Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write dark epic fantasy all set within my own homegrown Metal vs. Magic Universe loaded with intrigue, dragons, and steampunk awesomeness. I am currently working on two series set three centuries apart–The Artifice Mage Saga (more epic) and The Mage Conspiracy (more intrigue)–and have published five full length novels and several anthologized short stories to date with Twigboat Press. My books are all available on Amazon, Kobo, Nook, iTunes, and GooglePlay.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book I’ wrapping up is the third novel in The Mage Conspiracy Series, The Soldier’s Heart, in which a traumatized young heroine must grapple with the feisty spirit who haunts her mind and body.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
If I’m not careful, I will get sidetracked writing my outlines, and small bullet points will warp spasm and transform into grotesque half-formed scenes.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lately, I’ve been influenced by classical european pythology.

What are you working on now?
I am trying to wrap up both series in a timely manner. Of course, the one I have the most ideas and enthusiasm for will always be that which I am not working on at the time.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t know if there’s a best one. I tend to hedge my bets and try everything.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write every day!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t give up.

What are you reading now?
Fountains of Paradise, by Arthur C. Clarke

What’s next for you as a writer?
Start another series in the MvM Universe, possibly with a more fantasy romance angle.

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?
Sounds relaxing. I think I’d like to get some writing done while I was stranded there. I’d bring the following: an atlas, an encyclopedia, a book with blank pages, and a box of sharpened pencils.

Author Websites and Profiles
Jeffrey Bardwell Website
Jeffrey Bardwell Amazon Profile
Jeffrey Bardwell’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an avid reader and daydreamer, often forgetting what on earth am I doing when my characters start talking in my head. I recently discovered I have a mild form of dyslexia. My absolute favorite vampire movie is Underworld, like seriously I am a bit obsessed, I’ve watched it 15 times I think. I just love fanged creatures with madness.
So far I’ve written one novelette and 4 full novels, one is published, the others will be soon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Well, I’m working on the Immortal Heritage Saga. Starlight it’s my first published book. Here’s the synopsis:

A deadly secret
Two broken hearts
One destiny
For Nick, moving to a new city is one more burden to endure on his already complicated life. His parents believe the change will help him overcome the death of the one that he loved. But a new school can’t stop his nightmares, or change the fate that was imposed on him before his birth. His transformation is closer than ever.
Dahlia lives a lonely, secluded life by choice. Fearful of hurting those she cares about with her powers, which she hates and battles to master. Her self-control falters when the hunger she cannot avoid appears to take away her sanity.
Under the Starlight they will find each other. But when their worlds collide, will their connection save them? Or destroy them?

To be honest, I’m not certain what sparked the Immortal Heritage Saga, one day it just popped in my head and here I am.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I need solitude and my fave Metal music blaring.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephanie Meyer, Claudia Gray, Lara Adrian, Aprylinne Pike, Becca Fitzpatrick.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing the 4th installment of the Immortal Heritage Saga, Daylight. Daylight is for sure the most action-packed so far, two of the MCs Lily and Dahlia are just badass. Lily is a Lycan-Faerie hybrid, Dahlia… well, that’s a bit of a secret , you’ll have to read Starlight to find out.
I am also plotting a vampire novel and a Nephilim/Demon saga.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Guest blog post, interviews, Facebook parties.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be true to your style and the stories that roam your head. Don’t let trends influence you, and don’t let bad reviews get you down.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never give up, never surrender.

What are you reading now?
Re-reading Keys of the Origin by Melissa A Joy

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m working on writing a book a month. May the gods be on my favor.

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?
Keys of the Origin and Endeavours of the Unsung by Melissa A Joy. The Black Witch and The Iron Flower by Laurie Forest.

Author Websites and Profiles
Selene Kallan Website
Selene Kallan Amazon Profile
Selene Kallan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
A lot of what I do, you can find on the site below:

https://www.stage32.com/johngerman

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As of 11/7/2018:

What if we were inanimate objects? – https://www.amazon.com/dp/1727829492

I like to find inspiration through various aspects of life in general. Not just see things from what we see from an earthly perspective, but to begin to find things more in depth. So I dove into this topic, to find random inanimate objects and portray them as if they were people.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to spread inspiration, however I can, in whatever I write. Whether that is unusual or not, that is what I try to do. To help people find something from within the writing or within their own selves.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Life itself is a great influence. Knowledge can come from anywhere, from all people and books.

What are you working on now?
As of 11/7/2018:

1. Love Sarcastically – A Romantic Comedy feature screenplay.
2. Dare to Reach Out – A Dramatic screenplay for the November Write Club Project.
3. Sense our Selves – A book for using names to sense who we are (finish constructing).
4. The Secret Doors – A Dramatic screenplay that will have from within potentially (parts an pieces of the following): Revolutionary War, Berlin Wall, Christopher Columbus Voyages, The Famous Ashley-Henry Expedition, USS Daly: DD 519: 1943 – 1944.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Anywhere and everywhere. There are so many good places to promote, just like the site I’m on now.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Feel through with what you want to do. You are the one writing it, so allow yourself the time for all the thoughts to become the creativity you know you can do. Everyone had to begin writing at some point, just like new authors, so don’t feel afraid to push through any uncertainty. Even the most published authors had to do the same.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Besides all the words from the good lord in heaven, the following is good for people to understand and put in a way that most people would get:

“Opinions are like buttholes, everyone’s got one.”. When we look at the responses we get, whether good or bad, they are just from people who have opinions of their own. Some are very helpful, some aren’t very helpful at all. Even some of the most successful books of all time have people who are not interested.

What are you reading now?
Besides the Bible, which I read every day, The story of the life of Helen Keller. Not reading it currently at this moment, though I have been reading it. Other than that, various information to fill the mind with more.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Find different ways to dabble into the meaningfulness of life through the written word, and to allow others to find that same from within themselves.

Maybe one day it will go further than just the written word.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. The Bible.
2. Better Each Day – Jessica Cassidy.
3. The Power, The Magic, or The Secret – Rhonda Byrne.
4. Four Agreements – Don Miguel Ruiz.

There are so many to choose from, but I decided on those, as they are really good as are tons and tons of others.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing since I was nine years old, and first published in 2012, though the book wasn’t my shining moment. I’ve since learned so much about the industry, and about writing stories people will enjoy. I’ve currently published two novellas, with my third coming on on Cyber Monday, 2018.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Jemmy and the Jensens. It’s the sequel to my first novella, Katie in the Kennel, and features Katie’s best friend, Jemmy, who is a vet in their home town. It’s partially inspired by the vet I used to take my pets to before I moved (in location design, not inside shenanigans), but Jemmy is based on a lot of Millenials I know who feel stuck in their lives, but are afraid to take the next step because they might fail.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I will write almost anywhere. I have the GoogleDocs app on my phone, and when inspiration strikes, I start writing. It gets saved to the cloud and I can edit later. People see me on my phone all the time, but truthfully, I’m writing, not attempting to be anti-social.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Nancy Meyer, Nora Ephron, Meredith Schorr, Samantha Stroh Bailey. I love a good romance and I love romantic comedy.

What are you working on now?
Book 3 in the Humane Society novella series: “Rhoda’s Dog Day Bakery.” All the stories take place around the Pet Mall of Macy’s Place, and what they need next is a dog bakery. Rhoda is a middle-aged woman who finds love with a friend she’s had for over twenty years.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter. I love sharing my stories on Twitter because I feel that’s where so many writers and readers go.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just keep writing, and your first draft is supposed to be awful. If a full book is daunting to you, try writing shorter stories or a novella.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t get it right, get it written.

What are you reading now?
“Outlander” by Diana Gabaldon. I’ve read the entire series before, but now I’m getting them on Audible.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to continue the Humane Society series, and I’m also working on finishing a full novel, titled “I Could Write a Book.” It’s a romantic comedy.

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?
Little Women (full of good sense), the Bible (full of inspiration), Pride & Prejudice (super funny if that’s how your sense of humor is), and a tropical cook book (find island ingredients and be able to feed myself).

Author Websites and Profiles
Rebekah Martin Amazon Profile
Rebekah Martin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Julie Kuorence and I’m 30 years old. I’m born and raised in Sydney Australia. I enjoy playing soccer, going for a swim at the beach in summer, and bushwalking. I also enjoy travelling and have been to New Zealand, parts of Asia, and Europe. I am also passionate about health and work in the health industry.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my first and latest book is called A Bipolar journey on a rollercoaster. After being hospitalised with bipolar disorder, it inspired me to share my story, my journey with the world.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Nothing that I’ve picked up or noticed.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
None in particular comes to mind.

What are you working on now?
I am working on my second novel which will be published end of next year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
As I’m new in the writing industry and have only published one book so far, I have minimal experience in promoting books. However I do recommend using awesome gang, as their name suggests, they’re awesome!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just commit to your writing style, don’t be afraid to be raw.

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

What are you reading now?
Not reading anything at the moment.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m writing my second novel which is part of a 3 part series…

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The alchemist, Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban, the power of now, and the subtle art of not giving a f***

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi, dear readers, and everyone who is interested in the art of the book. In this art, for a long time and all that is written in my books is a theory that has been applied in practice … And I personally apply it, and most importantly, there are positive results in this. I have devoted a long period of my life to sports, psychology, and self-improvement. Now, after writing this book, I want to share this with you. The main goal for me is not to make money, but the desire to share success with those who need help.
After reading my book, you are surely convinced of this. So I will be glad to help everyone who wants to change their lives for the better. In fact, everything is much easier than it seems, so do not miss this opportunity.
In the near future, wait for my new project in this genre, which will be no less interesting and useful for people who want to change their lives for the better.
Success and Inspiration. Thank you for the attention. See you soon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
«Personal motivation to achieve the goal: how to get rid of excess weight and bad habits, start to play sports, create stress resistance and learn to save it all”. On writing this book I was inspired by personal knowledge in life and the positive result of their use.

George Page Page’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born (1948) in Pusan, Korea. At age five as the Korean War ended, my Korean mother, Kazu Park, sent me to America under the adoption of my biological American father, Peter J. Hirsch, due to post-war hardships and Korean ostracism of children of mixed race. Moving to the deep South (Columbus, Georgia, 1954), I was prohibited by segregation practices from enrolling in ‘white public school’ because I was half-Asian and deficient in English. Subsequently, I attended Catholic schools and Department of Defense schools until age thirteen when I received American citizenship.

My family then moved to France where I attended a French school becoming fluent in French over 3 years.
After graduation from Cameron University (Oklahoma, 1971), I spent40 years in education, retiring in 2012 as the Superintendent of the Ocean Springs School District along the Mississippi Gulf Coast where I still reside with my wife, Melissa Hirsch.

Upon retirement I decided to harness my life-long passion for writing, and my first novel, Contrition, was published by JournalStone Publishing of San Francisco (2012). In 2016 I signed a five novel historical fiction series contract with Argus Publishing (Kernersville, N.C.). This action-packed, heart-searing series delves intimately into the lives of those whose political, religious, and military intrigue gave rise to the violent outbreak of the First Crusade. Promise of the Black Monks (book#1 of the series) and Hammer of God (book #2) were released in 2016. Books #3 and #4 of the series (A Horde of Fools, God’s Scarlet Fury) were released in 2017, and the final novel of the series, Cup of Blood… Bread of Salvation, is scheduled for release in December of this year. My novels are available for order at Amazon, Kindle, Barnes & Noble, Books-a-Million, and other major national book outlets).

As a writer, I feel that witnessing the human condition is ‘a bittersweet comunion of heartbreak and inspiration.’ “We as feeble humans are often swept into the rushing tide of circumstance, forced into decisions and actions that often defy our core principals… and thus begins that inner struggle that ceaselessly rages within the abandoned corners of our conscience.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest release is God’s Scarlet Fury (Argus Publ.) It is the 4th novel of my historical fiction series and involves the beginning of the First Crusade up to the Battle of Antioch. What inspired it? Ha, it’s the First Holy Crusade! One of the most turbulent eras of human history!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I begin writing at 10:00 PM and write until dawn. My imagination runs rampant throughout the night, and always has for some odd reason. Moreover, there are no interruptions from phone or visitors.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the classics: Hugo, Dickens, Dumas.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on Cup of Blood, Bread of Salvation, the 5th novel of my series: The Dark Ages Saga of Tristan de Saint-Germain (historical fiction, 11th Century, pre-First Crusade to the end of the First Crusade).

Simply put, I love history, in particular the Dark Ages!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website has been extremely fruitful (robertehirschcom.com) and persoanl appearances at both book sig=gnings and public speaking engagements.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Every book begins with the first chapter… so, WRITE it!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“It’ later than you think!”

What are you reading now?
The First Crusade by Thomas Asbridge… for the 5th time!

What’s next for you as a writer?
When I finish this latest and 5th book, I’m going to take a break becauseeach of my novels averages 520-650 pages! I’m exhausted. But after a break, I’ll start a new historical fiction series.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Les Miserables, A Tale of Two Cities, The Man in the Iron Mask, The Red and the Black, and Lord of the Flies

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Although I’ve been writing since picking up a crayon in pre-K, I only have two works actually ‘published’. I wrote for the newspaper in high school and college, various media projects for friends, a blog for many years and a lot of technical writing projects for work. In the past few years, I’m moved toward focusing on book projects – largely thanks to all the tools available for writers to get their works published!

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It’s called ‘The Survival Job’, and the idea for a story came into my head after I read an article about the surge of ‘Butler Schools’ popping up to meet the demand for rich foreigners from China and the Middle East who consider it a status symbol to hire an butler from North America or England. It gave me the idea a guy running his own wacky apprenticeship program to train a butler, and the kinds of strange experiences that would lead to.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I can only write when I’m wearing a hockey helmet.
Actually, I wish I had something unique like that but I don’t. I do a lot of writing during my lunch break at work and on the weekends.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love stories that have characters so real they can make me laugh, that you forget someone is writing the words and it’s more like they are saying them and you can hear them in your head. Carl Hiaason is one of those. Elmore Leonard was a master at dialog that felt tangible and comfortable. That’s the kind of characters I strive for.

What are you working on now?
I’m finishing a story called ‘The Titan Sky’, about a group of people who volunteer to go on a long, one-way space voyage to claims rights to a distant planets mining rights. It sounds very serious, maybe sci-fi but I’m hoping it’s funny with interesting twists to keep the pages turning.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ll have to let you know when I find one. I’ve used Kindle Direct, and that worked pretty well, and tried a multitude of promotion sites and tools, but so far haven’t had huge luck with it. The downside to book publishing access is the sheer volume of books out there, all clamoring for attention.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think like any hobby or passion, you have to love it and want to do it because you enjoy it. If that’s the case, then you’ll find communities of people out there with the same desires and people looking to share what they’ve written with you.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Don’t quit your day job.’ But that was because I wanted to be a professional hockey player, and it clearly wasn’t going to work out. I’m not sure I’ve heard great inspiring advice related to writing, although Garrison Keillor has a lot of really good motivational quotes on his site, one of my favorite is: “Beauty isn’t worth thinking about; what’s important is your mind. You don’t want a fifty-dollar haircut on a fifty-cent head.”
― Garrison Keillor

What are you reading now?
I read a ton of crime and police procedural novels. I just finished ‘Fidelity’ by Thomas Perry. I really enjoy the way he paints a picture with his descriptions.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I need to finish the current book and get to one of several outlines I have waiting.

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?
‘Somebody Owes Me Money’ Donald E. Westlake, ‘The Zen Guide to Motorcycle Maintenance’ by Rober Pirsig, ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time’ by Mark Haddon and ‘Hitchikers Guide To The Galaxy’ by Douglas Adams

Author Websites and Profiles
JW Fagan Website
JW Fagan Amazon Profile
JW Fagan’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m 30 years old. 9 years ago I finished my degree in International Affairs. I worked as Financial manager in Banking and Financial director in IT. Despite strong interest in business structures I always find time for training.

I’ve prefered healthy eating and been sports addicted since my childhood. Started with volleyball and athletics, now I’m in love with a gym, in particular powerlifting. I can easily deadlift 220lb, but don’t consider gym to be essential for keeping fit and achieving the body of your dreams. If you want to know why, you can read my books. I’ll be really very glad to be helpful for you.

