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A Messenger Of New Ideas
Art is a wordless picture book that tells the story of a circus performer through a series of vivid and evocative line drawings. Why was this an important book for you to publish?
As you know, sometimes questions are more complicated than the answers. One of the reasons, and perhaps the main one, is very personal and it will remain personal. The second reason is that I wanted to create a publication where the artist is elevated to the stars as a messenger of new ideas and the audience of royalty is turned into mere spectators.
Each art piece is seemingly simple but culminates into pieces that are very expressive. Which part piece was your favorite?
My favourite piece is the impossible act of tightrope walking where gravity is dismissed. I also like the spread with the Royal audience – it contains 100-150 individuals and believe it or not I spent many hours crafting the facial features of each of these characters, their clothes, jewelry, crowns, and even personalized chairs.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from this story?
Impossible things exist because no one has ever tried to make them possible. You can find the answer on the cover of Art’s folder that he left on the stage: Do what you dream.
When and where will this book be available?
I plan to launch the e-book version in August and the book trailer is currently on YouTube and Goodreads. The title will be available on all major online book retailers – Amazon, Kobo, Barnes & Noble, Google Plus, Payhip, Magicblox, and others. Unfortunately, given the essentially wordless nature of the title, an audio version won’t be produced. I am currently working on the hardcover edition. My goal is to make the publication as unique as possible – it will require special paper and ink as it must be a real piece of art to deserve its title: ART.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Art is autistic and artistic. Art has just one friend – his teddy bear. Art does not speak but he makes art. Art that dismisses gravity.
The publication crowns the artist and turns royalty into a mere audience. The sophisticated illustrations inspire readers to express their emotions, verbalize their feelings and create their own story.
I Died In The Early 1990s
God of Nothing follows the daughter of God and Satan who after being murdered awakens and discovers the truth about herself and her family. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I died in the early 1990s and for sure, God is a woman…female anyway. Not human. That is when I started to consider what if everything we believe is wrong? Then the story took on a life of it’s own.
Aja is murdered at the age of 17 and now is faced with understanding who she really is. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
I wanted Aja to be a regular kind of teenager but considering her parentage, and who she really is, that regular life is not for her. Still, she has good values, morals, work ethic, and will do whatever she has to. Sometimes, because of her age and power, the things she does are not nice. It doesn’t make her evil or even bad, it makes her a teenager who sometimes makes poor choices.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
What difference does it matter what a person looks like on the outside…the gift is on the inside. This came about when my wife and I were watching Deep Space Nine and I told her, I thought some of the Cardassian women were kind of hot. After she got done laughing she said, “I can imagine how people on Earth would react to you dating a Cardassian.” She is right, most humans would freak out. I don’t under that. Why is it okay to love this person, but not that one. If there is a thinking, intelligent, adult mind in two radically different bodies, and they love each other, be it Titan, Dragon, Bool, Vampire, or Demon…I don’t have any issue or problems with those relationships. I don’t think it is any of my business to tell anyone who they can love and who they can’t. If someone was dating a rock person they’d be welcome in my house. Everyone in my book either already has, or will find their one person to love forever. These relationships are almost always with people radically different from each other…Dragon & Bool, Dragon and Demon, God and Devil, Human and alien (Ebezz). I see nothing wrong with any of that.
I also wanted loyalty…not the kind demanded by tyrants and dictators, the type of loyalty that comes only from forging a close, trusting relationship with another person.
And I wanted to provide answers to all the various immortal races and how they might have come about along.
I also wanted to portray alien cultures different from Earth. If we ever do get to space and find other cultures, I feel certain they won’t be anything like us. Even if they look like us, everything about them will be different.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I finished and published a 2 hour novella titled, FAITH last Feb. I am currently working on the second book in the series, God of Everything. I’d like it done and published around Feb 2023 but it is coming along slow. Difficulty in marketing, sales, and getting reviews drains my motivation to keep writing. Writing is hard hard work for me. I’d like to keep writing but so far, I have found no real benefit or reward to help motivate me to keep writing books.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook
God of Nothing is a stunning, epic fantasy. This imaginative coming-of-age series follows four generations of Gods, Devils, Dragons, Titans, Demons, Werewolves, Vampires, and Angels.
Mortals and Immortals collide in never-ending battles of love and hate across uncountable years and dozens of worlds.
God of Nothing starts the adventure. Murdered at seventeen by the Titan, Silver, God of Death, Aja wakes with her Dragon. Thrust into a bizarre world where enemies are friends, and friends are enemies, she learns the truth about her parents and herself.
Her mother is God, and her father is the Devil. Aja is the first person born, not created.
Enraged that Aja survived, Silver, God of Death, forces her to make choices to protect those she loves. Will Aja save the All or destroy it? If she survives, will she hate herself for what she’s done?
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God of Nothing has no graphic sex, but there are sexual situations, including some LGBTQ+. It also has instances of vulgar language, smoking, drugs, violence, and mentions rape. It is intended for people eighteen years or older.
We Want Them To Feel Empowered
Blackface is a celebration of African Americans’ success in politics, art, and culture and how they can build their own success in their businesses. Why was this an important book for you to write?
It was important to write because we want to see more Black faces building big personal brands and positioning themselves as leaders. We want them to feel empowered and equipped while also letting the world know that we are equally capable of leading.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
Personal development, leadership tips, and personal branding advice is for everyone, no matter the race, so the hardest thing was not what we wrote about, but the fact that we had to specifically write to blacks due to the lack of representation and systemic issues that prevent us from having access to tools and resources
What is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your life?
“What you think about self is more important than what anyone else thinks. Make sure your internal dialogue is positive.”
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
Having a black face should not exclude an individual. Black faces can lead well, build well, and serve well.
Author Links: Instagram | Facebook | Website
– Why it’s vital for Blacks to think big, win big, and develop a big brand
– Personal Development Tips to be a self-leader
– How leadership at home helps with leading in society
– Community service and impact
– How to be an influencer in your social circle
– How to stand out amongst your colleagues in your career
– and the framework for creating a personal brand strategy that will elevate your life, business, ministry, and career
Pamela D. Smith is an Award-Winning Author, Evangelist, and Brand Developer. She has written over nine books and is proud to collaborate with her husband and three sons to empower other black faces.
The Story Took Off From There
Powerless follows a man that must adapt to a post-apocalyptic world and keep his family alive and safe as resources become scarce. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The first glimmer of an idea for Powerless struck when I was driving through a hurricane to pick up my daughter at her friend’s house. The road crossed a small stream, and as I saw the water boiling through the culvert beneath the road, an image flashed in my head of the road flooded and impassable. I thought, “What if I couldn’t pick up my daughter?” This thought was followed by two in rapid succession that will be familiar to anyone who writes. The first was, “Oh, that would be horrible!” The second was, “Oh, that would make a great story!”
So, for a while, the broad idea was ‘Man moves heaven and earth to get his daughter back amidst a great natural disaster.’ That interested me, but it didn’t thrill me–it just looked like some sort of generic action movie in my head. One day I was mulling it over yet again, and I was thinking about this family that was one kid short in a crisis and picturing husband and wife at the dinner table with an empty chair where their daughter would be. And I sort of idly wondered, “What’s it like in the other house? The one with the extra kid?” That was my “Ah, ha!” moment, and the story took off from there.
Kevin must learn to adapt to a new way of life that he was unprepared for. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Kevin is a nice guy, and while he certainly hasn’t finished last in life, he definitely gets walked on and over a bit. I was interested in exploring what would push him to finally say “no”, what situation and circumstance would help him find the power within to stand up for himself, and to stand up for what is right.
He’s also someone who is rather optimistic by nature, as well as resourceful and forward-thinking.
