We are moving, packing are bags, we are breaking up with BLOGGER!

Well we are saying goodbye it is time for a change...

Change is good. Change means that there are bigger things ahead. Change to us means that there will be no more frustration. I guess that Blogger really just wasn't for us. We tried it and it really just didn't fit. It's almost like a pair of jeans that you tried on at the store and you bought them and then you got them home and they didn't look or feel as good. Ladies you know exactly what I am talking about-well Blogger was just that. We had heard such great things about it so we tried them on for size and then we took them home and well guess what? We are needing to take them back to the store and metaphorically get a new pair so now we are going to be at Wordpress.

So here is our new address. You can still find all the old reviews and "Feature Friday" authors on here but we are going to be starting fresh with the new blog. We will not be moving again that is for sure. I don't know about anyone else but moving is the worst....Transferring over and creating new content is fun but also somewhat difficult. So our new home over at Wordpress will be our permanent BLOG! So please follow us over there.

So we are moving, packing our bag, and breaking up with BLOGGER! So we must say goodbye now. Put our new pair of jeans on and move on. So goodbye Blogger and hello Wordpress. We hope to see you there.

Our new address is www.hotlitbooks.wordpress.com

Thanks,

Gabriella D.

Feature Friday with author of Halo of the Damned, Dina Rae Tosto

Feature Friday with author of Halo of the Damned, Dina Rae.

Interviewed by Xavier Zyta
This is our third feature Friday and we are honored to have Dina Rae, she is being interviewed by 
co-founder of Hotlit Books, Xavier and we think it's pretty darn interesting. Check out what this former teacher has to say to Hotlit Books and what has motivated her to write about the Freemason's and much more.

Dina Rae Tosto - Author of Halo of the Damned, The Last Degree and the short story Be Paranoid and Be Prepared.

   I (Xavier) like conspiracy novels, so what is it that pushes you to write them? 

  

  Big, big fan of conspiracy.  Love Dan Brown, Jesse Ventura, Alex Jones, Jack VanImpe, Brad Meltzer, and the True Channel.  Took decades of interesting ideas and turned them into a plot for The Last Degree.

     What is the trickiest thing about coming up with a storyline for you?  I tend to get more involved in the plot and forget about the characters-then I go back and realize how few details were written about them.  Time to edit.

  Do you write an outline? 

Towards the end I do, but not the beginning or middle.

    Do you know how the book will end when you start or how do you come up with when to end it? No, I wasn’t sure for any of my books how they would end and I like writing that way.  The endings aren’t part of a formula.

Dina Rae

   Do you find writing yourself in any of your characters or who you would like to be?  

  I write in 3rd person, lmtd. POV, past tense verbs.  Not ready for 2nd person or 1st person yet, but hope to try it one day.  Both seem so hard to write in because there are so many things each character cannot know but the reader has to know to keep the novel going.

    

 In Halo of the Damned you write of nephilim, of which, I find of an interesting discussion.  How did that inspiration come to you? 

  I am a Christian and always found the story about Lucifer and a 1/3 of all angels waging war on God a fascinating story.  Satan is the star and no one even thinks about all of the others who went with him.  In Enoch another fall is mentioned in which angels voluntarily descended from Heaven and mated with women, producing nephilim.  The Flood destroyed them, but both falls and the Yezidi angel cult inspired me for my novel.

     

     How much research did you do for The Last Degree with the Masonics? 

I watched many TV specials and read several articles on the Internet and libraries.  I even read part of Albert Pike’s Morals and Dogma, an enormous book that sort of act like their handbook.  I also researched the Illuminati and other secret societies.  Many of the articles kept crossing over, further adding to my inner circle theory.

   

 Which do you prefer writing novels or short stories and why? 

Novels.  Short stories have to be short and there is no room to expand on your story.

  

 How long have you been writing?  

Two years.

      What advice would you like to offer authors? 

Certainly not in a position to give advice, but found Stephen King’s On Writing and Writer’s Digest very helpful.

      

What genre do you like to read?  

   Thriller, horror, biography, historical fiction, and mystery are my favorite.  Every once in a while a romance will catch my eye. 

Thanks so much for having me!

Find out more about Dina @

http://www.dinarae.co  https://www.facebook.com/dina.rae.50
www.dinaraeswritestuff.blogspot.com

If you would like to be featured like Dina please contact us at www.hotlitbooks.org/contact.

Feature Friday-Michelle Hankes, Author of Divine by Nature

Feature Friday with author Michelle L.Hankes

We are really honored to have Michelle on our blog-thanks Michelle! Read more about this interesting and intriguing author and her interview with Hotlit Books co-founder Xavier.

I have been reading your work I kept going back to the same thing should I say that you are an author or a messenger of spiritual information or would it be easier to say both?

