Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Vanessa Kittle

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in Virginia and now live in New York, though I belong in Ireland, California, or Hobbiton.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
It was somewhere around 2nd or 3rd grade when I got the boxed set of Lord of the Rings. From there until I got into tennis junior year I read Fellowship maybe 100 times.

I wrote my first story in 4th grade about a swordwielding otter named felix.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Tolkien, Lewis, Bradley, Salinger, Asimov

I read scifi, fantasy, and literary fiction

I wouldn’t say that I have any particular influence or inspiration in writing. The closest probably would be Salinger.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Elaenorh is a crossover between fantasy and hard science fiction. I like to think of it as literary fantasy, focused on character as much as plot. There’s some strong Irish mythology and history themes. In the second half there is an interesting relationship between a person and an AI.

I worked on the book for about 4 years. I was hesitant to write it as it was a lot of work for something that few would likely ever see, but I decided that if it meant something to one random person out there it was worth it. We shall see if my efforts paid off.

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Featured Interview With Jason W. Blair

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Well, I was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania. And I currently reside in the small town of Bellefonte, located fifty miles north of there. I was born on October 2, 1981 to Herbert Wayne Blair and Ruth Anna Blair. My father is an engineer for Penn State and my mother is a homemaker.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I grew up in a family of readers; so naturally, I became one myself. I learned how to read by the time I was four years old. And when I reached twelve years old, I was evaluated at a college sophomore comprehension level. But my fascination with writing began shortly after I began attending school. In fact, the first story I can ever remember writing was at the young age of nine. It was a thirteen page short story entitled, “There’s an Angel in my Backpack”.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read, but haven’t had much time lately to do so. During my schooling, I was captivated with the writings of Lynn Reid Banks (who is most notable for her “The Indian in the Cupboard” series). But today, I read a lot of Michael Crichton, Charles Dickens, C.S. Lewis, and J.R.R. Tolkien.

Keeping with the list of my favorite authors, I would have to say that my favorite genre is fantasy/Adventure stories. Don’t get me wrong, I do love suspense and mystery as well. But I find comfort in reading adventure books for the plain reason that they don’t necessarily follow the rules of ordinary life. And what I mean by this, simply put, is that quite a bit of fiction attempts to mirror ordinary, everyday events. But make them exciting.

Now, while there is nothing wrong with that at all, I am more of a dreamer. I like to imagine that some people can secretly fly, that there are secret worlds beyond the edge of a forest, or perhaps that some mystical creature could come and grant me the desires of my heart. I love adventure…and I love a fantastic, magical, journey.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is entitled, “The Garden of Ages”. It took me five months to write and edit the manuscript. And although it was a shorter length of time than my last book, this one proved to be a bit more difficult. You see, The Garden of Ages follows a fifty year old man named Walter Baines. Walter is a fairly good man. He has made his share of mistakes in life…but haven’t we all? However, Walter has been diagnosed with a heart condition. And it is that very condition that overtakes him. One morning, while jogging, Walter suffers a heart attack.

When he awakens, he half expects to find himself in a hospital; or maybe he would awaken on Heaven’s golden shore, but that isn’t the case. Walter awakens in a whole new world. A world where the rules and regulations, the constraints and boundaries of this present planet are no longer valid. He is in a beautiful garden, where he meets the first of many keepers.

Walter is ushered from the garden, to a pathway nearby. And as he surveys the vastness of the world around him, he notices just how long this path really is. He is sent on that path, knowing only that he would encounter seven memories from his life. And with those seven memories, there would be seven riddles. At the conclusion of his journey, Walter will need to solve those seven riddles. But it won’t be easy. Not many travelers have succeeded in this quest.

There are wolves, a dragon, an earthquake, fire, flood, and countless other perils along his journey. If he can muster the strength, courage, and wisdom to finish this long and exhausting quest, Walter will be afforded the opportunity to return home to his family. But if he fails, he will become a wandering spirit, tirelessly waiting for his misery to end.

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Featured Interview With John Rachel

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
SHORT THIRD-PERSON BIO

John Rachel has a B. A. in Philosophy, has traveled extensively, is a songwriter and music producer, a left-of-left liberal, and has spent his life trying to resolve the intrinsic clash between the metaphysical purity of Buddhism and the overwhelming appeal of narcissism. Prompted by the trauma of graduating high school and having to leave his beloved city of Detroit to attend college, the development his social skills and world view was arrested at age 18. This affliction figures prominently in all of his creative work.

He is author of eight novels, four of which are coming out in 2014 and 2015. He has also had over 30 short stories, 7 poems, and numerous political articles published in both print and online magazines. Currently in development is a new novel set in Japan, another in Africa, and a creative non-fiction work, allegedly an account of his extensive travels, but more likely the product of the voices in his head which have plagued him since puberty.

Author Rachel has been traveling through and living in over twenty-six countries since leaving America August of 2006. He is now somewhat rooted in a small traditional farming village in Japan near Osaka, where he proudly tends his small but promising vegetable garden.

“Scribo ergo sum.”

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started reading when I was four, became obsessed with reading books at eight. I started writing when I was twelve but was a snob and only did “serious” essays.

My mind started to open up at university. I explored composing songs _ music and lyrics _ threw together a considerable number of poems which a friend who I’d asked to give me his opinion on them threw away. Continuing undaunted, as life unfolded into a giant distraction, I wrote songs and some very funny quips on bathroom walls, quickly painted over.

My first serious attempt at “literary” work resulted in a play called “Sex, Lies and Coffee Beans”, produced for the stage in Portland, Oregon. Not discouraged by the puzzled looks on the faces of the few attendees, in 2008 I eventually expanded my passive-aggressive attack on the world by writing novels. My first book was about trafficking adolescent Asian girls for prostitution into the U.S. called “From Thailand With Love”. It was written while traveling through Africa and several countries in Asia, including not surprisingly Thailand. My second book was an epic, written while I lived in Nepal and India. It was called “The Man Who Loved Too Much” but at 820 pages maybe it should have been titled “The Man Who Wrote Too Much”. Since receiving the 500+ rejection letters on that monster, I have had four novels published: “11-11-11”, “12-12-12”, “Blinders Keepers”, and “An Unlikely Truth”, all through highly respected publishing houses which also run gambling casinos behind their main office facilities in the barns where they store stacks of unsold novels.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors include but are not limited to: Tom Robbins, Kurt Vonnegut, John Irving, Stanislaw Lem, Studs Terkel, E. L. Doctorow, Jerzy Kosinski, Ken Kesey, Sinclair Lewis, Ralph Ellison, Bertrand Russell, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Noam Chomsky, Naomi Klein, Chris Hedges, Howard Zinn, Thomas Kuhn, Aldous Huxley, Neil Postman, and Jared Diamond.

I am inspired by the voices I hear in my head, which have been giving me stock tips and lottery numbers since a bad acid trip in 1972.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
“An Unlikely Truth” is my first work of great profundity, intended to create a spiritual and social paradigm shift, perhaps a global revolution. Or at least inspire a new syndicated comic strip in the hundreds of community billboard ad mailers across the nation.

