Alexandra Sokoloff, a writer's writer

Alexandra Sokoloff is one of the most brilliant writers around, especially in awareness of various storytelling techniques, tricks, and craft mechanisms. Because of her background in theater, screenwriting, and novel writing, she has broad experience from which to draw. Her genius is in analyzing what works in the best thriller and suspense classics, and to understand how those techniques affect audiences. Her blog The Dark Salon has sampling of her new work, and she's also released "Screenwriting Tricks For Authors" for Kindle.

I had the good fortune to teach with her at Pen To Press in 2008, and I believe I learned as much or more than the students did. She was also my bandmate in the original Thriller Killer Band that performed at the first Thrillerfest in Phoenix. If you love taut psychological suspense, give her fiction a try--she's the closest thing to Ira Levin I've found among modern writers.

After reading a few of her blog entries, I'm ready to prowl back through some of my work and add some more suspense. I love writers that make me work harder!