Posted by Mandy M. Roth on May 9, 2012 in
Contests 
Most Wanted Authors Contest
No rest for the wicked…
It’s a well known fact when authors Yasmine Galenorn, Michelle M. Pillow and Mandy M. Roth get together, bad, bad things are going to happen. Threats of tequila and tattoos, scorpions and nipple clamps have flown across Twitter. Musings involving riding flying monkeys and Thor have also been rampant among this trio, as well as the delightful imagery of Michelle as an ethereal bunny riding cloud maiden. But next year when they get together at RT? We’re sure that hell is going to break loose.
This is where you come in. Tell us what you think will happen. What alleged “crimes” will they have committed? Who will end up in another country with no memory of how they got there? Who will have the photo evidence of the night? Who will need bail money? The Hangover has nothing on these ladies.
Use your imagination to dream up what trouble these three gals will get themselves into. You have three different places to enter this contest. Each author will be selecting her own winner(s) and have their own rules as per entering. Be sure to visit each author’s site for information on how to enter! Most importantly, have fun with this!
RULES for entering here at Mandy M. Roth’s Blog: You must write your ideas/suggestions/”for sure facts” of what crimes you think will take place in the comment section of my blog. They don’t have to be long or drawn out. Simple things like “this will involve a goat, a ransom note and a group of Italian males” works. I’m not picky. Short works. I just want you to have fun. Contest runs May 8- May 22, 2012 .
Prize: What you’re being entered for a chance to win… (taken from the lovely and talented Yasmine Galenorn herself) You Get What You Get! aka… if you’re selected you might win ebook(s), a print book, a gift cert to Amazon.com, cool promo or swag. If you’re a winner you get whatever I decide to give so get those comments coming!
Yasmine Galenorn
http://www.galenorn.com/index.php?body=contest.htm
Michelle M. Pillow
http://www.michellepillow.com/blog/
Mandy M. Roth
http://mandyroth.com/blog/ (You are here)
Have fun and be creative !
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Tags: contest, michelle pillow, Yasmine Galenorn
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 24, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled Jess Granger, Interview
By Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
An adventurer at heart, Jess Granger has done everything from working as a balloon artist, brewing her own beer, traveling through Europe, and working to rehabilitate injured birds. When she isn’t writing like a mad fiend, you can find her pondering the complexity of ecosystems while tending her massive butterfly gardens. She’s a national bestselling, science fiction romance author with her series, Realms Beyond. Her latest work, Beyond the Shadows, arrives in bookstores May 4, 2010.
* * * * *
Q: In your book, both your hero and heroine are aliens. What inspired you to create such characters?
Jess:Part of the fun of Science Fiction, especially on the Space Opera end, is creating new worlds out in the vastness of space with new rules. I love world building from scratch. The universe is endless and full of possibility for wonder, adventure and excitement. In the case of my hero and heroine from Beyond the Shadows, it was fun to portray a matriarchy that isn’t all good, or all bad for that matter. It was also interesting to play with male/female dynamics when both characters come from a completely alien culture that has very different rules from ours. It led to some pretty entertaining fireworks. It was also a challenge to create a world and a culture that developed into a matriarchy through a natural state of cultural evolution dictated by the nature of their planet and the needs of war in an arboreal realm.
Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?
Jess:I think people are excited by possibility. I think it is fun to ponder what is out there. Who knows what is really out there? It gives us the thrill of fear, but that lingering excitement that what we know as truth may not be truth, and in fact we are small in the face of true wonder.
Q: Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?
Jess:I like to believe in possibility. When faced with something that might be possible but seems impossible, I err on the side of, well maybe, who knows?
Q: How would you react if you came face to face with an alien?
Jess:I’d freak out. Hands down, I’d freak out. I’m really a skeerdy cat. After the freak out, I’d freak out in a different way. If they didn’t intend us harm, wow, could you even imagine the nature of a feat of exploration like that?
Q: Have you ever been abducted by aliens?
Jess:Um, barring some entertaining shenanigans in college, I’m pretty sure that no, I have not been abducted by aliens. I fell out of my body once and landed on the ceiling while sleeping, and I’ve dated a couple of guys that I believe might have been aliens, but no, in the grand scheme of things, I have not seen any little green men, nor have any tried to kidnap me because Mars needed women. I guess the night is still young.
Thanks for joining us, Jess!
You can learn more about Jess and her books at her website, www.jessgranger.com. Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
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Tags: Interview, Jess Granger, michelle pillow
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 17, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled Frank Joseph, Interview
By Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
When people think of US history, they often talk about the Civil War or the Old West, but what about that time before recorded history? The mysterious people and cultures that populated the earth before Columbus sailed the ocean blue? Unearthing Ancient America: The Lost Sagas of Conquerors, Castaways, and Scoundrels explores the lives of these people, and the ancient mysteries that surrounds them.
Unearthing Ancient America: The Lost Sagas of Conquerors, Castaways, and Scoundrels author, Frank Joseph, has published several novels on lost civilizations, including more books about the lost civilization of Atlantis than any other author in history. His twenty-four published titles about ancient history, sacred sites and synchronicity have been released in as many foreign language editions around the world.
*****
Q: You’ve written several books, The Atlantis Encyclopedia, Discovering the Mysteries of Ancient America, Opening the Ark of the Covenant. What inspired you to write about these topics?
Frank:I always wanted to know the truth behind these enigmas, and feel there may be some subconscious past-life energies at work.
Q: Have you always had a fascination with history and unsolved mysteries?
Frank:As long as I can remember.
Q: What myths or legends inspired you?
Frank:All of them, because myth is the higher, metaphysical language of mankind.
Q: Specifically in Unearthing Ancient America you tackle a broad variety of archaeological enigmas. What are some of these enigmas?
Frank:How did an ancient Egyptian statuette find its way into an prehistoric burial mound in Illinois? Is Minnesota’s Norse rune stone an authentic 15th Century artifact? Did the Romans operate ships capable of making transatlantic crossings to America?
Q: How and why are they shunned as too heretical for consideration by conventional scholars?
Frank: Mainstream archaeologists are indoctrinated with the academic commandment, “Tho shalt not have any overseas’ visitors to America before Columbus!”
Q: Is Archaeology a science?
Frank:Archaeology is a “humanity” that its practitioners are supposed to apply scientific methods. Archaeological conclusions are cultural interpretations, not scientific facts.
Q: Why is this important when studying Ancient America?
Frank:It requires us to keep an open mind, as opposed to conventional archaeologists.
Q: In history classes, students are often taught that Columbus was the first European to “discover” America, but I’ve heard evidence has been found that in fact Vikings were the first. Which, if either, is true?
Frank:Both. The Viking discovery of America was lost by Columbus’s time.
Q: What are some of the significant events missing from most school history books?
Frank:Upper Michigan’s 5,000 year-old copper mining industry; the Viking exploration of North America; the Keltic contribution to pre-Columbian America; etc., etc.
Q: How did those pre-Columbian explorers reach the new world?
Frank:In purpose-built ships.
Q: For what purpose?
Frank:Numerous purposes: to escape persecution, for minerals (especially raw copper), on missionary quests, exploration, colonization, etc., etc.
Q: What secrets have the Giants of the California Desert preserved for a thousand years?
Frank: California’s “giants” are colossal line-drawings of anthropomorphic and animal figures created by a sophisticated people some 900 years ago.
Q: Has a Smithsonian photographer discovered an ancient city in the Grand Canyon?
Frank:Yes, Mr. Kincaid.
Q: Moving on to another of you books, Opening the Ark of the Covenant. Now I know many people automatically associate the ark with the Indiana Jones movie. Is this a true representation of the Ark?
Frank:The movie, like all Spielberg films, has as much bearing on the truth as Walt Disney’s “Dumbo” has on zoology.
Q: What exactly was the Ark of the Covenant?
Frank: A vessel containing a large quartz crystal capable of transmuting mechanical energy into electrical energy.
Q: Is it a real object, or just a mythical construct?
Frank: Real.
Q: Does it still exist?
Frank:Several versions still exist in various parts of the world.
Q: When and where was the Ark of the Covenant last seen?
Frank:The most recent sightings were in Germany, 1945, and Tennessee, 1964.
Q: Where is the Ark of the Covenant today?
Frank:Quebec, Japan, Bavaria, Tibet, etc.
Q: What significance does the Ark of the Covenant have for our 21st Century world?
Frank:Presently, it is only a myth, because it (they) is (are) concealed. If made known and its function disclosed, it could alter the entire course of modern history for good or evil, depending upon the intentions of its 21st Century users, not a good prospect, given humanity’s present savagery.
