Interview with Michele Callahan

1. Tell us a little bit about yourself.

I love books. I’ve always loved books. I remember begging my mother to read to me when I was very, very young. Luckily, she did. I’ve had a variety of different jobs, from retail, fast food, teaching, and owning my own business. Through all the ups and downs, jobs, life, kids and craziness, the one thing I could never give up was writing.  It’s a sickness, really, an obsession that just won’t let me go. I’m convinced they’ll come up with a diagnosis and a pill one of these days. Until then, I guess I’m stuck.

2. Who are your favorite authors?

 I have too many to list. But my absolute favorites are Anne McCaffrey, RA Salvatore, David Eddings, Laurell K Hamilton, Robert Heinlein, Nalini Singh, Kresley Cole, JR Ward, Joshua Dalzelle, Orson Scott Card, Stephen King and Angeline Anderson.

3. Tell us a bit about your books.

My Timewalker novels take place in a contemporary setting, here on Earth. But…we aren’t here alone. In fact, two alien races have been in a covert war for control of Earth, and each other, for thousands of years. The human descendants of these two races don’t necessarily know what they are, until they get drafted into the war.

In the first book, ALLIANCE, you meet two descendants of these aliens. One of them, Luke Lawson, is a scientist who has been pulled into a biological weapons development program by the US government. Bad news there…his research escapes the lab and wipes out the human race. So, another descendant is sent back through time to find him and stop the outbreak. The Timewalker, Alexa, has three days to track him down and prevent the virus from escaping the lab. When she arrives she believes that the pandemic was an accident. But as she and Luke work together to save us all, they discover that it wasn’t an accident at all, but an attack designed to wipe out all of the alien descendants on Earth. The alien war is escalating, and the human descendants are going to have to choose sides. In ALLIANCE we meet most of the major players, and route for Luke and Alexa as they try to survive alien assassins, government plots, and other time travelers. It’s fast paced, intense, and a whole lot of fun.

4. If you could travel back in time to any place and period in the past where and when would you go?

This is an impossible question, and I’ve spent hours thinking about it. We romanticize the past, when in reality, it was brutal, dirty, and dangerous. Our ancestors were bad-ass-mother-effers. No doubt. They survived war, famine, disease, and each other. So, honestly, if I could go back to the past, I’m not sure I would choose to. I’m pretty sure I would just pick up a book and stay home. Now, the future? Beam me up, Scottie. When are we leaving?

5. What attracts you to writing in your genre?

Time travel has always fascinated me. Years of my youth were lost watching Dr. Who. When the Terminator franchise began, there was no hope for me. Game over. Which is crazy, because writing time travel and keeping track of all the loops and ripple effects makes my brain hurt. J  That’s why humans invented wine, for people like me who write time travel stories.

6. I see you like to delve into many different genres.

I love to read, and I’ll read anything. When I was a kid, I would wait for the Sunday paper to come and then sit for hours reading it cover to cover. (Dating myself a bit, but we didn’t have computers or the internet. – Not sure how we survived writing research papers for school without Google.)

We also lived out of town and my parents refused to pay for cable television. (Yes, I was a sad, tormented child.) I spent weekends and summers reading. Literary fiction. Science Fiction. Fantasy. Romance. Mysteries. Horror. I loved the choose-your-ending books because I could read them multiple times and change the story. Books are books, and when I write I can’t force myself to trap a good story into just one (genre) lane. My brain doesn’t work like that. I write sci-fi/paranormal/thriller/time-travel/action-adventure with romantic elements.  I also write contemporary romance, sci-fi horror, and modern fantasy. (Most of them are buried in deep, dark drawers that serve as my “bad book graveyard”, but I wrote them because they were interesting to me.) Being stuck in a box is boring for both the author and the reader. And books should never, ever be boring, no matter what their genre.

7. Are you planning to participate in any anthologies? Any hints about your story?

Anthologies? None planned. But hints? Yes. You (yes you, reading this right now) should go get your DNA checked.  You might not be plain old human. (Just saying….)

8. What do you like to do to relax?

#1) Sit on my porch and drink coffee…alone. (I have three kids, so this is a rare.)
#2) I watch sci-fi movies. Good movies. Bad movies. Don’t really care. I’m also a sucker for a good romantic comedy or adventure movie. I won’t finish bad books, but I WILL watch a terrible movie to the bitter end.

9. What are you currently working on?

Right now I’m writing the second book, DEFIANCE, which comes out at the end of the year. In the second book, a mysterious time traveler appears, but won’t tell anyone who he is or why he’s around, and the second race of aliens takes a very active interest in Luke and Alexa, and their new allies. The stakes get higher for us Earthlings, so keep your fingers crossed. Humans are collateral in this war, but in DEFIANCE, the aliens on both sides will discover that the human descendants won’t go down without a fight. (Which is good for the rest of us, because they’re the only ones on our side!)

10. How can readers connect with you?

I love to chat with readers and other authors!
Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/AuthorMLCallahan
Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ml_callahan
Website:  http://mlcallahan.com
Thank you! This had been a fun interview.

ML Callahan