author bio

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Guest Post…Everyone Wants to Be a Writer

After taking over our blog this week, lovely author Patricia Lynne leaves us with her final thoughts on ‘being a writer.’

Thanks for spending the week with us – we’ve had lots of fun and loved reading Being Human 🙂

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Everyone wants to be a writer

It’s something I’ve heard a lot. Everyone says they want to be a writer. Everyone! Of course, not everyone actually does it, but 99% of people have probably expressed it at one point in their lives. Want to know a secret?

I didn’t.

I never had any intention of becoming a writer. When I was in third grade, I had tried to write a story, but a passing classmate read what I had written and laughed. I scrapped the story and never tried again. What got me writing was a dream. In it, a girl was being kept from by her vampire love by the cast of True Blood. I woke up and thought it’d be fun to write, minus the True Blood cast. Even then I wasn’t calling myself a writer or had any plans to publish the story. It was just for fun

When I finished the story, I got another. And another! So I kept writing them. It was fun, but I still didn’t consider myself a writer. It wasn’t until I started looking into publishing while writing Being Human that I thought about it. Even then I was hesitant. My college papers in English weren’t As. One I got a D on one and struggled to bring it up to a B (if I knew what I did now, I wouldn’t have gotten any Ds.) But I was confident in Being Human. It was interesting and different and I was so tired of all vampires being the same: whiny wussies. Maybe I could do this. If I could find people to help me edit it, then maybe it would be worth publishing.

Sometimes, I am still wary of saying I’m a writer. I have one book published and a short. But I never intended it to happen! Do I really deserve to say I’m a writer when all this was a giant accident inspired by a dream? I don’t know, but now that I’ve started, it’s really hard to stop writing.

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Indie Author Spotlight…Patricia Lynne

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month. It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
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This week’s spotlighted author is Patricia Lynne…

Author – Patricia Lynne

About the Author: Patricia Lynne never set out to become a writer, and in fact, was more of an art and band nerd in high school and college. But some stories are meant to be told and now she can’t stop. Patricia lives with her husband in Michigan, hopes one day to have what will resemble a small petting zoo and has a fondness for dying her hair the colors of the rainbow.
You can find out even more in our interview with Patricia from earlier this week! CLICK HERE!
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Hmmmm…yummy yummy for this cover model 😉

Synopsis

For Tommy, there is only one thing he needs to do: survive.

Only surviving isn’t that easy. The hunt for blood can be tricky when humans know to fear the night. Desire sits on the edge of his mind, urging him to become the monster humans think he is. Vampire Forces, a special branch of police, is determined to turn every vampire to ash. Tommy included.

The only human Tommy can trust is his twin brother. A bond connects them, and with Danny’s help, Tommy starts to understand the human world he struggles to survive in. He’ll learn what friendships means and feel the sting of betrayal, find that sometimes the worst monsters are very human, and come to understand that family means more than blood.

Tommy just wants to survive and he knows what he needs to do. But with the number of humans that mean more to him than a meal growing, he’ll learn there’s more to life than simple survival. He’ll discover being human doesn’t mean being a human.

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

My website   Goodreads   Twitter   Facebook

Amazon   Smashwords   Barnes and Noble


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Interview with…Patricia Lynne

This week we’re welcoming author Patricia Lynne to the blog for a short series of features. Today we’ll be finding out more about her with an interview, on Saturday her book Being Human will be under the spotlight and finally on Sunday, she’ll be sharing some of her thoughts and experiences of writing in a guest post. Phew! With all that to get through, let’s get started with the interview! 

Author – Patricia Lynne

Hi Patricia, welcome to Aside from Writing, we hope you’ll enjoy your time on the blog. Let’s get started with your interview!
If you could invite any 5 people to dinner who would you choose?

Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Heather Brewer, Mike Rowe, my mom (because otherwise she’d be miffed I didn’t invite her!)

If you could have any superpower, what would you choose?

Hmmm, I’d say it’s a toss up between super speed because I hate car rides and being able to fly because Rogue of the X-men was my favorite and she could fly.

What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?

Mackinaw Island Fudge. It’s vanilla ice cream and fudge and oh so good and is a Michigan specialty.

Wow – that sounds amazingly good – how far is Michigan from Manchester?! 🙂 OK – still thinking of food – what is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?

I never wake up in time to eat breakfast, because let’s face it, mornings are evil, so let’s count lunch as my breakfast so grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Lastly…a drink to go with your meal…Coke or Pepsi?

Neither. Mountain Dew. I love my elixir of life.

OK – now back to books! Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.

Because if you don’t I’ll send Tommy after you and he has no qualms about getting flesh stuck in his fangs. 😉 Oh, sorry, did you want a serious answer? Being Human is a new take on a myth that’s been done a million times over, but with no sparkling.

