Publisher: www.BooksEndependent.com
Release
Date: October 1, 2014
Part
One
·
Hello J. M. can you tell us what your book is about?
“Under the Shadow” is a story of self-discovery. Two
thirteen-year-old boys, Jason Swann and Daniel Elliot, are forced into
friendship as they are accidentally abducted by the Archivist, a robotic being
created by an ancient alien race known as the Shantar Anar for the purpose of
studying the universe. But of course, things that seem like coincidence reek of
deeper mystery as the boys and the Archivist find themselves lost in an
adventure on a foreign world, Ranis Anjiran.
What they discover there only further dismantles the myths surrounding
their accidental abduction and their connection to the Shantar Anar.
While the boys are in far off worlds, their respective
families in the small town of Ashton, in the American Midwest, desperately seek
to find them, thinking the worst. Their search uncovers a hidden history with
ties to the events surrounding Jason and Daniel’s journey.
·
What
authors inspire or influence your work?
My biggest influences as far as fantasy and science
fiction are concerned are Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman, creators of my
favorite fantasy series “The Death Gate Cycle” and Robert Heinlein and Orson
Scott Card for Science Fiction. The
literature nut is me is influenced by James Clavell and Alexander Dumas simply
because “Shogun” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” – unabridged are the two best
books I have ever read. I would be
remiss if I didn’t include T.S. Eliot as the emotional qualities of his poems
and the feelings they evoke are special.
·
Favorite
snack when writing.
I
do enjoy a good snack, but I find I have very little appetite for food when I’m
writing, however a good cup of coffee is always appreciated.
·
Do
you have a Muse?
I
don’t have a muse but I have found that when I feel stuck or blocked, I like to
take a long walk and let my mind wander down the strangest paths it feels like
taking. I’ve had pretty good success
breaking a frustrating writing block just doing that.
·
Once
a character is fully developed do you set them free or do they still dance
around your mind?
They
are constantly dancing in my mind.
Partially because they are all in some ways facets of my own self, but
also because I imagine things I want them to do or say in the next volumes in
the series, A Moment in the Glass,
and What the Thunder Said.
·
Where
can readers find you and your book(s) online?
