Questions and Answers What are you currently working on? I have three projects pending - a novella in my Ms. Pendragon series, a funny urban fantasy set in New York and Barbados, and a near future SF that I've been working on for awhile. Who would you most like to meet; they can be real or fictional? What would you ask them? I never had the chance to meet my grandparents. I would love to meet them and ask them everything about their lives and the times in which they lived. Is there any book you wish you had written? When I read a great book, I metabolize it -- so it becomes part of me and seeps into my own writing. I am currently devouring Jim Butcher's Dresden Files series - Harry is an amazing character, and he keeps growing and changing as the story extends. Do you have a job other than writing? I've practiced as a litigator and civil rights lawyer; after I had my kids, I stayed home with them and started writing like a fiend. Right now, I am writing almost full time, though I also do some copywriting and marketing work here and there. How did you get started writing? When did you feel like an author for the first time? Why do I write? The easy answer is that I don't have a choice. Books come up and grab me. But it goes deeper than that. I believe with all my heart that we are here for a reason. Part of why I am alive is to help other people to rev their own creative engines and get them excited about their own missions in life. As a lawyer, I helped women to find their way through the legal system and out of dangerous situations. As a writer, my work is designed to amuse, inspire, and liberate people from the more deadening aspects of daily life. All of us deserve pleasure and joy.it's our birthright. My books celebrate pleasure and the power of women to change the world. I've always written, but got serious after my kids were born. After I became a mother, I realized that I am mortal, and the only time we have to accomplish anything is today. So I got to work. The day I got my contract for Ms. Pendragon, I felt vindicated in the deepest way. A lifelong itch got scratched! What is your favorite genre to read? I will read anything I can get my hands on, and my influences come from all over the writing map. Ursula LeGuin, Madeleine L'Engle, Stephen King, Robert Graves, Suzanne Brockman, Jennifer Crusie, Jennie Klassel, Marjorie Liu, Holly Lisle, history books by the likes of Barbara Tuchman and Alison Weir, and tons of ebooks from many, many Triskelion authors. When I am writing paranormal and fantasy, I tend to read history, both American history and European. Do you like shared world series- such as Star Trek or Buffy? I admire them but to be quite honest I haven't gotten into them. At this point in my life I don't watch TV at all, and while I will take in a Star Trek movie or a movie like Serenity, I don't follow the whole series. Camelot has been rewritten a thousand ways over the last thousand years. What inspired your version of it? I wrote Ms. Pendragon because of a personal gripe. I've loved the story of Camelot since I was a little girl, but I always thought King Arthur got a raw deal. I also had the sense that Queen Guinevere's story has gotten mangled through time. It was so gratifying to finally give Arthur the "happily ever after" he deserved. Even better, I got to spring Guinevere from the past by giving her the opportunity to become the queen she was meant to be. And by setting these mythic characters in Camelot and New York City, I liberated them and myself. Anything can happen in the Big Apple. Will the focus of any future books be on Gwen and Arthur or on the other characters? Yes. My sequel Mists of Manhattan tells the story of Gwen's best friend, the High Priestess of New York, and her encounters with Mordred, Arthur's bastard son who has come to the city to claim his right to Camelot's throne. And I'm working on a book about Merlin after that. What are you reading now? A big fat history of Theodore Roosevelt (Theodore Rex), and Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Both very good! What do you have coming out in the future? Mists of Manhattan is out now in e-book format, and will be available in paperback summer of 2007. Relevant Links Michele Lang's Main Listing Michele Lang Website