Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Aaron L might be a newcomer to the creation of fiction but is not one when it comes to the arts and all things creative. Growing up in places from Seattle to South Africa, he spent a lot of his time drawing. Aaron always knew that his future lay in a creative field. In 2010, he graduated with a degree in graphic design. Although the usual application of this degree is in the creation of different types of art and design, Aaron chose instead to focus his creative skills on the task of storytelling. He lives near Chicago, Illinois. This is his debut novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I feel very strongly about the breakdown of the family and fatherless children and how there is much dysfunction and despair because of it. I wanted to tell a story to shed some light on the situations that many face and hopefully bring some type of reversal to the current dynamic in whatever small way I could. I wanted to challenge men, fathers especially, to be who they were created to be … its certainly a challenge I face myself daily. A challenge that I often fail at but keeping picking myself up to start again.

). I patterned the book in part after GONE WITH THE WIND (another book set in the south) … not in the sense of a love story but in the sense of “here is civilization that is about to cease to exist, come see it before its gone”. In the case of my novel it is a spiritual civilization on the brink. Dallas just seemed to have everything I needed to make the story work from both a symbolic and technical standpoint.

My co-author and I researched deeply into ancient history for some aspects of the book … I learned a lot of things … some things I’d rather forget but most of it was enlightening. What I liked best was that it confirmed for me mostly what I already knew, there really is nothing new under the sun.

Author Websites and Profiles
Aaron L Website
Aaron L Amazon Profile

Aaron L’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Aaron L is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an author living in South Africa. I write juvenile fiction, animal rescue books, and historical romance – quite a mix. My middle grade adventure series The Chronicles of the Stone is a wonderful adventure series that takes two young heroes and their sidekick pal across continents to discover and reunite seven mystical stones. History, geography, mythology, archaeology and culture all rolled into an adrenalin-raising mix of action and adventure. I write historical romance under a pseudonym, Arabella Sheraton, and my romances are all set in the Regency era. A lot of fun as well, with some intrigue and dastardly deeds thrown in. Close to my heart are my animal rescue books, designed as fund-raisers for various animal sites that have saved animals and need funding.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In the middle grade action series, I have just completed Book Three in The Chronicles of the Stone, and this one is entitled The Temple of the Crystal Timekeeper. Set in the jungles of Mexico, our young heroes battle with a enemy that has dogged their footsteps since Egypt, as well as a new Nemesis in the form of a villain who has assumed the persona of a bloodthirsty Aztec god. More thrills and spills as the kids crash-land into the jungle with absolutely nothing to help them but their wits and ingenuity. Is this enough to keep them alive while they search for the Third Stone of Power? My original book, The Secret of the Sacred Scarab, was inspired by a trip to Egypt with my mom and my two young nephews. From there more books just sprang to life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Alas, nothing really sensational apart from listening to movie soundtracks very loudly and probably annoying the neighbours… I hope they like Pirates of the Caribbean, my current fave.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
It’s hard to say because I absolutely love books and movies and read widely. I can’t remember learning to read. I think I was born with a book in my hand.

What are you working on now?
I am forging ahead with Book Four: The Cabal of the Ouroboros, set in France. My young heroes will uncover a secret dating from the Knights Templar…

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I really think putting up book covers, descriptions, extracts and details on sites like this. Keep looking and you find all sorts of marketing opportunities. Be generous and give away copies of your book. It is worth it because people will then want more and will buy your subsequent books. An interesting anecdote: my young cousin (11) took her copy of my book to school. The history teacher pounced on it and her classes loved it so much that she kept borrowing it. Finally I sent the school their own copy. Each year I get loads of fan mail from kids who loved it!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Never give up.
2. Make sure your book meets the stringent industry standards (get an editor).
3. Tell everyone you know and ask them to tell everyone they know about your book.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From Penny Sansivieri of Author Marketing Experts (AME): Marketing does not sell books. Marketing creates publicity and publicity sells books. Tell everyone you know about your book.

What are you reading now?
The Murder Room by P.D. James

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing Book Four, and completing my next animal rescue book The Poppy Project (about a famous Fijian dog that had reconstructive surgery on her snout and got a new life)

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 Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
All Jane Austen’s novels
The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins

Author Websites and Profiles
Fiona Ingram Website
Fiona Ingram Amazon Profile
Fiona Ingram Author Profile on Smashwords

Fiona Ingram’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Fiona Ingram is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a writer and I am a storyteller. I am one of those old farts who hangs out at the campfire and tells you stories about what happens to hitchhikers and people who say “Candyman-candyman-candyman-candyman-candyman” in front of the bathroom mirror.

I would rather tell you a story – either a funny one or a scary one – than breathe.

Trust me, if you could smell my breath right now you would rather me tell you a story than breathe as well.

I’m not saying I’m hygienic.

I really could not tell you just how many books I have written.

I’ve got seven releases through a regional publisher. I’ve had about a dozen or two dozen small press releases over the years. I have almost thirty independent releases.

I just can’t keep count. I’d need to hire an accountant with an abacus up his ass to keep track of everything that I have written.

I’m not bragging – I’m just obsessed. I tend to think in plot and I have a deep-seated need to spin yarns.

Are you hearing me?

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book that I would like to brag about is called UNCLE BOB’S RED FLANNEL BIBLE CAMP – FROM EDEN TO THE ARK.

So what is it about, you ask?

Well, let me put it this way.

Forget about Russell Crowe. He is cute in a sort of homely “I-have-lived-off-of-sausage-and-custard-and-bean-sprouts” kind of way but he doesn’t have ANYTHING on Uncle Bob.

Do you want to know what this book is about?

Let me put it to you this way.

Did you ever wonder how your favorite uncle might explain the Bible to you if you asked him to?

Just pick up a copy of UNCLE BOB’S RED FLANNEL BIBLE CAMP – FROM EDEN TO THE ARK and find out for yourself.

UNCLE BOB is the first book in a series that will eventually retell the entire OLD TESTAMENT.

I have always been interested in the old Bible tales and I have always enjoyed retelling stories in my own particular fashion. I dislike mimetic retellings – folks who just memorize the way it was written down and rattle it off like they were trying to impress their girlfriend by reciting Edgar Allan Poe’s THE RAVEN.

Take it from me. That just doesn’t do it at all.

I don’t make fun of God or religion or the old tales – I just have fun retelling them. The way I figure it all of those old boys – Samson and Moses and David and Adam – didn’t really realize that they were supposed to be biblical. They were way too busy just trying to make it through their day.

Remember – God invented giggling.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Sure – but you would have to ask my cat and she isn’t talking.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Charles Bukowski

Joe Lansdale

Mark Twain

Steven Leacock

Milton Acorn

Stephen Hunter

Robert Parker

Richard Stark

Larry McMurtry

What are you working on now?
I have just finished the second volume of UNCLE BOB’S SAGA – which winds up retelling the rest of the Book of Genesis.

I am pausing to finish a Bigfoot novel that has been sitting patiently on the back burner for some time now.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still trying to figure that one out. I know that I do not sell nearly as many books as I ought to be selling. I have bad luck in promoting my work. I don’t think that it is anything I am doing wrong so much as it is I haven’t figured out the RIGHT way to do it just yet.

Give me time.

The Ark wasn’t built in day, you know.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing.

Don’t fart around on the internet.

I do that too much and it slows me down considerably.

Write faster. Write more. LEARN HOW TO PROMOTE EFFECTIVELY. You don’t sell your books then who is reading them?

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write one book.

Write the next.

Sell the first book.

Write a third while you are selling the second.

Do I need to keep going here?

Writing is a game of stones upon water. You keep chucking those stones out into the deep end of the swimming hole trying to make a ripple that will someday reach the sea.

We’re all ten years old in these here parts.

What are you reading now?
One more darned question, I guess.

(grin)

I just finished reading a Grisham novel that was fun and well-plotted but ultimately mind candy. The fact is I don’t particularly care for deep world-shaking novels. I like mind candy. Keeps me fat and happy.

What’s next for you as a writer?
One more darned book, I guess.

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 couple of big fat ones – maybe the Sholokov Don Cossack series.

Author Websites and Profiles
Steve Vernon Website
Steve Vernon Amazon Profile
Steve Vernon Author Profile on Smashwords

Steve Vernon’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Steve Vernon is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My driving passions are travel, my love of music and film, and writing. Each plays an integral part in who I am. My wife is my greatest inspiration to keep writing, my travel partner and a movie buddy.

To date I have completed five books that are available on Amazon Kindle. I have written a couple others that probably won’t be published.

Works in progress include two more Cole Sage Mysteries, a young adult book, a western and a compilation of my short stories. This summer I will be working on a travel book on Ecuador. Other than that I really don’t have a whole lot of writing projects going right now. LOL

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
COLE DUST is the latest book in the Cole Sage Mystery Series. COLE DUST is actually a book within a book. Cole Sage inherits a house in Oklahoma, where he finds a steamer trunk full of old journals. Those journals take us from the early 1900s to the late 1950s, and exposes a dark family mystery. The inspiration for COLE DUST came from growing up listening to my Grandmother and her brother tell stories of the Dust Bowl and the effect it had on their lives. It is a fictional tribute to my family’s oral history.

THREE NAILS a novella, was released shortly after COLE DUST and seems to be picking up steam. It was inspired by the death of a friend’s son. There was a period of about six month that a lot of tragedy happened around me. It seemed like a good way to deal with it was to tell a story that the character’s life was affected by similar loss. The reviews have been very rewarding.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I think that my influences breakdown in to three categories. Literary influences are definitely are Charles Dickens, Robertson Davies, and John Jakes all of which are incredible story tellers. My favorite mystery writers are Author Conan Doyle, Stewart M. Kaminsky and Peter Lovesey, they are the text book I use on how write a mystery. The use of language comes from Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, and Groucho Marx, their ability “turn a phrase” and paint visual images through their manipulation of the English language has taught me that anything is possible with written language.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on four books! COLE SHOOT #5 and CROSS of COLE #6 in the Cole Sage Series, The Time Pedaler, a young adult Time Travel book (hopefully a series), and a collection of short stories.

If I could just find a month to just hide away, I could wrap all of them up and get them to my editor! So far I haven’t found that month on a calendar anywhere!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m hoping Awesomegang is going to be the secret!

I love doing interviews. Interviews give readers a chance to get a good idea who the person is they are about to invest their time and money in. If they like you as a person or find what you have to say interesting they’re more apt to give your work a try.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t try to be someone your not. Just write. Write as you speak, write as you think. Most of all just write. I think a lot of new authors get so wrapped up in the process, and the image of themselves as a writer they lose sight of who they are as a person. I like the example of the preacher who gets up and gives a great sermon, communicates to the folks in the pews heart to heart, and suddenly kicks into King James English with lots of Thees and Thous when he prays. I like to think just as God would like to be spoken to in our normal voice; writers need to speak in their own voice when they speak to their readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I had a History teacher in high school that told us the job of any educated person was to be a modern Renaissance man. I think that advice has served me very well. I have tried to fill my need to create and learn in a lot of different ways. Through travel, film making, painting, wood carving, bowl turning, writing, reading, and continued education, long after earning my degree, I have led a full and enriched life. I have worked in jobs that gave me the ability to share my love of film and music on the radio and in print. I have traveled to almost 40 countries and tried to reach out to people and submerge in their culture.

