Guest Interviews


Interview with N. R. Walker.

The prized possession you value above all others…
 Hmmm, there is no possession I couldn’t live without. I’m not overly sentimental with material things, so I’d have to say selfish practicality would win and say house, car, laptop and phone.

 The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…
 Travelling the world when I was younger.  Backpacking as a twenty year old without a care in the world… *sigh*

 The temptation you wish you could resist…
 Chocolate. Coffee. Cheesecake. Cheese.  So, basically, the letter C is evil.  lol

 The book that holds everlasting resonance…
 Well, this a hard one…  There are hundreds of books that I’ve loved, but everlasting resonance?  I’d have to say The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint-Exupery.

 The priority activity if you were invisible for a day…
 I should say something cool here, like sneak into parts of some world famous museum or library and access areas that people aren’t allowed to go, but seriously, I’d have to say that I’d play pranks on people to scare the bajeezuz out of them. LOL

 The film you can watch time and time again…
 Star Trek 2009. I couldn’t tell you just how many times I’ve seen it. Far too many than would be considered normal. I’m a Pinto fan (Chris Pine and Zach Quinto) and when I say fan, I mean obsessed.

 The person who influenced you the most…
 Okay, I’m going to say Stephanie Meyer, but wait, please, hear me out...  Not for her writing, per se, but for the fact it was her books that got me into writing. I found fanfiction after reading the Twilight books, then I started writing my own and the rest is history. If it weren’t for Meyer’s books, maybe I would have never discovered writing at all.

 The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
 I don’t really have any quirky interests. I write, and I write some more. I also have two super-busy kids so my time for anything else is nil.

 The poem that touches your soul…
 Not sure about touching the soul, but one I remember well –   Robert Frost’s “Nothing Gold Can Stay”
 Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down today
Nothing gold can stay.

The event that altered the course of your life…
This one’s easy. Having my two kids. Some days I could hand in my Mum Card, but they’re the reason I’m here.

The song that means the most to you…
U2’s All I Want Is You – Not that I’m overly sentimental about stuff like that, but this was my wedding song.

 The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
I don’t really have any haunting regrets that keep me awake at night. Life’s too short for that. As I mentioned before, I wish I’d travelled more pre-kids and mortgage, but it’s a fleeting regret at best.

 Your early recollections of writing fiction...
I never really wrote stories as a child, but I do  remember having to write a piece of fiction for a high school exam in Year 11, starting the story with the line “The walls were yellow…” I got full marks for it and after the exams had been marked, the teacher asked if she could keep mine. I probably should have realised then that I had a way with words. LOL

About your latest release...

 pointofnoreturn_banner

 Point of No Return is the first book in the three-part Turning Point Series.
 It is actually a re-release – the book was actually released in 2012 but taken down, re-written and released through a different publisher.  It was the first book I ever wrote in attempts to get published, and was originally written as a stand-alone but the characters needed more life, and so there are now two more books to follow.

 Blurb:
Matthew Elliot is one of LA’s best detectives. He's been labelled the golden boy of the Fab Four: a team of four detectives who've closed down drug-rings all over the city. He’s smart, tough and exceptionally good at his job.
He's also a closeted gay man.

Enter Kira Takeo Franco, the new boxing coach at the gym. Matthew can't deny his immediate attraction to the man his fellow cops know as Frankie. But in allowing himself to fall in love with a man known to his colleagues, Matthew risks outing them both.
Matt and Kira work to keep their relationship and private lives hidden from Matt’s very public life, fearing it would be detrimental to their careers.
But it's not the other cops who Matthew should be worried about finding out his deepest, darkest secret…it's the bad guys.

 pointofnoreturn_800

 Amazon buy link is  Point of No Return

 TEB buy link  Point of No Return

 What’s next?

elementsofretrofit_banner

My next release, Elements of Retrofit – Book 1 in the Thomas Elkin Series is due out as a pre-release on the TEB site soon (meaning it’s exclusive to them for four weeks before being launched on Amazon). I’m incredibly proud of this three-part series and can’t wait for the world to meet Tom and Cooper.

Blurb:
A successful New York architect, Thomas Elkin almost has it all. Coming out as gay and ending his marriage before his fortieth birthday, he needed to start living his life. Now, four years later, with his relationship with his son back on track, and after a few short-lived romances, this esteemed traditional draftsman thought he knew everything about architecture, about life.

