Blog Tour: Commencement - Interview With Author Paige Cuccaro

Hell hath no fury like a woman’s scorn for frat guys…

Emma Jane Hellsbane knows something evil is worming its way through her college campus—she can feel it. Literally. Her freakish ability to feel other people’s emotions as though they were her own has always been monumentally awkward, and it’s easier for her to just pretend it doesn’t exist. But this time her paranormal ability just might help her save lives.

Emma Jane’s fairly certain that whatever the hateful, egomaniacal, Godlike thing is, it’s set up shop inside her boyfriend, the frat boy/soccer star Justin. And if she doesn’t figure a way to get it out of him soon, Justin’s soul will be the appetizer to the main course—the whole student body. Problem is, the big baddy is granting sinister wishes, and with each one the risks grow higher and the phrase Be careful what you wish for becomes a real-life dire warning. Of course for Emma, what feels like it could be the end is in fact just the beginning…

BM: Hi Paige! We’re very happy to have you here. Please tell us something about yourself, and how did you become a writer.

PC: Hi Cristina! Thank you so much for having me.
 Well, let’s see. I guess the basic info would be, my name is Paige Cuccaro. I live in Ohio with my husband, and three daughters. I didn’t start out wanting to be a writer, although I’ve always enjoyed writing. (Essay questions were my favorite. Sick, right?) I actually went to college to be an elementary teacher and was only a year and a half from graduating. I realized it wasn’t for me when I met my husband and had my first daughter. I wanted to be home with her more than anything and knew that’s the job I was meant to do.
        It was then, that I made my first attempt at writing—a sad excuse for a children’s book. After that I played around with the idea of writing something for adults, until I read Anne Rice’s Interview with a Vampire. Reading that book made me realize that I had to try again. I’ve been writing seriously now for about 13 years and have about 16 published works (including books published under my penname, Alison Paige. *Books under my penname are strictly for adults.)

BM: Very nice! What brought you to the paranormal genre?

PC: I just LOVE the genre. I love to read it and I LOVE to write it. The paranormal genre opens up so many possibilities, and complications. I had enjoyed reading before Interview with a Vampire (which, btw, was my first paranormal read) but the contemporary worlds were never as ripe with fantastical stories as the stories peopled with vampires, werewolves, witches and ghosts. Paranormal books have the same kinds of conflicts and goals, unrequited love, forbidden desire, greed, betrayal, death. But all those typical issues are enhanced and complicated by what they are, or the magical rules of their world. It’s just FUN!

BM: Who are the greatest influences on your writing?

PC: I think you can probably guess my answer. Anne Rice made me want to be a writer. I don’t know if I would’ve pushed myself to write books, submit, endure rejection and submit again, if not for wanting to do for other readers, what her books did for me. After Mrs. Rice, however, I’d have to say, Central Ohio Fiction Writers. They are a FANTASTIC group, supportive, informative and amazingly talented. Without their encouragement and guidance there’s no way I would have found my way to publication.

BM: Emma is fun, feisty, easy to relate to and most importantly, a very realistic character. Is she anything like you or like someone you know in real life?

PC: There is a little bit of me in her. At least her sarcasm and sense of humor is like mine. I think my humor is a little raunchier than hers though and she is WAY braver than me. If I had been faced with the things she’s seen I think I would’ve checked myself into a comfy padded room somewhere. Emma is really a mashup of different people in my life.

BM: What was your inspiration for this series?

PC: The Book of Enoch. I am totally fascinated with biblical angels and Enoch (who contributed to the bible and was said to be related to Noah,) retells an amazing account of angels taking wives, having children the bible calls nephilim and describes as giants. I’ve done endless research, more to satisfiy my own curiosity and the writer in me just started saying, “What if?” What if they were still doing it, but over the eons had figured out a way to make their children seem just as normal as any human? What if these children, these nephilim, were living among us not even realizing the true supernatural power they possessed? Commencement (and the entire Hellsbane series) grew out of that premise.  Depending on your beliefs it could all be very possible…and I love that!

BM: I think we all love the witty, sexy, kick- butt heroes/heroines in Urban Fantasy and Paranormal Romance books. But who is your favorite hero/heroine (in a series that is not your own)?

PC: Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan. She’s a lot like Emma, although Emma’s not quite as confident as Rachel, and has a little more snark. She also doesn’t take things as seriously as Rachel does.  If you asked her, Emma would say she fights the bad guys because they’re in the way of what she wants—but the truth is, she hates it when the bullies win. 

  

BM: Oh, I love Rachel myself, I'm sure Emma will grow to be just as awesome. What is coming up next for you? Are you working on a new story?

PC: Right now I’m still trying to get the third book in the series on paper—well, virtual paper. Of course my mind is always spinning new story ideas. But right now the most I can do is write them on a sticky note and slap them on the wall next to my computer. 

Thank you so much, Paige for taking the time to talk to us today. I read Commencement and enjoyed it a lot, I'll tell you all my thoughts about it ASAP. Now, I can't wait to get my hands on Hellsbane and then, begin the torturous waiting for the second book in your series.