Interview: Michael J. Foy

Today I have an interview with science fiction author Michael J. Foy. His new novel Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1 is now available both in print and as an eBook and can be purchased here.

***

Tell us a bit about your new novel, Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1.

Well it’s kind of like a Sci-Fi Mystery Thriller Romance. But seriously it is a mash up of genres but it’s mainly Sci-Fi. The hero comes by some alien technology left over from an ancient interstellar war that he has to employ in a new cold war since the other side came by it too.

What inspired the idea for the novel?

A couple of things. It’s actually the novelization of a screenplay that I optioned to Hollywood about 20 years ago. It was called False Gods but never made it to the big screen. I’ve updated it and tweaked it where it would be fair to say it’s now a stand-alone sequel to my first book Future Perfect.

Can you elaborate on the role Star Trek plays in Ghosts of Forgotten Empires?

The hero, Cord Devlin, is a devoted fan of the show. He drives his handler crazy by citing it all the time. But the lessons from the show come in handy when trying to put the bizarre happenings in the story in perspective.

Like you, science fiction also plays a big role in my life. Are there any science fiction writers who have influenced you either stylistically or in terms of ideas? Any non-science fiction writers who you would consider influential?

You mean other than Michael K. Rose? ;-) But there are others too. I liked the early Asimov stuff like Foundation of course. And then I like some lesser known Sci-Fi authors like Julian May and Fred Saberhagen.

For non-Sci-Fi, I liked Robert Ludlum who wrote the Jason Bourne series and liked Clive Cussler’s older books like Raise the Titanic.

What's in store for Volume 2?

Cord will find out more about the ancient interstellar war that touched Earth. And he’ll find it out from an unlikely source, his uncle Jamie McCord. In the process he’ll discover some family secrets that his mother, his only surviving parent, kept from him. He’ll need the information to survive and overcome his enemies on the other side of the Cold War.

***

Michael J Foy was born to Irish immigrants in upstate New York. At 4 and then again at 12 years old his parents moved the family to London for a year before returning to the U.S. and permanently settling in the Boston area. Michael graduated Northeastern University in 1979 with an engineering degree and worked in that profession until 1992. In 1993 he changed careers and became a recruiter servicing the publishing industry. He founded Publishing Search Solutions in 1997 where he has worked with various clients including special assignments outside of the media industry.

Since college Michael harbored the desire to write science fiction. In 1991 he sold an option for his first novel, False Gods, as a screenplay to Timothy Bogart the nephew of Peter Guber, Producer of Batman. Tim's California based production company adapted material for the big and small screens.

Michael has since published the Science Fiction novels Future Perfect, The Kennedy Effect and Ghosts of Forgotten Empires, Volume 1. 

You can visit him at his blog here.

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour Day 9: An Interview by SB Knight

Horror author SB Knight has interviewed me about Chrysopteron. It is up on his blog today, so check it out here. I interviewed Mr. Knight back in October about his series The Blood Chronicles. Click here to give it a read.

I'd also like to mention that the Kindle versions of Sullivan's War and Short Stories have now been permanently reduced to just $2.99 each. Links below:

Sullivan's War: Amazon US, Amazon UK

Short Stories: Amazon US, Amazon UK

All the Best!

Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour Day 8: An Interview by Tara S. Wood

Today, paranormal author Tara S. Wood has poster her interview with me over at her blog. Check it out here! Also be sure to have a look at Tara's books.

In other news, my Christmas sale is over. But if you didn't manage to get Sullivan's War and Short Stories, no worries! The price of each book has been permanently reduced to just $2.99. You can read about all my books and find links to purchase them over at my official website.

All the Best!

Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour Day 7: An Interview by Jeff Whelan

Today, the funny, friendly and fantastic Jeff Whelan, author of the sci-fi comedy Space Orville, hosts me on his blog for an interview! Check out the interview here and be sure to see the great reviews Space Orville has earned on Amazon!

Also, my Christmas sale ends on Monday, the 31st. Sullivan's War and my collection Short Stories are just 99 cents each until then. Info about that can be found here. And if you like free stuff, all you have to do is like my Facebook page and you'll be entered to win all of my books. This contest also ends on the 31st, so see the details here.

One final note concerning free stuff: I have three eBooks free at Amazon through Sunday the 30th. Get them here.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour Day 5: An Interview by Micheal Rivers

Today, horror and paranormal author Micheal Rivers has an interview with me up over at his blog. Read it here. Micheal is the author of The Black Witch and Verliege. I've read the latter and it's a fantastic paranormal thriller. Check out Micheal's work here or click here to go directly to his Amazon author page.

Chrysopteron is available at:
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Barnes & Noble

Also, my Christmas sale ends on the 31st. Sullivan's War and my collection Short Stories are just 99 cents each until then. Info about that can be found here. And if you like free stuff, all you have to do is like my Facebook page and you'll be entered to win all of my books. This contest also ends on the 31st, so see the details here.

Best,
Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour, Day 3 Host G.D. Tinnams

G.D. Tinnams is the author of the science fiction novel Threshold Shift and the short story collection Five Byte Stories. Today, he's hosting an interview with me on his blog as part of my Chrysopteron blog tour. Read it here.

I had the pleasure of interviewing G.D. Tinnams back in August, which you can read here. Also be sure to check out his work on Amazon US and Amazon UK.

I still have my Christmas sale going. Sullivan's War and my collection Short Stories are just 99 cents each until the end of the month. Info about that can be found here. And if you like free stuff, all you have to do is like my Facebook page and you'll be entered to win all my books. Details here.

Merry Christmas!

Michael K. Rose

CHRYSOPTERON Blog Tour, Day 1 Host: David Bain

Today officially kicks off the blog tour for my new science fiction novel Chrysopteron! I'm very excited about this, and I have lots of great interviews and guest posts to share with you over the next couple of weeks.

Everything kicks off with David Bain, horror author of the novels Gray Lake and Death Sight - A Will Castleton Novel, as well as fun novellas like The Cowboys of Cthulhu. He interviewed me over on his blog and you can read it here.

