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A Cold Snow in Castaway County – John Hickman

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: John Hickman I would like to introduce John Hickman, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com John, please tell us about your book, A Cold Snow in Castaway County. A former police officer and investigator from the Boston PD, Dell Hinton leaves the city after a controversial shooting. He moves to a small community in Maine where an old school friend lives. After building his home along the shore of a lake, Dell is convinced to run for the job of Sheriff in Castaway County. After winning the election, he meets with the prior Sheriff and learns of a cold case that has been haunting that man for ten years. The story line then centers on how Dell must learn the new duties of being a Sheriff and work to solve the cold case. Considering your experience in law enforcement, I’m sure it helped you a great deal in writing your story. Did you have to do any additional research for your book other than what you already know? Well, I was able to incorporate some stories from my career, as well as some of my training throughout the years. But I did…

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Authors' Chat

Opening Day – Joe Perrone

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Joe Perrone I would like to introduce author Joe Perrone, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Thank you Joe for the pleasure of this interview. Could you please tell us about you book, Opening Day. Opening Day is the second in the Matt Davis Mystery Series, and is set in Roscoe, NY, a small fishing village where I used to be a fly fishing guide. Matt Davis is a former NYPD homicide detective who has taken early retirement following a near-death experience on the job, and has taken a relatively laid-back position as Chief of Police of a three-man department. While out fishing on the opening day of trout season, he stumbles across the badly deteriorated body of what turns out to be a young woman. The body is unclothed; there is no physical evidence or apparent motive; and the victim's identity is unknown. As the story unfolds, readers are introduced to three different young women at a time prior to the murder, any one of whom might be the victim. Their stories are interwoven with the ongoing events and investigation, until eventually two are eliminated, leaving the remaining woman as the…

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Authors' Chat

Riptide – Michael Prescott

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Michael Prescott I would like to introduce Michael Prescott, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Michael, please tell us about your book, Riptide. 

I came up with the idea for Riptide pretty much by accident, when I was writing an e-mail to another author. I was spitballing far-fetched story ideas, and one of them concerned a woman who finds the diary of Jack the Ripper hidden in her cellar and realizes there may be a family connection. After typing a few words about that, I sat back and thought, “Actually, that's not bad.” I strengthened it by adding the idea that the woman's emotionally troubled brother may be re-creating the Ripper's crimes in the present day. I set the story in Venice, California, which of course posed the challenge of trying to explain how a killer from London's East End could wind up on the West Coast of America. The story was a little different from some of the others I've done–a little more high concept. I thought it worked out well, but when I tried to sell it to traditional publishers, I hit a wall. Although I had published twenty previous…

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Authors' Chat

Peanut Butter For Cupcakes – Donna Aviles

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Donna Aviles I would like to introduce Author Donna Aviles, the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Donna please tell us about your book, Peanut Butter For Cupcakes. Hi Stephanie! Thank you so much for the opportunity to share my book with your readers. Peanut Butter For Cupcakes is the true story of my Grandfather, Oliver Nordmark, and his struggle to raise his six children during The Great Depression after the sudden and tragic death of his wife Estella. May, Bud, Oliver Jr, Margaret, Jim and Benny are all under the age of 10 as the story begins. With their mother gone, they will learn their life lessons from their Dad, who never had a real parent of his own - having been orphaned at age six. 

It is a social history of this very difficult period in America and puts a real face, specifically on the children, of that era. It is also a testament to the perseverance of the human spirit and proof that "boys will be boys" regardless of money, possessions or position - or the lack thereof. Although rightfully sad at times, there are also many lighthearted moments and…

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Her Last Letter – Nancy Johnson

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Nancy Johnson I would like to introduce Author Nancy Johnson, the winner of the B.R.A.G MedallionRead the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Nancy I read your story, Her Last Letter and enjoyed it very much. Could you please tell us a little about your book? Her Last Letter is my first published novel, though not my first novel. I wrote two novels previous to publishing this one. It is a romantic-suspense mystery, and the setting is Glenwood Springs, Colorado, near Aspen. In the story, Gwyn, an artist and photographer, finds a letter written by her youngest sister Kelly, murdered two years before. Kelly writes that she was having an affair with her sister's boyfriend, and is scared for her life. Gwyn and her remaining sister Linda have since married their boyfriends. Gwyn hires a private detective to find out the truth, stirring up old secrets and new danger.... After trying for many years to get traditionally published, I decided to form my own publishing company, and published Her Last Letter. I wanted the years I'd spent writing and hoping to come to something, to at last see my words in print, and to hold my book in my hands. My…

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Authors' Chat

Montfort – Katherine Ashe

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Katherine Ashe I would like to introduce Author Katherine Ashe the winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion for her novel, Montfort.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Katherine, please tell us about your novel, Montfort the Founder of Parliament the Early Years. Montfort The Early Years is the first of four novels, all now in print, on the life of Simon de Montfort. The book begins with his arrival in England from France as a near penniless youth in the winter of 1229, and it follows his rise as he becomes the closest friend of King Henry III, the son of the notorious King John. 

Few people have experienced the "spin of fate's wheel" as dramatically as Simon, and this first book follows him from hapless petitioner to favored courtier, to exile, to candidate for Viceroy, to hapless petitioner again, to military hero and ultimately back to high favor with King Henry III. All this in fourteen years.

 This is not a fictional character. Simon was very real and these things, beyond question, really happened to him. Why his fate during this period was so tumultuous has been a matter of speculation from his lifetime onward. I offer a theory,…

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Authors' Chat

My Temporary Life – Martin Crosbie

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Martin Crosbie I would like to introduce Author Martin Crosbie, the winner of the B.R.A.G. Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Please tell us about your book, My Temporary Life. Thanks, Stephanie, I'd love to, and thanks for the opportunity to do this, too, I really appreciate it. My Temporary Life is a story told in two parts. The first section is a coming of age story about young lad who never has anything permanent in his life. He's shipped between his parents, his father who lives in Scotland and his mother who lives in Canada. Throughout his childhood, he's faced with not only two very different cultures but also bullying and poverty. The second part of the book picks up twenty years later where the boy, now a young man, is stuck in a major life rut. He meets a girl who had her own traumatic childhood, and through a series of circumstances, the most important being that he falls in love with her, he's given the opportunity to help her recapture something from her childhood. It's been called a coming of age/suspense/romance, and I know that sounds confusing, but hopefully it sounds intriguing too. Was there…

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Authors' Chat

Saint Maggie – Janet Stafford

Stephanie Hopkins
  Author Interview: Janet Stafford I would like to introduce Author Janet Stafford, the winner of the B.R.A.G. Medallion.Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Janet please tell us about your book, Saint Maggie. Saint Maggie tells the story of a widow, Maggie Blaine, who has two teenaged daughters and runs a boarding house on the square of a NJ small town in the year 1860. Maggie's collection of boarders is eclectic, ranging from an undertaker's apprentice, an unsuccessful writer, an aspiring lawyer, and an elderly indigent Irishman. What really upsets town folk, though, is the fact that she also lives with her two closest friends, Nate and Emily, who are African-American. To make matters worse, Maggie begins to court Elijah Smith, the free-thinking, abolitionist editor of the town's newspaper. (It's a good thing the town doesn't know that Emily, Nate, Eli and Maggie manage a stop on the Underground Railroad.) Enter Jeremiah Madison, the new Methodist minister. Maggie is asked to provide him with a room because there is nowhere else for him to lodge. Both Maggie and her church have high hopes for Jeremiah – and he appears to fulfill them: he is charming, respectable, and an inspiring pastor.…

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Authors' Chat

Roswell Redemption – Cindi Crane

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Cindi Crane It is my pleasure to introduce Author Cindi Crane winner of the B.R.A.G Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Cindi please tell us about your book, Roswell Redemption. 

Roswell Redemption is a story of two women whose stories come together in Greyson Manor, a plantation home in Roswell, Georgia.
In 1838, Jade Hawkins is the thirteen year old daughter of a prominent Cherokee family who own one of the most successful plantations in the Cherokee Nation. But the Hawkins plantation is taken over by force as a result of the Georgia Land Lottery and Andrew Jackson’s insistence on the Cherokee removal to the west. Jade's family is destroyed and she is forced to stay with the new white owner. Her strength and sacrifices change the history of several families for many years to come.
In 2010, Carolyn Kane searches for a property where she can open a restaurant and event facility in Roswell, Georgia. Carolyn finds Greyson Manor, one of the only original plantations remaining. The owners are unwilling to renovate or sell. As Carolyn strives to persuade the Greyson clan, she uncovers the story of an Indian girl that will change the town of Roswell forever.…

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Authors' Chat

Too Many Witches – Scott Nicholson

Stephanie Hopkins
Author Interview: Scott Nicholson I would like to introduce Author Scott Nicholson the winner of the IndieBRAG Medallion. Read the entire interview at: www.layeredpages.blogspot.com Scott, please tell us about your book, Too Many Witches. I'd did IF I WERE YOUR MONSTER with Lee Davis and really liked his art, so I kicked around for another "monster" type of book. What inspired you to write this story? I liked the idea of "too many cooks spoil the kitchen," so I wondered what would happen if little witches tried to out-do each other on a wicked potion. Is there a message in your story you want young readers to grasp? It's a story about friendship and working together, but also inspiring children to be creative. Who or what inspired you to become an author? All the great books, art, and music I've been lucky enough to find have inspired me to be creative. Ever since I was young, I have always been making up stories, songs, and pictures. Dr. Seuss was probably one of my strongest early influences.

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