What inspired you to write this book?
Years ago, I read a graphic novel called The Crow by J. O’Barr. It told a tragic love story in which the hero loved his girlfriend enough to defy death for her. It was dark, violent, and hopelessly romantic, and the contradiction of those themes really stuck with me over the years. I wrote Forsaken with that in mind—a man who would literally go through Hell and back to be with the woman he loved.
What can we expect from you in the future?
I’m currently working on a romantic fantasy. It doesn’t have a title yet, which is kind of sad because I’ve been working on it off and on over the last fifteen years. One of the reasons I’ve held onto it for that long is because I really love the characters..
I’m also working on another manuscript, a shifter romance called Badlands that’s set in the Lake Tahoe area of the Sierra Nevada mountains. My brother-in-law used to live there, and my husband and I visited a long time ago. I fell in love with the scenic beauty and have actually used the same region as a setting in some of my Brethren vampire romance stories. It’s very hard not to be inspired by it if you’ve ever been.
Do you have any “side stories” about the characters?
In Forsaken, the hero, Jason, befriends a young runaway named Mei, who is originally from Louisville, Kentucky, which happens to be my hometown. She talks briefly in the book about her parents owning a small Chinese restaurant downtown. She speaks disparagingly of it (because she’s a teenager, LOL), but the actual restaurant I had in mind is a place I have personally fond memories of—this tiny hole-in-the-wall place I used to walk to for lunch when I worked downtown. I knew the couple who owned it, and the people who worked there really well, which tells you how often I grabbed take-out from there. They had the best chicken fried rice EVER. I still crave it even now, years later.
And while not a character in the traditional sense, the setting for Forsaken plays a large role in the story. It’s based loosely off San Francisco, which I visited ages ago for an RWA national conference and absolutely fell in love. It had such a unique feel to it, from the architecture to the streetcars, the waterfront and Chinatown. I love how some cities just seem to have their own personality, a life all of their own, and San Francisco is definitely one of those. I didn’t make Forsaken specifically set there (in fact, like in many of my books, I never state exactly where the story takes place), but it was definitely the primary inspiration.
Can you tell us a little bit about the characters in (Forsaken)?
I wanted to explore a romantic storyline with a darker edge in Forsaken. I found the idea of a couple torn apart by circumstances beyond their control to be an appealing challenge as a writer. The hero of Forsaken, Jason Sullivan, is an average guy, one who has historically relied more on his looks and common sense to get by in life than anything else. He inherits his father’s business, a bar, but doesn’t give himself credit for successfully running it on his own. He’s not a bad person, but he doesn’t have a lot of ambition in life until he meets Samantha. In Sam, he finds his perfect match, someone who encourages and challenges him. Jason wants to be a better man—and more importantly, a better person—because of Sam.
For her part, Sam can be naΓ―ve and trusting, but has learned to harden herself after Jason’s murder. The time that has passed in what seems like seconds for him has been years of grief and coping for her. Throughout the book, she struggles to reconcile the future she’d once wanted and longed for with Jason, and the new reality and future she’s had to build and aspire towards since his death.
How did you come up with the concept and characters for the book?
I was inspired by a graphic novel I read years ago called The Crow, by J. O’Barr. It was a tragic love story that somehow, despite the grim, tragic storyline, managed to remain romantic at the same time. (They made a movie version of The Crow, but it never really captured that same sort of dark love story that was at the heart of the books.) The hero’s driving force was his love for not only the girlfriend he’s lost, and the life they’d had together, but the future they’d envisioned for themselves, as well. Forsaken was my chance to explore these same themes, that dichotomy between darkness and light, life and death, love and loss.
Tell us about your main characters- what makes them tick?
The hero of Forsaken, Jason, is motivated by his love for his girlfriend Samantha, and his desperation to reclaim the life and love they once had together. For Sam, five years have passed since Jason’s murder, and she’s not only grieved, but tried to move on—and that includes finding love again. For Jason, the time passed in the blink of an eye, and he’s hurt and confused to realize how much things have changed. He’s desperate not only to win her back, but to try and find a place for himself again in a world—a life—that’s moved on without him.
My villain, Sitri, is immortal, and to be honest, he’s kind of bored with that. I present him as having inhabited many different names and personas over the course of human history, including Loki. Not like Loki from the Marvel movies—no offense to Tom Hiddleston, who is delicious in the role—but the actual Old Norse version, who was a lot more sadistic and cunning. He enjoys interfering in human affairs and causing hardship and heartache whenever possible. In Forsaken, Sitri manages to steal Jason’s soul and binds it to an entity known as the Eidolon. By doing so, Sitri is able to enslave them both, and uses Jason’s physical form as a vessel through which he can harness the Eidolon’s tremendous strength, resilience, and powers for his own purposes.
