Archive for the ‘Author Interviews’ Category:

Pump Up Your Book Chats with Valmore Daniels

In true nomadic spirit, Valmore Daniels has lived on the coasts of the Atlantic, Pacific, and Arctic Oceans, and dozens of points in between. An insatiable thirst for new experiences has led him to work in several fields, including legal research, elderly care, oil & gas administration, web design, government service, human resources, and retail business management. His enthusiasm for travel is only surpassed by his passion for telling tall tales. Valmore’s latest book is Forbidden the Stars, a sci-fi novel set at the end of the 21st century. Visit his website at www.ValmoreDaniels.com. Thank you for this interview, Valmore.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Vincent Zandri

Vincent Zandri is an award-winning novelist, essayist and freelance photojournalist. His novel As Catch Can (Delacorte) was touted in two pre-publication articles by Publishers Weekly and was called “Brilliant” upon its publication by The New York Post. The Boston Herald attributed it as “The most arresting first crime novel to break into print this season.” Other novels include the bestselling, Moonlight Falls,Godchild (Bantam/Dell) and Permanence (NPI). Translated into several languages including Japanese and the Dutch, Zandri’s novels have also been sought out by numerous major movie producers, including Heyday Productions and DreamWorks. Presently he is the author of the blogs, Dangerous Dispatches and Embedded in Africa for Russia Today
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Dina Kucera

Dina Kucera was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. After completing a project to collect and identify fifty insects, she graduated from the ninth grade and left school for good. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Her first job was a paper route, and she has worked as a maid, bartender, waitress, and grocery store checker. Dina has also been a stand-up comic for twenty years, for which she receives payment ranging from a small amount of money to a very, very small amount of money. When it comes to awards and recognition, she was once nominated for a Girl Scout sugar cookie award, but
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Mike Manos

About Mike Manos Mike Manos is a professor of Economics and a scholar of History and Archaeology. He is also a poet and a freelance writer. You can find Mike at twitter; http://twitter.com/faithforgotten At Facebook; www.facebook.com/mikemanos Order at Amazon Thank you for this interview, Mike. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? A: I started as a poet at a very young age and after many years I still vividly remember my first publishing piece, an anthem. What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Bronwyn Storm

There was only one thing Bronwyn wanted to be when she grew up: a superhero. Sadly, this goal was made moot when she realized that being a klutz was not, in fact, a super power, and her super-weakness for anything bright and shiny meant that a magpie with self-control could easily defeat her in a battle of wills. So, she turned to writing as a way to unleash her inner superhero. She doesn’t get to live on a secret space station orbiting the earth (and thank goodness because she gets motion sick on a merry-go-round), but she still get to wear leotards, a cape and say things like, “STAND
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Hazel Statham

Hazel Statham lives in England and has been writing on and off since she was fifteen. Initially she was influenced by Austen, the Brontës, and Sabatini but when she turned seventeen, Georgette Heyer opened up the romance and elegance of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. She immediately knew she had found her eras and wanted nothing more than to re-create them in her work.   www.hazel-statham.co.uk.   Thank you for this interview, Hazel.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? I always received top marks for my essays at school but it wasn’t  until I
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Judge Glenda Hatchett

After graduating from Emory University School of Law and completing a coveted clerkship in the U.S. Federal Courts, Glenda Hatchett accepted a position at Delta Air Lines, as the company’s highest-ranking African-American woman. She served in dual roles as a senior attorney for Delta, litigating cases in federal courts throughout the country, and Manager of Public Relations, supervising global crisis management, and media relations for all of Europe, Asia and the United States. In fact, her outstanding contributions were recognized by Ebony Magazine, which named Glenda Hatchett one of the “100 Best and Brightest Women in Corporate America.” She made the difficult decision to leave Delta Air Lines in
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Jon Katz

  Jon Katz is an author, photographer, and children’s book writer. Rose In A Storm is his nineteenth book, and his first novel in a decade. He lives on Bedlam Farm in upstate New York with his wife, the artist Maria Wulf, his four dogs – Rose, Izzy, Lenore and Frieda – and two donkeys, Lulu and Fanny, and his barn cats Mother and Minnie.  You can visit Jon online at  www.bedlamfarm.com.     Thank you for this interview, Jon.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? My first published pieces were letters to
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with LeAnn Neal Reilly

