Here is a short video put together by KDP and Createspace showing highlights from Book Expo America.
I am sorry I missed it. I have gone to BEA for the past few years but this year my schedule didn’t permit it.
Where Awesome Book Readers Meet Awesome Writers
Here is a short video put together by KDP and Createspace showing highlights from Book Expo America.
I am sorry I missed it. I have gone to BEA for the past few years but this year my schedule didn’t permit it.
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written the first two novels in a three-book series. The first one in the series, “The Chaos Protocol”, is a techno-thriller about a team of computer programmers trying to disable a worm in the banking system – and it’s set in Columbus, where I live, and it was a finalist for the 2000 Ohioana Book Award for Fiction. The second one, “Blood on Ice”, is about a young Russian hockey star who is trying to find a way to resist the Mafiya without endangering the people he loves.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is “Blood on Ice.” I studied Russian in college and have spent time there and have met and worked with a number of Russian immigrants. I was interested in the problem of facing evil: how do you maintain your integrity in the face of evil if those you love are threatened? That’s the theme, but the book also contains professional hockey, the Russian Mafiya, art students, Russian orphans, the FBI, a brilliant, disgraced programmer, and lots of other goodies.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When the children were small, I would get up at five a.m. in order to have writing time. Now that they’re grown, I tend to just write whenever I can. I think that most writers are solitary, at least when they write.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Laurie Colwin: Happy All The Time as well as her others
Michael Chabon: The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay and his others
Ruth Ozeki: My Year of Meats
Dorothy L. Sayer: The Peter Wimsey mysteries (Strong Poison, etc.)
Margaret Mitchell: Gone With the Wind
Ken Follett: Eye of the Needle
Wallace Stegner: Angle of Repose
Ann Patchett: Bel Canto
Barbara Kingsolver: The Poisonwood Bible
I have a lot of book reviews at my web site, and at Goodreads, if you’re interested in further recommendations.
What are you working on now?
Presently I’m writing the last book of The Millennium series. Too early for details, but the it’s the continuing story of a character who’s intrigued me since Book One.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still experimenting. Amazon is very helpful, especially with ebooks for Kindle.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Spend most of your time writing, and a proportionately smaller, but consistent amount of time on promotion.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“There are a hundred ways to write a book, many of them right.” Jeff Dunn, author of “Days of Cain” and “Full Tide of Night.”
This advice helped me realize that I didn’t need to get stuck with writing a scene just one way – there were many ways that might be successful. It freed me to experiment.
What are you reading now?
I just finished Ruth Ozeki’s latest book, A Tale for the Time Being. Magical!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll keep writing novels. And I’ve done a good bit of food writing (see my web site), which I like and will continue. I’m also a lyricist, and I would love to make a recording of the songs I wrote for my children when they were little. Not with me singing, however! And maybe a children’s book? And something humorous – the possibilities go on and on.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Sorry, too hard to choose! Please see the very partial list above. I’m always finding new books to love.
Author Websites and Profiles
Nancy McKibben Website
Nancy McKibben Amazon Profile
Nancy McKibben’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Nancy Segovia is many things to many people. To her husband she is friend and prize winning cook. To her five daughters she is mom a sometimes inspiration and an all the time pain in the neck. To her grandchildren she is “Totally awesome!” -their words, not hers. And, to her students she is a hard task master who encourages them to excel and browbeats them into mastering the concepts of proper paragraph construction.
Nancy, herself, returned to college at the tender, young age of 49 and graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor of Art’s Degree in Religion. She then continued on with her education and pursued and achieved two master’s degrees – the first from Northwest Nazarene University is a Masters of Arts in Religion and the second from the University of Denver is a Master of Liberal Studies in Creative Writing. She drew from this advanced education the skills and knowledge she used to write Shine: How To Walk the Talk which is scheduled was released in May, 2013.
Prior to returning to college, Nancy achieved publishing success in many areas with successful publishing credits in poetry, children’s literature, short stories and full length novels. She has worked as a newspaper journalist, a managing magazine editor and currently teaches English Composition for several universities.
Of herself she says, ” When not writing or teaching, I like to take online classes in a variety of areas including history, education, religion and philosophy. I also read and watch TV. Much to my shame, I really enjoy reality TV shows like “The Bachelor” and “Survivor.” When not doing any of those things, I play with my three dogs and five cats as I love animals. In the past, I have raised and cared for horses – quarter horses and Thoroughbreds – geese, chickens, fish, birds, roosters, hamsters and once a pot-bellied pig.”
Nancy believes that creation and all its beauty, grandeur and diversity is a direct reflection of God’s majesty and power. One of her favorite quotes reflects this philosophy. It is:
“There is not one blade of grass, there is no color in this world that is not intended to make us rejoice.”
John Calvin
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Shine: How to Walk the Talk, and it was inspired by my own personal search to become holy and perfected, and the realization that it not only was it impossible, but that giving up was unacceptable. This book describes that search and it is my hope it will inspire others to seek their own perfection and holiness.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I simply cannot listen to music while I am writing. I love, love, love music and I know many writers receive inspiration from listening to music while writing. I simply cannot do that because I get too distracted by it. My mind starts to drift away with each melody and I completely lose the train of thought I was riding/writing.
Also, when I am in the middle of writing a novel, it is like having a baby in the house. The novel calls to me at 3 a.m. demanding attention, demanding to be released from my thoughts and given a place of permanence on the written page (computer file – nowadays).
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Aldous Huxley, Anne McCaffrey and Frank Peretti, and a couple of writers who are fairly new to the publishing scene: Elizabeth Hunter and J.R. Rain.
What are you working on now?
A young adult fantasy novel titled: Dragon Tears
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
You know, I honestly don’t know yet. I’ll tell you that in a few more years when I have it figured out.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write and then write some more, and when you are not writing read about writing, and then write some more. Never give up on yourself or your dreams. If you can conceive it, then you can accomplish it. However, don’t let your ego get in the way. Be willing to learn, to take advice, to get help and critiques, and to start over as many times as necessary to get the job done correctly. Remember, there is always a better word, a better phrase, a better sentence, so don’t fall in love with your “babies” because sometimes they have to be sacrificed for the better good of the finished work.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To Thine Own Self Be True – Hamlet
What are you reading now?
J.R. Rain – Vampire Games; Elizabeth Hunter – Blood and Sand; A Contrarians Guide to Christianity; Chicken Soup for the Dog Lover’s Soul; More Glimpses of Heaven
What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing and more publishing
What is your favorite book of all time?
That is impossible to answer but…my standard answer to this question is: Exodus by Leon Uris
Author Websites and Profiles
Nancy Segovia Website
Nancy Segovia Amazon Profile
Nancy Segovia Author Profile Other Bookseller
Nancy Segovia’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
About myself:
There’s a saying that “it’s always the quiet ones…” I’m that guy. From the outside, I look like the kind of person who would sit quietly behind a desk at your public library. So when people actually get to know me, they’re nearly always surprised at the bizarre situations I’ve managed to get myself into over the years. Some of that experience comes through in this book, although I am pleading the Fifth as to precisely what. But I am still very glad (and a little surprised) to still be alive.
How many books:
Ha! One! Go read it!
Actually, this is the second incarnation of a book I wrote six years earlier. I never published that book, as I wasn’t satisfied with the story’s depth or the characters’ voices. I loved the premise though, and one of the side characters stuck with me and stewed on the back-burners for those six years. By the time I was ready to take a second run at the book, everything clicked into place.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called “Death Ain’t But A Word: A Supernatural Hot Mess,” and it’s the story of a crackhead who sees ghosts.
My inspiration for the book was an actual crackhead I knew, although the protagonist in my book is much different in a number of key respects. But my experience with this individual and the stories he told me about his life as a homeless man served as the inspiration for the book.
There’s nothing funny or amusing about homelessness or addiction, of course. What struck me about the guy, though, was this: Even in the wretched circumstances he often found himself, he found ways to negotiate. He had no illusions about where his life was leading him, but even on the streets, he made connections with other people, looked out after other people, and had a clear sense of himself. He wasn’t a model citizen–far from it. But his own internal compass and his way of handling his circumstances was fascinating to me.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not a prolific writer. I’m a slow and fussy writer; it takes me forever to get the page the way I want it.
Ironically, the end result is a book that feels like a “fast read.” Several reviewers have said this about my book–that it’s a “fast read.”
It wasn’t a “fast write,” though. That “speed and ease” was a lot of work!
When I’m deep into a story, it tends to take over my entire life. Much of my “writing” occurred when I was behind the wheel, so I often had to pull over to the side of the road to jot things down.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Huckleberry Finn, hands down. Mark Twain proved for me once and for all that it was possible to tell a story that had depth, insight, and serious intent, and that it was possible to do so in a way that felt like “light” reading.
What are you working on now?
Stewing the spices and stirring the pot for the next book in my protagonist’s world. Still simmering, not yet cooking at full heat.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll tell you when I’ve sold some books!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read. And don’t be polite about it.
Treat your local library like an all-you-can-eat buffet, elbow your way to the front of the line, and pig out. Stuff your face with all kinds of books. The other patrons will look at you funny, but it will make you a much better writer.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read. And don’t be polite about it.
What are you reading now?