Cooper Jones, twenty-two years old, is about to take the architect world by storm. Talented, professional, driven, and completely infuriating, Cooper is the definition of Generation Y.
Starting an internship working with Thomas, Cooper is about to knock Tom’s world off its axis. Tom can teach Cooper about the architecture industry, but Cooper is about to teach Tom what it means to live.

elementsofretrofit_800

 TEB buy link  Elements of Retrofit     
 (please note the book is not available until 9th September)

 Thanks so much for having me!!!

IT WAS MY PLEASURE :)

Interview with Cindy Sutherland




The prized possession you value above all others…
Hmm, my laptop, probably. It is the gateway to my friends and my writing and I don’t think I could live without it! And my daughter! She’s not really my “possession” but she’s kind of special too!

The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…
I wish I had continued my education when I was younger. I was too afraid of trying to pay off student loans and let it paralyze me. Now I wish I’d gone to University and studied writing. 

The temptation you wish you could resist…
Coffee! I know I drink way too much and all my friends have fun teasing me about it. I bet my stomach and my sleep cycle would thank me if I could just resist its siren’s call!

The book that holds everlasting resonance…
Honestly, I don’t have just one book that stands out in my mind above all others. Choosing my favorite would depend on the mood I was in when I was making the choice. I’ve read thousands of books and I devour each and every one. All of them touch me for different reasons. 

The priority activity if you were invisible for a day…
Boy, that’s a slippery slope, lol. I think I’d like to spend the day following my daughter around and seeing what everyday life is like for her so maybe I could understand her a little better. I’d also like to be able to be in the bedroom of two men who love each other when they are being intimate. I’m not sure there would be anything more beautiful to see.

The film you can watch time and time again…
Star Wars, hands down. I’ve probably seen it over 500 times and it still makes me smile every single time.

The person who influenced you the most…
I don’t have one, I have two. My parents. They are both huge readers, they both love music and they adore their kids above everything else. Living with them hasn’t always been easy but I’ve learned a lot from them…even if what I learned is what I shouldn’t be doing.

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
I would love to fly in a fighter plane. I’m absolutely terrified of heights, but if someone offered me the chance, I jump at it in a second!

The poem that touches your soul…
There is a poem called “A Prayer for Children” by Ina Hughes. I first heard it on Knot’s Landing years ago and I carried a copy of it forever. I was one of the lucky kids who’d parents knew enough to not hurt me, but I knew some who were. Child abuse is the worse crime I can think of, especially when the abuser is someone the child loves. 

The event that altered the course of your life…
Finding the Luke and Noah storyline from As The World Turns on YouTube. It led me to my amazing friends who have done nothing but encourage me and push me to be good to myself. They are also the ones who made me feel confident enough to submit my first story to my publisher. If it wasn’t for them, I never could have done it.

The song that means the most to you…
My mom says that I live my life to a soundtrack that plays in my head. I could never pick just one song, although Shine by Cyndi Lauper means a lot because my best friend says it makes him think of me.

The happiest moment you will cherish forever…
Seeing my daughter for the first time. It made me feel like all the crap I’d gone through in my life was worth it, just to get her. My first yes from my publisher is a close second.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
Traveling to Ireland. When I see pictures of Ireland, I get the feeling of being homesick for someplace I’ve never been. I feel like if I don’t get there someday, my life will always be incomplete.

Your early recollections of writing fiction...
I used to play around at writing poems and stuff, but could never get the words to organize in my head. The first story I wrote was out of pure frustration with the story line in my favorite show. It was crap and I thought…I could do better…so I tried.


The plug…
My fourth novella, Hunt and Pray comes out from Dreamspinner Press in early April and I’m so excited about this one. It’s a thriller about a reporter who finds himself a little too involved in a story he was investigating. Luck of the Irish came out in January and it’s a sweet romance between two young men from different worlds.





Many thanks, Cindy.

Good luck with the new book release in April.




Welcome to Teegan Loy


First, I have to say thanks for having me on this blog. I’m going to relate all these questions to my writing. 

The prized possession you value above all others…
I guess it’s not really a possession in the true sense of the definition, but I value my imagination. Without it, there would be no stories. 

The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…
I’m pretty sure most people have regrets, but I’ve learned you cannot change what’s in the past. I have je ne regrette rien tattooed on my body to remind me not to live in the past and that when chances present themselves, to take them. 

The temptation you wish you could resist…
Well, that’s easy, when I should be writing, I’m racing around Facebook or Twitter or Tumblr. 

