Author Interview with Rosemary Clement-Moore

If you read my review of the Maggie Quinn books, by Rosemary Clement-Moore, you know how much I love her. So imagine my glee when she agreed to let me interview her, which was just a thinly veiled excuse to grill her about her books and fangirl all over her. Getting to post it here is just a bonus. ;)

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1. So, the BIG QUESTION: Will we see more Maggie? I know you are currently working on a non-Maggie book, which sounds awesome, but I am holding out hope that we haven't seen the last of Maggie, et al. If you did continue, will you have to freeze the characters in time (kinda like Nancy Drew) to extend the series? I'm curious as to how the college-relationship-growth progression would affect future books.

I haven't sold any more Maggie books, which isn't to say I won't someday. I know Maggie et. al. are going to have many many more adventures, the question is whether they'll be chronicled in books. Or Young Adult books, since, as you alluded, they've been aging and could grow out of the age group. (Which is the one drawback of a YA series, unless you do the 'freezing' thing.)

I originally envisioned this as an ongoing 'monster of the week' series, very much like Nancy drew, were the characters might not change very much as they faced demons. But look what happened! I feel like the characters' growth, both their personal evolution and their relationships, is such an integral part of the story. I can't imagine putting that in stasis. (Which is not to say I couldn't slow the timeline so the next (hypothetical) stories take place all over one summer, or a month, or a week.)


2. Are you tired of the Nancy Drew/Buffy the Vampire Slayer comparisons? Did you cringe when you read my review? It's meant as high praise. I think I read my copy of "Death By Design" until the binding gave out. #NancyDrewForever ;)





Um, *I* pitched this book as "Nancy Drew meets Buffy." So, no. I mean, I love Nancy. She was smart, brave and resourceful, and Ned Nickerson rescued her fewer times over the whole series than some heros rescue some girls in the space of one BOOK! And Nancy rescued HIM almost as often. And Buffy is an icon of my generation. Although sometimes I feel like *every* strong, young female character who encounters supernatural creatures gets compared to Buffy, so it's a bit of a cliche. But I own it. There are a lot worse things to be compared to.

3. I really enjoyed the progression of Maggie and Lisa's friendship through the three books. I feel like forgiveness and loyalty are rare commodities sometimes, and it's really nice to see both the struggle and the payoff. Do you see Lisa's character ever coming to term with her skills? Do you think she'll ever, truly, forgive herself for her mistakes?



Ah Lisa. She was supposed to be a minor character, some comic relief, and the more I wrote her, the more I loved her. And as the books went on, I knew that I wanted the girls' friendship to be just as important as the romantic relationship. Because your girlfriends SHOULD be just as important at that stage in your life. (Maybe always.) So it had to be tested, and they emerged from the fire with their bond transformed into something much more complex than besties who hang out at the mall.

Lisa is on her own journey, and we get glimpses of it in the books, but I think it's an ongoing thing. Maggie's forgiveness is a kind of absolution in Lisa's mind, but she also feels the rest of her life will be atonement. And oh. my. gosh. I hope I get to write that story someday.

4. Justin. Just Justin. I love him. #geeklove. That is all.







Um... I hope you're not expecting disagreement from me.

5. Okay, that's not all. THANK YOU for giving us a member of Maggie's team whose "gift" is one we could all possess: intelligence and open-mindedness. (Yes, I know these last two weren't questions. It just felt right to keep up the numbers.)




Intelligence and open-mindedness are the best superpowers ever. So, you're welcome.

6. Do you have a favorite character (other than Maggie) that you've written?







Ooooo... I tend to love them all, even the ones that have harder shells, like Lisa and Sylvie, the heroine of The Splendor Falls. Sylvie was SO miserable at the beginning of the book, and she went on such a transformative journey, that she became very dear to me in a completely different way than Maggie, who is fairly self-actualized, if only by comparison.

