Search Results for: Day After disaster

Featured Interview With James David Rich

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
David Rich grew up on a ranch in Colorado. His dad introduced him to tractors and cattle, and his mother to music and travel. He toured the country with an amazing group of fellow misfits in the fighting 529th Air Force Band, attended the University of Colorado in Boulder and the University of Chicago Law School, and by some fluke began practicing law in Phoenix with Lewis and Roca, the firm that handled the Miranda case (which he had nothing to do with). David tried private practice but found the cushy job of assistant attorney general more to his liking. (His appointment as judge pro tem by the Maricopa County Superior Court was a resounding success because attorneys immediately settled any case to which he was assigned.)
He and his third wife decided they’d rather travel than work, so they saved every penny on a ten-year plan that took eleven years. Since retiring in his forties to become a full-time traveler, David has lived in almost every country on the planet. He has written dozens of travel stories for publications ranging from International Living to GoNOMAD.com, and his website, David and Mary Around the World, at MyTripJournal.com has been featured on LonelyPlanet.com. In his first book, Myths of the Tribe (1993), he examined the influence of organized religion on ethics, government, and economics, second edition August 2019. RV the World, now in its second edition, combines his seventeen-year tour of 170 countries with lots of practical advice. David also wrote The ISIS Affair, putting the fun back in fundamentalism, a satire on religion and nationalism in Syria. In 2019 he published Myths of the Tribe, when religion and ethics diverge, 2nd ed, and Scribes of the Tribe, our greatest thinkers on religion and ethics. All books are available on Amazon and wherever books are sold online. Antelopes, a modern-day Gulliver’s Travels, was published in Nov. 2020, and his latest book, Sail the World?, an absurdly true story and prequel to RV the World, was published in October 2021.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Read set of Funk and Wagnalls encyclopedias at age 6 and never stopped reading. Started writing about age 13.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are all physicists, such as Richard Feynman and Stephen Hawking. For fun I read mysteries and detective stories, and what I’d call absurdist entrées in these genres, such as Stephanie Plum and M.C. Beaton.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is Sail the World?. Have you wondered how it’d be like to dump the rat race to sail around the world?
Here’s how that worked out for the author, a gripping, constantly on-the-edge-of-disaster sailing adventure punctuated by the unique and wacky characters from the worldwide cruising community, all with the same wild and crazy dream.
“My 35-foot Erickson sloop Grendel was sinking in the Pacific Ocean. I’d bragged about sailing around the world, but two hours after I began, it was a disaster. I was slip-sliding around Grendel, searching for leaks, enveloped in an eerie blanket of fog with zero visibility, surrounded by invisible hazards. Glub, glub.”

So, it didn’t go exactly as planned, a reality like nothing you could envision, a comedy of errors on land and at sea. An absurdly true story and prequel to RV the World.

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James David Rich’s Website

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Featured Interview With Andrea Byrd

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a Christian wife and mom in located in rural Kentucky, with a deep affinity for an old-fashioned, natural lifestyle. Often described as having been born outside my time, I love to spend time with my family in the great outdoors, one with nature.

With a degree in Equine Health & Rehabilitation gathering dust and a full-time job tethering me to a desk eight hours a day, I decided it was high time to invoke change in my life. To show my children it is truly possible to make your dreams come true, I dove into the role of Christian Romance author with my debut series, Smoky Mountain Romance.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated by books and loved to read. As soon as I learned to read, basically. My love of writing didn’t come quite as easily though. I quite disliked it until 7th or 8th grade. The English teacher I had those years helped me find my love for writing. I’ve been hooked ever since then.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Romance and Christian Romances are my favorite genres to read. I love a happy ending. And beautiful descriptions within the text. That is one of the reasons Diana Palmer is hands down my favorite author and inspiration.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest work is titled Smoky Mountain Embers. It is inspired by the Chimney Tops II Fire that affected the Gatlinburg area in 2016. What started off as a miniscule fire turned into a full-blown firestorm with hurricane force winds. The disaster claimed thousands of structures in the area. After researching the disaster which had hit so close to home, I felt compelled to tell a story which would honor both the lives saved and the lives lost.

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Andrea Byrd’s Website

Featured Interview With Margaret Marr

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I grew up in the mountains of Western North Carolina and I still live there with my dog. Digger is my only pet unless you count the blue-tailed lizard that crawls along my windowsill and a mouse that eats all of the dry dog food much to Digger’s dismay.

By day I work as an environmental specialist, which is just a fancy word for housekeeper, at the local nursing home. By night I write spooky paranormal books with a hint of romance, a pinch of suspense, and a whole cup of thrills.

I’ve written over 15 books, which are available on Amazon with Kindle Unlimited or $3.99 to buy.

My hobbies include hiking, crocheting, diamond painting, adult coloring, and walking for my health. To date, I’ve lost 95 pounds!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I discovered the magic of books in first grade. I was thrilled when I learned how to read all about Dick and Jane and Spot! I learned I could escape into a book and spend hours in another place and time.

I started writing over 25 years ago. I was a stay-at-home mom and looking for something to fill up the hours besides watching soap operas.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite author is Dean Koontz. He has such a way with words that blows me away. His writing is descriptive and profound. I also enjoy Amanda Stevens who can cause chills to go down my spine with her words. My inspiration comes from people who read my books and let me know how much they enjoy them.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
BANSHEE is my latest book, and is the second book in the Hayton County Supernatural Series for young adults. It took me a year or more to write it in between working my day job and dealing with life. Below is about my book:

After rescuing Bradford Phillips from the facility hidden deep in the mountains of Hayton County, the teenagers draw back and recoup. Abe Abernathy takes a job. Mandy Jensen has second thoughts about Abe and is still determined to rescue her mother with or without help. Bradford prefers to remain a loner. Simon Rogers is stalked by a screaming woman that visits him late at night.

Plans for another rescue operation is put on hold as the teenagers attempt to figure out what the banshee wants with Simon—and what she’s warning him about. Ghosts walk the streets of Hayton County adding to the pandemonium. A demon hangs in the shadows waiting for an opportunity to cause chaos that might just end in disaster for Mandy and her friends.

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Margaret Marr’s Website

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Featured Interview With Annelies George

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born on 4 August, 1964 in Bussum, the Netherlands, the second daughter of Levie George and Greet van Weerdenburg. After the gymnasium, I followed a one-year course as an international secretary in Amsterdam. Immediately afterward I started to work for a law firm, studying finance, management and law during the evening hours with the goal of becoming a lawyer myself. A move to a different town brought me into the fast IT world, where I was employed by GE Capital, marking the start of a successful career in the international IT Finance world. Due to the intensity of the job and long working hours, I abandoned my plans for a law degree.
At the age of 30 I was appointed to Benelux managing director of a US based lease company, a rare phenomenon at the time, since few females were holding similar positions in the specific branch in the Netherlands. Thereafter I accepted a variety of EMEA and regional management and sales roles with Cisco, Microsoft and Hewlett Packard. I still live in Bussum with my two pets, Izzy and Bella, two Maine Coone Cats. I love, among other activities, to paint and design necklaces when I am not writing. On occasion I like to travel to discover new places and understand the different ways of living around the globe.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
At the age of ten I was given a postcard collection of landscapes and city settings from countries all over the globe, tickling my imagination. Soon I found myself writing fiction stories together with my two year older sister, Marianne, during the school holidays, using the postcards and other pictures I found in magazines as the source of inspiration. Encouraged by two friends I resumed writing again at a later age, with the purpose of releasing a book detailing my personal adventures as a woman in a male-dominated business environment. Due to circumstances surrounding the events I described, I had to re-write the entire story. Frustrated, I stopped working on the book.
Soon thereafter I spoke to a psychic with an extraordinary life story, which inspired me to start writing again.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
My favorite authors are Sidney Sheldon (all his work), Jilly Cooper (the Polo series), Jackie Collins (the Lucky Santiago Saga), David Baldachi (The Summer and many more), Joy Fielding (The other Woman) and Penelope Vincenzi (No Angel – the Celia Lytton story). I like all sorts of genres such as crime, mystical, mystery, paranormal, apocalyptic, romance, adventure etc.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Darkness and Light, part 2 in the Jessie Golden Earth Series will be released on July 18th, 2019. I took my inspiration from the current situation in the world, the increasing natural disasters, Munay-Ki and Quantum Physics, combined with the metaphorical meaning of darkness and light in the broadest sense of the word. When writing the book I reflected on something I wrote. This resulted in the start of Loveable Light, a personal initiative, centered around the beautiful light we all harbor within called Love. The ultimate aim is to create more positive energy around the globe.

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Annelies George’s Website

Annelies George Facebook Page

Annelies George Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Dan Henk

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Dan’s early career included a year and a half stint drawing political cartoons for Madcap Magazine and illustrating underground projects such as Maximum Rock and Roll. In 1997, after struggling through a violent car crash and a knife fight with a crackhead that severed the tendon on his left thumb, he attended art school. Receiving some commercial and local gallery acclaim for his artwork, he moved to New York City in an attempt to kick start an art career. Heavily immersing himself in the local hardcore scene, he produced artwork for the bands Shai Hulud, Indecision, Coalesce, Locked in a Vacancy, Beyond Reason, Zombie Apocalypse , not to mention various local record labels and venues.

In 2000, he started tattooing, initially working on many musician friends. A year later, in September 2001, he was stricken with brain cancer and underwent surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. Three months after the surgery, he married fellow tattoo artist Monica Castillo.

After a brief trip down south, that included owning a short lived tattoo shop with the infamous Joe Truck , in a venture that ended in disaster, he returned to Manhattan. His work started appearing in both a growing number of tattoo magazines and more fine art influenced outlets such as Aphrodesia, and The Tarot Project. Tattoo related books such as No Regrets: The Best, Worst, & Most #$%*ing Ridiculous Tattoos Ever and Inside the Tattoo Circus: A Journey Through the Modern World of Tattoos also took notice and included features.

Tragedy struck again in 2007, as his wife of 6 years, Monica Henk, was killed in a motorcycle accident by a hit and run driver. Despite extensive coverage in the local media and vigorous campaigns by both the tattoo and motorcycle community, the culprit was never found.

Sick of New York, he moved to Austin, Texas for three years, and started doing a regular comic strip entitled “Rollo & Me” for Tattoo Artist Magazine. Illustrations for Black Static Magazine, and This is Horror followed suit.

His first novel, The Black Seas of Infinity, was published by Anarchy Books in 2011, and he started an illustrated calendar featuring a variety of artists. A limited edition chapbook entitled “Christmas Is Cancelled” came out courtesy of Splatterpunk in 2013. In 2014 he started columns for Tattoo Revue and Skin Art magazines. That lasted 3 years. A reissue of his debut novel was put out by Permuted Press in April 2015. A collection of his short stories entitled “Down Highways In The Dark…By Demons Driven” was released by the same publisher in August. He continued his work for independent magazines, doing art for Red Door Magazine, The Horror Zine, Litro Magazine, a slew of books by the imprint Out Of Step, and every issue so far of the British horror zine Splatterpunk. Books started to feature his artwork on their covers. “The Sopaths” by Piers Anthony, “Splatterpunks Not Dead”, and “Splatterpunk Fighting Back” among them. His third novel “The End of the World” debuted this year, and his seventh book cover on the novel “Insatiable” should be out any day now.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I grew up on isolated army bases without a TV. Every week I’d make a trip to the library and check out a stack of books, and all of them would be read by the time I went back a week later.
As a teenager, I became connived I would be an artist an writer. By that point I lived in Gainseville, Florida, would work on storyboards all week, and take them on weekends to the local indie comic artists at book stores in town for review. Being kicked out of my house and homeless at 18 didn’t derail my plans, I eventually attended art school on my own dime, and moved to NYC to pursue a career.
Interviews with Marvel and DC convinced me I would need illustrated novels to bring my stories to life, and I started the core of what would become my first book. Brain Cancer and the hit and run death of my wife slowed my plans, but I finally saw the publication of my first book in 2011. I’m on my third now, and just getting started.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
HP Lovecraft and John Steinbeck most influenced my writing style, with the wild imagination of one and the attention to detail of the other. That said, I read constantly. Alan Moore, Neil Gaiman, Frank Herbert, William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, Philip K. Dick, Richard Matheson, and Anne Rice were some of my favorites, with newer writer’s like John Scalzi and Caitlin R Kiernan constantly grabbing my interest. I like anything with a darker, more realistic tone, especially sci-fi and horror.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
In a not-too-distant future, the US has fallen into near social and economic ruin. As the fringe elements of society and ordinary citizens alike struggle to deal with the terrifying new reality, a maelstrom of governmental deceit and malevolence churns just beneath the surface.