As the situation in Powerless unfolds he proves to be surprisingly good at doing things that he’s never done before. But his optimism and basic faith in others leads to some blind spots where he is unable to see some of the threats to his family lie.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The biggest theme in Powerless is family, and how we define it. While the antagonist in the story is Eli Sobchuck, the real conflict is ultimately between Kevin and his wife, Monica, and it’s over how to define family. Kevin wants to draw the family circle as wide as possible to include not only his daughter’s friend, who has been stranded at their home during this event, but also neighbors and the people of the town. He sees the wider community as part of his responsibility. Monica, meanwhile, is trying to keep that circle as tight as possible, is trying to protect herself and the people closest to her. This resulting conflict is not only with her husband, but with herself.
The book also looks at the dynamics between people with power and those without, and the use of power for personal gain versus community good.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I have a completed manuscript of what I think of as ‘economic fiction’ about a woman who finds herself trying to work off debt in a compulsory, government sponsored volunteer program. It’s pretty much good to go but it doesn’t yet have a home. I’m hoping to rectify that. I’m also in the early stages of a project that is too new to really talk about right now. It has some characters and some situations that are interesting, but I haven’t quite found the story just yet and I’m sort of trying to write my way into it.
Author Links: Twitter | Facebook | Website | GoodReads
For Kevin Barton, the problem is compounded by the presence of his sixteen-year-old daughter’s best friend, Dina, who’s been stranded at the house after yet another sleepover. When Kevin’s attempt to escort Dina home ends in robbery and humiliation, their “second daughter’s” overnight visit becomes a permanent stay. Kevin doesn’t really mind. Dina helps with everything from hauling water to digging a garden, and she does it with a smile. But with food scarce and hunger eating away at reason, her large appetite and constant presence sets the household on edge, causing a rift between Kevin and his wife, Monica.
Help is offered by the man who stops Harpursville from sliding into everyone-for-themselves chaos but then he gives Kevin an unthinkable ultimatum. With the peace of the town and Kevin’s own family hanging in the balance, he faces a two-front war. Can Kevin find the power in himself to protect everything he holds dear?
It’s Always Been A Dream Of Mine
Surviving the Second Tier follows a female college athlete and her team who rebel against a greedy coach and a system that cares more about money than the players. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I had a couple sources of inspiration for my story. My first is personal experience as a former Division 1 athlete who navigated the college sports system myself and had some of the best and worst times of my life during my athletic career. College athletes are under so much social, personal, and external pressure and that’s really hard to understand unless you’ve been there yourself. Although I was a successful runner who loved my sport (until injuries derailed me) I struggled immensely with feelings of worthlessness, self-doubt, and anxiety. I was also in an emotionally abusive relationship with one of my coaches and I needed a way to make meaning of that. Surviving the Second Tier was an outlet for that experience as well as a way to educate readers about these dynamics and the problems that college athletes face in the real world.
The second source of motivation is my research. I’m a doctoral candidate at the University of Texas where sports policy is a huge part of what I study. The policy issues I research are important but frankly, policy can be boring to talk about even if it’s fascinating to me. Academic research is also very inaccessible because of paywalls and jargon so I needed an interesting and accessible way to discuss my research because, given the current climate, I believe the stakes of it are high. I started telling people “the NCAA is a dystopia” whenever they asked about my research as a way to create conversation. The metaphor really stuck with people and became a great gateway for discussing the ways bad policy negatively impacts college athletes. I wanted to give the college sports industry the 1984 treatment and give people a thought-provoking book that hit close to home and fiction turned out to be an effective vehicle for my academic work. Plus, it’s always been a dream of mine to write a book!
Did you create an outline for the characters in the story before you started writing or did the character’s personalities grow organically as you were writing?
I’m a terribly disorganized writer so I didn’t outline my characters so much as I outlined the issues I wanted to cover. They’re all stuck in a system that was never designed to benefit them but they’re also dealing with personal struggles like anxiety, injuries, burnout, identity crises, discrimination, poverty, abuse, and masculinity. Once I had a concept of the issues that I wanted to address within the real-world college sports industry, I had a good idea of how I wanted my characters to develop and they sort of had minds of their own once I started the writing process (which I loved!).
