I am so happy to welcome author Viola Ryan to the J.Q. Rose blog. She is on the Holy Hell Tour from March 1-31. Be sure to register to win the Grand Prize--a $50. Amazon gift card and more prizes at the end of her guest post.
Viola and I are swapping blogs today. Be sure to stop at Viola's blog and leave a comment to enter the drawing for prizes at the conclusion of my Coda to Murder blog tour.
Viola and I are swapping blogs today. Be sure to stop at Viola's blog and leave a comment to enter the drawing for prizes at the conclusion of my Coda to Murder blog tour.
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| Is a frustrated artist Lucifer’s ticket back to heaven or will falling in love with her reawaken the compassion that got him expelled? |
Not Another Vampire or Fallen Angel novel....Wait which is it?
The Mark of Abel
started in 2003 with an image--a vampire biting the woman he loved so he could
turn her, giving her the greatest gift he knew.
She didn’t understand, was abhorred and rejected him. The original title
was Rejection: A Vampire’s Tale. That got filed away until National Novel
Writing Month 2007.
Lucifer found his way into the hero’s role. After all, what
rejection is bigger than Lucifer being kicked out of heaven? Having the
original fallen angel be a vampire made sense to me. Vampires are demons.
Fallen angels are demons. According to math, if A=B and B=C then A=C.
I needed to play with Lucifer’s mythology in order to turn him
into a hero. It wasn’t that difficult. Motivation and backstory allow the
reader to excuse bad actions. I love dark wounded heroes. Lucifer fit perfectly
with that.
Lucifer may be the first fallen angel, therefore the first
vampire, but he isn’t the only one. The Grigori or Watchers from Genesis are
the main fallen angels. Playing with their story was fun. First I needed to
find a way for them to drink blood. As
angels they can’t harm a human, so they convinced Cain to murder Abel, so they
could drink his blood and become vampires.
The Mark of Abel is vampirism. Since unlike Lucifer, their
transformation is built on murder, they became evil vampires.
Lucifer can’t be the only non-evil vampire. Someone has to keep
the Grigori in line. First I had Lucifer turn Mary Magdalene (Maggie) and she
turned the Gnostics, early Christians. These are the good vampires in the
series.
So the book is both a vampire story complete with the standard
mythos associated with that and a fallen angel story. These aren’t generic fallen
angels. They are the Watchers/Grigori from Genesis. As the series progresses,
their role will expand as I incorporate more of the Book of Enoch.
Back of the cover:
Lucifer
is fed up with humanity. He created hell to deter evil, but man’s inhumanity is
only escalating. He just wants to return home to heaven, but ever since that
little problem in the Garden of Eden, the Pearly Gates remain firmly shut to
him. It doesn’t help that he’s the first vampire, an abomination in God’s
sight.
Fortunately,
two thousand years ago Lucifer’s estranged brother, Jesus, gave him a prophecy.
To fulfill it, all Lucifer has to do is find the right artist, study her
artwork and the path back to heaven will be revealed. The artist even
bears a symbol so he knows who she is. Too bad she is murdered every time he
finds her.
Janie’s a frustrated artist and college art teacher
who wants two things—a guy she can show her paintings to and a night without
nightmares. Each nightmare plagues her until she paints it. She doesn’t realize
these paintings are key to unlocking her destiny, one that could redeem the
original fallen angel.
Buy
Links:
About Viola Ryan
A very good friend of Viola Ryan in high school said, “You don’t think
outside the box. You blow the thing up.” Sometimes boxes need exploding. That’s
why she’s here. She has a whole bag of C4 and isn’t afraid to use it. She’s
blessed with people who treasure her eccentricities or at least put up with
them.
Sometimes the box can be a cozy place. Without some sort of stability,
her two daughters’ and her life would be unmanageable. That stability comes
from her husband. He’s the rock holding her family together.
On the flip side, his career is anything but stable. He’s a Chief Marine
Safety Technician in the US Coast Guard. They’ve lived from Kittery, Maine to
Yorktown, Virginia. Fortunately, the moves have all been on the east coast.
Then again, the Coast Guard tends to guard the coast.
Her oldest daughter (16) was born on Cape Cod, not far from Plymouth.
Massachusetts. Her youngest (12) was born in Yorktown, Virginia, down the road
from Williamsburg. Viola jokes they’re doing the colonial America tour.
Find Viola on the Web:
Website:
http://www.violaryan.com
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/jeanie.ryan.9
pinterest:
http://pinterest.com/violaryan/
Amazon
Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/violaryan
8 comments:
Hi Viola, JQ, what an intersting take on the first vampire. Very imaginative. The premise is certainly different and interesting.
Good luck with the book.
Sounds like a very good read.
Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com
Thanks. Feel free to ask me anything, -- about the book, what it's like to write Lucifer, me, life, anything at all
Viola, welcome to the J.Q. Rose blog. Glad you're here and thank you for hosting me on your blog at http://violaryanauthor.blogspot.com/2013/03/say-hi-to-my-museitup-sister-jq-rose_19.html
It's a blog swap! Looking forward to a fun time at both blogs.
What an excellent take on a very very very old story. Love it. Best of success, Viola!
Viola, I think you must've done some research or studying to write this story. How much of the story is from research?
Hi Joylene. Thanks for stopping in!
The backstory is all from research. I played with the existing stories.
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