Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Sally Rigby comes from Northamptonshire, England and currently lives in the Sunshine Coast, Australia (via ten years in New Zealand). She has a Doctorate in Educational Management, and was head of Research and Development at the British Association for Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP), as well as being a lecturer in Human Resource Management at Massey University, New Zealand.

She co-edited and contributed to the popular texts Counselling Skills in Context, and the NVQ/SVQ Level 3 in Counselling. Sally has also written performance management training materials.

When not writing, Sally enjoys walking on the beach, doing jigsaws, hanging out with her family, and reading.

Sally writes fiction (both adult and young adult) under the pseudonym Sara Hantz and you can find out about her books at her website www.sarahantz.com

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book Beat The Stress was inspired by my daughter and her friends who are all in their twenties and under immense pressure at work and in their social lives. I wanted to find a way to help them. To write a book that they could read very quickly and get immediate benefits.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write non-fiction and fiction (as Sara Hantz) as well as working full-time. I find the only way to write is little and often. Sometimes I can write as little as 5 words without being interrupted.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Non-fiction – Nick Stephenson and Joanna Penn
Fiction – Elizabeth Scott

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a book on assertiveness, which will be the second book in the Start Here series. Again, this was at the request of my daughter.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think Author Marketing Club is great for promotion. I also have a read a lot of books on marketing, and especially recommend anything by Nick Stephenson, Joanna Penn and Chandler Bolt.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read in the area you want to write. Join a writing organisation and meet like minded people. Don’t think about writing, get on with it!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The secret of success is ‘do it now’.

What are you reading now?
John Grisham – Bleachers

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m writing a series of Young Adult novels (as Sara Hantz). The series is called Murder in Mind and the first is a novella called ‘Running Out Of Time’ and will be out at the end of the 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?
The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo; The Girl Who Kicked the Hornets’ Nest; The Girl who Played with Fire – Stieg Larsson.

Author Websites and Profiles
Sally Rigby Website
Sally Rigby Amazon Profile

Sally Rigby’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Sally Rigby is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a proud indie author. My first book, An Unsubstantiated Chamber, Book One of the Rail Legacy, is out now. Very classic steampunk/murder mystery. I also write a dieselpunk tale (Down Jersey Drive-shaft) on Wattpad.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
An Unsubstantiated Chamber, which came out in March of 2016. Twenty years or more ago, I ran a tabletop rpg of a Victorian era superhero/steam mashup before it was termed steampunk. The ideas for characters, history and stories has been bubbling ever since. I love history, and want to tell a progressive tale of people over time, who lives, dies, gets famous, forgotten, etc.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write in an unorganized, scrap paper fashion. Very little detailed filing goes on here! I let the characters speak out loud, which can change what I think my outline tells me should happen. Turns out better that way.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
H.G Wells! Did I yell? Oh, and Isaac Asimov, Stan Lee, Gardner Fox, Arthur C. Clarke, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Edgar Allen Poe, Dashiell Hammett and more. It’s from hammett where I try to make detailed observations of clothing.

What are you working on now?
Book Two of the Rail Legacy, more of Drive-shaft, and for down the road, an atompunk novel of apocalyptic America, some cyberpunk short stories, and more Rail Legacy short stories to submit to magazines and anthologies. Gotta keep busy!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook helps, and my semi-regular blog. But the best help has been word of mouth thus far.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write better, strive to do better, and write to love it, not to love money. Money comes very slow if at all, so you have to be an artist, loving to wake up just to put down more words.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write more, and write better! -Jack Tyler

What are you reading now?
FERTS by Grace Hudson, Copperhead by Juliette Douglass, Orphan Moon by T.K Lukas, Beyond the Rails II:Soldier for the Crown by Jack Tyler.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To attempt to order my books and sell them in person. I rarely get out, and so haven’t tried it yet. We’ll see how it goes…

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, the complete H.G Wells and one on survival lol!

Author Websites and Profiles
William J. Jackson Website
William J. Jackson Amazon Profile

William J. Jackson’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

William J. Jackson is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Susan Stoker and I currently live in the great state of Texas. I’ve also lived in Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, Missouri, California and Colorado. I married a military man, who is now retired, and we made our way back to Texas because we loved it so much! We currently have three hound dogs who love to sleep all day!
As of November 2015, I have published 14 books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
In November 2015 the second book in my Badge of Honor: Texas Heroes arrives. It’s based on an FBI agent going undercover in a Motorcycle Club…there’s drama, there’s drugs and sex…and of course there’s love with a woman who has no idea he’s undercover and who wants to get her sister OUT of the MC.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can sit and write an entire first draft of a book in a few days…then I don’t write again for another month.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
SO many. I’ve been reading romances since I was in middle school! I’ve read everything from historical and regency to erotica. As long as there is a happily ever after, I can read it.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on the first book in a new series about Firefighters!

