Inside Scoop Live!

Characters on the Green - An Interview with Author J. Peter Hoyer

J. Peter (Pete) Hoyer was born and raised in New York State, about 40 miles north of NYC.  He graduated from the Citadel, Military College of SC, then served a 22-year career with the Army. He traveled throughout the United States, Europe, and South Korea. After retiring from the Army, he worked 20 more years as a civilian instructor with the Department of Defense, teaching logistics, transportation, and military tactics.
He has received many military and civilian awards and decorations but is most proud of being awarded the U.S. Army Transportation Corps Distinguished Member of the Regiment award.
Pete holds 2 Masters Degrees from Webster University and Troy State University in the study of Human Relations and Human Resource Management.
Pete is married, with 2 children and 2 grandchildren, and lives in Calabash, NC.  “Characters on the Green” is his first published book.
For more information on Peter Hoyer and his book, “Characters on the Green” visit his website at www.charactersonthegreen.com. 
Topics of conversation:
How his sense of humor comes through in his writing style
Humorous stories about some of the people he’s met on and off the golf course
Life in the Army and meeting interesting characters from all over the world
Marketing, book promotion and his next projects
Advice to aspiring authors

Faces Behind the Masks - An Interview with Author Thomas J. Brodeur

Since childhood, Thomas J. Brodeur has been telling stories. Early efforts included drawing his own comics, a skill he honed from grade school through college. In high school, he composed three graphic novels and wrote his first short story. His first published novel, Regina Silsby’s Secret War (2004), was nominated for the Scott O’Dell award for historical fiction.
Besides writing, Mr. Brodeur managed to graduate college and divert some attention to a multi-faceted career. His corporate experience spans several continents and includes motion picture production, computer-aided design, information technology, management, and customer service.
He spends his spare time building ships-in-bottles and dabbling in calligraphy, cartooning and fine art. Additional activities include laundry, dishwashing, lawn mowing, painting, plumbing, and electrical work as required. He enjoys fixing things, anything from bikes to broken furniture.
Home is Florida, with his bride of several decades.
Faces Behind the Masks was recently honored with two top awards in the 2017-2018 Reader Views Literary Awards, taking home First Place in the Teen Category for Kids ages 12-16 and the Reader Views Kids Award for Best Teen/YA Book of the Year.
For more information on Thomas J. Brodeur and his books visit his website at http://thomasjbrodeur.org.
Topics of conversation:
Writing from the perspective of a Teen/YA
Everything is a field for possible use in writing
Developing your Characters
Using an Outline
Hobbies – Building Ships in Bottles, Fixing and Building Things, etc.

Tears Before Exaltation - An Interview with Author Fidelis Mkparu

Fidelis O. Mkparu was born in Onitsha Nigeria. He is a Harvard-trained cardiologist who has written medical articles for both scientific and lay audiences. His previous novel, Love’s Affliction, was a 2016 Nautilus Book Awards Silver Winner for Fiction, a Reader Views Literary Award Winner for 2015/2016, and a finalist for the 2015 INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award for Multicultural Fiction. He lives in Canton, Ohio USA.
For more information about Fidelis Mkparu and his books visit his website at www.fidelismkparu.com.
Topics of conversation:
Passion for Writing
Spirituality in Life and in Writing
The Greatest Gift
Upcoming Projects
Advice to New Authors

Waking Isabella - An Interview with Author Melissa Muldoon

Melissa Muldoon is an artist, graphic designer, and award-winning author of the Studentessa Matta Website, a dual language blog, where she promotes the Italian language and culture. Through the Matta Website, she organizes small group language immersion programs in Italy twice a year, in collaboration with Italian schools as well as private Italian language homestay vacations, with teachers all over Italy.
Waking Isabella follows Melissa’s debut novel Dreaming Sophia, published in 2016. In this new book set in Arezzo, Italy, readers are taken on another art history adventure. Waking Isabella weaves together several loves stories as well as a few mysteries, as Nora, the protagonist begins to resolve the puzzle of a painting, which has been missing for decades of Isabella de’ Medici — the Renaissance princess who was murdered by her husband.
For more information on Melissa Muldoon and her books, visit her website at www.melissamuldoon.com.
Topics of conversation:
Isabella de Medici
Research for the book in Arezzo, Italy
Giostra del Saracino – Annual Jousting Festival held in Arezzo
Suppression of Artists and Hitler’s Obsession during WWII
Melissa’s Writing Process
Her Award Winning Italian Language Blog and Immersion Trips to Italy
Most Rewarding Experience as an Author

Permanent Happiness - An Interview with Author Iyabo Ojikutu

Dr. Iyabo Ojikutu is a board-certified pediatrician and fellow of the American Academy of Pediatrics. She received her medical degree at the College of Medicine, University of Lagos, Nigeria. She has been practicing medicine since she was 22 years old, and currently owns, and runs her practice in Atlanta, Georgia, where she lives with her two daughters. Permanent Happiness is her first book. Her writing began in December 2015, after her dear father passed.
For more information on Dr. Iyabo and her book visit her website at www.driyabo.com.
Topics of conversation:
Her inspiration to start writing
Pediatrics as a career
Finding balance in a busy world
Learning about life from living in 3 different continents
United Nations SDG Media Zone event
Her writing process and publishing experience

