Author Interview: Sarah Kay Moll

Today I'd like to welcome Sarah Kay Moll, author of the LGBT+ crime thriller Dark City (I can't wait to read it!) She was kind enough to answer some of my questions.

When did you know you wanted to be a writer?

As a kid, I wanted to be everything from an actress to an astronaut. It wasn't until I got to college and started writing seriously that I thought of it as a possible career option, but even then I was more interested in becoming a clinical psychologist or a librarian. When I came up with the idea for Dark City, though, then I knew I had found
something that was worth devoting my time to, and I wanted to be the author that would create this book. 

What was your inspiration for Dark City?

My inspiration for Dark City is all over the place. I love all sorts of books, from literary fiction to comic books, and have eclectic taste in movies and video games as well. A lot of the inspiration for Dark City did come from Batman, and the city is very similar to Gotham, particularly as it's portrayed in the Christopher Nolan movies. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, my absolute favorite book, was also a huge source of inspiration, though there aren't a lot of obvious similarities between her work and mine. 

If you could jump into the world of any book, which would it be and why?

There are a lot of books I absolutely love but wouldn't want to jump into the world of--Game of Thrones springs to mind! But there are some I'd love to visit. If I could, I would jump into the world of the Kingkiller Chronicles by Patrick Rothfuss. I would love to just sit in a tavern and hear Kvothe play and tell some stories. 

What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Most writing advice is really just personal preference. The beauty of writing is that you can do just about anything, in just about any way you want to, as long as you do it well and with enough confidence. The only two rules a writer must follow are that you must write and that you must read. If you don't read, your stories and your prose will become stale. 

What is your favorite and least favorite thing about being a writer?

My favorite thing by far is that feeling I get when I'm writing. When the words are flowing and the story is shining, it's so intoxicating it's almost like being high. I chase that feeling every day when I sit down to write. My least favorite thing has got to be the marketing. It's really, really hard to sell a book. I understand this because as a reader I'm pretty skeptical when I go to buy, but as an author it's very difficult to get your work out there and find an audience, particularly when you write in an ill-defined genre like I do. 

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading three books, which is about normal for me. The first is Metro 2033, which is translated from the original Russian, and is a post-apocalyptic thriller about a world where humanity has been driven underground and struggles to survive in the Moscow Metro. The second is called Sonny Montes and Mexican American Activism in Oregon. It's nonfiction about the Chicano movement as it arose from farmworker communities in western Oregon, right near Portland, where I live. I work for a small nonprofit that serves farmworkers (among others) here in the Portland metro area, so I've found it really interesting. The third book I'm reading is called Amigos, and it's a romance novel and (hopefully) the first "grown-up" book I'll finish reading entirely in Spanish. 

About Dark City:

Jude has a tender heart. Yet he was born into a criminal empire and groomed from childhood to step into his father's violent footsteps. To survive, he created a second personality. Ras is everything Jude isn't--cruel, remorseless, and utterly without fear, as incapable of love as Jude is of malice.

But when Ras meets a ruthless socialite, he begins to feel a strange stirring of emotion, a brush of Jude's passion against his own dark heart. Meanwhile, Jude finds himself with a knife in his hand, the evil in Ras's soul bleeding into his own.

As the walls between them crumble, they could lose everything--their lovers, their family, and their hold on the dark city itself.

Coming together could break them...or make them whole.

Check it out on Amazon

About Sarah Kay Moll:

Sarah Kay Moll is a wordsmith and an amateur homemaker. She's good with metaphors and bad with coffee stains, both of which result from a writing habit she hasn't been able to quit. She lives a mostly solitary life, and as a result, might never say the right thing at parties. She's passionate about books, and has about five hundred on her to-read pile. When she does go out, it's probably to the library, the theater, or the non-profit where she works.

Sarah lives in a beautiful corner of western Oregon where the trees are still changing color at the end of November and the mornings are misty and mysterious. She spends her free time playing video games and catering to her cat's every whim.

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Author Interview: Joe Albanese

How did you get the inspiration for Caina?

