Margaret Fieland

A Warm Welcome to Margaret

 Born and raised in Manhattan, I have lived in the Boston area since just after the blizzard of 1976, thus missing the opportunity to abandon my car in a snowbank and walk home. I am the daughter of a painter and the mother of three grown sons. An avid science fiction fan, I selected Robert A. Heinlein's "Farmer in the Sky" for my tenth birthday, now long past. I live outside of Boston with my partner and a large number of dogs.Thanks to my father's relentless hounding, I can still recite the rules for pronoun agreement in both English and French.

Here's the blurb for Margaret's latest release 'Broken Bonds':

When Major Brad Reynolds is assigned to head the Terran Federation base on planet Aleyne, the last thing he expects is to find is love, and certainly not with one of the alien Aleyni. But can he keep his lover, in the face of political maneuvering and of Ardaval's feelings for his former partners -- and theirs for him?

And the blurb for her earlier novel 'Relocated':

When fourteen-year-old Keth's dad is transferred to planet Aleyne, he doesn't know what to expect. Certainly not to discover Dad grew up here, and studied with Ardaval, a noted Aleyni scholar. On Aleyne, Keth’s psi ability develops. However, psi is illegal in the Terran Federation. After a dangerous encounter with two Terran teenagers  conflict erupts between Keth and his father. Keth seeks sanctuary with Ardaval.  Studying with the Aleyne scholar Keth learns the truth about his own heritage. After Keth's friend's father, Mazos, is kidnapped, Keth ignores the risks and attempts to free him. Little does he realize who will pay the cost as he becomes involved with terrorists.
Review for "Relocated"":"Relocated has a special kind of magic to it. It opens you up to a world you realize you are just not ready to leave when it's over."

Before treating us to an excerpt from 'Broken Bonds', Margaret Reveals:

From where do you get inspiration and what inspired you to write your latest book?

Margaret's digital art impression of the Aleyni landscape

Broken Bonds, which will be available in July from MuseItUpPublishing http://museituppublishing.blogspot.com/  was inspired by a question I asked myself about backstory in Relocated http://tinyurl.com/MuseRelocated.   The character, Ardaval, lives alone in a large house, and I asked myself what happened to his former partners.  I ended up with a single sentence in Relocated,  but the relationship and the reason for the breakup haunted me, so I ended up writing another novel about it.

In a couple of sentences, describe the hero’s character.  What do you like best/least about him?

He's a private person,  passionate about his values,  tolerant, open-minded, and insightful. In Myers-Briggs terms, he's "Dominant Introverted Feeling." http://www.personalitypathways.com/dom-fi.html

The thing I most admire about Brad is his willingness to move out of his comfort zone -- way out -- when it becomes clear he won't hold onto his relationship with Ardaval unless he mends the broken bonds of the old one.

And the heroine. How do you relate to her?

Actually, Brad ends up involved in a four-way romance with two other men and a woman. Ardaval and Brad get together in Chapter one, and Ardaval was the character I asked the question about. Imarin and Nidrani are a man and a woman from Ardaval's broken rolor bond. My aliens typically form multi-partner relationships, and four is the norm. Brad has a number of misgivings about this, not the least of which is his reaction to Nidrani.

I play the flute and the piccolo, and when I was trying to pinpoint Nidrani's personality, I ended up making her a musician. She plays an alien stringed instrument called a rill, which I picture as something like an autoharp. 

When I was trying to get Nidrani clear in my head, I started a couple of Pinterest boards, one of which was for clothing. Nidrani's things were the first I picked out, from a lovely site called Polyvore (http://www.polyvore.com/

Here's the board: http://pinterest.com/margaretfieland/clothing-for-my-characters/

Who controls the story – you or your characters?

We both have our say. I start out with the initial setup -- characters, setting, conflict, and a relatively loose outline of the story -- about a page of notes. Then I start writing. However, I'm frequently surprised by my characters, who refuse to conform to my preconceived views about them.

Have you ever suffered from writer’s block? What would be your tips to overcome it?

I sometimes suffer from a reluctance to work, especially as I work full-time as a computer software engineer. Either I give in to it and spend an evening doing something else, or I glue my butt to th chair and write anyway. Or I may write a scene that's out of sequence, write something from a point of view that I don't intend to end up in the book. Write a flash piece with the character.  I usually type my stuff right into the computer, but if I'm stuck, I've discovered writing with pen and paper helps. I read somewhere it engages a different part of the brain, so perhaps that's why.

What can we look forward to from you in the near future?

Broken Bonds, due out in July, is an adult sci fi romance. I also have a YA sci fi, Geek Games, due out in November. I'd also like to put together another collection of poetry, and I'm working on another adult sci fi novel. I'm part way through the first draft on that one.

