​Romania. Sometimes I get chased away. Sometimes people bring me food. Occasionally someone actually stops and listens, which makes me smile.


Author Interview 
​
Hi Jay thanks for dropping by so I can pick your brains.  You've come in to talk about your novels, "Death by Haggis" and "Annie Gomez and the Gigantic Foot of Doom (fun titles).  What other writing have you done?
I’m the lead author of the three test preparation projects for Barron’s Educational Publishing. Two are on the MCAT exam and one is for the LSAT (med school and law school respectively.) Hopefully these works are non-fiction.

What makes your writing unique compared to others in the genre?
I tend to see the humor in the human condition and this comes out in my books. I certainly enjoy many non-humorous sci-fi and fantasy books, but my favorite authors – Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Jasper Fford, Kage Baker, Connie Willis – leave me smiling because of the humor that flows from them.

Awesome!  I love that about you.  Even the book titles make me smile and want to read them.
What’s the story behind your book title?
Well, I had this nicely completed novel sitting in front of me without a name. Sort of like staring at your new-born baby and wondering what the heck you should call it. “Nigel” was out of the question, as was “Boy” or “Rex.”
Much of the narrative took place in Scotland. The story involved murder. “Some sort of murder via something Scottish” seemed a bit cumbersome, so I shortened it to “Death by Haggis.” Are you sorry you asked?
As for “Annie Gomez and the Gigantic Foot of Doom,” it was the only combination of words that had not yet been used as the title for a novel, as far as I could tell. From now on the rest of you will have to repeat already used titles. I would personally recommend “A Tale of Two Cities.” It has a particular ring to it and you have the choice of any two cities in the world. I’ve heard that Cleveland is particularly interested in being included.

What’s the basic plot of your book or series?
​Death by Haggis – Girl in distress finds bumbling detective. Detective falls in love and risks everything to save girl from being murdered. “Everything” includes his regular supply of tuna sandwiches and possibly his life. His sleuthing takes him to Scotland, where he stumbles across the remnants of an ancient branch of humanity. Then he travels to Greece, where he teaches the natives to make blueberry “cakes of Pan.” Eventually strange things happen.
Annie Gomez and the Gigantic Foot of Doom – A tenth grade girl is being manipulated by two different alien races, one of which is intent on destroying humanity and the other of which is trying to prevent that. But how is she to tell which is which? She and her gang of friends travel to a distant dimension and to a distant planet, meeting many friends, or possibly enemies. In the end Annie alone must face the alien who is about to eliminate humanity. Against overwhelming odds, she is overwhelmed. Will help come? Will it be in time? Or will this book end with all the characters you came to love being brutally destroyed? I’m not going to give it away.

How do you develop your characters?
This is a fascinating process. The characters all seem to be based on aspects of myself, often ones that I have only become aware of through other people or through the actual process of writing the character. The characters are mythological creatures, archetypes, in the sense of the Greek gods, who, unlike the western God, are full of lovable and hateable quirks and flaws.

Sounds like you put a lot of thought into it.  Makes me smile to think they are all you. :)
What are you working on now?
Lately I’ve been writing many short stories. I love writing them. They are like making cookies, as opposed to preparing a banquet for a thousand people (which is how writing novels feels to me.) Many of my recent stories have a very serious or poignant side and humor would not be appropriate in them. Others are silly. But they are all things that I feel need to be expressed and shared.
Just to give a simple example, I recently remember my grandpa – who died at the age of 102 in 1986 – singing “It ain’t gonna rain no more no more. It ain’t gonna rain no more. How in the heck can I wash my neck if it ain’t gonna rain no more.”
From that wonderful memory a story began to spin. It involved an old man living alone in a cabin in the country during a time when most of the water on Earth had disappeared and only the very wealthy had access to water. It hadn’t rained in years. His neck was probably quite dirty.
But what can one little old man with memories of better times do? He takes one last hike up to the only remaining reservoir to sit in the shade by the water, though the security guards there won’t even let him dip his feet in. And then …

How did you go about developing your cover artwork?
​For Death by Haggis I hired the daughter of my friend and co-author Terry Boothman. She has been a fantastic artist since she was two years old. For Annie Gomez I used part of the same artwork to modify a Createspace template, along with some additional public domain images. Did that one myself in a couple hours and I think it works pretty nicely. Or maybe I’m being deluded.

