Welcome to another Weekend Interview! Today we have Rachel Griffin, the author of Khyrus: Deity of Virtue & Strength.

Jo: Thanks so much for coming to say hi to us, today! Can you tell us a little something about Khyrus: Deity of Virtue & Strength?

Rachel: To avenge his fallen parents and to preserve what they’ve fought to protect, Khyrus must defeat Nirjin, Deity of Destruction. Khyrus’ heart is made of gold and has longs for the day where evil will rule no longer, but will gain the strength and will? Will his companions assist him in succeeding or will they fall at his side?

J: That sounds good! What inspired you to write it?

R: I was inspired to write it because I wanted to attempt to branch out from what I usually did (poetry, newsletters, etc). I wanted to create an actual story that has a message/lesson to learn by the end of the novel. The more I pushed myself, the more creative and determined I became to complete Khyrus: Deity of Virtue & Strength. My husband and my life in general were also my inspirations. I wanted to be able to prove myself wrong and make myself proud. My husband was my inspiration and motivation because he was a constant reminder of what I’m capable of and to never give up on what you want.

J: That is so awesome! I always love to hear about writers with supportive families. So many don’t have that. Who is your favorite character in the book?

R: If I had to pick a favorite character, it would be Leona. She starts as a really close friend of Khyrus during the years they were training. She was the one who kept Khyrus’s head leveled and was his right hand person through it all. I don’t want to say more because it’ll spoil part of the ending.

J: She sounds like a good character! What was your favorite part of writing Khyrus?

R: My favorite part of the writing process was being able to type to last few words. Typing those last few words and the end of the last chapter gave me one of the best feelings ever because I could finally say I completed a book. The feeling I had after publishing was even better.

J: That is a great feeling! What was your least favorite part?

R: My least favorite part was figuring out where and how to publish on my own. The whole process was completely new to me, so getting through that for the first time was quite the challenge. Though it was my least favorite part then, it’ll me my favorite with the next books I write.

J: Yeah, publishing can be overwhelming the first time, but it gets easier and easier with each book. Speaking of future books, what do you have planned next?

R: I’m currently working on my first trilogy novels. These will be compilations of poems I’ve written pertaining to my different types of trauma. Some are relationships. Others are loved ones passing away. The rest are pertaining to relationships: family, boyfriends, friends, etc. I’m also in the middle of planning more charity events for the remainder of the year.

J: That sounds great! Can you tell us an interesting fact about you?

R: I never knew what I wanted to be as a child. I didn’t fully figure that out until I was in 12th grade.

J: I understand that. I’m not sure I’ve decided what I want to do yet, haha! Where can we find more of you and your work?

R: I have a website called Pen & Camera. I own an online Photography and Writing company and have all contact info, some of my work and pries for everything. I also have social media. I can be found on Instagram as @penandcamera1. I’m on Twitter as @penandcamera12. Follow me on Facebook.com/SnapAndWrite. I also have Tumblr and LinkedIn profile. Those links, along with other social sites and contact info, are included on my company site.

J: Very cool! I love photography, too! Thanks so much for coming to see us today, and thanks to our readers for stopping in. Be sure to check out Rachel’s photos and her novel Khyrus: Deity of Virtue & Strength. You can find it on Amazon at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08X3TQT29

Rachel Griffin is a photographer and the Founder and CEO of Pen & Camera. She’s also the author of the new novel Khyrus: Deity of Virtue & Strength. She began writing poetry in middle school and continued throughout high school into adulthood. She soon began writing newsletters about events issues. Then she began branching off to national and international events while still including coverage on her business. It wasn’t until 2019 that she began taking on writing novels. In 2020, she published her first novel Khyrus. One book down, many more to go!

Would you like to be interviewed? Check out the details at https://joleenenaylor.wordpress.com/author-interviews/

Hello, vampire lovers! This weekend we have the prolific Barbara G. Tarn with us! Though I know a lot about her, you may not, so let’s get to it!

Jo: Hi, Barb! Please tell us a little something about your newest release.

Barb: Mortals Apocalypse is the first for three books that take my vampires to the future. It starts in 2020 and ends in 2150. It’s followed by Through the Centuries with Ishaq’s story from 2040 to 2453 and Alain in Rainbow Town (21st-25^th century), and finishes in Vampire War set in the 25^th century. I’m thinking the paperback should contain all three, since two are short novels (under 40K) and one is a novella.

Mortals Apocalypse and Through the Centuries are already out, Vampire War comes out at the end of the month. More on the series and how it mingles with Future Earth Chronicles here.

Stay tuned for the bundle that will contain Mortals Apocalypse and other vampire novellas and short novels!

J: What inspired you to write Mortals Apocalypse?

B: I introduced vampires in Future Earth Chronicles in Book 2 – Wanderlust. I knew they’d survive the apocalypse that wiped away Western civilization in the second half of the 21^st century. Covid happened right when I was considering writing more about that apocalypse, from the vampires’ point of view. So this is the story of our fall from grace, from five immortals’ point of view – Rajveer, Kris, Ingolf, Miyako and Claire. Rajveer and Kris had their own books in the series, but I still have to write about Ingolf, the Wandering Vampire. Miyako was already in the series, as secondary character, but became more important in the future, so I had to explore her. And Claire, who graces the cover, is a newcomer, although she appears in the last book of Future Earth Chronicles.

