Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Rajashree Srivastava

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Well, I was born and brought up in a small mining town of Talcher in India, Now I live in the capital New Delhi.
Pets, well… I used to have love birds until I starved them to death (it was unintentional really!)

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I guess when I read my first book, The Thorn Birds by Collen McCollough. I was probably 12 and that book introduced me to the beauty of words.
I started early, i remember writing Diary entries (I wonder where those diaries went), writing had always been a passion for me, Fountain pens and coloured papers intensified my love of writing and I still use them.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I loved Collen McCollough and also Gone with the wind by Margaret Mitchel made me love literature even more.
I idolise Leo Tolstoy and Harper Lee. I have many favorites
I love to read Classics and paranormal mysteries, historical mysteries are my favorite genre. In fact, I can read anything and everything

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Enchanted By those Magnificent Ruins is a story that revolves around the Legend of Bhangarh; a city that diminished to nothingness “mysteriously” within a night. My book retells the story of a curse but in a totally unexpected way. A cursed ruin, a historical mystery and a mortal in love with dead; that’s pretty much the hot ingredient in it.

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Rajashree Srivastava’s Website

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Featured Interview With Ben and Eliza Langdon

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Eliza is thirteen years old, enjoys binge-watching TV series and goes to high school in a small coastal town in Victoria, Australia. She really loves animals and has a small community of guinea pigs at the moment, which she shares with her little brother, Luca.

Ben is Eliza’s dad, and is a school teacher and author of superhero fiction. Funnily enough, he lives in the same coastal town as Eliza and ends up having to take care of her guinea pigs when she gets distracted.

Together they spend lots of time talking up new worlds, exploring characters and situations, and basically imagining together. Most of the time it’s exciting and full of enthusiastic energy – while at other times it gets a bit silly!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
This is a funny story. Over the Christmas holidays of 2014-2015, Eliza came into the lounge room and flopped on the sofa. “I hate reading!” she said. “Why can’t they make movies of all the books because I’d prefer to watch this than have to read it.”

As an English teacher, Ben was aghast.

Right then and there, Ben and Eliza worked together to create a character that would hook Eliza, and a story for that character which would be such a page-turner that she’d change her ways. And so, Charlie Conti was born and her first adventure: Small Sacrifices was written.

Eliza is now a voracious reader and consumes Jacqueline Wilson books like you wouldn’t believe, as well as pretty much anything she can get her hands on.

Ben’s been a comic book reader since he was 14 and for the following four years he didn’t really read anything except the exploits of the Uncanny X-Men. The good news is that this foray into superhero comics helped make him into a superhero fiction writer. He’s been writing for the past seven years and has written two novels, edited two short story anthologies and been on a couple of comic con panels talking about heroes and superhero fiction.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Eliza is a huge fan of Jacqueline Wilson books, which is good because there are SO MANY of her books out there. She likes to read about girls her age or a bit older, and enjoys problems that come up in their lives.

Ben loves reading anything, but some of his current favourite authors are Favel Parret, Christos Tsiolkas, Patrick Ness and (most recently) Nnedi Okorafora.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Adventures of Charlie Conti is about a 14 year old girl who is forced to move to a new town and a new school because her father is a down-on-his-luck, two-bit super villain minion who has a bounty on his head. They are forced to go into hiding in a small coastal town, and it’s here that Charlie tries to make a normal life for herself.

She has to look after her incompetent father and her over-excited little brother, while also making new friends (and enemies), falling for the wrong kind of boy and slowly realising that something is very wrong with the town of Henty Bay.

The book is illustrated by Lorin Olsen and it was a fantastic experience working with two authors and an illustrator to come up wth the characters and settings. Loren would work on a picture based on Eliza and Ben’s descriptions, and then when the picture came back it would impact on the story. So it was a back and forth process.

The end result is that the characters really live.

Charlie Conti is a girl you’ll come to love and you won’t forget.

We hope you’ll take a look into her life too.

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Ben and Eliza Langdon’s Website

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Featured Interview With Ian Andrew

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Northern Ireland, served in the UK’s Royal Air Force as an Intelligence Officer and then, after twenty years’ service, relocated to Western Australia. My wife and I are very lucky to live in an idyllic part of Australia’s south-west and although we don’t have pets as such, we are surrounded on a daily basis by a resident mob of Kangaroos, flocks of pelicans, parrots and cockatoos and Magnus, our very tame, wild magpie. Given those surroundings, it’s hard not to be creative.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I grew up in a house stuffed full of books and had parents who always encouraged my sisters and me to read. Obviously, they also encouraged us to be outside and active, but if we were reading, that was a perfectly acceptable alternative. That tolerance for, and love in, books was infectious. I suppose I didn’t really consider, like most kids, where the books came from or how they had been written, until a girl in my Primary school won a BBC writing competition. I can recall in clarity our whole class, sitting on the floor in a semicircle around the radio, listening to the wonderful diction of the announcer reading the story. I remember being so very impressed and decided I’d give it a go. From then on I produced poems and short stories. However, other than the occasional airing of some light-hearted rhymes being used at social functions, my writing stayed mostly under wraps. I suppose I always figured I might write a novel, but it wasn’t until 2009 that I seriously put effort into it. That book, ‘A Time To Every Purpose’ was released in 2014.

It is an alternative history, based on one of those fascinating “What-If” moments. Those fleeting happenstances, when a single person could have decided to go a different way and, by that single action, changed the world. Set slightly in the future, in a society dominated by a horrendous regime, it also singles out that moment when people stand up for their beliefs and by doing so, challenge the status quo. Its positive reception and equally positive reviews, gave me the confidence to move forward with the idea of a series of detective novels.

The first, ‘Face Value’, was released in May 2015 and introduced Kara Wright and Tien Tran. The story sees siblings Zoe and Michael Sterling insisting that their middle-aged parents have gone missing. Kara and Tien are at first sceptical and then quickly intrigued; the father, ex-intelligence analyst Chris Sterling, appears to be involved with an elusive Russian thug. Using less than orthodox methods and the services of ex-colleagues with highly specialised talents, Wright and Tran take on the case. But the truth they uncover is far from simple and will shake Zoe and Michael as much as it will challenge Tien and anger Kara; anger she can ill afford, for she is being hunted by others for the killing of a street predator who chose the wrong prey.

Once more the reception for the book was positive and so I wrote the latest in the series, ‘Flight Path’.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
A lot of YA authors plus some of the mainstays. Tolkien, Graves, Kipling, C.S.Lewis, Carroll, Pullman, Marsden, Muchamore and of course Ms Rowling. Add to that a love of Shakespeare, a shelf full of Michael Connolly and a passion for the writing of Steven Moffat, the creator of the TV series Sherlock and the show runner of Doctor Who and much more besides. His writing is utterly mesmerizing. Given that list, I am sure you can see I don’t have a particular genre, but on balance, I guess the majority of the books on my shelves would be crime thrillers. Even my favourite Shakespeare play, Julius Cesar, has a stabbing central to the plot.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I suppose it’s a simple case of Wright and Tran are back, although it was by far the most challenging book for me to write to date. Being the second in the series, I had to find a balance that would accommodate readers who had read the first instalment and therefore, “knew things” with those readers who knew nothing of what went before. That took quite a bit of drafting and redrafting. Thankfully, according to the initial reviews, it seems I managed to achieve the balance.

It was also the first book that I had a “clear run” at, as I decided to take time away from my “day job” to concentrate wholly on writing. Besides being a wonderfully focussed experience, it also meant the book was finished much more quickly than the two previous titles. All in all, Flight Path took me six months from start to finish, including editing and redrafts and I think it is all the better for that.

However, it still needed a plot that would grip readers, so it begins with the enigmatic Franklyn, who is introduced at the end of Face Value, contacting Kara and Tien, “to make sure the dead are really dead.” That leads to them investigating the apparent suicide of a local celebrity. A simple, straightforward case soon becomes anything but, as within days the women are embarked on a pursuit that leads halfway around the globe and into the darkest recesses of the human condition. Kara, Tien and their team endure mental stress worse than anything they experienced from combat and, like combat, not everyone makes it home.

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Ian Andrew’s Website

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Featured Interview With Jennifer McCoy Blaske

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in the Bronx, moved to Pennsylvania when I was two, and have lived in Atlanta my entire adult life. I have three kids, two cats, and one husband.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I remember my mother coming into my room early on Saturday mornings when I was about ten, telling me to please stop typing because they were trying to sleep. I actually submitted my first manuscript to Dell Yearling when I was in fifth grade. Why Dell Yearling? Because they were the publisher of Judy Blume’s Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret. They rejected it, of course, but wrote an extremely kind, encouraging letter that I still have to this day.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Interestingly, these days I’ve been enjoying crime novels and psychological thrillers, which is completely different than my own writing style.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Confessions of a Wedding Musician Mom was originally inspired by own experience starting out playing the piano professionally and how the kids can get in the way of your business and, well, everything else. It quickly morphed into a completely fictional story that still somehow echoes my real life.

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Jennifer McCoy Blaske’s Website

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Featured Interview With Gary Szenderski

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in the Midwest – Toledo, Ohio. Oldest of seven. Moved out of the house early to make room. I started in college as an English major, switched to Geochemistry (I liked the professor), but ultimately graduated with a BS degree in Communications. After college I worked in media (radio and TV) for a few years in Toledo and then heard the calling to Los Angeles where I stayed in media working for newspapers including the Los Angeles Times.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
While at the L.A. Times I learned to write headlines and ad copy and then joined the ad agency world which now some 30 years later, still doing and loving the same things like writing and design but also learned to love marketing and how strategic planning changes worlds all the time. I now teach one aspect of that at the University of California, Irvine, where I have taught Branding since 2003.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ve had many favorites over the years from Eric Fromm’s The Art of Loving, to every single Robert Ludlum book. One of the most profound authors I’ve read is John O’Donohue who wrote Beauty, The Invisible Embrace. His talent and style is unmatched in my view. And in that genre of philosophy, self-help and a little poetry included, I’d add David Whyte who wrote: “Anything or anyone that does not bring you alive is too small for you.” I have read everything from Mike Dooley, most of Deepak Choopra, and am currently reading Sapiens- A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari. And, finally, very many business books dealing with change as that is my area of specialty in marketing – working with brands and organizations going through transition.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The general overarching theme of the book The SZEN ZONE – Reaching a State of Positive Change, is change and all of the aspects of it – creating, surviving, and managing change with the goal to recognize the power we have to create positive change in our lives and be what we want to be.

Topics covered include productivity, letting go of the past, embracing the potential of the future, and learning to take chances.

If you are a fan of short inspirational stories like those in the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, then this is a book you would certainly enjoy. Wherever you may find yourself in life, you will discover an insight or example in this book to help you change course and take charge of your life.

