Happy Thursday, friend! Welcome to an interview with author M.A. Guglielmo about her latest book, Rifted Hearts. Some years back, Maria had shared about writing diverse characters on The creator’s Roulette and it’s a pleasure to highlight hew new work. Let’s meet Maria and learn from her.
Get to know the author: M.A. Guglielmo
Hi Maria! Welcome back to Armed with A Book. Tell me and my readers a bit about yourself!
I’m a life-long fan of speculative fiction, a mom to two wonderful daughters, and a neurosurgeon. The last two make my life pretty hectic, and writing fantasy and romance is a great escape for me. I live in Rhode Island, the US state most famous for being used as a unit of measurement, and I draw a lot of my inspiration for my novels from myth, legend, and vacations! I’m always dreaming of the stories that can come out of my next travel destination.
What inspired you to write this book?
The inspiration for the first book in my new fantasy romance series, Rifted Hearts, came from two things: the Covid epidemic and my one and only trip to a dude ranch.
The epidemic had an enormous impact on everyone, but since I’m a medical professional, I was with other front-line workers driving through empty streets as the lockdowns started. It felt like an apocalypse, and not the fun kind I liked to read about it. As things dragged on, and the new normal became simply normal, I began to think more and more about apocalypse fatigue. Humans are nothing if not adaptable, and maybe even the fantastical world-wide catastrophes in fiction and on television could eventually turn into a routine part of life.
That led me to the idea of a Monster Apocalypse. Interdimensional rifts open up around the world, leading into fragments of an alternate universe that has different natural laws and species as smart as us, but a lot scarier. There’s panic, unwise military attacks, and a lot of press coverage.
But my series is set twenty-five years later, when the Monster Apocalypse is only one in a series of crises. Most alien species stay in or near the portals, which often attract human tourists. Some people still want to fight the monsters from the rifts, but others—want to date them.
That idea, and a week spent at a beautiful resort in Arizona trying and failing to properly ride a horse, turned into Rifted Hearts.
How long did it take you to write this book, from the first idea to the last edit?
About two years. Rifted Hearts started off as a NaNoWriMo project.
What makes your story unique?
It’s post-apocalyptic and crawling with monsters—but in a romantic sort of way.
Who would enjoy reading your book?
My likely readers enjoy fantasy and science fiction romances, and Rifted Hearts has a fun mix of the two.
Did you bring any of your experiences into this book?
My painful attempts to learn horseback riding on my dude ranch vacation came in very handy.
What’s something you hope readers would take away from it?
Rifted Hearts imagines a relatively benign future after a series of apocalyptic events, one fantastical and the others all too real. I hope we can do more in the present to make a better future world.
Do you have a favourite quote or scene in the book that you find yourself going back to?
That was the Sundering, as Riftworld people called it. To humans, it was the Monster Apocalypse, with inter-dimensional portals replacing areas around the Earth and alien “mons” pouring out of them. It might have been a bigger news event if there hadn’t been six other apocalyptic-like events since then—seven, if you counted the US adopting the metric system.
Rifted Hearts is the first book in the Riftworld series. Can you tell me more about the series? What is your vision for it?
I’m planning on at least two more books set at Moon Star ranch, wrapping up a larger arc of the story that began with Rifted Hearts. After that I have ideas about settings that include other monster portals, like the one off the coast of Salem mentioned in Rifted Hearts which plays a larger role in the short story prequel to the series, “Witch City Rift”.
What is something you have learned on your author journey so far?
First drafts suck—and that’s ok.
What’s the best piece of advice you have received related to writing?
Reading your own words out loud is an amazing editing tool.
If you could give a shout out to someone(s) who has helped in your writer journey, please feel free to mention them below!
KJ Harrowick has been wonderful!
Where can readers find you on the Internet?
I’m on linktree: https://linktr.ee/Aphemia66
Rifted Hearts
Romance, Fantasy, Published 2024
Welcome to Moon Star Ranch, Home to Monsters and Mustangs.
