This is one of the hardest reviews I’ve yet to write, because I don’t know how to rate this book. On the one hand, if we go by the story, entertainment and how much it pulled me in, it would get one score and then if we went by editing and style, it would get an entirely different score.

So let’s start with the problems: In the prologue, we are introduced to the book in a first person narrative. The voice of that first person in the prologue is most definitely male, because his son calls him ‘father’. But then chapter one starts, and we switch characters but are still in first person, with a character named “Max”. It took me several chapters to realize, because I don’t read the summaries before I read books, that Max was really a woman, Maxine. That made me have to start over again and re-read things from that new perspective.

Next, the first sentence of chapter one has a grammatical error in it. That really turned me off to the book and had I not been reading it for a review, had I picked it up in a bookstore or had scanned through it on Amazon.com, I would likely have put it back and not bought it. That same grammatical error, particularly pertaining to dialogue tagging, was done incorrectly all throughout the book.

This book needs a good copy edit, no doubt about it, and on that score, I have to really say that the book can’t get more than three stars for editing.

But if I had judged the book by that alone, I would have missed a fantastic book.

If this book had been professionally edited, it would easily, and I mean, very easily, be a five-star rating for a book. This book takes the old vampire lore and adds a new twist to it. I’m not a big vampire book fan, but I liked this book’s take on it, a lot. When someone sends me a book that’s a vampire book, I always ask, “With the proliferation of vampire books on the market, does yours have something special that makes it worth reading?” The answer to that question for this book is: Absolutely, yes!

The vampire legend is traced back thousands of years, but in a back story kind of way. We have The Breed, True Bloods and humans. The bloodlines get obscured down the line, so there are some who are turned and some who were born. It’s really quite fascinating to me how the author shared this information through the characters. The story has some underlying racism currents, with vampires being exterminated by The Breed, but humans not really all that comfortable with The Breed, either. The back story to this is displayed perfectly in the background, so that we readers get the perfect amount of information to go with the story. Genetic cleansing, genocide, is touched on as well. Some pretty strong topics, but handled in such a way so they don’t feel weighty and burdensome, like pushing an agenda, but rather, realistic, like these are things that could easily happen given the situation.

CHARACTERIZATION IS STRONG IN MOROAICA, BY S. GAIL SEYMOUR

Characterization in this novel is strong. The main character is so relate-able, I enjoy the first-person present-tense point of view. It’s like having an inside track to what’s going on in her mind. We get to see how she processes things, and I enjoyed that. She’s not always right, but unlike in omniscient POV, when the author would have to mislead us directly, with this POV, the character can simply misunderstand something that later becomes clear to her, and then to us, without it feeling like the author cheated us. Add to it that she can communicate telepathically as well, it sort of works to have her sharing her thoughts to the reader directly.

Max is a quirky character, a half-breed who is part vampire and part human, but due to a mutation or genetic mistake of sorts, she’s neither human nor vampire either. In one respect, she seems to have gotten the best of both sides, but she is considered a slayer, and works for The Breed, whose goal and mission is to kill vampires.

Considering her own father is a vampire, that makes Max’s life a bit complicated as she seeks to protect and hide her father, who is presumed by many to be dead, while he works on what Max believes to be a ‘cure’ for vampirism and the genetic problems that make her what she is as well–though there are others who believe he is/was working on something entirely different.

Little does Max know that her mother and father neither are who she has always believed them to be. In fact, she’s soon to find out that nobody in her life is exactly who she believed them to be. Her confusion and lack of information makes the first person point of view work well for readers too, as the author reveals these things to us at the same time she reveals them to Max.

I was able to get a good connection with Max, Dillon and several of the vampires. The only person I had a hard time really connecting with was Max’s mother, but she wasn’t a big primary focus in the story.

PLOT IS FAST-PACED AND INTRIGUING

The first few chapters were interesting, but weren’t exceptional. By about midway through the book, though, I couldn’t put it down. I enjoyed being in their world and couldn’t wait to see what was going to happen next. The story is so fast paced that readers will never find a moment of boredom, making it hard to find places to take a break, so I kept flipping through the pages, one after another. It’s not so fast paced that readers get tired, but keeps a perfect, easy, steady pace throughout, without any unnecessary storyline or description. One of the things new and indie authors often do that is a mistake is to give too much information and description to the reader, not trusting the reader to get their story or characters. Seymour doesn’t do this. She gives the reader the exactly perfect amount of information, the perfect pace to keep the reader turning pages, and an exciting enough story to hold the reader’s interest.