But this book I'm working on now... Just wait until you meet Amy and Ben. *cackles madly*


7. Maggie's background is Catholic, and in some ways I think familiarity with the concept of a Heaven and Hell probably makes it easier for me (as a reader) to understand how she's viewing the events around her. Were you concerned about bringing a religious aspect into your books?

This is just me-- if I'm going to talk about demons, or really more to the point, Evil (capital E), how can I completely avoid mentioning the architecture humans have in place for fighting it, i.e. religion. And if you're going to have Evil, why dodge the question of whether there are similar forces of Good (capital G) in the universe?

The problem is, it's a touchy subject. I try to avoid coming off as dogmatic, or worse, preachy. (Maggie does say that not all of "Team Good" may wear the same jerseys.) Most of the supernatural structure of the novels fits (with some imagination) into the theology of my upbringing, but I'm a fiction writer, not an apologist, so I only have to answer to my conscience, not an Inquisition. (Um, I hope.) In the end, religion is how Maggie tries to fathom the unfathomable, but I think (hope) it's clear in the books that individual choices and actions are more important than religious affiliation.

8. Do you believe in demons and angels and general forces of Good and Evil? If so (I do, so this is an issue for me) was it hard for you to write and research any parts of these books? Like with the computer scene, did you fear opening yourself to something negative during your writing?

I have been working way too long on this answer. I was going to talk about how this is all made up for the purposes of storytelling, and free will trumps everything else, and blah blah blah rationalitycakes, when I realized that while I'm perfectly okay with Googling "protective magical charms," I wouldn't want to type "how to summon a demon" into a search engine.

Go figure. It's more about an idea than a reality. I'm less worried about a "real" demon than the real person who thinks it would be cool idea to summon one.

I believe that there are forces in the universe for good and evil, but that they are utterly beyond anything we would expect them to look like, maybe even beyond our ability to wrap our head around. I think that's why we, as artists, describe them in paint and words, to try and get a handle on what is obscure and profound.

But we humans, unfortunately, are capable of plenty of evil on our own, without any help from supernatural sources. I also think we're capable of extraordinary good. I chose to focus on the latter.

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Thanks for interviewing me! Hope some of those last answers weren't too long. Believe it or not, I don't get asked those things very often.

Rosemary

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Alright, so if you didn't love her before, how could you not after that? Just the right amount of smart, funny, and evil. *shakes fist at references to new characters and new books* I hope you're reading her books and loving them as much as I am. Visit her blog at http://readrosemary.blogspot.com/ and join me in the "Cheer Rosemary Along" club!

Lazy Book Club Discussion: The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

*waving* Hi everyone! I hope you’re ready for a spirited discussion this week regarding our new favorite Faery Story, The Iron King.

If you have not read this book, DO NOT CLICK THE LINK BELOW. There are giant spoilery spoilers of spoilerdom ahead! I'm talking to YOU! DON'T DO IT!

Read more »

Lazy Book Club for July: Shiver & Linger

Lazy Book Club for July will be both Shiver and Linger by Maggie Stiefvater!

Now, you don’t have to read both, you can comment on either book, but we’ll be discussing both at the end of the month. AND? Linger is already available at some booksellers! My copy is on it’s way from Barnes & Noble. I also read that some stores have it in stock! Go! Buy! Read!

And then come back and tell us what you thought, as always.

Lazy Book Club for June: The Iron King UPDATE

I really hope you've all had a chance to read The Iron King and loved it as much as we did. However, since this is a holiday weekend for us here in the US (and since Rain has had her hands full at home lately *waving to the new baby*) we've decided to extend the commenting deadline to midnight tomorrow, July 3rd.

So, if you haven't finished yet, SPEED READ! (Just kidding.) Take it slowly and enjoy it! If you have finished but haven't had a chance to comment yet, fill out the form NOW! And don't forget, by filling out the form you're entered to win a Whimsical Fic-ery mug of your choice! C'mon! DEW EET!!! I've made it easy and put the link below:





Happy 4th of July to our American Readers! Enjoy the holiday and read a good book or two! See ya next week!

