The Black Range Pub
The Black Range Pub
THE BLACK RANGE PUB PODCAST - SEASON 4 EPISODE 2
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The Black Range Pub introduces its featured writer, multiple Award-Winning JOSEPH BADAL, to discuss his upcoming book GONE FOREVER, debuting on June 30th. Joe discusses his writing process and techniques, his advice for keeping novel writing fresh and engaging for the author and audience alike. He announces an upcoming special promotion for readers of LASSITER/MARTINEZ Case Files, and how old and new fans of the series can get in on the thrills.
Hello, everybody, and welcome to the May 2026 edition of the Black Range Pub, where we celebrate the history, the artists, and the culture of the great American Southwest. I'm your host, Robert Cadera. Today it's our pleasure to welcome back Joseph Bedal, the multi-award-winning author of so many great suspense and thriller novels, will be talking about his new story, Gone Forever, which will be debuting at the end of June. Now we're not only welcoming Joe back to the Black Range pub, we're welcoming him aboard, as Joe has now joined the team here at Black Range Publishing. We've recently reissued all of his back catalogs of excellent work, and Black Range is proud to be Joe Pedell's new publisher. We actually don't have the time today to list all of the awards he's won or as many great thrillers, but just to name a few. In addition to being a multi-time Amazon number one best-selling author, Joe is a multiple winner of the Tony Hillerman Award. He's got four gold medals from the Military Writers of America, as well as their Writer of the Year Award. Joe's been awarded multiple top prizes in the Thriller Suspense category at the annual New Mexico-Arizona Book Awards, and he won the prestigious Eric Hoffer Award. He's been recognized as one of the 50 best authors you should be reading. We've got lots to talk about today, so let's get on with it. Joseph Bedal, welcome to the Black Range Pub.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Bob. It's great to be here. It's great to be associated with uh Black Range Publishing.
SPEAKER_01Well, that is uh we have a lot to announce here today, but that of course is one of the most important, and that is that uh as of uh late last year, uh Black Range Publishing has the honor of uh of publishing your books. And we did a reissue of all 19 of your prior novels, and those are now available everywhere. And we're going to talk a little bit today about your brand new novel, which is called Gone Forever. Uh, you want to tell us just a little bit about that?
SPEAKER_02Happy to. Yeah, Gone Forever is the fifth in my Lassiter Martinez case file series. Uh that's as in Barbara Lassiter and Susan Martinez, two homicide detectives with the Burnley Oak County Sheriff's Department in uh here in Albuquerque. Uh Gone Forever is a uh uh is probably the the most uh uh exciting of all of the five books in the series in the sense that it's not only got a primary plot but several secondary pro plots, and uh it's really all about Gone Forever is not just uh about the disappearance of certain people, but it's also about the uh about innocence gone forever. Uh and so uh it uh I think it's it is a book that highlights Barbara and Susan at their best, uh, but also uh has them affiliated with a cast of characters, both good guys and bad guys, that I think readers will uh uh enjoy reading about.
SPEAKER_01Well, and it's also extremely topical, as many of your books are. Uh it you know, the old cliche ripped from today's headlines, but in this case it really applies.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that's that's uh a very good point. Uh it in a sense, although it's not part of the same series, but it it uh follows up on my previous book, Solace, which was in my Curtis Chronicle series, and has a human trafficking component, which I uh have become involved with in the sense of trying to stop human trafficking here in our state.
SPEAKER_01Well, you know, uh you've been multiple award-winning for many years. You have a regular and devoted readers, and you've won all kinds of critical acclaim. One of the comments that I've heard about your writing is that uh Joe Bedell's writing is so tight and so clear, and having read all of your books, I certainly would agree with that. How do you achieve that quality?
SPEAKER_02Well, you know, Bob, I I follow a uh set of rules, but I think my first and and primary rule is uh if I were to give advice to aspiring authors, is to get your story down on paper. Get it done. Don't worry about tightening it up and and so forth until after you have your story written. But then I follow a series of uh a list of rules that uh are fairly common sense, but it's you know, so often writers get so involved with their story that they forget about the uh the aspect of the writing that that involves discipline and uh and making sure that, for instance, don't use ten words when six will do, uh don't use gerunds when you don't have absolutely have to use them. Um you know get your reader's attention right with the first paragraph, uh, because if you don't do that, you're gonna lose them before they they get very far into your into your work. So uh I and I I have I've used this uh list of of rules. There's 42 of them. And by the way, I would be happy to provide uh that list of rules to any of the listeners here today. Uh all they would have to do is email me at josephbedellbooks at outlook.com and tell them tell and tell me that they would like to have a copy of the rules, and I will send them off to them free of charge.
SPEAKER_01That's great. Yeah, I know we have some aspiring authors who are listening in, and uh and that's uh that'll be a real treat for them, I'm sure. Let me ask you one question, Joe. And I've never asked this before, and I uh uh I'll come right out of left field with this. Everybody has their own process. Every author has his or her own process. Some of us write at certain times of the day in certain places under certain conditions. What's a typical Joe Bedell writing day like well, uh I write every day without exception.
SPEAKER_02Every day without exception, and um and I typically put in somewhere between four to six hours. Wow. Uh depends on how long I can I can sit in one place.
SPEAKER_01Well, that explains how you have so many books too, so many excellent books.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, when I first started writing, I was able to sit down for eight to ten hours straight, but not not anymore. Uh but it's uh uh I I I think it, you know, it's it's the most satisfying job I've ever had, but it is a job. You know, you if if you're going if you're going to if you want to get published, you you need to sit down and put the time in. And uh it's it's just like you know, if you wanted to run a mile, you're not gonna go out and run a four-minute mile the the day you start running. Right. But it so it's the same thing with writing. It's an it's it's an exercise that needs to be uh honed on a daily basis.
SPEAKER_01So you would agree with the uh the belief that you're not really a writer until you've put a million words on paper.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, or or as uh Malcolm Gladwell said, you need 10,000 hours uh to become an expert on anything.
SPEAKER_01So you know, uh you've got 20 books now. This this is your 20th with Gone Forever. And um, as I say, I've read them all, and one of the things that keeps me coming back is that you have avoided getting into any kind of a rut. Uh they may all be thrillers, but there is not a sameness to them. There's different different protagonists and different series, and the stories take place all around the world. Uh where do you get so many ideas?
SPEAKER_02Some of those some of the uh books are actually based on events that personal events that uh uh have occurred in my life. Uh for instance, Evil Deeds, the first book in the uh Danforth saga series, uh is based on the actual kidnapping of our two and a half-year-old son uh when I was stationed in Greece with the U.S. Army. Uh there are a number of books in that series. There have been eight so far that uh uh are based on actual current events like uh the war in Iraq, for instance. Um a couple of those books were uh pre-saged what's going on in Iran today.
SPEAKER_01So that's right.
SPEAKER_02Uh so it uh I I I don't want to say that I'm prescient, but I but I guess that there might be problems down the road. But um so there are you know for instance, the titles Soulless and Gone Forever have been inspired by uh current events relating to human trafficking. Um as you know, it's a$50 billion a year business uh worldwide. Um some of it's a figment of a an act overactive imagination, and some of it's based on real real events.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, so I in my own experience, people say, well, when's another book coming out? And it's not like an assembly line where you grind them out. Uh with me, I can be working on one book, and what gets me through writing that book is another story that's in my head that keeps nudging the first story out. It's like, get that out of the way so I can be heard.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, no, that's well put. And I I uh and you know, you mentioned uh earlier about number of different series and so forth. Uh somebody told me one time that uh moving from series to series or moving from a book, uh a new book in a series to a standalone uh is a great way to c clean your literary palate.
SPEAKER_01Understand.
SPEAKER_02And so I thought that was an interesting way of putting it. And I I do find that uh my enthusiasm about my writing is enhanced by going from uh instead of staying in one series and going from one series to another or or writing a standalone.
SPEAKER_01Well, now that that raises a question in my mind. You've got 20 books, you've got three very popular series, and as you said, you have standalones. When you look back now on all that you've done, do you have a particular favorite among the series or a favorite character or even a favorite single novel?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, that's a bit like asking me which of my children I love the best. Uh yeah, I guess it dep I guess it depends on the day. But uh you know, Bob, uh my first book, The Pythagorean Solution, which was a uh a uh standalone thriller, um just because it was my first, it's like my first love, uh it's uh it's it's special. Uh I would tell you that probably from a uh technical standpoint, it might not be the best of my books, but I think it, you know, it's it's still b good enough to have won awards, including being uh uh a finalist with the uh Eric Hoffer Awards uh program uh this year.
SPEAKER_01That will be announced on June 18th, I think, isn't it?
SPEAKER_02Uh yeah, we're gonna find out if it's if it's uh the final winner. And uh so uh I I have really enjoyed writing about uh in writing this Lester Martinez case file series. And it it represented uh starting with Borderline, the first book in the series, it represented a challenge because what I had to do was try and put myself in the heads of female characters. Right. Uh and um and so you know that's not always the easiest thing to do, obviously. So uh but but I've really uh I've I really gotten to like Barbara and Susan in that series, and uh, you know, they're they're kick-ass uh uh courageous ladies who uh but and but like all of my my protagonists, they do not leap single buildings or fall buildings in a single bound. They are uh they're people that readers can relate to because they are real human beings with frailties and weaknesses as well as strengths.
