Top Selling Authors: Get To Know Them Better

Featured Interview With Hadley Thorne

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a steel magnolia, empath, and ecstatic dream traveler born and bred in the feral and forgotten lands of Mississippi. I have lived all over the Southern US but something always draws me home. I have two german shepherds who I adore.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved books, writing, and reading. From wanting to start a neighborhood newsletter as a child to telling my friends horror stories in notes we passed in school, I have been writing as long as I can recall.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Charles De Lint is my favorite author. Mythic Fiction is my favorite genre and I love horror and fantasy. People, situations, music, and random strange things that capture my fancy inspires my writing

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Tapestry of Worlds Part One: The White Raven Awakens is my first book, it was published last December. i followed it up with Tapestry of Worlds Part Two: Running and Gunning and most recently I wrote a book that I am releasing on Kindle Vella called the Darkness and the Dawn.

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Featured Interview With J. Denison Reed

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in New Jersey. After Highschool, I joined the Army and I am now living in Northern Virginia with my wife, kids, and two cats. I still work a full-time job as a Network Engineer, I own a candle business (Reeds in the Valley) with my wife, and still find time to write. I guess you can say that I like to keep myself busy.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have loved stories as far as I can remember. When I was in middle school, I fell in love with poetry. A lot of my early poems were dark and it worried my mom. I tried writing novels, but I feel that I was too impatient at that age. Even as a young adult, I tried writing a novel and failed but those failures turned into lessons. Never stop writing. It's a process and it takes time.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I like quick reads and fast-paced stories. I also love horror and action/adventure stories. I really don't have a favorite author, but if I was forced to choose, I would say, James Patterson, because of his quick read style.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Clifford's War: The bluegrass battleground.
It is an action/adventure fiction about a private investigator who found himself in bed with the Mafia by being promoted to hitman. He has to find his way out of the mafia control with his life. It has a great set of diverse characters that (to say myself) are wonderfully written. So far, I have received nothing but great reviews. I am so excited to see that it is greatly received by so many people.

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J. Denison Reed’s Website

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Featured Interview With Sari Fordham

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
My family moved to Uganda when I was young, and I lived there during and after the dictatorship of Idi Amin. I now live in Riverside, California, and we have two rescue dogs.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I came into writing as a reader. I would hide books under my desk in class, read when I got home from school. I even read obsessively when we visited my mother’s family in Finland. I remember driving through Turku and my mother telling me, “Look up occasionally. Who knows when will we be back in Finland?” and I was think and ‘Who knows when I’ll have a chance to read this book again?’

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love reading literary fiction and nonfiction. Some recent books that I have loved include, “Girl, Woman, Other” by Bernardine Evaristo; Transcendent Kingdom by Yaa Gyasi; Made in China by Amelia Pang; and The House at Sugar Beach by Helene Cooper.

I’m inspired by all the writers who show up every day to observe the world as honestly as possible.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My memoir WAIT FOR GOD TO NOTICE narrates my childhood in Uganda. I grew up in a house surrounded by jungle and we often saw mambas, driver ants, monkeys, and genets. The political situation was often violent and at one point, our family was under house arrest. Flash forward 10 years and my sister Sonja and I are teenagers living in America and we think our mother is scared of everything. She doesn’t drive and she is worried about strangers shooting us. I am embarrassed, as one is. When I’m in my twenties, however, she dies and I’m not sure what to do. In my memoir, I return to our shared history in Uganda, partly as a way to consider what home is and partly in an attempt to better understand my complex mother.

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Sari Fordham’s Website

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Featured Interview With Karen A. Wyle

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised in a few different places: in Connecticut, in two different suburbs of Hartford; in Palo Alto, CA; and in Los Angeles. I now live, and have lived for more than thirty years, in semirural Monroe County, Indiana, between two small dots on the map. We had a “Heinz 57” mutt for thirteen years, but lost her around three years ago. We hope to get a golden retriever puppy soon.

I’ve been, roughly in order (though some of these phases overlap), a would-be novelist; a poet; a lawyer; a photographer; a mother; a novelist; and an author of picture books.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I started reading at around age six, and quickly became a compulsive reader. I began writing “books” (very short handwritten texts, bound in cardboard) at age eight, and poetry then or a little earlier. I attempted a novel at age ten, and again at age fourteen. I returned to writing novels in my mid-fifties (in 2010). By then, Amazon, ebooks, and a more practical form of self-publishing allowed me to realize my childhood ambition.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I will inevitably forget some of my favorite authors, but they currently include Lois McMaster Bujold; Grace Burrowes; Jane Austen; George Eliot; Becky Chambers; Naomi Novik; and M.C.A. Hogarth.

After reading mostly science fiction for many years, I’ve more recently branched out into historical romance, fantasy (though not the epic sort), and historical mysteries. I dabble in other genres, including contemporary romance and biography.

I would guess that every author whose books I finish inspires me in some way. The first to do so was probably Walter Farley — hence my cardboard-covered series about a black stallion (named Collybird). Both George Eliot and contemporary YA author Caroline Cooney impressed me with their unflinching focus on how irrevocable mistakes can be. Mary Doria Russell, during her brief career as a SF author (before turning to her excellent historical fiction), showed me just how much a science fiction author could do with the human condition. Much more recently, M.C.A. Hogarth has shown me how a set of connected series can create and flesh out a fictional universe.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I’m between two book releases right now, so I’ll briefly describe both.

What Shows the Heart, released July 15, 2021, is the third book in my Cowbird Creek historical romance series, set in 1870s Nebraska. It can be read as a stand-alone, although readers familiar with the series will encounter some old friends. Here’s the teaser:

After Jake, son and grandson of preachers, tried and failed to protect Mamie from small town cruelty, Mamie left their small town to fend for herself. Neither expected to see each other again. Now, many years later, Jake is a bitter man with little beside regrets, and Mamie, after much struggle and hazard, runs the thriving parlor house in Cowbird Creek. Can they make a future together, or will the shadow of Jake’s past overtake them both?

I wrote the rough draft in just under thirty days during National Novel Writing Month (aka NaNoWriMo) — which is how I write all my novel-length rough drafts. I put it away for a month and then revised and edited it for six, benefiting greatly toward the end of that time from the input of several beta readers. I should perhaps, given the presence of a madam, say (to the relief of some and the disappointment of others) that while there are sexual encounters in the book, none are prolonged or explicit.

Coming out next, in just a few days, is my first picture book(!), You Can’t Kiss A Bubble, delightfully illustrated by Siski Kalla. I started writing picture books many years ago, while pregnant with my older daughter, but am only now finding illustrators and bringing them to life. Using simple words, and a mixture of silly imagined scenes and more realistic ones, this book looks at both the charm and the transitory nature of bubbles, and helps its young audience appreciate how we can take joy even in the impermanent. Children can giggle at a little girl bringing a bubble to a friend’s house or taking it for a walk, complete with leash, through the streets of her town. Then they can lose themselves in the lovely settings showing children enjoying bubbles for what they are.

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Karen A. Wyle’s Website

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Featured Interview With Mary Camarillo

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina. My father worked in aerospace and was transferred to Southern California when I was fourteen. After high school, I went to work for the post office. It might be genetic–both her grandfathers were railway mail clerks. I sorted mail, sold stamps, worked in the accounting office, went to night school, and earned a degree in business administration, than spent nights and weekends sitting at my kitchen table, studying and passing exams to become a Certified Internal Auditor and Certified Public Accountant.

