Michael Colon, Sci-Fi, Fantasy, Psychological Fiction Author

the Greatest Comic book Tale ever told

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What's your P.I.?

Mike Colon, hi there, Catherine.

We've been, yeah, we've been

trying to get together for quite a bit here and today we were just

starting the podcast when all of the electricity went out on my end, and so.

Running around and there's a storm outside.

So Mike, hello.

And tell us a little bit about your upbringing in New York there as we.

Kind of get started into focusing in on your talent.

Definitely.

So born and raised in the Bronx, New York.

Growing up in New York City has definitely opened up my world

very quickly from a young age.

It's the melting pot and, you're definitely exposed to a lot.

But it's also a blessing 'cause I feel like it prepares you for, other

things in life, just going about your day and, hearing stories from people,

seeing all different types of things.

So, I love my city.

It could be a little annoying sometimes with public transportation.

I'm sure all my fellow New Yorkers know exactly what I'm talking about.

But yeah, it's a beautiful city and I grew up here for my entire life, so,

definitely proud to be a New Yorker.

An author of two books and a gazillion articles that are found in so many

different publications around the world.

I have two novels, so long form projects I like to do.

I like to write about pretty much anything and everything

that's on my heart creatively.

And the reason why I do so is because it's such a natural way of expressing myself.

It's just a beautiful art form that I fell in love with and started

taking serious about four years ago.

So, the reason why I do this and try to get my work published

on various platforms is, yes.

To get that kind of stamp of approval and say, Hey, your writing

is publishable and it's, it's, it is a good feeling, but at the same

time, I wanna connect with others.

Impact others through my work

I would say, anybody who's in their particular craft, when they first start

out still trying to find their voice.

They're, just.

Throwing paint onto the wall and then you're kind of making

sense of it as you go along.

So, that's the best way to describe.

I guess the process of, you know how I eventually got to writing

books, but at the beginning I wasn't thinking about writing books.

That mountain seems too high.

And I was actually self-doubting myself.

But in a way, my earlier writings were helping me because I'm,

which I'm sure you saw like a lot of those essays are very deep.

Inspirational, spiritual emotional.

And ironically enough, I feel like just writing them helped me just as much as

it probably helped the reader somewhere.

So, I would say over time as I started to expand on my creative writing

craft and explore, my own talents and what I could be capable of and

my confidence started to build.

you know what?

Why not try to write books?

Why not?

I mean, you never know until you try.

So, it's just one of those things where I just did it and I wasn't

afraid and I put myself out there.

. So the gift from Alias, and I love the beginning part of this in the not

too distant future, A191, but this is Code Xing artificial intelligence,

which is kind of creepy in a way.

Right?

Just thinking about the future and artificial intelligence.

So this is science fiction.

And your writings were not science fiction.

So how did you go from the inspirational type of writings to, of the feel good

and the positive to this science fiction?

Do you have a background in Code Xing or any of that?

So I have absolutely no background in, in that.

I have no background in engineering or robotics or any

type of science background.

It was, again, it was just me.

Wanted to explore how far I could push.

My craft and just kind of go into unchartered waters

and see where they lead.

So, but you're absolutely right.

It is a science fiction book,

it's, a lot of life philosophy and ideologies that bring other

messages that the reader picks up on.

So I would say the science fiction aspect is just the surface layer.

But as you start reading the story and you follow the journey of A191, you feel.

You feel him, like you feel his journey, his adventure, his purpose,

and I feel like that's where most of my writings end up going.

And I don't know why.

I guess it's just my imagination or my style, but I always take a concept and

then I add many deeper layers to it.

'cause.

You read most science fiction books and it's machines and artificial intelligence

replace people and they become enslaved.

Why not try to flip it a little bit?

Why not try to add more of a spiritual element to it?

Add more philosophy to it because, as we all know nowadays with artificial

intelligence and how it's growing with, a lot of the software tools that

people use, I could understand why people would be intimidated 'cause

it's like the rate that it's evolving.

But what I. Write about in the book is, yes, there are consequences

to that, but it's not as black and white as people may think it is, and

it doesn't have to be a bad thing.

It's really up to us.

So that's just one of the elements of the book.

What was your research like ? . So the research was actually fun.

