Thursday, June 26, 2025

📚 Back Story: Soul Stirrings by Anita Hackley Lambert #BackStories

📚Back Story: SOUL STIRRINGS

By Anita Hackley Lambert

I never set out to become an author for accolades or recognition. I wrote to survive—to breathe through the storm of my own silence.

My earliest inspiration didn’t come from a classroom or creative workshop. It came from deep pain—wounds that weren’t visible to the world but weighed heavily on my soul. By the time I turned fourteen, the trauma of my childhood had left me emotionally paralyzed. Depression had taken root. I was young, broken, and desperately trying to understand the purpose behind my pain.

Then, one evening during a small Christian fellowship at our kitchen table, something divine pierced through the darkness. The Holy Spirit rested upon me, and I heard His voice—not in the natural, but in my spirit. He said, “Anita, you can choose to be bitter or better. Which do you choose?” That moment was sacred, unforgettable. It changed everything. I chose better.

From that encounter, my calling was birthed. I picked up a pen and poured my pain onto the page, writing my first manuscript, No Where to Run. It was never published, but it served its purpose—it became my healing balm, my silent prayer, my soul’s release. Writing became more than a coping mechanism; it became a holy commission.

But I had to wait on God's timing—and that required obedience and much patience. For over sixteen years, I wrote in secret. I filled notebooks with dreams, outlines, and chapters, while continuing to live, learn, and grow spiritually. Though the vision tarried, I trusted the Lord to bring it forth in its season. That season finally arrived in 2023.

Without a traditional publisher or literary agent, I turned to Amazon’s Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP). It was a door God opened, and I walked through it. The process was intimidating at first—but liberating. From God’s guidance, I learned the essentials: formatting interiors, designing covers, crafting descriptions, and optimizing keywords. Most importantly, I prayed over every step. Each decision was guided by the Holy Spirit, from the cover concept to the final sentence.

Publishing through KDP allowed me to steward the message God entrusted to me without compromise. Since then, I’ve released several books, each one born from divine instruction and spiritual insight. These aren’t just titles—they are living testimonies. They represent altars in my life—points of divine encounter, revelation, healing, and transformation.

Now, I write not only to survive, but to help others do the same. My books are for the wounded and the weary, the searching, the silenced and anyone needing spiritual uplifting. I want them to know that God sees, hears, and heals because their lives matter to Him. I want them to realize that what nearly broke them can become the very platform from which they rise.

If there’s one truth I could share with every aspiring author, it would be this: do not wait for perfect circumstances. God’s timing may involve preparation, pruning, and perseverance—but when He says it’s time, move. You don’t need man's approval to fulfill a God-given purpose. If He gave you the story, He’ll provide the strength. He’ll equip you with everything you need to release it. The world is waiting, and your obedience could be the answer to someone’s silent prayer.

Soul Stirrings Books 1, 2 & 3 are available at Amazon

Renowned for her expertise as a genealogist, historian, and biographer, Anita Hackley Lambert secured her place in history with her inaugural book—a feat lauded by Pulitzer Prize-winning author David Levering Lewis, esteemed historian Charles Patterson, and Harpers Ferry Historical National Park. She stands unrivaled as the familial authority, penning insightful biographies of F.H.M. Murray and Barry A. Murray, both visionary businessmen and lifelong champions of civil rights. As the CEO and president of her former high-tech company, Ms. Lambert founded HLE Publishing, a subsidiary of Hackley Lambert Enterprises—from which she launched her writing career.

With a passion for sharing God’s truth and a deep understanding of scripture, she crafts compelling messages that uplift, encourage, and strengthen believers in their walk with Christ. Her works reflect a profound commitment to faith, wisdom, and the transformative power of God’s love. Through her books, devotionals, and teachings, Anita aims to empower readers to confidently embrace their spiritual journey, trust in God’s promises, and experience the abundant life He has planned for them.

