Author Interview with Misha Gerrick

“First, do no harm.” Blake Ryan swore that oath to become a doctor. Ironic, given that he spent most of his thousand year life sucking souls out of other immortals. 

Things are different now. Using regular shots of morphine to keep his inner monster at bay, Ryan has led a quiet life since the Second World War. His thrills now come from saving lives, not taking them.

Until a plane crash brings Aleria into his hospital. Her life is vibrant. Crack to predators like him. She’s the exact sort of person they would hunt, and thanks to a severe case of amnesia, she’s all but defenseless.

Leaving Aleria vulnerable isn’t an option, but protecting her means unleashing his own inner monster. Which is a problem, because his inner monster wants her dead most of all.

What inspired you to write Endless?

Endless was actually a build up of little inspirations. It started off one day when one of my best friends and her sister came to visit. My best friend had just read the Twilight series by Stephanie Meyer. (This was before it was popular to hate on it.) So she picked up Eclipse that happened to be on my bedside table and read from it, wanting to share one of the passages with her sister.

I listened to it and a thought came to me that it would be cool to write about an immortal suffering from amnesia, but left it at that.

More than two years later, I was marathoning a computer game called Assassin’s Creed with a friend, and another random thought struck me. What if there were two different kinds of immortals and two characters from these kinds fell in love?

That turned out to be my ah ha moment that led to me writing Endless.

Endless involves amnesia. What was your research process like and how long did it take you to write it?

I have to admit that I tend not to be someone who spends hours before the time researching everything before I start writing. So my research went more along the lines of:

“Hmm… I want this to happen in the story. Would that be realistic? *research* Okay. *write.*

Sometimes I got some things wrong, but I had some awesome CPs that helped me fix them.

Endless was really fast to write. I rough drafted it (by hand) in fifteen days. Two years later, I rewrote it to my computer in something like three weeks. So it took two years if you count the break I took for it (due to my other writing projects, not anything inherent to the story itself.)  

What are some of your favorite books? Were there any specific authors who influenced you?

I’m an eclectic reader, so I couldn’t possibly say who influenced me. Unless you count my grandmother. She influenced me by example.

As for my favorite books… I really can’t say I have any. Although I recently read The Lunar Chronicles and loved them.

The path to publication varies from author to author. Every author has a unique story and one that other authors can learn from. Can you tell us a little bit about your path to publication or do you have any advice for new authors?

I started out as a firm believer in the traditional publishing route, and became serious about writing just as the twilight of the traditional industry got started. Still, I stuck it out and got a publisher for my first book. (Which turned into two books.)

It didn’t go well. My lawyer suggested that I refrain from going into details, but let’s just say that the experience was terrible enough that I became disillusioned with trade publishing and took a hard look at the industry’s business model.

As someone with a business degree, it made me wonder if I wouldn’t be better off going it alone with the books I had had signed before. (I got the rights back.)

I did.

So for now, I’m going it alone, but still watching the industry for improvement. I promise you that as soon as it looks more beneficial to me to publish through a publisher again, I would be on the querying wagon in a flash.

As for advice for new authors: No matter how excited you are about a publishing contract, get a lawyer to go over it before you sign. And if it’s not good, don’t.  

If you could live anyplace real or fictional, where would it be? Why?

I live in the Western Cape in South Africa. And believe it or not, I don’t really like the idea of going anywhere else. Although that said, Berlin and France would tempt me.

If you could befriend a character from one of your books, who would you befriend? Why?

From Endless, I’d enjoy hanging out with Nick and Vince the most. They’re both snarky and that always makes conversations fun.

Are you currently working on a book? If so, can you tell us a little bit about it?

I actually work on between three and twelve projects in any given month. My main priority project right now is a sequel to the first two books I published. Right after that is the sequel to Endless.

Where can we purchase your books or learn more about them?

Endless can be found on these sites:

Amazon US | Amazon Universal | Apple | Barnes & Noble | Kobo | Goodreads