Devon McCormack: Forget Me Not Blog Tour & Giveaway
Devon McCormack’s Satan and Hell
I would like to offer a huge thanks to Kazza and Cindi, whose ceaseless encouragement and support has been more than I ever could have hoped for. I first self-published Clipped and scoured the internet, searching for anyone who would read and review my book. When I stumbled across On Top Down Under Book Reviews, I read Kazza’s bio and figured my novel was a good fit for her…mmm…“kinky” tastes. I asked her if she would be interested in a little erotic novel by an unknown author, and she graciously agreed to read it. While I like to believe the concept of the book intrigued her, she could have easily turned me away because I was an unknown, self-published author, as many others did. Instead, she read Clipped, and to my delight, thoroughly enjoyed it. She then tirelessly harassed her blog partner Cindi into reading it, and Cindi enjoyed it as well. Since then, these two have been a source of support and encouragement in so many ways. For that, I am so appreciative. That said, it is fitting that I would be on On Top Down Under Book Reviews today to share a glimpse into the world of Book II of The Clipped Saga, Bound. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the first book, this post doesn’t require any knowledge of the first book, because these are elements that are primarily covered in the upcoming release.
When I began crafting The Clipped Saga, I was interested in playing off traditional notions about the Christian canon. The words “Satan” and “Hell” evoke powerful imagery that has been re-imagined and re-constructed through various forms of art and religious expression throughout the centuries. In Dante’s Inferno, Hell is a place of punishment for man’s many transgressions against God’s law, and Satan is a hateful, monstrous being. In Paradise Lost, Satan is a devotee who has grown weary of serving God in Heaven, and Hell is where he and his army of followers can live free of God’s control. Catholicism and various protestant religions purport that Satan is the keeper of Hell, and when sinner’s die, their souls are delivered to him so he may torment them for an eternity. But what if there was more to the story?
The seed of my re-working of the Christian story began with the premise that God and Satan were lovers. That didn’t seem like such a stretch. In Paradise Lost, Satan is depicted as God’s most beautiful creation, and as I considered the many depictions of beautiful, muscle-bound angels in Christian art, I thought on why God would make such beautiful creatures. It seemed to me that he was an artist, working toward his masterpiece—dedicating himself to designing creatures that would embody the aesthetics and talents he found most satisfying. In an isolated universe where one can only keep the company of their own creations, surely it would be perfectly natural for such an artist to enjoy his creations any way he could, especially those he saw as beautiful. In Paradise Lost, Milton describes Satan as God’s most beautiful angel. Why wouldn’t God take on a relationship with such a magnificent creation?
The Heaven of The Clipped Saga began as a city to house his most prized creations. It was where those pieces he cherished most could be adored and doted upon for an eternity. However, who would serve these creations? Other, lesser creations. The working class of became sub-par angels—beautiful, but not enough to satisfy God’s artistic aspirations. When Satan was created, God was so enchanted with his beauty and personality—two traits the God of The Clipped Saga struggles to combine with proficiency. Though Satan had his defects, he was the best embodiment of God, so he had the privilege of dwelling in the kingdom of Heaven with some of God’s finest creations. He and his creator shared a lasting affair. However, Satan quickly saw the inequity of Heaven. Though he lived the lavish life and never lacked for his desires, he could not bear to see those beneath him bending over backwards to satisfy his every whim. He challenged God’s order and convinced the laborers of Heaven to fight for their rights.
Despite Satan’s attempts to sway God with his arguments in favor of the lower class of Heaven, God refused to have his authority trumped by one of his own creation’s will. And as sometimes occurs in lover’s quarrels over politics such as these, God and Satan could not reach a satisfactory resolution, so Satan ended their relationship. Appropriate to the capricious God of the Old Testament, in his rage about being abandoned by his lover, God threw a violent tantrum and cast Satan and those who aligned themselves with his ideologies into another realm—Hell.
Back to my metaphor with God as an artist. Artists work again and again and again, failing and struggling before coming up with pieces that are satisfying. Failure and art go hand in hand. When I envisioned the God of Clipped, I saw him as having worked through eons of failures before coming close to what he eventually would call angels. So what would he do with all his failures? He would find a place to house them, where they could continue their existence and eventually die off, as he assumed they would. Hell was his wastebasket for those creations that he couldn’t get right. They were the beginning stages God wished he could forget. In Bound (Book II of The Clipped Saga), one of these abominations says of them, “We are those creations the Almighty no longer desired. The ones he abandoned. You, higherlings, need no introduction, for we know your kind. We have spent eons upon eons, even before your creation, festering in the agony of our disgusting existence…compared to that of our cousins. Our jealousy, our hate, and our rage have birthed new emotions–deeper, more cruel, more sadistic than anything your kind is even capable of conceiving.”
When God cast Satan out of Heaven, he exiled him and his laborer followers to Hell, where they fought his lesser creations so they could set up a fortified sanctuary. Satan created a fortified part of Hell, at the center, where he and his citizens would be safe from the creatures in what I refer to as the Outer Lands—the part of Hell that houses the most vile and abominable of all creations.
