Blog Archives
What Could Have Inspired Them
Icarus Flies Home follows a Jazz bassist as he tries to publish his great-great uncle’s lost music, only to discover someone else has claimed the rights to it. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
We took a tour of one of the biggest former plantations in the South. As we toured the home and went into the parlor, the guide told talked about the famous people who had likely spent time there, including literary and film stars, people like George and Ira Gershwin. Maybe they had even passed through at some point. As a musician, I wondered what could have inspired them and what if, I wondered, they had heard something that influenced their own musical compositions?
Beauregard (“Bo”) Sonski-Abbott wants to honor a lost relative but has to overcome unbelievable odds to do so. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
He’s torn because he wants to think the best of people. He also doesn’t know how to wrap his mind around something so profound, that his relative lived his life enslaved and all he must have endured. He was a musician and Bo was trying to understand how one could still find joy amid the horrors and tragedy in a life like that.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
Legacy, family relationships, love, marriage, and who really owns a song; the idea of intellectual property when a person had been stripped of all rights.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
By this fall/2022! A murder mystery about a sax player. There’s a pretty obscure event in jazz history that this book explores. It takes place in Brooklyn, NY and St. Petersburg (Russia).
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Website
Jazz bassist Beauregard (“Bo”) Sonski-Abbott finds himself reeling after learning an aging Broadway producer may have stolen a song written by his distant relative: a great-great uncle who was enslaved on one of the biggest plantations in Georgia. Bo’s journey to unravel the truth takes him from the music scene of New York to Washington, DC, only to be sidetracked by a much younger woman who threatens to tear apart his marriage and his career.
Having A Spiritual Experience
Inside Your Heaven: Inspiring Stories of the Afterlife shares your experiences in life with the psychic world and your growth into a Psychic Medium helping others to heal. Why was this an important book for you to write?
I felt compelled to write this book to share how many of us were born with intuitive, psychic mediumship and extra sensory gifts. Also, like myself and in most cases, people try to hide them or suppress them over the years and end up developing anxiety and depression. We live in a society that doesn’t honor the intuitive mind, and it can get quite lonely, so by writing this book I am creating an outlet for those who are struggling like me with their spiritual awakenings. Remember, we are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience. (Teilhard de Chardin) I also wrote this book to offer answers to those questions about what the inside of Heaven is like. I wished to show many others grieving how to navigate this world without those we love once they transition to the other side, by sharing my own honest and true personal experiences.
What is a common misconception you feel people have about the afterlife?
After every loss within your Soul Group, you will no doubt have a Spiritual awakening, and your loved ones are going to send you frequent signs from the other side, that they are indeed okay and that they walk alongside you every single day just in a different form. Don’t ever think that you’re going crazy. Be open. Talk about it. In some cultures, death is celebrated the same way a person’s birthday is celebrated, as if a graduation from this life school here on earth: a rebirth to the next life. Heaven is truly right here just in another realm and what most people think or in my catholic upbringing that St. Peter locks up the gates of heaven upon arrival that is just not the case. Our loved ones choose us to be their Heaven because why wouldn’t they? They’re right here with us, joining us with love and comfort on our car rides to work in the morning, and on the couch at night watching our regular nighttime shows. Loving and guiding us from the other side through our time here as we continue with our spiritual journey and growth. What lives on is the love and light that emanates from them. I can tell they are off doing other things and serving in more than one place at a time, like the way the sun rays touch down on earth in every state and every continent they too are rays of light.
What is one piece of advice someone gave you that changed your life that you think can help others with psychic mediumship abilities?
I want people to understand that being a psychic medium isn’t supernatural, it’s SUPERNATURAL. We all have these gifts, and they are the navigation system of our soul. I think Einstein said it best…. “The intuitive mind is a sacred gift, and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” I can’t keep giving into what our society molded us to think, to the point it’s creating depression and anxiety within myself. I need to honor my intuition because it belongs to my soul and nobody else can take that from me or anyone else for that matter. I feel so much better being led by my intuition than the thoughts and opinions of others in this backwards society. Since I’ve been honoring my soul, it’s been such a great journey and I’ve helped, guided, and healed so many in return. Being psychic is just a soul-to-soul connection and being a medium is just connecting with your loved one’s spirit and energy on the other side. I’ve been gifted with both all my life and once I started to hone in on these gifts the less anxious I felt trying to deny my soul’s birthright.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your story?
