C.A. King's Blog, page 9
October 3, 2016
A tribute to three amazing stars. Part One ~ Mick Foley
As an indie author, I attend various events throughout the year. Library readings, book festivals and comiccons are part of my life. While I enjoy all of them, comiccons are usually my favourite. There is a certain sense of fun that attaches to the vivid cosplay costumes and line-up of attending stars. In the past, I have had brief moments in which I spoke to certain celebrities, but nothing more than small chatter. I should mention Paul Kenny (Canadian Storage Wars) did take a couple of my swag trees to plant from Niagara Falls Comiccon.
Hamilton Comiccon was different - the air was much more relaxed. I knew heading there that three celebrities who had impacted my life were attending, but I never imagined I would actually have the chance to meet and talk to them or that they would take home a copy of my book.
Mick Foley
Wrestling fans everywhere know his name. Whether he is himself, Dude Love, Cactus Jack, Mankind, part of the Rock & Sock Connection, the General Manager of Raw, an actor, a voice actor, or a comedian, fans love him.
Monday Night Raw is a tradition in my house and, of course, the WWE Network. I sit down with my two boys and we talk about the matches – it's an all-around good evening of conversation, laughter and fun that I don't anticipate ending anytime soon. Mick Foley has been a big part of those nights. When he was directly beside my booth, I had to say something. If you are wondering, he is as nice as everyone says he is - a truly gracious star. Seeing him with a copy of my book was the first real wow moment of my writing career. It took a few moments for the butterflies to settle down, before I realized I should have asked for a picture for my scrapbook. My assistant (and friend) Finn Cole headed over to his signing table, and Mr. Foley was kind enough to pose with book in hand.
In some families, the children have superheroes they look up to. For my oldest son, Mick Foley has always been that superhero and role model. When I came home Saturday night, I could tell by the expression on is face that he was distraught over having missed the opportunity to meet the wrestling legend. It was the second time that had happened. He previously attended a comedy night and the lines were too long. Sunday, he made sure to be there before comiccon ended. My assistant (and friend) took him over to purchase an autograph. He was a bit tongue-tied, but make no mistake, that was the best moment of his life. For that I will always be indebted. Thank-you Mick Foley for everything you have given my family!
Hamilton Comiccon 2016 will go down as my best experience as an author. The fact that all three of these stars have a copy of my book, whether they read it or not, is a feeling I can't begin to describe. One last time, Thank you all for making my life a little more special. The world could use a few more people like these three!
Hamilton Comiccon was different - the air was much more relaxed. I knew heading there that three celebrities who had impacted my life were attending, but I never imagined I would actually have the chance to meet and talk to them or that they would take home a copy of my book.
Mick Foley
Wrestling fans everywhere know his name. Whether he is himself, Dude Love, Cactus Jack, Mankind, part of the Rock & Sock Connection, the General Manager of Raw, an actor, a voice actor, or a comedian, fans love him.
Monday Night Raw is a tradition in my house and, of course, the WWE Network. I sit down with my two boys and we talk about the matches – it's an all-around good evening of conversation, laughter and fun that I don't anticipate ending anytime soon. Mick Foley has been a big part of those nights. When he was directly beside my booth, I had to say something. If you are wondering, he is as nice as everyone says he is - a truly gracious star. Seeing him with a copy of my book was the first real wow moment of my writing career. It took a few moments for the butterflies to settle down, before I realized I should have asked for a picture for my scrapbook. My assistant (and friend) Finn Cole headed over to his signing table, and Mr. Foley was kind enough to pose with book in hand.
In some families, the children have superheroes they look up to. For my oldest son, Mick Foley has always been that superhero and role model. When I came home Saturday night, I could tell by the expression on is face that he was distraught over having missed the opportunity to meet the wrestling legend. It was the second time that had happened. He previously attended a comedy night and the lines were too long. Sunday, he made sure to be there before comiccon ended. My assistant (and friend) took him over to purchase an autograph. He was a bit tongue-tied, but make no mistake, that was the best moment of his life. For that I will always be indebted. Thank-you Mick Foley for everything you have given my family!
Hamilton Comiccon 2016 will go down as my best experience as an author. The fact that all three of these stars have a copy of my book, whether they read it or not, is a feeling I can't begin to describe. One last time, Thank you all for making my life a little more special. The world could use a few more people like these three!
September 21, 2016
Author Interview: J.D. Cunegan
This week's featured author is J.D. Cunegan
J.D. Cunegan introduces Behind the Badge, the third installment of the Jill Andersen series, a mixture of murder mystery and superhero epic that re-introduces the reader to his comic book-inspired storytelling and fast-paced prose. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Cunegan has an extensive background in journalism and a lifelong love for writing. When he's not writing or reading, Cunegan is also an editor, using his years of experience to help other authors fine-tune their manuscripts before publication. Cunegan lives in Hampton, Virginia, enjoys reading, and is an avid auto racing fan.
Bounty:
Jill Andersen is one of Baltimore's best and brightest detectives, but she harbors a dark secret -- a secret that threatens to come out when the body of Dr. Trent Roberts is pulled out of the Chesapeake Bay. Dr. Roberts' connection to Jill reveals a past that involves a tour in Iraq, a secretive cybernetic experiment, and a conspiracy that involves a native son.
Can Jill solve the case while still keeping her secret? Will her partners at the Seventh Precinct find out what she's so desperate to hide? What was Dr. Roberts looking into that led to his murder? And perhaps the biggest question of all...
Who is Bounty?
Buy Now
Blood Ties:
For as long as Jill Andersen could remember, her father was a hero.
But heroes don’t commit murder, do they? The state of Maryland said Paul Andersen did just that, three times over, and was set to execute him for it. But Jill and the rest of her colleagues at the Baltimore Police Department come across the murder of a law student that leaves her hopeful that she can clear her father’s name.
While Jill and her colleagues work against the clock to clear her father’s name, new players emerge, hinting to a deeper, darker conspiracy than what was previously known. An enigmatic faction known as The Order reveals itself, and the mystery surrounding Paul’s alleged duplicity leaves more questions than answers.
Along the way, Jill must not only face the possibility that her father was not who she thought he was, but she must also face the prospect of her secret being revealed. The stakes are higher than ever in Blood Ties, the intense follow-up to J.D. Cunegan’s debut mystery Bounty.
Can Jill save her father before it’s too late? Will she even want to?
Buy Now
Behind the Badge:
For Jill Andersen, being part of the Baltimore Police Department has always been both a tremendous honor and a serious responsibility. Her father, before his fall from grace, had instilled in her a great respect for police and the work they do day-to-day. But when a teenage boy winds up dead on the outskirts of downtown Baltimore, Jill finds herself once again faced with those who would abuse their badges to fulfill personal agendas and uphold biases.
Jill still has a job to do, but she soon finds that not everyone is in her corner. For the first time in almost four years working Homicide, Jill finds herself at odds with people who claim to be on her side. From other cops to suits downtown all the way to the Mayor’s office, it becomes increasingly clear that Jill will need to rely on more than just her badge if she’s to solve this case.
But even if she finds justice, what’s the price?
Behind the Badge, the gripping, hard-hitting third novel in the Jill Andersen series (Bounty, Blood Ties), gives readers another taste of author J.D. Cunegan’s comic book-inspired brand of fast-paced prose, with chapters that fly by and plot twists that will leave readers constantly guessing and waiting for more.
Buy Now
Boundless (digital short, prequel):
A little more than two years before the events of Bounty, Jill Andersen makes a life-altering decision. But this decision comes with consequences she didn’t foresee, and her first night as the vigilante Bounty winds up being something for which she was wholly unprepared.
A crisis of faith eventually gives way to certainty: both in terms of discovering who killed a young man named Johnny Ruiz and in terms of coping with the latest change in her own life.
Along the way, Jill defies death and discovers just how deep the city’s corruption runs. But will she survive the experience long enough to decide if a life of vigilantism is for her?
Buy Now
I had the opportunity to as J.D. Cunegan a few question. I hope you enjoy the answers as much as I did.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: Right now, I’m writing murder mysteries that also have thriller and sci-fi elements to them. With Jill being a cybernetically-enhanced superhero, this series goes beyond what one might expect from a typical murder mystery and sometimes delves into more of a comic book, serialized story arc. In addition to the Jill Andersen series, I have a number of manuscripts in the works spanning other genres; I have a fantasy epic called Notna in the works, as well as an occult book called The Keeper and a political thriller called The Pen is Mighty. I hope to have all of those out sometime within the next two years.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Violence is probably the biggest thing; some of the murder victims in my books have been killed in pretty graphic ways, and sometimes my fight scenes can get quite violent. I try to stay away from certain topics, like sexual assault, and there is nothing explicitly sexual in my books (partly because my protagonist is asexual, but I just don’t feel like that sort of thing fits in my writing). I don’t know if I would consider the violence in my work triggering, but if it is for some, the warning is warranted.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate.
Answer: On Saturday, Oct. 15, I will be at Hampton Comicon in Hampton, Virginia. I will have copies of all three of my novels available for purchase, and I also want to use the opportunity to spread the word about some of the works other NaNo authors have written. For example, I still have a stack of bookmarks R.R. Virdi sent me that I’ll have on display, and I know a few other authors have agreed to send me stuff to hand out. I wanna get the word out not just about my work, but for others as well.
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer: In addition to the three books I mentioned in my first answer, I’m also busy writing the next two books in the Jill Andersen series. Behind the Mask, the fourth book, will hopefully release in January, and I’m looking to have book five, Betrayed, out sometime next summer. Between all of those and my editing, I keep quite busy.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: Pop culture references are my Easter eggs. There have been plenty of Batman references in my work so far, and each of my first two novels included references to the TV show Castle as well. It’s part of how I make sure the story and the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s a window into the sort of things that have influenced by writing over the years.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer: Being a comic book geek, I was a huge X-Men fan. For the longest time, if it wasn’t X-Men, I wouldn’t read it. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older, my tastes have broadened considerably. I still read comic books and graphic novels, but I’m also reading far more novels than I ever did when I was younger. I guess writing my own has given me a greater appreciation for them.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: “Write what you know.”
