Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Even as a small child I was a storyteller. In grade school, classmates would follow me around the schoolyard as I role played a new story that had come to me. I recently moved back home to Santa Fe, New Mexico. There, I met a woman I knew when I was seven-years-old. She related the details of a story that I had told. I didn’t remember the story, but even after fifty years she still remembered it. That was incredible to me and made me smile.

I’ve written too many stories to count, but I’ve only recently published my first crime mystery. I was a single mom from the time my two children were five- and seven-years-old. To provide for them, I worked for the military for twenty-five years. Long hours and a great deal of traveling, while taking care of two children, didn’t leave time for writing. When my children were grown and I retired, I had time to listen to the stories in my head. I have six different story ideas on my computer.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Ideal Victim is my latest crime mystery. Ideas for this story and all my other stories just pop unbidden into my head. I swear I’m a writer – not a murderer, stalker, serial killer, or psychopath. But, ideas for characters that have these traits and the different ways a person could be killed come to me all the time. I also get ideas for main characters (female detectives) and their partners. They start telling me who they are and how they act. They start having conversations with each other in my head. I feel like I’m just the instrument for bringing them to life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Before I started writing Predictable Violence, I read everything I could find on how best to write a mystery/thriller. What I found was that there are, generally, two types of writers. The first plans and outlines extensively. What works for them is to know it all, what happens in every chapter, in some detail, right from the start. The second type of writer just sits down and starts telling a story. They find that often the story knows better than they do what it wants to be. I’m one of these second type of writers.

For me, it’s like watching a movie in my head. My fingers are doing the typing, but I’m just enjoying watching as the characters and plot unfolds. When I start a book I know the beginning, but the rest is like going on an adventure. The end of a book is just as exciting for me as it is for the reader.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have always been a voracious reader of mysteries. When I was six, I read every Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys books that were published. Next, I read every Agatha Christie book. As I got older, I started reading Sue Grafton, Janet Evanovich, Patricia Cornwell, Lee Child, John Grisham, Connie Shelton, Daniel Silva, J. D. Robb, Lisa Gardner. You get the idea. I love mysteries.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I’m writing my third crime mystery. It’s set in Cody, Wyoming, and the main character is a half Native American/half German detective. She rides horses, fly fishes, and is a sniper on the the Tactical Response Team.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Find reviewers. Reviews affect a book’s ranking on Amazon. Amazon uses their own algorithm to determine what book to put in front of its customers. Reviews are crucial in this algorithm.

2. Don’t listen to the nay-sayers. Keep writing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice I’ve ever heard is to ignore the advice regarding the mistakes every writer makes. Some of the most-read authors make these “mistakes”.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading Into the Water by Paula Hawkins.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll continue writing crime mysteries. The characters inside me demand to be made real.

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 books that can be read over and over and never get old or boring. My choices would be:
Harry Potter, J.K. Rowling
Twilight, Stephanie Meyer
The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins
Divergent, Veronica Roth
A Storm of Swords, George R.R. Martin

Author Websites and Profiles
Gillean Campbell Website
Gillean Campbell Amazon Profile

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

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
It is my third book and I am the just fresh writer for now. But it was my dream write books, especially for kids.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Color Theory for kids” it is my author technique to learn kids 5-8 years old mix color like a professional. I was inspired because it really works for them!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I do not think so))))

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Steven King, He is my Hero))))

What are you working on now?
It is kids book “My first alphabet”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I an new on in this and it is hard, really hard I study.))))

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing)))))!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be smart, be strong, look forward and never see behind!

What are you reading now?
For now, I am reading unfortunately special literature…( Nothin fiction.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Should it be several kids books “My first alphabet”, “Color Theory for kids 3 level” and “Gavan and Zayan adventure”

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?
It is a really hard question because if I am serious I should take books alike How to… blah blah blah.) If it just a game it should some sci-fi or detective something like that.

Author Websites and Profiles
Anri Laran Amazon Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a law lecturer, and I have written 3 books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Cybercrime Cases in Malaysia. I was inspired by the lack of reference on those cases in Malaysia.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
JK Rowling and Dan Brown

What are you working on now?
A book on E-commerce in Malaysia

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Once an idea pops up, write it down immediately.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Let bygones be bygones.

