Joshua Fordyce: Pursuing What Molds Us

I met Joshua Fordyce recently at the Middle Georgia Literary Festival. You need to meet him too. He is a retired American Navy veteran who loves writing stories, songs, and movie scripts. He found inspiration to finish one of his hundreds of incomplete projects in the wake of his mother’s passing in 2022. Being a huge fan of both Westerns and Fantasy, he decided to merge the two genres to create Black Sleeve, his premiere book, completed in 2023. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I am currently working on Book 3 of the Arms of Malar series called Rune Sleeve. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

Growth through suffering. There is a tendency in today's society to say that suffering is bad, but in all honesty, our suffering is what truly molds us into who we are. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

My mother passed away in February of 2022. After that, I wrote my first book. There was an article about it published here.

What inspires you to write? 

Thomas Hraynyk: Writing Is My Escape

Thomas Hraynyk is Canadian-born from Oshawa, Ontario. At forty-three, he is accomplishing a long dream of publishing his first novel. Through many obstacles over the past five years, he has persevered and worked hard to get to this point. His story goes far beyond that and is pretty darn inspiring, so you should check out his website for the rest of it. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

A.M.P.D. Artificial Military Prosthetics Division Book 1, and Book 2 The Phantom Limb releases this coming March. It is a series that follows a handful of soldiers who end up with weaponized prosthetics. I have also just published a short story on Kindle called Hearts on the Apex: The Afterburn. This is a story about a young race car driver with all the skill and potential to be great. However, life happens, and everything changes, and he decides to disappear.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I have experienced a lot of loss and hardship in my life, and my writing is my escape. It is also the way I strive to motivate and encourage others to never give up. Even though my novels are science fiction, the message is in the characters and backstories. Soldiers with weaponized prosthetics have to cope and deal with loss and PTSD, while trying to protect the world. It also looks at the debate of choice and orders.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I had this Idea for A.M.P.D. years ago, and one day, after losing my job, my fiance looked at me and said, "Why don't you write that story you keep talking about all the time?" So I started writing it on my cell phone. Years later, after life and living, she passed away tragically. She died in my arms, and after a year of grieving, I said to myself, "I need to do this." I need to get this finished and published. So I made the decision to learn and do whatever it took to get it done.

Amber Hansford: It Ties Back to Music

I met Amber Hansford recently at a Middle Georgia Book Festival. She is a writer, designer, and Dragon Con track director living in Atlanta, Georgia. A former UX Director turned full-time creative, she’s currently focused on stories, strange hobbies, and sharpening her Apocalypse Skills™.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent work is The Veil of Takhsha, Book Two of The Emari Chronicles, an epic fantasy series inspired by pre-Islamic Persian history and mythology. The series is a quartet, and the second book leans harder into political fracture, divine silence, and the personal cost of power. While the first book establishes the world and the magic, Veil is where things start to crack and the reader sees how the darkness and rot are revealed from a different perspective.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Looking through my work in general, both published and not, I’d say that I tend to come back to what it means to be strong, especially when it comes down to the difference between being strong for others and being strong for yourself, and what that choice costs.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I have always been a storyteller, ever since I was little. I have around twenty books in some state in a digital drawer that I worked on for years before I realized, at 50, that I needed to decide what I wanted to do with my writing. The Hand of Mashyana became my debut novel, published a month before my 51st birthday.

What inspires you to write?

Almost everything I write ties back to music I love. Emari started because of a few lines in a song that I couldn’t get out of my mind because of the image that it created for me. While it may not be obvious within what I write, I always have a song, or sometimes even an album, that has inspired it. There will always be a playlist, usually best played on shuffle, that will give you the vibes of what I’ve written.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

The Hand of Mashyana will always hold a special place in my heart. It was my debut, my baby. It gave me my first published book and the world I’m building this quartet in. I think there are more stories outside of this series in Emari, but this quartet is the solid foundation.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

I once heard an author say that you hope your first book is your worst book. I have that digital drawer of things I’d love to revisit now that I’ve gone through what I have with Emari.

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Oh, so many… and the list does change depending on what I’m writing and where I am at the moment, but for Emari in particular, R.F. Kuang, Brandon Sanderson, V.E. Schwab, and L. Penelope were all highly influential in shaping Emari into what it is.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

For me, it’s very hard to separate the two when it comes to writing. The art is the story, and the science is telling it well. And in that balance, you find that great book that is someone’s favorite book.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process?

