Featured Interview With Mario Taddei

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am lucky enough to be born in Italy, I live and work in Milan and I have always had two cats with me who have always kept me company even at night while I studied and built models.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have been studying Leonardo da Vinci since 1999, many years. And yet, every time I pick up one of his five thousand codes, I always find something new to study and discover. I have written numerous books on Leonardo, with famous publishers who then distributed my books all over the world. The most famous book is about Leonardo’s machines that I made in 2004, I find this book in all bookstores in the world and it makes me very angry. It will seem strange, because usually scholars never deny what they write, but what I wrote in that book I find now obsolete and outdated, the research I did and Leonardo’s machines that I rebuilt in 3D like the automobile, The bridges, the bombards, the flying machine, the helicopter, the boat with poles, the armed wagon etc .. I find them, copied in all the museums of the world. I recognize my studies and my machines because I have always added something and modified Leonardo’s drawings and at times I have discovered things that no scholar had done before. However, all these machines are not exactly Leonardo’s, in fact I later discovered that all these subjects are actually already existing machines that Leonardo copied, studied and tried to improve. I then moved on to study Leonardo da Vinci directly from his writings, thanks to the teachings of Carlo Pedretti, and here I found the great surprise. Leonardo’s real machines and real projects are hidden in thousands of virtually unknown pages. In fact, they are sketchy, unfinished and difficult to interpret drawings. For this reason they have been “abandoned”. In the last hundred years it has been more convenient for museums and for many curators to copy Leonardo’s usual machines without ever delving into the historical truth. My task, my mission and my passion is to rediscover these projects, study them, understand them and also create models from life, as well as on the computer. In recent years I have therefore studied and discovered new Leonardo machines, exhibited all over the world and my work is only at the beginning.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
As a child I read science and science fiction books. When I started painting then I became passionate about art. I bought art books and therefore also by Leonardo da Vinci. I then realized that reading Leonardo’s books referred to thousands of manuscripts, but I could neither buy nor find them in the library. I then discovered that there were luxurious and very expensive editions of Leonardo’s codices. It was a real injustice for a boy not to be able to access Leonardo’s manuscripts just because the publishers had decided to speculate on such important works. I decided that something had to be done, so year after year I designed and built the virtual Atlantic code of 2004. I proposed to Microsoft and jointly to publish it, but it was not easy to reach the right people. In the end, in collaboration with the Ambrosiana and the magazine Focus, I managed to publish my most impressive work: The virtual Atlantic code, giving everyone the opportunity to virtually leaf through Leonardo’s codes!
Now I read more and more ancient books on art and science. I have found that all books in the end always tell about things already said and things already written. Going back to the sources it is possible to discover a lot and it is also surprising to discover the errors of scholars who have limited themselves to copying other texts before them!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My last book “How to become Leonardo da Vinci
The true secrets unveiled: More than 100 tricks and secrets about Leonardo that will inspire you to become the new Da Vinci!”

Is a journey into Leonardo’s mind to easily understand his secrets and techniques. You will learn the basic principles of becoming a new Da Vinci through a simple and understandable book. How do you learn to think like Leonardo?

We will discover the 100 principles of genius, to become like him, told through his works and drawings full of projects and mysteries, with a simple and direct language for children aged 6 to 99!
Becoming Leonardo is possible and the same Renaissance artistic rules of art, creativity and genius can now also be used with digital tools. Did Leonardo copy? What did you study? What creative techniques did he use? How are these techniques applied today, in the era of the metaverse?
We will learn the Renaissance tricks to create masterpieces, even with digital tools, and we will discover what was the source of Leonardo’s creativity to make the genius within us grow!