What are you reading now?
Halsbury’s Law of Malaysia

What’s next for you as a writer?
Develop apps based on my 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?
Dan Brown’s books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Rizal Rahman Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Navy Veteran, a police officer’s wife and mother to six children. I’ve written and published three books. My titles are Absolved, The Consequence and Final 42.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Final 42 is my latest release. It was inspired by a line of duty death in my husband’s police department.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I usually write with my kids around, which sounds impossible. It’s difficult, but I’m getting it done.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Wally Lamb, Stephen King, Anne Lamott.

What are you working on now?
A new literary fiction novel about a woman who aged out of the foster care system and struggles with feelings of constant unrequited love.

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The best advice is a line I was given – “finish the book.” Honestly that sounds so simple, but I needed to be told to finish. The world of publishing can’t move until you finish your work.

Author Websites and Profiles
Christy Decker Website
Christy Decker Amazon Profile

Christy Decker’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in a little market town in rural England, surrounded by hills and sheep, a couple of hours away from Bath. So far, I have written three series of clean, one hour read romances, each series with five stories in it. The CHRISTMAS ANGELS series and the LOVE MUSIC ENGLAND series are contemporary but the LOVE IN THE BEST CIRCLES series in set in Regency times. My latest series is called TANGLED TUDORS.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
RAIN AND SUN is the second clean, one hour read romance in my new series, TANGLED TUDORS. This combines my interest in both the Tudors and early music. I love to look at how differently people lived in the past and how that made them think and feel.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write two stories at a time, so that if I am having trouble resolving the action in one, I can carry on with the other one and give my subconscious time to get to work.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I particularly like 19th century English authors, such as George Elliot but I also loved Wolf Hall and Bring Up The Bodies by Hilary Mantel.

What are you working on now?
The fourth story in my series of clean, one hour read romances, TANGLED TUDORS is called FAIR OF THE FOREST. In it, a young woman lives in poverty with her grandmother in a remote cottage on the edge of a wood. Yet someone manages to find them, a young nobleman who becomes separated from the rest of his party while chasing a deer.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have tried paid advertising on Amazon and not been impressed by the results. The most successful method of promotion that I have found is to list the first in a series as a free book on websites such as this one, so that readers will discover the series and hopefully wish to read the other four stories.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up too soon. It takes time to build up a readership. Promote your work on free sites at regular intervals and take the time to build up a following for your face book fan page, twitter account or blog.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write every day.

What are you reading now?
WINTER by ALI SMITH

What’s next for you as a writer?
One day in the future, I hope to write longer works. I particularly enjoy writing historical fiction.

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?
Easy! The Collected Works of Shakespeare, the King James Bible and a spiritual work to help me with the loneliness.

Eleanor Smythson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Born and brought up in Garden and Silicon city Bangalore, India, I am now located at the north-western ghats of Karnataka very near to Goa. My hobbies range from photography, astronomy, reading books and currently authoring books. I have been always interested in imparting knowledge to the others through different mediums. Even though this is my first release, my effort will be to continue writing more books in this series trying to decode the enigma that we currently live in. I am also engaged in writing a sci-fiction novels which I expect to release in this year.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “The Enigmatic Expanse – Existence”. I was always bewildered by our existence and I always tried to seek the meaning and purpose of life. In this book I have discussed about various theories on existence and life (theories as projected religions /spirituality / scientific community ) and I have tried to balance these theories without prejudice and see where we as human beings exactly stand and what are our roles in this big expanse.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
None that I know of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have read books of many author but I mostly liked books by Jeffrey Archer.

What are you working on now?
Currently I am writing a Sci-Fiction novel.

What are you reading now?
A Mystery book by Agatha Christie

Author Websites and Profiles

Sreedhar P Iyer Author Profile on Smashwords

Sreedhar P Iyer’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I envy the authors in my local writer’s organization, the Northwest Independent Writers’ Association (NIWA), who are able to turn out two or three novels a year. My first draft of the Universe novel took a few months, then I labored over a year on rewrites in my Atlanta writers’ group. I wrote for over four years on the Talisman novel, obviously very slowly. Is it any better than one written much faster? Probably not. Anyway, it received a lot of TLC so I hope you like it.

I’m retired from a career in computer systems and living in Portland, Oregon and working on my third novel, which will be in the same universe as my first.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Lesser Talisman was inspired by my writer’s group in Atlanta, who all agreed that my talent and interest was in writing “hard” science fiction and I obviously couldn’t write a fantasy novel. So I did.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
What is usual? I write on my computer using Scrivener. I follow the precepts of Dean Wesley Smith in “Writing into the Dark” in that I only have a general idea of where the story is going as I write — I don’t outline.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been reading science fiction since I was twelve, so it’s difficult to say. Everyone…

What are you working on now?
A sequel to my first novel, tentatively titled “An Emergent Universe,”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Alas, I don’t have one.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write.

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

What are you reading now?
“Away with the Fairies” by Kerry Greenwood, an Australian murder mystery. Yes, I read other things than my genre as a writer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finish the novel I’m working on.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
With nothing else to do, I would read three or four novels in a week, do I would take “survival” tomes.

Author Websites and Profiles
James (Jim) Gillaspy Website
James (Jim) Gillaspy Amazon Profile
James (Jim) Gillaspy Author Profile on Smashwords

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an Aretaic Marxist and a science-fiction/fantasy author. I love writing. I love reading. My favorites include 1984, Les Miserables, the Uplift Saga, Acacia, Neuromancer and the Foundation-Empire-Robot Saga. I also love anime such as Legends of Galactic Heroes and Crest of the Stars. Super-Dictator is currently my only book written.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Super-Dictator is my latest book, and it was inspired by reading about Napoleon and the Ginei Saga. I have always been interested in the issue of democracy vs dictatorship from a relativistic viewpoint. When does a democracy become so backwards it is no longer acceptable and when does a dictatorship become progressive enough to be preferable? These are not easy questions to answer and the recur time and again throughout human history. For my latest book Super-Dictator, I wanted to eschew the idea of a dictatorship as something evil for its own sake, or the typical “I am such an evil ruler” ideology. I wanted to explore a real dictatorship that *gasp* wants to succeed. That means not doing stupid things like pissing people off. That means seeing what the people want and having both a sense of virtue and integrity. Think less Stalin or Hitler, and more Napoleon and Bismarck. Not so much totalitarian collectives as Dictators from the Romantic Era, people one can actually admire.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love writing continuously when I get a chance. I guess my strangest habits would be how I write out of order and constantly research. I like writing on pen and paper first a lot of times then transferring my writing online for a formal draft. Then I do a second, third, and fourth draft at least.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
George Orwell definitely. Darwin’s Origin of Species. Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. Marx’s Capital. Asmov’s Foundation. Stephen King’s Dark Tower. the Uplift Saga and Acacia. There are many more, and not just books but serious anime series like the Sekai series and Ginei series.

What are you working on now?
War and Peace. And Cyborgs. A sort of synthesis of ‘War and Peace’ and ‘A Tale of Two Cities’ with a sci-fi Marxist twist.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am wholly new to this. I guess none right now.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Nope. I am a new author. =)

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Don’t let the bastards grind you down.” – By Margaret Atwood.

What are you reading now?
“War and Peace.” Along with “A Tale of Two Cities.”

What’s next for you as a writer?
To promote my book and finish 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?
Les Miserables. The Pillars of the Earth. Brightness Reef. Das Capital.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was raised in churches until the last church I attended became radical and cultic. This led me to question my beliefs and the validity of Christianity. The result was my latest novel, Sovereignty.

In 2009 I joined the army under a gap year program in which I enlisted for 12 months as a Rifleman (infantry).

Sovereignty is my second novel, my first is Hunting Taylor Brown (2016)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Sovereignty was inspired by the events I witnessed and was made a part of during my time in a cultic Christian church. The widespread greed and deception within extreme congregations is unregulated and perverse. I am also interested by the tendency for governments and corporations to become involved in people’s personal lives. Together, these ideas paved the way for a story in which a banker uses religion to gain wealth.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not especially. Although, I believe everyone’s writing habits vary slightly.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
George Orwell (1984, Animal Farm)
Michael Crichton (Jurassic Park, Prey)
Agatha Christie (And Then There Were None, Murder on the Orient Express)

What are you working on now?
My third novel (Yet unnamed) which will be release either at the end of 2018 or the beginning of 2019

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Social media is effective, however, it’s a lot of work. Any kind of promotion seems to be ‘hit and miss’ depending on the day. I sell the majority of my books through Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s work, plain and simple. The reason so many people begin writing and give up two chapters in is because they underestimated the frustration and determination required to complete a novel. It’s months of writing, re-writing, and wondering what the Hell happens next.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Write to please one person.”