Q: What powers was the Ark of the Covenant supposed to possess?
Frank:Transformational.
Q: Who were the Knights Templars?
Frank:12th and 13th Century followers of St. Bernard.
Q: What was the relationship between the Ark of the Covenant and the Knights Templars?
Frank:They were its discoverers and guardians.
Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal and the unexplained?
Frank:1. Because institutionalized religion has failed (the true meaning behind Nietzsche’s declaration, “God is dead”), and 2. all human beings are born with a spiritual instinct that is still seeking fulfillment.
Q: Do you believe in the supernatural?
Frank:”Supernatural” refers to anything narrow-minded persons are unable to comprehend outside the strict limitations of their immediate, physical existence; things are either natural or un-natural; that is all.
Q: Or are you a skeptic?
Frank:I strive for a genuine scientific approach; namely, always keeping an open kind, refraining from absolute judgments, but endeavoring to make conditional conclusions.
Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?
Frank:The books of Robert E. Howard and Edgar Allan Poe; cable tv’s “Psychic Detectives”.
Q: Do you have any pet projects?
Frank:My life is my pet project.
Q: What does the future hold for your work?
Frank:Oblivion.
Q: Any new books?
Frank:”Gods of the Runes” released in fall.
Thank you for joining us!
Frank Joseph’s titles Unearthing Ancient America and Atlantis and 2012 are available online and in bookstores.Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
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Tags: Frank Joseph, Interview, michelle pillow
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 12, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled Elisabeth Naughton, Interview
by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
Paranormal romance author, Elisabeth Naughton, left teaching Jr High science to write full time. Her debut release, Stolen Fury, heralded by Publisher’s Weekly as “A rock-solid debut,” was recently nominated for two prestigious RITA awards by Romance Writers of America in the Best First Book category and the Best Romantic Suspense category. She pens novels from her home in western Oregon where she lives with her husband and three children and when she’s not writing, she can be found hanging out at the ball park and daydreaming about new and exciting adventures.
Her latest novel, ENTWINED, book 2 in the Eternal Guardians Series, released in print and ebook July 27, 2010 (ISBN: 9780505528230). It can be found everywhere books are sold.
Please join me in welcoming Elisabeth Naughton!
*****
In your book, Entwined, you delve into the world of Greek gods and ancient myths. What inspired you to write about this?
Elisabeth:I have always been a huge fan of Greek mythology and the ancient stories. When I was writing STOLEN FURY, my debut release, I spent a lot of time researching mythology for the plot. IN that book, the characters were searching for three ancient Greek relics that depicted the Three Furies, the goddesses of punishment in crime in Greek mythology. When I got done with that book, I knew I wanted to do something else that centered on the ancient stories, and because I’ve always loved the possibility of the paranormal world, I decided to combine the two.
When world building, did you base your story off of known myths throughout history?
Elisabeth:My world is heavily rooted in Greek mythology. The warriors in my books are each descended from one of the great heroes from the ancient myths. Zander, the hero in ENTWINED, is a descendant of the famed hero Achilles. He, like Achilles, is a great warrior who seems to be immortal. He’s lived longer than any of his warrior kin, has watched kings come and go as well as those he loves. He’s been injured just about everywhere a man can be injured, and yet has never taken a mortal wound. But like his forefather Achilles, he has a vulnerability. He just hasn’t found it yet.
What myths or legends inspired you?
Elisabeth:I think all myths inspire me in one way or another. I love reading mythology from any culture. The Aztec myths are fascinating. Irish folklore can keep me awake for hours. And I can easily get lost in the gods and goddesses from ancient Egypt. Historians believe Tolkien pulled from many myths when he created The Lord of the Rings. Someday, I’d love to do that with a series myself.
Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?
Elisabeth: Well, personally, I think people are always fascinated by what they don’t understand. Would I really want to meet a vampire or werewolf on the street? I don’t think so, but the idea those creatures might exist is what intrigues me and many others as well. Human beings by nature are always trying to wrap their minds around things they don’t understand, and the paranormal is one instance where a logical answer just can’t be found, no matter how long you look. And no matter what, someone will always claim they have evidence that will probably leave you guessing even more.
What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?
Elisabeth:I was a HUGE fan of the X-Files before it went off the air. I still watch it in reruns. I also enjoy paranormal romances where, even though I might get scared, I know things are going to work out well in the end.
Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?
