Archive for the ‘Author Interviews’ Category:

Pump Up Your Book Chats with Stephen Schochet Author of Hollywood Stories

Author Stephen Schochet is a professional tour guide in Los Angeles who years ago started collecting fun stories to tell to the customers, had the idea the stories could be told anywhere and which led him to write the book. He is also the author and narrator of two audiobooks Tales of Hollywood and Fascinating Walt Disney. Tim Sika, host of the radio show Celluloid Dreams on KSJS in San Jose has called Stephen,” The best storyteller about Hollywood we have ever heard.” His newest book is Hollywood Stories. http://www.hollywoodstories.com http://www.youtube.com/htales http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1450539098 http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/author/sschochet/ http://twitter.com/#!/htales Thank you for this interview, Stephen Schochet.  Do you remember writing stories as a child
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Middle Grade Fantasy Author Mike DiCerto

Join Mike DiCerto, author of the middle grade fantasy novel, The Door to Far-Myst: The Adventures of Rupert Starbright (Vol. 1) (Zumaya Threshold), as he virtually tours the blogosphere November 1 – 23 2011 on his first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book! About Mike DiCerto 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
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Talking Virtual Book Tours with Pump Up Your Book’s Cheryl Malandrinos

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer, children’s author and editor. Her first children’s book, Little Shepherd, was released in August 2010 by Guardian Angel Publishing. She is also a member of the SCBWI. Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. She is also a former contributor for the Writer2Writer eZine. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two children. She also has a son who is married. Visit Cheryl at her newly redesigned website http://ccmalandrinos.com/ or visit the Little Shepherd book blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/. Our very own Cheryl Malandrinos is on her own virtual book tour this month
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Author J.S. Dunn

About J.S. Dunn J.S. Dunn resided in Ireland during the past decade, and from there pursued early Bronze Age culture along the Atlantic coasts of Spain, France, Wales, and Ireland. In 2006, the author attended the Dover Boat symposium (UK) regarding the earliest known Atlantic plank boat. The research for BENDING THE BOYNE yielded many friends in diverse fields including archaeology, geology, and Bronze Age tool-making. This is a debut novel and won the 2011 Next Generation Indie Award for historical fiction. Find out more about the author visit http://www.jsdunnbooks.com or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bending-The-Boyne/192198197473429 About Bending the Boyne The great Boyne passage mounds are older than the Pyramids,
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Frank Zaccari

A native of western New York, Frank Zaccari earned a degree in finance from California State University at Sacramento after serving as a military medic in the U.S. Air Force. He spent over 25 years in the high-tech industry holding positions from account representative to CEO, and for nearly 20 years specialized in turn-around management of companies under 100 million dollars. Upon becoming a single, custodial parent after nearly 25 years of marriage, he left an industry that he loved to buy a small business in order to be home to raise his children. He is currently the owner of an insurance agency and resides in Sacramento, California. Inside
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with author Rachel Greer

About Rachel Greer Rachel Greer was born in Milwaukeee, Wisconsin on October 25th, 1992.  In her teen years, she loved to recite Maya Angelou poems in the after school activity of Forensics. Her favorite poem to recite was, Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou. She loved the confidence Ms. Angelou had. Rachel strives everyday to be the phenomenal young woman that she is. Rachel attended a suburban school in the state of Wisconsin. She managed to graduate 1 year early from high school and pushed on to college. She currently attends a technical school in her area with desires to earn a Associate’s Degree is Business Management. While being an
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Peter Murphy

Peter Murphy was born in Killarney where he spent his first three years before his family was deported to Dublin, the Strumpet City. Growing up in the verdant braes of Templeogue, Peter was schooled by the De La Salle brothers in Churchtown where he played rugby for ‘The Wine and Gold’. He also played football (soccer) in secret! After that, he graduated and studied the Humanities in Grogan’s under the guidance of Scot’s corner and the bar staff; Paddy, Tommy and Sean. Murphy financed his education by working summers on the buildings sites of London in such places as Cricklewood, Camden Town and Kilburn. Murphy also tramped the roads
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with David Rocklin, author of “The Luminist”

David Rocklin is an attorney and a mediator.  He graduated from Indiana University with a BA in Literature.  He lives in California with his wife and children.  The Luminist is his first novel. You can visit his website at http://www.davidrocklin.com Connect with him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/#!/drocklin or Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Luminist/197726206912766 The Interview Thank you for this interview, David. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later? Do you remember your first published piece? I’ve been writing since I was a kid. It’s how I’ve always made sense of the world, and my place in it. I think my first ‘published’ piece was a
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Marta Perry, author of “Katie’s Way”

A lifetime spent in rural Pennsylvania, where she still lives, and her own Pennsylvania Dutch roots led Marta Perry to write about the Plain People and their rich heritage in her current novels. The author of more than forty novels, with over five million copies of her books in print, Marta is active in her church and community. She is a member of Romance Writers of America, American Christian Fiction Writers, and Pennwriters. When she’s not writing, she and her husband enjoy traveling, gardening, and visiting their six beautiful grandchildren. For more information, visit Marta on the web at www.martaperry.com, on Facebook at Marta Perry Books, and check out
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Pump Up Chats with Robert Nelson, author of “Realize Real Eyez Real Liez”

Robert Nelson was born and raised in Garner, North Carolina where he earned the connections and street credibility needed to bring a sense of authenticity to his work. Consequentially, this lead to his stay in the luxurious NC-DOC where through a lot of retrospection he developed a strategy to defeat what he had become. Through the guidance of the Aryan Brotherhood and the variety of other hardened criminals he  played cards with he focused his energy into developing his skills as a writer to keep the youth from making the same mistakes he did. If he can open just one pair of eyes through his writing, everything he’s put
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Pump Up Chats with David Friedman, Author of “Fundamentally Different”

David Friedman, author of Fundamentally Different, is the former President of RSI, an award-winning employee benefits brokerage and consulting firm in the Philadelphia area.  He is a frequent guest speaker and seminar leader on organizational culture, leadership and values.  A graduate of the College of William & Mary with a degree in Philosophy, Friedman currently lives in Moorestown, NJ with his wife and 2 college-age children. Website:  http://fundamentally-different.com/ Blog:  http://djfriedman.com/blog/ Twitter:  http://twitter.com/#!/DavidFriedman4 Facebook:  http://www.facebook.com/FundamentallyDifferentBook  Thank you for this interview, David. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? I’ve always enjoyed writing, but mostly non-fiction. 
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with KJ Steele, author of “No Story to Tell”

About KJ Steele KJ Steele is an emerging writer who has learned that the process is not so much about choosing what to write as it is about having the courage to write what chooses to be written. Having spent the first half of her life creating an amazing family with her husband, Victor, she intends to spend the rest of it creating equally amazing fiction. You can find out more about her and her book by visiting her website at http://kjsteele.com, on Twitter at http://twitter.com/KJSteele4 and on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/No-Story-to-Tell/122592254511039 About No Story to Tell Victoria Lackey, a once extraordinarily promising dancer, now finds herself mired down in a joyless
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Humor Author Noah Baird

Noah Baird wanted to attend the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College, but his grades weren’t good enough (who knew?).  However, his grades were good enough to fly for the U.S. Navy (again, who knew?), where he spent 14 years until the government figured out surfers don’t make the best military aviators. He has also tried to be a stand-up comedian in Hawaii for Japanese tourists where the language barrier really screwed up some great jokes. On the bright side, a sailboat was named after the punchline of one of his jokes. He has several political satire pieces published on The Spoof under the pen name orioncrew. 
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Pump Up Chats with Gregory Allen, author of “Well With My Soul”

Gregory G. Allen moved from Texas to New York in the late 80s and has been in the entertainment business for over twenty years as an actor, director, producer, songwriter, playwright and author. He’s had over ten shows that he has written produced on stage, been the recipient of musical grants from BMI, ASCAP and the Watershed Foundation, and has had short stories and poetry published in Off The Rocks, Muscadine Lines: A Southern Journal, The Oddville Press, Perpetual Magazine, Loch Raven Review, Word Catalyst Magazine, and Rancor’d Type. He is a member of ASCAP, The Dramatist Guild, and the Theatre Communications Group. He now lives in the suburbs
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Pump Up Chats with NeonSeon, author of “Life of Shouty: Food and Fitness”

Creating Shouty Mack as a comic strip for a high school newspaper, NeonSeon developed Life of Shouty as a book series for children in 2010. NeonSeon grew up in Chicago’s Hyde Park community and currently resides in Atlanta. Honors include a Mom’s Choice Award for Life of Shouty: Good Habits. For more information, visit www.SHOUTY.com. On Life of Shouty: Food & Fitness Q: Can you tell us why you wrote your book? Life of Shouty: Food & Fitness is the second book in the Life of Shouty Series. One of the opening lines came to me and served as the basis of the book. I struggle with making healthy
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Barbara Ardinger author of Secret Lives

Barbara Ardinger, Ph.D. (www.barbaraardinger.com), is the author of Secret Lives, a new novel about crones and other magical folks, and Pagan Every Day, a unique daybook of daily meditations. Her earlier books include Goddess Meditations, Finding New Goddesses (a parody of goddess encyclopedias), and Quicksilver Moon (a realistic novel … except for the vampire). Her day job is freelance editing for people who have good ideas but don’t want to embarrass themselves in print. To date, she has edited more than 250 books, both fiction and nonfiction, on a wide range of topics. Barbara lives in southern California with her two rescued Maine coon cats, Schroedinger and Heisenberg. Website:
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Pump Up Chats with Crystal Connor, author of “The Darkness”

I grew up telling spooky little campfire style stories at slumber parties. We’d make a tent in the bedroom, and the only source of light would be from a flashlight that was about to die. I’d tell my tale of doom and then while everyone was jumping at the tree branch scraping against the window and I’d be sound asleep! I served my country in the United States Navy working as a boiler technician on board the USS McKee AS-41 assigned to the 7th fleet. While deployed at various ports-of-call throughout Africa, Asia and the Middle East I began to learn about other cultures’ monsters and nightmares and I
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with ‘Veronica’s Nap’ Sharon Bially

Sharon Bially lived for twelve years in Paris and Aix-en-Provence before settling with her family in Massachusetts.  A graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, she’s a public relations professional and leads seminars for the Boston-based, nonprofit literary arts center, Grub Street Writers.  She’s also an adult student of ballet and modern dance.  You can visit Sharon’s website and blog at www.veronicas-nap.com. Visit her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/@sharonbially and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sharon.bially AND http://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronicas-Nap/240292619323500. Thank you for this interview, Sharon.  Can we begin by asking you how you came up with the idea for Veronica’s Nap? Sharon: I lived in the south of France, where Veronica’s Nap
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Robyn Wheeler – author of “Born Mad”

After several years of chronic anger, depression and frustration, Robyn Wheeler was diagnosed with a low-grade chronic depression known as Dysthymia. Dysthymia is categorized as a mood disorder and often goes undiagnosed by those suffering from it as well as mental health professionals. Now on medication to help her deal with a mental disorder, Robyn has written a book about her journey, thoughts of suicide and her courage and determination to become “normal”. Born Mad will shed light on chronic anger, how it festers to the point of wanting to do harm to yourself and others. Robyn will take you through her anger as a small child, her denial
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Sharon Bially + Win copy of ‘Veronica’s Nap’!

Sharon Bially lived for twelve years in Paris and Aix-en-Provence before settling with her family in Massachusetts.  A graduate of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, she’s a public relations professional and leads seminars for the Boston-based, nonprofit literary arts center, Grub Street Writers.  She’s also an adult student of ballet and modern dance.  You can visit Sharon’s website and blog at www.veronicas-nap.com. Visit her at Twitter at www.twitter.com/@sharonbially and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/sharon.bially AND http://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronicas-Nap/240292619323500. Thank you for this interview, Sharon.  Can we begin by asking you how you came up with the idea for Veronica’s Nap? Sharon: I lived in the south of France, where Veronica’s Nap
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Pump Up Chats with Karen Simpson – Author of Act of Grace

Karen Simpson lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan and holds a Master’s in Historic Preservation. Writing, fabric art, and history are her passions. She’s a quilter and has taught African American quilting for over twenty years. As a historian, Simpson has designed exhibits for museums and other historical institutions that deal with issues of cultural diversity and racial reconciliation. The subjects and themes for her fiction are taken from the stories she discovers while doing research. In 2009 Simpson was awarded the Speculative Literature Foundation’s Older Writers Grant. Act of Grace is her first novel. Thank you for this interview, Karen.  Would you tell us briefly about Act of Grace
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Gregory Earls, author of Empire of Light

When Gregory Earls isn’t eating at Roscoe’s House of Chicken and Waffles, he pays the bills by taking up space at 20th Century Fox in the Feature Post Production Department. He’s a proud graduate of Norfolk State University and the American Film Institute, where he studied cinematography. He’s an award-winning director who has amassed a reel of short films, music videos, and (yes) a wedding video or two. Steadfastly butchering the Italian language since 2002, he hopes to someday master the language just enough to inform his in-laws how much he loves their daughter, Stefania, who was born and raised in Milan, Italy. Gregory currently resides in Venice, California
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Nemo James, author of Just A Few Seconds

Biography Born and based in England, Nemo James worked as a professional musician and singer/songwriter for more than 30 years. He now lives in Croatia with his wife Federika and their cat Jutko. His first book “Just a Few Seconds” was published this year. You can find Nemo’s website at www.nemojames.com or he welcomes friend requests at www.facebook.com/nemojames. About Just a Few Seconds Just A Few Seconds is a story of one man’s experience in the music business. It is an amusing and true story of a successful freelance musician whose gigs ranged from private parties to the very rich and famous to the roughest London pubs where playing
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Lynn Voedisch

Lynn Voedisch is a Chicago journalist and fiction writer with many years experience working for newspapers and magazines. She is a member of the America Society of Journalists and Authors and the Society of Midland Authors, where she is one the board of directors. She started out as editor of her college newspaper at Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa, and went on to work for WBBM-TV, Chicago; Pioneer Press in suburban Chicago, the Los Angeles Times, and spent a 17-year stint at the Chicago Sun-Times. She was an entertainment reporter and technology reporter there and helped develop the newspaper’s fledgling Web site. The site and staff won Best Innovation from the Inland
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Pump Up Chats with Women’s Fiction Author Shobhan Bantwal

Besides authoring five novels, Shobhan Bantwal is a freelance writer and award-winning fiction writer featured in publications such as The Writer, India Abroad, Little India, India Currents and New Woman India. She regularly donates a portion of her book earnings to women’s charities. For information on her books, contests, events, recipes, photos, contact, and favorite charities, visit her website at www.shobhanbantwal.com or her facebook page at www.facebook.com/ShobhanBantwal.author Thank you for this interview, Shobhan. I (Jaime) have been working with you for four years now to spread the word about your books online. It’s been a wonderful pleasure. Can you tell the readers here about how things have changed since promoting your first book?
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Tamara Elizabeth

Tamara Elizabeth is a speaker, author, self love coach, radio host, a master motivator of women in transition, conductress of motivational seminars, professional photographer, small space designer, lover of social media, mother of 5, and a fabulously loveable woman after her first 50 years.  She is determined to create a revolution of women. Tamara started her life over at fifty and believes that if she can do it, any woman can.  That’s when she decided to take her experiences and help others with her latest book, Fabulously Fifty and Reflecting It! – Discovering My Loveable Me. I have 4 greatest accomplishments in my life – my 4 grown children. 
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Carole Eglash-Kosoff

Carole Eglash-Kosoff lives and writes in Valley Village, California. She graduated from UCLA and spent her career in business and in teaching. In 2006 her husband, mother, and brother died within a month of one another, causing her to reevaluate her life. She volunteered to work with the American Jewish World Service and was sent to South Africa to teach. She returned there a year later, having met an amazing array of men and women who had devoted their lives during the worst years of apartheid to helping the children, the elderly, and the disabled of the townships. These people cared when no one else did and their efforts
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with U.L. Harper Author of In Blackness

U.L. Harper is an after-school program Site Director in Long Beach, California. Over one hundred students attend his program. He previously worked as a corporate manager, and a journalist for a now defunct news agency in Los Alamitos, California. Newspapers are part of his writing background but he also dabbled in poetry. His poetry is published in The Body Politic chapbooks. He is the author of In Blackness, The Flesh Statue and the short story book Guidelines for Rejects. You can visit U.L. at http://ulharper.com/ Purchase the book at Amazon Thank you for this interview, U.L.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Michael Reilly

Michael Reilly is a writer and entrepreneur. He earned a bachelor’s degree in history from Yale University and a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. His first published novel, Fresh Heir, was released in May 2011. He is also founder and chief executive officer of FitDivs Inc, a company that promotes and rewards healthy living. Michael resides with his wife and four children in Charlottesville, VA. You can visit his website at www.freshheirnovel.com or connect with him on Facebook at www.facebook.com/pages/Fresh-Heir/168240473246308. Q: Thank you for this interview, Michael.  Can you tell us why you wrote your book, Fresh Heir? I had written several novels without any success at
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Pump Up Your Book Chats with Phyllis Schieber

The first great irony of Phyllis Schieber’s life was that she was born in a Catholic hospital. Her parents, survivors of the Holocaust, had settled in the South Bronx among other new immigrants.  In the mid-fifties, her family moved to Washington Heights, an enclave for German Jews on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, known as “Frankfurt-on-the-Hudson.” She graduated from high school at sixteen, earned a B.A. in English from Herbert H. Lehman College, an M.A. in Literature from New York University, and later an M.S. as a Developmental Specialist from Yeshiva University. She lives in Westchester County where she spends her days creating new stories and teaching writing. She is married
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