I would say I am both. My intention as an author, particularly when writing Divine by Nature, has been to express the spiritual message that we are all connected to everything on this planet, as well as in our Universe. There is nothing we are not, so why not connect to all things in your own unique way? And the more we connect, the more we see ourselves in everything else. That sort of connection allows us to become more divine in our own nature because we connect more deeply to ourselves through the understanding that there is nothing we are not. If I can express this understanding and experience it more myself and give others the opportunity to choose to experience it for themselves too by way of my experience, then we’re all better off. 

The book you have out now is “Divine byNature: Spiritual Messages from the Planet's Natural Elements”, where did the inspiration come from?  

What inspired me and still inspires me is the essence of nature and the beauty of everything all around us. I love being outside and when I walk amongst the trees or down a sandy beach, I just find myself transfixed in the present. It’s the best place to be and the fact that just being amongst beings who are so present themselves can bring me into a state of ultimate presence – that just illuminates me.

In 10 words or less tell what you want a reader to experience from reading “Divine by Nature?

Align with your true self and choose your experience.  

I have read “Being Divine” within it you have that Angels really do not care if we learn to communicate with them, but would it not be a more harmonious world if there were better communication with not only Angels but with everything in the universe?

I wrote Being Divine (a free downloadable e-book on my website) to help people become connected to how they communicate with the non-physical aspect of our world. In essence, the Angels and other non-physicals really don’t care, as per se, whether we learn to communicate with them or not. They communicate with us all the time in all sorts of ways and they will continue regardless of whether we are aware of it consciously. The benefit to accessing them and other non-physicals is that we learn two-way communication. We get to access a level of dialogue - which will be different for every person – and ultimately, this would create more harmony in our world and in our Universe. When we access the non-physical aspects of creation, we are accessing the other parts of ourselves; and in the case of Angels and our higher Selves, we are accessing higher vibrational aspects of who we really are. And that will allow us to become more harmonious. The journey is not about what the Angels want for us – it’s about what we want for ourselves and what will make the journey more fun.



Author Michelle Hankes

  I enjoyed this in the Epilogue: “We spend so much of our youth learning how to use our brains, but little to no time is spent learning how to be the soul that we are.”, and how tell the readers how do you think we should teach our children to better understand their souls.

Our school systems, as divine as they are in their intention to educate our children, really have a lot lacking in the department of spiritual attunement. Our schools weren’t really designed that way. I’m not talking about religious doctrine, so much as the desire for spiritual awareness and attuning to oneself as an individual soul. Every child is taught the same things, for good reason, but they aren’t taught how to stay in tune with who and what you are. Children come forward knowing full well what they are at a soul level, even if they can’t express that in words. This is where soul attention would be helpful. Many of us as adults spend a great deal of time learning how to not think as much, how to regain our sense of self, how to reconnect with our own divinity, and how to figure out what it is we really want inside of ourselves. But if this was taught and held at a younger age, it wouldn’t be so challenging for so many. It’s not just up to our school systems to do this – teachers, parents, adults of any kind could help our young people stay on their divine path long before they find themselves careening off. And in a beautiful way, it would help all of the adults involved too.

What age do you feel that we should begin teaching them?

From day one, allow them to be who they are and encourage them to find their own sense of purpose.

What do you feel is the opposite of Angels, as we are taught the opposite of light is dark?

The opposite of Angel is just another Angelic type being. Light or dark, energy is just energy; it’s just a matter of what and how you want to experience yourself. They choose their existence just as we choose ours, but from a higher, wider perspective of the Universe and how to create within it. Angels come in all shapes and sizes, etherically; it’s all about creation. Many people call dark Angels negative or evil – I don’t see them as such. They are just another form of energy – another type of perspective in this dual Universe we’ve created. There is light and dark in everyone – each of us possesses these divine dueling energies. It really comes down to how we want to express ourselves and what we want to express ourselves as. It’s the same for the Angels.

What genre do you like to read?

I like most genres, except horror. I have a hard time reading graphically violent books because I get so involved in whatever I’m reading. I enjoy novels, children’s books, non-fiction, literature – pretty much all types of books because each one offers a different perspective on life. The writer who is writing the book gives me and all the readers a different idea about how life could be and that’s just fun for me. It’s all about the different perspectives on reality. That’s the fun of being the beings that we are. We are all collective souls in the soup of the Universe, but it is our unique perspective on something that allows us to be the identity that we are and create from that space. I love that.

Besides your books, what book do you think everyone in the universe should read and why?

