Category Archives: Author Post

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Author Post and Bio of Jordan Aubry Robison: Author of ‘Living on Empty’

Living on Empty - Cover ArtAUTHOR POST: JORDAN AUBRY ROBISON

“I began writing this novel in 2009. I had just finished my enlistment in the army and was ready to try something new. I spent most of 2008 sending out resume after resume after resume after graduating college in 2007. I  had hoped I would find a job a year later. Then the stock market crashed in September of 2008. I remember one of my fellow soldiers lamenting his loss of $50,000 worth of stocks. He was an older man with a bushy moustache and had only two years left in his enlistment before his retirement.

Everyone told me my best option was to stay in the military and ride out this wave of economic misfortune until it all blew over. But if I had stayed I knew I was going to be sent to Iraq. They tried to persuade me to stay by offering me to drive the Brigade Commander around to hell and back. But that was the last thing I wanted to do. Trying not to look back I stepped out of the sandbox and into what was left of America.

With all my schooling and all my years of military service the only job I was able to land was in an office supply retail store being paid ten dollars an hour. Mark Twain once said, “Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.” I did not like the polo uniform I was made to wear in my retail job. But I did not want to put back on my military uniform because I was tired of that life. I felt naked.

I had little to no money to my name which reduced my opportunities to go out and socialize. I had always fancied myself a screenwriter and playwright. I was even collaborating on a screenplay with a friend at the time. Then one day I looked at my bank account and didn’t like what I saw.

Frustrated I sat at my desk and looked at my computer feeling helpless. I started to think about everyone else my age that was probably going through the same thing. While staring into space I daydreamed about a movie trailer about a guy out on his luck, his father had just passed away leaving him his car and the voice of Clint Eastwood ringing in his head. And then I had an epiphany. I had a story to tell.

I opened Microsoft Word and starting typing. An hour passed. My shirt was covered in sweat. I leaned back and realized I had written the first twenty pages to what would eventually become my first novel: Living on Empty.  It would take me about four years altogether to write and finish it.

Some of my main influences are Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, and Cormac McCarthy. Jack Kerouac instilled in me the wonder to write something different. Bukowski gave me confidence that I could write from the gut and just type the bloody words onto the paper. And McCarthy taught me how to use words to envelope the feeling I wanted to get across to my readers. I hope my book captures what my generation, the Millennials, have experienced the past several years.”

JORDAN AUBRY ROBISON

BIO: Jordan Aubry Robison was born in Indiana. He is a veteran of the United States military having served nine years of distinguished service. He graduated from The Ohio State University and is known for his passion for Buckeye football and basketball. He started out wanting to be an actor and film director, and even studied acting at first in college, before changing his major several times. Before venturing into novel writing he co-wrote a horror screenplay which was optioned by several Hollywood studios before disappearing into development oblivion.

He is very thankful for all the support and mentorship he has received through his writing process. He currently resides in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area.

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN OR CLICK HERE FOR CAROLINE’S REVIEW ON ‘LIVING ON EMPTY’.

A Reader’s Review Blog would like to thank Jordan Aubry Robison for taking the time and effort to write a great post for us and for the copy of his debut novel! Thank you! 🙂

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Author Interview: Samantha Holt, Medieval Romance Author

Borderland Bride small-003Today we welcome Romance author Samantha Holt to A Reader’s Review. I first read one of Samantha’s novels, The Crimson Castle, not long before we began this blog and have recently read The Angel’s Assassin, which I reviewed last month. If you like your historical romances full of tortured alpha males and strong heroines deserving of their love, I strongly recommend them to you!

Samantha’s latest novel, Borderland Bride has recently been published and she has kindly agreed to tell us about it and also share with us her experiences of being the writer of such romantic tales. For my review of Borderland Bride please scroll down after reading the interview. Tina 🙂

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Hi Samantha. Can you tell us about yourself? Thanks for having me and for taking the time to read my books! It’s really appreciated. I am a full-time writer and author of medieval romances. I have gorgeous twin girls who turned seven recently and occasionally a husband, who works abroad nine months out of the year. His long absences definitely inspire me to write romance!

Please tell us about Borderland Bride, your new release. Borderland Bride takes place in Northumbria in the 14th Century, not long after the plague. The hero, Jake, comes across Isabel on his brother’s lands and takes her back to Thornewall Keep. It turns out Isabel has lost the use of her voice and hearing in a vicious attack. A romance builds between the pair but Isabel has a secret and Jake is wary of women after being hurt in the past. His flirtatious brother doesn’t help much either so all is not plain sailing!

