Awesome Author Interviews

Royal Johnson Amazon Profile

Pinterest Account

Author Interview Series

To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!

If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.

If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.

Royal Johnson

Interview With Author Royal Johnson

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Royal Nigel Johnson and I’m an author and illustrator whose mission is to inspire a generation to believe that their “impossible” dreams are possible. I’ve written one book titled, “YO, Manwel!!! Boys with Dreams.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled, “YO, Manwel!!! Boys with Dreams,” and I wrote it to encourage kids to believe that their dreams are attainable if they believe in themselves, work hard, surround themselves with good people, and are willing to persevere in that journey despite failure and obstacles.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I first start out with a basic idea and I immediately type it in my notes app on my Iphone. I then expand upon those thoughts in a Google Doc, and begin editing from there. Now that I think about it, that may not be so unusual.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I grew up reading manga, so many of my influences are from guys like Eiichiro Oda (who is the creator of “One Piece”), Masashi Kishimoto (who is the creator of “Naruto”), and Kazuki Takahashi (the creator of “Yu-Gi-Oh.”)

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a young adult graphic novella that follows the story of a high school teen who is seeking to avenge his father’s death.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Instagram the most to promote my book online, and I also make use of local events to sell my books and build a connection with my audience.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, I would tell new authors to take their craft seriously because the work they are doing is important. Believe that you have what it takes and prove it by committing to the daily grind it takes to see your project come to life.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard was to put skin in the game. Meaning that if you aren’t willing to put your own money into what you’re doing, how invested in this journey are you?

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading “Love & War” by John and Stasi Eldredge.

What’s next for you as a writer?
What’s next for me is to continue to build a system of good habits to sharpen my abilities and commitment as an author and illustrator. I have a lot of awesome projects I want to complete, it’s just a matter of putting the work in consistently to get there.

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 the Bible, Gregor the Overlander, and Yu-Gi-Oh! volume 2.

Author Websites and Profiles

Royal Johnson Website

Royal Johnson’s Social Media Links

Alex Faircloth Amazon Profile

Author Interview Series

If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.

Alex Faircloth

Interview With Author Alex Faircloth

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Alex R. Faircloth, born in Tennessee, attending Tennessee Tech University for a degree in Biology health science. Awardee of the Bartoo Scholarship for for being the most outstanding senior biology major. A second degree black belt in Taekwondo and has experience in judo and Gundo as well. Efficient with nunchucks until swinging them into his own forehead. Believes the world doesn’t wait for us to mature before throwing us into the flames of life, but others were cast right beside you. No one has to suffer alone if they reach out. It is our flaws that attract others to complete us like puzzle pieces snapping together allowing us to see a picture bigger than our individual selves. We may not seem like much until we match our talents with the friends we make along the way. Friendships are the most important things in life, and I would never have reached this far without my caring family and friends. Characters such as Clemency, Arzone, and Basil learn how we depend on the relationships they form in their unique encounters with strife.

Sacrifice is a major part of life, but you have to learn what it is to lose something before you understand why we fight so hard to protect what we have.

I have currently completed one book, Frostbound Destiny, and am working on the sequel Frostbound Falling to The Shadows.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Frostbound Destiny, I have been fascinated by the concept of empathy and compassion despite the immense endeavors, we as individuals, face throughout our lives. Clemency Divine embodies this altruism that we all strive to preserve while the world tests our innocence every step of the way. Kindness can tame beasts much older than itself. If I had to say one major theme encompassing the whole book, it would be humanity is a task of perseverance, an ability to withstand temptation to giving into our selfish desires.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer to blast metal and rock music while I am setting moods. In less than joyful moments, I’ll switch to a more melancholic melody. I even write songs for particular characters to have a better feel of what they represent if they were to go mute and their actions alone speak to our hearts. For example, I composed Torman’s lament to express his grief and rage switching throughout the elegy. Whereas Clemency’s theme orients itself around a bouncy major chord progression.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Several philosophical compositions have provided insightful perspectives. One of the best lines I have heard (NOT MY WORK) ” What happens when the light burns so painfully bright it becomes worse than the dark?” The implications of a hero depending so tightly on their own moral rules out of fear rather than virtue sets a stage for infinite character possibilities.

What are you working on now?
I am working on achieving my third degree black belt and in the final semester of my premed degree nearly two years early. It is my passion to be able to construct the theme of Frostbound Falling to the Shadows. Several characteristics of our lives people find taboo to talk about will occur in this book. From severe instances of bullying to envy out of control.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I seek out people personally who might be intrigued by the prospect of these themes.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Trust in your own mind, AND the talents of those around you. Seek proof readers who are honest and willing to tell you when something needs enhancement. Seek help promoting your book.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
” Everyone needs a friend. More than anything, some people desperately wish someone would love them.” This sole piece of advice helped me begin seeking out longer lasting, meaningful friendships.

The second best advice I have received comes in a question: “Does a song truly lose its value because it is no longer sung?” It isn’t worth going out of tune and miss out on finishing our own symphony. The best harmonies compliment each others’ instruments, not drown them out in senseless noise.

What are you reading now?
Name of the Wind has a special place in my heart for its wonderfully crafted characters and cogent analysis of logical implications. The author himself had to possess a certain intellect to conjure a character of that caliber.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Once I complete the sequel, continue to make the trilogy I have plotted out.

