Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Kathy Dinisi, to this week’s BOD author spotlight. It’s so nice to have you.

Thank you, for letting me be a part of it.

We’re happy to have you. Speaking of BOD, how long have you been a member and what’s your favorite thing about BOD?

Ummm, I’ve been a member for a while now. I love finding new authors. Especially when they write about zombies:)

Now tell us a little about yourself? How long have you been an indie author? What’s your favorite thing about writing?

I’ve been an indie Author for over a year. I love creating stories that can make the reader forget about their everyday stressful lives, even if it’s just for a short period of time.

Perfect! Those are my favorite books to read. So, tell us about the kind of books you like to write. What are you favorite books to read?

I mostly like to write in Horror and Sci/fi but lately I’ve been venturing out and writing in romance and Fantasy.

Hell Bound: A Vacation from Hell really does read like the worst vacation ever or the best high adventure ever, depending on your perspective. What can you tell us about choosing a vacation going so horribly wrong as the premise for your story?

Well, I figured it would make the story a little bit more interesting and catch the reader’s attention.

As a parent, I can’t imagine being separated from my kids with a potential zombie apocalypse occurring. It creates the perfect tension in Hell Bound. Can you tell us about Sam and Matthew and how they handle being away from their kids when they suddenly become surrounded by zombies?

Well, Sam lost her marbles once or twice in the Hell bound series but then again what mother wouldn’t? But with Mathew by her side she was able to pick herself up and fight through Hell to get her children back. Together they are stronger and can make it through anything.

What can you tell us about your other books outside of Hell Bound?

Well, my Sci-Fi series Arrived is about aliens invading the planet. Now, who doesn’t enjoy a good alien story? And my new book, which is releasing October 2016 (Horror), is about five friends who embark on what was supposed to be an adventurous ten-mile hike. They hike to a hidden bridge built in the middle of a mountain that not very many people know of. What was supposed to be a beautiful, enjoyable, relaxing weekend, becomes more then they could bargain for full of screams and horrors that you have only dreamt of in your worst nightmares. Trapped in the middle of nowhere these five friends wonder if they will make it back to safety or if the monsters of the mountains chase and pick them off one by one. Who will survive? Who will die?

Sounds intriguing. You’ll have to remind us when it comes out.
Are there any current writing projects you’d like us to know about?

I am currently writing a new story but I’ll leave it as a surprise because I’m not too sure of the name yet.

What do you do when you’re not writing? 

When I’m not writing I’m reading, hiking, swimming, studying for school and of course spending time with my family.

Sound likes time well spent. On another note, if you could spend a day with any author, living or deceased, who would it be and why?

Stephen King!! That man has a crazy mind and I would love to ask him a billion questions!

Can you believe I’ve never read anything by Stephen King? Crazy, I know. I’ll have to rectify that.
One last question. Are there any crazy hobbies or fun facts about yourself that you’d like us to know about before we part?

Hmmm, hiking is on the top of my list of hobbies. I’m such an outdoorsy person. But I do enjoy snowboarding during the winter season.

Awesome! Well, thanks for spending time with us and for sharing a little bit about you with us. Happy reading and writing!

ABOUT KATHY

Kathy is from sunny Southern California and loves to spend her time with her two young boys and loving husband, whether it be at the beach, the park or just lounging around the house.

She started writing a few years ago but has always been an avid reader. She enjoys reading apocalyptic horror stories, romance and paranormal just to name a few. One of her favorite authors is Stephen King.

And she loves her readers and stalkers. So make sure to follow her online!

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Book Links
Road on Goodreads
Hell Bound: A Vacation from Hell on Amazon
Hell Bound: A World Apart (Book 2) on Amazon
Hell Bound: Till Death Do Us Part (Book 3) on Amazon
Arrived on Amazon

Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Nerys Wheatley, to BOD’s author spotlight! I’m excited to get to know you a little.
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Thank you, I’m excited to be here! I’ve been a member of the wonderful BOD Facebook group for over a year now and being in the spotlight is quite an honor!

To jump right in, can you tell us how you became interested in writing and how long you’ve been a writer?

I’ve always loved reading and I’ve been writing for fun ever since I can remember. I’d wanted to write a novel ever since my teens, but because of my tendency to start things and not finish, I never thought I’d actually do it. I have a file full of stories with beginnings, but no middles or ends. Writing a whole book seemed like such a mammoth task! Then I came across an article online about yeti erotica. I swear I wasn’t actually looking for yeti erotica, but I saw the title and couldn’t believe it was actually a thing! It turned out to be about self-publishing which I wasn’t really aware of. Yes, I was embarrassingly late into it! After some research, I decided to write a short romance novella as kind of a test run, to see if I could do it. It didn’t exactly set the Amazon charts on fire, but it did infect me with the serious writing bug. After that, I wrote four full-length romance novels in the space of about nine months and then started on zombies. Because zombies are clearly the natural next step after romance!

Ha ha! Too funny. Yes. Your reasoning about zombies and romance makes perfect sense. What kind of stories do you like to write and what is the process you go through to produce them? Are you a planner or a panster?

I like to write anything! I think everything I write has certain things in common, like moving along at a good pace and humor and strong characters, but I enjoy writing all genres. My process is stupidly haphazard and I keep thinking I would like to be more organized about it, but so far that hasn’t happened! I usually start off with the lead characters and a vague idea for a plot, then I just write and more comes to me as I go along. So I start off pantsing and as I get into the story I do tend to plan a bit more. I often write scenes out of order and fit them together later, a bit like a jigsaw puzzle. That’s especially true when I write romances as they tend to be less plot-heavy and are more about the development of the relationship. With sci-fi, I write more in chronological order, although not completely. I often don’t get a sense of how the plot all fits together until I’ve written more than half the book, then I start to get a better idea of where I’m going. It’s a very undisciplined way of writing and I often wonder how it works, but somehow it always comes together. Then I start the next book and wonder how on earth I did it the last time!

Your writing process sounds very similar to mine. I wish I were more organized too. But, oh well. What’s your perfect scenario for creativity? For example, do you need music playing to be able to write or total silence, etc.?
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I need total silence. I’m very easily distracted, even by background noise, so music would be a disaster! I’d enjoy the music, but the writing would go out the window. I mostly just sit in bed or on the sofa, laptop on my lap, and type. Sometimes I brainstorm ideas with a pencil and paper since a computer screen doesn’t seem to be helpful when I’m trying to solve a plot problem. My perfect scenario would be sitting in my well-appointed study on my country estate with its panoramic countryside and ocean views, but before anything like that can happen I need to sell about a gazillion more books!

Now tell us a little bit about Mutation. Where did you come up with the storyline? Were there any famous authors or stories that influenced the creativity of Mutation?

I wanted to do something completely different after four romance novels, and because I’ve been a sci-fi fan all my life I wanted to write sci-fi. But I had decided I was definitely NOT going to write zombies because so many others had. Then the day after making that decision, while in the shower, a thought came to me – what if there was a cure for being a zombie? By the time I got out the shower I had the character of Alex, the opening scene, and the beginnings of a plot firmly in my head, so then I had to write it. I’d been reading a lot of zombie books ever since I came across the Slow Burn series by Bobby Adair, so that whole genre was in my consciousness, but nothing really influenced me directly. Mutation doesn’t have much in common with others in the zombie genre other than people being infected and craving human flesh.

Oh, fun. I love hearing about how it came to you. And I really enjoyed that Mutation was told from the POV of a character who could relate to the infected. It allowed for some fantastic empathetic scenes and situations. Can you tell us why you decided to have your main character be a virus Survivor and how that decision helped your plot?

That Alex is a Survivor was actually the first idea I had so it wasn’t so much a decision as the reason for the whole series. That’s really what Mutation is about, on a human level. It also dictated that my ‘zombies’, or ‘eaters’ as they’re called, aren’t typical in that they are not dead. Because you can’t cure death. Then I had to consider how society would treat people who had come through the cure and been changed as a result, and my conclusion was it wouldn’t be well. That enabled me to bring more depth to the story, and also the character of Micah came out of that.

I’m a sucker for a romantic sub-plot in my stories and there isn’t any substantive sub-plot in Mutation until the end. So, I was pleasantly surprised how engaged I was in the character and relationship development of Alex and Micah. Why did you decide to have your main sub-plot be about bridging the gap between two people who normally wouldn’t have gotten along?
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It may seem strange that I don’t have a romantic subplot since I started out in romance, but I’m actually the opposite in that I don’t look for romance in sci-fi. Weird, I know! It’s also difficult to get a decent romance into the five days of more or less non-stop action over which Mutation takes place. I don’t remember making a conscious decision to have Alex and Micah at odds, but once I had their characters it just happened naturally. As any writer knows, once characters exist they tend to do their own thing! Really, the focus of the book is the relationship between these two men who hate each other, even though there’s all this other stuff going on around them as well. For me, the human element is what gives that depth and emotional involvement in a story. I need that to feel engaged when I read, so I try to have that in my books. I have a habit of writing from the characters perspectives looking at the plot, rather than the plot’s perspective as it affects the characters if that makes any sense. It also brought in much of the humor. Alex and Micah do bicker quite a lot!

On that same note, I found Alex and Micah’s relationship especially pertinent in light of historical and recent law enforcement/civilian clashings in the US. Was this sub-plot significance intentional or did it just happen?

I wrote Mutation a year and a half ago and so it wasn’t meant to have any specifically contemporary relevance. It was intentional, however, that what happens to the Survivors of the virus is very similar to racism, and indeed all other kinds of prejudice and the inclusion of the term ‘white-eye’ was meant to be the Survivor equivalent of the n-word. This fear that produces that kind of hatred was the initial basis for Alex and Micah’s relationship, and sadly that is always relevant since people don’t seem to be able to get away from the need to form into cliques and find someone else to hate. I didn’t set out to have any kind of message, but if anyone gets the ‘we’re all human and we’re all the same’ vibe, I don’t mind at all.

What can you tell us about how Alex and Micah’s friendship and mission to stand up for what is right continues in the Twenty Five Percent series?

Well, without giving away any spoilers, in book two, which is called Downfall, they learn more about who is responsible for the outbreak and why, get out of the city to where things are not going well as the hordes of eaters sweep through the countryside, and meet some interesting, sometimes strange, sometimes dangerous, new people. And their friendship continues to develop. You really see more of how much they have come to rely on each other. And you’ll be pleased to hear there is a bit more romance!

And in book three, Vengeance, all hell pretty much breaks loose!

What’s up next for you as a writer? What are you currently working on?

There will be a fourth Twenty-Five Percent book, probably next year, but I’m currently writing a sci-fi novel with the working title of “Perhaps She’ll Die”. It’s set around six hundred years in the future where three struggling private investigators agree to look after a mysterious box for a few hours. This turns out to be a BIG mistake. There will be loads of humor and action and suspense. And giant spiders.

Sounds exciting. Keep all of us at BOD updated. Now tell us some fun or random things about you outside of being an author. Do you have any weird habits or fun hobbies we should know about?

Does a pathological fear of spiders (and yet not wanting to kill them) count as a weird habit? Or a fun hobby? I go through hobbies the way other people go through… well, hobbies, probably. They come… they go. Along with a friend I run the official Mr. Mister Facebook page on behalf of the band. That’s pretty random!

What’s your favorite book series/author that’s been made into a movie/movie series?

That probably has to be Lord of the Rings. I first read the books when I was eight or nine and when I saw the films it was like someone had looked into my head and put what was there onto the screen!

If you were given one day to be anyone, go anywhere, and do anything, how would you spend it?

I would love to be a rock star playing to an arena filled with screaming fans! I’m way too self-conscious to ever be able to do anything like that in real life, but if I could be someone else, that’s what I’d choose. To perform to tens of thousands of adoring fans for a couple of hours must be such an incredible rush! This is going to sound strange, but I think writers get to experience that just a little bit whenever we read a good review for one of our books. That knowledge that something we’ve created has brought enjoyment to someone is a wonderful feeling. It lasts for about ten seconds before we are wracked with self-doubt again, but while it’s there it’s amazing!

Well, thank you so much, Nerys Wheatley, for spending time with us, letting us get to know you, and for sharing your talents with all of us at BOD!

Thank you for having me!

ABOUT NERYS WHEATLEY

Nerys Wheatley has an underabundance of excitement in her life and an overabundance of imagination which is constantly making up stuff in her head. She writes fast moving, action packed science fiction because she has to let the stories out somehow. She was born in the UK, which makes her spelling just that bit more thrilling. Her greatest wish is to wake up one day to find the remaining boxes from when she moved house two years ago have magically unpacked themselves. It hasn’t happened yet, but she’s not giving up hope.

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Book links:

Mutation
Downfall
Vengeance

Mutation on Goodreads

Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Vanessa Knipe, to the BOD author spotlight. I’m excited to get to know you and learn about how you became an author. Thanks for being with us!
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Thank you for having me. I really appreciate you taking the time to arrange this.

For starters, tell us a little bit about yourself. Where are you from, when did you know that writing was what you wanted to do, and what’s your favorite thing about writing?

Now there’s a question and a half. I was born in Malaysia. My family moved to Australia when I was six months old. I had traveled one and a half times around the world by the time I was three when my parents moved us to the UK. I grew up in a very dark time; my mother took Civil Defense courses and learned how to make a Nuclear Fallout shelter with a door and several blankets. In my teens, my father’s job moved us to Texas. Currently, I live in Yorkshire, in the UK. The easy answer is that I’m from everywhere.

I only got into writing properly when I was widowed. I could no longer work in the NHS as a Biochemist because the shifts were incompatible with raising a child on my own. I’ve always written stories, but I needed something to do other than just child raising to keep me sane.

Is there any one book or author that has most influenced your decision to be a writer or your writing?

I have two favorite writers. The first one is Andre Norton. I spent my preteens writing what is now called ‘fan fic’ about her characters. I loved the Solar Queen series. My second choice of writer is John Wyndham – he wrote grand apocalypses like Day of the Triffids, though my front runner is The Kraken Wakes. In a way, Pill Wars is my tribute to the John Wyndham apocalypses.

What is your favorite book memory?

I was always told by my parents that I had to have a real job, writing would never make a living. I chose my career, as a Biochemist, because it is the career of the female main character in John Wyndham’s The Trouble with Lichen.

Now tell us about your books. What kind of stories do you like to write?

I have a real problem with writing because I cannot settle on one style. The linking theme in all my books is ‘Urban.’ Sometimes it’s Urban Fantasy with magic and other times its Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction, but it all seems to be in towns and cities as with Pill Wars or my time travel novel, Last Days Forever, which is set in Houston, Texas, and takes the reader through a very bleak future. At present, I seem to be writing an ‘Urban’ Epic Fantasy, and a Grimdark set in an industrial revolution.

Tell us a little about Pill Wars. What’s it about?

Pill Wars is mostly about deregulation of industry. At present, pharmaceutical companies are not required to publish the results of their trials. So mostly they publish only the positive results and brush the negative results under the carpet. Throughout Pill Wars, Jessica is carrying a folder showing real wrong-doing on the part of the drug company, Oakwood Industries. In the folder, it clearly states that without careful withdrawal of the drug, there are severe side-effects. The drug is supplied through just-in-time manufacture so no one has a backup supply when an ‘Act of God’ in the form of a volcano shuts down air travel. The owner of Oakwood Industries wants the folder back, the army wants the folder (to blackmail Oakwood Industries), so does the government (because it shows the bribes given and accepted to pass the drug for sale), and the opposition wants the folder to prosecute the owner of Oakwood Industries.

Oh, and it’s also about the worst first day at work ever.

Where did you come up with the idea of having anti-depressants being the cause of creating zombie-like beings?

