Hey everyone. I’d like to thank The Novel Approach for having me here today. Lynn was actually one of the first reviewers for Clipped, and I appreciate her taking the time to read and review the book. Now, thanks to Geoffrey Knight and Ethan Day, a new and improved version is available through Wilde City Press.
For those who aren’t familiar with the book, Clipped is an angel/demon story with a twist. God and Satan are ex-lovers, and contrary to the conventional Judeo-Christian canon, Satan and his army of demons are the heroes, trying to rescue mankind from God’s fiery apocalypse. Since I wrote the book, several people have asked me about the origins of the idea and my reasons for altering the conventional Christian story in a way that could be perceived as sacrilegious and controversial.
I can only take so much credit for the twist. When I got the idea, I was working as an extra on the set of Hunger Games: Catching Fire. Being an extra is incredibly boring. You sit around for hours until you’re needed, and after you finally get around to doing ten minutes of work, you’re thrown back into waiting for several hours until you’re needed again. It was an easy way to make a little money, but to keep from being bored out of my mind, I’d borrowed a copy of Mark Twain’s Letters From the Earth from my bestie. In Letters From the Earth, Twain depicts Satan as a fairly reasonable character, witnessing God’s cruel and somewhat sadistic treatment of mankind. I was blown away by the idea of Satan being this chill, fairly logical guy and God being a somewhat demented megalomaniac. It was innovative. It was interesting. It encouraged me to mentally run through The Bible and rework different stories to see how Twain’s Satan would fit into the situation. Then I started to consider other ways that I could play with the character. That’s when I had the idea, “What if God and Satan were ex-lovers and the fall of man was just part of post break-up drama?” This idea collided with an angel/demon story I’d been contemplating, but hadn’t figured out how to implement. After that, I was off and running with the story that would eventually become Clipped. Don’t get me wrong. This is all largely the backstory for what is essentially an adventure-filled sex romp between angels, demons, and mortals. But it’s a backstory that I’ve spent a lot of time developing and am really happy with. There’s something nice about revising archetypes that people know so well. It’s almost like writing fanfic, because so many people (even non-Christians) already have these archetypes and stories in their heads.
On that same note, people also have strong convictions about these archetypes, so while I was writing the book, I was somewhat concerned about a negative reaction from Christians. I wasn’t trying to offend anyone. I just thought it was a clever idea, and hot as hell. But I couldn’t divorce myself from the fact that I was writing about something that is so important to so many people on the planet. Fortunately, I never ran into a piece that I thought would offend. I think that’s largely because that wasn’t my intent. I wasn’t trying to be disrespectful or malicious, so I don’t think it ever came across that way. At least, I never saw anything that appeared to be an attack on Christianity. I wasn’t saying that I actually believed the premise. I wasn’t quoting scripture and demanding that it supported the twist. Most of the times when I was revising the Christian canon for Clipped, I figured that it was so far from anything that a Christian believes that, at the end of the day, they’d see it for what it is—a fun, little story that revises God and Satan’s relationship because it’s interesting and different. In reality, there were far more places where I censored sexual situations that I thought would read as offensive…situations that had nothing to do with the religious aspect of the book. They were just pieces where I knew people would read them and go, “This is disturbing, vile, and disgusting.”
Since I first published the book, I’ve received a few emails from Christians, stating that what I’m doing is wrong. Largely, those people have been more offended by the angels and demons being gay than they’ve been about my depiction of Satan as a hero. Aside from these emails, I’ve had a really positive response from practicing Christians, and I think that’s because I’m not making a statement about religion. I’m telling a fun story. At the same time, I acknowledge that the book isn’t for everyone. If people are put off by the concept, I’d just as well tell them not to read it. I don’t want to make anyone uncomfortable, especially about something that is potentially incredibly important to them. I have plenty of other works coming out this year, so if this one isn’t their cup of tea, they can pass it by for the next one. I have a young adult novel, Hideous, being released through Harmony Ink Press in June/July. I also have a vampire novel, The Pining of Kevin Harding, being released by Wilde City Press. But for those of you who read this post and are interested, head over to Wilde City Press or Amazon and get a copy of Clipped.
Blurb: Though mortals have been convinced that God cares about their souls, nothing could be further from the truth. He created the world as a gift for his lover, Satan. But when Satan left him, he decided to end what he saw as his most grotesque creation.
Satan and his army of demons are man’s only hope…
The demon Kinzer and his lover, Janka, have been sent by Satan to spy on the Raze, a gang of rogue demons who are working with God to bring about Armageddon. When someone exposes their true allegiances, the Raze clips Kinzer’s wings and murders Janka. Kinzer manages to escape. He tracks down Satan’s allies to warn them about a mole in their midst when he learns that they’ve located the Antichrist—a powerful weapon that could prevent the apocalypse. Now, he’s on a mission to protect the Antichrist and avenge his lover’s death.
About Devon McCormack: If I was writing an old-school craigslist personal, I’d say (appropriately in code): fit masc wm ddf lookin 4 same. 28yo. Of course, who’s honest with their craigslist personal ads? And who the hell uses craigslist these days? Please. That’s what grindr is for.
On a more serious note, I’m from Atlanta, GA. I work odd jobs. My gay erotic novel Clipped is available through Wilde City Press. I also have a vampire novel coming out through Wilde City in October and a young adult novel being released through Harmony Ink Press in June or July.
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The Giveaway: An autographed print copy of Clipped (US Residents Only), or an E-copy of Clipped for International Readers:
