by Maria DeBlassie
Tell us about yourself.
The basic bio? I’m a mestiza born and raised in New Mexico. I’m award-winning professor by day and an award-wining writer by night, bruja always. I joke that sometimes I feel like a fiction character trapped in a writer’s body. I like to think of myself as the heroine of my own story—corny, I know! But it helps me be intentional about the kind of life I want to live. And it helps me to feel bold. Introverted writer Maria might not take a certain risk. But a book heroine? Damn straight, she would! So take the risk and dare to allow to dream a little bigger.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
I’ve been writing for as long as I can remember, but it wasn’t until I was in high school that I decided it wanted to be a Serious Writer. Reading was always a huge part of my life, so I think I just fell in love with the idea of telling stories. I wrote every morning before school for twenty minutes a day, and longer in the summer—a habit I continue to this day! I turned to blogging after finishing graduate school, and my first book, Everyday Enchantments, was born out of my daily musings on the things that made me happy from my blog. Now, I’m excited to be moving into fiction, my first writing love, with Hungry Business, a Gothic short story about searching for soul in a world that’s forgotten the power of everyday magic.
What genres do you like to read? Are these the same genres you write in?
I read everything, especially genre fiction and any book that’s about magical witchy stuff, although I’m partial to fantasy, Gothic, and romance. I write inspirational non-fiction, cozy Gothic stories, urban fantasy, and romance. I find they all nourish one another. My non-fiction books on everyday magic help me craft the enchanting worlds in my fiction and my genre stories guide me deeper into everyday conjuring in my life beyond the written word.
Is your book for adults, young adults or children?
Hungry Business is a short story that’s definitely for adults—it’s all about finding the hope when you’ve become world weary and jaded.
What is your current release or project?
Readers can enjoy more cozy Gothic short stories like in the coming year, plus my second book, Practically Pagan ~ An Alternative Guide to Everyday Magic, which will be release September 24, 2021. The title says it all: it’s a practical guide to conjuring a more magical life!
Tell us about the key characters.
The main protagonist in Hungry Business (which I am only just now realizing remains nameless in the short story—she’s certainly never revealed her name to me!), is searching love in all the wrong places. She’s got a lot of heart and a lot of hope, but she’s struggling to stay true to herself in a world that wants her numb and soulless. Of course, her struggles are unfolding against the backdrop of a supernatural pandemic, which complicates things. But where there’s hope, there’s magic, something my protagonist learns by the end of the story.
Do you have a favorite scene?
Without giving anything away, there’s an incredibly cathartic and hopeful on involving twinkle lights and an orange tabby cat. But that’s all I’m saying!
What advice would you give a beginner?
Write. And Write. And keep writing until the story is done and you know who you are as a writer.
BLURB:
From the multi-award-winning author of Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic & Daily Conjurings comes a cozy Gothic short story about searching for connection in a world that’s forgotten the power of everyday magic.
Looking for love can be deadly…
You know how it goes. You go out, hoping to meet someone. You wade through your fair share of brainless automatons, lifeless bodies, and ravenous undead good at passing as human.
The more you go out, the less hope you feel and the colder your body gets. But you keep at it. All you need is one beating heart to match your own before yours stops pumping altogether. How hard can it be to find one living, breathing human in a city full of bodies?
Dating.
It’s hungry business.
Excerpt
This one looks a little better, you think optimistically.
You sit across from each other at the dinner table. The white tablecloth is as smooth and unblemished as his collared shirt. He has dressed for the occasion, taking care to hide the evidence of his affliction as best he can (though truly there is only so much he can do with a missing ear and half a brain). Still, the tuxedo and carefully applied makeup are enough to create the illusion of pumping blood beneath his pallid, blush-stained cheeks—in the right light. Which is another reason why you chose this place. Candlelight can hide a multitude of sins.
His manners are studied and smooth, as if he has spent a lot of time practicing more human-like movements and behavior. You admire a man who makes that kind of effort. He watches you as much as you do him, as if he is trying to remember what it was like to be alive. When you reach for your wine glass, so does he—only his thick decaying fingers almost crush the stem, whereas your nimble live ones carefully bring the dark red liquid to your mouth. You try not to notice how he stares at your lips—stained now from the wine—wondering, perhaps, how you taste.
AUTHOR Bio and Links:
Maria DeBlassie, Ph.D. is a native New Mexican mestiza blogger, award-winning writer, and award-winning educator living in the Land of Enchantment. Her first book, Everyday Enchantments: Musings on Ordinary Magic & Daily Conjurings (Moon Books 2018), and her ongoing blog, Enchantment Learning & Living are about everyday magic, ordinary gothic, and the life of a kitchen witch. When she is not practicing her own brand of brujeria, she’s reading, teaching, and writing about bodice rippers and things that go bump in the night. She is forever looking for magic in her life and somehow always finding more than she thought was there. Find out more about Maria and conjuring everyday magic at www.mariadeblassie.com.
Social Media Links:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7rY-gLkSH-w8uuVyrhVALA
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/17535853.Maria_DeBlassie
https://www.facebook.com/EnchantmentLL
The book is $0.99 during the tour
Amazon buy link: https://www.amazon.com/Hungry-Business-Short-Maria-DeBlassie-ebook/dp/B08L48MVHD
Maria DeBlassie will be awarding a free ecopy of Hungry Business to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway https://widget-prime.rafflecopter.com/launch.js
