Nine Questions with… Greta Burroughs

Today I’m asking author Greta Burroughs nine questions! Welcome Greta, why don’t you take a moment and introduce yourself to the captive audience that you now have before you.

I first fell in love with books when I was a teenager and read “To Kill a Mockingbird” by Harper Lee. I can still remember where I was while reading the mesmerizing story and the affect it had on me. Since then I have read all different genres, concentrating mostly on science fiction and fantasy.

My imagination was sparked through those stories but I never attempted to write anything on my own until 2005 when I created a series of children’s stories entitled “Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat”. I had just been diagnosed with an autoimmune blood disorder called ITP and could not work so I started writing the silly short stories to fill in my long boring days sitting at home. The stories were not too bad but my attempts at finding a publisher proved fruitless, so Patchy and Calico were packed away in a drawer not to see the light of day until a few years later.

I started writing for a local newspaper and that’s where I learned what all is entailed in being a writer. I found out there was more to it than putting words on paper and discovered that writing was my new passion. That led me to take the plunge and to try writing a full length book. It took several years to complete but when “Gerald and the Wee People” was published, I was on cloud nine.

During that time, dealing with my ITP was a big challenge. The relapses and treatments were tough to deal with and trying to understand this relatively unknown disease brought about my second book, “Heartaches and Miracles”. I wanted others who suffer with ITP to have the information and encouragement to fight and not give up, and to inform the general public about this little known blood disorder. Writing this book also helped me to accept my limitations and live a normal life in spite of ITP.

Patchy and Calico had lived in my desk drawer for a couple of years and I finally retrieved them. I’m glad the stories were not published earlier because they needed a lot of work. After editing and getting illustrations, “Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat” was released. Since then, two more Patchy and Calico books have joined the series and a sequel to Wee People was published entitled “House on Bo-Kay Lane”.

I will never be in the ranks of great authors but hopefully my fantasy novels will encourage readers to let their imagination roam free and enter another world such as Anne McCaffrey, David Eddings and Isaac Asimov did for me. Hopefully, my children’s books will teach youngsters about sharing, caring, friendship and responsibility while entertaining them with the funny antics of a silly dog and cat.

My to-do list includes writing more novels and some more adventures for Patchy and Calico. My love of reading will never diminish, nor will my love of writing. I just hope my work gives as much happiness to readers as I have received from my favorite authors.

Tell us about your writing process?

I’m a seat of the pants writer, no notes or outlines, just my imagination as I type. I usually have a general idea of how the story begins but the rest is a mystery until it is written. That can lead to problems, as in ‘how am I supposed to get him out of that mess?’ but if I just let the story write itself, everything works out. I enjoy being surprised when reading my work and have the ‘wow, where did that come from?’ experience.

I’m a pantser as well and there is nothing wrong with that! Is there a genre, other than the one you currently write in, that you wish you could break into?

I have written non-fiction, children’s books and MG/YA so that gives me a bit of variety but I’d like to try a little sci-fi since that is one of the genres I love to read.

I love Sci-Fi too! What are the 5 books that have influenced you the most, and why?

“To Kill a Mockingbird” inspired my love of reading. Next, just about everything written by Anne McCaffrey.  Her “Riders of Pern” series was the first set of books I read where I actually imagined myself as being there as part of the story. My husband, Robert DeBurgh, wrote his first novel, “Riders of the Wind” in 2002 and he was my initial inspiration to try writing something myself. I have read and loved so many books, it is difficult to single out any others.

If you could cast one of your works, who would you choose to play your main characters?

I hate to admit this, but I am not familiar with today’s big stars, especially any teenaged actors who could play the roles of Gerald and Vernon in the “Wee People’ books. I would love to see Patchy and Calico as cartoon characters. Patchy is not the brightest bulb on the Christmas tree and would have a voice like Sid the Sloth in the movie “Ice Age”. Calico is the smart one and would sound like Queen Latifah’s character, Ellie in the same movie.

What is the first thing you would do if you woke up one morning to find one of your books on the NY Times Bestsellers List?

Probably faint… after I come back to my senses, I would make copies of the list and send it to everyone I know and paste to every site I could on the web. No one would ever forget – probably get tired of me – but would never forget my accomplishment.

Do you have any vices that you turn to while you are writing?

I have to have a glass of iced tea within reach when I’m writing and I confess, when I get really stuck on something, a cigarette helps me to relax and think.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I waste a lot of time on Facebook and other social sites. When I can drag my sorry self away from the computer, I like to be outside – walking, yard work, playing with our dogs and taking leisurely rides with my husband on our motorcycle.

Please share with us the first nine lines of your current work-in-progress.

Spike was a dog… or was he?

He looked like a dog, acted like a dog and barked like a dog. When he was a puppy, Spikey chewed rugs, tore up books and pooped inside the house. He displayed all the cute/annoying traits associated with dogs, but there was something different about him.

Spike was smart. Well, smarter than the average dog. He watched everything we did and listened to everything we said. It was almost like he was studying us. Then he would disappear into the woods for hours…Why?

Spike was not an ordinary dog. He was actually a cleverly disguised alien from the planet Zoomba. He was sent to Earth to study the life forms that inhabited the third plant from the sun in the XXXX solar system. Of course, we did not know it at the time but now I wonder…what kind of information did he send back to his home world?

Great excerpt Greta! Thank you! Now let’s take a quick look into Greta’s latest release Patchy and Calico Collection…

The “Patchy and Calico Collection” contains stories taken from the Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat book series for you and your child to read and enjoy. This sampler book introduces the readers to Patchy and Calico and gives you a chance to share some of the adventures they have together.

The stories teach children valuable lessons while entertaining the youngsters with the silly antics of the title characters. It is a fun way for parents and teachers to talk with kids about friendship, thinking before doing, sharing, caring and giving.

If you enjoy the adventures in the “Patchy and Calico Collection”, more stories can be found in these books:

“Patchwork Dog and Calico Cat”

“Patchy and Calico’s Summer Vacation”

“Christmas with Patchy and Calico”

Don’t forget that clicking on the cover will take you to Amazon!

Thank you Greta for taking the time to answer my questions. If you’d like to connect with Greta you can find her on her website, on Twitter, and via her Amazon Author Page.

