Fiction Addict

Jake Chism and Josh Olds recently caught up with author J.S. Earls to discuss his new projects, The Realm Unseen and Pistolfist, his work with National Geographic’s Border Wars, and his graphic novel adaptations of Ted Dekker’s novels. A special thanks to J.S. Earls for answering our questions and spending some time with us!

More about J.S. Earls:

J.S. Earls was born in 1969 in Dunedin, Florida. He then lived in Georgia, North Carolina, New Hampshire and Wisconsin before eventually returning home to the Sunshine State.

Throughout his childhood, J.S. frequently divided his time between writing, illustration and music. In high school, he co-created a comic with then best friend and now fellow author Dwight L. MacPherson which outsold Superman and Spider-Man in local stores. A few years later, his music group won the Tampa Bay area award for Best Alternative Christian Band.

He then began writing — primarily for local entertainment magazines — and then as a ghost writer on the legendary Steve Roper & Mike Nomad syndicated strip. The next year, he created The Sorrow anti-child-abuse anthologies and his historic, critically-acclaimed Pistolfist comic. After this J.S. was hired to script six volumes of Zondervan’s Manga Bible and five Thomas Nelson graphic novels based on the works of bestselling author Ted Dekker.

Last year, J.S. began writing and producing an interactive audiogame called The Realm Unseen. National Geographic was so impressed with this project that they enlisted him to write three interactive story games for their online audience. Now, while awaiting the release of The Realm Unseen and the upcoming trade paperback edition of Pistolfist, J.S. is feverishly working on his first novel — an action/comedy/thriller currently titled I Kill Me.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page (recommended for best quality).

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Recently, Lori Twichell had a chance to talk with Jennifer AlLee, the author of the new book, The Pastor’s Wife. We are excited to share that interview with you. You’ll hear all about having a strange name, writing a book, and of course, The Pastor’s Wife. We’re so grateful that Jennifer took the time to share what’s happening with us and we look forward to hearing from her in the future.

You can read Lori’s review of The Pastor’s Wife here.

More about Jennifer:

As a child, Jennifer AlLee lived above a mortuary in the heart of Hollywood, California, which may explain her unique outlook on life. Her publishing credits include The Love of His Brother, a contemporary romance from Five Star Publishing (November 2007) as well as skits, activity pages, and over one hundred contributions to Concordia Publishing House’s popular My Devotions series. Her latest novel, The Pastor’s Wife, releases February 1, 2010 from Abingdon Press. She’s an active member of American Christian Fiction Writers and serves as the Nevada Area Coordinator. Jennifer resides in the grace-filled city of Las Vegas, Nevada with her husband and teenage son. Visit her website at http://www.jenniferallee.com/

This interview can also be downloaded from iTunes (recommended for best quality).

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We are thrilled to have novelist Travis Thrasher back on our podcast to talk about his new book, Every Breath You Take. Jake Chism had a blast catching up with Travis and discussing everything from self publishing to their thoughts on the upcoming final season of LOST. A special thanks goes out to Travis for taking the time to join us.

You can read Jake’s review of Every Breath You Take here.

More about Travis Thrasher:

“Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies.”

This quote from Stephen King’s novella, THE SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION, sums up the goal of every single one of Travis Thrasher’s novels: providing hope. As the novelist of twelve works of fiction, Travis has spent a decade fighting against being typecast and labeled.

“It’s a natural thing for novelists to be put into a box,” Travis says. “My goal has always been to tell stories about flawed characters who find redemption, whether it’s in a love story or a supernatural thriller.”

Having lived in places as diverse as Munich, Germany, and Sydney, Australia, during his youth, Travis moved to the Chicago area during his junior year of high school. That’s where he has remained.

After graduating from Trinity Christian College, Travis landed a job at Tyndale House Publishers as Author Relations Manager. He worked for over a decade in that position, acting as liaison between the publisher and the authors. But writing always came first, and Travis was fortunate to have his first novel published in 2000. It was THE PROMISE REMAINS, a sweet love story in the vein of Nicholas Sparks.

“I wrote six or seven dark, ambitious novels that went nowhere,” Travis says. “It was only after writing a simple love story about unrequited love that I got my first break.”

