Blog Archives
An Outlet For My Heartbreak
Travels and Tribulations tells your story of grief and travels, and how they have made you the person you are now. Why was this an important book for you to write?
Travels and Tribulations provided an outlet for my heartbreak after my mom passed away in May 2020. Losing my second parent wrecked me, and I felt an incredible sense of urgency to not only honor my mother but also my father, who is in several of the chapters. This book was a means for me to preserve their memory.
Working on this collection gave me a purpose too, keeping me from sinking even deeper into depression when I was laid off shortly after Mom died. It rolled me out of bed when I just wished to dawdle in my despair and let life happen to me.
Finally, I included lots of travel vignettes for a couple of reasons. I primarily wanted to show how such excursions shaped my course. But I further sought to give the audience a way to escape during a time when globetrotting wasn’t possible.
I appreciated the candid nature with which you told your story. What was the hardest thing for you to write about?
The section revolving around my mom’s death was the toughest for me. The emotions are especially raw in the stories because I composed them not long after she died. In fact, I still get a lump in my throat when I read those chapters because they transport me right back to such poignant moments. Yet I’m glad I wrote the narratives as soon as I did. Otherwise, I would’ve lost the perspective of my intense grief.
What is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your life?
My dad said the only way to change the world was through people. He’d stress that we can stand as many walls as we want, but we make a real impact by building relationships. I’ve taken volunteer trips to various parts of the Americas over the years, and his message has been a driving force behind my journeys. A lot of the projects have been interesting, but the individuals whom I’ve gotten to know in these places truly made them memorable.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
A few months ago, a reader told me that Travels and Tribulations inspired her to reconnect with her parents. That’s the reaction I hoped to evoke when I engrossed myself in this undertaking. I want my book to motivate others to not take time for granted, to do and say meaningful things before it’s too late.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon
Battling through his bereavement on paper proved to be cathartic. But he needed more – a writing project he could sink his grief into. So he sorted through many of the narratives he had composed over the last dozen years. Reflecting and reexamining his existence, Tyrel brainstormed what to do with the pieces which pulled at him the most. A compilation describing significant individuals, places, and moments during the past decade-plus started to take shape.
Travels and Tribulations is an emotional and chronological collection of vignettes, which commences in 2008 and concludes in 2020. While readers follow him on excursions in North, Central, and South America, they also accompany Nelson to the peaks and valleys of his personal life. Profoundly impacted by the deaths of both his parents, the author guides the audience through his anguish, depicting reminiscences and regrets as he openly tries to make sense of everything.
Unravel How Disinformation Travels
Disorder follows a reporter that sets out to solve the mystery of how an unlikely candidate is rocketing to the top of the polls. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
This book is a combination of three fictional storylines that miraculously merged early one morning. I had plotlines for a book entitled “The Election” – about a rigged election; another for a “Fixer series” – about a mysterious person who manipulates events for pay; and a third called “The Cure” – about a plan put in place to reacquaint Americans with our national values.
At the time I was not looking to write a second book (sequel to Camp David Conspiracy) featuring reporter Geoffrey Wines, nor President Osbourne. Yet, that morning, the three merged with Geoffrey Wines and President Robert Osbourne becoming the vehicle to tell a story that centers on the disfunction that disinformation wreaks on our society.
I will add this book was well on its way before the 2020 election, the false narrative about the election results, and the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on January 6. It also predated the start of the anti-Covid vaccine disinformation campaigns. During its writing, the WSJ “Facebook Papers” were released; information about the Pegasus spyware / cell-phone hacks reported; and several academic papers were released detailing the actual flow of disinformation during the 2016 election.
Ironically, almost to the day of the book’s March 1 release: Russia invaded Ukraine; Putin’s motivation discussed; and his use of disinformation on both the Russian and Ukraine people reported.
Each of these events only fortified the storyline’s premise.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
I loved writing the dialogue scenes between Geoffrey Wines and President Osbourne. The banter back and forth was fun to write, giving each a voice and cadence to their speech.
The single scene I most enjoyed writing was when an unknown person enters Jimmy Olsen’s home and tries to penetrate the hallway leading to his operations center. I just love the way the entire scene unfolds, the nerd humor, and its ramifications later in the book (and this book’s sequel).
