Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Sever Bronny

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Born in Poland, raised in Nigeria and later Toronto, Canada. Parents moved around a lot, and I feel fortunate to have seen a bit of the world in my formative years. Think it might have helped develop an overactive imagination (and a shorter attention span–oh wait, that was the Nintendo).

I live in Victoria, BC, Canada right now with my wife. I have a cat named Buddha, a mild-mannered but utterly adorable five-year-old tabby.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was probably around thirteen-years-old when I discovered fantasy and role-playing games. Rifts specifically. I was able to create worlds and characters and it was the most exciting thing ever. Around that time a book truly blew me away — Time of the Twins by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, in the Dragonlance saga. I loved Raistlin; I loved the tragedy; I loved the epic scale of it. It left an indelible impression, one that taints my writing to this day.

Huma was another great book in the Dragonlance series that I must have read at least five times. A slew of books followed, from Tolkien to Siddhartha. I fell in love with reading, even though my rate of reading is, well, snails can read faster I think. I really like to absorb every word and I haven’t quite figured out how to blow through books like some people can–namely my wife. She can finish a book a day, it’s crazy. Meanwhile I’m looking at her as if she has superpowers and struggling to finish a few chapters here and there.

I actually started writing a book when I was sixteen or so. Unfortunately, I lost it to a hard drive crash and promptly gave up, promising myself I’d try again in later life. The idea of that book I turned into a full-length musical concept album anyway (named The Orwellian Night, by my band Tribal Machine), so it wasn’t entirely lost. I was an impulsive and adventurous teenager and dived head-first into music, which absorbed all of my attention for a very long time.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
The person responsible for me actually sitting down at the computer to write a book was J.K. Rowling. I had so much fun reading Harry Potter I wanted to write my own story that fulfilled that aching desire for MORE. I must have read HP at least five times by now, though I’ve been holding off reading it a sixth time since I started writing (to allow my own style to develop).

I love reading gritty fantasy (reading Joe Abercrombie’s First Law Series), such as George RR Martin’s Game of Thrones. Currently looking for more works in that field. I also enjoy true-life adventure stories, such as Jon Krakauer’s Into Thin Air, Sebastian Junger’s Perfect Storm, and Robert Kurson’s Shadow Divers. There’s something about reading absorbing and harrowing life-and-death struggles that intrigues me. It also inspires me to place my characters in truly dangerous situations.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Arcane is the first book in a grand fantasy-adventure series about three fourteen-year-old friends: Augum, Bridget and Leera. Augum, whose past is plagued by loneliness and bullying, had one ambition–to become a knight. When that desire comes to a tragic end, he pursues something he thought a children’s tale–becoming a warlock.

But one of the greatest challenges for him turns out to be navigating friendship, for other than a beaten-down mule, he has never had a single friend. Suddenly having two girls around is hard enough–yet a new tragedy, one with kingdom-wide consequences, cements them as friends that depend on each other for survival.

Along the way they explore an ancient abandoned castle, get trained by a legendary sorceress, and discover old secrets lost to time, all the while trying to elude a ruthless and ambitious enemy.

Took me about three years to hone the book to its final state. In that time I’ve also finished books two and three in the series, with a fourth in the middle stages of completion. After all those hours, late nights, near-impossible obstacles … I can’t express how exciting it is to see my work finally go to press.

Thank you for this 🙂

-Sever Bronny

———————
Sever Bronny is a musician and author living in Victoria, British Columbia. He has released three albums with his industrial-rock music project Tribal Machine, including the full-length concept album The Orwellian Night. One of his songs can be heard in the feature-length film The Gene Generation. Arcane is his first book. The second book in The Arinthian Line series is expected to be released December / January.

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Featured Interview With Allyson Jeleyne

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised just a few blocks from the ocean in sunny South Carolina. I attended college in the same town I graduated high school from, but always dreamed of setting out on my own adventure. While I never quite moved away, I’ve been fortunate to travel and see the world.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved to read. To me, Book Fair day at school was better than Christmas or a hundred birthdays! I loved the thrill of searching for new stories. It was only natural that my love of reading eventually trickled over to wanting to write my own.

