Tag: featured
The Story Behind The Very Unremarkable Life of Mrs. Etty Bloom by Talya Jankovits
My first publication was a poem about the post-partum female body, specifically my post-partum body. My second publication was an essay exploring the side effects I faced while undergoing fertility treatments. Writing about motherhood, the female body, and infertility has since become synonymous with much of my work because the hard truth is that for […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: S.E. McPherson
S.E. McPherson Interviews Characters Logan Cardot technically doesn’t exist. According to the Black Lapels—the soldiers who run his country—and their Swordsman church, he should never have been born. In Wanted Boys, the first book in the same-named adult queer dystopian series by S.E. McPherson, Logan is kidnapped by the Black Lapels who imprisoned his parents, […]
Seeking Magic in Wild Spaces for A Treason of Magic
By Melissa Marr Twenty years ago, when I sold my very first novel, Wicked Lovely, I made three decisions—go to Ireland, go to Scotland, and start college funds for my then 12- and 7-year-old kids. I’m sure I did practical things, too, but knowledge and wild landscape were my focus. Since then, I’ve written a […]
Hammer and Nail By Maida Korte
Venturing into the arena of construction was an easy decision for me. My love affair with interior design coincided with my belief that anything can be done if I just work hard enough. This idealism has driven me for most of my life, eventually taking an emotional toll that left me exhausted, nervous, with anxiety […]
Going over to the Dark Side: My Inspiration behind Writing a Psychological Thriller By Carol Snow
Recently, I re-read Rebecca, Daphne DuMaurier’s 1938 masterpiece of psychological suspense. The first time I encountered the novel, in my early teens, it captivated me, as all romantic stories did. Another “romance novel” I read around that time was Madame Bovary. I liked it, but not as much as Rebecca because there was no mystery […]
Authors Interviewing Characters: Nicole Conn
DESCENDING THIRDS In the high-stakes world of classical music, Alexandra von Triessen, a gifted but insecure pianist, navigates the cutthroat International Ketterling Piano Competition. Dazzled by the charming Sebastian D’Antonio, she finds herself drawn into a web of intrigue surrounding his enigmatic and estranged brother, Conrad. Just as Alexandra’s star begins to rise, a shocking […]
When Fear Keeps Us From the Truth by Rossana D’Antonio
When I wrote 26 Seconds: Grief and Blame in the Aftermath of Losing My Brother in a Plane Crash, I knew it would be a heavy book for some people to approach. The title alone carries the weight of what’s inside. It is a memoir born from the deepest heartbreak of my life — losing […]
Why Fantasy Can Reveal Human Truths by Alison Levy
How does fantasy reveal human truths? It might seem counterintuitive to look for truth in a genre dependent on magic and the supernatural but fantasy lovers know better. Fantasy weaves tales of impossibility but this is just a means to explore the human condition. Realistic fiction might contain truth, but fantasy allows us to experience […]
When Reality Keeps Rewriting Your Fiction By Denise Fletcher
There’s a difficult balancing act in writing contemporary political crime fiction. The story must feel believable, but only just. The stakes need to sit right at the fringes of credibility without ever tipping over into the fanciful. The highs must be high. The lows low. The corruption must feel uncomfortable to read. And all the […]
Why Objects Matter in Historical Fiction by Patricia Furstenberg
A coat hanging beside a door can reveal more than a page of description. Who wore it? Who left it behind? Who still cannot bring themselves to let go? In Kate’s Letter (my historical fiction short story included in the anthology Courage: Tales of History, Mystery and Hope (out 17 June), the coat arrives before […]
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