BeachBoundBooks
  • Home
    • My Books
  • Blogging About Books
  • Author Interviews
  • Giveaway Linky
  • Book Review/Author Interview Request Form

Author Interview: Marilyn Horowitz

11/24/2014

0 Comments

 
Meet Marilyn Horowitz, Author of The Book of Zev
Picture
Marilyn Ida Horowitz is a producer, writing coach, and award-winning professor of screenwriting at New York University. From her books on her trademarked writing system—now standard reading at NYU—to her appearances at Screenwriters World and The Great American Screenwriting Conference & PitchFest, Marilyn has guided the careers of literally hundreds of writers. She is currently featured in the Now Write! Screenwriting Anthology (Tarcher/Penguin) and in the upcoming The Expert Success Solution (Morgan James). Her production credits include And Then Came Love (2007), starring Vanessa Williams.


BBB: 
What inspired you to become an author? 

MH: Everyone in my family wrote. My grandparents wrote a book called, Faith Through Reason, which was an attempt to reconcile Judaism and Christianity. My father was a lawyer and wrote briefs, my mother was a Ph.D. in Philosophy who wrote her dissertation when I was young and my brother is a historian who has written three or four books about food. I “wrote” my first play, The Raven And The Wicked Princess in pictures before I actually knew how to read or write, so I guess becoming an author was inevitable. I have also written non-fiction books on screenwriting that are used as texts at New York University where I teach.


Picture
BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book?

MH: I met a man on a train who was a religious Jew struggling with his faith. We had a long conversation and afterwards, I just started writing. Both of my parents were seriously ill, and the awareness of how brief life can be inspired me to get the pages done.

BBB: Tell us about your main character(s). 

MH:
The two main characters in The Book Of Zev are Zev and Sarah. 

Zev is loosely based on the man I met on the train. He is tall, handsome and a virgin when we meet him. Visually, imagine the actor Adrian Brody as the actor who could play him in a film version of the story. Zev is an engineer and works for the U.S patent Office. He lives with his parents in a gated Orthodox community where his father is a Rabbi. He is secretly an atheist, and in the course of the story must come to terms with who he is and what, if any, is his purpose.  

Sarah is a successful private chef, who specializes in kosher food. She is a believer, but she hates God with a passion. She is funny, sarcastic and has a unique perspective on life.

She is recovering from a bitter divorce and must work out what her future will be. She is seeking a purpose, a reason for being, and as the story progresses, she gets what she wished for and more. Visually, I imagine the actor, Rachel Weisz, playing the role but with red hair.


Picture
BBB: What are you currently working on?

MH: I am working on a revision of a recent book, How To Sell Your Screenplay In 30 Days, and a new book that will either be a thriller or a romantic comedy, I can’t tell yet.  I also write weekly blogs on screenwriting and about writing The Book of Zev and fiction in general.


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

MH: Visit my website, www.marilynhorowitz.com, and find me on Facebook, twitter and linked in.


The Book of Zev Synopsis

The Book of Zev is a political thriller that tells the story of two gentle people who change the course of history. Zev Bronfman, a strapping 32-year old-virgin, angry atheist, refugee from a religious Jewish life, and former engineer for the U.S. Patent Office in Alexandria, Virginia, drives a cab and sleeps around in New York City. After a bitter divorce, Sarah Hirshbaum, a beautiful, redheaded, depressed, God-hating kosher chef, seesaws between yoga and too much red wine. Independently, the two consult the same psychic who inadvertently sends Sarah Zev’s session tape. When Sarah contacts Zev to pick up the recording, a series of events forces them to connect with a powerful terrorist in order to thwart his plans to destroy the UN and Israel.

Click here to read an Excerpt of The Book of Zev  

Picture
0 Comments

Author Interview: Daniel N. Collins

11/14/2014

0 Comments

 
Meet Daniel N. Collins, Author of Soul Vs. Flesh Book Series
Picture
Daniel N Collins was born on September 4th, 1975 in Newark ,NJ, but he was raised in Elizabeth, NJ. Elizabeth is where he first put the pen to the paper in the 11th grade. Daniel had a teacher by the name of Dr. Holt who first inspired him to write. She was a stern but yet nurturing teacher who first asked Daniel to write a poem about an animal that best described him at the time. Daniel was an exceptional athlete in duel sports in high school but track & field was his main focus, so Daniel decided to write a poem about a cheetah. Daniel like any other student turned his poem in but not like any other student got a grade of an A in return. Dr Holt being a writer herself guided, coached and mentored Daniel into his beginnings as a writer. Daniel has moved on since then and published his first poem in 2002 in a book called "Flood of Contentment", and with this he received the editors choice award for his poem called "Moving On".

BBB: What inspired you to become an author? 

DNC:
Becoming an author was never a strategic mapped out plan for me. It was just something I stumbled upon. I felt as though I had a story to tell so I told it. I just chose to tell my story much differently than any other book ever written. I feel as though life itself is a story, I just pray mine is a best seller. 

Picture
BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book series, The Soul Vs Flesh? 

DNC:
The idea for my book series came from one single poem called "The Soul Vs Flesh". The battle within myself is how the poem came to life. Three weeks later I wrote round 2. Two days later I wrote round 3. My mind just wouldn't let me get off the subject. I began writing every other night round after round. I was obsessed. After a while I became impregnated with the thought of a book, and eight months later The Soul vs Flesh "Life to Lyrics" was born.


BBB: Tell us about your main characters? 

DNC: The characters in my books are, my creator, Satan, a pastor, two females I'm involved with, my soul, my flesh, my spirit, then there's me. But the main characters are my soul and my flesh. What I did was gave my soul its own voice and gave my flesh its own voice, and let them talk amongst each other all throughout the book. Me as the author is in the middle of the two trying not to have a biased opinion.  I feel as though the soul and the flesh are two entities that have separate agendas, and I express this as lyrically vivid as I can in both books. 

Picture
BBB: What are you currently working on? 

DNC:
I feel as though The Soul vs flesh is an everyday battle, not just for me but for the whole world. Our soul tells us to do one thing but our flesh wants to do its own thing. We all have a destiny, we all have a purpose to fulfill. Our soul might be in touch with that purpose and wants to fulfill and respect that purpose, but our flesh tends to get in the way of that a lot of times, so I continue to keep a log of the things that makes an impact on my daily routine. 

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


DNC:
I randomly post my work on Facebook, I enjoy doing spoken word and I also have a website where people can read more about me and also purchase my books. Please visit 
http://www.publishwithcfa.com/daniel-n.-collins.html and learn about the man in between the soul and flesh. 

0 Comments

Author Interview: Phyllis Zimbler Miller

11/13/2014

0 Comments

 
Meet Phyllis Zimbler Miller, Author of Cast the First Stone, CIA Fall Guy, Mrs. Lieutenant and other stories
Picture
Phyllis Zimbler Miller was raised in Elgin, Illinois, and majored in journalism at Michigan State University, where she met her future husband, Army ROTC cadet Mitchell R. Miller, on the State News editorial staff.

In May of 1970 Mitch went on active duty at Ft. Knox, Kentucky, and Phyllis tagged along with him. Her women's friendship novel MRS. LIEUTENANT is inspired by the nine weeks they spent at Ft. Knox.

From September 1970 to May 1972 Phyllis and Mitch were stationed in Munich, Germany, where Mitch served with the 18th Military Intelligence Battalion.

Phyllis eventually got a security clearance and worked as a civilian with the 66th MI Group. Her romantic suspense spy thriller CIA FALL GUY is partially based on knowledge she learned on this job (reports she typed went to the Munich office of the CIA).

After Mitch's military service, while living in Philadelphia, Phyllis was an editor and reporter for the Jewish Exponent before earning an M.B.A. at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. Her Wharton experience is the starting point for her Los Angeles-based cozy mystery CAST THE FIRST STONE. 

(Two short stories in TWO BIRDS WITH ONE STONE feature Rebecca Stone, the same protagonist as in CAST THE FIRST STONE. Both books include kosher recipes from Phyllis' 1992 Jewish holiday book SEASONS FOR CELEBRATION written with Rabbi Karen L. Fox.)

Phyllis and Mitch moved to Los Angeles in 1980, and Phyllis held positions at TigerAir and Max Factor. She then worked as a marketing consultant while their two daughters were young, and she was the founding president of the Los Angeles Chapter of Sisters in Crime. 

In 2008 Phyllis co-founded an online marketing company at the same time she self-published her novel MRS. LIEUTENANT, which was selected as a 2008 Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award semifinalist. Phyllis dove into the world of blogging, social media, and online book marketing. 

Phyllis and Mitch have maintained an interest in military intelligence, and Mitch is a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers and the U.S. Naval Institute while Phyllis is a member of the Military Writers Society of America. Together Phyllis and Mitch wrote the military thriller LT. COMMANDER MOLLIE SANDERS.

Phyllis frequently blogs about PTSD to help spread information about this. Her short story SOLOMON'S JUSTICE was inspired by her visit to the Los Angeles County Veterans Court.

Phyllis is experimenting with writing a novel entirely on the site Wattpad. You can read for free the chapters of THE MOTHER SIEGE: A DYSTOPIAN THRILLER by clicking the dropdown table of contents at http://budurl.com/MSintro

Phyllis and Mitch now live in Beverly Hills, where Mitch has been a tax lawyer for many years and Phyllis is busy working with online marketing clients as well as writing more books and blogging about author topics at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com.


Picture
BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

PZM: I’ve been writing stories since I was a teen.  I’ve always been a big reader, and telling stories comes naturally to me.  My mystery novels got rejected for years until I finally self-published my women’s friendship novel MRS. LIEUTENANT.  After that, I kept self-publishing, and I also write screenplays that have not yet sold.  


BBB: What books have you written?

PZM: Besides a Jewish holiday book I co-wrote that was traditionally published, I have written several fiction and nonfiction books.  I’m particularly proud of my three-book HOW TO SUCCEED series for teens and young adults that encourages following one’s passion.


Picture
BBB: Where do the ideas for your stories come from?

PZM: My fiction ideas come from situations that interest me.  MRS. LIEUTENANT was inspired by my own time as a new Mrs. Lieutenant during the Vietnam War.  CIA FALL GUY was partly inspired by my working as a civilian for U.S. Army Intelligence in Munich.  My work-in-progress dystopian thriller THE MOTHER SIEGE deals with sticky issues such as genetic engineering and mind control.  The short story SOLOMON’S JUSTICE is part of my outreach efforts to share information about getting help for PTSD.



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

PZM: I write book-related blog posts at my author website at www.PhyllisZimblerMiller.com and some of my writing is on Wattpad at http://www.wattpad.com/user/ZimblerMiller

I also have three Amazon Author Central profiles:
Fiction at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszimblermiller
Nonfiction at www.amazon.com/author/phylliszmiller
YA short story at www.amazon.com/author/pzmiller



0 Comments

Author Interview: William Alton

11/11/2014

0 Comments

 
Meet William Alton, Author of Girls and Other Stories
Picture
BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

WA: I started writing while I was locked in a psychiatric hospital as a teenager. I was in the hospital for two and a half years and found that the girls there paid me more attention when I wrote poems for them. After I was released, I had an English teacher who challenged me to write every day. As I got older, I found that I was prone to telling people stories and one night, a friend told me that I should write them down. Since then, I spend at least an hour writing every day. It’s the only way I can do or say the things that crop up in my mind from time to time.


Picture
BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Girls?

WA:
 It kind of out of nowhere. I was writing a poem a day, experimenting with prose poetry and after ten or twelve of the poems, I noticed that I was writing along a theme. I explored flash fiction and started thinking of the women I’ve met over the years. At first, I wanted it to be a memoir, but then I realized that my memory often elaborated the stories so I quit focusing so much on what I remembered and wrote what came to autobiographic or not.


BBB: Tell us about your main character.

WA:
 There is no real main character except, maybe, for me. Each story explores a different woman, either a woman I knew in real life or a woman I wanted to meet.


Picture
BBB: What are you currently working on?

WA:
 I’m working a fantasy women in which a female warrior develops a relationship with a man no one else can see. The people around her think she’s lost her mind until she gets pregnant with her invisible lover’s child. I’m using a lot from the myth of Eros and Psyche and the apocryphical stories of Mary Magdalene.


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

WA:
 Readers can find my book Girls, the collection of flash fiction which came out on September 5, at http://www.unsolicitedpress.com/published-authors/william-alton. The book is also available from Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Readers can also email me at billalton@msn.com with thoughts or ideas for books. I love getting comments, even negative ones. It helps me build better worlds in which my characters can grow.


0 Comments

Author Interview: Allyn Lesley 

11/3/2014

3 Comments

 
Meet Allyn Lesley, Author of Deeper
Picture
As a teen, Allyn lost herself in the pages of some of Romance’s heavyweights, trusting that a happy ever after was just around the corner. In Allyn’s own writing journey, as in life, she’s learned that people don’t always experience recovery and restoration after a fall. Her stories speak to the gritty side of life where the right choice isn’t always easily identified and happiness not quickly gained. 


BBB: What inspired you to become an author? 

AL: Not to sound crazy or anything but it was truly the many characters' voices in my head who begged to have a platform to share their stories.

Picture
BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Deeper? 


AL: In another lifetime, I was active in a writing platform and it was during this time when a contest presented itself surrounding bad boys. I conceived a very elaborate tale and when I was sharing it, many stated how "epic" they believed the story would become. But it was way too much to share as a contest entry. I never entered the idea and have transformed it into my debut novel, Deeper, which is a romantic suspense. 

BBB: Tell us about your main character. 

AL: My heroine's name is Avianna Linton or Avi for short. She's a recent transplant to New York City. Her past is shrouded in mystery. She's a no-nonsense kind of woman. She loves shopping and is a teacher. My hero's name is Noah Adams. He prefers to be addressed as Mister Adams especially by those who he doesn't have any relationship with. He's a New Yorker through and through who runs an international import and export company. He's a bit rough around the edges but says what he means and has the same expectations that others will do the same. 

Picture
BBB: What are you currently working on? 

AL: I am in the midst of editing Deeper for my beta readers and I am also outlining the sequel to Deeper.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work? 


AL: I'm all over social media. They can find me on: 
Twitter (@AllynLesley), 
Pinterest (@AllynLesley), 
Youtube (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nAQ9TN3NzLQ0, 
Goodreads (https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8386493.Allyn_Lesley), 
Instagram (@authorallynlesley), 
my blog (allynlesley.blogpost.com), and 
Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/AllynLesley).

3 Comments
    Picture

    Delivered by FeedBurner


    NetworkedBlogs
    Blog:
    BeachBoundBooks
    Topics:
    Interviews, Books, Authors
     
    Follow my blog

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Picture

    Archives

    February 2019
    January 2019
    November 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013

Like What You See?
Photos used under Creative Commons from mripp, hallosunnymama, wwarby, themostinept, Matias Carreño, wwarby