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 bible, Hatchet( survival book), Storm Light archives, Drizzt

Author Websites and Profiles

Kerry Evelyn

Interview With Author Kerry Evelyn

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi! I’ve been writing since my Nana went to heaven when I was a toddler. After two decades teaching elementary students, I decided to start that novel I’d always wanted to write. Being from New England, my Crane’s Cove series was the cure for seasonal homesickness. Cat’s Paw Cove provided the space for creative magical creatures and talking cats I wished existed. And my Palmer City Voltage hockey romances are a just-keep-flipping one-sitting coaster of fun! Between the novels, I like to write novellas and short stories featuring the series side characters. I’ve also published nonfiction, including two focus journals and workbook, How to Binge-Write Your Novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is The Swan and the Phoenix: A Once Upon Academy Duet. Three years ago, some author friends and I got together to design a new world called Once Upon Academy, a college for the children of magicals and fairy tale characters for an anthology. My character, Nettie, is the daughter of the Swan Princess. She’s all set to observe a meteor shower in the Astronomy Tower when her crush enters and the two become trapped. He’s ill, and doesn’t know that soon he’ll be shifting into a Phoenix. She helps him survive the change. In the Duet, I’ve included that story, plus the continuation, which is Reggie’s story. It is is the only book that exists in a realm outside of my main series collections, but there IS a tie to my Cat’s Paw Cove book, The Beachcomber’s Buccaneer Bounty. You’ll have to read both to learn what that is! Fans have their theories–if you guess it, send me an email and I’ll tell you if you’re right!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really unusual, but when I’m stuck I drink Port with ice (Nightjar from Cooper’s Hawk is my favorite) and eat Nerds or chocolate or gummy cherries.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to list! I love authors who write series and connect all their characters from one book or series to the next, and so I’ve done that as well!

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m writing Book 3 in my Palmer City Voltage series. It’s titled Celebration on Ice. My critique partners and Facebook VIP group wouldn’t let me call it Celly on Ice, so I’m a little sore about that! You can check it out (and the rest of the series) at Goodreads.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love doing Facebook takeovers and reader conferences. Meeting readers is so fun! Book people are my favorite! I also find success with newsletter promotions and ads.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Best advice: Pay an experienced editor in your genre to edit your books. This is SO important. Readers can tell a book that is edited from a book that is just proofed. A genre-specific editor will let you know what your book is missing, when your pacing is off, and help you avoid the common pitfalls that scream “inexperienced author.”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Lately, my mantra is just keep writing. I think it was Nora Roberts who said you can’t edit a blank page, and that is the truth! My best lines usually come to me during the second, third and something eighth read-through!

What are you reading now?
I’m working my way through Kristen Ethridge’s Port Provident books! Set in Texas, they have all the things I love in a romance!

What’s next for you as a writer?
With summer here (it’s June 1st!) I am prepping for summer book conferences! At the end of this month I’ll be in Port Canveral, Florida at Space Coast Book Lovers, and at the end of August I’ll be at Orlando Reads Books. Come see me there!

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 love this question! If I’m stranded on a desert island, I will need some Jesus to survive, ha! So, I’d bring my bible, my Anne of Green Gables hardcover that my Memere gave me for Christmas in 6th grade (it includes of the Anne books–is that cheating?). I’d also bring the hardback journal my other grandmother, Evelyn, filled out for me in her last years, and a photobook of my hubby and kids.

Author Websites and Profiles

Kerry Evelyn Website

Kerry Evelyn Amazon Profile

Kerry Evelyn’s Social Media Links

Mario Mainland

Interview With Author Mario Mainland

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a logistician by day and a writer by night – or any spare time I can carve from daily duties as husband to my wife Samantha and father to my five-year-old son Leo.
It’s been a relatively secret dream and aspiration to become an author, but there were two moments that ignited a spark to the dry kindling I had neglected for most of my life. In my late teens, a specific film was the first catalyst. I cannot recall what it was about, maybe it doesn’t even matter, but it was sufficiently profound that it prompted the first draft of The Eternilim, which was then known as ‘The Tower’. It burnt bright and hot and faded around 20,000 words – either due to inspiration dwindling or the inevitable intrusion of adult life.

The second spark came when I was thirty-four at a church service I attended some random Friday in Dubai. I spoke with an odd but friendly stranger, cannot recall his name, and can only remember we spoke about fishing or kayaking and water leaking from his roof – but after meeting him (the service itself may have had some influence), I knew the very next day I would restart the story that began so many years ago. And as I ventured down the road of obscure, wannabe writer, wrought with anxiety and self-doubt, I also rediscovered my passion for the craft and the fresh desire to share it with the world. So here we are, my poetry, early teen-years to today, sporadic essays and my once shy stories. I hope you enjoy their company as I have.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In a nutshell, it’s about how two brothers and their friend grow up in ancient Babylon and discover the origins of the human and the divine, the craft they used, the Annunaki and Nephilim kings of the past, and the real reason for Eve’s betrayal – It’s alternative history where the true purpose of the tower of Babel and the confusion of languages is revealed. At its core, the story weaves many beliefs, ideas, and concepts of our history into one unifying narrative. Think of it as a mix between Harry Potter and Dan Brown…

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have a lot of respect for Stephen King and his body of work and recently read The Institute which I thoroughly enjoyed. His memoir ‘On Writing’ probably my favorite. Neil Gaiman is also up there, in particular his Sandman series and Good Omens which are both in the same vein as ‘The Eternilim’. I am currently reading Elsewhere by Dean Koontz.
These are my favorite authors because I enjoyed their stories, and as such, am also most influenced by their style of writing. Which I can only hope shines through at least a little bit.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a follow-up to The Eternilim, but it is not a direct sequel. The grand plan is to have a 9 book series all in different genres and all interconnected. The Eternilim will itself by 3 parts. The current project takes place in current-day and is a horror, incorporating mythological creatures – in the same vein as birdbox.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still working on it, but awesomegang seems to add the most value!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice I’ve heard and what I try to apply:
1. Keep reading, and read different authors and genres. This is where you learn.
2. Write as much as possible, even if it is just outlines of future ideas. This is how you practice your craft. My go-to is poetry. Not only does it enhance vocabulary, but also expands and challenges your creative mind
3. The law-of-little-bits. Do something every day, even just one sentence. Inches matter because they accumulate, and eventually give way to larger daily work volumes.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?

