“You write with clarity and I find it very appealing.” — Tito Perdue, author of Lee and Fields of Asphodel.
“A talented, veteran writer.” — J.W. Stebner, editor of Hexagon Speculative Fiction Magazine
“Tuggle blends edge-of-your-seat scenarios with realistic and genuine dialogue.” — Kate Seabury, editor of Manhattan with a twist
“Tuggle skillfully ends most his sections with hooks redolent of the weekly movie suspense serials that provided filler between Saturday matinee double features.” — Gordon Osmond, author of Slipping on Stardust
“Tuggle ably captures the spirit of Dan Brown novels and Indiana Jones–style adventure stories.” — Kirkus Reviews
I’m a native North Carolinian whose ancestors arrived in the South in 1647. Raised on a tobacco farm near High Point, North Carolina, I enjoyed a childhood of outdoor living, including rambling through the countryside hunting, fishing, and searching for arrowheads. In college, I took a double major in history and English, and completed my M.A. in English at Wake Forest on a university fellowship. My master’s thesis examined the Civil War stories of Ambrose Bierce.
A life-long tinkerer and science geek, I worked in property and casualty underwriting, project management, and operations research for several large insurance companies. In 1986, I completed the course of study for the Chartered Property and Casualty Underwriter designation, the insurance equivalent of a CPA, and taught CPCU for several years. The North Carolina Department of Insurance certified me as an instructor of statistics for professional CE. I also served on the Property Committee of the North Carolina Rate Bureau, working with long-range weather models to determine future rate recommendations.
My first computer was a Commodore 64. (Yes, I’m that old.) A Certified Novell Administrator®, and proficient in the object-oriented programming language Visual Basic, I wrote an automated risk selection program that was adapted by the Jefferson-Pilot Corporation. I served on a computer-based underwriting project for Kemper Insurance, and was a member of the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence.
My fantasy, science fiction, and mystery stories have been featured in several publications, including Mystery Weekly Magazine, Little Blue Marble, and Metaphorosis. Novel Fox published my novella Aztec Midnight in December, 2014.
My literary role models include Ernest Hemingway, Flannery O’Connor, Robert E. Howard, and Mickey Spillane. In addition to fantasy, science fiction, and crime novels, my reading includes history, with emphasis on military history. I’ve given presentations on Stonewall Jackson’s Valley Campaign to several historical societies.
Here are the non-fiction books that have primarily shaped my worldview:
The Resurgence of the Real, by Charlene Spretnak
Meditations, by Marcus Aurelius
Sociobiology, by E. O. Wilson
The March of Folly, by Barbara Tuchman
African Genesis, by Robert Ardrey
Visions of Order, by Richard Weaver
On Aggression, by Konrad Lorenz
An avid weightlifter, electronic tinkerer, collector of American Indian relics, and student of martial arts, I’ve been married to Julie Tuggle since 1982 and am the proud father of a daughter, Jessica.
Interviews:
- D. M. Ritzlin at DMR Books interviewed me for his Independent Author Spotlight series.
- Cathleen Townsend’s Author Interviews is a respected online treasure. I’m honored to be included in the company of Dan Alatorre, D. Wallace Peach, and E. E. Rawls, just to name a few of the authors Cathleen has featured over the years.
- Here’s my lively Q & A with Matt Bond at The Book Blogger.
- Amandeep Mittal of Confessions of a Readaholic interviewed me for his blog. We talked about how growing up in a storied, rural landscape influenced my worldview and inspired my love of writing, and, of course, we discussed my upcoming book, The Genie Hunt.
- Fiona McVie of authorsinterviews interviewed me about my writing, major influences, and my works in progress.
- Q & A with Aztec Midnight author M. C. Tuggle
And there’s more!
My Internet Speculative Fiction Database entry
Contact:
I found Barbara Tuchman’s A Distant Mirror to be a very influential book for me. Life of a medieval castle brings period alive in ways both factual and poetic.
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annabelletroy,
That’s one I haven’t read yet. Tuchman was one of those rare historians who wrote like a novelist.
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Absolutely! I plan to read The Guns of August, maybe this August…
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annabelletroy,
Guns is both eye-opening and exciting. Enjoy!
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Love that quote by Caldecott!
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Same here!
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My first computer was a Commodore 64 and a printer where you tore off the strip with the holes.
