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Lisa Fedel 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I sort of always knew I would be a writer. In elementary school, I was always the first to fill up my notebooks with ideas and random doodles, then in middle school I had a really great Language Arts (middle school for “English”) experience with a great teacher. When high school rolled around and I was the only one who liked our super strict, harsh grading English teacher, it clicked. I always had a story in the works, but my zombie novel was the one that I really felt needed to be published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
This Just In: A Zombie Novel was inspired largely by college. I took a lot of journalism classes, became obsessed with Joseph Campbell’s hero journey, and learned how to write characters who had personality and flaws.

The funny thing is that I wasn’t a huge zombie geek when I came up with the idea. My dad and I were at a Tim Horton’s drive thru at like 7 in the morning, talking about how I’d never been big on zombies. I casually said what I would do if I ever wrote a zombie novel, then one day I started doing just that. Warm Bodies, Shaun of the Dead, and John Dies at the End were big inspirations for me.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like allowing my rats to run around on my desk while I write

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Isaac Marion
Craig DiLouie
Sam Stall
Kevin David Anderson

What are you working on now?
When I started talking to people about publishing my book, they convinced me to write a series. I have book two of the series plotted out, but now I actually have to write it.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Write down the steps in Joseph Campbell’s hero journey and use it to plot out your book. Also, don’t bother with chapter breaks until the whole thing is done

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

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read as much as you can

What are you reading now?
I have an incredibly packed bookshelf, but I put everything in the order I want to read it. Currently it’s The Turn of the Screw, but after that is The Babysitter.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Next is more writing. I have to flesh out the characters in my sequel and really get to know them

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Night of the Living Trekkies (I’ll never get tired of that), God is Disappointed in You (it’s never wrong to have some kind of Bible), The Magicians (hopefully I could have all 3 books), and John Dies at the End (again, series)

Author Websites and Profiles
Lisa Fedel Amazon Profile
Lisa Fedel Author Profile on Smashwords

Lisa Fedel’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Joshua Cain 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I grew up in the north Georgia mountains on a small farm. After high school I attended the University of North Georgia and moved the metro Atlanta area. After college I landed a career in public safety. I came out to my parents at an early age and even though we had some rough times we we are now extremely close. This is my first novel and I am glad to share it with everyone.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My book is called The Vanishing. It is inspired by my own experience and struggles with religion as a homosexual. For a time I felt abandoned and it felt like my god had vanished but as I grew and transformed over the years I found a new way of looking at things that broadened my perspective.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to try to use a version of peoples names that I know in my books. The main characters brother in this book Pierce is play on my actual brothers middle name “Pierce”.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I found Terry Goodkind first and I loved the sword of truth series. I next moved on to the wheel of time series by Robert Jordan and more recently Brandon Sanderson.

What are you working on now?
I have two books on the back burner right now. One is about an unusual necromancer who is struggling to harness her powers. The other is more of a romance novel with a fantasy spin.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Twitter is always a good place to start. I am also starting separate facebook page.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I would say never give up. I have read so many books over the years and they have always been my constant companions. If you can do that for even just one other person then you have made a difference in this world.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
When you are at your lowest its ok to take a breath but remember you have to get back up and then fight like hell.

What are you reading now?
Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to take the feedback I receive from this book and then use that to make my next book even better.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This is tough! I would bring Wizards Fist Rule by Terry Goodkind, The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan, and the Bible.

Author Websites and Profiles
Joshua Cain Amazon Profile

Joshua Cain’s Social Media Links

Twitter Account

Jérémy Duc 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I written several stories but only published one. I like to create romance stories and humor so I tried combining both. My first ebook (How I Met Nikki) was written for myself at the beginning, but now that I reread it, I think it’s a story worth sharing and I hope it’ll bring a smile to the readers face.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
How I Met Nikki is a book that was inspired by several video games like Huniepop, Va-11 Hall-A and Katawa Shoujo. The name of the Heroin (Nikki) is directly from the game Huniepop and her personality is also based on this same character; she still have many differences with the original one though, she’s way more innocent.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I tend to but a lot of suspension points and not enough comas. I’m trying to improve those points every time I write. I use online services make the text cleaner and more readable.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I don’t read much but there’s an author of which I never skip a book; NisiOisiN. He’s the author of the famous Monogatari Series and I love the equilibrium between story, humor and interesting characters. If I ever become a novelist, I would like to make something as funny as his work.

What are you working on now?
I began to work on another romance. I don’t know if I’ll ever publish it to be honest since I only write when I really want to. Sometimes I find ideas and just can’t go to sleep before writing them, this is how I began writing How I Met Nikki and this is how I began to write this new romance too.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I have no idea. It’s my first time publishing a book and I’m totally lost. I love the feeling of knowing that you don’t know anything and can only improve.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write your ideas, always. Who knows when this weird idea you had will taking a nap on a table after a party. Install an app on your phone to write them and don’t delete any unless you’re 100% sure it’s bad.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Just do your best. As long as you did your best, you’ve won a bit even if you failed, you did your best after all, you can’t have any regrets with that. Oh, and try to be happy too, that’s important.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading Spice and Wolf, Kubikiri Cycle and rereading the Monogatari Series.

What’s next for you as a writer?
That’s an excellent question, I sadly have no real answer to it as I don’t know. Maybe I’ll continue writing, maybe not, we’ll see what the future brings to 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?
Kizumonogatari, Spice and Wolf, The Lord of the Rings and Durarara! probably, if possible the whole set of book if not, just the first ones. But I would probably prefer a smartphone to call for help…

 

Addison Myers 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Hey there, I’m Addison Myers, but you can call me Addy! I’m an author who writes fantasy, sci-fi, and contemporary romance-based fiction, and I also fancy myself an artist who occasionally draws my characters and the places where they live, work, and play.

Currently, I’ve only written one book titled Me and My… Teacher?!, however I plan on publishing many more novels in the future.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest work is called Me and My… Teacher?! It’s a story about a Japanese high school student who gets trapped in a storage room with his beautiful young social studies teacher and, through a series of unlikely events, he winds up getting married to her!

I’m an avid reader and watcher of Japanese manga and anime respectively, and I wanted to write a story centered around the tropes commonly found in these works. One of the most famous clichés is the main character finding himself locked in the school’s storage room with a girl, which leads to awkward moments and, on occasion, some rather damaging rumors. Those circumstances weren’t dire enough for me, though, so I somehow wound up developing a rather outrageous plot for this novel!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’ve got a nasty habit of just writing several chapters of a book without planning anything out. I usually regret it, since it generally leads to a lot of tedious editing later on, but it sure was fun in the moment!

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The funny thing is, I rarely read published books by other authors. Most of my reading occurs on fan fiction sites, blogs, forums, and other places like that. Honestly, I’ve found that some of the stories on these places are far more interesting than what few novels I’ve read, and a few are technical masterpieces as well.

What are you working on now?
The question is, what aren’t I working on? I’ve got so many stories with premises or even entire plots that I can’t keep track of them all! However, I’m thinking about doing a fantasy novel set in a magical world, and I might even make the main character a non-human just to mix things up! I’ve got a section on my website dedicated to voting on what my next work should be, so check it out if you’re interested!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
That’s what I’d like to know! I’m new to the publishing world, so I’ve got no idea what I should be doing to get my book out there! However, based on the research I’ve done, using social media, getting your own website, and making good use of promotion sites like AwesomeGang (thanks, guys!) is a good start!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t just learn how to write well on a technical level. Grammar, sentence structure, diverse synonym use, and the like are vital to a good book, but I’d argue that a compelling plot, interesting characters, proper worldbuilding, and well-structured relationship dynamics are all far more important. People don’t want an essay, they want something that will entertain them.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Work hard and trust God. The former bit of wisdom might not always pan out the same for everyone, but if you keep at it then you will make a better life for yourself. As for the latter, I’m a steadfast Christian, and I’ve never had a moment where trusting in the Lord didn’t ultimately benefit me in some way.

What are you reading now?
Random stories here and there. I’ve been getting hooked on sci-fi stories on Reddit as of late. Some of the posts over there are absolutely riveting, and they’ve taught me a lot and given me some really interesting ideas for my own work!

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’m going to work hard on my next book, and the one after that, and so on until I can make writing into a living. My ultimate goal is to get to the point where my books are bringing in enough passive income that I can turn my writing from a career into a hobby, which I feel would be much more enjoyable, and would allow me to publish more free content instead of having to charge for 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?
I’m not sure exactly which books I’d bring, but you can bet they’d all be survival guides! I’ve got plenty of outdoors experience, but I’m no survivalist. I’d keel over within a week without some sort of outside help, so I’d bring books on how to find and collect water, how to identify edible plants, and how to build a proper shelter.

