Author Interviews

About the author Tell us your story? What made you start writing? Telling stories has always been something I wanted to do.  I remember when I was around eight years old, I walked around for a couple of days with a clipboard, interviewing my family and neighbors about what type of story they’d want to read. I don’t think I ever wrote it, but that’s my first memory of wanting to write. I dabbled a little more in my teenage years, attempting to write a fantasy epic, but it never really got off the ground. I still have all the digital files, though! Perhaps one day it will become reality. Then I went to college, got a job, and dropped all attempts at writing while trying to be one of those responsible adults. In the spring of 2018, during a difficult period of my life, I woke up one morning from a really vivid and tragic dream I still remember. It inspired the first full novel I managed to write, which took eight months. It was pretty bad! Luckily, I learned a lot from it and the writer friends I’ve accumulated. Darkness Within was my fourth novel, and the first one which got published. I’ve never stopped thinking about characters since that dream. They drive every single scrap of an idea I have typed out. Wanting to understand what makes people tick and what happens when I smash two very different personalities together. Also, kissing. I like to write kissing.… Read More »Cyprus Hart

About the author Tell us your story? What made you start writing? I’ve always had a love for reading. It blossomed at a very young age, and naturally, reading at a higher level came easy for me. I grasped mature content much faster than my peers, and I believe that is how I managed to create content as such, even at this age. The main reason I started writing was my crazy imagination. And on the other hand, it was because of my grandfather. He was an author and published tons of books over his lifetime. I wanted to be just like him. Finally, on September 11th, I was able to pronounce myself an author after I released my debut novel, Madness. If only Grandpa Parque can see me now. He passed away too soon. What is the best gift you have been given? I think the gift of being blessed into a wonderful family and having the resources in my life to develop myself as a person is the best gift I’ve ever been given. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to? I don’t have the exact year, but back when Jesus roamed the earth and visited Jerusalem is when I would go back in time. If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce? The first law would be: People who are corrupt, convicted, greedy, or are subject to judgment, will face the consequences… Read More »Paityn Parque

About the author Lou Kemp’s early work was horror and suspense, later work morphed into a combination of magical realism, mystery and adventure painted with a horrific element as needed. She is one of those writers who doesn’t plan ahead, no outlines, no clue, and I sometimes writes herself into a corner. Atmospheric music in the background helps. Black by Pearl Jam is one that really helps. What is the best gift you have been given?  As a writer, the gift of constructive feedback. If you could go back in time, what year would you travel to?  Year 1868.  If you were ruler of your own country what would be the first law you would introduce? The right of a woman to be her own person. If you had a warning label, what would yours say?  Please ask yourself ‘what if?’ and read the Celwyn series with that in mind. About The Violins Played Before Junstan (Celwyn series #0,5) At first, the immortal peyote-eating magician Celwyn is hired to deliver an automat, Professor Kang, to a priest called Talos. Everything Talos told Celwyn was a lie, and by the time their ship, the Zelda, encounters a terrific storm in the Arctic Circle, Celwyn finds he must reconsider his allegiance. He chooses Kang, and they travel to Singapore, preparing to journey west. In order to deflect the attention of the city’s police, they allow an American heiress to go with them as she escapes matrimony to seek adventure. Her crazy aunt… Read More »Lou Kemp

About the author Tell us your story? What made you start writing? My path to writing was a fun one. It all started in 8th grade when our class was tasked with a project; write and illustrate your own children’s book. I was excited, and decided to make one about my friend Eric and I trying to stop another friend of ours, named Ryan, from destroying the Earth. I got 110% on the project and was told I had a wonderful imagination. So I started running with it. By the time I was 17 in 2004, the first book I ever wrote, “Erift’s Journeys: Secrets of The Sealed Forest” was published through Iuniverse. I was young and didn’t know what I was doing. I paid for it to be published and let it sit and rot. No surprise it went nowhere. 2016 rolled around and I redid the story, but I again, let sit, save for some posts on Twitter. The reception was okay, but by 2019 I wanted to turn writing from a hobby to a profession. I wanted readers, especially younger ones, to be taken on an epic adventure like I always wanted to as a child. That’s why I write. I write because I want to take readers on a fun, epic adventure and for them to grow with my characters over the course of the series. What’s your favorite family tradition? My favorite family tradition is how every autumn, we go out to a local farm… Read More »J.T. Tenera