Because a) we never know as much as we think we know, and b) sticking to just what we know is how we get bland, uninspired storytelling. Branching out, increasing our knowledge base, that’s what inspires us and leads us down narrative roads we never considered. If we don’t learn something new, we don’t grow, and our art suffers for it.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Lately, I’ve been partial to chicken wing and BBQ ribs. Don’t think they’ve made it into my work yet, though.
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer: “He doesn’t know what he’s doing, yet he keeps plugging along.”
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer: There are only two ways to improve: write and read. The more you write, the better you get. The more you read, the better you get. Even if you only manage to put down a few sentences one day, you still wrote. You still have more than what you started with. Writing is like everything else in art: only constant practice will yield improvement.
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer: Publishing my debut novel, Bounty, without putting effort and thought into the cover. I didn’t realize at the time just how important a book’s cover is, but I definitely learned that lesson.
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer: Whenever one of them sends me a tweet or text or Facebook post asking when the next book’s coming out. It’s rare, but when it does happen, I get momentarily giddy at the thought of someone liking my work so much that they outright ask me for more of it (politely, of course).
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer: The year 2024… just in a case a certain orange-tinted “billionaire” actually happens to become president, I won’t have to actually live through it.
Thank you for your time! You can find out more about J.D. Cunegan using the following links.
Website / Amazon / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr
J.D. Cunegan introduces Behind the Badge, the third installment of the Jill Andersen series, a mixture of murder mystery and superhero epic that re-introduces the reader to his comic book-inspired storytelling and fast-paced prose. A 2006 graduate of Old Dominion University, Cunegan has an extensive background in journalism and a lifelong love for writing. When he's not writing or reading, Cunegan is also an editor, using his years of experience to help other authors fine-tune their manuscripts before publication. Cunegan lives in Hampton, Virginia, enjoys reading, and is an avid auto racing fan.
Bounty:
Jill Andersen is one of Baltimore's best and brightest detectives, but she harbors a dark secret -- a secret that threatens to come out when the body of Dr. Trent Roberts is pulled out of the Chesapeake Bay. Dr. Roberts' connection to Jill reveals a past that involves a tour in Iraq, a secretive cybernetic experiment, and a conspiracy that involves a native son.
Can Jill solve the case while still keeping her secret? Will her partners at the Seventh Precinct find out what she's so desperate to hide? What was Dr. Roberts looking into that led to his murder? And perhaps the biggest question of all...
Who is Bounty?
Buy Now
Blood Ties:
For as long as Jill Andersen could remember, her father was a hero.
But heroes don’t commit murder, do they? The state of Maryland said Paul Andersen did just that, three times over, and was set to execute him for it. But Jill and the rest of her colleagues at the Baltimore Police Department come across the murder of a law student that leaves her hopeful that she can clear her father’s name.
While Jill and her colleagues work against the clock to clear her father’s name, new players emerge, hinting to a deeper, darker conspiracy than what was previously known. An enigmatic faction known as The Order reveals itself, and the mystery surrounding Paul’s alleged duplicity leaves more questions than answers.
Along the way, Jill must not only face the possibility that her father was not who she thought he was, but she must also face the prospect of her secret being revealed. The stakes are higher than ever in Blood Ties, the intense follow-up to J.D. Cunegan’s debut mystery Bounty.
Can Jill save her father before it’s too late? Will she even want to?
Buy Now
Behind the Badge:
For Jill Andersen, being part of the Baltimore Police Department has always been both a tremendous honor and a serious responsibility. Her father, before his fall from grace, had instilled in her a great respect for police and the work they do day-to-day. But when a teenage boy winds up dead on the outskirts of downtown Baltimore, Jill finds herself once again faced with those who would abuse their badges to fulfill personal agendas and uphold biases.
Jill still has a job to do, but she soon finds that not everyone is in her corner. For the first time in almost four years working Homicide, Jill finds herself at odds with people who claim to be on her side. From other cops to suits downtown all the way to the Mayor’s office, it becomes increasingly clear that Jill will need to rely on more than just her badge if she’s to solve this case.
But even if she finds justice, what’s the price?
Behind the Badge, the gripping, hard-hitting third novel in the Jill Andersen series (Bounty, Blood Ties), gives readers another taste of author J.D. Cunegan’s comic book-inspired brand of fast-paced prose, with chapters that fly by and plot twists that will leave readers constantly guessing and waiting for more.
Buy Now
Boundless (digital short, prequel):
A little more than two years before the events of Bounty, Jill Andersen makes a life-altering decision. But this decision comes with consequences she didn’t foresee, and her first night as the vigilante Bounty winds up being something for which she was wholly unprepared.
A crisis of faith eventually gives way to certainty: both in terms of discovering who killed a young man named Johnny Ruiz and in terms of coping with the latest change in her own life.
Along the way, Jill defies death and discovers just how deep the city’s corruption runs. But will she survive the experience long enough to decide if a life of vigilantism is for her?
Buy Now
I had the opportunity to as J.D. Cunegan a few question. I hope you enjoy the answers as much as I did.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: Right now, I’m writing murder mysteries that also have thriller and sci-fi elements to them. With Jill being a cybernetically-enhanced superhero, this series goes beyond what one might expect from a typical murder mystery and sometimes delves into more of a comic book, serialized story arc. In addition to the Jill Andersen series, I have a number of manuscripts in the works spanning other genres; I have a fantasy epic called Notna in the works, as well as an occult book called The Keeper and a political thriller called The Pen is Mighty. I hope to have all of those out sometime within the next two years.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Violence is probably the biggest thing; some of the murder victims in my books have been killed in pretty graphic ways, and sometimes my fight scenes can get quite violent. I try to stay away from certain topics, like sexual assault, and there is nothing explicitly sexual in my books (partly because my protagonist is asexual, but I just don’t feel like that sort of thing fits in my writing). I don’t know if I would consider the violence in my work triggering, but if it is for some, the warning is warranted.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate.
Answer: On Saturday, Oct. 15, I will be at Hampton Comicon in Hampton, Virginia. I will have copies of all three of my novels available for purchase, and I also want to use the opportunity to spread the word about some of the works other NaNo authors have written. For example, I still have a stack of bookmarks R.R. Virdi sent me that I’ll have on display, and I know a few other authors have agreed to send me stuff to hand out. I wanna get the word out not just about my work, but for others as well.
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer: In addition to the three books I mentioned in my first answer, I’m also busy writing the next two books in the Jill Andersen series. Behind the Mask, the fourth book, will hopefully release in January, and I’m looking to have book five, Betrayed, out sometime next summer. Between all of those and my editing, I keep quite busy.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: Pop culture references are my Easter eggs. There have been plenty of Batman references in my work so far, and each of my first two novels included references to the TV show Castle as well. It’s part of how I make sure the story and the characters don’t take themselves too seriously, and it’s a window into the sort of things that have influenced by writing over the years.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer: Being a comic book geek, I was a huge X-Men fan. For the longest time, if it wasn’t X-Men, I wouldn’t read it. Fortunately, as I’ve gotten older, my tastes have broadened considerably. I still read comic books and graphic novels, but I’m also reading far more novels than I ever did when I was younger. I guess writing my own has given me a greater appreciation for them.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: “Write what you know.”
Because a) we never know as much as we think we know, and b) sticking to just what we know is how we get bland, uninspired storytelling. Branching out, increasing our knowledge base, that’s what inspires us and leads us down narrative roads we never considered. If we don’t learn something new, we don’t grow, and our art suffers for it.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Lately, I’ve been partial to chicken wing and BBQ ribs. Don’t think they’ve made it into my work yet, though.
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer: “He doesn’t know what he’s doing, yet he keeps plugging along.”
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer: There are only two ways to improve: write and read. The more you write, the better you get. The more you read, the better you get. Even if you only manage to put down a few sentences one day, you still wrote. You still have more than what you started with. Writing is like everything else in art: only constant practice will yield improvement.
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer: Publishing my debut novel, Bounty, without putting effort and thought into the cover. I didn’t realize at the time just how important a book’s cover is, but I definitely learned that lesson.
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer: Whenever one of them sends me a tweet or text or Facebook post asking when the next book’s coming out. It’s rare, but when it does happen, I get momentarily giddy at the thought of someone liking my work so much that they outright ask me for more of it (politely, of course).
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer: The year 2024… just in a case a certain orange-tinted “billionaire” actually happens to become president, I won’t have to actually live through it.
Thank you for your time! You can find out more about J.D. Cunegan using the following links.
Website / Amazon / Goodreads / Facebook / Twitter / Tumblr
September 15, 2016
Author Interview: Tito Martinez Barberi
This week's featured author is Tito Martinez Barberi
Tito Martínez Barberi was born in México City, where he spent many years doing copyright and translation work. His experience as a copyrighter and translator, added to what Tito himself calls his "hyper-imagination", inspired and allowed him to write the saga of the Keeper of the Balance.
Tito is a lover of fantasy and sci-fi literature and movies. Although he currently lives in Puebla, México, Tito's mind spends most of its time in Akaladia, writing the next books in The Keeper of the Balance series.
I recently had the opportunity to ask Tito a few questions.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: The Keeper of the Balance series has been described as a dystopian fantasy/sci-fi mash-up, which I believe is a pretty accurate description of the series as a whole.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Not that I can think of, to be honest. I wanted to make these books accessible to readers of all ages, though I believe a few scenes can be violent to young readers under the age of 13.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate.
Not at the moment. But people can always check out an interview I did for a new, exciting website called Bouncepen.com, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMI4I...
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
I’m currently working on The Keeper of the Balance IV: The Last Bastion, which will be the final book in the series.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: Oh, yes! In book 2, the characters discuss the main character of a space opera, named “Vadkin Anadath” (an anagram on Anakin/Darth Vader). And there are a couple of characters in book 3 named Nedrick Krats and Robney Bratheon as a tip of the hat to Eddard “Ned” Stark and Robert Baratheon. These are references to Star Wars and A Song of Ice and Fire, my favorite film and book series, respectively.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I still love the trilogy to this day, and I’m thoroughly convinced that fantasy literature wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Professor Tolkien’s masterpiece.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: That I should make certain changes to my work so that my books can meet the current trends that readers prefer these days. I’ll never change my vision to sell more books. My approach to writing is that I write what I’d enjoy to read myself. And obviously there will be like-minded people out there who will hopefully love my books as much as me.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Gorditas de chicharrón. This is a traditional Mexican dish that is quite popular in Mexico City, where I was born. You can find stands selling this greasy kind of fast food almost on every corner in the city. There’s a scene in book 2 where a couple of characters have some fat, greasy “pork pies” for breakfast. That was the best translation I could find for this dish (laughs).
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer:Uh, this is hard (laughs). I mean it. That would be the tagline. But hey, if life was easy it’d be too boring!
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer:Well, I published the first book in my current series early in 2015, so I guess this makes me a new writer myself. That being said, I’ve been doing creative/artistic work all of my life, and if there’s one capital rule I’ve found on art & creativity is that there’s only one person you can aim to please with your work: yourself.
It’s impossible to please everyone else. And again, if you love your work chances are many people out there will like it too!
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer:Oh, this one’s easy (laughs)…
I started writing the series way back in ’08, so by the time I released book one (in early ’15), I had already written the two sequels. A few beta-readers and fellow authors suggested that I release those sequels ASAP, because readers become leery when a new author takes too long in releasing the next book in a series, fearing that it may never be finished.
As an indie author, however, releasing 3 of the 4 books in the series in this fashion has become a nightmare (laughs)! It’s hard enough to get your name out there and to promote one single book at a time. Three has proven to be almost impossible.
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer:The best moment was when a couple of readers asked me when I would release book 3, almost immediately after reading book 2. This meant the world to me, because it is exactly what I set out to do when I started writing this series. I wanted readers to become so invested in The Keeper of the Balance that they would demand more and more!
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer:Well, the Buddha said that it’s better to live in the here and now, and I think that’s some great advice. So I’d rather live in the present and make the most of every moment!
Thank you, Tito, for your time.
You can find Tito Martinez Barberi using the following links"
Website / Amazon / Author Facebook Page / Book Facebook Page / Bouncepen Author Profle / Goodreads / Google Plus
Tito Martínez Barberi was born in México City, where he spent many years doing copyright and translation work. His experience as a copyrighter and translator, added to what Tito himself calls his "hyper-imagination", inspired and allowed him to write the saga of the Keeper of the Balance.
Tito is a lover of fantasy and sci-fi literature and movies. Although he currently lives in Puebla, México, Tito's mind spends most of its time in Akaladia, writing the next books in The Keeper of the Balance series.
I recently had the opportunity to ask Tito a few questions.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: The Keeper of the Balance series has been described as a dystopian fantasy/sci-fi mash-up, which I believe is a pretty accurate description of the series as a whole.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Not that I can think of, to be honest. I wanted to make these books accessible to readers of all ages, though I believe a few scenes can be violent to young readers under the age of 13.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate.
Not at the moment. But people can always check out an interview I did for a new, exciting website called Bouncepen.com, here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMI4I...
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
I’m currently working on The Keeper of the Balance IV: The Last Bastion, which will be the final book in the series.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: Oh, yes! In book 2, the characters discuss the main character of a space opera, named “Vadkin Anadath” (an anagram on Anakin/Darth Vader). And there are a couple of characters in book 3 named Nedrick Krats and Robney Bratheon as a tip of the hat to Eddard “Ned” Stark and Robert Baratheon. These are references to Star Wars and A Song of Ice and Fire, my favorite film and book series, respectively.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer: J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings. I still love the trilogy to this day, and I’m thoroughly convinced that fantasy literature wouldn’t be what it is today if it weren’t for Professor Tolkien’s masterpiece.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: That I should make certain changes to my work so that my books can meet the current trends that readers prefer these days. I’ll never change my vision to sell more books. My approach to writing is that I write what I’d enjoy to read myself. And obviously there will be like-minded people out there who will hopefully love my books as much as me.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Gorditas de chicharrón. This is a traditional Mexican dish that is quite popular in Mexico City, where I was born. You can find stands selling this greasy kind of fast food almost on every corner in the city. There’s a scene in book 2 where a couple of characters have some fat, greasy “pork pies” for breakfast. That was the best translation I could find for this dish (laughs).
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer:Uh, this is hard (laughs). I mean it. That would be the tagline. But hey, if life was easy it’d be too boring!
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer:Well, I published the first book in my current series early in 2015, so I guess this makes me a new writer myself. That being said, I’ve been doing creative/artistic work all of my life, and if there’s one capital rule I’ve found on art & creativity is that there’s only one person you can aim to please with your work: yourself.
It’s impossible to please everyone else. And again, if you love your work chances are many people out there will like it too!
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer:Oh, this one’s easy (laughs)…
I started writing the series way back in ’08, so by the time I released book one (in early ’15), I had already written the two sequels. A few beta-readers and fellow authors suggested that I release those sequels ASAP, because readers become leery when a new author takes too long in releasing the next book in a series, fearing that it may never be finished.
As an indie author, however, releasing 3 of the 4 books in the series in this fashion has become a nightmare (laughs)! It’s hard enough to get your name out there and to promote one single book at a time. Three has proven to be almost impossible.
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer:The best moment was when a couple of readers asked me when I would release book 3, almost immediately after reading book 2. This meant the world to me, because it is exactly what I set out to do when I started writing this series. I wanted readers to become so invested in The Keeper of the Balance that they would demand more and more!
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer:Well, the Buddha said that it’s better to live in the here and now, and I think that’s some great advice. So I’d rather live in the present and make the most of every moment!
Thank you, Tito, for your time.
You can find Tito Martinez Barberi using the following links"
Website / Amazon / Author Facebook Page / Book Facebook Page / Bouncepen Author Profle / Goodreads / Google Plus
September 4, 2016
Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ Catherine Banks
Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!
This week's featured author is Catherine Banks
Catherine Banks is the author of the Artemis Lupine Series, Little Death Bringer Series, Ciara Steele Novella Series, and the novels Daughter of Lions and Pirate Princess. She began writing fiction stories when she was only four years old and finished her first full length novel at the age of fifteen.
Catherine is a Northern California native and has lived within a twenty mile radius her entire life. She plans to travel to as many places as possible in her thirties to make up for her lack of traveling experience. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who blessed her with two amazing children. After her full time job she reads books, plays video games, and watches a lot of anime shows and movies with her family to relax.
The final Summer Splash gives me the opportunity to go one on one with Catherine Banks and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say your books fall into?
Answer: YA Fantasy
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: There is violence, but it is not overly descriptive or grotesque.
Question: What advice do you have for new writers?
Answer: Write and write often.
Question: Where do you write?
Answer: It varies. At my desk, my table, on the couch while my kids are watching cartoons.
Question: Are your characters real to you? Do you speak to them?
Answer: They are definitely real to me. I don’t tell them where to go, I just write their story as they see fit.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: Getting an agent. I have enjoyed my experience as a self-published author. One day I might search for an agent and try to publish traditionally, but for now I’m enjoying my experiences.
Question: Which do you prefer Novels or Novellas and why?
Answer: Novels because I enjoy longer stories. I have written a couple novellas and read some amazing ones, but I prefer novels.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: No.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Bacon and eggs and yes they are used as a breakfast food in my books.
Question: Do you have a writing Motto?
Answer: “If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad.” ~Lord Byron
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer: If I could come back, I would go to the future to see what happens to our world in the next ten years.
You can reach Catherine Banks at any of the following links.
Website / Facebook / Goodreads
Thank you for your time. Join us next week when we wrap up the Summer Splash Tour!
This week's featured author is Catherine Banks
Catherine Banks is the author of the Artemis Lupine Series, Little Death Bringer Series, Ciara Steele Novella Series, and the novels Daughter of Lions and Pirate Princess. She began writing fiction stories when she was only four years old and finished her first full length novel at the age of fifteen.
Catherine is a Northern California native and has lived within a twenty mile radius her entire life. She plans to travel to as many places as possible in her thirties to make up for her lack of traveling experience. She is married to her soulmate and best friend, Avery, who blessed her with two amazing children. After her full time job she reads books, plays video games, and watches a lot of anime shows and movies with her family to relax.
The final Summer Splash gives me the opportunity to go one on one with Catherine Banks and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say your books fall into?
Answer: YA Fantasy
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: There is violence, but it is not overly descriptive or grotesque.
Question: What advice do you have for new writers?
Answer: Write and write often.
Question: Where do you write?
Answer: It varies. At my desk, my table, on the couch while my kids are watching cartoons.
Question: Are your characters real to you? Do you speak to them?
Answer: They are definitely real to me. I don’t tell them where to go, I just write their story as they see fit.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: Getting an agent. I have enjoyed my experience as a self-published author. One day I might search for an agent and try to publish traditionally, but for now I’m enjoying my experiences.
Question: Which do you prefer Novels or Novellas and why?
Answer: Novels because I enjoy longer stories. I have written a couple novellas and read some amazing ones, but I prefer novels.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: No.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: Bacon and eggs and yes they are used as a breakfast food in my books.
Question: Do you have a writing Motto?
Answer: “If I don’t write to empty my mind, I go mad.” ~Lord Byron
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer: If I could come back, I would go to the future to see what happens to our world in the next ten years.
You can reach Catherine Banks at any of the following links.
Website / Facebook / Goodreads
Thank you for your time. Join us next week when we wrap up the Summer Splash Tour!
August 29, 2016
Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ Ashley Marie Nestler
Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!
This week's featured author is Ashley Marie Nestler (N.M. Aaroones)
Ashley Nestler (A.M. Nestler) is a published author. Her first novel, "Beautiful Nightmare: Some Dreams Become Your Reality", was published when she was eighteen. "Into The Fog" was released when she was nineteen.
