Season Three Premiere: S.A. Cosby on the Art of the Thriller

Hi friends,

It’s our Ursa Short Fiction Season Three premiere! 

In the spirit of Halloween, Deesha Philyaw and Dawnie Walton dig into thrillers, mysteries, and suspense with acclaimed crime fiction writer S.A. Cosby, author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, and the forthcoming novel, King of Ashes. 

Cosby talks about his early inspirations in the horror and suspense genres, and he explains how he began to use genre to craft stories that reflected his own experiences as a Black writer from Southeastern Virginia.

Cosby also offers advice to emerging writers and helps demystify the publication process, as co-editor of The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 anthology. 

S.A. Cosby on Finding Confidence as a Writer:

“The thing about being a writer: It is the world’s loneliest, solitary team sport. It’s you, but it’s the people around you that love you. They care about you, your friends, your family, your partners. And so there’s many nights where—and I can’t speak for anybody else, but I can just speak for myself—there are many nights as a writer where you second guess yourself, you doubt yourself. You think, Do I have what it takes? Am I good enough? Is this good? And so that acknowledgement of being in this kind of anthology, I hope that it gives writers—especially new writers or maybe an old writer that felt like they lost a step—it gives you the feeling that no, you can do this. That you have what it takes. I like to say, You have the goods, and for me, it is just an incredible honor to see people so happy to be a part of it.”

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Reading List: Authors, Stories, and Books Mentioned

• Razorblade Tears (S.A. Cosby)
• Blacktop Wasteland (S.A. Cosby)
• The Best American Mystery and Suspense 2024 (co-edited by S.A. Cosby and Steph Cha)
• Heaven (First Book in Casteel Series) (V.C. Andrews)
• Gabino Iglesias
• Catriona Ward
• Bunnicula (James and Deborah Howe)
• The Celery Stalks At Midnight (James and Deborah Howe)
• Goosebumps (series) (R.L. Stine)
• “The Tell-Tale Heart” (Edgar Allan Poe, The Poe Museum, 2021)
• The Hardy Boys (series) (Franklin W. Dixon)
• The Three Investigators (series) (Robert Arthur Jr. and Mary Virginia Carey)
• “The Black Cat” (Edgar Allan Poe, Poe Stories, originally published 1845)
• “The Cask of Amontillado” (Edgar Allan Poe, The Poe Museum, 2021)
• Encyclopedia Brown (series) (Donald J. Sobol)
• Carrie (Stephen King)
• “The Animal Fair” (Robert Bloch)
• Clark Ashton Smith
• Algernon Blackwood
• ‘Salem’s Lot (Stephen King)
• A Thousand Acres (Jane Smiley)
• “King Lear” (William Shakespeare)
• Before The Mango Ripens (Afabwaje Kurian)
• The Human Stain (Philip Roth)
• Red Dragon (Thomas Harris)
• Thuglit
• Steph Cha
• “The Funeral Suit” (Bobby Mathews, Frontier Tales, 2023)
• “My Savage Year” (Jordan Harper, Southwest Review, Volume 108 Number 3)
• “Like Babies Crying in the Dark” (S.A. Cosby, Southwest Review, Volume 108 Number 3)
• “Welcome to the Hammer Party” (Jordan Harper Newsletter)
• “Scorpions” (Nick Kolakowski)
• “Just A Girl” (Alyssa Cole)
• “Slant-Six” (S.A. Cosby)
• Megan Abbott
• It (Stephen King)
• The Dead Zone (Stephen King)
• All The Sinners Bleed (S.A. Cosby)
• Kellye Garrett
• Toni Morrison 
• Robert Jones Jr.
• Jack London
• Dennis Lehane
• Ernest J. Gaines
• Alice Walker
• King of Ashes (S.A. Cosby)
• The Godfather (Mario Puzo)
• W. Somerset Maugham
• Nikki Dolson
• Watchmen (Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons)
• The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (Alan Moore and Kevin O’Neill)
• James Baldwin
• Chester Himes
• Phillis Wheatley
• Donald Goines
• Richard Wright
• Claude McKay
• Langston Hughes

Listening List

• Born To Run (Bruce Springsteen)

Watch List

• 3:10 to Yuma (2007)
• American Masters: John Hammond: From Bessie Smith to Bruce Springsteen 1991 
• S.A. Cosby on The Daily Show (2023)
• White Lightning (1973)
• Rolling Thunder (1977)
• True Detective

More from Deesha and Dawnie

• The Secret Lives of Church Ladies (Deesha Philyaw)
• The Final Revival of Opal & Nev (Dawnie Walton)

Show Credits

Produced by Ursa Story Company 

Hosted by Deesha Philyaw & Dawnie Walton

Executive Producers: Dawnie Walton, Deesha Philyaw, and Mark Armstrong

Associate Producer: Marina Leigh

Episode Editor: Kelly Araja

About the Author 

S. A. Cosby is an Anthony Award-winning writer from Southeastern Virginia. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Razorblade Tears and Blacktop Wasteland, which won the Los Angeles Times Book Prize, was a New York Times Notable Book, and was named a best book of the year by NPR, The Guardian, and Library Journal, among others. When not writing, he is an avid hiker and chess player.

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Thanks for listening!

– Dawnie, Deesha, and Mark

About Ursa Story Company

We make podcasts that celebrate great storytelling. Follow Ursa Short Fiction and Reckon True Stories in your favorite podcast app. Get email updates at ursastory.com, or follow us on Instagram: @ursastory. If you’d like to work with us, get in touch: hello@ursastory.com.