Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers

Dan Lutz - One Writer's Conundrum: Shaping a Novel to Sell

Dr. Dan Lutz began his education career and passion for international education as a high school teacher in the Teacher Corps in New York and the Peace Corps in Afghanistan. His career has included training new Peace Corps Volunteers in Iran, helping initiate the development of Korean Heritage Camp for families with adopted children from that country, serving on the Board of Directors for Colorado Heritage Camps, co-founding the International Studies Schools Association (ISSA), and teaching ...

40 Years of RMFW: Interview With Sharon Mignery

Sharon Mignerey is an author who loves sharing what she has learned with other authors.  She has been a workshop presenter at local and national conferences, including Romance Writers of America, RMFW's Colorado Gold conference and Pikes Peak Fiction Writers.  She has taught numerous online classes on the art and craft of writing. She is the author of 12 published novels, and has been a contributor to the Writer Magazine where one of her articles was chosen for the 2005 Writer’s Handbook. ...

Paulla Hunter & Rough Ride

Paulla Hunter is a long-time resident of Cheyenne, Wyoming. She lives in the historic downtown area of the city with her husband, Roger Schreiner, a volunteer and past chairman at Cheyenne Frontier Days. She is a member of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Wyoming Writers. She earned her B.A. from the University of Wyoming in English, Speech and Drama. She has a passion for history, reading, theatre, travel, and obviously writing. Rough Ride, published in 2022, is her f...

Jason Evans: A Day Of Genre

Jason Evans always wanted to be a writer, he just didn’t know it. He grew up in Southern California and taught high school social studies after college until he got married and moved to Denver in 2004. He continued in education and earned an MA in History, until he realized his heart was in fiction. Since 2012 Jason has had over a dozen short stories and essays published, ran an online magazine, and became a regular panelist at local conventions. He blogs regularly on his own website and new...

Mark Stevens & The Fireballer

Ffor the first time in more than seven years of producing this podcast, the host, Mark Stevens, takes the hot seat as a guest. The excuse is The Fireballer, a novel coming out rom Lake Union on January 1, 2023.  The writer firing the questions on this episode is Shannon Baker, the author of the Kate Fox Mystery Series, the Nora Abbott Mystery Series, the Michaela Sanchez Southwest Crime Thrillers, and a standalone novel, The Desert Behind Me. Shannon was twice named RMFW’s Writer of the Year...

tenderbastard & Poof

tenderbastard is a songwriter, playwright, screenwriter, novelist, activist, pancake enthusiast. He and his dog are public intellectuals. The tenderbastard pledge: "I do solemnly swear to be intelligent, kind, helpful, and to have fun as often as possible," reflecting our commitment to inspire creative conscientiousness. tenderbastard’s latest novel, released in September, is Poof. More: https://www.tenderbastard.com/ For video versions of these podcasts, follow: https://www.you...

Tamara Cribley & The Deliberate Page

Tamara Cribley is a self-professed formatting junkie who believes beautiful books don’t happen by chance. Having worked as a Commercial Photographer, Graphic Artist, and Art Director, Tamara’s unique skills enable her to put together classy and professional books that keep the reader focused on the story. She resides on the Palmer Divide and, in her free time, enjoys reading, photography, and exploring with her dog, Sammy Sue. More: https://deliberatepage.com/staging/ For video versions ...

Gwen Florio & The Least Among Us

Award-winning journalist Gwen Florio has covered stories ranging from the shooting at Columbine High School to the glitz of the Miss America pageant and the more practical Miss Navajo contest, whose participants slaughter and cook a sheep. She’s reported from Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, as well as Lost Springs, Wyoming (population three). Florio turned to fiction in 2013 with the publication of her first novel, Montana, which won the Pinckley Prize for Debut Crime Fiction and a High Plain...

Karen Lin: The Ups & Downs & One Big Cautionary Tale About Working With Literary Agents

Karen is a hopeless foodie, award-winning novelist, produced screenwriter and writing coach. Many of her stories are inspired by her experience marrying into a Taiwanese family. Mu Shu Mac & Cheese and American Moon: A Chinese Immigrant Story are available on Amazon. She, her husband, and their two boys have traveled the world as she researches recipes for a literary cookbook.  She teaches for Princess and Celebrity cruise lines and writers conferences in Colorado where she’s part of a rich ...

T.O. Paine & The Excursion

T.O. Paine is a suspense novelist whose authentic characters triumph over extreme situations in challenging, true-to-life settings. Though his novels are contemporary, things always get out of control. Cults are real, anger is a disorder, and everyone loses when a friendly competition becomes an obsession. T.O. holds multiple degrees in computer science and spends extreme amounts of time running and cycling through the mountains of Colorado, USA. He has run over thirty marathons, ridden ov...