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Identity was a huge one for me. College athletes tend to get really wrapped up in who they are as athletes and fixate on their performances, statistics, rankings, and so on as measures of self-worth. It’s a form of self-objectification that is hard to stop, and fans and coaches also dehumanize college athletes by viewing them solely in terms of their productivity. A big goal of Surviving the Second Tier was to humanize college athletes because they’re so often viewed in terms of production instead of personhood.
As the title implies, I also wanted to focus on themes of surviving a corrupt system. When we think “survival,” we tend to think of things like food, clothing, shelter, and basic necessities. For some athletes (like Sis and Striker), their sport is a ticket out of poverty so it truly is life or death, but sometimes athletes are surviving other things like abusive coaching relationships, mental health issues, crippling media pressure, and life-altering injuries. There’s a lot of pressure on athletes to be tough and gut through these things without showing weakness so I wanted to explore all of that through my characters, their work, and their relationships with each other.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’ve very tentatively started my sequel but I’m also finishing up my Ph. D so it’s hard to juggle creative writing with my academic obligations. If I had to guess, I’d say I could be done with that in a few years (fingers crossed!). I’m also currently working on my dissertation which addresses many themes from my book so I’d love to publish a non-fiction book about college sports as well. The problems college athletes face are a great civil rights issue and writing about them matters a great deal to me.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Instagram | Facebook | Website
Topping it off is their cut-throat coach who pushes them beyond their limits for the sake of his own career.
It’s a new order in the world of college athletics. After a financial crisis, the AFA had to salvage its profits. Fighting became the only sport, a brilliant and violent solution to the economic collapse. But at what cost to the athletes?
Sis and her teammates have made it through nearly four years together at their little second-tier university. But all bets are off when the AFA puts Sis against one of her own. Will the Association survive the aftermath?”
No One Can Rescue Her
Warrior on the Western Waters follows a young woman who’s abducted and taken to an angry Shawnee village where she must survive the dangerous west to return home. What were some sources that informed this novel’s development?
I loved researching the Shawnee culture and history online during the 18th century. There are many resources available, and some have updated since my access. (Apologies if I’ve misused or misrepresented Shawnee in my book. I meant respect and educational purposes)
Thirteen Moons on Turtles Back Instruction Guide found at: https://cdn.shopify.com
Shawnee Moons-The Cycle of Life found at: http://www.fantasy-epublications.com
Shawnee Folk-Lore by J. Spencer found at: http://www.jtor.org/stable/534746
Shawnee Mythology [archive] found at: http://www.bigorrin.org/archive123.htm
Shawnee Language found at: https://estoo-nsn.gov/learn-shawnee/
Research related to the location of Fort Boonesborough came from online reports by Nancy O’Malley.
Archaeological Investigations at Fort Boonesborough found at: http://www.academia.edu/7374565/Archaelolgical_Investigations_at_Fort_Boonesborough
Searching for Boonesborough found at: http://www.academia.edu/20228734/Searching_for_Boonesborough
Books edited by Neal O’Hammon gave wonderful first-person accounts. Also, his book co-written by Richard Taylor.
Floyd, John, The Life and Letters of a Frontier Surveyor. Edited by Neal O’Hammon. Louisville, KY: Butler Books, 2013.
Boone, Nathan 1781-1856, My Father Daniel Boone. Edited by Neal O’ Hammon. Lexington, KY: University Press of Kentucky, paperback edition, 2012.
O’ Hammon, Neal and Richard Taylor, Virginia’s Western War 1775-1786. Mechanicsburg, PA: Stackpole Books, 2002.
I enjoyed Mary’s character evolution throughout the story. What were some obstacles that you felt were important to defining her character?
Thank you.