The Paymaster - An Interview with Author Adeed Dawisha

Adeed Dawisha was born and raised in Iraq and educated in England, where he received his Ph.D. from the London School of Economics in 1974. Until September 2016, he was University Distinguished Professor of Political Science at Miami University, Ohio, and is the recipient of many prestigious fellowships and awards.
In addition to over 80 academic and public policy articles and book chapters, Dr Dawisha has 12 scholarly books, the most recent of which are the new and expanded editions of Arab Nationalism in the Twentieth Century (2016), and Iraq: A Political History (2013), both published by Princeton University Press, and The Second Arab Awakening (2013), published by W.W. Norton.
Since retirement, he has turned to fiction with the publication of his first novel, The Paymaster (Outskirts Press, 2017). A fast-paced thriller, The Paymaster is a tightly written and intricately plotted novel, with many unanticipated twists and revelations. The plot is complex, but not complicated, and while the narrative moves along at a tempo that makes it difficult for the reader to put the book down, there is enough space for character development, so that the reader feels intimately connected to the characters at every juncture of the novel.
Adeed Dawisha is married to Dr. Karen Dawisha, author of the best-selling book, Putin’s Kleptocracy (Simon and Schuster, 2014). He has a daughter, Nadia, a son, Emile, and a recently arrived beautiful grandson, Theodore.
Topics of conversation:
Writing Mystery/Thrillers in Retirement
Fiction vs. Non-Fiction Writing
European Soccer
Future Projects
Publishing Experience and Advice to New Authors

Twisted Threads - An Interview with Author Kaylin McFarren

Kaylin McFarren has received more than 40 national literary awards, in addition to a prestigious Golden Heart Award nomination for Flaherty’s Crossing – a book she and her oldest daughter, Kristina McMorris, co-authored in 2008. Prior to embarking on her writing journey and developing the popular Threads action/adventure romance series, she poured her passion for creativity into her work as the director of a fine art gallery in the Pearl District in Portland, Oregon; she also served as a governor-appointed member of the Oregon Arts Commission.
When she’s not traveling or spoiling her pups and three grandsons, she enjoys giving back to her community through participation and support of various charitable and educational organizations in the Pacific Northwest, and is currently the president of the Soulful Giving Foundation – a non-profit focused on cancer research, care and treatment at hospitals throughout Oregon.
For more information about Kaylin McFarren and her work, visit her website at www.kaylinmcfarren.com.
Topics of conversation:
Writing Across Different Genres
Soulful Giving Foundation
Annual Family Photo
Upcoming Projects
Her Unique Writing Process

Something About Ann - An Interview with Author Everett Prewitt

J. Everett Prewitt is a Vietnam veteran and a former Army officer. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, and a Master of Science Degree in Urban Studies from Cleveland State University. Prewitt was awarded the title of distinguished alumni at both schools.
His debut novel Snake Walkers placed first for fiction in four different literary contests and won the Bronze Award for General Fiction in ForeWord Magazine’s Book of the Year contest. Snake Walkers was also honored by the Black Caucus of the American Library Association.
Prewitt’s second novel, A Long Way Back was awarded the Literary Classic’s Seal of Approval. It won the Independent Publishers of New England first place award, was a finalist for the Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal Award, received the Bronze Award for the INDIEFAB Book of the Year Award, the Silver Award from Literary Classics and the DNQ Award from IBPA’s Benjamin Franklin Award.
Something About Ann, and a series of short stories related to A Long Way Back including the award-winning The Last Time I Saw Willie, will be available in September 2017.
Prewitt loves tennis, billiards, backgammon, jazz, and a good red wine.
For more information about Everett Prewitt and his work, visit his website at www.eprewitt.com.
Topics of conversation:
Writing and PTSD
Books That Inspired Him
Writing Positive Stories
Prewitt’s Future Projects
Message to Young African American Writers

The Last Train - An Interview with Author Michael Pronko

Michael Pronko has lived in Tokyo for twenty years but was born in Kansas City, a very different world. After graduating from Brown University in philosophy, he hit the road, traveling around the world for two years working odd jobs. He went back to school for a Master’s in Education, and then took a teaching position in Beijing. For two years, he taught English, traveled China and wrote.
After more traveling and two more degrees, another M.A. in Comparative Literature in Madison, Wisconsin and a Ph.D. in English at the University of Kent at Canterbury, he finally settled in Tokyo as a professor of American Literature at Meiji Gakuin University. His seminars focus on contemporary novels and film adaptations, and he teaches other classes in American indie film and American music and art.
Pronko has published three award-winning collections of essays: Motions and Moments: More Essays on Tokyo (Raked Gravel Press 2015), Tokyo’s Mystery Deepens (Raked Gravel Press 2014), and Beauty and Chaos: Essays on Tokyo (Raked Gravel Press 2014). He has published books in Japanese and two textbooks in both English and Japanese.
Over the years in Tokyo, he has written regular columns for many publications: The Japan Times, Newsweek Japan, Jazznin, ST Shukan, Jazz Colo[u]rs, and Artscape Japan. He runs his own website Jazz in Japan (www.jazzinjapan.com). He also continues to publish academic articles and helps run a conference on teaching literature.
For more information about Michael Pronko and his work, visit his website at www.michaelpronko.com.
Topics of conversation:
Writing Mystery
Life in Tokyo
Cultural differences between Japan and America
Being a Professor of American Literature in Tokyo
Jazz and his Jazz website: www.jazzinjapan.com

Mistress Suffragette - An Interview with Author Diana Forbes

Diana Forbes is a 9th generation American, with ancestors on both sides of the Civil War. Diana Forbes lives and writes in Manhattan. When she is not cribbing chapters, Diana Forbes loves to explore the buildings where her 19th Century American ancestors lived, loved, survived and thrived. She is passionate about vintage clothing, antique furniture, ancestry, and vows to master the quadrille in her lifetime. Diana Forbes is the author of New York Gilded Age historical fiction.
For more information about Diana Forbes visit her website at www.DianaForbesNovels.com.
Topics of conversation:
Being a Native New Yorker and finding traces of Old New York in today’s city
The Gilded Age and the Women’s Suffrage Movement
The Discipline of Writing
Finding Your Community of Writers
Writing Historical Fiction