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Interview with Ken Mooney, author of Godhead

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What’s Godhead about?
Well, Godhead is an idea that’s been knocking around in my brain for about 15 years; it’s had a number of different forms in that time, but I’ve always come back to a basic good-vs-evil storyline. There’s something timeless about it, don’t you think?

The book starts during the last days of Olympus with the city is under siege; demons have overrun the city, all because the Greek gods have been betrayed by one of their own (it’s not too much of a spoiler to tell you that it’s Aphrodite, one of the most complex and awesome characters I’ve ever had the pleasure to come across. ) The gods have a plan that saves their hides, but it means that Olympus gets wiped off the planet as if it never existed.

The gods end up living side-by-side with humans; they have kids and their kids have kids (and so forth…we’re covering a lot of time here.) And by the time we get to the present day, we have thousands of people who are descended from the gods themselves. Some of them have even inherited their powers and general godliness. But not all of them know why…

Godhead follows a few such people, specifically as they find themselves crossing paths with Aphrodite; she’s found a way to get back to Olympus and doesn’t care who’s standing in her way.

Against this epic backdrop of gods and monsters, Godhead tells some very intimate stories about these characters, even Aphrodite herself. In amongst all the madness, it’s a book about loss, mourning and what it means to truly be human.

Sounds truly epic. What genre is it?
It’s a contemporary fantasy, but I think there’s something of a stigma associated with that as a genre (heck, with fantasy full-stop.) But that’s a conversation for another time, so let’s stick with it.

There’s also a LOT of Classical elements in here; I like to think of it as The Iliad re-written for a post-Buffy audience…if that makes sense, then you’ll probably be able to tell how difficult it is to pin it down in one genre.

“The Iliad for a post-Buffy generation”. We like that. What demographic of that generation do you expect Godhead to appeal to?
It’s a tricky question, since I’ve always considered audience and genre to go hand-in-hand. And I’d like to think of Godhead crossing over a fair few generic boundaries.

This is a book for people who love their novels to have this epic sense of “stuff” happening. And that’s all you get….if I told you too much, then people wouldn’t read it, would they?

Fair enough. Complete this sentence for us: if you like _________________, you’ll love Godhead.
Me? No, that’s too cheeky, isn’t it?

Well-written characters, smart dialogue, epic stories with real-life concerns.

Oh, and Greek gods super-punching people’s heads off (no joke…someone has actually told me that’s their favourite part too.)

Super-punching heads off! Tell us more.
I actually love the last sentence of the book, and it’s all built around the last word; I obviously can’t say much, but it’s really something being described in a fashion that it should never be described as…

I’ve tried to do this in a few places throughout the book, using descriptions that don’t necessarily “make sense”…and there’s a very good reason for it; it’s a story about gods, and things that don’t make sense. But this one…this blows it out of the water.

The last word…well, it should make readers feel like Godhead has just opened up this epic world where anything could happen (and very well might!)  And yet it’s also an intimate step in one character’s story arc. And here I am just hanging up on the word itself.

Overall, there’s a sucker punch to the gut, and yet a position where the book has just opened up this massive place for the sequel to go. And yes, that means there’ll be a sequel.

That last word…it’s got to be amongst one of the biggest teases I’ve ever experienced.

What can you tell us about that sequel?
It’ll be called The Hades Contract and probably be out late 2013/early 2014. (There’s a lot of work in it.) I also have plans for two further sequels after that.

Have you written any other books that we should read next?
Plenty. Most are sitting on my hard drive and will NEVER see the light of day. Ever, y’hear?

I’ve also recently started to revise a completely different idea called The Magician’s Kiss (it was actually the book I was working on before Godhead reared its ugly head at me…again.) It’s a very different type of book, so I’ve no idea what’ll happen with it…let’s just leave that there and see what happens, eh?

Tell us a bit about yourself.
Well, I’m 28 (as of writing this anyway…you know how things can last forever on-line) and live in Dublin, Ireland. Born and raised here too.

I’ve always wanted to be a writer. Ever since I was in junior school and had to explain to the teacher that yes, I DID know what an author was and I DID want to be an author. Since then, real-life’s gotten in the way on more than one occasion; in some ways, it still is.

I’ve a degree in English Studies from TCD (hence the obsession with genre-bending and storytelling) and work in TV advertising during the day. And in my spare time, it usually comes back to video games, comics, reading…more stories, really.

Do you have a website where we can keep up with your work?
To make a long story…yes: www.kenmooney.com

To make that same story long, I used to. Then I upgraded the OS behind the site and lost every post and entry I ever made.

Fool me once, shame on you they say…? That’s a relevant quote here because this happened THREE TIMES and then…

Then I committed my archive to the ashes and just started again. I’ve been running www.kenmooney.com through Tumblr and generally just posting short-form media and silly pictures and videos. But no cat pictures yet…

Okay, what about Twitter?
You usually can’t shut me up on Twitter @kenmooney.  And I’ve recently set up a Facebook page for my writing exploits at https://www.facebook.com/kenmooneywriter.

What’s next?
A well-earned break and a good night’s sleep where I’m not haunted by story ideas?

Oh, who am I kidding; that’ll never happen.

But I’m not writing another word of the sequel until I’ve caught up on some reading. It’s only fair, right?

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