Bell Cow StoryLab is our monthly author panel series, hosted by authors Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride. Each episode brings multiple writers into one craft-focused conversation, spotlighting how books actually get built. Scene by scene, choice by choice.
In When History Meets Story: Ethics in Historical and Real-Life Fiction, we tackle the question writers do not get to dodge: if you are mining real history or real lives for fiction, where is the line, and who gets to draw it? We talk about accuracy versus momentum, consent and permission, composites, whose history gets told (and how), and the self-checks that help you write toward illumination instead of exploitation.
We also dig into craft and ethics questions like:
What must be accurate, and what can be bent for narrative reasons?
What do you owe the reader in transparency: an author’s note, a bibliography, disclaimers, or nothing at all?
If forced to choose, do you prioritize factual truth or emotional truth, and how do you keep that from becoming an excuse?
Today’s panelists (bios + links)
✅ Terri Karsten: Award-winning historical fiction author whose work brings the past to life with vivid detail and lived-in stakes.
https://terrikarsten.com/
✅ JJ Harrigan: Historical thriller author whose fiction draws on his background as a Cold War soldier, U.S. Foreign Service Officer, and political science professor.
https://jjharrigan.com/
✅ Gary R. Bush: Historian by training who writes fiction for adults, young adults, and children, with a long-running love of history on the page.
https://authors.tertulia.com/garyrbush-draftfgg4f1
✅ Betty Brandt Passick: Independent author whose historical crime fiction blends research, character, and moral pressure from the past.
https://bettybrandtpassick.com/
Connect with the hosts
✅ Rob Jung: https://robjungwriter.com/
✅ Michael David MacBride: https://www.michaelmacbride.com/
🐮Everything Bell Cow: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/
#BellCow #BellCowProductions #BellCowStoryLab #StoryLab #WritingCraft #HistoricalFiction #EthicsInFiction #Research #AmWriting #WritingCommunity

The weekly Bell Cow Herd Podcast, hosted by authors, Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride, rounds up the best voices from the Bell Cow Cattle-log and the wider publishing world—publishers, authors, editors and more—to shine a light on the people who compose the remarkable Midwestern literary community. With short, punchy chats, exclusive author readings, and deep dives into their background and craft, you’ll get to know, like never before, the people who embellish our lives via the written word. The podcast rings the bell loud and clear, guiding you straight to your next favorite author, maybe even one who writes in your own backyard. Join the herd. Give the round-up a listen: subscribe, like, and follow! Today we’re joined by Minnesota author Chris Norbury, whose latest, Little Mountain, Big Trouble, drops readers into a situation where the danger escalates quickly and the consequences do not stay contained. This is the kind of story that starts with a spark and turns into a wildfire.Chris writes with momentum and bite, and he knows how to build tension without losing clarity. If you like thrillers that move fast but still feel grounded in real people making hard decisions, you’re going to want this conversation. In this episode, Chris talks about dialing up stakes, shaping plot turns that feel earned, and what he wants readers to feel when the story snaps into high gear.You can learn more about Chris at: https://chrisnorbury.com/His books, including Little Mountain, Big Trouble, are available wherever books are sold.You can find out more about your hosts: Rob and Michael at their webpages (https://robjungwriter.com/ and https://www.michaelmacbride.com).And, of course, you can find everything about Bell Cow at the official webpage: https://www.bellcowproductions.com (🐮 -- moo!)#bellcow #bellcowproductions #interviews #authors #roundup #bellcowroundup

