Author Interviews & Spotlights
Over the years, I’ve had the pleasure of talking with authors, illustrators, poets, and other creative people about their books, their work, and the stories behind them. Some interviews began with a book that caught my attention, while others started with a shared interest or simple curiosity.
Here you’ll find those conversations gathered together in one place. I’ll continue adding new interviews and spotlights as they come along.
2025
Travis Kennedy
If you enjoyed the 80s, you may want to check out Travis Kennedy’s novel The Whyte Python World Tour. The story begins in Los Angeles in 1986, and metal rules the world.
There’s also exciting news surrounding the book. Sophie Ziegler was kind enough to let me know that The Whyte Python World Tour is being developed into a Paramount Pictures feature with filmmakers John Francis Daley and Jonathan Goldstein.
Jessica Guerrieri
Jessica Guerrieri is an inspiring voice in addiction recovery advocacy and the author of the award-winning debut novel Between the Devil and the Deep Blue Sea. Her journey is one of courage, resilience, and transformation.
2024
John V. Wylie, MD
John V. Wylie, MD, is a seasoned psychiatrist and a founding member of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society. He has given multiple lectures on the subject and offers a fascinating perspective on the origins of some of our deepest motivations.
Read the Interview & Learn More
2023
Boris Kester
I’ve always enjoyed green space and the benefits that come from getting outside, so I was excited to have the opportunity to interview Boris Kester. Boris has a passion for exploring the world and sharing his adventures through captivating travel photographs.
Damon Lembi
Learning new things and developing new skills has always appealed to me, although finding a good work-life balance can be another story. That was one reason I was especially interested in talking with author Damon Lembi.
Damon is the author of Learn-it-All Leader and CEO of Learnit, a training company that helps organizations develop both hard and soft skills.
Tiffany Noelle Chacon
I live in Amish Country, where horses are a familiar sight. They’re used for riding and transportation, but also for pleasure riding and sports such as jumping, racing, and showing. That interest led me to ask Tiffany Noelle Chacon to be part of the Author Spotlight.
2022
Aharona (Roni) Rosenthal
Aharona (Roni) Rosenthal is the Director of Judaic Studies at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Born in Haifa, she brings the unique and diverse culture of her hometown into her writing.
Neil Perry Gordon
I appreciate both nonfiction and historical fiction, and I had been receiving and reading Neil Perry Gordon’s newsletters for some time. Then I happened to see an image of him with a quote from Jack London.
I’m a Jack London fan, so naturally that caught my attention—and led me to ask Neil to be in the spotlight. He was kind enough to agree.
Jon Meyer
Jon Meyer has worked as a writer, educator, and filmmaker and was part of the team behind King Gimp, which won the Oscar for Best Documentary Short in 2000.
He was kind enough to talk with me about his book Clouds: Love Poems from Above the Fray.
2021
Allen Wolf
Allen Wolf has won multiple awards as an author, filmmaker, and game creator. He is also the host of the Navigating Hollywood podcast, where he interviews film and television professionals about what it takes to thrive in entertainment.
Read the Interview & Spotlight
Hannah Fielding
Hannah Fielding tells us that her love of stories began when she was very young. Her governess told her fairy tales, and eventually the two made a deal: for every story her governess told, Hannah would tell one of her own.
She began writing romantic stories as a child and even wrote her first 400-page book in French when she was twenty-eight, later translating it into English herself.
Read More About Hannah & Her Work
Barry Shore
Barry Shore is a successful serial entrepreneur who has been called the Ambassador of Joy. He has dedicated himself to helping others overcome challenges and make a positive impact on the world.
Learn More About Barry & His Books
Jenny Jaeckel
Jenny Jaeckel is an award-winning author and illustrator whose books include Boy, Falling, For the Love of Meat, and the graphic novel memoir Spot 12: Five Months in the Neonatal ICU.
Learn More About Jenny & Her Books
Ralph Webster
Award-winning author Ralph Webster received worldwide acclaim for his first book, A Smile in One Eye: A Tear in the Other, which tells the story of his father’s flight from the Holocaust. The book was voted a Goodreads 2016 Choice Awards nominee for Best Memoir/Autobiography.
His second book, One More Moon, has also become a wonderful book club selection for thought-provoking discussions. Ralph enjoys connecting with readers and participating in conversations about his books.
Now retired, he lives with his wife, Ginger, on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. In addition to writing, he enjoys spending time with family, playing tennis, hiking, and traveling.
