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Terry Lister 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a solo slow traveler since retiring from my professional life in 2014. From Fall 2014 to Summer 2017 I travelled to every country in Central and South America except one. I worked out the kinks in my approach to solo travel during this time. In Fall 2017 until the start of the pandemic I traveled to all the regions of Africa.
During this period l have written two books on my travels in Wedt Africa with more books to follow.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last book, A New Day Dawns, shares my travels in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast and Ghana. I wrote this book to help people in the West to look at these parts from another perspective beyond that given by the mainstream media. To date l think l have succeeded with my intent.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing is done in two stages. Having experienced the day of travel, l post to my personal fb page for family and friends. When l am ready to write the book l confirm the accuracy of what I am attesting to and do further research before writing the story.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have from boyhood enjoyed the classic work of Mark Twain. In more recent times it has been the work of writers such as Paul Theroux who have influenced my approach to my writing.

What are you working on now?
Currently l am focussed on marketing my books for the next two months then l will start the third book in my series . The next book will focus on Gabon, Cameroon and Namibia. These are very interesting countries that do not get the attention that the leading East African countries do so there is a story to be told.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have promoted my books by Amazon adverts and selected promotion sites.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think authors should be veryclear of why they are writing and how they will measure success. Once this is worked out their activities can be geared up to achieve those goals. One should not write just to write as upon completion there is no clarity in promoting the work,etc.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write another book! When given this advice l did not understand it. Now l fully understand and would give the same advice in short form and then explain what it really means and how it plays out.

What are you reading now?
Presently I am in several fb groups with book trains. I am doing this is increase the reviews my books have some I read what’s up for reading when l go to the trains. So very random and not any particular genre.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I would like to have my books become popular …not to make lots of money but to have my readers have a broader view of the countries l write about. So my success will not be measured in book sales but it the response that books create measured by reviews and articles about the books.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
One travel book, one mystery book and one historical book. These are where my interests lie.

Author Websites and Profiles
Terry Lister Amazon Profile

Terry Lister’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Gareth Williams 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a retired school teacher who studied history at Queens’ College, University of Cambridge. I also have a doctorate from Cardiff University. I live on the Isle of Skye with my wife Helen and our Pyrenean Mountain Dog, Sophie. I am climbing all the Scottish peaks over 3000 feet and love all kinds of skiing.
I have written more books than I like to admit but most of them remain where they belong, hidden in a cupboard! However, I have completed three instalments of The Richard Davey Chronicles and am close to the end of a stand alone fictional biography set in the late eighteenth century.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Serving Shaka. The clue is in the title. The book is inspired by the life of Shaka Zulu, founder of the Zulu nation. I have been fascinated by his life ever since I read a biography of his life by E.A. Ritter in the early 1970s. He rose, despite the odds, to forge an empire that threatened British dominance of southern Africa.
Two coincidences also drew me to his story. Firstly, he was rising to power just as Napoleon Bonaparte was dying on St Helena. But in my book, Needing Napoleon, the former emperor escapes! Secondly, although it has yet to feature in one of my books, a direct descendant of Napoleon died fighting for the British against the Zulus in 1879.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually play rock music while I work. People think it must be distracting but I never really hear it, it just protects me from the silence!
I also enjoy editing my first draft more than the initial writing process!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a write of historical fiction I must credit Bernard Cornwell, particularly his Sharpe series, and Conn Iggulden’s Emperor series. As Needing Napoleon has a time travel element, I must also acknowledge Diana Gabaldon’s Outlander series.
As an aspiring fantasy writer, I am a big fan of almost anything by Raymond E Feist. I was captivated by Stephen Donaldson’s The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, The Unbeliever, particularly the first three books.
Finally, I must admit to a penchant for science fiction, where Isaac Asimov and Iain M Banks are my favourites.

What are you working on now?
I am editing the third instalment of The Richard Davey Chronicles, which has yet to be named. I am currently writing a fictionalised biography of a real individual who led a controversial life straddling cultures and continents between 1763 and 1805.
The book deals with issues of cultural appropriation, racism and the challenges of confronting the past from a twenty-first-century perspective.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Nothing beats meeting people in person whether speaking at a school or visiting a book club. Thanks to technology, some of this can be achieved virtually when geography gets in the way!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Despite the temptation to launch in full of enthusiasm (doubtless driven by a shortage of time), plan first. I spent years rushing new ideas onto the page and inevitably, within a hundred pages, I had tied myself in knots. In contrast, my first published novel, Needing Napoleon, only took three months to write, with barely a misstep, thanks to a similar length of time planning and plotting, developing characters and considering their interplay.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you write in the evening, edit in the morning,

What are you reading now?
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea by Jules Verne

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am planning the fourth instalment of The Richard Davey Chronicles and a fantasy novel, tentatively entitled The Mountain Kingdom, partly inspired by my home on the Isle of Skye.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Collected Works by William Shakespeare (my grandmother’s leather-bound copy won as a school prize in 1911)
Collected Poems by Clive James (no apologies, he is my favourite poet)
The Old Man and the Sea by John Steinbeck (to remind me how simple words can convey powerful stories)
The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien (the paperback compendium first published in 1968 which I read under the covers as a child)

Author Websites and Profiles
Gareth Williams Website
Gareth Williams Amazon Profile

Gareth Williams’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Butch & Louie 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Societally unacceptable—with no plans to change!

We’ve published three books in the last year: Butch & Louie’s Book of Stress-Relieving Humor: Feel Better Fast, Butch & Louie’s Book of Poetry, and Butch & Louie’s Book of Odd Short Stories.

The only thing they have in common is us, Butch & Louie. We’re identical twin brothers who do everything together.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Our latest book is Butch & Louie’s Book of Odd Short Stories. Our inspiration was poverty, and we like to write weird stories!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, we only write with words we can spell.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mrs. Blanchard, our tenth grade English teacher, encouraged our study of etymology, which looks at the origin of words and how they’ve changed over time.

One day, she asked us to stay after class to discuss some specific things she thought we could do to improve ourselves. As we were taking notes on everything she said, she used the word incorrigible in a reference to us. We raised our hands and asked her if she could spell that, and maybe use it in sentence to put it into context for us.

She said, “Of course. You two are incorrigible idiots who can’t spell sh*t!” She suggested we hang around for the summer and take a class in etymology, which might help us learn to string two words together that made some kind of sense.

At first, we thought etymology might be a cooking class, but thanks to Mrs. Blanchard, we got our first real lessons in understanding and using words. However, she was wrong about us not being able to spell the word “sh*t.” If she had looked around the school, she would have credited us with using it in several places, both in context and out of context.

Mrs. Blanchard would be surprised to know we overcame being idiots and wrote three books with all the words spelled correctly. Unfortunately, she has dementia now and lives in a home with other people who can’t remember who’s next door. However, we’ve been told that every time our names are mentioned, she gets very animated and needs a few tranquilizers to calm down, so we know she still remembers us. Why wouldn’t she? We’re Butch & Louie.

What are you working on now?
Lately, we’ve been thinking about a plan to spring Mrs. Blanchard from the home and take her for ride. That’s a lot better than taking tranquilizers. But first, we’ve got to adjust our cam chain tensioners. If the cam chain tensioners are too tight, we’ll have inner bearing problems, and then we’ll have to buy hydraulic tension cam plates and won’t be able to take anyone for a ride.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We did a marketing survey of 5000 people who showed signs of being able to read. They said their favorite genre was free books, so we immediately shifted to where the demand is, and now, all Butch & Louie’s books are free. That works for us because we’re not married.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Before becoming a first time author, a prospective writer should get a high paying job where they can make lots and lots of money because they’re going to need it. We suggest the used motorcycle parts business, and if they can get the parts for free, they’ll make even more money when they sell them. That was our funding source for our career as writers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Before becoming a first time author, a prospective writer should get a high paying job where they can make lots and lots of money because they’re going to need it.

What are you reading now?
We’re reading the instruction manual for adjusting our cam chain tensioners. Friday is date night! We’ve got to get it done.

What’s next for you as a writer?
We’re just waiting to here from the Pulitizer Board.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
What! No streaming services?

 

Butch & Louie 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Societally unacceptable—with no plans to change!

We’ve published three books in the last year: Butch & Louie’s Book of Stress-Relieving Humor: Feel Better Fast, Butch & Louie’s Book of Poetry, and Butch & Louie’s Book of Odd Short Stories.

The only thing they have in common is us, Butch & Louie. We’re identical twin brothers who do everything together.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Our latest book is Butch & Louie’s Book of Odd Short Stories. Our inspiration was poverty, and we like to write weird stories!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, we only write with words we can spell.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mrs. Blanchard, our tenth grade English teacher, encouraged our study of etymology, which looks at the origin of words and how they’ve changed over time.

One day, she asked us to stay after class to discuss some specific things she thought we could do to improve ourselves. As we were taking notes on everything she said, she used the word incorrigible in a reference to us. We raised our hands and asked her if she could spell that, and maybe use it in sentence to put it into context for us.

She said, “Of course. You two are incorrigible idiots who can’t spell sh*t!” She suggested we hang around for the summer and take a class in etymology, which might help us learn to string two words together that made some kind of sense.

At first, we thought etymology might be a cooking class, but thanks to Mrs. Blanchard, we got our first real lessons in understanding and using words. However, she was wrong about us not being able to spell the word “sh*t.” If she had looked around the school, she would have credited us with using it in several places, both in context and out of context.

Mrs. Blanchard would be surprised to know we overcame being idiots and wrote three books with all the words spelled correctly. Unfortunately, she has dementia now and lives in a home with other people who can’t remember who’s next door. However, we’ve been told that every time our names are mentioned, she gets very animated and needs a few tranquilizers to calm down, so we know she still remembers us. Why wouldn’t she? We’re Butch & Louie.

What are you working on now?
Lately, we’ve been thinking about a plan to spring Mrs. Blanchard from the home and take her for ride. That’s a lot better than taking tranquilizers. But first, we’ve got to adjust our cam chain tensioners. If the cam chain tensioners are too tight, we’ll have inner bearing problems, and then we’ll have to buy hydraulic tension cam plates and won’t be able to take anyone for a ride.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We did a marketing survey of 5000 people who showed signs of being able to read. They said their favorite genre was free books, so we immediately shifted to where the demand is, and now, all Butch & Louie’s books are free. That works for us because we’re not married.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Before becoming a first time author, a prospective writer should get a high paying job where they can make lots and lots of money because they’re going to need it. We suggest the used motorcycle parts business, and if they can get the parts for free, they’ll make even more money when they sell them. That was our funding source for our career as writers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Before becoming a first time author, a prospective writer should get a high paying job where they can make lots and lots of money because they’re going to need it.

What are you reading now?
We’re reading the instruction manual for adjusting our cam chain tensioners. Friday is date night! We’ve got to get it done.

What’s next for you as a writer?
We’re just waiting to here from the Pulitizer Board.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
What! No streaming services?

 

Courtney Lillard 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am originally from Wisconsin, but traveled around the Midwest with my husband for school and am currently in Nebraska. I earned both my B.A. and M.A. in Communication Studies and began writing shortly after. The Dark Angel series is my first adventure as an author. I currently have three books published, Book One: The Shadow’s Grasp, Book Two: The Guardian’s Deception, and Book Three: The Puppet’s Blight, which released this month.

I am currently writing the sixth book of this series and plan to publish them all over the next two years.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
On February 22nd, I published The Puppet’s Blight. It is the continuation of The Dark Angel series and follows a mage as she loses her magic and follows a demon and its creatures around the country to get it back.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer to write in the mornings when I wake up since that is usually when I’m more active. Other than that, I can sit down and write for hours straight when the story is figured out. In order to make that happen, I spend time listening to certain music that sets the tone for that point in the story. That’s usually how I come up with specific plot points or action scenes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds of Valdemar series is probably my favorite when it comes to fantasy because it was my first encounter with the genre. I also enjoy classics like Jurassic Park and A Tale of Two Cities.

