Cover To Cover with Maggie Rapier

0:00Welcome. You are listening to Cover to Cover, hosted by Mary Elizabeth Jackson, a show featuring lively conversations with cutting-edge authors from around the globe. From debut to multi-award-winning to inspirational, you will find a new author and book to love. Mary is a special needs advocate, educator, speaker, and an award-winning author who brings that edge to dive deep into the writing world, sharing the journeys behind the stories, and tips and tools for all things in the writing world. Now, here's Mary. Hello, everyone. Welcome back to Cover to Cover on the Brush with Media Network. We are America's number-wincended Kated Network. Thank you to Brush with Media, and thank you to the fans and listeners all over the globe. Now, if you are a romantic fantasy lover, then you're going to be so excited today.

1:01So I'm very excited. I love this genre, and I think it has so many different avenues that it can go and lean into, which I think is really wonderful, and it can be so flexible for the author as well. If their moods change or they decide to go in a different direction, but they still want to stay in that same genre, you know, and who doesn't love a good roomy, you know, so we all, even if it's not happening in your life, it's kind of fun to live through it, or why reading, and helps you bring in those good feels and everything, so we can all use that. Can't we? Now, if you're on a social media, please connect with me, and you can go to my website, mirrorejectsand.com, and I have got free downloadables there. If you're a parent who has a child with needs, I've got information there as well. I'm a mom who has kiddos who have needs, and so it's been a 25-year journey for me, so I like to help others out, and it can be a hard journey sometimes, so it's wonderful to have information, resources, things like that available, and if

2:06you're looking to advertise, you know, our sponsor show, just let me know, you can contact the network, brushwoodmedianetwork.com, or you can contact me, and we can get you set up with that, and it would be really fun to have you part of what we're doing here. We have some other really great shows, and we've got a lot of great music on this network, and so it's growing and growing and growing. Every time I talk to the network owner, there's new additions, and it's just so crazy busy, it's wonderful, but now I am talking to Maggie Rapier. Now, she was born in the South with a healthy streak of wonderlust. I love her bio, and is an incurable romantic who loves nothing more than wordplay in witchcraft, except perhaps her sourdough starter, that's fun. When she's not marketing French antiques, or writing about moody girls and sexy pirates, you can find her wandering in the woods with a basket in hand, so that just sounds like a story right there, Maggie, how are you? I did really well, thank you. I just got married three weeks ago,

3:07I went to Portland, and then we got to the UK, and then finally home for a stretch, and I'm very excited about that. Oh my gosh, congratulations, I've got a little bride here right out the gate, I'm so excited for you, was you're wedding like everything you ever dreamed. Oh yeah, we're both big load of dreams fans, we're big nerds, and so it was very hobbit themed, it was just warm and golden, there was candlelight, and I just could not ask for a better partner, honestly, like everything I've ever wanted is he has it, so I'm really happy. That is amazing. Okay, so you're an author, what does he do? He's an accountant, he's a CPA, and works for like internal auditing at a bank, but he also again, big nerd, he loves to DM Dungeons and Dragons on the side, and makes maps for fun, like he's incredible. Okay, so we have to do a zoom at some time with you and your hubby and my girls, because you're like our people, like this is all the stuff that my girls are in

4:08to, and we've live in 22, and so huge Lord of the Rings case of my daughter turned 25 this year, and I got her like 25 different things, and the majority of them were Lord of the Rings. Oh, that's so cute. So that's what she wants to do when she gets married that day, so that's so fun, you'll have to tell her all about it, but then my other daughter who's an animator, she's in college, senior, she is, and her friends are all so into D&D, and building up the characters, and I love it, and our house used to be filled with like, you know, 20 kids, when I say kids, young adults, and I loved it, because I was like, you know, there's a whole lot worse they could be doing right now. Oh, yeah, it's just such a fun way to build a fine community and be creative. Yes, we love it. I love seeing you in the last few days, years, my days. It's so fun, and it's so healthy for you too, like to be able to stretch that creative brain, and utilize that part of ourselves, and just amazing, because you could do so many things,

5:11you could travel, you could be who you're not, you know, or you want to be your fantasize about, blah, blah, blah, all that fun stuff, you know, so it's wonderful. Well, let's talk about Soul Gaser, so it's out, and it is on Amazon, it's everywhere books were sold, so it's lyrically written, it is a lyrically written, see, fairing, romantic, fantasy novel, perfect for beach reading, and a must read for anyone who grew up obsessed with the mummy, a mummy, a romantic adventure, all right? I know, in the Pirates of the Caribbean, we've seen there's a billion times, the story follows a young woman with a rakeish pirate who attempt to find a lost mythical aisle with a power to save the entire world, their entire world, with the vibe of a darker adult sin-bad that has the vibes of this, this book features sexy pirates, not just pirates, but they're sexy, okay? Everyone's hot, that's just a role of her man, does he? I love it, okay, everyone's hot. A swashbuckling ocean adventure, a thrilling