If Chrysopteron sounds like something you'd enjoy, you can get it as an eBook from Amazon's Kindle stores as well as Barnes & Noble's Nook store. Click here for links and more information.

Also remember that Sullivan's War and my collection Short Stories are just 99 cents each until the end of the month. Info about that can be found here.

Best,

Michael K. Rose

An Interview with Gary Dolman, Author of The Eighth Circle of Hell

Today, I have an interview with British writer Gary Dolman. Gary is the author of the historical novel The Eighth Circle of Hell.

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Tell us a bit about The Eighth Circle of Hell.

The novel is set in 1890 in the wealthy spa resort that was Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.

The Victorian age is often held up as a shining era of British history; a time of wealth and power, of civilisation and philanthropy. It was indeed all of these. But it was also a time of great cruelty and depravity, where power and wealth were used to ill-purpose. In particular it was the time of the ‘Defloration Mania’ where hundreds of thousands of young, innocent girls were bought and sold like the slaves they became.

In The Eighth Circle of Hell, an elderly workhouse ‘imbecile’ is continually tormented by disturbed and fractured memories of her adolescence. She had been orphaned and sent to live with her depraved uncle and his powerful, predatory friends, and advancing, dementia has caused her to regress inexorably back in her life, to the point where she is once again re-living that awful time.

Husband and wife commissioned investigators, Atticus and Lucie Fox are engaged by her grown-up nephew to trace her and to bring her back to live in the family home where her elderly, frail uncle still lives. They do so, but are horrified to hear the very next day that she had brutally murdered her uncle in the night. But they were puzzled too; how could she have committed murder? She had neither the physical, nor the mental strength to do such a thing.

The novel is a bleak study of the stark contrast between the polite, strictly-ordered society of the Victorian age and the utter depravity and exploitation of the vulnerable it shielded. It demonstrates how in the midst of that depravity, promises and friendships can be forged that are more enduring even than the boundaries of life and death itself.

How did you become interested in this subject?

It was quite by chance. One evening several years ago, whilst I was visiting my father in a care home, one of the other residents who was also in the end-stages of Alzheimer’s suddenly cried out in her sleep, begging some uncle to stop, screaming that he was hurting her. It made me start to imagine what kind of horrors she must have been reliving and that inspired the idea behind the novel. When I began to research the history of child abuse, I came across the holocaust that was the Defloration Mania and The Eighth Circle of Hell took form.

Can you explain the meaning of the title?

The title comes from Dante’s epic poem, Divine Comedy. The eighth of Dante’s nine circles of Inferno – of Hell, contains those guilty of the sin of seduction. It’s a play on the profound contradictions in the novel where the perpetrators of the abuse push the blame for committing it onto the victims.

In Dante’s poem, the sinners are driven round and round the Eighth Circle by demons. In the same way, my central character’s recurring memories drive her around and around in torment.

How did you decide you wanted to write historical fiction? Do you write in any other genres?

I have always been fascinated by history in general. Living for much of my life in Harrogate, which is a town built largely in the Victorian age, means that I have a particular attachment to that period. The richness and the social extremes of the Victorian Age are especially poignant and stumbling across the Defloration Mania gave me a perfect excuse to set the novel in that time. Because it is also crime fiction, there is also the advantage to a writer that with very little forensic science other than early fingerprinting, detectives had to rely much more on their reasoning and intellect. My publisher, Thames River Press, has requested a series of three novels, all related in terms of genre and characters and I have at least half a dozen plots for novels beyond that, all of which feature Atticus and Lucie. I’m becoming rather fond of them if I’m honest.

Having said that, I am also itching to write a really dark, contemporary psychological thriller.

What are you working on now?

I have completed my second manuscript featuring Atticus and Lucie Fox. Their next investigation concerns a number of brutal murders which appear to centre on a long-vanished Northumbrian castle, and on the delusions of a madman who believes he is the father of King Arthur. The Madman of Sewingshields is due for publication in May 2013 by Thames River Press. Beyond that am just beginning a third novel, inspired by the Northern British folklore of yetis.

***

The Eighth Circle of Hell is available from Thames River Press. Readers can purchase copies from Amazon US or Amazon UK.

Gary Dolman was born in South Tyneside in 1963, but grew up principally in Harrogate in North Yorkshire, where he now lives with his wife, three children and two dogs. He is fascinated by the human mind and how it contends with adversity in all its forms. He is also passionate about the history – real and mythical – of the north of England. Visit Gary's blog at http://www.garydolman.blogspot.com/.

An Interview with Tara Stogner Wood

Today, I have an interview with Tara Stogner Wood, a paranormal author who has a story in the new fairytale collection Once Upon a Twisted Time.

***

Tara, tell us a bit about Once Upon a Twisted Time.

Once Upon a Twisted Time is a unique collection of fairytales with a twist. We've taken four classic stories and turned them on their heads to create something engaging and fun for readers. Here's the blurb:

Think you know your fairytales? Think again. These aren’t your normal happily-ever-after. Within these pages, a murderous Little Mermaid gets her revenge, the Cinderella doesn’t really want to wear the slipper, Snow White is up to her eyes in industrial experiments, and the Beauty is in fact the Beast.

This collection of four novellas will surprise you, make you gasp in horror, sigh with relief, and sit on the edge of your seat. And most of all…they will make you rethink everything you think you know about dark fairytales…

Did you and the other authors in the anthology give each other feedback during the writing process, or was each story developed independently?

We're a close knit group, so there was tons of feedback and ideas flying back and forth. That said, each of us personally chose the fairytale we wanted to re-imagine. From there, it was only natural to tap someone on the shoulder and say, "What do you think about this?" or, "Is this too literal?". The finished tales are truly a product of each individual, but we found that bouncing ideas off one another was really helpful. They're a fabulous bunch of ladies with some amazingly creative brains.

How did you come up with the idea for your story, "Miss Cavendish and the Spark of Salvation?"

