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Tag: Friday Five

Friday Five: Kate Whitaker

kwhitakerToday’s Friday Focus is Kate Whitaker, author of urban fantasy short stories, novellas, novels, and web comics.

Kate Whitaker writes for fun and profit from the woods of Pennsylvania. You can most likely find her sitting at her kitchen table yelling at kids and cats as she tries to figure out a new way to kill made-up monsters.

Her latest book is Hedge Doctor. Think Doogie Howser, MD meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer. A senior in high school, Jeff Hanson really wants to see what being normal is like, but the magic ability to improve herbs for healing makes that impossible. Add in a poltergeist in the school basement and a mysterious orphan girl, and Jeff’s normality doesn’t stand a chance.

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1. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?
Every where and everything. Literally. I hadn’t planned on writing Monsters of Pittsburgh. I was happy with how Uncommon Animals ended, but some people wanted to know why Rick and Mina didn’t hook up. My response of, “It would take a succubus for those two get together” lit up my brain, and I was off…

2. What do you want your tombstone to say?
hmmm, I don’t know. I’d rather by ashes be used to grow a tree.

3. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why? What was the best thing about that job and why?
Worst job? Bussing tables. It’s hot, thankless work. Best part was that I was working with my mom and her friends, so I was still having fun.

4. What’s your current writing project and what are your writing plans for the near future?
Last Call, the final set of Mina and Matty stories.

As for the future, I have the sequel to Hedge Doctor bubbling in my brain, but I think I may take a break for a few months. I’ll have been publishing once a month for two years straight by the time I’m done with those two projects.

5. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?
Very, very little, lol. A lot of the bickering, good-natured ribbing that my characters do is based on me and my husband, but the monster hunting… not so much.

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Hedge Doctor is available now through Amazon.

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Friday Five: Tim Ward

indestructibleToday’s Friday focus is Tim Ward, author of travel, spirituality, and transformation nonfiction.

Tim Ward is an author, publisher, teacher, traveler, and blogger for the Huffington Post. He has written eight books, including four about his travels through Thailand, India, China, Tibet, Greece and Southern Europe, and Africa. He is also the publisher of Changemakers Books, an imprint of John Hunt Publishing.

His most recent book is Indestructible You: Building a Self that Can’t be Broken. The awesome experience of inner power comes from knowing that life, just as it is, and no matter how bad it might get, cannot break the strong and solid self that you have built.

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1. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?

Fredrich Nietzsche. I first read his books in college, while I was studying philosophy. What inspired me about him was how he used writing as a tool to unearth hidden realities. I believe most of the time we take reality at face value, accept that things are as they appear to us to be. Nietzsche convinced me that this surface world was a comforting delusion, but – a big but – our mind could be forged into an instrument to dig deeper, to a reality that is not known, but only groped for in the dark. His unclouded vision allowed him to see clearly into the future, to see that science would erode the Western World’s belief in God – and that the danger was that nothing would take its place. Without powerful spiritual values, what would become of humanity? The very best of my writing moves in this direction. I sometimes refer to it as “writing off the edge of the cliff.” In this state, I’m not even sure what the heck I mean while I’m writing. Afterwards, when I read it over, mostly of the time it is garbage. But occasionally, in the garbage, I find something gleaming.

2. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?

I wrote one book about my love affair with a woman Indologist while traveling across India (Arousing the Goddess) and what happened when we slipped into a tantric sexual relationship. What I love about her portrayal as a character is that readers are pretty divided about her. Many men who read the book see her as an amazing goddess. What a lucky guy I was to have been with her. Many women readers, however, she this character as a manipulative bitch. What a sap I was to have been used by her! To me it’s fascinating that this one story – which I tried to tell as objectively as possible – has such totally different interpretations by different readers.

3. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Okay, writing a book about early Goddess religions of Europe (Savage Breast: One Man’s Search for the Goddess), in a museum in Romania, I came across a series of hollow clay tubes with a small hole on one end labeled “penis tubes.” They were always found by the fire pits. Archaeologists theorized they might have been prehistoric fertility cult objects – or dildos! While I was in the midst of writing about this, one of the archaeologists I met on my visit wrote and said “STOP! We figured out what they are…these aren’t penis tubes, they are clay nozzles for bellows.” The wood and leather had long since rotted away, leaving only the inorganic hardened clay behind. It was a fantastic example of something completely open to interpretation but that made no real sense at all, that suddenly fell into place, and there was no doubt about what they meant any more. Wow.

4. What are some of your favorite words and why?

“Compromise.” It’s got a negative, even weak meaning to most people. But the roots of the word are com = together and promissum = promise. So a compromise is a “promising together.” When two or more people compromise, it’s a promising-together to work towards a common goal or purpose. This can unleash incredible creative energy. When I understood that, it totally transformed all my relationships. I write a whole chapter about this in Indestructible You: Building a Self that can’t be Broken.

5. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?

People who want to change the world. People who want to look deep beneath the surface and deal with what they find. I believe we are at a time of incredible personal and social transformation. Climate Change will, in our lifetime, overturn everything we know- especially those of us living in the privileged Western world. And when it crashes, those who are resilient, tough, able to find inner resources and stay connected and caring – they are the ones who will be the best hope for humanity’s future. Otherwise – well, I think there’s a reason we are transfixed with Zombie Apocalypse shows. A part of us knows, deep down, that this is coming. So my hope is that those who read my books – indeed, anyone who thinks about the future – will build in themselves a strong, resilient and humane nature that is ready for the worst that may come. As a closing note, I would like to add: we should all be caring very much, and paying close attention to, the global Climate change conference taking place in Paris this December. It may be our last chance to change course and avoid screwing ourselves and the planet.

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Indestructible You: Building a Self that Can’t be Broken is available now through Amazon.

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Friday Five: J. Judkins

date with angel coverToday’s Friday focus is J. Judkins, author of romantic comedy and lesbian romance novels.

He works as a wage-slave in Omaha, Nebraska, living alone with his cat who thinks he can help by sleeping in front of the keyboard. He’s into movies and video games (role-playing games, specifically) and lately, writing. Generally, he doesn’t like to talk about himself.

In his novel, A Date with Angel: and other things that weren’t supposed to happen, Kim invites home a suspected alien woman named Angel. With Kim hiding her reason for why, Angel concludes Kim did so because she must be romantically interested in her. Things are further complicated because Kim suspects Angel is plotting to seduce her. Angel wants to blend in, and so does her best to fulfill expectations.

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1. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

I had to call up a furniture store and ask what material beds are shipped in. They’re wrapped in plastic. Claimed I was an author, too.

2. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Immortality would be nice. I dislike knowing that my time is limited.

3. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

Kim is a self-centered, antisocial geek who’d rather play video games and read books than interact with others. That’s me. Nature bores me, and I’d rather spend my time inside.

4. What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that you think they need to know?

Lesbian romance doesn’t mean two women having sex throughout the book. It means romance, only featuring two women. Most stories have a romantic aspect in them, but its secondary to the plot of the book. Lesbian romance doesn’t mean erotica. I get the feeling most won’t consider my book because they make assumptions.

5. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?

Jim Butcher – His Dresden books are ones I read again and again. I love how his main character is willing to do the right thing, no matter how much trouble it gets him into.

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A Date with Angel: and other things that weren’t supposed to happen is available now through Amazon.

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Friday Five: Jason Bougger

Holy FudgesiclesToday’s Friday focus is Jason Bougger, author of YA, horror, and science fiction short stories and novels.

Jason Bougger is a writer living in Omaha, NE. He is the author of the YA novel Holy Fudgesicles and has published over twenty short stories. He blogs daily at Write Good Books and is the editor of Theme of Absence, an online magazine of fantasy, horror, and science fiction.

His debut novel, Holy Fudgesicles, was published by Wings ePress in May 2015. It’s a paranormal YA novel following a teenager who returns from a near-death-experience with mystical healing power.

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1. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why? What was the best thing about that job and why?

When I was sixteen, I stood on an assembly line 40 hours a week watching onion rings go by making sure they weren’t touching before the breading comes on. It smelled bad and was quite tedious. But I still took pride in the job. It was really cool to get those paychecks. It also taught me how to “write” in my head.

2. What’s your current writing project and what are your writing plans for the near future?

I’m working on cleaning up the first draft of my second novel, a YA fantasy tentatively titled Heroes of Eden. It’s a fun book so far, completely different than my first novel, but needs a ton of work. I’m hoping to have it ready to query for a conference in September.

3. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?

I never enjoyed reading in junior high, and assumed that all books were boring and terrible until my best friend told me that the books he read “for fun” were nothing like the stuff we were forced to read in English class. He told me about a scene in Stephen King’s Cujo, so i gave it a try and was hooked ever since.

4. If you could pick just one book to read for the rest of your life, what would it be and why?

Can I cheat and pick a series? If so, the Quintara Marathon, which is a three-book space opera by the late Jack L. Chalker would get my vote. If not, The Stand by Stephen King, if only for its length.

5. What are three things on your bucket list?

I’ve been to the Vatican, but didn’t get to meet the pope. I’d like to do that sometime. I’d also like to meet Stephen King. And Roger Waters.

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Holy Fudgesicles is available now through Amazon, Smashwords, and Wings ePress.

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Friday Five: Paul Schumacher

LupinToday’s Friday focus is Paul Schumacher, author of high fantasy, fairy tales, and romance novellas and novels.

Born in the Chicago area, Paul Schumacher has always been a full-fledged geek. He can quote Star Wars, knows a fair amount of Tolkien Lore, and will go to the mat about which Star Trek Captain is the best.

Paul earned an English Degree, from Illinois State University, specifically to become a novelist so that he could take two decades of Dungeons & Dragons game stories and make books of them. “The Lavoria Chronicles” and a collection of short stories have been the result so far.

Little Red Wolf is a fairy tale re-imagining where Little Red Riding Hood is the hunter and the Big Bad Wolf is helping her to save her father. “On My Honor” is a romantic novelette where a knight needs to save an evil princess from a tower … and he gets the help of an attractive witch along the way.

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1. What genre do you currently read most and why?

I am still a big magic and dragons type of reader but I love to read any story depicting the perseverance of the human spirit. It has to have a mostly happy ending, though. If I struggle through the marshes of Mordor with a character for thousands of pages then they better have a satisfying ending!

2. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?

Travel scenes are the hardest. When characters find themselves moving from one location to another location I will beat my head against the table trying to figure out something interesting to say.

3. What literary character are you most like and why?

King Arthur – I’m full of chivalry and I am a little too trusting of the people around me. Without my friends and allies to guide me through life, I would be lost.

4. What do you want your readers to take away from your works?

I want people to think outside of the box. I want people to internalize the little bits of philosophy that I sprinkle between the lines. I want people to read my stories, draw in their lessons, and become better people.

5. Why do you write in the genre(s) you listed above?

I write fantasy novels because I love fantasy stories. Also, I’m always terrified I’m going to mess up the science in a sci-fi book. Then there is romance, which helps pay the bills.

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Little Red Wolf is available now at Amazon.

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Friday Five: D J Meyers

coverThis week’s Friday focus is D J Meyers, author of historic fiction, sci fi, and mystery/adventure novellas, novels, and poetry.

D J Meyers was born and raised in Melbourne, Australia. Writing began early on in the form of songs (music and lyrics) and in the past 10 years has developed into novels. The books, under the umbrella of The Gargoyle Chronicles, blend historic fiction, romance, humour and/or science fiction (often all four in one tale.)

The first release from The Gargoyle Chronicles is Tales of Yorr, inspired by the discovery of Richard III in a car park. D J, through his muse Yorrick, speculates on how history is written by the victor and how a disability does not necessarily hinder a life. Yorrick the hunchback discovers how rewarding a life can be by remaining true to himself, while always seeing the funny side of life. D J, much to the chagrin of those around, has a similar outlook on life.

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1. Why do you write in the genre(s) you listed above?

I write in the genre that suits the tale in my head. If it is a history, then so be it; if it is a sci fi, then I lean that way. I don’t write for a genre, I write for the story and the characters in my head.

2. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?

I ate books from the age of five, and continued on until I majored in English at university. These days I tend to write more than I read.

3. What are some of your favorite words and why?

Diaphanous is a current fave – because it suited the book I wrote about Botticelli and the Birth of Venus so well… I had to word count it as I got a little carried away using it.

4. How much of your published writing is based on personal experiences?

I link people and places from my own experiences into everything I write. I even create historic characters based on people I know (or combinations of them).

5. What is the most important thing that people DON’T know about your subject/genre, that you think they need to know?

I do write a lot of histories, and while I will use the occasional archaic language, completely doing so would be a slog for a modern reader, so I keep the language more modern. This could be seen as being untrue to the time, but being too true would create a boring book.

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Tales of Yorr (A Mediaeval Monk in need of a Chiropractor) can be found on Amazon.

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Friday Five: Angela Castillo

angelaThis week’s Friday Five focus is Angela Castillo, author of sci-fi and Christian historical short stories, novellas, novels, and poetry, plus blog freelance.

There’s magic all around us, if we just know where to look. Angela Castillo has a goal as an author; to help people see. She comes from the small town of Bastrop, Texas, where she loves to walk in the woods and shop in the local stores. Castillo studied Practical Theology and Music at Christ for the Nations in Dallas, Texas.

Her latest works are the Toby the Trilby children’s series. He was born underground, at the edge of the world’s destruction. Twelve years old, Toby has never seen the sun. Created by six scientists who accidentally gave him cat ears (and a tail), Toby decides to leave the safety of his cavern world to seek answers. Did anyone survive the Great Destruction? Why has he been hearing a mysterious Voice? And, most important of all, does he have a soul?

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1. What author has influenced your writing style/subject the most and why?
Such a tough question! Probably C.S. Lewis. He has influenced my life in so many ways, spiritually, creatively and in my writing as well. He created worlds and people that children could step into and become friends with, and that’s what I hope to do with my stories.

2. What do you want your readers to take away from your works?
I think the most important thing is that everyone has a purpose, and that there is more inside of us then we think, we just have to reach down and find that part of ourselves that can love, that can forgive, that can be brave.

3. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?
I have had people of all ages enjoy my Toby books, but the most important group for me is young boys. Sometimes they are a harder group to encourage to read, and I wanted to write books they couldn’t put down.

4. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?
I hate allowing my MC’s to get hurt! I pretty much have to shut my eyes and type!

5. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?
Toby the Trilby is my favorite. He’s so tiny, but so brave, and he tries to think the best of people and help everyone no matter what they have done to him. I’d like to hope I’d make the same choices he does when faced with those situations, but I don’t know if I could be that brave.

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Angela’s Toby the Trilby series is available at Amazon, where the first book is currently FREE

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Friday Five: A. L. Maher

tim the toothpaste trollThis week’s Friday Five focus is A. L. Maher, author of children’s fiction and not children’s horror short stories, novellas, and novels.

He’s a graphic designer interested in motorcycles, martial art, music, story telling, and writing – got bitten by that bug a few months ago now.

His latest work, the children’s story Tim, The Toothpaste Troll, is a good story if you’ve ever wondered how or why your toothpaste ends up all hard and crusty. Follow the adventures of Tim, an unemployed troll who is out to find himself. He’ll have a try at anything from being a sandman, to butterfly painting, but he’ll have to think quick if he’s to avoid being caught by the notorious Tinkerbell’s Angels Outlaw Motorcycle Fairy Gang. And it’s FREE on Amazon right now!

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1. What was your attitude towards reading when you were a kid?

I was a massive bookworm. I started on Harry Harrison, then went to Tolkien, then pulled back into Sci Fi. As a 16 year old, I discovered James Herbert and Stephen King. I’ve been a horror fan ever since.

2. What literary character are you most like and why?

Jon Snow. I know nothing…and I’m still alive for the moment.

3. What’s the worst job you’ve ever had and why? What was the best thing about that job and why?

I was a dish pig at a greasy Joe’s Cafe as a kid in England …

Why was it the worst … I was a dish pig at a greasy Joe’s Cafe in England … there was no upside ;-)

4. What do you want your tombstone to say?

“I’ve tied my shoelaces together” … it’ll be piss funny if there’s a zombie apocalypse!

5. Where do your inspiration and ideas for your stories come from?

I’m simply a funnel. The story starts from me, but then the characters take on a life of their own and they start to tell me what happens. I just channel what they tell me.

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A.L.’s latest work, Tim, The Toothpaste Troll, is currently FREE at Amazon.

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Friday Five: Leslie E Owen

Leslie OwenThis week’s Friday Five focus is on Leslie E Owen, author of children’s, mainstream, and spec fiction short stories, novellas, novels, poetry, plays, and libretti.

Leslie has worked in publishing for 33 years, as an agent, editor, and foreign rights director. She’s currently writing her second novel — due to her agent this summer — and running her own literary agency. Her first book was a children’s science book published in 2003-2004, Pacific Tree Frogs; her second was a Star Trek novel currently on submission.

Pacific Tree Frogs can be ordered through Tradewind Books in Vancouver, Canada, as I don’t think Amazon has any copies left. It’s an illustrated science book for kids, 5-10, and was a Top Ten in Canada in 2003.

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1. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Of course, there I was, in hip boots with a net and a giant torch, in the middle of the bloody night, with my illustrator, standing knee deep in swamp and listening to the “reek, reek, reek” of the Pacific Tree frogs all around us, a barred owl calling in the distance, the mink and beavers splashing in the channels of the glacial lake up ahead, the squonk of a blue heron as we disturbed him…

2. If you could have any superpower, what would it be and why?

Other than writing believable and memorable characters?

I’d like to be able to communicate with plants and animals, in the way the Transcendentalists thought we could.

And I’d like to teleport so I could warn the Vulcans to stay away, because JJ’s just going to blow them up.

3. Is there a certain type of scene that’s harder for you to write than others? How do you deal with this?

My Star Trek novel is the story of an adult survivor of child abuse who develops severe complex PTSD. It’s a psychological thriller, not your normal ST book at all. Most of the novel is set in sickbay and deals with the trauma and treatment of PTSD. The abuser, however, is still alive and well, and it becomes a race to see which one will survive — the victim or his abuser?

So at the end of the novel I’m well into real Star Trek territory, blowing up shuttlecraft and firing phasers, hand-to-hand combat and traveling at warp speed…Not only did I have to write completely plausible fight scenes to end the novel, but I also had to research all the Star Trek technology to get it right, since I hate making mistakes. Thankfully, I know a wonderful FX guy who has worked on Trek, and he supplied me with the science of comm. badges, etc.

4. What are three things on your bucket list?

  1. Write for Star Trek. (So, so close.)
  2. I’d like to see the countries I haven’t seen yet — Ireland and the UK, Norway, Israel, Greece, the Czech Republic, Australia, New Zealand, Costa Rica and Honduras, Belize.
  3. Find a cottage in Maine on the sea to retire to.

5. Why should people read YOUR stuff? Who’s your target audience and why?

It’s good. My characters are real. You’ve felt what they feel — you’ve been where they’ve been — you’re nodding your head as you read. I remember that, you think. You’ll fall in love.

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Leslie’s children’s book, Pacific Tree Frogs , is available through Tradewind Books.

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Friday Five: Robin White

dinopicThis week’s Friday Five focus is on Robin White, author of lit fiction and speculative fiction short stories, novellas, and novels.

Robin is a twenty six year old writer and teacher from the U.K. He has had work featured in Dogzplot, Bartleby Snopes and other places besides. He splits his time between the British countryside and the Wilds of Brooklyn.

His latest work is a piece of speculative flash fiction, set in Japan. There are robots. And there is fishing. It’s spectacular. Find it over at Bartleby Snopes.

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1. Thinking about the stuff you’ve written, who’s your favorite character and why?

Goodness. I’ve no idea. I’m fond of a robot I wrote about in my most recently published piece. His name is Francis and he likes to fish.

2. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever researched for your works or biggest/most out-of-the-ordinary thing you’ve done while researching?

Where to start? All manner of sexual practices. Japanese slang. How long it takes spit to hit the ground if projected from a high building. How much the average male prostitute can charge in an hour. The Olive Garden.

3. What genre do you currently read most and why?

Any short fiction. I’m not worried about genre right now, though I do drift towards the speculative. I’ve been reading Haruki Murikami, lately.

4. Why do you write in the genre(s) you listed above?

I enjoy writing about the absurd, quite honestly. Speculative Lit allows me to indulge that fancy. Otherwise, I adore the tone of Literary Fiction. It’s character driven, it’s unapologetic and it’s a genre which contains many of my favourite works.

5. What do you want your tombstone to say?

“Vacant.”

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Robin’s latest short story, “The Great Strawberry,” is available at Bartleby Snopes.

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