AuthorViews is proud to present two entertaining minutes with New Orleans biker, punk, and author Ethan Clark, cut from his interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.

Leaning with Intent to Fall is a series of Clark's personal stories about public drunkenness, getting chased by stray dogs, hitchhiking across the country, and other wacky and amusing adventures that celebrate the biker-punk subculture. Clark's stories take place in pre-Katrina and post-Katrina New Orleans, as well as in Asheville, NC, where Clark relocated after the hurricane.

In this video, Clark talks about some of the wild things that happened to him in his first month-and-a-half back to New Orleans after Katrina, while he was trying to finish up his book.

AuthorViews is excited to present two minutes with fantasy novelist Chris Matherne, cut from his interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.

Matherne is a life-long fan of fantasy and adventure novels. In fact, he decided to write The Shaping of a Destiny because he was tired of reading "slow paced fantasy adventure books that seemed to crawl along at a snail's pace." Matherne's debut novel is anything but slow.

In this video, Matherne discusses why he thinks readers enjoy The Shaping of a Destiny, and offers two humorous anecdotes about his writing experiences.

From the Crescent City, AuthorViews is excited to introduce Michael "Rex" Dingler, New Orleans artist, activist and creator of the NoLa Rising Project. We met up with Dingler at the 2008 Alternative Media Expo in New Orleans for an interview you don't want to miss.

If you've had the chance to wander around New Orleans within the last year or so, anywhere from the bustling streets of the French Quarter to the emptiness of the lower Ninth Ward, you've no doubt seen the uplifting work of Dingler and his NoLa Rising Project.

NOLA Rising is a post-Katrina art campaign encouraging the people of New Orleans to display works of art across all areas of the city, in hopes of renewing the creative spirit of New Orleans and just giving residents something bright and cheerful to smile about.

Since the project's inception in mid-2007, Dingler personally has drawn over 2000 posters and 500 signs that have been put up by NoLa Rising "street teams" on walls, telephone polls, bulletin boards -- anywhere and everywhere -- throughout the Greater New Orleans area.

Dingler has spawned an entire movement out of his vision to brighten up New Orleans. Friends and supporters contribute to NoLa Rising with paintings and signs by the hundreds, hoping to replace the bleakness of a hurricane's aftermath with creativity, color and the New Orleans spirit.

For some (ridiculous) reason, there are a few individuals throughout the city who have taken offense at the project, viewing the art as nothing more than graffiti.

According to an article in The Gambit Weekly, "Fighting the Aerosol Nation," for the past five years, Fred Radtke has been in charge of a Louisiana nonprofit organization called Operation: Clean Sweep, essentially an anti-graffiti task force.

With the support of local government and law enforcement, Radtke is responsible for removing graffiti. But since he can't just erase the graffiti, Radtke covers it with gray paint, and consequently has come to be known as the The Gray Ghost.

Over the past few months, Radtke and Operation: Clean Sweep have begun to target NoLa Rising, specifically Rex Dingler. This is not only unfair, but insane, since Dingler clearly has positive intentions, not to mention the fact that this project has nothing to do with graffiti -- it's installation artwork that can be removed easily. What's the point of painting the "gray ghost" over a stapled-up poster that you can simply pull down?

Radtke has gone so far as to have a police officer cite Dingler for 1,100 counts of illegally posting on telephone polls, an absurd charge that Dingler is fighting wholeheartedly, despite the immense cost of his legal defense. As the trial date nears, here's what Dingler has to say about Radtke.

Taking the advice of his legal representation, Buddy Spell of the law firm Spell & Spell, Dingler has set up a defense fund to help him raise enough money to cover his legal costs. Donations to the fund can be made to:

SPELL & SPELL

C/O Michael Dingler Defense Fund

924 Ellis Street

Franklinton, LA 70438

Check out Dingler's AuthorViews video and the Defend New Orleans video, for more information on NoLa Rising and the trumped-up charges against the artist.

There's also a good article in New Orleans CityBusiness, called "'Gray Ghost' Feuds with Nola Rising Creator," which offers statements from both Dingler and Radtke.

AuthorViews is proud to introduce Valentine Pierce, a native New Orleanian and staple of the New Orleans poetry scene. Pierce has been reading and performing her poems all over the country for years, from clubs and coffee houses in the French Quarter to art galleries and festivals on the West Coast.

