Filmmaker and thriller author Alex DeMille talks about THE TIN MEN, Book 3 in the Brodie & Taylor series, and the final collaboration written with his father, Nelson DeMille.
Alex talks about writing this series with his father, how they wrote the earlier books in collaboration, and how the work changed after Nelson fell ill.
He talks about researching the robotics and AI technology referenced in the story, and how the technology and tactics used are closer to being real rather than science fiction, including representation of whether they are sentient or becoming self aware, and what we’d have to do when that happens.
And yes, the code on the dog tags on the cover is a relatively simple cypher that’s an Easter Egg to solve.
Website: alexdemille.com/home
Instagram: @alexdemille
Twitter: @alexdemille

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Lyndsay Ely talks about her latest fantasy novel, THE LOST RELIQUARY, and having a protagonist bound to the last goddess from an epic war between gods, and she’s done and really wants out.
She talks about world-building and gods-building, and how knowledge can be lost and hidden over spans of time, which ties directly into the quest Lys is on to find the last lost weapon.
THE LOST RELIQUARY is the first book in the “Divine Thrall” duology, and available October 21.
Website: lyndsayely.com
Instagram: @lynzely
Bluesky: @lyndsayely.bsky.social
Twitter: @lyndsayely

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Editor and publisher Otto Penzler talks about the varied mystery anthologies and collections released by Penzler Publishers, the proprietor of The Mysterious Bookshop in New York City, and series editor of a handful of current and Golden Age mystery fiction anthologies.
Otto talks about the “Golden Age” series of short fiction anthologies, with the newest one being Golden Age Christmas Mysteries, and also the “American Mystery Classics” series, featuring famous mystery authors from the 1920s-1930s-1940s. He goes into the work that goes into searching out the short stories by the authors of that era.
He also talks about how “The Best Mystery Stories of the Year” series came about after a previous similar series ended, and the reading and selection process to narrow those stories down into a manageable set for the year’s guest editor.
The new “50 States of Crime” series was acquired by Penzler Publishers and is being translated & published in the US under the Crime Ink imprint, where France’s leading true crime journalists investigate America’s most notorious cases, one crime for every state, presenting fresh perspectives on famously storied crimes and reflecting, in the process, a dark national legacy that leads from coast to coast.
Otto also mentions the award-winning The Serial Killer’s Apprentice, and reviving the “The Best True Crime Stories” series, with the new 2025 edition featuring Douglas Preston as guest editor.


Websites: The Mysterious Bookshop, Penzler Publishers
Instagram: @PenzlerPub, @themysteriousbookshop
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Horror author Philip Fracassi talks about his newest novel, THE AUTUMN SPRINGS RETIREMENT HOME MASSACRE, featuring a senior citizen final girl and the shenanigans that take over her life at the retirement home.
He goes into how the setting for the story developed out of the societal tendency to overlook the elderly and the care homes and other facilities they end up in to be “out of sight, out of mind”, and where the characters of Rose and Miller and their friends came into play. Philip also pulled from his location manager experience to design Autumn Springs and the community around it.
Website: pfracassi.com
Book tour dates: https://pfracassi.com/newsandevents
Instagram: @pfracassi
Bluesky: @pfracassi.bsky.social

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Fantasy author Wesley Chu stops by to chat about the War Arts Saga, a trilogy now complete with the release of trilogy’s conclusion, THE ART OF LEGEND.
Wesley talks about connecting to his roots through lots of reading and a love of wuxia stories and movies, and how that led to developing the quirks and personalities of the characters in the War Arts saga, as well as their fighting styles. He also talks about his affinity for writing older, crotchety, grumpy characters, and a shared love of anime.
He then talks about his writing process, about getting used to writing big books (which he knows is much harder than reading them!), and looking forward to writing more fantasy, albeit smaller volumes. He also takes an integrated and organic approach to worldbuilding and finding how the characters fit into that world.
Website: wesleychu.com
Instagram: @wesleychu1
Bluesky: @wesleychu.bsky.social

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Horror author Nick Medina talks about his new novel THE WHISTLER, and explores how testing limits and pushing boundaries doesn’t always result in positive change. The story is very loosely based on Native folklore, but the superstition warning against whistling in the night appears in a number of different cultures.
Nick talks about how his protagonist, Henry, deals with the consequences of several bad choices, and how that affects his choices going forward and dealing with the entity that has begun haunting him, more than his own past.
This book is merely the latest story representing the growing and entertaining niche of Indigenous horror. And yeah, never whistle at night.
THE WHISTLER will be in stores September 16, with the launch event taking place at the Deer Park IL Barnes & Noble, with horror author S. A. Barnes
Website: nickmedina.net
Instagram: @nickmedinawrites
TikTok: @nickmedinawrites

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Supernatural and Horror author Alma Katsu talks about her latest novel, FIEND, where one family’s wealth, power and influences comes from an ancient evil, and all the consequences that grow from centuries of dark choices.
Alma talks about the real life situations of corruption, greed and buried family secrets that inspired FIEND, and how their competitive tendencies in family and business drive their needs to maintain their position and wealth. And having a demon in the back pocket can also help.
She also talks about how television and social media have influenced the audience hunger for more voyeuristic entertainment focused on or around the lives and lifestyles of the rich and famous, and the greater the wealth, the greater the obsession with wanting to know everything about their lives and wealth.
And there’s a bonus tangent discussion about the pitfalls of AI, generative AI, and the pitfalls and blind spots where a lack of regulatory oversight might be taking society. Her outlook as a futurist on the influence of social media on news and propaganda is also a cautionary tale on where consumers now turn to for their daily news.
Alma will also be giving her Generative AI primer for writers at the San Diego Writers Festival on September 20.


You can even read the first chapter of FIEND on her website: https://almakatsubooks.com/fiend/
Website: almakatsubooks.com
San Diego Writers Festival Day of Learning 2025: https://sandiegowritersfestival.com/event/festival-u-3/
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Award-winning and best selling thriller authors Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado drop by to talk about THE GRAVE ARTIST, the second book in their collaborative “Sanchez & Heron” series.
They talk about how the idea to collaborate started (along with Gillian Flynn in the mix at the time), and how their individual approaches to thrillers blended so well, then coming up with the investigative team of Jake Heron and Carmen Sanchez, and the nature of the killers they have to hunt down.
They also talk about how they both separate and combine the work to write the books, working on the characters and the plot and subplots, balancing and filling out the outlines, then fine tuning everything through the subsequent drafts.
Isabella talks about the Thriller Writing Master Class she’ll be teaching at the 2026 Thrillerfest, May 5-9 2026 in New York City and her class in this year’s Online Thriller School, and Jeffery mentions the class he’ll be teaching through the ITW Online Thriller School in September 2026.
They will be at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale AZ, September 8 for the book launch!
The Grave Artist will be out on September 9, 2025, and we’re already looking forward to the third book in the series!
Website: jefferydeaver.com
Instagram: @officialjefferydeaver
Website: isabellamaldonado.com
Instagram: @authorisabella
YouTube: @IsabellaMaldonadoBooks
The Grave Artist by Jeffery Deaver and Isabella Maldonado (Sanchez & Heron Book 2)
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Thomas & Mercer
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 9, 2025
Print length ‏ : ‎ 396 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1662518757
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1662518751

What types of thriller stories do you enjoy most? Let us know! Call 602-635-6976 and leave a message, send Summer an email, or chat with us in the comments below!
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Thriller author Charlie Huston returns to talk about the feature film adaptation of Caught Stealing, the first book in their Henry Thompson series. Charlie also adapted the screenplay for director Darren Aronofsky, and was involved with the actual production.
We talk about publication history of Caught Stealing and the long process of going from the novel to the needs a screenplay must meet for a director and a film production, the location and scene changes necessary for matching the late 1990s action in the book to the late 1990s being set up for the film, and more.
Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith and Liev Schreiber, and opens Friday August 29 in theaters nationwide
Website: charliehustonwrites.com
Instagram: @charliehustonwrites

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Fantasy author Sebastien de Castell talks about his latest, The Malevolent Eight, and the fun of making heroes out of the ones everyone calls the “bad guys”.
He talks about how The Malevolent Seven came out of a need to write an adult fantasy story that was unrestricted by the editorial limits he felt impacted his writing the Spellsinger YA series, and the creative leashes he threw away during that process. Sebastien also goes into the challenges the Seven go up against, and how that moved into the story in The Malevolent Eight, and what he has in mind for The Malevolent Nine.
We also talk about the varying shades of grey in people and their perspectives, beliefs and biases and how that can impact the work their jobs in service to communities require, and how those observations and speculations help him shape these characters and the scope of their irreverence and moral flexibilities.
Sebastien will be embarking on a book tour starting August 26 through most of Canada and parts of the US, find the dates near you at his website: https://decastell.com/events/
Website: decastell.com
Instagram: @sebastiendecastell
Bluesky: @decastell.bsky.social

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Science fiction and horror author & editor Wendy N. Wagner adds hungry fungi to the long list of creepy ways to be wary in the woods in Girl in the Creek. Wendy talks about the different elements from her hobbies and interests in the outdoors that played a part of her creating this eco-horror tale, and how the mushrooms kept pushing their way into the story.
She also talks about how working on Lightspeed and Nightmare magazines has helped with writing her own novels and stories, and working with other authors to fine tune their works.
Website: winniewoohoo.com
Instagram: @wendy.n.wagner
Bluesky: @wnwagner.bsky.social

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Thriller author Kaira Rouda chats about her latest nail-biter, Jill Is Not Happy, and about writing a main character who is not your typical wife… one who’s determined to keep her marriage intact at all costs.
Kaira talks about creating Jill’s persona and her relationship with her husband Jack, and the dynamic between them as the cracks widen between what they expect and what they want, both from life going forward and each other.
We also talk about the appeal thrillers have for her and why she enjoys playing in the spaces of the illusions of “perfect lives” of some sneaky, shady people, and much more. Grownups behaving badly always provide fresh story angles.
Jill is still on her book tour with a handful of events left: https://kairarouda.com/events/
Website: kairarouda.com
Website: killerauthorclub.com
Instagram: @kairarouda
Twitter/X: @KairaRouda

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Science journalist Lizzie Wade talks about how her interests in archaeology and anthropolgy led to her researching how apocalypses througout history have changed civilization.
Her curiosity about collapsing societies adapting to change and working to recover and rebuild led her to research how people lived through those transformations and things that changed to help people begin to thrive again. She goes into how archaeologists have found evidence of people collaborating and surviving after cataclysmic events, and how these should be looked at more often as endings that lead to transformations and new beginnings.
Lizzie also talks about the apocalyptic effects of colonialism and slavery can have, and how long-lasting those effects have been and continue to be on our current world, but she also talks about reimagining the possibilities for hope and rebuilding for the future.

APOCALYPSE: How Catastrophe Transformed Our World and Can Forge New Futures is available now.
Website: lizziewade.com
Substack: The Lizzie Wade Weekly
Science articles: https://www.science.org/content/author/lizzie-wade

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Rucker Moses’ newest middle-grade science fiction adventure, Encounter at Owl Rock, pits urban teens against unseen alien invasion in the Atlanta suburb they call home.
Rucker Moses is the writing team comprised of the Emmy-nominated duo Craig S. Phillips and Harold Hayes Jr., along with Theo Gangi, a novelist and director of the creative writing MFA program at St. Francis College.
We talk about writing as a team (both duo and trio), the fun of writing science fiction (and the conversations amongst themselves that start with arguing about movies and television), their different story-telling views on science fiction and fantasy, the inspiration for using an abandoned theme park as the centerpiece of this story, and so much more.
And yes, plans are in the works to explore related shenanigans in other cities.
Encounter at Owl Rock will be available June 3.
Website: ruckermoses.com
Instagram: @rucker.moses
Twitter/X: @rucker_moses