In my teens, one of my family members was on antidepressants. They were the old-styles ones, and the family member wandered around the house in a complete daze. We called them the ‘Zombie Drugs.’ Pill Wars has been a long time in the fermenting stage. I am a Biochemist, and I worked in the NHS. One of the many tests is keeping track of drug doses – some of these antidepressants have a small window where they are effective. Overdose and underdose present similar symptoms.

I think that the theme of a worldwide epidemic of depression influencing the main plot of Pill Wars is a very relevant topic to today’s world. Why did you decide to tackle this topic in the way that you did?

When my husband was killed in 2001, the doctors tried to convince me I should be on antidepressants. Depression is a chemical imbalance in the brain: there is no obvious external cause. I had a perfect reason to be feeling sad. Antidepressants wouldn’t have helped and might have harmed me. There were 61 million prescriptions for antidepressants in the UK last year – how many of those were to people who really didn’t need the zombie drugs, but didn’t know enough about medicine to say no? Writing Pill Wars was the only way I could get my concerns across about over-prescription of the medicines.

I love strong female characters. But I especially love ones that are relatable and realistic. Jessica is one of those characters for me—not knowing everything from the beginning, but having to discover her true human nature through the realities of her new apocalyptic world. What can you tell us about Jessica? What do you most admire about her?

I’m so glad you like Jessica. I have a real problem writing female characters. Because I was brought up to be a lady, and submissive to men, most of my female characters end up that way too. I had to think of Jessica as a ‘male’ character in order to prevent her from being passive in her own life. She is brought up in a very male dominated world, but she fights so hard for what she wants. I would have loved to have half her drive when I was in my 20s – I didn’t even dare send off a story to a publisher until I was 40.

If Pill Wars was made into a movie, who would you like to star as your main characters?

For Geoff, I think I’d go for Skander Keynes, who played Edmund in the Narnia films. Edmund is nicely conflicted and on both sides of the argument. For Jessica, I’d choose either Daisy Ridley (Star Wars) or Georgie Henley (again Narnia). They both played the sort of drive and determination I hope that shows in Jessica.

Do you have anything that you are currently writing/working on?

The world of Pill Wars is suffering badly from pollution and political corruption. The next story is Stellar Parallax, which involves Jessica’s granddaughter, Emily. The warming Earth has suffered huge meltdowns of methane clathrates, releasing the methane into the atmosphere resulting in runaway climate change, but never fear, there’s another planet all the humans can move to, but the poorest get left behind on Earth. A Parallax is the same problem looked at from two angles: the problem is survival on two different planets.

In your spare time or when you aren’t writing, what other day jobs make up your life?

I don’t have a day job anymore as I am a full-time career for my autistic son.

That totally is a day job! In my opinion, mothering is the most important job you’ll ever have. Do you have any quirky habits or fun talents you could tell us about?

I’m very good at making things with my hands. As a child, my son won all the fancy dress competitions he entered. I’m currently making the furniture for a dollhouse, in Steampunk fashion. I’m also fond of birdwatching and run a #birdtablewars on Twitter which features photographs of the wildlife in my garden.

How fun! I’d love to see some pictures of your creations. Especially your furniture.
Well, thanks again for being with us, Vanessa! All of us at BOD so appreciate your time and you sharing your talents with us.

ABOUT VANESSA

Born in Malaysia, moved to Australia, Vanessa first saw England at 3 years old. As a teen, Vanessa learned her loved of canoeing in the alligator infested bayous of the Texas Gulf Coast. Now back in her favorite place in the world, Yorkshire, she watches the River Ouse rise every winter and wonders if she needs to revive an old skill: so far she and her son have been lucky. She juggles raising her Autistic son with wrestling the Creatures of the Night, though that’s not a nice thing to call her cat.

Vanessa has concentrated on her writing since becoming widowed in 2001, as being a single mother of a disabled child made it impossible to work the required shifts in NHS Biochemistry laboratories. 2006 saw her beginning her writing career proper with the publication in the US of Witch-Finder, a collection of short paranormal adventures. Since then two further collections of paranormal short stories, Hard Lessons and Shadow and Salvation along with two related novels, A Date with Darkness and A Knight of Wolves, have also come out. The dystopian fantasy novel, Pill Wars, and the time travel dystopian thriller, Last Days Forever, are a new direction.

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Interview by Carrie Avery Moriarty

Welcome, Char Robinson, to BOD’s author spotlight. I am so pleased to be interviewing you for your book series, Zombified Book One: Hudson Place and Zombiefied Book Two: Shady Oaks.

Thank you for taking the time to ask me about the Zombified Series!
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In reading your bio, you’ve got a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism/Public Relations. How has that influenced you in your pursuit of fictional writing?

I’ve been writing all my life, but my degree gave me the training and the confidence I needed to pursue a writing career once my children were grown.

While zombies are not my preferred choice in dystopian fiction, I was intrigued to find out how you would spin this story. Can you tell me what influenced your choice in writing about zombies?

I originally asked my kids what they’d like to see me write, and since we’re all big fans of everything zombie, it was kind of the logical choice. Even though shows such as The Walking Dead weren’t out when I wrote the first novel, zombies were still very popular. I planned to write just one book for the kids only, but after I finished it, they encouraged me to publish it and that led to the second book.

Your story begins at the beginning, the start of the infection. How much research did you have to do to ensure that your zombies were biologically authentic in their development?

The source of the infection in my novels is actually based on a real occurrence that happened just north of where I live. Just as in the first novel, a boy scout was digging for selenite crystals at the Great Salt Plains State Park (http://www.stateparks.com/great_salt_plains.html) and he found several glass vials full of an unknown liquid and some broke. The Army came in and closed the area down for about two years, apparently at one time they used the salt plains for training. The scout and anyone else who came into contact or breathed the fumes became the first victims of my zombie plague. News story: Army team cleans up chemicals vials that were found at Great Salt Plains helped train soldiers  http://newsok.com/article/3046796

I found it interesting that you had a character who was, for lack of a better term, a prepper and played an integral part in the survival of the characters. Do you feel like this could be used as a sort of guide for those who want to plan for an inevitable end of the world scenario?

Funny you should mention that, because I’ve discovered my novels are indeed available at some online prepping sites. The first novel was written when there was a lot of talk about avian, or bird flu, and the possibility of it mutating and causing a pandemic. I did a ton of research on prepping at that time and so yes, there’s prepping info interlaced into both books.

While book one primarily takes place in a large city, book two is set in a small suburb. These settings provided two very different sets of challenges for the main group of characters. What made you choose these complicated settings?

The first one made sense because I needed a safe haven for the survivors and wanted to do something a little different than having them stuck inside a school or mall. They had a place to go to that was tailor-made for a crisis situation, or even a zombie apocalypse. As for the second location, at the end of the first novel you see the main family leaving and the sequel picks up with them in the small town of Shady Oaks. Everything in that novel occurs within a 24-hour time frame and was actually a lot of fun to write.

Your zombies change, grow, and evolve throughout the books. I know, as an author, that sometimes the characters do something unexpected. Was their evolution the plan from the begging, or did they surprise you?

They evolved basically on their own, lol. I began to think about all that emptiness in their heads after death, and I let them fill that space on their own. I was thrilled with how they evolved, especially how one, in particular, rises up to become a type of zombie king.

I see you were working on a project of zombie-themed short stories. Have you completed that project, or has it been shelved for a later time? 
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The book of short stories will be completed, it’s just been shelved temporarily. I’m planning to publish it around Halloween. Great timing, eh?

It was a pleasure reading your books, and interviewing you. Thanks so much for joining us for our author spotlight.

Thank you again for the interview and for reading the books! I love sharing my stories!

ABOUT CHAR ROBINSON

Char loves writing and is the author of the Zombified series (Book One: Hudson Place/Book Two: Shady Oaks). Besides writing, she enjoys photography and takes pictures of almost anything, especially her family. She lives in Oklahoma with her husband of almost 40 years and has three children and four grandchildren. Char has a BS in Journalism/Public Relations from Oklahoma State University.

She is currently working on a zombie-themed book of short stories.

