Welcome Suki Michelle & Carlyle Clark!
Thank you, Unputdownablebooks, for giving us the chance to share a little bit of ourselves and our creation. You are a SPIKIN’ AMAZING girl, and we wish you everything wonderful that the universe (and all its alternate realities) has to offer.
BRIEF BIO:
Suki Michelle is a life-long Chicagoan. She lives and writes with her soul mate, Carlyle Clark. She has one beautiful daughter, Bree, the first reader and tough critic of The Apocalypse Gene. Carlyle is a burly dude from San Diego. By day, Suki owns a Medical Transcription company and Carlyle is the assistant director of security for an international company. On the outside, Suki and Carlyle seem totally different. On the inside, they are the REAL Neo-Twins. You’ll have to read The Apocalypse Gene to find out who the Neo-Twins are, but here’s a hint: They are twisted devils with mirror-melded auras.
1. What was the inspiration behind The Apocalypse Gene?
Suki: I have a vivid imagination and a low tolerance for boredom. During a particularly tiresome day typing medical reports, I asked myself - What if there was a pandemic and the cure was beyond the reach of medical science and into the hands of mystics? (Naj's Note: Haha, I share the same tolerance for boredom)
Carlyle: What Suki said.
2. Ever had writer's block while writing it? If so, how'd you get over it?
Carlyle: I never get writer's block because I use the “spray and pray” technique knowing it’s fine to do as many revisions as it takes (number in the millions). (Naj's Note: Revisions are good then. I always thought its a bad sign that I'm a bad writer. -.- )
Suki: I live with perpetual writer’s block. I stare at a blank screen, poke at the keys, rewrite a sentence seven-hundred times before powering down and going to bed pissed off. Then I wake up at three a.m., trip over the dog, limp to my computer and bang out a scene. (Naj's Note: Poor doggie!)
3. What was the best book you ever read?
Suki: Tough question. I’ll say The Poisonwood Bible. I’ve always wanted to be Barbara Kingsolver when I grow up.
Carlyle: Deadwood by Pete Dexter. It's literary fiction set in the American West and the "voices" he gives the characters and the West itself make it feel very other. The people were the same but also different than we are now.
4. How many times do you go back and rewrite a plot?
Suki: Countless. Every time a character sticks out a fictional tongue, refuses to behave as instructed, and makes me change everything.
Carlyle: As often as it takes until everything makes sense. I can't say an exact number because I don't just power through to the end. I am constantly rewriting the plot as well as every other aspect
5. Paperback or hardback? Why?
Hardback for prettiness on the shelf, paperback for frugality.
6. Who is your most favorite character and why?
Suki: Louis from Interview with the Vampire, my first exposure to an immortal with deep morality in the face of insatiable hunger. While I’m at it, I have to say in the movie version, Louis in the form of Brad Pitt was astonishingly gorgeous. (Naj's Note: I concur)
Carlyle: Cletus Purcel from James Lee Burke's Dave Robiceaux series because I smile whenever he appears knowing that some well-meaning mayhem is sure to follow.
7. What is your weakness? Books, Food, etc.
Suki: I love ALL foods as long as they’re chocolate.
Carlyle: Fried food and laziness. (Naj's Note: Fried Food is bad, and oh so gooood)
8. State 5 random facts about yourselves (10 facts total).
Suki:
1) I’m a people-person with a low tolerance for people (a frustrating irony).
2) Cashiers, waitresses and toll booth clerks find it impossible not to tell me their life story. (Naj's Note: Hahahahahahahahahaha)
3) My super power is asking a question about a TV show and having it be answered precisely one second later IN THE SHOW - an uncanny yet completely useless skill.
4) I suffer from odd-number phobia (notice this is #4?).
5) Half the time I have no idea what I’m doing. The other half, I’m trying to undo what I did when I didn’t know what I was doing.
Carlyle:
1) I am one of the few people in the world who was literally paid to watch concrete dry. (Naj's Note: O.O Amazing)
2) I caught the Lake record bluegill at Poway Lake but they refused to post my name on the wall and I didn’t insist because I was supposed to have been in school at the time.
3) A bed once collapsed under my weight alone, well after Suki left it, proving that I can defy physics by weighing more by myself than I do with another adult.
4) I didn’t do it (no matter what the video shows).
5) I actually think I’m funny. (Naj's Note: I think you're funny. :DDD)
9. What are you currently reading?
Suki: Under Heaven” by Guy Gavriel Kay, and listening to “Middlesex” by Jeffrey Euginides – both BRILLIANT.
Carlyle: The Towers of Midnight by Jordan & Sandersen + Provinces of Night by William Gay. Been reading The Wheel of Time since high school and Saandersen has brought it back up to its original form. Gay's dialogue, characterization, and metaphors are genius.
10. You run into a bookstore, where do you go first?
Suki: To the horror section. Unfortunately, the older I get, the less tolerance I have for the really scary stuff.
Carlyle: Straight to fantasy, in bookstores and in life.
11. Your favorite Genre?
Suki: Anything character- driven from speculative fiction to high-brow literary.
Carlyle: Epic Fantasy –battles, twisted politics, interpersonal-conflict, and a bit of romance .
12. How many books in a month do you tend to read?
Suki: I’d read all day if my day-job didn’t drain my focus - probably two.
Carlyle: I read nonstop wherever and whenever I can. I knock out about four books a month.
13. What particular place do you write in?
At home. We love being with each other and our furry pack of four-leggeds. We’re reclusive by nature. Sometimes it takes grease and a shoehorn to get us out of the house.
14. Your favorite reading place?
In bed with our dog at our feet and cats on our bellies.
15. Here’s your chance to market the book. Describe 'The Apocalypse Gene' and why readers should pick it up?
The Apocalypse Gene takes place in the near future during a time of global pandemic. Olivya, a highly sensitive psychic with aura-sight, lives in Hospice Row with her mother, cares for the dying, and attends virtual school. Being “sighted” in such dire circumstances is too much to take, and she tries hard to suppress her talent.
In V-school, she meets the gorgeous, charismatic Mikah, an elite Empath in a clan of demon hybrids, The Kindred. Mikah tells Olivya that the Kindred are linked to the pandemic, but without initiation, he is barred from learning their truths. When Olivya’s mother falls ill, Olivya and Mikah embark on a quest to uncover Kindred secrets and soon discover that the pandemic is far more than a mere disease.
You should read it because the story, setting, and characters are unique - no vampires or werewolves, witches or fairies, and no love triangles, but an assortment of monsters and immortals you’ve never seen before, a strange paranormal romance, and funny dialogue. We wrote each scene vividly, intending that someday it will make a very cool 3D movie. It’s about believing in yourself, embracing your talents, and the power of love in the face of impossible odds.
The book will be available for purchase on 10/17/2011. Go the www.theapocalypsegene.com, Amazon, Barnes & Nobel, and Parker-Publishing for ordering information. You can also find us at:
Bloggers Note: Thank you Carlyle and Suki for spicing up my blog, with your awesome answers! They literally made me, and my sister laugh out loud. You guys rock! *sends you virtual cake and cookies*
Want to Read a review of the book? Click here: http://www.forewordreviews.com/reviews/the-apocalypse-gene/
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Hi Naj! Thanks for posting this. Re-reading it gave me a giggle or two. We're not insane! Okay - maybe just a li'l.
ReplyDelete<3 ! !
Suki