Mari Mancusi – This Author is a ROCKSTAR!
WHY IS MARI MANCUSI A ROCKSTAR?Let’s be honest, this woman can write! The four books I posted above are just a small sampling of what you can find if you dive into everything that Mari Mancusi has done. Boys That Bite, the first book in the Blood Coven series, made me fall in love with vampires all over again. Sunny and Rayne stole the show with their witty banter and snark. Until, that is, I met Magnus. (*swoon*) Mari Mancusi knows to create characters who range from lovable, to quirky, to downright kick-ass, and she makes it look easy. Plus she has a hilarious personality and loves video games. Come on, need I say more? Mari Mancusi is absolutely a rockstar!
This could be answered in a one-sentence blog post…
Because dragons are AWESOMESAUCE!
But I suppose you want a little more than that. In truth, I have loved dragons ever since I was a little girl. There’s just something about them that’s so magical and fascinating. In one sense, they’re huge, fire-breathing monsters, capable of destroying the world—and yet, at the same time, they’re gorgeous, majestic, elegant and free.
I think I first fell in love with them when playing the old-school Dungeons and Dragons dice game when I was a kid. D&D got me into fantasy and that introduced me to some amazing dragon books. One of my favorites ever? The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley. Now the dragon in that book, Maur, is not a good, touchy feeling dragon. In fact, he’s downright evil. But he’s also completely bad-ass. And I love the dragon hunter, Aerin, who is the only one brave enough to take him on.
Of course not all dragons want to flambé us alive, thank goodness. The dragons in Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern are quite willing to join forces with humans and help them take on the deadly thread that falls from the sky and destroys the planet. Those dragons form telepathic bonds with their riders and dragon and rider have a relationship like no other.
Which brings me to one theme I wanted to explore when writing Scorched. The question about whether dragons are inherently good or evil or are they just animals, like any other, fighting for their own survival and place on our planet? Unlike more common dragon tales, Scorched does not take place in a far off fairytale kingdom of vaguely medieval descent. It’s set in our world. In present day Texas. And it asks the question—what would happen if a dragon egg were to hatch here and now? Would dragons make our world a better place? Or would they tear it all apart?
Because let’s face it: who wouldn’t want a baby dragon as a pet?
Mari Mancusi always wanted a dragon as a pet. Unfortunately the fire insurance premiums proved a bit too large and her house a bit too small–so she chose to write about them instead. Today she works as an award-winning young adult author and freelance television producer, for which she has won two Emmys.
When not writing about fanciful creatures of myth and legend, Mari enjoys goth clubbing, cosplay, watching cheesy (and scary) horror movies, and her favorite guilty pleasure—playing videogames. A graduate of Boston University, she lives in Austin, Texas with her husband Jacob, daughter Avalon, and their dog Mesquite.