The Eidolon is referred to by other characters in the book as a shadow demon, but as Jason comes to discover, it’s not demonic at all, but rather something living and sentient. I wrote about it with a wild animal in mind, like the wild mustangs you’ll see roaming through the high desert country in Nevada—something magnificent, full of energy, strength and power, unbroken and indomitable. The Eidolon has no physical form of its own and appears as an amorphous shadow whenever it manifests. Jason serves as the Eidolon’s host, and throughout the course of Forsaken, the two learn to work together as a symbiotic unit, making the most of their combined strengths and abilities.
Who designed your book covers?
I designed the cover for Forsaken myself. Years ago, I worked in part in graphic design, and I like to joke that I learned enough Photoshop to be dangerous. I’ve bought premade book covers in the past and have even had a professional design a cover for Forsaken when I first planned to publish an earlier version of it several years ago. But since then, the publishing world has changed, and for me, my goals as a writer have, too. I lost a lot of my enthusiasm for writing because of all the bullshit that goes with publishing, whether you self-publish or try to go the “traditional” route. I’ve learned to follow my heart and make my personal publishing experience something rewarding and satisfying to me, if no one else. And that has come to include utilizing my own graphic design abilities (such as they are) to build my covers most times.
It’s a very gratifying experience for me—as much as writing itself, sometimes. I felt such a click when I was able to meld the images together in the cover for Forsaken, the young couple I felt perfectly personified my main characters, along with the dark, smoke-like wings that, to me, incapsulate what the Eidolon—the shadow demon possessing Jason—would look like. Additionally, you don’t see white space used much in book covers, especially for paranormal romances or urban fantasy. Everything is set again dark backgrounds, with dark color palates. I really wanted something that stood out from the pack and looked unique, so I use a lot of white space to off-set the artwork, and simple fonts I felt would guide a reader’s eye along the page. I love what I was able to come up with.
Did you learn anything during the writing of your recent book?
Since my most recent book is my current WIP, I would have to say what I’ve learned is that good ideas die hard. My WIP is a romantic fantasy I’ve been working on for years. I had no idea how long it had really been until recently, when I found an old backup CD (remember those?) with an early version saved on it—from 2004. That means this story has been in my heart and mind for so long, in one version or stage of development or another, and the reason is simple—because I love it. I love the characters; I love the premise; I love the challenges my main characters face, and I want to know what happens to them. At this point, I feel like I owe it to them as much as to myself.
What did you edit out of this book?
Earlier versions of Forsaken had more scenes set inside the Netherworlde itself after Jason is murdered, and his soul is enslaved by a shadow-demon, the Eidolon. I never felt like they fit, and felt they were too jarring a transition from Jason’s world to that of the supernatural, and ultimately, in the published version, they were eliminated.
This has to be a joke, Jason thought, leaning heavily against Sam as he shuffled through the front door of the upstairs apartment above the bar. He’d lived there for years, but like the tavern below, nothing but the floor plan was remotely recognizable to him. His hand-me-down furniture was gone, the metal-framed futon with faded black upholstery, the ugly standing chrome lamp that Sam had always teased about being “circa-1980s-chic.” The oversized wooden crates he’d used for a TV stand were gone, along with his bookshelves and stereo, his drafting table and computer, the faded and threadbare oriental rug that had covered the hardwood floor.
“Here,” Sam murmured, easing him down against a stack of cardboard boxes. These were everywhere, some opened, others sealed with tape, as if someone was in the process of either moving in or out. She went to one that had already been opened and dug around until she found what she was looking for, a large, dark blue wool blanket. She hurried back to his side and wrapped it around him.
The dog sat nearby, watching. It hadn’t tried to attack Jason again, but its lips would occasionally wrinkle back to reveal its teeth, and it would utter a little sound that would start off as a growl, then end in a short, rasping sort of whoof, more an expulsion of air than a bark, as if to say, I’ve got my eye on you, pal.
This has got to be a joke, Jason thought, looking helplessly around while Sam turned again, darting down the hallway toward the bathroom. They moved my stuff while I was out in the alley…Eddie and David and the rest of them…packed up all of the tables downstairs, shoved it all into the storeroom somehow, maybe the kitchen. Then they came up here and packed my furniture, everything. Just one big practical joke.
Except being stabbed wasn’t anyone’s idea of a joke, Jason realized, wincing as he eased the blanket back from his shoulder, trying to get a look at his wound. The electricity hadn’t been working downstairs, but was on in the apartment, and by the orange glow of a nearby lamp, he could see that he’d suffered one seriously gruesome injury. The fissure in his flesh was wide and ragged, the blood-crusted edges puckered like crude lips, the exposed meat beneath bright red and spongy. He was still bleeding heavily and when Sam returned, carrying a first aid kit in her hand, she gasped, her eyes flown wide.