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Interview by ER Arroyo

Today, it’s my pleasure to introduce you all to Author Sarah Negovetich. We came in contact through someone I met last summer at UtopYA Con in Nashville, Ethan Gregory. I saw him pimping Sarah’s debut novel, a YA dystopian called Rite of Rejection, on Facebook and I sent him a message encouraging him to convince her to join BOD, knowing her book would be sure to find an audience with our members. Sure enough, Sarah fits right in with the BOD crowd, and I’m thrilled to have her joining us on the blog today! So, Sarah, thank you for being here! I’m excited for our readers to learn more about you and your awesome series.

First, please tell us a little about yourself and your Acceptance Series.

Hi! Thanks for having me and welcoming me into such an amazing community. I’m a YA author and literary agent, based in the middle of nowhere Texas. The final book of the Acceptance Series (Rite of Redemption) just released last week. The series follows a teen who’s convicted of a future crime and sentenced to life in prison while she attempts to reclaim her freedom.

We love YA dystopian around here. What inspired you to jump in on this genre for your debut series?

It wasn’t on purpose. I was working on a fantasy series and a steampunk when the idea for this story hit. I just got the what if questions stuck in my head. What if we could identify criminals before they committed their crimes? Who would be in charge of identifying them? How would that kind of power impact the wielder? The more I delved into it, the more it became clear that this needed to be a dystopian story.

Your books touch on social issues such as gender roles and diversity (interracial relationships, as one example). Were these subjects something you wanted to make a point to address or something that grew organically as you went along?

I knew going in that I needed to have a diverse cast that reflects the world we live in. How that showed up in the different characters was very organic. I tend to let my characters tell me who they are as I’m writing the first draft. In regards to gender roles, that was very intentional. Everyone talks about the world 70 years ago as if it was the golden age. I wanted to recreate that time period in my story world and highlight some of the ways it wasn’t the utopia it’s depicted as.

What can readers who haven’t read your books expect from the series?

Eek, hopefully an entertaining read. 😉 They should definitely expect a darker world. I don’t pull punches in my stories so the ugly and gritty part of life is shown in all its glory. That said, I like to think my books also offer glimpses of the best humanity has to offer.

Now that the series is finished, what’s next?

No rest for the weary. I’m already working on my next project, which will be a stand-alone YA Sci-Fi. I’m really excited about this project, but I’m not ready to share many details yet. I will say the tentative title is GHOST CODE and readers should expect another dark story with high emotions in the midst of lots of tech.

What would you like your existing fans/readers to know?

I really want my readers to know how much I appreciate and value their feedback, both in reviews and emails. I am completely serious that I only ever planned to write Rite of Rejection. Revelation and Redemption are a direct result of readers reaching out and pleading for more of the story. I am out of a job without my readers, and you guys rock!

BOD has a lot of writers, and I’m sure they’d love to know a little about your approach to writing. Are you a plotter or pantser? Is there anything special or unique about your writing time?

I’m a hard-core plotter. I live by Save the Cat and plot out every scene before I start writing. That said, I try to plot on a high level so that the details of the story can happen more organically as I write. As far as routines go, I intentionally don’t have one so that I’m able to write whenever I have the opportunity. With kids, life is way too unpredictable to get hung up on a routine that has to be in place to write.

Does being an agent impact your approach to your own writing career? If so, in what ways?

I think so. As an agent, I have a closer look at exactly what editors are asking for and what is most likely to sell. For example, when I finished Rite of Rejection, I knew that editors were done with dystopian even though readers were not. So I let my agent shop the story, but we only went through one round of submissions. I also understand the advantages and disadvantages of different publishing models, so when we got an offer on the story, I was able to evaluate it more objectively than most authors in order to make the decision to self-publish.

Okay, forget the books for a minute. Tell us something about Sarah! It can be anything.

Even though I tend to write darker stories, I’m actually a super positive person. Like borderline annoyingly positive. I’m also pretty chipper and tend to smile all the time. So, I guess you can’t judge an author by their books. 😉

Thank you again for joining us today and for being such a great part of the BOD family!

ABOUT SARAH NEGOVETICH

Sarah Negovetich knows you don’t know how to pronounce her name and she’s okay with that.

Her first love is Young Adult novels, because at seventeen the world is your oyster. Only oysters are slimy and more than a little salty; it’s accurate if not exactly motivational. We should come up with a better cliché.

Sarah divides her time between writing YA books that her husband won’t read and working with amazing authors as an agent at Corvisiero Literary Agency. Her life’s goal is to be only a mildly embarrassing mom when her kids hit their teens.

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Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Elizabeth Nelson, a.k.a E. M. Nelson, to the ON THE BOD BLOG author spotlight interview. It’s so fun to have you!
​
Thanks for having me!

I love meeting new authors and getting to know BOD members. How did you hear about BOD, how long have you been a member, and what is your favorite part of BOD?
​
I was introduced to BOD through a fellow author, who also happens to be a member. She read the premise of the anthology I was working on and thought that BOD would be an awesome place for feedback on it, which it has been. I joined a little less than a year ago and have loved it every day since. I do have to say the BOD parties are a big fave of mine, but my absolute favorite part is the camaraderie between all the members.

​How long have you been a writer? Was it something you wanted to do ever since you were a child or was it something that kind of happened as an adult?

I have always wanted to be an author. I fell in love with reading at a young age and wondered what would happen when I had read all the books in the world. (I had some unrealistic goals back then of reading a book a day for the rest of my life.) So I gave writing a shot in grade school while working on a project for my English class. Most of the students laughed at it but the teacher assured me I had a knack for telling a story. His encouragement led me to write several small stories, none of which will ever see the light of day, but all of which prepared me for a life- long love of writing.

What was your favorite book or author to read when you were a child?

I discovered Tolstoy in 7th grade and loved the fluidity of his work. His books were a little long for my goal though, so I’d have to say that Robin McKinley won me over with The Blue Sword, which led to me reading all of her other works and discovering the fantastic world of Fantasy novels.

How fun! McKinley is one of my favorite authors as well. The Blue Sword is one I re-read every couple of years. Are there any authors or books that have impacted your writing?

So many! As I said before, I had an unrealistic goal- which I had no problems meeting before things like work and kids came along- so I read a lot. Some of my favorites were Tad Williams, Kristen Britain, Sean Russell, and Lois Lowry. Of course I also have to list Rowling, Dashner, and even Stephanie Meyer. I have no prejudices when it comes to a good read and I feel that all of them have influenced my writing in their own way.

I really enjoyed the entire premise of Nation of the Moon. It was fun to read a dystopian story where werewolves were the cause of destruction. What can you tell us about Nation of the Moon, and what was it like being part of a team of authors to create such a fun anthology?

As you mentioned, Nation of the Moon is an anthology involving a werewolf apocalypse in which only the continental United States is affected. The stories cover different viewpoints, from those who become wolves to those who survive the night–and even a few who don’t. As my first time working with a group, it was really fun to see how each of us took the initial story line and weaved such different tales from it.

I loved “Dark Assent.” I especially loved that you focused on the duality of human nature. What made you want to write from the viewpoint of one of the infected/werewolves?

When I first read the premise, I knew that I had to write from the viewpoint of someone who had been the bad guy so to speak. All the possibilities from the discovery of the character’s guilt to how he would react to it and how it would affect him as a person excited me. I’ve read a lot of stories from the point of view of someone who has lived through an ordeal and it always made me wonder what the other guy’s tale would be.

In my own writing, I tend to base some of my characters off of people or characteristics that I know or am familiar with. Were Steve and Kim or any other characters in “Dark Assent” based off of people you know?

They weren’t directly based off any real person however, as a mother with young children, I did draw from the emotions I feel I would have had if I had been in a similar situation and some of the basic thought processes I felt any parent would experience.

What else have you written or are you writing that you’d like us to know about?

I’m actually working on a children’s book and finishing up the first book in a dystopian YA series. I had high hopes of publishing one of them this year, but life has jumped in and shown me my place, so it’ll likely be next year instead.

