Character Interview w/ Ithaca Davidson

Early on in the book, you are accused of always quoting the Bible. Can you tell us why?

I don’t think there is a more quotable source of information than the Holy Bible. Every word in it is the truth, so why not use it to emphasize my point? Even if you’ve never read a word of God’s Word, you can still acknowledge the truth contained within it. And I try to use that truth to illustrate the truth in what I’m trying to say.  Every word of God is pure. He is a shield unto them that put their trust in him.

Character Interview w/ Claudius Webster

Did you enjoy watching most of your employee’s dying?

Of course not. No sane person enjoys watching others suffer. Well, There’s Miss Tessmacher, but she’s an exception. If it were up to me, none of those people would have lost their lives. And let me state for the record that I had nothing to do with that tragic event. I have absolutely no idea how those creatures were unleashed, and I thoroughly regret not being able to save those people.

Character Interview w/ Zaith

As Jutaya’s best friend, what can you tell us about her that only a best friend would know?

Ah, ha! That’s a good one but I’ll have to watch what I say, she has a way of finding out what she doesn’t need to know. Oh, here’s a gross factoid; after flossing her teeth she leaves the string draped on the side of the sink to ‘dry’ until morning. Why dry? Apparently the acid in our saliva starts to break down the compound keeping the floss together and if left in the garbage can (even one with a lid) it festers and the smell gets into her clothes and the sheets and drapes and she can’t stand the smell of herself. Thank Zola I laser floss!

What’s it like to be a lead reporter for ‘National News Now’?

It’s my dream job but it’s no walk in the park… although I did tend to do that a lot – lol! The employee-boss relationships are strained at best since the supervising producer, Toufin, just happens to be a womanizer and has had a crush on me since I started working there. The man has potential but won’t grow up. Anyway, getting to stick my nose into other people’s business is what I do best and what could be better than getting paid to do what you love?

Character Interview w/ Grace Jameson

You face many trials over the years from childhood to adult life. Can you tell us which challenge was the hardest for you to face?

The hardest challenge, without doubt, was leaving my husband. I was terrified. I didn’t know where to go, or even if I would survive. I only knew that if I’d stayed he would have killed me sooner or later.

Throughout your books you come to inherit some very strong friends in Charlie and Derek. Could you tell us how you met each and, what your first impression was for the both of them?

I don’t think I could survive without either of them. We don’t often get to choose our family, but I chose mine and I know how fortunate I am. I like to think we were drawn together through a mutual need. Derek lost his sister, my best friend at the time, when we were still in High School. He adopted me as his own pretty soon after that, and Charlie came as part of the package!

Charlie always teased me in the beginning. He liked to pretend he didn’t want me around. But I knew he didn’t mean it, because it felt different to when my father said it. I suddenly had two big brothers who I knew instinctively would protect me and I behaved like any younger sister would – I followed them around and bugged the hell out of them!

In Hands of Evil, you find yourself with a strong support network. How do you think you would have fared if you didn’t have this through your journey?

I can’t imagine a world without my brothers, it would be a lonely, desolate place. But I’m a survivor, so I would have found a way out of the nightmare somehow. I’m not sure what that version of me would look like, I’m not even sure I want to know. Thankfully, I’ll never have to find out because there are people who see the good in others and who go that extra mile.

Character Interview w/ Jonathan Jukes

So, JJ it is noticeable throughout your book Hands of Evil, that you have a lot of training in the military. How did you come to obtain your military background?

My best friend, Andrew Butcher (Butch), persuaded me to sign up. We were pretty wild when we were kids, got ourselves into quite a few scrapes, so I think it was the only option. That discipline, you know, the sense of purpose. I would have followed him anywhere, but I’m glad I followed him into the Marines.

In your military record it states you served as a Royal Marine Commando. Could you elaborate on the kinds of duties this entails?

My main role was that of a sniper within a reconnaissance troop. Without getting too technical it means I have an expertise in weapons, field craft and observation – so knowledge of distances, terrain, that kind of thing. As a Marine I worked in extreme environments and was deployed to Iraq in 2003. During one of my tours I worked with the Commandos rifle company and was part of a two man team.

Character Interview w/ Elijah Turner

What was it like to wake up to darkness with no memory?

It’s terrifying. You don’t know if you’re really alive or if you’ve died and was in some sort of purgatory. It’s hard to describe. There’s a sinking feeling when you realize you can’t remember your own name. But I’ll say this, when your memory comes back in bits and pieces like that, it has a way of showing you a lot about yourself that you might not have noticed otherwise.

Did you expect to find any survivors?

Honestly, finding survivors was the last thing on my mind. I was more concerned with being a survivor than with finding one.

Character Interview w/ Jutaya Fyce

What were your feelings, when the mission first began, toward the people you traveled with through the deserts?

What a pack of idiots. I mean, we’re taught our whole lives to stay away from the Deserts – what in Zola’s name could have possibly been going though their heads to agree to such a fool-hardy mission – nothing, that’s what! To this day I firmly believe that they lost a grip on all their faculties. I honestly don’t know what Dezmind said to get them to set aside such culturally resonant fear, but he did it.

Why did you want your best friend, Zaith, to come along on the mission?

It’s not so much that I wanted her to come (okay maybe that was part of it) but more that I expected her to come. She was so caught up in this Spoken Truth crap that even she fell for Dezmind’s spell – then again, she never could let a lead go cold and this was one heck of a story. Besides, other than Merik the others in the Kahn-lea were blinded by Dezmind’s beliefs and even Merik was willing to set aside commonsense just to be able to write something ‘new’ poetically. He was his own kind of crazy… I just wanted familiar crazy – Zaith would have kept me sane.

Hands of Evil Book Review

Hands of Evil, written by Melissa Barker-Simpson, is a masterfully crafted crime romance and thriller. The opening of the book gives off the vibe of a Law and Order television show. If you happen to be a big fan of Law and Order, then this is the perfect book for you…I know it was for me.

Barker-Simpson’s characters are well-rounded and capture her readers from the first paragraph. If you’re looking for a page-turner, these great characters will keep you going till the very end. She makes you root for the victims and hope that love will overcome all odds.

Character Interview w/ Susannah McElvogue

Susannah, you have a strong military background serving as a Royal Engineer. How did you find yourself working at the Morgan and Fairchild agency?

Kelvin likes to tell people he stole me away, but the moment I heard he was setting up with Bradley, I set my sights on running the show. They are the kind of men you follow, it’s just how it is. 

There are plenty of bizarre personalities that make up the team at Morgan and Fairchild. Do you have a curtain team member that you prefer the most out of all of them? In other words who is your favorite?

I’m not sure I’d describe them as bizarre, but some of the situations we find ourselves in are a little out of the ordinary, so it takes a certain personality type, sure. As for favourites, I love all my boys, and girls, for that matter. They each have their strengths and weaknesses and I know how to play to them. Choosing between them would be like choosing a limb to remove – it’s not going to happen.

Interview w/ M.J. Moores

You started writing at a very young age. What types of stories did you lean more towards in your early stages of writing?

I loved adventures. Indiana Jones, The Goonies, you name it… those movies inspired me because of their excitement, daring, and slime! I wrote a 10 chapter novella for my grade 4 teacher (she’d only asked for a 3 page short story) called The Enchanted Jungle Figure that very closely resembles the overriding concept of Lord of the Flies but the difference lies in the fact that my friends and I find an enchanted castle run by giant tigers who capture one friend who went off on his own. In the castle there are all kinds of booby-traps to overcome. I loved writing it! Then I went on to write Death Cave and various other edge-of-your-seat suspense and adventure stories all involving my close friends and me!

Time's Tempest Book Review

SUMMARY

Embarking as a guide into the death zones that are the Deserts, Taya leads a group of civilians who blindly follow a prophet obsessed with preventing the planet Xannia from environmental self-destruction. Here, Fate and Destiny wage war propelling an epic search for truth amidst 2000 year old lies, in opposition to a government bent on burying ancient secrets and anyone who goes looking for them.

As Taya desperately attempts to keep the prophet and his followers alive, this journey forces her to grapple with the circumstances of her past which have aligned to hurdle her into her darkest memories; making choices she never wanted to consider; learning truths she was never meant to know.

Character Interview w/ Charles Macavoy

Where do you presently work? And why did you choose this career for yourself?

I work within a murder investigation team, which is part of the Metropolitan Police Service. I’ve always felt a strong sense of duty, of responsibility for others. I don’t know where it comes from, but it’s the reason I gravitated towards the force.

We have heard you have a reputation for being tough. Do you believe this has anything to do with your life experiences?

The Fifth Watcher 3-Day Blitz

The Fifth Watcher

by: Melissa Barker-Simpson

November 21st-23rd

Synopsis:

At the moment of Audrey Montgomery’s birth a new world came into existence. It is a barren place, a catalyst for the darkness spreading through the multidimensional system. The shift in power makes Audrey an invaluable pawn in a war between those who want to protect her and those who will go to extraordinary lengths to eliminate her.

As a result, she has spent her life on the run, unaware of her true origins. When her father dies and leaves her with a shocking legacy, her life is irrevocably changed. If she has any hope of surviving, Audrey must embrace her new reality and trust a man who is as dark and uncertain as the future itself.

Lieutenant Keith Delany, an Inter-dimensional Officer of the Law (IDOL), is tasked with bringing her in. It is an assignment his entire team is invested in, having spent years searching for her. As a senior member of the squad, Keith is charged with protecting her, with showing her the truth about her past, and with preparing her for an unknown future. As an IDOL he is responsible for every life, for every traveller who navigates the system. But his connection to Audrey is unprecedented, and he soon discovers she alone holds the power to prevent the continuum’s collapse.

Interview w/ Melissa Barker-Simpson

What inspired you to become a writer?

I used to write plays and perform them for my family when I was a child, usually roping my sister in and a group of friends. As soon as I could write I would get lost in a story or, in this case, script. My mum likes to say I started talking when I was ten months old and I haven’t stopped since!

I don’t know when I began to think of myself as a writer, but I do remember the numerous short stories I wrote growing up. I would read them to my friends (a slow form of torture) and then move onto the next adventure. I wrote my first novel when I was a teenager but nobody would ever want to read it!

I had a few really inspiring English teachers, who took my passion and encouraged me to run with it. But I think I was born to write. I haven’t always been very good at it, but I’ve always put my heart and soul into it. I was certainly born with stories in my head and when I wasn’t jabbering about them, I was writing them!

Time's Tempest Book Interview

Can you tell us a bit about your newest release, Time’s Tempest, and how The Chronicles of Xannia are different, and similar, to the Lost Chapter series?

First off, The Lost Chapters are a part of The Chronicles of Xannia. Effectively the Lost Chapters are a collection of short stories that take place before the action of the book Time’s Tempest. These lost chapters are stories that have been mentioned in passing that deal with a time in either Taya or Dezmind’s past that influence who they have become when we meet them in the main book. It’s not necessary to have read the Lost Chapters in order to understand Time’s Tempest, they are simply meant as added enjoyment to the tale.

Hands of Evil Book Interview

You have two different types of abuse featured through your book, Hands of Evil. These being child abuse and spouse abuse. Do you happen to have personal experience with either of these?

No, I’m lucky that I haven’t been subjected to either form of abuse. When the character of Grace came to me, she came with a dark history and so I spent some time researching until I felt confident to tell her story.

Are these issues close to your heart?

I work in many different areas as a sign language interpreter, and one of the most challenging has been working with women who have suffered through these kinds of abuse. Their strength and courage stayed with me and, I believe, influenced the character. I don’t work within the field of Child Protection because it would be impossible for me to remain impartial. In my opinion there is no greater evil than that which would allow someone to hurt a child.

GodMode Tour Schedule

Interview w/ Frank Graves

       What made you decide to re-write and update the “Ancestral Trail Trilogy”?

Published in 1993 = 52 Chapters in magazine format, 26 chapters within an Ancient World, next 26 Chapters within Cyber World. Initially each chapter contained 3,000 words and when adapted to magazine format only required about 1,600 words per chapter. The new Trilogy Novels each contain roughly 5,000 per chapter 27 chapters including lengthy prologue. It's been 20 years and Ancestral Trail still has a large following so novel was the way to go.