A Word With Lillian Duncan– Nick Wale interviews the author of “The Christmas Stalking”

A few weeks ago, I had an open call for interviews. I wanted fresh talent for interviews on this blog. With the new year here and the blog flourishing, I am slowly mixing these interviews in with my regular works. Sometimes, change can be a great thing and I hope you enjoy this short but sweet chat with author Lillian Duncan.

Q) Nice to meet you Lillian. Let’s start with a plug for your work. What is your latest book called?

A) My latest release is a novella—a fancy word for a shorter-than-novel length story. It’s called THE CHRISTMAS STALKING. Destiny is a country music star with a problem. Someone’s stalking her and she has no idea who. She decides to hide away in a small village in upstate New York, but the stalker follows!

Q) How are the public taking to your books?

A) Everyone seems to enjoy them from what I can tell. Great reviews so far. With so many books being published all the time, there’s a lot of competition to get noticed.

Q) Let’s talk books. What do you like to write about?

My books are Christian fiction in the romantic suspense genre, but there’s a lot more suspense than romance. My stories have a lot of action and lots of twists and turns before getting to the finale. Many men seem to think women can’t write action-filled suspense, but men like my books as much as women. The Christmas Stalking is my third release in the past two years with PURSUED and DECEPTION being released in 2011. I have one book contracted for next year—BETRAYED.

Q) How do you write? Do you like to listen to music? Do you like silence?

A) It’s sort of quiet where I write, but never completely. I work upstairs in my office, but life happens downstairs. Life for me includes two dogs, four parrots, and one husband. The combination can be quite noisy at times, but it works for me.

Q) What drives you on as a writer?

A) To create entertaining stories while showing God’s love for us.

Q) What do you personally think makes a great read?

A) Wonderful characters with a big problem! In my case, either finding a murderer or trying to stop a murder—usually their own!

Q) Who is your favourite author?

A) Terri Blackstock and Brandilynn Collins are two of my favorite authors. The first time I read either one of their books, I thought to myself—oh, they write like me. It was only when I discovered them that I actually realized there was a Christian suspense genre out there.

Q) Where can people buy your work?

A) My books are available at the major online bookstores (Amazon and Barnes & Noble) or at my publisher’s website: PelicanBookGroup.com

You can also learn more about my writing at LillianDuncan.net

Q) If you could choose to have written one book– which would it have been?

A) There are many, but one that comes to mind is Forrest Gump. I mean what an interesting book that must have been to write. A love story, most of the modern historical events of my life up to that point, and his own personal journey as a man, all wrapped up into one fun story.

Thanks for stopping by Lillian! We here at Novel Ideas would like to wish you every ounce of New Year cheer for great sales over the coming months!

If you would like an interview with me on my blog– please email me through my contact page. I want to hear from you!

Courier Takes You on an Amazing Ride

Great review!

Meet the Horror Prince Pretender– Nick Wale interviews Spooky Writer Alex Laybourne

A note about Alex Laybourne:

Alex is a young guy who is going places. He’s prolific, talented and completely enveloped by the business. I have met many writers and interviewed many talented people, but Alex Laybourne struck me as a guy who really has some special aura– some special style. Read on and meet the horror prince…

Q) Great to meet you Alex! Let me ask you– What was the first book you ever read?

A) I can only remember the title, I was young, around four or five years old and it was a book called the George Borrow. It was ironic because the writer of the same name comes from my area of the UK and there was a hotel I had to travel past every day to get to school with the same name, too. If I remember rightly it was a pirate sort of story. I also remember reading IT by Stephen King when I was about 10.

Q) Stephen King seems to be a big influence on your writing. Would you agree?

Definitely. Stephen King has been a huge influence on me, and I remember trying to write in his style for a long time before I found my own. I was also greatly inspired by the Books of Blood by Clive Barker.

So would you say Horror is where you feel most comfortable?

Oh yes, without a doubt. Horror is the genre that I feel most at home writing. I have several ideas for stories that are quite romantic, but then in the planning I somehow add horror elements without even thinking about it.

Q) But you’re not that crazy about the current “zombie” trend?

Yes and no. I have read some very good Zombie books recently– the Zomblog series in particular was a very find collection. However, it is not really a genre that appeals to me in terms of writing. I have penned a zombie short story, and may well dabble in it again, but I find that many people who write in that particular niche seem to stay there, and I couldn’t do that. Like all trends, they rise and fall. It is only inevitable that the craze we have for zombies will soon be replaced by something new.

Q) What do you see the new craze as?

I don’t know. I don’t think it is easy to predict, I mean look at sparkly vampires, I never saw that coming. I’ll be pleased to see it leave though. 

I would like to see horror take a step forward and reclaim the genre. Too many books now are being classed as dark thriller, or urban fantasy, and that is because of the blood thirsty fiction that is out there. Blood and guts equal horror by today’s standards, and that is wrong. There is much more to it than that.

Q) So what do you consider your best work?

I think everything I have written has been my best. I have grown with every piece I have written. There are a couple of short stories I have that I think people will love.

Q) So what works do you have in print right now?

My first novel, Highway to Hell should be out in print before the New Year. I had published it before on my own through Amazon and Createspace, but it has since been contracted to a publishing company– MayDecember Publications. They also have the second story in the Highway trilogy.

Q) How are sales?

Before I pulled it from sale (on Amazon), a requirement of the publishing contract I signed, sales were ok. I didn’t have a lot of time to promote myself, but I sold enough copies for me to know I could do it if I studied up a little.

To be honest, I would love to hit a big opening day, something like 100 copies would be awesome, and I know my publishers have that as their next goal to achieve as a company, too. I would love to make that happen. You have to aim big, right?

Q) So, you decided to get an agent?

Exactly, it is the next step. I feel that being a traditionally published author was the first step, and now, with that extra level behind me, I can up my game, get an agent and start approaching some even bigger publishers with my new work.

Q) So, what are you looking for in an agent?

I am looking for a partner, someone who shares my dedication and passion, my belief in my writing and who is willing to aim high. I keep coming back to that phrase, or variation thereof. I have spent a long time being the person at the bottom of the ladder, and when you are down there, reaching for the next rung is your primary focus; but now, I am looking to buck that trend, to catch people off guard by launching myself to the very top. I know it won’t be easy, but I am willing to work hard to get there, and want an agent that will stand there with me.

Q) So, what’s your day job?

I work in an office, for a company based in Schiphol, that offer software and services for aircraft leasing companies. It isn’t my sort of thing, but it pays the bills and with 4 kids running around at home, they can get pretty high.

Q) You dream of writing all the time though?

Definitely, I am often making notes, or (shhhh) if my boss is not looking, working on my writing. I cannot turn it off, it is a part of who I am.

Q) Ok– let’s talk books. Who would you consider to be the greatest author of all time?

That is a tough one, because language and storytelling have changed so much. I mean, from Beowulf through to (Stephen) King and the current crop of indie writers around, stories have held many forms. I think that you would be hard pushed to be Shakespeare or Dickens. I remember reading The Three Musketeers when I was eighteen (I had read it as a kid, also). Dumas told such a wonderful story, I read the book twice in a row. Fitzgerald and Hemingway to Orwell and of course King, each one masters in their own right. There are so many books out there I still want to read, classics and modern, that I could not choose but one. English literature alone is filled with more wonderful names than I could ever hope to read.

Q) Do you ever want to write a classic?

I don’t know if I have what it takes to write a classic, if I am honest with you.
I want to write and reach the top spot, but to say I could write a classic is tough.

Q) Tell me– what is a classic novel to you?

A classic is something that can stand the test of time, that can move you and take you to places. The setting may age and date, but the effect the words have on the mind remain strong.

Q) You have what it takes to write bestsellers– are sales or prestige more important to you?

You hear so many authors saying, “I write because I love to write”. I, myself, have said it repeatedly; but we publish work to sell books. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want to earn a lot of money and have my name on the lips of the reading masses. I am ambitious and won’t hide it, but at the same time I am humble, and if I cannot publish my work for any reason, I will still write. It is part of who I am, and at the end of the day being able to tell my kids that I stood up and chased my dream and didn’t compromise myself in the process is the most important thing.

Q) So, I take it you believe in success?

I believe we can make ourselves successful. I had limitations and labels– being told that I couldn’t achieve something, or that the odds are against me. I say f*ck the odds, I work hard and will succeed.

Alex broke off the interview at this point to continue working. He had an idea– a muse that had to be followed. I know this interview will continue another time, but when you are working with a guy like Alex, you have to catch him when you can!

David Dennis – Disregarded? Not anymore!

Great interview with a guy who really has a story to tell! I am happy to share an interview with David Dennis on a blog by my friend Mike Sivier.

“Disregarded: The True Story of the Failure of the UK’s Work Programme” is the true story of the way workers are being made to work as slaves in the UK.

Irving Unleashed… A Revealing Conversation with Terry Irving

The last time I met with Mr Terry Irving we spent a lot of time talking about his career. This time I had a lot of mail from people asking to know more about the man. Let me take you to a cold winter evening in 2012. Terry was busy– but anxious to get the interview started. The tape rolls as follows…

 

terry Irving 3I’mm Baa-aack. All ready to do an interview with you, Nick.

Q) Hey Terry–ready to start?

A) Sure– oddly enough, I have another interview scheduled with IPTV Magazine – don’t know why.

Q) Okay, so let me ask you– did you enjoy the first interview we conducted?

A) I LOVED it– oh have we started?

(I knew from this start that Terry was in a good mood– jovial and Terry Irving go well together.)

Q) Yes, but I’ll keep that in– just for my ego.

A) Well, then let’s forge on into the verbal wilderness.

Q) I loved it, too– so what should we talk about?

A) How about my effing book (to use Terry Prachett’s words)?

(I was bent over doubled up laughing by this point.)

Q) Your effing book? Fine– so what do you like about your effing book?

A) I have a new review blurb: “An action-packed, entertaining, and thought-provoking story appropriate for a wide audience.” Of course, it’s from the editor at Createspace, and I would suspect they don’t usually tell their authors that their novel is the worst thing they’ve read since Terry Southern’s last effort.

Q) You can’t trust an editor or journalist, Terry. Hasn’t working with me told you that?

A) No, but I’ve never trusted you.

Q) Why? (I said, falling for the joke.)

A) In the words of Ronald Reagan, “Trust but Verify”, or as Jimmy Carter said when he landed in Poland, “I would like to have carnal love with all of you.” That last was a translator’s error.

Q) Well, I’m glad you verify my work– if you didn’t I’d be worried! Seriously, so how many people do you have working on your book? What do they do? Do you have a team?

A) In full disclosure, in the other book I’m currently writing – The Unemployed Guy’s Guide to Unemployment – I have a long section on the depression that affects the unemployed. To test out my theories on the subject, I woke up at 3am worrying about, well, everything. Then, I was too tired to write and too awake to sleep, so I wasted a couple of hours worrying about the unfixable.

To make a long story slightly less boring, my head feels like it’s filled with bees and I have the attention span and the vocabulary of a newborneinfant. I want the reading public to know this and protest your inhumane practices. PAYING THE BILLS worries me the most. Now, this is an interesting little chat-up between old boffins, but we should get to the meat of the matter and talk about the bloody book. Is it boffins or Gaffers?

Q) I prefer broke-ass writers.

A) Mates?

Q) Mates!

A) Onwards

Q) To victory

A) Ask a question about the book.

Q) So, about your book, Courier, Terry– how do you feel about it? Would you buy it?

A) I never set out to write Great Literature. I wanted a book that would be sitting in a bookstore at an airport and you would pick it up and go, “Hmmm. Looks okay. Should get me through the flight to LA.” It became a bit more complex than that, but basically I managed to stay away from complex ideas and literary merit.

Q) Is it all about telling a tale then? All about entertaining people?

A) I think so. Or at least that’s generally the sort of book I read. Sometimes I’m amazed when I realize that I’ve read all these serious tomes about War and Politics and the War of the Roses and whatever because I never intend to.I want to be Lee Child. That guy has what appears to be an effortless ability to force the reader – not force, entice would be better – to read on and on. I know it’s not just luck but a lot of hard work, but that’s what I’d like to be able to do. Write so that the reader forgets it’s a book so that afterwards, they simply remember the scene or the action and aren’t really sure if it was a book, a tv show or a movie.

Q) Of course, you see your book as a movie too, right?

A) Yes, my background is writing for television so the pictures are always in my mind as I write. The characters are usually talking in the background as well so it can get pretty complex in there. One of the areas I see as a weakness is that I have a fairly blunt style of writing – again from the stripped language of TV news where every word has to earn its place into a script – and I don’t put in enough descriptive sentences. I had my character crash off his motorcycle and scrape along the pavement for about a paragraph. Dennis LeHane has his guy go through a windshield and the description goes on for two pages. AND it’s brilliant.

Q) How about Stephen King? Does he grab you as an author?

A) Stephen King. Does anyone like Stephen King? Stephen King and Terry Goodkind should be placed in a box and separated from the rest of the world. Oh, along with Robert Jordan.

Q) I take it you don’t share the opinion that they are literary greats?

A) No. they are fairly smart hacks who just write endless pages of endless copy with no point, no beauty and no reason for existence. Not that I’m being critical, mind you. I once bought a Stephen Kingbook on tape to keep me awake on a straight-through drive to Florida, and I ended up smashing it on the ground somewhere in mid-Georgia. Later, I read that he had based the entire 20 book series on the line “To the Black Tower, Childe Harold rode.” Sadly, King is also very smart and inventive and, I suppose, scary and lots of people like him so I’m not going to be too critical. Those who like him love him, and if they read the books then that’s great!

Q) Who would you call a great writer?

A) Great writer? Dashiel Hammett, Edgar Allen Poe, Lord Dunsany, H.P. Lovecraft who invented the Chulthu Mythos, Tolkien– writers who created entire new areas of literature. Tolkien’s world was a brilliant invention that took almost nothing from previous writers. No one has done it better since. ‘Continental Op’ is one of the best books ever. Hammett invents the entire private eye, noire, entirely American theme of the lone man with a code of honour.

Q) How about Chandler? Great writer?

A) Chandler? A good writer – not a great one. I mean, you can only have so many Great Writers or you start to debase the currency. I’m happy if I can find an OK writer to read. Alfred Bester, Philip K. Dick, Jules Verne, those are some of the better writers.

Q) (John) Steinbeck?

A) Steinbeck? Ehh. Yes, he was great but … everyone knows that already and Dos Passos was a lot more fun. Pynchon was great until he began to write in code.

Q) Who would you call the worst writer you’ve read?

A) The worst writer. You mean, besides a significant number of the authors I see online these days? I would have to say Terry Goodkind, otherwise. Derivative, uninteresting, lousy descriptions, unreal conversations – of course, I made all these decisions from reading about 20 pages of one book. My other pet hatred are the writers who sell off their worlds to other writers– usually without warning you. They should be given a sound thrashing and sent to bed with out rice pudding.

Q) So you don’t much care for the self-published author?

A) I really don’t know enough about the entire self-publishing world. That was one of my ponderings last night. I know there are some real dogs out there but that’s probably true in any field. I suspect that there are some excellent authors in the self-pub area but I also suspect that the big publishing houses are watching and picking off the ones that don’t suck. My problem is that I really don’t understand this new paradigm of publishing at all. I can’t understand “books” that run 17 pages. That’s a menu at a restaurant, not a book. I don’t understand why mass paperbacks are a minimum of 80,000 words but anything over 60,000 is considered too big in the self-pub business, and I really don’t understand how to make any money here.