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write, write…You can’t fix something that isn’t there…so first get the story down. And yes…you will need to “fix” it. We all need to update and tweak our stories after they are finished, so don’t let that hold you back as you’re writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Being an author is a marathon not a sprint.

What are you reading now?

What’s next for you as a writer?
books books and more books!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Anything of Kristen Ashley’s, a “survival” book, and Club Shadowlands by Cherise Sinclair

Author Websites and Profiles
Susan Stoker Website
Susan Stoker Amazon Profile

Susan Stoker’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Susan Stoker is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I’m a mom. I have three kidlets. My husband and I have been together for 13 years, but it honestly doesn’t feel that long. We’re both basically two giant children. We all love pranking each other, telling jokes, making up random songs in the middle of conversations. It’s pretty fun in this house.

I’ve only written one book, but am in the process of writing another. I also have a few ideas in my head for more books. When I’m not writing books, I’m reading them. Or doing laundry.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is What I Tell Myself. I don’t know what inspired it, really. I just woke up one morning at 4 AM with this idea in my head. It wouldn’t go away, so I started writing, right then and there.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t. I’m boring and pretty much just need quiet. I can’t concentrate if there’s too much noise. No music, no TV, nothing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would have to say The Giver by Lois Lowry. I read it in sixth grade and it was the most beautiful and amazing thing I had ever read. It was actually the beginning of my love of dystopian books. I can’t get enough of them, but The Giver will always have a big chunk of my heart.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m working on a companion book to What I Tell Myself. It isn’t a part two or anything, they are both stand-alones. But this book will kind of fill holes and help the reader understand some of the things that happened in What I Tell Myself a little better.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m actually new at this, so I don’t have a best method. Honestly, I’m kind of flailing around, hoping that something I’m doing will lead people to my book’s Amazon page.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Promote yourself. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Goodreads, forums. Try to reach out to people, let them know your book exists.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When people show you who they are, believe them.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading The Perfect Plan by Julie Belle (I just love that name, it’s so cute!) and I’ll most likely finish it up today. Next up is Rock The Heart by Michelle A. Valentine.

What’s next for you as a writer?
As a procrastinator, I don’t really plan ahead. Is that bad? I’m just writing my book, and have no idea what I will do next.

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 Giver, obviously.
2. Lightning by Dean Koontz.
3. Any of the Black Dagger Brotherhood books *drools*
4. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I’m tempted to add more, but I’ll be a good little author and follow the rules.

Author Websites and Profiles
Amber Knight Amazon Profile

Amber Knight’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Amber Knight is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m an awkward, tattooed, pierced, and dyed author of 25 years old, and I’ve published three novels.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The most recent book I published is called ‘Yesterwary.’ It’s a New Adult Dark Fantasy that was inspired by parasocial relationships. It’s based on the idea that you can run out of love if you waste it all on someone who doesn’t love you back.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
That entirely depends on your definition of ‘unusual.’ Mostly, I eat a bunch of peanut M&M’s, and have conversations with my dog about what should happen next.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Neil Gaiman is a huge influence on me. I adore everything about his writing. And, naturally, I grew up with Harry Potter, so J.K. Rowling has been another huge influence on me – in writing, and in life.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on the last book in my trilogy, as well as the sequel to Yesterwary, which will likely be a NaNoWriMo book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook is my go-to. I prefer being able to interact with readers, rather than just shove a bunch of information in their faces and ask them to buy a collection of words I strung together in a hopefully interesting order.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Make sure you’re doing it for the right reasons. So many people seem to go into this with the mindset that they’re going to pop out a few books and make a bunch of money. That’s, most likely, the very opposite of what will happen. Finishing a book takes a lot of time and effort. Self-publishing takes a lot more time and effort. And the amount of money you see from it, at least in the beginning (and by beginning I mean at least a few years) is very little. If you’re looking to get rich quick (or at all, even), this isn’t the best path to choose. If you’re looking to write and have your words read, well then… carry on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously. – Lev Grossman

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Hollow City by Ransom Riggs, and Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
NaNoWriMo, and then the dark, seemingly endless pit of revision.

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?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – J.K. Rowling
Impulse – Ellen Hopkins
American Gods – Neil Gaiman
Needful Things – Stephen King

Author Websites and Profiles
Styna Lane Website
Styna Lane Amazon Profile
Styna Lane Author Profile on Smashwords

Styna Lane’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Styna Lane is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born in Cranbrook in the East Kootenay region of southeastern British Columbia, I have lived the majority of my life out at the coast in the provincial capital city of Victoria, the setting for my debut novel, In Her Mind’s Eye. I received a B.Ed. degree in 1983 from the University of Victoria where I have since worked for many years in administration in a busy Science department. Inspired by a good friend who is an author, I embarked on a writing project culminating in my first novel in 2015. I continue to write and am working on several projects including a sequel to my debut novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My debut novel is titled IN HER MIND’S EYE. I was inspired by a lifelong fascination with anything paranormal. I coupled this with an interest in crime fiction.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write better by hand so my debut novel was initially entirely hand-written. That way, I can write anywhere and on any piece of paper I have at hand if an idea comes to me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve always enjoyed authors such as Stephen King and Dean Koontz.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a sequel to my debut novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t much experience with promotion so I am starting with Goodreads. A lot of my friends recommended it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write about what interests you.

What are you reading now?
I haven’t had a lot of time for reading lately with my book just released and my writing but I have mostly been re-reading some of my favourites.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to see my book in bookstores.

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 Hobbit series. Best series I’ve ever read.

Author Websites and Profiles
Susan Gnucci Amazon Profile

Susan Gnucci’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Susan Gnucci is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hey – novelist, polemicist and occasional poet from England, UK.

Moved to Spain in the early summer of 2011, writing “Jackboot Britain” before leaving for Thailand in January 2012. I worked as a freelance copywriter and a martial arts reporter for two years in Southeast Asia before becoming a full-time author in 2014 and moving to Bali, Indonesia.

Currently surfing, reading, writing poetry, polemics and novels in a jungle of coconut trees – always in pursuit of love, truth, wisdom and beauty in this fleeting dream we call life.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “The Atheist Bible”, inspired by the inhumanity imposed on man by man, the tyrannical conditions and fearful barbarisms of religious doctrines that our pattern-seeking primate species produced in its infancy to explain things we now know, or understand more about.

The victories of evil, malice and fear are not predetermined. While perhaps the ancient desert tribes required supposedly celestial prohibitions and savage commandments from a genocidal and incompetent creating deity, we now have microscopes and telescopes, and germ theories of disease, and knowledge of physics and biology. We have better explanations for the origins of the cosmos and the species. Read “The Atheist Bible” for two hundred plus pages of philosophical, burlesque and humorous embellishment.

My penultimate book was “The Acid Diary” – a novelised account of time spent with my compañero in a secluded hippy enclave in Ko Pha Ngan, Thailand.

I will release a short story, flash fiction and poetry anthology, as well as a novella, “The Boy from Buenos Aires”.

There is both a sequel and a prequel to “Jackboot Britain” in the works – “Jackboot Russia” and “Jackboot Spain” – I’d like to think this alternate history trilogy will be reasonably well met.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Is there a *usual* or typical writing habit? Normality and the usual are subjective; slippery concepts at the best of times. I squeeze in writing at odd hours with reading, surfing and other pursuits. It would be fair to say I’m a creature governed by impulse.

There’s no rhyme or reason to the cosmos – annihilation and extermination on an incalculable scale, of atoms, planets and gigantic stars, solar systems and supermassive black holes, mirrored by the extirpation of 99% of all animal life on our own planet. One tries to enunciate the truth, beauty and wonder of existence, the only miracle worthy of the name, in the cosmic blink of an eye for which we’re here. This is what makes the miracle of living amidst such universal destruction *worth living*.

As an afterthought; I *did* write a book whilst tripping on LSD, if that counts as unusual? Even if so, it’s hardly an endorsement of psychoactive tryptamines, as the book sold less than ten copies.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
George Orwell and Aldous Huxley for their insight and wisdom into the human condition circa the first half of the 20th century, and their understanding and enunciation of the nature of power, influence and dictatorship and those who seek it.

Huxley’s understanding of the world continues to bear relevance now, half a century after his death, not to mention his pioneering writing on psychedelic drugs. Orwell was a habitual truth-seeker who experienced imperialist/capitalist, fascist and communist tyranny first-hand in his remarkable life, and it made him the literary titan that he was; that, and a great deal of personal fortitude and courage.

Beyond them, William Shakespeare enunciated the key truths of our human condition and provided moral and ethical comment of a nature that no cult, creed or religion ever could. A special and one of a kind writer, the likes of which we’ll never see again.

Orwell, Huxley and Shakespeare are special to me, but there’s tons of others whose work I appreciate. Charles Dickens, William Blake, Tolkien, J.K Rowling, Alan Moore, Faulks, Tolstoy, Solzhenitsyn, Cervantes, H.S. Thompson, Hitchens, Henley, Kerouac… too many to name.

What are you working on now?
A short story anthology, a novella, “Jackboot Russia”, “Jackboot Spain” and my surf skills. I’m pleased to announce progress with the latter, at any rate.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
It’s entirely in the hands of the cosmos, the physical laws of governance or the Flying Spaghetti Monster. This humble primate merely writes.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Hasta la victoria, siempre. Keep the aspidistra flying. Stay cool.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t despair. Your friends [such as they were] will be stable and comfortable, and you won’t be. You’ll always be up and down, with peaks and troughs, depression and failure. Hang tough. You’ve got the force, son. You’ll get there in the end.”
~Simon Darcy Clifford.

