Blog Archives
The Old Heroic Tales
Stella Atrium Author Interview
Seven Beyond follows Dr. Meenins as he goes on an adventure spurred by wild dreams and helped along by unlikely friends. What was the inspiration for the setup to this thrilling novel?
I was first attracted to the idea of writing about people with long life and how a century can be devoted to a specific study of music or warfare without loss. Also a woman can enter business without feeling the pressure to give birth to all her children within a single decade. As my father aged, I wondered how very old people cope with loss of friends, loss of a homeland, or a faulty memory without companions to reinforce the old heroic tales. The storyline grew from there.
Dr. Meenins is a well developed character that I enjoyed reading about. What were some obstacles that you felt were important to his character’s development?
Dr. Meenins is troubled by dreams that are his memory turning. The character has lived for 800 years and traveled to other worlds. He started a blood feud by killing another Longist, his great friend Frum from the Soldier caste. The relatives of Frum cannot with honor allow Chris Meenins, who they know as Clem from the House of Past Promise, to live. He must side-step assassins in each situation on each planet that he visits.
When our story opens, Dr. Meenins is channeled and believes that he’s an aging temporal earthling. He enters resurgence where he accepts that his knowledge is greater than he could attain over a temporal’s lifetime – human anatomy, advanced weapons, the relative positions of the stars. As a Longist, he must face his past guilty acts that perpetuated the blood feud. Only in full memory can he lead the colony to the new homeland.
This is an intriguing setup to a novel that is high in social commentary. What was your moral goal when writing this novel and do you feel you’ve achieved it?
The Longists maintain group identity with social castes and old stories and ancient books of wisdom. To match those, I used Christian beliefs and stories from the Bible as the source of strength for Lady Drasher and other traveling companions.
The traveling group starts in old Russia, travels through the Caucuses, and across the Mediterranean to the northern coast of Africa, before they visit England and fly to NYC. They are piercing time from the 18th into the 20th century. They also test many philosophical theories that groups used to justify political movements.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
The Backside of Beyond is a companion book to Seven Beyond that opens a generation later with a few characters the reader will recognize. Dr. Meenins’ daughter lives as Yolanda Santiago in fragmented America and volunteers for a brain implant experiment that is a corporate and military partnership. She gains core programming, making her independent and lethal, and goes rogue with a traveling group who are on the provinces’ most-wanted list. Her Longist friends who integrate with society in the USA have spiritual questions and join a tent revival movement to heal America and bring down the bisecting fence.
The Backside of Beyond is in beta now and may be released in 2019.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website | Blog
![Seven Beyond by [Atrium, Stella]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zDO3d1GLL.jpg)
Dr. Meenins has recurring dreams that are his memory turning. He resists facing his guilty acts from eight centuries ago. Linda Deemer of his race of Longists is sent to help him step through painful memories of lost companions.
Travel companions help Dr. Meenins confront his dreams while haunted by wispy memories of faraway places and alien races. The reader is treated to his past adventures on other worlds where Christopher Meenins escapes assassins of a blood feud and gathers followers to find the new homeworld.
A quest novel that, in broader terms, is a cautionary tale with many tongue-in-cheek references to true human nature and injustices of contemporary society. Similar to Cloud Atlas or Sense 8.
I Believe It To Be True
Richard Carroll Author Interview
The Lost Photographs is an exciting adventure story that follows three adventurers as they set out to uncover the truth of Noah’s Ark. What was the inspiration that made you want to write this riveting novel?
I have always been intrigued by the story of Noah’s Ark. Fuel was fed to that fire in the 1980’s when I watched a TV special about a team of Russian soldiers finding and photographing Noah’s Ark on Mount Ararat in 1916. I have thoroughly researched that story, and I believe it to be true.
I think you did a a wonderful job of building interest with the backstory of the lost photographs of the ark. What kind of research did you undertake to get things right in this novel?
1. The above mentioned story.
2. 1916 Russia, present day Russia, and the present day attitude of the Turkish
government regarding Mount Ararat.
