Indie Author Interview: Catana Tully

Author Interview with Catana Tully - Author of the Memoir Split at the Root: A Memoir of Love and Lost Identity.

Author Catana Tully

Dr. Catana Tully grew up trilingual (German, Spanish, English) in Guatemala where she attended elementary and middle school. In tenth grade she entered a boarding school in Jamaica, WI and received her Advanced Level Higher Schools Certificate from Cambridge University, England. Expecting to become an international interpreter, she continued her studies at the Sprachen und Dolmetscher Institut in Munich, Germany.
However, she was called to work in a play and discovered her affinity for the dramatic arts. She became the actress and fashion model Catana Cayetano and appeared in Film and TV work in Germany, Austria, and Italy. In Munich she met and married the American actor Frederick V. Tully ultimately moved to the United States. They have a son, Patrick. In Upstate New York, she completed the BA in Cultural Studies, an MA in Latin American and Caribbean Literature, and a DA (doctor of Arts) in Humanistic Studies.
She held the position of tenured Associate Professor at SUNY Empire State College from which she retired in 2003, returning in 2005 for part time work in ESC’s Center for International Programs, where she served as Mentor and instructor in the Lebanon program, and as Interim Program Director for the Dominican Republic. In 2011 she retired completely to dedicate herself to publishing Split at the Root. She is currently preparing an academic version discussing the psychological issues imbedded in the memoir.

Interview with Catana Tully

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Catana Tully: I have been writing for quite a long time, but only in the past twenty years can I say that I started to craft a story.
Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
Thomas Mann, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Isabel Allende, Maya Angelou, Toni Morrison, Maryse Condé, lately, Orhan Pamuk. I made a point to visit Istanbul after reading his books. Writing influences… I’d say Isabel Allende and Maryse Condé. To me, their descriptive quality is mesmerizing in it’s brevity.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
When I had a solid story I wanted to tell.

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

Featured Indie Book: An Abduction Revelation (Thomas L. Hay)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Memoir / Science-Fiction An Abduction Revelation: The Comeback Kid Returns by Thomas L. Hay.

An Abduction Revelation: The Comeback Kid Returns is a intriguing and entertaining adventure inspired by some true life experiences of the Author. It is a journey beyond the border of reality, spiked with mystery, with a dash of romance, and a cup of imagination.

The Book has been published via Balboa Press and is available as eBook and Paperback - 175 pages - released in October 2012.

About the Book

Who are the abductors? Where do they come from? Where are they hiding? Do they even exist?

An Abduction Revelation: The Comeback Kid Returns is a revised story about the author discovering a revelation that had been buried in his subconscious during his entire life.
What really happened that evening in 1960, when the Kid lost control of his car and crashed? Was he abducted, or was it just a freak accident? What occurred a few years later when his ex-wife told him they were abducted by aliens, not once, but twice.

The Kid's ex-wife would claim the truth was revealed to her after their divorce. Her spirit persuaded her to become a vegetarian, fast and abstain from sexual activities. This melted the memory blocks instilled by the aliens during the abductions, and exposed traumatic experiences that were buried deep within her subconscious.

After writing his original memoirs, the Kid suspected he could have similar mysterious phenomenon buried within his subconscious. He became tormented to investigate the probability, so he adopted her ascetic lifestyle.

O-M-G. He had to rewrite his memoirs. Melting the abductor’s memory blocks exposed many revelations. The abductors were not who his ex-wife had believed. Who they were, where they came from, and where they were hiding was revealed. What they sought and what the Kid discovered about himself will startle your imagination.

Click to Read an Excerpt

Indie Author Interview: CJ Johnson

Author Interview with CJ Johnson - Author of the Self-Help / Poetry / Women's Fiction Woman Steps In Poetry and Prose.

