Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
My first feature length novel was Desiring Fire. Since then, the floodgates have opened and I’ve written three more and am working on several others.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
My latest book is My Brother’s Name. Sometimes, when we are in it up to here, all we have left is to invoke the name of a “higher power”…a name that carries more weight than our own, admitting to ourselves and others that we can’t go it alone. In this case, Angela invokes the name of her brother, a ruthless assassin.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
This isn’t something very unusual, but it’s a part of the writing process that is probably more common than not. I will often spend hours writing a book by not typing a single word while staring at a blank computer screen. After I’ve worked out dialogue and action in my head, I will then try and type the words my brain typed in my mind. It doesn’t always work out and things get deleted often.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
I’ve loved reading books by Alistair MacLean (particularly The Black Shrike), Burroughs, Lawhead, stories by Poe, as well as contemporary authors like Bova, Goodkind, and shamefully Rowling.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing a fantasy series tentatively titled “The 20 year slave,” with book one called “Three Steps Back” about a young man who while tracking down his wife’s murderers unwittingly acquires a young woman as his slave. To release her would be dishonorable to her tribe and mean her death. So he must keep her for 20 years, unable to sell her, and must give an account of his treatment of her after the indentured period is over or face judgement from her tribe. She proves to be a handful and doesn’t act like a slave, which suits him since he hates the idea up until her continual disobedience begins costing him. She, on the other hand, is seeking answers to her past that can help answer who she really is and why she ended up with a tribe in a desolate land that ultimately gave her over into slavery. Her only clue to her past is a small jeweled necklace that she watched her master throw into the river after she’d disobeyed him. Over the years, their nomadic lifestyle due to his trade as a bounty hunter, earns them more enemies than friends, forcing them to stay bound together in a relationship stronger than master and slave, resulting in a forbidden love that he can never act upon since he’s an honorable man and would never take advantage of his slave. She, however, bears several secrets, one of which could threaten his livelihood, another that threatens his life, and a third which would cause her to be torn from him forever.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
So far, Facebook ads have been a valuable tool for promoting my books.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
I advise new authors to write, write, write. Finish that first book, set it aside and work on a second book. After finishing that one, then begin writing the book you really want to write. The first few are ‘throwaways,’ books that will give you the confidence to know that you can write an entire novel. Save the story you are passionate about for your third project.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
A confidence artist can draw or paint for hours on a piece and then throw it away afterward – even though an onlooker might see an amazing work of art – because the artist knows he or she can create another work of art. Meaning, don’t be so attached to the words you’ve written that you are afraid to delete an entire chapter (or book) when it’s not going the direction you wish; you can always write more good work, and what you’ve written is never the best work you can do.
What are you reading now?
I’m currently rereading The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. I first read it in fifth grade and have reread it several times since. No film to date has ever done it justice.
What’s next for you as a writer?
As I continue to write books, I also love teaching writing and creative writing and helping authors with their projects. I’m starting to look for projects that are interesting that I can be a part of another author’s journey to complete his or her book. I love looking at the big-picture and working with authors on the overall structure of their books.
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?
If stranded, I’d bring the aforementioned book by Dumas, a how-to book on how to survive on a desert island (if any such book exists…maybe Robinson Crusoe?), the Bible to give me hope about being rescued and saved, and the Elric Saga to remind me of good I have it compared to that guy.
Author Websites and Profiles
Michael Edmond Website
Michael Edmond Amazon Profile
Michael Edmond’s Social Media Links
Goodreads Profile