GGMMMU ~ Representing Witches with an Interview is author Mary Moriarty

About Mary:

I grew up in New England surrounded by a lot of history and story telling by my father who was from the Mid-Coast of Maine.  What I remember of my mother was her love of fairy tales, the wee people and poetry. So it’s no wonder I would one day write.

I actually started writing at a very young age, mostly poetry but I always loved playing with words. I also loved books and before I even learned to read I would sit and pour over the books that had belonged to my mother. Works by writers such as Dante  and Shakespeare filled the shelves. When I was about 6, I remember trying to read a first edition copy of Ivanhoe that belonged to her.

I have always expressed myself better on paper, I seem to stumble over words when I talk. It probably has to do with writing being in my blood. Louisa May Alcotts’s Grandmother was a cousin of my Great, great Grandfather Bronson. I found this through doing genealogy of both sides of my family back in the 80s.

Always hearing history from my father gave me a very early love of that. I also went with him on jobs, he was a carpenter and he did a lot of work at Strawberry Bank in Portsmouth, NH and the surrounding historic homes so I was always near by, looking  and absorbing the atmosphere.

All that translated into me getting into genealogy and working on both family histories in the early 80s-90s. I also helped with research for Historical Societies and family histories. This would lay the foundation for research for my books.

Fast forward to the late 90s I moved from New Hampshire to Texas to go to linguistics school . Then onto Cambodia for 11+ years. Many of those years were tumultuous . For a woman who hated heat and spiders I got a full dose but I loved the people and their culture. I learned some about the Ancient Khmer from Chandler’s “A History of Cambodia”. He worked at the Embassy in the early 90s when it was just a mission.

Again fast forward to 2009 my son Brendan Moriarty called and asked me to write a book about the Kings of Angkor. His idea at that point I couldn’t grasp. I said no. Not to be deterred he would wait a bit but  in the very early spring of 2010 he asked me to do some research, knowing how well I loved to do just that… he said he needed it for his movie idea for The Kings of Angkor… Before we got done I said I not only wanted to do research for him I wanted to write the book. What he wanted and what I envisioned was a lot different but that was fine with him.

So began my writing career… well not entirely. I had started a novel back in Cambodia that Brendan later titled “The Lioness”. It’s still collecting dust but maybe some day I will pull it out and brush it off.

I finished “The Kings of Angkor: Army of a Thousand Elephants” and it was published by Dorrance Publishing in 2012. A year later, 2013 I self- published “One Thousand Years to Forever : The Making of a Queen”, The first of My Beloved Vampire Series. November 2013 it’s sequel “I’ve Been Waiting for You” came out.

Which brings me to up to date.

Website * Amazon * Facebook * Twitter * Goodreads

What do you envision your witches greatest characteristic, ability or power to be? Their worst? Greatest ability, to bring good to the world. The greatest power is spell casting. To have power within ones fingertips and to use for good. The worst… being a wicked witch and bending one’s powers to bring evil to the world or to a person or group of people.

Would you consider your “monster” to be good or bad? What is their greatest enemy? Do they have any allies? My Monster, I don’t have one unless you consider my evil vampires as a monster who are fighting my witches and my vampires. They are monsters in that they are bent on wrecking havoc…

Why are witches most often only female? The word witch is mostly in reference to a female. Warlock, sorcerer, and Wizard are mostly in reference to male. I have one wizard who will have his own book very soon. Oooooh! I really like wizards! Since Harry Potter is no more, we are in need of some fresh blood!

(Besides your own) Who is your favorite witch? Who is the most evil or scariest witch in your opinion?  Samantha from Bewitched. The scariest… the step mother from Snow White.

Name any two creatures that you would love to see go toe to toe in a battle? You will be judged for creativity. ;-) Feel free to describe the battle. Two creatures would be two dragons on opposing sides, protecting the ones they love or serve. One a beautiful red dragon like my Tân which means fire in Welsh. He loves his witch and would do anything, even unto the death. He comes up against a dragon as black as the night, with a black heart that matches his master the Dark One.

Choose three of the following and tell us what your creature would do with them, make out of them, use them for or what reaction they would have to them: an apple, a gemstone, a silver chain, a fish, a rat, a deer, a toad, a piece of pizza heavily dosed with garlic, a flower, treasure belonging to someone else, fire, a spider, a worm, a ball of string, a microphone and speakers, a wooden club, a mirror, a book, a cemetery, a boat, a moonlight bonfire, a sunny afternoon, a walk through the forest on an overcast day, a wooden stick, a Popsicle, a broom, a tree, a lost person, a baby, a body of water, a cross, a cage, wolfs bane, a rock, a rubber band, a chicken, a rabbit, a cave, rope, or a piece of candy. A gemstone, there is power to see in the past, present and future. My creature would guard it carefully, bring it to a moonlit bonfire and cast it in. It would create a place to communicate with the ones gone to the other side. The souls who had departed ahead of my creatures and witches. A silver chain would come out of that fire and that gemstone with the ability to give my witch or whoever caught it, the ability to save loved ones from mortal danger or bring back from the dead.

Which type of creature do you think would make the best love interest for your witch and why?  Vampire. They are so sexy and who doesn’t love having their neck bit? ;-) True

What scares you? Darkness, death, separation from a loved one.

What is your monster most afraid of? Death or separation from a loved one.

What type of candy would you be apt to grab? Give out for Halloween? Chocolate

What is your vampires favorite meal? Rare steak with a vintage bottle of wine

What do you think is the most mis-construed idea about witches? That they are evil and old

What is a least known trait about them? Their ability to do good

Bibbity bobbity boo tell us how to make your best witch’s brew. I have quite a few witches. My witches in Emma Brewster along with the ones in The Witchling Grows Up love to be in the kitchen.

It (The Brew) centers around a tea. Tea is a very innocent drink but can hold either a very potent brew for good or to kill off someone. A tea to relax… brew a pot of tea with your favorite black tea. Add some chamomile and valerian. Bring it outside so the moonlight can hit the infusion and say these words.

***Tea, do your magic on the one who needs, relax and bring about peace. Show the one sleep that is sweet and when waking feel refreshed and worries gone with the moon to the other side of the earth.

What is your favorite type of monster to write about? Read about? Dragons hands down. They are ancient and have the ability to be good or bad. Despite their size can be very gentle.

Thank you very much for representing witches. :-) And a double Thank you for donating prizes for the giveaways!

You can find the books below, where the witches Mary referenced reside.

Dylan Pendragon is not what she appears to be. She looks like a twenty something, hippy, new-age follower… When in fact she is a ninety year old witchling from one of the oldest families connected with witch craft.
 
She has yet to get any powers so to speak. But she is destined to be the most powerful witch of them all…
And she is a virgin.
 
Justice is a seven thousand years old Vampire. He is the oldest friend to his former king of their kind, Cormac O’ Heachthanna. There are three things that vampires love. Blood, fighting and sex and not necessarily in that order. Justice lost his wife about six thousand years ago so he has devoted his life to keeping man kind safe… and he has had no sex in that many years.
 
The Dark One has one thing on his mind. Capture Dylan Pendragon and take what he thinks is his… her virginity and her power which will blossom like a rose once she is taken. He will do anything to get her and that power or die trying.
 
In the course of one night under a full moon two become connected and set into motion events that can’t be stopped that will ultimately bring victory for some or one and the rest will be cast into a void less underworld.
 
Can Justice show Dylan he wants to protect her without touching her? Will he listen to his heart where love that has been dormant for so long is waiting to be released.
Will Dylan allow Justice to protect her so she can figure out how to get her powers and be strong enough to fight the Dark One? Or will she fall and be the sacrifice that the Dark One intends her to be.

Emma Brewster comes from a long line of Brewster witches and she is not only a witch but a fire-starter witch. She is suppose to be able to control that element but so far she can’t control much of anything when she comes in contact with a handsome man.
 
Now why is she always bumping into that new, handsome man who just so happens to be a Fire Fighter. She has taken to wearing colored contacts and sunglasses, even on cloudy days so her eyes don’t see him that clearly… but he always seems to be around. Boy is he hot… and oh drats there goes another fire cropping up!
 
Cas O’Halloran came to this suppose sleepy town to get away from the big city life, except once he bumped into that beautiful redheaded woman on that rainy morning at the bagel shop, his life has been anything but normal or low keyed. His Chief said there have been more unexplained little fires since his arrival than anytime in the history of Cadwell Harbor. ‘This once sleepy, picturesque town is constantly on fire’. So Cas wants to find out why, but he also wants to find out why of all women he is attracted to this red-head who wears sunglasses on rainy, cloudy days and if that’s not bad enough, he feels electrified and alive when he touches her.
 
Cadwell Harbor will never see a quiet Halloween again if Emma Brewster and Cas O’Halloran have anything to do with it. Nor will it be left standing if those two don’t settle down… one way or another

 

Thank you Mary for allowing me to bombard you with questions and  for sponsoring prizes for the giveaway. :-)


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