Not only do I want you to feel safe, peaceful and guided by my messages from my book but I’d love for you all to gain the courage to listen to that still small voice within and when you’re grief stricken always trust that your loved ones would do everything possible to send you signs or come to you in dreams to allow love to continue on from their soul to yours from the other side, and that in the end you will all be reunited once again.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Instagram
Follow along as April comes to terms with her own childhood trauma and grows into her vocation, first as a nurse, then as a Psychic Medium.
In this book she shares stories about;
Gianna and Vanessa overcome the painful loss of their mothers.
Elena receives guidance and comfort from her Uncle and Grandmother.
Ella’s Babcia (grandmother) helps her feel more beautiful, more loved, no longer abandoned.
Sammy’s loving parents help affirm her self-worth.
Leah Rae and Jenny receive closure and peace from the spirits of their deceased children…
Other incredible stories await that will inspire you. You’ll also discover your own gifts and how to embrace your gifts. It will make you less fearful about death and more able to heal. So that you can live a more loving and purposeful life!
From The Cats’ Perspective
The Legend of Paisley Pete follows a house cat that is abandoned by his family, and a feral colony takes him in till they can all be rescued. What was the inspiration for your story?
This story is based on real-life events when my townhome community became overrun with stray and feral cats, like overnight. My cat whisperer neighbor and I singlehandedly trapped, neutered, delivered to the Humane Society, rehomed with trusted folks and took in for ourselves some 30 cats over the course of two summers. It was fascinating yet disappointing to watch a blue-eyed feral kitten hiss and spazz-ball if you tried to pet it. I realized after we handled so many and varied personalities of cats that it’s humankind’s fault that animals bred for domesticity should ever find cause to be wary of us. When our mission was complete, I knew I never wanted to lose the memory of it all. Well, it did fade. I couldn’t remember all the silly names we came up with or what cat ended up where or with whom. So the only thing to do was finally sit down earlier this year and capture the essence of the experience and tell it from the cats’ perspective.
What is one thing about feral cats that you think is misrepresented in the media?
That feral cats are unlovable is the notion fostered in the media or other sources of misinformation. I’ve assessed that there are 3 types of feral cats: Too old and therefore wild to socialize, possibly able to be socialized as a pet later in their life, very likely to become socialized within first 3 months of life.
Yet, there was something about my partner, the real Miss Judy from the story, who coaxed 6 too-far-gone feral cats into her home, where they never beg to go out, simply because of the sweetness of the energy surrounding her. They love to be petted. But they will likely never be cuddle buns or lap cats even for Miss Judy. Once too old, there are still boundaries they’re unable to cross, and that appears to be long periods of close bodily contact. Still, that’s them giving to us their very best.
What do you hope is one thing readers take away from your book?
Please foster and adopt stray and feral cats. At the very least, TNR (trap/neuter/release) any you find and do it kindly. Remember, you can still love too-far-gone ferals from afar by feeding them and constructing shelters for them. At the very most, endeavor to “Miss Judy” them and bring them home to bask in your love.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
A Halloween story is in the works – actually on Kindle Vella right now – that I’ll create into a picture book, I hope in time for October 2022. On the creation horizon I see other animal stories forming in my imagination, fairies ‘n’ fireflies, unicorn quest and oodles more ideas for children, my favorite kind of people.
Awarded the August 2022 Literary Titan Gold Book Award
Author Links: GoodReads | Website
The Answer to Immortality
Eve of Awakening follows a woman who is successful in her life but has a near-death experience and rediscovers her faith in God causing her to question everything she has believed. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
I was about 23 years old and super busy earning my master’s degree and working full time. I was exercising at the gym, so I could hurry home and do homework when I asked to myself, “Does everyone try to live so many lives in one?” That is when the thought, “Life Plethoricity,” came to mind: Trying to live the productiveness of multiple lives in a single life. The only way to do this is to get rid of valuable things that many hold dear — relationships, faith, rest and enjoyment. The interesting fact about this book is that I wrote it in 2005 — before social media, smart phones, online shopping/shipping and working remotely. I had to create these ideas in my book, which is why they have different names. However, now so much of what I speculated has come to fruition.