What are you reading now?
I just finshed Good Omens (Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchet) and am considering reading Neverwhere (Gaiman) or The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)

What’s next for you as a writer?
I hope to make a living off my writing to a point where I can quit my day job and write full-time. However, if that never happened, I’d still never stop writing.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The US Army Survival Manual (for obvious reasons)
1984 (George Orwell)
The Road (Cormac McCarthy)
The Lord of the Rings (JRR Tolkien)

Author Websites and Profiles
Rhys Hagan Website
Rhys Hagan Amazon Profile

Rhys Hagan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a self-published author with four books currently published out on Amazon. All of my books are in the romantic, suspense category. It is what I enjoy reading and, therefore, what I like to write. I love the tension and energy in these types of books.

Ever since I remember, I have been writing. I started as a child using my parent’s typewriter which I have a deep affinity to. Writing was always something I loved to do, something I could escape into. My characters are very close to me. Each one has left an imprint in my life. Creating them, being inspired by them, has helped move me forward in my own life. Sometimes the characters on the pages seem to have unbridled strength even when the going gets tough, and that grit is what I like to write about.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Committed. The inspiration for the book is, I suppose, my real life.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a whiteboard in my bedroom that I track all of my ideas on. I love having the reminder nearby and being able to easily sort out details so that I know where I’m at. I write late at night usually and love the feeling of walking away from the real world for a little while to create characters that seem to take on a life of their own.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Tami Hoag and Iris Johansen are both much-loved authors for me. Their books are amazing, and I have read most every one.

What are you working on now?
My next book is called Deceptive Intent. I love the characters in it, and it is one book that is very near and dear to my heart and my life.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I enjoy using Facebook and my website to communicate with readers. I hope to get onto Twitter as well to promote my books in the future.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do it!!! It is the most fulfilling feeling in the world to put something you have created out into the world. I am so happy that I have done it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Keep trying, never give up! No matter what life throws at you or what obstacles you come upon, just keep going.

What are you reading now?
I have a few books I am reading right now. I seem to cycle through books rather slowly compared to when I was younger. Writing and work take precedence, but I read when I can to recharge.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I would like to have a few more books put out on Amazon this year and to expand beyond the Amazon market. For me, right now, it’s important to reach readers and to be able to interact with them.

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 bring something about business for sure to keep my wheels turning and my creativity flowing for my life outside of writing. The rest of the books would be fiction, probably something new by Iris Johansen, Dust to Dust by Tami Hoag (to reread again) and a beachy romance.

Author Websites and Profiles
Sara Owens Website
Sara Owens Amazon Profile

Sara Owens’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a professor of linguistics at Beijing language and culture University and my book is contributed by the leading experts who are working on syntactic cartography. All the papers are based on the presentations and talks in the first international workshop on syntactic cartography which was held in BLCU and the participants of which are from 20 countries of the world.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Studies on Syntactic Cartography. Many articles and book are inspiring in editing it. But the direct reason was the first international workshop on syntactic cartography held in 2015 in Beijing.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. Basically i am following a strict and general way to write my academic books and try to make it logical and rigorous.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Professor Noam Chomsky, Professor Luigi Rizzi, Professor C. T. James Huang’s books are definite very much inspiring for my writing.

What are you working on now?
Syntactic cartographic approach related studies

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Please try to make my book exposed to the ones who are working in formal linguistics, syntax or related fields.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Try to make your own contribution in theory or in methodology, and make your presentation more scientific and logical.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make your own contribution to the field.

What are you reading now?
many books on syntax and generative linguistics.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am writing another book introducing syntactic cartography and also I am editing the second volume of Syntactic Cartography based on the IWSC 2017.

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?
Syntactic Structures written by Chomsky, Feynmen’s lectures on physics, and Tao of physics.