J: That sounds really intriguing! What was your favorite part of writing it?

B: Making up a plausible future that would lead to the apocalypse and the collapse of the various countries on Earth. Sometimes it’s human mistakes, sometimes it’s solar flares, sometimes it’s a horde of Romanian vampires… and I didn’t have to go too deep in technology details, since none of the point-of-view characters is a tech expert, although Kris, Miyako and Claire are all fairly updated, being born in the 20^th century and everything.

J: That does sound fun. What was your least favorite?

B: Going into technological details, although I was helped by articles on smart-cities and AI and brain-computer interfaces and all that futuristic stuff!

Jo: Yeah, sometimes research can be fun and sometimes… Moving on, do you have a favorite character? Why are they your favorite?

B: Rajveer, of course. He’s the one who started the whole series, so he opens and closes the longer books of this “trilogy”. He came a long way since that night in Chittor when he became a vampire! Like me, he doesn’t like the changes much, but he goes along with them. In previous books he had to fight Mighty Menka, the Asian vampire, in this one he’ll have to fight Zalmoxis and the strigoi… no spoilers on who he’ll be fighting in the vampires war!

Jo: Ha ha! I should have guessed that! So, what do you have planned next?

B: I have already written, but will publish them in January and February, the prequels to Future Earth Chronicles, or the apocalypse seen from the alien humans’ point of view, as well as the sequels a few years later. It has been an interesting journey so far, and I even got to write an inheritor story. Then I’ll probably go back to those vampires and write more about them. Tell Helios’s full story (you can check Olympia Nights in The Phantom Games), Ingolf’s travels, Solveig’s eternal search… We’ll sea. I love historical fantasy and alternate history!

Jo: Okay, we’re getting close to the end here. Tell us one interesting thing about yourself or your book.

B: My series deals with vampires through history – now even going into the future – but it’s not really paranormal romance. Actually, there is very little romance, although in Mortals Apocalypse we see Rajveer and Kaylyn celebrating anniversaries like a married couple (although they never got married with any country’s law or religious ceremony, but they’ve been together since 2005). So I always have trouble finding the right shelf and keywords when I publish books in this series!

Flash fun round!

Last vacation?

Las Vegas for the Anthology Workshop (where I sold another vampire story that will come out on Halloween 2021) just before the Covid outbreak.

Favorite planet?

Good question! This one is fucked up, but reaching the closest similar to it is impossible… except with imagination, of course!

Your spirit animal?

The unicorn, of course. Or a horse if you don’t believe in unicorns…

Thanks so much for joining us Barb! Be sure to check out her work at:

Her blog https://creativebarbwire.wordpress.com/

Her books https://www.unicornproductionsbooks.com/

You can also find her work in the Nightly Bites bundles from Bundle Rabbit!

Welcome to what is usually a weekend interview (but I didn’t get it posted over the weekend, so…). Today we have Matthew Rattsifer, the author of Thirteen, the sequel to The Demon Journal. He’s been kind enough to answer some questions for us, so let’s dive right in.

J: Hello, Matthew. Can you tell us a little about Thirteen?

M: Firesouls: Thirteen is the concluding book to Firesouls: The Demon Journal.  I wanted to your typical story of taking what people consider the worst and make it the best.  Meaning I wanted to take people (or beings in this case) and make them the heroes.  I decided to create a group of a half-demon, a werewolf, an old-world gypsy, and a vampire that’s been around since the beginning of time.  Their mission in this book is to collect the thirteen crystal skulls to prevent others from using their powers to rule the world and to stop a forgotten God from taking over the Earth.

J: That sounds really intriguing. What inspired you to write it?

M:  In 2011 we went through a flood.  At the time we were living in a trailer.  Once the water receded we had no electric or hot water so all my money went to fuel for a generator to run the fridge and one light or the television.  At night we turned the light off so we could watch t.v.  I wasn’t able to buy new books to read to my kids so I began writing short stories for bed time.  Soon those stories got longer and longer, then because of everything we were going through I only saw the bad stuff in the world so I decided to write a story with bad guys as the good guys – thus the Demon Journal was created.

J:  It sounds like you were able to turn something negative into something positive. Speaking of positive, what was your favorite part of writing Firesouls: Thirteen?

M: Creating Asudem, the vampire.  She’s so unique, I had a lot of fun developing her character.

J: Is Asudem your favorite character, or does that honor belong to someone else?

M:  My all-time favorite character of this series would have to be Callisto, the gypsy.  She has mind control powers that give her the ability to control others or look into their minds.  She’s often referred to as the Mind Spider.  With those powers she can become intangible like a ghost, fly, and essentially be nearly immortal.

J: She does sound awesome. Did you have a least favorite part of writing the book?

