Awesome Author Interviews

Jeffrey Levin Amazon Profile

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Jeffrey Levin

Interview With Author Jeffrey Levin

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Of course. First, I’d like to thank you for having me. I currently make my living as a commercial real estate attorney, which pays the bills but doesn’t fulfill my creative side. I’ve also previously been in the food service industry, owning a hot-dog stand and working in my family’s catering business. I learned a real appreciation for the people in that industry and the hard work that is required. For creative endeavors, I have been a glass blower, which was enormous fun! I’ve written screen-plays and, as you know, books. Watching is my first published novel. I have a second, Deep Cover, being released on June 27, 2024. It’s a post Cold War espionage thriller. I’m also currently working on Volume 2 of the Watching series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Watching was inspired much as the characters set it out: my wife and I watched a documentary about an unsolved art theft. None of the art has ever been seen. My mind wouldn’t shut off once I stated wondering about what could possibly have happened to it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if they are unusual, as most writers I know have some strange routines. I tend to come up with ideas at odd times: sleeping, on airplanes, while driving. This forces me to make notes, usually on my phone, and send them to myself as emails. My favorite thing while writing is when my characters take me in directions which I hadn’t contemplated. It’s always fun to follow them and see what they come up with!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I grew up reading classic sci-fi. Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov. Amazing writers with incredible imaginations. Later I started getting more into mystery. James Patterson and James Lee Burke come to mind. I’m also a fan of Stephen King’s work, especially his non-horror writing. A very talented man!

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on Volume 2 of the Watching series. It is tentatively titled The Portrait of an Innocent Girl. I could tell you more, but I’d have to kill you.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Promotion is always the hard part for me. My publisher has had success with Face Book ads. And I have a mailing list of over 500 people that I use to keep them informed. I’m hoping that Awesome Gang will turn out to be awesome for me!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write. It’s the only way to improve. It doesn’t have to be perfect right out of the gate. You can always go back (which you will, numerous times) and make it better. But, if you don’t start you’ll never have that opportunity.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Basically, the advice I just gave is the best advice (relative to writing) that I’ve received.

What are you reading now?
It’s odd, but, because I’m currently writing a novel, I don’t read other peoples work. I don’t want to find myself becoming unintentionally influenced.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Once I finish Volume 2 of the Watching series, I’m going to have to come up with an intriguing idea. I might go back and look at some of my screenplays and notes of ideas that I’ve kept over the years.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Wow, what a tough question! City of Thieves, Dune, Foundation. I’d have a hard time taking a mystery I’d already read because I know the answer.

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Jeffrey Levin Website

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Gary Blackwood

Interview With Author Gary Blackwood

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
After decades of bouncing about the U.S., I’ve settled down on the beautiful North Shore of Nova Scotia, where I find I’m more prolific than ever–which is saying something. I’ve published 36 novels and nonfiction books (so far) for middle grade, YA, and adults. I’m also a widely produced playwright, and I’m slowly starting to get a foothold in screenplay territory.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published book (I have a couple that are still orphans) is The Devil to Pay (Black Rose Writing). I’m a pacifist, and I’d been wanting for a long while to write a novel that deals with how pacifists can make their way in a world that seems rife with violence. Devil is loosely based on my years at university in the late 60s, when the spectre of the Vietnam War was hanging over every male student’s head. It also draws on my fascination with codes and ciphers (which also led me to write Mysterious Messages: A History of Codes and Ciphers).

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not unless you count sitting myself down in front of the computer every day for several hours. (It’s the main reason I manage to be so productive).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mostly the classics. I love the elegant prose of Dickens and Hardy and Robertson Davies. But my most recent was inspired by Steinbeck’s The Winter of Our Discontent, which deals with ordinary people with ordinary problems in a very straightforward way.

What are you working on now?
Nothing, as far as actual writing; I have three books and a whack of screenplays that I need to find homes for, so I’m taking a sabbatical and concentrating on querying and submitting, which can get to be a full-time job.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I can’t really say. I’ve tried various methods, but I totally suck at promotion.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yep, but it’s advice that very few want to hear: Spend a lot of time, before you begin writing, on planning (not the same as outlining) and researching and writing bios of your main characters. It gives you a solid idea of where you’re going and how to get there, so you don’t go astray or come up against a roadblock somewhere in the middle.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
How to structure a story (novel, stage play, screenplay) as explained in Syd Field’s excellent book Screenplay. I use his method continually, and teach it when I do writing seminars.

What are you reading now?
I just finished John Grisham’s The Innocent Man (my first dive into Grisham), and am now starting on The Epic of Gilgamesh. Talk about eclectic.

What’s next for you as a writer?
No idea. I don’t mean that I have no ideas–my head and my clipboard are swimming with those. I just haven’t settled on one yet. But I am doing quite a bit of planning (see above advice) and note-taking.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
How to Survive on a Desert Island (actually, one of the ideas I’m considering has to do with just that); The Complete Works of Shakespeare; The Complete Works of Thomas Hardy; The Complete Works of P. G. Wodehouse;

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Gary Blackwood Website

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Duane Davis

Interview With Author Duane Davis

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first and only book. Hailing from Li.I.,Mneola, NY, this author grew up overseas in North and West Africa as the son of a U.S. diplomat. I have a worldly perspective and a unique view of the world.

As a high school quarterback, I was gifted physically, with good genes, above average looks, 6’2”, 225 pounds, and well- endowed. I have been gifted with having been with good- looking women across the spectrum from all nationalities, races, and income strata.
One might wonder why I am authoring this short book.

I am Ivy League educated with an MBA from Dartmouth College, as well.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Well, in my first and only marriage, my good-looking ex-wife who looks like Caroline Kennedy with curly hair – used to say to me, “You should write a book on how to be a good husband.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing style is direct and I write like I talk- so it comes with some persuasiveness.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Noone really.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a book about me

Preliminary title, “From Bench to Home – An All-American Story”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As a neophyte (newbie), I am still trying to figure that out. Will take any and all advice.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
None

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
N/A

What are you reading now?
No book oin paricular- just focusing on myself, for now!

What’s next for you as a writer?
The Book about me!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
No Books- just magazines

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Alexis Cleoford

Interview With Author Alexis Cleoford

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write cozy mysteries and middle-grade comedies about cats, and I’ve written over eight books at this point.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book was inspire by Valentine’s Day; it’s called Hijacked Arrows of Love.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend do write late at night and don’t have a very detailed plot outline. I fill in the story details as I write. I’ve written some of my best stories at 4 a.m.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dr. Seuss’s and Jim Benton’s stories have influenced me.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my next cozy mystery story as part of my Cats and Mysteries series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think the best method is to genuinely connect with people and introduce your work to those who are interested. Connecting with other authors and cross promoting each other is also a great way to promote.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I know it can be daunting to be a new author, but stay inspired and believe in your work before the world does. Have other authors read your story before you release it or have a few beta readers give you feedback. Don’t be afraid of making mistakes; your story is not going to be perfect no matter how many time you edit.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Live life authentically and stay true to your calling. Be brave and steadfast even when things get difficult.

What are you reading now?
I read a lot of non-fiction and am also reading a cozy mystery story.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Creating more ‘cattastic’ experiences for my readers. Cheers!

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Alexis Cleoford Website

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Rob Henson Amazon Profile

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Rob Henson

Interview With Author Rob Henson

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My pen name is Rob Henson. I have three books on mindfulness out right now and three more in production.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
New Year New Mind: 10 Mindfulness Strategies for Resolution Mastery. I wrote this because I think mindfulness can be a path to helping us stick to our resolutions. The practice of mindfulness can help us find the peace, focus, and energy we need to make our resolutions sticky all year long.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I get up at 4am each day. Most of my books get outlined in my head during morning exercise or meditation.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jon Kabat-Zinn, Tara Brach, Pema Chodrin

What are you working on now?
I have three books in various stages, one on the intersection of masculinity and mindfulness, on for divorced dads, and early drafts of a book on mindfulness during the holiday season for late 2024.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
amazon

Do you have any advice for new authors?
write about something you care about. yes, trend programs can help you niche-down, but relatable writing requires that you care. your audience is out there!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
don’t live life in the rear view mirror

What are you reading now?
extreme leadership, build the life you want, sensitive

What’s next for you as a writer?
part of the gift of this journey is letting go of my agenda to be inspired about what I feel like I need to write. through conversation, meditation, a news report, or a tiktok, I get new ideas on what to write. that keeps me creative and engaged in the process.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
seven story mountain, true refuge, invitation to retreat

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Eden Walker Amazon Profile

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Eden Walker

Interview With Author Eden Walker

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello, my name is Eden, and I’m a budding author. The Holy Spirit Hitlist is my debut book, and by the grace of God, I had a successful first book launch. I’m a social-media-shy introvert and had no idea the hustle it would take to market my beloved book. I had to step out of my comfort zone and start an Instagram and Booktok (@goliathandgrace on both platforms). Writing has been the easiest part of my publishing journey so far.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Holy Spirit Hitlist (Unleash 15 Powerful Prayers to Seek Salvation for the Unbelievers in your Life) was published on December 5, 2023. I was once on my best friend’s hit list for 20 years before returning to Christ. I would ruthlessly poke fun at her, sending her Jesus bobbleheads, stickers, t-shirts, and even laugh at her for “dating” Him. I rejected most things related to God from the age of 13 to 44. I share my testimony and explain what made me turn away (hypocrisy and shattered trust) and also what made me turn back (losing my mother-in-law) in Chapter 9 of my book. I had a spiritual encounter that I could not dismiss, deny, or ignore late one night while holding my mother-in-law’s hand in hospice. I had an undeniable sense that I needed to pray for her. I thought I was delirious from grief, I hadn’t prayed out loud or over anyone in 31 years. Still, I listened to the Holy Spirit’s prompting and prayed over my mother-in-law as she lay dying. Immediately, I was flooded with the most perfect peace, a healing balm unlike any other. This peace remains with me today. In all the time I spent rejecting Him, I never shared my faith with my own family. And it is this, as heartbreaking as it is, that moved me to write The Holy Spirit Hitlist. I am praying right alongside my readers for the unbelievers in my life, including my husband and three children.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Before my fingers hit my keyboard, I pray that God’s hand will be in whatever I write. And that my words will reach those they need to. Bless what is meant to be and break what is not.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stormie Omartian was a big influence on my book. I have always loved The Power of a Praying Wife and The Power of a Praying Parent. I was also reading Charles Stanley’s devotional God’s Purpose for Your Life while writing, and it spoke to me daily.

