As the Hispanic American population of the U.S. increases, with influences ranging from Mexico to Central America and the Caribbean, so does interest in literature inspired by those cultures.
Award-winning author Mayra Calvani has now edited a collection of interviews with 40 Latina authors living in the U.S. and writing in English. Latina Authors and Their Muses is an inspirational and informative book focusing on the craft of writing and the business of publishing, one that provides aspiring writers with the nuts and bolts of the business.
Official paperback release date: December 15, 2015
About the Editor
Award-winning author Mayra Calvani has penned more than ten books for children and adults in genres ranging from picture books to nonfiction to paranormal fantasy novels. She’s had over 300 articles, short stories, interviews and reviews published in magazines such as The Writer, Writer’s Journal and Bloomsbury Review, among others. A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, she now resides in Brussels, Belgium
Please welcome my special guest, Mark Spivak. Mark is here today to talk about his latest release, Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History. Mark is an award-winning writer specializing in wine, spirits, food, restaurants and culinary travel. He was the wine writer for the Palm Beach Post from 1994-1999, and since 2001 has been the Wine and Spirits Editor for the Palm Beach Media Group, as well as the restaurant critic for Palm Beach Illustrated. His work has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, Robb Report, Ritz-Carlton, Continental, Art & Antiques, Newsmax, Dream of Italy and Arizona Highways. From 1999-2011 he hosted Uncorked! Radio, a highly successful wine talk show on the Palm Beach affiliate of National Public Radio.
Mark began writing Iconic Spirits after becoming fascinated with the untold stories behind the world’s greatest liquors. As a writer, he’s always searching for the unknown details that make his subjects compelling and unique.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Mark. Can you tell us what your latest book, Iconic Spirits: An Intoxicating History, is all about?
I chronicle the untold tales of twelve spirits that changed the world and forged the cocktail culture. Some are categories and others are specific brands, but they’re all amazing stories—and stories that are unknown to the average reader.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for your book?
One day I was think about Campari, about how bitter it is and how unpleasant it is to some consumers (myself included), despite the fact that millions of cases are sold each year. I did some reading about the physiology of taste, and realized that the taste receptors on our tongues function as an early-warning system that we’re about to drink something toxic or poisonous. Your brain is telling you, “Don’t drink this—it might kill you,” and yet Campari is considered to be one of the sexiest things on earth. The more I looked into other spirits, I found the same kinds of compelling stories.
Q: What kind of research did you do before and during the writing of your book?
There were a number of cases where I visited the distillery and spent two or three days with the producers. Not everyone wanted to give me that level of access, but fortunately there were other cases where I didn’t need it—for some spirits, I could accomplish the research by a combination of reading and telephone interviews.
Q: If a reader can come away from reading your book with one valuable message, what would that be?
The most important message concerns entrepreneurship, the creation of something out of nothing. Many of the most famous and profitable spirits in the world sprang from the flash of an idea.
Q: Can you give us a short excerpt?
The Triumph of the Bootleggers: Moonshine, Rumrunning and the Founding of NASCAR
Drive out of Winston-Salem, and the landscape turns rural very quickly. By the time you reach Wilkes County the soft, rippling hills have become higher and steeper, and the valleys are dotted with frame houses, farmland and working tractors.
Joe Michalek, the energetic and genial president of Piedmont Distillers, is at the wheel. It’s 6:30 a.m. and we’re driving out to have breakfast with Junior Johnson–driving on Junior Johnson Highway, in fact, an eight-mile stretch of U.S. Route 421 named for the famous race car driver. We ease off onto old 421, which used to be known as Bootlegger’s Highway. Sixty years ago there were nearly 400 stills in Wilkes County, and the roads here were dirt–“nothin’ more than cow pastures,” according to Junior. Bootleggers turned off their headlights at night to avoid detection, and navigated by the light of the moon.
Tom Wolfe called him “The Last American Hero.” The nickname stuck, and it became the title of a 1973 movie about his life, a Hollywood extravaganza starring Jeff Bridges. Robert Glenn Johnson Jr., known as Junior, was born in Wilkes County in 1931. He began running moonshine out of the hills at 14, using his dad’s rebuilt 1940 Ford. He became the fastest man on the dirt roads, the one bootlegger the law couldn’t catch. In time, he took his cars, his speed and his nerve onto the racetrack, and became one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.
Wolfe wrote at length about the legend of Junior Johnson in his breakout 1965 Esquire piece, but he also helped create it. Junior was already an idol throughout the South at that time, but was relatively unknown outside the region. The story captured him at the height of his racing career, and it also took the legend and burnished it so brightly that it became visible around the country.
Q: In your own experience, is it hard to get a nonfiction book published today? How did you do it?
I had a great agent, which helped enormously. Even so, I think you need to have a subject which is timely and resonates with a large segment of the public. It helps to persevere, and luck also doesn’t hurt.
Q: What’s a typical day like for you?
I write at all hours of the day, but I find the early hours are best because there are no interruptions. If I can get up by 4 a.m., I’m likely to have nearly an entire day’s work done before people start calling or emailing.
Q: What’s next for you?
I’m sworn to secrecy, but the next project will undoubtedly be focused on spirits and the enjoyment of life.
Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Mark. We wish you much success!
Linda Schroeder divides her time between the bright sun of California and the high mountains of Colorado. She has a Master’s degree in English and one in Communicative Disorders/Audiology. In addition to her novel, Artists & Thieves, she has published a college text.
Her early interest in English expanded to include language disorders and she began a second career as an audiologist and aural rehabilitation therapist working with deaf and hard-of-hearing children and adults.
Currently, she studies and practices Chinese brush painting, celebrating the vitality and energy of nature. She follows art and art theft blogs and writes her own blog about art and sometimes includes reviews of novels. She is working on two more novels, a second Mai Ling novel about the Diamond Sutra, and a Sammy Chan art mystery about the forgery of a Goya painting.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Linda. Can you tell us what your latest book, Artists & Thieves, is all about?
Artists & Thieves won the San Diego Book Awards in the action/suspense category. It is an art mystery. A priceless Chinese bronze bowl is looted from a dig by smugglers and sold to an art collector in Monterey. Mai Ling is an artist who works undercover for Interpol recovering stolen art. She discovers that this bowl belonged to her ancestor in China and her grandfather is duty bound to return it to China. So she is on a quest to get the bowl, not for Interpol but for her grandfather. Four others are also after the bowl.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Mai Ling is a Chinese/American who is twenty-five, clever, agile, witty. She is an accomplished Chinese brush painter and a martial arts expert. She knows the world of art smugglers.
