An Interview with Rocsanne Shields

Author of Save Magic City

1. The title of your book is "Save Magic City". What does the title mean?

The town to start with, is unnamed, a town anywhere in the great USA. Once Edmund starts working his spells, things change direction, instead of from bad to worse, to better and better. Magic is in the air! Everybody agrees to change the name and adopt "Magic City" as their town's new name. It represents exactly what happens with the town and its inhabitants. Magic is everywhere, the town is magic!

2. Tell us about "Save Magic City." When I retired, it was not because I wanted, but because the company went through a very dramatic restructuring -- 20% of all the International complex had to be shed, to keep the company profitable. So, when I started writing this book, I did not have a name in mind, I simply put on paper ideas as they came. But after the entire population voted to change the name into Magic City, saving it was of the utmost importance! Hence the name.

 3. How do you pick the characters names?

Each character comes with a little bit of research. Edmund is the only character who comes with a lot of background. Leo has a name that fits with the names of his two friends. He is the little lion, while Squirrel needs no explanation -- a tomboy with a love for climbing, jumping and talking nonstop (maybe because otherwise she might be swamped by the many voices she hears in her mind). Raccoon is ponderous without being slow. He is older and wiser than his two friends and is always there to keep peace.

I love my garden and I had numerous occasions to watch squirrels, and less frequent ones to watch raccoons. so their characteristics and names came very easily.

Leona simply fits with both her little lion and with Edmund. Once I had Leo's name, Leona's came automatically.

4. Describe your writing in three words.
Fast and furious

5. Why did you write this book? At first, because I wanted to give Edmund a chance to rehabilitate himself of all the bad deeds in his past, but once I had Leo and Leona, I wanted to help them save their beloved city.

6. Who is your intended audience? Children of all ages, from eight to ninety plus -- anybody who will enjoy reading it.

7. How does this book benefit the reader? This is a difficult question. I would like for my readers to come with something after reading the book, but I am not a crusader. Mostly I use my imagination to solve problems that bother me.
One is the subject of corporations, but maybe, a child would not be interested -- yet.
Another is bullying among children. How does bullying get started? What prompts one child to use his muscular power in order to abuse another? Maybe he is abused himself...
And lastly is the disappearance of local industry -- food comes cheaper from Chile, clothes from China, toys from Thailand, cars from Korea. What are we producing that we can be proud of? Not everybody can be a computer wizard. What will happen with all the other people? When the present generation of children will be promoted to adulthood, what will they do with their lives?
I have no answer, so I called in the power of magic.

 8. At what age did you discover writing, and when were you first published? Tell us your call story.

In high school... No, before the high school, I wrote a play for our home theatre. We used all the dolls in our home and I wrote the play so as to give each one something to say. Sorry to say that my father criticized it, finding fault with too much imagination. After that, I contented myself with storytelling for my brother and cousins, without putting this on paper.
In high school, we had a very good teacher a literature, and though I was learning in a class based on math and sciences, we all loved his lectures. One day, he told us to prepare an essay about one of the compulsory books, and next day, we discovered that without agreeing among ourselves, all of us who considered ourselves "the elite" had  
written our essays in verse. After that, I wrote down short stories and letters (which are lost) and I intend next to publish a collection of them.

9. Where is "Save Magic City" available? Save Magic City is available at
http://www.rocsanneshield.com/
http://www.amazon.com/
http://search.barnesandnoble.com/
And other retailers

About the Author : Rocsanne is the pen name of Raluca Popov, born in Romania many years ago, when communism was still the way of life in her country. She desired to escape the communism and find more about a freer way of life in the West. For this, she left Romania as a tourist, and never looked back. Her education includes Geological Engineering and Construction Estimating, thus being able to find work wherever she went. During all these years she wrote short stories, mostly about the people she met, finding them extremely interesting. But always she was sure she will write a novel someday.

After she retired, she finally found the time to transform her dream into reality, and four novels in the Historical Romance genre were written, one connected to the next through their common heroes and heroines. And here she found herself in a quandary -- where to send the banished sorcerer -- the solution to her fourth novel, in which Edmund, the bad sorcerer is banished by his enemies, and disappears in thin air.

She can say that inspiration comes from the most extraordinary places. In this case it was the TV, watching an animated movie for children. Forgotten was the romance, and children, together with their parents became the new heroes. When you read the book, please do not forget to leave your opinion of it behind. Rocsanne/Raluca would love to hear what you have to say.

Thanks Rocsanne
Read my review of Save Magic City