Steve Farndon

Author of: The Escape Company

Book Blurb:

A British crime thriller with humour.

As an introduction, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am definately over 21 and at present work in IT in Leicester for a well known bank (the red one who support F1). I am married with two children and two grandchildren and have a chocolate labrador called Rocco. 

My interests include Motor racing, especially Karting and Great Danes (I help out with rescuing Danes that need new homes) This is my first book of a proposed trilogy. Book 2 is well under way and due out next year. I am also writing a historical book about HenryVIII's seventh wife.

What is your book about?

Written in the first person, Escape Company. begins with two men bound together by the same experience. With both of their wives in prison, they are fired with the same idea—how to get their ladies out.  The idea becomes an obsession, with meticulous planning involving prison routines, deadlocks, and security cameras, not to mention razor wire and some very unfriendly dogs.  Our two heroes spring their wives successfully and the idea occurs to them to form a limited company—limited to certain prisoners who merit release. So Escape Company. is born, a dedicated team of lawbreakers whose services are provided to inmates with large amounts of cash.  There are rules of course. Terrorists, sex offenders, and psychos can stay where they are, but anybody else? Well, each case is decided on its own merits.

When and why did you begin writing?

In Spain on the Costa del Sol and Solihull about 5 years ago.

What genre do you prefer to write in?

Almost any except sci-fi and romance

What is your biggest writing achievement to date?

Having my first book sale on Amazon last year

What inspired you to write this book?

I have always had a fascination for prisons and escapes.

Who is your favourite author, and what is it about their work that strikes a chord with you?

Difficult one - many - Stephen Leather, Martina Cole, Jeoffrey Archer,  some of Charles Dickens (but not all)

What book are you reading now, and would you recommend it?

Just started Rumpole of the Bailey (just finished Hell, Purgatory and Heaven by Archer

What are your current projects?

Writing a book on Henry Viii's - seventh  wife - a Lady Mary Shelton (The research on this is very time consuming). She was his 4th wife after Jane Seymour and before Anne of Cleves

Where and when do you do most of your writing?

At work - I look after a banks computers (the red one who sponsor F1) - plenty of time and Internet access

What would you say was the hardest part of writing your book?

Proof reading and getting the English correct - not my strong point

Who designed your book cover – and was the cover something you deemed important?

No one designed it - I am currently thinking about getting someone to design one - I think it is very important - it has to catch the buyers eye

Did you try to go down the route of traditional publishing first – or did you feel that self-publishing was right for you from the beginning?

Yes I did - had it published in America years ago (before it was proof read - I have since re-wrote it, renamed it and bought the rights from the company in America

On the whole, how have you found self-publishing?

Its early days - hard to say - the hardest part by far is getting it noticed and marketing it.

Where can we buy the book?

Amazon - Kindle - Smashwords

Do you have a website or blog where we can keep tabs on you?

https://sites.google.com/site/theescapecompany/

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Yes - do your research thoroughly and get it proof read and have a brill synopsis

And, finally, do you have anything else that you’d like to say to everyone?

Yes - please buy my book

Kelvin V A Allison

Author of: RENASCENTIA

 

Book blurb:

'birth is not the beginning; death is not the end'

Six individuals across England suddenly remember their past lives, leading back through time to the 5th century and seek each other out, stunned to discover that they each now possess supernatural abilities such as teleportation, pyrokenesis and so on. But then the memory returns that one of them is a killer and has been killing the other five for millennia. A race across England begins as the other five struggle to stay alive and break the cycle.

As an introduction, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

I am 39 years old, bald, bearded and sarcastic. Originally I come from Portsmouth on the south coast of England but four years ago i moved to Hartlepool where I now live with my partner, son, neurotic Siberian husky and a pair of kamikaze goldfish, the north east fuelling my passion for writing with its cold wind, rain and stormy seas.

What is your book about?

Basically my new novel is about past lives and the belief that there is something more than just the life we live now. I have long been fascinated by the thought of fate and of people being trapped in a never ending cycle. So I thought I would add some horror to the subject and tell the tale of people who keep returning with their memories intact but the reason why lost to them...for now.

When and why did you begin writing?

I have always written as far as I can remember, penning endless short stories or novels that never got past the first chapter before I NEEDED to write something else. It was August 2008 that I actually began my debut novel SKIN SHIFTERS and finished it two months later which was quite a fulfilling emotion. Since then I have written 17 novels in total.

What genre do you prefer to write in?

I am odd. I am in a pattern of writing a gore/strong horror novel and then following it with a novel from one of my two series (world of sorrow which is halfway through the third and final trilogy or the hope chronicles which is awaiting the last off the first trilogy) which are pop culture horror, slightly more light hearted. I need to have that break between the strong horror as i put so much into it emotion wise that i get quite grim and meloncholy. Hahahaha I suffer for my art

What is your biggest writing achievement to date?

Either having my style likened to the late author David Gemmell or writing PANDEMONIUM which is 568 pages long in just 4 weeks. It just flowed from me and seemed to write itself!

What inspired you to write this book?

Again it was purely my desire to try something that i hadnt seen in horror that often. I try and bounce various horror ideas about and have used plants, ghosts, reincarnation, scarecrows, elementals and so on ranging the locations from places such as Pripyat beside Chernobyl, a forest in japan, the london underground, the abandoned area of Detroit and so on. Variety is the spice of life!

Who is your favourite author, and what is it about their work that strikes a chord with you?

Its quite strange becuase as much as i love to write horror i am not a huge fan of the genre. I love David Gemmell the late fantasy author however and have all of his novels. His character work was amazing and he had an amazing gift of introducing a loveable, likeable character who you could relate too only to kill him horribly three pages later. I love that and in my own work i try to make every character imporant.

What book are you reading now, and would you recommend it?

I have just finished reading The Laughing Corpse, book 3 of the Anita Blake series of novels and i am loving them.

What are your current projects?

Well, i have just finished RENASCENTIA so i am now looking to write World of Sorow 8; something wicked this way comes....

Where and when do you do most of your writing?

Night time is the right time for me. Once my partner and son are asleep and the fish and husky have decided to behave it is writing time and i often write from 8pm through till 2am

What would you say was the hardest part of writing your book?

Fighting to keep with it and not start a new idea. it is something that my mind struggles with constantly. I can sit on a bus and get a new idea for a novel. Its more of a curse than a blessing to be honest though and is probably the reason i write so quickly.

Who designed your book cover – and was the cover something you deemed important?

I do the majority of my covers myself but i do have friends that take photos and allow me to use them. For me the cover is important as it is the thing that catches my eye in a book store or library.

Did you try to go down the route of traditional publishing first – or did you feel that self-publishing was right for you from the beginning?

No, it isnt something that appeals to me if i am honest. Self publishing allows me to retain full control and my OCD needs that hahaha. I have written 17 books in 4 years because they needed to be written not for the money. It would be nice of course but I do not write to make money and i am sure any author that is honest feels the same. If this were medieval times we would be travelling from village to village telling our tales. It is part of our souls, an integral par of who we are. I like to think that we are the children that survived adulthood.

On the whole, how have you found self-publishing?

Scary at first but overall extremely liberating. I used to be bothered by peole asking me if i had a publishing deal and then when i tell them i self publish, frowning and saying, Ohhh..so you're not a REAL author?"
I am beyond that now. We write. They are books. We ARE authors. It is no different to the bedroom DJ that makes his music and there is no shame in it whatsoever.

Where can we buy the book?

The novel will be available through my online shop and also through LULU.com who i publish through.

Do you have a website or blog where we can keep tabs on you?

There is my facebook page Kelvin V.A Allison novels which i keep up to date and people are more than free to add me on facebook under my name Scoobert Mills...i'm sure i am the only one hahaha.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

Never give up. Get your story out there. But write for yourself most of all. Don't let naysayers or skeptics knock you down because you self publish. You ARE an author.

And, finally, do you have anything else that you’d like to say to everyone?

Thanks for taking the time to read this and if you do read anything of mine dont hesitate to email me some feedback, good or bad. It all helps. God bless x

Linda M David

Author of: The Firestone Crystal

Book blurb:

Agathea Fulstropp is looking forward to a luxury break in the Caribbean with her parents, but is livid when they announce that the trip has to be cancelled due to work commitments!  So instead of spending six weeks sunning herself on a tropical beach, Thea – as she insists on being called – finds herself unceremoniously packed up, and sent off to stay with a grandfather she barely knows for the entire summer!  But it turns out to be the best summer of her life when her grandfather has a strange reunion with a mysterious childhood friend, and she is given the opportunity of a lifetime.

To visit a world beyond the stars, and become Earth’s first student to be enrolled in an experimental Inter-Planetary Education Programme at the Firestone Academy, where lessons in telepathy, mind-reading and astral projection are the norm.

Things, however, are not as straightforward as they seem.  One of her fellow students makes no secret of the fact that he despises her, and will stop at nothing to make her leave…she is having increasingly disturbing, vivid dreams…and just who is that hideously deformed cave creature, and more to the point, what does it want with her?

As an introduction, could you tell us a little bit about yourself?

