WRITERS ON THE STORM: MARK MILLER AND THE EMPYRICAL TALES By Harriet Von Lupin

Hi there, culture gang! This is Harriet Von Lupin reporting for Tales From The Monster Shop, and we've been way busy around here getting ready for our second book of adventures (coming soon!). Our Mad Doctor recently joined up with a gang of writers who are also doing their own thing, and us Grrls got curious, y'know, wanting to make sure this was a good thing. (We love our Mad Doctor, but he's still a Mad Doctor, y'know.) So we're talking to some of these guys, and that's led to our newest feature here on the Monster Shop blog--Writers On The Storm!!


Our first victim--er, interviewee for this is a guy named Mark Miller, who hails from Florida and is currently writing his own fantasy series called The Empyrical Tales. I got interested in this because it's got werewolves in it (!!), and I sat down to talk to Mr. Mark and see what was doing, so here's our interview.

Hi there! Can you tell us a bit about yourself, please?

Thanks for having me, and I don't mean for dinner! What do you want to know about me? I'm a writer; it's in my blood. I'm struggling to be a teacher too, but that's been hit or miss. I love it and the kids love me, but it's tough to be a teacher these days. Mostly I try to focus on my writing, my wife of twelve years and my four amazing children.

Hey, dude, I'm a werewolf--we're all about the family. But what got you into writing?

As I said, it's in the blood. I'm named after Mark Twain and my father was an "old newspaperman". I've been writing fairly constantly since high school, but only recently pursued it as a career option.

OK, so Mad Doc tells me you're working on a fantasy series called The Empyrical Tales. Tell us about it, please!

The Empyrical Tales from Comfort Publishing was something I started writing for my own children. I created a place where all of the myths, folklore and fairytales of my youth could exist in a place for them. I saw an opportunity to create some positive female role models. I thought I could use the series to show my daughters, and other girls, that it is okay to be strong, independent and confident.

Book 1: The Fourth Queen laid the foundation for what will eventually be a series of eight books. Book 2: The Lost Queen, along with its predecessor, have received great reviews. Book 3: The Secret Queen is due out in June 2012 and I am hard at work on Book 4: The First Queen. It has developed into a positive and inspiring story for girls and boys of all ages.

So cool! Positive role models for kids, good life lessons--dude, you could be kindred in my Clan! And speaking of that, I hear THE EMPYRICAL TALES has werewolves. What legends or movies did you base your werewolves on?

Oh, you like the werewolves, huh? Mine are bad guys, plain and simple. I was a bit of a horror junkie in my late teens and saw all the classics. Our younger readers out there will have to put these movies pretty low in their Netflix cue, because you definitely need to be old enough to watch them. With that said, I have four words for you: American Werewolf In London. My pets are a little more "native" and mean, but they spend a lot of time on four legs. The Howling also plays in the back of my head when I write my wolfmen, but its not so much the imagery as it is the feeling.

Well, even in these more enlightened times for monsterkind, we've still got bad-guy werewolves too. House-training's a process, y'know. As a writer, what and who are some of your favorite books and authors?

You can guess the big ones--Narnia, Lord of the Rings. I also enjoyed the Prydain Chronicles, but one of my all time favorites is Heinlein's Starship Troopers. Very different from the movie!

Oh, yeah. We saw that movie, and, well, eeew. But what other projects are you working on?

Plenty to choose from. The Empyrical Tales is under a full head of steam and moving right along. I am also working with a faith-based movie production company to help with the scripts and adapt them into novel form. My first with them, Daniel's Lot, should be available very soon from Trestle Press. And Trestle has asked me to head up a new inspirational series: Mark Miller's One. That is going to be a lot of fun and a little emotional. The concept is that we are trying to draw spiritual authors to share their true experiences of faith in an open, non-denominational format. My first story in that series should be available by the end of the week.

Thank you, Harriet, for spending some time with me. I enjoyed being here and I can't wait to see what you and your friends are up to next.

Awww!! Thank you for letting me interview you, too!

Righteous words from a righteous dude, gang, and you can find out more info on Mark Miller and all his writings by checking out his blog, MillerWords.com. And if you click on all the links we put through here, you can find and buy all his cool stuff!

See you next time here in the Monster Shop! OWW-WOOOOOO!!!

Love,
Harriet Von Lupin