Featured Interview With Janet Ely

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in small country towns in Queensland, Australia. It was a simple life and looking back my childhood was like many others. We didn’t have a lot though what you have no idea of you can’t miss or feel deprived of. I live near the coast in Queensland and there are many creative people as well as many published and aspiring authors. I don’t have any pets now. I like spending time with family and friends.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Maybe from my twenties I’ve been a reader. I started writing somewhere between age twenty five and thirty.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I don’t actually have any favorite authors. I choose books quickly by scanning the back cover and there has only been an odd one I could not read to the end. No science fiction, I like autobiographies, true stories, love stories and any with a strong storyline so I don’t want to put it down.
My inspiration comes from within me. My writing is of things experienced in my life. Love, life, broken heart at times and grief.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
This first book only has love poems. There is no sadness. You will be left with feel good impression.
I believe I’m one of few single authors of 100 or more poems only on love. Many seem to have the heartbreak and trauma of broken hearts as well.

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Featured Interview With Anna S. E. Lundberg

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in the UK and my parents are Swedish, so I’ve grown up bilingual and bicultural. After studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University, I moved to Geneva to do my masters in International Relations, with the aim of working at the UN. Instead, I ‘ended up’ in a marketing role in the private sector, and I stayed on for nine years.

When I quit my job in 2013, I initially returned to the UK and set up my own consultancy; I then took my business on the road and became a ‘digital nomad’; and lately, I’ve returned to London as my base again as I fell in love with an Englishman 🙂

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I always wanted to *be* a writer. Growing up, I created a pretend newspaper where I interviewed my dad (fake news actually, as I made up his answers!) and I also wrote some pretty awful Sweet Valley High-type teen romance stories. I didn’t study English at university, but I did study Politics and Economics and I thought that was a great basis for going into journalism. Although I didn’t pursue it professionally on graduation, I did a lot of courses, from a magazine journalism course with the National Council for the Training of Journalists (NCTJ) to many mini-creative writing courses.

It was when I took my sabbatical in 2013 and travelled across South America that I launched a blog and began writing publicly for the first time. This gradually evolved from the personal travel diary that it had started out as to increasingly reflect my musings on career choices and personal development, and ultimately it became a platform for my business. This has been an organic process from the start, where I have written about whatever I was interested in at the time, but I have focused my work in the past couple of years to be more intentionally designed to support my clients and grow my business.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have an endless list of non-fiction books on my Kindle app, which I have either read cover to cover or, more often than not, dipped into from time to time. I would love to make time to read more

I couldn’t really pinpoint any specific author or book that has influenced me in the kind of writing that I do at the moment. However, I have read a lot of books about writing and my favourites include On Writing by Stephen King, The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron and The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5: Stories from people who’ve done it (and how you can too!).

In 2013, I took a leap of faith, leaving my corporate job without a clear plan as to what I was going to do next. One of the first ideas I had after leaving was to talk to others who had done the same. To be perfectly honest, this stemmed from a selfish desire on my side to be inspired, to find the courage to do what I wanted to do, and to learn from other people’s mistakes! In sharing the interviews on my newly established blog, however, I was able to broaden my reach to inspire and help other people like me in the process.

The first interview went up on the blog in January 2014 and, in the years since, I’ve spoken to 50 different people. With a range of experiences and fantastic advice hidden away in these old blog posts, I thought it would be valuable to collect all the interviews in a book. I called this interview series ‘Fearless Fridays’ on my blog, and I do love a good alliteration, so Fifty Fearless Fridays just sounded like it was meant to be!

I’ve also learned a lot from my own experience of the various twists and turns since I first made the decision to quit. Since then, I’ve dedicated myself to understanding who I am, what motivates me and what a fulfilling career looks like for me as an individual. I’ve become passionate about helping others do the same, and I now coach people through their own transition out of the corporate 9 to 5. I’ve framed the 50 stories in this collection within my own personal experience and what I’ve observed in coaching clients, adding some guidance as to what you can do to start creating your own career transition story. My hope is that this book will offer both reassurance and inspiration on the one hand, and concrete tips and action steps on the other, as you create your very own career transition story.

