- If you were
not a writer what would you be doing?
I’m a game designer. In addition
to writing, I own a game company called Games Omniverse, and we’re making a
video game in my other world which is “The Dire Multiverse.” I plan to write a
series of novels in that world as well.
Even if I weren’t writing, I’d
still be telling stories through the games I and my team create.
- If you wrote a
book about your life what would the title be?
“Angel’s Wings” – Throughout my
life, there have been so many people who have supported and encouraged me, and
I’d shine a spotlight on them. My life story is only interesting because of
them. Case in point, my beta group is known as “Angel’s Wings.”
- What is the
hardest thing about being an author?
For me, the hardest thing is
overcoming imposter syndrome. Fighting the little voice in my head that says, “I’m
not really a writer. I’m a fake. No one wants to read my books. They’re just
being nice. It’s all going to crash down at any moment.”
Any kind of artistic endeavor
requires an act of courage, not just the first time you share your work, but
every single freakin’ time.
- What is the
best thing about being an author?
Hearing someone tell you they
liked what you wrote. Finding out that your words improved someone else’s life—if
only for a moment. That is by far the best thing about being an author! Nothing
is as sweet. Nobody tells stories for themselves. They tell them for the
audience. A story is a gift from the author to the reader. And the pleasure and
delight of that reader is the reward.
- Have you ever
been star struck by meeting one of your favorite authors? If so who was
it?
YES!! OMG. I have been a fan of Neil
Gaiman ever since the early 90s when I read the Sandman comic book
series. I was once at the DragonCon convention in Atlanta, and he was a guest.
I hovered near him all weekend, looking for my chance to speak with him, but he
was always surrounded—and I was a wallflower. It was getting embarrassing.
I finally confessed my stalking
to a good friend of mine—Phil “Satyros” Brucato (of White Wolf’s Mage fame)—and
he dragged me up to meet Mr. Gaiman, introduced me, and then abandoned me.
Gaiman was on stage. I was on the floor. He was looming over me like a god… and
I got tongue-tied. I only remember telling him I loved his work. I remember my
cheeks getting hot. And I remember how kind his eyes were. He shook my hand and
smiled at me.
Years later, I met him again when
he handed me an award for a short story I’d written, and I got to shake his
hand again. That time, I was on stage with him. His eyes were still kind.
- What book
changed your life?
All of them? Yes. But the one
that most changed it was a book called “Illusions: The Adventures of a
Reluctant Messiah,” written by Richard Bach. It opened my eyes to the existence
of magick in our world and how it can change your life if you believe in it.
Wyrdwood is an extension of the
ideas Mr. Bach put into my head when I was a young woman. I owe him a debt of
gratitude.
- What were some
of your favorite books growing up?
I had mixed tastes when I was
young, and I read voraciously. I loved Horror novels like The Exorcist, Rosemary’s
Baby, The Shining, and The Sentinel.
At the same time, I devoured
romance novels. My taste in romance was split between the period novels of
Barbara Cartland, Harlequins, and the dark gothic romances of Victoria Holt,
and Phyllis A. Whitney. Again, you see the theme of light and dark in my
tastes.
Eventually, I discovered The
Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. I loved that book so much!
- What books are
currently in your to be read pile?
I mostly read supernatural suspense,
urban fantasy, and non-fiction these days. My lighter side is fed by binging
Janet Evanovich and Darynda Jones. My darker side enjoys the Dresden Files
series by Jim Butcher—he finally has new ones coming out again!
I also just finished a book by
R.L. King called Stone and a Hard Place. It was fun!
Rising to the top of my queue (on
Audible), I have Three Mages and a Marguerita by Annette Marie and Halfway
to the Grave by Jeaniene Frost. Looking forward to discovering a couple
new-to-me series!
- Which do you
prefer ebooks, print, or audio books?
Audiobooks, primarily because I
can read while doing the dishes or laundry, driving, or dusting. Elsewise, I
don’t have leisure time to read.
- If you could
live inside the world of a book or series which world would it be and why?
I’m inclined to say Wyrdwood, but
that’s cheating, isn’t it? I’m creating Wyrdwood because it’s a world I would
love to live in myself.
If I’m not cheating, however, I’d
have to say J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter world. I’m sure I’m not the first to
answer with that. I want to have gone to Hogwarts and grown up to work at the
Ministry. I want to have little magical grandchildren and a wizarding family.
