Hey there. My new story “Bad Cards: How a $168,000 Michael Jordan rookie card rocked the $15 billion trading card industry” is out now in Business Insider.

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Hi there. My latest story is out now in Business Insider: “Paint It Black: The inside story of a catastrophic Tesla Autopilot failure, and the missing data that revealed what happened.”

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Hey there, my publisher wants me to let you know that my upcoming book OCEAN OF BONES: The Hunt for the Pirate Slave Ship Guerrero is part of a special pre-order promo the next couple days from Barnes & Noble. More info below. Here’s a link!

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Hi there! A new two-part documentary based on my article “The Unsung Warriors of ‘The Price is Right’” is out now as part of the E! channel’s Dirty Rotten Scandals series.

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Hey there! I’m thrilled to announce my new book.

It’s called OCEAN OF BONES: The Hunt for the Pirate Slave Ship Guerrero.

I spent five years reporting the book: learning to dive, traveling from Key West to Liberia, and braiding together two epic stories, 200 years apart.

The book comes out November 3, but is available for pre-order now.

Also ICYMI, my latest feature “Scam on Rye: one New Jersey deli, two university endowments, and the inside story of a $100 million fraud” is out now in Business Insider.

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Hey there! I spent several months investigating the strange theft - and return - of Jim Morrison’s bust from his gravesite in Paris. You can read my story now in Rolling Stone (paywall).

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Hey there. The moment I heard bits of the story behind Thelonious Monk’s Live at Palo Alto, I had to find out more and write about it. It took some time patching it together, as the great stories usually do: meeting with Danny Scher, the Monk family, digging through 1968 yearbooks, and such. The piece is out today in Rolling Stone and Apple News.

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Hey there! My new story is out now. I spent six months creating an AI version of mom - with my real mom’s help. You can read about what happened here.

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Also, in film news: The new movie NICKEL BOYS, based on Colson Whitehead’s novel, is drawn from the real story of the Dozier School for Boys, a notorious reform school in Florida. Thirteen years ago, I spent several months reporting on Dozier, speaking with survivors, and visiting the old campus in Marianna, Florida for what would become my 2013 ebook, The Bones of Marianna, an Amazon Digital Single of the Year.

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Hi, I wrote about “Barker’s Beauties” and the other women backstage who took on the legendary host of The Price is Right. The Business Insider story is here (paywall).

Also, all episodes are now out for DUNGEON MASTERS: the audio drama I created and wrote starring Jon Hamm.

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Hello there! Today is finale day for DUNGEON MASTERS, my new audio drama starring Jon Hamm and Wil Wheaton. You can listen to episode six “We Can Be Heroes” with this link, or wherever you listen to podcasts. There’s also a bonus episode in which I discuss the real story of Dallas Egbert III. Hope you enjoy listening!

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Hope you’re enjoying the long weekend. If you’re looking for something to listen to today, episode five, “The Swamp,” of my new audio drama DUNGEON MASTERS is out now. I created, wrote, and directed the show, which stars Jon Hamm, Will Wheaton, Felicia Day, Kristian Nairn, and more. Listen to and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get podcasts, or use this link.

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Hey, episode four of my new audio drama DUNGEON MASTERS is out today, wherever you listen to podcasts or here. Plus, I have a new feature story called “Fakesville: Inside an AI Nightmare That Tore Apart a School [subscription required]. It’s a monthslong investigation into racist audio that went viral at went viral at Pikesville High. I learned what damage a digital fake can wrought—and how easy it is to make one.

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Hey there! You can listen to the third episode of DUNGEON MASTERS, the audio drama I created and wrote. It stars Jon Hamm as detective William Dear and Wil Wheaton as Dungeons & Dragons co-creator, Gary Gygax. It recently hit number 1 on Apple’s fiction podcasts, and Amazon chose it as a Best Podcast of the Week. New episodes will be out every Monday. Follow along and listen here, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Hey there! It’s launch day for DUNGEON MASTERS, the new audio drama series I created, wrote, and directed starring Jon Hamm, Will Wheaton, Felicia Day, Kristian Nairn, and more. Listen to and follow the show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music or wherever you get your pods to be among the first to hear it. Or use this link to listen

DUNGEON MASTERS is inspired by a true story from 1979 about swashbuckling private eye William Dear (Hamm), and his search for a gifted young genius who allegedly went missing in the steam tunnels of Michigan State University while playing Dungeons & Dragons. It’s also drawn from my interviews with the co-creator of the game, Gary Gygax (played by Wil Wheaton in the podcast), whom I profiled for Wired magazine shortly before his death in 2008 I later turned that into a graphic novel, illustrated by Koren Shadmi, called RISE OF THE DUNGEON MASTER.