MOROAICA IS PART OF A SERIES

At the end of the book, readers are left with a story that pretty much ties up all the loose ends, but at the same time, it makes it clear there is more to this story than what we’ve just read. Upon looking at the information the author has made available, this is one book in a four-part series, The Moroi Chronicles. I personally am looking forward to the future books, and hope the author takes the advice for seeking professional editing seriously. With the right editing, I truly believe these stories can be strong and quite popular in the hands of those who like fantasy, strong female heroines, and vampire lore.

I recommend this book, and if you’d like to pick up a copy yourself, it’s available online at Amazon.com and on Kindle. By the way, the cover on this book is really quite gorgeous, and looks really nice on the Kindle Fire in full color.

S. Gail Seymour, I eagerly await reading and I hope reviewing future books you will write. I think there is some blossoming talent here and that it’s only going to get better with time as you grow into the character’s voices and get a handle on the copy editing. Looking forward to your future works!

Hey, readers! Sorry it’s been a while since the last review, but my new Kindle Fire’s power cord broke. One of the prongs just broke right off. I don’t want anyone to take that as a review of the Kindle. You can read my Kindle review here if you really want to know what I think about the Kindle Fire. The cord got stuck under the recliner, where the power surge plug is, and I plopped down a lot harder in the chair than I should have and it popped the power cord to the side, and ripped that metal prong right out of it. So my Kindle was completely out of charge when that happened, so I haven’t had any notes (Yes, I make notes on the Kindle while I read, neat feature!) to write reviews from or to read. The new power cord has come, the Kindle Fire is now fully charged, and I’ll be back to posting reviews you can trust tomorrow morning, with S. Gail Seymour’s book, MOROAICA. Looking forward to it.

In the meantime, I want you to check out this project and philanthropic endeavor:

There’s a group called “Gone Reading” who have created an online store where they sell literary-related items with all the proceeds going to their project. The website says, “Gone Reading International donates 100% of after-tax profits to fund new reading libraries and other literacy projects in the developing world.”

It’s a wonderful endeavor to expand reading and the love of reading to those less fortunate who otherwise might not be exposed to it. But it’s more than that, because reading and knowing how to read is the beginning of being able to communicate with the rest of the world, which is a chance for kids to get out of poverty, to take jobs they otherwise couldn’t do, and to help grow and improve educationally. Reading is crucial for these developments to happen, and this project helps make that happen.

On the more frivolous but nonetheless important side, imagine growing up without your favorite book or your ability to read. Imagine not having your imagination run away with you as you become the character in an action adventure book for kids. Imagine not being transported away to a fairytale land of fantasy for a moment, to escape the humdrum of life. Think of how much kids who don’t have access or money to buy books at bookstores. Think of kids who don’t have access to a library or even if they did have access, might not be able to enter it for one reason or another. Think of a life without your favorite childhood stories read to you by your parents, big brother or sister or babysitter.

This is your chance to make a difference…

Check out Gone Reading at this link and get yourself a t-shirt for a good cause, if you feel so compelled.

See you tomorrow with a new review!

Love and stuff,
Michy

This is book two in a series of epic fantasy novels, incorporating some of the best fantasy elements of humans, elves, dragons and other mythical and mystical beings. Fortunately, one doesn’t have to read book one of the series in order to understand and enjoy book two, but I do think it would likely help. I picked this up for review and haven’t read book one yet, but I do feel I’m missing a little bit by not knowing all the characters and back story well. However, it’s absolutely not necessary for the enjoyment of the story.

The author, however, does a good job of filling us in. The first part of the book recaps where the universe and characters have been. It’s a bit expositional, so it’s best not to judge the entire novel by the first few chapters, because it does pick up pace even more later.

That said, the first chapters are a bit tough to follow in that it bounces around a little in time. In one chapter, we’re told a character died, then in the next chapter, we go back a little in time and see how that character died, without any indication that we’ve shifted gears except for a chapter change. Each chapter tells the story of one of the characters, mostly in an omniscient point of view, but focusing on that particular character, so it does work, even if it’s a tad awkward in the beginning.