3. Mount Ararat and the Ahora Gorge.
4. Russian aircraft 1916
5. Prefab portable buildings, diesel generators, ice melting machines, and heavy lift
helicopters to build a large complex over the site on a glacier above the Ahora Gorge.
Your characters were exceptionally developed which made them endearing and fascinating. What were some themes you wanted to capture while creating your characters?
First, I wanted to draw my readers quickly into the story when I wrote about Yuri and Jelena. Young love and tragedy set the stage for the rest of the novel. When Jelena peeks through the window and sees Yuri the fourteen year old boy she loves laying dead right before her eyes, it is heart breaking. I tied that story back a hundred years later when Matt, Ann, and Jim are in a Russian cemetery late in the night hoping they will not be caught digging up the dead. They shine their flashlight beams down into the coffin onto the face of Yuri. They then lay the five photos of Noah’s Ark on Yuri’s body as they turn each one over and gasp at the discovery. Those two scenes are essential.
I wanted all of my present day characters to be totally dedicated to finding Noah’s Ark. That is their passion. I also wanted them to have fun. I created Jim’s character to be Matt’s best friend. I wanted them to be able to laugh and be able to tease each other and also to protect each other when needed as best friends do.
The theme of the beautiful, talented, and dedicated Ann Tyler needs no explanation.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
My second novel, Burned in Stone, is a sequel to The Lost Photographs and is already published. Both novels have been awarded 4 stars by Literary Titan. I am extremely honored to have received those awards as a first time author.
Author Links: Website | Facebook | Amazon
![the LOST PHOTOGRAPHS by [Carroll, Richard Ira]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51zkXtcr31L.jpg)
This is it! This is how all three of us will die because there’s no way I’ll ever cut the rope to save myself and send Jim and Ann to sure death. Terrified, he felt his fingers begin to slip down the ax handle.
Dr. Matthew Lane has been in a lot of scrapes with his fellow archaeologist Jim Morgan. But neither is prepared for the trouble that lies in store as they search for what could be the biggest discovery in centuries. Matt is convinced that the testimony from the Russian soldiers who swore they photographed Noah’s ark protruding from the glacier in the summer of 1916 is true. They claimed all the documentation, measurements, description of the interior cages and photographs were turned over to the czar just before the revolution.
A Russian immigrant, Ann Tyler, has carried her grandmother’s secret with her for more than a decade. She knows the hiding place of The Lost Photographs that could prove the existence of Noah’s ark. Has she finally found a trustworthy confidant?
When Ann joins Matt and Jim to search for The Lost Photographs, they begin a journey none could have predicted. Richard Carroll deftly weaves together this fast-paced adventure based on the old stories of Russian soldiers discovering the ark on Mount Ararat. Uncover the enduring enigma of the ancient ark and the crusade to conceal the truth. This novel is based on a well-documented story that many people believe to be true.
Conservative Views 101 Plus
![Conservative Views 101 Plus by [Gall, Alex]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41OA9qKivRL.jpg)
Life is more difficult now than it was a few years ago. More and more people have to work multiple jobs just to stay above water. Utilities cost more than they used to and money is losing value. By the time one receives their salary, it’s already spent. With high trade deficits and national debts, people have much less purchasing power. What is happening now that was not happening before? How have we gotten to this point? What conversations do we need to have to change things? How can there be more employment opportunities? How can the citizens live to work as opposed to working to live?
Alex Gall has produced a well-written account of everything people should be saying but will not. The language used in the book is strong but not abrasive and drives the point home effectively and firmly. The authors passion and commitment to the subject matter is commendable and infectious. I consider myself to be an average citizen, I read the occasional hot headline. But this book made me look a little further, and a little deeper, and find something that was shocking and appealed to the citizen in me. This book is delivered from the point of view of a concerned citizen painting a picture, a person who is inviting others to a well thought out and open conversation.
I would appreciated more references of source material because, as stated previously, this book will leave you digging for more information and getting more involved in politics. Some statistics or studies to back up the subject matter would have been appreciated. This book is well researched and is laid out in an easy to follow manner in a compact and readily available format. At times I felt the content a bit dense, or maybe the topics overwhelming. I had to put the book down and think about what I just read. This book certainly causes one to reflect. But once you come out of your reflection, once you put the book down, you will come away with an overriding need to do something.
