Last week, I was "tagged" by The Hop author, Sharelle Byars Moranville, as part of a game called The Next Big Thing. Once an author is “it,” they answer the below ten questions and then tag other authors. This not only gives us a chance to talk about our most recent or upcoming work, but the work of other authors we admire. Be sure to go to the bottom of this posting to find out about the authors I’m tagging.

1) What is the working title of your next and/or most recent book? –- My book is Train to Nowhere; Inside an Immigrant Death Investigation, the true story of eleven undocumented immigrant who died trapped inside a railcar. Although I am exploring options for future books, I am working first on Skewed News Tutor, my new startup that creates videos and mobile apps to help users to become more discerning news viewers.

I've also recently begun planning for a new documentary about the orphan trains that brought children west in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I will co-produce this with author Clark Kidder (see below).

2) Where did the idea come from for Skewed News Tutor? –-
As a journalist myself, I used to bristle at what then seemed to be the overused claim that the media was so biased. A few years passed, though, and I began to see more examples where something as simple as choice of narration, music or graphics shifted what would have otherwise been a decent news report. I sensed the growing frustration of others as some cable network news shifted to partisan reporting, blurring the line between commentary and news. I decided that, through Skewed News Tutor, I could create simple tools to help the public make their points more clearly to news organizations, while bringing more appreciation to high-quality journalism.

3) What genre does your book fall under? --
Train to Nowhere is literary nonfiction

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition? --
This is a tough one, but I’d say Jake T. Austin would be good to take the role of Byron Acevedo, the young victim from Guatemala whom I chose to make the primary focus of the book. Byron’s older brother, Eliseo, could be played by Carlos Mencia because of their looks, but considering that Mencia does comedy and this is a book that leaves you thinking more than laughing, I’d probably have to let Hollywood decide.

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book? –
A grieving brother from New York and Texas immigration agent form an unlikely friendship during a criminal investigation into the railcar deaths of eleven Central Americans and Mexicans.

6) Who is publishing your book? -- Train to Nowhere was published by Ice Cube Press.

7) How long did it take you to write the first draft of the manuscript? – Nine months, though I had spent several years chiseling away at the research that formed the basis of the book.

8) What other books would you compare this story to within your genre? – Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario

9) Who or what inspired you to write this book? – I was inspired for some of the same reasons I was inspired to start SkewedNewsTutor.com: I believe, as a journalist, that I can tell a story involving a complicated political issue without inserting my own views. I’m a big believer in letting readers/viewers walk away to draw their own conclusions.

10) What else about your latest project might pique the reader's interest? – By May, Skewed News Tutor will launch a new mobile application that I think of as a journalism game for non-journalists. It teaches users about journalism ethics and balanced reporting. I hope it help build on what I feel is an existing grass-roots movement for more even-handed news reporting in the United States.

And the most important question: Who did I tag for the next round of The Next Big Thing?

Nicolle Schippers, author of An Airman's Deadly Affair

Book description: Senior Airman Teresa Conklin had it all - beauty, intelligence, and zealous ambition. As a young cop stationed at Winburg Air Base in Germany, Conklin seized the opportunity to further her career in the United States Air Force. But two bullets end her life, and the ensuing investigation unearths a disturbingly complex web of deceit, sex, and betrayal. Major Emma Lohrs, an attorney with the Judge Advocate General's Corps (JAG), is assigned to the case. The details surrounding Conklin's murder create a twisted scenario, especially since Conklin was on duty in the well-secured base armory when she was killed. But Lohrs soon uncovers a number of bizarre clues about the victim and the chief suspects, two of whom are well-respected, decorated leaders on base. To complicate matters, Lohrs also has to deal with Special Agent Eric Myers, an egotistical military agent whose contempt for the JAG attorney is only too evident. Forced to work together, Lohrs and Myers discover Conklin's involvement in a sexual love triangle, infidelity, and blackmail. But senior officials block their every move in a desperate attempt to hide the appalling truth. With the situation growing deadlier by the minute, Lohrs and Myers must put their hostile feelings aside long enough to solve the murder before someone else ends up dead.

Clark Kidder, author of Emily's Story: The Brave Journey of an Orphan Train Rider.

Book description: It seems incomprehensible that there was a time in America's not-so-distant past that nearly 200,000 children could be loaded on trains in large cities on our East Coast, sent to the rural Midwest, and presented for the picking to anyone who expressed an interest in them. That's exactly what happened between the years 1854 and 1930. The primitive social experiment became known as "placing out," and had its origins in a New York City organization founded by Charles Loring Brace called the Children's Aid Society. The Society gathered up orphans, half-orphans, and abandoned children from streets and orphanages, and placed them on what are now referred to as Orphan Trains. It was Brace's belief that there was always room for one more at a farmer's table. The stories of the individual children involved in this great migration of little emigrants have nearly all been lost in the attic of American history. In this book, the author tells the true story of his paternal grandmother, the late Emily (Reese) Kidder, who, at the tender age of fourteen, became one of the aforementioned children who rode an Orphan Train. In 1906, Emily was plucked from the Elizabeth Home for Girls, operated by the Children's Aid Society, and placed on a train, along with eight other children, bound for Hopkinton, Iowa. Emily's journey, as it turned out, was only just beginning. Life had many lessons in store for her lessons that would involve overcoming adversity, of perseverance, love, and great loss. Emily's story is told through the use of primary material, oral history, interviews, and historical photographs. It is a tribute to the human spirit of an extraordinary young girl who became a woman -- a woman to whom the heartfelt phrase "there's no place like home" had a very profound meaning.