Interview with Mav Skye
Supergirls
by Mav Skye
BLURB
Sisters Jenn and May have finally found their golden ticket out of the slums. Pervy sugar daddy, Frederick Bells, promises to be an easy score with a big payoff—millions are hidden within his mansion.
The plan is simple: tie up the pig, steal his cash, and skip town. But fate has a different plan, including a villain with a wicked imagination. The sisters resort to playing their childhood game SUPERGIRLS to battle their fears in Bell’s den of horrors.
Will the SUPERGIRLS find their prize or will their heads join the pile behind the black cellar door?
Interview
Do
you recall how your interest in writing originated?
The land of make believe was an escape from
my troubled life as a kid. It’s a joy that I can enter at will. I was singing
stories before I was writing or reading them. However, I didn’t seriously start
writing until a few years back and even then, it was something fun that I was
good at it. Today, I’ve decided I want to make this my career, so down the
rabbit hole we go.
What
books/authors have influenced your writing?
I feel like I should have an absolute
favorite, but I can never choose between John Steinbeck or Shirley Jackson.
King or Koontz. Patricia Highsmith or Flannery O’Conner. Christopher Pike or
Madeleine L’Engle. Edgar Allen Poe or EF Benson. HP Lovecraft or Rudyard
Kipling. Robert O’Brian or Charles Dickens. The Grimm brothers or Aesop.
Shakespeare and Oscar Wilde were both game changers for me. There’s so many
more. It’s like asking me which kid is my favorite. It’s impossible to choose.
Are
experiences based on someone you know, or events in your own life?
I hadn’t realized this until after I wrote
the story, but the theme of Supergirls comes from a childhood experience. I
once jumped off our second story balcony. No one was chasing me and I wasn’t
pushed. I did it I thought if I stretched out my arms and took that leap of
faith, I’d start flying like Supergirl. I wasn’t sure where the cape would come
from; maybe it would spring out of my shoulders like wings. I was only five
years old, low on hope, and desperate to try anything.
When I hit the grass, I didn’t break any
bones, but my dreams shattered. I wasn’t Supergirl, and I never would be. I
couldn’t rescue the world. Hell, I couldn’t even rescue myself. I had been through
more than a rough spell of abuse at the hands of people who should loved me. I
think this knowledge, all of it, hurt my heart more than the ground had hurt my
head. I’m pretty sure I had a concussion that day. I remember laying there
looking up at the clouds, feeling sad, insignificant. I wanted to believe that
hurt I had endured was for some purpose…just like in my favorite comic books and
movies.
What
was the hardest part of writing your book?
I think wrangling the sisters’ relationship
for the ultimate impact on the reader was the hardest part. I wanted you to see
both of their prospectives. I wanted the reader to fall in love with May, to
love her as much as Jenn loved her. I also want the reader to understand Jenn’s
reckless determination. I want the reader to see that there are always choices,
though the choices are never, ever as white and black as most of us were raised
to believe.
The ending was also very difficult. I wanted the rise and fall of the climax to
be just right, but I would get caught up in the emotion of the scene and it was
hard to look at it through logical
lenses.
While
you were writing, did you ever feel as if you were one of the characters? and if
so, which one and why...
Since the story is written present tense
first person, I was writing very intimately from older sister, Jenn’s point of
view. I explored my own conscience and moral compass through Jenn. I have had
readers very, very upset with Jenn and her choices, as they should be. I still
hope that in the end they forgive her. It gives me hope that I can forgive
myself.
Is
there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?
The world isn’t black and white.
Love will take you the extra mile, but it
doesn’t overcome all like Disney would have you believe.
Imagination is like money; it can be used for
good or evil.
Erotica doesn’t always involve sex.
And most importantly, if a mounted Moose Head
starts whistling at you, get the fuck out of there!
Are
you working on any current projects?
There’s a wicked little horror romance I’m
hoping to release in the fall called Wanted:
Single Rose. It’s my first full-length novel and has one kick ass femme
fatale fox I’m quite excited about.
EXCERPT
A narrow door with a brass knob catches my eye. It blends into the wall. “The closet,” I whisper.
We both walk to it, look at each other. I open the door. It is dark. A lone pull string hangs from a bulb. It tick-tocks back and forth like a grandfather clock tongue. I watch it a second, willing it to stop ticking, but it moves anyway in its own ghostly rhythm. I hesitate. Do I really want to see? Not just inside the closet, but see our lives clearly: May and mine, always looking for the next 7-11 job to get screwed at, flip a trick to pay rent, grab a buck burger for dinner, never having a real boyfriend, the weight of paying for May’s meds. What is the price for a dream, for peace? Our mother’s price (her face appears in my mind, navy blue eyes and a pale pretty mouth, a scar the shape of a kiss on her cheek) was running away. The price, I know, is always hefty and… complete. What would my price be?
The string tick-tocks on.
“Maybe we should just leave,” whispers May.
Her statement reflects my thoughts, but in her voicing it out loud, I feel angry. Running away. It’s what we’ve always done, what our mother did. We aren’t going back to that life. No way.
Tonight everything is going to change.
“Not without the money,” I say, and grab the string.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
When Mav Skye isn't turning innocent characters into axe murderers, refinishing old furniture, chasing around her spring ducklings, or reading the latest horror novel, she's editing at the almighty Pulp Metal Magazine.
She adores puppies, pirates, skulls, red hots, Tarantino movies and yes, Godzilla.
Especially Godzilla.
She is the author of Supergirls and The Undistilled Sky. Look for her wicked horror romance, Wanted:Single Rose, this fall and the second book in the Supergirls series, Night without Stars, early 2015.
Find Me:
Website: http://www.mavskye.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/MavSkye
Facebook Page: http://on.fb.me/1qPcFVK
Goodreads: http://bit.ly/1mtblVa
Supergirls is available in print or ebook at:
Payhip : https://payhip.com/b/ijUy (50% discount at Payhip if you "share" the book)
Amazon US: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00LWHA438
Thanks for hosting!
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the excerpt.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Jane!
DeleteI liked the interview.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Serena. Appreciate it!
DeleteSo glad, thank you, Rita.
ReplyDeleteThank you for the interview and for hosting me. Appreciate it!
ReplyDeleteNice interview
ReplyDeleteGreat interview and love the excerpt! Looking forward to reading this book
ReplyDeleteGreat interview I enjoyed it as well as the excerpt! Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDelete