1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’m T.M. Daliggr, a playful explorer of language and culture. Writing has always been my way to connect worlds—whether it’s through stories, humor, or breaking down generational slang. I got into writing because I love capturing the quirky and often hilarious ways people communicate, especially across different age groups.
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
Skibidi Ohio Rizz was inspired by the hilarious, baffling, and sometimes downright confusing slang I overheard between kids, teens, and adults trying to keep up with the newest lingo. I wanted to create a fun, approachable guide to help parents, teachers, and anyone curious decode Gen Z and Gen Alpha slang without feeling totally lost.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I hope readers walk away with a smile and a better understanding—that language is always evolving and staying curious and open-minded is the best way to connect across generations. Plus, it’s okay to laugh at yourself a little while learning something new!
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I love humor and education wrapped into one. The idea of turning something as dynamic and playful as slang into an entertaining guidebook was irresistible. It’s a genre where I can bring levity to communication and help people bond through shared understanding.
5) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Amazon has been great! Its vast, engaged reader community perfectly matches the vibe of Skibidi Ohio Rizz. Reviews and recommendations help bring the book’s spirit to life and reach curious readers. I’m also working on building a presence on TikTok to connect with even more fans through fun, creative videos.
6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Write what excites you—authenticity shines through. Don’t be afraid to experiment and blend genres. And most importantly, engage with your community; readers want to connect with the real you. Patience and persistence go a long way!
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7) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
I’m cooking up more playful language guides and maybe diving into some creative fiction inspired by the same vibe. I have two middle-grade chapter books on the horizon that I hope to publish soon. There’s always new slang, memes, and cultural moments to capture, so expect more fun, fresh projects coming your way!
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’ve always been an avid reader, so writing was a natural next step. I’ve loved words and puzzles since I was a kid, as well as reading mysteries. When I came across a contest using an old Murder Mystery Party game, I thought I’d give it a try. I won the contest and my first novella, Murder on Manitou, was published. Opening a fresh box of books is totally addicting and I’ve opened many since!
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
Diamond on the Rocks is book 2 in my AJ Cadell Mystery series. The series was inspired by weekend summers spent at Lake Huron and the thought of a big house on the rocky shoreline, which is where I’d intended the series to take place. Flash forward a few years, and I now live in Alberta rather than Ontario. I had changed the locations to pitch to a publisher, then decided I’d keep the story in Canada. Alison (AJ) Cadell is a budding romance writer who starts off living in Toronto, then moves to the fictional town of Cedar Grove on Vancouver Island when someone makes her an offer to become a Writer in Residence. In book 1, she discovers her long lost family and solves the murders of her grandparents.
In book 2, she’s helping with an annual local event when the caterer disappears.
Book 3 will come out in 2026. Alison’s mother—who kidnapped she and her sister as children—makes a surprise visit and chaos ensues. This will be the final book in the series.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Over the series, Alison learns the importance of family as well as not believing what everyone tells you to be true. She needs to face her own demons generated by childhood trauma in order to move forward with her new life on Vancouver Island.
When her sister and best friend join her, they become more tightly bonded as friends and begin working together to help build each other’s dreams.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I have always loved a good puzzle, a good mystery, and have become pretty good at guessing whodunnit while watching movies and so on. I chose to write cozies, which are light and clean without the blood and gore, so they can entertain on a more humorous level, as well as intrigue.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I would sit down with the caterer, Blair Diamond, who I found the most interesting since her life leads Alison on a bit of a wild goose chase. She just seemed to be a larger-than-life character who died before Alison could get to know her.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
I’m a big fan of a Facebook page called Cozy Mystery Village, as well as a small publisher called Aconite Café, which is where I got my start writing Dash Allman detective stories. With every new book, I seem to find new readers on both of those.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Don’t expect big things right from the start. It takes time to hone your craft and find your voice. Make friends with other writers and develop a thick skin. We all love to help other authors, but there will be times people give feedback or advice that you’d rather not hear.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Once Diamond on the Rocks comes out in September, I’m taking a brief, much needed vacation! Then I’ll be working on a new romance novel or two.
I will work on Book 3 for AJ Cadell Mysteries over the winter as well as editing Book 3 in my Glitter Bay Mystery series called All That Shimmers. I hope readers will watch for those!
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About the Author
Diane Bator is a mom of three, a book coach, and the author of over a dozen mystery novels and many works-in-progress. She has also hosted the Escape With a Writer blog to promote fellow authors and is a member of Sisters in Crime Toronto, the Writers Union of Canada, and a board member of Crime Writers of Canada. When she’s not writing and coaching authors, she works for a professional theatre. No surprise she’s written her first play, which may lead to more.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
We came from very different backgrounds and crossed paths in a writers group near Pensacola, Florida.
