Interview with Michael Ross, author of Twenty-Four Short Stories

Today we welcome author Michael Ross to the blog. He shares with us all you could possibly want to know about him and his new book Twenty-Four Short Stories. But if there is more you want to know, please feel free to ask in the comments section here and as you follow the tour. You also get an excerpt and a great giveaway!

Why can time consumed reliving memories provide enough motivation to carry on? Why keep a diary if you don’t want people to read it? Why let prejudice cloud your judgement? Why do the most simple of smells bring memories back to life? Why is it possible to believe the impossible? What does it feel like to take another person’s life? Will the good deeds we do come back to us in different forms?

These are of some of the questions posed in this imaginative collection of short stories involving, amongst others; a private detective with super powers, a loveable car salesman, a dour public health inspector, a vicar’s daughter with a dark secret, a sculptor with a destructive obsession, a young man with a passion for language, a reluctant public executioner, two sisters whose petty disputes hide something deeper, a job hunter with an unusual skill.

There are so many diverse characters and in this intriguing and imaginative collection of stories everyone has a tale to tell.

A collection of stories that will surely leave its mark on the reader.

Read an excerpt:

From my window, I spot my fellow students grouped in excited conversation, circling around, probing each other with thoughts and words, questions and answers. After two years, we know each other well. I know they all wish they could play the violin as well as me, and in my turn, I wish I could be as happy as them. I wind down by running through scales for twenty minutes, and then I hear the old grandfather clock in the hall strike eleven—my other life beckons.

In Chinatown, it is easy to find a restaurant where you can spend £100 a head on a meal. At my parent’s place, six people can eat like kings for less money. 

The walk from the rehearsal rooms takes the best part of an hour. I cast aside my musical mantle as I walk, so that by the time I reach Uncle Wong’s, I am prepared for my twice-weekly four-hour shift. This is the only payment my father and mother have ever asked of me. It is nothing.

Two years ago, my parents ushered me into the tiny lounge area above their restaurant, and wordlessly, my mother passed me my gift. My eyes moved to my father and then back to my mother. I could not speak. It was beautiful. Feeling its dark ebony grain, I turned it tentatively through my fingers, tilting, and twisting—gazing, unsure of my breath.

“Baba. Mamma. It’s beautiful, but you cannot afford it.”

“Shush, my son.” The look on my mother’s face said that my joy was all they required.

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Will we see these characters again? All my novels have evolved, somewhere along the line, from a short story. So who knows?

What do you hope people will get out of your book? I do not expect people to love every one of the 24 stories, but I hope they appreciate the variety within styles and genres – and enjoy the writing, of course.

How do you make yourself stand out in this genre? Linked to the above answer. Most anthologies seem to plough the same furrow; in this collection no two stories are alike. Oh and well written!

Tell us about your other published works. The Pin-up and Tanner thriller series – Hand Over Fist and Hand in Glove are well established with a third in the series to come out before the end of the year. Chasing What’s Already Gone is a 5***** reviewed rom com, and Words on Paper is a love story with some hard edges which comes out next month

On what are you currently working? Hand on Heart the latest Pin-up and Tanner thriller. Only a third of the way through but I am excited about what has gone from pen to paper at the moment.

What does your upcoming release schedule look like? 24 Short Stories In May,  Words on Paper in June and Hand on Heart, hopefully in November.

What is your writing routine? No routine. I wait for the mood to take me. I am just as likely to go a few weeks without writing and then put in a run of fourteen hour days

What is the best writing advice you ever received? Never throw anything away. Countless times I have stumbled across scenes or ideas that did not work within one story that adapted well in a different environment.

What is your favorite part about writing? The challenge of creating something out of nothing

What is your least favorite part about writing? Marketing YUK!YUK! YUK!

What are you currently reading? Up next on your TBR? Where the Crawdad Sings.   A Tale of Two Cities.

What book and/or author changed your life? Rock Wagram by William Sarayon

If you could have any superpower, what would it be? Empathy – the greatest super power of  all!

What would you do if you won the lottery? Try and find out how, when I never bought a ticket.

Thank you for the opportunity to expose myself.  Ha! 

Best wishes, Mike

Born and raised in Bristol, England. I spent my adult life in business, the majority of that time marketing cars. I eventually owned the largest Saab specialist in the world, before a divorce put an end to that part of my life.

This led me to leave Bristol to live halfway up a mountain in the Welsh Valleys; start a part-time six year English Literature course at Bristol University, and attend creative writing classes in Cardiff. My interest in English literature flourished and I have since won several prizes for my short stories. My first book, ‘Twenty Short Stories – Settling a score,” reached No 1 in the Short Stories Best Sellers and is still available, as is “Twenty-One (more) Short Stories,” and “Another Twenty-Two Short Stories.”

Also available are the first 5***** crime thrillers in the Tanner and Pin-up series:

Hand over Fist

Hand in Glove

Plus a 5***** light hearted rom-com “Chasing What’s Already Gone.”

I still live very happily halfway up that mountain in the Welsh Valleys with my wonderful partner, Mari, and our two rescue dogs, Wavy and Wenna.

Website       http://michaelrosswriter.net/

Facebook    www.facebook.com/michaelross.writer

Twitter         https://twitter.com/mikerosswriter

Email          mikerosswriter@outlook.com

Michael Ross will be awarding a $25 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway