Indie Books. Real Authors. Real Readers.

Discover books, follow authors, and join a community that reads.

The Stories Behind the Stories

In-depth conversations with indie authors about their books, their writing process, and the journey of independent publishing. Get to know the people behind the pages.

Created with Avocode
EW

Inside the Mind - Eric Woods

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    In third grade, we were given an assignment to write a short story based off three prompts. I wrote a story about a friendly alien trapped on Earth. At that moment, I discovered I loved telling stories and creating new worlds.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    Well, my next book (out on October 2nd), is entitled How to Survive a Serial Killer at Summer Camp. It takes my love of old 80s/90s slashers and adds a nostalgic twist with humor, thrills, scares, and a mystery as to the identity of the killer. It's my first true slasher (without any paranormal elements).
Tamikio L. Dooley

Inside the Mind - Tamikio Dooley

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    My writing journey began when I was sixteen. Writing ghost and horror stories was my passion. One story I wrote by hand when I was sixteen was 150 pages long. I never considered writing as a career until January 2015. That marks the commencement of everything. My writing experience spans twelve years. Authors, editors, and publishers were more inspiring to me. They influenced my journey into writing, and my skills improved. My literary role models inspired me to become a multi-award-winning author publishing 125 books and still writing.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    My book is titled “Unsilenced: The Words I Wasn’t Allowed to Say: A Memoir.” “Unsilenced: The Words I Wasn’t Allowed to Say,” A Memoir. Based on my own experiences, my memoir focuses on coping with mental illness and disability. By discussing my personal battles with mental health, I aim to inspire readers, illustrating that hope, support, and healing are achievable regardless of life’s difficulties. My goal is for my book to inspire readers not through my own mental health challenges, but by showing them that hope, healing, and love exist. I also want to encourage individuals with mental illness to voice their experiences and overcome silence. My other mental health books include "Finding Yourself", "The Unraveling History of Mental Illness", and "In the World of Depression Therapy".
SURY V.S

Inside the Mind - SURY V.S

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    Alexander Dumas, Aldous Huxley, Conan Doyle, Robert Ludlum and a host of top-class authors
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    It is a drama, Golden Bear. About to be published in a month.
DM

Inside the Mind - Debby Myers

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    For as long as I can remember, my grandma Gigi told me stories about her life growing up in the hills of Kentucky with her nine siblings. Her stories inspired me to write down create my own. It started in first grade when I had a short story published in Children's Digest. As young as I was, the feeling I had seeing it in print, was what brought me back to writing as an adult. I've been inspired in many ways. Before only brother passed away at just 46, he encouraged me to start again. He was also a storyteller and told me I had a gift. Then when I was diagnosed with MS ten years ago, I was forced to go on disability. With time on my hands, writing kept me from slipping into depression.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    I've written and self-published three full-length novels. Vex and Valor, Verdicts and Vows, & Verve and Virtue. Due to limited resources from disability, I wasn't able to publicize or hire an agent. The books all got rave reviews locally with book signings and booth sales, but they have been stagnant since. I have been writing magazine and blog articles. My next book is a set of self-reflecting stories titled Cake Crumbs.
Will Linsdell

Drip by Drip

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    Having been awarded 2 gold stars as a 5-year old for creative writing, the writing bug was formed in me and I have enjoyed writing on and off ever since.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    It is set primarily in Cambodia and centres on a middle-aged English travellers who unwittingly get involved with some extremely unscrupulous criminals. This threatens everything that they hold dear with murderous repercussions spilling over to England, Vietnam, China and Australia. The couple are forced into a battle for survival against overwhelming odds.
LH

Inside the Mind - Larada Horner-Miller

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    I had a creative writing teaching in 8th grade that honored whatever I wrote. Then when I was in high school, I wrote a piece, my uncle saw it on our round table in the dining room, read it and asked me why I wasn't pursuing writing. I let this passion lay dormant for way too many years because life got in the way. I became a writing teacher and realized I loved writing. That became the impetus to my writing.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    I'm writing an AutoFiction (autobiography fiction) and fictionalizing my incest story. I wrote it in November 2016 during NaNoWriMo(National Novel Writing Month) and accumulated over 50,000. Then a major book project landed in my lap and I stepped away from it. Then more books came a long. In 2025, the Epstein Files reminded me of this book as a possible source of healing for sexual abuse survivors. So with urgency I have been working on it.
TL

Inside the Mind - Tom Lonsdale

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    In 1997 I had been a veterinarian for 25 years and had obtained some important experiences and accompanying knowledge. I felt honour bound and a strong desire to get it all written down. There's a fuller account here: https://www.thepetfoodcon.com/raw-meaty-bones-promote-health-the-story-behind-the-story/
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    My latest book, number 4 in the Raw Meaty Bones Tetralogy, provides a blow by blow account of ten important years in the struggle against the junk pet food/veterinary industrial complex. https://www.thepetfoodcon.com/spin-doctors/
DP

Inside the Mind - Doreen Pullo-Fleisch

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    I was inspired to write children's picture books after the COVID pandemic and the death of my parents. I needed to do something positive that would make me feel better about myself. Also , as a virtual children's instructor I wanted to share my books with children that are struggling and learning delayed.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    "The Underground Hounds" was my last children's book. It is a story about 2 dogs that take a train ride journey to find a ball in a London store. This book is a fun rhyming story!
RG

Inside the Mind - Ruth Gowan

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    I was living in an outport in Newfoundland at the time and I couldn't find anything to read. So I started writing. However after submitting it to a couple of publishers and getting scathing reply only one encouraged me so basically I gave up and dumped the manuscript in a box. Meanwhile i lived and worked in other countries inc; the Middle East. 20 years later unpacking yet another box back in Ireland. I found the manuscript and notes and decided to rewrite this time using my computer. Well the story just took off and I wrote and wrote and this was the first. It was published first but re-edited and what you have here is the final one with a new cover. I also am changing the Series to reflect what I write: Speed & Romance, Betrayal & Drama, Adventure & Travel, Rivalry & Competition.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    Tailspin is the latest book: in the Series. * An arrogant ex-F1 Champion driver moves to be a World Rally Championship competitor. Despite his rocky past and multiple crashes with inadequate co-drivers. His agenda is to win the Monte Carlo, hiding his true identity. Her agenda is to rise in the ranks as a top co-driver. But she is partnered with him. Unseen danger threatens. the partners —But attempts on both their lives, plus kidnappings create tension & a bond.  But a future together is not on the cards, feelings never declared * HEA even possible?
SY

Inside the Mind - Stuart Yates

  • What inspired you to start writing?
    I've always loved stories and had a huge desire to create my own. I wrote my first full novel at 15 and loved the process. A voracious reader I began to look critically at the books I read to discover how to construct a novel. It was the best writing school and I've never stopped writing, reading and learning.
  • Can you tell us a little about your latest book?
    Across the Dusty Mesa is my latest published book. It's the 4th in a Western series featuring an uncompromising gunfighter called Hahmood. He's unlike any other character I've created. He sets out to help a local farmer over a dispute about water rights but fairly soon become the target for malicious threats. This is escalating fast but one thing everyone needs to understand is that Hahmood does not back down from a fight. Those who are threatening him are about to discover the error of their ways.