Meet the Author

“We need to have head shots but, being writers, we don’t want to pay for them,” says Stephen Gallagher, author of The Bedlam Detective. “Sometimes your publisher will commission some publicity stills but that doesn’t always work out – Hodder & Stoughton once sent me to a man who specialized in photographing fruit for Marks & Spencer. Maybe they chose him because of the “&”. I don’t know what fruit he had in mind when he studied me – maybe Zombie Cucumber. We took the shots in his attic, with me lurking behind a wormy pillar or looking out around a peeling chimney wall. The result: I looked like a ghoul in the fourth stage of something terminal.”

“‘Why is the movie never as good as the book?’ Readers are asking the wrong question,” suggests Donna Woolfolk Cross, author of Pope Joan. “The question should be: ‘Why is the movie always different from the book?’ Here’s what matters: The movie needs to capture the soul of the book – the part that made readers love it. I’m so lucky this happened with Pope Joan. The theme of my novel is female empowerment through learning. That theme has survived intact – and very movingly – in the film. This is why I’m so excited about the upcoming television mini-series based on my novel. It has TWO nights to tell the story of Pope Joan. It will air on ReelzChannel TV on December 18/19.”

“In my view, The Human Comedy is the best restaurant guide you could ask for, for the era,” suggests Anka Muhlstein, author of Balzac’s Omelette. “Balzac was a regular at some forty restaurants, and he sent his characters off into the most refined establishments, as well as into the lowliest ones. The result is both an ideal Michelin Guide of gastronomical delights (and disasters) in nineteenth-century Paris, and an enchanting introduction to the work of one of the greatest French novelists.”

“A glimpse into the hearts and minds, hopes and fears of women who lived through turbulent times is the gift historical fiction gives readers as we move through our own lives: A connection to people who refused to be crushed by circumstances beyond their control,” writes Ella March Chase, author of Three Maids For A Crown. “This bridge to the past and the lessons it teaches is an ongoing study for me – my addiction to researching the history, especially of women – continues to be one of my greatest passions. It is that passion that has compelled me to write a series of three essays connected to Three Maids For A Crown, in which I will explore in more depth historical incidents connected to the Grey sisters.” 

“Like many people I’ve met,” says Matthew Gallaway, author of The Metropolis Case, “I didn’t know much about opera until later in life, and to discover it was a way to fall in love with music again. I wanted to bring this excitement to The Metropolis Case, so that anyone who loves music – which I like to think is everyone! – might be similarly moved or at least intrigued. Also, because I grew up listening to rock – anything from the Velvet Underground to the Smiths to My Bloody Valentine – I was surprised to hear echoes of rock music in opera (and vice versa), so I also wanted to describe those bridges between the past and the present.”

“Often, patients given a terminal diagnosis reach a surprising, transforming conclusion – you have to be ready to die to embrace being alive. But Lee Lipsenthal tells his story with such intimacy and humanity that this paradoxical fact can be accessed even by those who have not (yet) leaned out over the abyss. To deny death is to deny life. Read Enjoy Every Sandwich to know why.” ~Andrew Weil, M.D., New York Times bestselling author of Healthy Aging and 8 Weeks to Optimum Health