I find a lot of inspiration outside of books as well, including in fantasy and action/adventure movies and JRPG video games, such as the Final Fantasy series.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am at the beginning of the sixth book in The Dark Angel series. There may or may not end up being a seventh, but once this is complete I would like to start on something new that I’ve had in mind to write for a while. I’m also learning how to get online ads and market myself as an author since nowadays that’s what you sort of have to do.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This year, I began a newsletter with updates, behind the scenes information, and featured authors. You can sign up at lillardbooks.com and get access to a free short story. I also created a brand logo to use so my social media and website are consistent.
I believe the best way to market yourself is by continuing to write and publish. One or two books from an author doesn’t spark up much traction, so it’s important to establish yourself through a website and social media, continue to write and publish, and then focus on paid ads, bloggers, events, etc.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write for yourself, first and foremost. In any art form, there will be people who don’t like or don’t understand your work. That’s okay! If everybody liked everything, there wouldn’t be any variety. Because of this, it’s important for authors to know who they are and what they want to create. You’re not going to please anybody and you only have control over yourself. Write the story that you want to write above all else instead of caving into what’s popular, what gets readers, and what pleases the majority of people.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Motivation is sparked by action. If you want to write, write. Once you get started, you’ll find it easier to continue than if you remain lying down wondering how productive you could be later.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My favorite book is Jurassic Park, followed by A Tale of Two Cities, then Magic’s Pawn by Mercedes Lackey. It’s a weird trio, but I have fond memories associated with each.

Author Websites and Profiles
Courtney Lillard Website
Courtney Lillard Amazon Profile

Courtney Lillard’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Evan Camby 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a horror-obsessed Midwestern wife & mother who writes scary stories and atmospheric suspense/mysteries. I’ve loved Halloween and the horror genre since I was a little girl, and I grew up watching British mystery shows. I wrote short stories as a kid but fell away from it as I got into my teens. After starting a career as a lawyer, I realized I missed it and got back into writing in my mid-twenties. Since then, I’ve written and published 5 books, and I won an award for my debut book in 2014.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Hollow Spring: A Detective Cal Brennan Novel” was inspired by my fascination with cold cases and dark, atmospheric mystery/suspense series. There are a handful of cold cases I follow closely that provided inspiration, but not in the way you’d probably think. What I most wanted to write about was how the family members of the victims manage to get on with their lives without ever getting any answers. Of course, the details of the crime are important but the human cost is what most interests me.

The setting is small-town Indiana, something I know well from my work as a “country lawyer.” The protagonist is a detective whose family member was a victim of a cold crime in the eighties. Now an adult still haunted by those events, his life’s work is to solve crimes before they become cold cases, to prevent anyone from suffering the way he and his family did. This will be a series with at least four books in it, and I hope to have even more.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write during my toddler’s nap time, usually with a cup of microwaved coffee by my side and some kind of “ambient cafe music” playing on Youtube. I try to cram in as much as I can during that two-hour window. I prefer to be facing a window, as our lot is wooded and the woods have always inspired me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My first writing influence was Edgar Allan Poe. My mom got me an antique book of his stories, and I was hooked. As I’ve gotten older, I’ve also come to love Shirley Jackson, Washington Irving, Susan Hill, Edgar Lee Masters, Ernest Hemingway, Emily Dickinson, and Vladimir Nabokov. Poe and Jackson are my horror idols, and Susan Hill is my mystery idol. I’d love to have a career like Hill, as she writes both horror and mysteries. My dialogue idol is Hemingway. He really understood how people talk to each other.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the third installment in my “Walking After Midnight: Tales for Halloween” series. Ten more tales of horror and suspense, set on or around Halloween. Perfect to get in the spirit of the holiday, or any time you need a creepy fix.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love the members of my newsletter/mailing list. They are my biggest fans and their word-of-mouth promotions are most effective. I truly appreciate them! I also love Instagram, I’m a visual person and it is the most fun for me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to write badly in the beginning. You have to be bad before you can be good. Just get the words on the page!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“This too shall pass.”–originally from the Bible but my Grandma said it a lot.

Also: “Write hard and clear about what hurts.” –Ernest Hemingway

What are you reading now?
“The Woman in White” by Wilkie Collins.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Becoming a mother in 2021 really gave me the focus and confidence to start promoting myself more. I am building my platform and working on new books as well as fun content for my Patreon audience.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
So hard to choose!

“Lolita,” “The Exorcist,” the Bible, and (this is cheating a bit) but my compendium of Edgar Allan Poe works. (If I could take a 5th, and I WOULD find a way, I’d sneak in “The Haunting of Hill House.” ….Also, my Hemingway collection. Sorry! No way I could only choose 3 or 4.)

