BLURB:
Fan favorite Delilah Devlin delivers her second
paranormal romantic thriller featuring unforgettable heroine, Caitlyn
O’Connell. This time, the psychic PI joins her police detective ex-husband to
find a demon pulling women into the past to commit their murders in a seedy
Memphis hotel.
Private Investigator Caitlyn O’Connell is tapped by Memphis PD to discover who has been using a Memphis hotel as his killing ground. Women are going missing, and their bodies are found inside the walls of the hotel. But the bodies themselves? They appear to have been murdered in the distant past. With ghosthunters and cops crawling all over the crime scene, Cait and her detective ex-husband Sam Pierce race to find the demon responsible before he kills again.
Private Investigator Caitlyn O’Connell is tapped by Memphis PD to discover who has been using a Memphis hotel as his killing ground. Women are going missing, and their bodies are found inside the walls of the hotel. But the bodies themselves? They appear to have been murdered in the distant past. With ghosthunters and cops crawling all over the crime scene, Cait and her detective ex-husband Sam Pierce race to find the demon responsible before he kills again.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EXCERPT:
Note for Readers: You must be of legal age in your country of origin to read
this excerpt.
“Caitydid, quick! Get the bell jar!”
Annoyed at the interruption, the girl looked up from the homework spread
on the dining room table to see her mother dart through the room, her flowered
skirt swishing around slender legs. Mama was heading toward the kitchen, her
hands cupped together.
The girl’s stomach tightened in a knot. She knew where this action was
heading—yet another attempt by her well-meaning mother to bring her daughter
out of her blue funk. “Mama, now? I have a test to study for.”
Laughter trilled. “It’s only math! Algebra can wait. Come, I’ll need
your help.”
The girl sighed and set down her pencil. A basic understanding of math
was needed—even for spell-weaving. Morin understood that. Morin also understood
the need for grieving. The dead deserved respect. Her mother’s seeming need to
inject happiness in their quiet house grated. As she followed her mother, she
dragged her feet.
Lorene O’Connell’s face was animated, bright circles of color on her
cheeks. She looked more excited than she had in weeks. The girl felt slightly
ashamed of her resentment over how her mama was beginning to move on. She’d
much prefer they hold on to their grief a while longer. Her daddy deserved an
ocean of tears in remembrance.
Still, she went to the cabinet and stood on tiptoe, searching with her
fingertips for the crystal bell jar. When she found it, she inched the jar off
the shelf until it tilted, and then quickly grabbed the bottom rim before the
glass fell to the floor.
“Hurry, Caitydid.”
The girl’s lips pressed together. She hated the childhood nickname,
wishing her mama wouldn’t treat her like she was still five years old. She was
Cait, not Caitydid, not Caitlyn. She preferred the stark, crisp version of her
name. The single syllable made her feel older than her twelve years, something
she wanted desperately to be, because if she were older, Morin might look at
her the same way he did her mother.
With a smoldering heat in his eyes that never failed to get either of
the O’Connell women warm and flustered.
She hurried to her mama as the older woman set her cupped hands atop the
counter. “Place the jar above my hands. Be ready. I’ll slide my fingers free.”
Holding the jar so that it touched the tops of her mother’s hands, Cait
waited as Mama’s fingers opened slowly and a butterfly emerged, flying with
frantic wings, fluttering toward the top of the jar.
Her mama eased her hands from beneath the lip, and Cait dropped it down,
trapping the butterfly inside. She eyed it, feeling a little sorry for the
creature but not overly impressed with its appearance.
The insect was ordinary, bright yellow with muddy spots, a hint of black
at the edges of its wings. Small. She glanced up, studying the banked
excitement in her mama’s eyes. Excitement that Cait thought was overkill. The
bug was hardly a treasure. Dozens just like it flitted about their backyard
garden.
“Isn’t he lovely?”
Cait shrugged. “It’s a butterfly.”
“A clouded sulphur.” Her mother’s gaze left the butterfly to pin Cait
with a frown. “You really should pay attention to your other lessons.”
“Is this something Morin taught you?” Cait asked, wondering how she’d
missed it. Because for him, she remembered every single thing he’d ever said
and never had to be scolded for daydreaming.
