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Author Interviews

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An Interview with Ian D. Feldman, author of The Vortex

Ian D. Feldman writes page-turning, apocalyptic fiction that explores Christian themes in the real world with unique characters who challenge common thinking and shed light on issues we all face. Because no life is free from catastrophe, the apocalypse is a useful meme to explore the impact of disasters on our lives while being entertained along the way.

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An Interview with Jessica Simon, author of Built of All I Shape and Name

Jessica Genia Simon began writing poetry at age seven. As a teenager based in Rockville, MD, she competed and won a spot on the Brave New Voices D.C. National Youth Poetry Slam Team. She earned a B.A. in English and Textual Studies and Policy Studies at Syracuse University and her M.S. in Education from University of Pennsylvania. She works at a gun violence prevention nonprofit in D.C. and lives with her wife and daughter in Silver Spring, Maryland. Built of All I Shape and Name (Kelsay Books, 2023) is her first poetry collection. The poem Even After in this collection was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

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An Interview with Laura Cox, author of This Divine Mystery

Laura Taylor Cox was born in Nashville, TN, and raised in Lewisburg. She earned her BS degree from Vanderbilt University and holds a Masters of Communications in Theater Arts from Regent University. While studying at Regent, she met her husband, Bill. They have been married over forty years and have four children and seven grandchildren.

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An Interview with Robert J Nugent, author of Poetic Manifestation

In 1987, a young man was born to a young couple of 24 and 25 years old. As life went on, this young man, Robert J Nugent, defined his life through education and the culinary arts and found himself gaining four associate degrees within a ten-year span at Brookdale Community College. Most importantly, Robert channeled his artistic abilities through the writing of poems! However, it was the inspiration from his mother’s poem Speak, Hear, or See that made him want to write.

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An Interview with Torrey Malek, author of Glory Hill

Torrey Francis Malek is an American poet hailing from Greenville, Delaware. He was the Poet Laureate for the Valley Forge Military Academy his sophomore year and was later a featured poet for the Shortlist of the Letter Review Prize for Poetry in 2023. He has published works in the Red Wolf Periodical, Hive Avenue Literary Journal, and is a frequent contributor to the Plants & Poetry Journal. Glory Hill is Torrey’s first published work of poetry.

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An Interview with Kristin Oakley, author of The Devil Particle

Years ago, Kristin A. Oakley wrote The Bomb, a flash fiction piece about a character named Paul. She was also working on a third book in the award-winning Leo Townsend series, but Paul couldn’t be ignored, so Leo had to wait. The Bomb is now the four/five-book Devil Particle Series. In addition to creating Paul and Leo’s stories, Kristin reviews books and writes about being a novelist in her newsletter, available at kristinoakley.net. She lives in the Milwaukee area and likes to hang out in coffee shops, drinking chai lattes, and writing characters into impossible situations.

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An Interview with Pamela Pottinger, author of The Sea and the Moon

Pamela lives and works in rural Cumbria. She is mother to three (fully fledged and succesful) home-educated boys, an asylum-seeking cat from the Calais Jungle, and multiple stray dogs. Her writing life began early when she won “most inventive story/essay” at primary school, which she based on a dream she’d had the night before about Martians sailing into the schoolyard to hand out grapes at lunchtime! Since then she has won several awards including Writing Magazine Winner of Winners with a ghost story set in a refugee camp. Her other works comprise of commissioned children’s fiction, short stories, general interest articles, a series of animal information pamphlets and a fair bit of blogging for a London pet store. At present she is concentrating more on personal projects and has recently had a children’s picture book accepted by independent publisher Chapeltown Books.

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An Interview with Joy Ogawa, author of Victoria Ward and the Gilded Age of the Hawaiian Kingdom

I am a born storyteller. At age five, I taught myself to type on my dad’s typewriter, and I’ve been creating worlds and characters since then. I also have a self-published illustrated children’s book about growing up with a Congenital Heart Defect (CHD) titled I Am A Heart Warrior. Also, I collaborated on a pineapple passion project called A Pineapple Republic, for which there is a companion book and a feature-length documentary film that I narrate. Both books are available on Amazon. Born and raised in Hilo, Hawaii, I now live in Honolulu. My day job is as a Mental Health Professional for the State of Hawaii’s Dept. of Corrections and Rehabilitation. My hobbies include needlework, Hawaiian outrigger canoe paddling, and cycling.

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An Interview with Morgan Liphart, author of Barefoot and Running

Morgan Liphart’s work has appeared in anthologies and journals across the US, Canada, Italy, England, and Scotland, such as Oxford University Press’ Literary Imagination, Popshot Quarterly, and The Comstock Review. Her chapbook, Barefoot and Running, was a finalist for the Colorado Book Award. When she’s not writing, she enjoys her career as an attorney and loves to adventure in the wild spaces surrounding her home near the Rocky Mountains.

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An Interview with Jessica Sinha, author of The Panda That Wanted To Touch The Sky

I was born in India and moved to the US in the late 90s. I was an avid writer from a young age, penning exciting magical stories exploring relationships, and weaving in notes of strength, generosity, and perseverance through simplistic stories. I am a debutant children’s book author with an upcoming fiction novella in production and multiple children’s books in different languages. Being raised multiculturally, I enjoy sharing my experiences and intermingling my learnings through these stories. I have a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Bioengineering. While currently employed in the life sciences industry, my passions are writing and social work.

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An Interview with Javier Sarmiento Jr, author of Stories of a Harlem Resident

Javier Sarmiento Jr is an Afro-Latino writer from Harlem in New York City. He is a graduate of Buena Vista University with a degree in Digital media. He is a graduate of Guttman Community College with a degree in Liberal Arts. Sarmiento Jr won first place in the collegiate sports writing category of the Robert L. Vann Media Awards for his article “The Impact and Influence of LeBron James.” He was selected to be a part of the NABJ’s Student Multimedia Project. He produced two articles about race in the teaching and book industries.

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An Interview with Alex Martello, author of Little Green Men

Alex has been writing since the ripe ol’ age of 10, first cutting their teeth as a writer through fanfiction. A quarter of a century later, they have taken that love of fanfiction and branched out into doing their own thing. As a neurodivergent, nonbinary single parent whose child calls them “Mom,” Alex has been working on several novels—some nonfiction, some fiction—for years now, and wants to make their dreams of becoming a writer come true, despite their Dissociative Identity Disorder.