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If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?
I can see into peoples’ hearts, whether they are rigid like stone or soaring like an ecstatic gull in a clear blue sky. I can see peoples’ auras: black, grey, golden, or white. What’s next on my bucket list? My cup would overflow if I could speak telepathically with animals.
What is one thing your readers would be most surprised to learn about you?
I will whisper my most treasured secret: I have and always have been a Buddhist monk. I don’t wear orange robes, I have not shaved my head, but I made a vow, a sacred promise. And I will tell you meditation is hard, stopping thoughts is hard, sitting still for hours on end is hard…but, with patience and perseverance, a beautiful light fills me, and the magic begins.
When writing descriptions of your hero/ine, what feature do you start with?
When writing descriptions of any character I like to describe his or her face first: the shape of the face and nose, the color of the eyes and hair. I then usually move on to depicting height, weight, and clothing. This is followed by the magical things they say and do.
What part of the writing process do you dread?
This may seem strange, but I absolutely abhor those pesky semicolons, colons, commas, quotation marks… In other words, I dread all punctuation, with the exception of the noble period or elegant question mark at the end of a sentence. And I received an absolute F (as in failure) at reading the very commandments carved in stone, the bible of writing: The Elements of Style by Strunk and White. My hatred of punctuation was part of my rationale for hiring my writing coach, a short man with a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde personality, who spoke incessantly, helped greatly, or ranted loudly. Even in the end, my meticulous editor, a woman with a heart of gold and a magical wand, changed quite a few of my crazy coach’s punctation proposals.
Did you learn anything from writing this book? If so, what?
Writing is a hard, hard, very hard, often lonely process. Everyday I had to look directly into my characters eyes and ask them what are you going to do now? Sometimes they’d answer quickly with big smiles on their faces, other times they’d turn their backs on me, not saying anything at all.
Also, the process does not end with writing the book. An endless train of tasks appeared chugging around the bend: write and submit query letters, respond to all emails and requests, put on your most holy robes, drop to your knees, and pray. Then, if a publisher loves the book there’s the wonder of the editorial process, where a big-hearted, believing editor that hardly ever sleeps and has a sharp tongue cajoled me into revising the manuscript even more. With ears wide open, I listened and altered, because she knew what was right…and it made all the difference in the world.
Clara and Angelica Grace have never met ghosts. They’ve never sailed on a tall ship, ridden wild unicorns, or fought with magical weapons. Instead, the teenage twins have a wretched existence, ignored by their troubled parents in a rundown home and tormented by the town’s snobs.
Everything turns topsy-turvy all of a sudden when discovery of an ancestor’s hidden journal with an odd key to an unknown door leads them into an entirely different realm.
The girls go on a thrilling oceanic voyage to search for mysterious whales, train with a seasoned warrior, and are befriended by a wise Master. But all is not a bouquet of lovely lilies…they are hunted by a cunning warlock and must rid themselves of The Warlock’s Curse.
Enjoy an Excerpt
The whales’ frenzied song grew even louder—the electrical atmosphere intensified.
“Now what’s happening? We’re dissolving!” Clara yelled, watching her little hands disappear and then reappear again.
Angelica observed different parts of the ship, their cats, their bodies, and the monkey crew all vanishing momentarily. She drew a sharp breath. She was about to say something when the ethereal whale swimming directly before them opened its massive mouth, saltwater pouring down its yawning maw that seemed miles and miles deep.
“This is madness!” Clara shrieked, staring down the vast gaping throat of the beast. “Even a hurricane would be much better than this.
We’re going to die, for sure!” Angelica lost her composure. “Turn the ship!” she demanded. “I don’t wanna die!”
“Impossible!” Claudius cried. “We must go!” “I’m gonna be sick!” Clara cried, her face pasty. She clasped her sister’s scrawny hand in horror. What lay before them was far worse than that scary roller coaster Angelica had once convinced her to try at their town fair.
Catapulted forward by the hurrying tide, Claudius’s ship now sailed upon the phantasm of a massive whale. The sleek vessel hung momentarily on the edge of the watery precipice of white light, then slipped straight down the monster’s wide-open chasm…
About the Author:
Fascinated by the works of Tolkien and C.S. Lewis, C.B. Oresky began writing her own fantasy novel, The Warlock’s Curse, after dreaming of being whisked off to an alien realm. Besides her debut novel, she has seen four of her short stories published in a small, national literary press: Conceit Magazine. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering through the woods, dancing flamenco, or planting flowers in her garden. She currently lives in a small town in Connecticut with her bodybuilder husband, their exceptionally naughty Scottish terrier and Siamese cat, ten chickens, Mr. Tiggy the hedgehog, and a yard filled with majestic flowers.
Buy the book at Amazon.
Somewhere out in the hills of Montana, 17-year-old Harper Cassidy has a home. Really, she does! And so does her sister, Lil. But since all they’ve ever done is skip across the Pacific Northwest from town to town, following her mom’s every desire from Montana to California, it’s been getting harder and harder to feel rooted anywhere.
Not everything is what it seems.
Fanny Fitzpatrick has the coolest best friend ever. Athena is smart, and pretty, and brave, and kind. Fanny loves her friend, but sometimes, she feels a little jealous of how perfect Athena is.
Dana Hammer is a novelist, screenwriter and playwright. She has won over forty awards and honors for her writing, few of which generated income, all of which were deeply appreciated. She is not a cannibal, but she is the author of A Cannibals Guide to Fasting. Dana is also the author of middle grade fantasy My Best Friend Athena which was inspired by a desire to write something her 9 year old daughter could read.
Victoria Island is an idyllic place to live and work. Or so Emma Rutledge had always thought. Working for her family’s property company, she enjoys professional success. But her personal life is more complicated. She struggles to move past her childhood infatuation with Donovan, her brother’s best friend, and to cope with his callous rejection of her feelings.
To artist Glynna Williams, Texas was a land of wild beauty, carved by God’s hand, untouched as yet by man’s. And the most exciting part of it was the fierce, bare-chested half-breed who saved her from a rampaging longhorn bull. Just as the untamed wilderness called to the painter in her heart, Hunt’s mesmerizing eyes touched the woman in her.
A genetically engineered colony on a new world. A baby born different than everyone else. A mother who will do anything to save him.
Diana Fedorak is a speculative fiction writer from Las Vegas, Nevada. Born in Saigon, South Vietnam, she grew up in a Pan Am Airways family who frequently traveled overseas. Her prior career was serving as an officer in the United States Air Force. 