6:12magic paired with electrifying marriage of convenience, of convenience romance, okay? So that is so amazing, let's dive into this, do you have you always written in this genre? Kind of, I've always been interested in romance, I grew up watching all the Disney movies, I'm not Disney movies, watching like sin-bad and like an older and dead pirate that Caribbean the mummy, romantic with stone, like all these, like, so a fish out of water goes on this massive adventure with this like, broody or charming or sarcastic guy and they fall in love while they're like solving puzzles and being chased like that bad guys. I just like have always loved the paciness of that and the way that those kinds of movies blend genres. So I think what all my stories have in common is almost all of them have some sort of a romantic element and then whether it's the focus or the background and some kind of like adventure or mystery or something to unlock. Nice, okay, have you been able to see the data of the ages of what are what the age of people

7:13that read your book? I have not, I'm assuming, I think just from like looking at tags of reviews and stuff, it seems to be mostly like 20-something to 30-something women. I don't have yet to see a man, although my husband has read it, I loved it, but like, you know, I don't ask him about it, I thought about it. Yeah, 20-30-something women. Okay, what is your husband think about it? Yeah, what is his story? Oh, you loved it. He like read an early version like for Scott together and he's a big fantasy reader. His main critique was that my world building is never super solid and I'm fine with that. It's just not my style. So I love a vibey world. I want you to feel like immersed in it, but I'm not here to give like, now here's the 500-year history exactly where the map would be. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, and that is like all the D&D and that Lord of the Rains is it, right? And so he's actually been very helpful with informing book two because I write in the pirate's point of view and so I have to know a lot more about the world of history and the politics

8:17that Searsha did not have to in book one because it was just her point of view. Okay, so tell everyone who is not familiar with your books, what is your main character's name? Yeah, so the main character here it is Ta-da. I love his name. I just see Searsha, which means freedom and Irish and it's the normal one, which is means the wolf, but those are them and the entire first book isn't her point of view except for the epilogue and then we switch and do some combinations of that in book two. Okay, now is book one, is this going to be a series or is it standalone reads? Yeah, it's a duality. So book two should be coming out sometime next summer, knock on wood. We're reading them with the last edits right now, but the first one is a, it's a pretty complete story in and of itself just because that was how I originally envisioned it because I always wanted a duality and wanted to sequel, but that's not guaranteed when you're trying to publish a book. I tried to make sure that her story in the main arc of this one is closed by the end, but then it opens up so much possibility and I wreck a bunch of other

9:21things especially for Failin. So that going into book two, we get to have a whole new arc and then there's still some overarching themes across the board. Oh, wonderful. Okay, so are any of your characters based on people in your life? Is your pirate your husband? No, no, he's not, but they're based off like Failin, especially a lot of my inspiration for him came from hook from once upon a time. It was fun. I loved it. I loved it. I just loved his charm and swagger because a lot of romantic fantasy has very like brooding, remote kind of heroes in the background. I wanted someone who was just like very playful and poking at you and very flirtatious and just like wants to be in the moment all the time. I love it Peter van. A little bit Peter van. Yeah, I love that. I love that series too. I think we finally just kind of got to where it's like how many times that I get to walk down the street to some destruction coming. I know. I never like how many times do they have like memory loss as a trope and like get the whole lives erased by a spell. I know, but you

10:26know what? I think when it first came out, it was magnificent because nobody had done that and oh my gosh, the costumes were fabulous. I still go back and like look at them for description a second. Yeah. How did I describe like the way that silver thread falls to her shoulder and I'm like, they're so good. Oh, yeah, absolutely. So your publishing journey was it easy? I don't know anyone's ever easy on this way. Like the more you say you're the more it's just it's really convoluted. I didn't mind it, but I was wondering about your story. So I started writing. I've always been a writer. I wrote a fan fiction and then roleplay for a long time, which is kind of like YouTube minus the like games. I just write with other people and have it over character. And I started taking writing seriously and trying to finish a novel in college, but I didn't actually finish it until 2019, I believe. Yeah, 2019. And that was when I started like making friends in the writing community. I started finding other people who also wanted to be published. I queried that one. It didn't go anywhere sadly. I wrote to Soulgazer, which

