Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Barb Caffrey, a writer, editor, and musician. I’ve written three books thus far, AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE (published in April, 2014), ELFY (will be released in April, 2015) and CHANGING FACES (release date TBD), and have co-written two novellas, “A Dark And Stormy Night” and “On Westmount Station,” with my late husband, Michael B. Caffrey. At least four more books are in process right now. I’m also a huge baseball fan, with my favorite team being the Milwaukee Brewers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is also my debut novel, AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE. A dream inspired this novel, actually…my husband and I had returned from a long trip, and I’d read an anthology the night before where the editor claimed her stories about Elves were “not your typical elfie-welfie stuff.” Apparently my subconscious wanted to know what ‘typical elfie-welfie stuff’ was, because a short, dark-haired youngster walked out of my dreams and said, “It’s not like that!” He insisted that Elfys (yes, with a -y and not an -ie) were much different than were being portrayed, or at least that he was, and would I please listen to him?

So, me being me, I proceeded to write down everything he had to say in order to set the record straight.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to listen to 1990s “alternative rock” when I write (Alice in Chains, Nirvana, Stabbing Westward, etc.). Since I’m a trained classical and jazz musician, this has been found exceedingly odd by many, including my late husband. But for whatever reason, this is the music I like to write to, and it does help me get into “alpha state” quicker than anything else.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My late husband, Michael B. Caffrey, was the biggest and most profound influence on me due to his overwhelming belief in me and his patient edits while I was getting up to speed as a writer. I’ve also been influenced by Rosemary Edghill, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel and Stephanie Osborn directly (buy all their books, please!), and the late Grandmasters Andre Norton and Marion Zimmer Bradley indirectly.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m revising CHANGING FACES for its 2015 debut (if all goes well, it will debut on or around Valentine’s Day; if not, it’ll be later in the summer), finishing up the final touches for ELFY (which may be re-titled), which will be coming out in April of 2015, and am working on three novels, two novellas (one in my late husband Michael’s military SF universe) and three short stories at present, including one that merges my love of urban fantasy and baseball in a rather unusual way.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, writing blogs (whether at my own blog site or for others as “guest blogs”) seems to work the best. But I haven’t done a whole lot of promotion as of yet; I’m still getting the hang of this business.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Persist. Keep persisting. Don’t give up on yourself or your talent. And be true to yourself, because the only way to write anything that matters is to be authentic.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Keep writing!” (That, to my mind, denotes enthusiasm. And who am I to stop someone from wanting to read what I’m writing?)

What are you reading now?
Fantasy: CLOSER TO HOME, Mercedes Lackey. This is a nice new release in her long-running Valdemar series featuring Herald/spy Mags and his romantic partner Amily, and it features derring-do and some low-key humor along with a great deal of intrigue (and, of course, Companions).

THE PERILOUS SKY, Sherry Thomas. I enjoy her romances quite a bit; her fantasy thus far is interesting and enjoyable.

THE RIVAN CODEX, by David and Leigh Eddings, mostly for their notes on world building. I find it fascinating.

Nonfiction: I’m finishing up Peter S. Brown’s THE RISE OF WESTERN CHRISTENDOM, 2nd Edition. It’s a fascinating account of the history, mores, and culture between the 4th and 10th centuries, and has given me a great deal of insight into how people lived and worked back then.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to finish up the revisions for CHANGING FACES (a transgendered fantasy/romance featuring classical clarinetists, a huge departure for me) before the New Year, a new short story to try at the Writers of the Future contest (all I can say about that is that it’s going to be a science fiction story; anything else would potentially disqualify me, as they use blind judging), and work on the sequel to the ELFY duology, AN ELFY ABROAD (also featuring Bruno the Elfy and his human companion, Sarah). And, of course, flesh out that baseball/urban fantasy story into a full novel!

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?
NIGHT CALLS, Katharine Eliska Kimbriel. TWO OF A KIND, Rosemary Edghill. MIRROR DANCE, Lois McMaster Bujold. THE DISPLACED DETECTIVE SERIES omnibus, Stephanie Osborn.

Author Websites and Profiles
Barb Caffrey Website
Barb Caffrey Amazon Profile

Barb Caffrey’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Barb Caffrey is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Sean Michael Hayes was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. In his younger years he was a professional skateboarder and broke lots of bones. This is what brought him to America, the skateboarding not the broken bones, where he now lives in Encinitas, CA. He likes to head out into the world on solo backpacking adventures, and when he’s not coaching younger professionals skateboarders he’s doing something like diving with great white sharks in South Africa or living with a shaman in the Peruvian Jungle. In the last 18 months he has traveled to Spain, South Africa, Thailand, Peru, and about a dozen more countries.

This is gives him a diverse social and cultural understanding; the foundation for dynamic and thoughtful literature. His experience with travel, elite sports, global marketing, and social media all compliment his transition into the literary world.

Sean’s soon to be released books are antipated by thousands of fans he built off the launch of his Kickstarter campaign

Sign up here for discount deals coming soon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Five Weeks in the Amazon is based on my true story of going to live with a shaman in Peru… Here is my introduction..

Introduction

Last year I wanted to kill myself. It wasn’t the first time—that happened back when I was seventeen and ran away from home. I have a great family, so I didn’t go too far, but I just felt so miserable I didn’t know who else to blame. If only they could understand what I’m going through, I thought—but of course they couldn’t understand. I didn’t understand it myself. All I knew was that it didn’t feel right to be alive.

When I was a teenager I fell in love with skateboarding. I was good, too—good enough to be the first Canadian to be featured on the cover of our national skateboard magazine twice in one year. Sometimes I blame myself for not pursuing my career further. Maybe I did sustain too many injuries, or I might not have been talented enough to be great, but the truth is, during my early twenties when I should have been proud and confident of my achievements, I didn’t have enough energy to focus on skateboarding. I was too confused by the amount of pain I was in every day. The first doctor told me what I was going through was normal, that my depression would get better with medication. The next doctor didn’t help me any more than the first, misdiagnosing me with Bipolar Disorder. I started doubting everything to do with mental health treatment.

