Caitlin Sinead: The curious incident of the hot mug

Caitlin Sinead mashes together several different subgenres for her debut romance, Heartsick.

Caitlin: The other day, I meandered into work, as I do every morning, and crumpled my coat on the chair next to my desk instead of hanging it up. What can I say, I'm a rebel. After some issues logging in, I had to call IT and sort through the various reasons — mostly user-error related (whatever that means!) — why my computer might be mad at me.

And then, finally, it was time to start the day! I reached for my mug, ready to head to the kitchen and fill it with hot water, but … it was already hot. I tapped it a few times. Yes, the mug was hot, and teabag-ready water lapped against the sides.

How could this be? I just got into work.

My first sleuthing step involved Googling the likelihood of a mug spontaneously heating itself. I thought this scientific issue might be hotly (pun most definitely intended) debated, but, apparently, it is rather unlikely. After some prolonged chin-tapping, I finally concluded there could only be four possibilities:

• Someone with superpowers walked by my office and used laser beams, and whatever superpower can generate water (Hydroman!), to get my mug all ready from afar.

• A murderous co-worker was out to kill me (no doubt jealous of my savvy computer skills and ability to handle unexpected "user errors"). They must have laced it with old arsenic before I came to work.

• A secret admirer sneaked into my office and placed the mug gingerly on my desk before I arrived, as obviously this is the best way to show one's affection.

• In a sleepy haze, I went about my morning activities, filling up the mug, and just completely forgot I did it. But no, this is probably just what the perpetrator wants me to think!

While all of these are equally likely (except for that last one, that's near impossible), I started to realize that there was, indeed, a fifth possibility. It wasn't a murderer or a secret admirer or a superhero — it was a murderous secret admirer with superhero powers!

Or … perhaps it's just all in my head, because when my mind swirls with stories, they rarely fit neatly into so-called reality or into one, tidy genre box. Instead, I mix and tangle tropes and themes from multiple genres, mashing up story lines that can claim inspiration from an array of books that would never be found nestled next to each other in a neatly categorized bookstore.

For example, my debut novel, Heartsick, is a murder mystery. But, you know, it's also speculative, because people's eyes spontaneously turn purple. And, of course, there's tons of kissing and a few sexy scenes, so it's also a contemporary romance. And, it's set on a college campus with a college-age protagonist, so, well, it's New Adult, too!

While I am still on the hunt for my mug-tampering murderous, superhero, secret admirer (I know you're out there!), I'm rarely short on ideas that mix and blend genres. For me, that just makes a story all the more fun. But what do you think? And, more important, what do you think happened with my hot mug? *eyes dart back and forth suspiciously*

About Heartsick:

Quinn is looking forward to her senior year at Poe University. She has big plans to hang out with her best friend, flirt with a certain boy genius, party at her favorite dive bar and figure out what she's going to do after graduation with her not-so-useful art major. But that's before she meets Luke, a hot townie who's moved back home to help take care of his dying sister. And it's before a weird epidemic sweeps across campus, mysteriously turning people's eyes purple.

Is it an odd side effect from a new party drug?

Is it a rogue virus developed in a campus lab?

Is it the mark of the devil?

Soon the town starts blaming the university and the student religious group becomes frighteningly aggressive in their on-campus accusations. Quinn and Luke are caught in the middle—until a tragic accident forces Luke to reveal the one part of himself he's kept carefully hidden. That he's so much more than the happy-go-lucky boy next door Quinn had believed him to be isn't a surprise…but this truth might be too dangerous for her to handle.

Find out more about Caitlin and her debut at www.caitlinsinead.com.