Interview with Miranda Stork

What inspired you to become an author?

I don’t think anything in particular influenced me to be a writer, but when I was 7, I loved Enid Blyton. I’d always written short stories and drawn pictures to go along with them, but that was the age I realized, while reading her books, that I could do this as a grown-up.    

Do you title the book first or wait until after it’s complete?

I nearly always come up with the title once the book is finished. As I’m never sure where the characters will lead me, or what direction the book will take, I always like to wait until the end, to find something fitting for it.

Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?

I think a lot of the personal stories of my characters do come from my own life, the locations are usually places I’ve been to. The only thing that sprouts from nowhere seems to be the characters themselves. I always feel you can make the reader feel your story much more strongly if you write about what you know about. It would be no good me writing a story set in Egypt, as I’ve never been (although would LOVE to go). I would never be able to make the reader really feel it properly, as I’ve never been, and so I’ve never felt what it is like to be there.

If you had to choose, which writer would you consider a mentor?

It would have to be Charles Dickens. I know it’s not a very modern choice, but I love that his books with their vivid social commentary and full-of-life characters are just as relevant today as they were in the 19^th Century. His skill with writing, entwining wit with the darkness of them is something that I really hope to one day emulate even a little bit.

What book are you reading now?

At the moment, I’m reading Eternal Island, by K.S. Haigwood and Ella Medler—and I love it so far! It’s all about an island that is invisible to the human eye, and is filled with magical creatures of all sorts, witches, vampires…you name it! And a human girl, Ariana, is transported to the island, where she finds that not only is she actually a powerful witch, but that there are many other things there out of her control! It’s a great read, and I’m really enjoying it so far.

What is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?

At the moment I’m working on a short story for an anthology with seven other authors, which will come out next Spring. I can’t give away anything else yet, but keep an eye on Moon Rose Publishing to hear more about it! I’m also writing up the next book in the series, ‘Keeper of Shadows’.

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

I think the biggest challenge I have—and this goes for other authors, too—is keeping your ideas fresh. All stories have been written before in some way, all creatures used in some form, but you have to be able to put a new and exciting twist on that. It’s not always a difficult challenge, sometimes it is. But it’s always fun!

Who designed the cover of your latest book?

Well…it was actually me! *blushes* I also do paintings, so it was a natural choice that I would do my own covers. They’re a mixture of stock and painted artwork, so they always have my ‘stamp’ on them. I also design covers for other authors, which makes sure I don’t grow slack with practice! It also means that I always get to have exactly what is in my head on the front cover, so the readers get the feel of what I’m trying to convey to them.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Don’t do it!!! No, I’m only joking. Always do it, if you can’t imagine doing anything else. Lots of people think that writing is a wasted career move, and it will only end in tears. But I listened to those people, and did jobs for years that I hated. It was only when I realized I would never be happy doing anything else BUT writing, that I finally became happy with my life. Now I do it for a living, and every day is wonderful. It goes for anyone who is unhappy with what they do for a living. Life is there to be enjoyed, so if you’re not enjoying it; you need to change it. I think what is so exciting about life is that we always have a chance to change it for whatever we really want.

Vigilante of Shadows

Scarlet Rain Series, Book One
Miranda Stork

Genre: Paranormal Thriller/Romance

Publisher: Moon Rose Publishing

Number of pages: 267

Word Count: 88,487

Cover Artist: Miranda Stork

Book Trailer: http://youtu.be/vYI-jh8Fa48

Book Description:

Aodhan clutched uselessly at his head, groaning. He knew it was useless, because the voice was not inside his head. It followed him, skimming across buildings and land. It had followed him since he was sixteen, and it still followed him today, like a memory too horrific to be forgotten…

Aodhan is a shadow-demon, hardened and cold after years of being alone, after his love, his Entwined, was cruelly taken away from him. He has closed his heart to the world, and now spends his life ridding the world of men like those who took his beloved away, an immortal hit-man…

Arianwen Harris is a young DCI, working for York City Police. When a known criminal is found viciously killed, she finds herself trailing a hit-man who has seemed to escape clutches again and again…but she begins to find herself drawn to his dark charms and roguish good looks…

As their two worlds collide, Aodhan and Arianwen find themselves coming together to escape a far greater enemy, one that threatens to create a world far worse than the one they live in. As they battle to hold back the oncoming forces, fate has another plan; one to draw them together and heal their broken pasts together…

About the Author:

I was born in Guisborough, North Yorkshire in 1987 and have lived in various places around Britain, including Newcastle and Glasgow.

