Author Interviews

As a kid, Elizabeth Carroll always loved stories and spent as much time daydreaming as she did playing Barbie with her sister. Because her imaginary friends hung around even when there was nothing more to say, she decided to try her hand at writing and has found great delight and purpose for all the little people in her head. She has published a young adult fantasy series, a historical women’s fiction novel, and several short stories. Currently, she has a children’s novel in the works as well as a historical mystery series.

A professional storyteller, Rebecca Benison’s weekdays are spent connecting with audiences on behalf of brands, while her nights and weekends are devoted to fiction. Her work has been published in the Workers Write! literary journal, Empyrean Literary Magazine, Newsday, the Long Island Herald, and a host of other publications. Harvest Cruise is her debut novel.

I live in Colchester, Vermont, with my husband Brian. I am starting a teen program and nonprofit called Vermont Youth Challenge and we enjoy being in a car group.

I grew up around St. Louis, Missouri, and now live in Denver with my wife and young son. I have a bachelor’s degree in Anthropology and a master’s degree in Environmental Sciences.

Michaela is the author of heartwarming contemporary romance novels featuring diverse characters with strong emotional development. Don’t worry—there’s always a HEA (and plenty of spice). When she’s not reading or writing, she’s usually with her family and dogs, enjoying the desert in Arizona.

Following a well-rounded education at an East coast boarding school, Ms. Groover graduated cum laude with a B.A. in psychology and English and secured her M.S. from the University of Pennsylvania, all of which help her skillfully reside in the heads of the hero and heroine. With drawers full of stories, both finished and “cooking” she has been writing as long as she can remember. She has been published in numerous papers and periodicals, grounding her in the real world, while researching and wandering through the nineteenth century to create the vivid roles and splendid, complex individuals who inhabit the worlds of her romances.

As a devoted father with a professional culinary background and a recent rekindled passion for cooking and desire utilize my, until recent, dormant culinary arts degree. I find immense joy in sharing the kitchen with my children as we adventure with food across the world. Witnessing the delight on their faces as they proudly announce, “Mom! Dad and I made this!” after a long day for my wife, who works tirelessly as a hospital nurse, is truly rewarding. Introducing worldly flavors and culinary experiences into their lives we embark on adventures right in the comfort of our own kitchen.

I’m a poet, artist, philosopher, and musician whose ability to blend imagination, engineering, art, and technology epitomizes the modern day Renaissance Man. My appetite for knowledge and adventure, combined with a decades-long battle with depression, mental illness, and the feeling of not belonging, have shaped my ideas on the value of life, the need for friendship and love, the torture of hope and inevitability of loss, and the balance between life and death.

Christopher Michael Link, a now-fifty-year-old male, was born in Gary, Indiana to Italian-American parents. In his early years, he enjoyed reading and writing and excelled in the sport of wrestling for four years. Graduation came in 1992 and he attended college at the University of Vincennes in Vincennes, IN, for a two-year associate degree until 1994. He studied Tool and Die as a major with courses in creative writing and business.

An Italian American born in New York and living in Milan, Italy. As a sci-fi fan, I enjoy interesting stories that fire the imagination. I love the genres of science fiction, action/adventure, and thrillers. I lose myself reading compelling novels and have taken inspiration to create characters and expound my stories from being captivated by reading.

Mary Camarillo is the author of the award-winning novels Those People Behind Us and The Lockhart Women. Her awards include the 2022 Indie Author Project Award for California Adult Fiction, the 2022 Willa Literary Award Finalist in Multiform Fiction, and the 2021 First Place Award in the Next Generation Indies for First Fiction.

Kelly Daugherty, a seasoned social worker with over two decades in the clinical field, is a Fellow in Thanatology: the study of death, dying, and bereavement. Anchored in Malta, NY, she owns Greater Life Grief Counseling and the Center for Informed Grief, LLC. Her commitment to the domain of grief stems from her personal journey, which began with her mother’s death from breast cancer during her teenage years. This significant loss led Kelly to volunteer with a Hospice Children’s Bereavement program and set the foundation for her career.

Patty Friedmann is a darkly comic New Orleans literary novelist whose dozen-plus works include the celebrated Secondhand Smoke. Essays, short stories, and reviews have appeared such places as Newsweek and Oxford American. She has had two husbands, two children, and three grandchildren, and currently lives with an annoying philodendron.

Andrew is a multidisciplinary artist who resides in upstate NY. He is the guitarist in the band Wren Cove and is the author a book of haiku entitled C6-C7.

MselLanyous is a native Texan with a background in healthcare that was established in early 2000. She has dedicated her life to mental health and provides guidance to people from all walks of life. With a passion for holistic health her writing focuses on situations that most find difficult to navigate through. Her writing doesn’t stop here with literature being written constantly.

My name is Kimberly Van Sickle, a retired educator and plot junkie. Books, movies, short stories, television programs, even poetry…if it has a compelling storyline, I’m in! I attempt to write that which grabs my attention when I read.

Fatima Pimienta got her degree in English Literature from Seattle University and completed her PMP from Cornell. She lives in San Diego, CA, where she loves her cubicle 9-to-5 job, the community theater scene, and the quick commute to visit her family in Mexico.

I draw inspiration from the temperate rain forest and people who interact with its varied range and depth. We are on the threshold of changing the environment in ways we have not imagined. The negativity of not only the politics of the world but the implications of climate change have caused us to abandon our commitment to people in our lives in favor of defending our perception of a world that has been created to question facts and truth.

I was born in Sri Lanka, moved to England at the age of 18, and studied Nursing and Midwifery. Later, I studied Classical Homeopathy and Hakomi Therapy. My interest in Buddhism and Advaita Vedanta brought me in touch with the Spirit.

Cammy Marble grew up on a farm and in the woods listening to what God and Nature had to say. She currently lives on a two-acre country property in Missouri with her husband, Ken, and their young granddaughter. A graduate of the University of Central Missouri, she has been a homeschooler and tutor for 20 years. She enjoys teaching, gardening, drawing, volunteering, and plays several musical instruments. The Holidays in Trees series came to her in a vivid, nighttime dream. The creativity and humor in her artwork and writing are a reflection of her approach to life.