Clive Algar, author of Comets

Comets by Clive Algar is available for Kindle from Amazon:
US:  Comets by Clive Algar
UK:  Comets by Clive Algar

Comets by Clive Algar

Comets by Clive Algar

Set in the rich and fascinating milieu of Cape Town in the 1830s, with its shifting patterns of social awareness and the growth of scientific knowledge, Comets tells the story of James and Isabelle Forster, whose lives, and those about them, are changed irrevocably not only by the appearance of a real comet - Halley's - but by "human comets" including the aristocratic Michael Percy, the young Charles Darwin and a recently-emancipated slave couple, Adam and Catharine Cupido.  James and Isabelle's comfortable upper middle-class existence threatens to spin out of control as they confront moral crises they seem unable to resolve.

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Author Quiz interviews Clive Algar...

What is it you love most about writing?
I love the infinite scope for creating new worlds.  As a writer of mainly historical fiction (19th and early 20th century) I enjoy placing fictional characters among real historical characters to create events that could have happened.  I love the blank page waiting for me to fill it.

Where did the inspiration for your first novel, Journeys to the End of the World, come from?
Journeys is set in three different eras, but takes place largely during, and just after, World War 1.  I have had a fascination with the "Great War" since I was a child, as my late father fought on the Western Front, was mentioned in dispatches, was gassed in the trenches and saw things he could not bear to tell me about.  As I heard little about the war from him I read a great deal about it and, when the time came to write my first novel, I was drawn irresistibly to some aspect of the "Great War".  The aspect I chose was "shell shock", but I also related it to its unnamed equivalent a century earlier, and to post-traumatic stress disorder a century later.

Java Davis, author of Depression Carpenter

Depression Carpenter by Java Davis is available for Kindle from Amazon:
US: Depression Carpenter by Java Davis
UK: Depression Carpenter by Java Davis

Depression Carpenter by Java Davis

Depression Carpenter by Java Davis

Jackson Ferry is born into a privileged New York family, losing them in a car accident at the start of The Great Depression. Young and wealthy, he needs to justify his good fortune that contrasts so starkly from most of America.  Skilled in carpentry, he drives to the Gulf of Mexico, working on building projects all around the gulf with Chin, his peculiar friend and partner from Florida.  Where Chin is happy-go-lucky, Jake is thoughtful, always searching for more, using carpentry to strengthen his self-esteem.  But together, they are a powerful team.

In Alabama, after camping in a local cemetery, they find themselves among some fresh recruits for FDR’s Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC).  Further up the road, the pair is adopted by a Negro community, giving Jake his first real lessons in race relations.  Jake veers off to Baton Rouge and reminds himself what it’s like to be wealthy.  But he leaves Louisiana after ten weeks to continue his Gulf coast journey.

When Jake lands in Galveston, Texas, he stays for several years to help rebuild the island as it recovers from massive floods, sponsoring an inter-racial school for the island's orphans.

Ultimately, Jake learns to accept himself and makes peace with his circumstances.

This book took nine months to write.  The research to learn about the Gulf coast states during The Great Depression was fascinating, especially the horrendous history of Galveston, Texas.  The years of The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl continue to interest me, and I would love to write more historical fiction about this era.  I’m also a classic car enthusiast and researched an appropriate station wagon for the trip, a Ford “Woodie,” a photo of which is on the book’s cover.

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Author Quiz interviews Java Davis...

Sophie Schiller, author of Spy Island

Spy Island by Sophie Schiller is available for the Kindle app from Amazon:
US: Spy Island by Sophie Schiller
UK: Spy Island by Sophie Schiller

Spy Island by Sophie Schiller

Spy Island by Sophie Schiller

Abby Maduro is an adventurous island girl who saves the life of a mysterious stranger who has washed ashore on her Caribbean island. Despite the danger, Abby shelters Erich Seibold, a handsome sailor with a mysterious past, in the basement of her house. Soon, friendship and love blossom between the unlikely pair, even after Abby learns that Erich is a deserter from a German U-boat. Their cozy situation turns deadly when the island's German Consul, Lothar Langsdorff, discovers Erich's true identity and blackmails him into committing sabotage and murder. Erich is arrested and thrown into prison, forcing Abigail to risk everything to save his life, but with Langsdorff and his spy ring still on the loose, Abigail relies on her wits, bravery and a little island magic to save her tranquil island from a dangerous German spy. Spy Island is a historical spy thriller for the adventure-lover in you. Prepare to be carried away to an exotic tropical island with its potent mixture of action, suspense, romance, and delightful island characters who will cast their spell over you.

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Author Quiz interviews Sophie Schiller...

What's the best and worst thing about being an author?
The best thing is having the freedom to stretch your imagination, to do things that have never been done before. The worst thing is the lack of collaboration. By its very nature, writing is done by an individual in solitude. Oftentimes, we yearn for the synergy that accompanies working in teams.

What came first, the idea for your first book or the decision to write a book?
The decision to write "Spy Island" came first. It took me years to develop the plot and characters, and to mold it all into a thrilling, suspenseful story.

Christine Lindsay, author of Captured by Moonlight

Captured by Moonlight by Christine Lindsay is available for Kindle from Amazon:
US: Captured by Moonlight (Twilight of the British Raj) by Christine Lindsay
UK: Captured by Moonlight (Twilight of the British Raj) by Christine Lindsay

Captured by Moonlight by Christine Lindsay

Captured by Moonlight by Christine Lindsay

Prisoners to their own broken dreams…

After a daring rescue goes awry, Laine Harkness and her friend Eshana flee to the tropical south of India…and headlong into their respective pasts.

Laine takes a nursing position at a plantation in the jungle, only to discover that her former fiancé is the owner…but fun-loving Laine refuses to let Adam crush her heart like he had years ago.
Eshana, captured by her traditional uncle and forced once more into the harsh Hindu customs of mourning, doubts freedom will ever be hers again, much less the forbidden love that had begun to flower.

Amid cyclones, epidemics, and clashing faiths, will the love of the True Master give hope to these searching hearts?

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Author Quiz interviews Christine Lindsay...

Do you ever feel yourself becoming quite emotional when writing a particularly intense scene and is there a specific passage in particular where this was the case?
I get teary-eyed when I kill off one of my characters. This happened when I allowed one of my Indian characters to die in the infamous Jallianwalla Bagh massacre in India 1919. At the same time I really enjoyed writing her death scene.

Benjamin W.Farley, author of Three Thousand Days and Nights

Benjamin W.Farley is the author of Three Thousand Days and Nights, available from amazon.com:
Three Thousand Days and Nights by Benjamin W.Farley on amazon.com

Author Quiz interviews Benjamin W.Farley...

What is it you love most about writing?
Creating believable characters.

Where did the inspiration  for your novel, Three Thousand Days and Nights, come from?
Three Thousand Days and Nights was inspired by reading histories of the French and Indian War.

If your book, Three Thousand Days and Nights, was made into a movie who would you want to play the main character and why?
I'd want Matt Damon to play the role of Langdon Burke (in 3-K aka for title), since he possesses the quiet strength of that character.