Getting that first book published was a dream come true, but Travis always saw himself having multiple books in print. Travis’s drive and imagination have allowed him to see a variety of books published: from love stories (THE WATERMARK; THREE ROADS HOME) to suspense (GUN LAKE; ADMISSION; BLINDED) to drama (THE SECOND THIEF; SKY BLUE) to supernatural thrillers (ISOLATION; GHOSTWRITER).

“I tell people this is not the way to build a writing career, but I’m thankful I’ve been able to build mine the way I wanted to. I want to entertain and surprise readers, and to continue to build a readership that will take journeys with me, whether they’re going to 1929 Brazil or current day Geneva, Illinois.”

2010 will mark a decade of publishing for Travis. It will also be a significant year with the release of BROKEN by Faithwords in May and SOLITARY by Cook in August.

“I’m excited about these two upcoming stories that will surely surprise and move readers,” Travis says. “BROKEN is about a young woman who is just that—broken and bruised by this world. SOLITARY is the first in a teen series that combines a love story with the supernatural. Both are powerful stories.”

His goal continues to be to tell powerful and moving stories that will reach fiction readers of all types. As a fulltime novelist for over two years, Travis feels he’s still just warming up.

“There are things I learn about the writing process and about myself with every novel. I believe my best stories are still in front of me, waiting to be discovered like a buried treasure. I’m thankful that I’m able to dig a little more every day.”

Travis lives with his wife and three-year-old daughter in a suburb of Chicago.

This interview can also be downloaded via iTunes (recommended for best quality).

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Recently Lori Twichell and Jake Chism sat down with debut novelist C.J. Darlington to talk about her book, Thicker Than Blood. We had a blast talking to C.J. about her writing, her passion for antiquarian book selling, and the story behind TitleTrakk.com. A special thank you to C.J. for her time and her great support of Fiction Addict!

More about C.J.:

C. J. began writing the story that would become her first novel Thicker than Blood when she was a fifteen-year-old homeschool student. She has been in the antiquarian book selling business for over a decade, scouting for stores similar to the one described in Thicker than Blood before co-founding her own online bookstore. Thicker than Blood was the winner of the 2008 Christian Writers Guild Operation First Novel.

In 2006 C. J. started the Christian entertainment Web site TitleTrakk.com with her sister, Tracy, and has been actively promoting Christian fiction through book reviews and author interviews. She makes her home in Pennsylvania with her family and their menagerie of dogs and cats.

When she’s not writing, she’s reading. Her hobbies include book and art collecting, fly fishing, painting and drawing.

This interview can also be downloaded via iTunes (recommended for best quality).

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Recently Jake Chism caught up with NY Times Bestselling Author Joe Schreiber to talk about his new novel, Star Wars: Death Troopers. Joe also discusses his novel, No Doors, No Windows, his upcoming Supernatural tie in novel, and his thoughts on the writing craft.

More about Joe:

Joe Schreiber was born in Michigan but spent his formative years in Alaska, Wyoming and northern California. Until recently, he has never lived in the same address for longer than a year. Before settling in Hershey he lived in New York, Boston, Martha’s Vineyard, Chicago, Los Angeles, Portland (OR), and Philadelphia. Becoming a parent forced him to consider a career with more reliable income, and he got a job as an MRI tech at Hershey Medical Center. Joe is married and has two children. He is the author of Chasing The Dead, Eat The Dark, and his newest tale of terror; No Doors, No Windows, which went on sale the same day as STAR WARS: DEATH TROOPERS. You can find him on the web at his blog ScaryParent.Blogspot.Com and on Suvudu.Com, where he is an occasional horror columnist.

You can read our review of Star Wars: Death Troopers here.

This interview can also be downloaded via our iTunes page (recommended for best quality).

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Tim George was able to sit down recently with NY Times Bestselling Author Jeff Shaara and discuss his latest novel, No Less Than Victory, as well as his future plans. We were especially honored to have retired Captain Harry Bachus recount some of his personal memories as a B-17 pilot and POW in Germany during World War II. Our thanks to Brian McLendon, V.P. Deputy Director of Publicity at Ballantine/Bantam for coordinating this special meeting.