Nine Questions with… Lorne Oliver

Today I feature an interview with Lorne Oliver, a fellow Canadian and author of Red Island. Welcome Lorne, why don’t you take a moment and introduce yourself to the captive audience that you now have before you.

I always find writing about myself to be the hardest thing to do.  Hi, I’m Lorne.  I’ve lived in almost every region of Canada.  Currently I live in Saskatchewan.  If you ever get the chance to cross our great country this is the part where you hear things in the car like:  are we there yet?  Oh look, another field…and my favorite – am I being punished for something?  Geez, can you ever tell I’m not from here.  I have a great wife and two great kids.  When I’m not writing I’m cooking or watching crime shows on TV and movies…okay I’m probably thinking about writing while doing all of that.

Tell us about your writing process?

My writing process changes subtly, but is basically the same.  I’m one of those guys who always has a notebook at arms-reach so most of my first draft is done old school with pen and paper.  As I type it up I put it through a sort of rewrite.  For the second draft I print what I have and go over it with a pen editing what is there and often writing in completely new scenes.  In RED ISLAND I added some new scenes and polished a lot, but the bulk of it is what was first written.  In RED SERGE, my second novel to be released the end of August, I wrote a brand new chapter and completely changed the ending resulting in killing off a main character.  As for the inevitable outline or not outline question, every story I have ever outlined I have gotten bored with and never finished.  I do, however do a LOT of research for these books.

Is there a genre, other than the one you currently write in, that you wish you could break into?

Two really.  I’ve written a couple of good “romance from a male perspective” books.  One I refer to as a mix of Nick Hornby’s, High Fidelity and Nicholas Sparks, A Walk to Remember.  I keep getting encouragement to polish them up and publish them but they are my first children so I’m a little protective.  The second genre would be something to do with YA.  Probably YA fantasy.

Awesome! What are the 5 books that have influenced you the most, and why?

On Writing by Stephen King – It gave me insights into writing and publishing.

High Fidelity by Nick Hornby – This book showed me that we all have a voice and we can use that to tell our own story.  As long as the story is good people will want to read it.

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton – The story is so simple and yet so grand.  There’s a good side and a bad side.  One simple action leads to a bigger eruption and in the end everything comes to a complete circle and everything is tied up neatly.

As for the rest, I can’t pick specific books.  Writer’s like Tess Gerritsen, Kathy Reichs, and Michelle Gagnon inspire my writing… Clive Cussler’s books are a great source of how to write action… there are too many.

Great choices! If you could cast one of your works, who would you choose to play your main characters?

In the past my main characters have always looked like a much better looking version of me.  When I wrote Red Island I pictured certain people in the roles of some of the characters.  For Reid I pictured Jason Wiles who played Bosco on the TV show Third Watch, for Deborah English I thought of Elisha Cuthbert, and the only other character who I thought of a real person for was the bad guy.  It’ll seem strange, but when I wrote his physical description I thought of the singer Michael Bublé.  I think he was on TV at the time I was writing it.

Bosco was one of my favourite characters on Third Watch and Jason Wiles has a great list of career credits! What is the first thing you would do if you woke up one morning to find one of your books on the NY Times Bestsellers List?

Go back to bed because I was probably still dreaming.  I’m not saying my books aren’t good enough to make the list, my Mom loves them, but the competition out there is amazing.

Do you have any vices that you turn to while you are writing?

My wife would say that writing is my vice.  I wake and go to the kitchen with my notebook in my hand.  I take it in the car when we go out because you never know when something will spark an idea.  I get home from work and I sit in my corner with my computer.  And when I’m not writing I am talking about the ideas or characters or my latest blog tour, and on and on.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

There is such a time?  Ha,ha,ha I’m usually cooking or watching some favorite shows on TV.  I love crime shows like Criminal Minds and Law and Order, but I’m a geek at heart so I also love The Walking Dead and Game of Thrones.  I also enjoy the time with my two kids and wife.

Please share with us the first nine lines of your current work-in-progress.

This is from a book titled THE CISTERN, hopefully out in December.  It’s completely different characters from the other two books.

Maeve scrunched her face as her teeth tore at the flesh of the other woman’s arm.  She chewed quickly and swallowed hard.  She tried not to think about what it tasted like.  Her stomach lurched wanting to reject what she was putting in her body.

She closed her eyes and tried to remember what daisies smelled like, what sun on her skin felt like.  She imagined the ocean’s water lapping against her belly.  She could almost feel the breeze coming in with each wave.

Her chest suddenly burned.  She felt the fire shoot up through her throat.  On instinct she turned fast.  The brick wall scratched hard against her forehead.  Pain and heat cracked through her skull.  Her body fell back.  Water splashed up over her naked skin.

Sounds great! Now let’s take a quick look at Red Island… (Clicking on the cover will take you directly to Amazon!)

Was it the nightmare that woke Reid or the phone ringing in the middle of the night that brought on the dream? Sgt. Reid of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police moved his family to Prince Edward Island, “The Gentle Island,” to get away from crime and homicides. He had to get away from the nightmares and concentrate on his family.

It’s a lovely place to live. The sound of the ocean crashing against sandy beaches, sand dunes covered in tufts of dancing green grass…

…And then there is the young woman hanging from a tree. It isn’t a gentle island any more.

It’s Ben’s world. Whether we live or die is all up to him and Reid is going to have to play his game.

Thank you Lorne for taking the time to answer my questions. If you would like to connect with Lorne, you can find him on his website, Twitter, Goodreads, Facebook, and his Amazon Author Page.

Nine Questions with… Daniel Sherrier

Today, on the FlipSide, we have an interview with Daniel Sherrier, author of RIP: Touch and Earths in Space Volume 1: Where Are The Little Green Men?. Welcome Daniel, why don’t you take a moment to introduce yourself to the captive audience that you now have before you.

Hi, I’m Daniel, and I write science fiction, paranormal fantasy, and some comedy here and there. I launched my first e-book series at the end of last year and a second a couple of months later. They’re called Earths in Space and RIP. The former explores alternate human civilizations on other Earths throughout the universe, and the latter involves a guy physically beating up ghosts. (I don’t mind if you break away for a moment to plug those titles into your Amazon and B&N search engines for a quick download. Go on. No, really. I insist.)