Author Websites and Profiles
Fuzhen Si Website

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started out writing genealogy books. I have three reference books under my married name. For fiction, I’ve written a few but I’m waiting to publish them until later in 2018. Right now, I’m working on woman’s lit. I have five books scheduled to come out this year in the Spirit Key Series. It’s a Native American family saga about love, heritage and above all family. It’s full of romance, paranormal spirits, and some real-life tragedies of our past.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Painted Girl is a Native American’s journey to fulfill her destiny, the family troubles that surround her, and a love for a man. Ancient spirits need someone who is living to help them, but young Sara is scared of their shadows.

My work has always been inspired by one character in the series. Grandfather. He is a hodgepodge of real-life people whom I’m related to. My journey started years ago when my mother told stories about her father. He’d always wanted to know who his family had been but had no clue where to look for them. After his death, when my mother was just a young child, she was sent to an orphanage. Mom stayed until she was eighteen and looked after her younger brothers who were also there.
I also had Native American cousins who ended up in different orphanages scattered across the US in the 70’s. The didn’t find each other until the 90’s.
My question was about how these events change a person and how does it mold who they become? So, I invented Grandfather. He’s my family history rolled into one person. Loveable, lost, and wanting love so he invents his own family.
Yeah, and did I mention that Grandfather’s best friend is a ten-thousand-year-old spirit who is there to protect him from the bad that’s coming? This part of the story pays homage to that little doubt we all have when things are going well in our lives. We just know something going to come along and muck it up.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My humor gets the best of me. I have to pull it back about twelve feet for most people. For writing, I use Scribophile and belong to a couple of Ubergroups. We write, crit, and promote each other.
Mostly, I write in the evenings when the house quiets down and I can concentrate without interruption.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read everything and anything. My father is a huge history buff, so I grew up on stories from the Illiad to myths and monsters. My mother loved true crime novels. Growing up, I read Nancy Drew and anything I could get my hands on.
I even read cereal boxes and road signs.

What are you working on now?
I have a few projects in the works. Two short stories for an anthology. A freaky-Friday piece that is giving me pronoun headaches. I have a new series that I’m working on with a new paranormal world that’s very exciting.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
AskDavid on free days. For the most part, I’m not a marketer. I do tweet my books occasionally and book reviews help.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Finish it. Everyone starts a book, almost everyone I know has an idea for a book. The hardest part is finishing it. If you can’t find the words or the plot, write the ending. Then you know where you have to go.
Sometimes I’ll just write scenes. Even if they aren’t published, the scenes help flesh out the characters and will pull you further into their world. I have about two books full of deleted scenes… cause I talk too much with my fingers.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Quit complaining and press the dang publish book button.

Don’t rewrite if you published. (Did that, doing that.)

What are you reading now?
I do book reviews. Right now it is Ruslan, a very Russian Romance.

What’s next for you as a writer?
This year it’s going to be publish, publish, publish. I have five ready to go, I’m tweaking them with beta readers. There are about four books 3/4th finished and two short stories to be published in different anthologies.

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 what’s edible in the tropics. A medical book. A tropical survival guide.
The fourth one would be a gigantic empty book and make sure there’s lots of pencils and markers.
I don’t need any fiction books to keep me company. I have too many characters in my head already. It’s a wee bit crowded.

