I
turned 43 in 2004. I've heard that people think about their lives when they turn
40, so perhaps I'm a little behind. This year I realized I've worked in nearly
every genre of the writing industry -- I started as a rock music journalist at
the age of 16, and published three nonfiction books about music during the 1980's,
the first when I was 18. I worked as a fine arts and investigative journalist,
and as a book reviewer. My first two fantasy/romance
novels were published in 2002 and 03, my third, A WIZARD BY ANY OTHER NAME, will
be released in January of 2005. I am
now working in film with United Film Productions International and ShadowHawk
Productions -- it is, in my estimation, the most difficult of all writing genres.
My biography is included in four or five who's who volumes
in the states and an equal number internationally. It was included in the White
House Millennium time capsule, and in Outstanding People and Writers of the 20th
century, both published at Cambridge. I
have a lot left I want to do...have a hit film, a blockbuster, win an Oscar, travel
the world, establish a headquarters for my company (with Sandra Brandenburg),
Lost Myths Ink. I'd like to publish mystery and mainstream novels, and see my
novels made into films. I still have time for that, I'm sure...if I work hard! | |
About
the Book
Mallecyne St. Merline and Guinevere
Tintagel are both police officers in Isis City, in an alternate earth (San Francisco).
Mallecyne is one of the most gifted of her generation in the sorcerous arts, a
direct descendent of the great St. Merlin himself. A favored daughter of the goddess
Diana, who has actually appeared to her protegee (though rarely), Mallecyne has
made great progress in the police department, while still in her late twenties. When
she is assigned a new, special partner from another division for an assignment,
she wonders just who this Hero Anglesey is. Gifted sorcery students have been
disappearing from Morgana La Faye high school through some kind of a portal into
another world, and Mallecyne and Hero are expected to find out why and where they
have gone. |
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I started my writing career early, at the
age of 16. Even then I had no illusions about the difficulties of being a writer;
it was unlikely I'd make any kind of a living at writing until I was in my 40's.
That is the usual path for those who don't catch the brass ring on the first time
around the carousel, and most don't. But my own path has been far stranger, and
I believe it has changed my viewpoint of life and work. My first book was published
when I was eighteen, graduating from high school. But because I was eighteen,
I signed a bad contract with a small publisher who went under before the book
was distributed. My second book was published when I was twenty-one, and it was
distributed all over the world -- I received reviews from as far away as Tokyo.
I couldn't read that one, but I kept it! Still, no money made on that one, either.
Why? I never really discovered that. My third book was contracted to one
of England's largest publishing company, part of what was supposed to be a three-book
deal. It was beautiful, but never got beyond the U.K. because that huge company
went bankrupt. Between the ages of 28 and 30 my world changed forever -- I lost
everything I had, learned that my college boyfriend had contracted AIDS while
experimenting with heroin, and my dad died after suffering a massive coronary
while riding his favorite horse.
That changed my outlook forever, and
everything I've written since then has reflected this. I hope it made my work
more rounded, with more depth and hopefully more compassion. Not everyone likes
my work, but I've received some wonderful reviews for the novels that have been
published thusfar, and my articles, short stories and poems.
For the past
couple of years I've been working in film development, and nothing that came before
could have prepared me for this world. At the end of 2004 I will be meeting people
from Australia, Ireland, England and Slovakia in Las Vegas for a film funding
conference. One thing that can be said about the writing life -- it's never boring,
and it never gets old. |
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**** Jerome's
Quest
"Even if you haven't
enjoyed this first book, Hill has written the follow-up so deftly it is easy to
follow along. Again, you feel as if you are trailing along behind the characters
whether they are traveling in foreign countries or sitting in their kitchen eating
a meal. With some interesting twists this time around, JEROME'S QUEST is a delightful
read."
- Romance
Junkies **** A
Ghost Among Us A GHOST AMONG US is
an entertaining and wonderful story that will leave you smiling after you turn
the last page."- Romance Junkies | |
Books;
wow, that's a tough one. If I bought all the books I want to collect, I'd be in
the same predicament as my friend Jan the librarian, who had to rent a storage
unit for her collection before her husband gave them all away. But my favorites
are probably unusual ones for a writer.
First off, I'm a Tarot card reader,
so my books on the Tarot are very important to me. As a Neo-Pagan, my whole spiritual
library is in constant use; some of the best volumes are by Z. Budapest, a High
Priestess and journalist.
I am a huge reader of novels, particularly fantasy
and mystery. My favorite fantasy of all time is Katharine Kerr, and I have all
her books in hardback, some signed since she lives in Northern California. She
was a great inspiration to me when I was working as a journalist; Sandra and I
interviewed her several times and published four interviews and articles about
her. Two of my favorite mystery writers are Carole Nelson Douglas and her Midnight
Louis series, and George Baxt and his celebrity murder series.
My favorite
classical novelist is Charles Dickens. When I was in college my lover bought me
a first edition of Bleak House, and I still have it today. My favorite playwright
is a toss up -- I love live theatre, and it would be a tie between Noel Coward,
Oscar Wilde and William Shakespeare.
I need a larger house, with a library...
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This is a hard one, because I love every season for different
reasons. I'd have to say I like the spring best, though -- I watch for the first
rose in my garden, and those first blooms are much more important than the hundreds
that follow later. The weather in California is always chancy, but the springs
are usually mild. As a Neo-Pagan, I celebrate the Winter Solstice, and after December
21st the days begin to lengthen and the sun returns, sometimes slowly. But every
day between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox is a little longer, a little
warmer, and even though I do celebrate the traditional New Year's, for me the
real first day of the year is December 22nd. | |
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