Mr. Chuckles bumps into Toi Thomas while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

In the last Wizard's Cauldron interview of 2015, old friend of the site, Toi Thomas talks to me about a new direction she's taking.  We've been talking for years on and off and I'm delighted to be given the opportunity to interview her once more.

Toi is better known as a popular fantasy author (the Eternal Curse Series), but this year, she has written her first chicklit novel under a pseudonym.  

I caught up with Toi in the not-so snowy wastes of Williamsburg, Virginia (thanks to El Nino!) and asked her to tell us all about it: Here's what she had to say.

Read more here

Mr. Chuckles conjures up Rose Edmunds while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

Rose Edmunds makes a first appearance around the Cauldron this Sunday. 

Once a high flying corporate tax advisor, Rose left that behind to write well-received financial thrillers on the sun drenched south coast of England. 

Working squarely in the tradition of Grisham and Ridpath, Rose is part of a growing coterie of authors whose work is framed by the context of the Crash of 2008, examining its causes, consequences and its impact on the people who both detonated the explosion and those who were its collateral damage. 
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Mr. Chuckles bumped into Romantic-Suspense author Georgia Rose while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard Speaks

Old school Wizardwatchers will know of my profound admiration for Georgia Rose. 

Financial Director, meticulous bean counter, complex problem troubleshooter, lovely person, and, most of all, in the context of this Indie caper, author of three terrific novels that have gone down a storm with readers of quality romance. 

I couldn't wait to see her around the Cauldron again and, with the imminent publication of her third novel just around the corner, I picked up the Wizphone and seized my chance. 

I caught up with her on the way to London on a crowded train. Here's what she had to say.

Read the entire interview here

Mr. Chuckles bumped into Sheffield author E.L.Lindley when stirring The Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

One of my favourite people in Indie is back today - Sheffield's finest E.Lindley. E is well known on the circuit for the long running Georgie Connelly series, which combine the thriller genre with character and comedy.  E is also developing a reputation for punchy, angry, claustrophobic short stories about real life (some drawing on her experience as a teacher), on her blog -stories I highly recommend.

Her novels have a real BBC quality, dramatic and talky, more like plays than novels in parts, and I thoroughly enjoy mentally casting her characters, because, as you will see today, E's serious passion is cinema - if you ever need to know what a new film is like, drop E a line, because it is odds-on that she's already seen it. 

I caught up with E on the Wizphone - naturally, she was off to the flicks! Here's what she had to say.

You can find and read E's first visit to the Cauldron here, on the Wizard's Cauldron Index

http://wizardscauldronindex.blogspot.co.uk/

Read the entire interview

Mr. Chuckles talks shop with Canadian author Eden Baylee while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard says:

Eden Baylee is a name many fans Stateside and beyond will be familiar with. A Canadian (one of the first to appear around the Cauldron, if not the first),  Eden creates full time and took the brave decision to leave a promising career in finance to pursue a career as an author following a serious illness that caused a panoply of life-is-too-short reflections. 

She is an absolute delight to talk to - upbeat, positive, witty and fun, and for a music beast like your second favourite Wizard, meeting someone as passionate about music as I am was always going to something to savour. 

I've read two of her pieces and there is no doubt she can write - crisp, clean, linear, unfussy prose that airport thriller readers and fans of, er, the saucy side of the industry would devour in a couple of sittings.  She's a natural for the spinner racks.

Throw a stick in any direction somewhere in Toronto and you'll hit a cool coffee shop full of artists and the bijou...and that's where I found Eden. Here's what she had to say.

Read the entire interview here

Mr. Chuckles checks out an American In Britain, Barb Taub, while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard says:

Today, in the ominous, awe inspiring shadow of the Burj Khalifa, here in downtown Dubai, I meet Barb Taub. YA writer, reviewer, commentator and classic American wit in the Mary Tyler Moore mould. 

Barb now lives and writes in the Green and Pleasant. I met her through the brilliant Rosie Amber’s review site, where she reviewed my novel The Night Porter.  

Whatever grade Barb gave TNP was less important than the stunning quality of the review itself, like a newspaper article, and I swiftly sent the Goblins out to research her.

I discovered she’s a writer (as you will see of Mature YA novels) and very popular in this little corner of our vast and sprawling Indie world. I also discovered she’s a superhero buff, which etches her name in indelible ink in my personal cool book.  Picking up the Wizphone, I tracked her down as she walked the dogs on a freezing  spring day somewhere up North. Here’s what she had to say. 

