Lovesick Gods by Amanda Meuwissen - Author Interview Urban Fantasy

Lovesick Gods

By Amanda Meuwissen

Genre: Gay Romance, Urban Fantasy, Superhero

Heroes aren’t meant to act like their villains—or fall in love with them.

The elements touch everyone on Earth—Fire, Water, even Light—but every so often someone becomes more attuned to their elemental leaning and develops true power. When an evil Elemental known as Thanatos arrived in Olympus City, it saw the rise of its first hero—Zeus. But the death toll caused by defeating Thanatos changed Zeus, who by day is young detective Danny Grant. 

It’s been six months since Thanatos terrorized the city at the start of Lovesick Gods. Danny should be used to his duty behind the mask, but the recent past haunts him. His girlfriend left him, he snaps at the barest provocation, his life feels empty—he needs an outlet, any outlet to pull him out of his depression.

Enter notorious thief Malcolm Cho, the Ice Elemental Prometheus. There was a time when Danny welcomed a fight with Cho, filled with colorful banter and casual flirtations that were a relief compared to Thanatos. Even as a criminal, Cho had recognized the threat Thanatos posed and promised to help Danny stop him, but the day Danny needed Cho, he never showed. Cho was the reason so many people died that day—including Danny’s mother.

Danny decides to teach the man a lesson and fan the fire of their attraction into something more. At worst, he’ll get some no-strings-attached sex out of the deal and finally blow off steam; at best, he’ll get Cho to fall in love with him and then break his heart to spite him. Danny doesn’t expect to fall for Cho in the process, and he certainly can’t predict the much darker threat on the horizon.

Has writing always been a passion for you or did you discover it years later?

I have always been a creative mind looking to find ways to tell stories. I can remember jotting down ideas and acting them out at times from very young, and I started writing more actively in my early teens. It was actually fanfiction that pushed my passion the furthest and led me toward realizing that writing was what I wanted to do, mostly because of the community involvement and how rewarding the experience can be. After that, I couldn’t imagine doing anything else and have been increasing my output more and more each year that I’ve been a published author.

Do you have a day job?  What do you do?

I am the Marketing Operations Manager at Outsell, a digital marketing company that creates artificial-intelligence driven marketing campaigns on behalf of auto dealers for their customers and prospects – so very different from my author hat, but also writing intensive at times. I find that having a non-fiction focus during the day pushes me that much harder to want to write my novels at night, and on weekends, and during breaks, and…

Can you focus on writing for more than five hours a day?

Not in a row, certainly! But some days, five hours could be easy if the juices are flowing and no other responsibilities are rearing their heads. I love it, every second of it, especially when the words find their stride and can’t wait to get out of me. Or during NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) when sometimes you HAVE to write that much to catch up on off-days.

Are you a self-published author or do you have an agent?

I have never had an agent but I am both a self-published author and publishing through Dreamspinner currently. I’m focusing on writing shorter, more polished work for Dreamspinner, but when I want to tackle something longer or maybe less appealing to a publisher’s specifications, I like having the freedom to do it myself. I have a wonderful Creative Designer in Mario Hernandez who handles typesetting and layouts for me and has done all of my books to date.

Is this your first book? What number is it?

The Lovesick Series book are my 6^th and 7^th books respectively, all but one of which are gay romance focused. I have been actively publishing novels since 2012 and have the goal of at least one book a year – though lately I’ve been getting closer to two. We’ll see how long I can keep that up, but my inspiration and drive only seems to increase.

What can you tell us about your book? What genre is it? When did you start to write it? What’s the story behind the story?

I am a huge geek and a fan of superheroes and comics. I fell in love with the DC Universe on the CW with The Flash, Arrow, and Legends of Tomorrow. The Lovesick Series is very much influenced by that and the dynamics of those characters, but with an entirely unique world for people with powers to exist. On top of those influences, the emotional side, the deeper, psychological side to this story comes from a very personal place. The story delves into questions of bipolar depression, loss of family, abuse and recovery, and just the ties of friendship and love that can pull us out of the worst experiences. At the heart of this story is a dark romance between a hero and villain who in some ways can be flipped, where the hero isn’t always as heroic or good as he should be, and the villain has a soft-spot for being kind and just. I wrote it last year and got the first draft out of me in 6 short months – when the total of this story is now two books long! It really flew out of me, and I spent the next several months after that editing it to where I truly love everything about this emotional journey. It is the epitome of angst with a happy ending, as well as enemies-to-lovers, which many of my readers adore.