She is currently working on a secret third novel that will be released by April next year, and writes under the genres of young adult, epic fantasy, historical fiction, and literary fiction.
She is also a big part of the indie author movement and is the owner/creator of the Go Indie Now! Bibliotherapy Box, as well as a book reviewer and an educator on the publishing experience - both indie and mainstream.
Into The Fog: Death is Just the Beginning
A murder, a choice, and an eternal destiny. Welcome to the untold story of sixteenth century England.
Darielle couldn't be happier and more in love with her fiancé, Prince Tarum, until the eve of their wedding announcement when Tarum is murdered. Following the tragedy, Darielle is thrown into a life filled with despair as strangers enter the Tower and change her way of life. However, she begins to find herself drawn to Harlisisle, the new guard for Queen Estelle. Something about him makes her feel as though she has known him before. This attraction ends up unraveling past events in her life that she had long forgotten, and she soon discovers the true circumstances surrounding Tarum’s murder. The truth makes her question the love that she once had for people that she thought she knew.
'Into The Fog' is a roller coaster ride of historical romance and fantasy elements that will keep you on the edge of your seat and asking only one question:
'What if death isn't an ending, but a beginning?'
Excerpt: Prologue
DARIELLE could feel herself changing, but it wasn’t because of the child that was growing inside of her. What she was feeling now was far too powerful.
She walked into the woods past the stone archway that separated them from the Tower, allowing her long gown to drag in the mud behind her. As she looked down at her body she found that she didn’t recognize herself. The gown that she was wearing now was the last article of clothing that she should have chosen to wear. She undid the laces on the bodice and stepped out of it, leaving her crème colored underdress as the only clothing covering her naked body. The fog claimed her body as she continued on, but she wouldn’t let it steal the freedom she felt inside.
Once she reached the clearing, she stopped. Standing in front of her were Lamia Hecate, Addanc, Sebastian and Nessora – the being who had once been her friend, Varity. They all looked at her with expectance. Lamia’s icy eyes piercing through her flesh, a smile pulling at the stern lines of her lips.
“Darielle, are you ready?” she asked, her words a statement instead of a question. Darielle put her hands to her abdomen and took in a deep breath as she shifted her eyes to Addanc. He could see right through her and the baby she was carrying; however, she now belonged to him regardless of who the baby’s father was. She stepped closer to him, but Lamia Hecate came towards her first. As she grabbed Darielle’s hand she pulled her deeper into the forest.
Once they had reached the spot where Darielle would be changed, Lamia Hecate turned to her and took her face in her hands, piercing her skin with sharp nails.
“You are a part of us now, Darielle. You must understand that you can never go back.”
Darielle nodded and Lamia Hecate let go, leaving small red marks in Darielle’s pale skin. She should have felt pain, but she didn’t; instead, her anxiety numbed everything. She looked over at Addanc, Sebastian and Nessora before she closed her eyes and zoned them out. Lamia Hecate was the only person she allowed into her vision as she reopened them, and a small smile bloomed across her lips. Her smile matched Lamia Hecate’s, but none of them could see the intentions behind her own.
“I am where I need to be.”
Amazon Page
Ashley made a big splash answering my questions this week. Grab a drink, cool down and take a peek!
Question: Who is your favourite character in your books and why.
Answer: My favorite character in “Into The Fog” is Quarilite, the sister to my main male protagonist, Harlisisle.
Question: Please describe him/her/they a) physically b) their personality.
Answer: Quarilite keeps to herself. She is a Reincarne, a being that I created for “Into The Fog”, which means that she lives off of the soul of a human who is her life source, but she doesn’t know who that person is yet. She is also a potions master, and the only Reincarne that can talk to and see ghosts. She is friends with ghosts more than she is friends with others like her. She is short with long, wavy blonde hair and dark green eyes. She is also very pale and wears dresses that are too big for her because she likes to hide herself in a crowd.
Question: Could I have a couple of quotes from your book of dialogue that shows that personality?
Answer: A quote from when Quarilite bonds with a man who everyone else considers to be a monster:
“"I think you are beautiful, Llewelynn. You make me feel alive and that is something that no Reincarne can ever say that they have felt. I could never think that someone as wonderful as you are a monster.’”
A quote to show how Quarilite tries to care for everybody:
“Quarilite picked up the skirt of her gown and revealed two black slippers that hardly separated her feet from the dirt ground. However, she took off running as fast as she could in the direction that Darielle was flying. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew that she could calm Darielle down if she was given the chance.“
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: “Into The Fog” falls into the category of Historical Epic Fantasy.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content I should know about?
Answer: There is no explicit content in this novel.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events?
Answer: On April 7, 2017, the special edition version on “Into The Fog” will be released with fanart, character maps, and bonus content in celebration of the sequel being released in Summer 2017.
Question: What is next for you? Anything in the works?
Answer: I am currently working on the special edition versions of both of my novels, “Into The Fog” and “Beautiful Nightmare”, but I am also working on a third novel to be released in the coming months under a controversial topic. I am also constantly helping other authors edit and market their novels, so that takes up a lot of my time.
Question: Do you have any special mentions? (Editor, cover art etc...)
Answer: My beautiful cover for “Into The Fog” is from a lovely freelance artist at selfpubcovers.com. Highly recommended! I couldn’t have found a better cover if I had one made personally for me.
Credit: SelfPubBookCovers.com/VercoDesign
Question: If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be. Please describe the place rather than just a name.
Answer: The weather, the time of day, the ground, the surroundings, foliage, etc...
Ooh, I love unique questions such as this one. I actually have a place that I go to in my mind when I meditate. It is a small white house in the middle of a valley surrounded by trees. I have never been to this place in real life, but for some reason just thinking about it brings me comfort.
Question: If the character from above were in that place what would they be doing?
Answer: If Quarilite were in the pleasant valley that I have described above, she would be exploring the trees in the forest surrounding the small white house. She loves to be alone and explore whatever is around her, and I think she would be quite happy to be in such a place.
Question: If your character was allowed one chance to say anything to your readers, what would he/she say?
Answer: Quarilite would tell everyone to not believe everything that they see. There is always a story behind every person and every situation. Appearances lie.
Question: If your character could donate to any charity, which one would he/she choose?
Answer: Quarilite would donate to a charity that helps fight suicide prevention. She has struggled with feeling alone and hopeless, and fighting suicide is something that she is very passionate about.
Thank you Ashley Marie Nestler (N.M. Aaroones) for your time!
This week's featured author is Ashley Marie Nestler (N.M. Aaroones)
Ashley Nestler (A.M. Nestler) is a published author. Her first novel, "Beautiful Nightmare: Some Dreams Become Your Reality", was published when she was eighteen. "Into The Fog" was released when she was nineteen.
She is currently working on a secret third novel that will be released by April next year, and writes under the genres of young adult, epic fantasy, historical fiction, and literary fiction.
She is also a big part of the indie author movement and is the owner/creator of the Go Indie Now! Bibliotherapy Box, as well as a book reviewer and an educator on the publishing experience - both indie and mainstream.
Into The Fog: Death is Just the Beginning
A murder, a choice, and an eternal destiny. Welcome to the untold story of sixteenth century England.
Darielle couldn't be happier and more in love with her fiancé, Prince Tarum, until the eve of their wedding announcement when Tarum is murdered. Following the tragedy, Darielle is thrown into a life filled with despair as strangers enter the Tower and change her way of life. However, she begins to find herself drawn to Harlisisle, the new guard for Queen Estelle. Something about him makes her feel as though she has known him before. This attraction ends up unraveling past events in her life that she had long forgotten, and she soon discovers the true circumstances surrounding Tarum’s murder. The truth makes her question the love that she once had for people that she thought she knew.
'Into The Fog' is a roller coaster ride of historical romance and fantasy elements that will keep you on the edge of your seat and asking only one question:
'What if death isn't an ending, but a beginning?'
Excerpt: Prologue
DARIELLE could feel herself changing, but it wasn’t because of the child that was growing inside of her. What she was feeling now was far too powerful.
She walked into the woods past the stone archway that separated them from the Tower, allowing her long gown to drag in the mud behind her. As she looked down at her body she found that she didn’t recognize herself. The gown that she was wearing now was the last article of clothing that she should have chosen to wear. She undid the laces on the bodice and stepped out of it, leaving her crème colored underdress as the only clothing covering her naked body. The fog claimed her body as she continued on, but she wouldn’t let it steal the freedom she felt inside.
Once she reached the clearing, she stopped. Standing in front of her were Lamia Hecate, Addanc, Sebastian and Nessora – the being who had once been her friend, Varity. They all looked at her with expectance. Lamia’s icy eyes piercing through her flesh, a smile pulling at the stern lines of her lips.
“Darielle, are you ready?” she asked, her words a statement instead of a question. Darielle put her hands to her abdomen and took in a deep breath as she shifted her eyes to Addanc. He could see right through her and the baby she was carrying; however, she now belonged to him regardless of who the baby’s father was. She stepped closer to him, but Lamia Hecate came towards her first. As she grabbed Darielle’s hand she pulled her deeper into the forest.
Once they had reached the spot where Darielle would be changed, Lamia Hecate turned to her and took her face in her hands, piercing her skin with sharp nails.
“You are a part of us now, Darielle. You must understand that you can never go back.”
Darielle nodded and Lamia Hecate let go, leaving small red marks in Darielle’s pale skin. She should have felt pain, but she didn’t; instead, her anxiety numbed everything. She looked over at Addanc, Sebastian and Nessora before she closed her eyes and zoned them out. Lamia Hecate was the only person she allowed into her vision as she reopened them, and a small smile bloomed across her lips. Her smile matched Lamia Hecate’s, but none of them could see the intentions behind her own.
“I am where I need to be.”
Amazon Page
Ashley made a big splash answering my questions this week. Grab a drink, cool down and take a peek!
Question: Who is your favourite character in your books and why.
