Author Brigid Kemmerer

Brigid Kemmerer is making her debut on the Young Adult (YA) book scene with a four-part paranormal series entitled The Elemental Series. The first novel “Storm” revolves around sixteen-year-old Chris, one of four brothers each gifted, or cursed depending on whose perspective we’re viewing, with subtle power of an element. Chris’s power is over water. 

That subtleness is what gives these stories a unique edge. The brothers cannot beckon the forces of nature to right the world’s wrongs or bring a city to its knees. Each young man must deal with all of the good and bad of life while coming to terms with their not-so-normal abilities. They aren’t wealthy and in fact run their parents’ landscaping business. What they do have is a bond of brotherhood and everyday yearnings to find happiness. They also have some not so average enemies, and in Chris’s case, a challenger for the teenaged Becca who becomes embroiled in Chris’s life and troubles. Becca, too, comes with her own suitcase of problems she has yet to overcome. 

Brigid is married with three sons, works outside of the home, and has managed to put together this intense, yet charming, story of high school, coming of age, finding love, and dealing with all of the inner and outer issues youth must contend with on a daily basis. 

“Storm” isn’t atypical YA reading. Not at all. By centering a different brother in each novel, Brigid has assured readers of new characters, storylines, and well-conceived plots in this series. “Spark,” the tale of the brother with the gift of fire, is set for release this August.

http://www.brigidkemmerer.com/

Q) You once stated the greatest difficulty in writing these stories was to write from the perspective of a teenaged boy. How did you overcome that obstacle?

A) The funny thing is, I just had to stop overthinking it. I spent so much time trying to figure out what teenage guys would worry about, or how they’d feel about girls, or how they would relate to each other. I kept throwing hypothetical questions at my husband about how boys’ minds work. Finally, he said, “Hon, stop worrying about all guys, and worry about this guy. He’s your character. Just write him.” So I did. And it worked.

Q) Which leads us to this question. Why four brothers and not sisters?

A) I could give you the teacher’s pet answer and say that I’m fascinated by family dynamics overall, but am somewhat mystified about the complexities of how brothers interrelate, but I can see your eyes glazing over already. Instead, I’ll give you the honest answer: I first wrote about these four brothers when I was in high school. When I was sixteen, the idea of meeting four hot, supernatural brothers and getting caught up in their lives was … well … awesome. When I decided to rewrite the story featuring the same four brothers, I still remembered the magic the characters had for me then.

Q) You keep the characters grounded with topical issues such as bullying and harassment. What caught my eye was cheating in school (“Spark”). Why include something that is so wrong, yet occurs so frequently that some people have come to erroneously accept it as expected behavior? And, how did you avoid making the subject ‘preachy’?

A) Teenagers make mistakes. All of them. Including me. I could never preach to anyone, because it’s just not my style. When I set out to write The Elemental Series, I wanted these characters to have supernatural problems, but real life problems, too. Sometimes my characters get away with cheating or bullying or assault or whatever. Sometimes they don’t. Either way, they have to deal with the fallout from that in addition to the elemental powers they have to control.

Q) You obviously have a preference for paranormal and urban fantasy. What is it about these genres that attracted you?

A) When I was a little girl, I always liked to imagine that there was something … more out there, just waiting to be discovered. Who am I kidding? I like to imagine that now. I’m so glad that urban fantasy has really gotten a lift over the past few years, because it was my favorite genre to read as a child, and there was so little of it. What’s better than slapping something supernatural in the middle of real world belief systems and methodologies?

Q) You will soon begin the book signing tours and required marketing personal appearances for your novels. These absences can wear on a family. What steps have you taken to ensure your family stays intact?

A) I read this question out loud to my husband and he laughed. Seriously, we have a great marriage. He’s my best friend, and we’re a great support system for each other. He came up with a plan for “study dates,” where we make a pot of coffee at night after the kids are in bed, and I can work on the book stuff while he works on finishing his degree. We work together and bounce ideas of each other. It’s the best thing we’ve ever done to strengthen our relationship.

Q) Any parting thoughts for the readers soon to be introduced to your work? 

A) I hope they love Becca and the Merrick brothers as much as I do! I love hearing from readers. Please don’t hesitate to follow me on Twitter @BrigidKemmerer.

DA Kentner is an author and journalist. www.kevad.net

Author Eve Marie Mont

Philadelphia’s Eve Marie Mont teaches high school English and Creative Writing. Though happily married, Eve has a timeless crush on Edward Rochester of Jane Eyre fame. 

So, how does a person visit a fictional flame who non-existed in the 19^th century? If you’re a skilled storyteller such as Eve, you create the contemporary teenage character Emma Townsend and have her fall into a leather bound copy of “Jane Eyre” and then into Jane herself. Stop right here. While this time jumping, body leaping scenario is indeed a part of Eve’s novel “A Breath of Eyre,” this is neither the meat of the plot nor even the surface of the depths contained with this story. 

The heroine Emma is a teen trying to come to terms with all the darkness and defeatism life can throw at her. Emma is shy and insecure, but possesses a strength she has yet to fully understand. Her gift at book travel connects Emma to the strengths and passions Jane Eyre possessed. “A Breath of Eyre” is exactly what the title suggests; a breath of Eyre, not a recast of the characters and original Charlotte Bronte tale. 

Emma, thanks to Eve’s skillful hand, comes across as a memorable friend we all have or had at some point in our lives. She draws us into her world to the point where the reader genuinely cares about what is happening to the young heroine as she struggles to understand and overcome her present while negotiating a fictional past. Eve Marie Mont did not create an easily traversed writer’s path with this story. She did however weave two worlds into one in a manner which will leave readers satisfied and looking forward to Emma’s next adventures. 

And yes, there is more of Emma’s story to be told. “A Breath of Eyre” is the first offering in a trilogy. Adventures involving “The Scarlet Letter” and “The Phantom of the Opera” are soon to follow. Designed as a young adult (YA) story, “A breath of Eyre” contains modern dilemmas teens face and methods for overcoming those problems. This book could easily become an open line of communication between adults and their teenagers. Yes, it’s that good.

http://www.evemariemont.com/ 

Q) Be honest. Did your interest in Rochester partially inspire this story? 

