March
5
2010
Christa Allan lives in Abita Springs, Louisiana where she teaches high school English. She’s written for Chicken Soup for the Coffee Lover’s Soul, Chicken Soup for the Divorced Soul, The Ultimate Teacher, and Cup of Comfort for Parents of Children with Special Needs. A member of American Christian Fiction Writers, Christa is also a contributor to Afictionado, their online magazine. She is also a ontributor to Exemplify. Christa is the mother of five adult children and the proud Grammy of three. She and her husband Ken spend time with their neurotic cats, play golf, and dodge hurricanes. Walking on Broken Glass is Christa’s debut novel.
Q: Tell us briefly about your book.
Leah Thorton’s life, like her Southern Living home, has great curb appeal. But a paralyzing encounter with a can of frozen apple juice in the supermarket shatters the façade, forcing her to admit that all is not as it appears. When her best friend gets in Leah’s face about her reliance on alcohol to avoid dealing with her life, Leah must make an agonizing choice. Seek help against her husband’s wishes? Or—put herself first for once? Joy and sadness converge and unwelcome insights intrude, testing Leah’s commitment to sobriety, her marriage, her motherhood, and her faith.
Narrated by Leah, this novel starts with a funny yet tragic epiphany, setting the stage for a story dealing with difficult circumstances with dry humor. While the topics are serious, they’re approached with Leah’s sometimes sassy, often sarcastic, usually self-deprecating humor.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
In no particular order: grading papers, loosely outlining a recently contracted novel that will release in October of 2011, and trying to wrap my brain around an idea for an historical novel.
Q: How did you feel the day you held the copy of your first book in your hands?
Humbled, which is not at all what I expected to feel. Looking at my name on the cover, all I could think was, “Who am I that this incredible thing happened for me?”
Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?
Since Walking on Broken Glass is my debut novel, I’m still in the throes of marketing, book signing, workshops, and all the other surprises of a new release. Balance? Oh, I wish. I’m doing all of the above. Waking up early, staying awake (too late most nights), not answering or making as many phone calls. The killer for me is that I teach high school English, and I’m drowning in a sea of ungraded papers.
Q: When they write your obituary, what do you hope they will say about your book/s and writing? What do you hope they will say about you?
“Well done, my good and faithful servant.”
Q: Where you have lived and what you have experienced can influence your writing in many ways. Are there any specific locations or experiences that have popped up in your books?
I’m a New Orleans, Louisiana girl born and bred. Well, with the exception of eight years in Texas. So much of Louisiana culture infuses itself into my writing. Mardi Gras, boiled seafood on the lakefront, crawfish boils, LSU and Saints football games, the French Quarter, restaurants like Commander’s Palace and Galatoire’s. Oh, and I couldn’t forget the suffocating humidity and hurricanes.
Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?
When we built our house, my house designed an office of sorts in the passageway between the family room and our bedroom. The key words here are “of sorts.” I realized facing a wall and being chained to a PC weren’t working for me. So much so that I couldn’t keep my wiggly self in the chair with any consistency. Of course this provided endless streams of procrastination talk.
One day my husband handed me a new laptop. I’m certain he tired of my whining, but it worked. So, my new space is primarily a wing back chair in the family room where I can surround myself with catalogs, cats and chocolate. I also like that there’s a wall of windows right behind the chair, which provide views of sunrises and sunsets and Sunday golfers.
Q: Is there any particular book that, when you read it, you thought, “I wish I had written that!”?
The Help by Kathryn Stockett and Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
Oops. That’s two! I’m blown away by Stockett’s voice and how she managed to control the three distinct voices of her characters. Marquez’s magical realism. . .amazing.
Q: It’s one thing to write a book and another to edit it. How do you feel about the editing process? What was it like to edit your book?
I don’t mind the grunt work of editing. The worst part of editing is rereading work I’d written months before and groaning.
Now, use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.
If you have a dream, don’t let anyone steal it. Know that with persistence, faith, and a teachable spirit, your dream can become a reality.
I’m so grateful for everyone who has bought my novel and recommended it to others. Your support is a blessing and a gift. And for those who may be in search of my book, you can find it at:
Cokesbury
Barnes and Noble
Indiebound
Borders
I can also be found on Facebook and Twitter.
March
3
2010
Sarah Addison Allen lives in Asheville, North Carolina, where she serves up heaping helpings of the fantastic and the familiar in fiction she describes as “Southern-fried magical realism.” She is the New York Times Bestselling Author of Garden Spells and The Sugar Queen. Her new book, The Girl Who Chased the Moon, is on sale March 16, 2010. For more information, including book extras, recipes, contests and special book club features, visit her at www.sarahaddisonallen.com
Q: Tell us briefly about your book.
