Age Group: Adult
Genre: Paranormal
Release Date: February 4, 2014
Buy Links:
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Book Description:
When good fails, chaos rises to the challenge.
The daily life of a chaos demon is delightfully sinful—overindulging in Sri Lankan delicacies, trespassing on private beaches in Hawaii, and getting soused at the best angel bar on the planet. But when Bedlam learns that the archdemon Azrael has escaped from the Abyss in order to wreak vengeance against the person who sent her there—Bedlam’s best friend, Khet—he can’t sit idly by.
Only one relic possesses the power to kill Khet, who suffers immortality at Lucifer’s request: the mythical Spear of Destiny, which pierced Christ’s side at His crucifixion. Neither angel nor demon has seen the Spear in two thousand years, but Azrael claims to know its location. Bedlam has no choice but to interpret woefully outdated clues and race her to its ancient resting place.
His quest is made nearly impossible by the interference of a persnickety archivist, Keziel—his angelic ex—and a dedicated cult intent on keeping the Spear out of the wrong hands. But to Bedlam, “wrong” is just an arbitrary word, and there’s no way he’s letting Khet die without a fight
What made you decide to write a series based on angels and demons?
My friend and I sometimes have the “werewolf vs. vampire discussion” because we are firmly on opposite sides. I just don’t see the appeal of turning into an animal, and he thinks having a room temperature lover sound seriously creepy. Plus, he says, vampires tend to be just as sexist and hierarchical as werewolves, and I have to concede that vampires, though better than werewolves, still aren’t that great. So I thought more about it and realized that I like stories with relatively clear cut good and evil, and I like religious fantasy. So if I can pick any supernatural race, I’m on Team Angel. So it only makes sense that I would make up stories about them.
Did you do much/any research for the biblical aspects of the books?
I was raised Catholic and went to church every week for the first 23 years of my life. When I was little, I spent a lot of time with my Children’s Bible. A lot of the Bible stories I write about are variations on what I remember from my early reading. Sometimes, though, I looked up the actual stories and found out that the kids’ version had changed some stuff. Early in Oracle of Philadelphia, Bedlam tells the story of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf in the desert. When Moses came down from the mountains in the Children’s Bible, he destroyed the calf and scattered the gold dust in the river and made the worshippers drink from it. Imagine my surprise when I decided to check the story in the Bible and found out he killed them all!
What comes first to you while writing, the characters or the plot?
The characters. Oracle of Philadelphia was built up around the idea of an immortal oracle who would save a man who had sold his soul to a demon because she could see that he was a paragon of humanity. I had no plots at all when I decided to write a second and third book. I just knew I wanted books about Bedlam and Gabriel. Interestingly enough, the second thing I come up with is the relationships. I write out the romantic storylines for my series before I plot out the actual story. But in the books I’ve written so far, I then end up editing out a lot of the romance during the writing process. But I hope that doesn’t happen with the later Earthbound Angels books, because I’ve got some great relationship drama I want to share.
Do you adhere to a specific writing process (a certain ritual, or time of day, etc)?
I try to write when I get home from work most days, after an acceptable time of faffing around on the internet, of course. Okay, and sometimes there’s some internet faffing between paragraphs as well. When I’m writing, I try to get out at least 1,000 words a day. Sometimes that’s pretty easy, and sometimes it’s very, very difficult, but I find keeping a bar to be very helpful.
What made you decide to write in multiple points of view for "Raising Chaos"?
When I first wrote Oracle of Philadelphia, I was going through a first person phase, but before I got it published, I adjusted my philosophy to include other POVs. I actually redid a book I had originally written in first person into third. But I decided I needed to keep Carrie’s story in first person, because I didn’t think her mind reading would come off as well in third person. As it was, I had to adapt her powers somewhat so they wouldn’t seem like head-hopping. My original plan was to do Raising Chaos entirely from Bedlam’s point of view, but then I realized that I needed to talk about what Carrie ws doing while she was separated from Bedlam. I threw in Siren as the third viewpoint because my beta readers for Oracle liked Mephistopheles so much that I wanted to give him a backstory.
Which character's P.O.V. came easiest to you while writing? The hardest?
Bedlam is easiest, because there’s a lot of stream of consciousness with him. I just get into the Bedlam mindset and write whatever comes into my head. Siren is pretty easy, too, because she thinks like I do. Carrie is a little harder, but not too bad. Book 3 has Gabriel and Michael POVs, though, and they can get difficult.
Do you already have the story for the complete series planned out? Do you know how many books it will total out at?
I originally planned Oracle as a stand-alone book. Then in my head I expanded it into 3 books, then 6, then 7. The main story arc that I started in Oracle ends after 7 books, but I have some ideas for more books that include some of the same characters and some new characters. Right now I have ideas for 12, but I don’t promise that all of them will get written, or that they will be the only ones.
Some Quickes:
Coffee or tea?
Neither? I drink Diet Coke for my caffeine. A lot of Diet Coke. I do like mochas, though.
Milk chocolate or dark?
Milk! I want my sweets to be sweet.
Favorite novel?
The Secret Circle trilogy by L.J. Smith, with a special place in my heart for Anne Bishop’s Black Jewels Trilogy
Favorite author?
Still L.J. Smith. Though I was thinking today about how I need to write a blog post about how awesome Kelley Armstrong is. And I have long-term plans to do another about Sharon Shinn.
Hard copy books or ebooks?
E-books!
Elizabeth Corrigan has degrees in English and psychology and has spent several years working as a data analyst in various branches of the healthcare industry.
When she’s not hard at work on her next novel, Elizabeth enjoys singing, reading teen vampire novels, and making Sims of her characters. She drinks more Diet Coke than is probably optimal for the human body and is pathologically afraid of bees. She lives in Maryland with two cats and a purple Smart Car.
Thanks so much for hosting my tour!
ReplyDeleteAny time!! Thanks for having us! :)
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