Against this chaotic backdrop, strange new beings have risen out of the rubble. A former government worker, who in a fit of obsession and delusion steals and inhabits alien technology during a violent raid… A teenager whose reality contorts, making him privy to the cries of the dead as he stumbles in and out of worlds in a surreal game of musical chairs… Soon things take a dark turn for the newly emerged pariahs.

A long-running conspiracy involving a highly proficient military-industrial complex is attempting to resurrect an ancient horror, and the very outsiders laboring to cope with the dangerously altered state of the world might be the only ones who can do anything about it.

The End of the World is my latest book, a loose sequel to my first The Black Seas of Infinity, with some of the characters in my second book Down Highways In The Dark…By Demons Driven making appearances. Inspired by comics and novel series, I like to keep everything in roughly the same universe.

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Dan Henk’s Website

Dan Henk Facebook Page

Dan Henk Twitter Account

Featured Interview With Eden Walker

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was raised all over the globe because my father was a diplomat. Now I live in a conservation village on the tip of Africa! I had a great pet, a salt-and-pepper mini Schnauzer, who transitioned to the other side and sometimes visits me as a dragonfly…

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I like to tell readers that I first began writing love stories on this little whiteboard when I was a teen, and it’s true (because you could be covert about what you were writing, i.e. wipe it out!) But even before that, as a child I was always writing and acting out these scenarios. You know, my dolls weren’t just Barbies, they were English Roses in broderie anglaise who’d end up hell hot in India, fighting off flies and riding on elephants. You get the picture.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Everyone knows I’m a Marian Keyes devotee. I love chick lit – whatever that is – anyone else think it’s a bit of an insulting term? Basically, love stories that involve humor, passion and disaster. A bit like my life.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
One Night in Venice came out at the end of 2017. It’s a rollicking, steamy, heart-throbbing roller-coaster ride! Basically, this pretty normal, plain, uninspired art student (Kate Pollock) lands in Venice, of all places, the art capital of the world, absolutely oozing with history. She’s been let down in love and she’s depressed, making everything look drab. First thing she does is spot sex-on-legs in the ancient corridors, the illustrious artist Martinez Di Ser Piero. She’s smitten. Worse, it turns out he’s her practicals tutor. She knows no-one like that would ever be interested in her. But he is, and after their first kiss a suspenseful adventure begins, leading her to find her true artistic talent… and solve a crime!

I just loved writing this book. It was the second manuscript I ever wrote, but the third published. Originally it was set in Paris, over many days, but I tightened it up for the City Nights Series by Tirgearr. Now it’s a snappy 24 hours and introduces Ana Ortensia, who will be the Italian heroine in the sequel, One Night in Denpasar. Watch this space.

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Eden Walker Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Chrys Fey

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Chrys Fey is the woman I become when I am writing. In other words, she’s my alter ego. I step into her shoes whenever I sit down at my desk or pick up a pen.

When I was six years old, I became interested in writing thanks to my mom, an aspiring writer. At the age of twelve, I started writing my first book. By seventeen I had written three books in a series and was working on the fourth when something unthinkable happened . . . writer’s block! I thought my muse was gone for good until I discovered the problem and, with an abundance of determination, I set about rewriting my entire series. I worked on that series for eleven years.

I published Hurricane Crimes in 2013 with The Wild Rose Press. The sequel, Seismic Crimes, is coming out April 22, 2016. I am an administrator for the Insecure Writer’s Support Group and head their newsletter. I live in Florida and am always on the lookout for hurricanes. I have four adopted cats who keep me entertained with their antics, and three nephews who keep me entertained with their antics.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
One day, when I was twelve years old, I sat down on a small grassy hill next to my house after a lone game of basketball. I was playing with the sharp blades of grass when my fingers brushed something stuck deep in the roots. I thought it could’ve been a lucky penny or a key to a secret place.

Curious, I dug it out and looked at my find. Unfortunately, it was not a penny or a key but a screw. The tip was crooked and it was crusted with orange rust. For the strangest reason, while holding that pathetic screw, a story came to me about an extraordinary girl in an alternate world.
I rushed inside my house, grabbed an old notebook and a black pen, and then ran back to that little mound of grass to write the beginning of that story. I wrote fiercely, trying to catch all the words stumbling around in my head.