The Girl Who Chased the Moon is about a girl who comes to the small town of Mullaby, North Carolina, hoping to solve at least some of the riddles surrounding her mother’s life.
But the moment she enters the house where her mother grew up and meets the grandfather she never knew, she realizes that mysteries aren’t solved in Mullaby, they’re a way of life: Here are rooms where the wallpaper changes to suit your mood. Unexplained lights skip across the yard at midnight. And a neighbor bakes hope in the form of cakes.
Then things really get interesting…
Q: Where you have lived and what you have experienced can influence your writing in many ways. Are there any specific locations or experiences that have popped up in your books?
I try to bring the full flavor of my Southern upbringing to my books. Every book I’ve written has a strong food element to it. There’s a sweet and tangy taste to North Carolina I try to capture as I write: Barbecue, fried green tomatoes, Goo-Goo Clusters, MoonPies, Hummingbird cake.
Q: Do you have a favourite character? Why is s/he your favourite?
My favorite character from The Girl Who Chased the Moon is my elderly giant, Grandpa Vance. I remember when I first introduced Vance in the book. He walked into a room and had to duck under the doorframe. That’s when I realized this was no ordinary man, and I began to research gigantism. Vance’s mannerisms became based on information I found on the world’s tallest man, Robert Pershing Wadlow. At the time of his death in 1940, Wadlow was almost nine feet tall. It’s such an unbelievable number. It doesn’t seem real. I poured over old film and audio interviews, trying to get a feel for what his life was like, so I could present with veracity this magically tall man in my story. Vance became a character very close to my heart.
Q: When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?
The Country Bunny and the Little Gold Shoes by Du Bose Heyward — I remember reading this story over and over as a child, and it remained vivid in my mind for years. I thought it was out of print until I walked into a bookstore one day and the book was set out with some others as part of an Easter promotion. I grabbed it and hugged it. It was like seeing an old friend.
Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?
I recently moved, and I went from writing in the corner of a room to having an entire room all to myself. Just for writing. It was decadent. It was like going from crackers to cake. I now have the three things I always dreamed of in an office: built-in shelves, framed covers of my books, and a Herman Miller chair.
Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?
Absolutely. The apple tree in my first book. Garden Spells didn’t start out as a magical novel. It was supposed to be a simple story about two sisters reconnecting after many years. But then the apple tree started throwing apples and the story took on a life of its own…and my life hasn’t been the same since.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
Another story of love and magic and food. This time it’s peaches… a good Southern fruit to sink your teeth into. It will be out in 2011.
Now, use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything you want your readers to know. Include information on where to find your books, any blogs you may have, or how a reader can learn more about you and writing.
The research for The Girl Who Chased the Moon was my favorite part. From researching the names of the monthly full moons, to visiting barbecue restaurants all across North Carolina, to pouring over biographies of Robert Pershing Wadlow – the tallest man in history – for inspiration for my elderly giant in the book, it was all magical.
Readers can find out more about me at my website www.sarahaddisonallen.com The Girl Who Chased the Moon is available at http://www.amazon.com/Girl-Who-Chased-Moon-Novel/dp/0553807218 and is also available in a Kindle edition. It can also be purchased at:
Barnes and Noble
Books-a-Million
Borders
Indiebound
Random House
February
23
2010
About The American Medical Money Machine
Health care today sits at the center of a ‘perfect’ storm whose effects are inescapable for every living person of every age from infancy to death: the tenure of politicians up to the highest levels of key governments, the trillion-dollar revenues and profits in every world currency and the life or death of us all, not just in the U.S. but worldwide.
The tangled world of healthcare seems like an undecipherable riddle. What’s wrong? Who’s responsible? The suspects are everywhere.
Following the death of my only child, who died under mysterious circumstances at a U.S. – accredited hospital in Bangkok, I began a three-and-a-half year intensive investigation to discover WHY?
The unimaginable paths I followed started in Bangkok but quickly led to discoveries of how vast and secreted corruption in the American medical industry have contributed to destroy, with self interested greed and unbridled power, the greatest healthcare system the world has ever known.
About James R. Goldberg
James R. Goldberg, has served as a senior level executive and CEO with deep experience in running early and mid-stage technologically complex businesses with a major focus in health care. He has been a Principal of one of the world’s leading technology/business consultancies, the PA Consulting Group, based in London, England.
The author has been primarily involved, as a biomedical engineer and technologist, in developing medical technologies for surgery, drug delivery and diagnostics.
He served as contracted Executive Director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratories health care initiative, a U.S. Defense Research Laboratory program aimed at converting military technology into medical technology, Jim has invented over 12 technologies that have received U.S. and International Patents.
