Welcome to WOLF NOTES, where interview questions stray from the rest of the pack. It’s nice to know the usual stuff like where an author gets their inspiration and why they write, but sometimes we need a little fun in our lives.
Nancy Alexander devoted her professional life to helping those in need. As a psychotherapist, she provided intensive, reconstructive psychotherapy to those recovering from childhood trauma; as a mental health educator, she developed and delivered comprehensive mental health staff training programs; as the chair of the Maryland Social Work Coalition, she advocated for healthcare, mental health and social justice reforms in Maryland.
In 2017, she and her colleague, Linda Ciotola developed, recorded and launched a comprehensive online training series in Psychodrama, a reparative, expressive treatment modality. The training program can be found at www.ac-ts.com.
Nancy launched her career as an author in 2015. Five of her short stories have been selected for publication in Literary Magazines; three of her novels are available online and she has recorded seven audiobooks. Her most recent novel, Twisted Realms is available in paperback and kindle version, that audiobook will be released shortly.
She is currently working on her 4th novel, Sun Runner. Nancy has been publishing independently and has formed her own production company, NJA Productions.
Her blogs and her novella, entitled Elisabeth, can be found on her website at www.nancyjalexander.com
Wolf: Wow. You’ve been very busy the past few years. If you could be any animal in the universe, what would it be and why?
Nancy: A wolf. Wolves are smart, confident and loyal pack animals. Wolf packs coordinate well with each other, care for their cubs collectively and have a high level of respect for pack hierarchy.
Wolf: Thank you. I’m a big fan of wolves myself, for obvious reasons. If you had to pick a weapon, what would it be and why?
Nancy: I’d pick my body as a weapon… skilled in the martial arts. I’d always have my weapon with me and be strong enough, well trained enough to fight most foes. The advantage would be surprise, because no attacker would ever suspect I have these many skills.
Wolf: Remind me not to startle you in a dark alley. What is the nicest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Nancy: Let them be themselves. I work to create characters who are authentic and internally valid. Once they are created I let them take the lead in the story and support their needs, instincts, conflicts and emotional complexity.
Wolf: Super. I’ve always said people should be who they are. What is the meanest thing you’ve ever done to your characters?
Nancy: Superimpose my will on them or misunderstand them. My writing works better if, once characters are created, I respect who they are and let them do the things that each particular individual would actually do.
Wolf: You’ve just been turned into a plant. Describe yourself.
Nancy: I am amazing, full of color, movement, beauty and grace. My flower blossoms are like the hibiscus plant but they cluster around one another forming complex patterns of splashing orange, yellow and red. I am tall and willowy; I stretch high into the sky like Jack’s beanstalk, moving past the clouds, flowing with the breeze; I reach toward the sun.
Wolf: Don’t go too close to the sun. You could get burned. Do you consider yourself a cat person, or a dog person?
Nancy: I am both. I love all creatures domesticated, wild, farm, aquatic. I have had the pleasure of having many different species through the years of my long life and recognize the gifts each species has brought into my life.
I see cats as living sculptures who bring beauty, warmth and love into my world. Their cuddling warmth, calming purr and soft touchable fur, make them unique family members. They can also bring a sprinkling of chaos. Cats are to be loved, respected, admired and appreciated.
Dogs bring their pack mentality into my world, they are responsive, joyful, and intelligent; dogs move in concert with me bridging the gap between the inside and outside of the home.
My dogs wanted to be with me, listen to me and be one with me. They have loved me as I have loved them. They were my dearest friends.
Wolf: There is a door at the end of a dark, damp corridor. You hear rumbling. What do you do?
Nancy: First I’d hide so I could evaluate the sound. Once I knew what it was I would decide whether to run away, stay hidden, call for help or fight. Hopefully by the time I was in this corridor, I’d have my ‘weaponized body’ ready to deal with whatever opened that door!
Wolf: Which of your characters is your favorite?
Nancy: The title character in my Elisabeth Reinhardt series is a fav in that series. She and I are a lot alike, especially when in our therapist role.
As to bad guys in that series, I’d have to say it’s Jake. He’s sociopathy to its core.
In my Olive Grove Series, my fav is Rafi… though he and Ari were identical, I like Rafi’s personality. Their twin-ship is always a pleasure.
Wolf: What story are you working on now?
Nancy: I’m working on my 4th novel, the 2nd in the Olive Grove series called Sun Runner. It’s action-packed, fast-paced, complicated and filled with exciting ‘spy’ things.
Wolf: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
Nancy: I have a small private psychotherapy practice and provide consultation services to other therapists. A colleague and I have developed an online training series in a reparative, expressive treatment modality called Psychodrama. Our training series is available online at www.ac-ts.com.
I maintain a blog that leans toward social/political commentary on my website @ www.nancyjalexander.com
I am the president of the Maryland Writers Association, Howard County Chapter; I go to the gym and I see my children and grandchildren as often as possible.
Wolf: Thanks for stopping by. You can learn more about Nancy Alexander by visiting these links.
https://www.facebook.com/NJAProductions
https://twitter.com/njaproduction
D.L. (Dee Leana) Carter was decanted from her incubation pod in the outback of Australia many decades ago. This terrifying event was closely followed by shrieks of “there, there it goes. Hit it with a brick!”
M.J. Patrick was born in Sacramento CA to a military family. She lived in faraway places such as Taiwan and Alaska. Today she lives in the Baltimore Washington metropolitan area. M. J. is an avid reader and video game enthusiast. She is ferocious in her determination to win. Her middle son shamed her into writing her first novel after he had written his.
Ted Weber has pursued writing and music since childhood, and learned filmmaking and screenwriting in college, along with a little bit of physics. Trapped at home during the “Snowmageddon” of 2010, he transformed those interests into novel writing, and has been honing his skills ever since. His first published novel, a near-future cyberpunk thriller titled Sleep State Interrupt (See Sharp Press), was a finalist for the 2017 Compton Crook award for best first science fiction, fantasy, or horror novel. The first sequel, The Wrath of Leviathan, is coming out in Sep. 2018. He is working on the final installment of the trilogy, among other things, and seeks a home for an alternate history thriller titled Born in Salt, about a rural youth forced into terrible choices by a fascist government.
Ted: Depends on the situation. In an interstellar battle, it would be hard to stop the Death Star. Here on earth, a suit of powered armor, like the Iron Man Mk. III. If confined to current tech, the Lorica suits are pretty cool. Combine that with an assault rifle and a katana. And in a zombiepocalypse, you’d need something low-tech, quiet, and durable, like a flanged mace or a crowbar.
Heather Cumiskey is a freelance writer and editor. She studied English at the State University of New York at Albany. I Like You Like This is her debut novel and the first book in a young adult duology about addiction, sexuality, peer pressure, and first love. It is a bronze recipient of the 2017 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards and a USA Best Book Awards Finalist. Heather resides in Maryland with her husband and three sons. You can visit her at 
Heather: Hannah and Deacon, equally. Their stories break my heart and I just want them to come out the other side and be ok.
After 35 years peering into the future in his many Star Trek stories, New York Times bestselling author Howard Weinstein turns to historical fiction in Galloway’s Gamble, his new novel from Five Star Publishing.
So, I decided to write about the past, hoping to find some useful perspective on today’s world, and tomorrow’s. The first of what I hope will be several historical novels is GALLOWAY’S GAMBLE, an epic tale of two young brothers (Jamey and Jake Galloway) who grow up in 1850s Texas to become gamblers. After a variety of adventures, with fortunes won and lost, they come home to find their hometown threatened by wealthy cattle baron Wilhelm Krieg and shady banker Silas Atwood – forcing Jamey and Jake to cook up with a scheme to outfox the bad guys, without getting themselves killed. It’s a timeless David vs. Goliath tale about battling greed and corruption, as relevant today as in 1873. With high stakes and serious themes, GALLOWAY’S GAMBLE is also lots of fun.
Donna Milward lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with two cats and a troll. She’s dabbled in writing since grade two, but it wasn’t until an RWA conference in 2009 that she found the knowledge and tools she needed to tell the world about her dreams. Donna considers herself a feminist, a spiritual person, an insomniac, and an unabashed crazy cat lady. Despite her canning, gardening, and fishing hobbies, she much prefers city life.
Stephanie: WITH ANGEL’S WINGS, along with the epilogue and blog included on the book’s website, pretty much sum up who I am. I am a mother of four. Catherine (“Emily” in the book), 25, has high-functioning autism with mild to moderate cognitive delay. Sarah (“Hannah” in the book), 22, has a rare genetic disorder, Wolf-Hirschorn Syndrome (history of 7 heart defects, non-verbal, non-ambulatory, incontinent, exclusively G-tube fed, seizure disorder, cognitively approximately 6-9 months old). Will, 15, has severe ADHD and dyslexia, and Ellie, 11, – who I described for years as my [finally!] “typical” child [albeit with something of a princess complex] – was diagnosed in third grade with ADHD/dyslexia (although, a significantly milder case than Will’s). I have a 4-year degree in psychology and a 2-year degree in nursing. I worked for approximately ten years as a registered nurse on the medical unit at Seattle Children’s Hospital, but gave up my career to focus on the growing needs of my family. When I was 40 I set out to get rid of the 10 souvenir pounds I had collected from each of my four pregnancies. In the process, I found my inner jock, and I now love to run and I’m addicted to Zumba. Other than that, I read every minute I can.
Stephanie: In what felt like the blink of an eye, I went from being a young woman wrestling with a temperamental marriage to a single mother of an asthmatic, autistic toddler and an epileptic infant in heart failure. There were suddenly an overabundance of WTF moments, OMG moments, and “I can’t even remotely believe this is happening” moments. I began writing therapeutically, and I found my recollections came in layers. I would first write what happened (like, the baby stopped breathing in my arms, but I didn’t start CPR right away as I should have), and I would think, “Oh, I handled that horribly; I’m such a rotten mother!” Then I’d remember, “Oh yeah; this was going on, too,” (like, the fact that I was a young, sleep-deprived, postpartum mother who had just bore witness to hours of failed IV attempts, was reeling over a rare, potentially fatal diagnosis, holding onto hope for survival, but not having any idea what that survival would actually mean for me or my baby, while simultaneously preparing myself for the very real possibility of her passing…oh, and also “mourning the death of the healthy child I thought I had” before receiving her diagnosis just weeks earlier). Then it would hit me that 3 other things were happening at the same time (for instance, a failing marriage, pathetic financial woes, and my other daughter’s increasingly bizarre behaviors), and so…if that portion of my parenting career didn’t exactly resemble June Cleaver, well…no wonder! Those were some pretty extreme circumstances!
Matt Fuchs writes speculative fiction. In his novella Rise of Hypnodrome, published with CCLaP in 2015, a political faction called the Lifestyle Party rises to power under the presidency of Deepak Chopra and rolls out a policy agenda to maximize personal happiness. Matt tells stories about enlightened AI and fringe political ideas taking over. Links to his work appearing in Compelling Science Fiction, Centropic Oracle, Allegory, Every Day Fiction, and more can be found at