What are you working on now?
Reviews, reviews, and more reviews (as every non-authority figure author will tell you).

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Being a newbie, I am still determining this…

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Build as large of a review team as you possibly can PRIOR to your book launch.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
No one is going to care more about your book than you do (ouch).

What are you reading now?
C.S. Lewis’ Little Book of Wisdom

What’s next for you as a writer?
Promoting The Holy Spirit Hitlist and gaining as many reviews as I possibly can. Reviews act as our social proof; the more reviews you have, the more people your book will reach. I am researching and have started to gather Scriptures for my second book.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
NLT Bible, The Secret Life of Bees, The Kite Runner, and Prayers for Emotional Wholeness.

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Eden Walker Website

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Jack Borlock Amazon Profile

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Jack Borlock

Interview With Author Jack Borlock

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a new author with a deep love for both 19th-century Russian music and the intricate world of technology. I have tried to bring these interests together in my debut book, “Hi-Fi: A Beginner’s Guide to High Fidelity Audio.”

When I’m not listening to Tchaikovsky or Rachmaninoff, you’ll find me tinkering with audio equipment.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first book is called “Hi-Fi: A Beginner’s Guide to High Fidelity Audio.”

It came to be because I remembered how confused I was at first when I put together my first setup. I could have used a simple how-to guide!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write while I commute to work.

What are you working on now?
I’m gathering material for an all-new project (maybe about music).

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still discovering and learning as I go, since it is my first book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just do it!

What are you reading now?
A History of Opera : the Last 400 Years, by Abbate & Parker

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to do a book about music.

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Hadas Cohen

Interview With Author Hadas Cohen

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a psychology and criminology student and a true crime junkie. I got into true crime a few years ago and since then it has been an obsession. I was looking for a way to contribute to the genre in a meaningful way but found that the American true crime scene is saturated by the True Crime industrial complex. Thus I turned to my international experience. My mom served as a diplomat and we lived in Turkey, Greece, Israel, Spain, and South Africa. I wanted to bring fresh true crime stories to US readers and challenge myself to translate an international true crime story into English.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book name is The 21 Wives of Goel Ratzon and it’s a shocking true crime story from Israel. Ratzon is the most notorious Israeli cult leader who had 21 wives and about 50 children, most of them were living in a single compound in the middle of Tel Aviv. He began his life as a poor and uneducated Yemeni imigrant, but soon learned the power of spirituality and began teaching Kabbalah, amassing hundreds of students. Ratzon’s vision was to build a big polygamous family with hundreds of wives and thousands of children, so he began convincing young women who attended his classes that the only way to spiritual ascendence was to become his wives. When the police cracked on his cult they discovered Ratzon’s own daugters were serving as his wives too, bearing him 6 kids.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I work from home so I try to get up early and write a little every day before logging in for work.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love non-fiction and especially true crime with a strong narrative. A few of my favorites are American Predator, Mindhunter, Catch and Kill.

What are you working on now?
I am researching another huge international story, a real whodunit with many creepy characters.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t have much experience in promoting books yet, free book giveaways seemed to work pretty well for me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing a book is hard work so I would recommend picking a topic you are obsessed with.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keeping active even if you prefer to sit at your computer all day.

What are you reading now?
Number Go Up

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to write a true crime book about a huge international murder case I’ve been researching.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Educated, Don’t Call it a Cult, I’ll be Gone in the Dark.

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Hadas Cohen Website

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Paul Marzell Amazon Profile

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Paul Marzella

Interview With Author Paul Marzell

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia and currently reside in western Pennsylvania with my wife, Janet. I served in the United States Air Force in West Germany in the early sixties. I earned a BSBA degree from Temple University in Philadelphia and an MBA degree from Golden Gate University in San Francisco. My business experience includes thirty years in the airline industry in various nonmanagement and management positions with domestic and international responsibilities. I was also a customer service manager for a light industry company and an operations manager for a satellite TV provider. Heimat is my first novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The inspiration for writing “Heimat” struck me eleven years ago when researching my family tree in anticipation of my first grandchild’s birth. My goal was to compile a comprehensive documentation of his diverse heritage, spanning Dutch, English, Mexican, and German roots. Employing traditional resources like census and baptismal records, I augmented my project with invaluable documents inherited from my father, who immigrated from Germany in 1929.

Among these documents were my father’s birth certificate, immigration papers, passport, the ticket for the inaugural voyage of the TS Bremen across the Atlantic, and a collection of various German and United States government forms, including his World War Two draft registration. The letters he preserved from his mother, sisters, and other relatives, which he received both before and after World War Two, were of utmost significance.

Many of the letters were composed in Sütterlin Schrift, a script no longer taught in Germany. It took me several months to transcribe them into modern German script and then translate them into English.

Many of the experiences of some characters in Heimat are inspired by real-life experiences of people I know. At the same time, I’ve crafted other characters and their experiences entirely from my imagination. In the chapters where letters are utilized for foreshadowing, some are nearly verbatim from authentic letters, while others are consolidations of two or more correspondences. Additionally, there are instances where letters are entirely fictional. These letters not only served to establish the chronological framework for the narrative but also became an integral part of the storytelling.