Goldberg earned his advanced degrees. along with other post graduate degrees at Michigan State University, New York University, Stanford University and European study programs including the Sorbonne, France, The University of Mainz,The University of Jena, Germany and the University of Madrid, Spain.
Join James Goldberg, author of the current affairs healthcare book, The American Medical Money Machine (Homunculus Publishers), as he virtually tours the blogosphere in February on his first virtual book tour with Pump Up Your Book!
February
19
2010
Vincent Zandri is an award-winning novelist, essayist and freelance photojournalist. His novel As Catch Can (Delacorte) was touted in two pre-publication articles by Publishers Weekly and was called “Brilliant” upon its publication by The New York Post. The Boston Herald attributed it as “The most arresting first crime novel to break into print this season.” Other novels include Godchild (Bantam/Dell) and Permanence (NPI). Translated into several languages including Japanese and the Dutch, Zandri’s novels have also been sought out by numerous major movie producers, including Heyday Productions and DreamWorks.
Moonlight Falls is his fourth novel. He is the author of the blogs, Dangerous Dispatches and Embedded in Africa for RT ( Russia Today TV) which have been syndicated and translated in several different languages throughout the world. He also writes for other global publications, including Culture 11, Globalia, Globalspec and more. Zandri’s nonfiction has appeared in New York Newsday, Hudson Valley Magazine, Game and Fish Magazine and others, while his essays and short fiction have been featured in many journals including Fugue, Maryland Review and Orange Coast Magazine.
He holds an M.F.A. in Writing from Vermont College and is a 2010 International Thrillerl. Writer’s Awards panel judge. Zandri currently divides his time between New York and Europe. He is the drummer for the Albany-based punk band to Blisterz. You can visit his website at www.vincentzandri.com or his blog at www.vincentzandri.blogspot.com.
About Moonlight Falls
Moonlight Falls is the Albany, New York-based paranoid tale (in the Hitchcock tradition) of former APD Detective turned Private Investigator/Massage Therapist, Richard “Dick” Moonlight, who believes he might be responsible for the brutal slaying by knife of his illicit lover, the beautiful Scarlet Montana. The situation is made all the worse since Scarlet is the wife of Moonlight’s boss, Chief of Detectives Jake Montana.
Why does Moonlight believe he might be responsible?
He’s got a small fragment of a .22 hollow point round buried inside his brain, lodge directly up against his cerebral cortex. The result of a botched suicide attempt four years prior to the novel’s start, an operation to remove the bullt frag would be too dangerous.
But the bullet causes Moonlight lots of problems, the least of which are the occasional memory loss and his rational ability to tell right from wrong. The bullet frag also might shift at any moment, making coma and/or sudden death, a very real possibility.
Still, Moonlight has been trying to get his life together as of late.
But when Scarlet begs him to make the trip over to her house late one rainy Sunday night to issue one of his “massages,” he makes a big mistake by sleeping with her. Later, having passed out in her bed, he will be rudely awakened by a garage door opening and Jake’s unexpected and very drunken homecoming. Making his impromptu escape out a top floor window, Moonlight will seek the safety of his home.
Two hours later however, he will receive another unexpected visit from Jake Montana. This time the big Captain has sobering news to report. He’s discovered his wife’s mutilated body in her own bed. She’s been murdered and now he needs the P.I. to investigate it in association with Albany ’s “overtaxed” Special Independent Unit before I.A. pokes their nose into the affair. Moonlight takes a big step back. Is it possible he made a second trip to the Montana home-sweet-home and just has no recollection of it? Once there, did he perform a heinous crime on his part-time lover? Or is this some kind of set up by his former boss? Is it really Jake who is responsible for Scarlet’s death? Does he wish for Moonlight to cover up his involvement, seal the case before Internal Affairs starts poking their nose into the situation?
There’s another problem too.
Covering Moonlight’s palms and the pads of his fingers are numerous scratches and cuts. Are these defensive wounds? Wounds he received when Scarlet put up a struggle? Or are they offensive wounds? Wounds he couldn’t avoid when making his attack on Scarlet with a blade? The answer is not so simple since Moonlight has no idea where he acquired the wounds.
Having no choice but to take on the mission (if only to cover his own ass), Moonlight can only hope the answers to his many questions point to his former boss and not himself.
***
Vincent Zandri’s MOONLIGHT FALLS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on February 1st and end on March 26th.
February
18
2010
Misa Ramirez is the author of the Lola Cruz mystery series: Living the Vida Lola (January ’09) and Hasta la Vista, Lola! (2010) from St. Martin’s Minotaur. A former middle and high school teacher, and current CEO and CFO for La Familia Ramirez, this blonde-haired, green-eyed, proud to be Latina-by-Marriage girl loves following Lola on her many adventures. Whether it’s contemplating belly button piercings or visiting nudist resorts, she’s always up for the challenge. Misa is hard at work on a new women’s fiction novel, is published in Woman’s World Magazine and Romance Writers Report, and has a children’s book published. You can visit her website at www.misaramirez.com.