LeAnn Neal Reilly graduated from Carnegie Mellon University with a master’s degree in professional writing. Along the way, she majored briefly in chemistry, served as opinion editor and then editor of her college newspaper, and interned for an international design firm. After graduate school, LeAnn worked for a small multimedia startup and then a computer science research group. At the startup, she spent her time writing user manuals and scripts for multimedia software used to train railroad engineers. While writing among geeks, LeAnn became enamored and decided to take one home for herself. After getting married and starting a family, she returned to her adolescent daydreams of writing novels.
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Philip Stott

  Philip Stott was born in England in 1943. In 1967 he moved to Nigeria to lecture at Ahmadu Bello University and from there he moved to South Africa to lecture at Wits. University. In 1976, while an ardent atheist, he met the Lord Jesus Christ and his perspective on life changed completely. For many years he has been passionately concerned with the relationship between Scripture and Science. He has been an invited guest lecturer at The Russian Accademy of Sciences, the European Centre for Nuclear Research, a UNESCO conference on the teaching of Physics, the State University of St. Petersburg and many other places of learning in Europe,
Read More


Talking Virtual Book Tours with Joshua Graham

Joshua Graham grew up in Brooklyn, NY, where he lived for the better part of 30 years. He holds a Bachelor and Master’s Degree and went on to earn his doctorate from Johns Hopkins University.   During his time in Maryland, he taught as a professor at Shepherd College (WV), Western Maryland College, and Columbia Union College (MD). Today he lives with his beautiful wife and children in San Diego.  Several of Graham’s short fiction works have been published by Pocket Books and Dawn Treader Press under different pen names. Beyond Justice is now available in Trade Paperback through Amazon.com as well as Barnes and Noble.  It’s available at the
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with John Knoerle

John Knoerle was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1949 and migrated to California with his family in the 1960s. He has worked as a stand-up comic, a voiceover actor and a radio reporter. He wrote the screenplay for “Quiet Fire,” which starred Karen Black and Lawrence Hilton Jacobs, and the stage play “The He-Man Woman Hater’s Club,” an LA Time’s Critics Choice. John also worked as a writer for Garrison Keillor’s “A Prairie Home Companion.” Knoerle’s first novel, Crystal Meth Cowboys, published in 2003, was optioned by Fox TV. His second novel, The Violin Player,won the Mayhaven Award for Fiction. Knoerle is currently at work on The American Spy
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Fiction Author Cheryl Bannerman

Cheryl McNeil Bannerman is CEO of a small virtual training company based out of Central New Jersey. She works out of her home office and creates classroom training materials, e-Learning modules, job aides and much more for corporate employees and their clients. She holds a Bachelors in Business Management and a Masters in Project Management. She is also the (divorced) single mother of a beautiful eleven year old girl. In her spare time she loves to read murder mysteries, watch movies, try new restaurants and cuisines, shop with her daughter, and in the summer, walk the boardwalk and take in the sun on the beach. Although her works are
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Science Fiction Thriller Author DCS

DCS was born in Alexandria, Virginia. She graduated high school in Huntersville, NC and attended the University of North Carolina at Charlotte intent on earning a degree in Political Science and becoming a lawyer. She instead eventually turned to writing. DCS is currently attending the American Institute of Holistic Theology to earn her PhD in Metaphysical Spirituality. You can also hear her live every Saturday evening on BlogTalkRadio’s In the Mind of DCS. Show starts at 7pm Central Standard Time. Synarchy Book 2: The Ascension is her second novel, and four more are scheduled for release. Synarchy Book 3: SVT and Synarchy Book 4: The Black Widow are the
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Cheryl C. Malandrinos

Cheryl Malandrinos is a freelance writer and editor. A regular contributor for Writer2Writer, her articles focus on increasing productivity through time management and organization. A founding member of Musing Our Children, Ms. Malandrinos is also Editor in Chief of the group’s quarterly newsletter, Pages & Pens.      Cheryl is a Tour Coordinator for Pump Up Your Book, a book reviewer, and blogger. Little Shepherd is her first children’s book. Ms. Malandrinos lives in Western Massachusetts with her husband and two young daughters. She also has a son who is married.  You can visit Cheryl online at http://ccmalandrinos.com or the Little Shepherd blog at http://littleshepherdchildrensbook.blogspot.com/. You can also find Cheryl on Twitter and
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Robert Seymour

