Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Interview. Show all posts

Wednesday, 17 July 2013

Spotlight and Interview with Steve Cypert Author of Scapemaker

        




  Scapemaker by Steve Cypert
Matthew is the son of Mr. Nicholas Namely, a local high   school teacher. But unbeknownst to Matthew, his father is a dreamscaper whose classroom is connected to the dream-world. From his classroom, his students enter the halls of Scapemaker, a dream-world high school for young dreamscapers.

Following a couple of heartfelt tragic events, Matthew is compelled to investigate the unbelievable mysteries surrounding those events and is propelled into a whole new world. Matthew and his mother, Mae, are soon coerced into moving across the country for his father's strange medical needs. While attending his new school, Matthew comes to know the secrets that Daedree, an annoying girl from his former high school, has locked away. Matthew also meets Amber, a beautiful enigmatic girl who leads him to Mr. Xoner's classroom. While there, he learns the art of dreamscaping (which has been in the Namely bloodline for thousands of years). 

Matthew will come to know of Nox Celare, otherwise known as The Sandman, who is after a special element called Magineum. Neck deep in skinwalkers, sandsleepers, zombies, soul feeders, ghosts, dream-world criminals known as “night terrors” and more, Matthew learns he is in over his head. Matthew must not only solve the mysteries surrounding those tragic events, but he will also have to protect the Magineum with his life and find a way to be with the one girl of his dreams. Filled with secrecy, mystery and a forbidden tangle of young love, this new life will lead Matthew to unbelievable characters with the most extraordinary abilities he could never have imagined.

Scapemaker will keep you grounded in the real world while at the same time make the fantastical world around it that much more possible and enduring. This tale of young adult paranormal fantasy will keep you guessing and wanting more.


Where you can purchase this book.




About the Author



Steve V Cypert was born in Los Angeles, California.  At twenty-four he moved to Salt Lake City, Utah, where, two decades later, he continues to live. At age 34 he found and married his beautiful wife, Katie. Today, at age 40, he and his wife still live in Utah with their toddler and Shih Tzu. Steve graduated from the University of Utah in 2003 where he graduated with a 4 year degree.

For as long as he can remember, Steve has loved to come up with creative and far-fetched stories. In 2011 Steve finished his first novel, a work of historical fiction. He wrote Port of Errors in just three months. However, it took him ten years of research, editing and putting the missing pieces together.  In 2012 he wrote a second novel, the first in a series of four. Though, this time it was a YA paranormal fantasy. The title, at first, was The Son of Nicholas Namely, but Steve soon changed it to Scapemaker, which is also the name of the 4 book series. As of January 2013, the outline for the second book in the series was completed.

Steve loves photography. He shot weddings for a few years, but loves wildlife and landscape; he also loves volleyball and hiking; he has a mountain bike, but never rides it; finally, he is a self-professed indulgent and fanatically addicted big screen movie junkie. His favorite color is green. He loves steak and prime rib – medium rare or rare. His “lucky” number is 4. His favorite ice-cream is mint chocolate chip. And he loves horseback riding and country swinging – which he is very good at… sloppy, but good!






Interview:

Question: What have you published recently?

Scapemaker is my most recent published work. I published it on November 19 2012. Just before that, in the same month, I published a children’s book called Biggle and Bee. I just finished the outline for Soul Feeders (Scapemaker #2), and will begin writing that book within the next few months.
I have also started a new project, a novella called When the Bough Breaks. When the Bough Breaks will be a heart-breaking and tender semi-paranormal drama.
Question: How, and when, did you decide to become a writer?

Many years ago, when I was in middle school, I remember wondering around the playground thinking about the many different combinations and ingredients involved in a good story—in any story. I thought of all the different locations, characters, situations, etc. Each story, no matter how many there are, could be so unique from the next.  It was fascinating to me I don’t know how or why I was thinking about that particular subject—it’s been 3 decades. But I know at that moment I really wanted to be an author.
Question: Where can we find your published writing?

My work can be found on Smashwords, Amazon, Barns and Noble, Goodreads, Kobo, and many other online retailers for both paperback and ecopies.
Question: What is a typical day like for you as a writer?