Previously, people have deemed some of my play scripts fit for public performance. I graduated from the College of William & Mary with a degree in English and Theatre, so you can guess how rich I’m not. I’m getting ready to test for my black belt in Thai kickboxing. Also, I once jumped out of an airplane. That sure was something.

Thank you Daniel; tell us about your writing process?

I start with a tentative outline, and by “outline,” I mean rambling stream-of-conscious ideas pouring onto my word processor. In the midst of that rambling, I figure out a basic structure, and when I think I have a beginning, middle, and end in mind, I plot the early scenes in greater detail until I’m ready to face that dreaded blank page.

While writing, I break one of the “rules.” I edit as I go. Several reasons for this, but the big one is to build my own confidence by reassuring myself that I am indeed capable of smoothing out that horrific first draft.

Music is essential throughout the entire process, especially soundtrack music.

Is there a genre, other than the one you currently write in, that you wish you could break into?

I’ve always wanted to write comic books. That’s actually why I started writing in the first place when I was nine years old. I’d be thrilled to write Superman in any medium. I’d also love to write a huge, sprawling X-Men novel, independent of official comic book continuity – I’ve even made some notes regarding such a concept. The ideas started coming to me, and they kept coming. Now if only I had the rights…

If only… What are the 5 books that have influenced you the most, and why?

Breakfast of Champions by Kurt Vonnegut: Vonnegut showed me how to write outside the box and have fun with it.

The Diaries of Adam of Eve by Mark Twain: I loved the alternating first-person narrators. It got me thinking about point-of-view.

Daredevil: Born Again by Frank Miller: My favorite comic book storyline, and it’s much more than your typical super-hero fare. A man is broken down and figures out how to rebuild himself. It showed me how action-packed entertainment can be about something.

The Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling: A superb series, especially the middle three books. Rowling juggles quite a bit, and almost all of it is fun and addicting.

The Sandman series by Neil Gaiman: It’s a master class in imagination.

If you could cast one of your works, who would you choose to play your main characters?

I’ll go with the Earths in Space cast, at least some of them. This is a tough one, and I wouldn’t mind casting talented unknowns, but here’s who springs to mind for some of the characters:

Amena…Gillian Jacobs (Community)

Kaden…Sean Maher (Firefly)

Sela…Kristen Bell (Veronica Mars)

Whit…Greg Grunberg (Heroes)

What is the first thing you would do if you woke up one morning to find one of your books on the NY Times Bestsellers List?

I’d re-read that list to make sure my eyes aren’t going. Then I’d wonder what parallel reality I stumbled into.

Do you have any vices that you turn to while you are writing?

A weekly ice latte gives me a nice boost. I’ve never been able to mix alcohol and writing. That kind of drink merely makes me lazy.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

General assorted stuff. I spend time with my three-year-old niece, and it was with great pride I introduced her to The Muppet Show not long ago. For exercise, I take a kickboxing class. I always enjoy a good play, TV show, book, comic book…I’m a sucker for great, addicting entertainment.

Please share with us the first nine lines of your current work-in-progress.

Here’s the beginning of the second RIP novelette, “Alone.”

Friday was deader than usual. Pamela felt the reason why the moment she stepped outside and started shivering. Her heavy wool jacket afforded her some protection, but her exposed face chilled in the breeze while her scarf sat uselessly on the passenger’s seat of her car. She had meant to bring it inside, but she had a lot on her mind.

Pamela shoved the wooden door into place while securing a stack of books beneath her other arm. She turned the key and gave the knob a pull to make sure it shut properly. Maybe someday the board of trustees would toss them the funds to get the thing fixed, but she expected to have said good riddance by then. As long as nothing broke off on her watch, she could live with the cranky old building’s stubbornness.

Thank you Daniel! Now let’s take a peek into RIP: Touch…

Opening yourself up to a whole new world can leave you vulnerable — but it’s the only way to grow. That’s what Rip Cooper has to do when he learns he can perceive ghosts with his five senses as if they were flesh and blood people, and he’s just as solid to them — in fact, the only solid thing to them. This young loner has to overcome his fears and kill dead people to prevent them from corrupting the living. He works alongside an impure angel and his ex-best friend’s ex-girlfriend as they teach him how love can conquer fear.

RIP is a series of novelettes that tell one larger coming-of-age and redemption story.

In this premiere episode, “Touch,” Rip may be a successful freelance photographer making a name for himself in a new town, but personally, he’s in a rut. No friends, no goals, no greater purpose. He’s going through the motions…until the “angel” Serissa informs him he’s “one of the Seven.”

Don’t forget that clicking on the cover will whisk you away to Amazon!

If you’d like to connect with Daniel you can find him on his website, Facebook, Twitter, or his Amazon Author Page.

Don’t forget to join my next week when I will be interviewing author Lorne Oliver!

Seasons of Death and Echoes of Death Book Tour: An Excerpt from Seasons of Death

The FlipSide is presenting an excerpt from Seasons of Death by Marlene Mitchell and Gary Yeagle. First let’s start off by finding out a bit about the authors…

Marlene Mitchell: Originally from St. Louis, Marlene makes her home in Kentucky now. A mother and  grandmother, Marlene has a wide range of interests including watercolor and oil painting,  yet writing has always been her passion. That comes through loud and clear in her wonderful novels! These novels reflect a genuine sincerity with very strong characters to which her readers can relate. To quote Marlene: “It took me a long time to start writing, but now I can’t stop. The stories just keep on coming.”

Gary Yeagle: Gary Yeagle was born and raised in Williamsport, Pa., the birthplace of Little League Baseball. He grew up living just down the street from the site of the very first Little League game, played in 1939. He currently resides in Louisville, Kentucky, with his wife and four cats. He is the proud grandparent of three and is an active member of the Jeffersontown United Methodist Church. Gary is a Civil War buff , and enjoys swimming, spending time at the beach, model railroading, reading, and writing.

