Pepper Basham is an award-winning author who writes romance peppered with grace and humor. She currently resides in the lovely mountains of Asheville, NC where she is the mom of 5 great kids, speech-pathologist to about fifty more, lover of chocolate, jazz, and Jesus. Her debut historical novel, The Thorn Bearer, released in May 2015 and has garnered awards such as Reader’s Favorites Award, finalist in the Grace Awards, shortlisted for the Inspy Awards, and most recently a finalist in the ACFW Carol Awards. Her second historical novel, The Thorn Keeper, released in Feb 2016 and her first contemporary romance, A Twist of Faith, released in April 2016 with a 4 star review from Romantic Times. The third book in the Penned in Time series, The Thorn Healer, released in December 2017 with a 4 1/2 star review from RT and Top Pick rating.
Pepper’s first novella arrived in March as part of a Love at First Laugh novella compilation and her novel, Just the Way You Are, releases on April 6th – a funfilled Britallachian romance! Both books are up for preorder on Amazon.

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​Sydney, it is ALWAYS a pleasure to be a part of your blog! You're such a great encourager...AND I'm thrilled to get to introduce you to two of my favorite people in fictionland...Wes Harrison and Eisley Barrett.

1. What are some of your favorite books/authors?
Oh my goodness, there are so many to list! Let me choose a FEW of my favorites - how about that? I LOVE lots of different books. As far as classics, I really enjoy Jane Austen, Charlotte Bronte, LM Montgomery, JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis, Mary Shelley, and Louisa May Alcott. More modern 'classics' on my shelf are books by Laura Frantz, Siri Mitchell, Denise Hunter, Deanne Gist, and Julie Lessman. 

2. What is your favorite show to binge watch?
Victoria, Downton Abbey, Christy, Poirot...um...I have a historical bent, I see. 

3. What inspired the story for Just the Way You Are?
Um...not sure! I suppose it all started when I was watching an interview with actor Richard Armitage. He was such a kind, gentle-man, it made me wonder...what kind of woman would a guy like THAT be looking for? 
A week or so later,  I was washing the dishes, closed my eyes, and saw this red headed woman toting a pink bag through Heathrow International Airport. Once I figured out who she was, I asked her "Why are you in England?" As the answer began to emerge, I realized...SHE was the perfect match for my brooding, British hero!

4. What is up next for you in the writing world?
Well, I'm pleased to say that my second book in the Mitchell's Crossroads series is coming up in November. I hope to have a historical and contemp novella arriving in 2018 along with the second book in THIS series. Other than that...I'm just waiting to see what God wants to unveil next :-)

5. What do you want readers to take away from reading Just the Way You Are?
God dreams BIG for his kids - much bigger than our vision. We give up too quickly, but His plans for our lives may lead through valleys of heartache, but he's certain to bring us to places of joy as we learn to trust more and more in Him. 

​Thanks so much for letting me hang out with you and talk books and romance and...maybe even a little swooniness. You know how I love those topics ;-)

Alexis A. Goring is a passionate writer with a degree in Print Journalism and an MFA in Creative Writing. She loves the art of storytelling and hopes that her stories will connect readers with the enduring, forever love of Jesus Christ.

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​1. What or whom inspired you to become an author?
An impromptu storytelling game between my brother, grandpa and I at my grandparents’ house (they were our babysitters), first inspired me to become an author. The storytelling game was my grandpa’s idea (best idea ever)!
 
I liked my story so much that I decided to turn it into my first “book.” So I spent my time that summer whenever I was home, typing it out on the family computer. After I typed “The End”, I printed this first story of mine out, created a cover page and stapled it like a book. Following that, I illustrated the book and gave it a title of “Sisters.” Later on that summer, my Mom’s best friend from college visited and became my “audience” when I read it to her and she gave me my first “review” (she said it was a nice story). I loved the entire process and feedback from my “audience” because it was fulfilling and encouraged me in my creative journey.
 
So, that’s when and how I decided that I wanted to be an author.
 
2. Who are some of your favorite authors?
Sophia A. Nelson, Sarah Jio, Brandy Bruce, Becky Wade, and Mary Manners.
 
3. What writing projects are you currently working on?  What can you tell us about these projects?
I’m working on my third and fourth books. One of these two stories is about a fictional five-star quality bakery in the heart of a major city, and the characters that love it. The other story is about a wedding photographer who’s never been in love.
 
4. Where is your favorite place to write?
My bedroom, by the windows, is my favorite place to write. I love it when the sun is shining and filling the room with a pure stream of natural light.
 
5. What would you like readers to take away from reading A Second Chance?
I’d like for my readers to take away the theme of Jeremiah 29:11 and rest on that Bible-based truth about God’s good plans for your life. 

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1. You are also a high school Creative Writing and Spanish teacher, what inspired you to also become an author?
I've been writing longer than I've been teaching high school, so I feel that you could almost reverse the question and ask what inspired me to also become a teacher! The truth is that either way I love both writing and teaching too much to make either one exclusive. It was about in the sixth grade when I decided that I wanted to be a teacher and that I wanted to be an author. I'm not sure which one came first, but once I started teaching, I don't think I ever let go of my other plan to be an author. 

One thing that I like about teaching is that I feel it keeps me grounded in my audience and in life--crucial for an author hoping to stay connected to an audience beyond a small writing circle. Through Creative Writing, I've been able to learn how to write succinctly for my young adult audience, how to respond to critiques, and what writing pitfalls to avoid. Teaching Spanish has given me a comprehension of language usage, and you may notice a few Spanish names scattered throughout the story that hark back to memories of people or places in Latin America where I've been.

2. What inspired the idea for How to Become a Pirate Hunter?
How to Become a Pirate Hunter was an idea that came to me about 15 years ago. I was working construction for my brother-in-law in California one summer, and we were doing a renovation on a house. We were on the roof, scraping away shingles in the searing California sun, and I kept on slipping with my scraper and missing the shingles. As I noticed the other workers around me completing the job many times faster than me, it occurred to me that somewhere out there was probably a natural born roof shingler ... and that I was not that person! I kept on thinking what kind of skills a natural born roof shingler would have and how amazing it would be to watch them at their work. Then, that night as I cooled off in my sister's guest bedroom, I started thinking about other natural born abilities. With my sailing and history background, it did not take long for me to connect the dots and think: Wait a second ... what about a Natural Born Pirate Hunter? I stewed the idea over for a few years and then started writing. A few years back, I wrapped it up and sat on it for a while. Finally, I had been telling my students to send stuff in to publishers and some of them were even getting published, and I thought, What, am I a hypocrite? I sent in my story and I am excited to see its 15 year journey culminating soon!

3. What do you want readers to take away from reading your book?
First of all, I hope it is one of those stories that takes you away for a moment and let's you revel in possibilities, even if they are fantastical. Next, I hope some teenagers read it and realize two things: 1) everyone has some kind of talent, something that they naturally excel in, even if it's not obvious or noticeably useful on the surface; 2) any skill, no matter how useful, is ultimately worthless without a good person behind it.

4. Will you share some behind the scenes facts about the book?
Absolutely! Some of my favorite things are names of people and places. The main character is Eric Francis. The "Francis" is a nod to the man who got me into pirate history in the first place: Sir Francis Drake. I could only hope to match in fiction what Drake performed in real life! "Port Raleigh," the fictional Caribbean city of the story, is in deference to Francis Drake's relative, Sir Walter Raleigh, who spent some time in the Caribbean but his exploits there are often forgotten. The custodian, Al Lorenzo, from Chapter 1 is based off of one of my actual custodians in high school, who I thought was just a nice, simple guy, but then for a high school assembly he blew everyone away by coming on stage and singing some songs. So I made him a natural born stage musical star in the story. Other names correspond with some of my favorite collegiate athletes from Utah State University when I attended there to get my degree. There are more, but I'll spare you going through all of them for now. I am planning to do a summer reading of the book with readers, one chapter a week, and then a short podcast that will address questions from fellow readers for that chapter and where I plan to reveal more nuggets of back story and behind-the-scenes.

Perhaps my favorite hidden secret is that I've created a treasure hunt to go with the story. There are three clues, which will be released at different times this year. One clue goes with one of the chapters in the novel. One clue will go with a bonus chapter that will be made available on-line after the book releases. And then a final clue goes with a song that musician Tanner Lex Jones has composed as part his album that will accompany the book. For fans of the novel, I will release the clues that will help them know what to look for, then they can put the pieces together and send in an electronic form divulging the location of the treasure. If they get it correct, they will receive a small prize and certificate.

5. When you are not writing or teaching, what hobbies do you enjoy?
I am pretty addicted to my family. My best-friend wife and I have five kids and each one of them enjoys doing stuff with us that we already like doing anyway: playing Frisbee, swimming, reading, going on camping trips, hiking, visiting family, board games, family movie night ... all that fun stuff. As the story will probably make obvious, I love sailing but don't do it nearly enough (that's where fiction comes in!). And finally, I love learning. If I am learning something new, quirky, challenging, and especially if I get to learn it with someone else!

I recently moved back to Oregon with my husband of 31 years, where we’ve built a house on 68 acres about 40 miles outside of Portland. After growing up in Oregon, we’ve lived in Utah, Arizona, and Hawaii. We have three children, two girls and a boy, all grown and all writers themselves. We also have a dog (Golden Retriever) and a cat (Black). I love to write inspirational romance and hope my readers will be both entertained and uplifted by my stories. When I’m not writing, I love to paint (watercolors, oils, and acrylics), sew, knit, crochet, and read (of course)! My second novel will be published in 2017. 

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