Secrets the Walkers Keep (Author Interview)




Secrets the Walkers Keep looks like a great urban fantasy. How far along is book two?

The next book in the series, currently titled “Inside the Imperium Files” is slated to launch in October 2019.  Secrets The Walkers Keep is the first in a planned eleven book series.

In the meantime, I’m publishing a series of short stories.  One will launch in-between each of the novels, and they focus on non-Walker characters in the series.  Currently available for email subscribers is Chaos Theory, which follows Cooper Ambrose as he fights to contain his powers and save a young Caster from destruction.


What do you think makes a fantasy book?

There’s probably a good definition of this somewhere, but for me, fantasy is building a story that isn’t real in a way that the reader gets so deep in it that they feel it could be real.


What inspired you when writing Secrets the Walkers Keep?

My family, first of all.  The main character, Hat Walker, has a lot (no really…a LOT) of family.  Every family member in his life is modeled somewhat off of one in my own life, even if names were changed to protect the ridiculous.

Music was also, and continues to be, a huge inspiration for me.  You see it in the writing, with several characters who have musical abilities, and several scenes with a musical backdrop.


What are your ambitions for your writing career?  Full time?  Part time?

In a perfect world, I’d have the option to do nothing but write.  Whether or not I’d choose to do it full-time is still in question.  I like to be busy, and busy with a variety of things, so I don’t know if I’ll ever be happy only writing.


When did you decide to become a writer?

I started writing young…like in grade school.  But I don’t know that I’ve ever consciously made a decision to become a writer.  It’s just something I am.  It was probably eight or ten years ago when I decided that I wanted to write “officially,” meaning working toward publishing a book.

When writing Secrets the Walkers Keep did anything stand out as particularly challenging?

There are an insane number of characters in the book, each of whom come with a unique background and set of ambitions.  They lead to a web of complex story lines – some that are clearly visible in this book, some that will become more prominent in future books.  Keeping that all straight, and correct, was certainly a challenge.

The other thing that was personally challenging was writing some of the Hat Walker’s history.  (Minor spoiler alert).  Hat is faced with a really dark demon from his past, one who abuses him and sets off years of effects that he has mostly ignored until this book.  The situation that is revisited from this abuse is unpleasant and uncomfortable.  It’s hard to sit in that dark place and write this, even though it was essential to the character.


How did you come up with the story in Secrets the Walkers Keep?

I can’t say there was one defining moment for the story – different pieces had been floating in my head for a long time.  But, I do remember when I was working late at my second job once when the vision for one of the characters’ powers (who, oddly enough, is not a main character) popped into my head.  I started the first draft of the book shortly after that.


What do you like to do when not writing?

Friends and family are a huge part of my life, and with them I try to gather up as many life experiences as possible.  I’m also pretty heavily into music, and Modern Arnis – which is a Filipino martial art focusing on self-defense.


How can readers discover more about you and your work?


Visit my website at www.jmorganmichaels.com or follow me on Instagram:  www.instagram.com/jmorganmichaels/

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