Honourable mentions to Andrew Leone and Max Lawless, both of whom have furnished me with spirit-reviving sentiments aplenty. There aren’t words enough for one’s nearest and dearest.

What are you reading now?
Idly revisiting “On The Road” by Kerouac, as well as a biography of Genghis Khan, “Letters to a Young Contrarian”, “Dr Zhivago”, “The Brothers Karamazov”, “Winter in Madrid”.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Doors will open; ropes will part; champagne will fall from the heavens.

Unassailable, invictus, predestined. It’s coming.

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?
Huxley’s “Island” (I wouldn’t have much call for Orwell, alas).
An anthology of classic poetry, featuring William Blake.
The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.
Tolstoy’s War & Peace (this doorstop would be perfectly suited for desert island life)

Author Websites and Profiles
Daniel S. Fletcher Website
Daniel S. Fletcher Amazon Profile

Daniel S. Fletcher’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Daniel S. Fletcher is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in the North of England, in a place sandwiched between Snowdonia, the Irish Sea and the Pennines. I now live in London, enjoy the better weather but hanker for wild places and have nostalgia for the warm-hearted people of the North.

I spent many years working in online technology, latterly in the video games industry and I’m fascinated by science, technology and futurology. My books are her creative response to the exponential growth of technological innovation in the era of climate change.

I’ve written two books, ‘The Boy Who Fell from the Sky” and “Silverwood”, the first two in the “House Next Door” trilogy. I’m currently working on the third, “The Moon at Noon”, which will be out, hopefully, before the end of this year.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“The Boy Who Fell from the Sky.”

About 10 years ago, I started reading The New Scientist. I worked for many years in online businesses and I love technology – I’m a typical gadget geek. But reading The New Scientist I was being fed this weekly diet of the wonderful and miraculous.

Really, before then, I had no idea of the pace of scientific innovation that is going on around us and the crazy stuff that physicists think up, like string theory and multiverses. I just fell in love with the ideas. I discovered there’s this whole community of people who think about the future, the futurists, or futurologists. I started to read their books and their blogs and anything I could get my hands on, really. The New Scientist also covers climate change quite closely. I wanted to know more, so I read a lot about the subject, books by people like James Lovelock and James Hansen and started to become more and more concerned.

I enjoy books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. I also love books like Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking and Chuck Wendig’s Heartland Trilogy. They are all exciting, deeply engaging dystopian action adventure series. Literary catnip.

So I wanted to write something similar, something fun but also something that brought a bit of this science I’d been reading into the mix.

I liked the idea of exploring possible futures based on the non-fiction I’d be reading. Fiction has always been a good way of testing out “what if” scenarios, our old version of virtual reality. In my stories, I am trying to do that. I don’t write “hard science fiction”, but I try as best I can, to explore versions of what might happen based on good sources.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
That’s an interesting question. I write the first draft really quickly and then agonise over the re-writes over weeks and months. I’m not sure if that counts as an unusual writing habit. I’m a very visual person. I like to draw what I imagine, so right now, I’m drawing Mathew’s world in a web comic. You can take a look at it here http://juleowen.com/the-boy-who-fell-from-the-sky-graphic-novel/

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I studied literature and so I was weaned on the literary canon. I always like magical realism, but probably because of the inherent prejudices against science fiction and speculative fiction amongst literary types, I was late to the genre. The first books in that I read were Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake and I was drawn to Ursula Le Guin because one of my more enlightened professors had mentioned her name to me. Then I discovered Philip K Dick and Iain M Banks and I was hooked! These days I tend to read a lot of young adult stuff. I love Patrick Ness’s Chaos Walking series and Chuck Wendig’s books, but I read a lot and very broadly.

What are you working on now?
“The Moon at Noon”, which is the third in the “House Next Door” series. This is where readers will find out who August Lestrange really is, Mathew has a challenging adventure and some big surprises and Clara plays a much bigger role in this book. It will conclude Mathew’s story, but it won’t conclude the books I write about the world I’ve created. So there will be more in the future about the Kind, the people Mathew meets in “The Boy Who Fell from the Sky”, Dragomirov will make a reappearance, as will George and Clara and you will eventually learn the full story of August Lestrange’s people.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Oh heavens! I’ve only just started. I’ll let you know in a few months.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1) Read. A LOT. Read widely, but most of all, read your own genre, obsessively. Seriously. If you don’t/won’t/can’t do this, then this is not your thing.

2) It’s a marathon, not a sprint. I know a lot of authors, traditionally published and indie authors. There’s no such thing as an overnight success.

