#13: Five for Them, One for Me, with S.A. Cosby
Cosby's Audible drama BROKEDOWN PROPHETS is available now
What can you even say about S.A. Cosby at this point? Since his breakout novel BLACKTOP WASTELAND in 2020, Shawn’s been an unstoppable force in crime fiction, redefining the very nature of Southern noir. His work carries an unmistakeable narrative voice, exploring what he calls “the holy trinity of Southern fiction”—race, class, and sex—while adding his own twists to the PI (MY DARKEST PRAYER), the heist (BLACKTOP WASTELAND), the revenge (RAZORBLADE TEARS), and the serial killer (ALL THE SINNERS BLEED) novels. He’s earned praise from Lee Child and Dennis Lehane, been nominated for or won virtually every award imaginable, and he keeps showing up on President Barack Obama’s yearly reading list.
He’s also one of the nicest people imaginable, funny and generous with his time and support to other writers. I’ve been lucky enough to call him my friend for years, and watching him rise through the ranks while also elevating the game has been nothing but a joy.
Plus, Shawn loves storytelling like nothing else, and that love raises all the boats around him. I’ll forever remember him going through the bar the final night of Bouchercon 2023 in San Diego, chanting “WHO’S GOT IT BETTER THAN US?” and all of us shouting back “AIN’T NOBODY!”
Y’all, get yourself a friend who loves what they do the way Shawn loves writing, is what I’m saying.
He’s got a new Amazon Audible drama out, called BROKEDOWN PROPHETS, and here Shawn’s coming for the chase story, as a trio of New York con artists—Preach, Digit, and Maria—find themselves in possession of a bag full of cash and pursued by the Russian mob.
Shawn’s also the latest “Five for Them, One for Me.”
Let’s go.
FIVE FOR THEM
1. BROKEDOWN PROPHETS is your first audio drama, after four best-selling novels. What was the origin point of the story? Was it always intended for this particular format?
Actually it was an idea I had for a novel but I couldn’t figure out a way to give it more heft. The idea felt too thin for a book, but as an audio drama it works pretty good.
2. You’re a writer known for insightful and colorful prose. Here, though, you’re leaning on another strength: your sharp dialogue. What were the challenges of a format where you’re entirely dependent on dialogue and audio cues to tell the story? Were there things you could do here that you can’t do in traditional prose?
Honestly it was actually kind of freeing to just focus on dialogue. It allowed me to use it not only for exposition but to reveal character. Each character has a unique syntax and vocabulary. So in that way it was a little easier but I did miss using internal monologue. That can be really useful to develop suspense.
3. Preach is a fascinating character, wrestling with his darkness and a questioning belief in God, including a wonderful conversation about faith with another character. You’ve said religion is one of the central tenets of Southern fiction, but what do you think makes religion such a rich fodder for the genre?
Religion is the safe harbor in the mouth of a dragon for all us. It a precarious safe haven that can turn on you in an instant and so that makes it an incredibly provocative narrative device.
4. Threads of dark humor are consistent throughout your work, but BROKEDOWN PROPHETS is probably the funniest thing you’ve written, particularly in the early exchanges between Preach, Digit, and Maria, and with the character of B-Boy. Was the humor something you always intended, or something that developed as you progressed?
I think a little gallows humor helps lighten the mood lol. But also humor can be a crutch that our characters can use to carry the weight of the trauma on their backs
5. You write often about family, whether it be family of origin (ALL THE SINNERS BLEED, the short story “Sugar”), marriages (BLACKTOP WASTELAND), or found family (BROKEDOWN PROPHETS), and all the good and terrible things family can bring. What about this subject keeps drawing you back?
I think family, for good or ill makes us who we are, and for a me it’s the crucial aspect that helps define my characters. I think how we deal with our family—whether it’s by blood or by choice—reveals our morality or lack thereof.
ONE FOR ME
Sharp-eared listeners familiar with your dulcet tones will spot your voice cameo in BROKEDOWN PROPHETS. Does that mean more acting in your future? Are we gonna see S.A. Cosby drop into an episode of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING?
Hahaha uh….no lol.
SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION
We’re closing out the year strong, with a pair of new short stories out now.
Ellery Queen—both the writer and the magazine—are foundational for the crime genre, and for me as a reader and writer. I never imagined in a hundred years I’d land a story in Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine.
And yet, here we are.
“A Tear in His Hand” is the story of two brothers and the terrible legacy that connects them. It’s an Appalachian story that takes place beside the Pacific Ocean, about family, fractured relationships, and cast-iron skillets. I couldn’t be more proud to have it under the magazine’s “Black Mask” banner.
Additionally, I got to write an essay for the EQMM blog Something Is Going to Happen, talking about the novelist and short story writer Clark Howard. An Edgar winner and five-time recipient of the Ellery Queen Readers Awards, Howard specialized in stories of the marginalized, of the folks who risk falling between the cracks, and the extremes they’ll go to for what I term “a small-time second chance.” He was always one of my favorite writers, and I’d love to see his name be spoken with other greats of the genre.
Rock and a Hard Place is one of the most vital and interesting crime fiction journals out there, with a distinct point of view and a passion for social justice. They published an early short story of mine—“The Ocean at Their Shoulders”—and I’m always honored to find a home in their pages, as in their latest—THE ONE PERCENT: Tales of the Super Wealthy and Depraved.
This anthology examines how and why society’s given the wealthy free rein just because they’re rich, what the effects of that can be, and what happens when an ordinary person decides enough is enough. It’s chock-full of great writers, including Scott Von Doviak, Sam Wiebe, C.W. Blackwell, Curtis Ippolito, and Tom Andes.
My story “Haggling Over Price” is a revenge story, but it’s also about the gun industry, the NRA, and the fetishization of firearms and the Second Amendment. It’s an angry story, and no matter what side of the issue you’re on, I hope it pisses you off, ‘cause that was the goal.
This’ll probably be the last newsletter of 2023. Thanks to everyone who’s been reading and supportive since I randomly decided to start this thing earlier this year. Like many projects, I’ve been building it as I’m driving it, and going into 2024, I want it to continue being a place where we can talk about writing—the process and the personalities and what drives us to transcribe the voices in our heads.
Some of that might actually involve me talking about my own process—a thing I avoid because it’s generally an unstructured mess. However, with plans to query agents with one novel while also starting work on a new book, 2024 might be a chance to explore what these two different sides of the process—the creative and the business—look like.
It could be encouragement, it could be a warning, who knows?
Anyway, happy holidays to all of y’all. We’ll talk again in January.
That’s all we’ve got for now. Thanks for coming. See you next time, and hey, let’s be careful out there.