With my new book “6 Habits of Slim People” you will lose weight without dieting.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
6 Habits of Slim People: How to Stop Dieting and Start Living

So many diets are appearing every day, but they don’t work. You think you will lose weight, but you gain more. You hate doing exercises, but you want to get beautiful body. Many people in the world have the same problems. That’s why I decided to help them.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I prefer to develop my own skills and try to be unique.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on my new book. It’s about women’ beuty

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t be afraid to start your first book. When you finish it, do not expect great sales. Be ready that only your second or third book will have big siccedd

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

What are you reading now?
Now I try to work more and write, write and write

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to publish series of books on weight loss and beautiful body

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
Tanya Mitchell Amazon Profile
 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am an American Author best known for my series, “The Keystroke Killer.” I wrote my first novel in the seventh grade as an English assignment. What began as a short story, turned out to be a book. I haven’t stop writing with more than a dozen books to my credit, both fiction and non-fiction. I also have a series of adult coloring books called Abstract Faces Vols. 1-6.

I am an American Author best known for my series, “The Keystroke Killer.” I wrote my first novel in the seventh grade as an English assignment. What began as a short story, turned out to be a book. I haven’t stop writing with more than a dozen books to my credit, both fiction and non-fiction. I also have a series of adult coloring books called Abstract Faces Vols. 1-6.

I grew up a very small town called Emory, Texas and earned an Associates Degree from Kilgore Junior College, my B.S. Degree in education from the University of Texas at Tyler, my Master of Education degree from Stephen F. Austin and my PhD from New Orleans University.

I live in New Orleans, LA with my wonderful husband and two cats. We have three daughters who blessed us with eight grandchildren.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is THE KEYSTROKE KILLER: TRANSCENDENCE. About eight years ago, I wrote a short film which was produced. I had no idea at the time that people would become fans, but they did. Before I knew it, people were begging me to write the screenplay. So, I did. I wrote The Keystroke Killer, pilot screenplay, with the expectations of getting it produced. I had a serious setback with my health and basically shelved the idea. Then, during my recovery, I just started writing and before I knew it, I had sixty-seven episodes written for television. Whoa! I got a bite on it, got funding, then disaster, my funder died of a heart attack. So, I was back at square one. Then, I was encouraged to turn the screenplays into a novel series. THE KEYSTROKE KILLER: TRANSCENDENCE PART I covers the first thirteen screenplays or if it were a series, Season 1.

The entire inspiration for the book came as a result of that short film.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’d say so, in fact my family and friends agree.

The first thing in the morning I make a large pot of coffee and begin writing. I usually begin with writing down the dream or dreams I had the night before as many of my scenes, screenplays and novels are come from my dreams or nightmares. In other words, I get it out of my system and shake it off.

From there, I write something for my blog even if I don’t intend on publishing it that day, at least I always have back-up content.

Then, I start either writing or editing my next novel. Now, here is where the unusual habits come raging through. Every time I get up to go to the bathroom, or to eat or get something to drink, I do some kind of chore around my house. It could be putting in a load of laundry, making the bed, sweeping or dusting. I do something not only, so my house can get cleaned but to use my muscles. I only do it about fifteen minutes at a time, sometimes, not even that. The goal is to do something and move. I find, that whatever I had just written, I think about it and develop it while I’m doing this which is a benefit because when I sit back down to write, I have clarity.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Ray Bradbury, James Patterson, Stephen King and John Grisham. The most impactful was the book “It,” need I say more?”

What are you working on now?
I am currently in the process of fine tuning my next novel NEVER STOP RUNNING. This book is based on a true story of one woman’s incredible journey. This is the mini synopsis -Waking up from an eight month coma, Jackie cannot remember anything about her life suffering from Retrograde amnesia. David, her husband, convinces her to seek the help of a hypnotherapist only to remember her past lives. Her journey is a mental time travel across the ages with a psychological twist. Based on a real-life story. A must read novel.

I am also writing at the same time my next novel A.D.A.M. which was inspired by the NASA finding by Dr. Felisa Wolfe-Simon of a microbe in Mono Lake, CA that thrives off arsenic. That’s the real part that inspired this novel. I took her scientific discovery to the science fiction level after I had a dream about it. Think about this book in terms of the movie THE SHAPE OF WATER. A.D.A.M. is an acronym that stands for Arsenic Driven Astrobiological Microbe.

Here is the short synopsis about it – Meet Dr. Sandra Eve Bradford, an astrobiological researcher in charge of the A.D.A.M. Extraction Team who discovered a microbe which thrives off of arsenic on the bottom of Mono Lake in California. General Anbar, Chief in Charge of the U.S. National Defense, orders his team to confiscate the samples and her research. Dr. Bradford enlists her fellow researchers, Dr. Greg Peterson, and her undergraduate assistant, Jessica Parker, to retrieve a new sample setting of a series of events and consequences. In a government research facility, the microbe transformed into something alien. Once it becomes apparent to General Anbar, the life form presents a national security risk, her orders his to kidnap Dr. Bradford and holds her captive in an underground facility to continue her research. The life form over a seven day stretch, morphs into a humanlike life form aging every moment toward death. His journey makes him question- What is life? What is love? What is hate? And, is there a God? This a story of possibilities and raises the questions-Are we alone in the universe? What else could be out there?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I would have to say social media and consistency with your own marketing strategy which consists of my blog and my website. I also buy ads on Amazon and Goodreads. I found a wonderful book by Stephanie Chandler called THE NONFICTION BOOK MARKETING PLAN. It really gave me direct answers that I was looking for. I highly recommend it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Boy do I. I’d have to say I’ve been there done that and made many mistakes with my first books. The first advice is to edit, edit and edit. Then, edit, edit and edit. Then edit once again. Next, send it to a copy editor. After you receive that back, edit, edit and edit and then send it to a line editor. I hope they get my point. New authors tend to rely on their friends and family to edit. That simply won’t work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I hope you are asking about writing. The best advice I received was not only about hiring a professional editor, but to use qualified Beta Readers.

What are you reading now?
I am reading an indie book author’s first draft assisting her in the right direction. I believe in authors helping authors, much like Awesome Gig. However, the last book I just read was from John Grisham.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My goal is to continue to write as long as I can for the rest of my life. I have several unsold screenplays that I will be converting into novels. I also hope to be a guest on other blog sites and do book tours. Then, take a cruise or two.

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?
That’s easy.
1. The Bible
2. A medical book
3. War and Peace because it is long.
4. The largest collection of science fiction short stories I could find.

Author Websites and Profiles
MELISSA CAUDLE Website
MELISSA CAUDLE Amazon Profile
MELISSA CAUDLE’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two YA Fantasy books, entitled Warrior Children – Book I, Legendary Three, and Book II, Sons of the Red Planet. I am currently writing the third book in this series. Along with my Fantasy series, I have written a music technique book for all instruments, under the Music Arts Sessions Series name.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest one I just finished is Warrior Children: Sons of the Red Planet. It is the sequel to the first book, Legendary Three, about the sons of gods who come to Earth to annihilate the Demon King, Moloch, and his countless armies.

The inspirations for this series came from my meditation teachers I spent time with for nearly fifteen years. I sat and studied with thirty enlightened teachers from India, Tibet, the Island of Mauritius, U.K., Jamaica and many other places.

The basis for these books came to me after I finished a 45-minute meditation. After my meditation, the story unfolded before me, and it nearly wrote itself. The books feature the teachings of my teachers, with characters we can relate to.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Before I write, or before I do anything creative, like music, singing, writing, or building, I start out meditating. Meditating strengthens and fires up the brain, and it opens up the pathways for creativity to flow. Once all my thoughts are drained, the free-flow of energy, creative words and ideas begin to pour forth. Usually, writing happens on its own, once I hit the Zone of no thoughts.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dune Series, by Frank Herbert
The Vampire Chronicles, by Anne Rice
Kingmaker, Kingbreaker Series, by Karen Miller
The Sword of Truth Series, by Terry Goodkind
Percy Jackson & the Olympians Series, by Rick Riordan
The Riftwar Saga, etc, by Raymond E. Feist (10 different series)
The Immortal Nicholas Flamel Series, by Michael Scott
Eragon Series, by Christopher Paolini
Codex Alera Series, by Jim Butcher
Ranger’s Apprentice Series, by John Flanagan
Gone Series, by Michael Grant
Maximum Ride Series, James Patterson
Eon Series, by Alison Goodman
The Mortal Instruments Series, by Cassandra Clare

Autobiography of a Yogi, by Paramahamsa Yogananda
The County of Monte Cristo, by Alexandre Dumas
Travels With Charley, by John Steinbeck
At the 11th Hour, by Pandit Rajmani Tigunait

What are you working on now?
I am working on the third book in my Warrior Children Series. It is entitled “Children of the Sun”. Along with this, I am busy writing the second book in my Music Arts Sessions Series. It is a songwriting book for vocal and piano.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, Facebook and Instagram have been the best way for me to reach out. I am still exploring other sites, however.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes! There is a lot to say when it comes to giving advice. I crossed so many roads to get to where I am, and I think that others can shorten the path I took. Mine was all trial and error to begin with. As I look back, it can be a bit easier on others, by just avoiding certain things, and by doing a few things.

Just write. Whatever comes to your mind, write it out. Carry a notebook and a pen with you, so that you are prepared during any moment and you do not lose your ideas.

Write your goals down every day, several times a day. Instead of just logging your goals on your phone or other device, physically write them out. This makes the experience more intense for you, and it makes you think of them more. Place your goals in spots around your home where you can see them. Say them aloud. Think about them. Act on them. The right ideas will come to you, so that you can conquer those goals.

Stay away from negative people. Dream-crushers are everywhere, including your own home. Do whatever you have to do to leave them, and place yourself around positive people who share your same ideals. We become those whom we associate with.

Here is a more extensive list. This is part of my blog that I wrote. It is entitled “Ten Things You Can Do to Overcome Writer’s Block (For Writing, Music and All Fields): http://performingartsblogcenter.blogspot.com/2018/10/tips-for-apiring-writers-or-any-field.html

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It came from one of my teachers, a sage who enlightened many years ago and began teaching students from all around the world. He said, “Never say out loud what you do not want. Always state aloud the things that you do want. For words have power in them, and the vibration in your words will make them come to pass.”

What are you reading now?
I am not currently reading anything at the moment, since I have a few writing projects of my own that I am finishing up.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep on writing. There is a lot happening in my mind, and I just want to get all of that out into the world. Stories, experiences, advice, teachings from my teachers.

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 Yogananda. There is so much wisdom and practicality in this book, that it would make living on an island fun.

Author Websites and Profiles
Vaughn Edward Website
Vaughn Edward Amazon Profile
Vaughn Edward’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Dr. Chris is a Relationship expert and a native of Barbados. He currently owns his own Video Production and Photography Company. Chris travels around the world teaching women and men how to create healthy and meaningful relationships by first getting to know your spouse. Dr. Chris is also the founder of WFD Ministries and lives in Houston, Texas with his family. The first of a 3 part series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Under The Hood, A look inside a man mental engine.
I have been counseling women about there relationships for years and hearing the same things over and over again. I found that the majority of problems coming from not understanding the way each or thinks. I tell women all the time no matter what your profession may be… You may be a nurse
You may be a secretary You may be a CEO Whatever you do.
You had to go to school or a type of training for it. You didn’t just walk into a job without any knowledge in that field or job type and say, “Here I am, hire me, I can do it” and you were hired for the job.
There was training that was involved. And with that, you studied, took notes, and you understood the job. Perfecting those skills made you into the successful woman you are today.
So now I ask you…where are the notes that you have taken on your man?

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write between 11pm and 6am.

 What are you working on now?
Part 2 and 3 of Under The Hood

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
awesomegang.com and always start with the people that know you on facebook, instagram ect.

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

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“START”…….No matter what it is just START.

What are you reading now?
Keys Of Leadership

What’s next for you as a writer?
A joint book with my wife.

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, Survival cookbook, How to build a boat from scratch.

Author Websites and Profiles
Dr. Christopher Walton Website
Dr. Christopher Walton’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a homeschooling mother of four with an associates degree in theology. I’ve written several books, but I’ve only published one so far.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I’ve recently published the first of The Book of Light Trilogy, Tree of Life. About twelve years ago, I had a dream of a girl who grew up in a forest and was kidnapped and forced into a polygamous marriage. I couldn’t get the crazy thing out of my head, so I decided to write a short story about it… Well, it became a little more than a short story!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Is it unusual to have to write one-handed quite often because I have a sleeping baby in my arms?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Until I became a part of the indie writing community, I read mostly classics. Charles Dickens and Louisa May Alcott played a big part in my reading and writing life. I’ll also add Ursula K. Le Guin to that list. I haven’t read anything else by Charlotte Brontë, but Jane Eyre is one of my greatest bookish loves, and after all was said and done, I could definitely see its influence in my stories.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I’m taking a temporary, brief break to promote my book and recuperate a little bit. But after that, I’m working on revising a completed novel and finishing the sequel to Tree of Life. I might also work on a special project my children requested based on a story I’ve been making up for bedtime…

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The word of others and Twitter. Those seem to be the best ways for me so far, but I’m pretty new to this.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s a journey! I know full well that after a few more books, I’ll look back at Tree of Life and think I was embarrassingly primitive. But that’s okay. Use critique to grow, and don’t look back with regret. Each project you complete is a beautiful stepping stone, but there is no destination on this journey.
The goal in this art is always *growth*.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Concerning writing?

To keep going! It’s the root of all other positive growth as a writer!

What are you reading now?
Right now, I’m reading several books because I have no self-control.

Custodian by Patrick Johnson, Facing the Gray by Carol Beth Anderson, Sons of Zeruiah by Brian Lee Meyer, and Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estés.

What’s next for you as a writer?
On to finishing my trilogy and writing new things, of course!

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 the Bible, David Copperfield by Charles Dickens, Eight Cousins by Louisa May Alcott, and Jane Eyre.

Author Websites and Profiles
Sarah Joy Green-Hart Website
Sarah Joy Green-Hart Amazon Profile
Sarah Joy Green-Hart’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I discovered my love for writing when I was ten years old. It was then that I found that I could take the stories that I was living outside when I was playing and put them together in one place where others could see them as well. So far, I have a couple finished works that I’m trying to polish for publication and one short story that is already published, “Child of Fire.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Child of Fire” is the only published work I have out right now. I wrote it while I was in college years and years ago, but it took me a long time to be comfortable sharing it. The inspiration for it was an Adele song that I kept hearing on the radio at the time. How setting fire to the rain led to a girl fighting a volcano spirit to save her village, I’m not sure, but that’s where the story went and I love it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not anything terribly unusual, I think. I never know when I’ll get kicked in the muse, so my papers from classes in school always had tidbits of stories written in the margins. I have notebooks that I tote around with me that I do that with now, since I don’t have classes now. I also am really influenced by music. If a particular song starts a scene in my head, I’ve been known to listen to it over and over again for days until I get it written out just right.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve had a lot of influence from a lot of different places. I especially love Patricia Briggs and her Mercy Thompson series. I feel like the way she handles magical beings’ relationships with humans is very real, and really influenced my own in my works. I’ve also been very influenced by authors I know personally. I love sitting down with them and tearing scenes apart together then building them back up.

What are you working on now?
Right now I have an Urban Fantasy novel in the works. It’s finished, but still needs a few touch-ups before I publish it. It’s called “Unclaimed.” In it, chupacabra are shape-shifters that have a human and animals form that hunt and drink blood, but must bond with a human bondmate in order to live. The main character, Alec, hasn’t bonded and it doesn’t look like he’s going to, so he decides to scrap together what life he can and goes out to claim his own territory. Not only does this upset the status quo, upsetting the other chupacabra in his community, but the territory that he’s chosen turns out to be under attack from something else.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, most of my work has been either on Amazon or through my blog on WordPress (littleredrobertson.wordpress.com), but I’m continually on the lookout for new opportunities to spread the word a little further and reach more readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up! It’s really hard to see any sort of success! Even just the writing process itself is a pain, but I can tell you, that story that you’re holding inside will dog you until you finally get it out, and then it’s such a rush! You did it! It’s an amazing feeling! After that, there’s so many opportunities out there to reach people. It takes a lot of work, but it’s totally worth it in the end.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Anything worth doing is worth doing right. My father used to tell us that growing up, and it really has stuck with me, especially with trying to build my story and myself as an author. I do a lot of research and I’m working on it, but I think about that quote every time I want to just cut a corner. If I’m going to put a story out there, it’s going to be in the best shape I can get it into, and if it doesn’t sell in one place, then I have to look for other opportunities elsewhere. Just because it’s work doesn’t mean that I can’t do it.