A) Well, maybe just a little… Seriously, I know of few Jane Eyre fans who didn’t have a crush on Rochester at some point in their lives. Sure, some women get over their attraction to a brooding, romantic hero, but for me, Rochester still has tremendous appeal, which I think translates well into young adult literature. Girls will always be drawn to the mysterious bad boy who hides a vulnerable side. My protagonist has several stand-ins for Rochester in her real life—one of them, her English teacher—but it isn’t until she actually meets Rochester in the flesh that that she begins to give up her desire for an unattainable hero and open her eyes to the real love that may be standing right in front of her. 

Q) Obviously, you have an affinity for time periods without cell phones or gas powered machinery. What first pulled your imagination into life more than a century ago? 

A) Believe it or not, I still don’t have a cell phone I use regularly. I’m tied to my laptop enough as it is; I don’t need or want another gadget to isolate me further in my personal bubble. Obviously we live in a global, technologically advanced society, and I don’t mean to stick my head in the sand. But every year, I see people becoming more detached, less empathetic, and we see the ramifications of this in our levels of stress and unhappiness. I’ve always been drawn to stories in which human connection is valued above all, like those of Jane Austen, E.M. Forster, and of course, the Brontës. I think the pendulum has swung almost as far as it can go before we see a backlash against technology. Personally, I’m hoping for a back-to-nature movement to rival that of the romantic era! 

Q) In “A Breath of Eyre,” you actually take the reader to the brink of changing the ending to “Jane Eyre.” Gutsy, considering the thousands of devoted Jane Eyre fans. What made you decide to trespass on what to some is hallowed ground? 

A) Honestly, this did scare me a bit, but that scene you’re speaking of is so vital to Emma’s growth that I knew it was right for her story. And I made it very clear that while Jane still gets her happy ending, Emma has to tear herself out of Jane’s story in order to find her own.  

Q) The loss of your mother-in-law to ALS (Lou Gehrig’s Disease) partially inspired “Free to a Good Home” in that her passing challenged you to ponder the heartbreak if you lost your husband. Emotion is powerful inspiration. What emotional well did you draw from for “A Breath of Eyre”? 

A) I’ve heard from some readers of A Breath of Eyre that they were surprised by how serious the story gets at times—they were expecting a more light-hearted romp through Victorian England and a little forbidden romance with Rochester. And believe me, I love those escapist stories, too, but I guess I use my fiction to explore my fears and to try and make sense of the world and my place in it as Emma does. Jane Eyre treads on a lot of thorny issues like identity, abandonment, class, gender, morality, autonomy. I wanted to echo some of those themes in a modern context. For this book in particular, I drew on my own sense of loneliness and insecurity as an adolescent—a time in which I knew deep down I had something important to say but hadn’t yet gained the confidence to think anyone would listen. 

Q) Teaching and writing can’t leave much time for yourself. How do you and your husband stay connected? 

A) My release month nearly brought me to the brink of insanity in terms of pressure and stress, but thankfully it was followed by spring break! While I have revisions for Book 2 and a first draft of Book 3 on the horizon, it’s important to take some time for myself—both to fill the creative well and to reconnect with family and friends. Friday nights are almost sacred to my husband and me—we try to keep the TV off, go out to dinner, and reconnect after the busy week. And the return of baseball season means another bonding ritual for us—watching the Phillies! 

Q) Any parting thoughts for readers yet to pick up one of your books? 

A) I guess I’d just say, try not to go into my book with any preconceived notions of what kind of story it’s going to be. While the cover may suggest historical romance, what’s inside the pages is a strange hybrid of sorts—contemporary, retelling, paranormal—but my hope is that you’ll allow yourself to get lost in the story just as Emma does.

DA Kentner is an author and journalist. www.kevad.net

Author, Illustrator Nan Rossiter

Artist Nan Rossiter, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design, created art for internationally recognized companies such as Viking, MasterCard, and UPS. Eventually, she opted to pursue her love of writing and combined that passion with her art to become an author-illustrator. She quickly gained national attention with “Rugby & Rosie,” an American Bookseller Pick of the Lists and winner of Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award, “The Way Home,” one of Smithsonian Magazine’s Notable Books for Children, and “Sugar on Snow.”

Not yet content, this housewife and mother of two sons made the decision to spread her literary wings and penned the heralded fiction novel “The Gin and Chowder Club.” Don’t let the title fool you. The story is a deeply moving tale of family, surrendering to temptation, and the emotional canyons and bridges only a family can create.

Nan’s second novel is “Words Get in the Way,” the story of Callie, the single mother of an autistic child, and her return to the small New Hampshire community she was raised in. The tribulations Callie once left behind in New Hampshire remain, and she has to face her past as well as build a future for her son who refuses to speak.

“Words Get in the Way” is a story of humble, everyday people caught up in decisions with lingering effects and the curveball changes life throws at us. This is also a romantic story of hope, love, and how answers can be found where we least expect them. Uplifting and yet at times dramatic, “Words” is a journey through life and all its sadness and laughter. And, I have to admit, the author kept me guessing to the final pages whether the love interests would come together or not.

Refusing to turn her back on her love of illustration and children’s books, Nan’s new children's book, The Fo'c'sle, Henry Beston's "Outermost House", will be published in May, 2012.

http://www.nanrossiter.com/

Q) With your children’s books receiving such high praise and popularity, why write adult fiction as well?

A) Before I dreamed of being a writer, I was an illustrator. I worked in the freelance field for several years before I decided to try to write a children’s book. Between 1997 and 2002, I was blessed to have three children’s books published, but after sales of my third book were disappointing, I had trouble selling another story and, to make matters worse, one by one, all of my books went out of print. I struggled for several years and received countless rejections after that but I’m a firm believer in perseverance, patience and prayer and I refused to give up! 

In 2005 I jumped in with both feet and started writing the novel that had been in my head for several years. Around the same time, a small publisher in Boston expressed interest in reprinting one of my children’s books in paperback. My relationship with that publisher blossomed and I approached him with an idea for a new children’s book. Soon, I was painting illustrations for a new children’s books and writing a novel at the same time. In the end, I endured nine long years without publishing any books…but now my cup overflows!

 Q) I have to ask this question. Why did you decide to create an autistic character, and where, or who, did the inspiration come from?

