Mercy DeSimone and I met through social media. She and I are both the youngest of six!
Author Bio
Mercy DeSimone is the pen name of a corporate refugee who decided that life was meant to be more fun. She now works in the Beauty industry where she is finally able to indulge her love of lipstick and rainbow hair colors. A self-professed champagne snob, cocktail enthusiast and overall Queen of Useless Trivia, she is fluent in Schoolhouse Rock and indulges her caffeine addiction 5 shots of espresso at a time.
Mercy believes that life has a soundtrack and is an avid music lover. She creates Spotify playlists for every book she writes. Her Spectral Vibrations playlist is an eclectic assortment of old school vinyl and new alt/indie vibes that help tell the story lyrically. https://open.spotify.com/user/kooifok72s5lb4jkr2dtik48t/playlist/0E8QXhUWgpZvrnYVoKqOZA?si=pO0X1zQwTPWZsKlDbhsxnQ
When not writing and listening to music, she can be found whipping up cocktails and contributing pins to her Pinterest boards for FoodPorn and Great Wines For Wine Snobs On a Budget.
Tell us about yourself.
As the youngest of 6, I’ve always been a voracious reader. To this day I have an obsession with Dr. Seuss. I don’t remember being read to as a child, but my mother and some of my siblings were also obsessive readers. I do remember my sister passing books down to me after she had grown too old for them (she’s 10 years older), some of which, like A Tree Grows In Brooklyn, became lifetime favorites. I also remember stealing my mom’s racy romance novels when I was 12.
I love to cook, and music holds a huge place in my heart. My employees often say they can track me by my incessant humming to some internal soundtrack.
My idols have always been authors, chefs and musicians. In a perfect world, I would have my own talk show where I’d invite a great chef to cook for us, my favorite musician to play for us, and we’d all sit down with one of my favorite writers for great food, music, and conversation.
When did you know you wanted to be an author?
I never consciously said ‘I want to be an an author’. I always considered myself more of a storyteller and thought I should have my own talk show or be a DJ. In a previous job, I used to do events around the country where I would speak to small audiences and come back with funny stories, and people would say you should write a book.
Even now, my coworkers occasionally say ‘let’s write a book’ about something funny or strange that happened with our customers. When someone says, ‘you can’t make this stuff up’, I laugh. Well apparently you can -because one day my co-writer on our first book challenged me to write something with her, based on a funny Facebook thread that went viral. After that, I decided I can do this. There are stories to tell, and I have a voice. Now it’s time to see if those stories resonate with others the way I hear them in my hand.
What genres do you like to read? Are these the same genres you write in?
I grew up reading historical romance, then high fantasy, PNR and urban fantasy. I also love Contemporary romance. My first co-write was Contemporary romance and my new book is sci-fi romance. I guess in the end, I pretty much read anything, but I like stories that are more uplifting, and I think that carries over into what I want to write.
Is your book for adults, young adults or children?
My first books were definitely adult with some steamy and explicit sexuality. My new sci-fi romance is also 18+ but is more of a medium burn. As a Reverse Harem writer, we seem to automatically get pegged as more adult writers because the choice of multiple, consensual relationships are outside of everyday norms.
What is your current release or project?
My new book baby , Spectral Vibrations, is my first solo full length book and releases this month. If all goes as hoped, it’s the first of a three book arc in a sci-fi romance. I’ve also started another RH Contemporary Romance, as well as a techno thriller. The techno thriller is way outside of my wheelhouse, but it was brought to me by a friend who is not a writer. He really needed someone to give life to the story in his head and I said I’d give it a shot, but it’s not a sexy book and is more about the action and conspiracy vs. the relationships. We’ll have to see if I can slip some romantic longing in there somewhere.
Tell us about the key characters
In Spectral Vibrations, our characters live on another planet called Krysalis. Our FMC is Tanzy. She’s a scientist, a Violet, and an Empathic Healer. Orphaned at a very young age, she eventually bonded to her best friend and fellow scientist, Laz. He’s a Blue aura, and also helps lead their science team.
We also have Titan, a politician with a Yellow aura who is appointed to oversee Tanzy and Laz’s science team when their leader is murdered. Jasper is a Red Warlord who acts as a ceremonial guard for the leaders of Krysalis, and has a particular interest in Tanzy. Finally, on Earth we’re introduced to Dixon who is a widower and former army contractor, who literally stumbles across Tanzy in the desert when she crashes to Earth.
Tanzy is a smart but simple girl who is driven by her love of science and discovery. She’s not particularly ambitious, and she has no desire for power. When she gets thrust into the middle of a power play, she’s a bit disoriented but she’s not naive, and she shouldn’t be underestimated. If forced to play the game, she will make it a point to not only learn, but excel at the game.
7. What is your blurb or synopsis of the book?
In the mood for something different? Here’s a quirky little RH space oddity… 🔜 Coming soon to a Kindle near you!
In a galaxy far away, a supernova changed a world forever. Energy became the daily fix, sex became currency, and children were a thing of the past. How do you create a future when you can’t move beyond the present? They say you can’t hear a scream in space… but some of us can feel the pain.
Deep Space
Auras
Good Vibrations
Karma Chameleons & a Squeazel
Houston, we have a problem. Did you get all that?
All I ever wanted was to be a Scientist; what I never anticipated was becoming an Empathic Healer. Luckily, my bondmate, Laz, has always been my center. As a Duo, we have power, but someone believes that we can be more.
WHERE WORLDS COLLIDE…..
The day I crashed to Earth, a secret buried in the past became an opportunity for our future. What happens when power is suddenly up for grabs, on a world where the color of your aura determines your path, and your vibrational frequency determines your strength?
Could the ruling Spectrum soon be a thing of the past? Only if I can create a Spectrum of my own – with the sexy men who keep hovering in my orbit, hoping to anchor their frequency to mine..
️ Duos, Triads and Quartets, oh my! It’s a cat and mouse game in outer space. What color is your aura?
️ Share an excerpt
“Come on, take that pretty face of yours in there and give her vibration something to spark at.” I can’t help teasing him, even though I know it’s cruel, considering the obsession he’s had with her for so long. We’re not usually competitive, but it would be hard to stand by now and watch her bond with Jasper when I can’t have her myself.
Growling low in his throat, Jasper gives me a disgusted look before turning toward the door and stopping abruptly again.
“What is the goal?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I wave him on. “Just find out what’s she’s up to. Either get her to finish, or find out why she’s hesitating. We need to end this charade so we can move on.”
Rolling his eyes, Jasper punches the door release before heading down the hall. Facing the screens again, I watch Tanzy lounge on her stool, feet swinging as she hums to herself. I can’t help but smile at her unaffected sense of serenity as she waits… for what, I can’t imagine.
At the hissing of the door lock, she suddenly straightens and turns toward the computer as if she’s been studiously researching all this time. Her docile smile freezes for a moment when she sees Jasper; clearly she was expecting Marin. But she recovers quickly, eyes darting back down to her page before acknowledging his presence.
“Are you finished?” Jasper asks her as he stops at the edge of her table, feet planted and arms crossed over his broad chest.
“Almost. I just need to cross-check this one result,” she says slowly, drawing out the words and squinting at the screen, making a good show of being engrossed in what she’s doing. “There,” she says satisfaction evident in her face, “that should do it.”
Turning her gaze back to Jasper she stares at him innocently. “What are you doing here? Is Marin on his way, or do I need to call him? I thought there wasn’t a time limit.”
She throws question after question at Jasper to keep him from asking questions of his own. I have to admit, it’s a good tactic, but she doesn’t know my friend. He’s like a boulder – silent, massive, and impenetrable.
Finally discomfited by the silent, unyielding expression on his face, she starts to fidget, twisting the cup in her hand awkwardly, as she waits for him to speak. Peeping up under her bangs at him as if assessing his mood, I find myself watching her carefully, wondering what’s going through her mind. If I hadn’t been watching so closely, I probably would have missed it; the small arc of energy that sparked from her hand toward Jasper as she raised it to push away from the table. Leaning heavily on the console, I push my face closer to the observation screen, searching for another sign.
Do you have a favorite scene?
It’s always easy to go for the sexy scene, and I do love one where she finally gets to explore sex closer to the way we understand it. But I believe my favorite is probably a flashback and what I like to refer to as the “Bambi” scene. If you’re a Disney fan, you instinctively know what that’s going to be about.
What advice would you give a beginner?
Stop comparing and just keep going. It’s so easy to get caught up in what other people are doing, and feeling like you’re not measuring up to more prolific writers. This has to be about YOUR journey. I fall in and out of love with my book over and over during the process of writing. The trick is to always end when you’ve found your passion for the story. No matter how discouraged you feel on certain days, be willing to put words to the page even if they’re nonsense. There’s always a kernel of truth or magic in everything you write. You’ll never know if you don’t allow it to happen.
Social media links:
️ Merciful Haven Facebook Group
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MercifulHaven/?ref=share
️ Amazon Author Page
http://tinyurl.com/yy44sg2q
️ BookBub:bit.ly/MercyDesimoneBookBub
️ Instagram: MercyDeSimoneAuthor
️ Twitter: @desimonemercy
Purchase books:
Books2read.com/SpectralVibrations
Books2read.com/railed
Books2read.com/declansplayroom