Sci-Fi/Fantasy Author of the week….An Interview With Jaq C. Reed

September 4, 2015 by Cleve Sylcox

Interview with Jaq C Reed

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I love to travel, hopefully I will be able to do a bit more of it in the future. I am endlessly fascinated by the night sky- my kids love that part of me- because I feel no ways about shaking them awake to witness a meteor shower. I really believe that we should never lose our childlike sense of wonder at the world. I like to reimagine different ways of doing things, sometimes this works, sometimes it doesn’t. I am a terrible cook and a coffee addict. I also love Pinterest, but my attempts at being a crafty person usually end up on those joke sites about “How it looks on Pinterest vs. How mine turned out.” So now I just look.

Who are your favorite authors?

Margaret Atwood, Tanith Lee, Daphne Du Maurier

Tell us a bit about your book.

The Ungoverned is a tale of the human spirit. It’s a story of politics and repression and the length that people will go to in order to be free, even if freedom means losing the “security” that the current system provides. It’s also an environmental story. It considers what the after effects of industrialization, climate change, and what may happen as we use genetic modifications more freely and widespread.

If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

Probably to my early twenties to tell my younger self some secrets and give some sage advice.

What attracts you to writing in your genre?

The possibilities. The future is an open field. What we plant today will grow into tomorrow. We can see the seeds that are planted now but the actual outcome is hazy and unformed. I like to play with those possibilities.

Do you delve into any different genres?

I will eventually, I have a book burning in me that is outside of this niche and in the Romance category. It will come out in time.

Are you planning to participate in any anthologies?

Not at this moment in time, but I wouldn’t turn down the opportunity.

What do you like to do to relax?

Give me a book of course! No background noise and some quiet space.

What are you currently working on?

The sequal to “The Ungoverned” and another Cli-Fi that will be a standalone.

How can readers connect with you?

Visit me at Jaqreed.com, you can sign up for my newsletter and stay on top of everything, or find me on facebook.

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Featured Author – Linda Acaster

August 26, 2015 by Cleve Sylcox

Interview with Linda Acaster

Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I’m a born and bred Brit, living in a sleepy seaside English town sitting atop clay cliffs. That may sound beyond dull, but Stone Age spear and axe heads occasionally get washed from the cliffs, there’s an Anglo-Saxon burial ground just off my street, not far from the town is a motte and bailey earthwork from a 1068 Norman castle, and within an hour’s drive there is medieval York (once Jorvik, the Viking capital of northern England, and Roman Eboracum built by the Ninth Legion before they faded into historic obscurity and from where Emperor Constantine decreed the Empire would embrace Christianity), the sites of Celtic chariot burials, and the tallest Neolithic monolith in the country. If you gain the impression that landscape and history might impact my fiction, you could be right.

Who are your favorite authors?

I don’t have any. Yes, I know that’s odd, but there is no single author whose new books I rabidly devour. I pick and choose not on the strength of the author’s name but on the content of their fiction. I enjoy reading Stephen King, as long as he’s not being too wordy, for the way he develops the ordinary into the extraordinary; the late Robert Holdstock for the believable way he ran with British myths; Ian Rankin for his contemporary Scottish noir Crime; Lindsey Davies for her accessible Roman lifestyles; Martin Cruz Smith in particular for the thriller “Wolves Eat Dogs”, the late Tony Hillerman for his accessible depiction of modern Navajo life; the ghost stories of MR James and Charles Dickens… and on it goes. When I’m not reading for research I like to dip into the work of indie authors. Occasionally I’m disappointed, but very often I’m not. That’s the beauty of “Read Inside” as a taster.

Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

Maybe my answer to (2) is the reason – LOL! I started by writing short fiction, for women’s magazines to help pay the bills, for SF/F/Horror start-ups for the enjoyment. I’ve always liked history (yeah, tell ’em something they don’t know…) and won a competition which needed to be loosely in the Women’s Historical sub-genre. That gained a publisher for what became the medieval Hostage of the Heart. Unfortunately it also pigeonholed me beneath the Romance umbrella.

Publishers at the time held their authors in what I can only describe as The Vulcan Death Grip. We compromised with the Native American Beneath The Shining Mountains under an appalling title of the publisher’s choosing – I was a Northern Plains re-enactor at the time; the Brits are nothing if not eccentric. The publisher wanted more panting bosoms (oh pleez...) and less historical detail, but the title remains my biggest seller, mostly because of the historical detail and the multi-viewpoints. I disengaged myself by gaining a contract for a Fantasy, which the new publisher reneged on, and my agent wouldn’t fight for, but that’s life.