The Monster Apocalypse is old news, but Remi Gatti has a fresh take—travel tourism to monster portals. Too bad it’s only a cover for his real job as a half-human spy. When he’s sent to Moon Star Ranch to charm a veterinarian with ties to his crime family’s enemies, Remi’s sure this will be an easy seduce-and-run job. How hard can it be to ride a horse anyway?
Kaveh Salehi, a world expert on the medical treatment of alien species, has his own secrets. His friends at the ranch don’t know he’s part dragon and the alien entity known as the Matchmaker has chosen a human as his destined spouse. His clan wants the oblivious soulmate located and kept safe, whether that person wants to marry a monster or not. When Kaveh discovers Remi’s also not fully human, he asks for help—and Remi is more than up for the job. How hard can it be to fake date a sexy stranger anyway?
For once, Remi doesn’t want to lie to his mark.
For once, Kaveh doesn’t want to do the right thing.
How hard can it be not to fall in love with the wrong person?
Content notes: Rifted Hearts is a MM romance with strong language, consensual explicit sex scenes, injury to animals, and typical fantasy violence.
Book Excerpt from
Rifted Hearts
The petting zoo had originally been a barn with a fenced-in area containing kid-friendly Earth rescue animals such as goats, angora rabbits, and a few chinchillas. After Kaveh had arrived, he had altered the space to accommodate a number of benign Riftworld species who had either volunteered to interact with curious humans or who had no other safe place to go and had at least not objected to the arrangement.
Kaveh could hear the crowd of people before the zoo came into view, but it was still a shock to see how many had shown up for the weekly lecture he and Kat held every Monday afternoon.
He spotted Kat standing on the small wooden stage they used for their talks, with a cockatoo wearing a leash perched on his arm. Kat had not only taken the colt over by himself against Kaveh’s specific instructions; he had brought along Snow, of all the part-Riftworld animals he could have chosen. His sense of relief that his assistant was none the worse for wear after leading the repoequus colt away from Amanita was tempered by the sight of the bird, a force for chaos at the best of times.
Someone tapped him on the arm, and Kaveh turned to see the vid streamer Javier had mentioned standing next to him.
Remi, that was his name.
A small drone hovered in the air near the dark-haired man, and Kaveh realized with a jolt he was being—what had Kat told him it was called?
Live-streamed.
Kaveh internally flinched, even though no one could look at him and guess he wasn’t human.
“And here’s the man of the hour.” Remi, without asking, put his arm around Kaveh’s shoulder and grinned up at the drone, which darted into position like a dragonfly to capture both of their expressions. “Kaveh Salehi, monster veterinarian, who’s revealing a terrifying new mon born at the ranch.”
Kaveh took the man’s arm off his shoulder, making an effort to keep his temper and not use any unnecessary force. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to join my assistant to start the program.”
Several other people encircled him, all with press mini-drones of their own, and Kaveh glanced around him in astonishment. More reporters. He had met cadejos with less hungry expressions.
“Let’s give the doctor some room, folks.” Remi flashed a smile at the gaggle of press, and to Kaveh’s surprise, they all fell back, lost interest in him, and began staring at each other. One woman reached out to take another’s woman’s hand, giggling about something as they both blushed.
Kaveh took advantage of the opening and pushed forward. Remi strolled along with him, chatting at his drone and somehow succeeding in having the mass of people part around them.
Kat gave him a nervous smile as Kaveh walked through the open gates of zoo’s enclosure and joined him on the stage. Snow cocked his head, lifting one claw in a gesture that meant he wanted to jump onto his arm. The rescue parrot loved to flirt with humans, but he had some bad habits that had led to him failing out of several adoptive families.
“No biting, Snow.” Kaveh directed his comments at the parrot but included his assistant in a stern gaze.
“You were a little late, so I took the colt over myself and put him in the barn—” Kat cut himself off as Remi waved his hand, his drone zooming up, presumably to get more footage for his online audience. “Oh, hi, Mr. Gatti. Did you have a question?”
Kat sounded even more flustered than he usually did in large groups. Kaveh was a born introvert as well, but between veterinary school and all the academic lectures he gave on his work, he had learned how to address an audience. He’d never been in front of the press like this though.
“We’ll have a question-and-answer period after the main presentation.” Kaveh motioned to Kat, who was still staring at the vid streamer for some odd reason. Getting no response, Kaveh held out his hand toward Snow, taking care to keep his elbow bent and close to his chest. That made it harder for the bird to climb up to his shoulder, as he knew from painful experience that he did not want the cockatoo’s beak near his ear or face.
“This is Snow, who’s part cockatoo with one parent from a Riftworld species colloquially known as a phoenix.” As the parrot hopped onto his arm, Kaveh showed him off to the crowd. “Like many animals of mixed ancestry, Snow has gifts from both worlds. He can not only mimic but understand human speech, and he can generate fire.”
There was an interested buzz from the audience, and Snow perked up. He fluffed his wings, embers glowing red at the tips, and then hiccupped a smoke ring.
Kat, who had recovered from his odd distraction, clapped, and the audience politely followed suit. Snow had nothing like the fiery power of a true phoenix, but external validation of his limited pyrotechnic abilities was needed to avoid one of the bird’s famous temper tantrums.
“Is the baby monster also a hybrid?” Remi piped up from the front row, despite Kaveh’s clear explanation of when the Q&A would start. “I understand it’s a rare species known for psychic attacks on humans using their own worst nightmares.”
Had Kat told the vid streamer about the baby repoequus? Other than his assistant, the only other people who knew that information were Garreth and Chrissie, neither of whom was loose-lipped. He spotted the ranch owners off to one side of the crowd, standing next to a short woman in a fashionable pantsuit. Her cheerful smile appeared permanently plastered on her face.
The mayor of Tucson was here, and Remi had just blurted out that Amanita and her colt were a danger to the public.
“All of our Riftworld animal ambassadors have abilities they could use to defend themselves, as do humans.” Kaveh did his best to ignore Remi’s personal drone, which quivered, insect-like, in the air in front of him. “They have consented to be here on the ranch, interacting with humans so that all of us can learn more about our intertwined worlds.”
Right on cue, a mini-rift opened on the stage in front of them, and a large blue cat appeared out of thin air.
Flutterberry resembled a large Maine coon cat, if one chose to ignore her silky teal fur, long-tufted ears, and the gossamer-thin wings on her back. The startled crowd surged forward to get a better look, with quite a few people making squees of delight and one child loudly asking if the cute kitty cat could fly.
Mothcats used their wings only for nonverbal communication, having chromatophores in them that were consciously controlled and could produce complex color patterns. The species could also translocate, a rare ability that allowed them to form miniature rifts that moved them instantly from one location to another, as long as it was within their line of sight. Some members of the species, like Flutterberry, had also bioengineered their vocal cords to allow them to speak human languages. The blue mothcat lived in Tucson as a companion animal with Javier’s sister and her wife.
Or, as Flutterberry referred to them, her devoted servants.
“Flutterberry here is one of Moon Star Ranch’s best-known Riftworld ambassadors.” Kaveh couldn’t keep the relief out of his voice. The mothcat adored human attention, and by the time he finished explaining the basics of mothcat physiology and Flutterberry chatted about the latest gifts her pet humans had bought for her, everyone should have calmed down enough that their collective anxiety wouldn’t provoke a response from the repoequus colt.
“Run away, humans.” Flutterberry raised one paw into the air, her high-pitched voice resounding in the clear desert air. “A repoequus approaches, ready to flood your feeble minds with horrors beyond your imaginings.”
Interested?
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