Authors Margaret Yang and Harry Campion create fast-paced, techno-centric worlds in their science fiction — a genre I rarely read but, hey, when it’s THIS good, you gotta crack that spine (or download it, as the case may be).
Their second book, ‘The Caline Conspiracy,’ just came out last week and I really wanted them to stop by to talk about it. In the amazing world they’ve created, calines are the perfect pets — like dogs, but no shedding or eating the trash. But one caline, Madeline, is suspected of murder, and private investigator Aidra Scot must look into it. I invited them over to talk about their new novel as well as their writing process. Because they write … together! Under the single name, M.H. Mead. It boggles the mind. But, here — enough from me. Let them explain. Take it away, Margaret and Harry!
Q: Calines sound amazing (I totally want one!) but I’m curious if they’ve replaced regular dogs in your book? My dog Amos specifically wanted me to ask if beagles still exist, or if calines were so superior to regular dogs that they’ve replaced them?
Calines are both rare and expensive. Moreover, they can’t be bred, they can only be manufactured. So, calines are toys for the very rich. Dogs certainly still exist, and are the lovable human companions they’ve always been. In fact, one of our characters has a full-time job training calines, and he’s also a dog-breeder on the side.
Tell Amos not to worry! A dog like him is irreplaceable.
Q: You guys co-author novels, which I think is so incredible. If I had to work with someone, I’d probably stick a fork in their eyeballs. So, how do you guys make it work? What are one or two things you do to keep your working relationship strong and your writing fresh?

Somehow, authors Margaret Yang and Harry Campion can write books together and not stab each other's eyeballs out. Their latest book is called 'The Caline Conspiracy.'
It helps that we share a brain. We finish each other’s sentences even when we’re not writing together. We also share a sense of humor. We laugh a lot more than we argue.
We get really, really chatty when we’re writing in the same room. We used to feel guilty about it, like, “Oh, we should be putting words on the page, not talking about Firefly or our latest people-watching expedition to Starbucks.” But we’ve come to realize it’s part of our process. Somehow, sharing these stories that have nothing to do with work makes the work better. Fortunately, most of our writing takes place in separate rooms, in separate houses, in separate cities, since Harry lives in Detroit and Margaret lives in Ann Arbor.
And, you know, we always cover our eyeballs and hide the forks.
Q: Your main character in ‘The Caline Conspiracy,’ Aidra, plays a smaller a role in your first novel, ‘Fate’s Mirror.’ Is there anyone we might meet in ‘The Caline Conspiracy’ who might have a larger role in, say, your next novel?
Yes there is! Fans of our superhacker, Morris, will be happy to know he’s in the mix. This time around, Aidra butts heads with a by-the-book cop named Cariatti. He dislikes everything about her until she helps him foil an annoying reporter they both hate. Cariatti also reappears in our next novel, which comes out this fall. We’ve been having a lot of fun writing his scenes.
Q: How do you define success regarding to your writing career?
Groupies! The more the better!
We kid, we kid. The truth is, we have modest goals for our fiction. We want to put out the best work we can, sell a few books, get some great reviews and eventually sell a lot more books. So far, so good.
Q: Easter is coming up, which means ALL KINDS of amazing candy. Jellybeans, Cadbury eggs, Peeps. What is your fave Easter candy? And, if you could do an Easter egg hunt anywhere in the world, where would it be?

Amos is wondering if calines have to wear bunny ears at Easter or if it's just him.
Candy? Did someone say candy? Margaret would like to pretend she has a discriminating palate, (she’s a former restaurant critic) but honestly, she will eat all the candy. All there is. Even those cheap jellybeans that cost 99 cents a bag and taste ever so faintly of soap.
Harry is low-carbing right now, so no candy for him. But if he could, he’d divide his love between peanut butter cups and dark chocolate peanut M&Ms. Remember ET and the trail of Reese’s Pieces? That’s Harry and dark chocolate peanut M&Ms. He would follow a trail of M&Ms right into the lair of a hungry carnivore.
You know what would be a great place to have an Easter Egg hunt? The Starship Enterprise. As long as we watched out for temporal anomalies, tribbles, and the occasional alien with a huge forehead, we could find all the eggs. That is, if George Takei didn’t find them first. (Seriously, that dude is everywhere!)
Q: And of course, the question I ask all my guests: cheese or chocolate?
Harry is firmly team cheese (that whole low carb thing). Margaret is team chocolate all the way. We may share a brain, but our taste buds are all our own.