Sounds fun. Keep all of us at BOD updated so we can read them. Okay, now for some random questions. If you could be a character in any dystopian book/movie/etc., who would it be and why would you choose that world to live in?

That’s a toughie. I would have to say Tris from Divergent. Mainly because I felt that I would have made many of the same decisions she did throughout the series, plus in my mind Four reminded me of my husband, so that’s a plus.

If you won the lottery what would you do with the money and why?

I’d buy a castle, probably somewhere in Scotland, and retire into my new writing cave. We are living in Europe at the moment and I have loved all the history and culture we have had the chance to experience as we have traveled. Scotland has been my favorite so far with its beautiful Highlands- and furry cows. Plus who could resist the sumptuous sound of those accents? I also discovered I love blood sausage, and I haven’t been able to find that anywhere but up in that region.

You had me at accents! I’d come visit. What’s your favorite motivational quote and why is it your favorite?

I have no idea who said it, but my fourth grade teacher told me “Good, Better, Best. Never let it rest. Until your Good is Better, and your Better is your Best” and it always stuck with me. It’s a good motto to live by in every aspect of your life.

I love that! Yes. Very wise words. Okay, one last question. If you could sum up your best advice for new writers in only four words, what would it be?

Keep writing. I know it’s only two, but it’s the best to go by. It’s easy to let yourself get distracted or focus on how horrible that first draft is, but writing is a process and if you dedicate yourself to it, you’ll never fail.

Thank you so much, Elizabeth Nelson, for spending time with me and sharing your talents with all of us at BOD!

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Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Adam J. Whitlatch, to the BOD author spotlight interview.  I’m excited to get to know you a little and for all our BOD members to get to learn a little bit about you and your writing.

Thank you. It’s my pleasure.

Adam, can you tell us a little about yourself and how you got into writing? 

I kind of fell into writing by accident in high school. I was a geeky teenager (I’ll pause a moment to let the readers get over the initial shock of that statement) in a rural community. Believe it or not, I’ve never played a game of Dungeons & Dragons in my life. I did, however, play Vampire: The Masquerade. Or at least I tried. Unfortunately, the guy running our games was more preoccupied with being seen holding the handbook while wearing a trench coat than he was with actually playing.

So to pass the time, I took my characters and began writing short stories. Those stories eventually became my first (as yet unpublished) novel. I don’t know whether that book will ever see the light of day or not, but it’s how I got my start. And I think all writers have that one “trunk novel” tucked away somewhere.

Oh, fun. I love learning about an author’s past.  And it’s clear that those first writing years were informative in writing The Weller. Would you mind telling how The Weller came to be?

The Weller started out as a standalone short story. The idea came to me one morning while I was washing dishes with Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome playing for background noise. Remember the scene with the water merchant peddling radioactive water? I wondered what kind of person would take that on as a legitimate business. They’d have to be a tough-as-nails bastard because everybody would be out to get them. I started getting an image in my mind of a wasteland vagabond in a brown duster with red hair… carrying the most ridiculous gun my imagination could conjure. I loved it.

So I wrote The Land of Plenty, set it in an old hometown I don’t particularly miss, and I proceeded to destroy the town in spectacular post-apocalyptic fashion. The hero got what he needed and rode off into the night. I never intended to make a larger story out of it, but my dad insisted. He demanded more.

I tried selling a series of Weller short stories to magazines, but nobody was biting. Then Skullvines Press took it on as a Kindle exclusive, but they quickly abandoned the idea when the editor fell in love with the character. He wanted a full-length novel. And so the first Weller novel was born.

Fascinating.   I knew that Mad Max had influenced The Weller. Are there any other dystopian books or movies that influenced this story as well?

Mad Max was an obvious influence. Vampire Hunter D was another. I loved the ruined world with only a few bits of advanced technology in a western setting. I always liked westerns but wasn’t really a cowboys and Indians kind of kid if that makes sense. Bravestarr was one of my favorite cartoons as a kid. It answered my prayers for a “different” kind of western. Rurouni Kenshin inspired me as well with its wandering swordsman protagonist. I always saw Matt as a ronin of sorts.

Speaking of westerns, Matt Freeborn totally comes across as a pretty complex cowboy. I found myself hating him, feeling sorry for him, then cheering him on.  What can you tell us about him and his character development?  Is he based off of any real people or complete imagination?

I always intended Matt to have questionable morals. I wanted readers to see both the best and worst of humanity in him because I think that’s exactly what a person needs to embrace in order to survive on their own in such a harsh environment. By the end of the book, I hope the reader feels as fond of him as I do. Because even though he can be a real dick at times, he’s broken… just like all of us are in some way. Over the course of the next few books, I hope to show readers why he’s so broken.

Matt’s not based on any one person, but I can see qualities of my loved ones in him. I see some of my best friend’s bitterness and world-weariness. I see my father’s pragmatism. He’s just a hard, tired man. He’s very much a product of a hard life. But I also see a little of myself, that part of me that always wants to do the right thing, even if it goes against my better judgment.

I like characters like Matt, characters that make you like them even though your gut says you shouldn’t. He’s not the only character I’ve pulled that trick with.

You definitely succeeded in creating a memorable main character.  Now on to Distillers. They are the perfect worst bad guys.  What can you tell us about them?

I needed a villain scarier than anything else the wasteland could throw at the heroes. Matt shrugs off mutants and guns, so the big bad needed to be the stuff of nightmares. I thought, why not a bogeyman of sorts? I like vampires, but I wanted The Weller to be grounded in reality, so I created vampires who were also human beings.

Wasteland children are raised on tales of the distillers, warned that if they’re not careful the ghouls will snatch them from their beds and suck them dry of their body’s moisture. They’re spoken of in hushed tones. Not only are the distillers the stuff of nightmares, they’re also competition for wellers, which makes them the perfect villain for this story. The thought of drinking water harvested from the dead makes my skin crawl, so I decided to share that fear and discomfort with the readers.

What other kinds of stories have you written or are you writing?

I started out writing horror and urban fantasy, but my work took a distinct shift toward science fiction around the time I started working on the first Weller story. I’ve written a film novelization based on the animated movie War of the Worlds: Goliath, a sequel to the original H.G. Wells novel. Picture Teddy Roosevelt shooting down flying saucers with a machine gun. I love my job!

My latest novel’s a young adult military science fiction story called Birthright. It follows an Iowa farm boy and his three alien bodyguards as they try to stop Genghis Khan’s evil clone from taking over the world. It’s by far my favorite story so far.

My current project is a novelization of the upcoming film Oceanus: Odyssey One, an underwater adventure starring Malcolm McDowell coming from Future Dude Entertainment in 2017.

And to answer the question I’m sure everyone’s thinking: Yes, there is a sequel to The Weller in the works called Fear of the Dark.

Awesome.  You’ll have to keep us updated on when it releases.
Who or what is your favorite dystopian/apocalyptic go to author or book?

Alas, Babylon by Pat Frank will always be my go-to book. My dad introduced me to that book when I was in high school. It was required reading in his class when he taught social studies. Every time we see a used copy in a bookstore, we have to pick it up. A careful reader will probably pick up a couple thematic nods to Alas, Babylon in The Weller.

Do you read your favorite books over and over again, or are you more a one and done kind of reader?

I have a few favorites I like to revisit every few years. Michael Crichton’s one of those re-readable authors for me. I think I’ve read Jurassic Park seven times and Rising Sun at least three. I keep a pocket edition of The Hobbit in my bug-out bag. It’s fun to read an old favorite to see what I might have missed, maybe find some new meaning in it that flew over my younger self’s head.

Now tell us some fun random facts about you.  If you could be reincarnated as any famous person who would it be and why?

Wow… that’s a tough one. Without dwelling on the question too much, my first answer would be Robert A. Heinlein. The man was such a brilliant writer with an unparalleled wit. I’d give anything for just an ounce of his talent.

Do you have a favorite band or type of music you listen to help you write?