🚨 Welcome to Fresh Off the Stack, the Bell Cow Productions podcast where Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride sit down with authors to talk about brand-new books just as they arrive in the world. This series is all about new releases, the stories behind them, and the conversations that happen when a book is still fresh in readers’ hands.🖊️ In each episode, we talk with authors about inspiration, process, research, surprises, and what readers can expect when they open the cover. Some conversations focus on craft, some on publication, and some on the real-world ideas behind the story, but every episode begins with a new book and a chance to give it a proper welcome.✈️ This episode digs into Deadly Secrets in Plane Sight by Julie Holmes, released July 14, 2026. The book is the second installment in the Sierra Bauer Mystery Series, following Julie’s aviation mystery debut, Murder in Plane Sight. In this conversation, we talk with Julie about returning to Sierra Bauer’s world, writing aviation-centered mystery, building a series, and what happens when technical expertise, danger, and secrets all meet on the page.📚 About Julie Holmes:Julie Holmes writes mystery and suspense with a distinctive aviation twist. Her Sierra Bauer Mystery Series began with Murder in Plane Sight, featuring aircraft mechanic Sierra Bauer, a woman working in a male-dominated field whose life is thrown into chaos after a deadly discovery connected to the aviation world. Julie brings experience as a former aircraft mechanic, IT professional, and technical writer to her fiction, giving her mysteries a grounded, hands-on sense of detail.Learn more about Julie Holmes here:https://julieholmesauthor.comAnd find all the great events where you can see Julie in person!https://julieholmesauthor.com/upcoming-events-2/📖 Buy a copy anywhere great books are sold!🐮 Learn more about Bell Cow Productions at:https://www.bellcowproductions.com#FreshOffTheStack #BellCowProductions #BookTube #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #JulieHolmes #DeadlySecretsInPlaneSight #SierraBauer #MysteryBooks #AviationMystery #NewBookRelease #ReadersOfYouTube #BellCow

🚨 What holds a story together: memory, imagination, grief, humor, or something stranger?

In this episode of Beyond the Pasture, Bell Cow Productions hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride sit down with award-winning Minnesota author Nathan Jorgenson to talk about his new novel, Otto’s Portal.

Nathan Jorgenson is the author of Waiting for White Horses, The Mulligan, A Crooked Number, Contrapasso, and Otto’s Portal. He grew up in rural Minnesota, built a career as a dentist, wrote his first novel after beginning a story for his dying father, and has continued writing books rooted in friendship, loss, humor, redemption, memory, and the strange turns that shape a life.

Otto’s Portal, releasing July 14, 2026, takes Jorgenson’s storytelling in a new direction. The novel moves from postwar London in 1946 to present-day northern Minnesota, following a weathered scientist, an unknown force, questions of the soul, and a struggle between good and evil where history and myth begin to blur.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Nathan talks about becoming a writer later in life, writing while practicing dentistry, winning the Benjamin Franklin Award for Best New Voice in Fiction, the long life of Waiting for White Horses, and why fly fishing, flawed heroes, libraries, book clubs, and conversations with readers all feed the storytelling process.

🐮 Beyond the Pasture is Bell Cow Productions’ author-centered conversation series for voices from across the literary landscape. Hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride talk with writers about who they are, where they come from, what shaped their books, and what readers will discover once they open the cover.

In this episode, we explore:

• Otto’s Portal and its blend of history, myth, science, faith, and mystery

• Nathan Jorgenson’s path from dentistry to fiction

• Writing a first novel as a way through grief

• Waiting for White Horses and the story that began at his father’s bedside

• The Mulligan, second chances, and the stories people recognize in themselves

• A Crooked Number, Contrapasso, and Jorgenson’s larger body of work

• Why flawed heroes matter

• How memory, truth, and imagination become fiction

• Northern Minnesota as setting, character, and creative ground

• Fly fishing as a doorway into love, loss, friendship, and redemption

• Audiobooks, narration, and the importance of getting the Minnesota flavor right

• Libraries, book clubs, reader conversations, and the joy of talking about stories

📖 Learn more about Nathan Jorgenson:

https://www.nathanjorgenson.com/about-5

📚 Learn more about Nathan’s books:

https://www.nathanjorgenson.com/more-info

🎙️ Connect with the hosts:

Rob Jung: https://robjungwriter.com/

Michael David MacBride: https://www.michaelmacbride.com/

🐮 Learn more about Bell Cow Productions: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/

Subscribe, like, follow, and come wander Beyond the Pasture with us.