Plot of Legends of Marithia: Darkness Rising, by Peter Koevari

As with many epic fantasy novels, this one has a prophecy. We begin early in the book to see that the wheels of motion have started spinning on the fulfillment of this prophecy, when a child is born from a mix of a sorceress and a vampire, a mating that is illegal and punishable by death (vampires can peacefully co-exist, but there is a ‘racism’ issue with the people and the vampires in this story). The child has to witness the cruel murder of her parents and she strikes a deal with the ruler of the underworld and thus the prophecy is set in motion.

A caste system with a king and a jealous prince who wants his father’s crown exists in this universe, and a rival in love with the princess is cast to bring about conclusion of the prophecy. This results in the prince seeking to destroy him before he can succumb to or fulfill his fate. The once peaceful Marithia erupts in war.

The castle lies in runs. The knight from the prophecy is in cahoots with and spellbound by the dragons (and I have to say, I loved the dragons in this book!), and Shindar, the demon of the underworld, has been waiting for centuries to exact his revenge (which is another good story I would have liked to read more about so I’m hoping it’s in part one of this series!)

I won’t say anything more about the plot, as to not give away any spoilers, but basically, the rest goes about seeing how the prophecy plays out and trying to set right what once went wrong.

Characterization in Legends of Marithia: Darkness Rising, by Peter Koevari

I had a hard time connecting with some of the characters. I could view them from a distance, but it was difficult for me to get inside of them and feel something for them. In part, this is because of the writing style. It’s very expositional.

The dialogue is a bit stilted. There are instances where the characters talk too much, in a manner not consistent with normal dialogue from real people. It felt as though sometimes the author was trying to tell the story through the dialogue, instead of just letting the characters talk to each other as a means to get to know them. Also, paragraph breaks in dialogue would have made some of the longer speeches easier to read.

Writing Style in Legends of Marithia: Darkness Rising, by Peter Koevari

I like the writing style in general. It’s super fast-paced. You won’t find a single page where things aren’t moving along quickly. I found that, unlike a lot of books I’ve been reading recently, I didn’t feel a desire to skim and skip ahead to get to some action. Unfortunately, because it was mostly expositional (a lot of telling and not enough showing), I didn’t get as deeply involved in the story as I would have liked. The author tells us a lot of things, but I would have preferred him to show it to us as it played out.

There are minor grammatical errors throughout, mostly missing commas and minor copy editing issues. For an indie published (self-published) book, the writing and editing were better than most I’ve read, and the minor errors I came across didn’t jolt me out of the enjoyment of the book.

Overall Opinion of Legends of Marithia: Darkness Rising, by Peter Koevari

Overall, I very much enjoyed this book. I like a good fantasy novel now and then, and this one kept my interest. I found I want to get to know the characters better and it was easy enough to slip into the universe and live in it while reading. The pacing is good, keeping my interest. The writing is good, though it has a little room for improvement, as does the editing. Overall, it’s a quality read and one I would recommend to anyone who enjoys fantasy.

There is a lot going on in this book, so you do have to keep up with it, but if you like dragons, elves, unicorns, gods and goddesses, demons, and magic, this book has some good elements of all those things. It’s entertaining and long enough to be worth the money for that entertainment.

Now, I’m doing things backwards, but I already purchased the first book in the series and will be reviewing it as soon as I finish it, because I want to know more about Marithia and the people in it.

Pick up a copy if fantasy is your thing. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed! You can also stop by the author’s website to learn more about his writing and the books.

Author Short Bio: Rev. Dr. Deborah Simpson

As a clear channeler and automatic writer, Rev. Dr. Deborah Simpson is the author of several inspirational and spiritual books including her bestselling metaphysical book, The Constellation of Omens, incorporating world predictions and signs of the end times. An ordained minister and spiritualist, Dr. Simpson has made appearances on various radio shows such as Paranormal Palace Radio, The Mortal Vampire, The Mix Talk and PairaNormal providing live, on-air psychic readings. As host of D’s Roundtable Radio Show she has given her callers psychic advice on the air and discussed paranormal phenomena.

Dr. Simpson has been described as the poet of our generation. With a critically acclaimed, unique writing style, her verse has been scrupulously compared to our celebrated greats of yore. If you relish the works of Keats, Shelley, Poe, Dickinson, e.e. Cummings and Hemingway, Rev. Deborah’s work is sure to captivate your literary senses. Her metaphysical works have been compared to such world famous psychics as Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus.

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? 

