Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Lindsey Lamh

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Lindsey Lamh has been crafting creative playscapes her whole life. Her love of reading fuels her passion for storytelling. As a child, she read every book in the house and devoured whole stacks of novels from the library, working through classic literature with the excitement of a budding philosopher. Her favorite school assignments were creative writing and essays.

Lindsey attended college in Chicago at Moody Bible Institute, where her educational course was redirected from Christian ministry to the broader, more practical focus of Biblical Studies.

She married her husband, Jeffrey, in 2013 and they now have six children and a perfectly Golden family dog named Radagast. They live in South Carolina and keep busy with homeschooling, Jeffrey’s entrepreneurship, and Lindsey’s society for Christian women.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Lindsey’s been mulling over her story ideas since high school, but didn’t sit down to write seriously until 2015. Jeffrey passionately supported Lindsey’s “hobby” of writing, begging her to “stop starting new projects and just finish something!” (a plea every author needs to hear at some point).

Despite his excellent advice, Lindsey didn’t complete a project until 2021. Around this time, she received a diagnosis for a condition which is so rare and unresearched, a treatment plan has yet to be established. Suffering through an invisible type of illness alienated Lindsey from many of her support systems, resulting in a season of depression.

While slogging through this dark time, writing became a distraction from the inescapable gloom. Lindsey pressed onward by putting words on a page, learning more about herself and mental health in the meantime. She recognized she was grieving; she mourned the losses caused by her condition, and she mourned the shattered ideologies which had given shape to her life before depression broke the mold.

In 2021, Lindsey Lamh completed the first draft of a fantasy romance novel which weighed in at 170k words and was only the first installment of a 3 or 4 book series. The original idea for the story came from an email chain she and Jeffrey wrote back and forth—Lindsey giving a paragraph or two of story, and then a few optional directions the story could take from there, and Jeffrey writing back with his choice. It was a fun exercise, and one of the many ways Jeffrey has supported Lindsey in her creativity and self-expression.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Lindsey’s favorite genres are historical fiction, Victorian fiction, fantasy, short stories, poetry, and literary fiction that doesn’t fit neatly into a genre.

Within those categories C.S. Lewis is her favorite author–he’s written plenty of fantasy, poetry, and literary fiction to satisfy her love of variety! Other inspirational others include Madeleine L’Engle, Alison Croggon, Laura E. Weymouth, Naomi Novik, Neil Gaiman, Terry Pratchett, and Helena Sorensen.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
A portrait hangs in Linwood Manor, depicting the Bancroft family with their matching grey eyes and brown hair. Seven years ago, they were together in the spacious old house. Alive. Now…

Only Ambrose and Matilda Bancroft remain.

Ambrose Bancroft returns to London society with his younger sister, hoping they’ll leave ghosts of memory behind. They have only each other left. While Ambrose attempts to draw Mattie out, dragging her to balls and threatening to seek suitors for her, his sister recoils from his meddling. Finally, when Ambrose compels her to attend art class before she’s ready, Mattie paints something horrific enough to banish them from society in public disgrace.

At Linwood Manor, Mattie and Ambrose aren’t as alone as they think. Taking advantage of Mattie’s desperate need to find freedom, a vanishing room lures Ambrose’s sister into an illusory paradise. When Ambrose vows to get his sister back, by force if necessary, he finds himself up against an otherworldly power bent on her destruction and Mattie’s bitterness turned to hatred.

When Mattie commits the ultimate betrayal, Ambrose realizes he never stopped protecting her long enough to learn what she really wanted. But before he learns to let her go, Ambrose is broken in body and mind, far beyond his capacity to endure.

When the dust settles, will Mattie be lost to him forever? Will Ambrose be the last of the Bancrofts?

“A Voracious Grief” is gothic horror about grief and friendship. Life-altering grief can wear the oddest clothing. For Lindsey Lamh, it looked like losing a family member, but not to death; chronic pain that’s depressing but not debilitating; suicidal thoughts underneath a calm, cheerful persona. When no one understood her hardship, when all they had to offer were platitudes, Lindsey longed to find empathy. That’s why she writes—because she’s not the only one who’s been there.

“A Voracious Grief” is a novel that asks big questions about how we evolve beyond our traumas. It gives voice to silent suffering, reflecting what it looks like to be overwhelmed by grief. It’s a story about family ties twisted with fear. It’s about embracing pain, and daring to hope.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Lindsey Lamh’s Website

Featured Interview With Sherri Moorer

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and bred in Columbia, South Carolina, where I’ve lived my entire life. By day, I’m an Administrative Coordinator working in Professional Licensing, and all other times, I’m a writer. I live on family land with my husband of nearly 26 years and our two parrots, Zack (a 24-year-old sun conure) and Bubbles (a nine-year-old Moncks Parakeet).