What are you reading now?
My husband got hooked on the Wheel of Time series, and proceeded to get me stuck on it. Right now I’m on the fourth book. In those few moments when I’m not being mommy, I’ll sit and read for a few minutes.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well, right now I’m very focused on building up my platform, getting me and my work out there to as many people as I can. By the end of the year I intend to have “Unclaimed” finished and ready to go, and will hopefully have a fan base already set up and waiting for it. Granted, a short story probably won’t build a huge one, but I have to start somewhere, and every reader counts!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh, that’s rough. I’d probably take my scriptures, for my spiritual well being as I went through those daily struggles. Then my husbands outdoorsman’s guide, to help my fill in the gaps of my knowledge so I can survive, then Kristin Britain’s “Green Rider.” I have a lot of authors that I love, but that has been my favorite for a long time and I don’t see it going anywhere anytime soon.

Author Websites and Profiles
Rachel Robertson Website
Rachel Robertson Author Profile on Smashwords

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written two books. My first book was ‘Company of Spies’, which is Book 1 of The Prendergast Files. I have taken inspiration for my books from having worked in the British Civil Service in London for 10 years. I now live in Lancashire with my wife and young son.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called ‘Spy Slayer’, and is Book 2 of The Prendergast Files. I was inspired by my time working in London for the British Government, and it is a direct continuation from Book 1, Company of Spies.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to write in my head while I’m in bed. I go through it a number of times so I don’t forget it! Then I type it all out the next day.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the work of George Orwell, HG Wells, John Le Carre and Roald Dahl. 1984, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory have to be two of my very favourite books.

What are you working on now?
I am working on Book 3 of the Prendergast Files, which is called ‘Unseen Man’. I have actually written it and I am currently in the process of re-drafting. It is a further continuation from ‘Spy Slayer’ and reaches a conclusion to the story.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
To use as many websites as possible. There are loads out there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
To be patient. It takes time to get your books out there, to get a following, to get people reading your work.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be dogged. Keep at it. Be persistent.

What are you reading now?
I am reading ‘Moriarty’ by Anthony Horowitz at the moment. I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes and this is a fair attempt at continuing the story.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to keep writing and keep publishing my work, and I hope as many people as possible will read and enjoy it.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1984 by George Orwell
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy by John Le Carre
Six Days of The Condor by James Grady

Author Websites and Profiles
Laurence Daniel Tuck Website
Laurence Daniel Tuck’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in the south east of the united kingdom, not far from the south coast. I like doing a variety of crafts, as well as writing, and I also paint and draw.
I enjoy walking on the South Downs, and I am concerned about what we are doing to this beautiful planet of ours. what are we going to leave for our children and grandchildren?
I have written 7 books to date. 5 fantasy, 1 historical and 1 recipe book. All are published under the name of V.M.Sang

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Vengeance of a Slave. It started it’s incubation many decades ago when I was a child. I saw a derelict house that had once been a large, possibly Georgian building. It was on the moors in Derbyshire. I wondered what had happened to it and the family that had owned it. Many decades later I decided to write the history of that family, and started with a young boy, Adelbehrt, who was taken as a slave by the Romans and brought to Britain.

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

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My fantasy work is influenced by Weis and Hickman in their Dragonlance Saga. I also have to admit to being influenced by Tolkein and C.S.Lewis. What fantasy author isn’t? Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time has also had an influence.

What are you working on now?
I am writing the second book about the descendants of Adelbehrt. It’s about a young girl, descended from him, who is half Danish and half Anglo Saxon.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t use any commercial websites. I can’t afford them. I stick to using my own website an social media in the main.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t give up.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Writing or life in general? For writing, it’s to keep on even when you think it’s to no avail. In life, it’s that we learn and grow through adversity. No one ever learned from being happy all the time.

What are you reading now?
A boxed set of books set in the time of the Vikings. They are by various authors.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To get Jealousy of a Viking 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?
An anthology of poetry, (but not recent stuff. I don’t like it. To me, it seems to be prose broken down into lines), a book with the trilogy of Dragonlance, and an encyclopedia.

Author Websites and Profiles
Vivienne Sang Website
Vivienne Sang Amazon Profile
Vivienne Sang’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
“Poetry From My Mind: Mental Health In Writing” is a collection of short free verse poems exploring topics such as love, depression, anxiety, friendship, pain, symptoms, mental illness suicide and many other topics.

I published this in hopes that it may help someone else with the same thoughts and feelings that I’ve struggled with for many years. I’ve written one book so far.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Poetry From My Mind : Mental Health In Writing

 Author Websites and Profiles
Neil Lubin Amazon Profile
Neil Lubin’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m not as I appear. I work a corporate job, I’m a wife, and I’m a nice suburban mom, but I’m more than that. I like tattoos, rap music, rock ‘n roll; I have a dark side and a creative side that I don’t show many people. So, I’m guessing many people will be surprised by the things I write. I used to be afraid to show people the real me. Why? I don’t know, but I turned 40 and something clicked. I don’t give a damn anymore!

I just completed in my first novel, Be Still My Heart which will be released on Nov. 26, 2018, and I am currently working on my second one, Be Still My Love which is the second book in the Be Still series.

In addition to writing, I also work as a movie producer with No Man’s Land Production. Our first film, The Little Vagabond will be coming out in 2019 and our second film Christmas Crashers is currently in production.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Be Still My Heart was inspired by a few things. First, I grew up in the 80s and 90s and I loved music and the boy band, New Kids on the Block. We all wished we were the one that won their hearts. Right ladies? Second, I was inspired by some time I spent with the band Seether. While this story is fiction, a lot of what I witnessed and experienced inspired certain parts of the book.
Additionally, I wanted to write a story for older women…real women. Not the perfect little 20-year old that can get any guy she wants.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I wouldn’t say it’s unusual, but I have to listen to music when I write. If I find a certain song is inspiring me, then I will put it on replay. There are times I could listen to the same song for hours at a time.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I know I wrote a romance, so this will seem a little strange but I was inspired by Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy. I actually reference it in the book a few times. I was drawn to the love story of Dante and Beatrice and how Beatrice leads Dante through hell and purgatory to paradise. Similarly, my characters are lost and in limbo (purgatory) and when they find each other, they find paradise.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on the sequel to Be Still My Heart called, Be Still My Love.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Honestly, this is my first novel so I am still learning the ropes. I have been working to build up my following on Facebook and Twitter. I joined a bunch of groups in order to network on social media and I am just hoping that if I get my book in the hands of the right people, it will speak for itself.
I will let you know when I figure it out!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You never know what you are capable of until you try. Just keep going. It will be hard, but it will be worth it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Have thick skin. Not everyone will love your work and you have to be able to take the bad with the good.

What are you reading now?
I love to read, but I have replaced reading with writing. Before I started writing I was reading a lot of Jacqueline Druga’s books.

What’s next for you as a writer?
On to book two and hopefully many more after that!

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. Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy
2. Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
3. The Giver by Lois Lowry

Author Websites and Profiles
J.L. Feaman Website
J.L. Feaman Amazon Profile
J.L. Feaman Author Profile on Smashwords

J.L. Feaman’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing Fantasy on my tenth birthday, and I never looked back. None of those first works will ever see the light of day. Ever. But I went on to pursue a bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing Fiction at the University of Colorado at Boulder, which was the first step in making things feel a little more real for my future as an author.

Daughter of the Drackan, Book 1 in the Dark Fantasy duology ‘Gyenona’s Children’, was my first finished book and the first I published. I did attempt the traditional publishing route at first, but after receiving no less than 116 rejection letters from agents, I decided to take the dive into indie publishing. What I really wanted was for this book to be available to anyone who enjoys the same kind of dark, feral, no-apologies, and oftentimes brutally frustrating heroines of which I’m so very fond. A year later, after feeling a little more like I could pretend I knew what I was doing, that same book rejected by 116 agents hit Amazon’s Bestseller list in Dark Fantasy. Then I published the second book in the duology and kept moving.

My daughter was born at the end of 2016, so the first half of 2017 was spent acclimating to motherhood, loving on her, and also moving across the country from Colorado to Vermont with my husband and our two rather large dogs. I had to force myself to write (and snatch every spare minute I could between chasing a walking 10-month-old and falling into my own exhausted sleep when she napped). But I managed to write Sanctuary of Dehlyn, the first book in my NA Dark Fantasy trilogy ‘The Unclaimed’, and published it in May of this year. With an existing reader base, that release did okay. On January 1st, I committed myself to a daily writing goal and publishing deadline, which I’m sure was what drove me to write and release the second and third books in that trilogy on time (the threat of being banned from Amazon’s pre-order options for a year if I had to push back a scheduled release date is an effective deterrent from procrastination).

Those two released in July and October, and at the time of this interview, my LGBT Speculative Thriller, Sleepwater Beat: Book 1 of the Blue Helix series, is currently available for pre-order before the release on November 27th. Already (to my complete surprise and tentative delight), Sleepwater Beat has hit the #2 Bestseller listing in LGBT Thrillers. When I found it sitting there right next to a James Patterson book, I kind of freaked out.

So that’s six books out now since 2015, four this year, and I’m working on more books in the Blue Helix series plus a tasty little Dark Fantasy serial that’s been on the back burner for a while. I do write fiction full-time, and while I’m building my author platform and steadily tweaking my methods to increase my own sales, I pay the bills and then some by ghostwriting fiction for a number of clients. That part’s fun; I get to write my little heart out, get paid for it, and not have to bother with editing, formatting, cover design, uploading, marketing, etc. My goal is to eventually not have to do that for any of my own publications, either. Can we say PA?

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Well, the latest book soon to be released is Sleepwater Beat, the first book in the Blue Helix series. Think “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” meets X-Men, with just as much action, the same noir feel, and a totally un-troped heroine.

The entire thing started so many years ago I can’t even remember, when I thought it would be cool to write a short story as a collection of brief scenes without any of the connecting narrative. And as an added challenge, they were all chronologically out of order (kind of like the movie “Memento”). The short story turned out to be 30,000 words, and when I shared it with my writers group in Charleston at the time, they overwhelming response was that this was just begging to be fleshed out into a novel.

I couldn’t disagree with that calling, no matter how hard I tried. Thus began the agonizing process of performing open-heart surgery on this story that already epitomized the Frankenstein-esque quality of being so disruptively sewn together. But I did it (after the required nine-month hiatus of pregnancy – I literally did nothing but stare at walls and trees for the last six months of it, unable to even think in any recognizable pattern). So many things about this novel never existed in the long short story, and I created a world, characters, and adventure that expands far beyond Sleepwater Beat as itself. Every book is and will be a standalone, so they can be read in any order without missing much. Which is also a first for me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I enable the usual author vice of tons of coffee. I also get up at 3:30 every morning to write, which, combined with work time provided by our part-time nanny, gives me a solidly delicious 40-hour work week from Monday to Thursday and a three-day weekend.

Other than that, my habits of writing aren’t particularly that unusual. But my husband has commented from time to time that it continues to surprise and slightly unsettle him when he walks into my home office in the morning to find my blasting away at the keyboard wearing absolutely nothing. I mean nothing. My response? If I can work from home in the nude, why wouldn’t I?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King is probably the top influencing author in my own career. Not in terms of content or genre (though he can drift into the Fantasy realm quite nicely. The Dark Tower, anyone?) but as far as writing style and sentence structure. I didn’t plan to emulate his writing in that way, and it only happens with certain works. But I’ve found the closest similarities with him.

I read pretty much every genre, if the book grabs my attention, so I’m sure many other authors have influenced my writing or offered some inspiration for my other works. Beyond my favorite authors and series to read, no one else stands out very much in terms of having a direct effect on my writing.

What are you working on now?
Well, as a ghostwriter, I can’t tell you that

But as I’ve said, I have at least three more books planned for the LGBT Speculative Thriller ‘Blue Helix’ series. That Dark Fantasy serial is also taking shape, which is so much fun to watch because it takes place in the same world as ‘The Unclaimed’ trilogy and picks up right where that final book left off. Just with completely different characters and the world entirely… changed (I can’t give spoilers).

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Admittedly, I’m not a marketing guru. My top promotion method is finding someone else to do it all for me, like a temporary PA for 3-4 weeks around a new release. That’s worked rather well this year, and I’m just now getting into dissecting the finer, messier points of running ads on social media and larger book-selling sites. We’ll see what happens.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
1. Keep writing, no matter what. Editors exist for a reason, but they can’t get the darn book down on paper for you.

2. Writing every day is like working out every day or eating healthy every day (without taking it to the obsession level, of course). If you want to tone and pump up your author muscles, you need a consistent routine. I’ve been writing every day without fail for the last three months, and where I thought my 25,000-words-a-month production was pretty phenomenal, in those three months, it’s grown to 165,000 words. No joke. It can be done.

3. Nobody becomes an author because it guarantees fame and financial success. It doesn’t. We write because we have the story, and it needs to be heard. Because we love it. Because a world without us writing in it feels empty, even if we have everything else. If your love of story, character, and crafting those brilliant worlds where anything and everything is possible brought you to start writing in the first place, don’t let anybody tell you you can’t. Or you shouldn’t. Or that it’s a waste of your time. Do it because that’s what you do. And don’t stop.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This is a constant process. An author career doesn’t (with rare exceptions) build and succeed on a single book. Keep writing. Keep working on the next project. Produce and publish a professional work both complete and consistent with what your readers want, then do it all over again. Building a backlog of previous works does wonders for sales of other books (the more you have out there, the more likely it is for people to pick up your work).

What are you reading now?
Cinnamon and Gunpowder by Eli Brown. Awesome book about cutthroat pirates and a prisoner who survives by cooking exquisite meals. Like a gender-reversal of ‘Arabian Nights’ on the open sea. I love it.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Everything. Just keep going. Hopefully I can make a little bigger splash with Sleepwater Beat’s release and the Blue Helix series. Plus all the new projects underway never lose their excitement.

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 first choice would be Stephen King’s entire Dark Tower series, but that’s seven books, and I can do basic math (contrary to how often I can’t do basic math). I couldn’t bear to only bring the first 3-4 books, because even though I’ve read the series 8 times now, I would die without being able to finish it. So…

The Lord of the Rings collection by J.R.R. Tolkien (all four books, The Hobbit included, wrapped up in one giant book, because that does exist); The World According to Garp by John Irving, because it’s hilarious and so real and brilliant; One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez, because it’s the most beautifully written thing I’ve ever read and has a special place in my heart.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kathrin Hutson Website
Kathrin Hutson Amazon Profile
Kathrin Hutson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing when I was in high school at the age of 16. It took me then 6 years to write and publish the first book, which I did shortly after graduating from college. I received my teaching degree in Wisconsin, and since then, I have been inspiring people to write and learn all over the world. I spent a year in Santiago, Chile in South America and now I currently live in Suzhou, China. It is my love of travel and interacting with other cultures that help spur my writing. I have written three books so far, but have only published two.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The last book that I published is called, The Curse of Pirini Lilapa. It is the sequel to my debut novel, The Trials of the Core. Both are novels in the series, Guardian of the Core, which is slated to have four books total in it. I got inspiration for this story in general from a short story that I created in middle school. I dug it up again when cleaning my room. Then I expanded that story to make a whole series. This book happens to be from that original short story though.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I will never publish anything in the series until I have the next book written. (At least the first draft). This is because things change and things happen. So, if something dramatic happens in book two, then I need to make sure I set it up in book one so that readers aren’t questioning my logic. I think writing is better that way and more consistent.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Christopher Paolini definitely influenced me a little bit. My writing improved dramatically, though, by reading Game of Thrones. Such a good series, although Martin has now kind of fallen off the wagon with his latest book.

