Hello,
We have a second interview today. It is with Sophie Jupillat Posey, author of The Four Suitors.
Please see it below.
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
Hello,
We have a second interview today. It is with Sophie Jupillat Posey, author of The Four Suitors.
Please see it below.
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
Filed under Uncategorized
Link: https://bigfootpublications.com/preorder-book-details.php?book=53
Hello,
Today’s interview is with D Siva Rama Krishna, author of Smiling Baiter.
Please enjoy.
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
Filed under Uncategorized
Hello,
I’m very please to bring readers and authors this interview with Randy L. Scott, author of Awakening – Will the Circle be… Randy talks in great length about creating audio books in his interview. It’s very informative stuff so check it out!
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
I’m happy to give a free e-copy of the first novel in the Dream Messiah series to your readers at: https://dl.bookfunnel.com/lawml1popp
Website: https://randco.me
Email: Randylscott@randco.me
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Redwoodvoices/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/randylscott2/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/Randrifter
Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/1718157118
Draft2Digtal Universal link: https://books2read.com/u/47Zwlj
*As an Amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Filed under Uncategorized
Hello,
Today’s interview is with J.M. Lanham, author of The R.E.M. Precept.
Please enjoy!
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
My name is J.M. Lanham (friends call me John), and I’ve lived in north Florida for the last six years (originally from Georgia).
My latest book hit the shelves September 13th, 2019, and is the third and final installment of the REM series titled The R.E.M. Precept. I think the trilogy falls best under the techno-thriller genre, with readers likening it to the sci-fi works of Michael Crichton, Preston & Child, and Douglas E. Richards.
The series follows a ragtag group of clinical-trial volunteers who’ve recently participated in FDA trials for the first ever gene-altering sleeping pill called Ocula: a pill that’s designed to interact with the human genome to deliver the perfect eight-hour sleep cycle. But unlike the thousands of other participants who experienced little more than the best sleep of their lives, these so-called clinical trial outliers experience extraordinary side effects that don’t just threaten Asteria Pharmaceuticals’ bottom line, but also the safety and security of the free world. The series follows the outliers as they go up against Big Pharma and the CIA to expose what could be the greatest psychological weapon ever created.
For as long as I can remember I’ve suffered from insomnia, but on the rare ocassion that I do get a solid night’s worth of sleep I’ll have these incredibly lucid dreams that seem to last for ages. At one point, these dreams became so convincing that I started to question the nature of reality itself. I was also investing in biotech startups at the time I decided to give the whole novelist gig a shot, so I outlined a story about participants in a sleep study having these nightmarish side effects that made them question the nature of their realities. Well, the outlined got shelved for almost five years until early 2016, when I decided to buckle down and write the damn thing. And once I started writing, everything else just kind of fell into place.
Once I made a serious go at it (forcing myself to write daily, no exceptions) it took about a year from start to finish. I also went through a series of rewrites during the first novel that held things up. The next two in the series went a lot faster, but it still took the better part of a year for each one.
Absolutely! In fact, I’ve learned so much over the last three years that it’s tough to pick a starting point. My relatively short stint in the self-publishing world has tough me patience, humility, gratitude … did I mention patience? I’ve learned to temper expectations, find utility in each and every criticism, and to consistently put in the work every single day to (hopefully) become a better writer.
I do. My author website is www.jmlanham.com. There you can find out where to get my books (currently exclusively on Amazon), check out a sample of The R.E.M. Effect audiobook, sign up for my email list, or read up on my blog covering current events in science that I happen to find interesting (I’ve slacked up on this part a bit, but I promise to make an effort to get back into blogging). You can also reach out directly via the website contact form. I try to respond to every email within 48 hours, and I love talking sci-fi, writing, self-publishing, and baseball.
I think the thing that’s helped me the most in writing is actually something I heard about exercising. If you’ve ever tried to commit to going to the gym then you probably know that sinking feeling of dread in your chest the whole way there. And then once you’re there, that’s when the real work begins. It can really suck, but if you’re determined and you stick with it, then after a few weeks you’ll start to wonder how you ever went a day without being active, without running or walking or lifting weights or whatever your new workout routine happens to be. I think the same goes for writing. Some days I’d get up and stare at that blank page and essentially give up before I even got started. The worst days are the ones where every single sentence you write looks and sounds and feels like garbage, but those are precisely the days you’ve got to push through. Don’t worry about the quality so much; just get something, anything, on the page. Do the work, put in the time, and sooner or later your new writing exercise will become a full-blown routine you can’t live without.
Oh, and read Stephen King’s On Writing. He does this thing where he writes a first draft, stuffs it in a drawer, and doesn’t look at it again for a while (month or two I think), so when he comes back to it, he’s looking at it with fresh eyes. I’ve done that, and I think it’s really helped me. There have even been times where I’d go back over something I wrote months back and wonder, “Who the heck wrote this?”
On cover artists, I think it goes without saying that whether we like it or not, covers sell books. I hired 2FacedDesign (you can find them on Twitter @2FacedDesign) for my first project and I’ve used them ever since. They’ve helped countless authors create professional, eye-catching covers that truly clothe stories, and personally, I wouldn’t use anyone else.
I’ve always been a fan of stories where near-future tech goes terribly wrong, which is what got me hooked on Michael Crichton’s work at an early age (I was in second or third grade the first time I read Jurassic Park and I’ve been a Crichton fan ever since). I’m a huge sucker for techno-thrillers, but I also love horror, mysteries, and suspense. There’s also nothing like a good crime novel (paging Elmore Leonard).
Man, you’re gonna make me pick a favorite? Haha, this is a tough one, but if I had to pick just one I’d probably have to say Nevil Shute’s On The Beach. I’ve certainly been more entertained by others, but I read this one at a very early age and it made a lasting impression on me. Namely, try not to take life so damn seriously and live for the moment because we never know which day is going to be our last (or in this case, when the H-bombs are going to fall).
I have a blue-heeler mix named Luna. My wife and I adopted her from a local shelter when she (Luna, not my wife) was about a year old. I say “mix” because she’s definitely a heeler; we’re just not sure what her other half happens to be (now I’m wondering if they have 23andMe for pets?).
I have a Kindle Fire, and it’s a lot of fun to read on, but I find my self reading more paperbacks these days. It’s a whole process I’ve become accustomed to: I only buy books from my local bookstore (rarely hardcovers unless it’s a must-have and there’s no paperback available) and I usually only read fiction at night when I’m about to go to sleep. I’ve recently made a conscious effort to reduce screen time at night (eReaders, phone, t.v.) and have a pair of blue-light glasses that I feel have really helped me get some of my circadian rhythm back should I decide to read on the Kindle late at night. But, for the most part, I save the devices for daytime hours. |
Filed under Uncategorized
Hello,
Today’s interview is with Andy Douglas, author of Redemption Songs.
Please enjoy!
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)? Andy Douglas, Iowa.2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre? My latest book is “Redemption Songs: A Year in the Life of a Community Prison Choir.”3) What is the book about? The book chronicles the six years I spent volunteering in a medium security prison as part of a choir that combines incarcerated men and community volunteers. Its main narrative thrust details the experience of entering the prison each week, getting to know the men, overcoming preconceptions about these folks, and forging a strong community through shared creative undertaking. The book also has a research-based component, and focuses on some of the issues facing the penal system. Thirdly, the book tells the stories of several of the men I got to know, exploring their early lives, their crimes, their efforts to rehabilitate.4) Where did you come up with the idea? In conversation with a writing mentor, who saw the inherent drama and value of the idea.5) How long did it take you to write it? Six years.6) Did you learn anything from the project? Ha. I learned a great deal. Certainly I learned much about criminal justice and restorative justice, for example, the fact that as a nation we compose five percent of the the world’s population but have 25 percent of the world’s prisoners. I interrogated my own biases about people in prison and came away with new understanding. Intellectually, I had acknowledged that people in prison were simply people who had gone down a wrong path, but to learn in an intimate way about the challenges and struggles and, yes, often selfish behavior, of people and put it into a larger context of, well, racism, economic hardship, unfair sentencing practices, was all eye-opening. On a writing level, this book combines several different types of writing, narrative, more research-based expository writing, interview-based retelling of the men’s stories, as well as direct quotes from the men. It also, in places, leans toward a more lyrical essayistic style. How in the world were those very different types of writing going to coalesce into an integral whole? This was the challenge for me, which I think I met, shaping the narrative and the various styles in a way that ultimately created a seamless narrative.7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video? My website is andydouglas.net8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists? Cultivate some good readers whose opinions you trust. At the same time, trust your own vision. Finally, revise more than you think you need to. Revise and put the work away for a while. Then reread it with fresh eyes. Revise until every sentence is sparklingly clear, until every niggling doubt is resolved, until every chapter ends in a way that propels the reader on to the next one. Revise.
9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work? I read a lot of literary fiction. Also some nonfiction, often related to environmental or social justice issues.10) What is your favorite book of all time and why? That’s a tough one. One of my favorite is Tracy Kidder’s Mountains Beyond Mountains. Kidder does what I’d like to do better: sinks deeply into a world until he can write about it with ease and comprehension, then pulls us into that world with beautiful prose.11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind? nope.12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it? Also nope.
Filed under Uncategorized
Hello,
Today’s interview is with George Stratford, author of I Spy Bletchley Park.
Please enjoy!
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)?
I publish novels under my own name of George Stratford, and I live in the south coast holiday resort of Bournemouth, England.
2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre?
Currently, I am more than halfway through writing a new murder thriller set in the popular music world of 1970s London, but my most recently published novel is an historical adventure/thriller titled, I Spy Bletchley Park. This has been excellently received and reviewed here in the UK.
Before long, the two women inevitably clash, and a desperate Betty finds herself as the only person in a position to save Bletchley Park from complete destruction.
4) Where did you come up with the idea?
My late mother was a WAAF stationed at BP for two years during WWII, and subsequently at one of the vital Y listening stations. Like so many others, she never breathed a single word of this until the 1980s when the secret had already become common public knowledge.
I wanted to write a fictional tribute to Mum. The codebreakers themselves have (rightly so) had volumes of both fictional and factual stuff written about them, but how about an adventure story featuring one of the less acknowledged workers in a heroic role? That was my reasoning at the start of things. After that, it was quite a logical move to create a spy who would place Bletchley Park in great danger. And better still, a female one with an aristocratic background in complete contrast to Betty’s south London working-class upbringing. Once Lady Margaret had been created, all the other pieces began to fall naturally into place.
5) How long did it take you to write it?
The amount of research required for this story was enormous, so if you include that, the whole process took me just about a year.
Spending time at the current Bletchley Park site was of course a mandatory requirement, and whilst there I was fortunate enough to become friends with one of the dedicated volunteer workers who do so much to enhance the centre’s visitor experience. John Bladen was a mine of invaluable information. Numerous times throughout the course of that year I needed to get back to him with some question or other on historical or technical detail, and he was always only to happy to help. I owe John a lot. So here’s another great big thank you, mate.
6) Did you learn anything from the project?
I suspect that you mean aside from the obvious mass of information during research that amongst many other things took in: the 1929 Stock Market crash; British politics of that era; the1936 Berlin Olympics, especially the equestrian events; and a host of personal details concerning Hermann Goering.
What I did learn was to totally rubbish the theory that females can’t keep a secret. At one time or another during the course of WWII, approximately eight thousand women (mostly WAAFs and WRENs) worked at Bletchley Park. Just like my own mother, not a single one of them ever sought to break the Official Secrets Act that they had all signed. Forty years were to pass before they were free to talk about their part in something that was truly amazing. How’s that for keeping Mum?
7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video?
Please do come and visit my website at georgestratford.com . Amongst other stuff, you can read an extract from I Spy Bletchley Park in which Lady Margaret is first introduced to Hermann Goering by a Nazi loving former boyfriend. This extract is not available to read anywhere else. There is also lots of info here about my other novels, together with a middle grade children’s story set in the Philippines, and a memoir of my time when I went from being an out of work no-hoper to an award-winning copywriter at the world’s most famous advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. Mad Men? More of a Mad Ride, I’d say.
8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists?
The best tip I can pass on is always use the ‘Read Aloud’ function to check your manuscript. With anything that you have written yourself, the eye so very often will read what it is anticipating seeing rather than what it actually there on the page.
Being an editor myself who has worked very closely with best-selling fantasy author Brian D Anderson on fourteen of his novels, including all of The Godling Chronicles and the Dragonvein series, I know how well this simple trick can work.
As for cover designers, I’ve always found Lou Harper to be efficient, speedy, and very reasonably priced.
9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work?
Adventure stories and thrillers, sometimes with an historical background in the way Ken Follett does them, are my most preferred reads. I’ve also thoroughly enjoyed quite a bit of Stephen King’s work, especially the Mr Mercedes (Finders Keepers) trilogy.
Thanks to my work with Brian, I am now also rather more open to some kinds of fantasy work as well.
I always try to set aside at least half an hour a day (usually just before hitting the pillow) to read a new book. Of course I am open to new authors, and am very happy to post a positive review when I feel it is deserved. The only problem is, if I find that I can’t get on with a book, I would rather not post anything at all than be destructive. Why stamp on something when others might genuinely enjoy it?
10) What is your favorite book of all time and why?
My thesaurus: Without it, where would I be when I’m stuck for the right word?
11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind?
No pets as such, although I do have a make-believe Dobermann posted outside my door to keep away unwanted visitors when I’m on a writing roll.
12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it?
Yup, I’ve got what might be termed as a pretty ancient kindle that still gets used a fair bit. The truth is though, I honestly prefer the feel of a proper book in my hand. It’s also so much easier to flip quickly back to check on something with physical pages. You know, when a character who we haven’t seen for several chapters suddenly appears again and you need reminding of who exactly they are. This is especially true if you find you only have time to read in small daily bites the way I tend to do.
Filed under Uncategorized
Hello,
Today’s interview is with Elaine Bosvik Ciarnau, author of The Adventures of Cardigan.
Please enjoy!
Best,
-Vincent Lowry
Interview:
1) What is your author name and in what state do you live (or country if not in the US)?Elaine Bosvik Ciarnau Canada
2) What is the title of your newest book and what is the genre?The Adventures of Cardigan. Children’s Fiction
3) What is the book about?A six year old boy and his dog, a Cardigan Welsh Corgi, experience several adventures with majestic wild life in the wilderness of Northern, Ontario. They are picking blueberries with a bear. They raise a crow that fell out of its best, have a bear and Cardigan having dinner at a cookhouse.
4) Where did you come up with the idea?The stories are from my own adventures while growing up in the Bush Camps
5) How long did it take you to write it?I started writing them over twenty years ago. As my son was growing up, I used to tell him the stories of my childhood. He would want to her more so I decided to share them in a book.
6) Did you learn anything from the project?I learned kids are curious about wildlife.
7) Do you have an author website and/or blog? How about a book video?No
8) Do you have any success tips to pass on to fellow authors? How about any great editors/cover artists?Write about what you know. Let others read and give you advice on what they read.
9) What genres do you like to read? Are you open to reading new authors and reviewing their work?I like to read anything except history. I have been reviewing books for other authors.
10) What is your favorite book of all time and why?The Moon child by Kenneth McKenney. The book scared me so much I would have to put it down so often but,I had to keep picking it up to find out what was going to happen next.
11) Fun Question: Do you have any pets? If so, what kind?2 Russian Blue cats. Had a rabbit named Piggy and a cat Tiger that passed. Always had pets, wild and domestic.
12) Fun Question 2: Do you own an electronic reading device? If so, what kind and how do you like it?No. Just use my tablet.
Filed under Uncategorized