author feature – Orca Book Publishers

Author Feature: Deb Loughead

October 11, 2017 No Comments

In Payback, Dylan O’Connor is in trouble again. While riding his bike home after dark, he has a run-in with a truck but doesn’t give it a second thought until police show up at his door the next day. CCTV cameras put Dylan at the scene of a crime, and when the police question him, Dylan realizes he was an inadvertent witness. But he doesn’t tell them the driver of the truck was Jeff Walker, a nasty piece of work. Dylan knows it’s in his best interests to keep his mouth shut. Then he starts […]

Author Interviews

Author Feature: Gail-Anderson Dargatz

October 3, 2017 No Comments

In From Scratch, Cookie is about to lose her job at the local bakery. She dreams of owning her own bakery but doesn’t think she has the skills or money to do it. Most of all, she doesn’t have the self-confidence. When she takes a course at the local college, she finds she has much more going for her than she imagined. With the help of her community, she figures out how to make sure no one has to go without her famous doily cookies for long! What planning and research did you do […]

Author Interviews

Author Feature: Natasha Deen

September 19, 2017 No Comments

Rookie detectives Lark and Connor Ba are back on the case! When a pair of diamond earrings goes missing from the neighborhood general store, Lark and Connor just happen to be in the right place at the right time. Carefully mining the adults for clues, the twin sleuths work together to solve the mystery. Lark and the Diamond Caper is the second title in the Lark Ba Detective series, following Lark Holds the Key. What planning and research did you do for you book? Well, of course, the General Store carries all *kinds* of groceries, […]

Author Interviews

Author Feature: Trudee Romanek

October 20, 2015 No Comments

#TuesdayTalk with Trudee Romanek. Trudee’s first book with Orca, Raising the Stakes, is part of the Orca Limelights series and launched on October 13, 2015. What are the challenges or perks of writing for a middle school audience? In books for young adults, we’re really trying to tackle some soul-searching questions—what’s the difference between right and wrong in a given situation, for example. The hope is that we can help kids examine their own thoughts on various issues as they struggle with some of these grey areas growing up. That means as writers we revisit these […]

Author Interviews

Author Feature: Reed Farrel Coleman

March 3, 2015 No Comments

#TuesdayTalk with Reed Farrel Coleman. Reed’s new novel, The Boardwalk, launched this February and is part of the Rapid Reads series of mystery novels featuring P.I. Gulliver Dowd. Reed, do you have a writing ritual? How do you get motivated to write? Coffee, paper, emails, write. Basketball, shower, lunch, write. Rest, dinner, write. Motivation? Getting paid. Have you had an strange job in a past life? I drove a home heating oil delivery truck for many years. Carrying a gun doesn’t make you tough. Delivering oil in sub zero temperatures and snow and rain. That’s tough. […]

Author Interviews

Author Feature: Gabrielle Prendergast

February 17, 2015 No Comments

#TuesdayTalk with Gabrielle Prendergast. Gabrielle’s forthcoming novel, The Frail Days, launches this April and is part of the Orca Limelights series for kids who love the performing arts. Gabrielle, how did you first know you wanted to become a writer? I started my first novel when I was ten (I still have it!). For a long time I thought everyone made up stories the way I do, but now I know that’s not true. Where do you get your story ideas from? A better question would be where DON’T I get my story ideas from? […]