I’m rereading A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole. His ear for local voices was about the best I’ve ever encountered in the past century. Mark Twain (of course) wins for the century before that.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to see where my protagonist Wilkin Jones goes next. He grew a lot in the first book, but he still has plenty of challenges ahead of him. Can’t say more for fear of spoiling the first book.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Huck Finn. Natch.
Author Websites and Profiles
Zander Marks Website
Zander Marks Amazon Profile
Zander Marks’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Scotch Plains, NJ where I learned at an early age to enjoy all that the night sky had to offer and often dreamt of its secrets. Having a mother who was an English teacher writing and reading just seemed a normal joy and although I have written all along, eventually the two collided: Science and Fiction.
My first book which is available now is Sanacion: The Black Hole Mission. Sanacion II: We Are The Aliens is due out this Fall. But don’t look for the adventure to stop there. I am working on the third book now and the characters are telling me the want to continue!
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Sanacion II: We Are The Aliens is fun to read – for anyone! I keep re-reading it and love it! In the first book we followed mankind as they were forced to leave a dying Earth on three ships – the book follows just one. We get to know the characters and what they are made of and the two groups the military and the civilians. The second book picks up where the first left off. Now on the new planet Steve & Lenora spy some footprints, not human. Three sets of prints indicating something with six legs or four legs, two hands. The back four have toes that seem to be claw-like. From their discovery we find the new inhabitants to be separated by fear and in two groups of thought as to how to proceed on a world that bears the name of the ship, Sanacion.
Where all this was inspired might come across as odd, but I now completely understand what “they” mean when they speak of the muses. The characters took on a life of their own and while I investigated the science they took me on a wild adventure. The last three words of the first book fueled
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The wall surrounding my writing area has large post-its covering every space where I have written the science or the things I want to be sure and cover laid out. Also at the end of the document I include my ideas. Sometimes the mind keeps going and I just can’t keep writing so I include a summary of what comes next. It is very organized as when I write I can’t have any questions or it won’t just flow.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
On the literature side I have always loved and been somewhat influenced by T. S. Elliott however on the Science Fiction side I am influenced by the work of Arthur C. Clarke. The easy way he takes you into a world where everything makes sense with all of its innovation and the characters are complete people with strengths and faults and so is society.
What are you working on now?
Sanacion 3.4. I have a title in mind but now 3/4’s through I think the scenes I am working on now might define it. I can’t go into too much detail for fear of letting too much slide about Sanacion II, but the adventure continues across space, and some bonds formed in the second book are expanded on and some great surprises hinted at become realities.
Also I have been doing my presentation at Star Trek events and SciFi day’s all around and have a convention coming up where I am a guest as are Amanda Tapping and the great William Shattner
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have a web-site (http://sanaciontheblackholemission.blogspot.com/) where I give my upcoming events, but only I write about Science above the exosphere. Topics vary from “NASA & The 3-D Printer” to “Mars to join the internet” or “Dark Matter, a simple explanation & a simple theory” or talk about upcoming events in the night sky.
I also have a Facebook site: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Sanacion-sanaci%C3%B3n/251502074922394
And if you see me at an event, come over a chat! I have free mission patches for Sanacion: The Black Hole Mission (they’re great on a jacket or a hat!) or SAVE RUFUS bumper stickers for Sanacion II: We Are The Aliens – also free.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
People will say write every day and of course they are write, but make sure that sometimes you give yourself a block of time that is several hours long. It allows your writing to become something else and the muses to fully check in.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I had this professor at University of Maryland in a creative writing course that forced us to look hard at our writing and to be creative even in our expository writing. I had thought that was a just the facts type of writing and once I learned that the facts don’t have to be boring it all fell into place.
What are you reading now?
I try not to read while I am writing, but two books that I was reading before this book were Arthur C Clarke’s “3001 The Final Odyssey” and a book by Michael Jan Friedman which is the prequel to After Earth. I worked with him at several events and just knew it was good:I can’t wait to finish it!
What’s next for you as a writer?
To be honest I am really enjoying writing this whole series and so I want to just keep following what the characters are doing! I really enjoy getting out and being around people of a like mind whether giving my presentation or just having a signing. …When people ask you where do you want to be in five years, is it okay if you just want to continue doing the same thing?
There is a Biography I would like to write, someday on my father’s life & career as it was really interesting. (My dad was well known in the music industry) I think I will know when the time comes.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Can I name two books? In addition to the real science books and other non-fiction, I love “Sunstorm” by Arthur C. Clarke but there is one book that holds such fond memories for me. When ever I was sick when I was young my mother used to read to me “The Five Little Peppers & How They Grew”. My mother was very dramatic and as good books will this book and its characters came alive around me.
Author Websites and Profiles
Mary Louise Davie Website
Mary Louise Davie’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Former Los Angeles Times reporter Jack Getze is Fiction Editor for Anthony nominated Spinetingler Magazine. Through the Los Angeles Times/Washington Post News Syndicate, his news and feature stories have been published in over five-hundred newspapers and periodicals worldwide. His screwball mysteries, BIG NUMBERS and BIG MONEY, were first published by Hilliard Harris in 2007 and 2008. Down and Out Books is reissuing those two, and will publish BIG MOJO late in 2013. His short stories have appeared in A Twist of Noir and Beat to a Pulp. He is an Active Member of Mystery Writers of America’s New York Chapter.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Over a woe-is-me, three-martini lunch twenty years ago, a pal and fellow disgruntled stockbroker told me a tale that became the basis for my debut novel, BIG NUMBERS.
A half-eaten olive spat from my mouth even before I heard the punchline. “Say that again?”
“Jim was a stock-jockey like the rest of us, living hand-to-mouth, until his richest client died,” my pal said. “One week after the client’s funeral, Jim started dating the rich new widow.”
I picked up my errant and twice-bitten green olive. “And Jim married her?”
“Yup,” my friend said.
Bottoms up on my third martini. “That sounds like a novel.”
“A noir tale of greed.”
Maybe it was the times. The mid-1980s celebrated renewed and sharp economic growth, even greed in my opinion. Or maybe it was just my own greed, my desire to escape the dismally frustrating and soulfully repugnant stock and bond trade. Dialing for dollars, we used to call it. Income based solely on commissions. Believe me, avarice gets nurtured daily when you watch your salary go back to zero every month.
“God, that really sounds like a novel,” I said again five minutes later. I imagined movies with famous redheads, a handsome young star as hero. Piles of cash. Boats. Stolen securities.
“You should write it,” my friend said.
Well, I did. In less than a year. I found an agent willing to shop it to publishers, too, but that first version written two decades ago failed to sell in three years of trying. The character was unlikeable, we heard over and over. Greed is not a quality Americans want for their heroes.
I started and finished four other manuscripts over the next two decades, none sold, and I’d reached the lowest spot in thirty-plus years of total disappointment writing fiction. I’d been working with a new agent for two years, on a thriller, and she’d just declared my latest draft completely awry.
“What were you thinking?” she said.
After she made me stop crying, my agent suggested I pull something old from a drawer and work on that for a while, give the thriller a rest. Crushed, I eventually recovered, did some thinking, and eventually called the agent back, told her about two or three old projects including the original version of Big Numbers.
“I like the one about the stockbroker,” she said.
In two weeks of writing, I knew I was onto something special. I couldn’t stop writing. I was making myself laugh in the wee small hours of darkness. I couldn’t wait to show the opening to my agent.
When she read the first thirty pages of the new Big Numbers, with its down-and-out protagonist trying to provide for his estranged children, my agent said, “This is funny. This is you. This is what I’ve been waiting for.”
Six months later I got the call I’d been waiting for. Someone wanted to publish my novel — the novel I began to write twenty years earlier over martinis and lurid gossip.
I know what you future mystery novelists are thinking: Holy weak manuscripts, Jack! It better not take me thirty-eight years and eleven freaking novels to break into print.
It won’t. For the first thirty of those thirty-eight years, understand I just wrote my stories. I didn’t read any books or magazines on writing fiction. I didn’t attend workshops or writing seminars. Craft? It wasn’t until I attended Writers Retreat Workshop in 1998 and began to network that I finally grasped writing fiction requires a set of skills needing study and practice.
You’re already way ahead of me. Aren’t you?
Originally published in Mystery Scene Magazine in February 2007
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I try to “write first” every day — stay off the internet and any marketing work until I’ve written my daily dose of fiction.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Great Gatsby is written in the first person and I’ve always liked that style myself. Besides F. Scott Fitzgerald, my favorite writers are Raymond Chandler, Dashell Hammitt, James M. Cain, and more currently, Elmore Leonard, Robert Crais, and Thomas Perry.
What are you working on now?
My agent is shopping a new series, so I’m both working on #2 n that series and the next Austin Carr — #4, probably called BIG SHOES.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
http://austincarrscrimediary.blogspot.com is the home of my character. He’s been blogging since 2006.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
There is a craft to fiction. Learn it before you start trying to write and sell books.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write every day no matter what. Inspiration is for amateurs. That’s from Steven King.
What are you reading now?
EVERY BROKEN TRUST by Linda Rodriquez
What’s next for you as a writer?
Hoping the new agent can land me a new contract and a new editor and a new direction. I will continue the Austin Carr series because I love to write the character’s adventures, the humor, but New York Publishers might have been right when they told my old agent stockbrokers don’t. 🙂
What is your favorite book of all time?
