Steve Gordy featured on CloseUp Radio

Author Steve Gordy of Aiken, South Carolina, was featured on CloseUp Radio in an October 30 interview about his writing career, self-published books and the real-life experiences that shaped his fiction. The appearance spotlights a local author whose work has moved from small-press roots into broader distribution.

Why it matters: - Steve Gordy’s radio appearance puts a South Carolina writer and founder of BLS Aiken in front of a wider audience. - The interview underscores how a technical writing career, local history and personal experience can feed a book catalog that now includes anthologies, a novel and a collaborative project. - The episode also points listeners to Gordy’s books and online presence at more information.

What happened: - Close Up Radio featured Steve Gordy in an interview with Jim Masters on Friday, Oct. 30 at 1 p.m. Eastern. - Gordy is the author of the short story anthology "Tangled Woods and Dark Waters" and the novel "Faith, Hope, and Dr. Evangelist." - Gordy is also the founder of BLS Aiken, short for Bird Flight Learning Services.

The details: - Gordy said his first published story, "Public Serpent," grew from a safety engineer’s photograph of a boa constrictor tangled in a car’s serpentine belt at the Savannah River Site. - "Tangled Woods and Dark Waters" includes stories such as "Public Serpent," "Bird in the Dark" and "A Dirge for Maxwell." - Gordy said the collection centers on ordinary people facing hardship and getting through it. - "A Dirge for Maxwell" draws on a Jan. 6, 2005 freight-train crash near Aiken that smashed into a textile mill and released gas that killed nine people, by Gordy’s recollection. - Gordy said his favorite story in the collection is "Bird in the Dark," which follows a cockatiel that becomes an unlikely hero. - Gordy said the story’s lesson is that love can be stronger than fear. - "Faith, Hope, and Dr. Evangelist" was published in 2019 and grew from events Gordy experienced while two special family members were in hospice care. - Gordy said he has self-published three books. - Gordy said two of those books have been picked up by Little, Brown and Co. - A new edition of "Tangled Woods and Dark Waters" is due shortly and will be sold through Barnes & Noble. - Gordy said he is a retired industrial trainer, training manager and technical writer who now works as a college instructor and creative writer in Aiken, South Carolina. - Gordy is a member of the South Carolina Writers Association and writers’ groups in other Southeastern states.

Between the lines: - Gordy’s comments frame writing as a craft shaped by discipline, not just inspiration. - He said technical writing taught him organization, formatting and peer review, which now shape how he approaches fiction. - His advice to aspiring authors is to start marketing well before publication. - Gordy also said writers should think about whether a piece would appeal to them as readers. - He said his first South Carolina Writers Association conference changed his view of who succeeds as a writer. - His broader message is that consistent effort and audience awareness matter as much as talent.

What’s next: - Gordy said he is working his contact lists, social media connections and writers’ organizations to promote his books. - The new edition of "Tangled Woods and Dark Waters" is expected soon. - Listeners can hear the interview through podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio and Spotify. - Close Up Radio also shared the interview on Facebook.

The bottom line: - The interview spotlights a veteran South Carolina writer whose fiction draws from local events, personal history and a practical, audience-first approach to storytelling.