Reading Rain-bow: Prom Dates From Hell

Hey everyone! I'm giving Rain the day off because I read an AWESOME series while on vacation last week and just HAD to recommend it to y'all. I realize that that might seem like overly high praise, but trust me on this one. If Nancy Drew and Buffy the Vampire Slayer had a psychic love child, and then wrote about her, this would be the result.

"Prom Dates from Hell" is the first of three books featuring Maggie Quinn, a reluctant psychic who has inherited "the Sight" from her Irish grandmother. She's fought and denied her ability all of her life. Finally, during her senior year of high school, bad things seem to be happening all around her, and turning a blind eye to her gift could leave her dead. How do you go from flat-out denial to fighting the forces of Evil-with-a-capital-E?


Sound intriguing? Exactly. Maggie is funny, self-deprecating, smart, heroic, and in way over her head. But she's not exactly alone. There's her snarky-best-friend Lisa, who is a self-described "evil genius." (Which I LOVE. I can respect some straight up Dark Side appreciation.) Throughout the three books their relationship shifts somewhat, but I love the exploration of loyalty and friendship that Rosemary Clement-Moore takes us on. Maggie's parents are very real characters who don't overwhelm the book, but provide a realistic support system, and Gran, well... I love Gran. You will too. I wish she'd read my tea leaves.


And, of course, there's a love interest. He's Maggie's perfect balance and I refuse to spoil it by saying anything but, um, yeah. Nancy and Ned have nothing on Maggie and I'm-not-spoiling-by-telling-you-his-name. So, go read these books! (That's right, there are three in the series so far.) There's action (near death experiences and demonic invasions!), there's romance (uh, he-who-I-won't-name, anyone?), and there's mystery (did I mention demonic forces? I did?) They're fun, fast, and really really good. (AND, if you've read them and have questions for the author, let me know. She's graciously agreed to do an author interview for the blog!)


Find Rosemary Clement-Moore's blog here: http://readrosemary.blogspot.com/
Follow her on Twitter here: http://twitter.com/rclementmoore
Links to purchase her books here: http://www.rosemaryclementmoore.com/readrosemary/Books.html

Walking the Walk

So girls, I was reading a post the other day by the ever-amusing Merry Sisters of Fate. They were discussing why it is okay for us old folks to watch teen movies, but not read teen books. Tess brought up the "walk of shame into the YA section," (been there) and Maggie mentioned how women come to her signings and apologize for not being a teen.

At first I was thinking that I don't feel bad about reading YA. I mean, I LOVE it (obviously), but then I realized that to my non-YA-reading friends I often qualify my reading choices by saying, "It's all my mama brain can handle these days." Ouch. I've said that a lot. And really, it takes away from the complexity that is YA lit these days. Sometimes I find myself re-reading certain passages a few times to make sure I *get* what just happened. Other times I am blown away by a surprise twist that the author throws out. YA Lit doesn't mean easy, but I myself am guilty of shamefully bowing my head and pretending that it is just that - easy and fluffy.

The sisters do ask a good question - WHY do we do this?

I'm completely ashamed to admit this, but I'm guilty of having just done the "closet read" last weekend. You know what I'm talking about, ladies. When you're sitting on the airplane and you position the book on your lap so that the only way anyone can see the cover is to pry it out of your dead, cold hands.

Of course, I am an equal opportunity offender. I've taken more dust jackets off Charlaine Harris novels than I have YA books. Maybe that's because I always default to the "I'm a teacher" line if anyone questions my YA selections. Ew, I'm cringing as I'm typing that. After all, the only excuse we should need for reading what we read is because we like it, right?

Exacty! I regularly find myself saying, "I have a degree in English Lit, so I've read all the classics. It's okay for me to read this stuff right now." I'm cringing too. "This stuff," however, also includes the Charlaine Harris books . My Walk of Shame is not limited to the YA section. Before True Blood mania hit, I would take my Southern Vampire Series books up to the front of the store quite quickly and place it face down at the register. But, you're right - these books are what we like - what's the shame in that? And, they're good.


