Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a great-grandmother who loves my family and my country life. I have enjoyed reading and writing since the fifth grade when my wonderful teacher used her storytelling skills to read to us each day, she made you feel as if you were a part of the story, and she awakened in me the love of reading.

Bud the Luckiest Dog in the World,” is my third book, but first children’s book. I will republish my second book with a new cover and title soon, it’s a non-fiction book full of tips for young adults. My first book was written while I still worked and was about that industry, so I unpublished it so I could present it to my former employer. I currently have two books underway.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Bud the Luckiest Dog in the World,” was inspired by the art on the cover by artist, Jim Tweedy. A puppy was left on our country road and found his way into our hearts. We are UGA Bulldog fans and this art was a gift from one of the daughters to my husband, and one day looking at the print I thought that Bud’s true story could be tied into that print.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Laura Ingalls Wilder, Frank Yerby, Danielle Steel, Nicholas Sparks, Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, Agatha Christie, Maya Angelou, Rebecca Springer

What are you working on now?
This is going to sound weird but I am working on a spiritual course, a romance novella, and my major work is the story of my crazy life. The story of my life should be inspirational as it will include the stories of a couple of miracles that I have had, but this one is so emotional that I find myself pushing it to the back of my mind!

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am not very experienced myself, but I would say don’t buy into every class or program, check them out first and choose wisely. I have found Author Marketing Club, Mark Dawson, and Joanna Penn as good sources, and there is a free 30-day boot camp ran by Tamara Lowe.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
What ever you do, do it the best of your ability. If you need skills get them, don’t give up- grow!

What are you reading now?
I am reading,”Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever,” by Judge Judy Sheindlin to see if it is something I should pass on to one of my granddaughters.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The Course, it will be something that I think God wants me to do. I haven’t done anything like it before and I am studying material from so many sources and learning so much that I will want to share in the course or class or whatever it turns out to 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?
The Bible
Gone With the Wind
The Promise

Author Websites and Profiles
Glenda Shaw Website

Glenda Shaw’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I come from a charmingly sleepy town of Siliguri, located in the foothills of the Eastern Himalayas in Darjeeling district of West Bengal, India. I now reside in Delhi-NCR. I am completely brought up in Siliguri and I worked as a computer teacher in the best schools of India and then moved on to New Delhi to start a career in international conference and exhibition management.

Mountains and Manhattan is my debut novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Mountains to Manhattan is my debut novel. The novel speaks of a pristine culture and a struggle for its survival and it upholds human aspirations and its subtle nuances. The book is gender sensitive and written from the depths of the author’s heart and not merely for the sake of writing. It reflects the family values and solidarity in struggle; it is a celebration of feminine courage and youthful dream of an aspiring adult. It is also a classic in its own right because it is the first novel about Tibetan nationality crisis.
No one has written so closely in a form of a fiction about the nationality crisis faced by the Tibetan people in India, I thought of giving a voice. I always believe a fiction is a popular media to take a serious issue to the general populace.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am a method writer. I do all my research, jot them down, plan out the plot and then start writing. When I write, I am deep into the characters, place and time. I prefer writing at night and I write at a stretch for days. If I take a break then I lose the involvement.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
All my all time favorite authors are all from the Bengali literature. Namely, Sarat Chandra Chattapadhay, Bamkim Chandra Chattopadhay, Rabindranath Tagore, Bibhutibhusan Bandhopadhay, Shankar, Sunil Gangopadhay, Sukumar Roy, Satyajit Roy, Manik Bandhopadhay, Samresh Mazumder, Suchitra Bhattacharya and many many more…

Among the English writers I like John Grisham, Dan Brown, Khaled Hosseini, Ashwin Sanghvi are to name a few.

What are you working on now?
I have just started working on my next plot.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
All social media channels and book tours are the best way to promote books. More the personal interaction an author have with the readers is the better. It help in sales.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read, read and read whatever you can lay your hands on. Irrespective of the genre, good or bad writing. For obvious reasons you will leave the bad writing and learn from it that what you didn’t like. Do not repeat in your writing.
While in the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending. It will come up as you progress and while you write do not think of grammar, choice of words etc, just keep writing. All these can be improved later.
Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted ‘first readers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Whether your book get published or not as a writer you should keep on writing.

What are you reading now?
The Summons, John Grisham

What’s next for you as a writer?
It is on a development state.

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?
Very tough to reply. I would pick all from the Bengali Literature.

Author Websites and Profiles
PInakie Kansabanik Website
PInakie Kansabanik Amazon Profile

PInakie Kansabanik’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I am Garriema Shah from Indian Himalayas. I am a Taurean female who loves to read, write, dance, cook, listen music and watch movies. I had a stable bank job before entering into movie production, I’ve assisted in Indian T.V. Shows, developed concepts for cross-cultural movies, script writer for upcoming movies. Nowadays, I am more into observing life acutely; to my amazement I found out that life is so vast, so beautiful, it has many wonderful surprises to offer to the whole mankind. And I am the luckiest one to grab the innumerable surprises of life and trying to live in the present moment, which ultimately led me to write a book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As I have observed, researched and read thought provoking stories of many people, especially females – who are knowingly and unknowingly objectified to darker side of the life. As in they are compelled to adhere to the useless norms of society and are forced to marry the strangers; later on they are the victims of domestic violence. There are some other females too, who are overall perplexed with their individuality and all their lives cannot take right decision for themselves. My series of observation led me to write a book, “Take It Easy”, as of now I am writing my second book on relationship’s multiple issues.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes I do have many unusual habits as a writer, I take inspiration from kids. Yeah its true, sometimes, child is the father of man. whatever they speak out, it is not them, rather those words are coming from somewhere else. Maybe nature, who have created us, nature knowingly conveys its message through kids, as they are very innocent. So I have started collecting ideas from children of generally 3-6 year olds!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Paul Coelho is my ultimate inspiration; I get all my answers through his writing. Stephen Hawking is one such great person, lately I have developed interest on quantum physics – this theory is vast; universe, energies, life forms, multiple universe. I yearn to know more about quantum physics.

What are you working on now?
Presently I am working on my second book, which deals with romance and family issues of expectations.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As of now I have not promoted anywhere else!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I don’t think that I am the right person to advice new authors, as I am also new, hahaha….But One personal thought which I want to share with everyone is that every human being should write something or the other. Whatever it is, be it their frustration, agonies, dreams, aspiration, secrets or anything, because when we write something, we are creating a new creation, a new world. But here is a catch – Writings comprised of negative emotion or feeling will dissolve out completely and writings which are positive will eventually create a new future.

And this is for sure, whatever we have written, one day that writing will turn into reality. Maybe I am sounding a bit illogical, nonsense, but I have experienced and observed as well. It may be weird for some, yeah…but it is true!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Whatever it is, it is within us only – our human body! we don’t need to go anywhere, sometimes when we are depressed, we go to church or temple. But if we do little bit of homework in our minds, then we will get to know that solution to every problem is deep down hidden inside. We just need to give little attention to it and take out all the amazing answers easily!

What are you reading now?
Paul Coelho – Manuscript found in Accra!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I will continue with my writing and look forward to it!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. Stephen Hawking – The Grand Design
2. Rhonda Byrne – Secret
3. Joseph Murphy – Power of Sub-Conscious Mind

Author Websites and Profiles
Garriema Shah Website
Garriema Shah Amazon Profile

Garriema Shah’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a regular person who loves writing, fiction and non-fiction. I spent my life striving to become an author that readers love-I believe this is going in that direction. I use to write poetry often and with this came request from various people seeking a peaceful remembrance for their loved one and so on. As the years commenced so have my skills, securing the gold seal readers’ choice – for both Perçu and Sadana 999 in 2016.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This is a series-God Answered Me: True Story and God Answered Me: True Story Chapter One. Chapter two I am working on at this time. I am glad you asked this question because it has a fascinating answer. Years ago, back in 1992, I decided to write a biography, the completed novel was over six hundred pages. I worked at it night and day. In my head, there was a need to reveal the smallest of details of this awful world of abuse I endured. Being my first full-length novel, I looked for a proofreader/editor and sent my book along with its direction. Yet, a few weeks after the record was brought back with a letter attached. Obviously, this person did not think one good thought of my script, stating throughout the letter was discouraging statements, such as, ‘this is not credible, and no one is going to trust you on this. Are you hanging out dirty laundry? Kids often experience matters otherwise than an adult. These incidents could not have happened as you see them!’
That was a real kick in the ass. I pitched this book aside and never tried to rewrite my life until the year 2004 and then once more in 2008. Alas, I thought what the hell, leave it alone, and due to the fact I had considered for years growing up my life was normal. Until I discover for myself that life was far from normal. Life continued, and my memories started to bother me in my forties and really annoy me in my fifties. Not only to give myself peace and my siblings who are gone, their peace. I am moving forward, also delivering chapters of their life, releasing the stories of abuse that stole years of their lives away.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have no clue if leaving paper and pens in every room is unusual, I feel it’s a good thing to have around. Ideas and thoughts can slip by so quickly. Especially if those ideas are for a new book.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I happen to love Jackie Kennedy: The Biography along with Alexander Hamilton, a New York Times Bestseller. Biographies in general are good with me. Then there is – The Evil Inside by Richard Raven, excellent writer. Other favorite authors are D.J. Doyle-Red: An Extreme Horror Novelette. Angel Ramon-Angel’s Nightmare Adventure. Robert Hunt- Jasper: and the Shelter of Angels.Eva Xanthopoulos-The Escapist: Sought After Blood Lines Book 1. Then we have Gary Starta-The Killing Collective: A Stanford Carter Murder Mystery Thriller. I will read anything from mathematics to human anatomy.

What are you working on now?
I am working away on Chapter Two of God Answered Me, including a crime novel.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use as many book clubs as possible. Twitter, Facebook and Goodreads. Including radio, interviews and of course author interviews and wix.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be patient and prepare yourself to work, and work hard with marketing their books.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
There are no rules of writing a book.

What are you reading now?
I prefer not to read another’s books while I am working on my own.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Maybe write movie scripts. Life can change in an instant, have to wait and see.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My own books, to remind me how hard I strived and through near death, I survived.

Author Websites and Profiles
Marsha L Ceniceros Website
Marsha L Ceniceros Amazon Profile

Marsha L Ceniceros’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Bemy Wells is a published author of several books. Spinning tales from a young age, she began writing at the age of thirteen putting her stories to paper, then strangely setting them alight as if once giving the characters life, they would then find rest and their billowing smoke would rise to the skies at peace. These days their lives are extended in the many published books she churns. Drawn to fantasy, sci-fi, mystery, suspense and writing each, her go to has always been romance, which she enjoys bringing to life in her readers imagination. Writing to her is not an occupation but a true pleasing passing leisure.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ardor’s Peril was inspired by the premise what if loving him brought death and remembering him could kill. As always I was inspired by my great love, my fantasy of a man, who is always a muse when it comes to my writing.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I enjoy writing on my tablet as compared to my laptop.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I greatly enjoy authors of old, especially female writers such as Jane Austen.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on two books at the moment, one, another mystery with paranormal twists and the first book in a four book series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang.com is a pretty good place when it comes promoting books.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The road of an author is filled with twists and turns but a steady tenacious tread will eventually get you there.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The same.

What are you reading now?
Twilight

What’s next for you as a writer?
Write a movie script.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
My harlequins, I can lose myself in the romance over and over again and live in fantasy till I’m rescued by my dashing knight.

Author Websites and Profiles
Bemy Wells Website
Bemy Wells Amazon Profile

Bemy Wells’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written several spec scripts (screenplays) that placed well in competitions but were never optioned. I kept a journal of writing ideas and I had one that I felt would make a good novel.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I was inspired by a documentary about the moon’s effect on the Earth and what would happen if the Earth had no moon or never had a moon. I thought it would make a great story and started concocting plausible ways to get rid of the moon, but after consulting with a nuclear physicist it became clear that it would be pretty difficult without a “death star” type weapon to do this.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write when I have time which is usually in the evening. If an idea pops into my head during the day, I e-mail it to myself for later use.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I really enjoyed the classic sci-fi writers like Aldous Huxley, Margaret Atwood, and George Orwell. For awhile I was into utopian or dystopian type fiction and I always wanted to write something with my own social commentary.

What are you working on now?
Editing Part 2 of When the Earth Had a Moon and a spin-off children’s series. Who could have imagined a spin-off of an apocalyptic sci-fi story – but I found a way!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t know yet. My understanding is that it should be your author website, but that takes a lot of time. It’s a chicken or the egg kind of problem. A catch-22 really for new authors. So, I think we are relegated to giving our work away for free in hopes of building an audience, but what I learned from screenwriting, was that, if you aren’t going to produce it yourself you are at someone’s else’s whim/mercy. So at least with a novel, you can be your own publisher. However, with that comes a great deal of marketing responsibility and you have to approach it as a business.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My day job is that of a lawyer, which requires a lot of research. So, I consider myself to be a good researcher. I think authors need to vet the advice they receive online and the way to do that is to keep looking for answers to your questions and when you start hearing the same thing over and over and over, that’s your answer.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep writing.

