Listen, if you’re getting raptured this week, we’d appreciate it if you set the contents of your liquor cabinets outside now and left your car unlocked and the keys on the dashboard. This will save time for all of us left behind. Thanks!

This was a cool exercise—writing about which books share DNA with “On Fire and Under Water.” Grateful to the @wirobooks.bsky.social for inviting and hosting me. With mentions of work from John Woods, Ivy Pochoda, @jordanharper.bsky.social, and Delfina Cuuero.

Literally more shit to deal with.

What movie do you consider perfect?

I'm off the internet for four hours and suddenly everyone's talking the rapture is Tuesday when we all know it happened on January 12, 1981 as the second single from the "Autoamerican" album.

Quality content.

Thanks to Craig Francis Coates at Cold Caller for letting me ramble about writing and my story “Road to Nowhere,” in this year’s Best American Mystery and Suspense. coldcallermag.substack.com/p/bams-25-me...

The Department of Justice has removed a study showing that white supremacist and far-right violence “continues to outpace all other types of terrorism and domestic violent extremism” in the United States. 🔗 www.404media.co/doj-deletes-...

Still time to sign up for my VIRTUAL short story, query writing and beginnings workshops! Classes start this week, so get those registrations in! writerscircleworkshops.jumbula.com/fall-2025-ad...

I’m not saying “Kathleen” by Josh Ritter is the greatest love song of all time. What I am saying is, there haven’t been any better ones.

For Latinx/Hispanic Heritage Month, I put together a @bookshop.org list of my favorite mystery books by Latine authors, including @cynthiapelayo.bsky.social @gabino.bsky.social @nodarse.bsky.social @latinasleuths.bsky.social @silviamg.bsky.social. bookshop.org/lists/must-r... @crimewoc.bsky.social

Not that anyone asked, but here's my definitive list of the 10 greatest rock songs about heroin*. *The list was limited to one song by the Velvet Underground, a band whose entire catalog seems like an ode to the drug.

One of the many things I love about Jordan’s intensely powerful and almost violently prophetic crime fiction is that, with each new book, I’m convinced THIS ONE is his masterpiece. Then he goes and outdoes it with the next one. (That said, A VIOLENT MASTERPIECE is indeed that, and drops April 28).

"You are being musically mean to me and it's hurting my feelings so I am going to call the police department that we are supposed to be supporting to report a feels violation."

This is a country song about how people in appalachia should have empathy for black people. Its by Tyler Childers

A friend of mine was on Charlie Kirk's "watch list" of Black professors. She received so many death and rape threats that her university offered her a security detail for the walk to class. This is Kirk's legacy. You would never know it from reading all of these legacy newspaper op-eds about him.

My story "Haggling Over Price" from the @rhppress.bsky.social anthology THE ONE PERCENT is available to read for free. I would love a day where it’s never relevant, but today isn’t that day. jamesdfhannah.substack.com/p/44-hagglin...

I was worried that the scene in my new book where a crowd of rich and famous sex creeps in the VIP section of an ornate orgy toast themselves as "the Kids in the Candy Store" was over the top but now I'm mostly worried I didn't go far enough.

No one should have murdered Charlie Kirk. No one should lower their flag for Charlie Kirk. Thank you for coming to my Ted talk.

Remembering MN house speaker Melissa Hortman, her husband Mark and their beloved dog Gilbert. Murdered in June at their home by a rightwing Trump-voting evangelist, who also shot another MN lawmaker and his wife at THEIR home, 9 and 8 times, respectively (miraculously, they survived).

It has been 88 days.

We're still tired after last week here at That Noise at 2 AM, talking to Archer Sullivan about her debut novel, THE WITCH'S ORCHARD. jamesdfhannah.substack.com/p/43-five-fo...

The people you run into at #bouchercon #bunchawriters @kirstynpetras.bsky.social @jamesdfhannah.bsky.social @jdallen.bsky.social @cwblackwell.bsky.social @browneallover.bsky.social Fun was had!

We're scheduled for takeoff at That Noise at 2 AM, talking to @louberney.bsky.social about his new book, CROOKS. jamesdfhannah.substack.com/p/42-five-fo...

It's Tuesday, which sometimes means it's That Noise at 2 AM, and we're talking to @johncopenhaver.bsky.social about the queer crime fiction anthology CRIME INK: ICONIC. jamesdfhannah.substack.com/p/41-five-fo...

Gov. Pritzker: “Earlier today in the Oval Office, Donald Trump…asked for me personally to say, ‘Mr. President, can you do us the honor of protecting our city?’ Instead, I say, ‘Mr. President, do not come to Chicago. You are neither wanted here nor needed here.’”

It was great talking to @armandauthor.bsky.social about WHATEVER KILLS THE PAIN, though I spent much of the time talking about how amazing @pauljgarth.bsky.social, @coyhall.bsky.social, @jamesdfhannah.bsky.social, @libbycudmore.bsky.social, and @meaganlucas.bsky.social are 😎 youtu.be/RAolFA8NCZA

A recent story of mine from the great folks at Reckon Review - so honored to have it there. A moody piece about a young musician and the dark forces that powered his muse and rise to the top. reckonreview.com/song-of-the-...

As basic of an answer as this is, Pulp Fiction, because it altered how I looked at narrative and character and even attitude. It changed how I wanted to tell stories.

“I don’t care what anyone says, I like that movie.”

Sometimes resisting fascism looks like a Mexican flag bumper sticker on a white woman's Tacoma. #antifa, #chingalamigra, #abolishice, #fuckice, #nooneisillegal, #YourBordersKill, #refugeeswelcome

It's the pictures that got small at That Noise at 2 AM, where we discuss seeing smaller movies on bigger screens. open.substack.com/pub/jamesdfh...

Y'all, I'm moderating a panel at Bouchercon 2025 in New Orleans! @jamesdfhannah.bsky.social, Michael Cody, Michael Ferreter, D.R. Ransdell and Brian Silverman will be taking questions about MUSIC in MYSTERY. ... and then we'll all go to the record store... #mystery #bouchercon #writing #author

Fine, but how else am I supposed to get shrimp super powers?

Google's data center in Council Bluffs, Iowa used 1 BILLION gallons of water in 2024 - enough to supply all of Iowa's residential water for five days. Researchers in water law and policy explain how companies rarely tell the public exactly how much water data centers consume: buff.ly/KtLcLZ2

"Dave White is everything you hope for in a crime novelist" - @meganabbott.bsky.social "Dave White brings the goods." - CrimeSpree Magazine AN EMPTY HELL (Jackson Donne #4) is on sale for just $1.99. Pick up this great @davewhite.bsky.social thriller now. www.amazon.com/Empty-Hell-J...

Russian forces mocked Trump’s surrender to Putin by attaching American flags to their vehicles while riding into battle in Ukraine.

They can call it "civil disobedience," but it's really just breaking the law and bullying. Obviously they're "Christians" who only read the parts of the Bible they want to read. kentuckylantern.com/2025/08/18/t...

Real talk (reel talk?): BWDR recently lost a partnership that covered nearly half our operating budget, so things are suddenly very tough. If what we do has ever meant something to you, or you’ve ever thought about subscribing, now’s the time—it *truly* makes a difference.

NEW from DSM: A video published on YouTube showed a documentary filmmaker ordered to back away while filming the Eugene Police and subsequently learned that the department has its own "press." We've spoken to experts who agree this is very bad. Read about it ⤵️

TIL Thundarr the barbarian was voiced by Robert Ridgely, who played the Colonel in BOOGIE NIGHT, best known for uttering the immortal phrase "Jack says you've got a great big cock." Ridgely did a ton of voice work, including The Smurfs and Chuck Norris: Karate Kommandoes.

I drew this on my lunch break your excuses are fucking pathetic

"In the Bible mamma, Cain slew Abel And East of Eden mamma, he was cast You're born into this life paying For the sins of somebody else's past." 70s Springsteen went hard, y'all.

Folks. We have a digital arc of On Fire and Under Water. If you’re a reviewer and want a sneak peek for potential review, message me and I’ll send you a copy. We are thrilled at what this special anthology is shaping up to be. Coming Sept. 30. @rhppress.bsky.social

This is The Book of 2026 for me. Nothing else comes close.

You don't need to twist our arms to talk about Elmore Leonard for 45 minutes.

My story “Used To Be Some Kind of Badass” is up at Cold Caller Magazine. It’s a tale of brothers, revenge, and unfinished business. Check it out.