Interview with Maggie Shayne!

Well Merry Christmas to each and every one of you!! I hope you're having a lovely day with your family and friends and of course your own person herds <g>

We've got Maggie Shayne joining us today. She's a fabulous lady and writes some crazy good books. I'm reading her Portal series now and loving it! So, kick back and check out our chat with Miss Maggie and leave her some Christmas love :)

Get the Portal Series! The prequel is FREE until the end of the month!

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Good morning Maggie! Thank you so much for joining us today to chat about your new series! I've got a couple questions for you if you don't mind :)

I'm reading your Portal Series right now and am loving it. Could you tell our followers who are just meeting you a little about the series and what inspired you to write about the lives of these three incredible women?

Well, I combined two of my truest, longest running passions in this trilogy. I've been fascinated by the Ancient Near East (Mesopotamia, especially Sumer and Babylon) for as twenty years now, and have made it an informal study of mine. For almost the same amount of time, I've been studying the craft of natural magic and healing, which is what modern day Witches practice. The temptation to combine Witchcraft with Ancient Babylon has been niggling in my brain for always. It was just waiting for the right storyline to occur to me, and now it has. The three Witches in the trilogy, Indira, Magdalena and Lilia, were sisters in Ancient Babylon, slaves in the King's harem.  Each of them fell in love, a crime in itself, but when their practice of magic was also uncovered, they were sentenced to die as sacrifices to the chief god, Marduk. A curse was enacted then that can only be reversed now, in the modern day, as each of these three women must remember who and what they were, and do their part to set the past right, and restore the soul of an innocent man.

You can really tell you love what you're writing too! Do you remember that show pop-up videos? Where they gave fun behind the scenes facts? Could you tell us 3 behind the scenes type things you think our followers would get a kick out of knowing about the series?

In book 1, MARK OF THE WITCH, Father Tomas is said to belong to a "little known Gnostic sect." But that's not how I invented him. He was completely Catholic, but my editor didn't think that would go over too well and made me change it. 

In book 2, DAUGHTER OF THE SPELLCASTER, I watched Rosemary's Baby, a 1968 Roman Polanski film, over and over, to get the creep factor just right. Several key scenes were heavily inspired by the film. 

In book 3, BLOOD OF THE SORCERESS, (on sale mid-January) even I didn't know who one key character really was until I wrote the end of the 1st draft. It surprised me, and I had to make it all make sense in the polishing phase. 

AND bonus: Ebook Prequel to The Portal Series, LEGACY OF THE WITCH is only free until the end of December. Find it at Kindle, Nook, or anywhere else ebooks are sold and grab it fast.

Oooo thanks for the heads up about the prequel! Of the characters in the series was there one you related to more than the others? Or that has a special spot in your heart?

I adore Indira's mouthy sarcastic wit. I named her after my daughter's wedding coordinator because I just loved her name. (That's a fourth Pop-up video moment, isn't it?) And then I took a character a lot like her and blew her up even bigger and badder for my next duet, a pair of connected paranormal thrillers.

LOL Yes it is and I love it! When you're writing do any of your real life experiences make their way into your stories? 

All of them. Seriously. Everything I do and see and think and experience, sooner or later ends up in a book. At least if it's at all funny, memorable, scary, witty, amusing, sweet, silly, romantic, heartbreaking, exciting or even slightly interesting.

With all of the things life throws at you what keeps you going? 

I choose to keep going. We are not in control of anything outside ourselves. However, we are the only ones in control of our reactions to those outside forces. We choose to be miserable and say it's because of our circumstances, or we can choose to be happy in spite of whatever is going on. It's always our choice. I choose to do what fulfills me and brings me joy. If bad things happen around me, I focus even more strongly on the things that fulfill me and bring me joy. It's always always always a choice.

What a wonderful attitude Maggie! With so many holidays right upon us do yall have anything exciting in the plans or traditions you're looking forward to?

I love the holidays. I love spending time with family and buying gifts for children, and doing something kind and anonymous for someone in need who will never know who did it. We've decorated our house utterly. It glows like the Griswalds'. I create atypical Christmas Villages by mixing regular ones with my Universal Horror Classics miniatures, so that the monsters are stalking the carolers and so on. It's great fun.  

Ahhh a woman after my own heart. I love the holidays too! Thank you so much for joining us today Maggie! It was a real treat :) How about a little lightning round and well let you get back to celebrating with the family :) 

• If you could be any paranormal being what would you pick? Werewolf. I'd love to transform into a sleek wolf and run through the forests by night and howl at the moon!

• Strangest thing in your purse right now? A compass. I always carry one in case I need to cast a magic circle on the run, and don't know which way is North.

• Cats or Dogs? Dogs. I have a cat and adore her, but I know there are cat people and dog people and I'm definitely a dog person. Two mastiffs and a bulldog.

• City life or country living? Country all the way!

• Favorite book villain? Mordecai Young, and yes, he's one of my own but damn, he was powerful. (Thicker than Water, Colder than Ice, Darker than Midnight.)

• Favorite word? Batshit. It just covers so much.  *lol yes, yes it does ;)*

• Best cooking disaster? 19, new crock pot, recipe book with something missing, and hamburger soup. Any questions? ;)  *Niiiiice!*

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Some extra little bits from Maggie :) 

For more information on The Portal Series, visit the website: www.ThePortalBooks.com The original song behind the video for book 1 is also available on mp3. Links are all on the site.

Free Portal Series Trading Cards are available too, sets 1 and 2 are now ready. Details on the site.

MaggieShayne.com has just been re-designed and re-launched.

My new BLISS BLOG is up and running, just click the Bliss Blog link at MaggieShayne.com

I have the most positive, uplifting place on Facebook And I'm on Twitter.

Happy happy holidays, and may your 2013 be your best year ever!  ~Maggie

The Portal Has Opened....www.ThePortalBooks.com

Maggie Shayne is best known as the New York Times bestselling author of more than 50 novels, nearly 30 novellas, a former soap writer, (The Guiding Light, As the World Turns,) a former advice columnist (Shayne on You,) and RITA Award winner. But what’s less known about her is that she’s been a practicing Witch for almost as long as she’s been a published author.

Known within the Craft of the Wise as LadyHawk the Mythmaker, Maggie studied in the Black Forest Circle Seminary for three years, earning her 1st, 2nd, and 3rd degree elevations there. A licensed minister of Wicca, Maggie was later made a Craft Elder, and co-founded a new Wiccan tradition called RavenMyst Circle. Her coven, The Coven of the Redtail Hawk, turned out five new high priestesses, several of whom went on to form covens of their own, and making Maggie, according to the Old Ways, A Witch Queen.

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For extra points in the Grand Prize Drawing check out our interview with Maggie and leave her some love! 

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