3) It’s really hard work. Get over it.

4) Find a really good editor and love them like a member of your family.

5) The first draft is not your novel. Your novel is what happens to your first draft after more re-writes than you can possibly bear. This is one for me. It took me a long time to get this.

What are you reading now?
Lauren St John’s wonderful “Operation Rhino”, the fifth book in “The White Giraffe” series. It’s an astounding feat of storytelling – a book that deals unflinchingly with rhino poaching, but is palatable for kids and really exciting! It’s for 8-12 year olds and big kids like me. (I said I read widely).

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing the series and then starting on the next three books, which will be set in the same world I created for Mathew but much further into the future. They will tell the story of the mysterious Lamplighter from “The Boy Who Fell from the Sky”.

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?
3 or 4 books would be torture. You’ve thrown me into a terrible panic!

I would probably take:

1) My collected Shakespeare, because that has an eternity of reading in it

2) Wuthering Heights because I can read that a million times and still see something new in it

3) Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell because I would like time to understand how Susanna Clarke managed to pull it off.

5) I’ll cheat here and say the Terry Pratchett Discworld Collection because I’ll need something to cheer me up

Author Websites and Profiles
Jule Owen Website
Jule Owen Amazon Profile

Jule Owen’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Jule Owen is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I immigrated from Hong Kong to the U.S. at the age of 15, old enough to remember the old culture and young enough to adapt to the new. I have a bachelor’s in English from UC Berkeley and master’s in International Affairs from Johns Hopkins. My three careers reflect my interests—journalism, international development, and creative writing.
I’ve written three books. Nightfall in Mogadishu is a spy thriller about the collapse of Somalia into a failed state. As a former aid worker there, I give an insider’s view of the clan politics that plague countries in the region. The same story is unfolding in neighboring Yemen and Libya today.
Journey across the Four Seas is a true story of my mother’s life. I taped her life stories while taking care of her and wove them into a memoir. It’s about her struggle to get an education for herself and later for her children. She finally brought her five children to the U.S. so that they could all go to college. My siblings and I are living out the American dream because of her.
My third book is Confucius Says, a novel on caring for aging parents in a Chinese American family.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is novel with a tongue-in-cheek title, Confucius Says. It’s based on my experience in caregiving for my parents. They were with me for the last ten years of their lives. I was so affected by the experience that I had to write about it, both for my own therapy and for sharing my lessons learned with others.

Confucius Says is a comic-drama about a Chinese American family’s struggle to follow the Confucian principle of filial piety. The daughter, Cary, was brought up to believe that children should shed blood for their parents. After much fumbling and a fair amount of bloodletting, she discovers what the ancient sage Confucius really said. To her surprise, Confucius says the first rule of filial piety is to avoid injuring ourselves. The second and third rules astonish her no less. Enlightened by his wisdom, she rediscovers filial piety as a universal formula for a functional, loving modern American family.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write in my head while walking in the park. Nature surrounds me, my juices are going, my head is clear, and whatever block I faced while writing at my desk disappears.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. I’m glad to hear that it started out as a memoir and was later turned into a novel. This reflects my own writing process. My writing always springs from real life experience, but staying too close to reality can be confining. It’s like wallowing in the mud–all I can see is mud. But when I step away onto higher ground, the view opens up and the truth of the matter jumps out at me.
I also learned much from Thomas Wolfe, an author who used autobiographical material in a brazen way. His Look Homeward, Angel was a “novel,” but the people of his hometown recognized themselves and threatened to kill him.
These authors confirm that real life is more fantastic than fiction. A writer doesn’t really have to invent much to heighten the drama. Real life is sensational enough. However, learning from Wolfe, I’d be more careful about disguising my characters.

What are you working on now?
I have only a hazy notion in my head—something on the magic of music. It may be a mystery, romance, or memoir about my piano lessons. I hated them when I was child and quit at the first excuse. But as a grownup, I practice the piano so much that my husband has to tear me away at night. I’ve discovered the magical power of music to heal and enrich.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The Amazon Kindle Facebook page has more than 3 million subscribers. It’s a great place to advertise my book.
I also advertise to various interest groups, depending on the subject of my book. Journey across the Four Seas, for example, appeals to women’s groups. Confucius Says appeals to caregiving groups and cultural clubs.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Get your book out there as much as possible—in local papers and newsletters, and talk to anyone willing to listen, regardless of whether you sell books or not. One thing always leads to another. Be sincere and show appreciation for those who take the time to listen to your message.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow your heart.

What are you reading now?
Nora Webster: A Novel by Colm Toibin

What’s next for you as a writer?
I just want to write, write and write. When I don’t write, I feel like an earthworm squirming around in dirt. When I write, I’m an earthworm who understands its reasons for squirming.

