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ST. MAGGIE- JANET STAFFORD

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Janet Stafford It is a pleasure and honor to have Author Janet Stafford as my guest today. I met Janet through social media and she has won the B.R.A.G. Medallion for her book, Saint Maggie. Today I have asked her to talk about her writing and I have asked her some questions.... Why Do You Write? I write because I have to. It's that simple. It's been a part of me ever since I can remember. I loved stories when I was a child. My parents read to me and when I could read I got books from the library and through the book club at school. Childhood was also when I started telling stories to my friends. When I was eight or nine I realized that I could put my stories down on paper. So I wrote and illustrated my own book (in pencil!) about the Wizard of Oz. At the same time I began to imagine that someday my books would be published. As a teen I wrote stories that featured my favorite pop stars. I also shared a continuing story in the oral tradition with a good friend, and I learned to make up…

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Authors' Chat

DYING PHOENIX- LORETTA PROCTOR

Stephanie Hopkins
  Author Interview with Loretta Proctor Dying Phoenix is set against a background of fear and torture, under a military dictatorship in Greece. Max and Nina Hammett struggle to preserve a marriage that has become fraught with jealousy and despair. In April 1967, a totally unexpected military coup throws Greece into turmoil. People vanish amid terrified rumours of torture and murder. As these events unravel, so does Nina and Max's marriage. Nina doesn't trust Max, and leaves him in a jealous rage. But the truth of the matter is that Max was trying to help an abused woman escape her tormentor, not taking her to his bed as Nina imagines. Young, flighty Zoe's angst puts Max in terrible danger from a ruthless murderer. At the same time, he must also try to find Nina, who has disappeared into the shadowy depths of Athens. He knows that her willful nature, along with her refusal to cater to the military, could get her killed. Hearing that she is in danger, he sets off on a journey across Greece to find her and to escape his own past. Dying Phoenix is a thrilling historical romance that covers an interesting, little-known period of Modern…

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Authors' Chat

A RAGE TO LIVE -JOSEPH KRYGIER

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Joseph Krygier Victor Breitburg is a survivor of the Lódz Ghetto, Auschwitz, Buchenwald, Rhemsdorf and Theresienstadt concentration camps. He was liberated with a group known as "The Boys". Their experiences have been documented in Sir Martin Gilbert's Book, The Boys:Triumph Over Adversity. Victor and many of "The Boys" are still in contact with one another, although as it is with WWII veterans, their numbers are slowly diminishing. Victor's journey from Lódz, to the camps in Europe, to England, Scotland and the United States and his new life in America is the story told in this volume. Victor completed studies in America, became a successful businessman and an accomplished lecturer on the Holocaust, having received numerous awards and citations for his role as an educator. He is a widower, having been married to his beloved wife Lucille for sixty years. He currently lives in Coconut Creek Florida, and at 84 years old, occasionally speaks on Yom HaShoa. He has written some poems, short stories and is considering a novel based on the early days of the Mossad, the Israeli Secret Service. Victor has two daughters, Denise and Myra. Denise is married to Mark and they have two children,…

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Authors' Chat

BOLDER AND WISER-SARAH DALE

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Sarah Dale Sarah Dale is a practicing occupational psychologist and coach. She is the author of Keeping Your Spirits Up, a guide to facing the challenges of modern life. She lives in Nottingham, UK, with her husband, two daughters and step-son. Her moments of leisure are spent Nordic walking, reading fiction and frequenting coffee shops, the more independent the better. She secretly loves a good jigsaw. Stephanie: Hello, Sarah! Congrats on the B.R.A.G. Medallion and thank you for chatting with me today about your book, Bolder and Wiser. Please tell me a little about your story? Sarah: Hello there, and thank you for having me on your site. I am approaching my fiftieth birthday, and, along with many of my friends, it is provoking some mixed feelings. My 'day job' is occupational psychology and coaching (I run my own business on Creating Focus), so I also hear similar reflections from some of my clients about the experience of mid-life and everything that comes with it. It is common of course to experience quite some turmoil about ageing as well as what that means for our careers, our family responsibilities, our appearance, our health and – in short…

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Authors' Chat

MY LIFE- RICH SAMUELS

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Rich Smauels Stephanie: Hello Rich! Thank you for chatting with me today and congrats on the B.R.A.G. Medallion. Please tell me a little about your book, "My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain." Rich: "My Life at the Bottom of the Food Chain," is the story of 13 year-old Alexander and his outrageous (and unfounded) fears about everyday life in middle school. He sees danger everywhere – and bullies around every corner. He thinks of himself as "prey in a sea of predators." He even wrote a smartphone app, BullyTrack, to share his bully-avoiding skills with other kids. Though his fears are entirely in his imagination, they spiral out of control, and he's convinced an evil bully plot is unfolding. He sets up what he imagines to be a huge public showdown with a boy he perceives to be his arch-enemy. Alexander thinks he's on the way to a great victory, but the reality is something else. Stephanie: Bullying is a constant problem in our children's schools and your premise is really interesting and different from other books I have read on bullying. Alexander's fears and anxiety of being bullied has made him paranoid it…

