Season 5, Episode 11 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features Cy Stein, author of the novel A Time for Lies. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Stein about the rise of McCarthyism in the 1950s and the danger it represented, why he chose to write alternate history instead of historical fiction or nonfiction, and the direct links he sees between McCarthyism of the past and what’s happening today. Don’t miss it!

In this very special bonus episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful chats with Ellen O’Brien, author of The Hills That Hold Me and grand prize winner of History Through Fiction’s first annual short story contest. During the interview, Mustful talks with O’Brien about Melangell, the Catholic Saint upon which her story is based, the value of study landscapes to bring historical narratives to life, and her research into servant narratives buried within the English country house tradition. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 10 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features USA Today bestselling author Jennifer Cody Epstein, the author of The Madwomen of Paris. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Epstein about the history of the Salpêtrière asylum, the curious, startling nature of Victorian death photography, and the realities and consequences of gender inequity in health care. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 9 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features actor, playwright, and author Gin Hammond, author of the novel Returning the Bones. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Hammond about the amazing accomplishments of her aunt, Dr. Caroline Beatrice Hammond, the travel research she did to create more authentic scenes and settings, and her method of teaching accent and dialects in a way that deepens our humanity and makes a better world. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 8 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features Lola Jaye, author of the novel The Attic Child. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Jaye about the practice of capturing African children and bringing them to Great Britain to act as “companions”, something that happened to her main character, how she went from hating to loving history, and using her writing to contribute to making a better world. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 7 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features New York Times bestselling author Amy Harmon, author of the novel A Girl Called Samson. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Harmon about Deborah Sampson, the woman upon which her novel is based, the process of relying on peripheral research to tell Deborah’s story, and Harmon talks about her own journey going from a school teacher to a bestselling novelist. Don’t miss it!

This special Bonus Episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features K.M. Butler, author of the novel House Aretoli. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Butler about how to create historically authentic fiction characters, the influential role of women in Medieval Venetian society, and the craft of balancing history and fiction. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 6 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features S. Lee Fisher, author of the novel Becoming Olive W. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Fisher about the challenges each female main character in her Women of Campbell County Saga faces, her brilliant organization method to keep all the details in her writing straight, and her own determination to be independent in a male dominated world. Don’t miss it!

This episode is sponsored by Barbara Sontheimer, author of the novel Victor’s Blessings: A meticulously researched tale of a half-Osage Union soldier, torn between honor, duty and perhaps the most difficult human emotion of all... forgiveness.

Season 5, Episode 5 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features Emily Hourican, author of Mummy Darlings and the Glorious Guiness Girls novels series. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Hourican about relying on fictional characters to provide more history to the reader, using her background as a journalist to provide an objective, impartial view of the past, and her experience turning out a book a year writing commercial fiction. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 4 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features an interview with Colin Mustful, author of the novel Reclaiming Mni Sota, with special guest host Stephanie Landsem. During the interview, Landsem talks with Mustful about what inspired his years of research on the U.S. - Dakota War, the work he did in order to convey Dakota and Ojibwe history and culture, and the literary diversity initiative he’s started in order to raise $10,000 for one Indigenous writer from Minnesota. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 3 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features Tracey D. Buchanan, author of the novel Toward the Corner of Mercy and Peace. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Buchanan her love for her hometown of Paducah, Kentucky, the ghost tours that inspired her novel, and the challenges of going from journalist to a fiction writer. Don’t miss it!

Season 5, Episode 2 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast features Linda Joy Myers, author of the novel The Forger of Marseille. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Myers about Varian Fry, the American journalist who ran a rescue network in Vichy France that helped 2,000 to 4,000 anti-Nazi and Jewish refugees to escape Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, the surprising moment of inspiration that led from being a memoirist to a novelist, and her new interview series called The Story Behind the Story. Don’t miss it!

Season 5 of History Through Fiction: The Podcast kicks off with Vanessa Riley, author of Queen of Exiles. During the interview, host Colin Mustful talks with Riley about the history of the Haitian Revolution, the rise to power and then exile of Queen Marie-Louise Christophe, and the issue of reparations for Haiti. Riley also delves into her past, going from a mechanical engineer to a prolific and successful novelist. Don’t miss it!

In this special bonus episode of History Through Fiction: The Podcast, host Colin Mustful chats with author Linda Ulleseit about her new novel, The River Remembers.