Deborah Simpson:  Excellent question and you couldn’t be more right. Aside from being a writer, I am also an ordained minister and spiritualist so I do work in the paranormal field as well as aiding persons on a daily basis. And, aside from that, I am a full-time paralegal. Most do not know that I spent 13 years of my life bartending part-time and I’ve worked many odds-and-ends jobs such as being a cashier in food stores, retail stores and I have even had my hand in working in a major fast food chain.

Have you always wanted to be a writer? 

Deborah Simpson:  I never actually thought about being a writer, although I’ve been writing since the age of 9 on a daily basis to satisfy my passion for writing. Being a published author was an avenue that I was talked into doing by others who had read my work.

What compels you to be a writer? 

Deborah Simpson:  Without sounding cliché, what compels me to write is what compels living creatures to breathe.

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

Deborah Simpson:  Yes. I am currently working on another metaphysical novel, Divination alongside a self-help book entitled Hardboiled Egg.

How did you feel the day you held the copy of your first book in your hands? 

Deborah Simpson:  It was a nostalgic experience. It was a huge personal accomplishment and at the same time, one of the most humbling experiences I have experienced.

What inspires you and motivates you to write the very most? 

Deborah Simpson:  When I receive a comment from a reader telling me how my work has changed their life, I believe that is all the motivation I will ever need.

What one thing are you the most proud of in your life? 

Deborah Simpson:  Without a doubt, my beautiful son.

Hey, let’s get morbid. When they write your obituary, what do you hope they will say about your book/s and writing? What do you hope they will say about you? 

Deborah Simpson:  Cute question. Quite honestly, although I haven’t thought about it, off the cuff I would say the only thing I hope for is that my writing had enough of an impact to be talked of at all. What do I hope they will say about me? For those that knew me to say they loved me.

Thinking about your writing career, is there anything you’d go back and do differently now that you have been published? 

Deborah Simpson:  Honestly? I wouldn’t change a thing. It was and is who I am. If I could do anything differently, I would have been sacrificing too much.

What is your main goal or purpose you would like to see accomplished by or with your writing? 

Deborah Simpson:  I have but one goal: May my words today fall unexpectedly graciously upon the ears, within the minds and throughout the hearts of them, so that but one may be touched by needed hope or faith or strength that before was misplaced in their life; and may the seeds these words plant today grow into vines that they may continue their crusade upon the ears, within the minds and throughout the hearts of them, so that but one more may be touched.

How has having a book or being published in a book changed your life? 

Deborah Simpson:  I am now responsible for every single word I have ever uttered in print. It has changed my life drastically.

It’s said that the editing process of publishing a novel with a publisher is can be grueling and often more difficult than actually writing the story. Do you think this is true for you? How did you feel about editing your masterpiece?

Deborah Simpson:  Out of all of the editing projects on my books, I think the most grueling was with The Constellation of Omens. Three months of editing. I believe I was reciting the book in my sleep. It is much more difficult than writing. I would agree 1000%.

Now that you are a published author, does it feel differently than you had imagined? 

Deborah Simpson:  Oh yes. On the one hand, it’s a huge personal accomplishment just as I imagined, however on the other hand, it brings so much more responsibility than I ever could have thought.

For more information on books and services, please visit Rev. Dr. Deborah Simpson’s website at www.deborahsimpson.org or her Amazon.com Author Page.