I live in Huntington Beach, California with my husband who plays ukulele and their terrorist cat, Riley who has his own Instagram page.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I’ve always been a voracious reader. I was the kid who checked out as many books as possible from the library. In high school I wrote poetry and edited the literary magazine. I thought about a career in journalism but unfortunately let a sour teacher convince me otherwise. I started writing fiction just before I retired from the Postal Service. I took classes at local colleges, joined writing groups, went to writing conferences, and worked on my own. My short stories and poems haven been published in journals such as Lunch Ticket, Sonora Review, 166 Palms and The Ear.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read widely. One of my favorite authors in Elizabeth Strout. I love her character Olive Kitteridge and I love the form of linked short stories, such as Louise Erdich’s “Love Medicine,” Anne Sanow’s “Triple Time,” and Julie Zuckerman’s “The Book of Jeremiah.” Susan Straight is a huge inspiration in my writing because she is a master of writing about Southern California. She is the award-winning author of the memoir “In the Country of Women,” eight novels and two children’s books. She’s also a teacher at UC Riverside and curates a fence garden bookstore.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My debut novel “The Lockhart Women” was published in June of this year by She Writes Press. It’s about a family, living beyond it’s means in Huntington Beach, California in the 1990’s. Frank Lockhart is a postal employee, Brenda Lockhart is a gorgeous, stay-at-home mom, Peggy Lockhart has just graduated high school and dreams of university, and Allison Lockhart is in love with a golden surfer boy.

Frank Lockhart announces he’s leaving Brenda on the night of O. J. Simpson’s slow speed chase through Southern California, June 17, 1994. He’s in love with another women, an older (and in Brenda’s opinion) much less attractive coworker. Brenda’s never worked outside the home. She needs to look for a job. Instead, she turns on the television and gets hooked on the Simpson trials. She’s convinced Simpson is innocent. Meanwhile, her two teenage daughters are busy making their own bad decisions about lovers and crime.

I started writing this novel about six years ago. I was always fascinated by women who would tell me they wished they’d waited to get married and start a family, because they felt like they’d missed out on life. I wanted to explore choices and regrets. Everyone has them. And I thought the Simpson trial would make an interesting background to a family drama. The book is not about OJ Simpson or whether or not he was guilty. The Simpson trial is simply the soundtrack.

June of 1994 was a critical point in American television. Helicopters were just being used to capture news. Reality television was in its infancy. For the first time during the Simpson trial, cameras were allowed in the courtroom, pre-empting cartoons and soap operas. And this was also America’s introduction to the Kardashian family.

The Lockhart Women has received wonderful endorsements and reviews. Kirkus Reviews said, “A family is thrown into chaos in 1990s Southern California in Camarillo’s debut…and the novel’s ending is a satisfying one. An emotional portrait of three women dealing unexpected change.”

Richard Bausch, award-winning author of nine story collections and twelve novels including “Peace” and “Hello to the Cannibals,“ called the prose “lively, companionable, and quite satisfyingly observant in ways that surprise and delight.”

Susan Straight described The Lockhart Women as “deeply and thoroughly Southern Californian, in all the perfectly detailed cities and streets and, of course, freeways, but also in the evocation of its time – the 1990s. These women are vivid portraits – flawed and desperate and seeking redemption.”

And Eduardo Santiago, award-winning author of “Tomorrow They Will Kiss” and “Midnight Rhumba,” said it was “Unputdownable.”

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Mary Camarillo’s Website

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Featured Interview With Michael G

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a 16-year veteran of the banking industry starting right out of college. I was born and raised in New Jersey near New York City. I currently reside in South Florida. I have never had any pets. Accidently killing my hermit crab when I was a kid gave me an inkling I wasn’t set out to be a pet owner.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have never been fascinated with books. It was always a struggle to get through my summer reading during my schooling years. I have always had a fascination with learning, self-educating, and personal improvement. I tended to read any self-help article and countless internet articles with lots of fun information. I always enjoyed writing for school and wrote some articles over the years, but this was the first time I attempted and completed a full-length novel.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
?* I’ve always gravitated towards self-help books and as a natural introvert and coming from a worrier family, the two books that have influenced me the most were Dale Carnegie’s “How to Win Friends and Influence People” and “How to Stop Worrying and Start Living.” I probably read these books 15-20 years ago, but I still sometimes stop and think about the important life lessons these books taught me.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
I started in the banking industry right out of college in 2005, and the financial crisis hit in 2008. After that traumatic period passed, I envisioned my future self spending time in a small Italian village, sitting on the balcony writing a memoir about the crisis. It turns out life has different plans; as I worked from home during the Covid-19 pandemic with way too much free time on my hands, I decided that instead of writing a memoir in the future, I’d write a fictionalized version of events that may or may not have occurred. Here’s the essence of what you’ll find in the book.

