Author Spotlight

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Author Spotlight: Alma Alexander

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Alma Alexander

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Alma Alexander’s life so far has prepared her very well for her chosen career. She was born in a country which no longer exists on the maps, has lived and worked in seven countries on four continents (and in cyberspace!), has climbed mountains, dived in coral reefs, flown small planes, swum with dolphins, touched two-thousand-year-old tiles in a gate out of Babylon. She is a novelist, anthologist and short story writer who … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Michael Stephens

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Michael Stephens

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Michael Stephens spent a career as an innovator, building new products for startups, small businesses and large corporations. He’s now turned his creative energies to writing sci-fi comedies, “because the world needs more funny!” Thanks so much, Michael, for joining me! J. Scott Coatsworth: How would you describe your writing style/genre? Michael Stephens: I write sci-fi comedies, so speculative fiction that is tech-centric and includes healthy doses of humor and satire. I think … Read more

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Author Spotlight: J.C. Owens

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J.C. Owens

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: J. C. Owens – author of gay fantasy and romance! I had my first book published back in 2007. Back then I was writing under the name J. C. McGuire with a story of Arthurian Briton, with “My Name is Aelida”, a m/f title that spanned four books. Then I wrote an Alexander/Hephaistion book, “Shadow of the Sun”. I loved writing their story so much that I switched to the male/male genre … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Jaye C. Watts

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Jaye C. Watts

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: JAYE C. WATTS (he/they) is a queer and trans sci-fi author writing LGBTQ+ science fiction, living on LÉ™k̓ʷəŋən territory in Victoria, BC, Canada. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Sociology, with a minor in Technology and Society, as well as a diploma in Professional Recording Arts from the Art Institute of Vancouver. When he isn’t writing, Jaye can be found falling down rabbit holes of all kinds thanks to an unquenchable curiosity … Read more

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Author Spotlight: JT Fader

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JT Fader

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: JT Fader is the fantasy and paranormal pen name of queer, bigender author Leigh Jarrett (she/he). Writing MM+ romance with a speculative twist, JT Fader explores magical worlds, supernatural beings, and otherworldly love stories filled with emotion, grit, and passion. Their work blends the fantastical with deep character connection, featuring queer protagonists on transformative journeys. Based on Vancouver Island, JT Fader brings the same heart and authenticity found in Leigh Jarrett’s contemporary … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Allan Dyen-Shapiro

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Allan Dyen-Shapiro

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Allan Dyen-Shapiro is a Ph.D. biochemist whose non-linear career has taken him through the worlds of science and education and left him with many stories to tell. He finished his first novel and is looking for an agent/publisher. Short stories in addition to those in anthologies/journal issues available on Amazon can be read or are linked from his website: allandyenshapiro.com. You can also access his blog from the website, which focuses on … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Siobhan Muir

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Siobhan Muir

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Siobhan Muir lives in Cheyenne, Wyoming, with her husband, two daughters, a kitten who thinks he’s a dog, a cat who’s not impressed with him, and the dog who just wants to go for a walk. In previous lives, Siobhan has been an actor at the Colorado Renaissance Festival, a field geologist in the Aleutian Islands, and restored inter-planetary imagery at the USGS. She’s hiked to the top of Mount St. Helens … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Jaques Smit

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Jaques Smit

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Jaques Smit was born in Rundu Namibia, grew up in South Africa, lived in Asia and Europe working as a game developer before settling with his family in Wellington, New Zealand. While working as a production manager for PikPok, he became a master transformational coach and now supports leaders in creating effective teams. Jaques writes fantasy laced with Positive Psychology, aspiring to create compelling stories that touches the reader. And where better … Read more

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Author Spotlight: Daniel Lawrence Abrams

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Daniel Lawrence Abrams

Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work. Today: Daniel Lawrence Abrams grew up in NYC, attended Trinity School, and then graduated from Stuyvesant High School. He got his BA in Psychology from the University of Michigan. The 3-D input device he invented earned US Patent # 5,652,603. Abrams trained in comedy writing at The Second City and The Groundlings. He used to perform stand-up at The Improv in LA and The Comedy Cellar in NYC. As a playwright, Abrams’s stage … Read more

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Point of View – The Copyright Jungle

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copyright - deposit photos

The recent Anthropic AI settlement has me thinking a lot about copyright. I’m in the US, and we can register our works with the US copyright office. It’s not hugely expensive – about $45 if you do it before publication and $65 if you do it after the fact. But US copyright law also says that if you indicate that a work is copyrighted – by including a copyright page – then you are covered by copyright protections without having to formally register. So it’s not always been necessary to do the paid registration to enjoy copyright protection in the … Read more