Q&A with M.L. Gardner discussion

Hi M.L.Thanks for inviting me to your discussion. I wondered, is the Depression era something you've always been fascinated by - why did you decide to make it the background for a book?

Hi M.L.,
I remember watching a PBS documentary on The Great Depression a few years back (before the current economic crash began), and feeling startled by the parallels in the pre-Great Depression era and our circumstances preceding this Great Recession. For most of us who were born post-WWII, this actually is our Great Depression. We have never experienced such a long recession, with no end in sight. Your book sounds intriguing. Thanks for starting this discussion. MQN

Hello M.L.,

I have recently finished reading your book and LOVED it! But I do have a question for you. Actually several, but I'll just ask the main one on my mind.

Do you have a sequel in the works, and when will it be available for sale?

Thanks!

How I envy you novelists. I have to stay stuck in nonfiction reality, with little comic relief. Would love to wake up to characters waiting for me to have coffee with them, and have talks about their intentions. Seriously, speaking of nonfiction, I watched the documentary "Inside Job" tonight. There were some surprising new elements that I wasn't aware of in the ongoing orchestration of our economic crash. M.L. I think this is a sign that reading your book will help me through editing the final chapters of my biography on Joan of Arc. As we know, it's not a happy ending. I'm glad to know that your book provides an entertaining escape; just what I need! Congratulations on starting your third in the series! I love what you're doing with offering free PDF copies for those who love good books, and let's face it...addiction to reading can be costly. Bless you for that. I'll buy the printed book, as I haven't become accustomed to my e-reader quite yet. MQN

This discussion makes me very interested in your book. I just downloaded it from the Apple store so I can read it on my iPad. Thanks for the $2.99 price. What made you choose that as opposed to, say $4.99 or $7.99? (I ask this because I have a book out in paperback right now and plan to get it into e-book form within the next few months, so pricing is something I'll have to figure out.)

M.L. there seems to be general agreement "out there" in the e-publishing world that e-books must be DSM free, in order to format properly for downloading into many variations of e-readers. I'm interested in your decision to protect digital rights for your future novels. Authors are being encouraged to trust our readers by ignoring digital rights protection. Is doing so naive? Thanks, MQN

It sounds like a good strategy, M.L. Thanks for the info. There's much to sort out as we wend our way through the new, promising publishing landscape.

I appreciate your feedback on this M.L., because now there are so many factors to consider when making these decisions. Really interesting nightmare! I need to discuss this issue with the publisher I am in discussion with now and hoping to sign a contract with. Will their e-version of the book be DSM free? I'll be out of town for a week, but will look forward to checking back in with this thread when I come home. I was serious when I said that I envy novelists. Have heard so many stories about the relationships that develop between the author and her/his characters!

Hello to you Mrs Gardner and to everyone in this group. My question for you Madam is this: what other forms of historical fiction or genre would you be writing about in the future i.e apart from the depression era.