Elisabeth:I used to teach science, and I remember talking to my students about the millions and millions of stars in the universe, and the millions and millions of planets circling those stars. The probability that we are the only planet in the solar system that exists in the life zone of a star is pretty slim. That means the chance that life exists elsewhere, beyond our reach, is highly likely. Do I believe in aliens and little green men? I believe there is a lot I don’t know, and anything is possible.
As for the supernatural right here on earth? Again, I think anything is possible.
Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Elisabeth:Nothing exciting like a haunted house or being abducted by aliens. Mostly my interaction with the supernatural occurs in those déjà vu moments many of us experience. Something will happen that I could swear already happened, or it’s similar to something I pictured happening. Not entirely sure what that means.
What kind of paranormal creatures do you wish you could meet?
Elisabeth:I would love to meet the characters from my books – descendents rooted in Greek mythology. They look human, act human, are, actually, part human, but have a little something extra as well.
If given the chance, would you become a character from your book?
Elisabeth:No. The hero in ENTWINED has a real issue with being immortal. Looking at the world through his eyes, it wouldn’t be fun to live forever while everyone else around you comes and goes. It would be like that movie Groundhog Day, one day blending into the next with no endpoint in sight.
How would you react if you came face to face with a supernatural being?
Elisabeth:I don’t think I’d believe it. Which means, hey, maybe I’ve already come in contact with something from the supernatural and just don’t know it!
What does the future hold for the Eternal Guardian Series?
Elisabeth:The second book, ENTWINED, released on July 27, 2010 and will be followed by book three TEMPTED in February 2011. I’m contracted for two more books in the series after TEMPTED (currently untitled), but readers can expect them to hit store shelves about every six months.
Learn more about Elisabeth and her work at www.elisabethnaughton.com.Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
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Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 3, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled Zombies by Dr. Bob Curran, Interview
By Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
Have you ever been curious as to how the idea of mindless zombies scouring the neighbourhood in search of human flesh began? From the walking dead of Haiti and the Caribbean that have influenced the ideas of Hollywood horror films, to the less popularized draugr of Scandinavia, Zombies: A Field Guide to the Walking Dead explores the world of the undead and the myths behind them.
Dr. Bob Curran is a writer and broadcaster living in Northern Ireland, and a cultural educator for several governmental organizations. He has approximately 38 books to his name mainly on the subjects of history and culture. His title, Zombies: A Field Guide to the Walking Dead, is currently in bookstores.
*****
Q: First off, are you now or have you ever been a zombie?
Dr. Curran: I don’t think that I’ve ever been a zombie, at least not that I can remember. In some instances I may have worked with zombies but that’s another story.
Q: In your book Zombies: A Field Guide to the Walking Dead, you delve into the world of the undead and their impact on cultures throughout history. Tell us a little bit about your book.
Dr. Curran: One of the questions which I’m always asked is – do zombies/ werewolves/ vampires actually exist? That is really not the question that intrigues me – they may or they may not –it is why should people want to believe in them? What need does such a belief answer in society? Why should they continue to fascinate us even down to today? And I suppose that’s why I began to write the book. I suppose that the idea of zombies addresses certain fundamental questions about death . The underlying question is – if I die , can I come back in some form? This is, I feel, a question which appears in many cultures and it forms the basis of a number of religions . So I wanted to write a book which looked at zombies in some more depth and in some more detail than simply the slasher/zombie dawn type of way that is common in so many books.
Q: What inspired you to write about the subject?
Dr. Curran: As you may realise if you have read some of my books, I try to do as much research as I can. Any of my books in this field starts with me asking myself a lot of questions and then trying to find the answers. So I guess that the things that inspired me to write the book on zombies was he questions I was asking myself. And the basic question is “Is there something deeper here?” And there usually is.
Q: How have cultural impressions of the zombies changed throughout history?
