Interview with Tory Michaels

Please give a warm welcome to Tory Michaels! I'm glad to have you here on the blog today, Tory!



 tell me about yourself, and your writing.


I’m a proud mommy of three children, a Husky and a cat, along with being a wife to a hunky husband and legal assistant/paralegal for my day job. I write paranormal romance that tends to have more of an urban fantasy feel because I avoid including sex/lovin’ scenes whenever I can get away with it (and yes, Super Editor has nudged me into a few over the months I’ve known her).

The whole family lives in Northeast Florida, but I’ve lived all across the country since I met my husband. We started in Portland, OR, moved to Fort Myers, FL, to Tampa, to Fort Myers, to Denver, and finally settled in Jacksonville. Now that the boy’s in school, we’re not doing any more major moving.

How long have you been writing? How many published books do you have, and what genres?


I’ve been writing with the intent to be published since 2009, though I wasn’t anywhere near ready. As part of confirming when I started, I just looked at the earliest versions of an early chapter of what eventually turned into Blood Rage. Eeep, baaaaad.

I have 2 books currently published. Technically, one’s classified as a paranormal romance (Blood Rage) and the other is urban fantasy (Blood-Mage Rising). Both are pretty close to that line, because you can see the beginning of a romance in BMR.

Do you write in multiple genres or just one? If just one, do you ever consider straying outside your genre?


I’m primarily a UF/PNR girl, though I’ve got ambitions toward writing a true fantasy novel (romance will probably feature in there somewhere). I don’t particularly care for straight contemporary romance (except my crack addiction, aka Harlequin Presents).

Are you a plotter or do you write from the seat of your pants?


Pantser, definitely pantser. I did start from an outline with my current WIP though! It got me a whole two chapters in, and then I discarded it. But, since I’d struggled to find somewhere to begin for six months before then, I consider the outline a valuable asset

What is a typical writing day like for you?


Get up at 4, drink some coffee/read blogs, and then try to write for at least 30-40 minutes. Take twins to daycare and get to work site super early and try to write for another 40-60 minutes. Lunch usually is writing, and then that’s it unless I’m really in the groove or almost done, and then I can convince hubby to overlook my writing in the evening.

Who do you love to read? Favorite authors, favorite books?


Strangely, my big read thing is historical (mostly regencies because that’s the most available). My favorite authors are Kim Harrison, Keri Arthur, Lydia Dare, Tessa Dare, and JD Robb/Nora Roberts.

What is something you'd like to accomplish in your writing career next year?


Write a lot more, get a lot more published. It’d be awesome to get an agent and possibly try to get something published by the more traditional route.

If you could have one paranormal ability, what would it be?

Agelessness.

If you could keep a mythical/ paranormal creature as a pet, what would you have?

Dracula (the Gerard Butler type!). Oh, wait, that probably doesn’t count, does it? Ummmmm….a unicorn?

Tell us a little about your latest release.


My latest release in Blood-Mage Rising, the second book in the Dream-Walker War. It takes some secondary characters from Blood Rage and takes a look at what they were doing during the same time frame as Blood Rage. They’re on a hunt to find a group of terrorists who are trying to piss the humans off at the vampires. As they did, they discover things aren’t nearly so simple as they’d thought.  Here’s Rising’s official blurb:

In the eighty years since the Great Awakening, humans and non-humans have lived side by side, relatively at peace.  In an attack that leaves his wife dead, Jordan MacNaught is caught up in the start of a war meant to turn the other races against the vampires. He knows beyond a doubt the vampires of yesteryear are not involved in the attacks. They're all dead, except for him.

Jordan asks for Chris Javert's help in hunting those who murdered his wife. She's no stranger to hunting vampires. After all, she nearly destroyed Jordan when she ended the reign of his Aristocrats in Europe two hundred years ago.

Despite doubts about Jordan’s innocence, Chris joins forces with him, the man who once tried to kill her, to save the inter-species pace from the new Aristocrats before war consumes them all.

What is something that you absolutely can't live without? (Other than family members)


Air. Hard to live without air. :P

Seriously though, hmm, books (e or paper, it doesn’t matter).

Could you ever co author a book with someone? If so, who would you choose, and what would you write?


Maybe, maybe not. If they were willing to write initial drafts of all the sex scenes for me and then let me just rewrite them into my own voice, I’d say yes in a heartbeat. Heh.  But I think it would be nice to collaborate with someone.

If you could spend a day with anyone from history, dead or alive, who would it be, and what would you do? What would you ask them?


Akhenaten, the heretic pharaoh. I’d ask him why he wanted just the Aten as a god, and did he get whole monotheistic idea from Moses, or did Moses get it from him?

What are some of your other hobbies outside of writing?


Reading, playing Diablo, and watching TV.

If you were on the staff to have a book adapted to movie, what would you pick?


Mine, of course. Blood Rage.

What is a talent you wish you had, but don't?

Singing.

             Favorite color?

Green.

Weather: Hot or cold?


Cold – easy to put more clothes on to get warm; it’s awfully hard to take your skin off to cool down.

Favorite place to read?


Bed or the car (the car because it’s quiet there usually…at least when I’m reading).

Favorite meal


My mother-in-law’s chicken enchiladas or else Panang Curry from The Green Papaya here in Jacksonville.

Favorite non-alcoholic drink.

Diet Pepsi with a healthy splash of cherry coke mixed in for flavor.

If you could travel anywhere and do anything, no limits or money holding you back, where would you go?

Iran. Yes, it’s weird, but I love the sound of ancient Persia, and I would love to see the country. Egypt too, for that matter.