Category: Uncategorized (Page 2 of 26)

1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

Retired submarine officer, deep-sea and saturation diver, scientist, author, and lifelong adventurer. Spent 22 months underwater, a year in the equatorial Pacific, three years in the Arctic ice pack, and a year at the Geographic South Pole. Degrees in Marine Physics and Meteorology, and a doctorate for developing a system to protect SCUBA divers in contaminated water. A prolific author of non-fiction, Cold War thrillers, and hard science fiction. Lives in Centennial, Colorado, with his family.

NOTE: All my books are featured on my book website: https://RobertWilliscroft.com

Library or museums? Both—depends on what is going on.

Hunter or gatherer? Hunter

3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

Pretty girl on the cover—catches my attention. I don’t necessarily pick it up or read it. I like hard science fiction and action/adventure stories

Here is a blurb for Icicle:

If you’ve read Niven’s A World Out of Time or Taylor’s We Are Legion, the opening of Icicle will only seem familiar. Buckle up for a wild ride; you ain’t seen nothing. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088QM3CQB/

Here is a blurb for Federation (to be released later this year):

The Oort Federation has consolidated its governance throughout the Solar System. Phoenix, under Braxton Thorpe (the Icicle), is a Solar System powerhouse controlling portals and non-portal travel everywhere. Ogden Enterprises, under Daphne O’Bryan and Kimberly Deveraux, controls human upload activity. Udachny, under Isidor Orlov, controls Solar System criminal activities while independently developing FTL, portal system, and human upload technology. Masin Arcah and Adrhun Gloalorn, survivors from the Asterian attack on the Solar System, choose sides—Arcah with Phoenix and Gloalorn with Udachny.

Thorpe and Orlov race to complete the first true FTL starship; their immediate goal is the Aster star system, the origin of the attack on the Solar System described in Icicle. Thorpe intends to establish cooperation between humans and Asterians. Orlov seeks to exploit the Asterians.

When the expeditions arrive in the Aster star system, Phoenix establishes a relationship with Arcah’s homeworld, Rogan, a planet operating as a wide-open, virtually no-government society. Orlov commences exploiting Gloalorn’s homeworld, Frohlic, ruled by the Boss, heading a many-thousand-year-old, planet-wide bureaucracy. Over time, bureaucratic Frohlic overwhelms Orlov, whereas Thorpe and the Roganians advance Phoenix stardrive technology and construct a large-scale starship for a planned expedition to explore the Galaxy and beyond.

The Starchild Trilogy:

Slingshot (2018): Slingshot is a love story – about a man, a woman, another man, another woman, some gender bending…and a machine, the largest ever built.

     Slingshot is a mystery – about a missing aviatrix, a conspiracy, a true-believer. Slingshot is an adventure – about following a dream, the ocean-deep, outer space.
    Slingshot is about constructing the first space launch-loop stretching 2,600 km between Baker and Jarvis Islands in the Equatorial Pacific. It’s about high finance, intrigue, unlimited ambition, heroism, fanaticism, betrayal…and about opening space to the common person.
    With a cast of 69, Slingshot takes you from Seattle’s world financial district, to the ocean bottom at 5,000 feet off Baker Island, to the edge of space 80 km above. You play with dolphins and battle sharks. You fly and sail and dive, you work and play and love across the vast panorama of an Equatorial Pacific being put to leash to serve humanity’s surge into outer space.
    While its accurate science and precise engineering will appeal to hard science-fiction buffs, Slingshot’s major focus is the grand journey, the opening of outer space to the common person by men and women who loom larger than life as they work, play, and love. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FRKTR2M/

The Starchild Compact (2018): The Starchild Compact is an adventure of heroic proportions, commencing on a planet 500 lightyears distant, arriving here just a few years from now, and ending up in the far distant expanses of the Universe.

    Is Saturn’s moon Iapetus an artifact? To find out, Jon Stock takes his international exploration team on a 1.4 billion km journey to Saturn, but will Jihadist stowaway Saeed Ismail succeed in sabotaging the mission? On Iapetus, Jon Stock and his team meet the Founders. Where are they from? How did they get here? How will they impact Earth and the Solar System? 