How do you like to spend your free time?

Reading, writing, playing music, walking our dogs, weeding the garden.  I recently completed an online song-writing course.

What was your favourite book as a child/teen/adult? Are you currently reading anything?

I had a couple of favorites as a kid: James M. Barry's Peter Pan, and the Landmark biography of Saint Patrick. The latter is especially surprising since my family of origin is Jewish.  However, I've never let trivial like that keep from reading any interesting printed material.

When I was in college, my favorite book was Alice in Wonderland, the annotated edition. As a true book junky, I discovered the only way for me to keep studying was to avoid checking any books out of the library. Then, suffering from bad Book Withdrawal, I'd reread Alice. I also taught myself to write backwards and wiggle my ears.  They were all so much more entertaining that studying.

And now A Taste of Margaret

Excerpt from Broken Bonds:

Brad took a deep breath of cool night air, inhaling the nutmeg scent of the flowers planted around Ardaval's front door. Before Brad could knock, the door opened and Ardaval stood in the doorway. Brad hesitated before putting out his hands palm up.

Ardaval placed his hands over Brad's. "My heart, my home, my hearth."

"My hearth, my home, my heart," Brad murmured in response.

Smiling, Ardaval directed his gaze at Brad's eyes; it evoked the same curious flutter in the pit of his stomach as the last time they'd met. Ardaval held open the door and gestured for Brad to enter. "You've come to discuss Gavin."

"I have." Brad followed Ardaval into the front hall where tiles of local stone sparkled on the floor and a padded bench stood under a window. Through a doorway on one side, a glance revealed a kitchen furnished with dark wood cabinets, clean and a bit bare.

"Come." Ardaval gestured toward the back of the hallway where a doorway led into a center courtyard, open to the cool night air, and motioned to a small table. A red-leafed tree in the center spread its leaves overhead. Brad sat, and Ardaval sat beside him.

Brad needed to talk about Gavin Frey's political views. Views that, as far as he could tell from the records, were the opposite of his own. A breath brought him the scent of Ardaval's skin, musky, with a hint of clove. Was it duty or cowardice keeping him from reaching for Ardaval's hand and kissing the palm?

Ardaval clasped Brad's hand in his. "Tell me more about why you were posted to Aleyne."

Should he remove his hand? No. He enjoyed Ardaval's touch and what was the harm, really? When he glanced up, he found Ardaval regarding him with evident amusement.

"I recommended that a man who used psi to save his squad be given a dishonorable discharge." Brad hesitated. "Although the soldier deserved a medal rather than a court martial, he was a fool to admit he caught a thought.”

Ardaval nodded.

"About Gavin Frey. Is he your shan?" The thoughts slipped out.

Ardaval stared into Brad's eyes for a a second or two before he replied. "As you surmise, he is my son; my shan, because I didn't raise him."

Might as well ask this, too. "His mother never told you about him?"

Ardaval shook his head. "No, she didn't. He spent six months here after she died. Then we disagreed over a matter of ethical principal and he left."

Given what he understood about Frey, Brad would have been surprised if they hadn't.

"He married, but his wife died. He has a son who is now fourteen by Terran Standard years."

"His mother possessed a strong psi talent."

"She contacted you?" Brad's eyebrows rose to his hairline.

"She did. I suggest you keep an eye on the boy."

"Do you believe he has gazal?" If the boy developed Aleyni mind speech abilities, he'd need careful watching. Brad's own family had been fairly accepting but how would Frey react if he discovered his son possessed gazal? And what about the terrorists, who might try to exploit Keth's talent?

Ardaval nodded. "I do, though of course we've never met. Gavin doesn't, or at least if he does, he keeps his mind so locked down it's the same thing."

Brad sighed and rose. He'd completed what he'd said he'd come to do.

"It happens this way with us, at times." Ardaval paused for a moment. "We'll meet again."

Brad turned to leave. He couldn't ignore this connection, wish it away, any longer. Only Ardaval's assurance kept him moving out the door.
Many thanks for regaling us today, Margaret. Great getting to know you!
You can read more about Margaret at her links:

BUY links:http://tinyurl.com/MuseRelocated/
https://museituppublishing.com/bookstore2/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=flypage.tpl&product_id=760&category_id=311&manufacturer_id=176&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=1**

Website: http://www.margaretfieland.com/ Blogs: http://www.margaretfieland.com/blog1/  http://www.margaetfielandcom/relocated/ http://poetic-muselings.net/
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/margaretfieland/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/margaret.fieland Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/madcapmaggie  Goodreads:   http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4417476.Margaret_Fieland