Welcome to Augie’s Corner,
Today’s guest is Michele Drier who’s the author of SNAP: The World Unfolds, which is her first vampire romance novel and Edited for Death, which is her first mystery.
Today’s guest is Michele Drier who’s the author of SNAP: The World Unfolds, which is her first vampire romance novel and Edited for Death, which is her first mystery.
Augie: I love warm tea when I interview, but iced tea is a favorite too. Let me tell you, I really appreciate this title SNAP: The World Unfolds. It happens to be one of my favorite words to use, Oh Snap. Why SNAP for this book?
Michele: The premise is that Maxie Gwenoch lands a job at an international, multimedia gossip and celebrity conglomerate. I thought about OMG (taken), PIX, Celeb, but SNAP worked on a couple of different levels. First is the image angle (the magazine buys from paparazzi) and then the instant exposure in today’s 24/7 media cycle.
Augie: I love that idea…. Audience, you may not know that this is not Michele’s first novel; she has also written Edited for Death, which was released October 1. You should be so thrilled. Let’s talk about Edited for Death. I understand that this it is a mystery, but what is the premise of this novel?
Michele: This is the first in the Amy Hobbes mysteries. Amy is a daily newspaper editor in a medium-sized town in California. She and her police reporter, Clarice, both love the adrenaline of covering instant news, and murder is a favorite. Each book will have an actual murder in it as backdrop, but the main plot is fictional. In Edited, the death of a prominent politician starts Amy off on a chase to find the man behind the office. In doing this, she uncovers a 60-year-old secret involving stolen art, Nazis, Holocaust survivors and three murders in a small Gold Rush town.
Augie: Sounds fascinating, you got my ears perked.
Michele: Well, conventional wisdom says “write what you know” so my protagonists are women working in the print media—an industry that’s fighting to stay alive. In the Amy Hobbes novels, this will add some tension as she loses staff to cut-backs.
Augie: It would be shameful if we allowed print media to die. I love it when characters deal with today’s problems, like bullies, drug abuse, discrimination/racism, and the written word which is so important. Hopping onto another track, so during the time you were waiting for a ‘house’ to pick up Edited for Death, you were already writing your second novel, SNAP? Truly a novelist, actually you are a journalist.
Michele: Yep, I began writing SNAP—a completely different genre, while still looking for an agent or publisher for Edited for Death. SNAP: The World Unfolds was always planned as a self-published ebook. I also thought the marketing I’d have to do for SNAP would help with Edited, and it has, to some extent.
Augie: Being a journalist did this aid you in finding a ‘house’ to publish your first novel?
Michele: No, not really. I will say that the editor for Edited for Death said that it was one of the cleanest manuscripts she’d ever worked on. I don’t know if that’s from a background as a journalist or from having half-a-dozen alpha and beta readers!
Augie: Uh-huh. Tell us about SNAP? I understand that it is a vampire novel, but of an unconventional nature.
Michele: It is. The owners of the international conglomerate that’s SNAP are a “family” of vampires headquartered in Hungary. They have other financial dealings, but SNAP took off and is now their main enterprise.
Augie: There is a huge market for vampire novels, and there are many to choose from, what makes your family of vampires different?
Michele: The idea came from an off-hand remark my daughter made. She said “You only see a lot of celebrities at night. They all wear dark glasses. They travel around in limos with tinted windows. They could be vampires!” And so SNAP was born.