Bat Out of Hell: An Anthology of New Mystery Short Stories

Don Bruns is an ad executive and a USA Today bestselling author. As a former road musician, he performed with Ricky Nelson, the Four Seasons, Ray Charles, and others. Bruns has authored seventeen published novels including the Quentin Archer Mystery series. Casting Bones has been optioned for a motion picture by Nine Ton Entertainment. He makes his home in Southern Florida.

Andrew Child was born in Birmingham, England, in May 1968. He went to school in St. Albans, Hertfordshire, and later attended the University of Sheffield where he studied English literature and drama. After graduation, Andrew set up and ran a small independent theater company which showcased a range of original material to local, regional, and national audiences. Following a critically successful but financially challenging appearance at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Andrew moved into the telecommunications industry as a “temporary” solution to a short-term cash crisis. Fifteen years later, after carrying out a variety of roles including several which were covered by the UK’s Official Secrets Act, Andrew became the victim/beneficiary of a widespread redundancy program. Freed once again from the straitjacket of corporate life, he took the opportunity to answer the question, what if?

Rick Bleiweiss has been a successful musician, songwriter, music producer, and record company executive. He has worked as a social activist and journalist and is currently a publishing executive. His novel Pignon Scorbion & the Barbershop Detectives was selected as an Amazon Editors’ Pick for Best Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense, as well as being chosen as one of the year’s Best New Debut Mystery Novels by Publishers Weekly. Rick lives in Gig Harbor, Washington, and is at work on his next Pignon Scorbion novel. Follow him and Scorbion at RickBleiweiss.com.

Dave Bruns took advantage of the COVID pandemic to begin a second career as a writer. Thirty-six years spent working in child welfare prepared him for a walk of life as a storyteller. His clients included drug dealers, smugglers, and murderers, and his Carl Boyd series reflects that experience. Bruns lives in Toledo, Ohio, with his wife, LouAnn Frey, and an obnoxious Portuguese Water Dog named Roscoe. Rule Number Four, Bruns’s debut novel, was published in the summer of 2024.

When John Gilstrap’s first novel, Nathan’s Run, hit the market in 1996, it set the literary world on fire. Publication rights sold in twenty-three countries, the movie rights were scooped up at auction by Warner Brothers, and John changed professions. A safety engineer by training and education, he specialized in explosives and hazardous materials, and also served fifteen years in the fire and rescue service, rising to the rank of lieutenant. That “first” book was really his fourth, and that one call from an agent (after logging twenty-seven rejections) changed the trajectory of his life. Twenty books and seven movie projects later, it’s been a good run, and it’s still running. Outside of his writing life, John is a renowned safety expert with extensive knowledge of explosives, hazardous materials, and fire behavior. He lives in Fairfax, Virginia.

A third-generation military kid, fiction author C. J. Kudlacz grew up all over the USA and strives to incorporate this atypical perspective and sense of place into his characters and settings. He has worked as a bartender, a stage and voice-over actor, and has traveled the world flying jets for both military and civilian organizations—all outstanding ways to find and tell stories. A 1997 graduate of the University of Notre Dame, he also has an MA from the University of Oklahoma and is a twenty-five-year Air Force veteran. He lives in Utah.

Charles Todd is a pen name used by the American authors Caroline (1934–2021) and Charles Todd, a mother-and-son writing team who write the Inspector Ian Rutledge mysteries and the Bess Crawford mysteries, as well as stand-alone novels. Their novel Proof of Guilt was a New York Times bestseller, and A Test of Wills was named one of the Independent Mystery Booksellers Association’s 100 favorite mysteries of the 20th Century and was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year selection. Their novels have won the Agatha Award, the Barry Award, and the Anthony Award, as well as being finalists for several other awards. Charles is continuing the series.

Heather Graham, a USA Today bestselling author, has written more than a hundred novels. She has been awarded the Thriller Writers’ Silver Bullet Award, the Thriller Master Award, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Strand Magazine and from Romance Writers of America. She is an active member of International Thriller Writers, Horror Writers Association, RWA, and Mystery Writers of America.

Scott Brick has recorded over five hundred audiobooks, has won over forty AudioFile Earphones Awards, and has twice received Audie Awards for his work on the Dune series. He has been proclaimed both a Golden Voice by AudioFile magazine and Publishers Weekly's 2007 Narrator of the Year. Scott has recorded Frank Herbert's Hellstrom's Hive, Whipping Star, The Dragon in the Sea, and The White Plague for Tantor Audio.

It started when he did Muppet impressions at a talent show. He was eight. He killed it. BJ Harrison later became a scenic artist and sculptor for TV and film, where for twenty years, he listened to audiobooks every day. In 2007, when his Classic Tales Podcast hit the scene, listeners were enthusiastic and voracious. The show peaked as the #3 podcast in iTunes (all categories). Pretty soon, Audible came calling to talk about a new program called ACX. Now, over 750 audiobooks later, he continues to impress critics and listeners alike. AudioFile says he narrates with "gusto" and "enthusiasm." Time opts for "soothing." One thing is clear-BJ tempers his formidable narrator toolbox for the task at hand. It's always thrilling to discover where he'll take us next. Awards: Winner: 2 Voice Arts (SOVAS) Awards-2022 (Best Audiobook Narration-Mystery and Outstanding Podcast Host-Arts and Entertainment) Winner: Platinum Award for the Hear Now Audio Theatre Festival 2023 (Best Audiobook-813 by Maurice Leblanc) Winner: Independent Audiobook Award-2021 (General Fiction-Scaramouche by Raphael Sabatini) Winner: 2 w3 Awards-2021 (Gold), 2022 (Silver) by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts. (General Series-Education)

Bradford Hastings is a voice talent and audiobook narrator.

John Pirhalla is award-winning audiobook narrator who has recorded over 300 titles. An Audie and Independent Audiobook Awards finalist, he has won a Reader's Favorite Award, an Adrenaline Award, a OneVoice Award, and an Indie Ink Award. Whether it's science fiction, fantasy, literary fiction, or thrillers, he enjoys narrating books with lots of characters, voices, and accents.

James Fouhey is an actor and narrator living in New York City. He received classical training at Boston University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts. He has recorded more than forty audiobooks across a variety of genres, including science fiction, romance, young adult fiction, and children’s fiction.

Liam Gerrard is an award-winning voice artist with over fifteen years of experience working in every field of the voice industry, as well as a highly acclaimed stage and screen actor. A 2017 Audie Award nominee, he has narrated numerous audiobooks in a wide range of genres and styles.

Roger Wayne hails from small-town Minnesota. He served in the Air Force as a broadcast journalist in South Korea. After doing plays in early college he earned an acting scholarship and obtained his BA in communications and journalism. He worked as an actor for two years in Minneapolis and then moved to NYC, where he continues to work in TV, film, theater, and voice-over. He has recorded for video games, animation, and commercials, and he loves making books come to life. Roger lives in New York City. You can see what he's up to at rogerwayne.com.