Dr. Curran: I don’t think that cultural impressions have changed throughout history – the questions about death and resurrection still remain the same – nor even have they adapted all that much in the way that, say, werewolf impressions have but the way we look at them has. In a sense in earlier times, the walking dead returned from the grave in places like Ireland to see their loved ones and to enjoy things that they had enjoyed in life. And they often returned under God’s dispensation because they were blessed. Amongst the Vikings, the dead returned simply to carry on the things that they had done when alive – there was little distinction between life and death. It was writers like William Seabrook which linked some of the walking dead with the notion of zombies and voudou. Voudou is a kind of umbrella for a number of minor religions such as shango and Mama Watti. Le Gran Zombi does not specifically refer to the walking dead but to a manifestation of Damballah Wedo, one of the gods of the voudou pantheon. However, in his book Magic Island Seabrook seemed to suggest that there were dead men being raised by local houngans and mambos and sold to plantation owners as cheap labour – there seems to have been some sort of basis for this belief as the 1835 Haitian Penal Code seems to make such employment an offence. How widespread this idea was is questionable but it did exist. This has in turn become linked with alleged acts of cannibalism and has given rise to the idea of the flesh-eating zombie with which we are so familiar in the slash and gore zombie films which we see today. In this respect maybe our cultural impressions have changed a little across the years.
Q: Do you have a favorite zombie myth or story?
Dr. Curran: I don’t really have a favourite zombie story. I would guess that the most intriguing stories is that of Clairvius Narcisse who in 1980, turned up somewhat dishevelled in a Haitian village and was recognised by his sister who lived there. Nothing unusual about that, except Clairvius was supposed to have died in 1960. His story was a strange one – he had been drugged by his brother using a “poudre” and had been sold to a planter on the other side of the island. He had suddenly “come to” and made his way to the nearest village where his sister had encountered him. The story is engrossing because it suggests some sort of narcotic which might be used to induce a zombie state. The tale inspired Canadian ethnographer Wade Davis to investigate further and see if he could determine the nature of the “poudre” used by the houngans and bokors or Haiti. Although Davis’s findings are questionable, his book on the subject The Serpent and the Rainbow became a best seller and later a film. Perhaps it is the idea that some sort of poudre might exist which I find appealing and which probably makes the story my favourite one.
Q: What cultures throughout history have zombie myths? Are they similar or vastly different?
Dr. Curran: As I said earlier, the fundamental questions about life and death are pretty universal ones so it is natural I suppose that they appear in all cultures – though maybe not in the form that we have become used to through the medium of books and films. In Ireland, for example, the marbh bheo or nightwalking dead might be classed as zombies – they return from their graves to the places they knew in life. Some of these are the Blest Dead, who have led good lives and are permitted by God to do so, others are raised by the Devil who travel the roads in order to do harm. Similarly the “living mummies” of areas such as Mount Yodono in Japan are monks who have deliberately “mummified” themselves in order to display their holiness – this practice is now forbidden by the Japanese government. So whilst the fundamental questions remain the same, the way in which it is achieved can be different and not all zombies may take the form that we have been led to expect.
Q: How do you think zombie myths will change in the future?
Dr. Curran: It depends on how you view zombie myths. Certainly if we look at how zombies are portrayed in literature and in the cinema, I think that will change as writers and directors search for new angles with which to shock, disgust and terrify us. I think zombie literature/cinema will possibly become more extreme and more shocking. But we must remember that this counts as entertainment and depends on our view of the walking dead – folkloric zombie stories will remain as they always have. And zombies will remain a fascinating subject.
Q: Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?
Dr. Curran: Once again, it depends what you mean by “the supernatural”. Let me say that I neither believe nor disbelieve. I have met some very rounded and “down to earth” people who have told me some fantastic things and I have no reason to doubt them. Also many things which were once counted as “supernatural” have their base in scientific explanation today and this may be the case in the future. What the “supernatural” may ultimately be is an interpretation of our own environment in a particular way – after all this is the basis of religion . So I keep an open mind.
Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?
Dr. Curran: I think that the answer lies in relation to the above. People are fascinated by the supernatural because it suggests that there is something more to the world that what we can actually physically see and touch. I think that this is a very fundamental perspective and forms the basis of many religions including Christianity. I think the idea of the supernatural springs from a deep-seated curiosity, a need to explain things around us and a need for reassurance that we have some form of meaning and purpose to our lives. This perspective has taken many forms – from ghosts to werewolves, vampires, zombies but basically it all springs, I think, from the same source.
Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?
Dr. Curran: I get very little time to sit down and watch tv or even read Most of the “supernatural” television or films that I’ve actually watched, I didn’t really like. Everybody thinks that I should rate Buffy the Vampire Slayer but I watched about half an hour of one episode and turned it off. I went and saw The Wolf Man and liked that because it reflected the original movie. I suppose if I read supernatural literature, it’s some of the classic stuff, which I enjoy. All the modern-day slash and gore does very little for me. The last film I watched was Shutter Island which I did enjoy as it was extremely well done, even though I’d guessed the ending. But I like the creepiness of the place.