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Author, editor and publisher Edward Willett talks about the “Shapers of Worlds” anthology series, and the fifth and final volume in the series is now available. This series has featured science fiction and fantasy authors who have been guests on the Aurora Award-winning podcast The Worldshapers, hosted by Edward.
Ed also talk about future publications from Shadowpaw Press, and the continuing expansion of the Worldshapers podcast into genres beyond science fiction and fantasy, and beyond the creative processes of the guest authors.
Website: shadowpawpress.com, edwardwillett.com
Instagram: @shadowpawpress
Podcast: theworldshapers.com

Promo: Locus Magazine: 2025 Fundraiser
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Horror author Philip Fracassi talks about his first foray into science fiction with the thriller The Third Rule of Time Travel.
Philip talks about how his interest in various advanced scientific concepts led to him implementing the science behind the time travel method used in this book, and the appeal of balancing the science fiction elements with the thriller elements in the story. Philip also talks about the characters and their development in connection to the time travel project and how the protagonist Beth has many pressures from all sides, and also dealing with people she cannot completely trust.


Article: Philip Fracassi: Five Things I Learned Writing The Third Rule Of Time Travel
Website: pfracassi.com
Instagram: @pfracassi
Bluesky: @pfracassi.bsky.social
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Andrew Ludington’s debut novel The Splinter Effect mixes an Indiana Jones-style protagonist with the problems inherent in a society where time travel is a just a different type of tool to work with.
He talks about coming up with the rules and problems that come from time travel usage in this world, and what can happen when shady corporations and wealthy individuals have the resources to slide around those pesky government regulations regarding devices that allow time travel. The thought of an archaeologist with the means to go back in time to locate lost items of historical significance is intriguing, along with the ethical tightropes that need to be adhered to.

Upcoming appearances:
April 26 2025: New Book Joy (Chicago IL)
May 25 2025: The Bookman (Grand Haven MI)
Website: andrewludington.com
Instagram: @andrewludington
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Horror author John Ward talks about his middle grade “Scareville” series, and how it’s being reissued by Crystal Lake Publishing, and being expanded with new volumes. The existing seven books will be reprinted this year with their original cover art, one book a month until it’s time to launch the first new book in the series this fall.
John talks about how he decided he wanted to write horror for younger audience (the Goosebumps influence from his reading), and came up with Scareville as the title, tempering how scary the horror would be for the younger audience, and picking which stories to tell next in the series.
Crystal Lake’s planned expansion of the series into other media, such as graphic novels and games, is exciting news for current fans and new fans just discovering the stories.
Readers also have a chance to join the Patreon for the Scareville Army, to get preview looks at stories and merchandise, and more.
Website: Crystal Lake Publishing
Patreon: The Scareville Army
Instagram: @scareville_books


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Dark Delicacies owner and horror author Del Howison talks about his new short story collection, What Fresh Hell is This?, and about the legacy of the world renowned Dark Delicacies horror bookstore on the eve of closing the physical store in Los Angeles.
This collection is a retrospective of fiction he’s published throughout the years but have never been collected in one volume (let’s hope there’s a Volume 2 in planning).
If you’re in the Los Angeles area, the final signing at Dark Delicacies will be March 22 at 3pm PT, where Del will be signing What Fresh Hell is This?. The bookstore’s last day will be April 5. But if you’re running a horror convention and you think Del might be a great panelist, he’s going to be available soon.
Website: darkdel.com

Are there any historic or iconic bookstores you would like to see, or have seen in the past? Let us know! Send Summer an email, or have your say in the comments below!

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Crystal Lake Publishing’s Joe Mynhardt talks about their new Shadows & Ink series, and their efforts to nurture current and future horror writers.
Jow talks about how Shadows & Ink came about and the development of the series, and the mastermind program of mentorship and training that goes along with it, and the plans to add to the available resources for writer development. He talks in depth about what he envisions the mastermind program to help with not only creative development but helping writers with exploring marketing and multiplatform options for their stories and IP.
There are also plans for Crystal Lake to expand into additional imprints focused on thrillers and fantasy fiction, as well as a young adult imprint (Crystal Cove Press). Look for more details about those ventures later in 2025!
Website: Crystal Lake Publishing, Crystal Cove Press
Instagram: @crystal_lake_publishing
Patreon: Crystal Lake: Where Stories Come Alive!, The Scareville Army


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