A) Autism has become much better understood in recent years and it seems to be in the news all the time, but that hasn’t always been the case. I was inspired to create a character with autism because I wanted to help raise awareness and I also wanted to understand autism better myself. Oftentimes, we see kids misbehaving in a store and we immediately think it’s a parenting/discipline issue but maybe there’s something else going on – maybe we’re too quick to judge. Parents of kids with autism struggle on so many levels and perception is one of them. I wanted not only to help raise awareness but also to reach out to those overwhelmed parents and write a story that’s uplifting.

Q) What I find encouraging and important is the fact mothers of autistic children have been praising not just your attention to the child, but your capture of the true emotional rollercoaster, struggles, and joys that befall and hearten parents of autistic children. How did you come to so accurately portray Callie?

A) I’m thrilled by the positive feedback the book has received from moms who struggle with kids that have autism. When I was writing, it was very important to me to be as accurate as possible; I think I was able to portray Callie’s feelings accurately simply from being a mom and knowing how a mom feels. Every parent hopes their child will be happy, successful, and accepted - and if anything threatens those hopes and dreams, a parent’s heart breaks for their child.

Q) “The Gin and Chowder Club” has sequel written all over it. Can we look forward to a sequel or series?

A) There are no immediate plans for a full length sequel to The Gin & Chowder Club (although there is already a short sequel in the Fern Michaels Christmas anthology, Making Spirits Bright, 2011). My contribution, Christmas on Cape Cod, focuses on several of the characters from G&C and tells about Asa’s first Christmas being a dad. Readers who are familiar with these characters will also discover that they make cameos in Words Get in the Way - and that the cabin in Words is the cabin Asa built at the end of Gin & Chowder!

Q)  Two very different novels revolving around family. What’s next?

A) Currently, I’m writing another novel that revolves around family! It’s about three sisters whose mom – stricken with Alzheimer’s – has passed away. The sisters return home to New Hampshire to begin the sad task of planning her service and the overwhelming business of sifting through her cherished belongings - trying to decide what can be discarded and what should be saved. In the process, they discover a surprising secret that their mom kept for many years.

In addition, my aforementioned new children’s book, The Fo’c’sle, will be available this June!

Q) Any parting comments for those who have yet to read your books?

A) As I wrote on the acknowledgement page for Words Get in the Way, when I first began writing my novel - and praying that it would be published - I promised God I would always try to write uplifting stories that make a difference. I’ve been blessed with that wonderful opportunity and that’s just what I hope to do. I also hope readers will find their way to my books (through interviews like this one!) and come away with a positive message and a good feeling.

  DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/

Author and Photographer T. Greenwood

T. Greenwood has authored seven novels to date. Her work in literature has taken her into the classroom where she has taught creative writing to students at the University of California San Diego, George Washington University in Washington, D.C., at The Writer’s Center in Bethesda, Maryland and for San Diego Writers, Ink. A Vermont native now residing in San Diego with her husband and daughters, Greenwood still returns to Vermont each summer. She is also an avid and aspiring fine arts photographer whose passion for understanding and capturing the elegance of light and dark has melded to her writing.

“Grace” is Greenwood’s latest release and a classic example of how two arts – photography and literature – can come together to create a poignant and creatively detailed journey inside a contemporary family on the brink of self-destruction. Within this dramatic novel, Greenwood infuses what on the surface may seem to be a cacophony of issues; such as hoarding, bullying, shoplifting, parental bias, and loss of control. Yet, Greenwood masterfully intertwines the individuality of the characters, their personal crises, and the mental life preserver each finds to stay afloat as their world plunges into murky depths.

“Grace” is at times a dark tale of a family on the abyss of desperation. But this is where Greenwood’s artistic eye captures the light and manipulates her prose to unveil that even in the shadows live beauty, hope, understanding, and triumphantly…love.
On a personal note, I think “Grace” is an amazingly written tale.
http://www.tgreenwood.com/

Q) One question that seems to arise in some readers’ minds regarding stories like “Grace” is how much of the author’s personal life was infused into the work. So, how much of T. Greenwood’s life is in this story?

A) This novel, like all of my novels, arises from an inherent curiosity about the world rather than a need to articulate my own personal experience. The spark of a novel for me is always some sort of question, and I write the novel to find the answer to this question. In the case of “Grace,” the question was, What would bring a man to the point where he would be aiming a gun at the back of his own child’s head? Obviously, the opening scene of “Grace” is not one that I have ever experienced firsthand. However, my own life does inform everything I write. I am a parent, and so much of this story is about motherhood (and fatherhood). The empathy I feel for each of my characters comes as a direct result of my ability to relate (in even the smallest ways) to each and every one of them. Lastly, the setting (while fictional) is based on the area in Vermont where I grew up. I have returned to this setting again and again in my novels.

Q) Hoarding, bullying, shoplifting for attention or to counter insurmountable anguish, and the character Trevor’s use of photography as a cry for help are a myriad of issues. Why did you incorporate so many topical problems into “Grace”?

A) This was not a conscious decision. These issues grew from the characters all having a shared need to possess something. Elsbeth shoplifts because she feels deprived of things; stealing trinkets relieves her (if only momentarily) of this sense. Pop hoards things because he is really trying to hold on to his past. Kurt too is trying desperately to hold onto his life (his house, his wife, etc…). Crystal has lost something she can never, ever get back. And for Trevor, photography allows him to capture the fleeting beauty he is able to find in his dark world.

Q) While I see “Grace” as a watershed for your passions, how do you view your melding of these two arts into your story?

A) I have always wanted to incorporate photography into a novel. And I truly believe that art has the power to save people. Art, for Trevor, validates his perception of the world. It gives him a lens through which to understand it as well. I care deeply about my own photography, and I wanted to be able to give this gift to one of my characters. Trevor was the perfect (and most deserving) recipient.

Q) You once referred to “Grace” as an “ensemble novel.” What did you mean by that?

A) “Grace” does not belong to one character. It is really the story of four people: Kurt, Elsbeth, Trevor, and Crystal. But it is also the story of a family.

Q) You have a preference for using small towns as the backdrop for your stories. In fact, Two Rivers, where this story takes place, is a return to the town where the novel “Two Rivers” took place. Why smaller, rural communities?

A) I grew up in a very small town in the Northeast Kingdom of Vermont. I find small towns to be fertile ground for fiction. There’s a sense of connectedness in a small town that doesn’t seem to exist in larger cities. There is also less transience. People stay in small towns. This has allowed me to create a credible fictional world for my characters. I have now set five of my novels in Vermont. And many characters make repeated appearances in these books.

Q) Any parting thoughts for your fans and those yet to discover your books?

A) I think that my novels offer a glimpse into a place that not many people know well. And the characters who live there are as real to me sometimes as my own family and friends. I am eager to share their stories with anyone willing to listen to them. And that is why I continue to write.

DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/

Word Rocker Cyndi Dawson

While exploring the raw and magnetic music of Babs Martin, I came across a video titled “Magus” by Cyndi Dawson. The work is Dawson’s poetry set to a calming melody.

“This is the dream of the holy man, of the man of sorrow, who waits by the split sea like Moses.”

I wanted to know more about the author behind the words and visual concept, which led me to Dawson’s book of poetry “Outside Girl.”

In “Outside Girl,” Dawson takes us into the off-the-grid NYC club scenes of the eighties, into the filth of bathrooms with junkies feeding their habits, false bravado thumped by those needing to fit in, the genuine lost souls, the hopes and dreams that will be left behind, and the beautiful hearts of those who will emerge from that era a little tattered, but all the wiser and stronger for the experience.

Dawson shares that world from her own experiences, her own viewpoint of the life she was living. As a “word rocker,” Dawson has performed her poetry to music in clubs around the world, always growing, always – in her terminology – evolving.

I think that’s one of the things that made her word artistry stand out for me. Dawson views life as a personal evolution. Because, after all, if we aren’t evolving, we’re stagnating.

A rocker at heart, Dawson (from the Cynz’s Facebook page) “and longtime musician friend Henry Seiz joined forces, grabbed fellow musicians Matt Langone, Bob Stockl and Patrick Schoultz, and put together what is being talked about as 'the closest thing to the sound of 1977 CBGB's since 1977'” - the band Cynz. Cynz is a hard hitting stage from which Dawson’s lyrical prose melds with skilled guitar licks, a solid bass foundation, and Stockl’s percussion perfection.

One of their most popular songs to date? “Evolution,” of course.

‘Actress’ Cyndi Dawson has appeared on Law and Order, Advil commercials and other film and TV projects. Her poetic prose has appeared in over fifty anthologies and magazines, as well as two other collections she published, “Dream Sequences” and “Inside of Outside.” As a performance artist, Dawson has enthralled international audiences. And yes, “artist” most accurately describes Dawson. She is a painter of words, and life is her canvas.
http://www.myspace.com/insideofoutside
“Magus”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Ftd8zSp7hA&feature=related

Q) You founded the poetry and music venue 'Poets and Angels Music and Poetry Series.’ Would explain for our readers what that venue is?

A) I wanted to create a safe space where people could explore their work without having to be a 'professional' writer. I found a perfect cafe in town where i live and they gave me free reign to start the series up. Since I worked with musicians doing my poetry pieces, it evolved into a poetry AND music series. It was very organic. We all allowed it to become it's own animal, so to speak, and it was a beautiful one.

Q) I read a blurb that you once stood in for Madonna. When and why?

A) I was an actress in the 80's, and my agent called me one night and said I was to be on set 6am for a movie as a stand in. I asked for who, and she said, 'Madonna'. Well, you know Madonna was HUGE at that point. I was a dancer so our bodies were very similar at that point, though I look nothing like her in the face. But as her stand in they could use me to set up shots and to do shots where she would have been filmed from behind or running, etc. This film was 'Who's That Girl'.

Q) You truly are a language artist wielding a verbal brush sometimes caustic, other times graceful and serene. Poetry isn’t known for its ladders to success. Why devote so much of your life to it?

A) Art yields little financial success, almost as a rule for most. I can only say that, like breathing, it is essential for living to someone like myself. I've written poetically since I was a child. I think my thoughts in poetry. I have mild aspergers so learning how to outwardly reveal my emotions in a safe way made writing the same as oxygen for me. I am very comfortable writing or moving my body physically as a mode of communication.

Q) Which leads us to this question – in your mind, what is “success”?

A) Success is when something you do that connects you in a positive way to the world gives you great satisfaction. It's obviously not about the money to me, although how I admire those who DO make their living doing what it is they love. That's a bonus, but not necessarily success.

Q) Performance art and small clubs allow for interaction with the audience. Do the people who come to your Cynz’s performances inspire your work, and if so, how?

A) Absolutely. The interaction with the audience can make or break a performance. It's an alchemy of energy. You try and bring everything you've got to every show. I've never experienced a dead audience at any of our shows so far, whether we had 100 or we had 20 people. They all move towards the stage and you can see it in their faces. We are definitely experiencing some shamanic exchange of purge during our performance. I often think the audience NEEDS me to cut loose and get that scream out. It's OUR scream, together!

Q) Any parting thoughts for readers not yet familiar with your poetry?

A) Jair-Rohm Parker Wells wrote that gorgeous music for 'Magus'. I've worked with some wonderful musicians over the years.

As for my words, I think the one thing I try and create is a set of 'unrules'. Craft is important. I hope more young writers learn how to edit and workshop. I am a 'street poet' but I still try and make sure every line is essential, that the piece doesn't go on too long just for my own ego, and that it isn't so written for myself that a reader couldn't grasp any of it. In that case, keep a journal of your work, but don't necessarily post it places. I find younger writers posting 2-3 times a day just to get comments and the work wasn't well thought out in regards to editing or crafting to make it really great. So- yes, no rules in terms of free style poetry, but having said that, at least take more time on your work to make sure it's not the best expression of the message you want to speak and/or share with readers. I write from where I live. Not every word is in chronological order, but most of my work is gleamed from my life or thoughts pertaining to bits of mine and/or another's.

I find if you write from a place of truth, there's a sense of urgency in the words you just can't fake. And the reader knows this.

DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/

Author and Biochemist Robert L Switzer, PhD

Retired Professor Emeritus of Biochemistry Robert Switzer’s work centered within the University of Illinois’ research program studying the regulation of metabolism as exemplified by the control of biosynthetic enzymes during bacterial growth and differentiation.

Yeah. I don’t know what he did either.

