COVER REVEAL: "Frequent Flyers" Anthology

Cover Reveal for Frequent Flyers, a Romantic Short Story Collection

Coming November 1, 2014!

Romance flies the friendly skies in this diverse collection of short stories from a talented group of best-selling and up-and-coming authors.

There's something for everyone in this mile-high compilation - from a love story born in a blizzard to a steamy encounter spawned by a series of crazy events. For supernatural fiction fans, how about the tale of an airport that's also a portal to another world… or a scheduled flight that takes a detour into an alternate reality?

From an unexpected trip that reignites a twenty year old flame, to a quirky liaison between a ticketing agent and an adorable doctor, Frequent Flyers takes you on a journey that will touch your heart and leave you flying high!

 

Eye of the Storm by Beth Bolden - Commercial pilot Captain Grant Montgomery III lives for the rules; flight attendant Tess O'Brien loves to break them. The storm brewing between them might be even wilder than the record-breaking blizzard outside.

Forced Landing by Angel Lawson - Nadya discovers her tiny hometown airport is the portal to a world she never knew existed, one with an ancient history buried deep within her bloodline.

Unscheduled Departure by T.M. Franklin - Rowan Elliott is devastated when her boyfriend, Finn, tells her he's moving across the country to take over the family business, and thrilled when he changes his mind at the last minute and gets off the plane. But then things get . . . weird. And Ro's left wondering if her boyfriend's really who she thinks he is.

A Midsummer Flight's Dream by Kira A. Gold - Twenty years ago, he promised to catch her if she fell. Contains young lust, old books, and wild strawberries.

Fly Me To The Moon by Bev Elle - Ticketing agent Jessamy Taylor has been in a dating slump that was exacerbated when she moved her sickly mother in. Truth is, she's never gotten over the quirky Dr. Griffin Sanderson whose OCD drives her crazy, despite his excellent bedside manner.

The Friendly Skies by Amanda Weaver - An unruly drunk, a misbehaving volcano and a re-routed flight lead to one steamy night for two strangers who meet on a plane.

Add Frequent Flyers to Your Goodreads Shelf!

Beth Bolden lives in Portland,Oregon with one cat and one fiance. She wholly believes in Keeping Portland Weird, but wishes she didn't have to make the yearly pilgrimage up to Seattle to watch her Boston Red Sox play baseball. After graduating from university with a degree in English, Beth unsurprisingly had no idea what to do with her life, and spent the next few years working for a medical equipment supplier, a technology company, and an accounting firm. Now Beth runs her own business as a Girl Friday for small business owners, assisting them with administration, bookkeeping and their general sanity.

Beth has been writing practically since she learned the alphabet. Unfortunately, her first foray into novel writing, titled Big Bear with Sparkly Earrings, wasn't a bestseller, but hope springs eternal. Her first novel, The Lucky Charm, was published in May 2014 and its sequel, Getting Lucky will be available December 1, 2014.

Connect with Beth Bolden

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Mailing List

Angel Lawson lives with her family in Atlanta and has a lifelong obsession with creating fiction from reality, either with paint or words. On a typical day you can find her writing, reading, plotting her escape from the zombie apocalypse and trying to get the glitter out from under her nails.

She is the author of five books, including the Wraith Series, Serial Summer, FanGirl, and Vigilant. She is the co-author of the New Adult Paranormal book, Odin's Murder with Kira Gold.

Connect with Angel Lawson

Twitter | Website | Facebook | Goodreads

T.M. Franklin started out her career writing nonfiction in a television newsroom. Graduating with a B.A. in Communications specializing in broadcast journalism and production, she worked for nine years as a major market television news producer, and garnered two regional Emmy Awards, before she resigned to be a full-time mom and part-time freelance writer. Her first published novel, MORE, was born out of a challenge to write a novel in thirty days issued during National Novel Writing month. MORE was well received, selected as a finalist in the 2013 Kindle Book Review Best Indie Book Awards, and won the Suspense/Thriller division of the Blogger Book Fair Reader's Choice Awards.

In addition to MORE and its sequels, The Guardians and TWELVE, Franklin has penned the Amazon best-selling short stories, Window and A Piece of Cake. Her Amazon best-selling YA romance, How to Get Ainsley Bishop to Fall in Love with You, is Franklin's first love story without traditionally recognized paranormal or fantasy elements. Although . . . T. M. is the first to argue that love is the best kind of magic.

Connect with T.M. Franklin

Website | E-mail | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Mailing List

Kira A. Gold is a textile artist living in Lexington, Kentucky. She has four accidental cats and an intentional collection of vintage marionettes. After midnight, she writes strange things in a blue bathrobe.

Her first book, ODIN'S MURDER, with Angel Lawson, is a New Adult paranormal twist on Norse mythology. Her solo debut, THE SCENT OF FLAMES, is a Young Adult take on Hamlet, set in Vermont. Look for her next play on Shakespeare, a seductive and speculative MacBeth, early next year.

Like her author page here: https://www.facebook.com/kiraagoldauthor for book info and odd thoughts or follow her inappropriate insanity on twitter: @kiraagold

Bev Elle is the author of sweet and spicy contemporary romance, women's fiction and historical paranormal romance. A love of books--many already written, and those she harbors in her very active imagination. Writing is a passion she's had for many years, but was unable to act upon. Bev Elle is the mother of three human children and two canines. She is also the lover of one husband. When Bev isn't writing in her spare time after work, she is thinking of doing so.

Connect with Bev Elle

Website | Facebook | Goodreads | Twitter | Google+ | Pinterest | Mailing List

 

Like many writers, Amanda Weaver spent her childhood telling stories. College steered her in a different direction and into a successful career as a designer. Several years ago, she picked up writing again as a hobby, to blow off some creative steam. One thing led to another, National Novel Writing Month happened, and here we are.

Amanda Weaver grew up in Florida and now lives in Brooklyn, New York with her husband, daughter and two crazy cats.

Connect with Amanda Weaver

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Pinterest

Join Us for the Frequent Flyers RELEASE PARTY on November 1st! And ENTER NOW to Win One of Six Amazon Gift Cards - or One of Six ARCs of Frequent Flyers!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

COVER REVEAL: "Tell Me My Name" by Mary Fan & "Slam" by Tash McAdam

StoryTime is a tri-annual event created by Glass House Press.  All proceeds from the StoryTime events will be donated to SDDAS Spirit Fund, a

nonprofit society dedicated to giving homeless animals the medical care they need. For more information, visit their website at sddac.com/donations.asp.

Today is the cover reveal of two novellas in StoryTime releasing on October 14, 2014:  Tell Me My Name by Mary Fan and Slam by Tash McAdam.

In Mary Fan’s second novella from Glass House Press, a teen girl wakes up in an icy cell, alone and frightened. She has no memory of who she is or how she came to be there.

She does know that she must get out, at all costs. And that escape must start with remembering the simple things – her own name. Her place of origin. Her possible powers.