Whereas ZEN is of the moment and what is, SZEN celebrates what could be.

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Gary Szenderski’s Website

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Featured Interview With Brittany Barbera

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
People tell me things. Personal things. Embarrassing things. Weird things, for sure. I’ve had lots of conversations with a variety of people, and I’ve learned we all have quite a bit more in common that we often admit. I guess you could say that I like to talk about the things most people want to keep to themselves, because I’ve learned that joy and pain, success and insecurity, confidence and fear, they’re all part of the human experience.

I’m originally from Bethlehem, PA and have been living in Nashville, TN for the past 5 years. I’m a singer/songwriter and I recently wrote my first (and #1 best-selling!) book, “Let Me Be Weak: What People in Pain Wish They Could Tell You.” It’s based off a song I wrote with the same name (https://t.co/UudfQRnlp5) and each of the lyrics became the chapter titles in the book.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been a book worm. I even worked as a librarian for short stint back in the day. I love to learn and naturally gravitate toward non-fiction books. When I was around 8 or 9 years old, I started to write poetry and had a lot of fun. I’ve since written magazine articles, scripts, a thesis (for my college degree), songs—and eventually my book. I never concentrated on making writing the end goal, but it was always a skill I was developing.

Basically, I view it the way I view athletic training. I never set out to be a runner, but I loved to play basketball growing up. Part of being a good basketball player is being able to run quickly and have endurance throughout the game. By default, I got better at running and became more fit because our basketball team was required to run and practice drills every day.

As a writer, I had a similar experience. Though my focus was often on something else (a performance of a play or a song / a presentation at an academic conference etc.), I had to continually practice writing and improve those skills in order to complete my projects and successfully accomplish my goals. Thankfully, by the time I decided to write a book, I had already devoted a lot of time to developing the craft.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Favorite Authors: Brene Brown, Anne Lamott, Donald Miller, Brennan Manning, Beth Moore, Dr. Henry Cloud
Favorite Genre to Read: Self-Help, Christian Living, Psychology/Counseling, Humor

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I write non-fiction, so my ideas often stem from personal experience or things I’ve learned through watching others. I’ve done a lot of informal counseling in my personal life and knew I could contribute to that space, and hopefully help a lot of people who are struggling. I’m also a musician and I was working on a song idea that resonated deeply with me. I thought it would also connect with others and wondered if I could expand the song into a book. Once I dissected the song,I eventually used the lyrics as a guide and they became the chapter titles of the book. After I wrote a rough outline and realized that I actually did have a substantial amount of information to share and could craft into a book, it cemented the idea in my mind and I started writing.

“Let Me Be Weak: What People in Pain Wish They Could Tell You” is about understanding and articulating our emotions, particularly in times of crisis and grief. If you’ve ever wished you knew what to say when someone you love is hurting, this book was written for you. Through examining themes of grief and loss, boundary setting, compassion, and faith in times of distress, this book will help you become the type of person others can trust with their pain, as you learn how to love and support the suffering in your midst. Basically, if we ever find ourselves in emotional pain, it’s the book we’d wish all of our friends and family would read before trying to “help” us.

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Brittany Barbera’s Website

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Featured Interview With Elizabeth J. M. Walker

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Elizabeth J. M. Walker, but a lot of people just call me Beth. I live in Canada with my husband, Alexander Zelenyj (he’s a writer too!). We have two cats – Lucy and Callie. They’re currently napping on the couch together.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been fascinated with books! My mom would take me to the library before I even started kindergarten and I can remember browsing the shelves and picking out all the wonderful books to take home. “Making books” was one of my favourite activities as a child. I’m pretty sure “Book” and “By Beth” are three of the first words I learned how to print.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love YA fantasy. I loved Tamora Pierce as a teen and I love all the latest YA fantasy authors, such as Sarah J. Maas and Kristin Cashore. I recently read the Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson and really enjoyed it. I’m sure I’m forgetting to mention five thousand other authors I like to read, but those are the ones that are coming to mind at the moment. I really don’t have a single favourite author (or even a top three). I’m horrible at picking “favourites” of anything.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a young adult vampire comedy novella. That was a pretty long description for a pretty short book. It’s a fun and quick read and it has vampires who bite people. Here is the more official synopsis:

Lana is a high school senior enrolled in Vampire Education – a class to teach students about the very real presence of vampires in the world. Lana and her classmates don’t really expect to meet up with any undead bloodsuckers. Vampires are a lot like other scary things that supposedly exist but you hope you’ll never come across: nudist colonies, mad cow disease, and your parents’ sex life. What is part of Lana’s everyday reality is navigating through one last year of high school while desperately trying to be less nerdy. She still loves spaceships, fantasy novels, and cat stickers, but she also recently got her braces removed, grew boobs, and is working on the makeup thing. She never expected her crush-of-a-lifetime Pete to even notice her – let alone ask her out on a date. The date is going great until Pete’s ex-girlfriend Katy shows up, all bloody and pissed off. Lana quickly realizes that Katy is not just her ordinary bitchy self – she has been turned into a vampire which, in turn, takes Lana and Pete’s date from a hot and steamy make-out session to an unexpected vampire-hunting expedition.