Outside of balancing a full-time job and building an author career, I’d say that it’s trusting that the work will come together before all the pieces are visible to me. I tend to see pieces of a story before I understand how every part connects, and sitting in that uncertainty can be uncomfortable, and honestly? A blocker when I first started getting serious about writing. While editing isn’t the easiest, it’s still so much easier for me than drafting.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not?

I fell for the whole ‘authors work alone’ trope myself for years, but my writing, both craft and career, finally found its footing when I found my current writing group. We all met via a writing workshop, and once the workshop wrapped up, we kept meeting every week since, now for over two years. They’ve been huge for camaraderie, critique, and support.

What does literary success look like to you?

Stability. Being an author, especially an indie author, is a long game. Your backlist is your superpower, showing that you’re not just here for a little while. I only half-joke about the fact that writing is my retirement plan, given the state of everything else.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?

I’m currently wrapping up work on Book 3 in the Emari Chronicles, The Embers of Tamidh (working title, may change), with a release scheduled for mid-year 2026, and I’m also working on the final book in this series to release around the end of the year 2026. After that? I have a few things that wouldn’t let go of me until I got a beat sheet together, so now it’s just a matter of choosing what comes next.

For more information, visit:

My website, amberhansford.com, includes information on upcoming events, social media links, book details, and my direct sales shop if you’d prefer to buy directly rather than through major retailers.

Anna Holloway: Don't Forget to Wave

Anna Holloway spent her teaching and administrative career of forty-six years all at one HBCU (historically black college and university). I have written about my experience, especially the early part, and I’m still in the process of learning more about black people’s experiences. Originally from the Midwest and now in the South and the mother of two interracial sons, Anna writes about her life-changing experiences as a white instructor at a black college during the time of the Vietnam War, voting reforms, and public-school integration. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

Be Sure to Wave: An Interracial Family in Rural Georgia takes place 1978-92 in very rural Macon County. We experienced a gunshot in our house and a local church reacting against our three-year-old son's attending Sunday school, and we were even touched by the KKK, it appeared. But we came to like most of our neighbors, our two sons loved being in the country, and we lived seeing the wildlife. We did work and took the boys to school in Fort Valley.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

In my memoirs and many of my poems so far, I reflect on real-life differences between being a Southerner and being a Midwesterner, and this is through my lens of coming from the Midwest in 1968 to teach at Fort Valley State, where I spent my career of 46 years.

J. Brice Odom: Becoming an Older Kid

J. Brice Odom was born and raised in the great state of Georgia and now resides in the beautiful city of Macon. Since he was a young child, he has enjoyed creating stories and investigating history. He has been writing stories of all shapes and sizes since he was in elementary school. As he has gone through high school and college, and out of and back into a teaching career, that desire to create worlds of words and explore the ideas of literature and history remains undiminished. He has been telling stories since he was a young kid and intends to be telling stories as he becomes an older and older kid.  

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent book is hard boiled detective novel called Moonlight in the Tombstones. I tried to channel the feeling of the old film noir stories like The Maltese Falcon. The detective is wearing a fedora, the dialogue is often quick and sarcastic, there is a beautiful woman who we have no clue whose side she is really on, plenty of twists and turns, and a couple good gun fights along the way! 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I am a pretty eclectic writer in terms of genre. I have a detective novel, fantasy novel, short story collection that has various genres, a little poetry book, and a history book. Ultimately, what I like to usually say is most often I write of the fantastic, whether that is fantasy, science fiction, southern lit, or any other genre.

What hapened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I can't think of a time I have not enjoyed telling stories. I remember, when I was little, my Granny typing as I told her a story about a lava monster on her typewriter, and then putting it in a little plastic page protector thing. I got to make a cover and in some ways it was my first book. But I was writing stories all through elementary. I like to describe myself as an older kid still just telling stories...and I don't think I will ever grow out of it!