Pat: I started out in the New York theater world both as an actress and director. Later, in New England, I ran summer stock and a murder-mystery dinner theater, writing and producing original scripts. But at some point, I found myself more curious about the people behind the characters, the emotions they carried, and what made them tick.
That curiosity steered me toward a career in clinical psychology. Whether in a therapy room or a theater, I’ve always been drawn to the emotional core of people’s stories, their struggles, their turning points, and the strength it takes to grow and heal. That same thread runs through my writing. I’m fascinated by resilience and transformation—those moments when something shifts, when someone finds light in the dark. That’s what guided All the Broken Angels, the novel I co-authored with Steve Hardiman. It’s about characters shaped by the weight of the past and the choices they make to move forward, with resilience, hope, and a fierce sense of survival.
Steve: I discovered my love for writing while drafting research papers in grad school. Those were non-fiction, and I imagined my first book being the same. But the passion required to do a topic justice wasn’t there. Later in life, I moved back near Pensacola, Florida, to take care of my aging parents. In need of a distraction and some social interaction, I joined the Panhandle Writers Group and discovered my love for the creative opportunities in fiction—but still had not found an idea that excited me.
On a whim, I decided to write an extended review for a fellow group-member’s memoir. The theme of addiction drove the narrative for a large chunk of that book. As a clinical psychologist, Pat appreciated how I captured the insidious nature this disease played in the author’s self-deception and unraveling of his life. She figured that if I, a non-addict “normie,” could tease out the essence of how addiction tricks the mind into doing the brain’s bidding, maybe I could help her write a synopsis of the novel she was working on. We found our writing styles highly compatible. Our orbits grew tighter and before you know it, we joined forces —and didn’t finish that synopsis until we’d written the whole damned book!
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2) What inspired you to write your novel?
Pat: All the Broken Angels is a deeply personal story. It’s semi-autobiographical in many ways. Cate’s journey echoes aspects of my own, and the characters were inspired by people in my life, including my family and the neighborhood where I grew up. The story is steeped in the emotional landscape of my community, all of which made me who I am today. In addition, as a psychologist, my work with Vietnam veterans profoundly influenced this story. I appreciate their willingness to open up to me and share their experiences.
Co-authoring the book with Steve Hardiman added depth and dimension to the process. He inspired the creation of a supporting character in the story. His poetic style and thoughtful research further enriched the world we built together, helping us bring authenticity and nuance to the characters and setting. We wanted to craft a story that feels lived-in—one that honors the past, speaks to the present, puts the reader in the moment, and sticks with them long after the final page.
Steve: Shucks, Pat. Thanks. I certainly aimed for all of those things, and you and your unfinished novel came along at just the right time. Not only had my mother passed between when Pat and I met and later decided to collaborate, but my wife Angela and I had closed a business that was losing money, which had spillover effects of it’s own. This perfect storm left me on the verge of a breakdown. I desperately needed something to soothe my weary spirit. Very early in our partnership, I vividly remember venting to Pat about my personal situation. Somewhere in the middle of commiserating, I muttered, “I just want to create something beautiful.” I’m quite proud of the result and that we were honored with several awards for our efforts. The catharsis of writing it also helped my wife and I get through a difficult time.
Circumstances aside, that “create something beautiful” sentiment drives me like no other passion. Exquisite beauty goes all the way down: you find it in our novel as a whole, the three parts, sixty-one chapters, all the scenes, many a poignant paragraph, and even in the tiniest of details of word choice and turns of phrase. My love for crafting prose through character development, dialog, action sequences, and teasing out pathos and humor wherever they are hiding became my healing. Because our styles were sympatico, Pat and I had fewer creative differences than I’d expected. And the struggles we did have made the story stronger and helped us find our voice that fused the best of our individual strengths.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
Pat: At its core, All the Broken Angels is about quiet resilience, the kind that builds slowly through struggle, forgiveness, connection, and self-discovery. It’s a story of transformation, not in sweeping gestures, but in the small choices we make to move forward. We wanted to offer a sense of hope, even when characters are navigating uncertainty and loss.
Because the story unfolds through Cate’s voice, a young woman caught between past wounds and present challenges, it resonates deeply with younger readers. Her emotional journey reflects the universal themes of seeking belonging, finding identity, and learning to trust both oneself and others.
As a psychologist who has worked with Vietnam veterans, I also felt it was important to honor those stories and recognize the sacrifices made by their families. While the book acknowledges trauma, it doesn’t dwell there. Instead, it explores how people carry their history with grace, grit, and sometimes humor.
Ultimately, I hope readers of all ages walk away feeling that healing is possible, connection matters, and that understanding the past can empower us to shape a stronger, more compassionate future.