There’s not one single book that will work for everyone. There are too many great books out there! And every book written by whatever author from their unique perspective will help someone find what they are looking for, hopefully within themselves. The author’s job is just to inspire that through their own experiences and their own voice. When I was little, I was deeply connected to the book, A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleline L’Engle. I can still see the imagery in my head. As an adult, I find other books that inspire me and particular authors whom I resonate with, but I cannot say there is any book that fits all, nor even a whole book that will make all the difference. Oftentimes, I find myself flipping through a book and pulling out what I need in the moment. I have lots of books like this from fiction and non-fiction authors all around the globe. I say, don’t discount any book – every book has something to offer someone, somewhere.

   If you could only choose one of the Angels of Pleiades to have a human form and accompany you daily which would you choose and why?

Plei, the Angel of Pleiades. For those who don’t know, Plei is the Angelic being who oversees all of the Pleiadian existence and she was the first one I channeled actively. Her energy resonates so closely to mine, it makes me flood with love when I think of her. We often joke when people ask why she’s called Plei and I tell them that her first name is Plei and her last name is Ades. When I first began communicating with her, it was what she told us we could call her to simplify the longevity of the Angel of Pleiades. Plei is a loving, kind, generous being who exudes love and wisdom with everything she does. She has an amazing spirit and if I couldn’t have them all in physical form, I would choose her to walk this journey with me. She is amazing in her connection to everyone, how gentle and wise she is and what she wants for all of us: to be our own truth. Her expansion is our expansion and the love she has for us is infinite.

You can find more about Michelle at the following links:

http://www.michellehankes.com http://www.angelenergyalignment.com/ http://www.angelsofpleiades.blogspot.com/  http://www.divine-by-nature.blogspot.com/

If you would like to be one of our Feature Friday guests please visit us at:
www.hotlitbooks.org

Feature Friday-Javier Robayo Author of The Next Chapter

Feature Friday (AUTHOR) Javier Robayo

Our new FEATURE FRIDAY program starts with a bang!!! Our past featured author, Javier Robayo is interviewed by Hotlit Books co-founder Xavier Zyta and talks about his sequel to his successful book The Gaze which is The Next Chapter.

The  Next Chapter

Javier Robayo

 

Being that The Next Chapter is a continuance of The Gaze, did you know you were going to continue the story before you finished The Gaze? 

No, if anything I always said I wouldn’t write a series, but something happened with Gaze.  One of the main characters nearly stole the show and I had a feeling readers were going to want more.  It didn’t take long to come up with the story and I committed to it by writing the three chapter excerpt at the end of Gaze. 

I understand the Gaze’s cover was your wife, how did you approach her to do it.  Why did you not continue with her on the cover of The NextChapter?

Oh, my Sheri gets a kick out of people thinking that’s Samantha’s face.  Her eyes are as beautiful as gems to me, and nothing spoke the name of the novel like her gaze did, and so I asked her to show me a series of emotions until we got The Shot.  I went all paparazzi on her for at least an hour and some fifty decisions later, found the perfect combination of ambiguous intensity.  It came out better than I ever dreamed!  It looks so much better in the newest cover. 

The Gaze/Javier Robayo

The Next Chapter is a story onto its own and I wanted something that held the most symbolism within the story.  I was researching the meaning of colors and came across this legend of the Autumn Harvests.  People celebrated not only the change of the seasons, the death of a year and the rebirth of another, but they all hoped to change themselves.  This was a change for their next life in the new year.  It tied in with Lewis’s journey perfectly.

Do you do an outline before you start a book or do you just do it as you are writing it?

I don’t do outlines at all.  I’ve tried and it just doesn’t work for me.  I like getting to know my characters and once they are fused into my mind, they literally take over the story.  I’ve deleted entire chapters because I’d feel Samantha or Gwen telling me, “that’s just not what I would do.”  I will take credit for the situations, but the emotional reactions that drive the stories are all theirs.

What is the hardest thing for you when you are writing?

The hardest thing for me is to stay detached from my characters.  In Gaze, Samantha’s reactions and feelings are so overwhelming I’d end up laying my head on the keyboard in tears.  I couldn’t talk about what I was writing with Sheri because I’d end up choking up bad.  Even after finishing the novels, I go through this emotional crash where I feel as though I miss them terribly.  It happens to many authors, but after investing so much time into creating their lives, they come to mean so much to you.  Such strong emotional response often got in the way of where I wanted to take the story.

Do you suffer from distractions when writing?

Ha!  I work swing shifts at a steel mill full of its own brand of never-ending drama, and at home, I have two little girls who demand my attention along with the upkeep of the house and life in general.  Most of my writing takes place once everyone goes to bed.  There were many times when my alarm would go off, making me aware that I’d been at the keyboard the entire night.  I paid for it dearly as I tried to get through the day.

Do you have a hard time setting time aside to write?