What are you reading now?
Dr. Seuss, the cat in the hat knows a lot about that series to my kids.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m just going to keep writing and develop my self-publishing company.

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?
Joseph Campbell’s – The Hero’s Journey. I’d like to read it again because it’s a very dense book with a lot of concepts that I wish I understood better.
The Torah – because there are a lot of supernatural interesting things going on Genesis and I’d like to see what it says in comparison to other Christian Bible translations, especially about things like the Watchers, the Nephilim, and the plural reference to God creating humans (male and female) in God’s image.
The Veddas because I think there is a lot of ancient wisdom in them that would be enlightening today.

Author Websites and Profiles
A.M. Cunning Website
A.M. Cunning Amazon Profile

A.M. Cunning’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Farmer, History Professor and former CIA Intelligence Officer. When I’m not out chasing staying cows who have no respect for fences, or tracking-down undergraduates who have no respect for assignment deadlines, I am at my desk, penning the next Montclaire Mystery. There, accompanied by my Chief Beta Reader, Scruffy (cat) and Editorial Assistant, Willie Boy (beagle), I write Edwardian Mysteries that are every bit as good as those that captured my attention as a 10 year old and have held it ever since. The Montclaire Mysteries are tales of intrigue, revenge, jealousy, espionage, political corruption, and international conspiracy – just the ingredients that make for a deliciously evil soup. I get my greatest thrill when new readers taste the genius of Gérard de Montclaire, the most formidable detective of the Belle Époque, as he navigates problems that would make the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Arsène Lupin, and Hercule Poirot shudder with dread and cringe with self-doubt.

There are presently two novels, four novellas, and twelve shorts in the Montclaire Mysteries Series. A third novel — “Dead Angle” — is on the way.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The second in the Montclaire Mysteries series is “Shadows on a Distant Shore.” Though not a true sequel, it follows chronologically and thematically on my first in the series, so I suppose that is the true inspiration for the story. The location — Lake Constance in the borderlands between Germany and Switzerland — is personal. My German family is from that area, though another branch of my family originates in Lower Silesia.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The oddest, though not so unusual, is that I scribble anywhere and everywhere that a notion strikes me. I always have a notebook or scrap of paper at hand, and if a plot idea or useful idea for a revision comes to mind, I stop what I’m doing and write a note.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Scratching a lifelong itch to write mystery fiction was easy for me, because the love of mysteries – especially those of the Golden Age – has been with me since childhood. It was then, in about the fourth grade, that I first enjoyed “The Red-Headed League,” followed quickly with “The Adventure of the Norwood Builder.” Soon, I had read all of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Agatha Christie, the Hardy Boys mysteries, and Nancy Drew. I thrilled at Robert van Gulik’s Judge Dee mysteries and at Sapper’s Bulldog Drummond stories. Even today, I’d rather curl up on a rainy night with anything by Dorothy L. Sayers than with a modern thriller.

Aside from the great mystery writers, I am constantly inspired by the good writing of two very different wordsmiths — Ernest Hemingway and P.G. Wodehouse. Both, as far as I am concerned, share the glory of being the greatest writers of English prose in the Twentieth Century.

What are you working on now?
I have written my first Middle Grade mystery novel. It is called “Percy St.-John and The Chronicle of Secrets.” It is based on a boy character who has appeared as a major character in three of my Montclaire Mysteries.

Percy St.-John is a protagonist with flaws, not the least of which is that he is an enthusiastic criminal with pride in his resume. He is also tenacious. A mysterious, missing book, a dead priest with expensive shoes, an unbreakable cipher, a hermit who has conversations with saints, an angry French girl, and a guardian angel with attitude might stop the ordinary 13 year old safe-cracking genius, but not Percy. He’s out to prove that he is innocent of the only crime in his life he did not commit.

When you are a self-declared “prodigy among safe-crackers,” you have two choices in life. You can freelance and stay out of prison for a while, or you can work for some government or other and hope to stay out of jail even longer. Percy St.-John works for the French Intelligence Service, or he did, until he gave into impulse and made off with a valuable painting. Now, instead of jail, the French have locked Percy in a remote alpine monastery for a year – the year 1911 to be exact – where he is encouraged to “reflect and reform.” And that is where my new story begins. I hope Middle Grade readers enjoy it half as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awsomegang is as good as any and better than most that I have tried. Ereader News Today and Robinreads are excellent. Of course, BookBub is the best, but few writers qualify for a BookBub posting.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Never rely on the advice of a writer whose readership could fit in a portapottie.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
From my agent, Greg. “Be prepared to work for years to become an over-night success.”

What are you reading now?
I am an eclectic reader. I am just finishing A.J.P. Taylor’s “A Personal History,” and I am just started P.G. Wodehouse’s, “The Mating Game.” Next up for me? Malcolm Muggeridge’s autobiography — “Chronicles of Wasted Time.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
When the two novels I now have on the front burner are into publication, I will probably write the next in the Montclaire Mysteries series — a story I call “The Third Key.”

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 Sun Also Rises” and “A Farewell to Arms” by Hemingway. “Something Fresh” and “Uncle Fred in the Springtime,” by P.G. Wodehouse.

Author Websites and Profiles
E.A. Allen Website
E.A. Allen Amazon Profile

E.A. Allen’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live and work in Doncaster, but I was born in Macclesfield in the UK. Currently I’m a computer repair technician, but I have watched the world change a lot in the last thirty years, which was my main inspiration for my main series of books.
To date I have written five books, all of them for children. Three of these are science fiction stories set in the twenty-third century, while the other two are stand-alone titles set in separate time periods.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book, “Sir Owen: Champion of Murhaven” was inspired by fantasy films and video games, including the Legend of Zelda series and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually write at home, but when I’m out and about I take down ideas using a smartphone and a bluetooth keyboard both held together with lego.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I liked Roald Dahl’s sheer imagination and tendancy to make characters do unexpected things.

What are you working on now?
At the moment I’m planning the next book in my main series, “Amber Wasp: Crown Jewels”. It’s the fourth volume in my Legends of the 23rd Century series, which is about a growing group of teenage super heroes and the increasing number of threats they face, both to the world and to themselves.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far I haven’t had much success promoting my books, but I have had a few free downloads from Smashwords for “Stormbringer: Legend of the 23rd Century”, which is the first volume in my main series.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t expect to become an overnight success from just one book! Keep writing, and the more titles you have out there, the better your chances your talent will be recognized.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve heard involves the formatting of the interior of my books. It’s hard to explain in only a few sentences, but if you look at how the paragraphs are indented in most professionally published books you’ll get a good idea.