Author Websites and Profiles
Addison Myers Website
Addison Myers Amazon Profile

Addison Myers’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Trenton Hall 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I enjoy playing games from my childhood and reading whenever I can, right now I’ve written one book but I plan on writing much more

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
World Of Sync, the main inspiration for it was my love of writing ever since I was a kid, and 2 of my favorite book series Black Clover and Attack On Titan

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not really sure, I probably tend to rely on “blink and you’ll miss” too much for scenes that have crucial plot moments

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Yuki Tabata, author of Black Clover. And Hajime Isayama, author of Attack On Titan

What are you working on now?
World Of Sync, the first chapter released and there’s much…. MUCH more to come

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Nothing’s really provided results so far, but I trust awesomegang so far

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Since I’m a rookie myself, I guess just keep moving forward

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
What I just said, keep moving forward

What are you reading now?
I’ve already said the books multiple times, so I imagine it’s obvious, Black Clover and Attack On Titan

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to make sure I finish World Of Sync, but I also want to make sure I try to make some other novels I have in mind

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I think you know the answer at this point

 

Trenton Hall’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Alene Nation 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m retired and discovered how much I enjoy writing nine years ago. To date I have published 17 novels and several novellas. My husband and I travel throughout the western U.S. and took a few cruises. When I do cruise, I love reading mysteries and watching science fiction movies. That’s when I decided to combine the two genres in my books. I write under the pen names of A. Nation, N.A. Nation, and Alene Nation depending on the genre.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Entity. I decided to add another episode to my Domino Sagas which take place in the future as we settle Mars. This story leans to the young adult but throws a ‘what if’ that many can think about. What if in the deep crater on Mars a specie thrives. A life form that we don’t recognize as life. Of all the trouble this teen gets into, now she discovers something new.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not really. I sit down at my laptop after breakfast, promote my books, and pick a subject to write about for my newsletters. I enter the nanowrimo events and enjoy racking up 50-80,000 words within a month. I have two great people who edit and catch details. By 4:00pm I take a rest and leave the evening to relaxing. I watch mysteries to get a few ideas.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Agatha Christie for the mysteries and Isaac Asimov for the science fiction. There are many others I have read but these two are the best.

What are you working on now?
I’m still waiting to hear from my editors so in the meantime, I’ll write a little in my next cozy mystery, Mystery Along the Colorado River. Since I can’t travel abroad with this one, the MC will go to a place I know about the land and the people.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Awesomegang is good, but I’ve found Justkindlebooks is also a good one. Most of the time I just post on my book pages on Facebook.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read as much as you can not only to follow storyline but to watch how the grammar flows. Then read some more.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Read, join FB groups on your genre

What are you reading now?
I’m in between books right now and hope to start another this summer.

What’s next for you as a writer?
See my books climb to best sellers

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?
Two Agatha Christie’s books and two of mine, A Witch Comes a Haunting and The Cruise

Author Websites and Profiles
Alene Nation Website
Alene Nation Amazon Profile
Alene Nation Author Profile on Smashwords

Alene Nation’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Pinterest Account

Craig Hollenbeck 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have owned a painting company for 30 years and have four daughters. My youngest is 25 now. Hard to believe how quick they grow. This is the third book I have written but the first I published.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Johnny’s Soul
People who kill multiple people and never really pay for their entire crime.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Not that I’m aware of

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Stephen King & Donald Trump (pre presidency)
The Bible has had an incredible influence on my life.

What are you working on now?
An adaption of the two saints in the book of Revelation.
I may rewrite my first book also

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I created my own website and bought the naming rights. I would rather start with something I can control.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t expect others to help you. I was amazed how many people said they would and never came through.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be as wise as a serpent and as harmless as a dove

What are you reading now?
I like writing books but i’m not much of a reader.
Currently I am reading about the two NFL championship games and the draft for the Miami Dolphins

What’s next for you as a writer?
Sell the book I just published

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible
The history of sports in America
Picture book

Author Websites and Profiles
Craig Hollenbeck Website
Craig Hollenbeck Amazon Profile

Craig Hollenbeck’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Grant swash 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have written four books as of today, Three are based on my life as Hotel concierge and VIP bodyguard, The fourth is an interactive childs book which I hope to turn to a cartoon

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Diary of a divorced dad , Its around the events of when I got divorced and realised that I would be alone. All the events are true and I think you will envoy this bitter sweet journey,

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to write for fun, Light-hearted and easy to read, I would like the reader to start the book and struggle to put it down, If my books make people smile I am happy

What authors, or books have influenced you?
T think your taste changes as you get older ,

What are you working on now?
the follow up to divoced dads diary, Its come to great reviews so I hope to have part two out in the summer

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
awesome gang of course, getting your book out to be read is hard , keep trying every event and lets hope one day it will work for all of us

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Don’t go mad with free books to friends and family, They will promise to put reviews and never do, half don’t even read the books

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If you believe in your book don’t stop trying, to promote

What are you reading now?
true stories of celebrities and how they found fame

What’s next for you as a writer?
To enjoy my work, watch the titles grow and maybe one day have that best seller that is turned into a tv show

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?
Jungle book, George best my story, , lord of the flies

 

Brian Brady 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
The author, Brian Brady, demonstrates his love for storytelling throughout this book. As an upcoming writer, he hopes to achieve a measure of literary success as he debuts oh, what a tangled web. When we look at the background of this one-of-a-kind individual, we learn that Brian is a former police officer. As such, Brian had the occasion to encounter some of the state’s most dangerous criminals and was fortunate enough to be part of teams that have worked on a number of complex cases, leading to the arrests of those criminals.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
oh, what a tangled web
This book becomes a testimony to some of the real experiences that took place with Brian Brady over a thirty-five-year career in police work. The stories and their details will allow you to experience the actual atmosphere as they have been written from a first-hand point of view.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
https://www.goldengatetales.com/

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Brian Brady Website
Brian Brady Amazon Profile

Lucy Tertia George 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember, working in PR as well as ghost writing. And, as Lucy Lyrical, I’ve written songs, stories and poetry. I had great encouragement to write a novel by a friendly publisher and my first novel was published in 2018 by Starhaven Press.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
THREE WOMEN was inspired by my theatrical upbringing (both my parents were actors) and my marriage to an American Sicilian in New York City. I loved my Sicilian in-laws, especially Grandma who was charismatic, resourceful and a little alarming. Her story of coming to America certainly inspired the book. My own mother moved from Sheffield to London and I liked the parallels of these two inspirational women who left their homes to pursue their ambitions.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m a bit of a pit pony. I work every day, keep a time-sheet and have lists and notebooks and post-its to capture ideas and plot out stories. That’s probably not that unusual. As I sit at my desk for hours, I do get cold but don’t like to stop to change so just grab layers and forget what I look like. This can result in some strange reactions when I take the dog for a walk with odd socks, one legwarmer and a silk scarf over a tea-stained tracksuit.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
It’s a mixed bag. I love James Kelman as much as I love Charles Dickens, but I’m not sure if you’d see their influence in my writing. My writing is very female-centric and I appreciate writers like Ann Patchett and Elena Ferrante. I’m as influenced by films and music as I am by the written word – and I am addicted to attending lectures about feminism, philosophy and psychology. Aspects of what I learn do influence my characters’ choices.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a second novel … you’ll be the first to hear about it when it’s ready. In the meantime, because a novel takes a long time to edit and revise, I’m writing micro-short monologues and working with actors to record them. You can check the podcast by searching for Minilogues on Spotify.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still learning. Facebook was helpful for gathering support for my debut novel. Reviews are hard to get and I was delighted that THREE WOMEN was featured as Book of the Week on BookBlast. That helped with sales.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Be ready. You may get an opportunity – in fact, I believe you probably will – so have your ducks in a row and your manuscript perfected when asked. Too many writers share their material before it is ready or get a request for a ‘full’ without having something great to show. Put the work in, get advice and keep at it. Talent is just the starting point. It’s a proper job so treat it like one.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I was in a nervous panic about how my book would be received and, in a conversation with my son, was moaning, ‘what if it’s terrible?’ He said ‘Mum, people read rubbish every day.’ It let me off the hook. My book will not appeal to everyone – some people will just not get it. But if I look along a bookstore shelf there are many books that don’t interest me either. Write the book you want to read and hopefully someone else will want to read it too.

What are you reading now?
I’m currently reading ‘Looking for a New England’ by Simon Matthews about music, film and TV in the 70s. I’m also reading ‘Pit Ponies’ by John Bright – both good background for material I’m writing. I’ve just started ‘Flights’ by Olga Tokarczuk. Reading is one of the only ways to improve your own creating writing.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Book two is with an editor at the moment so I know there’s a draft three that I’ll need to work on. And I’ve got an idea for book three that I’m researching (hence the pit pony fascination). In the meantime, I’m working on season two of Minilogues – writers should get in touch if they want to collaborate with me on 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?
What a terrific question. I think I’d bring a copy of ‘L’invitee’ by Simon de Beauvoir with a French/English dictionary. I could try and improve my French which I’ve wanted to do for decades – and it’s a book I admire so much. I’d bring something funny, anything by Caitlin Moran. And then something to remind me of home and my sons like Nicholas by Rene Goscinny and Jean-Jacques Sempe. I read that so many times to them – and there are a lot of laughs in there too. But the most important book would be a blank notepad with a pen that never runs out of ink.

Author Websites and Profiles
Lucy Tertia George Website
Lucy Tertia George Amazon Profile

Lucy Tertia George’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Kris Kourtis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a talk show host, a former singer because I lost my voice due to excessive smoking. I’m a writer, I’m a animal lover. I have done an audio documentary on youtube about saving the dolphins in Japan.
I’m a PETA Advocate. I’m a UN activist. I love water and swimming maybe because I’m an aquarius.
I have done over 10 audiobooks and my latest one is called ( You Can Do It)
It’s all about empowering people and launch them into the unknown with grace and power. The power that they have inside themselves is their inner Voice.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
You Can Do It.

Ahm. I was inspired by so many metaphysical books that helped me move forward as a person.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
No.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Universe has got your back.
The 5 second rule.
The Power of now.
The Book of Joy
Book by 14th Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, and Douglas Abrams

What are you working on now?
Right now I’m on a virtual book tour.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Well for me it’s easy because I own 5 Radio stations and many podcasts. So the word spreads like wildfire.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write only about what you know and what you are passionate about.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
“I’ve had a lot of worries in my life, most of which never happened.”― Mark Twain.

What are you reading now?
Angel Numbers: The Message and Meaning Behind 11:11 and Other Number Sequences
Book by Kyle Gray

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep learning. Because when we stop learning we perish.

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 Walk to Remember.
Novel by Nicholas Sparks.

And numerology books.

Author Websites and Profiles
Kris Kourtis Website
Kris Kourtis Amazon Profile

Ratna Srivastava 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am originally a kindergarten teacher. I loved my work like a king in his realm. I never thought I would be a writer even though I enjoyed writing. All I had ever written was on-the-spot imaginary stories for children that I plan to publish some day, random blogging and posting my self-written quotes on Facebook and my website. Writing Emit Eht harshly landed me into publishing world with blunt force.
Emit Eht is my first speculative science-climate fiction and visionary romance.
I also published ‘Roo Molly Roo’ a children’s picture storybook which I now plan to convert into a series soon.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The name of my book is ‘Emit Eht’. It is ‘Time’ spelt in reverse and wants readers to know that simply by readjusting our perception of ‘Time’ we can solve many real mysteries of the world. The inspiration to write ‘Emit Eht’ came to me rather strangely. One day I was meditating when images of Earth starting flooding my mind like some animation video. They were so shocking that for next several days I was dazed just trying to figure out their meaning. I was filled with an urgent desire to share those images and their meaning with the world. This desire was so great, so compelling that I couldn’t do anything else. I resigned from my job and started writing Emit Eht. Indeed, Emit Eht is part fiction-part truth. Shocking truth. As readers and writers, we all know how closely connected fiction is with reality and reality with fiction.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. When I am writing I feel like I am stoned. Literally stoned! The thoughts about the story drown me so completely I start living in it. In such a state of mind, I usually don’t feel hungry, sleepy or tired. The slightest sound of music (which I normally love to listen) or television will disturb me and everything else like eating, sleeping or even visiting the washroom seems like unpardonable waste of time. And it is a beautiful beautiful feeling! I am actually missing it now that the book is finished.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
A long time ago, a baby was born into a poor rural family. His mother died while giving him birth and he was denounced by his father as ‘unlucky’. He was taken care of by a wet nurse but she too died within six months. He lived liked an orphan with nothing and nobody to look after him. He never got a home, a school or formal education and on growing up followed some ascetics who lived in nearby forest who taught him to read and write. This child, on growing up, wrote a book that is to this day one of the greatest books in History and Literature. The book was Ramayana (written in 1631) and the boy was Tulsidas. I always thought, if someone in those circumstances could write, why can’t I?

What are you working on now?
Right now, I am working on ‘Maya- The Simulation Game’. This is my second science fiction novel about a computer prodigy girl who is really just like a hard cold computer who sees the world very differently. The difference between her artificial world and the real one and the secrets that she discovers forms the central theme of the story.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Winning reader’s hearts is usually the simplest, the most difficult and the best method for promotion. Readers don’t care which publishing house published the book, when and how. They love good stories and love whoever wrote them. Give them good stories and they are yours with heart and soul. Connecting to readers is therefore my best method and Awesome Gang one of the best websites to help me do that.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am a new author myself and very much in need of advice.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Whatever you want to do, you can do it. Now do it.

During my publishing phase I was very doubtful of myself and even scared. This advice came to me in my dreams one night. I woke up and couldn’t believe what I had heard. I wrote it down so I wouldn’t forget it. I have to admit, it is one of the best advices I have been given.

What are you reading now?
‘The Wife Upstairs’ since it is based on Jane Eyre and I am a huge fan of anything ‘Jane Eyre’.

What’s next for you as a writer?
After being inspired by reading Emit Eht, some of my readers have requested me to become motivational public speaker and help people learn modern meditation method that actually works. But before I enter into that, I have over 30 children’s stories to publish and it is quite a lot.

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 Epic of Gilgamesh, Mahabharata, Iliad, Odyssey and a dictionary because these books are so complicated and extensive the solitude of the deserted island will be ideal to read them and ponder over their mysteries, literary beauty and intellect.

Author Websites and Profiles
Ratna Srivastava Website
Ratna Srivastava Amazon Profile

Ratna Srivastava’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Abigail Freeburn 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been teaching yoga for almost a decade. With over 700 accredited hours studying around the world.

This is the first book I have written.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Salutations to the sun is the name of my book. Salutations to the Sun was inspired by my daughter. I love sharing my practice with my little girl on a daily basis and have really come to appreciate the value of breath work.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m constantly doing yoga poses as I write these yoga books.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Eric Carlton, I love his artwork

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a kids ABC yoga book

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

Do you have any advice for new authors?
If your having a hard time getting your format uploaded to Amazon just give them a call it’s totally worth it

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Make 1000

What are you reading now?
Chicken keeping for dummies

What’s next for you as a writer?
I would like to keep writing kids yoga books and help inspire people to move and find their inner child.

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?
2,100 Asanas by Daniel Lacerda
Sundara yogic therapy by Yogacharya Sundaram
Lost book of herbal remedies

Author Websites and Profiles
Abigail Freeburn Amazon Profile

John Mac Donald 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I started writing seriously after seeing one of my daughters reading a romance novel. After joking with her about how poorly written it was and how I could write something better, my daughter quite calmly told me to prove it. As an IT professional, I did some research and quickly hammered out my first short story, which was a romantic disaster. But I learned a lot and found something I enjoyed doing.

I’ve written one book and several romantic short stories that I just published into a new book. I’m currently working on this new series. I find that I prefer writing for a YA/NA female audience since my daughters enjoy that genre over others.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called Dreams and it is a collections of short, romantic stories. It was something that I wanted to do for my wife. She’s the one who’s encouraged me to keep making them better and to push myself.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like listening to rain as it provides white noise and helps me focus.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve read a lot of books over the years, but some of the authors that spring to mind are Piers Anthony, Anne McCaffrey, Steven King, Robert A Heinlein, Andy Weir, C.S Lewis, William Goldman, and Craig Alanson. I know that there are a lot of other great authors that I truly do enjoy reading their works.

What are you working on now?
A new series about a girl dealing with one problem after another, she learns about family and friendship and even falls in love, all while becoming a true witch. This coming-of-age fantasy forces the main character to deal with problems she’s not ready or willing to face. This leads to even more unknowns and dangers lurking in the shadows. As she grows from being a scared little girl to a typical teen girl learning to drive while dealing with some very adult issues.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
There are several websites out there but I’ve found that Amazon.com and kindlepreneur.com are the ones I use the most.

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

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
In the end, it’s not about where you’ve been, it’s about the journey you took and all the people you met along the way.

What are you reading now?
Colonyside: A Novel: Planetside, Book 3 by Michael Mammay

What’s next for you as a writer?
To keep writing. I plan on having about 5 – 7 books in the new series and I’ll them move on to a few stand alone books.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Stranger in a strange land by Robert A. Heinlein
The ship who searched by Anne McCaffrey and Mercedes Lackey
Phule’s Company by Robert Asprin

Author Websites and Profiles
John Mac Donald Website
John Mac Donald Amazon Profile

Master Yeshua & Messengers 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Two Books already in Series with Third for Release 02-22-2021.
Truth Seekers – Seek, Investigate & Verify. Seek & you shall Find!

About Master Yeshua
Master Yeshua & Messengers Planet Earth Project & brief Biography:

My Planet Earth Project & brief Biography:

What is God to do?

Extinguish all the insincere, disobedient and selfish beings or give them another chance; some further explanations and an example of “do as I do, not just as I say.”

Adam came to be that example; he fell. How could all those who followed his example not be given another chance? So then a Being is offered: a Son of man, but also Son of God, who follows all the laws as they are meant to be; who teaches; guides; but most importantly who lives a life without a transgression or a sin, being subject to the same laws as everybody else –to show it can be done with benefit to Self; to all; without detriment.

I had to prove that whatever I may ask for I am willing to give. I had to prove that death is transitory, if laws are followed sincerely and properly. I had to prove that if you are required to give yourself to God — God gives himself to you as a result. I had to prove that selfishness and sin will kill every possibility of salvation, even the very one that brings it — I did. Because the people followed sin instead of God they killed the Messenger of life everlasting. Because that which is everlasting cannot be killed, He rose again, and so can anybody else who chooses to follow that example.

Page 57 Yeshua Unveiled Books of Wisdom Prepare

Messengers Planet Earth Project & brief Biography:

Master Yeshua Said: My Way is more expansive and all encompassing, but not everybody seeks it. For some it is too much, and it is fine. They may never come into the Father, which does not mean they would not know God, or be it, or become it. As I have said, some aspects may be missed, but if they are not desired or requested, it is all right. If those who transcend desire more, they do come back to answer those needs, as Ariel has done, and you and David. Few do, of course, surprise, surprise, or not. Why should they, if they not desire? Most just move on and find some other means. Including personal in the equation — while it offers great rewards, it has many traps, as all of us discovered, and that appeals to very few, indeed.

Foreword – Twin Flames: A Step by Step into Self Realization

Master Yeshua Said: Be open to Divine at any time; be never open to mundane, no matter how attractive or appealing.
Deborah: As long as they are striving upwards and are progressing upwards, we shall be and are there at our mercy and shall provide what is required and earned, if we are good, at no detriment to ourselves, but may be just time spent. It is all about service after all and before all, or is it not? Of course it is, so let us not be selfish in our primal desire to liberate ourselves; although David will now interject his assessment.

David: It is much more Divine and Loving to provide Service from the “Space of One’s Liberation of Transcendence in Union & Merge with Source,” than from any unpredictable “Russian Roulette” of any human or otherwise embodied captivity. Striving for this Quest and attaining That is the Ultimate Step to Perpetual Happiness and Immortality.

Deborah & David: Let’s remember those striving to do the same; you were them just yesterday and help was there for you. You absolutely must return the effort and pass on the wisdom, for you are not the owner, but only a custodian of such. Those are the rules. So, our efforts now in this regard, is what we both have shared through the writings and teachings that are offered to those that seek it:

To be: A Shining Light upon A Road, A Path, A Way to fulfill Your Chosen Personal Quest for Union and Transcendence.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Twin Flames: Our Journey.

Spiritual Communion & Divine Revelations of That Union.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Communion in Full Awareness, by shifting between the Planes of Consciousness while recording the Communion.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The Vedas, Bhagavad Gita, Buddhist Canons, Zen, Torah, Tanakh, Most Holy Books, Patanjali, Ramahana Maharshi. Greek Philosophers & so Many More. As Seekers , our passion is to investigate comprehensively everything we desire Truth about, until such Truth is Realized.

What are you working on now?
Compiling & Cataloging Much information & Revelations to share with those who Seek That Knowledge & Wisdom.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
In the process of experimenting & reaching out to as many as possible that are seeking this Wisdom in the Troubled Times.
Your heartfelt suggestions are welcomed, because this Knowledge is about Survival – Spiritual, Mental, Emotional & Physical. Contact Us HERE https://is.gd/opm_love_touch
if you have recommendations.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Follow Heart of Love & not the mind. Heart of Conscience not Analysis & Logic of mind. Love is the only Force that guides safely in gaunlet of mundane entrapment.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Love God & Love your neighbor as YOUR VERY OWN SELF.

What are you reading now?
The revealed knowledge to acquire as much Self Realization as is possible in the Here & Now.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Loving & Realizing & Sharing with all who desire to know THAT TRUTH.

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?
Our 3 Published Books & The Revelations that we are in process of compiling.

Author Websites and Profiles
Master Yeshua & Messengers Website
Master Yeshua & Messengers Amazon Profile

Master Yeshua & Messengers’s Social Media Links
Twitter Account

Vesela Nikolova Flamburari 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My name is Vesela Nikolova Flamburari and I was born on January in 1967 at the town of Dobrich (on the Black Sea), Bulgaria. I was born in the family of a teacher and a sculptor. I graduated from Academy of Theater and Film Arts in Sofia with a degree in actress and the National University in Sofia with a degree in Culturology. I am a member of the Union of Bulgarian Writers. I have a large number of Bulgarian and international awards for children’s literature. So far, I have published eighteen (18) books in the genres of children’s and teen fantasy, children’s literature and fiction for the little ones. According to my stories, there are TV series in the Bulgarian National Television, and radio programs in the Bulgarian National Radio. I participated in the initiative of the National Television, for Bulgaria’s favorite children’s book – “The Big Writing” (under license from the BBC “The Big Writing”) – and I reached the sixty-fifth (65) place among authors and books children from all over the world and from all times.
I was chairman of the jury for the National Prize for Children’s Literature “Petya Karakoleva” and the International Children’s and Teen Literary Competition “Stefan Gechev”, organized by the National Agency for Bulgarians Abroad. For several years in a row ,I was a member of the jury for the National Awards for Contribution to Children’s Book Publishing “Konstantin Konstantinov”. I was also a member of the jury and of the National Children’s and Youth Competition “Longing for Growing Creativity”, organized by the Human Library Foundation. After all the above, I must add that I have very dark brown eyes, long brown hair and I like to laugh, sing and believe that the sun shines for everyone.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Instead of publishing the name of the last book I wrote, I will tell you more about my first book in English this year, and this is the book Mine, Magic, and the White Beaker (this is the first part of my Trilogy Tales from the upper earth ”)
I also have a whole odyssey about writing the book. I come from the town of Dobrich (there is in The Black Sea). As a child I sang in the Representative Children’s Choir of Dobrich. The choir was one of the four children’s formations that represented our country abroad in these days, we traveled outside the Iron Curtain even… We went with my friends every summer a month vacancy at the children’s camp “Ifkata”. The building of this camp was the fence of the Palace of Queen Victoria’s granddaughter – Maria – in Balchik (on the Black Sea). Then, for several years in a row, the Palace stood locked, closed, but mysterious and overgrown with greenery. I entered it secretly, just as Mina enters, through holes in the fence. I was walking and dreaming. The camp was not just a vacation! No… Every day we had rehearsals for singing, solfeggio, piano. It was a great school. This is the way that the school for gifted children “Seven Muses” appeared in my book.
Years later, my husband, Dr. Vasileios Flamburaris, and I were walking in the Palace and saw a large pink lizard. The lizard stood on a rock and the three of us looked at each other for a long time. Then the book itself appeared as if by magic…

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have a solid and not so solid place to write … The solid is a very student desk-library at home. But also like to write on cafes, because the noise of people focuses me. Yes, I know both places are not exotic. My workplace, like a school, is not something strange, but simply something useful.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have learned from many authors of literature for children and young people. I can give as an example some of them, such as: Homer, Euripides, Shakespeare, Gianni Rodari, Dora Gabe, Donald Bisset, Carl Sandberg, Valery Petrov, Ray Bradbury, John Tolkien, Nikolai Raynov, Svetoslav Minkov, Pamela Travers, Louis Carroll, Ran Bosilek, Angel Karaliychev, Clifford Simak, Beatrix Potter, Nikola Rusev, Joan Rowling, Philip Pullman, Tuve Janson, Astrid Lindgren, Boris Aprilov, Evgenios Trivizas, Rada Moskova and others.

What are you working on now?
I am writing a new novel in the fantasy genre. A novel for children and teenagers. My new novel is about Europe before the wars of the twentieth century. Two children fall into the era of Belle Époque and Art Nouveau. The novel is called “At Midnight from M Station.”

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
A very important part of a book’s life is its presentations to an audience. This is really a presentation, not the premiere of the book. The premiere is an one-time act that brings together the author and his fans in one evening, which is dedicated only to the new published book. The presentation of a book or author, in turn, can happen all the time. Whenever there is a desire and a need. An author may be a contemporary, but he may also have been a long-established classic. Of course, when an author is alive, meeting him and his work at the same time could be very interesting .As long as the author takes care of the interesting presentation of his books… This is especially true of children’s literature, because anyway the most book presentations are organized for children.
Such meetings with children and their parents can also be organized with the help of Skype and Zoom. As for the platforms on the Internet, I think they are all appropriate.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Yes,a lot of such advice, so I organized it in a practical course in creative writing of children’s literature.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Advices are so much and varied, but the most important thing is when will have a writer the character and patience to listen and consider them.

What are you reading now?
I am reading a fiction book for children and adults and some of literary theories.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I want to write new books. This is my method and my strategy ,to do the best job.

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?
Gianni Rodari’s Grammar of Fantasy, Mircea Iliade’s The Myth of Eternal Return, Joseph Campbell’s Creative Mythology, Clarissa Pincola Estes’s Running with Wolves, and Joan Harris’s Five Quarters of an Orange. And then I’ll have to swim back for at least five hundred more books from my library that I really can’t live without them.
Email: vesela_flamburari@yahoo.com

 

Yanni Logan 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am Greek polyglot with an international background. I have completed my undergrad studies in Germany and I currently live in London. “With Endless Love, Me” is my first book, and it is my hope that people will find a small part of themselves in the protagonist.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As mentioned in the first question, the title is “With Endless Love, Me” and it is the story of a Greek student in Germany who suffers from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) and slowly emerges out of the darkness of depression. It has the form of a diary, and inspiration for this is the fact that I used to keep a diary myself when I was a teenager. I have always been fascinated by mental health, which I believe is as important as physical health. Unfortunately, mental illnesses and especially BPD are depicted in a stereotypical, even grotesque, manner, especially in the movie industry; for instance, no matter how good the movie “Fatal Attraction” is, which illustrates a woman with obvious BPD traits, it does no justice to people who suffer from it. I thought it would be nice to see the perspective of a person who has to live with such a disorder, and I tried to balance and underline the traits (or “modes”) of this personality disorder. My therapist has helped me a lot on that score. I wrote this book during obscure times, when I suffered myself from depression when I was 25 years old; however, it is basically a fictional story.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I have written quite a few of books, most of them are curiously enough comedies, but “With Endless Love, Me” is the one I decided to get published and constitutes by far not a comedy. I could say that I have developed a style, which is direct and childish in an innocent, almost jejune manner, as if the protagonist is writing to or confiding in an unknown friend, who could be anybody, in order to give a kind of a directness towards the reader, to create a feeling of togetherness. I also tend to create stories about new adults, millennials that is; my generation in other words.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
The list is never ending. From Kundera and Bruckner to Dostoevsky, and Virginia Woolf to Joyce. I have read a lot in my life and wish I had time to read more, but I have to concentrate on my studies and job now, so I have no free time to spend on reading. That being said, the last book I read was in summer, during my vacations, “The Idiot,” which I have read in the past, too, when I was very young.

What are you working on now?
Lots of ideas, but no time currently! I have also some ideas about a comedy/parody, but it is more suitable for a screenplay to be honest. Let’s see!

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I trust my publisher, and I think he knows how to promote our books. I am not the kind of person who likes talking about himself or promoting his work, so I just leave this to the professionals. I just like writing and I am trying to do this in a way as good as possible.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am a new published author, but certainly not a “new” one, as I am writing for the last ten or twelve years. Basically, if I really had to give a piece of advice, it would be rather cliché and pedestrian: “Do not stop writing, read a lot, develop your style, certainly do not publish your first story, and wait till you be mature enough to initiate a publishing process.”

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
As I said before, I do not really like talking about my writing books to people, hence I rarely get advice or comments. This is not good, but I got some good advice from my first editor, who liked my work in any case, and received some comments which helped me meliorate the text’s style. But unfortunately, I have nothing concrete to tell you!

What are you reading now?
I am very much concentrated on my academic and professional life at the moment. Does “Principles of Corporate Finance” by Brealey count? I have a list of books for summer though.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I just took the first step, so really, I want to enjoy the moment as much as possible, and I will figure something out for the next one soon.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This is really tough. I guess:
1. Gone with the Wind
2. Catcher in the Rye
3. Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone
4. Sense and Sensibility

 

John K. Lambakis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My first book is called “Oi perileipomenoi” (“The Included”) (web site: https://24grammata.com) and is an e-book and my second is the one published by OnTime Books “The story of a father and a son.” At the same time, whenever I have inspiration, I write short stories in Greek at my personal blog https://istories-mikres.blogspot.com/.
Usually I’m not talking about me, but I’ll try to go overboard! Moreover, in the Proverbs, Solomon says ” « Let another praise you, and not your own mouth — a stranger, and not your own lips.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
As I mentioned before, my last book is “The story of a father and a son”. That’s exactly what the title says! Partly biographical, partly literary, I believe that each of us will see in this piece of his personal history.
It is an effort to memorize facts and advice from my own father and I thought the short text was a good opportunity.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I would say I have no habits at all! It is the inspiration of the moment that will make me write or work for a long time an idea in my mind before it is imprinted on paper.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
If one excludes the Bible, I would not say that there is another book that affects me. from authors, lately I make sure to study classical Greek and foreign literature, without excluding new authors, as, after all, I am.

What are you working on now?
There are indeed a couple of ideas in my mind, but they must first be well fermented in it before they come out, like hot bread! Because I have not started anything yet, I cannot talk more.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Certainly, the great spread of the internet, with websites and social networks. The best; The reader’s point of view!

Do you have any advice for new authors?
To love what they do and to do what they love.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The best advice is written by Nikos Kazantzakis: “Reach where you can’t!”

What are you reading now?
In addition to the daily study of the Book, books on modern Greek history or World War II.

What’s next for you as a writer?
One of the both ideas I have on mind.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
The Bible, perhaps the Homeric epics or a medieval Cretan poem, Erotokritos.

Author Websites and Profiles
John K. Lambakis Website
John K. Lambakis Amazon Profile

John K. Lambakis’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

George Zelelidis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been writing since 2016. That was the year when I decided to change
the direction of my professional activities. Until that point, I had a group of
companies dealing with real estate services, insurance agencies, mobile
telephone services, as well as the radio station trust-radio. Thus, in 2016 I
decided that the time had come for me to do what I really loved.
That year I wrote my first book called “The secret to eternal life”. The following
year I wrote my second book “The diary that will change your life forever”, and
in 2018 I wrote my third book “Live the life you did not live”.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is “Live the Life You Did Not Live” and is actually a sequel to my
previous book. The diary is based on a specific tactic with the aim of gradually
changing our subconscious and to live a life without the fears and anxieties
with which we grew up. The final book is the sequel aimed at those who
managed to achieve this change.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Whenever I make the decision to write a book, I try to maintain specific
consistent patterns. The starting point of my daily writing, as well as the
amount of time that I devote writing everyday for this purpose. Until I finish
writing, I try to avoid straying away from this schedule.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I really enjoy reading books and different book genres. I cannot say that I have
been influenced by a particular genre or author. I believe that there is
something to take from everything, but that it does not stretch any further.
The topics and everything that I cover in my books are product of my own
experimentation and introspection.

What are you working on now?
As I have promised at the end of my first book, I will return later with more
revelations on the secret to eternal life.
That time has come and I reveal the sequel by including a kind of fiction for
obvious reasons because I have pledged to never reveal the source of
whatever I cover in this book.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use fb and instagram to promote my books. Through my profiles and page all these years there are enough people that we have developed a beautiful relationship through my daily posts.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice will not be only for new authors but also for those that love
something and are hesitant to move forward. To persist on what they are
doing and to dream constantly about what they desire. This is the only recipe
to success. Certain frustrations are sure to occur, however, that should act as
the vehicle which will make them stubborn, so they take the next step and
then so they can take another step until they learn how to walk so no obstacle
can ever stop them.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
To look at writing as a career and not merely as a hobby. To work 8 hours
every day and always be my best possible self. Moreover, that I should feel
blessed for being able to have a career I adore.

What are you reading now?
I am reaching the end of One hundred years of solitude by Gabriel García
Márquez.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I think that is what every Greek writer is seeking. To be able to make a living
through writing. The truth is that I feel blessed that I was one of the first who
instinctively chose to work with on time books. It is a publishing house with the
goal of featuring the work of Greek writers in the world market. I believe that
mister Dimitris Christodoulou and his entire team’s passion and love for what
they do will quickly also make our dreams come true. The first messages are
already impressive.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
This is the most difficult question that you have asked me. I love books so
much that truly it is too difficult a task to choose. However, if I had to choose
no matter what, I would pick the trilogy of Nikos Themelis The Quest, The
Reversal, and The Flash. The fourth book would definitely be the The diary that
will change your life forever.

 

Sakis Tsilikis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am Sakis Tsilikis, a Greek composer with a great accumulative compositional work. I have written music themes and songs for 500 theatrical performances, 15 TV series and music for 10 movies. With my book “The Outcry of Love” I had a secret wish of mine come true.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My second book “Small suite for a big man” came naturally; it is a personal homage written for the greatest Greek comedian Thanasis Vengos, since for a decade we were collaborating closely and had daily contact with each other.
I was thinking of completing my writing work with memories from our college years in Thessaloniki spanning from the time of the dictatorship up until today.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
All the writing I do has great “inner rhythm” since music and rhythm define my entire life.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I always prefer authors who write subversively and I avoid clinging to anyone.
I read many newspapers and use the internet a lot nowadays.

What are you working on now?
I am preparing a project in my normal capacity as a composer, a project CD of the opus “Journey with Odysseus” which is based on Homer’s “Odyssey” presented in the form of musical theatre.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Of course my favorite site is Ontimebooks.net and Amazon.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
I am not a fan of giving advice and I never accepted any, because of my belief that the approach to life issues is a very personal matter.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Everyone is always surprised when they get a book from me instead of a CD.

What are you reading now?
I am currently reading Jean-Paul Sartre’s “The Words” and my beloved Charles Bukowski’s “FACTOTUM”.

What’s next for you as a writer?
As already explained above, I will conclude my writing works with a memoire of my life and work and I will give a special amount of my time to the completion of Homer’s “Iliad” which is a life’s vision for me; that will be my closing work.

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 always choose to carry with me Homer’s “Odyssey” and “Iliad” as well as all the ancient Greek authors’ works since in them lies the starting point and the essence of human intellect.

Sakis Tsilikis’s Social Media Links
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Vaggelis Kaliosis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Greek writer and I have -to date- published my work in some of the most important Greek publishing houses.Two novels, a collection of short stories, a poetry collection, a poetic composition dedicated to the great Greek poet Giannis Ritsos, a political essay and many educational books. My profession, after all, is a teacher of the Greek language in public education.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a novel entitled “The Chip of Knowledge”. Its central conception is what the title suggests, the existence of a tiny device that will implant in the minds of people all the existing knowledge, in a version completely free from any ideological charge. What prompted me to write this is the tendency of modern people to believe that somethingclearly false is true. For example, being convinced that they live in a democratic society, when in fact what they are experiencing is an oligarchy. So I wrote a science fiction novel with strong doses of political realism.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Something that characterizes the way I write is that I prepare my material for a long time and, only when I am absolutely sure of the structure and the final form of my work, then I start writing it. That is why the writing period is rarely longer than nine months.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many. First of all, all the great ancient Greek writers, with Homer first, who is the father of literature. Also, all the great philosophers and the political science of the modern great Greek professor George Kontogeorgis. If I have to dwell on three writers who defined the way I see my works, they are the Portuguese José Saramago, the Italian Italo Kalvino and the Greek Pavlos Matessis.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a biography, a textual genre that I am dealing with for the first time and that has excited me. This is the biography of the first female astrophysicist in Greece, who also became the first female Vice President of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), the European NASA, while she also worked at NASA itself.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think the Amazon platform is currently unbeatable.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not keep in mind the potential readers and their supposed requirements when writing, because that way it is certain that they will never meet them.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Learn to subtract instead of add.

What are you reading now?
The book “The theory of revolutions in Aristotle” by George Kontogeorgis.

What’s next for you as a writer?
With the publication of my latest novel “The Chip of Knowledge” in English by the London publishing house Ontime Books and its distribution throughout the English-speaking world, my goal is to get to know the international public.

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?
Sigmund Freud’s “Culture as a Source of Suffering”, Epikouros’ “Opinions” and Edward Wilson’s “The Meaning of Human Existence”

Author Websites and Profiles
Vaggelis Kaliosis Website

Andrew Sacks 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Andrew Sacks comes forward with one of the most brilliant ideas to display his love and journey in photography. The book is a collection of his best pictures. The transition he had to make from 35 millimeters to digital media was traumatic but enabled him to take many shots to choose from and erase the bad ones instead of just one at a time. The book is in three parts. The first part consists of Andrew’s photos that span decades. The titles under the images are meant to explain why he liked the pictures enough to put them in a book. The titles also highlight what he saw in the photo. Humor is added to make light of a few images. The second part of this book is the puff part of the book. We all have pictures of sunset in our collections. Andrew has been taking sunset pictures for decades and has included some of his most dramatic ones in this book. The third part of the book is a continuing project as the telephone and electric poles have always been an interesting subject for him. The complexity of the staples, papers, the commotion, and noise on every pole fascinate him. More images are featured on the website, andrewspictures.com, which will also be on sale.

 

Author Websites and Profiles
Andrew Sacks Website
Andrew Sacks Amazon Profile

Vaggelis Kaliosis 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Greek writer and I have -to date- published my work in some of the most important Greek publishing houses.Two novels, a collection of short stories, a poetry collection, a poetic composition dedicated to the great Greek poet Giannis Ritsos, a political essay and many educational books. My profession, after all, is a teacher of the Greek language in public education.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is a novel entitled “The Chip of Knowledge”. Its central conception is what the title suggests, the existence of a tiny device that will implant in the minds of people all the existing knowledge, in a version completely free from any ideological charge. What prompted me to write this is the tendency of modern people to believe that somethingclearly false is true. For example, being convinced that they live in a democratic society, when in fact what they are experiencing is an oligarchy. So I wrote a science fiction novel with strong doses of political realism.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Something that characterizes the way I write is that I prepare my material for a long time and, only when I am absolutely sure of the structure and the final form of my work, then I start writing it. That is why the writing period is rarely longer than nine months.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Many. First of all, all the great ancient Greek writers, with Homer first, who is the father of literature. Also, all the great philosophers and the political science of the modern great Greek professor George Kontogeorgis. If I have to dwell on three writers who defined the way I see my works, they are the Portuguese José Saramago, the Italian Italo Kalvino and the Greek Pavlos Matessis.

What are you working on now?
I am currently working on a biography, a textual genre that I am dealing with for the first time and that has excited me. This is the biography of the first female astrophysicist in Greece, who also became the first female Vice President of the European Astronomical Society (EAS), the European NASA, while she also worked at NASA itself.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I think the Amazon platform is currently unbeatable.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Do not keep in mind the potential readers and their supposed requirements when writing, because that way it is certain that they will never meet them.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Learn to subtract instead of add.

What are you reading now?
The book “The theory of revolutions in Aristotle” by George Kontogeorgis.

What’s next for you as a writer?
With the publication of my latest novel “The Chip of Knowledge” in English by the London publishing house Ontime Books and its distribution throughout the English-speaking world, my goal is to get to know the international public.

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?
Sigmund Freud’s “Culture as a Source of Suffering”, Epikouros’ “Opinions” and Edward Wilson’s “The Meaning of Human Existence”

Author Websites and Profiles
Vaggelis Kaliosis Website

D.M. Taylor 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a full-time writer, working from home, with a constant desire to be at the beach or as close to a combination of: water, sand, and sunshine as I can.
My gravitational pull to science fiction, developed throughout my teacher training; where I concentrated on science education. Graduating from Michigan Tech with an Applied Science Master’s Degree jumpstarted my geeky interests. An obsession of time travel pushed through my romantic notions of the world and the easy fear I hold of anything frightening. Together, these elements created a writer of: sci-fi thrillers who sprinkles in a bit of slow burn.
Accruing in my head is a checklist of places to travel, items to accomplish, and book ideas to write.
I regenerates from deep conversation, laughter, and dancing.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Endemic is book two in The Reckoning series. It was inspired by the forces that can separate loved ones throughout time and the lengths to which people might be willing to be reunited or reconcile regrets.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
If I’m not writing in my tiny cottage by the lake, then it’s not summer. The rest of the year, I’m writing on my couch under blankets near a giant bay window. On the less romantic days of writing, and let’s be real–most of them, my pages come together while waiting in a car for one of my kids–as part of my chauffeur/mom gig.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I have been influenced by Anne of Green Gables, many books in the dystopian genres, and books that focus on the discovery or loss of close personal connections between family, friendships or great loves.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on the third and final book in The Reckoning Series.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My most used interaction with my readers is on Instagram @authordmtaylor

Do you have any advice for new authors?
New author advice would be to write regularly, write with honesty, and write what you think about most.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Surround yourself with a community of people who will support your journey.

What are you reading now?
I am reading Pines by Blake Crouch

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have a brand new series that I’m outlining and looking forward to plunging into as I wrap up my current 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?
My three books would include; Daring Greatly by Brene Brown, Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen, and a book of crossword puzzles.

Author Websites and Profiles
D.M. Taylor Website
D.M. Taylor Amazon Profile

D.M. Taylor’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile

Sunshine Rodgers 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I am a Best Selling Author, Blogger and Entrepreneur.
My books have been translated in Spanish and Portuguese and created
into audio books. My 8 books have reached International notoriety as I use my
time to create original content for my 32K followers and write weekly emails to my readers.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is called “The Characters Within.” The story is set in a fictitious theme park “Cheddar and Such” where guests can have a “delicious” time eating cheese samples, riding Gouda Falls and watching the show Fun at the Parm featuring animatronics Patty the Pretzel and Peter the Breadstick. The main character, Brittany works at Fun at the Parm and is writing a novel while also stuck in a love triangle between her best friend and one of the managers at the attraction. This story was inspired by my time working at a theme park in Orlando Florida.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Yes. I am notorious for using my friends as characters in my books. In my 8 books, I have used 45+ real life people as characters on the text. Each person has to sign a permission form for me to use their name and likeness and fill out a questionaire of personal information about themselves so I can further develop their character on the pages. And of course, I always use my husband, Travis as a reoccuring character in all of my books.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
My all-time favorite author is John Eldredge! I’ve bought every book he’s ever written! His writing is so passionate and so real…I feel like I know him. And of course, C.S. Lewis who just amazes me by his words and the inspiring messages on the text. How I wish I could just sit down and have a cup of coffee with C.S. Lewis!

What are you working on now?
I am writing another fiction piece – Book #10 – potentially called “Andrew’s First Act.” It’s about a young man who attempts to be a stand up comedian in New York City with his Agent ,Sunnie. Though Andrew is talented in comedy, there is one problem…he can’t handle the hecklers. When someone boo’s him from the audience, he tenses up and can’t seem to remember his jokes. He fires Sunnie and quits the life of a comedian only to rediscover his passion in a new way. This story is about overcoming the critics and finding your true purpose in life.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Website: sunshinerodgers.com
Blog: http://sunshinerodgersblog.simplesite.com/433966135

Do you have any advice for new authors?
My advice for new authors would be to have patience. My first book came out 6 years ago and I just became a full time author last year! If you’re passionate about storytelling, keep writing! Give yourself a personal deadline…like for me, I write 4 books in one year. Set aside time just to storyboard and write pages. And remember WHY you started writing. Like for me, I started writing because I love it. Period. All the rest…the money, the fans, the reviews are all just extra.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Don’t be too hard on yourself. I have an inner critic that plays in my mind all the time where I doubt my work… I’ll even look back at my older books and roll my eyes at my amateur writing. But you have to be patient with yourself and allow yourself time to grow and mature as a professional author.

What are you reading now?
I am reading “Intentional Living” by John Maxwell AND “Acres of Diamonds” by Jentezen Franklin. I usually read about 2-3 books at a time. I can’t seem to get enough! I already have 3 filled bookshelves full of books in my personal library at home and I need to buy an extra one since I am running out of room. I always ask for more books for birthdays and holidays.

What’s next for you as a writer?
More writing. In 2020, for obvious reasons, I stopped traveling and attending book signings. So now I am focusing more on reaching an international audience on social media as my books have landed on Amazon Best Seller lists in the U.S., U.K. and Canada. And my next book “The Roland Sisters & The Spirit Program” is the next one to launch in a few months.

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
Wild at Heart by John Eldredge (my favorite book!)
Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis

Author Websites and Profiles
Sunshine Rodgers Website
Sunshine Rodgers Amazon Profile

Sunshine Rodgers’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Rosalind Tate 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I live in England with my husband and two dogs. We’re in full lockdown at the moment, two of my three grown-up children are living with us again — so a full house! I’m not into housework and a terrible cook but luckily my husband’s a foodie and loves cooking!

I’ve only one published novel, the first book of “The Shorten Chronicles.” It was published in October 2020 but at least five more books in the series are planned.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
It was a ‘who’ that inspired me to write. My mother. She was a published author in the 1980s when it was much tougher to get published. I was a teenager, terribly self-obsessed, and thought being a published author was no big deal. My mother has dementia now so it’s really horrible that I can’t tell her how proud I am of her.

“Stranded” was inspired by a dream and a TV show. I know … crazy. I dreamed I was back at university (a concrete-ugly 1960s campus here in England). So, in the dream, I got into a lift in a tower block but stepped out into a deserted country lane. And then I work up and thought, ‘this is the start of a story.’ A while later, I was watching Downton and thought, ‘How would a modern girl cope in the real Downton?’ And then I thought, what would it be like to be torn between two boys, one a millennial and one born in 1904? It went from there!

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Eccentric working hours. I wake up at 4.30 am to make the most of the quiet time before the household wakes up. Recently, I’ve been busy with marketing “Stranded,” but I want to get back into the habit of writing and editing in the morning, then doing admin/marketing in the afternoons. I also have a day job, doing the accounts for my husband’s company, so I have to make time for that too. OK, bit of a workaholic…

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the classic fantasy novels, like “The Chronicles of Narnia” and “The Lord of the Rings.” But I also like modern fantasy books: “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher, “A Discovery of Witches” by Deborah Harkness, and “Fortune’s Fool” by Angela Boord (won the Self-Published Fantasy Blog-Off last year). These books completely take you out of reality. Wonderful.

What are you working on now?
Book 2 of “The Shorten Chronicles.” “Escape” will be published in October this year.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Apart from Awesome Gang … that’s easy: BookBub. But it’s very difficult to get featured in their emails. I’ve been incredibly lucky and “Stranded” is a Featured Deal on Valentine’s Day. Really excited!

My own website (www.rosalindtate.com) showcases “The Shorten Chronicles,” but it will take time for people to discover it.

The same goes for my Readers Club. Readers who join via my website or a link in the books, get a short story, exclusive to the Club. It’s a prequel to the series and once readers have read it, they see Hugo in a completely different light! I email everyone once a month with bookish news, but also with fun facts I think they’ll enjoy. Oh, and cute pics of Bella — Charlotte’s inspiration. What I hadn’t expected is that readers see “Stranded” in different ways and remember some aspects over others. Some enjoy the historical aspects, the clothes and etiquette, others love the love triangle and support Team Hugo or Team Freddy. Others are more interested in parallel universes and the science behind the portal.

I’m going to invite a few readers to join Team Charlotte. These are the most enthusiastic (and pedantic!) readers. They’ll get a free copy of “Escape” well before publication, and will come back at me with typos (there are always some) and comments and suggestions. I take these very seriously. For example, if they really hate a plot twist or scene, I’ll go back and change it.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Not sure I’m qualified to answer this — I’m a new author myself!

But for authors out there who are still working on their first novel, I’d say, ‘Keep Going.’ There’s a wealth of help online if you know where to look. Places like Jericho Writers; and you can find a good editor through them too. Editors are like princes. You have to kiss quite a few frogs before you find The One. And a professional editor is a must. You want the first book to be as good as it can be.

When you’re a year or so off publishing, do Mark Dawson’s 101 course (Indie publishing is tricksy) and read every word on self-publishing David Gaughran has written.

If you write literary fiction, then it may be worth finding an agent and traditional publisher, but bear in mind, traditionally published authors get 14% of the royalties (Indie’s get 70%) and if you go Trad, you’re handing over the rights to your books and characters to someone else. You’ll have no control over branding, the cover or marketing.

And once this pandemic is over (and it will be soon I hope), enjoy meeting other authors at conferences and training days. Indie authors are a supportive bunch. In fact, the thing I have second most enjoyed is meeting other authors (virtually). But the best thing is talking to readers (via email: rosalind@rosalindtate.com). Their enthusiasm motivates me to finish “Escape” and buoys me up, and it will do the same for you when you publish.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
‘Never give up. Never surrender.” Galaxy Quest.

What are you reading now?
“Gate of Shadows” by Mark Wells. It’s a portal fantasy/mystery set in a beautiful Cambridge college. I loved his first book, so had to read the second one!

What’s next for you as a writer?
Finishing the final edit of “Escape,” and after that, I’ll be researching Book 3, “Exile.” I’m hoping it will involve travelling somewhere exotic…

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 might be there for a while, so I’ll take some doorstops that have passed the test of time. “Lord of the Rings,” “The Shannara Chronicles,” and “Middlemarch” for some non-fantasy. Oh, and “The Vampire Diaries,” for lighter reading.

Am I allowed a luxury? If so, I’d like a computer so I can write. Desert Island Discs allow that if it can’t connect with the internet…

Author Websites and Profiles
Rosalind Tate Website
Rosalind Tate Amazon Profile

Rosalind Tate’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Kelly Nichols 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
One

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Name: “Beyond the Dragonhead – Viking Refugees Book #1”
What Inspired?
1) Insanity
2) I loved reading YA historical fiction aloud to my kids when they were young, and Vikings were a topic of interest with few books already written.
3) Alyn, who was already published, asked me to co-author with him (see #1)

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Binge writing. If I don’t have at least a three hour chunk of uninterrupted time, not much is going to get written.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Too many to name, but a few that come to mind are:
Crispin and the Cross of Lead by Avi
Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher
Alphabet of Dreams by Deborah Ellis
Friends and Fears: The Two Lives of a Wolf Dog by Annie Costrini (age 12)

What are you working on now?
Viking Refugees Book #2

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I don’t know about the “best”, but I enjoy trading reviews with other Indie authors and encouraging them. I have met some wonderful people this way, including a teen author who was twelve when she published her first novel (see above).

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Have a backup career plan.
I’m thankful I don’t need to rely on writing fiction to earn a living.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
This is difficult to answer, because it changes with different days, weeks, months, stages of life, etc
Lately, I’ve been thinking about some advice my son, Aaron, wrote in his blog, “The Well Lived Life” about creating pieces that are timeless over ones that are timely (fads).

What are you reading now?
The Mazzard Tree by Marcia Clayton
Very realistic historical fiction, it has me captured so far.

What’s next for you as a writer?
Wrapping up this series and focusing on what I do best, teaching youth. I hope the experience with make me a better teacher and advocate for my students.

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
How to Survive on a Desert Island
How to Get Rescued From a Desert Island

Author Websites and Profiles
Kelly Nichols Website
Kelly Nichols Amazon Profile

Kelly Nichols’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account

Alyn Rockwood 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m a Cambridge Phd in Mathematics by training, but I have always loved writing and had a keen interest in history (I had a minor in history along with my Math degree). I have authored several technical texts and one other novel, a scifi, “How Noble in Reason.”

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
“Beyond the Dragonhead.” I’ve always had a fascination for Vikings. My DNA test says I am 75% Scandinavian. I wanted to portray the Vikings as real people, like my Swedish family on my mother’s side, and I also wanted to tell the story of the trade and settlements of Vikings in the East, a story that gets short script in modern literature.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I’m not sure how unusual it is, but I study the history and environment of the story, think about my characters, and then wait for scenes to appear in my mind. I see the book like a movie and just start writing down what I see. I used to think it was a little strange, but I have heard that others do this as well. In my scifi, which was a murder mystery, I did not know who had committed the murder until I was halfway through writing.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Michael Chrichton’s Eaters of the Dead (13th Warrior as a movie),
J.R.R. Tolkien
Umberto Eco
Irving Stone
James Michner
Phillip Dicke
HG Wells

What are you working on now?
The sequel, and another scifi

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Goodreads has been pretty effective, though it does pick up readers who have no business reading a serious historical fiction (mostly steamy romance types).

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Orwell’s six rules:

1. Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
2. Never use a long word where a short one will do.
3. If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
4. Never use the passive where you can use the active.
5. Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
6. Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The difference between a writer and an author is that authors are read. Get your manuscript into the hands of as many readers as you can, get there critiques! J. Michael Stracynzski

What are you reading now?
Istanbul, A Tale of Three Cities.

What’s next for you as a writer?
The sequel!

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
I’ve never been able to answer this question. Arrgh!

 

E.E. Burke 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Tom Sawyer Returns. It’s part of my New Adventures series featuring Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn. Tom’s new adventure brings him home after many years to solve a deadly mystery involving his childhood sweetheart. I’ve always loved Mark Twain’s stories and wondered what had happened to the boys when they grew up. Twain never told us. Figuring out their stories became something of an obsession, which took me eight years to bring to fruition in two full length novels.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
The fact that I have become a publish author is unusual enough, I suppose. Many people talk about writing books and never get around to it. I’ve spent ten years working hard to establish myself and continue to improve, and every day presents its own unusual challenge. This past year has been especially difficult with the lock-downs amidst a pandemic. Our writing group has managed to keep in touch via Zoom, which has been a real life-saver for me! I miss interacting with readers, so I hope some of the ones who read this will reach out to me via email or social media.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
Mark Twain. His work inspired my love for the written word and story well told.
Jill Marie Landis and LaVyrle Spencer taught me how to put emotion into my writing.
Mary Oliver touched my soul with her poetry.
Paulette Jiles showed me how to tell compelling historical stories.
Anne LaMott inspired me to keep going.
Many other authors have influenced me in so many ways it’s difficult to list them all here.

What are you working on now?
I’m working on a historical novel about a single woman who immigrates from the east to Kansas to claim land under the Homestead Act, and has to battle nature, threats, societal constraints, and her own heart, to follow her dream.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
My email newsletter is the best way of staying in touch with fans, as well as my Facebook page and a couple Facebook groups: Pioneers Hearts and American Historical Romance Lovers.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Write everyday.
Learn the craft.
Seek wise counsel.
Find your own path.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Be true to yourself.

What are you reading now?
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

What’s next for you as a writer?
I’d like to stretch my writing muscles and expand my repertoire from primarily historical romance into mainstream historical fiction and mystery.

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
A Survival Guide
Shakespeare’s complete works
A Bible

Author Websites and Profiles
E.E. Burke Website
E.E. Burke Amazon Profile

E.E. Burke’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile
Facebook Profile
Twitter Account
Pinterest Account

Carly Jane Garner 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’m 18, currently a student.
Stumbling through High School it has its ups and downs but overall I’m enjoying it until exams obviously, hahaha.

I started writing when I was seventeen.
My first novel “STUMBLING IN THE DEBRIS”, started as a joke.

I was at school with my best friend, during a study period- ‘we were not studying’.
And I had this random idea.
I’m the sort of person who gets random ideas in their head and I put them on paper and start a novel or write a song or a story, anything.

Anyway, I basically explained the novel idea to her. She is the inspiration for my main character in the novel, the character ‘Hiba Ghulam in STUMBLING IN TEH DEBRIS’ is based on her. She would probably go crazy if she knew I wrote this.
We spoke about the novel and she was like, “You know what, you should do it, I’d read it”. So I did and the rest is history.

I have one published novel so far and I can’t wait to publish more.

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
THE TITLE:
My latest and debut novel is “STUMBLING IN THE DEBRIS”. And the title is actually from the hit song by the Eurythmics-Love is a stranger. I love their music.

I know people interpret songs and music differently for example one song can make someone sad and make someone else happy.
Personally, the song gives me heartbroken vibes.
Whenever i listen to it, I get the picture of someone who’s a slave to love and wants to be free but they can’t because their heart is programmed to love; it’s an obsession, an addiction.

The lyric “it’s guilt-edged glamorous and sleek by design you know it’s jealous by nature. false and unkind it’s hard and restrained, and it’s totally cool, it touches, and it teases as you stumble in the debris”. Which is also the foreword for the novel.

Is where the message is; it links to both main characters in the novel, they are going through this ‘phase’ of loving and being hurt, but they keep loving despite the pain.

THE BOOK:
The idea of ‘Hiba and Bradley’ just came to me during a study at school and I knew I had to write the story. I enjoy reading romance novels, I can read at least two novels in a week. At this point in my life I was trying to find myself and I paid attention to the little things I enjoyed. I have always wanted to share stories and help people and I wanted to do that through writing. Although this is a romance novel, both characters go through difficult times, I wanted to show that even at such a young age, young people can have a lot to deal with and it is an exceedingly difficult and confusing time for them. When I writing I could relate to ‘Hiba’ a lot and ‘Bradley’ too, it was difficult at first to write as somebody else and I usually found myself writing the characters in my own words instead of what they would actually say.

I enjoyed creating Hiba and Bradley because they are so unique and their relationship is very toxic , and this was one of the issues I wanted to touch on because I felt I is something people may not even realise. I also wanted to talk about other topics that are in my heart: child abuse, domestic violence, sexism, honour crime, religion, white-collar crime, feminism, racism and the best part is I was able to include all of those sensitive topics in the novel. I felt like it was a novel for teens who are at their lowest point and trying to find themselves and many can relate to Bradley, he’s not your typical 18year old, obviously he’s father is a multi-millionaire but he doesn’t care about all that, he craves maternal support which he finds Maria but she betrays him. I love this plot because, I think there’s a time when the people close to you leave or let you down and you’re at your lowest, but this can sometimes help us. I think this part marks Bradley’s growth and maturity, we see him take charge and not lash or use humour as a coping mechanism but instead he’s civil and sensible although we know he’s pissed off. Another side I love of Bradley is his softer side, when he opens up to Hiba, this is a beautiful moment because there’s a stereotype of boys not crying but he lets it all out.

Hiba is my favourite character because she’s a feminist in an anti-feminist household. She stands up against all the abuse although we could argue she gave up in the end she did try, Bradley’s betrayal didn’t help but she stood her ground when it came to the abortion, she was determined to keep her baby and when she took off her hijab, that was a sign of her freedom and bravery. I created her to inspire all women, especially those under patriarchy authorities giving them hope and encouragement to stand up for themselves. She also takes the first step in their sexual relationship: she drops her towel and makes the first move; this showed her brave side and her following her body and needs for once. We know her parents are against what she is about to do but she does it anyway. I felt like this point represented a time you throw caution to the wind and do something even though you are certain you should not be doing it, when you give in your desires and all your beliefs or morals fly out the window. She’s fearless and independent although Bradley has a great influence on her, I tried to make her the dominant one in the relationship but it was a little difficult because he’s very patient with her, and she has no choice but to let him take charge sometimes. Hiba can also be judgemental as we’ve seen the exchanges between her and her inner voice. This is quite challenging for Bradley because he wants her to let him in completely but she still has barriers up because of the abuse she suffers from her father and brother , it’s a little difficult for her to let men in her life however Bradley is different and they fall in love too quickly and they move fast and it ends a disaster.

I don’t think age played a massive part in the story, decided to make the characters because I felt I could relate to them more and it won’t be as difficult to write about them than, for example people in their thirties as I can’t really make them from scratch. It felt right to make them teenagers because I feel like the struggles, they go through especially nowadays are really difficult and I believe sometimes that can be overlooked and teens can be really affected. This is why Hiba has an abusive father and Bradley doesn’t have his mother. They both lacked that full maternal care and they find solace in each other and this also led to the end of their relationship because they had to find themselves first and forgive before involving other people in their lives. They were not ready because I believe to fully love someone else you have to love yourself first, and they both needed to do that.

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
And I cannot write without music, it just doesn’t work. Music is my greatest inspiration and motivation. I have to feel what I’m writing and listening to music helps me channel my feelings from the music to the story I want to share.

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love the Twilight books, they are my guilty pleasure, so I’d say Stephenie Meyer is one of my heroines. And Siobhan Davis: I love her work, I’m a big fan too.

In terms of influences. The books that have influenced me the most would have to be mostly teen interracial romance novels. I love the idea of bringing people of different backgrounds together in a love story; I try to have the same in my novels. I think it’s my selling point.

What are you working on now?
I’m currently working on my second novel, “LOVE AND HATE HAVE THE SAME ADDRESS”, it’s a continuation from my debut novel: “STUMBLING IN THE DEBRIS”.
I’m trying to stay motivated because I have to balance it with my online classes #depression #I can’t believe I’m saying this but I actually miss school.

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’d say Instagram. A lot of people use it so I think its the best platform to reach a wider audience.

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Wow, that’s a hard one.

I’d say never give up and never criticize yourself. I believe that we’re our worst critics and we’re also our greatest fan.
So you have to encourage yourself and even if you think your manuscript is crap, edit and edit until you love it.

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I always refer to this quote by Michele Ruiz. “If people are doubting how far you’ll go, go so far that you can’t hear them anymore.”

I think that’s the best advice I’ve ever heard because it drives me to keep going and ignore all the hate.

What are you reading now?
Trying to finish Siobhan Davis’ Kennedy Boys Series. I’m currently reading ‘Seducing Kaden’.

What’s next for you as a writer?
I would really love to co-author with Siobhan Davis, it’ll be an honour.

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?
Well they all have to be romance, so I’ll definitely take:
1. Twilight
2. Finding Kyler and
3. Twilight: New Moon

Author Websites and Profiles
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