What are you working on now?
I am working on the fourth (and final) book in the series. The first draft of it. Once I finish that, I can focus on changes I need to make to book three.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I knew. I am still trying to figure that out myself. Facebook is an extremely good method, though, for authors.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Consistency and persistence are key. Try to write at least 500 words per day during the weekdays and 1000 words per day during the weekend when you have more time. If you do that, there is no reason you won’t have a novel ready within a year.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just write. The first draft is the hardest, so just write what comes to mind and know that you will have time to revise it later.

What are you reading now?
Currently, I am reading Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep. I am also teaching this book in class. It’s a very nice book that deals with a lot of big-question issues like: What does it mean to be human?

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well, after this series, I actually have a fifth book spinoff that I have planned where I tie up a few things that won’t fit into the series. Then there is a sixth book that is an anthology of short stories that help supplement the series. I have future plans for more. The world / universe I created is huge with soooo much fantastic lore that I can explore. I can’t wait to do so myself!

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 dictionary so that I could keep my brain sharp and maybe even have time to look up words for writing. And, also, so that I could look up words I don’t know in the other books I bring.

Ulysses by James Joyce. I heard it’s one of the “great American novels.” One that changes you when you read it, it just takes a long time to read. So, why not give it a try.

Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. This is a tome of a book as well, so it will definitely keep me occupied while I’m deserted on the island.

Ender’s Game Complete Collection. This is more so for fun. I loved the first book, but I just haven’t been able to get myself to the second one due to time. So, I would definitely bring the whole series to read!

Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Thies Website
Michael Thies Amazon Profile
Michael Thies’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Well, I’m a mathematician by training, but writing is my forte. I started meditating about 3.5 years ago. It changed my life. I learned so much from it and the philosophy of Buddhism. One day, I got an urge to start writing it all down. It took me 2.5 years since I’m a perfectionist. Although this is the only book I’ve written, I’m currently working on a second one.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book’s name is Crooked. I think the The teachings from one man really influenced me: Shunryu Suzuki. He’s the author of Not Always So and Zen Mind, Beginner’s Mind. He also had a biography written about him titled Crooked Cucumber, which is one reason why I choose my title.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
On average, I spend about thirty minutes on every single sentence. Since I meditate every day, my mind is practically empty. When I go to write, I just sit there and let my mind ‘search.’ Being empty, it can let in a lot of ideas. About every thirty minutes, it gets an idea for how to word the next sentence in a unique way.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
See above. Stephen King has also been a great influence on me. He has such incredible ability to make you feel like you’re inside his novels and watching his characters converse. My favorite works by him include It, Under the Dome, and Christine.

What are you working on now?
Essentially, it’s a book that’s very similar to this one. It just touches on subject matters that I did not cover in Crooked.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I shared excerpts on Facebook throughout my 2.5 years of writing it. When it was done, I had a long line of people that wanted a copy. Nowadays, I’m doing market research to find others ways to promote my work.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read as you write. And if you really want to stand out, expect to read and write at least four hours a day. Stephen King said it concisely: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all else: Read a lot and write a lot.”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“To study Buddhism is to study yourself. To study yourself is to forget yourself.”

A student walked up to his master and said, “Master! My practice is bad! I can’t seem to find the right path!” The master replied, “It will pass.” A few weeks later, the student returned to his master and said, “Master! My practice is so much better! I feel like I’m finally on the right path and understanding everything!” The master replied, “It will pass.”

What are you reading now?
A few Stephen King books. Near-Death Experiences by P.M.H. Atwater. Antifragile by Nassim Nicholas Taleb.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Trying to get my name out there.

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?
Ones that I haven’t read. Allow me one last book spree on Amazon before I go.

Chris Foster’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing when I was 13 years old and I must say I handled my rejection letter from Saturday Night Live better than most adults would have. I am quite older than that now and plan on aging backward at some point. I have published two novels at this time – In The End and Ancestry: Awakenings (Book 1). Two more books are in development for the Ancestry trilogy. I have several other ideas for books, but this full-time employment and two teens at home put a crimp in my writing time. I have written several dinner theater plays over the years and just finished a full-length stage played entitled Putting the FUN in FUNERAL. Cullen Kit Alexander is a pseudonym I use as a writer.

I have a background in mental health and live in Lexington, KY with my wife, two adolescent children, three cats, and two dogs. I have two older children who are travelers and enjoy seeing the world. I am close to retirement and plan on using what brain cells I have left to write before I fall prey to the frailties of aging or death invites me in.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ancestry: Awakenings was a book I actually started working on almost 20 years ago. I’ve always been fascinated with where I came from because of being adopted and I’ve always loved movies and books about magic and wizards. I combined that interest together. It took me 20 years and having a corgi to finish the book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like listening to my laptop read my writing back to me so I can hear how it sounds. The nonemotional computer voice drives everyone crazy that hears it.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Dean Koontz has been the biggest influence. However, I read a lot of science fiction (e.g., Star Trek novels).

What are you working on now?
I am working on outlining Book 2 of the Ancestry series. The title is expected to be Ancestry: The Lost Magica. Most likely before I begin writing this book, I will finish the current play I am working on called The List which is about the friendship between an OCD professor who lives with his disabled Native American best friend and how he deals with his ex-wife who comes to visit him and dies.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have to say Facebook has been fairly good and some promotions in Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Keep faith. Eventually, someone will buy your book and you will get some notice.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Tackling something is like eating a frog. You may not like it, but eventually, you get it all down by eating one piece at a time.

What are you reading now?
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

What’s next for you as a writer?
Another play … Another 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?
All the Harry Potter series
Any of the Dean Koontz books
All of Christopher Paolini Inheritance series

Author Websites and Profiles
Cullen Kit Alexander Website
Cullen Kit Alexander Amazon Profile
Cullen Kit Alexander’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
GODS is the first book I have written. It is the first book in the trilogy.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I an a New York based indie filmmaker and writer. GODS was originally a screenplay I wrote years ago. When I could not find the funding to make the movie, I decided to re-work the stories as a book series.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I try to write everyday, even if I don’t feel like it. If your not inspired you could always do research.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Christopher G. Nuttall, David Suarez and Jennifer Estep are the authors I’m currently in to right now. All three authors have very different styles but are all fantastic storytellers.

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m writing the sequel to GODS. The title is The Star Child Awakens: Gods Book two. I’m also working on a comical book about relationships called Too Beautiful.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Facebook and Twitter are my main promoting tools right now.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write. Everyday.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you write 200 words a day for a year, you would have a 73000 words and one heck of a novel. The number of words in a novel will vary depending on the genre. A young-adult novel will run between 20,000 and 40,000 words. That would be the length of a novella in mainstream

What are you reading now?
Right now I’m reading The Zero Equation. the third book in the series by Christopher G. Nuttall.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hoping and praying to end up on a best sellers list.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Wow! That is a tough question. If I had to pick three of the books would be from the authors Christopher G. Nuttall, David Suarez and Jennifer Estep. The fourth book would be
SAS Survival Handbook, Third Edition: The Ultimate Guide to Surviving Anywhere by John ‘Lofty’ Wiseman.

Author Websites and Profiles
Michael J. Arbouet Website
Michael J. Arbouet Amazon Profile
 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Grace Willows is the writing team of Robin Woods and Julie Brookshier. Grace Willows is our alter ego. It lets us write stories filled with passion, romance, and paranormal mystery We have been writing together for 5 years.
Julie: I wrote my first full length novel at age 7, but I first started getting story ideas for books when I was 3. I can not remember a day when I did not have at least two plots for books running through my head simultaneously. I usually begin our story lines since I always have plots running through my head. I can see each story idea unfold like a movie. I send the ideas to Robin and she picks out one she really likes. I will then write the plot with the characters as the “movie” plays in the back of my head. I have to get the material down before it “vanishes.” Robin then fills in all the details and then works her magic, I am very lucky, because my writing partner is my best friend. Robin is the heart of our team. She brings a never-ending desire for quality and an incomparable attention to detail. She is a fantastic writer, and I’m really proud of her.

Robin: I wrote my first novel in 2005 but have had stories running through my head since I was young. I add my own special twists into the book’s storylines and fill in the background. I too have movies running through my head but I have to let my stories stew until they’re done and then the plodding comes in. I have to try out each sentence two or three different ways until I get it just right.Julie is the engine that runs our team and I am very proud of her. She can create stories like crazy. She gets an idea in her head and lets it percolate for a couple days. The next thing you know, she’s up at oh-dark-thirty typing away, trying to keep up with the movie that’s running through her head. Nothing else matters but to get the words down on paper. We write romance novels and have an on-going series of short-story romances called Weekend Passions. Sometimes you meet someone and you can tell right away that they’re going to be your best friend. It happens to all of us whether it’s a friend we met as children or someone you work with. Well in the case of our stories, it’s not just a best friend but a lover. A man who catches your eye, gives you butterflies, makes you lie awake at night wishing he were with you now. We believe we have the best job in the world, we get to bring a happily ever after to our fans. You can’t ask for a better job than that.

Grace Willows currently has fourteen books available on Amazon, and we love to hear from our fans at graceluvs2write@comcast.net.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Legend of the Crescent Moon is our latest book. Robin and I were talking about urban legends and she told me I should come up with one of our own. So I did, the story just naturally sprung from the legend that popped in my head.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
We don’t really have any unusual writing habits. One of us will come up with the story idea and ask the other one to start thinking about book titles. For some reason we seem to need to have the title to ground the story before we get started. Then after the story is written, we both edit and add additional material to the story before its published.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Far too many to mention. Robin and I are both voracious readers, who read everything we can get our hands on. Although lately we’ve been so busy writing, that our “to be read” book piles are growing.

What are you working on now?
We are going to releasing another historical western romance story ” Last Minute Bride ” soon. Imagine the madam of a bordello whose livelihood has just burned down and all she has is the money hidden in her bosom and the clothing on her back. Her best friend is the local town’s schoolmarm who through a series of events beyond her control has been promised in marriage to a wealthy rancher in a distant territory. Last Minute Bride is a fun filled historical romantic romp through the old west with a Madan that will remind you of Mae West!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
We promote on Amazon, Goodreads, Twitter, and also on our gracewillows.weebly.com and gracewillows.wix.com websites. Our fan base has also grown by word of mouth. We are very luck to have wonderful fans that love to tell others about us.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never stop writing, even if you don’t intend to publish your story. Finish it. It’s your story and no one else can write it like you can.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Believe in yourself and don’t be afraid to push yourself beyond what you think you can do. It’s the only way you will grow as a writer.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading The Complete Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I love to read the classics in winter.

What’s next for you as a writer?
We are finishing up on Last Minute Bride and then will start editing it. Once it has been published, we have 42 more books that have been written but are awaiting editing. I think we’re going to be a little busy for awhile. Ha

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? Oh my. Well in that case I would bring the Field Guide to Edible Plants, and as a couple of books from the Foxfire series,

Author Websites and Profiles
Grace Willows Amazon Profile
Grace Willows’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for at least half of my life, reading for a third of it and now apologizing for bringing math into a simple bio for about ten seconds. Sorry. Though my arithmatic skills never improved that much, I believe my storytelling has definitely lifted-off.

I gather my ideas from every day life—and sometimes the extraordinary and imaginative—and have given up a day living without a tiny notebook always on hand or a phone app for grammatically-disinclined scribblings.

I might spend my time romping with dragons, tussling with warriors or trying to stay one step ahead of a cunning rogue of my own creation but physically I just a simple Oregonian girl. I like my rain and I like my coffee. You should see my book collection, it’s spectacular.

 Do you have any advice for new authors?
Like the saying goes, the first draft is the worst your book will ever be. The first draft is YOU telling YOURSELF the story. Don’t give up.

What are you reading now?
Kindling the Moon. Starting Crimes Against Magic right after.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I always have books in the works- fantasy, urban fantasy, even sci-fi!

Author Websites and Profiles
Keri Salyers Website
Keri Salyers’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My first book is American Renewal: A New Season of Optimism, Cooperation, and Community.

I have worked as a senior executive in the food industry for over 30 years and have lived and worked in the Philippines, Russia, The Georgia Republic and Afghanistan during eventful times in those countries. I currently am an executive with a start-up e-commerce food company in San Francisco providing ‘ugly’ produce to people looking to reduce food waste while enjoying lower prices and the convenience of home delivery.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My first book is American Renewal: A New Season of Optimism, Cooperation, and Community.

I was inspired to write this nearly 20 years after reading The Fourth Turning and seeing the Crisis period predicted come to pass…and wanting to offer hope to everyone today by writing about the new “High” period to come soon.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Neil Howe and William Strauss
Francis Fukuyama
Samuel P. Huntington
David Halberstam
Jared Diamond

What are you working on now?
marketing my first book and working to reduce food waste

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Stick with it….be devoted to speaking your truth…whatever that may be!

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Do the right thing at the right time, and love your country” my Mom

What are you reading now?
Destined for War: Can America and China Escape Thucydides’s Trap
Babur Nama: The Journal of Emperor Babur

What’s next for you as a writer?
perhaps a historical fiction with global insights

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?
SPQR
Political Order and Political Decay
The Foundation Trilogy
Autobiography of a Yogi

Author Websites and Profiles
Edward OMalley Website
Edward OMalley Amazon Profile
Edward OMalley’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a 27-year-old father, who has just finished my first book, The Odyssey of the Dragolitha. I plan to have 4 more books published to complete the series.

My day job is an IT Technician, and when I have free time that isn’t used for writing, I enjoy playing Magic the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Odyssey of the Dragolitha is the name.

I was inspired because I had to learn grammar for my job. After taking courses on writing and speech, I wanted to practically apply what I learned. Once I started writing I fell in love with my first character, and I had an explosion of ideas flood through me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Some beta readers compared my writing to Shapeskere. Other’s just think I have a unique voice. I try to consider that I have an idea and want to put it on paper for all those to read.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.K. Rowling and all Harry Potter books. All The Lord of the Rings and Hobbit books. Narnia books, and Percy Jackson books.

What are you working on now?
Book #2 is going to be called; The Odyssey of the Dragolitha; Path of Incindia

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Facebook, Twitter, and Reddit the most.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
To just write. Once it is on paper, others can help you edit it, and help you with plot holes. Yet until it is on paper, it is only an idea within your head.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t define your hero, define your villain so that they can define your hero.

What are you reading now?
Fantastic Beasts.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After the five books are finished, there will be characters that I will want to branch off into their own stories.

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 Odyssey of the Dragolitha, Goblet of Fire, The fellowship of the ring, and The lightning thief.

Author Websites and Profiles
Caleb Wright Website
Caleb Wright Amazon Profile
Caleb Wright’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write for those whose lives haven’t gone exactly as planned, whether in romance, career, or family. Writing is the way I navigate the tension between how the world is and how it ought to be. As an award-winning reporter and editor of an international skating newspaper, my greatest fulfillment was capturing ordinary people’s stories of pride and pain. I’ve published seven books under the names Trish Hermanson and P.J. Hermanson in the genres of novel, nonfiction narrative, memoir, business, and children.

My novel, “The Wooden Indian Resurrection,” captured awards from Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers and Pikes Peak Writers prior to publication. My children’s book “Hooty McTooty Discovers True Beauty” has been a hilarious favorite for both adults and children because of its combination of silliness and sophistication.

My heart is divided between my home at the edge of the Colorado Rocky Mountains and the Midwest prairies where I was raised.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My novel “The Wooden Indian Resurrection” grew out of a reunion with high school girlfriends who I hadn’t seen for decades. As we delicately shared our lives, I saw how painful it can be in our middle years to face who we have or have not become, and to face the question of whether it is too late to become who we are meant to be. I was emboldened in that reunion and wanted to convey in fiction both the comfort and pain that girlfriends can impart to each other.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Much of my writing occurs in my mind before I sit down at the computer. My husband says I zone out, working on something. Or I’ll wake during the night with the resolution to a writing problem. Still in the dark, I’ll turn to the notepad that I keep by the side of the bed and write it down in big letters so I don’t lose the thought.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kristin Hannah’s “The Nightingale”; Jamie Ford’s “Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet”; William Kent Krueger’s “Ordinary Grace”; Sue Monk Kidd’s “The Secret Life of Bees.”