I have tried to and learned, from many, many different means. Most of all I have tried to be a Renaissance man.

What are you reading now?
Lawrence in Arabia: War, Deceit, Imperial Folly and the Making of the Modern Middle East by Scott Anderson.

I have been a life long student of the life of T.E. Lawrence. I was very excited when this new biography came out. In my personal library I have three shelves of books by, and about Lawrence. Imagine my delight when on the first page of this new book I read an antidote I had never heard before. Anderson is an amazing writer and his fluidity brings to life facets of Lawrence’s life and character that are, though not always new, presented in a fresh and interesting new way. Great book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m excited to finish a couple projects I’ve had to put on the back burner as the Cole Sage series has taken off. I mentioned the time travel book that is nearly finished, I think that is going to be a lot of fun for Jr. High and High School kids. I’m waist deep in a western based on a favorite song of mine. How’s that for a tease?

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) The Deptford Trilogy by Robertson Davies

2) Bob Dylan – Lyrics: 1962-2001

3) Bartlett’s Book of Quotes

4) The Bible

Author Websites and Profiles
Micheal Maxwell Website
Micheal Maxwell Amazon Profile

Micheal Maxwell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Micheal Maxwell is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Award-winning author Debbie Roppolo grew up in the Blackland Prairie region of Texas, where miles of grassland and her horse were her best friends. Yep, that’s right–a modern day version of Laura Ingalls.

She is the author of Amelia Frump and her Peanut Butter Loving Imagination, and Amelia Frump and her Peanut Butter Loving Imagination is Cooking Up a Peanut Butter Storm, winner of a Purple Dragonfly Book Award (2013) Both books are published by DWB Children’s Line.

Roppolo’s stories have been published in newspapers, magazines, and in several of the Chicken Soup for the Soul books.

Cooking is her second passion, and she is an award-winning baker, and a field editor for Taste of Home magazine.

Married for over twenty years, she now resides in the Texas Hill Country with her husband John, and two children, Jonathan and Joseph.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The title of my last book was Amelia Frump and her Peanut Butter Loving, Overactive Imagination is Cooking Up a Peanut Butter Storm. That’s a mouthful, isn’t it. This book is an cookbook/activity book, and is targeted towards children from 6 to 12 years of age, and their families.

As a child, I had a wonderful time being in the kitchen with my grandmothers and other members of the family. During those moments, not only were we making baked goods and entrees, we were creating something more precious–memories. I created this cookbook because I wanted kids to have that same opportunity with their families.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My house has to be completely clean before I begin to write. I’m not quite sure why, but perhaps it’s the smell of freshness, or maybe I can relax–housework is done for the day.

I also like to turn on the Scentsy (apple pie scent is my favorite), and Not listen to instrumental music. For me, all this creates the perfect writing environment.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve always been a big fan of Beverly Cleary, especially her “Ramona” series. Mrs. Cleary’s characters were ones that I could empathize with when I was a child. They encountered the same problem I did in school, and to me, that made the stories more believable. When writing my books, I too try to create characters that are adventurous, but who are aren’t perfect, and have problems my readers can identify with.

What are you working on now?
I am writing and illustrating the third book in the Amelia Frump series, Amelia and the Billion-Cajillion Dollar Secret.

In this book Amelia Frump is best friends with Julie, a classmate she’s known since kindergarten, and Amelia believes nothing will end that friendship. Nothing, until a new girl moves into the neighborhood.

Meagan Wells is a sweet, fun-loving girl (Amelia’s age) who’s moved far away from her old friends and school. Julie and Meagan form an instant friendship, and Amelia begins to feel left out, and as exciting as a brown paper bag.

There’s a secret that Amelia’s teacher, Mr. Perez, has for the class, and Amelia is dismayed when she’s partnered with Meagan.

Amelia turns to her imagination for help, but something goes horribly wrong, and she struggles to correct everything before it’s too late.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I love using Twitter, and I promote through blog posts, and my Facebook fan page.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Ever author receives rejection letters during their career (even Dr. Seuss). The key is to never give up, and believe in yourself. The only true failure you’ll experience is if you stop trying.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Actually, I have two bits of advice that I try and live by.

The first was from my father. Before his death (when I was 15) Daddy was my cheerleader, appearing at every play performance, band concert, and sporting event I was in. He empowered me by always saying that I could accomplish and be almost anything I wanted, “just as long as I put my mind to it.’

The second was from my husband’s cousin. During a conversation about my embarking on a writing career, I gave many reasons why I shouldn’t.

My cousin asked if I was afraid of failure. I said I was. He pointed out that we fail at one thing every day of our lives, and the real failure is never having tried at all.

So, these are the two pieces of advice that fuel me. The thing that pushes me over the top when I’m exhausted mentally, physically , emotionally, and assists me in getting a foothold in my goals.

What are you reading now?
I’m an acquisitions editor at DWB Publishing, so…manuscripts during business hours, and during my personal time, A Marriage Made in Heaven… or Too Tired for an Affair by Erma Bombeck.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on my own collection of humorous parenting stories (Erma Bombeck-type), and I’ve considered writing another cookbook.

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 tough. There’s so many books I’ve enjoyed during my lifetime.

But…

1. The Grass is Always Greener over the Septic Tank by Erma Bombeck

2. The Color Purple by Alice Walker

3. Chicken Soup for the Soul: Tough Times, Tough People

Author Websites and Profiles
Debbie Roppolo Website
Debbie Roppolo Amazon Profile

Debbie Roppolo’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Debbie Roppolo is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a boat bum (lived on retired WWII warship for ten years), editor, freelance writer, poet, musician and traveler. I prefer living on boats, islands and remote (tropical) places and have worked and lived in the Caribbean, Hong Kong and SE Asia. I have written both humor and mysteries that take place in the world I know, including three novels and several short stories. My perspectives are a bit off the norm as I haven’t owned a television since the 1980s.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book is THE INVENTION OF CLAY MCKENZIE, which I wrote with J. Reid Beckett. We were exploring the changing landscape of publishing and this story is about a particular tack one ambitious young New York editor takes.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write full time and prefer to writing at my standing desk so I don’t get too out of shape.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love reading and have adored the books of a range of writers from Hemingway to Milan Kundera, Isabelle Allende, Mark Helprin and Elmore Leonard.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a second book feature Martin Billings, the sea captain protagonist of my Venezuelan-based mystery novel UNDER LOW SKIES.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have no idea. I have spent my life focused on writing and music and never got a real handle on promotion. My writing is not mainstream (nor am I) and when I try what works for others it fails, so I simply relish anything that helps get new readers. That doesn’t mean I don’t promote, but it means that any difference between my best and worth methods is unnoticeable.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write books you would want to read. Don’t chase trends (it is maddening and boring).

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Buy low, sell high. But I’ve never figured out how to follow it. Beyond that, the idea of evaluating if doing something, anything, is worth more to me than writing. Would My Time Be Better Spent Writing? (WMTBBSW) is, I think, the current phrase.

What are you reading now?
Colin Cotterill’s series about Dr. Siri the Laotian corner. After living in Cambodia for two years, I find his descriptions of that part of Asia both brilliant and spot on.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More mysteries. I’ve been reading a lot of them recently and it rekindled my interest in the form–both short stories and novel length. Good mysteries are also good literature and I aim to continuously raise the bar for my 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?
Three I hadn’t read yet. Maybe IN SUNLIGHT AND SHADOW, a recent one by Mark Helprin, something by Allende or even Amy Tam. It depends on what was handy and looked good. Preferably thick books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ed Teja Website
Ed Teja Amazon Profile
Ed Teja Author Profile on Smashwords

Ed Teja’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Ed Teja is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 4 books – 2 in the Jo Epstein mystery series and 2 ‘stand-alone’ works of literary crime fiction.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
So many elements in my life combined to inspire me to write RUSSIAN RECKNING!

My older brother is a private investigator and as a teenager, I pestered him to take me out on surveillances. When he refused, I stayed home and wrote poetry. Eventually, Jo Epstein’s hyphenated identity as performance poet/private detective emerged and she ‘starred’ in her first mystery, ASK THE DEAD.

When my mother moved to Brighton Beach – a Russian enclave in New York City—I visited her often and played with the idea of writing a book in which the past of a Russian émigré’s catches up to him. I wrote the beginning of RUSSIAN RECKONING, which set in New York City, and then traveled to Russia to find settings for the climactic second half. I was the first American to visit Vladimir Central prison and was taken to dinner by a Commander in the Moscow Criminal Police, who blessed my plot.

Many intriguing places in and near Moscow became settings for scenes in RUSSIAN RECKONING. And along the way I discovered that my last name – shortened to Yarrow on Ellis Island so many years ago – was actually Yaroshevsky – a common name in Belarus. Perhaps this was the real reason I wrote RUSSIAN RECKONING –I solved my own mystery by writing a novel of suspense set in my ancestral homeland.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Since my teen years in New York I have loved writing on buses and trains. This love of writing on moving vehicles does not, however, extend to cars and planes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a mystery writer I am influenced by Ruth Rendell, Georges Simenon, Elroy Leonard and Martin Smith Cruz, just to name a few. It is wonderful to be part of a continuum – no matter how great or small a part one plays – and for me that is the best part of being an author.

What are you working on now?
I am currently finishing a romantic thriller set in India and Vancouver. My co-author, Arindam Roy, lives in Allahabad.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My blog is where I enjoy meeting readers and writing about my travels in search of interesting stories to tell.

It is called Travels with the Muse Please stop by!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I would say the most important thing is to develop a body of work and postpone publishing until you feel you have mastered your craft.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As soon as you finish a book, start another one!

What are you reading now?
Thunder Demons by Dipika Mukherjee and Shooting to Kill by Susan Schreyer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m adapting one of my books for the screen. Can’t say more right now but perhaps Bollywood will be involved.

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 Plays of Shakespeare, An Open Heart by The Dalai Lama, and a book on how to survive on a desert island!

Author Websites and Profiles
Joyce Yarrow Website
Joyce Yarrow Amazon Profile

Joyce Yarrow’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Joyce Yarrow is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live as a recluse with my wife and three children somewhere in the hills of Eastern Kansas. When I’m not helping with homework, or running errands, or paying bills, or working, or spending time with my family, or sleeping, or eating, or using the bathroom, I like to write.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The book is called Holliday’s Gold and it’s a modern re-telling of Goldilocks and the Three Bears.

I’d read the classic to my kids a few years back and thought it might be a fun exercise to write my own version. So I sat down and I wrote:

Once upon a time there lived three bears.These were no ordinary bears, mind you. They didn’t live in caves, they didn’t stand about by great North American rivers, idly swiping salmon from the churning waters as the poor fish struggled upstream in hopes of perpetuating their species, and they most certainly did not spend the greater part of their day trying to steal honey from bees. No, these bears were different.