Short Author Bio for Rhetta Akamatsu

I am an online journalist and author with a wide range of interests. My books cover the paranormal, a lesser-known part of Irish history, and blues music, and I also have smaller books about children’s crafts and Christmas traditions! Online I write about Atlanta blues music, Atlanta steampunk, and Atlanta Historic Places and I write about business and technology news for Gather.com. I live in Metro Atlanta in Marietta, GA, the subject of my book, Haunted Marietta, with my husband and my cat, near my grown children and 4, soon to be five, grandchildren.

~~~Author Interview with Rhetta Akamatsu~~~

Donald Jacques was born in 1957, as an air force brat. He has lived in ten states over the years enjoying 8 kids, 6 grand kids. Don spent fifteen years as a computer programmer, worked as a teacher, a pro dance instructor, security guard, and commercial handyman. The HandyMan is his third book.

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?

Donald Jacques: I currently work as a commercial handyman. I repair, or perform preventive maintenance on plumbing fixtures, lighting, and wall repairs. In the past, I spent 15 years as a computer programmer, 10 years instruction in classrooms and corporate training, even did a few years as a ballroom dance instructor.

What compelled you to write your first book? Read the rest of this entry »

The first chapter of this book starts out strong, pulling me in to a story that this woman, Victoria, has to tell, her story. A story of a child born prematurely and not expected to live, who then defied all odds and survived, only to grow up and lead a disappointing life, devoid of any accomplishments, dreams, or anything that sets her apart from anyone else in small-town America. She married out of perceived necessity a man she didn’t truly love and who obviously doesn’t truly love her. Their relationship is comfortable in a sense, if not strained.

Then one day, she meets a man, an artist, who leads a very different existence than most of the folks she’s known her whole life. Victoria finds herself not only drawn to this man in a strange sort of way, but she also finds herself questioning her own life, her choices and her existence. He awakens old dreams in her of dancing and owning her own dance studio, things she gave up along the way to become a dutiful wife, and she never thought she’d entertain those ideas again. Read the rest of this entry »

I read Baron’s first book, WHEN YOU WENT AWAY, and I was blown away by the story. Here was a great tale, with a male protagonist, told in first person, two rare things. It wasn’t a romance novel, but had romance in it. It wasn’t a chick-lit novel, but it had a lightness and humor to it. It wasn’t women’s fiction, but it had some depth and powerful moments. I was pleased to find a new author I hoped to follow. Then I read CROSSING THE BRIDGE, also by Baron, and I wondered if this author had used up all his best writing skill in his first novel. This story, while it showed some spark of potential, wound on way too long, detailing too much mundane detail in the daily life of the protagonist, and the romance aspect of this story was weak.

But boy did Baron redeem himself with SPINNING. I absolutely loved SPINNING and consider it one of the best books I’ve read recently. So when I picked up ANYTHING, by Michael Baron, I was hoping for another story that was at least as good as WHEN YOU WENT AWAY and hopefully as good as SPINNING. What I got was something somewhere in between the two: a good, solid story that was fun to read and compelling, but not as deep or rich as either of the other books.

ANYTHING, by Michael Baron – Plot Summary Read the rest of this entry »

Michy’s Book Reviews is pleased to invite Donna Anastasi, author of SPIN THE PLATE, to offer a guest blog post on our site. Welcome, Donna, and thank you for your post! Enjoy! Be sure to leave Donna Anastasi a comment!

~~~~

There are a couple of phrases that give me a back of the neck prickle and skin crawling annoyance: “play hard” and “serious hobby”. Don’t get me wrong. This country and the people in it would be much better off if adults took the time to play. But once it becomes “hard” or “serious,” you might as well head back into the cubical and get paid for it. I have an obscure hobby that started this time of year 12 years ago. I’d recently made it through a car totaling accident and while heading for a stone wall, vision partly obscured by the air bags that punched me in the chest and face, I really thought “this might be it”. A week later, still in that wiggy state of mind following that type of accident, I found myself wandering a pet store with my two then little girls. I’d always wanted gerbils. And why not? Why not just do the thing you want to do rather than throwing up excuses all the time on why you shouldn’t. My girls picked out two, one for each.

Now, I raise gerbils, show gerbils, judge gerbils, and travel the country doing educational events and pet expo exhibits. The gerbils give me a reason to do many things I wouldn’t otherwise do as an engineer in this socially isolated country, where people here in New England have never seen the inside of most of their neighbors’ homes. People come into my home regularly and often see the magic in the “gerbil room.” In addition to picking out their own gerbil pair, it’s a place where nothing is rushed. We chat gerbils, play with babies, and maybe even visit with a token resident rat or chinchilla.

Sometimes, after some conversation, I discover it’s a local celebrity that’s come by to get their children  (or themselves) a couple of gerbils: a writer, an artist, a sandcastle sculptor, a cartoonist. As a wife, mom, and full time worker with a stressful day job, the demands on my time are constant. For some reason, though, no one bothers me when I disappear into the gerbil room to clean cages, give the animals activities that make them smile, or shhhhh…hide behind a closed door and the rain-forest-like sound of 60 gerbils all gnawing paper towel rolls at once. I’ll get on my computer and do a little writing just because I want to, just for fun.