She is the mother of three sons and one daughter. Nestled in the picturesque Appalachian Mountains of West Virginia, she lives with her husband. Her journey continues. In addition to two captivating biographies, she as added an impressive number of faith-based nonfiction gems to her literary legacy.

Website & Social Media:

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

🔥 Hot New Release! Crown of Blooms by R.C. Dickens #newrelease

thewriterslife 9:00 PM 0 Comments

When a shy disillusioned pastor’s son becomes fast friends with a worldly, freckle-faced, painter, he is forced to grapple with intense new emotions that he can’t pray away…

Author: R.C. Dickens

Pages: 143

Format: Paperback, Kindle

Genre: Coming of Age/Literary Fiction

Kayden Moses has worked for 15 years to be a good pastor’s son. He’s volunteered at every Vacation Bible School, never missed a youth group meeting, and tries to follow the example of his spiritually gifted twin sister, Delilah. However, all his diligent efforts are disrupted when he meets the biggest stumbling block of his life:

Alex. The new boy in youth group. Bubbly. Opinionated. Dizzyingly nice to look at.

Suddenly, Kayden finds himself caught in a spiral of confusion and asking questions he’s never asked before.

Who is Kayden Moses? Because he’s certainly not a good pastor’s son anymore.

Crown of Blooms can be purchased at Amazon and B&N.

Book Excerpt

The church gym smelled of fresh, hot body odor and even more profusely of cheap cologne. The youth game room had been abandoned by the boys in favor of a pickup basketball game before their parents arrived to take them home. Kayden sat on the bleachers that creaked with every twitch, imagining the girls upstairs having much more fun with the foosball table and the worn UNO deck, and waiting for someone to tire out and pull him into the bracket. He sucked the noxious smell in deep in an attempt to distract himself from how the late afternoon sun was interacting with the sweat on Manny’s skin; Manny was dark and when the light hit that smooth black skin it glowed, reflecting in stark patches on the ripples in his bare stomach and, most prominently, his chest.

– Excerpted from Crown of Blooms by J.C. Dickens, Juniper Press, 2024. Reprinted with permission.

About the Author

R.C. Dickens is the pen name of Juniper Ray, a black, queer writer, choreographer, teacher’s assistant and disaster living in Appalachia with big dreams of escaping out to the West Coast. Along with their debut novel, Crown of Blooms, they have worked as a ghostwriter for several years and have published several short stories. In 2023, Juniper won the Webby Award for Best Single Episode of a Podcast for their appearance on Snap Judgement. When they aren’t writing (which is rarely) Juniper enjoys dancing, singing, anime, cosplay and generally being a menace to the general public.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ https://rcdickens.wixsite.com/website

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/AuthorRCDickens

Instagram ➜ https://www.instagram.com/rcdickens_author

Sunday, June 22, 2025

20 Questions with Christopher Kaufman, Author of 'Tales of the Ocean City' #20Questions

thewriterslife 9:00 PM 0 Comments

Today's guest is Christopher Kaufman, author of the classic epic fantasy series, TALES OF THE OCEAN CITY. Christopher is here today to answer 20 questions about his life, writing and goals.

= you a morning writer or a night writer?

1. Are you a morning writer or a night writer?

Mostly at night. I do a lot of work lying in bed at night before sleeping, or at my desk during the day. I was always the type of person who needs an active imaginative scenario to get to sleep - thus I emerged from completing my advanced degrees in music with the full event structure of my epic fantasy series, Tales Of The Ocean City, in my mind.

2. Do you outline or are you a pantster?

As I mentioned above, I began with the overall event structure for about eight books. I am finishing book eight now. However, when I reach each point I have planned out in my mind, anything can happen and new plot streams are constantly flowing.

For example,

Tales Of The Ocean City tells the tale of a young civilization turning the corner into the future. The city as a whole must do this by facing a terrible enemy from the deepest past, The Vorm - with whom they co-evolved in ages past on their ancestral isle. The main characters are young Harl’ut and his lifelong companion, Vispushin - who is a perianth (a kind of telepathic pegasus). They are very close, like family. They speak to each other mind-to-mind. Harl’ut too must face the past. At the end of book two he undergoes an initiation adventure where he descends into the volcanic mountain, Pla’than’taa - from the belly of which The Ocean City was delved. There, he interacts with personifications of past god-like figures and battles a terrific monster. He then leads a cadre of young warriors into the Vorm Hive on a vital mission.

There are many autobiographical elements in the story…and when I realized they were present, certain parts of the story burgeoned out, most especially the relationship between the main characters, Harl’ut and Vispushin. Perianths are based on my animal family members!

3. Which comes first – plot or character?

Hard to say. They evolve at the same time originally, then the needs of a character may lead, or the plot leads and the character fulfills it.

4. Noise or quiet when working on your manuscript?

Quiet.

5. Favorite TV show?

Star Trek.

6. Favorite type of music?

I am a professional composer. In fact, the first two books of TOC have effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic symphonic music, narration and sound design and are an intrinsic element to my works. My favorite music is that of Igor Stravinsky.

7. Favorite craft besides writing?

For my works I create the graphically illustrated pages, story and music. Some of my works are also live shows, such as The Phantastic Zoo. For these I create performance films filled with illustrative art with the music attached and then I perform voice acting and the like and include dancers and actors in the presentation.

8. Do you play a musical instrument?

Yes. As a trained music artist, I compose, play keyboards and other instruments; I was an oboe major in High School, sang the bass solos in Messiah, and I conduct orchestras in performances of my own music.

9. Single or married?

I am married to a wonderful woman named Maryclare Scerbo - best thing I ever did for myself was to marry her.

10. Children or no?

We have a glorious daughter. For Sophie, I’ve created a series for family-based theatrical works filled with imaginative fantasy stories and orchestral music. We performed them many times. Now she is 15 and has grown out of that phase. Thus, I now work full time on Tales Of The Ocean City (which I term YA Plus - where adult fantasy lovers are a chief part of the audience) and promote my works.

11. Pets?

Yup. We are in pet heaven. Two rescue pets, a terrier-style pup named Angel and a gorgeous black cat named Pluto. Angel was left to die in a box with her siblings, but Second Chance Rescue found her and saved her. Pluto survived the hurricane in Puerto Rico. They are amazing family members!

12. Favorite place to write?

In bed, in the car, in my studio, in a tent..but no green eggs and ham.

13. Favorite restaurant?

A place called Tanoreen here in Brooklyn. Excellent Mediterranean food.

14. Do you work outside the home?

Yes. I travel and teach music and write in the car when waiting to pick up my daughter. I also present concert events and perform in theaters, concert halls and botanical gardens.

15. What was the name of the last movie you saw?

We saw The Return Of The King with a live 280-piece orchestra in Radio City Music Hall. Incredible.

16. Favorite outdoor activity?

Walking Angel in the park. I also write in the park.

17. Pet peeve?

When people drive up beside me with their music blasting out of their windows…and shatter my thoughts, which are often Tales Of The Ocean City related.

18. Your goal in life?

All of my works celebrate the transformative power of imagination. I believe in that power as demonstrated in the fine arts and, especially, great fantasy stories. Much of my work is about feeding and growing imagination in one way or another. I hope people experience my work and then feel differently about how they experience the world around them. Imagination is the highest function of the human mind - it gives us art, music and scientific theories…and helps us envision a better future for ourselves and our civilization. It has been damaged in many ways in our modern lives. Fantasy can help cure this.

19. Your most exciting moment?

When my daughter was born. No Question.

20. The love of your life?

Wife and Daughter, Angel and Pluto. My family.

