Author Interviews

I have always loved reading and writing was a natural extension. I remember choosing my first poem book from the library as a young child. I really enjoyed it. I wrote short stories and poems throughout my life. I wrote a great many poems when my children were small. That same Children’s Literature class with Professor Brody was the catalyst for my renewed interest in poetry. Another assignment was to draft a poem. I submitted My Little Sunshine, a poem about my first son. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching a poetry unit and converting students who were extremely reluctant at first. I encouraged them to play with words and find joy in creating pictures with words.

Danielle Ariano was born and raised in the Philadelphia suburbs, but became a Baltimorean when she moved to the city for college. She was charmed by Baltimore’s quirky, artsy vibe. Ariano’s memoir, The Requirement of Grief, is a meditation on the complexities of the sister bond and the grief that comes when that bond is broken by a sibling’s suicide.

Native New Yorker and an Active Duty component of the United States Army stationed at Fairchild AFB, WA, the works of Ray Harryhausen, Robert Jordon, Robert Wise, Howard Hawks, and L. Sprague De Camp are just some of the influencers for J.L. Stewart.

The Days Are Long But The Years Are Shorter: It wasn’t hard, or at least I don’t think so. In the music business, the days are very long. You spend hours and days behind the glass cage, as I like to call the studio’s control room. And before you know it, the years have passed you by. Hopefully, your spouse is supportive, but your children are grown, and you’ve missed a lot of quality time.

Jesse Stein is a Chicago-based novelist, who finds the most joy in writing stories centering around oddly magical worlds, creatures, and the poor people that inhabit these spaces. He received an MFA in Creative Writing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and is currently working as a painter and carpenter for a Fabrication Studio.

I’m working on a couple of stories as always, but I’d like to keep them a surprise until I’ve written the gist of them down. Other than that, I’m making all my characters into dolls and making other miniatures and homes. I’m dreaming and finally logging my dreams instead of remembering it all.

Milton L. Brown’s songs have found success in radio, film, television, and social media. His songs have been recorded by artists like Blake Shelton, Jimmy Buffett, Clint Eastwood, Merle Haggard, Kenny Rogers, Randy Travis, Ernest Tubb, Loretta Lynn, Glen Campbell, and so many more. Among his many awards, one of his favorites is the Music Creators Award from the Alabama Music Hall of Fame.

Jacob Reina graduated from Fresno State in December 2023 and earned a BA in English Studies. Some of his poems and short stories have been featured in New York Quarterly, Twisted Vine Literary, Free Spirit, Rougarou, Watershed Review, Allegory Ridge, Paper Dragon, and elsewhere. Aside from reading and writing, Reina enjoys photography, cinema, hiking, running, visiting art galleries, and exploring new places.

Retired among the beaches of Florida, Dawn Bragg is an avid reader-turned-author who holds a deep passion for the literary arts. Author of numerous poems and short stories, she is a lifelong advocate for literacy. Dawn devotes her time to creating children’s books that celebrate differences, champion the underdog, and encourage children to find acceptance in others and in oneself. When not writing, Dawn can be found traveling and enjoying the Florida beaches with family and friends.

Diane holds an Ed.D. in Curriculum and Instruction, as well as a M.S. and B.S. from the University of Houston. A sagacious facilitator of student experiences, she has woven firsthand experiences into dissertation vignettes and into peer-reviewed articles: “Blue Dragonflies are ‘Dandleflies’. . .” for the Affective Reading Journal and “A Challenged Third Grader Connects with Meaningful Books” for the Indiana Reading Journal.

Dr. Emily Colwell is a licensed and board-certified naturopathic doctor and therapist whose extensive career spans three decades. She earned a master’s degree from Columbia University’s School of Social Work and a doctorate in naturopathic medicine from Bastyr University. Emily’s personal encounters with anxiety, childhood trauma, family addiction, chronic illness, shifting sexual orientation, and cancer have been her teachers, showing her the capacity for healing, regardless of the circumstances.

I have had the good fortune of working as a psychotherapist in New York City. for over twenty-five years. I was a mental health first responder post-9/11, which solidified my expertise in trauma and loss. I’ve spoken to Fortune 100 companies, and to smaller companies and groups on trauma. When the pandemic started I was listening to clients and found a gap in how to handle the stress without accessing traditional supports. I started the blog, “In the Time of Coronavirus” which included self-care tips, along with mindfulness, creativity, humor, and empathy. I was encouraged by others to create a book, and that is how I came to write this book following Atmosphere Press’s acceptance.

Matthew J. McKee’s micro-fiction and short stories have been featured in Meat For Tea and two of his novels have been published by Atmosphere Press. He graduated from the University of Montana with a Bachelor’s in Archaeology and currently teaches English in Japan.

Eda lives in the Midwest, where the weather is unpredictable, with her husband, son, and daughter. During the day, Eda is a bookkeeper at a local consulting firm. Her evenings (and weekends) are filled with children’s activities and spending time with her family. At night when the children go to bed her passion comes to life. Unless there is a concert, then you will find her there.

My book began with an idea of two riders, a man and a woman, entering a tiny village in the rain and fog. Though I believed I could never write fantasy due to my having Aphantasia, I couldn’t get the story out of my head and the story kept growing around that idea. I soon knew that the man was someone who was called ‘the Traveler.’ I soon knew that twins related to the woman had been abducted and the story would begin with the man and woman setting out to free the twins. So the title, The Traveler: Quest for the Twins, was actually quite easy to come up with.

Erin is the author of Kapuna: How Love Transformed a Culture, which received the North American Book Award 2015 for Best Travel Non-Fiction and the 2015 Idaho Author Awards First Place in Biographies, Autobiographies, and Memoirs. She studied Art, Photography, and Journalism at Hillsdale College in Michigan, USA. Her passions include teaching inductive Bible studies, urban gardening, good coffee, wombats, family-based care, and, of course, books.

Writer and photographer Ethan Hirsh served four years as an air traffic control officer in the United States Air Force, then worked as a wordsmith and communications strategist in Houston and Kansas City for more than thirty years. His corporate specialties included annual shareholder reports and branding. He has degrees in English and business. Now starting a third decade of “retirement,” he spends much of his time with his wife, JoEl, tending their nature preserve in the Missouri Ozarks. An amateur naturalist, Ethan publishes a photo blog several times a year.

Katherine Williams was born on the Wirral Peninsula in England. She now lives in rural Connecticut, USA, where she likes to write, work in her vegetable garden, and hike in the surrounding countryside with her new puppy Maus.

Honey Lea Gaydos is a writer, visual artist, and professional nurse specializing in mental health. Combining all these interests, she developed an innovative research approach using visual art to explore self-defining memories earning a PhD in Interdisciplinary Studies. In her career as a professor of nursing, she promoted the use of the arts in healthcare environments and advocated a holistic approach to care. Her emotionally evocative artwork has been sold for many years through galleries and exhibitions. Her writing includes scholarly publications, essays and poetry, and a spiritual memoir, Patterns: The Mystical Journey of an Ordinary Life.

A lifelong devoté of Jane Austen and all her works, James Wollak is a retired financial data analyst and lives in San Francisco, California, a third-generation San Franciscan. He is an avid reader, numismatist, and music lover, enjoying all kinds of music such as classical and opera, Motown and soul, ABBA, Celtic, blues, bluegrass, and zydeco. He also loves silent and classic Hollywood films, and the “Poldark,” “Downton Abbey,” and “Sanditon” series. He is a confirmed Anglophile, and Pride and Prejudice is his favorite novel of all time.