BBF: Spying on Author Margaret Taylor

Blogger Book Fair: Day 4

For those of you just finding your way to my blog for the BBF, welcome! Feel free to head over to my regular website to learn a bit about me and my writing and to enter a chance to win a digital copy of my first two novels in the Alex Crocker series, Unforeseen and Unveiled. 

But don’t board that ship, yet. First I’m hanging with sci-fi author Margaret Taylor who answered a few questions that I guarantee will have you chuckling!

0
false

<wunctuationKerning/>
<wrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>18 pt</wrawingGridHorizontalSpacing>
<wrawingGridVerticalSpacing>18 pt</wrawingGridVerticalSpacing>
<wisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>0</wisplayHorizontalDrawingGridEvery>
<wisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>0</wisplayVerticalDrawingGridEvery>

false
false
false

<wontGrowAutofit/>
<wontAutofitConstrainedTables/>
<wontVertAlignInTxbx/>

/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:”Table Normal”;
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-parent:””;
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:.0001pt;
text-align:center;
text-indent:.5in;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:”Times New Roman”;
mso-ascii-font-family:Cambria;
mso-fareast-font-family:Cambria;
mso-hansi-font-family:Cambria;
mso-bidi-font-family:”Times New Roman”;}

Tell us about a favorite character from a book.

Oh, that’s an easy one.
Her name is *takes deep breath* Erika John Starr Sisko Killkenny Jackson
MacPherson, Princess Tecka to the Royal House of Mutarians! But, you can just
call her EJ, it makes things soooo much easier!

She’s a recurring
character in the Spi-Corp series but she was actually “birthed” from a
Role-Playing group I hung out with back in the day. My friends and I used to
play all sorts of RPG’s on a weekly basis and one of our favorites was the
original Star Trek when it came out from FASA (It was introduced just after The
Next Generation started making it big and was a blast to play.) Anyway, I rolled
up EJ one night and she’s been a constant in my life ever since.

I played her for years
and eventually she became “so powerful” in the game that I had to turn her into
a Non-Player Character, or NPC. I was saddened by that and always wanted to
revive her. Well, as things go, my friends and I parted ways and I never got
much of a chance to “play” her anymore so when I started the Spi-Corp Series I
thought what better way to bring my girl back around than to introduce her into
the Universe As I See it.

I wanted to keep her as
she had been so, I created an entire race around her and there you are. She’s
now the Switzerland of the Stars and enjoys helping our Hero’s and Heroine’s
eventually find their HEA’s. 

She’s also an absolute
blast to write for! She’s snarky, sarcastic, blunt but at the same time kind,
caring, loving and very protective of anyone she considers family.

Where do you research for your books?

This is the beauty of
writing Sci-Fi’s and Paranormals. I don’t. I just make it up as I go. And to be
honest, I suck at research. It’s not that I can’t, I do in my everyday life for
the day job, but I hate it when writing. I’d much rather make up the
co-efficient of the ratio to the gravatronic field of a fourteen coil
Thallanuzian’s transport engine than look up a city in Illinois or the common
medical practices of the 1800’s…*laughs*

Now, that’s not to say I
don’t have the background info for the Universe I’ve created. I do. I have star
charts – actually the entire Universe is on graph paper hanging up above my
monitor – and I have notebooks full
of star systems, shipping lanes and planetary info, including the governments,
races and common cultural practices of each. But, I made all that up over the
years – some of it as I was writing the books themselves – so it’s not really
research if you know what I mean…

Do you use a pen name? If so, how did you come up with it?

I do. Margaret Taylor is
my pen name. It comes from a couple of places. My parents are dead and I’m an
only child. So, when I decided to start publishing this year, I wanted to pay
homage to my parents. Margaret comes from my mother – her first name and Taylor
comes from my father – his middle name. I loved them both dearly and I only
wish they’d lived long enough to see me get here.

What do you do to unwind and relax?