Author Websites and Profiles
Evan Camby Website
Evan Camby Amazon Profile

Evan Camby’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Pinterest Account

David Kern 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book outside of publishing articles in technical journals. I am a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School and the US Air Force Academy, and have been an experimental test pilot since 2008. I am an Associate Fellow with the Society of Experimental Test Pilots and Member of the Society of Flight Test Engineers. In 2011, I was the USAF F-16 project test pilot for the Collier Trophy-winning Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System (AGCAS). In my personal life, I am a devoted husband, proud father of two awesome kids, and when not flying all kinds of aircraft I enjoy woodworking, camping, hiking, skiing, cooking and music. My previous publications include “Flight Test Techniques for Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) Radar”, and “Accelerated Development of Flight Tested Sensors and Systems”.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Introduction to Fly-by-Wire Flight Control Systems: The professional pilot’s guide to understanding modern aircraft controls”. I wrote this book after receiving an unexpected phone call from a fellow pilot I met at a G650 recurrent training. He’s leading a Part 91 flight department, and wanted to dig a little deeper into fly-by-wire concepts with his other pilots, as a professional development study topic. He knew that I am a test pilot, and asked me if there were any resources beyond the flight manual that might explain a little more of the “how” and “why” of fly-by-wire, beyond normal and non-normal procedures. I thought I could easily dig up and send him additional resources — deeper than the flight manual, but less than an aeronautical engineering PhD dissertation. I found that there is quite an information gap between these two extremes, and ended up writing this book in the process of answering his questions. I promise there is no math, it’s written for pilots!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure what usual writing habits would be for comparison’s sake?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tony Kern. Although we share the same last name, we are not related to my knowledge. His books on safety and professionalism in aviation are unmatched.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a series of training courses related to aerospace product development, flight test, and risk management topics. I plan to release them for on-demand remote learning.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think having my own website to give more background to my book is useful.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Go for it! It’s exciting to release a book and get feedback from readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do for others as you would have them do for you.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading a lot of diverse material regarding autonomy and artificial intelligence. This is a rapidly-developing area of research.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to write about my experience developing the F-16 Automatic Ground Collision Avoidance System. This is such a revolutionary integration of autonomy with human control, and it’s been highly successful in terms of lives saved.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
First of all, I’d want a book on how to build a life raft, plus a celestial navigation reference. Also my Bible, since I wouldn’t really be alone!

Author Websites and Profiles
David Kern Website
David Kern Amazon Profile

David Kern’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Chrisna Kruger 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a South African female of 48-years old. I grew up in a time when everything explicit was highly censored and love was still sweet and dreamy – I prefer it that way. I have always dreamed of writing but always lacked the courage (I became a nurse, it was the “sensible” thing to do). Now I am taking that leap, at last, for the first time!
The old classic romances still make us all believe in, or at least dream of, true everlasting love. I hope to write classic romance novels for the 21st century. I prefer plot-driven novels. And what is a romance novel without an element of magic to it or if it can’t take one to another world or time, whether real or imaginary?

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Beautiful Beloved
I love the old classic love stories, but it seems these days we are bombarded by all things explicit. I decided to try and write a modern day “Pride and Prejudice” – we’ll see what people think of my first attempt…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Classic writers, and I love the 1400’s – 1900’s – the dresses, the evening balls, the horse carriages and the male chivalry – the romance and courting.

What are you working on now?
Book 2 – I am writing the next book in the Howard Saga.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning the ins and outs. I am quite an introvert and not that clued up or fluent with social media. Any advice or help will go a loooong way!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Trust your gut. I’m doing it here.

What are you reading now?
British and WW2 history – research for my saga

What’s next for you as a writer?
A HUGE publishing contract and TV series, which will allow me to write on a fulltime basis.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Pride and Prejudice
Wuthering heights
A Grimm Brothers compilation
A Francine Rivers omnibus

 