11:27its first form was a YA in 2021 called To the Waters in the Wild based off that William Blake Poem. And again, queried it got really good feedback, got so close, and then just one after another were like, oh, we can't find a way to make you stand on this credit market. So then I just took a few more years. I worked on some other projects and eventually I just like this wouldn't would not let me go. I came back to it in 2023. I went to I was like working remote for a company. And at the same time, my friend in Germany went through surgery and was like, hey, I really need help with like my kids and my dog who's flying you out here. I could you help us like big day. And I had the like privilege that I could work remotely. And I was like, you know what? While I'm removed from my entire life at the summer, I'm going to revise as to adult. So I ended up like being in Germany for two and a half months, I think. And we're how long love visa limit is. It was like right at the edge of that revise this completely. And then that fall, I queried it, found my agent

12:29within I think a couple of weeks of getting this book in her hands. And then once we went on sub, we had a book deal in two weeks. So that part was very quick and really rare. But I think it was just a perfect timing because romantic. He was just popping off. And I already wrote the genre. It just didn't have that name. And I was like, everything kind of aligned. That's wonderful. Okay, so you brought up some important points. Would you recommend somebody querying for an agent before they look for a publisher? Oh, yeah, absolutely. So if you want traditional publication, which is you go into Barnes and Noble or indie bookstores, most of those books are traditionally published. And there are some more indies happening and several projects happening. But that also requires you to have the money and time and marketing skills to be able to like get your book into Peter's hands in a very competitive market. For traditional publishing, you need to querying agent first and the agent establishes relationships with publisher. They handle all the contracts. And that is how you go like that route. It's like it's a way to protect yourself, but also most traditional

13:34publishers will not consider or approach an author unless they have an agent first. So there's kind of two different paths there. And both are equally valid, which just depends on like what you want. And I knew I wanted a wide distribution. I didn't want to have to like hustle. I'm also just didn't have the money upfront to be able to pay for like a cover designer and an editor and get my own prints and all that stuff. So that was how I went that path. Yeah, nice. That's that's amazing. Thank you for sharing that. I think it's important for you know, people out there who want to write or become published. Well, and then people who are just listening and want to know like, because I try to go behind the author's story and find the backstory and the journey and everything. I think it's always so important. And it helps to connect people to you and make you seem more than just somebody who's written a book, you know, like you've got, I mean, you have gone through things to get where you are. This book has valued. It's important to you. And you know, so it's important for everyone out there to,

14:38you know, literacy is so valuable. We want to support our authors very much. Now, I think that what is like a gold nugget, you think you could give to anyone wanting to write in that genre? Remiant to see as you called it. And see, that's one of the things you brought up. It's very important how things that you're working on or you're trying to get published or titled or keyed in or those key words really can make a difference campaign. Yeah, absolutely. And even right now, like, Remiant to see as a bubble is starting to pop because you know, it's so fast. If I had one piece of advice, it would be like pay attention to trends, but don't let them influence what your story is. So, for example, when Remiant to see first started to explode, there was a really big push for enemies to lovers specifically. So, like, enemy factions, that they have a knife to your throat, and as all this tension, and those can be really fine. But then when every single book calls itself an enemy's to lovers, and some of them are not

15:40actually that, they just say some mean things to each other and then make out. Yeah, it's not true to the marketing skills. And it may not be true to the author who wrote it. So, I would say, like, pay attention to the tropes, the ideas of if he's a lot of Remiant to see has some kind of adventure element. Obviously, you have some kind of magic, and you have a central couple that has a lot of tension in chemistry. So, I would take those ingredients and then figure out what else you want to add to that. Like, knowing the pillars of the genre without feeling the need to replicate them exactly. So, I almost look at writing sometimes like cooking because I love my kitchen, I love cooking, I love baking, clearly if I had the sourdough, like, in my author bio, which I need to go feed because it's been neglected for a month. But I view it as any kind of chef, any kind of home cook is going to keep expanding your palate. You're going to keep learning new ingredients, and sometimes you don't always know how to incorporate them, but then what makes you a really good cook or an innovative chef is you learn the basics, and then you learn to riff. And so,

16:45I'm at a point now where I'm a pretty advanced home cook to use the analogy, and I can play with a lot of new ingredients or new combinations that or new textures. I'm always looking to see, oh, how can I make it prettier and how can I enhance this flavor? Whereas, you know, three years ago, I was used to it, I was used to the kitchen, but I didn't really know how to use herbs very well, and I didn't really know how to use sauces or vinaigrats. And so, things could be kind of bland or like one note. So, if that analogy helps at all. No, I really do. And let's touch on for a moment, you know, in your bio, it talks about market forage, forage, and so what do you do there? Yeah, so actually I need to update that for the next book, because I did leave that job very, like, own good terms. I always be content writer and content creator for the Paris market, in Savannah, Georgia. It is this beautiful store. It's like two stories in this historic building,