I also enjoyed writing the Washington Post newsroom interchanges as Wines and Olsen explain their findings to the paper’s editors. A lot of conflicting, yet important agendas come to play during these scenes.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The most important theme is the pervasiveness of disinformation throughout American society and how it is disseminated to the public in a falsely credible fashion. I try to show this in different ways throughout the story to ensure it sticks with the reader.
My introduction to this phenomenon occurred maybe ten years ago when I heard from a relative that one party was threatening to outlaw outdoor BBQ grills. It was a preposterous claim, but it always stuck with me. Later, a friend at tennis one night was telling about a political party trafficking kids from a Washington D.C. pizza parlor and how Sandy Hook was a hoax. This too stuck with me. Then in the throes of the 2016 election, I remember people questioning how social media could possibly have any sway in the election.
This book attempts to unravel how disinformation travels from its source — to social media — to mainstream media — to finally how our elected politicians give these lies credibility for personal and partisan advantage. We see how the public’s sources of news are highly segregated based on political persuasion and witness its impact in creating disorder in our society. The book tries to explain how and why we as a nation seem to be dealing with two sets of facts when trying to make personal decisions regarding Covid vaccines or understanding why gasoline prices are rising.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am writing the third book in the Geoffrey Wines series. It will include the current journalistic relationship between Geoffrey Wines and Jimmy Olsen. I will keep its storyline quiet until publication, currently anticipated for early in 2023.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Joining in his quest is James Olsen, the paper’s new media correspondent. With the young and talented writer and computer hacker at his side, Wines unearths the shocking scheme. But the Post’s editors will stop at nothing to keep the truth buried.
Watergate meets The Pentagon Papers in this thrilling tale of deception and determination reaching into the very ethos of our national government.
If the political drama of Watergate, Monica-Gate, The Pentagon Papers, or the exposé books by Bob Woodward excite you, then you will be entranced by DISORDER from beginning to end.
Get Started Before You Feel Ready
Collaborate gives readers a step-by-step plan from idea development to sales on how to be successful in the digital environment. What is one piece of advice you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
Get started before you feel ready.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
One way to achieve your goals is to do everything by yourself. The faster, easier, more beneficial (and usually more lucrative) route is to collaborate.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The Complete Guide to Pay What You Want Pricing (Second Edition). Estimated release date: May 2022.
Author Website: tommorkes.com
That’s why you shouldn’t go it alone. Luckily, with Collaborate, you won’t have to.
In Collaborate, you will learn:
How to take personal inventory of your business and life to make better choices
How to define, identify, and connect with experts in your niche
How to assemble and organize a small team to create faster, better, and more enjoyably
How to rapidly prototype your idea, pre-sell it, and then collaboratively crowdsource to build the final product
How to leverage the best free and inexpensive software to make remote, collaborative work a breeze
And much, much more…
Help Secure Their Online Experiences
Oh, No …Hacked Again!: A Story About Online Safety is about a girl that loses her game account because of a hacking website. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I wrote this book inspired by the experiences of my own children. During the pandemic, I noticed how my children were spending more time online gaming or for school. With that exposure, I also saw two of my children’s gaming accounts get hacked on more than one occasion. Their online experiences motivated me to write my 2nd children’s book “Oh, No… Hacked Again!” a story to teach children the important message of online safety.
As someone who is an immigrant Black woman who transitioned into cybersecurity from the legal field after moving to the US from Ethiopia 9 years ago, I quickly learned about the glaring lack of diversity within the industry. I hope to convey an important message through the story to spark interest in young readers, especially girls and girls who look like me, to consider cybersecurity as a meaningful career option.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about online safety?
People, have this misconception that out of a huge internet who would be interested in targeting me? Even if they do and become successful what valuable data would they be staking from me?
However, the fact of the matter is it isn’t about who the cybercriminals are targeting. Usually nothing personal and it doesn’t have to be big corporations or rich or celebrity folks. The bad guys are targeting everyone yes including common individuals using automation tools throwing their net to fish whatever sensitive information they could get their hands on exploiting any system’s vulnerabilities that we might have neglected or put off to update in any of our devices.
The other misconception is thinking that Usernames and passwords provide enough strong protection. When in fact in reality that isn’t the case. usernames and passwords are vulnerable to brute force attacks and can be compromised.
Attackers have tools to crack the passwords so it’s important to use a strong complex password and implement multi-factor authentication to plus to enhance your security by requiring a user to identify themselves by more than a username and password. It’s also vital that we don’t reuse our passwords and instead use a password manager because we don’t have to remember all the passwords we use to authenticate for the various devices.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from this story?
