Good Morning, Bookworms!

Today, I'm sharing an interview with Sandy Lo, author of the novella Decaf For the Dead. It's a great title. However, I prefer caffeinated or decaf! (FYI: That's my attempt at a joke! Remember, I'm a coffee lover!)

Amazon

Can Multima Corporation withstand another attack from organized crime? While billionaire John George Mortimer copes with treatment for cancer, the accomplished CEO must also ward off challenges for control of his sprawling fictional American empire both from within the company and from nefarious powers operating outside the law.

The Multima Scheme is a fast-paced account of the lengths to which organized crime can infiltrate large global corporations and seize control of respected businesses to conceal activities that are both illegal and immoral but generate billions. It’s also a story of survival – how individuals and organizations might react under intense pressures and the ease with which people can cross lines between what’s legal and what’s not.

Using his knowledge of how large multinationals operate – accumulated over 40 years working with major corporations around the world – author Gary D. McGugan weaves a tale of intrigue using a writing style that readers will find hard to put down once started.

What group did you hang out with in high school?

We were a small group that people today would probably think of as nerds. We were all members of the school debating club and loved arguing passionately both in competition and for personal enjoyment. We actually tried to carry on serious conversations in Latin or French. And we spent hours probing the mysteries of life and philosophy. No world problems were completely resolved, though a great many were tackled!

What are you passionate about these days?

Learning. I’ve been a lifelong advocate of continuous learning and use every opportunity to encourage people around me to remain curious, ask questions, challenge accepted wisdom, and read everything possible!

If you had to do your journey to getting published all over again, what would you do differently?

I would have tried to do it all quicker. Yes, I should have made writing a priority sooner. Once started, I should have devoted more time and energy to the project. After the manuscript was complete, I should not have procrastinated with my publishing decisions. Regardless, the experience has been rewarding on many levels.

eBook or print? And why?

Both. eBook is a wonderful format when traveling. One small device can hold dozens of works that otherwise would be prohibitive to carry. But there remains a certain satisfaction holding a book as one reads, particularly a hardcover version.

What is your favorite scene in this book?

There is a scene towards the end of The Multima Scheme when John George Mortimer is under extreme pressure during sensitive negotiations. I like that scene because readers clearly see his strength of character as he negotiates with the same finely-honed skills others might use playing a game of chess. 

Now available to buy on Amazon, BN, Kobo, iBooks, and Goodreads from Wild Thorn Publishing is the is the action-adventure The Last Line Of A Goat Story by Jonathan Doyle.

Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Storyteller: When did you become interested in storytelling?

Jon Doyle: When I was about seven, my family’s TV set broke and we couldn’t afford to buy a new one. So my Mom would read to us every night from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books. I fell in love. Soon after, I wrote my first story about a lonely tiger, roaming around Africa, looking for his long lost family. Sure, I got the continent wrong, but a writer was born!

RCAS: What was your first book/story published?

JD: This one. I’ve never tried to get any other book or poem or short story sold. Though I do have a self-published novel floating out there in the ether.

RCAS: What inspired you to write The Last Line of Goat Song?

JD: My book is about a stutterer rendered mute. I had a terrible childhood stutter when I was a kid and wanted to write about that experience which so influenced my life. I don’t think many realize how difficult it is to navigate through life without having fluency. This novel also deals with illegal immigration. I worked in bars and restaurants for years, so I know many “illegals”. I refuse to equate that with “alien”. These are people and I wanted to show that Maggie, my lead, is complex and flawed and wonderful and deserves respect.

RCAS: What character in The Last Line of Goat Song is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

JD: William is the most like me. Obviously, because of our stutter, but also our reclusive inquisitiveness. Who’s least like me? Probably Anna. She’s a go-getter, a bit of a game player. She holds grudges. I love Anna as a character, but we’re not built the same!

RCAS: What is your favorite part in The Last Line of Goat Song?

Now available on Amazon and Smashwords from Devildog Press is science fiction horror novel Prey by Tim Majka.

The Other Side Has Broken Through

Following the mysterious death of his parents, Detective Eric Archer goes home to the idyllic Western New York town of Chadwick Bay. There, he joins old colleagues and makes new acquaintances in Jessica Benitez, Eliseo Gomez, and the enigmatic Dr. William Dirk.

They uncover decades-old family secrets that shakes the foundation of their reality.

Alliances are formed, friends become foes.

An ancient entity’s plan to enslave the people of Earth is about to be unleashed. With the fate of humanity at risk, Eric Archer and his friends must race to unravel the mystery of how to defeat a God-king.

When did you become interested in storytelling?

My seventh grade English Language Arts teacher, Mrs. Lynn Clarke got me hooked on storytelling. We had a unit of study in creative writing during which I wrote an episode of STAR TREK (the original series), she gave me an A on it and many positive accolades about pacing and characterization. I didn’t write much creatively for many more years, but as a history teacher I need to be able to tell a story to hook the students, as veteran teacher once said to me, “You have to perform five shows daily and you need to have as much energy in the last as you do in the first.”

What was your first book/story published?

Prey from Devil Dog Press in June of 2017 was my first published work.

What inspired you to write Prey?

I was having a conversation online with an old high school friend, who happened to be writing some horror short stories. I had recently hung up my whistle after 13 years of coaching high school football and didn’t know what to do with myself (it is all consuming if you want to do it the right way). I had always wanted to write, as we talked I got more excited at the prospect of putting pen to paper (or fingers to keys, as it were). Searching through my desk, I found an CD-ROM with no label, I popped it in my desktop tower and it contained one Microsoft Word document titled PREY. It was three lines of a story I had started to write back at the beginning of my teaching career, how and why that disc was in the drawer at that time, I have no idea. I started writing from there.

What character in Prey is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

The main character of Prey, Eric Archer, loves his family and always wants to do right by them. He is intelligent, tough, sarcastic, and funny, but when there is work to be done, it’ll get done. In many respects he’s the most like me.😀

I am least like Sheriff Pontillo, that bastard. 😀

What is your favorite part in Prey?

Being released on October 17th is the science fiction romance antholoy Other Worlds, featuring stories by Allyson Lindt, Award-Winning author A.D. Trosper, Cheri Schmidt with Tristan Hunt, Akaria Gale with Award-Winning author R. A. Steffan, Jennifer Rose McMahon, Award-Winning author Amy L Gale, Shawnee Small with K. R. Fajardo, Award-Winning author Lea Kirk, Mychal Daniels with Laura Hysell, Shawna Romkey with Elizabeth Ryder, E.A. Weston, Award-Winning author Lindsay Avalon, LaVerne Thompson with Starla Night, and Jayne Fury with Isadora Brow.

Author LaVerne Thompson has taken a few minutes to answer a short Q&A.


When did you become interested in storytelling? 

I’ve been creating stories from my imagination for as long as I can remember. As a child, I’d make up a story about the sky.

What was your first book/story published? What inspired you to write Zeus- Lost Gods? 
 

Promises was the first book I ever published. I’d begun writing it in a creative writing class in college and a million years later finished it and it was my first book published. It’s a story loosely based on my cousin who married someone she’d known all her life. 

What character in Zeus- Lost Gods is the most/least like you, and in what ways? 

Dragon’s Heart Story of the Brethren, Maya only in that I would have totally embraced the idea of being a dragon shifter. Lol I do after all wear a tattoo of a dragon on my back. 'Can you hear my dragon roar?' 

What is your favorite part in Zeus- Lost Gods? 

Zeus-Lost Gods. ***spoiler***When Kassia dies and Ze has to remember who he once was to save her.   

What was the hardest part to write?