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Good morning, Wren, and welcome to Vision and Verse, the site for Art
and Authors and those who love that. Can you tell us a little about what
you've written?
I’ve published six novels, most of which are young adult urban fantasy
and science fiction. I’m a hybrid author, which means I publish books with
a traditional publisher (Parliament House Press) while also occasionally
self-publishing a book.
What is your favorite genre to write?
I love the magic blended with the everyday, which is why I’m so drawn
to speculative fiction of all kinds. I secretly wish magic was real...
Okay I guess not so secretly!
Favorite food.
Impossible! Might as well ask me what my favourite book is! I really, really
love food. It does more than just nourish us; it gives us energy, makes us
laugh and smile, and is something to share with friends and family. And
really, how can you pick between really good Chinese food, a freshly-
baked peach pear pie, and an entire bag of Smartfood? You just can’t
compare!
Tea or coffee?
Tea all the way! I’m biased because coffee makes me really sick, but I
think I would still be a tea person just for the aesthetic.
Pizza or ice cream?
Pizza and then ice cream, obviously!
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Anything but beer. Hops is gross and I will die on this hill!
I am not a beer fan, either.
Where would you like to visit?
Favorite musical artist.
I’m more of a song person than an artist
person. I fall in love with a specific track
and then forget that person probably also wrote other music I would like.
And I’m a big fan of the radio for variety. I listen to modern rock and
indie rock, mostly.
Do you listen to music when you write? What?
I don’t, no. I find it really distracting to have music on. If it’s really noisy
and I have to drown it out, I’ll put on piano covers of pop songs, but
otherwise I linger in the silence.
What makes you laugh?
Everything! My friends told me that if I had a power animal, it would be a
quokka. I’m a really happy person and I love to laugh and smile! I’m a big
fan of cheesy romcoms, sarcastic main characters in novels, and that guy
on YouTube who does movie pitches.
Because this is an art AND author site, I am obligated to ask:
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
When I visited Paris we went to the Louvre, and I saw some famous
paintings and was like, I mean, those are cool, but they look the same
in person as they do in a book or on my computer screen. But sculpture!
That comes alive in person in a way that a computer can’t replicate, and I
really loved that experience. That was barely an answer to the question,
but as you may have gleaned by now, I’m not big on favourites of anything.
I found the same thing to be true of sculpture when we went to Italy.
The paintings were expectedly beautiful, but the sculptures, the David,
the Pieta, etc. were fantastic in person. How old were you when you
started writing?
I was... five. I’m not even kidding! I wrote my first play for my friends and
we performed it for the class. It was on yellow lined paper and I had to
copy it by hand so everyone had a copy to read. After that, my career
was set. I wrote my first novel in middle school, and my second one in
high school. That novel I ended up revising, and it was my second
published book!
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I always outline, and then I go from there and let it develop naturally.
So the outline is a guide, but not a chain.
Describe your perfect evening.
Having friends over for a dinner party and talking about all the books we’ve read that month.
Where do you get your inspiration?
Everything in the world is inspiration. A good book, a terrible book that makes you want to do better, a funny conversation you overhear at the grocery store.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
Move on to the next project and give myself some breathing room,
or figure out what’s blocking me and whether there’s a way to fix it.
Sometimes it’s something clear, like that I’ve put
the book in the wrong voice!
Who is your favorite author?
Here we go again! I can’t pick just one. Most nostalgic author?
Charles de Lint. Most versatile? Cathrynn M. Valente. Most beloved?
Juliet Marillier, Becky Chambers, V. E. Schwab, Naomi Novik...
Best book you ever read.
I like to joke that Deathless is the most beautiful book I’ve ever read
that I didn’t like! I recommend it to all of my friends because the writing
was so stunning, but the message was SO DARK and depressing, and
I know it won’t bother other people even though I hated how it all
turned out.
Last book you read.
Night Shine by Tessa Gratton, and it was a five star read no question.
I absolutely loved her writing and the unique setting.
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
Probably be a children’s entertainer. I love working with kids and I have a
bubbly personality that I think would be a good fit. And I’d still be telling
stories!
Who is the one person who has
influenced your personal life the
most and why?
Probably my parents (I know, not one
person, but they’re a unit!). I’m very
close with my family and they raised
me to appreciate art and literature,
to be kind to others, and to always
have empathy.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person,
living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
The ONE is capitalized so I better not cheat on this one! I would talk to
Odin because he hung from the tree of all knowledge so he’d probably
have some interesting things to tell me.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Don’t overthink it, just do it! Start small, write some short stories, or
start big and write your epic fantasy novel! There’s no wrong way to
do it. Do it because you love it, and because you can’t imagine not
doing it. And it’s okay if it’s only ever a hobby, or if it takes over
completely and becomes your life.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
Yes! Come say hi!
https://twitter.com/wrenhandman
https://www.facebook.com/wrenhandmanwriter
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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.
The Cottage by the Loch by Kennedy Kerr was an unforgettable story of Zelda, an American woman adrift in a sea of grief and the adventures she has on a wonderful, little Scottish isle called Loch Cameron. The characters were wonderfully written. Laird Hal Cameron was perfection. The stunning Scottish isle was yet another character at play in Zelda’s life. This was truly an absorbing tale.
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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.
Natalie Rymer Art
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Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.
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Note:
Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies.
 |
September Solitude A Cat Collier Mystery by Carol Ann Kauffman The Cat Collier mystery short story series is described as a cross between Nancy Drew and Mike Hammer. Follow Mary Catherine (Cat) Collier on her journey from small-town obituary writer for the local newspaper to big New York City detective in this series, starting with January Black Ice. In her latest adventure September Solitude, Cat Collier, now married with two children, questions what she wants to do with the rest of her life, and where she wants to live. Tracking down a baby girl given up for adoption over twenty years ago meets with disastrous results. A midmorning bank heist in a nearby city implicates Nola in an armed robbery. Old cases collide with new ones in the middle of the lobby of the Palazzo Castellano. A murder. A runaway. A secret society. Cat joins force with a band of Asian women to lure a killer. Personal relationships are tested to the limits. The Skampotti Family shows Cat what ‘All for Family’ truly means. Cat feels alone. Amazon link: |
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FQBL7P1
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Note: Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc. We do not give any information to third parties. And cookies? We eat cookies. |
Good morning, Steve, and welcome to Vision and Verse. Can you tell us a little about what you've written?
I have written two books of a sci-fi comedy and am working on the third. The first is titled Greetings, Planet Earth! and the sequel is Help, I Lost My Planet! The upcoming third and final book of the trilogy is titled Oops, Wrong Universe!
What is your favorite genre to write?
This is my first series so that’s hard to say. I love straight sci fi and fantasy as well, and grew up with the classics. I have WIP for both those genres on the back burner.
Favorite food.
Pizza. But apricots and cherries are sooo good!
Tea or coffee?
Both. Coffee in the morning, herbal tea at night. I’m not much of an either / or person.
Pizza or ice cream?
Pizza if I had to choose one over the other… Sigh.
Wine or beer or soda or what?
Water. Pretty much just water, the elixir of life.
Where would you like to visit?
New Zealand
Favorite musical artist.
Bob Marley
Do you listen to music when you write? What?
Not much. I like it too much so it distracts me.
What makes you laugh?
Children, animals, wordplay, oddball humor.
Favorite work of art or sculpture.
The Thinker by Rodin
How old were you when you started writing?
I started writing poetry and verse in high school after being introduced to the work of Shakespear and Cyrano de Bergerac, and wrote my first short story in a creative writing class as a college freshman at age eighteen.
Do you plan out your book with outlines and notecards? Or just write?
I do a very scant chapter outline that lets me map out a story arc. How the characters navigate between those points is up to the character and the whimsy of the moment as I am writing. I do spend a fair amount of time playing around with ideas before I sit down to write.
Describe your perfect evening.
Dinner with good friends or family, and shared experiences like a concert or game or really anything we can do together.
Where do you get your inspiration?
They just pop into my head. Often as I take my daily walk some funny and engaging idea will emerge that also allows me to explore the various themes of the book.
What do you do when you get a writer's block?
Something else. I don’t like to beat my head against the wall.
Who is your favorite author?
Sheesh….so many. I’m gonna go with who I hold most dear to my heart and say Ursula K. Le Guin. I read everything she wrote when I was 14-20ish. Something about her style and vision just moved me. The Left Hand of Darkness and the Earthsea trilogy left indelible marks on my creative spirit.
Best book you ever read.
Gonna go with Macroscope by Piers Anthony. For breadth of vision and for a moving depiction of the human spirit and the power of the heart. Time to reread it!
Last book you read.
The Mages of Starsea by Kyle West
What would you do for a living if you weren’t a writer?
Architect or visual artist
Who is the one person who has influenced your personal life the most and why?
My dad. He was such a great role model and was always there for me.
If you could sit down and have a conversation with ONE person, living or dead, real or fictional, who would it be and why?
Leonardo DaVinci. He was the ultimate renaissance man; artist, scientist, engineer, visionary.
What advice would you give someone who aspired to be a writer?
Know why you want to write and don’t listen to the naysayers.
Do you have some links for us to follow you?
Book One link - https://www.amazon.com/Greetings-Planet-Earth-Gripper-Science/dp/B0974NGGHY
Author Website - https://www.steveheimanauthor.com/
FB - https://www.facebook.com/SteveHeimanNovelist/
IG - https://www.instagram.com/steveheimanauthor/
Video Interview - https://betweenthecoverstv.com/2022/11/14/happy-thanksgiving-november-23-2022/
VISION AND VERSE DISCLAIMER
Note:
Vision and Verse does not store any personal information like email addresses, home addresses, etc.
We do not give any information to third parties.
And cookies? We eat cookies.