The problem was that I never trusted the way the anti-depressants (Prozac, Wellbutrin, Zoloft) or mood stabilizers (Lithium) made me feel. If I was ever happy, I didn’t know if the feeling was authentic or if it was a byproduct of taking my little “happy pill.”

Feeling unsure about my future as a skateboarder, I transitioned into a managerial role within the skate world. I planned, drove, and did skateboard demonstrations with 12 other skaters across the entire country, and started feeling pretty good about myself. To help my depression, I began seeing an acupuncturist who, I guess you could say, began seeing me as well (she started it: I was just lying on the table when she climbed on top of me). I moved to California and started managing higher-profile pro skateboarders like Ryan Sheckler, Danny Way, and Paul Rodriguez. I stopped taking my meds.

When I was 24, I met the president of the Dominican Republic when I organized the first team of pro skaters to ever visit the country. We had a 30-person MTV staff filming the whole thing for Sheckler’s show, Life of Ryan. The next year, I was flown first class to Tahiti. We got to stay in those fancy over-water bungalows and the president of that country flew us in his private jet to Bora Bora. That year, I made a six-figure salary.

However, by 26, I had nothing. I mean nothing. I denied that I had any mental health issues, instead blaming my unhappiness on my job, my relationships, living in Venice Beach, the traffic, the people—I blamed everything and everyone but myself. I turned to drinking more and taking drugs more often. I lost all sense of financial responsibility and never made it past living paycheck to paycheck. I was fired from my job just after Christmas that year.

I came up with an idea, though, a career no one had thought of before. I was going to become the first person to coach professional skateboarders. At first people thought it was absurd: why would skateboarders need coaches? But I believed that just like in most sports, good coaching could directly improve performance.

I had known Ryan Sheckler since we competed together in a contest called Slam City Jam, and our friendship grew when I was his team manager. After he broke his ankle in the finals of the 2009 X-Games, I told him I wanted to help him make a comeback. He hired me to coach him while he prepared, and with my help, he won the 2010 gold medal.

The next athlete I worked with, Aldrin Garcia, won the Guinness World Record for the highest Ollie. Not only did he break a record that had been untouched for 15 years, he did it after being air-lifted to the hospital with a concussion and a broken jaw two weeks earlier. I’m most proud of that one.

In 2012, Red Bull hired me to work with Ryan Decenzo, another top professional skateboarder. That year, he went into the finals for the NBC Dew Tour in second place, needing to beat Paul Rodriguez for the overall championship. Ryan won the championship, decimating Paul and every other competitor.

I was successful again, but my personal life was still a disaster. You would have thought I learned my lesson when I married a Dutch model after only knowing her for one month. But I didn’t. During all the successes, and especially during the failures, I kept coming back to the feeling of wanting to die. I didn’t hate my life. I hated how much it hurt to be alive.

I had stopped taking medication years before and convinced myself that if I just worked out a little more, or ate a little healthier, or found a more fulfilling job, then maybe I would be happy. But this never happened, and I was tired of waiting. Leaving everything behind to find answers and adventure, I went to the Amazon jungle to live with a shaman and figure out a way to fix myself.

Let me tell you about the trip that saved my life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes! I wake up before the sun, and when I’m writing my best it’s in a foreign country with a notepad and most importantly, a fountain pen! (my favorite is the Schaeffer Delta grip)

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love philosophy classics, some of my favorites include: Plato’s “diaglogues”, Michele de Montaigne, “Essays”, and Jean-Paul Sartre “Existentialism is a Humanism”

What are you working on now?
Just getting everything ready to publish my first book Dec. 2!!!! Every day I feel like I’m about to puke!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I used Kickstarter to raise $5000, which for me was as good as getting an author advance!

I also like Twitter, I’ve persobnally connected with some of my biggest heroes on there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
“The difference between someone who is an author and someone who is not is this – An author has written a book” Not sure who said it, but I like it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“write for the wastebasket”

What are you reading now?
My own book, over and over and over and over and over (editing)…

What’s next for you as a writer?
Thailand, January 17th. I have a secret new project

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
one steinbeck, one hemingway, one plato, – Existentialism is a humanism

Author Websites and Profiles
Sean Michael Hayes Website
Sean Michael Hayes Amazon Profile

Sean Michael Hayes is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a 23 year old, creative incarnated at this time, to write stories about our evolution. I’ve written 14 books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
LILYRED, it took my 3 years to write, and the album, “Watch the Throne” by Jay Z & Kanye West inspired it

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a chain smoker, I enjoy flipping around, and singing at the top of my lungs. It helps me sort out through the bullshit and get my great ideas. I have a movie playing, an album playing, and interviews, and somehow in all that chaos, I can write.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I consider authors, to be curates of the written language, that goes for Musicians as well.

Amiri Baraka, Langston Hughes, Richard Wright, Maya Aneglou, Tupac Shakur, Shawn “Jay Z” Carter, Christopher “Nortorious B.I.G” Wallace, Andre 3000, Kanye West, Kid Cudi, Frank Ocean, Mark Twain, George Orwell, Shakespeare.

What are you working on now?
Can’t say, just wait on it…

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The best form of promotion in my experience is word of mouth, and twitter is the biggest gossip site we have, spread a rumor of good book, its sure to spread.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write what scares you, write what you feel, stop trying to fit in when a system that’s old tired and dying, fuck what they say about you, create what you feel, and then have the balls to put it out

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A Great man once said, “I don’t care what people think, cause people don’t think” that statement has stuck with me ever since, and though it wasn’t direct advice, it holds a special place in my development as a writer and a man.

What are you reading now?
Whatever happened to Daddy’s little Girls by Jonetta Rose Barras

What’s next for you as a writer?
Mars!!!!

