Archive: Meet & Greet Authors (Z)

Authors are listed alphabetically by LAST name beginning with Z

*All the information/websites/links were current AT THE TIME OF INITIAL POSTING. As time passes, please be aware that the links provided might no longer be active.

Joyce Burns Zeiss

Name: Joyce Burns Zeiss

Genre(s) of your work: Young adult historical fiction

Titles/Year of Published Work(s):

Out of the Dragon’s Mouth, Flux, March, 2015

Bio:

I am a retired junior high school teacher, married, with three grown children and three grandchildren. I live in Evanston, IL and belong to Off Campus Writers Workshop and The Writers in Glencoe. Besides writing, I tutor English as a Second Language students in my friend’s classroom, practice yoga, garden, read , and travel as much as I can. I love spending time with my children and grandchildren.

Why do you write in the genre that you do?

I have always loved history and think it is important for young people to learn about what has happened in the past and the lessons we can take from it.

How has writing changed/altered your life?

I have become a part of a whole community of writers which is wonderful considering how solitary the writing life can be. Writers are such interesting people. I love getting to know them and read their works.

Who are your favorite authors and why?

I’ve always been a fan of Steinbeck. Grapes of Wrath changed my life. A contemporary author is Ruta Sepetys who has written Salt to the Sea, and Between Shades of Gray, two powerful young adult books about World War II in Eastern Europe. Between Shades of Gray is being made into a movie.

What is your opinion of mainstream/corporate bookstores?

I hope they don’t run the independent bookstores out of business. I do love browsing in them.

What do you hope your readers will take away from your work?

I want readers to understand what refugees go through when they lose everything and have to risk their lives to leave their country and travel to another land. Most young people know nothing about the Vietnam War and what happened after the fall of Saigon.

How much does personal experience play in your written work?

My book is based on my friend’s experience as a Vietnamese refugee. In 1979, our family sponsored a Chinese Cambodian refugee family so I came to know up close what a refugee goes through. My husband and I also worked in several Angolan refugee camps in Zambia and Namibia. All this has fueled, my interest in the plight of the refugee.

How do you find the motivation to complete a book/story?

I need to be in a writing/critique group with deadlines. I am currently working on a sequel to Out of the Dragon’s Mouth and I really need the feedback I get from my fellow writers.

What makes you NOT finish reading a book?

If the book is really long and I am becoming bored with the character, I will not finish it. I shocked my librarian friends by not finishing The Gentleman in Moscow, a book everyone seemed to think was wonderful. Beautiful language but the plot really dragged for me.

Do you believe writing should be censored – that some topics should remain taboo?

I do not believe in censorship, but I do think there is age appropriate reading. No topic is taboo, but I don’t have to read about it.

Any pet peeves in writing? In reading others’ work?

Since I was an English teacher, the grammatical errors jump right up at me. It’s okay in a first draft, but after that, no. Writing is hard work and we all need to encourage each other.

Where can people find you and your work?

joyceburnszeiss.com

joyceburnszeiss@amazon

Joyce Zeiss author, Facebook

Joyce Burns Zeiss, Goodreads

Victoria Zigler

Name: My name is Victoria Zigler, but I prefer to be called Tori.

Genre(s) of your work: I write poetry and children’s stories.

Titles/Year of Published Work(s):

Degu Days Duo:

  1. The Great Degu Round-Up (2014)
  2. A Very Degu Christmas (2014)

Kero’s World:

  1. Kero Goes Walkies (2013)
  2. Kero Celebrates His Birthday (2013)
  3. Kero Gets Sick (2013)
  4. Kero Celebrates Halloween (2013)
  5. Kero Goes To Town (2013)
  6. Kero Celebrates Christmas (2013)
  7. Kero Crosses The Rainbow Bridge (2014)

Magical Chapters Trilogy:

  1. Witchlet (2012)
  2. The Pineapple Loving Dragon (2012)
  3. A Magical Storm (2013)

Toby’s Tales:

  1. Toby’s New World (2012)
  2. Toby’s Monsters (2012)
  3. Toby’s Outing (2012)
  4. Toby’s Games (2013)
  5. Toby’s Special School (2013)

Zeena Dragon Fae:

  1. Zeena And The Dryad (2015)
  2. Zeena And The Gryphon (2015)
  3. Zeena And The Mermaid (2016)
  4. Zeena And The Phoenix (2016)

Poetry books (in publication order):

Mr. Pumpkin-Head And Other Poems (2012)

My Friends Of Fur And Feather (2012)

The Light Of Dawn And Other Poems (2013)

Waves Of Broken Dreams And Other Poems (2013)

The Leaf Monster And Other Children’s Poems (2013)

Rodent Rhymes And Pussycat Poems (2015)

The Ocean’s Lullaby And Other Poems (2016)

Catching Snowflakes And Other Poems (2017)

Puppy Poems And Rodent Rhymes (2018)

Other books (in publication order):

Bluebell The Fairy Guide (2012)

Frank The Friendly Ogre (2012)

The Great Tadpole Rescue (2013)

Asha’s Big Adventure (2013)

Snowball The Oddball Kobold (2013)

Goodies For Grandmother (2014)

Filicity The Musical Platypus (2014)

Thistle The Fairy Trickster (2014)

Jinx And The Faerie Dragons (2014)

Cubby And The Beanstalk (2014)

Vinnie The Vegetarian Zombie (2014)

Lonely Little Princess (2014)

The Forgotten Angel (2014)

Yua And The Great Wizard Hunt (2015)

Isabelle’s Runaway Racehorse (2015)

Home Squeak Home (2015)

Degu’s Day Out (2015)

Rhubarb The Red-Nosed Rabbit (2016)

Jeffrey The Orange Alien (2016)

Eadweard – A Story Of 1066 (2016)

Ulrike’s Christmas (2016)

How To Trust Your Human (2017)

Where’s Noodles? (2018)

Voyage Of The Crimson Sail (2019)

Snowlilie’s Brother (2020)

Anthologies contributed to:

Wyrd Worlds II (story title: Quest For The Purple Pumpkin) (2014)

Colouring Books featuring my petkids:

Magnificent Pets: A Coloring Book For Children (featuring Artemis the Hermann’s Tortoise) (published by Praise My Pet in 2020)

Magnificent Pets: A Mandala Coloring Book For Adults (featuring Artemis the Hermann’s Tortoise) (published by Praise My Pet in 2020)

Bio:

Victoria Zigler is a blind vegan poet and children’s author who was born and raised in the Black Mountains of Wales, UK, and is now living on the South-East coast of England, UK, with her hubby, chinchilla, Westie, Cavapoo, and Hermann’s Tortoise.

Victoria – or Tori, if you prefer – has been writing since she knew how, and describes herself as a combination of Hermione Granger and Luna Lovegood from the Harry Potter books: Hermione’s thirst for knowledge and love of books, combined with Luna’s wandering mind and alternative way of looking at the world.  She has a wide variety of interests, designed to exercise both the creative and logical sides of her brain, and dabbles in them at random depending on what she feels like doing at any given time.

To date, Tori has published nine poetry books and 46 children’s books, with more planned for the future.  She makes her books available in multiple eBook formats, as well as in both paperback and audio.  She’s also contributed a story to the sci-fi and fantasy anthology Wyrd Worlds II, which is available in eBook only.

Additionally, Tori’s Hermann’s Tortoise, Artemis, was featured in both the Magnificent Pets Coloring Book For Children and the Magnificent Pets Mandala Coloring Book For Adults, which are available via Praise My Pet.

Why do you write in the genre that you do?

I’ve written poetry and children’s stories for as long as I can remember.  Poorly at first, but I tried.  Ever since I figured out how to read and write, and that I could potentially write a book like the ones I loved to read, I’ve written poetry and children’s stories.

I tried to write stories for older audiences when I got older, since I figured that’s what I was supposed to do.  But it didn’t give me the same joy writing for children does, and I guess it showed in my writing, because I had several people who read both my children’s stories and my attempts at stories for older audiences tell me I did better with the children’s stories and should stick to those.  Since I preferred writing those anyhow, I decided to stop trying to write for grownups.  I mean, plenty of adults have enjoyed my stories, but since I enjoy writing them more if I aim them at children, and people of all ages enjoy reading them more when I do that too – at least, according to reviews and messages I’ve had regarding my work – I’m going to stick to writing children’s stories.

