MEDIA

In this engaging conversation, Randy Overbeck, an award-winning author and former educator, shares his journey into writing ghost stories, particularly through his Haunted Shores Mystery series. He discusses the influence of his educational background on his characters and settings, the balance between supernatural elements and realism in his narratives, and the importance of addressing real-world issues through fiction. Overbeck also reflects on the impact of AI on the literary world and the challenges authors face in a saturated market. His passion for storytelling and commitment to informing readers about social issues shine through as he explores the unique aspects of his writing process.

Three days after America marked 250 years of independence, the man who spent three decades inside classrooms is coming back to hunt down a woman history refused to name. Award-winning educator and bestselling novelist Dr. Randy Overbeck sits down with host and producer Dr. Tom Dutta on The Quiet Warrior Show for his return appearance, live Wednesday, July 15 at 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET. Overbeck's new historical suspense novel, ABIGAIL TRENCH: A Novel of Washington's Spy Ring (Diversion Books, distributed by Simon and Schuster), digs into the real Culper Ring, the secret network that helped turn the tide of the Revolutionary War, and the one member historians could never identify, a woman known only as “355.” ✓ How three decades in education led to seven published novels and nine national awards ✓ The real historical mystery behind an unnamed woman spy lost for 250 years ✓ Why the Culper Ring's secrecy still keeps historians guessing today ✓ What new research into the American Revolution reveals that most people have never heard “[A] rousing, top-notch tale of courage amid our nation's struggle for independence.” – William Kent Krueger, New York Times bestselling author Join us live across LinkedIn, YouTube, Facebook, X, and Rumble. Randy Overbeck: www.authorrandyoverbeck.com #TheQuietWarriorShow #AbigailTrench #CulperRing #AmericanRevolution #HistoricalFiction #WomensHistory #Spy #250thAnniversary #RandyOverbeck #TomDutta

Dr. Randy Overbeck is back, and this time there's not a single ghost in the book. Abigail Trench is his first historical — a novel about the Culper Ring, George Washington's spy network in occupied New York, and specifically about Agent 355, the one woman in it whose identity nobody has ever established. He and Jo get into what the historical record actually contains (almost nothing), why he doesn't buy the standard theory about what happened to her, and how you write a British officer as a principled man instead of a villain. Then it turns into a working writers' conversation: three levels of feedback, a dozen beta readers, and the first chapter he rewrote fourteen times. Key Moments • 00:23 — A departure: mystery and suspense, but no paranormal this time • 01:51 — The Culper Ring explained — six men and one woman, and the secrecy that held • 02:21 — The sixth man's identity stayed hidden until the 1930s, 150 years on • 04:03 — Why the revolution belongs to people working in the shadows, not just the famous names • 05:25 — Agent 355, "the lady," and how little the record actually says • 06:43 — The prevailing theory about her fate, and why he thinks it doesn't hold up • 07:47 — Where the history stops and the fiction openly starts • 09:08 — Researching Red Shadows at Saugatuck and sitting down with tribal leaders • 11:15 — Two POVs: Abigail, and the British officer whose house she works in • 13:14 — Book two, Robert Townsend, and Major John André • 13:26 — Benedict Arnold was the war's most successful general before he wasn't • 15:03 — Why a British gentleman considered spying a notch above robbery • 15:51 — Handwriting analysis, decades later, unmasks Culper Jr. • 17:25 — The 1774 request Parliament refused, and the three years that made it moot • 20:55 — Diversion Books, Simon & Schuster, and the step up from small press • 21:41 — Seven novels in and still in a weekly writers group • 23:28 — Three levels of feedback before anyone sees a finished manuscript • 26:37 — Rewriting one first chapter fourteen times • 29:32 — Big publisher or not, you still promote it like an indie Takeaway Seven novels, a shelf of national awards, and Simon & Schuster on the spine — and he still hands unfinished chapters to a weekly group that includes a poet, a horror writer, and a sci-fi writer, because people outside your genre catch what you've stopped being able to see. Fourteen rewrites on a single first chapter. That's the job. Find Dr. Randy Overbeck • Website: https://www.authorrandyoverbeck.com • Podcast — Great Stories about Great Storytellers: available wherever you get podcasts • Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/authorrandyoverbeck • Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorrandyoverbeck/ • X/Twitter: https://twitter.com/OverbeckRandy • BookBub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/randy-overbeck Randy's Books • Abigail Trench: A Novel of Washington's Spy Ring (Diversion Books, dist. Simon & Schuster) — https://amzn.to/4fWMtVT • Book two in the Abigail cycle goes to the publisher shortly; audiobook of Abigail Trench is in production As an Amazon Associate, Empty Hell earns from qualifying purchases. Buying through these links costs you nothing extra and helps keep the show running. Everything Empty Hell: https://linktr.ee/Emptyhell 00:00 Intro

Stay tuned for the anticipated release of Scarlet at Crystal River!

An official book trailer for Crimson at Cape May