Matthew Hand: Neither Tidy Nor Meant To Be

Matthew Hand grew up around the Southeast. He writes stories about people under pressure—moral, spiritual, familial, sometimes all at once. The characters are often trying to make sense of something bigger than them: grief, memory, belief, God, or the silence that follows when none of those things show up the way they expect. But he doesn’t write to explain. He writes to document what happens when there’s no clear rescue and no one left to blame. The stories aren’t tidy. They aren't meant to be.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I just finished a story called Disqualified. It’s a horror narrative that starts like a typical cabin slasher, but the protagonist knows the rules — she knows she’s supposed to die — and goes anyway. It’s really about choice and consequence, turning the genre’s moral code into something theological and personal.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I think most of my work tends to revolve around people confronting their own grief - personal, familial, institutional. That sounds dark and depressing, but I think my approach is cleansing: here’s a mess, let’s organize it.

Kristina Gruell: Found Family and Epic Magic

Kristina Gruell's stories revolve around found family, epic magic, and overcoming the darkest times in one’s life to step into the light. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work. 

The Dark Moon is the first book in the Night Goddess Series. It follows five characters as they face challenges in a world that has just broken. Again. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

Triumph after adversity and found family. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I was in a vehicle vs pedestrian accident, and I wasn’t in the vehicle. A neighbor intentionally hit me with his truck, and I ended up in a wheelchair. I started role-playing online, then eventually writing stories to deal with the pain and loss of mobility. It was one of the things that saved me, writing stories. 

A.J. Porter: At Odds with the Supernatural

A.G. Porter is an author of YA Paranormal Thrillers. She loves writing about diverse characters in the Deep South who are constantly at odds with the supernatural. When she isn't working on her next YA Paranormal book, she is pouring her heart into her poetry collection or writing her next sweeping Romance book under Amanda Guerrero-Porter. She lives in Alabama with her husband and three sons. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I am set to release a Rock Star Romance in February of 2026. And while some people may say, "another one," there will be someone else who will say, "another one, yes!" Because the best thing about troupes is that someone is going to love them. The fun thing about this one is that my FMC is a Mexican American woman from the Deep South (Alabama) who has worked really hard to overcome past trauma to become the award-winning songwriter she is. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I always put Mexican American or Native American characters in my work. Whether it's the FMC or the MMC, though, I do tend to write from the female perspective, considering that is how I identify. I do this because I am a mixed-Mexican American from Alabama, and I didn't see a lot of representation in media as a young reader. Even if some of my work is paranormal, the theme of racial identity is very heavily focused on in all of my books. 

Stuart Jaffe and the Definition of Family

Stuart Jaffe is the madman behind The Max Porter Paranormal Mysteries, the Ridnight Mysteries, Nathan K thrillers, The Parallel Society, The Malja Chronicles, The Bluesman, Founders, Real Magic, and so much more. His unique brand of old pulp adventure mixed with a contemporary sensibility brings out the best in a variety of SF/F sub-genres. He trained in martial arts for over a decade until a knee injury ended that practice. Now, he plays lead guitar in a local blues band, The Bootleggers, and enjoys life on a small farm in rural North Carolina. And yes, the chickens are still not allowed in the house.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I'm currently working on the sequel to Pioneers of the Pathway (Pathway Ring #1). It's a science fiction family saga following the Monclova family through the centuries surrounding the creation and use of the first ever stargate-type machine. Once used, those who go through get spit out somewhere in the universe, and if they want to return home, they've got to build the other side. So, we experience several generations of this family through the building of the machines, the family dramas, the political tensions, first contact, and much more. It's a huge canvas and a blast to write.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

The definition of family -- blood versus found family -- certainly comes up a lot.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I've always loved stories. My undergrad degree is in directing theater, and while pursuing that, I started writing plays. That led to short stories which led to novels. 30 years later, here I am still telling stories.

What inspires you to write? 

Food. Paying the bills. Health care.

Also, I think art of any type is one of the fundamental aspects of being human that makes us unique. Art is about human beings expressing to other human beings what it means to be human. Making that connection with readers is the best, and always inspires me to write more.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

Choose a baby? Nah. They're all important to me for different reasons.

