Meet Multitalented Author, Michelle Matkins

Today I’m thrilled to be interviewing the wonderful author, Michelle Matkins. First Michelle, could you tell us about your books?

Hi Katheryn!  I’m so excited to be interviewed on your blog. So far, I have written 13 books. Under the name Michelle Ann Hollstein, I’ve written a fantasy trilogy; The Niberia Chronicles, and a cozy mystery series; The Ms. Aggie Underhill Mysteries. I also have a brand new YA Paranormal series; A Lost Souls Novel, written under the name Michelle Matkins.

Why did you become an author?

Honestly, I was bored at work. I know, sounds silly. I was working as an administrative assistant for many years and when I’d finish all of my work, I’d get bored. Most people within the company played Solitaire or surfed the net, but I decided to utilize my time with writing. I couldn’t just open a book at my desk and read like I wanted to, so I figured I’d write my own book instead. When I finished writing the 1^st one, I couldn’t stop. I was completely hooked. I couldn’t wait to get started writing the 2^nd book.

An Interview with Frederick Lee Brooke, Author of Zombie Candy

Please enjoy this interview with Frederick Lee Brooke, author of the genre-bending mystery Zombie Candy. Then read on to learn how you can win huge prizes as part of this blog tour, including $550 in Amazon gift cards, a Kindle Fire, and 5 autographed copies of the book.  

1. What was the inspiration behind your novel, Zombie Candy?

There was a famous golfer whose wife chased him out of the house with a golf club in the middle of the night a couple of years ago. It was funny that she attacked her husband with his own weapon of choice. I got to thinking what must be going through a woman's mind in that situation? I thought it would be interesting to explore the thought processes of a woman who discovers that her husband is a serial cheater. After the denial comes anger, but there is also a phase of grief. There's guilt. Maybe she blames herself, rightly or wrongly. Candace oscillates between wanting revenge and wanting her husband back, and as the novel winds up she makes discoveries about herself that I thought a woman in her situation would be likely to make.

Meet Wayne Zurl, Author of the Sam Jenkins Mysteries

Today I’m welcoming Wayne Zurl, but first who is he?

Wayne Zurl grew up on Long Island and retired after twenty years with the Suffolk County Police Department, one of the largest municipal law enforcement agencies in New York and the nation. For thirteen of those years he served as a section commander supervising investigators. He is a graduate of SUNY, Empire State College and served on active duty in the US Army during the Vietnam War and later in the reserves. Zurl left New York to live in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee with his wife, Barbara.

Thirteen (13) of his Sam Jenkins mysteries have been produced as audio books and simultaneously published as eBooks. His first full-length novel, A NEW PROSPECT, was named best mystery at the 2011 Indie Book Awards, is currently a finalist in the 2012 Eric Hoffer Book Awards and was nominated for a Montaigne Medal. A new novel, A LEPRECHAUN’S LAMENT, debuts on St. Patrick’s Day, 2012 in hardcover with eBooks coming soon.

Murder in the English Countryside: Meet Author Stella Stafford

I love England, especially Oxford and the surrounding areas, so today it’s great to welcome an English author from Oxfordshire, Stella Stafford. First Stella, could you tell us something about your books?

I write mystery crime novels, the Little Wychwell Mysteries, which are set in Oxford and in the village of Little Wychwell. Little Wychwelldoesn’t exist in reality but there are many villages very similar to it all over Oxfordshire. The first Little Wychwell Mystery (Did Anyone Die?) is already published both in paperback and on Kindle. The second one (A Very Quiet Guest) is due to be published in paperback at the end of May this year (2012) and will be out on Kindle shortly after that.  I have written three more which do not yet have publication dates. Every time I decide that my current book is the last one in this series I find I miss my characters and wonder what they are up to now, so I write another. I also write science fiction, my first science fiction book is ‘Hunting the Thingle, the First Demeter Chronicle’, this does not yet have a publication date as yet. People who follow my tweets will know that I also write about the local Oxfordshire natural history. My books are written in UK English with UK spelling.