You know – that might not be a bad thing for me – on the basis that the cover image is a very gorgeous guy, who is saying ‘please bump me to the top of the tbr pile’ with his sexy stare – I think it is enough to keep refusing. And let’s face it – we like vamps because of the danger 😉 

What are you working on at the moment? Any new books in the works? 

I have a few books that are in various stages of editing and I’m hoping to have at least one ready to get published soon. The one I’m most hopeful to have finished soon(ish) is called Snapshots and it’s about a boy who can see the future in others eyes so he keeps one eye covered earning him the nickname Cyclop.

What’s been your best experience from being published? 

This may seem mean but I highly enjoy hearing my story has made someone cry. Writers all strive to create stories that resonate with readers and make them feel, so hearing my book made someone happy or sad enough to cry is very rewarding. I did a good job.

What was your favorite book to read when you were a child?

I loved all the Clifford the Big Red Dog books. I had them all and I’m pretty sure my mom still has them stashed somewhere.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?

At one point I wanted to be a ballerina, but mostly I wanted to be an artist like my grandpa. I even when to college at Grand Valley State for a year in art.

How do you feel when you get a bad review? And how do you deal with it? 

I’ve only had one really bad review so far and I whined to my husband and a few friends privately, and then I got away from my laptop and got slightly (no, really) drunk. Then I didn’t really care about the review. Plus, the people I was with reminded me that every movie, book, TV show get bad reviews.

Take us through a typical day in your life…

Well, I lay in bed thinking about how I need to get up for way longer than I should. Then I finally force myself to jump up and go through the usual things (brush teeth, deodorant, get dressed) I check twitter and my email, comment on blogs or reply to emails. For some reason, I can never motivate myself to write until after I eat lunch. I can spend all afternoon writer/editing while checking twitter too much while having Mythbusters, Criminal Minds or Dirty Jobs playing in the background. I can’t write to music, but the TV is fine. I don’t have a real job (I have a small online handmade jewelry store and deliver a paper on the weekend) so I never have to worry about squeezing writing in between work. I make dinner when my husband gets home. If it’s nice out, we go for a walk and I try not to bore him with writing talk and he tries not to bore me with computer related jabber. Shower and then it’s back to writing, but usually I’m a bit worn out on writing and waste time on twitter talking about how I need to be writing. Around midnight, I trudge to bed and glower at my husband for being able to fall asleep in two seconds while it takes me a half hour.

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Patricia will be going under our author spotlight on Saturday – so come back and find out more about her and Being Human then!

And don’t forget the giveaway to win your own copy of Being Human – just comment in any of the features from Patricia posted this week and you’ll be entered to win an e-copy supplied via Smashwords!

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Guest Post…Audio Books – Modern Oral Storytelling

For today’s guest post we’re welcoming back author Clinton D Harding to the blog – Clinton’s novel Our Monsters was one of our featured books during Indie Author Month, click here to see the post – now let’s see what he has to say about storytelling today…

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Ever had a grandparent tell you a tale from the “ol’ country”? I think everyone has. Do you remember sitting on the magic rug for story time during kindergarten and listening to a teacher read a story aloud to you?

There is magic in that type of story delivery.

Reader and listener feed off each other. They pass emotions back and forth like a hot potato. The reader (or storyteller) brings to life each character’s hopes, their secret dreams, their rage, and their deepest fears. The listener feels each of the characters’ breathes on their ears, in return whispering awes and ohs to quench the parched throat of the storyteller.

That is the magic of oral storytelling, the communion and sharing. Long ago, this is how humans passed on their legends and myths, before writing and before reading. When the high lords and ladies prohibited the commoners from learning to read, elders would pass down a community’s histories and stories by campfire. Later bards would roam the land and pass along the oral tradition through song and poem. Either way, these oral traditions served not just as entertainment but also as connections to the past. Today modern society has television, film and video games. Stimulating, yes. Most people can read, sure, but hardly anyone willingly picks up a book (fiction or nonfiction) for fun.

Fret not! Oral storytelling is not dead. It lives on in audio books.

When I was in fourth grade you would find it easier to pull out my teeth than get me to read. Shocker for those who know me today and know me to always have a book at hand. Around that same time movie theaters were playing the Shadow starring Alex Baldwin. I was excited because the Shadow is one of the characters Bob Kane used as inspiration to create Batman and I was/am nutty for anything related to the Dark Knight. Because I was excited for the “Shadow” film, that Christmas my grandparents bought me a set of re-mastered recordings of the Shadow radio show (on cassette tapes). I listened to those adventures repeatedly until the ribbon wore away.

