Bec McMaster: Steampunk to Paranormal, Worlds That Are Riveting & RealL!

I’ll admit, before I was introduced to Bec McMaster’s books, I really didn’t have any interest in the genre of Steampunk. Sure, I loved her paranormal but mechanical magic in Victorian England? Eeeh... BUT after just one book from this amazingly creative and gifted author, I was hooked! Maybe it’s because her characters jump right off the page with emotion and depth, maybe it is the edge of your seat storylines that kept me up all night, but whatever it is Bec has it in spades. That is why it was such a joy to actually meet and visit with this lovely Aussie! Take a read and I’m sure you will be just as impressed and delighted as I was.

InD: Have you always lived in Australia?
BM: Yes. I was born and bred here. I actually live in the same town I was born in.
InD: I think that is awesome, but do you get kind of bored?
BM: No, I really love it here. I wouldn’t stay if I didn't.
InD: Where are you in Australia? Give us an idea what you are near.
BM: I live in Victoria, about two and a half hours out from Melbourne. It is a really small town of about 10,000 people. I grew up in a very rural area. My father owned a farm and it was very chilled and laid-back.
InD: Did you enjoy that type of a life?
BM: Yes, absolutely. I had a horse when I was a little girl and I would run around with animals, so yeah, it was great.
InD: So, do you have any brothers and sisters you grew up with?
BM: Yes, I do. I have a big family, a half-brother, half-sister, two step-sisters and a step-brother.
InD: Did you always like to read?
BM: Yes, I was always a reader. My family was really into books. I think before I even went to school, I was reading.
InD: What type of books did you like to read as a child?
BM: I liked magical stories, loved Fantasy. I read "The Hobbit" when I was about eight.
InD: Reading "The Hobbit" at eight years old is an accomplishment! I don't think it would have kept my attention for that long at that age.
BM: We were actually traveling in the car and there wasn't much to do, so I got totally absorbed and read that book from beginning to end. I remember reading and enjoying it and thinking I wanted more of it. I was about 16 before I started reading Romance, but when I did, I was like, “Hang on, this is what I have been missing!” All of my favorite Fantasies had a little romantic sub plot, so finding Romance was like finding exactly what I really loved.
InD: Did you write when you were very young?
BM: Yes, I always wrote. When I was a little girl, I remember one report from my grade school teacher. She said, “We love all of your stories, but please, no more horse stories.” They actually banned me from writing about horses! I spent a lot of time by myself as a kid. I was a bit older than my brothers and sisters, so I read books and wrote.
InD: At what point did you decide you would like to write your own book?
BM: I think when I was about 13. I was really into Saddle Club books, so I started writing a similar kind of themed story. I remember my grandfather printing it off and binding it together. I could never finish an actual book but I had pages and pages of all of the stories. It was just something I did in my spare time. I would get up early before school and get ready, then I would have an hour on the computer to write. I don't remember ever not having written.
InD: Do you still have a copy of that first story your grandpa had?
BM: I actually don't know. I would love to go through all of his stuff just to see if he kept it. He kept everything and I still have a lot of notebooks from that time, but I don't know if that's there. I do have it on a floppy disk. A part of me would love to go back and actually look at it. But then, it might be terrible! [both laughing]
InD: So, what were your teenage years like?
BM: I read a lot and I played a lot of sports. I didn't have a lot of friends. I was probably not the cool kid at school but I didn't really care. I was happy doing my own thing.
InD: I think that is really cool that you were okay with who you were, that you didn’t need to have a lot the people around you. I think that is a wonderful way to be.
BM: Yes, because I was doing stuff I loved to do and that made me happy.
InD: What kind of sports did you play?
BM: I did netball, which I think is a Commonwealth kind of thing. I actually still play it.
InD: Is that like volleyball?
BM: It's a little bit like basketball, but you are not supposed to dribble the ball. I also played tennis. I swam. I enjoyed horse riding. I used to ride endurance with horses.
InD: As you were in your last year of school, what were you wanting to do with your life?
BM: I am going to be honest with you here, I was looking at professional writing and, of course, I would have loved to have done it, but a lot of people around me were like, “Maybe you should get a real job.” So I thought, “Well, what can I do?” I loved biology at that time, so I took some biology courses, but I realized it was something I was really not interested in.

Read the entire fun and informative interview in the May 2021 issue of InD'Tale magazine.

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