In this political drama, a bright, young, idealistic, Green Party candidate, in his bid for the congressional seat of a very conservative district in Ohio, teams with a beautiful, fiery African-American intern to combat the slick deceptions and ruthless tactics of a sweet-talking right wing incumbent. It is the inspiring story of a small committed group of activists who either never knew or forgot the meaning of the word ‘impossible’.

Additionally, “An Unlikely Truth” offers a powerful alternative to politics-as-usual in the form of a take-no-prisoners electoral strategy.

The immediate impact of this book is hard to sum up in a few words. But my usual steady stream of character assassinations and death threats on social sites like Facebook has certainly shot up. Also, all of my incoming emails are deleted by the NSA, so the last message I got was an invitation for a high colonic cleanse from a herb shop in Sedona. That was back in early April right before I got put on the international no-fly list.

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Featured Interview With David J. O’Brien

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. I studied environmental biology and later studied deer biology for my PhD, at University College Dublin. Instead of pursuing my life-long interest in wolves and predator-prey interactions, after completing my doctorate, I taught English in Madrid, Spain, for four years while my girlfriend finished her doctorate in molecular biology. We married and moved to Boston, USA, so my wife could pursue her career and I decided that teaching was a vocation I was happy to continue. After seven great years teaching Biology at Boston’s Cathedral High School and Zoology at Bridgewater State College, we returned to Spain three years ago so my wife could set up her new research group in her hometown of Pamplona shortly before our daughter was born.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was 8 when a new library was opened in my neighbourhood. I was delighted (I remember having been to the larger library in the town centre and getting books out there, but this was a place I could go nearly every day) and I read all the children’s books in the place. Then went on to YA for a year or so (there was only one section of 5 shelves) and then to the adults stuff at around 13.
I started writing poetry first, at 14, and started writing stories a year or so later. I started my first novella at 17 and slowly turned it into a novel during my doctorate and wrote a second at the same time.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have read all of Hemingway, but I hope one day his lost novels will be discovered somewhere. I am still enjoying working my way through Steinbeck. I love everything Richard Adams wrote and I wish I could find all of Vonnegut’s books here in Spain. But for sparking imagination, Whitely Strieber’s great. The former two just make me see my words as sloths to their snowleopards, and Vonnegut makes me see every original idea I think I had as something he thought about as a mere aside to a short story he wrote 40 years ago.
I will read anything. I am trying to read my way though the 18th and 19th century classics – all of Hardy and Dickens and Elliot, etc. I also love fantasy, but don’t indulge so much that I only have time for that – you can get lost in those long series! Something with a lot of nature or set in previous or tribal cultures are also very interesting, like JM Auel’s Earth’s Children series.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Paul is the oldest of a new generation of a race of people who the rest of us would call werewolves, if we knew of their existence. They are hidden in plain sight, though, as they are identical in appearance to Caucasians. They differ physiologically, however, in having much stronger lunar rhythms, to the point where during the three days and nights of a full moon they are almost completely controlled by their hormonal instincts. They have been persecuted for centuries and the remnants of the race have escaped Eastern Europe but are so dwindled that Paul has been given leadership of a group of young men who must seek wives outside their own kind. The Pack, as they call themselves, has roamed the city for years, and Paul has done well in keeping them controlled and out of trouble. Paul has always known he must settle down and leave the pack to roam under someone else’s leadership. But when he meets Susan, someone he instantly recognises as a potential life mate, he discovers that actually handing over control is going to be hard to do. More difficult than that is the step of telling Susan the secret of his identity – something his family insist he do, so that Susan can decide for herself if she wants to marry what she’d have called a monster. Not only is it hard to voice something he has always hidden, but he is afraid that she will be abhorred by him once she finds out the truth.
For her part, Susan believes Paul is the perfect man – besides his juvenile tradition of going off drinking with his mates every month. She wants him to give all that up, but sees that Paul is a creature of habit, and that it will be hard to settle him down completely. However, she discovers she is pregnant and decides that Paul has to decide between continuing to act like an adolescent every month, and becoming a grown man and father who stays at home.

The main idea is that we have all heard about werewolves and the effect of the full moon, but we know scientifically that they can’t exist the way they are described. So where did these stories come from? Why did we begin to tell them? What are the facts that led to the myth? There is nearly always some truth behind any myth: I recently read that oarfish are probably the genesis of the mythical sea serpents that sailors said patrolled the edge of the world.
I began to wonder what the people who were considered werewolves were really like. I’d read about the wolf-like beings of Whitley Strieber’s Wolfen, and posited that if a species of intelligent wolves could exist, why not a race of men who were like wild beasts inside, whose hormone and pheromone production was affected by the moon? No reason. It seemed scientifically feasible to me. I came up with a separate race of humans, which still exist. Because people always fear what is different or they don’t understand, and attack what they fear, the survival of the race is in peril after centuries of persecution.

I started it when I was seventeen as a short novella describing the people and the main characters because I loved the idea, and wanted to create a new world. Over the years I extended it into a novel, because the more I thought about it, the more complex the story became. At the same time, I saw that werewolf stories were becoming popular again – though werewolves were often the second-class citizens of vampire stories! – yet none were like my werewolves. I just wanted to get this angle of the truth behind the myth out there.

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Featured Interview With Gail Mencini

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in a rural community in Nebraska where everyone knew their neighbors and summers were spent outdoors—working, playing, or watching fireflies.
I was raised to be independent. College and grad school brought me training in tax law, and for many years I practiced as a CPA using that knowledge. The miracle in my life occurred when I married my loving husband. He, along with our four sons, their activities, and our dogs, made my life brim with joy.
Living in the beautiful state of Colorado, being a wife, mother, writer, and breast cancer survivor, I am truly blessed.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
My love for reading books and imaging characters and their stories germinated during those long Nebraska childhood days of creating my own world. My parents, who visited every continent except Antarctica, sparked my love of travel and adventure, which burns brighter than ever.
One hot July summer in Key West, my husband and I toured Ernest Hemingway’s house. Smacked in the face with the master writer’s ghost and palpable presence, I confessed my secret desire to write books. Unlike me, my husband felt only the heat and humidity and not a trace of Ernest. My confession led to a novel that won contests, but otherwise never saw the light of day. Years of writing, revising, and rejections occurred, and then kernel of an idea, and several trips to Italy, evolved into To Tuscany with Love, my debut novel.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read several genres—women’s fiction, thrillers, and mainstream fiction, although women’s fiction is my favorite. My favorite authors include Kristin Hannah, Jennifer Weiner, Barbara Kingsolver, JoJo Moyes, Jodi Picoult, Mary Kay Andrews, and J.K. Rowling. Barbara Kingsolver inpsires me for her ability to paint sensuous pictures with words, and J.K. Rowling for turning generations of young people into avid readers.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
To Tuscany with Love (Jan. 2014, Capriole Group), my award-winning and best-selling debut novel, is a story about friendship, second chances, and taking stock of your life and then moving with purpose and passion in the direction of your dreams.

