Here Is Your Awesomegang Authors Newsletter
Published: Sat, 10/29/22
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Ruby Scott
Interview With Author Ruby Scott
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Lesfic author who publishes on Amazon and Kindle Unlimited. I started writing during Covid and absolutely loved it. I am just finishing my 14th and 15th books which will be out late Sept 2022. These are:
Inside Fighter
Seconds Out
On The Ropes
Evergreen
The Stranger within me
Strangely Familiar
Hot Response
Love Diagnosis
Love Trauma
Open Heart
Trails of The Heart
Healing of The Heart
May I Call you Mistress
Darkness of Desires
Rescuing HeartsI have also written 3 lesfic romcom books under the pen name Frankie Duncan too
First Comes Love
Love in Action
Her Christmas EscapeAnd now this is where I have to do that awful cringey bit where I tell you about myself. Let’s start with the interesting stuff.
The love of my life is Bailey. With four paws and a love of duck chews as well as tennis balls, she is a quirky character who loves cuddles. Other than Bailey, I love women, trail running, good films, travelling lots,reading as well as watching women’s soccer aka football and hockey.
I’m a wedding celebrant (it’s an amazing job), and content writer to pay my bills although that isn’t as exciting as writing stories about women loving women. Like many lesfic authors, I’m working towards the day when this will be my main gig so I can get lost in my writing and happy ever afters all day and every day.
Essential things you need to know about me might include:
I don’t function without coffee
I’m a Taurean
I might be a little bit stubborn
I love women’s hockey
I love women
I love people that can make me laugh. It’s such an attractive quality
I smile. Lots.
My best quality is kindness
My worst quality is stubbornness
And I can roll my tongue (I bet you are trying to roll yours now!)
And I love chocolate browniesWhat is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Strangely Familiar was my last book out and I really enjoyed writing it. A sequel to The Stranger within me , they are both a murder mystery sci fi thriller. Basically strap yourself in and be prepared for a rollercoaster of a ride. These 2 books were a totally different genre for me and I loved getting into the gritty murders scenes and making this book an action packed thriller with lots of twist and turns you just won't expect. It received lots of 5 stars reviews and my fans are still asking when there will be a 3rd book in the series!Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn't say unusual writing habits, but when it comes to the steamy romance scenes I have to get my wife to pretend act out what is going on in my head lol… all legitimate and for research purposes only, her face at times is a picture……What authors, or books have influenced you?
Sarah Waters obviously but do like Anna Stone and Jae.What are you working on now?
I'm working on Rescuing Hearts and also Darkness of Desires which will be out late Sept 2022.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I do Amazon Ads and have recently just started to look into promotional sites too.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read alot, write alot and have your own voice.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don't ever stop learning and growing as a person.What are you reading now?
I'm actually reading On Writing by Stephen KingWhat’s next for you as a writer?
I'm just going to continue to do what I love doing and write and see where the next year takes me.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?
How to stay alive: The ultimate survival guide for any situation by Bear Grylls
The SAS survival handbook by John Lofty Wiseman
The utimate survival medicine guide by Joseph and Amy AltonI'm a very practical woman!
Author Websites and Profiles
Ruby Scott’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
Iliyana Stareva
Interview With Author Iliyana Stareva
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I've lived in 5 countries across Europe for the last 13 years and I've worked in various fields, spending most of my career in the tech industry. I started my journey in PR and discovered my passion for writing early on. First, I started with a blog over 10 years ago and discovered that I get energised by writing what I learn and sharing my experiences with the world. That's how my two books came about – Inbound PR and now my new book Money Mastering. Both very different topics but they've been aligned to my current interests which always change as my motto is never stop learning.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called "Money Mastering: The Simplest, Yet Most Important Money Management Tips You Should Have Been Taught at School". It was inspired by my journey to better money management with my husband and us uncovering how so many people struggle with money and are not aware of very basic money management techniques because no one has taught them. So we set on a mission to change that and wrote this book.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write at 5.30am when I am most productive.What authors, or books have influenced you?
I'm a big fan of Simon Sinek and I always try to start with why.What are you working on now?
Currently working on promoting the new Money Mastering book.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon and my own website: https://www.iliyanastareva.com/ but it needs more work for the new book. I do this in my free time so it's not yet where I want it to be.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it – write, write, write. I'm not a professional writer but anyone can share a story and then there's a ton of support how to make it out there as a book.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do what you're passionate aboutWhat are you reading now?
I'm a big fan of DCI novels so it's the latest of the Lottie Parker seriesWhat’s next for you as a writer?
You never know, my first book was about PR, the second now about Personal Finances so we will see what the future holds.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 entire kindle, I can't pick just 3-4.Author Websites and Profiles
Iliyana Stareva Amazon Profile
Iliyana Stareva’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
Art Isaacs
Interview With Author Art Isaacs
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I'm relatively new to writing and maybe a bit older than the usual newbie. I have written 4 books so far and am working on a 5th.
I am a native New Yorker, having grown-up in Brooklyn, but I categorize myself as a 'well-travelled’ engineer, having worked in over 50 countries so far. I’ve also lived overseas in Hong Kong and China for several years during my career, as well as in several states and spent extended periods elsewhere. There are still a lot of places I have not been and would love to see and experience, but it's that exposure to the people I've met and the experiences that influence and inspire my writing. It's this combined exposure that has given me some (hopefully) different perspectives on life, people and cultures that I try to utilize in all my writings.
I'm also a consummate car buff, having owned and rebuilt many over my lifetime and still have (3) old convertibles of varied years, marques and countries of origin. Those, too, can find their way into my stories. As does music. I love and listen to music of all kinds and like to learn more about the song's origins, as well as developing my own associations and inspirations from them.
My favorite reading and writing genres are Science Fiction and Mysteries/Spy novels. Of the books that I've already written, all but one are Sci-fi, but mix espionage into their stories. The last, the one that was recently published, is a family saga that covers a lot of ground – more than just the 60-year story of members a fictitious generational family based in a small town in the Florida Panhandle.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book's title is 'Morris'.
My main inspiration and influence for this book is family. Not that any of the stories or characters are based on anyone of my family, but my relationship with my wife, children and grandchildren, as well as the closeness of aunts, uncles, siblings and cousins and the support they afford each other. The interactions between us all of different generations and family branches became the basis of my life and ultimately, influenced my writing.
On the title, Morris is actually a character in the book. While I initially did try to build some mystery around who Morris is, it is revealed early-on that he's actually the main characters’ car. There's no anthropomorphism, so Morris never speaks, but he's not just an inanimate object. The point is that he's a legacy, passed between each successive generation and is part of and present at most key points in each of their very different lives and stories. He is the continuity between them all. He's also becomes the one they write to as the substitute for 'dear diary', which is really where the title comes from. The idea of Morris as a character was born out of my continuous ownership of an old British sportscar for over 30 years and counting.
The story itself gets its inspiration from many sources, but mainly from the headlines, both current and historical. From growing-up in the 60's, 70's, 80's, etc. From working in the fashion industry with the interesting and diverse peoples I've met and places I've been. From the music I've listened to and the artist’s stories behind the origins of their songs.
As such, my book touches on many key points and subjects in history, as family members go off to war or are caught-up in the politics of their day with regard to prejudice about race, gender, interracial or same-sex romance and marriages; the changing views on alcoholism and depression, all showing how their attitudes and those of others around them evolve over time. And for each to show their resolve and ability to rise above it all to try to find love, success and happiness, as opposed to merely surviving.
The book is long at near 640 pages and covers over 4 generations. It starts in the early 1960's with a school assignment to a then teenaged Jessie Peterson as he continues to chronical his life, even after passing the task on to his daughter, Beth, which she in turn passes to her children Matt and Billie. Each successive generation changes the direction of the story somewhat, adding new situations and adventures with different perspectives that I hope keep it all moving and interesting.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, much of my writing is done at 30,000 feet. That unusual enough? 20 hours each way on planes to Asia, 5-6 times a year gives you a lot of time alone to write and create. The pandemic has me grounded and less time to do this, but I’m finding it.
I also like reading stories that ‘work’, so I make a point to develop the back stories, side stories, look-up details, find inspiration pieces and photos for all my characters and locations as I write a book, even if they are never used. It takes more time, but makes me feel better that what I write can make sense. At least to me, of course. Maybe not everything does, but being new to this, I'm still learning.What authors, or books have influenced you?
By far, all the science fiction greats like Jules Verne, H.G Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Larry Niven and Frank Herbert. My mother was an avid mystery reader and our home was full those books, so I'd also have to list Agatha Christie, Earle Stanley Gardner, Scott Turow, Ian Fleming and Robert Ludlum as well.What are you working on now?
I'm in the middle of a Sci-Fi trilogy that could become 4 books.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well, I'm now on Awesome Gang and Goodreads. I'm only learning them now. I just got a list from another author that I have to investigate.Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. You have an interesting subject in your head, put it on paper (or on a screen, as I date myself) and play with it.
Put it to the side – walk away and do something else before coming back to it again.
Lose it and rewrite it from memory. Yeah, I really did that, but it actually helped. When I did find the original, I liked what I did later better.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Immerse yourself’. It was the mantra of a professor teaching language, but I’ve adopted it for just being part of the way to enjoy the world. And writing.
There’s a big difference between tourism and immersion, for example. One is being a spectator and the other is being involved with the experience.
Same for writing. And reading. Worked for me on a lot of levels (but I’m still terrible at languages).What are you reading now?
