She’s dead because of me. Josh Wilkinson is haunted by two words written in still-warm blood: Your fault. Wisdom, an immortal raised by the djinn, has gathered a band of super-powered teenagers to stop the Council of Peacocks, a group of evil sorcerers. After the battle in Thessaloniki, the Council is on the run. Just when final victory appears imminent, Josh’s mother is murdered and the prime suspect is his father. Once Josh was integral to the Council’s plans for world domination. Now Josh learns his cousin, Travis, is the one set to activate the Verdenstab. If he does, the Orpheans, demonic allies to the Council, will escape the Black Sea, a pocket dimension that serves as their prison. In a last-ditch effort to prevent the invasion, Wisdom and Josh use an ancient portal hidden beneath Gobekli Tepe to enter the Black Sea. The rest of the team – a pyrokinetic, a telepath, and a mercenary – head to stop Travis from activating a device. The end is closer than anyone suspects. The Activation is set to happen tomorrow.
You can buy Beyond the Black Sea at:
Amazon
M Joseph Murphy
M Joseph Murphy was born and raised in Ontario, Canada. He earned his geekdom at an early age. He read X-Men comics from the age of 8 and it only went downhill from there. As a teenager he wrote short stories and wanted to be the next Stephen King. Instead of horror, however, he kept writing fantasy stories. After surviving high school as a goth with a purple mohawk, he studied English and Creative Writing at the University of Windsor. When not writing, Joseph works as Lead Accounting instructor at a local college. He lives in Windsor, ON (right across the stream from Detroit, Michigan) with his husband, two cats, and a shy-but-friendly ghost.Interview:
1. Where are you from?
I'm from Windsor, Ontario in Canada. That's right across the river from Detroit Michigan. Growing up here has given me an interesting perspective because in many ways I feel like I live in two worlds. Windsor is relatively small, with a population under 200,00. Meanwhile you have this giant city right next door which at once had a population of 1.8 million but has been slowly dying since the 50s. Now it's somewhere around 688,000. It has a reputation for violence, once being the murder capital of the U.S. And you have these two clashing worlds, one filled with poverty and fear, and another or prosperity People often forget that Michigan is #17 out of 50 states for number of millionaires. The disparity between the uber-rich and the uber-poor has always fascinated me.
I'm from Windsor, Ontario in Canada. That's right across the river from Detroit Michigan. Growing up here has given me an interesting perspective because in many ways I feel like I live in two worlds. Windsor is relatively small, with a population under 200,00. Meanwhile you have this giant city right next door which at once had a population of 1.8 million but has been slowly dying since the 50s. Now it's somewhere around 688,000. It has a reputation for violence, once being the murder capital of the U.S. And you have these two clashing worlds, one filled with poverty and fear, and another or prosperity People often forget that Michigan is #17 out of 50 states for number of millionaires. The disparity between the uber-rich and the uber-poor has always fascinated me.
Thing is, I grew up not realizing this. To me, Detroit was just
the way the world was. And that's probably had a big impact on the types of
stories I tell.
2. Tell us your latest
news?
I'm writing two series concurrently. The Activation series is an urban fantasy that features a group of half-demon youths trying to stop a secretive conclave of sorcerers from destroying the world. My Sword of Kassandra series is an epic fantasy featuring a teenage werecat who battles zombies, dragons, and demons.
I'm writing two series concurrently. The Activation series is an urban fantasy that features a group of half-demon youths trying to stop a secretive conclave of sorcerers from destroying the world. My Sword of Kassandra series is an epic fantasy featuring a teenage werecat who battles zombies, dragons, and demons.
I'm currently writing Book 3 in the Activation series. This book
will be called Terra Incognita, a book I've been dying to write. It's the
climax of a set of stories I began in Council of Peacocks and things get
bazonka-nuts. All my stories are partially based on reality. So when the Josh
and the others travel to the Black Pyramid in Alaska...well, I didn't make that
up. The Black Pyramid is an actual thing...at least it's real-ish. Google it. I
swear, the real world is much stranger than anything I could make up.
3. What inspired you to
write your first book?
I wrote my first actual book when I was in grade 4. So what does that make me? 10? Something like that. It was for a school project that was supposed to be arts and craft. The emphasis was supposed to be proper ways to use glue or something like that. Most kids wrote a diary. Others wrote poetry. I wrote a horror story about a haunted one-room school house guarded by demonic ravens that served as the portal to hell. So there you have it. That's how my brain works.
I wrote my first actual book when I was in grade 4. So what does that make me? 10? Something like that. It was for a school project that was supposed to be arts and craft. The emphasis was supposed to be proper ways to use glue or something like that. Most kids wrote a diary. Others wrote poetry. I wrote a horror story about a haunted one-room school house guarded by demonic ravens that served as the portal to hell. So there you have it. That's how my brain works.
The book was completely un-publishable, of course, but it helped
me realize that I could write a book.
