Dan is an author who writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. 

Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Intergalactic Medicine Show and his debut novel, Titanshade, a noir fantasy thriller, is available now.

So listen in as Dan and I chat about this amazing book and how to combine the plot of a police procedural with the worldbuilding of fantasy. 

In this episode Dan and I discuss:

• Character driven stories vs. issue driven stories.
• How to set a speculative fiction world in a “retro” time period.
• Following predictable story tropes in unpredictable ways.
• How to discover your author’s Achilles’ heel.
• Presenting the world of your story to readers in an authentic way.

Plus, Dan’s #1 tip for writers.

About Dan Stout

Dan Stout lives in Columbus, Ohio, where he writes about fever dreams and half-glimpsed shapes in the shadows. His prize-winning fiction draws on travels throughout Europe, Asia, and the Pacific Rim as well as an employment history spanning everything from subpoena server to assistant well driller. 

Dan’s stories have appeared in publications such as The Saturday Evening Post, Nature, and Intergalactic Medicine Show. 

His debut novel, Titanshade, is a noir fantasy thriller available now from DAW Books.

To connect with Dan check out his website at www.DanStout.com.

Titanshade

This noir fantasy thriller from debut author Dan Stout introduces the gritty town of Titanshade, where danger lurks around every corner.

Carter’s a homicide cop in Titanshade, an oil boomtown where 8-tracks are state of the art, disco rules the radio, and all the best sorcerers wear designer labels. It’s also a metropolis teetering on the edge of disaster. As its oil reserves run dry, the city’s future hangs on a possible investment from the reclusive amphibians known as Squibs.

But now negotiations have been derailed by the horrific murder of a Squib diplomat. The pressure’s never been higher to make a quick arrest, even as Carter’s investigation leads him into conflict with the city’s elite. Undermined by corrupt coworkers and falsified evidence, and with a suspect list that includes power-hungry politicians, oil magnates, and mad scientists, Carter must find the killer before the investigation turns into a witch-hunt and those closest to him pay the ultimate price on the filthy streets of Titanshade.

If you decide to check out the book, we hope you’ll do so via this Amazon affiliate link, where if you choose to purchase via the link DIY MFA gets a referral fee at no cost to you. As always, thank you for supporting DIY MFA!

Link to Episode 259

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The post Episode 259: Crafting a Police Procedural in a Fantasy World — Interview with Dan Stout appeared first on DIY MFA.