Bianca Swan

Author Interview

For those who may not know, will you tell us a bit about yourself?

I began writing just after the invention of the wheel—seriously in about 1992 and started on a long journey to publication. One Christmas, when I lived in Miami, I stripped the tree of its decorations (a silk tree) and left it up all year, decorating it instead with rejection letters. Now, I live in Texas, don’t have horses and have a piano I can’t play (more on this in another question). I’m very into sports cars and love my black-on-black convertible.
 
What is the tag line for On Wings of Desire, your latest release from Double Dragon Publishing?

Heaven reviles him. Hell loves and hates him. The demon Salseph looks like an angel and is trapped between perdition and the mortal world unless he can redeem himself with lust and revenge. I thought of a new one though: Forbidden love—one man, one woman—one heart, one soul…only together can they be complete.
 
If your book was turned into a movie, who would you want to play your protagonists? 

Johnny Depp could play Seph, and maybe Cameron Diaz could be Gloria. 

What are three quirky facts about you that no one would know or assume otherwise? 
 
1. I own a baby grand piano I can’t play (my mom gave me piano lessons but I wanted a horse so I learned to play by the finger numbers. The piano was sold, and I got my first horse.) Now I wish I could play! But at least it has a PianoDisc player.
2. I love licorice and Pellegrino. I drink bottles of the stuff while I’m writing. I also eat licorice while I write. Not at the same time as the Pellegrino.
3. My male friend and I often drink Mimosas early on a Sunday morning for breakfast (w/o the brunch!)

What wisdom about writing do you wish you could share with fledgling writers? 

Don’t try to write for the market. Write each book for yourself—as if it were the book of your heart. Love your characters. Accept advice from professionals but don’t lose your voice.

What do you have in store for readers next? 

My muse and I are working on a new idea but she took a vacation to Belize without me.
 
Where can we find you?

My website  or blog 

ON WINGS OF DESIRE 

by Bianca Swan

Blurb:

The fallen angels have again risen against the Light, and the Second War in Heaven is raging. Paimon, General of Hell, yearned for a lover with the beauty of an angel and created a demon the exact replica of a celestial. He presents his creation with a powerful sword and appoints him commander of the demon forces. If Salseph returns to Hell with the sword in victory, Paimon vows to end Seph's demeaning missions of seducing human women and destroying their lives. The promise is a double-edged blade. The demons under his control abhor Salseph as much as he reviles them.

In battle, the angel Ophiel disarms Salseph and humiliates the young demon. Seph vows revenge against his foe and strikes upon the perfect plan for vengeance. He will seduce the guardian angel's charge, Gloria Landry, and at the Battle of Armageddon present soiled goods to the arrogant Ophiel in exchange for the stolen sword. When he rescues Gloria from a violent storm, she believes Salseph is her guardian angel. On their journey to the apocalyptic war, Salseph and Gloria discover that lust can become the purest love and that a bad boy can be good.

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Excerpt:

     The stench of Hell burned Salseph’s nostrils.  Lost Souls¸ how he hated to return home.  For all his trials on Earth, he preferred the human realm to this insufferable place.  In the mortal plane, he could, with considerable effort and pain, divest himself of his wings, and feel as if he belonged—at least for a time.

     Evolerzzal, a slimy glob of green flesh, grabbed Seph’s shoulder as he passed into the gloom of the Demon Realm.  “Well, if it isn’t Salseph the Beautiful.  What are you doing here amongst us humble creatures?”  A clawed hand beckoned Charzzel, a demon of the Second Order.  “Look who’s come home.”

     Seph shrugged free, arched his wings.  The dim, smoky light refracted on his feathers, and the movement immediately drew the attention of every demon in sight.  His jaw tightened, a muscle twitching.  He yearned to drive his fist into the grotesque face and take to the air, but it wasn’t Evolz’s fault the demons hated Seph.  Paimon had insured that Salseph was an oddity, a freak.  His appearance and the majestic wings set him apart from the others of his kind.  Hell, there were no others of his kind.  In all of Perdition, he was the only demon who looked like an angel.  His face was handsome, his body lean and muscled—the body of a man, not a monstrosity—his blond hair thick and silky.

    “I smell angel,” a low-ranking atrocity shouted, his high-pitched voice rasping on Seph’s nerves.

     The demons stank of brimstone and ash.  Salseph’s Creator had only missed one detail in replicating a celestial being.  Like an angel, Seph possessed an individual, mysterious scent, the airy fragrance part of his allure.  Unlike an angel, Salseph had no sigil.   A sigil, the angel’s name in Malachim script, was branded in his palm at his creation.  Paimon did not have the ability to bequeath a sigil to his demon son.  The fallen angel had, however, created Seph with an irresistible sexual magnetism.

     A disgustingly ugly brute bared his fangs.  A laugh rumbled from the creature’s slavering maw.  He stumbled into Seph, crushing one of the long white feathers trailing the ash-gray ground.  “Hello, Salseph.”  Two taloned fingers drifted down the feathered arch.  “Wish I had pretty wings.”

     Seph flinched from the malicious caress, folding his wings in a tighter arch.  The creature chuckled, and anger ground Salseph’s good intentions to dust.   When he landed, he’d planned to hurry to his cave, avoiding another senseless confrontation with his brethren.  The fiends detested him as much as he abhorred them.  It was an effort of will to resist a scathing retort.

     “I think he’s hideous,” a demon in the shadows called.  “Angels are our enemies.  Every time I look at Paimon’s favorite, I want to draw sword.”

     Jealousy and envy gleamed in Evolz’s yellow eyes.  The demon reeked of the Pit.  Sulfur wasn’t an enticing perfume.  “Now, who would want to spit our lovely Salseph on a sword?”

     “Let me pass.” Seph would have shouldered by Evolz, but touching the creature repulsed him.

     “Coming home from another assignment?” Evolz smirked.

     Seph refused to give the other demon the satisfaction of a reply.  He was returning from another demeaning mission with his stomach in a knot and his heart bleeding for a poor human woman whose only sin was falling in love with him.

     “Did you eat her baby or pump a little half-demon into her womb?”  Evolz leered, his glob of a head tilted to the side, his hairy ears wagging.

     “I don’t consume human flesh.  Now, step aside.”

     “Or you’ll do what?  Report me to Paimon?”

     Seph flared his wings, striking the demon and sweeping Evolerzzal into a stumbling retreat.  “Sorry, Evolz.”  He drove his wings down hard, rising straight into the sultry, close air.  Voice dripping sarcasm, he said, “I forget how powerful I really am.”

     He hovered above the gross blob, his condescending smile goading Evolz to react.  The demon glared at him but said nothing, a quick comeback beyond his limited mental capacity.  Why were they all so fiendish?   One of the monsters tried to capture his ankle.  Laughing, he flew higher and, still chuckling, soared toward home.  The place I hide.  He’d never thought of the dim stone cavern as home.  His heart stuttered over a painful beat.  He had no home and belonged nowhere.

ON WINGS OF DESIRE is available in print or in ebook format:

Double Dragon Publishing

Amazon