Tag Archives: Interview

Authors, Books, Promotion

#Author Interview: John Fioravanti

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John FioravantiJohn Fioravanti is an author and blogger who has a background in teaching high school history. That alone (teaching teenagers) should garner him a medal for bravery! John and I have a lot in common and have taken to referring to each other as ‘bro’ and sis.’ So please welcome my brother, John Fioravanti!
My sincere thanks, Tina, for this opportunity to be interviewed on your lovely site. I am truly honored. 

It’s my pleasure, John. I am delighted to have you as my guest. 

Buy John’s books HERE

 

Tell us a little about yourself.  I am a self-published author living in Waterloo, Ontario. Retired nine years, I worked for thirty-five years teaching students to write well in my history courses. That led to my first published work, Getting It Right in History Class, by a small educational publisher in Barrie, Ontario. I am married to Anne for forty-four years on June 30th. We have been blessed with three children and three grandchildren. I am an avid blogger still learning the finer points.

What is the title and genre of your latest book? Who published it?  Reflections by John FioravantiReflections: Inspirational Quotes & Interpretations is inspirational non-fiction. I scoured the Internet for quotes that spoke to me about inspiration and living. I published it myself under my Fiora Books imprint.

Tell us a little about your book.  Reflections is a compilation of fifty inspirational quotes and for each, I wrote a short essay that reflects on the meaning of the words and how they might apply to my own life. My hope is that the reader will be inspired to ponder how each quote might impact their thinking and the living they need to do. We all need to pause and take stock about how we live, and I hope this book will help readers to do that.

What inspired you to write it?  I’ve always had an interest in inspiring quotes, so I was happy to take on the daily task of selecting and emailing an inspirational quote to members of the governing board of Rave Reviews Book Club from our President, Nonnie Jules. She suggested one day that I should blog about these quotes. I took her suggestion and created a blog series called My Inspiration. Nonnie suggested we create a new Rave Waves BlogTalkRadio show loosely based on these blogs. We called the show Aspire To Inspire. Later, Nonnie suggested I rework many of the blogs into an inspirational book. So the answer to your question is not what inspired me, but who inspired the book – Nonnie Jules.

Heart of Teaching by John FioravantiWhat inspires you to write in general?  Teaching was my first career and my motivation was to help young people navigate through the difficult teen years. Writing and blogging is my second career but the motive is the same – service to others. My daily blog post, John’s Believe It Or Not… is my attempt to remind readers about events from the past, many of which are relevant in the present. My other two blog series, My Inspiration and Let’s Talk aim to help us pause to think seriously about the issues we face in the living that we do. My fiction series, The Genesis Saga, and coming soon, Genesis: The Beginning are stories of human drama that we can relate to and hopefully, cause us to think.

In what genres do you write?  I enjoy writing inspirational non-fiction. My first self-published book was A Personal Journey to the Heart of Teaching, which is a memoir based on my teaching career. The second publication was Reflections, which is a collection of 50 short essays based on quotes I find inspirational.

I also enjoy writing fiction. I’ve always enjoyed science fiction and I am a big fan of Kenneth Tam’s Equations series. He’s a former student of mine who invited me to write inside his Equations series. The Genesis Saga series is set inside Kenneth’s science fiction universe, but my work is better characterized as futuristic drama. My two published titles in this series are Passion & Struggle and Treachery & Triumph. I have also decided to begin a new series called Genesis: The Beginning – I’m drafting book one currently. This series will be the prequel to The Genesis Saga.

If you have a blog, what subjects do you write about?  My blog has Treachery and Triumph by John Fioravantibeen evolving over the past three years. Originally, on my Fiora Books website, I wrote weekly posts called My Inspiration – short essays exploring the meaning of and relevance of inspirational quotes I found. In February 2017 I created a new blog site called Words To Captivate. At that time, I decided to indulge my passion for History and created the blog series John’s Believe It Or Not. Each day I research and report on 5 events that occurred on that particular date in history. As well, I created another blog series called Let’s Talk where I discuss controversial topics in the hope that it will stimulate thought and discussion. Occasionally, I write new posts for the original blog series, My Inspiration.

Do you have other publishing credits? If so, what are they?  In 2002, I was published for the first time by a small educational publisher. The book is called Getting It Right in History Class. I used it in class for the last 5 years of my career to teach research and writing skills that lead to the formal research essay. The contents of this book evolved gradually from lesson handouts I prepared for my classes to teach these skills. Before the book was published, these handouts had become several booklets and they became the basis for the chapters in the book.

Passion and Struggle by John FioravantiWhat is your current writing project?  As mentioned earlier, I’m working on a new prequel futuristic drama series called Genesis: The Beginning. Book One is entitled The Comers’ Dawn. The human survivors of planet Earth left to find a new home planet in the late 21st Century in a huge colonizer ship. After a 95-year journey, they arrived at planet Genesis and built a new civilization. The Genesis Saga series picks up their story 600 years after they arrived at Genesis. The new series will chronicle their struggles and successes back when they first arrived. In preparation for this series, I created twenty-five short stories that I posted on my blog site under the heading The Genesis Chronicles. Feel free to take a look!

YouTube Video

Instead of providing us with a short excerpt from his book, Reflections, John chose to share his ten-minute YouTube video based on Reflection 38 – Don’t Kick the Habit – Be Excellent! While watching this video, I was inspired to surpass my habit of not going above 3.0 incline on the treadmill 🙂

Learn more about John:  Blog     Website     Amazon     Twitter
Facebook      LinkedIn       Google+       Fiora Books on Twitter
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Author Promotion, Authors, Books, Historical Fiction

#Author Interview: Andrew Joyce

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Andrew Joyce is the best-selling author of the Huck Finn series and Yellow Hair. He is currently working on his is next book, tentatively entitled, Mick Reilly. I’m thrilled to have him as my guest today. Welcome, Andrew! 

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Tell us a little about yourself.  Ain’t much to tell. I write books and I like to drink vodka a little too much. Oh, and I live on a boat (have been for forty-two years) with my dog, Danny. I mean I’ve been living on boats that long, not that Danny is forty-two. But to hear him complain, you would think he was that old.

What is the title and genre of your latest book?  Yellow Hair. Yellow HairHistorical Fiction

Tell us a little about Yellow Hair. Through no fault of his own, a young man is thrust into a new culture just at the time that culture is undergoing massive changes. It is losing its identity, its lands, and its dignity. He not only adapts, he perseveres and, over time, becomes a leader—and on occasion, the hand of vengeance against those who would destroy his adopted people.

Yellow Hair documents the injustices done to the Sioux Nation from their first treaty with the United States in 1805 through Wounded Knee in 1890. Every death, murder, battle, and outrage written about actually took place. The historical figures that play a role in this fact-based tale of fiction were real people and I use their real names. Yellow Hair is an epic tale of adventure, family, love, and hate that spans most of the 19th century. This is American history.

What inspired you to write it?  The inspiration for the book came to me when I was reading a short article and it made reference to the Great Sioux Uprising of 1862. It also mentioned that the outcome involved the largest mass execution in the history of the United States. That piqued my interest.

When I started my research into the incident, one thing led to another and before I knew it, I was documenting the entire history of the Sioux, who are also known as the Dakota, vis-à-vis the relationship between them and the United States.

Redemption
Book 1: Huck Finn series

What inspires you to write in general? Everything. It could be a song title, a line from a song, something I read, or just an offhand remark by someone I met at a bar. Once it was sunlight rippling on the surface of the water on a cool, crisp November morning.

When and what did you first start writing? One morning, about six years ago, I went crazy. I got out of bed, went downstairs, and threw my TV out the window. Then I sat down at the computer and wrote my first short story. Just for the hell of it, I threw it up on a writing site. A few months later, I was informed that it had been selected for publication in an anthology of the best short stories of 2011. I even got paid for it.

What authors have most influenced you? John Steinbeck, Louis L’Amour, Jack London, and Robert B. Parker just to name a few.

How do you write; outline or free flow? When I have an idea for a novel, I know the first sentence and the last paragraph (more or less). Then I sit down and start to tell the story. But the finished product is always different from what I envisioned. Sometimes I will take my characters to a place and they will rebel and take off on their own. Then I have no choice but to follow where they lead.

What genres do you like to read? Most. No romance for me. I’m
much too macho for that.

In what genres do you write? All genres.

Molly Lee
Book 2: Huck Finn series

Where and what time of day do you like to write? I prefer to write in the early morning hours when things are quiet. I usually get up around 2:00 a.m. and go to work. The commute is not long . . . only a few steps to my computer. I write until I run out of words. When I’m hot, I can knock out 6,000 words in three hours. But then I have to go back and edit them into something people would want to read. That can take up to two days.

Do you ever get writer’s block? If so, how do you deal with it? My problem, if you can call it a problem, is that I have too many words in my head. Apart from my novels, I have 150 short stories almost ready for publication and another thirty that I’ve started but don’t have the time to finish—at least not at the present time. But if I was affected by writer’s block on occasion, I’d cure it with vodka.

How do you schedule your time between writing and keeping your physical life together? I have no life other than writing. Unless you count walking my dog a few times a day. It’s the only exercise either one of us gets.

Do you have other publishing credits? Yes. One of my short stories entitled John, Kris, And Me, was included in a book (an anthology) titled: Best of 2011. It’s a compilation of short stories.

