Tagged: self-published author
My Interview with Diantha Jones
Diantha Jones is the author of Prophecy of the Most Beautiful and many other books that I have yet to read, but she agreed to do an interview with me via email. So join us for a lively discussion about inspiration, hog-tying time and what aspiring writers should really do.
1. Where did you get the idea for Prophecy of the Most Beautiful from?
When I decided that I was going to start my series, I already knew I wanted it to be about Greek mythology. I picked the Oracle of Delphi as my focus (because you’ve gotta have a focus when dealing with Greek myth or your brain will explode). From there, I decided that each book would be a different prophecy that fed into a larger overall prophecy. The name itself (Most Beautiful) just came to me one night while writing and I was like, oh yeah. That’s it, baby. Continue reading
My Interview with John Heldt
John Heldt is the self-published author of The Mine, The Journey and now, The Show, which is the third of five books in his Northwest Passage series dealing with time travel. His books don’t go into detail about how the time travel occurs, but that’s not the point! Read on to see John and I discuss self-publishing, time travel and future projects.
1. Your new book, The Show, is coming out the week of February 17. Is it separate from the previous two books in the Northwest Passage series?
The Show is the sequel to The Mine and will likely be the only true sequel in the five-part series. Each of the Northwest Passage books will have similar themes and settings and have at least one common character – Joel Smith – but only The Show will be directly tied to another book. I decided to write The Show because many readers who enjoyed The Mine wanted a sequel and wanted that sequel to answer specific questions, such as how Grace found Joel, what became of the couple after they reunited, and whether Ginny ever learned that she would become Joel’s grandmother. All three questions are answered. I should also note that The Show is very much Grace’s story. She is the one constant in a
roller-coaster ride that spans three distinct eras.
2. What made you decide to focus on the characters and the history rather than the technical aspects of time travel?
Great question. I decided to focus on the former because it is what I know and what interests me. I cared less about gadgets and the technical considerations of time travel than how ordinary people would react if suddenly thrown back to the past – and specifically the past of ancestors they’ve known. Continue reading
My Interview with Steve Poling
1. Where did the idea for Finding Time come from? Have you always been interested in science fiction?
I was a kid watching TV when they were launching rockets for the Gemini and Apollo projects. That was so cool I started reading any book I could find that had a rocket on the cover. I devoured everything in the school and small-town libraries I had access to. It didn’t hurt that I was good at science and math.
I read Brenda Clough’s story /May Be Some Time/–that she expanded it into a novel here. (You should read it.) Her premise is that polar explorer Titus Oates of the doomed Scott Expedition to the South Pole is rescued by time travelers. He is brought to the near future and adventure ensues.
I loved her story so much that it captured my imagination when I latched onto a historical tidbit: The Nazis set up clandestine radio broadcasting stations in Greenland to spoof the radio navigation systems of aircraft being ferried across the Atlantic. This resulted in at least one lost squadron. I told her about this, but she didn’t want to write the story.
So I did. “From Greenland’s Icy Mountains” turned out pretty good. I liked the time travelers, Sid & Nell–and how they bickered. This got me thinking about the knowledge lost when the Library of Alexandria was destroyed, so I wrote “Book of Life and Book of Glory. ” After that I was hooked. Anything I found in history that I wanted to rescue had me writing a Sid & Nell story. I loved creating the love-hate relationship between them. Continue reading
Giveaway: Puppet Parade by Zeinab Alayan
After I read Puppet Parade and absolutely loved it, I asked Zeinab Alayan if she would like to do a giveaway with me. Obviously she said yes, but she went the extra mile and came up with a great question that relates to the whole premise of her novel.
RULES:
1. You must answer the question below and provide an explanation for your answer.
2. It can be as creative/thoughtful/serious/whatever as you like. Truly, there is no wrong answer.
3. You may only enter once.
PRIZES:
1. Two Smashwords coupons. Zeinab will pick one winner and I will pick the other based on their answer.
Now here is the question you must answer and it’s one that Zeinab herself answers in Puppet Parade:
You broke free after being locked inside a single room for years, what would you do?
This giveaway begins today, November 12, 2012 and will end on November 19, 2012. I will be announcing winners on November 20 at 12:01am and Zeinab will contact them via email, so be sure to have a valid email address connected to your account! If one or both winners do not respond within 7 days of being contacted, new winners will be announced.
Puppet Parade by Zeinab Alayan
(Cover picture courtesy of Zeinab Alayan’s website.)
The life of a puppet master is never ordinary. Oliver Deere knew this when he ran away from home to take up the trade of puppetry, but he had no idea just how much his life would change.
After his puppets come to life and flee town, Oliver meets up with a masked girl who hides a mysterious past. As they travel together in search for Oliver’s lost puppets, they find that the line between puppet and master is becoming much less clear – and much more deadly.
As Oliver and his companion enter the strange world of The Parade, they begin to realise that their journey will lead them to discover the truth behind a dangerous villain’s path, and in the end, discover more about each other.
[Full disclosure: Zeinab Alayan sent me a free ebook in return for an honest review of her novel.]
When I saw the title Puppet Parade I must admit I was skeptical. Why? For no logical reason, really. I just thought it sounded stupid.
Yes, I judged a book by its title. I’m a terrible person, I know.
However, once I actually started reading Puppet Parade I was pleasantly surprised. Zeinab Alayan has a very nice, easy to read writing style and although she slips from past to present tense once or twice (especially near the end), I didn’t find nearly as many mistakes as I would have expected in a self-published novel. The only error that really threw me off was in the beginning where there was ‘nut’ instead of ‘but’ on page 8.
Sophie and Oliver really are great characters. In normal novels a man and a woman travelling together would pretty much fall in Insta-Love, but that’s really not the case with this odd pair. Zeinab Alayan took time to fully develop their personalities as they journeyed together through the mysterious Parade and discovered that despite its outward appearances, it had a much more sinister purpose. Sophie’s backstory is pretty incredible, but Puppet Parade does seem to be based in a fairytale-like setting so it does make sense in the context of the story. Oliver can be pretty eccentric but really is an interesting character who is very determined to protect Sophie, even before he admits to himself he has feelings for her.
The world of Puppet Parade is a refreshing break from all of the high fantasy I’ve read lately. Yes, it is fantasy, but it really doesn’t stick to any of the traditional fantasy tropes and clichés. It seemed to be pretty cliché at first, but Zeinab Alayan put an incredible twist on the mysterious world of the Parade that made sense, but was surprising at the same time.
I give this book 4.5/5 stars.