20 Minutes with Joe McKinney

Award-winning author CW LaSart is serious about her storytelling. Her passion for the writerly arts is evident in the clarity and insight with which she speaks about her craft. LaSart’s “Ad Nauseam” and her contributions to to over a dozen publications and anthologies (including “Grimm Mistresses” from Ragnarok Publications) are just the first installments in her canon of tales that push the boundaries of horror.
Joined by the mighty Mike Luoma, we indulge in 20(esque) Minutes of seriously writerly exploration, uncovering some startling truths about the nature of short fiction, the dynamics of discovery writing, the key to building suspense, how much is too much in horror, and more. Great googly-moogly, gang… have your pencils poised and your seat belts strapped, then click that “PLAY” button and hold on!

Paul Elard Cooley (aka The Fiendmaster) has evolved a growing canon of psychological and supernatural horror. Notable not only for its bone-chilling dread, but also its use of history as the backdrop for the progression of tales he tells, Paula has distinguished himself as a storyteller and a student of history. And if you’ve heard what he does to Muppets, you might question our sanity in bringing him on the show. As it turns out, he’s a cool guys with a lot of excellent insights for writers and horror fans.

Clint Gaige – storyteller, film maker, and general badass – returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to lend his mojo with visual narratives to a story… no wait, excuse me… a SCRIPT brainstorm of a horror film exploring what happens when our children (ALL our children) turn on us.

The script concept is offered up by creageous Guest Writer Matteo Marsiello, a tale of what happens in a suburban Midwest town when the children go on a murder spree targeting the adults. Marie Bilodeau returns to take the co-host chair and together we enter the dark horrifying world of Matteo’s vision, exploring character arcs and thematic nuances, jumping and shadows and unearthing a treasure trove of Literary Gold. It’s yours for the taking if you DARE… to push that “PLAY” button!

So here we are, one year into our ongoing search for Literary Gold and we were wondering how we can celebrate. The answer came from long-time fan Peter Ellis… workshop our OWN stories (thanks, Peter)!

We have the remarkable Christopher Moore – author of exquisite tales of satirical humor – returning to the Big Chair, and we wheel in a second Big Chair for our Special Co-Guest Host and veteran RTP Host Alasdair Stuart! With this astonishing Duo of Awesomeness we are primed for some epic story workshopping… of Brion’s story idea!!

Brion’s tale of a dystopian post-apocalyptic horror serves as a marvelous opportunity not only to explore a very cool story idea, but also to observe how two masters of their craft approach the same story terrain. The end result is an intricate tapestry of concept and perception woven densely with threads of Literary Gold.

Dan Wells – author of “The Hollow City”, “Partials”, the John Cleaver series, and co-host of the Parsec-award winning “Writing Excuses” Podcast – returns to the Roundtable to add his experience and insights to this weeks workshop. Our Guest Writer is Dan Absalonson – an author with two tales on Amazon and his own podcast – who brings a marvelous zombie/robot scifi thriller tale to the table. The discussion is brisk, moving from one intriguing topic to the next, each stop revealing more literary gold. This is classic RTP goodness, friends… join us!

Jake Bible – author of “Reign of Four: I”, “Dead Team Alpha”, and so much more – returns to the Big Chair at the Roundtable to lend his brainstorming mojo (literally) to workshopping a tale of zombies as you’ve never. seen them before.

The tale is offered up by Guest Writer (and fellow Onder Librum creator) AJ Hare, a story of college life, fast/slow brilliant zombies, and the challenges of overcoming the world’s expectations of you. Joined once again by co-host and author Suzzane Church, we delve into AJ’s twisted world of slackers, frat boys, and diabolical zombies, in search of sweet sweet brains… I mean, gold! Literary Gold! Which, of course, we find. The creative mayhem begins as soon as you hit that “PLAY” button!

David Annandale describes horror as “the cluster of tactics and strategies that set about to create the effect of horror.” As such, it can be…

“By night, David Annandale brings doom to untold billions as a writer of Warhammer 40,000 fiction for the Black Library, most recently in the novels The Death of Antagonis, Yarrick: Imperial Creed, The Damnation of Pythos and Maledictus. As the author of the horror novel Gethsemane Hall, he hopes to end sleep for you forever. And in his Jen Blaylock thrillers (Crown Fire, Kornukopia, and The Valedictorians), he does his best to blow up everything in sight. During the day, he poisons minds as he teaches film, video games and English literature at the University of Manitoba. If you have any fragments of hope still left, you can have them crushed at his website or by following his Twitter account.”

Do you see why we wanted him on the RTP?

For Brian Kirk, storytelling is more than a career. It’s a way of life and a way of living. Author of the newly released (and deeply disturbing) “We Are Monsters”, Brian pursues his craft with the rigor and discipline of someone who truly loves what they do.

Joined by co-host horror writer CW LaSart (who has been on the RTP a few times before), we indulge in a fabulous 20(ish) minutes of writerly discourse with Brian, discussing why he writes, finding the “writer’s zone”, how to infuse terror into any scene, the distinction between “hero” and “protagonist”, and more. The writerly goodness flows like wine… grab a cup, hit the “PLAY” button and get some for yourself

Dan Wells is an author who has crafted some truly superb tales that shine a light on the darker facets of humanity, including the John Cleaver novels, the dystopian YA novel “Partials” (and the soon to be released sequel “Fragments”, The Hollow city, and more. He’s also one of the co-hosts of the Parsec Award winning Writing Excuses podcast. With such a vast range of experience in both the crafting of fiction as well as discussing the finer points of the craft, you know this 20(ish) minutes is going to be chock full of writerly goodness. And you know what? You’d be absolutely right!

Alasdair Stuart – media connoisseur, game designer, and mastermind of the Escape Artists podcasts – has co-hosted and guest hosted on the APN many times. The reason, of course, is that he IS the “Man of Words” and a true aficionado of the storyteller’s craft, so it’s always a delight to have him wax rhapsodic on the nigh-infinite range of topics in which he is conversant.

Joined by co-host, John Adamus, we indulge in (way more than) 20 minutes of writerly discourse, exploring how gender defines horror narratives, advocacy of inclusive strategies for writers and authors, how to tell a story (or run a game, in this case) in a deeply established media property, and more!

J. Robert King has told hundreds of stories, including “The Incubus Tweets”, “Guild Wars: Edge of Destiny”, “Angel of Death”, and more… and with each story, he seeks a truth. What he finds is rarely what he set out looking for, but he persists in following his stories faithfully and honestly. That makes him a badass in our book.

Joined by veteran podcaster, storyteller, and former Guest Host, John Mierau, we engage in a most intriguing 20(ish) minutes of writerly discourse with Rob, exploring the nature of evil in fiction (and ourselves), the end of the “age of the author”, and more. There’s writerly goodness (and maybe one or two epiphanies) awaiting you, friends… it’s all just a “PLAY” button away

Larry Santoro is an explorer of expression. He has pursued and taught theater, written poetry and plays, produced films, hosted podcasts (like Tales to Terrify, part of the District of Wonders Network), and – of course – stories and novels.

While much of his work has been classified as horror, Larry contends that he’s not a horror writer… his stories just turn out that way. Paul E. Cooley joins me as co-host for this episode as we delve into the creative perspectives of this remarkable individual.