Mike Ekstrom

About Mike Ekstrom

A fantasy writer born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, Mike Ekstrom creates tales that are bound to the mystic and ethereal while intertwined with the human condition. What began as a personal project going into college, The Volumes from the Void, has taken him over fifteen years to craft into a developing five-part series.

Having written since a young age, he has been able to combine his education of World Religions and his perspective as an Autistic individual to create unique characters, worlds and stories based on the collision of musical inspiration and real-world scenarios. When he is not writing, Ekstrom finds his tranquility and escapism in a variety of mediums, whether those be video games, fencing or the newest LEGO set.

BOOKS:

Volumes from the Void: Book I The Prospected Family (2024)

Your biggest literary influences: 

My biggest influences as authors come from Neil Gaiman, Jason Pargin (AKA David Wong), John Steinbeck, Stephen King and Stephanie Meyer.

What readers will take away from your book: 

The Prospected Family is a reconceptualized, novel perspective of what happens after we die and what forces are at play behind the curtain of reality and the consequences of what happens when those forces aren’t respected, all told through the lens of a dysfunctional family of Demigods, set in an imaginative, colorfully described scenery of what might lie waiting for us beyond this realm. 

What is your ideal target audience? 

Young Adult, Sci-fi and Fantasy lovers.

If you had to describe your book as a cross between two well-known books, what would you say? 

The characters of Twilight meet the worldbuilding of American Gods.

The book that changed your life: 

The first time I picked up Ender’s Game, I was doomed. I was thirteen and exploring Science Fiction and Fantasy in any medium I could get my hands on. Card’s colorful depictions, complex characters, progressive story-telling, and use of constantly evolving scenery have left a lasting impact in how I try to style my world building and exposition. I think I’ve adopted that inspiration into my writing style after a couple of decades. I read my paperback copy four times that summer until I wore a crease into the cover simply because I couldn’t find anything better to satisfy my uncontrollable, newfound nerdiness at the time. 

Tell us about the protagonist in your latest book, and who would play her or him if they made a movie out of your book? 

Davias is a young, inquisitive character whose curiosity and moral compass motivates him to compensate for his siblings’ shortfalls. He would best be portrayed by a twenty-something actor like Jaeden Martell whose hair, face and body all resemble him and whose attitude on screen is always captivating, entertaining, and befitting in every role he has appeared. 

If your protagonist could befriend any character from literature, who would he or she choose?

Though the first book may only hint at the beginning of his very long ordeal, Davias would most certainly find himself befriending Homer’s Odysseus as both their treacherous journeys take them to some unforgiving locations, encountering a wide array of individuals, and of course, both of the characters’ relentless longing to return home, or at least to a time when things were a little better for them. Davias is a Grecco-Roman inspired character, and so I think he would find a lot of common ground with Odysseus, especially as the two of them regale each other with stories of their lavish travels and perils. 

If you could write a retelling of any book and put your own spin on it, which book would you choose and why? 

Another one of my favorite novels, from one of my most influential authors, John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men is a wonderfully crafted tragedy. It is an important tale set in an historic time in America’s history. My feeling is that these characters are written so strongly and are so malleable, that the setting could easily be manipulated to put a modern twist on it, while playing with the themes so as to make the story more universally accepted and less controversial. Of course, the ending would have to stay the same.  

Your favorite literary character: 

Neurotic to the core and often mumbling nonsensical witticisms, Lewis Carroll’s Mad Hatter is one of my favorite characters. A fantastically imagined persona, I have found myself at times sympathizing with the Hatter, simply because of my own neurotic tendencies. His presence in any scene guarantees amusement and intrigue. 

If I had to pick a character more grounded than the Hatter, I would choose, from Gary Paulsen’s Hatchet, Brian Robeson. A young character, whose trials and tribulations help him evolve to an independent survivalist. I was gifted with this book as a child and remember my astonishment at the perseverance Brian exhibited through his journeys which led to several instances, in my youth, of attempts at reenacting certain scenes from the novel in my family’s yard.