CJ Johnson writes poetry and fiction for women to laugh, heal, and feel empowered. She enjoys writing about themes that touch upon feminism, class, and race relations. Her fiction writing always pits bad girls against belles, and enjoys letting readers discover who comes out on top. Her written poetry works to explore the emotions of women, in particular. Using each word to carry weight and convey imagery for self-expression and self-discovery. Her non-fiction writing aims to always educate in the areas of personal development and health & fitness. She is a certified health nut and former high school English teacher.

Interview with CJ Johnson

Author CJ Johnson

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
CJ Johnson: My writing background is as a freelance copywriter. I have been a copywriter since early 2011. It is around that time that I started writing creatively again. In my teens and early twenties I wrote poetry like a mad woman, but abandoned it because I bought into the hype that creative writing was too self-indulgent. I had no one in my life to support my writing endeavors. Sadly, I didn’t pick up the pen again for nearly a decade.

Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
My favorite poets are Gwendolyn Brooks, Rita Dove, and June Jordan, and as of late, Emily Dickinson (cliché I know). For fiction, my all time favorite author is Anne Rice, followed by Jackie Collins (who doesn’t love a sky high glam read), John Grisham, Zora Neale Hurston and Toni Morrison.
My favorite books are; The Feast of All Saints by Anne Rice, She’s Come Undone, by Wally Lamb, The Best of Simple, by Langston Hughes, Lady Boss, by Jackie Collins, and The Bluest Eye, by Toni Morrison.

"I said 'enough is enough, I can write' [...]"

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

New Indie Book Release: Knightfall (R Jackson-Lawrence)

New Indie Book Release:
Knightfall (The Chronicle of Benjamin Knight) - Robert Jackson-Lawrence -
YA Fantasy / Adventure (April 2013 - 306 pages)

- "Knightfall has been described as 'Lord of the Rings for the Call of Duty generation'. The Book is an amazing fantasy adventure story without the magic or vampires or elves or fairies and will appeal to fans of Anthony Horowitz, Suzanne Collins, Michael Grant, Garth Nix."


About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

When his world changing experiment is sabotaged, fifteen year old genius Benjamin Knight is cast into another world where an uneasy peace hangs in the balance. Saved from near death by a band of traders, he joins the Road Trains on their journey north as he struggles to understand what's happened to him.

However, Ben soon realises that everyone has their secrets and that no one is safe, especially when one man has the power to realise his ambitions.

Friends are lost, plots revealed and battles fought as the unlikely companions seek to prevent war.

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Link to the eBook Knightfall on Amazon with Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Leave of Absence (Tanya J. Peterson)

New Indie Book Release:
Leave of Absence - Tanya J. Peterson -
Contemporary Fiction / Literary Fiction (April 2013 - 327 pages)

- "[...] What a valuable tool for teachers, students, and families! LEAVE OF ABSENCE is a well researched and constructed novel that depicts how mental illness impacts a human life and those surrounding them. Tanya Peterson has created characters who are authentic and provide the reader with a deeper empathetic understanding of the roots of mental illness. You will be touched and perhaps even shed a tear." - Reader Review

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Leave of Absence is a story of loss and a story of strength.

Oliver Graham is utterly bereft and laden with guilt in the aftermath of the traumatic deaths of his wife and son. He struggles with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, depression, and complicated mourning. Penelope Baker wrestles with Schizophrenia and the devastating impact it has had on her once happy and successful life.

Believing she is no longer loveable, she thinks the only thing she has left to give to her fiancée William is his freedom. Oliver and Penelope form a deep friendship that might be the key to their recovery.

Readers join them on their tumultuous journey through pain, struggle, and triumphs.

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Link to the eBook Leave of Absence on Amazon with Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Deliverance (Jennie Marsland)

New Indie Book Release:
Deliverance - Jennie Marsland -
Historical Romance (April 2013 - 273 pages)

Deliverance is a historical romance set in Canada in 1917. It’s a sequel to the Author's 2011 release, Shattered. The hero is a returned WW1 veteran who has gone AWOL to avoid being sent back overseas, and the heroine is a returned Red Cross nurse.