The book that holds everlasting resonance…
It has to be the Twilight series. Without those books, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be here talking about my own writing. 

The priority activity if you were invisible for a day…
Um, hehehehe, my dirty mind is spiraling out of control with that question

The film you can watch time and time again…
The one that comes to mind is Despicable Me. I know it’s a kid movie but man, it’s funny and I love Gru. I want my own minions. 

The person who influenced you the most…
Ugh, that’s a good question. I have a lot of friends and family who have encouraged me to chase after my dreams. It’s hard to pin it down to one person. 

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
I write m/m romance. That’s a totally unlikely interest. If someone told me that a few years ago, I would have thought they were psychotic. 

The poem that touches your soul…
The first poem that popped to mind is Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s How do I love thee, let me count the ways. I don’t read poetry very often. 

The event that altered the course of your life…
And we’re back to reading Twilight. I can’t explain why a young adult book made me start writing, but it did and now I’m here talking about the release of my book. 

The song that means the most to you… 
I love music. A song is the reason Frozen Hearts exists. I wrote the almost ending of Frozen Hearts when I heard the song Be Still by the Fray. Without this song, my novel might not be here. 

The happiest moment you will cherish forever…
Since we’re talking about writing, it had to be the first “yes” from a publisher. It came in the middle of the night and I immediately burst into tears thinking oh, my God, I can write. Finally. And then I drank a bottle of champagne. 

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
I’m currently working on fulfilling all my ambitions. 

Your early recollections of writing fiction…
I’ve been writing a long time. A lot of poetry in high school and my friend and I actually co-wrote a porny story about a hot guy that went to a different school. He was a hockey player. It was prophetic. Hahaha. 

The plug…
The best college hockey player in the nation is hanging up his skates because he’s tired of living a lie. Five years ago, Erik Fox was forced by his father to change schools in the middle of the night when his father found out about his indiscretion. Erik had a boyfriend and hockey players do not date boys. 
With his hockey career over, Erik is determined to change his life. Can Erik make peace with the boy he left behind and find the life he wants to live, or is he going to fold under the pressure from his father and everyone else who thinks he is defined by the game of hockey.
Frozen Hearts will be available on March 2, 2013 



You can also find me on Facebook at Teegan Loy
On Twitter as Drizzll 






Many thanks, Teegan, for telling us about your writing.



Theo Fenraven 




The prized possession you value above all others…
Has to be the laptop, as I do all my writing on it and take it everywhere.

The unqualified regret you wish you could amend…
That I didn’t start submitting manuscripts earlier! I’d be a lot further along by now if I’d had more confidence in myself.

The temptation you wish you could resist…
Trying to right every wrong, whether done to me or others. It simply can’t be done and causes me untold amounts of grief. I have to learn to let go.

The book that holds everlasting resonance…
Many books have resonance for me. I can’t name just one.

The priority activity if you were invisible for a day…
I wouldn’t bother eavesdropping on people because most of the time, what they’re discussing is boring. I’d want to run around naked, going all the places nude you can’t when you’re visible. :) 

The film you can watch time and time again…
I love You’ve Got Mail. Hanks and Ryan are really good, the story is engaging, and the supporting characters are wonderful. I never tire of hearing George say, “I'm going to get some eucalyptus candles 'cause it makes my apartment smell moss-ay!” This film is full of gorgeous lines I wish I’d written.

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
I am interested in everything. You name it, I’ll want to find out more about it.

The poem that touches your soul…
The Road Not Taken by Frost. Who hasn’t wondered what might have happened if they’d made this choice rather than that one?

The event that altered the course of your life…
There have been many, actually. Live long enough and your life is altered many times. Not moving to Europe when I had the chance; a lover unexpectedly breaking up with me; deciding to come back from Florida when, in retrospect, I really should have stayed; the day I got email from a publisher saying they wanted to offer me a contract. 

The song that means the most to you…
One song just won’t do it. I love too many.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
I’ve been extraordinarily lucky (or I wouldn’t give up), because everything I’ve ever wanted, I’ve gotten. All of it, without exception. Getting published was the last big thing on my life list, but since then, I’ve added, “Move somewhere warm” because I don’t like snow and cold. I’m working to achieve that goal and hope to make it a reality in the next year or two.

Your early recollections of writing fiction...
I wrote about cowboys and horses and ranches, and I started doing that around age seven or eight. Haven’t looked back once. 