Darin Kennedy Ascending

Darin Kennedy is a friend and quite a prolific writer. He's the author of Fugue & Fable, The Pawn Stratagem, Songs of the Ascendant, Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, and The April Sullivan. Chronicles.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My new series is Songs of the Ascendant. I’m currently working on Vol. 4 of…9??? 😀 Think X-Men meets Highlander meets Buffy with the mythology of the world built on '80s pop music.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

One of my series is based on Russian classical music, one on '80s pop music, one on A Christmas Carol, and the chapter titles of my magical chess series are all songs from the Broadway musical Chess. You tell me. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I was deployed to Iraq in 2003, and I’d always wanted to write a story about what would happen if the game of chess came to life, so I did.

What inspires you to write?

My desire to tell the stories that fill my head, whether I want them to or not.

Chris Jackson: Real People in Fantasy Worlds

As a professional sailor, writer, scientist, and life-long gamer, writing nautical and RPG tie-in fantasy came naturally for Chris.  His Scimitar Seas novels (Dragon Moon Press) won multiple gold medals from Foreword Reviews Magazine, and his Pathfinder Tales—Pirate’s Honor, Pirate’s Promise, and Pirate’s Prophecy (Paizo Publishing)—have received high praise and are fan favorites. Though he’s built a reputation writing pirate stories, his Weapon of Flesh series about a magical assassin has hit the Kindle bestseller list several times, and is now being released as an audiobook, too. Chris has also branched into other genres including horror with his novella The Deep Gate, a tie-in story for the Arkham Horror game (Fantasy Flight Games), and satirical science fiction with his Cheese Runners trilogy of novellas. His latest series—The War of Souls and Seeds of Darkness Trilogy—are being published through Falstaff Press.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I recently wrapped up two trilogies nearly on the very same day. The Eternal, Book 3 of the War of Souls Trilogy, is published by Falstaff Books, a gritty, post-apocalyptic fantasy. The other, Son of War, is the third in a high fantasy trilogy, The Seeds of Darkness, set in my own world. Really satisfying!

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Personal struggle, deep emotion, quite often romantic elements, though not always, and humor. I tell my fans that I create real people in fantasy worlds (SF and Horror, too), and real people are messy, conflicted, emotional, and complicated. My own world is a “magic lite” fantasy. I have two nautical fantasy series there, the Scimitar Seas novels, and the Blood Sea Tales, but also magically augmented assassins, swords and sorcery, and dark fantasy.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

The answer’s kind of tropey, but running TTRPG adventures taught me storytelling. I ran a very long and involved adventure for friends in grad school, which, when it was done, had created an entire region of my current fantasy world. With the players’ permission, and my then girlfriend’s (now wife of 35 years) impetus, I wrote the adventure as a novel, which morphed into a trilogy. After you write 400K words, you can’t tell yourself you’re not a writer anymore. I took that ball and ran with it.

What inspires you to write? 

That’s a hard question to answer. People ask where I get my ideas, and I’m always like “Really?” My brain is a bit like trying to drink from a firehose on full blast. I have more ideas than I’ll ever be able to put on paper. I’m inspired by other writers, fans, games, travel, cultures, food, and even politics. I got one of my best ideas, for the Scimitar Seas novels, simply by looking up at the night sky and a thin crescent moon. I thought “that looks like a scimitar” and then “Huh… Scimitar Moon” and realized that was the title of my next book. I built an entire series over that title.

What of your works has meant the most to you?

The Weapon of Flesh series was our most successful, by far, and was life changing. Because of the success of that series, we were able to extend our sailing adventure from the planned 3-4 years to 13 years! I haven’t had a “day job” since 2009, largely thanks to that series.

If you have any former project to do over to make it better, which one would it be, and what would you do?

Another hard question. Nothing really comes to mind other than a very few anthologies I’ve taken part in that didn’t sell well or were at the behest of a manipulative “publisher.” I don’t regret writing the stories, but really should have been more “eyes open” as to the motives of the publishers. Live and learn, and always read the contract thoroughly!

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Steven Brust (his Vlad Taltos novels) Elizabeth Moon (her Deed of Paksinarion Trilogy) and Jacqueline Carey (her Kushiel series), all for different reasons. Brust for his simplicity, Moon for her consummate storytelling and emotion, and Carey for her amazing use of the English language.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or it is a science continuum?" Why?

Art, by far, but as with every art, there is technique involved, which can be called a “science” but not in the scientific definition. As a scientist by training and education, I take exception when people call something “a science” when it’s really not. Science is hypothesis, testing, theory, experimentation, analysis of results, critiques by others, and more experimentation. Writing is simply a learned technique, like flying a plane or building a piece of woodwork. It’s beautiful when it’s done well, and artistic, but a result of practice and learning methods and using tools.

