Expendable Blog Tour ~ Maggie Jaimeson Interview & Giveaway

 

After a bitter fight, Jenna Mosier’s pregnant sister ran away. Now, ten years later, Tanya is dead—murdered. A bloody note clutched in her hand pleads for someone to rescue her baby—a child Jenna must find to make up for not saving her sister.Former Marine Reed Adler thought he left danger behind when he retired from Special Ops command. But faced with a dead body and a terrified ten-year-old boy in his backyard—and a mesmerizing woman who’s tied to both—Reed finds himself pulled into his most complex mission yet.

Ensnared in a dangerous mystery involving biogenetics research and children with no identities, Jenna and Reed must rely on each other for survival. Yet the closer they get to danger, the more intense their feelings for each other become. The cost of saving her nephew may be their hearts…and their lives.

 

HLB:  Tell us a little about you for those of us new to your work?
MJ:  During the week, I’m a consultant for higher education. I assisting colleges and universities with technology, distance education, open source software, and open education resources. At night and on the weekends, I journey into the world of my imagination to write novels that reflect my passions and my belief that the good guys win in the end and that love will conquer all.

I began writing novel length fiction a little over seven years ago. Prior to that I wrote and published short stories (primarily in SF) and have four non-fiction book publications relating to distance education. I consider myself a cross-genre writer.  Expendable is my first romantic suspense novel and the twist is a slightly futuristic extrapolation around biogenetics.  I’ve also written a primarily SF novel, Eternity, with romantic elements. I’m in the middle of producing a four book contemporary romance/women’s fiction series. The first book,Undertones, was released in September, and the second book, Healing Notes, will be available in mid-October.

HLB:  What was the inspiration behind Expendable?
MJ:   The original idea for EXPENDABLE came from an incident in my own life.  Because of having cervical cancer and subsequent surgery and treatment at the age of 18, I was never able to have children.  Several decades ago someone very close to me offered for me to take her unborn child. She was not married, poor, and could not support a baby. Unknown to her, I was getting divorced and I didn’t feel able to take the baby. Fortunately, she decided to keep the baby and I have had the privilege of watching him grow up and become a wonderful young man.

When I remarried, I had the great fortune to inherit two amazing step-sons.  When I began writing this book, the oldest was returning to Iraq for his second tour.  After hearing only a few stories about his first tour, I was scared to death he would come home with PTSD.  That is why the hero of my story has PTSD.  Again, fortunately, our son came home without injury (physical or mental) and is now in law school.

While our son was in Iraq, there was a lot of news about stem cell research and whether it was ethical to use cells from aborted fetuses to do the research. That was the final piece that tied together my story.  Now I had a heroine with an impossible choice from her pregnant sister, a former-Marine hero with PTSD, a murder, a child with no identity, and biogenetic experiments.  A “mashup” made for romantic suspense.

HLB:  What was the most difficult part of writing the story?
MJ:  I think writing any of the scenes with the villain was very difficult for me.  I have a personal belief that every baby is born innocent and that evil doesn’t just suddenly take over someone.  Because of that I had to get into the villain’s head and figure out who he was before he began making bad choices. I needed to understand why he was so evil and what was the extent he would go to get his way.

I tend to be a pretty happy and positive person in my life.  I do that by surrounding myself with other happy, positive people.  So getting into my villain’s head was difficult.  I had to put aside blocks of time to go there and then know I could pull myself back and get him out of my head again.

HLB:  Do you have a favorite scene?  If so, can you share it with us?
MJ:  I think my favorite part of the book is the last 18 pages, which is actually two chapters.  I don’t want to give it all away, but let’s just say that what Reed and Jenna must do together to get their HEA is not easy and something that I suspect only the most loving, self-sacrificing relationship could survive.  I was in love with Reed from the beginning. But by the end I wanted to have his children.J

HLB:  If you had it to do all over again, would you change anything in the book?
MJ:  I wouldn’t change anything about the plot or characters, or how I got from one place to another. However, there are little things I would change.  I’d select a better word here, find another metaphor or simile there, catch one more typo.  I think every author finishes a book knowing it was the best she could do given the deadlines.

Every book has room for improvement, whether you are small potatoes like me or a NYT bestseller.  Writing is a profession that on the one hand requires you to be a perfectionist, while on the other hand making it impossible for your work to be perfect because with every book you learn something new that makes you want to go back and fix all the other books before.

HLB:  Is there a message that you hope readers will grasp while reading?
MJ:  There are probably lots of messages, most of them I don’t even realize are in there.  I think first and foremost every romance I write tries to convey the message that love survives no matter the challenges or circumstances. It is the one thing you can count on in life.  I truly believe that and it is the reason I write romance.  If that is all the reader leaves with and is entertained by the book, I am happy.