Christopher Kaufman is an author, composer, presenter, illustrative artist and performer. He started imaginative fantasy books with illustrative art at the age of nine. During high school years he found music and attended The New Orleans Center for The Creative Arts and went on to major in music composition in college. He finished his schooling – earning his DMA in music composition at Cornell University where he studied with Pulitzer Prize Winning composers who prize his abilities as a composer.

Christopher is the type of person who needs imaginative fantasy scenarios to get to sleep. Therefore, he emerged from Cornell, not only with his degrees in music, but with the full event structure for his classic epic fantasy series Tales Of The Ocean City in his mind.

He began writing the story down in the early 2000’s, but it did not really come to life until he developed his home music ‘laboratory’ and started creating the music and text at the same time. Thus books one and two of TOC came about simultaneously as both graphically illustrated pages and effulgent audio albums filled with cinematic epic symphonic music.

They exist now as physical books and audio albums (that go together) and the new Video Book version. He performs live tours with the music pouring through speakers, live narration and the colorful pages streaming on screen – a true immersive multi-media experience.

He also maintains his career as a composer for the concert stage with a full body of work, from solo works thru orchestral. He specializes as well in ‘environmental works’ which feature soundscapes crafted from hundreds of natural sounds, live musicians (from soloists, chamber groups and to full orchestra), videos filled with both natural and artistic images and readings from the works of John Muir and others.

Kaufman’s books feature full-page graphic illustration and go-with audio albums filled with epic cinematic music, narration and sound design. All available, with generous discount packages, at kaufmantales.com (epubs and the new Video Book version available there!).

His author page is talesoftheoceancity.com.

His you-tube channel is SOUNDARTUS.

Visit him at Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/talesoftheoceancity.

Christopher believes in the transformative power of imagination.

“Live with imagination!”

Title: Tales of the Ocean City: Battle in the Sky (Book 1)

Tales of the Ocean City: Descent Into the Abyss (Book 2)

Author: Christopher Kaufman

Publisher: Three Dashes Publications

Genre: Classic Epic Fantasy

A young civilization is turning the corner into the future, but first they must face a terrible enemy from their deepest past – THE VORM.

The main characters are a young man named Harl’ut and his lifelong companion Vispushin – who is a perIanth, a kind of telepathic pegasus. Join them on this epic adventure as they lead a group of young warriors into the heart of the Vorm Hive.

Book One: Battle In The Sky is the first of five books which comprise the opening series of this epic tale. Here, Harl’ut and Vispushin and The Princess Bryn’lynn, engage in desperate battle over the southern plain with savage Vorm warriors. You will be uplifted by the passionate and thrilling conclusion of the first installment of this fantasy adventure.

In Book Two: Descent Into The Abyss, Harl’ut recovers from his harrowing adventure from Book One: Battle In The Sky. He walks through the streets of The Ocean City, visits the Sculpture Garden and his friend, Elá, the bard, and engages in exciting training games with warrior/mentor, Calanctus. Then the story takes you down the throat of the vast volcano, Pla’than’taa, once worshipped as a god, where Harl’ut enacts a deadly initiation ritual, confronts the barbaric past of his people and battles a terrifying monster.

Pick up your copies at https://kaufmantales.com/.

# 20 Questions

Thursday, June 19, 2025

Q&A with Mike Martin Author of Friends Are Forever #Q&A

thewriterslife 5:23 AM 0 Comments

Mike Martin was born in St. John’s, NL on the east coast of Canada and now lives and works in Ottawa, Ontario. He is a long-time freelance writer and his articles and essays have appeared in newspapers, magazines and online across Canada as well as in the United States and New Zealand.

He is the award-winning author of the best-selling Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, set in beautiful Grand Bank. There are now 16 books in this light mystery series with the publication of Friends are Forever.

A Tangled Web was shortlisted in 2017 for the best light mystery of the year, and Darkest Before the Dawn won the 2019 Bony Blithe Light Mystery Award. All That Glitters was shortlisted for the LOLA 2024 Must Read Book of the year award.