Josh Viola & Warren Hammond - Denver Moon: The Thirteen of Mars

Warren Hammond is known for his gritty, futuristic KOP series. By taking the best of classic detective noir, and reinventing it on a destitute colony world, Hammond has created these uniquely dark tales of murder, corruption and redemption. KOP Killer won the 2012 Colorado Book Award for best mystery. His last novel, Tides of Maritinia, was released in December of 2014. His first book independent of the KOP series, Tides is a spy novel set in a science fictional world. Josh bio: Joshua Vio...

David R. Slayton & Deadbeat Druid

David R. Slayton grew up in Guthrie, Oklahoma, where finding fantasy novels was pretty challenging and finding fantasy novels with diverse characters was downright impossible. Now he lives in Denver, Colorado and writes the books he always wanted to read. David’s debut, White Trash Warlock, was published in October 2020 by Blackstone Publishing and was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. Book two in the series, Trailer Park Trickster was released in October 2021. Book three, Deadbeat D...

Short Story Writer Francelia Belton

Francelia Belton’s love of short stories came from watching old Twilight Zone and Alfred Hitchcock Presents television shows in her youth. Her fiction has appeared in various publications, including "Dreaming of Ella" in Denver Noir by Akashic Books, and most recently, "Red Riding in the Hood" in Bizarre Bazaar by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers. Francelia's short story, “Knife Girl,” was a finalist in the 2020-2021 ScreenCraft Cinematic Short Story Competition and a semi-finalist in the 20...

A Chat With The Editors of Bizarre Bazaar, Veronica R. Calisto and Amy Drayer

This time on the Rocky Mountain Writer podcast, a chat with the co-editors of Bizarre Bazaar, the brand new short story anthology from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers that will debut in a few short weeks.   Veronica R. Calisto is a massage therapist, an alto, a writer of speculative fiction, and a big nerd. One of those rare Colorado natives, she has a degree in Molecular, Cellular, Developmental Biology and is a two-time American Idol reject. Veronica is best described as a walking music...

An Afternoon With James Lee Burke

On Saturday, July 16 the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers teamed up to host a vitual event--an interview of mystery writer James Lee Burke by fellow mystery writer (and RMMWA member) David Heska Wanbli Weiden.  This is the audio from that event.  To watch the interview on YouTube, visit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6FSMzELysg    

Ben Miller-Callihan - Handspun Literary Agency

Ben Miller-Callihan joined Handspun Literary Agency as an agent in 2019, after working behind the scenes since the agency's founding in tech support and bookkeeping roles, following more than a decade teaching high school English. Ben's interests include humor, YA, fantasy and speculative fiction, crossover fiction a la William Gibson and Erin Morgenstern, the macabre (for all ages), off-the-beaten-path folklore, deaf culture and community, and anything food-related. Writers from margina...

Angela Sylvaine & Frost Bite

Angela Sylvaine is a self-proclaimed cheerful goth who still believes in monsters. She adores reading and is always looking for a great book recommendation. Angela writes primarily horror, science fiction, and dark fantasy. She has published one novella, Chopping Spree, and her short stories have appeared in over two dozen publications. Her debut novel, Frost BIte, will be available in October of 2023 from Dark Matter INK. Angela  grew up in North Dakota and holds degrees in psychology and...

Amy Collins - Talcott Notch Literary Services

Amy Collins, Associate Agent with Talcott Notch Literary Services, has over 30 years’ experience matching books with readers. As a former book buyer, publisher, and sales director for one of the largest non-fiction publishers in the US, Amy has been focused on market and sales potential research for authors for over ten years. As an agent, she represents many authors who have signed deals with major publishers for non-fiction projects such as The Unseen Photos of Sesame Street, Sex and the C...

Michael Neff & Algonkian Writer Conferences

Michael Neff is an award-winning author, Pushcart-nominated poet, widely published short fiction writer, literary agent, writer conference organizer, as well as an accomplished developmental editor. His first novel All The Dark We Will Not See was published by the distinguished academic press, Serving House Books. A few years later, an urban fantasy, Magicians Impossible, was created and co-edited by him, and later published by Macmillan Books. His science-fantasy novels, Piper Robbin and Th...

Fleur Bradley & Daybreak on Raven Island

Fleur Bradley grew up in the Netherlands where she spent her childhood riding a bike, catching tadpoles, and reading Pippi Longstocking and Roald Dahl books. Her very favorite book was The BFG by Roald Dahl. She would read under the covers well past bedtime, secretly hoping for the BFG to knock on her window. Today, she is the author of several middle grade and young adult books, including Midnight at the Barclay Hotel, which was the winner of 2021 Colorado Book Awards for Juvenile Fiction. ...

