Nanette Littlestone’s emotional stories take the reader on a journey of the heart. An award-winning novelist and gourmet, Nanette believes in happily ever after. Her pragmatic side realizes that most people don’t live fairy tale lives, so her stories explore the struggles we face, the plans that backfire, the heart-wrenching decisions we have to make, plus the joy, the delight, the happiness when we courageously embrace our dreams. It’s all about the love, and good food. She's the author of the historical novel The Sacred Flame (set in ancient Rome), the contemporary sequel Bella Toscana, the underwater YA fantasy The Heart of Everything, and the first two books in the Irish romance series For the Love of Brigid and Sweet Dreams by Claire.
Atmosphere Press is proud to bring readers the Atmosphere Press Presents author interview series. We’re happy to have this archive of excellent interviews and author success stories for you to enjoy. Learn about writers and their books, from book title origin stories to music playlists that relate to their writing to what it was like seeing the cover for the first time.
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Ferne Arfin is an American writer in London. Her short stories have appeared in The Literary Review (Fairleigh Dickinson), The Arkansas Review, Wild Cards: The Virago Writing Women Anthology, and other literary magazines. She has worked as a travel writer, an actress, and a creative writing tutor in British prisons. She earned an MA in creative writing from The University of East Anglia. Her first novel, Tunnel of Mirrors, was published in 2022.
R. Christian Bohlen is a bestselling author and an award-winning consultant to Fortune 500 companies, providing instructional design services and developing human performance improvement programs. He has been involved in ministry and church leadership for more than thirty years and worked for over a decade with juvenile offenders as an educator.
As with any journey, life has offered me more strange twists and turns than I could have imagined. At seven, sure I was destined to be a fireman or a forest ranger, my parents gave me a toy printing press. I thought, I’ll put out a neighborhood newspaper. With a circulation of ten—at five cents a copy—I was hooked: I had readers. I’ve been writing ever since.
As an eighty-year-old, first-time published author, it is difficult to know what to tell you about my life. I thought I would do something meaningful when I was eighteen, then spent thirty years thinking I would never do something meaningful, and then learned when I was forty-nine that I had ADHD. Diagnosis and treatment for my ADHD made such a huge difference, that I got back to thinking I would and have done some meaningful things.
Maria Leonard Olsen practices law as a commercial litigator in Bethesda, MD, and Washington, D.C. She is an author (50 After 50: Reframing the Next Chapter of Your Life), podcaster (“Becoming Your Best Version”), journalist, TEDx speaker (“Turning Life’s Challenges into a Force for Good”), book marketing coach for female authors, and mentor to women in recovery.
Award-winning author Beth A. Freely was born and raised in upstate New York, with a brief and very influential stint living in Great Britain that can be seen in her writing. Today she calls New Mexico home. When asked how long she has been writing, she’ll tell you, “All my life.”
Born and raised in the Adirondack Mountains in New York, Craig has lived in Idaho, Oregon, Tokyo, and today he calls Charlotte, North Carolina, his home. All of these places have greatly influenced his work. He is the author of the short story collection Brutal Beasts and the novel Fish Cough.
Ken Conklin is a member of the Author's Guild, the Virginia Writers Club, and the Poetry Society of Virginia. A native of Los Angeles, he has resided in Botetourt County for nearly twenty years. Conklin was presented a 2022 Kegley Award from the Roanoke Valley Preservation Society for his book NORVEL: An American Hero, about Botetourt County native Norvel Lee, Virginia’s first Black Olympic gold medalist. He is also the author of the poetry collection The Zen of Ken. His essays have appeared in the Roanoke Times, Victoria Advocate, Easy Reader, and Microwave Journal.
Michael Ruocco grew up in Howell, New Jersey, during the roaring 1980s. A decade with much to be influenced by, its colors and sounds were hypnotic. Moving to northeast Pennsylvania by age twelve, Michael only dove deeper into the music, art, skate, and snowboard culture that he’d grown to love. These passions inspired his career in tattooing and led to the success of his studio, Funhouse Tattooing. Along with technical art, his love for finding words to capture a moment has always fueled his desire to write—an art form he feels most alive while creating.
