BLOG TOUR with CHARACTER INTERVIEW and GIVEAWAY: 'Heartifact' by Aisling Mancy
Hi everybody, Annie here.
Join me in welcoming Ash Mancy to our blog today! He’s gathered with several characters from his newest novella, Heartifact, and is giving us an opportunity to ask them all some questions. So, let’s get to it! Oh….and a little PSA:
Net proceeds from Heartifact benefit the The Trevor Project in the US,
Heartifact is available from
One more thing: Be sure and catch my review of Heartifact HERE.
Annie: Thanks for joining us today at Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter.
Ash: Thanks for having us on the Annie Show. It’s great to be here.
Harper: Thanks for having us. *elbows Pelora*
Pelora: Why did you do this?
Harper: Say something.
Pelora: What would you like me to say?
Harper: *rolls eyes* How about ‘thank you’?
Pelora: Thank you.
Audience: *soft laughter*
Areleous: *chuckles* He is a god of few words. It’s a pleasure to be here, Annie.
Harper: *looks at Stick*
Stick: Oh, yeah. It’s awesome to be here.
Annie: *smiles wide* Let’s get started. Ash, you’ve created a colorful cast of characters in Heartifact and we’re happy some of them could be here with us today. *turns to cast of characters* Each of you has a mystery of your own, and I wondered about a few things.
Starting with you, Mr. Areleous, you funded this marine archeological expedition. On the one hand, you say “There is certain to be more gold and we care less about pottery.” On the other hand, you are closely tied to the Hellenic Ministry of Antiquities. Can you explain your motives in funding this undersea archeological research?
Areleous: In archaeology, anything discovered must be shared with the country of its origin. The Greek government is particularly protective of its history, and as a Greek citizen, I am compelled to be equally as protective.
Annie: *smiles knowingly* I don’t suppose the money earned with each discovery has anything to do with it.
Harper and Stick: *try to keep straight faces*
Areleous: *tries to remain professional* Remuneration is always helpful in funding the next expedition.
Annie: *deadpan* Of course it is.
Audience: *soft laughter*
Annie: Stick, you met Harper on your first dive as interns and you mention that he peed his wetsuit because he was that afraid of a great white shark. What turned him into a man you could trust?
Harper: *rubs eyes with thumb and forefinger* I can’t believe you wrote that, Ash.
Ash: I’m the author and rank has its privileges.
Audience: *laughter*
Stick: *cracks up* I thought it was touching. I think you should include other stories from our internship digs, like the time Harper—
Harper: Don’t. Don’t do it, Stick.
Stick: *still laughing* One time we were down in this ancient tomb. It was filthy and dark and reeked of unmentionable things. Harp wasn’t paying attention to the supports around us, accidentally tripped, and one of the walls caved in. When the dust settled, a skeleton covered him in a rather suggestive pose. When he realized he was lips to mandible with the thing, he ran from the cavern and refused to return.
Harper: It was funnier when I caressed your face with its metacarpals in your sleep and you woke and ran screaming from your cot.
Audience: *laughter*
Stick: *cracks up again* I still owe you for that. *turns to Annie* Harp is the most caring person I’ve ever met. Seriously. You won’t find a more genuine person.
Pelora: I agree with this. He is very human.
Harper: I think you mean humane.
Pelora: This is what I said.
Harper: *smiles*
Annie: Other than Ash mentioning your green eyes, we have no physical description of you. Describe for our readers what you look like.
Stick: Plain.
Harper: *scoffs* She’s beautiful.
Stick: Shut up.
Pelora: She is a human made in the likeness of a goddess. She is lithe, with hair of auburn waves, and eyes the color of newborn leaves, and skin the color of fresh milk.
Ash: Poetic.
Harper: And she has freckles. Can’t beat those adorable freckles.
Stick: *blushes* Okay, enough describing the Stick.
Annie: Early on, we learn you've just decided to divorce your unfaithful husband. You actually say a great set of sonar equipment is better than sex. And you're very tuned into Harper’s needs. But, how are you doing? Are you too raw to discuss your own emotional state?
Stick: *stares at Annie* Yes. No. Yes. Yes, I am. We’ll leave it there.
Annie: *grins* Maybe Pelora could hook you up with one of his friends.
Pelora: Would you—?
Stick: Talk to the hand. I’ve sworn off men for now.
Pelora: My friends are gods—
Stick: They’re still men.
Pelora: Perhaps a female—
Stick: *under her breath* Shut him up, Harp, or I’ll rebury him on our next dig.
Annie: *laughs softly* Harper, how did Stick come to be your bestie?
Harper: What’s not to like? I mean, other than the sarcasm, cranky disposition, and caustic nature.
Stick: *gapes at Harper* Keep it up, and you die.
Audience: *laughter*
Harper: *smiles wide before turning serious* She understands me like no other and accepts me for who I am. I’ve never had that before.
Stick: *blushes and face softens*
Audience: *applause* Awwwwww.
Annie: *winks* Sounds like she means a lot to you.
Harper: Well, not that much.
Stick: *rolls eyes* See what I have to put up with?
Audience: *soft laughter*
Annie: Harper, what does the dig of an ancient ship mean to your career?
Harper: In archaeology, you can spend a lifetime searching for discoveries and not find anything. To not only find an ancient ship, but also to be able to raise it in tact, is a noble credit to any archaeologist’s career. It’s speaks to the credibility of the archaeologist.
Annie: I bet. *turns to Pelora* You are the most intriguing figure in the story and you invade Harper’s dreams. We quickly learn you are a god. How long have you been trapped undersea?
Pelora: Aeons.
Annie: How often have you reached out to mortals?
Pelora: Never.
Annie: Tell us the truth. Is Harper convenient or are you actually attracted to him?
*thunder sounds in the distance and the audience looks around*
Pelora: *skin crackles with miniature lightening*
Harper: Calm down, honey.
Pelora: *glares at Annie* The question is irrelevant.
Annie: *laughs softly and turns to Ash* Ash, while the ending of this book was satisfying, it was certainly abrupt. There could be many more archaeological explorations, and there is lots of room for these characters to grow, for their lives to change from this adventure. Do you plan another in the series? *remains hopeful*
Ash: I wrote Heartifact as a short story to raise money for our youth, and hadn’t intended to take it any further. That said, fans are clamoring for more and we never know what the future holds.
Annie: I for one, want more. Thanks for joining us today, Ash. We can’t wait to hear more from the characters of Heartifact!
Ash: Thanks for having us on your blog, Annie and Kimmers! *turns to audience* Go read Heartifact! It’s a great book. Besides, you can enter to win a $25 Amazon gift card and two signed books from Ash!
Audience: *thunderous applause*
FOLLOW THE BLOG TOUR AND ENTER TO WIN
TWO SIGNED BOOKS AND A $25 AMAZON GIFT CARD!
About Heartifact
Harper Kidd is a highly respected marine archaeologist. Yet, with the economy in a slump, he’s trapped working in an oil company’s exploration division. Now, at the ripe age of thirty, Harp is disgusted with his employer’s damage to the undersea world he loves, tired of his ATM-card-filching ex, and tormented by beautiful dreams of an undersea lover. It’s time for a change and when his best friend, Stick, pleads with him to assist on a deep-sea dig in the Mediterranean, he jumps at the chance.
Harper’s spirits are high when they discover the ruins of an ancient civilization, and soar to the heavens when they discover a statue of an ancient pelora, a mysterious hybrid creature said to mediate between the worlds of reality and fantasy—and the very lover who holds the starring role in his dreams.
When the crew discovers the site is teeming with unexploded ordnance from the conflicts in the Middle East, and the excavation turns deadly, Harper must choose between saving his best friend and saving the pelora he’s fallen in love with.
Heartifact is available from Men Over the Rainbow
About Aisling Mancy
Ash is an author who lives, most of the time, on the West Coast of the United States. Ash writes mystery thrillers, fantasy, science fiction, romance, and fiction for gay young adults as C. Kennedy.
Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, Ash doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Ash contemplates such weighty questions as If time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Ash can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary. Ash does respond to emails because, after all, it is all about you, the reader.
