Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a snarky, sci-fi/fantasy loving mother of five who can frequently be found huddled in the corner writing at the library or in my car at the local Starbucks—because I can’t write inside with all that music! I have been writing for a long time, but Antiquity’s Gate: Sanctuary is my debut novel. It is the first in a series that I’m very excited to share.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The entire series will fall under the title of Antiquity’s Gate, but the first novel specifically is Sanctuary. The characters and story for this have been rattling around in my head for years, growing and changing. It’s almost as if they’ve always been there! I was inspired to begin this journey by my desire to share a story that was compelling, both heart-warming and heart-wrenching. I wanted to take all my favorite elements of a great sci-fi or fantasy story and weave them into something both familiar and unique. Also, I wanted to write a sci-fi novel that was approachable for everyone, because so many of my friends and family do not share my love of the genre. I wanted it to be a story that could be enjoyed by anyone who picked it up, but also believable and satisfying for sci-fi junkies, too.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I often find myself making strange faces at my computer screen—the faces I imagine my characters are making at any given moment. It is an involuntary habit that happens most likely because I am so deeply invested in the scene.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have loved reading forever, and my tastes in books has evolved over time. That said, I have a vorocious appetite for stories, and have enjoyed many. Michael J Sullivan, JK Rowling, RR Martin, CS Lewis, JRR Tolkien. I’ve become invested in the lives and fates of many fictional characters in my lifetime, and they are like old friends.

What are you working on now?
I am currently neck deep in Antiquity’s Gate: Calamity, the second novel in my series. I am really excited with watching it take shape, and have to remind myself constantly that this is a slow and delicate process with many steps. I just want to share it now!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am only just getting started on the arduous task of self-promotion, and will certainly get back to you once I’ve discovered this awesome method or website

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write everyday, even if you don’t feel “inspired.” You can go back and change things later, but carve out time each day because it will help you to learn and grow. And don’t rush things. Even if you want to race to the finish line, (trust me, I do, too!) you want to make sure your work is polished, poked, prodded, fact-checked, re-written, and edited to the best of your ability before releasing it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough troubles of its own.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently re-reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows with my kids.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to be kept busy for the foreseeable future with Antiquity’s Gate. After that, who knows? The sky’s the limit!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This is an incredibly difficult question! How to decide? I would like some books with good ‘replay value’— those that don’t just spell out all the answers but instead leave subtle nuggets that you might find on the second, third…tenth…pass. I think I would therefore take Michael J Sullivan’s The Ryria Revelations, which, having read them a dozen times each, I can say confidently never get old!

Author Websites and Profiles
R.F. Hurteau Website
R.F. Hurteau Amazon Profile

R.F. Hurteau’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first ebook but I’m planning on putting out 3 more books related to The Crash That Turned Into A Murder. I’m still in high school but really enjoy writing crime books

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Crash That Turned Into A Murder was inspired by a Crash me and my friends were in. The book was started one month after that but put on hold because a dear friend of mine died just one month after in a car crash of his own

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write my books in a note book first where many other people just type also I like to be alone when I write

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The great Gatsby

What are you working on now?
I am working on my second book called Sams Private Eyes

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write your first draft and don’t go back to edit until you finish your book. Like my teacher always says “don’t think just write”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t think just write

What are you reading now?
Mystery books

What’s next for you as a writer?
To see where this new book I’m writing will take me

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Great Gatsby, Q and A, and of course my book The Crash That Turned Into A Murder

Author Websites and Profiles
Joe Ratajczak Amazon Profile

Joe Ratajczak’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Two Sharpe is a combined effort between father and daughter. Amanda became a widow at 24 years old, due to a drunk driver. She felt the need and urge to write about her and her husband’s story in a book title Stolen. Once her father, Scott, read this work, he too was inspired and Two Sharpe was born. Kris was added into the mix to handle the behind the scenes things such as website, social media, book design, etc.

The team is currently working on the second book in the Charly Stevens series, as well as publishing a free interactive blog called Road Rage.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Awakening is book one in the Charly Stevens series. It was completely inspired by Amanda’s tragic loss and how to begin to rebuild after such a life altering event.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Scott and Amanda sort of tag team the books and then once they get to a place where they are comfortable, they submit for editing and publishing. It’s a very interesting system!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
What authors haven’t may be a better question. Everyone on the team is an avid reader from Stephen King to Nicholas Sparks to obscure series that most haven’t heard about!

What are you working on now?
Acceptance, which is book two in the Charly Stevens Series…let’s see where Charly’s special pup Lola can take us this time.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We are still working on new methods, but Facebook plays the largest role currently as we can engage our followers and grab the eye of new followers. Next up would be Twitter.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t stop! Don’t let someone knock down your idea or your dream…you can make something amazing if you just keep pushing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t stop, keep going!

What are you reading now?
Amanda is reading a Nicholas Sparks novel, while Kris is on Armada by Ernest Cline and Scott…well Scott reads so quickly we can’t keep up with his current read!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully to get Acceptance out and ready by the end of this year and get working on Book 3. We also really want to see where Road Rage can take us…graphic novel maybe? Who knows!

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?
Amanda-it would have to be a mystery or murder mystery…James Patterson is my fav!
Scott-I can’t read a book more than once, so I would need my Kindle. Scratch that a notebook and pencil and I will write my own.
Kris-Harry Potter! (I know that’s 7) Potterverse can take you out of whatever world you are in and transport you into a fantastic land of magic and beasts!

Author Websites and Profiles
Two Sharpe Website

Two Sharpe’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a midwife, blogger, author and mum of 3 in my spare time. I’ve written 2 books, both non fiction but very different! One is to help bloggers get to grips with Pinterest, the other is the story of the loss of my child and our struggle to have said children.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The beginner bloggers guide to Pinterest magic. I was inspired to put together my knowledge base after Pinterest became my main referee of traffic but I still see so many bad pins from bloggers not utilising it properly.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to have this morning on in the background.

What are you working on now?
My blogging course

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll let you know when I find it

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just get it done and out there

Author Websites and Profiles
Jenny Lord Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written 2 books. My first ‘SANDHYA’ was published way back in 2010, after which I decided to take as much time as possible to write my next novel which required some amount of research and development.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My new book titled RESILIENCE talks about anti-nationalism. To shed more light, the book tries to explain how a small issue in the present time can culminate into a much bigger issue in the future, to the extent that it can go out of control. If we do not open our eyes to the issues we face today, our future doesn’t hold so good for us.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I try to keep it simple… and a throw a bit of humour here and there.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read a lot of articles based on current affairs that resulted in writing my new book. I also tend to read movie scripts or video game scripts just to know how the makers or writers actually think about those amazing concepts. I wouldn’t be surprised if someone reviews or comments stating that my book is ‘VIDEO GAME’ material.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a family values based drama titled ‘NOT GUILTY’. I will provide complete details once I have published it. I also planning a prequel and sequel to RESILIENCE.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am new on this subject, however, the 7 years time that I have spent between my first book and second book, I really believe that websites or forums like these are the best to promote your books. The world has changed, this is a global market, no one is above and no one is below. Be it writers or businessman, we are in a world now where we can actually ask the audience what they require and create a product based on it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep yourself updated on new and current topics, there are a lot of stories where the concept or idea have sprouted from the writer’s own backyard. And never give up.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep it SIMPLE!!!

What are you reading now?
Our dharma between us

What’s next for you as a writer?
Just to continue with what I am passionate about.

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?
complete collection of harry potter and… sherlock holmes

spundan dasgupta’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I love personal development and it helped me a lot become more proactive in my life. I must have read hundreds of book on personal development by now.

I wrote 6 books that reflect my own personal development journey. People by reading my books will be able to see how I’m evolving over time. I’m not a multi-millionaire guru telling you what to do, I’m just a fellow human being on my own personal development journey encouraging to do the same.

I wrote the following books (from the oldest to the latest)

1. Goal Setting: The Ultimate Guide to Achieving Goals That Truly Excite You
2. Habits That Stick: The Ultimate Guide to Building Powerful Habits that Last Once and For All
3. Productivity Beast: An Unconventional Guide to Getting Things Done
4. Wake Up Call: How to Take Control of Your Morning and Transform Your Life
5. The One Goal: Master the Art of Goal Setting, Win Your Inner Battles, and Achieve Exceptional Results
6. The Thriving Introvert: Embrace the Gift of Introversion and Live the Life You Were Meant to Live

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “The Thriving Introvert”. Sadly, I lived closed to 30 years without knowing what introversion really was and how it worked.
This book is the book I wish I had when I was younger. It’s straight to the point and highly practical. I want introverts out there to read this book and start living the life they were meant to live.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write at least 500 books every single day even though I have to admit I skipped that habits twice in the past 5 months. I like to write early in the morning when I still have plenty of energy left.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jim Rohn, Earl Nightingale, Tony Robbins and many more.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a book to help people master their emotions. My goal to help people understand how emotions work and what they can do to better deal with negative emotions and experience more positive emotions in their life.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Sending emails to my list, asking fellow authors to promote my book to their audience and using some book promotion websites.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
– Write every day
– Read a lot
– Write about something you love (or at least have some interest in)
– Don’t ever give up

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you want to make a living doing what you love you must be willing to spend up to 10 years not making money.

Of course, that’s not just for writing.

What are you reading now?
The Sedona Method

What’s next for you as a writer?
– Write more books (8 to 10 per year)
– Network with other authors

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
Thibaut Meurisse Website
Thibaut Meurisse Amazon Profile

Thibaut Meurisse’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson is a nationally known political analyst and author of books on race and politics. He is an associate editor of New America Media. He is a weekly co-host of the Al Sharpton Show on Radio One. He is the host of the weekly Hutchinson Report on KPFK 90.7 FM Los Angeles and the Pacifica Network.
He has been a practitioner of yoga for years. He has learned, trained, and studied yoga practices, techniques and philosophy under four of Southern California’s leading yoga instructors at Body and Brain Studios in Los Angeles and West Los Angeles College. He has interviewed and discussed yoga practices and the yoga industry on his Pacifica Radio Show, The Hutchinson Report.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Also, at different periods during my practice of, and the courses I have taken in yoga, I have kept a journal noting my feelings, and thoughts about the various poses, movements, and mental and physical changes and benefits of yoga. I intersperse my yoga journal notes throughout A Skeptic’s Journey Through the Yoga Experience. The aim is to personalize the huge impact that yoga has had on my life.
In my small way, with this work, I seek, to pay tribute to the instructors who have given and continue to give generously of their time, energy, patience, and marvelous dedication and devotion to yoga to me. Above all, I want to share the transforming experience I have had with yoga with you.

Author Websites and Profiles
Earl Ofari Hutchinson Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born in England; my childhood years, a comfortable middle-class upbringing in a small town, two hours’ drive west of London. An avid reader since childhood.
In my early twenties, and with a degree in electronics engineering, and an unabated wanderlust to see the world I left England for Sydney, Australia. Forty years later, I am still in Australia, although many intervening years spent in a myriad of countries, some calm and safe – others, no more than war zones. To date I have written twelve books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
DEATH AND THE ASSASSIN’S BLADE. An amateur dramatic society’s production of Julius Caesar, only someone’s switched two of the daggers. The actor is murdered onstage in front of two police officers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that I would consider unusual, unless routine is, although I would regard that as mandatory. Four o’clock in the morning when it’s still cool outside and there is no noise. I’ll normally write till nine or ten a.m. and I always aim for 5000 words a day. Some days, it will come easily, other days I’ll struggle, but no procrastination.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
When I was younger, science fiction. Frank G. Herbert and Asimov. Nowadays, I appreciate the writing style of Ken Follett, John Le Carre, John Grisham.

What are you working on now?
The seventh book in the DCI Isaac Cook series. Two women are murdered within one hour of each other. One is wealthy, the other is not. It looks to be professional and it’s the same murderer, but why?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The eternal problem. I hold that Facebook advertising should be the best avenue, although I’ve not been able to scale the adverts. Amazon ads are just too slow. The best method is a mailing list. I know that I can always sell books by way of it, and so far, it’s the most effective way of promoting. Building the mailing list numbers to be viable is still an issue. Instafreebie have given me a dramatic boost, otherwise FB Lead Gen ads.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. Each book that I write is better than the previous. There’s no way, unless you’re gifted, that you’ll get it right the first time, and no way you’ll sell sufficient without a series. It’s a marathon and it’s hard work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write and read. And routine. All three I practice. Whereas, I’m not there yet, I am making headway and money.

What are you reading now?
I try to read the best of the British detective books on Amazon, although my work schedule invariably means that I’m exhausted by the time that I get to them. Audio books are a great way to resolve the problem.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To continue to write, to improve. I find that writing is the most satisfying pursuit. I enjoy the whole process from the idea for the story and through the writing and up to publication.

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?
Shakespeare. The remaining books would be from the ancient Greek masters. Plato, Sophocles, Aeschylus, Aristophanes. They knew how to write, and they’ve still not been bettered.

Author Websites and Profiles
Phillip Strang Website
Phillip Strang Amazon Profile

Phillip Strang’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am known as the OutbackOzzieWriter: Outback Australian Writer.
I write Inspiration Romance centred within the vast mysterious Australian Outback.
My medical knowledge comes from past professional experience and my spiritual perception from close Godly contact. I am a Bible College graduate.
Wisdom can be gained from reading good books. In turn I desire to inspire and encourage readers on how to find Christ with my writing. It is important for everyone to feel important and valued, so my stories encourage goodness, mercy, forgiveness and love.
Eight Fiction Books and Two Non-Fiction Books have been published by me.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is: Spiritual Warrior – Fighting the Realms of Darkness.
Looking around at the evil in todays world and knowing how people blame God, this book shows up the demons behind such actions.
I am a spiritual Christian Bible believer who has had many unusual experiences.
So I wove together this book including, romance, adventure, mystery and the fantasy paranormal to open readers understanding.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
LOL, Yes, I feel I might. Most writers plan out a story. The beginning, middle and end. I begin and it all rolls until finished. I often wonder how I write what I do, and yet I feel its not really me doing the writing but the Holy spirit. I don’t have an office. All my writing is done on a recliner with a laptop on my knee’s.
Perhaps I am the Mad-Hatter?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many. I feel the one’s who have the most, are Corrie Ten Boom, Catherine Marshall, Janette Oke, Bonnie Leon, and many others.

What are you working on now?
Since I haven’t long finished my newest book, I am currently organizing my books to be translated into other languages.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think that Facebook would be the one. There are many author groups to join and promote. I have one myself called Australian Christian Bookaholic (all clean read authors welcome to join). I also have one for Indian readers because they are the largest book readers in the world.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do your homework and don’t get taken in by publishers who want a lot of money to get your book out there. Once you have finished writing, lay the story aside for a few days and then go over it for errors. You see more this way. Then download and use Grammarly, its wonderful once you get used to the way it works.
Next, a profession editor… they are easily found on-line, or, join some FB book groups and ask authors who they recommend.
Get someone to professionally format your book in Docx – then download it yourself to Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing. They are excellent and cost nothing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To know and understand the best keywords to use when publishing my books.

What are you reading now?
I am waiting for a new release that’s due out in two days time. “A Walk with Heavenly Spirits” J.E. Grace, its my kind of book and I look forward to reading it.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I may write another Spirit Warrior sequel.

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 Bible. The Late Great Planet Earth, The Power of Positive Thinking, Little House on the Prairie.

Author Websites and Profiles
Crystal Mary Lindsey Website
Crystal Mary Lindsey Amazon Profile
Crystal Mary Lindsey Author Profile on Smashwords

Crystal Mary Lindsey’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Lee Sonogan. I have been writing for the last three years full time. In that time I have created many things. My blog https://ungroovygords.com/ and many other big projects. I intend to keep writing…

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I just recently self published my first book. It is called Power From Within: Vol 1 – Birth Of A Utopia. You can pre-order it now at. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B077VLJ7K6 Many various topics and themes inspired me to write it. Daydreaming when I was younger too 2017 and my knowledge of different storys. Its genres are Fantasy, Sci-fi and mixed with much more.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Depends on your definition of unusual. I try to write at least 500 words a day. That word limit is spread out to all my projects and more. My blog gets my most attention as I keep coming up with ideas for drafts. Over 60 currently. Then I work on my big projects or try to promote my name as a writer. Also, I write a personal diary if that is odd?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Writers: Plato, Stephen King, George Orwell, Jacque Fresco, Charles Darwin, Hunter S. Thomson, R.L Stine, Alan Moore, Neil deGrasse Tyson, probably more authors and writers. I have a 100 Best writer draft in my blog.

Books: Animal Farm, 1984, The Art of War, DC comics, Truth in Comedy: A manual for improvisation, Death by Black Hole, Final Crisis (DC comics),

What are you working on now?
I have a lot of projects in the works. They are all creative projects and they are all different. Both fiction and non-fiction. Two I will mention here are my movie script and my novel. Both writing projects are very different. The movie script is a thriller and action while the novel is a fantasy and adventure.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Any website that allows independent writers to share and promote their stuff without much issues. I will do sign ups to websites but, after that I want to write. This site gives me two ways to share stufff. I will be back for book 2.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Come up with a original concept/s.
Have a three-act structure for the overall story.
Be descriptive.
You can all ways develop a idea in the story later
Learn grammar and formatting early

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“You’ve gotta cook whilst the fire’s hot.”

What are you reading now?
My own stuff mostly. Then I am reading news or interesting content from Facebook. As soon as I get some of these books, I will read all of them straight away.