#BeyondThePasture #BellCowProductions #NathanJorgenson #OttosPortal #WaitingForWhiteHorses #TheMulligan #ACrookedNumber #Contrapasso #MinnesotaAuthors #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #BookTube #WritingCommunity #WritersOfYouTube #AuthorConversation #LiteraryFiction #MinnesotaBooks #ReadersOfYouTube #BellCow

The weekly Bell Cow Herd Podcast, hosted by authors, Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride, rounds up the best voices from the Bell Cow Cattle-log and the wider publishing world—publishers, authors, editors and more—to shine a light on the people who compose the remarkable Midwestern literary community. With short, punchy chats, exclusive author readings, and deep dives into their background and craft, you’ll get to know, like never before, the people who embellish our lives via the written word. The podcast rings the bell loud and clear, guiding you straight to your next favorite author, maybe even one who writes in your own backyard. Join the herd. Give the round-up a listen: subscribe, like, and follow! Today we’re joined by Minnesota author Cary Griffith, whose latest Sam Rivers Mystery, Rattlesnake Bluff, delivers another sharp, propulsive ride that blends small-town texture with big trouble. Book five brings Sam Rivers back into the kind of case that looks straightforward until it absolutely isn’t.Cary’s work is grounded, place-rich, and relentlessly readable. He has a knack for pacing that keeps the pages turning while still letting characters breathe, and he writes Minnesota not as a backdrop, but as a lived-in world with its own gravity. In this episode, Cary talks about sustaining a long-running series, escalating stakes without losing authenticity, and what keeps him coming back to Sam Rivers.You can learn more about Cary at: https://www.carygriffith.com/His books, including Rattlesnake Bluff, are available wherever books are sold.You can find out more about your hosts: Rob and Michael at their webpages (https://robjungwriter.com/ and https://www.michaelmacbride.com).And, of course, you can find everything about Bell Cow at the official webpage: https://www.bellcowproductions.com (🐮 -- moo!)#bellcow #bellcowproductions #interviews #authors #roundup #bellcowroundup

🚨 What happens when a thriller begins with an impossible choice?

In this episode of Beyond the Pasture, Bell Cow Productions hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride sit down with Tess Stimson, bestselling author of psychological thrillers including The Perfect Accident.

Tess’s latest novel, The Perfect Accident, was released April 23, 2026. The book begins with a devastating tragedy: a high school prom held on a boat on Lake Champlain ends in disaster, forcing one sister into an unthinkable choice. Save her own son, or save her nephew and twenty-one other teenagers. From there, the story moves through grief, blame, secrets, small-town suspicion, and the consequences that ripple long after the accident itself.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Tess talks about writing psychological suspense, creating villains who linger after the last page, the gray space between empathy and danger, and why she is drawn to characters who are complicated, damaged, manipulative, and fascinating. The conversation also explores her shift from women’s fiction into darker thrillers, her background in journalism, the difference between fact and fiction, and the writing process behind twist-driven novels.

🐮 Beyond the Pasture is Bell Cow Productions’ author-centered conversation series for voices from across the literary landscape. Hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride talk with writers about who they are, where they come from, what shaped their books, and what readers will discover once they open the cover.

In this episode, we explore:

• The Perfect Accident and its impossible moral dilemma

• Writing psychological thrillers that keep readers turning pages

• Why Tess Stimson is drawn to villains, psychopaths, and moral gray areas

• The difference between serial killers, mass violence, and fictional suspense

• The role of nature, nurture, empathy, and manipulation in character development

• How journalism shapes Tess’s fiction

• Setting a thriller in Vermont and Lake Champlain

• Why characters matter more than letting location do all the work

• Plotting, pantsing, twists, and the “double tap” reveal

• Audiobooks, narrators, voice, and reader expectations

• Early influences, genre shifts, and the creative life of a working writer

📖 Buy The Perfect Accident anywhere books are sold!

🌐 Learn more about Tess Stimson: https://www.tessstimson.com/

🎙️ Connect with the hosts:

Rob Jung: https://robjungwriter.com/

Michael David MacBride: https://www.michaelmacbride.com/

🐮 Learn more about Bell Cow Productions: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/

Subscribe, like, follow, and come wander Beyond the Pasture with us.