“I’ve been studying Leonardo da Vinci for over 30 years. I have made exhibitions all over the world, built hundreds of machines and created multimedia software, books and research to introduce the greatest genius and artist of all time to the general public.
In the lessons and in contact with the public, however, I have always happened to meet people convinced that there is only one of Leonardo, and many others, disheartened, wondered how it was possible that such a “great” and unattainable person existed . Not to mention the people with whom I have often quarreled, convinced that Leonardo can only be born and it is not possible to become like him. How much more wrong and dangerous! Wrong because Leonardo’s history and true knowledge will surprise us, only ignorance creates unreachable myths, dangerous because with an attitude of this type we kill in the birth, in our children and in our students, the desire to become the new Leonardo! I have finally published this book which has a revolutionary and powerful message: everyone can become Leonardo, certainly not easy, but it is possible.
In more than a hundred small chapters, written in a simple and understandable way, I searched and found the basic principles that led Leonardo to be what we know.
It will be surprising to find, for example, that there are ugly drawings, that Leonardo had copied some things, made mistakes and his other machines do not work. In short, there are explanations, techniques, principles and real secrets that can help us along the path of knowledge and art.

Becoming Leonardo is possible and what we have to do is not to clip the wings of our children, potential geniuses, who only need encouragement, guidance and help.In this book I try to give my contribution up to the point of art and technology digital contemporary usable as a tool for modern Da VInci.
If only one of the children (aged 6 to 99) who will read this book understands how to become Leonardo, and will not be afraid to try, I will have contributed to a better future for all of us. “
Mario Taddei

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Featured Interview With Alyssa Mitchell

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in St. Louis, MO. I live in Indiana with my husband and our two children. We have two Labradoodles.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I learned to read at around age four and I loved books then. I read Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech and learned my first big word, demonstration, at the age of six. I started writing short stories at the age of seven. I started writing poetry at age nine.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Maya Angelou inspired me to write poetry and I love her stories and poems. I enjoy reading Stephen King as an adult. I think Toni Morrison has been a sort of teacher to me in my reading and writing as well. I love to read autobiographies/biographies and African American Literature. I can never pick just one genre.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I Like Blue

Well, this is my first published work. It took me a week to write the book and another week to come up with the graphics. I used graphics from one of my subscriptions, so I did not illustrate the graphics myself. I had to start somewhere, you know. Below is a blurb from Blue Bird about the book.

Learn colors!
“Sure this is a colorful world, but if I had my way it would be? You guessed it, blue!
I know what I like, and it is blue! There are so many great blue things out there, but I wish there were more. I love blue. How about you?”

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Featured Interview With Fil Reid

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live on a canal boat in the south of England with my husband and our Romanian rescue dog, Bella, and our elderly cat. We’ve been on the boat for ten years now and before that we lived in France where I learnt to speak fluent French pretty quickly.
I was diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome (High Functioning Autism) after two of my now grownup sons were, and that explained a lot to me, especially my life long love of horses and my obsession with all things Arthurian.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I think I loved books from the moment I learned to read. I remember at aged just 7, when we moved from Infants to Junior School, having to do a reading age test that made me very nervous at the time. It was only years later that my mother told me I’d had the highest reading age in the class at 14. Unsurprising really, when you consider I was already reading books like Kipling’s The Jungle Book and My Friend Flicka all by myself.
I began writing at age 5 when my parents gave me a Petite Children’s Typewriter, and with a few breaks for children and working, I’ve written ever since. My third book is about to come out, published by Dragonblade Publishing, and I have some children’s and YA books with my agent at the moment.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I will read anything that is well written. I still love good children’s books even though my own children are all grown up. I used to love reading to them at bedtime and any other time they wanted, and would choose books they might have found a bit more challenging, loving it when they wanted more.
One of my all time favourite authors has to be Nevil Shute. He’s long dead now, but I could read some of his books over and over again and still love them. I belong to the Nevil Shute Norway Society.
I like a well-plotted thriller, a romance with a good storyline that’s not just all about the romance, historical fiction that’s well researched and believable, and wouldn’t say no to horror, scifi, mystery at all. So long as it’s well written.
I think when I first began writing in earnest with the idea of being published, and began my MG novels that I’d like to get published now, my biggest influence was probably Alan Garner and his wonderful children’s stories about Alderley Edge in Cheshire.
As an adult I suppose it might be Philippa Gregory and her well-researched historical novels.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I won Dragonblade’s The WriteStuff competition last year with Guinevere: The Dragon Ring, about a modern young woman who is kidnapped back to the Dark Ages by Merlin to become King Arthur’s Queen Guinevere and help him fulfil his destiny. It takes me about a month to do the first draft (they’re all about 100,00 words and over – the last is 120,000 at the moment) and then a few weeks after that to revise.