About Hasta la Vista, Lola!
What’s a girl to do when she finds out she’s been killed? Pinch herself to make sure she’s not a ghost, for starters. When Dolores Cruz comes home to her parents’ house to find every relative she has mourning her death, all hell breaks loose. With the help of on-again/off-again love Jack Callaghan, and juggling a new case thrown at her by muy misterioso boss Manny Camacho, it’s up to fledgling detective Lola to find out who’s behind the identity theft and suddenly wants her dead.
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Misa Ramirez’s HASTA LA VISTA LOLA! VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on February 1st and end on Feb. 26th.
February
17
2010
Corporate attorney Pamela Samuels Young has always abided by the philosophy that you create the change you want to see. Fed up with never seeing women or people of color depicted as savvy, hot shot attorneys in the legal thrillers she read, Pamela decided to create her own characters. Despite the demands of a busy legal career, Pamela accomplished her ambitious goal by rising at four in the morning to write before work, dedicating her weekends to writing and even spending her vacation time glued to her laptop for ten or more hours a day.
The Essence magazine bestselling author now has four fast-paced legal thrillers to show for her efforts: Every Reasonable Doubt (BET Books, February 2006), In Firm Pursuit (Harlequin, January 2007), Murder on the Down Low (Goldman House Publishing, September 2008) and Buying Time (Goldman House Publishing, November 2009). New York Times bestselling author Sheldon Siegel described Buying Time, Pamela’s first stand-alone novel, as a “deftly plotted thriller that combines the best of Lisa Scottoline and Robert Crais.”
Pamela has achieved a successful writing career while working as Managing Counsel for Labor and Employment Law for a large corporation in Southern California. Prior to that, she served as Employment Law Counsel for Raytheon Company and spent several years with the law firm of O’Melveny & Myers, LLP in Los Angeles. A former journalist, Pamela began her broadcasting career as a production assistant at WXYZ-TV in Detroit, where she was quickly promoted to news writer. To escape the chilly Detroit winters, she returned home to Los Angeles and worked at KCBS-TV as a news writer and associate producer.
Pamela has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from USC, a master’s degree in broadcasting from Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism and received her law degree from UC Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Southern California Chapter of Mystery Writers of America and is the Fiction Expert for BizyMoms.com.
Pamela is a frequent speaker on the topics of discrimination law, diversity, writing and pursuing your passion. She is married and lives in the Los Angeles area. To contact Pamela or to read an excerpt of her books, visit www.pamelasamuelsyoung.com.
About Buying Time
Buying Time is a scandalous tale of blackmail, murder and betrayal, evoking John Grisham with a dash of Terry McMillan.
Waverly Sloan is a down-on-his-luck lawyer. But just when he’s about to hit rock bottom, he stumbles upon a business with the potential to solve all of his problems.
In Waverly’s new line of work, he comes to the aid of people in desperate need of cash. But there’s a catch. His clients must be terminally ill and willing to sign over rights to their life insurance policies before they can collect a dime. Waverly then finds investors eager to advance them thousands of dollars—including a hefty broker’s fee for himself—in exchange for a significant return on their investment once the clients take their last breath.
The stakes get higher when Waverly brokers the policy of the cancer-stricken wife of Lawrence Erickson, a high-powered lawyer who’s bucking to become the next U.S. Attorney General. When Waverly’s clients start dying sooner than they should, both Waverly and Erickson—who has some skeletons of his own to hide—are unwittingly drawn into a perilous web of greed, blackmail and murder.
Soon, a determined federal prosecutor is hot on Waverly’s trail. But when the prosecutor’s own life begins to unravel, she finds herself on the run—with Waverly at her side.
Here’s what reviewers have to say!
“Pamela Samuels Young takes her place among the top tier of legal thriller writers with her latest, Buying Time. Waverly Sloan is a recently-disbarred lawyer who makes ends meet by buying life insurance policies from terminally ill patients for cut-rate prices—and then he collects when they die. Angela Evans is one of L.A.’s most tenacious prosecutors who has an unhappy personal life. Lawrence Erickson is a prominent attorney at a big L.A. law firm with a terminally-ill wife. When their stories converge, Samuels Young takes her readers on a roller coaster ride that involves murder, insurance fraud and drug dealing. From the towers of downtown L.A. to the corridors of power in Washington, Samuels Young writes a deftly-plotted, immensely readable thriller that combines the best of Lisa Scottoline and Robert Crais. Find a comfortable chair and plan to stay up late. Highly recommended.”A shattering story told with dignity, compassion, and some wicked humor. Wench is a brave, honest, beautifully written book that will shock and move readers to much new awareness.”
