Guest Author Interview: Mark All

Please welcome today's guest author Mark All!  Mark is the author of Mystic Witch.

EJ:  When did you begin writing?

Mark:  Like most little boys, I spent a lot of time outside “playing Army” with my friends, and I’d basically ad lib our “screenplay.”  I later coaxed them into “playing House On Haunted Hill,” The Outer Limits, James Bond, etc., making up the stories as we went along.  Then in the seventh grade, my English teacher had our class write short stories.  This was my chance to more actively participate in the world of horror movies I loved.  I then began writing 007 rip-off novels, a mystery novel, and numerous horror and thriller stories, which I sent to Alfred Hitchcock’s Mystery Magazine—early experience of rejections, but encouraging ones.  Then I decided to become a rock star and writing took a back seat for a long time.

EJ:  What brought you to the paranormal genre?

Mark:   Buffy the Vampire Slayer, as I bet it did for pretty much the entire paranormal tidal wave, judging by the preponderance of “slayers” on covers.  Then my wife’s cousin’s wife introduced me to a time travel paranormal romance by Linda Howard, and I realized this was a genre where I could combine my love for horror/the supernatural, action and thriller elements, and the (hopefully) smart, hip, pop culture-informed humorous dialogue I loved in Buffy and Gilmore Girls.

EJ:  If you could be any paranormal or have any one supernatural talent, what would it be? Why?

Mark:   The ability to never need to sleep, so I could write more.   J

EJ:  Tell us why readers will enjoy your new release.

Mark:   Mystic Witch is a paranormal action thriller with a very strong romantic element and character-based humor.  My style is most like Kelley Armstrong’s Women of the Otherworld and Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan / The Hollows series, and influenced by Dean Koontz.  However, the romance is a crucial and larger part of the main storyline than in typical urban fantasies;  the emphasis on the romance vs. supernatural storyline is somewhere between urban fantasies and paranormal romances.

EJ:  If your book(s) were being made into a movie, who would you cast for the leading roles? Why?

Mark:   When I wrote Mystic Witch, I did the picture-clipping thing to visualize the main characters, Bailey Campbell and Frank Demming.  Poppy Montgomery was all over TV Guide at the time, and she has those sexy sleepy eyes.  I never watched the show, though, so I have no clue if she’d be appropriate.  If Lauren Graham could go blond and play a snarky bitch, she’d be good with the dialogue.  The actress on Haven doesn’t look like I envisioned Bailey Campbell, but she could nail the attitude.

For Frank, Alex O’Laughlin would be ideal.  Strong and handsome but sensitive, not an overbearing caveman.  Although I was kind of picturing him as the Hero of my work in progress, The Spellcaster’s Grimoire.  And he’d have to grow his hair back out to Moonlight length.

Mystic Witch by Mark All

Bailey Campbell renounced magic after a terrifying childhood incident following her father's death. But when deadly, faceless creatures pursue the snarky ex-witch, she must call on her powers again. To control the magic, however, she'll have to master the rage that's burned within her since Bern Emmerich, a vicious sorcerer, murdered her father. In the caverns beneath the house where her father died, Emmerich has escaped imprisonment in another reality to exact revenge on Bailey and unleash Hell on Earth. Bailey battles the sorcerer with the help of Frank Demming, a powerful warlock-but does Frank's disturbing confession that he's watched her for years mean he's her savior or a stalker? Bailey and Frank pursue Emmerich through the chaos and destruction he rains on Atlanta, Georgia. But can Bailey trust her heart and her life to her mysterious mentor-and resist her own dark desire for revenge that is sure to condemn her soul forever?


Thank you Mark for joining us here today at From the Shadows!

To learn more about Mark All and his books, please visit his website.