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?
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy (it will keep me occupied for a long time)
1001 Arabian Nights
365 Tao: Daily Meditations by Ming-Dao Deng
Poems of Robert Frost

Author Websites and Profiles
Veronica Li Website
Veronica Li Amazon Profile

Veronica Li’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Veronica Li is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, all! I was born in Washington state, but lived in Reno, Nevada, for the first twenty-odd years of my life. I graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno with a BA in English Lit, went to Penn State for my MA, and have taught writing and composition and worked as a technical writer in three industries–defense, aerospace, and computer manufacturing.

That’s the boring stuff. More interestingly, I’ve written three books published to Kindle–The Valkyrie, The Goddess Denied, and The Goddess Embraced. I’m also the author of a well-received fanfic entitled The Spirit of Redemption. It’s more of a series of fan novels under one title that weighs in at around 3.5 million words.

I love video games, role-playing, writing, reading, poetry, history, art, science, archaeology, and generally believe that any day on which I haven’t learned something was a wasted day. I currently live in Houston, TX, with my husband, our son, and a rather crazy elkhound puppy.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Goddess Embraced is the most recent title. Actually, I wrote Books I-III as one big narrative chunk, and realized that it was far too big to be one book. Then I realized it was too big to be two books. My husband suggested the titles, and as soon as he did, I saw *precisely* where the narrative breaks were, and the series could be broken apart neatly.

Unfortunately, print publishers tell me it’s still too big to be just three books. It’s not dead-tree friendly, as series go.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure what ‘unusual’ writing habits might constitute. Generally speaking, I turn on music that doesn’t have words (or if it has words, it has to fit the character or the scene *precisely*), I sit down, and I write. Generally, I have a list of signpost scenes I want to write, and a list of necessary scenes I need to get through to get to those signposts, but if the characters tell me a given action is stupid, or they wouldn’t do it, I try to listen to them. Often, they are smarter than I am.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Oh, this is a list. Terry Pratchett, for, oddly enough, really *looking* at the world. Diane Duane, for using science to underpin magic. Tad Williams, for his sense of epic scale. Clive Barker, for inserting breathtaking humanity, understanding, and compassion into the most outre of scenes. Tim Powers, for being able to create pastiches of reality, fantasy, and history that are welded together so tightly, I’m forced to go read up on the historical personages he uses, just to weed out the fact from the fiction. When he’s at his best, his work is hypnotic.

What are you working on now?
Book IV of the series; the working title is “On Wings of Night” but that may change.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly, Kindle direct ads and Facebook, though I was fortunate to have an interview with DungeonsandDragons.com earlier this year, which was just tremendous.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Sit down and write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Frank Herbert said that when he went back to re-read what he’d written on days on which he felt inspired to write, and what he’d written on days on which he wrote just to get the damned scenes done, he saw no qualitative difference. I use that to flog myself into writing.

What are you reading now?
I read a *lot* of nonfiction. Far more these days than fiction, honestly, but a friend and reader got me into the Simon Scarrow “Under the Eagle” books, which I’m trying to find more time to grab from the library. They’re better written than Bernard Cornwell’s Sharpe’s novels, and intrigue me more.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing the series, and either going to my long-gestating pure fantasy world, or my longer-gestating pure sci-fi world.

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?
Galilee, by Clive Barker. It comforted me on the plane on my way to say goodbye to my dad, and got me through the rough year before my divorce. When I talk about Barker’s surprising understanding of, and compassion for humanity, this is the book I mean.
Feet of Clay, Terry Pratchett. Understanding of humanity, compassion for our insanity, and wicked glee. And Thud!
While I’m at it, I’d stuff Tim Power’s Last Call, Expiration Date, and Stress of Her Regard in with them.
. . . I can really only pick three or four?

Author Websites and Profiles
Deborah Davitt Website
Deborah Davitt Amazon Profile

Deborah Davitt’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Deborah Davitt is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Katarina Nolte, author of “So Long Constipation, Part 1”, “100 Steps to a Lean Body”, “The Natural Path to Hormonal Wellness, Part 1”, “49 Gluten-free Recipes”, “50 Gluten-free Recipes” and “51 Gluten-free Recipes”. Blogger. Reviewer. https://katarinanolte.com/

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
51 Gluten-free Recipes – Kindle edition by Katarina Nolte. Health, Fitness & Dieting Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/51-Gluten-free-Recipes-Katarina-Nolte-ebook/dp/B015W6A3C6/

More and more people are looking to avoid gluten. Combine that with my love of cooking and my interest in good nutrition and you got a book series revolving around gluten-free dishes.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that I’m aware of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to count. One, however, is the “Prescription for Nutritional Healing”. I love it!