–Sheldon Siegel, New York Times Bestselling author of Judgment Day
Pamela Samuels Young’s BUYING TIME VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on January 4 and end on February 28.
February
16
2010
Victor Pross is a professional artist born and raised in Toronto now residing in British Columbia. He is known for his “extreme caricaturing.”
He has many high profile commissions to his credit including painting Ron Howard’s caricature portrait as a gift for the famous director as well as painting various agents of the William Morris Agency. He has rendered numerous International celebrities and Canadian media personalities for commercial and private purposes. Victor Pross has been interviewed on television shows such as: Canada AM, Breakfast Television, News at Noon and has been pegged by Canadian Media as “Canada’s foremost caricature artist.”
He has worked on various posters, comic books and CD covers bringing to each work his own unique style. He is currently instructing an art class as well as offering his services as an editorial caricaturist. Victor’s first book, Icons & Idols, will feature a collection of the artist’s paintings and drawings and is now available.
About Icon & Idols: Pop Goes the Culture
Icons & Idols: Pop Goes the Culture is an eye-popping visual homage and satire of pop culture that is sure to tickle a funny bone. ICONS & IDOLS is comprised of Victor Pross’ “extreme caricatures” of the famous—such as Elvis Presley, Sylvester Stallone, Marilyn Monroe, George Bush, Albert Einstein—and others icons from the world of film, music and literature. Victor Pross’ most important works –over 70 paintings and drawings–is assembled under one volume to entertain and astound.
Here’s what reviewers are saying!
“Pross’ portraits are frequently funny and striking in their grotesque exaggeration, but always powerfully able to reintroduce us to that which we take for granted. Pross’ talent leaps from the frame.”—William O’Higgins, arts writer.
“Victor’s caricatures, aside from being clever in their own right, also convey an intelligence and knowledge of his subjects that is sometimes absent in similar sketches.” –George H. Smith, author of ‘Atheism: The case against God.’
“Victor Pross’ portraits examine in subjective—sometimes hideous, often hilarious—detail the faces of those who’ve shaped our times.”—Edward Keenan, media writer and editor for Toronto’s Eye Newspaper.
“Pross is a caricaturist, but that term does not nearly do justice to the art he creates. These are not line drawings of political figures published in a newspaper to poke fun, and then be forgotten the next day. Pross takes caricaturing to another level making powerful—if entertaining and exaggerated—canvasses of famous people.”—Paul J. Henderson, the Times.
“Victor, like his art, is larger than life. He tackles the big issues and puts them right in your face. I knew that making caricatures was about exaggerating the features a little. Little! Victor manages to exaggerate them a whole lot while keeping the essential personality clear. He does not walk the safe and simple path, but like hisforebears walks the lonely path of seeking truth without flinching.”—Ray Thomas admirer.
***
Victor Pross’ ICON & IDOLS: POP GOES THE CULTURE VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on February 1st and end on Feb. 26th.
February
15
2010
Ọgọ (pronounced ‘or-gore?’) is a multi-talented writer, speaker and creative consultant. Originally from Iwollo in Enugu State, Nigeria, she comes from a family of four sisters and three brothers. Her father before he became self-employed was Divisional Manager at a multinational oil company, her mother was a mathematics teacher/home-maker and her husband is a Civil Litigation Lawyer. She lives in Northamptonshire, England.
Ọgọ has ‘always’ loved writing and remembers penning sketchy stories as early as age four yet studied Computer Science at the University of Nigeria in Nsukka. About a year after graduation, she started to write a regular socio-political column for The Guardian (one of Africa’s largest circulated newspapers), whilst working as an executive at a direct marketing multinational company. She has also worked in the UK financial services industry, garnering invaluable experience in sales and marketing as well as customer relations.
In addition to writing fiction and nonfiction books, Ọgọ now delivers training, coaching and consulting programmes designed to help professionals, organizations and communities make the most of their creativity and potential – working independently and in conjunction with organisations such as Business Link and the highly regarded University of Northampton Business School. She believes that creativity and business sense must go hand in hand in order for creative artists and talented professionals to make the most of their potential. You can visit her website at www.ogoogbata.com.
About Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman
“Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman is about the metamorphosis of a young girl into a woman of courage, juxtaposed with the evolution of the country she loves but doesn’t understand…”
“This book isn’t content with just being a love story, or a story about the relationships women have throughout their lives. It is an amazing read on a culture and world many will never experience. Beautifully written and full of detail and mystery…”
The story kicks off in the early 1950s when two orphan sisters are separated against their wish because their aunt cannot afford to feed two mouths. The first sister is weak and wilts away but the second, Nkiru, digs deep and keeps on walking.
