Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Ruth O’Neil

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I have been a freelance writer for more than 20 years, publishing hundreds of articles in dozens of publications as well as a few books. I enjoy helping others of all ages make their publishing dreams come true. I was born and raised in upstate New York and attended Houghton College. When I’m not writing or homeschooling, I spend my spare time quilting, reading, scrapbooking, camping and hiking with the family.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My love of reading began at a very young age and my love for writing developed soon after that. I wrote my first story when I was nine years old. The rest is history!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I normally prefer to read Christian fiction. Some of my favorite authors include Karen Kingsbury, Frank Peretti, and Colleen Coble. Inspiration comes from all sorts of situations and people. Sometimes, some little interaction between strangers gives me an idea to write about.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Karin is a woman with a past. About the time she thinks no one will ever know, it comes back to haunt her. The deeper she tries to push it away the more prominently it returns. Forgiveness is a word that isn’t in her vocabulary as far as the people from her past are concerned. She thinks she’s fine until someone from her past shows up unexpectedly forcing her to think about what happened. With the help of her family and other people around her she realizes that she must learn to forgive, even if forgiveness wasn’t asked of her.

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Featured Interview With Ashley Chunell

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m Ashley Chunell, I’m a romance and GLBT author and I was born and raised in Boston.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Although I’ve never been much of a reader, I have been writing my entire life. Song lyrics, poems, short stories, fanfictions, etc. I’ve always had a fascination with words. Finally, I starting writing my own stories and creating my own characters and it wasn’t long before they became books.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
While I don’t read often, I do love David Archuleta’s memoir. As for inspirations, soap operas have always been a big one. I watch a lot of soaps and they’ve influenced me a lot. Another one would be How I Met Your Mother. The writing on that show is ridiculous. There was never a bad episode and I really admire the writing. Chris Colfer is also another inspiration for me. I love how he adds real life into his writing; not necessarily in his books, but in his movie.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is the third in my Noah and Ronan Series and is titled “A Miracle Melody.” Noah and Ronan take the next step in their lives and make the decision to have a baby and become dads. The first book in my series, “A Melody in Harmony,” focuses on Noah and Ronan becoming boyfriends and falling in love. The second book, “New Melody, Same Harmony,” is about Noah and Ronan getting married. So, of course the third book in the series would be about them becoming parents! Throughout the series, I made it a point to shed light on the hate and bigotry the LGBT community face and a lot of the homophobic comments and situations are based off of things I’ve heard and witnessed in real life.

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Featured Interview With Mary Gottschalk

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I have made a career out of changing careers.

I spent nearly thirty years in the financial markets, in New York, New Zealand, Australia, Euorpe and Mexico.

Along the way, I dropped out several times. In the mid-80’s, at age 40, my husband Tom and I embarked on the three-year sailing voyage that is the subject of my memoir, SAILING DOWN THE MOONBEAM. When the voyage ended, I returned to my career in finance, but dropped out again to provide financial and strategic planning services to the nonprofit community.

In my latest incarnation, I am a full time writer. My first novel, A FITTING PLACE, was released May 1, 2014.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I learned to read before I was in kindergarten, and have rarely been without a book in my hand since. One of the reasons I loved crossing the Pacific Ocean on a small sailboat was that I could read a book a day.

I also began writing at early age, but mostly “with a purpose” — term papers, my college thesis, and client reports. I did not begin creative writing until I was nearly 60.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
This is hard to answer as my preferences have changed dramatically over the years. As a young woman, I read my way through the American literary “canon” (e.g., Steinbeck, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Faulkner) and selected European writers (e.g., Thomas Mann, Hermann Hesse, Sartre, Simone de Beauvoir).

As the years passed, my interest shifted away from fiction toward biography and history. Now, I have returned to fiction, but as part of menu of biography, memoir, history, science, philosophy and almost anything that is thought-provoking and well-written.

I don’t know that any one author “inspires my writing,” but I dream of being able to write as well as Barbara Kingsolver, Sue Monk Kidd or John Irving.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Both of my books reflect my belief that the potential for personal and/or professional growth is greatest when you are in situations that cause you to re-examine your beliefs and values. In my memoir, Sailing Down the Moonbeam, I made a conscious decision to step out of my comfort zone from a professional, geographic and cultural perspective. It changed my life in some amazing ways.

But most people don’t have the option of quitting their jobs and heading off into the sunset. I wanted to write a story that could happen to any woman in any place or time. In my recently-published novel, A Fitting Place, my protagonist, Lindsey, remains in her hometown surrounded by friends, family and her career, but begins to grow in new ways when she is forced out of her comfort zone by changing circumstances.

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Featured Interview With Lauren Linwood

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a native Dallasite who now lives in a Dallas suburb. I grew up with a fascination with anything about history. That passion led me to majoring in history and education, and I became a high school history teacher. I tried to show my students that history isn’t always about huge events–but the ordinary people who lived through them. Many times that unknown person steps up, and the course of history is changed by the action of one person.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t remember a time when reading books and trying to write weren’t a part of my life. I made up stories and acted them out with my dolls and stuffed animals even before I could write. I discovered a set of biographies in my school’s library in third grade. Each was only about a hundred pages, and I read every single one by the time I left. The series featured inventors, military officers, authors, actors, musicians, politicians, explorers. Reading the stories of these people in so many different eras and places in the world became a huge contribution to my education (and still helps me answer trivia questions!).

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read in a variety of genres. I love thrillers, especially if they have an historical angle. Steve Berry and Brad Meltzer do a great job with those. I like books about cops, and John Sandford has a terrific series, while James Patterson does several. In historical romance I enjoy reading Amanda Quick, Mary Jo Putney, Julia Quinn, and Diana Gabaldon. Stephen King is a huge favorite of mine. The Stand is my favorite book from him.

I’m most inspired by King because he creates ordinary people who do extraordinary things. I try to do the same in my novels.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Written in the Cards is a western historical romance. I decided I wanted my hero to be an author who wrote dime novels, which were very popular after the Civil War. That’s when my newly-created heroine Maggie put her foot down. She demanded to be the dime novelist. I had her write her books under a male pen name, as many women authors in the 19th century did.

That freed up Ben to be a Civil War veteran who became a gambler. He calls a cheater out at cards and shoots the man in self-defense. Unfortunately, this cheater is brother to the most famous gunslinger in the West, who swears revenge upon Ben.

Ben hides out in the place no one would expect to find him–on the cattle trail as a cowboy. When he comes off the long drive, Maggie is waiting in Abilene to interview cowboys for her upcoming book. Sparks fly, and the two become an item–until Black Tex Lonnegan hits town with murdering Ben on his mind.

It took about five months to write Written in the Cards. I was sad to finish it because I’d grown so fond of Maggie and Ben.

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Featured Interview With Barbara A Martin

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in the Laurel Highlands of Pennsylvania, but spent most of my growing up in eight different U.S. states. My mother’s family is from Utah, more mountains. Now I live in Western North Carolina, back to mountains. You could say I Love Mountains.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My mother taught me to read before I started school. I’ve loved books ever since. It was when I was eleven years old that I decided someday I’d become a writer. I made several attempts through my life and even had one half of a novel done. It was stolen from me (that’s a book in itself). Two years ago I began to write in earnest.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ll start with my favorite genres. Cosy mysteries/murders, some thrillers, non-fiction history, select fictional history. I am most inspired by strong female characters and reasonably flawed male characters. I get very annoyed if the protagonist is so flawed the story becomes more about their problems than the story. Now for my favorite authors, by genre: Lauren Carr, RP Dahlke, Cindy Blackburn, P.D. James, Agatha Christie; Kathy Reichs, David Baldacci, Clive Cussler, David Bishop, John Ferling, Georgette Heyer. This is a portion of the list.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The three main females are natural sleuths who don’t go looking for trouble, it finds them. The FBI, DEA and NC SBI are hunting down a dangerous drug cartel operating in Western North Carolina. These smugglers have a unique way of disposing of their enemies, they burn the bodies. Meanwhile our women sleuths uncover an underlying conspiracy of spies for the cartel, who have infiltrated several law enforcement agencies. Just to keep things lively, these ladies also deal with amorous attentions from some of the good guys.

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Featured Interview With Michelle Birbeck

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Michelle has been reading and writing her whole life. Her earliest memory of books was when she was five and decided to try and teach her fish how to read, by putting her Beatrix Potter books in the fish tank with them. Since then her love of books has grown, and now she is writing her own and looking forward to seeing them on her shelves, though they won’t be going anywhere near the fish tank.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started writing when I was very young, and continued through high school, but stopped when I got marred and started working. It wasn’t until I stopped working back in 2008 to look after my husband that I took up writing again and really found my passion for it. Since then, I haven’t stopped, and don’t plan to any time soon!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I adore Richard Laymon and everything he’s written. I also really enjoy Laurell Hamilton’s Anita Blake series, and anything by JR Ward. My favourite genre to read has to be paranormal, because there is just so much you can do with the paranormal, and I love reading about all the different aspects of the things that go bump in the night.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is my first foray into both young adult and science fiction. It’s called The Stars Are Falling, and follows Nuclear Physics student Jenny in York as the stars begin falling from the sky.
I had a whole lot of fun writing this one, and it wasn’t until it was written that I realised it was a science fiction book. However, if science fiction isn’t your thing, don’t worry, it’s sci-fi for people who don’t like sci-fi! (And those that do!)

