Champion Mojo Storyteller Joe R. Lansdale returns to Rock, Paper, Swords! — this time with backup. He's joined by 90s action icon Jeff Speakman (The Perfect Weapon) and Chef-turned-director Joe Gatto to talk about Lost Echoes, The Movie: an indie feature adaptation of Lansdale's 2007 supernatural thriller, currently crowdfunding on Kickstarter.

Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill dig into the story behind the story — a man who can hear violence echoing in sounds from the past, the alcoholic martial arts mentor who helps him fight it, and why three creators walked away from the traditional studio system to make this film entirely on their own terms. Plus: Speakman's 20-years-in-the-making comeback role, Gatto's leap from private chef to feature director, and why "you can be a dead body in the movie" might be the best Kickstarter reward tier ever devised.

Kickstarter & guest links:

• Kickstarter — Lost Echoes, The Movie: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/chefjoegatto/lost-echoes-the-movie
• Chef Joe Gatto — Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chefjoegatto/
• Joe R. Lansdale — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JoeRLansdale
• Jeff Speakman — Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Speakman5.0/

🎧 Support Rock, Paper, Swords! on Patreon: patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

All links: linktr.ee/RockPaperSwords

#LostEchoes #JoeLansdale #JeffSpeakman #IndieFilm #RockPaperSwords

A special, shorter bonus episode — and the final stop on our HNS 2026 Maynooth coverage. Recorded live at the Historical Novel Society's Maynooth conference, Matthew and Justin sit down with historical fiction author MJ Porter (aka Melissa) for the only long-form interview they recorded that weekend.

MJ talks ferry-only travel to Ireland, a nervy trip into the Newgrange passage tomb, St Kevin and Glendalough, her Saxon Mercia novels and her latest release about King Offa, what she's writing next, and a surprise same-day release of a Warhammer 40,000 novel. Enjoy this one — normal service resumes next episode!

Support the podcast: Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

MJ Porter links

• Website: https://www.mjporterauthor.com
• Blog: https://mjporterauthor.blog
• Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/coloursofunison

It's a bumper one this week! Matthew Harffy and Justin Hill spent the weekend of 21–23 August at the Historical Novel Society's 2026 conference in Maynooth, Ireland, and grabbed dozens of short, on-the-spot interviews with historical novelists between sessions, in corridors, and over conference dinners.

Across the episode you'll hear from Frances Donovan, Carolyn Morgan, Vaseem Khan, Kevin Connolly, Griff Hosker, Laura Morelli, Martin Lake, Aidan Morrissey, Lawrence O'Bryan, Anna Belfrage, Susan Nolen, Katherine Mezzacappa, Liz Harris, Naveen Sridhar, Krishor Sridhar, Alison Morton, Maybelle Wallis and Margaret Skea — covering everything from a copper-boom sea voyage around Cape Horn to alternate-history Rome, a Sumerian priestess-poet, and a keynote on James Bond and the end of the Raj.

Plus: Tolkien's Irish footsteps, the story behind Matthew and Justin's after-dinner speech, and why AI shouldn't get to write your stories.

🔗 Links: https://linktr.ee/rockpaperswords🔗 Patreon (bonus episodes, including the after-dinner speech): https://patreon.com/RockPaperSwordsPodcast

(A quick confession for patrons: We always read out the names of Patreon Producers and higher tiers, but in all of the excitement of editing, we forgot to include that in this episode. But that in no way lessens our gratitude to our Patreon Producers: Ben Maher, Andy Maxwell, Ben Fox, George Johnson, Matt Muller, and Tricia!

Our VIP, Bader Khrais!

And our Legend, Adam Turner!

Usual service will be resumed in subsequent episodes.)

#HistoricalFiction #HistFic #HNS2026 #HistoricalNovelSociety