Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today we meet Simon Jenner, author of Ethan Justice: Origins. Simon will be giving away up to ten copies of his ebook. If you want to be one of the ten say so in the comments section. Thanks Simon!
VH: Okay here we go: if you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?
SJ: I'd make it law not to interfere in the lives of others without just cause. All crimes against the person would carry the death penalty and good deeds would receive rewards of some kind. This would be a tough law to police and administrate, however I believe it would change the world overnight. It's the world's culture that needs changing and it all stems from how we treat each other. Wow – a serious answer. I promise to lighten up with the other two questions.
VH: Yes that's heavy. How's this for lightening the mood? If you had two years left to live from this moment, what would you change about your life?
SJ: Everything. I'd call up my life insurance company and negotiate a reduced payout for early settlement. I'd put a chunk away for the family and use the rest to suck every ounce of enjoyment from the time available. I'd travel the world to watch great tennis at all the top tournaments, watch all of my favorite movies again and go to Rio for the next Olympics – hang on – when were the last Olympics? Oops, out of time on that one! Of course my wife might have other ideas and it's doubtful that I'd stop crying for at least a year after getting the news, so now I'm not so sure!
VH: I'm not sure either. If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself?
SJ: Don't take everything so seriously. Enjoy your childhood to the full and start writing for fun right away because you're going to need some practice. Oh yes, and when you get to ten year's old, don't send your teacher that love letter – it doesn't work out well for you! Also, if your dog barks while you’re eating chips in front of the TV, it's because you left the chip pan on and the house is burning down. Don't throw the dog a chip, run to the kitchen and put it out. One more thing – don't jump on moving cars when you're drunk. It's not clever and the road is much tougher than your skull.
VH: Thank you Simon.  In the morning, he’s struggling to remember. By the evening, he’s struggling to survive. John Smith’s risk avoidance policy just expired!
Waking up beside the gorgeous Savannah Jones, John is shocked to learn she was for hire, and he can’t pay the price - a thousand pounds or broken legs. In desperation, he turns to best friend, Mark, for the money. Only one problem - Mark has a dagger in his back.
John and Savannah are plunged into a dangerous world where wits and adrenaline are their only weapons and trust in each other their only certainty. As the body count mounts, they discover Mark wasn’t the person John thought, and his terrifying invention may well end up killing thousands, John and Savannah included.
A race to recover the missing invention pits the unlikely pairing against ex-SAS psychopath, Gregory Fisher, a man who will stop at nothing and kill anyone in his way to wreak revenge against the Government who stole his livelihood.
When Smith and Jones team up, the result is explosive.
Ethan Justice: Origins is a fast-paced, action-packed, character-driven thriller, guaranteed to make you laugh out loud, cringe, cry and cheer.
This book contains a few violent scenes, a dash of sex and the odd bit of bad language, so please don't buy it if you are easily offended.
 Simon Jenner is a man whose goal in life is to discover his goal in life. He lives with his wife, who keeps his dream alive and his stomach tight against his trousers; his son, a dreamer just like his dad; and a dog who receives fuss like he’s the one doing the favour.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Once again I am delighted to have A.J. Walkley on Three Questions. You may recall that she is the author of Queer Greer and Choice. Her latest work is in progress: Vuto.
VH Okay A.J. let's get into it. If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?
A.J. The one thing I would change is the way women are treated in certain cultures. During my time in Malawi, Africa, with the U.S. Peace Corps, I was privy to what I consider some pretty outrageous customs that women were primarily forced to succumb to -- puberty and birthing rites, wife inheritance. Genital mutilation, while not practiced in Malawi any longer, is still a reality for women in many other countries. Part of the reason I wrote my third novel, Vuto, was to raise more awareness about these traditions. In my book, the protagonist and title character becomes fed up with the cultural rule that prevents a father from acknowledging his child until they have survived past two weeks of life; if they do not, the mother and women of the village bury the child and it is forgotten. When Vuto's third child dies before the two-week mark, she forces her husband to look at the child, leading to her banishment. A Peace Corps volunteer tries to help her, taking her in. When Vuto's husband finds out she has not truly left, he goes to the volunteer's home in the night. In an effort to protect Vuto, the volunteer kills her husband, leading the two women to flee. It is my hope that people will read this book and understand what life might be like for women in Africa.
VH If you had two years left to live from this moment, what would you change about your life?