Despite these creative liberties, the historical facts presented in my work are meticulously researched and accurate.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual. I am easily distracted. While writing, I can’t ignore all chores, e.g. cleaning up the dog poop, mowing the lawn, fixing the leaking toilet, staining the deck, ad infinitum. I never learned to type! I’m too old to learn now, although I try to do better.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I like to read historical fiction by Leon Uris, Herman Wouk, and James Michener and narrative historical nonfiction by Erik Larson, which feel like novels to me. I also like paranormal novels by Dean Koontz. Then there are also J. K. Rawling and R. R. Tolkien.

What are you working on now?
I’m writing a novel that is in its embryonic stage. I have two partial paragraphs started, and I vacillate on deciding which should come first. The storyline is far from developed, and the main character’s background, personality, and physical description are incomplete.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have not found any to be satisfactory yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not be easily distracted like I am. While writing, do your best to ignore all chores, e.g. cleaning up the dog poop, mowing the lawn, fixing the leaking toilet, staining the deck, ad infinitum. Learn to type! I’m too old to learn that trick. Do not ignore your health!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When I was a sophomore in high school, I had an after-class detention assignment to write the following 200 times on lined paper in pencil: “The day I become a man is the day I will walk around a puddle instead of through it'” It wasn’t those words that had an impact on me. It was that I learned to work smart rather than hard. The sentence was short enough that it occupied one line on the page, so it was possible to use two pencils and write two lines simultaneously. In later detentions, I was skilled enough to use three pencils! Obviously, the “becoming a man” part came later in life.

What are you reading now?
I am reading Looking Down the Corridors by Kevin Wright and Peter Jefferies. It’s a non-fiction work about the Allies’ espionage flights over East Germany and Berlin from 1945 to 1990. I am reading it for research for my next novel and out of curiosity because I was stationed at Rhein-Main Airbase in West Germany when the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961. The following year, I got a seat on a military flight from Wiesbaden Air Base to Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. The aircraft seats were normal passenger-style seats, but the flight was uncomfortable because the crew made me wear a parachute without explanation. I found the possible answer in Looking Down the Corridors, which described the type of aircraft I flew on as one equipped with surveillance equipment like long-range cameras and sensors hidden behind a bulkhead to spy on East German and Soviet military installations that can be seen from the edges of the air corridor from West Germany to Berlin.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continuing research and development of the next novel, which has no title yet.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would bring books on how to build a boat, canoe, or raft to learn to navigate, forage for food and water on the island, and fish.

Author Websites and Profiles

Paul Marzell Website

Paul Marzell’s Social Media Links

Lisa M. Lucero Amazon Profile

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Lisa M. Lucero

Interview With Author Lisa M. Lucero

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a former journalist and have written four novels. My first novel was “Waves Crashing,” a suspense romance. I followed that up with two science fiction novels “The Death Firm” and “The Re-Creation of the Death Firm.” I am currently an administrative assistant in data and records at Grinnell College. I graduated from Fort Hays State University with a bachelor’s degree in communications and attended Hutchinson Community College where I majored in Journalism.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Night Shadow.” It is a dark fantasy about a journalist who is terrorized by an evil witch coven called the Night Shadow Circle. The coven is responsible for the mysterious disappearances and deaths in Salem, Massachusetts.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I always keep a notepad nearby to jot down ideas. Music, traveling, reading, and personal experiences provide me with enough inspiration to come up with story ideas. The love of writing, coffee, and learning about other author’s successes motivates me to keep writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jane Austen, Stephen King, Mary Higgins Clark, the Bronte sisters, Louisa May Alcott, Agatha Christie and Mary Shelley have influenced me a great deal.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a murder mystery called “Deadly Beats.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Going to my website www.lisamlucero.com is the best place to learn more about me, my books, and find media links and press releases.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing. Be sure to jot down all of your ideas, have a good outline, and read lots of books to help with story structure and to find your own voice.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you ever find yourself in a slump, take a break, listen to some music or take a walk, then try again.

What are you reading now?
I am reading Dune by Frank Herbert.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan on finishing up my fifth novel, participate in a few book festivals, and have another book signing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley, Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Author Websites and Profiles

Lisa M. Lucero Website

Lisa M. Lucero’s Social Media Links

Joseph Costa Amazon Profile

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Joseph Costa

Interview With Author Joseph Costa

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My most recent book is a collection of linked short (literary) fiction, COMETS, released July 2020 by Unsolicited Press. Prior to that, I wrote and published three novels including, The Good, The Bad and The Goalie, Discovering Dynamite (both for 9-11-year-olds), and Eye of the Storm (a thriller). My short stories have appeared in BULL men’s fiction, Rabble Lit, the HCE Review, The Write Launch and in December Magazine as a finalist for the Curt Johnson Prose Awards. In between that, I’ve written half a dozen screenplays and have optioned two for motion pictures.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Part biography, part fiction, and part confession, COMETS was inspired by the cabinet shop my father owned for more than 60 years. In that, this collection is an homage to my dad and to all of the makers, builders, and workers who ply a trade. In many respects, the shop is where I was raised. The stories from that time germinated for many years and the result is Comets — a linked collection of short fiction that follows the struggles of Italian, Cuban, and American cabinetmakers in Ybor City, Tampa’s historic Latin Quarter. The book weaves through a microcosm of blue-collar problems, with implications that go beyond racial, economic, and cultural boundaries, illuminating a greater understanding of the human experiences we all share. The title, COMETS, is symbolic of the recurring cycles we all seem to go through. Making the same mistakes time and again. Loving the wrong people.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure what is considered unusual. When I wrote COMETS, because of the tone and texture of the work, I listened to Miles Davis, Kind of Blue before I started to write. Every time. I recently wrote a Christmas film, and for that, of course, I listen to the Vince Guaralid Trio, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Sometimes, music helps set the mood.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a writer, if you’re not reading, you will not be able to write. At least, that’s the way it works for me. If I’m writing a collection of short fiction, I will immerse myself in short fiction by writers I love. Richard Ford, Denis Johnson, Flannery O’Connor, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Jhumpa Lahiri, Alice Walker, Ernest Hemingway.

