I was fortunate enough to come across the author of a book I have just read and reviewed, Michael Sullivan of the Riyria Revelations. The book I read and reviewed, the first in the series, The_Crown_Conspiracy. I was very excited when this opportunity arose, so I asked him a few questions and have those with his answers posted below.
Here is the Biography Michael has on his website:
Born in Detroit Michigan, Michael J. Sullivan has lived in Vermont, North Carolina and Virginia. He worked as a commercial artist and illustrator, founding his own advertising agency in 1996, which he closed in 2005 to pursue writing full-time. The Crown Conspiracy is his first published work. He currently resides in Fairfax, Virginia with his wife and three children.
The interview:
Me: I was wondering if I could ask you a some questions?
Michael: I love questions.
Me: I am always curious as to the story behind the story. How or what sparred the thoughts of the stories of these two thieves?
Michael: The bulk of this is covered in detail in my blog, the February 9th entry entitled Genesis, and I would re-paste it here, but it might be too long. Just to add to that blog, I wrote about two adventurers long ago when I was in high school (I actually wrote a trilogy of novels between the ages of 14 and 17.) They were about a cunning warrior with a mysterious past and a prince in exile who team up and become the leaders of a band of adventurers.
Then when I was in my late twenties, a friend tried to cheer me up by proposing we write a chain story. He would write a page, then I would. It began with two men entering a medieval tavern one big one smaller. I named them Royce and Hadrian. My friend isn’t a writer. He would mail me a page (hand written and snail-mailed, this was before the Internet.) I would reply with a thirty-page chapter and frequently would re-write his portion. He soon lost interest, but I continued to think about Royce and Hadrian. This chain story was, in my mind, like a bad tv show that I often thought about making into a good feature-length movie.
I always had the beginning: Two guys going to steal something and it goes bad right at the start. Royce and Hadrian hung on the outside of that tower for about five years before I decided to actually write the story having been inspired by B5 and Buffy…now if you go read the blog you’ll get the rest of the story. (http://riyria.blogspot.com/)
Me: You are planning this series to be six books, do you have any idea of the span of time they will be published in?
Michael: The books are coming out every six months. I can do this because I wrote all of them prior to the first being published. It is now only a matter of editing, proofing and painting the covers. Editing actually takes a lot of work and is often more time consuming than the original draft. So…
Crown was released on Oct. 1 2008
Avempartha hit shelves on April 1 2009
Nyphron Rising will be released Oct. 1 2009
The Emerald Storm will be out April 2010
Wintertide: Oct. 2010
Percepliquis: April 2011
Me: Just curious as to who was your inspiration to write? Or who is you favorite author?
Michael: Again this is covered in the blog, entry for Jan 15th “In the Beginning.” But to sum up, Tolkien was the author that got me writing. Stephen King took over after that and then I diversified into lots of others. Asimov, Steinbeck, Rand, Lovecraft, Richard Adams, Updike, Herbert. And finally it was Rowling who got me to write this series.
Me: Do you have any advice for any aspiring writers?
Michael: Don’t write to get published. Don’t write to make a living. Write for your own enjoyment—then you’ll always be successful.
Me: I have to say it is great that your wife works with you so closely. It sounds as she is a great help and support. This is wonderful to hear, you seem to have a great team going there.
Michael: Yes, she is wonderful. She is the business brains behind everything. I can’t sell myself. I hate selling myself. She loves the books so she can promote them passionately. For me, I can’t tell people how great my work is, it just feels like arrogance. She hates that.
Thank you Michael for chatting with me. I really did enjoy our talk and look forward to your future books and hopefully getting the opportunity to talk with you again.
If you would like to read more information on Michael and his books at his blog please click the link to head over Michael's_Blog.
Here is an attachment to a trailer for The Crown Conspiracy, the first book in the series, movie_trailer.
If you would like to visit Micheals' site for the World of Elan please click the site address.
http://www.michaelsullivan-author.com/index.html