I’ve written ever since.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I love to read romance in all of it’s sub-genres and anything supernatural/paranormal, but no genre is ever out of the question. I enjoy reading J.D. Robb, Stephanie Evanovich, J.K. Rowling, Laurie Halse Anderson, Gillian Flynn, and Sandra Brown.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Seismic Crimes is a romantic-suspense novel set in Florida following a hurricane and California during an earthquake. Seismic Crimes follows the novella Hurricane Crimes and is book 2 in the Disaster Crimes series, a unique series that centers around disasters and the crimes, as well as the love, that transpires from devastating events.

BLURB:

An Internal Affairs Investigator was murdered and his brother, Donovan Goldwyn, was framed. Now Donovan is desperate to prove his innocence. And the one person who can do that is the woman who saved him from a deadly hurricane—Beth Kennedy. From the moment their fates intertwined, passion consumed him. He wants her in his arms. More, he wants her by his side in his darkest moments.

Beth Kennedy may not know everything about Donovan, but she can’t deny what she feels for him. It’s her love for him that pushes her to do whatever she has to do to help him get justice, including putting herself in a criminal’s crosshairs.

When a tip reveals the killer’s location, they travel to California, but then an earthquake of catastrophic proportions separates them. As aftershocks roll the land, Beth and Donovan have to endure dangerous conditions while trying to find their way back to one another. Will they reunite and find the killer, or will they lose everything?

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Chrys Fey’s Website

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Featured Interview With Jocie McKade

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
Howdy! I was what I like to call a company brat. My family was moved a lot by the company my mother worked for so I attended LOTS of schools and lived in LOTS of places. Right now, I’m a Midwest girl and live in a very rural area. I have an office mascot — Diesel the Wonder dog. He is part Jack Russell, part, I’m not sure. He was a pound puppy and is, wow, almost eleven years old!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I was one of those nerdy early and voracious readers who could read before they went to school. I actually wrote my first full length novel at twelve. It was horrific, I mean it was a fire-starter, but it taught me a lot. I have written most of my life — as a journalist, advertising, marketing and for magazines. I’d written dozens of books, but they gathered dust as I raised a family and worked a ‘real’ job – the kind with a paycheck and benefits. Then, after my hubster went through cancer I realized if I wanted to grab this dream I needed to go for it. I published my first novel only about five years ago.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read everything! Seriously, stick a cereal box in front of me, I’ll read it. About the only genre I don’t read is horror – mostly because I’m a coward and I can’t afford the leave the lights on all night. I love thrillers, mysteries, romance, and anything with humor.

My writing isn’t necessarily inspired by other authors. Honestly, people who have the tenacity to stick it out, even when that is the toughest thing to do, they inspire me. When I get rejections, or a bad review, I usually read a story about someone who overcame real difficulty and it puts those rejections in perspective pretty fast.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Baer Truth is the first book in the series, The Three Baers. Yeah, I couldn’t resist that pun. The story smacked me in the head in the great state of Wyoming. We were taking a family trip to Yellowstone, stopping in Cheyenne at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo. (Can you say hot cowboys?) Anyway, my mind rambles often and it went, ‘what if one of those beef ranching country cowboys feel for a city born, vegetarian? The Baers were born.

The first book, Baer Truth finds Abby Clark stranded alongside a road in Wyoming in January. She soon comes across a downright grumpy Joe Baer. His ranch is being lost, his family is in shambles and they aren’t exactly a match made in heaven.

Abby has not clue about anything on a ranch, and she’s well, a klutz and disaster follows her like a dark cloud. Hired as a cook on the ranch, she soon worms her way in the cowboys hearts and eventually into Joe’s.

Here’s an excerpt of her arrival at the Hidden Rock Ranch:
“Please, call me Mike.” He smiled, starting the engine. Making a hard u-turn, the truck slid across the pavement.
Abby fastened her seatbelt and grabbed the handle above the window.
The truck fishtailed across the ice, but Mike didn’t slow down. “I hope you don’t plan on going shopping very often.” He turned the wipers on. They screeched painfully across the glass. “It’s a fair piece to the nearest store. We plan far in advance for shopping trips, so you’ll want to keep a list for pantry purchases.”
They pulled off the main road onto a gravel road. He made several more turns onto smaller and smaller gravel roads, until they reached a rutted, one-lane dirt road. Suddenly the dirt road gave way to a smooth blacktop drive that wound around snow-covered banks, atop which a red snow fence ran as far as the eye could see.
“I think I’m going to have to drop breadcrumbs to find my way in and out of here.” Abby couldn’t remember ever having been so far from civilization. “Tell me, do you ever get snowed in back here?” As far as she could see in every direction was nothing, absolutely nothing, except hills, snow fence, trees, snow, and huge mountains.
“Occasionally we’ve been snowed in for a few days. We’ve got snowmobiles and we can get out for supplies with them.”
A lump formed in her throat that refused to be swallowed.
“We’ve also got the Cat and the Deere with plows and shovels.”
Abby had no clue what he was talking about, but as long as those things could get her out of this desolate wilderness, she liked them.
“Nobody’s lived at the cottage for awhile. I had the boys go in, knock down the spider webs, and make sure no snakes or anything was living inside, but they don’t always get everything. You aren’t afraid of spiders and such, are you?”
The lump on her head began to ache. Mike’s expression was kind, but odds were she was about to face those things, afraid or not. “I can’t say I care too much for them.”
“Well, snakes are hibernating this time of year. But they can move about when you start disturbing them. I’ll have the boys leave you a hoe just to be safe.” The truck slid across the blacktop road. Mike chuckled. “That was fun.”
Abby pushed a hand against the dashboard, her mouth becoming suddenly dry. “A hoe? What do I need a hoe for?”
“For hacking the snakes’ heads off, honey.” Mike was matter-of-fact.
“Hack its head off?” The ache in her head turned to throbbing and was joined by a rumbling nausea deep in her stomach. “Couldn’t I just call you or one of the men to come and–” she shuddered– “hack the thing?”
“Sure, but we’re usually out in the field or up at one of the cattle barns. It could be awhile before one of us could get it for you. By then it could disappear under the floor only to pop back out in the middle of the night and snuggle up with you in bed.”
“They’re cold-blooded, you know, and they like to find a warm spot to sleep. So it would be best if you just hack them when you see them.”
Her head swam. Her vision turned gray and began sliding into black. She had gone from a bad dream to a horrific nightmare. Abby pinched her thigh, wincing at the pain. Awake. She was awake. The nightmare was real.

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Jocie McKade’s Website

Jocie McKade Facebook Page

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Featured Interview With Teiran Smith

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio. After living in Connecticut and Sandusky, Ohio, my husband and I moved again to Grand Haven, Michigan in January 2014. I am absolutely in love with western Michigan. It is hands down one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. The Grand Haven community is very supportive of the arts which has been incredibly inspiring for me. It inspired me to publish my first novel, Rooter. And I have fallen in love with landscape photography and even dabble in abstract painting.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
Oh my. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t fascinated with writing and reading. For me, books have always represented hidden treasure. They offer an escape from reality. Reading has an extremely calming effect on me as does writing. I can’t go a single day without one or the other without going through withdrawals.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Another hard question. The first Author I fell in love with was Edgar Allan Poe. I love his work. I’ve read everything he’s written. I remember the first time I came across The Raven in middle school. I was hooked immediately. Then came Shakespeare-my second love followed by Jane Austin.

In recent years I discovered Jamie McGuire. Her book, Beautiful Disaster, resembled that which I write and I became an immediate fan. I also enjoy Colleen Hoover.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
Rooter was a real labor of love for me. I had such a fun time writing it. This was the first book I didn’t follow an outline for. I let the characters lead me and rather than writing the story I wanted to tell, I wrote THEIR story. I fell so in love with Sophie, Rooter, Miranda, Bear, and Ryan that I actually cried when I finished writing it. It felt like saying goodbye to good friends. Halfway through the story I’d already decided it would be a series. I just had to keep going with all of them!

Sophie is a very troubled young woman. She has no family. The only family she ever had was her mother-a drug addict who committed suicide when Sophie was seventeen. So now she lives with her best friend, Miranda, and her brother Mike. All Sophie wants is a normal life with family and love-something she’s never had and something she believes she’ll never have.

Miranda and Mike also recently lost their parents so they’re all kind of grieving their losses together. But Mike’s feelings for Sophie are more than just friendship. He admitted he’s in love with her and when she didn’t reciprocate, he spiraled out of control. Now he’s doing drugs and drinking and has become abusive. The derision between them causes tension between the three of them. Sophie’s infatuation with Rooter, the “vicious criminal” next door only makes matters worse.

When Mike finds Sophie conversing with Rooter, he goes into a jealous rage and attacks both girls. Rooter comes to their defense which only increases Sophie’s interest in him. But he makes it clear that nothing will ever happen between them-he’s a bad guy and she deserves better. But when Sophie gets attacked yet again he comes to her rescue and finally admits that he has feelings for her.

They embark on a passionate romance, but it’s hampered by Rooter’s secrecy, controlling behavior, his crazy, obsessed ex-friend-with-benefits. As much as they care for one another, there just seems to be one obstacle after another. When it seems things can’t get any worse, Sophie is accused of committing a brutal crime against Rooter. Heartbroken, Sophie moves out of the house to put distance between the two of them. But now that she’s separated from Rooter’s watchful eye and protection, Mike decides Sophie needs to pay for breaking his heart.

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Featured Interview With Alex Athanassakos

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Greece, but now I live in Toronto, where I moved in 1979. I initially came to Toronto to visit my brother, but fell in love with economics and stayed to do a graduate degree on that subject.

I have no pets, but I do have two sons.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved reading. By grade 11 I had even compiled a list of “must” reads that included HG Wells’ World History, Marx’s Das Capital and Plato’s Republic.

This particular book (i.e., Our Travels with Alexander) I began writing 24 years ago when we returned to Canada from our year off.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Some of my favorite authors include: Graham Green (the title of my book is a play on one of his books “Travels with my Aunt”), Par Lagerkvist, Xenophon, and Harry Mulisch.

My favorite genre is history. However, I find that contemporary history books read more like fiction these days. So I began reading the “original” texts of ancient writers. I started with Herodotus and in 3 years I have reached Dios Cassius. I believe I will stop when I reach the 16th century authors since, owing to the invention of the printing press, a lifetime will not be enough to read everything that was published after that.

I also like science books, especially biographies, and went I go to bed I usually read fiction (books about saving the world from impending disaster).

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is called On Democracy: A Novel. Some of the ideas in this book come from my PhD dissertation, but others were developed over time. My basic premise in the book is that the present-day “democratic systems are badly designed an do not take into account human nature. All of them are not democratic, in the sense that a majority is behind every action of the state, but improvements could be made especially with the advance of the Internet. Copies of the book can be bought here: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B011ONQVUE

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Featured Interview With Dusty Grein

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
A lifelong native of the Pacific Northwest, I have mountains and evergreen forests in my blood. I have been living with one of my daughters in Ohio for a year, but am on my way back home to Washington State this month. A father of five, and grandpa to 7, I have also been a pet person all my life.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I learned to read at four and was devoted to Sesame Street as a young child. I devoured my first novel, “Lad: A Dog” when I was six and I have never looked back. In school, I was that kid who actually loved it when the teacher told us to read quietly at our desks – best day ever! – and longed for the day when I could buy my own books.

I started writing full time after a heart-attack interrupted my working routine, and now I only wish I had started sooner.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
I read a lot. I love so many authors, and have tried to read everything they have written, successfully in most cases. Dean Koontz, JA Jance, Piers Anthony, Preston and/or Child as well as the classics – Dickens, Carroll, Poe.

Thrillers and Horror are my passion, and Stephen King is, hand down my favorite author ever. He is also the motivating force behind my writing career (and I like to think behind the success I have enjoyed so far). His book ON WRITING is the reason I finally realized that the story machine (and multiple characters) in my head needed to be turned on and let run free.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
My latest book is something of a marvel. It is the story of the residents of a small town in Western Washington State to the east of Seattle. They live, work and play in the shadow of Mount Rainier – the largest dormant volcano in the continental US – and this story explores their relationships and lives during the week before a cataclysmic eruption.

Two of my characters are ten-year-old twins, who share a psychic link, and must use their abilities to save their family from the coming disaster. A second interwoven storyline involves their eighteen-year-old babysitter and the young man who loves her, and the final primary character is the local veterinarian, who is ready to retire. These people are all from a very small town, and know each other, and are unaware that within a week, their lives will change forever, and some of them will end, in the worst natural disaster to ever hit the US.

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Featured Interview With Stacy Barnett Mozer

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I am a third grade teacher, an Assistant Advisor for the New England Society of Children Book Writers and Illustrators (NESCBWI), and a mom to two wonderful tweens. I was raised on Long Island, in Merrick, NY. The best part about growing up in Merrick was that it was so close to Jones Beach and other fun things to do. I could ride my bike everywhere, to friends’ houses and to the beach and the pool. It was also close to NYC. Now I live in Stamford, Connecticut, which may not have the best beaches but it is also close to New York City and to my parents on Long Island. And both are close to my favorite sports team, the NY Mets!

