New Podcast: Blake Crouch And Wayward Pines

I've had the pleasure of knowing Blake Crouch for several years now, ever since he submitted the fabulous "The Newton Boys' Last Photograph" to the Hint Fiction anthology. He and Joe Konrath have ruled the indie publishing world, starting with their nasty short story Serial and then branching out to publish their own works. Blake self-published his thriller Run, which went on to sell over 100,000 copies, and then published Pines with Amazon's thriller imprint Thomas & Mercer (its sequel, Wayward, was released back in September). Pines was such a success that Fox is turning it into an event series to premiere next summer with so many top-notch stars I can't even list them all here. Blake took some time out of his busy schedule to talk about the Wayward Pines series, Kindle Worlds, self-publishing, and Confidence Girl, which features one of Blake's favorite characters Letty Dobesh.

Blake Crouch And Wayward Pines

New Podcast: Joe Hart And The River Is Dark

Joe Hart is a relatively new writer who is making a big splash in the independent publishing world -- hell, the publishing world. Within two years he's published four novels, the most recent the thriller The River Is Dark, all with great reader reviews. Before this, though, he hadn't published much at all, and now, within two years, he's writing full time. Joe took some time to talk to me about his latest release and how he got into self-publishing and what's worked for him. Plus, he's offering up five digital copies of The River Is Dark, but you have to listen to find out how you can score one. Enjoy!

In Which Joe Hart And I Talk The River Is Dark

In Which Tristan Morris And I Talk Audiobooks

The Calling and Spooky Nook have been released in audio for over two months now, and they've been selling really well. One of the main reasons for that, I believe, is the amazing performance Tristan Morris does narrating both books. Tristan is relatively new to the audiobook scene, but I'm confident that someday he'll become a household name. Yesterday Tristan took some time out of his busy schedule to talk with me about the whole process behind narrating an audiobook. Plus, as a bonus, I'm offering up two digital audiobook copies of The Calling. Listen and learn how you can win. Enjoy!

In Which Tristan Morris And I Talk Audiobooks

In Which Robert Ford And I Discuss The Compound

Robert Ford is one cool cat. Not only is he the author of the wonderful novella Samson and Denial, he also penned the recent zombie novel The Compound. Bob took some time out of his busy schedule to sit down with me and discuss his work, the craft of writing, and even offer up three digital copies of The Compound. To find out how you can win, listen and enjoy! (Note: you may have to turn the volume up a bit for this one.)

In Which Robert Ford And I Discuss The Compound

Scamming The Scammers

The other day my wife got a strange letter in the mail. There was no return address, and her name and our address was handwritten. Inside the letter was this single piece of paper:

Looks legit, doesn't it?

Like most people, I would have trashed the letter and envelope and forgot all about it. But I'm not like most people. So I figured, hey, my friends Holden McGroin and Mike Hunt haven't made an appearance lately, so why not give the number a call and see what happens. I called via Skype and recorded both conversations -- the first is pretty short -- and I've edited out the wait times for both calls, which were over three minutes each. The first guy I don't feel bad about, but the second guy seemed decent enough that I almost wanted to warn him about what kind of scam he was helping to perpetuate. Also, the website he mentions? It's certainly a website, but check out the links at the bottom, and see how many followers they have on Twitter and how many likes on Facebook. Yeah, looks REALLY legit. So I figured, hey, why not call the number on the website, too ...

Scamming the Scammers