It’s important that parents cultivate a culture of open communication with their children so that kids are comfortable sharing their online experiences with their parents should they encounter something out of the ordinary or they think they are getting in trouble. Its critical that we also instill a culture of having a security mindset and the importance of online safety to our kids, teach them not only the importance of not sharing our passwords, and any personal information with others, having strong passwords but also the importance of implementing Multi-factor authentication to help secure their online experiences be it for entertainment gaming or for school purposes. It is also meant to spark interest in o a possible career option in the field of cybersecurity fighting against cybercriminals and protecting sensitive data, especially of the most vulnerable population.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
May be 🙂 I am currently focusing this year on finishing my grad school program Masters’s degree in Cybersecurity at Georgia Tech University and promoting my two children’s books!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Instagram
What happens when she suddenly cannot log in to her favorite game? She’s been hacked before. How will she recover if it happens again? Elham must lean on her mom and siblings to stay safe while navigating the digital world.
Grab this fun family story, gather the children, and learn the importance of online safety and explore the exciting and ever-evolving field of cybersecurity as a future career option.
The Real Kraken Crew
Kraken Crew follows a ship captain that takes his crew on an adventure to steal the dragon’s gold, on the way they encounter several obstacles. What was the inspiration for your story?
The inspiration for this book was the real Kraken Crew. On bus and train journeys, on rainy days and at bedtime, my three children and I take turns to make up stories. These are usually funny adventure stories and often include our family. One of the stories that I told was all about us having adventures on our boat, Kraken, and each of my children using their special skills to help them defeat all sorts of sea monsters. The elf-witch is based on my eldest, Holly Elfin, who really does have a way with animals. Our boat would be like the Ark if Holly had her way. The banshee is based on Ivy Pixie, my second child, who we all call Supersonic Ivy due to her ear-piercing scream. And Storm Boy is based on my son, Taiga Storm, who is an absolute whirlwind of energy and who was born during a particularly fierce storm. With kids like these onboard our boat, Kraken, this story virtually wrote itself.
Each of your characters is unique and fun. Where did the idea come from for how your characters looked?
Drawing the characters is by far my favourite part of the whole process of writing and illustrating. With Kraken Crew and two other books that I am currently writing I love to imagine the situations the characters are going through and I sit there pulling of sorts of funny faces and then imagine how these expressions would look on the various characters. I now tend to draw my characters at home rather than in public places after receiving quite a lot of funny looks from people.
I tried many different styles when designing the characters and general illustration for this book, though with each style the main characters always loosely resembled my family. I knew from the start that I wanted them to be colourful and incorporate my children’s favourite colours, I wanted them to look like a rowdy bunch of mucky pirates, and I wanted to have fun drawing their facial expressions. I think that I spent more time experimenting with different styles and developing the characters than I did on illustrating the whole book. I have a whole notebook full of illustrations of just the ships rats, from developing the way they look to the many ways that they could be included in the background of various stories. I really ought to write a story about them at some point.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
I am sure that this is true of most young families, but my 3 children were/are very competitive with each other and this often resulted in the younger children feeling that they were not as good as their older sibling(s). This story was very much about demonstrating to my kids that they all had their own special talents, which they should be proud of, and that sometimes they have to work together, using their strengths to help the collective accomplish their goals.
After reading A LOT of children’s books with my children, it was obvious what our favourite books had in common and so, what I needed to include in Kraken Crew. It had to be funny. It had to rhyme. And there should be a moral to the story. Judging by all of the positive reviews that Kraken Crew has received I would say that I managed to achieve this.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently working on two books; Release the Kraken and Polly’s Gone Crackers. Release the Kraken is a story about how this motley crew first assembled and first met the legendary Kraken. This book is very nearly finished and I had aimed to make it available in the first half of 2022. However, I am having far too much fun drawing bird characters for Polly’s Gone Crackers (the third book), so I may end up being a bit behind schedule. Polly’s Gone Crackers is a story about my favourite character in Kraken Crew, Polly the Parrot. The captain finally has enough of Polly’s mishaps and cowardly ways and attempts to replace him with a brave new bird to keep watch. Both books will certainly be available this year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Website | Instagram
Their biggest adventure yet.
One that will go down in history
A heist that no one will ever forget.
They plan to take gold from dragons
A plan you may think is crazed.
But if the Kraken Crew succeed
They’ll be rich til the end of their days.
