Today we’re visiting with Regina Williams, Editor of The Storyteller Magazine and now Publisher at Mockingbird Lane Press.  The Storyteller Magazine has been named to The Best of the Magazine Markets in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  Its subscribers cover each of the fifty United States, plus eighteen foreign countries.  She has recently started a publishing venture and already has several excellent books.  So, let’s get started.

Jim: I know you’ve been in publishing for twenty years, and have the respected Storyteller Magazine. What brought you to start Mockingbird Lane Press?

Regina: I’ve been interested in books since my mother read aloud to the family after supper when I was little. It just seemed natural to take that interest and try to bring books like I fell in love with to print today. I love books!

Jim: Where did the name come from? Did you like the Mockingbird Lane TV series?

Regina: There have always been mockingbirds around my area and I remember when I was a child, stopping to listen to their songs because they’d change from one minute to the next. And To Kill a Mockingbird is one of my favorite books. I couldn’t think of a better name for a publishing company.

Jim: And just how do your two publishing ventures fit together?

Regina:  Sometimes—not so well! As editor of both, it is time-consuming and finding time for both is always a challenge. I usually try to set aside a couple hours a day just to work on the magazine, then it’s back to the books.  Depending on which deadline (book or magazine) is coming up first, one or the other will take precedence.

Jim:  Do you maintain editorial control over both? Have you expanded your staff, or does everybody just work harder?

Regina: It’s a mother-daughter team. I take care of all the editorial processes and my daughter does the covers for both the magazines and the books. She also creates the trailers for You Tube and pretty much anything on the internet. I do maintain editorial control over both. Someday soon, I hope to expand our staff.

Jim:  You’re open to a wide range of fiction and non-fiction. What do you specifically NOT want to receive?

Regina:  I don’t want to see any knock-offs of the Star Wars Saga, To Kill A Mockingbird or any other book. If you are going to write a book, what will sell it is your own unique personality and the qualities a writer gives his/her characters. I want fresh and new. That’s not to say I don’t want a romance along the lines of Love Story, it just means a writer must infuse it with fresh characters, ideas and thoughts. I don’t want meandering stories that have no point. Engage the reader immediately and keep it interesting enough so they’ll keep turning pages. I don’t want to see anything pornographic, erotic, racist or just in bad taste.

Jim: I must say, you caught my attention with your signature line, Southern Weird. Tell us a little about that?

Regina: I’ve thought a lot about this question and how I could answer it so it would make sense.  But Southern Weird to me, is books like To Kill A Mockingbird and anything by William Faulkner. The book is set in the south, the characters are engaging, while just a tad off the norm scale, and the attitude is like nothing you’ll find anywhere else in the country. Take Gary R. Hoffman’s book, I Haven’t Lost My Marbles…They Just All Rolled to One Side. Now that’s a Southern Weird book because Gary is great at showing the reader the southern attitudes about things and how they see life. His story, Angel’s Place is a good example…Angel decides to open a funeral home, but decides to put “fun” in funerals and create a drive-through funeral home where people can can view their loved-one through the window. And a coffin that floats toward the ceiling, with the idea the loved one is rising toward heaven. That’s Southern Weird.

Jim:  Is The Unicorn in your Southern Weird imprint?

Regina: The Unicorn Tree is a YA novel set on the east coast, so no, it’s not Southern Weird.

Jim:  Tell us a little about The Unicorn.

Regina: While looking for a class project, Lisa Duncan finds a diary in a sea caption’s home that his wife had written years ago. The diary tells about how she waits for her husband to return home, standing under the unicorn tree as she watches the ocean for his ship. Because Lisa’s brother is sailing on a tall ship and is lost at sea, Lisa feels an affinity for Mirabelle and sets out to find the unicorn tree, with Mirabelle appearing to her to guide her way.

Jim:  Then, there’s Elizabeth Rose’s ‘Til the Last Petal Falls. How would you classify that book? And tell us a little about it.

Regina: ‘Til the Last Petal Falls is a modern take on Beauty and the Beast. Jolee is home from college when she finds an ad on Craig’s List about a job tutoring for a recluse in the mountains of Colorado. Lisa takes the job. Once there, the handsome recluse lures her in and she falls in love. Because this story is about love and abuse, which is sometimes hard to tell apart, the author will be donating part of the proceeds of the book to local women’s shelters in her home town and a national women’s charity as well.

Jim:  Of course, you also have a humorous book by Gary Hoffman, I haven’t Lost My Marbles … They Just Rolled to One Side, and a book of short stories and essays by Crow Johnson Evans. You’re covering a wide range. What’s your favorite area?

Regina: I do love the Southern Weird book and Gary, Crow and Barbara Deming (Aunt Lutie’s Blue Moon Café) bring all the weirdness to the fore. Characters with a different outlook on life are always more fun than the staid, upstanding citizen. I have two fantasies coming up this year; Myths of the Mirror by D. Wallace Peach and The Enchanted Skean a YA fantasy by Vonnie Winslow Crist. I never knew fantasy could be so much fun! We also have a book coming out in the next couple of weeks by Lou Honderick, entitled Ricki. This book is a middle reader and is geared to deaf and hard of hearing children and emphasizes they have the same hopes and dreams as hearing children. Underneath the title is the title in American Sign Language, which will help deaf children to easily pick it off the shelf.

Jim:  What are your short and long-range goals for Mockingbird Lane Press?

Regina: Short term goals are simply to get caught up. Practically from the minute we opened the doors, the books have been pouring in and while I haven’t accepted all of them, the gems certainly came to the surface and we have a full-range of books either out or in the process. Our long-term goals are to offer the best quality books possible and to find the brightest and best books out there.

The Poets Roundtable of Arkansas will debut their newest poetry book, seventy-five years + in the making for their 75^th anniversary. We are so excited to be a part of this project and hope people will take the time to order a book of some of the best poets in Arkansas.

I would like to mention our other books available or coming out later this year, if I may. Unexpected Gifts by S. R. Mallery, a historical fiction novel. Daemon Persuasion by S. K. Gregory (from Ireland) is a horror novel that is available now. The Far Side of Silence by Robert B. Marcus and K. Frank Richardson, is a political thriller. Still Driving on the Sidewalk by Marcia Camp, is a collection of Southern Weird short stories, and Thursday Night Confessions by Jana Caldwell is certainly a Southern Weird book of her ‘different way of looking at life’ anecdotes.

Regina: Thank you, Jim. I appreciate the opportunity to talk about Mockingbird Lane Press.

Jim:  Wow.  Does this woman have a lot of energy or what?  And whether you write short stories or books, Regina Williams is a name to remember.  You can see more about The Storyteller Magazine at:  http://www.thestorytellermagazine.com

And check out Mockingbird Lane Press at:  http://www.mockingbirdlanepress.com/

And please leave a comment for Regina by clicking on the “Leave a reply” link below.  Thanks for visiting.