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been fascinated by books. I drew in my storybooks before I learned how to read to add to the stories and was always filling notebooks with my tales. I’m thankful for computers now to make it a lot easier!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love science-fiction and mystery/suspense novels. In scifi, I like Blake Crouch and Emma Newman. In mystery, I like P.D. James and J.A. Jance. I’ve also recently discovered Tony Hillerman and his daughter, Anne Hillerman.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Broken Time is about Alessi, a theoretical physicist who makes an amazing discovery over Antarctica that comes closer to proving her theories about multiple realities and universes than anything else. Her determination to prove this theory leads her to disobey a direct order and send a message into the spatial anomaly, which leads to catastrophic consequences that threaten all of existence.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Sherri Moorer’s Website

Sherri Moorer Facebook Page

Sherri Moorer Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Arti Manani

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in West London, England and I’m a huge fan of dark suspense thrillers. I work full time in marketing, and follow my passion and urge for writing during my time off, in the evenings and on weekends. I also love to travel, read, and especially binge-watch films whenever I run out of brain power.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved reading. I’d re-read the same stories as a child, the Ladybird books and ones with morals. Books that taught us a lesson, like The Boy Who Cried Wolf, really stuck with me and I’d want to read more. I moved on to bingeing on the Goosebumps and Famous Five books, and, as I grew older, true life novels like A Child Called It. At each stage, I’d pretend I was an author and end up writing a couple of pages my own novel. I printed my first book when I was 13, using Word and designed my cover with WordArt. I print the pages using my home printer, glued the pages together and used tags to create a ‘book’. I still have it and it makes me cringe and smile at the same time. I’ve explored a range of genres over the years, but it’s the thriller and suspense genre that really grabbed me.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
There are so many great authors out there; John Marrs, Alice Feeney, Alex Michaelides, Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen… I can go on. Domestic thrillers, crime thrillers, suspense thrillers, give me a thriller with those twists and turns and an unreliable narrator and all those tropes that leave you on the edge of your seat – I love them! There’s no one author that inspires me specifically, they’re all pretty much inspiring.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is the suspense thriller, If They Knew, which is about a woman called Ella-Rose who lives on her own in a small maisonette. Ella works from home and she’s adamant that someone’s watching her. Her desperate search for answers leads her down a twisted path of suspicion and deceit that forces her to accuse everyone she knows. If They Knew comes with twists, turns, a lot of suspense, an unreliable narrator, a stalker/being watched trope, and a lot of secrets and lies.

If They Knew is available in paperback or Kindle on Amazon, free to download for Kindle Unlimited customers, and will soon be available to listen to via Audible.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Arti Manani’s Website

Arti Manani Facebook Page

Arti Manani Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Nitika Sharma

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am Nitika Sharma .
You can read between the lines
My poetry serves there pieces of mine.
I was born and brought up in the foothills of Himalayas India where my roots ,heart and soul belong .
Having cynical combination of creative and analytical mind ,I am an engineer woth poetic mind .
I had two pups named Bonn and Cookie but their journey was short lived with us .

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started writing when I was 22 .Writing was introduced to me through pain but then all emotions entered slowly diving me in each colours of rainbow.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors are Khaled Hosseini ,John Green,Robert Thier ,Rupi Kaur, Elena Armas etc.
My favorote genre is Romance for sure.
My life events ,thoughts,observations ,people,phases i live in and environment i breathe in inspires me to write.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book Ask my Abyss is a poetry collection that take you through the blank journey of light in dark. The time amidst black and white, The time of blankness, The time of insight. Ask my Abyss deep dive you into this time. Extracting theories of thoughts wrapped in blankets of soul ,surfing through the fullness of voided heart eventually rising like musings of poetic mind, Ask My Abyss answers it all. It answers turmoils, It answers black, It answers toils. It bring you back.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Nitika Sharma’s Website

Nitika Sharma Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Alan Bayles

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born in Hartlepool, England in 1970, along with my twin brother. I was raised in Langley Park, Durham, England up until 2006, where I moved to Northern Ireland married my wife, Monica in 2007 (still very much happily married). We don’t have any pets or children (my wife says she doesn’t need children when she has me!).

Much to my wife’s dismay, I’m a huge science fiction and comics fan. Love all forms of sci-fi, from Star Trek, Doctor Who, Blake’s 7 etc and I have been a massive Marvel comics fan for over 40 odd years. I am also a Sunderland AFC, even though I am not able to get to the games I still proudly listen to them on the radio.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My fascination with books probably began when I was around 6 or 7 years of age. I blame my mum for this. She was a voracious reader, and was a big fan of Catherine Cookson. One day she thought I appeared to enjoy reading comics (not just looking at the pictures), so she encouraged me to read by getting me my first library ticket.

The very first book I loaned from the library was Doctor Who and Death To The Daleks. After that I slowly moved onto reading some of the books my mum had. I have a fond memory of reading Catherine Cookson’s The Fifteen Streets and enjoying it.

I first started to write when I was 14, when I was given an assignment by my English Teacher to write a prologue for a story. Even though, I enjoyed the experience and wanted to to write a book, I didn’t think I was good enough, so put it to one side. It wasn’t until I approaching my 50th birthday, when I decided that I was going to write. I felt if I wouldn’t do it now I may never do it, so down to write the story I had been putting off for 30 odd years.

I self-published my first book in June 2021 – Double Jeopardy, the first book in my mirror wars series.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favourite authors are James Herbert, Clive Cussler, Stephen King, David Eddings, Dean Koontz, Neil Gaiman and Audrey Niffenegger.

My favourite genres to read are science fiction and fantasy books. I also enjoy reading action & adventure novels and the odd biography. I also occasionally read crime thrillers.

I was around 10 or 11 when I first read James Herbert’s The Rats and being so terrified by it, but still ended up reading the next book! His writing was so vivid and engrossing, to this day I still retain certain scenes in my head from that book. I then moved onto Dean Koontz and Stephen King. Along the way I also fell in love with Clive Cussler’s books. I was also introduced to the fantasy genre when I came across Alan Dean Foster’s The Spellsinger series.