In college, I majored in creative writing and journalism. In my spare time, I studied British history and literature, and joined the student writing society at my university. I did whatever I could to learn the craft and practice my skills. Writing is my passion, and I cannot wait to introduce readers to my characters and their world!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m fascinated by the amazing places books can take me and the fascinating people they can introduce me to. My favorite genres are the ones who push me out of my comfort zone and transport me to faraway lands. I love historical fiction, adventure novels, and romances because, from cover to cover, I can experience things I will never be able to in real life — past events, amazing discoveries, the thrill of a first kiss over and over again.

The people who inspire my writing are the ones who live their lives to the fullest, whether that means climbing Mount Everest or simply taking that first step out the door every morning.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
A LOVE THAT NEVER TIRES takes everything there is to love about historical romance and mixes it with a really great adventure. The story takes place in 1913, just before the First World War. Linley Talbot-Martin is the daughter of an archaeologist and has traveled all over the world, but never seen the British Museum. Patrick Wolford, Marquess of Kyre, dreams of life outside his aristocratic upbringing, but is too afraid to break free from London society. When he meets Linley Talbot-Martin, who dares to shake up his seemingly proper world, he must choose between the life he’s always known and one he never dared to dream of.

I like to say that A LOVE THAT NEVER TIRES is like Downton Abbey meets The Mummy. Readers familiar with those grand historical dramas will recognize the world, but also get to imagine what it would be like to turn it all on its head! The deserts of Morocco, ballrooms of Edwardian London, and jungles of India come to life in this story of difficult love and the lengths people will go in order to be with the person they were meant for.

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Featured Interview With Stella Wilkinson

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Stella Wilkinson is a full time author with eight books currently available, plus three anthologies that she collated and edited for a children’s hospital charity. The anthologies contain nearly 100 short stories donated by authors (including Stella) from all over the world. Look out for the Omnibus Edition in November 2014.

Stella loves writing about young adults and she devours paranormal romances, so it was inevitable that they would come together at some point. She is best known for her hugely successful Flirting Games Series, but has also recently started her Magic & Mayhem Series, soon to be followed by her ESP Series.

Stella lives in Pembrokeshire in Wales. Widely known as The Land of Dragons. She is lucky enough to live by the beach, and when she isn’t writing she is generally either tipping sand out of her shoes or cleaning mud off her wellies (it also rains a lot in Wales). Stella is an enthusiastic (if dreadful) cook, and loves to bake chocolate brownies by the dozen. She also collects antique books and first editions of any genre at all, so her walls are filled with dusty smelly old books on various boring subjects that she treasures and her family hates 🙂

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As an only child I started turning to books for company at a very young age. I grew up with the Famous Five as my best friends and to this day I still tell people “you’re never alone if you have a book.” But I think I was about eleven when I decided I wanted to be Lois Lane and write dazzling journalism, and marry Superman of course. Which led to me starting our school newspaper and I’ve been writing ever since.
Getting published was the stumbling block. People think that just because something is good then it will be published, and that if it isn’t traditionally published then it must be crap. It just isn’t true. I read a huge mix of traditional and Indie books and for the most part one is no better than the other.
The digital book revolution changed everything, for which I am eternally grateful!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I mainly write teen romance, so these days I also mainly read teen romance. There are so many fabulous authors in the genre, Kelly Oram, Melanie Marks, Shel Delisle and Cassie Mae, to name just a few of my favorites. I’m not into serious trauma and anxiety, I like good fun laugh out loud books.

The writers who inspire me are all the Indie Authors on Kindle Boards. They keep me going every day with their pragmatic approach to a difficult job.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My last release was actually Book four in The Flirting Games series. All the books are set around a British boarding school The series is light hearted and full of funny one liners, flirting, and some great characters who unwittingly end up playing the game of love. Of course people always get together in the end, but not necessarily with who they thought they would…

Book One, The Flirting Games, is actually free to download, so hopefully people will try it and then discover the whole series.