I’m the evolution, F. Scott Fitzgerald meets Aleister Crowely. With the soul of Amiri Baraka and Langston Hughes

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’ll let you know, when I publish a few more books…
Cause all I’d care to read is me.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kewalnam Christ Website
Kewalnam Christ Amazon Profile

Kewalnam Christ’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Kewalnam Christ is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
14 books 4 series : Rule Series- Contemporary Romance suspense, Hypnotic Journey- Paranormal Fantasy, Archangel- Paranormal, Treborel- SciFi Romance

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Power of His Touch, Archangel Book 2 is about the Archangel Raphael, the healer. Rafi discovers a demon plot to release a pandemic in a large metropolitan city. Disguised as an agent of the World Health Organization as the pandemic spreads, Rafi searches for the source. He meets a young biochemist name Sophia at the center of the pandemic. Rafi is quickly torn between his divine mission and his feelings for Sophia. Dare he balance both with millions of lives at risk?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have 7 children and a full time day job. I write in spurts when I have a free moment with my laptop perched on my lap sitting in my recliner. It’s utter chaos!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.R.R. Tolkien, Terry Brooks, Stephen King, R.A. Salvatore

What are you working on now?
The Power of His Touch is in progress. It will be released in January 2015 and is currently available for pre-order on Amazon, Itunes and Smashwords. I love the Archangel Series, it’s a post apocalyptic Angels vs demons saga. It’s a tale of Archangels wondering the earth since the beginning of time protecting mortals from evil and keeping Satan in line as everyone waits for the end of days. No one, not even an archangel can predict how the future will play out due to the aspect of free that enables everyone to choose their path. Those choices have an effect on when and how the end of days comes to pass.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and Twitter have been my greatest tools however I am constantly searching for new and affordable venues. As my book sales increase I am increasingly able to afford a more professional approach.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write and write, then edit the crap out of it and write some more. Do it because you love to tell a story, not because you want to make a million bucks.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The first book of every series should always be free.

Proof readers are critical, get a group of family and friends together and beg them to read your book and offer edits and advice.

If you can afford a professional editior DO IT!

What are you reading now?
Damned Summer by Scott Weaver it’s an incredible story of good vs. evil in a much darker setting than I write. I find his character’s earthy and fascinating.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have so many stories waiting to be written. My goal is to work full time as a writer in 2015. I’m getting very close to that. I hit 300,000 book sales in October. Wahoo!

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, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin and Terry Brooks Shannara Series. One for strength and courage, the other for entertainment and to spur my imagination.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alaina Stanford Website
Alaina Stanford Amazon Profile
Alaina Stanford Author Profile on Smashwords

Alaina Stanford’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Alaina Stanford is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have a total of 20 titles, both in print and e-book format, many available for free download at Smashwords. I am a native Georgian living in Atlanta, GA, staff to one feline.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Nero’s Fiddle is my latest book. It is about an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States. Captain Beverly Mossberg must get to Washington, DC on foot to assassinate the terrorist before he strikes again.

I was listening to One Second After by William Forschten on audiobook. This book brought the EMP attack down to a community level. As I listened, I began to visualize my own version of an EMP attack on the United States with women heroes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?

James Rollins was very influential for my writing of Nero’s Fiddle. I enjoy the action in his Sigma Force series coupled with historical facts. Dean Koontz also influences me with his use of description as well as real and timely events in his novels.

What are you working on now?
A science fiction series set on another planet.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter seems to work best for me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Build a following before you publish your first book.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t take yourself so seriously.

What are you reading now?
The Devil Colony by James Rollins.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Completing the series and more writing. I have 16 novels in my queue waiting to be 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?
By the Light of the Moon, One Door Away From Heaven, both by Dean Koontz. Bloodline and Eye of God by James Rollins.

Author Websites and Profiles
Pen W Website
Pen W Amazon Profile
Pen W Author Profile on Smashwords

Pen W’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Pen W is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Marc Estes is a two-time winner of the Vermont Playwright’s Award for his plays, What Would Dickens Do? and Glass Closets in 2010 and 2011. What Would Dickens Do? also won the 2012 Robert J. Pickering Award for Playwriting Excellence.

His play, Gumbo (adapted from the short story by Charles Huckelbury) was a finalist in the 2011 Safe Streets Arts Foundation Short Play Competition and was presented at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.

His play The Practice of Killing (co-written with Robert Johnson and adapted from the short story by Mr. Johnson) has been published in the Spring 2013 edition of Tacenda Literary Magazine.

His Play Glass Closets won the 2013 Robert Chesley Award. Attaining this award earned him the Artist In Residence Grant from the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation in Taos, New Mexico in 2014.

Early in 2014 Marc Estes proudly presented his debut novel, Four Pieces For Power: Book One of the Vendicatori. This marks the first in a series of Vendicatori novels developed by Mr. Estes. Rekindle The Flame: Book 2 of the Vendicatori will be released in early 2015.

In September of 2014, his play, Going Home, was presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC as part of the the Page To Stage Festival.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Vendicatori Series, started out as a high school writing project. I started writing Four Pieces For Power as an exercise in character development and it grew from there. In college I continues to develop it, and turned it into what it is today.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I think my most unusual habit is the lack of a written outline. I know where the story is going to start and end, but most of what comes in between is developed as I go along. I like to just free write and let the characters tell me where the story goes next. It makes for a more interesting story and it always seems to come together in the end for me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As most of my writing career has been in plays, I would have to say Shakespeare is an influence. I also like Dickens, Koontz, Faulkner and Joseph Campbell.

What are you working on now?
Currently I am finishing up the final draft of Rekindle the Flame. This is book two of the Vendicatori series. I hope to have it out by Feb or March 2015. It is a thrilling follow up to Four Pieces For Power.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, I have found Goodreads and Goodkindles to be the most effective promotion tools, but I am also finding a whole new set of websites out there like Awesomegang that I hope will prove even more effective.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep writing. Even when you get writer’s block, keep writing about something new. You will be amazed at the new ideas that will come forward, all while you continue to improve your craft.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep Writing. See above

What are you reading now?
I’m actually reading Anne Rice’s new book. I was thrilled to see her get back to what she does best.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am continually developing further ideas for the Vendicatori Series and I’ve started work on another series called 33. I am also continuing my play writing, and seeking out productions.

