Anniversary Shenanigans: Author Visit and Giveaway - Devon McCormack

 

SheReadsALot here with a very special guest, Mr. Devon McCormack. I think he's a very up and coming author in GLBT fiction. I'm a story girl, you give me a hot plot (no it doesn't equal sex, pervs), characters I care about and an ending that leaves me thinking and I'm happy. He does this for me. He can weave quite the tale.

Sadly, I can't claim coming across Mr. McCormack reviewing for this blog. It was actually for my other one but I eyed the blurb for Clipped and wanted in. Was not disappointed. And I'm three books in and I'm still in awe of this guy. I blabbed about Clipped to the unicorns, pushed the quotes, the plot, everything on them. Because I couldn't get it off my brain. Still can't...he represents #TeamPain very well. But he doesn't only have hardcore erotica up his sleeve...he writes YA & NA entwined with paranormal/urban fantasy so well.

It's my pleasure to introduce you to Devon McCormack. That's right you're getting more than an interview, you're getting into his mind too! Come read about why his mother can't read his books, learn about his favorite porn star and have a chance to win an eBook from his backlist (winner's choice).

Interview: Devon McCormack

BMBR: What are your favorite M/M themes?

Devon: Enemies to lovers for the win. Nothing makes me happier than two guys who start off hating each other's guts. I love the tension that comes along with that. In Clipped, this plays out in Treycore and Kid's relationship. Treycore's a higherling (AKA  angel) who isn't all that fond of humans. Humans also emit a potent, disgusting stench to immortals, so he'd also physically repulsed by their presence. He meets an ex-sex-slave named Kid who smells worse than most humans and he's particularly nasty to him. Kid, having just escaped from slavery, doesn't appreciate Treycore's condescending attitude, and he's quick to challenge his insults. Despite how much they get on each other's nerves, they also have a powerful, inexplicable sexual attraction towards each other. So they fight, and then it becomes to much for them, and they fuck. More fucking ensues.

BMBR: What books do you consider Desert Island Keepers?

Devon: Oh...there's this little book called Clipped that could easily satisfy all my sexual needs for an eternity. What? Wrong answer? Too narcissistic? Ok, ok. Desert Island keepers? I have to be kind of lame with this question because I have books that I'm really attached to. One, for sure, has to be Wuthering Heights. I can never read that book too many times. It's just beautiful...absolutely beautiful. The passion, the lust, the intensity. It's raw, it's captivating, it's beautiful. I don't think I could ever get bored with that story. There are few books that truly transport me to another world when I'm reading, but that one definitely does. I hate saying this next one, because I think he was one of the douchiest authors ever to walk the earth, but William Faulkner. I adore Light in August. I would definitely need that with me.

BMBR: What's your go-to tasty beverage?

Devon: If you'd asked me a year ago, I would have said pumpkin spice coffee. At the time, I drank like four pots of coffee a day, but realizing that wasn't the healthiest lifestyle, I gave it up and now I'm a big tea drinker instead. Well, not that big. Not as big as I was with coffee, but I drink it occasionally. When I do, I drink cinnamon apple spice tea. I'm not a big cinnamon fan, but for some reason, that always does the trick.

BMBR: Do you have any secret talents? Inquiring minds want to know.

Devon: Don't lie. They don't care! Hmmm... Secret talents? Does self discipline count as a talent? With most everything in my life, I'm a masochist. I make myself exercise. I make myself eat healthier. I made myself give up coffee, which I loved more than breathing. Recently, I started running so I could participate in a half marathon with my friends. Stupidest idea I've ever had. I hate running. I have never hated anything so much in my life. Me and my boyfriend have been training, going on these long runs and they're unbearable. And I'm not talking about physically. Physically, I've acclimated to it. Mentally, it's like a form of Chinese torture. So why do I do it? Because the moment my body tells me, "No! Stop! You're killing me," I say, "Shut the fuck up, asshole."

