I am excited to welcome author Mike Phillips, who is celebrating the release of his new novel, The World Below.
In ancient times, magical creatures inhabited the earth. They lived on mountaintops, in trees, at the bottom of lakes and rivers. But that was long ago, before the human race declared war on the creatures they feared and hated. Now the enchanted peoples are all but gone. Those few that remain fear being stretched out on an examination table in some secret, governmental facility. The only place they can hide from the ever increasing number of satellites and smart phones is in the World Below.
Mitch Hardy is going through a hard time in his life. In his early twenties, he was working his way through college when he suffered an accident that left him flat broke and physically deformed. When Mitch decides to make a fresh start in a new town, things start looking up. He finds a place to live, a decent job, good friends. He even meets a nice girl. Unknown to Mitch, his new girlfriend is one of the Elder Race, what some call the Faerie Folk. Mitch doesn’t know that Elizabeth is looking for a father she never knew. The key to finding him is somehow tied up with the mysterious Blade of Caro. Desperate, she steals the Blade from its protector, the despotic ruler of the World Below, the Dragon of Worms, Baron Finkbeiner. When Elizabeth is kidnapped by the Baron, Mitch is pulled into a world or magic and monsters he never imagined.
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An Abundance of Odd-Ball Characters
Hello everyone, and thank you for reading my guest post. My name is Mike Phillips and my new book is The World Below. I was asked to talk a little about the characters in the book, so I thought it might be fun to discuss some of the lesser known weirdoes that make an appearance. An important part of the book is that all the fairy tale creatures of legend still exist, hiding in a place known as The World Below, a sort of refugee camp for those creatures that don’t have enough magic to blend into modern society. As a result, the book is absolutely packed with an abundance of odd-ball characters.
When our hero, Mitch Hardy, becomes involved with Lady Elizabeth, herself one of the Faerie Folk and a little offbeat, he has no idea what strange people he is bound to meet. The first and most prominent, of course, is Puttygut and the other goblins. After an act of kindness, the goblins adopt Mitch as one of their own. As it turns out, goblins aren’t as all bad as they are made out to be in myth and legend. They are a fun bunch of guys to be around, if they smell bad and behave like fifth grade boys.
The first creatures Mitch encounters after he meets Puttygut and his crew are the goblin’s mortal enemies, the Ferikrakneh Imps. The Ferikrakneh have been trying to take over the landfill and get rid of the goblins for as long as either can remember. The Imps are tiny little creatures, vaguely human-shaped, but tough. When Mitch accidentally reveals the location of the goblin hideout, the Ferikrakneh are ready to attack. There are so many of the little buggers, that Mitch and the Goblins are soon overwhelmed, and have to resort to drastic measures to escape their wrath.
Later in the story, desperate to find Elizabeth (describing the circumstances surrounding it would be a terrible spoiler) Mitch asks the goblins for help. There are many strange and wondrous creatures in The World Below, but only one that has the information they need. The Mulak is a sorceress and seer of great power. The goblins all fear her, but they know she can be bought. The Mulak has a weakness they can exploit, a serious drug addiction. A case of heroine is her price. After a taste, she tells them what they need to know, changes herself into a spider, and continues her sad decline into oblivion.
Baron Finkbeiner is the despotic ruler of The World Below. His dungeon is filled with all sorts of dangerous creatures. To keep them in line, the guard must be equally as formidable. The Baron’s jailer is just such a person, though you wouldn’t know it by looking at him. The jailer is a squat, funny little man. Like many of the inhabitants of The World Below, the jailer is possessed of unusual powers. When the Baron’s henchman throws a tantrum and obliterates part of the dungeon, we find out that the jailer is nearly invincible to physical attack. His body is homogenous, all made up of the same stuff, like a Gollum of clay. Picking debris from his body, he explains to the henchman the importance of being able to get along with others.
Inside Finkbeiner’s dungeon, there is a creature known only as the Blackness. It has no shape or form. It looks like a cloud of black dust. Though it as no physical body, the creature seems to have all the senses that people do. It can even talk. The Blackness is held in prison by an enchanted collar made of silver. The creature has fallen in love with Lady Elizabeth, and when the Baron’s henchman comes to do her harm, it does everything it can to protect her.
We end this discussion with one of the strangest creatures of all, the Gooch. It is a shape shifting, pan-dimensional being that is drawn to supernatural creatures as a food source. When it can’t get that, any road kill will do. As the Gooch first appears, it takes the form of a mailbox. People with magical ability may be able to see it, but normal humans can’t. The Gooch is so good at hiding itself from the general public that there must be some sort of magical influence involved. Later on the Gooch takes the form of a basketball, and then a garbage dumpster. Characters in the book often have questions about the Gooch, the typical answer to most of those questions being, “no one really knows what that thing is.” As a writer, it’s fun sometimes to leave things up in the air, allow the reader to fill in the gaps, maybe even give yourself some room for the character to play a wider role in future projects. That is my hope for the Gooch. As I write the sequel to The World Below, the Gooch is already making trouble for our hero, Mitch Hardy. That, however, is a story for another time.
Thank you so much for joining me. I hope you check out all the strange characters in The World Below.
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Meet Mike Phillips!
Mike Phillips is the author of Reign of the Nightmare Prince. His short stories have appeared in ParABnormal Digest, Cemetery Moon, Sinister Tales, The Big Book of New Short Horror, World of Myth, Dark Horizons, Mystic Signals and many others. Online, his work has appeared in Darker, Lorelei Signal, Midnight Times, and Fringe. He is best known for his Crow Witch and Patrick Donegal series. Please visit Mike at mikephillipsfantasy.com
He grew up on a small farm in West Michigan. In addition to hard work and responsibility, his father gave him a very special gift. Each year during summer vacation, the television was turned off. This meant that when not tending sheep, mending fences, gardening, building furniture, chopping wood, or just goofing off, Mike’s summers were spent reading. In memory of all the wonderful stories and things he didn’t understand at the time, Mike hopes that through his writing he can, in some small way, share this gift with others.
Contact Info
Website: website
Want to purchase Mike’s novels?
The World Below
Reign of the Nightmare Prince
Daylight Dim
Dawn of Ages
