Michael Livingston is the author of The Shards of Heaven. From his Q&A at The Qwillery:TQ: Who are some of your literary influences? Favorite authors?My Book, The Movie: The Shards of Heaven.
Michael: My tastes in literature are really quite diverse, from medieval writers like Chaucer to modern writers like Brandon Sanderson. On my shelf you'll find J.R.R. Tolkien next to Tennyson, Dan Simmons next to Shakespeare, and Parke Godwin next to Gilgamesh. I try to learn something from every author I've read.
TQ: Describe The Shards of Heaven in 140 characters or less.
Michael: It is history and fantasy colliding at the rise of the Roman Empire as Caesar's children fight to control the artifacts of gods old and new.
TQ: Tell us something about The Shards of Heaven that is not found in the book description.
Michael: At its core, this novel is about fashioning a reality from the fog of mythology. I have long been fascinated by the similarities between various legends of the ancient world, and so I tried to find a hidden thread that would bind them all together into a historical adventure that's part Indiana Jones and part Game of Thrones.
As an added bonus...[read on]
The Page 69 Test: The Shards of Heaven.
Writers Read: Michael Livingston.
--Marshal Zeringue