When a group of dark magicians reveal themselves to be her captors, she finds herself in the clutches of those who will stop at nothing to uncover the secrets locked within her lost memories. With her life fading under their merciless spells, the need to escape becomes dire.

But can she get out when she doesn’t even know who she is? Can she count on one unlikely ally for help? Or is it already too late for her, a girl without a name?

Tell Me My Name introduces the main characters in Mary’s new fantasy series, Fated Stars, with the first book, Windborn, due in late 2015.

Add it to your Goodreads TBR Pile : http://bit.ly/YKlnIG

About Mary Fan

Mary Fan is a hopeless dreamer, whose mind insists on spinning tales of “what if.” As a music major in college, she told those stories through compositions. Now she tells them through books—a habit she began as soon as she could pick up a pencil. Flynn Nightsider and the Edge of Evil follows a well-received debut novel, a space opera titled Artificial Absolutes (2013), and is the first in the Flynn Nightsider series. Mary would like to think that there are many other novels in her bag, and hopes to prove that to the world as well.

Mary lives in New Jersey and has a B.A. from Princeton University. When she’s not scheming to create new worlds, she enjoys kickboxing, opera singing, and blogging about everything having to do with books.

Website    Facebook    Twitter  

Telepaths, torture, mindwipes ... the Institute has it all, and they use each of their brainwashed children as weapons, the way they see fit. To control society, repress its people. To make certain that they stay in power, no matter the cost. Serena’s baby brother Damon is one of those children, and these days he’s so altered that he doesn’t even recognize her.

When it comes to getting Damon away from those who kidnapped him, there's nothing Serena won't do. Even if she has to kill him to save him. First, though, she must prove to her father that she has what it takes to be a soldier against the insidious threat of the Institute. Her first mission has to be perfect.

But with inaccurate intelligence, unexpected storms, and Gav Belias, people’s hero of the Watch, on the prowl, will she even survive? If she doesn't succeed, they'll never let her go after her brother.

And that would be unthinkable, when it was her fault that he was taken in the first place.

Slam is Tash McAdam’s first work with Glass House Press, and serves as a prequel to her series The Psionics, with the first book, Maelstrom, due in 2015.

Add it to your Goodreads TBR Pile : http://bit.ly/1sLY9Qr

About Tash McAdam

Tash McAdam’s first writing experience (a collaborative effort) came at the age of eight, and included passing floppy discs back and forth with a best friend at swimming lessons. Since then, Tash has spent time falling in streams, out of trees, learning to juggle, dreaming about zombies, dancing, painting, learning Karate, becoming a punk rock pianist, and of course, writing.

Tash is a teacher in real life, but dreams of being a full-time writer, and living a life of never-ending travel. Though born in the hilly sheepland of Wales, Tash has lived in South Korea and Chile and now calls Vancouver, Canada home.

Maelstrom, the first book in The Psionics, is Tash’s first published work. Visit the website or facebook for news, gossip, and random tidbits about Tash’s adventures.

 Facebook    Twitter

Enter to win a $10 B&N Gift Card!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ARTIST INTERVIEW: Scott Koblish at Long Beach Comic Con 9/27/14

You can't walk into a comic shop, a Hot Topic store or log into any comic-themed website nowadays without seeing the red-clad mercenary Deadpool, AKA Wade Wilson, on some piece of merch or in some news story. There's even a movie coming out based on the much-loved hired gun.
Recently, the cover to his wedding made it into the Guinness Book of World Records for having the most charters on one cover at one time.
At Long Beach Comic Con, I was privileged enough to sit down and interview that famed artist, Scott Koblish.
Enjoy!





1. When and why did you decide to get into comics?

I was a little kid. I would read comics when I was about seven. I started drawing when I was four and then I started reading comics when I was about seven. I think my uncle had a friend who colored comics--Bob Sharon--who used to color all sorts of stuff for Marvel. And I think that it must’ve gotten through to my mother that that was a possibility; that you could be a comic artist. When I expressed an interest  in it, I think that we kind of ran with it.
I drew as a kid. I wound up going to the Kubrick school as  a little kid, so I wasprobably about ten. Joe Kubrick used to teach the classes. It was a lot of fun and I really enjoyed it. Joe is a great guy. He really showed me that you could make a living out of it.

2. Which artists inspired you to draw?

I was a really big fan of John Burn and George Perez. They are great artists: just brilliant. When I was ten I went to the Kubrick school and Joe taught the classes back then. Joe really was the person that sort of squared it away for me that it was a job that you could have. Joe really sat down and kind of showed me that, if you want this job, here’s what you have to do. Hers the time that you have to put into it. It takes a lot of time. Each page sometimes will take sixteen to twenty hours. And if you think, you know, you’ve got that many pages to do in a month, and only a certain amount of time.
So, yeah, Joe was great. I was really inspired by a lot of the art that  I liked, but the real important things for me in my life was when Joe would show me stuff I didn’t know about, like Alex Raymond; stuff like LIttle Nemo--all the old 20’s comic strips that Joe really liked when he was a kid. There were things that I liked, but there were also things that that Joe steered me towards that were more influential to me in the end.

3. You made history with the Deadpool wedding cover for the most characters featured on a single comic book cover. Do you plan on topping yourself one day?

Yeah, sure! I mean, I didn't even know that they were going to dask the Guiness people to certify it. I mean, I would’ve put more characters in! Hit Monkey is not even in it, so, I would have loved to have done that. If I knew that they were going to  go to the Guinness Book, I would've spent more time! I would've put at least 250! I think there's about 236 or so. It’s a weird amount.
[Here a fan came in and was shocked and excited that the cover got into the Guinness Book of World Records, as he hadn’t known and was actually getting Mr. Koblish to sign that exact cover at that exact moment!--KSR]
Someday, I’ll top myself. Why not? I’d love to. The way I look at it is the gauntlet is thrown down. Sergio Aragones or George Perez want to try and take if from me, they’re welcome to try and I’ll just get back on the horse and do 300!

4. I read on your website that you're  a musician. What do you play and what type of music do you like?

Well, I play guitar and I sing. I write a lot of songs. I used to have a nad--I used to have a couple of bands--back when I lived in New York, but now that I’m out here in LA  I just haven't found anybody to play with. Mostly I play songs on my own; stuff that I’ve written. Drawing is a very sedentary, solitary pursuit, so you wind up being along a lot during the day, so its nice to be able to get out and do things where there's other people involved. So I like to go out and play when I can.
I have a lot of songs that I've written, so I’d be a fool not to play them. If I don’t play them, nobody else will. [Laughs.]

5. What character or title have you not drawn yet that you’d like to some day?

I would love to draw the Legion of Superheroes. I don’t know that that’s gonna happen, but you hold out hope. Right now, I’m really happy with Deadpool. Deadpool has provided a lot of really neat stuff for me to sink my teeth into. Like in the deadpool mini series I’m working on now, The Art of War, it;s pretty much everybody is in the third and fourth issues. I get to draw some of the X-Men and Fantastic Four; the Avengers. Tremendous amount of trolls. It was a lot of fun.
I get to do all sorts of great stuff. I got to draw Taskmaster for the 27th issue of Deadpool, and that was great. I got to draw Sabertooth in the 34th issue, so Im always surprised and happy just to draw and sink my teeth into different characters. Like, Mole Man I got to draw in the Deadpool mini series. He was a lot of fun to do, just because his face was so crazy. It’s very interesting to me to draw different kind of faces than the traditional heroic Green Lantern jaw. I can dig into different things and features that are unusual.

6. I know you said on your blog that you don't like to pick favorites, but can you tell the reads what books you've reread the most, since my blog started out as being solely about novels?

I love a lot of John Irving novels. Irving's stuff is really great.I haven't read any of it lately. There was a period of time where I didn't have a TV so I’d plow through pretty much everything he’d written. Kurt Vonnegut is a favorite of mine. There are books that are important in your life and there are books that you kind of just read as a relief. Vonnegut's stuff I find I read as a relief. The same with John Irving. There are books out there that I read and are under the umbrella of important, you know? But a lot of the stuff I enjoy is kind of calm stuff. There are novelists that I thought I would enjoy more than I do, but I don’t.

7. There was something you had posted on your Facebook fan page that suggested you were into astronomy and science. Are you interested and would you ever incorporate that into the comics you draw?

I love astronomy and yeah, I’d love to have been a scientist working in astronomy, but that was the fallback position of comics didn't work out. [Laughs.] Fortunate;y comics have worked out okay. I love that kind of stuff: science, math and astronomy. I thought about putting it on, but the things that bug me most about science fiction is there are things that you really can't get around if youre serious about the science part. Like, you can’t get around the fact that if you leave for the Andromeda Galaxy, it’s going to be your relatives that get there. Not you. So they use a lot of things like warp speed and you know, wormholes and things like that to get around the fact that it would take you a generation or three to get from point A to point B. So I always get tripped up by that kinda stuff when I’m writing stories about science fiction. I should probably just ignore it. Everyone else ignores it!

8. Thank you for participating in the interview! Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

I’m actually really an open book and can't think of anything. If you want to know anything, just ask me! [Here I suggested he leave an open invitation to ask him anything on his Twitter, which will be listed below.--KSR]

Find Mr. Koblish online via:

Twitter

Blog

Facebook (LIKE page)

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Marc Estes

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

From the time I was a very little boy, probably 4 or 5, my grandfather would sit and tell me stories that he would make up as he went along. I always loved that and was determined to do it myself someday. As early as elementary school I was entering writing contests and developing my craft.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

When I was younger, I would have to say, Willa Cather, Judy Blume, and E.B. White were my biggest influences. I couldn’t get enough of their work. Today, my tastes truly run the gambit from Charles Dickens to Dean Koontz. There really isn’t one genre I favor because it’s not really the story that counts, it is how it is told.

3. What was the inspiration behind Four Pieces For Power?

I actually started Four Pieces For Power as a high school project. I worked on it some more in college through writing courses, but I would have to go back to my grandfather for the true inspiration. As Andrew is introduced to a whole new world because of his grandfather, my grandfather introduced me to whole new worlds almost daily.

4. Did you originally intend for it to be a series or was it originally supposed to be a one-shot novel?

As I mentioned above, I originally just planned on writing a couple chapters for a school project. As the story developed, it became evident that there was a lot more to the story that needed to be told, so the series idea just evolved with the story. That brings up an important point. Several of my readers have commented that there are a lot of questions at the end of Four Pieces For Power. That’s why it’s a series. I can guarantee to the reader, that all of their questions will be answered in time, but I can’t spill all the beans in book 1.

5. Were any of the characters based on real people?

I get that question a lot. All I can say is this. I spend a great deal of time observing people. I find that you can get so much more through observation, than any amount of conversation you may have. I take traits from various people that I both admire and disdain when developing a character. It makes them unique. I guess you could say it is like a giant gene pool that I take a scoop from and see what comes out.

6. What do you want readers to take from Andrew and Robert's quest and how it changed them?

One thing I have learned in the course of my life, is that there is good and evil in everyone. Andrew and Robert start out basically in the same spot, but the learning curve goes in opposite directions solely by the choices they make. We are all a culmination of the choices we make in life and that has the capability of tipping the scale toward good, bad, or a balance in the middle. It is a very fine line between good and evil, and any of the characters can cross that line at any time.

7. Can you tell the readers about your previous work?

As far as my previous work goes, it primarily falls in the realm of playwriting. One thing I often struggled with was dialogue in my story writing. It can be frustrating when you know that each character has their own personality and will respond differently to different events. In order to work on my dialogue, I began writing plays, each of which are 97% dialogue and 3% stage direction (not a real figure, just an expression). As my plays developed, I became better at being able to show the story through dialogue, versus telling the story. It is amazing how much a reader can get about a character from a little, well placed, dialogue. You only have your imagination as you read, so the reader counts on description and good dialogue to give them a panoramic view of your story and not just tunnel vision. I have been very fortunate to win regional, national and international awards for my plays. Two of them have been performed at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC. I don’t really have the space to go into the plot lines of every play, as each, in and of themselves, are their own unique stories. I am, however, always looking for new productions so anyone can feel free to contact me if they are interested.

8. What would you do if someone told you that you had to go on this scavenger hunt for an inheritance?

I would say, “When do we leave?” I have always been a fan of shows like The Amazing Race, and classic movies like Scavenger Hunt and It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World. Although this scavenger hunt is a little different, I would still find it a thrill.

9. How many books with the Vendicatori series span?

That is a question that remains up in the air. I guess it will go on as long as there is still story to be told. I can tell you, I have developed the outlines and plots for the first four books in the series. Readers get a small taste of book two at the end of Four Pieces For Power, but there is a LOT of story that will surprise, shock and amaze the reader. As the story continues, the reader will be introduced to many new characters that will add a whole new dimension and depth to the world of the Vendicatori. Just when you think you have it all figured out…surprise!

10. Would you like to see the series in theaters or on TV? If, yes, who would you like to see play your characters?

Absolutely. In fact, my publisher has recently put together a package to present to production companies in hopes of making it a feature film. Several of my reviewers have also commented on how it would make a great movie. I guess time will tell. I haven’t really thought of a cast for the movie, but off the top of my head, I know the character of Brittany Correo, has to be a very strong woman and I think Glenn Close would be great. I think Anthony Hopkins would make a great Dominic. Andrew and Robert would be tough, but I think Tobey Maguire would do well as Andrew and Joseph Gordon-Levitt would make a stunning Robert. Both actors fascinate me with the depth in which they act.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

One name comes to mind. JK Rowling. I would love to see the Vendicatori novels take off like Harry Potter or even Stephanie Myers’ Twilight series. There is only one group of people that can make that a reality for me, and that is my readers and fans. I am currently working full time and writing when I can, so I would love to have it be the other way around.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

If I wasn’t writing, I would probably be doing something in the wildlife or animal field. I love animals, Virgo from the book is a perfect example.

13. Can you tell KSR readers what you're working on next?

I am actually in the middle of three projects. First is the sequel to Four Pieces For Power which is titled: Rekindle the Flame. Second, I am working on a play about John Wilkes Booth and his relationship with Lucy Hale. Third, I am outlining another book series, which I hope to eventually add to my credits. It is called 33. Without giving too much away, it is an “end of the world” series that is unlike any other, and readers won’t know the truth until the very end. It will change the way they look at our world.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

I think it would be great to collaborate with Charles Dickens and get to the bottom of The Mystery of Edwin Drood. Dan Brown would certainly be a pick, and of course, the incredible mind of the late Sydney Sheldon.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

It is hard to come up with three things that may surprise my readers about me, but I guess one would be I am a HUGE Star Wars fan. I also love oil painting and woodworking. Third would have to be the creators of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles rented from my mom when I was younger and developed the phenomenon before my eyes. I have tremendous respect and admiration for both creators (Peter Laird and Kevin Eastman).

Find Marc Estes online via:

Goodreads

Amazon

YouTube

INTERVIEW: Len Wein at Long Beach Comic Con 9/27/14

This past weekend I was privileged enough to be press again at Long Beach Comic Con with my awesome mom, Annie, once again acting as my photographer.
Last time, I interviewed one of the most influential people in comics, Marv Wolfman (amongst many others). But my schedule didn't allow me to interview Len Wein, the man who made the X-Men what it is today, created Swamp Thing and so many other characters people love to this day. I rectified that in Saturday, when I was able to sit down with Mr. Wein and talk about comics, the Simpsons, westerns and Stephen King.
As I walked away, professional on the outside and fangirling on the inside, he called me back to tell me how much he enjoyed doing my interview after years of getting the same form questions. To have someone both my mother and I grew up reading take a minute to compliment me, it meant more than I could say. I'm still in awe of it.
Over a year ago when i started this blog, I never imagined that I'd be interviewing some of my idols in comics and literature. And never did I imagine that someone like Mr. Wein would give such a nice compliment.
I'm so grateful!





1. Your first professional story was in 1968 with Marv Wolfman, on the Teen Titans title for DC Comics. Are you pleased that, nearly 50 years later, that title is stillgoing strong?

Absolutely! I mean, it’s gone through many, many, many, many different incarnations over the years, but I think the conceot of the teen sidekicks having their own lives and their own adventures is a strong one and it works well.

2. You’ve written many differt genres of comics, from superheroes to romance. If you had to choose, which genre is your favorite and why?

Weirdly enough, I think it might be westerns! I love writing wwesterns. I did a numver of them early in my career. I just did one a year or two ago for a collection called Outlaw Territory. I did it on speck--I’d get paid only if it makes money. And I didn't care! I just wanted to write a western story again. It was fun!
It used to be one of the most popular genres in conics and television, and no almost nobody bothers anymore and I don’t know why! I love those. I still watch them on like MeTV and Antenna TV. I watch The Rebel and whatever other shows come on. I have a complete collection of the DVDs of Have Gun Will Travel, which is my all time favorite western.

3. Chris Claremont has rightly said that X-Men would not be what it is today if not for your contributions to it. How does it feel to see your “babies” on the big screen today?

I’m thrilled! I will never lose, nor have I ever lost the fanboy “oh wow” factor. Every time one of my own books comes out and I hold it in my hands I still go, “Oh, wow, look at this! I did this!” So yeah, I’m still a fanboy geek. And I love what they’ve done with most of my comics.

4. When you were a child dreaming of creating comics, would you ever have imagined that you’d be in the Eisner Hall Of Fame?

No. I’ve been saying for the last several years that if I could go back and tell my fifteen-year-old self what my life was going to turn into, I would never have believed me! I mean, the people wh are my friends, the reach I have had in other people’s lives… Every convention I do, somebody comes up to me and says, “I just want to thank you. You’re the reason I started reading comics.” And it just tears me apart, to have had that effect on other people who I’ll never meet. It’s impossible to describe that feeling.

5. You’ve written the Futurama and Simpsons comics. What do you personally think of the comics-on-TV trend?

I’m thrilled about it. The Simpsons and Futurama was a challenge to me. Basically at one of the comic cons in San Diego, Bill Morrison, the editor of Bongo comics who published the Simpsons, came up and said, “I want you to do a story for the Trio Sahara.” And I said, “Are you kidding me? Why do you want to waste your time?" He goes, “It would be a very funny story.” So he suggedted I do a Swamp Thing takeoff. And I looked across the room and Bernie Wrightson was sitting there and I said, “Yo, Bernie, you want to do Swamp Thing again?” And he said, “Uh, what?” I said, “As the Simpsons?” And he said, “Yes. Let’s do that!” And I t was the most amazing Bernie job I’ve ever seen! It was truly a Bernie Wrightson art job and asolutely Marvel/Simpsons. It was crazy! But I started doing a bunch of stories for them after that. And I could write the Simpsons! I didn't know. I had fun.

6. That actually brings me to the next question. What brought about the creation of Swamp Thing?

It is the single character of those I have created where I can't remember for the life of me how I came up with it! [Laughs.] I was on the sunway coming to the offie from Long Island where I lived and by the time I got to the office the idea was there and I pitched it to Joe Orlando and Joe loved it. So I got the assignment and Bernie and I got together at a friend’s party and he said, “I just broke up with my girlfriend. I’m feeling terrible.” And I said, “I just wrote a story that might make you feel better!” And he read it and said, “I want to draw ths!” And that’s how that started.

7. Of all the characters you’ve created and worked on, is there any character you haven’t written yet but would like to have the chance to?

Actually, this is the third time in several years that someone has asked me that! The first time somebody asked me that question my answer was, “You know,  I think I've written every character I’ve ever wanted to.” And then, about a week after that nterview, I said, “Damn, there is one character that I'd love to write.”
The following year, I was at WonderCon in Anaheim and I was having dinner with Joe Hill, the horror writer and son of my old friend Stephen King. He asked me the exact same question!
He and a number of his friends took my wife and I out to dinner because we had never met before, and he asked me exactly, “Is there any character you’ve never written hat you'd like to write?” And I said, “Yes, I realized there is one.” And he said, “Who?” And I said, “Exactly!” And he said, “Huh?” I said, "I’ve never written Doctor Who! I would kill to write Doctor Who!" And the three guys sitting at the table looked at me wide-eyed and said, “Are you serious?” I said, “Yes, why?” They said, “We can make that happen! We’re the editors of the Doctor Who comic!” And so I wrote a Doctor Who story!

