I have gone back through Royal Blood now and touched it up a bit. It has officially been republished on Amazon, Createspace and Smashwords. It may take a day or two before it is visible, but it will be there soon! Hope you enjoy the...additions....
Kolina
Tuesday, January 10, 2012
Author spotlight with Kathleen Valentine (Over)
K.T. Hello and welcome. I am very excited to have you here today. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself.
K.V. Hi, I'm happy to be here. Well, I guess I should start at the beginning. I grew up in a family full of story-tellers. As far back as I can remember every time people in our family got together we'd start telling stories so it is natural that I became a story teller. I grew up in a Pennsylvania Dutch community and graduated from Penn State. I was trained as a graphic artist and for most of my life. I supported myself that way but about 10 years ago I started writing seriously. I've published three novels, several novelettes, lots of short stories, a cookbook/memoir about growing up pennsylvania Dutch -- and several books on knitting!
K.T. Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?
K.V. I guess this is sort of quirky -- I don't really believe that I alone am responsible for a lot what I write.I have this theory that there is a parallel universe in which characters live and they are always on the lookout for someone to tell their story for them. I have often had the experience of writing for hours and then reading back over it and thinking "goodness, where did that come from?"
K.T. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
K.V. I've always loved telling stories. My first novel The Old Mermaid's Tale grew out of an experience I had in college. I went to college in Erie, Pennsylvania in the 1960s and, at that time, the neighborhoods around the docks there were pretty rough. There was bar there called The Mermaid Tavern that just fascinated me and I longed to go inside of it. My book grew out of those fantasies.
K.T. What genre do you write?
K.V. I write contemporary fiction with an element of romantic suspense. I've also written quite a few crime stories, a very popular psychological thriller, The Crazy Old Lady in the Attic, and one ghost story, Ghosts of a Bech Town in Winter
K.T. What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career?
K.V. Other writers -- I've been an avid reader all my life. I fell in love with Hemingway when I was in high school as well as Daphne DuMaurier -- a lot of people tell me my writing reminds them of her work.
K.T. What does your family think of your writing?
K.V. In the beginning I don't think they thought much about it but since my books have really taken off and been selling as well as they have they seem to be more interested. One of my sisters, Anne, has been a great supporter. She reads all my books and stories.
K.T. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?
K.V. That's easy -- that I could fall hopelessly in love with characters that I created. It never ceases to amaze me that I can begin writing somthing and, by the time I am well into the story, I'm as involved with my characters as with anyone I ever met in my life! It astonishes me how real my characters become to me and, from what a lot of readers tell me, they become real to them as well.
K.T. Can you tell us a little about your novel?
K.V. I actually have 2 novels out and a third one I hope to have ready within a few months but the novel I'll tell you about today is The Old Mermaid's Tale. It is set in the early 1960s and is the story of Clair Wagner, a young woman who grew up on a farm in Ohio but who longs for a great adventure. She goes off to college in a town on the shores of Lake Erie where she becomes mesmerized by the waterfront and most especially by a mysterious tavern called The Old Mermaid Inn. As the story progresses Clair meets and becomes involved with three men. First, Pio, a handsome Italian fisherman who wants a life of adventure on the Great Lakes, then Gary, the son of a wealthy shipping tycoon, and finally, Baptiste, a Breton mariner who was injured in a shipwreck and who now makes his living as a musician. It is a coming-of-age story but it is steeped in maritime lore, legends, folklore, and, of course, the desire so many of us feel to be part of something larger than ourselves.
K.T. Where can we find your novels?
K.V. Both of my novels are available in paperback and digital from all the major online booksellers -- Amazon, B&N, etc.
K.T. Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?
K.V. I sure do. My web site is KathleenValentine.com and my blog is ParlezMoiBlog.blogspot.com.
K.T. Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers?
K.V. Believe in yourself and never give up. Also, perfect your craft -- learn to write, don't just slap down words. Then edit, edit, edit, and edit again.
Author spotlight with John Hennessy (Over)
Mr. Hennessy is kindly giving away up to 25 ebook
copies for his novel!! First 25 people to comment win!!
K.T. Hello and welcome. I am very excited to have you here today. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself.
J.H. Hello, Kolina. Thank you for having me. I would love to introduce myself. I am a 23-year-old who graduated from Western Washington this last June. I live with my girlfriend, Katherine; our two parakeets, Captain Ron and Lola; and our kitty, Phoebe. I have been writing Life Descending for the last six years and finally decided to self-publish it during the summer, found an editor and cover artist, and finally completed everything in October.
K.T. Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?
