Author Interview – Brad Cotton

What book should everybody read at least once?

This is just a tricky way of asking what my favorite book is, isn’t it? I don’t know that there’s one book I would recommend to everyone. Just like I couldn’t recommend one band or one movie. Every recommendation would surely be followed with “buts” and “howevers”. Having said that — Catcher in the Rye.

Are there any books you really don’t enjoy?

Poorly written books. I can’t get past poor grammar, sloppy story, or cardboard characters in print.

What do you hope your obituary will say about you?

Today Brad died, which is good only because this is his obituary.

How did you develop your writing?

Funny enough, I practiced writing in the corporate world. I was once a copywriter for advertising agencies. I had the knack to tell a story, but it took me a long time to read enough, (and write enough bad advertising), that I could properly convey the technical quality I was after. Writing a good line or paragraph takes practice. I can’t say I’ve hit the perfect sweet spot yet, but I’m getting closer.

Where do you get your inspiration from?

Everything. I think writers are just observers, or critics, of life. I take mental notes of conversations I have, of people I see, of moments in a day that derive something “new”. I think originality is the best thing a writer can offer. If something feels new and interesting to me, I get the inspiration to write it down. If after a while the novelty wanes, I throw it away. After a while, I have a collection of cool ideas, lines, words, names… anything!

What is hardest – getting published, writing or marketing?

Yes, those are the hardest.

Best friends Duncan and Ray run a successful bookie business in Phoenix. Outgrowing the life they began in college, the late twenty-something pair set out on the road with a plan to never return. Their trip takes them cross-country with eventful stops in Las Vegas, Omaha, and Niagara Falls. Along their journey they meet several colorful characters and even agree to bring a pretty young girl named Ruby along with them for the ride. Landing in Boston to run an errand for an old friend, the travelers begin to lay roots in an attempt to forge for themselves the life they’d always hoped for. Easier said than done. As romances begin to burgeon, and one of their lives is put in danger, the group quickly discovers that where they are may indeed have little effect on who they are.

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Genre – Contemporary Fiction/Literary Fiction

Rating – R

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Connect with Brad Cotton on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.bradcotton.com/

Author Interview – Vadim Babenko

Who is your publisher? Ergo Sum Publishing is my own imprint. After getting two earlier novels published by major Russian houses, I decided to switch to self-publishing and have never regretted my decision. It takes a lot of resources and effort to create a perfect, professional-looking book and then market it on your own. But if one can do that, I see no reason to give away rights to a book to some other party. Now, finally, there are channels such as Amazon.com which can bring books to the attention of the widest-possible audience while bypassing the traditional “middlemen.” It’s a publishing industry revolution, no less, and represents an exciting time for writers.

What was the hardest part about writing this book? I think the most difficult part of writing any novel is maintaining the required level of energy and concentration for several years it takes to complete it. SEMMANT wasn’t different in this regard.

Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp? Of course, and there isn’t just one. To simplify greatly and make it very short, I’ll say it as it appears on my website: “Never tamper with love!”

Have you included a lot of your life experiences, even friends, in the plot? I did include some, but not much.

What are your goals as a writer? To express in proper words everything I have to say, and to put all my energy into that.

Do you have to travel much concerning your book(s)? I do travel a lot regardless of my books. And I write only about those places which I know really well.

What books have most influenced your life? “War and Peace” by Leo Tolstoy; the poetry of Alexander Pushkin and Joseph Brodsky; “The Castle” and short stories by Franz Kafka.

His crafty plan results in a deadly threat. Her hopes keep her locked in a vicious circle. They parted ways, supposedly forever. But will they be able to live apart?

Elizaveta, an attractive Muscovite, experiences a series of odd events: she is followed; she receives anonymous calls, flowers, and gifts. The culprit is her former lover, Timofey. He now lives far from Moscow and has a flourishing business, but a serious threat emerges when the daughter of a local mafia boss wants to marry him. Timofey knows his life is at risk if he says no. He creates a cunning scheme to save himself by staging a sham marriage with Elizaveta playing a primary role. Masterfully manipulating her feelings, Timofey persuades her to come visit him in his small town, but things soon take a dramatic turn.

A seemingly romantic journey becomes a struggle for survival. Timofey and Elizaveta confront real danger when they least expect it. Love and deception reveal their essence when the best of intentions come into conflict with each other. The protagonists try hard to achieve their goals, but, in the end, each of them finds something much different instead. Illusion, ultimately, proves stronger than reality. And coincidences are often not so random after all.

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Genre – Literary Fiction

Rating – PG13

More details about the author

Website http://www.vadimbabenko.com/

#SayNo2Drugs Straight Dope by LeRon Barton

Straight Dope is book that asks the simple question – why are drugs so entrenched in America's society. Instead of doing the same ol' rigamarole song and dance and interviewing talking heads and experts, Straight Dope gets to the heart of the matter and talks to the people at ground zero – the drug addicts whose life revolves around getting high; the criminals who profit of the misery of the addicts; the teachers who deal with the children in drug abused homes; the drug counselors that try and balance breaking the addicts cycle of addiction while dealing with the bureaucracy of government politics; the legal marijuana growers battle against tobacco companies and how to thrive in the growing industry; and the parents issue of how they will prepare their children to just say no.

Inspired by the late great Studs Terkel's many works, Straight Dope is comprised of raw and uncut hard hitting interviews about the participants experiences, thoughts, opinions, and outlook on drug abuse, why or why not drugs should be legal, and how the government is handling the war on drugs.

Removing nearly all of the questions, the interviews are more like monologues, allowing the reader to feel as if the subject is just, “talking,” instead of your standard interview.

In addition to the real life accounts of people, Straight Dope also has spoken word pieces compiled of biting social commentary, as well as my own personal reflections composed of my experiences with drugs.

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Genre - NonFiction / Sociology

Rating – PG

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Author Interview – Keira Michelle Telford

Last book you purchased? Tell us about it.

I bought Bones in Her Pocket by Kathy Reichs. It’s her first novelette ebook, and it was okay. I liked the first two thirds of it, then it ended with something completely random which seemingly had no real connection to the rest of the book. I felt like she was using the book as a way to promote her views about the cruelty of puppy mills. Which is fine. Puppy mills are cruel and should be shut down. But if you’re writing a book, at least weave your message into the storyline Don’t just throw it on top and expect it to blend.

Can you share a little of your current work with us?

Turning her attention back to the bookstore, she runs her eyes over the window display: a selection of highly sought after Old World books, recovered from the remains of prior human civilization.

The bell on the door tinkles as she opens it … then plummets to the floor at her feet with a somewhat disenchanting thud. Alex hears the noise and enters the storefront through a door at the back, his nose buried deep inside an Old World reference book.

He has salt-and-pepper hair now, although it shows no signs of receding. With practice, he’s cultivated the notion of ‘permanently windswept’ into something truly dramatic, and his rough charm wears it well.

Unshaven, he verges on scruffy but hangs on to carelessly handsome. Beneath casual, understated clothes, he hides the still well-maintained physique of a Hunter.

Today, with a pair of reading glasses perched on his nose, he looks unassuming and average. To the untrained eye, that is.

Not to Silver’s eye.

Stomach flip.

Silver tries to hold back a small smile when she sees him, her heart suddenly realizing that six years is an awfully long no time at all. After all, what the mind tries to conceal beneath business and needs and the innumerous complications of life, the heart is able to reignite with a single glance.

The thumping in her chest is so hard it hurts, and she feels dizzy with adrenalin.

At first, he doesn’t even look up from his book. “Can I help you?”

He turns the page, expecting a standard response, but Silver remains silent. Too struck by him to speak, the words get stuck in her throat, so tight she can’t even swallow. Finally, he closes the book with a sharp snap, takes off his reading glasses and looks up.

Realization.

“Holy cow …” He stumbles back a few paces.

“Moo,” Silver smiles.

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Genre – Dystopian Sci-Fi

Rating – 18+

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Connect with  Keira Michelle Telford on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.ellacross.com/

Onio by Linell Jeppsen

In this modern world of science and high technology, in secret places deep under the ground and in the forest primeval, legends still walk the earth and what we think of as myth and fairy tale are all too real.

Driving home late one night, Melody Carver, bereft and grieving after the death of her mother, sees a strange creature standing on the lonely road. This being will change her world-view forever, and open her eyes to a reality beyond her imagination.

Melody’s chance encounter on that dark and snowy road will mark the beginning of a journey of discovery and wonder that will bring two worlds together in hope and despair.

Can one person bridge the gap between the ancient and the modern, the mundane and the magical?

An urban fantasy filled with adventure, romance, war, heartbreak and triumph!

ONIO! Unlike anything, you have ever read before!

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Genre – Fantasy/Romance

Rating – PG13

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Website http://neljeppsen.weebly.com/

Author Interview – Voicu Mihnea Simandan

If you could have a party and invite anyone, who would it be?

Now, imagine the tea party from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland where, alongside Carroll’s usual suspects, the March Hare – who is no longer hosting, as it’s now my own party! – Alice, the Dormouse and the Hatter. I would also invite Neo, Morpheus and Trinity who will hail in their shiny outfits from the real world of the Matrix. What a great party it would be, with Morpheus suggesting sending the Dormouse to the Oracle to find out why he kept falling asleep, and with Neo explaining to the March Hare that there’s nothing to fear as there’s no such thing as Time and so the Hare couldn’t have murdered it, regardless of what the Queen of Hearts declared.

Alice and Trinity would have a great time, sitting next to each other at the tea table, chatting away about the fun they had jumping from one world to the other, chasing white rabbits and being chased by sun-glassed agents of the System. Then, just when the Hatter starts asking his riddles, as if having all of them at the same table wouldn’t be enough of a riddle, out of thin air, the Cheshire Cat makes her appearance and informs all of us to down our cups of tea and put them back on the shelf as Agent Smith was on his way, ready to smash to smithereens every piece of china clay pottery he would come across. Agent Smith would seem very upset that Neo freed him from the bounds of the Matrix and, above all, that I did not invite him to the party!

What specific genre of books do you like?

I have various intellectual interests, from history to anthropology to linguistics, so I tend to evenly balance the number of non-fiction and fiction books that I read. Recently, I have started reading more and more science fiction, delving into the works of the classics that have established this genre. However, I also read literary fiction, fast paced mysteries, and books of fiction written by expats living in Thailand – which I then review for a Bangkok-based monthly magazine.

What’s your favourite meal?

Although I live in Thailand, I am not a gourmand but I rather believe in what Dozer in The Matrix told Neo during his first “real” meal on the Nebuchadnezzar, after Neo was unplugged from the Matrix. Referring to the rather disgusting-looking goo everyone was eating for breakfast, Dozer explained: “It’s a single celled protein combined with synthetic aminos, vitamins, and minerals. Everything the body needs.” So, as long as my food is healthy, not spicy and doesn’t have a strong smell (another oddity of mine, as Thai food is famous for its spices), I eat anything. Having been brought up in Communist Romania, where food was not something you could pick and choose might also have something to do with me not having any specific favourite food.

What colour represents your personality the most?

My favourite colour is blue, the kind of dark blue you get in the “real world” of The Matrix where the characters are unplugged. I am also attracted by the shade of green distinctive to a monochrome monitor, something I can relate to as I am old enough to remember what the first IBM computers looked like. Green is a colour that has great significance in The Matrix as it symbolizes the world of the machines. The Matrix digital rain, with its falling green code representing the virtual reality of the Matrix, is also on the background of the cover of my intertextual study The Matrix and the Alice Books.

What kind of films do you love to watch?

Apart from the science fiction genre of which The Matrix is part of, I am increasingly interested in Chinese/Hong Kong film productions that succeed in portraying the history of China with a combination of excellent martial arts choreography, costumes faithful to the era described, all based in rather large sets. The fact that most Chinese martial arts flicks end with the death of the heroine and/or the main character, as opposed to the unrealistic happy ending style favoured by Hollywood films, is also something that really fascinates me.

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Genre – Non-Fiction/Movie Studies/Literary Criticism

Rating – G

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Website http://www.simandan.com/

The Magistrate (The Prisonworld Trilogy) by Keira Michelle Telford

« P »

Five years ago …

An explosion shakes the ground and sends a plume of thick black smoke up into the air, a raging ball of fire beneath it. Debris is thrown up and comes crashing back down to earth: bits of stone and brick, chunks of twisted metal, and scraps of human flesh.

The entire western elevation of Hamilton House—an imposing Victorian building located on the Victoria Embankment in the EC4 zone of London, right at the edge of the Square Mile—is destroyed, leaving a gaping, fiery hole from which the screams of the injured echo into the deserted Inner Temple Gardens beside it.

After the blast, and the brief moment of hollow silence following it, the normally tranquil area around Victoria Embankment is flooded with noise.

Sirens.

Fire.

Police.

Medics.

In the coming hours, the news will report that the Home Secretary is dead, along with several senior Section Five officers. Many more people—other Section Five officers included—were injured, and the first to be dragged from the wreckage by a couple of passing pedestrians is a forty-odd-year-old man. His shoulder-length light brown hair, which is normally pulled back into a neat ponytail, is bedraggled and scruffy. Dressed like a proper gentleman—in other words, a toff—he’s wearing an expensive suit, complete with waistcoat and silk puff tie.

His tweed flat cap falls off, getting trampled on as the two conscientious humanitarians pull him across Inner Temple Gardens and lie him down on the soft green grass away from the fire and the smoke, helping him to breathe.

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Genre - Lesbian Romance/ Dystopian/ Neo-Victorian

Rating – R (18+)

More details about the author & the book

Connect with Keira Michelle Telford on Facebook & Twitter

Website http://www.ellacross.com/