Blog Archives
Super Sassy and Quick Witted
Powerful Purples follows the inhabitants of a memorable fantasy world as they undergo drastic societal changes that will alter their very existence. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I believe if we as humans can come together and learn to accept one another for our different appearances, cultures, and beliefs, this world would be a much nicer place.
There were many fascinating characters in this series. Who was your favorite character to write for and why?
Zannah was—by far—my favourite character to write through. She’s super sassy and quick witted. There were many times where she took over and changed the course of her own story. I never quite knew what to expect when writing her scenes. She was always surprising me.
Were you able to achieve everything you wanted with the characters in the novel?
I’m happy with the growth of my characters from Pastel Pink to Powerful Purples. My characters are all flawed in their own ways, but I believe that’s what makes them feel real.
I must say, when it comes to my audiobooks, I’m absolutely ecstatic with the way the narrators portrayed my fictional characters. Khristine Hvam, Jodie Harris, James Patrick Cronin, and James Fouhey really brought them all to life.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’m working on a Supernatural Thriller set in Louisiana, USA. I’m hoping to have it finished and released by the end of 2022, if all goes to plan.
Author Links: Twitter | Instagram | Website | GoodReads | Amazon | Audible
When Harlow is imprisoned by the Queen’s guards, Slater is forced to flee for his life and team up with Jax—the one man he detests more than any other. Together with courageous Zadonians from all four races, they devise a daring rescue mission to save Harlow from impending death.
Nothing is what it seems, however, and Harlow finds herself being drawn into political intrigue that will change the landscape of Summer and Winter forever.
Torn between Slater’s wants and needs, and her own—will Harlow stay to keep Slater happy or follow her heart and return with Jax?
A Hickory Doc’s Tale
The Remarkable Story of Willie the Crow: A Hickory Doc’s Tale, follows the unusual friendship of a puppy and a crow that causes concern with the other dogs in the pack. What was the inspiration for your story?
A friend told his true story to my husband and myself of a crow that befriend his family.
Thirty years of having hunting dogs always proved to be a challenge between dogs when another one entered our family.
What were some goals you set for yourself as a writer in this book?
To present teachable tales to elementary school children on the lives of hunting dogs, other animals in nature, their habitats, and life lessons involving—family, friendships, bravery, diversity, and problem solving.
What scene in the book did you have the most fun writing?
The pool scene. We had a wonderful German Shorthaired pointer named Rush that was the only one that would get in our pool—but he would not touch the water—only jumping in on one of our pool rafts. We would take him around the pool while he sat with his chest out as if saying “Look at me! I’m swimming.” The other dogs totally ignored him when Rush was in the pool.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Desert Friends: Travels with the Pack (Archway Publishing)
It will be available in the Spring of 2022.
Author Links: Twitter | Facebook | Website
One day, when Doc and Patch are napping on the porch, a young black crow swoops down and lands on Patch’s head. This is how the dogs meet Willie, a crow with bad eyesight who becomes the particular friend of Patch. Although the other dogs don’t like Willie very much, Doc knows Patch can learn a lot about birds by playing with the crow. Then one day, Patch accidentally falls into the swimming pool and isn’t able to get out. Doc and Zeke can’t swim, so Willie is sent to find Newt to rescue Patch. Will he make it in time?
Featuring fun color illustrations, this children’s story shares how a pack of hunting dogs and an extraordinary crow become friends and learn from one another.
Bullying is a Global Problem
Lilbeebye Stings Bully follows a young girl as she uses her secret powers to change the heart of bullies into kind and caring people. What was the inspiration for your story?
I know that bullying is a global problem in today’s world. Especially in the black community, many of those kids come from broken homes. And was never taught how to love one another; what was related to me in my book is that I always tried to bring peace.
What is the one thing you hope children take away from reading this book?
I hope kids can learn from my book the importance of respect, apologies, and loving each other.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My next book Lilbeebye Goes To A New School will be outs soon. It’s about lilbeebye having an issue with bullies as she tries to meet new friends.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
My Mother Told These Tales
Tales of the Monkey King is a retelling of classic Chinese tales of the famous Monkey King. What drew you to this folklore and inspired you to write a book?
I am of Chinese origin. We came to the US as refugees in 1950 when the Nationalist government fell. My mother told these tales to my brother and I and over the years I told them to the children of all our friends and they all loved the tales-especially the boys.
I decided it was time to write up these stories (in my mother’s words) for children and now my grandsons to enjoy. There are plenty of academically precise translations in several languages – but like all scholarly works, they aren’t much fun.
The illustrations were beautiful. What was the art collaboration process like with illustrator Gennel Marie Sollano?
I sent in the very amateurish and rough sketches I did years ago for the first edition and she took what she wanted for the illustrations. There was no direct contact, it was all done with Xlibris but I wanted to make sure the artist was recognized and so her name is clearly listed as the book illustrator.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
My introduction explained it all. This is a really well loved and well known set of stories in Asia. You tube has both the 1986 TV series (Journey to the West) and the 2000 (Journey to the West sequel). I belileve the Japanese did a very good cartoon rendition and there are endless movies and Chinese operas based on the themes.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I haven’t gotten started yet but am thinking of extracting interesting anecdotes from the Romance of the Three Kingdoms (several TV series on 3 kingdoms which is also very well known in Asia). It’s sort of a practical rendition of how to apply Sun Tzu’s Art of war to win.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
The Sumatran Trilogy
What’s Troubling Tawny? follows a shy young rhino that has trouble making friends and meets a bird that helps her find her confidence and make friends. What was the inspiration for your story?
I wanted to write a story about the Sumatran rhino because, tragically, there are fewer than 80 of these beautiful creatures left. I thought it would be interesting to have a rhino who lacks confidence and struggles with her own body image and insecurities. I also wanted to get across important messages for children in relation to body positivity and how to overcome shyness, which a lot of children and even adults struggle with.
How did you decide on the location for the backdrop to this story?
All three books in the Sumatran Trilogy are set in the Leuser Ecosystem in Sumatra, Indonesia. Originally, whilst I was thinking of locations for the books, I wanted it to be in a rainforest. My research led me to Sumatra, which is one of the most important areas of intact rainforest in the world. It is also the last place where tigers, elephants, rhinos and orangutans still roam together.
What is one thing that you hope readers take away from What’s Troubling Tawny?
There are lots of things I would hope readers will take from the story such as the importance of being yourself, being brave and stepping out of your comfort zone, as well as the environmental messages which are equally important. Perhaps the main message is how vital friendship and kindness are because without Tallulah’s encouragement, Tawny would not have approached Rusty.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently working on the final book in the Sumatran Trilogy, Hooray for Heidi!, which is due to be released in June 2022.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Instagram | Website
Her Undesirable Pastel Colouring
Ruby Red follows a girl caught between worlds, she no longer fits into any of the races on her planet, she has no home and must fight for her own survival. What was the inspiration for the setup of your story?
Unfortunately, racism, discrimination, and prejudice behaviour are still quite prevalent in certain parts of our world. I think it’s important to teach the youth of today to accept one another for who they are, not what they are. There are good and bad in every race, and you shouldn’t judge someone solely based on their race and/or colour.
Acceptance is the key to a brighter future.
Ruby undergoes a lot of changes that are impacting who she becomes. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
Ruby, who now lives as “Harlow the Zeek” on planet Zadok, is very naïve at the beginning of Pastel Pink. She believes what she’s told to believe about the other races, and it isn’t until she meets Alex, who now lives as “Slater the Vallon” on planet Zadok, that her eyes are opened to a much bigger picture.
Even so, there is still a lot Ruby/Harlow doesn’t know about the Vallons, and won’t discover until Powerful Purples.
Ruby/Harlow isn’t a stranger to prejudice behaviour. She been discriminated against by her own race members, because of her undesirable pastel colouring.
The changes Ruby/Harlow undergoes during the course of Ruby Red only make matters worse!
To keep Ruby/Harlow safe, Jax takes her to Spring, which is another eye-opening experience. The Drakes don’t have a colour system. All three colours live in peace and harmony with one another.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
There is often more to someone’s story than we first realise, and we should ask questions and explore subjects before drawing to conclusions.
At the end of the day, we are all one species, and the world would be a much nicer place if we worked together as one.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I’m working on a Supernatural Thriller set in Louisiana, USA. I’m hoping to have it finished and released by the end of 2022, if all goes to plan.
Author Links: Twitter | Instagram | Website | GoodReads | Amazon | Audible
Luckily Jax finds her and brings her back to the caves. However, little does she know she’s returning with multiple souvenirs. Standing out for all the wrong reasons has become Harlow’s specialty, and as the effects of her vertic switz tattoo set in and new issues are brought to light, she and her friends will find themselves in the line of fire with Rae and Electra.