BMBR: If you had to choose to be one magical beast, what would it be and why? (you don't have to say unicorn...but we won't say neigh either)

Devon: I don't know if this counts as a magical beast, but there's a lot of hentai that includes giant monsters with lots of tentacles. Do you know how many orifices I could get inside with those? Of course, it's not all that practical. I'd have to have a small army of concubinus to satisfy my tentacles. And for this to work, I'd essentially want my tentacles to function, not like tentacles, but like a bunch of dicks. I don't know. That's kind of difficult., because on one hand, that sounds like I could get off a whole lot. On the other hand, I worry they wouldn't be very usefully, because if I tried to use them to fight, I'd essentially be hurting my dick.

BMBR: Who's your favorite porn star?

Devon: Oh my God. I love this question. Johnny Rapid! Oh, my Johnny. Sometimes, my boyfriend will pull up a video up of him just 'cause he knows that boy makes me very happy. There's a guy who knows how to ride a cock. Sometimes, someone will be topping him, and he'll get this amused expression on his face like, "Aw. That's so cute. You're really trying, aren't you?" And they are. Bless their hearts. One time, he actually laughed at one of the guys who was pounding him and trying to talk dirty. That's my kind of guy. And he's so little. I could keep him in my pocket and take him everywhere I go.

BMBR: Do you have author envy? Whose words do you read and think, "GAH, I wish I wrote that!"?

Devon: Hmmm...I don't really envy other people's ideas. I'm pretty content with the ones I come up with. I'll sometimes envy a pretty passage. There are plenty of better wordsmiths in the world. But those sorts of passages are usually so mystical in nature that I don't ever think I could do something like that. For me, if I write something that sounds lovely, it's in a moment of inspiration that I couldn’t control if I wanted to.

BMBR: Any new projects you're currently working on?

Devon: Yes. My life is filled with WIPs. I just finished a YA Contemporary novel, and I'm tweaking/editing a project called Metal Made Flesh. I'm also working on my follow up to Bound, Clipped's sequel. I'll be taking a little break from that one, as I tend to do, but I'll be back in the heat of the battle in no time.

And here's something a little extra by McCormack!

Writing Books Mama Can't Read

by Devon McCormack

"So...we can't read it?" my mom asked.

I'd told she and my dad I was publishing a book. After all, it was my first, I was excited, and who would want to know about it more than my parents who watched me writing my whole life? Of course, when I'd blurted it out, I hadn't really thought how I was going to explain Clipped to my parents. "So, Mom, Dad, God and Satan were ex-lovers who butt-fucked for eons. When they broke up, humans ended up in the middle of their petty post-relationship feud. Now, it's just a big battle mixed with giant cocks and cum for days." No. That wasn't going to go over well. My parents were fairly religious, and my mother's reaction to my coming out went something along the lines of, "Yes, of course I know you were born that way! I'm your mother! Just don't tell anyone!" So I assumed releasing a book that violated my mother's religious beliefs as well as her fear of my doing anything to broadcast my sexual orientation would give her a heart attack.

"No," I replied. "I don't think you want to read it."

"Is there a lot of cursing?" It was an accusation, not a question. Before Clipped, my mom had read pretty much everything I'd written, from kids books to screenplays, though she was particularly bothered by the screenplays that included naughty words like fuck, shit, and the really heinous one--damn. After she'd run across a few, she'd insisted that I black out curse words from any manuscripts I shared with her.

"Yes. There's lots of that."

She grimaced and scanned my face, as if expecting my expression to reveal what other forms of debauchery I'd written about. I tried to psychically project to her, "Butt sex. Lots and lots of butt sex. Huge dicks invading tiny, dry boy-holes."

"And," I continued, "it's just not the sort of book you would like. Think trashy. Like trashier than trashy. Like really really trashy. And I wrote it."

I assumed she would infer from that last sentence I meant it was the gayest shit ever written and surely that would be the end of the discussion. Alas, I received a call not long after that, where she said a little-too-eagerly, "I told Aunt Jess about your book."

"You did what?!"

"The book. I told her. She's really excited for you. She wants to know your pen name."

"I bet she does. Mom, did you not understand what I meant when I said I was writing something really trashy? Something I wrote?"

