Seanan McGuire

When I was getting ready for the release of 'Deadline,' when it was coming out soon, I decided that the appropriate way to get people excited about the book would be to write a novella in 30 pieces and publish a piece on my blog every day for a month... during a convention, a week-and-a-half-long trip to New York, and a doll traders' expo.

I think part of the pressure put on 'strong female characters' comes from the fact that there is so often 'the team girl,' who must be all things to all people. Part of avoiding that is having as many female characters as I can, and allowing them to thrive in their own right, not inside a framework they didn't ask for and don't want.

I am a cisgender woman who has always had a lot of female friends. While many of us have traits in common, none of us will ever be exactly the same. So it's enormously important to me that my female characters be people, and be allowed to be whatever they need to be.

I believe that humans are pretty awesome but we are not capable of understanding what heaven would look like while we're alive because whatever is out there is so much bigger than we are.

It's absolutely a dream job to get to write for Gwen Stacy.

James Reed is inspired, if he is inspired by anyone specific, by P.T. Barnum. He's set up to be the ultimate American showman. His whole job is to sell you shadows. But he's not a nice person, he's not a good guy.

It's very important to me that people get to see themselves in stories. When someone tells me they've never seen themselves, I have a new goal.

Fans are people, and people sometimes get mad at air. I know I do. So I have people huff at me because I'm not doing what they want, but I also have people get mad because I use profanity, or because I exist in material space, or because I was at Disneyland when they thought I should be writing.

Sparrow Hill Road' is a stand-alone book that ties into the InCryptid universe, not the launching point for a whole new series.

I made the choice not to have children, so I can spend my days just writing; there are no kids demanding my time.

One of the things I love best about Marvel is the 'What If?' factor; being able to just say, 'Today we're going to explore a world where Magneto and Emma never gave back the X-Men. Or a world where Mary Jane shares Peter's powers.' So being able to do that is just super exciting.

I eventually grew into a pre-teen Marilyn Munster, that being the only option I could find that allowed for a) blonde hair, b) a fondness for frilly pink things and wearing ribbons in your hair, and c) hanging out with monsters.