The Great Gatsby.
Author Websites and Profiles
Jack Getze Website
Jack Getze Amazon Profile
Jack Getze Author Profile Barnes and Noble
Jack Getze’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I realize that I am one of those rare people in the world who gets to live a life full of passion, romance, suspense, angst, fulfillment, humor, and mystery. I am a writer. Every day when I sit down at my computer, I enter into a world of my own making. I am in the head of a panoply of characters ranging from a nineteen-year-old Austrian debutante (The Last Waltz) to a raging psychopath (The Arthurian Omen) and four women at once in The Only Way to Paradise. Then there are the feisty heroines of my Regency romances . . .
I am a traditionally published,award-winning, best-selling writer who has recently gone Indie. I enjoy genre-hopping, having published a genealogical mystery series, two women’s fiction novels, an historical epic, two suspense novels, four Regency romances, and a couple of non-fiction offerings. I am preparing to release my 17th novel
With a BA from Stanford and an MA from George Washington University in International Relations, I somehow stumbled into finance. But, once my husband was through law school, I never wanted to do anything but write and raise kids. Now the kids are gone, but (even better) there are four grandchildren who provide my rewards for finishing a manuscript.
Aside from the grandchildren, my favorite things include: Florence, Italy; snow storms; Oreos; real hot chocolate; sweaters; Sundance Resort; lilacs; and dachshunds.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Rescuing Rosalind. It was inspired by 1.) Patrick O’Brien’s series of historical novels about life at sea during the Napoleonic Wars. I decided I wanted a sea captain for a hero. 2.) Shakespeare’s As You Like It. I fell in love with the name Rosalind and decided that if I were named Fanny, I would definitely prefer to be called Rosalind. When the sea captain meets Fanny, she is playing the part of Rosalind, and so, to him, she is forever after “Rosalind.” That relationship spurred my imagination and I imagined endless entanglements.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often go to sleep and wake up in the small hours and write for a couple of hours and then go back to sleep. The odd thing is that this produces some of my best writing. It is a good way to burst through writer’s block.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In the Regency romance field, my biggest influences have been Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. Modern writers I love are Kate Harper and Candice Hern.
What are you working on now?
I am just waiting for my beta readers to get back to me with their takes on Lord Trowbridge’s Angel, which is the tale of Sophie (Rosalind’s sister) and Gorgeous Frank, Viscount Trowbridge. Sophie is an unusual heroine for she has a limp, which prevents dancing, long walks, and horseback riding. However, she is an extremely talented violinist, and her music is what captures Gorgeous Frank’s heart. They also share an interest in the Romantic poets, particularly Wordsworth. This book will launch in mid-July.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I offer my book for free and promote it on Bookbub and sites like these. I have had excellent results this way. I also use the standard social media connections, a newsletter and my website: http://ggvandaagriff.com. You can sign up for my newsletter there, which gives details of my writing projects, family news, and FUN. I love to travel, and share my travels with my readers at http://ggvandagriff/blog.com
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Treat your writing the way a musician treats learning a new instrument. Practice, practice, practice. And read really good books. Reading poorly written books will “bleed” into your own writing. The most important skill is to show not tell. Avoid adverbs and show the emotion you are trying to “tell” with the adverb. Instead of adjectives, use significant detail in your descriptions which gives the reason why something is “lovely,” etc. Of course, this does not apply to dialogue, especially in the Regency, where adverbs and adjectives pepper everyone’s speech.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Show not tell.
What are you reading now?
I am reading a women’s fiction novel, A Sea Change. I get most of my books through Bookbub, and have found some gems there.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I am contributing to an Anthology by writing my first novella, which will feature Lord Trowbridge’s best friend, Lord Shrewsbury. It will be out in September–A Timeless Romance Anthology: European Collection. Next, I will write the third in this Regency trilogy–a novel about Sophie’s best friend Melissa’s hastily contracted marriage. I am rewriting a suspense book published five years ago, creating from it a Romantic suspense, set in Wales and revolving around a hunt for a relic of King Arthur’s day. That’s it for 2013. For 2014, I will be writing a time-travel romance going back to sixteenth century Florence (I go to Florence every year for medicinal purposes!), and a new mystery in my genealogical mystery series, set in Florence with roots in the day of Lorenzo il Magnifico, the Medici patron of Michelangelo, Botticelli, Leonardo di Vinci, and most of the Renaissance greats.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy
Author Websites and Profiles
GG Vandagriff Website
GG Vandagriff Amazon Profile
GG Vandagriff’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Now this is an interesting question! LOL I’ve written many books — MANY! I would say among novels, novellas and children’s picture books I’ve written a dozen or so at least. I think what you want to know is how many I’ve had published, though. If that’s the case, then three picture books for children with Radiant Hen Publishing (www.RadiantHen.com). Those three are “Life is a Bowl of Cherry Pits”, “Fairy Feast” and “Ninny Nu’s Organic Farm”. I also published a how-to book on setting up and implementing reading dog programs in schools — “Can Dogs Read?” That one was with Cairn Terrier Publishing (no longer in business), but Radiant Hen carries it now.
Almost all of my writing, be it for magazines, literary anthologies or if it’s a book for children or adults, has to do with human interaction with nature and encouraging thoughtful living within our environment. It just so happens that I think these messages should be fun as well as hopefully thought-provoking.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book I finished writing (are they ever really finished? LOL) is a novel called “The Starling God”. I’m shopping it around right now and hoping it finds a home, since everything in the book is near and dear to my heart. You could call it my “life’s work”. If I died soon, I’d be happy knowing people were reading the words and thinking about them, and that perhaps not only would they enjoy the story, but they’d make a beneficial change in the way they think and act towards other living things on this planet.
The book is told from the perspective of birds, so it has a bit of “Watership Down” flavor in that regard. However a big difference is that in “The Starling God”, birds are observing humans from that very unique perspective and trying to make sense of our behaviors — how we control everything (or try to) and love certain species and then shoot or poison others. It was an amazing process to write this story, because I really researched bird behaviors and tried to think about our own ways of living and behaving from their almost alien perspective. It was transforming.
The crux of the tale is that a starling is raised by a wildlife rehabilitator from so young, he thinks of her as “Mother”. When she releases him as a fledgling, the other birds, who identify humans falsely as gods, believe he is the fulfillment of a long-held prophecy that will bring Bird and Gods together at last. The young Starling God learns what it is to be ‘bird’ as he also learns the horror and the beauty of these “gods” called Humans.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The possibly unusual thing is that there IS no habit. Every book comes to me in a different way. I picked and picked at the words for Ninny Nu’s Organic Farm, but Fairy Feast poured out of me almost as it was. I wrote “The Starling God” over the course of five years in spurts — 60 pages pouring out here, then I was hopelessly stuck, then off again with another 40, etc. I knew the concept I wanted to get across and some basics about the characters, but I had no idea how it would unfold. The story came along as I wrote. Sometimes I’d get wild unbidden inspirations for scenes in the shower and would have to stop everything to go write them down. Other times I had to tweeze them out more mechanically. That story took ME for the ride!
However, I was driving down the road the other day listening to a bit of music by Michael Nyman and suddenly found my head flooded with an idea for a novel. There were specifics that rolled in one after another — an ENTIRE NOVEL STRUCTURE complete with details of action, characters, you name it. By the time I got home I was practically twitching with urgency to get it all down, so I sat down (only after letting my little dog outside to pee) and feverishly wrote down all the ideas for almost two hours straight. I have the entire framework of the novel there already, and only have to fill in the blanks. There won’t be as much “where is this going?” with this project, clearly.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I passionately loved C.S. Lewis and the Narnia series and Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. Both taught me a lot about building a culture through the sensual experiences the characters have — colors, sounds, textures, smells and especially FOODS and tastes. They also showed me that non human characters can be just as compelling and important as humans characters wether the book is for children or for adults. I STILL love the Narnia books and reread them often (especially when I’m home sick). I know many adults who do love them. Therefore there must be sometime special in that writing style and in the topic.
What are you working on now?
I just finished “The Starling God” and will begin work on my next novel soon. However, I am ghost writing a non-fiction book right now with a man who suffered a severe traumatic brain injury and recovered beyond any of the doctors’ expectations. He did so thanks to specific conditions AND actions on his part over the years, and he outlines these in his story, “Surviving Well”. This project is a volunteer project. I’m doing it because his message is important. If it happens to be published and do well, then I’ll make some money with it. If it doesn’t, that’s okay. However, it’s another one of those projects that I’d love MANY people to read so they’d get the benefit from it.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Radiant Hen sells my published books at www.RadiantHen.com, and they do sell better when I’m out there doing book signings, school presentations, and so forth. I’m only now dabbling in the Internet interviews and sites like Goodreads, so the success of that remains to be seen! Word of mouth and having people “see” me in person does seem to be the best marketing right now.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s probably hackneyed, but PRACTICE PRACTICE PRACTICE and above all do NOT give up. If I let the first rejections crush me, I would have never published the books or articles I have. Now I have written for a number of magazines, have stories in quite a few anthologies, and have 4 books to my credit. It may be small potatoes, but darn it all, those are MY small potatoes and I’m loving them. 😉
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Read the submission guidelines”
“Show don’t tell”
“Make Connections”
What are you reading now?
I just finished “Proof of Heaven” by Eben Alexander. I read a lot of non-fiction as well as fiction. The last fiction I read was “The Scorpio Races” by Maggie Steifvater. Excellent book!!!
What’s next for you as a writer?
I think I covered the writing projects part, but I must say my “next” at this time is truly huge in my own world! I’ve given up my career as a K-8 School Counselor and am embarking on the road of professional author (or unprofessional author depending on my mood). I have always written prolifically even while working one full time and sometimes 2 jobs, but then when my children’s books came out I cut down to part time, and now, a few years after that, I’m ready to take the plunge. If I don’t make it, I don’t make it and can always go back to the “regular work world” again. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained. And I of course am quite certain I will make a go of it, since what other attitude is there to have?
What is your favorite book of all time?
It would have to be one of the C.S. Lewis Narnia books, although my brain is thrashing around trying to choose one as the favorite and not coming up with one. I loved them all for different reasons. Therefore, I’m just going to say that’s my favorite book SERIES of all time.
Author Websites and Profiles
Tanya Sousa Website
Tanya Sousa Author Profile Other Bookseller
Tanya Sousa’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Daniel Berenson — that’s me — knows kids. He is a long time educator (30 years in the middle grades in North Carolina and one year in England as Fulbright Exchange Teacher). He also knows writing. He is the founder and ruling knucklehead at FREAKY DUDE BOOKS, a website that provides “litterature, videoz, and mooschief” to “kids, teenagers, and maturity-challenged adults.” He also has a ranting, raving, and blogging middle schooler named Dr. Crankenfuss who lives in his head. He has written five books:
1) STORIES GUARANTEED TO MAKE YOU SICK (a book that lives down to its name. Humor, horror, and craziness.
2) FIREBUG (an intense literary novel about boys, friendship, and burn survivors)
3) THE CLASSIC BOOK OF MOOSE JOKES FOR KIDS (the first moose joke book in history, every joke illustrated)
4) THE CLASSIC BOOK OF MOOSE JOKES FOR ADULTS (moose jokes that would go over the heads of kids)
5) LOVE THUG (a.k.a. Can’t I Do Anything Wrong?) (a romantic comedy aimed at kids aged 10-13)
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
LOVE THUG (a.k.a. Can’t I Do Anything Wrong?) is a romantic comedy aimed at young adolescents, particularly guys. It is the book kids need after they outgrow the Wimpy Kid series. It’s about love and how stupid people can get when they fall in love with somebody. Anybody who’s ever been crazy in love will identify with this book. It was originally inspired by an incident in which a boy tried to get himself suspended from school but he gave up after failing at it.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I write about almost everything in many genres. I write comedy and tragedy, I write prose and poetry. I write and I illustrate. I write from a boy’s point of view or a girl’s point of view. I’m picky as can be when it comes to language and spend forever editing my books.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Roald Dahl, Jean Craighead George, Jack London, Katherine Paterson, Lois Lowry, Lois Duncan, Edward Gorey
What are you working on now?
I’m getting ready to publish a book of poetry written by 35 hypothetical adolescents, all in the first person, about their lives. The subjects range from the comic to the tragic, from the silly to the serious. Just kids telling their stories.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I find that the best way to promote my books is to have people read them. The more people who read them, the more people there are who will like them.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
If someone gives you some critical advice about your writing, they may or may not be right. If two people say it, start listening. If three people say it, do it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make Way for Ducklings.
What are you reading now?
Enslaved by Ducks, The People’s History of the United States, Al Capone Does My Shirts, Twenty Twisted Tales, Albert of Adelaide
What’s next for you as a writer?
I will keep publishing books at the rate of two or three per year. I have many books already in the editing stages and many more in my head.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I cannot name one book. There are too many great books to pick just one.
Author Websites and Profiles
Daniel Berenson Website
Daniel Berenson Amazon Profile
Daniel Berenson’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for years and written many books – few of them worth publishing. I think you could call that my 10,000 hours, if you’re a Malcolm Gladwell disciple. I started out with a couple of chick-lit which will never see the light of day, then did a couple of reputable YA’s. They’re still sitting there with, “To Be Edited” scrawled across the front.
Then I turned my pen to my favourite genre – suspense and thriller. I’m a dreadfully slow reader. I read Every. Single. Word. So I love fast-paced books that keep me absorbed and entertained right to the end. I assume I’m not alone in my tastes, so that’s what I go for when I write.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
THE CANDIDATE’S DAUGHTER. What inspired me? My daughter. She’s my treasure. She was born 32 years ago with a rare genetic disorder. I blog about my journey as the mother of a disabled, and now terminally ill, child here: http://cathylea.wordpress.com It’s called Happiness:Optional, and I truly believe that happiness is optional when you have the tools to find it. I wanted to reach out to people in the same situation as me and show them they are not alone.
Ditto with my book. I wanted to write about a woman struggling to come to terms with her disbled child, and immediate acceptance of that child by the young woman who kidnaps her.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a morning person so I often get up at 4am to write, to blog or to contact my writing buddies in America. Living in New Zealand, the time differences mean that I’m not always around when everyone else is. It’s also a quiet time in my house.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, where to start! I grew up reading the British crime authors – Ellis Peters, Ruth Rendell, Colin Dexter, to name a few. These days I’m constantly influenced by authors but Ed McBain was one of my long-time loves. Gillian Flynn has become a fave, and I love that her characters are not all sympathetic.
What are you working on now?
Speaking of sympathetic characters, I’m working on a manuscript that I started some years ago. It’s been pulled apart and reworked with the sociopathic antagonist as the main character, and will draw a slightly different audience to THE CANDIDATE’S DAUGHTER. The working title is ORANGE NINJA NINE, and there’s not a ninja anywhere in sight. It’s designed to be the first of a trilogy. It’s currently with a couple of beta readers, so watch this space.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
THE CANDIDATE’S DAUGHTER is currently out on Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/The-Candidates-Daughter-ebook/dp/B00D3DDNJQ (nothing like a bit of advertising), and for Independence Day, the 4th of July; as well as the 5th and 6th, the book will be free for download.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t publish your first work unless it’s been past a good editor. I know it’s tempting to get your work out there, and that the reading public should see through the errors and the plot holes, but they don’t. Readers expect perfection. THE CANDIDATE’S DAUGHTER has been through more rounds of edits by award-winning author and editor, Sara J. Henry (LEARNING TO SWIM and A COLD AND LONELY PLACE) than you could ever guess.
Even after all the years I’ve been writing, there were places in the book that required a little more work and I was fortunate enough to have someone of Sara’s caliber to point them out.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Get the work edited. Even though I think I’ve done a pretty good job, I will still go back and have my new book edited. Until they’ve been writing for years and years – with outstanding success – it’s very difficult for authors to see the structural, and even grammatical errors in their own work. Have someone with editing eyes go over it. And listen to them!
What are you reading now?
I picked up Scott Pratt’s An Innocent Client on Amazon for $2.99 and have recommended it everywhere.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Working on getting ORANGE NINJA NINE to publication, then onto the sequel.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I have no idea. There are so many, but one I’ve loaned out more times than I can say is FAT OLLIE’S BOOK, by Ed McBain. One of his characters writes a book. It’s hilarious.
Author Websites and Profiles
Catherine Lea Website
Catherine Lea Amazon Profile
Catherine Lea’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a retired U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. I followed that retirement after 27 years service by entering the civilian world of professional aviation, flying charter aircraft. After some ten years of that, I underwent quad-bypass surgery, which removed me from the medically acceptable category, and I now fly only under the Light Sport Aircraft category. Finding myself with a lot of free time, I began writing. I have published three books so far, all in different genres, and find writing an enjoyable, fulfilling experience.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is actually a group of three short stories, written with young people in mind. It is published on Kindle and is titled simply, “Children’s Stories”. Prior to that I wrote “The Pilot”, a highly fictionalized version of my aviation experiences, and “Arc of Justice”, a novel which includes time travel as a plot vehicle and Joan of Arc alive and well, moving through time to correct historical injustices. This novel was heavily researched for historical accuracy of all the events mentioned. All three are available on Kindle with “The Pilot” also available in other formats through Smashwords.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think I have any writing habits that could be classified as ‘unusual’. A story idea presents itself and I just sit down at the computer and write. Most of what I write seems almost to write itself, but then I don’t push for subjects with which I’m not familiar. Writing is fun for me, and I want it to stay that way.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I learned to read at the age of five, cutting my teeth on the Encyclopedia Britannica, Jr. That was followed by reading just about anything that came to hand, from the Hardy Boys to Stephen King’s works, and everything in between. I particularly enjoy Science-Fiction and of late, Fantasy. I think the works of Louis L’Amour influenced my writing style more than any other writer. I love his straight forward, simple style, but have certainly been influenced by the authors of the hundred upon hundreds of books I’ve read over the years.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on another book for younger readers, kind of a ghost story with an abandoned lighthouse on the coast of Maine as the backdrop. I well remember my love of adventure as a youngster and try to factor that into my work.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m not much at marketing, having so little knowledge of the process. I rely on word of mouth and the social networks, as well as Amazon, Smashwords, Facebook, Awesomegang and Goodreads.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write about the things you know or have experienced, get a good education, read lots of books and use the spell and grammar checking programs in your word processor. When writing dialogue, imagine yourself in the conversation and write the way people actually talk. Oh, and learn about marketing if you want to sell your book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be as realistic as you can with your story components. For example, if you’re writing about an airplane that only flies one hundred miles per hour, don’t say it can fly five hundred. People that read books aren’t ignorant or stupid as a rule. They’ll catch your error and it will often leave a bad taste in their mouths.
