Author Interviews

Patti Isaacs is a cartographer and writer who lives in Stillwater, Minnesota. She grew up in a family that loved to travel. She became the unofficial curator of the family subscription to National Geographic, which fueled her interest in maps and the wider world. In college, Patti met Gauss, an Italian who was majoring in Chinese. Ideal partners in travel and life, in 1981 they lived for a year in the city of Xian, China, where they witnessed the last days of communism and the very beginning of China’s conversion to capitalism. In 2005, Patti returned to document the change that the country, her old city, and her old friends had undergone in the intervening years.

Daniel Varona has been a fan of video games from a very early age and was heavily inspired by some recognizable classics. What piqued his interest in writing was the attention to detail those passionate developers pulled off at the time, no matter the technical limitations. Catching these small details impacted and elevated the storytelling experience for any consumer keen enough, making them understand and think on concepts themselves rather than being told everything point blank. This hobby, along with other creative outlets, brought to fruition Daniel’s desire to write his own story.

Allyson S. Barkley is the author of the Until the Stars Are Dead fantasy series, and many other never-to-be-published novels, short stories, poems, and essays. Born in Charlottesville, Virginia, Allyson grew up an avid reader, writer, and horseback rider. She finds herself particularly inspired by hikes in far-off places, strangers in coffee shops, and clever music lyrics.

Ben Stoltzfus is Professor Emeritus of Comparative Literature, Creative Writing, and French at the University of California, Riverside. He is a novelist, translator, literary critic, and inter-arts scholar. He has published many articles on twentieth-century French, English, and American writers, twelve monographs of literary criticism on Chennevière, Robbe-Grillet, Gide, Lacan, and others, as well as books on Hemingway, Magritte, D.H. Lawrence, and Jasper Johns. An award-winning writer, he has received a fair share: Fulbright, Camargo, Gradiva, Humanities, Creative Arts, and MLA.

I was born in Denver, Colorado, but was raised in small-town Wyoming. From a very young age, I was an avid reader and tinkerer with the written word. I had always considered writing the medium that suited me best and always felt a call to it. I went to university in Montana, then ranged up to Alaska where I lived in a small cabin in the woods in the Matanuska Valley. After a year of building trails, I finally made the jump to my lifelong dream of living and working in Japan, where I currently reside on the rural seaside. I teach English, write, read, and enjoy sauntering through nature and life.

Jeff Ingber is the author of six books as well as numerous short stories and screenplays, for which he’s won numerous awards. One of his novels, Shattered Lives, was made into a documentary film by MacTavish Productions. He’s had many short stories published in various journals and magazines. You can learn more about his works at jeffingber.com.

Wilson Semitti is a Ugandan man born with sickle cells trying to be who he is at all costs despite the prejudices and cultural beliefs surrounding him.

Brett Shapiro is an American writer and the author of Late in the Day, a novel published by Atmosphere Press in 2022, and Those Around Him, a novel published in 2019. He is also the best-selling author of L’Intruso, a memoir published in Italy (Feltrinelli) that was later produced into an award-winning film and theatrical production. In addition, Brett is the author of two children’s books, one of which was the recipient of Austria’s National Book Award. Several of his short stories have been performed in theatres throughout Italy, where he lived for 25 years, and his essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States.

Finding teaching to be more about paperwork than expanding the minds of young children, Elsie started chasing her dreams of being a writer. She loves writing, reading, shopping, biscuits, tea, gin, and boybands. She is currently studying for her Master’s in literature, romanticism, and the Lake District.

Arman Isayan is a teacher, writer, and linguist. Introduced to literature at an early age by his beloved mother, he started to write short stories and poems at ten years old. As a teenager, Arman was passionate about the great Russian authors, such as Dostoyevsky and Nabokov. Eventually, though, it was the Bible that shaped both his literary style and philosophical mind. Thus, in his early thirties, Arman decided to publish his very first novel called Adonai, which combines his poetical creativity with his theological insight. Arman lives in Madrid with his wife and two kids, Victoria and Lazarus.

An east coast expatriate retired from college/university teaching, I divide my domestic life between homes in Chicago, Illinois, and Hot Springs, Arkansas. My wife and I travel a lot, or used to before our joints began to complain—Maui, in Hawaii, a favorite sun haven; France, from Paris to Marseille and St. Malo to Lyons for old world presence and gourmandise. We collect art from contemporary blown glass to Tang and Sung ceramics, paintings to wood carvings, and almost anything odd or splendid that will go through our doorway.

A long career in the Canadian prison system has given me a unique perspective on crime, criminals, and the people (police and prison staff) who interact in a strange world that is separate from the regular man/woman/person on the street.

Maria Orlando: native Jersey gal, well schooled in Italian guilt. Teacher of English for 30+ years. Nick Pappas: in Jersey his whole life. First generation Greek/American, grandfather, Vietnam Vet, history teacher 30+ years.

Kirsten Pursell is an American author and sometimes blogger. Released on January 1, 2023, Long Enough to Love You is her fourth book. Previous works include her memoir, On Becoming Me: Memoir of an 80s Teenager, released in 2021, and two other novels: Harvard and Company Clown. Her memoir has been #1 on Amazon’s Women’s Biographies and Memoirs and Company Clown has been #1 in Satire Fiction and Two-Hour Literature & Fiction Short Reads. Her books were downloaded over 10,000 times in 2022. She resides in Oceanside, California.

Mary Longley is an author and blogger. Her debut novel, Butterflies, is available through Atmosphere Press, Barnes & Noble, IndieBound, and Booktopia.

Michael received a creative writing certificate from the University of West Virginia in the late 90s. He’s been running a successful writer’s group called For the Love of Words for almost two decades. When he has time, he teaches in the local library Story 101 – How to Create a Story. He has won in every category over a five-year period in a state-funded wordsmith competition in Poetry, Essay, Short Story, and One-Act Play.

David Gonthier is a college educator and interdisciplinary artist (filmmaker, theatre artist, songwriter, fiction writer) living in New Hampshire. He has been married for 25 years and has a 16-year-old transgender daughter who is his greatest mentor. Little Town Blues is his first novel.

I was born and grew up on the Wirral peninsula in Cheshire, England, before moving to London to study Business with French and Spanish. In my late thirties I moved to the United States with my two young sons. Now retired, I live in rural Connecticut where I love to cook for family and friends, garden in my vegetable patch, and walk in the surrounding countryside with my dog, Winnie. An avid reader, I started writing short stories five years ago. My fascination for World War II history, particularly the role of women in the Resistance, led me to write The Glovemaker’s War.

Irene Cooper is the author of Found, a crime thriller noir set in Colorado, Committal, a poet-friendly spy-fy about family, and Spare Change, a finalist for the Stafford/Hall Award for poetry. Writings appear in Denver Quarterly, The Feminist Wire, The Rumpus, streetcake, Witness, and elsewhere. Irene supports AIC-directed creative writing at a regional prison and lives with her people in Oregon.