My other book is a young adult fantasy novel: She Dreamed of Dragons. It’s a fun and lighthearted fantasy story. It’s a lot less intense than other YA fantasy that’s currently popular, so I feel like it’s somewhere in-between MG and YA…It’s perfectly suitable for younger readers (see: This Night Sucks = not suitable for younger readers). She Dreamed of Dragons is about a girl named Trina who attends a competition to name the next successor to the throne. The competition includes things like dancing and quiz shows. Trina is a dragon mage – so she has fire powers!

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Elizabeth J. M. Walker’s Website

Elizabeth J. M. Walker Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Jill Blake

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a former Philly girl, transplanted to Southern California where I now live with my husband and three children. During the day, I work as a physician in a busy medical practice. At night, I pen steamy contemporary romances.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As a kid, I used to watch old reruns of “Bonanza.” Even at age seven, I got annoyed over the fact that all the women seemed to move away or get killed off within one episode. None of them ever came back for a recurring guest role, so no “happily ever after” for the Cartwright boys. I rewrote the scripts, with yours truly in the starring role, and for several seasons I lived a double life: by day, elementary school kid, by night, daring and heroic foreman (forewoman?) running the Ponderosa ranch in 1870s Nevada.
Fast-forward a few decades, and I had accumulated boxes of miscellaneous writing—most of it unfinished manuscripts. With each move due to job change and/or growing family, those boxes came along. At my husband’s repeated prompting, I finally pulled out those moldering pages, and started reading. I remembered how much I loved the whole writing process. I enjoy it even more now that research can be done online, and storage goes to a cloud. So here I am, back to scribbling (typing) away…

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Contemporary Romance: Nora Roberts, Jill Shalvis, Sarah Mayberry, Kate Hardy, Maya Banks. Historical Romance: Stephanie Laurens, Julia Quinn. Other: Leon Uris (Exodus: Ari is still one of my all-time favorite alpha heroes!). Howard Fast, Irwin Shaw, John Updike, Joe Konrath, Tess Gerritsen.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
What happens when you suddenly wake up and realize that you hate the life you’re living?
That question was my starting point for Sweet Indulgence, book two of my Silicon Beach Trilogy.

Becca Markham is thirty-two years old. On the surface, she seems to be leading the dream life. She has a job that pays well and allows her to work from home. Her live-in boyfriend is an orthopedic surgeon who’s gotten her father’s stamp of approval.

But the brutal hours and deadline-driven stress of working as a software engineer leave her no time to enjoy a personal life. And after six years together, she finds out that her boyfriend is cheating.

So Becca decides to press the reset button. She quits her job, dumps her boyfriend, and sets out on a journey of self-discovery. Along the way, she finds out that the path to fulfillment is full of detours, and love comes along when you least expect it.

Because I write romance, Becca’s story has a happy ending. And because I like to buck the trend, the hero is a *nice* guy. Sure, he’s got some quirks and flaws. But ultimately he proves to Becca—and to us—that a man doesn’t have to be a bad boy or damaged or even particularly jaded in order to get the girl.

So pull up a comfy chair, sit back, and enjoy Becca and Leo’s story.

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Jill Blake’s Website

Jill Blake Facebook Page

Jill Blake Twitter Account

Featured Interview With G.G. Silverman

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up north of Boston, but I currently live north of Seattle. Boston and Seattle share a few similarities: both are by the water, but, weather wise, Boston tends to be more extreme. I think Bostonians spend more time indoors, whereas in Seattle, yes, winters are rainy, but you can still hike, and summers are mind-blowingly gorgeous. In fact, I think it’s more difficult to be a writer in Seattle because you want to spend more time outside. But then again, Seattle as a whole is more outwardly literary and supportive of writers, so I guess the whole equation balances out.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have loved books ever since I was old enough to read at about 6 years of age. I remember being so thrilled to learn how to read that I immediately went home and read a Dr. Seuss book out loud to my three-year-old brother. Then I developed an early fascination with the macabre due to some clandestine horror movie watching around that time, and wrote my first horror story at about the age of 8 or 9. My art teacher that year gave us blank picture books to write and draw in, so I wrote a tacky little horror story called “Tara and the Haunted Doll”, in which my friend Tara became the unwitting owner of a blood-thirsty Barbie (who somehow had a knife, of course) and it would come alive after midnight and try to kill her. I remember that my friend Tara had extra glamorous hair for a nine-year-old, and I worked really hard to capture her lovely blonde locks in that story. Because it *is* possible to run away from murderous Barbies while still looking completely gorgeous. Duh! Soon after, I got my hands on a verboten copy of Stephen King’s THE SHINING, and it was all downhill from there. I was destined to be a writer of creepy things.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Right now, I’m digging speculative fiction with a literary bent. I’m reading a ton of short stories in this vein. The writer who most recently rocked my world was Jack Cady. I happened on a giveaway copy of his short story collection “Fathoms” at a writing retreat, and it showed me how a master builds intrigue and suspense. Just, wow.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called VEGAN TEENAGE ZOMBIE HUNTRESS. It’s a comedic girl-power horror novel meant for young adults, but it’s been enjoyed by people of all ages. I’ve even gotten warm fan letters from people in their sixties who are completely nuts for the book. Think of it as a mashup of that snarky cartoon DARIA, the MEAN GIRLS movie, and SHAUN OF THE DEAD. Fun, right? And the follow-up book, STONERS VS MOANERS, is coming very soon! It’s about two other kids from the same universe, how they experience the zombie apocalypse on prom night, after enjoying an, uh, illicit substance.

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G.G. Silverman’s Website

G.G. Silverman Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Paige M Hill

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Austin, TX, then moved out to SF bay area for 8 years. Recently I moved to Dallas, though I am still a practicing engineer in San Francisco. I travel back and forth. It’s confusing. The only thing constant in my life are my two dogs (Katniss and Bentley), my husband, and my writing as an outlet amongst the chaos.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was first fascinated with television and writing fan fiction for my favorite shows (Buffy the Vampire Slayer in sixth grade.) In middle school, I enjoyed a brief stint as a hard hitting journalist and Op/Ed contributor for the school newspaper. It wasn’t until I was in my late 20s that I began writing full length novels as an outlet, and as a way to enjoy stories in my favorite genres after I had finished a great series.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ve always loved reading and writing dystopian and soft-speculative stories, since I was a child. Obviously Suzanne Collins and the Hunger Games. Any novel that addresses social issues (whether historic or speculative) really pulls on my heart strings and encourages me to write in a such a way to get myself and others thinking about these issues. I do also enjoy southern, southwestern novelists: Sue Monk Kidd and Barbara Kingsolver.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I’m so excited that all six parts of my new, YA series, Eminent are released as one book: Eminent (Omnibus). Eminent pulls you into a dystopian landscape through the perspectives of Ava and Eli and a sensational weaving of their two worlds: the Plebeian world in the sectors, and the Eminent world in the Citadel.

SYNOPSIS:

Centuries ago, when the Great Virus emerged, all were blindsided… Except for the Eminent, whose founders prepared for the pandemic and successfully isolated their community within the walls of the Citadel. But the Eminent were not the only ones who survived. Eventually, the exposed Plebs gathered beyond the Citadel’s wall and built their own outer-wall to protect the sectors. To this day the Plebs still reside in these sectors, between two circular walls, governed by the reigning Eminent who continually work towards an ultimate cure.

Now, during the 120th Eminent Alignment Ceremonies, candidates are to align, as always, with one Eminent match in order to partner and create the next generation of Eminent. But this year’s Alignment is far from ordinary as 17-year-old Ava Rayner, first born daughter of Chancellor Gwen Rayner and next in line for chancellorship, is a candidate. Everyone wants to know what kind of leader will she be. Will Ava meet her mother’s and the Council’s expectations as an Eminent loyalist, or will her judgment continue to be clouded by the memory of her father, the late Chancellor who went missing beyond the outer-wall?

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Paige M Hill’s Website

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Featured Interview With Ed Duncan

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Gary, Indiana, which is about 30 miles east of Chicago. At one time, the city was home to the largest steel mill in the country. I’ve lived in Cleveland, Ohio since graduating from law school in 1974. I don’t have any pets, but my son, who lives nearby, has two: a very gentle boxer and an American bulldog puppy.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve been an avid reader since high school. I always planned to write for fun in my spare time, but there never seemed to be enough of it. In the mid-90’s while I was attending a legal seminar in Honolulu, an idea for a crime novel popped into my head. That idea ultimately resulted in my first novel, Pigeon-Blood Red, which was published in February of this year.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Some of my favorite authors are Dashiell Hammett, Ernest Hemmingway, James Jones, Somerset Maugham, Richard Wright, Ken Follett, Theodore Dreiser, Scott Turow, Dennis Lehane, Walter Mosley, Frederick Forsythe, and Lee Child. My favorite genre is crime fiction, although I read a lot of books in other genres, as well as quite a bit of non-fiction. Since I write crime fiction, the author who inspires me the most is Dashiell Hammett, and a very close second is Lee Child. Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon inspired me to try to write novels as authentic and as enduring. Child’s Jack Reacher novels inspire me to try to write novels whose storylines and dialogue are as gripping and taut as his are.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Pigeon-Blood Red tells the story of an underworld enforcer in pursuit of a man who stole a pigeon-blood red ruby necklace worth millions. The hunt takes him from Chicago to Honolulu and back, but the chase goes sideways after the hardened hit man develops a grudging respect for a couple of innocent bystanders who accidentally become embroiled in the crime: the thief’s unsuspecting wife and an old flame who comes to her rescue as the hit man closes in. The latter must decide whether to follow orders and kill them, or spare them and endanger the life of the woman he loves.

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Featured Interview With Jonny Oates

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Little bio about self:
Raised in Western Victoria by a nurse and a car mechanic. Two younger sisters. Was a slow learner to start (A sick child), but later caught up and excelled in Math and Physics in secondary school. Developed a love for flying and started self-funded flying lessons from age 13 (theory only, 15 actual flight lessons). Private pilot’s license at age 17, commercial license at age 19 and air transport license at age 21. Airline first officer at age 24, captain at age 29. Current aircraft Boeing 737.
Now married with kids. Avid reader of philosophy, psychology and history. Also a large reader of finance books, recently completing Graduate Certificate in Applied Finance.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books have been a large part of my life from the start of secondary school. Many aviation and science books in earlier years and later years self-help, philosophy, history and finance mainly. I don’t read enough fiction, but that is planned to change in the future.
I only started writing for publication last year. An idea for a book was initially born to help my children – how can a pass on some of what I know now, that i wish I had known years ago. What started as an idea to help my children only, developed into a book looking at all of life’s difficulties to help anyone.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Some of my favourite authors and/or people of inspiration include:

Dale Carnegie,
Benjamin Graham,
Warren Buffett
Bill Gates,
Elon Musk,
Chris Hadfield,
Jim Rogers,
Louann Brizendine

