GRL AUTHOR INTERVIEW: Aisling Mancy, Author of 'Heartifact'
Today as I get ready to head off to GRL I bring you our last, but certainly in no way the least, author interview with GayRomLit's Featured Author Aisling Mancy, aka Cody Kennedy.
Boy does Aisling have a lot to tell us so let's get to it!
Thank you for being here today. Before we get started, I guess I should ask what name you prefer to go by. *winks* Thank you for having me, Kimmers! It’s awesome to be here! Cody is the real me. Ash is the fake me. *giggles* Okay, I must tell you that you are a new author to me and that is one of the things I love about what I do. I am constantly meeting new people, expanding my reading horizons; and I hope our readers’ in return. Since this is your first time at our blog, I like to start off with a few fun questions to get you comfortable. Ready? Bring it on! What are you reading right now? I am reading Jordan L. Hawk’s Hexbreaker and its sequel, Hexmaker. Well that sounds like a series that might intrigue some of our shifter readers. What is the one thing you can’t go a day without doing? Writing! It’s ingrained in me. Seriously. I was first published at the age of seven. Hashtag: Truestory Seven? Wow! Way to go. Which inspirational person would you like to spend the day with, living or deceased, and why? This is always a hard question for me. I’d probably have to say Carl Sagan. I can name three people I’d love to spend time with. Isaac Asimov has always fascinated me. I often spend hours immersed in his stories. One of my all time favorites is The Last Question wherein the titular question is “How do we stop the universe from ending? Or, How can we conquer death?” In addition to Asimov, two other authors who fascinate me are Michael Crichton and Carl Sagan. Their abilities to weave science and the salient questions of ‘who are we and what are we made up of’ into fiction is extraordinary and impressive. Intrigued by the advents of cloning, stem cell research, genetic engineering (gene splicing), eugenics, and the human genome project, I often delve into the ethical, legal, and social implications associated with these sciences.
Cloning, heh? Now that we are into the heavy are you ready for the hard questions? Wait, wait, wait! Ermergerd. I thought those were the hard ones! *laughing* How about we start with you telling our readers a little bit about yourself and what you write? Here’s the bio: 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.
All of it is true. I’m all about writing the mysterious, and my favorite genres to write are paranormal and science fiction, it’s a toss up. I also write contemporary works, mystery/suspense, and I’ll be writing some steampunkery in 2017. All of my books contain some element of romance and, no matter the genre, my books contain a lot of action. I like action. And I like to blow things up. A lot. It’s a plight. Please don’t mock me. I spent way too much time on film sets growing up, but it gave me a unique perspective on storytelling. Read some of my posts on growing up in Hollywood and film writing here and here. You’ll find more dialogue and action in my books than narrative. I also like to give readers a thrill. You’ll find twists and turns in my stories, the periodic Boo!, and at least one ‘are you freakin’ kidding me?’ moment. I also place a high value on humor. Each of my books has funny moments in it. I have a wild imagination and look to bring imagination to life and give readers the best possible reading experience. You’ll also find two other things in my books. Hope and a happily ever after. Lots of readers like the HEA. I for one am a sucker for humor. Give me a man who can make me laugh. You write young adult gay romance as C. Kennedy and adult gay romance as Aisling Mancy. You don’t hide one from the other at all, but I’m hoping you might explain this for our readers who don’t always understand why authors use pseudonyms or pen names. There is usually a very good reason for this and in fact many authors do it, I mean look at Stephen King. It is illegal for minors to access literature or material containing “explicit or graphic sex.” I discuss the definition of “minor,” “explicit or graphic sex,” the law, and other aspects of this polarizing issue at length in a special series Young People Should Read About Life As It is Lived. I’m staunch advocate for youth reading real-life material, and this isn’t to say that youth will not access this material when they want to. They do ALL.THE.TIME. I’m merely more comfortable keeping my adult and youth works separate. That is totally understandable! So, now that we know about what you write under each name let’s talk a little bit about your associated work. I’ve heard some wonderful things about Tharros, your young adult M/M written as C. Kennedy. It deals with a pretty heavy topic: abduction and resulting prosecution. Where did you draw your inspiration for this? I am an advocate for youth—specifically, abused male youth, and writing about the aftermath of sexual abuse and child sex trafficking is one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I did not want the stories to be graphic and depressing, and I certainly did not want people reading them for shock value. I never expected to write for these boys and young men, but they bugged me forevarrrr to do so, and you have no idea how relentless youth can be. Until I was certain I could scribe stories of hope and healing, I refused, and it took me four years before I penned my first story for them.
While there is no on-page abuse in these books, I write about tough stuff. You may scoff and say, “I don’t read young adult works”—and I might ask you to read Ómorphi. I am in the trenches on a day-to-day basis with youth and the very real adult problems they deal with may surprise you. Of greatest import—my books are about hope and healing, and many of the adages and lessons in these books apply to us old folk too. Every one of us deserves kindness, respect, and, above all, hope. Very well said. I know that when we talked about you stopping by today you indicated that this year you are concentrating on your adult work written as Aisling Mancy. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about your magical, paranormal read, Sleight of Heart, which came out in March of this year and just received a Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention? Congratulations, by the way! Thank you! The Morality of Magick Series is a series of stand-alone books (Yes, it’s true! No waiting for the next book!) about different sorts of magick. Sleight of Heart is the first book in the series.
It’s an enchanting romance about a palm-reading gypsy and a vampire mage who fall in love against all odds. The story combines the primordial phantasy of the preternatural with the ancient superstition of the Romani—set against a backdrop of present day reality. The penultimate question: How would humans treat preternatural creatures in society today?
The story includes Romani lore, and I tell a true story of my experience in Paris with a Romani young man here. Pesha is largely based on this young man and, in Sleight of Heart, he is a mysterious gypsy who lives under the tyranny of his father, the ruler of a compania (band, tribe, clan) in Wales. Lord Taliesin Solitaire has been alone for two hundred years and, having been betrayed in the worst way, has sworn never to fall in love again.
This story tells of broken hearts and second chances for both Pesha and Taliesin. We’ve all been there: our hearts broken so deeply that we vow never to love again. Then someone comes along that piques our interest and we begin to think about love again. Love has a way of wending itself into our hearts even when we don’t want it to be there—and it causes us to reassess ourselves, our lives, and where we’d like to be. Yeah, that's kinda how I met my husband. *winks* You also have a new book coming out in November, Heartifact, which is kind of why we are here. Along with GRL of course. It appears to be a little paranormal, alternate world, I‘m hoping you might elaborate for us. Heartifact is about deep sea exploration and the discovery of unknown ruins. The statue within the ruins is that of an ancient Greek Pelora (half man/half animal god). Mysteriously, the stone that covers these ruins seems to be moving on its own, as if it wants the ruins beneath it to be discovered. Harper Kidd is a highly respected marine archaeologist and prides himself on being level-headed, but right before dive, he begins to have dreams about a mystifying guy. Hot, sexy dreams. Like really hot sexy dreams. And it isn’t until the stone is lifted that he discovers that this god has been infiltrating his dreams. Since we’re talking about Heartifact, you intend for net proceeds from sales to benefit The Trevor Project (along with a few other causes). As someone who volunteers with our community LGBT youth organizations, I fully support The Trevor Project. Would you care to tell our readers what the organization does and why their services are so important to you? The Trevor Project is the only accredited US organization that offers 24/7 access to youth who need help. Founded in 1998 by the creators of the Academy Award®-winning short film TREVOR, The Trevor Project is the leading national organization providing crisis intervention and suicide prevention services to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning (LGBTQ) young people ages 13-24. You can also find many more youth resources on my Resources page. Oh that's awesome you put so many resources on your page, Cody. Anyone who follows you via your blog or social media can tell that supporting LGBT youth is very important to you. Not only that, but during our prep for this interview you indicated that you advocate for sexually abused male youth. Can you elaborate as to which of your books are for these youth? Slaying Isidore’s Dragons is nothing short of a teen Bourne Identity. Declan is determined to save Isidore from his family and the story spans three continents and contains a lot of action (my film writing shows through).
Ómorphi, Thárros, and upcoming Elpída (June, 2017, Harmony Ink Press) constitute the Elpída Series. They chronicle the relationship of Christy, a boy recovering from lifelong abuse, and Michael, and utterly normal guy; and Christy’s kidnapping by a former abuser. Thárros focuses on the trial to prosecute that abuser. Finally, Elpída, focuses on Christy’s rescue of another boy who suffered under the hands of their abusers.
Safe is a 20,000 word novella and was written in a unique form, beginning and ending in medias res (present day, first person), with the center of the book in third person and telling the story of how the boys met, became best friends, and then boyfriends. One boy looks to protect the other from a physically abusive father. This book was also written in response to the lack of sex ed in schools for LGBT youth and follows “Abstinence Plus” sex education.
That is quite the selection. While I was looking at your collection of works I noticed you write a little bit of everything: paranormal, fantasy, mystery, contemporary, sci-fi: What drives your imagination – or provokes your muses? The simple answer is: I had a very tough formative youth and, at the age of seven, I went to live with my grandfather, a prolific author and screenplay writer. I had lost the ability to speak and spent a long time in the hospital. He refused to allow me to use what happened to me as an excuse for failing to live life to the fullest and he started by putting a pen in my hand and issuing a stern, “You have a brain. Use it.” I wrote a story entitled Hank the Unicorn and it was about a unicorn who wished to be a Pegasus so he could fly. Given that a unicorn is a portmanteau of a Pegasus, clearly the age of reason had not yet dawned on me. But, hey, I was seven and wanted to be able to fly. So much so, I disdained any creature that could not fly. My four-page masterpiece was published in a local newspaper. Owning three parrots has only made me more envious of creatures that can fly. I still have a burning desire to be able to fly. Like, almost more than anything in the universe. It’s become a very deep-seated need. I probably need counseling. I digress. I think there is probably something freeing about flying. I don’t want to keep you too long and one of the main reasons you stopped by today, besides talking about all of your wonderful books, is that you will be attending GayRomLit this month. From what I hear you might be somewhat of a “veteran”. *giggles* Would you care to tell our readers what it is that keeps you returning? READERS! My favorite part of GayRomLit is spending time with readers. The love, laughter, and warmth shared with readers is the very essence of living life to the fullest. I met the most awesome readers in the world last year and I look forward to seeing you again and meeting new readers this year!
How about this year? Anything in particular you are looking forward to? SLEEP! I need SLEEP! Thárros will debut in French at Salon du Livre in March (as Ómorphi did last year) and I may go to France. I’m working on a top-secret project for Dreamspinner Press, and also writing Grotesque. Both of these novels are exciting and, whether reading or writing, there is nothing better than immersing myself in an exciting story. Cody, I have to say this has been really great getting to know you. I’m so happy you stopped by today and I hope all of our fans heading to GRL will come and say hello to you, and for those who might not be able to attend I hope they will scout out your works and give them a whirl. Thanks for having me, Kimmers. You rock! It’s been great to be here and, I look forward to returning soon! SEE YOU ALL AT GRL!
Title: Heartifact Author: Aisling Mancy Published: COMING November 24, 2016 Publisher: Men Over The Rainbow Genre: Contemporary Romance Length: 134 Pages Tags: Gay; M/M; Paranormal
BLURB:
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 sprits 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.
Coming November 24th in French, English, and Italian from Men Over The Rainbow Net proceeds benefit the The Trevor Project in the US, el Refuge in France, and Arcigay in Italy Lisez ici en français Read an excerpt on Love Bytes Reviews! Heartifact releases on Thanksgiving Day, 2016!
For more information on Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention, Sleight of Heart, visit: Cool Dudes Publishing.
Ash is an author who lives, most of the time, on the West Coast of the United States. Ash writes adult fantasy, science fiction, adult 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.