8. Actually, I did have another quesrion a little further down, but i’ll ask you now since you brought him up: Stephen King has had his novels turned into comics and has even written a comic. Would you like to collaborate with him on a comic or novel?

Either! I've known Stephen since we were both in our teens. Marv Wolfman published his [King's] first story in his fanzine. The only time Steve and I have worked together was when I was editing the Batman books. We ran into each other at a party and I was doing the four hundreth issue of Batman and I said, “Hey, what are you doing, Steve?” And he said, “I’m crazy busy!” “Oh, too bad. I was going to ask you to write the introduction to Batman #400.” He said, “Seriously?” I said, “Yeah!” He said, “Man, I woukd love to do that...and I can't! My editor would kill me. I've got a book that’s due.” And he went back and forth for five minutes, having this argument with himself. “Oh man, I really want to, but he’d kill me. ...But I really want to.” Finally he said, “No, realistically and practically, I cannot do it. I’ll do it!” And he did! He wrote the introduction for me! [Laughs.]

9. You originally started out in comics as an artist. Why did you switch to writing?

That’s what they hired me to do! I submitted some stuff to DC and they thought he art was good but needed work. It wasn't;t quite ready. But they liked the writing, and it was the one with Marv Wolfman and he had done most of the writing! And Joe Orlando, who had gone over the samples, said "I’m doing these two new books called House of Mystery amd House of Secrets. Can you submit some story ideas? I’d love to see it.” So I submitted three or four story ideas and he liked one and I’ve been a writer ever since.

10. Thank you for participating in the interview! Can you please leave the readers with thee things that may surprise them about you?

I am a huge fan of musical theater. ...And I’m straight! [Laughs.] I am a trivia freak. Every thursday night some of my friends and I go out and we play trivia at a local bar...just to keep me occupied! And my wife is a Jeopardy champion, and was in the tournament of champions on Jeopardy.

Find Mr. Wein online via:

Twitter

Blogspot

Facebook (LIKE page)

BOOK REVIEW: "Four Pieces For Power (Vendicatori Series Book 1)" by Marc Estes

Andrew Correo is an average guy, recently going through a grieving peroid for a lost love. The last thing he expects is for strange men to show up, trek him his dead grandfather actually was alive until recently and he is next in line to inherit the Vendicatori, the family legacy...but he isn't the only contender. In order to beat his opponent, he has to travel the world, looking for four pieces of a puzzle to lead him to his birthright.
Robert is the other, a devious man who, after getting word of the vast fortune he is to compete for, gets a taste for death and trickery.
Meanwhile, Andrew's sister is getting married at a Halloween masquerade, and he may not make it home to be there.

Acclaimed playwright Marc Estes' debut novel is an adrenaline-filled adventure, wrought with danger and deception at every turn.
It is a slightly moral tale, about how money and power can corrupt even the most good-hearted man. The evil that lies dormant in every human heart comes to the surface in Four Pieces For Power, where a fortune that could change your life is at stake.
The characters seem very basic, except for one thing in each. In Andrew, it's his grief over a murdered lover. It's relatable and genuine, and easily makes him the favorite of the two main characters. With Robert, it's actually his corruption. The darkness is alluring and frightening at the same time.
This is a well-plotted tale and I will be reading the rest of the series!

4/5--great work!

Purchase Four Pieces For Power via:

Amazon

Barnes And Noble

Google Books

Book Depository

eBay UK

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Morris E. Graham

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

I was a webmaster of a gaming site for our group, and I was archiving some stories based on the game "Battlezone" which we played. I said to myself, "I can write something at least this good." So, with the idea of writing an 8 page short story for our website's story archives, I started to write. I never found an exit strategy. The story just grew and grew. Eventually I had enough material for a book, with an eyes on a two volume series. Volume one, which was originally supposed to have been called Warzone: Operation Wolf Hunt became so large it had to be split into two. So.. I started to fill in the back story with the origins and focused on volume one, which was now called Warzone: Nemesis.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

When I was younger, I read classics like Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls, and I had an unquenting thirst for biographies of famous people. I must have read every biography from Andrew Jackson to the Wright brothers that the Boyce, LA library had when I was a kid. Today I love to read Tony Hillerman, James Clavell, and Clive Cussler, an occasional Star Trek paperback, and some action and adventure or detective stuff.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Warzone: Nemesis?

The inspiration was the theme story of the Activision game Battlezone. However, Star Trek is also an influence.

4. Why did the novel go through several rewrites since 2014?

It only had one rewrite in 2014. Upon publishing in August 2013, I got some feedback from my readers. Good reviews and marks, but it wasn't the 5 star reviews that caught my attention. The less than perfect reviews caused me to do a rewrite to fix some things. While I was at it, I endeavored to step up my style a bit with more descriptive language, and added some different POVs. I studied hard to learn more techniques to step up my writing style, and my editor was pleased with the improvements. Anyone who doesn't recognize that they can be better will never improve.

5. What do you think would happen if a spaceship landed on Earth today?

Depends on who they are and who finds the vessel. If the government has anything to say about it, it will remain a secret, same as in my story.

6. What made you decide to write sci-fi as opposed to a "realistic" wartime novel?

When I was a kid, I loved sci-fi comic books, like Spiderman, The Fantastic Four and The Legion of Superheroes. Later I became a Star Trek fan. The game me and my friends played later was strictly sci-fi, as I mentioned before.

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

I really like action/adventure, and detective genres.

8. What was your original goal when writing Warzone: Nemesis?

The original goal was to tell a story of honor, courage, duty and faith, and have fun doing it.

9. Will we see another book like this from you in the future?

I hope so. The sequel Warzone: Operation Wolf Hunt is 60% complete, while the final book in the proposed trilogy/Warzone: Unlikely Alliance has the first chapter written.

10. Would you like to see Warzone: Nemesis in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

Sure. I would like to see COL Kahless being played by Ryan Gosling, perhaps, Adam Beach as COL SEAL, and Rachel McAdams as LTC Pastukhova.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

I would hope my trilogy would be complete and I start perhaps a detective series.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

I work in test and analysis in telecommunications.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

After a break to spend time with my son before he graduates and goes to college, I hope to return to complete Warzone: Operations Wolf Hunt. 

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

Tony Hillerman, James Clavell, and Clive Cussler.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

1) I am a Christian. 2) I have been married to the same woman for 33 years. 3) I was hurt in a fall from a telephone pole in 1998 and am a below the knee amputee.

