New York Times Bestselling Author Weighs Pros and Cons In Book About "The Night A Twisted Fantasy Became Demented Reality" An Excerpt From The Epilogue of A CLOCKWORK MURDER: I personally am not a fan of the death penalty in its present form. I have several reasons for that: --Prosecutors who file death penalty papers in order to coerce a defendant into accepting a lesser plea. As noted in my colleague John Ferak’s wonderful book, … [Read more...]
Crime Buff’s Guide™ Author Ron Franscell Discusses How The Series Came To Be
It’s funny what you discover on less-traveled roads. Several years ago, my wife and I were traveling across northern Louisiana. On a whim, I wanted to find a hidden but historic place: the isolated the spot where lawmen ambushed Bonnie and Clyde in 1934. In the nearby village of Gibsland, we asked a fella how to get to the monument on a lonely rural road. He told us, but whether the directions were bad or we misunderstood, we couldn’t find … [Read more...]
Author Peter Eichstaedt Discusses The Border Wars That Play A Large Part In BORDERLAND
To write Borderland, I drew heavily on the tortured relationship America has had and continues to have with Mexico. Having survived our recent exhausting and sometimes repugnant presidential election, we all know that the current occupant of the White House used border security as one of the pillars of his campaign. It’s a legitimate and very real concern, although the proposed solution is impractical. When I researched my nonfiction book … [Read more...]
Behind The Scenes Of BORDERLAND
The U.S.-Mexico border is land of lore and legends buried deep in the American psyche. This rugged and arid region has proved to be fertile ground for memorable literature by writers such as Cormac McCarthy and his border trilogy, among others. I was first introduced to the border as a young college student traveling from Ohio to Mexico City for a semester of immersion into Central and South American language, culture, and history. We changed … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-Steve Jackson-LATalkRadio
Steve discusses BOGEYMAN and his other books, as well as writing in general, with LATalkRadio hosts John Johnson and Dr. Estella Sneider. … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN-‘He stands on the edge of a foul dark pond …”
"He stands on the edge of a foul dark pond as the cold winds of hell howl around him. In his cruel hands, he holds a collection of shiny pebbles that represent every child he took, subjected to unspeakable horrors and pain, and then remorselessly killed in the most terrifying manner imaginable. With each murder, the monster, this bogeyman, this nightmare, tosses a pebble into the bottomless waters causing ripples of misery and devastation to … [Read more...]
Bogeyman – Throwaway Kids
Editor’s Note: Katlyn Sweet is the daughter of Detective Gary Sweet, one of the main investigators whose quest to catch serial child-killer David Penton is the subject of BOGEYMAN: He Was Every Parent’s Nightmare. She wrote this blog about her father's investigation and its impression on her then and now. A small child is abducted, scared, murdered and tossed onto the earth like she means nothing to this world. In fact, the small child is … [Read more...]
Bogeyman – Why I Chose This True Crime Story
Since the August publication of BOGEYMAN, I've frequently been asked how and why I chose this particular story to write about. I know what drives some of that: True Crime authors usually steer clear of stories about the murder of children, particularly those involving a killer who’s a stranger … a bogeyman. Sure there are the books in which the parents murder their offspring (and sometimes spouse), and we’re all justifiably horrified. But … [Read more...]
Bogeyman-A Man of God
Editor’s Note: Katlyn Sweet is the daughter of Detective Gary Sweet, one of the main investigators whose quest to catch serial child-killer David Penton is the subject of BOGEYMAN: He Was Every Parent’s Nightmare. This post involves her father’s prison interview with Penton and her reaction to reading about it in the book. Although detectives were 99 percent certain that Penton was the murderer of the young girls, he had no intention of … [Read more...]
BOGEYMAN Detective Interviewed on True Murder
Date: August 20, 2014 (83 minutes) Detective Gary Sweet of the Garland Police Department in Texas discussed his involvement in the investigation to catch child serial killer David Penton. Listen in as Dan Zupansky interviews one of the country’s best cold case detectives. … [Read more...]
