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The Triangle Murders – Lynne Kennedy

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Lynne Kennedy I would like to introduce Author Lynne Kennedy, winner of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "The Triangle Murders".Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Hello Lynne! Congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion. Please tell me about you book, "The Triangle Murders." Lynne: Like all of my books to date, "The Triangle Murders" is a historic mystery woven around events that actually happened. That mystery is solved today by modern technology. Quick Synopsis: When a young reporter is pushed from a ninth story window in Greenwich Village, NYPD Homicide Lieutenant Frank Mead soon connects the case to a murder that took place at the same site a hundred years earlier, during the infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. Stephanie: Is this your first mystery novel you have written? Lynne: I've written three. Besides "The Triangle Murders," "Time Exposure" is a mystery that revolves around Civil War photography- it's available online and in paperback. Coming within the next few months is "Deadly Provenance," which is about the Nazi confiscation of art and a missing Van Gogh painting. Stephanie: What is some of the recourse you used in your research? Lynne: I've written a lot about research in my blogs.…

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Authors' Chat

Bloody Mary – The Dack Brothers

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: The Dack Brothers I would like to introduce Authors Christopher & Michael Dack (The Dack Brothers), winners of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "Bloody Mary."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Stephanie: Christopher and Michael, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion! Please tell me about your book, "Bloody Mary." Michael: The story centers around Carakas, an alcoholic vampire. He's constantly in search of heavy drinkers to bite in order to maintain his pickled state. He falls in with Rudt, a corrupt and opportunistic police officer who wishes to rise through the ranks by eliminating those who stand in his way and who sees Carakas as the perfect, if unwitting, accomplice to help him. Despite his best intentions to simply have a good time, Carakas constantly makes trouble for himself and his friends. His antics bring unwanted attention from Mantis, a beautiful but vicious fellow vampire who carries a special loathing for Carakas and from Vanessa, a mysterious hunter who comes to town suddenly and who has motives all her own. Stephanie: What an interesting premise for your story. What inspired you to write this story? Michael: What we find interesting is to click together disparate elements to come up…

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Authors' Chat

Letters from Wishing Rock – Pam Stucky

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Pam Stucky I would like to introduce Author Pam Stucky, winner of the BRAG Medallion.  Pam, congrats on winning the Medallion! What an honor! Please tell me about your book; Letters from Wishing Rock.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Pam: Thank you! I'm so delighted and honored. In self-publishing we don't have the nod of approval one gets automatically by being one of the 'chosen ones'. It's so affirming to hear that someone else thinks my books are great, too! Letters from Wishing Rock (a novel with recipes) ("LfWR") is the first in the Wishing Rock series. (I just published the third and final book in the series in March 2013!) These books are about the happenings in the small made-up town of Wishing Rock, Washington, an island town where everyone lives in the same building. I was inspired by the format of The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society to write my own books (this first series, anyway) in e-mail format. Letters amongst the characters and their friends and families chronicle the twists and turns of the characters' daily lives. The first story mostly focuses on Ruby Parker, a 35-year-old woman who at the beginning of…

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Authors' Chat

Line by Line – Barbara Hacha

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Barbara Hacha I would like to introduce Authors Barbara Hacha, winners of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "Line by Line."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Barbara, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion! I've heard wonderful things about, "Line by Line." Please tell me about your book and what inspired you to write this story. Barbara: Thank you! I feel very honored that my book was awarded the BRAG Medallion. Line by Line is a story of Maddy Skobel, a young woman growing up in central Ohio during the Great Depression.  Her family is disintegrating right along with the economy, and when her home life becomes impossible, she decides to leave town–by freight train–and try to survive on her own terms. She becomes a hobo, and as she faces hardship, danger, and violence, she must discover her own resourcefulness and strengths. My inspiration actually came out of a garage sale find!  I picked up a copy of a video called Riding the Rails at a sale and brought it home, thinking it might be like a PBS Great Train Trips adventure. But it turned out to be a documentary about people who rode the rails in the Great Depression, and much to my…

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Authors' Chat

Quail Fried Rice – Jill Carroll

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Jill Carroll I am a freelance writer and scholar who lives with my partner, Nishta Mehra, and our son in a suburb of Houston, Texas.  I hold a Ph.D. from Rice University in philosophy of religion and spent much of the last 25 years as a university professor and scholar.  I left academe 4 years ago and now work as a freelance journalist for the Houston Chronicle, as a program consultant for the American Leadership Forum-Houston/Gulf Coast, and as a speaker/expert on topics of religious diversity in America.  I also write fiction–Quail Fried Rice is my first novel.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Please tell me about your book, "Quail Fried Rice." Quail Fried Rice is a love story featuring two middle-aged, professional women who end up in the same small West Texas town due to varying life circumstances.  The novel explores the themes of life transition, dealing with change and death, living a life of meaning, and finding true love.  Although it's a love story between two women, its written is such a way that it appeals to a broad audience.  Many of my readers are heterosexuals (both women and men) and they have given it positive…

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Authors' Chat

Throwing Clay Shadows – Thea Atkinson

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Thea Atkinson Thea Atkinson is a writer of character driven fiction; call it what you will: she prefers to describe her work as something akin to the left of mainstream. Her characters often find themselves in the darker edges of their own spirits but ultimately manage to find the light they seek. She has been an editor, a freelancer, and a teacher, but fiction is her passion. She now blogs and writes and twitters. Not necessarily in that order. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Thea, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion for your book, Throwing Clay Shadows. Please tell me a little about your book. TCS began as part of a larger 3 time framed novel. Because it had reincarnation theories as its base, it explored the lives of five characters over three lifetimes and how they connected. It was really way too large a project to be considered a single novel. When I began to self publish through ebooks, I broke the book into pieces because I realized they could stand alone and not be connected to each other. TCS became a single novel about a girl who loses her mother in 1800s Scotland. Maggie comes…

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Authors' Chat

Dirt – Sharon Dwyer

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Sharon Dwyer I would like to introduce Author Sharon Dwyer, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "Dirt."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Sharon, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion for your book, Dirt. Please tell me a little about your story? First I would like to thank indieBRAG for the award and the readers who enjoyed the book. Dirt is an historical fiction book that started out as YA and seemed to slip into the adult readers world. The story is centered around two children, Sammy and Birdie Larkin, who find themselves orphaned during the great Dust Bowl in the panhandle of Oklahoma. They decide to pretend their parents are still alive and continue to live on their family farm rather than be separated and sent to the state home for orphans. Living in a rural area, the fact that their parents are never seen goes unnoticed for some time. The children find ways to stave off the worse of their hunger and fend for themselves in a very hostile environment. That is until an incident causes them to rethink their actions. After I published the book, I've talked with quite a few people and…

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Authors' Chat

The Mustard Seeds – Karen Mueller Bryson

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Karen Mueller Bryson I would like to introduce Author Karen Mueller Bryson, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "The Mustard Seeds."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.com Karen, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion! Please tell me about your story, The Mustard Seeds. The story is about Elliot White, a 16-year old musical savant with Asperger's Syndrome. After his mom's sudden death, Elliot is forced to leave his performing arts high school in New York City and relocate to Winslow, Arizona to live with his eccentric aunt, Amaryllis Long. When Elliot discovers his new high school has no music program, he decides to form his own band of musical misfits, who it turns out, are unable to attract an audience. This is when Amaryllis inspires Elliot by giving him some mustard seeds, explaining that faith as small as a mustard seed can move mountains. As their faith grows, Elliot and his band-mates begin to believe they will be able to give a public performance, but the school's principal, Mr. Winters, who just cut all of the arts programs, stands in their way. The premise of your story is heart felt and moving. What inspired you to write…

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Authors' Chat

Dragonfriend – Roger Eschbacher

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Roger Eschbacher I would like to introduce Author Roger Eschbacher, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for the book, "Dragonfriend."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Roger, congrats on winning the BRAG Medallion. Please tell me about your book, Dragonfriend. Thank you, Stephanie. It was a very pleasant surprise to win the BRAG Medallion and I'm honored to be a recipient. Dragonfriend is a middle-grade fantasy adventure novel set in the days of King Arthur. The twist is that it's a side story to the main Arthurian legends and told through the eyes of a young page, Leonard, whose plan to help his knight get a seat at the Round Table goes horribly wrong. In an effort to set things right he goes on a dangerous quest, befriends a horde of cantankerous dragons, and does battle with a vile demon who has taken over Camelot. What were some of the research involved? I did a lot of online research about mythical creatures, Celtic/Welsh mythology, and Arthur and his knights. In general, I've always been fascinated by various western mythologies and the Arthurian legends – having read numerous books over the years – and so was able to draw on those…

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Authors' Chat

A Beautiful Glittering Lie – J.D.R. Hawkins

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: J.D.R. Hawkins I would like to introduce Author J.D.R. Hawkins, the winner of the BRAG Medallion for her book, "A Beautiful Glittering Lie."Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Your story takes place during a crucial time in our history. Could you please tell me about your story? In the spring of 1861, a country once united is fractured by war. Half of America chooses to fight for the Confederate cause; the other, for unification. In north Alabama, the majority favors remaining in the Union, but when the state secedes, many come to her defense. Such is the case with Hiram Summers, a farmer and father of three. He decides to enlist, and his son, David, also desires to go, but is instead obligated to stay behind. Hiram travels to Virginia with the Fourth Alabama Infantry Regiment. Although he doesn't intentionally seek out adventure, he is quickly and inevitably thrust into combat. In the meantime, David searches for adventure at home by traipsing to Huntsville with his best friend, Jake Kimball, to scrutinize invading Yankees. Their escapade turns sour when they discover the true meaning of war, and after two years of service, Hiram sees enough tragedy to last…

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