SPEAKER_01Right. And uh they're they're two of my favorite characters. In fact, of all your books, uh I I kind of have a uh a special place in my heart for Borderline, which I think uh I don't know where I was at personally while I was reading it. That might have had something to do with it, but but that's a story that's really stuck with me and uh and made me eager for more and more Lasseter Martinez stories.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you for saying that. I uh interesting, Borderline has been the my best-selling book of all of my books. Uh and uh many of my books have been Amazon number one bestsellers, but uh Borderline has been the far and away the the most popular uh book, and uh in fact it has thousands of five-star reviews on Amazon. Um we uh I'm kind of excited about Black Rain Publishing, Black Black Range Publishing bringing out the next book in that series, Gone Forever, because uh uh Black Range and I have agreed to provide a uh promotional deal for uh for that series. So anybody that has not read the previous books in the series, uh previous four books, can't will be able to buy them starting uh June the 1st through June the 30th uh for a discounted price of$3.99 each, or could buy all four of them for a total of$11.99, uh, which is uh 50% discount off the regular price.
SPEAKER_01And that'll be in effect right up until the release date for Gone Forever, which will be June 30th, right?
SPEAKER_02Correct.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well, uh I I I'd like to just add my personal uh stamp of approval on that. I I read a lot of series, and there's almost always maybe one or two books that I haven't gotten around to that that uh completists would probably uh frown at, but uh you don't want to miss a single acid or Martinez story, let me tell you that.
SPEAKER_02Well, thank you. Thank you, Bob. Appreciate your support.
SPEAKER_01Well, looking further on up the road, now I understand that uh there's going to be a reunion of sorts coming up at the end of 2026. Can you give us any details?
SPEAKER_02I like the way you put that. Yeah, the uh the next book in the um Danforth saga, which is is the the eighth book and is ready to go, uh, is called The Reunion. And it is it brings uh the main character uh of the Danforth saga saga is Bob Danforth, and it brings him back along with a cohort of uh uh former associates from uh the CIA, they're all retired now, and they are sent on a mission by the current uh head of the CIA to uh track down a an international terrorist, a la uh Carlos the Jackal, and uh and they go to Ireland where they uh have intelligence, where the CIA has intelligence that uh he may be going there. And the book takes takes the reader on a roller coaster ride from Ireland to Ukraine to France, uh and uh it's uh you know, for those people that like revenge stories, this is a uh great uh revenge uh tale and uh and uh involves, as all of my books do, uh the triumph of good over evil.
SPEAKER_01Well, having read all the Danforths, I know that's one family that has a lot of scores to settle. I'd hesitate to call it one of the charms of the Danforth series is that you've actually taken that tale and it's become a multi-generational tale. You don't just have Bob Danforth, you have a son and a grandson. So as the characters have kind of aged naturally, the problems persist.
SPEAKER_02No, that's right. And uh I've really enjoyed writing uh about not only Bob but his son Michael, um and uh and then Robbie, who is his grandson. Um the uh I had to do that, Bob, because as as as Bob Danforth aged, uh I couldn't have him leaping over fences anymore, so I needed somebody younger to do it.
SPEAKER_01The other guys held the ladder, though. No, that it's wonderful because it it brings a dimension of family uh into the ongoing saga. And especially we live in a world where the generations can often be uh separated from one another by distance, time, or whatever. So it's nice to see uh an intact family uh operating for uh for justice in the American way.
SPEAKER_02Well, yeah, and and then there's Liz Danforth, Bob's wife, who is just one, you know, she started out in book number one as a young woman who'd never been any anywhere uh outside of the United States and and was uh fearful of a lot of things, and she turned into one tough cookie and uh is is a great character.
SPEAKER_01Well, I I understand that if you go to the uh dictionary or thesaurus and look up Long Suffering, it's got a reference to her in in it.
SPEAKER_02All right. There's a little of that. A little of that too. All right.
SPEAKER_01Well, so that that'll that'll be a Christmas present for your readers. Uh, and we'll be getting that out by the end of the year, hopefully around Thanksgiving or thereabouts. And uh we've got uh we've got a lot popping here. We've got Gone Forever coming out in uh at the end of June. We've got a special on the entire Lasseter Martinez case series for the month of June. And then uh we have a little another uh saga of the Danforths under our Christmas tree. So that's wonderful, Joe. I don't know where you get the energy to do it, but don't stop.
SPEAKER_02Thank you, Bob. No plans to do so.
SPEAKER_01All right. Well, we've been talking to author Joseph Badal, uh, my my compatriot here now at Black Range Publishing and one of America's finest authors of thrillers. And Joe, thank you for stopping by. And you want to uh uh just give that address that You gave earlier for those who wanted to pick up your rules of writing.
SPEAKER_02Sure, it's just the Dell book. Outlook.com and the Dell spell B-A-D-A-L.
SPEAKER_01Okay. Well thank you very much for stopping by. Okay, thank you for today's program. Thank you for stopping by the Blackwind.