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About Author MM
aka Michael Meisberger
Non-Fiction genre
Even as early as middle school, I was filling up notebooks with poetry, personal journal entries (What we call blogging today) and short stories or outlines for novels. I spent time in the library researching a specific topic, normally marine biology / archeology, and dreamt of writing a book about what we call today; marine salvage. I just called it underwater treasure hunting. I knew that more “free” gold lay at the bottom of the ocean than I could imagine. I also knew I wanted to learn about it, write about it, and get it! However, circumstances never allowed for me to follow that dream. I never stopped writing. While in the US Navy, I read volumes of books and continued to pen both poetry and short stories but nothing of substantial length (Nothing over 300 hand written pages) When I entered college later in life, I found computers, and word processing programs that allowed me to write, more, faster and create longer stories. I have written two works of non-fiction and hope to write many more over the upcoming years.
Action adventure genre
Since I have been old enough to read, I have enjoyed the battle of good versus evil. I have yet to find a clearer cut, good vs. evil battle, than the epic story of Van Helsing vs. Dracula, or Bram Stoker's 1897 novel Dracula. I am a big fan of Van Helsing. I view this slayer in the same light as Dr. Elizabeth Miller.[1] Elizabeth is internationally recognized for her expertise on Bram Stoker's Dracula, and states, "If we read the novel as a story of the supremacy of good over evil, then Van Helsing is undoubtedly the representation of all that is positive." [2]
I found Van Helsing to be positive and relentless in his pursuit to eradicate the evil blood sucking vampire, Dracula. Indeed, Bram Stoker's story sparked a long burning desire to see good conquer evil. When Anne Rice [3] began to pen her novels that glorified the vampire, I recoiled in horror. She glorified the blood sucking abominations, took them from subterranean dwelling monsters and turned them into wealthy, wise, good looking chaps who all the girls fell in love with at first sight. I was revolted by the Anne Rice series of novels that hyped the life and times of the vampire. I read only one of her books cover to cover and only parts of her novels thereafter. Her work was a unique twist on the slayer vs. vampire battle but one that I did not enjoy. It was with great excitement that I picked up the first book of Laurell K. Hamilton's [4] Anita Blake, Vampire Hunter Series. Hamilton heralded her character as a vampire hunter and not a slayer. I should have caught on early, but I didn't. The main character, Anita Blake, hunted down vampires to date and have them impale her, if you get my meaning. Much to my frustration, there was not a whole lot of Van Helsing type staking and beheading of the vile vampire going on.
The only good thing that came from Hamilton's efforts was the character she used when she wrote herself into a corner. When she let the story flow and her main character Anita, got into some deep trouble, she would call her friend, and hired gun, to enter the story to whack 'em and stack 'em with extreme prejudice. This single character fired my imagination. Here was a guy who came onto the scene, armed to the hilt, and took no prisoners. I liked the concept. But the character remained undeveloped up until her book, Bluemoon. It was only when I had enough of her jumping into bed with every wayward vampire and werewolf did I begin to think about writing my own novel.
When I thought about writing a vampire slayer work, my mind turned back to Hamilton's underdeveloped character. I asked myself one question. What would cause a man to hate the undead and their ilk so profoundly as to create a fearless warrior that rivals the great Van Helsing? It was the question that would launch me into creating my world and the character, Charles Wolfgang Edwards. read more about my world here...
Sci-fi genre
OK, I will admit it; I am a Trekkie[5] from the very first episode, and I have been hooked ever since. Over the years, have watched as what was once called “silly science fiction” became reality. The communicator has a marked resemblance to today’s cell phones. PDAs are also a common sight just like those funny little computers they carried in most old sci-fi shows/moves. The very idea of exploring the cosmos fascinates me to this day.
I could not resist trying my hand at writing a space adventure. Parabellum is my first self-published attempt in the arena. While I have written more than a few hundred short stories and scripts, I have never taken the time to write a novel, cover to cover in the Sci-fi genre. The genre has always been so overwritten and so expansive, I felt intimidated to enter it. Recently I had an idea that I thought was quasi-unique and began a soft outline that immediately steam-rolled into a full-blown sit-down-and –get-it-out-of-your-head work.
From the feedback I have so far received, I am sure the work will be well received. I hope that people take a moment to attempt to look beyond the obvious and into the depths of the plot, characters and storyline.
Fantasy genre
Blame Bilbo. It really is that simple. Tolkien’s Bilbo Baggins is the one who sparked the roaring blaze that still heats the absolute joy and love I have for the fantasy genre to this day. Taking a step into this genre was huge for me. I mean; who in their right mind would think of breaching the all hallowed Middle Earth of J.R.R. Tolkien[6]? Those are some big shoes to fill as a writer.
As a Role Playing Gamer (RPG) and Dungeon Master since TSR (bought out or merged with Wizards of the Coast?)[7] published the first editions of Dungeons and Dragons; and as a test player for GamaWorld (I am not sure that game went anywhere, I think the combat tables were far to detailed and difficult to use.) I have spent more time role playing and designing adventures for my “players” than I can possibly calculate. Given this background and having been told that I am an excellent gamer, role player, and Dungeon (Game) Master; it only seemed logical to me to take all of those thousands of hours of game time and place at least one of those adventures into written words.
Thus came my personal choice to take a leap of faith and write the fantasy adventure titled Rangers Keep. I can only hope that J.R.R. smiles down upon me from his thrown and allow me to graciously enter the genre with an exciting well written tale of fantasy adventure based in his, Middle Earth.
Self e-publishing
Once a novel is complete, the hard part starts. I chose to self e-publish. I looked at all the options and did all the math and research. What I found was ugly. Publishers are ego inflated, percentage mongering, corporate cartels that are out to screw the author in any and all ways they can. That is a strong statement. If you think am wrong, go do your own research and then come back and talk to me!
I realized that now is the age of “desktop publishing.” A person can write, create and self-publish right from their laptop or PC. Thus, I began the process of self education that included learning, html (so that building my own websites and not pay someone a small fortune to build a site I did not like.) e-marketing (which is completely different than brick and mortar marketing techniques) sales (researching how a potential buyer could quickly and easily pay for their ebook) and last, but nowhere near least, how to build a great ebook!
The adventure began when I started to self-publish under the DPebooks Compass Rose label. I created DPebooks [8] for my motivational essays written under the pen name Dread Pirate. Remember, I penned under the pen name MM but self-published first under the pen name Dread Pirate. Once I had two volumes of the Imperial Dread Sea Scrolls under my belt, I released my vampire slayer series under the umbrella of DPebooks. Over the years, I have been fortunate enough to bring together an overwhelming amount of talent that has kept DPe alive and well. Surrounding yourself with highly motivated and talented people does make a difference. It has helped me stay on the level and move ever forward into the fray. Will I ever sell 100 ebooks? I doubt it. But when I die people will say, “He planted thousands of trees, he wrote 15 books and he took care of as many children as he could…”
In conclusion,
I firmly believe in letting the reader decide for himself/herself if the story
was worth reading. As always your feedback is welcome!
E-mail:
The
Author MM
Source:
[1] Dracula's
Homepage by Dr. Elizabeth Miller
[2] Van
Helsing by Dr. Miller
[3] Anne Rice Official
website
[5] Startrek.com
[8] DPebooks.com
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