And many more

Tell us a little about your latest book?
From the website:

About this book
Life: what is it all about? Why do we often approach it the wrong way? Why are there so many pitfalls we have to be careful of?
We all want the best for our offspring as they grow into adulthood. We want them to have WISDOM, to learn from our mistakes, to be aware of the wonderful and not-so-wonderful aspects of the world. How can we enhance our life and theirs using positive psychology, knowledge and awareness?
The world is rapidly changing; it has many problems. Wouldn’t life be easier if we were given a manual on the human condition, an operating guide to human emotions including some sound, thought-out advice?
If I were to die tomorrow, what would I leave to help and guide others? Could I reflect on my life and that of others in order to help my children and society?
These are some of the questions the author had in mind in developing Wisdom for My Son and Daughter. The author touches on many subjects of immense interest and sometimes controversy. Psychology, philosophy, science, politics and religion are all looked at in relation to life, with pragmatic reasoning.
This could be the book that gives you the life perspective you need, or a great gift for someone that is struggling in their life.

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Featured Interview With Paul Venosdel

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My love for baseball began when I was five years old and continues today. I manages players ages 6-14. in more than 400 games over the last nine years, winning more than 60%, including 13 Championships in Travel ball, League, and Tournament. I believe inspiring kids matters most and instilling truth, confidence, and character in the lives of children is huge!

I was raised in the Central Valley of California. I moved to Idaho about ten years ago. We do have a pet, the family cat named Mojo.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
The last couple of years I really became a reader but growing up as a kid I didn’t have much interest. I think that is a big reason why school was boring and hard for me.

I started writing last year. When I saw the amount of crying during youth baseball games it got me inspired to tackle the problem through a fiction book aimed at 10-12 year old boys.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
John Grisham and Dr. Charles Stanley are my favorites. Ruthie Knoblock inspired me to write my current book.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The book is based on my experience with youth baseball over the last nine years.

Brent, the coach’s son, is his father’s best player on the 12-year-old Little League baseball team. The team is playing for the State Championship. His team is ready. They expect to win. But outbursts of uncontrollable anger from players, their parents, coaches, and officials threaten Brent’s enthusiasm and concentration for the big game. Game Day comes, and Brent’s nerves and emotions are a wreck. Then some unexpected events during the Baseball Championship event open his eyes to a score that really counts, even after the Championship game. It was a close and exciting game, but Brent is excited about an entirely different score.

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Featured Interview With April Dawn Agnew

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. After six years of relocating to Alexander, Arkansas, I returned to Little Rock after my father passed away this year. I am single with no children and have always lived with my parents. Once I purchased my first home, after graduating college, they moved with me. I am a Kindergaryen teacher by profession but use many of my God given talents to live out my destiny and live life to the fullest!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have been writing since childhood. When my older siblings and I would sing together I would complain to my mom that they would not let me lead any songs and said my voice was not for leading songs. She would say, “Go write a poem then…” It was so frustrating but she I would do just what she said. After realizing that I had a natural gift for orating, she began cultivating my gift through the church and my school and the rest is history! God gets all glory for my writing!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love the bible. It is and has been my favorite book since childhood- thanks to my parents. I love reading Maya Angelou’s books and poems. My favorite genre is history and Christian themed books. First and foremost God inspires my writings. My parents and my upbringing also inspire my writings. Last but not least the preached word of God inspires me often.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I have written 3 books, 1 devotional and over 30 poems. I publishing a monthly blog, The Hayah Herald on my website.

My latest book is Holy Habits. It is my 2nd published work and has just been released through Tate Publishing Company. It took me almost two years to finish this inspirational non-fiction book.

The synopsis below gives a brief overview of Holy Habits.

Habits—everybody has them. We have vices that have developed over time that make up the whole of who we are. From our attitudes to our behaviors, we have developed and conformed to a way of life that we have accepted as “that’s just me.” Though they may be detrimental to our very being and work against the victory and abundance God has promised us through Christ, we rarely work toward breaking our habits. We don’t have to settle in this lifestyle we have become accustomed to. If we must have them, why not develop habits that will work for us and not against us?

In Holy Habits, April encourages the believer to enlist into God’s spiritual army. As you enter the warfare of your faith and the fight of your righteous life, you must activate your weapons of spiritual mass destruction so that you can receive deliverance and healing. There is refuge in God, and you will win this war through Christ as you develop Holy Habits.

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Featured Interview With Pupola

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Pupola was born in Dhaka, Bangladesh. Her mother is Shayla S. Ali and father is Dr. Ashraf Ali. Her first year was spent in Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) campus in teachers’ quarters. She immigrated to USA with her parents when she was two years old. Her parents moved around quite a bit within continental USA. Pupola completed her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science from University of Washington in Seattle. She and her husband lived in Norman, Oklahoma from 2010 to 2014. They now live in Seattle area with their baby boy Ethan. She has published two collections of poetry books, “Random Chemicals and Snotty Love Poems” and “A Mindful Wilderness”.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Both around sixth grade.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Jules Vern, Jane Yolen, and H. G. Wells for both. I like fantasy, sci-fi, and contemporary.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
In the near future, Burgundy Hues, a teenage girl will die from the Felern virus with no cure yet. Death is imminent, and the end is a painful one. Burgundy Hues sadly has found herself in such ‘shoes’. One comforting technological solution emerged. A virtual reality machine called the V.R. Switcher is available for Felern victims.

