Author Interview
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?
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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.
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.
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:
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