In the wake of her country’s independence from British rule, Nkiru meets an aspiring diplomat with radical political views and hopes that love will put her life back on course. However, love only complicates things. Her new husband asks for more than she knows how to give and the past is filled with shameful secrets that threaten to erupt.
The plot thickens as Nkiru climbs the ladder of life, fearing the sudden loss of all that she has toiled for (her children’s love, her husband’s trust and the successful business she built out of nothing) all because of a single fatal mistake. At the same time, Nigeria descends further into conflict and corruption as a single foundational flaw leads to a brutal war and lingering mistrust.
Eventually Nkiru finds the courage to confront the past and seek forgiveness for an unpardonable sin. This is the only path to peace – both for Nkiru and her beloved country, Nigeria.
Set in the politically charged colonial and post-independence Nigeria (as well as the vibrant capitals of Uganda, Sierra Leone and Britain), Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman is a novel that fearlessly chronicles the history of Africa’s most populous and complex country whilst tackling big themes such as ethnic identity, racial discrimination, domestic violence, gender equality, endemic corruption, entrepreneurship and self actualisation, as well as universal themes such as love, mother-daughter relationships, betrayal and forgiveness.
Through a language of passion, poetry and deceptive simplicity, we see sisters and daughters, mothers and wives who metamorphose over time, juxtaposed with a nation’s fight for freedom, fall from grace and pursuit of an elusive destiny.
Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman: Buy it, Read it, Love it!
Book Reviews
“Ogo Akubue-Ogbata tells a very human story in Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman. Her voice is assured. A writer of great promise, she has added the needed dimension to Nigerian Independence and the marking of the Black History Month.” The Guardian
“Ọgọ Akubue-Ogbata dares to walk where angels fear to tread… In Egg-Larva-Pupa-Woman she creates a heroine, Nkiru, whose history blends seamlessly into the history of the Nigerian nation and by extension the black world.” Caine Prize nominee Maxim Uzoatu for ThisDay Newspaper – Nigeria (www.thisdayonline.com)
“Ọgọ, this is wonderful. The language is rich, the Nigerian voices audible, the motivations stark and powerful. There is lots of beautiful and unusual imagery in this story as well as emotion and tension.” Julia Mary Lichtblau, New York – USA: Veteran Financial Journalist (for Business Week, Dow Jones and Wall Street Journal), 2007 winner of The Paris Writer’s Workshop Scholarship and Member of The Writer’s Room NYC
“This book isn’t content with just being a love story, or a story about the relationships women have throughout their lives. It is an amazing read on a culture and world many of us in America will never experience. Beautifully written and full of detail and mystery, it is a book that I would recommend to anyone looking for something different and unique.” Laura Wheeler, Amazon Reviewer
Ogo Ogbata’s EGG-LARVA-PUPA-WOMAN VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on January 11 and end on February 12.
February
11
2010
Kay Marshall Strom is the author of thirty-six published books, including her most recent, The Second-Half Adventure: Don’t Just Retire—Use Your Time, Skills & Resources to Change the World. Her writing credits also include magazine articles, short stories, prize-winning screenplays, booklets for writers, and anything else that will help make the house payments. Kay is an in-demand speaker at events throughout the country. She and her husband Dan Kline love to travel, so Kay encourages writing and speaking assignments in far-flung corners of the globe. To find out more about Kay, or for contact information, check her website at www.kaystrom.com.
Blog site: www.kaystrom.wordpress.com
Facebook: Kay Marshall Strom
Q: It’s rare today to find an author who does nothing but write for a living. Do you have a ‘real’ job other than writing, and if so, what is it? What are some other jobs you’ve had in your life? Have they influenced/inspired your writing?
I am that rare bird, a full –time writer! (Well, I do speak as well, but most of my speaking engagements are off-shoots of my books.) In my former life I was an elementary school teacher. Then I taught writing through adult education. Then I taught writing through the California State University system. Then… yippee! Full time!
Q: What compelled you to write your first book?
I always wanted to write, from the time I was a child. When my children started school I took an adult education writing class. I didn’t learn much, but it did give me confidence. I took my manuscript to a writers conference where I met an editor who must have seen some potential in me, because she worked with me. My first book came out the next year.
Q: Have you always wanted to be a writer?
Yep! When I was in 8th grade, I read Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities. It astounded me to see the tremendous power of words, that what moved my heart had actually changed a nation. I wanted to write like that!
Q: Tell us briefly about your book.
The subtitle, which I originally argued was awfully unwieldy, really is a pretty accurate description: Don’t Just Retire—Use Your Time, Skills & Resources to Change the World. This book is a call to the baby boomer generation to use the second half of their lives to make a difference in the world.
Q: What are you working on at the moment?
