Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Meet Paranormal/Romance Author Viola Ryan and Giveaway



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.


Is a frustrated artist Lucifer’s ticket back to heaven
or will falling in love with her reawaken the compassion that got him expelled?

Welcome, Viola!

Thank you for having me my Muse, sister.



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:

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/author/violaryan


Enter to win Viola's $50. Amazon Grand Prize Gift Certificate a Rafflecopter giveaway


 The Holy Hell Tour

8 comments:

Unknown said...

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.

Rita Wray said...

Sounds like a very good read.

Kit3247(at)aol(dot)com

Unknown said...

Thanks. Feel free to ask me anything, -- about the book, what it's like to write Lucifer, me, life, anything at all

J.Q. Rose said...

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.

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

What an excellent take on a very very very old story. Love it. Best of success, Viola!

J.Q. Rose said...

Viola, I think you must've done some research or studying to write this story. How much of the story is from research?

J.Q. Rose said...

Hi Joylene. Thanks for stopping in!

Unknown said...

The backstory is all from research. I played with the existing stories.

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