And from there I just didn’t stop.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really.

At least, I don’t think that I do.

I write only on the weekdays an hour before I have to leave for work.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Douglas Adams and Stephen King.

What are you working on now?
My Super Midlife Crisis.

It’s about a guy in his mid to late 30′s, he’s married with kids, and he suddenly gets super powers. He then has to try and juggle working two jobs, spending time with his family, saving the known world, and trying to figure out just where his priorities truly are.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Good question. I’m still new to all of this so the promotion aspect is still something I’m learning … so I’ll say Awesome Gang

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes.

Don’t.

But seriously. Find people who can help. If you can’t afford an editor, find people who are willing to read your stuff and find all the errors.

Be patient. This stuff doesn’t just happen overnight. It takes a long time to write a book, then revise it, then edit and all that.

Other than that, just write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write. Just write and don’t stop.

What are you reading now?
The Morningstar Trilogy by Z.A. Recht

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m just going to keep writing. I have about ten or so projects I’m working on, but I’d like to try and stick with My Super Midlife Crisis and get that out there by this time next year.

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?
Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

The Stand by Stephen King

The Long, Dark Tea-time of the Soul by Douglas Adams

Author Websites and Profiles
Steeven R. Orr Website
Steeven R. Orr Author Profile on Smashwords

Steeven R. Orr’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Steeven R. Orr is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Clementine’s Shadow is my first published novel — though I have a couple others in process. I was an English major in high school and always loved mysteries — so it was natural for me to gravitate toward writing one. After working as a civil servant for many years, I now live in the beach community of Ventura with my husband and our cats. When I’m not writing or working on art projects (I’m currently illustrating a children’s book for an author), you can find me digging up the lawn as I transform our yard into a drought-tolerant paradise — one foot at a time!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
When I started writing Clementine’s Shadow, I wanted to tell a story from multiple points of view, with a tight timeline where all the characters end up in the same place trying to rescue a little girl. To that end, the plot of Clementine’s Shadow takes places over the course of one day and interweaves the lives of four people, with each one finding a way to vanquish past failures as they search for the girl. I set the story in a harsh, unforgiving landscape that would mirror some of the characters’ unwillingness to forgive themselves.

As a native Californian, I knew a big part of the state’s history was linked to the discovery of gold and silver and the idea of setting the story near an abandoned mine offered a wealth of possibilities. For Clementine’s Shadow, I took elements of Acton, CA, the Antelope Valley and the Red Rover Mine and melded them with other mines in the region to create my fictional town and county. I didn’t want to use a real county; the idea of insulting the hard-working sheriff departments that patrol these wide expanses didn’t sit right with me. Besides, with a fictional town, you can have a lot more creative fun.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really, but dark chocolate is an important part of my creative process. I do like to ‘mix things up’ by writing by hand as well as on the computer.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve always read across genres – maybe even more so as a child. I read all the Nancy Drew mysteries, but my favorite book in elementary school was Johnny Tremain. That book sparked my interest in history; I think successful books make you want to read more about the subject or period in which they’re set. I was also a huge Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott fan, but my early love of mysteries did influence me. My favorite authors today include mystery writers C.J. Box, Jan Burke, Harlan Coben, Michael Connelly, Robert Crais, Tana French, Sue Grafton and Jo Nesbo.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently doing a final polish on a second thriller, Erasing Ramona, as well as a YA mystery, Punishment Summer. I’m also 11,000 words into a new project — another thriller — and am having fun with the research.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My book — or links to it — can be found on any of the following websites:

http://peggyrothschild.com

www.amazon.com/clementines-shadow-ebook/dp/B00C9IED50/ref=sr_1-1?=books&ie=UTF8qid=1365558888&sr+1-1

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/clementines-shadow-peggy-rothschild/1115238635?ean=9780615799148

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7079283.Peggy_Rothschild

http://www.facebook.com/peggyrothschildauthor

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Whoever said “Writing is 90% rewriting” had it right. I think the best thing an author can do is stay open to criticism but not relinquish your voice.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I heard a presenter at a writers conference say something along the lines of: Telling your friends you’re writing a book isn’t writing. Talking about writing isn’t writing. Only putting your butt in a chair and writing IS writing.

What are you reading now?
I just finished reading Brad Parks’ The Good Cop and have started Craig Johnson’s A Serpent’s Tooth.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m planning a research trip to northern California for the manuscript I’ve just started and that — along with lots and lots of writing and rewriting — will keep me busy for awhile.

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?
Oh my, that’s tough. I’d definitely need to bring ‘Snow Falling on Cedars’ by David Guterson as that’s a book I’ve enjoyed reading time and again. The others would also be re-readers — books where I love the language or the characters or the plot — or all three:

The Double Bind by Chris Bohjalian

Angle of Repose by Wallace Stegner

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling

Author Websites and Profiles
Peggy Rothschild Website
Peggy Rothschild Amazon Profile

Peggy Rothschild’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Peggy Rothschild is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have stepped over the line from class room primary teacher and musician, replacing frantic and hectic, to having fun farming sheep, competing in working dog trials with my four German Shepherd dogs, and writing books for children’s music education. Old fashioned story telling that sneaks a musical education in the background.

Music is such a rich experience and everyone should know as much about music as they can.

But music theory can be so complicated, and the ideas for these books came from teaching children about the joys of music.

When I told them fun stories about animals learning music theory and how to play orchestral instruments, they thought this was ‘cool!’

At this stage, I have finished two books in the series – “The Musical Adventures of Professor Anacrusis” for ages 4 -11 years. And two storybooks for younger children. Ages 3 – 6 years.

I would like to write two more books to complete the Professor Anacrusis series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Wombat’s Musical Adventure”

I was inspired by the need for children to be able to recognise a selection of classical/orchestral music instruments. By sound, by shape, by characteristics.

This story is also available as an audio book for children in MP3 format and CD to accompany the print book.

The audio book gives children the opportunity to listen to the sounds different instruments can make, along with the beautifully narrated story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really!

I tend to enjoy writing in the evenings.

When the farm animals have gone to bed.

Dinner is over and the dogs are lying peacefully under the desk.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
To be honest, I love the writings of Enid Blyton for children. All those adventures both magical or mysterious.

And in regard to adult reading, I enjoy anything that has suspense and intrigue.

Or is in the genre of romantic, historical writing, as in the books of Georgette Heyer.

What are you working on now?
I am busy working on the audio book for “Tales of Rhythm & Music Notes”. Book Two in The Musical Adventures of Professor Anacrusis.

This has a big component of music to support the narration and I’m enjoying the task of selecting music from an EMI Playlist.

The story is available now as an EBook or Print Book. And is a great tool for teaching children about rhythm and music notes. For parents and teachers.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still deciding this! So I am still not sure of a best method.

In the meantime – I am learning how to market on social media – sort of trial and error!

I do have a good working website and I am able to blog on this when I have the time.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am still a new author myself. But perhaps – ‘believe in yourself and your product.’

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘ Believe in yourself and never give up.’

What are you reading now?
“The Shifting Fog” by Kate Morton.

It’s a brilliant story.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To finish the series of four books in ‘The Musical Adventures of Professor Anacrusis.”

I have two more to write 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?
“Dead Cert” by Dick Francis

“The Unknown Ajax” by Georgette Heyer

“These Old Shades” by Georgette Heyer

“The Forgotten Garden” by Kate Morton.

Author Websites and Profiles
chrissy tetley Website
chrissy tetley Amazon Profile

chrissy tetley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

chrissy tetley is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is J.P. Brewner, and I am a 7th grade English teacher who loves to write. I also coach cross country, track, and boys basketball. Since I started writing three years ago, I’ve written two books. The first is The Trifecta: Initiation and the other is the sequel, The Trifecta: Resurrection. The whole series will be five books, so I am beginning work on the third book while also working on a few other writing projects that have been buzzing around in my head.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Trifecta: Resurrection, Book Two in The Trifecta series, will be available on April 7th, 2014. What I love is that this book follows two different characters. The first is Michael Fleming, the super powered main character from book one, but the second is Mr. Mental, the newly resurrected villain of the story. The reader gets to see Michael’s power accelerate while he tries to find his missing brother and defeat an evil genius named Mastermind. Meanwhile, they also experience Mr. Mental’s attempt to resurrect his criminal organization after escaping from a prison where he was incarcerated for the last 16 years.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write for at least an hour a day between 4:30-5:30 in the morning. I believe there are two steps to writing: First write, then revise. After I have all of my ideas out on the page, I go back and revise my work at least four or five times. I try to view my writing from different perspectives, especially from the eyes of young adults because they are my target audience.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ray Bradbury is my favorite author, which is why I try to emulate his use of metaphors and similes. I also like most current young adult authors like Veronica Roth or Rick Riordan because they create relatable characters whom young readers can learn from and look up to.

What are you working on now?
I just finished the final touches on The Trifecta: Resurrection, Book Two in The Trifecta series, so I am working on the third book, but I’m also starting a few other projects. The first is also a supernatural action and adventure book, but I’m also working on a realistic fiction book that takes place in the near future, along with an informational text for teachers on how to teach writing in the classroom.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve found that checking other authors’ blogs is the most effective way to learn new ways to promote my books. I try what they suggest and then see what works.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be persistent. There are many road blocks along the process of writing and publishing, so you have to keep thinking outside the box while trying anything and everything that you can to improve and promote your writing.

The other big piece of advice is to revise. Too many of my students think that a first draft is all they need, but to truly end up with something great, you have to revise multiple times.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Walt Disney’s quote, “All our dreams can come true if we have the courage to pursue them.”

What are you reading now?
I just finished James Patterson’s Maximum Ride, but I haven’t started anything new yet.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue writing every day, and I just hope that I can increase my following as I release more novels.

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 Great Gatsby, hands down. I’ve enjoyed teaching this book more than any others, but I also love the themes and symbolism that Fitzgerald weaves throughout the novel. I would also bring The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Fahrenheit 451.