When indie authoring via ebooks finally opened to the UK I grasped it with both hands; a sharp learning curve but a worthwhile one. I decided to write for myself at last and the Torc of Moonlight script, which had gained great comments but no contract, was revived and re-written as *I* wanted it to appear. There is nothing so demoralizing for an author as re-writing to a publisher’s agenda and then having that publisher go meh…

The trilogy is themed on the resurrection of a Celtic water deity – my part of England has more natural springs named Lady Well than anywhere in the UK – and I follow through the Celtic marker number Three with a contemporary storyline over-arcing the novels, another placing each novel, and a historical storyline mirroring the individual novel’s theme. Book 1 is Celtic, Book 2 is Roman set in York/Eboracum, Book 3, still being written, is set in and around medieval monastic life in Durham. All the places mentioned in the historical sections can still be walked, as can the contemporary. The books could be used as guides in their university cities. History – all of it – isn’t just inches beneath our feet, it’s the backbeat to our lives. Even in the USA.

My latest, The Paintings, is as different as it could be: first person, female protagonist, a ghost story without the ghost. After all, what is a ghost? It’s an essence, and an essence can be… I enjoy thinking aspects through and turning them on their head. Writing a captivating story is all about the prep.

If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

You want a list? Celt, Roman, Norse… but in truth I think I’d chicken out. People can have a starry-eyed view of history. Can you really imagine yourself in a shield-wall? Watch swellings rise on your lover’s skin and know that you, too, are soon going to end in an agonizing death? Be carried off into slavery, or abused by those supposed to protect you? I’d be terrified I couldn’t get back. To say, nothing of the smell and being sozzled all the time from drinking ale because the water’s foul. Yes, it’s all very well studying history, but actually being there…! Perhaps my imagination is locked too closely into the reality.

What attracts you to writing in your various genres?

The prep. Asking endless questions of a scenario and not accepting the first answer, studying those answers from an oblique angle. Very often it is at this stage that the genre, and sub-genre, become apparent.

Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

I re-started writing short fiction a few months ago after a long lay off. Contribution to Mankind and other stories of the Dark is currently being revitalized (I needed to up the cover, but why stop there?) One story I was going to add to it I’ve instead offered to an anthology and I’m currently waiting to hear. It’s a creeping Horror centred on a 19^th century explorer. Using first-person viewpoint I could convey the arrogance and short-sightedness of the age. My readers tend to have to work, at least a little; I don’t lay it all out on a plate, they need to read between the lines and pick up inferences.

What do you like to do to relax?

Reading mostly, and most of that is research material. When I just want to flop I go for the TV. Don’t start thinking Soaps. In the UK our television companies do some cracking documentaries, so I go for titles like ‘Digging for Britain’ (latest archaeological finds), ‘Medieval Dead’ (never opt for being buried; in the future some fresh-faced child with a college degree and a trowel will upset your expected rest), or one of the host of non-ancient history programs available. It’s amazing what odd piece of information can spark an idea for a story or a character or research. I choose my movies: too often I’m picking holes in the plot.

What are you currently working on?

A series of blogposts on a recent trip to Orkney and Faroe, archipelagos in the Atlantic north of the UK. If at all possible I like to walk landscapes I’m going to write about, and next year I may well try my hand at an adventure aimed at early teen boys. There’s nothing like setting myself a challenge, and why would anyone want to write the same sort of fiction all the time? Speculative, certainly; Horror, it’ll have its moments. Which young lad doesn’t like to be frightened? I have on the go a speculative short about an auction find: I used to go to a lot of auctions and it’s amazing what can be picked up. And to bring the final in the Torc of Moonlight trilogy to fruition.

How can readers connect with you?

I’d welcome them!

Website: http://www.lindaacaster.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lindaacasterUK

Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaAcaster

Amazon.com page: http://www.amazon.com/Linda-Acaster/e/B002TNCOQE/

or for world-wide stores: http://Author.to/LindaAcaster

Thanks for the chat; I’ve enjoyed it. I hope your readers have, too.