How do you take negative feedback? Are you ready for it?

I don’t think anyone is ever ready for negative feedback. When something is constructive you can pull back and decide if you agree and can make use of that for the future or of it’s simply opinion and the old adage of how you can’t please everyone. If it’s just plain mean or without context, it’s easier to ignore. You’ll always get those serial reviewers – people who don’t really enjoy reading, they just enjoy tearing something down, so their average review score for things is barely 2.5. Those I can ignore as well, but with most, if it’s negative, I try to look at how I can take that and turn it into improvement for my next title.

Can you tell us why do you write? Is it a dream, an ambition, a sort of test?

Because I can’t not. I have so many stories in me all the time that I need to get out. Characters appear to me and demand to have their tales told, and it just gives me so much joy. I specifically tell love stories, I think because it helps me relive my own love story with my husband every time I get a couple together. I like sharing that with people, that sense of hope and completeness. Putting a smile on someone’s face from my writing, even if I made them cry along the way, is the best feeling.

What are you currently working on?

I just sent in a new submission to my publisher that is a contemporary fantasy romance about a criminal and a merman. I never thought I’d delve into something so different! But’s it’s a very sweet and addictive story. It’s about being able to accept your faults and find love even if you don’t think you’re worthy of it. Next, I’m going to be tackling editing one story and the initial writing stages of another. The story I’ll be editing is a romance between rivals, one of whom is quite a bit older than the other and discovers he has an adult son he didn’t know about. Turns out his rival knows his son, and when worlds collide, the son decides to play matchmaker.

Are you present on any social network as an author? Do you have an author website?

For social media, I’m mostly on Tumblr at http://crimsondomingo.tumblr.com/, but I also have a Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmandaMeuwissen/ and am @MissSuperCube on Twitter. The main place to find me though and info about me is at my author page https://www.amandameuwissen.com/

The readers would like to buy your book. Where can they find it?

Both books in The Lovesick Series can be found on Amazon in paperback and eBook formats: https://www.amazon.com/gp/bookseries/B077ZRG5QK/

About the Author

Amanda Meuwissen has been writing and posting online for many years, including maintaining the website and blog for the software company Outsell. She is an avid writer and consumer of fiction through film, prose, and video games, and is the author of the paranormal romance trilogy The Incubus Saga and young adult novel Life as a Teenage Vampire. Amanda lives in Minneapolis, MN, with her husband, John, and their two cats.

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorAmandaMeuwissen

On Twitter: https://twitter.com/MissSuperCube

Website: https://www.amandameuwissen.com/

On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Lovesick-Gods-1-Amanda-Meuwissen/dp/1943619336/ 

On Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/36250277-lovesick-gods

Excerpt

The long game, Danny thought as he accepted the hand Cho held out to help him from the sofa. Cho couldn’t have any fun with a blubbering mess, so of course he’d want to cheer Danny up. It didn’t mean anything. It just felt nice that Cho didn’t pry the way the others did. He’d never look down on Danny. He was a liar, a criminal, a scoundrel—he was the reason Danny had been forced into that position with Thanatos to begin with—but while the rest of his life felt like an open wound, somehow Cho was a balm.

Danny made a show of changing out of Cho’s clothes and into his Zeus costume right there in the living room. Leaving the sleep pants and T-shirt folded on the sofa, he started to put on his boots at the door. 

“Interesting choice of work clothes.” Cho crossed his arms with an amused eyebrow raise.

“I’ll change when I get to the precinct. And next time I’ll call. Or text. Promise. Thanks for breakfast.” Danny made to walk toward Cho off the rug, then gave an abortive gesture like oops, stuck now with my boots on. 

Cho rolled his eyes, but he still moved closer to accept the kiss Danny pulled him into. And let linger. And linger... Maybe a little longer than necessary. 

“Have a nice day at work, dear,” Cho said, sickly sweet in his familiar drawl. 

Danny found himself smiling—and meaning it. 

Cho was a bad man. He was. He…he was. But he made things lighter. And easier. And even though Danny knew that soon he’d have to end this or risk getting in too deep, for now he could enjoy the lie for just a little longer.