Quick quiz:
Favourite food: Haggis (I greatly enjoy not eating it.)
Silliest saying: Eat a nectarine. It’s the best fruit ever made.
Best holiday spot: Poughkeepsie
Favourite song at the moment: Sa mi canti cobzar batran ce va
With writing, are you a plotter or (seat-of-your) pantser? Both actually.
Star Wars or Lord of the Rings: Star Wars
Best superpower: I can leap really short buildings, though it may take me a couple bounds.
Number one thing to do on your bucket list: Meet Mel Brooks

​Jay, thanks so much for sharing with us.  You're such and interesting and relatable guy to chat to.  Best of luck with your writing.

​Folks, we have some special sneak peeks of Jay's novels, so keep reading and prepare to be entertained. :)

· Publish date: 2015
· Publisher: self


· Extract:

When a 10th grade girl who has flunked every quiz and test for the entire semester aces her biology final with a perfect score, there is only one explanation. What bothered Dr. Tripledoor, the biology teacher, more than the score itself, though, was the answer that Annie Gomez had put down for the extra credit essay question: What in your opinion most makes biology relevant to our lives? Instead of the ever popular I love biology because it lets us eat and sleep or (giggle, giggle) Without biology there would be no reason for Saturday night dates, Annie had written:
The human race faces the very real and immediate danger of total extinction NOW.
She had also decorated each end of her sentence with a very neat but not biologically accurate picture of a flower, colored with pink highlighter.
The reason this answer caused Dr. Tripledoor undue anxiety was that he feared she was right. There was only one thing that would explain a 10th grade girl flunking every test and quiz and then achieving a perfect score and writing that essay. Alien intervention.
Dr. Tripledoor stroked his small, graying goatee and stared into space. He wasn't musing or contemplating or wondering. He was purposely staring into space because that, he knew, was where the danger, and just possibly the solution, lay. And, truth be told (though Dr. Tripledoor may not have liked it to be told) he was gripped by a cold, hopeless fear. Compared to the immensity of space, he suddenly felt infinitely tiny. Compared to space, he was, in fact, infinitely tiny1, but being a biologist and not an astronomer, he had never considered the fact before. To make things worse, he suddenly realized that, as it was five o'clock on Friday, he was probably the only person left in the school building. A shiver ran up his spine. He jumped up and began collecting the papers he still had to grade, along with his lunch bag, walking stick, sunglasses, and a freeze-dried scorpion that he planned to add to his "terrarium of death" (his favorite hobby) over the weekend.
Before he left the room, he wrote a small note to himself and stuck it on the middle of his desk. "Monday. Warn Annie." Then, keeping his eyes down, he scurried (in a shuffling sort of way) out of the building, into his car, and away.
Annie Gomez was not the type of person who usually needed warning. She was also not the type of person who usually flunked quizzes and tests. She was, even by her own acknowledgement (though she never said so out loud) the brightest person in Highbotham High School. Something had to be terribly wrong for her to mess up so badly. Something far beyond the normal terribly wrong things that she had recently become aware of. Injustice, for example. It had been just at the beginning of the school year – only nine months ago now – that she had noticed that not only was injustice rampant but that its opposite – the supposedly noble justice – hardly seemed to exist at all.
How just was it, to take one random example, that she, the smartest kid in the school and the tallest girl in 10th grade, hardly had any friends? That most of the other students in her class couldn't find anything even faintly interesting to talk about? That the girls were all obsessed with hair and makeup, whereas she was obsessed with justice, hair, and makeup? That boys could barely talk to her at all, except for cracking jokes that would strike a third grader as unsophisticated?2
Clearly, injustice was rampant and the main victim of it was her. But not only her! There were others as reviled and denigrated3. It had been her task to find these people and protect them. That was how Annie's Coterie4 had come into being at the beginning of the school year. The AC (as it was referred to by the members of the AC, as opposed to the Goatery, as it was referred to by those who were not members of the Goatery) currently comprised six fellow miscreants. Annie had carefully chosen students who were outsiders, who were radically different, and whom the mindless pack of normal kids instinctively shunned. And of course her members all adored her. Who wouldn't?
Her first recruit had been Andy Kanayurak. Andy's father was Inuit (Eskimo, to the uninitiated). Andy's mother was African-American. Nobody knew what to make of Andy. The round, cheery cheeks and almond-shaped eyes he inherited from his father twinkled like Arctic snow. The chocolate skin he inherited from his mother spoke of the African sun. His father's genes had relaxed his hair just enough to make his abundant Afro cascade like a fountain. He seemed to transcend race and that scared a lot of kids. It's also what made Andy incredibly cool. He would tell people, "Hey, race is a non-issue. If you went far enough back and figured out who your ancestors really were, everybody would seem like your cousin." Andy had a fantastic sense of humor about identity. If a cop hassled him, he'd say, "Is this because I'm an Eskimo?" which usually left the officer with his mouth hanging open.
Andy was the second smartest person at Highbotham. According to Annie, there were a number of second smartest people but most of them were smart in one particular area. Andy was
smart in everything. He was even a good cook. His best grades were in math5. However, his real passion was theatre. He loved becoming a new character and bringing that character to life. His portrayal of Anne Frank (in drag and with serious amounts of makeup) had brought tears to the eyes of, well, none of the students, since it is not at all cool to cry in high school, but to most of the faculty and parents in the audience. Even Keri Jenkins, reporter for the school newspaper had admitted:


Andy Kanayurak's performance as a Black Eskimo Anne Frank was the most unusual thing that this reporter has ever seen, and I've seen Sharon Anderson in a bikini (no offense, Sharon)

Barlow's desperate search takes him first to the Highlands of Scotland and then to the Aegean. But time is running out. Not only for Jane but for the human race. Barlow's only possible hope lies at the bottom of an ancient cavern, a remnant from the time when a different kind of human populated the Earth, a kind of human that could have saved mankind. Alas, they are long extinct. Or are they?


· Publish date: 2013
· Publisher: Self


· Extract:
A Tuna Sandwich, A Redhead and a Magnum
Sam Barlow, Private Eye, sat in his cluttered office, working tuna salad on Kimmelwick and cold coffee, and watching the light from his tiny window make French impressionist rhomboids on the desk when she walked in, sporting a body like a Japanese sneak attack, a face that could make him crawl all the way to Sandusky wearing nothing more than a rain hat and a two-dollar phony smile, and a trained parrot that said, “Touch her and I claw your eyes out.”
"Are you half the man they say you are?" she purred from the doorway. Barlow stopped in mid bite. He had no time for beautiful, intelligent, sensitive dames who desperately needed his help. Ok, ok, he did have time. He just couldn't quite make his mouth work.
"Yeah, sure. No," he mumbled. He pointed to the straight-backed wooden chair in the corner, half covered with old magazines. "Ya wanna sit down or something?" He wiped a dribble of mayo off his mouth with the back of his hand and then held his hand in the air while he looked in vain for something to wipe it with. He could tell she was looking at him. There was no place to hide.
"I … didn't mean that you're half a man …" Barlow managed to look up. Her face was starting to flush. God, she's beautiful, he thought. And she's almost as nervous as I am. "I just meant that they say you're a swell detective and I didn't mean that you're short or …Ohhh." Dabbing at her eyes with her left hand, she swept some magazines off the chair and collapsed into it. "Could you please look the other way? My stocking is driving me crazy."
He couldn't. He tried to move his head but his eyes were glued to her leg. Finally he put his hand over his eyes. "Sorry. Neck problem. Go ahead."
"Ok. You can look now." Barlow put his hand down. He looked at her. She sat there, quietly, not talking, just looking at him, like … like … a dog, he thought. Yeah, like how a dog just looks at you like your its best friend and it's happy just to wait there and look at you until you think of something to play…
"Say, do you happen to have any cookies, Mr. Barlow?"
"Cookies? Sure. Hey, just sit, ok? Stay." He got up and walked over to the filing cabinet. He always kept a few snacks there but he never remembered if they were under S for snack or C for cookies. He found an oatmeal cookie that had been filed under F for no particular reason and brought it over to her.
“Thank you. I’m sorry,” she said. “I haven't eaten much for days. Please, Mr. Barlow, I need help. I just found out that,” and she looked off as though watching a distant thunderstorm approaching on the horizon, “my world is collapsing,” she thought to herself. “But I can’t tell him that.”