You can read Tim’s review of No Less Than Victory here.

More about Jeff:

Jeff Shaara, a descendant of Italian immigrants, was born in 1952 in New Brunswick, New Jersey (“Shaara” was originally spelled “Sciarra”). He grew up in Tallahassee, Florida, and graduated from Florida State University in 1974, with a degree in Criminology. From age 16, Jeff operated a rare coin business, first out of his home, then in a retail store. In 1974, he moved to Tampa, Florida, and eventually, Jeff became one of the most widely known coin and precious-metals dealers in Florida. In 1988, Jeff’s father, the writer Michael Shaara, died, and Jeff made the decision to sell his business, and take over the management of his father’s estate.

In 1993, the film Gettysburg was released, which was based on his father’s classic novel, The Killer Angels. After the critical and commercial success of the film, Jeff was approached about the possibility of continuing the story, finding someone to write a prequel and sequel to The Killer Angels. After some considerable soul-searching, Jeff decided to try to tackle the project himself. The decision was difficult in many ways, but most challenging because Jeff had no previous experience as a writer.

In 1996, Ballantine Books published Jeff’s first novel, Gods and Generals, the prequel to his father’s great work. Gods and Generals leapt onto the New York Times Bestseller List and remained there for fifteen weeks. Critics nationwide praised the book and Jeff’s writing ability, and the book was awarded the American Library Association’s William Young Boyd Award. No one was more surprised than Jeff himself. In 1998, the sequel, The Last Full Measure, was published with the same result: thirteen weeks on the New York Times Bestseller List and universal praise from critics and fans nationwide. Two years later, Jeff published his third novel, Gone For Soldiers, which followed many of the familiar Civil War characters back to their experiences in the Mexican-American War of the 1840’s. Received with much critical acclaim, the book became Jeff’s third nationwide bestseller.

Leaving the Civil War era behind, Jeff’s next two novels, Rise To Rebellion and The Glorious Cause, took readers back to the extraordinary characters of the American Revolution. Both were, again, bestsellers. Moving forward, Jeff then tackled the First World War. To The Last Man, released in 2004, was not only Jeff’s sixth bestseller, but also received extraordinary praise from notable figures such as General Tommy Franks, Steve Forbes and General Wesley Clark. In addition, To The Last Man was awarded the American Library Association’s William Young Boyd Award for Excellence in Military Fiction, Jeff’s second such award. In February, 2003, the major motion picture Gods and Generals, based on Jeff’s first book, was released by Warner Brothers. Jeff Shaara’s Civil War Battlefields, Jeff’s only non-fiction work, was published in April, 2006, and is a unique and personal tour across ten of this country’s most valuable pieces of hallowed ground. In 2007, Jeff was named to serve on the Board of Trustees for the Civil War Preservation Trust.

Jeff’s eighth book, The Rising Tide, was published in November 2006. The story is the first of what will become a trilogy following an extraordinary cast of characters through the European theater of the Second World War. The Rising Tide was again a New York Times bestseller. The centerpiece of the trilogy, The Steel Wave, which follows key participants through the Normandy invasion was a New York Times bestseller in 2008.

On November 3, 2009, NO LESS THAN VICTORY, the conclusion of Jeff’s World War II trilogy, which portrays the European war’s last act, was published by Ballantine Books.

After many years spent in New York City and the mountains of Montana, Jeff has returned to Florida and lives in Sarasota.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page (recommended for best quality).

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Tim George recently caught up with Mike Dellosso to discuss his latest novel, Scream, and to get a preview of what’s to come. A special thanks goes out to LeAnn Hamby of Strang Communications for setting up this interview.

More about Mike Dellosso:

Mike Dellosso lives in Hanover, Pennsylvania, with his wife, Jen, and their three daughters. He is the author of Scream, and The Hunted, a newspaper columnist, and has edited and contributed to numerous Christian Web sites. He received his BA from Messiah College and his MBS degree in theology from Master’s Graduate School of Divinity.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page (recommended for best quality).

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Recently Lori Twichell was honored to catch up with the famous author to discuss her new novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, the influence of art on her writing, and her love for Dr. Who. A special thank you both to Audrey Niffenegger and Michael Strong of Regal Literary for making this interview happen.

