- Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
Peter
believes in his nickname and his role of leading the remaining apostles in
supporting the endeavor of the Miracle Ladies. He will however be forced to
challenge his allegiance when matters go out of his control.
Doug Maine writes about the unexplainable and other strange occurrences. He is fascinated by the world of the supernatural.
Guillermo Ricci has a secret passion following a discovery he made studying world religions. This passion becomes his obsession with the Miracle Ladies.
Ramon Garcia is a proud professor who believes in his assessment and views of religions worldwide. He is very condescending towards Doug Maine who he categorizes as a semi-lunatic in search of thrills through the unexplainable.
Theresa Churchill is an enigmatic woman with unclear aspirations. Her true colors will show eventually.
Krystelle Vignelot is determined to fulfill her mission as required by the Pope. Her similar background to Guillermo will bring her to work with the latter and their joint investigation will prove to be a white-knuckle ride.
The man who calls himself The Redeemer is obsessed with the promising,
yet unknown culmination of his work, the Miracle Ladies.
Ghost was first obsessed with finding the civilians that had disappeared following the story of Fantasy Man. His obsession is diverted to the Redeemer and the Miracle Ladies despite himself.
- Who designed your book covers?
The
cover for ‘The Storyteller’s Nights’ was designed and drawn by myself. If I
succeed in a revised edition at some point in the future, I will resort to
external help.
Mirador Publishing proposed the covers for Fantasy Man and The Miracle Ladies, following various ideas that I brought forward.
The cover for the original edition of ‘Les Nuits du Conteur’, the French version of ‘The Storyteller’s Nights’, resulted from a long search from various pictures with no proprietary notice on the internet. The cover for the revised edition came from Éditions Saint-Honoré, the French publisher.
The cover for ‘Revanche’ is one of my drawings. Éditions Saint-Honoré, the French publisher has adapted it for the cover.
- If your book was made into a film, who would you like to play the lead?
For
‘Revanche’, I would be delighted to have the leading ladies as Charlize Theron
and Jessica Alba. I truly don’t know about the leading man yet.
For The Miracle Ladies, I am looking at a blank page in terms of selecting actors for the various roles. In all honesty, it would be a project in itself for me to research and identify actors for the characters.
- What is your favorite part of this book and why?
The
Miracle Ladies is a joy ride in terms of writing experience. It’s hard to
pinpoint an actual favorite part but for the sake of answering the question
with a specific part, the unfolding of the light and sound show towards the end
of the story is a great scene. It was a gratifying culmination of events.
- If you could spend time with a character from your book whom would it be? And what would you do during that day?
I
would want to spend time with Krystelle Vignelot because of her combined simple
and straightforward personality as well as her determination. Then, there’s
also Doug Maine and his fascination for the unexplained.
- Fun Facts/Behind the Scenes/Did You Know?'-type tidbits about the author, the book or the writing process of the book.
It
all starts with an idea… a simple event of daily life: something someone would
say, a scenery in a book, a painting or a picture, a dream that triggers such a
powerful thought sequence that one feels compelled to investigate and
eventually write about. Sources of inspiration are quasi-endless.
Did you know? I have to travel a lot for my engineering work. It occurred to me that these travels would serve the additional purpose of me identifying and remembering places of interest that could be used as part of the storyline. All my books are filled with such places.
The writing process can only properly start with the main idea, a strong skeleton that will hold the story all the way. Then, once the writing process has started, it is amazing in my personal experience how there is a connection that happens between the writer and the Universal consciousness. Ideas that were not thought of suddenly creep in, a phrase on a newspaper, a comment on the news, hearing a few words of a conversation between people, everything becomes a source of inspiration. But then, as a writer, it becomes essential to listen to the silent messages of the Universe. When the writing feels difficult when it becomes clear that the inspiration is not quite there and the energy is not flowing freely, leave the writing and go and do something completely different for a while. Do not get frustrated. Just let it go until you feel compelled to return to the writing. You’ll be surprised as to how well it will all come together then.
Jean-Michel
Désiré was born on the magnificent tropical island of Mauritius,
where he completed his primary and secondary studies in compulsory
bilingual French and English languages. An acute love of reading
combined with a great interest in art (drawing and painting) pushed
Jean-Michel from a young age to want to write his own comic books,
but a lack of opportunity blocked his efforts. It was this same lack
of opportunity of the time that triggered a need to perform further
studies. At age 22, Jean-Michel left Mauritius for North London,
England, where he completed a bachelor of Engineering in Electronics
followed by a Master of Philosophy in Microelectronics.While
concluding his Master’s degree, Jean-Michel met the lady who became
his wife a year later, year during which they also moved to Montreal
Canada where Jean-Michel had been offered an engineering position in
the Aerospace industry. Life had its own agenda, and within the first
eighteen months, their daughter was born in the middle of a snow
storm in Montreal. Six years later, their son came into the world and
the obvious demands of family life became the main priorities.During
the winter of 2008, Jean-Michel slipped on the ice during a storm and
fractured his ankle in multiple locations. Recovering at home after
surgery, Jean-Michel decided that the time had come to revive his
passion for writing. Within two years, his first book ‘The
Storyteller’s Nights’ was published. The positive feedback from
readers fueled Jean-Michel to exploit his bilingualism and he
translated the story into French, ‘Les Nuits du Conteur’ being
published in 2015. He then felt the wind in his sails and published
‘Fantasy Man’ in 2017, and recently, ‘Revanche (Revenge)’
(the follow-up to ‘Les Nuits du Conteur’) in 2019. ‘Fantasy
Man’ is presently nominated for an award, top ten finalist to be
announced on 22 August 2019. He has just completed his next English
book, entitled ‘The Miracle Ladies’.Engineer
by day, writer by night, Jean-Michel plans to keep letting his
imagination go wild while capturing it all on paper. Surrounded by a
great family, he plans to write a whole lot more. When he is not
writing, he spends quality time with his family and travels yearly
back to Mauritius to visit his Mom and brothers.If
you're interested in getting in touch with Jean-Michel, the best
place to reach him is on Goodreads.
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