Author Interviews

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.

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.

Daniel is a history nerd with a passion for all things historical fiction. As an English and ESOL teacher, he spent a decade living in Italy, Japan, Poland, and the UAE. He is now back in his native Yorkshire with his young family.

Morgan Solis is an American author and piano composer who is known for The Backrooms novella, which has created a new buzz around psychological genres.

G. S. Gerry is an award-winning author and master storyteller, bringing a unique blend of humor, satire, and captivating narratives to the literary stage. With nine prestigious awards and multiple Amazon #1 Best Sellers, Gerry’s work transcends genres, inviting readers into worlds where laughter and insight coexist seamlessly.

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.

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.

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.

Theo J Malloy (he/they) is a transmasculine author from Cleveland, Ohio. They attended Cleveland State University and New York University and teach theater in addition to writing. Theo and his husband Oliver live in Cleveland with two cats, a corgi, and far too many books.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Ceaseless creative with a penchant for history, mystery, and magic. Has never knowingly taken herself seriously.

Johan Twiss is an award-winning author who’s passionate about writing exciting science fiction and fantasy stories that are suitable for tweens, teens, and adults alike. He has nine published works, including his award-winning novel, Four Years Trapped in My Mind Palace, and the I Am Sleepless series.

David Atkinson lives in Edinburgh with his wife, two teenage daughters, and a Labrador called Bea. He is fortunate enough to be traditionally published with Harper Collins and independently published with Collective Charm Books.

Hi there! I’m J.S. Day, an ambivert who adores romance novels and the author of Freefall, A Love Reborn. Whether I’m lost in captivating love stories or exploring the world of science fiction, I am always in for an adventure.

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.

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.

Alice has been published by Orion/Hachette in contemporary fiction, by Unbound (using a pen name) in speculative fiction, and by Warleigh Hall Press in historical fiction. Her novels have won Kirkus stars, “Editors Pick” on Publishers Weekly, placed in the BookLife Award and in Foreword Indies’ “Book of the Year” Award, and won innumerable other prizes.