Author Spotlight: Megan Mackie

• a playwright and author of urban fantasy with a dash of cyberpunk

Readers! Let’s give a good hearty welcome to Megan Mackie

I am a warrior princess from the lost civilization of the Amazons. I am a space captain on a mission to further humankind’s understanding of the final frontier. I am a badass paranormal slayer of monsters protecting my friends and community from things that go bump in the night. Occasionally I write books in Chicago instead of watching TV or being a mom/wife/shameless self-promoter.

Megan, thanks for agreeing to be here today. Most interviews start off with bios and such, and while I’ll get to that as always, let’s start with the important stuff!

If you could have any pet (real/fantasy/no-allergies/no worries about feeding it) what would it be?

Phoenix. I relate to this majestic creature who lives life to the fullest and takes risks and when it fails, it burns and hurts and crashes, but then comes back and chooses to live again knowing it will hurt again.

Such a primal and elemental creature. Absolutely made for those who have faced second chances and risen from their own failures.

What do you write and how did you get started?

My current series is The Lucky Devil Series, starting with The Finder of the Lucky Devil. It is urban fantasy combined with cyberpunk, since both magic and advanced technology exist in this world. Like all things, it started with a dream that I then chewed on the rest of the day.

I was a playwright at the time and I came up with this really good, juicy scene and I decided I needed to find the story that justified this scene happening, so I wrote a book during NANOWRIMO, shopped it around and then realized I needed to write another book set earlier, which became The Finder of the Lucky Devil. I am now trying to write back to that scene and I think it may be in book 4 at this time.

I definitely started early as well, but I don’t think I was half as committed as you were! Nor as brave, to submit and send your works out at that age. It’s clearly paid off for you. Congratulations!

What do you like to read?

I read a lot of urban fantasy prior, now I’ve been reading a lot of whatever interests me. Because of the numerous cons I go to through Bard’s Tower selling my books next to people like Jim Butcher, Claudia Grey, and Kevin Anderson, I’ve started expanding the genres I read and what I’m looking for now has also changed. Before I just wanted to be entertained and now it’s like checking under the hood of different sports cars.

I know I enjoy my urban fantasy these days, as well. What an amazing bunch of people to get to rub shoulders with!

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that doesn’t work for you.

Make a detailed outline

Make a detailed outline. I find if I do this, I get bogged down by it, at least in the beginning, because I would do that instead of writing the story, or I would start to write the story but too soon chuck the outline I worked so hard on in favor of something juicier so now I do a hybrid thing where I bullet point and only a few scenes ahead with a vague idea where I want it to end up-ish and let my creative inspiration battle it out for words on the page.

Ha! As a self-professed ‘plantser’, I’m a huge fan of the very light outline that you ignore until you get stuck. I’ve written from a more elaborate outline before and the story suffered for it. I do need an end goal, but the shape of that often changes.

Name one commonly accepted piece of writing advice that they can pry out of your cold, dead hands.

Brackets

The world’s greatest thing. Don’t know what the perfect word to use is, put what you mean in brackets and move on. Either you change it later or what you put in brackets was right all along and you keep it. Cut writer’s block issues in half right there. Dithering about perfect words is pointless anyway, chances are your editor will change them, lol.

Key for getting through a rough draft, so you can start to see the shape of the story!

Shameless Self-Promotion time!

The Finder of the Lucky Devil has just been re-released through eSpec Books.

The only thing more dangerous than using your magic to help a cybernetic spy find a missing criminal is being the criminal he’s looking for…

When Rune Leveau is approached by a charmingly dangerous, cybernetically-altered, corporate spy, St. Benedict, his request seemed simple: use her magical Talent to help him find an elusive criminal named Anna Masterson. But Rune has a dangerous secret: She IS Anna Masterson.

Over the past six years, St. Benedict has searched for the Masterson Files, a computer program rumored to do the impossible—cast magic spells. The technology could reshape the world. His last hope is this Finder of the Lucky Devil, but the Finder is proving difficult… and St. Benedict isn’t going to take no for an answer.

Set in an alternate Chicago, where technology and magic are in competition with each other, this fast-paced cat-and-mouse chase makes The Finder of the Lucky Devil a welcome addition to your urban fantasy/cyberpunk library.

Also, check out two related books, Death and the Crone and Saint Code: The Lost. There is one more existing book in the series that will re-release later this year and that is The Saint of Liars.

All of the books are set in cyber-magical Chicago, but they are split into two related series: The Lucky Devil novels (Finder and Saint) deal more with the magical side of the city…or how it intersects with the tech; and the Saint Code series (currently just The Lost) deals primarily with the cyberpunk side of the series. There are two more books currently in the works, The Devil’s Day, which is the sequel to The Saint of Liars, and Saint Code: Constable.

Website | Facebook Page | Twitter | Instagram