Awesome Author Interviews

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the author of SCOT ON THE ROCKS and JACK WITH A TWIST. My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, will be published by St. Martin’s in 2013. My work’s also appeared in the New York Post and Publisher’s Weekly. You can find me at brendajanowitz.com or on Twitter at @BrendaJanowitz.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My third novel, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE, comes out July 2nd. It is about three generations of women with a culture all their own. When Hannah finds herself spending the summer with her glamorous grandmother, a widow six times over, at her sprawling beach-front Hamptons estate, she learns that there’s more than one recipe for happiness.

A story of mothers and daughters, grandmothers and grandchildren, RECIPE FOR A HAPPY LIFE is a quirky story about correcting the mistakes from your past and trying to create a future for yourself.

The novel that will be free on Amazon Kindle from June 12-16 is my second novel, JACK WITH A TWIST. It’s a fun romantic comedy about a woman planning the wedding of her dreams all while litigating the biggest case of her career…. against her fiance! (Hilarity ensues.) It was inspired by planning my own wedding! Although my own wedding planning wasn’t quite as eventful.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
One of the things I’m most often asked about the writer’s life is my writing schedule.

I’ve heard all about this mystical “writing schedule.” In fact, I hear all the time about writers who have one– they wake up every day at 5 am and write until 7. Or they sit down and don’t get up until they’ve written 1,000 words. Or they go to writers colonies and hammer out entire books in the span of a month.

I envy those writers. I really do. I wish I could have such discipline. But I don’t. Because the thing is, the thing that no one ever wants to hear, is that I don’t have a writing schedule. What I do is write whenever I can and as much as I can. Simple as that.

My life is filled with little kids running underfoot, and carpools, and figuring out what to put on the table for dinner. (Wow, I sound really glamorous, don’t I!?) I try to make the most of those times in between. The few hours I have between dropping my son off and nursery school and pick up. Whatever precious time I get if and when the kids nap. A quiet evening here or there when the kids are in bed and my husband’s stuck at work.

I wrote my entire first novel in the space in between. When I got home from work early, when I had time on weekends, on lunch breaks. I’d edit while riding the subway downtown, on the bus crosstown, on the Long Island Rail Road on trips to see my family. And it worked. Sure, it took longer than if I’d been writing every day until I hit the 1,000 word mark, but that wasn’t my life. So I fit the writing into the life I had then. And I still do the same– I fit the writing into the life I’ve got now.

EB White said “A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.”

Words to live by.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many books! So many authors!!

Some of my favorites are: Emily Giffin, Jennifer Weiner, Julie Buxbaum, Allison Winn Scotch and Elinor Lipman.

What are you working on now?
My third novel comes out July 2nd, so I’m working on promotion for that novel. I’m also working on my fourth novel, but I’m only 2/3 done. Don’t ask me what it’s about! I generally only figure out what a book is truly about after I finish a first draft.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I had the answer to that! I just try to get out there as much as I can. Blog chats, Facebook, Twitter…. anything that I think will help get my name out there.

My favorite part of promotion is visiting book clubs. If you’d like to read one of my novels for your book club, contact me and I’ll visit or call in!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing! It’s so easy to get discouraged or feel like you don’t have the time to write. But like anything else that is important in life, you have to work at it and make the time for it.

Edit! Editing your work is almost as important as the writing itself. Sure, you’re telling your story, but it’s also important to consider the way that you tell it. You want your writing to be tight, elegant and polished. It can only get to be that way through careful and thorough editing.

Develop a very thick skin. You’re putting yourself out there when you write and not everyone is going to love what you do. But that’s okay! You’re not writing to please everyone out there. You’re writing because you have a story that you want to tell. So start getting used to criticism and then see tip #1—keep writing!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Some of my favorite writing quotes:

“A writer who waits for ideal conditions under which to work will die without putting a word on paper.” EB White

“You fail only if you stop writing.” Ray Bradbury

“My ideas usually come not at my desk writing but in the midst of living.” Anais Nin

What are you reading now?
I’m reading (and loving) AND THEN I FOUND YOU by Patti Callahan Henry and THE YEAR OF THE GADFLY by Jennifer Miller.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be working on promotions for Book 3 and finishing up Book 4!

What is your favorite book of all time?
The Great Gatsby, hands down.

Author Websites and Profiles
Brenda Janowitz Website
Brenda Janowitz Amazon Profile

Brenda Janowitz’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Sometimes I feel like the old expression…Jack of trades and master of none. Many long years ago I graduated college with a BS in Nursing. I’m currently a school nurse in a small K-12 school which pays the bills but writing fuels my soul. I am a Life Coach and Motivational Speaker as well as a Mother, Grandmother, and cycling enthusiast. In my spare time I enjoy reading and what I call porch gardening and just spending time outside. I also have what’s called a zipper head…the term for someone who has had surgery for Chiari I Malformation, a condition where the brain doesn’t quite fit into the skull. I currently have one published book and one on the publisher’s editing table that I hope will be released by the end of the summer.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I first started writing after my youngest daughter got married and my nest was officially empty. I was actually excited about the prospects of my life without the sense of fulltime responsibility for my daughters but I realized that not all women feel that way. I had just completed my Life Coaching training and had always wanted to write so it seemed like the perfect time and the perfect subject. My first attempt was writing a book of exercises designed to help women find themselves. It was a great concept. The only problem was…it was dry and boring. It seems like every chapter started out…find a quiet place…make a list…blah…blah…blah. One day as a fluke I named my nest Bertha and the rest as they say is history. Bertha became quite a character in lime green spandex and high-heel sandals and she quickly took over my writing and my life. Those boring chapters became fun stories about Bertha on a soapbox and I assure you…she is anything but quiet!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I wrote most of Bertha-Size in long hand in my journal but have since transitioned to writing on the computer. I usually write early in the morning when I’m fresh…I’m just not very creative at night.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
All of Og Mandino’s works but especially…The Greatest Miracle in the World. He wrote self-help embedded in a delightful story which greatly influenced how I write. Esther and Jerry Hicks and the teachings of Abraham impacted me greatly and there is a lot of Law of Attraction principles in Bertha.

What are you working on now?
As I mentioned, the Bertha sequel is awaiting edits but I have started a novel which is also about personal transformation.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Oh…I’m the hesitant promoter! For me I’d have to say that it’s making connections on social media…doing interviews like this as well as radio interviews.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Take time for yourself. It’s so easy to get into a frantic mindset that it all has to be done today that we forget to do the things that nurture us. And from experience…don’t quit your day job until you have a steady writing income that will support you. Yeah…that was messy!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t be like the Spaniards and kill all the Indians.” I’m not sure where she got this…probably made it up…but I remember my Mama telling me that when I was in high school. Basically she was reminding me to be kind to others that life isn’t about…conquest.

What are you reading now?
Reveal…A Sacred Manual for Getting Spiritually Naked by Meggan Watterson

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m thinking breakfast…oh wait…that wasn’t the question. I’m excited about the Bertha sequel (as yet unnamed) and there may be a third book to follow as well as that novel that’s been bugging me for several years now. I’m also ready to expand the coaching and speaking aspects of my career.

What is your favorite book of all time?
The Greatest Miracle in the World

Author Websites and Profiles
Jane Carroll Website
Jane Carroll Amazon Profile

Jane Carroll’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been oozing around for a while as a journalist, writing award shows in Hong Kong, attending machine gun shoots in Kentucky, and interviewing white supremacists in South Carolina. Along with my best friend from high school, Katie Crouch, I’m co-author of the Magnolia League YA series from Little, Brown, and with my wife, Amanda Cohen, I’m co-author of “Dirt Candy: A Cookbook,” the first graphic novel cookbook. On my own I wrote “Satan Loves You,” “Occupy Space” and “Tales from the White Street Society.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Tales from the White Street Society” which is a collection of short stories about 19th century men of science investigating the supernatural and beating it to death with shovels. It’s got all the casual cruelty and racism that science loves and steampunk so often ignores.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I give dictation to a small monkey who writes the first draft for me. But that is the only point at which monkeys are involved.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
It’s not a direct influence, but if you like George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman series you’ll probably like “Tales from the White Street Society.”

