Morgan Leshay, a Georgia native, resides in the North Georgia mountains – with her husband, six kids, and a chihuahua named “Pocket”. When not otherwise engaged in generating new and exciting romance novel concepts she spends her time catching up mountains of housework neglected while writing!

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Okay, that just sounds stuffy, don’t it? Who am I really?

Most days, I’m just a mom, housewife, teacher, and a dreamer…maybe some of you can relate to that. I’m a normal person just like anyone else, except my “bad hair days” are usually “atrocious hair days” and my schedule is a little backward to the rest of humanity. While the rest of the world around me sleeps, I work. When they are working, I sleep…about one level above dead, LOL.

Author Interview with Morgan Leshay

It’s rare today to find an author who does nothing but write for a living. Do you have a ‘real’ job other than writing, and if so, what is it? What are some other jobs you’ve had in your life?

Morgan Leshay: Nope, nothing but writing. A mom of six couldn’t possibly have time for anything else, right? Kidding. I do have time cause my kids are great, but I don’t have a job outside the home.

What compelled you to write your first book?

Morgan Leshay: I saw a vision. Seriously. I was sitting in the parking lot outside my local Walmart, and I saw this…woman…or angel…. It was a warm, early fall evening, and the wind was blowing leaves across the pavement, making that eerie whispering sound you hear and this … vision… pops into my mind. And I hear a name, just the echo of a whisper, really, in my mind. One word. Tian.

I went home and started writing. Three days later (about 72 hours), the story (first draft, yeah) was done.

Have you always wanted to be a writer?

Morgan Leshay: No. Well, if you count life after teen-agerdom as “always”, then the answer would be yes, but before then, I didn’t really think about it. Sure I wrote. Won awards for essays and such in school, but I didn’t consider myself a “writer” or think I was going to be a writer someday.

Then when I was 16-17 (and heavily hooked on reading romances) I decided, “Yeah. I’m gonna be a romance writer. I could write one of these in my sleep…and a lot better than some of them I’ve read lately, too!”

Scheah, right.

I then set about “learning the craft”.

Tell us a little bit about your book/s.

Morgan Leshay: My latest release is The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow, and it tells the story of what happened in Washington Irving’s Sleepy Hollow 25 years after the Headless Horseman’s famous midnight ride. A new romantic twist on an old horror legend, The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow is a tale of intrigue and suspense, yet at the same time, a journey to happily-ever-after for the lead characters Katherine Van Brunt and Icharus Crane.

Here’s the back blurb, so you know what the story’s about:

“…25 years after the Headless Horseman’s famous midnight ride…”

Katherine Van Brunt, daughter and only heir to the infamous Abraham “Brom Bones” Van Brunt and Katrina Van Tassel, brings back the dead and loses her heart to the son of her father’s nemesis in her quest to save the legacy of Baltus Van Tassel in…THE LEGACY OF SLEEPY HOLLOW.

To me, The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow is a story of renewal, of growth and rebirth. I enjoyed writing it so much I cried when it was time to type “the end”.

My debut romance novel was called Redemption, and between the pages of that story, you’ll learn what happens when an angel meets the devil and is tempted to sin. I am proud of this story, as an author tends to be of “first books”, but I’m not so attached I don’t realize it could have been better. A lot better.

Are you currently working on any writing projects our readers should watch for release soon?

Morgan Leshay: I am in the planning phase of a new story, yes. But all I can say about it is that you should look for it around the holidays in 2009, and that I’ll be posting an announcement about it on my blog at http://www.morganleshay.com/musings in December 2008.

What type of music, if any, do you listen to while you write?

Morgan Leshay: Usually I listen to an eclectic mix of music, but while writing The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow, there was only one song I listened to and I listened to it repeatedly…so much so, I now call it the “theme song” for The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow, lol.

Which song inspired me so during the writing of The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow? “Say My Name” by the gothic rock band Within Temptation (www.within-temptation.com). I must have played it a million bajillion times while writing The Legacy. I even included a special thanks to the band in my book!

How long did it take you to write your most recent (or first) book? When you started writing, did you think it would take that long (or short)?

Morgan Leshay: I wrote my first book (the first draft, lest anyone become overwhelmed) in 72 hours. I wrote my second book in about 120 hours (this was the final draft).

When I started writing the first book, I thought it would take longer…a lot longer. With the second, I was a bit lazy…not writing every day, so naturally it took longer. And of course there were a lot more words in the second book than there were in the first, so…

But this isn’t something everyone can necessarily do or even believe can be done. I frequently offer prayers of thanks that I can write so quickly.

Now, use this space to tell us more about who you. Anything else you want your readers to know?

I want to hear from you! Seriously, waiting for reader response to The Legacy Of Sleepy Hollow has been one of the hardest things I’ve had to do in my writing career to date. Stop by my blog at http://www.morganleshay.com/musings and let me know what you think of the story.

Oh, where can you get it? Right now, one of two places:

Amazon.com

Or…

LBF Books

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Michy’s note: I contracted with the publisher to work with Morgan Leshay on her first romance novel, REDEMPTION. I was honored to get to contract with her new publisher to work with her again on The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow. We had a blast editing this novel together. I always enjoy Ms. Leshay’s work. I highly recommend picking this one up, but will admit to being a tad biased, because I enjoyed working on it so much. I will have my official review of this book up soon.

If you’d like to see what a few others are saying about The Legacy of Sleepy Hollow, by Morgan Leshay, on my writers forum, you can visit this thread.

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Reading and editing for a living, I’ve waded through a lot of books. It’s been a long time since a book grabbed me, drew me into the story, and kept me turning pages. The Face of Death, by Cody McFadyen not only grabbed me, but it took me by the collar and dragged me across the pages, while keeping me on the edge of my seat.

Written in first person, from the point of view of our protagonist, Smoky Barret, a battered and beaten but not broken FBI special agent, the reader gets a glimpse inside Smoky’s head, listening in on her thoughts. There is a very intimate feeling to the relationship between reader and Smoky.

This book stumbles into Smoky’s life about a year after she lost her husband, daughter and good friend at the hands of a serial killer, and nearly lost her own life too. Left with the emotional and physical scars–ones on her face for all to see–Smoky is trying to pick up the pieces of her life while moving forward in her job and becoming mom to her dead friend’s now mute daughter, Bonnie.

Once the reader has a handle on Smoky’s world, Smoky is called to the scene of a crime, where a sixteen-year-old, blood-covered Sarah asks for her by name. Soon, the reader is pulled into a new story, third person from Sarah’s point of view, written by Sarah. The reader is exposed to it while Smoky reads it.

This back and forth between Smoky’s thoughts and Sarah’s story is skillfully woven through the pages of the book. Sarah has been targeted by a serial killer, who considers himself an ‘artist’ who is shaping and molding Sarah’s life as a work of art–A Ruined Life–by killing most everyone Sarah could possible love, and hurting or damaging those in her life he does not kill. For ten years, Sarah lives with the horror alone.

Smoky’s job is to outwit the ‘The Stranger’ in Sarah’s life, unveil the corruption and reasons ‘The Stranger’ is doing what he considers justice, and keep everyone Sarah knows and loves alive, and with any luck, sane too.

Packed with action, a bit of blood and gore, and plenty of suspense, there were only two things that bothered me about this book that will prevent it from getting a five star rating: 1) McFadyen has Smoky revealing in dialogue to other officers things even a rookie should know (likely for the sake of the reader). It interfered with my ability to suspend disbelief. Fortunately, this doesn’t happen often. 2) The scene in which The Stranger killed Sarah’s parents, and the manner in which The Stranger creates that scene, in my opinion, loses integrity. I simply cannot bring myself to believe Sarah’s mother would respond the way McFadyen, through Sarah, says she did.

The story ends with a small twist, ties up all loose ends skillfully, answers any questions the reader might have had while reading, and brings some humor and happiness back to story. No, it’s not a perfect happily-ever-after ending, but it’s real, honest… life.

The Face of Death, by Cody McFadyen left me wanting more, and I have already decided I will be reading and reviewing the next Smoky Barret book, The Darker Side, currently available in hardcover.

The Face of Death receives a 4 1/2 out of a possible five-star rating from this reviewer. Good book, highly recommended.

Other book/s by this author include:

Shadow Man