Here Is Your Awesomegang Authors Newsletter
Published: Tue, 05/17/22
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Jackson Bliss
Interview With Author Jackson Bliss
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Traverse City, Michigan and spent the first fourteen years of my life there before moving to SoCal, Chicago, the Pacific Northwest, and then back to SoCal where I’ve lived now for over a decade in LA where I got my PhD in literature and creative writing. In middle school, I wanted to be a concert pianist, but as I got older, I found community and companionship in books: reading them, writing about them, and creating them. My musical background, however, shows up everywhere in my writing. I’m the winner of the 2020 Noemi Book Prize in Prose and the mixed-race/hapa author of the literary short story collection, COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES & OTHER EXPERIMENTS, which dropped in October 2021, the backwards novel, AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS, which dropped on 26 April 2022, and the forthcoming experimental memoir about mixed-race/hapa/Nisei/AAPI identity, love, travel, & masculinity, DREAM POP ORIGAMI, which drops in July 2022!What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
AMNESIA OF JUNE BUGS came out a few weeks ago and DREAM POP ORIGAMI comes out on 26 July 2022. AMNESIA was my MFA thesis, which took me oh, fourteen years to rewrite, revise, and reimagine. It’s an experimentalish novel in the style of Zadie Smith, Junot Díaz, and Karen Tei Yamashita that goes backwards in time, is divided into the four stages of an insect’s life cycle, and centers four BIPOC/AAPI characters whose lives intersect on the C train in New York during Hurricane Sandy. DREAM POP ORIGAMI, on the other hand, is a choose-your-own-adventure memoir that oscillates between short, lyric, personal essays and autobiographical lists, giving readers the freedom and the responsibility to make decisions after chapter. In the end readers help decide this memoir but they also help put the fragmented pieces together.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I’ve been promoting these three books of mine that have appeared (or will appear) within the space of nine months (kinda suicidal, if you ask me), so I haven’t been able to write new material in over a year, which is fucking terrible! But I believe, as writers, that we need to not idealize the act of writing too much. It’s obviously fundamental, unavoidable, and crucial, but there are so many things we can do when we’re not writing that can help us or hinder us to write again, like research, reading other authors and finding inspiration in their texts, traveling, jotting down notes, even strictly cutting and revising, that aren’t technically writing in a literal or creative sense of the word, but that are connected to, and often a necessary part of the writing process. So, while I can and do sometimes sit in front of a laptop for twelve hours writing, I try not to freak out when I don’t write because I’m never out of that orbit.What authors, or books have influenced you?