Steve: Wow, Pat, you’re a tough act to follow on this question. Because the novel is semiautobiographical, and about half of the first draft was penned when I arrived on the scene, it became my job to honor the emerging themes, then work with Pat to rewrite and shape the story into something even better than either of us had originally conceived for. I believe I speak for both of us that the final version exceeded our expectations. We’re humbled every time another glowing review is posted by a reader. Often, their words mention the very themes we baked into the story. The lesson for me is if a story is strong, its themes shine through more brightly.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
All the Broken Angels fits comfortably within both women’s fiction and historical fiction, and we’ve been fortunate to receive awards in both categories.
In women’s fiction, there’s a powerful form often referred to as psychological or emotional arc-driven storytelling. Here, the focus isn’t on external plot twists but rather on a woman’s internal journey. It explores how a character grows emotionally, mentally, and relationally over time. That transformation might be sparked by grief, a major life shift, or a moment of reckoning. But at its core, the story is about personal evolution and forging ahead.
Pat: This framework perfectly fits our protagonist Cate. She’s partly me and partly her own person. The book is rooted in the 1960s and ’70s, a turbulent time marked by the Vietnam War, the rise of the women’s movement, civil rights, peace marches, and gay liberation. Since I grew up during that era, and I saw how deeply divided our country was. Many of the rights we fought for then are still being contested today, so there’s a sense of déjà vu that makes the history come alive on the page in surprisingly familiar ways.
Steve: I grew up in that era as well, which turned out to be a big bonus. I brought my own experiences to further flesh out the tableau we were creating for the novel. I knew the music, the culture, what life was like for a kid, and many everyday details that bring the past within the reader’s grasp.
We set a very high bar for ourselves: A time traveler from sixty years ago could read All the Broken Angels and have no idea it hadn’t been written back then; nothing would seem off. A lot of meticulous research went into the history and how people spoke. One of my pet peeves is period prose that uses modern lingo. So we took the “historical” genre quite literally. This meant occasionally trading a slightly more clever way of saying something for era-appropriate language, and even determining the actual weather for a specific date. Crafting a novel that is truly authentic in those respects was a self-imposed challenge that became a deep source of satisfaction for me.
Both of us: As historical fiction authors, our mission is to keep history alive. There’s a real risk that the stories and the hard-earned wisdom of a generation will fade. We want readers of all generations to feel the heartbeat of this history. When we forget where we’ve been, we lose part of ourselves. None of us simply appeared, we arrived through our complicated connection to the past. Through Cate’s journey, shaped by both her family and the time she lived in, we’re offering not just a glimpse of a tumultuous era, but a trip back in time toward an emotional truth that still resonates today.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
Pat: I’d sit down with Cate, not the girl from the beginning, but the woman she became by the end of the book, after everything she’d been through. I’d ask: “You carried anger and mistrust for years, especially toward someone you saw as an enemy. Yet when it mattered most, you chose forgiveness and opened yourself to a painful truth. What shifted inside you? What made you let go and trust someone you never thought you could?”
Steve: While I found our protagonist endlessly intriguing, I’ll pick another who grows into one of the most complex characters: Walter, “the freckle-faced, tow-haired bully from school.” I was bullied as a kid and always avoided those memories. But Walter could offer me some insights from the other side of that power dynamic. So I’d take seat with the older Walter and ask him about his experience of that time in life and his long struggle away from those behaviors. Did he feel that he paid a price for his actions? How did leaving behind that part of himself inform who he became?
I would also thank him. In writing Walter’s character, I discovered how fascinating a bully can be. There’s another world hiding behind all that belligerence, and bullying was his suit of armor. His arc and how it intertwines with Cate’s is one of the most fascinating in the story. And Walter could easily take the lead role in another novel.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
The best sites that have worked for me are Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And, of course, my website.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Pat: Surround yourself with a creative community. Writing can feel like a solitary endeavor, just you and the blank page—but it doesn’t have to be. Seek out local writing groups or join a critique circle to get a feel for sharing your work and connecting with other writers.
Beyond that, take classes or attend workshops, in person or online. You’ll meet fellow creatives who understand the ups and downs of the process and will cheer you on even when the words arent’ flowing. I truly can’t imagine my writing life without my trusted circle. They’ve been my sounding board, support system, and inspiration every step of the way.
Steve: Pat’s spot-on about educating yourself and joining a creative community, especially other writers. Naturally, reading stimulates my creativity, as well. But I also find inspiration in other artforms, especially films and television. Body language, lighting, subtleties in dialog; many of these can be adapted for use in fiction writing if you can find a simple way to describe them. For example, I rewatched Toy Story while working on the novel and found inspiration to “punch-up” a few details in chapter one, which helped bring the scene to life even more.
The most specific advice I can offer is about what I learned about writing humor. All the Broken Angels isn’t a humor novel, per se, but there are many funny moments that make the prose more engaging and the characters more endearing.