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m going back over the Odyssey of Homer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After “Amber Wasp: Crown Jewels” I have another stand alone title which is an anthology about a community of vegetables which live in an allotment. They fear the ferocious guinea pigs which live next door.

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?
Red Dwarf: Backwards, The Girl From Tomorrow and Tomorrow’s End.

Author Websites and Profiles
Anthony Black Website
Anthony Black Amazon Profile
Anthony Black Author Profile on Smashwords

Anthony Black’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a kayaker, writer, mother, wife, gardener, teacher, cat lover and book addict. I self-published Snail’s Pace and Arabella’s Gift after their publishers went out of business. Matriarchs: Eliza’s Revenge won best genre novel from the Pacific Northwest Writers Conference. Ferry Findings, an anthology of short stories, was published by Kitsap Publishing in 2016. “Well written,” “quirky sense of humor,” and “doesn’t fit the genre” are the comments I hear most about my books and stories.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Lizzie in the Land Beyond is about a young woman who wakes up in a strange land. I teach high school, and I wondered what would happen to a smart girl who found herself in a medieval-ish country. What is she sees people with much better technology arrive and she believes they are bent on colonization? What would she do? What if she’s wrong?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
That sounds kinky. No, I don’t think so.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Elizabeth Peters, R.A. MacAvoy, Anne McCaffrey, Mary Stewart, Edith Nesbit, Connie Willis, Annemarie Selinko, Cecilia Holland — many, many strong women protagonists who told me I could be a writer and write about strong women, too.

What are you working on now?
My work in progress is a fantasy tentatively called Froggy and Willie or Froggy Goes a-Courting. It is a Princess Bride/ Frog Prince mash up. It was inspired by my long-time frustration with Buttercup for being such a wimp and not going to find Westley her own self.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t found the magic website. Do you know of one?

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write a series. Don’t write a bunch of unrelated books, like I have.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

What are you reading now?
Lady of Horses by Judith Tarr

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll publish Froggy next summer, I hope.

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

Author Websites and Profiles
Susan McDonough-Wachtman Website
Susan McDonough-Wachtman Amazon Profile
Susan McDonough-Wachtman Author Profile on Smashwords

Susan McDonough-Wachtman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve published one book, and am about to publish my second within the next week. I also have two more in progress, and I’m planning the sequel to “Her Arcadian Lovers” within the next three months. Outside of writing, I’m a single mom of an eleven year old boy,with a regular job and a normal life. I just happen to have a million ideas that I love sharing with the world.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first book, “Her Arcadian Lovers”, was inspired by Wikipedia and my insatiable curiosity. I was reading Greek mythology, because that’s my idea of fun, and I began reading about Lycaon, the first werewolf, who was cursed by Zeus because of his proclivity for eating children. I just couldn’t stop wondering, where would those characters be if they lived in the modern world? As for the menage part, I wanted to explore a different kind of romance-not just a kinky story, but an actual love story between three people who grow to love each other deeply. I chose the supernatural aspect because it was the only way I could think of to invent two men who had enough combined life experience to be almost perfect. Sam and Jason have had three lifetimes to get it right, and now Andrea gets to reap the benefits. Now, they’ll all become warriors for good against an ancient evil, and their bond makes them an unstoppable team.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I play the ukulele in between paragraphs. I’m an unapologetic dork who needs to be doing two things at the same time. Strumming chords helps me process ideas. I also absolutely love bouncing my ideas around with my Twitter friends, playing hashtag games and so forth. For me, it’s a great way to get into writing mode.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
This list goes on forever, but I guess my top five would be Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, Alice Walker, Harlan Ellison, Anne Rice, every single romance erotica writer, or independent writer of any genre who busts their behind for the books they love with very little return…Did I say five? Impossible.

What are you working on now?
The next novel that I’m about to publish is “Buried Down Deep” is an M/M fantasy erotica romance. My character, Ben, gets lost deep in the woods of Alabama and finds a god who’s been placed under a death curse. No one was supposed to ever find him, and as soon as his curse is broken, evil from another dimension is invoked to wreak chaos on an unsuspecting Earth. It’s the first of a series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly? I have no idea, yet. I’m only beginning this process, and I rely heavily on the experience of more accomplished writers to get me through the learning curve. So far, my most valuable resource has been my friend, Michelle Hughes, a Kindle Scout author and her website: http://www.rockmybook.com/ . Fellow writers who are willing to give another writer a hand up are really the best resource you can have.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be brave. That first step of submitting your work to the criticism of others is hard, no doubt. I have so many writer friends who I know,without a shadow of a doubt, have a book in them that’s a hundred times better than anything I could ever come up with, and they’re stuck in “some day, maybe”. Just do the thing, and expect the worst, which is having your work completely ignored. Once you start, you’ll only get better, and eventually, you’ll find your audience, if you stand strong and keep at it. Remember, it’s about the love of the story. Anything else is just extra.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be willing to spend money and LOTS of time in producing and promoting your book. Even if you go the traditional route, and get a publisher, no one is going to love your baby the way that you will, and your return will rely heavily on how invested you are in being the best writer you can be, and how much time and money you’re willing or able to spend in order to get the word out.

What are you reading now?
I’m actually going through my Twitter friends’ list and downloading Kindle books. I just finished “The Boys Next Door” by Miranda Silver, which is HOOTTTTT! I’m currently reading “Crane Wife, A Cyberpunk Tale” by John Cordial, which is a really great dystopian novel about a widow out for revenge.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Writing, promoting, writing, more promoting, more writing. I’ll try to get some sleep in there somewhere.

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?
Definitely a good survival guide and some trashy romance novels. Maybe a couple of horror novels,too. Hopefully, my phone would survive the crash and I’d have over a hundred downloads to choose from.