About the Book

Click to Read to Excerpt

Autumn 1917

Carl O’Neill is on the run from the Army and himself. Returned from Europe on recuperative leave, he’d rather die than go back to the trenches. He assumes a dead man’s name and leaves his home and family behind him, only to be dumped off the train in the small prairie town of Mackenzie, Saskatchewan. Seriously ill and stranded, Carl has no choice but to confront the demons that drive him – and his growing feelings for the former Red Cross nurse who saves his life.

Naomi Franklin is no stranger to secrets and personal demons. Struggling with the trauma of rape and her experiences in a front-line field hospital, Naomi can’t bear to close the eyes of another young man whose life has ended far too soon. She’ll nurse the stranger who lands on her father’s doorstep and then send him on his way. But looking into Carl’s blue eyes makes her feel like a woman again, while the all-too-familiar shadows behind them touch her heart. When both their lives come crashing down around them, can Carl and Naomi overcome secrets and lies to find each other again?

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Link to the eBook Deliverance on Amazon with Excerpt

Featured Indie Book: Tears of Sand (Sandra Bass Joines)

Featured Indie Book on Indie Author News: Romantic Suspense Tears of Sand by Sandra Bass Joines.

Tears of Sand draws in readers with dynamic character development and settings so real that one can easily visualize the feel of sand between their toes and the primal smell of the salt air. Constant twists and unexpected developments keep the reader in suspense until the very end. During the course of the gripping and intriguing story, the author has a keen talent for using humor to soften the intensity of heart-wrenching tragedy. The author also addresses a complex subject regarding the storage of sperm and eggs by fertility clinics. What dark secrets lie within these clinics? What happens to unused sperm and eggs? Would a clinic stoop so low as to sell them without the owner’s permission? Could they be stolen?

The Book has been published via CreateSpace and is available as eBook and Paperback - 222 pages - released in October 2012.

About the Book

Estranged from her father and left with the task of taking care of her alcoholic, sex-addicted mother, Hope, Plata Hartman’s life has been conflicted and confusing, robbing her of a normal childhood and leaving her unsure of where she fits in.

Hope’s stand-in father, Bones, and his partner, Dee, disappear days at a time on secret missions, but his most important mission in life is to honor his best friend’s last request– to protect his daughter, Hope.

It takes a murder to convince Hope to face her demons and to send Plata on a quest to find her place in a small village on the Northwest coast of Florida. After marrying Jeremy Hartman, Plata is happy and content until a heart-wrenching tragedy strikes, causing her to realize that the course of one’s life can change in a split second – as fast as a bolt of lightning. In her search to come to terms with this devastating event, life-altering secrets unfold, and Plata finds herself returning to her past on a dangerous, spine-chilling journey to rescue, perhaps kidnap, a child.

Click to Read an Excerpt

New Indie Book Release: Dead Ringer (Jim Yackel)

New Indie Book Release:
Dead Ringer - Jim Yackel -
(End-Time Suspense) Christian Fiction (April 10, 2013 - 225 pages)

- "Allusions to pop-culture icons Elvis Presley and The Wizard of Oz are worked into the ominous subject matter of the End of Days - even in a fictional setting that features the element of the supernatural and a government gone rogue while revealing hints of Upstate New York colloquial humor. As we look at the world today, it is not far-fetched to contemplate the happenings in the fictional 'Dead-Ringer' becoming non-fiction." - Jim Yackel

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

A man who impersonates Elvis Presley for his living resides in the same small town that was the birthplace of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz author L. Frank Baum. We all know that flying monkeys were a part of the journey to the mythical Land of Oz, but could they also be demons straight from Hell? This Elvis impersonator thinks so, as he sees them in his dreams and visions and also in the tangible reality of the streets of the rustic village of Chittenango, New York.

This man, named Jesse Same, has grown weary of the Elvis gig and desires to do something new with his music career. Likewise, he desires to have more time with his young son and that means wrestling him away from his manipulative and controlling ex-wife and her hard-driving new husband. They don’t subscribe to Jesse’s strong faith in Jesus and are troubled that the young son has developed his father’s passionate love for the Lord.

