By Mark Stevens We interrupt this blog’s regular programming, writing advice, inspirations and musings to bring you this commercial announcement: Drum roll…. RMFW has a new podcast. As this post goes up, ‘The Rocky Mountain Writer’ should be finding its way to your favorite podcast provider, including iTunes. It’s also posted from the home page…
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.
Rocky Mountain Writer Podcast – Episode #1
Rocky Mountain Writer Podcast – Episode #1 Interview with Shannon Baker, RMFW Writer of the Year; also talks with Charles Senseman and Suzie Brooks In the inaugural podcast, host Mark Stevens interviews RMFW Writer of the Year Shannon Baker about her new book contract; chats with writer Charles Senseman about his tips on writing the…
Whack the Cliché
By Mark Stevens Is it possible to write a 100,000-word novel that is devoid of clichés? Completely scrubbed free of all tired descriptions, predictable scenes, over-used descriptions, seen-them-all-before characters? A panel* on clichés at Left Coast Crime last month in Portland sparked my thinking. First, check this out: The word cliché is drawn from the…
Take A Little Trip
By Mark Stevens Two random tidbits last week got me fired up. The first was from a story in The New Yorker about new research into the positive effects of psychedelic drugs—psilocybin in particular. The second was a line uttered by Alexandra Fuller during a podcast of her Tattered Cover presentation for her new memoir,…
Tales from Long Shots in Book Marketing
By Mark Stevens I hopped in the car and flipped on the radio. Scott Simon (rock star reporter and host on National Public Radio) was wrapping up a Weekend Edition interview with a guy reviewing books. I only caught the tail end of the chat, but Simon said something like: “…and that was our London…