The old Shadow radio show recordings from the 1930s to the 1950s were not audio books. A cast of actors read from a script similar to the scripts used for television shows and movies. Separate crews would also add sounds effects to make the action pop. Audio books are different in that there are no sound effects and there is usually only one performer. However, the old radio dramas and audio books are not unalike.

There is a great deal of imagination needed to enjoy a radio drama and an audio book. What’s important is the emotional connection the performers in the dramas and the narrator of an audio book need to make with the listeners. For instance, when a character is engaged in a fight or running a mile, a good actor has to convey the strenuousness of that activity with his or her voice. On screen an actor can physically show the fatigue, the strain the activity puts on the body and mind. Good material is essential for this of course, the actor can only read and perform what is on the page. With good material from an author, a talented actor, and an active imagination, a story can come alive for the listener without having the visual media as an aid.

Think about it for a second. Sound activates primal feelings in us. A loud noise like a shout can startle a person. The right words spoken tenderly with love can melt a heart. A man with a good accent—take your pick from Europe—can read the phonebook and make a room full of women swoon.

The power of the voice. Intertwine a magnificent reader with a fantastic book and you have a recipe for something special, something to stir the heart.

My father has asked if hearing the same voice for all the characters detracts from the experience of the story. If hearing a male reader do the female character voices or vice versa is odd and takes you out of the story. I don’t believe so. There are some readers who do the voices so well, who take great effort to increase or decrease their tone and pitch so you can hardly notice. Actually, some of the best readers do different voices for all the characters. They tweak their voice so subtly that nearly all the voices are different, nearly, no one is perfect and the reader has only his or her own voice to manipulate (the range only goes so far). Jim Dale is crazy good on the American Harry Potter audio books. James Marsters has done a great job with the Dresden File book readings. Michael Kramer has read most of Brandon Sanderson’s novels and the Wheel of Time series and he’s fantastic.

If an audio book reader does his or her job well, has a mastery of their voice, can put every drop of emotion into each word, speaks clearly and keeps a fluid pace, then they will suck the listener in. The listener will feel that same campfire intimacy from ol’. Unfortunately these days that intimacy only extends one way, listeners get more out of the reader because the listeners cannot be there for the recording. Regardless, I don’t believe the experience is lost, it has only been modernized and made available to a wider audience.

Best of all… audio books today are more accessible. A person used to lug around twenty-plus cassette tapes or a few less CDs in order to have an entire audio book available for listening. Today’s mp3 players have created convenience much the same way eReaders have. It is so easy to carry around books, audio and other. As far as I’m concerned we’re living in a book utopia.

By no means am I trying to advocate switching over from reading a novel to listening to the audio book version as each provides a different experience. Audio books merely remind us of how storytelling was once communal, containing a closeness that connects listeners and the storyteller. And of course the reading is that much more special when the author of the novel is actually the reader. Neil Gaiman, the stud and rockstar of the literary world, is an excellent reader.

Go to audiable.com or iTunes.com and try an audio book. Personally, I enjoy listening to stories I’ve read previously, there is an added something and I often I pick up details I missed when reading.

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About the Author

Clinton grew up in Southern California, where the sun shines all day and where most kids spend their days outdoors skinning knees and browning their flesh. He spent those same days inside, reading comics, books, and dreaming of fantasy worlds. These days he not only dreams but he creates and writes about those same worlds. In college Clinton found himself in the dregs of a business school, studying accounting. Sneaking English and philosophy courses into his schedule were the only things that kept him sane! As a result, he spent way more than four years getting a well-rounded degree. Adult books and books for kids, Clinton reads it all these days. He still enjoys traditional American comics and manga/anime from Asia, but when not writing he can also be found immersing himself in video games.

            Clinton today still resides in Southern California with his wife, Kathy and their two Scottish terriers, Mac and Bonni (wheaten and black).

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

http://clintondharding.com (official site)

https://twitter.com/#!/ClintonDHarding (twitter)

Email: cd.harding83@gmail.com

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clinton-D-Harding/76506701006 (facebook)

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5381520.Clinton_D_Harding (goodreads)

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Indie Author Spotlight…Michael Meyer

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month. It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
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This week’s spotlighted author is Michael Meyer…
About the Author: I have resided in and have visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, SaudiArabia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, on the island of St. Croix, where DEADLY EYES is set. I gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California and other nearby states.
I spent my early years in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide variety of other genres, made in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a movie filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as DEADLY EYES was born.
As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.
WHAT MOTIVATES ME AS A WRITER?  

