March 2024 – Page 2 – Andrew Careaga

Friday Five: Q&A with psychological thriller novelist Nicky Shearsby

Nicky Shearsby, author of Darkridge Hollow and other psychological thrillers

Continuing this blog’s celebration of women writers throughout Women’s History Month, I’m thrilled to introduce readers to Nicky Shearsby, an author of dark psychological horror thrillers. Nicky is active on X (@Nickyshearsby22), where she frequently engages with other writers and shares encouragement and wisdom. Her latest novel, Darkridge Hollow, is available now in ebook (Kindle) and hardback formats, with the paperback version coming out May 28 but available for pre-order. Born in England, she spent two decades running graphic design, magazine publishing, and skin care manufacturing businesses before pursuing the writing life in earnest after early retirement in 2020.

‘You can do something extraordinary’

‘… if you have the opportunity to work on your gifts, it seems like a crime not to.’

I’ve played the guitar, on and off, since age 14, when I first picked up a well-word acoustic with a bowed neck for $10 because I wanted to learn how to play the opening to Led Zeppelin’s classic, “Stairway to Heaven.” (This was in the mid-1970s, long before the ditty became labeled as the forbidden riff supposedly banned from guitar stores the world over.)

‘American Fiction’ and what stories get told

Who gets to decide which novels are made accessible to the broader public?

Among the Academy Award nominees for best picture that got trampled by the Oppenheimer juggernaut was “American Fiction,” a movie about writers, writing and the publishing business. The movie has a lot to say about the state of publishing and its gatekeeping function. Who gets to decide which novels are made accessible to the broader public? By extension, the movie’s message also applies to other art forms, and to the business of marketing and promoting books, films, music, and other works of art.

“American Fiction” trailer

Friday Five: Q&A with poet Agnes Vojta

‘You don’t need anybody’s permission to be a poet. You just need to love it.’

Continuing this blog’s celebration of women authors throughout Women’s History Month, and furthering my desire to use this platform to highlight other authors, I’m delighted today to share this email interview with Agnes Vojta, a poet who happens to live in my neck of the woods here in Missouri and who also happens to teach physics at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

A native of Germany, Agnes is the author of three books of poetry — Porous Land, The Eden of Perhaps, and A Coracle for Dreams — all published by Spartan Press in 2019, 2020, and 2022, respectively. More recently, she and eight other poets from Missouri and Arkansas collaborated to create the anthology Wild Muse: Ozarks Nature Poetry, published in December 2022 by Cornerstone Press. Agnes also serves as an associate editor for Thimble Literary Magazine and hosts Poetry at the Pub, a local reading and open mic event. She and her husband, Thomas, a professor and chair of physics at Missouri S&T, are avid hikers and kayakers who share their passion for the outdoors and information about Ozarks trails and more at RollaHiking.info.

Celebrating women writers

“Indeed, I would venture to guess that Anon, who wrote so many poems without signing them, was often a woman.“
Virginia Woolf, “A Room of One’s Own” (source)

Today is the first Monday of Women’s History Month, held each March to recognize and celebrate the achievements of women throughout U.S. history. Reflecting on Virginia Woolf’s comment, and how women have long been overshadowed in the world of literature (among other fields), I’m using today’s post to highlight a few of the women writers whose work has influenced my writing and thinking in recent years.