I am so pleased to have JD Core as my first Wednesday’s Guest on my new blog. JD is a mystery writer and a terrific supporter of other authors, and I met him online a couple of years ago. He has started a new venture for mystery and thriller authors and is here to tell us about the Thrills and Mystery Podcast. I’m also thrilled that he asked me to submit a story for a podcast, and he did a wonderful job narrating. But then, he’s an actor. Of course he would do a terrific dramatic reading.
Last year I wrote a post for this blog about a passion Maryann and I share, Community Theater. In that article I discussed the effect that my stage experience has had on my writing. What began for me as a pastime in high school, performing in musicals and drama club productions, ultimately led me to standup comedy and improv. Scripting for the stage led to story writing, which ultimately brought me to my current passion, writing mysteries, crime stories, and noir.
Ever since I began writing in earnest, I’ve had it in the back of my mind that I’d like to eventually narrate my own books. It’s the perfect opportunity to combine my passions, writing and performing.
Then last year I stumbled onto a new format – podcasting. Not only is podcasting the perfect opportunity to combine performing with writing, it also represents a route for marketing to and discovery by a whole new audience. Then I realized that the best way to truly build an audience with podcasting is to invite other writers onto the format – to share the stage. After all, one of the most fun things about acting and improv was the community aspect. Not to mention, the bigger the cast, the more likely you’ll have a full house.
So that’s why I’m here today – to shamelessly plug The Thrills and Mystery Podcast. But, to be honest, there’s more to Thrills and Mystery than just a weekly podcast aimed at selling books. The website, thrillsandmystery.com, is also a place where writers can workshop new stories with fans. It’s a place where genre fans of suspense, mystery, crime fiction, action, and similar sub-genres can come to find new authors with canons to explore and to have a hands-on experience in shaping tales which might – just might – become future classics.
Each week the Thrills and Mystery Podcast presents a short fiction work in audiobook form. Additionally, several times a year, the Thrills and Mystery website will produce an anthology of short fiction. The goal is that ultimately the site will grow to where there is a quinterly contest – five times a year. Every 10 weeks. (Quinterly is an actual word that other than my usage has only ever been used in reference to shearing sheep.) For the contest, readers will curate which submissions make it into the final volume based on having read two-thirds of each submission. The framework is already in place. We just need the interaction of the public to make it blossom.
If you’re a fan, tell your favorite writers to submit something to the anthology and the podcast, and then come to the site and participate. If you’re a writer, make a submission and then alert your fan base through social media, your email list, and in public appearances. Let’s make Thrills and Mystery a new paradigm and THE destination for a new interactive literary community.
Maryann’s fans might be particularly interested in tuning in this Monday, January 26 to hear my reading of Escaping Raul, a retooled version of the introduction to one of her books. By the way, writers who would like to do their own reading of their own work for the podcast are encouraged to do so. You’ll find everything you need to know at submissions.thrillsandmystery.com/
Let’s be honest. We could all do with more thrills and mystery in our lives.
Podcast on iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/thrillsandmysterys-podcast/id955463771
Podcast shownotes homepage – podcast.thrillsandmystery.com
My writing – tinyurl.com/lupalanding
Twitter – https://twitter.com/gamutman