Like my characters, “life” happened to me during the writing of this book—breast cancer, sale of a house, following our son’s team win two back-to-back state basketball championships. If I put my writing hours into one continuous calendar, it took me about two years to write the novel and most of another year to revise after editing. I love the book cover and how it draws the reader in, inviting them to Tuscany—that’s how I felt when I visited Tuscany. My readers tell me that To Tuscany with Love transports them to Italy, and I think you’ll find that to be true when you read it.

Let me ask you a question.
Can one college semester abroad change the course of your life? For Bella Rossini it did.

Bella, a vivacious college junior, is suddenly thrust into living in Tuscany with seven strangers during one life-altering summer.

Meet Hope, the sturdy and practical girl, steadfast in her loyalty to her boyfriend; Meghan and Karen, identical twins with an eye for fashion and beauty to match; Stillman, haunted by his hard past, and Phillip, an athlete, both fueled by competition; Lee, by family mandate in pre-med; and Rune, the Hollywood-bound wild child.

While uncovering the charms of Italy, they discover both friendship and love.

After their summer, life – and loss – happens.

Returning to Italy thirty years later, their dreams, anger, secrets, disappointments, and regrets send them on a startling collision course that none of them could have predicted.

“Inspirational Women’s Fiction” — USA TODAY

You can download six chapters for free, travel tips, and some of Bella’s recipes on my website—check it out!

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Featured Interview With Lira Brannon

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was an Air Force brat. I lived on the West Coast, Germany, Turkey, France, then Nebraska, and now Texas. Of all the places, I like Texas best–it’s warm. Even when it’s cold, when compared to Nebraska, it’s warm.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was fascinated with books from the moment I could read. I wasn’t a particularly early reader, but once I started I never stopped. I started writing at a very young age. My great-grandmother talk me to type on her old mechanical typewriter when I was nine. After that words just seemed to flow from brain to fingers without thought. I took a brief time off to go to school and show Morgan horses, now I’m back at it.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I don’t have a favorite author. Most times I find an author I like, read EVERYTHING they wrote, then move on. I read all genres. I love everything from a great picture book (like Candace Fleming’s Oh No!) to Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid Series.

People inspire me to write. They are so interesting. No one person reacts the same way to a situation. Athletes of all types are fascinating to me, but especially those who have overcome physical limitations to excel.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
A Different Kind of Cheerleader is one of those inspirations from the above question. The grit and determination of para-athletes is amazing so I wrote this inspirational young adult novel with them in mind.

Tansy is 13 years old, angry at life and God for sticking her in a wheelchair for the rest of her life when all she wanted was to cheer. The book follows her struggle to find the strength to realize her dreams.

The book literally flew out of my head. I think it took a month to write. The edits on the other hand, those took a while. Just when I thought everything was perfect, the editor would come back with more. Fortunately I had the pleasure of working with several great editors. My publisher, Evelyn Byrne with White Bird Publications, strove for excellence and was very meticulous about everything so the book turned out better than I could have dreamed.

A Different Kind of Cheerleader is the first in a series featuring teenaged para-athletes.

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Featured Interview With Raine Hollister

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m an award-winning, best-selling author. My first novel, Exception To The Rule was a Romance Writers of America Golden Heart Finalist in Romantic Suspense and sold six weeks after I submitted it. It was originally published by Harlequin/Silhouette and is about Assistant District Attorney, Layne Tyler who has to prove her brother is innocent of murder, but finds herself falling for the Texas Ranger who has sworn to bring him in.

My next two contemporary romances are a series called, The Sandera, Texas Series. I also ghost wrote a non-fiction book for a famous pet psychic and am working on a romantic comedy mystery as well as the next book in the Sandera, Texas Series, No One Like You, coming in 2014.

I have worked as a Legal Secretary for the City Attorney’s office, have been an extra in a movie, and a main character in a mystery play. I’m a member of Romance Writers of America (RWA) and have served as President and Vice President of two Houston chapters. I was born in Brownsville, Texas; however, I have lived most of my life in Houston, Texas with my daughter, son and two spoiled cats. I love animals, music, reading, and watching romantic comedies of the forties and fifties. But what I love most is breathing life into my characters and then sharing them with my readers.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As a child, I lived out in the country with my grandmother so I didn’t have access to a library. My family were somewhat illiterate so no chance of anyone buying me books. When I was five and living with my mom, she bought me comic books. I tend to be a very visual person so those comics were my portal to fantasizing about stories. My favorites were Super Boy and Wonder Woman. Oh, how I loved my super heroes, even to this day.

When I was nine years old,  a friend of my mothers, gifted me Alice in Wonderland. I was in heaven. Of course, Disney movies of Cinderella and Snow White became my beacon of light into story structure although I didn’t know it at the time. As time passed I graduated to English and American Literature and loved the Poetry of Shelley, Lord Byron and Keats. During that time, I started writing my own poetry. Then I went on to read Historicals.

I hit a creative spurt when I was twelve. I began writing a lot: Long notes to my friends, sometimes fifteen to twenty pages. I also wrote plays with my friends as characters. At one point, I wrote a Horror/Gothic short story.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’ll name just a few favorite authors, otherwise I could fill up this whole page. LOL. First off, I love Karen Marie Moning’s Urban Fantasy Fever series. My favorite at present is ICED, the first book of her Dani O’Malley Trilogy; Rachel Caine’s Morganville Vampire series, anything by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Rachel Gibson, David Morell, Natasha Rhodes’ Vampire/Werewolf series, and Kathleen Woodiwiss’s Historical romances.

As you can see, my favorite genres are Urban Fantasy, Paranormal, Contemporary Romance, and Intrigue. I am presently watching the TV series, Penny Dreadful, a Horror/Gothic mix and I’m really liking it. I’ve always been attracted to that type of genre.

My inspiration for writing came from a newspaper article of Marilyn Durham, author of The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing. She shared her writing process in that article. At the time, I worked outside the home and had three small children, and I thought, “Someday, I’d like to do this.”  As life happens, twenty years went by before I published my first book.

Today, my favorite authors inspire me, well-written televisions series inspire me. My favorites at the moment are: The Black List, Heart of Dixie, Revenge, Suits and of course Penny Dreadful.

Certain books have also helped me with characterization and conflict: The Ethics of Star Trek, The Forensic Files of Batman, and Super Heroes and Philosophy.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Tall. Dark and Delicious, is the second book of my Sandera, TX series and follows the McKinnon brothers as they find love, second chances, and new-found passions. I love the quirkiness of small towns and enjoy infusing them with humor as well as emotional depth. This book focuses on the eldest of the Mckinnon brothers, Jake who has unfinished business with his first love.

The Story: Seven years ago, jilted by his fiancée, Jake McKinnon fled Sandera, TX. Now a wealthy, real estate tycoon, he’s bent on bringing progress to the small town he left behind – even if it means alienating the woman he once loved. Still reeling from her betrayal, Jake no longer believes in love or second chances.