Okay, I have to admit that I don't actually feel shame. I mean, I'm sure I'm CAPABLE of being shamed, but not by my reading choices. I love to read, and I read a lot. I refuse to hide what I'm reading because it doesn't fit into the genre society has decided a 30ish mom should be reading.

Of course, I also refuse to hide the fact that I'm a video game girl, and I was known to wear green nail polish and anime tee shirts all through college. So, yeah. Maybe you should just continue this conversation without me. *runs off to teach her kids what a Moogle is*

When I was reading and swooning about Twilight, a lot of my friends razzed me about it. Then the movie came out, and suddenly all the naysayers were Facebooking about how tired they were because they had stayed up all night to finish reading the book. It's as though they needed validation to read it, and the movie franchise gave them the excuse they needed.


Well, that's a sort of group mentality that affects all of society. It's like if all the popular girls in school started playing Dungeons and Dragons, then suddenly it'd be "acceptable" to play it too. And who, in today's culture, represents the popular girls better than Hollywood?



*going into shock* You mean it wasn't acceptable to play Dungeons and Dragons? Does this mean I wasn't as popular as I thought I was?!

But it was cool to play Cthulu, right? RIGHT?!



*confused face* Cthulu? Dungeons and Dragons? What the hell are you guys talking about? *smirk*

But you do make a good point. Once Twilight became a major phEEEnomenon (Thank you Oprah for ruining that word forEVAH), it did seem more socially acceptable to read and love those books. And, I think it's also more acceptable to read YA in general after Twilight. The girls in my book sharing club don't give me too much trouble about me only sharing YA books. In fact, they love them too. They just don't have to walk into the YA section - they all borrow mine. Cheaters.

So, what about you all? Do you do the Walk of Shame into the YA section at your local bookstore? Do you order online to avoid The Shame? Do you make up excuses like Cher and I, or do you flounce The Shame like Leigh? Do tell!

Reading Rain-bow: Paper Towns by John Green

So, you may have noticed that we are posting a bit sporadically here at Whimsical Fic. Sorry about that, but we do have good excuses. Mine is about 6 months old and is very demanding when it comes to her mama. (And I couldn't be happier about it!) Leigh is off on a fun-filled family vacation (and they haven't killed the kids yet, so all is going well). So, thanks for bearing with us during this crazy time! We'll be back on track shortly.

While on my trip, I read the final installment of the Percy Jackson series (LOVED it) and Paper Towns by John Green. (I would have read more, but I blame the awesome entertainment selections on Emirates airlines - I was finally able to watch Glee! Well, that and the complimentary drinks. *ahem*)

I picked up Paper Towns based on a recommendation by @heatherwpetty on our Kissing Scenes post. In the comments she mentioned it had a good one, so of course I had to read. The kissing scene was great, but so was the rest of the book- bonus!

Synopsis from Goodreads:

When Margo Roth Spiegelman beckons Quentin Jacobsen in the middle of the night—dressed like a ninja and plotting an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows her. Margo’s always planned extravagantly, and, until now, she’s always planned solo. After a lifetime of loving Margo from afar, things are finally looking up for Q . . . until day breaks and she has vanished. Always an enigma, Margo has now become a mystery. But there are clues. And they’re for Q.

I was a little hesitant about getting this book because it isn't my usual type of YA book. As you all know, I generally stay within the paranormal when it comes to YA, but I am happy I stepped out of my comfort zone for this one.

This book is basically an intensive character-study paired with a coming-of-age theme. I loved it. I do have a soft-spot for coming-of-age books, and this one nailed that theme. Surpassed it, really, because Green's characters surprised me numerous times throughout the book. And the characters are really wonderful. I'm pretty sure my favorite character is Radar. His eccentric parents made me laugh out loud (even though they don't actually show up much, or at all?, in the book).

This is a great book for summer reading. It's funny (in unexpected ways) and interesting and will keep you guessing for sure. I definitely recommend it.