Interview: Author of Awoken, Timothy Miller

Today we have author Timothy Miller on the blog. Timothy releases his debut novel Awoken though Spencer Hill Press in August! Enjoy the interview and leave a comment for Timothy below :)

The author: Timothy Miller 

I grew up in the Green Bay, Wisconsin area. I attended the public school system and left school before graduating, later obtaining my high school equivalency diploma. I worked several jobs including a dairy farmhand, a bouncer, a factory worker, and baker before finally landing a position as a repair technician for the telephone company at nineteen. I've worked there ever since, traveling often to storm-damaged parts of the country to restore telephone and internet services to customers.

Writing:

I tinkered with writing in high school before life got in the way. I didn't get back into it until 2005 while I was working hurricane relief in New Orleans after Katrina. I was writing letters home to my children when one day my oldest daughter mentioned she found an old story of mine from high school. It was just the beginning of the story, but she liked it so much I started adding a few more pages to it with every letter I sent home. I developed a severe case of writer's cramp over the next three months, bought a computer, learned to type, and I have been writing ever since.

The Book: Awoken - Releases August 2013

Have you ever had one of those dreams where you think you've woken up, but you really haven't? I had one of those dreams when I was about fourteen; I was napping on the living room couch and when I opened my eyes I saw a small pale creature crouched on the floor. The creature looked at me and smiled a mouthful of fangs. I'll be honest - it scared the crap out of me. When I woke up for real, I decided to write a little story about them. Shazam! Awoken was born.


Blurb:

Fourteen-year-old Michael Stevens has never been ordinary; no orphan who hears music coming from rocks considers himself a typical teenager. But life gets a lot more complicated when two-foot-tall, albino, doll-like men sneak into his room one night, transforming the harmless music into a frightening ability he cannot control.

Soon, strangers in black suits begin to ask unsettling questions while unnatural animals with mismatched eyes haunt the streets. They are hunting, and not just Michael: anyone he cares about is in danger.

With the help of a mysterious drifter, an annoying girl he's accidentally mutated, and one of those creepy doll men, Michael finds himself in the middle of a war that could forever change the world he knows - reconstructing the very definition of humanity

 

Add to Goodreads

Can you describe your protangnist Micheal?

In many ways, Michael is an introvert with many of the same problems any other fourteen-year-old American boy faces every day. He is a dreamer, the boy apart. An orphan, he has developed an acute sense of self-reliance and also sees the world through a child's black-and-white prism of good and evil. Michael was unique before ever the monsters found him. He is what heroes are made of ... and perhaps the better villains. 

If you could encourage readers to pick up your book in August when it is released, what would you say?

If you're interested in secret worlds, unusual monsters, action, and mystery, then pick up a copy of my new book, Awoken. It's a page-turner guaranteed to satisfy your appetite for young adult fantasy!

Bookie Questions:

Favourite genre and why?

I like a wide variety of genres, but I would have to say heroic fantasy. Unlike most genres, heroic fantasy tends to keep the lines between good and evil fairly well separated. I'd say complex characters are great, but as a rule I like my "bad" guys bad and my "good" guys good.

Favourite YA author and why?

I would have to say David Eddings is my favorite young adult author. I would say in part because I experienced his writing at such an early age and also because his Belgariad books were my first introduction to a "series" storyline.

Debut author/ upcoming author we should check out? 
I finished an ARC for Touch of Death by Kelly Hashway which came out in January, 2013. This is an author who has issues - in a good way. Her characters are emotionally rich and her plot is fast-paced and interesting. I look forward to reading her next book, Stalked by Death, due to come out July, 2013.

Favourite 2012 read and why?

I just got around to reading Towers of Midnight by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson. I have been following this series forever and was as disappointed as everyone in the fantasy community at Robert's passing. Still, Brandon seems to be doing a great job tying up loose ends and moving toward a final conclusion in a series.

A book series you love and why?

As I said before, David Eddings. His first series, The Belgariad, more than his other work, though I did like the The Malloreon and The Elenium. I felt like David fell a little too in love with his characters in his latter books. Sometimes I think we as authors forget that it is okay for a protagonist or beloved side character to take the swan's pass in the interest of the story. I, for one, enjoy a book in which I don't know exactly who is going to come out of it in one piece.

　

PRE-ORDER AWOKEN

.