I’ve known Richie Narvaez mostly as a great crime novelist, with works like Roachkiller and Other Stories, Hipster Death Rattle, Holly Hernandez and the Death of Disco, and Noiryorican. But he is also a writing teacher, a speaker and one of the very best short fiction authors on the market today. His short stories appear in any number of anthologies, including one that I just grabbed my copy of, ON FIRE AND UNDERWATER: A CLIMATE CHANGE CRIME FICTION ANTHOLOGY, edited by our mutual friend Curtis Ippolito.

My guest today is someone with whom most of you have at least a tangential relationship. How is that possible? Well, because before he started writing compelling techno-thrillers, he spent much of his career at Microsoft, where he led the creation and development of a little thing you might have heard of – the Xbox. His first technothriller – THE WILKES INSURRECTION – came out in 2021. That one introduces us to his lead protagonist, Major Tamika Smith, a failed intelligence officer in search of redemption as she goes up against an elusive extremist hell-bent on destroying America. Smith, now a U.S. Senator, is back in his new book, THE BLOCKCHAIN SYNDICATE, which comes out on October 21st. This time Smith’s challenge is even greater and more personal – her boyfriend is kidnapped after a school shooting injures his daughter, forcing her to confront a shadowy criminal syndicate aiming to “fix” America their way.

Most of the authors who join me on this show are fiction writers, but this week I bring you a conversation with the really great nonfiction author Andrea Lankford. A former National Park Service ranger and investigator, Lankford's latest book TRAIL OF THE LOST is a gripping tale of her efforts to help find a trio of missing Pacific Crest Trail hikers who all seemed to vanish without a trace. One might think this would be an easy sale to publishers, but her path from concept to the NYT bestsellers list was anything but a gentle walk in the woods.