Author Michael Seeley - Official Website

Hello, all.      It's been quite some time since I've written, but 2020 for me has been about getting back to my writing, sitting down, and doing the work.      During law school, I commissioned into the Navy and after graduation and initial training, I was stationed in Japan from 2017-2019. This experience was incredible, and I got to travel widely, was deployed, and mostly worked on honing my professional craft as a lawyer and officer. Although I continued to write as I found time, it was largely personal journals on my experience underway, etc.      We've now moved to Oak Harbor, WA, and I've buckled down to be more productive about my writing. I n the last year, I edited and finalized a book about Alcibiades of Athens and the ancient Greek Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. I'm currently shopping this for traditional publication.      Next, I finished planning Uprising , the conclusion to the Ruritanian historical fiction trilogy. I'm n

As I graduate from law school this week, I've had the exciting news that Grey Shore of Conscience , the novella I wrote about a court-martial in the Royal Navy of the Napoleonic Era was picked up by The Long Story, the only literary journal in North America which publishes longer pieces. I've had some wonderfully kind feedback which may provide further opportunities (I'll keep you informed if anything develops). In the meantime, you can find a PDF of the piece at the University of Nebraska College of Law's website , as I initially wrote the piece for a class. And, in similarly exciting news, I've turned Grey Shore into a novel. I finished up the first draft a few weeks ago and am now plugging at at turning it into something workable. Again, more details to follow, but as we move into the summer and Bar preparations, it's nice to have some fun to distract me!

Hello Readers!    I just wanted to write a quick bit of news. I am indeed still alive. However, things in the writing field have slowed down in the last couple months. I'm still in law school, and I'm also dealing with other medical issues in my family. So, writing has taken the backseat this fall.    But, I did manage to finish a second draft of The Gods' Punishment. Clocking in at 149,000 words/570 MS Word pages, it's a doozy. It'll need a lot of editing before I have a final, readable draft ready. I've put the manuscript to rest for a while and will likely get back to it this spring. I'm debating whether or not to attempt traditional publication for this one. As everyone knows, that's always a long-shot, and it also takes a long time. But, if you're really excited about reading it, go ahead and send me an email (mi_seeley@hotmail.com), and you could be a Beta reader!    In the meantime, I did get a 10,000 word novella done for a Law and Litera

It’s no surprise to say that sex sells, in movies, in media, and in books. Despite all the author/publisher rights’ debates recently, Harlequin Romances are still selling; people want to read about others having sex. Erotica, by definition, excites, plain and simple. But how do you handle it in your books? It’s all well and good to want to tantalize your readers or explore a more racy side to your writing, but what about when your friends, and God-forbid, parents and children read the sex scenes in your book? Should you edit them out based on that personal audience, or should those bodices keep ripping? (Excuse me while I choke on my coffee) As an author, you have several options:           1.       Use a Pseudonym           2.      Be Discreet           3.       Refuse to Care Pseudonyms J.K. Rowling, Nora Roberts, Stephen King, the Bronte Sisters, Michael Seeley. All of these authors have used pseudonyms. Some noms de plume have become far mor

  A Nickel's Chance It was about the time my calf cramped the first time that I decided to kill Jimmy King to stay afloat. After she had slammed into the rock and split her bow, we had grabbed what we could before jumping from our little sloop, the Wooden Nickel , into the Pacific. I had snagged a canteen of water and the outdated life-vest which could barely float itself. Jimmy, always lucky, had clapped his hands on a spar, never letting go. Now, he draped his body across it, as if sunbathing like those tourists we often saw in Chile. He grabbed a spar, and because he was well-liked among the crew, and because he was puny — like a wilted cat-tail — and because he had two twin daughters who could melt your heart — because of all that, no one fought him for his beam. Everyone else just bobbed along and scowled with envy. That had been this morning, before the carpenter went mad and drank seawater and before Morrison stopped kicking and drowned. After seven hour

Dear Friends,    First, I really need to apologize. I've been neglecting the business end of the writing for months, and my website has been an under-construction disaster since September. For that, I'm sorry. I divide my working time between writing and law school, and I'm afraid the studies got the better of me.    But I'm back! Now that school is done for the summer, I've had a few days to tackle all those overdue projects. In particular, updating the website was a priority. I've reloaded everything, cleaned away excess old news, and remodeled. Go ahead and check out my Books , Works in Progress , and Author pages!    As for what's going on for the moment, I'll be living in Oak Harbor, WA for the summer to intern with the US Navy's JAG Corps. In my free time, I hope to finish writing The Gods' Punishment and get started on The Uprising , the explosive conclusion to The Uprising Trilogy . In the meantime, paperback versions of The Faith

We all know that thrillers and modern romances are the biggest sellers. They dominate the markets, and it seems to be what all our friends are reading. But what if you're not into the newest spy-chase novel and the modern romance isn't your thing? For me, the draw of historical fiction has always been stronger than the idea of writing-for-profit in a genre that will probably sell better. But, that leaves historical fiction writers at a disadvantage. Or does it? What can we as authors of historical fiction do to balance the market for us? Write for the Public First off, you must try to use what's currently popular. What do you see in movies/other popular books/popular culture? For me, a military historian, a prime example of this is works on Rome and ancient Greece. The ancient world is hot right now. It's sexy. Films like Gladiator, 300, Alexander, Centurion, The Eagle , and many more capitalize on that. They may not be exactly factual (but neither, strictl