Robert Seymour, (under the pseudonym of Charles Courtley) is a retired judge who lives on the English coast with his wife, Jane, of 38 years, and a small dog called Phoebe. He is the author of Wig Begone, a tale of a young barrister’s triumphs and tragedies. As well as adapting his novel into a screenplay and writing a sequel, he contributes to legal newsletters and blogs. Find him online at http://courtleyprocedures.wordpress.com. About Wig Begone Charles, a newly qualified lawyer without a penny to his name, plunges into the archaic world of the Bar as it was thirty-five years ago. After a stroke of beginners’ luck – and a
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Lars Walker

  Lars Walker is a native of Kenyon, Minnesota, where he grew up on a farm. He is a graduate of Augsburg College in Minneapolis. He has worked as a crab meat packer in Alaska, a radio announcer, an administrative assistant, and is now librarian and bookstore manager for the schools of the Association of Free Lutheran Congregations in Plymouth, Minnesota. He is the author of several published fantasy novels, the latest of which is West Oversea, published by Nordskog Publications. His website is www.larswalker.com, and he blogs at www.brandywinebooks.net. When he’s not at work or writing, he can often be found playing Viking with a reenactment group. Thank
Read More


Pump Up Chats with James Livingston

  James D. Livingston’s professional career was in physics, first at GE and later at MIT, and most of his writings in the 20th century were in physics, including one popular-science book (Driving Force: The Natural Magic of Magnets, Harvard, 1996). As he gradually moved into retirement in the 21st century, he began to broaden his writing topics into American history, a long-time interest of his. His latest book in this genre is Arsenic and Clam Chowder: Murder in Gilded Age New York. His Author’s Guild website is www.jamesdlivingston.net.             Thank you for this interview, Jim.  Do you remember writing stories as a child
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Daisy Jordan – Author of Loves Means Zero

Daisy Jordan is an obsessive tennis fan and wrote Love Means Zero, in which Hilton gets a job as a photographer for a tennis magazine, so she could live out her dream-job fantasy through Hilton. But don’t worry if you’re not a tennis fan; Love Means Zero still has all the drama and suspense of Daisy’s previous books! Those books include Everything Happens for a Reason…, the Spin the Bottle series, and All That Sparkles Isn’t Real Sapphire. Before she published her first book, Daisy grew up in Indiana watching tennis all summer every summer on TV and having her own fair share of high school and college boy
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Author Tom Weston

Originally from England, Tom Weston now resides in Boston, Massachusetts. His works include the fantasy based Alex and Jackie Adventure books, First Night and the Elf of Luxembourg. His latest project is fission, a novel based on the true life story of scientist, Lise Meitner. For more information visit Tom at http://tom-weston.com or find him on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/tom.weston.readers Thank you for this interview, Mr. Tom Weston. Welcome back to Pump Up Your Book. You’re currently promoting a project that is a little different from your usual work. Can you tell us about it and why you wrote it? A: Thanks for inviting me back. Yes, my latest project,
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Self-Help Author Steff Dechenes

Despite a failed attempt at majoring in ice cream in college, Steff Deschenes is a self-taught ice-cream making guru. She has researched her craft all over the world, and believes that the ice cream found at home is the best there is. After publishing The Ice Cream Theory, she began exploring food on more universal level, as a result she now photo blogs daily herself at dinner and the challenges of being a vegetarian in a predominantly seafood-oriented state.  Steff also writes two articles a week entitled “Maybe It’s Me” (personal essays and reflection on life and the living of it) and “Fact Is Better” (real life conversations she
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Christopher Stookey

Christopher Stookey, MD, is a practicing emergency physician, and he is passionate about medicine and health care. However, his other great interests are literature and writing, and he has steadily published a number of short stories and essays over the past ten years. His most recent essay, “First in My Class,” appears in the book BECOMING A DOCTOR (published by W. W. Norton & Co, March 2010); the essay describes Dr. Stookey’s wrenching involvement in a malpractice lawsuit when he was a new resident, fresh out of medical school. TERMINAL CARE, a medical mystery thriller, is his first novel. The book, set in San Francisco, explores the unsavory world
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Allie Larkin

Allie Larkin lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Jeremy, their two German Shepherds, Argo and Stella, and a three-legged cat. She is the co-founder of TheGreenists.com, a site dedicated to helping readers take simple steps toward going green. STAY is her first novel. You can visit Allie’s website at www.allielarkinwrites.com. About Stay Savannah “Van” Leone has loved Peter since the day they met. The problem is, Peter has loved Van’s best friend, Janie, since the moment they met. And now they’re walking down the aisle, with Van standing nearby in a Halloween orange bridesmaid dress, her smile as hollow as a jack-o-lantern. After the wedding, Van drowns
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Patrick Brown

Patrick Brown was born in Scranton, Pennsylvania. He graduated Magna cum Laude from Georgetown University, where he won the Morris Medal for best senior history honors thesis. He currently teaches high school social studies in the Mississippi Delta through Teach for America. His latest book is Industrial Pioneers: Scranton, Pennsylvania and the Transformation of America, 1840-1902, a detailed history account of the town of Scranton, Pennsylvania. You can visit his website at http://www.industrialpioneers.com. Thank you for this interview, Patrick.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? I have been writing stories since I learned
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Biographer Steven Honigberg

As author and professional cellist, Steven Honigberg, complements his biography’s subject with a musician’s ear for language and the highest technical expertise. He currently plays on a 1732 Stradivarius (the “Stuart”), holds degrees from The Juilliard School, and combined with experience writing about legendary cellists, has produced a comprehensive first biography of America’s “first cellist.” In 1984, the author was handpicked by cellist-conductor Msistlav Rostropovich to join the National Symphony Orchestra, a position he holds to this day. Within months, he graduated from college, presented his New York recital debut, appeared as soloist in Alice Tully Hall, and accepted the Washington job. And Leonard Rose died. The author’s writing
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Donna McDine

Donna McDine is an award-winning children’s author, Honorable Mention in the 77th and two Honorable Mentions in the 78th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competitions. Donna’s stories and features have been published in many print and online publications and her interest in American History resulted in writing and publishing The Golden Pathway. Her second book, The Hockey Agony is under contract and will be published by Guardian Angel Publishing. She writes, moms and is the Publicist Intern for The National Writing for Children Center and Children’s Writers’ Coaching Club from her home in the historical hamlet Tappan, NY. McDine is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers &
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Kathryn Shay

Kathryn Shay is a lifelong writer. At fifteen, she penned her first ‘romance,’ a short story about a female newspaper reporter in New York City and her fight to make a name for herself in a world of male journalists – and with one hardheaded editor in particular. Looking back, Kathryn says she should have known then that writing was in her future. But as so often happens, fate sent her detouring down another path. Fully intending to pursue her dream of big city lights and success in the literary world, Kathryn took every creative writing class available at the small private women’s college she attended in upstate New
Read More


Pump Up Your Book Chats with Dean DeLuke

Dr. Dean DeLuke is a graduate of St. Michael’s College, Columbia University (DMD) and Union Graduate College (MBA). He completed residency training at Long Island Jewish Medical Center and also participated in a fellowship in maxillofacial surgery at the Queen Victoria Hospital in East Grinstead, England. He currently divides his time between the practice of oral and maxillofacial surgery and a variety of business consulting activities with Millennium Business Communications, LLC, a boutique marketing, communications and business consulting firm. An active volunteer, he has served on the Boards of the St. Clare’s Hospital Foundation, the Kidney Foundation of Northeast New York, and the Albany Academy for Girls. He has
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Anne Fortier

Anne Fortier, the author of Juliet, grew up in Denmark and emigrated to the United States in 2002 to work in film. She holds a Ph.D. in the History of Ideas from Aarhus University, Denmark, and co-produced the Emmy-winning documentary Fire and Ice: The Winter War of Finland and Russia. You can join her on www.annefortier.com and read much, much more about Juliet on www.julietbook.com. Thank you for this interview, Anne.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published piece? I started writing stories as soon as I learned how to write, and sent my first
Read More


Pump Up Chats with Women’s Fiction Author Shobhan Bantwal

Shobhan Bantwal calls her writing Bollywood in a Book, commercial fiction about India, women’s issues and socio-political topics, with romantic and cultural elements. Her articles and stories have appeared in The Writer, Romantic Times, India Abroad, Little India, New Woman, and India Currents. Her short fiction has won honors/awards in contests by Writer’s Digest, New York Stories & New Woman magazines. Her debut book, The Dowry Birde, won the 2008 Golden Leaf Award. Visit her website: www.shobhanbantwal.com and her facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/ShobhanBantwal.author Thank you for this interview, Shobhan.  Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later?  Do you remember your first published
Read More