50 Books I want to read

What’s next for you as a writer?
Mainly working on all the ideas and projects that I have. Hopefully I will think of a new original concept to commit to.

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?
Animal Farm, Death by Black Hole, How To Survive On A Deserted Island. If I would choose a 4th, it would be a empty book with a long lasting pen or pencil.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lee Sonogan Website

Lee Sonogan’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Warning: This document contains some truly jarring note.

Where to begin? Let me draw out one point, quoted, as it may happen to be, from C.S. Lewis in “Mere Christianity:” “The Son of God became a man that men might become the Sons of God.”

These words were original, not even in pretension. A historian would hear the clear and conscious echo. Thomas Aquinas said, “The divine became human that the human might become divine.” The phrase had been rumbling down the centuries, in its living form in St. Maximos the Confessor: “God and the Son of God became Man and the Son of Man that men and the sons of men might become gods and the sons of God.” The oldest source I’ve read it, inexactly and not yet crystallized into its wording, is in the second century St. Irenaeos: “Do we cast blame on him [God] because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as gods? Although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence, that no one may charge him with discrimination or stinginess, he declares, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the Most High.” … For it was necessary at first that nature be exhibited, then after that what was mortal would be conquered and swallowed up in immortality.”

I start with reference to C.S. Lewis because, more than any other he formed me as a writer. I’ve read almost everything he wrote across all his genres, and the biggest mark of a follower is this: at least when I am writing for certain audiences, I critique him out of his own resources. That is the mark of a follower; and incidentally it has nothing to do with talent; it is a standard remark in academia that the people who critique you are your own Ph.D. students.

For instance of critiquing him out of his own resources, in the last section of “The Abolition of Man” at https://archive.org/stream/TheAbolitionOfMan_229/C.s.Lewis-TheAbolitionOfMan_djvu.txt , Lewis wrote, “The fact that the scientist has succeeded where the magician failed has put such a wide contrast between them in popular thought that the real story of the birth of Science is misunderstood. You will even find people who write about the sixteenth century as if Magic were a medieval survival and Science the new thing that came in to sweep it away. Those who have studied the period know better. There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse. I allow that some (certainly not all) of the early scientists were actuated by a pure love of knowledge. But if we consider the temper of that age as a whole we can discern the impulse of which I speak… In Paracelsus the characters of magician and scientist are combined. No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power; in every mixed movement the efficacy comes from the good elements not from the bad. But the presence of the bad elements is not irrelevant to the direction the efficacy takes. It might be going too far to say that the modern scientific movement was tainted from its birth: but I think it would be true to say that it, was born in an unhealthy neighbourhood and at an inauspicious hour.” And one line of reply is that Lewis left someone out in his narrative of the twin magician and scientist. He left out the (equally) towering figure of their overlapping contemporary, the Reformer, who stands as tall as a Renaissance magus in his plans to improve the despicable raw material of the Church and make of it something worthwhile. I explore this in, “The Magician’s Triplet: Magician, Scientist, Reformer,” at https://cjshayward.com/magicians-triplet/

Another, more extended quotation, has to do with “Why I Am Not a Pacifist”, which I really think C.S. Lewis violated his own positions to write. I do not necessarily say that such an essay shouldn’t have been written (G.K. Chesterton did better with a parenthetical remark), but I do say that I was shocked that Lewis himself had written it.

The reason is that everywhere else C.S. Lewis argues a “mere Christianity,” and tries to be dogmatic about common ground and exclusively about common ground. This means, for instance, that in his book “Mere Christianity” he backs away from momentous questions about the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, directly affirming nothing save the virgin birth:

–BEGIN QUOTATION–
Some people draw unwarranted conclusions from the fact that I never say more about the Blessed Virgin Mary than is involved in asserting the Virgin Birth of Christ. But surely my reason for not doing so is obvious? To say more would take me at once into highly controversial regions. And there is no controversy between Christians which needs to be so delicately touched as this. The Roman Catholic beliefs on that subject are held not only with the ordinary fervour that attaches to all sincere religious belief, but (very naturally) with the peculiar and, as it were, chivalrous sensibility that a man feels when the honour of his mother or his beloved is at stake. It is very difficult so to dissent from them that you will not appear to them a cad as well as a heretic.

And contrariwise, the opposed Protestant beliefs on this subject call forth feelings which go down to the very roots of all Monotheism whatever. To radical Protestants it seems that the distinction between Creator and creature (however holy) is imperilled: that Polytheism is risen again. Hence it is hard so to dissent from them that you will not appear something worse than a heretic—an idolater, a Pagan. If
any topic could be relied upon to wreck a book about “mere” Christianity—if any topic makes utterly unprofitable reading for those who do not yet believe that the Virgin’s son is God—surely this is it.
–END QUOTATION–

C.S. refuses to take a position on this question, found momentous by almost every side, because his principle of sticking to common ground left him with almost nothing unproblematic to say. Out of his entire collection of writing, he avoids engaging controversy. And here he seems to change his story and bake, as it were, an endorsement of just war into mere Christianity. He also says things that I have never heard in extended conversations with Christian soldiers. I have frequently been told that soldier and pacifist are alike necessary, and that the presence of pacifists in the broader conversation gives something that just war alone does not. Out of all these voices, C.S. Lewis alone condemns allowing people to avoid military service even if their denomination and/or conscience forbid violence. I understand that he was addressing an audience of pacifists who wanted to know how he was not a pacifist, but the message he delivered was not just “Why I Am Not a Pacifist.” It was fully “Why You Must Also Not Be Pacifists Either,” whether or not this was at all clearly labeled, but I studied at a school with a respected Army ROTC program, engaged people on multiple sides on the topic of peace and just war, and while I got questions of, “What are you going to do if you enter situation X?”, not one single soldier, not one military science professor, not one respected philosopher tried to convert me to belief in just war as something necessary for me to adopt. (I think they were showing a great deal more hospitality and charity than I was.) I heard many voices seeking to convince me that just war was a legitimate option. Not one warrior told me that just war was mandatory for all Christians.

I would like to quote the summary provided on the official C.S. Lewis site at http://www.cslewis.com/why-im-not-a-pacifist/ . This summary leaves things out; it perhaps circumspectly omits that Lewis first asserts that there are situations where you can’t save the lives of all the people there are to save, and then uses this position as a rhetorical stepping-stone to say that there are times one must use proactive violence. The step is unwarranted. As an Anglican like Lewis should know, some roles within the Church are historically taken to be incompatible with violence, even if there are Christian soldiers and for that matter Christian soldier-saints. A priest is forbidden violence: which is to say that a priest may act and save some in a situation where you cannot save everyone. He is still forbidden to directly engage violence. Lewis never mentions this, or much of anything like it so far as I can tell.

To quote the summary:

–BEGIN QUOTATION–
In the frequently debated essay in The Weight of Glory titled “Why I’m Not a Pacifist,” Lewis asks a simple, provocative question: “How do we decide what is good or evil?” It seems easy enough. It’s our conscience, right? Lewis says that’s the usual answer, breaking it up into what a person is pressured to feel as right due to a certain universal guide, and what a person judges as right or wrong for him or herself.

The first is not arguable given its universality (something some argue nonetheless), but Lewis warns that the second is often moved and sometimes mistaken.

Enter Reason. We receive a set of facts, we have intuition about such facts, and we have need to arrange these facts to “produce a proof of the truth or falsehood,” Lewis says. This last ability is where error usurps reason or simply a refusal to see and understand the truth.

Most of us have not worked out all of our beliefs with Reason. Rather, we lean in on the authority on which those beliefs are hinged and we are humble enough to trust it.

Why not pacifism then? Here’s his rundown, in brief.

First, war is very disagreeable in everyone’s point of view. The pacifist contends that war does more harm than good, that every war leads to another war, and that pacifism itself will lead to an absence of war, and more, a cure for suffering. Lewis is pointed in his response:

I think the art of life consists in tackling each immediate evil as well as we can. To avert or postpone one particular war by wise policy, or to render one particular campaign shorter by strength and skill or less terribly by mercy to the conquered and the civilians is more useful than all the proposals for universal peace that have ever been made; just as the dentist who can stop one toothache has deserved better of humanity than all the men who think they have some scheme for producing a perfectly healthy race.

In other words, doing good in tackling immediate evils with deliberate force, does more good than setting up position statements based in some humanistic view that improvement will inevitably come just because… it’s suppose to come.

Hold on. Jesus says a person should turn the other cheek, right? Lewis presents three ways of interpreting Jesus. First, the pacifists way of imposing a “duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances.” Second, some minimize the command to hyperbole. The third is taking the text at face value with the exception toward exceptions. Christians, Lewis says, cannot retaliate against a neighbor who does them harm, but the homicidal manic, “attempting to murder a third party, tried to knock me out of the way, [so] I must stand aside and let him get his victim?” asks Lewis, who answers his own question with a resounding, “No.”
–END QUOTATION–

I might interrupt here and comment that what C.S. Lewis has established here is not what he thinks he has established. What he has established is that, quite simply, he does not know how to read.

How’s that?

I’d like to look at Gandhi for a moment. Not exactly that Gandhi was Christian (note: a Christian evangelist turned him down for the color of his skin), but his debt to Christianity and the Sermon on the Mount is incalculable. And he was a prominent contemporary to Lewis, who was a voracious reader of all kinds of writing (“You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.”). And he might provide insight into the pacifism Lewis falsely assumes himself to not need to put in any effort to understand:

–BEGIN QUOTATION–
My creed of non-violence is an extremely active force. It has no room for cowardice or even weakness. There is hope for a violent man to be some day non-violent, but there is none for a coward. I have therefore said more than once in these pages that if we do not know how to defend ourselves, our women and our places of worship by the force of suffering, i.e., non-violence, we must, if we are men, be at least able to defend all these by fighting.
(SB, 154)

The people of a village near Bettia told me that they had run away whilst the police were looting their houses and molesting their womenfolk. When they said that they had run away because I had told them to be non-violent, I hung my head in shame. I assured them that such was not the meaning of my non-violence. I expected them to intercept the mightiest power that might be in the act of harming those who were under their protection, and draw without retaliation all harm upon their own heads even to the point of death, but never to run away from the storm centre. It was manly enough to defend one’s property, honour, or religion at the point of the sword. It was manlier and nobler to defend them without seeking to injure the wrongdoer. But it was unmanly, unnatural and dishonorable to forsake the post of duty and, in order to save one’s skin, to leave property, honour or religion to the mercy of the wrong-doer. I could see my way of delivering ahimsa to those who knew how to die, not to those who were afraid of death.
(SB, 155-56)
–END QUOTATION–

“Turning the other cheek” isn’t about, as Lewis says, “stepping out of the way.” It is stepping into the way. Furthermore, this was something Gandhi took from the Sermon on the Mount. Lewis’s misrepresentation of his opponents’ position is of capital significance.

On a lesser scale, the glib “taking the text at face value with exception for the exceptions” seems remarkably convenient. What this means, as far as I can tell, is that the Sermon on the Mount forbids us from all recourse to violence except, of course, for situations where violence is warranted. This seems awfully convenient in responding to a potent objection, and it reeks of begging the question.

Regarding hyperbole (meaning exaggeration), in my youth I wouldn’t hear of hyperbole playing a factor in the Bible. Now I do. But I believe that hyperbole is at least usually present in the Bible as a means of underscoring a major point: you do not properly understand the full extent of the parable of the Good Samaritan until you understand most of the story as deliberately ludicrous exaggeration and meant to make his audience uncomfortable: see https://CJSHayward.com/fulfillment/#samaritan: “…and Jesus was quite blunt about setting an impossible and unreasonable standard.” Hyperbole in the Bible is normally a means of emphasizing a major point.

Let us return to the last of the summary.

–BEGIN QUOTATION–
Further, Lewis says, “Indeed, as the audience were private people in a disarmed nation, it seems unlikely that they would have ever supposed Our Lord to be referring to war. War was not what they would have been thinking of. The frictions of daily life among villagers were more likely on their minds.”

Lewis ultimately lands on authority, referencing Romans 13:4, I Peter 2:14, and the general tone of Jesus’ meaning.

Here’s Romans 13:3-4: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

And I Peter 2:13-14: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

Do you agree with Lewis’s rationale? How does your understanding of the Bible and Christian faith influence your feelings toward war?
–END QUOTATION–

One thing I have become wary of in relation to my first dissertation at Cambridge was use of cultural context that evokes the saying, “Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses lampposts: for support rather than illumination.”

I am personally on guard when convenient texts are given full authority in their plain sense and inconvenient texts are castrated away, whisked away, explained away by some purported cultural investigation. Not that C.S. Lewis is unique in doing this; I’ve quite commonly found it in feminist scholarship (and the feminist on the street). But I would give a remark, perhaps disturbing to many of us, that study of cultural context to the Bible usually doesn’t help that much. The best way to understand the Bible is to live its truths, and academic understanding of cultural context is rarely the bottleneck. Deeper understandings do not arise from reading scholarship; one is better off reading saints!

One last point of disclosure for now: I am an Orthodox Christian, and as such am in full communion with both soldier-saints like St. George, and “passion-bearers” like Saints Boris and Gleb, who allowed themselves to be murdered without raising a hand in defense. I have no liberty to disown either. As far as my own reflections, I’m not sure they’re terribly significant, but by way of disclosure I wrote “Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Real Peace Through Real Strength” at https://CJSHayward.com/peace/ out of intense study when I was in college, and then revisited the topic about twenty years later in “The Most Politically Incorrect Sermon in History: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount” at https://CJSHayward.com/sermon/ , in which I soften some edges but on other point suggest that my original lecture did not go nearly far enough, and had too much in common with the opposing camp.

I might also mention that I have tangled with Orthodox online. One loving father, in some conversation about violence, said that he has his priorities in the right order and if there is an intruder intent on doing wrong, he will first shoot the intruder and then take the killing to confession. How practical, how strong! But, while not speaking ill of firearms (I actually feel safer where criminals don’t know if there are armed and law-abiding citizens in a room, vs. where a sign guarantees that all gun(s) in the room are held by citizens), I asked if he had taken some much less sexy, far more basic steps. I asked if he had motion-activated lights and video cameras, for instance. I don’t remember if I talked about having a lock on every door and locking up all doors [and all windows], all the time when there’s not supposed to be someone going through them. I talked about Jack McLean’s “Secrets of a Superthief” ( https://www.amazon.com/Secrets-Superthief-John-MacLean/dp/0425056457/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512217629&sr=8-1&keywords=secrets+of+a+superthief ) and how its advocacy of home security said defense should be 40% physical and 60% psychological, and how to do things that will positively terrify a thief’s already wracked nerves. Even if you have a gun and train regularly, there are other things that are more important and more central, meaning the psychological tactics he mentioned. (E.g. a note on the back door that said, “Honey, Jed let his pet rattlesnake out of the cage AGAIN, and I can only find four of his pet scorpions. Can you tell him that this has to stop?”–or telling a nonexistent partner, with as much icy condescension as you can muster, “Yes, HONEY, I know what the machine gun will do to the walls.” Far-fetched or not, this is beyond terrifying for a thief to hear at all.) The super-thief author talked about one theft where actually believed there was a real, live bear following him around in the house he’d broken to. Boy, had he given a terrified clubbing until he eventually figured out he’d snagged a shoelace on a tooth on a bear rug! Somewhere in there I mentioned that some women who were living alone leave a pair of size 17 men’s boots (https://www.google.com/search?output=search&tbm=shop&q=size+17+men%27s+boots&oq=size+17+men%27s+boots&gs_l=products-cc.3…6039.10207.0.10409.19.8.0.11.11.0.81.457.8.8.0….0…1ac.1.64.products-cc..0.11.467…0.0.HmcTYBc6z1M) out by the back door each night. Somewhere in there I gave a tepid and grudging endorsement to “The Art of War”, or at least one of its quotes: “All warfare is deception” / “All warfare is based on deception” / “All warfare amounts to deception.” I do not think in the end that I condemned his ownership and practice with a firearm, but it struck me as remarkably naive and impractical. Possibly there was something of real moral significance in that he was willing to fight quite literally to the death for his wife and children. However, he was only interested, so far as I can tell, in the sexy, macho Ahnold Schwarzinator model of caring for his loved ones. He did not show the faintest interest or curiosity when I mentioned other and more basic ways of defending his family’s security such as flooding the are with a prowler’s clear #1 enemy: LIGHT. (I don’t remember if I mentioned a good home alarm system: they’re also probably worth it.) And in the end he struck me as very remarkably IMpractical, and out of touch with reality, for all his efforts to be willing and able to kill to protect each and every of his loved ones. I think I mentioned in there that killing another human being is a traumatic event no matter how well you believe it was justified, but if you are serious about security, there are a great many more practical things to do than make a quite literal shot in the dark. (And I do not remember the question coming up, but he mentioned owning a gun without any mention of owning night vision technologies. So it would have been quite literal shots in the dark. Getting to shoot and stop an intruder first is hard enough in broad daylight.) I respect his love for his loved ones, but I find his approach puzzling, and I am puzzled why some think this is the most effective and practical way to really cure one toothache (if I may use Lewis’s image).

That is enough, on this topic, I think. “A Pilgrimage from Narnia” (https://cjshayward.com/narnia/) talks about stepping from the fantasy of fairy tales to a real world that is more: and it says, more than anything else, what I embraced when I turned to Eastern Orthodoxy. There is something real that is more Narnian than Narnia, and it is found in the heart of the Orthodox Church. And it is explored in my flagship title, “The Best of Jonathan’s Corner”, https://www.amazon.com/dp/1478219912

There is one other bit I should mention. Depending somewhat on how you look at things, I haven’t been very good at just being a human being. There are some basic things I haven’t managed well. I am hoping to go to Mount Athos and spend some time there, preferably for the rest of my life (the fundraising page at https://gofundme.com/the-holy-mountain has more information). This is something I don’t know how to explain and convey to others. The Holy Mountain, as it is called, is the jewel of Orthodox monasticism. But it is also understood to be as the Theotokos was told, “Let this place be your inheritance and your garden, a paradise and a haven of salvation for those seeking to be saved.” I need that.

Monasticism is a bit hard to make, or even help, others to see. But one comment there: I have a philosophical background, and monasticism is classically called true philosophy, but it is best not to link the two as too quickly. I don’t really expect to be asked to build a philosophy of something-or-other. Most of us can sense or accept, even without necessarily knowing why, that practicing blocks and punches is a way of learning a particular philosophical way of life: philosophy is not something taught by reading and writing assignments alone. Orthodox monasticism does not have any kind of martial arts philosophy, but prayer and the prayerful performance of tasks in manual labor are in fact a certain philosophy, or rather a straightening out of the whole person. The intent is to build a humility that is worth more than the stars in the Heavens. It really does have the Philosopher’s Stone, Who Is Christ.

And on that point, I would like to end with a poem. It was written before I was particularly drawn to monasticism or realized my need, but

BEGIN QUOTATION
“How Shall I Tell an Alchemist?”

The cold matter of science—
Exists not, O God, O Life,
For Thou who art Life,
How could Thy humblest creature,
Be without life,
Fail to be in some wise,
The image of Life?
Minerals themselves,
Lead and silver and gold,
The vast emptiness of space and vacuum,
Teems more with Thy Life,
Than science will see in man,
Than hard and soft science,
Will to see in man.

How shall I praise Thee,
For making man a microcosm,
A human being the summary,
Of creation, spiritual and material,
Created to be,
A waterfall of divine grace,
Flowing to all things spiritual and material,
A waterfall of divine life,
Deity flowing out to man,
And out through man,
To all that exists,
And even nothingness itself?

And if I speak,
To an alchemist who seeks true gold,
May his eyes be opened,
To body made a spirit,
And spirit made a body,
The gold on the face of an icon,
Pure beyond twenty-four carats,
Even if the icon be cheap,
A cheap icon of paper faded?

How shall I speak to an alchemist,
Whose eyes overlook a transformation,
Next to which the transmutation,
Of lead to gold,
Is dust and ashes?
How shall I speak to an alchemist,
Of the holy consecration,
Whereby humble bread and wine,
Illumine as divine body and blood,
Brighter than gold, the metal of light,
The holy mystery the fulcrum,
Not stopping in chalice gilt,
But transforming men,
To be the mystical body,
The holy mystery the fulcrum of lives transmuted,
Of a waterfall spilling out,
The consecration of holy gifts,
That men may be radiant,
That men may be illumined,
That men be made the mystical body,
Course with divine Life,
Tasting the Fountain of Immortality,
The transformed elements the fulcrum,
Of God taking a lever and a place to stand,
To move the earth,
To move the cosmos whole,
Everything created,
Spiritual and material,
Returned to God,
Deified.

And how shall I tell an alchemist,
That alchemy suffices not,
For true transmutation of souls,
To put away searches for gold in crevices and in secret,
And see piles out in the open,
In common faith that seems mundane,
And out of the red earth that is humility,
To know the Philosopher’s Stone Who is Christ,
And the true alchemy,
Is found in the Holy Orthodox Church?

How Shall I Tell an Alchemist?
END QUOTATION

Monasticism is about the basics of Gospel, and this is what I seek.

Regarding the number of books, I don’t have an exact count. Sorry. Some dozens are available in a shuffled order at https://CJSHayward.com/books/

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Mm, if I may answer on slightly different terms than those in which it was asked:

I created https://eBook-Maker.Gifts as a customizable, made-to-order way to let readers make a custom collection out of my works, as well as adding a custom dedication, introduction, and if they have one to upload (I link to canva.com) their own cover.

Apart from possibly helping my books reach an increased audience, this is intended to allow readers to put together something of their heart into a nice gift at a time that money’s a little tight. It produces the reader’s choice of Kindle, ePub, and (though these options are not presented front and center) XHTML and PDF.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure how unusual this is, but writing anything good, or creating much of anything interesting, is an experience very much like prayer; it is a spiritual discipline like an Orthodox ascetical practice or monastic obedience. It is both an effort to master the work and to get out of the work’s way so that it can shine forth.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Eclectic with areas of strong interest. There are some usual suspects for someone with my background: not just C.S. Lewis but more basic works like the Bible (many times; in numerous translations or versions; and in several languages), the Philokalia, and somewhere below half of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers collections (http://OrthodoxChurchFathers.com). My favorite children’s book was “A Wind in the Door” by Madeleine l’Engle ( https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Door-Wrinkle-Time-Quintet/dp/0312368542/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512240468&sr=1-1&keywords=madeleine+l%27engle+a+wind+in+the+door ), and I was hooked on it for a very long time. When I heard of her passing, I let “Within the Steel Orb” (https://cjshayward.com/steel/) stand as a tribute to her.

I’ve also read various medieval versions of Arthurian legends; most English readers start with Sir Thomas Mallory as the fountainhead; I treat his synopsis (I would call Le Morte D’Arthur essentially a thousand page synopsis of bookshelves’ worth of medieval “romances”) as essentially the last major text that interested me. Geoffrey of Monmoth’s 12th century pseudohistory “Historia Regum Brittanorum” (“History of the Kings of Britain”) was history as people would like it to be, a bit like the Da Vinci Code, and it spread like wildfire. (And I’ve read maybe half of the more major authors from the Middle Ages. The literary output represented by medieval Arthurian legends is enormous.)

One thing that I think interesting is that my writing style for “The Sign of the Grail” (in https://www.amazon.com/Merlins-Major-Works-C-J-S-Hayward-ebook/dp/B00HNELD2A/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512241166&sr=1-1&keywords=hayward+merlin%27s+well) was modeled as much as reasonably possible on the way medieval Arthurian legends were told, and not only does that classic style of storytelling work, but readers have been riveted.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am taking a breather. After that I want to look for a part-time job. After that, maybe tinker with one of my open source software projects. There is a kind of program called a “Unix shell” (or “Linux”, or “Mac”) which is in the language a computer programmer uses to tell a computer to do things with other programs, something like an index to a book. I have years back started work on a shell you could program with Python; now I would like to return that project and add a dimension related to UX (“User eXperience”), bringing things just one step closer to proactive laziness, and just one step closer to “Do what I mean.” But explained that way it sounds a lot more impressive than it actually IS; Python’s power tools put a lot of things in very easy reach.

N.B. I had a brief career on Quora.com; one of the questions I addressed was what language Adam and Eve spoke in the Garden of Eden: in other words, “What was the language of Paradise?”

One person answered, “Hebrew.”

Another person tried to summarize speculation about “proto-human language” with a link to Wikipedia.

I answered, “Python,” and was immediately upvoted to the top.

(N.B. I’d give a brief plug to Christmas present shoppers for “Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming” at https://www.amazon.com/Python-Kids-Playful-Introduction-Programming/dp/1593274076/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512306402&sr=8-1&keywords=python+for+kids and its parent-oriented companion “Teach Your Kids How to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming” at https://www.amazon.com/Teach-Your-Kids-Code-Parent-Friendly/dp/1593276141/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1512306402&sr=8-3&keywords=python+for+kids ).

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In an academic setting, someone made a point that has every relevance to the web.

The point made was simply that academic articles and books that were available to people via the web were getting new citations at about five times the rate as works that scholars could only get in print. Meaning that if you want to be read, you had better be available on the web.

You want your work to be findable. I do not necessarily say that you need to share everything. What you decide to share is up to you. But in terms of findability, or SEO, the single biggest thing you can do for SEO is to have unique, high-quality content that other people will genuinely want to link to.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My biggest advice would be to love your creations.

When I was a youth, Franklin Peretti’s “This Present Darkness” was in vogue. I read it, loved it, and could not understand why literature professors seemed to look down their noses at it.

Then decades later I returned to the book, and wow, had the book gotten worse! I couldn’t put a finger on was that I was much too aware of the skill that had gone into it. Good acting does not impress an audience with “Wow, what an actor!” Good writing tends to share this self-effacing character.)

Soon after that library visit, I had an appointment with a literature and writing professor, and I began to voice my confusion over the series. He cut me off very quickly (N.B. and was in a very unfortunate situation at that time), and said bluntly that the difference is whether you love your characters; the problem with the “This Present Darkness” series was simply whether the author loved his characters. He didn’t, and that alone made the series an example of bad literature. And the one additional thing I could put my finger on is what I would consider part of the question of whether you love your characters. While the overall picture showed quite a lot of author’s skill, the characters did not move themselves and did not have life in them. They were rather moved about, skillfully, like someone moving pawns in both sides of a chess game. And pretty much every work of fiction I like now is one on which the characters have, at least partly, their own motives and act, at least partly, of themselves.

His point about loving characters in a story is part of a broader principle: good creative writing and good works arise when you love your own creations regardless of genre or almost anything else. This is something that I would pair with a perspective from Madeleine l’Engle’s “Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art” (https://www.amazon.com/Walking-Water-Reflections-Faith-Art/dp/0804189277/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1512313148&sr=8-1&keywords=l%27engle+walking+on+water). The artist, male or female, treads in the footsteps of the woman who said, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.” The professor talked about loving characters; Madeleine l’Engle talked about serving the creative work, but it is the same thing being discussed. You write your best work when you love your work, and serve it as it comes to be.

There is one other thing I would add, as a P.S. to starting authors in particular. In great writing, the characters come alive and you are more recording their story than deciding what they will do. However, few of us start there. In many cases there is a lot of gruntwork before the characters take over your story and make it their story. While it is an important goal to eventually work for, you get to that point by a lot of writing in the daily grind.

There is nothing shameful about spending time in the daily grind, or about having to keep on working on basics. In my own case, the works on https://eBook-Maker.Gifts represent a highly curated, cherry-picked selection. I got to the point of writing well by a lot of bad and largely incomprehensible writing in some particular online forums. All but the faintest trace of that output is lost and gone forever, and, honestly, I really don’t think much value has really been lost.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To enter monasticism, and more specifically to just enter monasticism with the intent of repenting of my sins for the rest of my life.

Put that way, it sounds strange, but there is gold inside. Repentance straightens us out like a chiropractor straightens a warped spine, and I have called it “Heaven’s best-kept secret” (https://CJSHayward.com/repentance-heavens-best-kept-secret).

Monasticism is a position of extreme privilege in Orthodoxy, no matter how counter-intuitive its benefits may seem. (See “A Comparison Between the Mere Monk and the Highest Bishop,” https://CJSHayward.com/monk/) What I was told was essentially you do to enter the path of optimum spiritual growth.

However, I do not wish to suggest that monasticism is a necessity for everyone. Possibly it is to me. But many other people get along without needing such power tools.

What are you reading now?
Outside of prayer? Almost nothing. At least for now; one of Thomas Hopko’s 55 maxims was to speak and think no more than is necessary.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t know. My best work is almost never something I can command at will.

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 Philokalia, and the Prologue by Ochrid. Or maybe an in-depth story of the life of some great saint.

Author Websites and Profiles
C.J.S. Hayward Website
C.J.S. Hayward Amazon Profile

C.J.S. Hayward’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
The Boundless Open Sea is my second full length work of non-fiction. I have over a half dozen academic journal articles published, book reviews, and manuscripts lying in wait for the right publisher!

My story, hmm…you can learn a lot from someone by reading their autobiography. But, I have had ups and downs which led to a book on ‘suffering’ called, The Boundless Open Sea~ ha!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Boundless Open Sea was inspired by a lifetime of passionately reading literature, eastern and western philosophy, life struggles with depression, grief, failure in field after field, burning out, washing out, falling out of society, and then finally plunking down, finding meditation, putting pen to paper and voila!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Daydreaming while washing the dishes, mowing the lawn, driving to work, taking out the garbage, driving the kids to dance lessons are usually the exact time when my best ideas arise. 99.9% of the time there is neither pad nor paper, nor pen nor pencil around to jot down the ideas. They simmer in my mind. Sometimes for hours. Until late at night. When the day grows dark. I flip open my laptop. Add a few choice sentences to the meandering manuscript. Like building a house made of legos I add sentences, one piece at a time until the edifice is complete.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jesus and Einstein. No, seriously, too many to mention. David Foster Wallace is my latest fixation. Friedrich Nietzsche, Karl Marx, the Buddha, Slavoj Zizek, Alain Badiou, Nishida Kitaro.

What are you working on now?
A strange set of ‘dump file’ quotations with the working title “Soft Screams in Exile” – sort of a meandering set of life-lessons, axioms, tweet-sized philosophical insights. Fortune cookies spread out to make a book. Its a bit, how shall I say this, batshit crazy, much like life itself. At times the book reads like a drunkard homeless man swinging from a chandelier with no pants on as the mad hatters ball goes on beneath.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Beats the s’it out of me? No clue. Zero help on this, its all a mystery to me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
No. Go into widget producing fields perhaps. STEM degrees are big these days.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The world needs ditch diggers too.

What are you reading now?
Kazuo Ishiguro’s Remains of the Day

What’s next for you as a writer?
Plug out a few books. Wanted to squeeze out a few more kids but that’s unlikely at this point. Go to Tim Hortons and hope I sell a book to pay for the cup of coffee.

Seriously, I am working on a series of modules to help people deal with stress through the practice of meditation.

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?
Letters in a Bottle by Celan, no seriously? Um, something really long that you can get some re-reading mileage out of, Donald Trump’s Twitter Account, Georges Perec’s Life a User’s Manual, the Pali Canon, and probably oh, there was that book Sailing Alone Around the World by Jonathan Slocum (does he describe how to make a sailboat? may come in handy on a desert island)

Author Websites and Profiles
Bradley Kaye Amazon Profile

Bradley Kaye’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a wife, mother, recovering addict, blogger, vlogger and speaker. This past November, I celebrated the 5th anniversary of my sobriety, by releasing this book. It is already being sent to jails and rehabillitation centers by the loved ones of those currently fighting addiction, and my followers have been purchasing, and donating the book to others in need. My heart is bursting at the seams.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book, “High Achiever: The Shocking True Story of One Addict’s Double Life” was inspired by real life events. Not only is the truth of my story is something you would read in a fiction novel, I wanted to give readers insight as to what an addict is actually thinking in those dark and self destructive moments. There is such a stigma attached with addiction, and I wanted to help chip away at it by taking those who don’t understand, along for the ride of their life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Consistently swatting chunky, little baby fingers away from the keyboard while I type, not sure if that counts.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
It may sound silly, but I first discovered a love for reading as a young child thanks to R.L. Stine’s, “Goosebumps” series. By age seven I already had around 50 books under my belt. I craved the escapism the stories provided, and I wanted to be able to create that feeling for others. So, my father bought me a typewriter, and a love of writing was born!

What are you working on now?
I am currently creating content for my social media sights, I am planning a mini book-tour, and I am in the beginning stages of another book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My Facebook fan page has been an incredible tool. I have 250,000+ followers, many of which have purchased and raved about the book on my site. Word of mouth has been huge.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am still a new author myself, so I will share something that helped me immensely. While writing, my mind was constantly reeling about my story. I had thousands of thoughts and ideas swimming around my brain at all times, and it made it hard to focus. Eventually, I began texting messages to myself the moment something popped into my head, that way I could release the idea to something tangible to look back on later, and no longer had to keep it inside my already overflowing mind.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Stop meeting your problems halfway, wait for them to come all the way to you.” – My Mom.

What are you reading now?
Mostly, the instructions to my sons Lego sets, his newfound obsession.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am really excited about my next project, because I feel that it will truly make a difference in the way the world views the people around them. I also plan on dedicating time to my blog, which features stories and insights on motherhood, addiction, marriage and adulting.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1) “How To Survive On a Deserted Island”, by Tim O’Shei. (Kidding.)
2) “Gulliver’s Travels” by Jonathan Smith.
3) “Twilight” by Stephanie Meyer.
4) “Just For Today” – Narcotics anonymous.

Author Websites and Profiles
Tiffany Jenkins Website
Tiffany Jenkins Amazon Profile

Tiffany Jenkins’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write in English and Malayalam. As on now, I wrote 5 books― “April showers bring may flowers”, “On an exciting Cocktail Night”, “The Lady in the Moonlight”, “Tiptoe to Silence”, and, “A Nebula in the Milky Way”.

“April showers” is about a diary entry of a ten-year-old girl, written in Indian slang. The malayalam version of this story is, “Lion’s Park”.

“Cocktail Night” is in the genre horror. The malayalam version of this story is, “Praise the Lord”.

“The Lady in the Moonlight” is a story of mystery. The malayalam version of this story is, “Orchid Pookkalude Pranayam”.Recently, this book has been translated and published in Spanish as well. The Spanish title is, “La Senora A La Luz De La Luna”.

Tiptoe to Silence is a Fantasy and Romantic tale. The malayalam version is, “Chandragiriyil Oru Sayahnam”.

The last one, “Nebula in the Milky Way” is a Science Fiction story based on Time Travel.

I am a native of India. I live in Gonikoppal, Coorg district, Karnataka. My parents are from Kerala, but we’ve settled in Coorg, years ago. My father is a photographer, and my mother is a housewife. I live with my parents, along with my wife and a one-year-old daughter.

I did my graduation in Computer Science, from Mangalore University. Before completion of my Post Graduation in Mathematics, I started working as a Computer Networking Administrator, thereby as a Computer Faculty, and also as a teacher for Physics, Maths, and English, for a period of 20 years. I hold an international certificate from Cambridge University, in teaching English for speakers of other languages, I also worked in the relevant field as the coordinator of Communicative English Faculties.

Apart from all these, I worked in the BPO section (Business Outsourcing) as agents in UK and US processes.

Currently, I am working as a Principal in a school, at Madikeri, near my hometown.

In my free time, I write, read, play chess, and listen to some good music. I’m a Musician, and a Chess player too. I play violin, harmonium, and mandolin. I am a professional in these musical instruments. Chess is my favorite pass time.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a Science Fiction story. “A Nebula in the Milky Way”. It is based on Time Travel, published on 19th November 2017. It’s going well so far, with good reviews.

I’d some long lasting fantasy thoughts when sometimes I just think about the past, it would have been better if… Yes, it is such types of thoughts that led me to write this concept of Time Travel. Like… if you ever got a chance to change something in your past, then what would that be!

The concept of the movie ‘Timecop’ also inspired me in writing this book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know! I write whenever I want. My busy schedule doesn’t at all hinder my writing task.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’; ‘Things fall apart’ by Chinua Achebe, Henric Ibsen’s “A Doll’s House”, “La Belle Dame Sans Mercy” by John Keats.

What are you working on now?
I am promoting my books. I am working on a love story. I haven’t named it yet! I just outlined, and preparing the first draft.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social media, obviously! Mainly Facebook, goodreads, Google plus, and twitter. I am active in all of these. And, your website ‘awesomegang’ also helped me a lot in exposure as an author.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Enjoy! A good writer should be a good reader as well! Read and review other writer’s work whenever you have time. This not only helps in improving oneself, but also helps many upcoming authors boosting their potential.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be on to yourselves! I always follow that!

What are you reading now?
I am helping out some authors by beta reading their work. Also, I am reading some of the old classical literatures.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To be honest, I really don’t know! I write for the sake of pleasure. I am trying to promote my books, getting them translated to any other languages.

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?
Honesty, I cannot read anything when I am in a place like a desert island. Though I may carry some books along with me, I think I will spend most of my time doing nothing rather than admiring the beauty of nature, reading my own books, or writing something.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lathish Shankar Amazon Profile

Lathish Shankar’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Sky Boss, horny, 31 & a sexplorer!

Sky Boss is the bastard love child of Lady Gaga and Donald Trump, born somewhere in the multiverse on October 2016 during a magic mushroom journey in a windswept castle in the North of England.

He holds a dark mirror up to our sexual fantasies and desires, giving you a safe space to explore the darkness you can’t express from 9-5. Sometimes he will make you laugh, other times he will make you cum.

Just remember, everything that Sky Boss shows you is just a frequency that he’s channelling from the ether of our dark reality. We’re being bombarded by sex all day every day, and then being told to feel guilty for our innate human desires.

Sky Boss says fuck it, let’s own our darkness.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Meeting the Man of the House at the Bath House (II)

It was inspired by my darkest, sexiest fantasies.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
drinking too much coffee…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Margaret Atwood

What are you working on now?
A Twink a Day… a 4 part series about naughty twinks.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
still finding my feet

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I’m too new to be giving out advice

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Take half whatever the dealer offers and see how you feel in an hour

What are you reading now?
Our Revolution
Bernie Sanders

What’s next for you as a writer?
Moving to Australia

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 Handmaid’s Tale
The Dao De Jing
The Wrong boy

Author Websites and Profiles
Sky Boss Website
Sky Boss Amazon Profile
Sky Boss Author Profile on Smashwords

Sky Boss’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a filmmaker and writer. The Goblin, my latest book, is my third published novel. I couldn’t resist and made it into a feature film, which is now available to download on Amazon video. It took five years to do and I don’t recommend that to anyone. It nearly killed me.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is called, The Goblin. It came to me as a creepy idea that I wanted to see as a movie. I decided instead of writing only a script for the story, that it would be a great novel to go deeper into the darkness of the main character.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I write I stay up all night, drink lots of coffee and tea, do not leave my house for up to seven months, meditate deeply on the story during that entire time, and usually grow a long beard and hair.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I would say that Tolkien has influenced me somewhat, but I think the real influence for anything is film and television. Other writers who have written for the screen.

What are you working on now?
I am currently promoting The Goblin as both a book and a Fantasy/Horror/Thriller film package that is sure to keep audiences and readers on edge unto the very end.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still searching for the answer.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Be original. Stories are extremely lame, poorly written, with no real plot. If you can’t write, don’t.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
With God all things are possible. Matthew 19:26

What are you reading now?
What writer has time to read?!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am hoping to begin on one of my Thrillers that I have stashed away in a pile of 12 others. My goal is to finish them all before I die…i really need to hurry.

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 Holy Bible, Victorious Dreams by Thrasa Michael, Revenge of the Wolf (one of mine).

Author Websites and Profiles
Wyatt Michael Amazon Profile

Wyatt Michael’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Warning: This document contains some truly jarring notes; I give sharp critiques to a man I owe inestimable debts.

Where to begin? Let me draw out one point, quoted, as it may happen to be, from C.S. Lewis in Mere Christianity: “The Son of God became a man that men might become the Sons of God.”

These words were original, not even in pretension. A historian would hear the clear and conscious echo. Thomas Aquinas said, “The divine became human that the human might become divine.” The phrase had been rumbling down the centuries, in its living form in St. Maximos the Confessor: “God and the Son of God became Man and the Son of Man that men and the sons of men might become gods and the sons of God.” The oldest source I’ve read it, inexactly and not yet crystallized into its wording, is in the second century St. Irenaeos: “Do we cast blame on him [God] because we were not made gods from the beginning, but were at first created merely as men, and then later as gods? Although God has adopted this course out of his pure benevolence, that no one may charge him with discrimination or stinginess, he declares, “I have said, Ye are gods; and all of you are sons of the Most High.” … For it was necessary at first that nature be exhibited, then after that what was mortal would be conquered and swallowed up in immortality.”

I start with reference to C.S. Lewis because, more than any other he formed me as a writer. I’ve read almost everything he wrote across all his genres, and the biggest mark of a follower is this: at least when I am writing for certain audiences, I critique him out of his own resources. That is the mark of a follower; and incidentally it has nothing to do with talent; it is a standard remark in academia that the people who critique you are your own Ph.D. students.

For instance of critiquing him out of his own resources, in the last section of The Abolition of Man, Lewis wrote, “The fact that the scientist has succeeded where the magician failed has put such a wide contrast between them in popular thought that the real story of the birth of Science is misunderstood. You will even find people who write about the sixteenth century as if Magic were a medieval survival and Science the new thing that came in to sweep it away. Those who have studied the period know better. There was very little magic in the Middle Ages: the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries are the high noon of magic. The serious magical endeavour and the serious scientific endeavour are twins: one was sickly and died, the other strong and throve. But they were twins. They were born of the same impulse. I allow that some (certainly not all) of the early scientists were actuated by a pure love of knowledge. But if we consider the temper of that age as a whole we can discern the impulse of which I speak… In Paracelsus the characters of magician and scientist are combined. No doubt those who really founded modern science were usually those whose love of truth exceeded their love of power; in every mixed movement the efficacy comes from the good elements not from the bad. But the presence of the bad elements is not irrelevant to the direction the efficacy takes. It might be going too far to say that the modern scientific movement was tainted from its birth: but I think it would be true to say that it, was born in an unhealthy neighbourhood and at an inauspicious hour.” And one line of reply is that Lewis left someone out in his narrative of the twin magician and scientist. He left out the (equally) towering figure of their overlapping contemporary, the Reformer, who stands as tall as a Renaissance magus in his plans to improve the despicable raw material of the Church and make of it something worthwhile. I explore this in The Magician’s Triplet: Magician, Scientist, Reformer.

Another, more extended quotation, has to do with “Why I Am Not a Pacifist”, which I really think C.S. Lewis violated his own positions to write. I do not necessarily say that such an essay shouldn’t have been written (G.K. Chesterton did better with a parenthetical remark), but I do say that I was shocked that Lewis himself had written it.

The reason is that everywhere else C.S. Lewis argues a “mere Christianity,” and tries to be dogmatic about common ground and exclusively about common ground. This means, for instance, that in his book “Mere Christianity” he backs away from momentous questions about the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary, directly affirming nothing save the virgin birth:

THE QUOTE BEGINS:
Some people draw unwarranted conclusions from the fact that I never say more about the Blessed Virgin Mary than is involved in asserting the Virgin Birth of Christ. But surely my reason for not doing so is obvious? To say more would take me at once into highly controversial regions. And there is no controversy between Christians which needs to be so delicately touched as this. The Roman Catholic beliefs on that subject are held not only with the ordinary fervour that attaches to all sincere religious belief, but (very naturally) with the peculiar and, as it were, chivalrous sensibility that a man feels when the honour of his mother or his beloved is at stake. It is very difficult so to dissent from them that you will not appear to them a cad as well as a heretic.

And contrariwise, the opposed Protestant beliefs on this subject call forth feelings which go down to the very roots of all Monotheism whatever. To radical Protestants it seems that the distinction between Creator and creature (however holy) is imperilled: that Polytheism is risen again. Hence it is hard so to dissent from them that you will not appear something worse than a heretic—an idolater, a Pagan. If any topic could be relied upon to wreck a book about “mere” Christianity—if any topic makes utterly unprofitable reading for those who do not yet believe that the Virgin’s son is God—surely this is it.
END OF QUOTE.

C.S. refuses to take a position on this question, found momentous by almost every side, because his principle of sticking to common ground left him with almost nothing unproblematic to say. Out of his entire collection of writing, he avoids engaging controversy. And here he seems to change his story and bake, as it were, an endorsement of just war into mere Christianity. He also says things that I have never heard in extended conversations with Christian soldiers. I have frequently been told that soldier and pacifist are alike necessary, and that the presence of pacifists in the broader conversation gives something that just war alone does not. Out of all these voices, C.S. Lewis alone condemns allowing people to avoid military service even if their denomination and/or conscience forbid violence. I understand that he was addressing an audience of pacifists who wanted to know how he was not a pacifist, but the message he delivered was not just “Why I Am Not a Pacifist.” It was fully “Why You Must Also Not Be Pacifists Either,” whether or not this was at all clearly labeled, but I studied at a school with a respected Army ROTC program, engaged people on multiple sides on the topic of peace and just war, and while I got questions of, “What are you going to do if you enter situation X?”, not one single soldier, not one military science professor, not one prestigious philosopher tried to convert me to belief in just war as something necessary for me to adopt. (I think they were showing a great deal more hospitality and charity than I was.) I heard many voices seeking to convince me that just war was a legitimate option. Not one warrior forbade me to be both a Christian and a pacifist.

I would like to quote at the summary provided on the official C.S. Lewis site. This summary leaves things out; it perhaps circumspectly omits that Lewis first asserts that there are situations where you can’t save the lives of all the people there are to save, and then uses this position as a rhetorical stepping-stone to say that there are times one must use proactive violence. The step is unwarranted. As an Anglican like Lewis should know, some roles within the Church are historically taken to be incompatible with violence, even if there are Christian soldiers and for that matter Christian soldier-saints. A priest is forbidden violence: which is to say that a priest may act and save some in a situation where you cannot save everyone. He is still forbidden to directly engage violence. Lewis never mentions this, or much of anything like it so far as I can tell.

To quote the summary:

THE QUOTE BEGINS:
In the frequently debated essay in The Weight of Glory titled “Why I’m Not a Pacifist,” Lewis asks a simple, provocative question: “How do we decide what is good or evil?” It seems easy enough. It’s our conscience, right? Lewis says that’s the usual answer, breaking it up into what a person is pressured to feel as right due to a certain universal guide, and what a person judges as right or wrong for him or herself.

The first is not arguable given its universality (something some argue nonetheless), but Lewis warns that the second is often moved and sometimes mistaken.

Enter Reason. We receive a set of facts, we have intuition about such facts, and we have need to arrange these facts to “produce a proof of the truth or falsehood,” Lewis says. This last ability is where error usurps reason or simply a refusal to see and understand the truth.

Most of us have not worked out all of our beliefs with Reason. Rather, we lean in on the authority on which those beliefs are hinged and we are humble enough to trust it.

Why not pacifism then? Here’s his rundown, in brief.

First, war is very disagreeable in everyone’s point of view. The pacifist contends that war does more harm than good, that every war leads to another war, and that pacifism itself will lead to an absence of war, and more, a cure for suffering. Lewis is pointed in his response:

A NESTED QUOTE BEGINS:
I think the art of life consists in tackling each immediate evil as well as we can. To avert or postpone one particular war by wise policy, or to render one particular campaign shorter by strength and skill or less terribly by mercy to the conquered and the civilians is more useful than all the proposals for universal peace that have ever been made; just as the dentist who can stop one toothache has deserved better of humanity than all the men who think they have some scheme for producing a perfectly healthy race.

In other words, doing good in tackling immediate evils with deliberate force, does more good than setting up position statements based in some humanistic view that improvement will inevitably come just because… it’s suppose to come.
END OF NESTED QUOTE.

Hold on. Jesus says a person should turn the other cheek, right? Lewis presents three ways of interpreting Jesus. First, the pacifists way of imposing a “duty of nonresistance on all men in all circumstances.” Second, some minimize the command to hyperbole. The third is taking the text at face value with the exception toward exceptions. Christians, Lewis says, cannot retaliate against a neighbor who does them harm, but the homicidal manic, “attempting to murder a third party, tried to knock me out of the way, [so] I must stand aside and let him get his victim?” asks Lewis, who answers his own question with a resounding, “No.”
END OF QUOTE.

I might interrupt here and comment that what C.S. Lewis has established here is not what he thinks he has established. What he has established is that, quite simply, he does not know how to read.

How’s that?

I’d like to look at Gandhi for a moment. Not exactly that Gandhi was Christian (note: he was a bit soured after a Christian evangelist turned him down for the color of his skin), but his debt to Christianity and the Sermon on the Mount is incalculable. And he was a prominent contemporary to Lewis, who was a voracious reader of all kinds of writing, and said, “You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me.” And he might provide insight into the pacifism Lewis falsely assumes himself to not need to put in any effort to understand:

BEGIN OF QUOTE:
My creed of non-violence is an extremely active force. It has no room for cowardice or even weakness. There is hope for a violent man to be some day non-violent, but there is none for a coward. I have therefore said more than once in these pages that if we do not know how to defend ourselves, our women and our places of worship by the force of suffering, i.e., non-violence, we must, if we are men, be at least able to defend all these by fighting.
(SB, 154)

The people of a village near Bettia told me that they had run away whilst the police were looting their houses and molesting their womenfolk. When they said that they had run away because I had told them to be non-violent, I hung my head in shame. I assured them that such was not the meaning of my non-violence. I expected them to intercept the mightiest power that might be in the act of harming those who were under their protection, and draw without retaliation all harm upon their own heads even to the point of death, but never to run away from the storm centre. It was manly enough to defend one’s property, honour, or religion at the point of the sword. It was manlier and nobler to defend them without seeking to injure the wrongdoer. But it was unmanly, unnatural and dishonorable to forsake the post of duty and, in order to save one’s skin, to leave property, honour or religion to the mercy of the wrong-doer. I could see my way of delivering ahimsa to those who knew how to die, not to those who were afraid of death.
(SB, 155-56)
END OF QUOTE.

“Turning the other cheek” is not about, as Lewis says, “stepping out of the way.” It is stepping INTO the way. The distinction is cardinal. Furthermore, this was something Gandhi took from the Sermon on the Mount. Lewis’s misrepresentation of his opponents’ position is of capital significance.

On a lesser scale, the glib “taking the text at face value with exception for the exceptions” seems remarkably convenient. What this means, as far as I can tell, is that the Sermon on the Mount forbids us from all recourse to violence, except of course for situations where violence is justified. This seems awfully convenient in responding to a potent objection, and Lewis appears to be begging the question.

Regarding hyperbole (meaning exaggeration), in my youth I wouldn’t hear of hyperbole playing a factor in the Bible. Now I do. But I believe that hyperbole is at least usually present in the Bible as a means of underscoring a major point: you do not properly understand the full extent of the parable of the Good Samaritan until you understand most of the story as deliberately ludicrous exaggeration, and in this case also meant to make his audience uncomfortable. Hyperbole in the Bible is normally a means of emphasizing a major point.

Let us return to the last of the summary.

QUOTE BEGINS:
Further, Lewis says, “Indeed, as the audience were private people in a disarmed nation, it seems unlikely that they would have ever supposed Our Lord to be referring to war. War was not what they would have been thinking of. The frictions of daily life among villagers were more likely on their minds.”

Lewis ultimately lands on authority, referencing Romans 13:4, I Peter 2:14, and the general tone of Jesus’ meaning.

Here’s Romans 13:3-4: “For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for he is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.”

And I Peter 2:13-14: “Submit yourselves for the Lord’s sake to every human authority: whether to the emperor, as the supreme authority, or to governors, who are sent by him to punish those who do wrong and to commend those who do right.”

Do you agree with Lewis’s rationale? How does your understanding of the Bible and Christian faith influence your feelings toward war?
END OF QUOTE.

One thing I have become wary of in relation to my first dissertation at Cambridge was use of cultural context that evokes the saying, “Most people use statistics the way a drunkard uses lampposts: for support rather than illumination.”

I am personally on guard when convenient texts are given full authority in their plain sense and inconvenient texts are castrated away, whisked away, explained away by some purported cultural investigation. So a soldier told that serving as a soldier was a forbidden profession in ancient Christianity is simply answered by pointing out that idolatry was mandatory for a Roman soldier. Not that C.S. Lewis is unique in doing this; I’ve quite commonly found it in feminist scholarship (and the feminist on the street). But I would give a remark, perhaps disturbing to many of us, that study of cultural context to the Bible usually doesn’t help that much. The best way to understand the Bible is to live its truths, and academic understanding of cultural context is rarely the bottleneck. Deeper understandings do not arise from reading scholarship; one is better off reading saints!

One last point of disclosure for now: I am an Orthodox Christian, and as such am in full communion with both soldier-saints like St. George, and “passion-bearers” like Saints Boris and Gleb, who allowed themselves to be murdered without raising a hand in defense. I have no liberty to disown either, as I believe that one and the same God inspired the Romans 13; I have no liberty to reject either. As far as my own reflections, I’m not sure they’re terribly significant, but by way of disclosure I wrote Blessed Are the Peacemakers: Real Peace Through Real Strength out of intense study when I was in college, and then revisited the topic about twenty years later in The Most Politically Incorrect Sermon in History: A Commentary on the Sermon on the Mount.” In the latter, I soften some edges but on other point suggest that my original lecture did not go nearly far enough, and had too much in common with the opposing camp.

I might also mention that I have tangled with Orthodox online. (N.B. This may in itself put me in the wrong.) One loving father, in some conversation about violence, said that he has his priorities in the right order and if there is an intruder intent on doing wrong, he will first shoot the intruder and then take the killing to confession. How practical, how strong! But, while not speaking ill of firearms (I actually feel safer where criminals don’t know if there are armed and law-abiding citizens in a room, vs. where a sign guarantees that all gun(s) in the room are held by citizens), I asked if he had taken some much less sexy, far more basic steps. I asked if he had motion-activated lights and video cameras, for instance. I don’t remember if I talked about having a lock on every door and locking up all doors [and all windows], all the time when there’s not supposed to be someone going through them. I talked about Jack McLean’s Secrets of a Superthief and how its advocacy of home security said defense should be 40% physical and 60% psychological, and how to do things that will positively terrify a thief’s already wracked nerves. Even if you have a gun and train regularly, there are other things that are more important and more central, meaning the psychological tactics he mentioned. (E.g. a note on the back door that said, “Honey, Jed let his pet rattlesnake out of the cage AGAIN, and I can only find four of his pet scorpions. Can you tell him that this has to stop?”–or telling a nonexistent spouse, with as much icy condescension as you can muster, “Yes, HONEY, I know what the machine gun will do to the walls.” Far-fetched or not, this is beyond terrifying for a thief to hear at all.) The super-thief author talked about one theft where actually believed there was a real, live bear following him around in the house he’d broken to. Boy, had he given a terrified clubbing until he eventually figured out he’d snagged a shoelace on a tooth on a bear rug! Somewhere in there I mentioned that some women who were living alone leave a pair of size 17 men’s boots out by the back door each night. Somewhere in there I gave a tepid and grudging endorsement to The Art of War, or at least one of its quotes: “All warfare is deception” / “All warfare is based on deception” / “All warfare amounts to deception.” I do not think in the end that I condemned his ownership and practice with a firearm, but it struck me as remarkably naive and impractical. Possibly there was something of real moral significance in that he was willing to fight quite literally to the death for his wife and children. However, he was only interested, so far as I can tell, in the sexy, macho Arnold Schwarzinator model of caring for his loved ones. He did not show the faintest interest or curiosity when I mentioned other and more basic ways of defending his family’s security such as flooding the are with a prowler’s clear #1 enemy: light. (I don’t remember if I mentioned a good home alarm system: they’re also probably worth it.) And in the end he struck me as very remarkably impractical, and out of touch with reality, for all his efforts to be willing and able to kill to protect each and every of his loved ones. I think I mentioned in there that killing another human being is a traumatic event no matter how well you believe it was justified, but if you are serious about security, there are a great many more practical things to do than make a quite literal shot in the dark. (And I do not remember the question coming up, but he mentioned owning a gun without any mention of owning night vision technologies. So it would have been quite literal shots in the dark. Getting to shoot and stop an intruder first is hard enough in broad daylight.) I respect his love for his loved ones, but I find his approach puzzling, and I am puzzled why some think this is the most effective and practical way to really cure one toothache (if I may use Lewis’s image).

One real-life example I’ve seen: when my car was at a towyard after an accident, there was a modest-sized sign in yellow and black, and I’d like to stop there. Yellow and black are a color combination that say something very specific in the natural world. Most animals have what is in the military called “disruptive camouflage.” Yellow and black are anti-camouflage. They say, “I have venom, and I can sting.” Returning to the towyard, what the yellow and black sign at the towyard said was, “Our pit bulls can reach the fence in 2.3 seconds. Can you?” (Could we at least talk about a sign saying, “This home protected by Smith and Wesson, policy #357”? Or policy #45?)

That is enough, on this topic, I think. A Pilgrimage from Narnia talks about stepping from the fantasy of fairy tales to a real world that is more: and it says, more than anything else, what I embraced when I turned to Eastern Orthodoxy. There is something real that is more Narnian than Narnia, and it is found in the heart of the Orthodox Church. And it is explored in my flagship title, The Best of Jonathan’s Corner.

There is one other bit I should mention. Depending somewhat on how you look at things, I haven’t been very good at just being a human being. There are some basic things I haven’t managed well. I am hoping to go to Mount Athos and spend some time there, preferably for the rest of my life (my fundraising page has more information). This is something I don’t know how to explain and convey to others. The Holy Mountain, as it is called, is the jewel of Orthodox monasticism. But it is also understood to be as the Theotokos was told, “Let this place be your inheritance and your garden, a paradise and a haven of salvation for those seeking to be saved.” I need that.

Monasticism is a bit hard to make, or even help, others to see. But one comment there: I have a philosophical background, and monasticism is classically called true philosophy, but it is best not to link the two as too quickly. I don’t really expect to be asked to build a philosophy of something-or-other. Most of us can sense or accept, even without necessarily knowing why, that practicing blocks and punches is a way of learning a particular philosophical way of life: philosophy is not something taught by reading and writing assignments alone. Orthodox monasticism does not have any kind of martial arts philosophy, but prayer and the prayerful performance of tasks in manual labor are in fact a certain philosophy, or rather a straightening out of the whole person. The intent is to build a humility that is worth more than the stars in the Heavens. It really does have the Philosopher’s Stone, Who Is Christ.

And on that point, I would like to end with a poem. It was written before I was particularly drawn to monasticism or realized my need, but

How Shall I Tell an Alchemist?

The cold matter of science—
Exists not, O God, O Life,
For Thou who art Life,
How could Thy humblest creature,
Be without life,
Fail to be in some wise,
The image of Life?
Minerals themselves,
Lead and silver and gold,
The vast emptiness of space and vacuum,
Teems more with Thy Life,
Than science will see in man,
Than hard and soft science,
Will to see in man.

How shall I praise Thee,
For making man a microcosm,
A human being the summary,
Of creation, spiritual and material,
Created to be,
A waterfall of divine grace,
Flowing to all things spiritual and material,
A waterfall of divine life,
Deity flowing out to man,
And out through man,
To all that exists,
And even nothingness itself?

And if I speak,
To an alchemist who seeks true gold,
May his eyes be opened,
To body made a spirit,
And spirit made a body,
The gold on the face of an icon,
Pure beyond twenty-four carats,
Even if the icon be cheap,
A cheap icon of paper faded?

How shall I speak to an alchemist,
Whose eyes overlook a transformation,
Next to which the transmutation,
Of lead to gold,
Is dust and ashes?
How shall I speak to an alchemist,
Of the holy consecration,
Whereby humble bread and wine,
Illumine as divine body and blood,
Brighter than gold, the metal of light,
The holy mystery the fulcrum,
Not stopping in chalice gilt,
But transforming men,
To be the mystical body,
The holy mystery the fulcrum of lives transmuted,
Of a waterfall spilling out,
The consecration of holy gifts,
That men may be radiant,
That men may be illumined,
That men be made the mystical body,
Course with divine Life,
Tasting the Fountain of Immortality,
The transformed elements the fulcrum,
Of God taking a lever and a place to stand,
To move the earth,
To move the cosmos whole,
Everything created,
Spiritual and material,
Returned to God,
Deified.

And how shall I tell an alchemist,
That alchemy sufficeth not,
For true transmutation of souls,
To put away searches for gold in crevices and in secret,
And see piles out in the open,
In common faith that seems mundane,
And out of the red earth that is humility,
To know the Philosopher’s Stone Who is Christ,
And the true alchemy,
Is found in the Holy Orthodox Church?

How Shall I Tell an Alchemist?

Monasticism is about the basics of Gospel, and this is what I seek.

Regarding the number of books, I don’t have an exact count. Sorry about that. Some dozens are available in a shuffled order at CJSHayward.com/books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I created https://eBook-Maker.Gifts as a customizable, made-to-order way to let readers make a custom collection out of my works, as well as adding a custom dedication, introduction, and if they have one to upload (I link to canva.com) their own cover.

Apart from possibly reaching an increased audience, this is intended to allow readers to put together something of their heart into a nice gift at a time that money’s a little tight. It produces the reader’s choice of Kindle, ePub, and (though these options are not presented front and center) XHTML and PDF.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure how unusual this is, but writing anything good, or creating much of anything interesting, is an experience very much like prayer; it is a spiritual discipline like an Orthodox ascetical practice or monastic obedience. It is both an effort to master the work and to get out of the work’s way so that it can shine forth.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Eclectic. There are some usual suspects for someone with my background: not just C.S. Lewis but the Bible (dozens of versions in several languages; it’s nice to have a patristic translation of the Bible), the Philokalia, and somewhere below half of the Ante-Nicene Fathers and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers (http://OrthodoxChurchFathers.com). My favorite children’s book was “A Wind in the Door” by Madeleine l’Engle ( https://www.amazon.com/Wind-Door-Wrinkle-Time-Quintet/dp/0312368542/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1512240468&sr=1-1&keywords=madeleine+l%27engle+a+wind+in+the+door ), and I was hooked on it for a very long time. When I heard of her passing, I let Within the Steel Orb stand as a tribute to her.

I’ve also read various medieval versions of Arthurian legends; most English readers start with Sir Thomas Mallory as the fountainhead; I treat his synopsis (I would call Le Morte D’Arthur essentially a thousand page synopsis of bookshelves’ worth of medieval “romances”) as essentially the last major text that interested me. Geoffrey of Monmoth’s 12th century pseudohistory “Historia Regum Brittanorum” (“History of the Kings of Britain”) was history as people would like it to be, a bit like the Da Vinci Code, and it spread like wildfire. (And I’ve read maybe half of the more major authors from the Middle Ages. The literary output represented by medieval Arthurian legends is enormous.)

One thing that I think interesting is that my writing style for The Sign of the Grail (included in my ebook, Merlin’s Well) was modeled as much as reasonably possible on the way medieval Arthurian legends were told, and not only does that classic style of storytelling work, but readers have been riveted.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am taking a breather. After that I want to look for a part-time job. After that, maybe tinker with one of my open source software projects. There is a kind of program called a “Unix shell” (or “Linux”, or “Mac”) which is in the language a computer programmer uses to tell a computer to do things with other programs, something like an index to a book. I have years back started work on a shell you could program with Python; now I would like to return that project and add a dimension related to UX (“User eXperience”), bringing things just one step closer to proactive laziness, and just one step closer to “Do what I mean.” But explained that way it sounds a lot more impressive than it actually IS; Python’s power tools put a lot of things in very easy reach.

N.B. I had a brief career on Quora.com; one of the questions I addressed was what language Adam and Eve spoke in the Garden of Eden: in other words, “What was the language of Paradise?”

One person answered, “Hebrew.”

Another person tried to summarize speculation about “proto-human language” with a link to Wikipedia.

I answered, “Python,” and was immediately upvoted to the top.

(N.B. I’d give a brief plug to Christmas present shoppers for Python for Kids: A Playful Introduction to Programming and its parent-oriented companion Teach Your Kids How to Code: A Parent-Friendly Guide to Python Programming.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In an academic setting, someone made a point that has every relevance to the web.

The point made was simply that academic articles and books that were available to people via the web were getting new citations at about five times the rate as works that scholars could only get in print.

You want your work to be findable. I do not necessarily say that you need to share everything. What you decide to share is up to you. But in terms of findability, or SEO, the single biggest thing you can do for SEO is to have unique, high-quality content that other people will genuinely want to link to.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My biggest advice would be to love your creations.

When I was a youth, Franklin Peretti’s This Present Darkness was in vogue. I read it, loved it, and could not understand why literature professors seemed to look down their noses at it.

Then decades later I returned to the book, and wow, had the book gone downhill! I couldn’t put a finger on was that I was much too aware of the skill that had gone into it. (Good acting does not impress an audience with “Wow, what an actor!” Good writing tends to share this self-effacing character.)

Soon after that library visit, I had an appointment with a literature and writing professor, and I began to voice my confusion over the series. He cut me off very quickly (N.B. and was in a very unfortunate situation at that time), and said bluntly that the difference is whether you love your characters; the problem with the This Present Darkness series was simply whether the author loved his characters. He didn’t, and that alone made the series an example of bad literature. And the one additional thing I could put my finger on is what I would consider part of the question of whether you love your characters. While the overall picture showed quite a lot of author’s skill, the characters did not move themselves and did not have life in them. They were rather moved about, skillfully, like someone moving pawns in both sides of a chess game. And pretty much every work of fiction I like now is one on which the characters have, at least partly, their own motives and act, at least partly, of themselves.

His point about loving characters in a story is part of a broader principle: good creative writing and good works arise when you love your own creations regardless of genre or almost anything else. This is something that I would pair with a perspective from Madeleine l’Engle’s Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and Art. The artist, male or female, treads in the footsteps of the birth-giver who said, “Behold the handmaiden of the Lord. Be it unto me according to thy word.” The professor talked about loving characters; Madeleine l’Engle talked about serving the creative work, but it is the same thing being discussed. You write your best work when you love your work, and serve it as it comes to be.

There is one other thing I would add, as a P.S. to starting authors in particular. In great writing, the characters come alive and you are more recording their story than deciding what they will do. However, few of us start there. In many cases there is a lot of gruntwork before the characters take over your story and make it their story. While it is an important goal to eventually work for, you get to that point by a lot of writing in the daily grind.

There is nothing shameful about spending time in the daily grind, or about having to keep on working on basics. In my own case, the works on eBook-Maker.Gifts represent a highly curated, cherry-picked selection. I got to the point of writing well by a lot of bad and largely incomprehensible writing in some particular online forums. All but the faintest trace of that output is lost and gone forever, and, honestly, I really don’t think much value has really been lost.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To enter monasticism, and more specifically to just enter monasticism with the intent of repenting of my sins for the rest of my life.

Put that way, it sounds strange, but there is gold inside. Repentance straightens us out like a chiropractor straightens a warped spine, and I have called it Heaven’s best-kept secret.

Monasticism is a position of extreme privilege in Orthodoxy, no matter how counter-intuitive its benefits may seem. (See A Comparison Between the Mere Monk and the Highest Bishop). What I was told was essentially you do to enter the path of optimum spiritual growth.

However, I do not wish to suggest that monasticism is a necessity for everyone. Possibly it is to me. But many other people get along without needing such power tools.

What are you reading now?
Outside of prayer? Almost nothing. At least for now; one of Thomas Hopko’s 55 maxims was to speak and think no more than is necessary.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t know. My best work is almost never something I can command at will.

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 Philokalia, and the Prologue by Ochrid. Or maybe an in-depth story of the life of some great saint.

Author Websites and Profiles
C.J.S. Hayward Website
C.J.S. Hayward Amazon Profile

C.J.S. Hayward’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written two books. “Meditation Illuminated: Simple Ways to Manage Your Busy Mind”, which is a primer for beginning meditators, and “Ignite Your Sales Power! Mindfulness Skills for Sales Professionals.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I was inspired to write my first book to give beginning meditators the simple explanations I had longed for many years ago when I first learned about meditation. The inspiration for my second book came since I wanted to share mindfulness techniques with those in my profession.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m known to get some of my best inspiration around 4 a.m., so it’s not unusual to find me at the computer typing away while the rest of my household is sound asleep.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Thich Nhat Hanh, a world-renowned mindfulness teacher and author of many books on living mindfully.

What are you working on now?
I’ve been working on a book on mindful eating for many years, and I hope to have it out within the next couple of years!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote my books on Twitter: @joy_rains and also on my own website: www.joyrains.com.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Advice for new authors: even if you feel as if you’re blocked, just write something. There’s something about putting pencil to paper (or fingers to keyboard) that helps loosen the words from the recesses of the mind so that they can come to life on the page.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Set deadlines for yourself to get projects completed.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading “No Boundary” by Ken Wilber.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Perhaps to become a bit bolder and let my imagination find new places to investigate and write about.

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?
Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramhansa Yogananda

Author Websites and Profiles
Joy Rains Website
Joy Rains Amazon Profile

Joy Rains’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Britt Talley Daniel M.D. trained in medicine at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston and in Neurology at the Mayo Clinic. He is a member of the American Academy of Neurology, the American Association of Neuromuscular and Electrodiagnostic Medicine, and the American Headache Society. He has a migraine blog posted at www.doctormigraine.com where he submits news on migraine and articles on dealing with headache and a Twitter account at btdaniel. He has a literary blog at www.britttalleydanielmd.com where he presents his published works which to date are medical textbooks on Migraine, Transient Global Amnesia, Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, and Panic Disorder. He has published 3 books of fiction, Titanic: Answer from the Deep and the first in a series of mysteries, And If Thine Eye Offend Thee and The Case of the Organic Chemist which are part of the Mysteries of MacArthur Donne Series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The third book in the new Mini Neurology Series, Panic Disorder, addresses a common situation in medical practice, the patient with bewildering attacks of dizziness and numbness. The book develops the history of “panic” which comes from the Greek God, Pan, through its entry into the Psychiatric Diagnostic and Statistical Manual’s third edition in 1980. Diagnostic symptoms, associated conditions, and medical treatment are discussed, making the book an up to date quick reference for educated patients and practitioners as well.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I work at night, spare time, weekends. I am a neurologist during the day with a busy practice, plus I have 5 kids, 3 grandchildren, and I am a singer, guitarist.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tolstoy, Nabokov, Churchill, Augustine.

What are you working on now?
Synopsis The Spanish Flu 1918
The Spanish Flu was a pandemic occurring mainly in the fall of 1918 and affecting most of America and Western Europe. In America it killed 675,000 but in Europe and worldwide 20-40 million souls died from the disease. It killed more persons than all the 20th century wars—World War I and II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm, and Afghanistan.
Years later with a brilliant idea to find and study the virus, a Mayo Clinic trained pathologist found intact viral tissue in the body of a woman buried in permafrost in Alaska in 1990. He found the tissue that started the search that led to the replication of the terrible virus by doctors at the CDC, The United States Communicable Disease Center in Atlanta, Georgia. The researchers spun out the virus by polymerization machines which could take a strand of DNA and reconstruct the whole bloody virus. CDC directors kept this virus strongly locked up in Atlanta in a computerized vault which provided strict control over access, yet mysteriously the deadly, quick killing, horribly infectious virus was accidentally sent to a small secondary lab in Illinois, an absolute, terrible break of containment. Was this an accident, or had there been the hand of a killer, a madman really, masquerading as a benevolent scientist at the CDC?
Dr. MacArthur Donne, a practicing internist in Austin, Texas was a man who, with his friend and sidekick, Jack Robey, liked to solve mysteries. His medical practice consisted of constant mysteries—was his patient’s abdominal pain an ulcer or heartburn? He had to do tests and take a good history and examine the patient carefully to find out, but on occasion he liked to get out of the office and take on something big. Not that he wasn’t busy, because at the time he was in the middle of the second biggest romance in his life with a beautiful woman he had met in London. He was dazzled by her, but she lived far away. Then an old friend he had trained with asked him to come to the CDC and help find the assailant, what could he do?
Mac and Jack went to Atlanta to save the world and find the madman who had taken control of the deadliest virus the world had already seen and buried long ago in the frozen soil of Alaska; which might come back again. To find out what happens read The Spanish Flu 1918.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t found anything that helpful yet.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, read, rewrite, persist

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Love one another as I have loved you/

What are you reading now?
Trial of Joan of Arc
Churchill volume 2 on WWII
Churchill’s Toy Box

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to write The Mini Neurology Series Volume 4: Benign Tremor, Familial Tremor

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?
Catholic breviary
Holy Bible
Augustine The Confessions

Author Websites and Profiles
Britt Daniel Website
Britt Daniel Amazon Profile

Britt Daniel’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a guys from peru, at the moment I have wrote only one book but I have more projects in my head.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
the name of my book is seducción: como atraer mujeres.
what inspired me to write this book was that i love seduction, the seduction betwen a man and a woman, this is like a dance for me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
well dificult to say but I think that I have some unusual writing habits.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
there is an special book that influenced me called “the alabaster girl” by Zan Perrion

What are you working on now?
in the moment I go to take my time to write my next book

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
in the moment Im doing it by my self

Do you have any advice for new authors?
well I am a new author, I think the best advise is: just start

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
step by step you can get ahead

What are you reading now?
the power of habits by Charles Duhigg

What’s next for you as a writer?
think about my next book

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 alabaster girl by Zan Perrion
Rapid Scalation by Liam Mcream
the power of habits by Charles Duhigg

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Stanley Campbell, but most call me Stan. By day, I’m the owner of a small business in my hometown of Louisville, Kentucky. By night, I’m a member of a local Scottish Society and a writer. Above all of this, I pride myself on being a husband of twenty plus years, the father of two young amazing boys and a Christian. In my spare time I study eighteenth century Scotland.

The Legend of Chip: The Legend Begins is my first published novel. I’m currently writing the second book of the series, along with a young adult book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Legend of Chip: The Legend Begins was inspired by an old Celtic tale told to me by a Scottish cousin of mine. It’s called Chips and the Devil. It’s a dark tale about a man who gives in to the temptations of the Devil. Something about the tale intrigued me. That night I sat down and wrote the first chapter of what would become my first novel.

I learned later that the tale itself was first written about by Charles Dickens in his, The Uncommercial Traveler. Apparently, his nanny used to read it to him before bedtime.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that are unusual to me. I do tend to hash out my plots while driving. This requires the use of a voice recorder and headphones for later (nobody wants to hear me sorting through my ideas).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I grew up reading the likes of Jules Verne, Mark Twain, J.R.R. Tolkien, H.G. Wells and C.S. Lewis. They spoke to me and I find myself looking to them for inspiration. They understood how to captivate the mind. If I can one day achieve their level of writing, then I will have truly succeeded.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on book two of The Legend of Chip series. It continues on with the story of Christopher MacDougall and his adventures while searching for the answers to his problems. I’m also working on a young adult book. It’s based in the same historical world as The Legend of Chip and focuses on Christopher’s son, Marcus.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve become heavily invested (time-wise) in Facebook and Twitter marketing. Posting new updates and gaining a following are a few of my focuses right now. Word-of-mouth is another powerful selling tool. I never miss an opportunity to promote my book. There are a couple of radio interviews that I will be doing in the next two to three weeks as well.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never stop writing and always believe in yourself. Ignore the voice in the back of your mind, shouting that your writing is awful. Do your best, then hire an editor and a proofreader to help polish your manuscript before submitting it to an agent. You’ve got to be strong. If you don’t believe in your writing, no one else will.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be afraid to promote your own book. There are authors that run from the opportunity. Be one that runs toward it with open arms.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently re-reading Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m currently working to meet my deadline of May for book two of The Legend of Chip series. Hopefully, it will be edited, revised and proofread in time for the published deadline of December 2018.

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?
Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, The Map Book, and The Ultimate Survival Guide. Yes, the last two are real books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Stanley Campbell Website
Stanley Campbell Amazon Profile

Stanley Campbell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am quite concerned about ecology and recycling. I have two children and it worries me, what kind of world we are leaving behind for them. That’s why I decided to write a blog about ecology and green living, and later then a children’s book related to this subject. Right now I have one children’s book, which has been translated to four languages (the Spanish original, English, German and Catalonian).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called The Magical Sweeper of Raggadish. It is about a man who takes care of the recycling in a little village, but everybody takes his work for granted until he disappears. I wanted to show children that, when they throw something away, it doesn’t just disappear! It just goes to a landfill, and stays there forever unless we do something about it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well… I tend to write with one toddler or two over my keyboard… I have a waterproof one right now for obvious reasons, and I suspect we could make lunch with all the crumbs hiding among the keys…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As a child I loved Dr. Seuss “The Lorax”.

What are you working on now?
I’m thinking about a green living book for adults… there is so much we can do for the planet with very little effort.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I had a good method… I am still searching for it. Any tips? (Laughs).

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Believe in yourself. Believe in your idea. And keep your ideals in sight.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you want something well done, do it yourself.

What are you reading now?
The World Without Us, by Alan Weisman.

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 book full of tips on how to survive on a desert island,
An herbal medicine book, probably by Rosemary Gladstar,
The original tales of the Grimm brothers (the unsweetened version),
And the thickest encyclopedia I could find (I guess I would have lots of free time to learn all sorts of things on a desert island).

Author Websites and Profiles
Arandana Mayor Website
Arandana Mayor Amazon Profile

Arandana Mayor’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I majored in English at Columbia, went on to medical school at Northwestern and always wanted to write. I’m an academic physician, spending most of my career at Stony Brook, on Long Island, where I rose to the rank of Professor and Vice-Chairman for Administration, Department of Anesthesiology.

My first book was Edward Maret: A Novel of the Future. It was published in 2001 and received excellent reviews from Science Fiction Chronicle, InfinityPlus, Scavenger’s Newsletter and many others. I followed Edward Maret with Surgical Risk, the first in the Kurtz and Barent mystery series. To date, I have published two science fiction novels, three science fiction short stories and three mystery novels. The Game Players of Meridien is the first in what is projected to be a seven book science fiction series, The Chronicles of the Second Interstellar Empire of Mankind. It will be published on December 16, 2017. The second book in the series is entitled The City of Ashes and will be released in January, 2018.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Game Players of Meridien: Chronicles of the Second Empire. It was inspired by the books that I’ve loved the most by authors such as Iain M. Banks, Peter F. Hamilton and Robert Reed.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nope. I write pretty regularly, basically every morning. I’ve been programmed from a lifetime of getting up early and having to be in an OR by 7 AM. I’m still up before seven, though I no longer have to. I make a cup of coffee or tea and sit down at the computer. I’ve taken the advice of such authors as Lawrence Block and Robert B. Parker to heart. Don’t get up until you’ve written your quota for the day. For me, that’s 500 words. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but I’m always thinking of what comes next, so when I sit down to write, it usually flows pretty easily. 500 words a day comes to at least two novels a year, which is pretty decent production.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The first author I loved as a kid was Edgar Rice Burroughs. I went on to read Burrough’s contemporaries, like Otis Adelbert Kline and Edwin Arnold. Later, it was all the sci fi greats, particularly E. E. “Doc” Smith, Robert A. Heinlein, A. E. Van Vogt, James Schmitz and John W. Campbell. Later, it was Roger Zelazny, Samuel R. Delany, J. R. R. Tolkien, Dorothy Dunnett, Robert B. Parker, John Sandford and a bunch of others.

What are you working on now?
The Chronicles of the Second Interstellar Empire of Mankind. The first is complete, the second, third and fourth are almost complete. I’m finishing up the fourth in the Kurtz and Barent mystery series, The Chairmen, and after that, I plan on completing the science fiction series and then writing more mysteries.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Despite the fact that I’ve been writing and publishing for many years, I’ve only gotten into epublication in the last year, so I’m still feeling my way. I’ve had good result with Amazon ads (AMS). I’m doing what I can on Facebook and I’m now exploring promotional sites like Awesome Gang and Speculative Fiction Showcase.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Treat it like a craft, not a calling. Don’t get ahead of yourself. Do it on a regular basis on a schedule that works for you. Don’t make excuses.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s probably the advice that I gave above. It’s easy to get overwhelmed by the whole thing. Novels don’t get written in a day. You have to write on a regular basis, not necessarily every day, but you have to do it. Don’t sit down and write for a set period of time, because it’s too easy to sit there and produce nothing if the muse doesn’t make an appearance that day. Sit down and determine in advance that you’re not going to get up until you’ve completed a minimum amount of work. For Lawrence Block, it was 5 pages a day. I believe Robert B. Parker also wrote 5 pages a day. For me, it’s only 500 words, but that’s enough to produce at least two books a year if you stick at it.

What are you reading now?
Right now, I love Ilona Andrews, Ben Aaronovitch, Daniel O’Malley and a bunch of others. I’ve read and re-read The Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett and I love Guy Gavriel Kay.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Keep doing what I’m doing. Write, publish and try to build a readership. Science fiction, mysteries and possibly fantasy in the future.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Are we talking entertainment, writing, or survival? W. H. Auden said the Dictionary. I’ll go along with him on that. For the rest, a field guide to edible plants or how to catch fish with my bare hands. If I’m talking entertainment, the collected works of Roger Zelazny and the Lymond Chronicles by Dorothy Dunnett would keep me going for a long time.

Author Websites and Profiles
Robert I. Katz Website
Robert I. Katz Amazon Profile

Robert I. Katz’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m 21 years old and an avid student/reader/writer. If I could, I would probably study for the rest of my life. My thirst for knowledge is never quenched. As of now, I’ve completed a bachelor in Business Administration, and have started my Master’s degree in Law.
My favourite part of existence would probably be admiring nature by hiking in it. A sense of liberation like no other finds me then. I’m a very active person, and also an intense introvert.
I have too many quirks to list, but a two are coffee-addiction and a nocturnal lifestyle.
During the short span of my life, I’ve probably written at least 40 works, ranging in word count between 50 000 k to 500 000 k. Writing isn’t a hobby of mine. It’s an addiction. I get withdrawal symptoms if I’m unable to write for an extended period of time.
I’m a structured individual, but with a very flexible attitude toward it. I’m open-minded and unconventional. Definitely not a perfectionist. Just driven. A millennial woman.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Well, ‘The Faceless Man’ would be the name of my latest book. I’m not sure what inspired it, unfortunately. I wanted to write a romantic book, but I also didn’t want it to be a standard version of the genre. So I thought, ‘hey, why don’t I toss a spy into a gooey love-story? That should prove challenging.’
I also don’t appreciate a lot of the male characters in adult romance, because they tend to be portrayed as primitive cavemen, which I find disagreeable. I prefer a driven, intelligent and self-assured man who is reflected and knows what he wants, without overruling the female party without compassion or concern. So I decided to create him. Besides, is there anything more badass than being a spy?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
A great many! For the best result, I like to lie in my bed with the lights switched off. I’ve made sure that my apartment and bedroom window has blackout drapery, so to block out all light. That way, I can easily submerge into the story.
When I write, I rarely actually reread the sentences I’ve written. Everything feels to be happening around me, with thanks to the lack of light, and I’m just writing down what I see, hear and smell as I go.
Another extremely important detail is the music I have playing in the background. It’s usually a single song that sets the mood for the chapter, and I play it on very low volume, on repeat. Sometimes I change the song – depending on the mood of the chapter, really. In the end, I rarely notice that the song is playing. I suppose it serves as support to my subconscious. And, it invokes my flow-state-of-mind. After that initial trigger, I don’t notice the music anymore.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have no idea. I like to think I’m not *too* influenced. I want my work to be original first and foremost. I suppose my values/morals and tastes influence me more than anything else.

What are you working on now?
My series ‘The Faceless Man’.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Still figuring that one out. Right now, I’m quite satisfied with Goodreads and Amazon’s KDP Select program.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never stop writing. You’ll get better. And always write for yourself.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never stop.

What are you reading now?
To Kill A Mockingbird

What’s next for you as a writer?
To write my biggest idea yet – a fantasy series involving a very twisted protagonist.

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. Three Comrades – Erich Maria Remarque
2. Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe (because, how to survive?)
3. The Book Thief – Markus Zusak.
4. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens

Author Websites and Profiles
Claire D. Bennett Website
Claire D. Bennett Amazon Profile

Claire D. Bennett’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am retired since 2007, having worked with the Government of Jamaica for forty years. I have taken up writing seriously, since my retirement and have published two books on Amazon.
BEYOND THE FENCE is my first novel. THAT BLOOMING SYSTEM was published in November 2017 and HIGHER GROUND will be published by January 2018. I will write the sequel to Beyond the Fence and think about a children’s story book to complete 2018.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book , Higher Ground, was written upon request by the Library Service, for their book competition. The book will be aimed at the 15 to 21 age group and covers topical issues affecting that group.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I find it difficult to plan the details of my chapters and write entirely on the spur of the moment ideas. The editing thereafter takes care of the proper sequence.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
James Patterson and Sydney Sheldon are two of my favourite authors.

What are you working on now?
I’ve taken the time off until 2018 when I’ll begin the sequel to BEYOND THE FENCE

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve tried Facebook,Daily newspapers and recently I’ve been exploring promotion sites online. Results are still pending.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write as though your life depend on it and be passionate about it. If you love your work, others will love it too.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do whatever makes you really happy

What are you reading now?
Women in Love by D. H Lawrence.

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?
My Bible would be number one. The others would be difficult.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am from Rochester, NY and I’m a 25 year old Author. I enjoy reading, writing and spending time with my 3 year old son. I have 8 books written.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My Savage Loves Me Better. I just wanted to write about two friends finally falling in love.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I need to watch greys anatomy while I write.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mercy B, Shan, and Mz. Lady P

What are you working on now?
My Savage Loves Me Better 2

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I usually promote on Facebook and Instagram.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Put your all into it, and don’t give up. No matter how long it takes for people to recognize your greatness.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up

What are you reading now?
Nothing right now. Sometimes I don’t have as much time to read.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Trying to write at least 10 books in 2018.

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 Coldest Winter Ever
A Gangstas Wife
A Deeper Love
True to the Game series

Author Websites and Profiles
Misha Williams Amazon Profile

Misha Williams’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Usually when people tell me to introduce myself, I would remain silent for a few moments because I don’t know what to say and I don’t know where to start. Most people that know me will say that I’m very secretive and that I’m hard to read as my action is most of the time regarded as totally unpredictable. I think most people that had known me for a long time would say that I’m a very tolerant person and that I’m sometimes too shy. As of now, I had written three books but the first one is just a short story so the ‘actual’ number is two.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my latest book is Alexia Died in the End. It’s actually the first book of the series, ‘A Revengeful Life’. It is a story of someone named, Mark who is seeking revenge towards the person who killed his parents. When he realised that his quest for revenge is a tough ride, he decided to consult his old friend, Alexia who had taken care of him since he was young. Together, they planned the perfect plan that was supposed to be foolproof but obviously it isn’t. I wrote the book as a dare that I imposed to myself after someone commented on my blog, asking me when I’m going to self-publish my new book. It was initially going to be the sequel to my second book but as I was writing my manuscript, I had a dream where someone had a road accident. That kind of bothered me so, I decided to make it a part the book thus, it created the ‘A Revengeful Life’ series.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have an unusual writing habit that some would regard as bizarre but for me, it is completely normal. Sometimes when I’m angry with someone, I would write a short story where I would kill them. I’m not talking about, “I stab the person in the abdomen,”, no. I would literally torture them first before finally ending their life. Of course I had never publish these stories anywhere as I don’t want to get into trouble. In fact, as soon as I end the stories, I would delete them. To be honest, it is actually an effective form of ‘therapy’.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The one author that had influenced me the most is Jeffrey Archer. I just love the way he writes his books as it is a very genuine way to write something. There are several books that influence and inspire me to write such as, The Hunger Games, The Clifton Chronicles, and multiple other horror books. I don’t know what it is about horror books but they are lovely.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently planning the outline of my fourth book which would be a ‘paraquel’ to the series. Which means that there are events that took place before the events of the first book and there are other events that took place after the events of the first book. It would be centred around the antagonist of the first book of the series which is the villain.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
When it comes to promote my books, I would do it on Twitter, Reddit and on my blog. I would also use websites that are similar to awesomegang.com that provide authors, especially indie authors like me for a chance to promote my book for free.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write like it’s the end of the world and always remember to be truthful in your writings even when it is provocative. When someone started to complain that your book is too controversial, that means you are doing a great job.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Someone told me once, “Don’t give a damn whenever someone told you to stop writing or that if writing is useless,”. This advice is perfect as writing is the best thing that had happened in the history of the human race.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading the classical literature books such as Oliver Twist and Great Expectations.

What’s next for you as a writer?
What’s next for me is to make a change in my society. I will fight for social and economical equality for everyone as I realise that it is a part of my responsibility as an independent 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?
The first book would be Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens simply because it’s a life-changing amazing book. The second would be Under the Dome by Stephen King and the third one would be Nightmare by Stephen Leather because I need a dose of horror once in a while to get me going in life especially on a stranded desert island.

Author Websites and Profiles
Muhammad Nasrul Haziq Zainal Abidin Website
Muhammad Nasrul Haziq Zainal Abidin Amazon Profile

Muhammad Nasrul Haziq Zainal Abidin’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My wife, Katie, and I grew up together in McArthur, California and we have been blessed with seven children (and hopefully more!). After college I served as an Army officer and then an elementary school teacher. While teaching, I began working part time as an associate pastor at Grace Baptist Church in Lemoore, California. When the church grew, they hired full time and remained there until becoming the senior pastor of Woodland Christian Church in Wood-land, Washington, in 2010. I enjoy spending time with both my home and church families and studying and teaching God’s Word.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Enduring Trials God’s Way: A Biblical Recipe for Finding Joy in Suffering. I preached on trials for a few months at Woodland Christian Church, and wanted to use the material from those sermons to encourage others.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Perhaps it’s not unusual for pastors, but for most authors, that my books largely come from my sermon notes?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
John MaCarthur and Warren Wiersbe

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m working on promoting my recent book, Enduring Trials God’s Way.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Speaking at conferences has worked best for me.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If you’re writing to make money, and that is your sole motivation, you will probably be disappointed; at least if you’re a nonfiction author. Instead, you have to believe in what you’re writing and have a message that you’re convinced will help others.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read self-publishing blogs so you can avoid the mistakes beginners make.

What are you reading now?
Mostly commentaries for sermons.

What’s next for you as a writer?
In the future I’ll be working on Financing God’s Way and Resisting Temptation God’s Way.

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 of course :).

Author Websites and Profiles
Scott LaPierre Website
Scott LaPierre Amazon Profile

Scott LaPierre’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an artist, writer, student of life and positive thinking and a gluten free home cook who enjoys using my creativity to make daily life healthier, easier and more fun. My online presence is under my brand Espirational and includes a daily blog called Espirational: A 10 Minute Vacation for the Soul. I live in a lakeside community in Oklahoma with my husband Bob and feline child Callie. The lake and our beautiful sunrises and sunsets provide inspiration for my art, writing and yoga practice.

I have written four books. The first, Creating a Successful Craft Business inspired by my personal experience in the craft business, was traditionally published by Allworth Press/Skyhorse Publishing in 2003. The last three, Frozen Fun! 25 Dairy and Dairy Free Ice Cream Recipes, Have Yourself a Healthy Little Holiday and The Gluten Free Good Life are self published as Amazon Kindle e-books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book The Gluten Free Good Life was inspired by my own experience living Gluten Free. In all of life our attitude matters, but it is especially important when dealing with lifestyle changes and health issues. Making drastic lifestyle changes can be difficult, but focusing on the positive and what is still available, in this case wonderful healthy, naturally gluten free foods rather than what is lost makes a world of difference. In the Gluten Free Good Life I share my experience as I grew into the gluten free way of life since beginning over ten years ago. Of course there are recipes as well. When I began cooking gluten free I didn’t think I would ever enjoy cooking again. The good news is after getting the hang of it I still love cooking and my friends and family still love eating what I make for them.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I know.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Barbara Brabec author of five craft business books inspired me, not in the sense of being competition, but her success showed me that there was a market for the type of book I was planning to write back in 2000. What I know of Barbara’s story as a successful and extremely resilient woman continues to inspire me on a very personal level.

What are you working on now?
Nothing at the current moment. Maintaning a blog and helping my husband get a book out has kept me busy.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m new to online promotion so I am still working on that.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be open to advice, editing, changing and rewriting you work if necessary. When Creating a Successful Craft Business was first accepted by the publisher it was contingent on a complete rewrite. They liked the idea but not the way I had written it. I could have said no and not been published, but I did the work and it turned out better than I could have even imagined. Working with a publisher you win a few, lose a few and compromise a lot, but remember they are the experts. Be open to changes, even if it means something you consider drastic like a rewrite or coming up with a new title.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Hang in there.

What are you reading now?
This is a very busy time for me, so I am not reading a book at present. I do however have several daily devotionals I read as well a following a few inspirational blogs.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m not sure. I have several ideas floating around in my head. The blog I write is based on positive thinking and spiritual awakening. I may go in that direction for my next book.

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 Prophet by Kahlil Gibran and To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Author Websites and Profiles
Rogene Robbins Website
Rogene Robbins Amazon Profile

Rogene Robbins’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was a newspaper editor for 20 years before taking up writing fiction full time, most of my books in the fantasy genre though I have written some horror and a handful of more literary works. I’ve written 24 books and, to be honest, I’m not sure how many short stories, at least a hundred, perhaps more.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent novel is titled The God Sword. Several different ideas came together in my mind over a period of a few years to inspire this novel. First off, the writing style itself harkens back to a form (or forms) of fantasy literature that was more common in the 1960s and 1970s, focusing mostly upon one character, not delving too deeply into politics and social situations, but looking more at the philosophy of religious thought, mainly notions of faith and what it means to take a “leap of faith” or what it means to trust in something that can be proven. While some might consider The God Sword an other-worldly Christian fantasy novel, that would only be true in the barest of senses, for the look at faith here is meant to go beyond one particular religion or belief system.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Ha! It would be more appropriate to say I don’t have any writing “habits.” I write at any time of the day, even the middle of the night. I also write on a number of different devices, from a laptop to a netbook to a Kindle Fire to another digital pad to an old NEO by Alphasmart, sometimes even just with pen and paper in a notebook. I write at my kitchen table, in my bedroom, in restaurants, at friends’ houses, all over the place. Hmm, it might help my productivity some if I had better writing habits, ya think?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Like a lot of writers who grew up in the 1970s and 1980s, Stephen King was a huge early influence upon me, especially his more epic works such as The Stand and later, his Dark Tower series. Some of my early favorite fantasy authors were Fred Saberhagen, Andrew Offutt, and Alan Dean Foster, though a little later I came to love the works of Robert E. Howard, Steven Erikson, and R.A. Salvatore. Some of my favorite authors are of classical note, such as Alexandre Dumas of The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers fame, though I also have a fondness for the writing style of the Marquis de Sade, though his subject matters are often difficult to take.

What are you working on now?
Having recently finished The God Sword, I’m between projects at the moment and weighing my options, my interests. I might return to my Ursian Chronicles and finish the 7th of my Kron Darkbow novels, but I also have a number of other ideas pulling on my interests.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Normally I don’t do a lot of book promoting, but I’ve found social media, specifically Facebook, to be a valuable tool for letting others know when I have something new to offer. I also have had some success with an online newsletter.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Allow yourself to write badly, but publish wisely. Your first draft isn’t likely to be sparkling material, but that’s okay as you can clean it up later. As you write more and gain in experience, your writing will improve, so give yourself that time, that luxury, to learn what works for you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Probably what I wrote above about allowing oneself to write badly but publish wisely. I think I originally heard that from Dean Wesley Smith.

What are you reading now?
I’m on a non-fiction kick of late. I just finished Cosmos, by Carl Sagan, but before that, while writing The God Sword, I delved into some religious studies, while also mixing in some tabletop role-playing rules books.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Getting up, making coffee (decaf … ugh!, but my cardiologist says I gotta), and sitting down to write, kind of like I’m doing right now at 7 in the morning. My life is writing. It’s what I do. There was a time when I could never imagine NOT being a writer, and while I feel differently now with age and experiences, I can’t see any reason to stop writing because I can write about anything, any subject matter that comes to mind.

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 book on survival, a book on how the heck to get off a desert island, and probably a Bible because it contains just about every genre one could ask for as well as plenty on spirituality and philosophy and more.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ty Johnston Website
Ty Johnston Amazon Profile
Ty Johnston Author Profile on Smashwords

Ty Johnston’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a 25-year-old Author, Businessman, and Motivational Speaker. I wrote Warren’s Finest edition one (250,000+ words) over the course of four years and then re-wrote it (125,000) in six months. I am currently working on a 365-day life-coaching calendar and a motivaitonal speaking book as well. On top of being my family’s first college graduate, my first two years of sobriety led to me losing 50 pounds, buying my dream BMW, paying my mother’s bills and my own, inspiring others to get and stay clean, and building a 20K people-deep social media following.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Warren’s Finest. Being raised in the ghetto and being a drug addict led to an insane life, where people would jokingly say I should write a book to share my experiences as it could lead to some sort of movie deal…I started keeping a journal of the insanity and people were mind-blown. When drugs conquered my life and nearly killed me (twice), I needed time wasters to help me get and stay clean, so I became insanely ambitious out of boredom and took the book seriously. To answer your question, what inspired this book was realizing I could take a drunken journal and turn it into something serious that could really help people; I did.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Do you consider 1000 MG of caffeine, multiple cans of chew tobacco, and listening to insanely intense rap music to the point of where my adrenaline is going insane to be weird? Or aren’t all writers weird in their own way?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Jordan Belfort and Hunter S. Thompson. I wanted to be Jordan and my antics always reminded people of Hunter. Now I believe I can be a better speaker than Jordan and my business expertise may lead to more sales than Hunter someday. Not arrogance, confidence! You have to believe you’re a big deal!

What are you working on now?
I am giving a speech in front of the board of education to gauge interest in my public speaking for the high schools! That is taking 100% of my time after work.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Bargain Booksy was amazing for online. For physical book sales, just walk into bookstores and ask if you can do a signing there. When they see a youngster–or anyone–in a suit and being so outgoing, they fall in love with it. We live in an era where everything is online but most business owners are old and grew up without social media!!! You need to be good on AND off the internet. Don’t forget the value of good, old-fashioned, in-person networking!!!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yikes. This is a rich man’s sport… Agents and publishers want to charge you thousands for something that shouldn’t cost thousands because they don’t get that many customers (there aren’t too many authors compared to other professions). Save your money. Your funding will help you stand out….. And obviously your work ethic!!! Come on!!!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Danny, you should seriously stop doing seven drugs a day during the weekends…” – Everyone.

What are you reading now?
Not currently reading. “BUT-BUT-BUT” No… Stop… You don’t have to read to be a writer; in fact, it’ll tempt you to copy other authors. Be yourself.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Years of promoting the first, as I believe it has movie potentially. After that, definitely writing some motivational pieces for my audience, as I owe them!!! My first one was a story and that’s not what the fans wanted…they wanted a how-to. After I give them what they deserve, I’m thinking an insane fiction book about bullying and I’ll give the profits away to anti-bullying campaigns!

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?
Probably four Playboy mags.

Author Websites and Profiles
Danny Range Website
Danny Range Amazon Profile

Danny Range’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grow old. I grow old . . . No, not really, but I do honk at those rascal kids who drive like the world revolves around them; so yes, I’m a bit crotchety. I like to think of it as experienced, like I’ve got something to write about. Writing, I’ve always wanted to do it, claimed it early, like Dixon Ticonderoga yellow #2 on wide ruled paper early. I’ve pounded the manual keys of a Smith-Corona that Raymond Chandler might have used. I remember getting an electric – that was so cool – and I totally went nerd boy over a Brother Word Processor. Then I popped two-and-a-half large on an IBM and wow. You kids with your hundred dollar solid-state laptops – and do you want to know what totally impressed me the most? It was in House of Cards, season one where Zoe actually typed her stories on an IPhone, now that’s something. (But I digress.) Not to give off that I’m this total Luddite, I can text (but not a whole story) and I have a computer science degree that I earned in midlife by doing my HW at 3:00 in the morning. That’s how I pay the mortgages and stuff. In six to ten years I’ll be quitting the day job.

As to how many books I have written. As this wasn’t qualified by “good books” or “published books,” I’ve written a ton. My hard drive, or actually, my One Drive, is full of them. A few aren’t all that bad either. I hope to go through them now that I have more experience and see about putting some out there.

I write because I want to leave something behind when I check out; that is, something other than a messy garage and some half-finished home improvement projects. So, as long as the bus doesn’t hit me, there should be quite a few stories forthcoming, both new and revised from the past. But of course, some will never see the light of day, and that’s a blessing for all.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest at the time of this writing is also my first release, MURDEROUS JUSTICE, a full length crime thriller. What inspired it are the westerns I grew up reading and the ton of action, adventure, and suspense novels I’ve read since. James Patterson is a huge influencer, as noted by the short chapters. I like the flow of the pop, pop, pop. The theme in this work is about the nature of justice. Does vengeance equal justice, and if so, at what cost? And there lies the problem, right? A theme? Zane Gray wrote a book about revenge (actually, a huge trope in westerns) and in that one the guy is wronged by a group and he spends the rest of the novel going around killing them off. That was the basis for this, but as the story progressed – as is my problem – that nagging theme crept in. So this story, more than being a remake of a mindless revenge plot, comes with a twist I didn’t see coming until I wrote it. I assume my audience will either love it or hate it. If the book gives you an emotion, please share whichever one that is on Amazon. Thanks.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Unusual? I write hanging upside down like a bat. (kidding.) Unusual? I write early in the morning, like 5:00 o’clock early. I don’t think that’s too unusual though. Most writers with a day job have to find the time somewhere, and I’m shot in the evening. Of interest, I’m still in a dream state at this time, and I usually don’t remember my dreams; so later, when I go through to read a draft, I’m totally surprised – seriously, like whoa, I didn’t see that coming. I’m reading my own writing, and in addition to wondering what is going to happen next, occasionally, I’m kind of impressed by this guy.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My first influencer was Whinny the Pooh. I heard the author wrote stories about his son’s stuffed toys, so I wrote about my Teddy Bear. Other early inputs were the Hardy Boys (love those cliff hanger chapter endings) and then the westerns. Back in the 90s, when Grisham came onto the scene like a storm, he got me up in the middle of the night to read on. He was great in the day, as addictive as peanuts. I find him to be immensely readable, so I diagrammed some of his writing to see; and surprising to me, he’s boringly English 101, topic sentence and support it. Crazy, but maybe there’s really something to what my teachers were saying.

What are you working on now?
I have several thriller and crime genre novellas I’m in the process of finishing up for publication. 2018 should be a prolific year. Wrong Guy is about an alcoholic building contractor who becomes a target for spies. Girl With a Gun is about a passive-aggressive woman whose anger finally pops her cork – and flows through the barrel of a twenty-two. Runaway is the first in a series of three novellas about an urban cowboy hired to round up strays from the street, and he finds a special case. I am writing novellas now because I like the length. Fast, quick, to the point, plenty of action but still enough space for some characterization: this length can be read in a few hours. Whenever I look at an 800 page tome I think, I want to read a book, not marry it. Commitment issues, no doubt.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
awesomegang.com of course!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I don’t feel qualified to be handing out advice. Anything I might say isn’t original and can be found in any book on the subject: write every day, don’t self-edit your first draft, love words for their cadence and beauty, enjoy what you’re doing, it’s all about process, results may or may not come. And don’t forget to live life. You can’t write about the beauty of a sunset if you haven’t sat and enjoyed one. Be brave, put yourself into your work, say what you think. Don’t be shy. And, you know, stuff like that.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve heard is: Stay Healthy
(not the same as stay thirsty, my friend.)