Answer: My favorite character in “Into The Fog” is Quarilite, the sister to my main male protagonist, Harlisisle.
Question: Please describe him/her/they a) physically b) their personality.
Answer: Quarilite keeps to herself. She is a Reincarne, a being that I created for “Into The Fog”, which means that she lives off of the soul of a human who is her life source, but she doesn’t know who that person is yet. She is also a potions master, and the only Reincarne that can talk to and see ghosts. She is friends with ghosts more than she is friends with others like her. She is short with long, wavy blonde hair and dark green eyes. She is also very pale and wears dresses that are too big for her because she likes to hide herself in a crowd.
Question: Could I have a couple of quotes from your book of dialogue that shows that personality?
Answer: A quote from when Quarilite bonds with a man who everyone else considers to be a monster:
“"I think you are beautiful, Llewelynn. You make me feel alive and that is something that no Reincarne can ever say that they have felt. I could never think that someone as wonderful as you are a monster.’”
A quote to show how Quarilite tries to care for everybody:
“Quarilite picked up the skirt of her gown and revealed two black slippers that hardly separated her feet from the dirt ground. However, she took off running as fast as she could in the direction that Darielle was flying. She didn't know what she was going to do, but she knew that she could calm Darielle down if she was given the chance.“
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: “Into The Fog” falls into the category of Historical Epic Fantasy.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content I should know about?
Answer: There is no explicit content in this novel.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events?
Answer: On April 7, 2017, the special edition version on “Into The Fog” will be released with fanart, character maps, and bonus content in celebration of the sequel being released in Summer 2017.
Question: What is next for you? Anything in the works?
Answer: I am currently working on the special edition versions of both of my novels, “Into The Fog” and “Beautiful Nightmare”, but I am also working on a third novel to be released in the coming months under a controversial topic. I am also constantly helping other authors edit and market their novels, so that takes up a lot of my time.
Question: Do you have any special mentions? (Editor, cover art etc...)
Answer: My beautiful cover for “Into The Fog” is from a lovely freelance artist at selfpubcovers.com. Highly recommended! I couldn’t have found a better cover if I had one made personally for me.
Credit: SelfPubBookCovers.com/VercoDesign
Question: If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be. Please describe the place rather than just a name.
Answer: The weather, the time of day, the ground, the surroundings, foliage, etc...
Ooh, I love unique questions such as this one. I actually have a place that I go to in my mind when I meditate. It is a small white house in the middle of a valley surrounded by trees. I have never been to this place in real life, but for some reason just thinking about it brings me comfort.
Question: If the character from above were in that place what would they be doing?
Answer: If Quarilite were in the pleasant valley that I have described above, she would be exploring the trees in the forest surrounding the small white house. She loves to be alone and explore whatever is around her, and I think she would be quite happy to be in such a place.
Question: If your character was allowed one chance to say anything to your readers, what would he/she say?
Answer: Quarilite would tell everyone to not believe everything that they see. There is always a story behind every person and every situation. Appearances lie.
Question: If your character could donate to any charity, which one would he/she choose?
Answer: Quarilite would donate to a charity that helps fight suicide prevention. She has struggled with feeling alone and hopeless, and fighting suicide is something that she is very passionate about.
Thank you Ashley Marie Nestler (N.M. Aaroones) for your time!
August 21, 2016
Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ Kristan Cannon
Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!
This week's featured author is Kristan Cannon
Kristan Cannon was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario and educated in North Bay and Toronto. She is a staunch supporter of literacy, reading, and young writer's programs. She also holds a current membership with The Indie Writer's Network and is a member of the NaNoWriMo Ambassador's program.
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Youtube / Pintrest
When not researching or writing, Kristan exists for sailing her classic wooden sailboat with her cat, friends, and family... or for video games and books when snow and ice have the boat locked in its slip and she can't get away.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Waterstones
AFTER OIL
Book One of the Kingdom of Walden Series
WE THOUGHT WE HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT...
...WE WERE WRONG
The residents of the small town of Whitefish are no strangers to snow. Used to being forgotten and digging their own way out, no one thought anything of it when, during one of the coldest winters on record, help just never came. But, as fuel runs out and raiders press in on all sides, Derek, Sheridan, and Garrett realize it's not just the snow they need to dig their way out of...
THE LAST IRON HORSE
Book Two of the Kingdom of Walden Series
THEIR BIGGEST TEST IS HURTLING TOWARDS THEM...
... ON STEEL RAILS.
With the corrupt Colonel to their east, and the slavers to their west, determined to both call Walden’s rich resources their own Derek, Sheridan, and Garrett have to act quickly to make sure their home isn’t the next to fall to the pressures from outside… and within.
I had the chance to sit down and ask Kristan some questions ~ have a peek at a few of the answers.
Question: Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
Answer: Wow, that’s a difficult question. The cast is so huge, even if I limit the Points-of-View, that to pick just one is nearly impossible. I honestly can’t even play favourites because the readers will be able to tell.
However, I can tell you who the fan favourite is (Derek Moss), and I think people like him because he breaks the most popular tropes running right now in either the post-apocalyptic or the science-fiction genre, but at the same time people feel they can relate to him and his experiences. That’s why I picked him as the main character—other than he all but demanded he should be the main character.
How do you mean that?
Well, there’s a few ways I mean that. As a warning, there’s a method to the background. It’s a rather open secret that the first book was a happy accident. I never meant to get it published, and through luck or providence (still not sure which), the final decision was left to someone else. I had left out the book I’ve been working on since 1996, but never submitted anywhere, with the eventual intent to publish that. However, the book he found was the one my then husband pulled out of a drawer… and well, the rest is history. However, the reason I had left After Oil (and all the background research & notes) in that drawer was because I didn’t intend to publish it. It was a “novelisation” of a tabletop role-playing game that a bunch of friends and I had played, and I had written what happened during those games into a book form.
How does that tie back to the character?
Because, when I was first writing the book (as part of NaNoWriMo 2012), said inspiration behind that very character called me. He was celebrating something else and called us because he knew we would understand why what happened was so important to him. Somehow the conversation turned to why were we up so late, and when I said my then husband had actually been in bed and I was up writing, he wanted to know all about it. So I told him…
And how that ties back to the start…
I created Derek Moss from that conversation because the inspiration demanded I do so.
Question: Please describe him a) physically b) their personality.
Answer: You know, other than what Derek wears after the First Winter, and generally his hair, eye and build I never really got into depth. He’s basically average. Average height, slighter of build… honestly he’s not someone you’d look twice at and he uses that to his advantage. While he is older, he’s not old per se. Closer to the latter part of middle age. Blue eyes, sandy hair.
Personality wise, he’s quiet, but charismatic… however, given his chosen career he has to be. Outside of that, he’s quiet, likes to tinker with things and likes spending time in the outdoors. He’s not a jock (your basic football player could probably snap him in half), but he likes to watch it. His sense of humour runs to the teasing side of it and he loves to yank people’s chains… and he’s good at it. His favourite target always takes him at his literal word, so the interplay usually involves him teasing her, and then she takes him at face value and he has to run behind her to explain that he was only joking before she does what he jokingly suggested she do. It’s harmless (because he’d never hurt anyone), but it could be embarrassing. But he’s also laser focussed. The joking and the quiet falls to the wayside if it becomes painfully obvious people are depending on him to figure things out. At that point, what he might say is probably ruthlessly silenced… he’ll think it, but he won’t say it.
Question: Could I have a couple of quotes from your book of dialogue that shows that personality?
Answer: I have a few.
Some of the interplay between he and his wife, Marissa:
“Are you talking about me again?” asked Derek.
“I’d never,” answered Marissa.
“You absolutely would,” Derek retorted, sticking out his tongue as he took his own mug of tea. With a sigh of relief, he noted, “I see the rain finally stopped.”
Part of his “situational” humour he doesn’t always voice:
He could feel the stares, and as he stared as his own hand he saw why. He was coated with cement dust so thick that he appeared to be stone.
I’m a moving statue, he giggled, but tamped down the impending hysterics.
More of that interplay between Marissa and Derek:
Marissa pulled the blankets back up over his shoulders, and patted his arm. “I swear if you ever do this to me again, I’ll tie you to the bed posts by your damn ties,” she threatened, but smiled knowing he could not hear her anyway. She leaned close. “Your most expensive ones, too.”
“Promise?” came his whispered reply.
Marissa pinched her nose and groaned.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: Speculative Fiction. Even though it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, it’s more realistic than, say, zombies. It’s not quite far enough into the future and doesn’t quite have the same elements as say hard-core sci-fi either. It’s hard science fiction because it’s grounded in science fact, and how things work is grounded in real science fact, and it’s set in the near future… the very near future. But because there’s no zombies, no virus gone rampant, the weather, while greatly affected the way it is now by climate change, isn’t any wilder… or less… and there’s no aliens or psychics, or magic. Civilization fell, and now the characters have to deal with it.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Well, there is some swearing and a lot of violence. Unfortunately, rebuilding what’s left and surviving everything else means that there are people out there that don’t see eye to eye with the main characters and some are even violently opposed. Sometimes it’s even the other way around. But violence is a major part of the story. The whole series is about a war being fought to bring back some semblance of civilization, and those who would rather see everything vanish. It’s not pretty. Other than that, there is some innuendo between Derek and Marissa, because they are married and definitely not dead… but that’s as far as I spell it out in the book.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events?
Answer: Other than this book blog tour? Not really, although on August 26th I do have a radio interview on the Speculative Fiction Cantina radio show. I’ll have that on my Facebook page, Twitter and on my GoodReads events.
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer: A few things. The first is finishing the series, which will happen in Book Four, so we’re still editing that for release next year. I’m also still working on the book I’d still like published and was supposed to be instead of this series…. I also have, under the penname “Eve Morrison” a cozy mystery on Wattpad that I’m working on. I also am working to open a physical bookstore in Sudbury, Ontario… and we’re well on our way to do that.
Question: Do you have any special mentions? (Editor, cover art etc...)