As I fumbled my way along the humor learning curve, I discovered that a brute-force approach to “just be funnier,” is the hard way, and it blocked my thinking. When I learned to see humor less as a skill and more of a lens through which to view the world, the funny began to flow. I remember helping another novelist “punch-up” his crime thriller that already had some humor as part of the mix. In a pivotal scene, the protagonist, a detective, thinks she has cornered a serial killer in the basement of a house. Gun drawn and heart pounding at the top of the stairs, she flips on the light switch, only to see a brief flash below followed by a soft pop as the sole downstairs bulb burns out. Staring into the inky blackness while contemplating her next move, she mutters a curse and muses that “of all the homicidal maniacs, lucky me gets the loser who never switched to LEDs.” Momentarily normalizing the killer’s horrific hobby in order to shame their wasteful energy choices is a perspective shift as simple as it is absurd. And the brief pause when the protagonist stops to reassess provided the perfect opening to inject a single line of dark humor. Once the protagonist makes her move, the action resumes and comedy is set aside. Humor must meet the moment and the character; no gratuitous laughs allowed.
Finally, I have to thank Pat. Because she was a playwright, the scenes and chapters she had already drafted when I came aboard were well constructed with a strong beginning, middle, and end. We adopted this approach for the rest of the book, and it even spilled into the construction of key paragraphs. She was a source of inspiration I took for granted. As we leaned into these techniques together, they added power to our writing.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Pat: As a playwright, imagine everything I write eventually being in a theater in front of an audience. Readers often say how the writing style of the novel puts them “in the room” with the characters. So, Steve and I are exploring ways to take All the Broken Angels from page to stage, possibly as a full-length play or a series of one-acts. As Steve mentioned in his answer to the previous question, the scenes and chapters, as written, lend themselves to theatrical interpretation, and we’d love the challenge of translating narrative into performance.
I’m working on a new novel set in New York City between the mid-1970s and early 1980s. It follows a woman trying to make it as an actress while teaching theater to inner-city youth. As the women’s movement gains momentum, she’s searching for her voice, just like those around her: Vietnam veterans seeking respect and recognition, young people navigating identity, and the LGBTQ+ community finding visibility while the AIDS crisis begins.
Though All the Broken Angels was semiautobiographical, this new story draws even more closely from my life in New York’s theater world. It blends women’s and historical fiction, exploring belonging, resilience, and how the arts can inspire transformation in uncertain times.
Steve: I still love writing and will explore a stage adaptation of All the Broken Angels with Pat. I’m also focusing on photography and plan to create some instructional or explanatory videos about writing, photography, and music. A couple of projects are just beginning to take shape. After recently moving to Arizona, I’ve been helping my wife Angela get her home-school curricula company off the ground. I’m also spending more time with my fifteen-year-old grandson Landon and recently took him to his first concert: Alice Cooper—he’s still rockin’! Landon has no idea how often “first concerts” will come up in conversation over a lifetime. As his grandpa, I’m over the moon that he’ll always have a great story to tell. 🤘
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About the Authors
Pat Black-Gould
Pat Black-Gould is an award-winning author, speaker, and clinical psychologist. Her novel All the Broken Angels, co-written with Steve Hardiman, is a family saga set during the Vietnam War era. As a psychologist, Pat specialized in working with Vietnam Veterans, and the novel pays tribute to those who served and their families. Her children’s book The Crystal Beads, Lalka’s Journey, tells the story of a hidden child of the Holocaust.
Pat’s short stories have appeared in literary anthologies and online journals. Pat’s writing explores themes of compassion, inclusion, and diversity, and she conducts presentations nationally on these topics. WSRE PBS TV featured her on the program Conversations with Jeff Weeks. As a speaker, Pat also conducts workshops on marketing and the craft of writing. In the theater world, Pat was a theater director and producer of a New England summer stock company and a murder mystery dinner theater.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’m probably like a lot of folks who love to read — I always loved words. I actually got my first paying writing job by accident. I wrote a series of articles for a small local newspaper about a fabulous 1920s hotel that used to be frequented by the movie stars from LA. The hotel was long-gone, but a local couple who used to work there was still around. So I interviewed them, wrote stories about their recollections of the hotel, and included their own love story (they’d met there and married, using a paper “ring” because they had no money!) I never expected to be paid for those stories; I just wrote them for fun. Several weeks later, the editor handed me a check and said the stories had gotten more comments than he’d ever had before — people loved the stories! So he felt I should be paid. It wasn’t much, but that was an eye-opener for me that I could tell stories people were eager to read!