There are some sensitive topics covered but the author uses a neutral approach which is inviting. His approach to the subjects is completely ‘take it or leave it’. This is one of the best qualities of this book. The fact that the author lays out his position without dragging people with him. The intensity of the book and the truth in the subject matter will carry you effortlessly.
This book does a fantastic job of starting a serious and necessary conversation. This is necessary for anyone who wants to be an informed citizen.
Pages: 260 | ASIN: B079YP7LGM
By God, Are They Isolated!
Humphrey Hawksley Author Interview
Man on Ice follows Rake Ozenna of the elite Eskimo Scouts as he struggles to protect his family on the brink of World War 3. What was the inspiration for the setup to this thrilling novel?
When I visited Little Diomede island in the Bering Strait in Alaska I was amazed at how close it was to Russia. Every morning, we stepped out and saw the Russian island of Big Diomede barely two miles away and occasionally a Russian military helicopter circling to land at the small base out of sight on the other side. It was time when US-Russian relations were taking a big dip. Many thrillers are written about Russia in Europe, but rarely on this real, live border where American and Russian territory meet. It is an incredible place because there are no border lines, no customs sheds, no marker buoys in the sea water or on the ice in winter – just wind, skies, birds, and emptiness. I just had to set a thriller there. The Russian island is run by the military. The American island is an Eskimo village with no government protection. What would there be to stop the Russians from just taking it? Why would they want to? What would be the reaction in Washington?
This book was able to take a rare look at the Eskimo people and culture. Why did you want to include them in this story and what aspects were important for you to portray?
The Bering Strait setting of Little and Big Diomede islands is native land. Before the Cold War Eskimos travelled back and forth between the islands barely recognizing Russia and America as two separate nations. The border was open to them. When it was suddenly closed during Cold War hostilities, families were separated, and still are today. The American Eskimo villagers of Little Diomede are some of the most rugged and determined people I have met. By God, are they isolated! Their environment is totally unforgiving. But they love it and have lived the land, sea and ice for generations. To make credible the stakes of a Russian incursion onto Little Diomede, I had to show this village as it really was, portraying the challenges of environment and community as well as the ingenuity the villagers use with the terrain, weather and local knowledge to win. At the end of the day, even if you’re the president of Russia or the United States, you do not mess with the Eskimos of Little Diomede.
Rake is an intriguing character that continued to develop as the story progressed. What did you model his character on and how did he change as you were writing the story?
Rake Ozenna is a blend of real life people whom I have met throughout my career as a journalist. Rake’s motivation compares to any character determined to make the best of his life and give himself a wider world than his small, isolated island community. He enrolls in the Alaska National Guard, taking every opportunity he can, eventually breaking the ceiling, making officer and captain. He serves in Iraq and Afghanistan where he meets Carrie Walker, a trauma surgeon, Brooklyn, white, middle class, professional. They both have a wild, independent streak, but their backgrounds couldn’t be more different. Rake adores Carrie and can’t believe his luck. As the action gathers pace, and Rake finds himself more and more alone and hunted down on the island, then on the ice, we see his characteristics of ruthless leadership develop. He needs to win, but is never sure if his skills and natural ability to carry them out are compatible with loving Carrie and whether the two of them could ever make the kids, nice house and white picket fence thing ever work. Interviewing many heroes over the years, I have found there are always two strands of motivation. One is the bigger cause of the country and the mission. The other is the lover, the child, the home community. Sometimes they run in parallel. Often, they clash.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be available?
I deliver the second Rake Ozenna political thriller at the end of May 2019 for publication later in the year. Many of the same characters, Rake, Carrie and Stephanie Lucas will be there and the location will be a wild, inhospitable place in the European Arctic.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Website
![Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA - in Alaska by [Hawksley, Humphrey]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/510G9ETJgiL.jpg)
An incident in the snows of Alaska could trigger the outbreak of World War III in this tense and twisting thriller.