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 Alienist by Caleb Carr, The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens, My Antonia by Willa Cather, and the Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

Author Websites and Profiles
Marc Estes Amazon Profile

Marc Estes’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Marc Estes is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Kadashan’s Christian name is Bertrand J. Adams, Sr. He is of Tlingit decent from Yakutat, Alaska a village in the northern panhandle of southeast Alaska. He was given his birth name, Kadashan, by his grandmother who named him after her father, Kadashan, who was a Tlingit leader from Wrangell, located on the southern end of the panhandle. The elder Kadashan, as a young man, traveled a lot in the southern end of Alaska and was one of the guides to world traveler and naturalist, John Muir. He, Sitka Charlie and Toyetta took Muir from one end of the panhandle to the other all the way to Glacier Bay. In his later years, even though he was known by historians as Chief Kadashan, he eventually became known as a “peacemaker.” because of his knowledge of culture and leadership abilities. Kadashan means “red tide coming.”

Modern day Kadashan began writing when he was in college. He was encouraged to write by his creative writing instructor. Twenty years later his retired teacher visited him, read the stories he had stored all these years in a drawer and persuaded him to publish his short stories. Eventually he was discovered by the Alaska Native Magazine; the publisher and owner of the magazine, began to feature his short stories and his water color paintings. Shortly afte,r he began writing articles and essays for the now defunct Tundra Times, a statewide Alaska Native newspaper. His commentaries dealt with Indian politics and tribal governments. Eventually he was under contract with the Juneau Empire and wrote a monthly column for the Capital city’s statewide paper for six years. He tweaked these essays and self published a book, which is now on Amazon called the Laws of Nature and Nature’s God, Our lives our Liberties, our pursuit of Happiness from a Native American Perspective. Kadashan has the short story collection he drafted while in college in eBook on Amazon. The stories are illustrated with his own water color paintings.

Kadashan Speaks, Legal Plunder is now republished after he took it off Amazon last year. He brings it forth again because he believes is it the signs of the times.

When Raven Cries is a novel in paperback. It is out of print now but Kadashan is working to have it in digital form on Amazon before Christmas. He is presently working on another novel and a non-fiction book about the history and culture of his clan from his ancestral roots from the Akwe River near Yakutat. He expects to have more short non-fiction pieces like Kadashan Speaks in the future.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Kadashan Speaks, Legal Plunder. The issues and events that are taking place in our federal government has enabled me to take this book off the shelf, dust it off and bring it before for the public again. It is time that America understand what legal plunder really is and how it is being utilized right under our noses and before our very eyes.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write early in the mornings before my wife get out of bed and destroys the rest of the day. Sometimes I have to force myself to write on a regular basis. I have abandoned the idea that I sometimes have “writer’s block.” Oftentimes I work on a project without an outline, and have learned that an outline is almost required if I want tot go from beginning to end.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I liked John O’Hara’s short stories and John Steinbeck. Douglas H. Thayer’s short stories Under the Cottonwoods have helped me with style and character building.

What are you working on now?
I am working a novel, Of the Dying Years, and a no-fiction about my Native American ancestral roots. I am updating my novel When Raven Cries for eBook. I like to keep my website updated regular.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook, Twitter, Awesome Gang, my personal website, Buy Alaska.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read, research and write a lot.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just .write

What are you reading now?
My sons novel The House of the Frog.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Write a lot of more short pieces for Kadashan Speaks

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 2000 Year Leap, First Things First, Under the Cottonwoods.

Author Websites and Profiles
Bertrand Adams Website

Bertrand Adams is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
For the most part, I’m an adventure seeking farmboy who loves to read and write. So far I’ve written three novellas and I’m publishing my second novel early in December, 2014. They all belong to the Twinfinity series and are about a blind and deaf girl who can see and hear through her brother’s eyes. Both of them were born on another world and had to be born on this one to capture a fugitive from where they originated.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Prim and a Prophet is the follow up to Nethermore and the series was originally inspired through a desire to write a series concerning a pair of twins who originated from another dimension. As the story progressed and went through rewrites it morphed quite a bit and became what it is today.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I never write the antagonist scenes during the original first draft. I always go back through and add them as a part of the editing process.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As I think about the Twinfinity series I can see so many different influences within it, that it is almost impossible to point them all out. I can see how my subconscious mind has cherry picked things from Star Wars, Harry Potter, Avatar, The Dark Tower, and many other books and movies that I love. I’ve always been a fan of stories, whether on the big screen or books, and many little tidbits from those influences make it into my writing.

What are you working on now?
I’m going through A Prim and a Prophet one last time to make sure I haven’t missed anything. It is due out in a week and will be Available on December 1st.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far my entire promotional approach is centered around offering free titles. I haven’t had any luck with any other kind of promotion whatever, but through free promotions my titles have reached more than 30,000 readers in one form or another. I think giving my stuff away is a form of showing readers, rather than telling them. They expect me to say my work is good, so showing them seems to be more effective.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think there is a false expectation from new authors. I’ve corresponded with many authors who believe that now that they’ve written a book, they will make tons of money and all of their financial woes will be solved. It’s not that easy and if I could deliver any message to an author its, “write because you love it,” because in the beginning that’s about all you’ll get from it. It takes years to develop a solid platform and if you don’t have the patience to build it, it’ll never be built. It almost never happens that an author published something and has instant success. Those may be the stories we here, but the reason we hear them is because they are so rare.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write, write, write!

After publishing Twinfinity: Nethermore, I thought I was supposed to sell it to a certain number of people before I began volume 2. I did spend some time writing the novellas that told more of the stories, but I put off starting the second volume. This was a huge mistake on my part. All I accomplished was delaying the publishing of that novel, and having more than one work published is a huge benefit that I was missing out on. I didn’t realize how many more opportunities I had by having multiple works published. Even if the first one wasn’t selling a thousand copies per week, having two still made good business sense, and the only thing better than two, would be three.

What are you reading now?
Found by Brenda Lee Harper.

What’s next for you as a writer?
For now I’m going to keep going with my series. There is still quite a bit left to it, and unless I get burned out on the series, I’m going to keep going.

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 or four isn’t enough, but if I could only pick three, they would be The Stand by Stephen King, and Hunger Games trilogy.

Author Websites and Profiles
Chris Podhola Website
Chris Podhola Amazon Profile
Chris Podhola Author Profile on Smashwords

Chris Podhola’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Chris Podhola is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Dr. Asif Chowdhury is an Doctorate of Business Administration from University of South Australia, as already been entitled as a Corporate Coach, having 15-years of experiences in the field of Business Administration. Ended up teaching career as an Associate Professor and shift to the corporate world once again with an intention of creating BUZZ with his innovative new wake-up calls that can reflect positively in the path-way of any corporate!

Dr. Chowdhury has managed to write many international journal articles and conference proceedings along with his comprehensive experience in working in leading MNCs like St. George Bank, ANZ Bank, ICT Company, DHL, AIT, Solinfo France etc. during beginning his career and right now. He is also a member of many world renowned bodies, namely ICF [International Coach Federation], ICF Research CP, CTI [Coach Training Institute], Woodthrope Wright Associate, Arrowad Panel Coach, etc.

Right now, Dr. Chowdhury is fully focusing on Corporate Coaching, Leadership Development, Business Analysis and Review with full interest.

Dr. Chowdhury’s areas of specialism are:

1. Metaphor for self-growth

2. Perspective mirroring

3. Diving into a transformation

Dr. Chowdhury’s philosophy is:

Corporate excellence lies upon the amalgamation of self-growth [for executives/ employees] and sharing-growth [for the employer]. The philosophy is to extract, emerge and enhance these growths into a transformation of skills within an active mode of operation in work-life. Ultimately it helps an executive to become a self-sufficient, smoothly-driven, situation-tackler among mass to carry the legacy of success with productivity and efficiency.

So far I have written and published two books:

Corporate Coaching: a new wake-up call!!!: Extracting, emerging and enhancing corporate responsibilities into a transformation of SKILLS within an active mode of operation in work-life.

Series: Professional Executives

Paperback: 208 pages

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; First edition (January 4, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1493559613

ISBN-13: 978-1493559619

@ 7 on 77 about 77: 77 REAL Learning from Corporate Life Experience!

Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (November 19, 2014)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1503013774

ISBN-13: 978-1503013773

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
@ 7 on 77 about 77

@ 7 am on continuous 77 days a self-assessment question was asked: “how’s my yesterday? what did I learn from yesterday?”

77 Learning identified and now sharing with you all!
77 REAL Learning from Corporate Life Experience!

All the employees in today’s world seeking training to gain knowledge and skill and applying them into their work place to accelerate their performances and enrich their career path. How far really they can learn and lead to live? Unless, learning comes from the Real Experience, how long does it sustain in human mind?

Here, in this book, I am going to share my Real Work Place Experiences and Learning in a Metaphor and Advisory flavour, hopefully will match with millions heart; at least will be glad and satisfy if this can transform even one’s life!

The strategy of using this book is not to read, read and read; but read and lead; in another way of saying Look and Learn with a Charm and then Implement to gain Compliment!!

All good wishes of mine for you!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, not really.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Self!

What are you working on now?
Leadership Skill Development Process Mapping

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Any reputed sites.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be yourself among others!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Wake-up!

What are you reading now?
Leadership Journal reviews.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Leadership 2020

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?
Simple two books of mine!

Author Websites and Profiles
Dr. Asif Chowdhury Website
Dr. Asif Chowdhury Amazon Profile

Dr. Asif Chowdhury is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., but grew up in St. Petersburg, Fla. I graduated from the University of South Florida (Tampa) in 1979 with a B.A. in Journalism. I now lives in South Carolina near the Blue Ridge Mountains, a pleasant setting for writing, to say the least.

I was an award-winning journalist at the St. Petersburg Times for twenty-five years. I am married with five daughters.

I have written nine novels and am halfway through a 10th.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest published book is titled Healed by Hope. It is the sixth and final installment of The Death Wizard Chronicles, my six-book epic fantasy for mature audiences published by Bell Bridge Books.

I wrote my first novel when I was 21 years old and Jimmy Carter was president. Sarah’s Curse was an artsy murder mystery bursting with passion and intensity. I shopped it around to various publishers and got no bites, but I wasn’t particularly concerned at the time. It’s usually the second or third novel that hits it big, right? So I went about the business of writing my second book.

At this point in my life, I was in love with J.R.R. Tolkien (and still am), so I decided that my second novel would be a high fantasy. My roiling imagination gave birth to a character named Torg, and he was to be king of a band of desert warriors called Tugars. I made up these names just because they sounded cool.

Needless to say, I was full of zest and excitement — but not necessarily of worldliness or maturity. Over the next several years, every time I sat down to write about Torg I’d get a few pages in and then hit a wall. Each time, my excuse was that I was just too busy. I already was married, raising a family, and working a challenging job at a big newspaper. That’s a lot for any young person to handle, right?

Years turned into decades. As I said, I wrote my first novel at 21. It wasn’t until age 45 that I wrote my second one. And my how things had changed over the course of that time. George Bush now was president, for one thing. I was remarried and had five daughters, the youngest three of whom were adopted from Cambodia. But most importantly, at least as far as my writing career was concerned, I finally had developed the worldiness and maturity to bring Torg and the Tugars to life at the level of quality they deserved. After almost 25 years of starts and stops, The Death Wizard Chronicles was born for real. I wrote the first page of Book 1 in September 2004. Almost 700,000 words later, I wrote the last word of Book 6 in late 2007.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am very disciplined about writing every day, rain or shine, sick or on vacation. I’m not the type who can pound out 10,000 words in a day, but I do consistently write 1,000 or more each day.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. The Game of Thrones series by George R.R. Martin. The Thomas Covenant series by Stephen Donaldson. The Book of the Malazan Fallen by Steven Erikson. And all things Stephen King.