Here are a few:1. Zadie Smith’s WHITE TEETH
2. Junot Díaz’s THE BRIEF WONDROUS LIFE OF OSCAR WAO
3. Karen Tei Yamashita’s I HOTEL
4. Haruki Murakami’s NORWEGIAN WOOD, HARDBOILED WONDERLAND & THE END OF THE WORLD, & AFTER DARK
5. JD Salinger’s FRANNY & ZOOEY
6. THE COLLECTED STORIES by Lydia DavisWhat are you working on now?
Mostly promoting TF out of my books, but I just recently finished a screenplay called MIXTAPE, I have a newsletter on Substack that I write every week, also called MIXTAPE, and I’m working on a novel about mixed-race prodigies.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Personally, I think author websites have become mostly informational in nature because viewers only go to your website because something else lead them there. IMO, I think that authors need to promote their books or no one will know they exist, which is where I’ve had to begrudgingly accept that social media plays a necessary role for emerging writers. If you’re famous, you don’t need them, but most of us aren’t, and the ability to discover, create, and find your own community on Twitter & IG can’t be overstated enough. Also, reading at festivals gets your name out there to book lovers.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t look for shortcuts, don’t expect to live off of your books, don’t talk obsessively about your writing to your partner (that’s what writing friends are for!), don’t disappear when your writing friends need you, don’t ignore literary journals along the way, and don’t worry about whether or not you’re a writer. If you are, you won’t be able to stop writing until each book is done and you’ve found a home for each manuscript. OTOH, be generous, be intrepid, take risks with your writing, read other books as a form of nourishment, study the industry, learn about comparable titles in your particular genre, learn how to write a query letter, create complex characters, don’t reinforce stereotypes, and always remember the joy. If you can’t find joy at any stage in the writing process, then why the hell are you doing it?What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I once read an interview with Hannah Tinti that I still think about. Basically, she said, there’s a longer way and a shorter way to learn how to improve as a writer. You can either listen to people who know what they’re talking about and who spot technical and craft issues in your manuscripts or you can learn the hard way on your own what the major issues of your manuscripts are. They’re both valid, but the latter takes a longass time and the former requires you to overcome your own artistic ego, which is hard. The former is much faster, but you also have to first figure out which critiques are in the interest of your book and which ones are just pretentious drivel written to make the critic feel important. In workshops, both are plentiful!What are you reading now?
I know this sounds narcissistic, but since AMNESIA just dropped, I’ve been trying to treat it like any other book and finally read it all the way through. I’ve never been able to see it in hard copy before (it was a word file for thirteen years), so I wanted to see how it felt now to immerse myself in it like any other book I bought at my local bookstore in the literary fiction aisle. As it turns out, it feels pretty damn good! But it bugs the shit out of me when I notice a copyediting issue!What’s next for you as a writer?
Once DREAM POP ORIGAMI drops in July, I’m going to promote all three of my books, which is fucking insane, I know! I’ll do that until October 2022, then I’ll drop COUNTERFACTUAL LOVE STORIES from the list. And once April 2023 hits, I’ll drop AMNESIA and just focus on DREAM POP ORIGAMI until July 2023. Then I’ll be free at last!Beyond that, I’m hoping to break into TV writing, write another libretto, eventually start working on my literary fiction trilogy (basically three counterfactual novels all about the same mixed-race protagonist who makes three major life decisions, each decision dedicated to one novel written in a particular fictional subgenre). I’d also like to travel internationally again for the first time since the pandemic. I’ve got a decent amount of family in Japan, so I’d like to go back there, but my wife and I have also wanted to travel to Portugal, Iceland, and Norway for years now, so who knows?
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?
I’d take an empty journal so I had something to write while I was there. I’d also bring THE IDIOT, I HOTEL, & 1Q84.Author Websites and Profiles
Jackson Bliss’s Social Media Links
Justin DiPego
Interview With Author Justin DiPego
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been a storyteller for as long as I can remember. It started with creating the adventures of my (made up) friends and evolved into being a probably not very good Dungeon Master because I was more interested in spinning a yarn than rolling the dice. My pursuits away from writing took me to experiences that would return good stories, like horseback riding and construction work. I began my screenwriting career out of college, my first novel, Seven o’Clock Man, came out in 2018 and I’m now releasing my second novel.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Wrong Side of a Working Man” is the story of an electrician, plying his trade across Los Angeles when his life suddenly goes to hell. He develops chronic pain and flights of anger. His wife leaves him, he loses his job and he discovers a curse has been put upon him. To lift the curse, he has to perform ten mythic tasks across the Southland, to reset his balance and the balance of the city itself. Inspired by the Twelve Labors of Hercules, it’s also an exploration of the hidden corners of the city, the secret mysticism that binds us all and the role of pain in toxic, mail violence.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
“Epic Film Scores” is a playlist I stumbled upon on YouTube Music. I play it as loud as is tolerable and find the cinematic mindscapes both inspire me and drown out my ancillary thoughts, focusing on the voices in my head.What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been a constant reader my whole life and J.R.R. Tolkien was obviously a gateway to epic fantasy, but also to the notion of the narrative voice being an unnamed character in the story. I love Raymond Chandler and his observations of the human condition, disguised as hardboiled detective stories. I’ve also pulled countless novels from the shelves of used bookstores by authors no one remembers and I try to learn from everything.What are you working on now?
