UFI welcomes Author Michelle Hiscox. Thanks for Joining us!!
What can you tell my readers about yourself that they might not know from looking on your bio or reading in another interview?
I took a trip to Rome a few years ago and it is forever in my heart. I love Italian food, trashy romance novels, and I think everyone should read Richard Matheson’s story, I Am Legend. It is terrifying and incredibly poignant. I’m a bit of an introvert so publicity is not my strong point, but I’m getting better. I volunteer at a local animal shelter, I can’t watch Hallmark commercials because they make me cry, and I think Stephen King is one of the most brilliant, entertaining authors on earth.
What do you enjoy doing on your down time?
I don’t think I have enough of that to fill it with anything. Any time I don’t spend on the general demands of life I often spend writing, researching, or marketing. If I’m really being lazy, I love a cheesy horror movie or reading true crime stories.
What is your Favorite part of writing?
Creating something that other people might love. That is truly my favorite part, I want to make readers feel what the characters feel, to live a moment in their lives. When I get feedback that I’ve succeeded, that someone loves a particular line, scene, or event, it’s all I could ask for as a writer.
Do you have any certain routines you must follow as you write?
Laptop on my lap, music on my iPhone, pets, husband, and daughter sleeping. I love them very much, but if said husband and child are awake when I write, which is rare, headphones are a necessity.
What are some of your Favorite books or Authors in the Urban Fantasy/ Paranormal Genres?
JR Ward, author of The Black Dagger Brotherhood is by all time favorite, followed by Karen Marie Moning, especially with her Highlander series.
How would you pitch A New Day at Midnight to someone who has not heard of it before?
It’s a unique paranormal tale about a scarred Romani trader who plays host to a demon. He seeks the woman who set him on his dark path years before, but finding her yields much more than he expected. It’s a dark romance with an imposing yet vulnerable hero and a very determined heroine.
Can you tell us a little bit about the world that A New Day at Midnight is set in?
The novel takes place Montana territory, set in Rosehearne Manor, a fortress deep in the mountains. There are elements of Above and Below, or earth and hell, that come into play regarding the main character’s demon ancestry and the forces coming together against the main characters.
Do you have a favorite scene in A New Day at Midnight?
There are several scenes I’m partial to and many of them focus on Merik, who is definitely an anti-hero. I suppose my favorite scene involves chains, blood, and peace offerings, but not necessarily in the way one might expect. It’s not all about sex, but it is very emotionally charged for the main characters as well as the reader.
Which one character out of all your books was your favorite to write about? What about the hardest to write about?
Merik is hands down my favorite character to write so far. I love a tortured hero, he’s a genuine soul conflicted by his history and reactions to Hannah, all while weighed down by the curse he’s suffered through family lineage. I found writing about him invoked a wide range of emotion in me, and my heart went out to him.
Podosius, the antagonist within the story, was the most difficult for me to write. Because he is so mired in shadow, and at times such a vile creature, it was a challenge to display the very human motivations he had for committing some truly unspeakable acts. No character is purely good or evil, and capturing their essence presents some work on my part.
What Other Projects can we look forward to reading from you?
I’m currently working on the tentatively titled Chasing Dawn, the second standalone installment in the Hearne Family Saga. It focuses on the relationship between Ella and Nicolai, another of the Hearne brothers. It was actually the requests of early readers for A New Day at Midnight that led me to write about Nicolai, so I aspire to exceed their expectations. I hope to have it finished by year’s end.
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While her little girl and husband provides many welcome distractions to writing, it's something she always finds her way back to. Michelle is the proud, and slightly crazy, owner of two dogs and three cats, all animals she loves more than she reasonably should. She's been reading voraciously since she was a child and, one night, pulled her nose from a book to start writing her own.
Find Michelle and her books
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A New Day at MidnightAmazon Amazon.ca Amazon.co.uk BN
When Merik Hearne finally lays claim to the woman that betrayed him, she inspires much more than his need for revenge—but is her love worth dying for again?Exerpt #2:
Condemned to play host to a demon, the scarred Romani leader has amassed a fortune with only one goal in mind—to possess Hannah Worthington, the traitorous beauty that has eluded him for over a decade. With an exchange of coin, everything he has been striving for is within reach but nothing is as he imagined. The tender, sharp-tongued woman he encounters tests the bounds of his convictions and he is torn between the promise of reckoning and longing for a love that once destroyed him.
