Author Spotlight no.415 – Miriam A Averna

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the four hundred and fifteenth, is of Miriam A Averna. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Miriam A. Averna writes horror, dark, mystery, twisted or just plain weird stories. She lives in Milton Keynes with her two cats and partner, but is originally from the South of England and was born in sunny Sicily. She enjoys writing flash fiction, short stories and has just completed her medical mystery novel- No Cure for Fear.

She began writing when she was a kid and is an avid reader of fiction. Her stories have featured in a number of publications.

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Her horror story Run, Scream, Eat, REPEAT featured in the first ever edition of Canadian magazine Devolution Z in August 2015 http://www.devolutionz.com/previous-issues.html.

Another horror story, End Trails, is available for free download on www.pennyshorts.com. It tells of a girl who is persuaded to run a 5k zombie race by her friend… but is it all it seems? Click here to read that story.

In the Autumn issue of Kishboo e-magazine, she won the runner-up prize for her short quirky story I didn’t like those shoes anyway. Ever wondered how shoes end up on the side of roads? Then read this story to find out!

She is also Assistant Editor for Horror Scribes which publishes flash fiction stories and regularly hosts competitions, their most recent one was based on Dante’s Inferno. https://horrorscribes.wordpress.com/fright-cards

When not writing she is mostly eating, thinking about eating or cataloguing ales and craft beers in her head.

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And now from the author herself:

Author Spotlight no.414 – Yani

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the four hundred and fourteenth, is of Yani. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Yani is an Amazon Best Selling Author of five 5-star novels hailing from the North Philly and Germantown sections of Philadelphia.

She’s been in the top 20 of African American Fiction-Urban Life for her A Thug’s Redemption series and debuted at number 12 in Romance and Erotica for Obsessive Intimacies.

Yani has a unique way of bringing stories to life, giving her readers the feeling that they are watching a movie with every page that is turned.

Her characters are real, raw and easy to relate to while her story lines are original, and having the ability to evoke emotions in the readers from start to finish.

She has been featured in Yo! Raps magazine for ‘A Thug’s Redemption’ and was also a featured author at the 2013 Houston Black Book festival.

Yani first got her start writing for her school paper at University City. Her popular poems granted her an invitation to the Tri-State area’s number 1 Hip-Hop and R&B radio station, where she recited one of her most memorable pieces, “Why Tyrone Can’t Read”.

She then moved on to performing at various open mic nights in Philadelphia before landing a publishing deal with Publish America.

With the desire to self-publish and develop her own production company, Yani bought back the rights to A Thug’s Redemption and re-released it under her own publishing company “Anitbeet Productions”.

She then followed up with two sequels and penned her first erotic novel in 2014.

She is currently in the process of turning A Thug’s Redemption into an independent film and working on her sixth novel which will be released summer of 2016.

To learn more about this remarkable author and her incredible body of work, visit www.theauthoryani.com.

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And now from the author herself:

Author Spotlight no.413 – cross-genre author Robert Eggleton

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the four hundred and thirteenth, is of cross-genre author Robert Eggleton. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Robert Eggleton was born into an impoverished family in 1951, the oldest of four children. He grew up in low income neighborhoods surrounding Charleston, West Virginian, U.S. His alcoholic and occasionally abusive father suffered from PTSD, called “shell shock” back then – night terrors caused by WWII traumas – and had difficulty holding onto a job. Robert’s mother did the best she could, but Robert had to begin working himself as a child to feed his family. He started paying into America’s Social Security fund at age 12, dreamed of a brighter future, and has worked at various jobs for the next fifty-two years.

In the eighth grade, Robert won the school’s short story contest. The award made his dreams concrete – A Writer. As it often does, life got in the way of his dream. The Vietnam War motivated him to go to college to avoid the draft. As covered by local press, Robert organized antiwar protests while attending college. Except for a poem published in the state’s student anthology and another poem published in a local alternative newspaper, his creative juices were spent writing handouts for antiwar activities and on class assignments. He graduated in 1973 with a degree in social work and with no student loan debt.

Robert worked in the field of adolescent substance abuse treatment as he attended graduate school at West Virginia University. His dream, creative writing, continued to be “on hold.” After earning an MSW in 1977, he focused on children’s advocacy. He helped establish a shelter for runaways, a community-based residential program for high risk youth as an alternative to putting kids in huge institutions, and a state-wide network of family-like emergency children’s shelters. His heartfelt need to write fiction was dissipated somewhat by the publication of nationally distributed social service models, grants, and research on children’s issues.

Robert’s dream of becoming a creative writer continued to take a back seat to nonfiction when he accepted a job as a juvenile investigator for the West Virginia Supreme Court. He worked in this role from 1984 until mid 1997. During this period he was the primary author of dozens or investigative reports on children’s institutions, and statistical reports on child abuse and delinquency published by the Court, and now archived by the West Virginia Division of Culture and History.

After running a small nonprofit agency that served people with developmental disabilities, Robert went back home to direct services. He accepted a position as a Therapist in an intensive outpatient children’s mental health program. Most of the kids, like Robert, had been traumatized, some having experienced extreme sexual abuse. One day at work in 2006 it all clicked together and the Lacy Dawn Adventures project was born – an empowered female protagonist beating the evil forces that victimize and exploit others to get anything and everything that they want.

Robert soon found out that it takes much more than good creative writing to become an author. It wasn’t like in the 8th grade when his hand-printed story had won the school’s contest. He was naive about the protocols within the marketplace. Technology was in a period of rapid advancement with publishers presenting a mixture of electronic and traditional submission guidelines and publication formats. Robert was lost. A day after he registered for his first ever science fiction forum experience, he was banned for life due to what the moderator said was self-promotion of his debut novel.

The next day at work, Robert reassessed his life-long dream of becoming a creative writer. During a group therapy session, he looked into the kids’ faces as they disclosed the horrors that they had experienced. It fueled his determination to make his own dream come true and he dedicated half of any author proceeds to a child abuse prevention program.

Subsequently, three short Lacy Dawn Adventures were published in magazines. Robert then found a publisher for his debut novel, Rarity from the Hollow – a traditional, small press located in Leeds. Since the publisher was willing to bear all upfront costs, Robert signed the contract and Rarity from the Hollow was released in 2012 as a paperback and an eBook by Dog Horn Publishing.

Robert then learned that release of his novel was the beginning of a long journey called marketing. His novel has received glowing reviews, most notably by long-time book critic Barry Hunter and by the Missouri Review, award winning authors Darrell Bain, and Piers Anthony, and others, Robert’s writing was compared to that of Vonnegut by the editor of the Electric Review, A Universe on the Edge. A retired editor of Reader’s Digest published that Rarity from the Hollow was the best science fiction that he had read in several years.

Four months ago, Robert retired from this job as a children’s psychotherapist for the local mental health center so that he could concentrate on writing and promoting Rarity from the Hollow. He is holding off on the release of the next Lacy Dawn Adventure, Ivy, until he achieves greater name recognition. Shorter works are pending consideration – two poems and a short story have been submitted to magazines. Another very short story has been entered into a contest. Robert is finally pursuing his life-long dream of becoming a full-time creative writer, but he may need to get at least a part-time job in order to pay his bills in the meantime.

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And now from the author himself:

Author Spotlight no.412 – debut novelist David Riese

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the four hundred and twelfth, is of debut novelist Dave Riese. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Born in 1946, Dave Riese grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, graduating from Arlington High School in 1964. He attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, majoring in English literature. During his junior year, he studied English Literature at Oxford University.

After graduating in 1968, David enlisted in the Air Force one step ahead of his draft board’s invitation to join the army. He married Susan, his high school girlfriend, during leave between tech school and his posting to the Philippines at Clark Air Base. During his final two years in the military, he and his wife lived near Andrews Air Force Base outside Washington D.C.

Discharged from the military in 1972, he attended Boston University on the GI Bill for a Master’s degree in Broadcast Journalism. The following summer he was hired by the University of New Hampshire to script and film videotapes about government social programs for the elderly.

His videotape grant ran out in 1976, but luckily at that time, companies were eager to hire people for their IT departments. With no computer experience, David was hired by Liberty Mutual Insurance to attend their three-month training course. He learned later that the major reason he was hired was his writing and communications background. He has often said, “This goes to show you that an English degree is a valuable asset!”

During his 35 years in information technology, the industry evolved from mainframes to personal computers using the internet. He retired from Massachusetts Financial Services in spring of 2012.

He and his wife moved north of Boston in 1974. Their daughter lives in Ireland with her husband. Their son and his wife are both pediatricians working in Rhode Island. They have four grandchildren.

Since retirement, he spends 3 – 4 hours a day, writing (or marketing), usually in a local coffee shop. Echo from Mount Royal is his first novel.

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And now from the author himself:

Morgen’s author interview with writer Caroline A Connell

Welcome to another of my blog interviews with novelists, poets, short story authors, biographers, agents, publishers and more. Today’s is with thriller, fantasy, children’s author and spotlightee Caroline A Connell. A list of interviewees (blogged and scheduled) can be found here. If you like what you read, please do go and investigate further.

We met Caroline back in June and she’s returned today for a chat. But first, here’s a reminder from the biography from her spotlight…

Writer, blogger, mom, wife and adventurer on life’s creative high seas. Self-confessed book-junkie, literary festival devotee and peruser of indie bookstores. Caroline A Connell is a former finance guru who has escaped death-by-bullet point to live her dream to write novels and publish them.

A lover of the written word, as a child Connell read her way through the local public library. In high school, she would irritate her Eng Lit teacher by reading ahead but still keep tabs on where the teacher was up to. {Does anyone remember those tedious lessons where the teacher just sat at the front and read? For an hour at a time? Talk about killing off a love of literature}.

After college, a life in finance and the law tempered her need to write but it remained an itch that could never be fully scratched. “The Secret Alchemist” is her first published novel and 2014 promises several more.

Connell lives on the gentle, green slopes of the Pennine Hills in the UK with her family and pet dog, and can be discovered at her website and across social media.

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Morgen: Hello Caroline. The gentle, green slopes of the Pennine Hills sounds intriguing, please tell us a little more about where you’re from.

Caroline: I’m from Lancashire County in the UK – it’s a rural farming county, all green fields and rolling hills that run down to the shores of the Irish Sea, but right on the doorstep of the cosmopolitan cities of Manchester and Liverpool. I grew up on the southern shores of Lancaster Bay, with fabulous views to the magnificent Cumbrian Mountains.

Morgen: When and why did you begin writing?

Caroline: I’ve always written. At school I wrote for the school magazine and since then I’ve been thinking up stories and jotting them down as a hobby.

Morgen: Did you always want to be an author?

Caroline: At school it was my day dream, but a school careers counsellor persuaded me to go into the law and that was that for a while. Having said that, it was a wise suggestion on his part – I could subvert my desire to write into drafting legal documentation, which worked, for a while at least. I decided upon it as a career back in April last year.

Author Spotlight no.372 – Caroline A Connell

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the three hundred and seventy-second, is of debut novelist Caroline A Connell. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Writer, blogger, mom, wife and adventurer on life’s creative high seas. Self-confessed book-junkie, literary festival devotee and peruser of indie bookstores. Caroline A Connell is a former finance guru who has escaped death-by-bullet point to live her dream to write novels and publish them.

A lover of the written word, as a child Connell read her way through the local public library. In high school, she would irritate her Eng Lit teacher by reading ahead but still keep tabs on where the teacher was up to. {Does anyone remember those tedious lessons where the teacher just sat at the front and read? For an hour at a time? Talk about killing off a love of literature}.

After college, a life in finance and the law tempered her need to write but it remained an itch that could never be fully scratched. “The Secret Alchemist” is her first published novel and 2014 promises several more.

Connell lives on the gentle, green slopes of the Pennine Hills in the UK with her family and pet dog, and can be discovered at her website and across social media.

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And now from the author herself:

Author Spotlight no.337 – Jim Sellers

Complementing my interviews, today’s Author Spotlight, the three hundred and thirty-seventh, is of multi-genre author and interviewee Jim Sellers. If you would like to take part in an author spotlight, take a look at author-spotlights.

Jim Sellers is the author of the newly released YA book “Jacky the Brave”. Although he had written works in most genres, he was surprised and happy to see his first publishing success was in YA. His writing in that genre is based mostly on events in his own life with some inspiration from friends and other family members. “Jacky the Brave” is just such a collection of his experiences.

Born in Edmonton in north-west Canada, Jim spent a lot of time reading and imagining exciting adventures as a kid. That was the favourite pastime of boys who didn’t play hockey and lived before the age of video games. Like most writers, he has been creating stories since his teen years and found the pen and paper to be a regular companion on long trips and quiet days. He also doubted that any of his work would be published – it seemed unlikely after watching other writers he knew trying so hard. So he set his sights on film and TV. During his 20 years in that business he learned the process of writing screenplays for drama and documentaries as well as advertising and corporate communications before retiring from that industry. For the last 10 years he has been working in communications management for non-profits groups and universities.

He continued to write screenplays as show pilots or spec film scripts, most ending up in the rejection files. It was after he decided to get his Bachelor’s degree (at 50) that he learned to appreciate the sheer joy and freedom of writing fiction. It was this appreciation for fictional writing that caused him to re-evaluate all the abandoned stories he had filed away and all the adventures he had logged in his notes. In 2004, he made a project of writing a series of YA stories based on his previous writing. Each of these stories (4 in all) received different levels of interest from publishers and agents, with results ranging from boilerplate rejections to requests for full manuscripts (followed eventually by rejections). During this time he established a variety of websites about writing, posted his short stories and wrote a serial novel.

After repeated rewrites and editing, his first Young Adult novel was accepted for publication in 2013. He is working on a sequel for the book, a short story collection and a novel.

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And now from the author himself:

5PM Fiction 285: The photo that no-one else can get

Welcome to the two hundred and eighty-fifth in this series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.

Late April 2011 I discovered StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011. I have since published (as eBooks) the 2012 and 2013 collections, detailed on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/books-mine/short-stories/story-a-day-may.

I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story in second person-viewpoint from the keyword prompt of ‘chase’. Here is my 356-worder.

The photo that no-one else can get

You’ve been chasing her for days, to get the photo that no-one else can get. She knows you’re there. There’s always someone there.

It’s a lifestyle she’s had to become accustomed to, only you don’t think she ever will. It’s not one you’d want, except she’s become your job, your life.

When she emerges out of the building, you reach over to your camera, on its dashboard tripod, and set it to continuous.

You follow her car through narrow streets, wide streets – her executive to your jalopy, the only thing you could get at short notice. You’re used to this place, she’s been here a lot.

Most of the shots are of the back of her head but you know she could look round. She has before.

As her car gathers speed so does yours. It complains but it’s not yours so you’re not bothered.

As she heads into the tunnel, she edges forward and you floor the accelerator, a little too close for comfort but you decide to go alongside, get level, no other cars in sight, so you swivel round your camera in anticipation, a momentary lapse in concentration.

Flash Fiction Friday 109: Watcher by Angela Sturm

Welcome to Flash Fiction Friday and the one hundred and ninth piece in this series. This week’s is a 467-worder by freelance writer, blogger and book reviewer Angela Sturm. This story will be podcasted in episode 34 (with two other stories and some 6-worders) on Sunday 1st December.

Watcher

I can see him making his way up the stairs. No one else appeared to notice. I called to him and he smiled. I took his outstretched hand and in an instant we were walking through the cornfield, talking laughing, knowing. I suspect this will be our last outing together. I want to cry but for some reason I can’t. I am strangely happy, content to say nothing.

I know what he is doing and why he’s doing it. He loves me. He wants me to be the first to know. I can hear crying in the background and people talking in hushed tones, moving about, but I can’t see anyone. “Can you see them?” I ask. “Yes, I can,” he said. You will see them soon enough.”

We continued to walk and although our lips weren’t moving, our conversation carried on. I am having trouble remembering much of anything said, I only know how peaceful this is and I never want to leave. I held tightly to his hand. Memories of early morning fishing expeditions, milk toast and that awful smell of head cheese he loved to make, filled my mind and made us both laugh. I remember him clothing and feeding the homeless and that silly dance he did every morning while singing the wake up song, pulling at his hair and making it stick up. I was laughing so hard I barely noticed that we’ve stopped walking. He is looking at me now, time standing still. He looks so serious, gently placing his hands on my cheeks, searching deep into my eyes. I think I saw a tear trickle down his face. I have only ever seen him cry once, and it was when he told me stories about the war and how no man should have to endure what he witnessed. War killed his spirit. I can feel my tears now. Our journey has come to an end.

The fields have disappeared. He’s not holding my face anymore. Desperate, I call out his name. “I am right here princess, do not be afraid.” I can barely see him. I call out again, “Why are you so far away?” “It is time,” he said. “I am going home.” Then a soft white light… well, more like a white cloud, appeared. He drew closer and smiled at me for the last time, then disappeared into the white fog.

A door opened somewhere, more crying. I hear my name. Something has my shoulder. “Ava, Ava, wake up, honey.” I turn to look at the clock. It’s after midnight. “Dad and I need to talk to you.” My room is filled with family. They are staring at me. “Grandpa died in his sleep,” they said, “in heaven now,” but I already knew this.

I watched him go.

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I asked Angela what prompted this piece and she said…

My grandfather and I were very close. I remember like it was yesterday when he passed. I was sixteen, eating a tuna sandwich watching the wheel of fortune. My grandma called and simply said, “I think Grandpa is dead. Can I talk to your dad please?” Calm as could be. I know now she was in shock, but back then, I kept wondering how she remained so composed.

The flash fiction piece I wrote is based on actual events, but fictionalized. I miss my grandpa as much today as I did those many years ago when he died. I think about him often, the impact he had, and continues to have, on me, so I decided to memorialize him. “Watcher” was written with him in mind.

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Thank you, Angela. It was very moving, and having lost my father September 2001, I feel just the same.

Angela Sturm is a freelance writer, blogger and book reviewer currently working on a novel.

Angela lives in Minnesota, is mother to three children and one grandchild, and blogs at http://insideasanemind.com.

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If you’d like to submit your 6-word or 500-word max. stories for consideration for Flash Fiction Friday take a look here, or up to 1,000 words for critique on my Online Short Story Writing Group (links below).

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, various short story collections and writer’s block workbooks) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post a spotlight or interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.

I welcome items for critique directly (see Editing & Critique) or for posting on the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.

5PM Fiction 284: Once A Month

Welcome to the two hundred and eighty-fourth in this series that is ‘5pm Fiction’.

Late April 2011 I discovered StoryADay.org and the project that is to write 31 stories in 31 days. Anyone who knows me or follows this blog, knows how passionate I am about short stories so my clichéd eyes lit up at this new marvel. And just a few days later there I was, breathing life into new characters. This went on to become (with some editing of course) my 31-story collection eBook Story A Day May 2011. I have since published (as eBooks) the 2012 and 2013 collections, detailed on https://morgenbailey.wordpress.com/books-mine/short-stories/story-a-day-may.

I was nearing completion of the 2012 project when I decided that I didn’t want to stop at the end of May so 5PM Fiction was born. I put a load of prompts on the 5PM Fiction page and today’s was to write a story from the one-word prompt of ‘yellow’. Here is my 163-worder.

Once A Month

She’d been on before. Dan recognised her brooch, yellow like the bus, but it wasn’t until she handed over the £2 coin, that he spotted the bandages round each wrist.

He handed over the change. He wasn’t supposed to – the rules were exact money only and it was only 40p, but it gave him an excuse to speak. “I like your sunflower,” he said, but felt it a lame thing to say.

“Thanks,” she said, looking down at the coins and blushing.

“Nice to see you again,” he continued.

“You remembered?”

Dan nodded.

“Once a month,” she said, tears forming.

Unsure of what to say, Dan felt as if he’d been let into a secret.

A man behind the woman coughed and as she put the change into her purse, Dan was sure he spotted a hint of a smile.

He watched her walk towards the back of the bus and hoped he didn’t have to wait another month before they spoke again.

***

Photograph above courtesy of morguefile.com.

** NEW!! You can now subscribe to this blog on your Kindle / Kindle app via Amazon.co.uk or Amazon.com **

You can sign up to receive these blog posts daily or weekly so you don’t miss anything. You can contact me and find me on the internet, view my Books (including my debut novel The Serial Dater’s Shopping List, various short story collections and writer’s block workbooks) and I also have a blog creation / maintenance service especially for, but not limited to, writers. If you like this blog, you can help me keep it running by donating and choose an optional free eBook.

For writers / readers willing to give feedback and / or writers wanting feedback, take a look at this blog’s Feedback page.

As I post a spotlight or interview a day (amongst other things) I can’t unfortunately review books but I have a list of those who do. If there’s anything you’d like to take part in, take a look at Opportunities on this blog.

I welcome items for critique directly (see Editing & Critique) or for posting on the online writing groups listed below:

Morgen’s Online Non-Fiction Writing Group

• nonfictionwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/335526669896374

Morgen’s Online Novel Writing Group

• novelwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/508696639153189

Morgen’s Online Poetry Writing Group

• poetrywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/388850977875934

Morgen’s Online Script Writing Group

• scriptwritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/319941328108017

Morgen’s Online Short Story Writing Group

• shortstorywritinggroup.wordpress.com
• facebook.com/groups/544072635605445

We look forward to reading your comments.