What inspired you to write it?I wanted to create a love story with a language barrier. I don’t know enough of other languages to create a story around two different cultures so I decided my poor heroine should lose her voice and hearing! I was also fascinated with the history of the borderlands so I wanted Jake and Isabel’s story to be set there.

How much research did you have to carry out for this book? My knowledge of the medieval era is fairly extensive, although there’s always more to learn, but I’d never written anything set in the 14th Century before and because the era spans hundreds of years, naturally things change so I can’t rely just on my basic knowledge. Clothing, castles, weaponry etc. all changes and takes researching. I also had to dig up as much information as I could on border reivers, the criminals that ransacked the borderlands on both sides for hundreds of years.

How does your writing process work? Do you plan the plot in advance for example, or does it evolve? I’m not much of a planner – which is surprising to those how know me because my daily life is very organised – most of the plot goes on in my head. Usually it stems from one idea and then evolves. Sometimes I’ll have a beginning and an end and will start writing before I’ve figured out what happens in between!

What about the personalities of your characters – are they always fixed in your head before you start writing or do they develop a will of their own? Again, I have a vague idea and usually have certain traits figured out but often certain things come out that I never expected. Jake from Borderland Bride was always going to be brooding but he ended up with more of a chip on his shoulder than I’d anticipated as his back story developed. Occasionally traits crop out of nowhere. I remember writing a love scene in one of my first stories – it was the first scene I wrote for that book – and the hero was going to be calmly confident, but he turned out to be very passionate and quite commanding when he and my heroine came together, which I never expected! So, yes, very often they do their own thing!

I noticed that you are working on a fantasy novella. Can you tell us anything about this? I am close to finished (I hope!) so I can tell you a fair bit. It takes place in a medievally world, with castles and dramatic landscapes, but it is very much fantasy. In my fictional world, the God’s frequently visit humans in answer to their prayers. My heroine, Eden, receives a visit from the Fire God, Tyondric, who is curious about the beautiful woman. Eden turns out to be essential to the salvation of the world and Tyondric takes it upon himself to protect her and help her fulfil her role. It’s been nice not to have to worry about research and just make stuff up!

I have a thing about book covers – the ones on your books I find particularly attractive and it’s fairly obvious why, with all of those stunning examples of the male physique! How involved are you when it comes to commissioning the design of your covers? For Borderland Bride, I didn’t connect directly with the cover designer, Valerie Tibbs, but filled out a cover art form which is usually pretty specific, asking for themes and examples as well as what you DON’T want on a cover. I just said ‘nothing pink and too girly!’ And it was perfect! My other ones, I liaised directly with the cover artist although I gave very vague instructions and she just interpreted it for me, usually coming back with something I loved.

What do you love the most about being a writer? Is there anything that you do not enjoy? I love being able to escape into a fantasy world. And knowing I can drag someone else into it for a while brings me a lot of pleasure. I don’t expect to set the world on fire with my writing but romance is such a rewarding genre to read and I love it when I’m smiling after a happy ending. I like the thought of doing that for someone else. 

I don’t consider myself a particularly emotional person – I tend to be quite happy – but since writing for a living, I’ve noticed I get slumps more often, because my happiness tends to be directly linked to how I’m doing writing-wise. So if I’m struggling to write, I’m very frustrated. The emotional highs and lows can be exhausting.

What type of books do you like to read? Have you any favourite authors?   Romance, romance and more romance. I love medieval romance (obviously) and I also enjoy modern romantic suspense. I used to read a lot of sci-fi and fantasy but I’m quite busy so I find it much easier to sit down with a romance novel. Having said that, Sue Grafton, who writes the Kinsey Millhone mysteries, is one of my favourites and I will always take time out to read her books.

Have you any advice to give to aspiring authors? Heed advice but don’t let it bog you down. Don’t take yourself too seriously either. Write what you love, not what others think you should write. Don’t get disheartened by criticism either as it usually only helps you hone your writing. But mostly keep writing! The more you do it, the better you’ll get.

And finally, have you a message for readers? I have so many things that I’d love to say but really just thank you for taking the time to read! I have some amazingly supportive fans and it still blows me away that people buy and read my books.

Thank you for giving your time to answer these questions for us. We wish you best of luck with Borderland Bride and your future work. Please scroll down or click here for Tina’s review of Borderland Bride.

