Author Interviews

Mark Katlic, M.D., is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Washington & Jefferson College and an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine. He completed residencies in Surgery and Cardiothoracic Surgery at the Massachusetts General Hospital, then practiced Thoracic Surgery for forty years, first in Northeastern Pennsylvania and then in Baltimore. He was Chair of Surgery for Lifebridge Health System in Baltimore until his retirement in 2024.

I’m seventy-one years old, and was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 1982. At that point in my life, all I wanted to do was write. I started writing sonnets and haiku about Parkinson’s disease, and fiction that went in wildly different directions. Suddenly, I had enough material to make a book!

John W. Long is a retired Federal agent with more than thirty-six years of law enforcement experience. He has been a homicide detective, a military intelligence officer and was the Special Agent-In-Charge (SAC) for the Department of Transportation, Office of Inspector General’s Atlanta Region for many years. He attended the University of Georgia and Nova Southeastern University and has a BA in Criminal Justice, an MA in Criminal Justice and an MBA.

W. A. Polf is a retired Senior Vice President from New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City, who now lives in North Carolina. His stories have appeared in various publications and have been finalists or semi-finalists in a number of contests. He won second prize in the North Carolina Writers Network’s Doris Betts Short Fiction competition. The story was published in the North Carolina Literary Review Online and was nominated for a Pushcart and for The Best Stories Online.

Erik Schneider was born in Austin, Texas, and frequently visits the state, but he has called Northwest Arkansas home since early childhood. It’s not the most bustling location in the country, but the dense forests and somewhat secluded feel to the area inspired the setting and character of this novel.

My brother and co-author James Schmitt is a videographer providing the video feed to local, college and professional sporting and civic events. As a paralegal, I worked mostly in real estate law, through which I eventually became the president of a multi-million-dollar non-profit corporation. We both spent our downtime at work imagining or writing stories.

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 twenty-five years, and his essays and articles have appeared in numerous magazines and newspapers in Italy and the United States.

R.M. Tembreull is a devoted husband and proud father. He is a combat veteran with twenty-six years in the U.S. Air Force and an accomplished career professional in the disciplines of law enforcement, physical security, and antiterrorism. In his travels and endeavors, he has experienced the best and worst of humankind. He is also an avid scuba diver with a lifelong passion for experiencing the planet’s natural wonders, employing his skill as an artist and creator at every opportunity. His love of writing is only matched by his respect for nature.

Caroline Willcocks has worked in the theatre, as a freelance journalist, and in charities. She has written all her life, and finds history fiction is a wonderful way to portray human emotions in extraordinary settings. She lives in rural Herefordshire with her husband, two cats, and a dog.

A twenty-two-year-old father becomes a single parent to two sons, ages three and five, abandoning his aspirations of becoming a singer-songwriter-performer. Despite eight years of mental illness, Jerry recreates himself through adversity and more than one failed marriage to later fulfill his dreams of becoming a full-time musician.

Melissa DelMonego has been a corporate event planner for more than thirty years. She has an unwavering passion for organizing and leading projects to successful completion. Now, Melissa shares her expertise and productivity techniques to help others experience a greater sense of achievement in their daily lives. She helps others be their best: more focused, empowered, and accomplished through offering simple, yet highly effective strategies for planning, moving forward and achieving goals.

Natalie Musgrave Dossett grew up in San Antonio, spending a great deal of time on family ranches in deep South Texas, a place her great-grandmother referred to as ‘an acquired taste’. A seventh-generation Texan, Natalie was raised on tales (most of them tall) of the Wild Horse Desert. Her love of history and writing was nurtured by wonderful high school teachers and strengthened while earning a BA in History at Vanderbilt University. She lives in Dallas and enjoys a large, growing family with her husband.

Jessie E. Turner is a native of the beautiful mountains of Colorado. Her passion for world-building was born out of her experiences in this idyllic environment. In college, Jessie pursued her interest in the behavioral sciences, but it wasn’t until she started writing novels that she truly began to understand human behavior. By exploring characters in her own stories, Jessie was able to delve deeper into the complexities of human nature.

Charnjit Gill has an MA in Creative Writing and a BA in English Literature & Creative Writing and has been writing and performing poetry for over nine years. She was a member of Apples and Snakes: The Writing Room. Her work has been published in the London Spoken Word Anthology 2015-2016 by Gug Press, Typishly, Minerva Rising Press, From Whispers to Roars, KYSO Flash, Ghost City Press, San Fedele Press, Starfeather Publishing, Poets Choice, the Road to Nowhere, DominAsian Magazine, and Brownies Verse. She has three poetry collections: Impression, For the Moment, and Pray Tell. She was one of the winners of the Art Fund Prize 2023, where her poem ‘Triggered’ was displayed on billboards throughout the UK.

Just a (nearly) middle-aged mum from the UK, looking to spread some love and joy through writing. Writing romance novels, with some spice, and allowing the reader to find escapism from our, often stressful, lives.

Award-winning authors Ryan Hollatz and Catherine LaCroix are a husband-and-wife team who co-author the hit LitRPG, Everyone’s a Catgirl! Both were born and raised in Arizona, and they met as friends in 2006, then married in 2023. They began co-writing in 2021 in addition to freelance ghostwriting, personal commissions, and journalism work. When not at their desks, they’re busy serving two budgies, five snakes, and six tarantulas.

Elly Bookman grew up in downtown Atlanta and earned an MFA from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Since 2013, she has worked as an educator while consistently publishing her poetry in some of the most widely-read markets in the country, including The New Yorker, The Paris Review, The American Poetry Review, and The Atlantic Monthly. She was the recipient of the first annual Stanley Kunitz Memorial Prize from The American Poetry Review and the Loraine Williams Poetry Prize from The Georgia Review. She teaches middle and high school at the Paideia School in Atlanta.

Mary Flint, encouraged to try writing by a family member, discovered her love of writing from her life-long love of stories. Inspired by the books and success of teenage author Christopher Paolini, she began writing her first book, Red Star: The Hunter Trials, at the age of fifteen and published it two years later. Water Bird’s Shadow is the second book of the thrilling Red Star trilogy, and Mary hopes that readers will enjoy exploring the characters and their worlds as much as she does. She also enjoys interacting with Red Star fans at conventions, book signings, and online. Mary currently writes from her home in South Texas, USA.

K.N. Salustro is an award-winning science fiction and fantasy author who loves outer space, dragons, and stories that include at least one of those things. When not writing, she can often be found drawing and painting, designing and sewing plushies, and trying to play video games while her cat demands her attention. She doesn’t get to play a lot these days. K.N. Salustro has been an indie author for just over ten years now, with a total of nine books out. She is currently hard at work on the next installment of her Southern Echo fantasy pirate series.

Ho Lin is a Pushcart Prize-nominated author, musician, and filmmaker, and the co-editor of the literary journal Caveat Lector. His books include China Girl and Other Stories and Bond Movies: A Retrospective. His publishing credits include work in Pulp magazine, The Adirondack Review, Your Impossible Voice, The New York Journal of Books, and Foreword Reviews.