If you missed the cover reveal party for AVELYNN, don’t despair, I’m going to be posting all the wonderful author interviews here for your reading pleasure!
Sitting down with Margaret Madigan …
Let’s extend a warm welcome to our next wonderful guest author, Margaret Madigan!
Margaret lives in the vast Northern Plains where it’s quiet and mostly empty, and conducive to letting her imagination run wild. She writes romance and science fiction, and dabbles in other genres just for the fun of it.
When she’s not writing you’ll find her in a college classroom teaching English, or working as a literary agent for an amazing agency…and of course enjoying time with her family.
Margaret Madigan Hi all!
Dawna Hi Margaret.
Margaret Madigan Wow. It suddenly got really quiet in here. Tough crowd.
Marissa Campbell We were just giving you the whole stage.
Marissa Campbell Twirl.
Dawna Lovejoy I’m here!!!
Marissa Campbell Here’s a little about Margaret’s book:
Hero for Hire
Tales From Beyond the End, #1
One day her prince would come…disguised as a zombie-killer. Having been disgraced and tossed out by her own scientific community, Gwyn is convinced she can develop a cure for a SuperVirus that has turned the Infected into zombies.
By pure luck and determination, she has survived on her own for years, but while out scavenging, a clash with the local zombies leaves her potentially infected. Now, running out of time, she needs help and takes a chance on a hero for hire.
Rafe loves the apocalypse. Since the world went to hell, everything’s come up roses for him. Having procured a mansion in the Hollywood hills, adopted a slew of homeless boys and one cantankerous but useful Doc, Mr. Charming is benefiting from the nasty zombie infestation. His job? Killing the bastards, which he considers fun anyway.
Gwyn Snow needs Rafe Charming to help retrieve her research from the Paragon Pharmaceuticals lab, also known as Zombie Central. Believing she can yet save the world, Gwyn makes Rafe question what’s right and what’s worth the fight.
Marissa Campbell I love the concept of this book! Zombies, fairytales … what inspired this?
Julie Mulhern Hey, Margaret. Still worried I might come after you while you’re mowing your lawn?
Dawna Hmmmm… This seems interesting.
Nicki Welcome. I think my kids would enjoy your books!!
Julie Mulhern It might be even more interesting if I could type without typos, Dawna…
Julie Mulhern Of course, Margaret’s book is VERY interesting – zombies and all!
Dawna Lol, Julie, my autocorrect wins more times than I do. And please call me Dawna. Your autocorrect will fight you on that. Haha!!!!
Margaret Madigan Sorry. Interrupted by family!
Marissa Campbell Pesky children. 😉
Margaret Madigan Actually, the story is co-authored with Merissa McCain, and it was inspired by a call for submissions we saw at Entangled for a fairy tale retelling.
Marissa Campbell There are lots of ways to retell a fairy tale … why zombies?
Margaret Madigan Why not? lol. Like you said, there are a lot of fairy tale retellings. It’s tough to take a story everyone knows and give it your own twist. We thought it would be fun to put Snow White in the zombie apocalypse and see what happened.
Dawna I have to read this!
Margaret Madigan Nicki – it’s not a kid’s book! It’s a romance. With sex and stuff.
Dawna I have to read it even more!!!! Lol
Julie Mulhern Sex and stuff. *snort*
Marissa Campbell Really good sex and stuff.
Margaret Madigan Hero for Hire is my only currently published book, but I’m also working on a western romance series that’ll be published through Entangled. The first book releases in June. There’s sex and stuff in that one, too, lol.
Marissa Campbell What drew you to the western romance series?
Margaret Madigan Honestly, I have no idea. It sounded fun. And there’s a lot of potential, so I thought…why not?
Marissa Campbell Your westerns are set in the past, how much research did you have to do?
Dawna I love westerns.
Margaret Madigan A lot. I feel like I have a PhD in western trivia. I had to research Nevada terrain, Virginia City, the Civil War, trains, poker, gold mining, gold values, clothing, homes, horses, stage coaches, weather. Seriously…everything.
Dawna Do you look forward to the research? Do you go places like museums or the actual locations to check them out?
Margaret Madigan I just finished the first draft of book two which required even more research (Wyoming, winters, Native tribes, medicine, Omaha, The Hole in the Wall, train robbery…)
Robin Just checking in to say ‘hi,’ after enjoying the beautiful sunny day with my dog.
Margaret Madigan I like the research, but I do it as I write rather than all ahead of time, so sometimes it slows down the storytelling. And unfortunately, I live in the middle of nowhere so I can’t afford to go to the locations (though I have been to some of those places in the past, just not doing research). I’d love to be able to do that, though!
Marissa Campbell Tell us about your heroines and heroes. What traits do you admire? What intrigues you about your characters?