Some Sgt. Windflower Mysteries are now available as audiobooks and the latest Darkest Before the Dawn was released as an audiobook in 2024. All audiobooks are available from Audible in Canada and around the world.

Mike is Past Chair of the Board of Crime Writers of Canada, a national organization promoting Canadian crime and mystery writers and a member of the Newfoundland Writers’ Guild and Capital Crime Writers.

Website & Social Media:

Website ➜ https://sgtwindflowermysteries.com/

Twitter ➜ https://www.x.com/mike54martin

Facebook ➜ https://www.facebook.com/TheWalkerOnTheCapeReviewsAndMore

Can you share a story about what brought you to this particular career path (becoming an author)?

I have always thought of myself as a writer. As long as I can remember. But I was a reader first. That’s where I discovered the magic of books. That I could travel around the world. Even to other planets and imaginary places. I wanted to create something like that for other people. Something magical. That’s how I became a writer.

Friends Are Forever is your sixteenth novel in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series. When you started book 1, did you ever imagine it would grow into a series?

I didn’t know it was going to be a series. My problem was that I didn’t know how to end the book, end the first story. That’s when my partner suggested I make it a series. I solved the mystery but didn’t have to end the story.

Is this the last book of the series or will there be more of Sgt. Windflower?

There will be at least one more Sgt. Windflower book. I know because I have finished a draft. Very rough, but I think it will eventually be Book 17. After that, who knows?

So for the folks who don’t know what Sgt. Windflower is all about, can you give us a description of him? Does he have a family?

Sgt. Winston Windflower is an RCMP officer, a Canadian Mountie, who is stationed in the small community of Grand Bank on the easternmost tip of Canada. He is married and has two children. And a dog and a cat.

If we were going out to eat with Sgt. Windflower, where would we go and what would we eat?

We could go to the Mug-Up café in Grand Bank. We could have cod au gratin for lunch and a piece of chocolate peanut butter cheesecake for dessert.

Who are the other characters in this book?

There are many other characters including Sheila Hillier, Windflower’s partner and his two best friends. Eddie Tizzard is another Mountie and Herb Stoodley is a former Crown Attorney that is helping Windflower learn about classical music.

What’s the very first line of your book?

Sergeant Winston Windflower couldn’t be happier for his friend and colleague Eddie Tizzard. On Windflower’s recommendation and with the approval of the big boss, Superintendent Ron Quigley, Tizzard was being promoted to sergeant in the Mounties, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

What’s the main reason someone should really read your book?

People should read the book because they can escape for a few hours into an imaginary world and forget about their troubles for a little while. Maybe have a piece of delicious cheesecake.

You are a person of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be?

I would start a movement that helped people understand each other. If we knew each other better, maybe we could be friends. Then we would never have to hurt or kill anyone else because we would never hurt our friends.

Title: Friends Are Forever: A Sgt. Windflower Mystery

Author: Mike Martin

Publisher: Ottawa Press and Publishing

Publication Date: May 1, 2025

Pages: 318

Genre: Mystery

As Winston Windflower, his police colleagues and their families gather in Marystown, Newfoundland, to celebrate those being promoted up the RCMP ranks, a sophisticated heist by international mobsters and local biker gangs unfolds in multiple cities and towns throughout the province, robbing banks and businesses of hundreds of thousands of dollars. The Mounties soon realize more than money is being lost.

In this, the sixteenth novel in the Sgt. Windflower Mystery series, author Mike Martin continues to craft intrigue in the cultural and geographical setting unique to Newfoundland and Labrador. Readers new to the Windflower mysteries and those returning will experience the joys of a close-knit community that thrives on the simpler things in life: por’ cakes, a lighthouse in serious need of a facelift, TV movie nights and the warmth of get-togethers with family and friends.

Friends are Forever is available at Amazon.