COMETS, was influenced in different ways by different writers. I loved Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. I was influenced by the structure and of course the indelible title character. Knockemstiff by Donald Ray Pollock was a searing collection that captured his difficult upbringing. In this, I fully realized truth in fiction. I think, however, I was most influenced by Charles Dickens’ David Copperfield. Written in the bildungsroman genre, it was a fictionalized autobiographical tale. This is what I strived for in COMETS.

What are you working on now?
I have two projects I’m working on concurrently. I am putting the finishing touches on a new screenplay. I’m also working on a second collection of linked short fiction.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s?k=joseph+allen+costa&i=digital-text&crid=1UC0XBR9YEKLA&sprefix=joseph+allen+costa%2Cdigital-text%2C75&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes! Read. Read. Read. I can’t stress this enough. Don’t just read in the genre you want to write. Cast a wide net. Also, write what you know, especially if you are a new writer. If the world you’re building and the characters you create don’t ring true, you will lose your readers very quickly. I worked in my dad’s cabinet shop for more than 15 years. I know that world. If you read COMETS, I want you to come away with the taste of sawdust in your mouth and the scent of fresh cut wood in your nose.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
First, write one scene at a time. Then as your story builds, continue to read and reread what you have written. Explore the themes that are emerging. When you’ve finished, set it aside for a week or month or more then go back to it with fresh eyes. Don’t be afraid to rewrite and cut what doesn’t work. Don’t fall in love with your characters. Flaws make characters interesting.

What are you reading now?
I’m always reading short stories new and old. I revisit the classics quite often and each time, I discover something new. Read beneath the surface! Think of Hemingway’s Iceberg theory. In good fiction, 90% of that story is imbued through symbolism, imagery, metaphor etc.

I just started The Heaven & Earth Grocery Store by James McBride.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am working on a collection of short fiction and am in the midst of the fifth story in the collection.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Only four! Jeez. The Complete Works of William Shakespeare. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, The Glass Key by Dashiell Hammett.

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Lena Gibson Amazon Profile

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Lena Gibson

Interview With Author Lena Gibson

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Award-winning author, Lena Gibson, is an adult newly recognized with autism. She often writes creates characters that reflect this experience. When she isn’t writing or teaching, she enjoys reading, karate, and tea. She lives in New Westminster, Canada with her family and their fuzzy overlord, Ash, the fluffiest of gray cats.

I have three published books (as of February 1st, 2024) with two more releases scheduled for 2024 and another for 2025. I have a few more written I will soon submit to my publisher.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published book is Switching Tracks: Out of the Trash, the first in a dystopian action adventure trilogy. It was inspired by two main sources: my Grandfather’s stories of raiding the rails during the Great Depression and stories of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have so many favorite authors I could not begin to list them. Recent favorites are Jacqueline Carey, V.E. Schwab, Mary Robinette Kowal, Susanna Kearsley, Suzanne Collins, and Guy Gavriel Kay.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a second time travel story as a spin-off of The Wish.
The third story in the Love and Survival series is in the planning stages, following The Edge of Life: Love and Survival During the Apocalypse and the upcoming Aftermath: Into the Unknown.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve been developing my website and sending newsletters to my subscribers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it. It took 700 rejections before I got one yes. Since then, I have book deals for six books and a publisher whom I can submit stories to whenever I am ready.

What are you reading now?
I am reading a ridiculous number of cowboy westerns, several indie books from my same publisher (Black Rose Writing), The Fourth Wing by Rebecca Yarros, and My Effin’ Life by Geddy Lee.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to dive back into two older stories on my shelf and fix them up to pitch to my publisher, a dark fairytale retelling of the 12 Dancing Princesses and a dystopian women’s fiction about a curse that causes the Salem witch trials to repeat themselves in 2192, the 500th anniversary of the original trials.

I also want to add to my Love and Survival series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay
Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
Eliza and Her Monster by Francesca Zappia
These are all books I love to reread.

