Featured Interview With Kevin Christmann

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Kevin Christmann is the author behind Nervous Nolan Bison. He was born and raised in the Philadelphia area. He is a father, husband, and an IT Professional. He and his wife (a veterinarian) have a 3 year old son and a greyhound.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I fell in love with reading in high school thanks to, like many people, Harry Potter. I began writing after college but for various blogs covering sports. It wasn’t until I had my son that I ever concerned writing a work of fiction; let alone a children’s book.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author is Brandon Sanderson and I read almost exclusively fantasy novels (if you don’t count reading children’s books to my son).

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My book is called Nervous Nolan Bison Goes Poopy on the Potty. Nolan is a bison, who is often nervous. In this rhyming story, Nolan discovers that going poopy on the potty is not scary at all! Including fun illustrations about karate, basketball, and ballet, this children’s book is for little boys and girls who may be having trouble pooping on the potty.

After going in his diaper, Nolan receives some encouraging words from his mother. His friend, Nina (a deer), comes over to play and tells Nolan that she doesn’t wear diapers anymore. Nolan is finally able to overcome his worries and he realizes that he had no reason to be nervous in the first place!

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Featured Interview With T. Octavius

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Harare, the capital and largest city of the African country, Zimbabwe. I lived there for 7 years before moving to North Carolina. I lived there for 3-4 years before moving to Alberta–one of Canada’s ten provinces.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books technically started with Manga (Japanese comics) and comic books. This was at the age of eight, otherwise I hated books. It was not until the age of twelve I genuinely delve into reading novels. I always fantasized myself in these worlds so I imagined versions of myself in each book I read. Twelve was also the time I started writing my own stories.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors to read are George RR Martin, Rick Riordan, Sarah J Maas, and Brandon Sanderson. From this list one can tell I love Fantasy books. I have no inspirations in my writings besides those that read my work. I want people to be able to dive into the world I created and have a movie play out in their minds.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is my debut novel, Heir Apparent. Subtracting all distractions it took me four months to finish, but including all the events in my life, it was a year and a half.

The story follows a son of Poseidon, Proteus. Poseidon along with many of his other siblings has disappeared, leaving behind an empty throne. Proteus is the eldest child of Poseidon, but he doesn’t want the throne. He’d rather spend his time discovering the mysteries behind the disappearances. Little does he know, he’ll have no choice but to join the war of succession.

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Featured Interview With Lucy Broadbent

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I feel like I fell out of the lucky tree because I have been a journalist and writer all my working life. It was all I ever wanted to do. I started out in newspapers and magazines in London where I grew up and moved to Los Angeles some twenty odd years ago to be a correspondent because I was curious about America. In Los Angeles, I was privileged enough to find myself eating a lot of lunches with celebrities in fancy restaurants which gave me the idea to write my first two novels. I still live in Los Angeles with my husband, one of my sons who has yet to fly the coop, and our dog Lulabelle. I’ve written for The London Times, The Los Angeles Times, The Guardian, Daily Mail, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan and many others.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My first-ever piece that was published was a personal account of climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. I was in my twenties, rather rotund and very unfit, which gave me an angle for humor in the article and I got a job as a travel writer for Hello! magazine on the strength of it. But writing travel and newspaper articles is not the same as writing books. I had to do a whole lot of living, and a whole lot of reading, before I could graduate onto writing books.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My all time favorite author is Miriam Toews, author of Fight Night and Women Talking. She has the ability to write humorously about serious subjects. That’s a skill, I just wish I had. She makes me both laugh out loud and cry. My other best friends – because sometimes you feel that way about your favorite authors, don’t you? – are Maggie O’Farrell, Joyce Carol Oates, Caitlin Moran, Barbara Kingsolver, Rose Tremain. I never particularly went looking for strong female writers, but even I can see the pattern here.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is What Would Ted Lasso Do? How His Positive Approach Can Help You. Not long after I’d been watching Ted Lasso on TV, a car accidentally scraped the side of my Subaru in a parking lot. Ordinarily, there’d have been a expletives in such a scene. I’m no angel. But I found myself thinking ‘Well, what would Ted Lasso do if it had happened to him?’ The comedy show had somehow got to me. I knew that if I reacted in a kindly way, as Ted would, I could turn an adverse situation into one where I ended up feeling better about myself. And it worked. I still came away with a scraped car, but I didn’t feel as bad about it as I might have done.

That set me on a research path. I’m a journalist – it’s what I do. I discovered that many of the themes of Ted Lasso come from the Positive Psychology Movement. Ted tells us to believe in ourselves, to be optimistic, be kind to others. I found dozens of psychologists and research studies telling us to do the same if we want to be better, kinder, happier versions of ourselves. But somehow the lessons from Ted are more palatable, less preachy.

What Would Ted Lasso Do? How His Positive Approach Can Help You is a self-help, motivational book for the kind of people who wouldn’t ordinarily buy a self help book, as well as a love letter to Ted. You might even call it the Tao of Ted.