Interview & Review of One More Moon
Interview & Review of The Other Mrs. Samson
2020
Marie Lavender
Marie Lavender lives in the Midwest with her family and two cats. She has been writing for more than twenty-five years and has published books in a wide variety of genres, including historical romance, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, paranormal romance, mystery, literary fiction, fantasy, science fiction, and poetry.
Oliver Smuhar
Oliver Smuhar is a young, multi-award-winning Australian author who published his first book, The Gifts of Life, in 2018.
In 2019, he received the Reviewers Choice Award for Best Book Written by an Author Age 18 or Under, as well as the Global Award for Australia.
Darlene Green
Darlene Green describes herself as a highly sensitive person, empath, healer, teacher, and scribe. What began as a personal journey in December 2017 grew into her extensive work, In Service to Love.
Catherine Curzon & Eleanor Harkstead
Catherine Curzon and Eleanor Harkstead are writers of romantic suspense.
Erik Fuhrer
Erik Fuhrer is a poet, microfiction writer, and educator. He received his MFA from the University of Notre Dame and has taught literature, writing, rhetoric, and creative writing at several universities.
Isobel Blackthorn
Isobel Blackthorn is a prolific novelist whose work spans psychological thrillers, mysteries, travel fiction, and dark satire. She holds a Ph.D. in Western Esotericism and has a lifelong passion for the Canary Islands.
Gayle Carline
Gayle Carline began her writing career with journalistic pieces and a humor column before turning her attention to mystery fiction. In 2009, she published the first of her Peri Minneopa mysteries.
2019
Carew Papritz
Carew Papritz, also known as the Cowboy Philosopher, is the author of the multi-award-winning The Legacy Letters. Although fictional, the book has been recognized for its life lessons and has received awards in both fiction and nonfiction categories.
Natalie Hart
Natalie Hart is the author of Pieces of Me, which was shortlisted for the Costa First Novel Award. Her professional work has taken her extensively into conflict and post-conflict environments, including three years in Iraq.
Sonia Faruqi
Sonia Faruqi is the author of The Oyster Thief: An Underwater Odyssey and Project Animal Farm. Her passion for conservation comes through in both her writing and her work.
Interview & Review of The Oyster Thief
Charles S. Isaacs
Charles S. Isaacs has had an unusually varied career as a schoolteacher, college professor, social activist, community organizer, financial analyst, Congressional aide, storyteller, and occasional journalist.
His published work includes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry.
Anne Butler Montgomery
Anne Butler Montgomery has worked as a television sportscaster, newspaper and magazine writer, teacher, movie reviewer, and football referee. She also spent time at ESPN, where she anchored SportsCenter.
Her books include The Scent of Rain and A Light in the Desert.
Richard Bray
Richard Bray’s love of gardening began with his father. Today, he enjoys spending time in his own garden and homestead, growing much of the food that finds its way to his table.
His goal is to show others that growing your own food can be both rewarding and affordable.
Faye Hall
Faye Hall grew up hearing stories about the families who settled townships around her hometown in North Queensland, Australia. Those stories, along with her love of writing, eventually became books exploring the history and lives of people in early rural Australia.
N. Lombardi Jr.
N. Lombardi Jr., known as Nicholas, spent much of his life working as a groundwater geologist throughout Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. He speaks five languages and became deeply involved in researching the history and aftermath of the Secret War in Laos.
His novel Justice Gone was inspired by the fatal beating of a homeless man by police.
Birgitta Hjalmarson
Birgitta Hjalmarson lives north of San Francisco in a home overlooking the ocean. She studied Swedish, English, and German literature and has written both nonfiction and fiction.
Her childhood memories of Sweden helped inspire her novel Fylgia.
Nancy Wagaman
Nancy Wagaman is a human technologies innovator whose work combines science, intuition, personal growth, and transformation. She began developing her ideas during her early career at Bell Laboratories and has worked with corporate, university, and private clients.
She is the author of The Curious Dreamer’s Practical Guide to Dream Interpretation and The Curious Dreamer’s Dream Dictionary.
2018
Charlie Laidlaw
Charlie Laidlaw is the author of several contemporary novels, including The Things We Learn When We’re Dead and The Space Between Time. He lives in Scotland, where he also provides writing services and teaches creative writing.
