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Author Spotlight - Barbara M. Hodges

   Author Barbara M. Hodges lives on the central coast of CA. She shares her life with her husband Jeff, two basset hounds (Hamlet and Heidi) and a ginger-striped tabby cat, Wallace. Barbara is the author or co-author of nine novels. When she is not writing she enjoys going to and watching NASCAR on television as well as decorative painting.

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Interview:  

What, or who, inspired you to become a writer? My mom, Jean Stites  

When did you begin writing with the intention of being published? I was a late bloomer, not until my early 40's.  

Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and why? I am the oldest of four children. My mom read to us all, when I learned to read, I took care of the story sharing. It began my love for words and led to becoming an author.  

Do you come up with your title(s) before or after you write the manuscript(s)? It's worked both ways. I knew the title for Ice, before the first word was written. The same with The Blue Flame. The Emerald Dagger and The Silver Angel. With the others the book titles were not apparent until the story was told.  

Why do you write in the genre(s) that you’ve chosen? I write in genres I love to read, mystery, suspense, fantasy, and a little science fiction.  

What has been your most rewarding experience while in the writing process? Having people say they love my books and question as to when the next one will be out.  

What has been your most negative experience while in the writing process? Promoting and marketing is difficult. I've set in book stores for hours and not signed one book.  

What has been your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? Recently I’ve entered the arena of Indi-publishing. Since I’m a control freak I love designing my own book covers and having a bigger return of value for time is nice too.  

What has been your most negative experience in your publishing journey? I love writing, so it's hard to find a negative. I guess it would be when a publisher I’m with has to cease publishing. By then they've become friends and it is sad to say goodbye.  

What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? Don't let the rejection slips get you down.  

Who is your favorite author and why? Oh that is so hard. My favorite author can change week to week. I love discovering new ones. Right now it is Pamela Beason and Shannon Mayer. Love them, and highly recommend.  

Please tell us the title(s) of your current book(s): A Spiral Of Echoes, Aftermath, Ice, One Last Sin, Return Of The Ancients, Shadow Worlds, The Blue Flame, The Emerald Dagger and The Silver Angel.


What format(s) are your books in: Print Only - E-Book Only - or Both? All of my books are in both print and E-Book formats.  

What special projects are you working on now and what books do we have to look forward to in the future? I am working on a short story, The Lost Hours, for the Public Service Writers Association writing contest, as well as two more suspense books.

Is there anything else that you would like to share with us? I do a once a month internet radio broadcast on Blog Talk Radio. It is the third Tuesday of the month at 3:00 PM Pacific Time. The show’s name is No Limits. I talk with those involved in the field of writing. I also do interviews for Mysterical-E, which is an online mystery magazine.

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 Return Of The Ancients: A Story Of Daradawn – by Barbara M. Hodges
Daradawn's peace is shattered when three Valkyrie warriors, fleeing their blood enemy, the Followers of the Sun, call upon their magic in a circle of stones as old as time. The wild magic rips open two rifts into Daradawn. One for the desperate Valkyrie, the other for the Dubv'Llewelyn, dark elves, banished a thousand years go into the world of humans. Into Daradawn they come, the Valkyrie, the Followers of the Sun and the Dubv'Llewelyn. War rages, the lightest magic against the darkest. There is no middle ground. It is rule or be enslaved, and no matter the outcome, for those of Daradawn, their lives will never be the same.

Genre: Fantasy  

Amazon Print Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1495384659?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1495384659&linkCode=xm2&tag=colcofpre-20  

Amazon Kindle Purchase Link: http://www.amazon.com/Return-Ancients-Daradawn-Barbara-Hodges-ebook/dp/B00IJ17A6O/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=  

Nook Purchase Link:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/return-of-the-ancients-barbara-m-hodges/1118713764?ean=9781495384653  

Barbara M. Hodges’ Website:http://barbaramhodges.com  

Please Visit Barbara M. Hodges Author’s Page At Cold Coffee Press http://www.coldcoffeepress.com/barbara-m-hodges/      

Book Spotlight - A Cupboardful Of Shoes And Other Stories - by Colin A. Wright

After a life dedicated to the study of languages, A. Colin Wright has distilled his life's observations into this engaging collection of short stories, most of which have been previously published in literary journals. Now retired, his life's adventures, which include serving in the British Air Force, attending Cambridge University, and being a professor of Russian, have inspired this collection. "I'm a librarian and I kissed a film star once. I touched her nipples too. At least, I think I did." So begins "Queen's Grill." Horatio Humphries, one of the unreliable narrators, strikes up a brief friendship with a movie star on a rough Atlantic crossing, but his "twin" brother doesn't believe him. In "A Pregnant Woman with Parcels at Brock and Bagot," an unnamed woman may or may not have an affair with a man she met at a party-depending on whether she can get by a woman in front of her. "Distantly from Gardens," a variant on the theme of the "double" found often in Russian literature, presents a man with a split personality, inhabited by two narrators who are his past as well as his present. While other stories are told in either the first or third person, the subject here demands the use of the second. The stories in A Cupboardful of Shoes explore subjects as wide-ranging as largely disappointed love, violence, and war, sometimes with an underlying religious theme, serving to illustrate Wright's eclectic style and literary interests.
Amazon Print Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1466900989?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1466900989&linkCode=xm2&tag=colcofpre-20  

Kindle Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083SD986/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0083SD986&linkCode=as2&tag=colcofpre-20  

Barnes And Nobles Print Purchase Link:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-cupboardful-of-shoes-a-colin-wright/1111525273?ean=9781466900981  

Nook Purchase Link:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-cupboardful-of-shoes-a-colin-wright/1111525273?ean=9781466900998
 
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A. Colin Wright is an award-winning author of plays, novels, short stories, journalism and other non-fiction. He has published a major book and many acedemic articles on Russian and Comparative Literature.

Born in 1938 in Chelmsford, England, and educated at Pembroke College, Camridge (with a doctorate in Modern Languages), he came to Canada in 1964 and now lives in Kingston, Ontario, where is Professor Emeritus at Queen's University.

He is married, with two sons.

His short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals in Canada and England. Two of his plays have been winners or finalists in the Threatre BC National Playwriting Competition, and another was winner of the 1995 Gladys Cameron Watt Award in the Ottawa Little Theatre One-Act Playwriting Competition.

In addition he is active as director and actor in the theatre. As well as Russian, he is fluent in French, German and Italian, has basic Spanish and elementary knowledge of Scottish Gaelic. He has also acted as a leader for Craig Travel on trips to Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, China, Southern India and Nort Atlantic Islands.  

Theatrical Credits:
Directing: (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
Ladies in Retirement (assistant director)
Shadowlands
The Importance of Being Ernest
The Night of the Iguana
The Freedom of the City
The Heiress
Acting:
The Troll King, Monsieur Ballon and two other roles, Peer Gynt
Malvolia, Twelfth Night
First Voice, Under Milk Wood
Rosenberg, Amadeus(Theatre 5 and Grand Theatre, Kingston)
Father Jack, Dancing at Lughnasa (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
Claude Amory, Black Coffee (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
Published Books: Sardinian Silver, Mikhail Bulgakov: Life and Interpretations, and A Cupboard Full Of Shoes.  

Author A. Colin Wright Websites:http://www.CanAuthors.org
http://www.sardiniansilver.com http://www.italianamericanpress.com
http://www.authorsden.com http://www.cupboardfulofshoes.com  

Please Visit A. Colin Wrights Author’s Page At Cold Coffee Press http://www.coldcoffeepress.com/a-colin-wright/  

Author Spotlight - A. Colin Wright

   A. Colin Wright is an award-winning author of plays, novels, short stories, journalism and other non-fiction. He has published a major book and many acedemic articles on Russian and Comparative Literature.

Born in 1938 in Chelmsford, England, and educated at Pembroke College, Camridge (with a doctorate in Modern Languages), he came to Canada in 1964 and now lives in Kingston, Ontario, where is Professor Emeritus at Queen's University.

He is married, with two sons.

His short stories have appeared in numerous literary journals in Canada and England. Two of his plays have been winners or finalists in the Threatre BC National Playwriting Competition, and another was winner of the 1995 Gladys Cameron Watt Award in the Ottawa Little Theatre One-Act Playwriting Competition. In addition he is active as director and actor in the theatre. As well as Russian, he is fluent in French, German and Italian, has basic Spanish and elementary knowledge of Scottish Gaelic. He has also acted as a leader for Craig Travel on trips to Russia, Ukraine, South Africa, China, Southern India and Nort Atlantic Islands.  