The relationship between the brothers is based on my relationship with my brother. We’re not twins like the characters, but my brother is barely a year older than me. So growing up I was always kind of his shadow: he was more popular than me, was better looking, even though people said we looked alike. I always had his teachers a year after him, and they’d always call me by his name, so eventually I got tired of correcting them and just went with it. He wasn’t too big of an asshole, but he definitely had some asshole tendencies. We have a good relationship now, but I probably still have some lingering resentment.

What books/authors have had an impact on your writing?

I think there’s probably a good amount of Hunter S. Thompson and Charles Bukowski in my writing, though I can’t say I’m specifically going for something. I always loved the way their personalities came through the page. They were funny, but you could tell they were dicks and unabashedly themselves in their work.

How long have you known you've wanted to be a writer?

I think I originally wanted to be a writer in high school. Back then I was more into journalism. Then I took a journalism class and hated it. I went to school for Criminal Justice and started losing interest in that over the course of four years, but I always enjoyed writing papers that you could put some creativity into. It wasn’t until after college that my friend asked if I wanted to write a screenplay with him. I didn’t take it seriously, it was just something to do while unemployed. It didn’t turn out as planned: we have not gotten our Oscar yet, but I liked creating a story out of nothing. I kept writing by myself—I placed decent in a big screenwriting contest, but it never took off. Eventually I transitioned to poetry and prose and found some success.

What sort of research did you have to do for this book?

I didn’t do a ton. Like I said, I went to school for Criminal Justice, so a lot of what I needed as it related to crime I already knew. I did do some additional research into drug trafficking, which actually is what led me to the drone delivery part of the plot and really broke the story for me and got it rolling.

What surprised you while you were writing this book?

How much of myself I put into it. I already mentioned the relationship is based on me and my brother, but there is a lot of my personality in the main character, more so than any other character or story I’ve written. It didn’t start out that way, but I realized early on in writing it that it would have to be comedic in order to work. So there’s a a lot of my sense of humor in it. Several people have used the word “snarky” to describe the comedy. I guess you could use that to describe me. I’m just now realizing how unfunny I’ve been in this interview, which probably is not good marketing for a crime comedy, but it’s one in the morning here and you should never judge someone by their a.m. jokes anyway.

What do you do when you're not writing?

Nothing too exciting. I don’t currently have a regular job, so I’m one of the many people who use the word “writer” as a euphemism for “unemployed.” I exercise a good amount and like to watch sports, which is tough in the summer when your baseball team sucks. I have three nephews (twins and a single) who all turned two the past couple months, and I babysit them a lot.

What are you currently reading?

I’ve been terrible at reading this year. I read so much in 2017 and barely anything in 2018. I just finished Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman which I really liked. I think next on my bookshelf is I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes. 

About Joe Albanese:

Joe Albanese is a writer from South Jersey. He has had short fiction, nonfiction, and poetry published in the United States, Austria, Bangladesh, Canada, England, India, Ireland, Portugal, Scotland, South Africa, and Sweden. Joe is the author of "Smash and Grab" and "Caina."

About Caina:

Twins tend to be closer than typical siblings. They often share a bond that is oftentimes unexplainable.*

For some reason that bond didn't apply to Grant and Lee Tolan. Grant was always the responsible one. Lee, on the other hand, was always in trouble and in jail, self-destructing to the point the twins hadn't seen or spoken in years.

In trouble with the Irish mob who wanted him sleeping with the fishes, finding Grant dead of an apparent suicide, Lee did the only thing that made sense. He switched identities.

Instead of making life easier, Lee is plunged into a world the Irish and Italian crime families, the Mexican cartel and the DEA. Pitting one against the other, Lee enlists the help of friends to save his own life. He will need a miracle.

But Grant's secret is the biggest shock of all for Lee and he must re-evaluate his entire life.

*Maureen Healy, author of Growing Happy Kids.

Check it out on Amazon

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Spotlight: Broken Arrow

About the Book:
An ancient power long kept dormant stirs in the shadows once more as one boy embarks on a quest to earn his freedom and the freedom of his world!

Magic has turned to myth, the Vaelhyreans of old to legend, and the power wielded by the ancients has long been forgotten. However, with Ealdred, a mere half-breed slave boy, myth becomes real, the forgotten remembered, and the power of legend is reborn within him.

Ealdred is merged into a world of mystery, brimming with deceit, where the remaining Vaelhyreans are in a desperate fight for their very survival. When Ealdred is kidnapped by the power-mongering dark lord Zeldek himself, he must make a choice; to commit his newfound magic to Zeldek’s service or die. But when he meets Bellator, clever yet treacherous servant of Zeldek, an alternative is presented to him: to escape from Zeldek’s stronghold and embark on a quest to find a cursed arrow and free the Vaelhyreans from the spell that keeps their powers at bay.

Yet how can he survive in a world where magic is illegal, half-breeds are hated, and the four countries are on the brink of war?

About the Author:

Azaria M.J. Durant is a passionate writer of fantasy with plans to branch out into sci-fi and dystopian. She enjoys writing stories with lots of adventure, unexpected twists, and fleshed out characters that challenge gender roles and expectations. 

Azaria lives in Atlantic Canada with her family, cats, and dogs, and her big dreams to travel the world. In the moments when she isn't writing, she is sketching concept art for her stories, participating in community theatre, or curled up with a good book and a box of mint chocolates. \

Connect:

Facebook

Blog

Twitter

Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Spotlight: Entangled Earth

About the Book:
Parallel worlds exist a hair’s breadth from our own. A failed experiment causes one of these worlds to collide with ours. The invisible reality begins to tear our world apart, raining down chaos. Physicist Mia Green finds herself stuck in Paris, in the middle of the unnatural disaster and she’s the only one who knows what needs to be done; Mia must get home to England and stop the experiment that’s ending the world. Reality has crumbled to an ephemeral and unpredictable puzzle, filled with danger and destruction, and amid this chaos, it will take everything that Mia has to fix the splintered worlds. Entangled Earth is a mind-bending science fiction adventure where everyday activities on another invisible world suddenly become a deadly threat to our world. 

What everyone's saying about this ingenious, high concept thriller:

“It's action, chaos and excitement all the way” CBY Book Reviews

“Fast paced and action packed” Geeky Nerfherder

“A visually-engaging adventure fiction” Red Sparrow – Amazon 5 Stars

“Action and suspense flows through every step of the way” Kayak Jay – Amazon 5 Stars

“A twisted labyrinth of sci-fi” Cyana Scriptora – Goodreads

“A nonstop adventure that makes it practically impossible to put the book down until you’ve finished it” Kathy Golden – Goodreads

About the Author:

David Lea was born in Manchester in the United Kingdom in 1977. He grew up in Cheshire, not including a year in Washington DC as an impressionable 7-year-old. In his 20's David moved to London where he spent 10 years as a Forensic Scientist before moving into Business Analysis. He now lives in West Sussex.

David's first novel was Entangled Earth, an apocalyptic thriller, released in mid-2018. His next novel, Under Three Skies, is currently in progress.


Check it out on Amazon










Disclosure: this post contains links to an affiliate program (Amazon), for which I receive a few cents if you make purchases. 

Book Sale: Mirror Trilogy and Amethyst Chronicles

KG Stutts will be celebrating her 36th birthday on Wednesday and to celebrate, she's putting all eight of her sci-fi romance books on sale for $.99 on Amazon and Barnes and Noble from 8/5-8/11! Find your new sci-fi addiction with the Mirrortrilogy or Amethyst Chronicles. 

1st book in the YA trilogy. 

Madison Mackenzie Rhodes has a comfortable life with a daily routine. When her life is disrupted by an unexpected stranger, she learns there is nothing typical. Her entire world is turned upside down when she finds out that she is a clone, created to hide the secret that we are not alone in this galaxy. Her counterpart, going by the nickname Mack, works for the Intergalactic Security Commission, which works with a coalition of other planets that protect each other and create technology. As if that wasn’t enough, she can’t stop thinking about John Brooks, one of Mack’s teammates. When an enemy rises from within the ISC that targets both Maddie and Mack, they must work together to save their lives as well as the planet.

With everything changing, and now with her heart involved, saving the world might be the easiest part of it all.  

Get it at Amazon or download for free at Barnes and Noble. Please let Amazon know Barnes and Noble has it for free!

2nd book in the series. 

It’s been two years since Maddie discovered the truth of her origins. No longer living the ‘comfortable life’ she has become a valued member of the Intergalactic Security Commission surpassing all expectations. Life isn’t easy as the ISC struggles under new leadership. Adding to the adjustment, the new leadership uncovers details that shake Mack and Maddie to their core. 

Amid the chaos of what has become, Mack, Maddie and their team are sent off world on a mission that eventually fails, as they narrowly escape with their lives. En route to home their most trusted ally, the Isgurd, delivers more bad news. The team is left with the knowledge that the ISC never existed and the option to repair damage done by the time altering Synth.

Returning to 1965 is the easiest decision they face.

Get it at Amazon or at Barnes and Noble.  

Final book in the trilogy! 

The ISC’s most dangerous foe, the Synth, is threatening Earth.

Mack, Maddie, and their team scramble to come up with a plan to defeat them once and for all. As the planet’s safety is in jeopardy, the team will have to put it all on the line, or give their lives in the process.

When the dust settles the world will stand together in support of those who are lost.

Find it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble 

Learn about how it all started with the A Mirrors Beginning short story series. Book one, John Brooks, and book two, Seth and Logan Brooks. Coming soon: Jackson Gray 

Book one in this NA series! Amethyst is a secret team of genetically enhanced humans which is Earth’s greatest defensive weapon. Leading the team of super soldiers is Ember Wilson, a tough woman with a huge chip on her shoulder. The team gets their name from the after effect of the Genesis Project which turned their eyes and even their blood purple.

For decades, Earth has been ravaged by unpredictable weather which began to cause crops to fail. Most of the planet’s food sources have deteriorated. Dr. Clayton Rudo has proclaimed he has the means to save the soil. He has created a weather machine to regulate and help replenish. But Ember knew the truth. He didn’t want to save the planet. He wanted to control it. Amethyst destroyed the machine, but was placed in stasis. Two years later, Rudo recreated the device and has frozen Washington, DC and the west coast of the United States.

General Tom Blanchard brought Amethyst out of stasis to work with an elite Air Force team, led by Major Liam Ross. Tensions between Ember and Liam rise as they butt heads. Can they work together before Earth is completely under ice?

 Get it on Amazon or download for free at Barnes and Noble. Please let Amazon know BN has it for free! 

Book Two: 

Ember lost it all when she lost Amethyst.

Now, as she recovers physically she must come to terms with her new reality. The struggle to find herself again will push those who care the most away even the men who love her.

In time, an opportunity to recreate her transformation presents itself. Will she risk herself to find what she had? Is it worth her team? Her heart?...

Find it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble  

Recently released third book in this series! 

An accident sent Ember Wilson one thousand years into the past!

Amethyst was on a mission to recover a time travel device when it accidentally turned on and sent Ember back to the year 2017. She comes face-to-face with the ISC legends who shaped the future: Dr. Maddie Brooks, Dr. Mack Rhodes, and their families. Ember was expecting to lay low and get to know the men and women she has idolized since she was a child. However, destiny has other plans. While trying to figure out how to get Ember home, the team learn she is the only one who can protect a heavily pregnant Maddie from a threat. Shawn Silvers, the leader of Caeruleus team from Ember’s time has also traveled with plans on changing the future.

For so long, she has kept her heart out of her missions, except this time it might not be possible. The more time Ember spends with the legendary group, the more she feels connected with them. Especially with Logan Brooks, the handsome, enigmatic warrior who is as fascinated with her as she is with him. Her new goal is clear: protect Maddie from Silvers and return to 3018. However, how much of her heart is she willing to leave behind when she goes home, if she returns at all?

Get it at Amazon or Barnes and Noble!  

All eight books will be $.99 for ONE WEEK ONLY! Love among the stars was never as exciting.

About the author: Growing up in Texas and later South Carolina as the youngest in a house full of science-fiction fans, KG Stutts had her natural curiosity and imagination nurtured since birth by family movie nights where they would watch Star Wars, Indiana Jones and even timeless Disney favorites. A prolific writer of sci-fi, romance and mystery, KG draws much of her inspiration from those amazing works that gave her an appreciation for telling rich, compelling, character-driven stories for all audiences. Find her on her blog at kgstutts.blogspot.comor on her website at kgstutts.webs.comConnect with her on Facebook and follow her on Twitter!