(Photo by Francesca Grima on Unsplash)
Author: Mark Stevens
Mark Stevens is the author of the The Fireballer (Lake Union, 2023) and The Allison Coil Mystery Series including Antler Dust, Buried by the Roan, Trapline, Lake of Fire, and The Melancholy Howl. Trapline won The Colorado Book Award for Best Mystery. Stevens has also published short stories in Denver Noir (Akashic Books, 2022), Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, and Mystery Tribune, among others. Stevens is longtime member of Mystery Writers of America. In 2023, Stevens was named Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers for the second time. He lives in southwest Colorado.
Getting Involved in RMFW Led to Getting Published
(Following is the the text of the talk I was going to give at Colorado Gold last Friday night had I not been sick with COVID. Thanks to all the members of RMFW for the tremendous support and for Writer of the Year title again. It means so much.) I would not be here without…
We Are Family
When I think back to my early days around Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, about twenty years ago, I remember a sound: the thumpity-bump of dragging a cooler from my car across parking lots at various Metro Denver libraries as I brought refreshments and snacks for the monthly workshops. Arvada. Lakewood. Aurora. Denver. Wherever. I had…
! – – ; / * – (– ;)–?– * Fatigue
I judged a few entries this year for the Colorado Gold Literary Awards. I have one takeaway. It’s this: Chill with the punctuation. Too much makes readers tired. Well, makes me tired. It’s also unappealing on the page. It looks cluttered. Our brains are already busy putting your words into images in our heads. Don’t…
40 Years
I realized last month, when contemplating the fact that 2003 marks RMFW’s 40th anniversary, that I’ve been writing for 40 years. Summer of 1983. I switched jobs. I went from newspaper reporter to working as a television producer for a PBS news show. I started flying around the country working on stories. And, during all…