Her mama’s cheeks brightened. “Never mind. You can help me. But first, I
need to gather some ingredients.”
Cait leaned an elbow on the counter and set her chin on her hand, her
gaze studying the butterfly as it bounced against the clear crystal trying to
escape.
Her mother bustled around her, talking to herself as she gathered the
items she’d needed for whatever she was about to cook up.“Saffron, alcohol . .
. Vodka should do nicely. Gum arabic for thickening . . .”
Cait turned her head to watch her mother bring her conjuring chalice to
the counter and straightened. So, this was a serious spell.
Her attention caught, she followed her mother’s motions as she took
saffron strands she’d already steeped in bowling water and left to cool, and
placed them in the bottom of the chalice. Mama poured in the yellow water,
followed by a generous dash of alcohol, and then added a sprinkle of the
thickening agent.
She stirred the brew with her slender, double-edged athamé, and then set
it aside, her gaze going to the butterfly again. “Here’s where I need your
help, darling.”
Another thing she didn’t like being called, because her mother only used
that endearment when she wanted something. Badly.
But her curiosity was caught. “What do you want me to do?”
“I need the dust from the butterfly’s wings.”
Cait swallowed. “Do I have to pluck the wings?” It was just a bug, but
that still seemed unnecessarily cruel.
Her mama laughed. “No, silly. The butterfly must live. He’s precious.”
Her head tilted, and a dreamy smile stretched her mouth. “You really should
have paid better attention to your bedtime stories. Don’t you remember? Psyche
was a mortal woman who loved Eros, the god of love. She traveled to the
Underworld and performed arduous tasks to earn the right to stand among the
gods and marry Eros. She became goddess of the butterflies.”
“That’s a story. A myth. There was no Psyche.”
Her mother’s dark brow arched. “Are you so sure? But there is a goddess,
Gaia. And she has given you gifts. You mustn’t anger her with your stubbornness
or she could take them away.”
The girl refrained from continuing the argument. She’d never win it
because her mother wasn’t the most logical person on the planet. She believed
the stars determined her fate. That the Goddess had a reason for the tragedy
they’d endured. A wave of melancholy swept her at the thought of her papa. He’d
been so strong and brave, and yet his will and fate hadn’t saved him from a
tiny bullet.
A sigh burst beside her. She glanced up at her mother, caught the edge
of sadness in Lorene’s soft brown eyes, and shrugged off her own emotion. She
was her daddy’s girl. He wouldn’t like her to get weepy-faced. Not when her mama
needed her to be strong. “What do you want me to do?” she asked in a gruff
voice.
“Think about your papa, sweetheart, and put your hand beneath the jar.
Let the butterfly brush against your fingers. I need dust from its wings.”
Cait expelled a breath and did as she was told, raising the edge of the
jar then slipping her hand underneath. She held her fingers still while the
butterfly flew around them, his frantic fluttering tickling the tips.
“That should be enough.”
Cait removed her hand and held her fingers to the sunlight streaming
through the small kitchen window. Fine yellow particles clung to her skin.
Mama held out the chalice. “Swirl the butterfly’s scales in the liquid.”
Cait dipped her fingers into the chalice and swirled, thinking of her
papa, of his dark auburn hair, his thick shoulders and chest, his dark uniform
and towering height. When tears began to gather, she drew back her hand. “What
did we just make, Mama?”
“Butterfly’s blood—an ink I will use to write a spell.”
“What kind of spell?”
A moment passed. Her mother’s lips thinned. “Go finish your homework,
Caitydid.”
Knowing her mother had no intention of telling her, Cait filed away the
list of ingredients in her mind. A question she’d bring to Morin. Something for
them to laugh over during her next lesson.
She eyed her mother’s retreating figure, and then glanced at the
butterfly, still fluttering inside the crystal. The thought of it staying
trapped upset her, so she sought a saucer, slid it beneath the jar, and carried
her burden to the garden.
Darkness sank as murky as the sultry summer air, as heavy as a blanket
pulled over a child’s head to hide the monsters lurking in a shadowy closet.
Street lamps popped and sizzled, darkening then lightening, but failing to
flare bright enough or long enough to chase away deep pockets of inky black.