What I do know is that his character and moral foundations resulted from the sweat, tears, and joys of ancestors who broke ground and cared for livestock all their lives to raise their family and provide a nation with food. Dr. Switzer is the proud product of a dying culture…the family farm. In an age where corporations are steadily redefining the concepts of agriculture, keeping the voice alive for those who worked sunrise to sunset for little to nothing is gaining more importance with each passing day. It is quite probable a generation is being born who may never see a family farm that doesn’t include the word “incorporated” at the end of the name.

Switzer’s book “A Family Farm: Life on an Illinois Dairy Farm” is his own family’s rich history and loving devotion to the life they chose. Within the pages live four generations, from the start of the farm in 1916 to its heart wrenching dismantlement under an auctioneer’s gavel in 1991. “A Family Farm” isn’t just the journey of the Switzer farm, it is our own odyssey as a civilization, and a warning that if we do not tend to the strengths, labors, and devotion that provided our foundations, we too could become an interesting exhibit in a quaint museum.

Readers won’t just learn about the rigors of farm life, but about the people themselves as we follow the author’s mother filled with dreams of a scholarly future, only to see the Great Depression snuff those dreams, and her return to the farm with her husband who performed his chores and taught in a rural schoolhouse as well. The story is an emotional rollercoaster, because that’s what small farm life is.

Buy this book. Treasure the lives that will continue to live because of people like Robert Switzer who refuse to let them be forgotten. By the way, it won’t be available until April 15^th, but readers can preorder now either through Amazon.com or your local bookstore. Publisher: Center for American Places at Columbia College, Chicago
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Q) You and your brother Steve left farm life to pursue other careers, thereby unknowingly dooming your family’s farm. Is this book a strand of conscience cleansing as well as the documenting of a rich history?

A) Near the end of his life Dad coaxed Steve and me to keep the farm in the family, even though he knew that neither of us were free to operate it. It was a painful moment, but we wouldn’t lie to him—we intended to sell the farm after he was gone. Economic and practical factors overrule sentiment in the passing of small family farms.

On a more personal level, I think the decision hurt Steve more than it did me. I confess that I was happy to leave the farm, and I was fortunate to be able to pursue a career in scientific research and education that I loved. Brashly, I never looked back until I was much older.

Q) I have to ask. Just what did you do – in lay terms, please?

A) It gets buried in technical jargon pretty quickly doesn’t it? I studied the ways in which cells regulate the activity of their genes and enzymes in response to nutritional and environmental signals. They are amazingly good at this, and through evolution they have developed a large array of remarkably clever mechanisms for doing it. My students and I uncovered quite a few new ones. We worked with harmless laboratory strains of bacteria, but the strains we used were close cousins of bacteria that are important in disease and commercial processes, so our results applied to all of them. 

Q) What do you believe first inspired your grandparents to choose farming in NW Illinois, especially considering they primarily utilized outdated methodology for their time?

A) They were like many rural people of the time: they stayed where they grew up and they did what they knew. Neither Grandpa nor Grandma had an education beyond the eighth grade, and they had grown up on farms. They were slow to adopt new methods and equipment because they were always cash-poor. Grandpa had an additional handicap: he suffered from narcolepsy, so he was afraid of falling asleep while operating motorized machinery.

Q) As your parents’ early dreams had involved scholarly pursuits, how instrumental were they to your decision to bring your academic dreams to fruition?

A) Their influence, especially the influence of my mother, can hardly be overstated. She had been an excellent student, completed a college degree with honors in 1931, and had an opportunity to pursue graduate studies in biology at Cornell, but was frustrated by the Great Depression. In some sense, I was acting out her dream in becoming a university professor. I think Dad’s feelings were more ambivalent; he was proud of what I accomplished, but hurt a bit by my rejection of the farm life he had chosen. In his own way Dad was something of an intellectual, though. He enjoyed discussing history, politics and literature. I recall him reciting fragments of French poetry while we were milking cows.

Q) You wisely elected to include photographs and artwork in your book. How supportive has your and your brother’s families been to this project?

A) My family was more than supportive—this was a family project. Our son Brian, who is a professor of design in Germany, did the graphic design for the book and contributed the woodblock prints of his grandfather’s farm. My wife Bonnie, an artist, added four of her watercolor paintings insipired by the farm. The older photographs were in my parents’ collection, which passed to us after they died. The photos from the ‘70s onward were taken by several family members, including my brother Steve. All read early drafts of the text, and both Brian and our daughter Stephanie wrote beautiful descriptions of their memories of their grandparents’ farm. 

I doubt that my grandparents or parents, who are no longer living, would be been happy with some of my unsparing description of their lives, but I was determined to present a truthful and unsentimental story. My love and respect for them is obvious.

Q) Any parting thoughts to share with potential readers?

A) This book is intended for the general reader who would like an intimate picture of life on a small family farm throughout the twentieth century and an understanding of how so many such farms ceased to exist as separate farms. Millions of these family stories—often sad ones—could be told, but they are rapidly being lost. This is just one of them.

Although it is intended for the general reader, the book integrates a gentle scholarly shell that documents general trends in US agriculture and rural life throughout the period with end notes and references tucked in the back for those who want to dig deeper into the great decline in family farming. There is also an appendix that details the story of the farm from 1857 to 1911 written by Frank E. Barmore, the great grandson of N. J. Barmore, the patriarch who built the 1860s buildings that still stand and acquired adjacent land for his many children. The appendix includes beautiful architectural drawings of the old house and barn. So, A Family Farm is also a resource for specialists, but not obtrusively so. 

DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/

Author Stacy Bierlein

“A Vacation on the Island of Ex-boyfriends.” Heaven or Hell?
Heaven for the reader of this refreshing collection of short stories by debut author Stacy Bierlein. For the two friends who land on such an island, maybe the answer lies somewhere in the discovery that both words begin with “He,” and there aren’t any signposts beyond the women’s hearts, desires, and dreams. Of course, a little feminine guile never hurts either.

Each story within “A Vacation on the Island of Ex-boyfriends” is itself an introspective look through the keyhole of a woman’s intelligence, strengths, and the weaknesses that both mold and damage her. Yet, through Stacy’s wit and heartwarming storytelling ability, the reader will gladly follow these characters as they travel their individual journeys in search of that elusive happy ending we all believe we deserve and yearn for. Is the grass greener on the other side? Was what we wanted always within reach, but too close to see? Would we really risk our life for love? Does destiny exist and find us no matter how far we run?

