In this spooky-season episode of Miles Beyond the Page, host Michelle Miles welcomes fellow RWA member and dark romantic suspense author M.R. Rutter for a fascinating conversation about forensic anthropology, the secrets hidden in bones, and turning real-world knowledge into chilling fiction.

Megan. shares her unusual journey into forensic anthropology, beginning with a teenage car accident that unexpectedly led to the discovery of a real skeleton. Her career eventually brought her into difficult modern cases, including work involving murdered children, before the emotional weight of the cases and the realities of how few are ultimately resolved led her to step away.

Michelle and Megan dive into what bones can actually reveal about a person—from age and biological characteristics to occupation, injuries, postmortem changes, and even clues about where someone grew up. M.R. also separates forensic reality from television fiction, sharing some of the misconceptions that make crime shows especially entertaining—and occasionally infuriating—for someone who knows what really happens in the lab.

They also explore how Megan’s forensic background influences her fiction without turning her books into gore. She discusses building fear through psychology, suspicion, isolation, and the secrets people keep, particularly in rural communities where darkness can remain hidden beneath an ordinary surface. Her novel Dangerous Ground, inspired by Minnesota sinkholes, puts that idea to especially chilling use.

🎧 Join Michelle and Megan for a Spooky Season conversation about bones, forensic science, small-town secrets, romantic suspense, and the unsettling stories the dead can still tell.

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews and creative conversations on Miles Beyond the Page!

ABOUT M.R. RUTTER:

M.R. Rutter was born in the mountains of Colorado to an ex-hippy and former Marine. She spent much of her childhood on her grandparents ranch near Leadville CO.

She studied forensic anthropology and ancient history in college and started her professional life as an assistant to her advisors while working on her coursework and thesis. After years of teaching other professors' classes and putting murdered children back together rather than working on her focus, ancient remains, M.R. left the field to pursue a career as a writer.

After living on a sustainable agriculture research farm in Minnesota with her husband, daughter and a menagerie of animals; M.R. has returned to Colorado where she is a full time farmer, research assistant, mother and writer.

Happily for M. R. she can still fill her novels with mummies, skeletons and corpses.

WHERE TO FIND HER:

Instagram | Facebook | TikTok | BlueSky

WHERE TO FIND HER BOOKS:

Amazon

In this spooky-season episode of Miles Beyond the Page, host Michelle Miles welcomes author, visual artist, and educator Jill K. Sayre to discuss On Wings of Stone and Light, a YA reality-based fantasy filled with gargoyles, angels, unlikely allies, and questions about what truly makes someone a monster.

Jill shares the creative path that eventually led her from visual art and education into fiction, including her desire to write a “bridge” middle-grade novel with The Fairies of Turtle Creek. She also reveals the wonderfully unexpected inspirations behind On Wings of Stone and Light: a 1970s gargoyle movie and Cyrano de Bergerac, which helped shape Ryan, a formerly stone gargoyle who is part human, part dragon, and part condor.

Michelle and Jill dive into the deeper themes beneath the fantasy, including feelings of unworthiness, free will, self-reflection, found family, and the power to choose your own path. They explore the assumptions we make about characters who look like monsters, Madeline’s role as an angel medium, and the intriguing contrast created by bringing angels and gargoyles into the same story.

Jill also discusses restructuring the novel around a 30-day timeline to create a full-moon ticking clock, writing unlikely alliances, and using her background as a visual artist to design fantastical creatures through collages. While On Wings of Stone and Light currently stands alone, Jill shares her interest in returning to the world and continuing the story.

🎧 Join Michelle and Jill for a Spooky Season conversation about gargoyles, angels, unlikely heroes, found family, and why sometimes the characters who look like monsters have the most humanity to reveal.

👉 Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews and creative conversations on Miles Beyond the Page!

ABOUT JILL SAYRE:

Jill K. Sayre is an award-winning author of Middle Grade, with a new Young Adult fantasy and a Women's Fiction novel released in October 2025.

With a passion for weaving the wonder of the unseen world into grounded, emotionally rich stories, she creates tales that inspire both curiosity and courage. Her debut MG novel, The Fairies of Turtle Creek, received the Reader’s Favorite Silver Medal for Children’s Fiction and explores the delicate balance between science and belief as a young girl navigates the absence of her brother during the Iraq War.

Her latest YA book, On Wings of Stone and Light, is a mythic, loose retelling of Cyrano de Bergerac, centered on a part-human, part-condor, part-dragon gargoyle who must battle darkness to save his home—and his heart.

Also newly released, In the Wake of Broken Hearts is a Women's Fiction novel based on a true story. Co-written with author Helen Martin Ippolito, it explores three generations of fatal heartbreak, and only the bond between two female friends can help them both find their way.

In addition to writing, Jill is a dedicated Pre-K, elementary and middle school teacher, and visual artist. Whether in the classroom or on the page, she is passionate about nurturing imagination and resilience in people of all ages.

WHERE TO FIND HER:

Website | Instagram | Facebook

WHERE TO FIND HER BOOKS:

Amazon

It’s the 100th episode of Miles Beyond the Page! Host Michelle Miles celebrates this incredible milestone with returning guest and longtime friend S.E. Howard, a horror author and former editor whose writing journey has taken her from paranormal romance into the darker world of supernatural horror.

S.E. joins Michelle to discuss her latest novel, What Lies Unseen, a supernatural mystery and thriller following Sam, a young psychic working security at a haunted historical mansion. She shares how the title reflects both Sam’s ability to see the spirits others cannot and the hidden layers of truth he uncovers as the story unfolds. S.E. also talks about undertaking a major rewrite to strengthen Sam’s character arc and why sometimes the best thing an author can do for a book is be willing to tear it apart and rebuild it.

Michelle and S.E. dive into the craft of writing effective horror, from slow-building dread and unsettling liminal spaces to controlling reveals and delivering twists that actually land. They explore why what a writer chooses not to show can be just as powerful as what appears on the page—and how atmosphere can make readers uneasy long before they understand why.

Then the tables turn! To celebrate Episode 100, S.E. puts Michelle in the guest seat to talk about the author career she’s built along the way. They discuss rapid releases, forming an LLC, developing a cohesive author brand, launching Miles Beyond the Page, narrating her own audiobooks, and building an interconnected fairytale-retelling world with story bibles, maps, and plenty of plans for what comes next.

🎧 Join Michelle and S.E. for a very special 100th episode filled with haunted houses, psychic abilities, horror-writing craft, friendship, author life, and a look back at the creative journey that brought Miles Beyond the Page to triple digits.

👉 Thank you for 100 episodes! Don’t forget to subscribe for more author interviews, writing conversations, and adventures beyond the page as we head toward the next 100!

ABOUT S.E. HOWARD:

S.E. Howard lives in Kentucky where she works as a registered nurse, certified in toxicology (a fitting field given her side-hustle writing horror stories). Her short stories have appeared in numerous anthologies, including PUSH! An Anthology of Childbirth Horror presented by Ruth Anna Evans, Carnival of Horror from Undertaker Books, and the Amber, Sinister, and Green Diamond Editions of The Horror Collection by KJK Publishing. Her short story “You’ve Been Saved” was also adapted for the screen in the 2022 GenreBlast film anthology Worst Laid Plans. Her horror novella, "Prairie Madness" is available from Baynam Books Press, and a novel, The Vessel from Wicked House Publishing. For more information, visit online at www.sehoward.com.

WHERE TO FIND HER:

Website | Facebook

WHERE TO FIND HER BOOKS:

Amazon