In a world where success is defined by flashy cars, designer clothes, and bank balance, where profit is everything, and ruthless executives call the shots—anything is possible. Ethical and naïve, Jacob Gilbert is thrown into a pool of greed and shady business dealings as he enters his first year in banking. Surrounded by cutthroat associates who will stop at nothing to please their bosses, he languishes at the bottom of the stack ranking charts. How can he turn his career into a success while maintaining his soul? After another unsuccessful quarter, Jacob heads to Brazil to visit Rodrigo, a college buddy. Rodrigo suggests a business proposition that may turn Jacobs’s career around. But is it ethical? Will it lead to success? When the 2008 financial market crashes, the bank falls apart, and some of Jacob’s colleagues are hauled off for questioning. Caught in a web of international financial dealings, will Jacob and Rodrigo go up in flames as the US banking world explodes?

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Michael G’s Website

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Featured Interview With Dulee Paranavitana

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Dulee Paranavitana is the author of several books. Dulee’s first book, My Musings, was published in 2019 and is available on Amazon, while paperback copies are available in stores in Sri Lanka. Dulee has gone on to write and self-publish several works via the Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing platform. Some of her works include Ripples and Echoes, Jungle Jaunts and Laugh-Out- Lyrics. Jungle Jaunts is a work of fiction based on stories told by my grandfather. My Musings, Ripples and Echoes and Laugh-Out-Lyrics are all works of poetry.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At the age of 10 I discovered my love for writing! At the age of 17 is when I started writing

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
J.K Rowling

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Damian, an average middle grader, discovers his elvish heritage when he meets Lady Rachel, his aunt, who happens to turn his bike into a stallion to summon him to her castle. At Lady Rachel’s palace Midwood, Damian discovers a world of magic, from the wood’s heart to the fay tree. He stumbles across marvellous things he never thought he would. But, everything is not as it should be. While Damian is on his way home, he notices that the wood is on fire, and Lady Rachel comes and puts it out with the dryads’ help.

While back at home, Damian’s neighbour is holding a mermaid prisoner in his pond. Damian plans on helping the mermaid escape. But he has no idea how to do it. His grandmother, who happens to be an enchantress herself, comes visiting from whom Damian begins to learn simple magic tricks. Meanwhile, Damian rescues the mermaid with the help of Lady Rachel and his grandmother.

His stepfather is acting odd, and Damian feels that he is up to something. When Damian’s mother’s diamond goes missing, Damian suspects his stepdad. One night, he awakens to the sound of his stepfather leaving the house and follows him to the museum, where he sees him stealing something. Damian sets off the alarms. He lets Lady Rachel know of what is going on, and they figure out that Damian’s stepfather is an elf banished long ago from the elven kingdom.

When Damian is finally summoned to the elven kingdom by his real dad, who happens to be the king, Damian is chosen as the dragon lord by a magical diadem. Together with his father, Damian sets off to the kingdom of the dwarfs, where the most powerful dragon dwells.

Damian’s stepfather gets there before them and summons the dragon with the help of the diamond he stole from Damian’s mom. The dragon isn’t fooled and speaks to Damian telepathically and, together with the help of the dragon, puts an end to his stepfather’s scheme of destroying the elven kingdom.

Damian and his dad go back to the elven kingdom. His dad gives up the throne to Lady Rachel and comes to live with Damian and Damian’s mom.

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Featured Interview With Constantine Dhonau

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
In 8th grade, I started a myspace-official religion (thank you to our 121 dedicated followers). I picked up trombone after my ska/punk band broke-up in high school. Florida sucked me back in and I became depressed after blowing-out my knee on a 52-day backpacking trip in Colorado because I thought I blew my only chance at realizing my dream by just trying to chase after it. Someone planted the idea in my head to pick-up skydiving as a hobby in college. 8 years later, I jumped out of an airplane solo after watching a man break his leg on landing right before it was my turn to fly. I’m terrible at cooking. After 3 & 1/2 years as a wilderness therapy field guide, my roommate and I woke up one morning and decided to start a high-end catering company. Life is good & I’m satisfied with myself.

All that aside, I like tea. I’m a homebody and a space/tech nerd. I’m becoming increasingly attracted to Daoism. I’m working on letting go of fixed plans and surrendering to the current of life.

“Collateral Intentions” is my first-ever publication into official authorhood. I am currently working diligently on another project with plans for a 12-book…series?…not exactly, but something of the like, at some time in the future. Gotta let it percolate.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Hate to break it to you but I’m not that much of a reader. Every so often I’ll pick something up and go on a streak but they’re few and far between.

I started writing around 17 years-old because of a girl. She was fascinating to me at the time, as weird as I was, and she walked away from me after a mental romance of a month and a half. Writing became my method of emotional processing. Looking back, its easy to say I was a pretty depressive teen with a bad outlook on things but that’s just the arena where I brought most of my problems.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I lean heavily toward non-fiction. Fiction, I go sci-fi dystopia. Margaret Cheney did a splendid job portraying the life of Nikola Tesla in “Man Out of Time”.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
“Collateral Intentions” is a comprehensive collection of my writing from 17 to 28 years-old.

Yes, it has teen angst & cringe.
Yes, it has smile-back-at-that-moment coming-of-age.
Yes, it has letters to unrequited love.
Yes, it has knee-cracking, tear-extracting, mind-blasting, stomach-stirring rawness.
No, it does not have the answer to your problems.

T’was inspired by a desire to put together a book of selected works to read to my students in the field while I was a wilderness therapy guide. I made a small booklet with a few originals and many other established works. It was a fun process creating it (stirring a deep satisfaction to organize and agonize over the most minute details night after sleepless night, cursing the dawn as a landmark of time passing beyond what I could accomplish within “reason”). So, I decided to continue (how insatiable was the urge) and create a larger collection by combing through my dozen journals. Some friends caught wind of my side-project (whole-hearted obsession) that I started so I could have all my writing in one place and they began asking after it. I gave away manuscripts for the cost of printing. At some point, someone teased me about publishing. “PFEH!” I would say. “HA!” I would scoff. “HRNGH!” I would grumble. Then, after sifting through many-a-scam-site, I decided I would self-publish with Overlord Bezos.

Now, I’m like…submitting it to book contests & $h!*. Who’da thunk?

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Featured Interview With JC Compton

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am French and American. I was born and grew up on the coasts of France. We lived in an American household, so we had plenty of classic books in English at home, but I also loved the French classic authors we read in school, such as Victor Hugo, Baudelaire, Emile Zola. I then studied in Montreal, Canada, for 4 years, earning a degree in East Asian Studies and History (subjects I am very passionate about), then moved to the USA to pursue a career as a writer.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I know that I could read fluently by the age of 4, though I don’t remember how I learned. I was that kid who borrowed the maximum number of books at the public library and the school library each week, not only fiction but also encyclopedias about plants and animals. I started writing in elementary school. Despite loving to read and write, my handwriting was atrocious, and my teachers would make me tear out and rewrite pages from my notebooks up until high school!

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite genre to read is dark fantasy, but I also enjoy fantasy, mystery, paranormal romance, romance, and philosophy. My favorite authors are Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Edgar Allan Poe, Anne Rice, Stephen King, George Orwell, and so many others!

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book, Undertakers Inc., is a vampire romance and mystery story set in Victorian London with a twist: all the main characters are antisocial vampires, who, rather than seek to rise in the vampire society and claim the places they are offered, fight instead for the right to live humble lives – the lives they want. Tim, the main character, is a dark and pessimistic young man who has lost all his family. He begins to work for an undertaker business in the East End of London, without knowing it is run by a high-ranking but very antisocial vampire. As he enters the vampire world, he finds love with a vampire named Cyril, and begins to come back to life. But everything changes when he suddenly becomes a vampire “naturally” – without being bitten – and finds out he is the son of one of the most powerful vampires in England, and he belongs to an ultra-dominant clan. He goes to the vampire court of England and is reunited with his late sister – also a vampire now – and she too struggles to find her place between their narcissistic, power-hungry father, and her own desire to be free with the vampire she loves. This is the story of many characters thrown into a dangerous and unforgiving world, and each one finds the path to their own happiness, whatever it looks like for them.

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JC Compton Facebook Page

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