LS Hawker - Writing A Thriller That Readers Can't Put Down

LS Hawker is the author of USA TODAY bestseller and ITW Thriller Awards finalist The Drowning Game, End of the Road, and The Throwaways. Starting July 1, she is teaching an online class for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers — Writing a Thriller That Readers Can’t Put Down.  Visit LSHawker.com to read about her adventures as cocktail waitress, traveling Kmart portrait photographer, and witness to basement exorcisms. For video versions of these podcasts, follow: https://www.youtube.com/pla...

Writer of the Year Nominees: Pamela Nowak, Karla M. Jay, Amy Rivers

This time on the Rocky Mountain Writer, a conversation with the three Writer of the Year Nominees.  Karla M. Jay is the award-winning author of When We Were Brave, It Happened in Silence, and The Puppet Maker's Daughter.  She makes her home in Salt Lake City. Over the years she has written in several different genres, ranging from humor to noir, but currently is focused on historical fiction. When she's not writing, she's reading, gardening, playing with her dog, or traveling to new places...

Hadley Ramsay: Co-Head of the TV/Film Department at Maria B. Campbell Associates

Hadley Ramsay is the co-head of the TV/Film department at Maria B. Campbell Associates, which is a literary scouting company that advises clients about American and international books for translation and publication in their markets, as well as adaptation into television and film. She's been in scouting for the entirety of her career, and has had the unique opportunity to work for both film/tv and international publishing. She's scouted for some incredible clients, including Netflix,  Monda...

Emily Bybee & Droplets of Magic

Emily grew up loving to read and escape into stories. She began writing her own stories at the age of twelve. In college she focused on science and graduated with a degree in Environmental Biology. After college she began writing again but quickly realized she had failed to take a single writing or grammar class. Luckily, she’s a quick learner.   Emily now lives in Colorado with her wonderful husband, three amazing children, and way too many animals. She still enjoys making up stories an...

Z.J. Czupor: Staying The Course in Search of Traditional Publication

Chuck Greaves & The Chimera Club

Chuck Greaves spent 25 years as an L.A. trial lawyer before turning his talents to fiction. He’s been a finalist for most of the major awards in crime writing including the Shamus, Macavity, Lefty, and Audie, as well as the New Mexico-Arizona, Oklahoma, and Colorado Book Awards, the CAL Award for Fiction, and the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction. The Chimera Club is his seventh novel is the fourth installment in his Jack MacTaggart series of legal mysteries. It launches on Tuesday, May 17....

All About the 2022 Colorado Gold Conference with Mira Landry and Kate Jonuska

Cynthia Swanson & Denver Noir

Cynthia Swanson writes literary suspense, often using historical settings. Her debut novel, The Bookseller, was a New York Times best seller, an Indie Next selection, and the winner of the 2016 WILLA Literary Award for Historical Fiction. Swanson’s second novel, the USA Today best seller The Glass Forest, was noted in Forbes as being one of “Five Novels with a Remarkably Strong Sense of Place.” She is the editor of the anthology Denver Noir, publishing May 3, 2022 from Akashic Books. Cyn...

Aimie K. Runyan & The School for German Brides

Aimie K. Runyan writes to celebrate history’s unsung heroines. She has been honored as a Historical Novel Society Editors’ Choice selection, as a three-time finalist for the Colorado Book Awards, and as a nominee for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer of the Year. Aimie is active as an educator and speaker in the writing community and beyond. Her next book, A School for German Brides, is being published next week (Tuesday, April 26) from William Morrow. Aimie lives in Colorado with her amazin...

Claire L. Fishback & You Can, Toucan!

Claire L. Fishback is an author, book coach, project manager, amazing wife, dog mom, and your guide to doing more in less time, project managing your writing life, being your own best cheerleader, and ultimately discovering your path to the writing career of your dreams. Her latest book, just out, is You Can, Toucan! - Do More In Less Time. For video versions of these podcasts, follow: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBP81nfbKnDRjs-Nar9LNe20138AiPyP8   You Can, Toucan! Websit...

Ralph Beckett & The Speculative Fiction Critique Group's New Anthology "Second Law"

Ralph Beckett is a science fiction author who publishes under the pen name R. C. Beckett. He was born in Los Alamos, New Mexico, home of the National Lab that invented the atomic bomb. As a teenager, a friend’s father gave him a huge collection of Fantasy & Science Fiction Magazine, thus started his love of the SciFi genre.  After a career in health care, he started his medical blog, Quality Health Care Please and began to write science fiction novels and started a website consulting busin...

