In the Spotlight – Lillie J Roberts

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Lillie J Roberts

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It’s such a pleasure to have Lillie J Roberts stop by today. Always interesting, super nice and quite the talented author, you can count on Lillie to bring fun and variety to the party! And this time she even brought her her little dog, too! There’s just something special about a dog-lover. 🙂 Plus we share a lot of the same interests and that’s always fun to learn in an interview.

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Lillie J Roberts

Lillie J. Roberts is a multi-published author who loves to read as much as she does to write. You can most often find her lost in her favorite genre, whether it be a hardback/paperback or an ebook (or maybe she’s writing one), especially on road trips. She writes Paranormal Romance, Urban Fantasy, Chillers/Thillers, Suspense from Modern Contemporary to New Adult and YA.

She lives in central Illinois with her husband, three children, one krazy kat, and a wild Westie (who is usually her reading partner. He also listens to all her new story ideas, almost always with a wicked sense of humor). She loves movies and listens to them while she writes, it doesn’t matter if they’re old or new, as long as they’re engaging. She loves all kinds of music, especially if it has a hard driving beat. You’ll find some on her favorite artists mentioned in the pages of her books.

 

Read on for more about Lillie and SoulFire!

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In the Spotlight – GS Jennsen

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GS Jennsen

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It’s a pleasure to welcome author GS Jennsen into the spotlight today. GS is a gamer and we actually belong to the same gaming guild. So getting to feature her on my blog is cool not only because she’s an awesome writer, but because she’s a guildmate, too!

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When she was two years old, GS Jennsen informed her parents that she would be learning to read now. When she was four, she brought the dinner-table conversation to a screeching halt by inquiring as to what they knew about the nature of infinity.

The rest is history. A long, convoluted history that wound across the United States and back again—and back again—through a shocking variety of windowless libraries, windowless corporate boardrooms and windowless engineering labs.

She has been a corporate attorney, software developer, freelance editor and author (she finds she prefers the latter). She currently lives in Colorado with her husband and best friend (they’re the same person), who works as an electrical engineer, and their two furry, four-legged children.

There are many windows in her home, half of which look out on the Rocky Mountains.

Starshine is her first novel.

 

Read on for more about G.S. and Starshine!

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in the Spotlight – Chad Ganske

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Chad Ganske

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Today, I’m happy to welcome the always fun Chad Ganske into the spotlight, with his fascinating debut novel, Idyllic Avenue.

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Chad Ganske

Chad was born in Red Deer, Alberta, Canada in 1976, relocating with his family to the small harbor town of Sidney, British Columbia, on Vancouver Island in the late eighties. After graduating from high school in 1994 he enrolled in the University of Victoria but left after one semester to enter the workforce. He slogged through a variety of entry level jobs before finally publishing his first novel, Idyllic Avenue. He presently resides in Victoria, British Columbia, where he spends a great deal of time alternating between states of elation and frustration while watching the Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League.

 

Read on for Chad’s interview and more about his book!

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In the Spotlight – Diane Adams Taylor

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Diane Adams Taylor

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Please join me in welcoming Diane  and her most recent novel, The Healer of Wounded Souls.

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Diane Adams Taylor is a retired school administrator with over thirty-two years in the field of education.  She is now working in her second career as a writer, author and lecturer.  She had her first novel, Circles in Time published by Tate Publishing in May 2012.  Her second novel, The Healer of Wounded Souls, isher newest release through the Bush Publishing Company.  She writes for two on-line publications; one specifically on education topics and the other as a contributor of short stories. Diane continues to write novels and she is currently working on three new manuscripts as well as a series of children’s books.

 

Read on for more about Diane and her novel.

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In the Spotlight – Justin R Macumber

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Justin R Macumber

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Justin R Macumber is here today to caht about his brand new novel, Still Water. From what I hear, this horror novel is an incredible thrill ride!

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Justin R. Macumber is the author of STILL WATER, HAYWIRE, and A MINOR MAGIC. When not hard at work on his next story he hosts the popular Dead Robots’ Society podcast. He and his lovely wife live in the Dallas/Fort Worth metroplex along with a strange pack of dogs and cats they think of as their children. He’s also a co-host on The Hollywood Outsider, a weekly podcast about movies and television.

Read on for more about Jusin and his new novel!

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A to Z Challenge – S is for Savor

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When I used to read, I’d tear through books, turning pages as fast as I could to get to the next bit. I’d often re-read books I loved with that second read much slower, savoring each and every word. One year my brother gave me a hard copy of an Anne Rice novel,  Taltos, for Christmas. A couple of weeks later he asked me how I was enjoying my book. I told him I’d read the book the day after he gave it to me.

He was in disbelief. “The whole thing? You read the whole thing already?”

I was pragmatic, “Well, of course, I did. I read it the day after you gave it to me.”

He was quite put out, letting me know that hard copy books were not cheap, and he expected me to have not finished it for a couple weeks.

I just shook my head. “Sweetie, I read 5-7 books a week, depending on how long they are. I’ve probably read 10 books since then. But I loved it. I really did!”

I felt bad, but I think he felt worse. “I’m never buying you another book. I wanted to give you something special.”

“But you did!”

And I meant that with all my heart. I really did enjoy my present. I even re-read it at some point. But I did tend to read quickly.

These days I rarely get to re-read a book so I tend to read slower the first time. I try to savor each book because I’m pretty sure I won’t be getting back to it any time soon, if ever.

I love being able to get into the story and into the characters’ minds to figure out what makes them tick. I take a lot more breaks, and think about what I’ve read more so than in days past, letting the words sink into my subconscious. Scenes and phrases stay with me longer and seem to be more vibrant than those days when I raced through. And those days when I’m tempted to just tear through a book, I remind myself that I need to slow down and savor each and every bit. Savor…such a lovely word.

 

What will tomorrow’s word be? Come back for the letter “T” in the challenge.

Be sure to check out the rest of the cool blogs in the challenge!  A to Z Challenge.

In the Spotlight – John Hazen

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John Hazen

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maersiteinthespotlightToday we feature John Hazen, author of Fava, an edge-of-your-seat military thriller, released early 2014.

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John Hazen came to writing novels relatively late in life, but once he started he hasn’t looked back. Degrees from Rutgers, The New School and New York and NYU buttress a lifelong passion for learning and a love of history. Inspired by Lynn, his wife of over thirty years, he pursued the dream of becoming an established author and is now working on his fifth book. John and Lynn love to travel, and the experiences of those travels find their way into his writing.

 

Read on for more about John and his new novel…

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