Reader Blog

As a book lover, going to library was a favorite pastime for me as a kid. We would go almost weekly, and I made some great memories doing so. What memories from the library do you have?

When I first sat down to write, I was focused on what pet peeves I’ve had with various books over the years. My biggest complaint? Not enough books are written in first person.

Stigma or not, it’s everywhere, and lately, it’s gotten more prevalent. I’m talking about mental health.

This July, I’ll officially be “over the hill.” Turn eighty years old. And I’ve never been happier, more content, or excited to wake up to a new day each morning.

As a reader and writer of historical fiction, the lines between non-fiction (the facts) and fiction (the imagination) blend into a believable tale. I find the process fascinating and stimulating.

I grew up in a dysfunctional family and wrote a fictionalized account of it in The Illusion of a Girl. I went to therapy, but what I didn’t realize was my healing journey would be similar to peeling an onion.

Today we’re excited to interview author A. M. Kusi. A. M. Kusi is actually the pen name for a wife-and-husband author team that writes romances inspired by their own experiences as an interracial couple. Now, let’s dive right in to learning more about this author team!

As I listened to my father relate family stories to a group of tourists, the reader in me desired to know how characters of the 1770s lived, interacted, worked, ate, and faced the war. Before long, my curiosity became Hold Me Close, Revolutionary Faith book one (1773).

Here is my journey to becoming an author, and the exciting sequence of events that resulted in the short film for my first book, Sleeping with the Blackbirds.

When writing historical romance, research is imperative to make the story believable. Research is such fun!

Here are my “Team Expectations” (aka classroom rules) as they were posted in the back of my classroom, along with a book suggestion for teaching and learning each.

We are involved in a sort of war today, but it is a vastly different one. The battle against the coronavirus brings hardships. No question. But they are of a different order.

Though I was mostly a good kid growing up in rural Australia during the 70s, by the time I was 17, I had become an outlaw—complete with a motorcycle and tattoos and conviction for armed robbery.

Blindness and other disability is evolving in #SFF literature. Join Paul Arvidson and Verity Holloways as they discuss the role of of disability in fiction.

My book The Illusion of a Girl is fueled by my own soul crushing, tension-filled childhood. I share my thoughts, feelings, and conscious decision to not be like my parents with the hope it will help someone who is going through or has gone through something similar.

I’ve always loved reading a story written in first person. Now, after writing eight novels and receiving hundreds of emails from my readers, I believe I understand why the voice of first person is one I love to read as well as write.

Writing a book today is much different from the days when I dreamed of being a published author and imagined stories in my head.

Here is a pop quiz. How many books in The Dune Trilogy? If your answer is three, you’re wrong. So, how often does a trilogy become a series?

Ever wonder what kind of conversations authors have with their characters when writing? I often get involved in conversations with myself when my characters go off-script and mess with all my grand plans for their future.