Cait was creeped out, since all she had were glimpses of silvery light from a
full moon rimming buildings and casting deeper shadows to cloak alleyways and
doorway stoops.
Another full moon. An event she was acutely aware encouraged monsters,
both human and supernatural, to come out and play. Edgy and beyond bored, she
almost wished for something out of the ordinary to happen, but then quickly
changed her mind. The last time her job had given her a real challenge she’d
battled a demon in an attic while a wraith latched its freezing fingertips
around the man sitting beside her, slapping him around like a rag doll.
For just a second, she relished that last memory. At least Jason had
been awake.
For the umpteen thousandth time that night, Caitlyn O’Connell sighed.
This time exaggerating the sound. Loudly. Actually, more of a groan than
a sigh. A sound that invited Jason Crawford, lying back in the seat beside
hers, to wake up and keep her company. She was bored as freaking shit.
Surveillance was the one part of her job she truly hated. In fact, she thought
she might like having her ingrown toenails cut better than sitting in a dark
alley waiting for something to happen.
The weather irritated her even more. Although she’d stripped down to a
tank top and jeans, the insides of her boots were damp from the oppressive
summer heat. Not a trace of a breeze stirred, and they’d shut off the sedan’s
engine to be able to hear vehicles approaching, so the AC sat silent.
What good was having magic if she couldn’t even muster up a spell to
start a breeze? She’d tried waving, punching, wiggling her nose, but nada.
Worse, she’d tried to come up with a poem to appease The Powers That Be, but
hadn’t found a line that sounded even remotely elegant with “wheeze” tacked on
the end.
She supposed she’d used up her last favor asking for intervention with
Worthen’s monstrosity, the Civil War–era demon resurrected in his tomb, for
which she’d had to beg The Powers and a certain sorcerer for help defeating. Or
perhaps they didn’t like how she’d ignored Morin since she’d fought the demon
and won. Whatever. She was a PI, not a witch. And right now, she had a job to
do.
So why couldn’t she and Jason be watching the Peabody Hotel? Or any of
the nicer hotels in the downtown area? The Deluxe Hotel was anything but deluxe.
The marquee above the entrance was missing a few letters and read, DELUXE HO,
which on second thought appeared apropos for the sleazy dive.
The whole area had an aura of neglect. Trash overfilled bins and
cluttered the gutters. Worse, a small tattered sign was taped to the hotel’s
glass door: AA MEETING, 9 PM SATURDAY.
Mocking her. The very thing her ex-husband, and now sometimes boyfriend,
had been nagging her to locate.
And worse yet, the car she sat in reeked of stale onion-and-anchovy
pizza. If she didn’t know him better, she might have thought her partner had
ordered it on purpose. But he’d munched away happily, while she’d chosen to
drag in the scents from the overfilled bin they’d parked beside. Better unknown
trash than fishy-smelling onion breath.
Her cheeks billowed around another harsh exhalation. How the hell could
Jason sleep through all the noise she’d been making? She aimed a scowl his way,
caught the quick lowering of his eyelids and a twitch at the side of his lips.
She gave a grunt and turned back to watch the entrance of the seedy old hotel where Mrs. Oscar Reyes was scheduled to meet up with her boy-toy. Or so Mr. Reyes had informed them this morning after hacking into his wife’s Facebook account.
She gave a grunt and turned back to watch the entrance of the seedy old hotel where Mrs. Oscar Reyes was scheduled to meet up with her boy-toy. Or so Mr. Reyes had informed them this morning after hacking into his wife’s Facebook account.
“Get me pictures of the bitch,” he’d said, clearing his throat when Cait
had given him a narrow-eyed glare. “I won’ believe it ’til I see.”
She’d eyed his oily hair, brushy mustache, and stocky frame and wondered
why he was so surprised his wife had sought the attention of a lover who called
her his “mariposa rubia.”
“Blonde butterfly,” Jason had translated under his breath since Cait’s
Spanish was limited to curses.
Oscar Reyes was the typical slimy client they attracted—spouses seeking
ammunition for divorce court, employers wanting an employee followed for proof
they hadn’t been injured badly enough to warrant workmen’s comp.