What are you reading now?
Just finished a book called “The Salvagers” by John Michael Godier, a most enjoyable work, and just started “Enoch’s Device” by Joseph Finley. So far, it’s quite good.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing the work underway, and possibly writing a sequel to “The Pilot”. I’m not really sure, but something will rear its head and demand I put it on paper (or Kindle or Nook).
What is your favorite book of all time?
That’s a hard one, since I’ve read so very many excellent books. My latest favorite would have to be the “Game of Thrones” series by George R.R. Martin. I’m currently waiting for him to finish the next book in the series.
Author Websites and Profiles
Raymond Koonce Website
Raymond Koonce Amazon Profile
Raymond Koonce on Smashwords
Raymond Koonce’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I spent 24 years working as a defense attorney in Montreal, the city where I’ve lived most of my life. I used to write off and on, mostly for my own pleasure, but a few years ago I started to take t a little more seriously. I managed to sell two short stories, and recently published my first novel, The Guilty. I live with my wife and two sons and, when I’m not working or writing, I spend most of my time obsessing over the Montreal Canadiens hockey team.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called The Guilty. It is loosely based on a multiple murder case I worked on back in the 1990s. I was inspired to write the story by the desire to write a “warts and all” portrait of criminal lawyers, while at the same time grounding the story in a tense murder trial. I felt that too many fictional lawyers were too idealistic, or too heroic, and wanted to create a character who is not above bending the rules when it suits him, and who also doesn’t see himself as a crusader out to save an innocent man from an unjust conviction.
The Guilty is the story of a lawyer named Robert Bratt, a veteran defense attorney whose faith in the justice system, and the role he plays in it, wavers when his daughter’s best friend is raped and the rapist is acquitted. The rapist’s lawyer twisted the victim’s testimony around to make her look like she was the aggressor, and Bratt knows this is exactly what he would have done in his place. But his daughter hates all lawyers now, including him, and that causes him to question the way he has always practiced his chosen profession and the violent people he represents. Then, Jennifer Campbell, a devoutly religious woman, hires him to defend her son, Marlon Small, who is accused of a brutal double-murder. Small has an air-tight alibi but, despite Campbell’s protestations, Bratt’s instincts tell him it may be too good to be true. But Bratt’s drive to succeed, combined with his sympathy for the heartbroken mother, push him to defend the young man anyway. Can he continue to turn a blind eye to what his client might have done, and manipulate the truth as he so often has in the past, all in order to defend “The Guilty?”
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have absolutely no discipline when it comes to writing. I write at all hours, day or night; sometimes I’ll write non-stop, and other times I’ll just leave it for weeks at a time. I guess my only writing habit is a bad habit.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve read a wide range of books by all sorts of authors, living and dead. I don’t know which ones influenced me directly, but I’m sure some knowledge must have sunk through my thick skull while I wasn’t paying attention. For example, over the years I’ve loved Raymond Chandler, Joseph Conrad, Frank Herbert, Stephen King, Ian Rankin, Charles Dickens and John LeCarré, to name a few. I don’t know that I can do what any of them have done, whether in terms of style or substance, but I can only hope that I learned a bit from what each writer does best, and hopefully applied that knowledge in my own writing.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on another legal drama, which is also based in Montreal, that is tentatively titled “A Crooked Little Man.” Unlike The Guilty, which is about a very successful, high profile lawyer, my new book is about the polar opposite: a barely competent lawyer who is struggling to pay his rent, and who barely has any clients, and doesn’t represent the ones he has particularly well. One day he is hired to defend a homeless man who is charged with murder, but soon finds that he is in over his head.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I post news about my novel, The Guilty, as well as my other writing on several different sites. Of course, I have my own, at www.storiesbygabrielboutros.weebly.com, and I also have author pages on Goodreads and Author’s Den. Of course, the easiest place to find and buy my book is always Amazon.com.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’m not sure if I’m in a position to give anyone advice on writing, so I’ll just repeat some very good advice that I received many years ago. Read. Simple as that. No matter how good you think you are, or how much natural ability you think you have, if you don’t read, a lot, you’ll struggle as a writer. Read great literature, read commercial fiction, read beautiful prose and read crap. You can learn just as much from what others do badly, as from what they do well.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read. (See above.)
What are you reading now?
I’m presently reading a non-fiction book about the colonization of Australia by convicts from England. It’s called The Fatal Shore. When I’m in the process of writing a story or a book, as I am now, I try not to read too much fiction because I found in the past that I would subconsciously imitate the voice or style of the writer I was reading.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m presently taking a two-pronged approach to my writing. I work on my new book, and I also spend a lot of time publicizing and marketing The Guilty. This has given me the chance to hear from lots of other writers as well as readers, which I enjoy since writing is really a very solitary act.
What is your favorite book of all time?
This is so hard because over the years that favorite book has changed so often, as I grew up, got an education, got a job, got a family, got older. My taste has broadened over the years too, so that I discovered genres or subjects that I might not have considered earlier in my life. I hate to bail out on any question, but I could give you a list of my favorite ten right now, and tomorrow I’ll think of a bunch more that I should have included. I will mention that the writers that I named above have all written books that I’ve absolutely loved for years after I read them. Feel free to go read anything by anyone of those, and you’ll certainly find a great book or two, whatever your taste.
Author Websites and Profiles
Gabriel Boutros Website
Gabriel Boutros Amazon Profile
Gabriel Boutros’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was schooled as a mechanical engineer and worked in manufacturing as a plant manager and various other positions. I have since started consulting in manufacturing part time and now write full time. The first book I wrote was called “A New Reality – A Wake up Call to Life’s Mysteries” which journaled a series of strange events that happened in my life. A producer director I knew told me I should write a script based on that book and helped me with it. In the process of writing the script for that book I found I really enjoyed the freedom of writing fiction since the script was only “based” on a true story versus being totally true like the book was.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Reluctant Gods is the name of the series that followed after “A New Reality.” With the new knowledge I had from researching the first book, I thought I should write a fiction asking the question, “What if?” What if people could read minds and affect physical reality. Heck! They’d be like Gods! It was with the paranormal and scientific knowledge that I learned in writing the first book that the series, “Reluctant Gods”was written.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Hmmm. I like writing the most when I can be outdoors. I watched a series of lectures on colors and there have been studies that prove the color green is very stimulating to creativity. Outdoors, with green all around me, is when the words seem to flow the best. Actually, sometimes twice as well as during the winter when I’m indoors.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh my gosh. Where should I start? I guess Anne Rice really introduced me to loving fiction since at the time I only read nonfiction and strictly for information and knowledge. Being trained as an engineer I learned to not waste time not learning. (And later found out what I was missing.) Anne taught me the pleasure of fiction. Other’s I’ve loved were Richard Bach, Carlos Castaneda, Wayne Dyer, Evan Harris Walker’s “The Physics of Consciousness”, Shirley MacLaine’s books, and most recently Debra Harkness, “A Discovery of Witches” Steven Tyler’s Autobiography, “Does the Noise in my Head Bother you?”Michau Kaku’s books and of course, Brian Greene’s String Theory and right now, Ayn Rand’s, “Atlas Shrugged.”
What are you working on now?
I’ve started a novel about an empath and a sociopath in manufacturing. They of course have special abilities most people aren’t capable of having, or most people have paradigms that wouldn’t allow them to have the abilities. I’m not sure if it will become a series yet. I have also had requests to do more backstory on Reluctant Gods’ character Aysel and even Leyna and Sevilen in the 1400s. So we’ll see where the readers and my mind take me. Right now though, the Empath/Sociopath book set in an upper society, money making, manufacturing environment is the main focus.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth. Nothing beats it. Please talk up any authors books you love. It’s really the only way to slice through the pack today.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
1) Don’t quit. Writing is a job. You have to treat it as one. Get your words done everyday. Market some but don’t let it rule your time completely.
2) Read lots.
3) Continue to experience life or you’ll have nothing left to write about and your descriptions will be bland. You can’t just hole yourself up and work. Smell, feel, taste, see, hear etc. Notice peoples quirks and motions for your characters. Be a part of life.
4) Let the characters write for you. Set them free.
5) Lastly, edit, edit, edit and edit some more. Edit for flow, edit for theme, edit for grammar, edit for efficiency of words etc. Focus on something different on each edit or you’ll not have the gem your readers deserve.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can do anything you want. Focus and do it.
What are you reading now?
Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged.” She made quite the effort on it. Much different than today’s writing style but she has wonderful characters. Not a book for the feint of heart. It’s even hard to hold up when reading it.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To continue to read other fiction books as well as books on writing and style and continue to home my abilities in writing. Ultimately I want what I used to ask from my plant when I took a customer in it. That is, I wanted my customers to say, “Holy Shit! That’s incredible!” when they saw the plant because they were so impressed with the processes and the people. We gave tours to about 40 groups of people a month and they all said that to me. I want the same for my readers. Isn’t that what anyone providing a product wants their customers to say?
