Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

Welcome to my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet a character from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought is host to Madison Lawton from Ghost of Pine Mountain: The Adventures of Max and Maddie. Madison, it’s so good of you to join us on Strands of Thought. Tell us a little about yourself and what your life is like. Hi! I'm Madison Kathleen Lawton. My friends call me Maddie (Max calls me Madds), so you can, too! I live with my mom, dad, older brother, and best dog in the whole world, Dawg. Yes, I named him Dawg. He was a stray who kept hanging around our house because…well, because I kept feeding him and giving him water and patting his head. "Hey, dog, watcha doing? Yes, you're a good dog. Here's a juicy, leftover chicken leg." Any questions why he stayed? I'm going into eighth grade in the fall, along with my best friend, Max. I'm not the mos...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love meeting new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry and sharing their careers with my readers. Today’s guest is author, Laura Hesse. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Laura. Tell us a little about you, please. For ten years, I worked as a Timber Cruiser and Firefighter in northern Alberta and Ontario; in fact, I was one of the first of two women to be hired to serve on a Helitack crew by the Alberta Forest Service back in 1982. That was where I started writing. In the evening, you can only stare into a fire for so long. I loved my old Underwood typewriter. In life, all things change. Eventually an outhouse became a luxury item, and I knew it was time to quit! After that, I worked in real estate as an unlicensed real estate assistant and a fully licensed Realtor for twenty years, but it didn’t impassion me the way that writing did. I opened my publishing company, Running L P...

In celebration of the launch of my new book BEWARE OF THE WHITE, three lucky winners will be chosen to win one of these book related prize packages: A book bag, a locker magnet, a signed bookmark and a Molly (made by me!) A book bag, a water bottle, a signed bookmark and a Molly (made by me!) A book bag, a water bottle a signed bookmark and a framed drawing of a Trepidus (drawn by my daughter) Prizes not meant for young children. US addresses only. For a complete tour schedule, click HERE a Rafflecopter giveaway

Welcome to my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet a character from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought is host to Kelor from Trail of Bones. Kelor is here as part of the I'm A Reader Not A Writer book tour. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Kelor. Tell us a little about yourself and what your life is like . I am Kelor, a giant panther born to a life in a cage by a cruel master. They torture me and force me to fight, but they have no idea how powerful I really am. Each day I look for an escape... they can't hold me forever. What conflict are you up against?  Conflict? I was born in a cage so my entire life is conflict. They rarely feed me, I'm taunted by a guard - a one-horned minotaur, tortured by The Warden, and forced to fight in the battle of the beasts. I'm up against it all, but one day they'll see how strong I truly am... and they'll pay. ...

Thank you for joining us on Readers Want To Know!  Please introduce yourself and your book. Hi! My name’s Nick Green, and my latest book is The Storm Bottle. It’s an adventure set in Bermuda and its surrounding ocean, and the cast of characters includes both humans and dolphins, and possibly a whale or two. I usually say it’s for readers aged 9 and older – though most of its readers have been a lot older. That’s the thing about ebooks I guess. My other books make up The Cat Kin trilogy, published by Strident: The Cat Kin, Cat’s Paw and Cat’s Cradle.  These are dark action adventures set in London, and book 1 has been made into a BBC audiobook. Nick, tell us, if you were stranded on a desert isle with a character from your book, which one would you choose and why? I’d choose Hal, the seventeen-year-old fisherman who usually gets roped into being Bibi’s accomplice. He’d be useful as he can fish, and sail, and also has a boat – as we’re stranded here I’m assu...

Five words about BEWARE OF THE WHITE: Adventurous, Smart, Nail-biting, Funny, Cool! THE BOOK - As is tradition, Terra learns on the Saturday past her twelfth birthday that she is a Natures Spirit. It is her legacy to serve in the peaceful underground city of Concord. Learning she is named in a prophecy and being threatened by the leader of the death tribe…that part breaks tradition. The Trepidus are the death janitors of the Underworld, responsible for delivering fatalities with a smile and cleaning up after themselves until Blanco, recent leader of the Trepidus, decides the day of reckoning for his species is coming. He begins organizing the creatures and leads them toward an uprising. The prophecy says there is one person who can stop him. Terra. With Spirit of Security, Frank, protecting her, Terra attempts to complete her training and discover her Spirit talents. Together, they go on a rogue investigation to learn how to defeat Blanco. In the end, it comes down to a ...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love meeting new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry and sharing their careers with my readers. Today’s guest is author, Rosemary Gemmell. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Rosemary. Tell us a little about you, please. Many thanks for having me on your blog, Kai. After working part-time and studying for a BA and MA in literature and history while the children were growing up, I’ve now been a freelance writer for many years. Many of my short stories and articles are published in UK magazines, in the US, and Online and a few stories have won prizes over the years. My first historical novel, Dangerous Deceit , was published by Champagne Books in Canada in May 2011 and a Victorian novella, Mischief at Mulberry Manor , was published on kindle in December 2012 (both as Romy). The Jigsaw Puzzle is my second tween novel published by MuseItUp Publishing in Canada, and Summer of...

Inspired by real life, emotional events: This I Promise You by Tressa Messenger You only get one first of anything, and no matter the time, or space, or age, you never forget your firsts. When thirteen year old Nicky Moore’s parents decide to buy a small summer beach cottage at Atlantic Beach, North Carolina, she thought her life would end. It didn’t matter the beauty of the area - land and water as far as the eye could see - she was bound and determined to make her family’s summer vacation as dismal as she felt. That was until she met a boy from down the beach; a beautiful boy, with the most intense brown eyes she had ever seen and a smile that could light the ocean on fire. A summer that Nicky thought was doomed from the start, turned into a summer that she would never forget; one full of firsts. It was impossible for her to know years later how one seemingly little decision could change everything forever, but soon, as an adult, Nicky will find out that everything she once t...

Welcome to my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet a character from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought is a World of Ink tour host to Andy Smithson: Blast of the Dragon’s Fury. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Andy. Tell us a little about yourself and what your life is like. Hi, I’m Andy Smithson.  I’m ten years old.  I live in Lake Hills, TX. I love playing video games, especially Dragonslayer. My parents both own companies and are always really busy.  I have an older sister, Megan (aka Miss Perfect).  My parents like her better than me. She’s always getting straight A’s.  Me, not so much. I feel like I’m always in trouble at home for not being responsible or respecting someone. I don’t try to get in trouble, it just seems to follow me. My brain does funny things.  At times, I feel like I’ve been transported to a different place.  I know,...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love meeting new authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the children’s publishing industry and sharing their careers with my readers. Today’s guest is author, Mindy Hardwick. It is rare when I’ve had the privilege of meeting an author in person, but Mindy and I did indeed meet recently at EPICon in Vancouver, Washington. It was lovely sharing a table with Mindy during the awards banquet! I hope we can do it again next year in Texas. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Mindy. Tell us a little about you, please. I am the author of STAINED GLASS SUMMER, a 2013 finalist in the EPIC Awards in Children’s, as well as the young adult romance, WEAVING MAGIC. The inspiration for WEAVING MAGIC came from the poetry workshop I facilitate with kids in a juvenile detention center. I am currently working on a memoir about that experience. I hold an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. When I’m not wr...

Today, the Im A Reader Not A Writer blog tour brings us the delightful Elizabeth Parkinson Bellows to talk about her Alexander Drake books. (I apologize this is in all caps. I've tried everything to fix it short of retyping the entire interview myself!) Welcome Elizabeth! Thank you for joining us on Readers Want To Know! Can you please introduce yourself and your book? Thank you for having me! I am a mom & keeper of chaos to three little ones… ages 7 and under. I also write childrens fantasy in my pockets of time. I started the Azra’s Pith Series when my son was born. It is full of the things I love ― an enchanting world with colorful creatures, magic, intrigue, and Alexander (the unassuming hero)… along with some dark sorcery and nasty flying creatures.  Books 1 and 2 are available now. Book 3, “The Butterfly Curse” is just about finished. If you were stranded on a desert isle with a character from your book, which one would you choose and why? Julien – ...

Welcome to my blog feature, Building Character in which you get to meet a character from a book. Talking to a character outside of their book is fun! Huge. Amounts. Of fun.  This week Strands of Thought is host to Erik from A Pirate, A Blockade Runner and a Cat. Erik, it is so good of you to join us on Strands of Thought. Tell us a little about yourself and what your life is like. Hi, I’m Erik Burks, 13, a guy that once had a great life. I had friends and baseball, a mom and dad. But this summer everything fell apart. Now I’m living halfway across the country, no dad, no friends, no baseball. Just my mom and Aunt Molly. My life is over. Oh, Erik, I’m so sorry to hear all of that. Now what are you going to do? I’m trying to convince my mom to move back to Texas. I think she acted too hastily. You see, when I found this black lace bra (not my mom’s) in my dad’s car, she went ballistic, threw some clothes into a suitcase and the next thing I knew we were on a plane ...