Since Oscar had already done the legwork and found cyberproof of his
wife’s infidelity, Cait wondered why the hell he’d hired them to snap the
shots. A $500 retainer plus their hourly fee would rack up quite a bill in no
time. But she’d refrained from asking him.
The nice fat check they’d gotten from the Memphis PD for helping find
her first partner’s killer and three young women who’d been kidnapped by a
demon hadn’t lasted long. So she and Jason were back hustling for smaller fish.
Which reminded her again of the half-eaten pizza in the backseat.
Which reminded her again of the half-eaten pizza in the backseat.
Ready to pitch the box into the trash bin, she paused when headlights
flared as a car turned onto South Front Street. A low-slung sedan stopped in
front of the hotel.
Cait waited for the beams to extinguish, and then raised her camera with
its night-vision lens and took a look. Just as Oscar had predicted, Sylvia
Reyes stepped out of the car, her bleached-blonde hair neon bright in the
viewfinder. She wore an ass-hugging mini-skirt, four-inch heels, and a top that
rode the curves of her full breasts.
Cait clicked off a couple of shots of the woman entering the hotel, then
reached out and backhanded Jason’s belly. “Time to move.”
“Mmm, wha’?” he said, pretending to waken from a deep sleep.
She rolled her eyes. “Like you’ve been sleeping? It’s Reyes’s wife.
Let’s see if we can catch her with her boyfriend.”
“Sound grumpy.” Jason flashed her a smile. “The anchovies gettin’ to you?”
“Sound grumpy.” Jason flashed her a smile. “The anchovies gettin’ to you?”
She shrugged, pretending the stench hadn’t made her slightly nauseous.
“It’s your car. The smell’ll be here for a week.”
With quiet moves, they opened their doors. Cait quickly replaced the
special lens and hung the camera on her shoulder before jogging to the
entrance. She pushed through the grimy glass, lifted her head in a vague nod to
the clerk at the reception desk, and walked to the elevators, eying the red
digital numbers above the doors. There were two elevators. Only one was moving,
and it stopped and held at floor three.
She elbowed past two men and a woman laden with cameras and equipment
bags. One held out a device Cait thought might be a light meter, but she
changed her mind when a red light beeped on the top and it clicked like a
Geiger counter.
“Do you see that?” the chubby man with a Fu Manchu said, elbowing the
skinny dude beside him. “We’ve got something here.”
“Told you there’s lots of activity in this old place.”
Activity? She eyed them again, read the logo on their bags, and rolled
her eyes. REEL PIS: PARANORMAL INVESTIGATORS. As if. She stuck her finger in
the elevator button, doing her best to ignore the morons. She hadn’t heard so
much as a whisper or a wail since she’d entered the hotel.
“Faster goin’ up the stairs,” Jason said, pulling her arm with one hand
and pointing toward the stairway door. He flipped the door handle and pushed
through. “After you,” he said with a flourish of his hand. His grin said he
knew how much she disliked racing up three flights.
She gave him the stink-eye and started the climb. When she reached the
third-floor landing, she glanced through the door’s rectangular window, saw no
one in the hallway, and opened the door.
The corridor smelled as bad as it looked—urine to complement the
yellowed beige walls, mildew to enhance the brown-and-green plaid carpet.
Gasping to catch her breath, she looked left, then right, and caught a
flash of impossibly blonde hair a moment before Sylvia Reyes turned the corner
farther down the hallway. Cait hurried after her, on the scent of a woman about
to cheat on her husband. She turned the corner, entering a hallway marked by a
door frame for a double door that no longer existed. The corridor was empty. No
room doors along the short hall closed to indicate where their target had gone.
Jason drew up beside her, his eyebrows rising. “What now? Listen for
moaning?”
Giving him a shove, she took a step past the hallway door frame, and
then halted, some instinct keeping her from pushing forward. Or maybe what
stopped her was the yellow police tape covering one of the doors. Not something
she had time to ponder right that moment because a strange hum sounded. A bulb
popped, plunging the hallway into darkness. The hairs on her arms lifted a
second before electricity arced from a light switch, sending out a bolt like
lightning that shot toward the ceiling, then turned, traveling toward her,
hitting doorways as though searching for ground. The jagged dagger of
electricity darted, then blinked out, but not before she saw a figure, one in
four-inch hot pink heels, her eyes rounding in terror—a figure she could see
straight through to the piss-yellow wall behind her.
