Blog Archives

Author Interview: Melanie McFarlane

12/12/2014

Meet Melanie McFarlane, Author of The Descendants and the Missing Guardian

I am a passionate writer of other-wordly adventures and a supporter of all things creative. With my husband at my side and our two little girls in tow, we travel the universe to save the world as we know it. Afterwards, we go home and roast hotdogs on the fire while we wait for the super moon to show it's face.

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

MM: When I was in grade school, the only real stories for girls were Nancy Drew, Little House on the Prairie, and Anne of Green Gables. My first book was Crystal of Crystal Creek (very imaginative - haha) and in it the girl found a fairy. I've always loved fantasy and sci-fi!

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, The Descendants and the Missing Guardian?

MM: I was off work with my first baby, and I had finished reading The Spiderwick Chronicles. I kept thinking, hey, that's something me and my brothers could do (as in being the siblings in the story). Suddenly Seth was born, based on my youngest brother, but I only wrote chapter one. Four years later I came across that chapter, when I was off with my second baby. Within that year, I finished what was then called "The Descendants", but once I finished I realized it had the potential to be a series. I broke down book one, and made it into half of book two, and never looked back.

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

MM: Seth, Marin, and Jared lost their father, one year ago to a farming accident. The story is told from Seth's POV, and he's a quick-tempered pre-teen who feels like his entire family has moved past him. Marin and Jared are his older sibling and at fifteen years old, and are twins. Marin can act like the "boss" which really gets under Seth's skin, and Jared can sometimes be a bit of a know-it-all.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

MM: I'm half finished book two in The Descendants series, called "The Stone of Madidus". But, I can never just write one book at a time. I just finished a children's chapter book, called "How to Hunt an Erdgeist" which I've sent out to a publisher for review. On top of that I have a young adult dystopian series, that is slotted for Fall 2016 with Month9Books, as well as a young adult fantasy series that I should have book one completed in by the end of this year. I basically keep the books open, and when inspiration hits me on one I go crazy for days, working on it. I love it!

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

MM:You can find out more on my website at www.melaniemcfarlane.com, my facebook page www.facebook.com/mcfarlanebooks, or twitter @McFarlaneBooks. I love answering questions, so contact me via my website anytime! I also run contests and more!

0 Comments

Author Interview: Christopher Cloud

12/11/2014

0 Comments

Meet Christopher Cloud, Author of Adelita's Secret

Today, we're shining the book spotlight on a young adult fantasy novel, Adelita’s Secret thanks to Rebecca's Writing Services. Christopher Cloud is an award winning novelist with his collection of young adult novels.

About Adelita’s Secret

Lost in a superficial world of materialism and social status—and ashamed of her Latino heritage—seventeen-year-old Adelita Noé is loved by two men, two men separated by a hundred years and vastly different stations in life. One man owns little more than the shirt on his back. The other, a poet at heart, is heir to a vast fortune. Their love for Adelita serves as the backdrop for the Latino girl’s quest to better understand herself and her Mexican roots.

Read Chapter 1 – 4 on Amazon
Title is available at Amazon kindle or paperback
Pick up your copy at Barnes & Noble

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

CC: I have wanted to be an author since I went to work for the El Paso (Texas) Times at the age of 19. Although I worked on several daily newspapers, I spent most of my career as a PR guy for several major corporations. It wasn’t until I retired that I began fulfilling my dream of writing fiction.

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

CC: Over the years I have immersed myself in the Latino culture. I love everything Latino. Living in El Paso, Albuquerque, Phoenix, and Los Angeles afforded me the opportunity to make many Latino friends over the years. Although an overwhelming majority of Latinos are proud of their cultural heritage, a few are not—they feel alienated. This is the theme for Adelita’s Secret. A Latino friend gave me the inspiration for writing the novel.

BBB: Tell us about your main character.

CC: I’ll give you an abbreviated sales pitch: Lost in a superficial world of materialism and social status—and ashamed of her Latino heritage—seventeen-year-old Adelita Noé is has an identity crisis: she is being pulled in two directions. Although she is popular at her Dallas high school, she sometimes feels as though she is unfit for either a Latino culture or an Anglo one. Alas, Adelita finds love with two men, two men separated by a hundred years and vastly different stations in life. One man owns little more than the shirt on his back. The other, a poet at heart, is heir to a vast fortune. Their love for Adelita serves as the backdrop for the Latino girl’s quest to better understand herself and her Mexican roots.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

CC: At the moment I am adapting Adelita’s Secret to a screenplay.

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

I encourage them to go to my website: www.ChristopherCloud.com.

About Christopher Cloud

Award winning author Christopher Cloud began writing fiction full time after a long career in journalism and public relations. He writes middle-grade and young adult novels..Cloud graduated from the University of Missouri in 1967 with a degree in journalism. He has worked as a reporter, editor, and columnist at newspapers in Texas, California, and Missouri. He was employed by a Fortune 100 company as a public relations executive, and later operated his own public relations agency. Cloud attended high school in Japan, and lives in Joplin, Missouri. His website Is: www.christophercloud.com

Visit Christopher Cloud’s website
Visit Cloud’s blog
More books by Christopher Cloud

0 Comments

Author Interview: Thomas Whaley

12/11/2014

2 Comments

Meet Thomas Whaley, Author of Leaving Montana

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

TW: I have always wanted to be a published author, but this just seemed to be the perfect time in my life to follow that dream and make it a reality. At first, my sons and the elementary students I work with were my inspiration. Expanding on small moments from innocent discussions really allow a writer to become inventive! However, my desire to entertain adults had become my main focus. The children I encounter STILL inspire me - and I continue to pen children's books that I will some day publish, but capturing an adult audience with your writing style and earning their stamp of approval and desire for more, really inspires me to continue.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Leaving Montana?

TW: Leaving Montana began as a journal. Most of the novel is based on real life experiences, spanning four decades. I am Benjamin Thomas Quinn. From as far back as I can remember, I kept journals in order to placate my anger and release my anxieties. In my adulthood, I went to visit Montana for the first time. At this point, I knew I had to journal the experiences, especially since the journey was going to unearth so many painful memories. Over the span of two years, journaling emotional moments and reliving past experiences slowly morphed into Leaving Montana. It was the most rewarding process I have ever had.

BBB: Tell us about your main character.

TW: Benjamin Thomas Quinn is polished on the outside but extremely complicated and cursed on the inside. The TYPE-A product of a mangled, turbulent, selfishly-toxic marriage, he becomes an adult with very limited patience for others with an overwhelming desire to constantly critique and over-analyze himself. After many decades of allowing accumulated anger towards his parents rule his life, he decides to "clean house", exposing secrets, lies and betrayals that are catastrophic for some but ultimately freeing for him.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

TW: I am currently working on two books for very different audiences. After attending a bowling birthday party over a year ago with my son Andrew, I was inspired to write a children's book about the relationship between a little girl and a bowling pin. It defines bravery and self-confidence. The ability to stand tall. To believe in yourself, and try new things. That sometimes being the center of attention builds character and broadens your horizons. I am also writing my second novel, which I hope to have finished sometime next Spring. It is a psychological thriller that will challenge readers as to whether or not finding out where you came from and who you really are is always the best idea.

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

TW: Readers can visit my website www.ThomasWhaley.com to learn more about me, read book reviews and enjoy a sample chapter from Leaving Montana. Readers can also follow me on Twitter @AuthorTomWhaley. Leaving Montana is also available for purchase in download and paperback format on Amazon.

2 Comments

Author Interview: Eric Mondschein

12/9/2014

0 Comments

Meet Eric Mondschein, Author of Life at 12 College Rd

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

EM: First, I want to say that no one makes me write. In the professional positions I’ve held over the years, I have been required to file reports and write memoranda, even treatises, but I was never required to publish law-related articles, write poems, or, of course, author Life at 12 College Road. But I certainly did not write because I had nothing better to do. The time spent away from family and the activities that were sacrificed along the way attest to that. It was more often a feeling of being compelled to write. Not for others, although most writers do want people to read their work, but to feed a need or a desire coming from within. I’ve felt particularly driven to write about my experiences growing up. The writing is not really so much about me as it is about those feelings and emotions—joy, happiness, sadness, anger, fear, even loss—that each of us, in our own ways, inevitably encounters.

Through this writing experience, I have also come to recognize that even in the solitude of writing, we are not really alone. Our memories of loved ones, friends, and those we admire are always with us. Some are nearer to the surface of sentience than others, but they are there nonetheless.

And if we are really willing to listen, they have much to offer.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Life at 12 College Road?

EM: I had not intended to write this book at all. I was on a mission to write an action/adventure thriller and was attending a writer’s retreat in Maine several years ago to do just that. But I wasn’t getting anywhere with it, so I decided to take a short nap. As fate would have it, the idea for Life at 12 College Road came to me while I was dreaming, or perhaps during that period of time just before awakening.

I recalled sitting at the dining room table where I had shared Sunday dinners with my family growing up. As I sat at the table, I realized the other three chairs had been tilted forward so that their ladder-backs rested against it. They were obviously no longer of use. And it was then that I remembered what had been bothering me: I was alone. You see, my mom, dad, and younger brother have all passed on without me. They are exploring new worlds and I have been left behind. Heck, even my dog is gone.

It was that realization, those memories, which provided the impetus for me to put my novel on the shelf and write Life at 12 College Road. The book is a collection of thirty-three “real life” short stories that, when taken as a whole, paint a mosaic of a time and place both familiar and distant. Although they fit together, each piece of the mosaic can be viewed and enjoyed on its own, and each provides a different glimpse into the world of growing up in 1950s and 60s America.

In time, I may get back to the novel, as every once in while I think I hear the characters trying to talk to me.

BBB: Tell us about your main character.

EM: As this is a memoir, I guess that makes me the main character. Without giving anything away, I would think that after reading the book one might come away wondering just how I could have survived. But I wrote the book, and am now answering your questions, so I am happy to report that I did. As I said earlier, the book is about growing up in suburban/rural New York in the 1950s and 60s. The main character, as a young boy and teenager, is confronted with many of the issues and concerns of that time. I think, however, that many of the concerns, questions, problems, and conflicts I encountered will be familiar to just about anyone, at any age.

The tools and knowledge at our disposal may differ, but as human beings we all generally go through the same stages of growing up and discovering what is really important. In reflecting on my past, I found that it was not the earth-shattering events that were most significant to me. Rather, it was the small things, many long forgotten until recently, that deeply and indelibly touched me. Sure, some of the memories involve fire trucks, police cars, and hospital visits. But most do not. And if their retelling can help the reader to connect with similar moments from their own life, well, that is special.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

EM: I would like to tell you that after I finished writing Life at 12 College Road I picked up where I had left off with the thriller. But that is not the case. I am now coauthoring a monograph and teaching supplement for the Education Law Association (ELA) with a colleague and friend, Ellery (Rick) Miller, on the subject of sexual harassment and bullying. It’s called Sexual Harassment and Bullying: Similar, but not the Same, and is due to be published in the fall of 2015. The monograph explores the current legal developments in the areas of sexual harassment and bullying K-12. It also examines strategies for developing and implementing policies and training to create an educational environment that allows each student to feel safe and secure, and to ensure a safe school environment conducive to learning.

Of course, when I am finished with this project I will have a discussion with the characters in my novel to see if it’s time to take them down from the shelf.

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

EM: If readers really want to know more about me they should read Life at 12 College Road.

They can also visit my website: http://www.ericmondschein.com. There you will find my musings on current events, commentaries on issues of import, poetry, and even some of my recipes.

0 Comments

Author Interview: Mark Victor Young

12/3/2014

0 Comments

Meet Mark Victor Young, Author of Once Were Friends and Young Risk

BBB: What inspired you to become an author?

MVY: A great love of reading, first and foremost. But, later… okay, in grade five, technically, we were allowed to write stories once a week on any topic and two people would be chosen to read theirs in front of the class. There were some weeks when I wrote brilliant, funny stuff of which I was so proud that I practically jumped out of my chair trying to be picked. Other people were chosen those weeks. Then there were weeks when I wrote terrible, humiliating crap. Those were the weeks I was chosen to read out loud. I knew I could do better. So I kept on trying and just never lost the love for it.

BBB: How did you come up with the idea for your book, Once Were Friends?

MVY: I was at a friend’s bachelor party years ago, figuring out what paint ball is all about while trying to keep my gun from jamming and not get shot, when I saw a big troop from a local office marching by for a team-building exercise. It seemed weirdly appropriate that they were relying on an inherently war-like activity to better prepare themselves for their inherently ruthless and combative roles in the corporate world. The entire concept of the novel came to me in that instant, right down to the Shakespearean framework and the theme of business as metaphor for war. It is impossible to miss the parallels between the language (“chain of command,” “front lines,” and “rising through the ranks,” etc.), the attitudes and the hierarchies of both war and business, and I had fun with this throughout.

BBB: Tell us about your main character?

MVY: Hal Mercer had an easy life until his father got cancer. Then he went from playing golf every day to working in the family business, to taking over the role of CEO after his father’s death. If Hal fails, Mercer Inc. is doomed and all his employees will lose their jobs. He can't let that happen, but Hal isn’t used to having everyone counting on him like this. To complicate matters, the takeover target that would solve all his problems is owned by the family of the only woman he’s ever loved. And just maybe this complication is deliberate and he secretly wants to win her back. He really needs to work on his approach.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

MVY: I have a mystery/suspense novel called “Risk” and a short story collection which I will be bringing out within the next six months. I currently have one WIP and another I’m about to start. The former is a collection of linked historical fiction short stories and the latter will be more in the realm of the fantastic. It will be a real departure for me, so I’m both scared of and looking forward to it.

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

MVY: My website will always have details of upcoming releases or news. I’d also love to connect with readers or fellow writers via the social media links there or they can subscribe by e-mail to receive updates that way. http://markvictoryoung.com/.

0 Comments

Author Interview: Karen Ingalls

12/3/2014

0 Comments

Meet Karen Ingalls, Author of Novy's Son and Outshine

BBB:What inspired me to become an author?

KI: My life has always been surrounded by books. I so love a good story with strong characters and an interesting plot.
For most of my life starting at a young age, I wrote poems, short stories, and even a novel to deal with various issues in my life. I found that whether I was journaling in a diary or writing a story I found answers, understanding, solutions, and peace to the abuse, untimely deaths, divorce, and then cancer. I never shared my writings with anyone nor did I think I had any talent for it. I just did it for me.

A nurse friend and I wrote an article for a nursing journal about the various theories of nursing. She was the main researcher and I was the writer. We were very excited when it got published and is still used today by some schools of nursing.

When I was going through my challenge of ovarian cancer, I turned to journaling each day. Months later a friend asked to read my journal and with some hesitation I let her read it. After a few days she returned the journal and said, “Karen, you must get this published. Every woman needs to read this.” I then felt encouraged enough to have a friend, who is a retired English college professor, read the manuscript for my novel. Her response was, “Karen, you blew me away. I was fearful I would have to tell you that it was not very good, but it is good and needs to be published.”

I know now that through my writing books, magazine articles, and my weekly blog, I am doing what God intends me to do.

BBB: What books have you written?

KI: My first published book is a non-fiction titled, Outshine: An Ovarian Cancer Memoir. I am proud to say it has been well received and was National Indie Excellence Book Award Winner in the category of women’s health.

My second book is a novel, Novy’s Son, The Selfish Genius, which just came out in March of this year. It is the story of one young man searching for love and acceptance from his father.

BBB: Do you ever get writer’s block?

KI: I have gotten writer’s bloc on just a few occasions. When it has happened I put the computer aside, and look out on the lake from my office and just let my mind be quiet. It is very soothing and relaxing.

BBB: What are you currently working on?

KI: My third book is also a novel based on the love affair between my great grandparents. Most of the story is fiction because I know so little about her. They never married, had one son (my grandfather), but their love endured right to their deaths. He was a famous sculptor so I know a lot about him.

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

KI: My website is www.outshineovariancancer.com;
my weekly blog is at www.outshineovariancancer.blogspot.com.
I have author pages on www.amazon.com and

www.goodreads.com. I have two FB author pages: www.facebook.com/pages/Outshine-An-Ovarian-Cancer-Memoir, and http://www.facebook.com/pages/Karen-Ingalls/1473379352893458?sk=timeline.

0 Comments