"Oh, she reads Harlequin books all the time."

I bashed the heel of my hand against my forehead. "Mom. I'm sorry. I should have been more specific. I wrote it...Me...It's a sexual book. Sex that I'm writing about..."

This sort of verbal charades was a small example of the guessing games we played since I'd come out and my mother had made it clear she didn't want me mentioning "the gay thing" around her. So rather than just explaining what I'd written, I felt it was best to beat around the bush...which totally hadn't gotten me into trouble the first time...Mmmm hmmmm...

"Oh," Mom said, as she seemed to finally understand what I was getting at. Although, at that point, I wasn't all that confident I'd conveyed my message.

"Yeah, so Aunt Jess won't be reading my book anytime soon."

"Well, what am I supposed to tell her? She said she really liked your last book."

"Of course she did. It was about kid superheroes saving the universe!" In my mind this continued with, "Not an angel strangling a human while he fucks him in the ass with a fraction of his two-footer!"

Mom sighed that sigh that's meant to convey so many things: that I fucked up, that I'm making her life difficult, and that I need to make better life choices. "Well, when are you going to write something a little more mainstream..." Since this conversation, I've learned "mainstream" just means "not gay."

"I don't know, Mom. I'll let you know when I do, okay?"

Since Clipped, I've published three more books, none as erotic or naughty as Clipped. With each release, my mom gets really excited for me and asks, "Is this one we can read?" I want to shout at her, "No, Mom. The characters are gay and I curse on every fucking page!" But I offer a gentle, "No. I don't think that would be a very good idea." It's a sort of truce, though it saddens me. As I mentioned, she read pretty much everything I wrote as I was growing up. She was my first critic. She was the first to tell me, "This scene doesn't make any sense." She was the first to say, "This book really just isn't that good. No, I don't mean that. It's just not written very well. Oh, I knew you would take that the wrong way." I can tell that, by not being able to participate in this part of my writing career, she feels more than a little left out. She doesn't mind me sharing censored reviews, even of Clipped, because she wants to be a part of the success that I'm receiving. But I can tell that, though there are ways I can share pieces of this with her, it'll never be the same as when she could freely read everything I wrote. Sad as that is, it's just a part of growing up and making my way toward the life I want, rather than the life my mother dreamed for me. At some point, she's going to have to realize that she has to get over her issues with all things gay before we have a chance at sharing my work. But perhaps one day that'll happen, and if I need to censor out the curse words, I guess I wouldn't mind.

Thanks BMBR, for having me on the blog today. If you're interested in following me, here's where you can find me:

Facebook

Twitter
Goodreads

Also, if you're curious about my novel, Clipped, here's where it's available:

Wilde City Press

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

About the author:

Devon McCormack spends most of his time hiding in his lair, adventuring in paranormal worlds with his island of misfit characters. A good ole Southern boy, McCormack grew up in the Georgian suburbs with his two younger brothers and an older sister. At a very young age, he spun tales the old fashioned way, lying to anyone and everyone he encountered. He claimed he was an orphan. He claimed to be a king from another planet. He claimed to have supernatural powers. He has since harnessed this penchant for tall tales by crafting whole worlds where he can live out whatever fantasy he chooses.

A gay man himself, McCormack focuses on gay male characters, adding to the immense body of literature that chooses to represent and advocate gay men's presence in media. His body of work ranges from erotica to young adult, so readers should check the synopses of his books before purchasing so that they know what they're getting into.

We thank McCormack for dropping by the stable! Devon has kindly offered an ebook copy from his backlist - winner's choice To enter to win, please leave a comment on this blog post and let us know:

(1) your name and a means of contacting you (e.g., email, Twitter handle, link to Goodreads account, etc.)

and

(2) Your favorite beverage of choice. We like to get to know our blog readers too!

The giveaway is open until 10:00PM (Pacific time) on November 19th. Shortly thereafter, we will contact a winner whom we will select using a highly scientific "names in a hat" method (or, you know, an internet randomizer). Please respond to the winning notification within 48 hours or we will choose another winner.