What are you working on now?
At TrishHermanson.com I write bits about life, hoping to lighten our backpacks on our journey through life.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
One-to-one contact with readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Always be bettering yourself in your writing craft.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A poem from Sean Thomas Dougherty: “Why Bother? Because right now, there is someone out there with a wound in the exact shape of your words.”

What are you reading now?
Some classic authors to experience the beauty of their words.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep my eyes and ears open every day for the next insight for a blog “Because right now, there is someone out there with a wound in the exact shape of your words.”

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?
“To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Gone with the Wind,” “The Nightingale,” “All the Light We Cannot See.”

Author Websites and Profiles
Trish Hermanson Website
Trish Hermanson Amazon Profile
Trish Hermanson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Young, I set out to have a life of adventure and discovery, not one of security and comfort – although those things can certainly can be appealing during life’s more uncomfortable moments. I’ve since crossed much of Europe on foot, travelled, by bus, train, car or truck throughout North and Central America, Europe and the Sahara. I’ve lived in unique places — a Hungarian mud house, a Bavarian castle, a Turkish cave dwelling, on a Dutch canal, a lonely, very haunted stone house on the English moors, and presently in a 400-year-old former inn in a small French village. My sort of lifestyle means staying flexible and taking up any sort of work that presents itself: belly dancer, fortune teller, translator, fashion model, story teller, radio broadcaster, actress, social critical artist, photographer and writer. I’m lucky enough to have discovered forgotten communities, met strange characters, and to have had some very odd conversations. And, yes, I incorporate all into my books. So far, I’ve had five romances published and, as Jill Culiner, two mysteries and two narrative non fiction works. I also narrate audiobooks and I have a podcast — Life in a Small French village — that can be heard here: https://soundcloud.com/j-arlene-culiner

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest romance is Desert Rose, and the setting is Blake’s Folly, a rundown semi ghost town in Nevada. This rather quirky community with it’s strange local characters was the setting in another romance — All About Charming Alice (a new version of the book will soon be re-released by Fire Star Press) — and I knew it was time to return to Blake’s Folly and write about Alice’s best friend, Rose Badger. To tell the truth, Rose had been nagging me for quite some time, demanding the limelight, and I’m glad she did. She is a delightful character: gutsy, original, open-minded. As soon as the very appealing, honorable and sexy Jonah Livingstone (he’s part Paiute, part Italian) walks into her shop, he’s entranced too.
Many years ago, I happened to find myself in a rundown clapboard shack semi-ghost town in Nevada, and it became the model for Blake’s Folly. There was a saloon that was the center of life and it became the Mizpah Hotel in Desert Rose. Here’s where Rose spends much of her time, charming her admirers.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No. I’m not a constant enough writer to form strange habits. I don’t write every day, sometimes I don’t write for months. I don’t have one set work place, or a ritual, or a favorite drink or food. However — is this a habit? — I do my best to 1) polish each paragraph until it shines 2) tell a really good a story with humor and great characters 3) to do research and write intelligently so both my readers and I can learn about things we didn’t know — for example reptiles, or the settling of the west, or music.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t know how to answer this question because I’ve read so much and been influenced by so many different writers — or, perhaps I should say I’ve been touched by them. I love those with a great style: Saul Bellow, Jean Rhys, Anita Brookner, Linda Grant, Alan Hollinghurst. I also adore intelligent travel writers like Bill Bryson, Colin Thurbron and Jan Morris. But mostly, I think it’s the older poets with their rhythm and beauty who have inspired me most: Earle Birney, Anthony Hecht, Roy Fuller, Derek Mahon, Norman MacCaig. I love the images they conjures up. Here, for example, is an excerpt from a poem by John Heath-Stubbs, Carol for Advent:
Love has no manners, and pays no rent,
Full of evasions,
Is rude to your influential friends,
And sneaks the rations;
Sulkily packs his bag and is gone
At your reproof
Leaving the plaster peeling still,
A leaking roof.

What are you working on now?
I’ve just finished a creative non fiction work about an itinerant, forgotten 19th century poet. It was an exciting project that had me burrowing through the archives of Paris and Vienna, taking trains to Ukrainian and Romanian villages. I’m now making notes for another romance, an offshoot of Desert Rose — the romance of Rose’s grandmother who came to America from Russia in 1945 and met the love of her life, a Nevada saloon owner.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I do interviews and I guest blog. It’s very difficult to know what works, especially since there are so many writers publishing romance (and mystery too) and the marketplace is crowded. I think that the more you publish, the more chance you have of picking up a following, but I’m not even sure if this is true.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read. Read outside your comfort zone, outside the genre you want to write in. Read travel literature, fine writing, classics. When you are writing, explore all the senses: tell us how things smell, sound, feel, taste. Describe, in the shortest and most imaginative way you can, the setting. And avoid consumer stereotypes: write from your heart.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write, and rewrite, rewrite again. Make each sentence beautiful. Don’t be afraid to challenge yourself.

What are you reading now?
At the moment I’m reading Jean-Michel Guenassia’s book on the last days of Vincent Van Gogh in Auvers, near Paris. It is a fiction based on what is known about Van Gogh’s accidental death and his secret romance.

What’s next for you as a writer?
When the manuscript about Rose’s grandmother is finished, I’d like to write about another Blake’s Folly character, the veterinarian Lance Potter. I’ll also be narrating some more audiobooks. I’ve already narrated two of my romances — A Swan’s Sweet Song, and Felicity’s Power, as well as my mystery, Sad Summer in Biarritz, and books by other authors, and I’m itching to start on a new project…perhaps narrating Desert Rose.

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?
Wait a minute… how long would I be stranded for? For forever? I hope not. However, since it will probably be a fairly boring time, I’d like to have some very dense literature. For example, the complete works of Shakespeare, the complete Encyclopedia Britannica or Larousse (reading an encyclopedia should keep me busy for a few years). And how about a big fat collection of all the short stories and poems ever written. Does such a book exist? Of course not. But, then again, I’ll never end up on a desert island. How would I get there? I hate boats and avoid them like the plague, and if I were strong enough to swim out to a desert island, I’d be strong enough to swim back to civilization too.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. Arlene Culiner Website
J. Arlene Culiner Amazon Profile
J. Arlene Culiner’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a scifi and fantasy author who also works in international affairs. I’ve previously been an airborne infantryman, military intelligence linguist, NGO worker, history adjunct, and also spent two years as a circus unicyclist. I’ve got an amazing wife and six great kiddos.

I’ve written two novels. The first was a military scifi novel traditionally published through Enclave. The latest, Heir to the Raven, is an indie-published epic fantasy. I’ve also written about half of a one-shot fantasy novel set in the same ‘verse as Heir to the Raven.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Heir to the Raven. My family and I were on safari when we lived in Kenya, and started discussing how different East African history would have been were it not for the tsetse fly, which is fatal to horses. It would have revolutionized their transportation, warfighting, and communications.

We then built a fantasy kingdom that blended Turkish horse-lord culture with that of East Africa, and then placed it next to a more traditional Europea-inflected continent.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I process verbally, so my four older sons (ages 17-22) are hugely helpful with worldbuilding and plotting. We have spent countless hours dissecting individual scenes, or working out the details of various characters. It’s been great not only from a writing perspective, but a parenting one as well.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Lloyd Alexander was my gateway drug to Fantasy. GRRM and Robert Jordan gave me a love for epic fantasy series. Hemingway taught me to mistrust adverbs. PG Wodehouse showed me playfulness with language. Elizabeth Moon taught me a lot about writing strong, female characters. Elmore Leonard was a great example of pursuing a writing career while having a day job and family.

What are you working on now?
Heir to the Raven, my new epic fantasy novel, recently released ( November 15, 2018) so I’m focused on helping it reach as many people as possible. My latest writing project is The Magpie Queen, a one-shot novel set in the same world as Heir to the Raven. It focuses on a young noblewoman turned thief, who gets swept into a reckless marriage and a brutal civil war. Good times!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’ve been blogging since 2003, so the contacts I’ve made over the years have been invaluable. Facebook is also useful, both for networking with other authors and coordinating a launch team.
Fiverr and Upwork are awesome for finding freelancers to produce graphics and other promo materials for a reasonable cost.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write from the fullness. Be constantly learning, reading, and growing, so that your subconscious has plenty of fodder for inspiration.

Also, much as only a fool represents himself in court, only a fool of a writer acts as his own proofreader. Go on Fiverr and hire one. Indie authors need all the credibility they can get, and basic typos in your manuscript scream amateur.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Anne Lamott’s advice about s***** first drafts. Get the first draft down, and don’t worry if it isn’t perfect. You can’t edit something you haven’t written.

What are you reading now?
L.E. Modesitt’s Arms-Commander and Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The Magpie Queen. I’ve had plenty of female viewpoint characters, but this is my first novel with a female protagonist. I’m also working with a voice talent to do an audio book for Heir to the Raven, which will also be a new endeavor.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. The Army Survival Manual
2. The Bible
3. The Wheel of Time series, because it goes on forever.
4. Proust’s In Search of Lost Time, because it seems to go on forever.

Author Websites and Profiles
J. Wesley Bush Website
J. Wesley Bush Amazon Profile
J. Wesley Bush’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a best selling author of heroic fantasy novels. My debut novel, Ogrino, The Ancient Legacy, was a Barnes & Noble bestseller in the US in 2012. The French edition was traditionally published by Edilivre.
Although I’ve always considered myself a storyteller, I decided to pursue a writing career only a few years ago when a story I wrote for my two sons achieved recognition outside my family and close friends.

I’m an avid reader of Heroic Fantasy, who is happy to share my passion and vivid imagination with children and grown-ups, alike. My mission as a writer is tonurture kids’ creativity and inspire them to embrace high-aspirations, tolerance, compassion, responsibility, solidarity, and justice. Maybe it has to do with my double cultural heriage-French and Italian, which gave a broader life perspective.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Ogrino, The Ancient Legacy is a heroic fantasy novel about courage,
tolerance, the power of friendship and kindness. An epic adventure that takes the reader through marvelous worlds populated initiatory tale promoting responsibility, solidarity and action for common good.
Hunted by the Military Order of Legiferius, which seeks to eliminate all magical creatures, a young Ogre named Ogrino has lost his parents and his memory. He is adopted by the circus people and comes to live as a human boy. Discovered again by the Order, he escapes with help from the Pixie Razenbruck.
Ogrino fights off a thousand dangers to spread the news of the Orders threat to the peoples of the Legendary World, including Delphoros, the king of seas, Precelestine, monarch of the underground, and Themistomene, sovereign of the forests.
Ogrino wakes the dragon Metanor and even meets Felicia Regina, Queen of the Elves, who reveals to him his destiny. But will all this be enough to protect the Gigantum, the tree-father of all life, and preserve the Great Balance from the evil schemes of the Orders leader, the Magnus Legifer? You’ll find the answer in th book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Most of the time, I am writing during commuting or traveling. Trains, airplanes, they all work for me.
To be a writer means to be alone for a long time to allow the creative process to unfold. I don’t like that, and prefer to be in the middle of a crowd.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.R.R. Tolkien for the universe he creates
J.K. Rowling for her fertile imagination and the density of her characters
P. Pullman for the originality of its themes and the key role of “animals” in the story
D. Gemmel for the story structure and narrative quality
Many others inspired me as well : J. Stroud, T. Pratchett, J. Heliot

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on the completion of second novel in Ogrino series, “Ogrino, South of Nowhere” due to be published in 2019.
I am also drafting the third novel in the series, “Ogrino, Under the Aegis of Abyss,” to be published in 2021, and the fourh one, “Ogrino, Légiferius Genesis,” to be published in 2023.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Communication of news and events through Ogrino’s FB page on to rach a wide audience. More and more book signings to meet fans and keep the excitement alive. Using promo websites to advertise sales campaigns.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You should check Paula Brackston for her magic spirit, Brandon Sanderson for his psychological approach and Gigi McCaffrey for her dragon world.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Remain open to the beauty of life. This has been told to me by a close friend. I put it in practice every day, and magic happens !

What are you reading now?
“Lontano” a whodunit novel by Jean-Christophe Grangé

What’s next for you as a writer?
Completing the next books in the series as mentioned before. I am also working with a digital start-up to create my avatar to be used for the promotion of my books in video teasers.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Lord of Rings from J.R.R. Tolkien
Harry Potter and the prisoner of Azkaban from J.K. Rowling
Northern Lights from P. Pullman

Author Websites and Profiles
J.P. Jentile Amazon Profile
J.P. Jentile’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Christine Anne Asbrey and I have written a series of historical mysteries set around a female Pinkerton and the charismatic clever criminal she was sent to bring in. I am an ex-police officer and live in England, although I’m actually Scottish. I’m married to a musician, and have two cats. I’m in the process of moving to York to be nearer both sides of the family. I’ve three published books in The Innocents Mysteries Series, and have written one more which is still being edited, and started a fifth. I plan to do six to give closure to the stories all the main characters in the books.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I became interested in the earliest women in law enforcement and I was surprised to find out that the first professional detectives were employed by the Pinkerton Detective Agency in 1856. I’d never heard of the work these remarkable women did. They protected Abraham Lincoln, caught killers, prevented murders, captured robbers, and were expert at working undercover.
That inspired my character, Abigail MacKay, and after years of research, the groundwork was laid for The Innocents Mysteries Series. I was always interested in forensics, as well as the Victorian period, so looking into the work the female Pinkertons did was a joy.
In some ways it was frustrating because so many of the records were destroyed in the Chicago fire, but enough stories still survive from the time to give a fascinating insight into the work they did and the types of personalities they had,
In some ways the gaps in the records are actually a blessing, as they became a blank canvas on which to project my tales. I filled them with the kinds of women I knew, and who had done exactly that type of work. I created in the training from research, my own experience, and from the research into the women who later did the same kind of work for British Intelligence. I wanted to make the characters realistic.
I tried to recreate a real woman, based on the type of people attracted to that kind of work, and to show that strength and femininity can go hand-in-hand. I made her unapologetically clever, in a time when that wasn’t appreciated in women, and I stuck her in the middle of some complex mysteries and dangerous situations.
It’s often said that it takes the same mindset to catch a thief as it does to commit a successful crime, so I gave her a criminal opponent who was the other side of her coin. He’s just as smart as she is. Where she’s scrupulously honest, he’s cunning and disreputable; where she uses science and new inventions to investigate, he uses them break the law; and where she can be impulsive and reckless, he is cautious and plans meticulously. What they have in common is their shared values when it comes to human life, their tragic pasts which shaped their paths, and their growing attraction.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a night owl, for sure. I also don’t use a desk at all. I use a laptop on a couch and write when the spirit takes me. There’s nothing rigid about the way I structure my work. I don’t sit down at a certain time of day and do so many words in a set time period.

I do plot my books, but if the story takes over and goes in another direction, I’ll let it. It generally makes for a better story in the end.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Almost all of the classic mystery writers through to the present day ones; Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Margery Allingham, Edgar Allan Poe, Ngaio Marsh, Arthur Conan Doyle, Wilkie Collins, Ruth Rendell, P.D James, Patricia Highsmith, Kathy Reichs, Val McDermid. They all bring in different aspects to the mystery genre. Some laid the groundwork, while others brought in more grounded reality, until the modern day when the tales became more gritty and realistic. I like books which show the methodologies used by the detectives, as well as making the rounded people.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on part five of The Innocents Mysteries. Part four has a huge cliffhanger, so I want them all finished so they can either be released together or close apart.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I wish I knew! I advertise a lot on both Twitter and Facebook. I’m still trying to find the best way to stand out in a crowded market

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Get lots of different people to read your work when you are editing. Human beings miss things. The more times it’s checked the better.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Try it. Don’t be afraid of failing. Be afraid of not trying.

What are you reading now?
I’ve just finished Kids Who Kill; Eric Smith by Kathryn McMaster. I just bought The 19th Century Underworld; Crime, Controversy, & Corruption by Stephen Carver. Those are both non-fiction.
After that I’m reading Honour the Dead by John Anthony Miller. It’s a mystery set in 1921. You might see a theme in my reading habits.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan on finishing up The Innocents Mysteries Series, and then I plan to write the murder mystery set in 19th century Edinburgh.