Answer: Absolutely. The team, which is actually a collective of indie authors, at KCEditions, as well as my editor and the fantastic cover artist who did the artwork for After Oil, Jeannette Mathews.
Question: If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Please describe the place rather than just a name. The weather, the time of day, the ground, the surroundings, foliage, etc...
Answer: I could not even name a specific place anyway. Someplace quiet, with plenty of books. I like warmth in a room… not so much as heat, although that’s nice on a cold day… but warmth in decorating. Cool palettes don’t really do it for me. I love the warmer spectrum.
I would love to see the really old part of Britain and Europe. I love history so to soak all that up would be great, and then to finish that tour in an old (but quietly updated) Manor in the French Countryside with a great glass of wine while I look over rolling fields and the grapes.
Question: If the character from above were in that place what would they be doing?
Answer: Probably reading a book while doing the same thing.
Question: If your character was allowed one chance to say anything to your readers, what would he/she say?
Answer: I… I don’t even know, honestly. I think I’ve pointed out before that the character (and the person who inspired it) tends to do what they want, when they want. I think he’d hide and not say anything, but at the same time I can almost picture a certain look of pure mischief right before he teases the first reader, or he’d be polite. That depends on the reader, really, and how well he feels he knows them.
Question: If your character could donate to any charity, which one would he/she choose?
Answer: Oh, probably something to do with conservation. The character (like who he was based off) both like the outdoors, so if meant keeping it healthy he’d support that.
Thank you Kristan Cannon for your time!
This week's featured author is Kristan Cannon
Kristan Cannon was born in Kirkland Lake, Ontario and educated in North Bay and Toronto. She is a staunch supporter of literacy, reading, and young writer's programs. She also holds a current membership with The Indie Writer's Network and is a member of the NaNoWriMo Ambassador's program.
Website / Facebook / Twitter / Youtube / Pintrest
When not researching or writing, Kristan exists for sailing her classic wooden sailboat with her cat, friends, and family... or for video games and books when snow and ice have the boat locked in its slip and she can't get away.
Amazon / Barnes & Noble / Waterstones
AFTER OIL
Book One of the Kingdom of Walden Series
WE THOUGHT WE HAD NOTHING TO WORRY ABOUT...
...WE WERE WRONG
The residents of the small town of Whitefish are no strangers to snow. Used to being forgotten and digging their own way out, no one thought anything of it when, during one of the coldest winters on record, help just never came. But, as fuel runs out and raiders press in on all sides, Derek, Sheridan, and Garrett realize it's not just the snow they need to dig their way out of...
THE LAST IRON HORSE
Book Two of the Kingdom of Walden Series
THEIR BIGGEST TEST IS HURTLING TOWARDS THEM...
... ON STEEL RAILS.
With the corrupt Colonel to their east, and the slavers to their west, determined to both call Walden’s rich resources their own Derek, Sheridan, and Garrett have to act quickly to make sure their home isn’t the next to fall to the pressures from outside… and within.
I had the chance to sit down and ask Kristan some questions ~ have a peek at a few of the answers.
Question: Who is your favourite character in the book and why?
Answer: Wow, that’s a difficult question. The cast is so huge, even if I limit the Points-of-View, that to pick just one is nearly impossible. I honestly can’t even play favourites because the readers will be able to tell.
However, I can tell you who the fan favourite is (Derek Moss), and I think people like him because he breaks the most popular tropes running right now in either the post-apocalyptic or the science-fiction genre, but at the same time people feel they can relate to him and his experiences. That’s why I picked him as the main character—other than he all but demanded he should be the main character.
How do you mean that?
Well, there’s a few ways I mean that. As a warning, there’s a method to the background. It’s a rather open secret that the first book was a happy accident. I never meant to get it published, and through luck or providence (still not sure which), the final decision was left to someone else. I had left out the book I’ve been working on since 1996, but never submitted anywhere, with the eventual intent to publish that. However, the book he found was the one my then husband pulled out of a drawer… and well, the rest is history. However, the reason I had left After Oil (and all the background research & notes) in that drawer was because I didn’t intend to publish it. It was a “novelisation” of a tabletop role-playing game that a bunch of friends and I had played, and I had written what happened during those games into a book form.
How does that tie back to the character?
Because, when I was first writing the book (as part of NaNoWriMo 2012), said inspiration behind that very character called me. He was celebrating something else and called us because he knew we would understand why what happened was so important to him. Somehow the conversation turned to why were we up so late, and when I said my then husband had actually been in bed and I was up writing, he wanted to know all about it. So I told him…
And how that ties back to the start…
I created Derek Moss from that conversation because the inspiration demanded I do so.
Question: Please describe him a) physically b) their personality.
Answer: You know, other than what Derek wears after the First Winter, and generally his hair, eye and build I never really got into depth. He’s basically average. Average height, slighter of build… honestly he’s not someone you’d look twice at and he uses that to his advantage. While he is older, he’s not old per se. Closer to the latter part of middle age. Blue eyes, sandy hair.
Personality wise, he’s quiet, but charismatic… however, given his chosen career he has to be. Outside of that, he’s quiet, likes to tinker with things and likes spending time in the outdoors. He’s not a jock (your basic football player could probably snap him in half), but he likes to watch it. His sense of humour runs to the teasing side of it and he loves to yank people’s chains… and he’s good at it. His favourite target always takes him at his literal word, so the interplay usually involves him teasing her, and then she takes him at face value and he has to run behind her to explain that he was only joking before she does what he jokingly suggested she do. It’s harmless (because he’d never hurt anyone), but it could be embarrassing. But he’s also laser focussed. The joking and the quiet falls to the wayside if it becomes painfully obvious people are depending on him to figure things out. At that point, what he might say is probably ruthlessly silenced… he’ll think it, but he won’t say it.
Question: Could I have a couple of quotes from your book of dialogue that shows that personality?
Answer: I have a few.
Some of the interplay between he and his wife, Marissa:
“Are you talking about me again?” asked Derek.
“I’d never,” answered Marissa.
“You absolutely would,” Derek retorted, sticking out his tongue as he took his own mug of tea. With a sigh of relief, he noted, “I see the rain finally stopped.”
Part of his “situational” humour he doesn’t always voice:
He could feel the stares, and as he stared as his own hand he saw why. He was coated with cement dust so thick that he appeared to be stone.
I’m a moving statue, he giggled, but tamped down the impending hysterics.
More of that interplay between Marissa and Derek:
Marissa pulled the blankets back up over his shoulders, and patted his arm. “I swear if you ever do this to me again, I’ll tie you to the bed posts by your damn ties,” she threatened, but smiled knowing he could not hear her anyway. She leaned close. “Your most expensive ones, too.”
“Promise?” came his whispered reply.
Marissa pinched her nose and groaned.
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: Speculative Fiction. Even though it takes place in a post-apocalyptic world, it’s more realistic than, say, zombies. It’s not quite far enough into the future and doesn’t quite have the same elements as say hard-core sci-fi either. It’s hard science fiction because it’s grounded in science fact, and how things work is grounded in real science fact, and it’s set in the near future… the very near future. But because there’s no zombies, no virus gone rampant, the weather, while greatly affected the way it is now by climate change, isn’t any wilder… or less… and there’s no aliens or psychics, or magic. Civilization fell, and now the characters have to deal with it.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: Well, there is some swearing and a lot of violence. Unfortunately, rebuilding what’s left and surviving everything else means that there are people out there that don’t see eye to eye with the main characters and some are even violently opposed. Sometimes it’s even the other way around. But violence is a major part of the story. The whole series is about a war being fought to bring back some semblance of civilization, and those who would rather see everything vanish. It’s not pretty. Other than that, there is some innuendo between Derek and Marissa, because they are married and definitely not dead… but that’s as far as I spell it out in the book.
Question: Do you have any upcoming events?
Answer: Other than this book blog tour? Not really, although on August 26th I do have a radio interview on the Speculative Fiction Cantina radio show. I’ll have that on my Facebook page, Twitter and on my GoodReads events.
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer: A few things. The first is finishing the series, which will happen in Book Four, so we’re still editing that for release next year. I’m also still working on the book I’d still like published and was supposed to be instead of this series…. I also have, under the penname “Eve Morrison” a cozy mystery on Wattpad that I’m working on. I also am working to open a physical bookstore in Sudbury, Ontario… and we’re well on our way to do that.
Question: Do you have any special mentions? (Editor, cover art etc...)
Answer: Absolutely. The team, which is actually a collective of indie authors, at KCEditions, as well as my editor and the fantastic cover artist who did the artwork for After Oil, Jeannette Mathews.
Question: If you could go anywhere in the world where would it be? Please describe the place rather than just a name. The weather, the time of day, the ground, the surroundings, foliage, etc...
Answer: I could not even name a specific place anyway. Someplace quiet, with plenty of books. I like warmth in a room… not so much as heat, although that’s nice on a cold day… but warmth in decorating. Cool palettes don’t really do it for me. I love the warmer spectrum.
I would love to see the really old part of Britain and Europe. I love history so to soak all that up would be great, and then to finish that tour in an old (but quietly updated) Manor in the French Countryside with a great glass of wine while I look over rolling fields and the grapes.
Question: If the character from above were in that place what would they be doing?
Answer: Probably reading a book while doing the same thing.
Question: If your character was allowed one chance to say anything to your readers, what would he/she say?
Answer: I… I don’t even know, honestly. I think I’ve pointed out before that the character (and the person who inspired it) tends to do what they want, when they want. I think he’d hide and not say anything, but at the same time I can almost picture a certain look of pure mischief right before he teases the first reader, or he’d be polite. That depends on the reader, really, and how well he feels he knows them.
Question: If your character could donate to any charity, which one would he/she choose?
Answer: Oh, probably something to do with conservation. The character (like who he was based off) both like the outdoors, so if meant keeping it healthy he’d support that.
Thank you Kristan Cannon for your time!
August 15, 2016
Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ Crystal St.Clair, Authoress
Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!
