Maggie Shayne Interview

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"New Worlds Are Our Oyster."

P.E.A.R.L

by Barbara Sheridan
Leslie Tramposch: Managing Editor - Sara Reyes: Marketing and Publicity

To submit articles of interest to our readers Email Barbara.

April 2002 Issue

Love by the Light of the Moon!

NEW! PNR Poll: We Want More............Vampire Romance!

Update: Maggie Shayne

Maggie Shayne has published more than 30 novels, and numerous novellas and articles. She’s written for Silhouette Shadows and Intimate Moments, Avon Books, St. Martin’s Press, Berkley, and MIRA. In addition, she has contributed storylines to GUIDING LIGHT and AS THE WORLD TURNS. In November 2000 she was offered the position of co-head writer of CBS’s GUIDING LIGHT, but she turned the offer down in favor of her career as a novelist when she realized it would be impossible to do both.

Maggie is a six-time RITA Award nominee, and a two-time winner of Romantic Times’ Career Achievement Award. She has also garnered two Golden Leaf Awards (New Jersey Romance Writers) and a Readers Choice Award (OK. Romance Writers) among many, many others.

Her books consistently appear on the Ingrams A-list, as well as on bestseller lists compiled by Waldenbooks, B. Dalton, and Amazon.com. She has hit the USA Today top 150 three times. Her first foray into single title romantic suspense, THE GINGERBREAD MAN spent four straight weeks on the Barnes & Noble mass market bestseller list, topping at #14 and garnered a stellar review from Publishers Weekly, which said,

"Shayne's haunting tale is intricately woven, and her quirky supporting characters-- including a retired horror movie star, his mysterious young niece and an omnipresent Native American physician--will capture the reader's sympathy. A moving mix of high suspense and romance, this haunting Halloween thriller will propel readers to bolt their doors at night!"

In addition, THE GINGERBREAD MAN was highlighted in the Doubleday Book Club as the editor’s “Personal Choice.” Doubleday romance editor Erika Tsang’s blurb read, “‘Maggie Shayne dazzles! She’s on her way to the stars!’ raves Suzanne Forster, author of Angel Face, and I can’t agree more!”

Recently Maggie marked a career milestone when her recent title TWILIGHT HUNGER hit #32 on the which hit the New York Times Extended List. Her next goals are to hit the main list, and then the top ten, and then #1.

Maggie Shayne lives in central NY State, and can be reached through her representative, Eileen Fallon, Fallon Literary Agency, 240 West 35th St., Suite 500, New York, NY 10001.

BREAKING NEWS: We've just learned that DESTINY, book three in Maggie Shayne's Immortal Witch series, has been nominated for a RITA in the Paranormal Romance Category!

An Interview with Maggie Shayne

PNR: Maggie in your career you have published over 30 novels and many novellas. The last time we spoke it was to discuss you popular new Immortal Witch series. Before that you were known among sub-genre fans as a pioneer in vampire romance. Your Wings in the Night series had its beginnings in the Silhouette Shadow line? What was the focus of this series? Why was it
discontinued?

Maggie S: Shadows was a paranormal category romance line. The stories were dark, edgy, taut, tense, and spooky as hell. It was discontinued for the same reason any line ever is: sales were low. I think many factors contributed to its demise, including that it might have been a few years before its time. I hope Silhouette will try a line like it again soon.

PNR: I think you may be right. Over the years die hard fans continued to clamor for these contemporary gothic style scenarios. Are you pleased to see the series reissued as Dreamscapes?

Maggie S: I'm always happy to see books reissued. It means more readers get to
see them, those who missed them (and many, if not most readers did miss them) the first time around get a second chance, and it helps the authors make a bit more income from the books.

PNR: Your own fans never stopped asking for more, and the Wing series continued to be issued in many forms over the years. There was support for your work at Silhouette?

Maggie S: If you read the dedication in Twilight Hunger, you'll know that Leslie
Wainger has fought for Shadows, for paranormal books in general, and especially hard for my Wings in the Night from day one. Long before I even became aware of it, she was in there pitching ways to get these stories out to more readers and to keep the series going. Others in house have been instrumental as well. When a new vamp book goes to the editorial offices, it gets passed around because so many of the editors are also fans. I am incredibly grateful for a staff with such good taste. <g>

PNR: There are a least a dozen vampire romances scheduled for release this year. This is quite a turn around. While fans have remained loyal over the years, what do you think has influenced the publishing world to believe that there is a sufficient market for these novels at this time?

Maggie S: I had no idea there were a dozen vamp novels due out this year. I did sense the "paranormal slump" was over. But now everyone wants them cause they're suddenly hot again. I just hope they don't make the usual mistake of glutting the market with so-so books just to cash in on the latest craze, vampires in this case, and as a result turn all the readers off of them again.

PNR: I would say that you were among the first authors to create sympathetic vampires, that is to say that there is something both tragic and special about the humans who are able to crossover. Tell us about the Chosen.

Maggie S: Thank you for that. The Chosen are humans who have a rare blood
antigen known as Belladonna. They nearly always weaken and die in their late twenties to early thirties. Doctors don't know why. As it happens these are the only humans who can become vampires. All vamps had this antigen as humans. Vampires sense The Chosen, and tend to watch over them from a distance.
They're protective of them. And for each vampire there is usually one of the Chosen with whom they share an even stronger bond than with any others. That's it in a nutshell.

PNR: Your newest release, TWILIGHT HUNGER is the seventh book in the series. The hero is Dante, who was introduced in TWILIGHT VOWS. He was Donovan's creator and friend. He’d been thought to have died when his home in Ireland was torched by a mob of villagers, driving him and Donovan into the dawn. Donovan had survived by burrowing into a haystack. He’d not heard from Dante since that time. Dante did survive. Tell us about his background. How do we find him in the present day of TWILIGHT HUNGER?

Maggie S: Dante has been led to believe that love can only lead to betrayal--as
it was a young woman he loved who led the mob to burn his castle in that prior story. And he's been led to believe that passion can only lead to violence. He's been determined to live his life alone. A lot of his misconceptions have been fed by Sarafina, a womanwho was related to him in life, and transformed him. Sarafina has her own issues, needing to keep him loyal to her and her alone. Naturally a man this private is mortified to see his secrets playing out on the silver screen.

PNR: Some years have passed. Previous stories have introduced the reader to the D.P.I. (Dept. of Paranormal Investigations). Tell us about this secret
government organization. What is their purpose.

Maggie S: DPI was a secret sub-division of the CIA, dedicated to research and
elimination of vampires. In BORN IN TWILIGHT, DPI headquarters is destroyed and most of the agents killed when the vampires revolt, but some rogue agents survived. DPI lost its funding and CIA backing, it's been officially closed down. But some men are not so easily stopped.

PNR: One of the unique aspects of this story is that there are two main female characters. Maxine Stuart is not the romantic heroine, however she is a heroine in her own right. In White Plains, New York, Max’s story begins in 1997. She is a somewhat cynical 20 year old college student at this time. Give us some background on Max. How do she and her friends become involved with the D.P.I.?

Maggie S: Max is a young "Oliver Stone." She sees conspiracies everywhere, and
most think it's her overactive imagination. But her theory about the cancer research center in White Plains was right on target. It was actually DPI headquarters. The day it burns, she gets the opportunity at last to slip past the gates and take a look around. I'm not going to tell you what she finds or what she does with it.

PNR: That is so funny, I had the same thought about Oliver Stone <g>. At the same time, in California, 20 year old Morgan De Silva is dealing with the aftermath of the deaths of her famous Hollywood parents. She’s been left disillusioned, destitute, and dying of a rare blood ailment. She is one of the Chosen? How does she come to find herself in Maine in a home once owned by a man named Dante?

Maggie S: Morgan flees the scandal of famous parents whose drug-related deaths opened their private lives to the public. A dear friend of the family offers her a ramshackle house in Maine where she can stay free of charge until she gets on her feet again.

PNR: Morgan is an aspiring film writer. She finds a collection of journals written by the former owner whom she assumes had been quite mad and probably long
dead. What is it about these journals that intrigues her and what does she do with them?

Maggie S: Dante's journals sweep her into his world, and they seem so real (even though she knows they can't be) that she realizes the writing is sheer genius.

PNR: Five years later, Dante is again driven from his home by fire at daybreak. All parties for various reasons, converge in Maine. We won't go any further except to say that his story is quite suspenseful and packed with surprises. You have said that you are already plotting book eight and giving thought to number nine? Any hints about which characters will appear next? Dante's aunt Serafina is left a bitter figure. In her mind she has been betrayed by her last family connection when he choses Morgan over her. It seems like she is dire need of someone to love. Will there be a story for her?

Maggie S: Sarafina's story is next. In it, Amber Lily (daughter of Jameson and Angelica from BORN IN TWILIGHT) has a very large role. It's called EMBRACE THE TWILIGHT and will be a March 2003 release.

Featured in this Issue:

They're back! :
Amanda Ashley
Maggie Shayne
Updates:
Christine Feehan
Rosemary Laurey
Romance Interviews with:
Angelique Armae
Keri Arthur
Jennifer Dunne
Charlaine Harris
Katriena Knights
Jaye Roycraft
Susan Squires
Featured Website:
The Vampire Vixens

Maggie Shayne

Website

Books

Previous Interview

WINGS IN THE NIGHT series:

Buy it now!

Mira Books
March 2002
393 pages
ISBN: 1551668866

BOOK SEVEN - Dante and Morgan

This story picks up, right where BORN IN TWILIGHT leaves off. The hero, Dante, is introduced in
"Twilight Vows"

He is every woman's fantasy, yet he remains alone and untouched. His world is one of secrecy and solitude, darkness and danger. Now one woman has found his journal. She has told his secrets. He must stop her, and there is only one way....

When struggling screenwriter Morgan DeSilva uncovers the ancient leather diaries in the attic of an old house in Maine, she is swept into the seductive world of a long-dead madman who had believed himself a vampire. Now, though Dante's story has made her rich and famous, Morgan is wasting away. At night she dreams of him, an erotic fantasy so real she can see the marks on her neck, feel her life's blood draining from her. Almost as if he were real...

He comes to her at night. Watching her. Wanting her. She is one of The Chosen. She can be his, if he desires. And he desires it so much that he is filled with a terrible fear. He knows that his kiss can save her from destiny's curse, and from the enemies who stalk them both. But to save her, he must trust her. With his life. With his love. With the promise of immortality.

Buy it now!