Mike Phillips, Author of the upcoming novel The World Below was kind enough to do an interview and tell us a little about himself and what to expect from his book.
Mike Phillips is author of The
World Below and Reign of the Nightmare Prince. His
short stories have appeared in ParAbnormal Digest, Cemetery Moon,
Sinister Tales, Beyond Centauri, the World of Myth, Mystic
Signals and many others. Online, his work has appeared in Lorelei
Signal, Kzine, Bewildering Stories, Midnight Times, and Fringe.
He is best known for his Crow Witch and Patrick Donegal series. Please visit
Mike at mikephillipsfantasy.com.
1)
Tell us a little about your book.
The World Below: In ancient times,
magical creatures inhabited the earth. They lived on mountaintops, in the
branches of trees, at the bottom of lakes and rivers. But that was long ago,
before the human race declared war on the creatures they feared and hated. Now
the enchanted peoples are all but gone. Those few that remain fear being
stretched out on an examination table in some secret, governmental facility.
The only place they can hide from the ever increasing number of satellites and
smart phones is in the World Below.
Mitch Hardy is going
through a hard time in his life. In his early twenties, he was working his way
through college when he suffered an accident that left him flat broke and
physically deformed. With some good advice from a friend, Mitch decides to make
a fresh start in a new town. Things start looking up. Mitch finds a place to
live, a decent job, good friends. He even meets a nice girl. Unknown to Mitch,
his new girlfriend is one of the elder race, the faerie folk.
Lady Elizabeth is looking
for a father she never knew. The key to finding him is somehow tied up with the
mysterious Blade of Caro. Desperate, she steals the Blade from its protector,
the despotic ruler of the World Below,
the Dragon of Worms, Baron Finkbeiner. When Elizabeth is kidnapped by the
Baron, Mitch is pulled into a world he never dreamed existed.
2)
What gave you the idea for this particular story?
I can’t trace The World Below back to a single idea.
I knew I wanted to do an urban fantasy, something where I throw out the rules
and just have fun. I always liked the bad guys in books and movies, so I
thought it might be interesting to let the goblins be heroes for a change. I threw
in some adventure and romance and there you go.
3)
Do you read widely?
I have diverse reading
habits. Short stories, poetry, novels, I read it all. I have an interest in
science and engineering, so I read a lot of non-fiction articles as well. When
I’m reading fiction, I gravitate toward stories of the supernatural. Some of the
new authors you find in online anthologies are really pushing the boundaries of
the genre and are worth checking out if you haven’t already. I also like
historical fiction. My most guilty pleasure is the Sharpe series by Bernard
Cornwell.
4)
Who are your favorite authors?
WB Yates, Margaret Atwood, Walter Mosley, Neil Gaiman, Dean
Koontz, James Lee Burke, and Jim Butcher are some of my favorite writers. When
I’m taking a break from writing, I like to read old favorites like Watership Down or Anansi Boys.
5)
Who influenced you most?
The poetry of WB Yates has
been a big influence on my writing. I love the imagery. My style of writing is
most influenced by James Lee Burke. Beyond that, I must give a nod to Dean
Koontz. He taught me how to write suspense, how to draw out key moments to make
the action more dramatic.
6)
What do you hope to accomplish with your writing? (ex: entertain, bring
awareness, touch someone’s heart, inform….)
I love storytelling. I try
to make my writing as imaginative and as vivid as I can. I write in the horror
and dark fantasy genres, but I don’t go for blood and guts and the gross stuff.
I like suspense and things that puts the senses on edge. That said, in The World Below goblins become the
heroes. They do, admittedly, tend toward the behavior of fifth grade boys. So
you might get a gross out or two from them.
7)
What scares you?
Oddly enough, it never
fails to surprise me when readers and editors tell me how scary my writing is.
On more than one occasion, I’ve been credited with nightmares. I’m not
typically frightened by the supernatural. Real violence, especially against
women and children and animals, only makes me angry. So for me, the real thing
to fear in modern society is accountants.
8)
Where can we find you online?
Staying in touch is not my
strong suit. -Sorry. I have mikephillipsfantasy.com, but to date I’ve done
nothing with it. I’m a regular on quite a few print and online periodicals. My
Crow Witch and Patrick Donegal series of short stories have been especially
well received. The World Below
launches in a month. I promise to get the website up and running soon.