Yes.  For me, writing comes easier when I’m in the mood to write and those moods have no specific schedule.  I’ve gotten up at 3am to write because my mind just had to get everything out, and other times, despite Sheri taking the girls to visit friends, and giving me time to write, I couldn’t compose a single word.

How long did it take to write The Gaze?

I wrote the first draft in about ten months, add to that two more of editing and if I peek, I could probably keep writing it.  A solid year went into it.

How long did it take you to write The Next Chapter?

With the characters and the setting already established, I was able to produce a final draft in four months then spent one more adding and editing.  It wasn’t that I had all this time, it was just that my characters helped me move the story along at a good clip.

Did it seem easier to write The Next Chapter?

I’ve learned so much after writing Gaze.  Honestly, the easy part was writing the novel.  The promoting is its own monster!  Writing, like any skill, is something that gets better the more you do it.  I took a risk by going into active present rather than a retrospective voice like Gaze.  I wanted my reader in the moment, unable to figure out what would happen next.  I didn’t have to do as much research as I did for Gaze and that helped me a great deal.

How much of The Next Chapter would you put in the first book if you had to do it all over again?

Well, that’s a tough one.  The worst review I’ve had on Gaze was centered around its length.  Dramas tend to be on the long side and I’ve learned that as an author, I’d better justify its volume by providing good content.  I could’ve easily threaded a large percentage of Chapter into Gaze, but that would’ve put that novel over the 1200 page mark.

Would you want to be one of your characters and if so which one?

Aw man!  That’s just not fair!  I’d love to be Tony, just because he’s cool and grounded.  I’d love to be Jason Stephen, because well, all the girls want him and he’s pretty much everything a guy would like to be in the eyes of a girl.  Of course, there’s Lewis, who’s had a huge following since the first time he graced the pages of Gaze.  I’d like to be a friend like him.  I’d love to have a friend like him.

I can’t choose just one.  Gwen, Samantha, even Audrey have such strengths and allure, I’d be happy to be any one of them.

What is your favorite movie?

The Shawshank Redemption, the writing is so rich, incredibly emotional.

Would you like to make The Gaze and The Next Chapter into a movie?

It’d be a dream come true.  I’ve been blow away by the connections many of my readers have developed.  I’ve often been asked what I did to make a reader go on and on in their reviews.  There have been some personal emails in which readers have told me just what Gaze has done for them.  If the novels ever made into movies, I’d be so interested to see just how many people connected to the characters and identified with their weaknesses and strengths.

Who would you want to play the lead characters?

This is one I’m always ready to answer

Kate Beckinsale as Samantha Reddick

Jude Law as Lewis Bettford

Sophia Bush as Gwen Amaya

Adam Garcia as Tony Amaya

Rachel McAdams as Quinn McDermont

Chris Evans as Jason Stephen

Chris Hemsworth as Brooks Waldenberg

And the incredibly talented singer Adele as Audrey Burton

Will there be Another Chapter? 

Before releasing The Next Chapter, I fought a losing battle against the fear that I did not meet the expectation of Gaze readers.  I was wrong.  I’ve even had a few tell me they liked Chapter even better.  As it happened in Gaze, there is a slew of seed that could blossom into a third installment.  My closest friends and my editor pretty much demand another installment.  I’m committed to writing two other novels, but after that, we’ll see…

Tell us about your VP's and distribution center employees. ie; your girls and how your family plays a role in you being in an author.

I have to take a bit of time on this one.  It all starts with my dad.  He taught himself computers and everything to do with them since we arrived in 1988.  None of us ever thought how vital his skills would prove to be once I started writing.  He also has an artistic background and both covers were finalized by him.  My Sheri is my most brutal critic and harsh observant.  It took such a big effort to evoke a little shimmer in her eyes with Gaze.  Once I moved her to blink a tear or two down her cheek, I knew I had a chance.

My VP of distribution, Kendra Marie, makes sure I stay grounded and remember what is most important in life.  Her smiles and little words of encouragement, along with her understanding for the hours and hours on the keyboard, are tremendous help. 

My little Inventory Manager, Amber Gabrielle, is a pistol.  She has no qualms in coming down and getting in my face, hands fisted at her waist, “enough writing, let’s go in the pool, Dad!” 

I’ve drawn so much inspiration out of their observations and the way they look at life through new eyes, forcing me to see it all for the first time.  They are my motivation to establish a writing career that will enable me to be always around them.  I’ve missed more than a few things by working weekends, holidays, and strange hours that kept me from seeing them.  Along with my wife, they are my everything.

Lastly, thank you Hotlit Books so so much for the opportunity to be a small part of your growth and I hope that you know I’ll always do what I can for Gabriella Deveraux and company.  It’s been a real pleasure.

Javier A. Robayo

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