Find Mr. Graham online via:

Official site

Twitter

Facebook

Goodreads

BOOK REVIEW: "Warzone: Nemesis" by Morris E. Graham

THIS REVIEW IS FOR THE SECOND EDITION. THIRD EDITION REVIEW COMING IN JANUARY 2015.
 Here is a list of the redactions and edits:

EDIT LIST FOR 3RD EDITION
1) Removed all change scene icons and replaced with ***, except for one bear paw introducing SGT Roanhorse. Kept cross pistols icon denoting end of chapter.
2) The chief engineer Ba-Torah was found to be a Jewish word, so it was changed to Ra Tokai.
3) Navajo errors in first chapter: removed “twenty” in reference to years Joseph Yazzie working in uranium mine, removed comment made by one of them “looks like something in a science fiction movie” – not likely, TVs not too common on the reservation in 1959, removed Paul Jones’ breakfast – not relevant, removed Navajo language of Navajo shepherd’s song, changed explanation of how Begay’s got surname, changed Ben’s direct address to Uncle George as “Little Father”, corrected metaphysical explanations about Yeii to be more accurate, included in two places where the white contacts tried to persuade Jones to give up the dead bodies of the aliens.
4) Eisenhower made reference to worrying about the Soviets developing a nuclear device, 10 years after the Soviets had already built the H bomb.
5) In testimony of his own beginnings in ASDC, CPT Paul was said to have left the Navy, when Luna was a “Marine only” post at that time.
6) 2nd edition in “Passing the Torch” has quite a few meetings, calls, memorandums and letters. In 3rd edition, I deleted 7 letters. That chapter was reduced in word count by 18.6%.
7) Removed reference to Americans having collected info for 10 yrs, when it was just 2 years.
8) Redefined Alloy-x and element x more clearly.
9) Added artificial gravity to transport shuttle America, setting precedent that all transports have artificial gravity.
10) I mistakenly referred to time in MST/Zulu. It is either one or the other, not both. “Zulu” is GMT time. Mountain Standard Time is GMT- 6 hours. They are not the same thing.
11) LTC Judgment Day was watching a Tigers/Cubs game. This was not possible. There was no interleague play at that time. I corrected it to show a Cubs–Orioles which was correct for league play and time/date, and made it a radio transmission-more plausible.
12) Added some updated physics for howitzers and sniper rifles on Luna, noting that bullets needed to be self-lubricated because the vacuum sucked all the lubrication out and that a barrel chilled to -170 degrees F needed to be warmed before firing.
13) Corrected reported location of Wood Crater.
14) Noted that trigger guards on hand held conventional weapons have to be large to accommodate space suit gloves.
15) Changed Vietnam time in opening scene of VN chapter.
16) Corrected number of SEALs on op.
17) In Vietnam piece, was referenced to French Indonesia as the part which included Vietnam. Was supposed to be Indochina.
18) Removed the following references to tech not available at the time being written: PC, email, DNA, GPS…
19) Removed virus attack on Soviet comm. satellite as unnecessarily stretching plausibility.
20) Did not move greenhouses as per previous by treaty, changed it…
21) Added steel oxygen cylinder to rebreather outfit.
22) Corrected Kahless’ reciting his lineage to COL SEAL’s family in more correct Navajo terms.
23) Cindy Mandina was 11 years old in 1982, and was not at that time the manager of Mandina’s restaurant in New Orleans.
24) Removed unneeded details of cross country trip, like which roads they took.
25) Spelling and capitalization errors corrected.
26) There were multiple repeated sentences and a couple repeated paragraphs, mostly in the eBook, has been corrected.
27) Changed at least 6 formatting errors in eBook, making curley quotes appear as &rsquo.
28) Corrected methods by which men receive promotions to be correct by military protocol.
29) The marathon poker game count of the two player’s chips at the end was wrong.
30) Removed alien telepath stuff, replaced with verbal speech
31) Changed Ivy League school to Cornell University
32) Corrected some more errors in the baseballs games
33) Corrected protocols by which loved ones are informed about a death
34) The part where Crazy Mike was cooking off rounds and the following description was corrected.
35) Comment that as Kahless’ rage subsided, then started showing mercy to the Soviets instead of killing them. When the accord was signed, there was only one prisoner. I corrected that.
The space race was a lie, and the cold war wasn’t as cold as you thought. While we were playing spy versus spy, conducting an arms race and a space race on Earth, things were heating up in the solar system.
In 1959, an alien vessel crashed on the Navajo reservation, ushering forth a colonial space race in the solar system between the two superpowers. The prize is the mysterious metal known only as alloy-x and the alien technology that promises to make one nation or the other the dominant superpower in the arms race. The American commander finds himself fighting with the toughest antagonist of his career. He had finally met his nemesis. The stakes are high. Losing the struggle could tip the balance of power on the Earth, giving the Soviets the advantage in Earth’s cold war.

Morris E. Graham took inspiration from a video game, of all things, and turned it into one of the most interesting science fiction/war novels out there today.
Video games have some of the best stories around. If you don't play, you might think I've lost my mind, but it's true. The creators create a grand story to support the carnage and wartime violence the player experiences.
In this book, it does read very visually, switching off between prose and letters to tell what is probably the most realistic war novel. You feel like you're in the middle of it all as war wages in outer space, before even the first moon landing.
Readers who like war stories will like this, readers who like sci-fi will like this and video game fans will eat this up with a spoon!

4/5--great work!

Purchase Warzone: Nemesis via:

Amazon (KINDLE)

Amazon (PRINT)

Goodreads

Barnes And Noble

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Dr. Timothy H. Cook

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?

“When” is a hard question to answer. But realistically, it was when we got our first computer with a word processor. Then whatever nebulous ideas I had about writing took flight, and I was actually able to pin them down in black and white. This was around 1989. But I had written on a strictly amateur level for years, beginning sometime in my youth.
“Why” is easier to answer. It’s because I’ve always loved to tell stories, and writing provided the means to make the stories permanent.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?

Actually, there were many, but it was authors such as Rudyard Kipling and L. Frank Baum, with his wonderful Oz books, who provided my fertile childhood imagination with the stimulation, that later became The Book of Drachma.
What I love reading today, is whatever I feel like at any moment. And by that, I mean that I love reading nonfiction, biography, fantasy, fiction, short fiction, mysteries, theology, history, medical writing, children’s literature – you name it.

3. What was the inspiration behind The Book of Drachma series?

A gripe session – really. I had been attending a medical conference, and at lunch, my newly acquired colleagues and I spent the time griping about how the world of medicine was portrayed in the lay media. Not only were the details wrong, but, even more importantly, none of the writers got the feelings right. There was something special about “being a doctor,” which they simply did not understand, and did not portray. And on the way back home, I conceived this epic series, partly as an answer.

4. Did you originally plan it to be a series or was supposed to be a one-shot novel?

I had originally conceived it as a single novel, in three parts. And that is why it is hard to just leave the reading after one book, and why you can’t really just pick up the second or third book, and expect it to make much sense. But the publisher insisted on a trilogy, so three books there are.

5. Your bio says you're a seventh generation doctor, and that obviously influenced the main character, Dr. Gilsen, quite a bit. What's it like growing up in a family of renowned physicians?