Q: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Dr. Curran: No, I haven’t had a paranormal experience. All the “uncanny experiences” I’ve had, I’ve always been able to explain. I took part in a number of radio/tv programmes on ghost-hunting and didn’t see anything. There was a belief in the part of the world where I came from that only one member of a family could see ghosts and so forth and this doesn’t seem to have been me. My brother though, is supposed to have seen a ghost – the spectre of an old woman who previously owned a house where he lived in England.
Q: If given the chance, would you become a zombie?
Dr. Curran: I doubt if I would want to become a zombie. I would guess that the lifestyle wouldn’t appeal.
Q: How would you react if you came face to face with a zombie?
Dr. Curran: Probably run. Best form of avoidance.
Q: What does the future hold for you? Any new books in the works?
Dr. Curran: There’s a lot of work still on. Two new books from Career coming out this year and next – Dark Fairies and Man Made Monsters. Also a series of books for young people coming out in England, new books coming out in both Australia and America – one on the papacy this year and one on bushrangers next Also the development of my community work which is very important to me.
Thank you for joining us, Dr. Curran!
If you’re interested in checking out this, or other titles by Dr. Bob Curran, please visit the publisher website, www.newpagebooks.com. Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
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Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Mar 26, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled Denise A. Agnew, Interview
By Michelle M. Pillow
Denise A. Agnew, fiction author of over thirty titles, loves to write about a diverse range of subjects, from paranormal to time travel, romantic comedy to romantic suspense, contemporary to historical. She attributes the fact that she has lived in Colorado, Hawaii, Arizona and the United Kingdom to giving her a lifetime of ideas. Her newest idea, an erotic paranormal romance/suspense novella, Meltdown, released in ebook this November from Liquid Silver Books.
* * * * *
Q: In your book, Meltdown, you delve into the world of psychic abilities. What inspired you to write about this?
Denise:Some of my books, but not all of them, have a grain of psychic truth in them. I’d heard of more than one person who can predict earthquakes because something physical happens to them. In my story, the heroine works in Earth Sciences and seismology, so she’s grounded in science. She has headaches that come a couple of minutes before a quake hits. I wanted to explore the conflict that would create. Her colleagues probably wouldn’t believe her. She doesn’t have enough time to really warn anyone about a quake. She knows it’s going to happen but she’s helpless. How does she react? How would the hero, who is a firefighter, react to this?
Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?
Denise:Humans want to explore mysteries or they want answers to strange things they’ve experienced or read about. Mystery is a part of life.
Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?
Denise:Fringe, old X-Files, old Millennium episodes, loved Journeyman. Movies include The Shining, The Exorcist, and so many others. As for books, there are way too many to list.
Q: Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?
Denise:I believe in the supernatural. I’ve had things happen to me and other people I know. I have one foot in the practical world and one in the supernatural. I balance healthy skepticism with that belief.
Q: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
Denise:My most vivid experience was on New Year’s Eve back in the 90’s. We were in Edinburgh, Scotland and took a tour of the South Bridge vaults. I’m not claustrophobic but in one room I was instantly terrified. I was sweating, heart going two hundred, and I wanted out of there. I kept my anxiety to myself. When we left the relief was instant. I was compelled to research the experience and discovered that many other people had the same freak out in the same room. To this day I wonder what happened. When I toured other underground/basement type areas in Britain while I lived there, I never felt that way again.
Q: What does the future hold for your paranormal writing?
Denise:I’m writing a werewolf trilogy as well as a historical series that has heavy-duty paranormal elements. While I love to write about a variety of things, the paranormal is always going to be there, lurking in the background, ready to jump out. Maybe, if I do my job, I’ll scare the beejeebers out of the reader. It’s what I do.
Thanks for joining us, Denise!
You can learn more about Denise and her books at her website, www.deniseagnew.com or at her publisher, www.liquidsilverbooks.com.
Interviewer Michelle M. Pillow is an award winning author of over sixty published books. She writes in many romance fiction genres and can be found at www.michellepillow.com.