You can read Lori Twichell’s review of Her Fearful Symmetry here.

More about Audrey Niffenegger:

Audrey Niffenegger was born in 1963 in the idyllic hamlet of South Haven, Michigan. Her family moved to Evanston, Illinois when she was little; she has lived in or near Chicago for most of her life.

She began making prints in 1978 under the tutelage of William Wimmer. Miss Niffenegger trained as a visual artist at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and received her MFA from Northwestern University’s Department of Art Theory and Practice in 1991. She has exhibited her artist’s books, prints, paintings, drawings and comics at Printworks Gallery in Chicago since 1987.

Her first books were printed and bound by hand in editions of ten. Two of these have since been commercially published by Harry N. Abrams: The Adventuress and The Three Incestuous Sisters.

In 1997 Miss Niffenegger had an idea for a book about a time traveler and his wife. She originally imagined making it as a graphic novel, but eventually realized that it is very difficult to represent sudden time shifts with still images. She began to work on the project as a novel, and published The Time Traveler’s Wife in 2003 with the independent publisher MacAdam/Cage. It was an international best seller, and has been made into a movie.

In 1994 a group of book artists, papermakers and designers came together to found a new book arts center, the Columbia College Chicago Center for Book and Paper Arts. Miss Niffenegger was part of this group and taught book arts for many years as a professor in Columbia College’s MFA program in Interdisciplinary Book and Paper Arts. She still teaches at Columbia College; currently she is teaching writing courses that specialize in text-image relationships. Miss Niffenegger has also taught for the Newberry Library, Penland School of Craft and other institutions of higher learning.

Miss Niffenegger is a founding member of the writing collective Text 3 (T3). Recent T3 endeavors include the litmag little Bang and some rather amusing dinner parties.

Miss Niffenegger’s second novel, Her Fearful Symmetry, was published in 2009 by Scribner (USA), Jonathan Cape (UK) and many other fine publishers around the world. She recently made a serialized graphic novel for the London Guardian, The Night Bookmobile, which will be published in book form in 2010. Other current projects include an art exhibit at Printworks Gallery in September, 2010, and a third novel, The Chinchilla Girl in Exile. (From www.AudreyNiffenegger.com)

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page (recommended for best quality)

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Jake Chism recently caught up with mother and daughter writing team, Brandilyn and Amberly Collins. In our interview they discuss The Rayne Tour series, writing in the Young Adult market, and what it was like to work together. A special thank you goes out to both Brandilyn and Amberly for taking the time to chat with us.

More about Brandilyn and Amberly:

Brandilyn Collins, known for her trademark Seatbelt Suspense®, is the bestselling author of Violet Dawn, Coral Moon, Crimson Eve, Eyes of Elisha, and many other novels. She has written twenty-one books.

Amberly Collins is a junior in college in Long Beach, California, majoring in marketing. She’s active in her Alpha Phi sorority and dotes on her Yorkie puppy, Bear.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page.

Visit Brandilyn’s Web site at www.brandilyncollins.com.

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Recently Tim George sat down with Ace Collins to discuss his new novel, Swope’s Ridge, the transition from non-fiction to fiction, and what’s on the horizon for the author. A special thanks goes out to Ace Collins for his time and to Jessica Secord at Zondervan for setting up this interview.

More about Ace Collins:

Ace Collins is a master storyteller and an award-winning author with over sixty books to his credit. Collins released three new books in 2008, has four releasing in 2009 and two slated for 2010. The mystery and action-packed Farraday Road (Zondervan, Oct 2008) is Collins’ first novel, followed by Swope’s Ridge (Zondervan, Oct 2009), part 1 and 2 in the trilogy based on the exploits of Arkansas lawyer Lije Evans. 25 Days 26 Ways comes on the heels of his Stories Behind books, the newest being Stories Behind Men of Faith. Collins’ is also working on developing two additional fiction series for release in upcoming years.

Collins has made scores of television appearances, including Good Morning America, The Today Show, CBS This Morning, CNN, Fox and Friends, The NBC Nightly News, Entertainment Tonight, Court TV, E The Untold Story, At Home Live, The Early Show and Crook and Chase. Two of his books have been made into network TV specials, while he also hosted the ABC holiday offering “Lassie 280 Dog years On TV” on ABC. His book Father Does Know Best was made into a NBC movie of the week, while he averages more than 250 radio interviews.

In addition, Collins has also penned more than 2,000 magazine features for the likes of People, Us, Plus Magazine and Guideposts. For the past twenty years, he’s also been he editor and graphic designer for WME Magazine. He also hosts the nonprofit charity organization’s radio and television broadcasts. Collins has won numerous awards for his writing, including three Golden Quills, an America’s Writing Award and the Angel of Excellence Award. He has spoke to many groups and was a feature lecturer at the National Archives Author Series in Washington DC.

The Texas-based writer has been married for thirty-three years to Kathy Collins, the Associate Director for the Center for Learning and Development in Waco, Texas. The couple has two sons; Clint, a graduate of Baylor University who lives in Austin, and Rance, a student at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkansas.

Collins’ hobbies include restoring and driving classic cars. He currently owns a 1934 Auburn 652Y Sedan, a 1936 Cord 810 Westchester, a 1937 Lincoln-Zephyr Sedan, and a 1965 Mustang Fastback. He’s also a huge college basketball fan and a collector of movie memorabilia from the Golden Age of Hollywood and enjoying Art-Deco design.

On the non-fiction side, Collins recently released Stories Behind Women of Extraordinary Faith (Zondervan), followed by a companion book Stories Behind Men of Faith (Zondervan, 2009). Collins’ work with “The Stories Behind” series date back to 2001, with the bestseller The Stories Behind The Best-Loved Songs of Christmas and The Stories Behind The Great Traditions of Christmas, which topped the charts and has been translated and released in China, among others.

Also in 2009, Collins released Sticks & Stones: Using Your Words as a Power Force!, a book he has wanted to write for over a decade. The book shares stories of the incredible people Collins’ met over his illustrious career. His writing career began twenty-five years ago, and he has since penned more than sixty books, including bios of Evel Knievel and The Dixie Chicks, autobiographies with Lauren Chapin and The Cathedral Quartet, how to books, a book on the star players of the old Negro baseball league and two bestsellers with one of the biggest stars in entertainment history, the legendary Lassie.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page.

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Recently Tim George caught up with novelist Athol Dickson. The author was gracious enough to give us some insight into his new novel, Lost Mission, the use of magical realism in writing, and a sneak peak at what’s to come. A special thanks goes out to Athol Dickson and Jennifer Willingham of Howard Books for setting up this interview.

Athol Dickson’s novels have been favorably compared to the work of Octavia Butler (Publisher’s Weekly), Daphne du Maurier (FaithfulReader.com, by Cindy Crosby, Christianity Today fiction critic), and Flannery O’Connor (The New York Times). His They Shall See God was a Christy Award finalist. River Rising was selected as one of the Booklist Top Ten Christian Novels of 2006 and was a Christianity Today’s Best Novel of 2006 finalist. Both River Rising and The Cure won Christy Awards for best suspense novel. Winter Haven was a finalist for the 2009 Christy Award in the suspense category, making four novels in a row to receive that honor. His seventh novel, Lost Mission, was released in September, 2009. Athol lives with his wife in southern California.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page.

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Recently Lori Twichell caught up with New York Times Bestselling Author Nicholas Sparks to discuss his new novel, The Last Song. We invite you to listen in as he shares some insight into writing from a screenplay, working with Disney and Miley Cyrus, and his upcoming movie plans. A special thanks goes out to Miriam Parker of Hachette Book Group for setting up this interview.

See Lori Twichell’s review of The Last Song here.

About Nicholas Sparks:

Nicholas Charles Sparks was born in Omaha, Nebraska on December 31, 1965. As a child, he lived in Minnesota, Los Angeles, and Grand Island, Nebraska, finally settling in Fair Oaks, California at the age of eight. He lived in Fair Oaks through high school, graduated valedictorian in 1984, and received a full track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.

After breaking the Notre Dame school record as part of a relay team in 1985 as a freshman (a record which still stands), he was injured and spent the summer recovering. During that summer, he wrote his first novel, though it was never published. He majored in Business Finance and graduated with high honors in 1988.

