Author Interviews

I have always aspired to be a fiction writer, although my first career as an academic historian at the University of Maryland was a long detour. During those years, I published a number of books and articles on Twentieth Century American culture—a broad and engaging field focused on popular and elite culture, literature, films, ideas, social movements, and authors of every sort. As close as this came to fiction (a few critics have said of my work: too close), I always understood this discipline to be restricted by the limitations of documentation. Increasingly, I wanted to engage the emotional and psychological truths and the revealing potential of dialogue possible only through imaginative writing. And so for the last ten years or so, I have turned to creating novels and short stories. In this second career, I have published four novels (three in the Amanda Pennyworth Mystery Series), a book set in rural Illinois in the 1890s, and a collection of short stories. Another novel of mine about contemporary Chicago is forthcoming.

I write poetry and personal essays. I also create visual artwork—collages of paste paper with calligraphy of my poetry. I never planned on writing a novel until one day I wondered what life would be like if the world were a huge mall. I began to imagine a place somewhat similar to our reality but also radically different—a place where everyone is beautiful, and everyone is employed with enough income to consume and to experience pleasure, including drugs, gambling, theater, and holographic adventures. No poverty and little or no crime. A lot of sex. But what’s the catch…and what happens when a woman from our reality finds her way into this alien yet familiar world? Does she try to leave or does she stay? Who changes the most—the woman who befriends her or the outsider? Only by writing a novel did I discover the answers in enough detail to satisfy my curiosity. Mall is my first novel.

Ford spends most free time in the open air, usually barefooted and with readily available mango. An alumni of Taylor University and Central Florida University, Ford exists somewhere between a midwesterner and a beach bum, and currently resides alongside the mountains in Tennessee. With the steady company of a giant dog and something to write on, anywhere will do. Defined by faith, fueled by tribe, and driven by purpose, Ford writes for all—and, simultaneously, for just One. Learn more and join the tribe at authornford.com.

Different books have been written about young boys that enjoyed the company of dolphins, pelicans, and other aquatic animals that I can really relate to, as this was my childhood as well. My parents had a bar and small hotel made out of wood and corrugated iron that originally was the beach house of a successful gold miner with stables and servant quarters. Looked a bit like Winchester House in the States. People from the city used to visit on weekends and the family did quite well financially, allowing my two sisters and myself to go to privileged schools.

I am the author of two collections of poetry, What Moves the Sun and Among the Hierarchy of Angels. I worked in editing for many years, both in-office and freelance. I live in the Bronx, New York, in a house with a garden near a large park with a lake, similar to the setting of many stories in What Moves Through Time.

Quinn Jamison has lived in the same house in Pennsylvania since she was born. Her family is the most important thing in her life, and she is very close with her sisters and parents. Quinn has been dancing from the time she could walk and discovered her love for writing and books along her journey of being a dancer. She enjoys writing historical romance the most but sometimes explores other genres. She devotes her hours to the creation of her books and plans to write many of them. The Art of Time is her first novel, written in three months when she was sixteen during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Dre Hill is an artist, storyteller, and apple juice enthusiast from Fort Worth, TX. He graduated from Drury University in 2021 with a BA in Animation and Writing, where he reignited his childhood passion for the written word. He has many English professors to thank for that. He published his first two chapbooks, i love you means nothing through Alien Buddha Press and Melanin: Black through GutSlut Press in 2022. When not creating, Dre is often snuggling with his puppy Jet while watching Marvel movies. Find Dre at @drehillart on all platforms. His website is drehillart.com.

Eileen “Ike” West is an accomplished writer and educator with an M.A. in Communications from Michigan and a B.A. in Speech and Psychology from Minnesota. Ike’s writing career started when her first opinion page was published at age twelve. She continued writing throughout her life, with magazine and journal articles and two novels appearing across North America and Europe. Her writing is often inspired by special causes like holistic health, women’s justice, and other issues related to equality. When she’s not writing, Ike reads, lectures, and enjoys the out-of-doors and time spent with her family.