Interview & Review of The Things We Learn When We’re Dead
Silke Stein
Silke Stein is a graphic designer and writer living on the west coast of Canada. When she isn’t writing or designing book covers for fellow authors, she enjoys beachcombing and adding to her ever-growing collection of sea glass.
Interview & Sea Glass Collection
Patrick Burns
After his first overseas assignment to the USA in 1975, Patrick Burns became a corporate nomad, moving from country to country and rarely turning down a new challenge.
His stories span four decades of living and working around the world, from the Algerian desert to a chance meeting in an English village church.
Interview & Review of Far Away and Further Back
Melissa Hines Helms
Melissa Hines Helms is the author of the Leah & Rhea middle-grade book series. She is also a wife, mother, school psychologist, and co-founder of Helmshines Publishing.
Jeffrey Bardwell
Jeffrey Bardwell writes fantasy featuring elements of epic darkness, steampunk, and romance. His Metal vs. Magic Universe includes gritty realism, political intrigue, dry wit, and, of course, dragons.
When he isn’t writing, Jeffrey enjoys cooking, gardening, and spending time on his farm. He also admits to being fond of puns and alliteration.
Kitty Lewis
Kitty Lewis is a British fantasy and supernatural fiction writer and the author of the Legends of the Lost Tribes series.
She began imagining the world and characters in the series when she was a child, initially keeping them as a private escape. Eventually, she decided it was time to share that world with readers.
Review of Beyond the Serpent Hills
Jamison Stone & David Granjo
Jamison Stone, CEO, Creative Director, and Lead Writer at Apotheosis Studios, was kind enough to let me bombard him and co-creator and illustrator David Granjo with questions about their writing and creative process.
Apotheosis Studios created The Last Amazon, a post-apocalyptic superhero graphic novel, along with several other projects.
Interview with Jamison Stone & David Granjo
Joanne Pence
Joanne Pence is an award-winning, USA Today bestselling author known for the Angie Amalfi and Rebecca Mayfield mystery series, along with historical fiction, contemporary romance, romantic suspense, fantasy, and supernatural suspense.
Her novels offer a wonderful variety of settings and moods, from mysterious and thrilling to emotional and lightly humorous.
Interview & Review of Ancient Illusions
Jonathan Tindale
Jonathan Tindale was the 2018 Pacific Book Review Award winner for Best Parenting & Family for Daddy Day Care: A Book for New Dads and Curious Mums.
His book takes a humorous look at the bewildering, joyful, and sometimes maddening experience of being a stay-at-home dad with his baby daughter.
Cynthia Harrison
Cynthia Harrison writes contemporary women’s novels and crime fiction and has also published paranormal fiction and a nonfiction writing manual.
She has been blogging since 2002 and lives between Michigan and Florida with her husband, Al.
Interview & Review of Lily White in Detroit
Mark Rounds
Mark Rounds has had quite a varied career, including work as an Air Force officer, information technology consultant, folk singer, and university faculty member.
He has written about computer security and other subjects and has an impressive list of interests ranging from Civil War reenacting and reading to folk guitar and cooking.
Interview & Review of Commonality Games
Lindsay A. Franklin
Lindsay A. Franklin is an award-winning author and freelance editor as well as a homeschooling mother of three. Her writing explores the fantastical, while her devotional work encourages young women in their faith.
Blake Sebring
I own most of Blake Sebring’s books, so this interview was a fun one for me.
Blake is the author of numerous books, including sports nonfiction about Fort Wayne and the Komets, as well as novels such as The Lake Effect, Homecoming Game, and Lethal Ghost. He spent more than 30 years at The News-Sentinel in Fort Wayne and was inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Myrna J. Gove
Myrna J. Gove is a teacher and author of Legacy of One-Room Schools. Her research brings the history of the one-room schoolhouse to life through stories, photographs, and historical information.
Learn More About Legacy of One-Room Schools
Roxanne Heath
Roxanne Heath’s interests and ambitions have changed over the years, but her love of fiction has remained constant. Inspired by writers such as C.S. Lewis and Madeleine L’Engle, she began writing stories as a child and completed her first novel-length work as a teenager.
Her writing has been described as new adult dark fantasy, combining the realism of the world around us with the things that lurk in the shadows.
I’ve enjoyed every one of these conversations for different reasons. Some began with a book I had read, others with a subject that caught my attention, and some simply because I wanted to know more about the person behind the pages.
There are plenty more stories to tell, and I’ll continue adding them here.