The 2022 Colorado Gold Rush Literary Awards

This time on the Rocky Mountain Writer, an orientation to the 2022 Colorado Gold Rush Literary Award contest, hosted by Mindy McIntyre and Sue Hinkin. This is the audio from the webinar held Sunday, March 27.  Mindy and Sue  review the contest and the procedures and they also, discuss tips, and answer a few questions.   For video versions of these podcasts, follow: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBP81nfbKnDRjs-Nar9LNe20138AiPyP8 Intro Music by Moby Gratis: https://mobygrat...

Susan Spann & Fires of Edo

Susan Spann is the award-winning, bestselling author of the Hiro Hattori Novels featuring master ninja Hiro Hattori and Portuguese Jesuit Father Mateo, as well as Climb, a nonfiction chronicle of her quest to overcome cancer, break free from fear, and climb 100 Japanese mountains in a single year. Susan's first novel, Claws of the Cat, was a Library Journal Mystery Debut of the Month and a finalist for the Silver Falchion Award for Best First Novel.  The eighth novel in the series, just ...

Margaret Mizushima & The Timber Creek K-9 Mystery Series

Margaret Mizushima is the author of the award-winning and internationally published Timber Creek K-9 Mysteries. Active within the writing community, Margaret recently served as president for the Rocky Mountain Chapter of Mystery Writers of America. She was elected the 2019-2020 Writer of the Year by Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers, and is also a member of Northern Colorado Writers, Sisters in Crime, and Women Writing the West. Margaret lives in Colorado on a small ranch with her veterinaria...

Jon Christian-Rutigliano & Reclamation

Jon Christian-Rutigliano's credo is that individuals naturally gravitate toward the positive energy in life, and are at their best when left to their own devices. For good or bad, his work will always explore this proposition. When not writing, you can find Jon and his wife Krissy at their Colorado based ranch introducing his two rambunctious boys Dustin and Ryder to mother nature. Jon’s first novel, Reclamation, debuted in 2020.   More about Jon: www.jonchristianauthor.com For video ver...

Kelley J. P. Lindberg & True Love Never

Kelley J. P. Lindberg writes award-winning young adult and adult fiction, and she sometimes admits to having written several best-selling how-to books in her early career. When she isn’t writing or reading, she’s traveling as far and as often as she can. Kelley has spoken at numerous writing conferences and workshops, including the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers conference. Her fiction and essays have appeared in The Baltimore Review, The Citron Review, Chicken Soup for the Wine Lover’s So...

Shannon Lawrence & The Business of Short Stories

A fan of all things fantastical and frightening, Shannon Lawrence writes primarily horror and fantasy. Her stories can be found in over forty anthologies and magazines, and her three solo horror short story collections and her nonfiction title, The Business of Short Stories, are available now. You can also find her as a co-host of the podcast Mysteries, Monsters, & Mayhem. When she's not writing, she's hiking through the wilds of Colorado and photographing her magnificent surroundings, where...

Janet Fogg: Writing and Publishing on Kindle Vella

Award-winning author Janet Fogg’s focus on writing began while she was working as CFO for the coolest architectural firm in Boulder. Fifteen writing awards later she resigned from the firm and soon after signed a contract for her first published novel, Soliloquy, a HOLT Medallion Award winner. Fast forward about a million words, and she’s published three more novels and three World War II military histories. Now penning two Kindle Vella tales with a third on her event horizon, Janet and Bo...

Michele Packard & CounterIntelligence

Award-winning author Michele Packard comes from a military family and worked tirelessly as a cable tv executive before staying at home to raise her three children. She has written both fiction and non-fiction, using her experiences and sharp wit to share stories with others. When not writing, she is a frequent traveler with her husband and is the primary caretaker of the family's beloved labs.  Here latest novel, just out in December, is CounterIntelligence. More about Michele: www.miche...

Nancy Houser-Bluhm & Whispers for Terra

Nancy Houser-Bluhm has lived in the foothills west of Denver for over 20 years with her husband and miscellaneous pets. She hails from Michigan but always had a longing for the mountains after growing up watching Bonanza. Authentic communication with herself and others has been an ultimate life quest.  Nancy has had numerous prompted memoir-based articles in a local mountain newspaper. After working forty years as a Speech-Language Pathologist, both in the schools and health care, she reti...