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Lena Gibson Website

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Al Jansen

Interview With Author Al Jansen

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello! I’ve been a writer my entire life, but just recently, I put myself through a challenge of my own making: To go against the odds and write a 300-page book in less than thirty days! On December 21, 2023, I set my recent book title to: “My Story: How to Write a Best Selling Book in Less than Thirty Days” before I started writing and finished it exactly on day 20, and with editing, formatting and cover design completed on January 19th of this year, just under the wire at 29 days, exactly. It’s an eBook that you can find by going to amazon.com/author/aljansen. My Story is currently being printed as a Hard Cover. I am producing 24 “SPECIAL LIMITED EDITIONS” for some characters in the book, family, and friends while holding back a few copies for marketing tools against the odds Book Publishers have in place.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My Story: How to Write a Best Selling Book in Less Than Thirty Days, a memoir by Al Jansen, is a compilation of quips I experienced throughout my 70 years of life, so far. The idea was to inspire the reader to start their own memoir, whether or not they themselves set a deadline. The last chapter in My Story explains the pitfalls this author had in place prior to putting fingertips to keys. I expect it to do well as an eBook, where the ultimate goal is to publish it for booksellers. In a 6″ x 9″ format, it has 323 pages and 27 pages of four-color illustrations contained within it. By all means, for only $9.99 from Amazon’s Kindle eBook collection, try it and if you like it, leave a review! If you don’t, leave one anyway! Thanks for reading! – Al

What are you working on now?
My Story looks to have a sequel, with possibly a third after that. I have lived a rich and sometimes poor life and have more stories to tell!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A wise biker once said: There are two things in this life that a man should never do: ‘Never let another man fuck your wife and never let a man ride your motorcycle.” I believe he was certain about the order of things and principals in life!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Making millions of dollars!

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Al Jansen Amazon Profile

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Erin Dullaghan Jones

Interview With Author Erin Dullaghan Jones

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 7 children’s books and 2 Divorce Books :).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book that is coming out very soon is the next adventure in the Adventures of Susie & Johnny Grilled Cheese, Title: Epic National Park Adventures

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When feeling inspired, I write one of the children’s books in one day. It takes about 2-3 hours. These books are dedicated to the nights of story telling with my three children. Hours of adventures with Susie & Johnny Grilled Cheese.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Judy Blume, The Berenstain Bears, Little Pea, Pinkalicious

What are you working on now?
I am working on my 6th/8th adventure in the series. Right now there are 5 dedicated adventures and 2 holiday adventures (Halloween & Christmas). Then I am re-writing my book on Divorcee Dish which was inspired by my blog.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Let me be honest: I haven’t found that magic yet, but I am trying many different avenues and beginning a series of book signings. I feel that every day is a learning process.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, be patient, do not give up. There will be days you are so frustrated and have zero sales, and then it will come together one day. My daughter Emerson says, “Success stories do not happen overnight; you must keep working towards your goal.”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be proud that you accomplished becoming a published author, if nothing else, you achieved something that many people just hope to do in their lifetime.

What are you reading now?
I am reading “The First Lie Wins”

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish out the Susie & Johnny Book Series with 12 adventures and more holiday books.

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Neil Milliner

Interview With Author Neil Milliner

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an ex Australian now living in New Jersey as a naturalized citizen. Yes I am a 90 Day Fiancé.
I have written 2 poetry books and 3 books on art and a how to book on SEO

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
E-commerce SEO Strategies: Selling Online Successfully
I had to find a way of helping people with my knowledge and experience. I spent 10 years studying this myself because I had the same problem.
So… cut out all the fluff and combine it all into a book anyone can utilize.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have to physically write by hand non stop until the well dries up. Then later I just sort out all that word salad into something somewhat sane.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many. Steinbeck, Aristotle, Plato, Montaigne are a few names that have affected my thinking.

What are you working on now?
A book about Anxiety and Depression and what you can do to assist yourself overcoming those things.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Can’t say. Book sales are between 0 and 1 at the moment so best doesn’t cut it here.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write. Sort the rest out later. If it is rubbish then fix it or trash it.
Don’t worry about if it is “publisher ready” it never will be.
Your voice matters. People DO want to hear what you have to say.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Not my circus-Not my monkeys”
The Desiderata by Max Ehrmann pretty much sums up my life.

What are you reading now?
Too busy writing to read anything unless you count proofreading?

What’s next for you as a writer?
More non fiction books plus try and finish about 5 books I started maybe with a bit of AI help on those?
Nearing retirement now so want a good steady stream of royalties trickling in.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The longest ones I could find.

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Neil Milliner Website

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Lindsey Lamh

Interview With Author Lindsey Lamh

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Lindsey Lamh has been crafting creative playscapes her whole life. Her love of reading fuels her passion for storytelling. As a child, she read every book in the house and devoured whole stacks of novels from the library, working through classic literature with the excitement of a budding philosopher. Her favorite school assignments were creative writing and essays.

Lindsey attended college in Chicago at Moody Bible Institute, where her educational course was redirected from Christian ministry to the broader, more practical focus of Biblical Studies.

She married her husband, Jeffrey, in 2013 and they now have six children and a perfectly Golden family dog named Radagast. They live in South Carolina and keep busy with homeschooling, Jeffrey’s entrepreneurship, and Lindsey’s society for Christian women.

Lindsey published her debut novel in October of 2023 and is working on a fantasy series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A portrait hangs in Linwood Manor, depicting the Bancroft family with their matching grey eyes and brown hair. Seven years ago, they were together in the spacious old house. Alive. Now…

Only Ambrose and Matilda Bancroft remain.

Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they’ll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she’s ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.

At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren’t as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie’s desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose’s sister into an illusory paradise. When Ambrose vows to get his sister back, by force if necessary, he finds himself up against an otherworldly power bent on her destruction and Mattie’s bitterness turned to hatred.