I would have to say it was my mum who inspired me to write. If she hadn’t given me my first library ticket, then that would not have sparked my imagination and set me off on a journey exploring literary worlds. She was very proud when I published my first book. Even though she admitted she was too terrified to read it, she still could not help tell everyone she knew every time she bumped into them in the street or whenever she visited the hospital etc that I had published a book.

Unfortunately she passed away on June 2023, so she did not get to see the release of my second book.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book was released on 1st January 2024. It is called Oracle’s Vision and it is the second book in my Mirror Wars series. It is a science fiction thriller with a wee smidge of horror thrown in for good measure. The story follows on from Double Jeopardy and follows the antagonist, Oracle who was revealed towards the end of book one. She is an insane AI who has delusions of ruling over all organic life across the multiverse (hence the title).

The book’s main protagonist is Dave Barnes, the world weary 50-something Detective Inspector from book one. After uncovering a global conspiracy and its ties to a parallel world, he is forced to make an alliance with his manipulative doppelgänger from counter-Earth; Colonel David Barnes. After learning Counter-Earth and its population are now under the control of Oracle, both men realise they must set aside their distrust for another if they to have any chance in stopping Oracle, or Earth Prime will be the next to fall.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Alan Bayles Facebook Page

Alan Bayles Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Jo-Anne Duffett

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a naturalized Capetonian having lived here longer than anywhere else, but I grew up in Johannesburg and spent my early teens in the Amazon where my parents were medical missionaries. I am married for 18 years. We have a tank full of tropical fish and feed the wild birds but regularly have to chase the guineafowl out as they scratch up the garden. No lion’s do not roam the streets in Africa, but we are blessed with many national parks where you can find them and the elusive leopard. I love travel, running and photography. You will find photos of RSA and my travels on SmugMug.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As a kid I mostly read non-fiction to satisfy my insatiable curiosity. It was only after I finished my masters degree that I discovered the joy of fiction and then I was hooked. I read copiously. I have published a number of scientific articles in the field of sports medicine, but Surf n Turf is my first fiction work.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love historical romances to escape. No cars, no phones and lots of horses is the best. Jane Austen is my all time favourite but I also enjoy Georgette Heyer, Barbara Cartland for a quick read, and Julia Quinn, Erica Ridley, Glynnis Campbell and Bree Wolf.
In other genres, I love James Herriot and Gerald Durrell; if you want to laugh till your sides hurt read “Rosy is a relative.” For mystery Ellis Peters and for classic Sci Fi cum Fantasy Edgar Rice Burroughs. There are so many amazing authors past and present.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Surf n Turf is set in South Africa between Cape Town (surf) and the Karoo (turf). London born Sarah’s mother was from the Karoo but she never visited it while her mom lived. She is feeling confused by a hasty marriage proposal from her boyfriend who works for her dad and is desperate for a friendly neutral viewpoint, but her best friend hates Blakes guts.
The girls holiday in Cape Town and Sarah sets off by bicycle to find her heritage and her heart. It’s 600km to the place she thinks her mom came from. As she peddles along she keeps thinking about a surfer she saw in Cape Town but did not even talk to. This frustrates her no end.
She is nearly at her destination when disaster strikes and Sarah loses her memory as well as identification documents. She is rescued by a handsome sheep farmer Luan (pronounced Loo-Ahn) who seems to be haunted with pain.
If you love sweet, clean romances with a HEA this is for you.
The karoo is a large arid region in South Africa’s interior and provides the tastiest mutton in the world! At the time of writing, my sister owned a sheep farm in the klein-karoo.
Working full time as a medical doctor means I get very little time to write, sometimes just a sentence or a paragraph at a time. That said my work is my inspiration.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Jo-Anne Duffett’s Website

Featured Interview With Jo Szewczyk

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Jo is a post-modern reject who spent most of their time writing jokes only Norm Macdonald, Thomas Pynchon, and Rachel get.

Much to his amusement, his newest book, the controversial “Surviving Gen X”, has been banned by churches, certain nation states, and from his mother’s house.

When not being the top-ranked feline whisperer of Minnesota, Jo juggles his time between academia, his podcasts What’s Kraken? and Streamin’ Demons, and his websites of HauntedMTL.com, a haven for horror enthusiasts, and Czykmate.com, a platform dedicated to the art of writing and helping others find their voice.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My aunt was my first book dealer. She was an avid Stephen King reader and forgot her copy of The Stand when she visited us for Christmas. I snuck it into my room and read it within a week. I was five.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have a love for a large spread of genres. Stephen King, Isaac Thorne, and Clive Barker are my horror go-tos; nobody beats Agatha Christie for mystery; and I’ll read every Jaimee Colbert book, then immediately get depressed because I know I won’t be as good as she is.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Surviving Gen X is a post-modern biography of an era that started with the space shuttle exploding and ended with a televised terrorist attack on US soil. We saw the advent of the internet in all its dial-up screeching glory and ended up with most of our icons dead by suicide, drugs, or general misadventure.

The book is an experience that delves into the desolation of a generation caught amidst the disintegration of societal norms, searching for meaning in a world that seems to have forgotten them.

