Author Interviews

William Finger grew up in Jackson, Mississippi. After graduating from Duke University in 1969, he went to India in the Peace Corps. In midlife, he completed a Masters in Social Work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. His first memoir, The Crane Dance: Taking Flight in Midlife (2016), was a finalist in the Next Generation Indie Book Awards. He has been a freelance writer, an editor of a public policy quarterly, a consultant at the N.C. Legislature, and for the last twenty-four years before retiring in 2013, a writer and communications manager at an international public health organization.

British writer Elisabeth Conway has lived and worked in Southeast Asia for many years in an area that she now considers to be her spiritual home and from which she takes her inspiration. Elisabeth has written a historical trilogy set in and around Singapore between 1822 and 1831. She now lives in the UK but continues to visit Singapore/Malaysia whenever she can.

John “FEELSOUL” Futrell is an artist and musician known for blending evocative storytelling with innovative soundscapes. Drawing inspiration from life’s raw emotions and experiences, their work transcends genres, creating a unique auditory and emotional journey for listeners. With a passion for authenticity and creativity, FEELSOUL continues to captivate audiences worldwide through their art and music.

Allison Batty-Capps is a licensed marriage and family therapist, yoga therapist, Reiki Master, intuitive spiritual guide and channeler. She has lived experience learning to live with a complex mental health diagnosis that began after a profound mystical experience she had connecting to the divine within. She brings her trauma-informed training, lived experience, and education to bear on her spiritual teachings. Her unique insight into how divinity expresses itself in each of us comes not only from her education and training, but from her lived experience learning to use the tools in this book to manage her own mental health diagnosis and personal mystical experiences.

I’m a creative millennial and NG Veteran with a BA in Art (double major in creative writing and graphic design) who loves to sing, cosplay, read a variety of mediums, and swim like the mermaid I wish to wake up as one day. When I’m not writing song lyrics for my band, doing graphic design projects, or working on a book, I’m probably geeking out with my friends over anime (or Baldur’s Gate 3).

Sarah Karasek lives in rural Pennsylvania with two long-haired cats and one long-haired human. She has an MFA in Creative Writing and Publishing from Rosemont College and is currently a freelance writer and copyeditor. She’s also an assistant editor at Space Squid Magazine. Weird Waypoints: A Speculative Travel Guide to the Between is an anthology she edited, and it’s full of really stellar stories by really rad authors.

I am an actor and extra, and have appeared a in number of movies, TV series, music videos, and commercials, one advert I was featured with Idris Elba for Booking.com, which was seen worldwide during the World Series final in America. I am very pleased to say that my credits have been seen across the world on the telly and in cinemas.

Sam feels her feelings like it’s her job…because it is. Crying often as a means to process and release, she strives to uncover all her deepest wounds and salve them with aloe. You can find Sam at her favorite coffee shop (literally named “Poets”) sipping an iced vanilla chai and eating something delicious on a croissant while she scribbles poems into one of her many half-filled notebooks, living her best main-character life.

I’m J.D. Harbor, an author who loves crafting heartfelt romance stories filled with self-discovery, second chances, and unforgettable journeys. My debut series, RomantiSea Serenades, brings readers aboard luxurious cruise ships, where love and adventure meet on the open ocean. When I’m not writing, I’m exploring the world, soaking up inspiration, or dreaming about my next story.

Elenor Pountain is a wife and mum of two young children. She is also a contemporary romance author known for crafting emotionally engaging and relatable love stories. A self-proclaimed hopeless romantic with a penchant for dark humor, she creates characters and storylines that resonate deeply with her readers. Her books often explore the complexities of relationships, personal growth, and self-discovery.

Peggy Gerber hails from Teaneck, NJ, and enjoys traveling, reading, and anything magical. Most mornings you’ll find her indulging her love of weird things by writing stories of time travel, friendly aliens, and other phantasmagoria. She is the author of the two poetry chapbooks, Stumbling in CrazyTown and The Big Indignity, and is proud to introduce her new collection of speculative fiction entitled Once Upon a Time Machine.

Originally from West Virginia, Joyce Serrano now lives in Ladson, South Carolina, where summers are too hot for her taste, and she misses the uniqueness of changing seasons. Well-traveled and tragically widowed, Joyce was inspired to write her first novel after binge-watching superhero movies and supernatural creature television shows during a hurricane lockdown. Original Grace started as a series of recurring dreams, which turned into a short story, then a full-length novel. Immortals In The Everything is the sequel to Original Grace and she has written two side-character novellas, with more on the way.

Joel Shulkin, MD, is the author of the psychiatric thriller series The Memory Thieves and the military medical thriller series Death Benefits. He has also penned award-winning short stories and poetry. A developmental-behavioral pediatrician and United States Air Force veteran with a master’s in public health, Joel lives in Florida with his wife and two daughters.

Meet Sarah Iverson, the creative mastermind behind the spooky and whimsical Mazey Misterie series! Based in Denver, CO, Sarah is a multi-passionate creative entrepreneur and illustrator with a knack for infusing magic into the mundane. Armed with a B.A. in Art and an M.A. in Environmental Leadership, she combines her artistic talents and visionary mindset to inspire readers to unleash their imaginations.

Early on, my professional career took me into the nonprofit world, and a part of my responsibilities always included the “art of writing” – program materials, contractual agreements, and a lot of “ghostwriting”! Only recently did I decide to publish personally in my own name again, and now I’m working on two additional books. I guess it’s always been about the fun for me and especially hoping to make a difference to someone out there. I’m sure I’ll be writing down my thoughts until I can’t hold a pen or use a computer any longer.

I want to make them feel as if they are actually there in the book. A distraction like that takes us away from the everyday stressful situations in our current lives. It’s nice to give your mind a break.

I was born and raised in Australia with a background career working across various Art Departments in the Film and Television Industry. Helping to make other people’s stories come to life gave me the knowledge and structure I needed to build my own story. It has taught me the layers of storytelling and complex nature of interweaving characters and storylines.

Chris Bache, a single father raising three children, stepped back from full-time work to fulfill a lifelong dream by authoring his first book, Children of Earth. He considers this creative journey to have been enriching and sincerely hopes that readers worldwide will connect with it as deeply as he did while bringing it to life. He is profoundly thankful for his children, whose unwavering faith has constantly encouraged him throughout this endeavor. Chris is currently working on the second book of the series.

M Tobias Harris is a fantasy author who enjoys creating exciting, honor-driven worlds with stories that attempt to teach a moral lesson. When he is not mentally creating battles between monster-like creatures and modern-day special forces, he is raising his two rambunctious boys and attempting to be a better man, husband, and follower of God.

Paula Kerman grew up in Kansas City, Missouri, but has made Des Moines, Iowa, her home since attending college at Drake University, where she completed a bachelor of fine arts degree. She also has a master’s in education and was an art educator for forty-three years in the Des Moines Public Schools, at the Des Moines Art Center, and at her in-home studio. She is passionate about her art practice and has exhibited and sold her work. After experiencing significant loss, she began researching and painting strong women who inspired her. Hooligans, Rebels, and Rabble-Rousers is her first book.