    Will the Founder’s presence signal the end of humanity, or will it pave the way for a joint push to the distant reaches of the Galaxy?

    The Starchild Compact is hard SciFi reminiscent of Arthur C. Clarke or James P. Hogan, with a geopolitical twist worthy of Tom Clancy or Clive Cussler. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FXHN26C/

The Iapetus Federation (2018): Following the dramatic events in The Starchild Compact, the starship Starchild departs on a 185-year interstellar journey. Meanwhile, the Iapetus Federation in cooperation with the Founders, descendants of the people who originally constructed Iapetus, expands to include the Mirs Complex at L-4, the Lunar Complex, a new habitat being constructed at L-5, the growing Mars settlements, and several asteroids including Daphne and Ceres.
    On Earth, America turns away from its world leadership position to focus on internal matters and the idea of an all-inclusive, multicultural society. Saeed Esmail, the stowaway Jihadist who played a significant role in The Starchild Compact, becomes the guiding prophet of a new form of Islam that quickly dominates the vanquished Persian Caliphate territories, and threatens the rest of the planet. Aided by Founder Asshur, the besieged Israelis reluctantly forge a new homeland on Mars, while the United States balkanizes into a half-dozen smaller units dominated by the Lone Star Conservancy under the leadership of Texan Sam Houston, who had earlier established the Lone Star Settlement on Mars.
    Science does not stand still. Founder researchers develop a longevity treatment that has the potential to extend human life indefinitely. The Starchild Institute, headed by former U.S. President Marc Bowles, develops advanced spacecraft, and a new form of transportation based on artificial wormholes. As the global Jihad on Earth heats up, most of the planet falls under the domination of Saeed Esmail, with only the Lone Star Conservancy, Columbia Freehold, Australia, and New Zealand left as independent territories. The Institute opens evacuation portals between Earth and Iapetus to rescue as many people as possible.
    While Earth sinks into medieval barbarism, the focus of human activity shifts from Earth to the Iapetus Federation as humans settle virtually every potentially habitable spot in the Solar System and begin planning for expansion into the rest of the Galaxy. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07F7JF5D4/

They face a giant Camaneroceras (thought to be long extinct), polar bears, Greenland sharks, Orcas, and other hungry marine critters. They are dogged by a high-performance new Soviet nuclear submarine that is determined to prevent Teuthis from laying the arrays.
​     Mac and his team find themselves in an under-ice, hand-to-hand battle with Soviet divers that results in the surreptitious capture of one of the Soviet subs inside U.S. territorial waters. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08JZDRZXY/

Icicle (2020): Braxton Thorpe has discovered a threat to the entire Solar System, but he has a problem: he’s dead.

Frozen at death, he awakens to find himself uploaded into an electronic matrix. Exploring beyond the matrix and the larger GlobalNet, he discovers the Oort, a distributed electronic entity older than humanity, with an unnerving secret: aliens wiped out nearly all life on Earth once, and are coming back to do it again.

The mathematical entity that is Thorpe has to find a way to convince humans of the threat, and in time to do something about it. But how, and what?
If you’ve read Niven’s A World Out of Time or Taylor’s We Are Legion, the opening of Icicle will only seem familiar. Buckle up for a wild ride; you ain’t seen nothing. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B088QM3CQB/

6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!

I draw extensively from my adventurous life (see my bio). I also draw from my scientific and engineering reading and research.

7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

I work out daily for one to two hours. Then I divide my time between marketing my books and writing. I try to write 1,000 words daily.

8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?

Write that first book NOW! Don’t wait!

9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!

