Gareth S. Young - - 1000 Trillion Suns

One of the wonderful things about the world of Indie Publishing is it allows writers to express themselves more freely with their own voice. Too often the machine swallows up the individual and some of the character is diluted. Indie writers, because they are doing all the hard work themselves, get to be true to themselves and stay unique. Heather Hutsell is one of those unique voices I was lucky enough to bump into on Twitter. She's a writer who's also a seamstress, an artist who likes to act and an occasional djembe player. Smart and engaging, she has written several books and is in the process of writing several more. I asked her to stop by and take part in my Bright Lights series and true to what I already knew about her, she provided some great answers. Enjoy! Heather Hutsell Q - Hi Heather, tell us a little about your latest book. Hi Gareth! My most recent book is The Quad —a dystopian version of the United States of America, set in the year 2028. ...

It's always a nice surprise when conversations turn to something other than writing (you know, just for a brief respite) and it turned out that MV Freeman loves movies! This was great news because I'm kinda partial to them myself and that was the way MV and I got talking on Twitter.  However, further discussions of the Dark Knight will have to wait for another time because MV is here to talk about her new novel, Incandescent, and answer some questions about her writing craft. And just for the record, anyone who can throw a comic book reference into the conversation is fantastic in my book! lol.     MV Freeman Q - Hi MV, tell me a little about your Incandescent series. Here is the basic concept: Three races vie for supremacy as humans and half breeds are caught in the crossfire. Each book will have a different Hero/Heroine but move the arching story forward. Incandescent focuses on a Russian Mikhail Petrov an Elemental who will do anyt...

There is an ongoing debate online about the merits of self-publishing. Whilst, milling around on Twitter, I bumped into  Katya Pavlopoulos  who herself was starting to ask questions about the process because so many of her online friends were wondering why she wasn't really considering it. After talking to me, I think I gave her the answers she was looking for. You can read excerpts from out twitter conversation here at Katya's blog:  Serene Moment Blog Drop by and leave a comment. I certainly don't know it all and I'm not sure if my experiences are typical. GSY

I'm not really big on celebrating birthdays. Not because I'm anti-fun (although I probably am *waves curmudgeonly fist*) but because it seems like it depresses people more than it cheers them up. Sure when you're eight and it's all presents and birthday cake, hell yeah let's do this thing! But when you turn forty, that's just a giving you a glimpse into the darkness of your own mortality. You take stock of your life and realize you'd better get cracking before it gets away from you. *cue mid-life crisis* I turned forty on the fifth of February. It hasn't caused a sudden breakdown nor do I particularly notice a difference between this one and the last dozen or so. The hair has silvered and I seem to have replaced peaceful slumber with...ummm...not sleeping but that's about it. I have my goals: write stories, lose weight and live to become the world's oldest mammalian lifeform. Beyond that, I don't particularly care about being forty any m...