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Featured Interview With Greg Dragon

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am originally from Jamaica, West Indies but was raised in sunny South Florida from the age of eleven. I have moved around the state throughout my life but I currently reside in Tampa, Florida.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved books, having a mother that was a teacher and book enthusiast made this automatic for me. I grew up reading books like Oliver Twist, and Tom Sawyer before I began to sneak into my mother’s collection and reading the trash novels that she had there. I began writing in High School when I found out that I was pretty good at it, I did many poems and short stories, but I didn’t writ an actual book until much later.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like reading Dystopian SciFi books that are based in parody. This is why novels like 1984, Slaughterhouse Five, Brave New World, and A Clockwork Orange has a special place in my heart. I also like to read biographies from the past from men and women with a gift for writing. Two of my favorite books in that area have been Manchild in the Promised Land, and Pimp: The Story of My Life.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Lady Hellgate, is a shorter novel (134 pages) about a tiny woman that sets out to become a soldier and ends up being the greatest ace pilot in the Galactic Alliance. The woman’s name is Helga ATE and she is a complicated one… Helga has trust issues, is part alien, and isn’t particularly beautiful, so much of her struggles are with her human allies from her teens up into adulthood. Lady Hellgate touches on themes like love, race relations, and trust, and it has a lot of action and espionage.

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Featured Interview With Janet Martinez

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Indiana and raised in Illinois. I now live in Cordova, Tennessee, which is a suburb of Memphis. I came here to teach, but have recently retired from education.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t know. I’ve always been a reader. My best Christmas gift ever was a set of books about triplets called “The Three Bears” or something like that. I think I was about six at the time. I started writing short stories in grade school. I think my mother was the only one who read them and, of course, she loved them. Being my mom, she wouldn’t have told me if she thought they were awful.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love Lee Child’s Jack Reacher books. I’m a big fan of Michael Connelly’s Harry Bosch. I also like Stephen King, Dean Koontz and John Grisham. Dan Brown is also a favorite, though I have to admit I think his best book is “The Da Vinci Code.” I watch the History Channel and H2 and it absolutely fascinates me that they have “scholarly” discussions of fact v. fiction in “The Da Vinci Code.” Sometimes I just want to yell at the TV that the book is a NOVEL, which means it’s FICTION. Get over it! I don’t really have a favorite genre. I read almost everything. I’m not too keen on romance novels, though. I’m sure who inspires me. I’m inspired by every good book I read.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Before I became a teacher, I spent just over twenty years working for lawyers. Some of them are really obnoxious and have no people skills. When one of them would make me really angry, I’d go home from work and write scenes killing them off. My last book, “Drop Dead Killers”, uses some of those scenes. There is a female serial killer who is killing lawyers in an effort to ruin a particular law firm. She’s looking for revenge against one of the lawyers and thinks it would be too obvious to just kill him. She wants to make him suffer before she actually kills him. There are two detectives, David Graham and Alexis Hamilton, charged with finding the killer. Alexis has her own agenda, though. She’s in love with David and wants to make sure no other women infringe on what she considers her territory. David doesn’t have a clue about how she feels, and thinks it’s strange when Alexis starts tailing him when he starts dating Cassandra. He becomes suspicious when he confronts Alexis and she denies following him.

If you count the scenes I wrote when I worked for lawyers, the book took me about twenty years to write. If you count actual writing where I knew it was going to be a book and actually worked at it, it took me about a year to write.

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Featured Interview With A. L. Hearn

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a writer, poet, and budding therapist. My newest venture, Dreamscribe Publications, LLC, publishes various literary works including my first book entitled “Becoming Me: Reflection and Insight Through Poetry and Prose”. I was born in 1980 and I am originally from Jackson, Mississippi. I began writing poetry for my own enjoyment at a very early age and I also began writing short stories and kept many journals prior to sharing my writing with others. In 2004 I began working and writing as a freelancer for various publications within my hometown such as Jackson Free Press Alternative Newsweekly and the Metro Business Chronicle. After 4 years of being a freelance writer, although much more knowledgeable from my experience in the area of journalism, I decided that my passion aligned more with creative literary works.
Currently, I am working to follow my dreams as both a writer and therapist. Through my writing, I work to creatively merge ideas from both worlds into poems, stories, and inspirational non-fiction in a way that is insightful and thought provoking. I also created a blog called The Enigmatic Perspective which features insightful topics and quotes that are inspirational but with a twist of a different perspective. When I’m not busy daydreaming or tapping away at my computer, I love reading, traveling, and spending time with my lovely daughter.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was raised by a mother who loved classic literature and so I was raised to love it. I heard stories of classic fairytales from the Brothers Grimm, as well as The Wind In the Willows, and even Anne of Green Gables. Trips to the library, especially during the summer time were fun outings. The shelves of books were like little fascinating treasures to me because once I opened up a book I never knew what fascinating tale I would discover and that excited me.
Around the age of 6 or 7 I was given a diary with a lock and I still have that diary to this day. I would write down everything that I was feeling in a way that was as expressive as I could make it. I would say that’s when I began writing. Poetry became a love because it was fun and it was artistic and it brought me joy.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love classic literature, creative fiction, fantasy, poetry, and stories that really make you think such as those written by Toni Morrison. I am also a big fan of J. R. R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, and notable poets such as Maya Angelou and various other notable writers and poets from the Harlem Renaissance such as Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Zora Neale Hurston, Anne Spencer, and Gwendolyn Bennett.
I would say that all of my favorite authors inspire my writings because they are literary idols. I see them as icons. The amount of details, imagination, and thought provoking content that has gone into their work is amazing to me and they definitely inspire me when I write.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is entitled, “Becoming Me: Reflection and Insight Through Poetry and Prose”. It is a book of 40 original works of poetry that blends personal growth, insight, and reflection which took about a year to write. I found that when I was in my quiet times throughout each day, as I reflected on my experiences in life and my studies in therapy, that inspirations and thoughts would come to me and I would write them down and they would become poetic verses.