Darkness took the figure. Then another hissing arc flared from the light
switch, brightening the hallway again. Sylvia Reyes was gone.
Jason grabbed her arm, pulled her back around the corner, and flattened
her against the wall with an elbow digging into her belly.
The white bolt flickered past the corner, then dove to the floor,
sparking out with a fizzle.
“Bad wiring?” he whispered.
She shook her head, shoved away his elbow, and stepped into the hall
again. The faint smell of something burning lingered in the air. The hall was
once again empty. And dark.
Cait held still, listening, and then she heard the sound. A soft wail.
Like a distant echo. “Hear that?” she whispered.
“No. What do you hear?”
She swallowed. “Not anyone living.”
Then the faint sound of whispers rose, maybe half a dozen voices joining
in chorus. Her hand dropped to the camera at her side. She flipped off the lens
cap, raised the camera, and looked through the viewfinder. Nothing out of the
ordinary, other than a really sleazy flophouse. Still, she clicked off a couple
of shots. “Let’s go.”
“Don’t want to wait around until she leaves? A shot of the lady kissing
her boyfriend good-bye would close this case.”
Cait shook her head, not wanting to voice what she suspected. Not before she was sure of exactly what she’d seen. “No. Let’s get back to the office. I have to look at something.”
Cait shook her head, not wanting to voice what she suspected. Not before she was sure of exactly what she’d seen. “No. Let’s get back to the office. I have to look at something.”
Jason knew her well enough not to ask any more questions. The fact she
was cutting the surveillance short told him they had a problem.
This time they took the elevator. The sooner she got out of here the
better. Well, she’d gotten what she’d wished for. Something out of the ordinary
had definitely happened.
Back at the Delta Detective Agency, Cait slipped the memory card from
her camera into the slot in her computer. With a couple of clicks, she found
the file of pictures and opened it.
There was Sylvia Reyes outside the Deluxe, her small cat-like features
coated in too much makeup, her coarse blonde hair flattened to rest limply on
her shoulders. Her expression was furtive, but excitement sparkled in her dark
eyes. Another shot caught her too-tight skirt hugging her J-Lo butt. Then Cait
clicked on the last two shots, unsure what she might see inside the third-floor
hallway. Maybe nothing. Maybe something she didn’t want to see.
The shot showed an empty hallway. The photo was blurred, but the
differences between the hall’s actual appearance and what was on the computer
screen was startling. Gone were the yellowed walls and crappy brown and green
carpet. In its place was wallpaper—a foiled gold-and-wine-colored paisley. The
carpet was a solid blood red. The fixtures—lights, switches, brass plates on
the door—were shiny and new.
“Where’d you take that?” Jason asked, hovering at her shoulder.
“At the Deluxe,” she said, closing out the file. She suppressed a shiver
of dread.
“No kiddin’? How come I didn’t see that?”
She didn’t dare look his way. He’d see her shock and ask more questions.
Questions she didn’t have any quick answers for.
“Tacky as hell, but—”
She gave a sharp shake of her head. “That’s not the way it is.” At last,
she shot an upward glance.
Jason pushed out his lips. His gaze settled on her, waiting.
She knew he wouldn’t let her up from the chair until she gave him at
least a clue of what was going on in her head. “It’s the way the hotel was.”
His gaze narrowed. “What do you mean?”
She rubbed a hand over her face. “I don’t know what I mean.”
A frown dug a line between his blond-brown brows. “I don’t think Reyes
is going to pay us for those shots or our time since we didn’t get what he
wanted.”
“Reyes is the least of our problems,” she muttered.
Jason groaned. “It was the anchovies, right? This is your revenge?”
Her mouth tipped up into a smirk. “You think this is all about you? Poor
little rich boy.”
He shook his head, grinning, but the fine lines beside his hazel eyes
deepened with worry. “Since this case looks like major woo-woo is involved, you
have the lead. Where to first?”
