Robert Stahl breaks down indie publishing and short story craft

Episode 007 – Robert Stahl | MAKE // BREAKRobert E. Stahl is the Dallas-based horror author behind Show Me Where It Hurts (JournalStone, 2025), a debut collection of 30 short stories and poems exploring grief, transformation, and the monstrous within. A former bartender turned writer and filmmaker, Stahl built his voice at the intersection of prose and comics, drawing on influences like Swamp Thing while developing a pragmatic editing and submissions routine. In this episode of MAKE // BREAK with host Lance Marwood, he breaks down the “rejection math” behind landing pro-market placements, the origins of that unforgettable teeth cover, and the mindset that carried him from first readers to a book deal and Texas tour. It’s equal parts craft talk, resilience playbook, and indie-publishing reality check.👀 What you’ll hearDistil the title and teeth cover into a surprising origin story from a poem and a monsterShare the rejection-to-acceptance ratio and how persistence finally cracked pro marketsExplain how Swamp Thing and Monkey’s Paw tropes shaped a devastating reunion sceneMap the indie publishing path through grief, resilience, and landing with JournalStoneDetail a pragmatic editing system — cooling time, trusted first readers, revision boundariesOffer brass-tacks routines for writing, submissions, and surviving the industry’s noes🕰️ Chapters 00:00 Why Show Me Where It Hurts and the iconic teeth cover 01:52 Rejections, first pro-market sales, contest experiences 04:29 Political horror and placing in Story Unlikely 06:20 Swamp Thing influence and Monkey’s Paw mechanics 10:18 Publishing gauntlet, grief, and finding JournalStone 13:28 Resilience mindset — “the action is the juice” 16:39 Blood onstage story and Halloween gig 17:50 Books that reset creatives — King, Pressfield, Gilbert 18:44 Comics craft — Moore, Hickman, Gaiman shaping horror voice 25:37 Contemporary horror influences — Jones, Ketchum, Barker 39:45 Top films — Hereditary, The Descent, Talk To Me 48:06 Editing, first readers, routine, and rejection-proof habits🔗 Guest Linkshttps://www.robertestahl.com/https://www.instagram.com/robert_e_stahl_author/https://www.facebook.com/RobertEStahlAuthorhttps://x.com/RobertStahlTX🔗 MAKE // BREAK & Host Linkshttps://creators.spotify.com/pod/profile/makebreakhttps://instagram.com/lowkeyhellishhttps://tiktok.com/@lowkeyhellish🔗 V13 Media Linkshttps://v13.netIf this helped, subscribe and tell us in the comments how you handle rejection in the publishing grind(explicit language) #MakeBreak #Stahl #HorrorWriting