The plug…

  On Friday, March 1, A Silence Kept is being released. It’s a ghost story, and was originally published almost two years ago. I’ve since gotten the rights back. It’s been revised, expanded, and given a new cover. I’m very pleased with its current iteration. 



Mikal rents a haunted house and begins to experience unexplained phenomenon right away. Here’s an excerpt from the first chapter.

I dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, made myself an herb omelet with sourdough toast and juice, and took the tray out to the front porch in time to see a battered old red Chevy truck pull up and park. Attached to it was a trailer, upon which was chained a riding mower.
An elderly man with a shock of iron-gray hair climbed out of the cab. He wore faded coveralls and boots. “’Morning. You the new tenant?”
I nodded. “Name’s Mikal.” I never bothered spelling it for people anymore, which saved me the trouble of explaining my mother hoped I’d be famous one day and a distinctive name would help.
He walked to the back of the trailer, his stride somewhat bowlegged, and let down the ramp. “I’m Emmet. Meet the ghost yet?”
“There’s a ghost?” Pretended innocence is a great way to gather information. Most people can’t wait to tell you things. 
He snorted and spit. “’Course there’s a ghost. Didn’t the realtor lady tell you?”
“Who is it?” I bit into my toast and chewed. 
“They think it might be the original owner of the place, but no one’s ever nailed it down.” He loosened the chains and started the mower, backing it down the ramp. Once in the yard, he steered toward me, raising his voice to be heard over the engine. “It’s a young man, ‘cause I’ve seen him. I come out every week or two and mow and do some weeding, but I never stay past dark and I don’t go in the house. If I have to pee, I do it in the woods. Good day to you now.”
That little conversation did wonders for my appetite. I got down about half the omelet before giving up. Sipping my juice, I watched Emmet move back and forth across the lawn, his face shaded by a blue ball cap. The wonderful smell of freshly-cut grass filled the air.
The phone inside was on a long line. I took it back to my chair on the porch and called Alice. I knew she was en route but I couldn’t wait.
“I said I’d be there this morning. I’m on the fucking way.” She sounded distracted.
“Where are you?”
“About halfway. Slept in.”
“The house is haunted.”
“What?” 
“There’s a ghost in my rented house. I heard him last night.”
“How do you know it’s a him?”
“The guy who cuts the grass told me.” 
Her voice became lively. “That’s incredible! I’ve never met a ghost before. Think he’ll be there when I arrive?”
“Honey, it’s not like you can sit and talk to him.” Emmet motored around the back of the house, taking the noise with him. Near-silence fell. “I’m having second thoughts about staying here. What if he’s dangerous?”
“Did he throw a lamp at your head? Did knives jump out of the drawer and fly into the wall? Did blood come out of the faucets instead of water?”
“He cried.”
“He... what?”
“Cried. Wept huge salty tears. Flooded the house with his anguish.”
While she considered that, I listened to the sound of her car engine as she drove along the highway. “I know someone who might be able to help,” she said at last.

Watch for it at Amazon, B&N, and All Romance eBooks. 
 You can also find me on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook; search on ‘fenraven’.

 Follow my blog for the latest news on my releases



Thank you for telling us a little about yourself and your writing, Theo.




N. Wood - M/M Author

The prized possession you value above all others…
Definitely my laptop because without it I wouldn’t have access to all my friends, my stories and my career as an author. Pen and paper just doesn’t do it for me. 

The temptation you wish you could resist…
Not really for myself, but my Jack Russell Terrier, Scraps. Whenever I have food he sits in my line of sight, puts his ears down and gives me the saddest big brown puppy eyes you could imagine. In a way it’s good because I eat less, but Scraps is rounder than he used to be.

The book that holds everlasting resonance…
For me it’s Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt. I first read it because my mom had and she’d said it was good. I borrowed it one day and couldn’t put it down. It’s hard to explain, but his writing style was so different from other books I’ve read and because of that it drew me in, as well as his life story of growing up in poverty in Ireland. Of all the books I own, this one I can read cover to cover once a year and it’s fresh every time. His sequel book ‘Tis is also good, I’ve yet to read Teacher Man.

The priority activity if you were invisible for a day…
I would be boring, I’d do exactly the same thing I do most days – sit at my laptop and write/edit, only being invisible I’d be able to do so without the constant disturbances and nagging from my boyfriend.

