A warm welcome to author F.E Feeley Jr joining us today to talk about new release “When Heaven Strikes”.
Your early recollections of writing fiction…
My earliest memories were of my uncle setting up a word document and me pounding out ‘a story’. It was filled with pronouns. He, she, they, etc. and it was about a paragraph long. But I remembered to type, The End.”
Later on, I would enter into scary story contests in High School. I won every year.
The book that holds everlasting resonance…
Michael Scott Garvin’s A Faithful Son is gorgeous.
I know why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
What stands in a storm by Kim Cross (used in research of this book)
Perfect Storm by Sebastian Junger
The film you can watch time and time again…
Steel Magnolias (it’s a gay right of passage)
Lord of the Rings (Director’s Cut)
Aliens (All Four)
Under the Tuscan Sun
The Prince and Me (hush, Julia Stiles is awesome)
Speaking of which…Mona Lisa Smile
Star Trek movies (Nemesis didn’t happen)
The Abyss
Shadowlands (Anthony Hopkins…need I say more?)
Twister (“I have to let you go, Julia. We got cows!”)
Harry Potter (Duh)
4th Man Out is hilarious
This list goes on as well…
The happiest moment you will cherish forever…
My wedding day. When my husband said, “I do.”
The unfulfilled ambition that continues to haunt you…
Singer. I love music as much as I love writing.
The way you would spend your fantasy twenty-four hours, with no travel restrictions…
I would go to The U.K. Ireland, Scotland, Wales, England – I’d go in a heartbeat.
The philosophy that underpins your life…
My philosophy of life is changing. I used to be a fundamentalist. I was raised in an evangelical Christian cult with all the weight that that word cult carries in not only the behavior of the people around me but also in varying degrees the way it shaped my worldview.
A lot of individuals, or at least those that I’ve spoken to, believe that once you leave something like that – it’s gone from you forever. It isn’t. The process of leaving is perpetual for someone who steps out of that life.
Marcus Aurelius once said, “You cannot imprison someone. Not really, because you cannot imprison the mind.” Well, men have found a way around that. You can imprison the mind and let the body wander, and that person is as bound as any prisoner anywhere. And the nefariousness of this is that it isn’t just a facet of religion it’s an aspect of human nature. It’s a very narrow, rigid, uncompromising, demanding, and often times dangerous way of thinking. It’s horribly skewed.
Some say it’s a mental illness. I agree.
However, I am in a constant dialogue with myself to deal with that. And in my search for personal growth, while retaining my faith, I’ve leaned into or am beginning to lean into this idea of balance, of equilibrium between my physical self, my spiritual self, and my mental/emotional self.
Whether it’s in my yoga practice, Buddhist chants, or reading the writings of people like Maya Angelou, listening to my husband talk about old world philosophers like Augustine, or even in mundane things like carrying groceries – I keep running into this theme of balance.
If you lose your balance what happens? We fall down, or at least we stumble really hard as we work to right ourselves.
It’s the yin to the yang, the light in the dark, the male in the female, the good from evil, both sinner and saint at the same time. It’s allowing me to look at the world, at people, at myself, my work, etc. with peace of mind.
The hilarity of it is if I were to tell my old self this or if I were to go back into that circle of people I once was a part of, I would sound like a fucking hippie. I am just existing in the grace that they talked about but were unable to claim for themselves.
Thank you for answering these interview prompts.
Book Title: When Heaven Strikes
Author: F. E. Feeley Jr.
Cover Artist: Goonwrite.com
Genre/s: Contemporary Romance, gay literature
Length: Words: 60,400/No. of Pages: 298
Blurb
Can love survive heaven’s wrath?
Artist Ted Armstrong lives a solitary and eccentric life. The survivor of child abuse disguised as religion, Ted has cut himself off from the world.
Then Ted meets Anderson Taylor, and it’s like being struck by lightning.
Anderson is a cardiac surgeon whose passion for his work has consumed him. He fears he’ll never find a partner—until he sets eyes on Ted. It’s happening fast, but both men know what they feel is right.
Confronted with an angry preacher, a scandal, and an act of God that threatens to destroy everything, their relationship will face its first true test.
“He was scared.
“Grandma, what’s wrong?”
“Thunderstorm, baby. Hang on,” she said to him, and then to his mother, whom he just spotted to their left, “Where’s the car?”
“At the front of the lot. We were one of the first ones here this morning,” Ann said as she worked to keep up in her flip-flops.
On the water, he saw his yellow bucket floating bottom down. It was spinning hypnotically, but it was when Anderson looked skyward he found himself becoming terrified. Above the lake, the sky had turned a sickly green. The clouds directly above it and moving in closer were swirling in a tight formation with what looked like a big black eye staring down at them.
“Grandma! What’s that?” Anderson exclaimed pointing skyward. She stopped and turned to look.”
“Oh, my God,” she breathed, mostly to herself. Anderson felt panic begin to set it.
Someone shouted close to them, “Jesus Christ! It’s a tornado!”
Book Trailer
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F.E.Feeley Jr is a poet and the author of six published works – four full length novels, two short stories featured in anthologies, and a good deal of poetry.
Married to the love of his life, John, he came to the writing world about four years ago where he fell in love, again, with the written word.
FOR A CHANCE TO WIN AN EBOOK FROM
F.E. FEELEY JR.’S BACKLIST
July 23rd: Foxylutely Books, Millsy Loves Books
July 24th: My Fiction Nook, Lily G. Blunt, Gay Book Reviews, Fangirl Moments and My Two Cents
July 27th: Drops of Ink
August 2nd: Stories That Make You Smile, Because Two Men Are Better Than One
August 4th: Hoards Jumble, Hearts on Fire, Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words
August 7th: The Way She Reads, Louise Lyons, Bayou Book Junkie
August 9th: Gay Media Reviews, Lily’s Reviews, Diverse Reader
August 12th: The Novel Approach Reviews
August 14th: Love Bytes Reviews
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I love the premise of this book. I know the devastating effects of ‘fringe churches’ and the results of their teachings. Having lived in Utah, ‘The Church of Latter Day Saints’ was notorious for subjugating the women and young girls. It was so sad to witness. I cannot imagine how those of the LGBTQ community were treated. It’s bad enough here in Texas! Hopefully the political climate will improve…soon!