AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Mark Minson and Nic of Time

"After leaving Will O'Reilly to pursue the removal of Paul from The Council of Magic, Nicole finds the tables have turned. When she finally returns to Will's house, he has disappeared leaving her a mystery to unravel. 

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Meanwhile, Kyle, Will and Leroy find themselves neck-deep in the ongoing war with MAIM. 

Can any of them survive long enough to prevail?

The thrilling conclusion of the Phoenix Cycle Series!"

 Chapter 1

Captured

Will stood up from his couch slowly, using his left arm instead of his right to push himself up after the bullet to his right shoulder. His poor right leg suffered a knife wound and now a bullet wound. 

Nicole stepped to him, wrapping her arms around his waist to stabilize his left-dominated stance. This better end quickly because his wounds hurt her too. Being in his own home should provide some protection and emotional healing. As one of the last extraordinary-talent level magic holders alive, he had become more valuable to the world.

She kissed him again.

“Don’t forget about me,” he said.

Nicole smiled as she stepped back pulling out her wand. Forget about him? He had buried himself too deeply in her soul. Had the attack at Peterborough really only been hours ago? Her teeth ground together. Paul was the leader of MAIM and the Speaker for The Council of Magic. She almost wished she didn’t belong to The Council anymore. All of the ET’s that died on her watch, all of those blank stares from dead eyes. Paul had caused them all. A calming rage settled on her. Time to take out the garbage on The Council. But first, she needed her official red Council robe back—the heavy, hooded symbol of the position she still held.

“Same to you William O’Reilly. Same to you.” She cast the travel spell and a beam of light appeared around and above her. She followed it to the destination fixed in her mind.

Will’s hotel room in Peterborough came into focus as the light vanished. The foot of the bed was a few feet away. Her robe lay on the bed. Will’s suitcase propped open on a chair to her right. Four men sat on the bed playing cards by the light of an electric bulb overhead. For a small town trying to stay that way, they adopted technology quickly.

One of the men looked up at her, “Whoa! Get the guns!” ...

Learn more about Mark:

https://www.amazon.com/Nic-Time-Phoenix-Cycle-3/dp/1545573069/ref=sr_1_5?ie=UTF8&qid=1495767552&sr=8-5&keywords=mark+minson

CHARACTER INTERVIEW: Kyle Welter from Kyle by Fire

1.      Tell me a little about yourself (where you live, who you are, what you look like, what you hope to achieve, etc.) 

     My name is Kyle Welter. I’m from Midtone City in the Plains Republic in the country of North America. I’m 5’ 11” with blond hair that always looks like it needs to be cut. I don’t know why that is. I’m an only child due to financial issues. Kids are expensive (if you want to believe my parents complaining) and fire talents aren’t in demand. My dad had a hard enough time finding a job let alone securing a decent salary. I’m not even sure he uses his talent at work.

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     Anyway, I have friends, like my best friend, James, who tell me they wish they were only children. Ha! His three little sisters are loud and a little crazy but there are days our house is so quiet. It’s creepy. I’ll bet he never snuck out of his room at 12 years old in the middle of the day to make sure other people were still alive in the house.

    

     I’ve spent an inordinate amount of time around adults. This has fueled fears about fitting in. My ultimate goal in high school was to blend in. If you couldn’t pick me out of a crowd and we had class every day together for a year, I totally nailed it. That blew up in my face this year. Now I just want to get back to some semblance of that life. Running from murders is great exercise but terrible for the nerves.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

                

I have a lot of that lately. But before this whole MAIM garbage, I played video games, hung out with my friends and watched tv. Nothing spectacular. Although during that stretch at the beginning of school this year where no one talked to me, I spent most of my time doing homework and practicing magic.

What is your favorite color and why?

                

When I was little, it was purple because the hero on Wizards of the Universe wore this awesome purple outfit that looked sweet with his golden wand. Since I have absolutely outgrown that show, I can’t say I have a favorite color.

What is your favorite food? Why is it your favorite?

                

Lasagna and breadsticks. Every day. Yep. Sooo good.

What would you say is your biggest quirk?

                

Well, I have this nervous habit of running my fingers through my hair. But otherwise, you don’t understand the effort I went through to never stand out.

What is it about your antagonist that irks you the most, and why? Share a line in the book where this irk is manifested.

               

Their persistence. Of course it helps when you have hundreds of people chasing just one. One group gets tired or arrested, the next group picks up the chase.

The worry knotted his stomach so much he finally pushed his plate away and returned to his room. He couldn’t escape the suspense, the anxiety. He fell into the same groove with questions playing in his mind. The memories of the dance drowned him. How could he have let this happen? Could he be anything more than the boy who almost got her killed? His legs felt like lead. His life had gone from bad to great to worse. What kind of future did he have in store? Always living in the shadows, trying to keep one step ahead of MAIM?

“Augh!” he screamed. He leaned over the chest of drawers and banged his head on it a couple of times. So this is madness, he thought. How could he free himself? He rubbed his head and sat on the bed. Sleep. Sleep seemed like his only option. Yet, even as darkness fell engulfing his room, he lay awake staring at the ceiling. Even if they saved Jessica now, could they save her again later? Would they even try? They had a whole world to worry about.”

What or who means the most to you in your life? What, if anything, would you do to keep him/her/it in your life?