A photo of an incredibly good-looking archer made it's way into my inbox, courtesy of my cohort, Trish M. Dawson. Anyhoo, said photo of attractive male model made me instantly think of "The Huntsman", so that's what he became. The steampunk aspect sort of jumped out at me and I took it and ran. I had the most fun writing this story, and Asher and George have to be two of my favorite characters that I've ever written.

Do you and the other authors have plans to put out another anthology like this?

Absolutely. We really enjoyed working together, and Moon Rose Publishing is a dream to work for. As far as specifics, nothing has been ironed out, as we all have other projects currently in progress. A few ideas have already been thrown around amongst this particular group of authors. I can say that I am currently contracted by Moon Rose for another anthology with a different group (but all of them amazing!) of authors to be released in the spring of 2013.

What are you working on now?

I think the question should be, "What are you NOT working one right now?". LOL. I have three projects that I am actively working and writing on at the moment: the next novella for Moon Rose in the spring, the second book in my paranormal romance "In Blood" series, and a YA thriller that I'm plotting out. I am also co-author on another full-length novel contracted by Moon Rose for a tentative release in April.

***

Get Once Upon a Twisted Time from Amazon.com or Amazon UK. You can connect with Tara in many and sundry ways, including:

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/twoodwriter
Twitter: http://twitter.com/twoodwriter
Blog - The Tarasphere: http://tarasphere.wordpress.com/
Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Tara-Wood/e/B007PK4W1Q/

An Interview with David Bain, Author of Death Sight

Today I have an interview with David Bain, horror author of the novel Gray Lake  and dozens of short stories. Some of those stories have featured a character named Will Castleton and Dave's new novel, Death Sight, is the first full-length Castleton adventure. But he can tell you more about that than I can.

***

Dave, can you tell us a bit about your new novel, Death Sight?

Death Sight is the first novel in the Will Castleton series. There are already several stories and a novella, collected in The Castleton Files, available in print and all ebook formats. While The Castleton Files feature stories from throughout Will’s career, Death Sight is his origin story, detailing the devastating events which presage and lead to his “slightly psychic” abilities, then chronicling his initial, furtive, reluctant acceptance of said abilities. It’s also, to some extent, a novel about the changes one goes through in one’s early twenties. It can be a lonely, difficult period, full of uncomfortable transitions - at least it was for me - and it certainly is for Will. Readers will decide, but my feeling is I really put him through the wringer.

Here’s the “back cover blurb” for Death Sight: Hospitalized after drowning during a rescue attempt, newly graduated U.S. Marshal Will Castleton is besieged by visions of a hulking executioner torturing a bound man. A perilous race against time leaves Will broken, unsure if he even wants to join the marshals. Escaping to his Michigan hometown, Will finds his father dying, a young woman’s ghost desperate to communicate with him, and a biker kingpin out to make a statement by taking out local law enforcement’s golden boy.

You've written quite a few Will Castleton stories. Do you plan on many more short stories and full-length novels featuring the character?

Always! Sooner rather than later I’ll put out a ghost story collection called Ghosts, Just Behind You, featuring “Purgatory,” a new Will Castleton story - maybe a short story, maybe a novella - either way it’s harrowing, with Will getting kidnapped by some badasses and a couple ghosts help him escape.

What drew you to genre fiction, particularly horror?

I seem to have a different answer to this question every time it’s asked. Tonight (as I sit alone in a Mexican restaurant, two tall beers in) I think it was about rebellion. Horror was the most contentious fiction I could find at the age when I needed something rough, independent, socially questionable to cling to. I wasn’t a Goth or a hair band disciple - I was, in fact, a rather tender and tenuous adherent to almost every one of the various late ‘80s ethics, exploring broadly - I listened to The Smiths and The Cure in secret, after the Guns n’ Roses and Metallica crowd had left the party. Stephen King and Clive Barker were pretty much all I was interested in. It was the only fiction that spoke to me, period. I got in a lot of trouble before I was sent to college - the university environment pretty much saved my life, gave me the focus, inspiration and direction I needed. And it was there that I discovered enough diverse horror/mystery/fantasy/science fiction writers, from Poe to Chandler, from Tom Robbins to Octavia Butler, to show me there was a hell of a lot more than mere rebellion going on.

Can you tell us a bit about A/A Productions and the projects you currently have underway?

A/A Productions is a small publishing company I’ve started. So far we’ve published Proactive Contrition, a 100,000-word experimental “meta-memoir” by Chicago writer Wayne Allen Sallee, a several-time Stoker nominee, a collection of stories by Ken Goldman, an author who’s appeared in about every small press horror publication imaginable, and a handful of fun anthologies such as Dark Highways, Sword and Zombie, Forbidden Texts and Dark Days, featuring great authors like William Meikle, Jon F. Merz, Scott Nicholson, Mike Arnzen, Steve Vernon, Eric S. Brown and lots of others. I make no bones about the fact that A/A Productions uses the same self-publishing venues and tools available to any author these days. On one level, we’re simply a middle-man, providing art, editing, formatting, etc. I also make no bones about the fact that authors could be doing all this for themselves. But some authors are technologically challenged or simply don’t want to be hassled with it. Another part of the idea is to be selective about projects, setting a certain standard - yes, authors could easily be self-publishing this work, but the goal is to form a sort of collective where people will know an A/A Productions book will have quality content, quality formatting, quality editing, etc. I’m going for a very indie feel, with the authors having a say and creative control at every level. Right now, I don’t charge an up-front fee; instead, I receive a share of the profits of each book - usually 15%, like an agent might - this way I keep a vested interest in each project. It keeps me doing the best work I can and pushing as hard as possible to make each one a success.

What will you be working on 2013?

The major item on the docket is Green River Blues, the second Will Castleton novel. That’s my top writing priority. There are a number of other projects which may or may not see fruition. I’m also likely to finish a novel called The Care and Feeding of Michael Anthony Zee - it’s about 80 percent done and much more mainstream, literary and crazy than most of my other work, sort of a hipster angle on the sort of thing I normally do. Right now my web site says I’ll be self-publishing it, but I’m seriously considering seeking a traditional publisher for it. We shall see.

