I fell into steampunk while writing Boston Metaphysical Society as a TV pilot while at UCLA film school. Lucky for me it was a welcome marriage of my love for history and science fiction. But like many TV pilot specs, I didn’t want it to gather dust in some development executive’s drawer so I decided to adapt the pilot into a comic mini-series. My thought was to initially host it online as a webcomic. Not having any real comic book writing experience at that time, I went back to school to learn how to write a comic script and soon discovered that there were hundreds if not thousands of webcomics online. How could I differentiate myself among all those other comics? Even if my artist (Emily Hu) and I created the best webcomic since Girl Genius, how would we get anyone to notice us? So I did my research and discovered at that time that no webcomic offered additional material to their fan base other than art. And since I can’t draw and my budget doesn’t allow for any extra art other than producing the comic itself, I decided to write a series of short stories and novellas to enrich the world I had created. However, it was very important to me not to give away any spoilers to the comic. 
My first foray into this was to write the short story The Devil Within. It is a brief account of the daily life of Andrew O’Sullivan, Medium and Spirit Photographer, working with a homicide detective. Told from Andrew’s point-of-view, we see what life is like for the Irish and his hopes and dreams for his young daughter, Caitlin who becomes a major player in the comic. The second one is called The Secret. This one has a more romantic vibe to it as I wanted to explore who Elizabeth Hunter was before she married Samuel Hunter (one of the main characters in the comic). What’s become a fan favorite (and mine as well) is the YA novella Steampunk Rat. Inspired in part by a panel I had written in one of the issues of the comic and this fabulous illustration by Elizabeth Jackson, it is about a young Jonathan Weldsmore (also a character in the comic) who is treated like a poor relation within his own wealthy family with little hope of obtaining the future he desperately wants. That is until he rescues and transforms an injured rat into the mechanism of not only his salvation, but his family’s as well. 
The next one I wrote is called The Demons of Liberty Row and it is the story of how Samuel Hunter and Granville Woods first met and their first case together. Here I got a chance to delve into more of the steampunk technology Granville created and how the African-American community fit into this alternate history of our country. 
I’m currently working on what will be my last novella called The Secret of Kage House which focuses on a fifteen year old Caitlin O’Sullivan who comes to grips with what it means to be a Medium and its responsibilities. This story is a Kickstarter reward and will be available in February sometime. The reason I say it will be my last novella is that it’s become clear that it’s time for me to write the novels for Boston Metaphysical Society. There is a lot of material for me to work with so I’m not sure if the first novel will start where the six-issue comic ends or right before it begins. Eventually, I will do novels covering what is referred to in the comic as the “House Wars” (my version of the Civil War) and spin-offs of some of the supporting characters. I do hope to continue with additional comic mini-series, but that depends on our budget. 
In the meantime, please read the comic online for free, however, if you are interested in concept art, commentary and additional art then there are special digital editions (30+ pages of extras) available through Amazon, Nook, DrivethruComics, iTunes and Pulp-Free (Android). Print editions are also available through my website: Comics – Print and Digital The prose stories are available at Amazon, Nook, Smashwords (all ereaders, i.e. Kobo, Sony, iTunes) and DriveThruFiction. Have a Happy New Year! Bio: A TV, feature film and comic book writer, Madeleine is the winner of the Sloan Fellowship for screenwriting, and the Gold Aurora and Bronze Telly for a PSA produced by Women In Film. She also won numerous awards while completing the UCLA MFA Program in Screenwriting. BOSTON METAPHYSICAL SOCIETY webcomic is the recipient of an HONORABLE MENTION at the 2013 GEEKIE AWARDS and was nominated for BEST COMIC/GRAPHIC NOVEL at the 2014 GEEKIE AWARDS. The comic has also been nominated for a 2012 Airship Award as well as a 2013 and a 2014 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award. Her novella, Steampunk Rat, was also nominated for a 2013 Steampunk Chronicle Reader’s Choice Award. Madeleine has also run two successful Kickstarter campaigns to help print and produce the comic and will be offering Kickstarter classes at Pulp Fiction Comics in Culver City, CA starting on January 31, 2015.
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