Especially important for writers because so many were wrecks in their personal life. Drinking and depression, let’s be real. Kerouac literally died with a whisky glass in hand at age 47. Fitzgerald, another life-long drinker, died at 44. Both Hemingway and Hunter S Thompson committed suicide. At least Steinbeck made it to 66 years old, not bad for a chronic smoker (but who didn’t smoke back in the day?)

Not to be morbid, but being the kind of artist that makes a name for himself can be unhealthy. So, eat right, limit the booze and cigs, and go for a jog now and then.
Thanks.

What are you reading now?
Right now my reading list rotates around a Kindle book about marketing, and the style guide, Sin and Syntax, which I five-starred at Amazon. What a great book about crafting real sentences. Of course, when I say a style guide is great, keep in mind I crush on Grammar Girl. (It’s herglasses.) I’m also reading a pulp from Hard Case Crime, and a Batman graphic novel. You didn’t ask about my TV, but I’m binging IZombie right now.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I wrote 50,000 words toward a zombie in space book for NaNoWriMo. That’s why I started watching IZombie, by the way. I grew up with Star Trek and have written a few books set in space with various forms of aliens. I will branch out from crime to space adventure as well, I think.

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?
If I were to be stranded on a desert island with only a few books . . . hmm . . . kind of like what would I choose for my last meal? Answer to that, a buffet. Or what’s your favorite beer? Answer to that, the one in hand.

But for the books, I’d have to choose things that could be read over and over and over again. Definitely would want the collected works of T.S. Eliot. That dude’s got rhythm. Let us go then, you and I, et al.

And then also something from the Bard. I’m sure I’d have time to digest the words as only time can allow. Why not go for the Oxford Complete Works, edited by Gary Taylor of FSU, the same folks who taught me computer science so well.

And then finally, something from Hemingway, the shorts. The man knew his business in short fiction.

And then finally (this time for real), a graphic novel. Tough decision, but I like looking at the pictures. Probably Arkham Asylum.

That being said, I’m glad I don’t have to decide; though, being stuck on a desert island is the only way I’d get to that overwhelming reading list – so not all bad.

Author Websites and Profiles
Clyde McCall Website
Clyde McCall Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written eight ebooks:

Four children’s fiction
Two general fiction
Two spiritual nonfiction

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is Before Midnight. It is about ministers who have had an impact on my life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do not have trouble with writer’s block. I have more ideas for books than a lifetime will allow.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Gone With the Wind greatly influenced me during my teen years. I liked it so much that I read it twice.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I am working on a book of personal experiences.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have been promoting my ebooks in FB groups. It has helped in making some good connections.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read continually when you are not writing. Include writing in your daily schedule with a daily goal for the amount. Some days have expected and unexpected tasks. If you don’t reach the goal, continue on the next day.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
1.Proofread your book for spelling, typos, and sentence structure.
2. I have just finished a book on the worth of using an outline for preparation of books. I am convinced.

What are you reading now?
I am reading the ebook One of Ours by Willa Cather.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Distribution of my books and writing 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?
Bible
Bible Concordance
A thick classic that I had never read
The book that I had already started ( I don’t like to leave something undone).

Author Websites and Profiles
Donna G. Kelley Amazon Profile

Donna G. Kelley’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I would like to become a professional writer but I’ve found it a long road. I will keep trying and writing to bring people pleasure. My first published book is ‘Murder on Display’ it was also the first time I introduced my detective Dan Brennan. The next book was also a Dan Brennan novel, ‘The Politics of Murder’ some one has established a nuclear waste dump in Australia and no knows about it. I’ve written a lot of short stories and my next two books and I put them together in ‘Evil in the City’ and ‘Love and War’. I studied writing for children and wrote ‘Melissa Lane, Girl Detective’ and ‘Sarah Loves Ice Cream’. I came across some research and wrote ‘How to Achieve High Self Esteem’ a book about self development. I have also written Screenplays and plays.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This Book ‘Refugee’ came out of observations from my childhood and extensive research. Although, it is fiction there are some family stories intermixed in with the fiction and changed to suit the story. It is about a German refugee who settles in Australia after WW2 took away his family and self worth. He has to overcome prejudice and problems. His war time experiences come back and haunt him as if he was still fighting the war.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I am writing and creating another world, I leave this world and live in the one I am creating – ask my wife. She can’t get any sense out of me. I have used the ‘seat of the pants’ method – that is sit at the computer and write making it up as I go. I have used the research and plan method as well – they both work, but the later method means there is less rewriting. When I am into the story I tend to get restless and wander around, check the fridge, pick up some fruit and return to the computer. I edit a lot, and spend more time revising than the original writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I guess every book I have ever read influenced me. I remember reading ‘Black Beauty’ by Anne Sewell when I was a child and that made me understand the enormous effect writing can have. I loved comics, westerns, detective stories. Later I read better books and the classics.
I like Jeffrey Deaver, Ian Rankin, Clive Cussler, George RR Martin, William Golding, George Elliott, Jorn Lier Horst. I love discovering new authors when I read my Kindle.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a new Dan Brennan Novel, ‘Vigilante’ about a person who kills criminals who have got away with murder, child abuse, and rape etc.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try them all, Awesome gang is good.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Sit on your bum in front of the computer and write until it makes sense.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what you know or can discover.

What are you reading now?
‘Dregs’ by Jorn Lier Horst.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Get ‘Vigilante’ Published. I have story running around in my head but I’m not sure if it will be a novel or a screenplay.

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?
Any books I would read. ‘Lord of the Flies’ by William Goldin. ‘First man in Rome’ by Colleen McCulloch, Rembrandt Affair by Daniel Silva.

Author Websites and Profiles
Reece Pocock Website
Reece Pocock Amazon Profile
Reece Pocock Author Profile on Smashwords

Reece Pocock’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
This is my first book after completing my dissertation work in my Doctorate. I made a promise to write this book with my uncle after graduating. He and I spent 20 years researching spirituality and had developed principles of healthy living in the pursuit of leading happy lives. I was able to complete the book with him and 3 days after taking the photos for this book he passed away.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Walking Softly is the title of this book. It is a collection of principles accumulated and developed over many years of research. My uncle Ron and I spent many hours seeking answers to many of life’s riddles and were finally able to compile all of these ideas in one place – Walking Softly!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have always said that great ideas come from somewhere else. This may be the subconscious or God, but usually the flow and direction of my writing comes to me when I am asleep. I wake up and jot down a few notes to remember the idea and then I go back to sleep. When I return to these ideas to write, it all comes flowing back. If I don’t wake up and take notes the idea usually disappears.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been influenced by many writers – Tolle, Chopra, Ruiz, Einstein and King. Quite a range I realize.

What are you working on now?
I am working on a book that contemplates the idea of beyond acceptance. We are told to find acceptance for all things in life, including the things we determine are bad or negative. What no one really discusses that I have read is that those things labeled as bad are usually the things we most need to accept because they promote our largest gains.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesome Gang seems to have a great outreach and I am hopeful that many people have a chance to read Walking Softly available at Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am a new author so giving advice probably isn’t best coming from me, but I believe that you write what you know and believe.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
My father always told me the word can’t isn’t in our dictionary in our family. So he taught me that yes I can.

What are you reading now?
I just finished Dark Matters. A novel by Blake Crouch – One of my favorite authors and someone I would like to meet.

What’s next for you as a writer?
As long as I continue to help people gain understanding of our world and happy living, I will be content. Hopefully that will next include a look into accepting, and changing the perspective of negative events.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would take Chopra’s life after death, Ruiz’ Four Agreements and two works of fiction by King and Crouch.

Author Websites and Profiles
Charles Welch Website
Charles Welch Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California, and a mother of 2 amazing kids (they’re both under the age of 5!). I’m a wife, a daughter, and a sister. My father was born in Cuba and immigrated here when he was about 7 years old. My mom was born and raised in California. I’m “the middle child” of two sisters, and we have always been really close. I’m also very close to my parents and am happy to say that I have truly been blessed with a wonderful family.

As for books, I’ve written several actually, but “Trials of the Working Parent” is the only one I’ve actually published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Trials of the Working Parent” is the last book I’ve written, and, I have to say, my daughter was my inspiration. She was my first baby, and I was juggling so much when she was born. I was completing my internship as a Marriage & Family Therapist Trainee for my Master’s program, as well as going to school full-time. It was tough raising my newborn and juggling all of it. I was desperate to figure out how to manage it all, and I was sorely disappointed when I couldn’t find any books that really talked about this. So, I wrote!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Truthfully, not really. I write best at night, but any opportunity I can get to write is an opportunity I take!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
In general, I love to write fiction. There are so many writers and books that I love and have given me inspiration. When it comes to writing non-fiction (specifically “Trials…”), there was one baby book I read that really inspired me. It’s called “The Girlfriends’ Guide to Pregnancy” by Vickie Iovine. Absolutely one of my favorites to read. She had such a casual voice that really made me feel like I was talking to my best friend. I wanted “Trials…” to have that same, casual tone. I think books on these kinds of topics are easier to read and more enjoyable that way.

What are you working on now?
Well, I currently collecting topics that Readers would like to see in a second book. I’m planning to write another “Trials…” book, but covering more ground. It will be a continuation of the first in many ways, and will hopefully be just as loved by Readers.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think my best promotion was a Virtual Book Tour I did when “Trials…” was released. I teamed up with some pretty amazing bloggers, and wrote guest posts for their blogs. It helped give me some exposure as a writer and it also generated some sales too.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t ever give up! And remember that any success, even small, is still a success!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In all honesty, I don’t think I was ever given any advice about writing books. I was encouraged a lot by my family and friends, but didn’t really get much advice from anyone. I think the most helpful thing I read was some tips on how to promote myself. I work full-time and have two little kids at home. So time is a very precious commodity for me. But promoting a book requires LOTS of time. So I read someplace about how to do a virtual book tour. It was time consuming, but I think it was well worth it!

What are you reading now?
I mentioned that I love fiction. Currently, I reading “Fireblood” by Jeff Wheeler. He has a great imagination, and I really enjoy his writing style.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well, I have two books that I’m currently working on, both of which are fiction. So I look forward to that being a bright new path for me. I’m also in the process of collecting topics for the next edition of “Trials…” I welcome anyone to visit my website and email me topics they would love to see in my next book on raising children during the era of the working parent.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This is a touch question for me. I have so many books that I love and have read many times over. I think I would start with something inspirational to keep my spirits up, so any book by Conny Mendez would be great. I would probably also take one of the books from the Harry Potter series, since I’m a big fan of this series. The last two… I really don’t know! Probably something new that I’ve never read before.

Author Websites and Profiles
K.C. Dreisbach, LMFT Website
K.C. Dreisbach, LMFT Amazon Profile

K.C. Dreisbach, LMFT’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Kimberly Maravich. I live outside of Pittsburgh, PA with my husband and two young boys. I am a registered nurse and also a former elementary educator. I’ve recently published my first book. I also have a blog that is centered around nutrition and disease prevention.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is titled “360 Health: Your Guide to Cancer Prevention, Healing Foods, & Total Body Wellness.” I was inspired to write it after researching superfoods that were linked to cancer prevention. These foods are anti-angiogenic, meaning that they can actually help turn of the blood supply to pre-cancerous or cancerous tumors. Caring for sick patients in the hospital and also having family members die from cancer also were inspirations for me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can primarily only write when my children are sleeping. They are only 2 and 4!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been inspired by Mark Hyman, MD and William David, MD. Both focus on nutrition for healing medical conditions.

What are you working on now?
I am currently writing articles for my blog.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Facebook and Instagram a lot for personal promotions of my book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write about what interests you … what you’re passionate about. That will translate into your writing, and others will be interested as well.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be gentle with yourself.

What are you reading now?
I like to read fiction for fun. I’m reading “The Way We Were” by Sinead Moriarty.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I may have another book in the works … but time and opportunity will determine when it gets published.

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 Seat of the Soul” by Gary Zukav

“Happiness Now” by Robert Holden

“Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life” by Wayne Dyer

Author Websites and Profiles
Kimberly Maravich Website
Kimberly Maravich Amazon Profile

Kimberly Maravich’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 Chicago in 1970 and have been self-publishing since 2010. In 2014, Solstice Publishing took me on, though I still self-publish some work.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Wraithworks” is a current day thriller about a websleuth, Gary Wraithworth. He uncovers a series of political assassinations that have been bankrolled by a group of billionaires. Once the footage of their hitman surfaces, Gary Wraithworth and his wife Tera become his next targets.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’d be the last one to ask. I write everyday and I read everyday.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The sci-fi greats, Robert Heinlein, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, and George Orwell have been a big influence on my imagination. As for character building, I think Stephen King showed the way for me. His characters are three-dimensional and done quite naturally.

What are you working on now?
Several projects are in the works right now. I’m co-authoring the first in a series with a good friend, the talented Jeanne Bannon. I’m also working on a novelette in tribute to Ernest Hemingway’s “Old Man and the Sea” set in my dystopian future with a female lead. At least I’m down to two at once.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Promotion is always a big difficult for me. I’m on The Tweety, I use Facebook, have a website, and an Amazon author page. I’ll soon be sending out newsletters, as that’s the ‘in’ thing these days.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I know that many authors have had luck with writers’ groups, readers’ group, and such. They claim that the critique of other authors help them. I’ve also seen authors complain about the feedback they get from fellow authors who see things differently. I’ve never joined one of these groups and never will. Everyone has different visions of what a cover should look like, how a book is written, what promotional website works well for them, and even where to place a damn comma. A book is the vision of its author, and it gets distorted when others are involved. Clear the other cooks from your kitchen and think the story through.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I met author Rebecca Frencl at a local library’s event. She recommended that I submit my novel, “Campanelli: Sentinel” to her publisher, Solstice Publishing. It was accepted and was the shot in the arm I needed at the time.

What are you reading now?
I’m juggling a few collections of classic sci-fi right now, but I’m re-reading Douglas Adams’s “The Restaurant at the End of the Universe”.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I need to finish the current works in progress and work on a sequel to “The Interceptor’s Song”, a book that was released this past October.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I would take along something that I haven’t yet read. Embarassingly, the “Foundation” series by Isaac Asimov keeps slipping through my fingers. 1951’s “Foundation”, 1952’s “Foundation and Empire”, and 1953’s “Second Foundation”.

Author Websites and Profiles
Frederick Crook Website
Frederick Crook Amazon Profile

Frederick Crook’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a stay at home homeschooling mom of three children. I have self published one book with a sequel coming in February of 2018

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Coat that Caused Trouble. It was inspired by my oldest son English homework.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to snack as I write.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Breanna Putroff

What are you working on now?
Final editing stages of book 2. Starting book 3

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://m.facebook.com/TheGreatCoatAdventures/

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

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
You can do this!

What are you reading now?
I’m not reading anything right now.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully coming up with a whole series. I would like to dabble in YA 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?
Dusk Gate Chronicles and my Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Talisha Zerfoss Website
Talisha Zerfoss Amazon Profile

Talisha Zerfoss’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well I am a 17 year old university student. I volunteer and have been homeschooled since Grade 3. I love to cook, sing, write, dream. I have written 7-8 books only 16 and Pregnant with Twins is the one published but there will be more coming out.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
16 and Pregnant with Twins was a pretty interesting story and how it came to be is quite a difficult story to tell really. Let’s just say it came from a dream that had quite a powerful hold on me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if I would say unusual. Like I would assume other writers I listen to music while typing and I really try to get into the character imagine myself in their shoes. Sometimes those shoes would be very hard to fill.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephenie Meyer the author of Twilight. My very first book was a fanfiction of Twilight. Mind you I was really young and mainly I changed the points I found could have been different would have been great there.
I have read a lot as a child. Books like The fault in our stars, and most of the books by Janette Oke.

What are you working on now?
The third installment to the 16 and Pregnant with Twins. Its pretty interesting but trying to get lots out there while self-editing for some of my exclusive 99 cents ebooks. Trying to get some fun things out there for people to read.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I try my hardest to promote anything through my facebook page. I do have a website and quite a lot of social media in between university and my various charities I volunteer at I am very hectic. But you can always try to get in touch with me and I will try to get back to you.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
No matter what, people will tell you that your work is terrible, your cover, your editing. But it’s up to you to be happy with your book its your hardest work! Your life’s work! You can do it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When you wake up in the morning look in the mirror and tell yourself you’re beautiful. It brings a beautiful start to the day and helps keep a positive attitude.

What are you reading now?
Currently nothing but for school my last book I was reading was Southern Insurgency The coming of the global working class by Immanuel Ness. It was a different and interesting book for my course labour studies.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More books! I would love to see 16 and Pregnant with Twins on the big screen, anyone interested?

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?
If I were stranded on an Island I would bring probably the books The Fault in our Stars, a romantic book I love, What to Expect when you’re Expecting the books? I love reading those. And probably last but not least is Love Comes Softly.

Author Websites and Profiles
Elisabeth van der Wilt Website

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