The film you can watch time and time again…
I have a couple that I can watch over and over without getting bored and looking away. WALL:E is one of them, I adore that cartoon because he’s like a cross between E.T and Johnny5 and both are loveable characters. 
I also have The Diary of Anne Frank on DVD. The diary is another book I can read once a year and not get bored of. Though the holocaust is such a tragic and distressing part of history, I’ve always found it interesting as well for some reason. 

The person who influenced you the most…
Do fictional people count? Then my answer would be Jasper Whitlock from The Twilight Saga. From the second I read the line: “The blond one who looks like he’s in pain” I was hooked on this character. I wanted to know why he appeared that way, what he’d been through to cause him to look like that. When I read Eclipse and we got to see Jasper’s backstory about his creation, it just gripped me further, but we only saw a snippet of his existence and like a drug I wanted more. This led me to writing fanfiction, increasing his story further so I could give him that element I had created for him in my mind.

The unlikely interest that engages your curiosity…
As I stated earlier, the holocaust. I don’t know why, I just do and have ever since studying Judaism at school. I also find the events of September 11th interesting as well. It was the day the whole world stood still in shock and felt the same emotions at once. Every year around the anniversary there are documentaries on TV about that day and I watch as many as I can.

The event that altered the course of your life…
I was born and raised in Staffordshire, UK until I was eighteen and my parents decided to relocate to Cornwall, UK instead. They bought a house in Redruth and I lived there for a year with my grandmother and worked in the kitchen and behind the bar of a rugby football club. In my spare time I would take a bus to the nearest beach just for something to do because I was bored and had no friends. There I met my boyfriend, Shaun. I’d had an argument with my dad that day and was sitting alone on the beach pretty miserable. Shaun was walking a friend’s dog and saw I was feeling down. He just said ‘come on, I’ll buy you a coffee. It can’t be that bad’ and I’ve been with him for almost seven years now. 

The song that means the most to you…
I have many songs that upon hearing them takes me to a specific time or place in my mind. However the one that sticks out to me the most is ‘Walk Of Life’ by Dire Straits. When I was thirteen my parents bought me my first computer and internet connection for studying for my exams in school. (She’ll probably read this and scold me now) My mom was under the impression this was what I was doing, and I was…sometimes, Mom! But I also went onto chatrooms for someone to talk to and there I met my best friend, Tracy. We’ve been online friends talking every single day for thirteen years now and when I finally had the chance to meet her, I travelled sixteen hours to Scotland to stay with her for a week. We had a great time and we played her Rock Band game too, ‘Walk Of Life’ being one of the songs we jammed to and now every time I hear it I think of Tracy and Scotland and always will.

The happiest moment you will cherish forever…
I grew up around horses because my mom had always loved them and my dad bought her a horse when I was about eight. We used to take turns riding her and over time with my riding growing more confident my mom decided to get a pony just for me. We journeyed around to see some and test ride them, but when I first saw Amber I fell in love instantly. She was a 13.2hh golden dun pony. However I thought I wouldn’t be allowed her. A few days later it was business as usual at the stables, well except for loads of people following me for a reason I didn’t know at the time. Suddenly a whinny came from a stable ahead of me and Amber poked her head over the door. Let’s just say I ungracefully turned to my mom and soaked her shirt as the floodgates opened. She thought I didn’t want her, but I was ecstatic. I’m not an emotional person, but that’s the most I’ve ever cried in my life.

The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
During my last few years of school I’d decided I wanted to be a paramedic. I joined my local St. John’s Ambulance club and gained my first aid qualifications and I signed up for college to get the first few degrees I would have needed. But then the reality of life hit and rather than facing 4-6 years of further education with no income, I left school and got my first job working as a graphic design finisher in a printing shop. I often still wonder what my life would have been like had I followed my first major ambition.

Your early recollections of writing fiction...
My earliest recollection of writing fiction was when I was about thirteen or fourteen. During the time I ‘should’ have been studying (sorry, Mom), I was also a big fan of The X-Files and would write my own little stories, so initially it was my first fanfiction attempt. Of course they sucked, but they were never published online anyway, they were for my own entertainment.


The plug…
*giggles uncontrollably* yeah, my mind just went somewhere naughty.











Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, Nat.


4 comments:

Nat Wood said...

Most welcome, thanks for having me. Your interview prompts were so fun to fill out! x

Fenraven said...

Good interview. Nice finding out more about you, Nat.

Unknown said...

*loves*

C.J. Baty said...

Great questions and even better answers. Loved learning more about Nat.

Post a Comment