I don’t know about renowned, but it’s strange – that of the six of us children, I’m the only one who ended up in medicine. And while it’s true, that Dr. Gilsen is, in many ways patterned after my father, the real inspiration for the physicians in the series: Dr. Gilsen, Craycroft, Cartho, and, yes, Falma were patterned after a real 16th century physician, named Paracelsus.
But as to the question of what is was like – it was obvious to me, growing up, that medicine was what stimulated me, gave me purpose, and it was what I was going to do.

6. What made you decide to write fantasy as opposed to a "realistic" medical novel?

How else was I going to incorporate Paracelsus, and what he represented, into a novel of medicine, and still keep true to my original vision?

7. What other genres would you like to try your hand at?

Perhaps a contemporary medical thriller, or an historical (nonfantasy) novel. Or short stories.

8. What was your original goal when writing Laminar Flow?

To write something different, yet to write in a readable way. Too many of the great fantasy writers (and I include my esteemed boarding school mate, Stephen Donaldson, in this) write with such a high prose style that reading their stuff becomes a chore. I wanted something aimed a bit lower.

9. How many books will the series spawn?

Well, it looks like there will be six (I’m already committed to the sequel, also as a trilogy). After that, I don’t really know.

10. Would you like to see The Book of Drachma in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?

You know, I’ve thought about this, and I’m not certain. You lose something, I think, when turning over your “baby” to Hollywood.
But, tongue-in-cheek, I could really see Sean Connery as Drachma!

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?

If I knew, I probably wouldn’t like what I saw. But I really would like to retire as a writer, because the world of medicine is now going so far beyond me, that I’m feeling like a dinosaur. But then, I’ve got other hobbies, such as painting, photography, music and travel to keep the boredom at bay.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?

What I’m doing now – practicing medicine.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?

I’m working on the sequel to The Book of Drachma, which I am tentatively calling Heir of Drachma, and I’m nearly done with the first book (The Healer’s Defence).

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?

Patrick Rothfuss, Steve Donaldson, Kenneth Grahame, among others.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?

1) I made my operatic debut at 7 years of age, in India, playing Amahl (in an Indian version of Amahl and the Night Visitors)
2) I really think that I’m a better painter than writer
3) I don’t really have a home town, having grown up in India, and having lived in MA, PA, IN, TN, MI, OH, IA, OK and now AR.

Find Dr. Cook online via:

thebookofdrachma.blogspot.com

photosbydrachma.blogspot.com

BOOK REVIEW: "Turbulence And Restoration (The Book of Drachma #3)" by Timothy H. Cook

In the third installment of Timothy H. Cooks's The Book of Drachma trilogy, Turbulence And Restoration, we find Dr. Gilsen having some amorous thoughts towards a woman who is not his wife, discovering pneumonia for the first time in the fifteenth century, and contemplating the possibility that he and his nurse, Judy Morrison, may never make it home to the twenty-first century.
He's still tying to figure out who the mysterious man is that summoned him and Judy to the past, and of they'll ever see him again to ask him the myriad of questions that they have for him.
But the biggest question is, will they ever go home again?

The final piece of the Drachma trilogy is much more fast-paced than its predecessors, and gives you the most information about the mysterious Book they seek, the characters' inner selves and how magic and medicine seem to be so similar.
The characters didn't need development, but they did develop as this series went on, and did so quite well. Dr. Cook's individual voice can be heard the most and the village of Shepperton has never been so vivid in my mind.
While this book answer most of the questions both the characters and the readers had after reading Coaptation, there is room for more, which gives hope that Dr. Gilsen's story is not yet over...

5/5--very enjoyable!

Purchase Turbulence And Restoration via:

Tate Publishing

Amazon

Goodreads

Best Little Bookshop

FictionDB

iBooks (Apple users)

Google Books (Android users)

eBay

YouTube Book Trailer

BOOK REVIEW: "Coaptation (The Book of Drachma #2)" by Timothy H. Cook

In the sequel to Timothy H. Cook's debut novel Laminar Flow, Dr. Bob Gilsen is still in a strange land, where medicine is primitive and living conditions are worse. But this strange world is in desperate need of his modern medical knowledge.
His nurse, Judy Morrison, is as confused as anyone about the doctor's sudden disappearance on the heels of the tragic death of a much-loved patient. As she tries to find Dr. Gilsen, she finds herself pulled away from her life into what the book accurately describes as "a place of chaos and snowy danger". It's a place under a curse of a deadly plague and they need help.
The move futther combines the two worlds--the present and the past; Judy's and Bob's--and gets her just a little closer to Dr. Gilsen.

The first book in The Book of Drachma trilogy, Laminar Flow, was an interesting whirlwind of fantasy and fact, fiction and reality. Coaptation, the second book of the trilogy, focuses a little more on Nurse Morrison as well as Dr, Gilsen. I have to admit I was hoping that would happen, as I liked Judy and didn't think that there was enough of her in the first book.
Medical knowledge is not necessary for the reader, but having a little bit of it helps with some of the narration. Dr. Cook has a lifetime of knowledge stored away and he uses that, plus his vast imagination, to ensnare the reader into this strange world.
The new characters introduced are vivid in the imagination, and the new setting is as well. The book raises a LOT of questions from the reader and pretty much all are answered by the end. One in particular is, "Who or what is this Drachma?" It's something we all hope is resolved by the time we get to the final installment!

Great characters and a very vivid narrative makes this series deserve a spot in your TBR pile!

4/5--interesting and informative

Purchase Coaptation via:

Tate Publishing

Amazon

iTunes (Audiobook)

Booksamillion

Waterstones (UK)

Cdon.se (Deutsch)

YouTube Promo Video

Goodreads

RELEASE DAY BLAST: "Her Final Sleep" by Joe DiCicco; Review and Interview

You can do horror two ways: The long, drawn-out, I'm-never-going-to-sleep-again way Stephen King prefers, or a fast, unsettling creeper that ends before you want it to that Joe DiCicco wrote in his novella Her Final Sleep.

A sleepy New York state town is shaken up by a new, all-female metal band called Her Final Sleep. There's something so alluring and dangerous about the secretive group, and another local band (all male) wants to know what.
But can they try to get on HFS's coattails when they're falling apart before they've begun?
It's a story of hidden, ancient evil and of rock n' roll. Perfect mix!

Horror novels are meant to do one thing: scare us. The good ones do that, but the great ones also drag us in and never let us go.
Like a King novel, HFS is one of those that drags you into its dark parlour and invites you to stay awhile. The characters range from annoying (Jeff Clade) to enticing (Sasha Cody), and each make the novella what it is: a dark masterpiece of death and unnatural hunger.
Why read Her Final Sleep? Because when you mix vampires and rock music, it can't get any better! Because you, reader, will fall under the Sire's spell, too...

5/5--excellent work!



