Emily Carpenter is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of suspense novels, Burying the Honeysuckle Girls, The Weight of Lies, and Every Single Secret. After graduating from Auburn with a Bachelor of Arts in Speech Communication, she moved to New York City. She’s worked as an actor, producer, screenwriter, and behind-the-scenes soap opera assistant for the CBS shows, As the World Turns and Guiding Light.

Among other things, Emily and Carter discuss Emily’s move from the South to New York City, thinking of writing in terms of cinema, and religious representation in books and TV. At the end of their conversation, they make up a tense story using a line from Gillian Flynn’s Gone Girl.

Lori Brand is a lifting enthusiast, group fitness instructor, yoga teacher, and software quality engineer. She’s been a gymnast, dancer, Playboy model, and bodybuilder. Her time in the body wars trenches led to her realization that getting strong, rather than shrinking, is the way out. She’s published articles in STRONG Fitness Magazine, T-Nation, Inside Fitness Magazine, D’FYNE Fitness Magazine, and more. Bodies to Die For is her first novel.

Among other things, Lori and Carter discuss how controversial discussion about body image on social media sparked the idea for Lori’s novel, analyzing editorial letters, and killing off dogs in books. At the end of their conversation, they make up an eventful story using a line from Beverley McLachlin’s Proof.

Lisa Williamson Rosenberg is an author and psychotherapist specializing in depression, complex trauma and racial identity. She is also a former ballet dancer, with essays published in Longreads, Mamalode, The Common, and more, and fiction in Literary Mama and The Piltdown Review, where she was nominated for a Pushcart Prize. She graduated from Princeton University, got her Masters from Hunter College School of Social Work, and her post-masters certification in family therapy from the Ackerman Institute.

Among other things, Lisa and Carter discuss writing what you know, addressing racial themes in fiction, and unreliable narrators in Lisa’s second novel. At the end of their conversation, they make up a short story using a line from Jennifer Chase’s Count Their Graves.