He and his wife Catherine, who met on spring break in 1988, were married in July, 1989. While living in Sacramento, he wrote his second novel that same year, though again, it wasn’t published. In 1990, he collaborated on a book with Billy Mills, the Olympic Gold Medalist and it was published by Feather Publishing before later being picked up by Random House. (It was recently re-issued by Hay House Books.) Though it received scant publicity, sales topped 50,000 copies in the first year of release.

He began selling pharmaceuticals and moved from Sacramento, California to North Carolina in 1992. In 1994, at the age of 28, he wrote The Notebook over a period of six months. In October, 1995, rights to The Notebook were sold to Warner Books. It was published in October, 1996, and he followed that with Message in a Bottle (1998), A Walk to Remember (1999), The Rescue (2000), A Bend in the Road (2001), and Nights in Rodanthe (2002), The Guardian (2003), The Wedding (2003), Three Weeks with my Brother (2004), True Believer (2005), At First Sight (2005), Dear John (2006), The Choice (2007), and The Lucky One (2008). All were domestic and international best sellers and were translated into more than 40 languages. His newest book, THE LAST SONG will be made into a movie starring Miley Cyrus, in theaters in 2010.

The movie version of Message in a Bottle was released in 1999, A Walk to Remember was released in 2002, and The Notebook was released in 2004. The average domestic box office gross per film was $56 million — with another $100 million in DVD sales-making the novels by Nicholas Sparks one of the most successful franchises in Hollywood. The film version of Nights in Rodanthe was released in the fall of 2008 and starred Diane Lane and Richard Gere. Forthcoming movie adaptations of Nicholas Sparks’ books include DEAR JOHN, THE LUCKY ONE and THE LAST SONG.

Nichols Sparks is an avid athlete who runs daily, lifts weights regularly, and competes in Tae Kwon Do. He attends church regularly and reads approximately 125 books a year. He contributes to a variety of local and national charities, and is a major contributor to the Creative Writing Program (MFA) at the University of Notre Dame, where he provides scholarships, internships, and a fellowship annually.

He lives in North Carolina with his wife and children.

This interview can also be downloaded from our iTunes page.

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Recently Jake Chism caught up with Steven James, author of The Pawn, The Rook, and The Knight. In our interview Steven discusses his love for his characters, the use of emotion in the thriller genre, and he gives us a little taste of what’s to come. A special thanks to Steven James and Claudia Marsh of Revell for setting up this interview.

More about Steven:

Critically acclaimed author Steven James has written more than twenty books, including the bestselling thriller series The Bowers Files. One of the nation’s most innovative storytellers, Steven developed his skill as a performer at East Tennessee State University (MA in storytelling). He lives in Tennessee with his wife and three daughters.

You can also listen to this interview via iTunes.

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Jake Chism recently caught up with Travis Thrasher to talk about his latest novel, his upcoming teen series, and his thoughts on music and writing. A special thanks to Travis for giving us a fascinating glimpse into the life of a novelist.

More about Travis:

Travis Thrasher is the author of eleven critically-acclaimed novels. He has written in several genres, starting in 2000 with the release of the sweet love story The Promise Remains. Since then, he’s tackled suspense, mystery, even adventure. His recent novels, Isolation and Ghostwriter, have delved into the supernatural realm. Travis worked for thirteen years in the publishing industry, leaving to write full-time in 2007. He lives in the Chicago suburbs with his wife, Sharon, and their two-year-old daughter, Kylie.

You can also download this interview via iTunes.

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Melanie Wells recently joined us to talk about her Dylan Foster series and a wonderful campaign for adult literacy that she is involved in. More about Melanie:

Melanie Wells began her writing career by telling lies on the playground. An accomplished fiddle player (she went to SMU on a music scholarship), she is the author of the critically acclaimed Dylan Foster series: When the Day of Evil Comes, The Soul Hunter, and My Soul to Keep (Waterbrook/Multnomah, a Division of Random House). Melanie holds two masters degrees and is a licensed psychotherapist and licensed marriage and family therapist. She is the founder and director of The LifeWorks Group, P.A., a collaborative, creative community of psychotherapists (www.wefixbrains.com), with offices in Dallas and Ft. Worth. She lives in Dallas with her dog, Gunner, who wishes she would not spend so much time at her computer. Fun fact: Lyle Lovett and Robert Earl Keen have both signed her fiddle case.