9)
Is there anything in your story based upon a real life event? If so, tell us
about it.
I’m a safety engineer by
trade. Being a chemical and industrial hygiene specialist, and living in
Michigan, I’ve spent a lot of time in heavy industry. The accident Mitch
suffers at the beginning of the story is based upon what I’ve seen in my
career. He gets burned by molten iron. I had a similar experience, though mine
was certainly not as serious as the one Mitch goes through. I was “baptized”,
initiated, into the crew. They overcharged a crucible of iron and jogged the
hoist control as it passed by me. It ruined my favorite leather jacket and
scared the heck out of me, but they knew what they were doing. I got a shower
of sparks without a single burn on me. What a way for the union guys to say,
“Welcome to the club, kid.”
10)
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
I never wanted to be a
writer. I went to college, got a great job when I graduated, and was bored out
of my skull. I didn’t have any money when going to school, so I was used to
working forty hours a week and taking a full time schedule. When I got my “real
job” I had more down-time than I ever had in my life. Stories just started
developing in my mind and I thought it would be fun to write them down. Now I
can’t stop. If I don’t write, the stories work their way into my head anyway.
The only way I can get the stories to leave me alone is to write them down.
Don’t get me wrong. I love writing, but it was never anything I set out to do.
11)
Have you ever written something that you’re afraid to let other people read?
Why?
Talking about my writing
embarrasses me. I don’t know why. I’ve had great success with my short stories,
but I never told anyone that I was a writer until my first novel, Reign of the Nightmare Prince, came out
two years ago. Then, I had to come clean to my friends and family. You know, I
get a kick out of seeing my work in print or online, but to me it’s all just
academic. I write what pleases me. I don’t think of the people that –wait, now
I am…
12)
Why do you write the genre(s) you do?
Stories of the fantastic, stories
or terror, these have always delighted me. Writing for me is all about pushing
the boundaries of my imagination. The more fantastic it is, the better. That’s
why I write in horror, dark fantasy, and Sci-Fi.
13)
What is the toughest part about being a writer and how do you get past it?
The toughest part about
writing is marketing and staying in touch with my readers. I feel a deep sense
of gratitude to all those people who have supported my work over the years. I
wish I was better at telling them how much I appreciate their loyalty. I also
have a sense of obligation to my publishers. Taking a chance on an unknown like
me is a huge financial risk. I feel that I need to be better at supporting what
they are trying to do in promotions and sales. I’m afraid that all too often I
fall short of expectations in this regard.
14)
How much is your protagonist like you? How different?
In The World Below, the protagonist is a guy name Mitch Hardy. He’s
just starting out in life, trying to put himself through college. He wants to
be a teacher, to influence young people in a positive way and give back to his
community. Life has treated him harshly, but because of those experiences,
Mitch has a strong sense of right and wrong. I wish I had been as mature at his
age.
16)
What kind of research did you do for this type of story?
I’m proud to say I’ve done absolutely no research for The World Below. It all comes from what
was bouncing around in my head at the time.
17)
Do writing violent or highly sexual scenes bother you? Why or why not?
I don’t like writing scenes with profanity, explicit sex, or
gratuitous violence. The world has enough ugliness in it already. That’s the
world we live in, though. That’s the human experience. So ignoring sex and
violence would be a mistake.
18)
What about your book makes it special?
The
World Below is one of the wildest rides you’ll
ever take. It’s full of crazy characters, imagination, magic and action. I hope
you all agree.
19)
What are your thoughts on the future of books?
My next book, Dawn of Ages is coming soon from
Damnation/Eternal Press. So look for that sometime around the New Year. I’m
about half way through a sequel to The
World Below. The working title is The
World Beyond. I’m also editing a collection of my Crow Witch stories. When
completed, I hope to find a good home for that too.
20)
What are your hobbies? Do you ever work them into a story?
I’m a farm kid and I like to get my hands dirty. Every year, I
dig up my suburban yard and do something different. My neighbors think I’m
nuts. I call it gardening. In my Crow Witch series of short stories, Miss
Weigenmeister is an avid gardener. She gets better results than I do.
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