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Keeping up the momentum. There’s a chart often shown by writers of enthusiasm, it starts high, then dwindles until it’s really low, usually about three quarters of the way through a project, then increases again. At that low, I find it hard to continue each morning… but I do.

How do your writer friends help you become a better writer? Or do they not? 

If they didn’t help me become a better writer, they wouldn’t be my friends. Mostly, through enthusiasm and little things like beta reading and bouncing ideas around. They call it “networking” but it’s really just being friends. On a larger scale, I belong to the International Association of Tie-In Writers, which is an absolutely fantastic group. If you have any question about a tie-in project, there’s someone to help you who has been there.

What does literary success look like to you? 

That’s something that I don’t know if any writer can point at and say, “I’ve succeeded in my career as a writer.” It’s different for every writer. For me, it’s continuing to entertain my fans with original, meaningful, emotional stories. At this stage of my life, I’m not in this for the money, though it would be nice to have a bestseller. But I think even that success would be more of a thrill that I was reaching than many more fans, enriching their lives a tiny bit with a good story.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

I’m working with Paizo Publishing on a new Pathfinder novel, which is still going through development stages (even though the novel is written). My very first tie-in novel was with Paizo, and I love working in that world.

For more information, visit: 

http://jaxbooks.com

Paige Watts: Finding the Balance

This week we're jumping into an interview with a non-fiction travel writer. Paige Watts is an Atlanta-based travel blogger, and ready to help you plan your travels around the Southern USA and the world.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent release is called What’s With Atlanta?: The Quirks, Personality, and Charm of the ATL. It’s a fun history guide to Atlanta, with each section a short tidbit that reads like trivia (so you’ll ace any Atlanta-themed trivia night!).

If you’ve ever wondered why every street is named “Peachtree” or how the Braves came to be in Atlanta, then this is the book for you. It’s a great guide for both tourists and locals, especially Atlanta newcomers who want to know why they can’t call it “Hotlanta”. I really tried to hit all the big attractions, festivals, traditions, sports, food, and historical moments that make Atlanta tick.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I’ve always been interested in the unusual, the quirky, the odd attractions, the things that give a place character. And I’ve also found that even the major attractions that seem quite normal will often have something quirky in their past, so I try to get to the heart of that unique history. I mean, every state has a capital building, so what makes one more special than another? (For Atlanta, it’s the Dahlonega gold and the weird way they got it here.)

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I’ve always been a writer. I remember writing stories for assignments in elementary school, and I started writing short stories for fun in middle school. My English teacher even let me and my friends put my stories toward pages read in our reading logs. Then I entered and won a few short story contests in high school, took a creative writing class, and found a university program for creative writing that showed me that I could actually make a career out of writing.

Steve and Paul: Two Men and a Typewriter

Steve Murphy has spent much of his life in uniform, starting with four years in the Navy as a GMM, where he earned the Navy Expeditionary Medal and Navy Unit Commendation. Afterwards he did a stint in the Army National Guard. As if that wasn’t enough, Steve then spent 23 years as a police officer, working 9 of those years as a SWAT sniper. So naturally, he writes science-fiction, fantasy, and space opera.

Paul Barrett has had multiple careers, including rock and roll roadie, theater stage manager, television camera operator, mortgage banker, and support specialist for Microsoft Excel. This eclectic mix allowed him to go into his true love: motion picture production.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

We have two most recents. The first is Knight Ascendant,  the second novel in the Knights of the Flaming Star series, which is about a group of intergalactic mercenaries. Think Guardians of the Galaxy with magic. It’s a standalone like the first book, with a few throughlines. We came up with the characters in our 20s and they stuck with us all these years. We are currently working on the third book of the series.

