Continuing with the Poe theme, I would like to welcome Poe's Mother author Michael Meeske to the Cerebral Writer today. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Lisa, it’s a pleasure to be here. I’m happy to tell you about the inspiration for Poe’s Mother.
It seems the world has gone slightly mad for Poe, with the release of our books about the great American master of mystery and horror and the new movie, The Raven. Poe has always held a fascination for me and many other writers, regardless of genre.
My interest in Poe, and thus the impetus for Poe’s Mother, began at an early age. I’ve talked about this a bit on my own blog on Goodreads, but I’ll go more in depth for your readers. I care a great deal about this novel, which was the third that I wrote – it’s my most personal and intimate work.
I grew up in Coffeyville, Kansas, a small town in the southeastern corner of the state. As a kid, I was a voracious reader. I tended to gravitate toward science fiction and adventure stories in elementary school. When I was seven I became a member of the Science Fiction Book Club of America and read, or in a few cases attempted to read, some of the great masters of science fiction – Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. I also read Conan Doyle and Wells – they were much easier on my brain than some of the contemporary science fiction authors I had chosen. Poe was also on my list, so when I got the chance to order Ten Great Mysteries for 35 cents through the Scholastic Library Edition, I jumped. I still have the book, with its eerie green and yellow psychedelic portrait of a young, sinister looking Poe. I couldn’t wait for my Scholastic book orders to come – as I recall they were delivered to my school.
It seems the world has gone slightly mad for Poe, with the release of our books about the great American master of mystery and horror and the new movie, The Raven. Poe has always held a fascination for me and many other writers, regardless of genre.
My interest in Poe, and thus the impetus for Poe’s Mother, began at an early age. I’ve talked about this a bit on my own blog on Goodreads, but I’ll go more in depth for your readers. I care a great deal about this novel, which was the third that I wrote – it’s my most personal and intimate work.
I grew up in Coffeyville, Kansas, a small town in the southeastern corner of the state. As a kid, I was a voracious reader. I tended to gravitate toward science fiction and adventure stories in elementary school. When I was seven I became a member of the Science Fiction Book Club of America and read, or in a few cases attempted to read, some of the great masters of science fiction – Heinlein, Asimov and Clarke. I also read Conan Doyle and Wells – they were much easier on my brain than some of the contemporary science fiction authors I had chosen. Poe was also on my list, so when I got the chance to order Ten Great Mysteries for 35 cents through the Scholastic Library Edition, I jumped. I still have the book, with its eerie green and yellow psychedelic portrait of a young, sinister looking Poe. I couldn’t wait for my Scholastic book orders to come – as I recall they were delivered to my school.
As sometimes happens with food, my eyes were bigger than my brain in this case. My 10-year-old mind was unprepared to wrap itself around some of the more complicated language and verbiage used by Poe. For example, in the third paragraph of The Tell-Tale Heart, Poe uses the word “dissimulation.” That zinger joined other words sprinkled about such as maelstrom, ossification and Sexagesima Sunday which halted my reading enjoyment. So, what did I do? I asked my mother to read a few stories to me. She complied on one infernally hot summer afternoon. That memory somehow stuck with me like a superbly drafted oil painting. I can still see her sitting in a gold chair silhouetted against opaque white curtains trimmed with black Japanese design. That loving moment of sharing turned into Poe’s Mother. My mother wasn’t reading The Wind in the Willows or a Hardy Boys mystery to me. She was reading Poe. Years later I asked myself what would happen if a family took Poe’s writings as their own form of gospel. What strange habits would they form? For the record, the outcome – my novel – had nothing whatsoever to do with that living room in Kansas so long ago.
From those questions arose Sissy Baxter and Madeline Poe, the two first-person narrators of the novel. Sissy is 15 and lives, along with her brother, Riven, in a small town called Nodoline. The Poes are the wealthiest of the other residents in Nodoline and have their own sullied reputation. Through the Poes, Sissy enters a world of dark secrets that spills into madness. Despite Sissy’s age, the book is not for young adults. I use the word “startling” in my trailer to describe the novel. I think that’s a fair assessment; it’s hard to “startle” these days, but I think Poe’s Mother does just that.
I hope your readers will pick up a FREE copy, exclusively on Kindle, from Friday, April 27th through Monday May 1st, as part of my Poe Weekend promotion. It’s my gift to them.
Thanks for having me, Lisa.
It's my pleasure, Michael. Poe's Mother looks like a fascinating book, and you can bet it's on my "to be read" list.
From those questions arose Sissy Baxter and Madeline Poe, the two first-person narrators of the novel. Sissy is 15 and lives, along with her brother, Riven, in a small town called Nodoline. The Poes are the wealthiest of the other residents in Nodoline and have their own sullied reputation. Through the Poes, Sissy enters a world of dark secrets that spills into madness. Despite Sissy’s age, the book is not for young adults. I use the word “startling” in my trailer to describe the novel. I think that’s a fair assessment; it’s hard to “startle” these days, but I think Poe’s Mother does just that.
I hope your readers will pick up a FREE copy, exclusively on Kindle, from Friday, April 27th through Monday May 1st, as part of my Poe Weekend promotion. It’s my gift to them.
Thanks for having me, Lisa.
It's my pleasure, Michael. Poe's Mother looks like a fascinating book, and you can bet it's on my "to be read" list.
| About the author: Michael Meeske writes across genres, including romance, mystery, suspense, horror and gothic fiction, a genre that blends horror and romance, and has its roots in some of the earliest novels ever written. Poe’s Mother is his latest release available exclusively on Amazon. com. From 2008 to 2010, he served as Vice President of Florida Romance Writers (FRW). He has been a member of FRW and the Romance Writers of America since 2002. He also was an active member of the Writers’ Room of Boston, a non-profit working space for novelists, poets and playwrights. Michael’s writing credits include Frankenstein’s Daemon, a sequel to Frankenstein, offered through Usher Books. He also is the co-author of His Weekend Proposal, a tender category romance published in August 2009 by The Wild Rose Press under the pen name of Alexa Grayson (soon to be published in Greece); Zombieville, a short story included in a 2011 anthology by FRW writers, available at Amazon.com, and Tears, a short-story published in the Fall 2000 issue of Space & Time, a magazine of fantasy and science fiction. Usher Books will publish additional works by Michael in 2012 and 2013. | |
Some of his influences are Edgar Allan Poe, H.P. Lovecraft, Shirley Jackson, Oscar Wilde, Daphne du Maurier, Richard Matheson, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and any work by the exquisite Brontë sisters. You can contact Michael at michaelmeeske@live.com.
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