Tee Morris at the Nov. 23 "Signing with Swords" held at the Clarendon, Va., Barnes & Noble bookstore. (Photo by Jean Marie Ward)

(continued)

Crescent Blues: Was that when you started getting involved with the Landsknechts and other re-enactment groups?

Tee Morris: The only re-enactment group I got involved with was the Landesknechts, and that only for a very limited time. As an actor, I go around to a lot of different gigs and rehearsals, and that tends to be rough.

Going back to what I said earlier, though, the nice thing about Shakespeare is you can really do anything you want with it. I think Shakespeare indirectly inspired me to work on my solo novel.

The solo novel I'm working on is called Billibub Baddings and the Case of the Singing Sword. I've described Morevi as "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon meets Errol Flynn." Billibub is "What if Mickey Spillane wrote The Lord of the Rings?" The reason why I went for that type of novel is that while I was working on Morevi, I was acting in a production of The Merchant of Venice. The director set it in a 1930s - 1940s, film noir setting.

We all wore pinstripes. We all had fedoras. My character was a bunch of other characters combined into one that the director had me playing as a reporter. It was basically Shakespeare writing L.A. Confidential. At one point, I'm sitting at a typewriter, doing my monologue as I'm typing it, because I'm supposed to be writing an article. From time to time, I take a break and talk to the audience, then I go back and finish the article, and that's the end of my monologue.

I found myself drawn to that whole film noir thing. I also think that's why my love of history was perpetuated, even though I couldn't do the re-enactment groups. And I was still working with the Maryland Renaissance Festival. My last season was in 1999 as Rafe.

Crescent Blues: Did you ever work the fair as a Landesknecht?

Tee Morris: No, I was with them as several types of characters. I was what was called a "villager" or village performer.

Crescent Blues: So you were hired as an actor by the Maryland Renaissance Festival. I didn't catch that.

Tee Morris: Yes, you're hired as an actor. They either assign you a character that you research your own, or you can create your own character and get it approved. One year I played the town inventor. So I did a lot of research on Leonardo da Vinci, which was a lot of fun and is actually going to come into play in the next book.

Rafe Rafton was a character who was assigned to me, so I did a lot of research on the difference between a pirate and privateer. There is a difference. I also did a lot of research on how to navigate and the types of navigation, because if I had talked about the last time I picked up my sextant, somebody would've busted me on that. A sextant wasn't around until the 17th/18th centuries. In the 15th/16th centuries they used something called the "whip staff" to guide ships. This is the kind of trivia you need to know, because otherwise, people will nail you to the wall like a poster.

Crescent Blues: Is Rafe a pirate or a privateer?

Tee Morris: He is a privateer. That was part of the challenge of writing Morevi. In the prologue I had to explain what privateers were and what privateering was considered.

Privateering was nicknamed "gentlemen's piracy," because in a sense, a privateer got a "get out of jail free" card with this thing called "letters of marque." It was almost like a combination of being a mercenary and being part of the Mission Impossible force, because if you were caught, King Henry disavowed you: "This permission will self-destruct in five seconds."

Crescent Blues: So much for the letters of marque.

Crescent Blues: You wore costumes when you performed at Renaissance fairs. Have you gone to any conventions in costume?

Tee Morris: The reason I do not go to cons as Rafe Rafton is I don't want people to think Morevi was some kind of ego trip -- that I am Rafe Rafton. At the same time , I am also author Tee Morris -- which I'm not yet used to hearing, because I'm professional actor Tee Morris, not author Tee Morris.

I was afraid that if I went to the cons in costume, and did signings and panels in costume, I would not be taken seriously. This is my first venture [as a novelist], so I have to be very careful when I do and do not appear as Rafe Rafton. The only time I appear as Rafe Rafton is when I'm doing "Signing with Swords," which is something I worked out with the Noble Blades.

I'm very, very lucky to be friends with the Noble Blades, because they would probably be charging me for their services. They really do believe in Morevi that much. It was the Noble Blades who said: "Hey, we could take this to conventions."

When I'm in the costume, yeah, I take on the Rafe Rafton persona. But at cons, I want to be taken seriously, not only by the other authors but by the con-goers as well. Some people can really get into it. But other people are looking through Morevi and looking for something wrong with it, because I'm the new guy. And the only person who's going to fend for the new guy is the new guy.

But I'm very, very fortunate and very blessed to have the friends and -- I don't want to say "fans," I want to say people who've taken that leap of faith with the book, who believe in the book and the story.

