Hidden (Fire and Iceland #1)
Paranormal Romance / Urban Fantasy
Date Published: October 31, 2018
Publisher: Evernight Publishing
After a breathtaking journey through Iceland, Vanessa Evanston finishes her dream vacation with her two best friends in the capital city of Reykjavik—and wakes up the next morning on the ground, on a tiny island 250 kilometers north, with no memory of how she got there.
Luckily, handsome and kind-hearted local Gunnar Heimirsson stumbles upon her—unluckily, he can’t explain her mysterious journey either. Nor can anyone explain why Vanessa soon discovers “last night” actually happened a year ago, and everyone thinks she’s dead.
Iceland is known for its folklore, but beyond the elves and mountain trolls, there are other creatures: beautiful, powerful, and vengeful, known as the huldufólk. Gunnar has been alive for a century, trapped by their curse after angering them. From the far flung Westfjords to the black sands of Reynisfjara, the answer to Vanessa’s missing year might be connected to Gunnar’s punishment—as well as his long-lost wife, Hera—but the truth lies somewhere in the realm of magic, myth, and love, and Vanessa has only just discovered fairy tales are real.
Interview with Author Megan Morgan
Can you tell us a little bit about the
characters in Hidden?
Hidden takes place in
Iceland and mostly focuses on Gunnar Heimirsson, a native Icelander, and
Vanessa Evanston, an American tourist. Gunnar has an interesting story—he’s
been alive for over a hundred years, due to a curse put upon him when he was
young. Vanessa is more than she seems as well, though she doesn’t know it yet.
There’s also Aedan, a young man who is half human, half huldufólk (the mystical
“hidden people” of Iceland some call elves or fairies). Their fates are all
entwined, though they’re not aware of it. There’s a lot of magic and secrets
involved in their individual stories.
Can you tell us a little bit about your next
books or what you have planned for the future?
I’ve written the sequel
to Hidden, which continues the story that really begins at the end of the book,
when everyone finds out who they are and how they’re connected to each other. I
also have a contemporary romance series with Evernight Publishing, called The
Man Catalog, that I’m working on. That series focuses on women buying the
services of men to act as their boyfriends, fiancés, and husbands and is a lot
more lighthearted than my Fire and Iceland series.
How long would you say it takes you to write a
book?
It depends on how much I
slack! I usually produce a book in a couple of months, if I really focus and do
the work, and keep my enthusiasm up. Sometimes life gets in the way though, including
my day job. Never more than six months though, at least not recently. Once upon
a time it would take a good year or more to write a book, but I’m much more
productive and practiced now.
What is your favorite childhood book?
I was really into
Beverly Cleary and Judy Blume when I was a kid. I also read all the Little
House on the Prairie books because my mother dated one of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s
distant relatives—true story!
If you could spend the day with one of the
characters from Hidden who would it be? Please tell us why you chose this
particular character, where you would go and what you would do.
This is difficult!
Probably Gunnar because he’s been alive so long and seen so much of Iceland. Because
of that, he works as a tour guide. I would love to go on a tour with him and
have him tell me about the history surrounding Iceland’s landscapes and
attractions. He would be able to tell me things that normal people couldn’t
because he’d seen things first hand.
What was the hardest scene from Hidden to write?
Probably when Vanessa confronts
one of the huldufólk and demands answers for the predicament she’s in (she’s
been missing for a year and everyone thinks she’s dead, but she can’t remember
what happened to her). She has to transition from being scared and confused and
trapped in her situation to taking back her agency regaining control. There’s a
lot of other reasons she goes through this change too, but I don’t want to
spoil the ending.
What made you want to become a writer?
I started writing when I
was a teenager because I loved Stephen King and I wanted to be a horror writer
just like him. It was very naïve and silly but it’s what sparked my passion for
writing and I stuck with it through the years, honing my craft and getting
better at it. Now, here I am—not quiet Stephen King, but I think I’m doing well
on my own path.
Just
for fun
(a Favorite song: I listen to so much music I could never pick a
favorite song! Right now, I’ve been listening to a lot of Icelandic music,
keeping with the theme of my book. I recommend looking some up on Spotify. Try Friðrik Dór or Made In
Sveitin to start with.
(b Favorite book: ‘Bird by Bird’ by Anne Lamott. A great book
about writing that has a lot of humor and heart in it.
(c Favorite movie: I’ve always loved The Bodyguard with Whitney
Houston and Kevin Costner and I’m not ashamed to admit it.
(d Favorite tv show: It’s extremely hard to pick just one, and I watch
a LOT of different stuff. However, I love watching Ghost Adventures right now because
it’s just ridiculous and silly, and the fact they’re trying to take themselves
so seriously makes it even funnier.
(e Favorite Food: I love carbs. Pasta is the best.
(f Favorite drink: Water. It’s the best thing for you!
(g Favorite website: I’m supposed to stay off the internet and get
my writing done. 😉
Thanks so much for visiting
with us today!
About the Author
Megan Morgan is an award-winning paranormal and contemporary romance author from Cleveland, Ohio. A mild-mannered airport bar supervisor by day and purveyor of things that go bump in the night, she lives on the often-wintry shores of Lake Erie with her spoiled cat and adult son, both of whom shed too much.
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3 comments:
thanks for hosting
Thanks for having me here today!
Enjoyed the interview!
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