Follow the show through our Instagram account @MossHeartBooks.

Thank you!