How far would the ex and her husband go to keep the young son from Jesse?

Would the young boy put himself into great danger in order to be with his dad?

As this man who is a dead-ringer for the King of Rock n Roll dreams prophetic dreams, the supernatural creeps through the cracks in the walls that separate it from the natural realm as those who are bound to this world may soon witness the end of the world as they know it. Will the man’s dreams and visions come to pass? Is there any hope for the individuals who appear in his dreams?

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Link to the eBook Dead Ringer on Amazon with Excerpt

Indie Author Interview: Terry Gildow

Author Interview with Terry Gildow - Author of the 'One Page a Day' Fantasy/Horror Adventure Brown Blankets; The Crooked Crosshatch.

Terry Gildow is a 28-year old ex-musician living in the foothills of south central Pennsylvania with his wive and two children.

Since making the transition from rock star to writer, Gildow has embarked on a journey that may very well extend into the following decade.

He is the owner and curator of the website www.hewritesonepageaday.com, the home for his seven book series collectively titled Two Trees And Their War. The Book is being published online on the website www.hewritesonepageaday.com one page a day.


Interview with Terry Gildow

Author Terry Gildow

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Terry Gildow: Do you count musical writing? Hah! This is actually the first time that I've dabbled into conventional novel writing, but I've always had a knack for dreaming up stories inside my mind. Video games have always intrigued me, especially role playing games because of their incredible plots and character development. I've found that certain games I've played through have better stories than some books or movies. In my writing, I've really taken key elements of my favorite ones and included them into my saga. Games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy X can really be seen in the later installments that I plan to release.

Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
This will come as a huge (huge!) shock to most, but I don't really read that much. I've always heard it said that to be a good writer, you need to always be reading. I don't believe that for a second. If you have a good story to tell, and the means to tell it, then by all means you're going to write it well. The passion is what drives you, not how many books you've claimed to have read. To answer the question? My favorite book is The Gunslinger by Stephen King. My favorite part of his writing style is that he describes everything with impeccable detail. I try to mirror that in a sense, without trying to lose readers along the way.

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
The drive and want was always there, but time never allowed it. After graduating high school, I enrolled in an audio/visual school two weeks later. After graduating from there, I began touring in a band playing bass guitar within weeks of getting my certification. Fast forward to 2008, I finally settled down with my wife and began the planning stages of Two Trees And Their War. Having kids really grounds you, and I think this will be the start of many works to come.

"I write one page a day to a series of seven novels, every day..."

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

New Indie Book Release: Sam's Place (Bob Mustin)

New Indie Book Release:
Sam's Place - Bob Mustin -
Literary Fiction (March 25, 2013 - 225 pages)

- "[...] Mustin is a Southern treasure. If you're a fan of rich characterization and the wayward adventures of oddball yet relatable individuals always locking horns, and if you require a setting that lives and breathes like a human, check out this book. I'm a reader of Flannery O'Connor, Doris Betts, Larry Brown, Tim McLaurin, and Elizabeth Spencer. With his own unique style, Mustin can hold his own with this good company. " - Reader Reviews

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Step inside Sam's and you can play a game of eight ball, nurse a beer, or get to know a wayward preacher, a reformed hooker, an Iraq vet amputee - or Sam himself.

You may watch a baby being born, see a deadly knife fight, or simply hear tall tales. But there's always a rough-hewn truth within the lies, and Sam's always there to manage everything from birth to death with a righteous cant.

All things considered, it isn't a bad world.

Sam's Place is a collection of interwoven short stories that revolve around a local watering hole in the Alabama town of Striven. Pull up a chair and get to know the locals in this powerful and entertaining world that is Sam's Place.

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Link to the eBook Sam's Place on Amazon with Preview

Indie Author Interview: Rebecca Forster

Author Interview with Rebecca Forster - Author of The Witness Series which contains (so far) 5 Legal Thrillers.

Rebecca Forster is a USA Today best selling author with more than 20 books traditionally and now also self-published - and if you ask her where all those words came from she'd be hard pressed to tell you. All she knows is that she wakes up with a story in her head and goes to bed the same way.

Her specialty is legal thrillers and The Witness Series, featuring the beach-rat, volleyball playing attorney Josie Bates and her teenage ward, Hannah, who have really captured readers' imaginations. But she also likes to stretch the thriller genre a bit. Before Her Eyes, for instance, has a fantasy element intertwined with a murder mystery. Wilde's Gamble is a romantic suspense.

Interview with Rebecca Forster

Author Rebecca Forster

Alan Kealey (Indie Author News): What is your (writing) background?
Rebecca Forster: Until I wrote my first novel, my writing background consisted of research papers in high school, college and graduate school and marketing plans for my clients. I never kept journals or wrote poetry or short stories. I am a late bloomer where writing is concerned but I have always been an avid reader. Perhaps, the thought of writing was always in the back of my mind.

Who are your favorite writers, your favorite books, and who or what are your writing influences?
Dr. Suess's work inspired me because he was never afraid to celebrate his unique voice. I love Thing One and Thing Two. The Nancy Drew series piqued my interest as a child. Those book made me aware that a girl could be cool. Stephen King's work - especially Needful Things - because he took chances and is a master of characterization. An Indie author David Wieshart is my most recent addition to my list. He wrote Devil's Lair and I admire how intelligent his work is. Carl Haaisen. It's hard to write funny and he is so funny.

"I found my passion because a door opened unexpectedly [...]"

When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I never thought I wanted to be a writer. It wasn't until I met my client's wife, Danielle Steel, that the thought occurred to me. I made an off-handed comment that "I bet I could write a book." A colleague dared me to do it and the rest is history. I found my passion because a door opened unexpectedly and without planning. I walked through it. Makes me believe that I was meant to do this all along.

Tell us about your writing process. Do you have a writing routine?

New Indie Book Release: Shadow of Time (Jen Minkman)

New Indie Book Release:
Shadow of Time - Jen Minkman -
Paranormal Romance (December 2012 - 400 pages)

- "As a reader, I felt like the author did a lot of wonderful research and I felt like I came away knowing more about Navajo Nation than I ever dreamed possible. Thank you Ms. Minkman for having the passion and commitment to write such a beautiful book."

- "[...] There were aspects of reincarnation, animal spirit guides, a wise medicine man, and skinwalkers (think of evil ghosts that can change into people or animals) that drew me in and had me hooked. There was romance, humor, horror, and history all wrapped in this book that made it a joy to read. " - Reader Reviews

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

All Hannah Darson wanted was a peaceful summer vacation after her first year of teaching in high school. She and her brother Ben are all set up for six weeks of relaxation in their mom's log cabin next to Lake Powell. Hannah hasn't been there for years, and when she runs into Ben's best friend Josh again, she discovers he has grown up... fast. The young boy from the Navajo reservation turns out to be the local heart-throb, and Hannah falls head over heels for him.

But vacation in Arizona is not a bed of roses: after being stranded and harassed at Lake Powell in the evening, Hannah is plagued by terrifying dreams about war, a Navajo village from the past, and three mysterious shapeshifters who are haunting her in her nightmares and even seem to invade the real world.

What is happening to her? And why does Josh appear in her dreams about the past, too..?

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Link to the eBook Shadow of Time on Amazon with Preview

New Indie Book Release: The Guardian Chronicles (Craig Gaydas)

New Indie Book Release:
The Guardian Chronicles - Craig Gaydas -
Action / Adventure (March 30, 2013 - 286 pages)

"Amazing character development of the main protagonist (Gabriel Crane) as well as his office assistant (Sheri Vaughn) who assists him every step of the way in the story. Before the accident, Gabriel was just a loner who coasted through life with no direction. Sheri is basically the female mirror of Gabriel. She graduated college and could have had any job she wanted but she stuck with Gabriel even though the business was failing. Both characters have struggled with jobs and relationships but they come together after the accident and develop an intimate relationship. The story is not only about a battle between order and chaos (good and evil) it is also a story about people overcoming their own internal demons to battle the external ones."