What are you reading now?
Elsewhere by Dean Koontz

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just to keep going. The biggest enemy to a writer is not lack of creativity. It is self-doubt and fear of the blank page – both of which can be defeated by just sitting down and typing. The right words will not come otherwise.

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?
1.) Building a shelter for dummies
2.) Project Hail Mary
3.) Astrophysics for people in a hurry

Author Websites and Profiles

Mario Mainland Website

Mario Mainland Amazon Profile

Mario Mainland’s Social Media Links

Luke Olensky Amazon Profile

Luke Olensky

Interview With Author Luke Olensky

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from New York and have been involved in entertainment in some form since age 13. I started as a professional wrestler and power-lifting champion before moving into music, acting, and modeling. I am also a college graduate, podcast host, personal training specialist, and entrepreneur. Thus far, I have written only one book which was just published in May of 2022. I look forward to more! POW!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
20 Reasons & 20 Ways To Diminish Self-Doubt. I have done a lot in the world of entertainment, but I had not written a book yet. I realized this in November of 2021, and got right to work on what would be my first published book. My entire life was the inspiration for the book, especially these last few years when I did a lot of my own healing. I used many of the techniques I talk about in the read to help myself.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. Not so much with writing books, but for music I have some weird techniques. One of these is something I call “Red-light Writing”. My best musical ideas come to me when I’m driving, and I always have paper and pen with me. When I’m sitting at red lights, I write everything down.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
RL Stine was the first author I loved as a kid with the “Goosebumps” series. I loved those. As I got older, I loved Stephen King! My favorite books though were “The Outsiders”, “To Kill a Mockingbird”, “My Side of the Mountain”, and “The Chosen”.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I am not writing a new book. I am in the process of organizing a big promotional event for this one!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use my personal site and all social media.
lucabrassy.com
facebook.com/20reasonsand20ways
twitter.com/lucabrassy
instagram.com/brassyluca

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Let your idea blossom. Whether fiction or nonfiction, don’t force any ideas. You will know when a good one comes to you. Then brainstorm how you want to present the idea. Come up with key elements, points, characters, locations, etc before even writing anything besides these key points. Trust the process.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
So many to choose from but one that I love is “Believing in yourself means standing alone even if it seems like the world is against you”.

What are you reading now?
I’m actually in the middle of reading my own book at the moment from a consumer standpoint.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next is coming up with a fictional idea for a 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?
Bible, The Outsiders, A strategy book to handle the situation I was in, and something about fitness. One for faith, one for enjoyment, one to deal, and one to stay as healthy as possible.

Author Websites and Profiles

Luke Olensky Website

Luke Olensky’s Social Media Links

Rupali Saini Amazon Profile

Rupali Saini

Interview With Author Rupali Saini

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a poet, activist, author and wanderer rambling in the world of my imagination. I’m also a random choreographer and often tap my feet with a story in my mind. When not penning the subtleties of human heart, I’m an assistant professor and a passionate teacher. I believe in promoting learning through questioning. So far my two books have been published, the first is on spirituality, a non-fiction, and the second is this newly published SHOTS: Tell It Slant, a collection of 25 short shorts.
Before it my work has been featured in various journals and anthologies.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book by me, as I have mentioned, is SHOTS: Tell It Slant, the stories you not only read but also feel. These stories are inspired from my quest to address the issues which we have almost normalized, though the practices are subtle forms of exploitation, disparity and prejudices, but in the humdrum of our hectic lives we tend to let them happen as nothing has happened. At some places, I also wanted to show the daily happenings to their core reality, which is off course disturbing and unsettling.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yeah! there is, but I would like to call it a condition than a habit. It’s when I’m plotting a story, I want a pin-drop silence.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I write at my calling, when no other option is left than manifesting it in the form of a writing piece, I just do it under the influence of its necessity to bring it out on the paper/screen.
It’s true, I’m not a typical reader but I agree that a good reader is a good writer. So, before any such venture when a story in my mind nudges me to come out, I prepare myself with the readings of the relevant theme or genre.
In particular, I can’t name any. I’m really sorry for it. I always have this conflict of naming someone or a few. Actually, I get influenced with every that writing which attracts me intellectually and also goes straight to heart.

What are you working on now?
The writing and publishing process of SHOTS: Tell It Slant was so exhaustive and tiresome for last many months, that for a while, I’m planning to take a break.
But, it’s not the endgame. Yes, there is something cooking up in my mind but not so sure about it yet. Don’t worry, the break will not be so long, hopefully 🙂

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As of now, these four are in my top list- WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube. In future, if I earn some readers, I hope Goodreads too will join this list.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
There are many lessons, I have learnt throughout my SHOTS journey, as there were 25 stories in total. and I would love to discuss those in detail.
For now, in brief, I can enlist the three most important.
1. Always keep something with you on which you can scribble or jot down, ideas pop up anywhere and ridiculously anytime, so don’t delay in giving them words. Yes, ideas come out of the blue and also vanish nowhere in the blink of an eye. So, be vigilant. You just plan what you want to write and then see the miracles of your mind. It works, you just pay heed to its calling.
2. When you are writing your first draft, don’t bother about its quality. You are vomiting, right! So, just let it out and hop on the next chapter, don’t start editing off the bat. Maintain a suitable gap, it helps you in detaching yourself from your beloved first draft. And if some factual data in your write-up bother you, then just leave the space or highlight the things where you would come back when finish your first draft. Don’t divert your mind toward the factual or nitpicking part, it kills the creativity. Just focus on your story and its spirit.
3. After maintaining an adequate gap, when you return to your first draft, you may find it terrible or a shit but believe me its not. Congratulations, you have a story now, you just need to improve it in its expression, grammar and punctuation. Editing can be a rewriting but again you have a story now, just toil over it.
I hope it helps.
Thanks!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write, Write and Write, You will improve.
Sorry, I don’t know who said this or Is it something my mind is concocting?
But, it’s really a good advice 🙂

What are you reading now?
I hope, after our brief discussion above, you might have assumed the answer. Not anything, in particular 🙂
Beware! a good reader is a good writer. I’m voracious, when I decide reading something.

