Q&A with Ash Krafton, author of Demimonde Series

Now available from Red Fist Fiction is the urban fantasy Demimonde Series (Bleeding Heart, Blood Rush, Wolf's Bane) from author Ash Krafton.

Amazon

Amazon

Amazon

The author has taken a few minutes out of her busy schedule for a Q&A about her debut novel.



When did you become interested in storytelling?

I've been making up stories since I was a kid, but I didn't think it would ever become a career. I wanted to be a pharmacist, instead. Practicing in retail pharmacy while raising my kids left little room for a third job…and, yet…

When my children were in elementary school, I started writing again. It was a way to stay sane while being bombarded by children's television and kid-friendly activities. While they played or napped, I wrote, filling notebooks with amateurish attempts at writing a novel. No one ever read those things. They were just a way to keep my brain busy.

It wasn't until I started writing BLEEDING HEARTS: Book One of the Demimonde that I thought I could be brave enough to tell someone. I didn't expect the huge amount of support that I got but it was what gave me the courage to pursue it, to finish it, and to seek publication.

What was your first book/story published?

BLEEDING HEARTS (Demimonde #1) was my first novel. It was picked up in three book deal by Pink Narcissus Press, a small press publisher of eclectic fiction.

What inspired you to write The Demimonde Series?

I have always had a thing for vampires. It goes way back before Anne Rice gave me Lestat (which I consider a personal favor…thank you, Anne). However, it never occurred to me that I would end up writing vampire stories, myself.

One night I had a dream about a mysterious man with bright green eyes. When I woke, I had the tagline in my head: Saving the world, one damned person at a time. All I knew about the man was that he was tragic, some looming sense of damnation about him. Writing the earliest scenes of the book was my way of trying to figure out why I dreamed about him in the first place.

Eventually, I began building a story around him…and the woman who was going to save him.

What character in The Demimonde Series is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

The fastest answer is Sophie Galen, the heroine. Since the story is told in her first person point of view, she has a tendency to sound like me (especially when she's snarking off). However, other than a thing for amazing boots (I admit, it will always be about the boots), we are more different than alike. The most glaring evidence is that she has a cat and I have a dog. 'Nuff said.

What is your favorite part in The Demimonde Series?

When Sophie does something to surprise herself. I was always cooking up tough situations for her and she would knock my socks off when she'd get through it all. I think my absolute favorite, though, is when she walked into a room full of werewolves in WOLF'S BANE (Demimonde #3).

What was the hardest part to write?

Hoo boy. There were a few. Most of them were hard to write because I was seriously invested in the story. In other books, I gleefully wrote the Black Moments, those darkest times. In this series, I felt like I was going through it…especially the Black Moment of WOLF'S BANE. That was the toughest.

What would your ideal career be, if you couldn't be an author?

I'm already living the dream. Although, if I got to pick a second, I would be a tour guide in Germany.

Do you read reviews of your books? If so, do you pay any attention to them, or let them influence your writing?

I learned early on that being a writer means I had to get a thick skin and learn which crits are constructive (and, subsequently, which advice to take) and which crits are just opinion.

Everyone gets to have an opinion. In fact, the worst thing would be writing a book that didn't get opinionated reviews. I hope to invoke strong feelings in my readers with my stories…and strong opinions—even negative ones—means I did that.

What well-known writers do you admire most?

Anne Rice, Charlaine Harris, Melanie Rawn, and Stephen King.

Do you have any other books/stories in the works?

I released the first in a new urban fantasy series in August. CHARM CITY (The Demon Whisperer #1) is about an exorcist mage named Simon Alliant who is busy fighting the rising darkness in Baltimore. Lots of demons and angels and magical charms. Simon is a real hands-on mage so writing the magic is a lot of fun. There are four other books planned…book two, MURDER THE LIGHT, is under edits and I hope to get that out in early-mid 2017.

Thanks for having me!

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About the Author: Ash Krafton writes because if she doesn't, her kids will…and NOBODY wants that. A
speculative fiction girl through and through, Ash writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels as well as poetry and short fiction. Her work has won a bunch of awards and was even nominated for a Pushcart Prize. When she's not writing, she's practicing Tai Chi, listening to loud rock and metal, or crushing on supervillains.

Most recently, she's re-released her urban fantasy trilogy THE BOOKS OF THE DEMIMONDE because she never really left the world of Sophie and her Demivamps.

Visit the author's website to learn about her novels.

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