Thursday, May 26, 2011

Up close & Personal With M. Edward McNally, Author of The Sable City


Hello, I am M. Edward McNally, author of The Sable City, and thanks very much to Patti for the opportunity to answer some questions about me and my work. And of course, thanks always for supporting Indie writers.

Where do you call home?
The northern outskirts of Phoenix, Arizona, where the scorpions and the javelinas play...

What is your book about?
"The Sable City" is the first volume of an Epic, Musket & Magic Fantasy series. The shortest possible synopsis reads: Girl Seeks Boy. She is a newly-trained Guilder of an Island Trade House, and he is the exiled heir who may be able to save the House from economic dismemberment by its rivals.

If you gave some of your characters an opportunity to speak for themselves, what would they say?
As a representative of a Trade House, Tilda Lanai would say check out the free sample of the book, and see if meeting her doesn't make you want to plunk down a couple dollars (US) for the rest. (The Islanders are big on sales, it is what had gotten them to where they are today)

Do you have plans for a new book?
The second volume, "Death of a Kingdom," will be released in June.

What inspired you to write your book?
To try and make a long story as short as possible, I will just say that I "built" a Fantasy World while I was in grad school for history, almost as something of an exercise that allowed me to play around with the idea of how magic might have shaped historical, cultural, and political development. Then the people that lived in the world in my head started demanding that I write their stories down.

Would you like to be contacted by readers to do book reviews?
Sure. Feel free to drop a post on thesablecity facebook page anytime.

How did you come up with the title and cover design?
The Sable City is the location towards which the characters are drawn in the first book, though they all have different, and some competing, reasons for going there. The cover image came after I met a wonderful artist called "mimulux" on-line, as her work perfectly conveyed the menace of the ancient, mist-cloaked city of black basalt.

What books have most influenced your writing most and why?
My interest in the fantasy genre came out of reading Tokien, Eddings, Leiber, and many others as a kid. I got away from them for a while as I read a great deal of history while in school, but they never left my heart.

Do you prefer ebooks, paperbacks or hardcovers?
I had absolutely no interest in e-reading devices or books, right up until getting a Kindle last Christmas. Now I'm here, digitally publishing, and come to think of it I don't think I have bought a print book since, though I have been reading more than ever. Nothing compares with a library in your pocket.

Patti: Oh I know what you mean, I LOVE my Kindle! So same...

What book are you currently reading?
Since meeting so many fellow Indie authors in the on-line community, I've found so many with books that I wanted to read that I have had to swear-off any "Trade" books for the time being. I have a number of Indie books going at any given time, and am enjoying it greatly.

Do you have any advice for other writers?
Get out there in the digital world, meet each other, help each other out. And Put In The Work. I feel like we are a community, and the serious among us can be our best strength and support. But digital publishing is still the Wild West, and anybody can sell anything they just cobbled together that morning. Sloppy, lousy, casual garbage just hurts the whole "Indie" brand, and that bothers me more than anything the big publishers do.

My book's facebook page: (The book and series): http://www.facebook.com/thesablecity
My Goodreads author page:
http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4732892.M_Edward_McNally

The Sable City ($1.99 on all platforms, and the free sample runs 18,000-words for those interested)
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B004PLNNLS
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/46661

Image of "M. Edward McNally"

Biography

LinkM. Edward McNally is a North Carolinian of Irish/Mexican extraction. Grew up mostly in the Midwest along the I35 corridor (Kansas, Iowa, Minnesota), and now resides in the scrub brush surrounding Phoenix, AZ, where the scorpions and the javelinas play. Masters in English Lit from ISU and Russian/East European History from ASU, though both date from an earlier era when there was a lot of Grunge on the radio and Eddie wore entirely too much flannel, even in the summer.

Deus impeditio esuritori nullus.

This biography was provided by the author or their representative.

Follow this blog for further updates on this author.


Supporting New Authors.

Please follow this blog for future updates on this Author.

Thank you for dropping by, please leave a comment and say Hi. Patti Roberts
Paradox - The Angels Are Here.

Book trailer Youtube - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IovcxyZTFuU

Amazon US - http://t.co/GkEnR05

Amazon UK http://amzn.to/eVQP0V

Smashwords http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/27156

facebook - http://tinyurl.com/3woe84l

twitter - http://twitter.com/#!/PattiRoberts7

blog - http://theangelsarehere.wordpress.com/

1 comment:

  1. I love your "inspiration story" I bet your instructor didn't expect magic in the assignment,

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...