I learned a lot and I did a lot of research, mainly when it came

to the dialogue of Codex units.

'cause obviously, I'm, I can't speak like a robot, so I had to look up

terminology that reflects the terms that they would use in their world.

My main goal when I first started writing the manuscript was to create

a story where a character was pursuing a purpose bigger than himself.

So that was the core, that was the seed that was the original seed.

And then I pretty much painted circles around it,

and yeah, a lot of my research was.

Certain terms in the robotics field and engineering, how it

could apply to the story and the dialogue between Codex units.

'cause I, you don't want to just throw words out there the reader would, could

tell, oh, he's just kind of winging it.

I wanted to try to, be as genuine as I could and do my own research.

Allow that to fit into the story.

'cause at the end of the day, the story and the elements of the story comes first.

Alias is actually a Greek name.

I'm probably gonna get this wrong honestly, ' but the

word alias means the center.

Son.

It's a it's a name that has a very strong meaning to it.

And as the reader reads the story, they would understand why the

human boy who is reaching out to A191 why his name is Alias.

So it's more for creative purposes that also adds to the overall story.

Now going on to a second book which is a new release with your publisher, and

you can go ahead and give the title.

Yes,

the Greatest Comic book Tale ever told

quite the long title, but every word of it matters.

Because it is the greatest comic book tale ever told.

It's, I, for someone like myself who's a fan of Marvel, dc I can't

wait for the upcoming Avengers movies.

I love the MCU.

I've always been a fan since they started coming out with that years ago.

It's a comic book tale that's very psychological, and I could honestly

say there is no other comic books

superhero type story that is like this one.

Anybody who's a fan of superhero epics or, urban fantasy, drama,

psychological fiction, it's a conglomerate of all those things.

So, similar to the first book, the main character he's also trying

to find his purpose in this world.

You follow the story of Sonny who lives in Irontown City, a fictional

city, which it's based off of New York.

Sonny grows up in District seven, which is very povertized

it's basically the landfill area of Irontown.

And his foster mother raises him and she works two or three jobs.

She does everything she does to keep the lights on, to put food on the plate

and make sure that they have clothes and he escapes into his comic books to.

Escape his reality.

He doesn't have friends.

He's a loner.

He feels alone.

And the comic book world that he escapes into helps him, as the reader continues

to read the story they soon realize that his reality is actually more fiction

and he has a bigger purpose to fulfill than what he feels like he's meant to.

So it's a coming of age book, it's genre defying.

And yeah it's definitely a ride for the reader.

A lot of the book, it's very, it's psychological.

So, the way I wrote the book in general is, the, it kind of,

it's open to interpretation.

So does she really turn to a monster for that brief moment?

Uhhuh, is that the trauma that Sonny lives with?

And, because, he's a very traumatized boy.

His perception of life is sometimes altered.

So at the beginning it, it's more of how he perceives his world and people.

But as you continue to read the story, he is not just seeing things.

There are certain things happening behind the scenes for a reason.

And looking at the cover, do you get, this is an amazing front cover, by the way.

I really like this front cover and it.

Just the background with it.

Looks like Sunny has lived through heck a lot.

A lot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

But then you have the two superheroes flying above his head, you don't get

to choose the cover, the publisher chooses the cover, is that correct?

Yes, I do have some input, but the publisher produces the cover and, I

could give my input to tweak certain things, but at the end of the day,

the publisher has the final say.

But I love the cover.

I, it's very, a lot of symbolic.

One of the things that I find intriguing is that Sonny, the comics

and the superheroes are in color and the rest is in black and white.

Yeah, so I would say it's a lot of metaphors going on.

So you have the superheroes and the comic book that don't completely blend

in with the background, if you notice.

So if you look at Sunny and the background, it's very cinematic.

It's a completely different graphic style.

But then when you look at the superheroes and the comic book he's

holding, it looks more cartoony.

That's very symbolic of the story where his reality starts to bleed into fiction

and his world isn't really what it seems.

So that's one interpretation that I get from the cover.

At the end of the day, it's not about trying to be famous or

trying to get as many book deals or essays or poetry published.

You gotta care about the craft first and you know what you get from it.

'cause it's a very intimate art 'cause it's really you and a notepad or your

laptop and a computer desk, and you're gonna go through so many emotions.

You're gonna explore your soul.

You're gonna combine that with the imagination.

And at the beginning, you're just trying to find your voice.

And before putting yourself out there and emailing platforms, just try to,

find your voice first and find out what you really love to write about.

Yeah.

Excellent.

And thank you for that.

And I want to just go back to something on the book Sonny, is living in hardship

and we won't go through all of what is, but on the front cover it says everyone

is the superhero of their own story.

I personally love that.

And is that something that you think about

so I would say it's something that I heavily thought about when

writing this particular book.

When you strive to be the best version of yourself and you learn

to accept the things about you.

That makes you a hero in your own right.

There's a, the classic saying that not all heroes wear capes.

And, to push that even further no matter where you're from, your culture, the

family that you come from, all the things that society throws upon us, you could

still be a hero in your own right, by being the best version yourself and

helping others and just growing as a person and trying to do the right thing.

Do you see any of yourself in Sunny?

I do.

So, all writers draw from personal life experiences for the most part.

Depending on the projects, it's more of a concept idea.

So it might not be literally the exact same story, but they're drawing

from key moments in their life.

So, to share a little bit more about me, I grew up in a single parent household.

My mother, the most important person in my life.

And it was a struggle, but she worked as hard as she could to

make sure that her kids were good.

Now.

I'm not, an adopted child like Sonny, but it was more of using that to kind

of push the fiction story itself.

It's just something that was in my heart and something I wanted to add.

So in that sense, I could relate to the character.

Also, you look at his environment now, his environment is a lot

worse than my environment.

But growing up in New York City, I've been around a lot of environments that

are very povertized and I've been exposed to that type of setting,

depending on where I used to work, where, just where life takes you.

So I wanted to also add that to the story, to make it, to make the

overall message more pronounced.

'cause nobody's gonna take the story serious if the main

character grows up in a, perfect place with, great support system.

It kind of is the opposite of what the deeper messages of the story is.

So, that's the way I could relate to Sonny.

That is very inspirational so, last inspiring words.

No matter what you're pursuing, you have to believe it yourself first.

And how you learn to have more confidence is taking the time to know yourself,

know the things that you may struggle with, your weaknesses, and embrace

those things and work on those things.

The more you do that, the more confident you'll be at pursuing the things that

you love, because everybody who is born has things that they grow to love.

It's just sometimes life snuffs that out, and they're led to believe that they're

not meant to be more than who they can be.

So take the time to learn about yourself, improve on your weaknesses, accept certain

things about yourself, and it's okay not to be good at certain things because at

the end of the day, that gives you room to grow, and that's what makes this life more

fun is the opportunity to grow and learn new things and experience that growth.

I want to write many more books, short stories.

And just leave a long lasting legacy behind for God willing my kids one day.

And for people I grew up around, I used to be someone with very low self-esteem.

I did not believe in myself much at all growing up.

I didn't know my purpose.

I had a hard time finding my voice.

But over time you build that confidence, you kind of have to let go.

You have to let go and just say, you know what?

It's okay.

To be, not good at certain things

I became obsessed with growing and being fearless and taking that

leap of faith to put myself out there to get these book deals.

And if I could do it, there's so many more talented people and authors out there

I know that are waiting for their shot.

Just be patient, continue to work hard, don't cheat, don't use chat,

GPT I just wanna throw that out there.

Just, be authentic.

And eventually when you be authentic and you find your voice, the right deals

and the right things will start to fall the way they're supposed to be for you.

Thank you Michael Colon.

I appreciate that you strived forward well, you are a

superhero of your own story.

Thank you so much for sharing your walk, your journey to your authorship,

and for sharing your positive imprints here on your positive imprint.

Thank you, Catherine.

I very much appreciate this.

To learn more about Michael Colon, go ahead

definitely.

So anybody who wants to keep up to date with my creative freelancing

work on Google, you could just type it in Michael Colon portfolio.

Also, anybody who wants to check out my author profile, you could

go to TwbPress/MichaelColon.

I'm grateful to be on this journey and I hope to continue to impact

other people of my creative writing craft in a positive way.

And you are doing just that.

And I appreciate you Michael Colon, thank you for being here.

Thank you so much.

Your positive imprint.

What's your P.I.?