I am just finishing Book 3 of the Grace in Africa fiction series. This is a sweeping three-part historical saga of slavery and freedom, complicity and entanglement, guilt and salvation. Book 1 (The Call of Zulina) is set on the coast of West Africa (Abingdon Press, August 2009). Book 2, set in London (The Voyage of Promise), will be released August 2010. Book 3 takes the reader to the plantations of the American South (The Triumph of Grace) and is due out Spring 2011.
Q: Do you have a favourite character? Why is s/he your favourite?
In this book, I truly cannot choose a favorite. I interviewed approximately fifty people, and many of their stories are in the book. There’s the guy who grew up tough in a Mafia family, became a preacher, and now helps people get a positive financial grasp on life… There’s the shy quilter who travels the world assisted by her engineer husband who pulls out scissors and cuts quilt pieces… There’s the substitute school teacher everyone around the world wants on their staff… Ther’s the bakery truck driver who gets up at four o’clock every morning and types out on his keyboard eternity-changing advice to people around the world… Well, you see what I mean?
Q: How did you feel the day you held the copy of your first book in your hands?
In shock and awe! It was a feeling beyond description…or belief.
Q: What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write? Do you need the noise or the silence?
I don’t listen to music. But I do eat chocolate. Dark, rich chocolate. My husband makes me cocoa from scratch every morning, just the way I like it!
Q: If you could live in one of your books, which one would you live in? (If you’re promoting your first publication, feel free to talk about an unpublished piece.)
I would live in this one! I so much want to live a life that leaves a legacy of true significance for those who come after me. And, oh, the adventures that are possible!
Q: How do you balance out the writer’s life and the rest of life? Do you get up early? Stay up late? Ignore friends and family for certain periods of time?
Yes, yes, yes and yes. When I’m under a deadline, all of the above. Other times, I try to be a bit more balanced. Getting enough sleep is always a challenge, although I tend to stay up half the night and sleep later in the morning. Almost ever day, though, my husband and I sit in our bubbly spa outside, talk over our day, and catch up on our reading. That is respite time for me. I also try to take a walk each day.
Q: The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?
I always creep into my main characters. In every work, fiction or non-fiction, I’m in there. Otherwise, I’d have no real vested interest, would I?
Q: Is there an established writer you admire and emulate in your own writing? Do you have a writing mentor?
I love writers such as Charles Dickens who affected society with their writing. And I love C.S. Lewis’ Narnia series where he achieves so many layers of depth in his stories. That’s what I want to do when I grow up!
Q: When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?
I read everything I could get my hands on when I was growing up. Of course I adored Nancy Drew. But I loved everything.
Q: What about now: who is your favorite author and what is your favorite genre to read?
I have a real eclectic group of favorites, I’m afraid: Agatha Christie, C.S.Lewis, Charles Dickens, John Irving, Fyodor Dostoyevsky. I enjoy both fiction and non-fiction. I do love a good mystery!
Q: When they write your obituary, what do you hope they will say about your book/s and writing? What do you hope they will say about you?
Here lies one whose writing lit a candle of truth in her corner of the world. She lived for God and finished well.
Q: Where you have lived and what you have experienced can influence your writing in many ways. Are there any specific locations or experiences that have popped up in your books?
Because I have written extensively about subjects of social justice, I have traveled extensively throughout the world, especially in very challenging locales. The hard areas of Asia and Africa especially show up often in my writing. I am drawn to the locales, and the people and issues in those areas. Even when I’m doing fiction, such as my current Grace in Africa trilogy.
Q: What is your writing space like? Do you have a designated space? What does it look like? On the couch, laptop, desk? Music? Lighting? Typing? Handwriting?
I have an absolutely wonderful writing office, sunny and airy. It has a built-in bookcase/small desk on one wall, a lovely corner mahogany desk with my computer, a large oak library table, two smaller bookcases, and a large filing cabinet in the closet. My husband sees to it that I always have flowers on my desk—often yellow roses, which are my favorite.
Q: Is there anyone who has inspired, motivated, encouraged or supported your writing?
My eighth grade teacher, Mrs. Eckert, always told me that one day I would be a writer. She lived to see my first book published. My most faithful supporters are my daughter Lisa, my older sister Jo Jeanne, and most of all, my husband and best editor, Dan.
Q: Is there any particular book that, when you read it, you thought, “I wish I had written that!”?
Oh, yes! Many. Two that come immediately to mind: A Prayer for Owen Meany, John Irving. The Problem of Pain, C.S. Lewis.
Q: Is there anything you’d go back and do differently now that you have been published, in regards to your writing career?
I would have started writing sooner.
Q: In my experience, some things come quite easily (like creating the setting) and other things aren’t so easy (like deciding on a title). What comes easily to you and what do you find more difficult?