The second is the Malaise Falchion, which we call JRR Tolkien meets Elmore Leonard. It’s about a dwarf private eye who gets in over his head trying to help a femme fatale. Paul wrote the first novel, but the second book is in the works and is being done by Paul and Steve.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Seth Tucker's Peanut Butter in His Chocolate

With a dark imagination and a love for action, Seth Tucker likes to think that he has mixed the two together to create a winning combination (much like peanut butter and chocolate). But he'll let you decide.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

My most recent release is called Rabenhaus. It's a gothic horror that mixes elements of Poe and Lovecraft. The story centers around a plague doctor that is called to the titular village where a mysterious plague is ravaging the area. He's not alone though as a secretive group of doctors spirits away the sick and dead into the surrounding forest. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Small-town horror and conspiracies of silence that exist in those communities have been a theme that started cropping up in my work most recently. A distrust of authority has been present from my very first novel. Given the climate of the last few decades, I can't imagine where that comes from. Lately, I've also been exploring loss and grief in my writings, but none of those works have been published yet. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I learned I lacked any talent for drawing. As a lover of comic books, I wanted to tell stories in that medium. When I was 12, I wrote short stories to help me deal with those feelings of pre-pubescent helplessness. It was comforting to have a world where I controlled everything.

Edward McKeown: To See Something Is Possible

Edward McKeown is best known for his Confederation Space Series: the Robert Fenaday/Shasti Rainhell novels of the Privateer Sidhe and in the same universe, the ten books Maauro series (in two cycles of five books each) Maauro Chronicles and Maauro Seachanges featuring a 50,000-year-old android Maauro and her friend, pilot Wrik Trigardt, as they battle governments and the Thieves Guild for their freedom. 

Ed has forayed into urban fantasy in Knight in Charlotte and Knight in Charlotte:Oniichan Ed has also edited six Sha’Daa anthologies of tales of the Apocalypse. He has a wide variety of interests including ballroom dance, martial art,s and weapon fighting.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

I have several irons in the fire at the moment.  Currently, we are working on the audiobooks of the Maauro series.  That series which centers on an alien-made AI and the disgraced pilot who finds her, was done in two five-book cycles and we are finishing the fourth book of the second cycle.  I am working with two very talented New York Actors who bring these characters to vivid life, Charlie Keegan James and Brian Kozak.

Most of my sixteen SF books are set in the same universe of Confederation Space.  Rather like what Larry Niven did with his “Known Space” work.  This way the stories can interrelate and even crossover as happened between the Fenaday/Rainhell Chronicles and the later Maauro stories. 

Kevin Arthur Davis: Speaking Their Voices

Kevin A. Davis has written three contemporary fantasy series: The Khimmer Chronicles (six books), the AngelSong Series (six books), and his newest episodic series the DRC Files. Award-winning Book One of the DRC Files, Atlanta’s Guide to Cryptids, has elements of horror especially in the opening and has risen to the top 100 best sellers in Contemporary Fantasy in the first month of its launch.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

An Arcanist Problem in Reno: Book One of DRC Phoenix is a spinoff from the DRC Files, where Zach Graves joins the DRC team out of Phoenix to hunt down those who took everything from him. Like the DRC Files, it is a paranormal procedural and will be episodic, with each book dealing with a case. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

Characters overcoming flaws and obstacles.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I read a lot and connected with characters, so when I reached high school, I wanted to speak their voices.

What inspires you to write? 

The characters in my head that I talk with.

Hollis Jo McCollum: Hopeless Romance and Magic Sparkles

Hollis Jo McCullum is a fantasy author, designer, podcaster, Bookfest Bellweather, and all around silly person. She writes two different dark fantasy book series: The Raashan Series and the Lost Beacon Chronicles.

With a degree in history and specializations in the ancient Etruscans and medieval Britain, history and mythology are continuous inspirations for her writing, so you'll even get some fun history to rattle off at parties when you read her books. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

Most recently, I published the third book in my first complete trilogy! My Raashan trilogy is epic dark fantasy with inspired romantic subplots. It opens on the world of Raashan in a state of post-apocalyptic chaos, where our heroes are striving to survive in a dying world. The first book in the Raashan trilogy, To Save a World, has won two national awards. The second book, The Queen Witch, has also won a national award and has received praise for my original take on fairies. Tear in the World, the third book in the Raashan trilogy, hasn't been entered in any contests yet, but my reader feedback has been excellent. I'm very proud. :)

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

On the romantic side, I live for a slow-burn romance and those little, sweet moments of nuance that speak of true intimacy and affection. What can I say? I'm a born hopeless romantic!

On the adventure side of things, I love to empower my characters and highlight true teamwork and friendship. Personally, I'm very sappy about how much I love my friends and family. So, I very much enjoy exploring those relationships in my writing and developing them through the characters. Also, I write fantasy so naturally I love a completely impossible, extreme situation that can be resolved by any means I can possibly imagine. Since magic is real I can pretty much do whatever I want so long as I throw magic sparkles on it. It is so much fun to do the impossible over and over again.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

Like many writers, I love to read and have been reading since an early age. However, what really prompted me to start writing was playing D&D.

Gordon Dymowski: Ideas Three for a Dollar

As a New Pulp writer, Gordon Dymowski has written many short stories, including the 2019 Pulp Factory Award-winning tale “Knights of the Silver Cross.” He has also crafted non-fiction essays for Crazy 8 Press, ATB Publishing and the DePaul Pop Culture Celebration. He also regularly contributes to I Hear of Sherlock Everywhere and the National Institute of Social Media. He has published with Pro Se Productions, Pilot Studios, Airship 27 Productions, and Space Buggy Press.

Tell us a bit about your latest work.

Currently, I have a short story titled “The Mists of Koramu” in CNI Classified Volume 4 from Blue Planet Press. I am also working on a Sherlock Holmes tale and a non-fiction project. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I rarely,  if ever, think about themes when I’m writing. It feels rather pretentious and can often seem rather deliberate in a “read-this-because-it-has-the-secrets-of-the-universe” way.

Looking back, however, I find myself focusing on issues around personal integrity, social justice, and complex morality.  That’s one of the reasons I consider myself a pulp writer: I can write about such issues simply and directly without feeling like I’m pandering or lecturing. Although  I’ve been more direct in my writing about such issues (see  “One Bullet Too Many” in Pilot Studios’ Always Punch Nazis Volume One), my preference is creating fictional scenarios to explore those themes. To paraphrase  Alfred Hitchcock, some stories are slices of life...mine are slices of cake. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer?

I grew up an only child, so I learned to entertain myself by creating stories when I was alone. My mother had given me a beat-up clipboard and used computer paper when I was six, and I remember consistently drawing and narrating stories. For a third-grade paper, I wrote a story about a boy who wanders into a “haunted” house making strange noises... and discovers a lost dog. 

But both parents fostered a love of reading: my father purchased several Dr. Seuss books right after I was born. My first “alone” trip was heading to the Brighton Park branch of the Chicago Public Library where I discovered both Sherlock Holmes and Doc Savage. In high school, I was often part of the “marketing”  team for various events, even down to writing and making announcements over the intercom. (My Joe Piscopo Sports Guy impersonation is second to none).

In college, I wrote a semi-regular column for the Loyola Phoenix, as well as various humor and music zines. That led to an online writing gig with Comic Related (which you can find via the Wayback Machine), which led to Airship 27 and Pro Se Productions, and the rest, they say, is history….

But if you want something more colorful, I was rocketed to this planet by my parents when Krypton exploded. That works. 

What inspires you to write?

There’s a store on 32nd Place and Aberdeen in Chicago, just across the street from the yellow pushcart hot dog stand. Head to the hot dog stand, and ask Mike for a “Nelson Algren special, hold the poppy seeds.” After that, I’m allowed into the store and I buy ideas three for a dollar. 

You don’t believe me, don’t you?

Inspiration comes from everywhere. It’s usually a case of me finding something or someone interesting and asking “What if?”

It also comes, on some level, from my fellow creatives. My fellow writers frequently craft stories that make me go “I wish I had thought of that”, but enable me to create something different with the same vibe. My musician/performing friends inspire me to stay in the moment, to “follow my muse” when I’m “in the zone.”

(I’m Generation X, so using “quotation marks” in that context is on-brand) 

What writers have influenced your style and technique?

Let me just name names and you can draw your own conclusions: Dashiell Hammett, Raymond Chandler, Sara Paretsky, Jim Thompson, Elmore Leonard, Octavia Butler, Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir, Robert R. McCammon, Robert B. Parker, Jonathan Kellerman.

Where would you rank writing on the "Is it an art or is it a science continuum?" Why?

It’s both an art and a science. 

Now, the obligatory rant: two words are used when describing the creative arts that get on my nerves. They are franchise and content. 