It’s a journey through a decade marked by upheaval and transformation and discover a tale that is once a testament to the indomitable spirit of Generation X and a haunting reflection on the universal human quest for connection.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Jo Szewczyk’s Website

Jo Szewczyk Facebook Page

Jo Szewczyk Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Mark David Gerson

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Montreal and attended Concordia University, one of the largest universities in Canada. Back then, I never imagined becoming a writer. I had no idea what I might want to do with my life. So after switching majors a bunch of times, I settled on a business degree as the most practical option for someone as indecisive as I was at the time. As it turned out, it was my first two jobs after graduation, in public relations, that unexpectedly paved the way for my writing journey.

Speaking of journeys, it was an even more convoluted one that carried me from Montreal to LA, my current home. Over the years, I have lived in three Canadian provinces (Quebec, Ontario, and Nova Scotia) and, now, five US states (Arizona, Hawaii, New Mexico, Oregon, and California), several of them multiple times!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As I’ve already mentioned, I never wanted to be a writer. Even back in school, all I wanted was to get through English class and its writing burdens as painlessly as possible. My Muse, however, had other plans…

My Muse had always had other plans. How else can you explain my first typewriter? A gift in my freshman year of high school, it was a sleek, green Hermes — an unusual brand. Hermes, of course, was the Greek god of communication…and, thus, writers.

And how can you explain why I agreed, a few years later, to be in charge of publicity for the senior high school musical? It was out-of-character for me to take on anything that involved not only writing but making my writing public.

I like to joke that my Muse tricked me into becoming a writer, and that’s how it began — with that typewriter and the publicity gig.

From high school musical press releases, I graduated into college musical press releases, gaining enough local renown that I found myself freelancing as a theater publicist. Suddenly, I was being paid to write!

From college, I went to work at a dynamic p.r. startup. It was still mostly press releases, but I was writing. Unfortunately, the startup wasn’t dynamic enough. Less than a year later, I was laid off.

It was my next p.r. job that accelerated my transformation into a full-time writer. Not only did I prepare press releases, I wrote news and feature articles, something I had never done before. And thanks to the media contacts I gained on the job, I began freelancing on the side, thrilled to see my byline in major metropolitan dailies and national magazines. After a few years of that, I converted my side gig into a full-time one. To my astonishment, I was supporting myself as a self-taught writer and editor.

My writer’s story could have ended there, but it didn’t…nor did the behind-the-scenes machinations of my Muse.

You see, I still refused to see myself as creative. A skilled artisan with words, perhaps. But certainly not creative.

That changed one morning during a simple water-cooler conversation. I was working in Toronto as an in-house freelance magazine editor when one of the staffers corralled me.

“I’ve just taken this amazing creative writing workshop,” she gushed. “You’ve got to take it.”

In a moment as out-of-character as the one when I agreed to run publicity for my high school Hello, Dolly!, I said yes.

Nothing was ever the same for me after that workshop.

Thanks to the instructor — to both her workshops and her mentoring — I discovered that I was creative. I started to go deeper with my writing, to write from my heart instead of from my head. And soon I was teaching my writing workshops.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I spent decades devouring fiction classics of the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries as well as nonfiction titles on creativity and spirituality. These days, however, most of my reading leans toward contemporary novelists, especially those who craft page-turning stories around compelling characters. I have no particular favorites, possibly because I so enjoy discovering new authors.

Whenever I’m asked which author, living or dead, I would want to meet over dinner, I always pick Madeleine L’Engle. Although her spirituality was shaped by her Episcopal faith and mine is considerably broader, her work has not only touched me deeply, it has profoundly influenced how I live and write.

As with Madeleine L’Engle, everything I’ve read by Ursula K. Le Guin — fiction as well as nonfiction — has radically influenced my writing and my teaching of writing. In fact, her impact on my creative awakening was so profound that I sent her a copy of the first edition of The MoonQuest as a thank you!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
What if speaking or writing the words “once upon a time” got you jailed…or killed?

That’s the situation in Q’ntana, the land of The MoonQuest, where stories are banned, storytellers are exiled or executed, and the moon, saddened by the silence, has cried tears that have extinguished her light.

Now, one young bard must come out of hiding to embark on The MoonQuest, the long-prophesied journey to restore story to the land and light to the moon. He sets off reluctantly and with no clear direction, knowing only that it’s the stories he tells from his heart that will guide him and keep him and his companions safe, even as they’re relentlessly pursued by the King’s Men — black shirts, black masks and black mounts surging toward them through the black night.

I’d like to add that from the time the first edition of The MoonQuest was published in 2007 until now — with this newest edition that coincides with the current epidemic of book bannings — readers have consistently commented on how current and relevant they find the book to be. And not only American readers.

Perhaps it’s true. But I didn’t write the book with any political agenda, nor did I have any country or period in mind. I began writing The MoonQuest in 1994, and I wrote all drafts but the final one in a different country: my native Canada.

Whenever I coach writers or teach a writing workshop, I always insist that my books are smarter than I am. That The MoonQuest has turned out to be a story not only for our time but for all time proves that!