17:46and she'll go on these like, sourcing trips to France once, maybe twice a year, and fill the big shipping container with all these antiques and collectibles from the vintage markets, and then sell them in our store, along with a bunch of other small businesses and small artists. And I still absolutely love the store. I just couldn't juggle that with my full-time writing. Now, like, I've been career-saking off. But yeah, that was, that was a really interesting job, because I was able to, like, I've always loved history, and I do speak French. That was part of my double major when I graduated with international studies in French. So I could look at certain coins and see what the script was, and Google it, and then start researching. I could look at a certain piece of French, or she brought back and go, okay, let's try our best to date this and figure out what this pattern symbolizes. And that was a really fun part of the job, because I could research the history and the stories behind those items, and then create a story to have a look hard in the store, almost like you would see in an art museum. And it was just such a fun job. Like, I really loved that. Oh, I bet you did. Now, do you have a favorite time period of

18:52French history? The furniture. That's a great question. I really loved, I did not love like Napoleon, but I liked the Napoleonic era furnishings and artwork, and it was just so elaborate. Like, kind of grotesque sometimes, but just really interesting. So I always love getting to see, like, when did he sources, when did he go down to Egypt? Like, what did he bring back, and what influenced French style then? And obviously part of that gets into colonization and to, like, the negative side of the history. But then you also have this, like, fascinating blend of art styles that came out of it. And so it was just, it really tickled my like curiosity. So I'm not sure if I felt ever like, right about that, but it was very fun. During that time, it made me pay more attention to like, Insulge is our, I didn't do it as much, but I think in my next project, I would like to, I thought this a lot more on specifically, like, the Baroque architecture and the specific, like, ways that they carve chairs, and just the, the lush details that I was able to research

19:54and that job, I would like to apply to the next project. That sounds wonderful. Oh my gosh, I love it. And I am, I'm always fascinated with history and paintings and furniture. And yes, it's just, you know, in some of it's just, it's so beautiful and so ornate. And, and, you know, we think about how they lived like that and, you know, sat in those things and wore those clothes. And, you know, those chairs, I'm like, were you guys just really tiny? Where is no delicate? I'm like, I don't think I would risk it. I know where, or like, you know, how many people had back problems and, you know, how did they deal with all that and the beds and, you know, it's so funny how, you know, things we have today are so much bigger. You know, it's yeah, our food size is portion size, you know, it's just like, you know, because I've showed my girls have in my stand. I'm like, okay, so this is actually a cup of coffee and

20:55only announced it than a very small cup, you know. I'm sitting over here with my giant pour over like, let's go. I know, right, right, bring it on world. I'm ready today. So, um, well, where you're, can you give us any little snippets about your next book? And then we'll go back to Soul Gaser. So yeah, so the next book, I can't talk too much because it hasn't been sold yet. Yeah. But, um, during that summer in Germany, I did a lot of research, especially up in I have a friend in Castle, Germany, which is where the Grimm's Brothers grew up. I got to visit that museum and see their original notes and, uh, walk the forest like where they lived. And, um, that is where I'm drawing up inspiration time. It was a really incredible chance to not only help my friend and revise Soul Gaser, but also to do a lot of research for that next project. So, I'm really hopeful we get to sell it. I really want to write it. I'm so excited about it. Oh, gosh, I hope so too. Are you going to go through the same agent? Yeah, I love it. Yeah, much. I'm chala is like when I was looking for representation, um, this last time around,

22:02because I'd query twice before. So I knew better what I wanted is it's very similar to dating. So it's like, you go in, you've at first, you don't really know, you have to big lock the expectations, but you don't quite know how that will match up to reality, nor do you know, um, what you want to look like. And so, uh, three times in, I was like, I want someone who has really, I almost wanted, before I went to someone who's super established and like, did top sales with the twilight kind of agent who like sold that project. Uh, this last time I was like, you know what? I think I want someone like me who is young and hungry and has, but has really good support. And so when I found her, she had an incredible mentor, um, the agency itself, like all those agents have been there for years. They, um, worked really well together. A lot of their authors, they have good retention rates. So a lot of their authors, like, stay there for their careers. And, um, when I met Shela, she not only was like obsessed with the pirates just like me, but, um, she's very quick on her feet. She's so kind and smart and funny. And I feel like she