What are you working on now?
“So Long Constipation, Part 2” and a mini-ebook about sugar and flour substitutes.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
1. My blog: Katarina Nolte | Health, Food & Eco-Feminism
https://katarinanolte.com/WordPressBlog/
2. Twitter and Stampede: Book Review: Dominate Your Market With Twitter – Tweet Your Way To Business Success By John Smith and José Llinares | Katarina Nolte
https://katarinanolte.com/WordPressBlog/2013/07/book-review-dominate-your-market-with-twitter-tweet-your-way-to-business-success-by-john-smith-and-jose-llinares/
3. My newsletter: Katarina Nolte – katarinanolte.com Newsletter
http://katarinanolte.us8.list-manage2.com/subscribe?u=71e14c0dfc5ccaa173a8353be&id=4692236ecb
4. My email contacts and Linkedin: Katarina Nolte | LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/katarinanolte
5. Freado/BookBuzzr: About Katarina Nolte – BookBuzzr
http://www.bookbuzzr.com/Katarina-Nolte
6. Giveaways and freebies on Amazon, Librarything, Goodreads and sites like Awesomegang, etc.:
79+ Free Book Promotion Sites to Increase Your Kindle Book
http://kindlepreneur.com/list-sites-promote-free-amazon-books/
Places to promote your free Kindle Book
http://www.sarkemedia.com/free-kindle-book-promotion/

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, write, write.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do what you love.

What are you reading now?
Kill Decision – Kindle edition by Daniel Suarez. Mystery, Thriller & Suspense Kindle eBooks @ Amazon.com.
http://www.amazon.com/Kill-Decision-Daniel-Suarez-ebook/dp/B0073XV2W2/

What’s next for you as a writer?
Learning more about internet marketing and implementing that knowledge to get to know my audience.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A general encyclopedia, thesaurus, dictionary, and a notebook so I can continue to write.

Author Websites and Profiles
Katarina Nolte Website
Katarina Nolte Amazon Profile
Katarina Nolte Author Profile on Smashwords

Katarina Nolte’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Katarina Nolte is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a big science fiction fan and love anything that is outside of the norm. I’ve always been told that i have a very vivid imagination and that the idea’s i have for stories are kind of out there. Which is good if you want to be a writer. You want to make the stories enticing for the reader and not something that feels as though it’s been done many times over.

Currently, i have four books that have been published with one being a children’s book and another being a technology shopper’s guide.

I currently reside in Sherman Texas with my wife, kids, and our dogs.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called The Murder, which was completed earlier this year. I’m a big zombie fan. Always have been and when the show, The Walking Dead, first aired, that really got my mind working. I had so many different story idea’s that encompassed the realm of the dead, i knew i had to dive in and get started.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn’t say that i have any unusual writing habits. Although i do find that alot of times i will come up with idea’s for new stories from the everyday grind of life. From taking a walk or just sitting in a chair relaxing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Som authors that inspired me and really got me going was William C Dietz and J.L. Bourne. I love these guys work and try to pick up a copy of their novels anytime a new one hits the market.

What are you working on now?
Currently, i am working on a sequel to The Murder, which i hope to have released early to mid 2016.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Word of mouth is always great, but isn’t enough all of the time. I like using sites like Awesomegang and others similar that help in getting authors works out to the readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice i have for anyone starting out or looking to start writing is be persistent. It’s hard work and can be very time consuming, but when you love what you do, you don’t mind putting in that time and effort. In the end, it’s very rewarding.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best piece of advice i got was if you work a full time job, have a family, or whatever your situation maybe, don’t try to stress yourself out if you’re not meeting your writing goals. Try to do at least one page a day. That can equate to a novel a year. That really changed my way of thinking in the beginning and got me started off right.

What are you reading now?
Currently, I’m not reading anything. Too busy writing. :). But i do love to get book recommendations. So if anyone has a book they love, please share.

What’s next for you as a writer?
What’s next for me is to continue growing my list of novels. I love writing and anytime i have a free moment from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, i’m plugging away at the keyboard.

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 Resistance Series by William C Dietz and the Day by Day Armageddon series by J.L. Bourne. Awesome reads. If you get the chance, pick a copy of any of them. You won’t be disappointed.

Author Websites and Profiles
Derek Shupert Website
Derek Shupert Amazon Profile

Derek Shupert’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Derek Shupert is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the bestselling author of over 45 books. I am an amazon top 100 most popular Historical Romance Author.

I have a background in art and have created all my own book covers as well as my book trailer videos. I write medieval, paranormal, small town contemporary and western romance. I am known for my series.

Some of my series include:
Daughters of the Dagger
Legacy of the Blade
MadMan MacKeefe
Barons of the Cinque Ports
Elemental Series
Greek Myth Fantasy
Cowboys of the Old West
Tarnished Saints
Gnarled Nursery Rhymes (YA)
Watch for more series coming soon, including my Tangled Tales Series which is a romantic retelling of fairy tales.