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
I’ve wanted to write about Miami’s “Great Hurricane” for over 20 years. My dad lived through that terrifying storm when he was just ten years old. Other family members, too, would occasionally bring up the story. Sometime in the ’90s I began collecting original photographs, postcards, and other memorabilia from the storm. The era of personal photography had just begun to shine in the 1920s, so immediately after the hurricane swept through, hundreds or even thousands of people grabbed their little Brownie camera and went outside to snap pictures. Thousands of those photographs have survived, and they’re a fascinating first-hand look at the devastation from that storm. Commercial photographers, too, documented the storm. And wire news services sent photographers to Miami to document the rebuilding and relief efforts. I’ve collected hundreds of those photos, and always felt like “some day” they would become a book. And finally, last year, it just felt like it was time. The timing is really fortuitous, in a way. The “Great Hurricane” struck in September, 1926. Just one year from now, it’ll be exactly a century in the rearview mirror. Folks like my dad who actually lived through it are gone. It’s important that their stories will continue on.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
The thing that struck me the most, writing this book, was the way people pulled together in 1926 to meet the challenges of a completely unexpected disaster. There was no FEMA back then. But people across the country came together to rush relief to where it was needed. Trains were assembled with medical personnel, surgical supplies, nurses and medicines. The Red Cross organized food distribution and other relief, and set up vaccination stations against typhoid and yellow fever. People reached out to neighbors whose homes had been destroyed and offered their own houses for weeks at a time. Carpenters and tradesmen turned down paying restoration work, and instead helped repair houses in their own neighborhoods for no pay at all. Miami, too, managed to rally despite its terrible setbacks. . . the 1926 storm, and then the Great Depression that followed. If there’s a message in this book, it’s that even in the worst of times, the best of human nature often comes out. And even in disaster, there’s hope.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I’ve long been drawn to writing non-fiction history — this is probably my 30-something-est book in the genre. What’s most fascinating to me are always the people-stories. I’d always thought history was boring in high school. But when you dig into the personal sagas and struggles, that’s when history comes to life. A king who reigned from X date to Y date? Boring. A queen who was married off by her family before she was 16, to a husband who kicked her to the curb for failing to produce a male heir, then went on to marry a second king (who cheated on her). . . now, there’s a story! There’s similar real-life drama in my Hurricane book, including the first-person account of a man standing on a table as the water in his home keeps rising, eventually having to hang onto the chandelier. . . spoiler alert, he did survive!
5) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Facebook and my own author newsletter have both been incredibly helpful in keeping me connected with readers. And those readers and their feedback are what keep me writing.
6) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
My best advice to beginning writers is to just write. Pick a topic or a storyline that interests you, and go for it! And most of all, don’t let anyone’s critique or “helpful” words discourage you. Ignore all that. Just keep writing.
About the Author
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Author Bio – Karen Dustman
(fiction pen name: Abby Rice):
Karen Dustman is the author of over 25 books ranging from non-fiction history to captivatig Southern mysteries. With multiple careers as a former criminal prosecutor, full-time freelance writer, and hands-on homebuilder, Karen swears by the joy of not always taking the straight-and-narrow path.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I began writing and creating art in a more focused way in 2020. Before that, I lived what many would call a “normal life.” I built companies—mostly within the advertising industry—and worked as a creative director at several major U.S. firms. Eventually, I built my own company in Denmark, which grew to around 50 employees and earned 77 international advertising awards. Nice houses, nice kids—it all looked good from the outside, but looking back, it felt a bit trivial.
Then COVID hit. I still remember watching the first Danish press conference in March 2020. It felt disturbingly staged—something was off. As the lockdowns began and fear took over, I noticed how quickly people chose compliance over questioning. I felt I had to respond, and art became my outlet.
2) What inspired you to write your book?
My creative response began with Wilderness State, a poetry and illustration book I made during the first lockdown. It was a raw and honest reaction to what I was seeing in the world around me. The main poem, “Rather Free Than Loved,” became more relevant over time than I ever could’ve imagined. I’ve attached it here with this interview—it captures the emotional and psychological shift I experienced better than anything else.
But by 2022, I realized we still couldn’t talk openly about what had happened. The atmosphere was too divided, too reactive. That’s when Stupid Goose was born—along with the entire Villa Viva universe. I needed a new, symbolic way to explore what we had all gone through. Through simple, animal-like characters, I could look at our behavior from the outside. Stupid Goose became my way of continuing the conversation—without ever needing to say “COVID.”
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
The core theme is about reclaiming independent thought and resisting groupthink. Villa Viva was my way of processing this—through symbolic, layered storytelling that holds up a mirror without being preachy. The world I created invites people to reflect—with humor, honesty, and hopefully a bit of courage.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I chose a naive and simplistic storytelling style because what I was trying to say was deeply complex. That simplicity became a strength—it let the deeper truths rise to the surface. Once the characters came to life, I fell in love with them. They started driving the story, and I followed.