Mary’s persona at the beginning of the story is one of vulnerability due to past trauma. She expects protection from the Boonesborough settlement and her father.
When ripped from her family in the dark, she must recall survival skills and rely on herself.
No one can rescue her. She must overcome fear of the Piqua Shawnee before she can learn their language, customs, and worth. Respect grows into bonds of friendship, but she longs to be reunited with her family.
When tragedy strikes the village, an evil shaman blames Mary. Friends betray her, but she refuses to accept marriage to a vile loyalist trader. Mary risks death fleeing down turbulent rivers and creeks.
A fiercely independent, self-reliant young woman arrives at a patriot camp. Wounded, but not willing to wait for an escort from the scout she knows as William McGuire, she determines to make it back to her family. William insists on accompanying her. A confrontation on the way ends with a curse that threatens her future.
What were some ideas that were important for you to convey in this book?
I’m building my series by weaving in West Virginia and Kentucky historical events during the American Revolutionary war. In this installment, I’m showing the Shawnee side of things and how the British secured an alliance with them, thus seeding the devastating storm forming in the north and about to blow down from Fort Detroit in the real and fictional Mary Shirley’s future.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Palisades of the Heart (Dangerous Loyalties Series Book Four) Sweet Historical Romance set in Western Virginia at Cooks Fort on Indian Creek. Strong-willed, Mary Shirley and the stubborn scout, William McGuire clash over Kentucky territory.
Mary says she will never return.
William desires her when she can wed, but longs to raise fast horses in the fertile grasses of Kentucky. A man from Mary’s past arrives to complicate matters. Mary must resolve the fear of a spoken curse before she can trust.
I hope to finish and publish by the end of the year.
In a sad note: My publisher died a few days ago, freezing her LLC company. I have no idea if my paperbacks can still be purchased from Amazon, or other places. I’m not sure when or if I’ll receive royalties from the eBooks or audiobooks.
However, I have eight sets of the series in my stock available on my Square Store called Book by Phyllis: Home | Books by Phyllis A. Still (square.site)
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook Group | Website
Writing Lets Me Share That Feeling
Spirit contains short poems, a few are written in a unique narrative form that explore family relationships and provide commentary on religion, political situations and current events. What inspires you to write poetry?
My inspiration occurred 20 years ago. I hurried onto the trail to Philbin Beach. I was late for sunset. The people all left when the sun went below the horizon. I always loved the time after, when the sun’s rays shown on the underside of the clouds. The water slowly turns from blue to grey to black.
I thought I was the only one on the beach. Then I saw a woman, maybe 30 years old, in a long dress standing right up to the water. She said nothing, looked around her , then back to the ocean. She walked into the water up to her chest, looked back again and went under completely and stayed under.
I realized what was happening and ran into the water, found her, pulled her up and out of the water and onto the beach.
She opened her eyes and said, “No one cares! No one!”
“I care”, I said. “I am your golden retriever. I will never stop you from going back into and under the water, but every time you do I will come in after you, pull you out and revive you.” She stood up glaring at me. “We can do this all night” I said.
She turned, walked then ran into the water up to her chest, stopped and then went under. I started after her, stopped and counted to 50. Then I went in, found her, pulled her out and onto the beach. After a moment she looked up at me.
“Are you ready to go home?” I asked. “Yes”, she said, “Yes, I am!”
Ten years later I was on the trail to Philbin Beach with my eight year old granddaughter, Ashlyn. A woman was leaving. We passed each other on the trail, went a short distance then at the same time paused, turned around and looked at each other. She walked back up and said to Ashlyn, “You know this guy?” “He’s my Papa”, said Ashlyn.
“A long, long time ago your Papa saved me. I was very sad, all alone, no one cared. I came to the beach and went under the water. Your Papa came in after me, pulled me out.
“No one cares I said, no one.”
“I care your Papa said. I’m your golden retriever I will never keep you from going in the water but every time you do I will come in and pull you out.”