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Anna S. E. Lundberg’s Website

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Featured Interview With Hilary Smith

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio. All over the city really. We moved around a lot. For a while, my siblings and I moved back and forth from my paternal grandparents’ home to my mother’s. That is until my granddad died in 1994. Currently, I live in Southgate, Kentucky. It’s an ambition of mine to travel aboard and immerse myself into a different culture. Learn a new language out of necessity. And no, I don’t own pets, with my schedule I barely have time for myself.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was ten years old when I became an avid reader. Let me tell you a quick story. When I was seven years old I was shamed for not knowing how to read among my peers. My grandfather was a pastor, I had to attend Sunday school whenever I was living with my grandparents. This particular morning my class had to recite what we learned. We were lining up in front of the congregation.
The place was packed. I mean every seat was filled. I choked up. I forgot my lines. I looked down at my paper and mumbled softly, “I can’t read.” I was so humiliated, I cried so much eventually my dad took me home. Shortly thereafter my granddad purchased hooked on phonics. He was so sweet, he said it was for all the children. “You’re not the only who is struggling. Never be afraid to speak up,” he told me. In my mind, he got it just for me. There were other people who went the extra mile to teach me to read. I have always felt it’s my responsibility to cultivate this gift.
I wrote my first short story when I was thirteen. My class was reading Roll of thunder, hear my cry by Mildred D. Taylor. I didn’t like the ending of the book. I wrote an alternative ending.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read almost all genres but my favorites and historical and suspense. Kay Hooper for suspense. Some say Mary Clark Higgins is the queen of suspense but, that’s only because they haven’t read Kay Hooper. The woman is a genius. Historical authors vary if it’s nonfiction I will read just about anybody. However, if it’s fiction definitely Julie McElwain. I discovered her by reading the public library newsletter announcing a new author’s book. I’ve been hooked ever since. As for my inspiration, I love to people watch and imagine what their lives are like, as well as draw from my own personal experience.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Currently, I’m in the editing process with The Road Home. It took me eight months to finish the first draft. Two months for revisions based on my Beta readers feedback. The Road Home will be available for purchase on December 10, 2018.

The Road Home picks up two years after Lucy’s and Keturah’s disappearance. Damien is determined to find his family. However, the more he discovers about Lucy the more he wonders if he ever really knew her at all. He is faced with a choice to find them or let them go.

Mackenzie has a seemingly random sexual encounter with an old flame (David Lucas) whom she reconnected with on a girl’s trip to Las Vegas. Before Mackenzie met her husband, (Samuel Rizzo) she was a computer hacker. She specialized in bank systems. David isn’t a love him and leave him type of guy. He tracks her down and blackmails her into doing one last job: hit three banks in one night. Mackenzie enlists Samuel’s help to foil David’s plan. Along the way she learns things about herself, deals with the emotional baggage she’s been carrying around, and find her strength in God’s word.
Throughout this book and the entire series really, you will see the influence of God but yet it is not classified as a Christian book.

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Hilary Smith Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Endri Shqerra

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Endri Shqerra completed his graduate studies at the University of New York Tirana. His writing career started just there when his diss. got a distinguishing mark and was subsequently published by LAMBERT Academic Publishing. Here is worth making a note for his supervisor, Prof. Kostantinos Giakoumis, whose commitment and hard work with his diss. deserve to remind him as the co-author in his first book; even though his name does not appear in the book cover. Later, the publisher (LAMBERT Academic Publishing) asked him a book related to the topic of an essay he had published. It was at that time when the work with the second book began. Since then his devotion has been writing and he is proud of following the path of his father and other relatives who were writers, an inheritance which intensifies his commitment to writing. At the moment he is writing a new book titled “Religious Harmony”, which, hopefully, will be more interesting than his first two books.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At the age of 40

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read non-fiction books but also and fiction

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Ma latest bok has to do with language acquisition

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Endri Shqerra Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Endri Shqerra

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Endri Shqerra completed his graduate studies at the University of New York Tirana. His writing career started just there when his diss. got a distinguishing mark and was subsequently published by LAMBERT Academic Publishing. Here is worth making a note for his supervisor, Prof. Kostantinos Giakoumis, whose commitment and hard work with his diss. deserve to remind him as the co-author in his first book; even though his name does not appear in the book cover. Later, the publisher (LAMBERT Academic Publishing) asked him a book related to the topic of an essay he had published. It was at that time when the work with the second book began. Since then his devotion has been writing and he is proud of following the path of his father and other relatives who were writers, an inheritance which intensifies his commitment to writing. At the moment he is writing a new book titled “Religious Harmony”, which, hopefully, will be more interesting than his first two books.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At the age of 40

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Jack London

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is about language acquisition

Featured Interview With Sarah WaterRaven

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was shoveling horse manure when I started to imagine a detective and a vampire talking in an office and decided to write a book series about it. Now I’m an author and go by the name Sarah WaterRaven.

I was born in Plantation, Florida but currently live in Ontario, Canada. I lived in Florida till I was thirteen, I lived in Canada for a little while, then Ohio, and then made my way back up to Canada. As you can see, I moved and traveled a lot as a child, and I don’t regret it. I love seeing how big and diverse the world is. While I’d like a small farm or cottage to finally put some roots down, I still love to travel.