What’s next for you as a writer?
As a writer, as I have hinted, something is drumming up my mind. Will spill soon, if everything goes right in its favor.
Cheers!

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?
Haha…
I would love to take ‘Bhagavad Gita’ with me, its a wonderful spiritual text. What do you think, would I take it for myself? I have read it Dear!, this I would take along with me for helping someone with its magical teachings, if I happened to find anyone on that island.
Have a Great Writing!

Author Websites and Profiles

Rupali Saini Website

Rupali Saini’s Social Media Links

Jennifer Fraser

Interview With Author Jennifer Fraser

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I love reading. After I finished my Masters in Comparative Literature, it occurred to me that if I did a PhD, I could basically stay in the library, read all day and not have to work. I wrote my dissertation on what made someone transform from a reader of culture to a writer of culture and that turned into my first book. I used literary giants to explore the phenomenon. The book got picked up by University Press of Florida in 2002 and “Rite of Passage in the Narratives of Dante and Joyce” hit the shelves causing great excitement among professors and grad students.

I was lecturing at University of Toronto at this time and we had two boys – an eight year old and a three year old. My husband took a political position on the other side of Canada and we moved. I was unable to get a position in a university and began teaching in a private school. I continued researching and writing and in 2011 my next book was published by University of Toronto “Be A Good Soldier: Children’s Grief in English Modern Novels.” Being a mother and a teacher of teenagers had made me far more aware of the impact adults had on children as they raised them and educated them.

While I love literary studies and deep dives into research, I’m also drawn to great stories and page-turners so for fun I wrote a couple of thrillers. One was a wine thriller called “Crush” and the other was a historical thriller about Queen Elizabeth II visiting Canada in the 1950s and being the focus of a terrorist plot.

I did an about turn for my fifth book as I was pulled into an abuse crisis at the private school where I was teaching. I wrote all about it in “Teaching Bullies” where I put the story into the arena with other abuse stories in the media, law, psychology, education, and neuroscience. It was the brain science that really caught my imagination. Too impatient for the long drawn out publishing process, I published this urgent book under our own imprint Motion Press (2015).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book came out in April 2022 and it was inspired by resigning in protest at one private school covering up abuse only to be hired at another one where abuse was being covered up. I realized that our society has normalized child abuse and we had to stop it. My book uses neuroscience, neurobiology, medicine, psychology research in order to change the conversation on bullying and abuse. My goal with “The Bullied Brain: Heal Your Scars and Restore Your Health” is to empower readers to know what’s going on in their brain, how at risk it is from all forms of bullying and abuse, and how to repair it. The brain is remarkably adept at repair when you know the evidence-based practices to do.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I write, I become so engrossed that I tune the world right out. I learned the hard way that I should not be writing and taking care of my kids at the same time. My eight year old was at the skateboard park and I was sitting on a bench at the side working on “Be A Good Soldier.” I called him over to go home and when he got in our van, he said “wow that was quite a fight.” And I’m like “what fight?” And he says “Between those two teenagers. Good thing the police came.” POLICE? I missed the whole thing. Didn’t even know it was happening. I did not get the parenting prize that afternoon.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have an eclectic, diverse love of books. I can read medieval Italian poetry like the “Divine Comedy” and be mesmerized or read Toni Morrison’s “Beloved” and cry throughout it while at the same time being awed by the writerly craft. I am definitely influenced by modernist novelists such as Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, and company. I like their exploration into how to express the inexpressible.

What are you working on now?
I have just finished a new book called “Cloud of False Echoes: A Memoir about Why the Truth Matters.” I am writing poems as I find it therapeutic. I am planning in my head and sort of messily on paper three new books that unpack neuroscience in ways that can enhance our lives.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In all honesty, I am not good at promoting my books. I have my own website www.bulliedbrain.com and I actively put my interviews and my blogs and my articles on it, but beyond that I am not much of a marketer. I’d rather write another book. I think it might have to do with being an introvert.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Choose the book style you want to write and then analyze it. How is it structured? How does the timeline work? What is the language and style like? How would you characterize it? Who are the speakers of the book? How are you going to represent them and what they say and do? I think writing can be very overwhelming at the beginning but there are ways to break apart a book in order to examine its mechanisms and then recreate them in your own way.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Go faster.” This is what the “Father of Neuroplasticity” Dr. Michael Merzenich always says to me. What I love about it is that we share an urgency about getting information about the brain into the hands of people who need it. There’s no time to waste when kids are suffering so much, when teen mental health is so at risk, when parents, teachers, coaches, frontline workers know next to nothing about brain development.

What are you reading now?
A friend of mine just gave me Brene Brown’s “Atlas of the Heart” which I am keen to read. I have been reading Amy Cuddy’s “Presence.” I am a fan of both of their work.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am trying to be disciplined and promote my new book, but really I want to work on my next book projects. My greatest joy is writing and sharing ideas with other readers, writers, thinkers and advocates.

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’d have to bring along Marc Lewis “Biology of Desire,” Lisa Feldman Barrett’s “How Emotions are Made,” Larry Anderson’s “The Beautiful Brain: The Drawings of Santiago Ramon Y Cajal”, and I guess the Old and New Testament (which I’ve always meant to read and feel guilty about not having done so). And if I could add a fifth, I think a collection of Shakespeare’s plays would be nice.

Author Websites and Profiles

Jennifer Fraser Website

Jennifer Fraser Amazon Profile

Jennifer Fraser’s Social Media Links

Riccardo Ruggiu Amazon Profile

Riccardo Ruggiu

Interview With Author Riccardo Ruggiu

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I wrote ten books, and in addition to the passion for writing books, music has a great impact in my spare time; I’m a very good musician (piano, synth and guitar), DJ and deep connoisseur of home and professional audio equipment.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is: Windows 11: Practical guide to the latest Microsoft operating system.
I wrote it to tell the brand new operating system to my readers, discovering all the news about it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually write my books late at night, because it helps me keeping concentrate.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway.