#BeyondThePasture #BellCowProductions #TessStimson #ThePerfectAccident #PsychologicalThriller #ThrillerBooks #SuspenseBooks #AuthorInterview #BookPodcast #BookTube #WritingCommunity #WritersOfYouTube #AuthorConversation #CrimeFiction #MysteryBooks #ThrillerReaders #NewBookRelease #ReadersOfYouTube #BellCow

The weekly Bell Cow Herd Podcast, hosted by authors, Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride, rounds up the best voices from the Bell Cow Cattle-log and the wider publishing world—publishers, authors, editors and more—to shine a light on the people who compose the remarkable Midwestern literary community. With short, punchy chats, exclusive author readings, and deep dives into their background and craft, you’ll get to know, like never before, the people who embellish our lives via the written word. The podcast rings the bell loud and clear, guiding you straight to your next favorite author, maybe even one who writes in your own backyard. Join the herd. Give the round-up a listen: subscribe, like, and follow! Today we’re joined by Minnesota author Brian Lutterman, author of Incel and a suspense series featuring Pen Wilkinson, a whip-smart paraplegic attorney who refuses to stay quiet when something feels wrong. Brian’s work blends momentum with moral pressure: secrets, power, and the uneasy feeling that the system is built to protect the wrong people. Brian writes thrillers that do not just chase plot twists, they chase consequences. The tension is real, the stakes stay personal, and the questions underneath the action linger. In this episode, Brian talks about writing Minnesota-set suspense, building a series character readers stick with, and how he balances pace with depth.You can learn more about Brian at: https://brianlutterman.com/ His books, including Incel and the Pen Wilkinson series, are available wherever books are sold, including Once Upon A Crime.You can find out more about your hosts: Rob and Michael at their webpages (https://robjungwriter.com/ and https://www.michaelmacbride.com).And, of course, you can find everything about Bell Cow at the official webpage: https://www.bellcowproductions.com (🐮 -- moo!)#bellcow #bellcowproductions #interviews #authors #roundup #bellcowroundup

📚 What keeps a story alive when books are competing with every screen in the room?

In this episode of Bell Cow Field Notes, hosts Rob Jung and Michael David MacBride are joined by C. M. Alongi and Michael Allan Mallory for a lively conversation about storytelling across books, fandom, BookTok, fantasy, mystery, graphic novels, video games, and online culture.

Together, they dig into how stories move across platforms, how readers discover new books, how fandom can become a doorway into fiction, and why narrative drive matters whether you are writing fantasy, mystery, serialized content, or character-driven speculative fiction.

🐮 Bell Cow Field Notes brings together expert guests, authors, and creative voices to explore the real-world material behind great fiction. Built from the Bell Cow network of Author Round-Up, StoryLab, the Cattle-log, Fresh Off the Stack, Beyond the Pasture, Conversations, and the wider literary world, Field Notes is where research meets imagination, and where writers get to ask smarter questions in very good company.

For viewers discovering Bell Cow through C. M. Alongi, welcome to the herd. Bell Cow Productions is home to a growing pasture of bookish podcasts, author conversations, creative panels, reader-focused interviews, and literary resources designed for writers, readers, bookstores, libraries, and anyone who loves stories.

In this episode, we explore:

• How stories compete with screens, games, apps, and online attention

• Why fandom can help readers find their way into books

• What BookTok and social media change about author-reader relationships

• How serialized storytelling, short-form video, and character work can feed fiction

• Why mystery readers are active participants in the story

• How clues, suspense, humor, and narrative drive keep readers turning pages

• What fantasy, mystery, graphic novels, games, and online culture can teach writers

• How authors build worlds that feel bigger than the page

🎙️ Guests:

C. M. Alongi

Author of Heart of Iron, creator of CaFae Latte, and a science fiction/fantasy writer and content creator whose work lives at the intersection of fiction, fandom, character, and online storytelling.

https://www.cmalongi.com/

Michael Allan Mallory

Mystery and crime fiction author of the Henry and Janet Lau mysteries and the Snake Jones mysteries, bringing a sharp perspective on suspense, clues, Sherlock Holmes, humor, reader participation, and narrative momentum.

https://www.snakejones.com/

🎙️ Connect with the hosts:

Rob Jung https://robjungwriter.com/

Michael David MacBride https://www.michaelmacbride.com/

🌐 Everything Bell Cow: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/

🐮 Bell Cow Field Notes: https://www.bellcowproductions.com/fieldnotes

Subscribe, like, follow, and come take notes with the herd.

#BellCow #BellCowProductions #FieldNotes #CMAlongi #CaFaeLatte #HeartOfIron #MichaelAllanMallory #BookTok #FantasyBooks #MysteryBooks #WritingCommunity #AuthorLife #AuthorInterview #Storytelling #Fandom #BookPodcast #WritersOfYouTube