There are also too many stories, novellas, anthologies and the like in the works to list here - the best bet would be for interested readers to follow my blog or Twitter, which is where the real fun is.

But I do want to mention this! 2013 should also see a Wattpad exclusive work aimed at young adult readers - at least novella length, maybe a novel - called Stalk Me. I’ve started serializing some work on Wattpad, and I’ve received some praise but also a little flak for it - why fer crysakes would an established writer play around on a site populated by Twilight imitations and One Direction fanfics!?!?!? Yes, you do have that sort of thing on Wattpad, but you also have surprisingly creative and adept writers (young and old) sharing stories that are, in truth, more read, more discussed and more loved than the bulk of self-published work on Amazon. Wattpad is totally about story. There’s no thought of money, just entertainment and community. I’m simply floored at the quality of stuff you can find there, and I love the spirit of freedom, interaction, fun and creativity.

Thanks, Mike, for the chance to do this interview! You rock and everyone should buy Sullivan’s War!

Thank you, Dave! I keep telling people that, but they just laugh and walk away.

***

Click here for links to purchase the new novel Death Sight on Amazon (Kindle), B&N (Nook), Kobo and Smashwords.

There are all sorts of other ways you can connect with David Bain, too. To wit:

Website: http://DavidBainBooks.com

Amazon Page: http://bit.ly/davidbainkindle

Twitter: http://twitter.com/davidbainaa

Facebook: http://bit.ly/DavidBainFB

Newsletter: http://bit.ly/bainnewsletter

An Interview with Shaun Allan, author of Sin and Dark Places

Today I have an interview with horror author Shaun Allan. He has just released a new fiction and poetry collection called Dark Places.

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Shaun, Tell us a bit about Dark Places.

Dark Places. Well, it's a collection of 13 poems and 13 stories, all on a horror or dark theme. Talking of themes, there's a quote on the cover of the book in Latin: "Furor est in tenebris utriusque. Debemus facere proelium cum nostra daemones." Which means "There is darkness and madness in each of us. We must do battle with our own demons."

Dark Places is all about that. What if the horrible thoughts we sometimes flash upon, even if we’re the nicest of people, decide that they’re going to become real? Is it always possible to prevent the beast within from crawling out of its cage?

As you know from Sin, he struggles against a force that uses him but that he can’t control. In many ways, the characters within Dark Places suffer a similar fate. They see things they shouldn't. They do things they can’t help. Or they discover things about themselves that they didn't realise...

The poems were written a while ago, when I was in my own ‘dark place.’ I’d put them aside and saved them and hadn't actually thought about their publication. I’d written a couple of the stories too and enjoyed some wonderful feedback. Then a fellow writer asked me to look at one of her stories. She told me it had been written when she was in a ‘dark place.’ Thus, the inspiration for the title story came and, along with it, the flow of words for the other stories.

The response for the book has been excellent. The fact that it is made up of individual poems and stories means it’s easier to pick up and put down – well, hopefully not so easy to put down, of course.

I love the cover too. It keeps the theme from Sin and looks gorgeous in print!

Dark Places contains both stories and poems. Do you prefer writing one over the other? Do you find writing one more difficult than the other?

I prefer to write stories, I think. I don’t necessarily find one easier than the other as I write a lot of poetry, but it tends to be for an occasion or a mood. Saying that, I have two books of children’s poetry out too - Zits’n’Bits and Rudolph Saves Christmas. I once went through a stage where poetry was all I would write. Now, though, I find the stories flow much more freely.

In some cases it’s how the muse takes me. I have written a couple of Sin’s blog posts in rhyme. One was even to the tune of Queen’s ‘I Want to Break Free!’

Which of the stories or poems is your personal favorite?

Now that’s a hard one. As the poems were written at a time when I was, internally at least, not at my brightest, some of them are quite personal. As for the stories... I like 'Dark Places' because it was the one that coalesced the collection together. It was the spark that fired the anthology and prompted the burst of writing that became the others. Also, the thoughts of other ‘Alice’ worlds in the reflections of the television etc. are ones I toy with myself – hence their inclusion!

'The Last Dance' is another favourite. This doesn't have the darkness that the others have. It’s a little more whimsy. There's some hope in it. Also, it made my wife cry when she read it.

And there's 'Joy.'  In Sin, as she's his sister, she didn't get the chance to tell her story. Now she does. Now she has a voice. There was no way, really, that any other story could close the book.

What do you now have in the works?

Well. Where do I start? I have a children's book about the youngest of three witches who have lost their powers to work on. I have another called Zombies are People Too. There's Sin's ongoing blog – his 'diary of a madman'. And, of course, there’s the sequel to Sin. It’s been difficult to work on this as Rudolph and Dark Places pushed in line, but I am hopeful I can return to it and actually spend some real time on finding out what comes next. I don't plan what I write, so actually fixing on one thing is often difficult.

I interviewed you about your novel Sin for the webzine SpecFicPick (link). Is there anything you'd like to say about it here, or any other publication you'd like to mention?

Sin is currently being pitched to Hollywood with the possibility of becoming a film. It's also being turned into an audiobook (and I've been asked to narrate!). The wonderful people at Wattpad have asked if I'd like to be a part of their Writers' Program and have Sin as one of their featured books, which is amazing. I've recently uploaded a new short story to Wattpad entitled The Hunger, which has had some great comments: http://www.wattpad.com/user/ShaunAllan

Of course, time runs headlong before me and I struggle to keep up with her pace, but I try.

Anything else you'd like to mention?

Thanks very much for this Michael. I very much appreciate it. You could mention that autographed print copies of both Sin and Dark Places are available from my website's bookstore (http://www.shaunallan.co.uk/bookstore.php) as are those of Zits’n’Bits and Rudolph Saves Christmas.

