Interview with Michael Allan Scott

What genre do you write and why?

Like most fiction that doesn’t follow a formula, my work spills over into a few genres. However, it seems to fit best in the Mystery/Thriller genre.

I’ve always loved music and literature.  While I’d played drums semi-professionally for nearly fifteen years, it was more than 30 years ago.  Yet I still love writing.  From poetry to pulp fiction, storytelling is at its heart.  And I love a good mystery thriller.

What formats is the book available in?

All my books are available as both eBooks and paperbacks.

Who are your favourite authors?

There are a ton of great authors I enjoy and admire. When it comes to mystery, James Lee Burke and Michael Connelly come to mind. The two that most influence my writing are Edgar Allan Poe and L. Frank Baum – they showed me adventure, tragedy, beauty, mystery, horror and wonder.

What advice do you have for other writers?

If you can do anything else, go do that. If you can’t, learn the craft of writing, then learn the business of publishing and marketing, then write and keep writing, no matter what.

Where can people find out more about you and your writing?

The website is a good place to start – http://michaelallanscott.com

Why do you think readers are going to enjoy your book?

If the reviews on Goodreads can be believed, here’s what’s in store for readers:

“Mystery, intrigue, touches of the paranormal—this book has it all. Dark Side of Sunset Pointe is a fast paced page-turner with twists and turns along the way.”

“This book has it all, murder, mystery, and intrigue that moves between the world of the privileged and the dark seedy underworld of crime and forbidden sexuality.”

“This book wasn't a book. It was a movie and an excellent one at that.”

“I dare you, actually I double dog dare you, to find a book with more twists and turns than this one.”

Michael Allan Scott
Where can a reader purchase your book?

The first of the Lance Underphal mysteries is available through Amazon.com – Dark Side of Sunset Pointe
                                                      
How do you research your books?

The Lance Underphal mysteries are loosely based on real life experiences over a backdrop of current events. I draw from personal and professional experiences. If I require details beyond the scope of my experience, I use everything—personal interviews, news stories, websites. And for detailed location info, I’ll use Google Earth if it isn’t convenient to go in person.

What is your work in progress? Tell us about it.

Titled Grey Daze, it’s the third Lance Underphal Mystery and is due out this summer. Like its predecessors, it is a hardcore contemporary mystery/thriller with a paranormal twist. Lance and his friends find themselves tracking down a crime ring that preys on the elderly. They find the killers and then it gets hairy.

Here’s an excerpt:

“It’s all white except for naked trees and grey light. Still and frozen like a perfect image etched in frosted glass. The snow, crystalline powder piled up in mounds, spreads along the riverbanks like a sparkling blanket of diamonds—the river, a mirror of blue ice. A hush as thick as the snow. Tiny flakes of icy fluff fill the air before my eyes. The only sounds are the hiss of my blades slicing virgin ice and my lungs pumping frosty breaths into a streaming cloud behind me like a quietly thundering locomotive. Pushing, my eyes water with the cold, blood pounding in my ears as my thighs burn. I glide into its beauty, nature’s elements in perfect balance, exhilarated as I rush into the outstretched arms of God.

Smiling and spent, I circle back and head for home, convinced this is as much of God as I’ll ever know. I soon see our cabin up ahead, buried up to the window frames in drifted snow. Its roof, a steeple of purest white—a curl of smoke drifting up from its chimney to disappear into the haze. It’s early, I wonder if she’s up yet. I want to tell her how beautiful it all is. Beaming, I lean into it. Can’t wait to see her.

I quietly hang my skates on a peg in the mudroom, careful not to wake her. Cringing as the hinges creak, I try to be quiet. Something’s wrong. As I pad softly across the cold flagstone, I hear her weeping. She’s on her knees, hunched over in the middle of the room, her back to me, facing the fireplace. Something’s very wrong. I want to rush to her, but I can’t. I force myself to take a step closer, then another. In a hoarse whisper, I say, “Callie?” She lets out a mournful wail from deep within as she turns to me, our infant son in her arms, blue and still. I reel from the blow. How can this be? We don’t have a son.”

What are you currently reading?

I read several books at a time—keeps me from getting bored. The paperbacks include: The Death Artist by Jonathan Santlofer, The Deep Blue Good-By by John D. MacDonald, Bridge of Sighs by Richard Russo, and collection of Poe short stories edited by Michael Connelly titled In the Shadow of the Master. On my Kindle, I’m reading: Poe by J. Lincoln Fenn and Reckoning by R.S. Guthrie. BTW, this list should not be taken as a recommendation.

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2 Comments

  1. Omnimystery News6 May 2014 at 13:33

    Thanks so much for introducing us to this author. And letting us know a new Lance Underphal mystery is coming out this summer!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Michael Allan Scott6 May 2014 at 16:39

    Jo,

    Thanks for featuring me and my work - greatly appreciated.

    Best,
    MAS

    ReplyDelete

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