Within this book, I am sharing my insight and emotions with readers through the poems which are creative pieces based on my perspectives of life. I wanted each poem to be indicative of a naïve yielding to the human experience through each line and verse. I wanted to evoke a sense of vulnerability by expressing my own personal experiences because my hope is that, through this book, readers will connect with each piece as they also reflect on their subjective experiences of life. No matter whether the subject is love, self-awareness, consciousness, personal growth, spirituality, motherhood, or even expressions of honor to the ancestors, the poems in this book are quite telling through their descriptions of experience. They are exemplary of life’s fullness and its opportunities for growth through ups and downs by way of in-depth reflection and insight. Each piece lends an uplifting voice of understanding to readers. Anyone who is moved and inspired by works of poetry will definitely be moved and inspired through this book of poetry.

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Featured Interview With M. K. Theodoratus

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a California gal … when California ends on the northern side of the Tehachapis. Nothing chauvinistic about me, even when I’m not thinking about water being wasted on swimming pools.

Now live in Colorado, but nothing in the Rockies inspires me like the California Mother Lode where many of my Andor stories are set.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Actually, I didn’t know I could read until the fifth grade. I’m dyslexic and could never finish the reading workbooks.

I started writing in the sixth grade when the teacher assigned a short story. Started a Nancy Drew pastiche which I finished the next summer. Got a “C” in the class through because at 25 pages my story was incomplete.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m a fantasy and mystery reader … though I don’t write mysteries. I can’t think linearly. Some favorite writers are Lee Child [who I wish I could write like], Patricia Briggs, Simon R. Green, Sharyn McCrumb, Mary Balogh, Carol O’Connell, Jim Butcher, Karen Marie Moning,Neil Gaimon, and Tamora Pierce … as a sampling of current writers. Also must mention Andre Norton — both her Witch World series and her space operas.

My inspiration is more a question than a person: What if? Or maybe, what happens? Like, what happens to the politics of a hybrid elf-human population over time. Voila. My grumpy Far Isles Half-Eleven, where the ruler leans towards the feudal and his nemesis leans towards the new merchants and artisans.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
First, I’ve only indie e-pubbed novellas and short stories while building an author platform for a novel in process — There Be Demons, set in my alternative world of Andor where demons roam. It’s publication is delayed due to the illness of the publisher.

As usual, my story doesn’t follow the usual path of a hot, young chick with the ability to see ghosts as the main character. Dumdie, my protagonist in Ghost, is a forcibly-retired, homeless woman who finds a room in a private shelter threatened with closure because of a missing will. When she connects with the ghost of the former owner of the converted mansion, Dumdie must overcome her fears of exposing her weird abilities to save the shelter.

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Featured Interview With Anna Faktorovich