As an author, I’m gathering my notes, thoughts, and characters for the second book in the Workingman trilogy. As a filmmaker, I always have several irons in the fire.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best method for promoting my books is via my website which you can find below.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Writing is not a desk job. Get out into the world and experience as much of it as you can. Pay attention. Observe. Gather truths. Learn. Then sit at your desk and put pen to paper.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I get this from my father. Though writing is not a desk job, it is a job. You can’t sit and wait for the muse. Whatever stage your project is in, you have to clock in and get to business.What are you reading now?
Happily, the book world has evolved since I was coming up, and authors other than old white men have more opportunities to tell their stories. I just finished The Song of Achilles and Circe by Madeline Miller, which I cannot praise highly enough, and just started The Priory of the Orange Tree by Samantha Shannon.What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m really looking forward to digging into the next installment of the Workingman series, but I also have a spacefaring Sci-fi that’s been rumbling in the background. Always looking for my next challenge.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?
Questions like this always fire up my analysis paralysis, but here goes: First, I would bring the thickest, heaviest single-volume dictionary I can find. Second, The Complete Tales and Poems of Edgar Allan Poe would be eternally re-readable. Next, The Book Of Knots – Being A Complete Treatise On The Art Of Cordage, Illustrated By 172 Diagrams Showing The Manner Of Making Every Knot, Tie, And Splice from 1890 is under 50 pages but sounds pretty useful. And finally, can anyone recommend an expansive book on comparative mythology?Author Websites and Profiles
Justin DiPego Author Profile on Smashwords
Justin DiPego’s Social Media Links
C. C. Burns
Interview With Author C. C. Burns
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Claire, lover all things Regency! I’m not quite sure how this fascination began, but trips to my local National Trust house at Osterley Park were certainly part of my inspiration as a young girl and naturally lead to an overconsumption of period drama and nineteenth century books from an early age. I am interested in excavating women’s pasts and reimagining the little known-untold stories of supressed histories and narratives. I love research and like to mix well researched truths in with reimagined fictions, to fill out the historical clefts. I like to start with a valid line of enquiry and ask “what might such a past have looked like for a woman like this?” My current (debut) series seeks to consider what a lesbian lifestyle might have been like for a woman of the nineteenth century.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My series name was inspired by a very famous line by Jane Austen in P&P and seemed fitting to my protagonists character: “Diary of an obstinate, headstrong female.” The book title of my latest book within this series is: “Appetence.” The book is about longing for the forbidden, ardent desire and romance, so it seemed apt.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Hmmm, how would I know when they would not seem at all irregular to me?– I don’t think I have anything extraordinary to note. I’m what’s know as a pantser, in author speak, and sometimes my characters and storylines come to me in dreams and on the fly and I have to speed-write the details down before they are lost to me like a fading dream.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many… I have always enjoyed the wit and romantic plots of Regency authors like Jane Austen and Georgette Heyer. I also love Victorian works by Dickens, Gaskell, Emile Zola & Alcott. I have more recently discovered less known regency authors; Charlotte Dacre and Maria Edgeworth.
My favourite modern HF writers are Sarah Waters, Michel Faber, Imogen Hermes Gowar, Kate Manning.What are you working on now?
I’m working on my third book in the series: “Cicisbeo” which I expect to complete this year. I have already done most of the groundwork for this book but It can take a little while to synchronise it all and give it the final polish.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m not sure yet, it’s early days..Do you have any advice for new authors?
Join 20books250k for a wealth of indie author advice and experience on publishing and marketing. – Independent authors have to be writers, publishers and marketers – the latter can be a little daunting.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Question everything…What are you reading now?
Zofloya, or the Moor – Charlotte Dacre.What’s next for you as a writer?