Eve is a perfect citizen in her world, until she embraces her lost faith, causing her life to spiral in a new direction. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
So many people think that Christians are “brainwashed” and that faith is a sign of a lack of intelligence or a sign of weakness. However, in my mind, I would want to know what happens after my body dies. My spirit and soul aren’t aging, so where will they go when my heart stops beating? This to me isn’t a sign of ignorance; rather, it is a rational awareness for anyone who thinks beyond this world and current moment. Eve has a near death experiences, and realizes that death steals all her hard earned productivity, and she gets angry. Why should she produce so much when she can’t take any of it with her when her heart stops? To me, she is the one who is highly intelligent in thinking beyond this life as she gains an awareness of how fleeting it is. That is why she won’t rest until she finds the answer to immortality, which she finds in Christ.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
One of the most important themes that I wanted to explore was how imperfect people have a relationship with a perfect God. How does that look? What does the process of maturing in Christ feel like? How does the Holy Spirit relate to us once we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior? My characters are far from perfect. And they are each on different walks of faith, wearing a unique anointing for their specific design. One of my utmost desires in life, besides being loved, is to have meaning and purpose. My goal in writing Eve of Awakening and in writing all five books of the Onoma Series is to show how each character has a purpose that is invaluable to God’s greater plan and how they accomplish that purpose even when they make mistakes and many times fall short.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
So far, there are four published books in the series each named after a major character: Eve of Awakening, Bear into Redemption, Mark within Salvation and Hunt for Understanding. The final book, Straight unto Forever, is a prequel novella that occurs about 15 years before Eve of Awakening. I am currently finishing up this book, and it should be published Fall of this year.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
Give Us Strength Or Tear Us Apart
First Born Sons follows five different groups of people in the LGBTQ+ community whose lives end up intertwined due to a series of events. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
All the major characters in First Born Sons have come from three of my previously published novels, Four Calling Burds, Tio Jorge, and Deluge. Though I’ve never written sequels, several of my fans expressed an interest in knowing what happened with these characters. At the end of the respective books, all of them would have been living contemporaneously and in the same geographical area. I had the idea of not only continuing their stories, but having them interact and in one case fall in love. The background to the events is the Covid pandemic, but it’s not really about the pandemic. The personal issues the characters are dealing with are complicated by the health crisis though it’s only one of many crises that take place in 2019-20. Others include wildfires, Black Lives Matter protests, divisive politics, and general racism and homophobia.
What were the morals you were trying to capture while creating your characters?
In general the characters confront the notion that families, both alternative and traditional, can give us strength or tear us apart depending on how one handles the issues. Simple love doesn’t alone conquer all. It takes perseverance and being true to oneself.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
One narrative tackles gender identity and how transition causes upheaval not only for the person changing but the loved ones around them. Another story revolves around extremist politics causing disastrous consequences for a family. Still another examines an older gay man finding love when he no longer believed it could happen. And one of the main themes is two gay men trying to protect their mixed-race son as he deals with the complications of becoming a teenager in a society that still struggles with racism.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
Since I’ve gotten over my hesitancy to write sequels with this novel, I have embarked on a new project, which follows the story of the coming-of-age character in my novel The Mayor of Oak Street. It’s 45 years later and he is dealing with growing old after a life of love and loss. My intention is to make it more of a romance, but we’ll see how things develop.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook
First Born Sons is populated by a cast of LGBTQ+ individuals and their allies who struggle to find love, comfort, and fulfillment. As the novel progresses, characters interact across the separate narratives and are brought together for a birthday and a disastrous Black Lives Matter demonstration. A man returning to the horrors that made him leave Mississippi, a blind gay man flirting with love, an FTM transgender starting hormone therapy, a woman struggling to protect her sons from her ex-husband’s surge to right-wing politics, and a teenager with two gay dads searching for his Black surrogate mom paint a disturbing tableau of modern-day America.
Praise for First Born Sons:
“Vincent Meis’s First Born Sons is at once a sprawling epic with a global scope and an intimate mosaic of stories, touching on important issues like race, gender, pandemics, and prejudice — but never forgetting the humanity at their core. These are characters you’ll want to know, and this is truly a novel for our times.”
– Eric Peterson, author of Loyalty, Love & Vermouth
“Meis once again proves to be an assured chronicler of our times. Never one to shy away from humanity’s darker impulses, this spellbinding story of love and immigration, civil unrest, and political polarity amidst lush, tropical locales is the perfect book for summer. A rip roaring ride!”
– David Jackson Ambrose, author of Unlawful DISorder, A Blind Eye, and State of the Nation
“I raced through the pages of First Born Sons, unable to put it down. Meis explores the traumatic events of 2020 through an engaging group of characters, whose personal lives are upended by events far away and close to home. This is an exciting work that deftly captures the tensions, anxieties, and hopes of our turbulent times.”
