Buy here Thanks for visiting today, Margaret! She answered my burning holiday questions and told me about some of her new releases.
Who are you as an author – what is your central theme?
The theme that recurs in many of my stories is "The Ugly Duckling," the misfit character whose apparent flaw turns out to be a gift. It usually appears in the form of a protagonist who doesn't know the full truth about himself or herself and has to delve into the past to discover his or her true nature. I believe this is the personal Ur-myth of many SF and fantasy fans: "I don't really belong here. I'm actually an alien."
What part of the world do you hail from, and what is winter predicted to be like?
I live in Maryland. Thank Heaven, this winter is predicted to be nothing like last winter, when we had three record snowfalls in the span of less than two months. For a while I thought we would never see our mailbox again. So the weather is supposed to regress to the mean, with, I hope, a slightly less harsh year than usual to make up for the last one.
What is going to put the “merry” into your holidays this year?
In addition to my latest Ellora's Cave paranormal romance release, the restoration to health of two people in our family who've had major surgery recently.
Which of your books would you give as a gift this year and why?
WILD SORCERESS, the first book in the sword-and-sorcery trilogy written by my husband, Leslie Roy Carter, and me, because the third novel, ROGUE MAGESS, was published in April and we'd love for fantasy fans to get intrigued enough to read all three.
And then there’s the new release…
Which of your characters needs a gift the most and why?
Dean, the hero, because he has just escaped from an alien dimension. And now he has tentacles! He needs all the help he can get to adjust to living in our world again.
How would your main characters decorate their home for the holidays – and what holiday would they celebrate?
Alyce, the heroine and POV character, would decorate the Victorian house inherited from her aunt in the traditional mode of lavish greenery and colorful illumination for Christmas. Since Dean was brought up in the worship of the Lovecraftian Great Old Ones, he would call it Yule and light plenty of candles to ward off the darkness.
When someone reads your book, what feeling or knowledge do you want them to have at the end?
Love and trust don't depend on outward appearances.
Tell us about your new novella!
In "Song from the Abyss," published by Ellora's Cave, Alyce's boyfriend, Dean, vanished seven years ago when they were both eighteen. Now she returns to the house where her late aunt once used her as bait in a dark ritual. Finding a recording of arcane music, Alyce plays it and opens a gate into another universe. The song releases Dean, who has been trapped on the threshold between dimensions all this time—but he is no longer quite human. Can she trust the creature he has become?
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That's awesome that you and your husband wrote it together.