Q & A with Kenn Bivins
What is the significance of the title and where did the idea for PIOUS come from?
The title is a play on the actual word, pious, which means pure and dutiful. It is also a play on the main character’s name, Carpious.
PIOUS is an amalgamation of many ideas that I had at the onset of wanting to write my first novel. There were a lot of stories that I wanted to tell with PIOUS and it simply and organically grew into a tale of duplicity and forgiveness.
In a novel that is thematically about forgiveness, you feature a character who is a registered sex offender. This lays the ground work for a powder keg of a story. How do you think people will respond to this character and the role he plays?
I hope that a lot of the scenarios in PIOUS will make people feel something strongly. The character you speak of, Ian, and the role he plays in forgiveness is not what you would expect. “Powder keg” is the most appropriate expression.
What character are you the most like?
As a writer, I find it impossible to create a character without breathing some degree of self into each one. These characters are born of my interpretation so they are like my offspring. They can’t help but look similar, talk similar, or have some similar imperfection.
So in other words, you and Carpious have much in common?
(laughter) Carpious has much in common with a lot of us. He has been defined by something that happened to him as a child that he never recovered from. The fact that he hasn’t resolved this thing, colors the decisions that he makes, even at age 45.
Speaking of characters, Alethea is quite a character. Do you know an Alethea in real life?
I do. Several, in fact. Despite being rough around the edges with a potty mouth, Alethea, as the Greek origin of her name indicates, speaks truth. I can respect the fact that she’s real without apology.
Explain the cover.
The image of a dove being released into the heavens has always evoked a feeling of peace and purity. On the cover of PIOUS, you have that but blood taints the whole scene. That same principle runs throughout the novel.
What’s next for Kenn Bivins?
Well, in addition to promoting PIOUS and making sure that everyone on earth reads it, I’m working on my second novel that promises to be a dark and devious descent down the path of a plot to commit matricide and matrimony all in the same day.