M. L. Rio

Author Talk: Where the Rubber Meets the Road: Writing Place, Space, and Setting with M.L. Rio - Write On Door County The best novels in any genre are inescapably immersive, redolent with sensory detail that transports you across time and space. How do writers achieve this full immersion effect in fiction? Does setti...

If anybody’s in Wisconsin this spring and wants an imaginative break from the cold (or not!) I’m doing a workshop as part of my Write On, Door County residency on February 17:

writeondoorcounty.org/inspire_even... #booksky #writing

New Year New Gear What's in my writing arsenal for 2026

New year, new book, new gear ✍️ I've got six months to get a fresh draft down on paper and I'm writing it all up in the newsletter and annual subs are cheap as hell through January 9, come getcher writing bites ✨

open.substack.com/pub/mlriodis... #booksky #writing

Hot Wax: A Novel|Hardcover Hot Wax is “a propulsive father-daughter story” (Jennifer Egan, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of A Visit from the Goon Squad) and a journey of self-discovery that “captures the joy and danger of rock ...

Hey, guess what? HOT WAX hardcovers are 50% off: www.barnesandnoble.com/w/hot-wax-m-...

Saw three different articles this morning about how print magazines and other physical media are making a comeback, and to this I say YES. FUCK YES. If the backlash to the tech bro bullshit is a return to analog and tangible connection I am HERE for it.

If We Were Villains: A Novel A Novel

@bookshop.org link: bookshop.org/a/7403/97812...

Christmas came early and IF WE WERE VILLAINS ebooks are on sale for $2.99 across platforms -- today only! 🫖 #booksky @flatironbooks.bsky.social

Loved doing this craft chat with The Creative Independent about sensory writing and the tricky sophomore novel

thecreativeindependent.com/people/autho...

#writing #booksky

Listen. “Maybe I should go to grad school!” is a normal response to the times of crisis we’re living through as lovers of letters, but take it from a person who sacrificed a decade of her life and her physical health for a useless PhD:

That’s the devil talking.

Exactly

It was $11 and it's out of print! 🤓

Who's got two thumbs and no self control in a bookstore? This moi 🚬 #books #booksky

Really love to see the team behind this cover get the credit they deserve! Thanks to @lithub.com.web.brid.gy and @simonbooks.bsky.social ❤️ Curious what goes into the cover conversation? I did a whole post about that.

open.substack.com/pub/mlriodis...

#booksky #coverart

Brooklyn! Hot stuff just dropped at both Books Are Magic locations and @barnesandnoble.com Atlantic Ave 🎁 @simonbooks.bsky.social #booksky

New York! Came up to stuff your stockings with signed stock ✨ HOT WAX, IWWV, and GRAVEYARD, check @strandbooks.com @bnunionsqnyc.bsky.social and @mcnallyjackson.bsky.social Soho (and tomorrow some stops in Brooklyn)! #booksky #nyc @simonbooks.bsky.social

Get lit this holiday season and support some indies, it's the gift that keeps on giving 💜 @bookshop.org @simonbooks.bsky.social bookshop.org/info/2025-gi...

Recovery read-a-thon book 12: If We Were Villains by @mlrio.bsky.social

I'm still trying to process this one. Hit me hard on so many levels. Talk about a book hangover. Not sure I'll ever recover.

#readit #ifwewerevillains

So glad it found you at the right time. Thanks for reading x

Discovery Phase Where stories come from

It's the question I get most often and I finally got around to it: where do stories come from? open.substack.com/pub/mlriodis... #booksky #writing

Every Writer We've Published in 2025 - Electric Literature Stand strong with our writers by supporting us today

Grateful to be featured in @electricliterature.com again this year and pleased to see them standing on their values. Why not consider donating to support continuing literacy in these very scary times? electricliterature.com/every-writer... #booksky #books

A writer at work must and will always have at least three beverages on the go at once

Refreshed the research shelf today and work on Book 4 is well underway (where are my fellow noir nerds at) #booksky

I recently did a high school classroom visit to talk about IWWV and by far my favorite feedback was "she has a great sense of humor and I didn't think I would find a person with a PhD in English literature to be funny." My child, nobody survives that without an appreciation for black comedy.

Hell yes thank you for writing such an absolute banger!!

text: The Staircase in the Woods, by Chuck Wendig Some readers may dismiss horror, or other genre fiction, as cheap entertainment based on its shelving alone. Wendig has never written a book that wasn’t entertaining, but he’s never written a cheap one either. His latest novel, The Staircase in the Woods, looks squarely at the darker facets of human nature, and it never eschews the grotesque for the sake of good taste. (Birthday cake with a side of severed thumbs, anyone?) The premise intrigues from the start: Five teenagers climb the mysterious staircase of the title, and only four come out of the forest. Decades later, the survivors agree to try to find their friend—but they’re not certain about what actually happened back then, or what will happen when they return. The longer you spend in Wendig’s haunted house of a novel, the deeper you probe into the troubled minds of his characters—and this fine, freaky psychodrama will keep you up past your bedtime.

Whoa hey now -- STAIRCASE IN THE WOODS gets a shout-out in The Atlantic courtesy of @mlrio.bsky.social -- !!

Eight Plot-Heavy Books That Will Keep You Turning Pages Some readers enjoy plotless, heady fiction. Those who don’t should try these titles.

I have a strong preference for the, let's say, plot-forward novel, as does @mlrio.bsky.social. www.theatlantic.com/books/2025/1...

Thank you so much! ❤️

Oh, thank you!

Eight years after ‘If We Were Villains,’ M.L. Rio hits the road Her long-awaited sophomore novel, Hot Wax, is an electrifying rock ’n’ roll thriller.

Had a great time doing this interview with BookPage, too! www.bookpage.com/interviews/e...

The 10 Best Mystery & Suspense Novels of 2024 Many of 2025’s best mysteries and thrillers mixed and matched genres with abandon, leading to startling hybrids.

Big thanks to @readbookpage.bsky.social for naming HOT WAX one of their best books of 2025, "a passionate novel that takes readers on a turbulent joyride while exploring both the glory and the gore of live rock ’n’ roll." www.bookpage.com/best-books/b... @simonbooks.bsky.social #books #booksky

One fun thing about being a writer is the life of surprising synchronicities, like this Blondie doppelganger spotted in my neighborhood. Fiction can follow you around like that for ages after the fact. (In other news, if you also like hot cars, you should read HOT WAX.)