When Mattie commits the ultimate betrayal, Ambrose realizes he never stopped protecting her long enough to learn what she really wanted. But before he learns to let her go, Ambrose is broken in body and mind, far beyond his capacity to endure.

When the dust settles, will Mattie be lost to him forever? Will Ambrose be the last of the Bancrofts?

“A Voracious Grief” is gothic horror about grief and friendship. Life-altering grief can wear the oddest clothing. For Lindsey Lamh, it looked like losing a family member, but not to death; chronic pain that’s depressing but not debilitating; suicidal thoughts underneath a calm, cheerful persona. When no one understood her hardship, when all they had to offer were platitudes, Lindsey longed to find empathy. That’s why she writes—because she’s not the only one who’s been there.

“A Voracious Grief” is a novel that asks big questions about how we evolve beyond our traumas. It gives voice to silent suffering, reflecting what it looks like to be overwhelmed by grief. It’s a story about family ties twisted with fear. It’s about embracing pain, and daring to hope.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lindsey’s favorite genres are historical fiction, Victorian fiction, fantasy, short stories, poetry, and literary fiction that doesn’t fit neatly into a genre.

Within those categories C.S. Lewis is her favorite author–he’s written plenty of fantasy, poetry, and literary fiction to satisfy her love of variety! Other inspirational others include Madeleine L’Engle, Alison Croggon, Laura E. Weymouth, Naomi Novik, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Helena Sorensen.

“A Voracious Grief” was inspired by reading a short story by Ray Bradbury (The Veldt) and includes epitaphs of Emily Dickenson’s poetry on grief.

What are you working on now?
In 2024 Lindsey is undertaking a new project, a fantasy series exploring the ostracized “Other” and how compassion arises out of curiosity.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Lindsey believes in building the author-reader relationship, and so she focuses her promotional energies on in-person events and marketing opportunities. Her local library and craft market have provided connection points with readers, and she’s always looking for new, creative ways to meet book lovers. She also sells books and merch through her website and a payhip online store.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t settle for pleasing yourself. You are far too easily pleased. Instead, do your best to cultivate your skills and create something that’s the best you can do before you get unbiased, professional help to help you push yourself even further.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing a book is like building a cathedral–it’s going to crumble and fail to awe unless you get really good at crafting a single, perfect brick. And then go on to create a thousand more (a single brick being equivalent to a scene).

What are you reading now?
I’m challenging myself to read the best literary fantasy as research for my new writing project. So I’ve chosen twelve books, one for each month of 2024! I’m currently reading “Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell” by Susanna Clarke.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I think this will be a quiet year for me. I need to learn more about marketing, more about editing, more about drafting. And a lot of that will be learned through practice, I think.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
“Out of the Silent Planet”, “Perelandra” and “That Hideous Strength” by C.S. Lewis, as well as his myth retelling “Till We Have Faces”.

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Lindsey Lamh Website

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R Chapman Wesley Amazon Profile

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R Chapman Wesley

Interview With Author R Chapman Wesley

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in rural central Virginia, the son of a family physician father and an English teacher mother. Although in retrospect, I was always destined to be a physician, I had an energetic creative side that found expression mainly in poetry, but I dabbled in virtually every form of expression including painting, photography, and dance. Besides reading, I had a great love of movies, but always with something at stake, like “Spartacus.” It was not until my first retirement that I had the time and space to explore expression as a storyteller.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is The Well; “A Fountain for Life, or a Pool of Death.”
An unexpected, incredulous discovery by a novice physician-scientist of color, eliminating a whole category of human suffering, sets off his quest for a universal cure but, for others, an assassination-driven multinational, clandestine competition for the ultimate bioweapon.
Professor Anatoly Popov, an esteemed virologist and Russian-born defector, steals the world’s deadliest virus from a counter bio-terrorism lab. His aim – to alter its properties with the remains of an interstellar meteorite to create a universal Cure, based upon an ancient Chinese legend. But the theft sets off a murderous clandestine multi-national competition for the ultimate bioweapon. Now with his time running out, Popov must pin his hopes upon Cmdr. Rex Lee, an ex-Seal medic and novice physician-scientist, and a desperate search mission in the Amazonian rainforest of Brazil to restore the promise of THE WELL.
As a child, I was always concerned by existential threats to humanity. As a physician, albeit a cardiologist, I became deeply interested in pandemic threats from the SARS-Coronavirus and later H5N1 and H1N1 influenza viruses.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I try to visualize my entire story beyond a simple schematic outline before committing to placing pen to paper. Then I write my story using screenplay format focusing on images, actions and only plot points of dialogue. Then I write the novel.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dostoevsky (Crime and Punishment; the internal dialogue between and within the protagonist and the antagonist); Paulo Coelho (The Alchemist; a spiritual quest and transformation that ends at the place that it began); James Redfield (the Celestine Prophecy; a quest propelled by the recognition of seemingly incongruous, synchronistic events).