My writing is inspired by various writers, including the vivid characters of Charles Dickens, the imagination of Stephen King, and the gothic imagery of Anne Rice.

My love of horror began at an early age, when I was only three or four. I could read proficiently at the age of three, and devoured fairy-stories, but I always had a bent towards the darker stories, such as the Brother's Grimm's tales...Red Riding Hood was always a firm favourite, although I always felt sorry for the wolf, despite him having tried to eat everyone!

Amazon Author Page:

http://www.amazon.com/Miranda-Stork/e/B0082YW92S/ref=ntt_athr_dp_pel_1

Blog: http://writermirandastork.wordpress.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/Mirandastork

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/authormirandastork

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4279057.Miranda_Stork

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Interview with Ann Gimpel

What inspired you to become an author?

Long trips in the Sierra backcountry stoke my imagination. Plus writing has always come easily to me. It helps to be able to sit at the keyboard and churn out a couple thousand words in an evening. Of course, I spend more time editing than I did writing, but that's okay, too. It's different, more left brain.

Do you have a specific writing style?

I'm not certain. I think I have a particular voice that shines through no matter what I'm writing.

Do you write in different genres?

Yes. I write science fiction, fantasy and paranormal romance.

If yes which is your favorite genre to write?

Depends what sort of mood I'm in.

How did you come up with the title for your latest book?

A Time for Everything is a play on words since it's a time-traveling paranormal romance.

Do you title the book first or wait until after it’s complete?

A little of both. I sometimes have the title before I have the rest of the book.

Is the book, characters, or any scenes based on a true life experience, someone you know, or events in your own life?

A Time for Everything is based in the Highlands of Scotland. I spent a month in the UK last summer, much of it in the Scottish Highlands. Made it real easy to get a feel for the people, land and, ahem, climate.

What books/authors have influenced your life?

Quite a diversity, actually. On the one hand, there're Tolkien and other high fantasy writers like Jordan and Cherryh and Goodkind and Hobb. On the other there are hard scifi writers like Heinlan, Asimov and Herbert. But I like reading romance, too. Go figure! Bottom line is I love books.

What book are you reading now?

A true adventure tale of the tragedy on Mt. Everest in 2006.

What books are in your to read pile?

Book's four and five of Seanan McGuire's October Daye series. The one remaining Karen Marie Moning Highlander book that I missed. Hex and the Single Witch.

What is your current “work in progress” or upcoming projects?

I have four more paranormal romance novellas coming from Liquid Silver Books between now and about next May. 

The blurb for Gabrielle's Cauldron, due out 12/31 is:

Gabrielle McCallaghan just lost her job. Seeing the writing on the wall, she quit to spare her uncle the embarrassment of having to fire her. With her bond fairy on her shoulder, she strides through a crowded neighborhood contemplating her options. Out of nowhere, a gorgeous, full blood magic wielder appears and makes a beeline right for her. Gabby knows her hybrid witch magic is no match for his, so she tries to evade him. The fairy does her best to help, but the contest is laughable. Even in his human form, the wolf-man is still stronger than she ever dreamed of being. It doesn’t take long before Gabby is drawn into a deadly game of intrigue that started over a thousand years before. The stakes are high and the timing abysmal, but she finds herself falling in love in spite of herself. Can she and her full blood lover make a life for themselves? Or will the long-running battle between full bloods and hybrids pound the fragile bond between them to dust? 

To read an excerpt go to: http://www.liquidsilverbooks.com/forums/showthread.php?t=13655

Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

When I'm working on several things at once, I struggle to maintain the integrity of my characters.

Do you have to travel much to do research for your books?

Yes. That was what the trip to the UK was all about.

Who designed the cover of your latest book?

