At iRead Book Tours, we are passionate about books and their authors. Every week, stop by to meet one of our authors, who is currently or about to go on tour and one of our bloggers. Or, maybe you can meet a book promotion specialist willing to reveal some special tips about book marketing, publishing, or anything else that happens to be on his or her mind during our podcast. Stop on by! You'll have fun! I guarantee it!
Meet the Author:
Kelly Smith, a three-time published author, first came on the scene with her debut novel, Signs in the Rearview Mirror Leaving a Toxic Relationship Behind. After healing from her toxic relationships, she soon realized dating after a toxic relationship was difficult, which then led her to write Out of the Darkness. Out of the Darkness, her sophomore book is about her experiences with healing after abuse, dating, and finding love again. Sunny Day Publishing published all of her books.
Smith, an award-winning writer, writes for Elephant Journal and HuffPost. Smith is a dating expert for the online relationship and dating magazine, GoDates.
Smith is a certified relationship and dating coach who works with clients who are trying to rebuild their lives after an abusive relationship ends, or after a long-term relationship ends.
Smith is a Boston native who moved to the Austin, TX area in July 2003 with her three sons.
Media Expertise Kelly can speak on topics including domestic violence in teen dating, narcissism, and toxic relationships, women as the abusers, recovering from an abusive relationship, dating again after an abusive relationship, narcissism in both men and women, and living as an adult child with a narcissistic parent.
Victoria Johnson, MD, is a well-known physician in the practice of aesthetic medicine. She has pioneered many state-of-the-art laser procedures and surgeries and has helped guide the field for more than twenty years. Dr. Johnson is a published author and has served on many medical boards and committees. She continues to teach other physicians the art of aesthetic medical practice and various medical techniques. Dr. Johnson has won many distinguished awards, but her favorite things in life are her husband and family.
P.J. Murphy writes novels that introduce unusual and humorous twists to classic genres. If you pick up one of his books, you’re in for an interesting read that never loses its sense of fun. As a writer, P.J. tries to stick to the adage ‘write what you know’, although with the addition, ‘just make sure you exaggerate and distort it beyond all recognition’. He is planning to write a novel about taking a road trip with a parrot. He has never owned a parrot.
Beverly Golden Cuevas was born Beverly Jane Golden in Ironton, Ohio in 1945. She spent the first 10 years of her life in Parkersburg, West Virginia with her family. Her father had a job opportunity in Columbus, Ohio in 1955 so away they went. Beverly started working at the age of 14 to contribute to her family finances. She graduated Columbus North High School in 1963. She moved on to work at the Ohio Bell Telephone Company after graduation. In 1965, on the dare of her best friend she went to an interview to be a Stewardess for American Airlines. American hired her and she started her flying career in New York, then commuting from Tulsa, Oklahoma to her Dallas base. She flew both domestic and international. During her career, she never received a bad passenger letter. In 1977, she was 1 of 12 Flight Attendants selected out of 16,000 to participate in a highly coveted special assignment to work at the prestigious American Airlines Golf Classic. Her flying career ended on December 1, 2001 after 35 years. Beverly now lives in Dallas, Texas. She has been married to her wonderful husband Randy for 43 years. She has two sons, Joshua and Kaleb. She is a loving wife and mother, never missing a baseball game or school talent show, in spite of her flying schedule! Mimi is blessed to pass on her knowledge and love of life to her grandchildren Eden, Elijah, Ellie, Logan and Holly.
S.R. Fabrico is a 16-time award-winning author. Her debut novel The Secrets We Conceal was published in March 2022. She has also written a series of sports journals for athletes, including the Amazon best-selling My Dance Journal.
A 25-plus-year professional in the business, marketing, and sports world has taken her to numerous places throughout the course of her life and provided countless life experiences. She is a World Champion Dance Coach, coach of the year recipient, and speaker and various conferences across the United States.