Theatrical Credits:
Directing: (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
Ladies in Retirement (assistant director)
Shadowlands
The Importance of Being Ernest
The Night of the Iguana
The Freedom of the City
The Heiress
Acting:
The Troll King, Monsieur Ballon and two other roles, Peer Gynt
Malvolia, Twelfth Night
First Voice, Under Milk Wood
Rosenberg, Amadeus(Theatre 5 and Grand Theatre, Kingston)
Father Jack, Dancing at Lughnasa (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
Claude Amory, Black Coffee (Domino Theatre, Kingston)
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Tell us what makes you proud to be a writer from Kingston, Ontario, Canada? Canadian literature is of course well known, but I'd regard myself as a British and international writer rather than just a Canadian one. I was born in Chelmsford, Essex, England. After serving as a linguist in the British Royal Air Force (learning Russian), I attended Cambridge University, where I earned M.A and Ph.D degrees. In 1962 I lived for six months in Sassari, Sardinia, followed the next year by a longer period in Reggio Calabria. I speak five languages reasonably fluently, and can stumble along in two more. In 1964, after a year’s study at the Herzen Pedagogical Institute in Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), I was appointed professor of Russian at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario. I remained at Queen’s until retirement in 1999 and still reside in Kingston. I am married and have two grown sons.

 What or who inspired you to become a writer? My French/German teacher at school in England, who subsequently became a writer of detective novels.  

When did you begin writing with the intention of becoming published? At a relatively early age, I read a book on English history from the local children’s library. I decided to dramatize the kings of England, using paper cut-outs as puppets. The project didn’t get very far, but I still have a few pages of elementary dialogue, such as William II dying by an arrow in the New Forest, with him falling off his horse and saying “Oh blow! It was in 1956 that I began writing with the intension of being published, but I wasn't first published until 1967.

 Did your environment or upbringing play a major role in your writing and why? Encouraged by a teacher at grammar school in England, I just wanted to write, trying short stories — which were so terrible that I haven’t the courage to reread them. I studied French, German and Russian, which included their literatures, at Cambridge University and then taught Russian Language and Literature at Queen's University (Kingston, Ontario, Canada) for 35 years. I've always regarded literature as a serious activity which should challenge readers; thus I dislike post-modernism and simple stories about everyday life, particularly if there's not much plot. Then, when I was teaching at University, I published academic articles on Russian and comparative literature, including a major book on Mikhail Bulgakov. But I still wrote novels, short stories and plays.

 Do you come up with your title (s) before or after you write the manuscript (s)? Depends. With my current novel, Sardinian Silver, the title really suggested itself: the name of an actual wine which seemed appropriate symbolically.  

Tell us why you write the genre (s) that you write? Well I have written academic works (many articles and a major book published by University of Toronto Press, Mikhail Bulgakov; Life and Interpretations.) I've published about twenty short stories, written novels and plays (some performed locally). In fact I think I've written everything--even some journalism--except poetry, which I don't relate to. Basically I choose whatever genre seems most appropriate.  

Tell us your most rewarding experience while in the writing process? Crafting something into good writing.

Tell us your most negative experience while in the writing process? Writer's block, which I've been suffering from for a while now.  

Tell us your most rewarding experience in your publishing journey? Having things appreciated by an audience.  

Tell us your most negative experience in your publishing journey? Sending out endless query letters to no avail.  

What one positive piece of advice would you give to other authors? Just keep at it if you're sure you want that, but be sure that you do.  

Who Is Your Favorite Author? Mikhail Bulgakov, who was my main academic research interest. I regard his ‘The Master and Margarita’ as the greatest book of the twentieth century.

 Published Books: Sardinian Silver, Mikhail Bulgakov: Life and Interpretations, and A Cupboard Full Of Shoes.

