Where readers, writers, and stories meet.
My guest author today is another Louisville Book Festival participant. Meet Teri Polen!
Teri Polen is the author of young adult horror, science fiction, and fantasy novels. Sarah, her debut novel, was a horror finalist in the 2017 Next Generation Indie Book Awards. ReadFREE.ly named Subject A36 one of the 50 Best Indie Books of 2020. An avid reader, movie watcher, and chocolate lover, Teri lives in Bowling Green, KY with her husband and Feline Overlord, Bond.
I met M.J. Etkind back in October at the Louisville Book Festival, and I was enchanted with the cover and premise of her novel, Dishwasher Safe. It’s the story of a young woman who is an up-and-coming chef by day and returns to her life as a mermaid at night– reminds me of how so many of us authors have to “go to work” during the day to support our magical “real lives” outside our jobs!
M.J. Etkind lives a double life. By day, she is a corporate girly with a business degree. By night, she writes romance novels in a cozy, book-filled apartment. When she is not writing, she can be found walking her dog and getting coffee. M.J. Etkind’s most favorite fun fact is that she once took an entire vacation to visit a bookstore.
It takes a rich and diverse mind to excel at both math and writing poetry, and author Angela Chaidez Vincent has just that sort of mind. I was lucky enough to share a table with her at the Louisville Book Festival this year where I learned that she is also a really fun person to hang out with!
Arena Glow author Chaidez Vincent’s background is in mechanical engineering, mathematics, and instrumental music performance. Her work is infused with numerical winks and a collagist impulse that seeks to join vigorous dreaming with the subterranean and overlooked. She has an MFA in Poetry and keeps her tech side smiling by teaching precalculus and computer science. Angela resides in Fresno, California with her wife, Lisa.
Q: How did publishing your first book change your process of writing?
A: There was such relief (and a fair amount of amazement) in knowing that I can actually see a major literary undertaking through to completion! I feel much more confident in my ability to do it again.
Continue reading “Author interview with poet Angela Chaidez Vincent”Christina Wallace is an author of Middle-Grade, YA, & Romance novels. She has been a lifelong writer, but didn’t enter the world of publishing until 2023. Wallace grew up in a military family and has lived in many places. During her own time in the U.S. Navy, she was deployed to Afghanistan and the Philippines, where she met her husband, who was stationed with another unit. Even during her Navy career, she worked tirelessly on her writing.
The idea for Wallace’s novel, The Light Keeper, first appeared during NaNoWriMo 2017, and from there, it was developed into a novel and eventually grew into a series.
Now, Christina enjoys sharing her stories far and wide, while also inspiring children to explore their creative side and to follow their dreams. She lives in Florida with her husband, two children, a dog, and a cat.
Q: When did you first catch the writing bug? What drove you to persist?
A: I began writing obsessively when I was in Middle School, about 22 years ago! I’d always had a very active imagination, my friends and I role-played our favorite shows all of the time. In the middle of 7th grade we moved and I didn’t make friends easily. So, I poured myself into writing. The characters I wrote all had tight friend groups, and it made me feel less lonely. The more I wrote, the more I knew sharing stories was what I was made to do.
Continue reading “Author interview with Christina Wallace”Today I bring you a guest post from my good friend and author, Erika Berglund. Erika is the author of two novels, Winking at Pomona and Mountain Grove Monarch, both of which I highly recommend! Erika joins us today to discuss her experience attending a poetry reading and author discussion at the Louisville Book Festival a few weeks ago. Welcome, Erika!
I hate poetry.
Or at least I thought I did. Turns out I was just scared of it—scared of the intimacy, scared of the power, and scared of the empathy it invokes that can lead to so much pain.
Continue reading “Guest post: This poetry reading and author discussion panel at LBF made my friend cry”Dr. Joel Anthony Hamilton is the author of the Mud Crab Kingdom series, which is set in a world where “being mud-skinned is worse than murder, and being “different” is worse than being mud-skinned.”
Hamilton’s works include three books in the Mud Crab Kingdom series: The Soft-Shelled Prince, My People or My Peace?, and Let It Be Known, I Exist and Black Brilliance, the unheard ancient Egyptian tale of the great musician and scientist, Aqil.
Continue reading “Author interview with Dr. Joel Anthony Hamilton”I’ve been excitedly awaiting this event for WEEKS! If you’re in the Louisville, Kentucky area today and tomorrow, I hope you’ll stop by to see me and around 100 other authors at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival!
This event takes place at the Kentucky International Convention Center, and admission is FREE! I’ll have copies of my two latest novels, It Had to Happen and One Bad Cat to sell and sign. I am also scheduled to present at a “Speed Dating with a Book” session at 3:00 p.m. today!
Continue reading “Come see me today or tomorrow at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival!”Would you like to meet me in person and get a signed copy of one of my books? Check out my events calendar for the next few weeks to find out how!
I’m excited to announce that I will be at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival – with about 100 other authors – Friday, October 18 and Saturday, October 19 at the Kentucky International Convention Center! I’ll have copies of my two latest novels, It Had to Happen and One Bad Cat to sell and sign. I am also scheduled to present at a “Speed Dating with a Book” session at 3:00 p.m. on the 18th!
You can follow the event using the following social media hashtags: #LouisvilleBookFestival #WeBringBooksToLife. To watch my personal festival journey, follow me on Instagram @Mandy_Raine!
Continue reading “Come see me at the 2024 Louisville Book Festival October 18-19!”I am excited to announce that my new novel, It Had to Happen, is now available on Kindle and in print! I will also be attending a couple of upcoming events — including the October Louisville Book Festival — where you can meet me and get signed copies of this book along with several of my previous novels. Stay tuned for more details on upcoming events and read more below to learn about my new thriller/suspense novel, It Had to Happen!
When Jack Utley loses his daughter just as his business is about to soar, it seems he’s traded financial gain for Callie’s life. After an encounter with a mysterious woman on the eve of Callie’s funeral, Jack wakes up to find that time has somehow rewound to the morning of Callie’s accident. Jack gets an opportunity that most grieving parents can only dream of – he saves his daughter’s life.
Continue reading “Happy book release day to It Had to Happen!”
Write on the World 