Valerie Tibbs, a cover artist contracted with Liquid Silver Books.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Several things are important. Keep writing and develop a thick skin. Solicit feedback and learn to sift through it. There are always grains of truth in people's assessment of your writing and stories. Writers who can't make good use of creative commentary will never grow. I have a motto: my publisher is always right. I will bend myself into a pretzel trying to give them what they want. But I know when to stand my ground, too, if the integrity of the story as I visualize it is at risk.

A Time for Everything

Ann Gimpel

Blurb:

Siobhan Macquire’s fortune has attracted a string of men who are out to drain her for everything they can get. Her last boyfriend was no exception. Furious at being used—again—she goes for a walk in the Highlands.

With the weather worsening, she wanders alone for hours. She’s soaking wet and starting to get scared when someone calls out to her. A striking-looking man emerges from the mist. Except there’s something wrong. His kilt is way too long and he talks with an archaic accent. Siobhan soon finds herself not only lost in the countryside but also in time.

Excerpt:

Sam pulled the draw cords of her hood tighter, squinting against driving rain. She shivered, willing her legs to move faster. Even in the northern latitudes, it got dark eventually during what passed for summer, and the light was definitely fading. One foot sloughed into a hole. Cursing roundly, she yanked it out, noting the mud added what felt like ten pounds to her tired leg. Going on a ramble—as the locals called it—by herself had seemed like a good idea earlier in the afternoon. Now she wasn’t so sure. It had been hours since she’d seen another soul. The air felt heavy—and threatening, somehow.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” she scolded herself. “My imagination’s off the clock, working overtime.”

A flash off toward the river was followed almost immediately by a rumbling crash. It started raining harder. The sky lit again, casting the wet greenery and surrounding mountains in a macabre glow. Thunder sounded so loud it made her ears ring. The next lightning flare sparked off a rock not twenty feet away. Sam’s heart sped up. She stared at the mountains ringed about her. Why wasn’t the storm up there? Lightning was supposed to be drawn to high points, not meadows saturated with water.

As if determined to prove her wrong, another flash struck the ground off to her left. She threw her hands over her ears but the thunder reverberated in her brain as if someone had struck an anvil right next to her. Shaking her head to try to make her ears stop hurting, she started walking again. Lightning struck inches from her feet. Sam lurched to a stop, blinking to clear the afterimage. Even as wet as it was, the air felt electrified, thick with sharp edges. She could almost see marauding electrons reaching for her, hungry little mouths wide open.

Fear raced along her nerve endings, making her feel as if she’d downed half a dozen double espressos in a row. The breath whooshed out of her and her head spun crazily.

The storm’s trying to kill me.

Oh, please, she answered herself. Sam hated her tendency to engage in two-way inner dialogue, but she’d done it all her life.

An excruciating twenty minutes and half a dozen lightning strikes later, she thought it might be safe to move. It was raining like a son of a bitch, but after striking what looked like a circle around where she stood, the electrical part of the storm had left as quickly as it had come.

Guess the storm gods didn’t want me, after all.

Why should they? No one else does.

Sam sank into a funk. Shit, could I possibly be any wetter? Weather in the British Isles had been particularly wretched this summer. “Yeah, sort of like the rest of my life,” she muttered as she tried to assess if she’d be better off staying on the track or cutting cross-country toward where she thought a roadway was. Resolutely, she struck out for the road and promptly stepped into calf-deep water. It ran over the top of her boot and soaked her thick, woolen sock before she could jerk her foot back to solid ground.

So much for that idea. Obviously, there’d been so much rain the ground on both sides of the track had turned into a bog. She’d never seen one before this trip to Scotland. They were hideous. Miles of saturated ground with water deep enough to reach her knees in some places. Sam glanced at her watch and groaned. She’d been walking for close to five hours. No wonder it was getting dark. The village she was aiming for shouldn’t actually be all that far away. In fact, she should have been there long since. About to tuck her watch back under her sleeve, she took one last look at it and realized the second hand had stopped. She tapped the crystal with her finger but nothing happened.

Crap! Wonder when it quit? Must be the damp.

Yes, another less pleasant voice piped up, it also means I have no idea how long I’ve been walking. Peering through mist-shrouded countryside, she looked for some signs of Beauly Village but all she saw were sheep.

Sam told herself to keep walking. It wasn’t as if there was anywhere she could even sit to consider her options. Everything dripped water. Her jacket and pants, which had always provided adequate protection from the elements back in the States, were woefully inadequate here. She was afraid to pull out her cell phone. Electronics and water definitely weren’t compatible. Yeah, just look what happened to my watch. Dark thoughts crowded her mind. Why had she thought it would be romantic to spend a year in Scotland?

You know why, an inner voice—the nasty one—sneered. It was your infatuation with Clint. Sam gave her resident maven a point for accuracy. Clint, with his spiffy Scottish intonations, dreamy blue eyes, and red-blonde curls, had sweet-talked her into bankrolling a trip to his home. Between his ever-so-broad shoulders, washboard abs, and nice, tight ass, he’d barely let her out of bed for a month. By the time she’d figured out the reason he had so much time on his hands was because he didn’t have a job, it was too late. She was head over heels in love. And hoping desperately that this time it would lead her to the altar. After all, it wasn’t as if he had to work. All he needed to do was treat her like a queen. She had plenty of money for both of them.

Eager to grant her prince whatever he wanted, she’d readily agreed when he’d talked longingly of going back to Scotland for a while. Except he’d had a personality transplant practically the second they’d landed in Glasgow. In the month-and-a-half since they’d arrived, she’d scarcely seen him. He was always off with his mates, as he called them, drinking or climbing. There were weeks when he hadn’t returned to their rental flat in Inverness at all. Worse, she suspected some of those mates were gay. When she’d asked him if he swung both ways his eyes had turned to blue ice chips. He’d twisted away and slammed out of the house. That was the last time she’d seen him.

Water ran off the bill of her hood. Some of it dripped into one eye. “Oh to hell with it,” she snarled. “I’m catching the first plane out of here—without him.” She sighed, feeling sad and angry by turns. Clint was far from the first man who’d taken advantage of her. As soon as they found out she was an heiress to a whiskey fortune, they promised her the moon and then fleeced her for everything they could get. She’d gotten pretty cagy in the years between sixteen and her current twenty-five. She’d even rented a modest apartment in Seattle and pretended she lived there when she met someone new.

Eventually, though, when she thought a guy might be different, she took him to the Capitol Hill mansion she’d more-or-less inherited after her parents relocated to one of their many other homes. No matter how promising a relationship looked, the truth of that rambling mansion was always the beginning of the end.

About the Author

Ann Gimpel is a clinical psychologist, with a Jungian bent.  Avocations include mountaineering, skiing, wilderness photography and, of course, writing.  A lifelong aficionado of the unusual, she began writing speculative fiction a few years ago. Since then her short fiction has appeared in a number of webzines and anthologies. Two novels, Psyche’s Prophecy, and its sequel, Psyche’s Search, have been published by Gypsy Shadow Publishing, a small press. A husband, grown children, grandchildren and three wolf hybrids round out her family.

           

www.anngimpel.com

http://anngimpel.blogspot.com

http://www.amazon.com/author/anngimpel

http://www.facebook.com/anngimpel.author

@AnnGimpel (for Twitter)

The Old Man and The Monkey by George Polley

Authors That Have Inspired Me

            The authors that have inspired me stimulated my imagination by telling stories that lifted me from the world I lived in and introduced me to people and places that I knew nothing about. Most of all, they knew how to tell stories that pulled me in, engaged me, brought me back, and have remained with me. Each of them told stories about people -- all kinds of people -- in fascinating and unimaginable places. If I told you about all the writers who have inspired -- and continue to inspire me -- this would be a book, and not a blog post, so I’ll stick with a few of the ones who have had the most influence on me and on my writing

            The first there was Edgar Rice Burroughs of Tarzan fame, who also wrote adventure novels about Mars and a man named John Carter of Virginia, who was magically transported there when he stood in his front yard with his arms raised toward the planet Mars. The first Mars book I read, I was hooked, and read all eleven of them. Soon our neighbors saw me standing in our front yard at night, looking up into the sky to find Mars, then, just like John Carter, standing with my arms raised toward Mars hoping that I would soon be transported there. (I quit doing that when the thought hit me: “What if I couldn’t get back?”)

            The second was Luise Mühlbach (the pen name of Clara Mundt, 1814 Neubrandenburg – 1873, a German writer wrote popular romantic fiction about the crowned heads of Europe and other famous people in the 19th Century. My mother inherited all twenty-two of her books, and I read each one at least twice. What a world that was!

            Then there was John Hersey’s “Hiroshima” , which arrived via the Book of the Month Club. I read it in one sitting, and have never been able to forget any of the images he describes in it, and I discovered the power of words to paint verbal pictures of reality in a way I had never seen it done. The late great Stieg Larsson writes with that kind of descriptive power and clarity in his “Millennium Trilogy”.

            Later, along came the Cretan Nikos Kazantzakis, author of “Zorba the Greek” and other novels, with his powerful language, characters and dynamism. Then a writer friend gave me a copy of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s “One Hundred Years of Solitude” and I discovered the world of magic realism, in which ordinary events and characters are mixed with elements of myth and fantasy, and I was hooked.

            Today my favorite writers include J. K. Rowling and Haruki Murakami, both of whom include magic and myth in their writing. Murakami’s “1Q84”, “Kafka on The Shore” and “Hard Boiled Underworld and The End of The World”  are so filled with fantasy and mythic elements that it is hard to know what is real, what seems real, and what is not.

            The key to all these authors and, I hope my own writing, is that their work is anchored in first class story telling and strong, believable characters. They also have a deep sense of compassion for the people they write about. All of their characters are believable and real, and I like that.

           

            In most of what I write today, myth and magic play a part. That is true of my novella The Old Man and The Monkey (who is the old monkey?), more so in “Bear”, my children’s series about a boy named Andy and his big, bearlike dog, and even more so in “The City Has Many Faces”, a novel about Mexico City that I am now writing, because it fits with the city’s ancient history and culture. But in the novel after that one, about a fictional Tokyo artist who, as an eight-year-old boy survived the Tokyo firebombings of March, 1945 and became a well-known artist, it will not be present, as the story calls for compassionate realism.

The Old Man and The Monkey

George Polley

Genre: Adventure, Inspirational, Legend

Publisher:  Taylor Street Publishing

ISBN: 9781451543773

ASIN: B003T0GJ4E

Number of pages:  60

Word Count: 7,267

The Old Man and The Monkey is about a village elder in Japan and the large monkey who became his friend over the last five years of his life. Since the villagers don't like monkeys, none of them approve of the friendship between the old man Genjiro Yamada and Yukitaro ("snow monkey" in Japanese).

But Genjiro refuses to give up the friendship, even when his wife objects to it. After all, monkeys are nuisances and thieves. But over time, both Genjiro’s wife and the villagers come to grudgingly accept him, especially when, on several occasions, they receive a special blessing from him.

'The Old Man & The Monkey' is a stunningly beautiful story of a relationship which develops between an old man and a creature which is regarded as a dangerous pest in Japan, a snow monkey, in George Polley's moving allegory of dignity in the face of prejudice and racism.

Amazon.com  Kindle

About the Author:

George Polley was born in Santa Barbara, California and raised in Seattle, Washington. He has lived in California (Berkeley and Stockton), Illinois (Cooks Mills  and Villa Grove), Minnesota (Luverne, Marshal and Minneapolis), and from 1984 until early in 2008, in Seattle, when he and his wife moved to Sapporo, Japan so that she could fulfill her dream of returning to the land of her birth.

His work has appeared in the South Dakota Review, Crow's Nest, Expanding Horizons, The Enchanted Self, Community Mental Health Journal, Maturing, The Lyon County (Minnesota) Review  Wine Rings, North Country Anvil, North American Mentor Magazine, the McLean County (Illinois) Poetry Review, River Bottom, Tower Talks and Foundations.

He has also authored several booklets in the mental health field, two of them co-authored with Ana Dvoredsky, M.D. in 2007.