Join the Kraken Crew in this award winning, rhyming, comic and in parts gruesome tale of adventure on the high seas, as they embark on a danger-ridden quest to steal gold from the dragons that live in Mount Doom.
The Kraken is a ship that is run by a real motley crew of pirates, including an elf-witch who can charm almost all animals, a banshee who can kill with her super-sonic scream, a young man who can summon storms, and on watch, the ship’s parrot. He may not be the bravest member of the crew, and he can’t tell fish from seagulls, but, well, at the very least he does alert the crew to all kinds of potential danger.
On their way to Mount Doom the crew use their individual strengths to battle sirens, ghost pirates and a mighty sea monster. When they reach Mount Doom they really have to work together to battle a swarm of dragons. This is where the captain steps in. At the helm, the captain tries his best to keep the ship ship-shape and to keep the crew united in their quest. He is moderately successful in this, but when even a unified crew start to struggle in their battle with a swarm of dragons he is forced to call upon his special friend.
Without The Usual Hype
Epiphany’s Gift follows a woman with psychic abilities, that gets entangled in a mystery involving corporate corruption and supernatural phenomena. Where did the inspiration for this mystery come from?
I’ve been doing research at the Cassadaga Spiritualist Community for over 30 years and have become friends with an especially adept medium. I’ve learned so much about psychic phenomena and I wanted to write about it as a “serious” topic without the usual hype. Also, as an art historian (Professor Emerita of Art History, Santa Fe College), I am very concerned about art theft and the international black market in art and antiquities. AND as an environmental activist I am eager to alert my readers to environmental issues and their consequences. This all came together in Epiphany’s Gift.
Epiphany has to hide and ignore her natural psychic abilities for most of her life only embracing them later in life. What do you think were some of the defining moments in Epiphany’s development?
Many people are very skeptical or even hostile to psychic phenomena. I wanted my protagonist to experience these problems and have to struggle to work through them. I hope this provides a model for others who have encountered the same obstacles. I think that visiting Lilly Dale and becoming friends with Albert and “finding her tribe” really allowed Epiphany to embrace her psychic gifts.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
In all my books, I try to educate my readers about issues that I think are important while also telling them a great story. I used this same concept in teaching art history courses for 30 years!
What is a significant way your book has changed since the first draft of Epiphany’s Gift?
Revisions are always the most challenging part of writing. I write out my complete concept and then go back and refine, add, subtract et. Until I’m satisfied with the package. But there is always room for a few more tweaks.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website | Amazon
Dr. John Bernhardt, Epiphany’s former art history professor and mentor, believes regional fracking operations are responsible for the recent earthquakes. After identifying a secretive petroleum company as the perpetrator, he wonders if the environmental disasters are somehow connected with the disappearance of a drawing from a local museum. Twenty-four hours after he writes an article about his theory, he is found dead of an apparent heart attack.
When John’s ghost appears to tell Epiphany he was murdered, she becomes determined to find his killer. Aided by a former FBI art-crimes investigator and an eccentric artist, Epiphany must use her psychic skills to locate the missing art and identify the killer. Unfortunately her efforts to bring the guilty parties to justice are thwarted. Even a state senator cannot help. As the earthquakes escalate, Epiphany must decide whether to continue her battle for justice or suspend her investigation to protect her family.
Set against a backdrop of psychic phenomena, corporate corruption, and global climate change, Epiphany’s Gift illustrates the perennial battle between good and evil.
-Andrew Nichols, PhD, Director, American Institute of Parapsychology
This Upended The Myth In My Head
Politics of the Minotaur seeks to guide readers through the ever-changing landscape of chaos in their lives. What was the inspiration for putting this collection of poetry together?
The inspiration was a sculpture “Minotaur and Ariadne” by Federico Severino, which is the gorgeous image on the front cover of the book. I was in Positano, Italy and wandered into the Galleria d’Arte Portofino. When I came across this sculpture, I was stopped in my tracks. I knew the mythical story of the Minotaur, how he was fed young girls, but as I studied this sculpture, I could see that the Minotaur was complicated, that his human side made him more than just a beast. And he was in love with the woman in his arms. The woman, also, was snuggled and rested in his arms, feeling safe and loved. This upended the myth in my head. Here was supposedly a horrid creature, but yet he held the greatest capacity of all: the capacity to love. When you understand that and look around you, people suddenly are more than what you see – there are layers of history and humanness. Where did they come from? What happened in their life to lead them to this very moment? There is huge chaos in all our lives. There is good. There is bad. While the labyrinth of life is not always of our own making, it is ours to live, to explore, to divine – to create goodness and kindness from it, no matter what.
I enjoyed the poem “The Importance of Coffee” the most in this collection. Do you have a favorite poem from this collection and why?
I’m so glad you enjoyed that poem! We rush and rush in our lives and miss those away moments with God so easily, but these are the moments that can shape us most. One of my favorite poems in this collection is Vintage 2014. I think many readers will relate to this poem especially after what the world has been through the last two years. But this poem is about opening up a bottle of 2014 red wine. 2014 was a terrible year for me – I lost so many friends and I went through my second battle with cancer. But life has a beautiful way of giving us perspective. The greater the love, the greater its grief. Yes, our grief is horrible and consuming, but it is only because the love we experienced was so rich and incredible. How very lucky we are to have known that kind of love. The wine became a symbol of all the goodness that can come of even our most difficult times.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this collection?
I kept coming back to the life of the Minotaur. There are so many forces out of our control. What have we been dealt? But the most important question becomes What can we control? I believe we can change our stars. There are great lessons in nature on how to live our lives – and most importantly, how to be grateful for each moment of each day. There is chaos and difficulty, and things you have to do in this world that you never expected you would ever have to do…but oh, the beauty of our lives is something we would never trade.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My forthcoming poetry book is titled Turbulence & Fluids. It is being published by Madville Publishing. Look for it next Spring: 2023!
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
A long observer of the natural world, karla k. morton does not believe in coincidences, but believes every word and step and observation has meaning and guides us. Just as the creation of the Minotaur was the gods’ doing, there is beauty in the monster; there is reason and magic in its very existence. How lucky we are to be able to grow old enough to witness such revelations.
Morton’s poetry guides us through the landmarks—the highs, the lows, creating an exquisite world within an ever-changing landscape of chaos.
The Salt City Diaries
Stupid Love follows a woman starting over her life after a bad breakup as she documents in a blog her and her friends’ experiences. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
For years, I had always wanted to write a story that I would have wanted to read during some rather challenging times in my life. Because I wanted Rachel’s feelings and thoughts to resonate with the reader on a deeper level, I decided to have her write a blog in order to deliver messages as authentically as possible.
Was there anything from your own life that you put into the characters in your novel?
Yes. I journaled for years and wanted the main character, Rachel, to showcase some past emotions as well as some relatable heartbreak situations that readers from all walks of life could relate to.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Self-love. Too often when we are starting over we think about moving on to another relationship without paying attention to the relationship we have with ourselves. I wanted this “love story” of sorts to discuss the importance of self-care and love and how in order to truly love another person, we must first and foremost, love ourselves.
What can readers expect from book 2 in this series and when will it be available?
Book two centers around closure. I wanted this book to be more of an explosive need for Rachel to turn the cards around and make peace with certain things (and people) in her life. As it will be inspired by true events, this particular year was the jumping-off point for her to feel ready to get back out there–the right way–this time around.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Instagram | Website
“Love is, well, stupid.”
A laugh-out-loud and insightful page-turner in the tradition of Sex and the City meets Gossip Girl. Although, not-your-typical-romance novel, it is still one that will have you falling in love in ways you’d never expect.
Get ready to read the book you swore was written for you. Ever been in love? Loved someone completely wrong for you? Had your heart broken more than once—and maybe by the same person? Or even tried making sense of all the chaos surrounding love?
Inspired by true events, Danielle Dexter takes us on a journey of self-discovery and healing in book one of The Salt City Diaries series, Stupid Love.
Rachel Parker has had enough. Why does dating have to be this hard? No, really, WHY?!
After breaking up with her boyfriend and moving back to her hometown in Syracuse, NY, Rachel finds herself having to dive back into the dating pool without any life preservers to keep her afloat. She is drowning. And she doesn’t understand why everything has to be so complicated. All she wants is to find “the one,” but instead, she keeps dating all the wrong ones.
So, what’s a girl to do? Instead of whining about it, she writes about it—in her anonymous blog, that is. But writing about love and heartbreak and actually putting her advice to good use is proving to be quite the challenge as her dating life progresses. Why? Because she never anticipated falling hard for Ben Healey: The man, the myth, the cliché—who enters her world and complicates her love life even more.
LITERARY TITAN 