COME ON IN WHERE IT'S WARM AND LET'S CHAT WITH MIKEY! YOU KNOW THIS IS GONNA BE LOADS OF FUN! :)
Hey Mikey! I am so glad I get to pick your brain today! Shall we get started then?
1. I know that we have the same taste in music, so I really can't wait to hear the answer to this question! What is the one song that you think most describes who you are as a person?
There is no one song to describe me. If you really want to know me, lets put together a play list. We’ll start with Stairway to Heaven, enjoying its pagan imagery. This is my youth and introduction to the art of fantasy. Jimmy Page wasn’t as much an occultist as a follower of the ancient ways and also a dabbler in the sadomasochistic arts. From there we move into the butt rocking glam band that formed much of who I am…Motley Fucking Crue. Louder than Hell was originally Hotter than Hell as the demo, and conjures visions of sadomasochism with lyrics such as: some like the violence, some like submission, some use aggression. Nikki as well as Jimmy, had a fascination for the darker arts of sexual expression. Motley’s Primal Scream is how I deal with some of the bullshit in my past…it fits. Wreck Me, is another of those songs that suits my dark side so very well. Unhubby calls me Glitter, because of the Motley Crue song. Seether’s Because of Me, lets me rail against own self-doubt while 6 gun quota and Truth represents (for me) much of my struggle with depression. Papa Roach Scars…’nuff said. The Gift and Words as Weapons are where I find myself right now. I have something beautiful to say too.
Bec- I knew Motley Crue was gonna be in there, you know those are my boys too! Them and Hanoi Rocks are how I got through my less than stellar childhood! Love this answer sooo much!
2. When did you know you had characters in your head that needed to be let out to play, and how long did it take you to do something about it?
2. When did you know you had characters in your head that needed to be let out to play, and how long did it take you to do something about it?
Oh the voices have always been there even as a child. One English teacher never made me do the work. Instead, he had me write his stories. Junior High was when I’d begun writing horror stories. My friends would star in them, but often meet an untimely demise. My wife, Mary, I burned her to the steak and fed her (still alive) to a demon/werewolf thing as a virginal sacrifice. “Why I gotta die a virgin!” was her only complaint. There was a time when I wrote poetry, and some guys in a band wanted to buy my pitiful, dark, depressive examples of adolescent poetry. I declined. Artists are poor, right? Damn fool.
In 1998, on Thanksgiving day, I had a fire that destroyed everything we owned. My children and I had to move back in with my mother. I stopped writing. Then I picked up poetry again. My computer crashed and again I stopped writing. When I built windows for a living around 2007, I ran the frame welder and other than fabricating parts, my only job was to keep the welding machine running fast. So, in my head, I kept myself entertained. Around the same, my son and I had begun writing a horror comedy story. From that story came Kilar Sinclair, a half-crazed demon who thought she was a vampire with gender issues in Cold Darkness. Then came Vincent Sweetwater and it was all over. I had begun to write in earnest. In 2010, I took six months of my life and dedicated it to writing Trainwreck...a wreck to be sure...of a character and a story. Then came Surviving Adam. Over this last winter, I wrote Saving Kane. Fourth and Long, the follow up to Saving Kane has just been accepted. I received the contract today with Loose Id. I’m hella excited!
Bec- Me too! I am very happy for ya girl, you deserve this, I told you how much I loved Saving Kane, and the thing about your books is that you make your characters so complex they could have their own book, even the ones with just a few lines! You are that good at character development! I know all about personal tragedy breeding creativity, it happens alot that way! :)
3. I love all of your characters so far, but there is one that is near and dear to my heart, who is that character for you and why?
Vincent Sweetwater. He's my alter ego, in a way, and he's the character I understand the most. Like me, he has a lot of dark shit to work through, and his self-expression of that pain is pain. He’s my masochistic character. A bit of a bratty sub, but only when presented with mediocrity. Don’t play with Vince unless you’re willing to take the chance of getting too close to his fire. He takes a strong, loving dominant. He’s my guy who’ll keep pushing…buttons, beyond safe words, until he has achieved the amount of pain that makes his brain go numb. A few hours of relief before his brain starts turning shit over and over again.
I adore Kane, but Jackson McCoy sticks with me right now. There’s something about that character that I just can’t stop thinking about him. The readers don’t know him yet. He’s in Fourth and Long. Irus and Garrett are the men who are perfect for them. Gotta love Irus. Who is your favorite?
Bec- Hehe I knew you were gonna ask me that, I feel the need to explain, I love Maddox! I think some people see him as an ass, I just see him as haunted, and in need of love and attention, I think he needs to let love in, and I know there is so much we don't know about him and Frank, can't wait to find out, though I am sure it will gut me at first!
4. You love to write about broken people being fixed, can you tell us why that theme?
Everyone is broken to an extent. Stories vary from person to person, but the emotions remain the same in some respects. For others, they can compartmentalize better than others. Where there is some trauma that cripples one person, it makes another stronger, or angrier, more violent, or submissive as hell. One person mentioned how they felt Kane should’ve been more traumatized by his childhood. For him, he’d it wasn’t really about compartmentalization, it was about being so used to it he could either roll over and die, or deal with the shit. Kane couldn’t give up, even when he wanted to, because for him there were no choices…so there comes a time when you either cry about your past, or you leave it there in the dark recesses of your mind so you can move on. Can’t be a slave to every hurt, because then they keep hurting you even when they’re gone.
Bec- I know you know this, but there is a Motley Crue song for that, Enslaved is one of my favorites, and it reminds us not to be a slave to anything, including our own insecurities! Everyone should really listen to that song for real!
5. Who would you say has been your greatest inspiration in life?
5. Who would you say has been your greatest inspiration in life?
My mom. She always said, even when we didn’t have enough money or we were at the end of the month food, there’s only one way to go when your down. You gotta go up. There just aren’t choices. You live. You survive. And things will get better. Things always get better. I believe that, but I still struggle when my brain starts turning on me. The depression. The torments of the past will always haunt, but things get better. I crawl out of my dark hole and its like the dawn is shining on my face. I learned that from my mother, the widow with three children, who survived an abusive marriage. The woman who took control of her life and didn’t remarry until 30 years after the death of my father. Might be why unhubby and I jumped over a broom. Sort of fundamentally opposed to my marriage. I do support everyone’s right to marry. Just don’t support my right. Heheheh. Lol.
Bec- I get that! That is very good advice, I had the monetary things, alot of them, not to excess, but didn't always feel the love, so I get where her saying that would stick with you. I always remember and interview with Michael Monroe (Hanoi Rocks, my fave band) where he said " I just strive to survive" that has stuck with me, that is what you have to do!
6. If you could bring one person to life from any book, yours or not, who would it be?
For my books, they already live inside my head. Hmmm…Finn from Jenifer Roberson’s Shapechangers, or Kel (yes I pay homage to Elizabeth A. Lynn with my own Kel in Ephemeral Darkness) from Dancers of Arun. Granted Finn lives through most of the Cheysuli chronicles, but Kel…he’s a one off. A powerful dancer/warrior…a weakness of mine.
Bec- Haha yeah your boys are always with you for sure! Mine would be Ponyboy from the Outsiders! Oh the talks we could have!
7. Last one Mikey, I know you are working on a sequel now, do you find it harder to write the first book in a series, or the followups?
That is a great question. I don’t have a great answer. Each story ebbs and flows differently. The themes I tend to deal with are similar, but each character brings something altogether new to the table. Vincent Sweetwater in Trainwreck is a hard, sexy submissive who will fight tooth and nail before he lets you at his vulnerable side, whereas his father, in Surviving Adam (the sequel) is far more vulnerable and sleek of a submissive. Kane deals with things much differently than Jackson. The stories are so different because of the characters and I enjoy writing them all. The only chore, is to make sure continuity is maintained through the follow ups, and that can be hard. As far as writing them, its all an adventure, and a ride I take to get these guys out of my head. I’m lucky. We discovered early on the voice in my head wasn’t schizophrenia, but a shitload of characters wanting their stories told. I’m also grammar-tarded, so that is a difficulty, series or not. Love my editors. They deal with so much pain.
Bec- Pffft- and that isn't a great answer? What to the ever! Haha, I love that answer! Thanks so much for chatting with me girl! I hope we didn't traumatize the peeps too much! Thanks for joining us guys! Hope you liked our chat!
TOLD YOU IT WOULD BE AWESOME TO CHAT WITH THIS LADY! NOW WE CAN SHARE SOME OF HER LINKS SO YOU CAN GET TO KNOW HER LIKE WE DO! YOU WILL LOVE HER TOO THAT'S FOR SURE!
MICHELE RAKES FACEBOOK
FACEBOOK AUTHOR PAGE
MICHELE RAKES TWITTER
MICHELE RAKES GOOGLE PLUS
IF YOU HAVEN'T READ HER BOOK SAVING KANE, YOU MUST DO THAT RIGHT NOW! THE SEQUEL FOURTH AND LONG WILL BE OUT SOON, AND LET ME TELL YOU, YOU WILL LOVE BOTH OF THESE BOOKS SO MUCH! HERE IS THE LINK TO SAVING KANE:
SAVING KANE AMAZON BUY LINK
THANKS FOR JOINING US TODAY FOR OUR FIRESIDE CHAT WITH OUR BUDDY MIKEY! I SPEAK FOR MIKE AND MIKEY WHEN I SAY, HAPPY HOLIDAY'S AND WE HOPE YOU HAD A BLAST!!
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