We interviewed Annette Creswell, author from Down Under about her new novel, The Dark Before the Dawn, a Downton Abbey-like family drama during the pre-years of World War II.
From an early age, Annette was encouraged to write and was awarded many prizes for English.
She had a short story published at the age of twelve however, due to the demands of raising a family, there was no time for creative pursuits.
Now retired, Annette has reignited her passion and has written a total of six books with the seventh nearing completion.
She has travelled extensively for pleasure to the United States, Europe, the UK and South-East Asia and her interest lies in novels set around the periods of the first and second world wars.
Annette lives with her partner, Stephen at Neutral Bay, a suburb on Sydney harbour in Australia. She has two sons, Mark and Brett, two grandsons, Jaime and Flynn and a sister, Maree.
The Dark before the Dawn is her second published novel and it is available on Amazon and fine bookstores everywhere.
OBXPG: What is the theme of The Dark Before the Dawn?
Annette: The Dark Before the Dawn is a romantic drama set before and during the second world war in England.
OBXPG: What do you hope to accomplish with The Dark Before the Dawn?
Annette: I hope the readers will enjoy a story replete with humor, romance, drama and tragedy and be left with a feeling that good things can occur when you least expect them. All the characters are credible and the readers can relate to them and have empathy and sympathy for them.
OBXPG: Why did you write The Dark Before the Dawn? Does it reflect your real life in any way?
Annette: I was inspired to write the novel as I have a keen interest in midwifery and I loved the series, Downton Abbey. I also am interested in interpersonal relationships and admire those who can surmount tragedy and suffering encountered in their lives. I have travelled to the European places mentioned in the book staying at a friend’s house in Sarlat, France. The chapel I visited in Rocamadour was where my friend’s mother was married. The chateau in which Peggy and Charles spent their wedding night was based on Chateau D’Esclimont in the Loire valley where I spent one night with my former husband. The chateau was surrounded by a moat in which a dinghy floated but unlike Peggy and Charles we did not avail ourselves of it but admired it from the bank.
OBXPG: How did you come up with storyline(s)?
Annette: I did not have a set plan. The story seemed to take on a life of its own and evolved as I continued writing.
OBXPG: What inspired you to write The Dark Before the Dawn?
Annette: I have a keen interest in novels set around the periods of the world wars and was inspired by my favourite authors, Julian Fellowes, Sebastian Faulks and Evelyn Waugh whose writing style I can only hope to emulate! As previously mentioned, I have a great interest in the nursing profession especially midwifery and would adore to live in a grand house such as Hagley Hall in the English countryside and be waited on by a bevy of staff.
Just before the start of World War II, Peggy Davis, a London midwife, has a chance encounter with a stranger that changes her life forever.
When Peggy meets Charles, a wealthy lord as she boards a bus in front of Harrods department store, fate casts them together.
When Charles’ wife, Diana, and first child die in childbirth, Peggy, and Charles are thrust into a relationship of happiness, sorrow and unexpected tragedy.
They ultimately marry, have a son and adopt an east end refugee boy from London.
What transpires is a web of family dramas a la Downton Abbey with lesbian relationships, Nazi sympathizers and family secrets revealed as Peggy attempts to navigate through her new life from midwife to lady of the manor.
Paperback: 236 pages
Publisher: Outer Banks Publishing Group
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1734168722
ISBN-13: 978-1734168723
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.6 x 8.5 inches
Shipping Weight: 13 ounces
We interviewed Terrence Hart about IMES, his new dystopian novel that dives deep into the battle between good and evil and how evil not always needs to the personified as a villain to succeed.
Terrence Hart is a writer, a musician, a yachtsman, an adventurer. With over a decades experience in audio production and composition, and regular contributions to Furst Media’s online and press publications, Terry offers a uniquely aberrant voice in this, his debut work.
Terry studied Science at Melbourne University in Australia and is a keen enthusiast in modern physics and medicine. He lives and works out of his home in Melbourne Australia, and in his downtime, enjoys exploring Earth with his partner Laura, and their pup Dallas.
OBXPG: What is the theme of IMES? Is it a harbinger to things to come?
TERRY: A recurring theme throughout literature has been the age old battle between Good and Evil, and in this respect, Imes is no different. However, the intention behind writing Imes was to suggest that ‘Evil’ is not necessarily something that needs to be personified.
We all love to hate a villain, whether it be a fictional character, or someone that the media has singled out; but the reality is that these individuals never believe that they are in the wrong, and can therefore not be considered ‘Evil.’ So at the risk of sounding ‘Lovecraftian,’ the concept behind Imes is that the only ‘Evil’ that exists is that which we create.
Whether or not this is a “harbinger” as you say; I guess only time will tell.