S.R. Fabrico works and writes from her home in Knoxville, TN, where she lives with her husband and two children. She appreciates the beauty of the mountains, but her favorite place to visit is the beach. She is a lifelong math nerd and enjoys good puns. When she isn’t writing, she likes to read books, wife hard, and mom hard.
JUSTIN NEWLAND’s novels represent an innovative blend of genres from historical fiction and crime, to supernatural thrillers and mystery. His stories deal with the themes of war, religion, and evolution and speculate on the human’s spiritual place in the universe.
Undeterred by the award of a Doctorate in Mathematics from Imperial College, London, he found his way to the creative keyboard and conceived his debut novel, The Genes of Isis (Matador, 2018), an epic fantasy set under Ancient Egyptian skies.
Next came the historical fantasy, The Old Dragon’s Head (Matador, 2018), set in Ming Dynasty China in the shadows of the Great Wall.
His next historical fantasy, The Coronation (Matador, 2019), speculates on the genesis of the most important event in the modern world – the Industrial Revolution.
His fourth, The Abdication (Matador, 2021), is a supernatural thriller in which a young woman confronts her faith in a higher purpose and what it means to abdicate that faith.
His work in progress is a two-book series, The Island of Angels, set in Elizabethan England, and is an epic tale of England’s coming of age. The first novel, The Mark of the Salamander, travels with Sir Francis Drake across the wide open seas of discovery from 1577-1580 and is due to be published in September 2023. The second, The Midnight of Eights, culminates in the repulse of the Spanish Armada in 1588.
He regularly gives talks to historical associations and libraries and enjoys giving radio interviews and making podcasts. Born three days before the end of 1953, he lives with his partner in plain sight of the Mendip Hills in Somerset, England.
One of the most popular and recognizable faces on television sets in Nevada and California; Mike Alger is the Chief Meteorologist for KTVN-TV Channel 2 (CBS) in Reno, Nevada. The award-winning weatherman is a holder of the American Meteorological Society’s Certified Broadcast Meteorologist Seal of Approval. He is happily married with two children.
Sarah V. Barnes, Ph.D. is both an historian and a horsewoman. When Sarah is not writing stories, she practices and teaches riding as a meditative art. She also offers equine-facilitated coaching and wellness workshops.
Sarah holds a Ph.D. in history from Northwestern University and spent many years as a college professor before turning full-time to riding and writing. She has two grown daughters and lives with her husband, her dogs and her horses near Boulder, CO.
Diane Trull’s lifelong passion for rescuing animals served as the catalyst for cofounding the Dalhart Animal Wellness Group and Sanctuary (DAWGS) with her husband, Mark Trull, and a group of fourth-grade students. Diane continues to teach those involved in animal rescue about the importance that compassion and community service play in making a difference in the lives of homeless animals. (Note: Diane's daughter Katie Trull Foster is standing in for her mother in our Authors on iTours interview.)
Meredith Wargo
Meredith Wargo is an award-winning author and advocate for animals. The recipient of four Maxwell Medallions from the Dog Writers Association of America, she has a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Although a native Texan, Meredith currently lives in southern Utah with her husband and a menagerie of rescued pets.
In her sixty-three years of life, Roberta Fernandez, a board-certified hypnotist, didn’t know that she had a story waiting to be told.
In 2006, she attended a weeklong memoir-writing class conducted by a bestselling author, Joyce Maynard. Joyce worked hard to bring out Roberta’s best work, in spite of her self-perceived lack of talent. While it was an awesome experience to be instructed by a well-known author, Roberta determined that writing about herself was not a talent she possessed.
As a first-time author, Roberta now understands she was simply destined to write in a different genre. She enjoys creating relatable characters and watching the story unfold as she types. Like her readers, she wonders what’s going to happen next. A sequel is already being written as this book is published. Who knows what words will flow across the page in the next fifteen years!
Cheryl DaVeiga is an award-winning children’s book author and singer/songwriter residing in New Jersey. After a career in business, Cheryl’s passion for music caught up with her, and she began writing and recording children’s songs as her alter ego, CADi Grace. She then moved on to adult songs, including an ASCAP award-winning veteran’s anthem, the featured song for the State of Alabama Bicentennial Celebration, the theme song to the philanthropic Where Angels Play Foundation, and a NJ Arts' pick for top NJ summer songs. She’s also written songs for artists on critically acclaimed albums. Cheryl’s collaboration with Nashville songwriter Dave Gibson gave birth to a new adventure--writing children’s books, each with an accompanying song. Their Mom’s Choice Gold, Purple Dragonfly- award-winning, and Readers’ Favorite five-star rated debut children’s book, War at the Ice Cream Store, their Midwest Book Review highly recommended, and Readers’ Favorite five-star rated follow up, Rocket Red: A Little Ant with a Big Dream, and Cheryl's newest release, The Prickly Problem: Dr. Pete the Porcupine, are featured on their online home for Kids: BiffBamBooza.com. Cheryl has numerous new children’s books on the way.
Maggie Clare is the pen name of award-winning speculative fiction author Tabitha Lord. When channeling Maggie, she writes all the naughty things! A lover of tea, chocolate, and yoga, she lives in Rhode Island with her husband and menagerie of fur babies.
Joseph Gulesserian is an entrepreneur and a published author, who wrote Newspaper Boys Always Deliver, a story of pop culture and technology. He has built and brought to market health and beauty Brands with global reach that has sent him around much of the world.
With his technical training, he has spent time on the factory floor with technologies from machine building to software information systems, for competitive advantage.
He has an insatiable eclectic curiosity for flirting with the outer parameters of the human imagination, is a student of history, loves the arts, design, the digital age, math, while believing in the tenets of the marketplace of ideas and personal liberty.
After earning his MBA from Edinburgh Business School in the U.K., he taught Corporate Finance, Capital Markets, Statistics and marketing, as an adjunct professor at Toronto colleges.
Jenni Ogden and her husband live off-grid on spectacular Great Barrier Island, 100 kms off the coast of New Zealand, a perfect place to write and for grandchildren to spend their holidays. Winters are often spent in Far North Tropical Queensland, close to Killara, the fictional home in Call My Name, her third novel.
Her debut novel published in 2016, A Drop in the Ocean, was an Amazon bestseller and won multiple awards including the 2016 Gold Nautilus Award for Fiction, Large Publisher.
Her second novel, The Moon is Missing, was published in 2020 and is set on London, New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, and Great Barrier Island, NZ.
Jenni, who holds a PhD in Clinical Neuropsychology and was awarded the Distinguished Career Award by the International Neuropsychological Society in 2015, is well-known for her books featuring her patients’ moving stories: Fractured Minds: A Case-Study Approach to Clinical Neuropsychology, and Trouble In Mind: Stories from a Neuropsychologist’s Casebook.
Ten Thousand I Love Yous is Lisa Slabach’s second novel.
Prior to publication, her first novel, Degrees of Love was recognized as a Best Book of 2014 by Kirkus Review. Degrees of Love made its publishing debuted December 1, 2017 and was nominated for a 2017 Reviewer’s Choice Award by RT Book Reviews.
In addition to writing, Lisa is a Fintech Relationship Executive for a Fortune 500 Company. She is a long-time resident of Northern California and lives with her husband, one-hundred-forty-pound puppy and numerous goldfish. In her free time, she enjoys wine tasting, shopping with her daughters, and cooking in her pink kitchen.
Paris-born Lilianne Milgrom is an internationally acclaimed artist and award-winning author residing in Washington DC. In 2011, she became the first authorized copyist of Gustave Courbet’s controversial painting L’Origine du Monde, which hangs in the Orsay Museum in Paris. Milgrom spent a decade researching and writing L’Origine: The Secret Life of the World’s Most Erotic Masterpiece. Her debut novel has been awarded six literary honors including the Publisher’s Weekly 2021 US Selfies Book Award for Best Adult Fiction.