Now let’s get to that excerpt! From Seasons of Death…

The man nodded his head in an affirmative fashion, smiled, leaned over and unzipped the bag.  When he stood back up he held a large pocket knife in his hand, which he proceeded to open as he displayed the knife to Asa.  A broad smile came to Asa’s face.  He realized the joke was coming to an end.  He was now going to be freed and he, his pals, and the man would all have a good laugh.  But then the man leaned over once again and extracted something else from the bag; a roll of duct tape.  Asa watched silently. The man brought the tape up to his mouth, where with the use of his teeth, he gripped the edge of the loose end and pulled the roll forward, stopping when a six-inch section appeared, at which point the man cut it.  He then stuck the knife into the trunk of a nearby tree and hung the roll on the knife.  Asa was once again confused. He looked toward the tree line for his friends, then back to the man who was again smiling. He was about to say something when the man placed his index finger across his lips indicating that Asa should be silent, then placed the tape across Asa’s mouth and smoothed it to ensure a tight fit.  Asa’s objection sounded like nothing more than muffled, indescribable words.

The man removed the knife and tape from the tree and placed them back in the bag. “I realize that taping your mouth may seem a bit uncomfortable but it’s necessary. We wouldn’t want anyone who just happens to be out walking in the woods this morning to hear you screaming…now would we?”

The man then pulled a pair of old brown gloves from his coat pocket, and after wiggling his fingers into them, leaned over and removed some sort of a tool from the bag that he held up in front of Asa’s face.  As Asa stared at the heavy-duty lopping shears he once again began to object, the only sound coming from his taped mouth was senseless mumbling.  “Now, now,” said the stranger. “You need to calm down so I can explain what is going to happen. I want to make sure you understand.”  Examining the shears, he explained, “I’ve had this tool for years.  I originally purchased it to cut unwanted branches down from the trees in my backyard.  It really does work quite well: a fifteen inch, heavy-duty wooden handles with plastic grips, four inch blades that can snap anything from a small twig up to a sizable branch.”  Reaching up he placed the shears around a two-inch, low hanging branch and with both hands squeezed the handles, the sharp blade snapping the branch off instantly. The sharp snap sent a shiver through Asa’s body.  “Everyone should own one of these,” said the man.  “You see it can be used for many other things…like locks.  Just last week I went out to my storage shed and wouldn’t you know it, I had lost the key.  Then, I thought about my lopping shears.  They did the trick. Cut right through that metal lock like a hot knife through butter. Cutting through skin and bone should be a piece of cake.”  Reaching out he took Asa’s left hand and balanced it on his raised knee, placing the shears around Asa’s pinky finger. Asa’s eyes grew wide with fear. He tried to pull his arm back, but the duct tape restricted his movement. The man gripped his arm tightly and then lopped off the little finger.  Following a spurt of blood the finger fell to the ground as Asa let out a scream that sounded like the lowing of cattle.  As the stranger reached for his right hand Asa resisted as best he could.  The man, growing impatient with Asa’s feeble struggling brought the lopping shears down across Asa’s right knee.  The instant pain in his leg captured Asa’s attention for the next second at which point the man calmly grabbed his right hand and repeated the lopping shear process, Asa’s right pinky falling to the ground.

The man leaned the now bloody shears up against the trunk of a nearby tree then placed his hands on his hips, admiring his handy work.  Asa’s muffled screaming and weak attempts to loosen himself from his restraints caused the man to smile. He sat on a tree stump, removed a pipe from his trench coat pocket and pointed the pipe at Asa. “The more you thrash around the worse it’s going to get.  The faster your heart beats the more blood you’ll lose.  If you will try to remain calm the loss of blood will not be so rapid.  You might want to cup your hands to slow down the process of bleeding out.”  Looking down at his slightly blood smattered trench coat, he remarked, “Good thing I wore this old coat. I knew this was going to be messy work.”

Asa stared at his hands, his two blood-stained little fingers lying on the ground at his feet, blood slowly dripping from where his fingers moments earlier had been attached.  He couldn’t believe what had just happened.  His heart was racing and it felt like the life-giving muscle would pop right through his heaving chest.  Placing his head back against the tree he closed his eyes and tried to scream but it was to no avail.  Taking the stranger’s advice he slowly cupped his hands. The bleeding didn’t seem to slow, but rather than dripping directly down to the ground the blood momentarily delayed its flow where the fingers had been severed. Within seconds it ran across his hands forming a small ever-growing pool of blood in his palms, then dripped in between his fingers and onto the ground.

Getting up, the man walked over to the tree and wiped Asa’s forehead with a white handkerchief that he had taken from his trench coat. “There, there now, you’re really sweating. Try and relax. The pain you are feeling is nothing more than mental.  If you’ll calm down I’ll tell you why all of this is happening.”

Fantastic huh? Let’s take a look at Seasons of Death…

In the fall of 1969 in the mountains of eastern Tennessee, a poor backwoods farmer and his wife were brutally shot and killed by four drunken hunters, along with their three dogs, horse and two fawns. The farmer’s two young sons managed to escape but were unable to identify the killers. Now decades later, the murders of the Pender family remain unsolved. In Townsend, Tennessee, in Blount County, someone has decided to take revenge.

And Echoes of Death…

It’s springtime in the Smokies and despite the four murders of the previous year, tourists from every corner of the country have made the journey to Townsend, Tennessee. The hiking trails are packed, the restaurants are jammed, and the campsites are full. Vacation season is in full swing in the peaceful side of the Smokies.

But then… there is another murder.

Don’t forget to click on the covers to be whisked away to Amazon!

Nine Questions with… Nicole Storey

This Wednesday, the FlipSide hosts an interview with Nicole Storey, author extraordinaire! For those of you unacquainted with Nicole, let’s take a moment to let her introduce yourself to the captive audience.

Thanks so much for hosting me on your blog, Julianne! I live in the hot and humid part of Georgia (really, is there any part of GA that isn’t hot and humid?) with my two amazing children, my wonderful husband, two rambunctious cats, and a privileged hamster. When I’m not writing, I enjoy cooking, gardening, reading, and anything to do with Halloween! It’s my favorite holiday. J

Tell us about your writing process?