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Featured Interview With Victoria LK Williams

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in the cold north-Niagara Falls, NY to be precise. But I was meant to be a southerner, because I truly hate the cold! I have lived in south FL, on the coast, for the last 30 years, raising my son to love the beaches, warm weather and all the great things the south has to offer. My husband and I fell into the parent trap of “every boy needs a dog” and we made a frisky Beagle part of our family. Our beagle was the muse for the dog in my Citrus Beach Mystery Series. Sadly he passed away recently. We also have 1 old cat and 2 playful kittens that are finding their activities incorporated into my new series Sister Station.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I loved to read as a child, more times than not my parents would find me outside curled up with a book. My parents joke that the only discipline I responded to, was the threat of having my books taken away. One of my favorite series of books was Nancy Drew, and I loved to play detective as a result.
I wrote short stories all through high school and then stopped as life took over and my writing was pushed aside.
Last year, I was challenged by a group of friends to start writing again. They supported and pushed me (along with my family) into completing my first book in the Citrus Beach Series, Murder for Neptune’s Trident. This year I completed the second book and they are still behind me, pushing me with encouragement.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My all-time favorite author is Nora Roberts. I can re-read her books and always find something new. I also enjoy reading local authors, and our area is full of them…James Patterson, Stuart Woods and Debbie Macomber are just a few.
I also love to read the same type of book that I write: cozy mysteries. I wouldn’t walk away from a romance, thriller, Christian, or women’s fiction either!
You guessed it-I love to read.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Scent of Mystery…A Citrus Beach Mystery picks up where the first book stopped (both books can be read as stand alone mysteries as well) with many of the same characters re-appearing…

The Adventure Continues…
Megan & Barney survive Hurricane Arlene, and in the aftermath Barney unearths an unusual mystery. A man declared dead years ago is living outside of Citrus Beach, with a price still on his head. Megan tries to unravel his story, but there is a catch, and they have to act quickly before his killers try again. And this time they might succeed, killing anyone who might get in the way: be it a inquisitive redheaded Gardener or a playful Beagle!

This book took a little longer to get published. Halfway through the editing, I fell and shattered my shoulder-and naturally it was the arm I use for writing and typing!

I am now starting book 3 in the series.

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Featured Interview With Michael de Ridder

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I currently live, and was raised in Australia with a dog named Shadow. She was a big inspiration for my writing, having passed away earlier this year (2014) at almost 16 years old.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was very young when my fascination for books sprouted. Probably four or five. In my teens I took a brief, unintended hiatus from reading and in that time began to crave the worlds and adventures reading opened up. It was about that time, when I began writing.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read a range of genres, focusing mainly on fantasy, historical fiction and crime fiction. I enjoy authors that weave complex webs of intrigue that take real thinking to unravel. Examples of recently read authors include James Clavell, Patrick Rothfuss, Philip Marlowe, Frank Barnard, Peter V. Brett, the list goes on.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called The Silver Herring. It’s a cozy mystery featuring the typically cynical Rog Beagle. I’ve been lucky enough to receive some great reviews including the following two:

“It’s a great cozy mystery read! … A big recommend from me!” – Angie Blake

“The pace in this book is fantastic, a real page turner that keeps you wanting more!” – James Hatfield

To let you know a little bit more, the book follows Rog Beagle as he uncovers the truth, and deception, behind the stolen silk and gold shawl. The Silver Herring sees him deal with the obnoxious Miss Francine Mayweather, a nosy, violent O’Reilly and the pernicious Hans all with his trademark cynicism and guile.

This book is great for anyone who enjoys a good mystery. The twists and turns will keep you guessing, while the true-to-life Rog strings everything together. The clever use of animals will appeal to any and all animal lovers, especially those who own dogs.