Tyler Snyder was born in 1984 in Medford, Oregon. As a child, he was captivated by movies, video games, and Dungeons and Dragons, along with the worlds these activities created. The original spark that ignited Tyler’s imagination was when he wanted to see a movie similar to The Legend of Zelda, but the closest film at the time was The Dark Crystal. That itch, to this day, has still not been scratched. This led him to books and stories like the pastimes he adored and gave him exposure to a much grander well of ideas and possibilities. Meeting like-minded friends who shared the same hobbies, Tyler developed a passion for creating new worlds. In Romancing the Darkness, Tyler explores his world, Ambion, and the countless decisions confronting his characters. Mr. Snyder currently lives in Wyoming with his wife, Sandra.
For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. During that time, she choreographed many musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries to that expansion. She decided to write the cozy mystery series that everyone, including teens and tweens, can read and enjoy. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries nine books with a tenth slated for 2021. The books are also available on audio, narrated by Maren Swenson Waxenberg. Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh. The female protagonist, Alexa Owl, is much different from Fiona Quinn. The Owl’s Next Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy! Ms. McDonald resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister.
When she’s not on a horse, or walking along the beautiful cottonwood-laden acequias of Corrales, New Mexico; or basking on white sand beaches under the Big Island Hawaiian sun, Kari Bovee is escaping into the past—scheming murder and mayhem for her characters both real and imagined, and helping them to find order in the chaos of her action-packed novels. Bovee writes the award-winning Annie Oakley Mystery Series and the Grace Michelle Mystery Series, and has more ideas than time for many, many more. Connect with the author: Website ~ Goodreads ~ Facebook ~ Twitter ~ Instagram ~ Pinterest
Sarah Sommer is an award-winning children's picture book author who blends her love for music, animals, and positivity in her books. Having trained in classical music and performed internationally as a professional clarinetist, rhymes and lyrics are an important part of her writing style. She is an advocate for animals, as seen in her work fostering German shepherds, and as a result, animals are always a central part of her stories. Sarah aims to include encouraging themes, such as helping others, in all of her narratives because we all need a little help sometimes.
Join us at 12 Noon (EST) on Friday Nov 5 for an interview with author Julia Brewer Daily. We will have a wonderful discussion about her critically acclaimed debut novel NO NAMES TO BE GIVEN, scheduled to go on an audiobook tour with iReads Book Tour launching on Monday, Sept 20 to Oct 8. Link to NO NAMES TO BE GIVEN tour page: https://www.ireadbooktours.com/blog--...
Meet R.J. Eastwood:
During his film and television career, Robert J. Emery, who writes novels under the pen name, R. J. Eastwood, has written, produced, and directed feature motion pictures, television documentaries, national television commercials, political campaigns, and industrial films. Some of the highlights of his career include the award-winning ninety-one-episode television series The Directors for Starz/Encore, the award-winning four-part mini-series, The Genocide Factor for PBS, the award-winning documentary For God & Country: A Marine Sniper's Story for MSNBC, and the award-winning motion picture, Swimming Upstream, for the Lifetime Television Network.
Eva Grayzel is a motivational speaker, storyteller, and cancer survivor. When her children were five and seven years old, she was diagnosed with cancer. Their fear of losing her was deep, real, and suppressed. When she got a second chance at life, she created the Talk4Hope book series to help children understand cancer and make it less scary.
Caitlin Bangsund is the author of Marvellous Macey, The Delightful Days. It is the first in a series based on true life. Caitlin knows the trial and trauma of childhood cancer, childhood disability, and the fear of almost losing her daughter — the star of the series — Macey. She encourages readers to look for the treasures that hide in the rubble and gloom. Life is beautiful chaos and her message is to press on and conquer. Read her stories and help create a world that is full of kindness and acceptance.
For twenty-six years C.S. McDonald’s life whirled around a song and a dance. Classically trained at Pittsburgh Ballet Theater School, The Pittsburgh Dance Alloy, and many others, she became a professional dancer and choreographer. During that time, she choreographed many musicals and an opera for the Pittsburgh Savoyards. In 2011 she retired from her dance career to write. Under her real name, Cindy McDonald, she writes murder-suspense and romantic suspense novels. In 2014 she added the pen name, C.S. McDonald, to write children’s books for her grandchildren. In 2016 she added the Fiona Quinn Mysteries to that expansion. She decided to write the cozy mystery series that everyone, including teens and tweens, can read and enjoy. Presently, the Fiona Quinn Mysteries nine books with a tenth slated for 2021. The books are also available on audio, narrated by Maren Swenson Waxenberg. Cindy’s newest venture is The Owl’s Nest Mysteries. Once again, she has set her cozy mystery in Pittsburgh. The female protagonist, Alexa Owl, is much different from Fiona Quinn. The Owl’s Next Mysteries has a little grit, a little time travel, a little romance, and a whole lot of cozy! Ms. McDonald resides on her Thoroughbred farm known as Fly by Night Stables near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, with her husband, Bill, and her poorly behaved Cocker Spaniel, Allister.
Gail Mencini is the acclaimed author of It Happened in Tuscany and To Tuscany with Love, both of which are Denver Post #1 bestsellers and award winners. Gail grew up in DeWitt, Nebraska, graduated from Wartburg College with a BA in Accounting and Economics, and earned a master of taxation degree from the University of Denver. A frequent visitor to Tuscany and a homegrown gourmet cook, Gail has toured Italy by car, train, bus, Vespa, and foot. She lives in Colorado with her husband.
Episode Eight: Interview with Hawk MacKinney, author of The Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series Hawk has authored several works of fiction including a historical romance Moccasin Trace which was nominated for both the prestigious Michael Shaara Award for Excellence in Civil War Fiction and the Writers Notes Book Award. His Cairns of Sainctuarie Science Fiction Series and his Moccasin Hollow Mystery Series have received national and international attention.
With postgraduate degrees and faculty positions in several medical universities, Hawk MacKinney has taught graduate courses in both the United States and Jerusalem. His professional writing includes articles on chordate neuroembryology, and aerospace research on muscle metabolic behavior in multi-orbital environments. Visit Hawk MacKinney's website to learn more about him and his novels.
Episode Seven: Interview with Ginny fite, author of Blue Girl on a Night Dream Sea
Ginny Fite is an award-winning journalist who has covered crime, politics, government, healthcare, art and all things human. She has been a spokesperson for a governor and a member of Congress, a few colleges and universities, and a robotics R&D company. She has degrees from Rutgers University and Johns Hopkins University and studied at the School for Women Healers and the Maryland Poetry Therapy Institute. Her three murder mysteries, Cromwell’s Folly, No Good Deed Left Undone, and Lying, Cheating, and Occasionally Murder, are set in the rolling hills of Jefferson County, West Virginia. No End of Bad, a thriller, was released in June 2018. She resides in Harpers Ferry, WV.
Episode Six: Interview with Carole Giangrande, award winning author of The Tender Birds
Carole Giangrande is the award-winning author of ten books, including the novella A Gardener on the Moon (winner of the 2010 Ken Klonsky Award) and the novel All That Is Solid Melts Into Air (2018 Independent Publishers Gold Medal for Literary Fiction). The Tender Birds is her fourth novel. She’s worked as a broadcast journalist for CBC Radio (Canada's public broadcaster), and her fiction, poetry, articles and reviews have appeared in literary journals and in Canada’s major newspapers. In her spare time, she loves exploring nature with her partner Brian, photographing birds and studying French.
Episode Five: Interview with Myra Bennett, author of Dying Made Easy(er)
In her book Dying Made Easy(er), Myra Bennett guides readers through the diverse phases and considerations of the end of life by an experienced traveler who's spent many hours "as a guest in the sacred place of the dying." Bennett, a hospice nurse and certified end of life doula, who has also grappled with death in her personal life, invites us to contemplate dying from many different angles: legal, social, physical, psychological, and spiritual. Her Dying Made Easy(er) is both a handbook of pertinent information and a medley of informed suggestions for us to consider when experiencing or sharing the phenomenon that is the end of life. Bennett believes it is imperative that we--as a community--are aware of how to find help when faced with death and dying. In Dying Made Easy(er), she provides the resources to address this pressing need.
Bennett, who is the co-founder of Compassionate Crossings in Sacramento, has seen it all. She's witnessed the dying process unfold in beautiful ways, with gifts for all involved, and she's seen it devolve into a series of anguished mishaps that leave the family praying for an early transition. As there are no opportunities for rehearsals or do-overs, Bennett is committed to helping us better understand dying as the last--but not the least--chapter of life, and to helping us dream what this chapter might look like. In her warm and wise book, we learn how to turn this dream into a personal reality that will meet not only our deep-felt needs and desires but also those of our family and loved ones.
Authors on iTours: Episode 4: Interview with Author Jay Amberg
Our guest for this episode of Authors on iTours is Jay Amberg, the author of The Healer's Daughters, currently on tour with iRead Book Tours. Jay Amberg is the author of twelve books. His latest, The Healer's Daughters is now available from Amika Press. Amberg has also published Bone Box, Cycle, America's Fool, Whale Song, and compiled 52 Poems for Men. Prior to Amika Press, Amberg published thriller novels Doubloon (Forge), Blackbird Singing (Forge) and Deep Gold (Warner Books). For more information about Jay Amberg and his books, visit his website at www.jayamberg.com.
Authors on iTours: Episode 3: Interview with Marilyn R. Wilson
Everyone has a story to tell, it's simply a matter of asking the right questions. That's Marilyn R. Wilson's motto, which she has proven with her extraordinary books, LIFE OUTSIDE THE BOX and THE WISDOM OF LISTENING. Marilyn R. Wilson's focus as an author is non-fiction published under the label Real People - Real Lives. Whether she is sharing the stories of others or passing on what she has learned through interviewing, her books affirm how beautifully diverse life's journey is - there is no one right way to live - and encourage readers to embrace their uniqueness without apology. In this third podcast of Authors on iTours, Marilyn and I will discuss her extraordinary career that began when she was 50 years old! Marilyn's career as a writer began when she answered a Craigslist ad looking for magazine submissions. When two were accepted, she was launched into a whole new career that included co-owning and running a magazine and doing freelance articles for others both local and international; conducting over 150 interviewing over people from around the globe; stepping on stage as a speaker; doing social media and author support for her publisher, working on contract with Eco Fashion Week Australia for their first event, mentoring young talent and publishing two Amazon best sellers - Life Outside the Box (2016) and The Wisdom of Listening (2018). Visit Olio by Marilyn for more information.
Authors on iTours: Episode 2: Interview with an Audiobook Producer
There's a growing audience of audiobook listeners out there. So authors need to be aware that not only are they writing for potential readers, but also potential "listeners." What goes into producing an audiobook? Do narrators just sit at their kitchen table and read into a microphone? No, more goes into it than that. Audiobook producer Mike Alger talks about how he came about producing his first audiobook and what actually goes into it.
Authors on iTours: Episode 1: Interview with Mary Walewski, owner of Buy the Book Marketing.
Lauren Carr interviews guest Mary Walewski , owner of Buy the Book Marketing, about how virtual book tours have become a necessity for authors when it comes to book promotion. During their discussion, they advise authors on how virtual book tours give their books lasting exposure, how to select a virtual book tour coordinator who will be the best fit for them and their book, and how to make their tour a success.