A.J. I would dedicate as many waking hours as possible to writing. I want to leave behind a whole slew of books -- I swear I have a new idea for a full-fledged novel daily. I'd probably move back home, lock myself in my room for 12 hours a day, and hopefully die with five or six more novels under my belt!
VH If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself?
A.J. I would tell myself not to worry, your dream of becoming a published author will come true! As it stands at 28 years of age, I already have two novels out in the world -- Choice and Queer Greer -- and a third on its way. I am actually seeking funding this very month through my Kickstarter campaign to raise enough money to see Vuto through to fruition later this year. VH It is an absolute pleasure to hear back from you A.J. Thank you.If anyone is interested in contributing to Vuto they may do so HERE. No donation is too small.
 A.J. Walkley is the author of such titles as Choice and Queer Greer. Based in Arizona, she currently blogs for The Huffington Post. Walkley has served as a health volunteer for the United States Peace Corps in Malawi, Africa, teaching villagers how to protect themselves from contracting HIV; this experience inspired her to write her third book, Vuto.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today I welcome James Wilcox again. He is back for more. For those that are not acquainted with Mr. Wilcox, allow me to introduce you to his work: Sex, Lies, and the Classroom, The M-16 Agenda, and Musings of a Particular Bear: A Poetry Collection. His new book Miracle Child will be released on March 25, 2013.
VH: What is the number one lie you tell yourself? How is that working out?
JW: Probably the number one lie I tell myself is that I will start my diet tomorrow. It is a lie, because I still haven’t started the diet. I know I need to get into shape and lose some weight (okay maybe a lot of weight), but it is so much easier to put it off a day, a week, a month, whatever. I promise that I am going to start the diet tomorrow. Really, I mean it this time. Is that chocolate cake? Oh, never mind.
VH: Oh James I understand completely. Most of us are up against that one. After a difficult day what do you do to recuperate? Does it work?
JW: After a difficult day, the number one thing I do to recuperate is spend time with my children. They are such miracles. They always manage to make me smile and bring joy back into my day. The other thing I like to do to recuperate is to grab my laptop and write. Although writing can be stressful and frustrating, it also keeps me sane. It is my relaxation. So far, it is working pretty well as I now have three kids and four books.
VH: If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable?
JW: If a zombie virus took over the world, I am toast. I probably wouldn’t make it an entire day. As a teacher, I am surrounded by people all day long and I figure one of my students would infect me before I even knew about the zombie apocalypse. If my students didn’t get me, my own kids probably would. Not much I could do to postpone the inevitable. Even if I didn’t get infected by my students, I am sure they would enjoy trying to eat my brain.
VH: Thank you James. 
James P. Wilcox is the author of Miracle Child, two novels – Sex, Lies, and the Classroom and The M-16 Agenda – and Musings of a Particular Bear: A Poetry Collection. James, a former newspaper photographer and writer, is currently a high school teacher in the Kansas City area, where he lives with his wife and three children.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today I welcome Rhoda Baxter author of Having a Ball.
VH: Hello Rhoda, for what are you grateful?
RB: Apart from the obvious things (my family, my health, my job etc) the thing I’m most grateful for is the NHS (the National Health Service). In the UK we have a health service that will treat anyone, regardless of who they are, at the point of need, for free. There’s a lot of nonsense written about the NHS (Death panels?? I mean, really? Who came up with that one?). It is over stretched, underfunded, under staffed and yet it works. It works because there is a fundamental mindset among the staff that says – this person is ill. We will do our best to help them.
My elderly mother and my very young daughter both owe their lives to the excellent care they received (and continue to receive) from the NHS. So thank you NHS. I’m grateful you exist.
VH: If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?
RB: Transport. I’d make teleportation possible. Think of all the time we’d save by simply zipping from one place to another without having to walk/run/drive to get there. Failing that, I would change the transport system so that there were fewer roads that required cars and more trains. Travelling by car is so BORING. Trains are much more fun. You get to sit and read, or walk around. And there’s always the possibility that you might accidentally end up in Hogwarts.
VH: What is the number one lie you tell yourself? How is that working out?
RB: You can have your cake and eat it. Turns out this is not possible. I keep eating my cake and then finding I don’t have it anymore.
VH: Good one! Pleasure Rhoda. Thank you. :)
 Rhoda Baxter lives in the north of England, where she works a day job and writes romantic comedy when her kids are asleep. She is a member of the US Romantic Novelists Association and her first novel was shortlisted for the RNA new writer’s award. She has a Biochemistry degree from Oxford. She wanted to study English, but her parents suggested she should do science (to get a Real Job) and pursue her love of literature in her ‘spare time’. Which, funnily enough, is what she ended up doing. So it turns out her parents were right. Again. How irritating.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today I welcome Tony Miller author of I'll See You In Your Dreams.
VH: If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?
TM: To think and speak in specifics not generalizations. Men are _____is always untrue, women are _____is always untrue, and people are _____is always untrue. Specifically which man…which woman? Generalizations are evil, including that one.
VH: When you put it like that, yes, I can see how generalizations can be harmful. If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass on to yourself?
TM: I loved being seven years old! I recall it being the best time. I was so optimistic at seven. Back then happiness consisted of learning, accomplishing, and realizing something. I remember a neighbor lady teaching me how to plant a seed. When it grew into a bush I recall her saying I had a green thumb. I felt a great since of accomplishment and pride in myself. I would say the advice I would pass on to myself is to listen and learn from those who have traveled before you that have gained wisdom.
VH: At what age were you the happiest? What triggered such joy?
TM: Again I would say seven years old. An older, wiser person taught me how to do something and I realized I had gained a skill. I loved the fact that I had gained wisdom and that I had made my mentor very happy. When you succeed, you help all those that help you succeed. This gave me great joy.
VH: Indeed. Thank you Tony. 
 Bio:
Tony Miller started the pursuit of his dreams in Texas at the age of 17. He wrote poems and a third of a novel that got lost over time. At 21 Tony moved to California to become a hairstylist. He dreamed of styling the hair of celebrities and owning his own successful business. Tony fulfilled those dreams and more.
Throughout the years he listened to his many clients’ points of view and enjoyed writing about them and how they overcame the obstacles to their dreams. Tony has always been passionate about research and discovering little known facts that make life what it really is.
Tony hopes to be successful as a writer, so that he may help his friends and his dreams come true. There is an old saying; “get what you want, by helping others get what they want” seems to be true. Writing is a tool for Tony to help others overcome seemingly insurmountable obstacles, and make their dreams come true.
Tony Miller's first novel is "I'll See You In Your Dreams" and he is currently writing the sequel, "Dream Sleuth."
Note from the author:
I love historical novels. So, I wanted to write a novel that used true facts and real science to make a believable story. I wanted my book to help the reader realize that almost impossible obstacles can be overcome and that what seems the end can be a new beginning.
What makes “I’ll See You In Your Dreams” a worthy read is the research behind it. I have spent many years researching psychopaths. I studied their attributes extensively anew to make my antagonist believable. I have a very good bad guy. More importantly, I have very believable protagonists. The characters are based on real people.
The book originated as I sat in my recliner watching ‘The Parallel Universe’ on the History Channel and pondering my first novel. So I combined a love story, ‘The Parallel Universe,’ and a ghost story. I used true stories I have gleaned from my clients in 40 years as a hairstylist. I researched in detail all the historical facts and metaphysical and laws of physics.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today I welcome Mary Ann Bernal, author of The Briton and the Dane novels.
VH: For what are you grateful?
MAB: I’ve always been lucky with my health and vitality. People tell me I don’t look anywhere near my age. In fact, no one has ever guessed my age correctly, so I guess I can’t complain about anything. I walk the treadmill 4 miles a day and keep as active as I can. When I was in Greece last month, I was racing up stairs carved in 300BC while others in the group decided to sit it out. And I have pictures of my feet standing on the ancient steps and Roman roads. How can I not be grateful for this gift?
VH: I think you have me beat. When was the last time you felt alive? I mean really alive!
MAB: Last month, while visiting Greece. The ruins at Ephesus, Corinth, and Philippi, and the burial mound of King Philip, Alexander the Great’s father...and The Acropolis where The Parthenon towers majestically over the city of Athens...and the Porch of the Maidens, and the list goes on! My thousand plus photos, yes the number is correct, are available on my shutterfly webpage, and if anyone is interested in viewing them, they may contact me at www.maryannbernal.com for the url link. The weather was fantastic, the company was terrific, and the Moussaka was to die for!
VH: If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable?
MAB: Oh I’m tough. Come get some, buster!! The Zombie virus would get nowhere near me. I’m from New York!! We survive anything. I’d be like Charlton Heston in the Omega Man – I’d be the Last Woman on Earth. Not a single microbe would get through the door. But if it was inevitable, I would stock up on Advil and extra Listerine and pass the time until doomsday with a nonstop Spartacus: Gods of the Arena marathon with my heartrhrob Gannicus!! What a way to go…VH: You paint quite a picture! Thank you Mary Ann.
 Author Bio:
Mary Ann Bernal, author of The Briton and the Dane novels, is an avid history buff whose area of interest focuses on Ninth Century Anglo-Saxon Britain during the Viking Age. While pursuing a degree in business administration, she managed to fit creative writing classes and workshops into her busy schedule to learn the craft, but it would take decades before her “Erik the Viking” novel was ultimately published.
Mary Ann is also a passionate supporter of the United States military, having been involved with letter writing campaigns and other support programs since Operation Desert Storm. She has appeared on The Morning Blend television show hosted by KMTV, the CBS television affiliate in Omaha, and was interviewed by the Omaha World-Herald for her volunteer work. She has also been a featured author on various reader blogs and promotional sites.
Mary Ann is a New York “expat,” and currently resides in Omaha, Nebraska.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today we speak with aspiring writer Sylvia Stein. She is currently working on her first psychological novel entitled, Battered Mind.
VH: Welcome Sylvia, we may as well get into it. For what are you grateful?
SS: This is one of my favorite questions and since I am a very spiritual and religious person, I am most grateful to God for giving me the best grandparents that anyone could of had. I lost both of them already, my beloved grandmother Consuelo passed away in 2008 and she was 84, and my grandfather who was more like my father sadly passed away last year. They are the reason I was able to live in The United States and make something of my life. They wanted a better life for their own children, and one of them was my mother Catarina. They came from Mexico, and made a life in the united states and worked hard and became U.S. Citizens (well my grandmother was already a citizen since she had been born in The United States). However, they always provided for all of us, and when my mother decided to divorce my dad, she went and lived with them, and we learned about hard work and choosing to do better, no matter how much was staked up against you. I am also grateful for my beloved husband Jeremy, and my three children Paul 7, Michael 6 and Consuelo named after my grandmother. Lastly, I thank God for all he has given me in regards to being able to pursue my dream of becoming a published writer. I am grateful for all the wonderful people I have been able to connect throughout the social media, and authors like Melissa Foster with her paving the way for other authors and aspiring writers. For example with the World Literary Cafe, (WLC Community) Fostering Success, Melissa’s Awesome Support Team and the list goes on and on. Also I am grateful for my Writer’s group on linked in and our mentor Heather Schuldz and so many inspiring authors.
VH: I too am a big fan of WLC. If you could change one thing about our world, what would it be and why?
SS: Wow, this is a very good question, but also a difficult question. However for me right now, if I could change one thing about our world it would be to stop people from making judgments or better yet passing judgement on others. I have seen it happen time and time again. That makes me sad. How so easily we can be swayed to pass judgement and dismiss that person because of the way they look, talk, and especially based upon their social class. The main reason that I state this is because I have relatives that have made some bad judgments from time to time, and the way they are looked upon or even in some families shun for their errors. I am not saying to not have an opinion, all I am saying is try to keep an open mind.
VH: I understand. It is tough sometimes not to make those judgments. After a difficult day what do you do to recuperate? Does it work?
SS: The way I recuperate after a difficult day is by playing music taking time out to write. This always seems to work for me. The reason being is that I get more and more creative depending on the day that I have had. Especially dealing with a job from home, being a mother of three and a wife, things can get pretty hectic. Therefore, writing is music, it is most definitely where I feel I have to recuperate.
 My name is Sylvia Stein and I reside in the town of Fuquay Varina in the City of Raleigh North Carolina with my wonderful husband Jeremy and we have three beautiful children ranging in the ages of Paul 7, Michael 6 and my daughter Consuelo named after my beloved grandmother. I have always loved writing as a kid. From the time I was 10 years old I was always creating my own stories and plays. I also began writing poems during my college years as I earned a Bachelor’s Degree with a major in Spanish and a minor in English. Then I became an educator and taught English for two years in my hometown of Brownsville, Texas.
However in 2003, I moved to Raleigh North Carolina and earned my North Carolina teaching license and taught Spanish for 5 years. Sadly, with the hiring freeze in our County, I later pursued a career in Customer service and I kept putting my real passion for Writing in the back burner. But then in 2009, as I stayed home with my boys and I was pregnant with my daughter, in my limited down time, I began to write again. This is where the idea of my first book entitled, “Battered Mind” was born. I had always written stories here and there, but this has been my first official book, that I wrote all in several composition notebooks and a pen.