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?
Do the complete works count? Agatha Christie, Dorothy L. Sayers, Ruth Rendell, and Ngaio Marsh.

Author Websites and Profiles
C.A. Asbrey Website
C.A. Asbrey Amazon Profile
C.A. Asbrey’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
People call me Jenny. I grew up in Pennsylvania, but have now called a town in Upstate New York my home. I have one book published, but I look forward to sharing more that I have written. I have written four, but have not published them. It took me such a long time to work up the guts to publish this one, but it is a dream come true that I did.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Pain Management is my latest book, and it was inspired by the pains and pleasures of real life. What makes me or others happy, and how we deal with pain, is also what inspired me to write this. I wanted to teach people more about BDSM, open relationships, difficulty in marriage, repressing trauma, and other sexual and psychological issues related to that.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, I write at night mostly, but I almost never write in the same place. I write wherever is closest at the time –phone, laptop, nearby notebook

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Anne Rice was a huge influence, because I read those books all the time, and then read again. There are so many indie authors on Twitter that I follow that have great advice and writings –they definitely helped me push my publishing along.

What are you working on now?
Now I’m working on the sequel to Pain Management that will pick up a few months after the first book ends. I want to make it even steamier and psychological.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am still testing different promotional websites and methods out, so I’m not sure. Twitter and instagram have helped increase my following, and even make friends. Next I will try Whizzbuzz and Amazon KDP Select Advertising. Getting reviews have helped a bunch also, so I want to show as much people my book as possible.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just got for it! Don’t be scared for years like I was. Of course it will be stressful, but sometimes it’s way more fun. Keep writing, and don’t look back.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write at least 1,000 words every time you write, and don’t worry about editing yet, because it might hold you back.

What are you reading now?
Since Halloween recently passed, I’m finishing Dracula.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next I hope to finish the sequel to my first book, and write erotic novellas.

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?
Angel Time by Anne Rice, When I was Puerto Rican by Esmeralda Santiago, and A Head Full of Ghosts by Paul Tremblay

Author Websites and Profiles
Jennifer Cleary Amazon Profile
Jennifer Cleary Author Profile on Smashwords

Jennifer Cleary’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I graduated with a bachelors in the science if nursing from the University of South Alabama. I have written one book! A Ray of hope tell my daughter’s story of love, healing, and the miracle of medical marijuana.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
A Ray of Hope was inspired by my daughter, RayAnn. I share her story of adoption, her struggles with epilepsy, and our search for a improved quality of life. This lead us to advocate in the state of Florida for the Compassionate Medical Cannabis Act of 2014. It passed and was signed into law on June 16, 2014. RayAnn now uses CBD-rich oil and is 2 years seizure free.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t believe so. My goal is to shine light on the medical properties of cannabis.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
One of my favorite books is The Noticer by Andy Andrews.

What are you working on now?
Advocating for federal medical cannabis reform.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
For me, it was difficult to “let go” of A Ray of Hope. I put a lot of personal information about my family and myself in this book. But my daughter’s excitement for the book release helped to remind me why I started this project to begin with …… to share her story of hope and healing! So have confidence and enjoy the process.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Follow you gut!

What are you reading now?
A Mind Unraveled

What’s next for you as a writer?
I don’t know yet! We will see where God takes us.

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, family picture albums, A Ray of Hope

Author Websites and Profiles
Holley Moseley Website
Holley Moseley Amazon Profile
Holley Moseley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve written many books over a number of categories including non-fiction, fantasy and science fiction, but I’ve officially made the jump to erotic fiction.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My third and most recent erotic book is called ‘Bear Prison.’
Even though its not a horror, I was inspired by the movie ‘Saw.’ This book definitely has a psychological element to it.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
When I can’t think of an idea to move the story forward I will sometimes jump up and down while blasting game soundtracks.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Weirdly I have to say Enid Blyton. Not weird because she isn’t incredible, but because I write erotica.
Her descriptive powers have influenced me a lot my whole life.

What are you working on now?
A fourth book called ‘The Twink Feet Code.”
Its aah… exactly what it sounds like

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My website at saltymilkstory.com has an unfolding plot that updates with a new chapter every week.
I think people come to read the unfolding story and learn about my books there.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Try to avoid procrastinating. It’s a rabbit hole of despair

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Finish the damn book – Catherine Ryan Howard

What are you reading now?
I’m reading ‘Without You There is No Us: Undercover with the Sons of North Korea’s Elite’ by Suki Kim. Really moving stuff

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m gonna keep on writing Erotica and try to make it as far as I can

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 entire Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket.
What better way to pass the time while passing slowly into madness

Author Websites and Profiles
Julien Chen Website
Julien Chen Amazon Profile
Julien Chen’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m the author of several young adult novels including The Shadow Kingdom, Fortune’s Queen, Ungifted and Gates. As well, I published The Thorn and the Sinking Stone (Entangled Teen 2015) under another pen name, CJ Dushinski.

I love books about magic, romance, adventure and fantasy. Growing up in the vast planes of the north, books were an escape that led me to a career in writing where I can always explore new, endless worlds.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Shadow Kingdom is my newest novel. It was inspired by a dream I had about being trapped in a black and white world. At the same time I was watching a show on vikings and was struck by the incredible beauty of the fjords and mystic intrigue of Norse mythology. Like all writing I do, I tend to mash a bunch of ideas together until it feels like a complete story. And that’s how I ended up with the Shadow Kingdom!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I am definitely a “mash-up” writer. Dystopian Romeo and Juliet, Science and Magic, mythology and urban streets. I love taking two, or even three things, that don’t quite go together and turning it into an entirely new world.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
J.K. Rowling of course. I love Diana Gabaldon, Brandon Sanderson, Ernest Cline, Karen Marie Moning, Scott Lynch, Cassandra Clare, Laini Taylor, Eoin Colfer, George R.R. Martin, Suzanne Collins….the list goes on, and covers a lot of genres. But they all have one thing in common; fantastic world building and engrossing characters.

What are you working on now?
Right now I am working on a YA time-travel novel based on one of my favorite books of all time. Except instead of falling back in time, the MC goes forward into an apocalyptic future. I am also working on Book #2 in the Shadow Curse Series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
NetGalley. I have found that although it can be quite pricey, especially for independent authors, it really works to get your book out there to the right audience and to cultivate those critical reviews we all live and die by.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think everything probably sounds cliche at this point. My best advice is just to not give up. If you can’t find a door, carve your own path. Make it happen. Don’t want for someone else to do it for you. If you truly believe in yourself and your writing, anything can happen. Stick to your guns, and have patience. Lots and lots of patience. This is a game of years, not days.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The same I just gave! Patience.

What are you reading now?
I am reading more Brandon Sanderson. I love his series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue to write, because I love it, and for no other reason.

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?
No deep and profound answer here. I would take the Harry Potter series because it brings me great joy.

Author Websites and Profiles
C.J. Inkson Amazon Profile
C.J. Inkson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a retired engineer with a life-long interest in books and writing. Originally from England, I’ve lived with my family near Toronto, Canada, for many years and where I walk, run and takes wildlife photos whenever the weather will let me. In my writing, I like to capture the humorous side of life even when sometimes the world doesn’t seem to warrant it — for example in my first novel Diary of a Canadian Nobody.
For this new soon to be a series, The Modest Proposal Institute, I’ve returned to one of my earliest reading loves — science fiction.

I’ve written two novels and self-published a collection of my articles written for newspapers down the years — Random Musings.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is The Modest Proposal Institute: An Old Path to a New Future and it came about through watching my son’s experience in school and reading of the decline in reading/writing and other educational attainments of young men in the present day.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Other than procrastination and a general unwillingness to finish, no.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favorite author by far is Jane Austen. I aim for her matching humor in all my writing. More modern authors I like are Bill Bryson JK Rowling

What are you working on now?
The second book of The Modest Proposal Institute series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t learned enough about promoting books to answer that question. Yours is one of the first I’ve even heard of.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Only to write every day and use a creative/copy editor and proofreader for final editing.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The advice I’ve just given. It worked for me.

What are you reading now?
Mainly non-fiction. I’m preparing an Aunt’s wartime diary for publication so I’ve been reading other wartime diaries and memoirs of the time she lived.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue with and finish The Modest Proposal series and, in between, get my Aunt’s diary self-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?
First, two Jane Austen — Northanger Abbey and Pride and Prejudice and then
two non-fiction, Bill Bryson’s The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid and Jacques Barzun’s From Dawn to Decadence. The last one because it’s two volumes and requires my re-reading.

Author Websites and Profiles
Paul James Website
Paul James Amazon Profile
Paul James’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My primary purpose is to use his adventurous spirit and passion for personal excellence to inspire and empower people, communities, and businesses around the world. Consulting, coaching, exploration, and entrepreneurship provide me with channels to live his life on purpose, deliver a positive message, and inspire others to find the work they can’t not do.

I have published one book called BRIDGE and am in the process of starting my second book which will be published in the middle of 2019.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
BRIDGE: Define, Build, & Ignite the Life of Your Dreams was inspired by my personal experiences over the last decade in business and life. The principles in this book have been applied to the relaunch of my life and I believe they can do the same for you.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I love to go on hikes deep into the wilderness for writing sessions. This time in nature inspires creative ideas that I may have never before thought of.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Present – Spencer Johnson
Think and Grow Rich – Napolean Hill
The Success Principles – Jack Canfield

What are you working on now?
A new project called about finding success and inner peace now. I am really excited to bring this work out to the world and believe it will be a catalyst to my career. Most importantly it will have a positive influence on millions of people around the world.

Really stoked on the title, but keeping that hush for now.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Build a great book launch team. There is really nothing more powerful than having a group of people that back your work. Additionally, engage with this group and your friends on Facebook by creating a private exclusive group.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write for the right reason. If you are writing to get rich quick, then think again. I believe the writing process is an amazing time for personal growth and transformational inner awakenings that we could never experience without the process of writing a book.

Stay persistent, see your work through to publication. When things get frustrating keep on keeping on.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The soul already knows how to heal the body, the challenge is in quitting the mind enough to hear it.

I believe this advice can be applied to so many aspects of life.

What are you reading now?
Think and Grow Rich
The Power of Now

What’s next for you as a writer?
Launching and promoting my recent book BRIDGE: Define, Build, & Ignite the Life of Your Dreams https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1729180140/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_hsch_vapi_taft_p1_i0

Then my intention is to begin writing my next book and developing PeakProsper.com

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 Pocket Thich Nhat Hanh
Bill W’s Design for Living
A Blank Notebook to Write A Book Called “Freedom on a Deserted Island”
Tom Brown Jr, The Search

Author Websites and Profiles
Scott Rowley Website
Scott Rowley Amazon Profile
Scott Rowley’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I can’t say that anything I have written constitutes a “book”. I have been writing all manner of ideas, poems, articles, essays, diatribes, but nothing I would say meets the clinical definition.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Chasing Butterflies was inspired by losing my job and sitting at home raising two young kids. I figured someday they may want to hear the stories of my life as I was lamenting not ever getting a chance to hear those of my grandmother. I started writing ideas down and eventually began telling my life story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Aside from proper spelling and loose grammatical rules, I don’t adhere to what would traditionally be considered proper writing style. I like to stretch the rules, break the rules, drop an atomic bomb on the rules and see what makes sense outside of what scholars and wannabe English majors believe is the proper use of language.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As strange as it may sound, I don’t read. Again. Rules. I don’t like to contaminate my ideas with others. I can’t say anyone outside of Seuss has inspired me from the standpoint of an author. That isn’t to say I never read anything, or do not draw inspiration. I am moved by music, by speakers, by anyone challenging the way we use language.

What are you working on now?
Chasing Butterflies is my magnum opus. The sample you get is just the first in a much larger series. I am working on the series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Right now I am only using Twitter. I am a single full time dad with two young kids working a full time job. This means I am both broke and limited for time.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write, and don’t pay attention to how anyone else tells you how you should do things. Sure, take advice, but don’t get bogged down into thinking you have to conform.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Always wear a condom.

What are you reading now?
The questions on this Author Interview.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Hopefully selling more than 4 copies.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
How to Build a Boat
Cartography for Dummies
Whatever the largest book is so I have some tinder
A porn mag

Author Websites and Profiles
Brett Bastard Website
Brett Bastard Author Profile on Smashwords

Brett Bastard’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I recently published my first novel, but I have numerous short stories published in a couple of collections.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest novel is My Way to You. I wrote it to show some of the struggles interracial couples face when beginning a relationship and trying to keep it strong.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
One writing habit people may find strange is that when I’m deep in my creative zone, I like to pull my hair into a big hug afro puff. Not one of those cool Angela Davis ones, a mess of coils and coconut oil. I feel like it allows creative energy to flow into my head. It is also a good signal to the husband and kids that mom is deep in her writing and disturbing her would be a hazardous venture.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I read a ton a romance as a teen, exclusively by White women authors. When I got older and someone gave me a Beverly Jenkins novel, my world lit up. It was so liberating to see Black women as the primary love interest and not the sassy best friend, servant, or slave. When authors like Zane and Alyssa Cole came on the scene, that just changed everything.

Their writing gave me the confidence to write romance not simply with Black female protagonists, but with a love plot that reflects the lives of Black women. Romance can be culturally-specific, and there are now a lot of Women of Color authors who are showing the world the myriad of ways people navigate love and romance.

What are you working on now?
My Way to You is the first book in that Brothers in Law romance series. It features six men who befriended each other in law school as they look for love. Each of their stories is a stand-alone, but their interaction with each other remains stable from book to book.

Right now, I’m editing the draft of Sweet Love, Bitter Fruit, the second book. It features Marcus and Toni Kent. Readers have already expressed their interest in knowing their stories after meeting the loving duo in book one.

Marcus and Toni are deeply in love but struggle with infertility. After a couple of failed treatments, Toni wants to try again but Marcus is staunchly against it. The impasse, as well as some other turmoil, threatens to destroy everything they’ve built.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m new to this, so my results aren’t conclusive yet. I do think the Goodreads community is a strong one where authors have an increased potential of interacting with readers specific to their genre.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I think it’s extremely important for authors to build their audience before publishing. Develop a variety of means to attract and interact with potential readers. Let them hear your voice and get to know you as an author. Once you’ve got their attention, talk about your book and characters in a way that will make them want to know more.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I’ve gotten so much great advice over the years. I think some of the best advice I’ve heard as an author is to never think you can’t improve your writing. Authorship is art, and honing one’s craft is a life-long endeavor. The moment an author thinks their writing is the ultimate, that is probably when it’s at its worse. We are constantly learning and improving.

What are you reading now?
I’m completely jonesing on Black women romance writers. They amaze me with the spectrum of works they’re putting out there, and I’m gleaning how they’re developing unique romance styles that attract readers.

I’m a total Love Journey addict. She’s committed to writing short steamy reads for professional women who don’t necessarily have the time to read 300-400 pages.

I’ve got quite a few titles by British author Talia Hibbert on my Kindle. She combines quippy with raw heat in a way that has you laughing and fanning yourself at the same time.

I just read a great Black love story, Everything is Love, but Aubree Pynn. It’s her first novel, and she does some wonderful storytelling. I can’t wait to read more from her.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My husband jokes that I live at my computer. It isn’t far from the truth. I have numerous writing commitments. I continue to write news stories from a couple of different online platforms. I’m preparing book 2 of the Brothers in Law series as I write short stories for my online Layla Writes Love subscription as well as the upcoming Shades of AMBW Winter Collection and Black Seeds and Honey—A Muslim story collection.

I’m also preparing an essay for a Bloomsbury handbook on Islam and popular culture. Whew!

