Recently I spent a little over a week touring around Romania, including Transylvania and Moldova. The contrast between the old and newer Romania was fascinating. In any of the small towns, you would come across the older women in their long dresses and head scarves looking as depicted in movies. But if you looked closer, they were wearing Nike sneakers and coming out of homes with sattelite dishes.

During my trip, I saw beautiful castles (including Bran Castle, also called Dravula's...

Katie Salidas was kind enough to interview me for her site. She's also a budding author herself. You can check it out at
http://myimmortalstories.blogspot.co...-michaels.html

Denise Verrico was kind enough to interview me for her site. She is also hosting a giveaway of one copy of Midnight Reflections (signed). The giveaway ends on March 7. See this link for more details.

http://deniseverricowriter.webs.com/...aels-interview

I'm not sure why, but it's much easier for me to write a graphic death scene compared to a sex scene. Not sure what they says about me, but I find it easier to describe someone being disemboweled than when I try to even write a tender kiss. I guess it's lucky for me that my books are more filled with gruesome death instead of sex.

A few people have asked if there is any meaning to the names I give my characters. Generally no. But there is one exception. When I was in college, I found a stray grey tabby cat and adopted him. He was three feet long from his head to the tip of his tail and around 20 pounds but not overweight. Basically, he was just a big cat who looked like a small mountain lion. And he was a great cat who always greeted each person who came into the house. If you ever couldn't find him, the rule was...