Tainted Hero - "Sometimes good people do bad things for the right reasons"

Stories to touch the heart and mind

After reading a draft of one my first novels, a friend asked, “Where do you get the ideas
for what you write?” The best answer I could come up with was, “Life.” The same is
probably true for many that try to create stories, they draw from what they know, what
they remember from the highs and lows of life. In my case, so many memories began with
the care and mentoring of the southern women in my youth. The courage and compassion
of aunts and cousins that raised me formed my take on the world, and my view of the role
relationships play to our very existence. Even with the demeaning image of romance in the
media, the unique bond between a man and woman is what saves us from the loneliness,
and gives us the energy to endure the sad times. Sounds hokey for a big guy to be a
romantic doesn’t it, but its what I believe, and that philosophy flows into every thing I write.

How do you summarize your life in a few paragraphs? Probably best to start at the beginning. I was
born in North Carolina, but moved to Maryland with my family when I became a teenager. At the
tender age of seventeen, I fell in love with my wife. Not having a lick of sense, we were married two
years later. In the next decade I graduated from the University of Maryland with an Engineering
degree and obtained a Masters in Operations Research. In the years that followed, we raised two
terrific sons and I supported my family with various jobs in the military and intelligence sector.

After three decades of the typical tensions and frustration associated with a career, I
decided it was time to transition to the next phase of my life: retirement. I really
missed the personality of the south and its wonderful people. We searched for two
years and finally discovered our sanctuary. We moved to beautiful Southern Virginia
and began enjoying our time together in the serenity and breathtaking vistas of the
Piedmont area, but I was faced with a new challenge. What to do with all that free time?

I remained physically active with tons of honey dos and working on our farm, but
I missed the mental stimulus. Often, during the course of my adult life, I
pondered what might have been if I had taken a different path, one I had
fantasized about, but never had time to approach: writing stories. I had tried on
several occasions, but some family emergency or crisis at work redirected my
energies. I was able to accumulate a ton of ideas for story lines over the years,
so I thought, “Why not try and share them with others? You’ve got the time now,
there’s no excuse anymore.” Great thought, but I really under estimated the
difficulty and complexity of starting a new career in the field of fiction writing.

After two false starts, I evolved my “writing voice” in the thriller, TAINTED HERO. I
was fortunate to find a publisher that saw what I tried to pour into the story: a gut
wrenching struggle between two people, each faced with fears and demons from their
past, but able to overcome the extreme challenges that only a few encounter in their
lifetime. My second novel is entitled FORGOTTEN CHILDREN and was publisher in
2008. Yes, there’s still a romance, but this one will scare the willies out of you, given
its based on stuff that’s just around the corner. This novel was nominated as the best
romantic suspense of 2008 by two organizations, and the publishers best novel of
2008. My next novel, BLIND CONSENT, was released in April 2009, but it’s
different. Sure, there's always romance, but this time with a very unusual blend of
things I don't even know how to describe. It was derived from my memories as a
young boy struggling in the south, put I've added a sinister twist to explore what can
happen when you give blind consent to people you trust.

Michael W. Davis

"2008 Best Romance
Suspense nominee"

"Best Novel
2008"

In Jan 2010 my novel VEIL OF DECEPTION will be released. It was a collaborative project with a female author, Candace
Morehouse. I created the male POV, and she the female. It is very realistic in terms of the romantic and sometimes humorous
interactions between two troubled characters, with an intriguing suspense in the background based on real world events. All the
pre-reviewers have raved about the enveloping and page turning nature of this story. At present I'm working on a novel entitled
SHADOW OF GUILT. Yes, there's always a romantic core, but this time theres a real heart wrenching backdrop to the story. Its been
pretty hard to write. I can only stand so many emotions at one time before I have to put it down and work on another story. This Muse
has a real mind of her own, and she's a bit of a dark mistress on this one.

As a side hobby, I also write short science fiction stories. The first, entitled THE TREASURE, was published as part of a paperback
Anthology, Forbidden Speculation and is also available in electronic form from Champagne books. My second short story, RIM FIRE,
will be released soon. I've working on another off world SF short called ESSENSE, which will probably be released sometime in 2010.

To those that make my characters come to life by reading my stories, Thank you.