Crescent Blues: Do you and Lisa plan to write any more novels about Morevi?

Tee Morris: Lisa and I aren't taking anything for granted. At one point, right before Morevi was set to roll off the press, Lisa said to me, "I just want to check something with you: you do want to write together again, right?"

I said, "Yes. Sure!"

Just recently, we were talking and I really wanted to talk to her about a sequel. I said, "I just want to check something with you, Lisa. You're OK with writing again, right?"

And Lisa said, "Ah, Tee, we have two chapters done. Duh!"

OK, I'll take that as a "yes." We are planning to write together. I'm still working on my solo novel. Lisa is working on some solo projects. I'm also trying to nudge Lisa in the direction of doing one Morevi-related project as a solo project.

There was one character in Morevi called Lubria, and that's the character that more people have talked to us about. "We'd love to see a solo novel about Lubria." I have told people that if anyone's going to write about it, it's going to be Lisa, because I think she is more connected to that character than I am. I think Lubria would make a great solo novel for Lisa. Does Lisa agree with me? I don't know, but I've told her that if anyone is going to write a novel about Lubria, it's going to be her.

Crescent Blues: How do you write together? For example, does Lisa write a part, then you write a part?

Tee Morris: The way we work is that we find a stopping point and a cliffhanger ending, then pick it up from there. That was how we wrote Morevi. We basically wrote until one of us found a point where there was a good cliffhanger ending. At that point, I would go: "Let's see what Lisa will do with this."

Then Lisa would take it and say, "Let's see what Tee does with this." Near the end it became more about chapter versus chapter. On some of the chapters, I would write half, and Lisa would write half. There were certain scenes that Lisa and I flat-out wrote together. A couple of the dream sequences and the love scenes we wrote together. The ending we wrote together, which I thought was important.

Crescent Blues: Was this over the Internet?

Tee Morris: Yeah, this was over ICQ chat. And I tell people, point-blank, this was a professional setting. When we wrote the love scene together, I was using both hands, thank you very much.

Lisa was very funny when she said at the end of that, "OK, I'm going to take a cold shower now." I wrote back: "You're lucky. I'm temping right now. I have several more hours to go on my shift."

Crescent Blues: And you called your wife right away and said…

Tee Morris: "I love you, dear." As a matter of fact, I did. "I just want to let you know…"

Crescent Blues: Please, go buy a bottle of wine…

Tee Morris: "Buy a bottle of wine, light the candles, Daddy's coming home…"

I will say that having my wife and my mother-in-law as my support team… My mother-in-law -- my second mom -- read the original draft and helped me edit it. My wife Natalie helped me write the final draft. I was afraid they were going to get burned out by me talking about this book. But they're starting to bring it up in conversation, and I'm starting to get burned out. But that kind of support is essential, and again, I feel very blessed that I've got that kind of support.

Crescent Blues: The Internet plays a big role in your life. You met Natalie on the Internet, didn't you?

Tee Morris: You've been talking to Natalie. In fact, my best friend (His name is Ron and he lives in this area. His nickname is Orien) met online. Ron and I were on WBSNet in the 22nd chat terrace, and we hit it off as big pals.

Natalie and I met on America-On-Line. What was very funny is that it was right after a week where I had been stood up and ditched on several dates. So I said, "You know what, I've got nothing to lose." I posted a classified on AOL, and some of the responses I got were yeez!

But I didn't get Natalie's reply through AOL. She didn't go through the proper channels. She actually went to my Web site, surfed the site, then wrote me, not through AOL, but through my Web site and said, "You're a lot of fun. I want to get to know you and just be pals." The next thing I knew, we were hitting it off big-time.

Crescent Blues: Is Natalie from this area?

Tee Morris: No! She's from Kansas City, Mo. She's a Kansas City girl, and she's twice the man I'll ever be. She was a farmer's daughter. She's broken horses. She's pitched hay.

Of course, I'm a city boy. I'm like duh. Meanwhile, if there's a problem with the car or there's something that needs to be fixed around the house it's: "Honey…" And she goes, "I'm on it, dear. Don't worry." I'm surprised she doesn't walk around the house going: "Uh huh huh huh."

Right now, she wants a set of power tools. [To his wife] I love you, dear! Natalie got me over my fear of walking into Lowe's and Home Depot. I'm happy about that. The first time I ever went into a Home Depot, I went pale. That's how intimidated I was. Natalie got me over that.

Crescent Blues: How long have you been married?