Author Websites and Profiles
RA Winter Website
RA Winter Amazon Profile

RA Winter’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I,m CJ Damage author of Jess’ Tales Vol 1 and 2. I am currently a full time psychology student (mature) and part time writer of novels for young adults in the fiction/fantasy genre. I particularly like to write stories with a heavy background in Irish mythology. I am married (barely!) with three young children. The inspiration for the two novels came in the form of a character who lives nearby who has been described in the newspaper as ‘Ireland’s Worst Neighbour.’ When drunk (which is every day (unless he has a court appointment!)) he loves to stand at the edge of his perfectly manicured garden and shout obscenities and profanities at my home and family. He had over 50 convictions for drunk and disorderly conduct, has served multiple short prison terms and has even put in a bomb scare to our local police station (for which he received a suspended sentence!!!). His one and only prison term of more than a few days resulted when he threatened to shoot me in front of the police who had come to arrest him for drunk driving. We were lucky to have this gentleman welcome us to a new estate when we moved a number of years ago and he has remained our beloved neighbour ever since, never missing an opportunity to greet us morning noon or night (usually in the form of a threat or just general abuse!). I told him that he had been the inspiration behind a character in a story I had written and he responded by graciously dumping his two week stash of empty beer cans in my garden! When my novels become No.1. Amazon sellers I am going to go over and have a can or two with him in his front garden while listening to his anecdotes about how my children make him sick and how my wife is a b!£(h! One can only dream!! Ps I have also started a third book in the series entitled Jess’ Tales Vol 3 ‘Hy Brasil’.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I have also written 7 psychology non fiction books under the name CJ Eccles. The latest in the series is entitled, Knowledge is Power. The Traits of a Narcissist. My inspiration for writing on this particular was the realisation through my studies that there has been a huge upsurge in interest in the personality disorders and narcissistic personality disorder has peaked partly as a result of social media (which is ubiquitous now) and the selfie phenomenon. These factors are playing large roles in the destruction of marriages and families.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not at all. I’m very traditional in my approach to a book. I’ll find an interesting subject through doing research and then write down some ideas. I mostly aim to write ten pages per day. Sometimes I write more and sometimes less but it will average out at around 70 per week. Maybe the only quirk I have is that I don’t set out a plan for chapter sizes or what each chapter will contain in advance. I find that once I start writing that the story will mostly develop itself with as little interference from me as possible!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
There are many but to name a few, Stephen King, Peter Straub, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Enid Blyton and Aesop!

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the third in the Jess’ Tales series which is entitled ‘Hy Brasil’. It is a continuation of the adventures of the two girls in the first two books, Jess and Ellie. They visit the mythological Celtic version of ‘ Atlantis’ known as Hy Brasil which arises out of the Atlantic Ocean on the west coast of Ireland every seven years only to re submerge after a short period.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning this process but Facebook ads and websites such as this one are my main go to.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write and don’t stop. The more you write the better the chance there is of getting at least one great book out of you. I’m a big believer in the idea that if a person takes the time to sit down and write a book that they are natural story tellers. After that it’s just about refining your skills. Practice makes improvement every time!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up. I realise it’s a bit trite but truer words were never spoken.

What are you reading now?
I’m working my way through ‘The Shack.

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?
Philosophical Foundations for a Christian worldview, Windswept House and The Talisman.

Author Websites and Profiles
CJ Damage Amazon Profile

CJ Damage’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in Kent, moved off to university where I met my wife Helen. We brought our children up in South West London and since they’ve grown up we’ve travelled widely for work and pleasure. Last year we spent time volunteering in Myanmar and Nepal for VSO.

Everything I write you can call Narrative Non-fiction, that is true stories with a narrative that carries the reader forward. The three previous books related to my work as a coaching psychologist who specialises in organisational development: “Diary of a Change Agent” (1996, Gower), “From Hippos to Gazelles: How Leaders Create Leaders” (2008, Kingsham/British Council) and “Creating Leadership” (2018, BEP).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Secret Box: Searching for Dad in a Century of Self”, is the true story of a psychologist who takes off his professional hat and returns to his ‘60s childhood. This is a quest to solve the mystery of what happened to a father and a family.

It was inspired by the wish to break a deafening silence and the question of what happens during a childhood to drive someone to become a psychologist.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
On waking, I listen for thoughts: sometimes they are clear as a bell. I like to write them down, and I also like to write freely in my journal. It feels therapeutic. It’s surprising what arrives on the page. Like tinkling the piano keys and listening for a tune. To write Secret Box, I delved into my father’s old diaries, letters and photographs; and made visits to collect family recollections. I attended a creative writing workshop at CityLit in London to get over some writing blocks and polish the craft by reading out stories. This gives you all kinds of feedback.

Writing this stretched me to be a detective, a historian, a dramatist as well as a psychologist.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. Arundhati Roy. Barbara Kingsolver. William Boyd. Frank McCourt. Franz Kafka. Barack Obama. I sit amidst piles of books because the overloaded wall-mounted shelves are collapsing onto the desks below. Many are esoteric, on psychology and a “century of self” that began with Sigmund Freud. There’s a pile devoted to the Human Potential Movement of the 1960s in which my father became entangled.