Truthfully, I’m an introvert who’d just as soon hole up in the gerbil room and keep to myself. But for some reason this obscure gerbil hobby is a source of fascination to the general public. In keeping with my personal motto “It’s all for the gerbils” (or as I used to joke with the kids, “The gerbils come first”), I open my private world and gerbil room to all the newspaper reporters, the radio interviewers, and this week, associate producer and casting director, who call. In 2005 I wrote an Amazon-top-selling (still) gerbil care book, the gerbils have been featured in countless news articles, the New Hampshire chronicle, and NPR. A network now thinks that the gerbils may just be fodder for a reality show – you can see their casting videos on youtube.

So, are gerbils lucky? Being a person who doesn’t believe in luck, that I can’t say. I do know if you are good to gerbils, good things happen.

Me in the gerbil room: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aAkeQs1V4L4

Gerbil Whispering: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DavbA7C0gE4

~~~~~

You can pick up a copy of Donna Anastasi’s book, SPIN THE PLATE, visit the review of this book on Michy’s Book Reviews, or stop by Amazon.com and pick up your paperback or Kindle copy today!

Author’s Short Bio:

I am Michael Meyer, a recently retired college writing professor. I literally taught at universities all over the world, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the US Virgin Islands. I retired last December from a California community college. I live in Southern California wine country with my wife Kitty and our two other cats.

Author Interview with Michael Meyer:

Tell us a little bit about your book/s. What are their titles; which is your favorite if you have more than one, and briefly let us know what they are about. Pay particular attention to your most recent book and/or your first book:

Michael Meyer:   THE FAMOUS UNION is a rollicking romp through the halls of academia, where the powers-that-be make theater-of-the-absurd decisions that bring chaotic conditions to a once-proud institution of higher learning. THE SURVIVAL OF MARVIN BAINES is a whimsical look at a man coping with midlife. Both novels are humorous and filled with somewhat eccentric characters, but both have an underlying seriousness to them.

What inspires you and motivates you to write the very most?

Michael Meyer:  I have always been both a student and teacher of language. Words fascinate me. I love being able to string words together that display cleverness while conveying a powerful thought or image. People fascinate me. I observe those around me, and then I try to capture life’s quirkiness and its wonders as I write.

What about your family? Do you have children, married, siblings, parents? Has your family been supportive of your writing?

Michael Meyer:  My wife and my three sisters are all very supportive of my work. We are a close-knit family. We support one another. One of my sisters told me that she could not help laughing hysterically at times as she read THE FAMOUS UNION.

The main characters of your stories – do you find that you put a little of yourself into each of them or do you create them to be completely different from you?

Michael Meyer:  One of my sisters told me that she could see bits and pieces of me in the character of Marvin Baines, so that is probably true since she has known me all of her life. There are bits and pieces of many people I have encountered in life in my characters.

When growing up, did you have a favorite author, book series, or book?

Michael Meyer:  As a young boy, I fell in love with the CURIOUS GEORGE series. As a student, I couldn’t get enough of John Steinbeck. I also greatly admire the work of Richard Russo.

Location and life experience can sprinkle their influence in your writing. Tell us about where you grew up and a little about where you live now?

Michael Meyer:  I grew up in Southern California, right on the beach. As an adult, though, I spent over half of my 40-year college teaching career out of state and overseas. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, and the US Virgin Islands. I now am back where I started life, in the middle of sunny Southern California, and I like where I am. I am really a man of the world, and I travel internationally at least once a year. In fact, my wife and I just recently returned from a two-week visit to northern Italy.

Do you have any pets? What are they? Tell us about them.

Michael Meyer:  My wife Kitty and I have two identical flame-point Siamese cats that we rescued at different times. It is eerie since they look like brothers. They keep us on our toes. They love to chase each other through the house. My wife and I have spent many a night sitting on our couch sipping wine while watching our two little boys enjoy life to the fullest with each other, just happy to be alive.

Have you ever had a character take over a story and move it in a different direction than you had originally intended? How did you handle it?

Michael Meyer:  My characters in THE FAMOUS UNION all did this. At times, I literally had no idea what they would do next. One person who reviewed my book said that the characters would make a good case study for a psych course. I like that.

Now that you are a published author, does it feel differently than you had imagined?  

Michael Meyer:  Yes, it certainly does. I had no idea how hard it would be to get the word out about what I had written. Writing is fun. I love it! But marketing your own writing is real work, and I am not very good at it.

Now, anything you want your readers to know.

My two humorous novels are sold on Amazon Kindle.

• My American Amazon site
• My UK Amazon site
• My German Amazon site