23:04understands not only me, but like, is a true advocate. So I'm kind of like leaving her. I'm like, please never leave the industry. I love you so much. That's great when you have that support. Absolutely. Okay. Oh, you have this beautiful soul gaser book and it's had this wonderful journey and it's here and everything. So what do you want everyone? You know, what do you want to tell us about it? And I know we, we don't have much time left, but what do you hope people will take away from reading it? That's a wonderful question. Um, so we joke about like, there's a lot of the descriptions like it's like, you know, a thrilling adventure and you have the exciting romance, like the exciting mystery. But at its heart, um, Seer Shela herself is a soft girl. She is really traumatized. She has to work through that and reclaim her power and her voice. Um, she's been told her magic is wrong, but it is a shameful thing at curse. And she has to unlearn that and, and has to heal a lot through this journey as she's getting empowered. So I think, um, I would love people to take away from this that you don't have to be like strong in the traditional sense of

24:08like, I'm wielding a sword and I'm like, you know, bashing down doors and being super snarky, which that's really fun. Like when it exists, I love there are so many books in my shop that have that that I love, but I want people to also recognize that there are other kinds of strength that there can be a soft strength that, um, there's strength in choosing yourself and healing and, and a taking time. Um, and I want people to take away hope as well, just because, um, it can be really easy to get very nihilistic or very cynical about the world. And, um, something I love about Searsha is that she's so in love with stories to the point that she, um, you know, Mary Spilan, who is himself like larger than life legend. And that continues through all of her trials and stuff is that she and tribulations, whatever it is, like the, all the struggle she goes through. Um, she never loses that hope and that love of story and I would love people to kind of take that away from. Mmm. Oh my gosh. Absolutely. I love it. I think it's amazing, um, especially, you know, being able to write in the, uh, the Romanticie world and just,

25:12you know, be able to take people and journeys that they might have their own self-discovery, you know, which is, oh, yeah. It looks really sweet, DM, since the book came out of people who, like me, like grew up in, um, I was ostracized a lot. I was bullied a lot, um, for being like, like mid-size, for being, um, bigger, for being a daydreamer, for like just being a little bit weird. Like, there was so much of my time out and that was extremely lonely. Mm-hmm. And, um, I tried to put a lot that into Searsha. Her, again, reclaiming space and finding community. And so it was really nice to see some DMs of people who are, um, messages and emails from readers who related to that and felt very empowered by it. And like, oh, I think I've learned something and want to take something forward. I'm like, uh, yes, please. Like, love yourself. That's all I want for you. Mm-hmm. Oh my gosh. Yeah, absolutely. I love that. That's amazing. Well, um, you know, so we're talking to Maggie Rape here today. I say, we, I am talking to Maggie Rape here today. And her book is Soul Gaser. It's out on Amazon and everywhere books are sold. And if you love

26:16movies like The Mummy and The Pirates of the Caribbean, then you're going to absolutely love her book. And so it's a great book read club reader book, right? And so many other, uh, places that this book will be wonderful for. And so, you know, please reach out to her. We're going to tell you right now. Maggie, where can everyone tell you, you know, where can tell everybody find you? Yeah, so you can find me on Instagram or TikTok at the Daily Magpie. And my website is under the same name, uh, www dot, uh, sorry, not the Daily Magpie dot com. Okay. I love it. So you're going to keep baking. And you're going to put out recipes for people, right? I do want to start a little series of recipes inspired by my books. Unfortunately, they're pirates that don't really cook that much. So I have to figure out some, like, traditional Irish recipes to pull from for the world. Yeah. For that one. But I would love to do that. That's a good, good idea. All right. You heard it here. She's going to do it.

27:17We'll have to come back and have you want to talk about it. So thank you so much, Maggie, for being here. It's been absolutely wonderful having you on the show. And for all you, where we have to see lovers out there, go get a copy for yourself and someone else. And, you know, what? Enjoy her book. Leave her a nice review. And, uh, please do. And then please contact her if you'd like to connect with her because I'm sure she'll get right back to you when she can. And yeah, and then we'll be looking for the next book and have you back on. Thank you so much. Have a blessed day or evening or night wherever you are in the world. And I will be back soon. Thank you, Varshawood Media Network as well. Bye, everyone. Thank you for being a part of our audience today. Please share the show with your friends and tune in for the next episode of Cover to Cover for all things in the author world. As a mom, I want my kids' lives to be filled with joy and possibility. And I love that for every kid.

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