For those who are interested in learning more about The Clipped Saga, I suggest you check out Book I, Clipped. If you’ve already read the first book and are interested in reading Bound, it will be released in September, and I eagerly look forward to sharing it. If you would like to sign up for the Rafflecopter giveaway below, I’m offering a $10 Amazon gift card to the winner. Hope you enjoyed the post! And thanks again Cindi and Kazza for having me on the blog.
Clipped Blurb
Warning: This title is erotic and contains homosexual content, graphic sex, violence, and strong language. Readers uncomfortable with rough sexual situations should not purchase this book.
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.
Purchase Links
Amazon | B&N | ARe | Wilde City Press
You can find Kazza’s NSFW review of Clipped here and Cindi’s here.
About the Author
Devon McCormack spends most of his time hiding in his lair, adventuring in paranormal worlds with his island of misfit characters. A good ole Southern boy, McCormack grew up in the Georgian suburbs with his two younger brothers and an older sister. At a very young age, he spun tales the old fashioned way, lying to anyone and everyone he encountered. He claimed he was an orphan. He claimed to be a king from another planet. He claimed to have supernatural powers. He has since harnessed this penchant for tall tales by crafting whole worlds where he can live out whatever fantasy he chooses.
A gay man himself, McCormack focuses on gay male characters, adding to the immense body of literature that chooses to represent and advocate gay men’s presence in media. His body of work ranges from erotica to young adult, so readers should check the synopses of his books before purchasing so that they know what they’re getting into.
Connect with Devon
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Harmony Ink Press | Wilde City Press
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Tour Schedule
May 18 – Cup o’ Porn
June 3 – Boys On the Brink
June 16 – The Novel Approach
July 1 – Joyfully Jay
July 23 – Sinfully…Addicted to All Male Romance
Aug. 10 – Hearts On Fire
Aug. 28 – On Top Down Under Book Reviews
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Being a total anarchist at heart, I always loved the concept behind Clipped, and I do love those angels and their, well, their cock sizes. I could relate to Milton’s sentiments, Satan’s reasoning, in Paradise Lost – “Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven,” so Clipped was a Kazza read all around. You picked me in one 🙂 Thanks for your words, Devon. Glad to see you back on this old blog again – you’re welcome any time – and, shock. horror, this time it’s not XXX rated, lol. PS: Oh yeah, Cindi seems the quiet type but… Read more »
First off, as always, thanks for having me on the blog. Nowadays, I definitely understand why the idea behind Clipped resonated with you. I mean, I certainly can’t blame anyone for their appreciation of these guys’ cock sizes, either. Lol. Although, I’m not sure I would be up for the challenge in real life. I definitely would chicken out with Treycore: “Can we just be friends?” or perhaps, “How about I give you the best two-handed hj ever?” Not XXX rated? Oh, no. We’ll have to take care of this next time. What’s happening to me? Fortunately, there’s enough XXX… Read more »
To second what Kazza said, thanks for your kind words, Devon. I remember being nervous about reading Clipped way back when because Kazza liked it so much and recommended it so highly. We don’t always read the same types of books, so I had this fear it wouldn’t work for me. I needn’t have. It’s a fantastic book and I’m eagerly awaiting Bound. Thanks for stopping by On Top Down Under as part of the Forget Me Not tour. Like Kazza said, you’re welcome any time. P.S. I was a quiet, good girl until I met my pervy Aussie blog… Read more »
Oh, Cindi, I totally wasn’t just talking smack about you in my reply to Kazza, so you can just ignore that response altogether. *whistles innocently* That said, I suspect your PS is slightly misleading…or maybe not even slightly. 😉
Thanks for saying that about Clipped. I’m very excited about sharing Bound, because it was so much fun to write, and I want people to see the parts of this world I didn’t have a chance to share in the first book.
Thanks again to both of you. Y’all are amazing. 🙂
Devon called it. You’re officially known as a perv… but Aussies are known to be kinky troublemakers. The Down Under part owns it, lol
Loved this post! Seeing it all laid out like that, it makes so much sense. I already enjoyed one of Devon’s YA, so I’m looking forward to adding in adult titles, especially these now!
Thanks for commenting, Carolyn! So glad to hear you enjoyed one of my YA books.
Thanks for the post. I love the idea of flipping God and Satan and the Christian canon.
Thanks, Jen! I appreciate you taking the time to stop by and check out the post.
Mind blown by the thought behind Clipped. I just saw huge cocks and went with that. Now I feel shallow. lol
Great post!
In all fairness, Jay, I have to admit the cocks are very…distracting…to say the least. 😉 Thanks for the comment!
Certainly God created perfect beings. The being who deceived God, the Morning Star, I believe was Satan; extremely influential with great beauty, and the one who fell in love with his own “cleverness.” Their rivalry, that between the Creator and Satan, was monumental. Your take on the alternate Heaven and Hell and their mantle within both, as well as this world, is incredibly fascinating. Being a spiritual individual I am always looking at others’ ideas and processes in Biblical conceptualization.
I greatly enjoyed this post and the ideas behind the writing process for the book.
John.
Thank you, John. I’m so glad you enjoyed my take on Heaven and Hell! I have always had an interest in different interpretations of Christianity. I actually started considering some of my ideas after I read Mark Twain’s Letters From the Earth, which you may be familiar with. Though Twain goes in an entirely different direction, he was one of the first authors who made me want to tackle the God/Satan dynamic from a new angle.
Thanks for stopping by and commenting!