About I Told Two Friends:

I Told Two Friends is an online campaign led by Dallas author, Melanie Wells, to rally book lovers to help fight adult illiteracy. Readers are invited to join our effort to raise $100,000 for the cause by purchasing Melanie Wells’ novel, My Soul To Keep, and encouraging two friends do the same. 100% of the author’s profits will go to ProLiteracy, an international non-profit whose mission is to end adult illiteracy worldwide. For more information please check out the I Told Two Friends Website.

Check out Melanie’s website here.

This interview can also be downloaded via iTunes.

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We recently caught up with NY Times Bestselling Author Eric Wilson to talk about his new book, Haunt of Jackals. Eric gives us some insight into his Jerusalem’s Undead trilogy, his thoughts on the vampire genre, and a sneak peek at what’s to come.

More about Eric Wilson:

Born in California in 1966, raised in Oregon, and a traveler in over thirty-five countries, Eric comes to his writing with an international perspective and an eye for historical intrigue and struggles of faith.

While earning a B.A with high honors from Life Pacific College, he published non-fiction articles and served on the editorial staff for the campus newspaper. He married his wife, Carolyn Rose, after his junior year, in 1990, and they went on to youth-pastor together, run an espresso cart business, and raise two daughters who are both now in their teens.

After years of dreaming to be a novelist, Eric signed his first contract with WaterBrook Press, a division of Random House, and published his first novel in 2004. Since that time, he’s written a total of ten novels, and will soon have a million words in print. His most recent book was based on the original screenplay of Fireproof, a grass-roots hit movie. The book spent 17 weeks on the New York Times bestseller list, has been translated into five languages, and has 250,000 copies in print.

Eric’s Website: www.wilsonwriter.com

Jerusalem’s Undead Website: www.jerusalemsundead.com

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We present to you our interview with NY Times Bestselling Author, Joseph Finder. Recently Jake Chism caught up with the author to discuss Vanished, the crafting of characters, and the benefits of social networking for authors. A special “thank you” goes out to everyone who submitted fan questions via Twitter.

More about Joseph Finder:

Joseph Finder, internationally bestselling author of eight novels, launches a new series in August 2009 with the publication of VANISHED. VANISHED introduces high-level corporate security consultant Nick Heller, and will be the first in a series of at least four books to be published by St. Martin’s Press.

Finder’s most recent book, POWER PLAY (2007), debuted at #7 on the New York Times list; before that, the international bestseller KILLER INSTINCT won ITW’s Thriller Award for Best Novel of 2006. Other bestselling titles include COMPANY MAN, PARANOIA, and HIGH CRIMES, which became a hit movie starring Ashley Judd & Morgan Freeman.

A summa cum laude graduate of Yale, where he was a member of Phi Beta Kappa, Finder did graduate work at the Harvard Russian Research Center. He lives in Boston with his wife, their teenage daughter, and a neurotic golden retriever, Mia, a dropout from seeing-eye-dog school.

Fore more information about Joseph Finder and his novels please visit his website, and check out our Vanished Giveaway details here.

You can also download this interview via iTunes.

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We’re excited to present to you our recent interview with Tosca Lee, author of Demon: A Memoir and Havah:The Story of Eve. Tosca was kind enough to share her thoughts on her writing, publishing advice, Twitter, and well…Baalam’s donkey. Not to mention the inside scoop on her upcoming novel about Judas Iscariot. A special thanks to Tosca Lee for taking time out of her busy schedule. You can find out more about her at www.toscamoonlee.com and enter our contest for a chance to win autorgraphed copies of her novels.

You can also subscribe to our podcast feed on iTunes.

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Welcome to the first installment of the FictionAddict.com Author Interview Series. We’re thrilled to have Kaci Hill joining us to talk about her recent collaboration with NY Times Bestselling Author, Ted Dekker. Kaci also gives us some insight into her writing background and what she is working on now. Enjoy!

You can also subscribe to our podcast feed on iTunes.

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