-Gar McVey-Russell, author of Sin Against the Race
Alike In All The Wrong Ways
A Bad Place to Be a Hero follows three people who by chance end up together and have to work together to survive, even when they don’t like each other. Where did the idea for this novel come from, and how did it develop over time?
“Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” is my favorite movie of all time, and I think a lot of those elements show in the book. From the very start, I wanted to create a cast of characters who are “alike in all the wrong ways”, and have to work through their differences as well as their own personal hangups to achieve a common goal. While the events that bring them together are random to an extent (since there wasn’t really another way you could force them to cooperate), I did also want to make it at least partly their own fault─so that all of them can feel like a victim in the situation, but can’t fully claim to be one.
Your characters are wonderfully emotive and relatable. Were you able to use anything from your own life to inform their character development?
There’s definitely a lot of me in both Corlis and Lokenn. Thessa is perhaps the farthest from me in temperament, but her conflict with Corlis was a great chance for me to do some reflection. Not sure how much of it stuck, but I do try to say “Thank you” more often.
Did you plan the tone and direction of the novel before writing or did it come out organically as you were writing?
The very first thing I pinned down about the novel was “Unlikely heroes save the world and no one thanks them”. I ended up narrowing the scope to a much more personal scale, but the overall tone is very much the same.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The direct sequel, A Bad Time to Meet the Family, is already in the works and will hopefully be ready for release in early 2023.
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
“There is no bigger bastard than a man who thinks he’s a hero.”
A young noblewoman has an unfortunate run-in with a werewolf on her engagement night.
A fugitive necromancer sets out to restore the reputation of his maligned art.
An innkeeper nurses a dying aunt amidst rapidly mounting debts.
And around them all, a dirty city hides a web of even dirtier secrets.
Welcome to New Montres.
If you think a mystery fantasy with a gritty feel sounds like it ticks a lot of your boxes, I think you’ll love this!
Shai Palmer, Reedsy Discovery
The Comedy That Inspires Me
The Blood of the Bear is a humorous telling of the classic story of King Arthur and adds in more information than the original telling. What was the inspiration for writing a humorous version of this story?
I love reading books that make me laugh out loud. I love watching comedy on TV or in film. It’s always been very natural for me to want to make others laugh too. I think the humour of The Blood of the Bear exists on a few different levels. First, the lead character of Artos exists in a fairly impoverished world. I think when people grow up in a community where daily life is hard and full of toil, then a natural humour develops to help them cope with their situation. Second, I included some scenes and situations in the book that are just for fun. I’m thinking particularly of the chapter dedicated to a crime scene investigation, which I laughed at while writing, so I hope readers of the book enjoy it too. Third, I tried to create a style of humour that is heavily influenced by the comedy that inspires me; the books of Tom Sharpe, Spike Milligan, and the work of the team that were Monty Python (including the Holy Grail film). I hope if you like any of the above then you’ll also like The Blood of the Bear.
What was your favorite scene in this story?
I think it’s hard to pick one out, but there’s a small scene which is simply a conversation between the Merlin and the leader of the Rheged tribe, Urien. When I wrote it, I was pleased with the tone and the mood and as a result it probably has remained closer to its original draft rather than other scenes.
What is one thing that you hope the reader takes away from The Blood of the Bear?
I simply hope they enjoy the story and that it lightens their day. I hope they grow to love the characters enough to want to join them in future adventures.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available
No big shocks here! The Blood of the Bear volume 2 is being drafted now. I’m aiming to launch it by March 2023, a year after the original book. The story moves further south to an area stretching between Wales and the North Yorkshire Moors, and it will involve dragons!
Author Links: Amazon | GoodReads
Swords, magic, murder, old gods versus new, some petty theft, and an unhealthy over-consumption of mead all play their part in this historical tale of a band of heroes caught up in ‘The Prophecy’.
It’s the late 5th century and the Roman legions have packed up and went home from Britannia, mainly because of the horrible weather. The land is divided amongst petty kings who wage war on their neighbours, write nothing down, and murder their relatives regularly, all in an effort to keep the dark ages as dark as possible.
Into this time of myth and legend comes Artos, a young shepherd and levy man whose life is going rapidly downhill. Almost killed in battle, encountering a banshee, and catastrophically failing in his duties to his tyrannical lord, Duncan MacForres, means that it’s finally time to (hastily) leave home for a better future, hopefully under the big city torches of Camulodunum.
Faked deaths, faked rebirths, and prophetic visions of the sword, Excalibur, help to reveal that Artos may be destined for more success than even he has imagined. On the advice of the local witch, he sets out on a quest to find the reclusive Merlin before embarking on a medieval, horse powered road trip.
If you like your witches to be essentially good with a dark sense of humour, your water nymphs to be feisty and full of their own self-importance, and your horses magically enchanted with just a touch of stubborn, then welcome to an alternative telling of the classic story of King Arthur, before he was king, and even before he was Arthur.
Will Artos get the mystical sword?
Who is Lancelot’s mother?
And why did Morganna get such a bad press from the fake news of monastic media?
The Blood of the Bear answers all these questions and more.
Inspired By My Daughter
Sofia Gama and the Templar’s Prophecy follows a schoolgirl that inherits ancient magic and is part of a plan to save the world from evil. What was the inspiration for the setup to your story?
The inspiration for this series and, in this case, the first volume “Sofia Gama and the Templar’s Prophecy” came to me during a bus ride from Lisbon to Nazaré, when I was listening to the song “I save the World today” by Eurythmics on the radio, which inspired me for this whole series. During the whole ride I wrote everything on everything I could get my hands on (I always carry a pen and some paper with me), including my checkbook, ruining the remaining 20 checks in the process…
The creation of “Sofia Gama and the Templar’s Prophecy” was very unusual. Curiously, it was all written during night time. I would wake several times to write, in the dark even, fall back asleep and so on and so forth till morning. During the day I’d transcribe my notes into the computer, because if it takes me more than three days to do so I won’t be able to figure out what I have written… I wrote very fast in order to keep up with my imagination and some times even I have a hard time deciphering my own handwriting, which can be a little bit frustrating!… The physical appearance of the character was inspired by my daughter Inês.
Sofia is a young girl that has to discover herself and her destiny. What were some driving ideals behind your character’s development?
The crucial plot is the presence of the Portuguese language in the World, spoken by roughly 260 million people spread out over the five continents. In my young adult books, I always strive to impart information that I deem valuable and enriching, knowledge that stimulate the thought process and which transmit human values that allow for a better development, as better citizens. I care about finding interesting facts related to the place or subject about which I am writing at the time, in order to provide the reader with this pleasure of learning something new. Learning something new while you read is very important to me. If we can associate the pleasure of reading with learning about different subjects, all the better.
What were some themes that were important for you to explore in this book?
The Portuguese Discoveries, the Language, History, friendship, loyalty, courage, camaraderie, imagination. My main goal is to captivate youngsters into reading more and provide fun, adventure, mystery, excitement and suspense to my readers.
Sofia Gama and the Templar’s Prophecy was very special to me since it allowed me to enter a submarine belonging to the Portuguese Navy, since it was impossible to enter the German submarine from World War II that lays sunken in the depths off the shore of Nazaré. Not to mention the amazing experience of being in direct contact with the dolphins in the Lisbon Zoo, since I always visit the places where my books will take place. In addition to that, this book was an amazing hit in Portugal and Brasil, not only among the young, but among grownups as well, for it captivated them too – I received feedback from some amazing cases. From the many readers that read this book multiple times, two readers stand out: an eleven year old Portuguese boy who read it 13 times, and a Brazilian woman who read it 8 times.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I am currently writing my next historical novel, in Portuguese. Later this year, Underline Publishing will release “The Forgotten Treasure”, the second volume of The Port of the Grail trilogy, in succession of “The Quest for the Lost Map”. There will also be a new adventure: “The Adventurers in Underground River”.
Author Links: GoodReads | Facebook | Website
Meanwhile, the Enemy’s mission is to destroy the messenger of the prophecy and keeper of the medallions and prevent, at all costs, the birth of the future Warriors. Almost a thousand years have passed, and one of the warriors has just been born… Pursued by the Enemy, Sofia Gama takes refuge in a quaint little town where a big secret resides: Nazaré.
SOFIA GAMA AND THE TEMPLAR’S PROPHECY is an exhilarating and engaging story, filled with emotion, adventure, and suspense that will make readers stay glued to the page. The Warriors of Light is a captivating and fantastic young adult series that has delighted readers of all ages.
LITERARY TITAN 