Welcome to The Mystical Underground

The newest Mira Morales book, Silent Thunder,  is released on January 20. It’s the sequel to White Crows and is the 7th book  in a series.

Psychic Mira was actually born with The Hanged Man, initially published by Kensington Books, when my terrific  editor, Kate Duffy, was still alive. It took place in Fort Lauderdale & I eventually moved Mira and the characters to the fictional island of Tango Key.

That location was created with the novel Tango Key, written by my pseudonym Alison Drake. My first editor at Ballantine Books, Chris Cox,   suggested the pseudonym because  back then, mysteries by men were outselling mysteries by women. Also, Tango Key featured different characters than those I’d been writing for Ballantine, Quin & McCleary.

Chris became a good friend over the 12 years I was at Ballantine. He and my agent, Diane Cleaver, accompanied Rob & me on the Amazon trips we conducted for writers, sponsored by  Avianca Airlines.I still remember the day he called to tell me his partner, Bill, had been diagnosed with AIDS and had moved in with his parents in Minneapolis who were taking care of him. His voice cracked with emotion. We both knew it meant he might also die of AIDS.

Not long afterward, he did. Rob & I attended the funeral in New York. Chris’s friend, Susan Sarandon, gave the opening. By the time I went up to speak, I could barely keep back the tears. Everyone loved Chris. That’s the kind of person he was.  Maybe a year later, agent Diane sold The Hanged Man to Kate Duffy at Kensington Books. I was truly fortunate to have both of these individuals as editors.

At some point during these years, Diane also passed away. The woman who had been her partner for years left her for another woman and I still believe she died of a broken heart.The loss of Diane was the loss of an integral part of my creative life. She was my first agent, the woman who took a chance on me even after my first 5 novels were rejected and the 6th novel, In Shadow, was rejected 25 times.

After Diane died, a friend recommended that I approach Al Zuckerman  at Writers House. He was my agent for nearly 25 years. A Virgo, like Chris Cox. Precise, on top of things, a real master at what he did. He represented Ken Follet, Nora Roberts, BIG writers who left me humbled and awed. Al sold nearly everything I wrote. He and his wife, Claire,invited us to stay at their home on Sugarloaf Key several times, where some of our best family memories were created. Given the fact that I outlived my first agent and two subsequent editors, I was always afraid I  would outlive Al, too. But he retired during Covid and it changed the trajectory of my publishing career. I definitely miss him.

The same writer friend, Ed Gorman, who recommend Al, also recommended I approach David Wilson at Crossroad Books about my backlist titles – i.e., books that had gone out of print. So I did. I think this was in 2011, so 15 years ago. Crossroad has since published a number my original books, including the Mira books. He and his business partner, David Dodd, are terrific people and the best with whom to work.

I hadn’t intended to write all this. But it illustrates, I think, the vagaries of writing and publishing. Amazon opened an entire new world for writers. Now you don’t have to go the traditional route to publish what you write, There are drawbacks and benefits. But that’s for another post!

Hope you enjoy Mira’s new journey!

Amazon, $12.99