Writing is a lonely avocation, just my trusty computer at my side, as I work hard to create people, places, and plots that other people might enjoy reading. Marketing one’s own writing is an extremely lonely business. Unlike having a traditional publisher and all of its clout behind me, I have only myself, and I am a writer, not a salesperson. I find it difficult to toot my own horn, though I know that it is essential in order to get word of the very existence of my work out to the reading public. So what keeps me going? The writing, of course, gives me a lot of enjoyment. I am actually like a reader as I write. I never quite know how things will turn out in the end, not only of the book itself, but also in specific scenes. I thoroughly enjoy working with words, stringing them together in a creative way. Language has always fascinated me. Can you goose a goose? Does a house burn up or burn down? If you are going to come visit me, are you coming or going? Why would you want to swipe your card at a cash register if you already own the card? There is a huge difference between snap to and snap at. The list can go on and on. I love to play with words as I write, and this can be seen in DEADLY EYES.

Marketing my own work, however, is a completely different ballgame. I am a good writer, but I lack a lot in the area of salesmanship. I do seek out as many reviewers, interviewers, and bloggers as I can, and I am very thankful for all of these people, but every hour I spend tooting my own horn could be spent creating, my real forte. So what keeps me plugging away at my lonely avocation of writing? The answer is found in the wonderful reactions that readers have to my work. Their excitement serves to push me forward. I like people, and it makes me happy to see that they, in turn, like what I have created. Here are a few random lines from posted reviews of DEADLY EYES on my Amazon author’s site as examples of what I mean:

“The ride is fast and furious and the outcome will leave you blindsided….I recommend Deadly Eyes to all readers for its fast paced action coupled with the mesmerizing and intense suspense.” – Marilou George, THE KINDLE BOOK REVIEW

“Michael Meyer has done it again, weaving a fascinating tale of murder and intrigue in the tropical paradise of St. Croix that will keep you turning the page to the very end.” – Nick Russell, author of BIG LAKE

” Michael Meyer has another hit on his hands with ‘Deadly Eyes’…. This is another 5-star book by a 5-star writer….  If you have never read Michael Meyer, do yourself a favor and pick up this book or all of his books, you won’t be disappointed.” – D Everetti, author of PUNISHING A GOOD DEED

I think you can see what I mean. It is pretty heady stuff, the type of thing that helps me keep the faith as an Indie writer, a person who is not very good at tooting his own horn but thrills when it is tooted by his readers.

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Synopsis

James Cuffy, better known as Cuff, is living in paradise with his girlfriend, on the small Caribbean island of St. Croix, where the sky is as blue as Cuff’s eyes, the ocean as pretty as Rosie’s cheeks, where the gentle lapping of the waves is a lullaby, and the swaying of the palm trees is a dance. The sandy beaches are as white as sugar, and the horizon is a world away. St. Croix indeed is paradise, the perfect place for living, laughing, and loving.

But the sandy beaches and the turquoise sea can provide no cover from the deadly eyes of the unknown stalker pursuing Cuff. Murder leads to murder as he attempts to untangle the terrible web in which he has suddenly become entangled. The twists and turns are relentless, the roads of the fast action leading in all directions, but time is running out, and Cuff, his faithful Rosie at his side, knows it.

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

TRAILER: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWLBtVDUdC4

BOOK LINK: http://www.amazon.com/Deadly-Eyes-ebook/dp/B007IO3O22/ref=lp_B005E7M8CW_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335801699&sr=1-1

Amazon author’s site: http://www.amazon.com/Michael-Meyer/e/B005E7M8CW/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Goodreads author: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/674626.Mike_Meyer

Facebook writers’s site: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelMeyersWritingLife/app_191387770912394

Pinterest writer’s site: http://pinterest.com/temmike/#

 


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Interview with…Stephen Herfst

Author Stephen Herfst returns to the blog today for a ‘proper’ interview – let’s say “Hello!” 🙂

Hi Stephen, welcome back to Aside from Writing, thanks for joining us for an interview. So can you tell us a little about yourself, how you came to be an author?

Thank you for taking the time to read and review my book – I am always happy when someone reads and enjoys my story.

Well, I had an interesting childhood, having lived in Germany, South Africa, Holland, England and Australia. Each place I travelled to has in some way contributed to what I am today. I work in IT as a software engineer and, although you wouldn’t think it is very creative, it has put me in good stead. My inspiration to become an author came to me when I was reflecting on what I really wanted to do. It all began when I remembered the sports articles I wrote for my company’s soccer team and how they were well received. From there, I decided that I would work at becoming a successful author (still working on it).

We recently read and reviewed your book Zed (click here to see the review). It’s an interesting take on the zombie genre – what made you want to write this story?

Having watched an episode or two of The Walking Dead, and being bored to tears, I decided that the zombie genre needed a change. And that was how Zed came to be.