Margaret Madigan Well, like Wren, I tend to write strong heroines. I’m not fond of women who need saving. If she has to be saved, I want it to be because she’s tried herself and acknowledges she needs the help. I also like when a hero is man enough to be saved by his heroine.
Dawna Oooo I love that!
Margaret Madigan In Hero for Hire, Merissa McCain wrote Gwyn, the heroine. Gwyn is a scientist who is smart, but racked with guilt. She needs the hero, Rafe, to help her. But she doesn’t like it. Rafe is a smart-ass who’s come into his own in the apocalypse. I wrote him. He was loads of fun.
Dawna She’s a scientist too!!! Doood!!!!
Marissa Campbell When you see the movie of your books in your head … who’s been cast for the key roles?
Margaret Madigan In Gambling on the Outlaw, Isaac is a broken man, accused of crimes he didn’t commit and on the run from the law. All he wants is to kill the people who set him up, even if he dies trying. Then he meets Beth, who makes him think there might be a reason to live. Beth is an ex-gambler who’s smart and tough with a taste for bad boys. When she meets Isaac she swears not to get involved…until she does, lol.
Dawna I’m making my notes here. Wow!
Margaret Madigan I love that question, Marissa. I was just writing a blog post about it, actually. On my Pinterest page, all these characters are anonymous or models who aren’t necessarily famous. For book two of the western series, I cast David Gandy as the hero and Kate Beckinsale as the heroine. I’d have to think some to come up with fitting actors for the other books…
Margaret Madigan I didn’t used to cast celebs because then when I looked at the pictures I didn’t see my characters, I only saw the celeb or other roles they’ve played, so I looked for models I didn’t know. But sometimes a celeb fits the character perfectly.
Marissa Campbell Since each of your books have such wonderfully romantic elements, I’ll ask the same question I did of Wren Michaels … If your sweetheart wanted to sweep you off your feet, what would he need to do?
Margaret Madigan Ironically, I’m not the most romantic person in the world. If he cleaned the house, cooked dinner, sat down, and watched a movie or TV show with me, ALL WITHOUT COMPLAINING, I’d be happy.
Marissa Campbell lol
Marissa Campbell This or That … Wine or beer? Tall or dark or handsome? Roses or Lilies? Diamonds or Emeralds?
Rachael Stapleton I feel ya on that. With two kids and a house to clean, the most romantic thing my hubby can do is let me write.
Marissa Campbell Or nap.
A.b. Funkhauser We watch TV together.
Rachael Stapleton Since you also moonlight as a literary agent, do you find that helps or hurts you as author? I know lit agents have the reputation of being quite busy.
Margaret Madigan I don’t drink alcohol, so neither wine nor beer, lol. Tall, dark, AND handsome (why should I have to choose when I want them all???), of those two flowers I’d pick roses only because I like the scent, but I do like tiger lilies. And definitely emeralds over diamonds.
A.b. Funkhauser I’m still stuck on Zombies, sex, and stuff….
A.b. Funkhauser Diamonds? Emeralds? I like REAL ESTATE.
A.b. Funkhauser I hope those dayam zombies gargle before, you know, the sex…
Margaret Madigan Rachael, it’s tough because I always try to put my clients before myself. If I’m working on editing a client project, I try to do that before I write on my own. But often, when everyone’s out on submission and I don’t have any new projects going, it’s kind of quiet, so I have plenty of time. It’s a difficult balance sometimes, but lots of agents manage it.
A.b. Funkhauser You have to be very organized, I guess…
Marissa Campbell Looking for Margaret’s zombies, sex and stuff? You can check out her books here:
Margaret Madigan The zombies aren’t having sex, they’re mostly just atmosphere. Part of the setting and plot. Hero for Hire is available on Amazon, B&N, and anywhere fine books are sold. Merissa McCain and I are (slowly) working on book two, which is a retelling of Robin Hood, set in the same zombie apocalypse, just in Chicago instead of L.A.
Margaret Madigan A.b. – I’m a master of time management.
Marissa Campbell Last minute to comment …
A.b. Funkhauser I’m so glad the zombies aren’t having sex…
Margaret Madigan Yes. That would be gross.
A.b. Funkhauser Nice to meet you, Margaret Madigan
Heather M O’Connor I’m still stuck on Snow White in the zombie apocalypse!
Marissa Campbell Thank you so much for being here, Margaret Madigan!
Margaret Madigan Thank you! It’s nice to meet all of you, too. Thanks for attending Marissa’s party. At the end of this shindig, we need to pepper her with all the same questions about her book.
Marissa Campbell Drum Roll …. For a ebook of Hero for Hire …
Marissa Campbell DAWNA You’re on a winning streak! Congratulations!
Dawna Sweet!!!!!! Thank you!!!!!!
A.b. Funkhauser Woo hoo, Dawna.
Margaret Madigan Yay, Dawna!
Marissa Campbell Don’t forget to like Margaret’s pages, add her books on Goodreads … you know, send her some author love!