August 8, 2017
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words is happy to have Heidi Cullinan here on her Antisocial tour. Welcome, Heidi!
♡
Thanks so much for having me here today! I’m stopping by as part of my tour for my new novel Antisocial, a new adult gay and asexual romance set in a fictional college in upstate New York between a one-percenter fraternity boy and a highly antisocial artist. It released today, and in celebration I’m going to give you an extra special peek inside the story: I’m going to tell you a bit more about the story within the story, the manga the characters create, The Adventures of Hotay & Moo.
The Adventures of Hotay & Moo is, within the story of Antisocial, a manga within the school magazine Lucky 7, but it has been in the magazine’s history a comic and a short story as well. (The comic and manga versions are identical, of course, except in style and direction of the print.) What is consistent are the main characters, Hotay, who is based on the Shinto god Hotei, one of the seven gods of fortune, and Moo, who is based on Fudō Myōō, the Japanese version of Acala, a Buddhist deity.
I regret that I can’t draw worth a damn—and I mean that I cannot draw at all—but I can give you a short, very short scene between Hotay and Moo. The characters in the book make several guesses as to who among them might most be like Hotay and Moo. There is of course no wrong answer. You’ll have to let me know what you think when you read it yourself.
For now, please enjoy this exclusive release day short from The Adventures of Hotay & Moo.
Moo was lying on his bed, contentedly reading when the door to his room burst open and his friend Hotay exploded into his serene space, red-faced and beaming. “Moo, it’s the cherry blossom festival today.”
“I know.” Moo turned a page and kept reading. “I saw the flyers.”
“Well, why didn’t you tell me? Moreover, why are we sitting here when there’s a festival to go to?” Hotay leaned over Moo so that his round face blocked the view to Moo’s page. “Put down your book, and let’s go into town.”
Moo glared at the interruption to his solitude. “I didn’t tell you because I assumed you still knew how to read. The flyers were everywhere. They’d attached them to everything tall and post-like. I’m frankly astounded they didn’t staple one to you.”
As usual, Hotay refused to rise to Moo’s jab. “Nah. I’m too fat to be mistaken for a post.” He flopped onto the end of Moo’s bed with a dramatic sigh. “Come on, Moo. Let’s go to the festival. It sounds amazing. There’s going to be a firework display and everything.”
“I hate firework displays. They’re far too loud.”
“There will be food. Grilled squid, pork kabobs, mochi ice cream.”
Moo did enjoy mochi ice cream. But he hated crowds more. “If you want to go so badly, go. You don’t need me along.”
“But I do need you.” Hotay nudged Moo’s foot with his elbow, jostling his book so soundly he dropped it. “I can’t enjoy myself if you’re not along.”
Moo refused to dignify this comment with a remark, settling instead for a withering glare.
Hotay laughed, hard enough to shake the bed. “See, who else is going to look at me like that?”
“The look wasn’t supposed to amuse you, Hotay.”
“I know, but it does amuse me. You make me happy, Moo.”
“Everything makes you happy.”
“Well, that’s true. But you make me especially happy. You’re my dearest friend.”
Moo sighed and picked up his book again. “Your dearest friend wants to be left alone to read.”
“Then I suppose I shall have to let you do so.”
Hotay made no more commentary about the festival, and he didn’t even fidget overly, only sat idly at the foot of Moo’s bed, as if he truly were content to remain there while Moo read and the festival continued without him. Moo, of course, couldn’t read a word, knowing Hotay was missing out, not even when he tried to tell himself his friend had made his choices and it wasn’t Moo’s problem.
Eventually Moo put the book down and scowled. “Please. I’m begging you. Go to the festival without me. Surely you’ll run into someone there you know.”
Hotay shook his head, smiling, as if he hadn’t a care in the world. “Can’t do it. But don’t worry. I’ve decided you’re right, it’s a perfect night to stay at home. Though I wish I had a way to let Benny know, because I’m afraid she’s going to be terribly disappointed.”
Moo closed the book and sat up straight, all his senses on alert. “…Benny?”
“Oh? Didn’t I say? Benny is going to be at the festival. In fact, she specifically asked me to make sure I brought you along.”
Moo had never felt so many emotions at once. Euphoria that Benny had asked for him. Terror that Benny had asked for him. Confusion over why Benny would ask for him.
Fury that Hotay had withheld this from him for so long. Was Benny somewhere in the festival waiting for him? How long had she been waiting? Was she still there?
Hurling the book at Hotay’s head, Moo swung his legs off the bed and rose.
“Are you going somewhere?” Hotay asked, still lounging, though he was also rubbing his forehead where the book had hit him.
“Get your damn coat,” Moo muttered, sifting through his closet for his own. “Are we going to a festival, or not?”
When he turned around, coat in hand, Hotay was at the door, wearing his cloak, hat, and shoes, ready to go, grinning like the fool he was. “I thought you’d never ask.”
A single stroke can change your world.
Xander Fairchild can’t stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he’s forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour.
Skylar’s life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander’s artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There’s something about the antisocial artist’s refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn’t dared to speak aloud, even to himself.
Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.
Heidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi is a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. She writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. When Heidi isn’t writing, she enjoys playing with new recipes, reading romance and manga, playing with her cats, and watching too much anime. Find out more about Heidi at heidicullinan.com.
Blurb
A single stroke can change your world.
Xander Fairchild can’t stand people in general and frat boys in particular, so when he’s forced to spend his summer working on his senior project with Skylar Stone, a silver-tongued Delta Sig with a trust fund who wants to make Xander over into a shiny new image, Xander is determined to resist. He came to idyllic, Japanese culture-soaked Benten College to hide and make manga, not to be transformed into a corporate clone in the eleventh hour.
Skylar’s life has been laid out for him since before he was born, but all it takes is one look at Xander’s artwork, and the veneer around him begins to crack. Xander himself does plenty of damage too. There’s something about the antisocial artist’s refusal to yield that forces Skylar to acknowledge how much his own orchestrated future is killing him slowly…as is the truth about his gray-spectrum sexuality, which he hasn’t dared to speak aloud, even to himself.
Through a summer of art and friendship, Xander and Skylar learn more about each other, themselves, and their feelings for one another. But as their senior year begins, they must decide if they will part ways and return to the dull futures they had planned, or if they will take a risk and leap into a brightly colored future—together.
About the Author
Heidi’s Bio
Heidi Cullinan has always enjoyed a good love story, provided it has a happy ending. Proud to be from the first Midwestern state with full marriage equality, Heidi is a vocal advocate for LGBT rights. She writes positive-outcome romances for LGBT characters struggling against insurmountable odds because she believes there’s no such thing as too much happy ever after. When Heidi isn’t writing, she enjoys playing with new recipes, reading romance and manga, playing with her cats, and watching too much anime. Find out more about Heidi at heidicullinan.com.
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