Author Websites and Profiles
Renee Lee Website
Renee Lee Amazon Profile

Renee Lee’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have only written novel so far- Joe, or, Becoming a Man in the Underworld. Well, I wrote the Adventures of Albert and Mike in fourth grade, but that one was a bit shorter and didn’t really have a plot.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Joe was inspired by a large chunk of time that I had to simply write. When I graduated from college, I knew I was moving to Mammoth Lakes to be a ski instructor. My job at Mammoth Mountain didn’t start for another five months. While housesitting, I decided I’d start writing. The book morphed just from a more realistic tale of my own life to a crazy, fantasy setting that took on a real life of its own, and I found the end result incredibly enjoyable.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can’t write for too long in one go, so I’ll often write in my underwear or while eating. It breaks up the amount of things I can do on mental breaks- go get a drink, put pants on, etc. It gives me enough time to recharge ideas.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I started reading the Xanth novels by Piers Anthony in junior high, and he never took his writing seriously a day in his life. They have some problems, looking back on them, rampant and egregiously terrible sexism being one, but they really made an impression on me when I didn’t think women OR men needed to be anything but cardboard cutouts. Neil Gaiman is a big influence recently, with the level of magic and wonder he brings to very adult themes. I’m starting to get into Christopher Moore now, and Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy is an all-time influence.

What are you working on now?
Currently I’m working on a series of short stories that I can release as podcasts- do the writing, do the reading and acting, and hopefully release it as free content but with the ability to be sponsored. I’m really excited for what’s in store.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Keep plugging away! I’m very new at this, so I’m sending my promotions out everywhere I can.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. Do the work and don’t care about being derivative. I’m sure you’ll find your own voice eventually, so for know don’t worry too much.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never wait for the muse. She’ll come when you buckle down to work.

What are you reading now?
Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean at the End of the Lane. After that is a weighty tome of The Story of Philosophy by Will Durant.

What’s next for you as a writer?

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I believe a comedian once said he’d bring a large, inflatable book, and how to make oars out of sand. I’ll take Jeff Smith’s Bone as well.

Author Websites and Profiles
James Davs Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been a writer since I could hold a pencil! The first time I was paid to write, I was about 10 or 12 years old. A family member asked me to help write a letter/newsletter to go out to his clients. It was fun! I’ve spent a couple of decades being the go-to writer in various corporate and entrepreneurial businesses.

Then, one day, I was going back through some old journals I’d been keeping since I was a teenager. It’s was fascinating in so many ways! But one thing that stood out was a pattern I began to notice. Every summer I’d start to write about writing a book of my own and publishing it. Oddly, every time it was mentioned year and year it was a whole new thought – as if the previous year’s comments hadn’t happened!

Seeing this pattern appear for more than five years in a row, I decided right then that this time, I’d simply do it. So, I wrote my first book. It was set up as a workbook and all I really wanted to do was see if I could finish a full book. Once it was done, I began to learn about marketing and then came to the very quick realization that workbooks don’t sell on their own and I’d have to re-do the ENTIRE THING!

Long story short, being an author has been quite a learning curve! That one book was re-written start to finish three times before I finally had a version that the marketplace would embrace. Since then, I’ve written another two books and been published in an additional two books.

More recently, my learning curve has focused on the marketing side. “You. Rising!” is my original book, repackaged with a new name, new cover, and some additional content to give it more value for readers. The original cover and name just weren’t doing it justice. With this new release, I’ll get to find out if I’m making progress along the learning curve!

Regardless of how it goes, I know I’ll keep going, keep learning, and keep writing. I just don’t know how NOT to write. It’s not just something I do, it’s a part of who I am.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is “You. Rising!” It’s for smart, savvy women who are torn between the realities of their lives and the dreams they ache to create.

The inspiration for it came out of my own life and work as a Life Coach. In working with women, there were several things that I began to notice; patterns that we tended to have in common. First, we all wanted to take care of the people in our lives who mattered to us, and yet, we were running into issues of time, self-care, and feeling drained. Second, the women who seemed to need the most help were often the ones who were the most strapped for resources, be it time or money. Often, allowing ourselves to get drained in one area leads to being drained in others. The trick is figuring out where to enter the downward spiral and start getting it turned around.

I wanted to offer a solution that would allow woman to improve their lives that didn’t cost the hundreds or even thousands of dollars that live coaching or workshops might cost, while allowing them to return to it in small bites as often as they needed. I believe this book offers that solution.

It combines my experience with my client’s experiences to provide inspiring stories and simple, unforgettable examples. And if these are the only parts of the book someone is able to get to, they’ll still make a difference! Included however, is the actual coaching program I walked my clients through, step-by-step, piece by piece to lead them back into a life they found inspiring and fulfilling. It’s a process I return to as well whenever I begin to feel off course in my life.

I’m grateful to see this book getting a second lease at being of service to the millions of women – and their families who depend on them! – who’re looking for that “something more” from life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unusual? What’s usual for me and what’s usual for someone else are likely very different things! What I can say is that I can’t NOT write. If I go more than a couple of days without at least journaling I start to feel anxious, irritable and like I”m drying up somehow. I NEED to write to keep my Self feeling centered and alive.

My life is busy though. My partner and I run a couple of different businesses, so I get up at about 4 or 5am to make sure that I get my writing time in first thing in the mornings. I always have a notebook with me and I make sure that I buy a box of spiral notebooks each year at the back-to-school sales so that I have plenty of them to journal in the rest of the year.

I’ll sit down to write just about anywhere and will try a variety of methods. Sometimes, it’s just free flow. Sometimes, if I’m mulling through a problem, or seeking a new thought or perspective, I’ll ask questions and then answer them or have a conversation with what I think of as my “Higher Self”.

I don’t believe in “not enough time” for writing. I believe in MAKING time for the things we want in our lives. I wrote my first book in less than 10 minutes intervals while working a 40+ hour a week job, raising two kids under 5 years old, and helping their dad start a business. I’d carry a notebook in the car with me to jot down ideas at red lights while I was driving and when I had the longer blocks of time, I always knew what I would develop further!

Results are about consistency and choices. If I have an unusual writing habit, it’s that I’m stubborn enough to just figure out how and when I’m going to write no matter what else is going on in my world.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’m most influenced by those I admire and whose work teaches something about being a better person. Authors I return to again and again include Caroline Myss, Deepok Chopra, Mike Dooley, and Brene Brown.

What are you working on now?
For the month of September, I’m working on marketing! Not just my own work but my partner’s children’s book as well. I’m also working on creating a Peace Summit in my home town to take place at the end of September (details are listed on the events tab of my Facebook Fan Page). As the US Regional Director for the Global Prosperity and Peace Initiative, I have the privilege of working with some of the most amazing and heart-warming people to celebrate and participate in the conversations, programs, and activities that bring people together and create more love, prosperity and peace in our world.

After September, I’ll continue the marketing since that’s an ongoing aspect of being an author, but I’ll get to move back into the writing and editing of my next book.

There’s a series of books for authors that I’m working on that was born out of original research I did during my masters program. I combined the 60+ years of research into creating influence with being an author and discovered very specific things authors of nonfiction can do to write books that are highly engaging and influential with their readers.

I’m also working on a memoir about being a mother of a child with Asperger’s. That one will likely take a bit longer since the personal stuff isn’t the same writing process, but it’s definitely a heart-felt book that I look forward to sharing.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well, I’ve mentioned a couple of times that book marketing and promotion are areas where I’m still in the learning curve. So, I’d have to say my best method so far has been hiring a book marketing consultant who has been PHENOMENAL in walking me step-by-step through the process of setting the book up properly as well as creating a marketing plan that I can actually implement and stick to. I HIGHLY recommend the investment if making a living as an author is a priority! I don’t get paid to refer her, so if you’re interested, look up Linda Stirling of The Publishing Authority.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Follow through. Come hell or high water: FOLLOW THROUGH. Don’t let a set back or two or ten or 100 stop you. There IS a way. What works for one may not work for you. The industry is CONSTANTLY changing and doing so faster and faster, so find people who’re actively updating their methods and learn from them. Try something. If it doesn’t work, try something else. But what ever you do: FOLLOW THROUGH. Don’t be one of those people who looks back and wonders, “What might have happened if I’d only given it a little more time, or tried one more thing…?” Be the person who wakes up every day and asks instead, “What’s possible?”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“You cannot get what you’ve never had unless you’re willing to do what you’ve never done.” Step outside your comfort zone. Fail forward. Remind yourself that “Some will. Some won’t. So what. Someone’s waiting” (Jack Canfield said that).

What are you reading now?
Paulo Coelho’s “Adultery”.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Transitioning out of the daily businesses I run and making my living as an author.

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 survival guide of some kind that includes how to build life rafts and fishing nets.
A blank journal or two to help keep my sanity.
“A Year Without Fear” by Tama Kieves.
“The Return of Merlin” by Deepok Chopra.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lori Anne Rising Website
Lori Anne Rising Amazon Profile

Lori Anne Rising’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, lived in Los Angeles in the late 1970’s but have called Central Indiana home since the age of four.

My writing journey began in 2002, when I happened upon and joined several author forums and writing/critique groups. There, I met many wonderfully talented writers. I studied the genre I love, mystery and suspense, and worked hard to fine-tune my craft. Within a few years, I wrote several short stories, novellas, and attempted to write a couple of novels. The short stories were published online at author forums, but the remainder of my work served as practice runs while I polished my craft.

I was fortunate a small British press agreed to publish the first two novels in my Sam Harper Crime Mystery series, SILENCED CRY (2007) and THE DEVIL CAN WAIT (2008) bronze medal winner of the 2009 IPPY award. When the publishing firm closed, I acquired the rights to my novels and plan to release them again in the Fall of 2017.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
SHROUD OF LIES was released on August 3, 2017, and came after a long break from my writing due to health reasons. The inspiration for this novel was my 94-year old father who was in the late stages of Alzheimer’s. I watched his wonderful, keen mind fade a little at a time until all he could recalled were his days as a young chemist doing what he loved best. My memories of those final days with him gave rise to Evy, the step-mother of private investigator Rhonie Lude and dementia patient. When Lude discovers that Evy was a witness to the cold crime she is trying to solve, it becomes a race against time to capture Evy’s memories.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do my best creative writing early in the morning, often before 6 AM. I’ll also set aside a block of time in the week for marketing and promotional efforts. On average, my novels are around 80,000 words and each have multiple subplots. When I begin a new manuscript, I don’t necessarily outline it, but I have a strong sense of plot and the direction I want the story to take. Although my novels are not classified as police procedures, I do a tremendous amount of research into it as well as anything else that will affect the characters.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I enjoy reading novels by Patricia Cromwell, Tess Gerritsen, Harlan Coben, and the late Robert B. Parker (to name a few). However, my writing has been equally influenced by classic Noir films like Sunset Boulevard (directed by Billy Wilder), The Maltese Falcon (written by Dashiell Hammett) and all of Alfred Hitchcock’s work. I’ve always gravitated toward edge-of-the seat mysteries and suspense novels and films and have worked to emulate that sense of suspense for my readers.

What are you working on now?
I have three novels in the works; two in the Sam Harper Crime Mysteries series and the next Rhonie Lude book. I’m also planning to write a collection of short stories.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social media, my personal website, posting on blogs have been successful for me as well as talks/book signings at book clubs and libraries.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice to aspiring authors is that it’s never too late to follow your dream. Learn the craft until it becomes second nature, edit, edit, and edit again. Read everything you can get your hands on to expand your mind.
And no matter what curve balls life tosses your way, grab them and throw them back.

In other words, never give up!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Your book won’t write itself!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Now more than ever, writing feeds my soul. I write for the joy of it and in the hopes my twisted tales will entertain and delight my readers. Everything else, is icing on the cake.

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, and the next Dan Brown novel.

Author Websites and Profiles
Marta Stephens Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Tom Julian works days at pharmaceutical company, helping to support research in to new cancer drugs, and nights and weekends as an author. He enjoys traveling, long-distance cycling, and waking up early to brew the perfect cup of coffee. He’s an unabashed beer snob and native of Trenton, New Jersey. Tom is the father of Izzy and Liam and husband to the lovely Brenda-Lea. He writes while warming his feet under his Bernese mountain dog, Maggie May. Favorite movie/book/food = O Brother, Where Art Thou?/The Sirens of Titan/Trenton-style tomato pie.

I have written one full novel (Timberwolf) and two novellas within the “Timberverse.” They are Breacher (for sale now) and Killing Hannibal, which is sort of a horror/sci-fi book that is coming out around Halloween. I have another one, “Machine Therapy” half-way completed.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first novel, Timberwolf, is a military science fiction story originally envisioned as a film. I worked worked hard to transfer its cinematic qualities to the page and hopes that Twolf is the best science-fiction movie you’ll ever read!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Oh man – I like to pick a nice block of time, like an hour or two at the most and bang through what I can. Anything written after that window usually has too much fatigue associated with it and I’ll just need to fix it later. Also, music is very important to me. I’ll play something that puts me in the mood of the scene I am writing; it might be hip-hop or bluegrass or stadium rock. My default is U2’s Achtung Baby.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kurt Vonnegut of course. I love that guy’s sad outlook on life. He was like a human Eeyore. I met him once when he spoke at a college near me. I would also love to hang out with Robert Charles Wilson, who wrote Spin. That gathered the Hugo a few years ago. He actually friended me on Facebook the other day. Maybe that’s not so out there.

What are you working on now?
Sales! I just decided to self-publish. My book was previously published via an indie house, but that went out of business. Trying to re-home a previously published book is like trying to sell someone a gently used banana. I just decided to do it on my own!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m learning all that. I’m working on refining my Amazon ads and keywords and trying different promos. Someday Book Bub will say yes to me and it’ll be like I’m at the promo with a princess! I also interact with readers individually whenever I can and I am fearless about asking for a review. I’m like “look, I don’t care if you liked the book or not, but when you are done, please leave me a review.” I’m confident that they’ll love it, so I just tell em’ to bring it on!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
No – I am a new author. I’m trying to figure this out. I guess, don’t pay for reviews would be one! Also, get a lot of reviews.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
90% of success is showing up and always pack your own parachute.

What are you reading now?
The December Protocol by Devin Hanson – it’s really cool. It’s about special healing options that are only on Mars. Very good world building. I’m 10% in.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Write a sequel to Timberwolf. I have it mapped out. Also sell a bunch of bucks. Get famous. Live on a boat. Solve mysteries. Buy a pet alligator.

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?
Dune, Sirens of Titan, Spin, Anvil of Stars, Yiddish Policeman’s Union and Confederacy of Dunces (I stashed an extra one)

Author Websites and Profiles
Tom Julian Website
Tom Julian Amazon Profile

Tom Julian’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 24 contemporary romance and romantic suspense. But for quite some time I’ve had a 1920s era book itching at the back of my brain and this year I finally wrote it.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It Had To Be You is my newest book. It’s set in 1926 Seattle and I can’t claim a concrete inspiration. But the darn thing kept scratching and scratching at the back of my mind until I finally wrote it. I’ve always been fascinated by the 1920s–the way women were coming into their own post WWI, the fashion, the cars, the speakeasies.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Good books inspire me, not necessarily specific authors, although I many favorites among those! There is just something about good writing that ups my own. It is rarely anywhere in the neighborhood of what I am currently writing, but there’s an energy to good writing that kind of pays it forward and makes me writ better as well. Hard to explain, which is probably not what a writer who makes words her life should say. But there you have it. ;->

What are you working on now?
I just now finished a book, so I am recuperating and trying to regenerate a few brain cells as I’m pretty sure I used all mine up on the last project.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Usually Facebook, but I’m broadening my horizons.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Preserver. There are all kinds of land mines to screw us up, but when you step on them pick yourself up and plant your butt back in the chair. If you can quit, quit. If you can’t…you’re a writer.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The late Pablo Casals was a famous cellist and composer and conductor from Catalonia, Spain. When he was 94, he was still practicing 3 hours a day, when someone asked him why? He said, “I’m beginning to notice some improvement.” Love that.

What are you reading now?
I just picked up Julie Anne Long’s Dirty Dancing at Devil’s Leap. Haven’t cracked it yet, but I raring to as soon as I finish up some promo stuff.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not sure. I’m going to take a short break to refill the well, then start giving that my undivided attention.

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, that’s a hard one, since I have soooo many favorites. I can’t even narrow it down. My wish would be a solar powered Kindle, because mine is packed with favorites.

Author Websites and Profiles
Susan Andersen Website
Susan Andersen Amazon Profile

Susan Andersen’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in the wine country of California. I have only one e-book available free online and one for sale at Amazon. But I have written many more. I have also published many poems in journals big and small for decades. And I support myself as a copywriter.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Translations from the Ogrish” is a collection of poem written from a predatory point of view.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write every day and haven’t missed a day in the last 38 years.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Auden, John Donne, Dante, Quintilian….

What are you working on now?
I’m collecting some poems previously published.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I wish I did!

What are you reading now?
“Black Sun,” by Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke.

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, Complete Works of Shakespeare, Dante’s Inferno, Complete Works of John Donne

Author Websites and Profiles
Thomas Riley Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing in 2013 releasing my first novel Saving Gideon (The Angel Chronicles) I have always loved to read so I thought I would try my hand at writing.
I have written and released 11 books. Im currently working on book #12. I write Christian fiction. Most of my books have angels as my main characters, but I also have some that are more romance oriented and I have even written a YA ghost story series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My last release was titled
The Barn at Whippoorwill Hollow
Its a fictional story about a real place. My cousins own the real Barn and its a wedding venue. Its so beautiful that I felt it had to have a story written about it. Its a story with southern wisdom, a touch of magic, one wandering goat and the love of God and family.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Probably, but to me they are normal! Lol!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Karen Kingsbury, for her family drama stories. Frank Peretti for his angel/demon warfare books

What are you working on now?
The 5th book in my Angel Chronicles series. Faiths Legacy.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Ugh…Im horrible at promoting. Honestly, I really do very little.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just do it! Never in the history of publication has it been easier to publish a book than right now. But dont expect to be an overnight success. The book market is flooded with new authors so it will take some time to build your audience. Be patient!!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To be thick skinned and realize you cannot please everyone. You can be the ripest juiciest peach on the vine, but there will be someone who hates peaches! No matter how well written, not everyone will like your books. Just shake off the nay sayers and keep writing!!

What are you reading now?
Nothing… Im currently between books

What’s next for you as a writer?
To just keep improving my craft.

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 of course,
When Angels Cry
The Rose Ring
7 days with a Witch

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a mother to three great boys and wife to a wonderful husband. I have written three YA paranormal romance books(Bestsellers in their genre), two children, and two YA/NA romance books. I love writing and reading above all other activities.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Messed Up Love would be my most recent book. I’m not sure what inspired it, I love books about second chances and this one got stuck in my head and I had to get it out. Haha

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Wow, there are tons of authors and booths that influences me on a daily basis. My favorites are probably Shelly Crane, Lila Felix, and Quinn Loftis, those ladies can write the heck out of a good book.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on the second book in my Road Trip series and a new YA Trilogy called Circle of Elements.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and Amazon, still working on my WordPress site.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep at it, even when it seems impossible. Always write what you love and what you love to read.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
While you should listen to bad reviews and keep them in mind to better your book, don’t dwell on them. Not everyone will love the same things.

What are you reading now?
I am on the hunt!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just to keep writing and doing what I love.

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?
Chicagoland Vampires, Significance, Prince of Wolves, and many more! I would have to smuggle them in!

Author Websites and Profiles
Mandy Adler Website
Mandy Adler Amazon Profile

Mandy Adler’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
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Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written a total of eleven books over the years, in various genres and under various names. My interests tend to be all over the place, from historical fiction to the horror/thriller category.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is entitled “The Gospel of Pilate”, and I had the basic idea bouncing around in my head for nearly twenty years. When my wife and I went to Rome for our honeymoon, I was amazed by the fact that all three thousand years of Roman history is piled up on top of itself. You can go from a twenty-first-century building on the street level built up on top of a dark ages church which is then built up on top of a 1st-century temple to Venus. All in the same spot.

When one of the tour guides informed my wife and me that the reason the subway system in Rome is so terrible (and it really is), is due to the fact that every time they begin digging they hit a major archeological find. From this observation, the bones of “The Gospel of Pilate” sprang.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have always had a very odd sleeping pattern. I have no trouble going to sleep – easily falling unconscious in my easy chair at night. But staying asleep has always been a problem. I tend to get up extremely early (3:00 AM usually) and have found that that is the absolute best time for writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I was a geeky kid. How many book prefaces begin with similar admissions? Far too many I am sure; as this particular childhood status is most to blame for the creation of many a wannabee writer. Harsh truths are what they are, though, and this fact about my childhood is undeniable. Where my friends played sports and enjoyed hunting and fishing; I was perfectly content to be alone with my horror comic books, King Arthur castle set, my Avalon Hill war games and a huge collection of Vincent Price movies on Super 8. Ah, the path to weirdness started early, and, is a path I have yet to wander off.

In 1977 my interests expanded dramatically in a direction that lasts to this day. In one of those bizarre forks in the road that pop up every so often in your life, a simple decision was made that set me on a path I could never have foreseen. Now, this was not a burning bush, nor was it anything particularly dramatic, like rescuing a drowning boy at summer camp, or saving the family from a hungry bear while vacationing at Yosemite. Such heroics were not in my experience. No, this radical trajectory all started from simply watching a television show.

My late mother was a huge fan of PBS’s Masterpiece Theatre. How many Sunday nights did I spend watching Alistair Cooke while sitting in the den with my parents? Too many to count or remember, all of them having been rolled up into one saccharine hazy warm memory. To this day I still think he was the coolest man ever to be on television. I still can see him in my mind’s eye, every Sunday night on TV, sitting in his leather chair as he told us what was going to play on his show that week. In general, I remember being less than enthused by the actual show itself, than him specifically. After all, there weren’t a large number of teenage boy fans of Upstairs/Downstairs back then; or now for that matter. But, I knew I liked Alistair Cooke. He seemed very cool; urbane, witty, intelligent; everything I always wanted to be when I grew up. Like I said at the beginning, I was a geeky kid.

Now, during those final hideous polyester-clad and faux wood paneled days of the late seventies; there were not a lot of entertainment options on television. You had the choice of Happy Days or The Six Million Dollar Man. That was about it. Fonzie had still not “jumped the shark” yet, but, he was on that bike and revving, so it was getting close. So, even though Masterpiece Theatre was not targeting my demo, I recognized it was good, even if I did not “get it”. I switched from being a passive observer, to a rabid fan, however, the moment I saw that snake first crawl over the marble mosaic and the words, I Claudius flooded our TV screen. I was instantaneously hooked!

That show, probably more than anything else, set me on a lifelong love of all things Roman. I could never get enough, and I devoured every movie, documentary, and book on the subject I could find. Everything from reading Gore Vidal’s Julian to watching the seemingly endless parade of Italian sword and sandal spectacles of the late 60’s on TV. The foaming waters of the Tiber ran swiftly through my veins now.

Flash forward thirty years, give or take, and I am on my honeymoon in Rome with my lovely wife Mary. She always loves to tell the story about how on our first full day in Rome, we were standing on a platform overlooking the ruins of the Palatine Hill. The weather was perfect and we were the only people on the tour. She, like a normal person, was enjoying the sights and soaking it all in, but was ready to move on to the next thing. Those particular ruins are not that exciting, especially when compared to the beautiful Bernini wonders that saturate the rest of the city. When she turned towards me, and saw I had the stance of someone about to leap into the archeological dig, and literally wallow in the dust of history, she knew she had married a nut. Too late now, the ink on the marriage license is dry! I had come to Mecca, so to speak, and was loving every second of it.

It was on that trip, now thirteen years ago, that the seed for this book was first planted in my mind. Rome, the eternal city, is truly incredible, the layers of history all piling up on each other like a jenga puzzle. When I stood on that platform and gazed down into the ruins of the Imperial Palace, I could not help my mind from wondering. What fascinating history still lay undiscovered beneath the cobblestone streets of Rome? History runs deep there; the past laying heavily on the present, and always lurking just beneath the surface.

One of those possible undiscovered historical gems may very well be a report, from Pontius Pilate to the Emperor Tiberius, similar to the one I fictionalized in this book. It certainly seems quite possible to me. Now, I state upfront, and proudly, that this is unashamedly and boldly a book with a pro-Christian outlook. I am a believer in Christ and feel strongly that one should make their beliefs known to others. That is the great commission after all, isn’t it? That said, this is not a dogmatic cudgel to be broken over someone’s head. I think believers or non-believers could easily enjoy an exciting tale about the most dramatic event in history told from a different angle. I also thought it an interesting thought experiment as to what would actually happen if such a thing were discovered now. It is quite a question.

There are so many people to thank I barely have room. The first person that deserves my gratitude is my wife, Mary Creasy. She has been enormously supportive during the construction of this epic, and was a great first reader, proofer and editor. I could not have completed it without her. She also has been an amazingly good sport as I got sucked into my 1st century time warp. She certainly did not ask to have Pontius Pilate, Claudia, Arastarcas and the rest of the gang move into our house as guests, but, she has been most accommodating. Even when they may have overstayed their welcome.

What are you working on now?
A horror/thriller book entitled “Eye Bleach”. I am also working on “The Gospel of Longinus” the sequel to “The Gospel of Pilate”.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have had good success with the book promotion sites, such as Awesomegang.com as well as Facebook & Amazon ads.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write every day. Even if it is crap, it is good to keep the momentum. Starting is always the hardest part.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write fast and do not edit as you write. Editing is best done later.

What are you reading now?
“Flight from Monticello” a historical account of Thomas Jefferson’s tenure as governor of Virginia during the revolution. It is an excellent book and one I highly recommend.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I definitely plan on finishing up “The Gospel of Pilate” series. It is planned to be a series of three or four books, ending with the final story taking place during the reign of Nero.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Wow! This is a hard question. I don’t know if I could choose, but…, to be practical, one of those books should probably be about ship building. *WINK*

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