My name is Linda David and this is my first children's book. I am a single mother of two and currently work as a college lecturer in Childcare. I was born in Cyprus in 1967 to parents who both hail from the Caribbean island of Nevis. Much of my childhood was spent moving from place to place as my father was in the RAF (Royal Air Force), so although I was raised mainly in England, I have also lived in Germany as well as St Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies.

I have always enjoyed reading and was encouraged to do so from a very early age, and that is partly what inspired me to write. Even today I can remember the excitement and wonder I used to experience as a child when reading fantasy and adventure stories, so I hope that through my own writing, I will be able to inspire and encourage other children's interest and pleasure in reading as well.

What is your book about?

My book is basically about a young girl with very few friends who gets to go on  a great adventure when she is selected to attend a school on another planet with a range of aliens from different worlds. 

When and why did you begin writing?

I began writing some 10 years ago when I went on maternity leave with my first child and needed something to occupy my time, so I began a writing course.  Eventually I got a little bored with some of the assignments, so I decided to write about something I like, and the story took off from there.  I had been adding to it on and off ever since.

What genre do you prefer to write in?

I prefer to write children's stories because I feel so nostalgic when I write.  It takes me right back to my childhood when I believed in fairies, elves and goblins, and used to search for fairy rings in the garden.

What is your biggest writing achievement to date?

This is actually my first book!  I hope it does well, because I have already begun the sequel.

What inspired you to write this book?

I would say that I have always loved writing, however, what has inspired me to continue is the support and encouragement I have had from my sisters.  I also have great admiration for J K Rowling and Oprah Winfrey, both of whom I use as my role models.

Who is your favourite author, and what is it about their work that strikes a chord with you?

I have always been a Stephen King fan - not really sure why, but I have most of his books.  I love a spooky story, but I find the way he sometimes makes reference to places and people which have been in other books in his stories intriguing.  Almost like they are all interlinked and part of the same 'big picture' if you like.

What book are you reading now, and would you recommend it?

Actually, I'm re-reading (because I read all my books multiple times) Stephen King's Dark Tower series.  I just love the entire collection, especially the strange twist at the end.  I would definitely recommend them, although I think you do have to read them more than once to actually understand the story completely and put all the pieces into place.

What are your current projects?

As I mentioned, I'm working on a sequel to the Firestone series of books, which will see Thea having more adventures at the Academy and discovering more about the universe and all its secrets and inhabitants than she could ever have imagined.

Where and when do you do most of your writing?

Because I'm a full-time college lecturer, I have very little free time, and I find I write best when I'm 'in the mood'.  So I do most of my writing during the holidays, mainly Easter and Summer, although if an idea suddenly comes to me, I'll make sure I jot it down before I forget and work it into the story when I can (this mostly seems to happen when I'm in the bath for some reason).

As for where I write, I usually lock myself away in my bedroom with my laptop where there are no distractions.  My children are only allowed to disturb me if there's an emergency!  They are 15 and 11 so can cope without me for a few hours!

What would you say was the hardest part of writing your book?

I don't think there was a hard part really - I just let the story unfold itself.  If there was a hard part, I guess it may be coming up with an idea to begin with, but once I had created a character (loosely based on myself and sister as children!) the rest seemed to just flow.  It was a case of imagining what sort of adventures I would have loved to have as a child or what sort of book I would have wanted to read.

Who designed your book cover – and was the cover something you deemed important?

The Kindle cover was actually designed by myself using a crystal and some Christmas tree lights!  I know the cover is important, but I kind of like it.  When I complete the second book, I will probably get some professional input though.

Did you try to go down the route of traditional publishing first – or did you feel that self-publishing was right for you from the beginning?

I did originally try to get my book published by sending it off to agents and publishers, and although I received many rejections, I did not allow it to put me off.  Most of the rejections were the standard kind, with no explanation, however, I did receive some encouraging feedback from a couple of them which gave me the confidence to continue.  It was only after joining several writers websites that I learned more about 'print on demand' and e-book publishing.  I did some research and decided it was now or never.

On the whole, how have you found self-publishing?

I think self-publishing is a really good option because there are many talented writers out there who are making a good living for themselves who may never have been taken on by a more traditional publisher.  This way, they get to write the stories that people obviously want to read.

Where can we buy the book?

The book is currently available on the Kindle from the amazon website:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Firestone-Crystal-ebook/dp/B006R72MNS, and the paperback version will be available by the end of the month from:

http://www.Feedaread.com.

Do you have a website or blog where we can keep tabs on you?

I have a joint website with my sister at http://www.eternalrainbows.moonfruit.com, which will provide more information.

Do you have any advice for other writers?

My advice to other writers is never give up.  If you have a story to tell and you are confident in your own abilities, then go for it.