Making a huge splash this week, my surprise guest featured author is Crystal St. Clair, Authoress
Crystal St. Clair is a busy mother who lives in the multicultural country of Canada, not in an igloo but wishes she had a pet beaver who likes syrup and pancakes. She can usually be found playing soccer with her kids while their dog steals the spot light, making others laugh, writing poetry and other stories go to her loved ones or someone in need of a smile. She is a proud sponsor member of Plan Canada – I Am A Girl foundation and London Writers' Society. She is a Paralegal student but hopes to become a full time author writing novels for adults and the young generations. Crystal St. Clair played Momma Bear in a Middle School production of The Bernstein Bears and wrote her first story that started her publishing interest.
Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter
The Summer Splash Book Tour gave me the opportunity to go one on one with Crystal St. Clair and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer Adullt Contemporary Romance
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer INTUITION: trigger warnings of abuse
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate
Answer The MUSES We LOVE In SUITS
https://www.facebook.com/events/31526...
Ignite Your Soul Author Event- Sept 17
http://igniteyoursoulauth.wix.com/iyse
Can find more on my event here
http://authorcrystalstcla.wix.com/ins...
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer Currently working on Kingdom of Celosia: Royal Curse (vol2).
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer Yes! A lot actually. I should actually make a list of those.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer The Bernstein Bears Series, Spot, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, ISpy, Goosebumps and Mercer Meyer's Little Critter Collection.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer Just write lol
Question: What's your favourite food?
Answer Steak with mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, pasta, chocolate. Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)? Yes. Sebastian in INTUITION orders my fav dinner and is Destiny's 'regular steak guy'.
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer Reincarnated to take on the world (the metaphor sounded better in my head lol)
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer Just write lol. Always write from the heart, build your network and return the help. Your brand happens on its own.
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer Joining up for book signings too early haha. They are addicting because the are one of our best networking tools and lots of fun! I also tend to sign up for almost too many, oops!
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer Oh boy, I have so many! But I would say the first time that I saw my books on a screen shot of a reader's Kindle library. They posted the picture in one of my posts during a Facebook Take-over event and it was so astonishing to see.
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer Honestly, I wouldn't. Most of my past is full of hurt and lessons I've had to learn, I rather not go through that again. I am stronger now than I was before, and we are forever changing. Not only would changing the past change today, but the future should remain a surprise. I prefer to live in the moment and inhale the experience of writing my adventures. If I jump to the future than my kids will be grown, my books will be finished, friendships with new readers would have been made and I may not have the same feelings of accomplishment if rushed.
Thank you Crystal St. Clair for joining me this week! Don't forget to join me next week as the Summer Splash Book Blog Tour continues!
Making a huge splash this week, my surprise guest featured author is Crystal St. Clair, Authoress
Crystal St. Clair is a busy mother who lives in the multicultural country of Canada, not in an igloo but wishes she had a pet beaver who likes syrup and pancakes. She can usually be found playing soccer with her kids while their dog steals the spot light, making others laugh, writing poetry and other stories go to her loved ones or someone in need of a smile. She is a proud sponsor member of Plan Canada – I Am A Girl foundation and London Writers' Society. She is a Paralegal student but hopes to become a full time author writing novels for adults and the young generations. Crystal St. Clair played Momma Bear in a Middle School production of The Bernstein Bears and wrote her first story that started her publishing interest.
Website / Amazon / Facebook / Twitter
The Summer Splash Book Tour gave me the opportunity to go one on one with Crystal St. Clair and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer Adullt Contemporary Romance
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer INTUITION: trigger warnings of abuse
Question: Do you have any upcoming events? Feel free to elaborate
Answer The MUSES We LOVE In SUITS
https://www.facebook.com/events/31526...
Ignite Your Soul Author Event- Sept 17
http://igniteyoursoulauth.wix.com/iyse
Can find more on my event here
http://authorcrystalstcla.wix.com/ins...
Question: What is next for you? Do you have anything in the works?
Answer Currently working on Kingdom of Celosia: Royal Curse (vol2).
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer Yes! A lot actually. I should actually make a list of those.
Question: What was your favourite book when you were growing up?
Answer The Bernstein Bears Series, Spot, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, ISpy, Goosebumps and Mercer Meyer's Little Critter Collection.
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer Just write lol
Question: What's your favourite food?
Answer Steak with mashed potatoes smothered in gravy, pasta, chocolate. Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)? Yes. Sebastian in INTUITION orders my fav dinner and is Destiny's 'regular steak guy'.
Question: If your life was a book, what would be the tag line?
Answer Reincarnated to take on the world (the metaphor sounded better in my head lol)
Question: What advice would you give new writers?
Answer Just write lol. Always write from the heart, build your network and return the help. Your brand happens on its own.
Question: What has been the worst mistake you have made in your writing career?
Answer Joining up for book signings too early haha. They are addicting because the are one of our best networking tools and lots of fun! I also tend to sign up for almost too many, oops!
Question: What is the best moment you have had with a fan?
Answer Oh boy, I have so many! But I would say the first time that I saw my books on a screen shot of a reader's Kindle library. They posted the picture in one of my posts during a Facebook Take-over event and it was so astonishing to see.
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to and why?
Answer Honestly, I wouldn't. Most of my past is full of hurt and lessons I've had to learn, I rather not go through that again. I am stronger now than I was before, and we are forever changing. Not only would changing the past change today, but the future should remain a surprise. I prefer to live in the moment and inhale the experience of writing my adventures. If I jump to the future than my kids will be grown, my books will be finished, friendships with new readers would have been made and I may not have the same feelings of accomplishment if rushed.
Thank you Crystal St. Clair for joining me this week! Don't forget to join me next week as the Summer Splash Book Blog Tour continues!
August 13, 2016
Book Review: Chances Are
Book Review: Chances Are
Author: Mysti Parker
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reviewed by: Carol Ann KIng
Having given birth to a baby who died shortly after birth, I was emotionally involved in this book the moment I read the blurb.
Parker took a tough subject and put it out there for people to read and hopefully understand a little better. Some of the events in this Novella were bang on, especially the reaction of nurses (unfortunately) in the hospital and the would-be grandmother.
The stress of losing a child - especially full term or shortly after birth - is tremendous. I think the author white-washed it a little bit too much. There are five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Although some of these were touched on, it would have made a huge impact if they were all dealt with.
The ending had a great twist that I really enjoyed. I hope to read more by this author in the future.
I received a free copy in eBook format from For Love of a Book in exchange for an honest review
Author: Mysti Parker
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reviewed by: Carol Ann KIng
Having given birth to a baby who died shortly after birth, I was emotionally involved in this book the moment I read the blurb.
Parker took a tough subject and put it out there for people to read and hopefully understand a little better. Some of the events in this Novella were bang on, especially the reaction of nurses (unfortunately) in the hospital and the would-be grandmother.
The stress of losing a child - especially full term or shortly after birth - is tremendous. I think the author white-washed it a little bit too much. There are five stages of grieving: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. Although some of these were touched on, it would have made a huge impact if they were all dealt with.
The ending had a great twist that I really enjoyed. I hope to read more by this author in the future.
I received a free copy in eBook format from For Love of a Book in exchange for an honest review
August 12, 2016
Book Review: Of Wolf and Peace
Book Review: Of Wolf and Peace
Author: D. R. Perry
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reviewed by: Carol Ann King
It's no secret - I absolutely adore Perry's series. I will read every last one she publishes. She is my go-to author when I feel down.
Her writing is fluent in feel-good, ROM/COM styles that make for quick, light reads.
Book Three, Of Wolf and Peace, I found a bit different from the first two in the series. A good portion of the novel was spent explaining the rules between the two courts, the Goblin King and Sidhe Queen. It became a little confusing keeping track of who was playing for which team.
I am interested to see how this all factors into the overall series plot in future novels.
My YES moment allows me to thank wrestling and Shawn Michaels. Having been a fan for years, I knew exactly what 'kipped up' meant without needing google!
Anyone who likes paranormal romance should love this series. I suggest you read them in order.
Author: D. R. Perry
Rating: 4/5 Stars
Reviewed by: Carol Ann King
It's no secret - I absolutely adore Perry's series. I will read every last one she publishes. She is my go-to author when I feel down.
Her writing is fluent in feel-good, ROM/COM styles that make for quick, light reads.
Book Three, Of Wolf and Peace, I found a bit different from the first two in the series. A good portion of the novel was spent explaining the rules between the two courts, the Goblin King and Sidhe Queen. It became a little confusing keeping track of who was playing for which team.
I am interested to see how this all factors into the overall series plot in future novels.
My YES moment allows me to thank wrestling and Shawn Michaels. Having been a fan for years, I knew exactly what 'kipped up' meant without needing google!
Anyone who likes paranormal romance should love this series. I suggest you read them in order.
August 7, 2016
Summer Splash Book Blog Tour ~ Author Interview ~ S.D. Ferrell
Make your Summer Reading SIZZLE with these hot reads from fresh new authors!
This week's featured author is S.D. Ferrell
S.D. Ferrell is a writer, self-published author, and creative artist. Ms. Ferrell was born the 1st of October 1960 in Norfolk General Hospital, in Simcoe Ontario Canada. She grew up on a small hobby farm just outside of Simcoe in Windham Centre, with her parents, six sisters and one brother.
Her fondest memories of childhood was on the farm and the time she spent outside with her siblings. They had grand adventures in the forest that curved around the property. She remembers a majestic willow tree with long flowing branches that grew beside the laneway – they swung from those branches until they were giddy with laughter. There were also cherry trees in the front yard that she climbed, and sat on the branches for what seemed like hours on end. Among the leaves she was free to allow her mind to take flights of fancy.
Nature; was a wonderful playground for a little girl with a vivid imagination who would one day grow-up to be a writer. Is it any wonder, Ms. Ferrell says that my debut novel starts in a forest and one of the main characters throughout the series is a tree.
S.D. is a proud mother to five daughters and a grandmother to fourteen wonderful grandchildren. She presently resides in Simcoe Ontario and is working on the third book in the series, The Long Road Home. She is also working with an artist on the 4th and final installment in the series, The Keeper’s Guide.