When Rake Ozenna of the elite Eskimo Scouts brings his fiancée, trauma surgeon Carrie Walker, to his remote home island in the Bering Strait, they are faced immediately with a medical crisis. Then Russian helicopters swarm in.
America is on the eve of an acrimonious presidential transition and inauguration. As news breaks of a possible Russian invasion, Stephanie Lucas, British ambassador to Washington DC, is hosting a dinner for the president-elect.
Ozenna’s small Alaskan island community is suddenly caught in the crosshairs of sabre-rattling big powers. The only way to save his people is to undertake a perilous mission across the ice. Can he survive long enough to prevent a new world war breaking out?
Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA – in Alaska
![Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA - in Alaska by [Hawksley, Humphrey]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/510G9ETJgiL._SY346_.jpg)
There is never a dull moment in Humphrey Hawksley’s Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA – In Alaska. Not only is there intense action, the gripping story will keep readers glued to the pages until the story is done. This novel is carefully planned and executed in spectacular fashion and it’s hard not to feel the intensity with each sentence. We follow Rake Ozenna as he returns to his home island in Alaska with his fiancé in tow. Rake us a brilliant military veteran and Carrie Walker is a passionate doctor. The story begins with a medical concern over Rake’s niece struggling in childbirth and then explodes into a frontal assault between Russia and the United States of America some 48 hours before the inauguration of a new president.
This book explores the heighten tensions of looming war, the strain a relationship can undergo under such trying times, and the bonds that tie us to those we call family. Each of these themes is expertly crafted as if reading a biography of someone’s life. Characters change, for better or worse, but continue to develop as the story progresses. At first, it might seem overwhelming when readers realize just how intense the topics are that Hawksley is going to address. However, the humanity he affords his characters is genuine. Readers will feel an emotional connection to their fictional lives.
From start to finish Man on Ice is, I think, about risk; what is risked and what is gained. It’s a complicated matter, writing about politics, especially in such a sensitive time. There are so many people, positions, relationships to carefully lay out. Hawksley doesn’t seem to have a problem with weaving a complex narrative that is easy for readers to follow, even for those who may not be politically savvy. This is part of what makes such a great novel and shows readers what a good writer Hawksley is. the fine attention to detail is what gives away the rich research that went into this novel, and Hawksley does his best to be respectful to Eskimo culture and portray the reality these people face in the far north. He takes a hard look at the struggles these people are facing and doesn’t shy away from harsh comments on the reasons why they are in the place they are.
The pace is fast and the energy is high in Humphrey Hawksley’s Man on Ice: Russia vs the USA – In Alaska. It’s a tense situation with Russia threatening invasion while America wrestles with its new president-elect and the delicate touch that politics requires. It’s a journey of one man who has returned home for tender reasons and who leaves his home slightly broken. This book takes a look at the human condition and dances with the delicate relationships formed within. It starts off with darkness and trepidation yet a small piece of hope, only to descend into a flurry of agony and tough decisions. This is more than just a political thriller.
Pages: 224 | ASIN: B079SG2VDG
Malalai Joan of Arc of Afghanistan and the Victors of Maiwand Book Trailer
A young American physician Dr. Scott Fitzgerald from Pennsylvania sets out on a journey to fulfill his fathers dream by returning to Afghanistan where his father Bryan had spent nearly twenty years as the first American in that remote kingdom. Bryan had befriended Prince Akbar, the hero of First Anglo-Afghan, and won the hearts and minds of Afghans receiving a golden sword and the title of the American Prince. Like his father, Scott wanted to take the Declaration of Independence and the American Constitution to the farthest lands of the world. Following many adventures he joins Prince Ayoub, the hero of the Second Afghan War.
Scott travels from Philadelphia across Europe, Russia, Afghanistan, India to the Far East. He returns with lessons learned and truths he discovered and writes them in this book to reach the present and future generations. He regards the American Republic as an indestructible fortress of freedom and democracy that all extremes of left and right factions are inevitably drawn back into the fortress of ‘Immortal Ideas”, built by their forefathers with their genius, their fortunes and their lives. Scott believes, as Americans we have never claimed to convert or to rule the world. We just want for others to have the same inalienable rights of life, liberty and pursuit of their own happinesss.