Stacy isn’t new to the literary scene. A southern Californian, she edited the award-winning anthology, “A Stranger Among Us: Stories of Cross Cultural Collision and Connection,” and coedited “Men Undressed: Female Writers and the Male Sexual Experience.” She is a founding editor of the independent press Other Voices Books, and co-creator of the Morgan Street International Novel Series. Her articles about writing, publishing and the arts appear on various websites.

In this collection of delightful short stories, Stacy serves up the ever present reminder that love is never guaranteed, there is danger in surrendering our hearts, and sometimes the leap of faith is off a cliff. But Stacy also reminds us that sometimes that leap can land us where we were meant to be all along, and the trip can be well worth the fall.
http://www.erpmedia.net/books/AVacation.html

Q) Why debut with a short story collection and not a novel?

A) I have always preferred short fiction, as both a reader and a writer. I like the challenge of the short story—the quest to achieve the emotional range of a novel but in less than 10,000 words. I like the precision and control a writer needs in shorter works. It makes perfect sense to me that many of our finest contemporary poets write stunning short fiction, an vice versa. One needs to slow down, to fine tune. Novel writing requires a certain bravery and momentum that I’m not sure I have ever been able to sustain, although certainly I would like to try. Novel writing is a longer journey into the unknown.

Q) There are highs (rave reviews and sales) and lows (poor reviews and no sales) to having your name on a book. For an author, “published” can be a blindfolded roller coaster ride. Coming from the “unseen” side of publishing – editing - is being a published author what you expected?

A) I really like this question because the blindfolded roller coaster ride description is right-on. Being a published writer is what I expected, actually, because I knew what I was getting myself into. Publishing is a difficult business from all sides and I suspect it is easier for writers to keep realistic expectations when they have previously experienced this in some way. We have all seen truly brilliant books receive very little attention—for any number of reasons sometimes beyond the writer’s control, like neglected publicity efforts or poor distribution—and basically disappear. At the same time we see books that are rushed to print without proper editorial support, books that aren’t quite there yet, hitting bookstore shelves and managing to do notably well in spite of their failings. In my case, I feel proud of my work and my publisher’s enthusiasm for it and that’s really the very basic formula one hopes to have. From there anything can happen. On a blindfolded roller coaster ride you cannot be sure if your car is slowing to come to a stop or to shoot into some kind of crazy upside-down whirl.

Q) What inspired this collection of short stories?

A) For years it seemed that my closest friends were embarking on definitive journeys—both literal and emotional ones. I wanted to get both the beauty and uncertainty of those moments onto the page. I also wanted to describe accurately the intensity of female friendships. I am surprised by how seldom I encounter deep female friendships in literary fiction. As a culture, we tend to leave this arena to genre fiction and television writing. When I described my need to get onto the page the language female friends use when alone with one another, a friend told me “Oh honey, ‘Sex and the City’ has already done that.” I thought “Sex and the City” was daring and often lovely but I didn’t think it was showing us the true way women speak to each other. I thought it was how a team of extremely clever television writers wanted New York women to speak to one another. My women had some essential things in common with them but didn’t sound like them exactly.

Q) Much has been said by reviewers (almost all praise worthy) about your characters and their choices where love is concerned. What was your purpose in creating such a kaleidoscope of characters and international locations?

A) I think I possess more than my fair share of wanderlust. I have always been a traveler and deeply interested in who people are when they are away from home. Likewise I question whether home is really a place at all. Maybe we get that wrong and home is actually another person—at the risk of sounding too precious—a person who really understands your heart.

I was thinking about wanderlust as it relates to reading habits. Most of the literature I loved when I was a child involved children embarking on some kind of extraordinary or dangerous journey. I remember a book I treasured in grade school called King of the Dollhouse, where the king was a homebody who raised eleven princes and princesses while the queen went on adventures all over the world. I loved both the king’s devotion to his babies and the queen’s relentless curiosity. I wanted to be both of them. When I was a teenager I failed to love reading the way I once had. The stories I was to read suddenly lacked that kind of adventure—everything became more serious and realistic. This isn’t true for teenage readers today of course. Today’s young adult fiction is far more impressive in range and diversity. But most of my writing peers admit to this—a time in their late teens and early twenties when their reading often failed to capture their imagination. They wondered how they could become writers when they were less than enchanted by reading. Luckily in college we discovered Kafka and Gogol and Woolf as well as contemporary writers like Donald Barthleme and Robert Coover and Richard Brautigan. Reading became magical again. Today we have brilliant writers like Lydia Millet, Miranda July, and Aimee Bender writing important adult stories that remind us why we so loved reading as children. I think I often set my stories in distant places because I want the act of writing them to recall in some way the feeling and wonder I had for characters from my childhood reading, for those very devoted kings and wonderfully restless queens.

Q) What can we expect next from you?

A) I am working on a few things now. I’m writing an essay for TheNervousBreakdown.com on demolition and architecture, a discussion of what we destroy and what we preserve. I’m preparing to interview one of my favorite authors, Josip Novakovich, about his forthcoming essay collection, Shopping for a Better Country, for The Rumpus. I’m also tinkering with a novella that is a modern-day Sleeping Beauty story. Sleeping Beauty wakes up after 100 years of sleep and is seriously pissed off that the first thing she is expected to do is to marry. She is an insomniac now. Of course this is where her real trouble begins ….

Q) Any parting comments for those readers yet to pick up a copy of “A Vacation on the Island of Ex-boyfriends?”

A) I want to say how excited I am that my book has released in spring 2012—a very strong season for fiction with some notable titles by women I admire. Pam Houston’s new novel, "Contents May Have Shifted," is extraordinary. Two memoirs of note, Claire Bidwell Smith’s "The Rules of Inheritance" and Cheryl Strayed’s "Wild," discuss overcoming loneliness and so much more. Both are full of moments that made me stop and say, “Oh yes, I’ve known this feeling, I’ve just never had the words for it before.” And I’m looking forward to the release of Elizabeth Crane’s novel, "We Only Know So Much." So I hope you will read "A Vacation on the Island of Ex-Boyfriends" of course, but please do not stop there. This is an exciting year of innovative and inviting fiction.
DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/

Reading Proponent Dawn Roberto - Author Raine Delight

What readers of this column may not know is I don’t get paid to do this. Nope. Not at all. I interview authors solely to introduce readers to authors and books they might not be familiar with. So, when I meet someone else actively promoting authors and their work to readers while pushing their own books into the background, my interest piques.