I've been working on the structure of the world for both the
Activation and Sword of Kassandra series since I was a teenager. But what actually
gave me the kick in the butt to take my writing seriously was the death of
Robert Jordan. Here's this man with insane vision and a massive story to tell.
And he dies before he's able to finish it. I don't want that to happen to me.
So every time I think about skipping a day or writing, I think of Jordan and
get to work.
4. How did you come up
with the title?
Funny
story. I blame bad Googling. I was trying to find the official name for a group
of peacocks and somehow found a link saying it was a council. For the record,
it's not. It's actually either a muster or an ostentation. But it turned out to
my favor. Now if you Google Council of Peacocks, the only things you'll find
are about my books.
I always knew the book title had to have "peacocks". I've
always been fascinate by the Yezidi, a small middle-eastern religious sect with
about 700,00 members worldwide. Historically, they've been persecuted because others
perceived them as demon worshipers, a fact that people like Anton LaVey, the
guy who wrote the Satanic Bible, played up. But if you look at the Yezidi,
they're not evil. Their demonization is nothing more than a smear campaign
meant to make their persecution justifiable. Right now ISIS is mass murdering
the Yezidi claiming their genocide is acceptable because they are demon
worshipers. To me, nothing symbolizes the blurred line between good and evil
like the Yezidi.
5. Is there a message in
your novel that you want readers to grasp?
Hmm. Sorta of. I studied literature and creative writing in university so I've got that part of my brain always saying writing has to "mean" something. There's subtext there but mostly I want people to read the books because they're fun. People have crazy, X-Men-like powers and things blow up.
Hmm. Sorta of. I studied literature and creative writing in university so I've got that part of my brain always saying writing has to "mean" something. There's subtext there but mostly I want people to read the books because they're fun. People have crazy, X-Men-like powers and things blow up.
If you're looking for more than that, my books always deal with
the nature of good and evil, what makes someone a monster, what makes someone a
real hero. And how much control does any person have over their fate. But if
you don't want to look for that stuff, don't bother. To me, the journey and the
characters are much more important than the "meaning."
6. What books have most
influenced your life most?
Obviously Lord of the Rings. Those books have influenced every writer of fantasy whether they know it or not. Also the classic works of Robert Asprin and Lloyd Alexander and new writers like Jim Butcher. During the 80s I was obsessed with everything Stephen King did. Firestarter is still one of my all-time favorite books.
Obviously Lord of the Rings. Those books have influenced every writer of fantasy whether they know it or not. Also the classic works of Robert Asprin and Lloyd Alexander and new writers like Jim Butcher. During the 80s I was obsessed with everything Stephen King did. Firestarter is still one of my all-time favorite books.
But I was also influenced tremendously by writers of comic books,
a group of people who do not get nearly enough credit. I honestly don't know
what I'd be writing if it wasn't for people like Chris Claremont and Jim
Starlin. Nowadays I'm a total fanboy for Brian Michael Bendis and Ed Brubaker
who are honestly some of the best writers on the planet right now.
7. Are there any new
authors that have grasped your interest?
I read a bunch and because of what I do I've met a whole bunch of writers. The last book that completely floored me was The Long Way Down by Craig Schaefer. It's a very solid piece of work that deserves much more praise than it's been given so far. Also Travis Luedke. He's like this generation's Richard Laymon. I've been fortunate enough to have Travis help me improve my own pacing and word choices, something I'll be eternally thankful for.
I read a bunch and because of what I do I've met a whole bunch of writers. The last book that completely floored me was The Long Way Down by Craig Schaefer. It's a very solid piece of work that deserves much more praise than it's been given so far. Also Travis Luedke. He's like this generation's Richard Laymon. I've been fortunate enough to have Travis help me improve my own pacing and word choices, something I'll be eternally thankful for.
8. What are your current projects?
As soon as I'm finished
with Terra Incognita, I'll be writing the third book in the Sword of Kassandra
series. I'll also be publishing a non-fantasy thriller this year called
"Are You Watching Me?" That features a sex addict who becomes the
target of a serial killer so it's a very different type of project for me. I'm
also working on a fun fantasy series with this amazing writer you may have
heard of, Maer Wilson. I'm very excited to show the world what the two of us
have come up with. Now if only I can master living without sleep so I have time
to get all this writing done.
9. What would you like my readers to know?
Aside
from my writing, I'm also a book cover designer. It's a way for me to live out
my childhood dream. I always wanted to be a comic book artist until I learned
my skills were stronger in writing than drawing for 18 hours a day. You can see
examples of the covers I've done on my website.
I
also want to thank everyone who's taken the time to read my books, especially
those who've either reached out to me or left reviews. There is nothing cooler
than hearing from someone how much they've enjoyed your book. I'm both humbled
and incredibly appreciative.
You can find Joseph at these links:
Website | Facebook | Twitter
Giveaway
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2 Winners - eCopy of Council of Peacocks
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| http://maerwilson.com/ | 4/22/2015 |
Enjoyed your interview, thank you!!!
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