I know franchise is used as a shortcut for “movies highlighting a character, characters, or premise”, but it makes such entities sound too clinical. It’s like characters are fast food. But content is extremely evil since it makes any kind of creative endeavor (novel, movie, book, comic, web site copy, social media posting) as equal...and they’re not. Each piece of media serves a specific purpose and has a specific set of instructions. We’re seeing too many people call it all “equal”…

Yes, I am calling out advocates of generative AI to craft “content.” It takes more time to craft the “ideal” prompt to get halfway workable prose and “tweak” it than to think through what you’re attempting to write and craft it. 

One is focusing on quantity, the other quality. 

What is the most difficult part of your artistic process? 

Finding the time to write has been challenging, since I have been busy the past few years. Caring for my mother until her passing in 2022, dealing with a less-than-professional property owner, and regaining my professional footing have been exhausting. Plus, since my day job is focused on online meetings and consultations (I work as a copywriter and affordable housing advocate), that means I would rather not face the keyboard or sit down to write. Luckily, I manage to get some writing done per day, but it can be especially challenging at times.

Any other upcoming projects you would like to plug?  

Besides my short story, I encourage people to become a free or (preferably) paid member of my Patreon community. I’ve been working on increasing my outreach (and have been editing and writing some things), but I could really use the grassroots support. 

For more information, visit: 

Website: https://www.gordon-dymowski.com/

Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/gordondymowski

Teresa Inge: Beginning with the Business

Teresa Inge is an award-winning mystery author. Her work appears in over a dozen anthologies and novellas including First Comes Love, Then Comes Murder, Murder by the Glass, Virginia is for Mysteries, and Coastal Crimes. 

Teresa grew up reading Nancy Drew mysteries. She is a member of SinC, Short Mystery Fiction Society, and Virginia Writers Club.

She works for a global financial firm as an admin, notary administrator, and corporate reporter. When not writing, she displays her 1955 Ford Thunderbird at car shows. 

Teresa resides in Southeastern Virginia with her husband A.J. and dog Luke, a mixed shepherd-lab. 

Tell us a bit about your most recent work. 

I am finishing edits on The Bride Arrived DOA, a catering hall mystery set in North Carolina's Outer Banks. Cass Kennedy inherits a motel from her estranged brother who died under mysterious circumstances. She investigates the events surrounding his death and discovers that her brother had promoted the motel as a top wedding venue, which was anything but. 

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work? 

My southern coastal mysteries feature female protagonists who run their own businesses. Each protagonist conducts investigations outside of a typical office environment. These businesses include motels, beach shops, wine shops, dog walking and grooming services, wedding and event planning, and fabric stores among other enterprises. 

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

I grew up reading Nancy Drew. Her adventures in her blue roadster motivated me to pursue a career as a mystery writer. Additionally, her influence contributed to my decision to purchase a 1955 Torch Red Thunderbird, which is displayed at car shows and during book signings that often generate fun discussions.

Kathryn Sullivan and a Dad's Love of Sci-Fi

Kathryn Sullivan has been writing science fiction and fantasy since she was 14 years old. Having read her father’s collection of sf and fantasy, she started writing her own. Any place and any object is at risk of appearing in her stories – the river bluffs surrounding Winona, MN, where she lives, can become the windswept cliffs of an alien planet or the deep mysterious woods of a fantasy tale. She is owned by a large cockatoo, who graciously allows her to write about other animals, as well as birdlike aliens.

Tell us a bit about your most recent work.

Talking to Trees is the sequel to The Crystal Throne. Both are portal fantasies, where kids from our world are pulled into a magical world with wizards and elves and talking horses.  Talking to Trees also has gryphons and trees that talk to those who can listen.

What are the themes and subjects you tend to revisit in your work?

I like to write portal fantasies.  But I also like to include psi powers, whether they are considered science fiction or fantasy, clashes with other cultures, and people trying to do the right thing.

What happened in your life that prompted you to become a writer? 

My dad's science fiction collection.  I had read everything in it (back in the days when it was possible to read all the science fiction available) at the age of 14 and decided that I could write it as well.

What inspires you to write?

So many things. Soundtracks. Looking at a forest and thinking about who or what lives there. The works in the Art Show at a science fiction convention. I wrote one short story when I looked around my college campus and tried to picture an alien trying to navigate it. Science and archeology discoveries.