Dawn Roberto hosts the popular Internet chat group Love Romances Café where authors and publishers are free to promote their books, and readers can chat live with those authors. She also hosts a blog where authors can, again, market their work. Dawn doesn’t profit from any of this. It’s a free service to readers and writers. In fact, in order to maintain the integrity of her efforts to promote reading, she created the pseudonym Raine Delight as the author of her own books. Furthermore, this interview is one of the rare times Dawn allows her two personas to sit down together.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/LoveRomancesCafe/

Now, Raine Delight is a bit of a personality in her own right and has become known for her more than cheeky comments and rhetoric. Raine pens erotic romance. Her tales are sometimes heart wrenching, suspenseful, sometimes sprinkled with humor, but always entertaining, and, yes, the bedroom door is always open.

Raine was unveiled with the introduction of the paranormal Devon Falls series, “Sticky Magic” being the first book released. Four others followed, the latest being “Moonlight and Magic,” the story of a rare white were-tiger and the one woman who can tame his heart.
Departing from Devon Falls, but continuing to remain within the paranormal genre, Raine has now released “Fantasies Unbound.” Skye Andrews is a woman fed up with life and men, until a Faberge egg opens a doorway to a Fae Prince in search of the love that can make him whole. If you’re a reader who enjoys wonderfully told tales of open hearts in worlds limited only by the imagination, and steamy romance, Raine is waiting to share a story with you.
http://authorrainedelight.com/

Q) What motivated you to create Love Romances Café, which also sponsors reader voted annual awards for outstanding books and authors?

A) Dawn: Hi David and thanks for having me here. Actually the LR Café was at first a book club where they would read and talk about a specific book once a month. Then the person who ran it decided she didn’t have the time for it and I stepped in. In the few years since then, I changed the name-LR Café-made it a chat place for readers and authors to enjoy and try to showcase the best authors each year and tried to make it a place where readers, authors and publishers can enjoy themselves in a relaxed format. It’s a lot of work at times but I am passionate about getting books out to readers, for them to chat with the authors and for authors to meet their reading public. Because face it, I get all fan-girl whenever I talk to an author I admire and love.

Q) How did the name Raine Delight come about?

A) Raine: Well actually, I was tossing ideas around after reading really awful book years ago and when I opened the door to my inner muse, I came about with an idea but needed a name that is separate from Dawn, as I try to keep bother personalities separate. An author friend, Skylar Sinclair, offered up Raine and I came up with Delight. From then on it has been history…

Q) Why paranormal, and do you have plans to write in other genres?

A) Raine: I love paranormal genre. The skies the limit and I can indulge my inner love of shapeshifters, mages and more there. Currently I am immersed in a sci-fi universe that I am creating for a new book and plan to dive back into the paranormal world with two more new trilogies in the future. I would love to do a historical but the research is daunting.

Q) Raine enjoys a harem of men lavishing luxury upon her. Dawn is a hard working homemaker trying to hold things together within a shrinking budget, and totally devoted to her family. How much of Raine is Dawn’s escape from routine, if any?

A) Raine/Dawn: Actually now that you mentioned it that might be true. *laughs* I actually created ‘Raine Delight’ to keep my reviewing separate from writing. I didn’t want to show favoritism to publishers I was with or have a conflict of interest so to speak. And I needed an outlet, I think, for the stories that long simmered in my head and finally had a chance to be out in the open.

Q) On Dawn’s blog “Dawn’s Reading Nook” Raine’s books aren’t marketed, nor even mentioned. Why do you normally strive to keep Dawn and Raine so separate?

A) Dawn: I try to keep things in perspective and try to not show I favor ‘Raine’s’ books over anyone elses’s. I have had my persona Raine on the LRC loop chatting with readers, etc but for me as Dawn, Raine gets enough publicity on her own in her own way that she doesn’t need my help in getting sales. Will that change? Maybe, maybe not. *shrugs* When I first started writing under Raine’s name, I wanted something different than my reviewing. Everyone knows I review, love to talk to authors and readers, etc but Raine is something a bit different. She is the one aspect of my personality that is wild and crazy. She can create some sexy, erotic scenes and not bat an eye and as Dawn I blush reading BDSM stories. LOL

Q) Any parting comments for readers not familiar with your work?

A) Raine: Thank you David for having both my personalities here. Does that make me sound like a mental case? *laughs* I love hearing from readers who love Happy Ever Afters that encompass people of many different colors and find that romance is universal, and hope they take a look at my blog or my website for my books.

Dawn: Thanks for having us here David. I love books and finally found something that I can pass on to others who love books just as much as I do. I hope readers pop in my blog and the LRC Loop for all the fun I have there.
DA Kentner is an author and journalist. www.kevad.net

Author and Wellness Expert Ellen Whitehurst

At the mere mention of Feng Shui, I instantly used to fear my wife would ask for my help in rearranging our furniture. That was before my friend, publicist Imal Wagner, sent me an interesting paperback titled “Make This Your Lucky Day: Fun and Easy Secrets and Shortcuts to Success, Romance, Health, and Harmony” by Ellen Whitehurst.

To be honest, I had no idea who Ms. Whitehurst was. Obviously, I need to get out more. Millions of readers follow her articles on DoctorOz.com, ‘The Huffington Post’ and John Edward’s InfiniteQuest.com among others. She’s also a former monthly columnist for both ‘Redbook’ and ‘Seventeen’ magazines. Recognized as the country’s premier expert in Feng Shui and other empowering modalities such as holistic medicine, aromatherapy, astrology and conscious cooking, she also pens a daily inspirational tip for iVillage.com currently reaching over a half million opted-in subscribers each day.