***

For more information as well as links where you can buy Dark Places and his other work, visit Shaun's website here. Kindle users can also link directly to Shaun's work on Amazon US here and Amazon UK here.

An Interview with Patrick C. Greene

Hello, all! Today I have an interview with Patrick C. Greene, author of Progeny, a Bigfoot novel from Hobbes End Publishing. Click here to get it from Amazon either in print or as an eBook.

And now, on with the interview.

***

Michael K. Rose: Patrick, could you tell us a bit about yourself and your writing?

Patrick C. Greene: I'm a longtime resident of Western North Carolina, a horror and samurai film fanatic, sometimes-actor/stuntman/screenwriter, full-time dad and husband. My father was a journalist/novelist, so I got an early dose of writing and found it to be as great an escape as any passive form of entertainment. I write short stories, novels and screenplays, mostly in the horror genre.

MKR: Tell us about your new novel Progeny.

PCG: The story goes a bit like this: a writer named Owen Sterling, having just purchased a large tract of forestry from a Native tribe in the mountains of North Carolina, moves there and promptly finds signs of something strange lurking in the woods. After investigating, he determines that he is neighbors with a family of Sasquatches. He makes a decision to keep the monsters a secret at any cost, refusing to allow anyone on his property. This engenders resentment among the local hunters and drives a wedge of secrecy between himself and his young son Chuck, a city kid who comes to visit for the summer, just about the time the hunters are embarking on an excursion onto Owen's land--and the territory of the monsters.

It's my first serious novel (I wrote an earlier one when I was much younger, that I will undoubtedly re-visit sometime soon) and one of the most meaningful writing experiences I've ever undertaken. It is dedicated to my oldest son Deklan, a fine writer himself with whom I will be sharing space in the upcoming THE ENDLANDS VOLUME 2 anthology from Hobbes End Publishing, who are also behind PROGENY.

MKR: How did you come up with the idea for this book?

PCG: Living in a pretty rural area and reading/watching way too much horror, my imagination will often shift to how my isolated surrounding could lend itself to all kinds of interesting scenarios. Having a lifelong interest in all things monstrous, I've often asked myself how I would react if I encountered a Bigfoot type creature. The experience is said to be so traumatic that it leaves one absolutely immobile. At any rate, kicking that around, I saw a story there. It was important to me that the monsters be more than just the Threat of Death--they had to represent a sort of mirror into which some of the protagonists must be forced to look.

MKR: Do you plan a sequel to the novel, or at least more Sasquatch stories?

PCG: I love these characters enough that I could easily see myself doing another one. However, I would have to take it in a vastly different direction. I would never want to just repeat myself, or just throw the same situation into a different setting. There are some other ideas involving Sasquatches and other cryptids in the ol' notebook, so I'll just have to see what happens with this one.

MKR: Tell us a bit about A Shotgun Wedding.

PCG: A Shotgun Wedding is a dramatic thriller I'm writing for a production company called CineFoundry that takes the concept of wedding day jitters to its absolute max. In it, a sweet young lady named Alyssa is about to get married for the second time, after escaping the clutches of her sinister and psychotic first husband. He's believed to be dead--but guess what? He's crashing the wedding. That will likely shoot next fall somewhere in Ohio or possibly North Carolina. There's a teaser trailer and lots of info at www.ashotgunwedding.com. I'm also writing some projects for SaintSinner Entertainment in New Jersey.

MKR: What are you working on now?

PCG: Aside from the aforementioned THE ENDLANDS VOLUME 2 coming in November, I'm eager to start my next novel and also to finish a collection of short stories, but for now, along with spreading the word about PROGENY, I'm trying to raise awareness about a couple of charities that are near and dear to me. Scares That Care is an organization that provides comfort and assistance to ailing children, helps fight breast cancer and helps care for burn victims. They're always auctioning off amazing horror memorabilia, so it's a fun way to give.

They can be found at www.ScaresThatCare.org.

Also, Jackie Chan is doing great things with his Dragon's Heart Foundation. Kids can help him build a school for a dollar!

And finally, the sCare Foundation (www.scarefoundation.org) was put together by the producers of the Halloween film series to help teens in poverty get on their feet.

MKR: Thank you so much for the interview, Patrick! I already have my copy of Progeny and look forward to reading it.

***

You can connect with Patrick C. Greene at his website, Facebook and Twitter. His Amazon Author Page can be found here.

Interview: SB Knight, Author of The Blood Chronicles

Today I have an interview with SB Knight, author of The Blood Chronicles trilogy. Book II, Drago’s Revenge, is the next step as he continues to pursue his passion for writing novels that deliver both thrills and chills. His desire is to improve the craft he loves with each novel he writes. He strives to deliver fresh, new ideas and stories in the Dark Fantasy genre. Currently he is writing the third novel of The Blood Chronicles.

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Michael K. Rose: Tell us a bit about The Blood Chronicles.

SB Knight: The Blood Chronicles is a series of three books (Born of Blood is Book I and Drago’s Revenge is Book II) chronicling the life of a family as they struggle to survive. Pursuing them is the apex predator. He is determined to achieve his ultimate goal…permanent immortality. What hunts them is a vampire and he will destroy anything in his path to obtain what he wants. Why is this vampire hunting this family to extinction? They hold the key to all his desires.

MKR: How did you come up with the idea for the series?

SBK: I’m a fan of vampires, first and foremost, and knew I wanted to write a vampire novel at some time. I was watching a show on the History channel about Elizabeth Bathory (the blood countess) and a detail about her life grabbed my attention. I wrote it down and started to make notes to support it. I also asked a lot of ‘what if’ questions. What if a vampire was harder to kill? What if a vampire was not immortal unless certain actions were accomplished? What if a real historical figure and event actually dictated the birth of this apex monster?

MKR: Do you write in any genres besides horror?

SBK: Does Dark Fantasy count? If not, no, Dark Fantasy and Horror are where my muse dwells at the moment and for the foreseeable future. I have a number of novels planned in the genre. Actually, I believe my next novel will be a werewolf story.