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 need a copy of the Quran as well as a compilation of the Prophet Muhammad. I need my soul fed until I die of starvation because I wouldn’t be able to catch a fish and most likely will pick the only poisonous plant life growing there. If I managed to scrape up some food and water, I would want Kindred by Octavia Butler and Indigo by Beverly Jenkins—both cutting-edge novels for their times.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lyndell Williams Website
Lyndell Williams Amazon Profile
Lyndell Williams’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I write young adult contemporary novels with hard-hitting issues, and nonfiction books for writers. I have three books for writers, and thirteen books for young adults.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Living Out Loud Series is my latest project. It was inspired by a girl I knew in high school who was strong and stood up for what she believed in, but you could also tell she had been really hurt in her life. I was drawn to writing a rich character who kept much of her complicated inner workings private.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I work as a background actor on set of many TV shows and movies. Most of my writing is done in a holding tent or holding trailer, but I really feed off of the creative energy of being around other actors and creative people.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love reading anything by Stephanie Perkins, Gayle Forman, and Rainbow Rowell. They are all masters at crafting multi-faceted characters whom the reader really cares about.

What are you working on now?
I’m dipping my toe in the adult age group, and trying my hand at clean contemporary romance. I work on a lot of Hallmark shows, and that area is just exploding with popularity right now, so I figured why not give it a try?

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
You can find out a lot about me at www.denisejaden.com, and if you sign up for one of my newsletters, I’d be happy to send you a free book.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a lot, and take time to notice what you love in other books, and what rubs you the wrong way.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t compare your author journey to anyone else’s. Everyone is on a different path, and will find different blessings along the way.

What are you reading now?
Lately I’ve been focusing on promotion, and reading a book on creating Amazon ads.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I plan to continue writing clean contemporary romance in the form of novels and scripts for the next while.

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?
Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
Just one Day by Gayle Forman
Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Author Websites and Profiles
Denise Jaden Website
Denise Jaden Amazon Profile
Denise Jaden’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I was born and raised in Portsmouth, England. My background is mainly in theatre and film, where I originally pursued careers in acting, directing, producing, editing and screen writing. Most of this work was writing screenplays for independent companies, some of which were made into low budget films and others, which remained on the page. In the latter years, I realised that of all these different jobs, writing was the one I enjoyed the most and often found myself wishing that I could just write stories for a living.

After meeting the love of my life on a touring theatre production, we both chose to leave the theatrical life behind and came to live together on the Isle of Wight to combine our talents of writing and art. It was here that I began to write my first novel: The Hermacles Divide: The Coming of the Dhufal, part of an intended seven book series, which my partner has done all the artwork for. Since then I haven’t stopped, and don’t intend to until every story in my head has been written down, published, and shown to the world.

To date I have written and published two books that are currently available.

‘The coming of the Dhufal’ (A young adult fantasy)
‘Boundless in Torment’ (An Adult Supernatural Thriller)

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Boundless in Torment is a Supernatural Mystery Thriller, which deals with many themes, such as life after death, murder, betrayal and redemption.

My inspiration for writing it? I have always had a particular interest in the theme of life after death, and I wanted to write about my own interpretation of what I think might happen.

At the same time, I was reading a lot of Sherlock Holmes and found myself drawn to writing a separate murder mystery novel. It was going to be about a man who was vindicated for a murder he did not commit, and then found to be the chief suspect in a second murder after.

When I came to write each of these stories, I was quite aware that neither story was particularly original and did not have anything special to inspire me to continue with them. I was about to abandon them both when I came up with the idea of merging them together.

In my mind by doing this, both stories would complement each other. The murder mystery would make the supernatural element more intriguing, and the supernatural element would add an unconventional spin on the typical murder mystery.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes I sometimes like to hang upside down from the ceiling whilst holding a long stick that I use to type on my keyboard. Only kidding! No I can’t think of anything particularly unusual I do. I suppose in the past I used to get up and act out some of my fight scenes to get an idea if they would physically work.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My favourite authors are a very diverse group writing in genres of crime, fantasy and horror.

I enjoy Simon Kernick for his action packed thrillers. Namely his D.I. Milne Trilogy: The business of dying, A good Day to die, Payback.

George. R. R. Martin for his talent to deal with multiple character arcs and his ability to surprise the reader at every turn. I especially love his Song of Ice and Fire series.

J.K. Rowling for the immersive magical world she created which went from being a children’s story to young adult, and how she inspired me to write my own fantasy series.

Derek Landy for the invention of his many quirky characters, and talent for comic timing in his Skulduggery Pleasant series.

What are you working on now?
Right now, I am working on two projects: A choose your own adventure style, Ghost and Time Travel themed game book called The Ghosts of Craven Manor, and a super hero murder mystery called Memoirs of a Super Hero’s Sidekick.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am very new to this whole promotion thing, but so far, I have found Good Reads to have been a great help for both advertising my book, and finding people to beta read and review it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t get too hung up on planning. Try writing that first chapter as soon as possible. Also do consider what you intend to do with the book once it is done. Writing the book is the easiest part. Marketing it right and selling it, is a different story.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Show don’t tell.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading Origin by Dan Brown; the fifth book in his Robert Langdon Series that began with The Da Vinci code.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Well after finishing the two books I am currently working on, I intend to continue The Hermacles Divide series with the next instalment: The Dark Heart of Jack. I also have plans to release a short story compilation, some more game books, and some more individual novels. I have a whole backlog of projects.

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 anywhere then I would like long stories or compilations I could finish, so therefore I would bring: The lord of the Rings, The complete works of Sherlock Holmes, The Stand and Cloud Atlas. Although something tells me, I should probably bring a book about surviving on a desert island.

Joseph Daniels’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi!
I have written and co-written three books now.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book was something I have co-written and it is called “ENFP Struggles and How to Overcome Them.”
I mainly edited this with another author and I was inspired by MBTI as we were on this project.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I tend to become lazy at times.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
To be honest, I cannot recall any authors or books that influenced me. I was kind of writing just as how I’d speak.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on two projects. One is a Fiction/War-type of a Light Novel, and another is something about psychology.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For now, I haven’t identified yet what exactly is the “best” website, but I guess that this website is AWESOME enough to be nominated as one of the “best”!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes. Just keep on experimenting and seeking help from your peers. Do not be afraid of trying and getting corrected by your friends.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“Just do it.”

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading random Science articles online. But the last books that I read were about religion and history.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’ll keep on writing and I’ll keep on sharing them to people. We need for information. We should be information hungry.

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 think I’d rather bring a Survival Book. Haha!
Also, a book that contains virtue, wisdom, and lessons in life. I won’t name any though.
Lastly, I’d bring “The Little Prince”.

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Bruce D. Thatcher is founder of History Speaks Today, a project dedicated to sharing elemental truths learned from accomplishments and failures of those in our past, to help us avoid making the same mistakes again and again. He is also author of that project’s first three books – Adamant Aggressors: How to Recognize and Deal with Them and Immigration: How to Avoid its Perils and Make it Work and Rise and Decline: Where We Are and What We Can Do About It.

Thatcher has had a passion for history throughout his varied career. Check out Bruce Thatcher’s bio. In each business he conducted, he gathered facts and insights on how past problems and issues had been addressed. He truly believes that much can be learned and applied from successes and failures of our past. On his web site and in his talks he clarifies what we should learn and adopt from the handling and mishandling of issues within national security, national solidarity, national continuity, social progress, immigration and other crucial areas of stumbling by nations’ leaders.

Early on he recognized a reality confronting many of the world’s government leaders, a reality that affects their national securities … even existentially! That reality is ‘adamant aggressors’ exist, and some of them are in positions of significant power. Adamant Aggressors: How to Recognize and Deal with Them , released in 2011, is a collection of historical cases that demonstrate unassailable do’s and don’ts for dealing with today’s international threats. In 2018, these five cases were distilled into separate e-book digests for busy readers.

While researching that first book, Thatcher came across cases of mishandled immigration that led to disastrous consequences. Because immigration impacts practically every government and business in the world today – their economy, their social systems, their national security, etc., it became a natural subject for the second HST book, Immigration: How to Avoid its Perils and Make it Work , released in 2012.

The third HST book was published in 2017. Rise and Decline: Where We Are and What We Can Do About It examines the history of four expired nations to validate the premise that rejection of the basic values on which a nation is founded leads inexorably to decline and extinction. Rise and Decline then applies those lessons to two existing nations that are in decline – the United Kingdom and the United States of America.

Thatcher grew up in the mid-west, and graduated from Iowa State College and the University of Chicago. He worked in marketing and management with General Electric and The Vendo Company, then founded and led a telecommunications consulting firm, TelCon Associates, for 30 years until his retirement.

While living in the Chicago area, he became involved in politics and was elected to a local high school Board of Education, serving a term as its President. Later, he served on the national Board of Directors of Literacy Volunteers of America and taught classes at Avila University, William Jewel College and the University of Missouri at Kansas City.

Now retired from business, Thatcher and his wife, Carol, live near New Braunfels, Texas.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Rise and Decline: Where We Are and What We Can Do About It” shows that the United States of America has passed its peak in world prominence and is on the decline. It identifies the core values that drove its ascendance. And it shows that the reasons we’re now in decline are not those so often offered up – corruption, national debt, weakening military, racial divide, poverty, etc., etc. These are merely symptoms of the root problems – growing indifference and disdain for America’s founding values.

Citizen acceptance and support of specific principles is basic to the founding of every nation and drives its ascendance. Dishonoring and disdaining those principles leads inexorably to national decline and, ultimately, extinction. America’s raison d’être is liberty, as articulated in the Declaration of Independence and Constitution, especially the Bill of Rights. These values are being usurped by our government and eschewed or disdained by citizens. Unless this erosion is halted or reversed, the end of the United States will arrive sooner, rather than later.

Reaffirmation and commitment to our raison d’être can become a renaissance in America and usher in a new and prolonged period of rising national prominence. But not spontaneously. Prolonging the essence and values of the United States will take thoughtful actions over many years or generations.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Probably not

What authors, or books have influenced you?
History and well-researched historical fiction

What are you working on now?
A book on guns. Working title is “Guns in America: Why They Are and What We Should Do About It”

Do you have any advice for new authors?
write every day

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

Author Websites and Profiles
Bruce Thatcher Amazon Profile
 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Alex Craigie was ten when her first play was performed at school. It was in rhyming couplets and all she can remember about it is that:

• it was written in pencil in a book with weights and measures on the back
• the two heroes were Prince Rupert and his brother (whose name was changed to Sam to facilitate the rhyming process.)
• as writer, producer and director she ‘bagged’ the part of female lead.
When her children were young, she wrote short stories for magazines and since then has fulfilled her ambition to write a novel.

Someone Close to Home has won two ‘Chill with a Book’ awards – The Reader’s Award and the Book of the Month Award.

Alex lives in a small village in Pembrokeshire, Wales, and knows that she and her husband are lucky to have their children and grandchildren living nearby. It’s often chaotic and noisy but these are her most treasured moments and she savours them – even if she’s reduced to an immovable heap after they’ve gone.

As an independent author, without a big publishing machine behind her, she is very grateful to all the people who have found and bought her first book – and a huge thank you to those who’ve gone out of their way to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. These reviews make a massive difference to ‘Indies’ and the positive ones encourage other readers to risk buying a copy.

What else can she say? Nothing, really. Writing this personal promotion has been very, very hard and she needs to go away now and lie down in a darkened room, preferably with a big bar of chocolate…

She looks forward to any contact from fellow lovers of books and any honest feedback is very welcome.

You can reach her by email: alex@alexcraigie.co.uk

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called Someone Close to Home.
The research started in a natural, personal sort of a way, many years ago – in the 1970s- when my mother, a nurse, considered working in a care home. She arrived for her interview to witness the residents lined up in chairs one behind the other in the corridor. She walked out. Since then, things have moved both for the better and for the worse. All homes know not to treat residents like that but lack of appropriate funding has brought its own horrors and I’ve witnessed these for myself. Better living conditions and medical care has meant that more and more of my older friends and relatives are dependent on care homes, and my own friends have witnessed the same things themselves. Social Services have to make their budgets stretch which means putting a squeeze on the care homes to accept people at a lower tariff, many care homes are then running on a shoestring budget which means that the carers themselves, most of them amazing and dedicated people, are paid minimum wage or thereabouts and there aren’t enough of them to go round, particularly at pinch points in the day such as when the residents wake in the morning.
There’s plenty of information out there in the media. Last month a care home was closed down because it was so below standard – but this was no cause for cheering because there was nothing else in place and families were simply told to remove their vulnerable relatives straight away and find them a place somewhere else. Every week there’s at least one court case outlining deliberately cruel treatment of vulnerable residents unable to defend themselves.

It’s horrific. To go from your own home, surrounded by the things you’ve gathered during your life, all those memories, and end up in a room the size of a garage with barely enough room for some clothes, toiletries and some photographs – that in itself must be depressing, but to face institutional neglect on top of that is appalling. I’ve been so angry on behalf of those who are trapped in these homes where the majority of carers do a brilliant job despite the conditions but who lack the time and manpower to give the support that would make all the difference.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Ah, but how to define unusual?
My worst habit is a non-writing one in the form of displacement activities when the muse escapes me. I didn’t inherit the ‘pleasure in housework’ gene but sometimes I’ll find myself cleaning windows, dusting, attacking the oven or even searching for cobwebs (yes, it is that bad).

What authors, or books have influenced you?
So many it’s hard to limit them.
I loved Anne of Green Gables as a child. Growing up there used to be an adaptation of a Dickens book serialised on Sundays. I couldn’t wait for the next week’s episode and would take the book out of the library and read that. I discovered at this early age that adaptations of books on the screen aren’t always faithful to the originals. I remember a later Agatha Christie phase, discovered the delights of Georgette Heyer as a teenager and since then have enjoyed the works of authors as diverse as Dorothy L Sayers and Karin Slaughter.

What are you working on now?
At the moment I’m writing a novel that begins in the very near future. There’s a dystopian air about it but also, I hope, that element of hope and love that balances everything. It’s called Acts of Convenience and focuses on how successive governments pass legislation that’s convenient for them but that isn’t morally right nor for the benefit of most people.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
This is the bit I loathe. Sorry. But I do find this part of it so incredibly difficult and am grateful to Awesome for giving me a hand with this.
We’re taught not to boast about ourselves, which makes self promotion a tad difficult. On top of that, I’m not comfortable with social media. I’ve tried to use it but don’t know what I’m doing, who sees what or – well, anything, really!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t put it off. Once you’ve realised there’s a book in there, go for it or you’ll regret it later. Also, don’t even think about presenting your book for publishing until you’ve shown it to at least two people you trust to give you honest feedback. As the author, your brain misses the typos, the repetition, the grammar errors and if you post a book containing those, readers will pass. Worse than that, readers won’t give you a second chance.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t waffle. Get a good first hook and grab your reader’s attention.

What are you reading now?
My ‘To Be Read’ pile is tottering dangerously and I’m almost scared to touch it. However, I’m just finishing an old book by Juliet Gardiner about women between 1938 and 1957. It’s called Picture Post Women and is a fascinating glimpse into life during those times.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Once I’ve finished Acts of Convenience, I have the plot for a thriller worked out and some of the characters are nagging at me to put them down on the page. They have clear, distinct voices and I’m trying not to listen to them at the moment…

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?
That’s so hard. I’d need something that would take some time to read and so one of them would have to be the complete works of Shakespeare. I do enjoy the old bard and every time I read something like Macbeth or Hamlet I discover something new or my appreciation for his skill grows. I’d need something humorous to keep my spirits up – something by David Sedaris, perhaps. My third book would be Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen; cutting social comment and a great read. The fourth book would be Anne of Green Gables by LM Montgomery. These are the ones I’ve chosen today, but ask me tomorrow and the list could be completely different!

Author Websites and Profiles
Alex Craigie Amazon Profile
Alex Craigie’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve published one but I’ve have a few more in the works. I’m learning that writing is as addictive as reading.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The Sailor’s Tiller, it’s a contemporary steamy romance. I didn’t realize it was funny until reviewers got back to me and said it made them laugh out loud. It’s inspired by a very embarrassing date. The story is so ridiculous that I thought it needed to be shared and somehow, it transformed into a whole novella.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if it’s unusual but I think it’s really funny to write the dirty scenes in public places. I get a kick out of having my own little naughty secret in a very busy place. I probably give myself away though blushing and giggling while I type away on my computer.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Every single one whose books have landed in my hands. Growing up I would raid my brother’s, dad’s and mom’s bookshelves. I still raid my roommates bookshelf and the library’s of course. I will read non-fiction but I think my true love is a dessert type beach read. Life is so busy, sometimes when I sit down with a book I just want to laugh and be more carefree.

What are you working on now?
I’m playing with a few ideas and still trying to figure out which one is the most interesting to pursue as a longer piece.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.noelwolf.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have fun. You probably started writing because it’s something that you enjoy. So continue to make the endeavor enjoyable.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be kind. It’s simple but important to include in every aspect of your life including to yourself.

What are you reading now?
I just downloaded the audiobook Emma from Audible. They made it into a production with different actors reading lines from the character’s. It’s like a Jane Austen theater in my ear. So lovely.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Continue writing and continue to learn about online marketing.

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 have spent many months on remote islands, if your solar panels are spotty I definitely don’t recommend only relying on your kindle I would take a romance novel, an action/adventure novel, a nonfiction and a field guide for the animals and plants on the island – all of them would be the biggest, longest books I could find because i know I’ll have time to read them. Also, I’d take a tupperware box to keep them in so they are safe from termites.

Author Websites and Profiles
Noël Wolf Website
Noël Wolf Amazon Profile
 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Christmas on Maplewood Mountain is my debut romance and first published book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I felt inspired to write Christmas on Maplewood Mountain when I started looking closely at the self-publishing world. I have a few manuscripts under my belt, but I wanted to go with a holiday story for my first foray into self-publishing. It felt like the timing was right, and I can’t help but love anything seasonal!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not unless you count late-night and early-morning sessions? I have a toddler, after all! So, my writing takes place when he’s asleep. I am less of a planner and more of a doer. This makes for lots of work on the back end!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Of course, I am reading addict. However, I would say Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, Gillian Flynn, John Irving, and Mitch Albom’s works have likely impacted me somehow.

What are you working on now?
I’m finishing off the Maplewood Sisters Series, cleaning up a middle-grade manuscript, and planning for some stand-alone pieces for 2020.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
For my sweet romances, I think facebook is the place to be. My target demographic uses facebook more than other social media platforms. However, I also use a newsletter and post regularly on Twitter.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Just write! If you want to publish a book, you must first have a book to publish.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Do what works. Use tropes to your advantage- they are comfortable for the reader, sort of like scaffolding.

What are you reading now?
*You* by Caroline Kepnes

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing the Maplewood Series, my middle-grade novel, and hopefully doing a collaborative piece with my husband. We are thinking of going with a horror novel.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Gone Girl, A Prayer for Owen Meany, The Five People You Meet in Heaven, The Shining

Author Websites and Profiles
Elizabeth Bromke Website
Elizabeth Bromke Amazon Profile
Elizabeth Bromke’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hello, I’m a freelance Bloggers and Writter. I have been writing since I was in highschool. I love for people to learn from my experiences. Unfortunately this is the first book I have ever published

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is release and let go. I was inspired by my girlfriend to write this book. It’s because of her that I told my testimony

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes, my writing is very different from other writers and I would not trade it for the world.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love Deborah Smith pegues and Larry stockstill

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on my second book now

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
The method I use is very simple. I use my own blog to promote. www.brisuniverse.wordpress.com

Do you have any advice for new authors?
The advice I have for you is, be yourself. Write how you wish to. Don’t let no tell you that your write is not write because there is no right or wrong way to write. Be unique.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Smile, it’s going to be okay. Live my child, live!

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading 30 days to taming your tongue by Deborah Smith pegues

What’s next for you as a writer?
Make more books and just enjoy life

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 will only take the book of life. The Bible

Author Websites and Profiles
Brianna Coleman Website
Brianna Coleman Amazon Profile
Brianna Coleman’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been writing for 8 years. I have one book that’s published and I’m currently working on the sequel to a three part series.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is A Hood Fairytale. I chose this name because every girl wants a fairytale even ones from the hood, which is an important aspect of this book.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to write out of order. I write ideas and plot lines as they come to me. I put them in order at the end.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve been reading since I can remember. A few authors I love to read are Zane, Nikki Turner, Danesha Diamond, and Quann.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing part 2 to A Hood Fairytale. I also have a romance Christmas novel in the works.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Running promotions on Goodreads and Facebook have been effective for me this far. Boosting post on Facebook has gotten me the most exposure.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice for new authors would be to accept any feedback or criticism and grow from it. You can always perfect your craft and improve.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To utilize feedback as a growing tool when writing.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading A Love So Effortless by K.C. Carter.

What’s next for you as a writer?
My next goal is to get my books in stores and libraries. That type of exposure will be great for growing my audience.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1.Coldest Winter Ever
2. Street Divas
3. Addicted
4. A Hood Fairytale

Author Websites and Profiles
Domonique Parker Website
Domonique Parker Amazon Profile
Domonique Parker’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m Alex. I’ve written 6 books, one of which is currently published. Reading, sports, and good beer are my favorite past times, but I am also quite fond of fighting off imaginary bad guys with a broomstick, and annoying my beautiful wife.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I just self-published a horror novel, The Demon of Decay. I’m not trying to be funny or crude, but this was my exact thought, as I lay in bed one night, that inspired the story. “Can a paralyzed dude perform for his wife?” That led me straight down a rabbit hole of “What if he loves his wife so much, he allows another man to satisfy her, but he’s still her husband. How would that impact him emotionally? What if a demon offered that man another life in another world where he could use his full body and still have a beautiful wife? Would he leave the woman of his dreams for this chance with a better, individual life?”

Then I wrote the story and, yeah, it’s nothing like my original idea.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
My best writing takes place in a closet. Like a 3×3 walk-in closet with floor-to-ceiling shelves. That way I can sit on my exercise ball, or stand up when I write. I also say the words I write out loud. It makes it easy for me to quickly self-edit as I move along.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I know it’s cliche, but Stephen King. I started reading him around the age of thirteen, and I started writing soon after that. Even when he writes a crap book, the emotions we feel toward his characters, the way we connect with them, it made me want to explore those feelings. All my novels feature monsters that are more character-based than monster-based, even though there is a monster, but that’s very King inspired.

Thomas Ligotti and Cormac McCarthy have inspired my latter years of writing. I love the grit of McCarthy, and how Ligotti can tell a story so steeped in the real world, that the supernatural comes off as psychotic or incomprehensible, and that makes it so terrifying–because it is real, at least to the person experiencing it, and they’re alone and isolated in that experience.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a horror trilogy titled the Mask of Silence. It’s my take on the slasher genre, which, funny enough, I’m not a huge fan of. I tend to avoid slashers because there’s no character development, just awesome kills.

So I wanted to write a slasher I’d enjoy. A terrifying creature killing a bunch of misguided teens who are actually relatable and likable.

Five friends accidentally summon a demon that will stop at nothing to kill them all. The first book comes out sometime next month.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Closing my eyes, crossing my fingers, and praying as loudly as possible.

I’m actually learning this promotion thing as I go. Right now, I’m just trying to put out good books on a regular basis, using some AMS advertising, and trying to connect with the reading community.

I’m a reader and I understand that readers don’t want to be marketed to. They just want to disappear into an awesome world for so many hours and experience life through a new lens. I feel my best promotion comes through my books, as I hope to create that experience for my readers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a lot, and read what you love. Write a lot, and write what you love. Write because you love it.

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

What are you reading now?
Go follow me on Goodreads and you’ll always know what I’m reading! See that. Promotion. I’ve been working on it.

Currently, I’m reading “Room” by Emma Donoghue, “Endurance” by Jack Kilborn, “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” by Alan Moore, and “Pines” by Blake Crouch. I always read about 4-5 books at a time. Got one for every aspect of my life: car, bedroom, kitchen, bathroom.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Write more books. What else is there for 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?
Do series count as 1 big book?

Stephen King’s The Shining.
Patrick Rothfuss’s Kingkiller Chronicles
AND
Stephen King’s Gunslinger series.

I may have cheated, but…oh well.

Author Websites and Profiles
Alex C. Gates Website
Alex C. Gates Amazon Profile
Alex C. Gates’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Eddie Johnson is a native Floridian independent book author. Since his inception into writing, he has amassed seven books. His most recent works in the romance church drama genre are Megan’s Fools Paradise, Dating a Single Minister, and Temptation in the Pulpit. And in the poetry genre the African American / Black writer has put together Reaching For Celestial Heights a collection of religious, and inspirational poems; and The Love of a Mother & Father a condensed selection of holiday and marital anniversary poems.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My most recent book is Megan’s Fools Paradise it’s about a Baptist Minister in Crisis. Minister Terrell Crutchfield deals with life consequences when his past and present romances collide. Megan Hightower and Madeline Webster two brazen church harlots bring on the drama.

What are you working on now?
Currently, I am working on a church drama to be filled with action from start to finish. The title is ‘Beholding to God’s Grace’. My bet is that it will be my best seller to date. It starts out with the commision of a crime in which the main character Minister Katrina Fordham of Heaven Bound Baptist Church is the victim.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
www.eddiejohnson.net

Do you have any advice for new authors?
You should listen to your critics they can sometimes make you better at your craft.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?

What are you reading now?
Currently, I am reading ‘He Restores My Soul’ (The Langston Family Saga Book 1)
by LaShonda Bowman

 Author Websites and Profiles
Eddie Johnson Website
Eddie Johnson Amazon Profile
Eddie Johnson’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hi everyone! My name is Ann, a typical rice-loving Asian and proud of it. I’m also an indie author with a passion for mixing fantasy and romance. My writing career started when I was five, when we were required to make picture books in kindergarten. I’ve loved writing ever since. I was part of our school publication in college, giving me the opportunity to improve my writing skills. Overtime I have come to prefer writing about female protagonists who are loyal, perceptive and resilient, even in the face of adversity. I don’t actually know the exact number of stories or books I’ve written (and I should probably get to that). I do know that six of those stories (After Eternity, Gallina, Nemesis, Nihilist, Tilula and Vintage Charm) are currently published. Aside from being a writer, I’m also a Biology graduate, an amateur line artist and a killer karaoke queen.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “After Eternity,” which was officially published only this November (even though I already finished it sometime in August). I was, am and will always be a fan of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tales, and wanted to give homage through this story. It’s not a direct retelling of the “The Snow Queen,” but rather an alternative universe based roughly on its events. I was inspired by the fact that the Snow Queen – at least in the versions I’ve read – didn’t explicitly say why she lured Kai to her castle. I didn’t want her to be truly evil, only to look and act evil while actually doing noble deeds.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I guess I do. I have a record book brand that I prefer to jot into while writing first drafts. I also have a favorite pen that I use exclusively for writing. I actually prefer writing in the morning, while my mind is refreshed and bursting with ideas. I will repeat a scene I want to add into a story in my head, over and over again, before actually writing it down.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
As I always say, Hans Christian Andersen is life! I used to watch “The Fairytaler” when it was broadcasted on television. I was also raised on fairy tales, folk tales and children’s animated movies. Then high school came, and along with it the boom of the manga/anime industry in my country. I watched and read Inuyasha, and I remember completely falling in love with the plot and characters. That was when I realized magical realism was actually a thing.

What are you working on now?
I am working on an ebook called “Merry Winters,” which will be out this December 2018. It’s a romance story set in a small fictional contemporary town during the Christmas season. As with all my other stories, it will have a magical element to it. “Merry Winters” is currently in the second writing stage (full drafting), and will be finished just before the end of November. It’ll be released in the same stores as where “After Eternity” is available.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I haven’t actually tried seriously promoting my books before. I’ll occasionally post an announcement on Facebook, and that’s about it. However, I figured I’d try something different before the year ends. After all, it’s fun to hear from new readers and get feedback. I also joined a few groups to see and ask how they bring their books to the world.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice would be “Courage.” It wasn’t easy starting out. My folks weren’t opposed to my writing, but they also weren’t that encouraging. Coupled with the fact that, among the society I grew up in, authors are considered inferior to people like doctors, lawyers and high-salary professionals. I was forced to battle it out alone. I had hits and misses. I celebrated my hits and learned from my misses. I became my own writer, editor proofreader and cover artist, because I had no money to pay anyone. I constantly struggled with self-doubt, and I still do. But it’s all part of becoming a better writer and person in general. The important thing is to have courage, for courage will get you through any self-doubt and struggle.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
It’s not actually an advice that was given to me. It’s a phrase found in most movies and commercials: “Be happy.” I try to live by these two words every day, always trying to be optimistic, to find the silver lining of every cloud and to wait for the rainbow after the storm.

What are you reading now?
I am reading local folk literature in preparation for my other story that’s coming out next year. I’m reading up on ancient culture, as well as local mythology and traditions that are unique to my hometown. I’m mostly getting my material from online magazines and available electronic documents.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing, more editing and more improving. I might write some stories outside of fantasy romance in the future, but at this moment I’m enjoying being in this genre. I’m also going to try my hand at publishing traditional physical books, but I’m not sure exactly when this will be happening.

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 edible plants, and the Bible (Roman Catholic and also proud of it). And the record book where my draft of “Merry Winters” is, of course. That way I can get some editing done while waiting for the rescue team.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ann Sepino Website
Ann Sepino Author Profile on Smashwords

Ann Sepino’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Iyke Michael Udeze was born in Enugu, Nigeria. He is a Nollywood Director/Producer/Screenwriter/Actor/a Poet/Novelist. He did distance learning with world University Benson AZ. USA, and National Film and Television School London. He is the author of “All by His Grace”, “Painful Choice”, “The Birth of Evil”, Amaka The Evil Maid and a good number of both novels and movie scripts.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Adaku The Mysterious Girl is my latest book and I was inspired by the way I see Orphans are being treated in our world today.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Well, yea I do. I can be writing up to five different Novels at a time. And all could be in different genre.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been greatly influenced by Robert Greene, the Author of The 48 laws of power.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a new project which I titled ‘Blood In The Circle’

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
promoting directly on Amazon and also on Facebook

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t stop writing

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Never to be in a hurry while writing

What are you reading now?
A Novel by Horace Walpole, titled The Castle of Otranto.

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep moving to the top

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 Birth of Evil,’ ‘The Kingdom of gods,’ ‘Painful Choice,’ and ‘Adaku the Mysterious Girl,’

Author Websites and Profiles
Iyke Michael Udeze Website
Iyke Michael Udeze Amazon Profile
Iyke Michael Udeze’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am the co-creator of the Billboard hit music producers “Made by Monkeys”. I have written songs that appear on television, movies and international radio. Inspired to help others reach their goals, I now focus my time on writing books instead of composing songs.
I have recently released my first book, “Smart Guide to Stop Using Stupid Words!” on November 11th 2018. I am currently writing my second book.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest and first book is called, “Smart Guide to Stop Using Stupid Words!” 30-Minute Ride to a Successful, Peaceful Mind. I wrote this book with the intention of helping people to live better lives and be more compassionate towards themselves and others. The goal is to introduce people to ideas and concepts that will lead them to appreciate their thoughts and use of language in a new way.”

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write books in the same way I write songs. I quiet my mind and listen to the “nothing” so that inspiration may find me.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My greatest influences are John Kehoe, Tony Robbins, Dale Carnegie, David Hawkins, Dr. Wayne Dyer. John Kehoe’s book, “Mind Power” was given to me by my grandmother when I was very young. This book opened eyes to the nature of reality.

What are you working on now?
I am presently working on my new book, ” Note to Higher Self”, which is about music and spirituality. It is written with the intention of helping people improve their lives by interpreting and understanding the world through music. I will feature many accomplished musicians and create a compilation of their wisdom to share with readers.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I am humbly still learning every day how to best reach my target audience. Facebook has been a great place to start.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Finish your book. Write every day if only for 30 minutes. If you are inspired write for hours until you cannot write one more word.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Persistence is the key to success. Don’t be afraid to fail.

What are you reading now?
I am re-reading “The Mysticism of Sound and Music”, by Hazrat Inayat Khan. I am also reading “The Code of the Extraordinary Mind” by Vishen L.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I am learning every day how to better promote my book, as well as learning how to turn my book into an online course. I am exploring every possible way to get my message out to the world and help as many people as possible live better lives.

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 “The Worst-Case Scenario Survival Handbook”, “The Law of Success” Napolean Hill and “Everyone Poops”.

Author Websites and Profiles
Andrew Kapur Website
Andrew Kapur Amazon Profile
Andrew Kapur’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile