Michael Ransom's Blog
April 15, 2017
Michael Ransom Book Review: Mississippi Noir (Edited by Tom Franklin)
Mississippi Noir by Tom FranklinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Aptly named, Mississippi Noir certainly plumbs the depths of modern-day noir with strange and sorrowful tales told from all perspectives, creeds, colors and cares. The milleiu of the state is clearly conducive to noir- as has often been observedRead More
Michael Ransom Book Review: Deal-Breaker by Harlan Coben
Deal Breaker by Harlan CobenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Harlan Coben introduces a new character and cast of supporting characters in Deal-Breaker. Myron Bolitar is not your normal mystery-solving protagonist...he's a sports agent! More specifically, he's a northern NJ-based sports agent, working in the city and around the Meadowlands Read More
Michael Ransom Book Review: Mississippi Noir (Edited by Tom Franklin)
Mississippi Noir by Tom FranklinMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Aptly named, Mississippi Noir certainly plumbs the depths of modern-day noir with strange and sorrowful tales told from all perspectives, creeds, colors and cares. The milleiu of the state is clearly conducive to noir- as has often been observed<
Michael Ransom Book Review: Deal-Breaker by Harlan Coben
Deal Breaker by Harlan CobenMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Harlan Coben introduces a new character and cast of supporting characters in Deal-Breaker. Myron Bolitar is not your normal mystery-solving protagonist...he's a sports agent! More specifically, he's a northern NJ-based sports agent, working in the city and around the Meadowlands
May 25, 2016
The Shortest Verse in the Bible, or "What Makes an Author Tick?"
I had finally made it.
My first novel The Ripper Gene had just been published, and my wife had wisely scheduled our family to be nowhere near a bookstore, but rather at the New Jersey shore on vacation… in a sea town without a bookstore for twenty miles, during the momentous occasion of my first novel’s release.
The first night of the official day of my publication, after everyone in my family had gone to bed in the shore house, I quietly cracked open my MacBook Air and logged onto Amazon at midnight as my novel "went live”. I watched for the first few hours, disbelieving my own eyes as I watched my novel creep into the top 100 Read More
My first novel The Ripper Gene had just been published, and my wife had wisely scheduled our family to be nowhere near a bookstore, but rather at the New Jersey shore on vacation… in a sea town without a bookstore for twenty miles, during the momentous occasion of my first novel’s release.
The first night of the official day of my publication, after everyone in my family had gone to bed in the shore house, I quietly cracked open my MacBook Air and logged onto Amazon at midnight as my novel "went live”. I watched for the first few hours, disbelieving my own eyes as I watched my novel creep into the top 100 Read More
The Shortest Verse in the Bible, or "What Makes an Author Tick?"
I had finally made it.
My first novel The Ripper Gene had just been published, and my wife had wisely scheduled our family to be nowhere near a bookstore, but rather at the New Jersey shore on vacation� in a sea town without a bookstore for twenty miles, during the momentous occasion of my first novel�s release.
The first night of the official day of my publication, after everyone in my family had gone to bed in the shore house, I quietly cracked open my MacBook Air and logged onto Amazon at midnight as my novel "went live�. I watched for the first few hours, disbelieving my own eyes as I watched my novel creep into the top 100 of the Hot New Releases list, and then into the top 100 of the overall Best Seller List for Medical Thrillers. Suddenly I couldn�t sleep at all, as I watched my novel slowly join the company of so many other incredibly talented and famous writers I'd read and admired over the years in my own chosen genre.
I felt truly blessed and overwhelmed to have finally "made it".
The hours ticked by- midnight, one, two, three a.m. And what to my wondering eyes did appear but my novel already sitting at #3 on the Hot New Releases and #24 on Best Sellers lists for Medical Thrillers in those first few hours of its release! What joy I felt in those early hours of the morning.
I continued to watch, disbelieving, until at one point it (something?) finally hit me. I had just taken a screen shot to post onto social media (my new best friend). At that point my novel was wedged between some other novels on the list which were also captured on my screen- my internet browser only accommodated six novels at a time- and at that particular point my novel happened to be surrounded by books by Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell, Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, and Tess Gerritssen. With little old me as the sixth and final book on the screen.
Readers of this genre will immediately understand, and perhaps most readers will as well. To borrow my 5th grade son�s favorite all-purpose word, that was some pretty "unbe-frickin�-lievable" company for a first-time author like me.
When I stopped for that moment, and realized what had finally happened for me, after all the effort and strife and rejection and self-doubt and persecution and myriad other hurdles and obstacles I�d encountered (and ultimately overcome)�. can you guess what I did?
I wept.
I�m not too proud
My first novel The Ripper Gene had just been published, and my wife had wisely scheduled our family to be nowhere near a bookstore, but rather at the New Jersey shore on vacation� in a sea town without a bookstore for twenty miles, during the momentous occasion of my first novel�s release.
The first night of the official day of my publication, after everyone in my family had gone to bed in the shore house, I quietly cracked open my MacBook Air and logged onto Amazon at midnight as my novel "went live�. I watched for the first few hours, disbelieving my own eyes as I watched my novel creep into the top 100 of the Hot New Releases list, and then into the top 100 of the overall Best Seller List for Medical Thrillers. Suddenly I couldn�t sleep at all, as I watched my novel slowly join the company of so many other incredibly talented and famous writers I'd read and admired over the years in my own chosen genre.
I felt truly blessed and overwhelmed to have finally "made it".
The hours ticked by- midnight, one, two, three a.m. And what to my wondering eyes did appear but my novel already sitting at #3 on the Hot New Releases and #24 on Best Sellers lists for Medical Thrillers in those first few hours of its release! What joy I felt in those early hours of the morning.
I continued to watch, disbelieving, until at one point it (something?) finally hit me. I had just taken a screen shot to post onto social media (my new best friend). At that point my novel was wedged between some other novels on the list which were also captured on my screen- my internet browser only accommodated six novels at a time- and at that particular point my novel happened to be surrounded by books by Michael Crichton, Patricia Cornwell, Robin Cook, Michael Palmer, and Tess Gerritssen. With little old me as the sixth and final book on the screen.
Readers of this genre will immediately understand, and perhaps most readers will as well. To borrow my 5th grade son�s favorite all-purpose word, that was some pretty "unbe-frickin�-lievable" company for a first-time author like me.
When I stopped for that moment, and realized what had finally happened for me, after all the effort and strife and rejection and self-doubt and persecution and myriad other hurdles and obstacles I�d encountered (and ultimately overcome)�. can you guess what I did?
I wept.
I�m not too proud
March 3, 2016
Blog: DNA, Violence and Free Will in The Ripper Gene
(as originally appeared on MichaelRansomBooks.com, August 18 2015)
The progress in the last decade leading to the sequencing of all 3.2 billion letters (i.e., nucleotides) of the human genome has unleashed a bewildering array of possibilities and unexpected avenues for biomedical research. The speed with which the technologies for sequencing DNA have evolved is Read More
Interview: Q&A with BookReviewsandGiveAways.Org
(as originally appeared Sept 8, 2015 on BOOKREVIEWSANDGIVEAWAYS.ORG)
BR&GA: How did you come up with the title for your novel, THE RIPPER GENE?
MR: I find titles to be one of the most difficult undertakings involved in writing a book. It�s incredibly �tricky�, since you�re trying to capture so
BR&GA: How did you come up with the title for your novel, THE RIPPER GENE?
MR: I find titles to be one of the most difficult undertakings involved in writing a book. It�s incredibly �tricky�, since you�re trying to capture so
Blog: Birth of a Story - Prologue in The Ripper Gene
(as originally appeared Sept 10, 2015 on TheLiteratiPress.WordPress.Com)
I heard in a class recently (Writing Great Fiction from The Great Courses) that the entire inspiration for The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner was the image of a little girl in dirty underpants sitting on the limb of a pear tree, peering into a
I heard in a class recently (Writing Great Fiction from The Great Courses) that the entire inspiration for The Sound and the Fury by William Faulkner was the image of a little girl in dirty underpants sitting on the limb of a pear tree, peering into a
Interview: Q&A with Author Jay Whales
(as originally appeared on AuthorJayWhales.Wix.Com on Sept 14, 2015)
JW: Michael, with your background, do you find it difficult to write in a way that people understand what you are trying to say? (Is it hard to �dumb down� your thoughts?)
MR: No, in fact I�ve always enjoyed relaying what I do or
JW: Michael, with your background, do you find it difficult to write in a way that people understand what you are trying to say? (Is it hard to �dumb down� your thoughts?)
MR: No, in fact I�ve always enjoyed relaying what I do or