Q) I think you are meant to be published by a house. I’m not sure why you aren’t, but I believe something isn’t being done right.

A) I think big publishers are terrified of the changes and are only accepting the big authors and books with vampires and zombies – preferably both. I wanted to be picked up by a major publishing house – heck, I had friends at three of them! But it hasn’t happened and I’m just egotistical enough to believe it’s not because Courier is a terrible book.

Q) Terry, you have just dared a publishing house to take your book. Calling them out!

A) First off, it was ever thus. I was reading one author – a huge seller – who said that his first book was sent to over 200 editors. JK Rowling, the same. Plus, where book editors used to have a certain leeway to pick a book that was out of the mainstream but they thought had a little something – today, any choice goes to a central publishing committee and you have to defend your choice. Gah! I’d pick vampires, too.

Q) Would I be right to say you’re angry with the lack of vision within the publishing industry then?

A) “Lack of vision”? Nah, I’ve been in television buddy. I’ve seen “lack of vision” on its home ground, where it was born and raised. It’s the realities of the market and the changes in technology. I imagine people in publishing are terrified. All the rules have changed. I mean, people do interviews with bloggers for Pete’s sake, instead of good, reliable radio shows.

Q) Does it worry you that your book might get lost in a sea of loser novels?

A) It worries me that my book could get lost in a sea of good novels. I’ve written a very personal novel – based on my own experiences – and set in a world that few people really know– Television News in the 1970’s. Young people have no clue what I’m talking about and there simply weren’t that many of us working in the industry at the time (which made it really really fun – young people could take a chance and do just about anything).

Q) Do you find it difficult to adapt to the new way of things?

A) Seriously, no. My job in television – and certainly for 8 years at Nightline – was to take a very complex subject that I knew nothing about. Research it, understand it and then break it down to its essentials so I could explain it to a mass audience. Learning about self-publishing and 99 percent e-books and i-books and whatever; is really just a version of the same thing. I left a cushy job at ABC News in 1993 and, after cold-calling a dozen people, went to Los Angeles and wrote a CD-ROM interactive History of the World. I picked up non-linear editing, was VP at a startup where we were going to have online video classes for businesses and where we did the outline, and Tada Industries in Calcutta did the programming overnight on this weird “Internet” thingie.

Q) Did it pay off?

A) Nope.

Q) You like taking chances?

A) I have consistently been far enough ahead of the technology curve that there was neither the audience nor the content to support my efforts. It was fun though. It’s not as much about taking chances as being willing to try doing something new. I’d never written a film script before I wrote one, I’d never watched streaming media before I became VP of a streaming media company.

Q) How about your successes? What would you class as your achievements?

A) My achievements? Well, if you’re honest with yourself, you really don’t do much of lasting importance in TV. However, I did have a significant role in two cases where the show I did made a difference in real life. One was the first time we went to South Africa in 1985 and Apartheid was in its last full-bore application before the whites gave up. We put (Arch) Bishop Desmond Tutu on the air side by side with Foreign MinisterPik Botha. It was literally the first time that South Africans had seen an educated, erudite black man disagree with a powerful white man in public.

The other was a show that I’d been trying to do for several years on “Heavy Urban Rescue”. That’s what you do afteranincident like the World Trade Towers, like the Mexico City earthquake, or like Katrina in New Orleans. The US government was fielding rescue teams that knew how to handle these situations, but they were being run out of the State Department and couldn’t be sent to domestic events. When a department store in a small town simply pancaked down on a couple of hundred people, I pushed the show and we pointed out that an efficient rescue and relief administration wasn’t a matter of cost but accumulated knowledge. If you’re a local mayor, you’re not going to put resources into UHR, you’re just going to hope it doesn’t happen, but it always happens several times a year in a nation. I was told that the day after the show ran, there was a high-level meeting at the White House and they proceeded to completely revamp FEMA along those lines. Sadly, eventhough that was done by the administration of the first George Bush, it was specifically dismantled by George W. Bush – with the results you saw in New Orleans.

Q) Would you say you’re in an angry mood today?

A) Nope. Just passionate. It’s just that the changes to destroy FEMA were done specifically to ensure that people did not expect any help from their government. It was ideological and stupid.

Q) So tell me, you have friends in the publishing industry– what do they think about Courier?

A) My friends in the publishing business went running like scared bunnies when I asked for the favor. My agent, Dean Krystek is a good guy. I specifically wrote him and asked that he continue as my agent even as I did the self-publishing route and we would work out some sort of arrangement. I like having professionals on my side – lawyers, accountants, agents. It enables you go up against the big guys. Nick, you’re doing well as a little guy against the big guns – talk about someone with drive and ambition.

Q) Thank you, Terry– I try my best.

A) I just want to understand this bloody new business. I can write a 17 page “book” a day – seriously. I was looking at all these e-books and i-books and they’re all 70 pages long. That would take about a week.

Q) Well. looks like we’ve come to the end of this interview. You have another to get to right? Any last words of advice?

A) You only need to speak 10 things in any language to be a journalist. Hello, Goodbye, Thank You, Yes, No, Go straight, Turn left, Turn Right, and “don’t kill me, I’m a journalist”.

With that, Terry Irving was whisked off to meet another writer and greet another new audience. I was left with one of the best interviews anyone could ask for. Courier is soon to be banging on your door and it’s only a matter of time before Mr Terry Irving is back in front of you as a fitting– not a fixture. Nick Wale needs a drink after this interview– sure as hell tired me out! All you writers who need an agent– Dean Krystek is the guy to find!

If you want to know more about Mr. Irving, find Terry’s first interview here.

“Lisa Doolittle” goes from Stripper to Writer- An Interview with Eve Littlepage

A few days ago I was looking for an interview that really interested me. I had just finished an great interview with Tom Blubaugh and needed something special to continue with. An open call on several Facebook pages brought a huge amount of material. I found myself reading some very interesting interviews with some very interesting people– then I received an email from Eve. I knew this one had to have precedence over all others. Thank you, Eve!

Eve Littlepage hamming it up as Lisa Doolittle c. 1985

Q) Nice to meet you, Eve. So tell me, what’s your latest work?

A) CELESTIAL BODIES IN ORBIT- Memoirs of the Unknown Stripper, about the ten years I worked as striptease dancer ‘Lisa Doolittle.’ I worked in that business in the mid-70s and mid-80s in the suburbs of Boston, Mass.

Q) How are the public taking to your book? I hope they are as interested as I am– the book is a “killer”.

A) I am just launching it to ‘the public,’ so I can’t really say. I had about a dozen people read my manuscript before I went over it a few times with an editor. The responses have been wonderful! Of course, they are friends, or at least acquaintances, but I would hope they weren’t giving false praise and then sending me out into the world to fall flat on my face. One of the best compliments came from my editor. One her third pass through, she said she was still enjoying it, even though she knew the story by heart at that point!

Q) Tell me about your book? What drove you to write a book about your past? You have such an interesting story to tell!

A) It’s hard for me to sum it up in a line or two, because there are many layers to it. It’s life, which doesn’t always follow the same neatly laid-out plot that you find in fiction. There is a definite story arc that develops as I examine the chain of events that lead me into the business. Thinking it a temporary measure to escape an abusive relationship, I ended up getting stuck in it for ten years. It wasn’t all bad. I actually had a love/hate relationship with stripping. I took a rather unconventional approach to exit the business, following my instincts instead of any ‘How to Forge a New Career’ manuals.

The book weaves memories of my days and nights in the clubs with events in my personal life, and illustrates how they played off of each other. So, like life, it has romance, lust, sex, violence, humor, and a few colorful expletives. Also, though metaphysics is not the main focus, my story is sprinkled with references to The I Ching, spiritual epiphanies, ghostly visitations, and my Wiccan/Pagan path.

One thing I took a big chance on was my method of telling the story. I created an author, named Stella Mars, who interviews me to help me write the book. So Stella, her house, parlor, and tape recorder are fictive elements, but the story I am telling her is the true story of the events that happened, and my reflections on them. So far, everyone who has read it says the format works. Some will like it and others may not, but it’s what I needed to do to get the story out.

Q) How do you write? Do you like to listen to music? Do you like silence?

A) I need quiet. Maybe some new-agey instrumental stuff would be okay, but if there are lyrics, I will get distracted. I’ve always been lured by the words, the poetry, in music. I like to have a good block of time, two to three hours, where I know I won’t be interrupted. The first time I sat down to write this book, I stopped after I thought twenty minutes had passed. I was shocked to find it was three hours! That’s when I knew I loved writing. I was in a zone. It’s not always like that, as you other ‘zoners’ know! 

Q) What drives you as a writer?

A) I am at my best when I can be creative. It has manifested many ways in my life, most recently through the medium of writing. I have been writing for years, but just journal entries, a poem here and there, and for business. Stephen King says never to write for the money. Not ever. (Yeah, I know, easy for him.) The need for an income stream, other than my husband’s recession-pelted business and my working-poor level jobs, was my initial boot-in-the-butt. Who knows if this book will be the magic that puts me back in the black, but at least it gives me Hope. And I love Hope. Yet, I get Mr. King’s point. If it felt as laborious and lung-choking as coal mining, I may as well get a pick-axe and start tunneling—at least it would pay right away.

Q) What do you think makes a good book?

A) One that takes me into a different world, and gives me something to reflect on in the process. It needs to have a good balance between description and action–too much or too little of either will bore me. I love when an author can use language in clever ways, turn a phrase that surprises and delights me, but doesn’t get so carried away with style that it takes me out of the story. 

Q) Who is your favourite author?

A) “Besides me?” (she replied with a wry grin). But seriously, what a hard question to answer! So many to choose from. I will name Marion Zimmer Bradley, for her wonderful, magical treatment of the Arthurian Legend. It was brilliant to tell it from the eyes of the women of Camelot, and show them as wielding power and moving events from ‘behind the scenes’. She also knows her stuff about the Old Religion, and thus adds a touch of authenticity when she writes about Magick that I find lacking in the typical portrayals. The Mists of Avalon was one of those rare books that had me aching to find more reading time.

Q) Where can people buy your work? 

A) On Amazon right now, more venues to come. The e-Book is already there. One of the things on today’s ‘to do’ list was to give the print copy one more scan before we put it up for sale. So, within a couple of days it will join the e-Book: 

CELESTIAL BODIES IN ORBIT: Memoirs of the Unknown Stripper (Paperback)

Q) If you could choose to have written one book–which would it have been?

A) Harry Potter. A far cry from Celestial Bodies in Orbit, but it would have been nice to write something the kiddies could read. Not to mention the success it has had. No, we won’t mention that.

Here’s a link to my blog: I have a page for interviews and will add this with a link to your site too!

Thank you for taking the time to interview me, Nick. I wish you great success in your writing career!

No, thank you, Eve! It has been fantastic to work with you and hear about your book. I will certainly be picking a copy up! I think Eve deserves every credit for writing a book that deals with something that so many shy away from. All those girls working in joints and clubs deserve credit. It’s a hard life and I am glad someone has written something positive about it.

You can contact Eve at the following links: eve@evelittlepage.com www.evelittlepage.com

Don’t forget to go out and buy her book right here:  CELESTIAL BODIES IN ORBIT: Memoirs of the Unknown Stripper (UK) CELESTIAL BODIES IN ORBIT: Memoirs of the Unknown Stripper (USA)

A Year of Change — Reflections on a Brain Tumor

Lori is amazing… It’s why I love her. <3

Tom Blubaugh in 877 words

What can I say about Tom Blubaugh? Well he says a whole lot during this interview. I guess I can add a few things though. Tom is a man of few words– yet each word is thought out and methodical. Not a chatterbox– a thinker. Tom is one of those guys who has so much to say– but says only what he needs to. I think you will love this interview! Read on!

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Tom Blubaugh 2Q) Great to meet you Tom! How did you get into writing?

 

A) When I was fourteen I was very shy. If I liked a girl, I would write a poem expressing my feelings. When Elvis Presley and rock & roll came on the scene, I thought I might be able to convert my poems into song lyrics and make a fortune. Never happened, but I’ve been writing in some form since.


Q) As a writer– what inspires you? What gives you that energy to write everyday?

 

A) Lots of things. I am a spiritual person and I love nature. Astrology totally captures my mind. I can look at images from the Hubble telescope for hours. I have been told that I’m a serious person for as long as I can remember. All of these things get my mind into a creative mode and I start writing. I have a lot of things I want to share. 


Q) What are your writing goals? What is it that drives you towards publication?

 

A) I’m not sure I have any firm goals. I’m working on a sequel to my novel Night of the Cossack, but I have been dragging my feet. I don’t feel that Night of the Cossack has come anywhere close to meeting its potential. It was release in April, 2011 and I have been working at building my marketing platform since. Until I know I have a strong following, I won’t release the sequel. 


Q) Who are your personal favourite authors? 

 

A) This is a tough question. I have developed a very large circle of author connections and I’m reading more than I ever have. I wasn’t encouraged to read as a child. Now I feel like I’m catching up. I’ve read a large number of Louis L’Amour’s books so I guess I would say he’s my favorite at this time.

 

Q) Tell me about your books– what are they called and where can we buy them? I think people will be kept hooked by Night of the Cossack.

 

A) The only book that is still in print is Night of the Cossack. It’s a story about my maternal grandfather. He died before I was born and I missed knowing him. In fact, both grandfathers we deceased when I was born. I knew very little about either of them, but I did know my maternal grandfather was a Cossack soldier. This always fascinated me. I wanted my children and grandchildren to know him so I basically created him in this historical fiction. The history is 100% accurate, but he’s 95% fiction at this point. 


Q) How do you promote your work? What internet sites do you use?

 

A) Every possible way I can–blog and radio interviews, blog articles, speaking, book signings and I’m on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Goodreads, Pinterest and more. I’m working with a marketing consultant to pull all of my multiple thousands together and further develop my name and sales. 


Q) How do you feel about E-books? Are they going to overtake published works?

 

A) I love ebooks. I have a reader the size of a normal book that contains three hundred books. It’s like carrying around my own personal library. I was forty-two when PCs came on the scene. My grandchildren have more computer knowledge than I have after twenty-nine years. We still give them gift cards to Amazon and Barnes & Noble and they still read printed books, but I think in another generation printed books will probably be antiquated. 

 

Q) If you could have written one book– what would it be?

 

A) I don’t think I’ve read that book yet. I’m a movie nut. I especially like movies that are based on true stories. One I saw this past year was For Greater Glory with Andy Garcia. This is the kind of story I want to write.


Q) How do you relax? What are your hobbies?

 

A) Relax? I’m not sure I really know how to do this. I like macro photography, but this has gone by the wayside–replaced by writing. I enjoy spending time with my family and friends, reading, horseshoes, Bocce Ball, harassing our cat, Blacky and I have a handful of TV shows I like.

 

Q) Why should people choose to read Night of the Cossack?

 

A) It’s a fast moving story that will keep their interest to the very end. I’ve received communications from readers age twelve to eighty-six. Many have said it should be a movie. (In case some producers are reading.)

Tom Blubaugh 1

With that the questioning was over and Tom went back to his work. This is a man to watch. Check out Night of the CossackThis is one book surely heading towards the bestseller list!

Thank you for your time Tom– please feel free to drop in on my blog again for a chat!

Would You “Work” For Free?

This message needs to be spread far and wide. Great job Loriann, for the review and a big BRAVO to David Dennis!

Language that Was

Great article from hot selling author Alex Laybourne! Check it out and enjoy it!