The Taylor Street Gang files, part 8. Mike Church

If there's one guy at Taylor who can manages to make me smile every time he writes on the Taylor website, it's Mike Church. 

He has that cynical reserve that Michael Pailin perfected on his BBC travel shows; the ones where he'd be confronted by a naked Fakir standing on one leg wrestling a python and his only comment would be a raised eyebrow and dry smile.

If Palin ever throws the towel in, I'm putting Mike up for the job; I'm telling you, he's a natural for it.

I'm afraid I don't have a picture of the man himself, well I do but he wants me to use my Facebook profile pic, the one with my Dad pretending to sleep on my shoulder... 

Whatever, as I wrote, dry smile and raised eyebrow. Here it is, (I can almost hear the muscles in his brow clenching to raise...)

Anyway, here's the Blurb for Mike's first book, (on it's second run with a new picture and everything), called, "Huh?".

"It is not so much that Colin's adult education class is a riot – although lippy Jack and snide Nicola do their best to make it so, and even that nice, demure, octogenarian Miss Tedley has been known to lend a hand – it is more that Colin's own mind is a riot of conflicting thoughts around the luscious Amanda, life, school politics, literature and the rules of English usage, grammar and syntax.

And Colin does have an unfortunate name and a tendency to land himself in more trouble than he is already in - or, at times, under - as the world comes crashing down on him.

Will he ever prepare a class, get the better of arch-enemies Simon and Dolores, or seduce Amanda into paying any attention to him whatsoever?"

So now you know peeps.

Mike Church, 

                         THIS IS YOUR LIFE...

Tell us about yourself

I did French at Warwick, then came out to northern Spain, where I’ve been working as an English teacher and director of studies ever since. My wife is a nurse but refuses to take my headaches seriously. We have two teenage ‘kids’ who are permanently broke and hungry.

What genre do you specialise in?

Other than flippant phrasebooks, I don’t specialise in anything, though I feel more comfortable writing comic novels than vampire romances. I hope to write a tearjerker one day, or anything serious, basically. Life’s not funny, you know.

What's your inspiration?

Music, favourite songs, dreams (real and imagined), the people around me, the silly things people say and do...  Plus, when all else fails, any outlandish “What if?” question eg. What if people took me seriously? What if I painted that apple orange just for the hell of it? What if I ran out of stupid examples after just two lines?

Who is your favourite author, why and did he/she inspire you to write in any way?

I have several favourite authors – Tom Sharpe, Joseph Heller, Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Robert Rankin, Jerome K Jerome, Richard Jones, Timothy Hewtson… – though, much as I admire these wonderful  writers, and many others,  nobody has inspired me to write in any particular way. I write my way full-stop;  or semi-colon.

How do you feel about Taylor?

I suppose the first step is to tie him to a tree? Oops, wrong forum again, sorry.

Taylor? It’s very exciting, isn’t it! I have no idea where we’ll all be in ten years’ time but… What if Taylor were successful? What if we became a major player? What if I could think of a third question?

What are your plans?

Carry on writing of course.  I’d like to retire as soon as possible and, finances and health permitting, see the world with my wonderful wife. If we could stop off and have a coffee or beer along the way with all my virtual friends from Taylor, That Right and Facebook, well that would be a huge plus.

Go for it, sell your work. (Links, reviews, what ever you want).

I’m incapable of selling myself, so please visit my Blog if you’re remotely curious. Thank you.

No Mike, thank you mate and thank you for the nice compliment on question four.

Believe it or not, he's a good guy really, great taste in authors ;-)

All the best.

Reggie.

The Taylor Street Gang files, part 7. Teresa Geering.

The Darling of Taylor, Teresa Geering, (Mad Tee to everyone there).

I've known Tee since I started trying to get my act together with writing. We used to "hang around" the Struggling Authors website like a pair of vultures, picking up information here, doling out bad info there and giggling about it like teenagers on crack.

It was Tee who dragged me kicking and screaming over to Night, (the forerunner of Taylor Street).

Known as one the most helpful people on Taylor, let's checkout the blurb for her two books and then head on into the questions.

The Eye of Erasmus.

'The Eye of Erasmus' is the first of a series of four inter-related fables about time and fate, told in Teresa Geering's characteristic hypnotic prose.

It tells of Erasmus, a baby born during a thunder storm, who is clearly destined to be special, with his flashing black eyes and haughty ways, until he finds love.