What are you working on now?
I am writing a book about a series of dragon wars that nearly decimates a planet. It will be called Bhayatupa the Great. I’m about 50K words in, thus far.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I find Twitter to be my best promotional device. It’s the only venue where you don’t anger people by over-promoting.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t wait for the muse to strike. Set a schedule and stick to it. Learn as much about the craft of writing as you can. Do your research! And finally, write from the heart.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be afraid to write crap during your first draft. You can always revise.

What are you reading now?
The Last Dark by Stephen Donaldson.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have written the first book of a young adult epic fantasy series. Once I have written the dragon book mentioned above, I plan on finishing the young adult series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien. Rabbit, Run by John Updike. Anything by Stephen King.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jim Melvin Website
Jim Melvin Amazon Profile
Jim Melvin Author Profile on Smashwords

Jim Melvin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Jim Melvin is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I used to work in IT and owned a number of companies, but also worked for various corporates. When I was retrenched in June 2013, I opted to retire at age 55 rather than look for another job.

Retired is maybe not the right word, because now I only do the things I love. I would now describe myself as an author, tutor, life coach and blogger.

While I was still working, I experimented with writing and wrote a book on Excel aimed at beginners. Later, I turned to fiction and wrote 2 Science Fiction / Fantasy books. I realized that writing fiction was not my real passion and turned back to nonfiction.

I subsequently wrote 3 Personal Development books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Power of Habit: be Efficient in Everything you do” This is the third book in a 3 part series.

My personal mission statement for the last 20 odd years is “Helping people grow to become the best they can be.”

While I have always done this within my immediate circle of influence – at work, at home and within my social circles, I wanted to reach wider. Writing books to help people grow gives me a bigger audience that I can help.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m what is called a panser – I write off the seat of my pants. I never outline before I start a book, and while I’m writing, I have no idea how the end product is going to hang together, and the writing isn’t done in any particular order.

I simply bang out ‘random’ pieces on the computer. At first, these pieces often don’t seem to relate, but somehow everything comes together and flows in the end.

I also find that I don’t sit still and write for hours at a time. While I’m writing, I get up often, make a cup of coffee, go for a walk or even work in the garden. My mind is however churning furiously and if you were to talk to me during one of these ‘breaks’, it’s likely that I won’t even hear you.

When I sit down behind the keyboard again, this churning of my brain crystallizes and becomes a new chunk of writing that makes sense.

I’ve noticed that I’m doing exactly that while I’m writing this interview.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first was Stephen Covey’s “Seven Habits of Highly Effective People”. In that, I discovered why I was doing what I was doing. It also gave me the framework that I could teach my kids.

More recently, Jeff Olson’s “The Slight Edge” has had a big impact. I give a free copy of this book to all my new Life Coaching clients.

I read on average 100 books per year. Each one of these shapes and develops me in some way. The effects are however not always as pronounced as the specific titles mentioned.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson said: “I cannot remember the books I’ve read any more than the meals I have eaten; even so, they have made me.”

What are you working on now?
I have recently completed the final draft of “Act, and Build the Life you want”. It will be released in January 2015.

I am very excited about this book. Personally, I think it’s my best work to date.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My email list.

I’ve read and applied Tim Grahl’s “Your first 1000 copies”, and am currently busy with the follow on course.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Realize that writing is a craft. As such, it takes hard work and many hours, weeks, months and even years of practice to get really good at it. You can’t simply sit down, jot down a few thousand words, and then expect to have a best seller on your hands.

Believe in yourself. If you know deep down inside of yourself that writing is what you love doing, keep at it. Don’t let others keep you from reaching your dream. See every obstacle and ‘failure’ as an opportunity to learn and get better.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If it is to be, it’s up to me.

What are you reading now?
“Pathfinder” by Orson Scott Card.

What’s next for you as a writer?
“Act, and Build the Life you want” is the first part of a 3 part series. I’m not 100% sure what the next 2 books are about. My brain is working on the detail in the background, and when it tells me, I’ll let you know

I’ve also started working on converting the knowledge contained in “Act, and Build the Life you want” to an online course. That should be up and running within the 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?
Can’t I take my Kindle with please?

In the words of Neil Gaiman – “Picking five favorite books is like picking the five body parts you’d most like not to lose.”

Author Websites and Profiles
Eddie de Jong Website
Eddie de Jong Amazon Profile

Eddie de Jong’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Eddie de Jong is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Paul was born in 1957 in Zimbabwe, which was then known as Rhodesia.

His family moved to South Africa in 1966, where he completed his schooling at Kingsway Senior High School in Amanzimtoti.

He did his two years National service as an Ops Medic, wanting to follow his heart and study medicine, but life got in the way.

He has two children from a previous marriage, and is at the moment married to the love of his life who is responsible for the book you are about to read, as without her it would never have happened.

She inspired me, and supported me in this venture in every way possible, and because of that, I dedicate this book to my loving wife Lucie for believing in me.

I also dedicate this to my Mother for her ongoing support, and encouragement.

Thank you, Mom.

I started writing late in life, after being unemployed for two years and looking for something to keep me occupied. I have always had a story to tell, so I took to it like a duck to water. The Blood Trilogy started as a short story and then took on a life of its own, with Blood Moon Over Africa being my first venture into writing, Blood Spoor in the Dark just followed on, with Blood Demon – Revenge just happening, like a water tap being opened.

I just think that I have been blessed.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest offering is titled “The Devil in Eden” and I got my inspiration for the story from my love for Africa, and the bush. The term “man-eater” always strike fear into the hearts of locals that live in the surrounding area that the big cat patrols, so with my dark imagination I take the reader into the dark of the night when the hunter becomes the hunted.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I spend about 14 hours a day writing. I keep a diary next to my bed and if I wake up with an idea, I end up making notes in the middle of the night.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Edgar Rice Burroughs as a kid. I collected the whole works of his Tarzan, but no other books have had any influence on what I write.

What are you working on now?
Marketing my work and hoping to make a living.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Believe in yourself, because if you don’t, no-one else will

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Sit down and write your story.