Author Terrence Hart
OBXPG: What do you hope to accomplish with IMES?
TERRY: I wrote this book to try and dispel the idea that anyone is ever truly evil; even though history isn’t on my side.
We all have our own demons, and we all do the best we can with what we’re given, and although it may be convenient to label someone a villain if they don’t have our best interests at heart, it is hardly constructive.
I believe there is far more wisdom in trying to comprehend ones motives, than there is in name-calling.
OBXPG: What is the goal/purpose of the story? Why did you write IMES?
TERRY: IMES is a fanciful look at a world descending into chaos, and by no means a political ideology. But it does push the clear narrative that political upheaval, and rejuvenation, is not only necessary, but inevitable.
I believe that a lot of our planet’s population feel helpless, and insignificant, and although they would like to change the world, they don’t feel that it’s a realistic objective.
My greatest aspiration in writing Imes, is that I might encourage the idea that you should always stand up for what you believe in, and that looking beyond yourself and considering humanity as a whole is something to be admired. Might it inspire some heated debates at dinner tables? I sure hope so.
Terry Hart and his wife, Laura, during a rehearsal.
OBXPG: How did you come up with storyline(s)?
TERRY In many ways the storyline for Imes was reverse engineered. I had the protagonist, and I had his arc, but his journey had me stumped for quite a while. I didn’t want to tell his story, I wanted to tell the story of those who met him, and also not ruin the suspense by giving away the details.
In the end I decided that third person accounts of the protagonists journey was the only way to keep an air of mystery. Because Imes isn’t really supposed to be a character, but the version of ourselves that is entirely unencumbered by fear.
OBXPG: What inspired you to write IMES? It is related to current or past events?
TERRY: The inspiration for Imes came a long time ago, from an epiphany I had as a child. Like any other child, I enjoyed the odd superhero movie, and even though I adored the hero, I would always find myself sympathizing with the arch-villain.
It seemed to me that the villain would always have a reasonable explanation for their actions, and were always fighting for something they believed in, and in contrast, the hero was simply fighting because that’s what a hero does. It was a simple distinction, but it really affected me as a child when I realized that Lex Luthor was this passionate, hyper-intelligent modernist; and by contrast, superman was little more than a brute.
Of course in the real world, there are no superheros; there are however villains. IMES is the realization of an archetypal arch-villain, who in the absence of a hero, is able to see his plan to fruition.
Read this comprehensive review by DD Gott and you will certainly want to read the book.
Heavenly Vision description
Nothing is what it seems in this new, exciting Koos Verkaik murder mystery – Heavenly Vision undoubtedly one of his masterpieces! Heavenly Vision is about a book collector of limited means who comes across a 1745 Atlas of the Cape of Good Hope in a second-hand bookshop in Amsterdam. Once his historian friend lays eyes on it, he becomes very excited and life for Jan Glas is never the same again. Murder, mystery and intrigue will keep the reader guessing what is going on. Is the world coming to an end, and who will survive? You only realize what has happened after you have finished the book!
Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2020
Koos Verkaik – Heavenly Vision – Reviewed 1/31/20 – Read 1/26-30/20
The cover was drawn by Doriano Strologo, an illustrator in Numana, Italy, depicting the main character in the book, the mysterious Raso, the man who had the heavenly vision.
Jan Glas collected books, especially Atlas’s. When he came across one that was dated in 1745, of the Cape of Good Hope, he added it to his collection. From that day forward things began to change for him. As he opened it up, he found a paper in the folds that appeared to be really old. He took everything to his old friend which was a historian. When Robbert called him and asked him to stop by to talk about the book, Jan was intrigued. He had never done this before. Between the two of them, they researched the letter that had been found and published their findings. Jan was invited to speak at a symposium hosted by ParaPsycho, where he listened to the most beautiful and amazing woman that would be the center to his undoing. She spoke about the Machine of Colton that would be a major player in the destruction of the world. After she was attacked and her purse was stolen, which Jan had chased after the guy, she disappeared only to show up at his hotel. She was afraid and wanted Jan to help her get back to her laboratory. After arriving Jan does not remember a thing… but something had happened to him, and he felt like he had had a vision… A Heavenly Vision! Now on to the vision and the change of Jan Glas’s life.
What did I like? I read this over a couple of days due to commitments that I had, but when I wasn’t reading, I could not get the storyline out of my head. I could not wait until I could read again. Wow, it was so addicting.
What will you like? Exciting, intriguing, mysterious, murders, unexplained events, and curious characters! All of this will keep you glued to the pages, and the characters are going to take you to another world. An unbelievable storyline that has the most amazing switches from the past to the future, with the tension and mystery growing on every page. The details are astonishingly real with the descriptions so meticulous that the world will open up, and you will be able to feel the ocean breezes and the heat on your back. Incredible read and you will enjoy it, hopefully as much as I did.
