Omnific Publishing is celebrating all things Omnific, Romance, and Angels! August 5th-10th, participating blogs will be featuring different guest posts, interviews, and excerpts by the authors of The Omnific Angels. Don’t forget to enter the giveaways and visit the other stops by clicking the linky list below.
Omnific and the authors would like to invite you to join the Angel Goodreads Group! Head over to Goodreads and see what’s going on: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/100102-angels-in-romantic-fiction.
Click here to enter your link if you would like to participate and also to view the other Angels of Omnific stops...
Group Interview!
You’ve heard of speed dating, yes? This is sort of like that—you get to “date” four authors in one interview. One question, four very different answers. If you like what you read, you can take the relationship further by hopping around the other blogs in Linky to get to know these authors better.
Who would play your angel(s) in a movie?
Patricia Leever: I love this one because I love playing, “Cast That Character!” and I take it seriously. No joke I will spend hours upon hours searching for just the right person. That being said, if Divinity were made into a movie and I could have my dream cast, Gabriel would have to be played by Taylor Kitsch, without a doubt.
Carol Oates: I don’t tend to have actors in mind when I write. Usually the person is completely created in my mind from the soles of their feet up. Sometimes, I will come across someone after who I think might suit. This tends to change a lot. I’ve answered this question for Sebastian and Candra when Ember was released in 2011, and unusually, my choice hasn’t changed at all. For Candra I would select Mia Wasikowska and for Sebastian, Alexander Ludwig.
Debra Anastasia: I love Emma Stone and my main angel is named Emma so the fit would be perfect. I definitely want Johnny Depp as my sexy Satan. He has lust as one of his super powers. And vibrating fist. Yum.
Nicki Elson: I’ve got an infamous Abercrombie & Fitch bag that lives in my closet—if the guy on it can act, even just a little bit, he’s got the part. Otherwise I’ll give the model from the book cover a shot. And if he doesn’t work out either, ever since I learned that Benedict Cumberbatch is a natural blond…well, I’ve been thinking that rich voice of his could murmur Evan’s lines quite nicely.
Why out of all paranormal beings did you
choose angel for your story/series?
Carol Oates: I don’t think I chose angels. I think it was more that the story
dictated the beings. A book about angels unable to return to Heaven wouldn’t
have been the same story without them.
Debra Anastasia:
I mostly picked them for their wings. I wanted the freedom to use my
imagination to describe their magic. I wound up using their feathers as
weapons!
Nicki
Elson: I
have a penchant for writing realistic fiction, and I believe in angels, so
going that route was a natural choice for me to tell this supernatural tale.
I’m also fascinated by the tradition and rituals of the Catholic church, so it
was fun to be able to work some of it’s more ominous aspects, like exorcisms,
into the story.
Patricia Leever: Well,
I guess Gabriel kind of chose me. The demon hunters needed a guide, if you will,
a sort of boss-man that gave them direction and who better to give them
direction than Gabriel, the voice of God.
What were the challenges (research, psychological, etc.) in bringing your angel story/series to life?
Debra Anastasia: I think the hardest part was writing God as a character. I never wanted to be disrespectful, but I did want an ultimate influence of positive energy there for the characters.
Nicki Elson: It was a trick to keep my angel true to what I believe angels to be while also making him a compelling romantic interest. Then again, having him be forbidden romantically made it easy to kick up the URST several notches.
Patricia Leever: I guess my biggest challenge was deciding what religious lore to follow, because there are so many different versions of the same being. In the end I didn’t follow one specifically just sort of blended parts of him from them all.
Carol Oates: I’ve always had an interest in religious stories, the concept of an afterlife and beings we know as angels. The story and all the elements are the sum of a lifetime of questioning and reading.
I think my main challenge of not offending anyone eclipsed any other. People have strong and fixed opinions on what God is, what angels are, what is good and what is evil. In Ember, I wanted to delve into those questions, but at the end of the day, these are characters in a piece of fiction. I didn’t want to come across as belittling anyone’s belief. I posed the questions, but the exploration is each character’s, not mine. When a character struggles with abandonment and the duality of good and evil in human nature, that’s rooted in who they are, and choices they’ve made. So, they won’t come up with the same conclusions I would.
Basically, it was very important to me that the story be character driven and entertaining, and about their journey rather than a reflection of anything I do or don’t believe.
What was the first spark of inspiration
that made you want to write your angel book/series?
Nicki
Elson: I
was reading a certain YA paranormal romance series and noted that the heroine
just sort of gave up her own identity and life once the supernatural white
knight arrived on the scene. So I thought it would be interesting to see how a
mature, responsible, somewhat guarded adult woman would react to a handsome,
otherworldly man being dropped into her life—Maggie doesn’t exactly handle
everything maturely or responsibly, but she also can’t so readily walk away
from the rest of her life to be with him the way she wants to be, and that struggle
was what I wanted to explore.
Patricia Leever:
The first spark was the main character, Evelyn, a 135 year old demon hunter.
She was the driving force in my brain and I had to give her a purpose other
than just some random ageless chick that went around killing demons for no
reason whatsoever. Enter Lebriga Corporation and Lebriga is an anagram for
Gabriel.
Carol Oates: The Book
of Enoch, an ancient Jewish text and The Selfish Giant by Oscar Wilde both gave
the first spark of life to Ember in their own way. The story of the Watchers
from The Book of Enoch is well known and I think the threads through the story
are obvious. Not so much with The Selfish Giant. For me, Sebastian is the
giant, wallowing in a garden that will never see spring. Misery attracts
misery, and sometimes putting others’ happiness and peace first is the only way
to find our own.
Debra Anastasia:
I was entering a monster contest! And of course my entry was a cursing angel. I
lost, but I loved the story so much I turned it into a book!
About the Authors
Patricia Leever is a wife, stay-at-home mom of four and owner of one dog and one little black cat. On the average school day she runs about town like a lunatic picking-up and dropping off kids and trying to find a moment of quiet to write down a word or two. She’s a sci-fi geek that loves to dress up like a zombie and participate in the local zombie march down Main St. and laugh as much as possible; laughter frees the mind and heals the soul.
Live. Breathe. Write.
Carol Oates has never been one to remain still for long. After her parents' mad dash to the hospital through the empty city streets of Dublin, Ireland, Carol made her debut into the world in the early hours of Christmas morning. Since then her pace has not slowed down in the least.
Carol was introduced to the world of supernatural books when, as a child, her family moved to a coastal suburb on the northern border of Dublin known as Clontarf, famous as the birthplace of Bram Stoker, the prolific author responsible for breathing life into the legendary story Dracula. This stirred in Carol an early passion for reading about all things supernatural. Combine that passion with a deep interest in the history and folklore of Ireland, as well as an active and vivid imagination, and Carol Oates the author was born. Carol's love of writing about anything not entirely "human" emerged, and the premise for her debut novel, Shades of Atlantis, was born.
Debra Anastasia is busy, just like every other mom. There's dinner, the dogs, the kids, and their homework. The laundry pile turns into a big, heaping monster. When the clothes finally make it into the washer, it gets unbalanced and puts on an elaborate show before it cuts out. This crazy job that never ends is her first love and her crowning achievement.
Her writing started a decent handful of years ago when along with the dogs, cat, kids, and husband, the voices of characters started whispering stories in Debra's ear. Insomnia was the gateway for the plots that wouldn't give up, wouldn't let go. In the shower, a twist would take hold and--dripping and frenzied--she'd find somewhere, anywhere to write it down.Debra grew up in New York and got a bachelor's degree in political science at SUNY New Paltz. At the start of her marriage, she moved to southern Maryland with her husband. She still doesn't trust crabs and all their legs, though everyone else in her family thinks they're delicious. Her favorite hobbies include knitting, painting furniture and wall murals, and slapping clowns.
Omnific Publishing published her debut novel, #1 on Kindle Best Seller’s list, Crushed Seraphim, and its sequel Bittersweet Seraphim about a cursing angel. They also bravely published Poughkeepsie, which a romance about a homeless man who counts the smiles of his dream girl. You can visit her website at DebraAnastasia.com and find her on twitter @Debra_Anastasia.
Writing wasn't something Nicki Elson set out to do; it just sort of happened when she realized writing reports was by far her favorite part of her investment consulting position. She traded stock allocation and diversification for story arcs and dialogue and now weaves her creative writing time in with the other activities of her busy life with her family in the Chicago suburbs.
