In His Own Words - Kevin Anthony, Author of Mad Moral - Guest Post

Release Notes is honored to feature Kevin Anthony,author of Mad Moral, the first book in his Mad Series, in this "In The Author's Own Words" segment.  I hope you will enjoy his guest post on his thoughts behind his novel.

No Vampires or Werewolves Allowed

The moment I started writing my Urban Fantasy novel Mad Moral, I made the decision not to include any vampires or werewolves. I know vampires and werewolves play huge roles in many Urban Fantasy novels and many other genres and that’s the main reason I didn’t want to include them in Mad Moral.

I’m a big fan of vampires and werewolves, but I didn’t want to travel down a road that had been explored so many times. I decided to give a new set of beings time to shine in more humanizing roles, horror movie characters.

I’m aware the word “horror” instantly causes many to lose interest. My novel isn’t a horror, just inspired by the many elements and characters of horror movies.

 Imagine as I did, horror movie villain Michael Myers dropping his children off at his parents’ house for the weekend and heading out on his first date post-divorce. After a disaster date, to blow off some steam he decides to head to the nearest college campus and slash some sorority girls. He spends the morning after sipping a cup of coffee as he watches the tragedy coverage unfold on the morning news.

That visual sparked my series about a mad world where others like the horror movie villain mentioned are your friends, neighbors and lovers.

My first main character I created was a young adult named Ford Fischer. He’s a slasher, unemployed and does his best to live a straight and narrow lifestyle. I was raised by a single mother and I consider my sister my best friend, so I had to have strong female presences in my story. Ford’s mothers play huge roles and both are bystanders or victims in this mad world I created.

 Another main character is an exorcist named Sidnee Vincent whose romantic life is constantly sabotaged by pesky demons. I’m sure we all have a bit of evil in us all and she just happens to have the ability to communicate with it. My final character I included was a dreamer named Milo Amos. His identity is questioned the most by readers who haven’t started the series yet. His character enters dark nightmares every time he sleeps and must fight for his survival or risk death not only in his fantasy existence, but reality. 

This novel faced the toughest set of critics yet, teenage girls. I posted it on website mostly used by those in that age range. It sometime took a lot of convincing and me constantly explaining it wasn’t entirely about blood, gore and things that go bump-in-the-night. I’ve received a lot of positive feedback from these young readers who instantly started to root for my characters to overcome the madness in their lives. I encourage putting all pre-judgments aside and giving my novel, Mad Moral, the opportunity to entertain you.