What are you working on now?
I just sold a novel to a traditional publisher and I’m currently up to my monkey in the first draft. It’s coming out in June, 2014 and that’s all I’m allowed to say.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Craigslist. I’ll put up an ad promising that I am a 19 year old college student who wants to meet an older, married gentleman for no strings attached sex. They book a hotel room and then I make them buy copies of my books in exchange for not showing the pictures to their families.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Craigslist. All the way.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Stop teasing that bear.”

Seriously, it could have been a lot worse if I’d continued.

What are you reading now?
I just finished my annual re-read of “Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott. Such a depressing book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More monkeys. Oh, and Ryan Dunlavey and I have a comic book adaptation of “Little Women” coming out next year.

What is your favorite book of all time?
“Pacific Vortex” by Clive Cussler. I read it when I was 12 and thought, “I can do this!”

Author Websites and Profiles
Grady Hendrix Website
Grady Hendrix Amazon Profile

Grady Hendrix’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
The Green Line is my first completed novel and it took me nearly a decade to get it from idea to publication.

I have spent a lifetime searching out creative outlets. I started as a dancer, but life as a struggling artist gets exhausting and I was starting to feel OLD at 24, so I began investigating re-entry into the mainstream. That’s when I decided to try law school. I always loved writing and school and though I wasn’t sure I would enjoy being a lawyer, I thought it would be fascinating and I just hoped that I’d figure out my path as I went along. After school I joined a litigation group at a major Chicago firm. It wasn’t a great fit though and I headed next to an Intellectual Property firm. That was a better fit but as I began having kids, the pull to get out became stronger. I had spent years drafting story ideas on my way to work and fantasizing about writing a book. Toddlers who needed me created the perfect excuse to make my exit. Working on this first book, THE GREEN LINE, allowed me to keep my mind focused on something both intellectual and creative. It’s lead me in a whole new direction and I feel like I’ve finally found my niche.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Green Line is a legal thriller (or suspense thriller or mystery-thriller, according to some reviewers) that is set in Chicago in 2004 at the height of the economic boom and during a time when Chicago was known nationally as the “murder capital”, having reached 600 murders in 2003. The story was inspired by my own experiences in firm life, my sometimes frightening experiences on Chicago’s public transportation, and my research into a disturbing yet legal maneuver that is widely used in the “war on drugs.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if it’s unusual, but my writing location varies widely from day to day. Sometimes I’m at the library, sometimes in bed, in the kitchen, outside. And when things are going well, I tend to pace a lot!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
When I began writing I knew that I was aiming at a commercially accessible book that would be plot driven and fast-paced. I’m a big movie buff, I love action movies, and I wanted a story that was very visual. I read Grisham’s The Firm twenty plus years ago, and it was one of those books that I didn’t want to put down because there was such tension. I knew I wanted to do that. I also read a lot of Michael Crichton in my twenties and his too were very suspenseful, but they also taught me about things that I knew nothing about–like genetics or environmental science, etc. I really hope that The Green Line also succeeds in bringing more widespread awareness to a legal issue in the same way.

What are you working on now?
The response to The Green Line both before and after publication has made me realize that my focus should be on a sequel of sorts. There are characters here I’d like to play with more and I created openings for things to continue into another book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
It’s really too soon for me to tell. I think the most helpful strategies I’ve used so far were to get professional reviews before publication and to have a real launch date that’s publicized.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do a lot of peer review and critique of work before putting it out there. Try to get an agent and a publisher before going the indie route. Even if you don’t succeed in landing a rep or a deal, you will learn a lot about the industry and potentially a lot about your work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just keep writing. This is not easy especially when we’re writing a first, because we look for external validation that we have some talent before pressing forward. And then when it’s out in the world, there’s such pressure to focus on sales and marketing. It’s not an easy balance, but I’m trying!

What are you reading now?
I’m reading Midwives–which is good. I’ve also downloaded several free ebooks lately, so there’s a big backlog. And I’m rereading a few books on the middle east, in particular The Reluctant Fundamentalist, because my next story focuses on a Pakistani and so I’m in research mode, gathering information about the culture. I also saw that the movie is coming out, which made me want to re-read it. Like I said, I love the movies!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m doing a few book signings this summer around Chicago and I’m doing several book club meetings–both locally and via Skpe. I think that will be a lot of fun. And beyond trying to do something nearly every day in my work toward marketing my book, I’m trying hard to nail down my structure and story for book two. I hope that I can complete a draft this year. That’s not exactly a fast pace, but certainly better than the eight + years I spent on The Green Line!

What is your favorite book of all time?
It’s very difficult to say because my memory is horrible. I can barely remember what I read last month, let alone a few years back. But Memoirs of a Geisha would be up there. I read that many years ago and I still remember that it was one of those books that I never wanted to end and I was sorry to say goodbye to the character.

Author Websites and Profiles
E.C. Diskin Website
E.C. Diskin Amazon Profile

E.C. Diskin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in the suburbs of Portland, Oregon. A reluctant housewife. It’s hard to justify not loading the dishwasher when I sit at the table all day right next to it, typing away. If I ever hit it big I’ve decided the first thing I’m going to do is to hire a live in maid. I think his name should be Luke. But Drake or Jake could work too.

I’ve written two books: The Universe is a Very Big Place and my newest book, The Witches of Dark Root.

The Universe is a romantic comedy about a young woman who leaves her life as a carnival worker behind and tries to find love and normalcy in the real world. As you can probably guess, it doesn’t work out quite the way she planned and she is confronted with one crazy misadventure after another. The Universe, she learns, has a sense of humor, and it all seems to be at her expense.

The Witches of Dark Root is a bit deeper and darker. It is about a woman named Maggie who was raised to take over her mother’s coven in Dark Root, Oregon, the ‘most haunted place in the Pacific Northwest’. But Maggie has other dreams for her life and leaves Dark Root to find her own way. Now seven years later she is called back.

The story is primarily about Maggie’s relationship with her three sisters and her mother. It just happens to be set against a backdrop of witchery and magic. I love this book because Maggie is a very real character. She is filled with hopes and dreams, but also anger and apathy. She, like many of us, isn’t clear on what she wants until the very last page. And even that is a surprise!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Witches of Dark Root just came out on Kindle yesterday (June 4) and should be available in paperback early July. What inspired me to write this was that I was missing my sisters. A decade ago I moved away from them and have been thinking of them a lot lately. I have been remembering the times we had as children, both the good and the bad. I had a big hole in me that only my sisters could fill. So I wrote about four sisters instead.

People have asked me if the characters in the book represent myself and my sisters and the answer is no. We are not witches. Unless you ask our husbands. They might have other ideas. But really, while the girls may not be like my sisters, the feelings that comes up through their interactions: jealousy, envy, love, forgiveness, are all very real and very relatable to anyone who has grown up with a sibling.

I’m very proud of this book and how much of my soul I poured into it. I’m hoping others like it too.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn’t say unusual, but maybe compulsive. I write all the time, even when I want to relax. I can’t even sleep anymore because stories enter my head and refuse to go away until I get up and play them out on paper. Sometimes they are complete crap. But sometimes there’s a gem in there. When I finally have that stroke from sleep deprivation I just hope its all worth it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Fannie Flagg. I read Fried Green Tomatoes at Whistlestop Café when I was in college and this changed the way I looked at books forever. I even copied her style a little, showing characters how they are now and how they were before and how it all ties together. I also add humor into everything I write. I can’t help it. It’s a coping mechanism I’ve passed along to all my characters.

What are you working on now?
I picked up a manuscript I started several years ago called Mama’s Not Home. It’s a book my writing group told me was too depressing, so I put it down. Now I’m back on it and I love writing it. Yes, there are sad parts, but there is also lots of humor and humanity in it. And hope. I’m big on hope. And it’s not that depressing, I swear. You will just have to judge for yourself when it comes out in 2014.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m really digging Goodreads right now. Also, I write a (mostly humorous) blog about my life. I have a following because of that. It’s all about relating to people.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write. Don’t listen to what others say or that voice in your head that says you can’t do it. Just move your fingers across the keyboard and write whatever is in your head. Some of it won’t be good, but that’s okay. Because some of it will be amazing.

Also, finish what you start, even if you think it’s not your best work. Then show people. Every story needs a home. Some people will get it and some won’t . That’s not your problem. Just keep going.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s non-writing related advice but here it goes: Love is a gift, not an expectation.

An old boyfriend told me that. Yeah, I was probably being a bit too clingy, but in that moment I got so much. And this is a message I try to infuse in all my stories. Unconditional love is what can save us. It’s also the hardest thing in the world to accomplish.

What are you reading now?
I’ve been working on On the Road. What a great read. Loving the feel and buzz of the book. I tried not to read it too much when I was writing because I tend to write like the authors I’m reading. But now that I’m on a bit of a writing break I can pick it back up.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books! I have two written. Hoping by this time next year to have two more done. It’s an exciting time to be a novelist.

What is your favorite book of all time?
I’m a sucker for a good love story. To me, Gone With the Wind was the greatest romance of all time. Scarlett was such an interesting character and though I didn’t always like her, I willingly followed her story for a million and a half pages. And I was just fifteen when I read it. When a book is that good it sticks with you for life.

Author Websites and Profiles
April Aasheim Website
April Aasheim Amazon Profile

April Aasheim’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
WILLIAM MCNALLY is a former executive, husband and animal advocate based in the mountains of Dahlonega, Georgia. Drawn to dark and thought provoking stories, he released his first book, Four Corners Dark in 2012 and recently followed it with his second, Beneath the Veil.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Beneath the Veil. It was inspired by many things including politics, family and creepy little towns.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing too unusual….early morning with lots of coffee.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Richard Matheson, Stephen King, Edgar Allan Poe, and many others. Any writer who has an edge and makes you think what if….

What are you working on now?
My next book is called The Knights of Moonshine. A book about three friends who plan to spend a weekend drinking and hunting but end up being hunted themselves. It’s a love story.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Visit me online at williammcnallybooks.com for updates and events.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you love.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Not sure…I haven’t heard it all yet!

What are you reading now?
The Woman in Black

What’s next for you as a writer?
The second draft of The Knights of Moonshine.

What is your favorite book of all time?
Tales of Mystery and Imagination.

Author Websites and Profiles
William McNally Website
William McNally Amazon Profile
William McNally Barnes and Noble

William McNally’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a middle grade/teen/YA authorcurrently living in Japan. I’m a travel nut–I love exploring other countries, and the mythologies and cultures I experience have gotten incorporated into my stories. Right now, in Japan, I write cultural and travel articles for our local military magazine, in between working on novels.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I have a new teen/YA adventure fantasy coming out July 1st called MUKADE ISLAND. I’m not sure where this idea came from, it started with a dream, I think. I wrote the first draft last November and it’s developed into a great beginning to a series called The Island Chronicles.

The current book I have out is a middle grade fantasy called FOUR FIENDS. This book incorporates a ton of Chinese, Greek, Polynesian, Japanese, and even some American myths.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I’m nutty in the fact that I get up between 4:30 and 5 in the morning to crank out stories before I head to work.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
C.S. Lewis is probably my greatest influence. I loved the Harry Potter series and I’m a big Lord of the Rings fan. I also enjoy Neil Gaiman and I’m a big fan of Ken Follett.

What are you working on now?
I am attempting my first “adult” novel called Night at the Basking Iguana. It’s about a woman’s worldwide search for a very elusive restaurant. And all the adventures she experiences on her quet to find it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think social media is actually the best. Facebook and twitter are my preferred social networks. I also try to post on Goodreads. I’m exploring new ways of marketing every day, which is half the fun of self-publishing (or half the misery, depending on how you look at it. :P)

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write and read every day.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Actually, the same advice I just passed on. You have to write and read every day. I started up a blog review site at www.nikki-bennett.com so I could really focus on reading other indie author. And I try to write every day, whether it’s promotional stuff, an actual novel, or an article for a magazine.

What are you reading now?
Right this second I’m reading Ugly Stick, a YA indie book by Joy Givens.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I just want to keep learning more about the self-publishing business and get more books out there! FOUR FIENDS and MUKADE ISLAND are both the first book in a series, so I figure I’ve got plenty of writing ahead just to complete both of them!

What is your favorite book of all time?
I’ll have to go back to my childhood and say Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls.

Author Websites and Profiles
Nikki Bennett Website
Nikki Bennett Amazon Profile

Nikki Bennett’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Jessica, the nap time novelist. While my son snoozes from 1:30 to 3:00 I jot down as many lines as I can, sprinting towards the goal of completing my novel. My first published book, The Deceiver, will be out this December. Of course, my year and a half old doesn’t care. He tends to take my phone away from me if he thinks I’m even close to writing when we should be building lego cars.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is The Deceiver.

The idea started out harmlessly back in 2008. I was joining the army at the time and my recruiter told me that I was going to have to go to MEPS to do my testing and physical. He told me to be careful. He said that sometimes they will leave a group of recruits in a room alone together and a mole – someone designed specifically to ferret out those who are lying or purposely omitting truths – will attempt to get us to reveal things we might be hiding. The person would be our own age, dressed just like us, in every way he or she would be just another recruit, but they wouldn’t be there to join they army. They would be there to catch us at our weakest, most nervous point.

I thought the idea was brilliant. Within days the idea of a militaristic deceiver popped into my head. As time passed it began to change. Once it was a love story between a woman and the man she deceived. Once there was a secret government within the government. Slowly it morphed, bit by bit, becoming this science fiction / dystopian novel set on three planets terraformed after the destruction of Earth.

My own experience with postpartum depression and the doctor who doled pills out to me without even counseling me on how to get better was where the idea for the Triad Of Colors came from. Suddenly The Deceiver was about a government who controlled its members through three beautifully bright, addictive pills that would turn them into the perfect citizen. People were monitored through tattoos given to them at birth, technology planted just beneath the skin that would keep the LI Coalition aware of every person’s thoughts and emotions.

I’ve just run with it since then. It’s become an amazing piece of work that I’m proud to be a part of. I say it that way because some days it feels like the characters have a story to tell and I’m their mouthpiece. Some chapters have written themselves without any help from me. One minute I had titled it Chapter 6 and the next it was done and I couldn’t remember putting any thought into it at all.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I go through musical phases. At one point I couldn’t write if I wasn’t listening to Frank Sinatra or Dean Martin. Another phase had me listening to The Godfather theme song on repeat. But other than that no. Nothing strange here.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter was one of my biggest influences. My novel has zero to do with magic or wizards, but the series itself had made me feel so much. It was what got me through high school. It helped me through the longest nights of my life. I could just dive into those novels and get away. I wanted to make someone feel that way. I wanted someone to say, “I need to read Jessica Keefe’s book. It will make everything better.” Because that’s what Harry Potter did for me.

Philippa Gregory is a historical fiction writer and, again, one of my biggest influences. She opened of my eyes to an entire world that I never knew existed. Through her words I was transported to another time period. I could see the beautiful dresses of Anne Boleyn, the piggy eyes of King Henry VIII during the end of his reign, the poor fate of young Elizabeth when Mary Tudor came to the throne. She made me want to be a better writer. Her descriptions could make the wheels of my mind churn for days over a historical figure I didn’t even know existed. I hope that I can be even half the writer that she is.

What are you working on now?
I’m still working on The Deceiver, which is set to be published this December. A few days ago the ending came to me. It surprised me, too, because I know that it wasn’t the direction I’d been planning. But it left the door open to a sequel, which I desperately wanted. I love to follow characters over time and through more than one adventure. I wanted my main characters, Elia and Colton, to be two people that others wanted to see together again in the future.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and GoodReads have been invaluable.

Facebook is where I give out excerpts of my book and have friends beta read and edit. My page is going strong after its first month and a half of existence and I hope that by December I will have cultivated a nice little fanbase of people interested in reading The Deceiver.

GoodReads is great for helping promote your book among other authors as well as find tools to help you edit, finish, design a cover, publish, etc. I just recently joined the group ‘GoodReads Authors/Readers’ and the people there are amazing. They’ve liked my Facebook page and helped me get it out to other people as well as put my book on their ‘to read’ shelves, sharing it with both their friends and fans.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Whatever your idea is, go for it. Go for it and don’t look back. If you have a day job, keep it, but write during every spare minute you have. J.K. Rowling didn’t become successful sitting on her duff. Don’t be afraid to share with your friends and family what you’re doing. If you’re self-publishing, give yourself a deadline and tell everyone about that deadline. You will be motivated to finish on time just so you don’t look like a fool.

And always, always believe in yourself. Never underrate your efforts. Never talk down about yourself.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I actually saw it on a meme, but it made me giggle and I felt better about the possible flaws in my novel that I would need to fix later on.

“Make up stuff that didn’t happen. Imagine lies, then write them down. That is literally all authors do.”

What are you reading now?
I’m in the middle of three highly entertaining, extremely different from one another, books:

Philippa Gregory – The Other Queen
Bunmi Laditan – The Honest Toddler: A Child’s Guide to Parenting
Lauren Oliver – Before I Fall

I’ve got laughter, I’ve got drama, I’ve got historical accuracy. It’s a beautiful pairing.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Getting a movie deal.

Just kidding!

What’s next for me is what’s next for any writer: more writing. The Deceiver already has a sequel that I’ve begun to plot out and I’ve thought about dabbling in the genre of erotica, though I might be more of a reader in that area than a writer. Either way I hope to write more books, explore the world, and raise my beautiful son up to know that his mommy followed her dreams and so can he.

What is your favorite book of all time?
Philippa Gregory’s The Other Boleyn Girl.

I read this in February 2008 for the first time. It blew my mind. I have read it more than a dozen times since and in 2010 an ex-boyfriend actually gave me a paperback copy of my very own for Valentine’s Day. I don’t advocate keeping things from a prior relationship, especially now that I’m married, but that book inspired me in so many ways. I will never stop reading it.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jessica Keefe Website

Jessica Keefe’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A traditionally published author of nonfiction (“Long Island Wine Country: Award-Winning Vineyards of the North Fork and the Hamptons”), I’ve turned to my true passion, writing romantic thrillers. My debut novel, “Shattered Blue,” is receiving rave reviews from book bloggers and Amazon readers, which is very gratifying to me. I especially love what InD’Tale Magazine said about “Shattered Blue” in its May 2013 issue: “This is quite the impressive and entertaining debut novel! The book contains a good solid plot line, an entertaining and believable story, and a realistic romance. There were a couple of nice little twists to the story to keep the reader on their toes.”

I live with my husband on the North Fork Long Island, in a modest cottage on one of the region’s many tidal creeks. I’m hard at work on my next romantic thriller, the first in a planned series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Shattered Blue” was inspired partly by the setting, the mountains of Southwest New Mexico. My husband and I spent four months there a few years ago, on a crazy ranch that closely resembles heroine Shane MacKinnon’s hideaway.

In “Shattered Blue” (the title refers to the cobalt-blue bottles hanging everywhere and a legend that they protect from evil spirits) I wanted to explore how a young woman who was badly damaged in childhood begins to heal when a good man walks into her life. This theme is woven into a very intense suspense story, with Shane being stalked by the very man who traumatized her youth. I’ve always loved romantic suspense, whether in book or movie form, and I wanted to create an exciting thrill ride for my readers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn’t call them unusual. When I’m writing, I get into the “zone” and it’s very hard to come out of that. Other times, it’s hard to get into it! I write in spurts, sometimes 3,000 words a day, sometimes much less, but I’m always working on my current story in my head. Riding in the car, in the shower, eating, whatever: It’s always on my mind.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love romantic suspense titles by Nora Roberts, Sandra Brown, Lisa Jackson and others. A much older influence is Phyllis A. Whitney, who wrote wonderful romantic suspense novels in the gothic style.

What are you working on now?
I’m making notes for a series of romantic thrillers featuring four siblings, who get into romantic and investigative entanglements in successive books. Not going to give away too much at this early stage, but I’m really excited about it. Stay tuned!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning how to do that, so it’s an ongoing process. I have a blog and I’m on Facebook, LinkedIn, Goodreads and Twitter. I think it all adds up over time.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Never, never, never give up!

2. Read, read, read!

3. Write, write, write!

4. Send to beta readers with a pointed questionnaire and ask for brutal honesty. And then pay attention, especially to the same comments from more than one reader.

5. Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite!

6. Never let a manuscript go until it’s the very best you can make it, in content and format.

7. Never, never, never give up! (Yep, I know I repeated that one; it’s worth repeating!)

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you love! (Not what you know, because you can learn anything you need to know.)

What are you reading now?
Nora Roberts’ “The Witness”

What’s next for you as a writer?
See “What are you working on now,” above.

What is your favorite book of all time?
What else? “To Kill a Mockingbird.” THE great American novel.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jane Taylor Starwood Website
Jane Taylor Starwood Amazon Profile

Jane Taylor Starwood’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the daughter of Italian immigrants and grew up in North Central West Virginia with a love of reading and a passion for learning. Following a career path that included being a teacher, journalist, and marketer, I have lived as far away from home as Italy where I practiced my family’s native tongue as well as took advantage of living near other European countries to travel extensively. A rabid Pittsburgh Steeler fan, I live with my husband, an equally committed New York Giants fan, in suburban Denver where off-football-season dinner conversation is calmer and is usually accompanied by a meal I cook from one of my mother’s treasured recipes. Other interests include New York Times crossword puzzles, good movies, and travel. I volunteer extensively for my parish and write for its publications. I also teach part-time for the St. Catherine of Siena Institute. I just released my debut novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I just released “Love on the Back Burner: A Tasty Romantic Comedy”. I wanted a way to share my family recipes, but thought this was a more fun way to do it than to compile a traditional cookbook.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Most writers are rather quirky, i suppose, but I think my most unusual habit is to create entire backstories for my characters before I start to write a word about them.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Even though my debut novel is a romantic comedy, I’ve been influenced by the greatest of all time because I have been reading them since I was old enough to read. Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Austen, O’Conner and so many others are on my shelves. By the same token, I so appreciate modern writers: Khaled Hosseini, Cormac McCarthy, Kathryn Stockett, etc. In my own comedic genre, I think Jane Heller, Susan Isaacs, and Marian Keyes are big influences.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the sequel (to be titled) to this “Love on the Back Burner”, as well as a YA novel and another comedic novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t know yet! I feel that that contacting bloggers is best because readers look to the blogs for new reads.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice I have ever received is two-fold: 1) READ, READ, READ. Read everything you can get your hands on, because the best writers are readers. 2) WRITE, WRITE, WRITE. There is no such thing as a “muse”. You need to treat your writing as a job and discipline yourself to write every day, even if it is only a 100 words.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
See above.

What are you reading now?
“Christianity and Democracy” by Catholic philosopher Jacques Maritain.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I split my time between marketing my debut novel and working on the sequel. I also continue writing articles for the bi-monthly newsmagazine at my parish.

What is your favorite book of all time?
How can anyone answer this question??? It’s like asking who is a favorite child! I have favorites in all genres. I’ll go all the way back to “Heidi” because it was the first “big girl” book I read — but I have so many other favorites that I like to read depending on whether I want to laugh or cry or feel good about how an author uses language.

Author Websites and Profiles
Barbara Oliverio Website
Barbara Oliverio Amazon Profile

Barbara Oliverio’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have two wonderful children. Mikey, who is 5 and Sici who is 1 and a half. They keep me young, keep things fun and allow me to laugh every day. My wonderful wife of 8 years also puts up with my quirks and quarks, and I love her for that.

many of my story ideas are derived from my obsession with strange films and documentaries. My biggest inspiration however, is my students. I have been an elementary school teacher for eight years and I love using my storytelling ability to motivate in the classroom.

I have written 5 novels including Zombie Gang: Regenerated Earth (YA Horror), Paulie Potatoes: Gangster Crusader(YA SC-FI) and Farrah in Fairyland (YA Fantasy).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Zombie Gang: Regenerated Earth is my latest book. Truthfully, ZGRE was inspired by fear. Nothing scared me more than Zombies as a kid. I couldn’t even watch Michael Jackson’s Thriller video. As I grew older I decided to tackle this fear by facing it head-on. I started watching and reading everything Zombie. As a result I have become sort of an aficionado of zombies.

This is my first crack at the zombie apocalypse genre and I had a lot of fun writing it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I basically become a hermit – which is hard to do with 2 kids. Kidding aside, I like to seclude myself for a few hours each day to write. My kids and my wife know not to bug daddy when he is writing, that is until I need a break. Then I’ll go out and roll around on the lawn with them for a little to take my mind off of things.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I guess it is cliche at this point, but Rowling brought the Young Adult genre to the forefront of popular culture. As an adult reading Harry Potter, it was clear that it transcended all ages. My hope is that my work will do the same, introducing readers to marvelous characters along the way.

What are you working on now?
Book two of the Zombie Gang Series – Zombie Gang: Humanity Shift. It picks up where book one left off and will be out in 2014.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Because of my video editing background, I enjoy making book trailers for all of my works. The trailer for Zombie Gang: Regenerated earth can be found here;

My website is http://brstranges.wix.com/brstrangesbooks

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write about what you know? I know that a lot of aspiring writers try to give the audience what they want, regardless of whether they know anything about that topic. My advice is to look deeply at your own world, you’ll be surprised at the stories that will be revealed to you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Nobody is going to hand you what you want. You have to make your own opportunities.

What are you reading now?
Dan Brown’s Inferno. I love the fast-paced nature of his writing. I can get lost in his stories, astral-projecting my body away from the earth for a while.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing and more writing. I want to explore different genres, keeping in mind the characteristics of a modern teenage reader. In this high-tech world, teenagers move at lightning speed. I think that technology will assist both assist the writer and change the format. The digital reading /writing world excites me.

What is your favorite book of all time?
A Brave New World. This was my introduction to Sci-Fi. I am often in awe of the strange and wonderful worlds that are created in the heads of talented authors. The world that Huxley creates is off the charts.

Author Websites and Profiles
B.R. Stranges Website
B.R. Stranges Amazon Profile
B.R. Stranges Author Profile Other Bookseller

B.R. Stranges ‘s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I like to write Teen Contemporary and Fantasy. My favorite is the Fantasy. This is a great form of escapism.

The first book I wrote was a Teen Contemporary. I wrote it mostly for myself after dealing with my then teenage daughter. This book helped me work past some of my greatest fears for her when she left home unexpectedly. Since then she has showed me that she could be a responsible individual.

I have published a total of four books since then. Two books belong to my Teen Contemporary series called Wings from Ashes and the other two books belong to my Fantasy series called Orgarlan Saga. They are Friends of Choice, Road Salt (my latest release), Aaron & Keja, and Witch Book.

Last fall I joined RWA which is Romance Writers of America. I really enjoy this writing community and have decided I will be here to stay. My next task is to learn to add the element of Romance to all that I write.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book as I mentioned before is Road Salt. This book came about after my son entered a residential drug rehab. His counselor had read my first book, Friends of Choice, and found it to her liking. She then asked me if there was going to be another book to go with it. I thought about it. Then one day on the Sunday morning news I saw her at a local police department talking about a new designer drug that was becoming a grave problem across the world. This drug is called Bath Salts. It gave me the idea for Road Salt.

Road Salt is completely fictitious. The book is about a road trip the character in the book decide to take. This event was prompted by an event in my daughter’s life when she had left unexpectedly, giving reason to why she said, “Good book but bad memories.” I drew some of the book from her memories as ideas of what could possible happen to my characters.

Road Salt hopefully will help educate the public about the dangers of the designer drug Bath Salts.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do most of my writing on the weekend, early in the morning. Sometimes I try to sit in the Living Room with my elderly mom whom we live with and write. But it is hard. It seems like every time she hears the tap tap tap sound on the keyboard she decides it is time to hold a conversation with me about what is happening on TV.

But what keeps me going with my writing is the ROW80 community. It is a great group of writers who continually push to keep writing. The name of it stands for Round of Words in 80 Days. Instead of the writing challenge like NaNo Wri Mo where you try to write your manuscript in 30 days we shoot for 80 days. If we don’t meet it, that is not a problem. We try again for the next session of 80 days.

I joined this group back when I was writing Witch Book. I wrote that book in 90 days. So I know I can do it if I apply myself to the story.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite authors in the past were Ann McCaffery, Piers Anthony and Robert Asprin. I now have new authors I follow like Neil Gaiman, Amanda Hockings, Debra Geary, and Stephanie Bond.

I like their writing. But there is so many others out there that I like too it is hard to name them all. I think that every book I read influences me in some sort of way. I try to pay attention to how they write it. How they include funny things for their characters and the fact that sometimes it is okay to say to your self, “I know that this only happens in a book. That’s why reading is fun.”

What are you working on now?
At this time I am working on the next book in my Wings from Ashes series. I have taken the main character from the series to use in this story. She is trying to change back to the person she once was but it has been hard. Her life has changed so much since she first moved to Brantwood and so many bad things and choices have taken place.

But now she is no longer considered the new kid in the school. There is a new boy at Brantwood High. She isn’t really that interested in him. She is only willing to be his friend. But one of the other girls at the school has her sights on him and her friend thinks that Karla is going to snag him away before this other girl – Ashley can ask him out.

This is my first Teen Romance. It has lots of jealousy, obsession, and bullying with the odd awarkward feeling of teen relationships.

You’ll have to read Along Came Neil to find out who gets the new boy Neil.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have several places where I promote my books. The Awesomegang.com is my newest site. But before I found this site you would find me on Goodreads.com, The Library Thing.com and Freado.com.

I have used the Amazon Kindle Select Program. I found it good to use while I await the approval of my Copyright Registration.

But my favorite for Giveaways of Ebooks is The Library Thing.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
“Don’t give up.” If your first book is a flop – so what. Get on that horse and write another one. And if that one is no good, then write another one. You are not born a writer. Writers are made by hard work and practice. It is considered a form of art. If you looked at the sketches of an artist in their early stages you might see stick figures in the beginning. Then in the end you see that glorious portrait.