Purchase Her Final Sleep via:

Amazon (KINDLE)







INTERVIEW:

1. When/why did you decide to become a writer?


I didn’t really decide to become a writer, I’ve just sort of always done it, since probably around the second grade.

2. What authors inspired you when you were younger? What books do you enjoy reading today?


Stephen King, J.R.R. Tolkien, E.A. Poe, Lovecraft are all among my favourite authors. I’ve had an interest in horror and science fiction from a young age and those are what I mostly enjoy today.

3. What was the inspiration behind your novel Her Final Sleep?


The inspiration mainly came from my short stint as a struggling musician, as well as my observations of how female musicians are often seem only for their aesthetic value and often times their musical prowess is overlooked. I thought to myself “What if beautiful female musicians were to be hiding something terribly evil?”

4. Why did you choose vampires as your main paranormal focus?


Vampires have been glamourized for the past hundred years or so, and the idea of beautiful vampiric women who victimize people just sort of felt right. As stated above, I feel many female musicians are judged on their looks and not their musical skill and I had the idea that what if that innocence and beauty were hiding something? In the future I may focus more on vampires as they originally were in Eastern European folklore, more like hideous corpses than beautiful creatures.

5. Were any of the characters based on real people? Any real musicians?


None of the characters were based on any one actual person, but many of them were based on amalgamations of several actual people.

6. Are you a fan of rock and metal music like your characters? Who are your favorite artists?


I am. Some of my favourites are Zeppelin, The Doors, Thin Lizzy, Black Sabbath, Dio, Iron Maiden, Frank Zappa, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Grateful Dead and Electric Wizard to name a few.

7. Can you tell readers about your previous work?


Well I have a short story available to read for free on innersins.com from the February 2013 issue about a man who lives alone in a ratty little apartment with his cat, who discovers something sinister living just upstairs. I also have two short stories available on Amazon, only $0.99 for both together, about a beautiful, but deeply evil creature that lives in Pine Lake, New York, the same town that Her Final Sleep is set in.

8. What would you do if you found out vampires were real?


In a way it would ruin the whole mystique behind the legend, as there would almost certainly be a medical and scientific explanation behind it.

9. Will we see another book like this from you in the future?


I absolutely want to touch on the subject of vampiric creatures again, though I likely will write them to be much more grotesque and horrific.

10. Would you like to see Her Final Sleep in theaters or on TV? If so, what actors would you like to see play your characters?


A movie would be cool, so long as I got to oversee its making lol. I don’t feel television would work at all, as it would completely ruin the atmosphere I have envisioned and attempted to convey in the story. As for actors and actresses, were it up to me, I would definitely opt for lesser-known or even unkown people, as I feel they work much better with the realism of the movie as opposed to well-established actors or actresses.

11. Where do you see yourself and your career in the next ten years?



I really can’t say at this point. Hopefully still writing what I love.

12. What would you be doing if you weren't writing?


I really don’t know. I love writing and have always done it. And so long as I draw breath, I always will.

13. Can you tell KSR what you're working on next?


I am currently working on another story which will be either a novel or a novella, about a father and son hunting trip that turns into a life or death struggle when they find themselves being hunted by a serial killer deep in the woods.

14. What authors, dead or alive, would you like to collaborate with?


Stephen King, of course. P.K. Dick, August Derleth, H.P. Lovecraft, Isaac Asimov, just to name a few.

15. Thank you for participating in the interview. Can you please leave the readers with three things that may surprise them about you?


I love to cook and consider myself to be fairly good at it lol.
I am an animal and nature lover and hold a degree in environmental conservation.
I was horrified of all horror movies growing up, but have long since come to love them.

Find Joe DiCicco online via:

Facebook (LIKE page)

Twitter

Google+

BOOK REVIEW: "Laminar Flow (The Book of Drachma #1)"by Timothy H. Cook

What does being a doctor really feel like? What is it like to get called out in the middle of the night to care for a desperately ill patient, to be the one everyone depends on? Bob Gilsen knows only too well. And what does a fifteenth century physician, who gets called out in the middle of the night in winter, possibly have to offer his patient? This is the beginning of The Book of Drachma, a novel of medicine, murder, fantasy, and self-discovery, set in two times and places. It is a novel for the curious, for those who really wish to know what it means to be a doctor, in this, as well as past ages.
In Part One, Laminar Flow, readers find the two stories have a commonality that transcends the barriers of time and place, and leads to the two tales coming together under the watchful eye of the mysterious Drachma.

Timothy H. Cook's debut novel doesn't feel like a first time effort. The care that was put into it by the author immediately makes readers feel comfortable with the book, and they will want to read it frequently.
The characters are all realistic, with Bob Gilsen a step above. The care he gives to his patients is touching. Josh, also, is a striking character, with a very important role in the story.
The flashbacks to the previous century are a smooth transition. They will transfix you and make you crave to get the next book in the series.

4/5--nice work!

Purchase Laminar Flow via:

Tate Publishing

Amazon

Christian Book.com

Barnes And Noble

iTunes Audiobook

iBooks

Booksamillion

eBay

Goodreads

COMIC BOOK REVIEW: "C.O.W.L. #5"

Writers: Kyle Higgins & Alex Siegel
Art: Rod Reis
Letters: Troy Peteri
Edits: Andy Schmidt
Back Matter Design: Rich Bloom
Cover: Trevor McCarthy
Logo: Eric Wright
Publisher: Image Comics

The fifth installment of C.O.W.L. takes place after weapons leaks from the Chicago Alderman's office, superpowered extortion rings are taken to task and a lot of internal issues have taken place inside of C.O.W.L. and the mayor's office.
In this issue, you get murders staged, arrests made and power asserted...not always on the right side. I'm trying very hard not to give any spoilers, because this site is a spoiler-free zone, but with this book, so much happens it's difficult to do!

I love that it's set where I lived, during a time when my great-grandparents actually did live there.
The writing is simplistic and perfect for this type of story, in this setting. I can hear the characters' individual voices in my head by now. Each issue has seen writers Mr. Higgins and Mr. Siegel grow into these characters and their disparate personalities.
The art by Rod Reis is just beautiful. The close ups of the characters gives the appearance of miniature portraits rather than comic book art.
Conspiracy, in-fighting and a cliffhanger ending that Errol make you long for issue #6 make this a can't miss comic! The best part? The recap. If you've just gotten into this book, you won't be lost (though I do recommend that you had over to your local comic shop for the back issues). You can jump right in with both feet and enjoy.
This is not your typical comic book, but it is the future of comics. If you liked Mr. Higgins' work on Nightwing for DC Comics, you will love C.O.W.L.!

5/5--excellent!

Purchase C.O.W.L. #5 on September 24th via:

Google Books (digital copy)

Forbidden Planet (physical copy by mail or in person if you live near NYC)

ComiXology (digital copy)

Or find your local comic shop via: http://comicshoplocator.com . That's always my preference!