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5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d sit down with the Lazy Dog. He’s not the most likable, but he’s definitely the most complex. I’d ask why he stays in Villa Viva. What does he really think would be best for that little society? I’m not sure he’d answer. Maybe he doesn’t care. But that says something too.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Instagram has been useful, especially for sharing the visual side of my work. But most of the real traction has come from word of mouth and real conversations. I try to connect directly with people who resonate with the message, rather than just chasing numbers.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Speak your truth—whatever it is. Don’t water it down to make it more acceptable. We live in a time that’s desperate for honesty. If something feels wrong to you, say it. Don’t get swallowed by comfort or groupthink. Art still has the power to break through. Use it.
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8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Yes—depending on how Stupid Goose is received, I already have two more Villa Viva books on the way. That world is still growing. I feel like it’s just getting started.
Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I learned to speak English at four years old, and within a few years, writing in English became my favorite pastime. My summers were spent back home in Romania, where I sometimes went weeks at a time without friends, internet, or even TV. I learned to escape into unknown worlds between the pages of blank notebooks. Even back then, I knew I wanted to be an author.
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What inspired you to write your book?
My most recent novel, A Song at Dead Man’s Cove, was inspired by my travels along the Pacific Northwest when I was living in Seattle. I heard the haunting echoes of the region’s history—a wealthy businessman in the Victorian Era, his daughter who was sometimes described as manic, a lighthouse keeper’s wife who threw herself from the crag, a love triangle that ended in tragedy, a place called Dead Man’s Cove where sailors used to wash ashore after shipwrecks… From Oregon up to British Columbia, the Western coast whispered its secrets. I decided to fictionalize them into one tapestry, using attachment psychology as the common thread.
What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I suppose that depends on what the reader most needs to hear. Some might walk away from the book having learned that even those they deem monsters are human beings deserving of compassion. Others might learn that you can grieve people even while they are alive. Others might take away that loneliness can be deadly.
What drew you into this particular genre?
Horror in general is wonderful because it allows us to shine a light on our deepest fears, which chips away at their power. I love Gothic horror specifically for the same reason why I loved depth-oriented psychology when I was a therapist—because it draws parallels between the past and present. Plus, crumbling castles teeming with paranormal creatures have always felt like home to me.
If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d probably want to know why Hurley Irving uses his power to take advantage of people. His character is capable of treating people as his equals, yet he often chooses not to. I’ve known men like him in real life, and I wish I could ask them, “Why do you exploit those with less power? Why do you always need more and more wealth, where nothing is ever enough for you? Would you ever change?”
What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
YouTube! I’ve been building an audience on there for over five years, though my main channel is psychology-focused. However, after I decided to quit my career as therapist, I created a second channel, Book & Hearth, where I hope to continue growing a community of fellow book lovers. YouTube is great because its longform content allows for increased nuance and creativity.
What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Read as much as you possibly can! It will help you discover your favorite genre. It will give you a sense of the current literary landscape. It will show you what you most love in a book, and how to masterfully execute it in your own writing. In my opinion, the most successful writers are often the most voracious readers. On the other hand, you can tell when a writer doesn’t actually love books; they’re just writing from a place of ego.
What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Yes, I hope to release my third novel sometime in the next year. The Splintered Parts is a work of psychological horror about a neuroscience student who begins to think that someone—or something—is trying to steal her identity. But is this a neurological disease, a skinwalker, a nervous breakdown, or something else altogether?
I’m also currently editing two other manuscripts. One is a work of Gothic horror that takes place in 18th Century Europe, during the time of vampire hysteria and overflowing cemeteries. The other is a modern-day psychological horror novel about an obsessive-compulsive woman who goes on a witchy retreat in Tuscany. Among the wooded hills, she catches the attention of a very ancient spirit.
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About the Author
Ana Yudin is an author, content creator, and Doctor of Clinical Psychology. She writes Gothic horror, psychological thrillers, and journaling workbooks.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I’ve been writing stories since I was 13. They were tough reads back then, obviously—but the spirit was there early on. Over the years, life has a way of chipping away at your dreams, but no job, profession, or field of study ever really felt right to me. I always wanted to write these strange stories. So, I kept honing the craft on the side. After my novella The Last Librarian was nominated for the National German Sci-Fi Prize, momentum began to build. Once I finished the first draft of Onyros Volume One: Splinter, I knew I had something strong on my hands.