Umar Siddiqui is a voracious Disney fan and fashion aficionado. He earned his BA degree from the University of CA, Riverside, and his MA degree in Mass Communications from Cal State Northridge. He loves writing, reading, going to Disney and the beach, and dabbles in working out. He plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Social Work. His books include Weightless, Woven Words, a mental health-related poetry book, and Float Your Boat, a self-help book. His book Candid About Couture is currently in production.

Danny Freeman is a former mathematics educator and school district administrator. He was born in Dallas and grew up in Houston. He has since lived in Arkansas, England, Vermont, California, Louisiana, and Utah. He now lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with his partner. He has written a second gay-themed young adult novel and is busy editing it for potential publication.

Jeffrey Marshall is a writer, novelist, and poet from Scottsdale, AZ. He’s the author of five books, including the novels Squeeze Plays, Little Miss Sure Shot, and Undetected. Undetected and Squeeze Plays were named ShelfUnbound Notable 100 Indie books in 2020 and 2022, respectively, and Squeeze Plays also was named a Book Excellence Award winner in 2023. A retired journalist and the former editor of two national business magazines, Marshall has freelanced for more than thirty publications as varied as The New York Times, High Country News, and Tail Fly-Fishing Magazine, and his short fiction has appeared in online magazines like Bright Flash Literary Review, Ariel Chart, and Vocal.com, among others. A short story he wrote took first place in the 2022 Arizona Authors competition.

Chandler Myer published his first novel, Jayne and the Average North Dakotan, winner of the Literary Titan GOLD Award, at age 57, following a 35-year career as a professional musician. The book is based on his short story, That Night I Ran the High Heel Race, published in the Medium publication Prism & Pen. He has been published in Bear Creek Gazette and Medium publications Rainbow, An Idea, and Atheism101.

Alanna (rhymes with Hannah) was born and raised in Nottingham, England. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Classics and a Master’s in International Relations, and currently lives, works, and salsa dances in Barcelona.

In the topside world, I teach academic writing to people who are learning English at Kapiolani Community College in Honolulu, HI. In the river that flows beneath, I am a writer, a photographer, and a collage artist.

A.D. Vancise grew up in a small Canadian farming town. She has one (now all grown up) daughter, three dogs, and two cats. She enjoys working out, volleyball, gardening, all kinds of music, books—many, many books—and, of course, writing.

David Rogers Jr. started his writing career with second place in the Heroes’ Voices National Veterans Poetry Contest. He has published further poetry in Metonym Journal, Voices De Luna, and for the San Antonio Water System. Most recently, a creative non-fiction essay appeared in Fossil News: The Journal of Avocational Paleontology, and poetry in Voices de la Luna. 2020 saw the publication of his anti-war memoir Peaceful Meridian, and in 2022 his first novel, The Lay-off House, was released to the world. He lives outside Denver, Colorado.

Gloria Mattioni is the author of the multi-award-winning novel California Sister and an award-winning feature writer contributing to mainstream publications around the world. She also published the narrative non-fiction Reckless – The Outrageous Lives of Nine Kick-Ass Women, Dakota Warrior – The Story of James R. Weddell, and four previous books in Italy. She’s been, among other things, an investigative reporter, a human rights activist, an animal rescuer, and a magazine editor. She was born in Milan, Italy, but moved to Los Angeles in 1992. She still lives in California with her husband and part-time live-in granddaughter, conjures six impossible things every morning before breakfast, and travels much.

Randall Moore hails from Boise, Idaho, after living most of his life in Southern California. After a decades-long hiatus, he returned to fiction in 2013, and to date has completed thirty-one novels. He’s a rabid reader and lover of history, and peppers his tales with historical references while striving to make the details as historically accurate and pertinent as possible.

A 35-year-old brain cancer survivor, I’m just trying to figure out how to live a life that looks entirely different from what I expected! Part of that is lots of reading and crafts, games with my amazing (and sometimes infuriating) husband, and cuddles with my cute pup. Oh, and writing, of course.

Don Marinelli has served as a professor of drama, arts management, and entertainment technology at a host of colleges and universities, including Carnegie Mellon, Columbia University, Arizona State, Florida Southern College, and others. He resides in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.