The horse manure is still part of my life. I have a horse named Shyann who lives on my family’s farm with her son and friends. I also have a wonderful dog named Faolan, a black and white Argentine tegu I refer to as my house dragon, fish, and birds. I would love more reptiles and to rescue a pig. I have often dreamed of having a small animal sanctuary.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was in middle school when I started to read books for pleasure. I actually struggled with reading in elementary school but picked up books because I loved the cover art. A friend at school and my love for dragons would eventually lead me to the novel Dragonflight, by Anne McCaffrey, and my love for reading was born.

I started writing to express myself through emotional and traumatic experiences in my youth but was eventually encouraged to pursue writing by my high school English teacher. I was shocked and hardly knew what to say at the time because the truth was, we weren’t close like I was with other teachers. She told my mother and we ended up writing an email to Anne McCaffrey, asking her how I could become an author (and yes, she wrote back). 🙂

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Anne McCaffrey will always occupy a special place in my heart but I find myself drawn to fantasy and urban fantasy more than any other genre. Charles de Lint and Patricia Briggs have been go-to’s when I’m on the hunt for a new book but I also love unique novels that are outside the mainstream buzz, books such as The Forgotten Gemstone and it’s sequel, The Other Castle, by Kit Daven; The Book of Flying, by Keith Miller; The Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale, Undead Redhead, by Jen Frankel; and some mainstream classics, like the Mists of Avalon and even the DragonLance novels.

I believe every book I’ve enjoyed has inspired me in some way.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Detective Docherty and the Sorcerer’s Game is the third novel in the Detective Docherty series. It takes place in a world where magic and man co-exist in our current society. We have smartphones and Netflix but we also have trolls and ogres bouncing for nightclubs and a paranormal investigator with a vampire for an assistant.

The series follows the detective and his agency on cases involving the supernatural beings that inhabit the world of man. A vampire has been murdered, a troll is missing, and bodies are washing up on Lakeshore…Who or what could be strong enough to take on these powerful beings?

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Sarah WaterRaven’s Website

Sarah WaterRaven Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Mia Chediak

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Cuba and raised in NY. I live on Long Island currently and am happily married. I love dogs, but don’t have one now. I had to put my 16 year old Scottie, Max down 2 years ago and am taking some time before bringing another new member into the family. I love my husband, sons, Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice cream and a great flick! I always try to find the positive in any situation and love a good laugh. My favorite movies are As Good As It Gets, Pulp Fiction and On The Waterfront. I am a sucker for bedroom eyes and wet noses!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have loved to read from the time my 7th grade English Lit teacher read A Tale of Two Cities in character. I started to write poetry around the same time. I enjoy writing short stories, have 2 more novels in the works and still a hopeful romantic, love poetry.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are Philip Roth,Anne Sexton, John Irving, Tom Robbins, Jodi Picoult, Mark Twain and Sophie Kinsella. My favorite books are American Pastoral and Fierce Invalids home from Hot Climates.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a cathartic labor of love. Written about a tough stretch in a women’s life, it shares with us the disappointments and triumphs of Julia Stoddard. Julia “grows up” in her forties and finds out what is truly important in life by traversing adversity.

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Mia Chediak Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Phoenix James

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am happily married with 4 kids. I am from Greenville SC. I have one dog named Royalty.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I starting writing when I was in middle school. I really got a taste for it when others read it and loved it.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like to read African American urban and historical romance.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Urban Pulp Fiction II. King and Diamond have to deal with the tragic loss of their baby. The stress is overwhelming, and Diamond is finding it difficult to be herself again, especially after finding out that her father Miller sold her soul. Surprisingly, King has a few skeletons in his closet that will reveal themselves to Diamond.

Crazy Keyonnia’s saga continues. Will anything help her get over the tragic loss of her babies?

Phoenix levels up in HBIC fashion. With her mother Legacy in the picture, everything around her has transformed. When she meets a new man however, things get strange…..really strange. Stranger than the “fairly god-mother” who keeps popping up.

Miesha, our unexpected hero, has her world turned upside down with a series of events so unexpected, the hairs on the back of your neck will stand at attention. Will she be able to win the battle?

Find out all of this and more in the second installment of Urban Pulp Fiction.