Well initially to complete this current series which I anticipate will end up a six book series. After that, I have stacks of ideas queuing, and new ones always emerging from current research.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?
Tipping the Velvet – Sarah Waters
Fingersmith – Sarah Waters
The Notorious Madame X – Kate Manning
Sprig Muslin – Georgette HeyerAuthor Websites and Profiles
C. C. Burns’s Social Media Links
Kirsten Fowler
Interview With Author Kirsten Fowler
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have had a love for writing since I was a young girl and always kept a journal for expression, therapeutic value, and family history. Family, Faith, and Fragile X is my first published book about my life as a mother of four children, three with special needs.
Throughout high school and college I wrote and designed for several newspapers. I have also written for several blogs and online sites. When I am not writing I love to spend time with my kids, read, play music, and hang out with my husband.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Family, Faith, and Fragile X is my first published book. It is about my own life experiences as a mother of there special needs children and all its ups and downs.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I prefer sitting on the couch or my bed with a blanket instead of sitting at a desk!What authors, or books have influenced you?
CS Lewis, Thoreau, modern fairy tales, various memoirs, Kierra Cass.What are you working on now?
Taking a break before my book launch in July!What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Having Amazon and my own website are the best help to me.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to put yourself out there!What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Everything is going to work out.What are you reading now?
Right now I am reading various books and articles put out by my Church.What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to write more books in the future and want to dabble in various different genres, including fantasy, comedy, and more non-fiction.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?
I would take my religious books as well as some good fantasy fiction.Author Websites and Profiles
Jessica James
Interview With Author Jessica James
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a former journalist who has written 19 novels. The first genre I wrote in was historical fiction, followed by suspense/thrillers. I also have a holiday novella and a Women’s Fiction novel.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I have a new Civil War Trilogy out that is based on my first novel written in 2008.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Just that I have to have complete silence when writing. No music or TV.What authors, or books have influenced you?
I fell in love with Northwest Passage by Kenneth Roberts, which led me to writing historical fiction.What are you working on now?
I’m working on a new suspense/thriller.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My author page at https://www.jessicajamesbooks.comDo you have any advice for new authors?
Yes, use the A-B-C method.
Attach-Butt-to-Chair…and write.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The answer above.What are you reading now?
I’m writing a freelance article on a new WWII museum in Gettysburg, so I’m reading up on the war.What’s next for you as a writer?
More freelance and travel writing.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?
Northwest Passage
The Scarlet Pimpernel
The Count of Monte CristoAuthor Websites and Profiles
Jessica James Author Profile on Smashwords
Jessica James’s Social Media Links
Deborah L. Perdue
Interview With Author Deborah L. Perdue
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an award-winning illustrator of graphic design and author of five books on my favorite topic and passion, “gratitude.” I teach workshops, and classes and facilitate women’s retreats about topics of gratitude, abundance, and how to live a life of peace, joy, and bliss.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My new release is titled “Daily Gratitude Reflections Volume 2: 365 Guides to Great-Full Living.” Writing about spirituality inspires me greatly. In particular, writing about gratitude, and inspiring others to be more grateful in their lives is very fulfilling to me. Becoming a gratitude aficionado in my own life in 2012 informs me of how very powerful a daily gratitude practice is, and I like to share this knowledge.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing unusual or quirky habits at all. I tend to write short pieces. When I write, I like best to use pen and paper, and then type on my computer where I also edit. I write daily because I send out ‘Daily Gratitude Reflections’ in an e-newsletter, and this keeps me always writing which I love to do.What authors, or books have influenced you?
Spiritually, I enjoy Mark Nepo, Michael A. Singer, Brene Brown, Caroline Myss, Deepak Chopra, and Wayne Dyer, to name just a few. Fiction-wise, I enjoy modern psychological drama and mysteries. A few authors to name are Kristen Hannah, Judi Picoult, and Susan Clayton-Goldner. I also love Toni Morrison, Anne Lamott, and Maya Angelou. Loved Michelle Obama’s book “Becoming.”What are you working on now?