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A Cupboardful Of Shoes: And Other Stories - by Colin A. Wright
After a life dedicated to the study of languages, A. Colin Wright has distilled his life's observations into this engaging collection of short stories, most of which have been previously published in literary journals. Now retired, his life's adventures, which include serving in the British Air Force, attending Cambridge University, and being a professor of Russian, have inspired this collection. "I'm a librarian and I kissed a film star once. I touched her nipples too. At least, I think I did." So begins "Queen's Grill." Horatio Humphries, one of the unreliable narrators, strikes up a brief friendship with a movie star on a rough Atlantic crossing, but his "twin" brother doesn't believe him. In "A Pregnant Woman with Parcels at Brock and Bagot," an unnamed woman may or may not have an affair with a man she met at a party-depending on whether she can get by a woman in front of her. "Distantly from Gardens," a variant on the theme of the "double" found often in Russian literature, presents a man with a split personality, inhabited by two narrators who are his past as well as his present. While other stories are told in either the first or third person, the subject here demands the use of the second. The stories in A Cupboardful of Shoes explore subjects as wide-ranging as largely disappointed love, violence, and war, sometimes with an underlying religious theme, serving to illustrate Wright's eclectic style and literary interests.

Genre: Short Story Collection  

Amazon Print Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1466900989?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creativeASIN=1466900989&linkCode=xm2&tag=colcofpre-20  

Kindle Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0083SD986/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=B0083SD986&linkCode=as2&tag=colcofpre-20  

Barnes And Nobles Print Purchase Link:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-cupboardful-of-shoes-a-colin-wright/1111525273?ean=9781466900981  

Nook Purchase Link:http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/a-cupboardful-of-shoes-a-colin-wright/1111525273?ean=9781466900998  

Author A. Colin Wright Websites:
http://www.CanAuthors.org
http://www.sardiniansilver.com http://www.italianamericanpress.com http://www.authorsden.com
http://www.cupboardfulofshoes.co  

Please Visit A. Colin Wrights Author’s Page At Cold Coffee Press http://www.coldcoffeepress.com/a-colin-wright/

Book Spotlight - Respot The Pin – by Timothy Sawyer

The notorious Nikitin drug cartel has ruined the lives of many people, and has left a trail of death in its wake. Jan ‘Jesse’ Schild is one of these people. When his wife and young daughter are killed in an explosion of one of Nikitin’s drug labs, his life is turned upside down. In the process of rebuilding his life, he is attracted to another young woman whose life is also threatened by Nikitin. Jesse vows that Nikitin will never take another innocent life. With allies and villains everywhere you turn, will the Nikitin cartel finally meet its end?

Sequel: Victor’s Gambit Coming In 2015.

Genre: Fiction, Drama  

View Video Book Trailer:http://www.coldcoffeepress.com/timothy-sawyer/

CreateSpace Purchase Link:https://www.createspace.com/4101501  

Amazon Print Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1481282700/ref=as_li_tf_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=211189&creative=373489&creativeASIN=1481282700&link_code=as3&tag=colcofpre-20  

Kindle Purchase Link:http://www.amazon.com/Respot-Pin-Timothy-Sawyer-ebook/dp/B00AVQDQLI/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=

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Note From Author Timothy Sawyer:


Treat your opponent as you would want to be treated, and above all else treat YOURSELF as you want to be treated! 

Through my writings, it is my goal and sincere wish to tell people that they are not alone in their suffering. Depression is so widespread, especially in these times; there are people that don’t even know that they are suffering from it. If one life can be changed for the better from my books, then my goal has been fulfilled. I am not a mental health professional. I am not an ordained minister, nor do I have any degrees in theology. My background is in Information Technology.

In essence, I am just a man who wants to share part of his story with the rest of the world in hopes that through my book we can form some sort of connection, and if necessary seek help because of that connection. A life saved or a life changed for the better because of my writings is worth so much more than a royalty payment.

Birth Place: San Jose, CA USA  

Accomplishments: Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP). Managing Director of MBD Consulting. Member of Loyal Order of Moose and the Professional Bowler’s Association (PBA). I am also is a member of the Professional Bowlers Association, an avid chess player. I live with my wife, stepdaughter and four dogs.  

Author Timothy Sawyer’s Website:http://www.timsawyer-books.com

Please Visit Timothy Sawyer Author’s Page At Cold Coffee Press: http://www.coldcoffeepress.com/timothy-sawyer/