What are you working on now?
I’m translating the 3rd chapter of my command-prompt book, from the Italian version.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use LinkedIn.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Sure, keep going writing your books to improve your experience day by day.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always keep moving.

What are you reading now?
The old man and the sea (Hemingway)

What’s next for you as a writer?
Develop new computer book projects.

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?
One survival book, one spiritual book and one cooking book.

Author Websites and Profiles

Gordon Doherty

Interview With Author Gordon Doherty

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Scottish writer, addicted to reading and writing historical fiction. My love of history was first kindled by visits to the misty Roman ruins of Britain and the sun-baked antiquities of Turkey and Greece. My expeditions since have taken me all over the world and back and forth through time (metaphorically, at least), allowing me to write tales of the later Roman Empire, Byzantium, Classical Greece and even the distant Bronze Age.

Twenty one books so far (and counting!)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Empires of Bronze: THE DARK EARTH is a tale of devastation in the distant past.

Clay tablets excavated from underneath the 3,000 year-old ruins in the highlands of central Turkey tell of a mighty empire – the empire of the Hittites – which thrived in the Bronze Age, dominating the region. They were the world’s supreme power for a time… and then it all changed.
The tablets tell of King Hattu and his son, Tudha, and of the absolute carnage they would face… when the Sea Peoples came and blew the Hittites and every other power of the Bronze Age into history

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
A cat who doubles as a foot warmer 🙂

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stories fascinated me when I was a boy, particularly those that offered adventure and escapism. I’d plough through the yarns of C.S. Lewis, Enid Blyton and Roald Dahl, then try my hand at storytelling with semi-illustrated tales of my own. I quickly found the sense of escapism was heightened when writing my own stuff. I think that’s why historical fiction works so well for me, spiriting me away to a long-lost time and place.
There are three authors who have chiefly shaped and influenced my adult writing style and reading interests: Valerio Massimo Manfredi for his passionately-told stories of Alexander, Troy and Rome, Sam Barone for his wonderfully detailed and absorbing tales of early antiquity and the dawn of the Bronze Age city-states, and David Gemmell for his unerring ability to create life from words (his characters positively leap from the page and sear themselves into your mind) while offering simple, earnest lessons in morality to boot.

What are you working on now?
I’m now editing book 9 in my Late Roman ‘Legionary’ series. http://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/Legionary

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I genuinely haven’t found one ‘silver bullet’ website. It’s getting harder and harder to get readers to notice books these days!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
“The first draft of everything is shit”, is a quote attributed to Ernest Hemingway. I can confirm that my first drafts certainly are 😊
But that’s the point – they give you something to work with and make better. Just as Michelangelo needed a brutish block of marble in order to create David!
I now refer to my first drafts as “The vomit draft”. Just let it all come out onto the page, rattle on through it, don’t get sidelined by intricate historical detail (just leave a comment or highlight at that point and you can come back to it later). So that’s my tip: vomit!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing rule #9: ignore anything that claims to be a writing “rule”

What are you reading now?
Hawk Eternal by David Gemmell. Simply wonderful!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a brand new series planned and ready to go – I have to keep the subject matter and era under wraps for now though.
If you want to stay informed, you can join my newsletter mailing list (only one or two letters a year) at: https://www.gordondoherty.co.uk/newsletter.html

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?
Lion of Macedon, David Gemmell
Helen of Troy, Margaret George
The Time Machine, H.G. Wells

Author Websites and Profiles

Gordon Doherty Website

Gordon Doherty Amazon Profile

Gordon Doherty Author Profile on Smashwords

Gordon Doherty’s Social Media Links

Bethany Nicholls

Interview With Author Bethany Nicholls

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, my name is Beth. I’m a full-time dog mum and business analyst, as well as a part-time creative writer. As of now, I’ve completed one full length novel which is the first of a four-part series, though I have had different short stories and poems published in anthologies over the past decade.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Waning, and it was inspired by a conversation I had with my boyfriend nearly six years ago. We were talking about Twilight and how, as I got older, I couldn’t help but pick up on plot holes and various aspects which teenage me didn’t see as red flags. Instead of focusing on the weirdness of someone watching you sleep, the only thing he really struggled to accept was the whole ‘sparkling in the sunlight’ concept.
I tried my hardest to defend the creative choices that were made – “Do you know how hard it is to think of new ideas for something that’s been done at least a dozen times before?” – but the only positive that came from the discussion was the belief that I could maybe be the next person to re-invent vampires successfully.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have an unusual habit of acting out scenes that I’m struggling to write, just to see how they would feel or sound.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephanie Meyer. Bram Stoker. Bethany Atazadeh.

What are you working on now?
At the moment, I’m working on ‘Full’ which is the third book of ‘The Lunar Phases’.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
To be honest, I’m pretty new to this side of publishing so I’m still trying to figure it all out.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think the best piece of advice I can offer is: Don’t focus on what every other writer is doing, and don’t worry if you’re not doing the same thing.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned, it’s that there are thousands of ways to tell a story so who cares if yours isn’t like anyone else’s?
Do you want to write a 2nd person story in the present tense? Go for it!
Do you think a 1st person thriller in the future tense would be epic? Take a chance!
Follow the story wherever it goes, because you never know… maybe you’re the person who is supposed to write it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until it’s done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”

What are you reading now?
Nothing – While I’m writing, I try not to read as to avoid accidental cross-contamination of any sort.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to finish the first draft of ‘Full’ then circle back around and finish the re-write of 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?
The Complete Works of Sherlock Holmes, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and The Phantom of the Opera.

