Meet the Author Gary D. McGugan Welcome back Gary! It’s always a pleasure to have you with us at Reader Views. Can you walk us through the inspiration behind Contention the seventh book in your series of international intrigue? Thank you for having me back, Sheri! It’s always a pleasure to share some thoughts with you, and I’d love to chat about Contention. Readers of other books in my series might recall that Howard has had the itch to separate from Fidelia on a couple occasions, so they were probably not surprised when he announced his intentions. But few probably expected he’d want to start his new corporate espionage business in Aruba. I became inspired to use Aruba in one of my stories after I spent a few months there in 2022. Aruba is a wonderful Caribbean Island just off the coast of Venezuela. People there speculate about the CIA spying on the rogue country from Aruba, and as I walked about the island for my daily exercise, my imagination already started creating scenes and scenarios that might work their way into Contention ! How did the emotional impact of releasing your seventh novel in the series compare to when you published your first book? Does it ever get old? O pening a box of the first-delivered copies of Contention felt every bit as satisfying as Three Weeks Less a Day. The joy of seeing months of thinking, planning, writing, editing, and re-editing printed in a beautiful paperback package never grows old for me ! Let’s talk about your characters first. Does Fidelia Morales’s unyielding fortitude reflect her true persona, or is it merely a public facade? How does this resilience help her assert her place as a woman in a male-dominated criminal underworld? Fidelia Morales learned to play roles from her earliest childhood in the poor sections of Puerto Rico and mastered new personas as she progressed through law school, a frustrating stint as an attorney, became a high-priced prostitute and then the global leader of an escort business. When she seized the opportunity to become the kingpin of an organized crime outfit, she adapted her persona again to behave like the crime lord who had influenced her most. Despite her enormous wealth and influence, Fidelia’s ruthless manner becomes both her strongest asset in dealing with macho criminals and greatest handicap to achieving happiness and satisfaction in life.
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