I really wish I could say that I have a writing process! Ha-ha! Unlike many authors, I usually write by the seat of my pants. Generally, I come up with ideas and titles, which I keep in a folder. When I get ready to write, one of the first things I do is search for a book cover. Beautiful cover art is as important to me as what goes inside the book and it also inspires me when I write the story. I tend to avoid outlines, as my characters tend to take on lives of their own and I am left tagging along at their mercy.

Is there a genre, other than the one you currently write in, that you wish you could break into?

I write juvenile fantasy and YA paranormal. I feel like this is where I am strongest and don’t feel the need (right now) to write in other genres.

That’s a fair answer. Tell us about the 5 books that have influenced you the most, and why?

I think I could sum this up better if I use a mixture of authors and books. I’ve read so many in my life that I can’t possibly choose only five!

When I was a little girl, C.S. Lewis’ The Chronicles of Narnia series was my favorite and I still love it. The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe was the first book to introduce me to fantasy and cinched my love for reading.

As a teen, I read almost every book Dean Koontz came out with and that was when I realized I wanted to write one day, too. Koontz has a way of mixing the bizarre with everyday life and making it believable. That is one of the most important ingredients in a good book – the reader has to believe it.

Two authors in particular gave me the push I needed to stop dreaming about writing books and actually put pen to paper. Kim Harrison takes extraordinary characters with paranormal powers and brings them down to earth. The reader begins to wonder if perhaps their next-door neighbor might me a witch or a vampire. You can’t help but see people in a different light after reading her stories. I contacted Kim and was pleased to find out that she is just as personal as her characters are. She has been a huge help to me in my writing endeavors.

J.K. Rowling showed me that anything is possible. She was a mother of a little child, flat broke and living in poverty, and yet she never gave up her dream. She persevered. I knew that if she could do it, then so could I.

Lastly, I have to say that other Indie writers (there are too many to name) that I have met on my journey have definitely influenced me, hounded me, picked me up when I was down and ready to give up, and are always there for me. I must give a shout out to author Sean Sweeney. He was the first Indie author I met and has been a shining light when things get dark – always showing me the way. Also, my publisher from Inknbeans Press, Jo Lowe, who read my work and decided that I was good enough to take a chance on. It is a wonderful feeling to know that someone out there believes in me.

If you could cast one of your works, who would you choose to play your main characters?

This is a hard question to answer, as I don’t watch a lot of T.V. or movies. LOL!

NO TV or movies?? How do you relax Nicole?? What is the first thing you would do if you woke up one morning to find one of your books on the NY Times Bestsellers List?

I know I would be ecstatic! Other than that, I have no idea. I try not to dwell too much on what may happen and just live in the moment where my writing is concerned. I want to enjoy the journey. Where it takes me is out of my hands.

Do you have any vices that you turn to while you are writing?

I think every writer does. For me, it is coffee and instrumental music.

What do you do when you’re not writing?

I am always reading a book, even when I am writing. It’s therapeutic to be able to put my work down and lose myself in someone else’s at the end of the day. I also enjoy cooking and trying new recipes or working outside in my flower beds while my daughter helps. I don’t watch a lot of T.V., but my son and I love The Walking Dead, so we always make sure to catch it when it is on.

Please share with us the first nine lines of your current work-in-progress.

This is from my new book coming out this summer. It is YA paranormal series called The Celadon Circle. The first book is Blind Sight.

Blood and screaming; screaming and blood.  The horrors of the image before her assault Jordan’s senses, overwhelming them to the point she must scream herself or explode.  It wouldn’t matter if she did.  The young girl fighting for her life wouldn’t hear her.  Neither would the monster dismantling her body piece by agonizing piece.

She’d fought valiantly.  The girl – she couldn’t be more than sixteen – obviously wasn’t the type to roll over and die.  The monster liked that.  Fear made her flesh sweeter.

Fantastic Nicole! Now let’s take a sneak peek into Grimsley Hollow: The Chosen One…

Gage Gilbert is an eleven-year-old boy who has autism, loves Halloween, and has no friends. Although he has always been happy with the safety and security of his family, he longs for a real friend and adventure – not just the ones he makes up in his head. Then, he meets Eve.

Eve is a young witch from another world called Grimsley Hollow. It’s where all magical beings live in safety and peace, but their world is in trouble. Gage is the only one who can help save them from an evil witch who has taken control.

With Eve’s help (along with a sarcastic pixy, a trouble-making werewolf, and a half-vampire), Gage travels to Grimsley Hollow. Together, they begin a journey that will change them all. It’s a dangerous race against evil, where creatures unheard of stalk the land under a harvest moon and monsters that only exist in dreams become real.

Gage wanted friends and adventure, but he had no idea they would come at such a dangerous price. Can one autistic boy defeat an evil witch and help save his new friends? Travel to Grimsley Hollow and find out!

Clicking on the cover will take you to Amazon!

I’d like to thank Nicole for taking the time to answer my questions. If you would like to connect with Nicole, you can find her on her website, her blog, Twitter, or Facebook.

Don’t forget to come back next week for an interview with Daniel Sherrier!

Perfect Flaw Book Tour: Top Ten Dystopian Recommendations by Perfect Flaw’s Editor Robin Blankenship

Today the FlipSide has a special treat in the form of a guest post from the editor of Perfect Flaw, an anthology edited by Robin Blankenship for Seventh Star Press.

Robin Blankenship, a freelance editor and book reviewer has a background in teaching and social work. When not working or reading or editing she can be found at home in Kentucky with her husband, Andrew and two children, Christian and Beatrix.

Top Ten Dystopian Recommendations by Perfect Flaw’s Editor Robin Blankenship

Dystopian has been one of my favorite genres. Dark and Twisty, rebellions, environmental disasters, political and social issues; sign me up! The beauty of dystopian is it can be science fiction, fantasy, horror and so much more.

I was going to do top ten but it ended up being top 15. These are in no particular order but here are some great dystopian recommendations for the masses.

Watchmen by Alan Moore

The Giver by Lois Lowry.

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

Divergent by Veronica Roth

The Children of Men by P. D. James

Matched by Ally Condie

Delirium by Lauren Oliver

Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

We by Yevgeny Zamyatin

Life As We Knew It Susan Beth Pfeffer

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

The Lathe of Heaven by Ursula K. Le Guin.