What a life that would be!
Thanks so much for the
opportunity to introduce myself.
Stalking the Moon
Wyrdwood Welcome
Book One
Angel Leigh McCoy
Genre: Supernatural Suspense
Publisher: Wily Writers
Wyrdwood Welcome
Book One
Angel Leigh McCoy
Genre: Supernatural Suspense
Publisher: Wily Writers
Date of Publication: April 24, 2020
ISBN: 978-1950427055
ASIN: B0832JJRPG
Number of pages: 290
Word Count: 88,868
Cover Artist: DIStudios.pl
Tagline: A New Mythology for the 21st Century
Book Description:
Normal life is complicated enough. Add magick to the mix, and suddenly all hell breaks loose!
Viviane doesn't have time for voices in her head or monsters in her bed! Her family relies on her. She's in charge of a mentally ill mother, a sneaky grandfather, and a sexy (but delusional) fiancé. And yet, the whispers in her mind are barging into Reality—with claws and teeth and murderous intent.
When her fiancé goes missing, she'll do anything to find him. If that means magical, mythical creatures hunt her down, then so be it. This could be the end of her life as she's known it, but well… Consequences be damned.
Excerpt
from STALKING THE MOON by Angel Leigh McCoy
The staff
entrance was on the women’s wing, near the employee parking lot. Out of habit,
I entered there. Nurses, orderlies, and doctors all greeted me as I made my way
to Richard’s office.
Richard was
seated at his desk. "Hey, Vivi. Come on in." He rebuttoned the collar
of his white, custom-fitted dress shirt.
"Howdy."
I shut the door behind me and went to the leather couch. It was overstuffed
with a high back and deep seat. I felt small on it, but that was part of
Richard’s evil plot. Plus, it would have been impossible to fall off it while
under hypnosis. It cradled me.
"What part
of my psyche are we going to poke today?"
Richard folded
his arms on the desk, a pen flapping in one hand as he looked me over. "I
want to revisit your early days," he said. "I’ve been going through
the transcripts of our sessions, compiling them, and there are a couple things
I’d like to revisit."
"Let’s get
to it then."
The first time I
met Richard, back in the early days, he was finishing his last year as a
graduate student in the Psychology Department at the University of Illinois. He
was in Peoria doing an internship at the counseling center, and Abram had
dragged me there to get my head fixed—at the junior high principal’s request.
Back then,
Richard had a long ponytail and was every teenage girl’s dream of the older
college boy. I was only thirteen, and he was taller than me, though that
changed when I had my growth spurt a few years later.
Thirteen-year-old
Me had gone into his office with a chip on my shoulder, hating Abram, hating my
illness, and hating Dr. Richard Reuter before I’d even met him.
He'd appeared in
the waiting room and asked, "Viviane? Right? Would you come with me?"
"I don’t
got a choice."
Abram hissed,
"Hey," at me, and said "Be nice."
"Yeah,
sure."
I walked into
the office and went straight to a chair, flopped there, and crossed my arms on
my chest. The first thing I noticed that interested me was the plate of cookies
on the coffee table. They were chocolate chip and appeared homemade. I
pretended not to see them. I didn’t want him to think I was going to stay all
that long, and besides, my stomach didn’t feel too good.
Richard sat in
the chair opposite me and watched me for a full minute. Finally, he asked,
"How old are you?"
"Fifteen."
It was a bold-faced lie.
"I know
you’re lying."
I asked,
"How old are you?"
"Twenty-nine."
"Are you
gay?" I said with vehemence, calculating his possible reactions.
He didn’t even
flinch. "Viviane, do you know why your grandfather brought you here?"
"Because
he’s a sociopath afraid of being noticed. I draw attention to him, and he wants
me to stop."
He smiled at
that, and for the first time, but not the last, I thought how handsome he was.
In that first
session, he didn't hypnotize me, though later, it became a regular part of our
therapy sessions. Richard felt it was the best way to track down the source of
my hallucinations. He would take me back to the time before my first
hallucination, and we'd go over the events of a day or two in each session,
gradually working forward through my memories. It was my own personal
reality-TV show.
One time, I had
what can only be described as a past-life memory, or maybe a dream. Both
Richard and I waved it off as an aberration, though I never forgot it. The
dream had been wonderful, about a place with emerald hills, crystal streams,
and a palace that felt like home. Whenever I thought about it, I could still
imagine the smell of honeysuckle on the breeze.
Twenty years
later, I was thirty-three, and our regressions were catching up to the
conscious flow of time. In the hypnosis sessions, he recorded my soul in bits
and pieces, saved forever as audio recordings, transcribed to digital
documents, and printed out on paper. He kept the files in his cabinets.
I’d often
wondered what would happen when we finally caught up to the present moment.
Maybe I’d die. Maybe he’d die. Maybe the entire world would end as the
Ouroboros swallowed its own tail.
"All
right." Richard got up from his desk. "I’m ready, if you are."
He sat in the chair opposite me and leaned forward to turn on the metronome.
I said,
"Take me to a happy day."
"You know
the drill. Close your eyes, relax, and remember."
Not every tick
and tock of the metronome sounded the same. The differences were subtle, but
they were there if I listened for them. It was a song without rhyme or reason.
It started small
and distant: tick.
The cuckoo clock
on the wall at Abram’s house had to be wound. I loved pulling the chains that
raised the heavy, metal pinecones. Tock. It had been my job, every morning,
when I was a kid. My body rocked to the beat: tick tock. Time ebbed, and space
flowed. My spine relaxed. Tick. Gravity released me. Tock. The metronome sang
its song in my belly. Tick tock. I was energy, and I radiated.
"We’re
going to continue our journey back in time," Richard said. The waves of
his voice rippled through me, and the present faded into the background.
I followed the
metronome down into a trance. We had a signal. I raised a finger to indicate
that I was ready to begin.
"Go
back," Richard suggested, "to the moment when you first met Simon,
when you were thirteen."
The scene formed
around me, inside me, throughout me.
"Describe
it to me."
I’m home, and
I’m taking a shower. There’s blood running down my leg. It’s swirling in the
water and spinning down the drain. I know what it is. Lettie’s had hers since
last year, and she took me to buy the stuff I’d need. I’m really glad I didn’t
have to do that with my grandpa.
Lettie and me,
we read the little instruction book that came in the box and made fun of the
pictures. She warned me how it would be, the cramps and mess, but it’s worse
when it’s actually happening. It’s scary and weird. I keep thinking that my
blood is supposed to stay in my body.
So, I’m standing
there in the shower, watching my blood drain away, and I’m trying not to cry,
wondering if I’m going to die, and that’s when I hear a man. He sounds like
James Bond. "You’re probably not going to die."
I scream and
cover my private parts with my hands, but no one’s there.
The voice says,
"What I mean is, you are going to be just fine." But nobody’s there.
I’m freaking out. I jump out of the shower and run through the house. I’m
screaming.
The voice is
following me. "Oh, lass, it’s okay."
I streak into
the kitchen, and my grandpa is there, trying to calm me down.
I’m crying,
naked and wet, shaking all over, blood staining my leg, and Grandpa thinks I’m
upset because of my period, but that isn’t it. It’s the man talking to me right
next to my ear, when there’s nobody there.
He says his name
is Simon.
The metronome
sang. Tick. Tock.
Angel Leigh McCoy wears author, game designer, and audiobook narrator hats—sometimes simultaneously. She is the creative force behind the Wyrdwood series of novels and the Dire Multiverse audio drama. She was a senior writer on the award-winning video games CONTROL and GUILD WARS 2. Her work on the White Wolf World of Darkness series included books for Mage, Vampire, Changeling, and several others. She was also the first female game designer on the DUNGEONS & DRAGONS team at Wizards of the Coast. These days, she works from home and is intent on building her own epic worlds, including Wyrdwood and the Dire Multiverse. Her cats approve.
Prizes:
1
Audible.com 3-month membership (or 3 credits if you’re already a
member). Entitles you to partake of the Audible Originals titles offered free
each month to members. (all-told, a $45 value) If you’ve ever wanted to try
audiobooks, this is the time.
5
- Wyrdwood Welcome Swag Bags
Each swag bag includes:
-Free ebook copy of JUMPING THE
MOON, Wyrdwood Welcome Book #2, due for release on May 15, 2020.
-A “Proud to be Wyrd” pin
-A Wyrdwood magnet
-Invitation to the private and
exclusive Wyrdwood Facebook group
-Treats from the “Wyrdwood
Candiporium”
-A surprise toy!
1 comment:
Just wanted to drop a quick hello and a thank you to the folks at Paranormalists! I enjoyed the great questions you asked me!
Post a Comment