Featured Interview With E. C. Hibbs

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Emma, and I write all kinds of fantasy under the name E. C. Hibbs. My debut novel was published in 2012, and since then, I’ve released an additional 12 novels, plus some anthologies and short story collections. I’m also a calligrapher and traditional storyteller, and I frequently give talks on the historical origins of fairy tales at events around north England and Wales. I’m from Cheshire, and I’ve lived in this area all my life, except for a period when I was based in the Finnish Arctic. Now I’m back in England, and am kept company by my very vocal cat, Millie-Moo.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been an avid bookworm, and have read for as long as I can remember. As a child, I devoured whatever books I could get my hands on: everything from Roald Dahl and Lemony Snicket to William Golding and Charles Dickens. I really related to Matilda when I was growing up, partly because I was bullied a lot, but also because she read so veraciously.

I wrote my first story when I was five years old. One of my fondest memories is my mum stitching a spine into it, so it looked like a real book. My first novel followed when I was twelve, and even though it sucked, it lit a fire within me. I knew then that writing was something I would never stop doing, and I dreamed of being an author one day. Luckily, I was encouraged by my parents and several fantastic teachers, and a few years ago, I was able to go back to my old school and personally thank them.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Reading Dickens as a child really impacted me, and I developed a love for classics which has never faded. My favourites under that umbrella are the Brontes, Mary Shelley, J. Sheridan Le Fanu, Victor Hugo, Oscar Wilde, Bram Stoker and Arthur Conan Doyle. My other favourite genre is fantasy, in practically all its forms. I adore the work of Tolkien, Michelle Paver, Marcus Sedgwick, Garth Nix, Bridget Collins, Susanna Clarke and Philip Pullman. I also tend to read a lot of nonfiction, especially historic and folkloric stuff, and anything to do with the Arctic – it feels like going home!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest paper baby is The Road Through Night, to be released on Sunday 2nd March. It’s Book Two of the Nightland Quartet: a series which features almost 30 retold fairy tales, laced with elements of Gothic classics, and set in an alternative 1830s, when Queen Victoria has just come to the throne. It follows a young woman called Beatrice, who is neurodivergent and mute, and her drawings feature throughout the books as illustrations.

The series grew very organically out of research I was doing into Grimm fairy tales. I work in the heritage sector, so I was able to use my knowledge of the 19th century for the world building. Creating Beatrice was a wonderful experience, because I used my own autism to inform her perception of the world: the first time I had purposefully done that.

The entire quartet is now written, and the first drafts collectively took about two years. Combined with all the research, planning and editing, that number rises to five years. I can’t wait to bring out the final two books, but for now, I’m very excited for The Road Through Night, and I hope people will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it!

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Featured Interview With Jai Prakash Acharya

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am Jai Prakash Acharya from New Delhi, India, and a graduate of English Literature from University of Delhi, I find deep fulfilment in exploring the complexities of the human condition through the power of words. A dedicated reader and writer, I am passionate about using my writing to connect with others and share insights on the world around us. I currently contribute to various news outlets and magazines.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began writing in high school, but it was during my time at the University of Delhi that I truly discovered the power of words to express myself. I realised that actions alone often fall short in conveying complex thoughts and emotions. I find great satisfaction in employing the power of words to describe human conditions and their environments, striving to accurately portray the intended image to the reader.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Literature, particularly Indian literature, has profoundly shaped my perspective. From Premchand and Aravind Adiga to Chetan Bhagat, Grant Cardone, the Bhagavad Gita, and the works of APJ Abdul Kalam, these influential voices have significantly impacted my life.
I am passionate about reading, both fiction and non-fiction. I am a keen observer of my surroundings and enjoy writing about them, particularly focusing on human conditions.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My recent publication, ‘The Weathering Tree: Finding Hope in Hardship,’ is a short story about Ankush, an ambitious young man in Delhi, who faces a sudden upheaval when his father mysteriously disappears. Each encounter in the story reveals new layers of meaning unique to the reader.

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Jai Prakash Acharya’s Website

Featured Interview With Alia Luria

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Brooklyn, NY and raised in Tampa, FL. I have been back in Tampa the last few years after spending the majority of the last 30 years living in Orlando, FL. I’m an attorney and former software engineer, so I’ve worn a lot of hats over the years. I’ve also traveled extensively and lived abroad. My boyfriend and I together have two dogs and a cat.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve loved books for as long as I can remember. My mother always let me read anything on our shelves at home, so went from reading The Phantom Tollbooth to Stephen King (IT) and Thomas Harris (Silence of the Lambs) by the time I was eleven years old. I read everything I could get my hands on and started writing short stories in middle school. I started my first novel at fifteen but never finished that particular story, only getting about 50 pages in.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read science fiction, fantasy, thrillers, police procedurals, memoirs, and more. I read broadly, because I believe that it’s important to read a lot of different authors from different cultures to appreciate the universe of books out there. My favorite authors include Ursula K. LeGuin, Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler, Andy Weir, Haruki Murakami, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, David Sedaris, Arthur Conan Doyle, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Kelly Barnhill and so many others! All of these authors inspire me in different ways.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My new book is memoir essay collection titled Geri o Shimasu: Adventures of a Baka Gaijin. During law school, I spent the spring semester of 2008 living in Tokyo, Japan and attending Temple University Japan. This collection chronicles some of those adventures as well as a collection of haiku poetry and watercolor paintings from photographs I took while I was abroad. Even though this book takes place in 2008, I didn’t really start writing essays for it until 2020. A number of the haiku were written in 2017, since I like to use haiku as a form of journaling (similar to Jack Kerouac I guess, although I didn’t find that out until later). I always knew I wanted to write a book about my time in Japan, but during the pandemic, when we were all trapped at home, I began to think more seriously about what that collection would look like. David Sedaris definitely influenced me with his collection “When You Are Engulfed in Flames” which was his book about moving to Japan for three months to quit smoking, but my stories are very different. The title story Geri o Shimasu was written in 2020 and used to unsuccessfully query some small presses. I had a few stories written as of 2023, and I am extremely grateful that Unsolicited Press gave me a contract with three stories, some haiku, and some paintings.

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Alia Luria’s Website

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Featured Interview With Rachael Wright

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am from western Colorado raised on a ranch with a ton of animals and currently don’t have any pets because I exhausted myself early on! I do have two kids though!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books began as soon as I could read but when I was 13 I was introduced to Lord of the Rings by my father, who is a massive nerd, and I fell head over heels in love. I began writing not long after I finished the whole series because the words and stories just would stay in. It’s that way to this day … I can’t seem to stop.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite author is JRR Tolkien. I doubt I’ll ever be able to get bored of him. I also read Sherlock Holmes regularly as if I’m meeting an old friend for drinks. But I also adore England Regency period novels including Jane Austen, the Bröntes, Thomas Hardy. I think I wanted to escape from modernity and phones and explore a different world.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My book, The Twins of Strathnaver, will be published by Green Avenue Books in September 2025. It’s an Outlander meets Ghost Whisperer novel set in late August 1997. What you wouldn’t guess is the sheer amount of research I undertook in order to get the historical events, from 1746, that I reference in the book all straight and correct. I spoke to the French National Military Archives, Dunrobin Castle in Scotland, the English National Archives, Blair Castle Archives, the list goes on. Here’s the blurb:

The Mackay Rules: Never Tell and Never Leave.

The Witching Mackays have endured centuries of suffering and ostracism all because of their powers and the ghosts they can see. As August 1997 draws to a close, and Hugh and Margaret Mackay enjoy a more peaceful life than their ancestors, a mysterious Londoner arrives in desperate pursuit of fame and long-lost Jacobite gold.

Louis Talbot is much more than a treasure hunter wielding a metal detector. Armed with a strange book and its tantalizing account of a family who can speak to ghosts; Louis sets his sights on the vulnerable, lonely Margaret Mackay.

As sides are chosen, Hugh and Margaret are forced to confront the reality that the gold isn’t all the ghosts are protecting and that the consequence of their failure will be nothing less than the destruction and death of everything they’ve ever known.

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Rachael Wright’s Website

Featured Interview With Joan De La Haye

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Joan De La Haye, a caffeine-fuelled South African author of dark and twisted fiction. I write thrillers, horror and dark fantasy. I live in South Africa’s capital city, Pretoria, where most of my books are set with my two cats – Midnight and Mogwai.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I come from a family of readers. When I was about five or maybe even younger, my older sister decided she needed to teach me how to read. The usual books for teaching kids to read were way too boring for her, so she decided I would learn by reading The Famous Five and the Nancy Drew books. I’ve loved reading ever since.

As to when I started writing, well … when I was about eight years old, I was sitting in my mother’s office during the school holidays, and she had this lovely fairy poster on her wall. I was bored and probably driving her insane; I found myself staring at this poster and wondering about what the fairies’ lives were like, what their world was like, and the next thing I knew, I was thumping out a story called The Wonderful World of Candyfloss on her typewriter. I still have that story and the rejection letter from the publisher I sent it to. Yes, I was eight when I submitted my first story to a publisher and got my first rejection.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors are probably Karin Slaughter, Ann Rice, Jeffery Deaver, Stephen King, Alexandre Dumas, Jane Austen, George R. R. Martin, Dennis Wheatly, and Kathy Reichs, to name a few. You can probably gather from that list that I have pretty eclectic tastes. But I probably read a lot more thrillers than anything else.

I wouldn’t say that just one person inspires me. I am inspired by almost every author whose work I’ve read. To some extent, they all influenced me and taught me something new about writing.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest stand-alone thriller is The Fluttering Cage. I got the idea for the story while I was walking along the road, heading home, one sunny afternoon when a car revved its engine at me, completely freaking me out. I had one of those aha moments that most writers know pretty well. The next thing I knew, I was at home, in front of my laptop, and the words were flowing onto the blank page.

Here’s the book description:
He Thought I Was Weak— He Thinks He Knows What’s Coming.

I didn’t think my life could get worse. No job. No money. No future. Then, a car pulled up beside me, and I ignored every instinct, doing the one thing you’re never supposed to do.

I got in the car.

What happened next shattered everything I thought I knew—about people, survival, and myself. He took me—body, mind, and soul—and tried to cage me.

But he didn’t break me.

I’m still here. And I’ve found allies in the unlikeliest of places. Together, we’re not just fighting to survive—we’re fighting back. He has no idea what we’re capable of.

He’s about to learn how wrong he was.

For fans of Karin Slaughter and Lisa Gardner, this is your next obsession

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