Gareth S. Young - - 1000 Trillion Suns

Snobbery and hubris from the traditional publishing world bred some hurt feelings on the self-published side of the industry. To ease the pain, "Selfies" like to point out that they maintain control over their work and don't have to sell their souls like the "Trads" do. I don't think many believe that argument completely, but there's a lot of self-satisfaction in the idea of being in complete control of your artistic vision. This mask of creative integrity has morphed into a widely held conceit that we Selfies can write anything we like and, once our genius is recognized, we can reap the benefits of redefining the publishing industry. Only, that almost NEVER happens. Sure, the internet is awash with stories of this person who made seven figures self-publishing, or that person who was writing a chapter at a time on their blog and now their book is a movie. Yes, it happens...to those two people. Generally, the rest of us struggle. One of the ...

This week's #SevenQuestions features one of my all-time favorite people: Sara Carrero! If you love the cover to my book "The Wolves of Dynamo" then you have Sara to thank for that (I already have, several times.) She's a whirling dervish of creative energy, whether she's painting, crocheting, making jewelry, constructing Zoinkies... A rainbow of Zoinkies  or cute bunnies... A fluffle of bunnies  ...she is ALWAYS creating. Last November, Sara was an ML (Municipal Liaison) for NaNoWriMo in New York, helping set-up write-ins and get togethers for groups of writers hoping to complete the 50k challenge. I'm exhausted just writing her intro, nevermind doing all the stuff she does. lol. Sara somehow had time to answer my #SevenQuestions...I suspect she might be a Time Lord. 1 - Leather or lace? BOTH! Leather trimmed with lace. There are certain things you shouldn't have to choose between. 2 - If you weren't able to w...

Jennifer Gracen has been my pal since I stumbled onto twitter and figured I'd give NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) a go. A vocal and passionate cheerleader for writing and writers, she's the prodigious author of several romance series. (Seasons of Love, The McKinnon Brothers, and The Harrisons) Jennifer's also a big fan of all things Celtic, particularly Scotland, so if she's not penning another romance novel she's likely watching Outlander. I wouldn't bother her while she's watching Sam Heughan lol. Please check out Jennifer's webpage link below to see her books. But first...    1 - Which actor/actress would you love to see play your characters in a movie adaptation? I don’t often have set celebrities in mind when I write a book, but for MORE THAN YOU KNOW, I very much did. Henry Cavill is my Dane Harrison, and Christina Hendricks is my Julia Shay. Can you imagine how hot those two would be onscreen together? Let’s get this movie going!...

The scintillating S.J Cairns stopped by to shoot the shi...breeze. So, I asked her seven questions on subjects stretching from her international best-seller, SOUL DISCOVERY (check out the book links and my review below!), to stuff that's just silly. Enjoy! S.J. Cairns 1 - Which actress would you love to see play your main character Sophie in a movie adaptation of your book Soul Discovery? In the beginning I never put a celebrity's face on Sophie. I thought of a young Katie Holmes, though if an on screen adaptation occurred, I'd want an unknown with bitching acting skills. 2 - Leather or lace? Do I HAVE to choose?? I'm a leather AND lace kind of girl. Especially of the black lace variety. But I love my leather shit-kickers and jacket. Couldn't give either of them up. 3 - What is your biggest phobia? My biggest phobia is open water. Drowning isn't fun. A cruise is nowhere close to my bucket list. 4 - On the days you're not feeling moti...

I was tagged on twitter by the awesome Mollie Wallace  @readheadreader  to share 20 Facts with you all. No idea why...but I have learned not to question such things. If you want to check out Mollie's answers go  HERE . And then come back to check out mine. 1. I have 6175 comic books in my collection. I counted them...and bagged them...and filed them. Yes, it took forever. 2. I can't stand the texture of sandpaper or the sound it makes rubbing against wood. It gives me goosebumps...and not in a good way. And yes, I was terrible at woodwork at school. 3. My middle name is Shannon. It's a family surname (great grandmother on my dad's side of the family), as opposed to a girl's first name. My dad also has Shannon for a middle name. 4. Despite being born and raised living no further than about a mile from the sea, I'm not the biggest seafood person. And don't even get me started about sushi...blerg! And, although my dad used to fish, I never really got in...

...Kirby! Jack "King" Kirby is one of the single most important people in comic book history. Unfortunately, many people still haven't heard of him. I hope to rectify that here. Marvel Masterminds What do The Fantastic Four, Uncanny X-Men, Hulk, Thor and Iron Man have in common? You are correct if you said they are all Marvel comics. If you said they were all created by Stan Lee, you're only half right. The legend goes... Stan Lee would come up with ideas, basic outlines and tell them to Jack Kirby. Kirby would then go away and draw a comic book based on that idea. Once he was finished, he'd give the comic back to Lee who'd fill in the dialogue and speech as he saw fit. Often Lee would have no idea what he'd get back from Kirby and has been quoted as saying it was like doing a crossword puzzle, trying to figure out what story the pictures were telling him. Later, the idea of credit became the subject of bad blood between Kirby and Marvel...

...James Jean! James Jean is a fine artist who is known in the comic book world for his cover art on the DC series Fables. Fables Shere Khan and Rose Red Fables is a series about characters from fairytales and folk lore who are chased from their homeland and settle in a secret community in New York. The "Fables" who can't blend in with humans live in upstate New York at "The Farm." TV Trivia: The Fables concept might sound familiar to fans of Grimm and Once Upon a Time, two television shows currently showing on NBC and ABC respectively. Both networks had Fables in development at one stage or another in the mid to late 2000s, and both chose to go a different way. Fables was launched in 2002, under the Vertigo imprint, with James Jean doing cover art. Jean did every cover, except issue #11, until 2009 (issue #81) when he retired from illustration to concentrate on painting. Fairytales and folklore was a perfect match for ...

...Iceman! The Fab Five Robert "Bobby" Drake was created in 1963 and is one of the founding five members of the X-Men. He has appeared regularly over the last fifty years in multiple incarnations of the X-Men comic books and in other teams like X-Factor, The Defenders, and The Champions. The character has also made appearances in cartoons and movie adaptations. Stan Lee and Jack Kirby initially created Iceman using the Human Torch as the template, except giving him the "opposite" power. In the early books, Iceman had the appearance of a snowman in boots, and only later changed into the more crystal clear version more commonly known today. He also underwent a "secondary mutation" that for a time had him stuck in his ice form. Cold hearted? Bobby is an honest, forthright and sometimes cocky character, his status as the youngest of the original X-Men giving him certain allowances for his brash behavior, although he remained that way as he got ...

...Hughes! AH! Adam Hughes is an American comic book artist, primarily known for his pin-up style art and his extensive work as a cover artist on a large number of comic books. Including long runs on Wonder Woman and Catwoman. Cover Artist Hughes has no formal art training. He learned his trade alongside other artists as he picked up work, first with independent publishers and then DC comics. His intricate style didn't lend itself well to the quick turnaround required for monthly comic books, so Hughes concentrated more on cover work and in the late '90s began a four year run doing cover art on Wonder Woman for DC, while also doing covers on Tomb Raider for TopCow, establishing himself as a much sought after cover artist. Sexy or Sexist? On top of his cover work, Hughes started designing statuettes for Sideshow collectibles, the first of which - Mary Jane Watson (Spider-man's girlfriend/wife) - caused a huge stir because many thought it was a...