I have decided after two years to make this story a trilogy about the journey of the main character. I am grateful to God, my family, friends both past and present and those authors that have become not only mentors but also friends that have really helped in paving the way for all of us. The biggest shout out goes to best selling author Melissa Foster who runs The World Literary Cafe (WLC Community), The Women’s Nest, Fostering Success and the newest one Melissa’s Awesome Support Team of which I am a member.
I have also joined a Writer’s group on linked in- with Heather Schuldz who has been great! I also want to thanks the social media like facebook, twitter and linked in and all my supporters. Writing is my passion and I am going to only continue to improve.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
Today I have Penny Grubb author of Like False Money, The Jawbone Gang and The Doll Makers.
VH: For what are you grateful?
PG: I’m grateful for being born when I was and where I was. A generation earlier and I’d have been constrained by society’s views on women and not been able to have the family and working life I’ve enjoyed. I’m grateful, too, for living in a temperate climate, in an advanced society. I don’t have to worry about where my family’s next meal will come from or whether my home will be swept away in a hurricane. I live in a society where health care is free at the point of delivery and I’m grateful for that, too. My parents lived through ‘interesting times’. My father had travelled 1000s of miles as a refugee before he was five and when he was a young man – younger than my sons are now – he lost his family for two years when war swept through Europe, after which the new political boundaries stopped him ever seeing his mother again. If none of that had happened, I wouldn’t be here. But I don’t feel the need to feel grateful for that. That was just chance. What it comes down to is that I’m grateful to be here.
VH: After a difficult day what do you do to recuperate? Does it work?
PG: I come home. That often does the trick all on its own. If the difficult day means there is fallout to deal with I either deal with it, plan to deal with it or put the detail aside to look at when I need to. The thing I’ve learnt not to do is dwell on bad stuff. I know people who dwell to the extent they refuse to acknowledge happiness because there’s bound to be something bad on the way. I prefer the other side of that coin. Why dwell on bad stuff when there’s always something good on the way? Basically I just leave bad stuff behind me. If and when the time comes to have to face it again, a solution usually presents itself – that’s the magic of the subconscious.
VH: If a zombie virus took over the world, how many days do you think you could last before you were infected? And what would you do to postpone the inevitable?
PG: The way I see it, I can already operate as a zombie at the drop of a hat. When I’m focused on something I’m a bit too good at missing the obvious – the bus that I ought to board, the thug with the knife who I shouldn’t push past, the glass door that I ought to open not just walk right into... I had something else on my mind the time I downloaded One Day to my e-reader and started reading it to see what all the fuss was about. I registered that it was *nothing* like I’d expected, but I was several pages in before I realised the e-reader had done something odd and I was actually reading Treasure Island. I feel that anyone who can mistake Treasure Island for One Day has nothing to fear from a Zombie virus.VH: Thank you Penny.
 The Doll Makers
PI Annie Raymond's dreams of being a successful insurance fraud investigator start to look precarious when she is accused of corruption. She decides that it is time to come clean, both to her aunt who raised her as her own, and to her estranged father, a police sergeant in rural Argyle. However, neither wants to listen. Her father is swamped by a murder enquiry and her aunt is full of conspiracy theories and gossip. Suddenly, news from London has Annie racing south, but the case is not the lifeline she hoped for—or is it? After all, it wouldn't take much to fake the evidence and deliver the miracle. Annie knows she has to clear her head and concentrate, yet echoes from Scotland resonate, and when a witness in London provides a horrifying revelation, the loose ends in her case become entangled with events hundreds of miles north. All at once, Annie realizes that she must get back to her father before it is too late.
--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
 Where There’s Smoke
When Annie’s arch-critic, Barbara Thompson, goes to extraordinary lengths to get her help, Annie doesn’t have to play along, but curiosity wins and she has to know why. It’s when someone gets to Barbara first that Annie realises Barbara was playing a dangerous game. And now it’s too late to walk away. She’s left with guesswork, supposition and the knowledge that whoever silenced Barbara now thinks Annie herself knows too much. Pre-order for only £17.99 including
FREE UK POSTAGECo-authored with Danuta Reah The Writers’ Toolkit – http://www.thewriterstoolkit.blogspot.co.uk/ Both Where There’s Smoke and The Writers’ Toolkit are currently on offer with reduced international postage (and free UK postage) at the above links but can also be obtained through Amazon.