Burgundy was selected as a lucky candidate for the V.R. Switcher. Hope is contained in a dream come true. What will Burgundy choose?

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Featured Interview With A.E. Kendall

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Honolulu and currently live in San Francisco where I’ve been since 1991. I am married and we have one cat, Weasel (who was really christened Isabella). Our other sweet cat, Rat, passed a few years ago.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved to read and was encouraged to do so by my mother who would take my brothers and sisters and I by bus to the main library downtown. A huge and beautiful structure with lots of nooks and crannies including the requisite scary basement! This love of reading carried me through my teenage years and lead me to exploring writing at age 12. When I wanted to learn about a subject, I would go to the school library, read on the subject and then write up a paper about my findings. Lol! From there, I began writing “fan-fiction” of other books I had read and loved as a teen.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are those that can elicit strong passion and feelings of angst and yet have that requisite happy ending. So, of course that lead me to M/M romance novels. Right up there for me are Gordon Merrick, Harper Fox, Lisa Henry & Kindle Alexander.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Into the Maelstrom is Book 2 in my Clash at Sea series chronicling the romance between a handsome, sexy pirate named Galen and the young French lord he captures at sea. In Book 1, The Quartermaster & the Marquis’ Son, the young and naive Michel is on his way to St. Christopher, Jamaica to reunite with his elder brother Alain who was forced to leave France to avoid a family scandal. En route, Michel’s ship is besieged by buccaneers and he is taken captive by their quartermaster, Galen. The Quartermaster & the Marquis’ Son promises plenty of sea-going action, humor, fierce battles as well as well-placed steamy, hot M/M action between two unlikely lovers.

Book 2 continues their romantic saga and struggle to maintain their love despite being from two very different worlds. It begins with our seasoned rover Galen and our young nobleman Michel and the rest of the Emissary’s crew’s arrival in Jamaica. The stakes are raised when Michel is reunited with Alain, now an influential French lord in Jamaica. Galen, as captain of the Emissary, has his eye on chasing the Spanish Galleons come June. But much as in the Old World, rovers and aristocrats don’t mix and their love is once again put to the test.

While Michel is ecstatic to be reunited with his brother and re-enter high society, Galen perceives Alain and his growing influence over Michel as problematic and a threat to their relationship. Is Alain truly the loving, protective, elder brother willing to sacrifice everything to save Michel from danger and ruin? Or is he the scheming, manipulative interloper Galen believes must be stopped at all cost?

In this book we learn more about Galen, where he came from and what drives him. We are also introduced to the true Alain, and are forced to consider that Galen may have been right from the very beginning, that planters and rovers don’t mix.

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Featured Interview With Sharon Stiles

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and live in Bristol in the UK. I started off working as a video editor but had always had a fascination with the power of the mind. I went on a weekend hypnosis course and was instantly hooked so trained as a hypnotherapist and qualified in 2002.

My life has always been filled with creativity, whether it’s reading, writing, drawing, taking photographs, acting or knitting.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have been reading for as long as I can remember. Both my parents were avid readers and when I ran out of children’s books at the library I started reading theirs. I would never go anywhere without a book which is why I love ereaders because I can take as many books with me as I want to. I always loved writing at school but tended to just start writing without having any idea where the story was going to end. I now plan my writing more.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
The books that I tend to read the most are mysteries, historical novels, self help books and science fiction/fantasy. I read self help books and personal experiences to increase my knowledge of the mind and how it affects people so that I cam improve the work I do. When I read purely for pleasure I am looking for a good story that I don’t want to put down. I don’t really have a favourite author.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is “Stop Trying To Be Positive: How to reduce negative thoughts without forcing yourself to be positive”. It was written because I regularly see people who are anxious and have negative thoughts and they struggle even more because they are told they should be positive. When I tell them to forget trying to be positive they usually heave a huge sigh of relief.

The book looks at both mental and practical ways to reduce negative thoughts in the easiest way. They are all things that I use with my clients. It is a fairly short book because when people feel overwhelmed the last thing they want to do is read a long book. So, I have put in the techniques and lifestyle changes that I think make the biggest difference with the least effort. Some people have read it all in one go but it is designed to be taken a chapter at a time and as slowly as you want. I have put the things that I think make the biggest difference at the start but it can be read out of order if there is a specific area you want to look at.

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Featured Interview With Monique Joiner Siedlak

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Long Island, New York. Although I absolutely love it there, the winters, not so much. I’ve been living in Florida for 22 years now. I, more like we, have five cats: Cupcake, Midnight, Sammy, Spencer and Princess Anna, as well as two Chocolate Labs: Roscoe and Aza.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I first discovered reading in the fifth grade. We had to read a certain amount of books a week so we could get to the goal set at the end of the school year. I didn’t want to do it. I was moved from one school to another because of zoning and left friends behind in that school. The teacher gave me a Nancy Drew book warning me that I would want to read more of them and only two would count towards goal. She was right. I read all of them. I actually started writing about the same time. I actually had an article published in the Archie’s comics when I was 12.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genres are horror and paranormal whether it ‘s romance or drama. My all time favorite author is Stephen King. I love how he thinks. I also enjoy Maggie Shayne, Christine Feehan and Kresley Cole. I suppose they all inspire me, since I enjoy their work so, but I also do the what if.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is about meditation. Before getting remarried, I was a single mom to five kids. All I did was work. If it wasn’t for meditation, I really believe I would have had a nervous breakdown or headed towards some type of depression.