I wanted a story that would twist the traditional zombie genre and gave a different perspective to the well-worn stumbled path set out by George Romero. I wanted something that was humorous, funny and not gory – it was challenge to me to write a story that would appeal to the general public as well as the die-hard zombie fans.

What do you find are the best parts of being a writer?

The best part is being able to write the stories that you want to see or read. Being able to write your vision for a story and change things until you are one-hundred-percent happy is wonderful. It definitely appeals to my OCD!

 

And the worst…?

Translating your thoughts into a coherent and entertaining story can be quite harrowing! Even though I only took about a month to write the first book, it felt like a long time. I cannot visualize writing one story for a year or more – I think I would go insane!

What aspects of your ‘normal’ life or ‘day job’ do you find has helped you in your writing?

I find being able to divide my mind into a logical path and a creative path helps me. I have separated each path and I think clearer, I imagine better, my writing flows better. There is nothing quite like approaching a problem scientifically to gain a creative solution, strange as that may be.

 

What’s an ideal day for you – and how do you fit your writing into that?

An ideal day for me is to listen to good music while watching TV and writing while my laptop rests precariously on my lap. My writing environment is quite organic and I believe that my writing reflects that as well.

Any advice for people who have an interest in creative writing?

I would definitely recommend starting a blog, writing a novel without understanding the rules and being willing to say ‘I am wrong’ and being willing to go back on your hard-written writing and delete. The ‘I am wrong’ bit is the hardest part to do, let me tell you!

So – what else do you have planned for 2012?

I plan to write the remaining two books over the next six months (or less) – I have started writing the second book and it is going well. The story arch is better realized than the first and the new characters I am/will introduce are working well within the world I have created.

 

Random Questions:

If you could be a character from any book – who would it be and why?

I would love to be Paul Atreides from Dune (by Frank Herbert). Where he changes from a young prince into the messiah controls the spice thanks, in part, to his evolution into the Kwisatz Haderach. It is a very heavy book but a wonderful tale.

 

Favourite fictional world – where would you live?

I would love to live in Xanth by Piers Anthony. I think his world would be lovely to work through all the challenges and experience all the cheesy puns first hand while I am on a quest to Save the Princess (like a good hero should).

 

Best super-evil baddie?

Even though Smeagol isn’t really a baddie, I would have to pick him – I always found him creepy. The things that weren’t written about him painted him far more eerily than he the way he ever was shown in The Lord of the Ring films.

 

Thank-you for taking time to talk to us today!

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The story revolves around a teenage girl’s promises to save Zed from the human hordes.

Zed is not your typical zombie. He is cursed with the affliction of thought … although he tries to make the best of a bad situation. The goals for his unrest are simple: to improve his stride, to taste a lightly-seared pork loin once again and avoid Activists at all costs.

His life was predictable, controlled and good until chaos crashed the party. In just one day his world is destroyed and his ability to survive is tested. Would he be able to get through this in one piece? And would he somehow be able to survive the unstoppable force that goes by the name of Chase?

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

Goodreads Author Page

Author Blog

Zed at Smashwords

Zed at Amazon.com


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Indie Author Spotlight…Richard Due

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month.
It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
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This week’s spotlighted author on Aside from Writing is Richard Due…
“Tales, unlike stories, never lie. You see, a tale is an account of things in their due order, often divulged secretly, or as gossip. Would you like to hear one?” —Lord Autumn
Uncle Ebb was so good at telling his tales of the Moon Realm that sometimes it sounded like he’d been there himself. As children, Lily and Jasper listened raptly to his bedtime tales of a place where nine moons swirled around one another, each inhabited by strange and wondrous beings: magical lunamancers; undersea merfolk; wise birds; winged dragons; and Lily’s favorite, the heroic, leonine Rinn.
There was only one rule: don’t tell a soul.
But now, years later, Uncle Ebb is missing. Lily has learned the secret behind the tales, and soon Jasper will too. But there’s one big problem. You see, something terrible has happened in the Moon Realm. . . .
Featuring twenty-two stunning full-color illustrations by Carolyn Arcabascio.
Volume One of the fantasy adventure series The Moon Realm.
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Want to know more? Check out the links!
Buying Links:
Amazon (Kindle & Kindle Fire): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005JFMKB8
iTunes iBookstore (iPad, iPhone, iPod Touch): http://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/richard-due/id462821815?mt=11
Author and Illustrator Bio:
Richard Due (pronounced “Dewey”) first imagined the Moon Realm while telling bedtime tales to his children. He makes his home in Southern Maryland, where he and his wife have owned and operated Second Looks Books since 1991. The Moon Coin is the first novel in the Moon Realm series. Visit TheMoonRealm.com for more information.
Author Image:
Carolyn Arcabascio hails from Massachusetts, where she lives and works as an illustrator while pursuing her lifelong exploration of words, images, and the magical places where they meet. Visit her website at www.carolynarcabascio.com
Illustrator Image:
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Q&A on The Moon Coin
1. Your book sounds like a genre-bending read – where did your inspiration for it come from?
The Moon Coin is, at its core, traditional epic fantasy, such as The Chronicles of Narnia or the Lord of the Rings. But each moon in the Moon Realm brings something very different. The first two books in the series center around the moons Barreth and Dain. Barreth is inhabited with the Rinn, which are creatures a little larger than Earth’s draft horses, only the Rinn are more lion-like. Whereas Dain is a moon inhabited by people not unlike us, only with magic, albeit a faded, weak magic. The next two books in the series take place mostly on the Moon Dik Dek, which is a mer-world, covered by ocean, and the moon Mintar, which is encased with an unnatural snow and inhabited by giants.
Having these different moons gives me wonderful challenges. There is always something new coming around the next moon. There’s even one moon, the inhabitant of which are secretive about everything, which is pure steampunk. I can’t wait to get working on that one.
As for the origin of the story, I was racking my brain one night, trying to tell my daughter a new bedtime tale. I was exhausted, physically and mentally, and kept stumbling into that wonderland between dreams and sleep. My daughter kept elbowing me: “Wake up, Daddy, you’re not making any sense!” But I kept drifting off. And then, all in one jolt, I brought back with me The Moon Realm. About nine books worth.
2. Please tell us in one sentence only, why we should read your book.
If you love being immersed in intoxicating new worlds, weaving through story lines full of narrative puzzles, meeting invigorating characters, and enjoy nail-biting reveals, then my book is definitely for you—because it’s got all that and more.
3. Any other books in the works? Goals for future projects?
The Moon Coin is the first book in the Moon Realm Series. Book two, The Dragondain, is written, edited, and currently with the illustrator, Carolyn Arcabascio, for preliminary sketchwork. The eBook will be out the first week of September, and a paperbound version will follow a month or so later. I’m really excited about getting book two out into the world, because I write these books in pairs. The Moon Coin is part one, The Dragondain is part two. Writing the ending to a book two is always going to be easy because book twos will always have a really big finish. I pretty much just have to keep my fingers on the keyboard and hope my head doesn’t explode from the excitement. Writing the endings to part ones is far trickier. I work very, very hard to make sure the reader gets a satisfying end to those. My beta-readers played a significant role in getting the ending of The Moon Coin just right.
4. What inspired you to want to become a writer?
I have to write. I’ve found that I’m really only happy, only really at peace, when I’m trying to balance a narrative juggernaut in my brain. If I try and clear my mind, empty my thoughts, relax, let go—that’s when the tension and anxiety builds. I need a health dose of mayhem ricocheting through my head into order to chill out. I always have. Writing is the only salve I’ve found.
5. What’s one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors?
Read the genre you want to write until your eyeballs fall out. Then put them back in and read some more. Repeat.
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Guest Post…My Letter to Stephen King

Today we’re pleased to welcome author Georgina Morales to the blog – look out for her in the Indie Author Event in May – with a special guest post to Stephen King…let’s see what she has to say….

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I always try to write original guest posts, engaging and fun so as to not embarrass my host out of ever inviting me again. Most of the time I debate on how to do it and most of the times I end up talking about my books and works in progress.

You see, we writers are a funny bunch. We want you to know our names, though we suffer from acute shyness. There’s not one writer who won’t say that, in order to make it in the world you have to believe in yourself, yet we are afflicted by an extreme case of self-doubt and paralyzing fear to fail. We crave attention but not for ourselves, instead we love it when perfect strangers fall in love with our alter egos, those obscure voices that torture us until we get their story write and put in paper.

Yep, that’s us. A walking contradiction. We usually tend to avoid opening our hearts to our readers, preferring to let them peek into our souls through our books. Well, today I’ll try something different. I’ll take this wonderful opportunity to share with you an important set of events that have made me the writer I am today.

I refer to these events as “My Stephen King Complication”. It is somewhat funny and frustrating but I also know there’s a bigger design that may hold more than a couple of surprises for me in the future. Though I can’t be sure of what lies ahead, I wrote the following letter because I want to acknowledge the one man that has influenced me the most in my life with books. I want to thank him for touching me in such a special way and for inspiring me to come as far as I’ve come.

What follows is a letter for Stephen King; within its words resides a big piece of me. I still don’t know if I’ll mail it one day. I suppose I will, though fear of rejection has kept me from sending it before. Instead, today I share it with you. See what you think of my trip so far; how it relates to your own special ‘complications’ and to those great voices that have guided you along the way. Hope you like it.

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My Letter To Stephen King

Hi Mr. King,

That’s how well bred Mexicans always greet someone they don’t know. It’s very hard for us to call someone by his first name when there’s no previous relationship. My husband, however, keeps lecturing me about how stiff that sounds to Americans. Well, I was also taught that wherever you go, you do as they do. So, Stephen it is.

Hi Stephen, my name is Georgina and I’m your fan. Yeah, I know, me and the whole horde chanting your name outside the window. I guess I’m no different to all your other fans, except for the fact that destiny has been preventing us to meet.

Ok, preventing me from meeting you. Or to even getting close to your autograph. Whatever the case, I’ll explain myself so you don’t think I’m a nutcase and will pull an Annie Wilkes’ stunt on you.

This mess started a long, long time ago, when I was a kid. I grew up in Mexico City to a very regular, run-of-the-mill middle class family. I grew surrounded by books because my mother is a reader, but more of a romance-fantasy-mystery kinda reader. However, my father’s oldest brother was an avid reader, too. His bedroom in my grandma’s house, and where we slept when we stayed, was covered with horror, suspense, and thrillers. I still remember staring at those covers for hours. I was too young to read but I dreamed of the stories those pages conveyed and that’s how I came to realize my innate love for the genre.

It goes without saying that many of your books filled those walls—yet I point it out just to be clear—and that’s how I knew your name for the first time. I was only elated when I found “Carrie” among my mom’s bookcases. I stole it from there and hid it under my pillow. I know, not the best place to hide anything when you don’t make your own bed. Anyhow, I guess my mom didn’t think I could do much with it because she let me keep it there. The pages became gray in the corners where I turned them incessantly, even though I could read nothing that had more than four letters.

Time passed and with my goal in sight, I became a proficient reader. Soon I took the book and started reading it. Except I didn’t understand half a page of what was written. You see, reading and understanding are two completely different things, I learned. The many euphemisms and metaphors were too complex for me, and I got the feeling that I was being left out of the joke. After the fiftieth time I asked my mother “what does he mean when he says she felt tired like if she had prayed a whole rosary on her knees?” she advised me—as gentle as a yell can be—not to read something if I couldn’t understand it. I was barely on page twenty or so, and I stopped.

Years later I watched the movie version and loved it but by then my social life was getting more hectic and I’d forgotten my old grudge with “Carrie”, the book. It was then that my mom decided she had to do something to instill the love of reading in me. Right when I had no interest on it anymore. It figures. She then decided that an adventure book would do the trick and bought me “Treasure Island”.

I hated it. She kept telling me how exciting the story would get, and I kept struggling to move forward even one page. I finished it after many months and several threats of quitting. “Respect the book,” mom told me, “never leave a book mid-way”, and I’ve never done.

The day I finished I threw me a party and drank all the root beer my body could handle. Even to this date, fantasy and adventure are the genres I least enjoy—Thanks mom. —

Of course, the next day I searched those old bookcases and took Carrie down. I finished it in two weeks. Two weeks!! After seven months with the previous one. It was clear this was my path.

I don’t know if you ever toured in Mexico or did some kind of promotional appearance, but I never heard of it, so I grew up thinking authors were these semi-gods living up in the clouds where no one can find them, much less meet them.

I read a lot of your books, decided becoming a writer was not a viable option if I ever wanted to be able to sustain myself, and studied a ‘real’ profession. Then got married, got a child, and moved to the US. It was attending a spinning class at the local YMCA that a lady there saw me carrying the hefty book—”Cell”—that was my read of the moment.

“Ah, Stephen King. He writes big books, but they’re so good,” this lady said. I smiled and was about to agree with her when she added, “I remember seeing him once in a conference talking about his books. A very nice guy, indeed.”

It stopped me on my tracks. I could almost hear the angelic chant from the sky that always accompanies a great revelation. I could meet you in person! It was possible! All I had to do was find the place of your next appearance and kill if needed to be there.

I got home and looked on the Internet. I discovered you had an official website and subscribed, but the good news stopped there. You are not doing personal appearances anymore. Life had gotten in our way.

Fast-forward a few years to 2010. Do you remember that personal appearance in New York City? Hell, yeah! I bought my ticket, got super excited, and told everyone within an earshot that I was going to meet Stephen King. Then my husband got transferred to Montreal. Whatever. We looked for a nanny and were planning our drive back to attend when we got news that our tickets had gotten lost on the way. We asked them to re-issue the tickets but those, too, got lost.

Goddammit! There was nothing else that could be done. So I cried that day and threw a shaking-fist-tantrum to the universe for keeping us apart.

A year later I got wind of the special edition of IT through your website. I logged in to buy my signed copy and there were none left. Fine!

This year I tried with the signed copy of 11/22/63. This time I logged in at eight o’clock and paid for my copy. Yoo-hoo! I did my happy dance all morning… until Simon & Schuster called to say there had been a blip in the system and my order hadn’t passed. The copies were now sold out and they were sending me a free copy of the book. Sans signing. Are you f$%& kidding me?!

Ok, you know what? Fine. Life doesn’t want me to know my favorite author and inspiration? I don’t care. I have a theory. Now that I’m a published horror writer, albeit an unknown one, destiny is keeping us apart until we meet each other on the hallways of one of the ‘big six’ as colleagues.

Sorry, I was choking from laughing and eating lunch at the same time. Where was I? Oh, yes. I was daydreaming.

Anyway, Mr. King. Stephen. I just want to thank you for all those nightmares of my youth, for providing me with such a great and disturbing imagination, for being my goal for so many years. I truly hope one day our books can meet each other on a shelf somewhere if it is not for ourselves to meet.

Keep being awesome and just know how many lives you have touched and changed.

Thanks again,

Georgina Morales

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About the Author 

Born in Mexico City, Georgina was always divided between the world of the paranormal, the religious, and science, even as a kid. Through her years in medical school, she experienced and heard all kinds of creepy tales. She, now, writes from her home in Norwalk, Ct. where she resides in the company of her husband and two young daughters. The history of the northeast, its old buildings, and its endless forests provide her imagination with a constant influx of ideas, which combined with her rich background make for her unique style. She’s also a staff reviewer for Dark River Press.

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

www.diaryofawriterinprogress.blogspot.com

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Perpetual-Night-by-Georgina-Morales/159894374059399

http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4646361.Georgina_Morales

http://www.darkriverpress.com/reviews.html

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/perpetual-night-georgina-morales/1100075745?ean=9780615438405&itm=1&usri=georgina+morales

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=georgina+morales&x=0&y=0

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/38400

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Indie Author Spotlight…Tyler Mills

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month. It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
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This week’s spotlighted author is G. Tyler Mills…
About the Author – I was born in Charleston, South Carolina and grew up in north Alabama. I’m a graduate of the University of North Alabama. I’m married to an amazing wife. We share out little boy and two great dogs.
About the Book – I began to write this novel when my wife and I found out we would be having our first child. I had wanted to write for some time, but I wanted something driven by a compelling emotion. I discovered the feelings gained when having a child can be an overwhelming joy and I knew this was an emotion I wanted to guide my character. The feelings I immediately felt would cause me to do anything for this child and I knew it was a something that many have felt. I chose this relationship to be the motivation for the actions of my protagonist.
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Charles is an average man. He has a loving family and is solid in his own beliefs. But his faith is soon tested with the loss of his son and Charles becomes a man driven by the need for answers. He needs to know what happened to his child and is prepared to do anything to find out. As simple actions by multiple individuals begin to unfold, a tragedy is formed and Charles is caught in the middle. Throughout it all he knows he is not alone. He knows God is with him. As Charles begins to see signs of what he believes to be the truth behind his son’s disappearance, he’s unsure if these come from God or if they are just coincidences. Is it his vengeance that propels him or is he just doing God’s plan? His faith will either see him through this catastrophe or cause him to lose all he has left.

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

gtylermills.com

twitter.com/gtylermills


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Indie Author Spotlight…Julie Rainey

Indie Authors Spotlight is a weekly meme that will be held on every SATURDAY in the month. It is hosted by Beckie @Bittersweet Enchantment & CYP @A Bookalicious Story.
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This week’s spotlighted author is Julie Rainey…
About the Author: This is me, a full time mom and part time novelist. Lover of rock music, science, space and the vast unknown that awaits us in the universe. I have a wonderful husband and two beautiful children who support me immensely. I live in rural Missouri near a town no one has ever heard of, unless you’re studying to be an engineer and love to drink on St. Pats, then you know where Rolla is.  Actually I think the college once held the record for most alcohol consumed in one evening. My favorite author and book series has to be Orson Scott Card and the Ender Wiggins Saga. Second favorite is Gregory Maguire and Wicked, awesome writing. Science fictionhas been a love of mine for some time, almost as long as my love of reading.
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 Eighteen years after two caring strangers decide to take her in, Anne must face the harsh reality that everything in her life has been a complete and utter fabrication. With the help of her friend and Protector, she sets out on a journey back home, to planet she never even knew existed. Will she be able to defeat the terrifying evil that awaits her and uncover the truth about what’s really happening there before it’s too late?

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Want to know more? Check out the links!

Where to Buy: http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Princess-Journey-Home-ebook/dp/B007ODWT2S/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

Author Websites: http://jraineylostprincess.weebly.com   and    www.facebook.com/lostpricess