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I always remember loving to read. When I was in late elementary school I told my parents that I was afraid of the dark so that they would leave the light on in the hallway and I could place my book in the doorway. That worked well until one night when I was so into the book that I didn’t hear my dad come up the stairs until his foot was standing on my book.

I never thought of myself as a writer when I was younger, though I wrote all the time. I had diaries and journals and would pass a notebook of notes back and forth with some of my middle school friends. I still have all of them and sometimes reread them to connect with the younger me.

I started writing “for real” after spending a summer at Teacher’s College learning how to teach writing using a writer’s notebook. My instructors had us keep our own notebook and from then on I collected words and stories. Eventually one of those stories turned into my first finished manuscript. That story is still unpublished though because I still had a lot to learn about writing at that point. I continue to go back to it between writing other novels. Hopefully one day it will be ready for the world.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
While I will still pick up a new Stephen King book every now and again, for the most part I avoid adult books and read middle grade and young adult. I read all the time and very quickly, in a wide range of genres. To give you an idea so far this week I read three realistic fiction young adult books: ANY WAY YOU SLICE IT by Kristine Asselin, THE ABSOLUTELY TRUE DIARY of a PART-TIME INDIAN by Sherman Alexie, and I WAS HERE by Gayle Forman. I have three more realistic young adult books on my two be read list. Once I finish them, I am sure I will be looking for some new middle grade fantasy book series so I can get lost in an imagined world or I have a list of new middle grade novels that I will read before September so I can recommend them to kids in my class.

Tell us a little about your latest book?
THE SWEET SPOT is the story of Sam Barrette, a thirteen-year-old baseball player. When her baseball coach tells her that her attitude’s holding her back, she wants to hit him in the head with a line drive. Why shouldn’t she have an attitude? As the only girl playing in the 13U league, she’s had to listen to boys and people in the stands screaming things like “Go play softball,” all season, just because she’s a girl. Her coach barely lets her play, even though she’s one of the best hitters on the team. All stakes now rest on Sam’s performance at baseball training camp. But the moment she arrives, miscommunication sets the week up for potential disaster. Placed at the bottom with the weaker players, she will have to work her way up to A league, not just to show Coach that she can be the best team player possible, but to prove to herself that she can hold a bat with the All-Star boys.

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Featured Interview With Alex Athanassakos

Tell us a little about yourself. Where were you raised? Where do you live now?
I was born and raised in Greece, but now I live in Toronto, where I moved in 1979. I initially came to Toronto to visit my brother, but fell in love with economics and stayed to do a graduate degree on that subject.

I don’t have any pets, but I do have two sons.

At what age did you realize your fascination with books? When did you start writing?
I have always loved reading. By grade 11 I had even compiled a list of “must” reads that included HG Wells’ World History, Marx’s Das Capital and Plato’s Republic.

This particular book (i.e., Our Travels with Alexander) I began writing 24 years ago when we returned to Canada from our year off.

Who are your favorite authors to read? What is your favorite genre to read. Who Inspires you in your writings?
Some of my favorite authors include: Graham Green (the title of my book is a play on one of his books “Travels with my Aunt”), Par Lagerkvist, Xenophon, and Harry Mulisch.

My favorite genre is history. However, I find that contemporary history books read more like fiction these days. So I began reading the “original” texts of ancient writers. I started with Herodotus and in 3 years I have reached Dios Cassius. I believe I will stop when I reach the 16th century authors since, owing to the invention of the printing press, a lifetime will not be enough to read everything that was published after that.

I also like science books, especially biographies, and went I go to bed I usually read fiction (books about saving the world from impending disaster).

Tell us a little about your latest book?
The book describes a year off in France through the wines, food, culture and history of Burgundy, Provence and Dordogne. The adventures of a new family whose original plan never included the challenges of travelling with a toddler are intended to show that raising a baby and living the dream, while not easy, can be funny, enlightening and worthwhile. While this is a how-to for all those parents who plan to live differently, even if it is only for a short time, it is also an in depth exploration of what makes France famous for “la belle vie”.

Buy the book on Amazon.

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