Believe it or not, I’m a
closet World of Warcraft junkie. I love that game and while I’ve set it aside
this year to get my publishing career off the ground, I plan to go back to it
eventually. 

How do you react to a bad review of your book?

I’m answering this one
because it’s come up recently in some of the Yahoo Groups and on a couple of
Facebook groups I belong too.

I’m fortunate in that I
haven’t had any bad reviews, yet. But, I just had my first free days – Book 1
of the Spi-Corp Series was free from July 13^th to the 17^th,
so I know they’re coming.

And I look at any review
this way: If you loved the book, great, wonderful, I’m so glad you enjoyed a
peek into the strangeness that is Moi. If you didn’t, well, it’s honestly no
skin off my teeth. I don’t expect everyone to love my work. I don’t love
everyone else’s either. Some things just aren’t my particular cup of tea and I
know not everyone loves Sci-Fi’s or Paranormals.

Now, if you loved it and
want to post a glowing review, please do so! I’m the first to do a snoopy dance
around the room. But if you didn’t, then tell me why you didn’t. If it’s
something I did, I want to know. For example, if the formatting was atrocious,
and that’s why you didn’t like it, please tell me, so I can correct it. If it
just wasn’t your cup of java, tell me that too. As I said, I don’t expect
everyone to love me. (I would like it, what Author wouldn’t, but I don’t expect
it.)

Just don’t be mean about
it, because I guarantee you, I’ll ignore a “mean” review quicker than you can
take a Spi-Corp Long Hauler to Phenom and back again. But, I’ll listen to a
constructive one just as quick and make the corrections in the next book –
after all, I’m not perfect. I’m human just like every other Author out there.

Ok, ok, I’m not really.
Just don’t tell the Intergalactic Protection Agency that I’m hiding out here on
Earth, alright? There is a bounty on my head don’t cha know!

Where are your fans most likely to find you hanging out?

Sadly, Facebook. Damn you
Facebookians and your distractiveness with your posts and your status’ and your
cute, furry animuls! Stop it already! Must. Write.

Seriously, this is
probably my biggest time sink. I love hanging out on FB, chatting, making random,
fly-by comments to what other people are doing and just generally being silly.
Of course, I do some promotion, but not a lot. I hate getting spammed and would
much rather spend my time chatting and commenting with others than reading
nothing but promo posts. Oh, and that damned Candy Crush Saga! *shakes fist*
It’s almost as bad as Angry Birds for distraction ability!

And since I talked about
her, I’m going to give you just a peek at EJ. As I said, she gets introduced in
Book 2 – which is out now on Amazon and B&N. It’s called Saving His Love and you’ll really get to
know EJ in Book 4 of the Series, but I thought I’d give you a taste here…

Excerpt – From Book 4 of The
Spi-Corp Series (As yet, Untitled.)

Former First Marine Gareth Mark had
hated to do that. He hated killing, really he did, but there was no choice. She’d
figured out he was a prisoner.

“Well, they can just add murder to the
list of charges against me,” he muttered to himself.

Sitting up, he set the plaz-pistol
aside and stared down at her lifeless body. She was pretty he had to admit
that, in an off-handed and commanding sort of way. Her red hair had
splayed out wildly around her, floating downward to lie still against the deck.
Her eyes had been a beautiful, dark green and under any other circumstances he
might have been tempted to mate with her. But the circumstances weren’t
different. He was a prisoner. A wrongfully convicted one, mind you, but still a
prisoner. And she’d said she was a Commander. Not a good mix…

He sighed, hanging his head. He hadn’t
wanted to kill her, but he wouldn’t go back. This was his only chance at
freedom. He muttered a curse, reaching for the uniform again and eyeing the
pool of blood spreading out beneath her body.

He’d have to dispose of it somehow,
someway but he didn’t know this ship. He’d never seen its design before and he
staggered upright, weaving from lack of food and blood loss. Scooping up the
medical kit, he limped his way toward what he hoped was the bridge.