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Featured Interview With Rachel A. James

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I live in the in South-East England, where I was born and raised. I moved to Yorkshire for a good few years, which inspired my first novel, ‘The Forgotten Princess of Elmetia’, set in the north of England in the 7th century. I write inspirational medieval romance novels, I’m married to a church pastor, and have three little girls.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
When I was 10, I read my first children’s novel, ‘The Secret Island’ by Enid Blyton, and from that moment onwards, I was hooked on reading. I particularly loved adventure and mystery stories, and as I got older, this changed to romantic adventure novels! I started writing seriously after studying creative writing at university, and as history has been such an integral part of my up-bringing, it’s not wonder I focus on the medieval time period in my inspirational novels.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love many, many genres… historical, contemporary, suspense, action/adventure, fantasy…. it doesn’t really matter, as long as it has the most vital ingredient. ROMANCE! I like to read books by Francine Rivers, Jody Hedlund, Julie Klassen, Kathleen Morgan, Dee Henderson, DiAnn Mills… there are too many authors to name. I’m inspired my many things when it comes to my own writing, books and movies, historical events and research, the Bible, and everyday events.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
‘The Forgotten Princess of Elmetia’ is an epic tale of grace, forgiveness and love, as a forgotten princess seeks to reclaim her true identity following the fall of her kingdom in 7th Century Britain. It is a fictional story, based on historical events. Here’s the blurb:

It is 616AD, and one fatal night the ancient Kingdom of Elmetia falls. Saxons kill the Elmetian King, and capture Princess Teagen. Teagen poses as a slave girl and works for the Saxons in the Kingdom of Deira, until she discovers her brother is alive. She finds a way to escape, and her path crosses with Ryce the Warrior.

Struggling with his past, and angry against the tyrant Saxon king, Ryce helps the princess in pursuit of her brother. But just as the connection between them intensifies, obstacles get in their way. The Saxon king now wants vengeance, and will stop at nothing to get it.

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Featured Interview With DR. ASIF CHOWDHURY

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Dr. Asif Chowdhury is an Doctorate of Business Administration from University of South Australia, as already been entitled as a Corporate Coach, having 15-years of experiences in the field of Business Administration. Ended up teaching career as an Associate Professor and shift to the corporate world once again with an intention of creating BUZZ with his innovative new wake-up calls that can reflect positively in the path-way of any corporate!

Dr. Chowdhury has managed to write many international journal articles and conference proceedings along with his comprehensive experience in working in leading MNCs like St. George Bank, ANZ Bank, ICT Company, DHL, AIT, Solinfo France etc. during beginning his career and right now. He is also a member of many world renowned bodies, namely ICF [International Coach Federation], ICF Research CP, CTI [Coach Training Institute], Woodthrope Wright Associate, Arrowad Panel Coach, etc.

Right now, Dr. Chowdhury is fully focusing on Corporate Coaching, Leadership Development, Business Analysis and Review with full interest.

Dr. Chowdhury’s areas of specialism are:
1. Metaphor for self-growth
2. Perspective mirroring
3. Diving into a transformation

Dr. Chowdhury’s philosophy is:
Corporate excellence lies upon the amalgamation of self-growth [for executives/ employees] and sharing-growth [for the employer]. The philosophy is to extract, emerge and enhance these growths into a transformation of skills within an active mode of operation in work-life. Ultimately it helps an executive to become a self-sufficient, smoothly-driven, situation-tackler among mass to carry the legacy of success with productivity and efficiency.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Very late! Just started last year!!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love myself as a writer and my favorite genre is inspirational and motivation books

Tell us a little about your latest book?
@ 7 on 77 about 77: 77 REAL Learning from Corporate Life Experience!
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (November 19, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1503013774
ISBN-13: 978-1503013773

@ 7 am on continuous 77 days a self-assessment question was asked: “how’s my yesterday? what did I learn from yesterday?”

77 Learning identified and now sharing with you all!

77 REAL Learning from Corporate Life Experience!

All the employees in today’s world seeking training to gain knowledge and skill and applying them into their work place to accelerate their performances and enrich their career path. How far really they can learn and lead to live? Unless, learning comes from the Real Experience, how long does it sustain in human mind?

Here, in this book, I am going to share my Real Work Place Experiences and Learning in a Metaphor and Advisory flavour, hopefully will match with millions heart; at least will be glad and satisfy if this can transform even one’s life!

The strategy of using this book is not to read, read and read; but read and lead; in another way of saying Look and Learn with a Charm and then Implement to gain Compliment!!

All good wishes of mine for you!

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Featured Interview With Chris Podhola

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in farm country in Southeastern Michigan and I still live pretty close to where I was raised. I love pets, but I currently don’t have any.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My aunt let me read The Dark Tower by Stephen King when I was thirteen and I was hooked into reading from that point on. I’ve tried writing on and off since I first started reading, but for some reason I was convinced that if you were meant to be a writer, you would create masterpieces from the beginning. Since, in the beginning, what I wrote wasn’t nearly as good as what I was reading, I thought that I didn’t have what it took. I couldn’t stay away from it, however. I wrote in secret for years and it wasn’t until the past five years that I even told anyone I could write.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I find some aspect of inspiration from pretty much everyone I read. I am not overly picky in my choices. As long as the author has an interesting story to tell, I’m in and I pull little bits from whatever it is, for my own purposes.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
A Prim and a Prophet are a part of the Twinfinity series. The overall story is about a blind and deaf girl who can see and hear through her brother’s eyes and ears by slipping her consciousness into his. They both originate from another dimension and come to Earth to capture a fugitive from their dimension. In order to come here they have to be born into the world and because they are born here they have no memory of their mission and have to figure it out. It is due out December 1st.

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Featured Interview With Bob Van Laerhoven

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am the son of Flemish working-class parents. I was raised in a small Flemish village near to the Dutch border. (Flanders is the northern part of Belgium.)Now, I’m living in a cozy village near to the city of Ghent, famous for its historical places. Pets? Don’t get me started! My wife is a hippo therapist and we have four horses, our “darlings”, our beloved ones, our “spoiled madams.” I’m the caretaker of our beautiful horses. They have the freedom to roam over our domain (sand arena’s, paddocks, racetrack and a big prairie with open stables). A therapy horse must be happy, relaxed and loved. Only then it’ll show that remarkable, almost mythic capacity to “mirror” people. It’s very touching to see how physically and mentally challenged people brisk up when they are with these noble beings whose wisdom is different than ours, but definitely there.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Although there were no books in the house – we were poor people -, I felt the need to read very early and I was lucky to have a small but well managed library in our village with a librarian who took gratification in helping me to find new authors and titles. At fifteen I wanted to write a story that was set during WWII but I didn’t finish my endeavor. It took me another ten years to write my first story which was published in a Flemish paper. I am a self-made author. Nothing in my upbringing or my education had prepared me to become a fulltime writer in a small language community like Flanders (only five million people). But…Here I am, being a fulltime author for the 24th year now, having published more than 30 books in Holland and Belgium, and being translated and published in French and English. It’s the dream of a shy youth in a backward region of rural Flanders, a boy who barely finished college and was destined to become a postman…

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like the great 19th-century stylists like Flaubert, Baudelaire, André Baillon, but also John Cheever’s fantastic diaries, the musings of the Catalan writer Josep Pla, the gorgeous prose of Graciliano Ramos, the refined decadence of the Italian writer Curzio Malaparte…In short: stylish writers. In Flanders, I am – for the moment – the only representative of the “cross-over” between literature and the suspense novel. I like to mix literature and suspense, which is a very difficult thing to do.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Well, it isn’t exactly my latest: with the original novel “De wraak van Baudelaire” (written in Dutch), I won the Hercule Poirot Prize for best suspense novel of the year in 2007, after an intense fulltime writing period of a bit more than a year. In 2014 the English translation “Baudelaire”s Revenge” was published in hardcover in the US by Pegasus Books, after the success of the French translation (La Vengeance de Baudelaire) in France and Canada.

Very recently, “Baudelaire’s Revenge” made me also the winner of the USA Best Book Award 2014 in the category: Fiction: Mystery/suspense.

This historical novel is set in Paris in 1870. As the social and political turbulence of the Franco-Prussian War roils the city, workers starve to death while aristocrats seek refuge in orgies and séances. The Parisians are trapped like rats in their beautiful city but a series of gruesome murders captures their fascination and distracts them from the realities of war. The killer leaves lines from the recently deceased Charles Baudelaire’s controversial anthology “Les Fleurs du Mal” on each corpse, written in the poet’s exact handwriting. Commissioner Lefèvre, a lover of poetry and a veteran of the Algerian war, is on the case, and his investigation is a journey into the sinister side of human nature. The plot appears to extend as far as the court of the Emperor Napoleon III. This historical crime novel offers up some shocking revelations about sexual mores in 19th century France and illuminates the shadow life of one of the greatest names in poetry.

Now, since April of this year, when “Baudelaire’s Revenge” was launched, I noticed that the novel can be shocking to American readers (much less so in Europe).

The great French poet Charles Baudelaire adhered to the “Decadents”, a group of artists who – in an era wherein individuality began to blossom for the first time – wanted to overstep “every boundary” of the “civil society”: drugs (opium, laudanum, the “green faerie” absinth), sex (Paris at that time hosted more brothels than restaurants and was moreover fascinated by the exotic) and morale.

I tried to transfer this atmosphere – coupled with the frenzy of war – in the novel. The situation can be shocking but the language isn’t. I tried to use a style à la Flaubert for this novel….Hope I succeeded to reach to the knees of this master stylist…. 

Because, in private, a lot of American readers asked me why the focus on the dark side of sex in “Baudelaire’s Revenge”, I decided to ask the question to myself on Goodreads and, of course, also to deliver the answer. If you’re interested, you can read it here: https://www.goodreads.com/questions/169869-why-is-baudelaire-s-revenge-so

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Featured Interview With Sara F. Hathaway

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
As a child, I grew up in rural Michigan. I fished the Great Lakes with my family, gardened and canned with my mother, shot rifles and shotguns with my grandfather, and learned to bow hunt, skin and gut animals with my neighbor. I also had a horse that was my best buddy and we spent many days in the woods together.

I moved to California at the age of sixteen and still live here today. I graduated from The California State
University of Sacramento with a business degree but realized my heart was not in business. It rested in my love for nature and the ideas my imagination could create. So I started extensively researching and practicing survival techniques and forgotten life-sustaining methods of the generations past. This inspired my first novel, Day After Disaster.

My family is comprised of my wonderful husband and two sons. My animal family includes my beloved dog, Sawyer, three cats and three chickens.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved to read. Some of the books that influenced me the most at a young age were C.S. Lewis’s series, including The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe. Also, Mary Stewart’s Hallow Hills Series. I love the King Author Stories.

When I started writing my own material it was mostly poems and journals. Writing was a way for me to express my feelings. I never actually intended to publish my work. I wrote my first novel, Day After Disaster, simply because I had the story in my head and it needed to become reality.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite books to read are books that have a fascinating story but also have information to be learned from them at the same time. As an adult, the books that have influenced me the most in my personal writing are Jean M. Auel’s books from The Children of the Earth Series. These book have historical references, anthropological information, survival information, herbal healing information and an awesome storyline to tie it all together. After I read those books I knew I had to write my own.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Day After Disaster is an apocalyptic, adventure novel, featuring a dynamic young woman, mother and wife, Erika, who is thrust into a world turned upside down by a series of natural disasters. Finding herself alone in a city mutilated by this disastrous situation, she must save herself. Once free of the city confines, she desperately tries to navigate through the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to get back home to her family. Not knowing if they are alive or dead she must call on all of her survival instincts to plot a course through this broken environment.

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Featured Interview With Aviott John

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in south India. I moved to Austria after completing my university education and found a job at a fascinating research institute that studied many aspects of global change. I worked there for 37 years and became an Austrian citizen, retired last year and moved to an island in the South China Sea with my wife and two cats. My wife works as a teacher of creativity in Hong Kong, and I am a full-time writer now.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
An English text book in school called “The Romance of Reading” totally captivated me at the age of ten. It had snippets and chapters from many different books. I read an excerpt from “The Story of San Michele” by Axel Munthe, a Swedish author who wrote in English, and was totally captivated. After much searching, I found the book at a nearby library and read it from cover to cover. Dr. Axel Munthe lived from 1859 to 1949, was a great humanitarian and citizen of the world. I decided to become an author after reading this now-forgotten bestseller that was published in 1929. Take a look at dozens of 5-star reviews of the book on Amazon’s Axel Munthe page.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
After completing Axel Munthe’s work, I became a voracious reader and devoured everything on my father’s bedside reading pile. I read Somerset Maugham, Katherina Anne Porter, and Graham Greene, although they were far too grown-up for a 10 to 12 year old. My religious mother made me read the Bible and I thrilled to Jack London and Stevenson’s Treasure Island. I learned to touch type by copying Kipling’s entire Jungle Book cover to cover and knew most of the Mowgli stories by heart long before Disney’s more famous 1967 cartoon version appeared in 1967.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Ironwood Poacher and Other Stories is a collection of ten short stories. The title story takes place in India and is a tale of the violation of trust that women face on a daily basis throughout the world. In this particular case, a poor and relatively uneducated villager is pitted against a powerful police officer and has to use all his guile to rescue his beautiful wife from his clutches. One 5-star review on Amazon.com concludes: “The story shows the diverse human natures and reveals the weak would not remain weak if they are backed by intelligence. I loved this story along with the nine others and recommend them for the simple pleasure they generate.”

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Aviott John’s Website

Featured Interview With A.S.Chambers

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is A.S.Chambers (the “A” stands for Austin) and I am an author of horror and urban fantasy. My central creation is the down on his luck investigator of the paranormal Sam Spallucci who lives and works in my adopted home town of Lancaster in the North West of England.

I grew up in the incredibly flat Northamptonshire before moving to the exceptionally hilly Lancashire in the early 1990s where I soon realised that I needed a much more powerful pushbike. I studied mythology at Lancaster University and this has been a huge influence on my writing as, no matter where you look in Lancashire, shadowy tales of the supernatural practically ooze out of the ground and from underneath every stone.

I have a few pets: a neurotic dog who jumps at his own shadow, a cat who despairs at the aforementioned dog, and a couple of chickens who are quietly planning to take over the world.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved books apart from a few months around my transition into teenagerhood where I gave them all away. Fortunately we now have the Internet which lets me gradually amass all the books that I had once considered lost to the depths of time.

I came to my literary senses about the age of fourteen when I read Dracula. It totally gripped me and unlocked this whole new world of the supernatural that was dark and sexy. As a result I started to write my own stories and it has sort of grown since then.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I get asked this a lot and I always have to give the same answer, namely that I am an unashamed bibliophile who will read just about anything depending on what mood I’m in. My tastes range from sci-fi (I am a total Star Wars nut and have a massive collection of expanded universe books) through to murder mystery, and from horror to historical. I am currently ploughing through the Sharpe novels. These are just fantastic as I love the way the Bernard Cornwell creates such believable characters. You feel like you could meet these people in the street. It’s great when an author nails their subjects like that.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, “Sam Spallucci: Ghosts From The Past”, is the latest in my series of books concerning Lancaster-based paranormal investigator, Sam Spallucci. It kicks off where the previous book, “The Casebook of Sam Spallucci” finished: his spiteful ex-girlfriend appears on his doorstep asking him to infiltrate a cult which she accuses of brainwashing her son. Sam is sceptical at first but when he realises that the cult leader is an old acquaintance and people start to die he sees that bigger things are afoot.

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