My book Only Human is out now

Hi everyone,

There is a great new Urban Fantasy that is part action, part romance, part mystery and suspense, and part horror.  It's my novel Only Human.  I hope you take a look, and I hope you enjoy.

I'd love to hear that you think.

-Mike



“Dragons do not cry. They control their emotions. That is what all dragons were taught, but I am now the only one alive to remember this lesson.” 

 

Only Human by Mike Mehalek

Cover Art by Allie Raines
Now for sale at Amazon

What does it mean to be a human? 

Meet Vincent, a most unusual dragon who has been trying to avoid answering that particular question for thousands of years, ever since his kind banished him and forced him to spend the rest of his life as a human. When a new love arrives unexpectedly, Vincent discovers that the only way to find happiness is to revisit his violent past and to confront his uncertain future. Haunting, heart-felt, and sometimes funny, Vincent discovers that even through tragedy, the things we most often try to avoid are those that make us whole.

What others have said

ONLY HUMAN takes you on a journey through Vincent's past lives and loves as he navigates his present incarnation and the darkness that follows him throughout the ages.

-Heidi Ruby Miller, author of Greenshift

There's lots to love about ONLY HUMAN: action, mystery, secrets revealed and redemption. Add to that dragons (who doesn't love dragons?), wicked bad guys and an all-too-human narrator who will win your heart...the strongest element of this book is the love story...This is an epic, timeless story and a small intimate one at the same time. Dip your toe in, I don't think you'll be disappointed. -Jennifer Barnes, editor at Raw Dog Screaming Press
Purchased and enjoying!!...AND I had a dream I was a flying dragon last night! It was awesome! -Amazon Reader
Watch the trailer below

For fun
Who would play the characters in the movie version?

About Me

Mike Mehalek writes fast-paced lyrical books that can be enjoyed with one reading but have enough substance for re-reading. He brings stories to life that demand to be told, regardless of the hopes/dreams/fears/desires of his characters-the Story first-always the Story. 
He'd love for you to visit him at his blog, Writing is Tricky or on Twitter @mikemehalek
If you'd like to join his email list, please email mike.mehalek@gmail.com with like to join in the subject line.

Troy Aaron Ratliff: Do I Bother you at Night?

Once again I get to showcase another writer's upcoming novel.  Today, we reveal Troy Aaron Ratliff's upcoming novel Do I Bother You at Night? which is scheduled for release October 4, 2013.

I was first acquainted with Troy's work with his short  story "Little Bernie's Map" which I picked up because of the cool cover and the story synopsis.  Well, I really enjoyed the story and the wallop it packed (You can read it and all my reviews here)


And while I, like you, am kept in suspense until the release date, here is a sneak peak of the cover and a little teaser for us to salivate over.  I have a feeling that Do I Bother You at Night? will keep me frightfully awake until the wee hours of the morning.

They say nothing ever happens in Kansas.  Sylvester Petersen used to think so too.  That is, until a mysterious new neighbor moves in next door, seemingly out of nowhere.  His handful of friends – people who tried to help him cope with the sudden death of his wife – think that it might be an opportunity for him to get reacquainted with the world outside his farmhouse and to build a new relationship with his neighbor.  But that idea is soon snuffed out as strange events begin to happen around him.  None of them wrong.  Just strange: driving in the middle of the night, the sulfur-like odor coming off of him, the fact he doesn’t talk to anyone in the area.

And what about that dog?

Sylvester chooses the logical explanation and ignores the peculiar behavior.  But when other oddities start to happen – the kind that affects Sylvester directly – he begins to worry.  His reasoning dwindles and his growing fear points to his neighbor.

Where is that stray dog going?

After enough time, Sylvester starts to see and hear what the people of the area have been muttering about: Unexplainable blue light, corn crops moving on their own…the slaughtered cattle entirely too close to home.

And that stray dog that keeps getting fatter and fatter…

At the peak of summer, and with the walls closing in, Sylvester experiences something that will take him to the brink and haunt you forever.

Bathed in loss, terror, and human spirit, Do I Bother You at Night? will be a story you won’t forget and one that will keep you up at night.

Love thy neighbor. 

You can find Troy online:

Website: http://www.troyaaronratliff.com/

Twitter:   @TARatliff

Hellbender Wednesday Redux

I’m supposed to be revising.

I’m not.

Why not?

Because today is a day of celebration.

What are we celebrating?

Hellbender Wednesday!

What’s that?

Today is the official launch of Raw Dog Screaming Press and Jason Jack Miller’s debut novel, Hellbender, the first of at least five novels in the Murder Ballads & Whiskey series.

A book launch is as much about celebrating the author as it is the book itself, and so rather than telling you why should consider reading Hellbender, I’m going to make a virtual toast to Jason Jack using the Appalachian blood that runs through my veins.

I’ll pause here for you to fill your toasting goblet with your finest jug wine:

(and also mention that just in case you want to know a bit about Hellbender, I’ve linked you to my Amazon review SATORAREPOTENETOPERAROTAS and some other fun links below, just after the toast)

Let the toasting commence!

I’ve known Jason well over a decade now—we taught together in fact—and have shared highs (mostly his), lows (mostly mine), dreams (one of which I now find myself writing about), Halo battles (he kicks my ass), Doritios Locos Tacos (resulting from...), copious amounts of Jamieson (which kicks both our asses), while his brilliant and foxy wife Heidi rides shotgun and forgives us all of our sins (read: “Tricky, why are there Cheerios and Woodchuck Cider caps all over my living room floor?”)

To say that we’ve done it all is clearly obnoxious and a little conceited, but it’s also a little bit true.  You see Jason and Heidi and I have been on a journey together for a long time.  A journey that has very much shaped us into the people we are today.  Back when I was teaching, I didn’t have a lot of direction in my life, especially not my career.  Teaching was rough, I’d spend my spare time writing poetry or a short story and think about how writing for a living would make my life better.  That I could show the world that I was the next Stephen King or Dean Koontz.  That I was more interesting than my, then, completely unstylish self portrayed.  But let’s face it, I was going nowhere.

And then by luck, one Saturday as I finished up administering the SATs, I bumped into two fellow teachers—a young married couple—who I worked with but until then never really spoke to, Jason and Heidi.  If you’ve met any of us, you know that conversation invariably turns to reading and then writing, and that conversation was no different.

For me, that’s where the journey began.

They say getting there’s half the fun, and for me at least, getting to share those “horrible” early drafts, to attending Seton Hill’s Writing Popular Fiction graduate program, to those early rejection letters--those frequent rejection letters--to those first successes, to getting to take time today to say, “Wow, man your first novel.  You’ve made it. Woot!”--getting to do all of those things with Jason around is what truly made the journey righteous.

So what comes next?  A writing career is one of those things unique to the individual.  That unknown can be a scary thought.  But today is not about unknowns and what-ifs.  It is about what-dids. If that’s not a word, then it should be.  It is a high-five, it is a well deserved pat on the back; it is as I said at the beginning, a toast. . .

. . .Now is the time.  Please raise your glasses. . .

. . .to a friend, a brother, not of blood, but a brother nonetheless, whose writing career has formed into a bright beacon from the amorphous nebula where all writing begins.  Jason, you’re a truly talented writer who’s busted his butt to be where he is.  Savor this moment and all of your successes.  Many more lie ahead.  I know this, not because I’m magic and Tricky like that, but rather because like the great Harry Stamper, you don’t know how to fail.

Cheers!

-Mike

My Amazon review of Hellbender (excerpt):

SATORAREPOTENETOPERAROTAS

Whew, now while the devil is preoccupied with figuring out what the heck that subject line's all about, let me introduce you to Jason Jack Miller's killer novel Hellbender, and why if you only have time to read one book this year, it should be from the Murder Ballads and Whiskey series, specifically Hellbender which hints at what Miller and his writing is all about.

The reason for such a bold opening statement rises from the fact that are so many things worth saying about Hellbender that finding where to begin. . . well the beginning, let's start there.

A funeral.

You can read the full review here

 OR

If you just want my conclusion:

The key to Hellbender's success lies in Miller's carefully chosen word choice and poetic style. He flawlessly segues between lyrical and staccato, using both power chords and nuance, matching style with the requirements of each scene. Even when the plot is its grittiest, the words glimmer. This type of literary prowess continues to grow within the horror field. Novels like Hellbender and serials like Murder Ballads and Whiskey will bring a new heyday to the genre.

Learn a bit more about Jason, his writing, music, and the Murder Ballads and Whiskey series at http://jasonjackmiller.blogspot.com/