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
It started out as a short story, but it quickly evolved into something entirely different. The main inspiration was simply my desire to spend more time in Bellgraph—with its characters, its atmosphere, its themes. The world kept growing, and I just couldn’t stop.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I’m not sure there’s a single message. The story is filled with strange ideas, little moments, and details that—hopefully—inspire, move, or challenge the reader. That’s really all I care about: making the reader invested.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I’ve always had a deep love for two genres: cyberpunk and cosmic horror. They’ve been merged before, but not quite in the way I envisioned. Onyros is my attempt to blend influences like Peter Watts, Laird Barron, and Aldous Huxley. I’m also a big fan of “Mystery Box” storytelling in the J.J. Abrams sense. So, in a way, I set out to create my own genre: mystery- and plot-driven cyberpunk told in the most adult and sophisticated way I could manage. I wanted to explore the themes that keep me up at night—what lies beyond perception, what consciousness truly is, and how narrow our existential bandwidth might be.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d probably sit down with the Lamathean Degus and just ask, “You okay, bud?”
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
That’s a complicated question. Being an indie sci-fi author just starting out is exhilarating, frustrating, and incredibly challenging. I always wanted to take the indie route to have full creative control. The book’s only been out for two months, so everything is still in the early stages.
As a writer, you need to develop your own strategy. Promo sites like Book Barbarian can give you spikes in visibility, but they’re not a long-term solution. Especially when you’re not writing to market, you have to get creative.
Building a mailing list is essential—I’m only fully realizing that now. Also: learn advertising. Facebook, Instagram, and especially Amazon ads are crucial. Write compelling reader magnets and market them well. If your story has a cinematic feel, consider working with a tool like Veo 3 to visualize key elements and build a strong landing page.
For Onyros, I’m currently developing the audiobook and producing teaser videos with Veo 3, which is really exciting. But it’s a long game. You need patience—and passion.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just-starting authors out there?
It’s not originally my advice, but I once heard Nic Pizzolatto, the creator of True Detective, say: If you can imagine yourself doing something else, you’re better off doing that. I couldn’t agree more.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Starting in September, I will release new Onyros books and novellas monthly throughout the year until February 2026. I have a huge backlog for stories in this world that I am polishing and now getting ready for rapid release. There will a total of five novellas and one volume.
Next year, I’ll also conclude the Onyros trilogy with the third and final volume, along with two more novellas. Then, it will be done. I’ll definitely miss Bellgraph and its inhabitants—but I’ve got so many more stories waiting to be told. So yeah—I’ll be busy for a while.
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About the Author
D. K. Thorne studied philosophy and sociology, holding a B.Sc. in Psychology. With philosophical science fiction as his first love, Thorne crafts stories that explore the complex intersection between consciousness and reality.
The Onyros Chronicles is Thorne’s labor of love—a high-paced dystopian saga spanning multiple volumes that ventures into uncharted sci-fi territory.
When not writing, Thorne can be found working in abandoned Polish cabins and quiet attics. An award-nominated writer, he enjoys collaborating with artists from all over the world.
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I have always loved writing since I was a young girl. I would get lost in books, and would spend hours pretending to be the characters in my favorite stories. I was very drawn to writing poetry and short stories as a kid, and knew I wanted to write something some day!
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
My family and I had just moved into a new house, it was a big move for us and I was constantly telling my two small children how magical everything was going to be when we got settled in. Unfortunately, the house ended up making me very ill. I was stuck in bed all the time and wracked with guilt for life not living up to this magical promise I had made. I was looking for a way to communicate this to my older daughter, and in that, the first draft of Every Day Magic was born. I wrote it as a note in my phone and asked if I could read her a “book with no pictures”, and explained to her that it would help her understand how life could still be full of magic even while Mommy was sick. She ended up loving it, and that inspired me to pursue publishing!
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
I really hope that all readers of my book, young and young at heart, come to realize that the magic in life is what’s happening while we’re out there searching for it. We as a society, as parents, as partners, as friends, tend to put so much pressure on how things look and less on how they feel — and often we miss what’s right in front of us. Those small, quiet moments filled with beauty, that’s where the magic lies!
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
I never planned to write a children’s book, but having kids can definitely give you the courage to do things you never thought you were capable of before!
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5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d love to ask the main character, Edie, how she plans to include the baby in the book in some of her rituals. The characters are all based on my own family, and with my youngest walking and talking now, I’d love to see how her role in the story may change!
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Unfortunately, social media hasn’t been a huge help to me. I’m sure it’s just user error! I have loved sharing my book within my community, as a small business owner my current clients and customers have become my biggest fans!
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Just start. If you wait for it to be perfect, you’ll never be ready. Jump in, learn as you go, and believe in yourself!
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
As for now, I’m still learning how to adjust to selling, marketing, and managing the one book on top of my business and raising two small children. I really hope to write more in the future, and hopefully get some good footing navigating the landscape that is children’s books! It’s been an incredible ride so far.
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About the Author
Hi, I’m Melanie, and I’m so grateful you’re here! As a small business owner, mom of two small children, and lover of magic and mindfulness — the opportunity to share my book with the world is a dream come true. I have loved to write since I was a young girl and I hope getting my words out there shows readers, young and old, that it’s never too late to follow your dreams! When I am not writing or working in my business, you can find me chasing my two littles (and the dog!) around my Northern California backyard or spending time with family friends.
