AFTER RESONANCE with AUTHOR MELISSA MCPHAIL

Author Bio: MELISSA MCPHAIL is a classically trained pianist, violinist and composer, a Vinyasa yoga instructor, and an avid fantasy reader. A long-time student of philosophy, she is passionate about the Fantasy genre because of its inherent philosophical explorations. Her work reflects an understanding of human motivations, and adventures into the age-old question of good versus evil as modified by context, viewpoint and time.

Ms. McPhail lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband, their twin daughters, and two very large cats.

CEPHRAEL'S HAND is the award-winning first book in her series, "A Pattern of Shadow & Light."

M.M.:  Thank you so much, Andre.  It was a great honor to explore these thoughtful questions.

1.  Would you share several societal, cultural, or "random" influences from when you were growing up, that have made you into who you essentially are today?

M.M.:  It's such an interesting question to look at the experiences that we believe have defined and shaped us and try to determine if we would be different without them.  My love of Fantasy started with The Chronicles of Narnia, when my grandmother read the series to me as a child.  The idea that magic might be all around us, that we might find talking animals and nymphs living in the trees if we but look for them--this is what I took away most from those stories.  This idea is more valuable than one might think on first glance.  Our lives are only as beautiful as we conceive them to be.

AFTER RESONANCE with AUTHOR R.P. KRAUL

Author Bio:  R.P. KRAUL (@Rpkraul) was born in Pennslyvania in the late sixties, when the last fumes of the Vietnam War were still present.  He distinctly remembers bandanas, kerchiefs, glow-in-the-dark monster models, and Cadillacs the size of cruise ships.

As a teenager, he began writing horror stories based mostly on the vast array of horror films he’d seen.  Additionally, he took interest in both Edgar Allen Poe and H.P. Lovecraft, both of whom became influences.  

It was at this time that MIRRORS OF ANGUISH first started taking form.  At the time, however, the story was called THE DUNKIRK HORROR.  He later changed the name when he realized readers closely associated “Dunkirk” with the seaport in France.  He has nothing against France, but the ubiquitous question fatigued him.  Just for the record--and to clear any ambiguity--Belcorte,  the town in which Mirrors is set,  is not in France.  If there is a Belcorte in France, or for that matter, Europe, it is purely by mistake.

He frequently locks himself in his dark, clandestine laboratory, (read: converted pantry.  He comes out of this lair only to use the restroom, check for the Apocalypse, and fetch more Belgian beer (though Belcorte is not in Belgium, either).  Occasionally his wife takes pity on him and slides a piece of toast under the door.  He likes toast.   Mostly, he listens to operatic death metal, contemplates the meaning of life, and creates the dark characters who inhabit your nightmares.