We chat with author Adam Sass about Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts, which is a swoony contemporary romance following a boy who is cursed to doom any romantic relationship—and the summer that changes everything.
Hi, Adam! Can you tell our readers a bit about yourself?
Well, hello! I’m what I refer to as a “sunny goth”—I live in SoCal, wear hot pink, and am very bubbly…but I usually talk about horror, monsters, dark fairy tales, death, depression, and suffering. I just moved to the desert, which I think encapsulates that same energy of always bright but full of scary things. I write horror and romance, and whenever I write one genre, I sprinkle in a dash of the other to balance things out. That pretty much reflects how I see the world: hilarious, dangerous, lovely, insufferable, but all in all worth fighting for.
When did you first discover your love for writing and stories?
I was a movie kid, so my storytelling love started there—probably my earliest love was Shelley Duvall’s Faerie Tale Theatre, these darkly comedic 80’s films retelling old fairy tales. Shelley Duvall—if you don’t know her, she’s the mom in The Shining—is another sunny goth. She introduced each film with her bright tone and sunken eyes with “Hello, I’m Shelley Duvall” and then set up what we were about to see, kind of like a sweet, magical Twilight Zone. Every time I write a new book, I start with an author’s note setting up what you’re about to read, hoping to capture her same mix of delightful doom.
Quick lightning round! Tell us:
- The first book you ever remember reading: Ramona Quimby, Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
- The one that made you want to become an author: The Rules of Attraction by Bret Easton Ellis
- The one that you can’t stop thinking about: Blood Justice by Terry J. Benton-Walker
Your latest novel, Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts, is out July 16th! If you could only describe it in five words, what would they be?
Wishes, Depression, Summer, Scottish, Thorns
What can readers expect?
Verbal fireworks between two very angry boys who want jump each other’s bones, but they can’t because they hate each other too much thanks to their baggage as ex-best friends—one of whom ran off with the other’s boyfriend. Now they’re both single again and working at the same bed and breakfast in the country. The B&B belongs to the family of Grant, the heartbroken one, who is fighting to save the old place from bankruptcy. But he can’t do it without the help of the gardener, Ben, the man stealer. Can Grant and Ben stop fighting long enough to save the B&B…and maybe steal a kiss or two? You gotta buy the book to get all the juicy details!
Where did the inspiration for Cursed Boys and Broken Hearts come from?
Like Shelley Duvall, I’m remixing an old fairy tale for this one—Beauty and the Beast! Cursed Boys is the tale as old as time told from the Beast’s point of view. Except the Beast curse is depression, and there’s no Belle, it’s a Beast meets Beast love story.
Were there any moments or characters you really enjoyed writing or exploring?
What I wanted to do with Cursed Boys is follow the guy in the romcom who gets chucked so the main couple can have their happily ever after. I was curious what would happen if someone’s happily ever after was the start of your nightmare. So really, chapter one was exciting because I’m starting right in the middle of a devastated Grant trying to be happy for his ex’s new fairy tale love life, but secretly, he has to pull his shattered self together again.
You write both horror and romance. What draws you to each genre and how do you shift between writing the two?
Horror and Romance aren’t different planets. All my characters live in the same world, they’re just dealing with different circumstances. They all feel like their situations are life and death—it’s just that for my horror characters, it’s literal, and my romance characters are just being drama queens. Romance is all about tension. Will he like me? Is he queer? Will this work out? Am I deluded? It’s pure suspense. It speaks to the horror lover in me. And as for my love of horror, it’s just cool. It lets me play out my worst anxieties and conquer them. It’s exquisite therapy.
What’s next for you?
A romance and a horror, naturally! With the romance, I want to play around with doomed lovers, instead of the Happily Ever After. Not like they die, but…we know upfront that their time together will be terribly short. As for my horror, I’m finally departing real-world horror (and teen horror) and embracing monsters. Speaking of embracing monsters, these adult monsters will be dangerously sexy, with some of the most fraught relationships I’ve ever written. I kind of want to hurry up and get Cursed Boys in people’s hands so I can write my cursed men.
Lastly, what books have you enjoyed so far this year and are there any that you can’t wait to get your hands on?
YA horror anthology, The White Guy Dies First, drops the same day as Cursed Boys, and it’s a killer! My bestie Terry J. Benton-Walker edits 13 stories (and wrote one!) that explores 13 different horror subgenres from a dozen authors of color. The only caveat Terry gave them is that the first character killed had to be a white guy—and the body had to disappear. It’s incredibly addictive!
