November 11 – 17: “What are the advantages of using new media to bridge readers with authors?”

We have a full house this week with ITW members Cat Connor, Tori Eldridge, David Simms, Nick Kolakowski, Avanti Centrae, Randall Krzak, Erica Wright, Lisa de Nikolits, T. G. Wolff and Lee Gimenez discussing new media: What are the advantages of using new media to bridge readers with authors? Keep your notebooks handy and scroll down to the “comments” section to follow along!

Cat Connor is a multi-published crime thriller author. She’s best known for her bestselling Byte Series novels, which follow the antics and life of SA Ellie Conway. Why crime? Why not? She’s the first to toss out the warning: be careful or you’ll end up in my novel (gutted by my pen). The DIY kiwi attitude gives Cat’s work a distinct flavor and is in fact why she started writing—if you can’t find what you want, create it. She’s also co-director and co-founder of Writers Plot bookshop: The only bookshop in the world that only stocks Kiwi authors.

Tori Eldridge is a Honolulu-born thriller writer who challenges perspective and empowers the spirit. Her debut novel, THE NINJA DAUGHTER, is the first book in the Lily Wong Ninja Mystery Series and was inspired by her debut short story featured in Suspense Magazine’s Best of 2014. Other short stories have been published in several anthologies. Tori’s screenplay The Gift earned a semi-finalist place for the prestigious Academy Award Nicholl Fellowship. Tori holds a fifth-degree black belt in To-Shin Do ninjutsu and has traveled the USA teaching seminars on the ninja arts, weapons, and women’s self-protection.

Randall Krzak is a US Army veteran and retired senior civil servant, spending almost 30 years in Europe, Africa, Central America, and the Middle East. His residency abroad qualifies him to build rich worlds in his action-adventure novels and short stories. Familiar with customs, laws, and social norms, he promotes these to create authentic characters and scenery.

Erica Wright’s latest crime novel is Famous in Cedarville. Her debut The Red Chameleon was one of O: The Oprah Magazine’s Best Books of Summer 2014. She is also the author of the poetry collections Instructions for Killing the Jackal and All the Bayou Stories End with Drowned. She is the poetry editor at Guernica Magazine as well as a former editorial board member for Alice James Books. Her interest in crime writing began while teaching English at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She grew up in Wartrace, TN, and now lives in Washington, DC, with her husband and their dog Penny.

Lee Gimenez is the award-winning author of 15 books, including his highly-acclaimed J. T. Ryan series. His latest mystery is CROSSFIRE, a J. T. Ryan Thriller. Lee is a nominee for the 2019 Author Academy Award and was a multi-year nominee for the Georgia Author of the Year Award. He was also a Finalist in the prestigious Terry Kay Prize for Fiction. All of his books are available in paperback and e-book versions in the US and Internationally. Lee served as an officer in the US Army and during his business management career worked for several Fortune 500 companies. He is a graduate of Georgia Tech University and later received his MBA. Please join him on Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and LinkedIn.

Lisa de Nikolits is the international award-winning author of nine novels (Inanna Publications). No Fury Like That was published in Italian as Una furia dell’altro mondo. Her short fiction and poetry have also been published in various international anthologies and journals. She is a member of the Mesdames of Mayhem, the Crime Writers of Canada, Sisters in Crime, The Australian Crime Writers, SMFS and the International Thriller Writers. Originally from South Africa, Lisa de Nikolits lives and writes in Toronto.

Avanti Centrae is the author of the international award-winning VanOps thriller series. The Lost Power took home a genre grand prize ribbon at the Chanticleer International Book Awards, and an Honorable Mention at the 2018 Hollywood Book Festival. Her work has been compared to that of James Rollins, Steve Berry, Dan Brown, and Clive Cussler. She resides in Northern California with her family and German Shepherds.

David Simms lives in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia, working as a special education teacher, college English instructor, counselor, music therapist, ghost tour guide, book reviewer, and co-foundeder the Killer Thriller/Slushpile Band. He has sold several horror, mystery, and weird short stories to various anthologies. DARK MUSE is his MG/YA crossover that ventures into musical dark fantasy and celebrates the many students who’ve changed his life. FEAR THE REAPER is a thriller about horrors of the eugenics movement in America in 1933.

Nick Kolakowski is the author of Boise Longpig Hunting Club, the Love & Bullets series of crime novellas, and the short story collection Somebody’s Trying to Kill Me. His short crime fiction has appeared in Thuglit, Shotgun Honey, Plots with Guns, and various anthologies. He lives and writes in New York City.

T. G. Wolff writes thrillers and mysteries that play within the gray area between good and bad, right and wrong. Cause and effect drive the stories, drawing from twenty-plus years’ experience in civil engineering, where “cause” is more often a symptom of a bigger, more challenging problem. Diverse characters mirror the complexities of real life and real people, balanced with a healthy dose of entertainment. T. G. Wolff holds a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering and is a member of Mystery Writers of America and Sisters in Crime.