I’ve gotten into other independent authors and their recent releases, Like E.K, Frances and Scott Kimak, but many others as well.What’s next for you as a writer?
I've got a lot to learn still about both writing and marketing.Once I finish this Sci-Fi series, I’m thinking of going back to my roots in heavy industry to start writing a novel about a spree of strange crimes and goings-on around a closed 100+year-old refinery. My experiences working for 10 years in a million-square-foot factory built in the mid 1800's, with all it's hidden tunnels and caverns might inspire a good mystery (or horror) story.
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 hard. I like too many, but it would have to be Verne or Wells. Any of their books.Author Websites and Profiles
Art Isaacs’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
Chris Warren-Dickins
Interview With Author Chris Warren-Dickins
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a psychotherapist in New Jersey and I have written two mental health / psychology books. This year I published Beyond Your Confines, and last year I released Beyond the Blue.What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Beyond Your Confines: The key to free your mind. During the pandemicDo you have any unusual writing habits?
In the attic office on the top floor of my house, I sing my heart out to ballads (mainly Taylor Swift, Joan Armatrading, or Carole King) while I dance in front of my standing desk. I feel sorry for my neighbours.What authors, or books have influenced you?
For non-fiction, anything by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dan Siegel, Stephen Porges, or Deb Dana. For fiction, anything by Gillian Flynn, Michael Cunningham, or Haruki Murakami.What are you working on now?
I am dabbling in illustrated children's books (to improve their mental health) and a little bit of fiction for adults.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am hopeless at promoting anything but my website is https://www.chriswarrendickins.com/Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep reading and writing in equal measure. And don't let it take over your life so you neglect what keeps your mental health. No book is worth that.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Your opinion matters.What are you reading now?
Psychological thrillers including The Silent Patient and Sharp Objects.What’s next for you as a writer?
I would love to write a series of psychological thrillers…we will see.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?
Anything by Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dan Siegel, Gillian Flynn, or Haruki MurakamiAuthor Websites and Profiles
Chris Warren-Dickins Amazon Profile
Chris Warren-Dickins’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
Rob Roy O’Keefe
Interview With Author Rob Roy O'Keefe
Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in a Howard Johnson's in Bayonne, which explains my lifelong habit of ending each day with 28 flavors of ice cream.
In my twenties, I went through a period of crisis and self-doubt upon learning I was not named after a Scottish folk hero, but rather a mixed drink featuring scotch whisky and sweet vermouth. Years of counseling eventually enabled me to resume my place in society. That, and the realization that my siblings, Mojito, Daiquiri, and Gimlet, had it much worse than I did.
I made my way in the world as the inventor of several nonexistent colors and am living a life of leisure thanks to the royalty checks I receive for creating the descriptive names found on garden hose nozzles. My favorite is “Mist.”What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My newest book is titled, Small Stories: A Perfectly Absurd Novel. It was inspired by living among other human beings.Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to use a lot of nouns and verbs, but not necessarily on the same page.What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kurt Vonnegut, Margaret Atwood, Ursula K. Le Guin, Robert Rankin, Douglas Adams, Terry Pratchett, and whoever came up with the theme song for Gilligan's Island.What are you working on now?
The next book in the Small Stories series, which I'm tentatively calling Small Secrets, A Predictably Absurd Sequel, and some flash fiction, some of which can be found on my Goodreads blog.What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My plan is to give away the first billion copies of my book for free and then charge double for the second billion.Do you have any advice for new authors?
If I was good at advice I'd have one of those columns that people write to all the time about how their in-laws come into their house uninvited and force them to watch Columbo reruns, or how they have a crush on someone who only dates marsupials. But I don't have one of those columns, so don't listen to anything I have to say. It's for your own good.What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always run downhill from bears. They have short front legs so they stumble going down slopes, but if you run up a hill, they'll easily catch you. Go ahead and turn it into some symbolic larger meaning if you want.What are you reading now?
City of Orange by David Yoon.What’s next for you as a writer?
I suspect more words.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) How to Build a Vacation Resort Out of Sand and Seawater
2) Something with really big pages I could use as a hat
3 + 4) Two edible books, preferably fruit-flavoredAuthor Websites and Profiles
Rob Roy O'Keefe Amazon Profile
Rob Roy O'Keefe Author Profile on Smashwords
Rob Roy O'Keefe’s Social Media Links
Author Interview Series
To discover a new author, check out our Featured Authors page. We have some of the best authors around. They are just waiting for you to discover them. If you enjoyed this writer’s interview feel free to share it using the buttons below. Sharing is caring!
If you are an author and want to be interviewed just fill out out Author Interview page. After submitting we will send it out in our newsletters and social media channels that are filled with readers looking to discover new books to read.
If you are looking for a new book to read check out our Featured Books Page.
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