Music is actually a major part of my writing process. It really depends on the genre I’m working in. For The Weller, I listened to a lot of classic rock on Pandora, particularly Blue Oyster Cult since that’s the character’s favorite. For Birthright, it was more electronica. Some of the bands in my writing playlist are Breaking Benjamin, Metallica, Halestorm, V Shape Mind, Assemblage 23, and Neurotic Fish. Sometimes a film score will find its way into the mix as well. It all depends on the mood of the scene.

I find it amazing that writers can create with music in the background. I get too distracted and start singing along.  I need white noise to write.  Maybe I just haven’t found the right soundtrack yet. 
But back to you, is writing your main career or more of a hobby?  Regardless, if you could have the perfect occupation, what would it be and why?

For the past few years, writing’s been my career, but for a long time, it was both work and hobby. I realized that recently and a few months ago took up the guitar, which I’m enjoying immensely so far.

The perfect occupation? Well, I always wanted to be a paleontologist. I was a dinosaur nut as far back as I can remember. Unfortunately, it means long days in the hot sun, digging in the dirt, so maybe it’s not so perfect as my ten-year-old self-envisioned, but it’s one dream I had before writing took hold of me in my late teens.

Thank you, Adam, for spending time with all of us at BOD and for sharing your writing talents!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Adam J. Whitlatch is a speculative fiction writer and freelance editor. A fantasy enthusiast from a young age, his interest in science fiction was first sparked at the age of ten when his father played the infamous 1938 Orson Welles War of the Worlds radio broadcast for him on Halloween. It’s a tradition Adam carries on to this day.

His published novels include The Weller, the official novelization of War of the Worlds: Goliath, and Birthright – Book I of the Temujin Saga. He is currently writing the official novelization to the upcoming feature film Oceanus: Odyssey One and War Machines, the follow-up to Birthright.

From 2012 to 2015, Adam worked as an associate editor with KHP Publishers, Inc, managing their science fiction imprint Retro Rocket Press.

Adam lives on a small farm in southeastern Iowa with his wife and their three sons.

Memberships:

Active Member, Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America (SFWA)

Member, International Association of Media Tie-In Writers

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Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Rissa Blakeley, to the BOD author spotlight. It’s my pleasure to share a little bit about you with all of our BOD members. Thanks for joining us.

Thanks for spotlighting me and my work!

To start off, can you tell us a little bit about yourself? What did you want to be when you grew up? How did you become a writer and what kind of stories do you like to write?
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I don’t really have some romanticized story of how I fell in love with the written word at a young age. I was the typical kid, thinking about becoming a teacher, doctor, lawyer, or veterinarian. I have always been creative in one way or another. One day I just had an idea run through my head and I decided to write it down. It was as if I opened the flood gates and it really started flowing. Four years later, I published my first book, Broken Dreams.

That’s cool. I love hearing about how authors became writers. Each author’s story is so unique. So, is there a specific author or genre that has significant meaning to you and your writing?
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I love the paranormal genre. My Shattered Lives series has a paranormal element. The genre is so much fun, because it is so broad. You can do so much with it. I’m not sure if I could ever write a non-paranormal book. I say that now, and a year from now, a non-paranormal idea will pop in my head.

What was your favorite book to read as child? What’s your favorite book to read or escape in as an adult?
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As a child, I used to love Beverly Clearly and Judy Blume books. Ramona was probably one of my favorite characters. I was excited to find a few for my daughter, but sadly, they didn’t strike as much interest with her as they did me. As an adult, I am a straight up JR Ward junky. As a matter of fact, I am reading her most current release, The Beast, right now!

Can you tell us how you came up with the world building for Broken Dreams, the first book in your Shattered Lives series?

This is always a tough question for me. When I first started to really push the idea of publishing Broken Dreams, I spoke to several Indie Authors about my work. I had one inform me that I didn’t world build because I don’t write fantasy. That set me back a little and I had to think about it for a while, asking myself ‘Am I world building?’ My answer was yes, I am world building.

My strategy for world building is to lay out the big landmarks. For example, different parts of Shattered Lives takes place in the East End of London, a village just outside of New York City, Atlanta, and The Port in North Carolina. By using familiar places and familiar landmarks (JFK or Heathrow, for example), readers can imagine themselves in those places for climate, accents, etc. I use what we know and develop around those, adding fictional towns and such. It’s a pretty basic concept, but it works for my style of writing. Most readers tell me they can picture everything so clearly that they feel like they are watching a movie while they read the series.

That’s interesting. I’ve never thought of world building as being genre specific. I think it’s a concept that applies to any setting. So I’m glad you claimed world building in your writing.

What can you tell us about Henry’s past? Is his character based off anyone in real life? Do you have any personal experience with military life that helped you develop Henry’s character development?

Henry’s past is quite sordid and I haven’t based him on anyone in real life, nor do I have any personal experience with the military. Both my father and mother were in the Army, but were out by the time I came into the picture.

Henry believed his mother was murdered when he was five. He moved in and out of the foster care system, only to be chosen to participate in a secret government program. So many things happened to him during his stay at the program’s facility. Some of which he doesn’t come clean about to his long time love, Elaina, until the fourth book in the series, Blind Faith. I don’t want to say too much because it would give one of the major plotlines away, but I will say, he is sick on many different levels. His circumstances are tragic, and just when he thinks he has kicked most of his issues to the curb, they come back even stronger.

A lot of readers are fond on him, but are not fond of his emotional outbursts. While I would never rewrite Broken Dreams in his point of view, I think they would find what is going on in his head quite interesting.

Cool. I love learning about the psychological workings of certain characters. What about your other characters? Who are you most like/who are you least like?

Each character has a small piece of me. Whether it’s something I am or something I wish to be. Or even how they communicate with words and body language, but I will never tell which traits are mine.

That’s probably a wise choice. Keep your readers guessing? Would you like to tell us about any of your current writing projects? What’s next?

I wrote a paranormal erotic story called The King’s Fate (Corvidae Guard). Originally, it was going to be published in an anthology. For a variety of reasons, I decided to leave the project. This made a lot of my readers happy because they will get the story about six months before the original publishing date. The King’s Fate will be released on June 7, 2016. I am so excited for this book, and I can’t wait to get it into the reader’s hands.

I am also working on a major rewrite of Full Circle (Shattered Lives, Book Five). The draft never sat well with me. I printed it to try to run edits that way, but it kept rubbing me the wrong way. I decided to scrap the draft and do a total rewrite using the parts of printed draft as notes. So far, it’s coming along and I am liking it much better than the original. It’s dark, scary, and very complex, but I know with patience and a clear mind, I can make it work. It’s just going to take longer than I originally planned.

Also, I have a plan to give my readers a prequel to Broken Dreams. It has been widely requested. The readers want to know about the program and the years prior to ‘Z-Day’. There is already a short story out called A Little Taste of Naughty. It gives the reader a glimpse into Henry and Elaina’s relationship before the apocalypse. I love it. It’s fun, naughty, and a good way to fall back in love with Henry after his behavior in Blind Faith. Along with the prequel, I will be writing Henry’s Journal. Anyone who has read, knows about Henry and his journals, which are more like letters to his mother. I think it would be great to release them as one small novella.

Awesome. Sounds like readers have a lot to look forward to. Okay, so it’s your wedding day and the zombie apocalypse happens in the middle of your ceremony. What do you do?

I would like to think I would be a brave woman, gathering others, saving lives, etc. But to be honest, I probably would be cowering in the corner, hoping someone who is not a zombie finds me. Although, I do think after the initial shock, I would be ready to kick some zombie butt.

If you were trained in any military branch, which area of expertise would it be and why? How would that training help you in a zombie apocalypse?

I think that during an apocalypse, it’s pretty much every man for himself, until you find like-minded people. Weapons training would be helpful. Especially knives and hand-to-hand combat, because at some point, you would run out of bullets. I’m not sure what I would even do well. Maybe I would be the campfire storyteller.

Now for some random facts about yourself. What do you do when you’re not writing about the end of the world?