I just released my new book, so I’m currently busy promoting my book as my dear friend Cat lyon of Lyon Literary Services as I hired her to help market the book. She is an expert at what she does and the exceptional marketing knowledge she has. SO that is my focus right now.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The same as shared in the above question. It is also essential to have a proper book launch for a new release and I used the help of Book Funnel services to launch my latest title, “Daily Gratitude Reflections Volume 2: 365 Guides to Great-Full Living.”Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you love what you are writing about, keep going! Never give up. Writing is a wonderful form of creativity. Make sure you find an expert editor and save money for a marketing budget to market your book after release.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I was given is to learn how to self-publish your books. I did. I self-publish through my own publishing company Applegate Valley Publishing. I wanted to publish my first Grace of Gratitude Journal and did, and then others followed. Inspiration gratitude books and one more beautiful journal. All my books and journals are available on Amazon and my ebooks are a part of the Kindle Unlimited program.What are you reading now?
I’m looking for my next read. I do enjoy reading modern psychological fiction and also modern mysteries.What’s next for you as a writer?
At this moment, I’m not too sure as of yet.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 and foremost the Bible, anything of Wayne Dyer and Maya Angelou.Author Websites and Profiles
Deborah L. Perdue Amazon Profile
Deborah L. Perdue’s Social Media Links
Charles Harned
Interview With Author Charles Harned
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Galveston, Texas but grew up in Greenville, South Carolina and graduated from Clemson University. I have a business degree, but never really saw myself leaving school and transitioning to corporate America. Owning my own business, starting something from nothing, has always appealed, and in a way being a writer is doing just that. I’ve been seriously writing for eight years and have completed eight novels in that time.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Day in Fall is my first book ever published. It’s a topical thriller that could also qualify as a political or espionage thriller. Michael Larson, an agent on a highly secretive team deep within the Department of Homeland Security, tries to make a connection between violent extremists and someone in the United States government after a prominent scientist is abducted.A Day in Fall was inspired by a singular idea: people will do desperate things when they feel like their backs are against a wall. That goes for anybody. We seem to be nearing a point of no return when it comes to climate change. What are we supposed to do if the government won’t act, or can’t act quickly enough? Are we supposed to trust a system that might be failing?
I don’t have answers to these questions, but A Day in Fall plays off that dilemma. It’s also heavily influenced by the concept of globalism. Can we survive as a species without fully accepting that we have to, at some point, fully cooperate as a global community? All of these issues came to a head back in 2016, when we started to see just how many people vehemently opposed globalism and the green movement. The book is heavily influenced by that as well.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m way more productive when I write by hand and type the manuscript later. I reward myself for good writing with phone breaks, which is more of a bad habit than an unusual one, I guess. My most unusual habit is that I often write two or three unrelated books at once, at least for a while, and only focus on one over the others maybe halfway in. Then I come back to the others when the first is complete.What authors, or books have influenced you?
Carlos Ruiz Zafon (Shadow of the Wind) is my favorite author. John Berendt (Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil) is up there, but makes me jealous more than anything because I’ll never be as good as him. I love a good spy novel, and in my eyes Daniel Silva’s Gabriel Allon series is head and shoulders above the rest. Then, to round it out, The Rum Diary (Hunter S. Thompson), The Master and Margarita (Mikhail Bulgakov), and The Night Circus (Erin Morgenstern) are books I can’t imagine not having read.What are you working on now?