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Featured Interview With Molly Garcia

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Buckinghamshire, UK (about 30 miles from London). I grew up there until 1997 when I spent 7 years living in Tenerife. I then lived in Devon for 7 years before returning to Buckinghamshire until 2020 when I moved back to Tenerife. I’ve worked in social care since 1991 and am currently a freelance consultant working remotely.
When we left the UK we had to make the horribly difficult decision to give our much adored Singapura cat to our son as she’s far too old to make the journey abroad. We keep in touch with her by video call and visit her when we’re in the UK.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My mum taught me to read before I even started school so I really don’t remember a time in my life that didn’t involve books! My parents soon learned that the traditional punishment of being sent to my room was actually something that I didn’t mind at all as I’d just curl up with a book. My mum used to say I was the only child she knew that had to be told it was okay to come back down now.
I’ve always written, I get ideas and they have to be written down, I find writing is very much like reading for me. I don’t know what the ending will be until I get to it so I enjoy the story appearing on the page as much as I would reading it.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My very favourite author is Stephen King, he’s a genius. There will never be another author like him. I mostly read horror and suspense/thriller/mystery/crime novels. Jonathan Kellerman is amazing, his Alex Delaware series is one of the best I’ve ever read. I’ve read all of them more than once and always pre-order his most recent. Ian Rankin is another brilliant author, his Rebus series is another I’ve re-read a number of times.
I also enjoy true stories such as Shane Dunphy and Cathy Glass, having worked with challenging young people myself these books resonate with me.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My most recent book is “Becoming Bill” it’s a novella based on one of my characters from the other two books in the series but can be read as a standalone. Bill is a homeless man who helps the police when they have a case that involves vulnerable rough sleepers. In “Bedding Down” we learned a little more about his background and how he ended up on the streets but in his own book he goes into more detail. Becoming Bill follows his journey from successful man to rough sleeper, how he learns the ropes of staying safe on the streets and how the people he meets influence him.
Although Bill is a fictional character the experiences in the book are based on the real life ones of those who are homeless on our streets. I’m a fan of reading books that also raise awareness and hope that my readers feel the same about my writing.

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Featured Interview With Peter Sarno

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Revere, Massachusetts—a working class city just north of Boston. I live in Georgetown, MA now—a much more rural area. Well it was much more so when we moved here 30 years ago (smile). I dropped out of Salem State University and finished my undergraduate studies at Harvard University Extension. Later I enrolled in graduate courses at Boston University before earning my Master’s Degree at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. I taught literature and memoir courses at UMass.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Perhaps earlier, but in the 6th grade Sister Mary Ellen (who played touch football with us in the schoolyard during recess at Saint Mary’s in Lynn) encouraged us to write a story in Stockton’s “The Lady or the Tiger” vein and I remember her liking mine and encouraging me.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
That’s a difficult question to ask a lit professor (smile) There’s a score—too many to name and I’ll miss a dozen or more. Fitzgerald, Ann Beattie, Andre Dubus, Jr., Ann Patchett, Roland Merullo, Richard Russo, Anne Tyler, Billie Letts, Susan Cheever, Maya Angelou, Denise Duhamel, Susanna Kaysen, Joe Torra, Marge Piercy, Alice Munro—and, early on, the Russians, Camus, Ibsen, Dick Gregory, John Cheever, Eugene O’Neill…I’ll stop now (smile)…

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The novel is called “Visions of Johanna”.

I read a novel about a younger man and an older female artist and it hadn’t rung true. Though written by a well-established author, it seemed to me to be about a “pretend” artist. Of course, I could be dead wrong. Other folks were engaged and enjoyed it. But—with a certain level of arrogance—I thought, I knew a talented and brave artist and might be able to share the experience of what that artistic life was like more effectively.

Then I thought, “Why hadn’t that relationship worked out?”

Independent of this, over the years, I had tried several times to write a story about a dear friend who tragically lost her life while only sixteen-years-old. And I eventually finished two short stories based on her. She had been hit by a drunk driver, abandoned on the side of the road, and found dead by her older sister who went out looking for her after she hadn’t returned home from a trip to the neighborhood convenience store. I was numb for weeks and much longer. Years later, only two main images of my friend remained: one of her dressed in a stylish suede leather fringe jacket of the era with her sparkling brown eyes and luminous smile on the Friday she left for that weekend trip to Maine—the one I saw. And the other: her lying by the side of the road, alone, waiting for her sister to find her—the one I only imagined, yet could never rid myself of.

I didn’t know how to deal with that pain. There were really no such things as a grief counselors in “those days” and a man (even though I was only sixteen myself)—especially in my neighborhood—was expected to suck it up. It wasn’t until I started writing the novel that I understood that these events might be related. That perhaps one of the reasons my relationship with the artist didn’t work out had something to do with this traumatic event.

Finally I wondered, “Why is music so damn important to you?”

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Featured Interview With Brieanna Wilkoff

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hello! I’m a believer in kindness, an ’80s rock lover, and a musical theatre nerd. I’ve always lived in Ohio; I was born in Dayton and currently live in Westerville with my husband, daughter, and dog, a cockapoo named Cap (aka Captain Cuddles, aka Captain Muddypaws, etc). Words are my passion—reading, writing, editing. (Oxford comma all the way!) Becoming a published author was a dream of mine since childhood, so I am beyond grateful.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved reading, and I wrote my first story around the age of eight. I got more and more serious about it throughout high school, majored in English with a concentration in creative writing in college, and wrote on and off in early adulthood. After my daughter was born, it was more off than on, but I made a New Year’s resolution in 2019 to write more, and I’ve been much more consistent since.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Since I write YA, that’s definitely the genre I enjoy reading the most, although I read a decent amount of nonfiction as well, and occasionally throw in romance or other genres. Favorite authors is tough, but John Green and Becky Albertalli are at the top of the list. Becky in particular does such a great job with voice, so she inspires me in that regard.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I’ll Be There for You is a contemporary YA novel and combines my loves of ’80s rock, theatre, and kindness. The seed for the idea was to write a story about the healing power of kindness, and I started working on it during the time I waited while my daughter was in a theatre class. Every chapter is titled with the title of an ’80s rock song, so that was fun. Originally, I wrote it as women’s fiction with the mom as the main character, but ended up starting over and making it YA. From the idea to publication took about 5 years, but there was a lot of stopping and starting in between. It was a good call switching to YA—the main character, Rae, and the boy she meets who convinces her to audition for the school play, Mac, have a lot of witty banter that was a blast to write. And he’s the person she needs to meet in order to move on after the death of her father.

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