Author Websites and Profiles
J.P. Brewner Website
J.P. Brewner Amazon Profile

J.P. Brewner’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

J.P. Brewner is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
If you look up miracle in the dictionary, you’ll see my smiling face staring back at you. Twenty-one years ago, if you had told me I’d be an author with five published books, I would have directed you to the nearest lost and found so you could hopefully locate your mind. There’s no way a young, black girl raised in a San Francisco housing project, with a sickly mother on welfare, and an abusive jailbird father could be a writer. There’s no way that girl, who finds her mother’s lifeless body on the living room sofa, at the age of fourteen, could even think about writing, let alone, graduate second in her high school and get a scholarship to U.S.C. There’s no way that girl, who becomes anorexic, bulimic, and addicted to drugs and alcohol, could have any hopes of becoming a writer. Well, miracles do happen, and with determination and faith in God, I was able to overcome my obstacles and fulfill my fifth grade teacher’s prophecy, that one day I’ll be a published author.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Four Ladies Only.” One day I was at the gym and I had just gotten out of the shower. I looked around at all the other women who were there, thinking about what a sacrifice we all make each morning, getting up early to stay fit. That thought led to other thoughts about women and friendships and how those friendships can go from blissful to baleful over minor and not so minor issues. Shortly thereafter I began writing “Four Ladies Only,” a story that deals with four women who after experiencing a tragic event give up on their friendship and cease speaking to each other for twenty years. I was excited about writing this book because for the past several years I’ve been writing a series featuring the couple, Cass & Nick.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I really get emotionally involved with my characters when I write. Actually, I go through the scenes as if I’m the character, so I’m feeling what they are at any given moment. This can be exhilirating and emotionally draining. Every hour or so I have to stand up and shake it out. When I’m witing I will also pace and walk around the house, thinking about my next move. I open myself up to receive ideas from the Universe and believe it or not, ideas that I know I could not have developed on my own, pour into me and I pour them onto the page!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been influenced mainly by contemporary writers. A few are: Terry McMillan (Waiting to Exhale, A Day Late a Dollar Short); the late Bebe Moore Campbell (What you Owe Me); Wally Lamb, (She’s Come Undone); the late Frank McCourt (Angela’s Ashes); Bernice McFadden (Sugar); Doris Dancy (Jagged Edges); Barbara Grovenor (Clothesline Blues); and Sienna Mynx (Bad Habits). And so many, many more.

What are you working on now?
I am working with my editor at Soul Mate Publishing, Deborah Gilbert, on getting the first book in the Cass & Nick series, Married in the Nick of Nine,” ready for its 2014 Summer Release.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have an author website–www.Alrethathomas.com. I am also very active on my Facebook Page and Twitter Page.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what you know and love and be open to constructive criticism. Once you have a finished product, don’t be afraid to query agents/publishers. The worst thing they can do is say “no.” I’ve been rejected over 900 times. It took me thirteen years before I finally landed a book deal. But during those thirteen years, I learned a great deal about writing and promoting.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It may me an overused phrase but it’s true — NEVER GIVE UP.

What are you reading now?
I just finished reading “Gone Girl” by Flynn Gillian. It was a little hard to make a connection. The characters were not very likeable. Flynn is a talented writer and she went out of the box with this story. I applaud her for taking the risks that she did, but it didn’t quite work for me.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to write the sequel to “Four Ladies Only,” my third indie book. However, at present I am promoting “Four Ladies Only.” In January 2014, I landed a four-book deal with Soul Mate Publishing and they are publishng my Cass & Nick series. “Married in the Nick of Nine” will be released Summer 2014. The second, third, and fourth books in the series, “The Baby in the Window,” “One Harte, Two Loves,” and “Renee’s Return,” respectively will follow.

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 Bible for spiritual support, Sienna Mynx’s “Bad Habits” because it’s over 700 pages long and would keep me occupied, and a good bio.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alretha Thomas Website
Alretha Thomas Amazon Profile

Alretha Thomas’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Alretha Thomas is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello! I like to describe myself as a hard-working romance author living and loving life in Providence, RI as well as at mt tiny seaside summer cottage on Rhode Island’s gorgeous Narragansett Bay.

Besides being an author, I am a fairly decent jazz guitarist and songwriter (while I was attending college at Emerson, I dated a guy who was studying at Boston’s Berklee College of Music and he showed me a thing or two — about the guitar, I mean! — and I was hooked.)

Well, within a few years — you know, those mid-20s years when you haven’t yet figured your life out — I was learning standards, songwriting, and even did a few club and coffee shop gigs in and around Boston. It was fun for a while but such a hard life (and I wasn’t even doing it a lot!) so I eventually dropped it and, shortly thereafter, headed back to Little Rhody where I grew up and settled in Providence.

Then, in very quick succession: love, marriage, divorce, love, marriage, happiness, and indulging fully in my lifelong passion of writing … primarily about passion, actually. I would say my day is pretty well divided between writing at home and writing / observing life at nearby coffee shops and tea houses.

And I still play my guitar … but nowadays just for me; I will often unwind after a day at the computer with my husband (“My own personal Prince Charming”), my utterly adorable Maltese (“My four-legged Prince Charming”), my battle-worn Gibson guitar, and an hour of blues licks or some such thing — goes great with a cup of (of course) Irish breakfast tea … by this time of day, probably my fifth or sixth.

I’m still working out the exact proportions that I would like each facet of my life to have … sort of my own pie-chart, I guess you could say. Always tweaking that thing. But though I my not have figured out the “perfect” balance of work/fun/relationships/deep stuff yet, I am quite happy with all of it.

And I am very happy with my writing! This is definitely why I was put on this planet and I am quite certain that I will be in it for the long haul. I hope that you will take some of that journey with me!

I’ve written two romance novels thus far: PERHAPS ANOTHER TIME and MY PACE OR YOURS. The latter is the first in my new YESTERYEAR series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is MY PACE OR YOURS. It was inspired almost completely by my Dad, who was a lifelong mega-genius carpenter and a painstaking perfectionist to boot. He was directly responsible for the story’s hero, Sean Campbell, to come into being … although Sean definitely has his own quirks! The other characters and the story were inspired by my having spent untold hours strolling the heady East Side of Providence, RI, with its unique blend of Brown University types, history, art, wealth, and more coffeehouses per acre than anywhere this side of Seattle.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sure do! Acting out scenes, complete with gestures … and, um, enlisting my husband’s help in making sure I describe various kissing, caressing, and other romantic practices accurately!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anything Lavyrle Spencer wrote, especially “Hummingbird” and “Years.” Also, Nora Roberts’ early works.

What are you working on now?
I’ve just begun plotting, outlining, and building characters for book #2 in the Yesteryear series. Title to be announced, as I seldom title work before it is complete and I have a more accurate perception of it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Seriously, it would be to work any and ALL avenues! Facebook, blogs, listing sites galore, paid ads, and Amazon’s own offerings.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t labor and worry over details or perfection! Just write … write garbage if necessary. You can always fix it later. Relax, breathe, write. Get in the groove by moving those fingers, no matter what the result. Then polish it till the cows come home!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life. Think of it. Dream of it. Live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, and every part of the body be full of that idea. Leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.”

- Swami Vivekananda

What are you reading now?
Nothing at present as I am too caught up in my new project to afford the time!

What’s next for you as a writer?
To improve and grow and explore and make mistakes and fix them and try again and enjoy the ride … as I’ve always 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?
“Years” Lavyrle Spencer

“The Diary of Anne Frank.”

Some Maya Angelou

Author Websites and Profiles
Maggie Maloney Website
Maggie Maloney Amazon Profile

Maggie Maloney’s Social Media Links

Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Maggie Maloney is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m nineteen years young and currently working on my second novel. My first book, Lost Voice, was published back when I was seventeen. I’m now working as a Certified Nursing Assistant and going to college full-time to get my nursing degree. This summer I’m taking an Emergency Medical Technician course. I’m an avid photographer and have two beautiful godchildren.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lost Voice is the first novel I’ve ever written. It’s about a young woman who’s trapped in an abusive relationship and has to find her voice before she loses her live. It was inspired by a research paper I had to write when I was younger and when I was thirteen, began to write it. I had it finished by fifteen (after losing the file many times) and published at seventeen.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I play violin music by Lindsey Stirling when I write. I put a playlist on ‘random’ and allow it to set the mood for my book. Sometimes I surprise myself with what I write when a certain mood is set. It never ceases to fail me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I absolutely love Nicholas Sparks. I’ll never be able to write romance like he does, but I certainly would love to try some day.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on Shadows. It originally started out as an idea for a plot in a hospital. Trying to avoid boredom while writing, I pushed my character, who’s a nurse, into a shooting. The culprit gets away and she spirals into a deep depression. Shadows is a thriller, mystery, and romance novel all mixed into one.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter is definitely my main way of promoting my books. I’ve started to get involve with my own author page on Facebook, and that’s starting to grow as well. Google plus is another site I use, but I don’t have as many followers there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Whether you think it’s good or not, write it. Someone else out there will enjoy reading the story you’re telling. Anyone can be an author if they set their mind to it. It’s tough to gain a following in the beginning, but once you get there, you’ll never look back.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Before I got Lost Voice published, I had two teachers tell me that I had to try. They both told me the worst that could happen would be I get rejected and try again. My parents told me to chase after my dreams when I brought it up to them and that’s exactly what I did. I wouldn’t be where I am today if it weren’t for them.

What are you reading now?
I’m not currently reading anything, at the moment. I’ve been putting all my free time into writing Shadows.

What’s next for you as a writer?
What’s next is having Shadows published. I’m very excited for it and I may try to set up a book signing this summer. I plan to have a novel out every year from now on.

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?
To Kill a Mockingbird, Safe Haven, Lord of the Flies

Author Websites and Profiles
Nicole Belanger Website
Nicole Belanger Amazon Profile

Nicole Belanger’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Nicole Belanger is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I began writing soon after learning to hold a pencil—or possibly a crayon—but it wasn’t until my four children were older ( and learned to forage for their own food) when I began indulging my true passion.

By day, I teach literary analysis and writing in the International Baccalaureate program. Nights and weekends you’ll find me glued to the laptop—spoiled pooch at my side—crafting the next novel or writing a blog.

I have a weakness for a nice glass of wine, good chocolate, ice cream, and cheese, and cupcakes, and…um well, you get the point. Exercise? Not so much. The treadmill sits in the garage where I manage to climb aboard a few times a week and attempt to catch up on what everybody else is talking about. Right now it’s Dr. Who and Sherlock.

The Merkabah Recruit and The Merkabah Deception are the first two paranormal novels I’ve written. I’ve also completed The Emperor’s Assassin, a historical fiction about Locusta of Gaul, a woman who was Roman Emperor Nero’s personal poisoner.
My current project is the 3rd in the Merkabah Series.

An avid reader, I savor well crafted, witty prose that makes me laugh, challenges conventionality, and stirs the imagination. An intriguing mystery-thriller, historical fiction, or urban fantasy will have me reading into the wee hours of the night.

I love connecting with readers– especially when they tell me to hurry up and write the next book! Now that’s incentive! You can find me on Twitter, Goodreads, LinkedIn, Google+, Instagram ( lzmarieauthor or luluthe muse), Pinterest, Tumblr, & Facebook.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Folks ask about my inspiration for the Merkabah Series. That’s an easy question to answer! I’ve always been amazed by the links between ancient history, mythology, and religion. They are so closely intertwined we don’t often make a distinction between them. And modern scientific theories only continue to prove the existence of the weird and fantastical!

What authors, or books have influenced you?

As a literature teacher and book worm there are many books and authors who have influenced me. I love gobbling up anything from Jane Austen, Ray Bradbury, James Rollins, Dan Brown, Sophie Kinsella, Julie Kenner, Preston & Child, Susan Howatch…I imagine every book a person reads influences them in some way.

What are you working on now?
The 3rd in the Merkabah Series, The Merkabah Temptation, is in the 2nd draft stage. After that, I’ll finish up the 5-book series and begin writing another historical fiction.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook, blog tours, review sites, and Amazon free days help me get the word out. I’m still fairly new to the promotion thing, so I haven’t figure out if there’s a best way yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
New writers should take time to learn the craft of writing. There’s so many blogs offering excellent advice about writing that a newbie can learn from. I teach literary analysis for a living, so I blog about authorial techniques and literary craft. When I meet an aspiring author, I tell them to begin building their platform, to reach out and connect with lots of different people. I didn’t know any better when I began writing my first book, and it wasn’t until after attending a conference that I decided to jump on the social media jetliner.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve heard is, “write what you want.”
I write what I would want to read. I write because there’s a story that must be told.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading the Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. Not only is it inspiring, the philosophies and spiritual concepts are great fodder for the Merkabah Series.

What’s next for you as a writer?

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?

Author Websites and Profiles
L.Z. Marie Website
L.Z. Marie Amazon Profile

L.Z. Marie’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

L.Z. Marie is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
• During my high school years I made a venture into the arts, appearing in Marlborough Repertory Society Productions of the day, and began my literary aspirations; I became a published poet and wrote two novels (both unpublished). One of them (an anti-nuclear tale) sufficiently impressed a NZ fiction publisher at the time to approach a British publisher to see if they would do a joint production. The British publisher declined.
• That rejection was sufficient to blow my confidence. I gave up my fiction writing aspirations. Instead, though I wanted to become a journalist, I concentrated on a public service career (with some non-fiction writing) and raised a family.
• Non-Literary career highlights have included the roles of Deputy Director of National Parks and Reserves in the Head Office of the former Department of Lands & Survey (1982-1987) and of a senior advisor in the National Office of the Department of Conservation (1987 to 2006). The various DOC jobs I held covered the policy fields of recreation, tourism, historic resources, land, and Treaty of Waitangi claims (including, in the latter job, advising on aspects of the Ngai Tahu claim settlement).
• Unusual travel opportunities became available to me during my non-literary career and included visits to islands that few people get to see firsthand, including Campbell and the Snares in the sub-Antarctic, White in the Bay of Plenty, Barrow in Western Australia, and Big Mangere in the Chathams, all significant wildlife sanctuaries.
• A counsellor (recommended by a friend at a stressful time of organizational re-structuring in the late 1990s and paid for by my then employer) told me he was sure I would return to fiction writing. Within six months I had. Publisher rejections began in 2001 but I persevered and completed writing several novels.
• My early retirement in 2006 let me concentrate on fiction writing, and better learning the craft, more or less fulltime.
• Early literary mistakes included encounters with two rogue literary agents, one in NZ and one in the UK, before I came across salutary lessons on web sites like EditorsandPredators.com. [My impression, from experience, is that you just about have to hire a publicist to persuade a reputable literary agent to take you on.]
• Literary competitions (in my early state of shell-shocked self-confidence) did not appeal to me until the first international Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award (ABNA) in 2006/07. I entered a thriller entitled Reversal Point. It got through to the semi-finals.
• An offer I could not refuse subsequently came from CreateSpace.com in the USA who offered all 2006/7 ABNA semi-finalists the opportunity to publish. Only the deadline got me through the self-doubt about whether accepting the offer would be a wise move or not. What helped in my dilemma was praise for Reversal Point and the realisation that, with my state of health (and at that stage with 7 years of part-time and full-time fiction writing under my belt) I might not live to see publication in any other manner.
• My published thriller/suspense novels are: Reversal Point (CreateSpace 2007), Tortolona (CreateSpace 2010) Relinquished (Xlibris 2011), Island of Regrets (CreateSpace 2012) Green Expectations (CreateSpace 2013) and Green Machinations (CreateSpace 2014. I’ve also written and published: A Halo of Strawberries (CreateSpace 2012). The book is a departure from my previous stories, being closer to literary fiction than a thriller. It deals with the controversial moral issue of abortion but does not slot into the genre of Christian fiction.
• I write because I enjoy the creative process and the challenge and satisfaction of making a manuscript as good as I can through dedicated hard work. I use the advice of professional manuscript assessors and editors. I get a thrill from knowing that people are reading my stories. I don’t dream of becoming the next Grisham or of appearing on something like The Graham Norton Show. I settle for the success of taking pride in my work as a fiction writer, improving it, and enjoying what I do.
• Although it is well outside my comfort zone I’ve come to live with the necessity of self-promotion as most writers must these days in a highly competitive market (with a million new books on sale each year in the USA alone).
• I am a Wellingtonian, having become a resident in 1974 after career moves from Blenheim to Invercargill and then Hamilton. I was born in Blenheim in1944 and left there in 1964. I now live in Wellington’s northern suburbs with my wife, Gabrielle, and with many of our children and grandchildren in close proximity. After the deaths of our last dog (Sam) and cat (Gizzy) we have no pets. I’m a volunteer part-time day co-ordinator with the Citizens Advice Bureau, Porirua and a former chairperson.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Green Machinations” – a reader of “Green Expectations” thought it deserved a sequel. I had no idea in my head that was more appealing for a story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m old enough to have done some of my writing long-hand and used to do it in bed before and after my day job. Now it is my day job and I use a computer.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve read a wide range of authors and a large number of books. They all influence me, I suspect.

What are you working on now?
Marketing of “Green Expectations”. And thinking about what story to write next.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If it’s worth it to you, you won’t give up.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Believe in God. But, to do with writing, it’s hard to separate out anything in particular – I’ve absorbed it all like a sponge.

What are you reading now?
“The Visitor” by Lee Child.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More of the same.

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?
Thick ones I wouldn’t mind re-reading.

Author Websites and Profiles
Thomas W Devine Website

Thomas W Devine is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in New Orleans, Louisiana, the daughter of a prominent psychoanalyst, which was interesting, to say the least. When I was a kid, mainly a teenager, I always wished my dad had a “regular” job, like selling insurance, or maybe being just an “ordinary” doctor,” but having said all that, I actually appreciate all the “psycho-babble” I was forced to listen to at the dinner table at night, when my dad got home from a tough day at work with combative patients, because it’s helped me immensely in developing my fictitious characters now.

To date, I’ve written 19 full-length romance novels, some for Harlequin and Avon in the earlier days, but the later books as an indie Author. I have written both historical and contemporary, and I love both genres. I have also written three non-fiction books, two based on a unique passive solar greenhouse that I designed and developed in 1980. Currently, the City of Ottawa, Canada is putting up a “biodome garden” based on my design. The design was the winner in a passive solar greenhouse competition that someone who bought my book submitted. My latest non-fiction book is my memoir of growing up in New Orleans in the 1940s and 50s. I had a great time putting that one together, with almost 1000 photos, and over 500 pages. I got a little carried away, but I’ve had amazing feedback from readers, totally unexpected.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, and it is Book 10 in my DANCING MOON RANCH SERIES. The series started out with RIGHTEOUS LIES, which is the book I’m offering for free, and which I thought would be a single-title book. What inspired that story was when I read about a mix-up at a fertility clinic where two vials of sperm were accidentally switched, so two women were impregnated with the wrong sperm. So, I started out with my story with my heroine, 7 months pregnant, learning that she’s having a baby by the wrong man, and her dead husband ‘s sperm went to the wife of my hero’s sterile twin. That’s also the incident that set into motion the righteous lies that followed.

So, that was to be a single-title book. What a hoot, when my heroine’s sister entered the story, and things got a little crazy after that, which led to a “sequel” (PANDORA’S BOX). But by the end of that book, the brother of my hero in RIGHTEOUS LIES, whose wife got the wrong sperm, was about to divorce his wife, so he needed his own story (FALSE PRETENSES). By then an innocent lie, from RIGHTEOUS LIES, was taking hold, and since the books are to be read in sequence, the stories were moving ahead in time, and the kids were growing up, and the next thing I knew we were into Book 4 (UNCERTAIN LOYALTIES), and the next generation. By now I was REALLY into this family, and since my original hero and heroine had 7 children, each are getting their own story, plus a couple of new characters. It’s definitely a family saga, which actually spans 30 years, and I’m getting amazing feedback from readers who tell me they’re really wrapped up in my fictitious family and eagerly awaiting the next book. So it’s been a great adventure.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My writing habit is pretty much tunnel vision when I’m into a book. I’m up at my computer anywhere from 5:30 AM to as late as 7:00 AM, and I can write non-stop until bedtime. My husband doesn’t try to communicate much with me during this time because he knows better. He does all the shopping and cooking, which works great. It takes me anywhere from a month to two months to write a full-length novel this way, but I just can’t discipline myself to stop once I get going because the characters take on a life of their own and I need to get it all down. I’m definitely a “panser” which in writer terminology means “writing by the seat of my pants” without a synopsis or background notes. I have the story in my head and I just need to get it down on paper. I an totally enjoying this series now, and I’m eager to get going every day that I sit down to my computer.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kay Nolte Smith is probably my favorite author. She wrote a book entitled A TALE OF THE WIND, and that’s my “writer’s Bible.” It took her 15 years to research and write the book, and she died shortly after it was released, but it’s an amazing story… actually a Beauty and the Beast romance, though Kay Nolte Smith would soundly deny this if she were here today.

But now for one of my best kept secrets. All the time I was growing up I hated to read because I’d much rather be playing make-believe, and when I was in high school, if I had to write a book report and I could find a Classic Comic of that book, I’d read the comic and write the report. But whenever I was given a writing assignment I gave it my all. One of my more unusual reports was on how to shrink a human head. I got the idea from an article in National Geographic Magazine. I did the research and made a beautiful cover, complete with a drawing of a shrunken head, then proceeded to describe how to fill the skull with hot sand to shrink it. It wasn’t until I was writing my recent memoir (AROUND THE BELT) that I wondered what my teacher must have thought of the daughter of a psychoanalyst writing about how to shrink heads. But even today I rarely read because I’m always writing.

