1--What is the title of your latest release?
REMEDIAL MAGIC
2--What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
Kisses and disaster at a magical community college filled with “missing” people.
3--How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
It initially took place in the Midwest, but as I drafted, I realized that my brain was filling in images from Ligonier, Pennsylvania. So I changed it.
4--Would you hang out with your protagonist in real life?
Yes, I would. I have multiple protags, including Ellie the librarian, Prospero the Victorian witch, Maggie the mom/Southern lawyer. Admittedly, I like Prospero or Maggie the most.
5--What are three words that describe your protagonist?
For Ellie—curious, bold, clever. For Prospero—ruthless, amoral, focused.
6--What’s something you learned while writing this book?
How often people who vanish fall into one of several categories: crime related, National Parks, spousal, or custody disputes (kids).
7--Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I edit some each day as I draft AND when I’m done.
8--What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
Right now? Tillamook Sugar Cookie Limited Edition Ice Cream. Sometimes I treat myself to an Aztec Mocha (chilis, chocolate, coffee, & sometimes cinnamon).
9--Describe your writing space/office!
I have two recliners in the house that are my “desks,” but I also go on retreat regularly. As I type this I’m about to head to a writers’ colony where I will lock in and write for 10 days. I retreat 3-5x a year. This place has a cook who makes delicious scones and dinners and fresh fruit teas. Aside from the evening meal, the colony is 24hr silent hours in the common space, which is incredible for productivity.
10--Who is an author you admire?
All the women writing while minding kids and all the writers writing with chronic issues. It takes a lot of perseverance to remember where the kid’s cleats are, pick up that posterboard, deal with drivers ed AND create worlds. It takes strength to write through chronic pain, between Dr visits, and through side effects. As a mom with a chronic illness, I admire all my colleagues who are doing this.
11--Is there a book that changed your life?
Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass was the first I remember. I still have my copy from when I was 8 years old or so. I wanted to go on adventures and be brave and thwart oppressors. I think a lot of my life choices (and travel addiction) can be traced back to Alice.
12--Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published)/Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
Goodness, the first time one was 18 years ago! I was on my way to Disneyland that day, and I had a live-changing call for the sale of Wicked Lovely to HarperCollins. For Remedial Magic, I was in New Orleans at a writing retreat, and I was just as overwhelmed. I had taken a wee break from contracts for writing long-fiction for trad publishing for health reasons, so the call meant that I was . . . going back. I was both exciting and vaguely terrified.
13--What’s your favorite genre to read?
It depends on my mood. I read a lot of nonfiction, fantasy, romance (historical, contemporary, and fantasy; both straight & lesbian), and some mystery, thriller, horror, and picture books. So ALL of those at varying moments.
14--What’s your favorite movie?
Jean Cocteau’s 1940s B&W film, La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast).
15--What is your favorite season?
All of them. The desert (where I live) is perfect weather in the winter, but in the summer—when we live in 110+ weather—I still enjoy it because of my son being off school. Plus, monsoons are gorgeous. I just like being I nature in almost any condition weather (literally I have gone walking at the onset of a Tropical Storm). The world is amazing in all its moods.
16--How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Birthdays are sacred to me. I assess where I am, and where I want to be. Then I do something self-indulgent, often travel or at the least go to the spa or kayak.
17--What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
I loved the Barbie movie. In books, I’d say To Cage a God (Elizabeth May) or Gwen and Art Are Not in Love (Lex Croucher), Hotshot (Claire Lydon), and The Serpent and the Wings of Night (Carissa Broadbent)
18--What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
I’m so boring on this front! I just like farm-to-table meals. Typically, I cook everything from scratch at home for health reasons, but I’m happy with steak or vegan meals. My big no is that I cannot eat anything that comes from the sea or river.
19--What do you do when you have free time?
Depends on how much. If it’s a day, kayak or hike. If it’s a few hours, bake or read. If it’s a week or two, travel.
20--What can readers expect from you next?
I have so much in the queue! I have Family is Family (a picturebook) from Penguin in March 2024. I have The Strange Adventures of Harleen & Harley Quinn (a graphic novel) from D.C. Comics in September 2024. I have the sequel to Remedial Magic and contemporary lesbian romance from Bramble in the first half of 2025. ALL of that is complete. So it’s just a matter of waiting for it all to end up in stores now!
A Course in Magic #1
The Magicians meets One Last Stop in this brand-new fantasy romance Remedial Magic, about an unassuming librarian who 1) has fallen in love with a powerful witch; 2) has discovered that she is a witch; and 3) must attend magical community college to learn how to save her new world from complete destruction by New York Times bestselling author Melissa Marr!
Ellie loves working in her local library in the small town of Ligonier. She loves baking scones and investigating the mysterious and captivating in her spare time. And there is nothing more mysterious and captivating than the intriguingly beautiful, too properly dressed woman sipping tea in her library who has appeared as if out of nowhere. The pull between them is undeniable, and Ellie is not sure that she wants to resist.
Prospero, a powerful witch from the magical land of Crenshaw, is often accused of being… ruthless in her goals and ambitions. But she is driven to save her dying homeland, and a prophecy tells her that Ellie is the key. Unbeknownst to Ellie, her powers have not yet awakened. But all of that is about to change.
Romance Fantasy | LGBTQ [Bramble, On Sale: February 20, 2024, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781250884138 / eISBN: 9781250884145]
Melissa Marr is a former university literature instructor who writes fiction for adults, teens, and children. Her books have been translated into twenty-eight languages and been bestsellers internationally as well as domestically (NY Times, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, and Wall Street Journal).
Accolades include YALSA Popular Paperbacks, IRA Notable Book Pick, Book Sense Pick, Good Morning America Summer Pick for Teens, Scottish Book Trust, Red Maple finalist (in both Ontario and Manitoba), and Goodreads Good Choice Award (Horror), RWA RITA award (YA). She is best known for the Wicked Lovely series for teens, the Graveminder for adults, and her debut picturebook Bunny Roo, I Love You. She currently lives with her family in Arizona.
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