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Michael Alan Peck

Goodreads Author

Born

Philadelphia, PA, The United States

Website

http://michaelalanpeck.com

Twitter

michaelapeck

Genre

Fantasy, Fiction, Paranormal

Influences

Neil Gaiman, Ray Bradbury, William Gibson, Stephen King, Kurt Vonnegut ...more

Member Since

June 2011

URL

https://www.goodreads.com/michaelalanpeck

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I tell tales big and small. Life's magical, but it isn't always enough for a good story. So I make up the rest.

To me, it's not real until I've put it into story form, which means I repeat myself a lot. In fact, the phrase that passes my lips most often is, "I may have told you this before, but ..."

I've made my living writing about TV, its celebrities, and its past. (I used to pen a column called "Ask the Televisionary" for TV Guide.com.) I've also put food on the table reviewing restaurants, writing about travel, and doing SEO and content strategy.

Only the writing counts in the end.

I have a godawful memory, so I focus on the written word. I like to think that over time, I've gotten better at it--the writing, not the remembering. I forget im ...more

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Popular Answered Questions

Was it hard to publish your first book? Did someone publish it for you or did you publish it yourself?

Michael Alan Peck It wasn't hard, Marie, but there's no question that it was a lot of hard work. As I'm sure you know, however, there's work and then there's work. The …moreIt wasn't hard, Marie, but there's no question that it was a lot of hard work. As I'm sure you know, however, there's work and then there's work. The second kind is the work you have to do, even if you don't enjoy it, while the first is a labor of love. And writing a book, for me, is most definitely the first kind. If it weren't, I wouldn't be able to do it.

I self-published my novel because I wanted as little as possible to come between me and the reader. When I was writing screenplays and trying to break into Hollywood, I was the last person in line in terms of influencing how my own creation would take shape. My agent and manager had more power than I did, as did the producers and many others in the food chain. So when I decided to write fiction, I was very happy to discover the self-publishing option.

With self-publishing, I'm able to hire the same editors and designers the publishing houses use, but there's one important distinction: I have final say over what ends up in the reader's hands. And that makes all the difference to me. When you journey to The Commons, you're seeing the world and its characters as I wrote them. If you love them, I've succeeded. If you don't, then at least I know I'm responsible for that and not someone who forced a change I didn't agree with.

That's my promise to you, the reader. What you see is what I created. And that's what keeps me creating more.(less)

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How did you come up with plot line for The Journeyman? And did you realize when you first started writing it that you were going to make it into a series?

Michael Alan Peck The world of The Commons has been gestating for years, starting way back in the '90s, when I took my first class (at New York's Gotham Writers Worksho…moreThe world of The Commons has been gestating for years, starting way back in the '90s, when I took my first class (at New York's Gotham Writers Workshop). I had no name for it and had only random pieces of the overall idea. When I moved to Los Angeles to try and break into TV writing and screenwriting, the idea became more fully fleshed out, and I developed it into a screenplay. My agent at the time loved it and got me a bunch of meetings, but it never sold.

That, as it turns out, was the best thing that could have happened with it. Years later, I went back to the idea of turning it into fiction. I went deeper into the questions I wanted to explore: Is dying the end of us? Is it the end of our ideas and creations, our dreams and our fantasies? If not, what happens to them? And what would happen if someone came along and highjacked the structure underlying the whole thing?

Soon I was off and running, and I quickly realized that this would not be a single book. Instead, I could create a world that was the fiction equivalent of Marvel Comics, where an initial trilogy could then be followed with standalone novels, short stories, graphic novels, and whatever else I could come up with.

The Journeyman is just the beginning, and I have so many ideas for the trilogy and beyond that right now, my biggest challenge is simply organizing them. I know where it's going, in terms of the big picture. But I think I'll surprise even myself as I work it into its final version. If I get it right, the reader will be as excited about it as I am.(less)

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Combine Editions
Michael Alan Peck’s books

Average rating: 4.08 · 223 ratings · 103 reviews · 4 distinct works • Similar authors

	The Journeyman (The Commons, #1) 4.06 avg rating — 208 ratings — published 2014 — 6 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Margins (The Commons, #2) 4.43 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Catalyst (The Commons, #3) 4.29 avg rating — 7 ratings — 2 editions	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	The Commons Omnibus: Books 1-3: A Contemporary Fantasy Series: The Journeyman, The Margins, The Catalyst (The Commons: A Contemporary Fantasy Series) really liked it 4.00 avg rating — 1 rating	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

* Note: these are all the books on Goodreads for this author. To add more, click here.

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Michael Alan Peck's Blog

Latest Journeyman Promo Video

I was happy enough with the performance of my first promo video to come up with a second. I used the same Suno music and Pixabay sound effects from the first, created the additional videos in Midjourney, and assembled it all in Canva.

As a friend who watched these said, I cannot believe the technology at our fingertips.

The post Latest Journeyman Promo Video first appeared on Michael Alan Peck.

Series by Michael Alan Peck

The Commons (3 books)
by

Michael Alan Peck (Goodreads Author)

4.08 avg rating — 222 ratings

Michael is Currently Reading

Michael Peck is currently reading

Great Expectations

by Charles Dickens

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Michael’s Recent Updates

Michael Peck rated a book it was amazing A Psalm for the Wild-Built (Monk & Robot, #1) by Becky Chambers (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 10, 2025 06:32PM · like
Michael Peck rated a book it was amazing North Woods by Daniel Mason (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 18, 2025 09:53AM · like
Michael Peck rated a book it was amazing The Creative Act: A Way of Being by Rick Rubin	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Mar 24, 2025 08:43PM · like
Michael Peck joined the group Author Marketing - Resources, Exchanges, & Challenges
Dec 31, 2024 10:02AM · like
Michael Peck has read Aegis: Catalyst Grove (Aegis Series, #1) by Nathan Roten (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Sep 28, 2024 11:35PM · like
Michael Peck wants to read The Dirty Streets of Heaven (Bobby Dollar, #1) by Tad Williams (Goodreads Author)	Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Aug 02, 2024 06:35PM · like

More of Michael's books…

Quotes by Michael Alan Peck (?)

“I’m not sure. I tell the story of me. Other people tell the story of me. Which is stronger?”
― Michael Alan Peck, The Journeyman

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“Beware the soft-spoken when secrets are kept, for they hear what the thunderers do not.”
― Michael Alan Peck, The Journeyman

tags: secrets

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Topics Mentioning This Author

topics	posts	views	last activity
Making Connections: 3586. THE COMMONS: BOOK 1: THE JOURNEYMAN by Michael Alan Peck	7	27	Feb 11, 2015 07:32PM
A Million More Pages: #41 Brittany - Individual	16	10	May 06, 2016 06:33AM

Michael’s Quotes

“There was a desert wind blowing that night. It was one of those hot dry Santa Anas that come down through the mountain passes and curl your hair and make your nerves jump and your skin itch. On nights like that every booze party ends in a fight. Meek little wives feel the edge of the carving knife and study their husbands' necks. Anything can happen. You can even get a full glass of beer at a cocktail lounge.”
― Raymond Chandler, Red Wind: A Collection of Short Stories

tags: detective, hard-boiled, santa-anas

180 likes

“Oh God, midnight’s not bad, you wake and go back to sleep, one or two’s not bad, you toss but sleep again. Five or six in the morning, there’s hope, for dawn’s just under the horizon. But three, now, Christ, three A.M.! Doctors say the body’s at low tide then. The soul is out. The blood moves slow. You’re the nearest to dead you’ll ever be save dying. Sleep is a patch of death, but three in the morn, full wide-eyed staring, is living death! You dream with your eyes open. God, if you had strength to rouse up, you’d slaughter your half-dreams with buckshot! But no, you lie pinned to a deep well-bottom that’s burned dry. The moon rolls by to look at you down there, with its idiot face. It’s a long way back to sunset, a far way on to dawn, so you summon all the fool things of your life, the stupid lovely things done with people known so very well who are now so very dead – And wasn’t it true, had he read somewhere, more people in hospitals die at 3 A.M. than at any other time...”
― Ray Bradbury, Something Wicked This Way Comes

tags: insomnia, night, sleeplessness

219 likes