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More information on Samantha and her books can be found on her website http://www.samanthaholt.org.uk/

Alternatively you can connect with her on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/romanticfiction

You can purchase Borderland Bride at http://jupitergardenspress.com/shop/borderlands-bride-the-borderland-legacy-book-1/

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AUTHOR POST – M.C. Lavocat, author of ‘Control (The Soul of Voodoo #1)’

If you’ve read my Author’s Bio, you are well aware of my stubborn refusal to be normal. Don’t get me wrong, normal has its place…I have to be mostly normal when I attend school activities and functions with my little ones, although we frequently get odd looks from other parents. It might have something to do with the fact that you can hear the bass thumping as we jam to old-school rap in the Pimpin’ Mini. Wait…I’m getting ahead of myself. I’m trying to keep a tight rein on my normal, albeit generally, abnormal thought process.

Maybe I should just start from the beginning:

Me, looking properly wistful and sincere...

Me, looking properly wistful and sincere…

I am the youngest of three children and the only girl. Oh, please don’t get the impression that I was coddled, I don’t think my brothers ever realized I was a girl until a few of their friends did. Naturally…just as things started to get fun. I have an incredibly large and close-knit extended family (Seriously large…I’m talking around fifty first cousins, here), and I’m pretty sure my sense of humor is genetic.

So, that’s me…it might look as if the photographer caught me at a particularly pensive moment, maybe you are wondering what I was thinking. Well, the photographer was me, this was my first self-portrait as a matter of fact. As to what I was thinking; I was hoping that I nailed the focus (I did), and I was thinking how much I hate the feel of makeup.

Yes, I really hate makeup. However, I just celebrated my fortieth birthday and I would rather suffer through a bit of war-paint than look like an old hag. Pfft…old hag, my ass! I look damn good, although I can’t take all of the credit, the photographer is very talented. Do you see what I did there? Heeheehee.

Alright, now you know I’m a photographer as well as a writer! This is starting to get a little easier as I go along. Who knows, by the end of this post, I might be telling you what size bra I wear, or where my husband and I went on our first date. Hey, maybe we can all be total BFFs, we can have sleepovers and braid each other’s hair. Probably not, but if you like to cook , I can give you some pretty amazing recipes. What, don’t you believe me? Well, try this on for size:

Chicken Enchilada Cupcake

Not too shabby, huh? I am sad to say that I haven’t added any new recipes in almost a year, but in my defense, I have been a little busy. After all, I did write a book, take a few photos here and there, and I am married with four children.

Oh, have I not mentioned that? You want to know why? I saved the best for last, of course!

I have been married for twelve years to the man who made me think of forever. He is my best friend, my biggest cheerleader, and he has the uncanny ability to make me laugh even when I want to pinch his head off! It’s all good though, because I make him laugh too. When we first met, we hung out as friends for several months. Then, one golden morning, as we sat on a New Orleans balcony nursing a hangover with a steaming hot cup of coffee; we fell in love.

Ironically, we weren’t sure if we wanted kids, but fate intervened. Obviously, since we now have four! After our oldest was born, it took us about three months to realize that we wanted a few more and we have been blessed with three precious boys and one beautiful girl.

Whew! That was cathartic!

You now know a little about me, how about I tell you a little about Control, the first book in The Soul of Voodoo Series.

I don’t know if other writers have had the same amount of trouble describing their book as I have, but I’ll be honest, the synopsis totally sucks! The thing about this series, is that even though the story is dramatic, the telling is comedic. If you’re confused upon reading that, then just imagine how I feel trying to explain it to potential readers! After struggling to make it fit in with other Paranormal Romance books, I threw in the metaphorical towel and created a brand spankin’ new genre for it: Paranormal Romantic Comedy.

Pretty soon, PRC books are going to be the hottest thing…you heard it here first!

The fact that it has a comedic component, however, isn’t the only thing that makes it difficult to summarize for potential readers. The plot is subtly woven through the book in such a way that the reader may not be completely aware of what happened until it is revealed. I’m tricky like that. 🙂 Therefore, I can’t go into too much detail about the story without giving away spoilers. I worked way too hard on that plot to spoil it with a careless sentence or two!

You know what? You just need to read it for yourself…then maybe you can help me come up with a good way to summarize it for everyone else! Oh yeah, the second book is starting off with a bang and it is going to be loaded with more fun, action, and hot monkey sex…never forget about the hot monkey sex.

M.C. Lavocat

A Reader’s Review Blog would like to thank M.C. Lavocat for taking the time and effort for writing an author post for us.

Please scroll down or click here for Caroline Barker’s review of ‘Control (The Soul of Voodoo #1)’

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The Truth about Genies, by Kellyann Zuzulo

Today we welcome author Kellyann Zuzulo to share with us the truth about genies….. Over to you Kellyann!