What are you working on now?
Like I said above, I’m working on FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, which is Book 10 in my series. This is the youngest of six sons in the series, and he’s an amazing man with horses, and his claim to fame is Roman riding (riding standing up) six horses as a specialty act during rodeos. My heroine is an American Indian who works at the Dancing Moon Ranch. I established a hot spring cavern with pool in it in the first book in the series, and it’s been an integral part of the stories from the beginning. As the legend goes, if a person sits in the poo while listening to the “voices” (odd sounds that emanate from inside the mountain), they’re cleansed of evil spirits. So in FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, my hero, who’s been intrigued by the “voices” figures it’s nothing but a trapped geyser forcing steam through rock fissures, and he’s determine to prove it. On the other hand, my heroine, a Native American, is certain that bad things will start to happen if my hero continues, and when he does, his troubles truly begin. I’m having a great time with that story too, and it will have an interesting ending.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I tried to make my website as informative as possible. It’s pretty comprehensive, and since I have been an Adobe Photo geek from way back, when I was also a portrait photographer, I do all my own covers. I also put together probably a first for series writers. I made available to readers my DANCING MOON RANCH FAMILY ALBUM, which looks like a photo album for the cover, but inside are over 600 photos of all my characters in every story, including photos of their kids, and their houses and even their weddings. The album also spans 20 years. It available on Amazon and through my website. I use it as a tool to also promote my books. I also include sometimes as many as 15-20 photos for ALL of my single title books. I had fun putting together the photos for the historicals. I get my photos from stock agencies, but it’s a real challenge finding images that are like my characters. I also put links in all my ebooks that take readers to my website so they can see the photos and know what the characters and secondary characters look like.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I have three pieces of advice. First, consider writing a series. That way you can focus on promoting the first book in the series, and if readers like what you’ve written, you can potentially sell as many books as are in the series. Second, if you’re an indie author, don’t post any books until you have at least three completed, edited and polished. And third, have fun writing so you look forward to every minute you’re in front of the computer and hate to quit for anything.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My best advice was from a senior editor at Harlequin, who received my first manuscript (SWEET PROMISED LAND) which I eventually sold to her as a Harlequin Superromance. Apparently the editor saw merit in the manuscript because she worked with me through a MAJOR revision while teaching me about weaving in story threads. Before that time, each chapter introduced a new conflict, which was like a mini story in that the problem was introduced at the beginning of the chapter and resolved by the end, only to introduce a new conflict and resolution, and this went on for around 20 chapters. I could have gone on forever. So the editor told me about introducing several ongoing conflicts as “story threads” and weaving them throughout the story. I wrote an article about weaving in story threads, which was published in an issue of the Romance Writer’s Review, and it’s also on my website if writer/readers would like to learn about how to do this. It’s VERY IMPORTANT when writing. Incidentally, I got my rights back from Harlequin and re-wrote Sweet Promised Land and it ‘s not BROKEN PROMISES, and it’s up on Amazon. I actually did a major rewrite because I learned a lot wince that book came out.

What are you reading now?
I just finished re-reading all ten books in my Dancing Moon Ranch Series. I do this about every six months, which makes the stories better, I hope. After that much time has gone by, incidents and dialog hit me differently, and I can make minor changes. With that many books in the series (which will eventually be a total of 14 books), that takes some time. I’ll also be re-reading my five historicals, which I haven’t read in probably a year. I don’t think an author can ever finish polishing a book, only making it better. However, that being said, I have a book that a friend sent me, which is all about the journalist, Nellie Bly. My friend knows the writer and did the research for the book, and Hollywood is currently making the movie, which will be entitled Ten Days in a Madhouse, and the movie is being filmed in Salem, Oregon, which is about 30 miles from where I live. The book is over 500 pages of non-fiction, but it looks interesting.

What’s next for you as a writer?
When I finish FORBIDDEN SPIRITS, I’ll start on the next book in the series, which will be entitled IMPERFECT MAGIC. My heroine is the youngest of the children of my original hero and heroine, and the only girl in the family. It ‘s going to be another interesting book to write. I have posted all the books in the series, including the covers and book blurbs for the books I haven’t yet written.

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, this is a very difficult question for me. I’d probably take Kay Nolte Smith ‘s A TALE OF THE WIND because I never tire of reading that one, and I learn from it, and I like a book by Susan Kay, entitled LEGACY, which is the story of Queen Elizabeth I, mainly because I think she’s an amazing writer. The book opens in the head of a mouse in the tower of London. He smells human flesh (Queen Elizabeth who has been imprisoned my her sister, Mary.) The mouse is only in the opening though, so it’s not weird that way. The third book might be, ISLE OF CANES, by Elizabeth Shown Mills. It’s an epic account of a multiracial family in Louisiana that, for over four generations, rose from the chains of slavery to rule the isle of Canes in Louisiana. I’m co-authoring a book with a black woman in which we have traced our ancestors back to the late 1600s as living on the same plantations, from the time that her ancestral grandfather, who was brought over from Africa, was sold to my ancestral grandfather. We found that our families stayed together through many generations, ending up on my great-grandfather’s plantation, where her great-grandfather was a slave. We’ve had a great journey tracing these roots back, and the ILSE OF CANES one of many research books I’ll be reading.

Author Websites and Profiles
Patricia Watters Website
Patricia Watters Amazon Profile
Patricia Watters Author Profile on Smashwords

Patricia Watters’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Patricia Watters is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a full-time writer, mother of three, married, have four dogs, two guinea pigs, two rabbits, ten exotic goldfish, and one big fat red tabby officially named Lenny but fondly referred to as Yenyen. I love to write stories with strong plots, some mystery, lots of conflict, and what takes me on an emotional roller coaster ride so I don’t get bored, but all my books are romances with HEA’s (happily ever afters). I’ve written eight books in the paranormal/contemporary romance genre with a touch of magic. I love strong heroines (even when they’re mousy on the surface) and strong heroes (with big hearts) who have to battle equally strong protagonists (with black hearts) – but who always win the girl. “Geek girl meets popular jock” kind of romances really get my creative juices flowing!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Cursed & Coveted is my latest paranormal erotic romance (although the erotic part is subjective considering that it’s written in between purple prose and explicit). I was inspired to originally write it for my son who was, at the time, twenty years old and who enjoyed my paranormal stories (sans erotic scenes). The original title was “Book by Its Cover”, and it’s even mentioned in the first chapter in Cursed & Coveted. When I chose to write this story, I wanted to write one about werewolves and around that time I had seen a Discovery Channel documentary that claimed that the Great Sphinx is ten thousand or more years older than Egyptologists currently believe. I got the idea to write a story of werewolves and werecats based in Ancient Egyptian mythology since Anpu’s original name was Yinepu Iwiw and he was a god with a human body and a “dog” head (iwiw actually means dog) and Bastet was the perfect werecat since she is the goddess with either a lioness head or a cat’s head but a human body. I wanted to write a unique shape-shifter story and I hope I’ve succeeded.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write on different stories, even different genres, at the same time. Although this method always puts me at risk of confusing story lines, it absolutely helps keep the ideas fresh and the inspiration flowing for me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kathleen E. Woodiwiss (The Flame and the Flower), Stephen King as Richard Bachman (The Long Walk is still my favorite), Judith McNaught (Whitney, My Love), Johanna Lindsey (Brave the Wild Wind), Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice), and Charlotte Bronte (Jane Eyre). I’m an insufferable romantic.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on compiling my twelve book contemporary romance series, Of Vinegar and Honey – about a mousy caregiver who is assigned to a pompous spoiled playboy who’d become a quadriplegic not knowing that the mousy caregiver he hires actually has the power of healing – into a single novel, and rewriting some scenes to make it less edgy and more romantic. I’m also working on the second book to my “The Girl in the Leather Jacket”, a 4-book YA series with the second book entitled “Illuminatus”; the 2nd book to my 3-book vampire paranormal romance series, “Blood, Lust & Spawns”(entitled Blood Lust), and a stand-alone paranormal erotic romance novel, Earth Angel. So, I’m keeping busy.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My Catharina Shields’ Romantica Blog. I do all my promotion from there through paperback giveaways and hosting blog hops (there’s one now). I then tweet, facebook, and use google + to promote it. Also, for my genre, Bitten by Romance is a wonderful blog site that helps a lot and so is Laurie’s Thoughts & Reviews. I use these two blogs for book reviews of my books and book promotion. Also, Goodreads allows authors to do giveaways and I’ll soon be using it to do a signed paperback + matching bookmark giveaway for “Cursed & Coveted”, most likely this coming week.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what people want to read. This isn’t my advice, really. It’s advice from New York Times and USA Today bestselling erotica author, Selena Kitt, who has won multiple awards for her writing and has sold over a million books. I guess she knows what she’s talking about because she’s clearly good at what she does.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never look at tomorrow with the eyes of today. My big brother gave me that advice once when I was pretty down in the dumps. It helped me out of it.

What are you reading now?
The manuscript for Of Vinegar and Honey. I don’t like reading other books when I’m writing. It kills my inspiration and prevents me from finishing my books to the point that I’d lose inspiration for up to a year!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Learning how to promote my books via advertising. That’s a new concept for me but something, I’ve been told, that’s necessary these days for an indie author/publisher. You can write the next Shakespearean novel, but if no one knows about it it won’t go anywhere, will it?

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 Long Walk; The Flame and the Flower; Whitney, My Love; Pride and Prejudice and I’m going to be just fine!

Author Websites and Profiles
Catharina Shields Website
Catharina Shields Amazon Profile
Catharina Shields Author Profile on Smashwords

Catharina Shields’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Catharina Shields is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name’s Stuart Keane. I’ve been reading books for twenty-five years. I love reading and always had a desire to write and due to recent circumstances, I’ve finally had the chance to start pursuing that dream. The dream came true on April 2.

I’m a debut author. I’ve just released a novella called The Customer Is Always… a suspense thriller which takes a normal, everyday situation and turns it into a tense, pulse pounding game of chance. So far, it has thirteen 5* reviews across Amazon and Goodreads in five days. Not a bad start.

My first full novel, All or Nothing, is due to be released via Kindle (and possibly CreateSpace) in late May 2014. This book is currently with my editor. I’m also working on several new novels and novellas which should be released in due course.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Customer Is Always… was inspired by one particularly tedious shift at my day job. I work in a call centre and for some reason, my brain posed the question about one certain situation…what would happen if a customer called me and threatened me, claiming to have a hostage and started blackmailing the company?

How this would unravel in reality, I don’t know, but it certainly became an interesting idea in my mind. I hope it never happens as it does in the story because I’ve a sneaking suspicion things wouldn’t end well. I think taking normal everyday situations and turning into something more sinister is always going to engage a reader. The more realistic the better.

The story just developed from that shift really. The type of customers that call us varies from friendly to downright rude so that helped me gauge how the call would go. I used my imagination for the remainder since I’ve never had someone call up threatening to endanger someone’s life. I wrote it in two weeks, nurtured it and had it copy edited. I released it and the general reception has been very positive.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
This is probably shared by many authors but I can’t have any background noise. TV and people can’t be around me when I write. I tend to write when my fiancée is at work or asleep. I’ll turn the TV off and hammer on the keyboard for several hours. Music is okay but thankfully I can choose what I listen to. My iTunes has a specific playlist for certain genres. For horror (my default genre) I listen to rock and metal. For thrillers and suspense, I listen to film soundtracks and instrumental music. However I feel I’m more focused and write better in total silence. This can become lonely so I break on every two hour interval. Even when I read books it has to be in total silence.

When I’m not home, I keep a pad on me at all times. You never know when an idea will surface so I’m always prepared. It amuses people when I break out the pad…maybe because it’s from Paperchase and has a fluffy dog on it. My fiancée is very supportive.

I drink loads when I write. Sometimes I’ll go a whole day without eating as long as there is water or Diet Pepsi in the vicinity. I feel preparing food can ruin my concentration and every author knows when you’re in the zone, nothing can/should stop you.

I also strive for 2,000 words a day. Even if it’s garbage (thankfully, this hasn’t happened to me yet, I can always change and reshape something I’ve written) I get it down and it’s there to be built on.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King and Richard Laymon are my two biggest influences. Laymon taught me that horror can be gory but also intelligent, while Stephen King confirmed this and showed that you should write the way YOU want to write.

If your writing is personal to you, it feels more vibrant and more real. I was recently told this about my debut. I feel this was due to my working in that environment. If it’s personal for you the chances are it will flow better.

In recent times, Brett Easton Ellis and Lee Child have influenced me too. I actually met Lee Child a few years ago and he gave me a personal message of good luck. What more did I need to get my writing cap on? I still check my signed copy of A Wanted Man if I get tired or disillusioned with my progress.

I wouldn’t say any specific books have influenced me, apart from Flesh by Richard Laymon and The Shining by Stephen King. Reading these books convinced me I wanted to write horror/suspense novels. I read allsorts of books though so picking a book specifically for one solitary reason would be very tough.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I’ve three novellas in production. They’re bare bone ideas at the moment. One is set in a mysterious town called Herbert (in dedication to another cult favourite of mine, James Herbert), one is about a man on a ledge and the other is the first I hope to release as a collection. The collection is yet untitled. These will be traditional horror stories.

My first full novel, All or Nothing, is due for release in May 2o14. Details can be found on www.stuartkeane.com

My second novel is a personal piece for me. It’s a working title but it details the adventures of a group of boys (based on my childhood) that stumble upon a dark, deadly secret in an abandoned World War II bunker. My third novel is likely to introduce my first reoccurring character…but that’s a while off yet.

I’m always working on ideas at the back of my brain so this could all change slightly until I officially announce what’s next. All or Nothing is first…I’ll take it a step at a time from there.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t think I’ve found one yet. I think self promotion is a patient and long winded process, especially if you’re new like me. I think generating a fan base takes time and it shouldn’t be rushed. I’m slowly building this and its a pleasure to speak to my fellow authors and slowly build a following.

I use Twitter, Facebook and my personal website primarily. They all link to one another so people can read about me, my work and any updates. My site has a blog (which is now linked to Goodreads). Goodreads is new on my list for promotion. I’ve only been a member for a few weeks but the people on here are phenomenal and so friendly. It’s a lot more focused on readers and authors, which Facebook and Twitter lack.

I always say that I’ll help my fellow author. And I do. If an author wants me to read their book and give a review, I can do so as a reader, I feel I’ve had enough practice to keep my writing opinion and reading opinion separate. I use this on Twitter and I follow any author who follows me in return. Same on Facebook. Goodreads peeps, if you add me as a friend and I can help you (read a book, write a review) and I have time, I will happily do so. All I ask is that you return the favour. We’re all in the same boat so spreading the word benefits everyone.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Being a new author myself, the one thing I can recommend is having faith in your work.

I say this because when I was preparing the novella, people said to stick it on Amazon for free. I was like “why?” and they responded to put it into the hands of people first and foremost.

Now, I don’t have a problem with this method and it must work for people to suggest it. However I see so many new authors giving their work away for free. I feel if you think your work is good enough you should be paid for it. At least for a introductory period before giving it away. You wouldn’t go to your day job for free would you?

One more piece of advice is to create your brand. Get a website (with a blog), create a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a Goodreads account. I’ve met so many awesome people through these channels (my editor, proof reader, various authors with invaluable advice). I wouldn’t be here now without them and for a new starter, this can really fill you with confidence. If self-publishing is your thing, this is vital.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
For risk of sounding repetitive, the first is from Stephen King. The other two I picked up along the way.

1. The best ideas stick. This means no matter what, you’ll never forget a good idea. I carry a notepad around with me just in case but I find that a good idea will always stick in my mind, working, developing and building. If it sticks in your mind, you know its a good one. Get it down!

2. Don’t listen to the critics. This is probably sage advice for anyone but if you listen to the critics, it only takes one bad review to kill your confidence. I fell victim to this some years ago when I was trying to get into film and script writing. I got past it and now, no one can shake me. Remember, even the best sellers get bad reviews. You can’t please everyone.

3. Get a second opinion. My fiancée checks my work for basic errors but always ALWAYS seek advice from a professional. Fresh eyes are vital! Twitter is great for this. I met an editor and a proof reader on here, by accident, and they’re amazing. They really helped me improve my craft. A writer is only as good as his editor…or something along those lines. I always thought I might be able to skip this step…DO NOT do this.

What are you reading now?
At the moment I’m working on IT by Stephen King. 1376 pages is taking some time. I’ve always wanted to read this book though. Once this is done, I have Christine lined up for my third read. It’s one of my favourites.

I’m also venturing into my first YA (Young Adult) book with ARV-3 by Cameo Renae. So far, I’m impressed. Cameo has a great presence in her books and a very friendly outlook on Facebook and Twitter. It’s nice to see someone so genuine making it for herself.

I currently balance these between my writing and reading books for fellow authors. Always helping…that’s me!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Promotion.

Publishing my first novella was a dream come true. My aim now is to release a full novel (in May, mark the date) and start getting my work into as many hands as possible. Becoming a full time writer is my dream and achieving this is top of my list.

I have the support of my peers and family and I feel the time has come for me to do this. I’m very passionate and determined to do this (my days are 19 hours long at the moment, 8 for work, 11 for writing) and I know my hard work will pay off. It’s just having the determination to do it and realising my dream is all the motivation I need.

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?
Hmmmm. American Psycho by Brett Easton Ellis, The Stand by Stephen King, Richard Laymon Collection Volume 11 (which contains Quake and Island, funnily enough…that’s not cheating is it?) and…Heartbreak and Triumph by Shawn Michaels (Michael Higginbotham).

This question is too hard, can I bring my Kindle instead? No? Okay.

Author Websites and Profiles
Stuart Keane Website

Stuart Keane’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Stuart Keane is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m from the UK but am now based in Lugano, Switzerland. I’m predominantly a photographer but I also write about current affairs. In particular regarding the Middle East. I have one book, ‘Syria: Refugees and Rebels’ a photo documentary of my time in Syria as well as the refugee camps of Lebanon and Jordan. I’m well traveled and curious about everything. I’m intellectually curious but also mentally lazy. I can be a terrible procrastinator, leaving things to the last minute.

For me life is an adventure, not in the sense that every moment has to be full of excitement but rather it is about discovery. I really do believe in living in the moment, not in some hedonistic way but in the sense of appreciating each moment, to be happy in the moment. So many people say they will be happy when they reach a certain goal but they are so focused on that goal that they forget to be happy in the present. Life can be taken from us so easily. I have been in conflict zones, seen how one minute we are here and the next we can be gone. This is why I appreciate very much the now.

I started my passion with photography when I was 10, I think it was the fascination with being able to capture a moment in time. I got books from the library and taught myself the science behind the art and experimented with what I learnt. It was agony waiting for my pictures to come back from the lab. One of the things photography taught me was how to see light, the realization that when we look at something, we don’t see it directly but rather the light it reflects and is captured by our eyes.

As a writer, I really enjoy looking at things from a different perspective. I am well versed in the Middle East and write about events there but often from a different angle. So often the general media skims over situations or sometimes gets it plain wrong, so I like to try and give more in depth detail. The challenge is that as time goes by people seem to skim read more and more, attention spans are diminishing and most people are more interested in celebrity gossip than actual news. So I try to write in such a way that will get the information across before they lose focus. I think it is a challenge for most writers of serious subjects

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is ‘Syria Refugees and Rebels’ I was inspired to go to Syria last year because I have Syrian friends and they were all telling me that the situation on the ground is not how it is being reported in the news.

I wanted to photo document what I would see and experience. I was in Syria for a month. I then spent another month split between Lebanon and Jordan, visiting refugee camps and following the work of individuals who are trying to help the refugees. I don’t like calling them simply refugees, they are people like you and I but have been overtaken by circumstances beyond their control. They have the same hopes and desires as anybody, to have a home, a job, a family, to be able to live in security and with dignity. When we hear the word refugee nowadays we think of pathetic creatures, dirty, living in mud. So much so that they almost seem less than human. My book is about giving a voice to people who have lost so much but who are no different to you and I.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can’t think of any, I have to be in the mood in order to write and I work much better in the morning. After a couple of hours writing I have had enough and go and do something else.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley and 1984 by George Orwell. I first read these books when I was a kid. I learnt to read when I was 4 and I was less than 10 when I first picked these books up. As time goes by it is interesting to see how those authors were well ahead of their time. The dystopias they created are becoming ever more a reality.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on publicizing my book ‘Syria: Refugees and Rebels’ sales of the book will fund my return to the refugee camps so I can continue telling their stories.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Network, network, network. I also have a pretty strong platform with over 2000 followers of my blog: http://russellchapman.wordpress.com/ and more than 1200 followers of my Facebook page. I also speak at different events. The most recent was at Oxford University, there was an international conference called Refugee Voices and I was invited to show my work and talk about my experience at the closing session.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up if you really believe you have something to say

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I know it is a bit of a cliche but always expect the unexpected. It has been proven true so many times

What are you reading now?
At the moment I’m reading about Charles Bronson a prisoner in England who has spent 28 years of the last 30 in solitary confinement. The way he tells his story is very powerful.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am continuing my work writing about events in the Middle East as well as Russia. There is a lot happening in the world, there is always something to write about. At the moment I’m taking a bit of a break as I am focusing on selling my newly published book but normal writing will continue in the not too distant future

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 the bible. Also a very good survival book, sometimes we need to refresh our memory. A book on the flora and fauna of the place I would be stranded, I would want to know more about my surrounding and what is good to eat. Maybe finally I would take the book Perfume, it is one of the most imaginatively intense books I have ever read.

Author Websites and Profiles
Russell Chapman Website
Russell Chapman Amazon Profile

Russell Chapman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Russell Chapman is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m 20 years old, I’ve written two books( one being Wolfsin VS The Zombies), and I love writing. I sit and listen to the classic rock of the eighties and just write away.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest one is Wolfsin VS The Cyborgs. I have an interest on sci-fi movies. I’m a huge fan of them. Cyborgs are one of the things that gets my attention knowing that technology is very advanced nowadays.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Besides listening to music? I don’t think so? I might read stuff to myself to better my writing as I go.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King has always inspired me. Ever since IT. I’m deeply afraid of clowns so that was a great experience as you can imagine.

What are you working on now?
My third book. I’m not too sure what to call it yet? I’m going to have to wait and see.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far it’s Awesomegang and Twitter. You find readers and writers like you that might be interested in your work.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Pretty much what other legendary authors might say. Don’t stop because the people around you say it’s not worth it. You keep at it if you love doing it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“If God gives you something you can do, why in God’s name wouldn’t you do it?” Stephen King.
This quote is what keeps me going.

What are you reading now?
Stephen King’s The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Not to stop what I enjoy and love to do. I’m going to keep going until I can’t anymore.

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?
On Writing(A Memoir of the Craft) by Stephen King. This one because it’ll keep me sharp on my reading and writing.
Pure Dynamite by Tom “British Bulldog” Billington. This one because it’ll keep me entertained with the fighting and humor.
The Bible. Above all I’ve got to have this one. It’s the one that gives you faith( it’s long not to mention) and has you feeling that your going to be all right.