“What happened?” She fell to her knees and threw open the kit, ransacking it until she found a large gauze dressing pad. Using her teeth, she bit into the paper wrapping and tore it open. “Oh, God, who did this to you?”
“A man…in the alley,” he murmured, jerking and sucking in a hurting breath as she pressed the pad against his shoulder.
“I’m sorry,” Sam whispered, close enough to feel her breath against his face, to her smell her perfume. This, at least, remained familiar and the same: Estee Lauder’s Pleasures. “Can you hold this here? I’ll go get some water. We need to stop the bleeding.”
He nodded, draping his hand against hers, holding the bandage in place. They stayed this way for a long moment, during which Sam’s rapid-fire, frantic breathing drew to a complete and silent stop. Then she stood again, pulling away from him.
“Just hold it,” she said, winding her way once more through the maze of boxes and ducking into the galley-sized kitchen. He heard more clanging, then the rush of water pouring full-blast from the tap. When she returned, carrying a large pot between her hands and leaving a sloshed, slopped trail of water in her wake, the dog rose to its feet, its tongue lolling out of the corner of its mouth, its tail wagging expectantly.
“No, Barton, this isn’t for you.” Sam knelt in front of Jason again, dunking a dishrag into the water.
“Whose dog is that?” he asked.
“Mine,” she replied, and he blinked in surprise. “I got him at the pound right after you…”
Her voice faded and she cut her gaze away. Right after I what? he wondered, bewildered. Then he shook his head. It didn’t matter, not the wound in his shoulder or the fact that his entire world had otherwise seemingly been turned upside down and inside out, then given a hard shake. Only one thing remained that truly mattered, the one thing he’d been neglecting for far too long.
“Marry me,” he said and she looked up at him, her eyes wide in surprise.
“What?”
He leaned forward and kissed her, his lips settling lightly. Her breath caught and he felt her stiffen against him for a long, uncertain moment. When she relaxed, the tension draining in her body, palpably releasing from her mouth, their kiss deepened. The tip of his tongue brushed the seam of her lips and when she parted them, she uttered a soft, breathless sound, slipping her tongue gently, sweetly against his own. Her long, slim fingers, still wet and cold from the water, trailed against his face and caught in his hair as she lifted her chin and leaned into him. There was an unexpected and urgent passion in her mouth, as if she’d waited and wanted that moment, that kiss, for a long time.
Which, like everything else, made absolutely no sense whatsoever, since he’d only last kissed her surely no more than an hour ago.
When she drew away, her hands lingering in a caress, her eyes glistened in the lamplight with tears. When one spilled, he drew the thumb of his pad across her cheek to catch it.
“Marry me, Sam,” he whispered again, managing a weak smile. “I wanted to ask you last weekend at the waterfront, at Holiday Island, but I…”
More tears spilled, but to his surprise, when he reached for her, she jerked back. “How do you know about that?” she asked, rising to her feet. Twin patches of hot, angry color bloomed in her cheeks and she balled her hands into trembling fists. “Who the hell are you?”
“What?” He’d thought she was crying because she was upset about his attack, or happy about his proposal, or maybe even both, but when he realized she was more than upset, she was frightened of him, he tried to stand, but gritted his teeth against a spasm of pain and sank back to the boxes again. “Sam, it’s me. It’s Jason.”
“No, you’re not.” She shook her head. “I don’t know who you are, or…or how you know about that day at the park, but you…” Tears rolled down her cheeks and her voice grew hoarse and strained as she backpedaled. “You’re not Jason Sullivan. Jason is dead. He died five years ago.”
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When she's not writing, Sara is probably dreaming up her next fictional adventure, driving one or both of her kids to or from school, trying to keep her house from looking like a hurricane ripped through it, or working full-time as a registered nurse. During her free time, she's likely to be found with a margarita or glass of Moscato in hand, failing miserably to replicate a recipe she saw on an episode of The Pioneer Woman.
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A very interesting story line. Now I understand the black cloud on the cover
ReplyDeleteI like the premise and this sounds like a good story
ReplyDeletethis book looks awesome
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about the book and would love to read the rest.
ReplyDeleteThanks, guys! I hope you get the chance to check out "Forsaken." Please feel free to let me know what you think -- I love hearing from readers!!! Hope everyone is keeping safe and healthy!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a great read!
ReplyDeleteI have no questions for the author.
ReplyDeleteLooks good.
ReplyDelete