Enjoy the official music video for Trans-Siberian Orchestra – “Christmas Canon” from the album ‘The Christmas Attic’ (1998). “Christmas Canon” is set to the tune of Pachelbel’s “Canon in D”.
The True Meaning of Christmas reprinted from Wikipedia
The true meaning of Christmas is a phrase that began to appear in the mid-19th century when a shift toward a more secular culture resulted in a national backlash. Christians began to see the secularization of the celebration day of the birth of Christ as the shift toward Santa and gift exchanging replaced the celebration of the advent of Christ and giving to the poor and needy without expectation of receiving anything in return.
The poem, “[[A Visit from St. Nicho (1822) helped popularize the tradition of exchanging gifts, and seasonal Christmas shopping began to assume economic importance. Harriet Beecher Stowe criticizes the commercialization in her story “Christmas; or, the Good Fairy”.[1] An early expression of this sentiment using the phrase of “the true meaning” is found in The American magazine, vol. 28 (1889):
The phrase is especially associated with Charles Dickens‘ A Christmas Carol (1843), in which an old miser is taught the true meaning of Christmas by three ghostly visitors who review his past and foretell his future.
The topic was taken up by satirists such as Stan Freberg and Tom Lehrer during the 1950s and eventually by the influential TV special A Charlie Brown Christmas, first aired in 1965 and repeated every year since. “That’s what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown”, says Linus, referring to the birth of Christ. Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1957) also illustrates the topos, and was very influential in the form of an animated TV special produced in 1966. The phrase and the associated moral became used as a trope in numerous Christmas films since the 1960s.
The phrase found its way into the 2003 Urbi et Orbi address of Pope John Paul II, “The crib and the tree: precious symbols, which hand down in time the true meaning of Christmas!”[2]
So enjoy the festive season and get ready for Santa to squeeze down your chimney.
Welcome to our book store
We hope you find a book that will enlighten your life
Publisher’s Note
Buy THE MONSTER INN at the publisher’s discount of
$11.99 and Save $3 – list $14.99
By Koos Verkaik
Wolpertingers… little monsters or friends?
Teasers or small helpful creatures?
Actually, everyone is a bit afraid of them.
Humans and giants run away the moment they spot a wolpertinger.
And yet, a boy made friends with a wolpertinger from the mysterious Downhills!
It was Alex, a boy from the Alps, who lived in the land of King Clover a long time ago.
Alex and Ludo the Wolpertinger go from one adventure to another!
Together they travel to the Downhills to help free a magician who is a prisoner of the giant Prince Ruff Rumble.
They meet many strange creatures like a river monster, fire-breathing dragons, lizards and giant mice on their trip to the Monster Inn. There they hope to find someone who can make gold to free the imprisoned magician, Halo, placed in Prince Ruff Rumble’s dungeon.
“Young Alex living in the land of the Giant King Clover makes friends with Ludo the Wolpertinger. They have many travels together in Bavaria encountering many friends along the way. While there are many who can’t believe a young boy can speak to animals, we find that it is true. As they set out on their journeys they discover a magician who is envisioned and needs their help.
A fantastic story with an original captivating plot. The characters are likable, some even magical. I really liked young Alex and his new companion, Ludo the Wolpertinger. Each chapter starts with a beautiful (colorful) illustration which brought me deep into Alex’s magical world. I strongly recommend to readers of all ages!”
Buy The Monster Inn
Receive 7 wash-off tattoos of the fascinating characters in this bestselling children’s book FREE!
Outer Banks Publishing Group author Koos Verkaik’s newest book, Nibelung Gold, takes the reader into the world of the paranormal with a twist. He was recently interviewed about Nibelung Gold by Lauretta L. Kehoe, an avid reader, blogger and book reviewer. Here is are some quotes from her interview with Koos Verkaik.
“I am interested in everything that has to do with magic. Have a nice collection of books about all the mysteries in the world, about human history, about alchemists, about… everything! More than often I need no more than one single idea to create a book. For The Nibelung Gold I was thinking: what, if a group of magical fortune tellers concentrate together on one person, what will happen to him? I combined that with the old European saga of the Nibelung Gold and started writing. I am very happy with the result. This is a book for people who like to know more about occult events from the past.”
Koos has written over 60 books and furiously continues to write new novels full time in his home outside of Rotterdam in The Netherlands.
“Novels, series of children’s books, hundreds of scripts for comic artists, wrote songs and made albums and was a copywriter. To make a living, I wrote 4 books every month for a big distributor. Always had inspiration, never had a writer’s block. Sit down, start writing… The same way a painter can be obsessed and never puts his brush away.”