What is your favorite book of all time?
Has to be the one that started me on fiction. Anne Rice’s “Tales of the Body Thief” from her vampire series. I read it several times. After that, Evan Harris Walker’s, The Physics of Consciousness” for how it changed my paradigms of how the world is.
Thanks for doing this interview with me. It helped me answer some of my own questions I never asked myself.
Author Websites and Profiles
A.J. Aaron Website
A.J. Aaron Amazon Profile
A.J. Aaron Author Profile on Smashwords
A.J. Aaron’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I wear a lot of hats. In addition to writing books, I’m an illustrator, creation speaker, apologist and ordained Gospel preacher. I’m actually better known as the founder of DefGen.org, CreationLetter.com and CreationSundays.com. I’m from from West Virginia, from which I draw a lot of my inspiration and characters.
I got the writing bug as a child when my late aunt Sharon helped me make my very first book. It was about dinosaurs, vigorously illustrated in crayon. In high school, I kept up a regular serial work called Space Nitwits, or The Book of 100 Characters, where I drew a new creature every day and then wrote about its ecology, history, discovery etc. I usually worked on it during English class, because 11th grade English turned out to be 9th grade English all over again and I was really, really, really stinking bored.
Johnny Came Home, published September 28, 2012, was my first book. I’m currently writing the next John Lazarus adventure, John Lazarus: Mann from Midwich, as well as the first novel in a new sci-fi series called Øtherworld and a children’s book called The T-Rex and the Fuzzy Bunnies: A Bedtime Story for Boys.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Johnny Came Home came about, in part, because I was looking for a good book to read and just couldn’t find what i was looking for.
I was browsing local Christian bookstores, just bored out of my mind. With few exceptions, I was looking an endless sea of romance novels, marketed at women. I’m a guy, so I’m into science fiction, fantasy and action thrillers. I remember thinking, “Why should I be forced to get the stuff I actually enjoy reading from secular bookstores in novels written from a non- or even anti-Christian worldview?”
The success of the Left Behind series demonstrated how influential exploratory fiction can be in shaping and reinforcing beliefs concerning eschatology. I realized that apologetics fiction could do the same for evangelical convictions concerning our origins. With that in mind, I set out to tell a great sci-fi story that gives a plausible young earth creationist explanation of comic book super powers rather than the prevalent evolutionary assumption of beneficial mutations, popularized in the X-Men movies and on TV shows like Heroes.
So I started writing, but Johnny Came Home wasn’t supposed to be my debut novel. You see, I was actually taking a break from another project when I took up the NaNoWriMo [National Novel Writer’s Month] challenge to complete a 50,000-word novel over the course of November. You were supposed to start from scratch, and I’d always wanted to write a superhero story, so Johnny Came Home began to take shape, one chapter at a time.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write a minimum of five minutes a day, every day, no matter what. I may write longer than that, but it’s always at least five minutes.
I still use the NaNoWriMo challenege method to get the nucleus of my story, but that’s where the real crafting begins. NaNoWriMo may be good for getting out a 50,000-page story, but a lot of editing and re-working were required to ready Johnny Came Home for publication. I look at it this way: you can’t begin chiseling out your sculpture until you first have that block of stone to work with.
I also write cinematically, meaning that I basically transcribe a movie I see in my head. Being an artist, I sometimes even storyboard a scene before writing it. All good movies have rules and those rules change a bit from genre to genre, but the great ones adhere to the 12 Dramatic Steps. One of the first things I do after slamming out the nucleus of my story is to check it against the 12 Dramatic Steps.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
In the fiction category, Greco-Roman mythology, JRR Tolkein, CS Lewis, GK Chesterton, Harry Harrison, Piers Anthony’s Xanth novels and Hickman & Weis’ Dragonlance saga greatly influenced my writing, but so did a score of movies. To be fair, I’d have to credit folks like Ray Harryhausen, John Woo, Jackie Chan, Spielberg and Lucas, Joss Whedon and JJ Abrams [a short list, to be sure] for influencing me. And don’t forget Saturdau Morning Cartoons, dude [wow. Did I just give away my age or what?]. In the nonfiction category, the Bible has most influenced my writing. While I write apologetics fiction, I’m not just talking about how the Bible affects my theme or message or worldview or whatever. If you read the Bible, with all of its drama, intrigue, action and even comedy, it’s quite simply still the Greatest Story Ever Told.
What are you working on now?
Ironically, I’m now finishing up the project that was supposed to be my debut novel. Luckbane is the first novel in my new Otherworld series. I’ve always been a fan of both dice-driven role-playing games like Dungeons & Dragons and the new online MMRPGs [massively-multiplayer role-playing games, for my non-geek friends]. I set out to write a story about folks playing a game live and in the flesh on a world terraformed for that purpose. Of course, this novel takes place pretty far in the future, so it ends up counting both as epic fantasy adventure and science fiction with a bit of steampunk thrown in for good measure.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and my own website, TonyBreedenBooks.com. I don’t really understand the appeal of Pinterest, but my wife says it’s because I’m a guy.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write for a minimum of five minutes every day. No one writes in a vacuum. Find people you trust to read your work, take their editing suggestions and criticism constructively and learn the craft until you own it. I wrote tons of unpublished stuff before I finally published Johnny Came Home and my writing is so much better for it. Buy yourself a copy of The Screenwriter’s Workbook by Jeremy Robinson and Tom Mungovan and also Self-Editing for Fiction Writers by Reni Browne and Dave King.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write the book you’d like to read.
What are you reading now?
I’m finishing up Robert Mullins’ Bid the Gods Arise, another good mix of fantasy and sci-fi.
What’s next for you as a writer?
The T-Rex and the Fuzzy Bunnies [I promised the kids] and then on to the sequel to Johnny Came Home.
What is your favorite book of all time?
The Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison.
Author Websites and Profiles
Tony Breeden Website
Tony Breeden Amazon Profile
Tony Breeden Smashwords Author Profile
Tony Breeden’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Emma Carlyle is the pen name of award-winning author Lois Winston who writes the critically acclaimed Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series, featuring magazine crafts editor and reluctant amateur sleuth Anastasia Pollack. ASSAULT WITH A DEADLY GLUE GUN, the first book in the series, received starred reviews from both Publishers Weekly and Booklist. Kirkus Reviews dubbed it, “North Jersey’s more mature answer to Stephanie Plum.” Other books in the series includes DEATH BY KILLER MOP DOLL, REVENGE OF THE CRAFTY CORPSE, and the mini-mystery CREWEL INTENTIONS. Under her own name Lois has also published the humorous women’s fiction novel TALK GERTIE TO ME and ELEMENTARY, MY DEAR GERTIE, a mystery novella sequel; the romantic suspense LOVE, LIES AND A DOUBLE SHOT OF DECEPTION; ONCE UPON A ROMANCE, a collection of short stories; the non-fiction TOP TEN REASONS YOUR NOVEL IS REJECTED; and she contributed to HOUSE UNAUTHORIZED: VASCULITIS, CLINIC DUTY, AND BAD BEDSIDE MANNER.
Under her Emma Carlyle pen name she’s published five novels: two contemporary romances, HOOKING MR. RIGHT and FINDING HOPE; two romantic suspense novels, LOST IN MANHATTAN and SOMEONE TO WATCH OVER ME; and the chick-lit novel FOUR UNCLES AND A WEDDING.
Visit Lois at http://www.loiswinston.com, visit Emma at http://www.emmacarlyle.com, and visit Anastasia at the Killer Crafts & Crafty Killers character blog, www.anastasiapollack.blogspot.com.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent release, which came out in January 2013, is REVENGE OF THE CRAFTY CORPSE, the third full-length novel in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery series and written as Lois Winston. I was inspired to write the series by my background as a crafts and needlework designer.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can’t fall asleep at night until I’ve plotted out the next scene I need to write in my current manuscript.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love authors who make me laugh. Janet Evanovich has been a strong influence, and I was thrilled when reviewers began comparing my books favorably to hers.
What are you working on now?
I just began writing a new Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mini-Mystery. These are ebook-only novelettes that are coming out in-between the releases of my full-length mysteries.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well, I’m certainly hoping awesomegang.com will be at the head of the list! Other than that, I try to take advantage of any opportunity that comes along. I’m always happy to guest blog, and that’s helped me find new readers. I also tweet (@Anasleuth) but word-of-mouth is what really helps authors sell books, and the best way to get that is to write books people want to read. I hope that if someone reads one of my books and likes it, that person will both read my other titles and tell others about my books. I cross my fingers a lot (which makes typing difficult!)
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up! It took me ten years of writing before I sold my first book.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Every scene must have a purpose, and the only two purposes are either to advance the plot or tell the reader something she needs to know about the character AT THAT MOMENT. If the scene does neither of these, it’s filler and doesn’t belong in your book.
What are you reading now?
TAKING LIBERTIES by Diana Norman
What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep writing. I have lots of stories to tell. And hopefully, someday I’ll make it to the New York Times bestseller list!
What is your favorite book of all time?
Now that’s a tough question! It really depends on my mood, so it’s hard to come up with only one. Two books from my school days that I’ve gone back and reread multiple times are William Faulkner’s THE SOUND AND THE FURY and Charles Dickens’ A TALE OF TWO CITIES. Some of my more favorite recent reads are Ariana Franklin’s Mistress of the Art of Death series, WINTER GARDEN by Kristin Hannah, and SARAH’S KEY by Tatiana de Rosnay.
Author Websites and Profiles
Emma Carlyle Website
Emma Carlyle Amazon Profile
Emma Carlyle Author Profile Other Bookseller
Emma Carlyle’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Surrey, Uk in a rambling Victorian house with my non-writer husband and boisterous staffy, Buster.
I have written three other books which are published on Amazon and various other sites. The first book, Aggie Lichen; Pilp Collector is followed by Arty’s Revenge then Hero Required.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book is a YA paranormal novel called ‘Marvin’s Curse’. I have been inspired by many YA books, mostly to do with fairies and angels, not psychics and ghosts, which is what my book is about. I think that in many ways I wanted to come away from vampires and werewolves too and so looked for something different. I have been told that it reminds people of ‘The ghost of Thomas Kempe’ by Penelope Lively. I don’t know as I haven’t read it – perhaps I should…
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Er, depends on what is unusual… Writing while watching T.V., scribbling in the car (obviously not while driving!), waking up and scribbling on pad by the bed. No, perfectly normal habits for a writer…
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Herbie Brennan (Faerie Wars) is my hero. I loved his faerie books so much. He very kindly gave me a wonderful quote for my first book after reading it himself.
J R R Tolkein – what’s not to like here. Probably the start of my love affair with fantasy.
What are you working on now?
I’m Working on ‘Rae Gandos – Dragon Slayer’ at the moment. It’s a YA book which is a cross between The Hunger Games and Buffy the Vampire Slayer !? Only into chapter two at the moment, but loving every minute of writing it!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think you have to get to as many websites as possible that promote books. Obviously, this one is a great place to start! That’s why I’m here! Also, look for book blogs to review your work as that is sooo important.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep everything you write – seriously. You just never know when you’re going to dig up that character you threw away last year. Also, back things up (er, not like me and have everything on one stick) memory sticks etc. Keep going – how many times do we hear that, but it’s true. If your book is good it will sell, simple!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing and don’t give up.
What are you reading now?
I’m reading The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa. It’s the last of four in the Iron Fey series and I shall be sad to see the end of the characters when I finish the book.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To continue with my new book and to carry on with promoting the latest book out, ‘Marvin’s Curse’ on different sites and blogs.
What is your favorite book of all time?
Lord of the Rings! All three. Has to be!
Author Websites and Profiles
Debra J Edwards Website
Debra J Edwards Amazon Profile
Debra J Edwards Author Profile Other Bookseller
Debra J Edwards’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a 47 year old man, born and bred in Sheffield, England, but now living in Bedfordshire, England, with my wife. By day I am an IT Consultant, but in January this year I finally completed and published my first novel, a young adult eBook called ‘The Star Agency’, published on Amazon.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first and only novel is The Star Agency, an interstellar secret agent adventure aimed at readers aged 10 and upwards. It was inspired by my love of 80’s science fiction movies and my love of pulp sci-fi in general.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
To be honest, not really. I’m pretty regular guy and I don’t have any odd habits or superstitions. I just sit in front of my PC and thrash it out.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
The books of Arthur.C.Clarke (the Space Odyssey & Rama series), Greg Bear, Ben Bova, Stephen Baxter – in particular the Manifold novels. Also the fantastic Harry Potter novels and the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
What are you working on now?
I am in the advanced planning stages of the 2nd book in the Star Agency series. I also have outlines for two other possible novels.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There are so many websites I use to promote my novel (especially on their free days) that there are too many to list here. But to name a few, BookGoodies & BookGoodiesKids, Pixel of Ink and (of course) Awesome Gang. I also tweet regularly and post on numerous Facebook sites.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stick with it. Writing a book is a long hard slog and there will be times when a particular plot point or story line isn’t working. If that happens, take a step back and if necessary take a few days off. Better to take your time and get it right. It took me five years to write my first novel.
Also, find your own voice. Do not just jump on the latest bandwagon unless your truly believe you have a new twist on the genre. Be yourself, write the book you want to write and don’t be afraid to take risks. Make your mark.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read, Read, Read. Know your genre and your competition.
What are you reading now?
‘Ash’ by James Herbert. Such a sad loss now he’s gone.
What’s next for you as a writer?
To publish ‘The Star Agency’ on Smashwords and prepare a print version on CreateSpace. Also to continue working on my second novel.
What is your favorite book of all time?
It changes from year to year. One of most fondly remembered books of recent years is ‘Time’ by Stephen Baxter. I also love ‘The Secret of Crickley Hall’, by James Herbert and ‘2010’ by Arthur C Clarke.
Author Websites and Profiles
Richard Weber Amazon Profile
Richard Weber Author Profile Other Bookseller
Richard Weber’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
In my day job I’m a middle school and high school teacher In my MOST IMPORTANT job, I’m a mom to 3 awesome boys, ages 14, 10, and 7. My husband and I have been happily married for 17 years and live in a rural community, out in the country, where our boys can roam free and get dirty on a regular basis! I’ve been writing for 10 years. I wrote 3 complete contemporary romance novels, and several incomplete ones, but they just never “felt” right. When I decided to try my hand at Young Adult, I realized I’d found my niche. I’ve published 2 Young Adult Paranormal novels. I’m preparing to release a short story (in the same series as the 2 novels) later this summer, with the intention of making it permanently free. In late 2013, I hope to release my 3rd novel, another Young Adult Paranormal Romance, however it isn’t a part of the same series as the first two.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last book I published was ONCE AND FOR ALL, book 2 in my “Sky Cove” series. The main paranormal element in this series is reincarnation. These books were inspired by the idea of love being timeless, spanning generations, and overcoming even death!
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual.. I think I’m pretty typical! I usually have a playlist of songs that “fit” the story I’m writing, however, I only listen to them in the car or while I’m doing something other than writing. When I’m writing, I like it QUIET!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
JoAnn Ross and Nora Roberts have inspired me, because they wrote my favorite books of all time… Jewels of the Sun (Roberts) and Fair Haven (Ross). Also, the legacies they’ve built with the amazing quality and volume of work they’ve built is just astounding. In terms of Young Adult fiction, I have found myself moved by books by Rachel Vincent, Laurie Halse Anderson, and Tiffany King.
What are you working on now?
I’m working on “Dusk”, another Young Adult Paranormal Romance. It’s the story of Zoe, who’s suffered a life-altering tragedy and hasn’t handled it with well at all, and Adrian, a boy who arrives just in time to help her through it. There’s something “different” about Adrian, and Zoe just can’t figure out how he’s able to show up at just the right time and know exactly what to do!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth from my trusted author friends… word of mouth from readers who’ve read my book(s) and enjoyed them! Those are the best endorsements any author could ask for! I also use Facebook and Twitter, and promotion sites like this one to promote my book when it’s free. I also love to blog – about everything from writing & reading to food & recipes. I enjoy “blog swapping” with other authors. It’s fun to host other authors on my blog and help promote their books and visiting their blogs and connecting with their followers.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. And write some more. Find a group of authors you can be a part of… either in person on online. Find a few you trust to read your work and give you honest feedback. Take their suggestions seriously, but always remain true to who you are and what you believe about your work. And just keep writing. You can’t succeed in publishing if you don’t WRITE!
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write a good book. All the promotion in the world won’t help if you don’t write a good book. So put in the time, the effort, and the blood, sweat, and tears! Do what it takes to write a good book!
What are you reading now?
“Slammed” by Colleen Hoover
What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to keep writing and putting books out there!
What is your favorite book of all time?
“Jewels of the Sun” by Nora Roberts and “Fair Haven” by JoAnn Ross
Author Websites and Profiles
Amy Durham Website
Amy Durham Amazon Profile
Amy Durham Author Profile Other Bookseller
Amy Durham’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have spent most of my career as a magazine journalist, but I think that this job simply evolved from my love of writing. Although I have to say that the last thing someone who writes for a living wants to do is to come home after a day in the office and then spend several hours focused on their latest work of fiction! I have been very lucky in that I have had the time to pursue my own original fiction. And I know what I like; I like to write books that I would like to read. I know that sounds like a simple statement, but it is true. I was looking for a hard hitting bio thriller and I couldn’t find one so I wrote one. I am also very interested in political thrillers and thought that it was time we had a British antihero so I wrote a book with one.
So far I have written three books; ‘Virus’ and ‘Bullets & Bull’ and my latest ‘The Love Spell.’ My inspiration for these novels comes from many different places and I am not sure that I want to be one of those authors that is known for just one kind of genre. I do like writing thrillers and I like merging the fantastic with the contemporary, adding realism whilst not fooling the reader.
Anyway, I live in London, the best city in the world, and I like to use it as the backdrop to my novels whenever possible. The city has such a diverse cosmopolitan feel to it that it is really believable to base anything within its environs. All I hope really is that when the reader has finished my book that they have enjoyed themselves and been transported to another place and another environment where, just for a while at least, reality has been suspended.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is ‘The Love Spell’ Part One. It is called Part One because I have already started Part Two! Inspiration is a very abstract connection between witnessing, hearing, reading or feeling something that then leads to an idea that then links to another and another until suddenly you have a story. For this book the female characters came first. I know a lot of strong confident women and I wanted to use them in a story.
