Welcome back to Love Bytes! I’m excited to announce that Thárros, the first of two sequels to Ómorphi, will release on April 14th!

In Ómorphi, we meet Christy one year after his freedom from a world of abuse and slavery. Christy meets Michael, and with Michael’s help and love, Christy builds a new life out of a whole lot of nothing and a mountain of horrible memories. Ómorphi leaves off with the rescue of Christy from one of his past abusers—who kidnapped him with the intention of returning him to Greece and a life of slavery.

Thárros picks up where Ómorphi leaves off. Michael and Christy work hard to overcome the devastating effects of the kidnapping, but it’s a slow and arduous process. To make matters worse, the prosecution of Christy’s kidnapper looms large and weighs heavily in their lives.

Where Ómorphi focuses on building a life after freedom from abuse, Thárros focuses on what it costs a victim to endure prosecution of an abuser. We’d like to believe that truth, justice, and the American way prevail in judicial proceedings, but the harsh reality is that justice has nothing to do with what goes on in a courtroom. Contrary to popular belief, the application of the law is not to avenge a wrong.

For a victim to endure a trial, the victim must relive the events of abuse to an infinite degree. Every humiliation, every degradation, every torture is put on display for all to see, then dissected, analyzed, and reconstrued largely in a manner to infer the victim not only asked for it, and deserved it—but also infers that the victim is fortunate to have been a victim of it. With these thoughts in mind, you can well imagine what a judicial proceeding does to a child—particularly a child who is born into abuse and believes they have no worth.

The trial in Thárros is based on real events, and I’ll talk more about the prosecution of abusers in the upcoming blog tour for Thárros. In many ways, Thárros is a tougher read than Ómorphi is because it shows us the inadequacy of our systems to protect children and avenge the wrongs perpetrated on them. I won’t write a book that doesn’t end happily, but Thárros challenges the definition of “Happily Ever After” and shows us that “happily” is in the eye of the beholder.

This brief excerpt gives you an idea of how hard it is for victims to endure prosecution of an abuser:

Nero’s eyes hardened even more. “It’s Christy’s very expense that will give the judge the opportunity to enhance the sentencing.”

“Opportunity? Like it’s a maybe?”

“That’s all it ever is in circumstances such as these, Michael.”

“Such as what?”

“Circumstances in which sexual abuse is alleged, particularly sexual abuse of a male victim.”

Michael gaped at Nero. “You have to be fucking kidding me!”

“Michael, keep your voice down.” Mac put his hand on Michael’s shoulder in an attempt to calm him, and Michael shoved it away.

“Let go of me! Yosef didn’t only rape Christy over and over again from the time he was five fucking years old! He beat him! He starved him then made him eat the unthinkable and lick up his own blood! He didn’t let him sleep for days! He burned him! He branded him! He broke his bones! He fucked with his mind! His dick and balls are scarred from what Yosef did to him! Can you imagine that pain? Can you? That bastard tortured Christy in every way conceivable for thirteen years, and it’s a wonder Christy isn’t insane! And the best he gets if he testifies is a maybe? Torture him some more for a motherfucking maybe? Why don’t you just sign Christy’s death warrant, Mr. Santini!”

“Michael, that’s enough!” Mac boomed.

“Fuck you! Fuck you all!” Michael took off down the hallway, tears blurring his vision. He wanted to see Christy. He wanted to salvage the vestiges of the person he loved more than anything in the world before the world tore his pretty Christy apart. How dare they torture him more for a fucking maybe!

See you back here next month on Thursday, March 17th! Thanks for reading!

Cody Kennedy aka Aisling Mancy

Cody is an author who lives, most of the time, on the West Coast of the United States. Cody, writes adult fantasy, science fiction, adult romance, and fiction for gay young adults as C. Kennedy.

Raised on the mean streets and back lots of Hollywood by a Yoda-look-alike grandfather, Cody doesn’t conform, doesn’t fit in, is epic awkward, and lives to perfect a deep-seated oppositional defiance disorder. In a constant state of fascination with the trivial, Cody contemplates such weighty questions as If time and space are curved, then where do all the straight people come from? When not writing, Cody can be found taming waves on western shores, pondering the nutritional value of sunsets, appreciating the much-maligned dandelion, unhooking guide ropes from stanchions, and marveling at all things ordinary.

Cody’s Facebook, Twitter @CodyKAuthor, Pinterest, Tumblr, Google+, Ello, Goodreads,

Medium, Booklikes, and read my free serial story, Fairy

Find Ash on blog, Twitter @AislingMancy, Facebook, Goodreads, Booklikes, Amazon
and Ash does respond to emails because, after all, it is all about you, the reader.

Pssst. Click on the captioned title of each book to read the first chapter!