Clearly, it will take more than wining and dining her ex for restaurant owner Connie Rodriquez to change Jake’s mind about his construction plans (which also call for removing the town”s beloved landmark/shrine) – and about her. Proud and stubborn, he won’t give her the time of day. Yet seductive Connie senses the hunger in his elusive gaze – and she knows it’s only a matter of time before he surrenders to desire.

This book was originally published by Kensington Publishing. I was on a grueling deadline and wrote this book in two months. Although I plan to add two more McKinnon brother books to the series, they are all stand-alone books. At present, I’m also working on a romantic comedy mystery.

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Featured Interview With Neil Russell

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born into a theatre-owning family in the Midwest that goes back to sawdust-floor nickelodeons. In our house, it was always “theatre,” not “theater,” and my birth was announced from the stage of one by Desi Arnaz who was just a bandleader then.

From the time I was old enough to sit upright, I saw every motion picture released, whether in a conventional theatre, drive-in, screening room or someone’s home.

Looking back, I can’t believe how lucky I was. I loved everything about the movies and the dark, smoky rooms where grizzled film men ran new pictures and made sarcastic remarks far funnier than anything onscreen. Those experiences turned out to be more important to my future than my college degree.

As a kid, I met many of the original moguls: Zanuck, Zukor, Cohn, Goldwyn, two Warners and both Schencks. (Regrettably, not Mr. Mayer.) I also met some of the major producers and directors of the time: Howard Hawks, Sam Spiegel, Otto Preminger, Stanley Kramer, Hal Wallis and a slew of others.

Following college, I left theatres to join Paramount. I had helped buy The Godfather for my father’s theatres, and suddenly, I was working for the studio that produced it, chasing its boxoffice receipts. Then came Godfather II, Chinatown, Death Wish, Serpico, and dozens more.

Subsequently, I became an executive at Columbia, MGM, United Artists, and Carolco Pictures, home of the Rambo pictures, Terminator 2 and Basic Instinct.

Today, I own my own entertainment-focused intellectual property rights and production company in Beverly Hills.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t writing.

When I was really young, I wrote scary stories to read to my little sister at bedtime. Naturally, my plan was to scare her out of her wits, but she’d always go to sleep before I finished, and I’d end up turning on all the lights and listening to the house creak.

Then in fourth grade, I fell madly in love with Candy Wykowski—God, was she gorgeous—and I wrote so many poems to her that my mom told me to knock it off. Supposedly, it was about wasting paper, but I think there might have been a gag reflex at work there too.

From the time I was old enough to hold one of those fat crayons, I couldn’t understand why anyone bought valentines when you could write your own and say exactly the right thing, particularly if the person had an unflattering feature you could call attention to.

By the time I was twelve, I had sent so many stories to Reader’s Digest that there’s probably a separate wing in Pleasantville just to house my stuff. In those days, I spent a lot of time running to the mailbox looking for the check I knew was coming—especially the $2500 “First Person” award I was positive I won at least a dozen times.

But for some unfathomable reason, they always chose people who wrote about Albert Schweitzer or JFK or Pearl Buck. Not my Uncle Nick, the union organizer, who I had to share a bed with when I visited my grandmother, and who slept with his hand on a gun under his pillow. Let me tell you, you didn’t drink a lot of Coke at bedtime, because you sure didn’t want to be crawling across him at 4 AM.

So thanks to Albert Schweitzer, I never made any money writing until I got to college. There, I discovered people would pay you so they wouldn’t have to write. Sizing up the sports cars in the parking lot, I doubled the price my fellow ghostwriters were charging and guaranteed at least a B, or you got your money back. That year, I spent Spring Break at the Fountainbleau.

I only had to give one refund, and it was my fault all the way. Never write an A+ English paper for a football player majoring in Playground Administration without telling him Dos Passos doesn’t mean throwing twice over the middle.

When I got to Hollywood, I discovered one of the great conundrums of life. Here, people get paid a lot of money to write things that never get produced. So who cares, right? I know this is going to sound infantile if you hump vacuum cleaners door to door, but it does matter to screenwriters.

Bill Parcells once said about Lawrence Taylor, “Outside linebacker is not a position for the well-adjusted.” That goes double for Hollywood writers. Even the successful ones are only a couple of rejections away from screwing a Glock into their ear. Then along comes a studio exec who puts the guy through a living hell, and just as he begins to imagine the unimaginable—a greenlight—the exec’s life coach says he should be remaking The Sound of Music with Miley Cyrus, or he has to go into rehab because his personal chef ran out of Patagonian shrimp lips. (It’s what helped drive Hemingway and Fitzgerald and Steinbeck out of this town. That, and being so drunk they forgot which office to report to.)

The writer still pockets a check, of course, but silly as it sounds, most would take less if they could get a guarantee the picture would be made. (This kind of thinking is why there aren’t any screenwriters on the Forbes 400.)

I couldn’t imagine taking that beating every day, so I joined the enemy. I became… bring in the shrimp lips, please… a studio executive. And later, a producer, which is the best job in show business—unless you like to eat regularly.

But the whole time I was making movies and overseeing movies and running companies and buying and selling companies, I had a secret. One too terrible to reveal. In the dark of night, when no one was looking… I was writing. Under an assumed name… just like college. And some of it was selling… but, of course, it wasn’t getting made.

Then, one day, a bunch of doctors told me I had cancer. And a year and a half later, I doubled down and got it again. Aside from somebody who can recite last year’s Golden Globe nominees, nothing is scarier than cancer.

But I survived and wrote a book about how to talk to your kids about the disease, which a lot of doctors and cancer centers still use. That turned me into the second best thing a writer can be in Hollywood—right behind best friends with Steven Spielberg, but you should see that waiting list—a published author.

Along the way, I realized I had stories to tell that were locked up in my imagination. And without setting out to become a novelist, somehow I did.

Now I have three action-thrillers: City of War, Wildcase and my newest, a very inside Hollywood story called Beverly Hills is Burning.

Paul Hornung once said his epitaph should read: “He went through life on a scholarship.” I would add that mine could be written in glitter. I’m a very lucky guy.

I do sometimes wonder, though, whatever happened to Candy Wykowski?

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My first brush with finding magnificence on a page was The Great Gatsby, which so affected me, I stole the book from the library. I was eight.

Next up was Harold Robbins. Yes, that Harold Robbins. No books were off-limits in our home. After The Carpetbaggers, I wanted to change my name to Jonas Cord.

I read and still read everything. But if I had to choose five authors to accompany me to that apocryphal desert island, they would be John D. MacDonald, Nelson DeMille, Herman Wouk, William Manchester and Charles Dickens—who should get a posthumous Nobel for one line from Nicholas Nickleby: “He had but one eye, and the popular prejudice runs in favor of two.”

