In this installment of the Author showcase we talk to Genevieve McCluer.
Genevieve McCluer was born in California and grew up in numerous cities across the country. She studied criminal justice in college but, after a few years of that, moved her focus to writing. Her whole life, she’s been obsessed with mythology, and she bases her stories in those myths. She now lives in Arizona with her partner and cats, working away at far too many novels. In her free time she pesters the cats, plays video games, and attempts to be better at archery.
Q What was the book you first read that made you want to be start telling your own stories?
It would probably have to be The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. I was obsessed with the series and Douglas Adams throughout high school and he inspired me to get a lot more into writing.
Q I saw that some of your books inhabit a loose shared universe called the Community Center for Fiends Series do you have any plans to have some of the characters from different books meet and interact?
The characters interact and cameo quite a lot. Abby and Liz from Wendigo both show up in Olivia, Olivia and Mia show up in Cold Blood, Dovana is the lead of Fae Tale and first appeared in Olivia and then has a minor role in the upcoming A Second Chance at Life. Toronto’s fiend community is small enough that it’s hard to avoid crossover, and my girlfriend always demands it.’
Q What are some other authors in the paranormal genre that you think deserve more love?
I’m really enjoying Elle Ire’s Harsh Reality, but I’m currently up against it for an award, so if that extra love could wait a month, that’d be nice.
Q In one of your first novels, My Date with A Wendigo, you picked a cannibalistic creature as a love interest, this seems an unlikely choice what inspired you?
I’ve always found their myths quite fascinating and have followed adaptations of it from Marvel to Supernatural, and when I was coming up with that story I realized how well it could fit. Plus with the way it contorts her body and controls her, it allows for a lot of discussion of mental health and body image issues.
Q Do you think it is important for people to be able to see and read about characters similar to themselves in media?
Absolutely. I try to give as good of a variety of characters as I can for that, but that’s certainly also why I mostly write lesbian fiction. I want to see a lot more queer women in the stories that I love.But more than that, I try to put real life into the books. My fiends aren’t just monsters, they’re more than human. They have all of the flaws and issues that we face. They get dramatic tales confounded by the neuroses that I’ve experienced both personally and from those around me, and they get to mirror what a lot of readers go through. It’s why Olivia is so much about her struggles with PTSD far more than it’s about Shakespearian tragedy, and why my vampire hunting cowboy has to deal with her OCD even while avenging her wife.
Q You have a new book coming out in July, A Second Chance at Life, can you give our readers the lowdown?
It’s about a vampire who goes to prison for murder at the age of 19 and naturally comes out 25 years later, still 19, but now with no idea how to adjust to a world that’s gone on without her. Even as she tries to rekindle her romance with her first love, she’s not sure if even that’s possible anymore. It deals heavily with addiction and with Canada’s prison system and exactly how poorly even more rehabilative prisons prepare their imates for reintegration into the real world.
Q} if people want more info about you or your projects where should they go?
My webstie is genevievemccluer.com and I’m on twitter @authormccluer
Final four questions –we ask everybody
Q) When the zombies take over the world where will you be?
I have a decent bit of combat training, so I want to say that I’d be all badass and killing zombies, but as I’m a disabled recluse, it seems a lot more likely that I’d not even notice the apocalypse had happened until they were at my door and then not last too long from there.
Q ) What is your favorite Fandom?
Probably the Chronicles of Amber. It’s not my favorite book series, but I’ve known so many people through the fandom and also one of the conventions for it is at the nicest hotel and it’s so fun to stay at.
Q) What piece of art, be it in the form of music, a book, a film or picture, do you think people must experience before they die?I
have to say Douglas Adams again here, but I’ll switch it up and go with Dirk Gently’s Holistic Detective Agency. Alternately, I did find George Orwell’s Homage to Catalonia just an incredibly illuminating work and it’s masterfully written
.Q) Give one fact that most people would not believe about you?
I’d had like three different people latch on to me and try to be my friend or more because they decided I had magic powers. I still don’t believe in the supernatural and am incredibly confused by what caused this.