 

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Mr. Chuckles meets Thriller author, Sheffield's E.L Lindley, while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard Speaks

E.L Lindley, is, I am sure, familiar to many of you from her immensely supportive Twitter engagements and I met her recently through Rosie's Review Team, a popular and increasingly influential review and book blogging collective. 

For once, I didn't have to spend a fortune on phone calls as E lives just up the road from me in thriving Sheffield, the famous steel city of yore, where she writes accessible, funny and dramatic novels and short stories (of which one, linked here, is attracting rave reviews). A delight to talk to, I caught her by Wizphone as she wandered that remarkably nice new concourse just approaching Sheffield station. Here's what she had to say.

Tell us about yourself, E.

Well, where to start ... Hopefully, I’m a pretty nice person who happens to love stories. I love writing them, reading them, watching them on the big or small screen and listening to them in song form. I am a sucker for a story. 

Consequently, I spend most of my time either writing, reading or at the cinema. I try to allocate a bit of time for friends and reluctantly have to fit work in there as well, to fund my otherwise loafer-esque lifestyle. By trade I am a teacher although I ‘retired’ from the job proper in 2008 and now just do enough to keep the boat afloat so to speak.

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Mr. Chuckles found Blogger and War of the Roses author Catherine Hokin while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard says:

Last week, on one of Twitter's many Share Days, I noticed a blog called Heroine Chic written by one Catherine Hokin. I know very little about her - as much as you do - but was extremely taken with the blog. It's wit, humour, subtext and clarity of language was notable. Once I discovered she was an author - whose book is due to be released shortly - I contacted her and arranged a natter on the Wizphone. A native of Glasgow (where this week, the iconic Kings Cafe was taken over and turned into a burger joint), I learned loads about her. Here is what she had to say.

Tell us about yourself, Catherine

Delighted to be at the cauldron - given that I once wrote a thesis on witchcraft, it seems a good place to be! I live in Glasgow, have 3 kids of varying sizes but all bigger than me and run my a business with my husband. In previous incarnations I’ve been a teacher, a political speech writer and a marketing drone. 

I’m married to a Chicago boy who understands that creativity depends on regular supplies of chocolate and Honey Jack.

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Mr. Chuckles catches up with Chickliterati Tracie "Twin Piques" Banister around the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

Sometime last year, the name Tracie Banister was mooted here on the Cauldron as a name to watch out for in the world of the chickliterati. I contacted her and asked if she fancied a chat and she willingly agreed, but for one reason or another, it's taken a year to happen. 

In the meantime, Tracie has rapidly gained a reputation on the circuit for effervescent, upbeat, feelgood chicklit. 

Coinciding with the release of her hot new novel, "Twin Piques", I managed to track her down somewhere deep in the balmy savannahs of the southern states of America (the second native of Atlanta we've interviewed in the past fortnight), and we chatted on the Wizphone accompanied by the chirping of native birds and crickets awaking from their slumbers. Here's what Tracie had to say.

 

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Mr. Chuckles bumps into Kennedy Ryan while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

Welcome to the first Cauldron interview of 2015 and with us today is Kennedy Ryan, who is just about to release her third novel, the final part of a trilogy of romances - with a difference.

A good friend of mine and supporter of the Cauldron, not only does Kennedy write clever, intricate, eloquent romance, she is also a passionate supporter of kids with autism and other spectrum disorders. 

A resident of delightful Atlanta, Georgia (the land of Peaches; where it does snow, as you will see, and not everyone spends the weekend sipping mint juleps and reenacting battles from the Civil War), I caught up with Kennedy on the Wizphone just after she had completed yet another of her superwoman days, which, quite frankly, knacker me out just thinking about them. 

Here's what she had to say

Mr. Chuckles bumps into Nelson Suit while stirring the Wizard’s Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

Kidlit is as popular as it ever has been and this week, Nelson Suit, who is a big supporter and friend of the Cauldron joins me to discuss the state of Kidlit and also so his many readers learn a bit more about the man behind the 'spokes! A kidlit writer himself, I contacted him on the Wizphone as he scribbled away on his latest work - here's what he had to say.
 
Tell us a bit about you and Inkspokes, Nelson.

Thank you Mark for having Inkspokes and me at the Cauldron.  I’ve been a great admirer of your work here and so you can guess at my excitement for being invited in!

 

 Inkspokes is a website that showcases brilliant book illustrators, indie authors and creative folks in indie publishing. 

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Mr. Chuckles bumps into the charming English gentleman, Geoffrey West, around the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard says:

Everyone connected with The Wizard's Cauldron is a big fan of Geoffrey West. A classy, polite and charming English gentleman living near the dreaming spires of Canterbury (site of the magnificent cathedral where Thomas a' Becket was disembowelled in 1187), he writes unusual and in inventive crime fiction featuring Jack Lockwood, an only too human psychologist. I've read all three of his books - which are ludicrously cheap bearing in mind how good they are - and he's one of the few authors whose releases I actually anticipate.  My review of his latest work can be found at the end of this interview. We met for the first time early this year and I cannot wait to chat again next year, after Book 4. I picked up the Wizphone and caught up with him at his writing desk in this most incredible of late British Indian Summers. Here's what he had to say.

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Mr. Chuckles stirs The Wizard’s Cauldron and conjures up New Jersey author Anabelle Bryant

The Wizard Speaks:


In the midst of crashing waves,  howling winds, communication breakdown and the paranoid anxiety of BST's lost hour, the Wizphone finally managed to connect with the resplendent abode of Anabelle Bryant, popular New Jersey based historical romance author.

A published author for e-powerhouse Carina,  and American rose-petal leviathan, Harlequin, Anabelle has been tipped by many insiders for a lofty position in the romance rankings and with her, er, striking and (some might say) saucy covers guaranteed to grab the attention of a rabid, intensely loyal, romance readership desperate for more tales of the Happy Ever After, who would bet against her? 

As she reclined on her chaise longue making notes in the ledger for her latest Regency epic, we had a natter. Here's what she had to say.

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Mr. Chuckles is taking on politics with author E.J. Greenway around The Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

There aren't many political thrillers in Indie and so when I met Emma Gray on my Twitterbus, I was keen to find out what was going on. 

I subsequently found out that Emma actually works at the Palace of Westminster and her novels are drawn from real life. 

This was too exciting an opportunity to pass up and when Emma released her follow up, "Power Games" I got on the Wizphone and asked her to answer a few questions for me. 

Emma's Question Time, as it were.

Though incredibly busy, she was happy to oblige and I caught up with her in one of the many cloisters that line the corridors of power in the Origin of Democracy. 

Here's what she has to say

Mr. Chuckles bumps into author Lorraine Devon Wilke while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard speaks:

California's Lorraine Devon Wilke has packed an awful lot into her life and she shows no signs of stopping

The third-eldest sibling of eleven, she packed her bags and hit the road as a travelling rock singer in the big-haired eighties, carrying her camera with her, before settling down to marriage, motherhood and a life of popular bloggery, including her current stint working for the Huffington Post.

Her list of past achievements and current work is quite staggering - and she's a delightful person too!

Lorraine is now a novelist writing (in Indie terms), that quiet, shy and vulnerable industry step-child Literary Fiction. 

The genre the 101 blogs tell you to avoid like the plague and yet, it's the one area where a reader can find really, really decent writing if you look for it. And Lorraine is a really, really decent writer.

I was introduced to her by Brenda Perlin and received both her short story and novel. The former is a cracking read, but the latter - I am twelve chapters in and I am engrossed is possibly a great book. I had to buy it in paperback. 

It's a sweeping, sassy, cynical, redeeming, tricky "Terms of Endearment" type family saga - remember those? - with dialogue so acute you can experience it, a real sense of place, and characters you can see and hear as if they were next to you, the novel deserves a wider audience. 

I picked up the Wizphone and interrupted Lorraine while she tapped out her latest blog on
a sunkissed veranda overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here's what she had to say.

Read More The Wizard's Cauldron

Mr. Chuckles finds Mary Ann Bernal amidst the bubbling brew while stirring The Wizard’s Cauldron

With a new collection of short stories, the popular Mary Ann Bernal talks to Ngaire Elder...around the Cauldron!

Mary Ann Bernal

The Wizard has been off on a quest this week - he and Igor have been road testing new Cauldrons in deepest Transylvania - so massive friend of the blog, children's author Ngaire Elder, takes over the Wizphone, interviewing popular historical fiction writer and Green Wizard editor Mary Ann Bernal.  

Nebraska resident - and exiled New Yorker - Mary Ann released her anthology of short stories "Scribbler Tales" this week and these excellent pieces are well worth reading. 

Mary Ann is also a huge friend of the Cauldron and you can find her previous chats - and those of Ngaire here, on the Index.

http://wizardscauldronindex.blogspot.co.uk/

Mary Ann it is wonderful to see you back at the Wizard’s Cauldron, your last interview was with the Wonderful Wizard of Notts himself in January 

Hi Ngaire...it's wonderful to be back. I was here discussing "Timeline"

The Most Read Interview Ever on the Wizard's Cauldron - Mary Ann Bernal and Timeline


I know you have been busy and have successfully published The Briton and the Dane as an audiobook and more recently The Briton and the Dane: Timeline, what motivated you to publish to audio?

Authors have to keep up with the latest technology, Ngaire.   It is important to have one’s work accessible on all available venues - print, electronic and audio - to accommodate preferences.

Thomas Edison Taped Nicholas Nickelby. The first audiobook?

Like Milk Tray, ladies luvvvv audio books - a Parisian lady of leisure
listens avidly...

Did you enjoy the publish-to-audio process?

The audio process was a thoroughly enjoyable learning curve.  I knew nothing about this industry until I started working with my very talented producer, narrator Sebastian Lockwood.  He made my initiation seamless.  

The talented Sebastian Lockwood, was your chosen narrator for The Briton and the Dane novel. 

What was it about Sebastian that made you choose him to narrate your audiobook?

Sebastian was the perfect choice, being an experienced storyteller.  One can picture him wearing the priest cowl as he married David and Helga. 

“Ego conjungo vos in matrimonium in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.”
“I unite you in wedlock in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.”

Follow Sebastian Lockwood on Facebook

And do you have plans to publish the remaining 3 books in The Briton and Dane franchise to audio?

Yes, Ngaire, that is the plan.  I am looking forward to working with Sebastian again -  a travelling bard whose recent works include the audio release of Homer’s Odyssey  and The Epic of Gilgamesh.

Volume 1 of your short story series, Scribbler Tales, was published earlier this month, where do you get your information or ideas for your short stories, I particularly enjoyed Sail With Me and Desperate Measures?

My story ideas  always start with “what if” - how far would you go to save, betray or kill someone?  And if you’re going to betray someone, why would you do it?  Money, power, revenge?  There’s a lot you can do with human emotions, and I love coming up with “I never saw that coming” endings.

“Scribbler Tales is a unique mix of genres in one anthology rich with tension,
humanity and genuine emotion.
Unconventional settings and unexpected twists are
bound to leave you pondering long after you close this book.”

In “Desperate Measures,” you will learn of human cloning experiments gone awry. “Forbidden Lore” beckons Arianna and Ethan into a haunted cemetery where you will discover how they survive the night. Star-crossed lovers who refuse to accept the inevitable rise to a surprise ending in “Forever Lost.” In “The Hourglass,” the weakness of human character is exposed when Flair makes a covenant with the Devil. “Sail with Me” is a slice of life read about the confessions of a military brat who changes his life against all the odds.

Mary Ann, your endings always leave me astounded. Can you relate to your characters’ predicaments, and to what extent do they remind you of yourself or someone you know?

My favorite movies are action films, crime shows, spy thrillers, period movies - the list is endless, but I am not a chick flick fan.  

Therefore, my “cast” embodies all the necessary elements to provide for a good story.  I tend to combine elements from characters such as James Bond and Jack Bauer when creating my fictional counterpart.    

What are your plans for future Volumes in the Scribbler Tales series?
Since I have more fun writing short stories than novels, oops, did I just confess to a secret?  

President Obama, keen Briton and Dane enthusiast, cannot believe
what he's just read here at the Cauldron!

Seriously, I enjoy writing in different genres and telling a story quickly and to the point - think of Scribbler Tales as a weekly TV show - a lot of action in a short period of time.

As a child, what was the worst thing you did? 

Ran away from kindergarten because the kids made fun of my shoes.  Of course, I just stayed behind my house while the entire neighborhood was looking for me.  Needless to say, the kids never did that again since they got into more trouble than I did.

Oh, I love it, Mary Ann. I ran away from home once because my mum and dad were laughing at me and I got in a huff! Grabbing my basket of chocolate Easter eggs and wool coat I trudged down our driveway onto the main road. Needless to say my mum was not very happy about that and dragged me home! 

(Ha ha ha you two - stay on topic! Ed)


Is there a particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?

Am just an incurable romantic anglophile since having read “Ivanhoe” by Sir Walter Scott and seeing all the Hollywood blockbuster period movies.  

Let’s go “a Viking” - love my action films!

If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your publishing experience that you would change? 

It’s a good thing I didn’t quit my day job.  Writing and publishing are two different career paths.  My experience has been on-the-job training, which is more difficult than taking collegiate courses.  It is a challenge to wear both caps, but I wouldn’t change anything, unless of course, I can use hindsight and start over - no, don’t think so - never look back, just move forward.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author and what has been the best compliment?

Toughest criticism is “wrote a movie” - yes, guilty as charged.  That’s my style and I am happy with it.   

Best compliment  - being told I have transported the reader into “the scene” - whether it “hearing” the sound of metal as swords clashed, to “seeing” the dust rise as the horses circled around the arena, to “bracing oneself” as a wall of water approached the shore.

Mary Ann, thank you for visiting the Wizard's Cauldron and everyone here wishes you terrific success with "Scribbler Tales 

Thank you so much, Ngaire. It's a pleasure to be here.

Contact Mary Ann

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BritonandDane

Lovely Blog - worth following for history buffs and Indies: 

http://maryannbernal.blogspot.co.uk/

The tireless Mary Ann is also the editor at Green Wizard (see right hand column), for Brenda Perlin's west coast "Faction" tales and Ngaire Elder's brilliant kids prose primer,  Dragon's Star"


















You can buy Mary Ann's many works on Amazon and through her blog. You might also want to try "Concordia" - for my money, the best book I read in 2012. An amazing journey from rainswept England to sunbaked Moorish Spain with some of the most absorbing characters you'll ever read.






Link for review of Scribbler Tales http://brooklynandbochronicles.blogspot.com.es/2014/09/scribblers-tales-collection-of-short.html

Book trailers:

Scribbler Tales –  Amazon UK http://www.amazon.co.uk/Scribbler-Tales-One-Mary-Bernal-ebook/dp/B00N6A462E

Scribbler Tales – Amazon US http://www.amazon.com/Scribbler-Tales-One-Mary-Bernal-ebook/dp/B00N6A462E
 

Wizard's Cauldron

The Wizard's Cauldron: With a new collection of short stories, the popula...

The Wizard's Cauldron: With a new collection of short stories, the popula...: Mary Ann Bernal The Wizard has been off on a quest this week - he and Igor have been road testing new Cauldrons in deepest Transylvani...

With a new collection of short stories, the popular Mary Ann Bernal talks to Ngaire Elder...around the Cauldron!



The Wizard has been off on a quest this week - he and Igor have been road testing new Cauldrons in deepest Transylvania - so massive friend of the blog, children's author Ngaire Elder, takes over the Wizphone, interviewing popular historical fiction writer and Green Wizard editor Mary Ann Bernal.  

Nebraska resident - and exiled New Yorker - Mary Ann released her anthology of short stories "Scribbler Tales" this week and these excellent pieces are well worth reading. 

Mary Ann is also a huge friend of the Cauldron and you can find her previous chats - and those of Ngaire here, on the Index.

Click on the link to read more:  Wizard's Cauldron Interview

Mr. Chuckles bumped into Billie Jones, oops, Rebecca Raisin while stirring the Wizard's Cauldron

As an author, popular Australian Rebecca Raisin wears two significantly different hats, but one hat she wears proudly is the Wizard's Green Pointy Hat she was given the last time she was here. We're glad to have her back. 

Riding high on the success of instant romance classic "The Bookshop on the Corner", mother of two Rebecca this time turns comedian and satirist with her pseudonymous creation, Billie Jones. 

The Wizard talked to Rebecca on the Wizphone about her new novel  just after dropping her two rascally boys at school. 

Here's what she had to say.

Rebecca Raisin's Original Interview with the Wizard

Rebecca, tell us about Billie Jones. Who is she? WHY is she?

Billie is my alter ego... She’s a little zanier than me, swears a lot, and likes surfing. 

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Mr. Chuckles checks out "tell all" author, Brenda Perlin, around The Wizard's Cauldron

Funny, effervescent, incredibly hard working and a massive supporter of Indies, I caught up with Brenda on the Wizphone as she picked ripened olives from the vines surrounding her boulevard Hacienda, and that.
Read more at:  The Wizard's Cauldron

Mr. Chuckles tips over the Wizard's Cauldron meeting 100th interview special edition: Star US chickliterati, Katie Oliver

The Wizard speaks:

For followers of the Wizard's Cauldron, Katie Oliver needs no introduction. Most people's odds-on favourite for global romance superstardom, Katie has been writing stories ever since she was old enough to hold a pencil.  

With her star currently shining brightly in our corner of the literary firmament, I thought of no-one more appropriate than Katie to be our 100th interview.

A big fan of the old Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers romances and later, the Stephen Curtis chickflicks "Four Weddings" and "Notting Hill", Katie is known for her light touch, effervescent humour and gentle observations of the "battle of the sexes". 

As a prolific writer, Katie also is fond of long term character development, so you really get a sense of the creation of a literary world. 

I'm a big fan of the way she does business and am wishing her to the top. I picked up the Wizphone and caught up with Katie in her garden somewhere on the Eastern Seaboard.  Here's what she had to say to me.

Read more at:
http://greenwizard62.blogspot.co.uk/2014/08/the-wizards-cauldron-100th-interview.html