Tuesday, October 26, 2010

Michael Gregorio

Michael Gregorio is the pen name of Michael G. Jacob and Daniela De Gregorio. They live in Spoleto, Italy, and were awarded the Umbria del Cuore prize in 2007.

From a Q & A at their website:

---What first got you interested in writing?

Daniela: a passion for reading. I love stories about other people’s lives, other places, experiences which are different from my own. One life just wasn’t enough for me. At a certain point it seemed a natural development to invent my own characters and tell my own stories.

Michael: I recall learning to form letters as a child at school. The wonders of the school library. Various teachers, obviously. University, where I read English, and Dani read Philosophy. We both had ambitions to write. I started writing because I was living in Italy; I was afraid of forgetting my native language. Daniela was a horror fan, and thought she could do as well as many of the writers she was reading. But neither of us found a publisher until we started writing together as Michael Gregorio.

---Who or what particularly influences your work?

Both: Working closely with a partner is an inescapable influence, obviously. Having to justify your ideas to a critical “other” is the greatest test of their validity. When we are both happy with what we have written, we submit the finished piece. At the same time, working within the genre of historical crime investigation, we are challenged by what it is scientifically possible, and what isn’t. We both...[read on]
Visit Michael Gregorio's website and blog.

Read Michael Gregorio's Q & A with R.N. Morris at The Rap Sheet.

The Page 69 Test: A Visible Darkness.

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--Marshal Zeringue