The Thrill of Suspense: Four Authors on the Art of Crafting Spine-Tingling Fiction

What makes suspense so thrilling--writing it and reading it? Hear from four great suspense novelists about the art and craft of creating their spine-tingling books. We’ll discuss current trends in suspense, as well as the tricks and traps of creating thrillers that keep you up at night.

Panelists:

Libby Cudmore is the author of Negative Girl (Datura 2024) The Big Rewind (William Morrow 2016) and the Martin Wade PI series at Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine, Tough and Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine. Her work has been published in Monkeybicycle, Orca, Smokelong Quarterly, Had, The Coachella Review, The Dark, The Normal School, The Stoneslide Corrective,and others. She has also been published in the anthologies Hanzai Japan, Mixed Up, Welcome Home, A Beast Without a Name and the Anthony-nominated Lawyers, Guns and Money, (co-edited with Art Taylor). She is the recipient of the 2023 Black Orchid Novella Award, a 2023 Shamus Award and the 2018 Oregon Writers Colony prize, a four year alumnae of the Barrelhouse Writer Camp, and the co-host of the Ost Party, The Shattered Shield and the Misbehavin’ podcasts.

Liz Alterman the author of the memoir Sad Sacked, the young adult thriller He’ll Be Waiting, and the domestic suspense novels The Perfect Neighborhood and The House on Cold Creek Lane. Her essays and humor pieces have appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, McSweeney’s, Parents, and other outlets.

Laura Sims is the author of How Can I Help You, a New York Times, Publishers Weekly, Book Riot, and CrimeReads Best Book of the Year; a LibraryReads Top Ten Pick; and an Amazon Editors’ Pick. Sims’s first novel, Looker, was included on “Best Books” lists in Vogue, People Magazine, Real Simple, Entertainment Weekly, and more, and is now in development for television by eOne and Emily Mortimer’s King Bee Productions. An award-winning poet, Sims has published four poetry collections; her essays and poems have appeared in The New Republic, Boston Review, Lit Hub, and Electric Lit. She and her family live in New Jersey, where she works part-time as a children's librarian.

Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is an author and psychotherapist specializing in developmental trauma and racial identity. She is also a former ballet dancer with the Pacific Northwest and Pennsylvania Ballet companies. A Pushcart Prize nominee, Lisa’s short fiction has appeared in Literary Mama and The Piltdown Review; essays in LitHub, Longreads, Narrative.ly, The Common, Grok Nation, Oldster, and Mamalode. Lisa’s debut novel, Embers on the Wind, was released on August 1, 2022 by Little A Books. Her second novel, Mirror Me, will be released by Little A Books in December. A born-and-raised New Yorker, Lisa now lives in Montclair, New Jersey with her husband and dog. Lisa is the mother of two college kids.