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau

Gone by Michael Grant.

Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn.

Watchmen is a graphic novel but is a perfect example of dystopian at its finest. The Giver was the very first dystopian I ever read, it really kick-started my love for the genre. Uglies, Divergent, Matched,Delirium, Life As We Knew It, and Gone are all YA and are part of series.  We is a novel, I came across when looking for more dystopian.  It was written long before the genre of dystopian existed, but is amazing. Ready Player One is a new book; it was an all-around awesome book combining dystopian and video games for the win. Ella Minnow Peais great because it is not only dystopian, but also epistolary fiction, which I also love.

Now let’s take a look at Perfect Flaw… And don’t forget that you can click on the cover to be whisked away to Amazon!

Readers everywhere are invited to experience adventures of a dystopian nature in the anthology Perfect Flaw, from editor Robin Blankenship! Featuring seventeen speculative fiction tales, spanning many genres, Perfect Flaw explores the subject of societies gone wrong.

From “utopian” societies masking an underlying controlled state, to stories of people fighting back against repression, in hopes of a better world, the flaws that create a dystopian atmosphere are brought to light. Thought-provoking and entertaining, Perfect Flaw will be a welcome addition to any reader’s collection of dystopian literature.

Leslie J Anderson – “Michael’s Gate”
Jason Campagna – “Hope Unknown”
Frank Roger – “Cracks in the Concrete”
Mandi M. Lynch —“Under a Pomegranate Sky”
Shaun Avery – “The Job Hunter”
Cathy Bryant – “Cost Benefit Analysis”
Carolyn M. Chang – “Smilers”
SC Langgle – “The Bird Below Ground”
Delphine Boswell – “Tomorrow’s Children”
Tanith Korravai – “Your Comfort is Important to Us”
DeeDee Davies – “The Ultimate Sale”
Ellen Brock – “Useless”
Herika R. Raymer – “Seventh Degree”
H David Blalock – “Guardian”
H.S. Donnelly – “First Head”
Jay Faulkner – “System Error”
Michael O’Connor – “The Choosing”

As a special bonus, Seventh Star Press is holding a tour wide Rafflecopter giveaway for the anthologies featured in their Extravaganza!
SSP Anthology Extravaganza!

If you’d like to connect with Seventh Star Press, you can find them on their website, Twitter, Facebook, or their blog.

An Unforgiving Land, Reloaded and Nakba Book Tour: Guest Post and Excerpt from Jason S. Walters

Today the FlipSide has a special treat! Jason S. Walters has stopped by to support two of his soon to be released books – An Unforgiving Land, Reloaded and Nakba.  Let’s take a moment and get everyone acquainted…

Jason S. Walters is an author, essayist, and publisher best known for running Indie Press Revolution (IPR), a distributor of micro-published roleplaying games. He is also one of a small group of investors that purchased Hero Games in 2001, and serves as its general manager. After owning a San Francisco bike messenger service for 15 years, he and his wife Tina moved to Midian Ranch: a homestead near the town of Gerlach, Nevada. It is also the location of IPR’s warehousing complex. They have a daughter with Down syndrome named Cassidy and animals too numerous to mention.

So now that we’ve introduced Jason, let’s take a moment to read a few words from the man himself.

“She knew that introspection was the enemy. It assaulted her with a kaleidoscope of “self” in the past tense. All her “was” kept bubbling up to the surfaced of her “is” in a mélange of memory. A dirty little girl with a black eye sitting in the dust near a singlewide in Bakersfield. A terrified teenager sitting in an LA abortion clinic where everyone else spoke Spanish. Arguing her way into a club in San Francisco’s SOMA district. Working as a bike messenger deep in the cement canyons of the city, alternately dodging and screaming at cars. Cooking meth in a warehouse in San Leandro. Doing meth until the normally hard lines between real and unreal, possible and impossible, and good and bad became blurry and hard to recognize. The arrest. Bending over a metal laundry table for a fat, sweating guard in Chowchilla. Waiting tables at a rundown restaurant in the no-man’s-land between Berkeley and Oakland, the days turning into months as she waited for… for what?”

~from the story Crucified Coyote, An Unforgiving Land, Reloaded

There’s a question that every thoughtful male author is forced to ask himself at some point in his career: namely, as a man how do I get women “right” in  my work? How do I portray them fairly, as three-dimensional characters? And, of course, there’s no one single correct answer – though there are an awful lot of wrong ones, and those are sadly the ones that often get chosen. By it’s nature being an author is a profession (or, for most of us, pastime) which attracts people who either enjoy spending time alone by themselves, or who due to their lack of social graces seem to have little choice but to do so. Neither case produces a temperament perfectly suited to understanding the intricacies of the opposite sex.

Of course, many writers of either gender aren’t interested in presenting or creating overly complex characters of the opposite sex at all. There can professionally and within the context of genre literature be very good reasons for not doing so. An author of women’s erotic fantasy novels has very good reasons for portraying men as distant, restrained, vaguely menacing, and supremely muscular, while an author of military science fiction can legitimately choose to portray women as basically “male” space marines as expressionlessly dedicated to killing alien menaces as their male counterparts. In both cases these choices reflect not only the artistic goals being pursued by the book, but also the well-understood wants, needs, and desires of their readers.

More often, however, male authors have somewhat limited experiences with women. A classic example is the talented and highly influential science fiction author Robert H. Heinlein (though there are many others). A former US Navy lieutenant and WWII veteran, Heinlein tended to view his female characters a lot like a sailor on shore leave might view women: either untouchable and pure, or wanton and willing, but always in need of help or rescue. Later, he went in the opposite direction, creating characters like Friday Baldwin that were specifically tougher and more competent than most of the men they encounter. Neither approach is particularly realistic – though it’s possible that, as a science fiction author, Heinlein was never attempting to be all that realistic to start with.

