Author Interviews

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.

Award-winning author Sarah Branson was a midwife for close to thirty years, helping families welcome their little ones into their arms in the hospital, at a birth center, and at home. Now she writes tales of action, adventure, revenge, and romance. Her stories are firmly rooted in the strength of the human spirit with themes of resiliency, family, and personal growth entwined throughout.

Aimie McAllester (also known as Sylvia Rose) was born in Houston but raised in East Texas. Her childhood was largely shaped by her severely autistic, non-verbal brother, as the entire family had to learn to adapt to abnormal stresses that most families would never think of. She used music and writing to cope and is now looking to finish her undergraduate degree in psychology with a minor in English. Following graduation, she hopes to go to graduate school and get her counseling license, then go to medical school for psychiatry.

Lorraine Russell is a southeastern transplant who now calls upstate South Carolina home. Originally from the Midwest, Lorraine’s love for words has been a constant thread throughout her life. From penning poetry in her youth to crafting short essays and keeping detailed journals, writing has always been her passion. After years of dreaming about sharing her stories with the world, Lorraine is thrilled to finally have her debut novel, Love and Shadows, in print. When she isn’t writing, Lorraine spends time with family and friends enjoying new experiences in her newly found home. She believes that every experience enriches her storytelling, making her writing journey as fulfilling as the stories she tells.

Braxton Cosby is the CEO of Starchild Comics and Cosby Media Productions Inc., a hybrid company that serves to tell stories in both novels and comic books. They have published over twelve comic books that have tie-ins with different stories from novels from their stable of authors. Braxton has a rotten over twenty novels and four comics himself that have contributed to the mixed format of storytelling. Braxton’s works have garnered him awards for Readers’ Favorite, Literary Titan, Litpick Teen Award, CLC Book Awards, Best Book Fall Awards, and American Legacy Awards.

Marc Dickinson is the author of the short story collection, Replacement Parts (Atmosphere Press, 2024) His stories have appeared in Shenandoah, Cream City Review, North American Review, Greensboro Review, Chattahoochee Review, Beloit Fiction Journal, South Dakota Review, American Literary Review (as winner of the ALR Fiction Prize), as well as other journals. He received an MFA from Colorado State University and now lives in Iowa with his wife and two children, where he teaches creative writing at Des Moines Area Community College and coordinates the long-running reading series, Celebration of the Literary Arts.

Leissa Shahrak experienced the Iranian Revolution firsthand when she taught English in Iran. Her writing credits include stories published in Del Sol Review, the Bellevue Literary Review, and a British anthology, The Final Chapter: Writings on the End of Life.

Lindsay Brown is the author of The Dolan Girls: As The Seasons Go By, a sweet, cozy, coming-of-age middle-grade novel. Aside from writing and storytelling, you’ll find her gardening, baking bread, woodcarving, and playing games with her family. Her favorite spot is curled up in a cozy chair with a book and cup of tea, listening to the rain outside.

Gavin Thomas was born in Salisbury, MD, and raised in Ocean View, DE. Growing up, he was sometimes bullied because other students and teachers didn’t understand him, due to him having autism. Despite this, he treated them with kindness and made friends with many of his classmates, mostly girls, as a result.

Dr. Zuzana Plesa is a Zurich-trained Jungian Analyst and a Marriage and Family Therapist. She provides counseling to active duty military and their families. She resides in Florida.

From living above her parents’ hardware store in Brooklyn to living down a gravel road in Central Texas, Eva Silverfine has meandered through urban to rural landscapes. A biologist by training, she works as a freelance copyeditor for academic presses. Her short fiction has appeared in a variety of journals, and her novels, How to Bury Your Dog and Ephemeral Wings, were recently published by Black Rose Writing.

R.A. Howitt founded New2theScene in 2022 to help the discovery of new talent in fiction. He creates competitions, podcasts, articles, blogs, all with the aim of unearthing great people in fiction that book lovers may not have heard of.

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.