Mai’s best friend is Angelo, a flamboyant, arrogant, emotional artist. He is preparing to turn Monterey’s Custom House into a representation of a 1840 sailing ship. He has inside information which helps Mai steal the bowl.
Mai’s counterpart is Hunter. He has flaming red hair and rides a Harley. He is an antique dealer in Rome. He is in love with Mai but he is also in competition with her to steal the bowl.
Angelo’s counterpart is Cypress. She owns a flower shop in Carmel and resells stolen items from it. She is also after the bowl.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
My characters are both. I know someone who is similar to every one of my characters. I use some defining personality traits from them. But the details of their lives, their relationships and emotions are unique to the imagined fictional characters.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
I discover as I write. I don’t work from an outline. I start with a general idea of a character and a situation. As I write, I add details and find interesting relationships between characters by saying, “What would surprise the reader at this point?” Those “Aha!” moments turn the plot and set up the interconnections between characters. I get a first draft this way but the following drafts are rewrites which tighten plot events, develop the characters more, and add descriptions.
Q: Your book is set mainly in Monterey, California. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
I lived in Monterey for ten years. I know its history and its landmarks. And it is now a major tourist destination, so many people also are familiar with it. It has different aspects within just a few miles of territory.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
Absolutely. The setting reflects the characters. Mai lives by the ocean. Like her life the water is sometimes calm, sometimes dangerous. Angelo lives on Fisherman’s Wharf in an artist’s loft. The wharf is full of colors and smells. He is conscious always of sensory input. Cypress lives in Carmel, part elite establishment, part used-to-be hippie enclave. She straddles both worlds. Mai’s boss lives in Pebble Beach in a wood and glass house designed by a famous architect. It reflects his education and his affluence.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
This is the beginning of the chapter, Ghosts. Mai is on the road, traveling to Locke, a historic Chinese farming town on the Sacramento river. Her grandfather spends the summers there. She had been on her way to her gallery exhibition in Monterey but has been urgently summoned to Locke by her grandfather; she doesn’t know why. Neither does the reader. This is the point on the plot line where the task she faces is revealed.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
This is a point leading to the climatic confrontation between Mai and the smuggler who now has the bowl. Mai is rushing on foot in blinding fog to get the bowl:
“At last she reached the sea. Long bands of glowing light stretched up and down the coast, eerily luminescent in the fog hanging over the waves. The red tide’s tiny organisms sparkled, ebbed and flowed in the ocean’s easy motion. When she’d enjoyed the display Tuesday on her evening run, hundreds of cars filled the beach lots. Now all was strangely empty. Why? The power outage? Road closures? Whatever the reason, the unexpected emptiness grated against her already strained nerves, reinforcing her fear that Toni’s studio would be empty and the bowl already spirited out of the city.
In the sea’s light, Mai ran the short distance to the two story warehouse which was Toni’s ocean view studio. No cars were parked in front. She rattled the front door. A bolt held it tight. A metal shutter secured the only window. A gull screeched a sinister warning. A burst of panic tightened her throat. Maybe she was wrong. How the hell would she find Toni if she wasn’t here?”
Q: Have you suffered from writer’s block and what do you do to get back on track?
I often get stuck “discovering” which way the plot should go next, what the reader needs to know to keep the story moving forward. When that happens I take note cards and write “what if” events, one per card, and reasons why a character might or might not do that. I have a critique group which usually meets weekly. The deadline to have a scene ready to be analyzed gets me motivated to put something down on paper. Sometimes I keep that scene, sometimes that scene doesn’t work at all and I put it in the “out-takes” folder.
Q: What would you do with an extra hour today if you could do anything you wanted?
I love walking in the surf at Torrey Pines beach. The ocean goes to a far horizon. The open distance is beautiful and inspiring.
Q: Which already published book do you wish that you had written and why?
I wish I had written Michael Chabon’s The Final Solution. It is an elegant Sherlock Holmes tale, very odd.
Q: What kind of advice would you give other fiction authors regarding getting their books out there?
We are lucky today to have many options. We can hunt for an agent, hope for a big press, hunt for a small press, or self publish either print or ebook. Explore the possibilities. But do not let your book sit unread in a desk drawer. We are storytellers and stories must be read. We only become better writers if someone reads our writing. So crank that book out any way you can. It will not be easy or trauma free. But having a book to sell is worth it.
We have a great interview for you today! Please welcome the lovely Alicia Singleton, author of the suspense novel, Dark Side of Valor!
Born and raised in Philadelphia, the Howard University graduate embraced the written word at an early age. She credits this to her loving, older sister whom, while they were youngsters, made the author eat lotion on a regular basis. Realizing the need to sound-out the ingredients on the lotion label, Alicia stopped the lotion-eating practice, but continued to read the labels of the concoctions her sister brought for her to try. This early necessity to read flowered to a passion; hence, a writer was born.
The award winning author resides in Maryland with her wonderful husband and son. Still an avid reader, label or otherwise, Alicia is hard at work completing her next suspense novel. Her latest book is the suspense novel, Dark Side of Valor. Visit Alicia’s website at www.aliciasingleton.com.
Child advocate Lelia Freeman saves children for a living. As the director of ChildSafe Shelters, she ventures to abandoned squats and crackhouses to rescue teens from the hellish streets of Los Angeles. When she is summoned to Washington to serve on a committee that aids the children of a war-torn African nation, Lelia is kidnapped and becomes a political pawn in a sinister conspiracy. Oceans away from everything she knows, she must trust a mercenary to save her life, or die in the clutches of a psychopath.
Hunting, combat and staying alive are Elijah Dune’s specialties. Vengeance is his passion. Haunted by past demons, he’s travels to the Motherland to collect a debt. A debt that demands one payment. Death.
Caught in the crosshairs of a madman, Lelia and Elijah must survive the jungles of Zaire and the horrors of their pasts or be forever consumed by the DARK SIDE OF VALOR.
Watch the Trailer!
The Interview
Q: Thank you for this interview, Alicia. Can you tell us what your latest book, Dark Side of Valor, is all about?
