Heirs of Prophecy

Welcome to Michael Rothman's blog tour.  Michael is the author of Heirs of Prophecy. You should try to follow his tour because he's giving away a $50 Amazon gift certificate to one randomly drawn commenter.  You can find the schedule at http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2012/05/virtual-book-tour-heirs-of-prophecy-by.html

Michael, welcome to my blog. Can you tell us five things about yourself that nobody would guess?

*    I absolutely detest celery. Can't stand the stuff. If someone chomps down on a stalk of it, I can smell the aroma wafting across the room…yuck!  [I eat practically anything else, including things that might curl your toes if I ever told you.]

*    My teachers in High School would never have believed I had ever written anything more than what was assigned as a five paragraph essay, and never a creative writing project.  It probably wasn't until University (where I was pre-med) that I got my first inkling that I could string a coherent sentence together and my teachers agreed.

*    I played table tennis competitively during my university days. Okay, you can stop laughing now. It IS a sport, no really. It is even in the Olympics. Jeez, it isn't like I said I was an expert Dungeon Master (but Mike, you did that too -- shh!  don't tell them that!)

*    I can't imagine something more fun than taking my family out fishing. My two boys especially enjoy it, and I am convinced that I've at least passed on a long-term love of that activity that they will both enjoy with their own children when the time comes.

*    I never cared for cats when I was younger. I was a dog person, though my access to the warm, loving, furry creatures was limited as a young child. It wasn't until I was well on my path to being an adult did I discover cats as a viable pet and I've learned how practical they are for someone who is otherwise lazy about potty training or walking a dog. Cat's are brilliant choices, and I think they should come in pairs. Much more fun for everyone involved.

 2.Wow, I'm glad you changed your mind about cats. A lot of my readers love cats. What do you think makes a book a page turner?

 An interesting plot with proper story construction. In all seriousness, with a properly constructed story, the life and times of the penicillin bacterium can be made interesting into a page turner. The trick ends up being you need to have serious things to solve, bring the reader to an emotional involvement and when they are nearing the top of an emotional crescendo, the page ends or the chapter ends, and the reader needs to turn the page to find out what is next and how to address that uncovered issue. This of course leads to more issues that make sense and are believable.  Only at the end of the story do you let the reader go with the relief of having solved the issues, wrapped everything in a bow, and if a series, set things up with the beginning of the next cycle which only gets satisfaction by getting the next book.

3.Super answer. Which genre of books appeals least to you?  Why?

Romance. I know I won't be winning many fans with that response, but I have picked up a book or two of the genre and although I appreciate romance conceptually, and have mild threads of it running through some of my books (less so in Heirs, more of it in Tools of Prophecy, and its follow-on) - I find that the romance novels that I've read have a strong preoccupation with sex. I'll speak as an able-bodied typical male representative when I say that the idealized views of sex in romance novels are idealizations that have little resemblance to life that I can relate to in my 40's.

5.Okay, Michael, here's the challenge. Read my new book Never Trust a Pretty Wolf. It's a romance, but I think you'll like it. On the average, how long does it take you to write a book.

First draft usually is about a month for an 80,000 word novel [350-400 pages]

Several months of editing usually happen to polish things, get feedback from beta readers, and roll any feedback into the draft.

6.Would you share your links with us?

•  Michael’s http://michaelarothman.com/

•  Michael on Goodreads - http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5778499.Michael_A_Rothman

•  Follow Michael on Twitter - https://twitter.com/#!/MichaelARothman

•  Michael on Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/MichaelARothman

Readers here's a blurb and excerpt from Heirs of Prophecy.

BLURB:

The Riverton family had been enjoying a simple summer vacation when, through a fluke of nature, they found themselves in a strange new land.

 The Riverton brothers quickly realize that in this world, they have gained unusual powers. Powers that their parents fear will attract the attention of Azazel himself – the merciless wizard who brutally controls this world.

 The two brothers soon learn that an ancient prophecy has finally been initiated by their arrival in Trimoria. As the heirs of this prophecy, they are destined to lead the armies of men, dwarves, elves, and even a misfit ogre against the prophesied demon horde.

 Only one thing stands in their way.

 The evil wizard who has learned of their presence, and has sent assassins to wipe them from existence.

Excerpt:

From the final portion of Chapter 1, when the family is about to be placed in a situation they never would have expected…

 “How much farther back do these caves go?” Mom asked.

 “I have a map in my backpack,” Dad said, “but it looked like several miles. I figure we’ll spend a day or so in this cave. Then we’ll return the canoes and move on to our next stop.”

 When Ryan’s parents shared a silent stare, he could sense that his mother wasn’t pleased with the prospect of spending more than a day in this dank enclosure.

 “Come on, boys,” Dad called, breaking the tension. “Let’s try some hand fishing in the stream. I’m sure there’ll be something to catch.”

 Silver woke at the mention of fish. Ryan laughed at how eager the cat looked about the plan.

 In his backpack, Ryan found fishing line, weights, hooks, and bobbers designed for fishing with a handline. When he had gathered his supplies, he sat cross-legged in the sand and began to assemble them. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Aaron doing the same.

 Just as Ryan managed to thread a weight over his line, a deep rumbling reverberated through the cave. He stopped what he was doing and looked wide-eyed to his father. For the first time he could ever remember, Dad looked genuinely scared.

 Dread rising within him, Ryan waited for a moment to see whether the rumbling would continue. When a minute passed without further sound, he finally took a breath and got back to threading his line. But by now, his hands shook so much, he could hardly get the bobber to hold in place.

 Then, all at once, the rumble returned—this time louder and deeper than before. The earth began to shake. The walls of the cave echoed and cracked. Waves formed on the water. Large clouds of dust blew forth from the depths of the cave. Rocks tumbled down from above, crashing and rollicking in all directions. The Riverton family fell to the floor of the cave, huddling together as the world collapsed around them.

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

I am an Army brat and the first person in my family to be born in the United States. This heavily influenced my youth by instilling a love of reading and a burning curiosity about the world and all of the things within it. As an adult, my love of travel allowed me to explore many unimaginable locations. I participated in many adventures and documented them in what will be a series of books, the first of which you have just read.

Some might put these books in the Fantasy genre, and I never had issues with this label. After all, the adventures were, without any doubt in my mind, fantastic. I simply quibble with the label of “Fiction” that some might put on these tales. These tales should be viewed as historical records, more along the lines of a documentary.

I’ve learned one thing over the years. Magic is real. Keep exploring, and you too will find your magic.