M: In ‘the Thirteen’ there wasn’t really any of it I didn’t like to write.  I like looking into conspiracies and this book  is loaded with them, both church and government.  I had fun twisting them together.

J: What do you have planned next?

M: I’m finishing up my fourth book, ‘Chalk Hearts II’.  One of the main characters is a horror writer.  He’s well known for his ‘Justin Daemon’ series.  A vampire series.  I decided to create that series.  I’ve already got an outline for the first two books.

J: Wow! Sounds like you’re going to be busy! We know a lot about your book now, but what about you? Can you tell us one interesting thing about yourself before we go into the bonus round?

M: mmm, I don’t know if anyone will find this interesting or not, but when I write I play soundtracks.  With Demon Journal it was ‘the Craft’.  With ‘the Thirteen’, it was Men In Black.  With ‘Chalk Hearts’ I and II, it’s been Twilight.

J: That is interesting! I’ve always loved The Last Unicorn soundtrack. And now for the lightning round!

Favorite drink: Coke or Swiss sweet tea
Favorite cookie: Chip A Hoy chewy peanut butter cup
One weird habit: When I’m writing I gradually bring out more of the Fortnite characters I collect so by the time I’m done for the night the table is filled with a small army watching me.
Favorite dinosaur: the anklyosaurus because I think it looks like a spiked tank and who wants to mess with a spiked tank
Your spirit animal: Since I studied Druidry most of my life its a rat for my curiosity and an owl for the fact most of my life happens during the night

Thanks so much for coming to see us today, Matthew! And for the rest of you, thanks so much for stopping in. You can find Thirteen, and Matthew’s other books at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ratts.

Happy Saturday! Today we have Margaret Marr with us, the author of the YA novel Creature.

J: Welcome, Margaret! Thanks for stopping in! Can you tell us a little about your book?

M: CREATURE is a young adult paranormal with a hint of romance. A group of teenagers decide to investigate a human-like creature living in the mountains of their hometown. As they dig deeper, they uncover secrets best left buried. Strange things roam the mountains of Hayton County where tourists, and sometimes locals go missing on a regular basis. Mandy, Abe, and the  high school science club risk danger to discover what’s going on, but exposing long buried secrets might not be in the best interest for two curious teenagers.

J: That sounds interesting! What inspired you to write it?

M: A picture, caught on a hunter’s trail-cam in the next county, showed a human-like creature crouching in the leaves starring into the camera. Its eyes glowed and it appeared to be anorexic. The picture was probably a hoax, but it captured my imagination and CREATURE was born.

J: I’m often inspired by visual things, too, so I think that’s awesome! What’s your favorite part of the story?

M: My favorite part is where Mandy and Abe settle in to try and catch a glimpse of the creature but are interrupted by the science club (a group of four nerds) who have the same thing in mind. They make so much noise that it becomes comical, but it’s the start of an unusual friendship between the characters.

J: That sounds fun! What was your least favorite part (if you have one)?

M:To be honest, I don’t have a least favorite part in CREATURE. I’m sure if I read through the novel again, I might find something I dislike, but not at this point.

J: That’s great to hear. My least favorite part is always the bit I had to edit the most, just because I’m sick of it, ha ha! Do you have a favorite character?

M: My favorite character would have to be Simon Rogers. He’s funny sarcastic, logical, and nothing much bothers him. He’s curious but cautious and is often the voice of reason.

J: That sounds like a fun character. What do you have planned next for us?

M: I’ve already published the second book in the Hayton County Supernatural Series, BANSHEE. A banshee is stalking Simon and he needs to figure out what it wants. This book also available for purchase. Now, I’m working on the third in the series called DEMON. Mandy becomes possessed with a demon who keeps leaving and coming back.

J: Awesome! Can you tell us something interesting about you or your book?

M: In the past year and a half, I’ve lost 95 pounds simply by cutting out sweets and junk food. I’m thinking about writing a weight loss book to inspire and encourage others to do the same. Feeling and being healthy is one of the best things that has ever happened to me.

J: And now it’s time for the lightning round! Favorite Cookie?

M:  don’t eat cookies much anymore, but my favorite would be ooey-gooey chocolate chip.

J: Favorite Dinosaur?

M:  Does a dragon count as a dinosaur? If not, the brachiosaurus. It’s such a gentle giant, with big eyes and a cute face, but it can stomp you into the ground if threatened.

J: Your spirit animal?

M: Panther. I love the elusiveness of this animal and the fact that experts say it doesn’t exist in the mountains of Western North Carolina where I live. Yet, it’s been spotted and heard by numerous people, including me. I heard its scream once as child and have never forgotten it.

J: Thanks so much for saying hi today, Margaret! And thanks to all our readers for stopping in. You can find more of Margaret at the following places:

Website: http://margaretmarr.net

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/margaretannmarr/

Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/margaretmarrauthor

Amazon Author Page: http://amazon.com/author/margaretmarr

Twitter: https://twitter.com/margaretmarr

And be sure to grab your copy of CREATURE: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B088Y462K3