Exchanged for a purse of gold and informed she is to be a slave, Hannah vows she has not survived a lifetime of loss only to wither under the likes of Merik Hearne. And she will do everything she can to make sure he knows it. Despite his overbearing manner, his fierce scars, and her own determination to escape him, she begins to see that something beautiful might lie beneath…something that belongs only to her. She must discover the angle from which the great lord plays before his dark desires consume them both.
As they struggle to find truth amid pasts marred by sorrow and secrecy, they are unaware that a vengeful apostle orchestrates the rise of a forgotten god—and the end of their chance at a life together.
Hannah realized Merik had left her doors unlocked. Again. Did he believe she would stay now that she knew his true name and nature? She dare not utter the real question plaguing her, but it invaded her mind nonetheless.
Is he right? A large ember escaped from the iron latticework in front of the fire, landing on the rug at her feet. She watched it smoulder.
Smoke curled up in delicate tendrils, disappearing before reaching the high ceiling. She stared for several long moments, willing the flame to grow, to consume her. It held the colour of Merik’s eyes, burning gold and crimson. A small flame flickered to life, hungry for progress until she stamped it out with the heel of her foot.
Rising from the fire to flop on her bed, she stopped short as an echo rang through the hall. Certain her battered senses played tricks on her, she pulled back her covers to lay down but heard it again.
Whether it was a call of rage, grief, or agony she could not distinguish. It came from Merik’s quarters, echoing deep within the shadows of the hall. Padding to her door, she warred between anger over his treatment of her and the desire to ease his pain.
She could not ignore the fact he’d told her the truth. Pulling a robe about her shoulders, she kicked off her charred slipper. Without consulting her mind, she made the decision with her heart. She rested her hand on the door, opening the barrier between her and the unknown.
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit. What am I doing? I can stay in my rooms. There is hardly any need to go out there.”
Another tortured cry rose in the air, strengthening her resolve to help Merik.
Lighting a candle, she forced herself to go into the hall. Another cry rang through the air, and as she got closer to Merik’s chamber, she finally understood what he was saying. Her name.
“I’m coming, Merik.” Running to his room, she entered through the open door to see an empty chamber. Desperation overrode the fear hammering her heart against her chest. The room smelled of blood, of sickness. Could Vetala even get sick? Could they die?
“No, please no, not again. Merik? Merik, please call my name.”
He groaned. As she followed the source of the noise, the candle shook in her hand. The hot wax stung her flesh when she stopped several steps in front of a half-open door set in the wall.
“Merik?” The smell of death clung to the entrance and she gagged. The candle wobbled in her hand. She steadied it, saying a quick thanks to God it did not go out. She could not bear to go forth in the darkness without light. Setting the candle on the floor, she swung the door wide. The candle flickered as she picked it up. Fear twisted her guts and no matter how she tried, she could not stop her hands from shaking. She took another step.
“Merik?” It took her eyes several moments to see more than a foot from her face. When she saw him in the dim light, she gasped. He now stood in front of her. It took her several more moments to realize he was not standing of his own volition, but rather restrained by chains embedded in the stone wall. When he lifted his head, she covered her mouth to stifle a scream.
Eyes of molten gold and crimson stared back at her. His jaw and facial bones were distended, his hands curled into claws. The changes were much more severe than the few instances she attributed to the loss of her mind.
“I…I…” Stepping back toward the entrance, her gaze never left Merik’s. She turned her back on him to commence a rather spineless retreat, but could not get her feet to cooperate.
“Hannah?” The voice held much more than pain. What? Desperation? Hope? She could not move as her heart and mind waged war. Despite his appearance, she knew beneath the angled bone protruding from his flesh, his distorted face, and the fangs visible in his mouth, Merik stood in front of her. The man she met a decade before. The man looking at her with the same single focused intensity with which he always did. The man she loved.
Taking another step and hearing nothing but her own harsh breathing, she took one more.__________________________________
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