So never give up. One day your stories will shine with the rest.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep on writing and do your best.

What are you reading now?
I like to read on my Kindle. It is convenient to take to work with me. I recently picked up Hunger Games. I saw the movie but now I want to read the book. Almost always the books are far better than the movies.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have ladder rungs I have been climbing. Last year I took part in my first book signing. It went well and I hoping to do another one soon for Road Salt.

Two months ago I took part in my RWA Chapter Critic group and had the first chapter of my draft of Along Came Neil critiqued. I loved it.

Now I have acquired a regular critique partner.

So my next rung is to finish up this Teen Contemporary Romance so I can start back on my Fantasy writing and try adding the Romance flair to that story series.

What is your favorite book of all time?
My favorite book of all time is a hard one. I love so many books. But my heart keeps going back to Robert Asprin’s Thieves World. His anthology called Sanctuary. It has always been my favorite. I loved how even though it was an anthology the authors were allowed to use any of the characters in their stories. They just weren’t allowed to kill them off.

Author Websites and Profiles
Linda Nelson Website
Linda Nelson Amazon Profile
Linda Nelson Author Profile Other Bookseller

Linda Nelson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a semi recovering teacher. I live in North Carolina in the US, and I would like to live in Europe in the future.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called Hillary Hermes: Vampires vs. Witches

Well the main character is an alchemist named Hillary Hermes (like the Greek god Hermes). She awakes in San Juan County, WA in the body of Hillary Somers a college freshman and the oldest daughter of the Somers family. A group of vampires is determined to exterminate the last of the Somers (Hillary and her sister) and this starts a war between the vampires and the witches

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t necessarily need a picture to write. I have a general idea of how they look in my mind. I have had artists draw the main characters. I have spent time just finding artists to draw. I have placed pictures on my blog. I usually spend a lot of time crafting the character, and I like it to be exact. In subsequent books I will just illustrate main characters. I think it gives the reader a good feeling of the world you are trying to create.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Well Nicolas Sparks said with his first book he wrote one page a day and at the end of the year you have 365 pages. I try to write at least ten pages a week. So when the book first came out in March. I was obsessed with marketing. Now I’ve decided to put more energy into writing more books. I’m writing three books now. I will finish them by December.

What are you working on now?
I am working on three books now, Hillary Hermes: Thrice Greatest, Diana Deluna and the Archangels: Love, and Quantico.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
http://werecats.myblogsite.com

http://hillaryhermes.blogspot.com/

http://ylpbooks.blogspot.com/

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Learn to write everything,take every experience as a learning experience.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t take rejection personally, just get up and keep going.

What are you reading now?
I like fantasy, horror, and crime.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will finish three books this year.

Diana Deluna is a three book series, Hillary Hermes is a five book series.

What is your favorite book of all time?
The Historian

Author Websites and Profiles
YL Parker Website
YL Parker Amazon Profile
YL Parker Author Profile Other Bookseller

YL Parker’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I began to read at age two (my mother claims no one taught me), and have been living in multiple realities ever since. I am a wife and mother, an artist and a teacher. Recently, I began publishing some stories of my own creation. So far, I’ve released seven novella-length romances, mostly of the gay variety. Writing has been a lifelong private hobby of mine, and I am so pleased to be allowed to share it.

Oh, how I love romance! I also love science, science fiction, and fantasy. I prefer chaos (over order), laughter (over tears), and red wine (over white).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is called RoadBlock, and it is a paranormal romance involving witches. I enjoy writing about supernatural or paranormal characters who are perhaps not so ‘super’, whose ‘powers’ are more of a hindrance than a help. In this book, I deal with the theme of religious intolerance. It is also a fairly erotic romance.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a terrible typist…. no skills whatsoever in that department.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Robin Hobb, Kresley Cole, Abigail Roux. And every other book I’ve ever read.

What are you working on now?
I am working now on a contemporary romance, with average, everyday characters.I can’t promise they won’t have paranormal qualities by the time the book comes out, though!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am not very good at self promotion, so I think a combination of Awesome Gang and similar book listing services, facebook groups, and blog action is best for me. Also it’s all free.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep going. Write the books you want to read, and try to take criticism as a growth tool and not an insult. And don’t give up!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be yourself.

What are you reading now?
Power Exchange by AJ Rose

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to write longer novels, it is something which is difficult for me!

What is your favorite book of all time?
wow. How can I pick just one?

Author Websites and Profiles
Amelia Bishop Website
Amelia Bishop Amazon Profile

Amelia Bishop’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Aloha! I’m Rob, 27, from Southampton (famous for being the place from which the Titanic sailed, hopefully my books won’t suffer a similar fate). I had an unremarkable childhood really but then something clicked when I was 18 and I started to write my first story while I was bored at college. I studied Philosophy at uni which was ideally suited to my way of thinking and helped me expand my mind (some people use drugs for that, I use Sartre). Once I completed my degree I didn’t really know what I wanted to do so a friend and I decided to apply for a program to move to Orlando and work at Disneyworld while studying at the University of Central Florida. That lasted for six months. It was a great time and an amazing opportunity. I consider it to be the best time of my life and it had a lasting impact. I was also lucky enough to be able to travel around the country on a 3-week road trip which was incredible.

It was hard to re-adjust after that and I drifted for a while but the past year or so I’ve really tried to focus on my writing and last year I released my novel, Angelic Hellfire, on Amazon which was a relief to finally get it out there!

I’ve written quite a lot, I have a lot of ideas so I tend to bounce around. I’m trying to concentrate to get everything completed though. At the moment I have a novel, a collection of poetry and a collection of short stories available.

Angelic Hellfire is a coming-of-age sci-fi story about a young woman, Aaliyah, who is unhappy with the direction her life has taken. Through the book she learns about the potential that resides within and the book is about believing in yourself, and that no matter how bleak or hopeless life seems there’s always a way to make things better, and it may come from an unexpected source.

My poetry collection is called Step Into My Soul, and I’ve split it into two parts. The first half is for angst-filled raw, emotional poems while the second half focuses on romantic poems about the dizzying heights of love. I, Tomorrow? and Other Stories collects 12 stories and it’s a bit of a mix, I’ll go into detail about it for the next question.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest released book is I, Tomorrow? and Other Stories. It collects 12 short stories I wrote throughout 2012 and it’s a bit of an eclectic mix. There’s some sci-fi, a couple of romantic tragedies, a Greek tragedy and a few other things. I’d never really written short stories before but I had a tremendous amount of ideas and I really wanted to explore a few different concepts and get them all out, and these stories were the result of that. This year I’m focusing more on getting a few novels done so it’ll be a while before I release another collection of short stories. Here are the descriptions of the stories. The stories are accompanied by author’s notes which delve into the background of the stories and some of my feelings towards them. It’s hard to say what inspired them because there are such a disparate array of ideas I wouldn’t want to go into them all here.

Looking Beyond the Universe – Jack Lee is a therapist called to diagnose a curious case – a man is claiming to be a superhero. Jack listens to his story and the patient is so vehement part of Jack wonders if he could be telling the truth…

The Hollow World – Sam is trapped in a simulated world but she fears it means more to her than the real one. She struggles with the conflict between her heart and her mind, rationally she knows that it’s artificial yet she cares about characters around her.

A Threefold Love – A look at an unconventional relationship and how the judgments of outsiders can have a negative effect on the dynamics between three consenting adults.

The Disappearing Legend – Billy Kapse is a rockstar struggling with the price of fame. He poured his soul into his work yet he feels like he’s a brand rather than a man. What is the price of immortality?

I, Tomorrow? – Alexander Roble is working on a method to transport people across vast distances, changing the world in the process when he notices a skin condition that only seems to get worse as he approaches the completion of his project.

The Saviours – A couple of decades ago the government set up a biosphere where the most gifted and creative people could live undisturbed, pouring all their energies into methods to improve the way Earth is run. Now, Adam Presly is one of the second generation and is expected to take his place on the High Council one day. However, he struggles with the fact that he has no emotional connection to Earth, and he wonders if his seniors have lost their way.

Flight – David feels trapped in life so he makes a wish and finds himself transformed, but it may not be as freeing as he suspects.

When the Walls Fell – One man holds the balance of two worlds in his mind.

Flowers of Despair – Shane is putting the past behind him while on a picnic with his beloved wife and daughter when tragedy strikes and he has to dredge up his brutal past in order to survive.

Eternal Tomorrow – If you had one day left would you be able to break the habits of a lifetime and life as if nothing mattered?

Four Years, No More – Four years after they broke up, Barry still has lingering feelings for Lauren. This is a story about how fears and insecurities can have devastating effects.

Incestua – Clyton rules the peaceful land of sandy Kylos but his soul is torn by a forbidden desire. His daughter, Chrysa, is the most beautiful girl and Clyton enters himself in a tournament of champions that will decide her husband.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Hmm, I’m not sure really, not without consulting other writers! Perhaps one thing which other writers may find strange is that I don’t plan at all. I never plot out arcs or story points, whenever I have a story it flashes in my mind completely, so I have all the broad strokes. Then, as I write it, more ideas come to the fore and it takes on a life of its own. So it gets pretty busy in my head sometimes, because I not only have all the thoughts about my life, but all the thoughts about my characters’ lives too. I’ve tried planning before but it just doesn’t work for me, somehow I’m able to keep it all straight in my head, no idea how!

I’m not sure if this is unusual or not, but I spend a lot of time on my laptop so sometimes my eyes begin to hurt. If I’m writing I’ll close my eyes and touch-type which sometimes helps me to get into a nice creative zone where I don’t have to be distracted by my surroundings, and I’ve actually typed this paragraph out with my eyes closed.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are quite a few, and I don’t limit my influences on just authors and books either (Hank Williams wrote some of the most tragic songs and he’s been a great influence on my poetry).

Homer – The Odyssey is my favourite book of all time so there’s definitely a place for him.

Tennessee Williams – I love the emotional vibrancy of his characters.

Philip K. Dick – Whenever you start a Philip K. Dick story you’re never really sure where it’s going to end up. I especially love his short stories where you get to better experience the breadth of his imagination.

W. Somerset Maughm – I only discovered him this year but I instantly fell in love with his writing. His prose is beautiful and the attitudes he expressed are ones that I identify with.

Jean-Paul Sartre – When I discovered Existentialism I was relieved that finally there was something I agreed with. Nausea in particular is a brilliant work.

Stan Lee – May seem a bit out of place on this list but I consider superheroes to be modern myths and even though Stan Lee’s dialogue could be incredibly corny at times I love the characters he created (in particular Spider-Man) and the stories he wrote. I’m aware that a lot of other writers contributed so it may be a bit unfair that Stan Lee gets most of the credit, but he did usher in the the era.

Watchmen by Alan Moore deserves a mention too. The book is incredible, so rich with texture that I discover new things every time I read it and it set new limits to what comics could be.

What are you working on now?
I have a serial superhero story I’m writing on my blog. I update it weekly and chapter 14 will be posted tomorrow. The superhero is called Felicio and it’s based on an idea, which was actually the first thing I ever wrote at college, although I’ve changed it a lot since then. But it’s fun to write and I like having the deadline of knowing I have to post something by a certain time. I’m enjoying writing it and I’m going to take it into some surprising directions, so it’ll be interesting to see how long I carry it on for.

I’m also about a third of the way into a novel called Hit Hard, which is about the woman’s boxing world champion. She’s been undefeated for many years and while she enjoys being at the pinnacle of her sport she also feels unfulfilled, and it’s as if she hasn’t really earned the belt because nobody can put up a decent challenge. So she searches for a way to find meaning in her life when there isn’t a challenge, and how dangerous the need to push yourself to the limit can be.

I’ve also started formulating an idea for a pirate story. I’ve decided to call it The Wandering Treasure. I haven’t started writing it yet, but I did write a bit of a prologue so here’s a sneak peek. I haven’t edited this or anything so I may change a few lines. Image an old drunk sailor saying this in a dreary, dark tavern.

Tis the jewel of the seas

The wandering treasure, shrouded in mystery

Everyone who hears of it eternally yearns

Those who seek it never return

The desire tears at men’s souls

Leaves their hearts cold and hollow

It’s said to rest under the farthest star

Where the mountains of glittering gold can be seen from afar

Protected by mermaids and spirits divine

Watched over by the gods and the sands of time

When lightning crashes and thunder rolls and the dreams meet the waking morning

Death will follow swiftly

But for one moment ye’ll feel eternal

And then ye’ll feel our pity

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found www.goodreads.com to be very helpful. There are a lot of authors and readers willing to help. It’s a very friendly community and it’s easy to find a lot of resources which would otherwise go unnoticed.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think the best advice is read a lot and write a lot. Also don’t be afraid to bare your soul.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Probably the above, which is why I repeated it! Just write and read, write and read, write and read. In general life, one thing that has always stuck with me – “there are a million things in this world you can have and a million you can’t.”

What are you reading now?
Great Expectations, I’m got about 80 pages left. I’m really enjoying it so far. I’d heard a lot of people complain that it was a bit heavy-going, so I had intended to read it a chapter at a time in order to simulate the experience that the original readers had. However, I found it flows quite nicely so I’m reading it straight through.

I’m also reading Meditations by Marcus Aurelius, which is a collection of his maxims. I try to keep up and read philosophical works now and then. It’s a good read so far although it’s best to be read in little chunks I think. I also have Preacher and Locke & Key to read, both of which I’m going to start very soon.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well I have The Wandering Treasure to write after Hit Hard. I also have a few other things to get out. I have a couple of musicals that have been bursting to escape and a few more novels, including a sequel to Angelic Hellfire. My aim is to write at least one thing in every genre, so I’ve got plenty of ideas to work on. It’s just a matter of organising them and getting them all completed.

What is your favorite book of all time?
The Odyssey. I studied it for a college course so I read it about 4 times in the course of an academic year but I never tired of it. It’s one of the few books I make an effort to re-read regularly and it was actually responsible for me passing a module at university too. Sometimes studying a book can lead you to dislike it, but for me it allowed me to see the depth in the text and I completely fell in love with it. I make it a point to reference The Odyssey in most things I write.

Author Websites and Profiles
Robert D. Spake Website
Robert D. Spake Amazon Profile

Robert D. Spake’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in the year of the horse Paloma felt drawn to these great creatures from an early age. At the age of five, she took her first riding lesson. She looks back now to over 40 years of riding experience of which she was blessed to share 21 years with her Islandic Horse companion Ljomi.

The animals have always been her friends and until her teens they were connected by a very special bond. As she grew older, however, she lost part of that connection like most of us do through the distractions of life. For awhile she didn’t know how to get it back.

Her professional career was taking her in a completely different direction from her natural gifts.

Then in the summer of 1998 she had a key experience which led her back to the animals and nature. That was when a horse talked to her.

Paloma started studying to become an animal communicator and did not stop there. She studied different ways of interacting with nature and learned from ancient wisdom and how our ancestors were connected with animals, plants and all of creation. During the past 14 years Paloma has talked to thousands of animals and has helped hundreds of people have a better connection to their animal companions.