Author Website / Facebook / Wordpress / Evee Fex Chriszt: Artist’s Link / Amazon
The Summer Splash Book Tour gave me the opportunity to go one on one with S.D. Ferrell and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: The genre is fantasy adventure.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: No, the story is for readers of all ages. I have readers as young as nine reading it, and as old as eighty. However the story does get considerably darker from one book to the next.
Question: What is your favourite Quote?
Answer: Oh, there are so many. I have a cheeky and sassy sense of humour which tends to find its way into my writing. I am also big on dialogue and love writing it. I can’t pick just one quote. But I do have a favorite line, which appears very near to the end of The Valley Time Forgot. - “Little did they know how grand the adventure would be.”
Question: What advice do you have for new writers?
Answer: Carry a note pad and pen with you everywhere you go. Once you open that creative writing portal, inspiration will find its way to you, in the oddest of places and circumstances. If you don’t have a photographic memory you will need something to capture the inspiration with. Date and note where you wrote the idea. You never know, you might one day need to tell interviewers where and when the inspiration first came to you.
Question: Where do you write?
Answer: I write wherever I can take my laptop. I have spaces in my house that lend well to creating in; a nook in my kitchen, the front or back porch, the art studio in the basement, my bedroom and or the living room. I also have been known to visit a coffee shop or two.
Question: Are your characters real to you? Do you speak to them?
Answer: I think they are real to me in the moment that I am creating them and interacting with them as their story unfolds. Actually, I think they speak to me, I am just open to hearing them. I always say, “I am just the vessel that my character use to tell their story.”
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: I don’t really choose to ignore any advice. The advice just may not be relevant to what I need at the moment, but I bank it, because it could be handy later on down the road. I was told by an author though, after she read an excerpt from The Valley Time Forgot, that people don’t talk that way so I shouldn’t write it that way. I was immediately on the defence and felt like she was trying to control my writing voice by comparing it to hers. I later then picked up J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit and decided, after reading it, that there is nothing wrong with my writing voice and the author’s advice was not based on valid criticism.
Question: Which do you prefer Novels or Novellas and why?
Answer: I don’t really have a preference for either. The Whipple Wash Chronicles are full length novels, and my other two books are a series of short stories.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: The stories are full of characters that have been inspired by family members, friends and co-workers. In most cases I took their name and rearranged the letters to make a new name. In other cases I just gave them a new name. Each of them knows what character I gave them. However, I have also given movie stars; like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock,) a secondary character in the series. Of course he doesn’t know that I have, but one day perhaps we will have that conversation.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: I don’t have a favorite food, I like most everything. However, I do go into quite a lot of detail about the food my characters like to eat.
Question: Do you have a writing Motto?
Answer: No I don’t. I tend to have life mottoes that come to me usually within the first couple months of the New Year, which are not to be confused with resolutions. Here are a couple of examples. I like the 3rd one in particular, it seems to be a recurring one.
1. There is a thin line that separates dreams from reality, all you have to do is escape one to experience the other.
2. Good things come to those who believe that it can, and take action to ensure that it does.
3. When life tries to knock the stuffing out of you, bitch slap it back with a crowbar.
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to.
Answer: Interesting question. The date would be September 19, 2014 and I would change it to September 19, 2014. Basically, a do-over. I had grand plans for the book launch of The Shadow of Erebos. I had arranged for the launch to take place on September 21, 2014 because that was the first day of the Fall Equinox and the same day the story begins in the book. Everything was planned to a tee; guest readers, music, professional photographer, swag that was made to reflect the equinox gifts that the characters in the story had made, and a cake in the shape of a book with one of the characters flying off the pages. Our M.P.P. was even going to be there to present me with a certificate. The books were to arrive on the 19th but they didn’t. Even though I had had several conversations with the printer who guaranteed that they would be there. I was so distraught I cancelled the event, without thinking it through. The books arrived on the 22nd 1 day late for what was sure to be an epic book launch. If I could relive that day, I would have gone through with the event and made my excuses as to why the books were not there, instead of disappointing my fans and my special guests who had arranged their schedules to support me. A valuable lesson learned.
Thank you for joining me this week! Don't forget to join me next week for my surprise guest interview!
This week's featured author is S.D. Ferrell
S.D. Ferrell is a writer, self-published author, and creative artist. Ms. Ferrell was born the 1st of October 1960 in Norfolk General Hospital, in Simcoe Ontario Canada. She grew up on a small hobby farm just outside of Simcoe in Windham Centre, with her parents, six sisters and one brother.
Her fondest memories of childhood was on the farm and the time she spent outside with her siblings. They had grand adventures in the forest that curved around the property. She remembers a majestic willow tree with long flowing branches that grew beside the laneway – they swung from those branches until they were giddy with laughter. There were also cherry trees in the front yard that she climbed, and sat on the branches for what seemed like hours on end. Among the leaves she was free to allow her mind to take flights of fancy.
Nature; was a wonderful playground for a little girl with a vivid imagination who would one day grow-up to be a writer. Is it any wonder, Ms. Ferrell says that my debut novel starts in a forest and one of the main characters throughout the series is a tree.
S.D. is a proud mother to five daughters and a grandmother to fourteen wonderful grandchildren. She presently resides in Simcoe Ontario and is working on the third book in the series, The Long Road Home. She is also working with an artist on the 4th and final installment in the series, The Keeper’s Guide.
Author Website / Facebook / Wordpress / Evee Fex Chriszt: Artist’s Link / Amazon
The Summer Splash Book Tour gave me the opportunity to go one on one with S.D. Ferrell and ask the questions readers want to know the answers to:
Question: What genre would you say the book falls into?
Answer: The genre is fantasy adventure.
Question: Are there any trigger warnings and/or explicit content readers should know about?
Answer: No, the story is for readers of all ages. I have readers as young as nine reading it, and as old as eighty. However the story does get considerably darker from one book to the next.
Question: What is your favourite Quote?
Answer: Oh, there are so many. I have a cheeky and sassy sense of humour which tends to find its way into my writing. I am also big on dialogue and love writing it. I can’t pick just one quote. But I do have a favorite line, which appears very near to the end of The Valley Time Forgot. - “Little did they know how grand the adventure would be.”
Question: What advice do you have for new writers?
Answer: Carry a note pad and pen with you everywhere you go. Once you open that creative writing portal, inspiration will find its way to you, in the oddest of places and circumstances. If you don’t have a photographic memory you will need something to capture the inspiration with. Date and note where you wrote the idea. You never know, you might one day need to tell interviewers where and when the inspiration first came to you.
Question: Where do you write?
Answer: I write wherever I can take my laptop. I have spaces in my house that lend well to creating in; a nook in my kitchen, the front or back porch, the art studio in the basement, my bedroom and or the living room. I also have been known to visit a coffee shop or two.
Question: Are your characters real to you? Do you speak to them?
Answer: I think they are real to me in the moment that I am creating them and interacting with them as their story unfolds. Actually, I think they speak to me, I am just open to hearing them. I always say, “I am just the vessel that my character use to tell their story.”
Question: What piece of advice from other authors do you hear the most but choose to ignore?
Answer: I don’t really choose to ignore any advice. The advice just may not be relevant to what I need at the moment, but I bank it, because it could be handy later on down the road. I was told by an author though, after she read an excerpt from The Valley Time Forgot, that people don’t talk that way so I shouldn’t write it that way. I was immediately on the defence and felt like she was trying to control my writing voice by comparing it to hers. I later then picked up J R R Tolkien’s The Hobbit and decided, after reading it, that there is nothing wrong with my writing voice and the author’s advice was not based on valid criticism.
Question: Which do you prefer Novels or Novellas and why?
Answer: I don’t really have a preference for either. The Whipple Wash Chronicles are full length novels, and my other two books are a series of short stories.
Question: Are there any Easter eggs in your book(s)?
Answer: The stories are full of characters that have been inspired by family members, friends and co-workers. In most cases I took their name and rearranged the letters to make a new name. In other cases I just gave them a new name. Each of them knows what character I gave them. However, I have also given movie stars; like Dwayne Johnson (The Rock,) a secondary character in the series. Of course he doesn’t know that I have, but one day perhaps we will have that conversation.
Question: What's your favourite food? Have you ever mentioned it in your book(s)?
Answer: I don’t have a favorite food, I like most everything. However, I do go into quite a lot of detail about the food my characters like to eat.
Question: Do you have a writing Motto?
Answer: No I don’t. I tend to have life mottoes that come to me usually within the first couple months of the New Year, which are not to be confused with resolutions. Here are a couple of examples. I like the 3rd one in particular, it seems to be a recurring one.
1. There is a thin line that separates dreams from reality, all you have to do is escape one to experience the other.
2. Good things come to those who believe that it can, and take action to ensure that it does.
3. When life tries to knock the stuffing out of you, bitch slap it back with a crowbar.
Question: If you could change the date to any year past or future, what date would you change it to.
Answer: Interesting question. The date would be September 19, 2014 and I would change it to September 19, 2014. Basically, a do-over. I had grand plans for the book launch of The Shadow of Erebos. I had arranged for the launch to take place on September 21, 2014 because that was the first day of the Fall Equinox and the same day the story begins in the book. Everything was planned to a tee; guest readers, music, professional photographer, swag that was made to reflect the equinox gifts that the characters in the story had made, and a cake in the shape of a book with one of the characters flying off the pages. Our M.P.P. was even going to be there to present me with a certificate. The books were to arrive on the 19th but they didn’t. Even though I had had several conversations with the printer who guaranteed that they would be there. I was so distraught I cancelled the event, without thinking it through. The books arrived on the 22nd 1 day late for what was sure to be an epic book launch. If I could relive that day, I would have gone through with the event and made my excuses as to why the books were not there, instead of disappointing my fans and my special guests who had arranged their schedules to support me. A valuable lesson learned.
Thank you for joining me this week! Don't forget to join me next week for my surprise guest interview!