Terri Benson & The Pickup Artist

A life-long writer, Terri Benson's fiction is both traditionally and self-published, with nearly a hundred additional articles and short stories published – many award winning. She was the Education Chair for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers for more than seven years, is an irregular blogger (in more ways than one), member of Sisters in Crime, presents workshops at writer’s conferences, and teaches night classes at Western Colorado Community College. Terri spends her non-writing time working a...

Melissa Payne & The Night of Many Endings

As a middle child, Melissa Payne was born to tell stories. What started with blaming her brother for breaking the car window evolved to a graduate thesis that she desperately wishes she could rewrite to blogging on motherhood and marriage. Now she likes to create stories set in wild and beautiful places with characters in flawed and imperfect relationships, whether that’s between a mother and a daughter, friends or strangers. And imagining all of it with just a hint of the ethereal, a whispe...

Nicole Sullivan: The Community-Focused World of BookBar

Nicole Sullivan's love of all things books and reading led her to open BookBar in Spring of 2013. After studying Culinary Arts at the Colorado Art Institute, she knew books, food, and wine would make a great combination. She is the founder and president of BookGive, BookBar's non-profit organization, and BookBar Press, launched in 2020.    Additionally, she serves on the Board of Directors for Mountains and Plains Independent Booksellers Association. She holds a BA in Anthropology from t...

Kate Jonuska & Broken: A 30th Street Fiction Anthology

Kate Jonuska is an indie author, freelance writer, and yoga teacher who is currently serving as Vice President of the RMFW Board as well as Conference Co-Chair. Her debut novel (Transference) was a finalist for the 2017 BookLife Prize. And the second edition of her non-fiction book, Dictionary of Fiction Critique, published in 2020. As a part of the critique group 30th Street Fiction, she's published three anthologies, including Broken: A 30th Street Fiction Anthology, currently availabl...

John M. Campbell - Winning First Place in the Writers of the Future Contest

John M. Campbell has made a career in the aerospace industry. Now, he speculates on the worlds currently unknown to us that science and engineering may unlock. He is compelled by the promise technology offers to address many of the issues facing human survival. The prospect of extraterrestrial life in our solar system and the outer planets fascinates him.  He finds intriguing the likelihood that machine intelligence will likely surpass mankind’s ability to control it in this century. Inspira...

Kate Lansing & Mulled To Death

Kate Lansing lives in Denver, Colorado with her husband, daughter, and a chair-napping tabby cat named Maple. Her love for mysteries began when she devoured From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler as a young girl, and has grown from there. An award-winning short story author, her work has appeared in the Brave New Girls Anthology and the Crossing Colfax Anthology. She writes the Colorado Wine Mystery series—the third book in the series, Mulled to Death, was released in late Oc...

Writer of the Year Speeches

This time on the podcast, the Writer of the Year speech by Sue Hinkin and the Independent Writer of the Year speech by Andre Gonzalez — both delivered at last weekend’s Colorado Gold conference in Denver.  First up is Sue Hinkin and at the beginning she references the news that PAL, the Published Authors League and IPAL, the Independent Published Authors League, will merge into one group to be known as Published Authors Alliance and to be led by the aforementioned Andre Gonzalez.  Apologies ...

Jon Marcantoni & The Colorado Author Program at Tattered Cover Bookstore

Jon Marcantoni is the Local Author Coordinator at Tattered Cover as well as the founder of LCG Media, a publishing and multimedia company. He is the author of five books, including the award-winning Kings of 7th Avenue. His work has appeared in Latino Rebels, Warscapes, Across the Margin, PANK Magazine, The New Engagement, Minor Literatures, 3 AM, Label Me Latino, and he has been featured in the Huffington Post, Washington Post, El Nuevo Dia in Puerto Rico, The LA Times, and NPR's Frontera s...

Andre Gonzalez, 2021 Independent Writer of the Year

Andre Gonzalez is the international bestselling author of the Wealth of Time Series. He writes time-travel, thriller, and horror books after spending many years reading and studying the works of Stephen King and Dean Koontz. Keeping readers up late and their hearts pumping a bit faster than normal is his ultimate goal when cracking open one of his books. Andre is the recipient of the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers 2021 Independent Writer of the Year award. When he’s not writing, you can fi...

Tasha Christensen - Debut Novel "As You Were" and Prepping for NaNoWriMo

Tasha Christensen believes the best love stories are found in the geekiest places. When not composing tuba closet make-out scenes, she enjoys writing music, getting way too competitive about board games, and exploring the gorgeous Rocky Mountains. Tasha lives with her husband, daughters, and an overly affectionate mutt named after her favorite Stranger Things character. As You Were, her debut novel, launched in August and on the podcast she talks about getting ready for NaNoWriMo - National ...