An Interview with Author Michael Brookes

Today we have the opportunity to have author Michael Brookes with us. Michael Brookes is an Executive Producer with a leading UK games developer. Working in games and writing are two of his life passions and he considers himself fortunate to be able to indulge them both. He lives in the east of England, enjoying starry skies in the flattest part of the country. When not working or writing he can sometimes be found sleeping. He is going to tell us about why sleep is so important to him. I was lucky enough to happen upon Michael's blog, http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/ Besides it being an awesome blog, Michael had posted that anyone to sign up to receive updates from his blog would receive a free copy of any one of his books. So that is exactly what I did. I signed up. I am reading "An Odder Quintet" right now which is amazing. The first story just blew me away. The ending left me completely speechless. And the second story was just as good. I was very interested in this author I had stumbled upon and I contacted him after he sent me his book to do an interview for us here. So without further ado, I would like to present my interview with Michael Brookes.



1. Did you always want to be a writer?
I've always enjoyed telling stories and since an early age I've written short stories. It was only a few years ago that I decided to share those stories with the public.

2. Where is your favorite place to write? (at a desk, in a chair, on your patio, etc)
In my front room in my recliner tapping away on my laptop. I'm fortunate that I'm quite good at multitasking so I can watch a film or listen to music at the same time. It seems that I work best if I have a background input going on at the same time.

3. Do you keep a notebook and pen handy for when you have ideas or are you able to remember them and put them down on paper later?
I let them bubble away in my mind, the one's that keep in my memory tend to get turned into drabbles (these are stories that are exactly 100 words long). An idea can ferment in my mind for months before I actually put pen to paper (or finger to keyboard). I find that it's good to let them develop before acting on them, it helps work out any kinks. Despite that process I still have to restart more than a few first drafts.

4. You mention on Goodreads.com that sleep is where many of your good ideas come from. Tell me a little more about that.
Sleep (or more accurately while I'm lying in bed trying to sleep) and while I am driving seem to be when my best ideas come to me. I'm not sure why, I guess it's because a part of my brain is free wheeling and just churning through possibilities. They usually stem from questions and in trying to answer those questions stories develop.

5. What is your favorite movie based on a book?
This is a tricky question, I love both formats of story telling, but they each have different strengths. Films tend to be a more visceral experience where books tend to speak to something deeper. When making a film of a book it changes the story, a good example is Let the Right one In. It's an excellent book, in fact it's one of those books that makes me feel inadequate as a writer. The film too is an excellent watch, but is a more focused experience, both good in their own right.

6. Do you have any pets?
Unfortunately not, I'd love to have a dog, but I work too many hours for it to be fair.

7. What kind of food or snacks do you crave when you are writing, if any? (or maybe too when you are not writing!)
I'm a little too fond on snacking, but these days I try to be good with my diet. I'm diabetic so need to be careful of my sugar intake.

8. Tell me about your newest book "Off The Kuf".
Off theKuf is an anthology of short stories and drabbles from the the authors over on the Kindle Users Forums (http://www.kuforum.co.uk/kindleusersforum/). It's an eclectic mix from some great authors in a variety of genres. My contribution is a story called 'The Imp of Destiny' which is a horror (sort of) story about a tiny demon's quest to gain a soul. Here's the book blurb and links:

Off the KUF Volume 1 is an anthology of short fiction, guaranteed to appeal to readers of all genres! Whether you're a fan of mysteries, thrillers, historicals, romance, humour, literary fiction, horror or science fiction, Off the KUF will keep you entertained.

Volume 1 brings together 30 quality stories by 25 highly talented authors. Some will be well-known to fans of the indie fiction scene, while others will be new discoveries. All may become firm favourites after sampling their storytelling skills.

As well as short tales of varying lengths, this collection includes some drabbles - stories precisely 100 words long. So you can dip in and out as you wish, or consume the entire book from start to finish and be assured of an exciting degree of variety.


Volume 1 is edited by David Wailing and the contributing authors are (in alphabetical order): H.K. Abell, Andrew Barrett, Helena Hann-Basquiat, Jessica B. Bell, Nigel Bird, Michael Brookes, Anna Faversham, George Hamilton, John Gregory Hancock, Jennifer Hanning, David Haynes, Rick Haynes, Jonathan Hill, Sibel Hodge, K.M. Knight, Ken Magee, Kath Middleton, Cecilia Peartree, Lexi Revellian, Rosen Trevithick, David Wailing, Louise Warman, Lynda Wilcox, Andrew Craig Williams and Anne Wrightwell. The front cover is by Katie Stewart at Magic Owl Designs.

The Off the KUF trilogy of anthologies is brought to you by the Kindle Users Forum (KUF). All proceeds from ebook sales are used to maintain the forum. Join us at www.kuforum.co.uk.

Look out for Volume 2 in December 2013, and Volume 3 in February 2014!

Buy now from Amazon (US): http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00GDLGTCS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00GDLGTCS&linkCode=as2&tag=phasespacenet-21

Buy now from Amazon (UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00GDLGTCS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1634&creative=19450&creativeASIN=B00GDLGTCS&linkCode=as2&tag=phasespacenet-21


9. Tell me why you decided back in June of this year to sponsor your Short Story contest, run on your site http://thecultofme.blogspot.co.uk/
I'm a big fan of short fiction and I've also been pleasantly surprised by how friendly and helpful the indie author community has been, so I wanted to give something back. Even better I have received entries from people who aren't authors (or at least not yet), one in particular has some real talent and it's good to see that expressed through the competitions entries.

10. What is on the horizon for you - personally and professionally?
At the moment my life is work and writing, I'm hoping to make them one and the same over the next few years.


Please make sure to check out all of the sites that you have seen mentioned above and read Michael's works. Please make sure if you visit him to leave a comment!