Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
Michael J. Merry was educated at the Royal Liberty School, Essex, United Kingdom. In 1968, while working in the Republic of Panama, the Guardia Nacional overthrew the elected Government. That evening Merry, in his personal vehicle, collected Panamá’s President and several Cabinet Ministers, and drove them through searching military patrols to a safe base in the Canal Zone. Appointed Division Vice President for a major U.S. financial news operation, he opened fifteen regional offices throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. These produced an acclaimed on-line, real time, financial, and political report. In 1996 he was contracted to write two weekly televised investment shows, and edit a monthly asset venture newsletter. Mr. Merry is retired and lives in Miami Shores Florida. He has written six previous books.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
Percy, and two other fools’ is based on the mysterious disappearance of Percy Harrison Fawcett (1867/1925) who along with his son Jack, and a friend, Raleigh Rimmel, vanished in the jungles of the Mato Grosso in March 1925. An experienced explorer, Fawcett and his two companions were searching for a lost city he called ‘Z’, near the Xingu river. They disappeared, and were never heard from again. In 2018, an English aristocrat heads up a group that travels to the area to search for Fawcett’s remains. Meeting the Kayapo, guardians of the Upper Olgo and the Piripkura, protectors of ‘Z’, they are continually harassed by the ‘Amazon Mafia’, a gang of river pirates, trying to usurp the expedition. From Manaus to ‘Z’, this tale will keep you in suspense every foot of the thousand mile journey. I have written an additional six books. Percy was a project
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I write short stories and novels about subjects of interest. When I set out to write “Percy”, I had no idea of the suffering and pain that many of the quarter million indigenous peoples of Brazil have put up with. Tribes are described as indigenous when they maintain traditions of a previous culture associated with a given region. Research has opened my eyes, and I have found that unfortunately, mistreatment continues to this day.
However, the exploitation of these jungle dwellers is slowly being eliminated thanks to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, the Brazilian Government’s Bureau of Indian Affairs and several private organizations such as Survival International.
We may only hope that eventually, modern mankind will stop trying to convert everyone on earth to their own image and allow these tribes to live as they wish on lands where they and their ancestors were born.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Any author that details preparations for a task
What are you working on now?
A new book of short stories
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Amazon
Do you have any advice for new authors?
Never give up
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
If it seems too good to be true it usually is!
What are you reading now?
7 Troop by Andy McNabb
What’s next for you as a writer?
More short stories
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?
James Bond omnibus by Ian Flemming
Horatio Hornblower omnibus by C S Forrester
Author Websites and Profiles
michael merry Amazon Profile