Welcome to the 2015 debut author bash!
Today we get to hear from author Mary McCoy!
Mary McCoy is a writer and a librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library. She has also been a contributor to On Bunker Hill and the1947project, where she wrote stories about Los Angeles's notorious past. She grew up in western Pennsylvania and studied at Rhodes College and the University of Wisconsin. Mary now lives in Los Angeles with her husband and son. Her debut novel,Dead To Me, is a YA mystery set in the glamorous, treacherous world of 1940s Hollywood.
Twitter: @MaryElMcCoy
Tell us in one sentence about your book.
Alice Gates investigates 1948 Los Angeles’s seedy underbelly to find out who tried to kill her aspiring movie star sister - and turns up something even worse along the way.
What actors would you pick to play your characters?
Alice (the main character): Abigail Breslin
Annie (the big sister): Saoirse Ronan
Jerry Shaffer (the tough-talking private eye): John Hamm
Vivian and Nicky Gates (the Hollywood insider wannabe parents): Jennifer Connelly and Bradley Cooper
Ruth (one of Annie’s shady acquaintances): Jennifer Carpenter
Conrad Donahue (the psychopathic movie star): Chris Pine
What is your greatest accomplishment?
Living the life I always wanted, on my own terms, surrounded by people I care about
What is the biggest lie you ever told?
That I could be happy if I stopped writing
Do you have a snack you eat while writing?
I try to stick to tea and coffee.
Do you have any pets?
Two cats, advanced in age, demanding in demands.
What is your favorite part of writing?
When you’re working on a first draft and you get rolling on a scene that’s really going well, and you know you’re nailing it - that feeling doesn’t come along very often (maybe once or twice per book), but when it does, it’s the greatest.
What is your favorite book or author?
This changes all the time, but some of the best books I’ve read this year were A Manual for Cleaning Women by Lucia Berlin, the Neapolitan Novels by Elena Ferrante, and Infandous by Elana K. Arnold.
If you were a superhero, what would your name be? Your superpower?
My name is Mary McCoy, which I think is pretty much a Marvel-ready superhero name as is. My superpowers are doing the thing that needs to be done and writing excellent last lines.
What advice would you give to aspiring writers?
Finish it. Whatever you’re working on right now, see it through to the end, then move on to the next thing. Don’t get distracted by the tinsel and the shinies. Keep your eyes forward, fixed on a point just out of reach on the horizon. That point is the best possible writer you can be. You never catch her, but you never stop trying to catch her either.
Dead To Me (Disney-Hyperion, March 2015)
LA Confidential for the YA audience. This alluring noir YA mystery with a Golden Age Hollywood backdrop will keep you guessing until the last page.
"Don't believe anything they say."
Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace. Alice spent four years waiting and wondering when the impossibly glamorous sister she idolized would return to her--and what their Hollywood-insider parents had done to drive her away.
When Annie does turn up, the blond, broken stranger lying in a coma has no answers for her. But Alice isn't a kid anymore, and this time she won't let anything stand between her and the truth, no matter how ugly. The search for those who beat Annie and left her for dead leads Alice into a treacherous world of tough-talking private eyes, psychopathic movie stars, and troubled starlets--and onto the trail of a young runaway who is the sole witness to an unspeakable crime. What this girl knows could shut down a criminal syndicate and put Annie's attacker behind bars--if Alice can find her first. And she isn't the only one looking
Evoking classic film noir, debut novelist Mary McCoy brings the dangerous glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age to life, where the most decadent parties can be the deadliest, and no drive into the sunset can erase the crimes of past.
"Don't believe anything they say."
Those were the last words that Annie spoke to Alice before turning her back on their family and vanishing without a trace. Alice spent four years waiting and wondering when the impossibly glamorous sister she idolized would return to her--and what their Hollywood-insider parents had done to drive her away.
When Annie does turn up, the blond, broken stranger lying in a coma has no answers for her. But Alice isn't a kid anymore, and this time she won't let anything stand between her and the truth, no matter how ugly. The search for those who beat Annie and left her for dead leads Alice into a treacherous world of tough-talking private eyes, psychopathic movie stars, and troubled starlets--and onto the trail of a young runaway who is the sole witness to an unspeakable crime. What this girl knows could shut down a criminal syndicate and put Annie's attacker behind bars--if Alice can find her first. And she isn't the only one looking
Evoking classic film noir, debut novelist Mary McCoy brings the dangerous glamour of Hollywood's Golden Age to life, where the most decadent parties can be the deadliest, and no drive into the sunset can erase the crimes of past.
"McCoy's heroines are fierce crusaders for justice despite their own fears or the dangers they face in protecting each other. The examination of the glamorous face of fame and what lurks behind the scenes is rife with twists" -Publishers Weekly
"Step aside, Nancy Drew; this dark mystery holds nothing back." -Kirkus
Add on Goodreads
Available to pre-order
Skylight BooksWant to win her book?? Leave a comment and random will pick a winner by December 15! GOOD LUCK and thanks for stopping by!
4 comments:
Sounds really good. Thanks for sharing!!
Great interview (again)! I haven't heard of this book before, but it sounds interesting! I can totally relate to the author's response about her favorite author/book continually changing. Mine does too!
Finishing a story is definitely the toughest part; it's much easier to start one, of course. :) Once I actually started another story just so I could avoid revising and finishing the first one.
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