I have long been fascinated by the West and, over time, by the human stories that bring its history to life. My interest began at age six in Mrs. Durham’s first-grade classroom in Hereford, Texas. She asked us to draw and color scenes from Palo Duro Canyon in the Texas Panhandle, where the renowned trail […]
I have published four books; my fourth book, Finding Independence in America: An International Student’s Journey from Malaysia to Medical School, was released on October 8, 2026. It is wonderful that it is published on the semiquincentennial of America. I have often admired reading stories that transport me into another world. In secondary school, I […]
Character Interview with Vivienne Vivienne Underwood began life as a medieval swordswoman and vampire. She is the protagonist in the 2026 novel, The Sword of Vivienne, Book One of the Blood Sisters Chronicles. Stella: You were born in 1398. Vivienne: So they tell me. I don’t remember being born. Stella: What do you remember? What’s […]
The Other Side of Starting Over Bygones on Main, an antique store in the California mountain town of Suncrest, has been in the Bell Family for three generations. It attracts collectors and tourists alike and sells one-of-a-kind treasures and kitschy knickknacks in an expansive, labyrinthine storefront on Main Street. The longtime shopkeepers, Paul and Linea […]
Engineering a Love Story, Kathleen Reidy At the height of the boom, ambition is easy —love is the real gamble It’s the year 2000—dot-coms, Bush v. Gore, and sky-high San Francisco rents. But while the country swoons with irrational exuberance, Chelsea Lefevre’s life is deflating faster than a tech bubble. She’d had everything she thought she […]
I became passionate about reading at age eleven, shortly after my mother died, and books, particularly coming of age novels, became my solace and entertainment, as well as a source of information. While all my friends had mothers, I found plenty of orphaned or motherless girls in fiction and devoured novels such as in Anne […]
At a children’s literature writer’s conference many years ago, the author speaking informed the audience that it took her seven years to land an agent and get published. What? There’s no way I can hang in there that long! But that’s exactly how long it took me; and an incredible amount of patience and persistence. […]
I grew up on a farm in rural Nebraska, in a family of horror and thriller readers. I spent countless hours as a child exploring the natural world and building my own stories from the landscape and found objects on the farm. All these objects found their way into my imagination. Icicles became monstrous teeth, […]
While revising stories for Animal Kingdom, my second collection, I turned to Brian Eno and Yoko Ono as patron saints of risk and ingenuity. I’m blessed with untreated ADHD, discovered in adulthood. That means, for me, the first burst of a story or a poem can feel like a high: anticipation and adrenaline leading to […]
A IS FOR AGE For pro-athletes, runway models, rock and rollers and dancers, age is the enemy, but for writers, it’s the opposite. Margaret Atwood’s latest book came out when she was eighty-five. Wallace Stegner published Crossing to Safety at seventy-eight. Patti Smith wrote her luminous memoirs in her seventies. Toni Morrison and Cheryl Strayed […]
Character Interview with Vivienne Vivienne Underwood began life as a medieval swordswoman and vampire. She is the protagonist in the 2026 novel, The Sword of Vivienne, Book One of the Blood Sisters Chronicles. Stella: You were born in 1398. Vivienne: So they tell me. I don’t remember being born. Stella: What do you remember? What’s […]
The Other Side of Starting Over Bygones on Main, an antique store in the California mountain town of Suncrest, has been in the Bell Family for three generations. It attracts collectors and tourists alike and sells one-of-a-kind treasures and kitschy knickknacks in an expansive, labyrinthine storefront on Main Street. The longtime shopkeepers, Paul and Linea […]
In Love With Your Ghost: A Cozy, Spooky, Slow-Burn Fall Romance (Sugar Pine Springs) Hartley and Levi fell in love, and it was magic. Until Levi ghosted her. No goodbye, no explanation. He didn’t die. He just left her haunted. Which is ironic, since Hartley can legit see ghosts. Thirteen years later, Levi’s grandmother and […]
BAD WINNER Bad Winner is an epic, unsettling and darkly comic adventure thriller set between a stifling England and the wilds of Colombia. Black sheep Bea craves freedom as much as her populist dad craves power. Intent on estranging her bigoted family, Bea’s embroiled herself in debt working a dead-end job planning competition prizes, gambling […]
Cassie Navrone is the main character of my new book, Silver Lady: The Invisible Captain. My novel is a standalone sequel to Silver Lady: Travels Along the River Road. This one takes place a year later in 2034. Cassie is able to leave New Orleans following a six-month civil war aboard the luxury houseboat. She […]
By Carmen Amato “We’re going analog,” he said. “Analog?” I echoed. I was speaking to David Bruns, who with J.R. Olson co-writes the military-espionage Command and Control series. He explained that they’re skipping a digital-first playbook. Instead they’re leaning into an analog marketing strategy built around thematic speaking engagements, such as with veterans’ groups. It’s […]
Your dream finally came true. You wrote a book, you found a publisher who loved it as much as you do, and now, your book is in your hands. You’re officially a published author. After the unboxing and the champagne, you sit back and wait for the royalties to roll in… And that’s where the […]
By Carol Hoenig If you’re like me, you worked on your novel for a number of years before it’s ready for publication. Then once it is published there’s the feeling of accomplishment and celebration along with upcoming events and interviews. But about six months later you discover you’ve had your opportunity to get readers but […]
By Zelly Ruskin I thought the hard part was going to be finishing the book. Then I published. The image of an author is often one of someone chewing a pencil, with wads of papers beneath their chair. Maybe they’d be deep in thought, or frazzled—or both. In today’s world, they are sitting uninspired at […]
It’s impossible to forget the thrill of the moment when you come across a great idea for a novel. For me, the idea was a child with past life memories of being a soldier in Vietnam and the challenges this presented his mother as she looked for answers. As I wrote, this grew into alternating […]
Q&A with Literary Agent ERIN NIUMATA Folio Literary Management, VP and Literary Agent Erin Niumata has been in publishing for over three decades. She started as an editorial assistant at Simon and Schuster in the Touchstone/Fireside division for several years; then moved over to Harper Collins as an editor, and then she went to Avalon […]
Three years ago, I was a freelance writer with an extremely long Word document chilling on my hard drive. Today, those 98,000 words mark my shift from aspiring writer to fiction author: The Lost Night is coming out from Crown. My novel is a thriller about a woman uncovering the dark truths surrounding her best […]
A few days ago I did an interview and one of the questions was did I think having an agent was crucial in this business. The answer for me was a huge, resounding yes. My agent is Carly Watters at P.S. Literary Agency, and I literally wouldn’t be where I am now without her patient […]
A Twenty-Five-Question Interview Published as a Five Part Series Part One Part Two | Hosted by MM Finck | | Anonymously Answered By Agented Authors* with Varying Publishing Career Durations and Successes from Debut to Bestselling and Represented by Multiple Literary Agencies of Varying Sizes | QUESTION ELEVEN Historically, how many story ideas do you […]
A Twenty-Five-Question Interview Published as a Five Part Series. Read Part One HERE | Hosted by MM Finck | | Anonymously Answered By Agented Authors* with Varying Publishing Career Durations and Successes from Debut to Bestselling and Represented by Multiple Literary Agencies of Varying Sizes | QUESTION SIX Did your first agented manuscript sell? If […]
Under an Indiana Sky Denise has never trusted her sister Angie’s boyfriend, Brock—not only because Angie pulls away from caring for their disabled mother, but because something about him doesn’t add up. Brock’s mother, Nora, has doubts of her own, even as she tries to begin a new chapter in her life. Meanwhile, Mercedes, a […]
In Wild Pivot: Notes from a Political Life Rewritten (She Writes Press; September 22, 2026), Jen Thompson shares her profound journey from being a celebrated Republican strategist in Washington, D.C., to abruptly abandoning her career in search of authenticity and deeper meaning. Drawing on her years as a top congressional lawyer and campaign manager for […]
My Turkish mother once ran away from an arranged marriage. I shared this information about her often, proud of her courage at such a young age. Her father wanted her to marry a relative who was like an older brother to her. She didn’t want to, so she ran away to Istanbul, where she met […]
For the first-time, historian Rachel Greenfield recovers the facinating story of Rose Knox; one of America’s most famous 20th century business woman who pioneered gelatine as a cooking staple, including the iconic mid-century salad gelatin craze! In 1908, after her husband’s death, Rose secretly took control of his struggling gelatine company and went on to […]
If someone had told me it would take twenty-one years to write a book, I would have told them that they were crazy. But that’s exactly what it took. It all started at the Santa Barbara Writers Conference (SBWC) in 2005, when I came up with the seeds of what would become my memoir. I […]
The seed of my novel arrived unbidden, wafted toward me in a dream ten years ago, carrying with it a compulsion to help it grow into a tree. I hadn’t gone looking for a writing project; the story somehow had found its way to me. Now that my tree is waving its branches, asking for […]
When I decided to write a memoir about the transformative year I spent in Northern Kenya, living with the semi-nomadic Samburu and Rendille tribes, I had little experience writing creative nonfiction. After almost 10 years, I completed my first draft of Living with Strangers, which covered my childhood and teenage years in foster care, as […]
I didn’t start out to write a book or a memoir. It began with me jotting down memories of my son as they popped into my head. Michael, who was forty-five when he was found dead in his apartment, was my only child, my greatest joy, and I adored him. He was whip-smart, and he […]
You Can Be a Disaster and Still Get Invited to the Fish Fry: At the beginning of Love and Other Incurable Ailments, Serenity Tomczyk doesn’t emerge from loss with newfound wisdom or enviable resilience. She nurses a cat. She attends group therapy. She catastrophizes every headache with a late-night Google search. Years after losing her […]
THE PLUS ONE LIST From New York Times bestselling author Amy Ewing comes a steamy new vacation romance perfect for fans of Christina Lauren’s The Paradise Problem. Eloise, who struggles with anxiety, strongly prefers the company of her senior rescue dogs to people. But when her best friend announces she’s getting married in Mexico City […]
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