The allure of the desert, whether it’s Vegas or the Sahara, taps some primitive heat in all of us. I know it does for me.  The jinn, or genies, have been around for thousands of years. The Thousand and One Nights (also known as The Arabian Nights) brought these entities out of oral myth and into literature. Eventually, Western society got wind of these freeflying phantoms. Unfortunately, we turned them into bluish cartoons when all the research (yes, there is research on genies) says they are very similar to humans. 

genieignites_full-17942442_std[1]What a perfect antagonist for a romance! A guy who’s smart, powerful, alluring, and magical. That’s the basis for a heartthrob if ever there was one. In my novel The Genie Ignites, Zubis is that hero. Did you know that there are three types of genies? 1) Hunky. 2) Hunkier. 3) Hunkiest. (just kidding). Zubis is an Ifrit jinni. According to scholars, the Ifrit jinn are the more powerful of the three types. The other two types are Marid and Ghul. 

  • §  Ifrit are strong and powerful spirits that are not necessarily evil. They are the reference for the description in the Koran of genies as behaving, living, and looking very similar to humans.
  • §  Marid are wicked and malicious spirits, more like devils and demons as described in Western literature and religious lore. Marid function in The Zubis Chronicles as soldiers who do the bidding of Iblis. (Iblis is the oldest and most evil of all jinn and happens to be an Ifrit. Also known as Shaitan, he is the basis for the Satan legend.)
  • §  Ghuls are lesser phantoms who mostly cause mischief and don’t appear to humans, like ghosts and ghouls. The image of Middle Eastern ghuls is probably where the Western idea of ghouls came from.  

Genies are both male and female…remember Barbara Eden in I Dream of Jeannie. Not a bad depiction except for the harem 101Nights_ad-003pants…although I hear they’re coming back in style. In The Genie Smolders, which is the next novel in The Zubis Chronicles coming out this Spring, a female genie named Imitiri tries to come between Zubis and his one true love, Bethany O’Brien. Imtiri is a stunningly wicked and vengeful vamp who would do well in the Real Housewives of Jinnistan. And speaking of Real Housewives, I have another series called 101 Nights, which features a noble, beautiful, smart, and sometimes hot-tempered female genie named Amani. Girl power! Click on the image to find out more.

Are genies real? I think they are. But I also think that despite the definitions and the literature, we don’t fully understand what they are. They could be organisms on a molecular level that haven’t been defined by science yet. That’s when folklore steps in to describe things. In the meantime, I’ll keep describing the jinn as I think they exist.

Thanks to Tina Williams and A Reader’s Review for this chance to share the world of the jinn!

 ~Best Wishes,

Kellyann Zuzulo

http://kfzuzulo.com

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Introducing Author Louise Wise

The Fall of the Misanthrope_Cover_KINDLE[1]Thank you Tina for allowing me to introduce myself on your website. My name’s Louise Wise and I write romance (feels like a confession!). My books include Eden, A Proper Charlie, The Fall of the Misanthrope and a non-fiction book called So You Want an Author Platform?

I began writing from an early age. Being the youngest of four, I think I found I could express myself better through writing. I was often seen in my bedroom scribbling away in a notebook.

I remember getting an Olivetti typewriter for my tenth birthday and I thought it was the state of the ark! When I was older, I bought myself an Amstrad computer and my little Olivetti ended up in the loft. By then I’d written four novels (I still have them), and submitted them to Mills & Boon. I was rejected, but looking back, I don’t blame M&B—they were terrible! (I do have some very nice letters of encouragement from M&B though).

Eden concept cover with title and name[1]-004I was always told ‘write what you know’ and so I used my interest in astronomy and began Eden. ePublishing was unheard of back then and getting a traditional publisher interested in it, even though I had an agent, was impossible. I was continuously told that Eden was ‘too original’ or ‘no market for the genre’. But, sadly, I believed in those who said it’d never sell and it remained forgotten and writing ePublishing took off and I thought I had nothing to lose by publishing Eden myself. It took off almost immediately, with 500 downloads in its first month!

AProperCharlie_EXTRASMALL[1]I continued with A Proper Charlie and then my latest contemporary romance The Fall of the Misanthrope. I began another contemporary book (which is still in its draft state) but emails starting coming from readers who’d read Eden and loved it. They wanted more. They wanted its sequel.

I had thought of a sequel a long, long time ago, before I was ground down by the continuous rejections, and my idea resurfaced and took shape almost immediately. I wrote it in three months. My passion for Eden and love for the characters were still there! It was like meeting up with old friends and discovering we could carry on where we left off.

http://www.louisewise.com/