George's e-book 'The Old Man & The Monkey' poses one of the most elegant and powerful arguments against racism of all time, and his 'Grandfather & The Raven' argues equally compellingly against violence in all its forms. 

web  blog   twitter  amazon.com  facebook

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Christmas Eve Blitz Interview with Angela Burns

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

Indie Giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Character Interview Returned Pendle Hill Trilogy Book One by Keeley Smith

Interview with Clay Barnes

Keeley Smith: “Hi, Clay. Thanks for being here today.”

Clay: “Pleasure, thanks for having me.”

KS: “So, how do you like Millsteeple? I hear you’re a Yorkshire man at heart.”

C: “I like Millsteeple. I’ve had a few problems whilst I’ve been here that we are dealing with. But you’re right; I’m a Yorkshire man at heart. My home is in Ripon.”

KS: “Let’s get down to business, what is your ideal woman?”

C: (laughs) “I have a reputation for being a ladies’ man, I’m not, well, I’m not too much of a ladies’ man. But my ideal woman, well she would have to be strong willed, funny and down to earth.”

KS: “That could be any woman then?”

C: (grins) “I like to keep my options open.”

KS: “I suppose it makes it difficult to find women when you have such a huge secret to keep. I hear you’re a witch, is that true?”

C: “Come on, you believe in witches? It’s good to believe in that stuff for Halloween, it makes the night more interesting.”

KS: “So, the rumours aren’t true then? You could tell me, I can keep a secret.”

C: (Laughs) “If I told you I was, I’d have to kill you.”

KS: “Okay. Moving on, you look like you keep fit, do you work out?”

C: “Yes, I like to spar and play fight with my friends when we can.”

KS: “Interesting way to keep fit. Do you do anything else in your spare time?”

C: “I like to hang out with family and friends playing football and having BBQ’s.”

KS: “That sounds lovely. Okay, so I’m going to ask you some questions so the readers can get to know the real you a little better. What is your most treasured possession?”

C: “It is a locket my mother owned. I keep it when I need to think of her, she died a long time ago. ”

KS: “I’m sorry to hear that but at least you have something of hers. Okay, last question. Which person do you most admire?”

C: (His brows collide in the middle of his head.) “Someone I know had been through such a lot in her short life but she is still so strong, I admire that about her.

Returned

Pendle Hill Trilogy Book One

Keeley Smith

Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult

ASIN: B009YE6J94

Number of pages: 319

Word Count: 96,415

Cover Artist: Keeley Smith

Amazon

Book Description:

17 year old Cora Hunt has one wish, to live the life of a normal teenager.

Her wish never comes true.

After her reluctant move to a sleepy village in the middle of Lancashire Cora's life is turned upside down when she discovers she is a witch, a very powerful witch. Cora is not just any old witch, she is the daughter of Alizon Device who was one of the most powerful witches of her time. 

Dealing with her new found powers is quite a challenge, but when the past she didn't know about unearths new complications in the form of Jack Thomas, her life becomes increasingly dangerous with each waking minute.

Jack also has a secret past, a past that clashes with Cora's.

A confrontation between the two results in a life or death situation. The brutal events of 1612 happened hundreds of years ago, but what Jack and Cora face is a definite déjà vu. The only question is, will their fate be the same as those who perished in 1612?

About the Author:

Keeley Smith is the author of Returned, a new and exciting young adult fantasy about witches. Cora Hunt is a witch, she's been a witch since 1612, since the day her mother was murdered in the infamous Pendle Hill witch trials. Now Cora must learn to control her new power, but with this new power comes danger. Is she strong enough to survive to threat that comes with being the new witch in the village?

Keeley lives in the UK with her husband and rabbit. She has a BA Hons in English Literature and Language from the Open University. When she isn't writing and spending time with her "book friends" she also loves to read and keep fit, by keeping fit she means picking up chocolate and placing it in her mouth, then repeating the process. It's a very good workout!

www.keeleysmithauthor.com

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16078270-returned

https://twitter.com/Keeley_Smith1

http://www.facebook.com/#!/Keeley.Smith.Fan