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Phoenix James’s Website

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Featured Interview With Onerva Aino

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hey there! My name’s Onerva Aino, I was born and raised in Finland, in northern Europe. I’ve also lived in Spain, India and the United States. At the moment I live in Finland and teach English and Swedish at a college here.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I loved books even as a little girl! I remember we had this thing in Finland called Library Bus, it was a bus full of books that came to the school every now and then, and we got to get in and browse through the books and borrow what we wanted – it was exciting! I’ve written a diary as long as I remember… I stopped it for a while though, when I was around 9 I think, because my brother and his best friend read my secret writings and made fun of me! It was so terrible that I decided I didn’t want to write anymore… I had written about my crush to that very friend of my brother’s. It was embarrassing. *blush*
I resumed writing later though, fortunately. 😉

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
When I was small I loved reading Nancy Drew, you remember, the girl detective? I loved it and read all of them! Then as I grew up and started being interested in well-being I started reading loads of all kinds of literature on psychology, meditation, healthy living etc. I’ve always gotten a lot of support and inspiration from books.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
UPGRADED YOU is my first book. I think I’ve always secretly dreamed of writing a book. Often when I wrote in my diary, when I was younger, I felt like the text would be good for publishing someday – so interesting, raw and alive. I think I was too afraid to actually dream about it or consciously think about it though. And that’s the thing I talk about in the book, too, that often we humans are too afraid to pursue our dreams or even let ourselves think about them. But when we get to a place where we feel more empowered, we start to get connected to our dreams again, and we can start breaking the walls that our minds (and society and other people) have built for us. We can become aware of the limiting beliefs that our minds hold and that make us play small. And then we can see them, and decide whether we wanna believe in them or not! That’s the beauty of it. So something like that happened to me in Costa Rica in February 2018. I felt like I can do anything I want, I can create anything I want, everything is possible. And that’s when I was ready to receive the inspiration for the book, it seems. By being in a place where I truly believed I could do anything I wanted. That’s fascinating! So the next couple of months I spent writing for hours and hours a day, feeling more inspired than ever on any project or work. It felt like life was flowing through me, love was flowing through me, love was being shared through the words typed. I felt so grateful and inspired to get to share my story for others to benefit. And after the book was ready and I got the first touching feedbacks – of how the words had touched the readers and made their challenging journeys feel a bit lighter all of the sudden, just for getting a sense of a shared journey – it was something unbelievably beautiful. I remember thinking, tears in my eyes, that already this feedback alone is enough to make my whole journey and suffering here on earth worthwhile.

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Onerva Aino Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Celeste Straub

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m an award-winning writer of romantic suspense. My debut novel, Leather and Lies, earned an honorable mention award as a finalist in the 2018 RWA Kiss of Death’s Daphne Du Maurier contest and a 3rd place finish in the 2018 Valley Forge Romance Writer’s Sheila contest in the romantic suspense category.

I’m a hopeless romantic who enjoys plotting the harrowing journeys my characters go on before they finally reach their happily-ever-after. I enjoy a quiet country life in northeastern Pennsylvania, residing on a piece of the old family farm with my husband, son, and two cats. I also like to set my novels in and around Pennsylvania’s Wyoming Valley. Having been born and raised in this region, and now raising my family here, I believe the gorgeous natural beauty is the perfect backdrop for my characters to fall in love.

Writing as a hobby since childhood, I spend my days as the grant writer and operations director for a local non-profit agency focusing on public health issues. When I’m not penning steamy romance scenes in my spare time, my interests include traveling, visiting amusement parks, collecting baseballs, hiking, and reading.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was very young, early elementary school age. My school had a great program where we were encouraged to write short stories during free time. A team of volunteer moms would then take our stories, hand print them onto pages, and rubber cement them into a “cover” made of cardboard and wallpaper remnants. Then we would get to illustrate our “books.” I think I was hooked from that point forward. I read voraciously. My parents knew I would be a reader when I proclaimed that I loved reading because it was like imagining a movie in my head.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I enjoy an eclectic variety of genres including science fiction, fantasy, crime, mysteries, and romance of all sub genres. Some of my favorite authors include Janet Evanovich, Dan Brown, Brandon Sanderson, J.K. Rowling, and Amy L Gale. Janet Evanovich has been a strong influence on my writing. I strive to emulate her strong female leads and humor.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Leather and Lies is a steamy romantic suspense that couldn’t be farther from your mother’s trashy beach reads of the past. Sure, there are some hot bedroom scenes, but the plot is driven by my main character’s search for her missing cousin. And it takes her to some frighteningly dark places.

Skye Winters is a 24-year-old criminal profiler with the ink barely dry on her Masters Degree when her cousin, Kortney, vanishes into thin air. At 22, Kort’s party lifestyle has led her down the path of heroin addiction, leaving Skye little hope of finding her alive. As Skye digs deeper into Kort’s life, she begins to uncover clues that might be better left buried and has to rely more and more on the help of Wes Carson, the newest biker in her father’s motorcycle club. The chemistry between them is electric, but he harbors secrets that might lead Skye to the same fate as Kortney.