MKR: Which writers have influenced you?

SBK: There are so many. First to mind are Tolkien, Brooks, Fiest, and Jordan. I love getting swept into their novels. King inspired me for his insight into writing and his passion for writing. Finally, Hitchcock for his method of building suspense and his outlook on what really chills a reader.

MKR: Book II, Drago's Revenge, will be out at the end of this month. When do you hope to release the final book in the trilogy?

SBK: Let me think, I have a separate novel releasing in March of 2013 and my hope is to have the third novel released in June of 2013. I am currently writing it now.

***

About Drago's Revenge:

The birth of a child is a time for joy and celebration. For Sam and Reba, it is a time for concern and worry. Concern for what could be and worry for what lurks in the shadows. They both know Reba’s baby, Christian, is special. But Drago waits in the darkness, and he also knows how special the child is. He knows what the child’s birth means. Now Drago stalks them, waiting for his moment to strike and claim Christian for his own evil purposes. As he unleashes his sinister plan, Sam and Reba fight to survive and keep their newborn out of his clutches.

Chased by a group of would-be vampires manipulated by Drago, Sam and Reba are forced to abandon their home and find sanctuary in once-forgotten locations. But they are not alone in this fight as family and friends arrive. Will it be enough?

Life will be lost, blood will be spilled, painful memories, and emotions will torment minds…all part of Drago’s revenge.

Special - From now until October 30 you can PRE-ORDER Drago's Revenge for $4.76 (that's 20% off retail price). PLUS, when you pre-order you get Born of Blood for free! That's right, save 20% AND get a free ebook! Click here to pre-order Drago's Revenge today!

When not writing, SB Knight enjoys spending time with his family and being outdoors. During a normal week he can be found on social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and his blog. Easily approached, SB Knight enjoys chatting with readers and fans alike. Information about SB Knight, his books, and upcoming projects can be found at www.sb-knight.com.    

Interview: Craig McGray

Craig McGray is a new author who has just published The Somnibus: Book I, the beginning of a paranormal horror trilogy. Craig lives on the east coast of Florida with his wife, Andrea, and two beautiful daughters, Emma and Chloe. He works as an administrator for an oral and maxillofacial surgical practice in Daytona Beach, Florida. If that wasn't enough, he's also a triathlon athlete and many of his thoughts and ideas come to him during those quiet times while running, biking, or swimming.

Today, I am very pleased to present this interview with Craig, conducted in August via email.

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Michael K. Rose: Your newest release, The Somnibus: Book I, is a horror/paranormal thriller. What drew you to that genre?

Craig McGray: Well, I've always enjoyed reading the genre. It was only natural that when I started writing, I wrote those kinds of stories. Even as a kid, my stories were along those lines. I often wrote stories and kept them to myself. Part of it was the lack of belief in myself as a writer, and another part was the content. Even when I was young. I would creep myself out sometimes when I wrote certain stories. I find myself fighting the urge to put a twist of horror in everything I write, so I guess my answer is, it feels natural to me. It's usually appropriate for the type of stories I write, but when I'm writing with my daughter (Emma is 8) it's better if I keep the premise of the fairy in our story boring into the little girl's brain through her ear and making her do bad things, to myself.

I enjoy reading things that scare me. When I have someone tell me that my story was scary, as in they had to leave the lights on to go to bed, I am thrilled. To me that is the biggest compliment I can receive. Well, there are others, but that's for a different interview. ;-) I am experimenting with stepping out of my comfort zone and writing in other genres. I was surprised to find that I am beginning to enjoy that aspect of my writing. Maybe it's my ripe old age of 40, but I think I just like doing something new; learning new things.

MKR: Do you believe in anything paranormal, or is it all fiction to you? And if you do believe, have you ever had a paranormal experience?

CM: I work in the medical field, so I believe in science. I also know there are things that science can't explain. Personally, I have never had anything happen to me that I thought was paranormal in nature. I do enjoy hearing the accounts of others that say they have experienced it, but I think it's the result of an overactive imagination more than anything. Now, do I think those people are lying? Absolutely not. I think they truly believe they had a paranormal experience. Well, some of them may be lying just to get attention. I'm also not saying I want to go stay the night in some abandoned asylum or anything, though I would if the opportunity came up, but I have yet to see any real proof that haunting, or ghosts, exist. I think loved ones do somehow visit those they've left behind. My daughters have both told me things that I believe about that, but that may be a different discussion.

In other words, I guess I believe in some things paranormal, but since I haven't seen it myself, I would put an asterisk next to the believe part. As far as haunted houses and the like, I don't buy it. I think our mind is very strong and plays tricks on us sometimes. I get creeped out by watching the movies, but not because I think it's real or could happen to me. With that being said, if I actually did experience an attack from a ghost, or I saw something in a haunted house that I thought was a ghost, I would probably need a new pair of shorts after I ran out like a teenage schoolgirl.

MKR: As a marathon runner, I'm sure that your training would serve you well as you ran out screaming like a schoolgirl. Now, The Somnibus series is about a young man named Michael who learns that he possesses, via a mysterious stone that belonged to his mother, the ability to access a shadowy other world where creatures called the Somnibus exist and from which he can actually enter into the bodies of other people. You mention there are things science can't explain, and as Clarke famously said, "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." Are you approaching your story from a purely fantastical point of view, or could there be something of science (parallel worlds, for example) behind it? You've mentioned in another interview that you are a fan of Lovecraft and for me, the most remarkable thing about his writing is that in many of his stories he is able to take seemingly supernatural events and ascribe scientific explanations to them. Without giving too much away, is this a possibility you're going to explore with the rest of the series?

CM: Yeah, my triathlon training would definitely have me out of there before anyone else. What do they say about avoiding Zombies, "You don't have to be faster than everyone, just faster than someone." or something like that. Anyway, as far as The Somnibus series goes, it is based on fantasy. The world I want to create with the series could be nothing but fantasy. As my answer may have pointed to earlier, I don't think there are any in between worlds, or other dimensions that we are going to find, at least none that science has shown yet. Now, other worlds as in other planets, I do think that will happen, eventually. That's probably more your area of expertise, but I do believe the science fiction of today may be the reality of tomorrow, or maybe a couple hundred tomorrows from now.