For the record, years later, conscience still plaguing me, I sent—anonymously, naturally—a hand-bound, artist-illustrated, commemorative copy of Gatsby to the library from which I had liberated theirs. I hope they didn’t put it behind glass. It needs to be read.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
BEVERLY HILLS IS BURNING—A Rail Black Novel

A NOTE TO THE READER: This novel contains sex, violence and adult themes.

“It was just after midnight when the girl in the blue diamond necklace fell out of the sky.”

In Hollywood, an ex-con movie producer, fresh out of San Quentin, is lucky if he can get a valet to take his car at The Ivy. Teddy Chessman got his own studio.

Why? Because Teddy controls the most important motion picture property to hit town since agents were invented. And attached to this expected critical and financial bonanza is the biggest female action star in the world, Valentine Jones.

But good plans die horrible deaths, and foolproof ones, worse. And now, the guy who loaned Teddy the money to buy the joint—Rail Black, a former Delta Force operator with a private fortune—is forced to take possession of Teddy’s dream. And the bad news is just beginning.

Exploding from ninety years in the past—when gangsters and movie tycoons roamed Hollywood and scratched each other’s wallets—Rail is sucked into a quicksand of unsettled scores, duplicity and death, where a couple of billion dollars in boxoffice seems like small change.

From Southern California to New York, Venice, Havana, Mexico and Cyprus, Rail must disentangle the past from the present and come to terms with his feelings for Barrie Fontaine, a long dead woman—and extraordinarily brave pilot—he has never met.

And somewhere, out there, is Matty Aspirins, a hitman on a mission all his own.

Welcome to Beverly Hills is Burning.

There will be no intermission.

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Featured Interview With K.L. Burnham

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Seriously, I could write a long book about my life and the many adventures I’ve encountered, but no one wants to read that. At least not yet.
I’m a simple person; quiet, lover of solitude, friendly, easy to get along with, caring.
I was born and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan and still call it home. I’ve lived in several other cities, such as Chicago, Dallas, Marietta, but Grand Rapids always calls me back. I love it here.
I happen to have an extreme fascination with Vampires and stories involving them. Perhaps, that’s why my first novel is a Vampire novel.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’d say at about 12 I realized that books were the best things ever created! I was and still am an avid reader. When I was 12, books were my ‘friends’, my social life, and getting lost in the worlds that authors created was Heavenly bliss, as well as an escape for me. I started writing comics, stories and such at about 12 too. When I was young my imagination was always running wild. I’d get lost in a book for hours on end.
The fascination continues to grow. I work, I read, I write. That’s pretty much routine for me. I rarely watch television anymore. haha. I’m too busy trying to create my own fictional worlds and there are so many books to read for one lifetime, I simply have little time for much else.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My absolute favorite author to read is Stephen King. He is my inspiration and literary role model. His advice is wonderful and if you haven’t read his memoir, ‘On Writing’, you should. It’s full of advice and great insights. I am a huge Anne Rice fan as well. I devour her books, especially The Vampire Chronicles series.
I read a variety of genres and enjoy each and every one, but my favorite is the horror/goth/thriller books.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My novel, Undying Vengeance is a tragic love story in the Goth/Horror genre. Armani Belvedere’s fiancee is murdered and he vows to avenge her death. But, is revenge always the best answer? Does it really make things better? He finds out the hard way in this novel.
The Dark Ones, a group of Vigilante Vampires come to Armani in his deepest sorrow and darkest hour and convince him that they can help him serve justice to the men who did this to his beloved Simone. But, only if he crosses over and becomes a Vampire. In his desperation, Armani dies to himself, awaking to realize he’s a Vampire. Justice is served, but the pain is worse for Armani. Donovan, a loyal Vampire and mentor to Armani, worries Armani may end his immortal life. Will he? Maybe, maybe not. Read it to find out……..
Victor, cunning, evil, charming and vicious has plans of his own. He is the leader of The Dark Ones, and his heart is turning colder everyday. He’s a ruthless killer, enjoying the bloodshed and especially the torturing of his victims. The hunt, the kill and the taste of blood have become like a drug for him. One he is not willing to give up and it’s taking over his life. Will he succumb to the darkness and start a war between he and the other Vampires?

I started writing this novel when I was 33, (I’m presently 40). I came up with the idea and a couple characters came to mind and I went with it. I wrote six chapters and put it aside. At the time I was writing another novel, so I put all my focus on that one. Well, Undying Vengeance wouldn’t leave me alone. The novel crept into my mind everyday, the characters telling me to continue their story, so at age 38 I started where I left off and the characters showed me what to write; I was simply the narrator, chasing them and writing what they said and did. 🙂 That’s how I write. I don’t use an outline or anything. I guess I’m what they call a ‘seat of your pants’ author. While writing, it’s like I’m watching a movie, I’m in another world hanging out with my characters. It’s hard to explain and sounds crazy, but…..well, I guess I’m a little crazy, I’m a writer, after all. (laughs).
One more thing, Undying Vengeance is the first book in a trilogy.
I hope you’ll read it and let me know your thoughts and who your favorite character is. Mine is Victor, the dark Vampire. 😉 He’s like a character straight from Stephen King’s novels. (He’s that evil and fun too).
If I were to compare my novel to a movie/T.V. show, it would be The Crow meets Dexter.

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Featured Interview With Laura Hamby

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Northern Nevada, married in my mid-20’s, and have lived in Northern California, Nevada, Maryland, SoCal, and now back to the Sierra Foothills, on the CA side.

I write. It’s a sanity saving thing. Living in a sea of testosterone with 1 hubby, 3 sons (1 of whom is mildly autistic), and 1 brother-in-law, the only other females who live with us are the dogs and cat. Is it any wonder I write romance and eat chocolate?

In and around writing, I enjoy adventures with my family, train laundry (Sooner or later it will learn to do itself. Right?), clean my house, feed my family, provide bus service (I sure hope this minivan doesn’t make my butt look fat.), chat with my friends, do crafts, read voraciously, and on the occasions when my loving spouse has abandoned the remote, I watch TV. Sleep is optional. That’s why caffeine was invented.

We recently moved from Big City to Rural Town in the Sierra foothills. Trees, fresh air, blue sky. Oh my. We have enough room for chicken (there was a coop here when we moved in – we’ve filled it with 20+ chickens, including Big Blue, our Blue Cochin rooster. He thinks he’s badass.), we have ducks, 4 turkeys (3 are males!), and a pig named Annie Oinkly. Oh, and 2 desert tortoises we’re fostering, a bunny and fish (which actually belong to my middle son). Life’s good.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved reading. My mother used to have to force me to go outdoors. I’d go with a book or a notebook. I’ve written off and on, more on, since I was 12. I can’t imagine *not* writing. I have a journal from 6th grade that should be buried deep within the ground, a book I wrote during geometry class in 10th grade. Remember the mini-series “V” in the 1980s? Yeah. I wrote a teenaged version of that, egged on by the people who sat around me and who would read it almost as soon as I finished whatever I could write in class. It too should be buried deep within the earth, possibly in a radioactive box. I started writing historicals, and have published both historicals and contempory romances.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Valerie Parv, Wendy Roberts, Nora Roberts, JD Robb, Janet Evanovich, Nell Dixon, Meg Allison…I have an inspiring group of writer friends, and my best friend, Sheylynn Jones, inspires me.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Bonus Hubby is a novel that I’ve had in my head for years, decades even. I know the characters very well, so well they feel like family. One day, it seemed like a good idea to finally sit down and commit the story to paper (as it were!). Since I’ve been talking with Jill Fitzgerald, the heroine of Bonus Hubby, for literally YEARS, the story wrote itself, fairly quickly – 2 or 3 weeks, plus time set aside to perk in my brain before I edited and did revisions for publication based on my beta readers and Sheylynn’s input. Sheylynn tells me often how much she loves Bonus Hubby. It’s a sweet, lovely story of a middle-aged couple’s second chance at love – a chance neither of them expected or looked for.

