Cursed Black Swan
A Fixer Novel
By- Ryan T. McFadden
Genre- Fantasy/Dark Fantasy
Published By- Dragon Moon Press
Publication Date-October 30th
"Let's get one thing straight—I'm a fixer. You need someone murdered? Then hire an assassin. You need something stolen? Call a thief. But if there's something no one else can do, or a job that no one else wants, then you talk to me."
Nathaniel specializes in the strange, the weird, and the dangerous. But no matter how far he runs, he can't leave behind his bloody past, nor the ghosts that chase him.
Author Spotlight on Ryan T. McFadden
Please tell us about yourself using 3 adjectives, 1 quirk and a pop culture addiction
3 Adjectives: Scoundrel, Lover, Web Crawler
Pop-culture addiction: Cat videos. Don’t judge me.
Quirk: I don’t actually like to watch sports, but I love reading the headlines. I check the sports’ pages several times a day, listen to the podcasts...but don’t actually watch any of the games.
Top 3 Pet Peeves:
- people flogging their books on an hourly basis on Social Media: we know you have a book. If we want to buy it, we will.
- People who like to give you advice on raising kids, animals, or life when they have no kids, no animals, and no life.
- People posting ridiculously incorrect memes when a 2-second Snopes check will show you that: 1) people are not handing out Ecstasy as candy, 2) The government is not injecting us with cancer and 3) Red Bull does not contain bull semen (or semen of any kind)
Top 5 Favorite Things
- Cat videos - omg so adorable.
- Scary Movies - though they no longer seem scary. Very sad. I want them so scary that I have to wear a hoodie.
- When everyone is too tired to cook so we just order pizza and watch TV
- When playing baseball (or really any sport) and you make that 1-in-a-million catch, shot, dive, etc. When everything comes together into perfection.
- A book so great that not only can you not put it down and want to tell all your friends about it, but that you start to feel like you’re a part of the narrative.
What are your thoughts on book covers- in your opinion do they make or break a book?
My answer: They completely can make or break a book. If it’s a crappy cover, then people will assume it’s self published. And while there’s nothing wrong with being self published, I guess I’m more referring to the people that self publish because it’s a short cut: poorly written and editted. Being a traditionally published author might not mean your book is any good, but it will mean that it will *probably* have at least a certain level of quality. Traditional publishers have always been the gatekeepers. Sure, they haven’t always done the best job (terrible books that should never have seen the light of day) or rejected awesome books (The Martian, Monster Hunter International).
So back to the covers: never judge a book by its cover, but we all do. And so as readers we see the cover as the first flag: is it any good? As always, there are exceptions: Hugh Howey’s Wool series had absolutely abysmal covers.
How do you come up with character names? How do you come up with novel titles?
My answer: I used to fret over character names, coming up with these super awesome unique names. But over times, it became ridiculous so I switched to simple names. The names of my last main characters: Nathaniel, Sam, Molly, Jane, and Jack. Simple.
Now titles I still stress over. If I don’t know the title from the outset (where I have a title before I’ve written a single word) then I start to scour the book looking for interesting titles: The Beast on the Throne, Until the Score is Settled, Through a Glass Darkly, Deus Ex Machina, Ghost in the Machine. I prefer titles that are a little more complex though always pronounceable - so that a reader can remember your book if they’re searching Amazon or at their local bookstore.
Do you have any advice for anyone that would like to be an author?
My answer: to be a writer, you need to write. Not when you’re retired: but now. You need dedication. You need to read (a lot). Do those three things: write, read, and do it every day. Done!
This or That-
*Morning or Night? Night
*Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate! Vanilla! Chocolate! So the answer: yes.
*Summer or Winter? Summer. Winter is for Stark’s only.
*Ebook or Paperback? Ebook!
*Fantasy or Paranormal? Fantasy!
Ryan T. McFadden is a writer of fantasy and horror, with short stories and novellas published through Dragon Moon Press, Edge SF & F, and Absolute X-Press. In 2014, his novella Ghost in the Machine won the Aurora Award (Canada's most prestigious award for SF&F) for Short Fiction.
His motley past involved such dangerous work as database administration, ice cream flavouring (seriously, that's a thing), hockey league administration, screen printing, web design, furniture building, and home renovations.
He lives in London, Ontario, with his two beautiful, but sometimes diabolical daughters, who he is sure are plotting to one day overthrow him.
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