***

EJ’s eyes snapped open and she groaned.
Sitting up, she rubbed at her chest, scratching the already healed wound. “Well,
I’d call that definitive proof,” she growled. She looked down, spying the hole
left from the blast. “Damn, this was one of my favorite t-shirts too!”

She poked the hole, working a finger
into it to press at the skin of her chest. He’d shot her. The bastard had
shot her and it’d hurt! Son of a…

She cut off the curse and rose.

***

“You know, where I come from its
considered bad form to bite the hand that feeds you.”

Her voice startled Gareth an hour later
and he spun around in the captain’s chair. The laze pistol came up, leveling on
her chest. The hole left from the first blast gave him an eerie flash of white,
perfectly unmarked skin. He blinked several times but it was still there. She
was leaning in the doorway, arms folded casually across her chest, legs crossed
at the ankles. The hat she’d worn earlier had disappeared and her flaming red
hair floated about, almost as if it had a life of its own. She smiled slowly,
though it never quite reached her eyes.

“It’s also an offense punishable by
death.” She waved a long-fingered hand airily. “At least according to the laws
I live by.”

He fired again, lifting the muzzle
slightly, aiming for her head. The bolt of energy never hit, though it parted
the cloud of smoke she left behind quite nicely. She reappeared directly in
front of him and wrenched the weapon from his hand before he could get off
another shot. He gulped as it disappeared from her palm, a smaller cloud of
sulfur dissipating in its wake.

He blinked in stunned silence. “What
are you lady?”

Gareth had heard of beings that had
access to things beyond his understanding, but this was the first one he’d run
into.

“I’m,” She paused, frowning slightly
like she was trying to find the right words. Then she smiled and the brilliance
of it nearly blinded him. “I’m complicated.”

He gulped. The feeling of nervousness
she inspired didn’t sit well in the pit of his stomach. “Does that really
explain what I just saw?”

She lifted her shoulders in a casual
shrug. “Not really but it’s the best you’re going to get.” She leaned close,
her nose almost touching his. “Why don’t we start at the beginning, hmm? You
can explain why you felt the need to shoot me.”

He narrowed his eyes trying to ignore
the sweet scent that wafted off of her. The coppery twang of dried blood
mingled with the smell of Kinza, a flower from his home world, rushed the blood
straight to his manhood. It stiffened, tightening against his jumpsuit and he
shifted uncomfortably.

“What’s in it for me? Why should I tell
you anything?”

She laughed but there was no humor in
it. She was pissed if the sparkle in her eyes was any indication. Not that he
could blame her. If someone killed him without a seemingly good reason it would
make for a very bad day in his opinion.

“Because if you don’t, I’ll send you
off into space to join your pistol.”

The words were said calmly enough but
he could see the truth in her eyes.

“Unlike me, I seriously doubt you could
survive deep space for more than a few seconds.”

“You’re a commander, isn’t sending a
prisoner off into space against regulations?” he asked.

Those deep, green eyes narrowed
calculatingly. “So you admit you’re a prisoner.”

It was a statement, not a question and
he nodded in response. “I am. As a commander, you can’t execute me without an
order to do so.”

She laughed again, without mirth and
stood up, crossing her arms over her chest. “And who said I was a commander?”

“You did,” he said, leaning back in the
chair. He had her and he knew it. He smiled confidently. “When you first
arrived on the Olakea, you introduced yourself as a Commander.”

She sniffed indignantly, waving a hand
in the air. “My name is Erika John Starr-Sisko Killkenny Jackson McPherson,
Princess Tecka to the Royal House of Mutarians.” The smile that graced her full
lips was smug. “I held the rank of Commander when I retired twenty years
ago.”

Thanks, Margaret, for providing the afternoon’s entertainment!

To connect with Margaret or to purchase her first novel check out her links:

To purchase A First Love: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00D5UWYC4

Social links:
Facebook: www.facebook.com/AuthorMargaretTaylor
Twitter: www.twitter.com/AuthorM_Taylor
Blog: www.margarettaylorsthoughts.blogspot.com
Website: www.margarettaylortx.com