Email: rgw@RobertWilliscroft.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robert.williscroft

Parler: https://parler.com/#/user/RGWilliscroft

Gab: https://gab.com/RWilliscroft

Twitter: https://twitter.com/RGWilliscroft

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/argee/

Book Website: https://RobertWilliscroft.com

Personal Website: https://argee.net

Blog: https://thrawnrickle.com/

Publisher: https://freshinkgroup.com/author/robertwilliscroft/

Amazon Author Page: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-G-Williscroft/e/B001JP52AS

1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

Hello, I am Isra Sravenheart, USA Today and Amazon Best-selling Author. I write a dark fantasy fairytale series which is solely based around a witch Lady Isra but as times go on, things get very interesting. I live in the UK with 4 cats and I like to watch Netflix/ read in my spare time.

8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?

Just ignore the negative nancies. I had a bunch of people telling me I would never amount to anything in writing including some family members. I did it, anyway, knowing that those opinions were just that.

9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links! 

Email list: https://israsravenheart.eo.page/8px6s 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/ISravenheart

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/IsraSraveheart 

Amazon Page: https://www.amazon.com/Isra-Sravenheart/e/B00VKRF6Q0

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/13754513.Isra_Sravenheart

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/israsravenheartauthor_/

Tumblr: https://israsravenheartfantasywriter.tumblr.com/

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/isra-sravenheart

WordPress: https://israsravenheartblog.wordpress.com/

1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

Tirza Schaefer is mother of three awesome children, a boy and two girls – and a very talkative cat. She always loved telling stories and as soon as she was able to, did so in writing, mostly for herself alone until she published her first book in 2015.

Besides writing sizzling hot romance novels that nevertheless don’t lack depth and ethical as well as spiritual themes, she also writes articles about archetypes like Goddesses, Gods, Power Animals and Tarot. She is an intuitive reader and spiritual healer (Usui Reiki Master & Founder of Goddess Reiki).

When she doesn’t read, write or research, she can be found giggling with her children (best way to learn) or meditating in nature. As a creative powerhouse, she is multi-passionate, so you’ll never know what she will come up with next…

You can also watch this short introductory video:

2. To get to know you just a little bit better, I’d like to ask you some this or that questions. Answer 5 (or more!) of these and explain why you chose this or that, or maybe an entirely different alternative!

Winter, spring, summer or autumn? Summer. I’m always cold at other times of the year, unless I’m having a hot flush brought on by menopause but that won’t last forever, right?

Cat or dog? Cat. I love dogs, too, but they are too much work. We have an absolutely adorable and very talkative cat called Taani who came to us from a shelter in Dubai.

Tea or coffee? Coffee for taste, herbal tea for health.

Morning or evening? I am definitely a nightowl. As a child, I used to sneak out of the house when it got dark and roman through the wood beside my parents’ house. I’ve always loved the atmosphere of the night, the peace and mystery. When I lived in London, I would go on long walks through small alleys and backstreets even in the worst parts of town. I never cared. I loved the night. I felt safer at night than by day. When I had children, I couldn’t leave the house at night anymore but when I get the chance, I still roam around at night. And hugging trees in the woods at night is special!

Library or museums? Museums. I like to own the books I read. So outside of university for my studies and research, I’ve never gone to libraries. But back in London, I lived in bookstores. That was before there were ebooks, back in the 90s. Museums I love for the history they show. My favourite is the British museum. As a student I had free entry there and as I was around the corner at SOAS, I used to spend many of my lunchbreaks there between classes. It was beautiful. I used to go into the room with the Hindu statues. It was so peaceful there and not that many people were around, either. It was my safe haven at the time. I’ve always taken my children to museums when we went on holiday and also here at home in Cologne, Bonn and Berlin. I find culture and history so important and I have instilled a sense of that in my children, I think.

Hunter or gatherer? Gatherer. I’m a vegetarian with vegan ideals that I fall short of. Still working on overcoming my dairy addiction.

Witches or wizards? Witches. Girl power! I know there are male witches but usually, witches are female and powerful. I’ve always loved that.

Ninjas or pirates? Oh, that’s tough. Pirate captains are sexy (see Johnny Depp) but I’ve always dreamed of having ninja skills since I was a child because I wanted to punish the wicked that got away with it. And ninjas have always fascinated me. I read Shogun by James Clavel when I was fourteen on summer holidays in Sweden. I loved it and devoured it. I was so fascinated by the Samurai culture and their belief system, their code of honour. From there I learned a little about ninjas. I’ve always wanted to be a warrior but my mum wouldn’t allow me to learn martial arts. However, my fascination with these silent killers has remained. I am fascinated by elite warriors of any kind, really. Currently, I am watching a Turkish historical series on Netflix with subtitles and I love their way of sword fighting.

Mountains or beaches? Beaches. In the shade. I’m too white, I burn otherwise. And because I have some chronic injuries that make walking on uneven terrain difficult and painful for me, mountains are wonderful but not that easy to get around in for me. Plus, I am a Scorpio, so my love for water is in my DNA. Ocean it is!

Plotter or pantser? Pantser but I’m working on plotting a little more, too, but my characters always hijack the story and something completely unforeseen happens. Like in my book Ria where they end up in a mental hospital. I definitely didn’t plan that!

Pen and paper or computer/phone? Pen and paper are great for thoughts, ideas, affirmations and poetry. But by now I write my books and longer articles on my computer because it takes too long to type it all up again.

Standalone or series? Both. I’m more of a standalone writer but I do love series and I have a couple of projects that are series which I love. They also challenge me greatly in a personal as well as in a professional way so I love how the work on them makes me grow.

Book or ebook? Depends. Special books I like to have in print but mainly, I get ebooks. They are cheaper, easier to take on travels, don’t collect dust and take away self-space.

Hero or antihero? Not too clean-cut hero but neither too much of an antihero. A happy medium. Human but not completely broken and complexed.

3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

A story needs to have feeling, action and purpose of some kind for me. Disregarding genre, that should be the deciding factors. I need to be able to feel with the characters, understand why they feel and act the way they do and be able to set it into context of their own personal history or at least clearly outlined character, and the environment they find themselves in.

4. What do you write? Tell us about your current projects and the latest happenings!

My books are mostly love stories. But they go beyond ordinary romance. There is a message, an ethical element and at times even spiritual elements. I have lately turned to writing mainly reverse harem with a slight reverse age gap. I found when reading romance novels that most were about younger women and I felt I couldn’t identify with that anymore. My college days are over and so is my own family planning.

When I searched for romance with mature women as main characters, I came across so-called milf or cougar themed books that are usually badly written and don’t have much of a storyline. It’s either seducing the son’s best friend from college or some pool boy or similar labourer seducing the bored and neglected middle-aged housewife whose husband is cheating on her, which is the usually given excuse and moral justification for the woman to do the same. I don’t find this appealing and my personal opinion is that two wrongs don’t make a right. I love steamy romance and I write it myself but you won’t find cheating and short term affairs in my books. There is always a happily ever after.

My female MCs lovers are somewhat younger and more vigorous than men her own age but they stand for themselves and meet the woman on eye level. They are neither almost-children, nor simple-minded men who have nothing to show for themselves but a good body. They have courage, heart and spirit and they are willing to take responsibility for their own lives and show the woman they love that she is adored, protected and taken care of.

Of course, there are certain issues and obstacles to overcome but they do so together and my stories will show that clear communication and consideration of the other person, as well as compassion, can lead to a happy relationship.

I have two series that I write on at the moment. One is Seals in Spain, a trilogy with the same MCs throughout, one woman and three men, and The Milf Diaries, which has different MCs in each book, however, they need to be read in order because there is an ongoing storyline for these women and their men as well. Moreover, these two series are interlaced. They Seals in Spain’s characters appear in Book 3 of the Milf Diaries, which has not yet been released.

There is one more standalone full-length novel I am working on which is called Her Badass Bikers and is another reverse harem, reverse age gap story with one woman and four men. It is a slowburn romance with quite a few twists and turns along the way but in the end, there is the happily ever after that we all love. Guaranteed.

Trailer for Seals in Spain

Trailer for The Milf Diaries series:

Trailer for Izzy, Book 1 of the Milf Diaries

5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!

My two latest publications are standalone novellas, one was a shifter Christmas story, A Beary Little Christmas, and the other a recently published summer romance, A Little Slice of Heaven. Both have a constellation of one woman and two men. Of course, lots of other things are happening as well. The first has a witch and karmic twins that need to lift an evil curse and the latter deals with a contract killer from the Russian mafia.

You can get A Little Slice of Heaven here:

https://books2read.com/alittlesliceofheaven

Trailer for A Little Slice of Heaven:

6. What real-life inspiration do you draw from, and what are your primary fictional sources of inspiration (books, authors, films, music, etc.)? Name a few!

I can see a picture online by chance when searching stock photos or it can be something on social media and I think of an entire story to go with it. When I travel, I usually write my first poem while drinking a coffee and waiting for my train or plane. I can get an idea from a line or character in a book or a movie or a real life person can inspire me to incorporate some character traits of theirs into a character in my stories. Real life experiences also influence and colour my writings at times. It all depends.

7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

I open a document, give it a working title and start typing. That’s usually how it goes. Along the way, I will write down more details about my characters and the story outline as it unfolds. I found that planning everything from the beginning doesn’t work for me so well because my character always come to life and exercising their free will, as any ordinary person would do, they usually stir the story in a completely different direction than I had initially planned.

8. If you could go back and give yourself one piece of advice as you started out on the path to becoming an author, what would it be?

Believe in yourself, research more and find resources to help you become a better writer. Find like-minded people and don’t be afraid to ask for help. Learn as much as you can and don’t stop. Don’t hide your light. You have a gift and the people it is meant for will find you and be touched and moved by your words.

9. Last but not least: where can we find you? Drop those links!

Website, Newsletter Signup & Blog

https://www.tirzaschaefer.com

Books2Read Author Page with UBLs to all major online stores

https://books2read.com/ap/8Z21ZP/Tirza-Schaefer

Instagram

https://www.instagram.com/tirzaschaefer/

YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/c/TirzaSchaeferPublishing

Facebook Group Tirza’s Bookstore for Authors & Readers

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TirzasBookstore

All other Social Media, Latest Releases & Current Book Promotions

https://linktr.ee/TirzaSchaefer

1. Hi! Welcome to my humble blog of all things bookish! I would like for us to start by getting to know you. Give us a short bio, please!

I’m Shauna. I’m an Irish indie author. I took some time out of work after I suffered a breakdown back in 2016 and writing became a form of therapy for me. I’ve been writing ever since. I live with my husband, son and our two dogs. The main genre I write is Fantasy but I have started to dip into other genres.

3. When you look for books to read, what trope or type of story will always catch your attention?

Fantasy books generally catch my attention more so than any other. I do love any books with dark/ twisted humour and unusual stories. I hate reading the same story again and again, I look for something unique.

5. What is your most recent release? Give us a short presentation, cover, and a link for where to buy it!

My most recent release is Highland Reaper, it is book two in my Olden Chronicles series. For anyone familiar with the series the book continues on from Shattered Steel, Tristan and Catherine’s relationship is out for the world to see and they soon find out that someone has put a substantial price on their heads. The pair, along with their friends need to find a way to survive and figure out who paid to have them killed.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Highland-Reaper-Chronicles-Shauna-Richmond-ebook/dp/B08TQJQRWG/

7. What is your writing routine? If you have one, give us the run-down!

I’ve little to no routine. Having a child on the spectrum means the days can get away from me. I write when I get the chance which is mostly in the two and a half hour window I get when my son is in school. If he decides to nap I’ll write when I’m not busy doing housework.

We have so much to learn from our peers and not just the bigger household names but other indie authors too. I have a collection of some fantastic indie authors that I adore and I love how we can all get the same bullet points for a story and come up with something vastly different. For my younger self, my current self and for anyone aspiring to be an author or wanting to improve your skills, you have to read. You can’t do your job right if you don’t.