Character Q&A: Maggie Ingleton of Jemima Pett's ZANZIBAR'S RINGS

Today's guest is Maggie Ingleton from inside the pages of ZANZIBAR'S RINGS by Jemima Pett.  It is a pleasure to have her with us at The Literary Nook!

What is your name?

Maggie Ingleton

What do you look like?

I’m kind of mid-height, trim without being curvy, blonde-ish, well, mousy with highlights. I look kind of bubbly. It’s the impression I like to keep up, anyway.

Where are you today and what are you doing?

I’m in the boys’ villa, and generally keeping the place running, although I need to cook a batch of meals later.

Describe the outside of your home.

It’s about halfway up the hill above town, with a lot of mature trees around it, some light like eucalyptus, some dark like oak and pine. Through the trees you get a glimpse of the three wings, I suppose you’d call them, all joined by a balcony that runs the length of the centre area, overlooking the patio and pool. It’s what they call modern style, sort of blocky but with big windows taking in the view, and blank walls at the back up against the hill.Yes, the boys are rich, and they’ve had to give it a makeover since it was damaged a couple of years back. So it’s, well, really nice.

You come face to face with your worse enemy. How do you react?

Oh, gosh. Well, apart from freezing, I try to pretend I’m fine, sort of fixed smile, and try to avoid saying anything. And make up something I have to be doing so I can get away quickly.

You keep a photo album of memories from your lifetime. If you could only keep one photo, which one would that be?

Well, we don’t really have photo albums any more, so that’s not too difficult. I suppose an image of the four of us together, having a nice time, maybe on the beach, or in a nice restaurant, would be what I’d most like. Me, Lars, Dolores and Pete.

Are you a morning person or a night owl?

You know, I stopped being either… after my planet was over-run, and eventually I arrived here to work, and then Lars and Pete sort of settled me permanently. I keep regular hours, the rest of them are often on different time zones. I guess I’m more of a morning person at heart, but we get to have a siesta at lunchtime anyway, so I can keep going in the evenings, too.

Do you have any phobias? What are they and how intense are they? How have they impacted your life?

I hate loud noises, loud, unexpected and possibly repetitive noises—I always think we’re being invaded again. I run and hide in a corner, or a closet, and curl up into a ball. I don’t know how other people can just take them at face value. There’s always a chance it’ll happen again. You have to be prepared for your world to come crashing down again. And I suppose these days there’s more to lose.

Open your wallet, purse, or briefcase. What do you find?

My viewpad, some make-up although it’s pretty minimal, I’m lucky that way. Comb and tiny mirror. Keytag—that has something coded into it that counts as cash as well as keys. That’s about it unless I’m with the boys and I’m carrying something they’ve forgotten.

You move into a new home. What's the first thing you buy for it?

A new bed. Big and comfy. Although I’d hold off on anything other than white bedding till I’ve sorted out the decor.

What’s the last thing you do before you go to bed at night?

Clean my teeth. Then if I get to do anything that means I have to go to bed again, I’ll have a quick wash and maybe check the house is secure.

Who is your best friend?

Dolores. We were in the same line of work, and then when Lars and Pete came down from a mining trip we both got assigned to them one time, and then the guys asked for us back every time, and we sort of just struck up a friendship.

Who is your worst enemy?

The Federation, the Imperium, anyone that doesn’t treat women nicely, and anyone who wants to hurt my men.

Are you married or in a relationship?

Lars and I have an agreement, with promises, that we reckon is as good as marriage. I just didn’t want him to commit to a vow he couldn’t keep. (laughs) It’s because of some woman we saved when we were in space one time, and she couldn’t keep her hands off him. I swung round with a cooking pot in my hand and broke his nose! I didn’t mean to, but… Oh, it was so funny, though.

Do you have children?

No. It would have been nice. I love kids.

You are at the zoo. What is your favorite animal?

Something cuddly, like a koala, or a chinchilla. Aspoids are like huge guinea pigs and they are such lovely people. We don’t have zoos these days; everything is treated as sentient, really. Come to think of it, Lars is quite cuddly. Not hairy, though.

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

I wanted to be a chef. I studied gastronomy at college before the planet was attacked. Although, before I knew what a chef was, I wanted to be a dancer, or a fairy.

If there was one thing you could change about yourself, what would that be?

I’d like to be braver. When there are emergencies or things going wrong, everyone seems to hold themselves together and do useful things. I just fall in a heap in the corner. I’d like to step up and get on with things like they do.

 

About the Book   

A Galactic crisis: the entire comms system destroyed. No waypoints, no navigation aids, no database access… and how will spaceships in flight get home—or to any destination?

Dolores is stuck in warp with a very dangerous passenger, Pete gets his shuttle back home on manual. But how come anything in close contact with pure orichalcum fixes itself? Just flying through Zanzibar’s Rings solves the problem—as the Federation’s fighters find, as they descend on the Viridian System to take possession of the planets.

Zanzibar’s Rings brings the Viridian System series to a conclusion with a bang—and a lot of whimpering. And possibly a view of things to come.

Book Information

Release Date: February 22, 2022

Publisher: Princelings Publications

Kindle: ISIN: B093QFX6DV; 380 pages; E-Book, $2.99

Apple Books: https://apple.co/3mSjrvZ

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B093QFX6DV

 

About the Author 

Jemima Pett has been writing stories since she was eight, but went down the science path at school, and into a business career before retraining into environmental policy research. She wrote many manuals, papers and research documents before returning to fiction, publishing the Princelings of the East in 2011. That led to ten books in the series of the same name, written for older children. She started the Viridian System series in 2014.

Jemima reckons she read all of the science fiction in her local library, and most enjoys alternative universes, time travel, consequences of social change and unusual ideas surrounding alien species.  Her favourite authors included Anne McCaffrey, Fritz Lieber, Poul Anderson, John Brunner, Robert Heinlein and Arthur C Clarke. These days she likes Becky Chambers, Matt Haig, Lindsay Buroker, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Clare O’Beara, M T McGuire, Jennifer Ellis…  She also loves series – once involved with characters she loves to read their continuing adventures.

She has degrees or diplomas in maths, earth sciences and environmental technology and studied with the Unthank School of Writing while she lived in Norfolk. She now lives in Hampshire, where she enjoys rewilding her garden, raising organically grown vegetables, and birdwatching.

She would most like everyone to use their natural resources sustainably, since we only have the one planet to support us.

Her latest book is Zanzibar’s Rings: Viridian System Series (Book 3).

Visit Jemima’s website at www.jemimapett.com or connect with her at Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Instagram and Pinterest.