My Story: I believe in the power of life’s little wonders. Born out of a personal journey, Everyday Magic is one of those wonders! In 2023 I was met with the sudden onset of a chronic illness caused by unforeseen circumstances with roots going back to my early childhood. What felt like overnight, I found myself going from an active entrepreneur to a woman often stuck in bed.
I began dreaming up ways to engage with my kids and make meaningful memories, even when my energy was low. These ideas became the heart of this book, a story crafted with love, imagination, and the belief that magic isn’t something we find; it’s something we create! I believe every single one of us has the power within to bring that magic to life.
I hope this story sparks wonder, connection, and a little bit of magic for you and your family- just as it has for mine!
1) Tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get into writing?
I started writing pretty young. I grew up in a small town in Georgia with a public library right behind my house, and I practically lived in it. By fourth grade, I was already writing short mystery stories and would ask my teacher if I could read them to the class. Every now and then, she’d say yes—and something about those moments stuck with me. I think I knew even then that storytelling was what I wanted to do with my life.
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2) What inspired you to write your book?
All the Time is a very personal book for me. It’s about nostalgia as a survival tactic—how we sometimes escape into the past to avoid dealing with the present, and what happens when we get stuck there. The story was inspired by the media I grew up loving (such as Back to the Future and The Wizard of Oz), and also by a kind of imagined version of my own adolescence—one that might’ve existed if I’d been born a decade earlier. It’s rooted in longing, grief, and the desire to find meaning in unlikely places.
3) What theme or message do you hope readers will take away from your book?
At its core, All the Time is about connection—how grief and uncertainty can bring people together, even in the most unexpected ways. I hope readers walk away with the reminder that we’re never truly alone in what we’re feeling, even if it sometimes seems that way. And as Yeats once wrote, “There are no strangers here, only friends you haven’t met yet.” That’s the heart of the book.
4) What drew you into this particular genre?
Growing up in rural Georgia, there wasn’t much to do. During the day, I was buried in library books; at night, my older brother—who worked at Blockbuster—would bring home horror movies and try to scare me. The plan backfired spectacularly. He’d fall asleep, and I’d stay up late imagining how I’d survive if I were the final girl. That love for the eerie and emotional never left. My sister’s obsession with Unsolved Mysteries and Dateline sealed the deal—I was hooked on suspense, survival, and the strange tenderness hiding inside scary stories.
5) If you could sit down with any character in your book, what would you ask them and why?
I’d choose Nat. She’s the grounding force Carter never saw coming—the friend who shows up just when he needs one most. She’s smart, practical, and emotionally complex. I’d ask how she interpreted the events of the story and whether the experience made her more hopeful or more afraid. She carries so much weight quietly, and I’d love to know what she held back, and why.
6) What social media site has been the most helpful in developing your readership?
Instagram has definitely been the most helpful. It’s where I connect with readers most directly—whether through posts, stories, or DMs. I used to have a big presence on Vine and Musical.ly back in the day, but after stepping into my adult life and shifting focus to writing, Instagram has become my main space. It’s where I share updates, behind-the-scenes glimpses, and stay in conversation with the people reading my work.
7) What advice would you give to aspiring or just starting authors out there?
Find writer friends. Truly. Having people who understand the ups and downs of this process makes all the difference. I met some of my closest friends in undergrad creative writing classes, and we still hold each other accountable, cheer each other on, and read each other’s work. Writing can feel isolating, but it doesn’t have to be. Join workshops, submit to forums, follow writing communities on social media. And if you’re ever in need of a lifeline—I mean this—my DMs are always open. I believe in paying it forward.
8) What does the future hold in store for you? Any new books/projects on the horizon?
Absolutely. My latest novel, Written Just For You, released this past May, and I’m incredibly proud of how it’s been received. It’s set in 1962 and follows Will, a teenage boy who falls in love with a girl the town claims either never existed—or died long ago. As he tries to save her from the house she’s trapped in, he starts to wonder whether he’s chasing a ghost… or becoming one. It’s haunting, heartfelt, and might just be my favorite book yet. And I’ve got even more stories on the way.
(Social media link: @lincolnjjames on Instagram)
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About the Author
Lincoln James, your favorite author’s favorite author, is celebrated for his haunting love stories, vintage thrillers, and slow-burn suspense. His characters feel, ache, and bleed, often trapped between the past and the people who won’t let them forget it.
In 2025, James was featured in The New York Review and named Best New Thriller Author in New York by Best of Best Review, honors recognizing his compelling storytelling and emotional depth.
When he’s not writing, James is a Communication professor in New York City and cherishes moments with friends and family, proving that the most thrilling tales lie in the love and laughter shared with those closest to us.