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Mark David Gerson’s Website

Mark David Gerson Facebook Page

Mark David Gerson Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Nicole Sharp

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in the Pacific Northwest with no houseplants and 4 pink stovetop espresso makers.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I had this idea that I wanted to be a writer in seventh grade, when no one else was really declaring such things. So I wrote in secret. But I wrote. My first book was influenced by the authors I was reading at the time: Ray Bradbury, Madeleine L’Engle and V. C. Andrews. Needless to say, the first book I wrote was tragic! But I loved the process and the words that came and creating something out of thin air. I was hooked.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Life is rough sometimes, and I never wanted my readers to pick up one of my books only to find that they’d escaped into more misery. Instead I wanted them to find some humor and adventure of fearless women who were navigating the ridiculousness of the moment as best as they could. I’ve always like entertaining people and making them laugh.
I read a little bit of everything. The authors that helped shape my literary sensibilities were Madeleine L’Engle, Jane Austen, Stephen King, Hemingway and Julie Garwood. My go to authors are Carl Hiaasen, Jennifer Cruise and Bob Mayer. But more often, I have a book on my e-reader by some of my indie author friends, my favorite are Greta Rose West and Barbara Kellyn.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I’m working on a standalone romantic comedy set in Italy right now. I love writing about Italy. I’m of Italian descent and my sister lives there; so having all these reasons to visit often and use the language and find new ways to write about the country has been quite fortuitous. And dreamy.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Nicole Sharp’s Website

Nicole Sharp Facebook Page

Featured Interview With J. Michael Krivyanski

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in western Pennsylvania. I’ve also lived in California, Virginia and Nevada. I now live in western Pennsylvania. I do not have any pets.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was fourteen. A friend of mine sold a joke to a magazine. I was fascinated that you could make money from selling things you had written. I was also inspired by a well-known writer who said “Being a writer is the closest thing any human will experience to being a god because you can create and destroy universes with the stroke of a pen.”

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author is John Steinbeck. I also like Robert Penn Warren, Ayn Rand, Scott Turow, J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis and others.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
“The Best Cadet,” is a story that has elements of my childhood and the experience of others I grew up around. Writing it was an emotional journey.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

J. Michael Krivyanski’s Website

J. Michael Krivyanski Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Max Vayne

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in the suburbs, where I still live, since I’m very close with my family. I am someone who loves nature but also loves a good staying in and watching series. And I manage to draw inspiration from both stuff I watch on a screen and also the outside, especially forests
I have had many pets, but currently I have a dog and a cat that I love very deeply, but of course the cat is not very friendly towards the dog

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I realized I liked writing when at school we were asked to write a story. I must have been 8 at the time. And about two years later, I started writing a book that very sadly got deleted because of a computer virus. That made me so angry and sad that I didn’t write again for a very long time, but I’m very glad that I started to once more

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
This is going to sound like a politically correct asnwer, but it’s the truth. I have loved many different books, from several different authors and nearly all genres, but the one thing that stays consistent is that I love fiction, I’m not much of a big fan of non-fiction books, while I do understand they appeal to some.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The book I recently published is called “Charles and Her”. It is the story of Charles, a gambling addict who, after getting evicted, decides to risk it all once more at a casino. Turned down at it due to them knowing him, he goes to an illegal casino where he goes way over his head, ending in debt to serious criminals, who take his daughter Sienna as insurance.
With him fearing her being killed if he contacts the authorities, he goes to the criminal town known as “Arknley”, where he tries finding an assassin who will help him.
There, he meets an eccentric woman who won’t reveal her face nor name, and who seems to be either extremely smart or stupid, willing to kill as much as she is to make innapropriate sex jokes.
Charles, not an expert on criminals, decides to trust her with the fate of both him and his kid

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Max Vayne’s Website

Max Vayne Twitter Account

Featured Interview With David Allen

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a first time author! Growing up, I traveled around the country because my father was a pastor. We ended up in Cape Girardeau, MO were I ended up graduating high school. A fun fact is Cape Girardeau is the only inland Cape in America.
I graduated from the University of Missouri, Columbia with dual degrees in Philosophy and Economics and lived in Columbia every since.
A fun fact about me is that after college I repoed vacuums as a job for a year and a half. These days I read, write and hang out with my dog Dragon, a 23 pound terrier.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
It started in 5th grade, when I wrote a sci fi story about time traveling kid detectives. My teachers encouraged my writing and I wrote different mini stories throughout school. St

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Stephen King
Comedy is surprisingly my favorite genre
My writings are inspired by my observations

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My book, Fury: A Cinderella Story, is a horror-comedy that is a modern twist on the classic tale. It is a love letter to the horror genre that takes many of the classic tropes and turns them on their head.
It took me 8 years to write it and it was a labor of love the entire time. The characters are vibrant and fun and the story is a great and gory ride that people will enjoy.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

David Allen’s Website

David Allen Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Kat Hausler

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Northern Virginia and studied German in New York. I’ve now lived in Berlin for many years after I fell in love with it on a semester abroad. Both of my novels, RETROGRADE and WHAT I KNOW ABOUT JULY are set in Berlin. I write literary fiction, sometimes with crossovers to other genres as in WHAT I KNOW ABOUT JULY, which is character-driven literary fiction but also a mystery.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve loved books ever since I was able to read them, and I started writing as soon as I was able to. Learning what makes a story work for readers is a long process, but my emotional connection to words and stories has always been there.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have so many favorite authors it’s often whatever I’m reading at the moment! But I can always pick up anything by Daphne du Maurier and know that I’ll love it. I’ll read anything literary but I have a soft spot for literary thrillers and dystopias.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
In WHAT I KNOW ABOUT JULY, angsty Berlin musician Simon is struggling to get his life together and avoid the stalkery number-one fan he doesn’t feel famous enough to deal with. He’d do just about anything to get July out of his life – until she disappears on his tour and his obsession with finding her goes far beyond proving his own innocence.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Kat Hausler’s Website

