Top Ten by Killian McRae (12.21.12 Blog Tour)

Today I would like to welcome author Killian McRae, writer of the wonderful book 12.21.12. I asked her to write her

Top ten things you like about being an author

1. EVERYTHING IS MATERIAL. There are no bad days, there are no good days. Everything is measured in conflict and resolution.

2. I have an excuse for talking to myself aloud. I'm not psychotic, I'm working.

3. It gives me an excuse to read prolifically. (I wish, however, that it also gave the time.)

4. I can use as a threat to anyone who upsets me, "Don't, or in my next book I'll name the ugly troll whom nobody loves after you."

5. Writing fiction makes you respect facts SO FREAKING MUCH.

6. Authors gather friends like squirrels gather nuts. We hide them much the same way.

7. Writing pairs nicely with my other bad habits: excessive coffee drinking and judging people by their vocabularies.

8. In what other profession could I use the words "paludamentum" and "marmoreal"... in the same sentence?

9. Did I mention the coffee?

10. That in the best of moments, you and a reader have an intimate connection, neither of you knowing of it, and yet forever touched and carrying onward of the effect

Read more posts in this tour

About the book

Archaeologist Sheppard Smyth has staked his career as well as the memory of his deceased wife and partner on proving his widely-panned theory: Cleopatra VII, the last ruler of Ancient Egypt, was murdered.  When a statue of the doomed Queen is discovered in an Olmec excavation site, Smyth is drawn to Mexico to investigate and, hopefully, find the proof that has evaded him for so long.  Soon, he finds himself in the middle of the rivalry between the sexy, bewitching international thief, Victoria Kent, and commanding, ruthless Russian mobster, Dmitri Kronastia.
Both Dmitri and Victoria hold pieces to the puzzle that will finally shed light on Cleopatra’s death.  As Shep is drawn further into their world of ancient gods, supernatural powers, and alternative history, little does he know that the fate of all—even humanity itself—may hinge on his ability to discover the truth among their fragmented claims. Working to decode the true past while attempting to save the future, Shep becomes a pawn in the hands of forces working out a quest older than the pyramids—a quest that may lead to the end of everything when it all comes together on 12.21.12.


About the author
An avid reader since a young age, there was always suspicion that Killian may end up a writer. She completed her first novel at age sixteen, though she wouldn't find the courage to publish her work for nearly fifteen more years.  She holds a BA in Near Eastern History from the University of Michican.

Originating from Southeastern Michigan, she now makes her home in the San Francisco Bay Area.