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Featured Interview With Candace Nicole Werts

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My name is Candace Nicole Werts. I am an author with a passion in writing Erotica Romance for the entertainment of the adult community. Becoming an author has always been a dream of mine and it became reality with the creation of The Made Series.

Due to the lack of books that feature interracial couples, it was exciting to write a series starring multicultural characters. These stories contain fashion, friendship, love, and the finest things that life can offer. The Made Series focuses on three best friends and the trials they face once love enters their lives.

My first book, Made to Love, features the enchanting Carmen and dashing Cooper. The book was released on April 26, 2014.

I was born in Newark, New Jersey but spent majority of my life living in the metro Richmond, VA. I am a wife, mother and business owner.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At a young age, I was introduced to the wonderful world of reading by my parents. The older I began the more I loved reading, soon I was reading different books weekly.

I have been writing professionally since October 2013. My first book, Made to Love, was released on April 26, 2014, was written in less two months. Yes, I spent all of my free time writing.

Made to Love came to me in a dream, the characters came to life and the events unfolded. I created a detailed bio on every character and the description of their surroundings. There is no particular sequence I use while writing. The book was created from the middle and ending scenes and then I wrote around it. There are several dreams that take place to help me bring the scenes together. With so many ideas popping into my heads, I never go anywhere without a notebook and pen. I use multiple images, my dreams including imagination and some real life experiences to help build the story and the characters.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I do not have any favorite authors, I take my hat off to anyone who has taken the time to write a book. The books I tend to read are romance, erotica, suspense, fantasy, and horror (vampires).

Tell us a little about your latest book?
In Made to Love, the main characters are Carmen Williams and Cooper Jackson. Carmen is a successful business owner who is young and beautiful. Carmen lives in Arlington, VA. Her life should be perfect, but every day she faces guilt due to the murder of her younger sister. This tragic event has controlled her love life.

Cooper Jackson is every woman’s fantasy, tall, dark and handsome. An event from his childhood, which he never discusses, has prevented him from wanting to love anyone, until he meets Carmen Williams. Even though his heart says yes he still pushes her away.

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Featured Interview With A.M Torres

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in the projects of East New York Brooklyn which was the setting that helped inspire my novel Love Child especially at the beginning of the book. I was born in St. Vincent’s hospital in Manhattan, but currently live in Staten Island with my two boys Jason and Kristofer and their father Walter.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Books like The Call of the Wild by Jack London and Heidi by Joanna Spyri were books I loved at a very young age. I have read these books repeatedly. I first read S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders when I was fourteen and it was such an inspiration to me. I have been writing for years but I really wanted to continue after my essay on winter was chosen as one of the best in the class by my fifth grade teacher. I wasn’t thinking of writing a book yet, but I loved writing and enjoyed it for the most part.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
S.E Hinton was an early inspiration and maybe my real first one. I love the suspense genre. I love books that I hate to put down once I start reading them. You know the kind of books you rush to pick up again. V.C Andrews Flowers in the Attic along with the sequel Petals on the Wind were two such books. I wanted to write a suspense book and did with Love Child. Tale of the body Thief by Anne Rice, and Misery by Stephen King were great inspirations too.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Love Child was first released in 2011 but I have released a new revised version this year. The story is one of isolation but it’s also one of survival for Tommy Hulette the story’s protagonist. Tommy is a strong boy who only wants to play stickball while looking after his sister Greta especially when their mother sinks into depression. Life throws unexpected things at him until he winds up living with a relative who hates him and does horrible things to him hoping to drive him to suicide. Tommy is strong and must fight all this hoping to survive. This book took me about 5 to six years to write perhaps because I was fussy and started it over more than once. Thankfully it was finished and it’s available.

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Featured Interview With Gin Getz

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Gin Getz (born Virginia Tone in New Jersey) is a writer and photographer based out of the high mountains in southwestern Colorado. She works from her remote, off-grid guest ranch far and away from town, telephone and traffic where she lives with her husband, son, and a bunch of four legged and feathered critters.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’m one of those who always had to write–poetry, journals, old fashioned letters, short stories. Most of them I burned; the rest hold little value to anyone but me. Through these I solidified my commitment and attachment to writing. It wasn’t until I started sharing my writing through blogging and magazine articles that my voice began to emerge. By that I mean my style of writing, the way I write, the way I “talk” to my readers. Writing became a conversation, if you will. I live remotely yet believe strongly in reaching other people and in the responsibility we all have of doing what we can for others. Sharing my world through my writing is the best way I can reach others.

The Color of the Wild is my first full length manuscript. It took me many years of waking before my family and day job to complete. Blogging helped. Regular posting was my discipline, and the people I met – some just online, others who came here to meet me and have over time become dear friends – they were my motivation.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I’m inspired by the wild world around me. And the wild places within us all. The magnificent beauty around me, and the deep, dark stuff inside. Writing allows me to share this and still be alone in the wild.

Seems I never have enough time to read these days, but I’ve got a few books open and I try to find the time. I always heard the more you read, the better you write. And I think most writers just like books. In breaks, for inspiration, I turn to anything written by Wendell Berry and Mary Oliver. I’m re-reading Aldo Leopold now. And Natalie Goldberg, a writers writer, I love to read, not only for what she says, but how she says it. When I read her work, I feel like I’m sitting down in a coffee shop with her in Santa Fe talking about our writing.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The Color of the Wild is an intimate view of life in an untamed land, an unconventional memoir of person and place. It’s a personal account of one year, one woman, her family, and the wild mountain they call home told in a lyrical and lilting, powerful and passionate voice.

An original, inspiring work of literary non-fiction; an unconventional memoir of woman and land. The Color of the Wild is the beautifully told story of one woman’s life, love, family, resolve and determination. More than a memoir, with stunning stories interspersed and intertwined with powerful poetry, prose, and stunning photographs, Gin’s captivating tone and intimate view bring to life the drama and trauma of one year on her family’s ranch, scenic and secluded, surrounded by and a part of the wild world around them.

Set high in Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, along the Headwaters of the Rio Grande, Gin opens her world to the reader with stunning honesty, and compassionate grace, sharing this captivating, personal tale of home, belonging, commitment to land and family. Their life is living testament to the power and clarity of love, life and the natural world.