Interview with Frank A. Ruffolo

August 19, 2015 by Cleve Sylcox

Interview with Frank Ruffolo
1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
I am semi-retired and started writing in 2007. My wife Christine and I are empty nesters and just celebrated or fortieth anniversary. I have two grown children and one grandson.
2. Who are your favorite authors?
I read all genres my favorite are Heinlein, Cussler, Baldacci, and CJ Box
3. Tell us a bit about your books.
My books are in three different genres Edgy Christian sci fi, Action adventure and Noir leaning murder mystery. My first, Gabriel’s Chalice was inspired by Luke 21:11 of the New Testament. The Trihedral of Chaos is an action adventure love story about terror attacks in the U.S. and the Jack Stenhouse Mysteries are crime murder mysteries.
4. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?
It would be hard to choose which period either during the renaissance in Rome to be able to interact with geniuses like Galileo or Michelangelo or further back to Jerusalem to have a conversation with Jesus Christ.

5. What attracts you to writing in your genre?
I write in three as I have said. As diverse as they seem they are all intertwined. Faith based sci fi brings two diverse areas together for you cannot have science without God. It enables me to be more creative in making up places and people that really do not exist except with the voices in my head. Action adventure and murder mystery are similar for the protagonists are both looking for someone and trying to stop a future incident or bring evil doers to their just reward. Those areas are more constricted for there I try to be more realistic and true to current events but you could have murders on a distant planet or a foreign country.
6. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.
Gabriel’s Chalice is pre apocalyptic Luke 21:11 describes what will happen when he returns there will be earthquakes and plagues and terrors in the sky and great signs. I took that as Volcanoes will start erupting all over the world together with plague outbreaks and God sends Archangel Gabriel with a message for all mankind.
The Trihedral of Chaos is a trilogy of love and hate. Three separate terror attack threaten the U.S. and my main protagonist must balance his love of family for his love of country. As a widower he meets a new love interest while being thrust into protecting his country.

Jack Stenhouse Mysteries follows a homicide detective form Fort Lauderdale to the Big Apple. Jack is a scoundrel. All of his failed marriages are due to his one vice strippers. His latest Girlfriend Diedre Lee aka Didi a woman with a name to match her attributes works the pole and a gentlemen’s club. Jack is not politically correct he likes his women like he likes his coffee, the bigger the cup the better. Jack must determine how beautiful women are dying from the bite from a Black mamba a snake only found in Africa. After moving to New York he becomes the new recruit in the First Precinct and with his partner must stop a serial killer that only strikes during the Feast of Saturnalia.

7. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?
I have in the works to more sequels to Gabriel’s Chalice that expand that 1400 year into the future. I am researching another adventure about Radical Islam attacking the Pope with the help of the mafia and Jack will be back in more mysteries.
8. What do you like to do to relax?
I love Nascar was able to drive one at Homestead Raceway at 150 mph. I like gardening and target shooting.
9. What are you currently working on?
I am editing three books and writing three more and researching three more. All sequels. The second in the Chalice series takes place after the great judgement during the 1000 years of peace. Man abandons his faith and tampers with God’s universe causing an asteroid to speed on a collision course with Earth. The same Protagonist in the first book the Matteo family must find three keys to unlock the power of the Guardians of Earth the Archangels to destroy the asteroid. The Next installment Xanthe Terra takes place on a terraformed Mars where we learn how the original Martian civilization was destroyed and how that same thing is happening again and threatens Earth as well.

Jack is back trying to help stop an assassin form killing witnesses called to testify against a corrupt and scandalous President in my new mystery Blue Falcon and then in another A man thought dead in the 9/11 trade tower attack shows up at the Memorial Pool poisoned to death with a gold coin in his hand in the mystery 10048.
10. How can readers connect with you? Thru facebook and twitter @ruffoloauthor and my website www.frankaruffolo.com my books are available online at Barnes and Nobel and Amazon

Frank A. Ruffolo

Frank A. Ruffolo author of Gabriel’s Chalice, Trihedral of Chaos Series (The Crescent Star, The Falcon’s Canticle and Yellowcake), The Jack Stenhouse Mysteries

frankaruffolo.com

Sci-Fi/Fantasy Book of the Week

August 15, 2015 by Cleve Sylcox

Halcyon Isle Kindle Edition

by S C Clarke (Author)

What felt like only three long months since Peter and the other kings of Halcyon were trapped in Kiadoz after Dominick had cast a spell as he was being banished by the Kiadonians, in reality was over three years. No one there had realized how much time had actually passed and that time was almost at a stand still. Their wives and the people in Halcyon could not get to their kings and even though they presumed the worst everyday they continued to search for them. In the hopes that one day they would once again return back home.

