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What can you tell us about your new release, The Hotel at the End of Time?

I should let people know that this is not a travel guide, as there’s been some confusion about that. The Hotel at the End of Time is real place in the book, but not real in the sense that it exists here in this world. The book itself is real though. It exists.

So, to sum up: It's a real book about made-up things and it's not a travel guide. It’s best to think of this as a laugh-out-loud funny Urban Fantasy about the people who escaped from the Hotel that includes some light-to-medium magic and a weird number of explosions.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

The ghost of John Milton who lives in my library. I’m sure this is a trite answer but having a world-famous dead poet yell at you for writing crappy poetry really puts things in perspective. I started writing about four or five years ago and despite the lack of encouragement from John Milton, I seem to have developed a knack for this.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

I kind of have to say Paradise Lost because of the aforementioned ghost of John Milton, but aside from that, I will select The Library at Mt. Char by Scott Hawkins, The Shining by Stephen King, Helen Keller's Teacher by Margaret Davidson and Robert Jordan’s entire Wheel of Time Series, which I will count as one singular novel for the purposes of this quiz.

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

Remember that YouTube clip from about fifteen years ago of that Techno Viking guy who broke up a fight and then rage-danced down the street? It would be him. My first and only question would be, “why are you so awesome and please teach me how to be that awesome”.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

Oh, that’s easy. It’s the exhaustive financial challenge of figuring out what to do with all this sweet, sweet writing cash I practically drown in. Do I invest? Buy an island? Do some kind of weird Brewster’s Million’s kind of thing where I try to spend a million dollars a day? Honestly, it’s tough.

What is a typical day like for you?

John Milton will usually yell me awake pretty early. I try to write in the morning before the day starts. Then it’s off to my day-to-day job, which honestly isn’t that interesting – I fight tigers while parachuting out of exploding airplanes. Sometimes there are ninjas. I know what you’re thinking, did I go to school for that? And yes. I majored in economics, as most plane-falling tiger-fighters do.

What scene from The Hotel at the End of Time was your favorite to write?

I’m always tempted to say the scene where an Australian rodent tries to bite off a man’s testicles, but as it turns out, that specific scene was problematic and costly to research. So, I suppose I’d say the final scene. I had it in my head from the moment I started writing the book and I believe I did the work to build to an incredibly satisfying conclusion.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

No, but this question sent me into a small panic as I was like “oh my god, does everyone have a motto or quote or philosophy they live by? Is this something that normal people are expected to have? I have a ukulele. Does that count?”

I asked around a little bit and found out that mostly this is only something you need to have ready in the case of interviews. In that light, I suppose my motto would be always have a motto ready for book interviews otherwise you end rambling about how you don’t have one and for some reason talking about ukuleles.

Michael James is the author of the new book The Hotel at the End of Time.

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What can you tell us about your new release, Ghoulish Whisper?

The idea for this main character has been sitting in the back of my mind since 2014 when I wrote my Gods and Paranormals Duology. Harriet was born in 1800 London, England and was a lady’s maid for many years. She grew up knowing she’s one-quarter ghoul and though she’s disgusted by the fact that she has to eat human flesh, it’s a part of her and a ghoul’s gotta eat. This story is set in modern-day Colorado in a fictional town near Cañon City. For those who don’t know a lot about the city and the land around it, there are more than a dozen prisons and one super max prison, known as the new Alkatraz in the area, which gives me a lot of content to work with.

What or who inspired you to become an author?

I’ve always been an author, even though I didn’t know it until 2003 when I took my first writing class from Judy Baker. She inspired me to finish my first novel. It took me six weeks. And it was a mess. After a few years of refining it, I landed an agent, then a small publisher. It was during this time that Independent publishing became a thing. When the publisher went under, I decided to publish it myself. Sleeping Roses has been on many bestseller lists and reached all the way to #3 in all of the Amazon store.

What's on your top 5 list for the best books you've ever read?

Let’s see. The Sword of Shannara was the first book that opened my eyes to the possibilities of other worlds. It’s a top 5 because I think about that book often and what it meant to me when I was ten years old. Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume is another book that opened up the world to me. The story helped me to think and consider my choices and what was important in my life. The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas. This book was an event in my life. It swept me away and allowed me to experience the elation and consequences of revenge. The Host by Stephenie Meyer. These characters and this story leapt off the pages. I’d never cried so hard while reading a book before. I’d been holding back so much in my personal life and this story cracked me open in a way another book never has. Susan Ee’s Angel Fall was an amazing story that took beings most believed were good and twisted them in such a cool way.

Say you're the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest? What would you want to ask?

That’s tough. I love getting to know people. Everyone has a story and I love helping people open up and telling me what makes them tick.

What's your favorite thing about writing?

For me, it’s taking things that weigh heavily on my mind and using my characters to help me work through them. The best part is doing it in a way that doesn’t feel like my personal therapy but just a natural progression of the character. For example, when I wrote my Snow White reimagining, I had teenagers. They had so much stress and so many choices. I worried for them and with them. Snow White was the same age as they were and so I took her on a journey of what it meant to fall in love, deal with heartache, bullies, and other things they have to go through. Of course there were vampires and other supernatural creatures involved as well. But that made it fun and another level of interesting.

What is a typical day like for you?

Wake. Breakfast. Hang with my husband and son. Exercise. Marketing. Lunch. Exercise again. Write. Shower. Dinner. Write. Read. TV. Bed.

What scene from Ghoulish Whisper was your favorite to write?

Probably the last scene. That was the section that had been in my head since 2014 and when I was finally able to get to it, the event just spilled out.

Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?

Remember what’s important. God. Family. Health. Friends.

RaShelle Workman is the author of the new book Ghoulish Whisper.

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