MKR: The Somnibus is your first major project as a writer. I know how exciting it is to get that first major work out to the public. I also know the doubts and fears that accompany that. So what do you hope will come of it? What is your goal as a writer, where do you want it to take you? You've mentioned being worried about how others will receive your work. What other fears do you have?

CM: Great question. I guess I just hope I can create stories and worlds that people enjoy reading about. I know that seems like a cookie cutter answer, but it's true. I haven't come into this with some great expectations of being the next Stephen King, James Patterson, or Michael K. Rose (though I wouldn't run away from the label). I just want to put out stories that people can read and be satisfied with when they are done. Reading is time consuming, so if I'm fortunate enough to have someone spend their valuable time reading my book, then I don't want them to feel like it was a waste of time. Time is a limited commodity, and I understand that.

As far as where I hope to go as a writer, honestly I'm not sure. I plan to write stories that I like to read, and see where it takes me. Of course I want to sell a few books, but that's not the main reason for my writing. I have a full time job to pay the bills and that's my first priority behind my family. Much like my stories, I have a loose outline for myself when it comes to writing. I'll let life and readers help to put me on the right path. That, and I'd love to walk into a bookstore and see one of my covers staring at me and my family from the shelves.

Fears. Let's see. I don't like to say I'm scared of anything. However, I'm not a big fan of roller coasters, or spiders. It's not that I'm worried about being attacked by spiders or anything, they just give me the creeps for some reason. I don't mind snakes, or any other animals or insects, just not a fan of spiders. I'm getting better with roller coasters to some degree. My 8-year-old Emma is getting into roller coasters, which I have never really enjoyed. I get through it by acting like it's no big deal, like any tough guy dad would do, but I secretly hope she changes her mind sometimes. A more serious fear is the fear of something happening to my kids. I don't know how parents deal with a true tragedy or illness when it comes to children. Sorry to bring down the tone of the piece, but it's a legit fear for me.

MKR: The Somnibus will be a trilogy, correct? Do you have your next project planned? Do you think you might continue The Somnibus beyond those first three books?

CM: My plans when starting The Somnibus series was to have a trilogy when it was all said and done. As I'm working through Book II, there may be more story to tell. I'll just have to see where the characters lead the story, and what the readers want.

I am also working on a collection of short stories. I love writing the short stuff, so I always have a few of those going at the same time. Sometimes, if I'm stuck on one project, I'll go back over some unfinished work. That may get me through my block, or I might put more work into the shorter story. It just depends on the mood.

I have this premise for a sci-fi type project that I can't stop coming back to. I haven't put much down yet, but I think I'll have to start it. It keeps tapping on my forehead, wanting the story to be told. That project will be a large project and take a considerable amount of time, I think. We'll just have to see with that one. I may need a little science-fiction creative direction. I've heard of this kick ass writer, Michael K. something, I think. You ever heard of him?

MKR: Haha! I may have. Care to give us a teaser on what that science fiction story will be about?

CM: Well, when aliens try to take over the earth, there's always this big battle with violent aliens. I think there are smarter aliens out there, aliens that could rid the earth of humans without destroying everything in their path. They are more patient in waiting for us to be gone. The characters have to figure out a way to undo what the aliens have done before it's too late to recover and the human race is no more. Here's a hint, it's not a disease that threatens to rid the earth of humans.

MKR: It sounds intriguing! Thank you for your time Craig. Anything else you'd like to mention?

CM: I'd just like to thank you for the great interview. I'd, also like to thank you for all of your help and support. It's nice to know that there are authors out there willing to help each other out. I hope to release The Somnibus: Book II by late fall, and my collection of short stories before year end. Maybe I'll make it a creepy Christmas time release. Thanks again for the fun interview.

***

You can connect with Craig at his website, Facebook or Twitter. The Somnibus is available at Amazon's Kindle stores (US, UK).

An Interview with Scott Fitzgerald Gray

Today, I am very pleased to share this interview I conducted with Scott Fitzgerald Gray, author of the science fiction novel We Can Be Heroes (see the SpecFicPick Book Feature here). Scott describes himself as a specially constructed biogenetic simulacrum built around an array of experimental consciousness-sharing techniques—a product of the finest minds of Canadian science until the grant money ran out. Accidentally set loose during an unauthorized midnight rave at the lab, the S.F. Gray entity is currently at large amongst an unsuspecting populace, where his work as an author, screenwriter, editor, RPG designer, and story editor for feature film keeps him off the streets.

Michael K. Rose: Scott, I'd like to start by asking a question I ask the writers I interview for my webzine SpecFicPick. I know you already answered it when I interviewed you for the site in July, but I'd like to ask it again because I think it offers a fantastic insight into not only the mind of a particular writer, but into the shared culture of speculative fiction writers: What role do you believe speculative fiction plays in society?

Scott Fitzgerald Gray: I mostly just repeat what people far smarter than me have already said in response to this question, which is that speculative fiction is a literature of unrestricted ideas. SF is a place where literally any question can be asked dramatically—questions of technology, sociology, culture, ethics, morality—with the ramifications and repercussions of those questions generating new questions in the reader. A kind of catalytic cycle of ideas and philosophy, as it were. When I answered the same question on the site in July, I mentioned how the use of “speculative fiction” as opposed to “science fiction” sums up my own personal take on the genre, which at its best is about wrapping the live wires of raw ideas in the protective sheath of narrative so that we can grab onto them without killing ourselves. Speculative fiction is an exchange of raw ideas and unbridled imagination, and shows us how to map those ideas onto the framework of human experience. There's absolutely nothing wrong with analyzing or exposing the big questions of life through philosophy or history or sociology or any other strictly academic pursuit. But in the end, academic analysis can rarely hit us in the heart like speculative fiction can—and it's when we get hit in the heart that we really start to care about things.

