Meet YA author Carrie Looper Stephens
Carrie Looper Stephens first created the Vickland Trilogy when she was 13 and she’s loved telling stories ever since. She also loves gardening, hiking, reading, and rescuing cats. She lives in South Carolina with her husband Daniel, daughter Elanor, and two cats, Chrono and Marle. The Zenia Wood is the first book in the trilogy.
Tell us about your newest book.
Gwyn has always been focused on fitting in with the popular girls in her idyllic seaside town. But when a hooded stranger alerts her to her parents’ danger, survival becomes her goal. After finding her parents murdered in their own home, Gwyn and her brother scramble to escape the killer—the notorious Black Wizard.
Desperate to break away from his father’s scrutiny and criticism, the prince of Vickland—Heron Oakheart—escapes into the mysterious Zenia Wood. There, he meets Bromlin. The eccentric old man tells the prince a dark secret about his father and forces him to question everything he knows.
Thrown together by chance, Heron and Gwyn begin to unravel the dark plots surrounding them. Facing dragons, witches, and dark magic, Gwyn and Heron have no choice but to cling to their courage if they are to survive. Can they outwit their cunning opponents and rescue Gwyn’s brother from a castle prison before it’s too late?
What inspired you to write The Zenia Wood?
Growing up, I read voraciously and had an active imagination. The Zenia Wood began as a story I told my siblings on rainy days and long road trips, or when I was supposed to be doing homework. As I grew up and started writing down the series, many teachers and parents told me they found it difficult to find clean fiction for their students and children. I realized I had found my calling: writing a well-told, clean, adventure story.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
Two siblings, Gwyn and Martin, are on the run from their parents’ murderer, the Black Wizard. When Martin is kidnapped, Gwyn must find her way to the Uziel Mountain to rescue him. A runaway prince, Heron, comes face to face with a dark side to his father, the king of Vickland. He and Gwyn are forced to work together to survive, and try to rescue Martin from the clutches of the Blood Witch.
What genre do you focus on and why?
My genre is Young Adult Fantasy. I enjoy this genre because I used to imagine I could escape to magical worlds. I often wanted to run away and retreat into my daydreams, where I created different worlds, worlds where I could be free to be me. Worlds where I was the strong hero, esteemed and popular, and loved and admired.
Why do you write?
I know it’s cliché to say I write to express myself, but it’s true. During periods in my life when I couldn’t make the time to write, I felt bottled up on the inside, words, confusion, and stress swirling in my heart. But when I finally had a chance to write (either through my journal or the Vickland Trilogy), the words poured out on the page, as if they had a mind of their own. After I write, peace and satisfaction fill me. I am so grateful God has given me an outlet to express myself.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
Gwyn is my main character in the Vickland Trilogy. I have always had a fascination with names and their meanings. My parents had a baby name book, which I often poured over. I kept coming back to the name Gwyn. It sounded strong, mystical, and feminine, but not frilly. Which is Gwyn in a nutshell.
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
I like to think of my title as “Mom by day, Writer by nap time.” I write during Elanor’s nap times, and sometimes in the evenings after she goes to bed. My husband is also kind to have daddy daughter dates with Elanor some Saturdays, which gives me time to write. I will admit, it is really hard for me to get into what I call “the writing zone” now days. The writing zone is when I get tunnel vision, my fingers flying furiously over the keyboard as I enter the magical world of Alastar. I usually only get about 30-60 minute chunks of time throughout the day, so entering the writing zone is difficult. But I keep reminding myself that my husband and daughter are more important than my book. The writing will get done eventually, but my time with my family is more important.
What is the hardest part of being an author?
Promotion. I know some authors enjoy this, but I am not a salesperson personality. I also do not like social media, because it can suck away time that would be better spent with my family or writing.
What’s the best part of your author’s life?
Writing and editing. I love falling into Alastar and interacting with the characters, watching them develop on their own. I do not create my characters. They create themselves. I have tried to control and manipulate them, but they only rebel and become who they want to be.
What’s one unusual fact about you?
I love rescuing cats. Throughout my life time, I have rescued 4 cats. We currently only have two cats, one whom Daniel and I rescued in 2018. Someone had just thrown her out on the side of the road as a teeny kitten. I have a dream of starting a cat rescue mission someday. I wish all the kitties in the world could have loving, safe homes.
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
I used to be so proud of my writing that I would get defensive when I received critique. But all that changed when I joined a writers’ group. In writers’ group, a group of people read their stories out loud, and then we comment on the writing pieces. It was quite intimidating, and at least once I cried after I left. But through the loving criticism of my friends, I grew as a writer. I would not be where I am today without being part of my writers’ group. A writer cannot write alone. We need input from others.
What is your favorite pastime?
Spending time with my family. I am such a homebody. I love taking walks with Daniel and Elanor, reading books, playing with Elanor, and spending time with Daniel once Elanor is in bed.
What are you working on now?
I am currently working on rewrites and edits for Book 2 in the Trilogy! Of the whole trilogy, Book 2 is my favorite. I love the story, the character interactions, and the journey.
Website: https://www.carrielooperstephens.com/
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Zenia-Wood-Carrie-Looper-Stephens/dp/1645262340
Social media links:
https://www.facebook.com/carrielooperstephens/
https://www.instagram.com/thetaleofvickland/
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19655477.Carrie_Looper_Stephens
Meet author Renea Winchester
Renea Winchester is a first-place winner of the North Carolina Press Association Award, the recipient of the Wilma Dykeman Award, and a two-time winner of the Appalachian Writer’s Award. She which was nominated for the SIBA award and received the endorsement from The Pulpwood Queens, the largest book club in the country. Renea has served on the Atlanta Writers Board, Georgia Writers Association, and judges multiple literary awards. Set in her hometown of Bryson City, North Carolina, Outbound Train is nominated for the Crook’s Corner Prize and Best New Fiction (American Book Fest).
Tell us about your newest book.
Outbound Train is a Southern fiction title, set in my hometown of Bryson City, North Carolina. It is the story of three generations of Parker women: Granny Pearlene, her daughter Barbara, and Carole Anne – age sixteen. These three ladies have known their fair share of hardship, but they are “make do” women. Women who can take a little scrap of nothing and create a work of art.
What inspired you to write Outbound Train?
I love to tell the story about Outbound Train during the infancy stage. My brother actually encouraged me to write this story after we traveled past a trailer park where mobile homes sat end-to-end. There, I saw my Carole Anne, a young girl peering outside the window dreaming of more. “That’s your book,” my brother said. “You need to write about Bryson City and the way it was when we were growing up. Only you can tell people about the way things once were, before the tourists came and land became so expensive the locals could no longer afford to live here.” After seeing the young girl, I just couldn’t get Carole Anne out of my heart. Wedged up against the train tracks, close enough to almost touch the cars as they passed, I knew Carole Anne’s story deserved to be told.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
A triumphant story of women overcoming tragedy, fear, and poverty.
What genre do you focus on and why?
Having transitioned from non-fiction stories based in the South, I now write Southern fiction.
Why do you write?
I write with a fierce determination to tell the stories of my people, those who are misunderstood, unseen, underrepresented and often mocked. I write to show the humanity of blue-collar workers, especially women who have a long history of being able to take a whole lot of nothing and turn it into something beautiful.
What’s the best part of your author’s life?
The absolute best part of a writer’s life is meeting readers. I do not write for myself. I write for them. I want words to open a window that readers can look through.
What’s one unusual fact about you?
During my life, I have rescued hundreds of thousands of daffodils from certain death due to development.
How have you changed or grown as a writer?
I believe if you aren’t learning, you are essentially stagnating. This is my philosophy about writing, and life. I have an insatiable hunger to learn, and this hunger allows me to grow as a writer. Also, one of the best words of advice I can offer any writer is to read outside of your genre. Support lesser-known-authors. Tell others what you are reading. Don’t be on your cell phone all the time. Get caught reading while waiting in the doctor’s office or at the airport.
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
Outbound Train is my debut novel. My first book, In the Garden with Billy, and its sequel, Farming, Friends & Fried Bologna Sandwiches are still available.
What are you working on now?
Thank you for asking about my latest work. I’m currently working on another Southern fiction title called, The Mountains Remember based on my grandmother’s displacement from her land in order to form the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Website: http://reneawinchester.wordpress.com/
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1645262413/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i0
Social media links:
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/reneawinchesterauthor/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Renea-Winchester-Author-162590877104288/
Meet author Cher Gatto
Tell us about your newest book.
My debut novel, Something I Am Not, was published by Lighthouse Publishers of the Carolinas and released January 2019. Originally titled Billy, Something I Am Not won the American Christian Fiction Writer’s (ACFW) Genesis Award for contemporary fiction. My second novel Regent is due out this year.
What inspired you to write Something I Am Not?
I never meant to be a writer. It’s something that happened to me when I wasn’t looking. Our family served as missionaries in Mexico developing a horse ranch for kids from the nearby villages. Our coworkers ran a shelter for battered women. I say women loosely, most could barely be called that. They were babies themselves—13, 14, 15 years old—many of them with children of their own, the pregnancies resulting from abuse, rape, or incest. Some had been rescued out of trafficking. One girl I knew better than the others had been sold by her mother at five years old for child porn so her mother could get her next fix. Tragic and incomprehensible.
It wasn’t until later, I realized Billy’s journey gave me the key to heal from those things I couldn’t change. Things that broke my heart. Tragedies that couldn’t be righted. I needed a different ending–a redemption story.
How would you describe this book to someone in a 30-second blurb?
Something I Am Not is a story about coming home. It’s a story about living under the wrong father—believing the lies that tear us down—and the freedom of finding the right one. It’s about knowing deep down you were made for something more.
Billy McQueen works hard to keep his life together … and concealed. At seventeen, he dreams of an escape from the barroom, his father’s manipulation, and the advances of his father’s girlfriend. On his eighteenth birthday, he is introduced to a younger brother he never knew he had. An eight-year-old barely capable of navigating the corrupt world of his father’s boxing club.
In order to secure his own freedom, Billy must fight for it. But to save his little brother who is next in line for the slave trade … he must be willing to die for it.
What genre do you focus on and why?
Interestingly, I write Young Adult with a very strong reader group of women over forty. With a house full of teens and a teaching job in a high school, I am drawn to live vicariously through them. It allows me to go back, to relive those tumultuous years, the pressures of youth and learning to cope within a world that feels upside down. To make sense of love and suffering. It’s wonderous and most times simplistically complex. My stories flow from a Christian worldview without being overt. My writing tends to dump us into the well of depravity and climb us back out with the hand of Grace.
Why do you write?
There are so many of us out there who live on the fringe of who we were meant to be. So many of us defined by our mistakes or faults or shortcomings. So many of us who live like orphans, though we’ve been adopted into kingship. The message is universal … we can never be too far gone or too far out of reach to be rescued and brought home. Those are the stories that come out. Those are the ones I love to tell.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
I don’t know. He was just always Billy. His little brother, who he finds midway in the story, was Toby right from the start. Later, after I had written it, my mother shared with me stories of her cousin whom she adored as a teen. He died in his early thirties, and it broke her heart. His name was Billy. When he was a young boy, he dragged around a worn teddy bear. The bear, he named Toby.
What is your work schedule like when you’re writing a book?
Because I am a full-time teacher, mother of five, and have a husband in full-time ministry, most of my writing happens in the early morning. My thoughts flow better in the quiet before anyone stirs. I try writing later in the day, but nothing comes out … or nothing worth reading anyway.
What is the hardest part of being an author?
The hardest part of being an author is remembering why I write. It’s so easy to forget. I can get caught up in the highs and lows of the process. The roller coaster is ever present to take us up to the shimmering top and drop us down into the black hole. It’s relentless and can rob my joy for writing with the swift arm of discouragement. The real ride is every day, every moment, and best taken while tucked in the arm of Jesus. My identity has to come from Him or it changes with the tide.
What’s the best part of your author’s life?
The coolest thing about writing is coming to walk and live with your characters so closely that you stop telling the story and just start following. I tried several times to end both my novels a different way, but the characters would not allow it. And rightly so. It was their story.
The other thing I treasure about being an author is when someone tells me my story affected them deeply, helped them see something new, or even changed their life. Sometimes I can’t fathom it—that something I could write could possibly have an impact like that.
What is your favorite pastime?
My toes in the cool sand and a great book on my lap! I also love to horseback ride and learned on the back of a belligerent pony when I was six years old. I’ve been riding ever since, though lately I am more afraid of what my bones will do if I hit the ground!
Do you have other books? We’d love to know.
My second book Regent is finished and in its last edits before submission. This one has all the edge-of-the-seat suspense Billy’s story had but without the heavy topic of trafficking. Regent’s back-cover blurb reads something like this …
Justin has never known family. His mother died when he was born. His father disappeared. And the foster care system has failed him. At seventeen, he arrives at Regent in upstate New York, a shut-down psychiatric hospital turned boarding school, to rehabilitate from a crime he never committed—and hide a secret he vowed to keep.
Website: www.journeywithwords.com
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/Something-Am-Not-Cher-Gatto/dp/1946016691
Social media links: Visit me on Facebook and Instagram (chergatto)
Meet author Jennifer Hallmark
Jennifer Hallmark writes Southern fiction and her website, Alabama-Inspired Fiction, and the group blog, Inspired Prompt, she co-founded, focus on her books, love of the South, and helping writers. Her debut novel, Jessie’s Hope, is a Selah Award finalist for First Novel. When she isn’t babysitting, gardening, or exploring the beautiful state of Alabama, you can find her at her desk writing fiction or working on one of her two blogs.
Tell us about your newest book.
First, Jessie’s Hope is a story of forgiveness and redemption. Jessie is a young woman who, at the age of ten, lost her mother and her mobility in an accident. Shortly after, her father walked away also. She is now twenty years old and getting ready to marry. She wants to find her father and peace before the wedding. Her grandparents, who’ve raised her, are struggling to find the resources to provide her with a wedding and a dress that they think will make up for the past. While planning for her wedding in the middle of tornado season, Jessie discovers weather isn’t the only obstacle to living happily ever after.
What inspired you to write Jessie’s Hope?
My local writing group assignment. I was given three writing prompts: a wedding dress designer, a dusty baseball cap, and faded coveralls. I wrote a short story, which turned into a novella, then finally a novel.
Who is your main character, and how did you choose that name?
The two main characters in my novel are Jessie Smith and her grandfather, Homer Smith. Jessie is in memory of my father, Jesse Dison Jr. and Homer is named after my maternal great-grandfather, Homer Gautney.
What is the hardest part of being an author?
My biggest struggle is time management. I’m not good at multi-tasking and will flit from email to novel writing to blogging. I don’t make much progress at times. Add in an aging mother and six grandchildren and it makes planning a challenge.
What’s the best part of your author’s life?
The people I’ve met along the way. From writers to editors to readers to publishers, there are some amazing men and women out there that I now call friends. They are encouragers, cheerleaders, and add accountability to my writing.
What’s one unusual fact about you?
For twenty years, my husband and I owned two different chicken farms and raised more than a million chickens. We now live on a mini-farm and raise calves, turkeys, peacocks, and chickens.
What is your favorite pastime?
I love taking day trips with my husband and friends to different places in Alabama and Tennessee. We also enjoy camping…
What are you working on now?
I have finished the sequel to Jessie’s Hope, tentatively titled Angeline’s Dream and my agent is busy shopping it. I’m also working on a Southern fiction historical and a medieval fantasy.
Website: https://www.jenniferhallmark.com
Link to book: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07QV41QT1
Social media links:
Meet author Elva Cobb Martin
Elva Cobb Martin is a wife, mother, and grandmother who lives in South Carolina with her husband and a mini-dachshund. A life-long student of history, her favorite city, Charleston, inspires her stories of romance and adventure. Her love of writing grew out of a desire to share exciting stories of courageous characters and communicate truths of the Christian faith to bring hope and encouragement. Connect with her on her web site at http://www.elvamartin.com.
My newest novel is an inspirational historical romance
—Marisol.
She is my first heroine in the Charleston Brides series. Marisol flees Spain for the New World after murdering the nobleman who molested her. She ends up for sale on the indentured servants’ block in Charles Town harbor—dirty, angry and with child. Captain Ethan Beckett, once a Charles Town minister, now a privateer grieving the death of his wife, brings her home as a governess to his young son. As their paths intertwine on a journey filled with danger, intrigue, and romance, only the grace of God can overcome the past and ignite a new beginning for Marisol and Ethan.
What inspired you to write Marisol?
I love the colonial area, privateers, and pirates. And I became intrigued with the issue of indentured servants. I also wanted to show how God’s love can overcome the worse experiences tossed to us by life. I pray for God’s plan and theme for each novel.
30-second blurb: Escaping to the New World is her only option…Rescuing her will wrap the chains of the Inquisition around his neck.
What genre do you focus on and why?
Historical Romance: Because I’ve always loved history, which truly is stranger than fiction.
What is your work schedule like when you are writing a book? It is kind of chaotic. I tend to do research and plot storming any time I can, then write the first draft fast without much editing. In draft 2 I do editing and adding of details. I write on the ms three afternoons a week usually. I may go out of town to finish the first or second draft, to cut down on distractions. I have a sweet husband, household and church responsibilities, ACFW-SC chapter presidency responsibilities, and social media I have to fit in somewhere.
What is the hardest part of being an author?
Bouncing all the balls listed in the previous item and still having quality time to write. But I do find the Lord helps me find it.
What is one thing your readers should know about you?
I am a highly motivated, get-it-done-early type person who loves the Lord and tries to give God the first place in my life. And I am 76 years old and had my first contracted book published at age 74. I wrote that first novel 30 years earlier, was called into the ministry, and put it up in the attic all those years until retirement. God is so good. My advice to writers is never give up!
What is your favorite past time?
Spending time with my grandson and hubby, and reading good novels or watching movies in my genre. I also love mysteries like John Grisham’s, Agatha Christy, classic Sherlock. These get my mind into a totally different orbit, and it’s restful.
My other published books on Amazon:
Summer of Deception (2017) – a contemporary romantic suspense set in Charleston.
In a Pirate’s Debt (2017) – historical romance set in the Caribbean and Charles Town.
Power Over Satan (2014)– a short Bible study on our authority in Christ.
What are you working on now?
I am currently in the publisher’s editing stage for Georgia Ann, Book 2 in the Charleston Brides series. It’s to be released later this year by Wild Heart Books. Also working on Book 3, Anna Grace, in the research and plotting stage.
Author Website Link: http://www.elvamartin.com
Author Blog Link: http://carolinaromancewithelvamartin.blogspot.com
Author Facebook Link: http://www.facebook.com/elvacobbmartin
Author Twitter: http://twitter.com/ElvaCobbMartin
Pinterest Link: https://www.pinterest.com/elvacobbmartin/
Thousand Islands Book Tour…and more
I can’t wait! I’ve been waiting all year for these next few weeks to visit the Thousand Islands and the beauty that it holds. I’ll be doing several book signings in the area, enjoy visiting family and friends, and even have a memorial for my wonderful husband who passed away in February.
For those of you who aren’t on my newsletter list, be sure to sign up in the upper right-hand corner of my website so you can see my book tour schedule. I’ll be sending it out this weekend.
In the meantime, I thought you would enjoy another excerpt from my latest book Devyn’s Dilemma. It’s about Singer Castle on Dark Island in 1910:
Mrs. VanLeer quirked a brow and smiled. “And I had the distinct impression that you were none too happy to be here. Well, carry on, then.” She turned on her heel and left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar.
Devyn reflected on the missus’ comment. Yes, she had been frank about her dislike of the river and working on Dark Island. Had Brice shared her thoughts with others? If so, he would get an earful, to be sure! But … she had to admit that the castle was growing on her, and the river wasn’t quite as distasteful as she had once thought. She
walked over to the window and, for once, tried to admire the view without her sieve of bitterness marring it.
Sparkling sunshine dancing on the tiny waves.
Birds swooping and soaring on the breeze.
Boats traveling along the main channel of the mighty river.
And beyond, the many tiny islands dotting it.
It all made a rather pretty picture.
She closed her eyes and whispered a prayer. “If you can, Lord, take my pain, my
hatred, my fear, and wash them away with the current below.” Could He do that? Shaking herself from her melancholy, Devyn glanced around the circular room. It
wasn’t huge, maybe twelve feet in diameter. The walls were the same heavy granite that covered the outside of the castle, roughly grouted but somehow fitting for a gentleman’s office. The room had two desks, two typewriters, and a huge safe.
She tentatively went up to the safe and ran her fingers over the gold letters on the door, “F. G. Bourne,” and above it “Herring-Hall Marvin Safe Co” in smaller letters. Devyn’s heart skipped a beat. The safe was … open? Why? What should she do? Someone might accuse her of opening it, and then what?
Afraid to touch it, she stepped back and turned away. She bit her lip as she glanced over her shoulder at the small, dark cavity before picking up her cleaning cloth and avoiding the predicament altogether. She would decide what to do about the safe later.
Where to start her cleaning? Spiders. They had to go first. She took her broom and covered it with a cloth, using it as a weapon to chase away every eight-legged
intruder. She stomped on those that fell to the floor and scurried away from one that was intent on getting into her hair. Dangling from a fine web, the spider seemed to dance midair, chasing her like a miniature bully. She swatted at the creature, squealed once, and finally triumphed over it, squashing it until it was pulverized into nothing.
Once the spiders and their webs were eradiated, she turned to the dusting. A large wooden letter holder stood about three feet high on a second desk, which she decided belonged to Mr. Bourne’s assistant or secretary, whomever that was. She counted the cubbyholes—one hundred—and dusted every one of them as well as the top and sides, careful to replace the dozens of papers in each used cubby.
She hummed a tune as she worked and turned to the desk and the clutter on it, careful to replace each item exactly. Would Mr. Bourne really notice if an item was an inch or two off, especially if it wasn’t his desk? Shrugging her shoulders, she glanced over at the safe again. How could someone so meticulous leave it unlatched?
Suddenly, Brice walked into the room and stopped mid-step. “Oh, I didn’t know you were here. Top of the morning to you, my bonnie lass! ’Tis a crackin’ day, aye?” His face flushed and his ears turned pink as he glanced around the stone-walled room. He whistled when his gaze fell on the desk she had cleaned. “Thank you. I had intended to get rid of those spiders myself but haven’t had the chance. And my desk is immaculate. Right fine job you’re doing, Devyn. Mr. Bourne will be pleased as a peach pie, he will.”
Check out Devyn’s Dilemma, Book 2 of the Thousand Islands Gilded Age series You can experience this wonder yourself and/or read about it in my latest novel, Devyn’s Dilemma.
1910, Thousand Islands, New York. Others may consider The Towers castle on Dark Island an enchanting summer retreat, but to Devyn McKenna, it’s a prison. Yet as she works as a maid for Frederick Bourne, former president of the Singer Sewing Machine Company, her life blossoms under the kindness of his family and fascinating entrepreneurs such as J.P. Morgan, Thomas Lipton, and Captain Vanderbilt. But more than anything, the growing friendship of Mr. Bourne’s valet, Brice McBride, begins to pry away the painful layers that conceal Devyn’s heart.
Brice is drawn to the mysterious Devyn even though he’s certain she’s hiding a secret, one far more dangerous than the clues they find in The Towers that hint of a treasure on the island. When Devyn is accused of stealing Bourne’s investment in Vanderbilt’s New York City subway expansion, he might not be able to protect her.