Kat Hausler Facebook Page

Kat Hausler Twitter Account

Featured Interview With William James barry

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born and raised in upstate New York. During high I worked at a lumber company. After graduatiog I joined the US Navy and served as an assistant navigator on an ammunition ship , the USS Nitro AE23. After the service, I entered college, studying marketing and advertising. I worked for a while at IBM and then landed a job with the Providence Journal Company, a statewide newspaper in Rhode Island. I lived with my wife, three daughters, and West Highland terriors in Lincoln RI until I retired and moved to Florida.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Almost from the time I could read. I suffered as a kid with ‘wanderlust, the strong desire to be someplace else and books help me do that – be somewhere else.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
As a youngster it was Ernest Hemmingway and JD Salinger. – after that I went through various phases, Patterson, Grisham, Le Carre, Balducci and others. Historical fiction is my favorite genre. My wife Jeanette, three daughters, and five grandchildren are my inspiration for writing.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I just published my eighth book, a short story compilation titled, Twenty Four and More!. It has story at art contributions from all five of my grandchildren.

Featured Interview With Keath Silva

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I recently moved Los Angeles, California. I lived in rural Oregon for a decade previously. I was raised in Northern California and New York. I have two adorable and mischievous cats and many many plants. I am an avid gardener.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My mother read to me out load for my entire childhood. My fascination with books really intensified at age 9 when my mother read the Hobbit to me! I began writing poetry at age 8.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read novels about botany! Some of my favorite are The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner and The Signature of all Things by Elizabeth Gilbert. I also love to read poetry. One of my favorite poets is Alike Said-Menon

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called King Crone and The Empty Nest, a Collection of TRANSformational Poetry for Rites of Passage

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Keath Silva’s Website

Keath Silva Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Langdon Franz

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a Navy brat and have lived everywhere from Maine to South Carolina to Washington State. After working for an Associates of Science, I joined the Navy for six years and operated a nuclear reactor on a submarine. When I finished my time in the navy in 2013 I worked at another power plant before eventually going back to school and earning my Bachelor’s in Nuclear Energy Technology. Eventually I realized I hated nuclear energy and went back to school for my MA in English and Creative Writing which I completed in 2022. I spent the first ten years of my life in Maine and the most previous ten years of in Raleigh, NC where I live with my wife and two daughters. I currently have an Australian Shepherd, Diesel, a Husky, Nala, and two cats, Yanni and Lilah. All four of them were rescues.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I discovered Goosebump in 1995 when I was ten years old and those carried me until I was thirteen where I shifted into reading exclusively fantasy novels. These included series like The Wheel of Time, Malazan Book of the Fallen, The Coldfire Trilogy, The Serpentwar Saga and The Riftwar Legacy to name a few. Around that time I dabbled in writing my own stories. They weren’t good. But it did grow my desire to one day be an author which, twenty-five years later, has become reality.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Brandon Sanderson and Will Wight have encompassed the majority of my reading over the last decade. I rarely read anything other than fantasy. But if it’s not fantasy, it’s cosmic horror. Sanderson was a HUGE influence in my writing. Everything from the 3rd person limited point-of-view of only a few characters, to his unique magic systems and overarching story stretching across his Cosmere. Over the last few years, I have fallen in love with. H.P. Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos which have ignited a desire to write cosmic horror sometime in the future.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Heirs of the Promise took me three years to write. The first two years, I worked on it throughout my MA in English and Creative Writing. My thesist for the program was Part 1 of Heirs of the Promise. It took me one more year to finish up Part 2 and 3. It follows the protagonist, Kilal, who is the Immortal Arbiter. Arbiters are a group of enhanced humans who have the power to carve runes into their wrists to gain different abilities based on the combination of runes. The world is flat and split into three parts with only one part, The Sunlight Domain, inhabited by humans. An enormous Veil of black energy seperates the The Sunlight Domain from the Ashen Lands, a nightmarish hellscape home to the Ash Fallen, the enemy of humanity. The story picks up after Kilal and his daughter, Lilliana, were trapped in the Ashen Lands for ten years. During those ten years, Kilal lost Lilliana and fears her to be dead. After Kilal returns to the Sunlight Domain, abandoning his search for Lilliana, he must warn his land of an impending invasion of Ash Fallen which will wipe humanity from the face of their flat earth. But upon returning, he quickly realizes he no longer knows his land. A mysterious group calling themselves the Heirs of the Promise have settled into the Sunlight Domain, killed many of Kilal’s friends and corrupted the vast majority of the remaining Arbiters. Kilal finds himself faced with the task of recruiting warriors to head back into the Ashen Lands and kill the rising leader of the Ash Fallen, while trying to continue the search for his daughter and put an end to the Heirs of the Promise. It’s a fast paced novel which will be told over four books, The Immortal Arbiter Saga.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Langdon Franz’s Website

Langdon Franz Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Kenny D.

