"The Mpire: In Search of the Lost" by TL James~Book Tour

The MPIRE: In Search of the Lost, Book 1 by T.L. James

Summary:

The trilogy of The MPire starts with, In Search of the Lost, which is the story Mallory Towneson Haulm, a sexy financial powerhouse, who lives in a quasi paradise in Austin, Texas. His opulent world is decorated with expensive toys and women more exquisite than an exotic candy shop. After fourteen years of separation from his family, Mallory is summoned to return back home to join The Family Business. Poised for success, Mallory is focused on turning around the ailing business, not realizing that taking his assigned reigns will put him in a position of unrelenting power which he is unaware he even has. His world crashes as he reunites with his brothers and becomes Death, the forth horseman of the Apocalypse. With every complication popping up in his life, the biggest one by far is in the form of an old lover from the past coming back to reclaim the spot in Mallory’s heart. What would you sacrifice to be a part of the MPire?

It is a pleasure to host a virtual book tour for Ms James through Nuture Virtual Book Tourz.  Nurture VBT offers an outstanding opportunity for authors and their new books to be given time on blogs and other media, so that we can get to know them and get a sense of their books through reviews, interviews, video and other means.

I have a small interview which T.L. James and I enjoyed recently, and want to share with you.

             Welcome, Ms James!
             Thank you!

1)        What is your earliest memory about reading a book? 

      My earliest memory of reading a book was in 2^nd grade. My mom taught me how to read before I went to Kindergarden.

2)           Do you remember the name of the book? 

       No… but I remember my favorite author was Judy Blume.

       Oh, yes...she's a great favorite of young readers.  I read her books and so did my daughter.

3)        Who encouraged you to read?

      Bullies. LOL! The library is a great place to hide.

      That's funny!  LOL  Libraries are a great place to hide in a lot of ways and from a lot of people and things.  I get your meaning.

4)        What are the books that most inspired you throughout your life?

      Canterbury Tales, Beowulf, Mythology by Edna Hamilton – are my solid favorites!

      You caught me, TL, this was a trick question.  I really did mean what are your favorite books!

5)        You've become a very successful woman on many counts; did you ever think you'd write novels?

      Never! Actually the only reason why I picked up a pen was to entertain myself after I was laid off with my two-month old. I couldn’t watch any more television because the story lines were the same.

      Many a mother has become an author in just this manner.  A friend of mine, Barbara Delinsky, who writes contemporary women's fiction, said she became a writer when she was a new mom home with twins.  At the supermarket she saw a tower with Harlequin Romance Novels on it, thumbed through a couple, and said, "I can do that," so she did!

6)          From where did your characters come?

      My characters were combinations of people I met over the years.

      Many authors say they get their characters from a compilation of people and their imaginations.  I recently heard an interview of Jonathan Franzen's in which he confessed that much of an author's life and of himself (the autobiographical) is in the characters.  Bet yours is, too!  ;]

7)        Did the characters come first, or the idea for the novels? 

      The foundation of the family was developed first. I created the rituals and family creeds and history. Once that happened, my characters started “speaking” to me about their lives and experiences.

8)          Many authors talk about how their books are driven by their characters, or that the characters seem to speak to them in a way and tell them what they are going to do, and who they are. Did you experience this?

      YOU HAVE NO IDEA! I cannot get those boys to SHUT UP! LOL! But I guess it is a good thing, because I can create more stories.

      I can see they are bound and determined to keep you writing about them...those devils!!  LOL

9)          Tell us what you like best about yourself as a writer and about your book.  

      As a writer, I’m still working on that one. LOL! For my book, I love the fact that my books cross over genres and that I am not pegged to one genre, gender, racial lines. My storyline is somewhat original and that it is not predictable. It doesn’t follow a mainstream formula. My story is a solid with a little bit of everything for anyone who likes to read.

      That's a recipe for success in novel-writing, to have it cross all those lines and be universally understood and accepted.  Good for you, TL.  Particularly with a series of books, a formula is so boring and a killer! 

10) Who is your favorite character? 

       I can’t answer this questions… ALL OF THEM ARE!

       Ah, well, another trick question by me, and it didn't get me anywhere.  I bet you have a soft place in your heart for a particular one of those Horsemen, though....and you just won't tell us!

11) Is there another book in the works...that’s the question we all have to ask!

      LOL! – YES! The MPire is a trilogy. I have a prequel to In Search of the Lost called The MPire Chronicles of the Haulm Boys. It depicted the family prior to Mallory returning. If anyone picked up the first installment and then read the prequel, it would answer A LOT of questions. 

      I have the trilogy: The MPIRE: In Search of the Lost, Death Cometh and Trinity.

      In Search and Death Cometh are available NOW!

      The MPire: Trinity will be released on 9/8/11.

12) I found your portrayal of women distressing. Can you tell us more about this?  

      I tried to write my story from a male perspective. Since this was a male dominating family and storyline, I depicted the women as if they were living in the 1950s – family orientated and male dependent. It is kind of how televisions (and the society) see the Women of the show “Real Housewives of (Fill-n the Blank). However, as the story line develops in the other books, the reader would realize that the women play a big and defining role in their husbands’ lives in order for the family to be successful.

      That's good to know, TL, I don't like women being down-trodden for any reason!  :]   So, readers would have the opportunity to see the women being treated more as equals and feisty as your books move on.  Great.  Now, just let me write the rest of those novels for you....No!  LOL  Sorry, I'm so bossy!  :P

      Thanks for spending some time with us answering those questions.  We can see you have a good sense of humor and a strong sense of yourself. 

      I didn't touch on your spiritual background, which I feel is significant to your stories, but readers may find more on you and
"The Mpire" books at:   http://the-mpire-saga.blogspot.com/

     

      Additionally,  please see TL James's personal website at:

      http://authortljames.com/  

 

I must add to my readers that I was not able to read all of "Mpire:  In Search of the Lost" prior to this tour.  I hope you will have gotten enough information, however, along with your links to TL James's website and blog to see for yourself if this is a book and/or series of books you'd like to read.  Should I be able to complete my reads, I'll be further reviewing the books.

Thank you for stopping by, and a special thanks to Bobbie at Nurture Your Books.

Readers:  Please leave comments about this tour....did you like it?  Anything else  you'd like to have seen or known?  What could have improved it in your mind?  Any notes to the author?   Your suggestions would help me for my up-coming author tourz.   Thanks!

Deborah/TheBookishDame