I’m supposed to be diligently writing away on A Day in Fall’s sequel, A Day in Winter. I’m making progress, but I’ve become sidetracked by another project, The Wrecking Crew. It’s a crime thriller about a middle-aged surfer in Venice Beach who needs a heart transplant. His doctor promises to get him moved up the transplant list if he’ll kill the doctor’s two ex-wives. It’s one of those things where the writing is going really well, and I’m not one to tempt fate.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly, in my limited experience, Facebook has been hugely helpful. I think for any writer trying to gain exposure, leveraging friends and family is so important. I was wholly surprised by how quickly word spread from people I know to people they know and so on. My goal is to tap into as many spheres of influence as possible, and starting with people you know makes for some motivated customers.Do you have any advice for new authors?
None of this is original, but when it comes to writing the same advice gets repeated again and again for a reason. I feel very strongly that writing must be done for its own sake, not for fantasies of fame or fortune. If you’re doing it for those reasons you’ll never last long enough to have success. The drive won’t be there.My other piece of advice is learn to be resilient. There will be a lot (tons?) of rejection. Don’t expect things to happen quickly. Expect it to take years of hard work before your writing is good enough. But if you want it bad enough you’ll keep going and find a way to make it happen. Just find a way.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you’re going to regret not doing something, you better try to do it, even if you fail.I write books because I can’t really imagine my life if I didn’t. It’s something I feel compelled to do. The fear of failure is real, but if not doing something is going to hang over your head for the rest of your life, pluck up the courage and take the leap!
What are you reading now?
The Keeper of Night by Kylie Lee Baker. I don’t read fantasy too often, but this book is great. It’s dark, has plenty of British and Japanese mythology, and has kept me on my toes thus far. Definitely check it out.What’s next for you as a writer?
My goal is to have two more books written by the end of 2022. Hopefully, I can work with my current publisher to make A Day in Fall’s sequel a reality and then find a home for ‘The Wrecking Crew’ if there’s interest. But the goal is to always work on becoming a better writer and connect with more people. I’m so excited to keep growing my network.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?
That’s a tough question. I’m the kind of person that can’t go anywhere overnight without a few books hidden in my backpack. It gives me anxiety to travel for any extended period without some good reading, and I never know what mood will strike. So, here’s my rundown:A Farewell to Arms
Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil
The Master and Margarita
The Rum Diary
(Honorable Mention) The Witching HourI think those could bring a much-needed escape to my island solitude.
Author Websites and Profiles
Charles Harned’s Social Media Links
Lisa Opel
Interview With Author Lisa Opel
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have recently published my first book and have built a female empowerment platform. This has come from a place of sheer desperation after losing my libido and my mission is to break all taboos surrounding intimacy and pleasure and help women reignite their desire.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called GIVE IT TO ME! and it is a collection of short, naughty stories. I worked in a fetish shop for six years. These stories were born out of my sassy mindspace mixed with an absolute lack of lust!Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love putting one song on repeat and then doing writing sprints!What authors, or books have influenced you?
I am an absolute chick literature fan (Jill Mansell, Jane Green etc.). Some might poo-poo at this (mind you, I have read all the classics and greats) but it is the one genre that allows my mind to escape from daily routine and lists.What are you working on now?
My second book is in the making and will head either down the fantasy route (I’m a geek at heart) or each story will be set in a city of Europe.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My favourite way to promote my book is in fact one-to-one personal, qualitative conversation. Whilst I will be using paid advertising, I enjoy the feedback I get from people individually.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up! Believe in your book, your passion! And do your homework wherever you publish and however you publish!What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you don’t ask, you don’t get.What are you reading now?
Jane Green – Falling
(told you I like chick lit!)What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m building a community. Mothers and sexuality are still such a taboo topic and so I plan on doing readings and talks to encourage more women to feel free to explore their desires.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?
A book of poetry, my own book (too arrogant?!), Mitch Albom (any), Matt Haig (any) and a chick lit.Author Websites and Profiles
Lisa Opel’s Social Media Links
Lauren Louise Hazel
Interview With Author Lauren Louise Hazel
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have started many books and usually get stuck around the dreaded 40k mark. The Reign of the Occult is the first book I finished and I have written two since (including the sequel). My speed has vastly increased when I start concentrating!What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Reign of the Occult. It’s inspired by lots of things: shows I like, books I’ve loved, and characters I’ve related to. Apparently Everett is inspired by my own brother. Which I did not realize while writing!Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I put sports on in the background. Tennis and football (the British kind), mostly.What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to name. Harry Potter was the first series I absolutely loved.What are you working on now?