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m frequently asked where I’m from, usually because people can’t place my accent. I was born in Moscow, spent some time in Ukraine, then lived in Brooklyn, then in Boston’s suburbs, then in LA, Nashville, Columbia (SC), and a long list of over 20 other US states, visiting Canada, Mexico, Israel, Italy, and even teaching college ESL in China for a semester, among many other adventures. I currently live in Tucson, AZ, but will move out of this region on July 31. My top 2 choices for a new place to live are Florida near a beach, or somewhere near New York City, the latter because I should be more active with selling my publishing business, Anaphora Literary Press (http://anaphoraliterary.com), and my books; the first for the obvious reasons.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I clearly recall becoming interested in books in kindergarten when I read a Soviet propaganda abridged version of Lenin’s works and Mayakovskiy’s poetry. I started writing descriptive diary entries soon after this, and have always been interested in writing both fiction and non-fiction, becoming an Arts Editor in high school during an AP English class.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ve published a couple of academic books about popular and classical genres: “Rebellion as Fiction in the Novels of Scott, Dickens and Stevenson” (McFarland, 2013), and “Formulas of Popular Fiction” (McFarland, 2014). I enjoy writing in the historical genre the most because I believe that literature should be researched and grounded in the realism of actual history. But, I have experimented in various other genres, and have enjoyed reading French romances, mysteries, and science fiction with equal interest. My favorite authors, currently, are George Sand and Sir Walter Scott. I’m inspired by powerful female historical figures that allow me to talk about issues that concern modern women through the prism of history.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Romances of George Sand takes the heroine from a childhood in the aristocracy amidst the Napoleonic Wars, to an unhappy early marriage and eventual divorce, to her careers as a country doctor, pharmacist, lawyer, and most successfully as a romance novelist. This is a story about the revolutions in a woman’s heart as she goes through dozens of love affairs. It is also about George’s involvement in violent, political revolutions of her time, including the July and June Revolutions and the 1848 Revolution; in the latter, she served as the unofficial Minister of Propaganda. The story is full of military battles, coup d’etat maneuvers, duels, malevolent plots, infidelity, artistic discussions, monumental legal cases, and reflections on the nature of love, family, romance, rebellion, and femininity. The history behind each of the events depicted is researched with biographical precision, but liberty is taken with some events that have been contested by historians, including the lesbian affair George had with Marie Dorval and the identity of the real father of her second child. Students of literature and history will recognize many of the central characters, as George befriended Napoleon I and III, Alexander Dumas pere and fils, Frederic Chopin, Alfred de Musset, and a long list of other notables.

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Featured Interview With Mark Lukens

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’ve been writing since I was in second grade when my teacher called my parents in for a conference because the ghost story I’d written had her a little concerned. By the time I was fourteen years old I was reading every Stephen King book I could find at the public library. I was hooked – I knew I had to be a writer.

Since then I’ve had several stories published and I’ve had four screenplays optioned by producers in Hollywood; one script is being considered for production by a major studio at this time. I’ve written four books which are available on Amazon and Kindle (Ancient Enemy, The Summoning, Descendants of Magic, and A Dark Collection: 12 Scary Stories). Ancient Enemy was a bestseller on Amazon. I’m a member of the Horror Writers Association.

I grew up in Daytona Beach, Florida but after many travels and adventures I settled down in Tampa, Florida where I live with my wonderful and supportive wife, my son, and a stray cat we adopted.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I had a fascination with books and stories as far back as I can remember. I started writing stories in grade school. I think the writing bug really hit me after reading a book of science fiction short stories my mom and dad had on the bookshelf. In that book I discovered writers like Asimov, Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury. Then I tried to find every Ray Bradbury book I could. And then it was on to Stephen King after that.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love the horror, thriller, and sci-fi genres the most, but I’ll read any genre – I just love a good story.

My favorite authors through the years:
Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Ray Bradbury, Michael Crichton, Larry McMurty, Arthur C. Clarke, Anne Rice, Michael Marshall, Preston and Child, Sue Grafton, Clive Barker, Peter Straub, Dan Brown, Shirley Jackson, Lee Child, Louis L’Amour, Nancy Kress, and there are too many more to list.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called A Dark Collection: 12 Scary Stories; it’s a collection of spooky stories, one for each month of the year. Two of the stories in this collection were published previously, but the rest of them are new.

I’m also getting ready to put two more books on Amazon/Kindle in the next few weeks:

Night Terrors is about a woman with psychic abilities who is pursued by a serial killer who has psychic powers of his own.

Ghost Town is a novella about six strangers caught in a dangerous game in the middle of a ghost town.

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Featured Interview With Irene Dolnick

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I dusted the roots of my Southwestern roots to live in a large New England city, where the hustle and bustle of everyday life feed my development. I have a B.A. degree from UMass Boston and a MEd in Reading and Literacy.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was a struggling reader but I loved to learn. I began writing while I was at the University of Massachusetts Boston. My love of writing continued even after I graduated. I began writing my first children’s book when I was obtaining my Masters in Reading. My heart melted when I talked to children who were being left behind.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My love for children continues and I have started a non-profit organization that will donate my books to engage students with my Phonics fun with Kurt, Gert, Jasmine, and Bagel Literacy Initiative. In addition, I will also engage those mature readers in our Global Warming Project because my family has returned to the Southwest and 106 degree temperatures are not helpful to my now disabled husband.