Still, I wasn’t sure what to expect in a book called “Make This Your Lucky Day.” Then I read this question in chapter one: “What would happen if there were no money in the world and we all had to barter with one another to exist?” At that moment, Ms. Whitehurst’s logic sledgehammer hit me on my thick noggin. This wasn’t a book insisting I twist my legs into shapes my arthritic knees would never allow, or hum chants while inhaling burning fruit slices. Through everyday prose, Ms. Whitehurst was simply encouraging me to discover my self worth – my inner talents and what I love to do.

Ms. Whitehurst opens doors we all have closed at some point in our lives when necessity and circumstances demanded it. But she also reminds us that we aren’t alone in the problems that can feel insurmountable. The topics in “Make This Your Lucky Day” include career, wealth, marriage and partnership, children, and creativity. Yes, there are holistic suggestions. Primarily, Ms. Whitehurst offers some simple deviations from our established routines that could in fact change our luck… if we’re willing to take the chance.
http://www.ellenwhitehurst.com/  www.facebook.com/EllenWhitehurst

Q) What event first drew your interest in Feng Shui as a lifestyle you wanted to share?

A) Many years ago I myself was struggling with some issues and agendas that each of us might stumble upon as we go about growing and living inside our own lives. My husband and I had been trying to conceive for some time and weren’t having any success, and, then, both of my parents – who had not yet reached the age of 60 – became concurrently and terminally ill. In my efforts at figuring out alternative modalities to support my efforts at having a baby and, more importantly, in my quest to find different ways to offer my beloved folks some quality of life while they transitioned, I met and started studying Feng Shui from a wonderful teacher. But it was when I, personally, experienced the profound and magnificent shifts that can occur from embracing this ages-old wisdom that I became a crusader on the path to sharing this life-altering philosophy with anyone wanting or wishing for more empowerment, fortune, happiness and, yes – even luck – in their lives.

Q) Many of the folks reading this aren’t familiar with your techniques. What is the primary reason a working mother of three who barely has time for three sips of coffee should read your book?

A) Anyone, even a crazy busy working mother (ahem!) can really get such huge benefits and blessings simply by realizing the role that the outer environment plays and contributes to what’s going on in the inner one. And in quick and easy to understand manner, that’s essentially what the book is about. If I can share with just one person how waking up (or even going to sleep) and looking at something or someone that/who makes you HAPPY will actually have a positive influence and impact, not only on the entire day but on their entire life, well, who wouldn’t want to take advantage of a concept so simple yet a result that is so spectacular? If the working mom knew that the first thing she saw every morning could have such a tremendous impact and then did something PROACTIVELY to make her own life a better place to be by putting the laundry away and positioning a picture of a beautiful field of flowers instead, then I’ve done my job, the book will have been worth the read, and she’ll enjoy those three sips more than before she read any one page.

Q) Same question, different person. What benefit would a teen soon off to college glean from “Make This Your Lucky Day”?

A) Well, without getting too specific, although, if anyone does, that sort of information is provided in the book as well. But, sprinkled all throughout the pages of “Make This Your Lucky Day” the reader can find dictates from this Feng Shui philosophy that are culled from lessons learned from the wisdom of the ages. Some of that wisdom holds that the colors blue and green are the primary colors that should be used in a sleeping space simply because they evoke an energy of peace and calm and even healing (think hospitals and green.) As well, the use of imagery as previously mentioned can also elicit and prompt a subtle psychological/subconscious response that could be considered supportive to whatever the intention is. So a boy heading off to college should bring a blue or green comforter for his bed to allow him to ‘chill’ when the day is done and he should be placing images around him that support his dreams of the future. Of course I get much more detailed in the book (always keep a desk lamp on the opposite side of the hand you write with lest it cast a shadow that can cause headaches, etc.) but in the bigger scheme, the idea of an outer environment supporting and shifting anyone’s inner one (even a rising college kid) also supports the notion that we indeed can create our own lucky opportunities!

Q) To turn your own question against you, if you hadn’t followed the path you’re on, what other career would you have chosen? In other words, what else captures your imagination and passion?

A) I was born to write. That much I know. It’s in my DNA. And my heart and soul as well. What I would eventually write about was always a question mark, but the fact that I would write was a given. That said, I spent the first 20 years of my ‘career’ life as a successful analyst, and, then, eventually a successful commodities trader working on Wall Street. During that time I did, however, also write a nightly newswire for all of E. F Hutton’s commodity traders detailing the fundamentals and technical swings and situations of that day, so, still writing. See? Can’t shake it.

Q) Your son Grayson means the world to you. How has Feng Shui changed his life?

A) I wouldn’t so much say that Feng Shui has changed my son’s life since he hasn’t really known any other way. He was born to a mom who had eagerly embraced the entire philosophy before he came along. But I will say that he is a well-adjusted, happy, polite and wonderful kid who is attending one of the country’s premier International Baccalaureate programs in the county and has a deep and overriding passion for filmmaking. His eyes are set on NYU Tisch Film School for college. I tell you this because he has, at various times, had images of Spielberg, Tarantino and even Hitchcock in his bedroom. His inner world is rich and diverse and he seems grateful (most of the time!) for what’s happening in his outer one. And I attribute a great deal of that peace of his to our implementing the powers of Feng Shui. I will share one more as well, I have a great social network of friends where I live, and, as you might imagine, not everyone is as, well, um, ‘passsionate’ about Feng Shui as I am. But when they experience our everyday ordinary life, whether they are believers or not, the first time something concerning happens with one of their kids, I am one of the first calls they make. For professional assessment. So, yeah, there’s that!

Q) Any parting comments for your readers?

A.) I am passionate and pure in my motivation to share with them my expertise. For no other reason that I KNOW, unequivocally and without a single reservation that even trying ONE thing from my book will make their world a healthier, happier, more loving, prosperous and better place to be. I KNOW this. And I know as well that I am incredibly honored, humbled and blessed to be even able to make that statement. Here’s what else I know too – if just a single one of us does a single little thing to improve our own lives, we then experience the ripple/butterfly effect of improving everyone else’s life too. Immeasurable the gratitude I feel when I think about my own lucky days. Now, I want everyone else to have theirs as well.

Thank you so very much David for this opportunity. I feel your great energy and your graciousness and I am very much blessed for both of those opportunities. I hope to meet you someday but, for now, will send all my love and blessings, Ellen W.
DA Kentner is an author and journalist. http://www.kevad.net/