Barlow followed her gaze off into the distance but he didn't see anything. "I can't help ya if you don't talk to me," he said. "I know it's hard. I see dames like you all the time." No, I don't, he said to himself. I've never seen a dame like you. "What say me and you go downstairs to the Filthy Barrel and talk over a beer?"
"What say you and I go downstairs," she intoned.
"Yeah, sure. That's what I said."
"No. You said 'me and you'."
"Ok. This conversation is getting crowded. Oh, and by the way, you do have a name, don't ya?"
"Oh, Mr. Barlow. I'm sorry. It's just that I'm so nervous. You can call me … Jane."
"Jane, eh? Ok, 'Jane'." Barlow grabbed his coat off the back of the chair, grabbed his magnum from the desk and walked over to Jane. “You can call me Sam.” He stuck his hand out and she took it in both of hers and gave it a squeeze. Barlow froze. In his mind time rewound itself and he was suddenly on a playground in front of a swing set, waiting and waiting for a turn that never came until Susie Lonergan took his hand and gently led him over to the nearest swing and asked the kid there if he would let this little boy have a turn …
Time returned. They left the office. Barlow stopped to set the thirteen locks and five booby traps that kept every thug in town out of his records. They stepped into the elevator. The door closed and they found themselves pressed a little too closely together for either one's comfort, but for different reasons. "Down, Pepe," he half shouted.
They stopped on the 1st floor. He took Jane by the elbow and lurched into the lobby of the old Stansfield Building. They walked briskly to the magazine stand where Barlow dropped two bits for a copy of Modern Bride - he liked the pictures - then to the street.
“I have to tell you the truth,” Jane said as they walked in the light drizzle. “Sam, I think someone’s trying to kill me.”
Barlow grabbed her by the arm and yanked her out from under the shadow of the piano that was falling from five stories up. It crashed loudly on the street, playing the final chord from some Rachmaninov concerto, if there was such a thing.
“Why do you say that?”
“It’s just this creepy feeling. And this note." She pulled a crumpled bit of paper from a hiding place in her blouse. It read, “Somebody's trying to kill me, I think."

Hey folks, check out Jay's links before you go:

​Links:

Website: https://cuttsbooks.wordpress.com
Blog: same
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5523585.Jay_Cutts
Twitter: @jaycuttsbooks
Book trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzC2Hu3N6Cw&t=5s
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=dp_byline_sr_book_1?ie=UTF8&text=Jay+B+Cutts&search-alias=books&field-author=Jay+B+Cutts&sort=relevancerank
Wattpad: https://www.wattpad.com/user/jcutts

There's a whole interview to explore with Alina and I on the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network. http://fsfnet.com/2017/11/11/kasper-interviews-author-alina-sayre-2/
Here are a few of the best bits:
*   Writing the last book in the series was a big challenge for Alina
​*   I'm intrigued by her diverse writing music.
​*   Alina's favourite quote is interesting.  Kind of a self-fulfilling prophesy
*   I may have a crush on her writing buddy.  He is seriously cute.

