Good Morning Everyone! Today we are welcoming Mindy MacKay of Fallen from Disgrace to the blog as part of the latest BLB eBook Tour. For more tour stops on this tour, click here.
Before we continue on I want to share the blurb from Fallen from Disgrace so that you can learn a bit about the book that we are going to be referring to!
Rosella Cartwright wakes up in the hospital after a yearlong coma with no recollection of who she used to be. Her only clue is that everyone around her despises and avoids her. Then, she discovers the truth: before she was hospitalized, she was the most wanted maniac of New York’s criminal underbelly.
Disgusted by reports of her own heinous crimes, she attempts to reform herself, but her efforts are in vain as society continues to cast her out in hatred and fear. All the world seems against her until she is offered a job by Daniel Ryan, a rising executive and self-made success who hides a lifetime of inner turmoil behind a façade of cool indifference. Drawn to his mystery as he is by her irrepressible darkness, Rosella starts falling for Daniel, but love can’t save her from her past. A former victim of hers wants revenge, and will stop at nothing to get it. Her partners in crime want her back by their side, though she wants nothing more to do with them. And a sinister plot of her own design, buried beneath her amnesia, is, unbeknownst to her, still very much in progress. These are the monsters she will have to fight off alone, and if she doesn’t watch her step, she might not make it out alive.
Although I haven’t read this book, I found this blurb interesting. Usually the heroine has some redeeming qualities. On the surface at least, Rosella appears to be a total sociopath! Lately the books that I have read have been filled with strong, at times, in-your-face, kick-ass kind of women. I must admit, I haven’t read a book with a heroine like Rosella. 🙂
So, the question that I posed to Mindy was the following: “I find it fascinating that you have a former sociopath as your main character. How did this character come about – is she just someone you created to fit a story you had formed, or is the story formed around this character?” Here is her response…
Good morning, afternoon or evening, everyone. First off, I’d like to give a huge thanks to Barb for hosting me today. She’s asked me about my thoughts on Rosella Cartwright, the protagonist of Fallen from Disgrace, and, seeing as she was one of my favorite characters to write, I can’t wait to spill! So here it goes.
Not everyone’s familiar with my sci-fi venture, the Puppetmasters series, but for those who are, you’re acquainted with my original beautiful sociopath, Veronika Artyom. One day while I was listening to music, I wondered, “What would’ve happened if Veronika suffered severe head trauma and lost all her autobiographical memory? Would she have been able to re-integrate into society, or would her nefarious reputation cast her out?” That’s how Rosella was conceived, and those were the questions I attempted to answer while writing her story.
The story was largely formed around Rosella, drawn from the material that I’d been reading at the time–East of Eden, required reading for school, left me craving a Cain and Abel subplot, while The 120 Days of Sodom gave me inspiration for a captive scenario. And, I’ll admit, I did throw in a few autobiographical details–readers who know me personally might recognize some of my personality in Rosella’s schismatic sister Euphemia and her lover, the artistic Kyle.
Rosella has been described as many things in feedback, from a “former sociopath” to a “monster of the worst kind”, living a life of “indescribable horror”, and frankly, I’m glad. I’ve always been one to romanticize the anti-hero(ine), and I wanted Rosella to come across as barely defensible…at least at first. As the story progresses, I tried to humanize her through her love for Daniel and deconstruct the image society has built of her, proving that while society has a great propensity to define you, it’s always possible to reclaim yourself.
See, I did have a point when I wrote this. Like Crime and Punishment, it’s a sociopath’s journey to reconciliation with humanity through the discovery of love. But, if you want to take it as a lighthearted read about a hot psycho chick who runs around killing people, scheming, running from cops, and blowing up Via buses, that’s cool too.
Fascinating! I’d like to thank Mindy MacKay for sharing her thoughts on her book, Fallen From Disgrace and her character of Rosella!
It’s easy to stay in the know with Mindy. You can find out more about other books, etc from her website, follow her blog, follow her on Twitter, and like her on Facebook. And of course, buy her book!