“I was still so sad. I went back into the water, looked back at him and went under, But he didn’t come. Now I was not just sad, I was scared. Did he lie? Did he just leave? Oh
my God, oh no. Then his arms were around me. He pulled me out, carried me onto the beach.”
The woman knelt down to Ashlyn. “When Papa waited something happened to me. I wanted to be saved.”
She stood up, smiled, turned and walked away.
Ashlyn reached over, took my hand and touched it to her cheek. We turned around and walked to the beach.
My favorite poem from this collection is ‘Facing The Storm’, because it’s short but potent. Do you have a favorite poem from this book?
I have a number of favorite poems. The one that has meaning for me personally is a Loving Lament. I have always felt nature, before me, around me and within me. Writing lets me share that feeling and invite others to ride along with me. I would like to believe that I’m starting down that road by the publication of this book.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in your poetry?
Those themes are: (1) diving deep into present beauty and brutality; (2) the joy of children, seeing through their eyes and feeling with their hearts; (3) sailing solo but never alone; (4) how otherwise good and kind people become cruel and violent.
When and where will Spirit be available?
Spirit will be released in June 2022 in both hardcover and paperback formats. Hardcover editions can be bought wherever books are sold. Paperback editions will be available through Amazon only.
Writing It Was A Healing Experience
The Tempest in Glass follows a grieving man who’s propelled on a supernatural quest to reset the constancy of the spiritual realm. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
“I’d say without a doubt, it was my disillusionment with prayer that affected me emotionally and spiritually. There were life-altering events in my life, following some of my prayers, that ended up very badly. I think what put me over the edge as when a co-worker spoke on the radio one day, while I was driving, and she was balling her eyes out. Her husband had been a police officer, and he had been killed in the line of duty. This woman—my co-worker—through her tears over the radio, said that she had prayed every single day for her husband’s safety. And now he was dead. It angered me and it confused me. I stopped trusting God. So—years later—the creative side of my brain led me to deal with this pain and confusion through the telling of a story. The story is an entertaining metaphor for my own voyage to understand prayer, the purposes of God, the meaning behind some of life’s most confounding circumstances. Writing it was a healing experience.”
Marvin and Amina are intriguing and well-developed characters. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
“I rely on classic psychology in terms of character development. Hippocrates—not Myers-Briggs. In terms of audience and limitations, there were three parameters I set for myself before I even started outlining Tempest. One: there would be no guns. Two: there would be no F-bombs. Three: there would be no obligatory sex scenes. I see all three of those things as clichés and crutches that squelch creativity (at least, in the cross-genre approach I took). So those inclusions were off the table from the get-go. Denying myself those elements forced creativity.”
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Themes of the common human experience of dealing with loss, and the seemingly unanswered prayers that frustrate many of us. Does everything happen for a reason? Is there a grand plan? Or is everything just random? Does God hear us, does God care, or is God detached from the creation?
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
“I am working on several ideas for my next novel, but it is too early to make an announcement”.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Ever since intelligence officer Marvin Fischer’s plea to spare his wife’s life was ignored by God, he fills the void with luxury living and no longer believes in the power of prayer. But when single-mother Rubi Valdez insists he pray for her safety, Marvin complies, resulting in a shocking accident. Haunted by guilt, Marvin is determined to understand why his prayers are met with disaster, and desperately seeks a way to reunite Rubi with her young son, Antonio.
World-renowned medium Amina Karimova senses perilous turbulence on the other side, and fears the spiritual world is caught in an unprecedented assault by some unknown power.
Led to Amina through a mysterious message, Marvin and Antonio embark with her on a dangerous quest through ancient ruins and mystical realms, where legendary spirits reveal unspeakable secrets altering the course of eternity. Tasked with the mission to reset the constancy of the spiritual realm, Marvin must let go of logic to revive his faith, or Rubi Valdez and millions like her will be lost forever.
LITERARY TITAN 