We catch up with thriller author Keira N. James on the one-year anniversary of Orchid and why she now treats a release like an immersive experience. We talk craft, grief, revenge, and the real work behind showing up as an introvert while building a bigger platform and a live thriller community.
• rebranding Orchid for an anniversary edition with more intention
• using a business admin and social media marketing background to guide launches
• building a believable botanical artist through research and lived details
• writing Granny Irene from real memory and honoring loss on the page
• designing a creative, character-driven demise and why it feels “justified”
• unpacking Exodus as justice-seeker and problem-maker
• writing from the ending first, tightening drafts in edits, using a small beta team
• handling writer’s block by not forcing bad pages
• drawing boundaries around trauma and taboo topics in Black thrillers
• teasing romance without promising a romance ending
• previewing Love and War and the License to Thrill event
the anniversary edition book boxes um are available for pre-order.

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We sit down with thriller author and therapist Gilletta Shavers to talk about how real trauma, caregiving, and anxiety helped shape The Inheritance of Amaya Montgomery. We dig into the gaslighting, the inheritance stakes, the characters who make you want to yell at the page, and what Gilletta wants to explore next in book two.
• why the audiobook feels like a full production and changes the experience
• how dementia caregiving can reopen childhood trauma and push you toward therapy
• writing fiction as self healing before deciding to publish
• Amaya’s vulnerability and why some readers struggle to empathise with her
• the inheritance premise and how the gaslighting escalates into terror
• Bree’s future, identity, and the choice to challenge stigma in character arcs
• what got revised or cut after publication and how that affects pacing
• what Gilletta is releasing next and why she also writes under GP Jackson
If you leave a review before September the 30th on Instagram, TikTok, Goodreads, and Amazon, you go into a drawing for two $25 Visa gift cards, and each review is another entry

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We sit down with author Samyra Alexander to talk twists, dark psychological thrillers, and how Road To Malevolence unexpectedly grew from a standalone into a full trilogy. We also unpack Janet’s choices through the lens of trauma, family secrets, and the uncomfortable truth that adults can create the very chaos they blame on kids.
• Samyra’s early influences from Hitchcock-style storytelling and twist endings
• Why Road To Malevolence was meant to be standalone then became a trilogy
• The reality of self-publishing costs and wanting fair pay for creative work
• Janet’s origin story and the theme of parents’ consequences landing on children
• Keeping key events in a child’s POV to preserve innocence and suspense
• Writing Janet across huge age jumps while keeping core traits consistent
• Trauma responses, coping strategies, and “looking fine” while struggling
• Family mental health patterns and how strict parenting can fuel secrecy
• Book three pacing, added suspense, and confirming the series is complete
• Upcoming events and where to find signed copies and follow Samira online
SamyraAlexander.com, you can get signed copies of my my paperback Road to Malevolence, the series, or any of my other dark psychological fiction books.

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