What are you working on now?
“The Horse”: In 1947, a young ex-Marine Wyoming rancher, whose wife died in a relocation camp after childbirth, seeks a cure for his 5-year-old Japanese American daughter’s terminal illness based on a “calling” from a Native American legend.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.RChapmanWesley.com From there, one can read my first chapter, “The Monk.” In addition, one can hear as many as 5 audio clips of my personally narrated audiobook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ask: What is the theme of my work? What is it that I am desiring to communicate? I do not subscribe to the tactic of writing to figure out the story. Before starting, it is critically important to know the beginning and the end, and the key moments in the middle connecting the two. Visualize in your mind’s eye your entire story as a silent movie that at some point magically generates sound and dialogue. Show as much as possible without telling. Show what a character is feeling more than what he/she is thinking. Let the character’s actions reflect the thinking. What should your audience feel at the end of your story? They will remember more of what they felt than what they thought.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Forget commerciality; only develop stories and themes that excite you. Secondly, thou shalt not bore!

What are you reading now?
I am re-reading my favorite Shakespearean play, “Macbeth.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
Beyond novel writing, I am transforming my poems into lyrics for songs.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
There are too many to name. But if I had to choose one and its companion, it would be “Science of Mind” by Ernest Holmes and its companion, “Science of Mind 365”, which I have steadied daily upon awakening for more than several decades.

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R Chapman Wesley Website

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Sherri Moorer Amazon Profile

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Sherri Moorer

Interview With Author Sherri Moorer

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Most writers start their bio with an explanation of who they are and why they write. I’ll make this simple. My name is Sherri Fulmer Moorer. I write because I’ve always loved to do it, and ebooks gave me an opportunity to share those stories with readers that I couldn’t pass up. The purpose of my writing is to redefine reality and experience the adventure of ordinary people dealing with extraordinary circumstances.

I write in a variety of genres because I can’t be pigeon holed into one area, and I’m many other things in addition to being an author. I work full time in professional licensing, which is great for keeping me in touch with people and reality and, in turn, inspires me to write more. I’m married and live in the woods with two parrots that keep our hearts, home, and lives filled with joy and silliness that most people find strange. I’m a book reviewer, social media rambler, and borderline introvert/extrovert whose kindred spirit, according to online quizzes, is somewhere between a Sith Inquisitor from Star Wars and Scooter from The Muppets.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled Broken Time. It’s about a theoretical physicist who takes a dangerous chance to prove her theories, which results in amazing knowledge and catastrophic consequences. The book was inspired by the convergence of my Dad passing from lung cancer in August 2020, my husband having emergency surgery in September 2021, and all of the chaos of the COVID pandemic, all of which lead me to realize that I have anxiety disorder. I often wondered “what if?” and it lead my imagination to various realities that could have unfolded, given different decisions – and yet, some things just can’t be controlled or changed. Reality truly is strange.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I refuse to outline. I love to write “by the seat of my pants” because I want to give my muse, characters, and creation space to grow and evolve naturally. I usually have a general idea of where the story is going, but I feel that outlines are too confining. I actually want to remain open to my characters hijacking the story, and every creative surprise along the way.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I discovered Emma Newman’s Planetfall series prior to the epidemic when I picked up the first book in a secondhand book store near my office. That series captivated me, and I’m currently re-reading it. I also enjoyed Kim Stanley Robinson’s Mars series. In mystery, P.D. James is my favorite, followed by J.A. Jance. I recently had a friend introduce me to Tony Hillerman, and I’m reading through his novels and the novels written by his daughter, Anne Hillerman.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on another sci-fi story titled Singularity. It’s about a post-apocalyptic world that was nearly wiped out by an epidemic. Five years later, the survivors have gathered into “convergence communities” to rebuild, and one community is attempting to bring their Artificial Intelligence back online. It helps them to rebuild faster and better, but soon “glitches” make them wonder if the AI is all that it seems. When things continue to cascade into more chaos, they wonder if the AI caused the epidemic, and whether they’re making the same mistakes all over again.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Here, there, and everywhere! It depends on the specifics of my lastest novel. Right now, I’m running hot with author interviews (thanks for this opportunity!). Social media is also a big winner that keeps me connected with readers and keeps me inspired. Twitter has an excellent writing community. Facebook does too, and Goodreads and LinkedIn are great for leading me to author interviews, book sites to post to, and other author resources to improve my writing and reach readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stop worrying about the “how” and just do it. Just write the book. Revise it, edit it, proofread it, and share it with beta readers. Be bold in taking a step at a time. Too often we’re held back worrying about how to do this or achieve that. Forget about it. Release the story in you, and the rest will flow.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The advice I just gave new authors: stop trying to figure out the “how” and all of the steps first, and go for it! Write what’s in you, and believe. Connecting with other readers and writers on social media is also helpful.

What are you reading now?
I’m rereading Emma Newman’s Planetfall series. All of the books are great, but I think the first book (Planetfall) and the final book (Atlas Alone) have brilliant plot twists that lay a great foundation theme for the series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My ultimate goal is to have my books adapted into Netflix series, and to win the Hugo and Nebula awards. As I said, aim high and go for it! To this end, I’ll keep writing, keep reaching out to readers, and keep at it. Eventually, my efforts will take me from behind this screen and into the world! Hey, the Internet is THE place to do that!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My first obvious choice would be The Bible. My faith is what inspires and leads me, and this is the cornerstone and keystone of my life. I’d also want Emma Newman’s Planetfall, Stephen King’s The Stand, and J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings.

Author Websites and Profiles

Sherri Moorer Website

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