The Fresh Fiction Podcast

Barbara O’Neal — RWA Hall of Famer, multiple RITA winner, and author of more than 40 novels — joins Samantha Tennant to talk about A Thousand Painted Hours, a soulmate story that moves between colonial India and London during the Blitz. Barbara shares how the book followed her for years before her publisher said yes, how her British husband’s family history raised the question at its heart, and how friend Sonali Dev helped give the lovers a secret language. Plus: why she cries while writing, the one question every book of hers keeps asking, and a lightning round full of Jelly Bellies and Anthony Bourdain.

USA Today bestselling author CJ Carmichael has published more than 50 novels in romance, mystery, and women’s fiction, and she’s bringing her Coffee Creek, Montana series back to readers. She talks with Samantha Tennant about building fictional small towns with maps and Pinterest boards, why she’d rather solve a mystery through character than DNA, and why readers love to hate Olive, the controlling mother at the heart of the series. She also tells what it was like to walk a Hallmark set covered in fake snow in August, and why she’s taking her first year off in 26 years.

What happens when a flamboyant, fabulous 40-year-old man accidentally becomes the ruler of an island nation — and immediately starts wondering if the dragon made a terrible mistake? That's the heart of An Accident of Dragons, the debut fantasy from Cheri Radke, and it's not quite like anything else on shelves right now.

Mary Burton — NYT and USA Today bestselling thriller author, Amazon First Reads favorite, and self-described "Scary Mary" — joins Samantha Tennant to talk craft, characters, and her brand-new psychological thriller Trust No One. Mary breaks down her seven-draft writing process, explains why she plants twist endings before she even knows what they are, and makes a compelling case for heroines who are morally gray rather than simply "nice." Plus: what it means to write under two completely different pen names, why small-jurisdiction settings give her more freedom, and a first look at Trust No One, available now as an Amazon First Reads pick ahead of its October 1 release.

National award-winning historical romance author Robyn DeHart sits down with Samantha Tennant to talk about 90+ published titles, writing curvy heroines when publishers said no, and the grief-fueled pivot that launched her contemporary pen name Kat Baxter. Plus: the wrong-bride Regency story everyone is talking about, a Mount Rushmore of romance authors, and why her road-trip snack of choice is pickle-flavored sunflower seeds.

Australian bestselling author Kandy Shepherd joins Samantha Tennant for a wide-ranging conversation on writing, life, and what it means to stay in love with your characters for twenty-five books. Kandy — a former editor in chief who once ran a magazine with three million readers — talks about the career pivot that brought her to Harlequin Mills & Boon, the craft lessons journalism never let her forget, and the philosophy behind her fiction: characters aren't characters, they're people. She also dives into her latest release, Stuck With Her Impossible Ex (Book Three of the Outback Kings series), the magic of reunion romance, and why she will never, ever end a book on a cliffhanger.

Marc Cameron is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author with three major thriller series and thirty years in law enforcement behind him. In this conversation with Samantha Tennant, Marc talks about the rejection letter from Random House that forced him to go "over the top" — and accidentally created Jericho Quinn. He shares what it was really like to write seven Tom Clancy Jack Ryan novels, why the Arliss Cutter series is powered by his own experiences as a deputy marshal, and what's coming next: a long-awaited Jericho Quinn return and a potential screen adaptation of the Cutter series.

NYT and USA Today bestselling author Michelle M. Pillow joins Samantha Tennant to talk about the re-release of The King of the Unblessed (Book 1 of the Realm Immortal series) through Tor Bramble — a lush, epic dark romantasy that Michelle wrote long before "romantasy" was even a coined term. They dig into the Labyrinth-inspired origins of the Goblin King story, Michelle's massive world-building across 100+ books and eight series, and what it's like to revisit older stories with fresh eyes. Plus: the Fresh Fiction Facts Q&A gets into zombie aspirations, campy horror DVDs, Darcy's botched proposal, and why Sarah absolutely should have stayed in the Labyrinth.

Bestselling historical romance author Cathy Maxwell joins Fresh Fiction to talk about her first indie release, Curves for the Rakish Duke, and her first-ever author collaboration with the Busty Bodice Club series. Cathy opens up about the surprising generosity of indie readers, the creative freedom of publishing without gatekeepers, and why she is finally revisiting an old favorite novella with fresh eyes.

Before Christine Gunderson became an Amazon bestselling author, she was a TV reporter, a Capitol Hill press secretary, and a stay-at-home mom who wrote her first novel in stolen minutes at school pickup. In this Fresh Fiction Video Book Club conversation with host Samantha Tennant, Christine talks about the long, twisty road to publication, the real women who inspired the 1965 storyline in her new novel Behind White Picket Fences, and why she believes the pressure on mothers to do it all is as unrealistic now as it was sixty years ago. Plus, a rapid-fire round covering her go-to gas station snack, her Jane Austen obsession, and the cult she would absolutely start.