Tee Morris: We got married on May 8, 1998. Aha! I sleep well tonight! As you can see, a sense of humor is essential in my family. As Natalie likes to say, "I just wind him up and let him go. I rent him out for parties too."

Crescent Blues: What's the next con you plan to attend?

Tee Morris: Arisia in Boston, Mass. I'll also be going to Ad Astria and returning to Madicon. Toronto Trek is talking to me about possibly being there for Toronto Trek 17. Toronto Trek 16 was a terrific experience.

Crescent Blues: Are you planning to attend World Fantasy Con 2003?

Tee Morris: I'm trying. I'm trying. The two cons which are the hardest to get a response from and involvement with have been World Con and World Fantasy Con. One thing I picked up from CapClave was if you are only available for panels, how about doing a workshop? A workshop could get your foot in the door.

Somebody did say to me that you shouldn't limit yourself. You shouldn't say, "I won't do your convention if I can't be on the panels." But being a new author, if I just show up, no one's going to pay me a lot of attention. Maybe I'm selling myself short, but it's the honest truth.

I just went to Astrinomicon in Rochester, N.Y. Wonderful experience. Terrifically run con. Very nice people. But one girl who bought the book said flat-out, "I would've never bought the book. I would've picked it up and gone, 'Oh, pretty cover,' and put it down and walked away. But because I met you, and we talked, because we're an intelligent guy, I bought the book." Panels sell books.

Crescent Blues: But since World Fantasy Con 2003 is a local convention, it might be worthwhile to attend, regardless.

Tee Morris: I've heard that too, and I have been consciously setting aside time to attend, because I also have some friends who are going to be at World Fantasy Con. One of them is a lady named Julie Czernada -- a very smart lady. I call her "Obi Czernada," because she took me under her wing. I would love to just hang around with her again, because she knows good scotch, and she's just good people altogether.

But one thing I would like to be able to do -- if I could do a workshop for people who would be giving readings. Because I've heard a lot of authors pooh pooh their readings. "Oh, it's not worth the time!" I think the problem is some authors don't know how to do readings.

If you're doing a reading all in one voice, and you're looking down [at the page] and never make eye contact with your audience, you're not doing your reading right. Of course, someone could say, "What does this guy know about readings? He's a first time author." Well, there's the acting degree. There's also the fact that in high school, I did high school forensics, and one of the high school events that I did was reading.

Crescent Blues: Anything you'd like to add?

Tee Morris: The most frequent criticisms I hear about Morevi are: 1) its price and 2) the type size. The thing about the type size is this was a way of keeping costs down. Dragon Moon Press is a small press. Plus, we didn't want to intimidate people by making Morevi a huge brick of a book, because it could've been.

Lisa and I could've broken Morevi into two books. But I prefer that first book -- and pretty much any book I read -- to have a beginning, a middle and an end. If you leave on or two things unresolved [at the end of a book] that's one thing. But if you do a huge plotline, and you go: "OK, we're done." C'mon! If I'm going to start a book, I want to finish it. Then if you want lead readers into another story, OK, but don't break up a single story.

That's just my personal opinion. But Lisa backed me up with that on Morevi.

The other thing was the price: it's $23.95 for the book. What I tell people is if you go to www.morevi.com you can download the first two chapters. Now if you don't like it after those first two chapters, fine. But I've heard and seen more people who, after they got the first two chapters, say, "Give me a copy of the book." If you want a good story, it will be worth the investment. I realize $23.95 is extremely expensive for a trade paperback, but you know what, in my opinion, it's worth every penny.

Click here to learn more about Tee Morris, Lisa Lee and Morevi.

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Teri Smith and Jean Marie Ward Raising hell for fifty years from Alaska to the Azores and all points in between, Teri Smith was an Air Force brat who never stopped traveling. She was also a mother, a grandmother (of ten!), a help desk wizard, a financial assistant, acquisitions editor for Samhain Publishing and, most importantly, the Queen Nag of the Known Universe. A multi-published short story writer, her first novel, With Nine You Get Vanyr, written with Jean Marie Ward, was published in 2007. Contrary to common belief, she never stopped living. In addition to editing Crescent Blues, Jean Marie Ward writes for a number of Web-based and print magazines, including Science Fiction Weekly. She is the author of Illumina: the Art of Jean Pierre Targete (Paper Tiger) and several short stories, including "Most Dead Bodies in a Confined Space" in Strange Pleasures 2 (Prime Books). Her first novel, With Nine You Get Vanyr, written with Teri Smith, was published by Samhain Publishing in 2007.