For the past three years, Helena, Rachel, and Marie led their countries, all of the countries had a ruler except Indigo, Jayson took over the duties as king, with Ava assisting him. Jayson never actually took the throne, he refused no matter how many times he was asked. Jayson would not unless he knew his son Jasper to be gone to him and he had the body to prove so. During these three years Ava and her brother Seth came to live in Indigo’s castle after their father passed away. Almost seven months after Jasper and the other kings disappeared Ava gave birth to a beautiful baby girl she named Viviana Elizabeth, Viviana to define life and that although all seemed hopeless and bleak, life still went on. Elizabeth after her mother who passed away from complications after Ava’s brother was born. Ava was almost five at this time, she still remembers her mother clearly to this day. Viviana was almost three years old now, her birthday only a little over a month away. Jayson and the house maids did everything to make Ava feel welcome them there in Indigo’s castle, her brother Seth was being trained to be a knight by Jayson himself.

Halcyon became peaceful and quiet again, the kingdoms and the people went on with their lives. Daniel and Mitchell were now in their teen years, Maxwell and Daisy had just turned ten and little Johnathan was almost five now. Despite not having their fathers there, their mothers did everything to assure them that all would be alright.

Interview with Susan Clark

August 12, 2015 by Cleve Sylcox

Over the past several months I’ve taken time to chat with Susan about writing and many other things. The main item that caught my eye was her keen ability to understand and grasp concepts many young authors miss. Things like narration, story flow, adaptation of characters in adverse situations. I feel she is one of the few – up and comers – that will impact the kindle scene like JK.Rowling did in London. Watch out World here comes Susan

Interview with S C Clarke

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.
Born and raised in Pennsylvania, I am the first generation American on my mothers side. I am a proud mother of four all almost grown children, two boys, two girls, ages seventeen to twenty-four. In the early 1950’s my grandmother (Oma), uncle and mother arrived at Ellis Island on Christmas Eve. My mother was only about seven at the time, the only thing she received for Christmas that year was a doll which she still has today.

My fathers side of my family resided in Philadelphia, and Bucks County Pennsylvania. Both of my fathers parents were born in 1900, unfortunately I never had the opportunity to know either one of them, for they both passed away before I was born. My father’s paternal grandfather was born in Virginia, he was one of the many men who hoisted William Penn atop city hall in Philadelphia, he even carved his initials into one of the eyes, which I am sure has eroded away from these many years. There is much I do not know about my family ancestry, there are rumors that my father’s paternal grandfather took part in starting one of the first auto car companies, without conclusive evidence of this I cannot truly say how accurate this may be.

I have often been asked where do I get my strength from…I would have to say from my grandmother, my Oma, whenever I feel discouraged, I think of what she had gone through when she lived in Germany during World War II. She was arrested and held in a camp for sheltering, and assisting many Jewish families escape, also during this time she was the mother of two young children, my uncle who was born during the war, and my mother who was born three months before the end of the war. Falling in love with an American soldier who was also part African American, and moving herself and her children here to America where back in the 1950’s, mixed marriages were much frowned upon. Oma however did not care, she was a woman of strong will and strong passions. When I was eight years old I traveled to Germany with my Oma, mother, and brother, seeing such sights as the castles along the Rhine River, The Black Forest, and other places. And of course Neuschwanstein Castle, which is my favorite place in the world, and I have longed to return there ever since.

Writing has been a dream of mine for many years, I never had the courage to pursue this passion, always doubting myself and thinking I will never be good enough. Now that I have written two books in my Halcyon Isle Series and am working on the third, not to mention other works I have completed, along with other books I am currently working on. I see now that being successful with my writing has more to do with the feeling of accomplishment I have when I finally finish a book I worked so hard on, giving me the strength to go on to the next one.

2. Who are your favorite authors?
I would have to say JRR Tolkien, JK Rowling, Terry Brookes, Ernest Hemningway. To name a few. Plus a few Indie Authors I have had the pleasure of reading their books as well.

3. Tell us a bit about your books.
The Halcyon Isle Series takes place in a magical and mysterious fictional world called Halcyon where there are other lands as well. Such as Kiadoz (world of the zodiac people). Lumeare (where the Lythari live)
Plus other places to intrigue the mind.

Halcyon has a Renaissance type of feel with a touch of modern day aspects.

4. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?
I would probably go to the early 1900’s some time before 1930. I never had the opportunity to know my fathers parents and grandparents and this would answer so many question both my father and myself have about our ancestry.

My father never really knowing his mother either since she passed away when he was only a year old. I could tell him all about her.

5. What attracts you to writing in your genre?
One word. Castles. When I was around eight years old I had the opportunity to travel to Germany with my Oma(grandmother), mother and brother. We traveled all over going down the Rhine River passing by the Lorelei, through the Black Forest by train. Also seeing all the castles intrigue me to no end. My favorite place in the whole world which one day I hope to return to again is Neuschwanstein Castle. Since the day I saw this castle I felt a longing and a connection to its mysteries. And of course, one cannot have castles without a king and queen, adventures, magic and other worlds and creatures.

6. Tell us a little about your books. I see you like to delve into many different genres.
My main genre I enjoy is fantasy. I love the mystery of castles the lore involved and where it may take someone.

The Halcyon Isle Series is about courage and friendship with an adventure to seek out the Elemental Spirits who now hold the powers of the people of Halcyon. Peter, Patrick, William and Evans ancestors found a way to banish the powers of their people as well as their own. Now they are finding how to have their powers returned in order to fight off the evil that has once again returned.

Benjamin, Charles, Jacob, and Thomas, King Frederick’s elite men were sent off to find a new country for the people of Aldenna to live. Aldenna was in the mists of war between good and evil, the onset was unknown. At the end of it all there were many who survived, many lives were lost as well, men mostly, some women and also children.
Charles, Jacob, Thomas, and Benjamin were to become the leaders of the people, dividing Halcyon into four lands, each becoming the king of their own country. Believing that magic is no longer beneficial the four find a way to do away with any and all magical powers that were possessed by everyone. Using a gigantic crystal that laid in the center of Lake Erewhon, Halcyon is now powerless. For many years after this there was no war, no anything, the people of Halcyon resided in peace.
Many years later, Dominick Randolffe, a descendant of Benjamin and his wife Sarah had two children, a son first, Patrick, then Emily a few years later. Emily was still born, which put Sarah into a spiraling downward depression, losing her battle and will to live. Not long after that Dominick was overtaken by an unseen force that slowly led him into destruction. Years later When Patrick was finally old enough to rule he had his father imprisoned for his own safety as well well as the safety of others. Dominick escaped, no one knowing how, Patrick, William, Peter, and Evan did not know what they were up against, all they knew things were going to get worse before they got better. The only way to be ready to go against any evil that had returned was to have their powers and the people of Halcyon as well. In order to do this they had to first seek out offerings for the Elementals, who were holding their magic, and take these offerings to the Atoll, the home of the Elementals.
Along the way of seeking out these offerings, this new generation of rulers met many different people and creatures along their way. From fairies, to mists, shape-shifting elves that can turn themselves into wolves at will. One creature they encounter is an enchanted redwood tree, who called himself Roter Baum.

7. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?
Secrets Revealed, the fourth book in the Halcyon Isle Series starts to wrap up what has been taking place on the first three books (Peace No More, Lost Kingdom, Return From Kiadoz). I still have not decided if there will be a fifth book.

First few paragraphs of Secrets Revealed

The kings now had their amulets back, as they sat in Hansa they began to discuss how they would make their people feel at ease as best they could. Evan took his tree symbol from is pocket, “What about these, can we get to Roter with these?” He questioned. “There are several problems with that, first we do not know how to use them, secondly, Roter has been swallowed into the ground, we do not even know if he even exists anymore.” William replied. “We have to find a way.” Jasper said, taking his symbol out as well laying it upon the table. He as took off his amulet, “This is useless at the moment.” He added.

Jasper laid his amulet right next to the tree symbol, both of them started to let out a faint glow. “What is happening here?” Peter asked, as they all watched, the tree symbol some how on its on wrapped itself around Jasper’s amulet. Peter, William and Evan placed their tree symbols on the table as well, took off their amulets from around their necks. Placing them on the table as well. The same thing happened to theirs as did Jaspers. Peter picked his up, he tried to pull the two apart, they were stuck together as if they were made this way.

“It is time again to contact our ancestors, the founders, tonight at midnight we all must try to think of them in our dreams, I do not know who else may have the answers that we seek.” William said. They all agreed to this, Peter, Jasper and William went back to their homes.

8. What do you like to do to relax?
I like to listen to music, write, read and just enjoy down time how ever I can.

9. What are you currently working on?
I am currently working on the fourth book in the Halcyon Isle Series-Secrets Revealed. I am also working on a paranormal murder mystery Kin-dling which I hope to get more completed on soon.

10. How can readers connect with you?

Facebook
S C Clarke
https://www.facebook.com/pages/S-C-Clarke/698968316835478

Halcyon Isle Series
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Halcyon-Isle-Series/372697102888502

Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/-/e/B00FRZVJ44

Twitter
https://twitter.com/_s_c_clarke_

YouTube
http://youtu.be/gt5x7NqylGA

Smashwords
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/SCClarke