When I first started writing more seriously, which was about 14-15 years ago when I was single and had no responsibility, I would work a normal job or two during the day and when I got home I would get on the computer and start writing. I only paused to eat. I wrote well into the night and on a many occasions I would still be writing hours after the sun came up.
Since then I have gotten married and have had a child, so my typical day is not very routine with my responsibilities to my home life. I work from home during the day for an insurance agent, when I can. But mostly I take care of my son while my wife is working at her full time job. I write whenever I have a free moment during the day and in the evenings while my wife spends time with our boy. Right now, marketing and self-promoting Scapemaker has taken all of my writing time and feels more like a full time job.
Question: What are your favorite characters that you have created? Tell us about them.

Hunter is the name of the antagonist in Scapemaker. He’s dark and has ominous abilities in the dream-world. He smells like smoke and ash and is grimy and looks emaciated, though he is very strong and tall. He loves the smell and the taste of fear and can bring out the deepest fear in anyone.
Daedree is another favorite because she’s so cute and air-headed and naïve. She is more “book smart” than “street smart”. She talks really fast when she’s nervous and does not have a lot of self-confidence. However, she will speak her mind when she’s backed into a corner or threatened physically or emotionally and she can definitely hold a grudge.  She also loves a good game of high school football and she loves her little puppy, Duke. She is allergic to cats.

Question: do you find you “mentally edit” other writers’ works as you read them? Does doing this help you or bother you?

It’s not so much of an editing issue with me as it is a “This would have been better” or “I would have done it this way” type of thinking or “What if they would have done this”. It doesn’t happen a lot, but I have a very vivid imagination and different outcomes sneak into my thinking at times. It’s not a bother to me. More than anything it helps me refine my own thought process for my own writing. I love to think outside the box. Thinking outside the box really helps with creating better twists in the plot.

Question: What music do you listen to, while writing?
I don’t like to listen to music while I write. It distracts me. Sometimes I watch adventurous and inspiring movies, but that does hinder my time. Most of the time I love complete silence while I write.

Question: What do you eat while writing?
I snack like no other. I love fruit like oranges, strawberries, grapes or mango. I like celery with peanut butter. I always have a glass of water on the end table by where I sit on the couch with my laptop. I also like toast with jam or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I just snack. But I have to watch how much I take in and make sure the food I eat has no butter, mayonnaise or bad oils.

Five for Fun:
What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink? 
Orange Juice
What is your favourite cartoon character?
I love the Tasmanian Devil from the old Loony Toone’s cartoons. However, I have always had a crush on She-Ra as well, from Masters of the Universe.
What is your favourite movie of all time?
That’s really hard to say, but lately I have really loved the Harry Potter series, more especially Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows part 2. However, The Lord of the Rings saga is pretty much neck and neck most of the time.
A close second to the top 2 movies would wither be Braveheart or the Gladiator. And I can’t help but to mention the Hunger Games, Last of the Mohicans, Stardust, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Best two years, /tommy Boy, What About Bob, Iron Will, The Avengers, Iron Man, Backside, it’s a Wonderful Life, Cinderfella, Clam Bake, Blue Hawaii, the Cinderella Man, Rocky Balboa ,and  Invincible. There are more, but I can’t do that to you.

What do you like to do for fun or just to relax?
I can watch one movie after another. But I can also spend all day photographing wildlife, zoo life and landscape images.

Question: Where can we find you on the web?
I can be found on Goodreads mostly. I do have a blog called the Fictioneer on Blogspot as well.











Saskia Book Tours Website: www.saskiabookservices.yolasite.com


Monday, 8 July 2013

Nikki Broadwell Spotlight and Interview - Book Tour





The Wolf Moon (Wolfmoon Trilogy Book 3) By Nikki Broadwell

 It is close to the winter solstice when Maeve Lewin’s simple trip to Scotland to re-unite with her mother throws her headlong into a dangerous world.
A prophecy written centuries before seems to describe her as ‘the one’, and despite Maeve’s insistence that this couldn’t possibly be true, her mother and grandmother both agree.
What Maeve doesn’t know is that her boyfriend is part of her destiny, mentioned in the ancient text as ‘the one of noble birth who will stand by her side’. But Harold’s only plan is to join Maeve Scotland for the New Year before the two of them fly home to the States.
The night of the winter solstice brings Maeve face to face with a terrifying reality, but it's Harold’s arrival that forces her to come to terms with the truth. He seems to have lived in this parallel world before and his part in future events has been sealed as surely as hers.
With dark forces hunting her relentlessly and confronted with a fate  she didn’t choose, Maeve must come to terms with her future and somehow find the strength to fulfill the perilous task set before her.

