Archive for the ‘Author Interviews’ Category:

Pump Up Chats with Kai Strand

Kai Strand is a children’s author of middle grade and young adult novels. She was born and raised in the mid-west, where she inherited a wholesome outlook on life. She lived in California long enough to become a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. They now live in Central Oregon where the most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, “Do your dishes!” Obviously, Kai likes to write. The Weaver is Kai’s debut book. She reads a lot as well and calls it research. Kai loves to garden, and is trying out a greenhouse for the first time this year.
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Pump Up Chats with Jean Henry Mead

Jean Henry Mead is a mystery/suspense and western historical novelist. She’s also an award-winning photojournalist. One of her fortes is interviewing writers, actors, politicians, artists and ordinary people who have accomplished extraordinary things. She began her writing career as a California news reporter/editor/photographer, first in Central California and later in San Diego. Mead then transferred to Casper, Wyoming, to serve as a staff writer for the statewide newspaper. While there she served as editor of In Wyoming Magazine and two small presses. She also freelanced for other magazines, both domestically and abroad, among them the Denver Post’s Empire Magazine. Her first book was published in 1981. She’s since published
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Pump Up Chats with Heather Haven

Heather is a story teller by nature and loves the written word.  In her career, she’s written short stories, novels, comedy acts, plays, television treatments, ad copy, commercials, and even ghost-wrote a book.  One of her first jobs as a writer was given to her by her then agent. It was that of writing a love story for a book published by Bantam called Moments of Love. She had a deadline of one week and then promptly came down with the flu. She wrote “The Sands of Time” with a temperature of 102 and delivered some pretty hot stuff because of it. Later on, she wrote short comedy skits for nightclub acts and ad copy for
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Pump Up Chats With Ron Fritsch

Ron Fritsch grew up in rural northern Illinois, the son of poor but hard-working tenant farmers who loved to read. He obtained a bachelor’s degree with honors from the University of Illinois and a law degree cum laude from Harvard Law School. He became a public-service attorney representing indigent and disabled adults and abused and neglected children. For many years now, he’s lived in Chicago with his partner. He’s writing and publishing a four-book Promised Valley series of novels asking whether history and civilization, with their countless heaven-sanctioned wars and genocides, might’ve begun and proceeded differently than they did. Promised Valley Rebellion is the first novel in the series.
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Pump Up Chats with Darien Gee

    Darien Gee lives with her husband and three children in Hawaii. She is the bestselling author of three previous novels (Good Things, Sweet Life and Table Manners) written under the name Mia King. You can visit Darien Gee’s website at www.friendshipbreadkitchen.com. And check out the Friendship Bread Kitchen Facebook fan page. On Friendship Bread: Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book? My daughter Maya had brought home a bag of Amish Friendship Bread starter and some slices of the bread. When I tried it, I was hooked. As I was finishing off the last piece, my protagonist appeared in my mind—a woman who was
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Pump Up Chats with Margaret George

Margaret George is the author of six epic biographical novels, all New York Times bestsellers, featuring larger than life characters like Henry VIII and Cleopatra.  Although painstakingly accurate historically, their real focus is the psychology of the characters.  We know what they did, we want to know why. Her latest release is Elizabeth I. Margaret’s research has taken her from the islands of Scotland to the temples of Upper Egypt, with experiences that include snake-keeping and gladiatorial training. She lives in Wisconsin and Washington DC.  Interests include reptile conservation efforts, Middle Eastern dance (aka bellydancing), and archeology.  You can visit Margaret George’s website at www.margaretgeorge.com. On Elizabeth I: a Novel
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Pump Up Chats with Nancy Stewart

After having been an elementary school teacher, a management consultant with New Options, Inc. in New York City and a university professor of education, Nancy Stewart now writes children’s books full time.  She, her husband and three sons, lived in London for eight years, where she was a consultant to several universities, including Cambridge.   Nancy travels extensively throughout the world, most particularly Africa.  She is the US chair of a charity in Lamu, Kenya, that places girls in intermediate schools to allow them to further their education.  Nancy is the author of One Pelican at a Time and two other Bella books:  Bella Saves the Beach and Sea Turtle
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with ‘The Chimp and Me’ Tim Vandehey

Tim Vandehey is a journalist, ghostwriter and book collaborator who has written more than 35 books since 2004 in the sports, self-help, memoir, spiritual, financial, business, and healthcare genres.  His recent published co-authored works include Blindsided (with Jim Cole, St. Martin’s Press, 2010), Running on Faith (with Jason Lester, HarperOne, 2010), Produced by Faith (with DeVon Franklin, Simon & Schuster, 2011), and I’m Here to Win! (with Chris McCormack, Center Street, 2011).  Tim lives on Bainbridge Island, Washington, with his wife and two daughters. Q: Thank you for this interview, Tim.  Can you tell us why you wrote your book? Because singing it was getting exhausting.  No, seriously…I couldn’t
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Talking Virtual Book Tours with ‘The Chimp Who Loved Me’ Annie Greer & Tim Vandehey

Annie Greer is a certified veterinary chiropractioner, radio host, animal behaviorist, farmer’s wife and AKC Canine Good Citizen evaluator who, with her veterinarian husband, Kent, runs three animal clinics and a 40-acre farm in Apopka, Florida. Tim Vandehey is a journalist, ghostwriter and book collaborator who has written more than 35 books since 2004 in the sports, self-help, memoir, spiritual, financial, business, and healthcare genres. His recent published co-authored works include Blindsided (with Jim Cole, St. Martin’s Press, 2010), Running on Faith (with Jason Lester, HarperOne, 2010), Produced by Faith (with DeVon Franklin, Simon & Schuster, 2011), and I’m Here to Win! (with Chris McCormack, Center Street, 2011). Tim
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Megan van Eyck

Megan van Eyck lives near Seattle, Washington with her husband and children. Memoirs of a Widowed Mistress is her first memoir. You can visit Megan’s website at www.widowedmistress.com. Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book? A: I wrote Memoirs of a Widowed Mistress because I thought my unique story might shed insight on the nature and motivations of infidelity. I also hoped to humanize the mistress; to show that she is a woman who may be more like someone’s sister or best friend rather than the stereotype of bed-crawling temptress. Q: Which part of the book was the hardest to write? A: I wanted to not
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Azuka Thomson author of Dark Patches

  Azuka Thomson graduated from the University of Benin in Nigeria with a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and later obtained a master’s degree from the University of Lagos. She worked as a consulting engineer for many years in Nigeria before relocating to Germany. She has three daughters and lives with her husband in Leverkusen. Dark Patches, her first novel, is on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/pages/Azuka-Thomson-Dark-Patches/116641701734714 Visit her tour page at pump up your book; Thank you for this interview, Azuka.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? A: I did not write any stories as
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Pump Up Chats with Christopher Hoare

Christopher Hoare lives with his wife of 40 years, Shirley, and two shelter dogs, Coco and Emmie, in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains where he writes and watches the world turn. His fantasy “Rast” was released by MuseItUp Publishing in  March 2011. You can download a free copy of the Iskander series promo “Gisel Matah and the Slave Ship” from his website at http://christopherhoare.ca. The Iskander series novels are available from Double Dragon — http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/eAuthor.php?Name=Christopher%20Hoare You can also find Chris online at: Iskander Blog http://thewildcatsvictory.wordpress.com Rast blog http://trailowner.blogspot.com/  Thank you for this interview, Christopher.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come
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Pump Up Chats with ‘The Bone Trail’ Author Nell Walton

Nell Walton is an avid horsewoman and also owns two wild horses, both of which came from a herd near Elko, NV.  She is also the founder and managing editor of the online equestrian news magazine, The AllHorses Post.  She has degrees in journalism and biology from the University of Arkansas, spent many years as a professional journalist and worked as an intern for former President Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas.  She lives in East Tennessee on a small horse farm with her husband, four horses, one donkey, two cats and two dogs.  The Bone Trail is her first novel. Weblinks: *http://www.allpetspost.org/TheBoneTrail/ *http://www.allpetspost.org/AllHorsespost/ *http://www.facebook.com/pages/manage/?act=287583265#!/pages/The-Bone-Trail/177304412309524 *Twitter:nellwal *thebonetril@allpetspost.org
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Laurel Dewey

Laurel Dewey’s writing career has been anything but predictable. Born and raised in Glendale, California, Dewey began her career working in public relations. Her writing talents quickly took her into other entertainment avenues. Dewey was an assistant editor at BOP Magazine, helping launch the blockbuster career of teen pop groups like The New Kids on The Block. During this time, she wrote a string of successful mystery radio plays for Los Angeles radio networks. The plays won Dewey awards and caused one reviewer to write, “Dewey’s flair for creating memorable characters and great stories is a welcome change these days.” Not satisfied to write in only one genre, Dewey
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Historical Fiction Author John Milton Langdon

John Milton Langdon is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers and has a master’s degree in maritime civil engineering.  Langdon retired and became a professional writer after an active and rewarding engineering career.  Initially he worked in Britain but from 1972 until 2008, he dealt with project development in Bahrain, Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Nigeria.  Langdon lives in the Austrian town of Klagenfurt which has a history stretching back to mediaeval times.  Langdon has three children and five grandchildren from his first marriage and two step sons from the second.  Langdon has many interests including travel, the British canals, music and literature
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Parenting Book Author Emma Piers

Emma Piers is an author, wellbeing coach and narrator. She lives in rural Dorset in the UK with her life/working partner Mark Turner. Emma was born in a rambling old vicarage in Kent, in 1958. Her father was a vicar, and she had two siblings. During her early years, the family moved five times. During these years, Emma developed a deep love and sense of connectedness with the natural world around her. Walking and writing stories about mythical creatures and people became a big preoccupation, alongside a love of English that was instilled in her by two teachers who were both passionate about their subject. As a counter balance,
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Emily Sue Harvey

Emily Sue Harvey writes to make a difference. After writing nonfiction for years, she turned to fiction and now has six mainstream fiction books to be released by Story Plant in 2011. Song of Renewal and a novella, Flavors are both already available at online bookstores. Her other four upcoming titles, two full-length and two novellas, are Homefires, Space, Unto These Hills and Cocoon. All include components of love, family, disappointment, betrayal, forgiveness and renewal. Her websites are  www.emilysueharvey.com , www.renewalstories.com . Also, check out Emily Sue Harvey’s Profile and Fan Page on Facebook for her book reviews and updates. Thank you for this interview, Emily Sue.  Do you remember writing
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Children’s Book Author Hayley Rose

Hayley Rose grew up in the beach side town of Pacific Palisades , California, to a family of visual artists.  In the early 1990’s she traveled the U.S. with her band Crush Violet.  In 1994, after a family reunion, she was inspired to write a children’s book.  Looking for a cute and catchy name for a main character, she kept hearing “first in, first out”.  Hence, the name Fifo was born.  Hayley’s mother would often ask her what she wanted to be when she grew up, so Hayley decided to start her series of “Fifo” books with that very question.  Her first book, Fifo “When I Grow Up” was
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with John Ames

John Ames has a master’s degree in English from the University of Florida, where he was a Ford Fellow. After graduation, he built a rustic house and lived for several years on the edge of a spiritual community located near Gainesville, Florida. John’s search for enlightenment ended when he decided that he was too far from a movie theater. He moved inside the Gainesville city limits and taught English and film for thirty years at Santa Fe College. He has produced and acted in numerous short films and videos, including the cable TV series the “Tub Interviews,” wherein all the interviewees were required to be in a bathtub. For
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Pump Up Chats with Paula McLain

Paula McLain received an MFA in poetry from the University of Michigan and has been a resident of Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony. She is the author of two collections of poetry, as well as a memoir, Like Family, and a first novel, A Ticket to Ride. She lives in Cleveland with her family. You can visit Paula McLain’s website to learn more about The Paris Wife at www.pariswife.com. On The Paris Wife Can you tell us why you wrote your book? Hadley Richardson was Ernest Hemingway’s first wife, and yet for many of us, she’s largely unknown. From the moment I found her, in the pages of Hemingway’s
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with ‘Chasing Zebras’ Barbara Barnett

Barbara Barnett is Co-Executive Editor of Blogcritics, an Internet magazine of pop culture, politics and more owned by Technorati Media. Always a pop-culture geek, Barbara was raised on a steady diet of TV (and TV dinners), but she always found her way to TV’s antiheroes and misunderstood champions, whether on TV, in the movies or in literature. Barnett’s regular column, “Welcome to the End of the Thought Process: An Introspective Look at House, M.D.” features insightful episode commentaries and interviews with the House cast and creative team. It is the place for intelligent discussion of the hit television series starring Hugh Laurie. Barbara has had an eclectic career. With
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Pump Up Chats with Women’s Fiction Author Laina Turner-Molaski

Laina Turner-Molaski is a business woman, mom, author, Professor, and a major supporter of shopping. She has an undying love for shoes and coffee, which is why she created her main character and alter-ego Presley Thurman. With many letters after her name and a ton of student loan debt, she is always working to pay the bills. While she enjoys her day job, her passion is writing, and she uses a lot of company time writing her fiction or working on her social website for women, Chiczofrenic.com. She is hoping to sell her book before she gets fired from her day job for goofing off. Laina is currently living
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Pump Up Chats with Jennifer Lynne Matthews, author of “Fashion Unraveled”

As an educator, Jennifer Lynne Matthews, recognized that there was a need for a step by step educational manual to teach her students on how to start their own business. Consequently, Matthews wrote the first edition of Fashion Unraveled in 2008 to provide such educational material, and just completed the second edition in 2011. Matthews, also a lingerie designer and entrepreneur, opened her own business, Porcelynne Lingerie in 2002. Fashion Unraveled is built on Matthews’ experience in both opening and sustaining a successful business. She brings the knowledge of running a small business and her expertise in the industry into her book and it continues into her classroom teaching.
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Pump Up Chats with Erin Bassett – Author of Online Series ‘Clock Work’

Erin Bassett is author of the online serial Clock Work, published in several magazines and has a Chapbook published. She is a member of NTSFWW and Senior Editor for CW Productions. Erin enjoys off beat, out the ordinary writing of the urban fantasy persuasion, but also revels in classic fantasy stories with gripping battles, wizards, dragons or monsters, and epic fight scenes set in far off, mythical or fantastic places. Her book shelves are packed with everything from Holly Black, Martin Miller and Terry Pratchett to Christy Lijewski, Dean Koontz and Hal Duncan. Thank you for this interview, Erin Bassett. Do you remember writing stories as a child or
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Dr. Jennifer Freed

For more than 25 years, Jennifer Freed, Ph.D., has been a licensed marriage and family counselor, group psychotherapist and educator.  She was the Clinical Director at PACIFICA GRADUATE INSTITUTE, one of the country’s leading centers for depth psychology, where she continues to serve as a professor and workshop leader. Dr. Freed is a recognized expert on behavioral matters such as teen bullying, character development, marriage and family relationships, and diversity issues.  She has provided thousands with the practical tools to compassionately reassess personal behaviors and make significant life changes. National media appearances include GOOD MORNING AMERICA, NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO, ABC NEWS, FOX NEWS, SIRRIUS RADIO, AIR AMERICA, USA TODAY,
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Pump Up Chats with Jeanne C. Davis – Author of Sheetrock Angel

Jeanne C. Davis grew up in southern California then traveled the world as a Pan Am purser until she landed a job writing for the television series, Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman. She wrote, produced and directed the independent feature, The Uniform Motion of Folly. She is currently at work on her second novel which explores her life with Pan Am, and another feature film, Lip Service, along with a documentary about her family’s four generations in the carousel business.  Visit www.sheetrockangel.homestead.com or SheetrockAngel on Facebook.  You also can visit Jeanne’s website at www.bricolage-arts.com. Thank you for this interview, Jeanne.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Frank Scully

Frank Scully was born and raised in a small town in North Dakota and received a Bachelor’s degree in History with Phi Beta Kappa Honors and a Juris Doctor degree in Law from the University of North Dakota.  He then served more than five years as a Judge Advocate General Corps Officer in the U. S. Army in the U. S., Vietnam, and Thailand.  After that he attended the prestigious Thunderbird School and received a Masters in Business Administration with honors. In his professional career he has worked as an executive with large aerospace and defense manufacturers and also owned his own small business.  Depending on the vagaries of
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Frank J. Edwards

Frank J. Edwards was born in Rochester New York. In 1968 he entered the US Army and served a tour in Vietnam as a helicopter pilot. He received a BA with honors in English from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill then attended medical school at the University of Rochester, graduating with an MD in 1979. In 1989 he received an MFA in writing from Warren Wilson College in Swannanoa, NC. After practicing for a decade in North Carolina, he returned to the Rochester, area in 1990 where he remains in active practice. He has published a number of poems and short stories in literary magazines including
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Thriller Author Allan Leverone

Allan Leverone is a three-time Derringer Award Finalist whose short fiction has been featured in Needle: A Magazine of Noir, Shroud Magazine, Twisted Dreams, Mysterical-E and many other venues, both print and online. His debut thriller, titled FINAL VECTOR, is available February 2011 from Medallion Press. For details, please visit www.allanleverone.com or his blog at www.allanleverone.blogspot.com. Q: Thank you for this interview, Allan.  Can you tell us why you wrote your book? I’ve been an air traffic controller for the past twenty-nine years, getting hired by the FAA at the age of 22 after graduating college with a business degree I’ve still never used. Given the reality of air
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Women’s Fiction Author Becky Due

Becky Due is becoming the new voice of women’s fiction. She has the courage, honesty and writing style for today’s busy women, and she does not cringe away from hard issues. She will leave you feeling strong, self-confident, independent, and in control of your life. She has a way of sucking you into the story and changing your life with her fast-paced novels you won’t want to put down. Her novels are not the same story with different characters; she has a unique ability to cross every genre from light-hearted romance to heart-racing suspense to keep her readers entertained and inspired. This talented, intelligent writer is quickly becoming women’s
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