Some of my stories are aimed at older middle grade readers, and some of my poems would be best for that age or older too.  But mostly my work can be enjoyed by anyone of any age.

How has writing changed/altered your life?

It hasn’t really, since I don’t remember a time when I didn’t write.

I learned to read and write before I officially started school, since having older brothers – plus a babysitter who was still in school – meant I saw them doing homework and wanted to, “Do homework,” too.  As I mentioned previously, I obviously wasn’t very good at it to start with.  But then, nobody is at first, are they? Regardless of the age you are when you start writing; we all start out as bad writers.

Who are your favorite authors and why?

There are quite a few, and mostly they change depending on my mood sometimes too.  But, to name a few: J K Rowling, David Estes, Michelle Paver, Dick King-Smith, Hans Christian Anderson, Monica Dickens, Bonnie Bryant, R L Stine, Charles Dickens, Roald Dahl, Enid Blyton, Robert Frost, William Wordsworth, Dylan Thomas, Terry Pratchett, and… You know what? I said a few, so I’ll stop now.

Do you believe that audiobooks are the wave of the future, more of a passing fad, or somewhere in between and why?

Somewhere in between.  There will always be people who prefer physical books, or who just can’t enjoy audio books.  But there will also always be people for whom listening to audio books is the easiest – perhaps even the only – way they can enjoy a book.  That’s why I think it’s important to make your books available in as many formats as you can: it increases your chance of finding readers, since those who prefer – or can only make use of – a particular format won’t be excluded, and will be able to buy your book and read it if they want to.

How much does personal experience play in your written work?

With some of my poems and stories – stories especially – it’s only as much as my personal experiences influence my perceptions, likes and dislikes, etc.  But there are exceptions.

The books in my “Degu Days Duo” and “Kero’s World” series – along with my stand-alone stories, “Home Squeak Home,” “Degu’s Day Out,” “How To Trust Your Human,” “Where’s Noodles?” and “Snowlilie’s Brother” – are based on the actual lives of my real pets.  Those stories are all semi-fictionalized accounts of experiences my pets have had, told from the point of view of the pet in question.

Then there’s my “Toby’s Tales” series, which are based on my own experiences with sight loss, illustrating some of my own daily struggles.  Toby’s stories are designed to show anyone in the same situation that they aren’t alone, and maybe help them come up with creative solutions to their own daily struggles.  But they’re also designed to educate others as to what being blind really looks like, and the fact blind people can do most things a sighted person can, we just need some adjustments to how we do it, and sometimes some specialist equipment.

Also, “Bluebell The Fairy Guide” was written after a trip to walk the dog by myself where I had a scary moment where I wasn’t sure I was still on the right path, and “Vinnie The Vegetarian Zombie” was inspired by a discussion I had with my brother about whether or not I’d be able to avoid becoming a brain-seeking zombie if I was turned in to one.

Do you believe writing should be censored – that some topics should remain taboo?

No.  But if/when you publish the book there should be something in the book’s blurb that makes it clear what genre and subject matter you’re dealing with, so people can avoid reading it if they want to steer clear of stories about a certain topic.  We should be able to write about whatever sparks our creativity though.  There’s far too much effort put in to attempting to control what we can and can’t write/read about.  All this banned books rubbish, for example.  If you don’t want to read about a specific topic, don’t read the book.  Why should your beliefs stop others from reading it?

Where can people find you and your work?

Website: http://www.zigler.co.uk

Blog: https://ziglernews.blogspot.co.uk

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/toriz

Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Victoria-Zigler/424999294215717

Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/victoriazigler

YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCakYxH7BNyc2Lxr1g1nbP9w

Find Tori’s books on…

Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/toriz

Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Victoria-Zigler/e/B00BHS9DQ6/

…Along with a variety of other online retailers, such as Audible, iTunes, Kobo, and Barnes & Noble.