MKR: I, too, am drawn to speculative fiction because of it's ability to act as a catalyst for ideas. I believe that if we want our society to continue in a generally positive direction, we need more literature that does this as opposed to the generally meaningless pop fiction that seems to dominate the bestsellers lists. Do you think it is the responsibility of all writers to hit someone "in the heart," as you say? How much room should we allow for those who only want to entertain? In other words, what would be your ideal ratio for meaningful fiction versus entertaining pop fiction?

SFG: I don’t have a problem with people who want to write solely to entertain, or with people whose purpose in reading is just to be entertained. But I think stories that pack a real emotional punch are invariably better stories than those that shoot for mere entertainment—and as writers, I think we should all be obsessed with telling the best possible stories. I don’t view it merely as a social or intellectual obligation. To me, there’s never been a conflict between stories that entertain and stories rich in meaning and ideas, because I think the best stories do both. Whether you’re talking about George R.R. Martin or Frank Herbert, André Norton or Marion Zimmer Bradley, Hemingway or Joseph Conrad, there’s a vast field of popular writers whose works manage to marry exciting narrative and bold ideas, and those are the writers whose creative example I desperately try to follow.

Having said that, though, I’m not sure that there is an optimal ratio, just because the balance really depends on the story. As an example, it’s interesting to think about The Lord of the Rings and the films based on that novel. A book like The Lord of the Rings is necessarily built on the intellectual foundations of its historical backstory. Without that backstory, it’s hard to imagine the book being as amazing as it is. But at the same time, the films were forced to dispense with a lot of that backstory strictly because of time constraints, yet the films still managed to create a story that’s emotionally compelling in its own way.

MKR: I fully agree with you that the best stories contain both elements. However, it is my opinion that (unfortunately) much of what is "popular" is geared almost exclusively for entertainment as opposed to delivering meaningful ideas. As a writer, do you find yourself intentionally trying to insert meaning into your work, or does it happen naturally? Do you give serious thought to elements like themes and motifs?

SFG: Full (and equally unfortunate) agreement. But from my perspective, I think it’s important to say that I don’t think it’s all that much harder to write emotionally compelling, thoughtful, character-driven fiction than it is to write fiction that’s just entertaining. I think some writers might believe otherwise, though, and I think writers are sometimes reluctant to dig deeper into their stories because they’ve gotten used to simply writing on the surface. Delivering meaningful ideas in fiction is really just a matter of wanting to explore those meaningful ideas. As writers, if we have the will to push a story, the story will respond.

As far as analyzing the process by which I cram meaning into my own work, I’m not sure that “intentionally” is as apt a word as “compulsively.” It’s not like I craft a story and then look for places to nail down the thematic elements and the big ideas and the deeper character story. Those elements just kind of come together in the process of digging into the story. Sometimes you start out with an idea or theme that you know you want to explore, whether it be something like emotional loss, the perspective of madness, political allegory, or what have you. But sometimes you just start out with raw plot and the inclination to tell a story that’s exciting and memorable—only to discover that themes and motifs you never expected to focus on have woven themselves into the work and demand that you address them. One of the things I’m very evangelistic about as a writer is outlining, and I think that my own process of outlining has a lot to do with how my stories unfold and expand on different levels. Working on an outline, I feel like I’m working with story at its most primal, and it’s easy to see themes and motifs unfold at that level of raw narrative energy.

MKR: Can you tell me a bit about your most recent work, We Can Be Heroes, and the meaningful ideas you compulsively explore in it?

SFG: LOL, etc. But the new book is actually a pretty good example, because it was a story in which I both started with some specific themes I wanted to explore, then found myself exploring new things in the course of the writing that I hadn’t expected to. Without giving too much away, one of the Big Points in the book is to examine the notion of what it means to be truly alive versus what it means to just go through the motions of life. What is human versus what only appears to be human—which is a concept I hope a lot of people know because it’s a big part of the work of Philip K. Dick, and his books were a huge inspiration for We Can Be Heroes. Not in the sense that I think the book feels in any way like a PKD novel, but because my inspiration for that underlying theme came about as a response to his work, and to parallel questions raised by William Gibson in Neuromancer. But even as I knew from the get-go that those ideas were ones I wanted to explore in the story, I discovered that as the story took shape, I was inspired to dig a lot more into personal themes of isolation, alienation, and love than I had originally intended.

In its earliest outline-level incarnation, the story was more focused on the action/adventure side of things. And though there’s still plenty of that in the book, and though the characters were strong enough in the original concept, the character story got stronger as I reworked the outline and the writing eventually kicked into gear. A couple of the darker plot points and the mechanics of the relationships between the characters were things that came very late to the narrative mix, because I discovered that the more things I threw at the characters, the more resilient they were forced to become and the stronger their story became. There’s a line very near the front of the book (in the chapter that relates the significance of the title) that talks about living in a world in which telling someone you love them is the bravest thing you’ll ever do. That became one of the key meaningful ideas in the book, and was one of the last parts of the book I wrote, and I would never have predicted at the outset that it would have become as important an idea as it did.

MKR: Thank you for your great answers, Scott. Is there anything else you'd like to mention or links you’d  like to share?

SFG: Thanks to you for the questions, and for the chance to prattle on. As far as links to share, I’d be cementing my reputation as the worst self-promoter on earth if I didn't mention my website as a good place to go for more info on my writing and other projects (including an extended free sample of We Can Be Heroes. But for more useful information of benefit to the struggling writer, I’m a big fan of the collective of voices that is the AmWriting blog (to which I’m an occasional contributor), Phil Athans’ Fantasy Writer’s Handbook, David Farland’s Writing Tips, and Chuck Wendig’s TerribleMinds. I don’t think there’s ever been a better time to be a part of the community of writers, and particularly the community of fantasists. Being able to share the experience of, and the ideas underlying, a book like We Can Be Heroes is a huge treat, so thanks.