What are you working on now?
I’m taking a rest after three years writing and re-writing Secret Box. One thing coming up is I’ve been asked to run a workshop on Writing To Reconnect giving those present a taste of the methods I employed during the writing Secret Box. The challenge will be to put this cogently and practically.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m learning as I go, aiming for reviews of the eBook as an interest raiser for the paperback which launches on 20th April 2018. The Awesome Gang here looks like an interesting one. Amazon and Goodreads are amazing, I’m tinkering with Twitter and Facebook, and connecting with my professional community in LinkedIn. There’s also a video uploaded to Vimeo. Right not it all feels as jumbled up as a bowl of spaghetti.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write your story. Go to a writing class and ask for feedback. Write down what they appreciated. Don’t let the critics put you off.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The compulsion to write is what about something is what sets you apart. Armed with that you can learn all the skills you need.

What are you reading now?
I’m looking forward to reading books about fathers and sons that I held back from until I finished the last book.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Nothing different. Just keep on downloading my early morning thoughts, writing freely and paying attention to what lands on the page. Perhaps I’ll write about some of the volunteering. Perhaps I’ll find other writers drawn to write narrative non-fiction and we can exchange notes.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
On top of Shakespeare and the Bible? The Little Prince. The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. And the latest William Boyd.

Author Websites and Profiles
Tony Page Amazon Profile

Tony Page’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I love a good adventure. If I’m not participating in something like rock climbing or rappelling or white water rafting or scuba diving or backpacking, then I like to read about higher octane adventures, the likes of which fill the pages of spy novels and action adventure series. So what if they’re a flight of fancy, they get the heart rate up and the adrenaline pumping. That’s what I’ve aimed to do with my books – add a level of excitement and adventure for my readers to enjoy without having to sift through vulgarity and salaciousness. The “Off” series (#1 – Off Kilter; #2 – Off Course; #3 – Off Guard) put a regular guy into an extraordinary set of circumstances where he has to rely on not only his cyber-genius friend from the NSA, but also his own wits and some help from above. They’re fast-paced thrillers that will take you around the world in 300 pages (each).

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book, “Off Guard,” was released in May 2017 and completes the “Off” series story. The series was inspired by a flash of a dream wherein the people I love most were taken from me. As catharsis, I began writing about the dream and its after effects, then decided I could make an epic adventure out of this. The result is three books that keep pushing our protagonist onward towards a victory instead of letting him languish in ruin, which is how I would feel if it had happened to me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Sometimes I will drive up to mountains and spend time alone with my thoughts and my laptop. Other times, I awake before the sun and tap out as much as I can before the duties of life beckon me elsewhere.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My original inspirations were, believe it or not, Mark Twain, John Grisham, and Michael Crichton. Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn really got the gears in my heading turning as a young boy who loved a good adventure. I thought about them as I paddled down the Colorado River or explored Lehman’s Caves as a youth. Even then, I thought it would be cool to write a story that sparked other people’s imaginations the same way.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my fourth novel titled “Chosen Path.” This will be an interesting departure. I’ll veer more into techno-military thriller territory as I explore the tensions between North and South Korea and the potential they have to alter world history.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I promote with Amazon, Goodreads, BookBub, and a host of others. I’m waiting to see how my upcoming promotions on sites like freebooksy.com, kindlenationdaily.com, ereadernewstoday.com, booksbutterfly.com, and others pan out.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Remember what a mentor author once told me: “Writing is revising.” Don’t expect to get it right on the first 3, 4, or 5 revisions. It takes hard work and patience to get it right.

Also, read, read, read. Keep ideas flowing into your mind so you can let your own ideas flow out onto “paper” (or your computer screen).

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be a lifelong learner.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading the “Heroes of Olympus” series by Rick Riordan with my 9-year-old son and the “Kyle Achilles” series by Tim Tigner, as well as the “Jet” series by Russell Blake. Next will be more Jack Reacher books, then “Seekers” by Veronica Rossi to add another dimension from another genre (she writes YA Dystopian stuff that’s really interesting).

What’s next for you as a writer?
After I finish “Chosen Path,” I plan to start a new series about a character named “Able Woods,” the orphan of two covert operatives who shared a secret and secretive relationship and sacrificed everything for their son.