 Penny Grubb is a novelist. She writes a contemporary crime fiction series set in England and Scotland, featuring Private Investigator, Annie Raymond. Penny won the Crime Writers' Association Debut Dagger for her novel, The Doll Makers, and was nominated for the CWA John Creasey Dagger for the first book in the series, Like False Money. The fourth book, Where There’s Smoke, came out in October 2012. A fifth is underway.
Penny’s has had a day job in British universities since the 1980s, and has enjoyed a diverse academic career that started in a Science Faculty, moved through Social Science and Business and now lies in Health Care. She spent a decade at the leading edge of Health Informatics research, but now specializes in teaching and research in active-reading and critical-writing as well as teaching creative writing techniques.
She has a second day job as Chair of the Authors’ Licensing and Collecting Society which is a multi-million pound not-for-profit organisation that collects secondary royalties for writers. With over 85,000 members and growing, it is the largest writers’ organisation in the world.
A writer all her life, Penny wrote her first story at age 4 and won her first writing competition at age 9. She has published in many contexts: academic technical tomes, textbooks, non-fiction, poetry, radio features and newspaper articles as well as her crime novels.
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
VH: If you had two years left to live from this moment, what would you change about your life?
IU: Nothing. So many unplanned events occurred in my life when I was a teen, and I know I don’t want them to happen to my kids. I don’t want them caught unaware. I’m so paranoid about this I’ve told my kids what to do if somehow I died. They know where the investment papers are, they know how they were supposed to finance their lives, and they know they’d be the ones responsible to look after their dad who has disabilities.
VH: After a difficult day what do you do to recuperate? Does it work?
IU: I draw. It helps me unwind. This is the time when I can be with myself without worrying about critics, editors, reviewers, naysayers, or anyone else breathing down my neck. I can get lost in my own world doing something I love, creating beauty as I want it to be, without any dictates and with no obligation to please anyone.
VH:What is the worst advice you have ever given someone? How did it work out?
IU: “If you want to commit suicide, go ask someone else how to it! I have no experience in this matter.”
This was a young girl of 17, originally one of my old fans. Other fans only wrote once. But she wrote continuously, and I replied because she was a loner and very depressed. Yet no matter how I befriended her, she wouldn’t listen to my advice and kept on winging about nothing and everything. After two years, she wrote to me announcing that she was a lesb and asking for the best method to commit suicide.
How did it work out? Ohh… she didn’t do it.
VH: Whoa that's heavy. Thank you Ia.
 FICTIONALISED TRUE STORIES
Olympic fever runs high in the Australian summer of 1999 and 17-year-old Sydney has caught it. Little does she know taking a holiday job in the beehive that is the Olympics' public-transport call centre will be life altering. Shaken by her parents' divorce, the sheltered Aussie is further plagued by abusive callers, obnoxious government agencies, constrictive office rules, and liberated friends. She is trying to negotiate these challenges as her own personal Olympics when Pete finds her. Pete, Boston's former child prodigy whose soothing voice floats across her workstation, sees through Sydney's tough outer shell. Pete knows what it takes to present a dignified front when all you want to do is howl at the moon. Treating their friendship like an art, he invests time and creative effort to pull Sydney out of her despair.
Tragedy strikes when an accident leaves Pete with a major brain injury in a Boston hospital. When the going gets very, very tough, will you abandon the one who's promised to love you until he dies? Set in Sydney and Boston where heartbreaks are juxtaposed with humour, SYDNEY'S SONG is a young girl's courageous journey to adulthood and a love story. A work of fiction based on real events, this novel with an Australian accent also shows the world that living with disabilities does not prevent a person from attaining happiness.
COMMENTS FROM INDEPENDENT REVIEWERS:
"Strong characters, evocative writing..." (Peter Fitzsimons)
"SYDNEY'S SONG demonstrates the way in which human beings can thrive under adversity using the power of their hearts and wills." (Matt Posner)
CREDITS:
Literary editor: Irina Dunn
Illustrations: Ia Uaro (vignettes), Alexandra Davidoff (portraits), Abbir and Will Belacqua (additional drawing)
Trailer music: Michael Maas
 Ia Uaro is an Australian author.
She was born in the beautiful and remote, world's widest tea plantation by Mount Kerinci in Sumatra where her dad was the plantation's accountant, her mum a teacher. Her dad died when Ia was 13, and Ia moved across the ocean.
She proceeded to become the busiest teen ever: playing in a drum band, tutoring maths, learning languages including English as the fifth language, and, at 17, a teen magazine published Ia's first fiction as a serial. Inundated by her fans' letters, the publisher printed it as a book, which was subsequently bought by the Indonesian Department of Education for high-school libraries.
Ia used the proceeds to help fund her university studies, during which time she was active in aero-modelling, martial arts, mountaineering, speleology... and studied petroleum seismology among her music-playing friends. After her graduation Ia worked with French, Norwegian and American geophysical companies, besides being a volunteer translator.
In Sydney since 1995, Ia is a mum who does several kinds of volunteer work for the community, assesses manuscripts, and writes real-life socio-fiction.
Her husband, who suffers permanent partial brain damage, says Ia now sleep-talks in English.
Part of SYDNEY'S SONG's proceeds will be donated to the Brain Foundation.Need more Ia Uaro?TwitterFacebook
Welcome to Three Questions with Van Heerling. This is where you get to meet authors, actors, painters and anyone else that is bent toward the arts, but on a more personal level.
I am thrilled to have artist and writer Tracy Pittman on Three Questions.
VH: Tracy, if you had two years left to live from this moment, what would you change about your life?
TP: I think that I would quit stalling. By that, I mean start living. When you're young you have dreams and you're biting at the bit to conquer the world, but as you grow older you realize that the world fights back and not only does it fight back, but it's bigger, meaner, and pretty much a bully. You end up hunkering down in a corner just fighting off the wolves. While I would want to spend as much time with my family as possible, I'd also want to break free and see some of the world (the only time I was out of TX was when I was too young to remember it). I want to stand where Michelangelo stood in the Sistine Chapel. I want to hear the rush of a waterfall and run through a field of wild flowers. Stand atop of a mountain or canoe down a river, but most of all I want to walk through a real castle (laugh at me if you will, but it's always been a childhood dream of mine). I think that I would dare to dream and actually have the courage to chase after it. I might even finish this freakin' novel. lol!
VH: I think you should find the castle you most want to visit, book a November flight and start pressing your shoes against those castle steps.
If you could go back in time to when you were seven years old, what wisdom or advice would you pass onto yourself?
TP: When I was young, somewhere around that age, I saw my brother drawing from a magazine. I looked over his shoulder and saw a turtle and...hmm...I can't remember what the other picture was, but it was a drawing contest. One that appeared in most magazines back then. You draw one of the pictures and send it in to see if you were talented enough to go to art school. Anyway, when my brother was done with it, I drew the turtle and then ran to my mother so she could mail it in for me. To my shock, she wadded it up and said that they wouldn't take cheaters. I was crushed when she wouldn't believe that I didn't trace it. I seldom ever drew again after that. My advice to myself would be--that it was all right. Know who you are and what you can do. Never give up on what you love because of someone else's actions or reactions. Believe in yourself when no one else does, because only you can make your dreams come true.
VH: Absolutely heartbreaking. I am happy to see that you continued with the arts despite that experience.
After a difficult day what do you do to recuperate? Does it work?
TP: Well, when I come home from a ten-hour shift at work, my cats greet me at the door. They meow and glare at me until I feed them and change their cat litter and then I trip over them, all the way into the kitchen. Oh wait, what was the question again? Right, well if it's a night shift, then I fix me a nice cup of coffee and then hit the computer to see what my friends were up to all day at Absolute Write, Twitter, and Facebook. And then, depending on my mood, I either watch a movie, read, draw, listen to music (this includes some of Bob Marley and Eric Clapton) and paint. All of those things are very relaxing to me and help me forget my aching feet and back. Plus a dear friend sent me a foot spa! And for a while I can escape this world. Around three or four in the morning, I start my second job--writing. This could go either way...relaxing/headbanging. A lot of coffee is involved. lol.
VH: You have great taste when it comes to music.
Thank you Tracy.
 Tracy Pittman resides in Texas where she writes horror, science fiction, and fantasy at night. During the day she works forty-hours a week as Head of Dept. at a drug store. She has written several short stories and is currently working on an apocalyptic/horror novel called, One Of Us. Tracy is also an artist and when not writing, she spends her time doing sketches, oil paintings, and ink drawings.
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