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Gabriel Crane is an investigator struggling with self-doubt and low self-esteem. His career as well as his life has grown stale and his lonely lifestyle has caused him to question his purpose in the world.

A near fatal car accident causes him to fall into a coma for a month. During this time The United States teeters on the edge of a new Civil War, his business is failing and his friends abandon him. When he awakens he learns that his entire life was just a cover to protect who he really is as he discovers that not everything in the world is black and white.

His accident was caused by the forces of the underworld in efforts to stop the forces of Olympus in assisting him with discovering what he was born to become: The Guardian.

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Link to the eBook The Guardian Chronicles on Amazon with Preview

New Indie Book Release: The Friday Edition (Betta Ferrendelli)

New Indie Book Release:
The Friday Edition - Betta Ferrendelli -
Mystery (December 2012 - 308 pages)

"While The Friday Edition establishes itself as a newspaper story, it feels much more like a classic whodunit. The novel builds nicely into a captivating third act that provides twists that manage to shock without feeling contrived. Although the mystery is solved at the end, we are left wondering what might be in store for Sam Church and hoping that we haven't heard the last of her." - Reader Review

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Christmas is coming to Denver, Colorado, but it isn’t only snow that’s falling.

A beautiful young woman, who also happens to be a Truman County Assistant DA, tumbles from her apartment balcony to her death on Christmas Eve. The incident is ruled a suicide, but the DA’s sister, newspaper reporter Samantha Church, isn’t buying it. Feverishly Samantha throws herself into finding out what really happened to her sister. She pursues her sister’s killers, maneuvering through a minefield of intrigue deliberately set out to divert her from the truth. She invariably stumbles when confronted by the inescapable specter of a greater enemy: the alcohol dependency that has already cost her the respect of her peers, and, worse, custody of her daughter.

Samantha must summon the courage to face not only a cartel of criminals, but also her own demons. Physically threatened and betrayed, she nearly defeats herself through her own insecurities and fears. She not only must summon the courage to get beyond her own shortcomings, but she must work quickly to beat her nemesis—a reporter at the major metropolitan daily newspaper, who is also in close pursuit of the developing story.

Can Samantha ultimately prevail, write the biggest story of her career, and finally begin to change her life before it is too late?

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Link to the eBook The Friday Edition on Amazon with Preview

New Indie Book Release: Alejandro (K. Victoria Chase)

New Indie Book Release:
Alejandro - K. Victoria Chase -
Romantic Suspense (March 23, 2013 - 52,000 words)

“[...] the characters are three dimensional and accessible, the plot is believable and fun, the action and tension handled brilliantly, and the moral of faith, forgiveness, and second chances flows naturally without feeling forced or tacked on. Bravo again to Chase for crafting an intelligent, romantic, drama, that's sensual, enthralling, and, most importantly, completely clean!" - Reader Review

About the Book

Click to Read an Excerpt

Audrey Hughes hasn't heard from her sister Penny in years, but when she receives a letter from her former drug-addicted sister that someone is going to kill her, Audrey believes her sister is being dramatic--until she discovers Penny is dead, and she's left behind a son Audrey never knew existed.

It's his fault she's dead. Lana was his source, his responsibility. US Marshal Alejandro Santiago vows to avenge her killer, a drug trafficker who is the key to finding a dangerous fugitive. One problem: Lana's beautiful sister Audrey and her nephew have just become targets. Can he protect them both without his emotions compromising the mission? What will happen when Audrey learns the truth of his involvement in her sister's death?

An interracial romantic suspense with a bit of faith weaved in.

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Link to the eBook Alejandro on Barnes & Noble

Link to the eBook Alejandro on Amazon with Preview