Mystery and Suspense with New York Times Bestselling Author, Chris Culver

It's great to be able to welcome bestselling author, Chris Culver. First of all, congratulations on the huge success of your New York Times bestselling murder mystery, The Abbey! For readers who haven’t read it, could you tell us a little bit about the story?

Thanks for the congratulations! The Abbey is a story about a Midwestern detective's investigation into his niece's very bizarre death. The more he investigates, though, the stranger and more dangerous his case becomes. With a body count ratcheting up with every other chapter, Ash realizes that if he doesn't solve his case quickly, his niece might not be his only family that dies.

The story straddles the line between being a mystery and a thriller, which, hopefully, makes it fun to read.  It was a lot of fun to write.

Murder, Mystery and God, Part II

Welcome back Philip. It's great to have you here again!  Since we last spoke, what have you been up to?

Hello again, Katheryn.

It is hard to believe that only two months have gone by since your last interview, yet so many exciting have happened. Shortly after the interview, I was approached by the American writer, Dennis Sheehan, (Author of the political thriller Purchased Power), who invited me to participate in The Writers Collection. Dennis has brought ten writers together and every week each posts a short story on a given subject. Yes, I did say every week, which makes this a demanding commitment, but it is fascinating to see how each writer tackles the different and diverse subjects.

Music, World War II and a Russian Billionaire: Meet Julie Thomas

After Robert Collins’ and Kevin Ashman’s excellent guest posts about how history has influenced their books, I am pleased to be continuing this topic with author Julie Thomas who is talking today about her wonderful book, The Secret Keeper, and the amazing World War II story behind it.

Julie Thomas

Hello to all of Katheryn's readers from far-flung New Zealand and thank you so much for sharing a few minutes with me.

I have three books uploaded to Amazon and Smashwords, one is a novel, one is a book of short stories and one is a book of my late father's letters home from WWII, he was a Spitfire pilot in the UK and the Middle East. Today I am talking to you about my novel, The Secret Keeper. It's had five five-star reviews on Amazon and one on Smashwords and is free! It's number one for free Jewish fiction on Amazon and I suspect I am the only Gentile on the list. I uploaded it in early September and so far have had around 8,000 downloads.

Ancient Rome, Murder Mystery and Adventure: An afternoon with Kevin Ashman

This afternoon author Kevin Ashman has kindly agreed to talk to me about his bestselling books and how he came to write them.  Over to you Kevin!  

Hi there to all Katheryn’s readers and thanks for allowing me a few moments of your precious time.

First of all I would like to say I am a relative newcomer to writing, though have had some minor success, selling almost 8,000 copies since September 2011. Not life changing, but I am very grateful to all who have downloaded them so far.

Secondly, I would point out that the book overview below is not of my best seller Roman, but of my third book, Mortuus Virgo.

Murder, Ballet and God: An interview with Philip Catshill, author of the Mike Newman mysteries

Last September I did a blog post called ‘When Good Guys Go Bad’ about the mystery novel ‘Who Else IsThere?’ and today I am thrilled to be interviewing the author of the Mike Newman mysteries, Philip Catshill. First of all Philip, can I ask how you become an author and what led you to write your first book, ‘Who Else Is There?'

My original intention was to write a brief account of an accident and illness I had 30 years ago, and the eighteen months it took to get back to my work as a police sergeant. It was one of those serious illnesses where, at the time, the likelihood of living another 30 hours seemed pretty remote.

Who Else is There? What happens when the good guys go bad?

There are many things I have worried about over the years.  Some are fairly trivial, like how do you caramelise a good crème brȗlée without a blow torch?  Others are more serious, like how would we survive a nuclear war?  One of my more serious worries is what would you do if you were framed for a murder and either you couldn’t prove your innocence, or for some reason the police were corrupt and therefore convicting you unfairly?  ‘Who Else is There’ is a murder mystery which partly deals with the latter problem: corrupt police.  Who can you turn to if you can’t trust the police?