Despite Jax’s attempts to neutralise the colour system, the Winter caves have become a death trap for Harlow, and Summer’s castle is no place for a Zeek. Harlow’s only sanctuary might be Spring’s Drake village, but her former ties to a Vallon are sure to cause friction with some of the residents.
Tough decisions will need to be made, but will she make the right ones?
Get Up To Speed As Quickly As Possible
C# Via the Happy Path provides readers with a comprehensive yet easy to understand explanation of C# programming. Why was this an important book for you to write?
The main goal of this book was to help beginner programming students to get up to speed as quickly as possible with minimal effort. While writing the book, importance was given to a clear and comprehensive coverage of object-oriented programming in C#.
What is a common misconception you feel new programmers have about programming?
The most common misbeliefs among beginner programmers are that computer programming is about math, is only for a select few, and that it’s overly difficult. Truly, all these are a misconception.
What is one piece of advice you would give to a new programming student?
The best advice for a new programming student would be to ask oneself the question: “What is the best approach for me,” and then be directed to a good book that gives you a solid foundation in main programming principles. All it really takes is one great source of information, after that everything else comes relatively easy.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
There is always room for improvement, be it revision, newly added content, or a new book on a totally different subject that might be helpful for general life advice, making decisions, and living a good and purposeful life.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
No previous programming experience is required, because the book aims to teach you all the necessary things you’d
want to know. We start with visually engaging explanations of how the computer actually works and you’ll
have a great time flying through the book reading about bits, how things are implemented in hardware, what a
computer memory is anyway and clear and practical explanations of object-oriented programming in C#.
We did our best to make sure the reader really gets it and provided some real-world code examples. You’ll
be learning about classes, generics, inheritance, interfaces, delegates and events and why you would actually
need them. To complement your learning with practical projects, you’ll build a fully functional game,
and a registering system web application that IT companies would want you to do as a test job while applying.
Along the way you’ll be exposed to many other interesting and useful bits and pieces of code you wish you had
been shown before. Why not take the leap of faith and see for ye self!
They Exist In Real Life
Valor Tale continues to follow the Aurora Blade as they face a crime syndicate and mutant byproducts while they try to prevent the collection of SKT virus vials. What were some new ideas you wanted to explore in this book that was difference from book one?
I found In the first book, a lot of people liked the two minor protagonists of the Aurora Blade gang, Lynch and Paca who are inspired from FF7s Jessie and a combination of Wedge and Biggs.
Their love for one another was captivating and was purposely given a little more detail than the relationship between Dew and Rena who have this student mentor relationship but that evolves in book 2 fleshing it out. I was even considering having one of the main characters killed off at the end of the book, but that’s been overdone in media and been used as motivation for the heroes to take down the big bad. So I decided to go with another ending leaving a cliff hanger which many did not see coming.
The themes of war, friendship, diversity, and spirituality is pretty prevalent throughout the book as well.
What I have never seen done in LITRPG or most video games was having an Atheist leaning character in a party questioning respectfully the faith of another party member. Usually this doesn’t happen. They usually all believe in some higher power or the conversation ever comes up.
And how I was able to handle the LGBTQ characters in my story. They exist in real life, and are people like you and I. People really loved how I handle that. It all felt organic- not rushed or thrown together.
I particularly gave a lot of attention to detail when it came to building the religious and political lore of the series. When you take your time with a story it really shows.
What were some obstacles in the story that you felt were important to defining Dew Wilder’s character?
Since that character is based off of me, it just flowed flawlessly when writing his dialogue, thoughts and actions.
What has been the most surprising reader reaction you’ve received for your Valor Tale series?
How genuine each of the main protagonists interactions with one another felt. Their strong backstories and personalities equally shined, even for the main villain who doesn’t appear much in the story but he left an impressionable mark. I’m glad that the main villain wasn’t perceived as typical archetype bad guy or plain in the readers eyes.
What can readers expect in book three of your Valor Tale series?
To make it a epic finale for the series. A lot of loose ends will be taken care of story wise. Maybe I’ll write another one when book 3 is done. 🙂 But I’m definitely proud of the second book. It’s my favorite out of the two so far.
Author Links: GoodReads | Amazon | Twitter
LITERARY TITAN 