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Bridgesburning Chris,
We were pioneers!
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Yeah and funny thing is back then it cost $1800 for computer and printer and today the cost can be a lot less.
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lol – my first was a Kaypro, Mike (and wrestled with Novelle as a sysadmin for a short bit) – so I’m just a few years behind you, tech-wise. NOT a numbers cruncher, however – so we are not alike in that regard.
I follow Sally, but somehow missed her blurb on The Genie Hunt or I might have found you sooner. I’ll most certainly be back.
xx,
mgh
(Madelyn Griffith-Haynie – ADDandSoMuchMORE dot com)
ADD/EFD Coach Training Field founder; ADD Coaching co-founder
“It takes a village to educate a world!”
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Madelyn,
Hey, great to hear from you! Looking forward!
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wow. what an accomplishment.
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Such a bright man, an allrounder:) your posts are amazing 🙂
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Mike: just a quick note to say thank you for finding my Blog – mainly because it led me back to yours. I’ve really enjoyed reading through your content and I’m really looking forward to more going forward. Many thanks and Best Regards. Brian
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Brian,
Well, thank you very much! Looking forward to reading more of your reviews.
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Need to ask that you return again, Mike. I received about another 25 comments during the night and I know you will want to read them.
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Hey Mike, I nominated you for the Mystery Blogger Award. Let me know if you end up writing your own post. Have fun with it! Check it out here: https://dutchlionsports.com/2018/05/15/mystery-blogger-award/
Thanks!
Reid
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Dutch Lion,
I appreciate that.
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Thank you for visiting my blog and appreciating, It sure means a lot. I just did a piece on Edvard Munch’s Scream. Being an artist myself I”ve been fascinated by this one. Curious what you’d say.
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Hello friend, I love what you’re doing, and I wanted to thank you for your support, so I’ve nominated you for the Blogger Recognition Award.
https://thinkingmoon.com/2018/10/22/message-3-blogger-recognition-award/
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I came upon your blog thanks to Bette Stevens, a poet and writer in Maine. I’m so glad she mentioned your name in the post on 7/29/2019. I look forward to reading more of what you’re writing. Thanks for choosing to follow my blog at Life in the Slow Lane.
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Sherrey,
Thank you so much!
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Hello Mr M.C. Tuggle. What would be your advice for a writer (as a beginner) like me?
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Maddy,
Read a lot, write a lot, and emulate your favorite writer until you discover your own voice. Along the way, you’ll need some guidance. Start with Stephen King’s On Writing, and check out the First Page Critique feature on this site: https://killzoneblog.com/?s=first+page&submit=Search
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Sure. Thank you. Definitely, I will follow your words.
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At the time of commodores, there was a Toshiba ( I can’t recall the nsme), we had that and a tape recorder for playing computer games
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thoughsnlifeblog,
The cassette recorder saved us from having to re-key the entire program every time. We thought that was great.
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I was quite young, I didn’t totally get that back then. But I get it now. Regards Bella
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It is nice to meet you, Mike. I went over to Amazon and saw your book and anthologies. I am always pleased to learn about new authors and writers.
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Thank you, Roberta! Pleased to meet you.
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Dear Mike,
I have perused many of your posts and pages, including your “About” page here.
I am very impressed and would definitely commend you very highly on your wonderful creativity in producing so many thoughtful and diverse posts and pages. Well done!
Thank you for visiting my blog. I would like to inform you that when you visit my blog, it is preferrable to use a desktop or laptop computer with a large screen to view the rich multimedia contents available for heightening your multisensory enjoyment at my blog, which could be too powerful and feature-rich for iPad, iPhone, tablet or other portable devices to handle properly or adequately.
Furthermore, since my intricate blog contains advanced styling and multimedia components plus animations, it is advisable to avoid viewing the contents of my blog using the WordPress Reader, which cannot show many of the advanced features and animations in my posts and pages. It is best to read the posts and pages directly in my blog so that you will be able to savour and relish all of the refined and glorious details.
Happy New Year!
Wishing you and your family a wonderfully productive weekend doing or enjoying whatever that satisfies you the most!
Yours sincerely,
SoundEagle
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SoundEagle,
Thank you for the nice words. I do my browsing with a laptop, so your site looks fine.
Looking forward to your future posts.
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