Tag: Books

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Rise From Ruin” Author Melissa Olthoff

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date June 2, 2025
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We all have dreams. Sometimes they come true; sometimes, not. And in the case of the latter, the “not” part can come from any number of things: a lack of talent, a lack of opportunity…

But in Melissa Olthoff’s new fantasy novel Rise From Ruin (paperback, Kindle), the main character has her dreams shattered by a prank. Well, sort of shattered.

To find out what I’m talking about, and why I’m hedging, check out the following email interview with Olthoff, in which she discusses what inspired and influenced this novel.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Tunnels Of Buda” Author Don Sawyer

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 30, 2025
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With The Tunnels Of Buda (paperback, Kindle), author Don Sawyer is completing the urban fantasy story he started last year with The Burning Gem, which was the first book in his Soul Catcher duology.

In the following email interview, Sawyer discusses what inspired and influenced this second half of the story, as well as how it might not actually be the end…

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Amplitudes: Stories Of Queer And Trans Futurity” Editor Lee Mandelo

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 29, 2025
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Science fiction has often given marginalized people hope for the future. Just ask any women, black people, Japanese Americans, or Russians who watched Star Trek in the ’60s. Like, for instance, civil rights leader and proud Trekkie Martin Luther King, Jr. and his Trek-loving family.

It’s a hope that may also come to queer and trans people — and their family, friends, and allies — from reading the new sci-fi short story anthology Amplitudes: Stories Of Queer And Trans Futurity (paperback, Kindle).

In the following email interview, Amplitudes editor Lee Mandelo explains what this anthology is about, as well as how it came together.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Her Dark Everything” Author Courtney LeBlanc

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 29, 2025
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In the following email interview with poet Courtney LeBlanc, she talks about how, “Poetry is a way to process everything I’m feeling,” and then adds that, when it came to the poems in her new collection, Her Dark Everything (paperback), “…there were a lot of feelings.”

Books

Exclusive Interview: “A Thousand Natural Shocks” Author Omar Hussain

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 28, 2025
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The ancient philosopher Kellius Clarksius once declared that whatever doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.

But not everyone listens to her. Which may explain why Dash, the lead character in Omar Hussain’s speculative / literary fiction thriller A Thousand Natural Shocks (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), is trying to forget something rather than imbue its negative energy in a positive way.

In the following email interview, Hussain talks about the things that inspired and influenced this story, and no, a certain power pop song is not among them.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “A Study In Black Brew” Author Marie Howalt

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 27, 2025
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Author Marie Howalt has written three novels in the science fiction mystery series the Colibri Investigations, and has plans for many more.

But for the moment, Howalt is side stepping things with A Study In Black Brew (paperback, Kindle), a stand-alone side story that actually puts a sci-fi spin on Sherlock Holmes’ first case.

In the following email interview, Howalt discusses what inspired and influenced this story, as well as why they decided to rework one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s most famous novels.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “Going Home In The Dark” Author Dean Koontz

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 22, 2025
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Author Dean Koontz is known for scaring the crap out of people, and freaking them out.

But he can also be a weirdly humorous guy, something that’s evident in his new comic suspense novel Going Home In The Dark (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook) — and in the following email interview he and I did about it.

Books Comics

Exclusive Interview: “Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business” Writer Arvind Ethan David

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 20, 2025
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Detective Philip Marlowe is one of the most iconic noir characters in both film and literature, the former of which has seen him played by everyone from Humphrey Bogart and Robert Mitchum to Liam Neeson.

Now Marlow is coming to a different visual medium in Raymond Chandler’s Trouble Is My Business (hardcover, Kindle), a graphic novel adaptation of Chandler’s 1950 novella.

In the following email interview, writer Arvind Ethan David — who worked with illustrator Ilias Kyriazis and colorist Cris Peters to adapt Business — talks about how this adaptation came to be, how its structure differs slightly from Chandler’s original novella, as well as his plans to adapt some of Marlowe’s other iconic cases.

Books

Exclusive Interview: “The Starving Saints” Author Caitlin Starling

Post author By Paul Semel
Post date May 19, 2025
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Here’s a tip: If the castle you live in is under siege, and there’s no way to defend it, get out however you can, even if it means working with people you dislike.

Don’t believe me? Just ask the ladies at the center of author Caitlin Starling’s medieval fantasy horror novel The Starving Saints (hardcover, Kindle, audiobook), who hate each other but must collaborate if they want to live another day.

In the following email interview, Starling talks about what inspired and influenced this story, as well as how this story was originally going to be told interactively.