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Featured Interview With Valerie Tate

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in a nineteenth century cottage in Ontario, Canada. My passion, besides writing of course, is horses and the sport of Dressage. I have owned three horses in my life. Two are now gone. The third, Devon, is a Canadian Sport Horse/Arab cross. Dogs, specifically Jack Russell Terriers, have played a big part in my life. My current JRT is Jamie, a rambunctious bundle of energy.
I write cozy mysteries. CATNIP and HORSE SENSE are the first books in the Dunbarton Mysteries series.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been an avid reader. I remember a fellow student in high school asking me facetiously, “Read any good books lately.” I had and I told him about them at great length.
My writing started at age twelve – a short story about a ghost pirate ship. Prior to that the only writing I’d done was for school assignments. Since that time, I’ve written short stories (in English and French) poetry, articles for my university paper and four novels. The first novel is in a drawer somewhere.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My genre of choice is the mystery, from Agatha Christie and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to Kathy Reichs. I love mysteries with humour. Elizabeth Peters has been a big influence on my own writing.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Frog Legs is the third in the Dunbarton Mysteries series that began with Catnip and Horse Sense. Chris and Alicia Mallory have returned and now have a Jack Russell Terrier named Charlie. It took more than a year to write because things kept happening in the story that I hadn’t intended – marital difficulties, disastrous romances, secrets and suspicions that threaten a marriage, even the arrival of a Witch in town. The Wicca story line was not something I’d thought of when I started the book.

Frog Legs is an environmental mystery. With all of the problems we are creating in the natural world, it seemed like a good theme to develop in this story.

Here is the blurb from the back cover.

The body was found in the early morning, face down in the murky waters of the marsh. There was no question that he had drowned. The question was did he have help? And if he did, who, among the many, irate people upon whose toes he had trod, had helped to send him on his way? The only witnesses have frog legs and they have nothing to say on the matter.
It is summer and the weather is hot but politics in Dunbarton are even hotter. At the centre of the debate is the future of a few acres of wetland, home to mosquitoes, cat-tails and frogs. Life hasn’t been the same in the normally peaceful lakeside town following a proposal to sell the local inn to a developer who plans to turn it into a world-class golf resort. The news is greeted with enthusiasm by local residents until it is learned that part of the plan involves the filling in of a large, environmentally sensitive marsh. Battle lines are drawn and, as the heat rises, so do tempers in the small town.
Chris and Alicia Mallory find themselves on opposing sides of the controversy but put aside their differences when one of the protestors is found floating in the marsh. Before long, they are on the trail of a killer and the water hazard has never been deadlier.

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Featured Interview With Dana A. Oliver

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a kind of “rags to riches” business success.  I grew up the son of a career military father with little to no disposable monies and where neither of my parents had attended college.  The expectations were to be a good person and find a profession.  In short, I worked full time during the day, and attended night school at Northeastern University, Boston, MA for ten years while receiving partial reimbursement from the businesses I worked for, with the remainder supplemented by myself.  I began as an entry level minimum wage draftsman working my way up until my present day career as the Senior Director of Research & Development for Medtronic, the world’s largest medical technology company.

Most of my adult life I lived in Weymouth, MA where I was one of four children. I graduated from Weymouth North High School, and later attended college in Boston. I accepted a job with Medtronic Surgical Technologies in June of 2002 that relocated me to Jacksonville, FL where I live with my wife Linda of 28 years, and daughter Alexandra “Lexi”.

I am an animal lover of sorts and yes, I have a small Manchester-terrier. All of my dogs over the years were either strays or adopted from pounds.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
First let me say, I was not a great student pre-college. As a matter of fact, my high school guidance counselor told me that I was not college material. That all changed after working several years following high school, and when I chose to pursue higher education. It was there where my appreciation of reading and learning took its foothold. This, by the way, is an important lesson in my eyes. It’s not ultimately your environment that positions you for success, although that clearly helps, but it’s in your heart.

Regarding my writing, two independent events over the last four years ultimately culminated in the writing of my books.  The first was while taking a leadership course at the Wharton School of Business, University of Pennsylvania where an instructor asked me what my leadership philosophies were, to which I did not have a good answer.  Thereafter, I began journaling my philosophies in attempts to craft my messaging.  Secondly, while reading John Maxwell’s The 360⁰ Leader, he spoke about writing as a stress relief mechanism to cope with work and, in particular, less than resonate leaders.  This inspired me to begin writing down my quiet observations of favorable and unfavorable leadership behaviors.  These two events were in essence the straw-man of my first book.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Given my career and profession, I tend to read business, leadership, and innovation books, and, without question, innovation and leadership are my favorite topics. I can say, without doubt, the most inspirational author for me was Daniel Goldman, who co-authored Primal Leadership. This is where I was introduced to emotionally intelligent leadership which opened my eyes and ultimately steered my leadership philosophies thereafter. Additionally, and as previously mentioned, John Maxwell clearly inspired my writing.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Mantra Design – Innovate, Buy, or Die! reveals the secrets to identifying your customer’s unmet needs and transforming them into patent protected, premium priced market share leading products.  I share my best practices and business innovation leadership philosophies that helped grow Medtronic Surgical Technologies from $100 million to approximately $2 billion in annual revenues over 14years. Mantra Design is a self-help business and innovation guide book that encompasses my 30 years of experience, and highlights what I believe are best practices in these two areas.

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