Cait grimaced. Once again, she had no doubt they were headed straight
down the rabbit’s hole. “I need to talk to Sam about that taped-off room.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~
INTERVIEW:
1. Where did
you get the idea for the novel?
The
first book in the Caitlyn O’Connell series was inspired by something that
actually happened as I fell asleep one night. As I was drifting off, I saw a
movement in my dresser mirror. I got up, turned on the lights, and examined the
mirror—you know, checking for the monsters under the bed before I got rid of
the goose bumps. As I was looking into the mirror, I noticed how much of the
room I could see. More than my mind told me was logical. Which got me thinking.
I stood on my tiptoes and looked toward the floor then glanced to the side, and
it hit me—a picture—of a bloody handprint on the glass, but not on my side of
the glass. Although it was late, I called a close friend and asked her if she
could go to Memphis with me the following weekend, because I thought that’s
where my story took place. Shattered Souls wrote itself. Lost Souls, its sequel, came even faster because I got to keep the
same hero and heroine—I just picked up the story with their next shared
adventure.
- Your title. Who came up with it?
Did you ever change your title?
The
title was my idea. Shattered Souls fit my first story, and I knew I
wanted another “Souls” title for the sequel. Lost Souls fit that story
line and the theme.
- Why did you pick this genre?
What do you like about it?
Paranormal
and Sci-Fi are my favorite genres to write. I can knock out a Western or a
contemporary in no time, but these other stories require a lot of
world-building detail that takes time to flesh out. I invest more dream-time in
these stories. I linger there a long time before I ever write. By the time I’m
sitting at the keyboard, characters are shouting, and the scenes play like
movie reels. It’s a true rush.
- Since becoming a writer, what’s
the most exciting thing to ever happen to you?
The
most exciting moments for me have been when I meet someone who’s read me. I
love watching their eyes widen, and seeing their faces break out in huge
smiles. There’s always a hug that follows. It’s very emotional for
me—connecting that way with someone else, knowing they traveled someplace they
never would have seen if I hadn’t written the story.
- What book are you currently
reading or what was the last book you read?
The
last fiction book I read was one recommended to me by Sharon Hamilton as one of
her all-time favorites—The Tiger Prince by Sandra Brown. Yes, it’s one
of those sheikh stories, but boy is it a good one!
- What is your writing process?
I
wish I had one. Lately, I’ve struggled to keep my head in the game. USUALLY, I
get up and post a blog first thing before breakfast. Then I skim through email
to see if there’s anything pressing I need to answer right away. By about 10
AM, I am ready to write. Depending on how close to deadline I am, I will write
4-6 hours, then knock off and take a break—eat, swim, talk to family. Then late
afternoon I’m back at my desk taking care of promo work.
If you’re not really asking about my schedule, but about how I write a book, that’s harder to answer. I usually have a kernel of an idea, maybe a title. I dream about it, think about who the people in the story might be. If the hero comes first, I think about the woman who would best challenge him. Who is she? What baggage does she bring? Genre usually comes with that first kernel/title. Think about it—with Twice the Bang, you know what that story’s gonna be, right? With Lost Souls, you also have an inkling—ghosts, a mystery. From there, I think about where my hero and heroine are at the moment something big happens to change their lives. I dream it. Sometimes, I’m dreaming it with my fingers already on the keyboard. Sometimes I’m in the pool floating on my back when it hits. Doesn’t matter. The moment I have the idea, and it begins filling in from pencil sketches to living color, I have to get it down. I write until the story stalls, and then doodle ideas for things that might happen next, and write some more.
If you’re not really asking about my schedule, but about how I write a book, that’s harder to answer. I usually have a kernel of an idea, maybe a title. I dream about it, think about who the people in the story might be. If the hero comes first, I think about the woman who would best challenge him. Who is she? What baggage does she bring? Genre usually comes with that first kernel/title. Think about it—with Twice the Bang, you know what that story’s gonna be, right? With Lost Souls, you also have an inkling—ghosts, a mystery. From there, I think about where my hero and heroine are at the moment something big happens to change their lives. I dream it. Sometimes, I’m dreaming it with my fingers already on the keyboard. Sometimes I’m in the pool floating on my back when it hits. Doesn’t matter. The moment I have the idea, and it begins filling in from pencil sketches to living color, I have to get it down. I write until the story stalls, and then doodle ideas for things that might happen next, and write some more.