It took me nearly nine months to pen Leather and Lies. My husband dabbles in criminal profiling as a hobby and also rides a Harley, so he was vital as a resource. One of my biggest pet peeves about the romance genre is that is can be hard to find strong female lead characters, so it was especially vital that Skye never need a man to rescue her, simply to love her. I also found myself relying on my 6 years of work as a medical case manager, a type of social worker, when developing Kortney’s past and creating the novel’s main antagonist. When writing about sensitive subjects, such as drug addiction, I felt it was important to move my main character from a position of judgement to one based more in understanding. She doesn’t have agree or condone the behavior, but by the end of the novel, Skye grows and matures a great bit.

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Celeste Straub’s Website

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Featured Interview With Katlynn Brooke

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Zimbabwe, a small land-locked country above South Africa. Due to my father’s job, building bridges in out of the way places where few to no roads or towns existed, I developed a familiarity with the bushveld and living off the grid, as sparse as the grid may have been in the late ‘50’s in Africa.

I was home-schooled for the first few years of my schooling, then sent to a boarding school far away from my home. I hated school and yearned to return to the freedom of the bush. Eventually, freed from this captivity my parents returned to a life in a town where I attended a real school.
Alas, I fared no better. The teachers did not approve of my chronic day-dreaming, and I encountered much hostility in my academic failures in math and science from my teachers. My mother, both a writer and artist, understood my predicament. Since I loved reading and writing, along with art, She encouraged me to be creative instead.

I somehow managed to complete enough schooling to get by and later in life left Africa to explore more worlds, living for several years in India and Indonesia, and traveling at every opportunity. I settled in the US and now reside in Virginia with my husband and a cat.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I began to read as soon as I could string words together, perhaps around age six. I devoured books, and I was never happier when I had my nose in a book, a pen, or a paintbrush, in my hand.

At age 13, I was forced into boarding school again when my parents returned to the bush life, but this time it was not as traumatic. Coming home for the school holidays we had to create our entertainment. We had no electricity, running water, or television. We lived in small encampments as my father moved from location to location in the middle of the bushveld.

I penned plays, with my mother’s help, and as a family unit, we produced them—complete with sound effects—on an 8-track battery operated recorder.

My perceived failures at conventional schooling only made sense much later in life. I was not meant to excel at certain subjects; I was meant to write, and my day-dreams have now become my reality and are the material upon which I base my stories. My mother would be proud of my accomplishments if she knew, but she passed many years ago. I still think of those plays we produced, and the books we read and know that this was my real schooling.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author has always been J.R.R. Tolkien. I love fantasy, and science fiction. I grew up reading Isaac Asimov, and Arthur Clarke. They were, and still are, my inspiration, and I still can’t get enough of the Lord of the Rings trilogy!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I wrote my first fantasy book in the Ialana Series in 3 months (The Six and the Crystals of Ialana). Looking back, I realized that my first attempt was a good draft, so I rewrote it in 2018 and republished it in August. It’s the same story, but now meets my improved standards for writing.

After I wrote the first in the series, two more followed quickly on its heels; The Six and the Gardeners of Ialana, and The Six and Anwyn of Ialana. In 2017, taking much longer with this one, I published The Tree Wizard of Ialana, a continuation of the series.

The Six teens in the first two books soon reached adulthood, and I felt that a younger character was needed, so I introduced Anwyn, the daughter of two of the Six.

I am working on a fifth book, still keeping the original characters around, but once again introducing a new character in the appropriate age group. Readers will enjoy my strong female characters. Although they’re far from perfect, they endure frightening and difficult circumstances with courage and determination. Some of them are adepts in the metaphysical sense, i.e. “wizards”, but they always show their humanity and ethical behavior.

The Ialana Series is safe for all ages to read, the young and the young at heart.

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Katlynn Brooke’s Website

Katlynn Brooke Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Candra Baguley

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name’s Candra Baguley and I’m the author of 2 Sci-Fi novels (so far). I was born in California, but moved around to Colorado, Utah, and Oregon. I currently live in Southern Utah with my three half-bloods and aging labrador.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books have been important to me, for as long as I can remember. I wrote my first book for a school assignment in the third grade and my school library kept it. After that, I began writing stories for competitions at the libraries and then online. I also began writing poetry as a teenager, but traded it for scifi books in my mid twenties.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
JK Rowling is my all time favorite author. My favorite genre is scifi/fantasy, NA, and some YA. My oldest brother mentored me on writing so I’d say he inspires me the most.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
TRANSMISSIONS TO TITAN was released in August 2018.
In the year 2052: memories are uploaded, robots are taking over the workforce, and Earth has reached critical overpopulation. To complete the next stage of human evolution, it must be done far from the destructive touch of mankind and their decaying home planet.
Four strangers’ lives intertwine as they embark on the same path to trade mankind for an A.I. existence on Titan’s human-free colony. Like those before them, they’ll die and be reborn on Saturn’s moon with new bodies programmed with their memories. The only problems that stand before them are a resistance group and their own ties to humanity.
And the question on everyone’s mind is, is it real?

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Candra Baguley Twitter Account

Featured Interview With M.D. Stewart

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m from a small area of southern West Virginia called St. Albans, near the capitol city of Charleston. In 1986, when I was eighteen, I moved to Ohio to be with my husband, whom I met in college. He ended up joining the Navy and we traveled up and down the East Coast. We parted ways and I was blessed with two boys. In 1995 started Beauty School and I ended up going back there to teach after a year of working in salons. After more than a decade of instructing, I starting working for the State Cosmetology Licensing Board.
In 2006, I met my current husband, who was a coal miner. He retired from the mine April 5, 2010. He was underground when the mine, Upper Big Branch, blew up. That was such a difficult time in our lives and it took years of therapy and lots of time to start the healing process. I retired in 2013 mostly due to the diagnosis of Black Lung my husband received. I wanted to spend time with him while we were both healthy enough to do the things we liked, like camping, gardening and canning.
We live in Boone County, West Virginia with our beagle Lady, two cats, and six chickens.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved music, reading and writing. I remember my mom having a living room end table that had storage underneath it. She kept her romance novels in one end table. I would sneak books out and read them starting when I was probably eight to ten years old! At that age, I didn’t understand everything the characters did, but as I grew up I did!
I took to writing poetry and eventually writing fan fiction on an author’s fan page about 20 years ago (which you know you can’t publish due to copywrite laws) but I got the writing bug then. I still have copies of those in my dresser drawer!
I started to seriously consider writing my own books when I found several unfinished books on my computer. I reread them and thought “not too bad”. I expanded on those stories and when I told my husband last year I was writing a book from a dream I had he just shrugged and said, “cool”.
I read articles on how to be successful at eBooks and his advice was to have several ready to go so fans can search for things you’ve written. He also suggested and editor. Best advice ever.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My first author I had to have every book they’d written was Christine Feehan. That was before eBooks. Actually I had all her paperbacks, also Diana Gabaldon (still have all her books), Nora Roberts, Cassie Edwards, Julie Garwood, and so many others that at one point I had close to two hundred fifty paperbacks!
Now with eBooks, I have every book put out by Laurann Dohner and Em Petrova (who happens to be my editor). I love J.R. Rain who introduced me to serial books in eBook format, and Evangeline Anderson’s Kindred books made me fall in love with hunky aliens. With Ms. Dohner, of course her New Species books captured me as a die-hard fan but now I have all her series. Her writing is top notch and her stories are engaging so I want to be just like her. She also was kind enough to give me advice and support then shared with me her cover artist for my latest books.
I buy lots of books so I have too many authors to name here! I just love to read and try out new authors.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Aoki, is a spin off of my original Psy-Bond Series. It’s from a character I met in the third book called The Hunter and expanded in the fourth book, Saving the Elite. I just fell in love with him. In the third book, he’s introduced as the main character’s cousin and in the fourth book, Aoki comes into his own when his adopted brother tries to murder anyone not from his home world. His book took me forever to write because I’d type, hate it and delete it and start over. My inspiration for Aoki is Brock O’Hurn so I thought the man deserved a hot, sexy book with a great story. I think I finally got it too.
The shame Aoki feels at his brother’s treachery on his home world, leads him leave Otron for an experimental program on Earth where humans temporarily live with aliens from Otron and the Beings (aliens introduced in the Psy-Bond Series) to learn about each other’s culture. While at the Exchange House he meets the male Being alien named Flynn and the human female Charley who is only there because the military thought she was a man because of her name. Of course each person has their own issues. Aoki is filled with shame from his brother’s actions on Otron and feels he’ll be judged harshly. He’s afraid to trust too deeply.
Flynn has just gained emotions since his people, The Beings, have lost their ability to feel for generations. They’ve spent years dedicated to the study of science and space travel. He was part of the group of Beings secretly on Earth studying humans to find out why his people could no longer procreate. His new emotions are so foreign to him and he’s not sure how to act or react.
Charley is overweight and suffers with lots of self-esteem issues. She is attracted to both gorgeous male aliens but feels they could never be attracted to her. Together they each have to learn not only each other’s culture but how to love and trust each other in an unusual ménage relationship.