Find out more info at http://elizabethrosenovels.com.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Baron’s Bounty – Book 2, (Barons of the Cinque Ports Series)

This book was inspired by the fact so many women have a liking for shoes. My heroine is a shoe fanatic, and it gets her into trouble – including ending up as a proxy to marry an English lord.

There is murder and mayhem involved, and you will see lots of shoes and learn about shoes from the medieval times. It was a lot of fun researching and writing this novel.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write very fast, and it is nothing for me to have a book written and revised in three weeks time.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been influenced by romance author Kathryn Le Veque because she writes fast as well, and has a strong passion for what she does, just like I do.

What are you working on now?
I’m in the process of completing two works. The first is Wolfe of the West which is a book that will be featured in Kathryn Le Veque’s World of De Wolfe Pack on amazon’s Kindle Worlds. This is brand new, and the launch will be Oct. 29th, 2015.

The other book I’m working on is Lady and the Wolf – the first in my Tangled Tales Series. This is the romantic retelling of Little Red Riding Hood. I just finished the cover and it is one of my best ones yet!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website is http://elizabethrosenovels.com. Readers can sign up for my email list so they don’t miss any announcements.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing, and don’t let anyone stop you from doing what you love. Believe in yourself, even if you get and negative critique. Use it to better yourself, and move on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just do it!

What are you reading now?
Because I write so quickly, I’m always working on a new book and don’t always have time to read. I do however, have plans to just sit and read in the near future.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have another medieval series coming up the beginning of 2016. I won’t tell you what it is because it’s a surprise.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’d just bring my kindle that is loaded with thousands of books. (Does that count?)

Author Websites and Profiles
Elizabeth Rose Website
Elizabeth Rose Amazon Profile

Elizabeth Rose’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Elizabeth Rose is a post from Awesome Gang

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am author that writes mostly science fiction and fantasy novels, but have plans to expand in other genres. I’ve been writing for about four or five years now, but recently published my first novel last year. I’ve written two novels and one novelette, plus various short stories.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “Of Song and Singularity” and it was mostly inspired by the idea of artificial intelligence making humanity better and able to live in a utopia on earth. It expanded from there, but it still has that inspiration at its main core.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, I’m not sure what you would consider an unusual habit. I have the habit of writing anywhere I possibly can, whether that be using my cell phone on the bus or jotting down a quick paragraph on a receipt. I try not to confine myself to strict writing conditions. So, I’m a bit of a free grazer that way.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Fyodor Dostoyevsky, George MacDonald, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Soren Kierkegaard, and many others, have had an incredible influence on my desire to write and my writing itself. “Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?” is a specific science fiction novel that’s always stuck with me for its creativity and its raw writing style. That book alone has been a great beacon of inspiration.

What are you working on now?
In 2014 I published my first novel “Numinous: A Dirge of Rood’ravil”. It was a Wattpad featured novel and gained overall great critical acclaim. I am carrying on the “A Dirge of Rood’ravil” series with the second novel “Gùltha”. It’s a hefty project, but I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone and hope to have the first draft completed sometime by the end of this year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use a lot of different websites to help, including my own, but Wattpad has been a great way to gain an audience and connect with readers. So, I use that quite often. I also try to connect with my readers through my newsletter and get the word out that way.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I would recommend doing everything you can to gain an audience before you publish your first book and once you’ve published your first book, get started writing your second and your third and your fourth, and so on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Write with the door closed and edit with the door open.” I read that from Stephen King. In other words, when you’re writing your first draft, go nuts and don’t think about what people might think, but the moment you completed that draft, put on your editing cap and let others give you feedback. I think it’s great advice because the first draft needs to be able to breathe and it needs to be allowed to be rough. If you criticize your work too much not he first go around, you’ll never finish it.

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m read “The Wolves of the Calla” by Stephen King. I started his “The Dark Tower” series a long time ago, but it’s taken me quite some time to keep moving through the series. Each book is rather hefty, but overall I’ve enjoyed them. I decided I really want to finish up the series this year.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well, besides writing Gùltha, I have a lot of other projects in mind to complete. I want to compile a lot of my short stories together by genre. I also have plenty of separate novels I want to write. I have endless notes on various project ideas and they all inspire me. It’s a struggle to stop myself from starting them. One project at a time!

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, this is a classic question. The Bible. The Horse and his Boy. Crime and Punishment. Phantastes. Those books at least come to mind right away. I’ll probably think of another one and slap my head for not listing it, but for now I’ll mention those four books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Emory Skwara Website
Emory Skwara Amazon Profile
Emory Skwara Author Profile on Smashwords

Emory Skwara’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Emory Skwara is a post from Awesome Gang