September 2010 Releases

There are a whole bunch of awesome books being released out into the wild this month! Here are some shiny covers of a few of them that I am DYING to read. 😀 Check out my New Releases page to see all the books along with their release dates. (I’m still working on the title links).

     

     

     

     

Ahh my pretties, how I want you all. Hopefully I’ll get some Chapters gift cards for my birthday next week! 😉

Interview With Stacia Kane – Author of Personal Demons

 

Sidhe Vicious welcomes Urban Fantasy novelist Stacia Kane, author of the up-coming release Personal Demons. We’re looking forward to getting to know you and all about your new novel.

 

Your new Urban Fantasy novel Personal Demons is being released on April 1st by Juno Books. Can you tell us a little about it and the main character Megan Chase?

 Oh, I love Megan. She’s not really a “kick-ass heroine”, but she holds her own. Her strengths and abilities really come from herself; she’s determined and strong-willed but not really accustomed to fighting.

Megan is a counselling psychologist who’s basically let her desire to help people get her roped into doing a horrible therapy call-in radio show. (The show isn’t horrible, lol, but she thinks it is.) It goes against all of her principles to do it, but she figures at least she can really help people.

The station creates a tagline for the show: “Dr. Demon Slayer will help you slay your personal demons!” Which Megan finds cringe-inducing in itself, but when she realizes there really are personal demons and they think she means it when she says she’s going to slay them…adventure, danger, and romance ensue,

 

What about Demons attracted you to write about them rather than other supernatural creatures?

 Oh, I just love them. Demons are the true outlaws, aren’t they? And writing about them gave me a good way to include the Mafia, which I adore.

Anyone who loves (like I do) The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” will have a good idea what kind of demons are in the book.

 I really enjoy any kind of supernatural creature–although weres aren’t my favourites (with the exception of Caitlin Kittredge’s Luna Wilder). I write vampires for Ellora’s Cave and love a good vampire. But I had so much fun creating my demons because while there’s a lot of religious mythology about demons, there’s no “everybody knows” about them–I could make them do and be whatever I wanted.

 

What influenced you to make the jump from Romance to Urban Fantasy?

 Actually, Personal Demons is quite a bit of both!

 It wasn’t really a decision I made, actually. The idea for the book just came to me, and I realized as I was writing that while romance was an important part of the story, it wasn’t the entire focus. And that it was fun; it gave me a feeling of freedom. Not that I don’t love romance, both reading and writing. I don’t mean to say or imply that at all. But it was fun to hold back the part of me that wanted to get to the HEA and see what other directions I could take the romantic relationship in.

 

Will we be seeing more of Megan and her world in the future?

 Absolutely! The second book, Demon Inside, is already finished, and I hope to have some news about a third at some point in the near future,

 

What supernatural power or creature would you most like to have or be, and why?

 Hmmm. I’ve always said I’d like to be a vampire, and I have to admit that’s still true. I know some people don’t want to live forever but I’m not one of them. There’s just something very sexy about them and there always has been for me. But being a fire demon like the ones in Personal Demons would be great too–imagine being able to create fire from nothing!

 

Who is your favourite U.F. fictional character and why? ( Not counting Megan, of course.)

 Oh, my. I’m lucky enough to know a few great uf authors personally, so I’m always afraid it just sounds like a plug. But I do adore, for example, Mark Henry’s Amanda Feral; Richelle Mead’s Georgina; Jackie Kessler’s Jezebel; Anton Strout’s Simon Canderous; and Caitlin Kittredge’s Luna Wilder (and, she just sold a new series set in “Black London”. I was lucky enough to read the first in the series and the story and characters in that one absolutely blew me away.) I also love Kelley Armstrong’s Paige and Lilith Saintcrow’s Danny Valentine.

 

How did you get your start in writing? What if anything lit that spark to get you started?

 It sounds so cliche to say I always wanted to be a writer, but I always did. If I’ve started one novel from childhood to my late twenties I’ve started two dozen. But it wasn’t until my first daughter came along that I actually decided to get serious about it. I wrote a medieval romance, a horrible, cliché-filled behemoth called “The Captive Heart”, and was convinced it was brilliant. Ha ha. (Although I still think I wrote two good scenes in that book. Only two, but still.)

 But it taught me that I really could finish a book, that I loved writing, and that it was something I wanted to keep doing. It wasn’t much later that I discovered Ellora’s Cave and was totally entranced–I loved writing sex scenes, and here was a publisher who wanted a LOT of them! And that was basically it for me, until I started branching out a bit. (I got sidetracked for a while by a second pregnancy, but I think taking that time and just studying writing and the industry really helped in the long run.)

 

What was the road to publication like with this, your first U.F. novel, like? Highlights? Pitfalls?

 I think the highlight was the day I got the offer for it–especially when Paula (the Juno Books editor) told me it would be a mass-market paperback. That was exciting.

 Pitfalls? Honestly? The pitfalls come later, when you look back at your old work–as every writer does–and think, “I should have done X instead of Y, I should have made that different, this could have been better.” Don’t get me wrong, I’m very proud of Personal Demons, and extremely excited and gratified by the good reviews it’s been getting so far. But I think it’s impossible for me to look at anything but my current project and not see it as a big collection of flaws.

 

What or who was your inspiration, if any, to come up with the character: Megan Chase?

 Oh, gosh, I really don’t have one. She just sort of came to me; someone who’s very strong but has insecurities and fears like anyone else, who’s rather isolated and always feels at the edges of things. I always try as hard as I can to make my characters real people. They don’t always do the right thing or have the perfect response in any crisis, but they’re smart and know how to use their wits.

 

Do you have any tips for aspiring speculative fiction writers?

 Read a LOT. Write a LOT. Don’t get discouraged if your first tries fail; it’s part of the learning process. Don’t get discouraged if your first ideas are cliché, either. I’ve found the Idea part of my brain works like any muscle; the more I use it, the stronger it gets. One day a real, new, original plot or character or world or whatever will come to you, and you’ll be able to recognize it and do something with it because you’ve been practicing. Nothing is worse than a great idea badly written.

 Oh, and eliminate as many dialogue tags as you can. I hate dialogue tags. They’re necessary, sure, but not nearly as often as we all think when we’re just starting out. (And when you do use them, just say “said”. Nobody needs to whisper, shout, interrupt, interject, cry, scream, or moan their dialogue more than once or twice per book, if that.)

 

Is there anything else that you’d like to share with us at Raves & Rants and your readers?

 Just that I really hope you enjoy the book! I’ll be running another contest when it’s released, so check my livejournal (http://stacia-kane.livejournal.com/) for details.

Thank you Stacia, it’s been a pleasure spending some time with you and discussing your new book! We wish you all the best with Personal Demons.

 

( Moved over from my original blog ) 

8 Comments.

 

 

Posted by Pike stephenson:

Great interview! I love hearing from new novelists; it helps to know that I’m not the only one fumbling through the process. I heard about Stacia’s book a short while ago and loved the premise. Can’t wait to read it!

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 9:56 AM

Posted by Judi:

Thanks! Stacia was a fun interview for me to do. She’s a lovely person. I read it already and I’m still stoked to buy a hard-copy for myself.
I think we all fumble through the writing process, regardless of how much we’ve written. You are not alone! 😉
PS: I love your avatar

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 10:29 AM

Posted by Amber:

I am really looking forward to reading this one. Not easy to get hold of over here though…

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 1:57 PM

Posted by Judi:

I hope you can get a copy. I can imagine the difficulties.

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 4:33 PM

Posted by Stacia Kane:

Thanks again Sidhe! It was fun for me too, and I’m thrilled you liked the book!

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 7:00 PM

Posted by Judi:

You are most welcome Stacia. 🙂 It was my pleasure.

Saturday, March 15th 2008 @ 11:31 PM

Posted by UFR:

Nice interview. I’ll be adding this book to my future reading list.

Monday, March 17th 2008 @ 8:33 AM

Posted by Judi:

Thanks! The book was a good read. 🙂

Monday, March 17th 2008 @ 11:34 AM

 

Personal Demons – Spotlight & Review

Personal Demons by Stacia Kane   Juno Books April 1, 2008

Paperback: 304 pages

Publisher: Juno Books (April 23 2008)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 0809572559

ISBN-13: 978-0809572557

(from Stacia’s web site) “When psychological counselor Megan Chase promises listeners to her new call in show she’ll slay their personal demons, they believe her. So do the personal demons.

Megan doesn’t know that she’s the only human alive without a personal demon on her shoulder. This, coupled with her psychic abilities, makes her a valuable weapon for any demon mob-like family lucky enough to gain her allegiance. It also makes her a serious threat not just to the personal demons, but to a soul-sucking Legion of Hell known as the Accuser. The Accuser already has an old score to settle with Megan and sees this as the perfect time to do it.

But Megan isn’t without allies as she’s plunged back into a world she forgot existed. A member of a competing demon family sees Megan as his ticket to power, and sets about both protecting and seducing her with devilish intensity.

Can Megan, her new demon lover, a witch with poor social skills, and three cockney guard demons named Malleus, Maleficarium and Spud defeat not only the Accuser, the personal demons, and the ghosts of Megan’s past, but the reporter who threatens to destroy Megan’s carreer as well?”

Psychologist and new radio talk show host Megan Chase gets the shock of her life when she discovers that not only do demons exist, but that she can see them and there are scores of them after her to kill her! The innocent slogan for her talk-radio show, promising listeners that Megan can “slay their personal demons” gets taken quite literally by the demon population, and they are bent on taking her out. Enter the uber-sexy Greyson Dante with the three cockney brothers, all demons as well, but there to protect her.

This book was a marvelous read. It drew me into Megan’s world and took me on a whole new paranormal roller-coaster ride! Not only does Stacia Kane bring to life the big & small, ugly & evil, violent and scary demons, but she also has charismatic, funny, sexy and caring demons that I totally fell in love with.

Megan Chase could easily be you or I, throw in some psychic abilities, a whole lot of spice, and she’s one of the most captivating female protagonist’s to come along in awhile. I really enjoyed the mix of action, romance, paranormal elements and a cast of great characters.

I’m hooked and really looking forward to the next novel in this series The Demon Inside, which is scheduled for release in January 2009.

You can read Chapter 1, or find out more about Stacia Kane at her web site. http://staciakane.com/  You can pre-order Personal Demons by clicking on either the Chapters or Amazon links at the top of this page.

 

( Moved over from my original Blog )

The Web Site Is No More

• Mood:
• Currently Reading: Personal Demons

Sadly, I’ve decided to take down my attempt at a Web Site at Bravenet. There were a few issues, the main one being that I just could not get it to cooperate and do what I wanted to with my pages. All hope is not lost though, I bought a web site creator program that I am wrestling with and making some headway with, so eventually my goal of having my “Virtual Book Shelf” web site will happen. I’ll post about and provide a link when I get it up and running the way I want it. In the meantime, I’ve been busy adding more books to my Books I’ve Read ( Keeper Shelf ) list, and will be compiling a Books To Be Read ( TBR ) List as well. If anyone does want to see these lists, I can email them to you. The links or tabs are at the top of this page.

So the band plays on as my first web site disappears quietly into the night…

Some major happy dance worthy news is that Author Stacia Kane was gracious enough to send me an ARC of her upcoming novel, Personal Demons! I will be posting a review as soon as humanly possible.

Happy Reading to you all.

( Moved over from my original blog and edited a bit )

2 Comments.

 

 

Posted by Amber:

You lucky lucky gal!!!

I have had that book on my wishlist for a long time…I will be checking back to see what you thought of it!

Saturday, March 8th 2008 @ 8:11 AM

Posted by Judi:

Thanks, I’m really happy about it!:)

Saturday, March 8th 2008 @ 3:08 PM