Today she is exclusively committed to spreading the animals’ messages, teaching animal communication, giving individual consultations of animal communication and also doing life energy consultations. She is happy and grateful to be able to share information with people to help them create a continuous joyful and harmonious bond with their animal companions and nature.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Get inspired by the Messages of the Animals – Journaling with the Wisdom of the Animals”.

It was inspired by all the conversations I have had with animals over the last 15 years.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually meditate before writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are many books which have influenced me. Here are just three of them:

As a man thinketh by James Allen

Animaltalk by Penelope Smith

Think and Grow Ritch by Napoleon Hill

What are you working on now?
I am working on spreading the messages of the animals so humans learn how to reconnect with themselves, other species and Mother Earth again. We would not be on the planet if Mother Earth would not nourish us.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Spread the word as much as you can and use all available channels.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Believe in yourself and dare to live your dream.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never ever give up.

What are you reading now?
Psycho-Cybernetics by Maxwell Maltz

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am finishing the second journal of “Get inspired by the Messages of the Animals”.

What is your favorite book of all time?
As a man thinketh

Author Websites and Profiles
Paloma Baertschi-Herrera Website
Paloma Baertschi-Herrera Amazon Profile

Paloma Baertschi-Herrera’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer/director of independent feature films, and teach at USC. This is my first published book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“How To Make a Feature Film For Under 25K.”

The inspiration came from meeting so many students and young filmmakers who want to know how to make their first feature film for very little money. I made my first film for a very meager budget, starting my own production company, and raising the funds myself – so I know what it takes and how to get it done.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No. Write every morning.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many. Salinger, Cheever, Murakami, Chandler, Hemingway, Fante, Cervantes, Kafka. I Wonder as I Wander by Langston Hughes. My Method, by Roberto Rossellini.

What are you working on now?
Writing a script, which I hope to film this summer.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
New to me. So far, word of mouth.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
READ!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Pay attention.

What are you reading now?
Gandhi’s autobiography.

What’s next for you as a writer?
A collection of short stories and a screenplay.

What is your favorite book of all time?
Nine Stories, by J.D. Salinger.

Author Websites and Profiles
James Savoca Website
James Savoca Amazon Profile

James Savoca’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the author of the beset-selling Spotlight romance series. So far, I’ve written three books in this series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called The Director’s Cut. It’s the third book in my series, and I’ve been absolutely delighted with how popular all the books have been so far. The book is an adult romance, of the Fifty Shades variety, and it follows screen-writer-turned-actress Isabella Green, as she meets famous director James Berkeley.

As a journalist, I have lots of experience of the celebrity London circuit, and all the amazing restaurants and nightspots in the Uk capital. I wanted to share this all with people in a compelling love story, with a few steamy scenes thrown in for good measure!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unlike many writers, I show up to work on time, and work from 9-5 without exception! I think that’s quite unusual 😉 But I did start out writing for newspapers, so I guess I learned diligence that way. Other than that, I consult quite a few friends on scenes, and character points to find out what’s going to work best.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I did an English/History BA, and was sponsored to do an MA, so I’ve read a huge number of classics. It was only in the last few years that I really started reading easier, faster paced books – and finding out how much I enjoyed them! My books have been described as the kind of guilty pleasure, junk food type books of the reading world, and I love this description.

With this background, I’ve got quite diverse tastes. I love Jane Austin, Dickens and Defoe, as well as Jackie Collins, Dan Brown, and of course, EL James.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the last book in the series The Final Act. And I’m also starting on a historical romance, which follows a courtesan as she tries to fool high society.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon. Sorry to say. Free promos of my books have been the single best way I’ve found. But sites like this one are really helpful in directing people to the free promos.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If your writing is commercial (rather than literary), don’t bother with publishers. Trying to appeal the narrow taste of the kind of people in publishing can really shred your confidence. Concentrate on dealing direct with the people who matter – your readers. You’ll usually learn far more, from an honest review, of someone who has actually bought your book, than from publishers. Of course, not everyone is going to love your work, so you have to ignore the odd reader who just doesn’t get you. But if similar comments pop up time and time again, it will direct you to fix things.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be absolutely sure, that your books are reaching your actual target market. If your book has a cover which suggests the content is very character-led, for example, when it’s a pacy thriller, you’ll open yourself up to criticism from people who aren’t your target readers. I’ve seen this happen, and it’s cruel when authors lose confidence, purely because their book is being sold to people looking for something different.

What are you reading now?
Beautiful Disaster (which is amazing!), Dan Brown’s Inferno, and The White Queen by Phillipa Gregory

What’s next for you as a writer?
Historical romance, and I also have a series of historical thrillers, set in London in the 17th century.

What is your favorite book of all time?
Such a hard question! It used to be Dune. I also love Pure, the Crimson Petal and the White, Hollywood Wives, and The Da Vinci Code.

Author Websites and Profiles
JS Taylor Website

JS Taylor’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am sunshine loving desert rat from the state of Nevada in the USA. I enjoy exploring the under-explored areas of the West, have a fascination with worthless rocks which my mother always referred to as “leverites,” and do my small part in training military fighter pilots. I have published two novels so far, though I have four completed ones on my computer just waiting for their turn in the spotlight.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s less than 3000 miles to hell. The last book I published is titled “Exit Strategy,” a dark, adult psychological/paranormal/thriller that delves into the mind of a man in possession of too many secrets–a wild, sea-going excursion into a realm of the fantastic, as Jonas Dumar comes to realize that some secrets are better left unknown. A man really can learn more about himself than he ever wants to know. It was inspired by my need to escape the medieval/fantasy world I’d been immersed in for so many years. My mind needed to go somewhere entirely different for a time.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if it’s unusual or not, but my first rough draft of anything has to be handwritten. But I have to hurry to transcribe my chicken scratches into the computer for I’m often unable to read what I’ve written. Maybe I should have been a doctor. My handwriting is atrocious.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
This is an impossible question to answer. My reading tastes are all over the place and I’ve enjoyed so many different books and authors, I doubt I could narrow it down to a few. I do believe that most everything I’ve read has influenced me in one way or another, whether I’m aware of it or not.

What are you working on now?
At the moment, I am in the process of publishing the sequel to my first novel. There were so many readers that requested to know more of Collie’s story, I had to appease them. It is titled “Hope Rises from the Ashes,” and is loosely categorized as a romance/fantasy, like its sister novel, “Hope Flies on Broken Wings,” though neither one strictly adheres to either of those genres. But they are both love stories of a sort, set in a medieval, fantasy world. I am also madly scribbling out another horror/thriller.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think it is a secret that I wish someone would let me in on. I’ve done book-signings, magazine ads, blog tours, and giveaways, but have seen no appreciable results. Without a huge marketing budget, I still believe that word-of-mouth, friend recommendations are the most effective. And it all takes time and persistence.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice I can give to a new author is: Don’t get discouraged. Keep learning your craft, keep reading, and most of all, keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This was something I learned from my daddy, long ago: If there’s no road to get from here to there, then make your own. In essence, there are no obstacles that cannot be overcome.

What are you reading now?
At this very moment, I am reading “Until Tuesday,” by Luis Carlos Montalvan, a nonfiction work about a wounded veteran with PTSD and the benefits of his having a service dog. Quite an interesting book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I guess what’s next for me is to get busy and finish publishing the novels accumulating on my computer! I have a series of short stories I’m working on as well. With so many irons in the fire, I should never be lacking for something to work on.

What is your favorite book of all time?
This is another impossible question! If I think about it, I suppose, were I stranded on a desert island with only one book in my possession for in indeterminable amount of time, I might choose “Arabian Nights,”–a wealth of fascinating stories that I’ve never tired of.

Author Websites and Profiles
Leanna Falconer Amazon Profile
Leanna Falconer Author Profile Other Bookseller

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