For myself, when I write books I am also tackling some personal questions that I think underlie our ability to trust, to forgive, to love. In this book, the underlying message for me is really the struggle with what is expendable in our lives (thus the title).  What are we willing to give up to get something else we believe is more important?  Each of us has made choices we aren’t proud of in order to get something we felt was imperative to have at the moment in our life.

Children throw tantrums to get things when they’re young. Parents sometimes make the decision to just give-in because it’s more important to have peace and quiet at that moment. Teens make all kinds of choices about giving up things for something else. Some give up their independence in order to be popular. Others give up sleep to participate in yet one more club or event.  Some hurt themselves or others to either take away pain or to feel alive. Adults also make choices—when to tell a lie, when to cheat, when to hurt someone.  The difference is that adults find amazingly creative ways to rationalize their decisions.  Finally, governments also make decisions on what to give up.  We give up men and women to wars. We give up animals and people to medical research. We give up honesty for the sake of gaining political power.

When are any of these choices too much? Where do we draw the line? When do we say, “No. It’s not worth it.”  I don’t pretend to have the answers to those questions, and I know it differs from one person to the next. However, I think they are important questions for us to ponder and I believe the answers we choose make us who we are, and impact our ability to love or be loved.

HLB:  Is there a character in the book or series that you started out not caring for, but have grown to love?  Do you think readers will feel the same?
MJ:  I tend to love all my characters to some extent. But then I tend to generally love people. My villains I actually feel sorry for, but I don’t love them. I haven’t yet written a book where I’ve included a character I didn’t love.  Hmmm…now you have me thinking.

HLB:  Tell us a little about your writing process.  Do you outline?  Or do you just let the story flow?
 MJ:  I’m primarily an organic writer, what some people call a pantser.  I begin with a big idea and then go looking for characters who can struggle with the idea.  While writing the first 60-100 pages (about 25% of the book) I get to know those characters—who they are, what they want, how they fit together.  That is the most time-consuming part for me because in that discovery process, I’m actually figuring out the entire novel with my characters.

Once I know the characters and how they fit with the big idea, I then zip through the rest of the book.  If I get stuck somewhere, I’ll do a barebones outline from my stuck point to the end. Otherwise, I just write.  It’s not a pretty process but it works well for me.  I find that I end up reworking the first 100 pages about ten times, because once I know where things are going I realize I have to set them up in the beginning or something I put in the beginning is better left for later. From pages 100-400 it’s pretty fixed.  Those pages usually only need about three editing passes.

HLB:  What are you currently working on?
MJ:  I always have several things going at different stages.  For the next two weeks, I’m in final edits of my first YA novel, written under the name Maggie Faire http://maggiefaire.com. It’s an urban fantasy that’s gotten some good advance buzz.

I’m in the planning stage for the final two books in my contemporary romance series about an all-women bluegrass and Americana band.  I need to get both those books out in late 2012.

Finally, I’m in the discovery writing stages for the follow-up books to Expendable.  If you read Expendable, you’ll know that each of Reed’s Marine Corps buddies needs his own book and his own adventure. As for Jenna’s friends, they need some happily ever after too. How all that works out over several books is coming together. J

HLB:  What are you currently reading?
MJ:  Gosh, I’ve been so busy with my new job (which requires a lot of travel), and with promoting three books released in the past six months, that my reading has gone way down.  I’m lucky to get in two books a month right now.

Let’s see, I just finished the final two books in Karen Marie Moning’s amazing Fever series: Dreamfever and Shadowfever.  I tend to read paranormal series all at one time or not at all because if I space them too far apart I forget all the threads. In suspense, I buy everything by Roxanne St. Claire (I love her new Guardian Angelinos series). I also tend to order Harlequin Intrigues for quick reads while I’m on a plane.  I just downloaded Classified by Debra Webb and Major Nanny by Paula Graves.  I’ll be reading those over the next week.  Oh, I almost forgot. Last week I downloaded the paranormal anthology, Entangled, where all the profits are going to fight cancer.  Twelve stories make up the anthology, and it includes another of my favorite suspense authors—Allison Brennan.

So much to read and so little time. J

Thanks for having me. These are some great questions. I’m happy to hang out and answer questions or just shoot the breeze with your readers.

About the Author

 

During the week, Maggie’s days are spent assisting colleges and universities with technology, distance education, open source software, and open education resources. At night and on the weekends, she journeys into the world of her imagination and writes novels that reflect her passions and her belief that the good guys win in the end and that love will conquer all.Maggie has published several short stories in romance and science fiction, but since 2004 she has focused on publishing novels. Expendable is her first romantic suspense novel and she promises there will be more.  Also currently available is Eternity, an SF with romantic elements; and Undertones, a contemporary romance which is the first in a four book series about the women of the Sweetwater Canyon Band.  All of her full length novels are made available in e-book and print by her publishers.

 

 

 

Website:   http://maggiejaimeson.com

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