Dark Side of Valor is about a former teen aged runaway, turned child advocate, Lelia Freeman. When she is summoned to Washington to serve on a subcommittee that aids children of a war-torn African nation, she stumbles onto sinister political secrets. She’s kidnapped oversees and must depend on a tall, dark handsome stranger to save her life. But he has secrets of his own.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Lelia is a very strong, courageous, street-smart woman. She grew up with an alcoholic mother and by the time she was 18, she’d run away from home and was living homeless on the streets of Los Angeles.
Elijah Dune is a mercenary by trade; hunting, combat and staying alive are his specialties. What woman wouldn’t feel safe in his care? Gasp and swoon, ladies. Your dark knight has arrived.
My favorite characters in the book were Aunt Lou and Romeo Jones. Aunt Lou grew up in the jungles of Zaire, but traveled the world as well. She’s outrageous. Bright yellow tee-shirts, neon orange basketball earrings, high top sneakers and a kente cloth skirt match her boisterous, outspoken personality. Romeo Jones is a cab driver who loves himself very, very, very much. Who doesn’t know a brother or sister who spends more time looking at themselves in the mirror then they spend breathing. Both characters where extremely fun to write.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
To me, assessing real people, their traits, their flaws and their vulnerabilities then infusing those characteristics into characters makes the characters more authentic and empathetic.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
I am consciously aware of the plot prior to beginning a novel. The plot may change slightly along the journey, but basically its set from the start.
Q: Your book is set in Los Angeles, Sudania(Sudan) and the jungles of the Congo. Can you tell us why you chose these locations in particular?
Each location had a particular value or significance.I chose Los Angeles because of the high population of runaways living in that area. Sudania is fictitious, however, it was based on the Sudan. The cruelty and injustice inflicted on the people of that region pulled at my heart. Why the jungles of the Congo, you ask? What a fabulous place to explore, hide from a mad man and be frightened out of your mind.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
Oh yes! Setting can add tension, a sense of happiness or doom to any storyline. A creepy, hunted house, a sparkling lake, an avalanched, snow covered mountain top can all add conflict to a storyline.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
The heroine, Lelia Freeman, has come to an abandoned squat to save one of her runaway teens. The girl bolts and Lelia is plagued, once again, with unresolved feelings of guilt from her past.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
Joella thought hell was missing her parents. Cousin Daryl had other thoughts of hell. He shared them with her daily. Open-handed cuffs across the face, kicks to the ribs. The thrashings. Still, no hell he executed terrorized her more than the darkness. Cousin Daryl always locked her alone.
In the darkness.
Grandma Dell tried to stop him, but he hit her, too, forced her in her room.
Joella could still hear Grandma calling through her bedroom door, begging him to stop. She still felt fire scorch her skull from his fingers clenched in her hair, still remembered half screeching, half choking on fear as he drug her to the barn. Taught her her lesson.
Sprawled on her stomach, her back ripped raw. Tears puddled mud under her cheek. Dirt and sweat throbbed in her busted lip. Blood and bile sullied her tongue. Unable to move, she lay in the blackness, hushed her sobs, scared he’d hear. Scared he’d come back to teach her more lessons. Those were the times her safe burrows surrounded her, pressed insanity to the fringes of her mind.
One night she ran away from Cousin Daryl while he was sleeping off a high. She’d helped Grandma Dell to Granddad’s old truck, and drove off. Her feet barely reached the pedals. They hit a couple of ditches, but they’d made it.
A family friend in the next county took them in. For a few weeks hell disappeared.
It resurfaced when Cousin Daryl tracked them down.
Joella took off, never looked back.
Some nights Cousin Daryl still found her, stole into her dreams, locked her in darkness. Memories of Daddy or Mama didn’t keep him from hurting her, remembering Grandma Dell’s kind words didn’t hold him at bay. Only Lelia’s soft voice broke through the death dream to save her.
Now Lelia needed saving.
Her friend knelt in front of the candlelit muffin. Zombified, she stared at the burning wick.
Comfort was the only thing Joella could offer. She shrugged the rough quilt off her shoulders, then wrapped them both in it. She rocked like Grandma Dell used to do. It felt like forever. The hardwood dug into her knees, the candle burned, she kept rocking.
For once, Lelia needed her. No matter what, she’d be Lelia’s light, ’cause no one should be left in the darkness.
Q: Have you suffered from writer’s block and what do you do to get back on track?
I have to say, yes. One of my wonderful writing teachers, Robert McKee, teaches that writer’s block is a result of the writer not knowing the world he or she has created. When the writer is an expert at their fictitious world, then writer’s block does not occur. If I get stuck, I take his advice, go back and dig deeper into my characters, plotting, motives and conflicts to cure my writer’s block.
Q: What would you do with an extra hour today if you could do anything you wanted?
I would save the extra hours until I had a month of extra hours then kidnap my husband and escape to a resort in Bora Bora or Namale in the Fiji Islands.
Q: Which already published book do you wish that you had written and why?
Although The Fall of the House of Usher isn’t a novel, its one short story I’d love to say I’ve written. Indicative of Edgar Allan Poe’s works, it’s so lyrical. The beautiful, sensory-rich descriptions are brilliant and the suspense is nail-biting.
Q: What kind of advice would you give other fiction authors regarding getting their books out there?
Learn the craft of writing and learn it well. Always seek ways to educate yourself on how to become a better writer. Trauma surgeons, professional ballerinas, electrical engineers, classical pianists, Olympic gymnasts and architects don’t learn their crafts in a weekend. Neither can great writers. Again, educate yourself.
Q: Thank you so much for this interview, Alicia. We wish you much success!
Karen Glick lives outside of Philadelphia. She is a clinical psychologist whose other interests include writing, painting, and acting. When not feverishly engaged in these pursuits, she enjoys spending time with her four children, husband, cavalier king charles spaniels and cats.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Karen. Can you tell us what your latest book, Questions in the Silence, is all about?
I always wanted to write a novel and had many false starts where the idea or the characters just didn’t sustain my interest. Finally, the idea for Questionsin the Silence emerged from two of my life passions: (Don’t ask about the others!)psychotherapy and a spiritual approach to life. The protagonist, Ari Rothman, is a young Jewish woman whose childhood is flavored by unusual dreams and visions. Some of her dreams are derived from her Jewish education, but others are more mystical and cryptic. These experiences inspire her to become a seeker of spiritual truth, not limited to her own religious upbringing. At the same time, she is driven to find her life purpose and feels she may find it in helping people through psychotherapy.
Questions in the Silence chronicles Ari’s personal growth from her childhood when she feels like an outsider because of her precocious approach to life, to her search for a life partner, and her attempts to initiate a mature relationship with her parents. At the same time, in her professional life, Ari faces mounting conflict when she tries to integrate her traditional training as a psychologist with her intuitive abilities. Her struggles come to a head when she treats her first long-term client whose problems resonate deeply with some of her own issues.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Ari Rothman is a sensitive dork who really doesn’t fit into her peer group very well. Her loneliness reinforces her interest in the spiritual world and she spends a lot of time searching for meaning in life and worrying constantly whether she will ever find her true purpose. Since she spends so much time living in her head, her real relationships sometimes suffer. Once she decides that she can best fulfill her purpose by becoming a psychotherapist, her next challenge becomes balancing the advice of her supervisors and her strong intuition about patients.
The supporting characters include a neurotic but loving mother who teaches Ari about the importance of boundaries in relationships, her boyfriend, Evan, who starts out as a study partner and becomes the key to Ari’s discovery about meeting her own needs, and James, Ari’s first long-term client, who comes from a very different background, but whose therapy forces Ari to question her own family relationships.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
There are some components of my characters that are drawn from my life. To some degree, Ari’s struggle to incorporate things she knows intuitively into her work mirrors my own. I must emphasize she is truly a fictional character, as are all of the other characters in the book, although I am fortunate enough to have experienced people who may have added some of the dimensions to the characters. In particular, some of Ari’s experiences such as her Jewish education, meditation adventures, and training as a psychotherapist were suggested by some of my own experiences.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
My writing began with a strong sense of the fictional characters, their backstory, and their current struggles. Each day as I wrote, I felt that the plot should be driven by the way the characters would interact, knowing them as I do. When I was finished with the first draft, I had a better vision of the plot and my revisions were all about cutting out a lot of writing that didn’t further either the plot or key knowledge about the main characters.
Q: Your book is set in Philadelphia. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
I love the Philadelphia area and have lived here since college. Philadelphia is a great city for the exploration of ideas like spirituality and psychotherapy. My familiarity with attending college and graduate school here provided a strong foundation for Ari’s development.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
Not really. Much of the story really takes place in the minds of the characters.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
Ari, the main character, has just attended her first college party. In her attempt to reinvent herself, she overindulged and is suffering the consequences. On page 69, she is filled with remorse and is worrying how her overdrinking may have affected her relationship with her roommate and with her romantic interest, Charlie.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
Saturday morning. Ari rolled on her side to read the time on her clock…six thirty five. She groaned. Why was she awake? She peered at Evan who was sleeping so silently she watched the sheet over his chest to make sure it rose and sank with each breath. His face was totally relaxed, and she loved to look at the way the early morning light played with the golden highlights in his wavy hair and his long eyelashes. The stubble on his chin seemed so dark, forming a blue gray contrast to his pale skin. She lay quietly next to him, trying to match the rhythm of his breathing, wishing to fall back asleep and to share his dreams, he looked that peaceful.
But sleep wouldn’t come. So, she slipped out of bed and walked over to the couch. Pulling a soft old afghan around her shoulders, she sat down and closed her eyes to meditate, a form of Sabbath observance for her. She immediately felt as though she were drifting in a downward pathway, but she was able to maintain a relaxed, detached posture and she did not pull back from the sensation of slowly falling. As she descended, she became engulfed in a glowing indigo light. She sensed another presence with her and curiosity briefly coursed through her mind. She heard a voice answering her unspoken question…Eliyahu. And then there was complete silence. Ari’s old blue afghan had grown to encompass the entire universe and everything was wrapped in its comforting softness. At some point, when she opened her eyes, Ari wasn’t sure how long she had meditated, or even if she had fallen asleep. She patted her blanket with affection, thinking how much she loved the color blue. She could hear Evan stirring faintly in the alcove, so she went to investigate.
Thank you so much for this interview, Karen. We wish you much success!
Braxton A. Cosby is a dreamer with a vision of continuously evolving and maximizing the untapped potential of the human spirit. Braxton received a lot of his inspiration from watching the accomplishments and exploits of his famous uncle, comedic legend Bill Cosby. A physical therapist by background, Braxton received his Bachelors, Masters, and Doctorate from the University of Miami. Braxton’s fascination of science grew into an obsession of Sci-fi and on one unassuming Sunday, this self-proclaimed romantic decided to pursue a “calling” to create a new genre of writing; Sci-Fance-mixing science fiction and romance. Braxton lives in Georgia with his wife and two children. He believes that everyone should pursue joy that surpasses understanding and live each day as if it were the last.
It Starts With Choice! What would you choose: love or irrefutable duty?
On the brink of Civil War, the Torrian Alliance continues with its mission to obliterate Star-children across the universe in order to suppress an intergalactic evil. Following the recommendations of his Council, King Gregorio Derry has agreed to send his only son on a mission to restore honor to his family. Bounty Hunter Prince William Derry has crossed thousands of light-years to planet Earth, in order to fulfill this age old prophetic practice. The quiet days of Madisonburg, Tennessee are officially over as Sydney Elaine now knows the full meaning of the phrase Be careful what you wish for when she is confronted by this strange visitor. As an unforeseeable event delays his assassination, William decides to study his target more closely and begins to form a connection with Sydney that challenges his inner being. But this conflict is the least of his problems, as a conspiracy back on his home planet Fabricius threatens the lives of those he loves and his father s royal legacy. Along with that, he must unravel a hidden menace here on Earth that seeks to secure a vested interest that threatens both his and Sydney s safety. Will William be able to complete his mission or will he choose love, sacrificing everything he stands for?
Q: Thank you for this interview, Braxton. Can you tell us what your latest book The Star-Crossed Saga: Protostar is all about?
At the core of Protostar, is a love story and a journey of two young people as they venture into the beginnings of adulthood. The weight of the decisions that they make will produce ripple effects that will not only impact their lives, but those of the ones they love. Inevitably, as we all grow and mature over time, we are given the opportunity to make choices. We must be accountable to those choices; understanding that we must accept their outcomes, whether good or bad. I hope that readers take are able to pull this out of the story and I especially encourage young people to reflect on the importance of being true to you and following the “straight road” and listen to their heart over the pressures of the world.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Braxton! Your book, The Star-Crossed Saga: Protostar, sounds absolutely fascinating! YA is hot, hot, hot right now and I’m curious to find out more about the main and supporting characters. Can you tell us a little bout them?
Two main characters: William and Sydney.
William Derry is the main character that must make the decision between love and duty. He is the Prince of the Torrian Alliance and also a bounty hunter. He’s a complicated character to write because he has lived this very structured, pristine life with everything he wants at his fingertips. Yet, he decides to venture out on this crusade to salvage his family name. The strength of his character is that he has strong convictions and he is very accountable to his actions. His morale ethics are a big part of the dilemma he must face when ultimately making his decision.
Sydney Elaine is the female of interest. She is a typical, small town teenage girl that dreams of big adventure and love. She is finally given both and she must now learn to understand how to cherish receiving that which she longed for. Her character will develop a lot more over the length of the trilogy, with typical challenges of going to school, peer pressure from friends and understanding the voice in her heart that draws her towards a wayward stranger.
The supporting characters of the book are Sheriff Henry Gladston, Jasmine Carruthers, Sienna and Zelwyn. All of them play a key role in the evolution of Sydney and William’s relationship, with each one of them possessing a valuable element that is key to the outcome of the storyline.
Q: I know some writers tend to base characters on people around them and yet some rely strictly on imagination. Which route did you take?
It’s a mix. I like to write out of personal experiences and thus, some of the personalities, if not all, come from people who I know or have come in contact with. I like the authenticity or lack thereof, of people when you meet them for the first time. Some are genuine and some, not so much. Either way, most times you will end up getting a character that you can write from in your story.
Q: When you start writing a book, are you aware of how the plot is going to go or do you discover it as your write?
No. God gives me the storyline up front through inspiration, then I begin to tinker with it and develop it over time (with God’s help). Once the stories come to life all that is left for me to do is to produce the outline so that I can write from it.
Q: I would like to talk about the setting. Your book is set in Madisonburg, Tennessee. Tennessee is one of my most favorite places to visit! Why, in your case, did you choose Madisonburg in particular?
Two words: Crop Circles. Madisonville, Tennessee has one of the highest numbers of Crop Circles sightings in the entire world. I decided to change it to Madisonburg, so that I could have a little more flexibility with writing the geographic and demographic details of the city.
Q: Wow. In all the times I have been to Tennessee, never did I know that. I’ll have to check those out the next time I visit. I would love to see them! Now, the setting. Did the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
Yes, mainly because of the Crop Circles and because I wanted to pick a setting that reflects the simple laid back personality of Sydney. Big city is way too busy. The action that will take place may have been consumed by it had I picked a place like New York or Los Angeles.
Q: I want to get an inside peek. Can you open the book to page 69 and tell us what is happening?
William just crash landed on Earth and he is making plans to disembark from his ship the Daedalus. He is speaking with the ship’s artificial intelligence and then the scene flashes to Sydney. She is sitting in her room daydreaming of a day that adventure would come into her “boring” life.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
Yes, here it is. This is a scene that takes place on top of Sydney’s grandmother’s house, where she and William are starting to get closer.
William reached down to the quilt and grabbed his glass of tea and finished it off. Then he took Sydney by the hand and placed a small subtle kiss on it.
“It’s been a pleasure once again, but I really must be getting some much needed rest. See you in the morning?”
“Yes,” Sydney answered, “see you in the morning then.”
William decided a dramatic exit was the only appropriate way to end the evening. He gave a few short hops towards the end of the rooftop, planted his feet along the edge and vaulted upward, floating away from the edge of the house and landing perfectly on the back lawn.
***
Sydney raced towards the edge, making sure William was safe. She shook her head in wonderment as he disappeared behind the barn doors. Then dropped to her knees, staring at the hand William kissed and thinking, “Could this guy really be my Prince Charming?
As the sounds of crickets played in the background of the country night, a cool breeze tumbled in from the West blowing her hair into her face. She brushed it away and glanced upward to the Moon one last time. The sight of the mammoth white circle gave her a promise of hope. She knew that if the Moon could hang effortlessly in the sky without a single hint of losing its composure, surely something as simple as love could befall upon a country girl like her. She walked over and picked up her quilt, making her way back to her bedroom window. Looking back at the ghostly object one last time, she quotes an old nursery rhyme, “I see the Moon, the Moon sees me. Let’s hope God blesses the both of us.”
Thank you so much for this interview, Braxton. We wish you much success!
Author Chris Shella is a graduate of Morehouse College and the University of Texas Law School and started his legal career in Long Island, New York at the Nassau County District Attorney’s Office. He is admitted to the practice of law in New York, Maryland, the District of Columbia, and North Carolina. Shella is also admitted to the federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina, the Middle District of North Carolina, U.S. District of Columbia, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, the District of Columbia Circuit Court of Appeals, the Eastern District of New York, and the Southern District of New York.He is also admitted to the Bar Of The United States Supreme Court. He and his cases have been covered on Court TV, CNN, and in the New York Times, and other media outlets across the globe. He has represented everyone from lawyers to major drug traffickers to a serial killer in Baltimore. His two most famous case are the Vegan Baby Case and his defense of the Duke Lacrosse Case accuser for the alleged murder of her boyfriend.
Chris now resides in Durham, North Carolina, with his wife and son.
Can Jasper Davis pull himself from his life of loose women, liquor, and general debauchery in enough time to win a murder case and possibly save his own hide ? Jasper Davis is a criminal trial lawyer in Baltimore who has slowly but surely become like the drug dealers and lowlifes he represents. He spends more time with hookers than clients and more time drinking Jack Daniels than studying the law books. Simply put. he is a shade of his former self. In Reasonable Facsimile, Jasper is in the middle of a first degree murder trial when he becomes the suspect in the murder of a DEA agent who was set to testify against his client. Jasper is so far gone on women and liquor he sees his trial skills deteriorate right before his eyes. Jasper is confronted by the situation is he gonna continue to be a reasonable facsimile of a human being or is he gonna become the man he once was.
Interview
Q: Thank you for this interview, Chris. Can you tell us what your latest book, “Reasonable Facsimile”, is all about?
Can Jasper Davis pull himself from his life of loose women, liquor, and general debauchery in enough time to win a murder case and possibly save his own hide ? Jasper Davis is a criminal trial lawyer in Baltimore who has slowly but surely become like the drug dealers and lowlifes he represents. He spend more times with hookers than clients and more time drinking Jack Daniels than studying the lawbooks. Simply put. he is a shade of his former self. In Reasonable Facsimile, Jasper is in the middle of a first degree murder trial when he becomes the suspect in the murder of a DEA agent who was set to testify against his client. Jasper is so far gone on women and liquor he sees his trial skills deteriorate right before his eyes. Jasper is confronted by the situation is he gonna continue to be a reasonable facsimile of a human being or is he gonna become the man he once was.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Jasper is a lawyer who has seen better days and is a shell of a man. He has lost the spark of life and is just trudging along toward the end of his life. His book is his crosssroads. Will Jasper continue on this path or will he choose a real life again.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
Well, it more of a mixture. Some characters are total fabrications. Others are a mixture of several people and several different life choices or traits that they have exhibited.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
I’m aware of the plot, but not how it will end.
Q: Your book is set in Baltimore, Maryland. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
Baltimore is a vibrant city that is living and dying at the same time. As a trial lawyer, I have never seen a courthouse and its denizens as lively and wild as in Bodymore, Murdaland.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
It does. The trial in the book is based on Maryland Criminal Procedure and the quirks therein.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
Interestingly enough, that page finds Jasper indulging in an intimate fantasy with dreamgirls.
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
PRELUDE: CRACKED BONES
` The sickening crunch of a tooth being forced out of a jaw by a work boot was audible 50 feet from where it happened. Picture a 6’4 monster strong, malevolent, and angered, raining misery on a small 72 year old man without the strength to defend himself. Blood rolls down the streets in rivulets, coalescing on a bottle cap here and curb there. All of it fleeing the scene of the crime. Like the old man wish he could have. All the while this circus is going on; a throng of 30 + people watch this macabre dance of death. No one is doing anything to stop it. No one is doing anything to call the police. Faces mesmerized by the shattered bones and ruined shell of an old man. Sounds of agony escape destroyed lips. Mercifully, the coup de grace. A bullet snuffs out the pain, the agony, and the life of a man. With a laugh, the assailant puts away the gun, hails a hack and leaves the old man as an obscene monument to the end of life. Linwood White is dead. A murderer has fled the scene. Baltimore street justice or a reasonable facsimile?
Thank you so much for this interview, Chris. We wish you much success!
How to Get Published is a continuing feature at As the Pages Turn where we ask authors to tell us their publishing stories. Was it a rocky road or did it come easy for them? Did they start with an agent and get a NY publisher interested in their book or did they self-publish? What words of wisdom do they have for all of us who would like to be published one day?
Today’s guest is Dorothy Thompson, author of the relationships anthology,Romancing the Soul (Zumaya Publications).
A Fairytale Publishing Story…Then Reality Smacked Me in the Face
By Dorothy Thompson
Once upon a time, it was every author’s dream to be published by the Big Six. Thoughts of living in mansions and money to burn, not to mention the PRESTIGE of being published by a NY publisher, just seemed to be at the top of the list. One such author I know quite personally thought it was the right move for her new book she had just put together but yet hadn’t published. Yet. The author had a friend who recommended her agent who had gotten her into the Big Six and the author knew she was on her way.
The agent accepted her manuscript and was about to go on the Big Six Hunt when she had a few suggestions for the author’s book. She told the author that in order to get NY to publish you, you had to make a few changes.
The author knew what she had to do. Based on the agent’s suggestions, she had to cut the book in half and take out the really good parts. “My suggestion to you,” she said, “would be to cut the book in half, make each shorter and do away with the out of the norm stuff.”
The author started cutting and it was about halfway through when a light bulb went off. “Wait a minute,” she said, “if I do this, I lose the whole focus of the book. Am I supposed to go by the Big Six’s rules in order to get a NY contract but give up on why I even wrote the book in the first place?”
See, NY has rules. It has to be “their” way or the highway for reasons that makes sense to them, but not to us. They want to be able to sell the book and that was the bottom line.
The author stopped cutting. And fired the agent.
You probably see where I’m going with this. That author was me. Yes, I had a chance to have my book being represented by the Big Six, only I just couldn’t do it. Let me explain. Romancing the Soul is a collection of true soul mate stories I collected from people all over the world. Not one of those stories could be cut. The agent wanted me to take out the non-normal stories of people believing their cat was their soul mate, or their aunt was their soul mate or something other than “what was normal” had to be cut. But you see, this was the essence of the book – to help people realize there was more than one kind of soul mate and the reasons behind it. Had I cut it down to only boy/girl relationships, it would have been just like all the other books out there. Sure, it might seem a little different, but this is all based on scientific fact and beliefs I knew to be true and was trying to show the world why they should think it to be true, also. My book would have lost its soul to the almighty Big Six and how would I deal with that?
I couldn’t and didn’t and instead let it sit….but…I was a member of an online group and was telling them this story. I added that I knew this book would sell even if I had to put up a card table in my front yard and sell them that way. What I didn’t know was that there were publishers lurking in the group. Elizabeth Burton of Zumaya Publications was one such publisher. She emailed me offlist and told me to send her the whole book, that she wanted to publish it.
Zumaya Publications is a small press. What I believe makes them stand out from anyone else is that she fully believed in my book. I’m sure there are lots of other small presses who will tell you that in order to get you to send them your book, but over the years since the book was published, I had a gut feeling about Elizabeth and I was right. She had my back on everything and that’s all I could hope for.
This was back in 2004 and no, the book hasn’t made any bestselling lists, and it’s hit or miss as far as sales go, but I’m happy with that. The true fairy tale ending in this story is when you find someone who truly believes in your book and is sending you reminder emails to get that next book to them pronto, that’s the real fairy tale. I’m happy to say the next book in the soul mate series, The Soul Mate Triangle: Unlocking the Mysteries of the Soul Mate Triangle will be published soon. ;o)
Dorothy Thompson is the compiler/editor/co-author of Romancing the Soul: True Stories of Soul Mates From Around the World and Beyond, as well as other relationship ebooks such as How to Find and Keep Your Soul Mate and 101 Facts You Never Knew About Soul Mates. Her relationship columns have appeared in eNotAlone, SistersDiva Magazine, MindBodySpirit Magazine, Singles Cafe, SinglesStop, Innerself, Single Again, Free Spirit Centre, Holistic Harmony, SpiritualMinds, Self-Growth, Into the Mystic, Romance Stuck and many other relationship ezines as well as The Eastern Shore News and The Daily Times, both Gannet Publications. She has been featured in the supermarket tabloid, OK! Magazineas well as appearing as a special guest on many radio programs including Lifetime Radio, Single Talk, Cuzzin Eddie Show and A Book and a Chat.
U.S. born, Canadian novelist Chuck Waldron is currently working on his fourth novel, a thriller about an investigative blogger who uncovers more than he ever imagines…and has no idea what to do with his discovery.
His first novel, Tears in the Dust, is a mystery set against the backdrop of the Spanish Civil War in 1937. When Alestair Ferguson volunteers to fight in the International Brigade he doesn’t realize the true price he will have to pay. Chuck’s second novel, Remington and the Mysterious Fedora, is a quirky fantasy, a story about what happens when a young man sits at the keyboard of a manual typewriter and puts on an old fedora. When the fedora and its mysterious power begins to whisper a story to him, the young man has a strange adventure indeed. His third novel, Served Cold, spans decades and stretches from the countryside of rural Ontario to a quiet artists’ studio in Tucson, Arizona. With lots of murder and mayhem in between, the story is what happens when a long-standing feud erupts into hot-blooded vengeance.
Chuck wrote over thirty short stories before setting out to write novels that are affordable and entertaining. He has attended writing workshops in Iowa, Florida, Georgia and Ontario, Canada.
“I grew up,” Chuck said, “listening to my grandfather, an Ozark Mountain story teller, spinning tales of the caves on his farm, describing them as hiding places once used by the Jesse & Frank James’ gang. It didn’t matter if the stories were true or not. Those legends set fire to my imagination, creating images that emerged slowly over the years, finally igniting as my short stories and novels.”
Now, thirty-plus short stories and three novels later, ideas keep coming, with more novels under development. Do they share anything in common? Each has its own unique voice and tale to tell, yet, at their heart, his stories tell about the human condition – the good, the bad and the ugly.
Chuck adds, “stored images that echo in my writing include train whistles in the night, Norman Rockwell childhood scenes, U.S. Army memories, blue collar jobs, university, a professonal career, and finally retirement. Many of my images are drawn from this pool of memories: places visited, sights seen, and people met. The rest I filled in with my imagination: dreams of places yet to be visited, sights yet to be seen, and people yet to be met.”
His literary roots were planted in the American Midwest and thrived when transplanted – over thirty-nine years ago – to the rich, cultural soil of Ontario. He and his wife, Suzanne, spend their summers in Kitchener, Ontario and are warmed by a winter sun in Port St. Lucie, Florida.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Chuck. Can you tell us what your latest book, Remington and the Mysterious Fedora, is all about?
I was asked how I came up with the idea for Remington & the Mysterious Fedora, a quirky story that turned out to be one of my favorites. The seed for the idea was planted during a conversation. Someone said they had never seen a typewriter. It occurred to me that in the blink of history’s eye the ubiquitous typewriter was consigned to antique stores and old junk shops. How did that happen without my noticing? The only trace typewriters left behind is the QWERTY keyboard on computers.
In Remington and the Mysterious Fedora the back room of a strange used goods store is a place where Josh finds an old Remington typewriter and a fedora with some mysterious powers. As Josh embarks on his first novel-writing adventure, he find that his new hat has its own story to tell – of a time before history began – and it is quite demanding of Josh’s attention. As the story consumes him, Josh’s life begins to unravel, and he soon finds he is unable to separate himself from the hat and the story. That may, or may not, be a good thing.
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Josh is a bright young man. He has a slight problem. It’s easy for him to begin projects but he often has a hard time sustaining them. His curiosity about a typewriter he finds and the strange powers of an old fedora lead him to think he will write his first novel. He finds himself in a bit of a jam when caught between two women wanting his attention.
There is a story within the story, which means another set of characters. The main character is a woman in a time before history, when names are a reflection of their job within the tribe or group. She uses all of her skills to survive. As her story opens she is running for her life. She is pregnant and possibly carrying a child with a unique destiny.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
The character of Josh is loosely based on a real person, but otherwise my characters are all figments of my imagination.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
As the story opened I had an idea of what the main character, Josh, was like. I had a vision of how he might talk, walk and act. Once he walked through the door of the second-hand store in the opening chapter his character took over, however, and led me on a journey of discovery. As the writer I simply tried to keep up.
Q: Your book is set in a small city in Ontario, Canada. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
The city was only a device in my own mind. The location didn’t matter. My home is Kitchener, Ontario and while the setting played through my mind as I wrote the story, location wasn’t important. It could have been any city.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
In this story the setting didn’t matter. In my other two novels setting was extremely important.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
Josh is waiting for his girlfriend to come home and tell her about the amazing fedora and typewriter.
“The apartment was far from soundproof and Josh often listened to the neighbors having one of their infamous fights. It was a reminder that any yelling between him and Kelsey didn’t go unnoticed. When he heard the soft ‘bing’ of the elevator he looked at his wristwatch and couldn’t wait to tell Kelsey about his discovery about Remington and the hat.”
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
The following excerpt is from the story about a woman named Blaze. The fedora whispers her story to Josh while he wears the fedora and types on Remington.
“Listen closely, child.” His words were faint. “Someone has to know the secrets of the stars. Just like you needed to know the secret of fire. Everyone thinks you have some kind of magic when it comes to fire. They think the same of me and how I can look at the stars and say turn this way or that. They expect me to point the way and tell them how long it will take us to get where we must go.”
Blaze knew what he meant and remained silent.
“I have decided, Fire Starter. I have decided to pass along the star secrets to you. But, you have to promise me something.”
She nodded and whispered a quiet, “yes, I promise. I know what you’re asking, without the telling. I know how dangerous it is for both of us, sharing this knowledge.”
That began the strange relationship between the man who could map by the stars and the woman who could make fire for food and warmth.
Thank you so much for this interview, Chuck. We wish you much success!
A filmmaker and writer since childhood, Mike DiCerto has directed numerous shorts, music videos, documentaries, promotional videos and two feature films (NO EXIT and TRIPTOSANE). His first novel, Milky Way Marmalade, received rave reviews and was the winner of the 2003 Dream Realm Award. He is very excited about the release of the first of his exciting new kid-lit series, Rupert Starbright: The Door to Far-Myst.
Mike has many interests including yoga (practicing for over ten years), gardening (loves growing chilli peppers in his rooftop garden), playing guitar (and trying hard to get better), cats (long-time volunteer at NYC’s Ollie’s Place Adoption Center and cat whisperer), really good and really bad movies and 70s TV as well all kinds of geeky stuff. He is a dedicated MST3K fanatic. He thinks of music as his religion—especially Classic Rock. He lives quite contently in a NYC apartment with his wife and soul mate, Suzy and their rescued kitty, Cosmo.
Can a boy who has never even heard of the word “imagination” save a magical world from an evil force using his own imagination?
Rupert Dullz isn’t very happy. His grandmother’s coffus is getting worse, school is boring and there’s nothing to do on his days off but rake up endless piles of leaves. Everything in Graysland is, well, gray, and every day is just like the one before it, and the one before that. That is, until a strangely dressed man named Pie O’Sky swoops out of nowhere in his multicolored bagoon and offers a special reward to whoever can open his mysterious door. When Rupert succeeds, he’s thrilled when Pie O’Sky carries him beyond it to the brilliantly colored land of Far-Myst. Adventure calls, and Rupert discovers a wonderful world full of something he’s never heard of before–imagination. But Far-Myst is in danger, and it may be that only Rupert has the power to save it. Is he the one whose imagination is powerful enough to stop the evil that is destroying the beautiful world beyond the door?
A filmmaker and writer since childhood, Mike DiCerto has directed numerous shorts, music videos, documentaries, promotional videos and two feature films (NO EXIT and TRIPTOSANE). His first novel, Milky Way Marmalade, received rave reviews and was the winner of the 2003 Dream Realm Award. He is very excited about the release of the first of his exciting new kid-lit series, Rupert Starbright: The Door to Far-Myst.
Q: Thank you for this interview, Mike. Can you tell us what your latest book, The Adventures of Rupert Starbright: The Door to Far-Myst, is all about?
At the core of the story it is about the power of the human imagination and love. A bored kid. A door to a magical world. A mean dragon-man who wants to destroy the beauty of the world. Toss in bizarre and wondrous (and some dangerous!) creatures, a mean bully and a first love and we are set for some real fun! Rupert Starbright will face tough and very dangerous challenges in an adventures of anyone’s lifetime!
Q: Can you tell us a little about your main and supporting characters?
Rupert Dullz (aka Rupert Starbright) is an eleven year-old kid like most kids until he realizes that there is something magical called the imagination that he ever knew existed. So once he begins to taste the joy of its possibilities he wants to jump head first into this new exciting world. But he is also has a good heart and care about his grandmother and her sickness (called “the cuffus”). His dream is to use his imagination to help find a cure for her.
Dream Weaver is the royal gardener in the Kingdom of Far-Myst. Once one of the Twelve (a special group of men and women who protected Far-Myst from those who would use imagining powers for bad) he now lives peacefully tending the wondrous Garden of Dreams. But he is sad and worried as his two children (as have ALL the children of Far-Myst) have been kidnapped by the terrible Murkus. The Queen puts Dream Weaver in charge of protecting Rupert and their adventure begins as Weaver tries to find a way home for Rupert.
Q: Do you tend to base your characters on real people or are they totally from your imagination?
I, like I would imagine most writers, form my characters from bits and pieces of people I know but mostly, of aspects of my own personality. The cast of characters of a writer is the ultimate Rhorshack test.
Q: Are you consciously aware of the plot before you begin a novel, or do you discover it as you write?
YES. I cannot imagine starting a novel without knowing the plot. Having said that, I do not do an extensive outline but rather a general beginning, middle and end plot-point layout. THEN I take the adventure with my characters and see what develops.
Q: Your book is set in Graysland and Far-Myst. Can you tell us why you chose this city in particular?
The story begins in a sort of “any town” USA. It’s a mythical town called Graysland where the imagination does not exist. But it does not exist in the same way a heart did not exist in the cowardly lion. It is there lying dormant and unused because of the fear in the hearts of the adults. We then go to Far-Myst – a land that over-flowed with imagination but is now in serious trouble because a fear-filled baddie is trying to destroy it. Both places need the pure heart and wide open imaginations of a “young at heart” soul to save them.
Q: Does the setting play a major part in the development of your story?
YES – the locations are in themselves characters in a way.
Q: Open the book to page 69. What is happening?
We are in the middle of Rupert and Weaver’s first night around a campfire. Weaver, in his grumpy way, is teaching Rupert about waterbustles (a fruit that contains drinkable water) and camper grass (a special water plant that ignites into flames when it dries! Rupert is finding it all very UN-boring!
Q: Can you give us one of your best excerpts?
They made their way through the gardens, walking without rest for a solid half hour. Rupert could only catch glimpses of the many, many wonders growing all around. There were flowers who’s petals fluttered about like swarms of moths and trees that danced with the music of the birds. Large bushes of firefly berries flashed messages across the gardens while Carpenter Trees grew fully formed tables and chairs that hung like bizarre fruit from their branches. Carpets of Orchestra Grass performed great musical works as the deadly Dragon Shrubs awaited a passing bird or large insect to roast with its fiery blast for tasty meal.
They walked under avenues of Waterfall Pines who sent refreshing mists into the air from the great cascades of water that fell down their barks. Sadsack bushes whispered mournful tales, Merry Mint plants giggled and bloodybarks frightened all their little saplings with tales of horror. Finally Weaver came to a rest in a small clearing beside a pretty pond that was enclosed in a ring of tall trees with immense barks. Many bushes and tall plants surrounded the clearing.
“We’ll set up camp here. Near the Spectral Oaks.”
Thank you so much for this interview, Mike. We wish you much success!
Giveaways, Contests & Prizes!
Join Mike DiCerto at the Pump Up Your Book Live! November Author Chat / Book Giveaway Party on Friday, November 18 starting at 8 p.m. eastern!
Mike will be giving away a copy of his book! You could win a paperback copy of The Door to Far-Myst simply by attending the chat and asking him a question. All there is to it!
For details on chat, visit the official chat page for the November authors at Pump Up Your Book Live!
WIN A ROLE IN BOOK 3 OF MIKE’S RUPERT SERIES!
What kid wouldn’t like to have his 15 minutes of fame in a real live book! Well the book isn’t live but the stories Mike creates are as real as a child’s imagination can take it. Mike is giving all kids a chance to have his or her name inside the third book of his series.
Welcome to As the Pages Turn where you will find interviews, guest posts, book reviews and spotlights from your favorite authors! Don't forget to check out our new Read-A-Chapter section!
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