Interview with Loren W. Cooper Author of Crosstown
Happy holidays to all! Give a big welcome to Loren W. Cooper, author of Cross Town a SyFi Fantasy.
Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Lets find out a little about Loren and see what CrossTown is all about. Thanks for joining us!
I have a few questions for your Loren, lets start with what defines you as an author? As a person? Are they one in the same?Always try to set the bar a little higher. Choosing when and where that is appropriate can be difficult, but I’d say it is the same as an author and as a person.
What inspired this particular story?A horror scene done badly made me want to write a scene I felt more appropriate. The story grew far beyond that, but that’s the first seed.
What secret do you use to blast through writer’s block?Work on more than one thing at a time. If you’re slowing on a project, turn to a different project.
Who is your favorite character of all of the books you’ve written and Why?The White Wolf and permutations of that character, the acerbic wolf-spirit, crop up again and again. That character archetype runs deep for me, obviously, so I’d probably say he’s my favorite.
What inspired you to write?I’ve loved stories and storytelling as long as I can remember. Eventually I had enough stressors I turned to writing as a release, and then it became something more.
How long have you been writing? Over 20 years.
Did you tell friends and family that you were writing a book? Or did it take a while to come out and tell friends and family you were a writer?I was through my first mss before I let anyone see a few of the first pages. After that I had a few regular readers.
Do you see yourself in your characters? Absolutely. Not just the main character. All those voices are facets of our own personality as writers.
What do you want your readers to take away from your books?The best fiction entertains and informs, enlarges our world to some extent. If I succeed there, I have succeeded completely.
Where do your story ideas come from? If they come to you in the middle of the night, do you get up and write them all down?I will jot down lines, images, ideas at any time of the day or night if it captures me.
Do you find it easier to write from a male or female point of view? Why? My main characters tend to reflect my perspective, within limits, so male is generally the primary point of view, but the world is a better place for having strong women in it, and so are stories, whether the main character or not.
Why do you write what you write? Contemporary, paranormal, suspense, etc. I write my interests, which tend to be history, mythology, and science and technology. F/SF is a natural follow on to that.
If writing is your first passion, what is your second? Martial Arts.
What do you like to do when you are not writing? Martial Arts, spend time with family, cook, motorcycle, read.
You’ve got a time machine, a cloak of invisibility, and one hour. Where would you go, and what eavesdropping would you do? It’s a where and when, of course—and such a tight timeline. I’d probably like to go back and see Stonehenge being built and used. Probably wouldn’t understand the language but could get a slice of insight into use and building techniques.
A peek between the pages of CrossTown:
Roads and streets run like veins and arteries through the beating heart of CrossTown. Each runs through all manner of distant and not-so-distant possibilities.
There’s a theory in modern physics that posits a universe for every decision we make. Each time we choose, right or left, high or low, vanilla or chocolate, we split into separate universes. A vanilla me here, a chocolate me there, a rocky road with pistachio me somewhere else, and some poor lactose intolerant me further down the line. The dominant me is my subjective reality. In CrossTown, the probable mes collapse into the dominant wave, but all those wandering Ways continually wash other alternate lives, lives meant to be lived in CrossTown, up on its jagged shores.
The names of roads are choices; the turning and branching of roads are choices; roads are physical manifestations of their builders’ decisions…
Everywhere, every place and every time where man or something like him has lived, roads run into one another, branch, disappear here and reappear over there as if they were quantum tunneling. They run, meet, part, cross again, and form a bewildering Mandelbrot set of linked probabilities.
Beware the road outside your front door, for it is both old friend and passing stranger.
All those choices, all hooked together, comprise a vast sea of possibility. A knowledgeable traveler can ride the currents in that sea to unimagined destinations…
CrossTown is the crossroads of probability.
https://www.facebook.com/WanderWays
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with CrossTown!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged CrossTown, fantasy, Loren W. Cooper, Science Fiction by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Ann Gimpel Author of Tarnished Legacy
Have a seat and grab an insulated mug. I’ve got hot chocolate, hot cider and coffee. Choose your pot, they’re labeled. Pick your choice of a Snicker-doodle, Chocolate Chip or Peanut butter cookie from the plate. Yep, I baked them myself. Let’s find out about Ann Gimpel’s unabridged audiobook, Tarnished Legacy, Soul Dance-Book 2.
My Review:
Tarnished Beginnings was included in the Tarnished Legacy AudioBook, so really you get two books in one.
In 1740, Egypt is a haven for magic-wielders of all kinds. Vampires hold court, staying one step ahead of the priests who want them dead. Gypsy caravans roam the Nile, plying their wares. Tairin Jabari was born in a caravan and has always believed she’s Romani. Why wouldn’t she? Her mother and father never suggested otherwise. But there is something different about her. When her secret is discovered, her mother’s punishment is death and Tairin is on the run.
In Tarnished Legacy,
Fast forward 200 years and we find Tairin traveling with the Romani again, but keeping her Shifter side a secret. She, with a sympathetic Mage are stirring up as much trouble as possible in the Nazi strongholds. Then the Vampires are discovered, forcing the Romani and Shifters to work together to eradicate the nest of Vampires.
Since I don’t do spoilers, I’ll just say these stories are action packed, and kept me turning pages until the very end. Speaking of endings it warmed the cockles of my heart. There is violence and sizzling sex so +18. I highly recommend Tarnished Legacy audiobook. I can’t wait to get my ears on Soul Dance Book 3, Tarnished Prophecy. Yep,it’s on my Christmas list!
The narrator, Gregory Salinas breathes life into Ann’s captivating characters and vivid descriptions. Bravo!
Five stars for the Author, Ann Gimpel and Narrator, Gregoy Salinas!
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Tarnished Legacy audio book. Happy Holidays!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Ann Gimpel, fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Science Fiction, Shapeshifters, Tarnished Legacy, Vampire by Tena Stetler with comments disabled.
Karilyn Bentley, Author of Demon Lore
Welcome Karilyn Bentley who joins our spooktacular Halloween celebration with a 99¢ Sale on Demon Lore! Book 1 of A Demon Huntress Series.
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Karilyn and her Demon Lore.
Tell us something no one knows about you. Once I read the Little House on the Prairie series as a child, I knew I wanted to be a writer just like her childhood idol, Laura Ingalls Wilder. It took over twenty years to make my dream come true but I finally got my chance after placing in The Wild Rose Press’s Got Wolf contest. Now I blend fantasy and romance mixed with a touch of funny.
Good for you!
I”ll take a moment here to review Demon Lore.
I love October and Halloween! So of course I had to read Demon Lore a book about magic, demons, evil, and weird. Demon Lore is funny, scary, crazy and snarky. Did I say I love snark? Well I do and Gin makes snark into an art form. In this story, Gin is an ER Nurse with empathic abilities. Her twin brother is Tonic who talks to ghosts. Who names their kids Gin and Tonic? Had a good giggle over that.
After hearing unusual sounds, Gin shoves into a hospital room where her doctor friend has sustained life-threatening injuries. When she floats through his mind she sees a bracelet that he refuses to let go, though it may cost him his life. Then suddenly the bracelet is in her pocket as the doctor is rushed to surgery. Should she put the bracelet on? Her twin has something to say about that. Who was that stranger with the dead black eyes? What Agency and who is Detective Smythe? I could tell you, but I’d have to kill you, and that would be a shame because you wouldn’t get to read this page turning tale!
Did I mention the fork, spiked-tongue demon she may have the hots for or the sexy guardian that may or may not be a good guy? Just a few questions you’ll find the answers to in Demon Lore.
I loved A Demon’s Lore and look forward to finishing the rest of the series.
Okay, here we go with the Speed Round (one word only answer): Yep, I know torture for a writer!<evil laugh>
Favorite movie: Star Wars series
Favorite book: Fires of Winter by Roberta Gellis
Last book read: Illumination by Susannah Sandlin
Favorite color: Green
Stilettos or flipflops: Stilettos
Coffee or tea: tea
Ebook or audiobook or paperback: ebook or paperback
Pencil or pen: pen
Favorite song: Demons by Imagine Dragons
Streak or not: NOT!
Favorite dessert: cherry cobbler
Favorite junk food: anything with chocolate in it
Favorite thing to do to relax: read
Champagne or gin: champagne
Paranormal or Historical: Paranormal
Wonder Woman or Top Model: Wonder Woman
Favorite TV show: Supernatural
Hot or cold: Cold
POV: First
I’d die if I don’t have: my cell phone
Review or Not: Review
Please tell us a little about Demon Lore
Gin Crawford has enough problems dealing with her empath abilities. Finding out she’s the world’s newest demon-slayer is the last thing she needs. Unfortunately, when she slips on a mysterious bracelet she is given no other choice. On the plus side, her new gig comes with Tall, Dark and Handsome, a mage who may or may not have her best interests at heart. Thrust into a power-play between good and evil, Gin must choose a side before she becomes the next victim in the ongoing battle.
A peek between the pages of Demon Lore
“Let’s take you to a room.” Laura rises, pulling on my hand. “I think you’re in shock.”
Yeah, ya think? But the shock she thinks I’m in is not the only shock I’m experiencing. Not only am I dealing with the emotional trauma of seeing my friend shot and lying in a pool of his blood, but a million questions about the shooter rush through my mind. Who was that evil man? Why did he want Will’s bracelet? Really, what was so important about a bracelet? Couldn’t he have just broken into Will’s house and stolen the thing instead of shooting Will?
I rise to my feet, my head swimming, and put hand out to T for support. He grabs my palm and squeezes, and instantly I feel better. Laura grabs my other arm and together we walk down the hall toward an empty room.
Something rattles in my pocket, hitting against my work cell phone, a metallic clink. Odd, nothing but the phone should be in my pocket. I shake loose of Laura’s grip and stick my hand in my scrubs.
One phone. One…I pull the object out and stare. Gulping in a deep breath does nothing to calm my speeding heart. My stomach makes a pit and shoves my body into the gaping maw.
“What’s that?” Laura and T ask simultaneously.
Silver links shift, catching the light. Something’s carved into the metal, words, runes, a recipe for disaster, who the hell knows. I’m too busy staring at the thing as if it’s going to bite me. Which, judging from what happened here today, it very well might.
How the hell did it get into my pocket?
Will’s special bracelet lies in my palm, the links glowing under the florescent lights and the cold bite of metal against my skin makes me…happy.
Demon Lore can be found at:
Where to find Karilyn:
Website: www.karilynbentley.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KarilynBentleyAuthor
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/karilynbentley1
Blog: http://plottingprincesses.blogspot.com
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4051943.Karilyn_Bentley
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/karilynbentley
Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/ba_0Rf
It was wonderful having you with us today. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with Demon Lore and your 99 cent SALE!
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Demon Lore, fantasy, Karilyn Bentley, Paranormal, Science Fiction, Urban Fantasy by Tena Stetler with 12 comments.
Interview-Micki Miller Author of The Darkest Sum
Give a warm welcome to Micki Miller, author of The Darkest Sum released on August 2, 2017!
Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Micki and The Darkest Sum.
Micki, tell us what inspired this particular story?
I lived most of my life in Las Vegas and I’ve seen these concrete storm drains. I stood just inside one of them. They’re dark, and creepy, and I found it easy to imagine all kinds of things going on in there. For a long time, I had a story hovering at the edge of my mind, but I could never get it to work. Then I learned the sad fact that some homeless people have made the storm drains their place to live. From that moment on, my characters went from being a part of the background of the story, to being its heart and soul.
What secret do you use to blast through writer’s block?
I don’t really get anything so severe as writer’s block. I get stuck, often. When I get really stuck, I go and brush my teeth. It seems to give me a fresh start. So, if you come over and my breath is very fresh, you’ll know it’s been a tough day of writing.
Good to know Micki.
Who is your favorite character of all the books you’ve written and why?
Liz Linden in The Darkest Sum, without a doubt. She’s about as down and out as a person can be. Nobody would guess her a person with anything above a bleak future, much less a person able to save the world. But beneath her tough exterior, her heart is noble and her will is strong. Liz is far more capable than she realizes. I think that’s probably true of many of us, and I love seeing her develop and represent the possibilities.
The Darkest Sum, hmmm… sounds ominous, tell us about the story.
The embodiment of the world’s evil has but a single fear-one homeless girl.
Twenty-two-year-old Liz Linden and her nineteen-year-old brother Jacob have lived in the storm drains that run under Las Vegas for almost one year. There are many others living in the makeshift camps. She does her best to make their concrete camp into a home until she can save enough money to get them out of the tunnels and into an apartment.
Of late, her wish to get out has become desperate, as she’s come to realize something else is down there, the offspring of malice and hypocrisy. It lives, it grows, and if not stopped, it will fully exist. It is the total of all of mankind’s evils-The Darkest Sum.
How about a peek between the pages of The Darkest Sum?
The air in the tunnel was thick and dank, and as black as a shadow’s shadow. Our single flashlight was woefully inadequate. Darkness encased my brother and me while its offspring prowled the concrete corridors searching for us. I’d been fighting for survival my whole life, but never before had I so thoroughly felt it.
Over the next twenty or thirty minutes we made several turns and while I tried to keep my bearings it became more and more difficult. The water rose again.
I had an unreasonable, albeit powerful urge to turn around and run back the way we’d come. It’s possible, as Jacob had argued; it would have been suicide, but maybe not. Maybe we would have made it through and been long out of there.
As the cold water buried more of me, creeping upward faster than I was brave enough to acknowledge, that sounded more and more promising.
In all the months we’d lived down in the tunnels, I had never experienced claustrophobia. That was something for which I had neglected to be grateful. However, with us being so far in, with the water threatening to shrink the tunnel to nothing but a concrete box without air and no known way to escape, our home of almost one year might well have been a tomb.
In order to go on and not allow terror to overcome me I did what I always do when I feel close to surrendering to my circumstance. I focused on my brother. Though in all fairness, it was Jacob who’d taken control. He led the way, he held my hand, and although he was afraid too, he kept his fears from me as I had always kept mine from him. I don’t know if that made me feel better or worse.
I hadn’t a clue as to what was going on outside. Even if the rain had stopped, the water in the tunnels would continue to rise. It was the place where the town shed its’ unwanted excess.
Every so often I made a request to Jacob that we stop for a moment to rest. I didn’t need to. My legs were strong from all the walking we’d done since becoming homeless and even with the water resistance, I hadn’t yet tired. What I needed to do was to listen without the noise of our sloshing through the water.
I didn’t hear the sound of something swimming. Maybe, like us, it was walking on actual legs.
About the author:
Micki Miller has lived most of her life in the fun city of Las Vegas. For ten years she and her husband spent several months of the year traveling the country in an R.V. She was fortunate enough to see every state in this marvelous country. Then they moved to the beautiful state of Michigan, where she learned about layering clothes and boats don’t have brakes.
Micki’s Social Media haunts:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Mickimillerwriter/
Twitter: @millermwriter
Instagram: miller.micki
It was wonderful having you with us today, Micki. Please feel free to stop by anytime. Good Luck with The Darkest Sum.
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Posted in Authors' Secrets Blog and tagged Dystopian, Micki Miller, Paranormal, Science Fiction, The Darkest Sum, Urban Fantasy by Tena Stetler with 28 comments.
