As the Madness comes to a close here on Bookwraiths (The psychotropic medications are starting to take affect), I decided to take a look back at all we have learned about the series and announce the winner of that awesome giveaway.  (Yeah, I know that is the only reason most of you are reading this.)  So . . .

WHAT THE HELL!  How did you get in here?  And why are you wearing that damn robe?  

Who?  Mike?  Mike who?

Michael Fletcher!  Ahh . .. yeah, it is great to meet you.  I really wasn’t expecting you though.  Did we talk about you coming to my house in the emails?

What?  Sure, I do have have some whiskey you can drink.  It is right over there.  

So, uhh . . . you really do wear the robe around?  I just thought that was a Halloween pic or something.  

Excuse me?  Questions?  What questions?

Oh, those interview questions you emailed me.  Well, I just haven’t had the time with the holidays and all.

Huh?  Well, I guess it isn’t fair that you had to answer my questions but I haven’t answered yours.  I know you have things you want to know about the people reviewing your books.

Okay, okay.  Just talk slower.  I’m having a hard time keeping up.  

Yeah, yeah.  I do understand you aren’t signing anything until I answer your questions.   HEY, take that coaster out of your pocket.  Were you really trying to steal a coaster? 

“Am I a Doppel?”  What the hell?  No, I’m not a Doppel.  It was just part of the blog tour, dude.   

No, no, you’re right, whiskey will probably help me get through this.  Pour me a drink.  Somehow, I think I’m going to need it.

Hi Wendell, thanks for inviting me into your home for this little chat. It looks really nice in here. Is that new? It’s pretty. Hey, is it nailed down? Ok, that’s weird. Damn. This thing is nailed down too. Not complaining, but this is gonna put a crimp in my petty klepto habit. Just sayin’.

What?

Yeah it’s me, man. It’s Mike. Don’t look at me like that I’m the real Mike.

Let’s not get all caught up in who is who and why all your stuff has been nailed down.

Seriously, this little plate won’t move! What?

Oh yeah. Well, I’ve had my Doppels research you. Yeah, they do all the real work. They’re awesome. As I was saying, we’ve researched you and we have some questions.

Are you sitting comfortably?

You need another drink?

You don’t look comfortable.

You’ll feel better once we start the interview!

Michael Moorcock. Massively influential. What is his best series? Which of his books really hooked you and why? And if it’s not the Stormbringer books, best be ready to defend yourself.

Corum is my favorite. . . Shite, sit down,brother, give me a chance to explain already.  

I read The Swords Trilogy and The Chronicles of Corum when I was in middle school.  First, Moorcock sword and sorcery I ever tried.  They blew me away, turned me into a huge fan.  The mixture of magic and swords with brutal action and miserable outcomes for the heroes won me over instantly.  Eventually, I got around to reading Elric, and I did love his adventures too, but, Corum was my first love, and I’m always going to put him up at the top of my favorite Michael Moorcock list.  

And Stephen R. Donaldson! Also hugely influential on a certain hack writer. Have you read the latest Covenant books? Were they as good as the first two trilogies? And speaking of those trilogies, which was better?

I’ve read the first two books (The Runes of the Earth and Fatal Revenant).  They were okay.  Not on the same level as the first two series, in my opinion.  Good enough for me to want to read the rest of the series though.  There is just one thing holding me back from finishing: Linden Avery.  I find her horribly boring.  I mean, honestly, we’ve went from a protagonist who is a leper with a huge asshole complex to the rather jaded yet dull LINDEN AVERY?  It has not worked for me at all.

And about those first two trilogies, I prefer the first, because of the cast of characters around Covenant.  For me, Lena, Atiaran, Lord Mhoram, Saltheart Foamfollower, Bannor, High Lord Elena, Hile Troy, and the rest are too damn good to top.

Do you always wear pants when you have company? Weird.

Word is you’re also a football and basketball fan. Is that the strange American version? Is basketball the American version of cricket? What are your favourite teams, and wouldn’t basketball be more interesting if we made it full contact? What if they could tackle each other?

Uh, yeah, I prefer American football, though I do have a son who prefers soccer (as we Yanks call ‘real’ football) so I’m gradually learning more about that.  As can be expected, my favorite pro team is the Atlanta Falcons, while my favorite college team is the University of Georgia Bulldogs.  “Goooooo… Dawgs! Sic ‘Em! Woof! Woof! Woof!”  I know, it doesn’t translate well.  It’s a southern thing, I guess.

As for basketball, I grew up playing the game, going to basketball camps during the summer, and actually starting on my high school team.  I was one of those kids who “Wanted to be like Mike” from back in the day.  NBA being what it is my favorite teams change as the players move around (though I always cheer on my Atlanta Hawks through good and bad times).  For years, Larry Bird and the Boston Celtics were my favs, then it changed to Isiah Thomas and the Bad Boy Detroit Pistons, then Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls, then Shaq/Kobe and the LA Lakes, and now I tend to cheer for the Golden State Warriors because my oldest son, who is into basketball even more than I was growing up, is always watching them on tv.  And, yeah, they do need to wear pads now, since basketball is a full contact sport. 

Two part question: What is the greatest fantasy movie ever made? What is the greatest fantasy movie that no one has heard of?

The Lord of the Rings trilogy, hands down.  You just can’t praise Peter Jackson enough for taking Tolkien’s saga and bringing it to life.  He did such an amazing job it makes up for how bad The Hobbit trilogy was. 

Greatest fantasy movie no one has ever heard of . . . Huh, tough one, since obviously, I have to have heard of it.  Dragonslayer (1981) would be my pick.  Most people I know have never heard of it, and it is a really cool film, filled with laughs, bumbling wizards, a dragon (of course), and an unlikely hero.  Great fun.

Manimal, or The Fall Guy and why?

Fall Guy.  Three simple reason.  One, the truck.  Loved that damn thing.  Wanted one for myself.  Two, Heather Thomas.  Loved her, thought she was smoking hot.  Wanted her for myself.  Three, things went BOOM! all the time.  When I was a hormonal teen, I could not resist cool trucks, hot girls, and shit being blown up.  Good times.  Wish I could go back and relive them. 

More seriously, The Greatest American Hero. Was that the best show ever or what?

The original series was a great one, but the reboot left me cold though.  One series I wish had been picked up back in the 80s was The Archer.  This corny Conan-esque made for tv movie still lingers in my memory all these years later.

If you could time travel, which way would you go (to the past or to the future) and what would you do once you got there. Would you murder little baby Hitler, or get next weeks mega-lottery results?

Okay, I’m going to assume I only have one round trip into time, so if that is the case, I’m getting next weeks mega-lottery results.  Lets be honest here: I’m no superhero, so if I go back in time to stop a monster like Hitler or to tell people what is going to happen in the future chances are I’m going to fail to accomplish anything.  With that in mind, if I win the lottery, I can take care of my family and use a large portion to help other people through a charity foundation or paying medical bills or something.  Plus, I could buy a hell of a lot of Michael Fletcher books and give them away in Bookwraiths giveaways.

I was looking at your review policy and noted that you rate books on a one to five scale. That seems kind of random. Wouldn’t a more granular scale work better? What if you rated books from one to one thousand? Then you could really get into a book’s rating. Like, this book is definitely a 776. It’s a little better than that other book that was only a 774. Just a thought.

OMG, I never thought of it that way.  I mean, with a 1-1000 scale, I’d have enough room to really differentiate between books I hate, books I like a little, and so forth and so on.  I’m going to start experimenting with this new scale on my next review — which just happens to be The Mirror’s Truth.  What luck!

What are you guys having for dinner tonight? Can I stay?

Sure, brother, we need to go out and get some food to go with all this whiskey we’ve been drinking, after all.  Hell, I even have a blowup mattress if you want to crash for the night later on.

Decent answers . . . for a Doppel.  But since you’ve given me whiskey I won’t mention it to anyone.  So who won the giveaway?  I have to start signing and personalizing and drooling all over these books.  

Congratulations to Tammy over at Books Bones & Buffy!  The email notification is on its way.  Hope you enjoy Manifest Delusions as much as we Doppels have!

AUTHOR BIO

Michael R. Fletcher lives in the endless suburban sprawl north of Toronto with his wife and daughter. He dreams of trees and someday once again being able to see the stars at night. He used to do sound for bands in dark clubs where the air was blue with cigarette smoke. He used to record bands in dank basements where things crawled across your feet and swam in your coffee. For a while he was a Project Manager. Now he writes books. Next he wants to be a either race car driver or a ninja.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFletcher

Twitter: https://twitter.com/FletcherMR

Site: http://michaelrfletcher.com/

John Anthony Di Giovanni: http://www.jadillustrated.com/

Check Out All the Manifest Delusion Madness

Book Spotlight

Bookwraiths’ Favorite Geisteskranken

Michael Fletcher’s Favorite Geisteskranken

Guest Post: Evolution of A Fantasy Cover

Michael Fletcher Interview

Purchase the books at Amazon