Seriously? You want me to pick? If I don’t choose Jessica and she reads this, that won’t be good. James is my best friend. The title alone indicates importance. And then my parents. They’ve already been through so much. What would I do? It’s more like “What have I done?” The stitches up here on my head, yeah, that’s gonna be a pretty scar. I won’t even get into the broken bones.

What one thing would you like readers to know about you that may not be spelled out in the book in which you inhabit?

               

I am awesome at the arcade game Dinosaur Hunt. Not to brag too much, but the top five scores are all mine. Nobody has beat one of my scores in over two years. That’s why it’s not the top ten. Someone named JJUHOH4 has spot number six. What? That isn’t what you meant? Well, I guess then you should know I’m a dog person. I’ve wanted one since I was five. My parents keep saying a dog is like having another kid financially so as I’ve stated already, getting one of those is never going to happen. At least not until I move out and get my own place. Then I am totally getting a dog.

If you could tell your writer (creator) anything about yourself that might turn the direction of the plot, what would it be?

               

Uh, is it really smart to openly criticize the man who LITERALLY holds my life in his hands? He’s almost killed me a bunch of times and I didn’t do anything to him! Telling him his book should have gone in a different direction because I’m a Democrat and totally would have supported MAIM openly is like picking out my own coffin. Which I don’t. MAIM is bad. Please don’t kill me.

***

A Question for Me:

Ok, my question to you: Do you love your characters so much that sometimes you cry about what you are putting them through?

You'd better believe it. In fact, a not too far distant character, Joy, really got me going. I had an ending all picked out, but she had a better one. The only problem? The problem was much larger than the one I'd picked out for her. I didn't want to do it, but in the end, I did. It only made: The Gift: A Parable of the Key, that much better.

Thanks for asking!

Learn more about Kyle and his writer here:

Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/Kyle-Fire-Phoenix-Cycle-Book-ebook/dp/B00HLNS5CO#nav-subnav

AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Mark Minson

Tell me a about yourself. What got you started in writing?

I’m a Software Developer in Test which is a fancy way of saying I write the software that tests the software that is delivered to customers. I live in Herriman and have been writing since elementary school. My older sister and I used to come up with elaborate plots together. She encouraged me to take creative writing when I went to high school. I found a real talent for poetry but my prose was a bloodbath of grammar and imagery. Thankfully, time and writing conferences have cured that.

I love to sing and do impressions/accents. I like a lot of sports – some to watch, others to play. I’m a Green Bay Packers and Utah Jazz fan. I love to read which also cuts into my writing time. I’ve also taken a liking to wood working since I released my first book, Kyle by Fire. I’ve gotten into pyrography (wood burning) and I make wands that I sell at all of my book signings.

  

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How do you schedule your writing time? When do you write?

My writing time is very hit and miss. With 5 kids and a wife that likes spending time with me, finding time to write is not as easy as I would like. More often than not, I write on weekends and at night. Occasionally, I’ll pound out some words on lunch. This is why my first two books took so long to publish.

How and where do you write? Do you prefer a laptop or some other method of getting your words down?

I write on my laptop because I can type SO MUCH faster than I can hand write and I won’t even go into the legibility factor. I’m a focus writer so I really need at least an hour of uninterrupted time to write. I tried writing for just 15 minutes and the result was a carousal of plot and character. I do take notes and jot things down if I don’t have time to write but an idea comes to me.

What's your favorite part about writing? Your least favorite part about writing?

I love getting lost in the story I’m writing. I outline because otherwise I know my plot would wander. However, I often have to revise my outline because as I write, my characters surprise me with what they do. Least favorite is editing. Mostly because going back through this story I think is awesome and seeing so many mistakes is kind of a downer. But I know sometimes, all I care about is getting the words down and that editing will fix the yucky-ness.

How did you come up with your book idea? How long did it take you to write your book?

When I got back into writing on a regular basis, it started with a small writing group of friends. We conducted a round-robin writing challenge where we drew 3 random words and had to write one to two pages of a story using those words. Of course I procrastinated until the day we were supposed to trade stories and started a story about a kid who had to study all summer because he got bad grades the year before. This was the premise for Kyle by Fire. It took 4 years to finally publish my first book and 3 years to do the second. My wife has dictated that I don’t have that long to finish book 

What types of marketing do you do to promote your writing?

Mostly author events and a few group marketing sales. I didn’t write my books with the idea of getting rich. I just wanted to make them available for people to read. Someday I hope to invest more time and resources to writing but right now I have family as a priority.

What are you currently working on? Do you have a new book out?

I just released book 2 of the Phoenix Cycle Series – Will from Ashes. I’m currently working on book 3 but have a lot of other projects in progress on the sidelines waiting for me to finish this story.

Do you have a project on the back burner? Tell me about it.

I have multiple on the back burner. A story I wrote in high school called The Mysterious Prince is currently in re-write. It’s a story about the courting of a princess and one prince who steals her heart. I’m also excited about another fantasy story about Elves who were driven underground by dwarves. They concocted a plan for vengeance once they could rebuild their population but something has gone wrong.

What would you tell a beginning writer who wants to publish but doesn't believe he/she has enough talent?

Hone your skills. Attend writing conferences (there are tons in Utah) and join a writing group. I highly recommend The League of Utah Writers, www.luwriters.org. All of the talent in the world won’t get you published. Someone with no talent can be taught to write a book well enough to get published. And even if you are oozing talent, it still takes effort to mold that talent into something people want to read. Don’t stop writing.

Website: www.novelmage.wordpress.com