For these and more juicy titbits, check out the full FSFNet interview: http://fsfnet.com/2017/11/11/kasper-interviews-author-alina-sayre-2/
​

​Alina's new release is The Illuminated Kingdom

Synopsis:
The Vestigia Roi has risen up to retake their home island of Rhynlyr, but all Ellie can think about is rescuing her missing brother, Connor. Guided by a dream of Connor’s whereabouts, Ellie disobeys the Council’s orders and stows away aboard the Legend. But a simple rescue mission quickly goes wrong as Ellie and her friends confront new monsters and old enemies. The crewmembers of the Legend soon find themselves waging a last, desperate battle to save not just Connor or Rhynlyr, but their entire world. As the One Kingdom hangs in the balance, Ellie and the Vestigia Roi must ultimately decide what they are fighting for—and how much they are willing to sacrifice for it.
Advance praise: 
“…[an] astounding, imaginative world…” –Readers’ Favorite

Author Bio:
Alina Sayre began her literary career chewing on board books and has been in love with words ever since. Now she is the award-winning author of The Voyages of the Legend fantasy series as well as an educator, editor, and speaker. Her first novel, The Illuminator’s Gift, won a silver medal in the Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and was a finalist in the Shelf Unbound Best Indie Book competition and a semifinalist for the BookLife Prize in Fiction. All four Voyages of the Legend books have received 4- or 5-star reviews from Readers’ Favorite. When she’s not writing, Alina enjoys hiking, crazy socks, and reading under blankets. She does not enjoy algebra or wasabi. When she grows up, she would like to live in a castle with a large library.
Connect with Alina online!
Website: alinasayre.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/alinasayreauthor
Twitter: @AlinaSayre
Amazon: amazon.com/author/alinasayre
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7469870.Alina_Sayre


Amazon purchase link:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076VV4SDC/
​Goodreads link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36483480-the-illuminated-kingdom


E-book Giveaway
If you'd like to win an e-book giveaway, leave a comment, then I will do a random drawing for a winner. 

Juli D Revezzo is an author I have followed on Twitter for many years, and I'm delighted that she joined me today on the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network for an author interview.
Here are some of my fave bits:
​*   In her mythological fantasy, Juli tries to keep true to the well-known portrayals of the characters and to work her story around them.
​*   I like the fact that Frigga's Lost Army is set in World War II and not in ancient times.  Kinda reminiscent of Wonder Woman or Captain America, which I love.
​*   Juli's aspirations include knitting, like her goddess character.  As a crafty type myself, this appealed to me.
​*   She has written 100,000 words this year, yet still worries about the dreaded writers' block.  I'm thinking there isn't a problem there.
​*   One question I asked was quite relevant due to Juli's evacuation for Hurricane Irma.  Can you spot the reference in the interview?
​For these and many more fun facts, check out the full interview on the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network.


​Juli has a new release due in a few weeks, in the meantime check out her latest:
Frigga's Lost Army.
​

Always introduced as Erin and Steven, so I'm turning the tables and introducing Steven Brown and Erin Michelle Sky to you.  Together this talented writing duo is known as the Dragon Authors and they have popped in to say Hi.
​Erin confesses to being a keen fan of llamas and Anne McCaffrey.  Steven began writing at a young age when his supply of books to read ran out. A love of writing and illustration was born.
​
The other day I interviewed this dynamic duo for the Fantasy Sci Fi Network.
Here are a few of my fave snippets:
​*   They have a new book called The Intuitives available for order
​*   They work on something until they have agreement. Kudos to their patience.
*   Their next work sounds like a very exciting and creative piece of fan fiction
​*   They do book reviews with a twist: video stick figure reviews
​*   I love Steven's idea of writing music
​*   Ice cream comes in neon colours - wow!

​For all these cool insights and a whole lot more, check out the full interview on the FSFN website.

Check out these exciting fantasy and sci-fi bargains from
​the Fantasy Sci-Fi Network

So much has been said about a female super hero lead and a female director, girl power yada yada. Seriously folks, who cares? I sure don't. A good movie is a good movie and I reckon this one is mighty fine.  Sure it has some world-building plot and character development which may seem a little slow in places to the adrenaline junkies, but I found it well done.
​There is plenty of eye candy for all with gorgeous Gal Gadot and hunky Chris Pine wearing nothing but a few drops of water. The scenery and cinematography are visually splendid.
​I went with my 15 year-old comic reading son and he said it was regrettable how much they differed from the comics, especially with the Gods and Chris Pine's character. He thought her powers weren't quite true to the comics, such as her forcefield or telekinetic powers. He also said that the action scenes were awesome, so I'm pleased he came along with me and enjoyed it. I also saw it with hubby who said much the same thing.

Gee..I hope you all get this meme. It's a good one

​Until next time, happy days, from Kasper :)

An interesting concept from author Bonnie Milani, is the house bugs, AKA giant hairy spiders, which can be quite the docile type, but can also be aggressive and murderous. There is the whole Black Widow, death-after-mating thing going on here, so it's no wonder there aren't many guys hanging around. Another Sissy planet nasty is the man-eating Nosher plant with its deadly tendrils.
The most enjoyable character for me was Sam, the spider who lives with Nikki, kinda like an eight-legged creepy-looking brother type. Sam is actually really sweet, loyal and noble. He is the only person who is nice to Nikki in the whole story. Unfortunately his future is pretty bleak, with him likely to be mated and eaten in the near future.
The story begins with Nikki searching the house for the book of Grimms, the only book on the entire planet. I didn't really get hooked in by this beginning and ended up having to re-read the first chapter to take in all the alien world-building. There is plenty of information at the start as Milani draws you into her world. Once I got into the story, I found it well-paced and enjoyable.  Other interesting concepts included the click speech of the house bugs and the chron implant, which was mentioned briefly. There is action aplenty and a few surprises to keep you guessing. I did find it a little tricky to figure out who was a human and who was a spider, as the personalities seem rather similar. On the whole, I enjoyed Cherry Pickers and would recommend it to new adult readers.
​I bought this book on Amazon and this is my honest opinion of the novel.
​

The Fantasy Sci-Fi Network will be celebrating.“Drop Everything and Read Day.” It is designed to remind folks of all ages to make reading a priority activity in their lives. Because, what’s more fun(damental) than reading, really? Much has been written in recent years about declining literacy, so let us do our bit to promote reading.

D.E.A.R. programs are held on April 12th in honour of Beverly Cleary’s birthday, since she first wrote about D.E.A.R. in Ramona Quimby, Age 8 (pages 40-41). Inspired by letters from readers sharing their enthusiasm for the D.E.A.R. activities implemented in their schools, Mrs. Cleary decided to give the same experience to Ramona and her classmates. As D.E.A.R. has grown in popularity and scope, the program has expanded to span the entire month of April . . . offering classrooms and communities additional time to celebrate!

We encourage you to “Drop Everything and Read” every day throughout the year. The goal of the program is to prompt people to make reading a regular part of their routine . . . whether they’re reading solo or together with their classmates, parents, or friends. So, go ahead and join the millions of families, schools, bookstores, and communities who have participated throughout the years and pledge to “drop” what you’re doing in order to read a good book.

As an organization, library, school, or bookstore, you can participate by hosting a “Drop Everything and Read” event at your location (or elsewhere) during the month of April. As an individual, you can participate by attending an event in your community or by reading at home with your children, siblings, or friends.

You can find loads of great D.E.A.R. resources on the D.E.A.R. website:
http://www.dropeverythingandread.com/resources.html

​

The Fantasy Sci-Fi Network, of which I am an admin, is having an online author event, as well as books on sale and a Rafflecopter with many great prizes to be won.

After reading Ben the Dragonborn (book 1), I was hooked. I bought the sequel the very next day. Ben and the Watcher of Zargon book has a lovely familiar feel to the start, as we again open in the paranormal school where Ben studies with his friends. He is starting to show obvious signs of turning into a dragon, so the principal decides he must go immediately to the dragon world to learn how to be a dragon. Things don't go quite to plan, with unexpected companions and a dragon world on the brink of civil war.
​As with book 1, Ben must learn quickly to develop and use his talents to assist the local populace. There a new characters, but a similar theme of teamwork and camaraderie in their mission to save the day.
​What I liked: dragons, of course. There are plenty in this book. I also like the characters and their mission. One new character is a delightful surprise. I also found the author's style and craft had much improved in this book. It was really enjoyable.
​What I didn't like: the names really did my head in. Everyone in the entire world has a name beginning with Z. There are only so many Z names in existence, and I found it difficult to keep track of which character was which. Thanks goodness for 'Ben.'
​I'm looking forward to Ben's next adventure.