Gwen is feisty and strong willed, and finding herself in a society where women are viewed as chattels and not expected to have an opinion on anything comes as a big shock. As do many of the living conditions – a bucket in the corner as a toilet, powdered charcoal to brush her teeth, no stirrups on her horse’s saddle, rabbit skins as nappies (which way out, one wonders – it doesn’t tell you that when you research it!).

My publisher is bringing book three out on May 31st, and in this Gwen has found her place in Dark Age society and educated her somewhat male chauvinist husband in how to treat a woman. She’s also presented him with an heir, which happened in book two. But they’re still finding their feet both as a couple and as a king and queen.

Arthur is a flawed hero, handsome of course, but even though Gwen has come to love him, she’s frequently irritated by his attitude. But she’s also got Merlin as her friend, and he’s not the old greybeard we always imagine him to be. He’s a warrior who looks about Arthur’s own age, but is he? There is a small element of magic about the story, as there has to be in a retelling of Arthurian legend, but there’s also a lot of historical realism, and lots of the characters in the book were ‘real’ people – as far as we know.

I’ve tried to follow as much legend as I can, which led me down many rabbit holes of research, which I loved. I think if you’re writing a retelling of Arthurian legend you do need to include certain elements – Merlin, the sword in the stone, Excalibur, Medraut (Mordred), Tintagel etc. You’ll find them all in my books, although some of them I’ve put a slight twist on. I like to surprise my readers.

You won’t find a Lancelot though, as he’s a later medieval addition, and French! This is strictly British and very much post-Roman with ruins of their towns and cities and villas scattered all over Britain. The armies march up the old Roman roads and take shelter in ruined Way Stations. There are threats from all sides – the Saxons in the south and east, the Irish in the west, and the Picts from north of Hadrian’s Wall. Not to mention strife between rival British kingdoms.

And over all of this hangs the threat of Camlann, Arthur’s final battle in which Gwen fears he’ll fall at the hands of his nephew Medraut. She knows all the legends, and with that knowledge she wonders if she can change history, or if perhaps it’s already set in stone.

I’ve recently finished book six, and am quite sad to say goodbye to Arthur and Gwen.

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Featured Interview With Dr. David D. Schein

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
• Dr. David D. Schein, MBA, JD, Ph.D. is a Professor, Endowed Chair of Management and Marketing and Director of Graduate Programs at the Cameron School of Business at the University of St. Thomas. Dr. Schein is frequently interviewed on employment and business law matters. He speaks for business and industry groups throughout the United States on various current topics. His new book is: Bad Deal for America. He is also the author of The Decline of America: 100 Years of Leadership Failures (2018). He has been quoted in numerous national and local publications, including Forbes and US News and World Reports. In addition to hosting “Saving America” and “Business Law 101” webcasts, he has been interviewed on numerous webcasts and podcasts in the United States and England.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began writing in high school. In college, I was writing a script for a weekly radio program that I hosted. At the same time, I was providing some newspaper articles on arts and entertainment. Later, I began writing for professional journals and publications. I also produced my own newsletter on employment law topics during the 1990s. Over the last five years, I have focused on books in addition to academic journals.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are Hemmingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald. For entertainment, I generally listen to mysteries in my car. I do so much reading for research that I have little time to read for pleasure.

Most of my current influences are from the latest business and political news from around the world.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Bad Deal for America” genre is political satire. It is based on a deck of cards. Each card represents actual statements by a recent or current member of Congress or the Senate. The opening chapter, “Dealt a Pile of Chips” explains in detail the benefits and salary paid to the Members. The last chapter talks about how some Members have magically either become millionaires or enhanced their fortunes by being in their elected positions. The pitch of the book is for term limits for elected officials.

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Dr. David D. Schein’s Website

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If you enjoyed this writer’s interview, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors to learn about. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring! If you are an author and want to get exposure to new readers submit your book to our book promotion service.