If, however, a male author is interested in creating a realistic female characters for his work, there are a few basic things to remember. The first is that women are, like men, individuals – often complex ones – whose personalities and motivations are mostly shaped for good or ill by their upbringing and environment. A woman raised in a primitive, highly ritualized environment may have very different views from one raised in a modern, Western society on even such basic matters as gender identity, rape, and a parent’s individual responsibility to her child. It’s important to keep this in mind, especially when crafting genre fiction such as scifi or fantasy.

The second is that he should closely observe how the women he knows behave. (If he doesn’t know any, than that situation should be quickly rectified!) Base your characters on a fair and objective reading of the women you know and are important to you. If you’re having the character do or say something that doesn’t “feel” right based on the behavior of the women you know, then that’s something you may want to consider changing. Or if you know a particularly fascinating women, turn her into a character in one of your books. Some of the very best characters in literature have begun that way.

However, with all that said, there seem to me to be some aspects of female behavior that are unique to the woman’s experience and nature – and that are very different from those of men. I can’t provide these in the form of clearly defined and useful list (If I could I would probably have my own show on the Oprah Network.), but I can provide two examples that clearly illustrate what I mean: woman go crazy different from men, and women go bad different from men. Which isn’t to say that men don’t also go crazy and bad. They most certainly do. But that it’s different when it happens to women.

In my soon-to-be-reprinted short story collection An Unforgiving Land there are a variety of important female characters as well as numerous minor ones. For example, the aging and lonely character of Maud, the pregnant survivor known as the Scarred Girl, and the tough DEA Agent Esperanza Gomez are all important characters whose personalities are based on those of women I have known. But in the original edition of the book I also created a “throw away” character called Shuttup Amy who wasn’t given a lot of screen time compared her more important sisters. After the book’s publication I felt bad about this (I rather like Amy), and wrote another story called Crucified Coyote to correct that oversight. After all, of all the women characters Shuttup Amy felt the most real to me, based on my 20 years living in San Francisco, following by moving to the Black Rock Desert: home of the cult-like Burning Man festival and all of its attendant crazy people.

Shuttup Amy has become mad, bad, and dangerous to know due to a variety of life experiences, some of which she’s been responsible for, some of which she hasn’t been. These include an abusive childhood, drug use, prison time, and other unspecified but equally traumatic things. She’s not a victim or a passive actor in her own life, but she’s vulnerable and damaged all the same – like a lot of the punk rock, junky, bike messenger, and “burner” (or Burning Man) girls I’ve known. She’s recklessly brave, sexually aggressive, and often erratic. Introspection is difficult for her (though she tries), and other people are a total mystery. Her personality and problems are very hard for her younger Mexican boyfriend to understand, and this causes not only a great deal of friction but an actual life-threatening situation to occur. The other inhabitants of the fictional Nevada town of Haulapai accept her more-or-less for who she is, but at the same time keep their distance. She desperately needs rescuing (really), but responds to even the gentlest attempts at rescue with hostility and distrust.

So, in short, I tried to make Shuttup Amy a real woman – or, to be more specific, a real type of woman with which I’m very familiar – living a kind of life that I’ve witnessed some women living. I’ve tried to make her realistic, be objectively fair, and create a three-dimensional person: scars, green dreadlocks, fading beauty, and all. Maybe in the end my efforts have been unfair (though it’s mostly women that seem to have enjoyed and related to the characters in An Unforgiving Land), but not due to lack of trying. And definitely not due to staying alone in a room with a computer, avoiding the company of women.

Thanks Jason! As a quick break, let’s take a sneak peek into both An Unforgiving Land, Reloaded and Nakba -

In the desert life is hard. It can also be surreal. In the absence of congestion and convention, imagination takes you by the hand: or the balls. In this macabre collection of riveting tales, ENnie Award-nominated author Jason S. Walters grabs the reins of storytelling as if it were a wild stallion, leading the reader ever deeper into the physical and spiritual wasteland of the Black Rock Desert.

***

A thousand years ago humanity’s dissidents fled, leaving behind a peaceful, unified world content to exist in a state of perpetual hedonism. Then a daring escape plunged civilization into chaos, forcing its rulers to expand outward to maintain order. Now all that stands between a newly imperial Earth and the rest of the solar system is a loose coalition of Maasai tribesmen, cloned feminists, shape-shifting humannequins, and vengeful Berbers led by the least likely hero in human history: a young woman with Down syndrome and a bad attitude.

***

Now hang on to your hats for an excerpt from Nakba!

Mitchell Green: Mars, Arabia Terra

Big. It was big.

The sea of red spread out infinity in all directions, blurring the distinctions between land and sky. It made Mitchell feel incredibly small. In fact, the landscape of Arabia Terra – that vast, cratered plane of iron-colored soil and winding canyons in the north of Mars – was so immense that it dwarfed even the mighty hull of the Andrew Levitz, still steaming and glowing behind him from its violent entry into Mar’s atmosphere. Not for the first time he felt intimidated by this huge, open place. By the tall, russet-colored grasses that brushed gently against the outside of his safety garb. By the vast intimidating ceiling of firmament that pressed down upon him from every angle. By the ocean of genetically modified plant life that spread out before him in all directions, it monotony only broken by the distant black dots of massive Martian buffalo grazing in their thousands. It made Mitchell feel dizzy and sick just to look at it.

Mars was all so terribly large when compared to his normal world of cramped corridors, artificial light, and recorded birdsongs. So… real. Yet Mitchell knew that much of the world he gazed upon had been created by the hands of men, just as his own had been. But it was also different. The Martians had used highly modified nanotechnology – a science his own people shied away from – to craft their home, whereas his people had relied extensively on Antigravity to create theirs; a science the Martians seemed to have lost. It had taken centuries of patient, never ceasing toil to turn some of the landscapes of the Red Planet into environments that could support a limited number of extremely modified species. Yet in many ways it remained as inhospitable to men as the hard vacuum of space, its promise of a new Eden seemingly eternally, tantalizingly out of reach.  

