STEAL THE SKY by Megan E. O'Keefe

When I went to Megan E. O'Keefe's reading, she completely blew me away. STEAL THE SKY is the first in the Scorched Continent series, and I can't wait for the rest. Have a look:

Detan Honding, a wanted conman of noble birth and ignoble tongue, has found himself in the oasis city of Aransa. He and his trusted companion Tibs may have pulled off one too many cons against the city’s elite and need to make a quick escape. They set their sights on their biggest heist yet—the gorgeous airship of the exiled commodore Thratia.

But in the middle of his scheme, a face changer known as a doppel starts murdering key members of Aransa’s government. The sudden paranoia makes Detan’s plans of stealing Thratia’s ship that much harder. And with this sudden power vacuum, Thratia can solidify her power and wreak havoc against the Empire. But the doppel isn’t working for Thratia and has her own intentions. Did Detan accidentally walk into a revolution and a crusade? He has to be careful—there’s a reason most people think he’s dead. And if his dangerous secret gets revealed, he has a lot more to worry about than a stolen airship.

I loved the voice in the beginning of STEAL THE SKY. Did Detan come to you fully fleshed or did he develop as you wrote him?

Detan is one of those rare characters who popped into my head with his voice fully-formed. I knew from the beginning that he was a flippant, glib man with a taste for danger and a dark secret to hide. The rest was just getting into the flow of his thought patterns.

He certainly has a way about him. In addition to writing, you tinker in a lot of different creative mediums, including arduino. In what ways do you feed your creativity when the well goes dry? 

Switching mediums is what keeps me from burning out. When something isn’t working for me with one medium, I’ll play with another for a while to see if I can spark any fresh ideas. Switching things up like this can not only keep my from stagnating, but provide me with valuable hands-on experience I can use in stories.

Sounds like a winning method. What are some of your current projects?

Right now I’m working on the final revision pass of BREAK THE CHAINS, the second book in the Scorched Continent Series. Break is the direct sequel to STEAL THE SKY, but I’m endeavoring to make it standalone as much as possible, so that if new readers stumble across book two in a bookshop they don’t lose their footing. It’s been a fun experience to stick with these characters as they grow and change from the events of book one, and I’m really looking forward to writing their final hurrah in book three.

Hurrah indeed! Thanks for writing such enjoyable characters.

Megan E. O'Keefe was raised amongst journalists, and as soon as she was able joined them by crafting a newsletter which chronicled the daily adventures of the local cat population. She has worked in both arts management and graphic design, and spends her free time tinkering with anything she can get her hands on.

Megan lives in the Bay Area of California and makes soap for a living. It's only a little like Fight Club. She is a first place winner in the Writers of the Future competition and is represented by JABberwocky Literary Agency.

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