Suspense, Mystery, Horror and Thriller Fiction MARCH 2014 Masters of Suspense ALLAN LEVERONE ALLISON BRENNAN C.J. BOX STEVEN SAYLOR JEFFERY DEAVER America's Favorite Authors FaceoFF Lisa Gardner vs. M.J. Rose InternatIonal thrIller WrIters Reader’s Corner & Meet Debut Author WIth Brad Parks Stefaunia Dhillon From the Editor C r e di t s I keep hearing something really quite John Raab President & Chairman disturbing. For some reason, even in today’s ever-changing technology age, people still Shannon Raab consider e-book-only authors to be less than Creative Director “true” authors. Romaine Reeves For example: If you watched the Super CFO Bowl this year, you know the name Peyton Starr Gardinier Reina Manning. He is the starting QB of the Executive Editor Denver Broncos. But who is the backup? Just Jim Thomsen because Peyton is the starter doesn’t mean his Copy Editor backup—Brock Osweiler, by the way—isn’t an NFL player. What about all the bands that Contributors now have their own record label and place their music only on iTunes or Amazon for Donald Allen Kirch Mark P. Sadler digital download? Just because they don’t have a CD in the stores, they aren’t musicians? Susan Santangelo The same goes for authors that choose to publish in e-book form only. They don’t DJ Weaver CK Webb need to have a print book on the shelves of Barnes & Noble to be considered an author. Kiki Howell Now, if you are Lee Child or Stephen King, your books would be available everywhere, Kaye George Weldon Burge but a J.A. Konrath who only publishes e-books is an author also and part of the same Ashley Wintters group as authors that are more well known. Scott Pearson D.P. Lyle M.D. The ITW—International Thriller Writers association—is a perfect example of Kathleen Heady placing all authors in the same class. There is no better organization for writers on the Stephen Brayton Brian Blocker planet that make the smaller debut author feel part of the group that includes Lee Child, Andrew MacRae David Morrell, David Balducci, Brad Meltzer, and many more New York Times bestselling Val Conrad Laura Alden authors. The ITW realizes that all authors that have their work published, not only by Melissa Dalton one of the big publishers but the smaller ones also, are simply authors. People who think Elliott Capon authors are legitimate only if their books are printed and sold in bookstores, should take J.M. LeDuc Holly Price a step back and think about why they are discriminating against e-book-only authors. Kari Wainwright Yes, Peyton Manning is a lot more David Ingram Jodi Hanson successful than his backup, and Van Halen is Amy Lignor a lot better known than 8Lb Pressure, but they Susan May Jenny Hilborne are all part of the same group in their respective Sharon Salonen fields. So it’s time to take the blinders off and Anthony J. Franze Jeanine Elizalde go search out some wonderful e-book-only Kristin Centorcelli authors who are busting their butts just as hard Jerry Zavada Ray Palen as the bestsellers. You could be missing out on S.L. Menear the next great story, or find an author that in Sherri Nemick Leslie Borghini five years is on the NY Times bestseller list. You won’t know if you don’t start looking, Customer Service and Subscriptions: and right after you are finished reading the rest For 24/7 service, please use our website, of the magazine, take some time and search www.suspensemagazine.com or write to: SUSPENSE MAGAZINE at Amazon.com for that next great book. 26500 Agoura Road, #102-474 Calabasas, CA 91302 Suspense Magazine does not share our John Raab magazine subscriber list to third-party CEO/Publisher companies. Suspense Magazine ■ Rates: $24.00 (Electronic Subscrip- tion) per year. All foreign subscrip- tions must be payable in U.S. funds. “Reviews within this magazine are the opinions of the individual reviewers and are provided solely to provide readers assistance in determining another's thoughts on the book under discussion and shall not be interpreted as professional advice or the opin- ion of any other than the individual reviewer. The following reviewers who may appear in this magazine are also individual cli- ents of Suspense Publishing, an imprint of Suspense Magazine: Mark P. Sadler, Starr Gardinier Reina, Ashley Dawn (Wintters), DJ Weaver, CK Webb, Elliott Capon, J.M. LeDuc, S.L. Menear, Leslie Borghini, and Amy Lignor.” SuspenseMagazine.com 1 CONTENT Su Sp E n se M ag a z i n E March 2014 / Vol. 055 From the Synchronicity Side . 3 Stranger Than Fiction: Operation: Tabernacle By Donald Allen Kirch . 6 Inspired From Within: Meet Debut Author Stefaunia Dhillon . 8 America’s Favorite Suspense Authors: FaceOff By Anthony J . Franze . 12 Online School for ThrillerFest . 14 The Country House By Jonathan Brett . 15 A “Goliath” Interview: Meet Author Steven L . Shrewsbury . 21 Inside the Pages: Suspense Magazine Book Reviews . 24 Suspense Magazine Movie Reviews . 38 B .J . Daniels: Sets her Sights on Big Sky Country . 39 Featured Artist: Gaetano Pezzillo . 43 Special Excerpt: “Notorious” By Allison Brennan . 51 The Twelve By Vincent Zandri . 60 International Thriller Writers: Reader’s Corner By Brad Parks . 70 The Difference Between Writing True Crime & Fiction By John Foxjohn . 71 The End is Near . Again! By CK Webb . 77 From the Synchronicity Side: How her Story Ended up Alongside New York Times Bestsellers By Suspense Magazine Press Photo Credit (Susan May and Hugh Howey): Provided by Authors “From the Indie Side” could easily be labeled “The Synchronicity Project,” because it came together through a set of events that West Australian author Susan May could never imagine happening. In February 2013, May, who writes film reviews for Suspense Magazine, was in bed reading Perth author Sara Foster’s interview responses for an article she was writing. In her answers, Foster mentioned being impressed with the way Hugh Howey had taken control of his career. May thought, I know that name. Then looked over to her bedside table and there was Hugh Howey’s “Wool,” a book sent to her by Random House for review. Intrigued, she googled Howey and learned of his extraordinary experience and success as an indie author. He cut one of the first deals that enabled an author to keep his e-book rights while selling off his paper-book rights to Simon & Schuster for a six-figure sum. She decided she should interview him in order to learn more about independent publishing. Howey was gracious enough to not only agree to an interview but to also offer her encouragement to become an indie author. May’s goal until this point had been to gain a publishing deal with a major publisher, but she decided that the life of an indie author seemed a better fit to achieve her own career goals. May’s husband suggested that if she were going to self- publish, she should get a bunch of authors together with a cross-promotional anthology. Full of enthusiasm for the idea, Susan approached Hugh Howey to contribute. Howey agreed, telling her, “I love it.” Then May went back to Sara Foster, whose comment had begun the whole journey, and asked her to contribute. Even though speculative fiction was not the genre of Foster’s previous bestselling books, she agreed, excited by the challenge. “After reading “Wool” and the follow-on book “Shift,”” says May, “I’d become a Howey fan, following his trajectory and blog with huge interest.” In July, when Howey revealed his editor was a lone freelancer, David Gatewood, she contacted him to edit work she intended to self-publish. May was impressed with Gatewood’s work and asked him to consider becoming editor of the anthology. Even at that stage, she wasn’t really sure how the two of them were going to pull it together. He lived on the other side of the world in Norfolk, Virginia, and they were separated by half a day in time zones. U.S. author Brian Spangler, the third collaborator, came on board when May was perusing the list of works of other Gatewood clients on his website. Spangler had just released a Kindle Worlds Wool Silo Saga novel in a new category of fan SuspenseMagazine.com 3 fiction created by Amazon whereby, via a license with the original FROM THE INDIE SIDE creator—in this case Hugh Howey—authors could write in popular Edited by David Gatewood fictional and television worlds. From the first page to the last, “From the Indie “The idea of licensed fan fiction intrigued me as a great way Side” is sensational. Each story grabs you by the throat, of accessing fans who were still clamoring for more stories in squeezes, and doesn’t let go until long after you’ve established worlds,” said May, “So I made contact with Brian and finished. Each story written in a style reminiscent of before I knew it he was an enthusiastic part of the team.” Rod Serling’s Twilight Zone is part thriller and fantasy. The three labeled themselves “facilitators,” not publishers or Each story is excellent, but I will mention a few that producers. They believed they were there not to impact or interfere stayed with me. with the initiative and creativity of the contributors. The production The Winter Lands by Jason Gurley shocks you. It of twelve unique works simply flowed through their hands to the tells of an older gentleman who had been writing his readers with minor editing.