Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I currently live in Southern California, where I’ve been a professional writer for the past 9 years. My worlds of fiction are mostly in sci-fi and fantasy, so they range from the unicorn-ruled realm of the Morning Land to the gritty ‘Fringe Space’ of the western Galactic Frontier. Alas, despite keeping a keen eye out for griffins, centaurs, or galactic marshals, to my knowledge none have yet put in an appearance on Hollywood Boulevard!
My portfolio of work continues to grow, as you can see below.
Book Series:
Fantasy & Forensics: Centaur of the Crime, The Deer Prince’s Murder
Strangelets with a Side of Grilled Spam: Strangelets Episodes 1-4, Strangelets Season One
Fringe Space Tales: A Shovelful of Stars, Pay To Pray, Dogfight, A Planet Torn
Standalone Novels:
The Detective & The Unicorn
I Married the Third Horseman
The Wizard, The Warlord, and The Hidden Woman
Treasure of the Silver Star
The Adventures of Amanda Love
Collections and Novellas
So a Dragon, a Muse, and an Alien Walk Into a Bar…
Gatekeeper and Goddess
Sylph
Predators and Prey
Deepest Fears
Three Acts of Courage
Strange Powers, Stranger Places
Crisis Points
Love’s Origins
Blood, Sweat, and Fears (an 18-story compendium)
Fringe Space Tales – All of the books in the Amanda Love Universe
Short Stories
23 and counting! Check them out in Amazon’s listings below…
My welcome mat is out at www.michaelangelwriter.com. Or, feel free to stop by and say ‘hello’ to the kind folks who publish my material at www.bantyhenpublishing.com.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
The latest book is The Deer Prince’s Murder, which is the second book in the ‘Fantasy & Forensics’ series.
This is a sequel to the first book, ‘Centaur of the Crime’, which was itself inspire by one of my writing mentors: they suggested that when looking for an idea, mix two things that might not go together at first glance, like “C.S. Lewis and speed.’
I immediately thought of: why not ‘C.S. Lewis meets C.S.I’? And the rest is history.’
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
Depends…does drinking enough Diet Pepsi to float the USS Enterprise count as ‘unusual’? Maybe, considering that most writers like coffee and I prefer to take my caffeine cold.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Kevin J. Anderson, Dean Wesley Smith, Kris Rusch, and Robert Heinlein. Oh, and a special shout-out to Vernor Vinge, who I have the honor of meeting for lunch a couple of times a year!
What are you working on now?
Launching a brand new series of serial novels based on the short story, “Never Mind the Princess, Save the *Dragon*.’
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I’m still evaluating that, but I’ll post when I figure it out!
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Read a great deal, write a great deal. If that’s too general, then here’s something specific: find out whether you’re writing for the right ‘level’ of reader. Do this by giving your writing a ‘SMOG’ check. Seriously.
‘SMOG’ stands for ‘Simple Measure of Gobbledygook’. Look it up on Wikipedia, there are links to online calculators. You go to one, paste in a sample of your text, and it’ll tell you what grade level your writing comes in at. If you’re writing kid’s books and the calculator tells you that your work is suitable for graduate students, you’re using awfully highfalutin’ language.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
Write what YOU like to read. Proceed from there.
What are you reading now?
Game of Thrones, like about 25% of the rest of the world…
What’s next for you as a writer?
Continuing to build out entire worlds and series!
If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
1. How to Survive on a Desert Island for Dummies
2. How to Build Unsinkable Rafts out of Anything for Dummies
3. The Ultimate Survivalist Guide for Dummies.
4. 500 Baby Names for your Volleyball (besides Wilson).
Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Angel Website
Michael Angel Amazon Profile
Michael Angel Author Profile on Smashwords
Michael Angel’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile