Author Interviews

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.

As an author whose formative years were spent as a hippie in San Francisco, Howchi Kilburn continues to chart the course of those who experienced dramatic and simultaneous openings to the sensual/sexual and spiritual sides of human nature. His themes include explorations of gender identity, the ongoing discovery of True Self, and new understandings of relationship and sexuality. Sacred pleasure is a concept which provides a departure point for a long exploration of the potential for ecstatic reverential unity in human relationships and communities.

Tamara Anderson is a pediatric speech language pathologist, education specialist, and consultant with a passion for language and literacy. From an early age, she was captivated by stories, especially those that were set in various places around the world. She is originally from Saint Andrew, Jamaica and lived in Miami, Florida for many years. She now resides in the metro Atlanta, Georgia area.

Barbara de la Cuesta taught and worked as a journalist in South America. Out of this experience came her two prize winning novels, The Spanish Teacher, winner of the Gival Press Award in 2007, and Rosa, winner of the Driftless Novella Prize from Brain Mill Press in 2017. Fellowships in fiction from the Massachusetts Artists’ Foundation, and the New Jersey Council on the Arts, as well as residencies at the Ragdale Foundation, The Virginia Center, and the Millay Colony, have allowed her to complete these novels. Her story collection, The Place Where Judas Lost His Boots, has recently won the Brighthorse Prize.

Diane is an award-winning essayist, memoirist, and poet. She served as Westport, CT’s inaugural Poet Laureate from 2019-2022. Her essays have appeared in many publications, including O, The Oprah Magazine, Brain, Child and Brevity Blog, and she writes a regular column, Everything’s an Essay. Her first memoir, Nothing But Blue, was published in 2018, and her latest, The Undiscovered Country: Seeing Myself Through Shakespeare’s Eyes, was published in September 2023.

Shanita Liu, MPA, CPC, is a mom of three warriors, veteran spouse, salsa dancer, TEDx speaker, and Fulbright Scholar. She created Coach Shanita, Inc. so that she could use her skills as a transformational coach, reiki master, mystic, and speaker to help folks live victorious lives.