Read or watch television with my family. I enjoy cooking when I can. I’m not an amazing cook, but I can hold my own. I live a pretty simple life.

Spending time with family is the best. But you’ve got me on the cooking. I have yet to find pleasure in cooking. Maybe someday. If you won the lottery tomorrow, what would you spend it on and why?

I’m not even sure. We would probably buy a smaller house with some acreage, further out in the country, and stash money for our daughter’s college fund. I would finally be able to hire the two narrators I want for my series. Also, it would be nice for my husband to be able to stop working. I don’t really want a lot of things, but time to enjoy being with my family. We could travel, which would be nice.

Sounds like a perfect way to use a big sum of money. If you knew you only had one more year to live, how would you spend your time and who would you spend it with?

I would try to spend every minute possible with my family. I would do my best to teach my daughter everything I could.

Perfect. Well, thank you so much, Rissa, for spending time with us and for sharing your talents and letting us get to know you a little.

Thank you for having me! This was a lot of fun!

ABOUT RISSA

Rissa Blakeley is the author of the paranormal series, Corvidae Guard, and the post-apocalypse saga, Shattered lives, which features a paranormal twist. Her short story, A Little Taste of Naughty, was part of the best-selling anthology, Just Desserts. As a native New Yorker, Rissa is now a Georgia transplant, who is completely addicted to black coffee, La Croix and obsessively listens to songs on repeat. Her days are full of characters screaming for more scenes, cats living up to their Harry Potter namesakes, lazy dogs, a teenage daughter bringing Emo back, and a Viking husband, who finds her puns less than funny. When Rissa isn’t writing, she can be found procrastinating on social media.

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Interview by Angie Taylor

Welcome, Sarah Noffke, to BOD’s author spotlight interview. I’m so excited to feature you on the BOD blog and to share a little bit about you with our members.

Thanks so much for the interview. I’m constantly praising the BOD group. There isn’t a group of readers and authors who are more fun or supportive of each other. I’m super grateful to have found BOD.

To start off, why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I’m a NA and YA author of ten books spanning four different series. I write dystopian, fantasy, and sci-fi. During the day I’m a college professor, teaching online business and writing courses. Most of my students don’t know that I spend my nights creating stories about imaginary characters with serious problems.

That is so fun. You sound like my kind of teacher. So, how did you become a writer?

I guess I was born a writer. I can’t imagine a reality where I didn’t write. For most of my childhood I sat in a tree and crafted poetry and stories. In college I wrote more really awful poetry. Only after I finished my masters did I turn my attention to writing novels. I used to have a professional job where I sat in meetings. It was a great job, with a ton of upward mobility. However, I felt stuck. I would go to the library every single day feeling like I was looking for something. I remember closing my eyes and running my fingers over the spines of the books and then stopping randomly. You see, I thought the universe would put the right book under my fingertips. It was only later that I realized that I wouldn’t find the book I was looking for in that library. I wouldn’t find it anywhere because it hadn’t been written yet. Once I wrote my first novel, Awoken, that searching feeling went away. I’ve never felt lost since then.

Awesome. And now you’ve written ten books in less than two years. What’s your secret to such an amazing creative streak?

Thank you! I feel super blessed to have so many stories in me. I think it’s partially that I crafted a book universe that really lends to some fantastic potential. All of my books are about a race of people known as Dream Travelers. They can go anywhere using their dreams. There’s many laws and time travel is a real possibility, although dangerous. And every Dream Traveler has a psychic power like telekinesis, telepathy, clairvoyance, etc. Anyway, having different series inside the same universe has given me lots of possibilities. And the books share characters.

Also, I’m dedicated to this occupation. I make myself write every single day no matter what. I go to the gym religiously and I always write on the treadmill. Finding a strategy like this has really helped my production. I only get one opportunity to make this author thing work. I don’t want to fail, so I’ve pushed myself to produce.

I love and admire your dedication. Now tell us a little bit about Suspended, the first in The Vagabond Circus series. What can you tell us about this paranormal dystopian world?

Suspended is about a circus unlike any other. There’s no clowns or animals at Vagabond Circus, only freaks. The troupe is run by the extremely lovable Dr. Dave Raydon who recruits only lost and lonely Dream Travelers to perform in his circus. The thing that makes this circus so special is that there isn’t any smoke and mirrors. Everything the audience witnesses is absolutely real because the performers all have a unique super power. The jugglers are telekinetic, the acrobats can levitate or have super strength, and the magician produces real illusions. However, even though this circus is loved by its patrons, it’s still financially falling to pieces. To try and save his circus, the ringmaster recruits a mysterious new acrobat. And that’s when events start happening that threaten the very safety of the performer’s lives.

One major theme I see in Suspended is the taking advantage of the vulnerable, giving them a false sense of security, and then using them for one’s own personal gain. Can you tell us more how this theme is central to Suspended?

The strong prey on the weak. It happens in politics, families, communities, and throughout history. I used this theme to really add the dystopian feel to the novel and the series overall. I think that it’s a timeless theme that can really be revisited on multiple levels. For me, the most loved protagonists are the ones who have to claw their way up from low places, and they starts with taking off the blinders. In Suspended we meet characters who first have to realize they are being suppressed before they can bolster the strength to fight against their oppressors. And even then they find themselves at a serious disadvantage because conditioning is a powerful tool.

Cool. I’ve really enjoyed Suspended. It’s fun to learn more about it. Now, I’d love to learn more about you. Can you share what your favorite book was as a child and what your favorite book is as an adult?

I was a really hardcore gymnast as a kid. Not only that but I also didn’t read a ton of fiction. I was the atypical kid who read self-help, poetry, and autobiographies. Yep, that’s right. Is it any wonder that I now write YA? It’s like I’ve reversed things. Anyway, I read Bela Karolyi’s autobiography as a kid, Feel No Fear, and it has always stayed with me. He’s the Romanian coach who took Nadia Komanich, Mary Lou Retton and Kim Zmeskal to stardom at the Olympics. His message is in the title and how I try to lead my career. Feel no fear. Put yourself out there. Throw yourself into a backflip. Find out how you land and get up and do it over and over again until you’ve reached your goals.

Favorite book as an adult is undoubtedly The Great Gatsby. It’s the book that started my love affair with literature…and Fitzgerald.

What a solid great reading background! It’s apparent from your book output that you are influenced daily by your experiences. Now on to something less serious. You magically find a $100.00 bill in your box of cereal. First off, what kind of cereal are you eating, and in what frivolous way would you spend the money? (Key word: Frivolous!)

It’s a boring granola something or another. Low in sugar, high in vitamins. This is why I skip breakfast. What’s the point? But if there was a potential to find money, different story.

So I’m not really high maintenance. Shopping makes me want to punch myself. Really I’m a gal who if I had the extra money for frivolous things I’d throw it away on experiences. I’d love to go parasailing, hot air ballooning or even take a flying trapeze class.

That’s perfect. You’re experiences are probably why you have so many stories in you.
So, let’s say you’ve been locked in a bank vault Twilight Zone style, so you finally have time to read! Your glasses are fine (whew!) so what’s the first book you crack open?

Maggie Stiefvater’s The Raven King, the final installment in The Raven Cycle. That author makes me avoid responsibility like crazy when I’m reading her books.
I love books that do that!

So, if you followed the career path you chose for yourself in high school, what would you be doing for a living now?

I would be a psychologist. Gosh, that would have made for a whole different lifestyle. You can’t drink on the job when you’re a therapist. At least I think that it’s frowned upon. But writers, we can do whatever we want…and usually do.

But, hey! Look at all the psychology going on in your books. I bet that’s not a coincidence. Next. For one day, time travel is a reality—which fits right along with your books—and you can visit any famous deceased author you want. Who do you pick?

No question. F. Scott Fitzgerald. Zelda can’t be there. My plan won’t work if she is.
Haha! Too funny.
​
What’s your favorite motivational quote and why is it your favorite?

Hard to pick just one.

“Whatever we think about and thank about, we bring about.”
John Demartini

Ooh, I’ve never heard that one. I love it. Okay, one last question. If you could sum up your best marketing advice for new writers in only four words, what would it be?

Believe in your books!

That’s perfect advice. It even made me teary eyed as I think about my own writing. Thank you so much, Sarah, for spending time with all of us at BOD and for sharing your talents. I’m excited for everyone at BOD to get to know you better.

Thank you so much for having me. Love my BOD family. Can’t do what I do without you all.

Sarah Noffke writes YA and NA sci-fi fantasy and is the author of the Lucidites, Reverians, Ren and Vagabond Circus series. She holds a Masters of Management and teaches college business courses. Most of her students have no idea that she toils away her hours crafting fictional characters. Noffke’s books are top rated and best-sellers on Kindle. Currently, she has eight novels published and a new series scheduled for release early Spring 2016. Her books are available in paperback, audio and in Spanish and Italian.

To stay up to date with Sarah please subscribe to her newsletter: http://www.sarahnoffke.com/connect/

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Interview by Carrie Avery Moriarty

Welcome, Allyssa Painter, to BOD’s author spotlight. I am pleased to be interviewing you about your two book series, The Timekeeper Duo.

Thank you, Carrie. I am excited to be here and to see what questions you have.

I see in your bio that you are currently in college, studying to be an elementary school and special education teacher. I have to say this hits close to my heart, as my sister is a teacher. Have you always wanted to be a teacher?

No, I haven’t. I always knew I wanted to work with kids, but I went through several ideas before I landed on teaching. For many of my elementary and middle school years, I wanted to be various types of pediatric doctors. I also briefly considered social work, and still think I would do well with it if I didn’t teach. When I hit high school, I knew I didn’t want to be any type of doctor, and that I wanted to work with special needs kids. For a year or two, I wanted to be an Applied Behavior Analysis therapist for children with special needs, especially those with autism. Then I finally realized I wanted to teach somewhere around the end of my sophomore year or the beginning of my junior year. Now I am glad I chose it. Teaching is my passion and always has been. I just hadn’t really noticed it.

​Your book focuses on a time after the near destruction of Earth at the hands of humans. Did you have to do a lot of research to get facts to use in how this might come about?

Yes and no. I knew it was a possibility the way I wrote it because of the environmental issues we have had in the last few decades. I grew up hearing a lot about it in school so the idea wasn’t that far-fetched in my head. Where the research came in was when I actually got into details, like exactly what Pittsburgh would look like fiftyish years after the rain stopped (seen in the second book). As twisted as this sounds, I had to research what the acid would do to bodies left over and what would be left by the time Sage and Iris arrived there, as well as what the city would look like. It wasn’t as easy as it sounds either, because when you research the effects of acid on the body, you get acid drugs like LSD. So it took some digging and consulting with family members who know more than me about earth science and medicine and such to figure it all out.

The concept of a Timekeeper, angels (both those who have fallen and those who have not), demons, pacifists, and extremists is a very complex collection. How did you decide what types of characteristics were needed to tell your story?

This is kind of a hard question to answer because I don’t write like most other authors. I do not write an outline and say, “Okay, this happens, then this, then we meet her, etc.” I am one of those authors who just sits down and writes whatever comes to my head. I write a lot of it in my head before I start, and every now and then I’ll go against the natural flow of the story and say, “I think I need to have this,” but for the most part, the story just writes itself and I transcribe it. So I didn’t decide that I needed all these diverse groups. They just appeared in the story. The only thing I really planned at all was the Timekeeper and the Shunned, which came from a discussion with my high school sociology class. One day while we were waiting on the bell to ring, we had a short discussion about what it would be like to know exactly when you will die and how each of your decisions affected that, and whether it would be a good thing. It got me thinking, and it led to this series. To pull this off, I knew I needed an evil group that led to everyone knowing everything (the Shunned), and someone who wanted to change it (Iris) as well as the person who controlled time before the Shunned (the Timekeeper). So I did kind of decide on those. But even after I did, they took on a life of their own.

The main character, Iris, is a Timekeeper with special powers, which she uses in her quest to end the tyranny of the Shunned. While she has a very specific and rare parentage that she inherited her powers from, do you feel that average humans have the potential to possess something within them that could give them an edge in certain situations?

Yes and no. In the book, the average human could also have powers. It was simply rarer. Plus, there was a short time a year when everyone got to have powers. In real life, though, I think we know there’s probably not going to be people who can heal others, bend time, control the earth or water, or see the future. I do, however, believe that everyone has specific talents or characteristics that make them thrive in different situations. For example, my husband is great with people. He handles them so well. I, on the other hand, hate social interaction and tend to hide behind him. This makes him well equipped to handle a situation where a lot of people get out of control or something, maybe even a hostage situation. I could never do that. But I have other talents he does not. I think we all have something that can give us an edge in specific situations, and I think it is different for each of us. I just don’t think any of us can fly or do something else superhuman.

Iris and her team are often found in battle with those who want to keep them from their desired result. You did a great job of describing the fight scenes. Do you have any training in any sort of combat (martial arts, self-defense, etc.)?

Thank you. Not really, no, but I do read a lot of fantasy books with fight scenes, and I have several military family members who occasionally describe fight scenes to me. Mainly, though, I just pictured it all in my head and thought about what it would look like. If I had questions, I’d ask my husband, who is in the Navy and has several brothers who are very good in martial arts and self-defense. I also occasionally had help from a good friend of mine and fellow author, Jennifer Anne Davis. She is also a YA author who writes a lot of fantasy with fight scenes, and her kids are in martial arts, so through reading her books, discussing her kids’ competitions and her fight scenes, and occasionally asking about a specific technique, I was able to gain more information to make them seem more realistic.

​Do you find you identify with the main character, Iris, or do you feel you connect more with another character in your story?

I feel that every writer pours a little bit of themselves into each character. I don’t identify with any one character more than another, because I am like each of them in different ways. I definitely identify with Iris’s stubbornness, though. Ask anyone to describe me and I guarantee you’ll hear that word. Sara is very loyal, especially to Iris, because Iris is her family, and I would like to think that is something that is very similar to me. Sage is steadfast. He has his morals and his own thoughts, and he follows them no matter what, even if others don’t agree with them. In some ways, I am like that, though I do often wish I were more like him in that department. Zander is protective over his family, and Cassian is a good friend. Guinevere is judgmental and not all that friendly when it comes to people she feels are a threat, and unfortunately, I believe I am like that too. All of my character’s either have a piece of me, or a piece of a person I admire and wish I could be more like. I wish I could be more easygoing, like Silas, or open and childlike, like Delilah. So no, I don’t think I identify the most with Iris, but I do identify with her, as I do all the other characters.

Now that you’ve put out this series, what is your next project?

Realistically? To graduate. Haha. But as far as writing is concerned, I am working on a new series (I think it’s going to be a trilogy). It is a YA fantasy series (not quite dystopian, though there are dystopian themes, sorry guys.) I can’t tell you much about it yet, because I have no idea when it will be finished or if I will self-publish it or try to publish it traditionally. I am set to graduate in December, so this year is very hard and very big for me in my real-life, so I am focusing more on it than I am on writing. Don’t worry, though. I am writing and hope to have more news for you about this series sometime later this year. So keep checking for that. For now, I can tell you that I am about 2/3 through the first book of the series, and that the series is tentatively titled, The Valtina Chronicles. I can’t wait until I can share more with you.

I am so pleased to have gotten the chance to interview you, and can’t wait for the BOD family to dive into your world within the pages of The Timekeeper Duo.

Aww, thank you so much! It was a pleasure to speak with you today and I look forward to doing it again soon!

ABOUT ALLYSSA

Allyssa Painter is the author of the Timekeeper Duo. She graduated from Sissonville High School and attends Concord University for elementary and special education. She dreams of becoming an elementary teacher and continuing to touch the world around her through the novels she writes. In her free time, she enjoys reading fantastical adventures, spending time with her family, and capturing the world around her in photography and writing.

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