- What is something people would
be surprised to know about you?
Maybe
that I’m pretty approachable? That I’m as insecure as anyone else? That I fight
with my kids and have to clean up dog poop now and then. I’m a writer, but I’m
also a mom and daughter—just a mom and daughter with a very strange inner life.
- How do
you react to a bad review?
My stomach drops and I go into deep depression—usually with my
knees pressed against my chest in a fetal position. No, I sigh and maybe cuss
if I’m sure the person was just being mean for the sake of being mean. If I
think they had something valid in their comments, I might ponder it for about
two minutes. Then I click off the screen and get back to work. I will never
please everyone. And there are some very unhappy people out there who think
it’s their mission in life to crap on others. Maybe they don’t realize that the
person whose work they are damning is flesh and blood and as real anyone they
know. I can’t let them make me doubt myself. I know I didn’t write the worst
book in the history of awful novels, so I move on to the next challenge and
file away the criticism for when I’m having a drink.
- How did you celebrate
the sale of your first book?
I had a panic attack, and when I could breathe again, I called
my sister (Elle James/Myla Jackson) and proceeded to scream into the phone.
Then I went back to work.
AUTHOR Bio and
Links:
Until recently, award-winning romance
author Delilah Devlin lived in South Texas at the intersection of two dry
creeks, surrounded by sexy cowboys in Wranglers. These days, she’s missing the
wide-open skies and starry nights but loving her dark forest in Central
Arkansas, with its eccentric characters and isolation—the better to feed her
hungry muse!
For Delilah, the greatest sin is
driving between the lines, because it’s comfortable and safe. Her personal
journey has taken her through one war and many countries, cultures, jobs, and
relationships to bring her to the place where she is now—writing sexy
adventures that hold more than a kernel of autobiography and often share a
common thread of self-discovery and transformation.
Delilah Devlin is a prolific and
award-winning author of erotica and erotic romance with a rapidly expanding
reputation for writing deliciously edgy stories with complex characters.
Whether creating dark, erotically-charged paranormal worlds or richly
descriptive historical stories that ring with authenticity, Delilah Devlin
“pens in uncharted territory that will leave the readers breathless and
hungering for more…” (Paranormal Reviews) Ms. Devlin has published over 100
erotic stories in multiple genres and lengths.
She is published by Atria/Strebor, Avon, Berkley, Black Lace,
Cleis Press, Ellora’s Cave, Harlequin Spice, Kensington, Running Press, and
Samhain Publishing.
Website: http://www.delilahdevlin.com/
GIVEAWAY:
Delilah will be awarding a handmade pendant (made by her—examples here: http://pinterest.com/ delilahdevlin/things-i-ve- made/) and a signed ARC of the prequel book, Shattered Souls to a randomly drawn commenter at every stop.
The more you comment, the better your chances of winning. The tour dates can be found here: http://goddessfishpromotions. blogspot.com/2013/04/virtual- book-tour-lost-souls-by- delilah.html
It makes me think I don't really want to be checking too closely what's around me as I look in the mirror. Such a visual inspiration.
ReplyDeletemarypres(AT)gmail(DOT)com
:) And it stays with you. Mirrors are creepy things! Thanks for sticking with me this week, Mary!
DeleteI look forward to reading this book. I have read as many of your books as I can that are in print.
ReplyDeleteWhat an interesting interview. Do you frequently meet people who have read your work? Does it come up in the supermarket or is this at book signings, book clubs, conferences, etc.?
ReplyDeleteJust a little creepy for me. But, question for Delilah. Do you ever have dreams over some of the things you write? Like whack a doodle?
ReplyDeleteShattered Souls came to me just as I was falling asleep. And I've had vivid imagery in dreams that I've used in stories.
ReplyDeleteCatherine Lee! You're the winner of this day's blog tour prize!
ReplyDeletePlease email me at delilah@delilahdevlin.com so that I can arrange delivery of your gifts!