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Kendall Reagler aka Kenny D. I’m 42 years old and born under the sign cancer. Born and raised in Dallas, Texas. I Moved away to Houston, Texas to attend Texas Southern University and received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Mass Communications. I moved to New York, NY for a job offer on Wall St. and lived there for some years until later moving back to Texas. iI am the oldest of 5, I have 3 sisters and 1 brother. I have nieces and nephews and a dog (Boxador) name Sir Drake who is like my child.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always enjoyed books and reading always took me another world. Away from the troubles and struggles of everyday reality and into a never-ending world that went as far as my imagination would take it. I’m a new author with 3 books under my belt so far. My first book, “Investing in Yourself” which is a self-help book on investing in your greatest asset which is YOU. My second book, “2024 Soulful Word Search: A Quest for Positivity”, is a word search book of all positive words as well as positive quotes throughout. My 3rd book, “A Journey, The Journal which is another self-betterment book to help you journal your daily life and set goals and achieve them.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
A few favorite authors of mine are, James Baldwin, Alice Walker, E. Lynn Harris, George M. Johnson, Toni Morrison just to name a few right off the top of my head. There are so many more. My favorite genre is black love, romance and fiction. I may have once upon a time been somewhat of a hopeless romantic lol but that’s another story for another day. I take my inspirations from many things and people. Mostly from strong people in my have and may have left and still left some sort of mark on me so I take that as well as them on me with every new book and journey.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, “Your Journey, A Journal” is not just a book, but your personal sanctuary for self-discovery and growth. This isn’t about reading; it’s about writing YOUR story. Each page invites you to delve into your thoughts, set meaningful goals, and express gratitude. Embrace the daily journey with morning reflections, affirmations, water intake tracking, mood check-ins, and future planning. ‘Your Journey’ is where you actively engage with yourself, crafting a narrative that transforms your days into intentional, empowering experiences. Let this journal be the compass guiding you toward a more mindful and fulfilled life—one entry at a time.”

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Kenny D.’s Website

Kenny D. Facebook Page

Kenny D. Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Walker Zupp

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Bermuda, where I studied until I was 16 years old. Then I went to Marlborough College for 2 years in the United Kingdom, where I stayed for university. I got my PhD in Creative Writing from the University of Exeter, and now I live in Cornwall, and am looking for a job.

Bermuda was “southern”, edgy, and privileged growing up. England afterwards was tough, but I found my niche first at boarding school writing poetry, and then at university writing plays and novels.

I would love to have a dog or cat, but my partner is allergic to most animals, so that one’s out! We have several plants though: Greg, McNeil, Rebecca, and Gustaf, the aloe vera. We have spent a lot of time at the Flicka Donkey Sanctuary in Mabe, Cornwall. We also like scratching other people’s dogs.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
When I was growing up, I always thought books were for smart people, so I stayed away. But I remember reading Flush by Carl Hiaasen, and Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Those were books where I learned about sex, and other things.

I started writing poetry seriously at boarding school, and had some success when I reached university. I published poems in Australia, and other places. I wrote two practice novels during my undergraduate years, and then I wrote my first serious novel for my MA in Creative Writing at Lancaster University. I managed to sign a contract to publish the novel before I got my degree. One of the good things about being published is that people begin to trust you more, so I kept writing novels and getting them published. There is not much money involved, but having spoken with authors who are much more successful than I am, money seems to be the thing lacking in the publishing world. Not that I write for financial reward.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read Doctor Who novelisations, and I had learned more about storytelling from books b Terrance Dicks and Ian Marter than I have from anything else. I also read Plato, D.H. Lawrence, Philip K. Dick, Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Emily Dickinson, James Baldwin, and lots of non-fiction too, like Joel Kotkin’s The Coming Age of Neo-Feudalism, Naomi Klein’s Shock Doctrine, and Doug Stokes’ Against Decolonisation.

I don’t read in any particular genre, and I actually think that thinking about “genre” prevents the writer from producing their best work.

I have never understood inspiration, and look upon writing as something that I do. I don’t seem to need much inspiration to start writing – all I know is that if I don’t write, I get ill.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Fibber, which will be released by Montag Press on 1st February 2024, is about a poet who is charged with publishing in an illegal magazine, and sentenced to become a bureaucrat in a huge stone head posing as a refugee camp, when it is actually something much bleaker. It’s based on The Foundation Pit by Andrei Platonov, which is a Soviet-era satirical novel about collectivisation, and my editor, Charlie Franco, helped me to really get the book into shape. I hope that you all enjoy it!

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Walker Zupp’s Website

Walker Zupp Facebook Page

Featured Interview With Zoë Routh

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born in England, grew up in Canada on the prairies, and have been living in Australia since 1996. So basically, collecting Commonwealth passports. Most of my career life has been in the outdoors – leading canoe trips, working for Outward Bound. All this adventuring stayed with me, and I still put the pack on for little gambols in the hills.

It’s also always been about people. I’ve been running leadership development programs for over 36 years now.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I must have been eight or nine, maybe younger, when my parents gave me a book about King Arthur, It was marvellous and magic! I have not been without a book since then. Except for five years after my English literature degree where I could not read a book for pleasure.

I remember my first story from about eleven, called The Pirate. My parents kept it and I recently re-read it – hilarious! Apparently the worst thing that ‘Louis Bourg’ ever did was ‘falling in love with a young girl’. Bahaha!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Favourite authors…changes all the time! Current obsessions: Kate Quinn, David Brin, Pierce Brown.