Ideas come easily. And I love the research. The fleshing out of description is harder. And I am no good at titles. (But, of course, they always get changed anyway!)
Q: Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?
I hear people talk about that happening, but I have never experienced it. Perhaps it’s because I pretty thoroughly outline my writing—even my fiction. I do change things as I go along, of course, but the I’ve never had a character take over. If she tried to, I’d giver her a swift kick!
Q: Do you have any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?
I’m mostly doing blogs, online interviews, and radio interviews. They seem to be more efficient.
Q: It’s one thing to write a book and another to edit it. How do you feel about the editing process? What was it like to edit your book?
I do edit my own work, but you’re right, it is hard to be objective about what I’ve written. Hey, I know exactly what I mean! But I am so, so blessed in that my husband is a great editor.
Q: Now that you are a published author, does it feel differently than you had imagined?
People are actually paying attention to what I have to say! How cool is that? But at the end of the day, writing is my work. Simply my job.
Q: Is there anything else you would like to add?
I have a deep and abiding passion for those in our world who have no voice, who suffer oppression and injustice. There is a verse in scripture that says: “To whom much has been given, from him will much be required.” I see this as a guiding principle for my writing. In my non-fiction and my fiction alike, I want to work toward a better world. What a privilege to have a soapbox to jump up on! What a responsibility!
February
10
2010
Judi Moreo is the author of You Are More Than Enough: Every Woman’s Guide to Purpose, Passion, and Power, and it’s companion, Achievement Journal. She is also the co-author and compiler of Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths (Turning Point International).
Judi is an award-winning businesswoman and motivational speaker. Her superb talent for customizing programs to meet organizational needs has gained her a prestigious following around the world. Her passion for living an extraordinary life is mirrored in her zeal for helping others realize their potential and achieve their goals. With her dynamic personality and style, she is an unforgettable speaker, inspiring motivator, and an exceptional life coach.
If you would like to find out more about the woman behind Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths, visit www.judimoreo.com. If you would like to find out more about the book, visit www.lifechoicesbook.com.
About Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths
If you feel “stuck” in a situation that appears to be beyond your control, these stories will show you how others have coped with crisis and uncertainty, made tough choices and positive changes in order to find deeper meaning and satisfaction in their relationships and learned to live with purpose every day. Rarely do we find a book that addresses so many different challenges. Life Choices does this in a powerful and inspiring way. This book is about experiences, the people who lived them, and how they created successful lives. From values and self-fulfillment to legacy, this book offers new resources for people who have tough choices to make every day.
Filled with wisdom and love, this book is a soothing companion for anyone searching for the courage to make a choice to change his or her circumstances. These authors and their stories prove beyond a shadow of a doubt that success belongs to everyone, no matter where they come from or what has happened to them. They are living proof that miracles can and do happen. You can be one of these people. You can navigate through difficult times and find your pathway to the life you choose to lead. Put the strength of others to work for you. Courage is not the absence of fear or pain. Courage is taking the steps to move through it.
Authors appearing in Life Choices: Navigating Difficult Paths include:
Aimmee Riley
Andrea Chestnut
Anne Abernathy
Anne Dreyer
Bob Walker
Charlotte Foust
Dan Roberts
Deborah Clark
Dr. Casey McNeal
Edie Raether
Elle Swan
Ginette Bedsaul
Jennifer Joseph
Jennifer Tarlin
Jesse Ferrell
Judi Moreo
Karen Phillips
Mary Monaghan
Nancy Todd
Rev. Cattel
Sandra Gore Nielsen
Sandy Kastel
Sherial Bratcher
Stephen Philpott
Susan Haller
Vickie Lane
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Judi Moreo’s LIFE CHOICES: NAVIGATING DIFFICULT PATHS VIRTUAL BOOK TOUR ‘10 will officially begin on February 1st and end on Feb. 26th.
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If you didn't get to jump in on the webinars, ten here is your chance to grab the transcripts:
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The Hot Author Report- Interview with Kevin Coupe and Michael Sansolo – Authors of The Big Picture: Essential Business Lessons from the Movies
- Interview with George Earl Parker – Author of Vampyre Blood-Eight Pints of Trouble
- Reasons Not to Outline by Author Bill Walker
- Interview with Bill Walker – Author of A Note From an Old Acquaintance
- Spotlight on A Note From an Old Acquaintance by Bill Walker
- Spotlight on An Axe to Grind by F.M. Meredith
- Five Things You Didn’t Know About F.M. Meredith a.k.a. Marilyn Meredith
- Interview with George Bishop – Author of Letter to My Daughter
- Five Things You Didn’t Know About Author Cilla McCain
- Interview with Cilla McCain – Author of Murder in Baker Company: How Four American Soldiers Killed One of Their Own
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