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Tags: Denise A. Agnew, Interview, michelle pillow
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Feb 13, 2012 in
Hell If I Know What It Should Be Labeled John Reyer Afamasaga, Metafiction Author
By Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
Most of us in these technological times have heard the term GUI (Graphical User Interface, often pronounced “gooey”) and even more of us are familiar with a little social phenomenon called Facebook. It is these two elements that create the forum to author John Reyer Afamasaga’s postmodern intertextual style. An ongoing story told via Facebook (and later in eBook and other formats), the GUIOPERA is an end-to-end saga that, well, is probably a concept best explained by the author himself.
And this wouldn’t be an exclusive Paranormal Underground interview if there wasn’t a little bit of the otherworldly thrown into the mix. The ongoing, online story deals with the idea of multiple planes of existence and the concept of possession. The possessions are not inherently good or evil, but more of a fundamental concept of the world building.
Q: Who are you and what do you do?
John: I’m an online writer. I write Emotional Techno Fiction (etfiction) namely the GUIOPERA.
Q: In your work, etfiction and the GUIOPERA, you delve into the world of Possession. What inspired you to write about this?
John: I write in the genre called Metafiction, and to quote wiki it “…self-consciously addresses the devices of fiction, exposing the fictional illusion…” So with that said, I use external devices, such as the interview taking place to reinstate some of that intrigue that traditional fiction has. From wiki again, “It is the literary term describing fictional writing that self-consciously and systematically draws attention to its status as an artifact in posing questions about the relationship between fiction and reality…” In the story or the End-to-End Saga, Lazoo, Metofeaz, Le Mac & Afamasaga (LMLA-ink) the lead characters are linked by events that go back to sometime in the nineteenth century. The modern day story is twisted so it may be used as a cloaking device to distribute Intel amongst LMLA-ink and other Network operatives who fight corruption.
Possession is a device that was used by the author who also appears in the story under various guises to sell to the new operatives under his care, who were mostly gifted ex-cons, thieves, hit men and the like their new identities or covers. He instilled in each of the untrained operatives their new personas and therefore personalities which had to account for their natural tendencies with such conviction that it was likened to being possessed by an entity. In GUIOPERA 1 John Reyer even created a site in the Nevada desert, like a mecca where the new and young recruits would visit after their training he designed based on psychosynthesis technique “Transmutation,” to find their Entity with Entitlement, a spirit worthy of possessing their shell or body and mind.
Q: What is GUIOPERA?
John: GUIOPERA stands for Graphical Interface Opera. I like to think of it as an app. It’s the brand name for the online serial I write, incorporating its facets, it’s delivered in a browser (GUI) and it’s an opera in how the story has links to music on YouTube. A glorified story if you’d like.
Q: What is Trillion Cool? I see you post this word a lot on your Facebook page.
John: *TrillionCool* is a phrase, but also a tour that I’m currently on. The Halcyon Days following an apocalyptic first decade to the 21st century. The tour ends in 2020, during which I hope to write the GUIOPERA in as many countries around the planet possible. Hopefully I’ll be able to talk about topics like “Sustainability” and “Economic Development” for developing countries, in and amongst writing the GUIOPERA.
Q: In the story you refer to the SFD, MMD and AMD? What do the acronyms stand for?
John: They’re dimensions, where the entities roam looking for a Shell to inhabit. MMD or the MindMorph dimension is earth or the physical realm where Shells exist. The name derived from how our minds are morphed in consumerism by marketers making it; life on earth quite a freaky reality when we consider everything we do is planned for us. The SFD is the SenFenide Dimension or the dream dimension likened to our subconscious mind. The SFD is the negative of or inverted image of reality. The AMD is the AmalgaMension dimension, or the realm where everything is congruent. For the sake of self-development the apparatus is two step paradigm —the new recruit works in MMD and SFD sorting out their mind and finding out how they work, and progress onto the AMD. In the End-to-End Saga the apparatus; three universes in which the battle of good against evil is waged by entities inhabiting or possessing humans.
Q: When world building, did you base your story off of known myths throughout history?
John: Mostly based on the mind, influenced by Psychoanalysis by Sigmund Freud and Roberto Agasiolli. But that is only the rules or the constructs of each dimension. What goes on in the dimensions has a lot to do with my upbringing, a strict Christian one till I broke free in my teens.
Q: What myths or legends inspired you?
John: The Bible of course, I had little or no say in that. But then there was King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and Robin Hood. And Dracula. Add to that my penchant for making stuff up, and I ended up with a cauldron of misfits cruelly cut up by some real life experiences of demonic possession of people around me.
Q: Why do you think readers, and society in general, are fascinated by the paranormal?
John: Logically speaking it’s a reaction to the rigidness of life we lead, another form of escapism that is safe from an inquisitive mind’s length away. On the other hand it’s an all immersed alternative to religion’s “sit in a pew, fold your arms, face the front” search for the truth to satisfy the soul.
Q: What are your favorite paranormal shows, movies and books?
John: I’m out of touch to be honest, have had my head buried in my writing for the past decade. Meeting you was the first time I really got to know about this.
Q: Do you believe in the supernatural? Or are you a skeptic?
John: Definitely witnessed supernatural up close and personal if Demonic Possession is counted.
Q: Have you ever had a paranormal experience?
John: I witnessed three cases of Demonic Possession and all of them happened to deeply religious people. A few interesting facts prevailed in all three cases. 1, the chilling air, ice cold no matter the insulation of the room or the weather outside. 2, the fear in the person’s eyes, but the strength and will in their bodies. And 3, the fluency in the tongues they were speaking in was also chilling. Two of the people are still alive and still remained in their faith after the experience. The other died from an epileptic seizure which couldn’t be dealt with due to the ferociousness of the occupation. The first two I witnessed growing up. The later, I witnessed in my late teens. I didn’t know the person, but was only there as a friend of a friend who knew I was a Christian and thought that I could be of help as the possessed person, also a Christian, was a runaway.
Q: What kind of paranormal creatures do you wish you could meet?
John: A vampire Rom writer who believes in the supernatural? Is that an admissible answer in this forum? 
Q: I see someone finally got their season of True Blood. *laughing* So, if given the chance, which of your dimensions/worlds would you want to live in?
John: It would be the AMD or the AmalgaMension dimension where all lessons learned have amalgamated resulting in congruency or in find the Authentic Self, you!
Q: How would you react if you came face to face with a ghost or vampire?
John: Ghost, I would question the reason why they’re here. Vampire, I’d be on the phone straight away to King Bill –“Dude, I think I have Sookie and Eric’s love child here, he wants to know if I have any True Blood …” lol.
Q: What does the future hold for your writing?
John: As I pointed out earlier, the *TrillionCool* is a phase and a tour I’m on till 2020. I hope to write thirteen GUIOPERA by the end of 2020. I’m on number four right now, starting on September 5th 2011.
Q: Have you ever been to a psychic?
John: I’ve had out of body experiences, seen a lot of stuff, and I still believe that only destiny knows the future, and fate waits for you tempt it. Indecision and doubt are angels of fate.
Q: Have you ever been abducted by aliens?
John: Not yet, not today anyways…
Thank you, John, for joining us.
GUIOPERA 4 began September 5, 2011. It’s a free online read and can be found at either http://www.etfiction.com or by friending John’s Facebook page at www.NewGlobalRealm.com Interview by Michelle M. Pillow, www.michellepillow.com
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Tags: Interview, michelle pillow
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on May 29, 2008 in
Just Released NJ Walters has interviewed us (Mandy and Michelle) in her June newsletter about The Raven. Go here to join her newsletter and see the interview!
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Tags: Interview, mandy roth, michelle pillow, NJ Walters
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 23, 2008 in
Behind the Story,
Contests,
Raven Radio We’ve extended our Radio show contest a week. To enter, simply go and listen to the April 23, 2008 show’s archive entitled “Who ya gonna to call?”. It should be on the top of the show list, or will start automatically when you go to that page.
http://www.blogtalkradio.com/ravenradio
Or later this week, you can find the archive of the show on Pod-o-Matic: http://ravenpodcasts.podomatic.com/
To enter:
1. Listen to the show and get the “catch phrase” we announce
2. Email that catch phrase to: ravenradio@ravenhappyhour.com
Winners will be announced on next week’s show and on the Raven Blog www.ravenhappyhour.com/ravenblog
GOOD LUCK! And thanks for listening!
Michelle & Mandy
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Tags: contest, mandy roth, michelle pillow, Raven Radio
Posted by Michelle M. Pillow on Apr 22, 2008 in
Raven Radio 
Raven Radio by Michelle Pillow and Mandy Roth
Mentioned in RT May 2008!
Check us out on page 13 of the magazine!!
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Tags: mandy roth, michelle pillow, Raven Radio