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M.D. Stewart Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Mitzi C

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Mitzi, and I was raised in Utah and Idaho. I currently live in southeastern Idaho with an 11-year-old cat named Susie. <3

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I became fascinated with books as soon as I learned how to read. My mom took us to the library frequently, so I always had a book to read as a child. I started writing when I was in first grade, but didn’t start writing longer stories until I was about nine years old. Around that age I came up with a story called Uetrod and created many fictional languages to go with it. I still have the binder full of alphabets and vocabulary for the six languages I made up for the story. I plan to return to it eventually so I can publish it, as I am still very attached to that world.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I honestly don’t have any favorite authors. I’ll read anything in the sci-fi/fantasy genres that sounds good, especially if it has a little bit of romance, and I’ll read other genres as well, such as mysteries, thrillers, horror, non-fiction, humor, etc. As long as a book keeps me entertained from page 1 to the end, I’m sold, 5 stars. I am inspired to keep writing by my family, who are my biggest supporters and most trusted sources of feedback. 🙂

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Burning Space is the conclusion to The Edinön Trilogy. It took me two years to write and is 406 pages long. I am really excited about it because it is the culmination of all the conflict that was introduced in the first two books, Liquid Death and Dawning Life. I don’t want to give away any spoilers, but I will say that Kandi and Juan are much more powerful and experienced than readers might remember them. The survival of billions of people spread across multiple planets is at stake! (e-book release: October 12th / paperback release: October 26th)

Featured Interview With C. Attleya

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in the Garden of England, otherwise known as Kent, where I found the inspiration for my first two novels.
Caila in ‘The Cool Breeze of Spring – A new beginning’ loves this small but beautiful part of the world, and it becomes Rebecca’s (The Cool Breeze of Spring – Rebecca’s diary) new home.
Personally, I love pets, especially cats, but I can’t have any. That is why I gave Steve and Richard (A new beginning) two cats, and hence the appearance of another rather famous local cat.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As soon as I received my first library card, I started reading the maximum number of books I was allowed to take out every week. My worst memory is of one particular week, when I didn’t have time to go to the library and left the selection of my weekly ration to someone else. This person ignored my requests and returned with the only genre I absolutely hated: the real girly girls’ stuff.
I dreaded the week that would follow, being starved of my regular portion of action and adventure. However, that was also the week in which I started to make up my own stories and write them down.
I didn’t start writing full novels until many years later. But that mini disaster sowed he seeds for a future career.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Asking me for my favourite authors, or genre, is like asking me about my favourite ice-creams.
It depends on the weather, the season and my mood.
But, I still love action and adventure, and science fiction.
Some of my all-time favourites though are:
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time (Mark Haddon)
The Stand (Stephen King)
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Stieg Larsson)
My own writing is more inspired by my environment and current events, than by other authors: An item on the evening news, the person in front of me at the supermarket checkout, an oddly shaped tree. There lurks a story behind every item and person.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I published The Cool Breeze of spring – A new beginning and The Cool Breeze of spring – Rebecca’s diary simultaneously in August 2018.
Rebecca’s diary is a companion to the main novel, A new beginning.

One evening, I was watching some disturbing items on the evening news, and the following two questions popped into my head:
1. If I was consulted by aliens, would I agree to have most of humanity removed, to save the Earth?
2. Who would I choose as my seven companions to restart a new population?
I decided to present Caila, the protagonist in ‘A new beginning’, with these two dilemmas and see where she ended up. It was the start of quite an adventure.

Rebecca doesn’t arrive until halfway through the main story, and I never expected her to develop the way she did. However, when she did, I decided that she deserved more prominence. As a 12-year-old, she is not made partial to everything that happens in the main novel, but she is clever and has her own explanation for what she’s experiencing. I let her write it all down in her diary, uncomplicating the world around her, like only a 12-year-old can.

18 September 8.40 am – Will you be removed from Earth, when you smell that cool breeze of spring?
The Neteru are a species who seeded Earth as an ecological experiment, but now humans are about to mess up so catastrophically that Earth needs a reset. Caila and 12 other descendants of the first human seedlings are asked to advice on the future of Earth’s human population. Caila senses an instant strong connection with her Neteruian contact Mateos. But after Caila shows unexpected Neteruian skills Mateos is forced to admit that she is different from the other Khered.
After the reset Event, Caila and her group pick up some unexpected survivors. 12-year-old Rebecca is feisty and frighteningly intelligent and decides to start training as a doctor.
After an attack by self-pronounced Prime Minister Baldwin Caila is forced to confront her own complicated background. This confrontation finally fills in the blanks for Caila but comes at a great cost. Then, a second more sophisticated attack by Baldwin has catastrophic consequences for Caila’s group and threatens to derail this new beginning.

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C. Attleya’s Website

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Featured Interview With Michael Mardel

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Michael Patrick Mardel (1949-) was born near the city of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. He has trained to be a teacher-librarian ending up with a Bachelor of Education and a Graduate Diploma of Librarianship. At the age of 40 he started studying psychology as that is what he always wanted to do. He graduated with a Graduate Diploma of Applied Science (Psychology) and has spent his time since then counselling, teaching students how to drive, and being a carer.
He now lives with his wife in Darwin in the Northern Territory and they have an old Bijon Frize dog called Malibu.
In 2004 he assisted his publisher on bringing out Library Walkabout and from then on he self-published Walkabout Dreaming years 5-8 and 3-4, Sustainability in the 21st century part 1 (all revised in 2018) and part 2 (Growing your own), Computer Walkabout, Storyteller Walkabout, Music Walkabout, Psychology Walkabout and Style Manual. He wrote the Australian short stories for boys (& girls) over two years. These stories are now available from Amazon through KDP paperback and on Kindle. Other textbooks are available at his website.
Michael has now written a trilogy around the life of Paul O’Leary for middle grade readers. There are now 4 YA books: The diary of a babydyke in transition; Frack off: trouble in the high country and the Kimberley; The Mermaid and the Seahorse; Confessions of a nanny, and A Cowboy Downunder.
In between writing Michael reads for reviews.
He also has a counselling book under the pen name of Patrick Ferreira called Most common questions about surviving emotional abuse…and the answers..for men.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I enjoyed my mother reading the story “Snugglepot and Cuddlepie” by May Gibbs when I returned from school so I was probably 5 or 6. When I was in Grade 5 I remember trying to finish an Enid Blyton book (maybe “The faraway tree”) while everyone packed away the desks around me.
I started writing when I was studying for my Bachelor of Education. I wrote a poem around being wakened at 5 in the morning and it was cold.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Joanna Penn
Freeman
Ronan
Genre: mysteries
Inspiration: Penn and Freeman

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Computer Walkabout is a textbook for upper primary students and those who wish to learn about Office 365 and Word 2016.

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Michael Mardel Facebook Page

Michael Mardel Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Sam Astrophel

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up and still live in Athens, Greece, with my partner and our fluffy babies. I studied Philosophy and History of Science, and am currently doing my masters in Human Rights and Education while at the same time having anxiety, many feelings, and an inconvenient impostor’s syndrome. I adore poetry – especially Richard Siken and Azra Tabassum – rainy weather, fanfiction and songs with banjoes that remind you of fall. I am passionate about intersectional feminism, LGBTQI, immigrant and refugee rights.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been reading ever since I remember myself. I used to visit other kids’ homes and be that asshole that ignored them while hiding with their books under the stairs, because “Mama, we don’t have this at home!” I started writing right when I figured out the alphabet, at age 4. I remember my intense fixation with books starting with Harry Potter though, at six. I remember when I finished the Chamber of Secrets that summer, I threw a party with my family where I made them all have stick-and-poke Harry Potter tattooes to celebrate, gave away “free Harry Potter bookmarks” and made peach sorbet with my gran’s help.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I adore reading poetry and novels written in verse. The stormier the better. This is why I love Azra Tabassum, Richard Siken, Andrea Gibson and Charly Cox and I think their work has been my main inspiration in my writings. When it comes to the classics, I adore John Keats, Thomas Hardy, Christina Rossetti and Victor Hugo’s poems. I love reading many genres, but I have a preference in characters from diverse cultural backgrounds, with diverse sexual orientations and gender identities. It’s very important to see people like you represented in fiction and poetry. I recently read Under the Udala Trees by Chinelo Okparanta, telling the story of a lesbian girl growing up in Nigeria. When it comes to fiction, I adore the writings of Ruth Ozeki, especially All Over Creation, and the spectacular way in which Jeanette Winterson uses her words, mingling science, the stars, biography and dreams.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a poetry collection called Constellations with Batteries and Sellotape, and it deals with the intense way we feel things during young adulthood, the ambiguities of growing independent and feeling helpless. It’s all autobiographical, tracing my (embarrassingly tumultuous, but such is life) crush on and eventually relationship with my partner, dealing with my closeted nonbinary identity within my family, with the way I’ve experienced anxiety and mental illness in general, and the disturbingly strong feelings I sometimes have about jasmines.

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Sam Astrophel Facebook Page