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The Nightmare Stone – Finian Black

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Finian Black I would like to introduce Author Finian Black, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for his book, "The Nightmare Stone."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Finian, it is a pleasure to be interviewing you. Could you please tell me about your book, The Nightmare Stone? Hi, Stephanie. Thank you so much for interviewing me. It's a real pleasure. To answer your questions: 
'The Nightmare Stone' is about normal people thrown into a very abnormal situation. The main character is a family man, disillusioned with work, who gets the opportunity to give his wife and daughter a life they could only have dreamed of. But dreams have a nasty habit of turning into nightmares! It combines some of my favourite ghost story themes, namely the spooky old house, people who aren't always what they seem, and historical references to place it all in context. Then I throw in a literary twist that has surprised a lot of readers. Who or what inspired you to write this story? Without wanting to give too much away, my son was completely obsessed with Peter Pan when he was about four. I went back to the original novel, to get beneath…

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Authors' Chat

Untying the Knot – Linda Gillard

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Linda Gillard I would like to introduce Author Linda Gillard, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Linda, please tell us about your book, Untying the Knot. If the ebook had a back cover, this is what it would say... "Everyone makes mistakes, but I sometimes think I've made more than most. Marrying Magnus was one of them. But the biggest mistake I ever made was divorcing him." A wife is meant to stand by her man. Especially an army wife. But Fay didn't. She walked away - from Magnus, her traumatised war-hero husband and from the home he was restoring: Tullibardine Tower, a ruinous 16th century tower house on a Perthshire hillside. Now their daughter Emily is marrying someone she shouldn't. And so is Magnus..." UNTYING THE KNOT was my fifth novel. I wanted to follow up the success of STAR GAZING which had been short-listed for Romantic Novel of the Year, but I didn't want to repeat myself. My aim was to write another unusual love story that would make readers laugh and cry, but I needed a new angle. I'd written about all kinds of love over the years but I hadn't…

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Authors' Chat

Rebel Puritan – Jo Ann Butler

Stephanie Hopkins
  Author Interview: Jo Ann Butler I would like to introduce Author Jo Ann Butler, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Thank you Jo Ann for your time. I would like to first ask you about your reading interests. What was the last truly great book you've read? I just finished "Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power" by Jon Meacham, which will be published in November. I'm reviewing books for the Historical Novel Society, and one of the perks is seeing advance review copies. Meacham's book is a thorough look at Jefferson's life public and private life, and it is super! What book are you currently reading? I'm enjoying an advance copy of "The Plum Tree," Ellen Marie Wiseman's debut Holocaust story, and Daniel Defoe's 1722 "Journal of the Plague Year," about the bubonic plague epidemic which decimated London in 1665. I read "Plague Year" when I was researching "Rebel Puritan," since Herodias Long survives an outbreak of plague. It's also a great way to put the period's language into my head as I prepare to publish "The Reputed Wife," my "Rebel Puritan" sequel. Where is your favorite reading spot in your home? Reading in bed…

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Authors' Chat

Sea Witch – Helen Hollick

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Helen Hollick I would like to introduce Author Helen Hollick, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Helen, I would like to begin by asking you about your reading interests. What was the last truly great book you've read? The last book I read from cover to cover without much of a pause was Elizabeth Chadwick's Lady of the English. I was fascinated because, although I know a little about the war between Stephen and Matilda, I had absolutely no idea that Adeliza, widow of Henry I had even existed. It was a great thrill to read a beautifully written novel, and learn some accurate history at the same time. Have you ever read a book and afterward wish you'd never read it? Yes. I used to plod on, hoping that something would get better, but I now rarely continue reading books that have not grabbed my interest by page 50 – my sight isn't so good and I have too big a "to be read" pile to waste time reading something that has not enticed me into the story. What is also disappointing is to read a good, exciting, novel only to find the end…

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Authors' Chat

Charlotte – Karen Aminadra

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Karen Aminadra I would like to introduce Author Karen Aminadra, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Karen, what book had the greatest impact on you that you have read? What book made you want to write? I don't think that any one single book made me want to write. I've always been a storyteller and loved to write as a child. As a child, I loved a couple of books in particular; When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit by Judith Kerr and The Amazing Mr Blunden by Antonia Barber. Both of them are historical and they blew me away, I've read them over and over again, and still love them today. Of the books you've written, which is your favorite? Well, Charlotte is my first book that was published, so it's my baby, but Relative Deceit was the first book I actually started writing about 10 years ago. So, my answer is that both Charlotte and Relative Deceit are my favourite. What book is on your night stand? Now I am reading El Rey by Ginger Myrick. I don't have a lot of time to read, at the moment unfortunately. I have too much…

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Authors' Chat

The Black Banner – Helen Hart

Stephanie Hopkins
  Author Interview: Helen Hart I would like to introduce Author Helen Hart, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Helen, I'm delighted to be interviewing you. Thank you! I would like to begin by asking you questions about your reading interests. What are you currently reading? Thank you for having me on Layered Pages, Stephanie. It's a genuine pleasure to be here. Reading is a real passion for me and I can so easily lose myself in a book. I have a fairly 'magpie' approach to the books I choose - if I like the look of it, I'll read it! I return regularly to historical fiction (Bernard Cornwell does this so well) and historical romance (I'm a big fan of Sergeanne Golon's 'Angelique' series which was so popular in the 60s and 70s). Interestingly, until recently I would have said I don't read a lot of fantasy novels but I've been completely swept away by the world created by George RR Martin and his 'Song of Ice and Fire' series (which TV viewers will know from HBO's 'Game of Thrones'). What do you plan on reading next? I'm working my way through George RR…

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Authors' Chat

Ashford – Melanie Rose Huff

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Melanie Rose Huff I would like to introduce Author Melanie Rose Huff, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Thank you Melanie for the pleasure of this interview. I would like to ask you questions about your interests in reading. What was the last truly great book you have read? I would have to say The Elegance of the Hedgehog, by Muriel Barbery. Beautifully written and meaningful. What were your favorite books as a child? Alice in Wonderland, Winnie the Pooh, The Jolly Postman, The Phantom Tollbooth... I also loved fairy tales and pretty much anything with Arthur Rackham illustrations. What is on your night stand? Lamp, Kleenex box, clock, lip balm, several books, tonic water, a sweatshirt, and, of course, a notebook and pen. It's kind of a mess. What do you plan to read next? I just ordered my copy of Victoria Dunn's Alice Hearts Welsh Zombies. Zombie books are generally pretty low on my reading list, but I've been following Victoria's blog, Handmade by Mother, for over a year now, and I'm a huge fan of her writing style and snarky sense of humor. What's your favorite literary genre and why?…

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Authors' Chat

An Involuntary King – Nan Hawthorne

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Nan Hawthorn I would like to introduce Author Nan Hawthorne, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Nan thank you for the pleasure of this interview. You write about a period of time in our history that I'm fascinated with and would like to know more about. Please tell us about your book, An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England. An Involuntary King: A Tale of Anglo Saxon England had an unusual beginning. The year was 1964 and the place the Southeast Alaska Methodist Youth Camp far "out the road" from the capital, Juneau. I was twelve. I met a girl named Laura Burr who was a year younger. We started playing "Indian princess" with her as the princess and me as an Indian brave, the story quickly changing to something more to our liking, the queen and king of a mythic kingdom. We got into it, held a wedding and wedding supper, then had to figure out how we would continue "The Story" as we came to call it once she had gone home to her town and I to mine. It started out as letters between the royal couple,…

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Authors' Chat

Maids of Misfortune – Mary Louisa Locke

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Mary Louisa Locke I would like to introduce Author Mary Louisa Locke, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Mary, please tell us about your book, Maids of Misfortune. Maids of Misfortune is the first in a series of historical mysteries and short stories I have written set in Victorian San Francisco. Maids of Misfortune introduces Annie Fuller, a San Francisco widow who owns a boarding house and supplements her income as Madam Sibyl, a clairvoyant, giving business and domestic advice. As the book opens in the summer of 1879, a creditor threatens to take away her home, and one of Madam Sibyl's clients, Mr. Voss, dies suddenly. Annie Fuller and Nate Dawson, the Voss family lawyer and romantic interest, try to find out the truth about Voss's death in order to save his family and Annie from financial ruin. In order to do so, Annie goes undercover as a domestic servant in the murdered man's house. This is a light, romantic, cozy mystery that takes the protagonists from formal parlors to a Charity Ball and a buggy ride through Golden Gate Park to the sea shore, but it also deals with some…

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Authors' Chat

The Bitti Chai – Jane Gray

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Jane Gray I would like to introduce Author Jane Gray, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Jane, please tell us about your book, "The Bitti Chai." The Bitti Chai is basically a story about an endless love between two teenagers from very different cultures. It explores family emotions and ties, loyalty and love. It deals with bereavement and the grieving process and how the family pulls together to support and cherish their loved ones. I hope it portrays an accurate and positive image of Romany culture rather than the negative stereotypical image often portrayed by the press and some television programmes. There is an occult element which runs through the story and this is something I have always been fascinated by. Was there any research you did for your story? If so, please explain. The research for my book was limited with regard to the Romany aspect as I was brought up by my Romany grandfather and our culture and family values are central to the background of the book. Being heavily involved with horses myself this aspect of the story was second nature to me. However I have had to carry…

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