What are you reading now?
David Baldacci : The Forgotten

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have been asked to write a screenplay for my Blood Moon Over Africa.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
How to survive on a Desert Island

War and Peace,,,,depending on how long I would be stranded

The Stand by Stephen King

Paul Zunckel’s Social Media Links

Twitter Account

Paul Zunckel is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I am Canadian; born and raised. I have a Bachelor of Commerce degree from MacEwan University, for which I am still trying to find a practical application for. My niche in this world still eludes me. I have bounced from half-baked ideas of becoming a forensic pathologist (cut short when the option for attending an autopsy came up and I rather quickly decided maybe that wasn’t for me), a member of a rock band (sadly, none of us could play instruments or sing, not that it’s a requirement these days…) and many more.

This Would Be Paradise is my first completed book, which has started a chain reaction of one-too-many book ideas dancing around in my head. I plan on wrangling in these ideas and making full fledged books from them. So keep an eye out on the horizon for more works to come!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This Would Be Paradise and my love of anything zombies inspired me to write my own tale.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have to write in chronological order. I cannot bounce back and forth or even keep going if I see that d**n Microsoft Word red squiggly.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the Novels From the Nightside series by Simon Green. I even paid homage to his books in my own novel (try and see if you can spot it!).

What are you working on now?
This Would Be Paradise Book 2

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Wattpad hands down!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write for yourself.

What are you reading now?
Damned by Chuck Palahniuk

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to keep on writing until I run out of ideas, then write some more.

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?
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk

Any Novels From the Nightside books by Simon Green

The Stupidest Angel by Christopher Moore

Apocalypse of the Dead by Joe Mckinney

Author Websites and Profiles
N. D. Iverson Website
N. D. Iverson Amazon Profile

N. D. Iverson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

N. D. Iverson is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Texas and now live in Colorado. My passion for writing began with the 1996 Paul Gillette Memorial Writing Contest. I won 1st Place in Historical Romance, was offered a book deal but turned it down. I have since published my first book with Amazon, “Magical Essentials”, The Magical Beautifying Properties of Essential Oils.

My personal mission is to inspire and educate more than 1 Million women to take control and achieve true health by correcting their rapid rate of aging and underlying causes of their health problems instead of being stuck relying on hormone disrupting over-the-counter toxic products that negatively impact bodily functions while their health and beauty continues to fade.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My one book to date is Magical Essentials: The Magical Beautifying Properties of Essential Oils. I couldn’t figure out why my effort to age beautifully wasn’t happening. With Essential Oils I turned back the clock 20 years and have never been healthier. This is what I wanted to share, so I did by writing this book! My message? Learn the shocking truth about over-the-counter beauty creams and don’t let these toxins anywhere near your skin!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I sit down and write. It’s that simple because I have so much to say. My time is consumed with research, editing, and marketing; the hard stuff.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My passion influenced me to share information of value because it meant so much to me; sharing my experiences and knowledge gained by them. I want all women to know what is happening to them by using toxic beauty products. It didn’t take long to discover that I had been wasting money on dangerous and ineffective over-the-counter skin creams. Worse yet was to discover these creams were toxic cocktails that accelerated aging! Most women are clueless and allowing themselves to be fooled by the multi-million dollar beauty industry. This discovery encouraged me to write this book, to reveal the shocking truth about them.

What are you working on now?
Makeup is just as toxic … my interest is in exposing the truth about these products also and providing women with a healthy, anti-aging alternative.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Marketing is the hardest part of a book to achieve. You can write, edit, and publish all day long, but if there isn’t an audience … well, need I say more. I’m doing what all authors do – I’m on all social media sites and groups, provide content and engage, have a website, submit free book promos, interviews, have author profiles. I’d like to know the best method. Can you enlighten me?

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Absolutely! Anything can be achieved if there is desire. Just do it if that’s what you want to do. You will learn, over time, what is needed in this industry to succeed. Everything else will fall into place. Do this, continue writing, and you will be a successful author.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your dreams, they are real if you want them to be.

What are you reading now?
Everything related to the industry. How to market yourself and your book. Someday I will be able to step back and enjoy the writing of others, but not today.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Another book … that is my desire so it shall be.

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?
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen soon because I don’t have titles only a fascination for creative minds, adventure, and hope in an exciting world. I’ll work on that when I have time. For now? Marketing takes all my time, but it’s worth it if you want to succeed.

Author Websites and Profiles
Pamela Richardson Website
Pamela Richardson Amazon Profile

Pamela Richardson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Pamela Richardson is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written three short stories. I am currently working on my first novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Mayonnaise Affair. I was reading an article about something a very naughty police officer was doing while using police equipment. There also happened to be a mayonnaise commercial on in the background. I put the two together and voila.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t think so. Lot’s of coffee, a little music, and reading local news articles – Miami is treasure trove of ideas.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Being a Floridian, I have come up with my “Big Four.” In no particular order: Dave Barry, Tim Dorsey, Randy Wayne White, and of course Carl Hiaasen. For books, Stephen King’s “Carrie.”

What are you working on now?
A novel. It’s fun to try my hand at something longer than a short story. It’s easy not to describe too much, or skip out on some narrative for a short story; but, for a something longer no corners can be cut so to speak. It’s fun to have something much bigger happening in the story than the one or two scenes allotted in a short.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Most likely Goodreads. I feel that as people have added the book to their “to read” list the sales have slowly crept up.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write things you enjoy writing. If you don’t like writing something, no one will like reading it. (But, I feel that I am still in the advice taking stages.) Never force yourself to get something out. If your ad a point where you can’t get the next word down, take a break and figure out a trick to snap your mind back into it. This is where the news helps me – find something and add a “what if?” – create a spin that makes you laugh.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always do the best you can at job you are doing now.

What are you reading now?
Lucky You, By Carl Hiaasen

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish the novel. Write a short story – the idea has been with me for a while. By the end of 2015 I would like to win a contest or be published in a magazine or anthology of some sort.