E-book or paper – do you have a preference? Paper.

What do you enjoy doing when you’re not writing? Reading.

Resolution
Book 3: Huck Finn series

What advice would you give a new writer? Read, read . . . and then read some more. Read everything you can get your hands on! Reading to a writer is as medical school is to a doctor, as physical training is to an athlete, as breathing is to life. When one reads stuff like the passage below, one cannot help but become a better writer.

“The afternoon came down as imperceptibly as age comes to a happy man. A little gold entered into the sunlight. The bay became bluer and dimpled with shore-wind ripples. Those lonely fishermen who believe that the fish bite at high tide left their rocks and their places were taken by others, who were convinced that the fish bite at low tide.”—John Steinbeck, Tortilla Flat

AND: Never, ever, ever, ever respond to a negative review!!!

What do you wish to say to your readers? Thank you for reading my books.

What do you hope will be the everlasting thoughts for readers who finish your book? For Yellow Hair, I hope my readers come away with a new and profound sense of our history. What we have done is so much more egregious and deplorable than I could have ever imagined. Genocide is genocide. Doesn’t matter if you call it Dachau or Wounded Knee.

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Learn more about Andrew:  Website   Blog   Amazon   Facebook   Twitter   LinkedIn   

I hope you enjoyed learning more about Andrew, his writing process, and his books. Please visit his sites, like and share.

Thanks so much for stopping by  ❤

 

Author Promotion, Authors, Books

Who Has a New #Book? Featuring author Tina Frisco

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Fellow author and dear friend, Debby Gies, interviewed me on her blog and featured my new novel, Vampyrie: Origin of the Vampire. I hold Debby in the highest regard as both an author and human being. She is kind, generous, compassionate, and brilliant. I am very grateful to be among her honored guests.  ❤

Source: New book promotion, guest author Tina Frisco, Inspirational writing, Vampires, D.G. Kaye

who-has-a-new-book-debby

I’m thrilled to feature friend and author Tina Frisco as my guest today, and to introduce her newly released book, Vampyrie.

Tina is a beautiful soul whose compassion for humanity shows up in her words in all of her writing. Tina is a spiritual person who advocates for kindness and many causes for animal and human rights and justice. You can visit Tina at her blog TinaFrisco.com where you will find many inspirational posts. Tina has many accolades to her credit. She is a registered nurse, a singer/ songwriter, an activist, a student of Shamanism, author of Plateau, Gabby and the Quads, and now her newest book, Vampyrie.

Author Tina Frisco

About Tina Frisco:

Tina Frisco is an author, singer-songwriter, RN, activist, and student of shamanism. Born in Pennsylvania USA, she attended nursing school in New York and lives in California. She began writing as a young child and received her first guitar at age 14, which launched her passion for music and songwriting. She has performed publicly in many different venues. Her publishing history includes book reviews, essays, articles in the field of medicine, her début novel – Plateau, her children’s book – Gabby and the Quads, and her latest novel – Vampyrie. She enjoys writing, reading, music, dancing, arts and crafts, exploring nature, and frequently getting lost in working crossword puzzles.

Vampyrie by Tina Frisco

Get this book on Amazon!
The Blurb:

What if vampires were not the undead, but rather the dying? What if there were two factions among vampires: the sustained and the unsustainable? And what if those factions were at war with one another over the life of a young woman who promised them a future? Vampyrie brings the myth of the vampire into the realm of possibility. Phoebe Angelina Delaney is a reluctant genius and compassionate hothead. She finds herself in a pitch-dark underground and doesn’t remember how she got there. Did she drink too much alcohol and wander off in a stupor, or was she kidnapped by a malicious element determined to make her life a living hell? Sir Michael Alan David is a vampire – an enigma, charismatic and mysterious, who weaves in and out of Phoebe’s life. Does he intend to use his title as a ruse to draw her closer to an unearthly fate, or is he a cloak-and-dagger knight in shining armor? Too many secrets have been kept for too long. Phoebe must unravel the mystery in order to survive. Two major characters from the author’s first novel, Plateau, join forces with Phoebe to battle the demons in Vampyrie.

A Note from Tina about the origins of this book:

“Don’t let the title fool you. This is not your typical vampire book. I’m incapable of writing a book without a spiritual bent. Vampyrie also has a basis in science, specifically medicine. I’ve always been intrigued by the myth of the vampire and often have wondered if the phenomenon actually could exist. My background in medicine led me to speculate about how this might have a basis in reality. If rooted in science, how might this myth come to life? The most likely answer would be as a physical disorder or disease.”

Today we’re going to get to learn a little more about Tina and her newest book. I’m excited to find out Tina’s approach to her writing, and certainly more about this already ‘hot selling’ book!

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