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Author Interview: Tory Allyn

4/29/2015

Meet Tory Allyn, Author of Alter Ego

Tory Allyn currently resides in Upstate New York. Although born in Syracuse, he was raised in the quaint town of Baldwinsville with his brother and two sisters, who drove him into becoming the crazy person he is today. As a child, he made up many a tale. Some funny; others dark and brooding, but all started him on the path to writing. Today, his nephew, lovingly referred to as The Monster Child, is his partner in crime. Most days, you will see them playing ball at a nearby park, going for a dip in the backyard pool or snowboarding on a popular mountainside.

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

TA: I had written some poems that were published in an Anthology. At that point, the writing bug bit me and I wanted to write more.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for Alter Ego?

TA: The idea was brewing in my head for over a decade. I finally decided it was time to write my idea down on paper. What started as notes developed into chapters and before I knew it, a novel was formed

BBB: Tell us about your main character?

TA: The beginning chapters start out with FBI Special Agent Jack Stanwick, but the main characters are three detectives who soon come along in subsequent chapters.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

TA: In ALTER EGO, I left a cliffhanger that becomes the beginning chapter of my second novel, ALTERED STATE. It should be coming out in late spring/early summer.

ALTER EGO, ALTERED STATE, and ALTER BOUND are a three-book series entitled, The Davenport Decrees. ALTER EGO is out now, ALTERED STATE will be coming out soon, and ALTER BOUND is almost finished.

BBB: How can readers discover more about your work?

TA: By visiting my website www.toryallyn.com.

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Author Interview: Selina Wolfcat

4/29/2015

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Meet Selina Wolfcat, Author of The ABC Book of Goddesses

BBB: Tell us about yourself.

SW: I am a mother of two kids and wife to the best ogre in the world, living in the rural Midwest. I have the heart of an activist and am always trying to learn about other cultures, religions and minorities. I share what I learn with my kids so they can grow up with minds wide open to the diversity that surrounds them. I'm a part-time stay-home mom, part-time barista, full-time foodie, and all-the-time weird and unusual.

BBB: What inspired your book, The ABC Book of Goddesses?

SW: I was looking for books that would introduce my (then very young) kids to the cultural and historical religious diversity that I didn't get to learn about until I was in college. I wanted something that was purely enjoyable and informative, not religious-specific, and I wasn't finding anything like that. I figured that if I was looking for something and not finding it, I should just go ahead and write it myself.

BBB: What do you think children will enjoy most about your book?

SW: The illustrations are great and the rhyming verse is simple but informative. However, I think the best part is the conversations that come from reading the book. Several readers have mentioned that their kids start talking about the goddesses in the book and ask questions about them. One, in particular, said that the variety of female role models was great for her daughter's self-image.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

SW: I'm working with the publisher to get the sequal, The ABC Book of Gods, illustrated. The diversity of cultures in the gods' book is even greater than in the goddess' book! I'm writing The ABC Book of Norse, which focuses on the gods, heros, items and ideas from Norse Mythology. It's a great start for learning about the Norse and Heathen stories. Outside of the ABC series, I'm working on a series for preschoolers called Inky the Cat, a little black kitten with magic powers who helps her little girl learn about unicorns, fairies and other magical creatures.

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

SW: The easiest way to keep up with my work is to follow me on Twitter (@Kalisara_DSP) or on FB (https://www.facebook.com/PaganChildrensBooks). You can also sign up for my newsletter on the FB page to get updates directly to your email.

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Author Interview: D. Andrew McChesney

4/17/2015

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Meet D. Andrew McChesney, Author of Beyond the Ocean's Edge and Sailing Dangerous Waters

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

DAM: I’ve always loved to read, probably because I was read to as a toddler. There is something magical about words on a page transporting one to any place and any time. Books are an effective (and cheap) time machine. My most direct influence or inspiration was reading the Hornblower series by C. S. Forester. That got me thinking of a story that eventually became the Stone Island Sea Stories.

BBB: What books have you written?

DAM: So far I have the first two of The Stone Island Sea Stories, Beyond the Ocean’s Edge, and Sailing Dangerous Waters. I describe the series as Age of Sail Fiction with a Science-Fiction touch. Sometimes I claim to write Science-Fiction cleverly disguised as Age of Sail.

BBB: Tell us about your main character.

DAM: Edward Pierce is a young Royal Navy lieutenant, serving during the French Revolutionary/Napoleonic Wars. In many ways, he is me, or the person I would have liked been 200 years ago. In others, he is what I’m glad I’m not, and sometimes he is what I wish I could be. Because I write in this era, he can be seen as a 20th, 21st century person living in the 18th and 19th centuries.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

DAM: I’m very slowly working on the third Stone Island Sea Story, tentatively titled Darnahsian Pirates. I recently wrote a short story entitled Mr. Townsend’s Chronometer, which leans more to the Science Fiction side, and am posting it to my Live Journal account.

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

DAM: My web-site is at www.stoneislandseastories.com and has links to my Live Journal athttp://vespican.livejournal.com/ my Facebook page at www.facebook.com/pages/D-Andrew-McChesney/440438235985693 and my Twitter account at https://twitter.com/stoneisland1803 I belong to The Pacific Northwest Writers Association (PNWA) www.pnwa.org and Spokane Authors and Self-Publishers (SASP) www.spokaneauthors.org

D. Andrew McChesney (http://vespican.livejournal.com/)Author of the Stone Island Sea Stories (www.stoneislandseastories.com)Beyond the Ocean's Edge: A Stone Island Sea Story in print, eBook, on KINDLE or NOOK.
Sailing Dangerous Waters: Another Stone Island Sea Story in print, eBook, on KINDLE or NOOK

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Author Interview: Mehreen Ahmed

4/11/2015

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Meet Mehreen Ahmed, Author of The Blotted Line, Snapshots, Moirae and other stories

Queensland writer, Mehreen Ahmed has been publishing since 1987. Her first publications were journalistic in nature which appeared in the Sheaf, a campus newspaper for the university of Saskatchewan Canada. Later on she published fiction and academic non-fiction. Jacaranda Blues is her debut novella. A featured author for Story Institute, she has published The Blotted and Line,a collection of short stories. More recently, Snapshots, a book of travels was published by PostScript Editions followed by a dream allegory written in stream of consciousness style called Moirae.

Her academic publications include book reviews primarily and research article. They appeared in many notable, peer-reviewed journals of her area of study, such as Computer Assisted Language Learning, Special Issue, Intelligent Call Systems, Lisse, Netherlands Vol 15 Issue 4, 2002. This was republished on Cambridge Journals, Language Teaching by Cambridge University Press, Vol 36 Issue 2,2003 http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0261444803221935 and Taylor and Francis, Routledge, Vol 15 Issue 4, 2002. Software reviews were also published in On-Call, Vol 1 No 2 Sept, 1999 and International Society for Technology in Education,Vol 28 No 4, 2000-2001; a book review on Teaching and Researching Language Learning Strategies by Rebecca L Oxford, was published in Language, Learning and Technology, Special Issue, Vol 15 No 3 Oct, 2011, followed by a reproduction, for Independence Learner Autonomy Special Interest Group, 2012, University of Canterbury, Kent U.K.

She has two MA degrees in English and Computer Assisted Language Learning (Applied Linguistics) from Dhaka university and the university of Queensland, Brisbane Australia.

BBB: What books have your written?

MA: I have written novellas, short stories and a travel book.

BBB: Where do the inspirations for your books come from?

MA: Inspiration for my books comes from many places. From the authors that I have read and still read. Virginia Woolf's Mrs Dalloway for instance introduced me to stream of consciousness style of writing for the first time. It was my first encounter and my first love so to speak to this technique of writing, although I have presented it in a slightly different manner in Moirae, which is without punctuation.Ulysses, by James Joyce is a very gripping book, the language of which flows like sheer poetry. Other than these there are of course many, many novelists, poets and dramatist, Shakespeare, Marlowe being the primary gurus of all.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

MA: Currently, I am working on a novel. It is about an Australian maverick whose clandestine behavior and controversial character is deeply entrenched into the notions of super-natural. Working title of this book is, Until the Evensong.

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

MA: Readers will find my books mainly on Amazon. However, COPAC and WORLDcat are other places to discover my work, if they want to borrow them from libraries.

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Author Interview: Tracy Marchini

4/9/2015

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Meet Tracy Marchini, Author of The Effie Stories

BBB: Tell us about yourself.

TM: A few months ago in a workshop, we were asked to share one odd or unique thing about us. I told everybody that I can’t look at a picture of a duckling and not smile. (It’s true. LOOK AT THIS DUCK.)

Otherwise, I’m a writer of books for children and teens who once spent three hours lost in the Pyrenees while at a writer’s retreat in France, and who this morning couldn’t syrup her pancakes without pouring some in her lap! (I guess my character Effie and I have a little bit in common…)

BBB: What inspired your book, Effie's Senior Year?

TM: It sounds odd, but Effie is one of those characters whose voice just popped into my head. I wrote the draft of the first Effie story, Effie At the Wedding and published it as a blog post, before taking it down and expanding it. Eventually, I realized that Effie had a lot more going on than just her sister’s wedding, and so Effie’s Senior Year is the collection of all six Effie stories.

BBB: Tell us about your main character, Effie.

TM: Effie is somebody who can’t seem to catch a break – whether it’s prom dress shopping, her first kiss, or even just hanging out with her beautiful older sister Ophelia and her new husband George.

Effie loves lists, and she loves hiding behind her humor. I think her personality and family dynamics can be best seen in her first list in George and Ophelia’s First Christmas:

Worse Places To Spend Christmas, Besides George’s Parents’ House

3.) My house, with Mom sniffling in the corner about how much Christmas isn’t the same now that Ophelia’s moved out. (I may, or may not, be sniffling too.)

2.) My grandmother’s house, which reeks of stale cigarettes and never has anything good to eat. Or rather, it’s never good for me to eat in front of my grandmother.

1.) My Aunt Rosie’s house, where she is having not one, but two boyfriends over for Christmas dinner.

1a.) Let’s just reflect on this a moment – my only-single-for-six-months Aunt Rosie, who can barely put her lipstick on in a straight line, has found not only one man to date, but two. And, apparently, she’s so smooth she’s seeing both of them on the same day, without incident. (Also, for the record, picturing my Aunt Rosie in any scenario involving two men is super gross.)

1b.) I’m a senior in high school, and have never dated two boys, period. Unless you count a Kindergarten boyfriend, I haven’t technically even dated one.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

TM: I’m currently drafting the fourth story in my Now Hear This! Stories that ROCK collection. Each contemporary YA short story is inspired by one of my favorite songs, but is a completely different take. For example, in contemplating The Decemberists’ Engine Driver, I started to think about what their “engine driver” could be a metaphor for – the heart? the brain? And then I went further to find a completely unique way for somebody to be “driven.”

In my short story, The Engine Driver, Brig is a teenager in a world where emotions are controlled by the Playlist Treatment Plan that plays in her head. She isn’t allowed to hear a sad song, but when her friend is given a license to play a musical instrument, that could be her chance.

For this new story, The Distance, Ryan is trying to earn the money for a new car so that he can impress his potential prom date. He goes to Crispy, an ‘associate’ of his father’s, who hands him a full backpack, a chain and a flashlight, and tells him to meet somebody at the address on the paper. Ryan is pretty sure he’s walking into something illegal, but he has no idea what Crispy really has in store for him.

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

TM: The best way is to join the Quacktory, where I share monthly updates and exclusive information about my books and what I’m working on that month. (This coming issue will include an exclusive sneak peak at The Distance.) I can also be found on www.tracymarchini.com, on Goodreads, and on Twitter.

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Author Interview: Emily-Jane Hills Orford

4/9/2015

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Meet Emily-Jane Hills Orford, Author of To Be A Duke

BBB: Tell us about yourself.

EJHO: Who am I? It seems like a simple enough question and yet it’s amazing how often the answer changes. It’s a good way to start the writing stream, to make the ideas flow. It’s a good place to begin an introduction of who I am. So here’s one answer:

“I am a daughter, a granddaughter, a niece, a sister, a wife, a mother, an aunt, a cousin, a friend. I teach, I write, I study, I learn, I compose, I make music, I touch lives for better or worse. My life is complex, complicated, exhilarating and frustrating, all at once, and much more. My life is a gift from God, a spiritual and emotional treasure, an honour, a cherished compilation of memories: happy, sad, funny and tragic, serious and light-hearted. My life is full of honor, despair, pride, joy, disappointments and sorrow. My life is a story just beginning to unfold, its mysterious plot still labouring towards a climax, the highest point to which I am not in any rush to achieve. My life is a story. I am a storyteller.”

Simply put, I am a writer. Therefore I am immortal. Pretty powerful words for one such as I, relatively unknown (for now, but that will change, I hope). I am a storyteller, a descendent of many storytellers, a passionate believer in the simple fact that life is a story just waiting to be told. All that a life story needs is a writer to believe in the story, to believe in its worth, to write the story.

I come from a long line of storytellers: my parents, my grandparents. They were all wonderful storytellers. My grandmother (we called her Gran) was an exceptional storyteller. Everything in her life was a story and she made her life into a story. She was cute, too, always starting her story with the line: “You know, Jean” (if she was talking to her daughter, my mother) or “You know, Emily” (if she was talking to me). We always knew that a story was coming when Gran said those special words: “You know,” especially when it continued with: “You know when I was your age...”

Gran didn’t live with us. In fact, she lived in another town, about an hour-and-a-half away. She would come to visit about once or twice a month, taking the bus and, most likely, talking all the way to whomever she sat beside. (Needless to say we heard all about her travelling companion as soon as she stepped off the bus.) She would stay with us for several days, talking nonstop from the moment she arrived until she walked out the door, of course, always starting with, “You know”. One time, as she was leaving, she turned to Mom and said, “You know, Jean, maybe next time I visit we’ll have time to sit down and chat.” And this statement after a week of long, nonstop, storytelling, all starting with, “You know”.

In the end, yes, I did know a lot of Gran’s stories. By the time she was into her nineties, there were some stories that I knew better than others because she kept repeating them. It was at that point that I chose to write down what I remembered and to question Gran as much as I could to capture the other stories that she had shared so often in the past. I didn’t get them all and I’m still kicking myself today that I didn’t make a more permanent recording before she passed away. Sadly, some stories have been lost. Gran did keep a journal. We found some of them, dating as early as the 1920s, during her courting years, and others as late as the 1970s and 80s when she was doing a lot of traveling. There must have been more; but they are long gone. Gran believed in traveling light through life, a strong belief that you can’t take it with you so why keep it at all.

Using my grandmother’s journals and my mother’s memories, I wrote Gran’s story, calling it Personal Notes, the heading that I found on one of the notepads that contains her journal entries. My grandmother’s stories and my mother’s stories, F-Stop: A Life in Pictures, are important stories to share. My mother was a very energetic and creative individual. She raised a family, taught elementary school, did countless creative projects and inspired a whole generation of like-minded creative individuals. Her photography was her forte and I called her story F-Stop, using the lens adjustment of ‘real’ cameras (before digitals took over) as a metaphor for her life. In fact, F-Stop could be a metaphor of anyone’s life, as we all go through our lives making adjustments as we go along.

My grandmother and my parents were my foundation and my inspiration. I was brought up in a very musical family. Myself and my siblings were all expected to play at least one musical instrument. For me, it was the piano and the cello. My knowledge and my foundation in music prepared me for a career as a music teacher and allowed me the ability to write convincingly about music and growing up in a musical family, which I did in my first four novels: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. Music also plays a part in To Be a Duke, as well as most of my other stories, fiction and creative nonfiction.

Perhaps the idea of writing what we know, writing about ourselves, our families, our lives, will not guarantee blockbuster book sales. However, it does guarantee that, in our writing, we are true to ourselves. We have to remember that what we write is permanent and we should ask ourselves if we want future generations to read, to really read, all that we have written. If we can truthfully answer ‘yes’, then we have found our inner voice, our writer’s voice.

Watch Emily-Jane Hills Orford's live interview with author Qais Ghanem

I have to believe that I am being true to myself as I venture from one story-writing adventure to another. The world is full of stories just waiting to be told. On a recent CBC radio interview, I was asked why I thought my mother’s story was so important, why my mother’s life was so significant that I should write an entire book. I answered quite simply: “I believe that everyone’s story deserves an entire book and I hope that by writing my mother’s story, I am, in some way, encouraging others to writer theirs.”

When I was submitting my grandmother’s story, years ago, I frequently received rejection letters from big-name publishers telling me that they would only consider a biography of a famous person. My argument since then has

been: how many books do we really need about famous people, when there are so many un-famous, more than ordinary, extra-ordinary, beyond the ordinary lives whose stories should be, need to be told? These are the stories that make our world, that define our world and our lives; these are the stories that describe who we are. Extra-ordinary people – we are all extra-ordinary, we all have a story to tell, our story.

Our word, our written word is eternal. As we reach out to find our inner voice, our own unique, individual voice, we might ask, what is it that makes a life so special? For me, all life is special. Neither my mother nor my grandmother were rich and famous. Perhaps the ‘special’-ness of these people is the simple act of someone believing in them enough to write that person’s story, making that special person immortal.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, To Be A Duke?

EJHO: I love animals, dogs in particular. I didn’t have pets growing up; we weren’t allowed animals in the house. And, in fact, now that I know more about caring for dogs, I understand my mother’s reasoning. We were such a busy family, we would never have been home to care for a pet.

To Be a Duke was inspired by the family dog, Duke, the second dog that my husband and I introduced into our young family and cherished for many years. Misty was our first dog and he lived for thirteen wonderful years. I hope Duke lives just as long. Duke is a Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix with no tail. Misty was rescued from a local shelter. Duke was rescued from an abusive home. For a dog who experienced so much rejection and abuse in his early life, he is so full of love, compassion and enthusiasm for life. Duke is an inspiration, really, to all of us. He certainly jumped right into our family and our hearts and helped us heal after the sorrow of losing Misty to cancer.

This is Duke’s story and I thought I would write it from Duke’s perspective so that he could be everyone’s inspiration, the way that he was (and continues to be) ours.

There are other books on the market about dogs, about a dog’s life, about a dog’s relationship with humans. There are even books written in first person (or first dog?), talking from the dog’s point of view. These are similar concepts to my book, To Be a Duke. What differs is the message. To Be a Duke encourages excellence and positive attitudes; it presents life as one to be lived with great dignity and great joy; it teaches us as humans to be as good as our dog(s), to be kind, caring and loving to all of the living creatures around us.

To Be a Duke is ageless in its appeal. It is a true story, which makes it even more appealing. Duke was adopted from a local dog rescue group. Duke’s story awakens our compassion for ‘man’s best friend’ and bears witness to the tragedy that often befalls these beloved pets. As reviewer Mamta Madhavan wrote for Readers' Favorite, To Be a Duke “is a story with a message that tells us how love can bring out the best in not only humans but also animals.”

As a dog-lover, animal-lover, I am mindful of the care and compassion and lots of work required to lovingly care for a dog. These are important qualities of a responsible dog-owner (or pet-owner of any kind). I actively support various rescue groups and would only consider adopting a rescued dog, rather than purchasing a purebred. However, I also believe that it’s important to honor the commitment that one makes when inviting a pet into the family.

To Be A Duke Book Video

BBB: Tell us about your main character.

EJHO: Duke is the main character. He endures an early life of abuse before finding his forever family, his forever home. He’s a medium-sized Border Collie/Australian Shepherd mix. He doesn’t have a tail. The vet is unsure as to whether he was born without a tail, or he had it surgically removed. When dogs are happy, they usually wag their tails. When Duke is happy, he wiggles his butt. And this is one happy dog. He loves to run; he’s full of energy. His passion is being with his forever family and running the agility course, whether for competition or just in the backyard for fun. He has his issues as well, health issues, but don’t we all?

BBB: What are you currently working on?

EJHO: I am currently writing a young adult novel, “Gerlinda’s Wish”. It’s the story of a young girl growing up in an abusive home, and how she copes with the abuse at home, and the bullying at school. It’s a very relevant theme for our time, but the story is actually set in the 1960s and Gerlinda, the main character, is the daughter of a former Nazi Youth.

Do I have another dog story in the works? Perhaps. There are still lots of stories to write, stories to share.

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

EJHO: Readers can connect with me on the following sites:
Website: http://emilyjanebooks.ca
Facebook
LinkedIn

Book purchasing info:

http://www.amazon.com/Be-Duke-Emily-Jane-Hills-Orford/dp/0692273638/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426775442&sr=1-5&keywords=emily-jane+hills+orford

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/to-be-a-duke-emily-jane-hills-orford/1120157122?ean=9780692273630

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Author Interview: J.L. Pitts

4/6/2015

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Meet J.L. Pitts, Author of Scar Wars Forged in Fright

BBB: Tell us about yourself.

JLP: My name is Julie Lambeth Pitts, I was born in Ocala, Florida on August 16, 1966. I was raised in a town 3 hours south of there called Wauchula, Florida. At 17, I left home and the journey I was on for the next 8 years is all in my book "Scar Wars Forged In Fright". I have a lot of Peace in my life right now and although my husband and I are separated, we are working on getting our lives back together. In the book, I say he is "beautiful all the way down to his soul" and even during our separation he has still been that same person. The eight years without him have been disastrous to every area of my life, but we have been dating and working the details out of reuniting our family. Our soon to be sixteen-year-old daughter is ecstatic about the reunion. On Our 32nd Wedding Anniversary, May 5. 2016 we have plans to renew our vows. I am searching for the perfect wedding gown that will erase the horrid memory of what I was made to wear on my wedding day (important part of trauma I recovered from). We are taking it slowly and our daughter already feels the family togetherness we once had. Since writing the book, I have felt at Peace and have been able to forgive those that abused me. Being 48 has been the best year of my life. I think my generation didn't have the normal "mid-life crisis" We had Mid-Life Metamorphosis." I have more plans for my life now than I ever had when I was young.

BBB: What inspired your book, Scar Wars Forged in Fright?

JLP: Scar Wars Forged in Fright is a non-fiction memoir. I have had the book inside me for many years.I actually wrote the book in 2012 on an old heavy metal laptop that I had to keep plugged in all the time because it had no battery power. A friend named Stan Hembree opened up his home up in the nearby mountains in a small town to give me a place of solitude and safety in order to feel free to write the horrors of my heart. There were no "mind maps or outlines" the book flowed from my mind to my fingers onto the white pages of a Word document. Of course, that did cause a lot of editing, but it is the way in which I write, in a free-flow style way of writing. I put the laptop away for two years and then decided it was a story that had to be shared. I knew as I was writing it must be written that there were other people in the world that had no hope of healing the wounds of their own childhood and were unaware of the advances in treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.

BBB: What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

JLP: I want them to take away exactly that, "Hope". That no matter what their story is, working diligently towards recovery their story too, can have a happy ending. I remember the years of living when the PTSD went untreated and they really were not worth living. If my book can reach anyone with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and cause them to have that glimmer of hope that kept me going then the book has done its job. It hurts my Soul to know that 22 veterans a day take their own lives because of trying to deal with this disorder. No one mentions the people who have PTSD from other traumas and how high their suicide rate might look like.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

JLP: I am currently working on my book called "How to Write a Better Prayer Relationship with God". I am also a Certified Professional Coach and am seeking a venue to open a Support Group for PTSD Survivors to have a support system as they try to seek help for their own PTSD. I also have a client base and am currently taking on new clients. I specialize in PTSD Social Integration (I help people with PTSD learn to function in Society without the stigma that being treated for PTSD puts on them.)

BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?

JLP: If they visit my Facebook page Julie Lambeth Pitts they will discover a very spiritual side of me. My relationship with God has brought me through the trials of my life and made me stronger. If they go to my blog authorjlpitts they can read revealing tales of my life and more about Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. As I mentioned before I did not go through a mid-life crisis. I am in the middle of a Mid-Life Metamorphosis!

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