Nicki writes with two goals in mind: #1 to keep the characters realistic, even when their circumstances are anything but, and #2 to make the reader feel. Her published works include Three Daves, a light-hearted romantic romp through a 1980s college campus, Divine Temptation, a romantic novel of angelic proportions, and short stories “Sway” (available as a single), “I Don’t Do Valentine’s Day” (part of A Valentine Anthology), and “Impressionism 101” (included in the debut issue of Insatiable: The Magazine of Paranormal Desire).
Author Spotlight: Debra Anastasia
Books:
How does a foul-mouthed angel end up as the last hope for all of Heaven and Earth? When Seraph Emma is maimed and tossed from Heaven by a rogue angel who's taken charge, she fears she'll never be allowed to return. Tasked with the impossible job of showing the self-loathing (and not even human!) Jason his worth, Emma is sure she's doomed to fail. Meanwhile, having wormed his way into Heaven, the corrupt Everett has trapped God in Hell and has designs on unleashing evil everywhere. Fortunately, if there's one thing Emma can't do (in addition to minding her language), it's give up. Determined to save Jason and get back to Heaven-even if it means going to Hell-Emma's plan is simple yet impossible: trick the Devil to save God. What she doesn't count on is the devotion and, well, humanity she finds in Jason; the spirit, hidden compassion, and raw sex appeal within the Devil; and the vulnerability of her own heart. With the help of two unlikely allies, she'll wage the battle for Heaven. But will Emma be sidetracked by a new sort of heaven along the way? What's truly more dangerous? Falling from Heaven, or falling in love? Debra Anastasia has twisted a fast-paced tale of intimate relationships with literally universal impact. Rich with humor and electrified by attraction, this novel offers a playfully off-beat take on the good and evil that make up the world.
Suffering is worst when you're doing it alone. But Emma's taking Hell like an angel-even though her languishing began with having her seraph wings torn from her back. Now her worst enemy lords his body and his evil desires over her while she tries desperately to remember the words to her favorite prayer. As Devil, Jack used to have Hell and its women humming like well-oiled machines. Too bad he's nowhere near the place now. Stuck on Earth as a human, he must work with a ragtag team of exiled minions and half-breeds to save the angel who's become all that matters. Rescuing a seraph is the plan, but breaking into Hell means letting evil things out. Once they collide, minions and angels converge in the battle of the ages: good versus evil. But which side is which? Will Jack destroy the world as he fights to save Emma, his true and timeless love, from a damnation he designed? An action-packed sequel to Crushed Seraphim, this tale reveals-time and again-what happens when the heart's deepest desires break free. With a story both sizzling and sensual, emotional and enigmatic, Debra Anastasia invites readers to join a battle with nothing less than love on the line.
Debra Anastasia on Jack
In my Seraphim series there is one character who stands out
from the rest. Is it bad form to say he is a favorite? Because he totally is my
favorite in these angel books of mine. He was officially supposed to help the
fallen angel that was tearing up Heaven. But he had different plans. When I
sent my cursing angel to him, they fell in love. And then Satan Jack took over
my entire book. In my head he looks like Johnny Depp, so maybe I just wanted
more of him in the scenes. Here’s some of his best quotes:
“Please,
baby, you had to know the Devil would be well endowed.”
“You
want to be bad, angel? I can teach you every position it comes in.”
“There
is something about me, doll face. It’s between my legs, and I do believe a few
minutes ago you were praying to it.”
“You
might want to have Kate close her eyes if you ever want her to sleep with you,
asshole. Because once I take off my pants, you’ll always come second.”
“My
love, I’d volunteer to live a thousand lives if I got to spend any part of them
with you.”
That’s
my dirty, sexy Satan Jack. He will shock you and rock you.
XO
Debra
GIVEAWAY!!!!
The publisher/author is offering an Event Giveaway! Fill out the Raffelcopter below for your chance to win (1) Print copy of Crushed Seraphim and Bittersweet Seraphim w/ bookmarks, (1) Beaded angel wings bookmark, (1) Angel wings earrings (gold toned, hypoallergenic, nickel free), (1) Angel keychain, (1) Crystal Seraphim themed bracelet - US Only.
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