Giveaway & Interview with "WILD HUNT" Author, Margaret Ronald

GIVEAWAY: Urban Fantasy author, Margaret Ronald has dropped by to talk about her latest release, "Wild Hunt"> She has brought along four (4) copies to giveaway. to enter leave a comment including your email. Giveaway is open to all an runs until midnight January 17, 2010. Remember: No Email. No Entry. Good Luck!

Title: Wild Hunt
Author: Margaret Ronald
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Publisher: Avon Books
Release: January 12, 2010
Format: Print
But Now!

Book Description:

Genevieve Scelan thought she was done with magic.

She was wrong.

Sure, six weeks earlier Evie—bike messenger, supernatural tracker, and avid Red Sox fan—had been instrumental in bringing down the Fiana, the organization of magicians that had ruled Boston's undercurrent for hundreds of years. But now they were gone, Boston could breathe easy again, the Sox had a chance at the pennant, and Evie was ready to relax.

Except it turns out that when you take down the guy on top, everyone assumes you're going to fill his spot, and now Evie finds herself at the center of a whole lot of unwelcome magical attention. On top of that, a new client needs her to call up a family ghost and ask about a stolen inheritance; Evie's friend Nate has a supernatural problem of his own; and a legendary pack of hounds has been terrorizing Boston's undercurrent. And try as Evie might to deny the legacy that runs through her blood, when the Hunt is called, the Hound must run . . .

Browse Inside Wild Hunt by Margaret Ronald

Get to know the Author of the Day.

Interview with Margaret Ronald.

CSM: Please help me welcome Harper Collins Publishing author, Margaret Ronald to Over the Edge. Margaret, my readers and I are so psyched that have dropped by to spend time with us. Thanks so much!

Hello, Christine! Thank you very much for inviting me!

CSM: Tell us more about yourself. Readers love learning new and interesting things about an author, and this would give you a chance to make them feel close.

Well, let's see. I'm from a small town in east central Indiana, although I've been living in greater Boston for...good heavens, more than ten years now. These days I work for a mutual fund company and commute into the city, traveling over the Longfellow Bridge every day.

I am, in many ways, a total nerd: I've been reading fantasy and science fiction since I was a kid, I play video games and RPGs (or at least I used to, before writing took up all my free time!), and I really love geeking out over new shows or strange music or anything else. At a party, given the choice between dancing out in the front room or talking in the kitchen with a small group of friends, I'll usually take the kitchen. (Unless Rock Band is going on, in which case I'll be up front angling for a spot.)

And I just got married this summer to my boyfriend of twelve years. Even though we've been together for so long, it still feels new and strange to actually be married. Apparently we're still annoyingly cute about it.

CSM: Besides being a total book junkie I’m also a music junkie. When I’m writing I have a sound track playing either in my mind or in my cd player. What’s your sound track? What type of music is on it?

While I tend to tune out music while I'm actually writing (which can be dangerous if I have my entire library on shuffle -- I've surfaced once or twice to realize with horror that I was working to the music of William Shatner), I put together several playlists specifically for Evie's stories. Strangely, they tend to be most useful when I'm not working, when I'm traveling and mulling over the story.

There's a lot of Dropkick Murphys in there -- particularly their song "The Legend of Finn Mac Cumhaill" -- some Ashley MacIsaac (Cape Breton fiddle music with a twist), and, for Wild Hunt in particular, some Poe and Kate Bush. They're not choices that would make much sense to anyone outside the story, but for me they flow one into the other.

CSM: How would readers find out more about you?

Well, there's my blog at http://mronald.wordpress.com, but I'm not a very good blogger, unfortunately. I do contribute pieces to The Magic District at http://magicdistrict.wordpress.com, ranging from serious discussion of roles in fantasy to very silly text adventures, and my co-bloggers there are well worth a read. Other than that, I'm happy to answer email, if a bit slow.

CSM: When did you write your first book?

If we're counting the terrible first efforts, then that would be in seventh grade. Please, let's not count those.

The first book I completed, revised, and sent out in hopes of publication was finished in 2001, but I think I was still flying blind. Spiral Hunt was, in some ways, my first serious effort, the first time I knew what tools I had to create a story and how to use them. That was mostly because of my experience with the writers' workshop Viable Paradise and my time with the writers' group BRAWL, both of which taught me to polish my craft. I owe them a lot.

CSM: Where and when do you write?

First thing in the mornings, ideally. I have a full-time job, so I try to get my writing done before I leave, so that I still have energy for it. If I don't manage to get up in time, or if I'm behind schedule, I write in the evenings. And, of course, I've got longhand drafts and scribbled-on pages to work on over my lunch break or on my commute.

CSM: What is your must-have book for writing?

It's hard to say. I found both Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott and Steering the Craft by Ursula K. Le Guin to be useful in different ways, but when I'm actually writing the books I need on hand are always the ones in which there's one obscure fact or element that I forgot to note when I was doing research.

CSM: What is your advice for aspiring writers?

Write and keep writing, no matter what. At the same time, you need both readers who'll support you -- say, the friends who love what you're writing and want more -- and readers who will give honest and useful criticism. Writers' groups and workshops can help, so long as you know how to use that criticism once you have it. Don't be afraid to change, to branch out, to go back to old work and reconfigure it into something new. But whatever you do, keep writing.

CSM: What genre(s) do you write?

Generally fantasy, though I wander into a number of different subgenres. Spiral Hunt and Wild Hunt are both urban fantasy, but I've written short stories in high-fantasy secondary worlds, historical fantasy. I've even got a steampunk short story coming out in Beneath Ceaseless Skies soon.

CSM: Among that you’ve written which is your favorite book and why?

Wild Hunt, probably. Spiral Hunt was fun, but in some ways it was very much a first effort. Wild Hunt is in many ways a better-constructed book, although it has its own new set of flaws. And I suspect the one I'm working on now will supersede Wild Hunt and provide a new batch of problems as well!

CSM: Tell us more about your upcoming Harper Collins release, “ Wild Hunt”.

Wild Hunt follows Evie Scelan, a woman who can track anything by scent, through the magical undercurrent of Boston. Before, the undercurrent was kept in check by one large gang; now it's a stew of chaos with no one on top. Not only does Evie have to deal with a lot of people assuming that she's now taking charge, she has a new client with a ghost problem, friends with magical troubles of their own, and a dead man's grudge against her. To find her way through this mess, she'll have to summon the ghosts of an entire cemetery, chase down unwelcome family connections, and ultimately discover that she is not the only hound in Boston's undercurrent.

CSM: Any new projects, works in progress?

Right now I'm working on the sequel to Wild Hunt -- the title's changed so many times that any name I gave you would be wrong. In the same way that Wild Hunt followed the consequences of Spiral Hunt, this book explores the fallout from the end of Wild Hunt, specifically the bargains Evie has made, the duties that have fallen to her, and the price of magic.

I'm also tooling around with a few new, entirely different short stories, but nothing might come of them. We'll see.

CSM: I want to take this time to thank Margaret Ronald for stopping by and sharing with my readers and myself a little bit about yourself. This sure has been loads of fun. I hope you enjoyed being here as much as we enjoyed having you.

I loved having the chance to speak with you. Thanks very much!