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?
Only 3 or 4? I can fit 100’s on my Kindle. And with my portable solar panel charger, I’d be set for a good long vacation full of reading and relaxing . . . in between the whole hunting and gathering for survival thing.

Author Websites and Profiles
Glen Robins Website
Glen Robins Amazon Profile

Glen Robins’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a mom, visual artist, screenwriter, Shaolin Kungfu martial artist, and Yoga teacher.
After spending years living in the US, UK, China
and South Africa, I’m now back in Berlin, Germany.
( Grew up in a secluded Transylvanian village, my Dad is Transylvanian).
It’s just finished and launched my debut novel ‘You don’t now me’… a trilogy & I’m now working on the next book – Mosquito Dance.
I’ve studied Screenwriting in the UK, sold a few projects… right now I’m working with an upcoming director, Miguel Angelo Pate, on a screenplay based on the true story of a war orphan. It involves human trafficking but it also has the slow style of DRIVE. It’s not a thriller. But yeah, at the moment some of the concerns I have for this world & the children growing up on this planet are often intertwined in my story sup-plots.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
‘You Don’t Know Me’ is my debut novel. I think the second book won’t be as ‘hard’ to read as book one. From book one, the reader knows the very flawed world we’re in. Well, in other words, our parallel realities. Crazily enough such realities even exist.

LIFE experience & whatever is going on in society & politics… inspires me. Oh, and powerful personal female stories. Females are so strong!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
in between work, cooking, cleaning, doing homework with my kid…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Nordic Noir writers at the moment… Henning Mankell especially but he sadly passed away a while ago.

What are you working on now?
The sequel – Mosquito Dance … but I’m also gathering ideas for my psychological thriller on bullying & teenage suicide.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Personal contact with people I’ve met & respect. I’m only now getting my head wrapped around this – trying social media for instance… whatever you have to do as a – ONE WOMAN show… not a one MAN show, as I’m not a male.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be brave & bold. Explore & try and find your voice. If it feels right, no matter how uncomfortable you may feel, stick to it. It’s your voice.

Don’t give up – life is too short. You only regret what you didn’t do. Or dare trying.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Move on. Next. Don’t dwell on the past. Look ahead! There is always a crack where the light shines through!

What are you reading now?
Missing in Malmö – Hear your body whisper – Victim without a face – Transcending the Maya Matrix & Sold by Blair Denholm

What’s next for you as a writer?
Become a better writer, try to keep my English going and improve it so that books are better reads!
And, oh yes, Spain is coming up… a mix of holiday, writing retreat and just sinking into the sun after such a long winter!

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?
Jo Nesbo . Henning Mankell & Woody Allen Screenplays for a laugh. Also, plenty of Survival guides on how to make it on stranded islands – how to build shags, walk on water, turn salt water into drinking water. Oh, and my own book, so I can hold it when dying on that island in case I’m not pulling through.

Author Websites and Profiles
Aza Clave Website
Aza Clave Amazon Profile

Aza Clave’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Oakley Dean Baldwin born to Howard and Lora Baldwin, married to Doris Barber Baldwin. I am a non-fiction and fiction story teller / writer telling the stories of my life and those that came before me in my family tree. I have 13 books published with the 14th book on the way.

I am a career law enforcement officer, professionally trained crime scene investigator and retired Military Intel Officer. I have a Degree from Marshall University in Applied Science. Thank you for your support in reading my books. Please don’t forget to fill out the online review.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Carnage In Clintwood” Inspired during my last book signing tour in Clintwood Virginia.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No, just try to write and edit some each day.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Roberta Webb and Steven King.

What are you working on now?
Personal Coast Guard adventures.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
http://thebaldwinstories.wixsite.com/author-blog

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Market your work and keep writing each day. Follow your dreams, they can come true.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never pay attention to a negative review. Keep working and moving forward.

What are you reading now?
The Dark and Bloody Ground.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Personal Coast Guard Adventures.

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?
Lora’s stories, Killing Moonshine Mullins, The Holy Bible and The Dark and Bloody Ground.

Author Websites and Profiles
Oakley Dean Baldwin Website
Oakley Dean Baldwin Amazon Profile
Oakley Dean Baldwin Author Profile on Smashwords

Oakley Dean Baldwin’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account