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Authors' Chat

TO VENICE WITH LOVE- JANE BECK

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Jane Beck Stephanie: Thank you for chatting with me today, Janet and congrats on the B.R.A.G. Medallion for your story, To Venice with Love. Tell me a little about your story. Jane: My heroine Isobel is free for the first time in her life from a philandering ex-husband, the necessity to work and the demands of the family. She decides to take herself to Venice, a place she's longed to visit. She leaves everything behind in an uncharacteristic bid for time on her own, time to be self-indulgent. She meets Rupert, a widower, half-Italian and an architect, before she has left Heathrow, and they discover a mutual love of Venice, which crystallizes into love for each other as he shows her around the city where he lives for half the year. If I were to sum up the story I would say that it is a combination of wishful thinking and an over-active imagination! Venice is a city designed for lovers and it is easy to create an ambiance against which the love story can play out. There would be no novel without tension however and I've used various members of both Isobel and Rupert's families to…

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Authors' Chat

THE SLEEPY STAR -ADRIENNE AUSTERMANN

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Adrienne Austerman Stephanie: I would like to introduce B.R.A.G. Medallion Honoree, Author Adrienne Austermann. She is an accomplished artist, writer and art educator. As a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in NYC, her career has crossed multiple disciplines which include graphic design, advertising, art direction, writing, and photography. She is an independent blogger for the Huffington Post, and now adds author/illustrator to her resume with the release of her new children's book The Sleepy Star. Please tell me about, The Sleepy Star and what genre it falls under? Adrienne: The Sleepy Star is a hardcover children's bedtime book. It is about a little star who stays asleep while all his friends are playing and has an incredible underwater "dream" adventure. The book was written to promote a positive bedtime routine while maximizing parent/child interaction. The Sleepy Star is as educational as it is entertaining. It is written in rhyming verse with text to visual connections which help to promote word recognition for early reading readiness. The nice surprise in all my feedback to date is how much a book which is categorized as the Juvenile fiction is being enjoyed equally by adults. Stephanie: Is this…

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Authors' Chat

LANTAMYRA- SUSAN WATERWYK

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Susan Waterwyk Stephanie: Hello, Susan! Thank you for chatting with me today and congratulations on the B.R.A.G. Medallion. Please tell me about your story, "Lantamyra: A Tapestry of Fantasy." Susan: Lantamyra is a sanctuary world terraformed by Keepers of Akosh (alien caretakers) to give refuge to endangered sentient beings from two nearby worlds, dragons from Lanluong and humans from Eadlan or Earth as we call her. The dragons are giants, carnivorous, and because they learned the secrets of Akoshic crystal power, they are more intelligent than the human population. However, a few select humans are allowed to learn the secrets of crystal powers and link their minds with the myra crystal. They become keepers or wards of the dragons and serve the three great Houses that rule Lantamyra. Tylya Lansing is the main character (pronounced Ty-lee-ah) a nineteen-year-old that lives in a small town in California. Her grandmother Lenora is a keeper of dragons that was stranded on Earth. After learning her grandmother's secret, Tylya becomes obsessed with finding the crystal scepter lost in a rugged Sierra Nevada canyon. She enlists her boyfriend, Josh Hamilton. and together they find it. Now Lenora can return to Lantamyra, and…

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Authors' Chat

A BEAUTIFUL GLITTERING LIE-J.D.R. HAWKINS

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview Part II with J.D.R.Hawkins Stephanie: I would like to welcome back J.D.R. Hawkins for a follow up interview about her B.R.A.G. Medallion book, "A Beautiful Glittering Lie.". She is an award-winning author who has written for newspapers, magazines, newsletters, e-zines and blogs. She is one of a few female Civil War authors, uniquely describing the front lines from a Confederate perspective. Ms. Hawkins is a member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy, the International Women's Writing Guild, the Mississippi Writers Guild, Rocky Mountain Writers and Pikes Peak Writers. She is also an artist and singer/songwriter. Her two previous novels, A Beautiful Glittering Lie and A Beckoning Hellfire, have received numerous honors and awards. Ms. Hawkins is currently working on a nonfiction book about the Civil War, as well as a Young Adult historical fiction and a memoir. Learn more about J.D.R. here Hello, J.D.R.! Thank you for visiting with me again to talk about your B.R.A.G. Medallion book, A Beautiful Glittering Lie. Please bring readers up to speed about the premise of your story. J.D.R.: The novel is the first in a four-book series, which I call "The Renegade Series." It's a saga about the Summers family…

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Authors' Chat

THE CLOCK OF LIFE- NANCY KANN-MOREN

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview with Nancy Klann-Moren   Stephanie: Hello, Nancy! It is a pleasure to be able to talk with you today about your book, The Clock of Life. What a beautiful and profound title for your story. And I would like to say congratulations on the B.R.A.G. Medallion for your story. Please tell your audience a little about the premise of your book. Nancy: Stephanie, thanks so much for giving me this opportunity to talk with you. The Clock Of Life is a period piece set in the late 70′s and 80′s. It's a coming-of-age story about Jason Lee Rainey, a boy whose father was killed in Vietnam. The boy has been told very little about the man, but finds ways to seek out more information. He longs to become the kind of man his father was, but alas, doesn't believe he has the backbone to do so. Stephanie: Mississippi is an old southern state with deeply rooted attitudes and a way of life for many. Why did you chose the 1980's for your period? Nancy: In the past fifty years, the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement were our greatest catalysts for social protest. This book explores how…

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