Author Websites and Profiles

Bethany Nicholls Amazon Profile

Bethany Nicholls’s Social Media Links

Claudia Klein Amazon Profile

Claudia Klein

Interview With Author Claudia Klein

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a stay at home mom by day and a young adult fantasy author by night. I’ve published two books so far in my epic fantasy series, Erlingue.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is The Crown, book 2 in the Erlingue series. The series was inspired by me trying to write a story where the bad guy wins. I discovered I just can’t write that kind of story, lol. My fantasy is also heavily inspired by Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings and C S Lewis’s Narnia books. Those are the two authors that got me writing in the epic fantasy genre to begin with. Brandon Sanderson and Robert Jordan are what keep me writing in this genre.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not currently. I used to diffuse this one essential oil called Clarity that helped me write seriosly twice as fast as normal. It was awesome! I need to get back into using that stuff…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tolkien, C S Lewis, Brandon Sanderson, Robert Jordan, John Flanagan, Veronica Roth, and Suzanne Collins

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on book 1 of a different trilogy than Erlingue. It’s in a world of all high Elves called Karafyllon.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Right now, Instagram. But I’m brand new in the world of book promotions.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing. Write as many well-written books as fast as you can to build up a backlist. If you’re going Indie, make sure you publish a series and not a stand alone. It’s a pay to play game in the India world right now, so make sure you have some sort of $$$ to spend on marketing your books.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Put your book on sale then advertise the sale like crazy. That’s how you get most of your book sales. People love to buy discounted books.

What are you reading now?
The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to try and get traditionally published. Mainly to find out if I like the process of publishing traditionally better than I like publishing in the Indie world. So testing out things to see what I’m going to focus on in the my author career.

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 Lord of the Rings in 1 volume and the Hunger Games.

Author Websites and Profiles

Claudia Klein’s Social Media Links

Dr Andrew C S Koh Website

Dr Andrew C S Koh

Interview With Author Dr Andrew C S Koh

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an author, publisher, blogger, retired cardiologist, and Bible expositor. My first book, Memoirs of a Doctor, told the amazing story of his spiritual journey and full recovery from tetraplegia. Since then, I have authored 36 Christian books, including commentaries on every book of the New Testament from John to Revelation. I studied Theology at Laidlaw Bible College, Auckland, New Zealand.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Faith Journey of Abraham: Genesis 12-25. This is a bible study, commentary, and devotional book on the faith journey, adventures, and life story of father Abraham of the Old Testament

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, Nothing really in particular.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, C S Lewis

What are you working on now?
Faith Journey of Jacob: Genesis 26-36

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
storyorigin.app.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep on writing, persevere, persistent, diligent

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step

What are you reading now?
The Bible

What’s next for you as a writer?
Go on writing and publishing

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 bible
Robinson Crusoe
Treasure Island

Author Websites and Profiles

Dr Andrew C S Koh Amazon Profile

Dr Andrew C S Koh’s Social Media Links

Saylor Storma

Interview With Author Saylor Storm

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing mostly romance novels for the past dozen years or so. Originally, I thought I would be writing children’s books but I kept getting ideas for romance novels so I went with it! I did just write my first children’s book recently which will be coming out for Christmas. In addition to the romance novels, I am also working on a salad cookbook to coincide with a series of salad videos I’m currently making.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The idea for my latest book, Ali’s Portal, came to me one day when I was visiting our local coffee shop. As the barista handed me a glass of iced tea, the idea for Ali’s Portal came to me as a download and my thought was, what would happen if I drank this tea and it gave me complete clarity? How would that change my thinking, the way I see the world, and the decisions I make in my life?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a seat-of-your-pants writer and just go with the flow. If I’m having a good writing day, I may write for 14 hours straight and never change out of my bathrobe.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Growing up I loved all of the John D. MacDonald novels; a series of stories revolving around a particular detective and were perfect little beach reads proving several hours of escape and entertainment. I’ve tried to replicate the beach reads theme of escape and entertainment in my novels.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a romance suspense. A popular social media influencer and her husband unknowing became involved in a massive government conspiracy and cover up. Its darker than what I normally write but I like to mix it up.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://saylorstorm.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it, never give up, be patient, and do your homework!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A woman I knew who had been happily married for over sixty years said to me one day, “Don’t marry someone you can live with, marry someone who you can’t live without.”

What are you reading now?
I’m reading Dr. William Li’s, Eat to Beat Disease. Its a fascinating account of the power of food and how specific foods can directly affect different diseases. I would highly recommend it to everyone.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll be releasing my next romance novel, Hypnagogic, in October and my first children’s book, will soon follow. I’ll be finishing my current romance suspense and then starting one of the many book ideas on my list.

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 Deserted Island by Tim O’Shei
Survival Hacks by Creek Stewart
The Complete Guide to Edible Wild Plants,
The Lost Art of Reading Nature’s Signs by Tristan Gooley

Author Websites and Profiles

Saylor Storm Website

Saylor Storm Amazon Profile

Saylor Storm’s Social Media Links

Pinterest Account

Jaelyn Jordan

Interview With Author Jaelyn Jordan

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am charismatic , inspiring , and empathetic. I love meeting new people and astrology.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is “A Misguided Thought” . It’s a poetry book supporting mental health.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wrote this book in “diary entry form”.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Shakespeare, Maya Angelou, and Edgar Allen Poe

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my new poetry book called “A Misguided Thought: Roses And Thornes”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, etc.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stay true to yourself

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In order to successfully negative through life you have to be a chameleon.

What are you reading now?
I am currently not working because I am working on my sequel.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My goal is to obtain a Nobel Peace Prize for my book “A Misguided Thought”. I would also like to be on Forbes 30 under 30

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 read Nineteen Eighty-Four , The Great Gatsby, and Holes.