AuthorViews met up with Pierce at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair to talk about her first poetry anthology, Geometry of the Heart. Although Pierce has had nearly 60 poems published in various books and anthologies, this is the first time she has published an entire book with her work exclusively.

In this two-minute video cut from her interview, Pierce recites a poem she wrote about living in New Orleans -- a taste of the soul and passion we can expect from the rest of her poetry.

AuthorViews is excited to present two minutes with fantasy novelist Chris Matherne, cut from his interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.

Matherne is a life-long fan of fantasy and adventure novels. In fact, he decided to write The Shaping of a Destiny because he was tired of reading "slow paced fantasy adventure books that seemed to crawl along at a snail's pace." Matherne's debut novel is anything but slow.

In this video, Matherne discusses why he thinks readers enjoy The Shaping of a Destiny, and offers two humorous anecdotes about his writing experiences.

AuthorViews is proud to introduce Valentine Pierce, a native New Orleanian and staple of the New Orleans poetry scene. Pierce has been reading and performing her poems all over the country for years, from clubs and coffee houses in the French Quarter to art galleries and festivals on the West Coast.

AuthorViews met up with Pierce at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair to talk about her first poetry anthology, Geometry of the Heart. Although Pierce has had nearly 60 poems published in various books and anthologies, this is the first time she has published an entire book with her work exclusively.

In this two-minute video cut from her interview, Pierce recites a poem she wrote about living in New Orleans -- a taste of the soul and passion we can expect from the rest of her poetry.

Renee Bobb is an expert in the fields of self-publishing and small business development. She has published four guidebooks on theses topics, and has founded a book publishing and small business consulting company called R.B.I. Enterprise.

Through her firm and various workshops, Bobb has trained nearly 1,500 authors on how to self-publish.

AuthorViews had the privilege of interviewing Bobb at the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book about her new book, The Self-Publishing Process: The Beginners Guide to Book Publishing Success.

In the two-minute video we cut from her interview, Renee talks about why authors and entrepreneurs find her books extremely valuable.

Anyone interested in developing a business or publishing a book should check out Bobb's clip and related links.

AuthorViews would like to introduce Dedra Johnson, an accomplished writer, blogger and novelist, who has been doing fantastic blogging work with our sister company, Patron Saint Productions.

Dedra sat down with AuthorViews at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair to talk about her debut novel, Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow, an inspiring story about a light-skinned black girl who grows up in 1970s New Orleans in an environment of poverty, racial prejudice and emotional abuse.

A resident of the Crescent City, Dedra has received tremendous praise for her book locally, as well as nationally. Sandrine's Letter to Tomorrow is well-written, with rich, realistic characters that seem to touch readers who grew up not only in New Orleans, but in any city where race and class were often divisive issues.

In this two-minute video, Dedra describes how 9-year-old Sandrine evolves over the course of the story, ultimately learning to stand up to some of the negative forces in her life.

Renee Bobb is an expert in the fields of self-publishing and small business development. She has published four guidebooks on theses topics, and has founded a book publishing and small business consulting company called R.B.I. Enterprise.

Through her firm and various workshops, Bobb has trained nearly 1,500 authors on how to self-publish.

AuthorViews had the privilege of interviewing Bobb at the 2007 Virginia Festival of the Book about her new book, The Self-Publishing Process: The Beginners Guide to Book Publishing Success.

In the two-minute video we cut from her interview, Renee talks about why authors and entrepreneurs find her books extremely valuable.

Anyone interested in developing a business or publishing a book should check out Bobb's clip and related links.

AuthorViews is proud to present two minutes with Ann Conti Morcos, cut from her interview at the 2007 New Orleans Book Fair.

With nearly two decades of writing and editing experience, Morcos published her first children's book in 2002. The Tale of Nada Nutria is a story about a community of nutria that gets separated when a hurricane destroys their home.

Nutria are large rat-like rodents, ranging from 10-20 pounds in adulthood. Native to South America, nutria were brought to Louisiana by fur traders in the early 1900s.

The Tale of Nada Nutria is truly one-of-a-kind, the first and only children's book ever written about nutria. What's remarkable is that Morcos is able to express themes as powerful and human as friendship, family and courage with nutria as her main characters.

In this video, Morcos describes the two historical Louisiana events that her story is based on, and explains why she actually decided to write a children's book about nutria.