Favourite genres: speculative fiction, historical fiction, spy thrillers.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The most recently published book, Terra Blanca: Insurrection, asks the question, “can we really live and lead collaboratively”? It sets in the near future, in a climate ravaged world, where we are experimenting with new habitats, man-made islands. I wanted to explore best leadership intentions struggling against our more primal nature.

I started writing in December 2022 and finished the first draft in March. Editing rounds and production took forever, and it was released in September. Each book is getting a little faster, but not as fast I’d like.

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Zoë Routh’s Website

Zoë Routh Facebook Page

Zoë Routh Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Tiara J. Brown

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hi! My name is Tiara J. Brown and I am a young adult, fantasy writer. I grew up in the Bedford, Ohio. I attended Ohio University and graduated with a degree in Digital Media. I lived in Los Angeles, California for about 4 years after college in pursuit of a media career. However, I decided that L.A. was not for me and I moved back to Northeast, Ohio (where I live now).

Other than being a writer, I am also a dancer. I have been swing dancing on and off for over 10 years. Two years ago, I learned the tango. I have never competed in a competition. However, I have done two showcases; one in swing dancing and the other in the tango. Now, I’m learning ballet. I adore ballet. It is great exercise and it makes me feel very graceful and elegant. I also love to hike. I have gone on hiking trips to places like Hocking Hills, Ohio. I am a baker. The sweet tooth is real! And, I am a huge history nerd. History was one of my favorite subjects in school. I still love reading and learning about it, today.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always been a storyteller. The first story that I ever wrote was either when I was
6 or 7 years old about a little girl shrinking to the size of a bee and sneaking into a
beehive. However, it wasn’t until I was 12 years old, when I consistently began writing stories down and sharing them with my friends that I knew that I wanted to grow up to be a writer.

As far as my fascination with books, although I liked telling stories at the age of 6 or 7, I wasn’t an avid reader until I was 10 years old. The books that I had read prior were always for school and I didn’t like them. I didn’t connect with the stories or the characters in them. However, all of that changed when I read, Jeremy Thatcher: The Dragon Hatcher. It was a book that was in my school library. It was the first story that I truly fell in love with and sparked my fascination with fantasy books and fantasy storytelling, in general.

I believe that book is why I am a fantasy writer today.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genre to read is young adult, fantasy. It is the genre that my imagination gravitates to. I love the enemies to lovers trope and the discovery of a new world and/or new love. There is a beautiful innocence in a lot of characters in young adult novels and as the reader or writer, we witness how these characters are sometimes tragically ripped away from that innocence. I think the
symbolism of that can sometimes be true to real life, which makes it so captivating.

Currently, my favorite authors to read are Stephanie Garber and J.K. Rowlings.

Stephanie Garber wrote the Caraval trilogy and its spin-off trilogy, Once Upon A Broken Heart. The trilogies truly capture the imagination and the imagery of a suspenseful modern-day fairy-tale, that you can’t put down. There is so much to learn from Stephanie on writing engaging character interactions and dynamics, as well as crazy twists and turns that you truly do not expect.

In regards to J.K. Rowlings, I still love the Harry Potter series and she is one of the authors who inspires me due to the world that she created in the series. There is so much
symbolism and depth to her characters, the story, and the world-building of the franchise
that she created.

Also, there is a lot to learn from her in the art of writing. One of the challenges in writing
fantasy is to not info dump, which is hard because you have to explain the rules of the
world and the magic system without boring the reader. Harry Potter is mostly set at
Hogwarts, a school where she can info dump, but make it come across as natural
because it is a school setting. Genius!

I am also inspired by two other writers.

William Shakespeare. Macbeth is one of my favorite plays and Shakespeare
really nailed the descent into madness with Lady Macbeth and writing compelling people
in all his works. Not to mention, his skill at word play. There is a reason why we still use
his phrases in pop-culture today. “Double double toil and trouble.” – Macbeth. “A rose by
any other name still smells as sweet.” – Romeo and Juliet. And a reason why we still
make movies inspired by Shakespeare like She’s the Man (Twelfth Night) and 10 Things
I Hate About You (The Taming of the Shrew).

And, Charles Dickens. A Tale of Two Cities is a phenomenal story filled with love and
tragedy. It is set during the French Revolution (a very crazy and volatile time in history).
Already a suspenseful backdrop and then you add on complex characters, unrequited
love, but sacrifice so your unrequited love can be happy, and an amazing villain
reveal/plot twist. It has everything. All in the dangerous midst of chaos, looming death,
and hope!

There is so much to learn from all of these writers. They inspire me so much on
world-building, characterizations, and the overall art of storytelling.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Tales of Alexandria Stecklar: The Locket is a young adult, fantasy book about a telekinetic, 15-year old girl named Alexandria (Alex) who lives underground with her family during a time of on
again/off again war between her kind, other psychics and magical sorcerers. Alex longs to see the outside world, but feels trapped in her underground home. One day, she is separated from her family above ground and thrusted into the Land of the Sorcerers. She must make it home safely, lest she be captured, or killed or worse!

Will Alex return, safely? Or will someone else get to her first?

It is a fantastical story set in a world of magic versus technology, adventure, first love, family bonds, and a twist that changes everything.

“Hatred. War. Death. Pain. No matter how hard we try, it seems as if man cannot escape these casualties, and no matter how hard I try, neither can I.”

Connect with the Author on their Websites and Social media profiles

Tiara J. Brown’s Website

Tiara J. Brown Facebook Page