I hope you enjoy listening to DUNGEON MASTERS. New episode weekly, the first two are out today:

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Hi there! New podcast time. I created, wrote, and directed DUNGEON MASTERS, a new six-part fiction podcast starring Jon Hamm. It’s inspired by a dramatic true story from the early days of Dungeons & Dragons, when Texas private eye William Dear went searching for a missing young D&D player, Dallas Egbert III. It’s also drawn from my own interviews and meetings with Gary Gygax, the co-creator of the game, whom I profiled for Wired shortly before his death in 2008. I later turned that into a graphic novel, illustrated by Koren Shadmi, called RISE OF THE DUNGEON MASTER.

You can listen to the DUNGEON MASTERS podcast trailer now. Here’s the official blurb:

QCODE, a premium content studio and podcast network in partnership with executive producers Temple Hill, announced the release of the new dramatic narrative fiction podcast, Dungeon Masters, starring and executive produced by Jon Hamm. Created, written and directed by award-winning journalist and author, David Kushner, the series is based on his research and writing about Dungeons & Dragons (RISE OF THE DUNGEON MASTER), and the missing person case which inadvertently made the game (in)famous. 

Set in 1979, the series gives listeners a behind-the-curtain look into the world of Dungeons & Dragons, told through the lenses of private investigator William Dear (Jon Hamm), a swashbuckling style tough guy and creator of the game Gary Gygax (Wil Wheaton). We follow Dear on his quest to find Dallas Egbert, a Michigan State student, who supposedly disappeared in the steam tunnels under his University while enacting a real-life version of D&D. What Dear encounters on this journey and ultimately discovers, defies all expectations, and changes the culture as we know it.

Hamm is joined by a dynamic cast including Wil Wheaton (Star Trek, Stand by Me), Felicia Day (Critical Role, Supernatural), Kristian Nairn (Game of Thrones), Emily Axford (Adam Ruins Everything), Anjali Bhimani (Ms. Marvel, Critical Role) and Mark Daugherty (Captain Marvel) and is produced by Hamm, Kushner, QCODE and Temple Hill Entertainment. 

"It was great to delve into the mystery of Dallas Egbert with this talented team and group of actors. I’m excited for listeners to follow the journey of William Dear and immerse themselves in the series.”

Series creator David Kushner is an award-winning journalist and author and is among the most optioned journalists in Hollywood, with works that have sold to Netflix, A24, Universal, Paramount as well as USA, Hulu, and Fox Broadcasting.

“I’ve been obsessed with the disappearance of Dallas Egbert since I was a kid playing D&D. When I was interviewing the game’s co-creator Gary Gygax for WIRED, he told me how influential Dallas’s disappearance was on the game. I always thought the real story of William Dear’s search for Dallas would be an amazing way to immerse people into the world of the game and the gamers who play it. And since the game is built on storytelling, it felt perfect for a podcast. “ – David Kushner, Creator  

Dungeon Masters will debut on August 12th on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and wherever podcasts are available. QCODE+ subscribers on Apple Podcasts will have early, uninterrupted access to new episodes. 

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Back in September 2021, I wrote my first feature article exclusively here on Substack, “RENAISSANCE, TEXAS.” It’s a story 17 years in the making, revisiting something I witnessed while on assignment covering America’s largest renaissance faire, the Texas Renaissance Festival.” On my way out of the fest, I passed a big fight breaking out by the exit. I later found out that someone got stabbed there and died. So a few years back I decided to look back into what happened, and why.

Starting today, you can listen to a new eight-part true crime podcast based on my article. It’s also called RENAISSANCE, TX, and it’s Season 2 of a true crime series called CRIME WAVES. You can listen to Season 1, Crime Waves: Cold Truth here. The first three episodes of Season 2 are available now whereve you listen to podcasts. Here’s the official blurb:

Season 2 of Crime Waves tells the story of The Texas Renaissance Festival, the largest — and rowdiest — ren fair in the nation. A place where reality and fantasy are blurred. You may think it’s all tights and turkey legs, but what if we told you that the festival has a dark side, too? Over the years, this ren fair has been the scene of murders, assaults, and other assorted crimes. We went to the fair to investigate this place where people live out their carnal fantasies and figure out just exactly how that could become so dangerous. But we didn't expect to find danger for us. Crime Waves is developed and produced by Faceplant and QCODE, in association with No Smiling.    Follow the show now for the strangest true crime stories you’ve never heard of, told by the people who were there — and the ones who picked up the pieces.

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Hi, I’ve been working on this investigative feature for WIRED for over a year, and it’s finally out. It’s about the women who came to Antarctica for science, and the predators who emerged. A congressional investigation is still unfolding. Thanks to WIRED senior research editor Meghan Herbst for additional reporting.

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Hi, my story about an arms dealer, a daring heist, and the birth of Israel is out now. You can read it here.

Hey there, I have a new story for you. Last November, I interviewed the world’s most notorious luxury watch dealer Anthony Farrer a.k.a. “The Timepiece Gentleman” while he was on the run from the FBI. He showed me the storage locker behind Gold’s Gym in Venice, California where he was stashing his stuff. Hours later, FBI agents stormed the storage locker and arrested him there. But I left with one crazy story. You can read it here in Insider (paywalled).

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