The trouble is that the girl literally ‘of his dreams’ hasn't actually been born yet.

No problem …… Oh, but there is ……. Danger lurks ……..

Shasta's Summer

'Shasta Summer' is an entrancing addition to Teresa Geering's romance / fantasy series 'Erasmus, Shasta & Merlin' in which the cunning and resourceful Erasmus continues his devilish attempts to secure the beautiful and enchanting Shasta as his own, while she and Merlin renew their enduring love for each other, impeded by the unfortunate fact that a spell from a previous century has transformed Merlin into a cat.

Written in seductive and mesmerising prose which gives it the feel of an authentic time-honoured fable, 'Shasta Summer' continues the tradition of the much-acclaimed 'The Eye of Erasmus' which records another such attempt by Erasmus when he espies Shasta across the centuries in a vision.

The books in the series can be read and enjoyed in any order and by readers of any age from six to ninety-six.

 1.)   Tell us about yourself

 Answer: I’m a complete nutcase who loves to write.

2.)  What genre do you specialise in?

Answer: Normally I time travel with my books and shove in a bit of fantasy here and there. I love a good bit of Romance as well though. Don’t you? My current work in progress is time travel interspersed with drug taking and crime. A new venture for me but I love a good crime if you can get away with it.

3.)   What's your inspiration.

Answer: I love to people watch and get inspiration that way. Some people call me a nosy ol’ bugger while others are convinced I’m a pervert! LOL They don’t know what I’m up to though, but when I tell them what I’m doing, they’re keen to know how I will use them as a character.

4.)  Who is your favourite author, why and did he/she inspire you to write in any way?

Answer: I don’t have a favourite author at all. If I’m attracted to a book cover I will investigate. If the first couple of pages grab me then that’s good enough for me to continue reading.

5.)  How do you feel about Taylor?

Answer: Taylor Street Publishing is probably one of the best publishing houses I have ever come across. Although new and a small company its prime consideration is always its authors and how they can best promote them. I do believe that with their combined vision it will become a publishing house of major repute.

6)  What are your plans?

 Answer: To settle down in front of the TV with a nice curry and several glassed of red wine… Oh did you mean my writing career? Well I plan to write many more books which will be of varied genre. Otherwise you can become stale I think. I will of course have endless money generated by the sale of my books!! I will buy Richard Branson’s island from him at a knock down price and invite all my author friends to join me as money will be no object. J

7.) Go for it, sell your work. (Links, reviews, what ever you want).

Answer: My first book The Eye of Erasmus was published in June 2010 followed a year later by Shasta Summer. Both books are published by Taylor Street Publishing House of San Francisco. I have been very lucky with sales and during June/July I sold 183 books and had 2300+ free downloads. This seems to have generated even more sales and I understand I have sold several more this month also.

                               

Links: Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Eye-of-Erasmus-ebook/dp/B003VS0DR8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120696&sr=1-1

              Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/Eye-Erasmus-Omnipotent/dp/1453634754/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120795&sr=1-1&keywords=eye+of+erasmus

           Amazon UK - http://www.amazon.co.uk/Shasta-Summer-ebook/dp/B0054RWUKW/ref=pd_rhf_se_s_cp_1

            Amazon US - http://www.amazon.com/Shasta-Summer-Teresa-Geering/dp/1463574185/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1347120997&sr=1-1&keywords=shasta+summer

            Blog: http:// tgeering.blogspot.co.uk

Many thanks my friend xxx

No, thank you Tee ;-)

So now you know peeps!

Reggie.

The legendary Mike Church interview.

Mike Church, yes THE Mike Church, interviewed me the other day, (with the questions I sent him!!).
Anyway, here it is, enjoy dear reader. Enjoy...

The Mike Church water torture.

Feel free to comment :-)

Reggie.

The Taylor Street Gang files, part 6. Jillian Ward

Part 6 in our "Getting to know you" series for Taylor Street publishing.

Today we have a lady in the house, (finally). Jill Ward is a writer of numerous books, but "Saving Nathaniel" she published with Taylor. 

Let's check out the blurb for "Saving Nathaniel" and then go straight in with the questions.

Saving Nathaniel

Nathaniel Mackie is treading an emotional knife-edge, and the abyss is beckoning. Following the deaths of his wife and baby, he has lived with unresolved guilt and grief, and it is tearing him apart.

One rainy day, Megan Thomas literally bursts into his kitchen - and into his life.

Before long, their relationship becomes more than employer and housekeeper. Under her gentle, compassionate influence things begin to change, and he starts to come to terms with his past.

When Megan's temporary secondment is over, the extent of his dependence and affection becomes apparent. He loves her and wants her back.

But will she want him and all his accumulated baggage cluttering up her life? If not, what then? The prospect of living the rest of his life without her is a prospect he cannot contemplate.

He would rather die.

Okay, nice one Jill, that sounds very heavy, so how about you...

1.) Tell us about yourself

I'm as plain and ordinary as they come, in every sense of the word;  former medical secretary who gave up the 9-5 rat race to settle in pastures new and is now living it large(!) in a village on Royal Deeside in Scotland (Note the *Royal* bit - the akshual Queen is a neighbour (as is Billy Connolly)). Got a family, got a dog, got a best friend, got a car, got hot water, got a flushing loo. What more could I ask for? Oh yeah, a few quid in the bank wouldn't go amiss. Basically if I don't write I'm a headcase, so I'm saving my sanity one word at a time.

2.) What genre do you specialise in?

Romance is my bag, because lovers gotta love, even if they have to walk over hot coals to do it, so I would say that might qualify as *specialise*. However, I've also tried my hand at a saucy riverbank romp, a psychological revenge drama and at the moment my toe is dipped in paranormal romance. Next stop - horror. I truly am a Jill of all trades, yet sadly at the moment, mistress of none. I'm sure I'll fall into my niche sooner or later.

3.) What's your inspiration?

People, places, my dear muse (a real sweetheart - see THREE WAY STREET for how we met). It's not the cash that's for certain.

4.) Who is your favourite author, why and did he/she inspire you to write in any way?

I love to read the classic authors - Hardy, Thackeray, Austen, etc, and I rather enjoy Stephen Kind and Clive Barker, but I don't think they inspire me to write 'like' them. I want to create my own voice, although a friend from back in the Autho days said she could spot my style a mile off and using a pseudonym would be pointless. Bugger - busted, but I'm still trying, pseudonym and all (Lucy Pepperdine for those who didn't know).

5.) How do you feel about Taylor?

If it hadn't been for the wonderful peeps at Taylor St and the support of fellow Taylor St authors and readers, Saving Nathaniel would either still be languishing in the bowels of my lappy, dusty and neglected, or else I would have gone down the route of self pubbing and all the pitfalls therein. Taylor took a chance on a complete novice unknown, gave the work a spit and a polish and got it 'out there' and so far, so good. Seeing my work on Amazon and Smashwords for all the world to see fills me with unimaginable pride and gratitude to Taylor St, which in turn has given me confidence to continue writing.  For the majority, having their work published is nothing but a pipe dream. For me Taylor made a dream come true, and the pipe is just for smoking.

6.) What are your plans?

To write more, and to write better. With each subsequent book, I feel I am honing my voice, my technique, and my craft to a standard equal to any professional writer and would hope that Taylor would take a chance on those too *none too subtle hint*

7.) Go for it, sell your work. (Links, reviews, what ever you want).

SAVING NATHANIEL (Taylor St)  http://goo.gl/N1IWb

LINDA LOVES...? (Indie)   http://goo.gl/G8haH

WATCH YOUR BACK! (Indie)  http://goo.gl/G8haH

THREE WAY STREET (Indie)  http://goo.gl/HE0Dc

ON THE FLY (Indie)  http://goo.gl/cZtpi

ANIMA MEA (Indie)  http://goo.gl/rrS1J

More info at www.bluequilbooks.com

Jill's a lovely lady who actively supports Help for Heroes, a fact I find extremely endearing and I, for one, think she ROCKS !!

Thanks Jill :-)

Right peeps, that's all for now.

Reggie :-)

The Big Fangtastic Books interview.

I'll be honest, if you've been reading my blog, or my Facebook page, then there'll be nothing in here that will be new.
However, I'm duty-bound by my own vanity to reproduce it here. Sorry, I don't want to, b ut ego demands and ego gets, you know the score. And there's a pretty girl on here as well, which does make up for it.
The Fangtastic Books interview.
Have a read if you're bored.
Thanks.
Reggie.