Where you can purchase this book?
E-Book

Other Books by Nikki Broadwell


 Book One   
                                   



  Book Two


Where can I purchase these books?


About the Author


Nikki’s college education centered on English and Art and she graduated with a B.A. in both. While her children were in middle school she began a greeting card business and then later, when they were out of the house, she began painting on silk, selling her scarves and wall hangings to high-end galleries in California and Oregon .Now she writes full time, working on a sequel to Wolfmoon as well as a fictionalized version of her parent’s life based on journals her father kept during his time as a POW duringWW2.
Having recently located from Portland Oregon, Nikki has become a resident of Tucson, Arizona where she lives on a hill at the base of the Catalina Mountains with her husband, and standard poodle, Buddha and Eesa, the cat.


Interview with Nikki Broadwell

Question: What have you published recently? Over the past year and a half I’ve published three books of a Celtic fantasy trilogy—“The Moonstone”, “Saille, the Willow”, and just this month, “The Wolf Moon”.

Question: How, and when, did you decide to become a writer? I’ve always loved writing from the time I was in grade school. In college I majored in English and Art, going back and forth until I had enough units for a degree in both! However, I didn’t do any serious writing until about seven years ago when I took a writing workshop. The moonstone, first book of the trilogy, was begun from a writing prompt in that class—from then on I’ve been hooked!
Question: Where can we find your published writing? I have several short stories up on my Goodreads site and my books can be found on Smashwords, Amazon, as kindle or paper, and can be ordered from any bookstore.
Question: What is a typical day like for you as a writer? I don’t keep any particular schedule but usually I’m at my desk by eight or nine a.m. If I’m working on a project it’s hard to pry me away from my computer—I’m one of those who types rather than writing longhand. I leave my desk to eat and sometimes to take a walk or a yoga class but I can easily write for six hours in a day. What I have to watch out for is not writing into the evening—if I do I’m often plagued with insomnia as the characters parade through my mind willing me back to my desk.
Question: What are your favorite characters that you have created? Tell us about them. The first one that comes to mind is the antagonist who has a part in all three books. He’s a priest gone bad, a complex character with a history of abuse and a twin sister who is a seer. He and his twin were once so close that they could communicate telepathically, but now Brandubh is taking his orders from their sorceress mother, a woman who feeds off others to retain her youth. MacCuill, a druid is another of my favorites—he’s a wise sort of Gandalf-like character who literally has magic at this fingertips! I also made up a race of people called the Crion who are the ‘keepers of the wisdom’ in the Otherworld. And of course I’m very fond of the main character, Maeve, a young woman faced with a destiny she didn’t bargain for. She needs to find inner strength in terrifying circumstances.
Question: do you find you “mentally edit” other writers’ works as you read them? Does doing this help you or bother you? OMG. YES! I am always doing this even when reading authors who are on the best-seller list! I worked really hard to edit mine and it irks me to find typos and mistakes. Of course there are always a few that slip by, but it’s obvious when an author hasn’t hired a proofreader. And dealing with the publishing companies such as Createspace or Lightning Source can be maddening when the formatting adds even more mistakes!
Question: What music do you listen to, while writing? It is too distracting for me to listen to music while I write—especially songs with lyrics! If I listened to any it would be new agey with a drumbeat or rhythm—something to get my second chakra going…(creativity)

Question: What do you eat while writing? I bring in breakfast and lunch sometimes, spilling crumbs into my keyboard and making it filthy and greasy. I also drink espresso and if I’m not following my ‘no writing after five’ rule I bring in wine.

Five for Fun:
What is your favourite non-alcoholic drink?  Caffe latte
What is your favourite cartoon character? Hmm..I’m sure this will date me, but I would have to say the roadrunner. I don’t watch cartoons now so can’t even think of a more current figure unless it was a character from Studio Ghibli, the Japanese anime`—if you haven’t seen them, they’re remarkable!
What is your favourite movie of all time? Would have to say ‘”The King of Hearts”. I also loved the first three “Star Wars”, “Matrix” and “The Lord of the Rings” and many many more.
What do you like to do for fun or just to relax? I love watching series and movies and I love reading. I also love to hike in wild places with my dog. Yoga and meditation are a big part of my life as is going out for lunch and having a glass of crisp chilled wine!
Question: Where can we find you on the web?