Thursday, June 25, 2020

Fantasy Author Gail Z. Martin: How Supernatural Changed My Life + giveaway

Supernatural and Me 
By Gail Z. Martin 

Sometimes a moment comes along that helps you rethink, refocus and realign everything you’re doing.
I’ve been published since 2007 in epic fantasy and then a little later in urban fantasy. I’ve always loved ghost stories, vampires, werewolves, haunted houses and things that go bump in the night. My books have necromancers, powerful witches and spirit mediums, plenty of vengeful ghosts, creepy castles, curses, magic and monsters. That’s what I love to read, and what I really enjoy writing.

But I’d never seen the TV show Supernatural until about four years ago, when I came into it in the middle of Season 11. I had a ‘where have you been all my life’ moment, and realized I had always been writing the kinds of worlds Sam and Dean could walk right into and feel at home in, only I didn’t know it. I binge-watched 11 seasons in four months, and then started to livetweet the new episodes, where I met a lot of very involved fans who adopted me as one of their own.

When something really hits a nerve in a TV show, book, or movie, a creator can’t help taking the work apart to see what makes it tick. For Supernatural, it’s the relationship between the brothers, and the emphasis on family, loyalty, forgiveness and free will. I asked myself why I reacted so strongly to the show—because I haven’t fangirled like this in a long time. Most importantly, that energy made everything about fandom feel new and exciting again. 

I started to play with concepts. My first two epic fantasy series were ensemble casts. Then Darkhurst came together as three undertaker brothers who end up fighting monsters and dark magic to save their kingdom from corrupt mages. The Assassins of Landria series is buddy flick epic fantasy, with two rogue assassins who don’t trust anyone except each other, breaking all the rules to save the king—despite the king’s doubts that he’s really in danger.

My Deadly Curiosities urban fantasy series is a single point of view character with a supporting ensemble. But my new Night Vigil series focuses on an ex-priest and a former FBI agent who grudgingly become first monster hunting partners and then, reluctantly, best friends as they battle demons in Pittsburgh. The Wasteland Marshals series I co-write with Larry N. Martin (my husband and writing partner), has the last two US Marshals after a nuclear apocalypse administering justice with extreme prejudice, two characters who admit they might not be entirely sane—or completely human.
 
My fiction up to that point focused hard on action, with a tiny sliver of romance. After immersing myself in Supernatural slash fiction and then finding the non-fandom, published MM romance and enjoying it, I created my Morgan Brice pen name and started writing urban fantasy male/male romance with plenty of ghosts, magic, and monsters—as well as pairs of hot heroes. Now I have five different Morgan Brice series and twelve books, counting my upcoming late June release. 

So here I am, four years later, running a Supernatural Facebook fan group, hosting panels for an entire Supernatural fandom panel track on ConTinual (the online, ongoing multi-genre convention that never ends), and having been asked to write a chapter in There’ll Be Peace When You Are Done (edited by Lynn Zubernis) on the Legacy of Supernatural. I’ve gained new perspectives and inspiration into my writing, made friends and found a whole new SPNFamily, and enjoyed some amazing storytelling. One show can absolutely change your life! 

About the Author 
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And get a free complete short story, Catspawhere 
Join our Facebook groupThe Shadow Alliance 
Gail’s Supernatural Group is Supernatural TFW-NC 
Check out ConTinual
Gail Z. Martin writes epic fantasy, urban fantasy and steampunk for Solaris Books, Orbit Books, SOL Publishing, Darkwind Press, and Falstaff Books. Recent books include Witch of the Woods, Sellsword’s Oath, Inheritance, Monster Mash and Black Sun. With Larry N. Martin, she is the co-author of the Spells Salt & Steel, Wasteland Marshals, Joe Mack and Jake Desmet series. As Morgan Brice, she writes urban fantasy MM paranormal romance including the Witchbane, Badlands, Treasure Trail, Kings of the Mountain and the upcoming Fox Hollow series. Nearly all the books are either already available on audiobook via Audible or are coming soon.

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1 comment:

  1. Wonderful post and I really love Supernatural and your books. Thanks for sharing.

    Dawn Roberto
    love2read28@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete