Category Archives: The Writing Life

Steven Womack’s reflections on the writing life, publishing, and the journey…

WSMV-TV Interview On The Death of Robert Hansen

Dennis Ferrier, one of the lead reporters of our local NBC affiliate, WSMV-TV, came to my home office and interviewed me on September 1st about the death of Alaskan serial killer Robert Hansen. This whole creepy coincidence–where Robert Hansen died in a hospital prison ward the same day Wayne McDaniel and I met for the first time–is continuing to resonate with readers all over.

Yesterday, I was interviewed by a Kim Vangkilde, a reporter from the Danish newspaper Ekstra Badet. It seems Hansen is of Danish descent, and readers there are fascinated by this whole weird story…

If you’d like to see the interview with Dennis, you can find it at:

http://www.wsmv.com/story/26420906/nashville-mystery-writer-completes-book-on-serial-killer

On The Death Of A Serial Killer…

Or, I’ve got your minimum daily adult requirement of weirdness right here…

Three years ago, as I’ve written in this blog before, Wayne McDaniel and I formed a partnership to write the novel Resurrection Bay. We’ve been completely upfront about the fact that the novel is based on and inspired by the life and crimes of Robert Hansen, Alaska’s most famous serial killer. Hansen confessed to killing 17 women and raping at least 30 over a 12-year-period.

During the three years that Wayne and I worked on Resurrection Bay, we worked entirely by email and phone. We never met each other, never Skyped.

Didn’t even know what each other looked like…

Finally, last Thursday, August 22nd, Wayne and I finally got to meet face-to-face when he came to Nashville for the KillerNashvillle mystery conference.

That afternoon, Robert Hansen died

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/23/us/robert-hansen-alaska-serial-killer-dies-at-75.html?ref=obituaries&_r=0

With Wayne McDaniel and RESURRECTION BAY

With Wayne McDaniel and RESURRECTION BAY

Killer Nashville Blog Post On Collaborations

 

A few weeks ago, I was asked to write a blog post for the Killer Nashville and I chose to write about my experiences collaborating with Wayne McDaniel on Resurrection Bay. I had a lot of fun with it and I’m especially grateful for Clay Stafford’s kind words about my work. I’m a fan of his, too…

 

To check out the blog post, go to the Killer Nashville blog:

 

http://killernashville.wordpress.com/2014/07/23/collaborations-can-be-as-easy-as-1-2-3-author-steven-womack/

 

Take a look at the fabulous Killer Nashville site as well. This is a wonderful conference, one of the best of the year:

 

killernashville.com

 

 

RESURRECTION BAY At Sisters-in-Crime

 

The local Sisters-in-Crime chapter invited me to talk about RESURRECTION BAY at their monthly meeting last week, which was held at Bookman/Bookwoman, one of the best bookstores in Nashville. My thanks to a wonderful author and friend, Jaden Terrell, for the invite. It turned into a great event and I got the chance to catch up with some friends I haven’t seen in awhile, including my old pal, Dewey Lambdin, author of the Alan Lewrie novels.

Me and Dewey Lambdin at Sisters-in-Crime
Me and Dewey Lambdin at Sisters-in-Crime

A Busy Week At Parnassus Books

 

It was a busy week at Parnassus Books! On Tuesday, I did my signing for Resurrection Bay and had a great time. Three days later, my old friend Cathie Pelletier did a signing for her new novel, The Summer Experiment.

With Cathie Pelletier at Parnassus

 

Cathie and I have known each other for twenty-eight years. In 1986, I just happened to walk into the-long-gone Bookworld Bookstore in Nashville, where Cathie was signing copies of her first novel, The Funeral Makers. We struck up a conversation and I confessed I was trying to publish my first novel and she very graciously (and amazingly) offered to read it…

 

We’ve been pals ever since. Congratulations, Cat!

Parnassus Book Signing for Resurrection Bay

 

Wow, what a great night at Parnassus Books. The signing last night went really well. A good crowd, lots of good questions, and the chance to catch up with some friends I haven’t seen in awhile. I’m grateful to all the folks at Parnassus for hosting the event. It’s a marvelous bookstore and I encourage everyone to spend their money there!

Signing copies of RESURRECTION BAY at Parnassus Books in Nashville--June 17 2014
Signing copies of RESURRECTION BAY at Parnassus Books in Nashville–June 17 2014

As for catching up with a few buddies, here are a couple:

With Author Rob Simbeck
With Author Rob Simbeck
With Author/Screenwriter Randy O'Brien
With Author/Screenwriter Randy O’Brien