Kurtis Ebeling 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Anaheim, California, but have lived in Spokane, Washington for most of my adult life. I have only published one collection thus far, but I am currently working on the next one.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Beneath Stretching Pines, which is a short collection of 30 poems. It was greatly inspired by my studies of modernist poets at Eastern Washington University—Williams Carlos Williams and William Butler Yeats in particular.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, I don’t think so. I like to go on walks around a local park that often serves as the initial inspiration for my poetry. Otherwise, my poems usually emerge slowly while I sit at the computer to type—sometimes they take weeks and other times they take minutes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Spring and All and Paterson by William Carlos Williams are probably my biggest influences. However, I am also deeply influenced by translations of classical Chinese (Li Pai, Tu Fu, Wang Wei, etc.) and Japanese (Basho, Issa, Santōka, etc.) poets, and I really enjoy the works of many well known western poets—Yeats, Keats, Donne, Hilda Doolittle, etc.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a second collection of poems that doesn’t quite have a name yet.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still figuring this out. Thus far, I have only really used social media (twitter and instagram) to promote my book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’d recommend spending as much time, prior to publication, planning out how you are going to market your work (especially if you’re self-publishing). Unfortunately, marketing is somewhat of a necessary step I hadn’t considered prior to publication. In the end, creating good art should be enough, but getting it out there isn’t always an easy feat.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I don’t know any published authors, so I haven’t heard much. But, I will say that patience is a virtue in this field (as far as I can tell). For me, I felt that I needed to be free of the work that composed Beneath Stretching Pines, and thus, I was eager to self-publish without much thought to anything outside of its composition.

What are you reading now?
Charles Baudelaire’s The Flowers of Evil.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I just plan to keep on writing until I have enough poems for another book.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. Moby-Dick by Herman Melville (my favorite piece of fiction)
2. Spring and All by William Carlos Williams
3. The Sound of Waves by Yukio Mishima
4. The Collected Poems of W.B. Yeats

Author Websites and Profiles
Kurtis Ebeling Website
Kurtis Ebeling Amazon Profile

Kurtis Ebeling’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Matt Hiebert 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Book of Days is my second published novel. My first book, Blackhand, was a fantasy published my New Babel Books back in 2013.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Book of Days: Thirty Years after the Apocalypse was inspired by the novels True Grit and A Clockwork Orange. I loved the narrative voice of True Grit. Clockwork Orange, well, that was a different kind of inspiration. I’ve been a zombie fan since seeing Night of the Living Dead at the midnight movie in Panama City back in 1977. I always wanted to write a story about what life might be like decades after the zombie apocalypse. No fortified houses or malls. Nobody trying to figure out “what’s going on.” I wanted to write about a society that had adapted to the living dead.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve never had writer’s block. I used to outline intensely but now I’m kind of a pantser. I’ve completed NaNoWriMo twice and writing those novels was a joy! It was like reading them rather than writing them.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Doc Savage by Lester Dent, Shibumi by Trevanian, Nine Princes in Amber by Zelazny, World War Z by Max Brooks, Eyes of the Overworld by Jack Vance. All of Tobias Wolff. All of Raymond Carver. True Grit by Charles Portis.

What are you working on now?
A sword and planet fantasy. I wrote an 82,000 word first draft in November for NaNoWriMo. Revisions will take longer……

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon. Hopefully Awesome Gang!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is your only goal. Produce!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Lawrence Block’s books on novel writing. Stephen King On Writing. John Gardner’s On Becoming a Novelist.

What are you reading now?
Kolchak the Night Strangler and a Western called Deadwood that has nothing to do with the awesome HBO series but is a lot of fun.

What’s next for you as a writer?
A movie deal or Netflix series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Collected Raymond Carver. Collected Harlan Ellison. Lord of the Rings.

Author Websites and Profiles
Matt Hiebert Website

Gboyega Ogundele 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a lawyer and writer, I have written over 4 books. Some of my books have been translated, whilst some have enjoyed best selling status. I write both Fiction and non fictions.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is titled Case Over. I was inspired by the way the average person in the society lives. The ups and downs, the need to take up responsibilities and fight for one’s rights at critical times. Further, the government attitude to these prevailing issues.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No I do not.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John Grisham’s Books. Chinua Achebe, Chimamanda Adichie, Wole Soyinka.

What are you working on now?
The title of my upcoming work is “A time as this”

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. New author’s should be persistent and go after their goals.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always be truthful

What are you reading now?
The Rules of Wealth by Richard Templar

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to start receiving much recognitions for my works.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Holy Bible, Things fall apart.

Gboyega Ogundele’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account