As Koos has said, “Writing is as necessary as breathing to me!”
Read the rest of the interview here>
Publishers Note: Michael Johnson, who lives in France, is the author of five books and worked as a reporter and editor in New York, Moscow, Paris and London. See his full biography below.
Mary L. Tabor
Here are highlights from his review:
Any reader with an analytical bent will wonder, however, where the truth is located in a good story. I certainly did, reading Mary L. Tabor’s new collection of twelve short stories, The Woman Who Never Cooked (Outer Banks Publishing Group). She displays rare knowledge of human behavior in this assemblage of stories covering illness, deaths in the family, adultery, intimacy, dishonesty, dreams, love, family ties, and some surprisingly interesting details about food and how to cook it.
These stories display Ms. Tabor’s polished prose page after page. She has a sure touch for subtle humor as well as for rhythm, repetition, metaphor and simile. In one story she alludes to a man’s admiration of his current obsession, as her “thin, wispy shape like one of Monet’s poplars”. Or as he looked into her eyes, he saw “blue with flecks of white and yellow, reminding him of a Key West at sunset, sapphire blue and sun-struck clouds”
Mr. Johnson covered European technology for Business Week for five years, and served nine years as chief editor of International Management magazine and was chief editor of the French technology weekly 01 Informatique. He also spent four years as Moscow correspondent of The Associated Press. He is the author of five books.
Michael Johnson is based in Bordeaux. Besides English and French he is also fluent in Russian.
You can order Michael Johnson’s most recent book, a bilingual book, French and English, with drawings by Johnson:
“Portraitures and caricatures: Conductors, Pianist, Composers”
Check out Mary’s FREE eight-session writing course…available from Outer Banks Publishing Group.
By Bob Irelan, Outer Banks Publishing Group author of Angel’s Truth
Talking to book clubs about writing and about the book you’ve written is an effective but underutilized marketing tool.
The advantages include:
Start off by telling your audience that “everyone has a story to tell,” and encourage them to tell theirs. It need not be a novel. Maybe it is a memoir, a collection of recollections and experiences that were personally important and may be of interest or guidance to others. Maybe it is a chronological narrative; maybe just a collection of anecdotes.
Then talk about what motivates you to write, what you learn in the process, what ups and downs you experience, and the sense of accomplishment you feel when you finish the concluding sentence.
Comment on how the publishing business has changed . . . about how it has become more “author friendly.”
Having done all this, it’s time to read a key passage or two from your book.
Most important — leave plenty of time for questions. You will get them and they will provide insight into how people read and whether you succeeded in delivering your message.
Bottom line: You will enjoy the small group experience, your visibility as an author will be enhanced, and you will sell books.
Outer Banks Publishing Group Author Bob Irelan recently won second place in the Northern California Publishers and Authors (NCPA) 25th annual book awards contest for his first novel, Angel’s Truth.
NCPA is an association of authors, indie publishers, and small presses based in Sacramento, CA with the goal to educate and encourage our members. The association is a regional affiliate of the Independent Book Publishers Association (IBPA).
The contest is open to members and nonmembers alike. Books are evaluated in a variety of categories and are awarded based not only on relative rank to the other entries, but on intrinsic quality standards. Each book is read by three judges, and the judges gather for face-to-face discussion of their decisions.
Visit www.norcalpa.org for more information about the association.
Read what inspired Bob to write Angel’s Truth and how it is extraordinarily relevant today.
______________________
Order your copy at the publisher’s special discount of $11.99 – Save $4
USE THIS CODE – DISCOUNT40 – TO GET 40% OFF WHEN YOU CHECK OUT on your first purchase.
List Price:$15.995.5″ x 8.5″(13.97 x 21.59 cm)
Black & White Bleed on White paper
272 pagesOuter Banks Publishing Group
ISBN-13:978-0990679080
ISBN-10:099067908X
BISAC:Fiction / Crime
Angel Gonzales is charged with heinous crimes that law enforcement, the media, and most folks in Richmond, Texas, and surrounding communities are certain he committed.
The crimes and trial dwarf anything that has happened in that part of the Lone Star state in anyone’s memory.
When, against all odds, the jury renders “not guilty” verdicts, shock escalates to anger.
In the minds of many, justice has failed, and a brutal criminal is being set free. For Angel and his court-appointed public defender, Marty Booker, being judged “not guilty” isn’t enough.
Together and with help from an unanticipated source, they attempt to prove Angel’s innocence.
In the process, they butt up against prejudice, deceit, and a sheriff and district attorney who put politics, ambition, expedience, and arrogance above responsibility to do their jobs.
It’s a story of horror, hatred, belief, and persistence – a story of a Mexican-American teenager who nearly loses his life on the way to becoming a man.
Books of the NY Times