While I love the classics (Hawthorne, Dickens etc.), I also read Christine Feehan, James Patterson, Daniele Steele and instructional reading books.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Kurt, Get, Jasmine, and Bagel is a phonics book that contains many moral lessons embedded in the text and most importantly introduces or re-introduces reading concepts such as blending, segmenting, pronunciation of controlled r (vowel preceding the r), double o, ou, ow, ough, ch, sh, th, wh, f, ff, ph, and augh words. The vowels targeted are color coded and underlined. By the end of the book, the Dyslexic or struggling reader no longer needs the underline because the brain has already encoded the pronunciation.

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Featured Interview With Linda Maria Frank

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I retired from a lifelong career teaching the sciences. She resides on Long Island, where she is currently writing the Annie Tillery Mysteries series, which includes Th e Madonna Ghost; Girl
with Pencil, Drawing and Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys. I taught forensic science and loved Nancy Drew as a girl, so I decided to marry the two, and I call my series, “Nancy Drew Meets CSI”. I also produces the television show, The Writer’s Dream ,and serve as an active member of several
writers’ groups. I grew up in NYC, and have lived on Long Island all my life, enjoying the benefits of both the City and Long Island’s shore. I love a good mystery!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I discovered Nancy Drew at age 10 or 11. I started writing stories for my science students in my 40’s, and soon started turning some of those stories into my Annie Tillery Mystery Series. My forensic science background enabled me to come up with good plots, backed up by solid science. My love of history also comes out in the plots. For example, the topic of the book and movie, “Monuments Men”, is the back story in “Girl with Pencil, Drawing”.
The latest in the series, “Secrets in the Fairy Chimneys”, takes place at an archaeological dig in Turkey, with an interesting twist to the theft of the artifacts at that dig, a real place in Turkey.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Val McDermid, Elizabeth George, Steve Berry, Steven King, Patricia Cornwell, Phillipa Gregory are some of my favorites.
I love mystery, thrillers, spy novels, historical fiction, and good historical non-fiction.
I think all those authors inspire me. What I strive for in my books is weaving really likable characters into clever plots with interesting background and settings. I listen for the author’s ability to let me really hear the characters’ voices amid the elements of plot and setting.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Amateur sleuth Annie Tillery has been warned to stay away from Nevshehir, Turkey, where she is
heading to meet her boyfriend, Ty Egan, and Cedric Zeeks, Ty’s best friend. Intent on helping the two excavate an archaeological site where they hope to link human remains to the first African ancestors, Annie does her best to shakes her foreboding feelings as her plane lands in Istanbul and she prepares to embark on her next adventure.
But when a stranger claims he is there to pick her up and then disappears once he sees Ty, Annie is immediately thrown back into worry mode—especially after Ty tells her there is unexplained tension surrounding the dig and she receives a threatening note at the hotel. Still, as the three head to Nevshehir, Annie is buoyed by the excitement surrounding ancient Turkey and the possibility of uncovering secrets. The dig is plagued by accidents and theft, however, and the three friends, assisted by the head archaeologist’s twins, must search the ancient city of Istanbul and the caves of fantastic Cappadocia to find who is sabotaging their work.
In this young adult thriller, detective Annie Tillery must once again walk on a dangerous path in an attempt to unravel a complicated mystery and solve the secrets in the fairy chimneys.
This book took a little over two years to write. The DNA science is part of my DNA, as I taught this stuff for 20 odd years. I went to Turkey to get a feel for the places in the book which are all real. The only fictitious place is Vermont University. I researched the Hittite Caves and Catalhoyuk (the dig), and really soaked up the local color and history in Istanbul. What fun!

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Featured Interview With Sherrie Wouters

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a thirty something flame haired chick who accidentally wrote a book and am now an author.
I am a qualified Homeoeopath and Kinesiologist, and I grew up and still live in country Victoria, Australia with my husband, and two teenage daughters.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Always loved books right back from the time my mum would read us Enid Blyton at bedtime. There was nothing quite like the adventures our imaginations went on with Enid’s books.

I started writing in my mid thirties after having an idea for a novel. Which eventually became Life Lived Twice.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Romance, historical romance, romantic fantasy.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Life Lived Twice is a romantic fantasy that explores the fascinating dual phenomenon of love and first sight and reincarnation.

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Featured Interview With Terin Miller