A figure detached itself from the countless black dots in the distance and headed toward him with long, confidant strides. Mitchell knew that would be his Maasai contact. He hoped it would be his friend Sironka. They had worked together on previous trade missions, and Mitchell enjoyed his company. But there no guarantees. Martian-Maasai society worked in ways unfathomable to Mitchell Green, though he had done his best to study and understand it. He knew that they were nomadic, wandering across the northern latitudes of Mars much as they had Tanzania and Kenya on old Earth. He knew that they worshiped a god called Engai, believed that having a lot of cattle made you rich, and that most of their food came from those cattle. He knew that their society was grouped into “age sets” of people who grew up around the same time, that they were divided into twelve tribes, and that they were very tall and very tough. He also knew they were masters of genetic modification: the art of changing living things so that they were different.

But these were mostly just words on a screen to him. He liked the Maasai. They were cool and alien; though Mitchell suspected that his own kind were as alien to the Maasai as they were to his. It was difficult to say. The skinny Martians were so easygoing and confidant that it was very difficult to say what they did and didn’t find strange. Really, he would probably never know. The two groups of human beings had become very other – and possibly they were that way before either had ever left Earth. But such things were never spoken of. There were only three rules universally held by all of the scattered and diverse children of Earth, those Interesting People who in desperation had fled its safe, comforting biosphere for the unforgiving wildernesses of the void. The Children of the Nakba. The Disaster. One, they didn’t make war upon one another. Two, they didn’t interfere with one other’s internal affairs. Though, really, they didn’t have to. The solar system was so unthinkably large that avoidance, rather than conflict, was the social norm. Trade, rather than conquest, its standard for interaction.

Three, they didn’t talk to the Earth. Ever.

Before very long the figure began waving. Mitchell waved back. He could make out its characteristic red robe slung over a skintight, reddish-brown environment suit. The Special and the Maasai were such a study in contrasts that they could have made an excellent comedy team, he reflected to himself with a quiet smile. (He liked comedy teams.) Mitchell was dressed in a bright yellow, inflatable outfit festooned with pulsing lights and topped with a spherical dome for his head. He was short, pale, clumsy, and as generally incongruous with his surroundings as a parrot on the bottom of an ocean.

The Maasai, on the other hand, was fantastically tall and angular, looking as though he had been hand crafted from the rocks, grass, and soil that lay around him: all reds and browns and rags and dust. His face was covered with antique looking goggles and a breathing apparatus that wouldn’t have been out of place in the trenches of one of the Earth’s ancient world wars. He carried a long spear with the air of a man who knew how to use it. His billowing dark red shuka contrasted against the brown and black skintight wrappings below it, giving him a fierce, exotic look.

The lanky figure stopped a meter from Mitchell. It cocked its head and peered down, regarding him with what the much smaller man guessed was curiosity or puzzlement.

Perhaps it was having trouble figuring out whether I am me or not, he reflected with slight amusement.

Then it reached down, clasping his forearm in greeting while simultaneously pressing its breathing apparatus into the flexible dome of his helmet. “Habari za safari?” boomed a deep voice through the plastic. How was your journey?

“Nzuri, asante.” Mitchell responded with a grin. Fine, thank you. It was his friend after all. He grasped Sironka’s arm in response, his smaller hand making it about half way to his elbow.

“Habari yako?” Sironka continued, still gripping his arm. How are you?

“Niko salama.” Very well, thank you. Swahili speakers typically enjoyed greetings, and could go on this way for a while until all possible formal and informal greetings were used up. This suited Mitchell fine. He liked greetings too, and they were pretty much all the Swahili words he knew in any case.

“What have you brought us this trip?” Sironka asked, releasing his arm and gesturing back toward the Andrew Levitz. Sentience was translating now, sending completed words into his mind through his earbud. Mitchell frowned slightly. Sironka was, by Maasai standards, being slightly rude. Normally they would have exchanged at least another two sets of greetings. Then he shrugged. Perhaps, uncharacteristically, his friend was in a hurry. At least by his own kind’s standards.

Mitchell pointed back at his ship using his right index finger. On cue – and quite dramatically, he thought again with a smile – the bottom two thirds of the craft began to disassemble itself; rectangular sections detaching and slowly drifting to the ground to hover obediently behind him. It was as if he owned his own herd of giant mechanical cattle. Which was rather the point.

“AntiG tech,” he began, counting theatrically on his fingers, “suitable for attaching to lifting platforms. Ceramic insulation to help harden your AIs, and near-sentience level semiconductor wafers to improve them. Blocks of pure aluminum, titanium, and surgical grade steel…”

Sironka nodded, looking impressed.

“…and that kind of stuff,” he concluded a bit lamely. Drama really wasn’t his strong point. But the Maasai bowed sagaciously, as if he had made some excellent point.

“For you little ones we have next generation non-self-replicating nanoviruses capable of repairing cell structures after radiation exposure, “ Sironka responded grandly with a sweeping gesture outward toward his unseen home, “new extracellular matrix cultures for regrowing organs. Something new to prevent early onset Alzheimer’s that doesn’t have the side effects of our old tech. And, of course, as much beef, grain, and frozen water as you can pack into your containers.”

Mitchell nodded thoughtfully. Those were good things. Alzheimer’s was the great curse of Specials, and even some Standards. You simply couldn’t have enough cures for it. The other two medical things sounded good too. Great tech to have when you lived out in the vacuum. And it went so without saying that biomass and water were such prized commodities on a space habitat that he didn’t even think about their value.

“Haya.” Okay. Mitchell knew that one without the help of his Sentience. Sironka nodded gravely, and then placed his index fingers on his chin, bringing them out and up slowly to indicate a smile. The smaller man beamed back appreciatively. Like everybody else in the solar system he knew a bit of Sign, and it was polite of his friend to pantomime his facial expressions. Otherwise it was like talking to a mask.

Sironka pointed out into the distance with his spear, in the direction that the tiny AI inside of Mitchell’s safety suit informed him was southwest.

“Let us now go to the Manyatta,” he said. “It is not a long walk. And you should stretch your legs after such a long journey.”

“Yes,” Mitchell responded simply, and the two of them strode out into the vast, russet emptiness, shipping containers following along behind them like a pack of huge mechanical dogs.

That sounds fantastic, doesn’t it??? Thank you Jason for taking the time to stop by today! If you’d like to connect with Jason and keep up to date on when both An Unforgiving Land, Reloaded and Nakba are releasing, you can subscribe to his blog or send him a friend request on Facebook.