Author Websites and Profiles

Jaelyn Jordan Website

Jaelyn Jordan’s Social Media Links

Marin Darmonkow Amazon Profile

Marin Darmonkow

Interview With Author Marin Darmonkow

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Marin and for a good match I live in a port city – St. John’s, NL Canada. I have three children – one in Austria and two in Canada. Started writing in 2017 – kids became independent and suddenly I had time to create. First I decided to start by developing an old idea – The Adventure of Alex and Er was written, illustrated, and designed by my hands. I created even the fonts for the book. My goal was to create a one-of-a-kind art piece. Then I added four more titles under the name 2GETHER picture book collection. Plus ten more individual books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my last publication is extremely demanding: ART. Art is an autistic and artistic individual. Art does not speak but creates art. Art that dismisses even gravity.
This is a story I kept close to my chest all my life and finally, I decided to publish it. It was inspired by something deeply personal…

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Usual only.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Probably I was influenced by many books and many authors in my early years. I grew up with my grandparents who gave me books instead of toys. I became a voracious reader and I knew how to read and write since I was four. Some of the books I read as a child were appropriate for my age, others were difficult even for linguists or scientists to comprehend, nevertheless for a child…

What are you working on now?
Another picture book – titled EARL THE BOYGIRL.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For a long time, I stayed away from the 800-pound gorilla Amazon. Many promotional sites requested an Amazon link and I uploaded my books to the platform. On my site https://fontreal.com, one can find links to most online book retailers. The best promotional method? Developing an e-mail list of fans, according to me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Go for it, if your brain says it is in your heart.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This was my grandfather’s advice: never play leapfrog with unicorns.

What are you reading now?
Great Expectations by Dickens – a real classic with beautiful language and settings.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just started year six as a writer/illustrator/designer/publisher. In the course of those years, I managed to create twelve children’s books (one belongs to a genre I invented – children’s stories for adults). Twelve more are in the process of development. The truth is that I truly enjoy the journey.

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?
Escaping a desert island for dummies, volumes I, II, III, and IV.

Author Websites and Profiles

Marin Darmonkow Website

Marin Darmonkow’s Social Media Links

Neela Arnaud

Interview With Author Neela Arnaud

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an Expressive Arts Therapist and Facilitator (EAFT), artist, and poet and am originally from Provence, France. Until the pandemic, I led international workshops for Adult Survivors of Toxic Families and Narcissistic Abuse. In 2021, I released my first book in my ‘Adult Survivors of Toxic Families’ series, ‘Waking Up to Toxic People’. ‘Protecting Yourself From Toxic People’ and ‘Releasing Toxic People’ were released in 2022, along with a bundled 3-in-1 series compilation (box set). My autobiographical book of poems, ‘How To Leave’, will be released in July, 2022. In my free time I tend to many goats and chickens on my small farm in Maine and enjoy painting and spending time with my husband and our many animals.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘Dealing With Toxic People’ (a 3-in-1 series compilation). I was inspired to share my knowledge of how to cope with the toxic behaviors of others, as well as how to end toxic relationships (including with toxic family members) and recover from the damaging after-effects.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do most all of my writing on the weekends as I see clients during the week. I might write for the entire weekend, doing little else, as I get so caught up in the material due to the passion I have for helping people recover from toxic relationships and the harm caused by abusive people, including family members.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Alice Miller, ‘Drama of the Gifted Child’. Books on Family Systems.

What are you working on now?
My autobiographical book of poetry, ‘How To Leave’, which describes my journey of recovering from Toxic Family Abuse and Narcissistic Abuse.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon ads and regular promotions through reputable online book promoters.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It doesn’t matter how many books have been written on a given subject. Your experiences and your creative vision are unique, and the world needs to hear from you!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As an author: Write about what you know and have a passion for.

What are you reading now?
A book on Mast Cell Activation Disorder (MCAD) which I discovered recently I have.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Beginning a new series or adding to my ‘Adult Survivors of Toxic Family Members’ 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 collected works of Shakespeare. The collected works of Dostoyevski. Some juicy Gothic-period fiction books. The collected works of Rumi and Hafiz, as well as the Tao Te Ching.

Author Websites and Profiles

Neela Arnaud Amazon Profile

Neela Arnaud’s Social Media Links

D.M. Baird Amazon Profile

D.M. Baird

Interview With Author D.M. Baird

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 2 Ranch Suspense/Romance and either written or co-written anther 6 epic, cross world fantasies

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Prelude to Domination on Vella a collection of shorts that answers the unanswered questions from the Devil’s Realm series

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write daily in the morning but often have to find a note to scribble down some Ideas in the bath…. Inspiration strikes in the strangest places.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am an avid reader… Terry Brooks fantasy, any romance author but love Delores Fossen and BJ Daniels , snarky witch book by Amanda M Lee, clean cowboy romance by Jessie Gussman

What are you working on now?
Splinter of Stars – 3rd in the Double Diamond Ranch Romance series… due to come out soon

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook has been most successful so far or word of mouth in the Rodeo circuit

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write everyday, don’t try to control it too much and have fun

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write for yourself as a reader

What are you reading now?
Ivy Morgan series by Lily Harper Heart

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish the Double Diamond series and the last book in the Devil’s Realm

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
And the last 3 in the Shannara Series

Author Websites and Profiles

D.M. Baird Website

D.M. Baird’s Social Media Links

Sabne Raznik

Interview With Author Sabne Raznik

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a disabled Appalachian poet of Cherokee ancestry. I like to say I’m a supranational poet because I believe poetry transcends man-made borders and traditions and I like to write from that space – everything goes. I have published 6 books in total so far: 3 full-length collections (“Following Hope” Xlibris, 2007, “Linger to Look” Amazon, 2015, and “Rabbit Hole” Amazon, 2017), one homemade chapbook (Marrow, 2013), one e-chapbook (“Dreaming of Bono” VoiceLux, 2022), and one collection of visual art (“Renaissance: Visual Art 2005 – 2019” Amazon, 2019).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Dreaming of Bono”. It’s an echapbook from VoiceLux, 2022. I never had a stable father figure growing up so I kind of chose one: Bono of U2. When they released the “Songs of Experience” album, it sounded to me like they were preparing the hardcore fanbase for when U2 isn’t around anymore and I started having dreams about Bono and Seamus Heaney. I was doing some inner child work, I guess. Working through that personal psychology in relation to Bono and freeing both us from that parasocial parent-child thing. At first, I wrote the dreams down abstractly so that the reader can’t tell that they are dreams and that they are about Bono. But as the book developed, I got more direct. I think that was part of the healing process that was happening too.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if any writing habit is unusual, really. Every writer has a different process. My process changes for every book. I like the books to have themes, if I can, and each one is also different in style. Because the language has to change based on what you’re trying to convey and the way you go about finding and capturing that language is neccesarily different depending on the language you need at that moment. Something that does tend to remain consistent, though, is that I write in pieces and then organise those pieces into a whole later. It takes a long time to get a whole work that way. It’s a slow, painstaking process. But it feels like most of my better work comes out that way.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am strongly influenced by world poetry and Irish writers. I didn’t want to be the stereotypical Appalachian poet. I wanted to show people that the stereotype is a lie. So I very much knew what I *didn’t* want to be. And so I didn’t read a lot of local, contemporary poetry until maybe the last decade. I read the Eastern European poets and poetry in translation from all around the world. And I’ve read all the important Irish writers and poets: Yeats, Boland, Kavanaugh, Kennelly, Muldoon. I’ve read literally everything James Joyce wrote. A lot of Beckett. My all-time favourite poet is Seamus Heaney: so much of his work could just as easily be Appalachian as Irish. Recently, I’ve been reading widely among contemporary American poets and sort of catching up on the Appalachain canon a little bit.

What are you working on now?
I’ve been trying to put together a little Selected bi-lingual collection. That’s been really challenging because I have to pull from all my books which are each so unique and somehow make the selection work as a cohesive whole in itself. And that’s out of my comfort zone as far as how I usually approach putting together a manuscript. I also am working on a collection of short stories, where the stories seem centered around making the choice of integrity over reputation. So many people read my poems and ask for fiction, and I thought “okay, why not? See how it flies”. I’m also currently on a virtual book tour to support “Dreaming of Bono”. And I’m editor on two literary journals (“AvantAppal(achia) Ezine” and “North/South Appalachia”) and keeping those running is a continual process.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social Media is vital in today’s world when it comes to promoting anything, so I try to maintain a reasonably strong social media presence. Due to my disability, traveling is difficult, therefore most events I attend are virtual.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read, read, read! And study the business. Journals have submission guidelines for a reason: follow them. Most importantly, throw your ego out the door. There is a lot of ego-bruising inherent to being a writer – from the constant submission rejections to the book review process – there is no room for a writer who is going to take every rejection or criticism personally. You have to really truly not care what people think. Do the work because you love it, not because you want it to love you. because it won’t. It doesn’t love back. You have to do all the loving – for the work and for yourself. Self-pity will only get in the way of opportunities. You have to be emotionally stronger than average, but you can do it, if you love writing enough and if you have enough faith in what you write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As long as there is life, there is hope.

What are you reading now?
Wow. Um, I think you should just follow me on Goodreads to see my “currently reading” shelf because I can read up to 40 books at the same time. But a selection is: “The Story of Civilization” by Will Durant, “The Autobiography of Mark Twain”, “Drinking Guinness with the Dead” by Justin Hamm, “The Intimacy of Clouds” by Fatiha Morchid, “Brightening of Days” by Gabriel Rosenstock, The Works of Tolstoy, Chaucer, and a lot of haiku recently.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I think, after I finally wrestle out the Selected and that collection of short stories I mentioned earlier, I might go back to some old projects that I put down before because I didn’t think the time was right. I started writing a series of poems about the 9/11 “jumpers”, it might be time to revisit that. And I’ll probably go through some poems I’ve written over the last decade but haven’t collected yet to see if there is enough strong work there for another 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?
The Bible, “Open Ground” by Seamus Heaney, Bono’s memoirs (the one he had written in interview style around 2006 and the one slated to come out in November 2022), “Facing the Lion” by Simone Arnold Liebster, and I seem to go back to “Cry, the Beloved Country” by Alan Paton and “Under the Eye of the Clock” by Christopher Nolan every so many years.

Author Websites and Profiles

Sabne Raznik Website

Sabne Raznik’s Social Media Links

Deepak Karamungikar Amazon Profile

Deepak Karamungikar

Interview With Author Deepak Karamungikar

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Deepak Karamungikar and I’m originally from Hyderabad, India and now live in the US. I’ve written eight books across multiple genres including Sci-Fi, Crime, Thriller, Romance and Drama. My works have ranged from fast-paced and bold narratives to finely narrated tales of human emotions. I also write for the screen.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Love Takes No Prisoners. It’s a delicate love story that ensues between a mafia accountant who’s in hiding and a married woman in India. I was inspired to write this story because I always felt that love or romance as a genre has been stereotyped as something that’s limited to young people or youngsters. My protagonist is 48. I thought people at that age deserve love too!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual as such, but I prefer writing in the mornings. I do not like late nights!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Khushwant Singh is my all time favorite writer. Nobody narrates better than him. I also like Frederick Forsyth, Philip K Dick, George Orwell and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I also enjoy Edgar Allan Poe.

What are you working on now?
Resting for a week and then I’ll start my next one, which is an alternative history magnum opus. I hope it’s done in time for my next birthday!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m very bad at promoting my books. I’m searching for this answer too!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write more, talk less!

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?
Portrait of a Lady – Khushwant Singh
1984 – George Orwell
Mossad: The Greatest Missions of the Israeli Secret Service – Michael Bar-Zohar and Nissim Mishal
The Man in the High Castle – Philip K Dick

Author Websites and Profiles

Deepak Karamungikar’s Social Media Links