Scott quotes a great American, The Constitution of the United States is the impassioned and inspired vehicle by which we travel through history. It grew out of the deepest inspiration of our existence that we are here to serve Him by living free. That living free, releases in us the noble impulses and our best abilities so that we use these precious gifts for good and generous purposes and that we will secure them not just only for ourselves and our children but for all mankind.
Romance, Travel, and Turmoils
Z. Vally Author Interview
The Green Line Divide is a genre-crossing novel with elements of romance, travelogue, and humor as well. Did you start writing with this in mind, or did this happen organically as you were writing?
Yes, I entered a Commonwealth competition in my younger days and in my mature years i expanded it. So, i already had a skeleton, and this is why romance comes late as the hero was not in my competition story. Truthfully, i did not think much about romance at that time in my youth.
I found Alexis to be a very well written and in depth character. What was your inspiration for her and her emotional turmoil through the story?
She is what i was when i was in my twenties, and perhaps what i would have like to be. And, some turmoils, both inner and external are true.
This novel does a fantastic job of exploring the culture of the places that Alexis visits? Did you do a lot of research to maintain accuracy of the subject?
Yes, a lot of research had gone into it. eg for skiing i contacted the ski club in Cyprus; researched on fruits and vegs for the seasons; timings for boat travel between the two islands; vintage cars and perfumes; it took me 3 days to find something on Russia and i came up with the Russian watch anthem; i phoned around to ask for Cyprus beverages; I contacted the Cyprus and Swedish embassies in the UK who provided me with correct information, eg on Swedish wedding traditions, and Cyprus on the boundary greenline between the north and the south. And since i have lived in Cyprus and visited Rhodes Island, it was not difficult to visualise and write about it.
What is the next book that you are working on and when will it be published?
I have started one which i have put aside as i am concentrating on hospital training as a clinical coder. The next book will be romantic again but more of a serious nature. It has started off on a comical political footing though.
Author Links: GoodReads | Twitter | Facebook | Amazon.uk | Amazon
![The Green Line Divide: Romance, Travel, and Turmoils by [Vally, Z]](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51Uc1oiICvL.jpg)
Romance, humour, and drama abound in this fast-paced, playful novel–and so, too, do questions and surprises. The Green Line Divide: Romance, Travel, and Turmoils encounters readers with people from various parts of the world, including exotic destinations like Cyprus and the Greek island of Rhodes. And follow a young woman named Alexis as she struggles with gamophobia and tries to come to terms with her independence, relationships, and the future.
Smitten with a handsome Swede named Sven, a United Nations officer, Alexis plans to marry him, but has a lot of issues to confront if she’s to make it down the aisle–and, as she confronts them, The Green Line Divide is sure to touch your heart, educate you, tickle your funny bone, and put a smile on your face.
Will Alexis ever marry? Or will she find an excuse to run away from it all–again? Step into this book for answers. Along the way, you’ll also learn new travel, leisure, and entertainment ideas.
GROND: The Raven High
In the year 2086, Earth is exhausted. The seas have been emptied, the bedrock and soil stripped of their resources, and the superheated atmosphere churns with terrible storms. Those who can afford to do so live in the limbo of virtual reality, and the billions who suffer in poverty have no work, no clean water, and no security from the chaos.
The only hope for those trapped on a dying Earth are the Changed—the seven bioengineered post-humans who work in their separate manufacturing facilities orbiting high above the planet. Raised from birth for their work and fully matured at ten years old, their genius provides the nanomaterials that have begun to cleanse Earth of the pollutants that have wiped out almost the entire ecosphere.
But for Olga Voronov, youngest of the Changed, the isolation and endless toil are not the greatest of her challenges. Down on Earth there are those who resent and fear her talents—and would prefer that humanity not be given the second chance that only she could make possible…
LITERARY TITAN 