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?
Crime and Punishment (because I’d be able to finish it)

Let’s Explore Diabetes With Owl’s.

Catch 22

Skinny Dip

Author Websites and Profiles
Frank Linn Website
Frank Linn Amazon Profile
Frank Linn Author Profile on Smashwords

Frank Linn’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Frank Linn is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Ever since I learned to read and love it, I wanted to write. Life kept getting in the way and it is only now I’ve had the discipline and the opportunity to write. Now I can’t stop! It’s the best buzz I know (apart from the obvious!) Writing a good book is as enjoyable as reading one. You get lost in that world. It isn’t easy but it is a bit wonderful. I find I have to go into a sort of meditational trance, get behind the eyes of the character whose point of view I’m in and live the story with them. I hope I can keep writing until I fall off my perch!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Peace Lily was published last month. It is the sequel to Daffodils, a tender love story in WW1, and follows the characters into the aftermath of the war when they return home in 1919. I had many requests for a sequel to Daffodils and wanted to know what would happen myself. Now I’m writing a third book to complete the trilogy and I even have plans for a fourth. I started off wanting to write about the little Wiltshire village where my children were born. It still had remnants of an earlier, feudal age in the structure of the houses and community and that fascinated me. I was drawn to the era just before all this broke up and, like the characters in the book, was pulled inexorably into WW1. The research took me ten years, off and on, and readers tell me that shows. Finding out what happened to soldiers and their families, shocked me to the core and Daffodils is my personal salute to their bravery and sacrifice. But even after such a global conflict life, for those who survived it, must go on and so I came to write Peace Lily which takes the story into the roaring twenties.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like writing in my shed in the garden. It’s called ‘The Plotting Shed’ and I have a view of the Welsh mountains from its window. My husband and I built it out of a kit, to save money, but it’s very cosy with great insulation and a bottled gas fire. I light a candle, do an angel card reading, and ‘go under’ into my character’s world. Time passes without me noticing and only when I can’t write any more, do I stop.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, so many! Jane Austen, CJ Sansom, EM Forster, Elizabeth Goudge, Winston Graham, Agatha Christie, Georgette Heyer, are the oldies. I’ve read many many contemporary books too which I’ve thoroughly enjoyed and some where I’ve learned what mistakes not to make!

What are you working on now?
Speedwell the third book in the Katherine Wheel Series (Daffodils and Peace Lily are books one and two) which takes Katy and Jem into the twenties and gets them involved in car racing with Douglas Flintock.
I’m also embroiled in a ghost story, also set in Wiltshire, which has the English Civil War as a backdrop. It is rich and dark and multi-layered – like a box of good chocolates.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I find promotion very hard so don’t feel qualified to advise on this! My books are selling well after changing the categories into Historical Romance and dropping the price of Daffodils. On my last free promotion I gave away 10000 copies of Daffodils, which made me feel a little queasy. I do want to earn my living writing stories but it’s getting harder in an increasingly competitive market.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do it only if you really love it. It’s hard work and the financial rewards are small unless you have a major breakthrough – and I’m not ruling that out! I’m in a small writing workshop – only 3 of us – and it’s the business. We share each other’s work and are ruthlessly critical, mulling over a sentence for ten minutes at a time. Each of them writes work I truly respect and I feel honoured to work with them in this collaborative way. We have many laughs too. One of them has a bestseller and it gives me hope that I’ll make it too.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be authentic

What are you reading now?
I find it hard to read other people’s work when I’m in a writing phase and am currently reading about twenty research books all at once – so Brooklands Racing Circuit Centenary Book!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I really want to get the trilogy of The Katherine Wheel finished by next year, 2015 and then get back to the ghost story, which I’m really excited about. It’s called The Rose Trail and I hope will also spawn a series for the psychic detectives who met by chance.

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?
Tough one! A really long one – say War and Peace by Tolstoy, a comforting one like Poldark by Winston Graham, a spiritual one from Elizabeth Goudge and probably Howard’s End by EM Forster.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alex Martin Website
Alex Martin Amazon Profile

Alex Martin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Alex Martin is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well what can I say?? I was born in Baghdad in 1979. At the age of two, I moved with my parents to Vienna, Austria, where I spent most of my childhood and underwent my primary studies. After my father’s diplomatic mission finished at the end of 1989, I returned to Iraq, where I continued my studies and graduated from the University of Dentistry. As a result of the unstable political, military, social, and economic conditions in my home country, I decided to leave Iraq and move to the UAE. After facing difficulties to pursue my career in dentistry, I opted to pursue employment in the business world. Since then, I have held several senior roles within the pharmaceutical and FMCG industries, throughout much of the Middle East. My early childhood in a mixed cultural environment, as well as my world travels, increased my passion for learning about cultures of the world and inspired me to pen The Clout of Gen, my first novel. After eleven years of being away, I returned to Baghdad in January 2013 on a visit that was full of mixed emotions. Inspired by my trip to Iraq, I wrote MY second novel, The Gardener of Baghdad.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Gardener of Baghdad, It was inspired by my visit to my beloved city, Baghdad after eleven years. The changes had taken its toll on this gem. I felt Baghdad spoke to me, so I spoke back by writing this novel.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to smoke a hookah while writing (shhh, I know it is bad)

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Paulo Coelho, The Alchemist.
John Grisham, The Firm
Stieg Larsson, The Girl with the dragon Tattoo
Khaled Hosseini , The Kite Runner
And Stephen King

What are you working on now?
Just finshed Part I of my new thriller “MATT”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Targeting many Promos within a short period of time

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep on writing, your words live longer than your days on earth!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You only live once! Live life to the max!

What are you reading now?
11/22/63 Stephen King

What’s next for you as a writer?
Part II & III of MATT. Then another story set in Iraq, the least, I could give back to my country.

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 Alchemist
The BFG (Childhood Memories)
The Firm

Author Websites and Profiles
Ahmad Ardalan Website
Ahmad Ardalan Amazon Profile

Ahmad Ardalan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Ahmad Ardalan is a post from Awesome Gang