Tag Archives: Author

Featured Author of the Week – Colleen Hoover

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Colleen Hoover’s love for writing began in 1985 when she was five years old. Her first story was titled “Mystery Bob” and was a huge hit with her mother, who was really good at faking interest.
Colleen continued to write short stories for friends and family until December of 2011, when she decided to write a long story she titled, “Slammed.” She self-published SLAMMED to Amazon in January, 2012 and it hit the NYT’s bestsellers list in May, 2012. She has since signed with Atria Books, a division of Simon & Schuster, and now has six NYT’s bestsellers. Colleen prefers to be called a writer, as the term “author” still terrifies her and makes this feel like a job with expectations. She doesn’t work well under pressure and hopes writing will always remain fun and exciting.
Colleen’s newest novel, UGLY LOVE, releases August 5th, 2014. She is currently working on a new novel, CONFESS, which she is writing as fast as she can before she wakes up from this crazy dream.

You can follow Colleen on Instagram and Twitter @colleenhoover. You can also find her on her blog at http://www.colleenhoover.com where she holds a daily book-a-day giveaway, or on her very active Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/authorcolleenhoover where she loves to give away more free stuff when her husband isn’t looking.

Colleen also wants the world to know that writing short biographies in third person is incredibly awkward.

This Weeks Featured Author – Andy Downs

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Andy Downs - Featured Author of the week 12/14/2014

Andy Downs – Featured Author of the week 12/14/2014

Andy was born and grew up in Bedfordshire in the UK. He was a dreamy child who had as many imaginary adventures as he did real ones in the river and fields near his family home. Many summer days were spent building rafts (that usually sunk) and floating down the river with his friends. When it rained, he would spend hours daydreaming about hidden doorways to underground worlds where strange creatures lived.

After twenty years as an engineer, he wanted to spend more time on enjoyable and creative pursuits, and now writes horror stories, teaches classical guitar, is a keen amateur ornithologist and enjoys woodwork.

A note from the author.
Like most authors, I like to hear what readers think of my books. I don’t write to earn a living, it’s purely the enjoyment of writing and hearing that you have enjoyed reading them. So if you have an opinion and the time, I would appreciate your comments. You can leave them on Goodreads, Facebook, Google+ or email me directly through my website.

I’d love to hear from you.

Andy Downs

Featured Author of the Week – George Wier

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George Weir - Featured Author the week of 11/30/2014

George Wier – Featured Author the week of 11/30/2014

George Wier in his own Words

I was born in East Texas and spent most of my life there, principally around the Bryan and College Station area. I moved to Austin, Texas, in 2002 andshortlythereafter began writing The Bill Travis Mystery series.Icurrently live in Austin with my lovely wife, Sallie, along with two cats and two dogs.Writing is both my avocation and my vocation, but to add to these I play both classical violin and country fiddle, and I dabble in art (mostly drawing and painting), photography, and book cover design.I began writing in earnest in 1986, although I have been creatively writing far longer than that, practically since I could read (at a very formative age.) I find that I have far more ideas than I could ever write down, and so I pick and choose only the best story ideas. I write what I, myself, like to read, and nothing more.

I am always happy to talk to a reader and would dearly love to hear your comments. Please visit my website at http://www.georgewier.com or my series website at http://www.billtravismysteries.com. There you will find free short stories, anecdotes, and links to other books and writers.

Thanks for reading!

Best,

George Wier

***Recent PUBLISHERS WEEKLY review of LONG FALL FROM HEAVEN:

“This pleasingly moody noir from Wier (Longnecks & Twisted Hearts) and Burton (These Mortal Remains) introduces a promising duo with C.C. “Cueball” Boland and Micah Lanscomb, owner and employee, respectively, of NiteWise Security in 1987 Galveston, Tex. After one of the company’s guards is beaten to death at a warehouse owned by the “Old Island Money” DeMour family, the duo, not trusting headstrong investigating detective Lt. Leland Morgan, try to determine if more motivated the crime than simple robbery. Cueball suspects a recently paroled sociopath, Harrison Lynch, he encountered years before as a rookie Dallas cop. Flashbacks, meanwhile, trace the crime back to 1943, when a serial killer linked to the Manhattan Project arrived in the raucous port town…
Readers should welcome future outings for the appealingly world-weary Boland and Lanscomb from Wier (Burton died in 2011).”***

Featured Book of the Week – Eternally Yours by Gina Ardito

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Eternally Yours (The Afterlife Series Book 1) [Kindle Edition]

Gina Ardito (Author)

Jodie Devlin’s suicide is not the end, merely the beginning. With her future as a living human being irrevocably destroyed, she must become an employee of the Afterlife until a new existence can be created for her. In the realm on the other side of death, she’ll learn how to retrieve ghosts who have lingered too long on Earth. If only she didn’t have to work beside a good-looking, arrogant man who baffles and challenges her at every turn.

It’s no wonder Luc Asante is so bitter toward women. His former wife ordered him taken off life support, condemning him to service in the Afterlife as one of Death’s bounty hunters. Now he has a trainee—a female trainee who’s as soft-hearted as he is hard, as impulsive as he is methodical. In a place where perfection is the norm, she revels in her imperfections just to drive him nuts.

Traveling through time and space to bring peace to lost souls, Jodie and Luc will be forced to come to terms with their differences and their pasts, to discover a love that might bind them for eternity.

Featured Author of the Week – Gina Ardito

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Gina Ardito - Featured Author of the week - November 23, 2014

Gina Ardito – Featured Author of the week – November 23, 2014

I kill houseplants. There. Now you know one of my greatest shames. I’m not boasting. I just figure that if you’re reading this, you’re looking for more than how wonderful life is as a writer. You get enough of that elsewhere. Ditto for political rants, how to lose thirty pounds in a week, and creating gorgeous crafts with nothing more than twine and soup cans. My goal is to connect with you, dear reader, even if you’re not a writer, not a New Yorker, not a mother, not a female. We’re human (unless one of us is a spambot), and what we have in common is flaws. So here are a few more of mine:

I sing all the time (except at work where my boss had to sit me down and give me a talking to about how I distracted my coworkers.) I sing songs most people don’t know–jingles from television, crazy stuff I used to listen to on Dr. Demento, Broadway and movie soundtracks, and I can even bum-bum-bum through instrumental music. I sing in the car. In the shower. While I’m grocery shopping. And I headbop while I sing. When I’m not singing, I talk to myself. Just ignore me and move on. You get used to it after a while.

I don’t eat my vegetables. Seriously. I only started eating salad about ten years ago, but I’d still rather have a cookie.

Given the option, I would live in a mall where I would never have to worry about freezing temperatures or too much sun. I’m extremely fair-skinned and could burn under a 60-watt light bulb.

I can’t sleep without background noise so the television’s on all night. If it’s too dark and too quiet, all I have are my thoughts. And even *I* don’t want to be alone with my thoughts.

Don’t ask me to Zumba, line dance, or march in the parade. I have absolutely no rhythm.

I color outside the lines. Not because I’m a rebel, but because I suck as an artist. My artistic ability is limited to being able to draw Snoopy sleeping on his doghouse. And I don’t even draw that well.

Regrets. I have more than a few.

My favorite activity is sleep, and I’m pretty good at it. I don’t clock a lot of hours, but I can powernap like a Persian cat and rejuvenate within ten minutes.

I consider shopping and dining out excellent therapy for anything wrong in my life.

My feet are always cold. Always. My husband of more than a quarter century claims it’s because I’m an alien sent to Earth to destroy him. (He might be right about that.)

Coming to my house for a visit? Unless you’ve given me plenty of advance notice, be prepared. My floor will not be vacuumed, there will be dishes in my sink, and I only make my bed when I change the sheets once a week (I’m climbing back into it ASAP. Why make it?) Housecleaning is not high on my priority list. Okay, to be totally honest, it’s not on the list at all.

I can resist anything…except ice cream.

Since this is our first date, I figure I’ve revealed enough secrets for now. But if you’ve read this bio and think I might be the author for you, pick up one of my books or stalk my website: http://www.ginaardito.com and my personal blog: http://ginaardito.blogspot.com.