J.H. I don’t know if this is a quirk, but every morning I like to get up early and drink Yerba Maté tea through a strainer straw as I write. I’ve been drinking it for six or seven years now, somehow I just got into a routine of doing it. Other than that, I just write, then write some more.
K.T. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
J.H. I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was on a cruise to Alaska. I was a sophomore in high school and was not having a particularly great time because almost everyone there was a couple...and I was single...need I say more? Although I did have some fun with my parents, I also read a lot when they were out. I bought a book in Juno from a cool local bookstore. At the time I was really into the games Starcraft and Warcraft, and I thought I would give Diablo a shot from a literary standpoint, so I bought Diablo: Legacy of Blood. That book really got me thinking about my own story, especially the cursed armor, which I loved. From there, it just took off, to the point where I used what I had written as my Senior Exiting Project.
K.S. What genre do you write?
J.H. I like to write Science Fiction and Fantasy mostly, but also some thriller. Life Descending is labeled as an Epic Fantasy, but it is a mixture of fantasy and sci-fi, something I had a lot of fun with.
K.S. What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career?
J.H. My courses at Western and the books that I read and lectures that I attended were quite a bit of my inspiration. I added in little details to my world from other world cultures and religions outside of the U.S. that I learned about as a Culture and Religion major in the Liberal Studies department. Of course, other fantasy authors have also been inspirational, learning from their work while falling in love with their characters. But Don Quixote is probably my all time favorite...it is hard to say for sure that it is, because there are so many books that I love, but it is so fantastic that I fell in love with it from the first chapter.
K.S. What does your family think of your writing?
J.H. My parents love my book. Both read the manuscript and both have read the printed edition as well. The rest of my family is proud that I accomplished such a feat at a young age.
K.S. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?
J.H. That formatting is awful and that revision and editing is probably the majority of the work, not just sitting down and writing out the story. For me, it was a lot of planning, layering, and reworking. The editing was the worst part, and it started to eat away at me after a time, so eventually I hired the wonderful Sara Stamey, a senior instructor at Western/freelance editor/author to edit my manuscript. She really made the work and words come together in a professional way that I am proud of.
K.S. Can you tell us a little about your novel?
J.H. My novel is about a man, Tom Navo, who has just assaulted his boss after being fired, and is on the verge of suicide at the start of the first chapter. He slips and falls from the skyscraper he is planning to jump from, but luckily some balconies he forgot were there save him. But he is meant to die that day; it is inevitable for him. Sadly, death finds him in a minimart robbing gone wrong. After that, Tom wakes up on a new world and eventually loses his memories as they are replaced with new ones. Unfortunately for Tom, the planet he resurrects on is in a state of unrest and on the brink of war, which he gets caught up in as he tries to
discover what has happened to him.
It is a sad, yet fun adventure, full of different creatures and beings, and characters I hope readers will care about and become attached to, as they invest their time in my novel.
K.S. Where can we find your novels?
J.H. If you live in Bellingham, WA, you can find my books at Village Books in Fairhaven, but for the majority, you can find my books on Amazon.com, B&N.com, all eBook formats on Smashwords. You can find a list on my website, along with reviews in their entirety.
K.S. Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?
J.H. I do have a website: http://www.johnhennessy.net. My blog is built into the website, just click on the news tab. If you visit my website, please visit my map tab, I spent over a month learning how to use Gimp when building it, and I am pretty proud of how it turned out. If you enjoy epic fantasy and the maps that are usually apart of those worlds, I think you will enjoy my map of Gillia.
K.S. Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers?
J.H. Well, to be honest, I am still an aspiring writer. But for those who are serious about self-publishing, please, oh please find an editor. There are only a handful that can really do it on their own and do a professional job, and I bet they still would hire an editor. It really makes a difference if you want to ease the burden on your mind, the weight of all the hundreds of thousands of words than can so easily get mixed up when you have read your own work hundreds of thousands of times.
Author spotlight with George Potter (Over)
K.T. Hello and welcome. I am very excited to have you here today. Why don’t we start off with a small introduction? Tell us a little about yourself.
First, let me say thanks for this interview. I appreciate the opportunity to discuss my books with your followers. I am a retired oil company executive. My wife and I lived in a number of different places during my career, the most exotic of which was living in Yemen for several years. That is the setting for Death in the Empty Quarter. I was born and raised in a small town in Louisiana (the setting for In Search of the Yellow Dog). I have degrees in Chemical Engineering and Law from Louisiana State University. My wife of 48 years and I now live in Asheville, North Carolina.
K.T. Any interesting writing quirks or stories you would like to share with my readers?
I guess my most interesting quirk is that I talk to my characters while writing their story. Not always out loud, but sometimes I can’t go to sleep thinking about what my character is saying and doing. I’ve more than once gotten up in the middle of the night, warmed up the computer and put the thoughts I’ve developed through my conversations onto the screen.
K.T. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? What sparked the desire to pen your first novel?
I’ve wanted to be a writer as long as I can remember. In high school a friend and I penned a few science fiction stories and submitted to a couple of the periodicals – none were ever accepted. I started seriously writing about 30 years ago, but the pressures of my career and raising a family kept me away from that goal. After I retired I dusted off some of my earlier notes – really no more than a couple of uncompleted chapters – updated everything and got serious about writing. Once I started writing almost full time, about 18 months ago, things just fell into place.
K.S. What genre do you write?
In Search of the Yellow Dog is primarily a mystery, but it has elements of thriller, action/adventure and even some romance. Death in the Empty Quarter is basically an action/adventure again with a touch of romance.
K.S. What would you say has inspired you most in your writing career?
I had some really great English teachers in high school and college. I took a extra English courses as electives in college and attended a couple of writing seminars while practicing law. I’ve always read a lot and that sparks a desire to write. A few authors I particularly find inspirational include Raymond Chandler, Ross MacDonald, James Lee Burke and Robert Barnard.
K.S. What does your family think of your writing?
They’ve all been very supportive. My wife relaxes the ‘honey do’ requirements around the house when I’m ‘in the zone’. My oldest granddaughter has helped me with my Facebook pages and is going to help me set up a webpage. She’s also featured me on her blog. My daughter is a talk radio host on a local radio station and has interviewed me on the air (a recording of that interview can be found here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ib-5afgeOXY )
K.S. What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your book?
I can’t say that I’ve really been surprised by anything, but it has been a great learning experience in so many ways.
K.S. Can you tell us a little about your novel?
In Search of the Yellow Dog: Randall Oliver is a semi-retired lawyer who tired of the big city practice and moved back to his boyhood home, a small town in Louisiana. He had been married but is now divorced. Back home he meets his soul-mate, but they had not been going together very long when there are multiple attempts against her life. He has to protect her and find out what secrets in her past has led to these attempts.
Death in the Empty Quarter: Bert Franks is an oil company’s ‘man on the ground’ in Yemen. Things were going smoothly, but suddenly spiraled out of control. His brother in law dies a violent death – suicide perhaps? His girl friend goes missing in Yemen and he is expelled from the country. There is conflict with al-Qaeda, the Russian mafia and even the remnants of the old German Baader-Meinhoff Gang.
K.S. Where can we find your novels?
Both are available on Amazon.com in Kindle and as paperbacks. Electronic versions can be purchased and downloaded through Smashwords.com and both are available at a bookstore in Asheville, NC – Malaprops Bookstore and Café: http://www.malaprops.com/ I’d like to mention that Malaprops has a great program featuring local authors.
K.S. Do you have a website, fan site, or Blog that we can visit?
Yes, I have a fan site for each of the books on Facebook:
K.S. Do you have any closing advice to aspiring writers?
Yes, to quote a tennis shoe company: ‘Just do it’. I mean sit down and start writing – put your thoughts down and suddenly you’ve got something to be proud of.
For authors wishing to interview
If you are an author who is interested in doing an interview/book giveaway I have a Facebook account that you can send me a message on. I prefer not to post my email on this page because of spammers... boo. I will give you details from there on the interview process. (It's very simple, don't worry). That address is https://www.facebook.com/kolinat. Hope to have you on very soon!
Kolina
Kolina
Monday, January 9, 2012
Royal Blood. Say what????
I am currently taking a short break from Andrew's book to revamp Royal Blood. There seem to be a lot of questions and misconceptions that I, as a writer, did not clear up well enough. This book was meant to have a sequel that I did not get to yet, and a lot of people were...unhappy with the way things turned out. Well, I say this; don't fret yet. Things aren't always as they seem. I will be addressing these issues, and more once the book has been republished. Hopefully, now that I have a bit more experience, and patience, I will be able to shed more light on Royal Blood so that it is a more well rounded and...happier place for everyone. ;) I will let you all know when the process has been finished, hopefully just a few days.
Kolina
Kolina
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Watch out!!! I'm back!
Well, I have finally made it back to the blog. Life has been crazy, as it has for everyone, and I have been distracted. Bad writer, I know...hand smacked. Well, I'm back now, and am working furiously on the next book (Andrew's book) which you can preview the first chapter of on my Facebook. I will be trying to get some authors interviewed again here soon so that we can keep things going on here and hopefully help you all, as well as myself, find some awesome new books and authors to love! Check back in regularly, and see if you can score a free book or two!
Kolina
Kolina
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