My next book, The Last of the Living Blue, is scheduled for release on June 30, 2014.

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Featured Interview With Untamed

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Hello! Hello! Hello! I’m Author Untamed. I’m a multi-genre fiction writer and poetess from a small city called Albany, Ga. Still a native of Georgia, I’m currently doing what I love to do, writing and publishing novels and being a wife and mother!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been an avid reader. I remember reading R.L. Stine and Christopher Pike novels as well as the girly type of novels, my favorite being the Sweet Valley High series. My fascination with reading has always been the manner in which novels can completely engulf your mind and transport you into them as if you are in the book or you know the characters. Reading has always stimulated my imagination from a young age. I didn’t begin writing however until I was thirteen. I read a novel entitled, Coming of Age by Lorri Hewitt and it was influential to me because the book was about the identity and societal struggles of teenagers. Being thirteen, I was beginning to deal with a lot of the same issues and it ignited my introduction to the pen and pad, and I began writing poetry and then later delved into short stories and novels.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
When I read I love to be able to identify with characters and the storyline. I love stories that teach, pull at your heartstrings, make you cry, laugh, get upset…just take you through a plethora of emotions. I’m a fan of contemporary fiction, chick lit, dramas, poetry, erotica, urban fiction and suspense novels. Some of my favorite authors are, of course, Lorri Hewitt, Mary Morrison, Carl Weber, Ann Keeys, James Patterson, Zane, Sister Soulja, Vulyncia Poindexter and LaDonna Marie. As you can tell I have a wide variety of genres that I love to read spread across several different but extremely talented authors. I’m inspired by these authors and also the world around me. I love to take everyday life situations and turn it into a relatable story but with unpredictable twists and turns. When a person tells me, your book helped me or I needed to read your book, that is the most rewarding feeling and definitely fuels my writing fire.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I recently re-released my first novel, Never Again…No More and I also have part two out which is entitled, Never Again…No More 2; Getting Back to Me. The story surrounds four young women in their early twenties who are best friends and were teen mothers. Charice is a college graduate but has triplets with her ex who is a NFL player who doesn’t support his children. Trinity has two children by her ex-fiancé and one by her current boyfriend who is heavily involved in street life activity. Lucinda has one daughter and struggles to support her without her family’s help or the father’s help. LaMeka has two children, one of whom is autistic and her boyfriend finds comfortable in drinking and drugs. It delves into the pressures and unknown issues surrounding being a young mother and how each woman is trying to sustain their lives, grow up and learn themselves and still be great mothers to their children. It covers several facets that are shunned from discussion in households such as domestic violence, rape, broken homes and covers different relational issues with the children fathers. Part one is the background of the ladies and part 2 is the outcome of their situations. I’m excited because part 3 will be coming out June 2014!

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Featured Interview With Stephanie M. Ward

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m a writer with wanderlust! I grew up in Spokane, Washington on the west coast of the U.S. but left for college in California and have been moving around ever since. Most notably, I spent a year traveling to 33 country across all seven continents and that’s when I came up with the idea of writing stories for children about amazing places around the world. After a few years living in various cities in the U.S. (San Francisco, New York and Seattle), I moved to Paris for three years and now live in Sydney, Australia with my husband and young son. It’s probably not surprising that my first children’s book is about travel!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always enjoyed reading, especially if there is a challenge involved. I loved school fundraisers where students were sponsored to read as many books as possible in a month. As an adult reader, I’ve collected “Best of…” lists and track what I read on a fairly complex spreadsheet as well as on Goodreads (which is completely addictive).

I always say that it took 10 years to write my first children’s book, but the reality is that I’ve been writing my whole life. Professionally, I spent over 15 years in PR and Marketing writing everything from press releases to white papers, executive bios to product blurbs. In the midst of all that, I contributed to the book Tana’s Habitat: The Ultimate Guide to Finding and Affording Your First Place and wrote articles for a number of travel blogs.

So did it really take 10 years to get a short, children’s board book on the market? Well yes and no. It was exactly 10 years ago when I left for my trip around the world and I wrote a lot while we traveled. It took a couple of years (while back in the corporate world full time) to go through all of that writing and decide which story to finish (and then actually finish it). I originally decided to pitch publishers so another year went by of finding appropriate contacts, polishing query letters and learning the process. I realized quickly that the traditional publishing process would take a very long time, so I decided to go the independent route. I hired an illustrator, had my manuscript copyedited, researched self-publishing platforms, built a social media platform, created a website, learned to format an ebook, etc. It all takes time. Throw in a couple of new jobs, a couple of international moves, a baby and there goes 10 years!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I always seem to be reading classics. My all-time favorite book is Anna Karenina. However, I also read many books at a time (I never know what I’mll be in the mood for). So on my nightstand I could have a classic, Australian historical novel (I always try to absorb myself in the culture of wherever I’m living), current humor or chick lit book (sometimes reading is just for fun), memoir of a famous chef (I love food, but cannot cook to save my life) and, of course, tons of children’s books.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin is a board book for children 1 – 4 years old. Wally is an Emperor Penguin from Antarctica who isn’t exactly like the other penguins. Wally is always cold and dreams of life on a tropical island. When Wally learns about a place that is always sunny and warm, he sets sail for the Galapagos Islands and discovers an amazing world of tap-dancing crabs, racing hundred-year-old tortoises and diving birds with bright blue feet (and a very funny name).

Currently, Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin is available as an ebook. The book has been formatted for tablet devices and computers and is optimized to highlight the brilliant, full-color illustrations by Ecuadorian illustrator, Vanessa Landin.

In addition, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of Wally the Warm-Weather Penguin is donated to the Galapagos Conservancy (galapagos.org) to support conservation efforts in the Galapagos Islands.

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Featured Interview With Pontius Joseph

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I’m an American author, poet, and filmmaker. I was born and raised in St. Louis, Missouri. I am a student at Johnson & Wales University. I live in Little Rock, Arkans I was Heard on KBYR Alaska News & Comments with Glen Biegel & LOVE 860 am GameChangers with Lisa Faulkner

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I realized my fascination with books when I was in a Sophomore in college. I caught myself reading self-help books. I began writing in my senior year in College. I was captivated by the necessity to help the young men with their dating and relationships.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors to read is William Poundstone. My favorite genre to read is Action and thriller. My inspiration came from lovely girlfriend and the young men that I see in my community.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
A Gentleman with a C.S.L is the mind-blowing book that may help the young gentleman in his dating and relationship endeavors in his life. The book helps gentlemen grasp the knowledge of dating, and having a good relationship with his lady. I would say that anybody can have a lady, but will it be the right lady for you? This book is for the men who are struggling in dating and need assistance in their love life. The book will explain many ways on how you can date a lady and already have a game plan to making the relationship last a lifetime. The book explains how to treat a lady, how to indulge with a lady, how to take care of your lady, and mostly keep your lady happy with you.

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Featured Interview With Laura Roberts

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born on the east coast, raised in the Midwest, educated in both the U.S. and Canada, and I’m currently based in sunny SoCal. I’ve almost been killed off the coast of Hawaii, was propositioned by a foot fetishist in Times Square, and wrote a sex column during my years living in the Sin City of the North (aka Montreal). In short, I’ve lived all over the place, and I love learning about different regional cultures and histories.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
According to my parents, I started reading at a really young age. They definitely remember me reading street signs aloud at the age of 4, and wondering who was whispering them in my ear. But they also read to me as a child, and I can remember looking forward to our visits to the local library because I’d always check out the maximum number of books in a huge stack – much to the chagrin of any kids trying to read anything from the Baby-Sitters Club series, as well as any Nancy Drew aficionados. Writing was something I always excelled at in school, probably due to my love of reading, and I always enjoyed writing essays and plays for my classes throughout my school years. My first foray into writing for publication was during college, when I submitted stories to the school newspaper, and eventually joined the staff of the paper as their Literary Arts editor. I also copy edited the school’s literary magazine, submitted work to one of their literary journals, and started my own magazine around the same time, at which point it just became an all-encompassing obsession. Once I obtained a joint-honors degree in Creative Writing and English Literature, I never looked back, and I’ve been a freelance writer and editor for hire ever since.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I have a lot of favorite authors, but my top 3 are definitely Leonard Cohen (Beautiful Losers), Jeanette Winterson (Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit), and Salman Rushdie (The Moor’s Last Sigh). I will also admit to an obsession with David Sedaris (Me Talk Pretty One Day), silly sci-fi like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, as well as the odd subgenre of “fake memoirs,” of which James Frey’s Million Little Pieces and JT Leroy’s Sarah are my favorites. And, of course, as a sex writer I am indebted to Anaïs Nin, Pauline Réage (The Story of O), Shawna Kenney (I Was a Teenage Dominatrix), Nelly Arcan (Whore), Belle de Jour (Diary of a London Call Girl), the Happy Hooker, and many more. I also have a soft spot for mysteries of any kind, particularly of the crazy cozy variety (I grew up reading the “Cat Who” series by Lillian Jackson Braun), as well as the more traditional Sherlock Holmes types of capers. Basically, I’m an omnivorous reader, and will read any genre once.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is a collection of sexy haiku, entitled 69 Sexy Haiku. I previously published a collection of Haiku for Lovers, which is an anthology of love-themed poems, and I thought I’d take the concept to a more outright erotic place with 69 bite-sized poems for people who hate poetry. These are great to read aloud to your lover in the bedroom, and will no doubt inspire you with lots of sexy imagery and ideas for spicing up your sex life.

I’m also currently publishing a serial novel called The Case of the Cunning Linguist over at Jukepop, which is free to read, with new installments every week. It’s a sexy murder-mystery involving wayward nuns, a randy rabbi, and a stripper-turned-sleuth – who may or may not receive a little divine intervention. You can check it out at https://www.jukepop.com/home/read/2354, and be sure to +Vote it (which is like clicking “Like” on Facebook) to keep it going.

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Featured Interview With Kerry Gordon

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Kingston, Jamaica, moved to Brooklyn, and then Queens, New York as a young child, then later moved to Central Florida with my family, where I still call home. I’m a freelance writer for Demand Media Studios with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology and “Blind Sky” released in 2014 is my first book. I would like to travel more, as my destinations so far include Bonn and Cologne Germany, and Paris France. I enjoy tea, reruns of Sex and the City, all Marvel Comic book movies, yoga, and trying foods from different cultures.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I had a collection of R.L. Stine books, encyclopedia Britannica and read a lot of Daniel Steel’s book around the age of 10 years old.

I’ve been writing since I was little, jotting my thoughts or ideas in journals or notebooks, but I began writing professionally when I became a freelance writer for Demand Media Studios a few years ago and started writing my first book in 2012-2013.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I enjoy various types of books, genres and authors, and some of my recent favorite authors are Brad Thor, Nicholas Sparks, Sara Gruen, Stephanie Meyer, and David Baldacci.

Just about all the books and authors I have read have influenced me in some sort of way,, so I take away what I enjoy the most and make it into my own when I write for inspiration.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Blind Sky” is my first book and I was inspired to write it after watching a program on the History Channel discussing the Lost City of Atlantis. The Lost City of Atlantis is surrounded by centuries of myths, mysteries and stories of a highly advanced civilization that some say once existed, but suddenly disappeared and could possibly be underwater.
So the idea and concept of an advanced group of citizens living on earth but under secrecy was born, and as my ideas continued to develop, I knew I wanted this world of prestige, unimaginable power and advanced technology to collide with modern day society.

In the book, the main character Sky, enlists with Logue agency, one of the top agencies in Australia, and becomes one of their top assassins at 18 years old. And as the agencies only female promoted to the agencies classified missions, she can only rely on herself.

And on assignment to capture Lars, an enemy of Australian Government with an insatiable thirst for power, Sky embarks on a treacherous operation to befriend Galen who belongs to division 19, a division separate from all other divisions in Australia and one bounded by secrecy.

Unfortunately for Sky, Division 19 has unspeakable power and anyone threatening exposure is hunted, leading Sky on a high stake mission of life and death, with no room to fail, or it might be her last.

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Featured Interview With Claudia McCants

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born in Washington, DC, and raised in the Maryland suburbs. I have also lived in Virginia and Pennsylvania, but I have called northern Florida home since 1992, when I met and married my husband.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I wrote my first book when I was in the third grade and I was hooked! I was amazed because I didn’t know that a kid could be an author. Of course my only readers were my parents and my teacher… and the rest of the class who were forced to listen as I read my first mystery story, “Thunder Road.” I dreamed of writing as a career for years and took class after class in preparation for writing what I hoped would be the great American novel. When I was almost 40 I began writing that book. It took years to finish while I raised my young son. When he was 9 years old, I finished Dream Tapestry and in 2001 it was published.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read many things, but I really enjoy mysteries and romance. Some of my current favorites are Janette Oak, Beverly Lewis, Jillian Hart, and Donna VanLiere.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
In my newest novel, Broken Angel, it has been many years since Marlene Wagner considered herself to be happy. When her marriage fails, she buries herself in her work at her family’s glass factory, Crest Glass, where she and her sister manage the Custom Glass Department. Lenore Terhune is more than a sister to Marlene. They are best friends, and when she dies mysteriously while working on a project late at night, Marlene’s world shatters and she becomes despondent.

That’s when her former love, Steve Wagner, comes back on the scene. At first, their relationship is strained when Marlene realizes her ex-husband has stayed in contact with her sister, and Steve suspects she has returned to drinking to handle her grief. To their astonishment, they are drawn together again by their mutual love for Lenore, and they form a team to search for the real reason the young woman died, because they share the same thought—it is unthinkable that Lenore died in the manner suggested by her family and the police.

When we are broken, there is only one solution: finding faith and trust again.

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