I have been looking forward to ‘The Madman’s Daughter’ more than any other debut author book this season! While I can’t wait to tell you about the book (and it’s movie rights…oh yeah), these are author features, so I’ll start with the book’s author, Megan Shepherd, whose story I think you will find equally fascinating.
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Meet Megan Shepherd!
Megan Shepard grew up in a bookstore. Literally. Her parents own Highland Books, one of the largest independent bookstores in North Carolina, according to their website. As a big fan of independent bookstores, I recommend you check theirs out. You can even buy Shepherd’s books there! And if you’re around tonight, I think they’re having a launch party you could crash.
After attending the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she pursued a degree in International Studies, Megan joined the Peace Corps and spent two years in Senegal! I hope that she writes a novel about her time there someday, but in the meantime you can read her blog about it here. I will warn you that the blog is addictive and I spent an entire morning captivated, reading every post.
When she returned to North Carolina, she wrote articles for magazines like Faces and Calliope and worked on middle grade stories, but found her passion in the more complex young adult category of children’s fiction.
Not only was Megan involved in the Peace Corps. She has continued to help others since then. She volunteered for the Crits for Water charity that I talked about in Ellen Oh’s author feature, AND she even let me bother her AGAIN and was nice enough to help me fine tune my query letter a second time. Trust me, that is a very rare and generous offer that I didn’t find out until much later was something I probably shouldn’t have asked her for (sorry Megan! 🙂 )!
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So, does she write like she lives – sweet and helpful…um, not exactly. Megan writes Young Adult gothic thrillers. The real reason that I wanted to feature her here and introduce her to you is because I love when I come across an author who seems so different from the types of things she writes about (from the very little I know about her from our correspondences, admittedly). So let’s delve into the dark side of this author…
Megan Shepherd is currently working on two trilogies – The Madman’s Daughter trilogy and The Cage trilogy.
*The first book in The Madman’s Daughter trilogy is out today – Jan 29, 2013.
Summary from Megan’s website: Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid and trying to forget the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he’s alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she’s determined to find out if the accusations were true.
Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward, Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the secret of her father’s new life: he experiments on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father’s dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it’s too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.
Inspired by H.G. Wells’s classic The Island of Doctor Moreau, The Madman’s Daughter is a dark and breathless Gothic thriller about the secrets we’ll do anything to know and the truths we’ll go to any lengths to protect.
Having loved The Island of Doctor Moreau myself, I cannot wait to read this story!
As it turns out, I am not alone in my anticipation of the series. The film rights to the story have already been picked up by Paramount Pictures, with Fake Empire (‘Gossip Girl’ and the movie ‘Fun Size’) producing it.
You can see the book trailer here.
And purchase the book on Amazon:
*The first book in The Cage trilogy is out in the Summer of 2014.
A summary from Megan’s site: The Cage is a YA sci-fi trilogy about six teenagers trapped in an elaborate “human zoo” by an otherworldly race known as the Kindred. It is a three-book series to be released starting summer 2014.
Don’t worry, I’ll make sure you know when the book is out on the Reader Roundtable Facebook page!
Here are some other articles around the web on Megan Shepherd:
You can follow Megan on:
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