It’s been a little under a year with this site in its current incarnation, and the time has come for something new. Easier navigation, a more accessible news section, and an on-deck circle for my next book, Jack the Bastard. Yes, Jack is moving slowly. But it moves. We’re in the pre-marketing marketing phase, which means my publicist and I are laying the plans to take Jack from obscurity to hey-take-a-look-at-this.
Hi Micah:
I picked up your first novel from a friend’s shelf and enjoyed it. Aberdeen reminded me of Colby College, so I’d like to know if you based the college on any real college. Also, why is your author photo so serious? I thought you writer types were supposed to be happy that you sold a book. Or are you playing up stereotypes?
Best,
Aaron Morse
I was happy I sold a book. But I don’t know of many author photos taken the moment we get the nice phonecall. The grinning ear-to-ear is reserved for my readings, which I enjoy immensely. Photo shoots? Not so much. That pensive shot on my homepage is the photographer catching me in the middle of thinking “When is this going to end?”
Aberdeen College is based on every college we ever loved and wish we could return to. I never went away to college–stayed in Buffalo and lived off-campus–so Aberdeen represented the idealized renewal and redefinition of our post-high school years. Nostalgia almost works but saudade is better. And it’s been long enough so I can finally say it: Eric’s search for the Philosopher’s Stone was a MacGuffin (not that many of you didn’t already figure that out). Those of you who wondered where the Stone was and why I didn’t answer if it exists or not…it didn’t matter to the story and it didn’t matter to the real alchemists. On some level the historical alchemists must have known their pursuits were futile. Aren’t all obsessions a way of avoiding life’s harsher realities?