I am editing the sequel to The Reign of the Occult, called The Queen of the Underworld. The plot came to me in almost complete form as soon as I started writing it.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As a debut author, I am still figuring this out. But it’s exciting to try lots of different things.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Prepare to play the long game.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can’t fail if you never stop trying.What are you reading now?
I am reading A Court of Thorn and Roses, which I do really like. I’ve been distracted by writing (and my day job), but when I’m on holiday in the next few weeks, I’m going to read the whole series.What’s next for you as a writer?
I would like to complete The Occult series in the next year or so. Then I have a great idea for a trilogy I have wanted to write for so long (I have been trying not to get distracted) and I’ve already done the research for.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 Wind-Up Bird Chronicle
Good Omens
Bridget Jones
CirceAuthor Websites and Profiles
Lauren Louise Hazel Amazon Profile
Lauren Louise Hazel’s Social Media Links
Vanessa A. Ryan
Interview With Author Vanessa A. Ryan
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in Southern California, where I am also an actor and a visual artist. At one point in my acting career, I did some standup comedy so my novels often reflect my love of humor even for serious subjects. I have written and published eight novels published. Two of them are published in Denmark. The others were published in the U.S. I write mystery and thriller novels.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is The Trouble with Murder, A Hetty Carson Mystery. It’s a new series with a female private detective. I wanted to have a female private detective based in Los Angeles, but not in the trendiest part of L.A., and I chose the Garment District. It’s gritty and it suits the element of noir that I wanted in the novel. I wanted to make the detective a less-than-perfect character.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure this qualifies as an unusual writing habit, but all of my three cats insist on having lap time with me while I’m typing on my keyboard. Generally, they take turns, but I have had all three on my lap at the same time.What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many authors have influenced me. It would be impossible to list them all. But here’s a short list: I love Jane Austen, Agatha Christie, Stuart Palmer, G. K. Chesterton, Mary Roberts Rhinehart, Patricia Wentworth, Elizabeth Daly, Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Ernest Hemmingway, Ross MacDonald, Dorothy B. Hughes, Cornell Woolrich, James M. Cain, Barbara Michaels, Graham Greene, Georgette Heyer, Patricia Highsmith, Darwin Teilhet, Hildegard Tolman Teilhet, Earl Derr Biggers, Lewis Carroll, Louisa May Alcott, and Eric Ambler.What are you working on now?
I’m working on a mystery thriller that takes place in Cuba. I once visited Cuba when they opened it up to Americans for travel. While the plot and the characters are fictitious, I’m incorporating what I learned about Cuba and its people from my visit there.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning what works and what doesn’t work.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. That seems trite, but what else can you do? The more you write, the better you’ll get at it.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I received was not to overload the first chapter of a novel with background information about the plot and/or the characters. That makes for tedious reading.What are you reading now?
I’m reading Sanditon, by Jane Austen. I’ve had the book for some time. I even took it on a vacation to the U.K., but with all the sightseeing I did, I didn’t have time to read it. Then I watched it on Masterpiece Theater and loved it. So I’m reading it now.What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to write more novels, either as stand-alone books or in a series. I have also written some screenplays, and I would like to see those produced.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?
Wow. Only 3 or 4 books? I guess I would bring the complete works of Shakespeare. There’s got to be one book that has all his plays. That would take quite a bit of time to memorize and understand each play and act them out. As for the other books, I would pick one Raymond Chandler novel–it doesn’t matter which one–they’re all great. For the last book, I would pick Alice in Wonderland because that could give me hope that I’d one day get back home.Author Websites and Profiles
Vanessa A. Ryan Amazon Profile
Vanessa A. Ryan’s Social Media Links
Kevin A. Reynolds
Interview With Author Kevin A. Reynolds
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello there,
I was born just south of London, and have lived in Tokyo since 1989, where I now write novels focused on Japan past, present and future. Although I cover different genres, there is a core theme that lies at the heart of my work, along the lines of “There are more things in heaven and earth…”, with some obvious, some subtle and some hidden linkages across the stories. I also play guitar, though not particularly well.I’ve written three novels: Mamoribito – The One Who Protects,
The Girl Who Fell Through Time: Book One – Beginnings, & Book Two – A Universe of Stars.
I’ve also published a couple of business books (please have a look at my webpage for details). So, that’s 5 in all, plus 2 more that I co-authored about 15 years ago – so 7 in total!What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I recently published “A Universe of Stars,” Book Two in the “The Girl Who Fell Through Time” series. I think the inspiration for the overall storyline comes from living in Japan for 30 years and living the contrasts of east/west, destiny/determinism, science/faith, reality/illusion, Yin/Yang, etc., that exist here. I wanted to explore what happens when science and spirit meet (Peter & Nene), but are called upon to do something greater than themselves.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not particularly – although I also have a full time job as a consultant, so fitting in writing isn’t easy!What authors, or books have influenced you?
I grew up reading Alistair Maclean, Desmond Bagley and similar authors – and I think in my heart I want to write in that genre – which is why I wrote Mamoribito, and I expect why the third book of the Girl Who Fell Through Time series will be much more of of an “action” sci-fi/ romance than the first two books.What are you working on now?
Now I’m working on Book Three of “The Girl Who Fell Through Time” series. After that I’ll write the sequel to Mamoribito.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly, I’m not very good at this, which is why I’m now using Awesome Gang. I have done ads on Amazon and Facebook, but next I’m looking to use Instagram much more.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep going. Rewrite everything multiple times, then do a re-read after publication to find all the things missed on the pre-publishing edits! Your work is better than you think, but don’t expect everyone to like it. I’ve had 5 star and 1 star reviews for the same book. The negative reviews can help you to become a better writer, so even though they are so, so painful to read, they can also be helpful.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Who you’re going through hell, keep going.”
Winston Churchill.What are you reading now?
The House in the Strand by Daphne du Maurier.What’s next for you as a writer?
Get the next book done!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?
Principia – Isaac Newton. It’s a huge book (I have a copy) and will take years to read.
Encylopedia Britannica. Ditto, although I don’t have a copyAuthor Websites and Profiles
Kevin A. Reynolds Amazon Profile
Kevin A. Reynolds’s Social Media Links
Michael Picard
Interview With Author Michael Picard
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two and a half books (i.e., one co-authored) and edited three collections.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
How to Play Philosophy: A Book for Public Thinking and the Thinking Public. (Hamilton, 2022).
The book was inspired by those for whom it was originally written, namely participants of the public participatory philosophy sessions I hosted weekly for 12 years.What are you working on now?
Wrapping up my third edited collection, an anthology of pieces by animators of Cafe Philosophy the world over, including original translations I made from the French book by Marc Sautet, founder of Cafe Philo in Paris in 1992. Over a dozen countries are represented. Several chapters cover practicalities of organizing a sustainable public participatory philosophy events series; others explore — for the first time ever in English — the theoretical and political dimensions of cafe philosophy. There are pieces critical of the practice, and innovations responsive to the critiques, including Philosophy Sports, which I developed and present comprehensively in this book for the first time.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780761873068/How-to-Play-Philosophy
https://www.anvilpress.com/books/cafe-conversations-democracy-dialogue-in-public-spaces
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The truth will set you free.What’s next for you as a writer?
I am translating two books form German by Gerd Achenbach for Lexington Books.Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Picard’s Social Media Links