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in St. Louis, Mo., but raised mostly in Madison, Wis. by two anthropology professors who taught at the University of Wisconsin and Beloit College. I live now in a suburban New Jersey town close enough to commute to Manhattan. I have lived and worked all over the world, including India and Spain, though most of my career as a journalist has been in Wisconsin, Texas, North Dakota, South Carolina and New York.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I first became interested in reading when I was about 8 or 9 years old. I was at family friends’ farm, in Mt. Horeb, Wis., and it was night and there was no television (!) and too dark and cold to play outside, and I was bored, sitting in an old comfortable overstuffed green fabric wing-backed chair, and saw lying on the side table under a lamp a paperback copy of The Hound of the Baskervilles. I opened it and became immersed in the story, in my mind, and nearly instantly became a fan of reading books without pictures. I tried actually writing my first short story probably a year before, when I was about 7. It was (in my mind) to be an episode of The Mod Squad, my favorite television show at the time (yes, I’m that old). I typed it on an old portable manual Olivetti my parents let me play with, single spaced, and it took up the whole yellow ruled notebook page, with dialogue and setting and action. As the narrator, I took the role of Pete, while I put my friends in the role of Link and Julie. A girl I’d often played with at recess, who I was inexplicably attracted to, had long blonde hair parted in the middle and I imagined her as a young Peggy Lipton, the actress who played Julie in the original television series.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are the “realists,” though I also am quite enamored with “naturalists,” especially Barry Holstun Lopez, and even some of the “romanticists” like F. Scott Fitzgerald. I have read and enjoy everything from Science Fiction to Biographies to Historical novels to history and current affairs. I learn from books, as much likely as I learn from participating in things, which is my primary mode of education. As for inspiration, I first discovered Ernest Hemingway while at a friend’s log cabin for a week, where I and the boy whose father owned the cabin and several of our other friends started going for Thanksgiving every year from mid-high school into college. One of the guys was reading, I think, The Sun Also Rises, and all I knew of Hemingway is what everyone talked about–what an overly macho, sexist, boorish individual he was. In short, I thought, we had some things in common. And then, I read the book my friend had brought. What attracted me was the simple yet poetic language, and the seemingly understated emotions that somehow conveyed stronger emotions in the reader. I met Barry Lopez as a freshman at the University of Wisconsin branch campus at Stevens Point, and had the pleasure of stopping the car for him at the edge of the woods between the airport at Wausau, where I picked him up to drive him to campus as an assignment/instruction from my adviser in Communications, a friend of his, and the campus. He had endured a rather difficult flight, I guess from Oregon, and declared he needed some fresh air. I thought, of course, he was being “artsy,” and was immediately unpleased with him as a passenger. But I got out of the car with him, and walked with him, in the quiet on the snow covered ground between tall poplars and pines, careful not to disturb him. He walked ahead of me, fingers of both hands interlaced except for the index fingers, with which he formed a temple steeple, and put to his lips, his head down, almost in reverent prayer, as we walked. Then, as suddenly as we started, he stopped, and turned to face me. “Did you notice anything?” he asked, the glint I now recognize whenever I see his eyes, smiling from ear-to-ear under his beard and mustache “Like what?” I asked. It was sunny and the reflection off the snow made me squint, so I’d been looking at his back. He pointed behind me, with his index fingers still in a steeple. “Deer spoor,” he said, and I looked. Deer must have been where we’d passed shortly before us, as the droppings were still giving off steam. “It’s amazing what you can see,” he taught me, “when you are actually looking.” So, it’s fair to say Barry has inspired me in my writing since my college days. And then, I met Loren D. Estleman in Texas. Loren, a mystery and western writer, was pretty much beginning his career at the time. We shared the same literary agent, who urged me to introduce myself to him at a conference being held at the time in Amarillo, where I was working at my first newspaper. Loren has remained a good friend, confidant and mentor. Besides them, and Hemingway, and Fitzgerald, I’ve read and enjoyed Hugh Mottram, and everyone from the french writers Prevost, Honore de Balzac, Victor Hugo, Emile Zola, to Dickens, Conrad, Hawthorne, Irving, Twain, Sherwood Anderson, Norman Mailer, James Jones to Truman Capote, with a host of friends inbetween, to the Russians Dostoyevsky, Chekov, Turgenev to Mihail Lehrmontov (my favorite) to Juan Benito Perez Galdos, the so-called accurately “Spanish Balzac,” to for pure fun Isaac Assimov, Herman Hesse, Pohl Anderson to Edgar Rice Burroughs, Washington Irving, Herman Mellville, R.H. Dana, Jack London and J.G. Farrell. I have, as my parents would say, rather “eclectic” tastes. Oh. And I also LOVE poetry. Poetry that causes my nerves to hum, like my friend Keith Flynn, and Robert Frost, Robert Service, Wilfred Owen, W.H. Auden, John Keats, William Butler Yeats, and, despite the rhyme, Archibald MacLeish. For mysteries, besides Estleman, I love Dashiell Hammett, Micky Spillane, Jim Thompson, Ross MacDonald and, lately, Marie Belloc Lowndes.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Sympathy for the Devil is essentially a combination of my love for mysteries with a bit of the hard-bitten detective turned into instead a hard-bitten, aging journalist. I try to describe the harsh Texas Panhandle landscape as a character that has shaped the people who have lived for generations on it. It is part historical novel, as it takes place in the area in the 1980s, and the narrator is a native of the Panhandle who “won the lottery” to Southeast Asia to fight in Vietnam at just about the time he might have, instead, gone to college on a basketball scholarship. Charles Lawton is a “good ol’ boy” on the outside, but inside, he’s still resentful of being taken from everything he knew as a high school basketball star, and taught to kill as a member of a Military Assistance Command-Vietnam long range reconnaissance patrol unit, Ranger and sniper qualified, and then back home. In short, he is a contemporary with most of the people he’s dealing with as a journalist–politicians, law enforcement officers, ranchers, and others. But only really of others who were Vietnam Veterans in Texas in the 1980s, dealing with modernization and liberation and money-making and a country trying to put the war behind it just like everyone else at the time.
Yes, the characters–including the narrator, Lawton, are based on people I knew and experiences I had while a police reporter in the region for three years. It took me probably about a decade to write it the way I wanted to, and I brought it out of retirement and went over some of it with friends from the region at the period it takes place and revised it and the publisher edited it and published it about a year ago. One writer friend and I have discussed in the past how much time should be allowed between experiences and writing about them, well, and his response and reaction was “a decade, at least.” The reason I went into journalism in the first place was to have experiences and be able to write about them. I’ve been a journalist more than three decades. I’ve lived and had and heard a lot of experiences. I only hope I have enough time to write about most of them.

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Featured Interview With Java Davis

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I spent years as a typesetter in the printing and marketing trades. All of those skills come into play as an independent author/publisher. I’m currently retired in the Pennsylvania suburbs with a husband, pick-up truck, 2 dogs and 1 cat.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My parents were older parents who were both librarians. They were not the “fun” parents, but I certainly got lots of reading done! The writing is comparatively unimportant compared to the reading, which teaches you good writing from bad. For years, I always knew I had a book in me, and one day, it popped out.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love biographies and autobiographies, self-help books, and histories. Non-fiction is my go-to. For fiction, I prefer humorous stories of all sorts. I HATE short stories!! To me, those “authors” are cheating!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book took me back to Michigan, where I lived years ago. Apples are a prominent Michigan product. Michigan and apples combined to play out in Commune, my most recent title. 4 of my 5 published titles are fiction, which is odd for someone who loves non-fiction. I do have one small memoir published, On Becoming a Dinosaur, which summarizes my days as a typesetter and what happened to me after the arrival of desktop publishing.

Minor characters became major characters, and major characters became minor characters, as I was writing Commune. The whole idea was that people would come and go at the commune, all of them with their own unique agendas. The property owner and commune founder was expecting everyone to cheerfully pitch in to make the commune profitable. Commune became the story of these people, who disappointed the owner, who stood by her, and who were engaging in criminal activities that ultimately got her arrested. But I refuse to spoil the ending here!

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Featured Interview With J.M. Northup

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am an American author with the independent publisher, CREATIVIA. I’ve been married to my best friend, Dusty for over 22 amazing years and we have two beautiful daughters. I am a wicked cat lady who spends way too much time check out funny cat photos and videos online, as my author Facebook will confirm! I grew up in Minneapolis, Minnesota and currently reside in east Texas.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always loved literature; it was my favorite subject in school. I feel that my mom was the inspiration for this because she was an avid reader herself. Then I began seriously writing in high school back in the 80’s, but when I got married and started my family, I set my writing aside. My husband encouraged me to return to written through the years and when both our girls were finally grown, I returned to my passion. My debut FEARS OF DARKNESS is actually the original novel for me. I wrote it back when I was a teenager and then I blew new life into its pages in order to bring the completed book to life.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Growing up, I loved Shakespeare; his plays and poetry. My favorite was TAMING OF THE SHREW. I was also a big fan of Robert Frost’s poetry, Rad Bradbury’s short stories, and all things GONE WITH THE WIND by Margaret Mitchell.
Jean M. Auel introduced me to my favorite genre, historical fiction, with her amazing Earth’s Children series. That love brought me to my favorite authors Kathleen O’Neal Gear and W. Michael Gear’s work. I can’t tell you how much I love their work!!!!
I am also a huge fan of Stephenie Meyer. I am not ashamed to say I love all things TWILIGHT, but I also really connected with her book, THE HOST. Other others that I love to read include, Charlaine Harris, Suzanne Collins, and Veronica Roth.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I can interpret this to question to mean to things, so I will answer it both ways, if that’s okay. 🙂
I had been self-published for the first editions of FEARS OF DARKNESS and A PRISONER WITHIN. Now that I have signed with my publisher, they are refining my novels with proper editing and beautiful cover art then they will re-publish them in their second edition versions.
I have also sent them my new work FELINE FASCINATIONS: A Forever Home which we will be working together on as a middle grade genre series called, the Adventures of Boris and Olga.
I am diligently working to complete the prequel to FEARS OF DARKNESS which will also be the second installment to the Fears of Dakota series entitled, A RIPPLE OF FEAR.

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