Author Websites and Profiles
E.R. Willis Amazon Profile

E.R. Willis’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

E.R. Willis is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Vietnam veteran and former international geologist (Africa, Mexico, Brazil) and the author of three “Trace Brandon” novels: Deadly Lode (winner Richard Boes Award), Diamond Fields (winner of Royal Dragonfly grand prize-fiction), and Ruby Silver.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ruby Silver. Inspired by my years as a geologist/CEO of small cap publically-trading mining companies.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t do detailed book outlines. I get and idea, and usually an ending, in mind and write. I do make notes as ideas pop-up as I’m writing. And I give my characters plenty of rein, you’ll be surprised where they’ll take you!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Three authors have had a big influence on me. James Lee Burke, Randy Wayne White, and Wilbur Smith. Especially Burke. I love his style.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on a new series (Hardin Steel novels). The first “Hardin Steel” novel, South of Good, will be out this fall.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website has been a great help, as has LinkedIn. Not so much with Facebook. I also advertise in a number of book-related websites (like Awesomegang.com). I’ve run ads in regional magazines, like Texas Monthly. It’s expensive, but effective. Also, I run ads in Thriller Magazine and similar publications.

I also enter my books in as many contests as I can, and have been fortunate in receiving a number of awards (and the cash prizes aren’t bad either….). Awards are great for publicizing and promoting one’s books (really helps sales).

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Know your subject matter, do your research, write everyday (take weekends off…ha), and hire a good editor!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Let your characters run, you’ll be surprised where they’ll take you.” —Ken Hodgson, award-winning author

What are you reading now?
Nelson DeMille’s, The Gold Coast. And re-reading Hemmingway’s, To Have and Have Not.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to do 2-3 more “Trace Brandon novels, and several “Hardin Steel” novels. Basically, a book a year . . . for as long as I can!

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 James Lee Burke (Neon Rain, Creole Belle, etc.), Shrouds of Glory (Winston Groom), any of the Jesse Stone novels, by Robert B. Parker, and last, but not least, Gold Mine, by Wilbur Smith.

Author Websites and Profiles
Randall Reneau Website
Randall Reneau Amazon Profile

Randall Reneau’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Randall Reneau is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have three books published, Santa Takes a Wife, The Frog Kiss and Her Puzzle. I have two books accepted for publication, and a third with an editor. I have been writing for thirty years, so I have a large backlog of books to submit.

I have two grown daughters and 5 grandchildren. There are two demanding cats, and an English bulldog who acts as a great distraction to my writing, in that he snores really loudly, and every time he snores, I get sleepy and think I should be napping. Not good.

I collect dragons, and at last count had about 300+. There is not a square inch in my house that doesn’t have a dragon. I also collect nativity sets and grow house plants. For years I thought my goal in life was to find the perfect brownie recipe, but I’ve decided there is no singular perfect recipe, it all depends on what I’m in the mood for, but to be honest, I haven’t given up looking just yet.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Dragon’s Tea. It will be coming out April 15th and is the first in a trilogy. It takes place at the Dragon Roost Bed and Breakfast, an Inn which spans several vortexes leading to different worlds. My hero is a dragon who can be a handsome man or a teapot. When he is a teapot he is extremely vulnerable for he cannot change back to his other forms when held in mortal hands. My heroine isn’t sure she believes in dragons, but she runs to the B&B escaping an old boyfriend who she discovers is a murderer. She falls in love with Byron and together they work to defeat an evil wizard.

As for what inspired it, I have always been interested in writing a romance novel where the hero is a dragon. And the book takes place in Au Sable New York, a small tourist town in upstate New York, high in the Adirondack mountains where there is streams and forests and lots of places for elves to hide and wizards to plot. Also there is without a doubt the best chocolate store in the country. The candy store doesn’t play a big part in the novels, but it helps me to stay dedicated to the task, thinking I should go back…do some research.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write when I can. Life is so busy and time goes by so quickly that waiting for the perfect time is never going to happen. But I have some unusual experiences.

When I write I get deeply involved with my characters. My husband has been known to come home and say “How did your day go?” to which I’ve responded, “Lousy, Bryce got picked up at the middle school for selling marijuana.”
And after he agrees how awful that is, he’ll say something like “Do we know a Bryce?”

And once I got published, I asked my adult (married) daughter to read one of my books. She turned a little green and got twitchy. “I can’t read a romance novel from my MOM!”

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’d love to dedicate a book eventually to my sixth-grade teacher Mr. Herman who taught me how to love reading. I can’t remember if he read out loud every day or if it was only once a week, but I hung on every word of those books. Years later I learned they were all Newberry books, but It’s like This, Cat, and Dorp Dead, and books like that are what really got me to feel alive within a story.

As for other authors influencing me, my sister S.L. Kotar is a published author with 6 non fiction books and one fiction (many more coming). Always she was there to support me when it looked like I would never be published.

And there are literally hundreds of books that I have read that I’ve loved, work of other authors, who have inspired me, entertained me, and kept me a firm believer in romance.

What are you working on now?
The book I am working on now is called Yes, Virginia, and is a sequel to Santa Takes a Wife. My hero in Santa Takes a Wife, is Santa. I think I’ve always been in love with Santa. What’s not to love about that? He adores children, he has elves to do much of his work and he always has the exactly perfect gift for each person. Nicholas St. Noel and Beth his bride have a daughter, Virginia, who is the next Santa. Ginny is not sure she’s up to the task, especially when she gets caught delivering presents one Christmas eve by a naked man with a very large gun. Not only does he think she’s in his home to steal, he very much believes she’s involved in a kidnapping.
In order to find out more about her, he invites her to stay in his home for a week to entertain his family. It is then they discover the feelings they have for each other are love.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am very new to this. I have to say this is my first attempt at self-promotion. I like the comprehensive questions and the ease of using this website. I hope all the rest are this easy.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am not one for giving advice, as I said, I am new to this, but given the opportunity, two things immediately come to mind.

The first: Never give up. Never give up. Never, ever give up. (Winston Churchill?)

The second, writing the best book you can and getting lucky enough to get it published is only half the job. If you want your book to be in the hands of readers, then you have to learn the business side of being published. You have to use social media to promote your work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Again, I don’t find this an easy question, but a few things come to mind.

Taking about showing not telling: Don’t put tears in your character’s eyes, put them in your reader’s eyes.

About finishing a book: Don’t be afraid to write a ‘bad’ book. The important thing to do is to get the story down. A scene that doesn’t work can be fixed. A blank page cannot.

On procrastination: Pour yourself a cup of hot coffee (tea, chocolate) and get started writing your scene before you finish.

And obviously, take the time to learn how to self-promote your work if you want it to sell. Writing can be a hobby, but if your a writer, it’s a business and you’re self-employed (even if you have a publisher). Learn the ropes.

What are you reading now?
I finished Dark Witch by Nora Roberts this morning, and I’ve got about a dozen books in my to be read pile, Laurell K. Hamilton, Marjorie M. Liu, Christina Dodd, Sherrilyn Kenyon, Robin D. Owens, to name a few. I also read a lot of YA fantasy/paranormal fiction. There is a lot of great stuff being written for that market.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ve set a self-goal to finish a novel by August, which shouldn’t be too hard if I can keep butt in chair and work, but my priority now is to learn the ins and outs of self-publication. I would like to learn enough to have my Amazon rankings go up. I’m not quite thinking I’ll make the NY Times best seller lists in this lifetime, but I would like to see some of my books sell.

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?
This sounds like a nightmare to me. I’d rather have a hundred books, or my kindle and a good internet connection to download whatever I want. 3 or 4 books would probably take me less than a week.

How long am I going to be stranded?

Actually, if I have my laptop, and a good power source, 3 books might do it, as I find it far easier most days to lose myself in someone else’s writing than my own.

On this desert island.. can I bring a tall dark and handsome man? If that’s the case, I probably won’t need my laptop either.

Author Websites and Profiles
Betsy J. Bennett Website

Betsy J. Bennett is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up with a healthy hatred of needles. I was diagnosed as a diabetic at age five, at a time when the treatment options were minimal at best. For better or worse I was surrounded by a family whose job seemed to be to watchdog me in case I collapsed. At school I was the skinny kid with glasses. I wasn’t interested in sports, which made me a frequent target for bullying.
Frequent moves were a part of my early years. My escape was comic books and old radio dramas. I always seemed to have some artistic ability–it ran in the family–and that naturally led to dabbling in both art and writing. I have always worked, but I had a short career in local journalism in the 80′s before dedicating myself to writing.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled Butterfly and Serpent and deals with the teenage years of a young African girl, Jamai Dlamini. She is gifted in ways she can’t understand, isolated and bullied by her own people. Moreover she is an innocent, a young adult with the mindset of a child who can’t understand the foolish choices people make. She has few friends but among them is Youssou Hadebe, a young man who owes Jamai for a gift she gave to his family that she can barely recall.
I’m finding myself looking for solutions in the Third Way. Most dramas in mass media focus on simplistic resolutions–fight-or-flight, hero-or-coward, kill-or-be-killed. Jamai faces that option and rejects it, choosing her own path. I’m very proud of her for that.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Work. I always find mundane tasks put me in the zone where ideas can percolate. Not that my mind wanders so much I’ll put an axe in my shin–! Sitting at a table at a crowded restaurant or fast-food joint is also oddly conducive to the creative process.You really have to take the opportunity to write wherever you are, even if its on the loo.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As I said I was a comic book freak, and through them I was led to the works of Robert E. Howard. He had a way of painting a vivid action scene in broad strokes that somehow still put you at the center of conflict. Douglas Adams is still a favorite, god rest his irreverent soul, both he and the Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, if only because they were both complete and utter smart-arses. Most recently I’ve been drawn to Jacques Tardi’s graphic novel It Was The War Of The Trenches, a brutal, honest retelling of life in the First World War.

What are you working on now?
The follow-up to Butterfly And Serpent is in progress. At this point I’m calling it Sanity’s Edge. Jamai will be moving out into the world, discovering new experiences and beginning to see that she is not alone in the world after all. First her conflict with enemies old and new will come to a terrifying conclusion, while Youssou will make sacrifices and confront a nemesis he never thought to meet again.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Find a writer’s group that is NOT going to simply pat you on the back and tell you what you want to hear. That won’t help you at all. You need people who share your interests, and are quite willing to tear your beloved works to shreds. Be willing to recognize the flaws they will point out to you and be willing to correct, revise, whatever it takes to make that book shine in the dark.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A long time ago a children’s author described her writing process to our group: stick a piece of paper in the typewriter and stare at it until blood drips on it. Yes, it’s that hard.

What are you reading now?

What’s next for you as a writer?

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 Adventures of Sherlock Holmes & The Return of Sherlock Holmes, both by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
-The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams
-just to have something Beatles, I Me Mine by George Harrison

Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Robbins Website
Michael Robbins Amazon Profile

Michael Robbins’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Michael Robbins is a post from Awesome Gang