Where the idea of witchcraft came from I am not sure but I knew that although I had already created a comfortable suburban environment for them there was more to their characters. I think that the idea of a coven had been in my mind for a while and I knew that I would have to approach the subject matter in a whimsical and idealised fashion and this is the first book that I have written where the need for humour and comic interplay between the characters was important. Also important was the research. I might not know anything about witchcraft but there are plenty of people out there that do so I knew that I had to get the basics right and it was great fun learning about something that I had no knowledge of before.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am not the fastest writer in the world. The Love Spell probably took almost a year to write and Virus was a stop-start project over a very long period of time. When I am writing a book, however, then I can pretty much do it anywhere. Sky Drive allows you to upload text and add/alter it from any computer which is great but most of the time I use my laptop. I always have the story line written from beginning to end so that I can keep a hold on where the story is going. I find otherwise that it is easy to write yourself into a creative corner that could take a lot of rewriting to back out of. As I am writing the story I also put in chunks of dialogue that come to me on the way. When I have finished the storyline then I print it out and have it with me for reference. Of course it might change, but not fundamentally. It is the foundation for the novel. Oh, and one last thing, always have your book proof read by somebody else. The worst proof reader is you. Let someone that you trust cast a detached and critical eye over the manuscript. It will pay dividends when you publish.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t know if other authors find this, but I will not read anything that has a similar story to the book that I am writing or that I am thinking about writing in the future. As such I cannot say that I have read anything that has really influenced me. I like the Game of Thrones series and I like classic Crichton and law fiction because I am probably not going to write anything like those. I like vintage Fleming as well.
What are you working on now?
I have so many books in me that I always have one or two bouncing around in my head at one time. At the moment, though, I am writing the second part of The Love Spell. I really love the characters so much that about three quarters of the way through the first book I decided that they had to have another outing so I purposefully wrote an ending that invited a revisit. At the same time I am writing the story line to a science thriller that will be set on the South Pole. There is also a time travel story that keeps coming back to me and which I did actually start to write before it all became too complicated and I had to take a step back from it. And also there is a sequel to Virus that I am currently plotting. Did I write ‘one or two ideas?’ I meant two or three and they keep coming, triggered by something that I have seen or read. It only takes two words to get an idea going – “what if.” I hope that is something that I never get bored of saying!
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth is a good way to promote your book. The first people who know that I have a new book out are my Facebook followers, most of whom are my friends anyway. I always post the cover first to generate interest and then a bit of blurb about the book. It through Facebook that a friend of mine put Virus forward to be her book club choice one month, so that generated sales. I think it is difficult to promote a work that is only available as an eBook and I do hope to be able to produce paper copies of my books at some time. I am about to try and do some proper promotion for The Love Story using the local press and radio. I don’t think that there is any magical route to take with promotion that will guarantee sales, at least not for free. Advertising on Facebook does not cost much so that might be worth considering and if your book is about a certain trade or industry then target websites and organisations that cater to that sector. I am going to contact all the websites that I looked at for The Love Spell and drop them a line. You never know…
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be original, be brave and write with passion. Remember that everyone has at least one story in them. Also, the old adage that you should write what you know about is a misnomer in my opinion. I have never written what I know about; the research is one of the best bits about writing. Be aware also that writing a novel takes time, so be sure that you can set aside the solitude that you will need – to many interruptions are not conducive to productive prose. As I have written above, plan your story properly before beginning, make sure that you have your conflict element in place and that the story flows from beginning to end. This probably sounds like common sense but it will all help your book to be more readable. Also, don’t forget to get it proof read.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice really is to just get on and do it. When I published my first book – Virus – I had an article written about me in the company magazine. It was surprising how many colleagues came to me and told me that they were aspiring writers. Would I read their work? They asked. Of course I would when it was finished. I have not read a word of any of their manuscripts because they have never finished them. I guess what I am saying is that it takes focus and dedication to produce 70,000 words or more. So be ready for the journey.
What are you reading now?
I am on the fifth book of The Game of Thrones series and loving it. Such a vast canvas.
What’s next for you as a writer?
Next for me will be The Love Spell – Part Two. Once that is finished, I have the other ideas to turn into reality. I hope that there will be at least two books from me this year. I am really enjoying researching the book set on the South Pole – so many possibilities in a frozen, ancient and remote world. Watch this space!
What is your favorite book of all time?
There are too many fantastic books on this planet to have a favourite, but I am a bit of fan of disaster. The original Poseidon Adventure by Paul Gallico and The Tower by Richard Martin Stern are great examples of classic contemporary fiction and I would recommend them. As I have mentioned before Michael Crichton’s science drama disasters such as West World and Jurassic Park are also great reads.
Author Websites and Profiles
Heath Buckley Amazon Profile
Heath Buckley’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Asheville, NC, in the beautiful Blue Ridge mountains. I’m a poet, writer, editor, jewelry designer, and author of three books—A Love Apart, a novel, POSSOONS, a collection of short stories, and my new memoir, Rare Atmosphere.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a memoir entitled Rare Atmosphere, which recounts a remarkable sojourn I experienced during a six year period of time from December 2005 to January 2012, one in which I came to profound realizations about love—love of another, and especially love of self. My story began when, at fifty-nine, I was told in a conversation with angelic beings I affectionately called The Dead Guys about a man who is involved in the world of classical music, calls Paris his home, and”sings the song of my soul.” I was told that a relationship with this man held the potential for the greatest happiness. Yet, I ultimately found a long, circuitous route between potential and reality, with a continually evolving destination, and unimagined detours along the way, including Paris, Provence, and the Caribbean island of Saint Martin.
The writing of this story was an adventure in itself. Although I’d written fiction and poetry, and had composed a few short autobiographical essays, I’d never attempted a book-length accounting of personal events, in this case, an affair of the heart that traversed dimensions.
It wasn’t until three years into this amazing journey that I decided to write about it, although I wasn’t sure I’d actually publish the story. Just in case, though, I started recording more detailed journal entries, and transcribed dozens of audio-taped conversations I had had with The Dead Guys, the wise and wonderful beings that supported me through the challenge and the triumph. Many of those conversations are included in Rare Atmosphere, along with poetry inspired by my experiences. And, as I wrote, I found I also had to revisit and include an earlier, similar, challenging yet extraordinary inter-dimensional encounter that took place between 1976-1989, an experience I’d previously had no intention of sharing on a page. But there you have it, all laid bare in Rare Atmosphere.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think I have any really unusual writing habits. I write mostly at my iMac at home. But I also like to write on my MacBook Air in certain cafés around town. I often find that I get many ideas while driving, and keep a notepad handy at all times. I’ve been known to pull off the road in order to jot down lines of a poem, or ideas I don’t want to forget. And, I admit, that in the thick of what I call “writing frenzy,” I almost always feel the overwhelming craving for chocolate, to which I readily give in!
What authors, or books have influenced you?
For my novel, A Love Apart, it was The Letters of Abelard and Heloise that were the inspiration for my contemporary story of Lily and Julian. Reading The Letters had moved me so deeply that I felt I had to find a way to resolve what history had left tragically unresolved. And so I created a story of what might happen if Heloise and Abelard found their way back to each other in this time. Who they might be. What they might remember. What might be left unresolved within and between them. I wanted to create from the tragic, something of peace, beauty, and transcendence.
Although no one book influenced my memoir, Rare Atmosphere, I think of it as having a little of Shirley MacLaine’s Out On A Limb, a little of Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love, a little of Neale Donald Walsh’s Conversations with God, and a whole lot of its own unique voice, form, and content.
What are you working on now?
Right now, I’ve been concentrating on promoting and marketing and have taken a little respite from any new writing.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In addition to selling my books personally to my clients, friends, independent bookstores, and doing readings and signings, my paperback and Kindle books are sold online, mainly through links to Amazon and other bookstores. I’ve been experimenting with various methods of online promotion and marketing, including keeping up my website, my blog, my Facebook pages; using KDP’s free promotion days; doing paperback book giveaways, and joining many author/reader sites and forums. I also plan to enter several Indie book contests. I’m still in the process of becoming familiar with all that’s available online, and frankly at times it’s overwhelming.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice to new authors is to write about things you feel passionate about, hone your craft, recognize that there will be ups and down, and, above all, trust and believe in yourself and your work.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
One of the most helpful and difficult pieces of advice I’ve ever heard is from William Faulkner, who said, “In writing, you must kill all your darlings.” Other wise words are from John Dufresne, who said, “…you have to sit your ass in the chair or nothing gets done.”
What are you reading now?
I’m currently re-reading The Great Gatsby.
What’s next for you as a writer?
When the time is right, I think my next writing project might be a new novel, or a collection of poetry…or both.
What is your favorite book of all time?
I have many favorite books. And different favorite books at different times in my life. And some more well-known than others. Among them are: Possession by A.S.Byatt, The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery, The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, The Unfastened Heart by Lane von Herzon, The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, all Louise Penny’s Inspector Gamache mysteries…
Author Websites and Profiles
Rachelle Rogers Website
Rachelle Rogers Amazon Profile
Rachelle Rogers’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile