Interview: Linda Wisdom & Win DEMONS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

Join me today in welcoming author Linda Wisdom to the Preternatura blog! Linda has published more than 70 novels with 13 million copies sold worldwide. Her bestselling books have been nominated for RT Book Reviews awards and the RWA RITA award. She recently won the RT Book Reviews Career Achievement Award for Hex in High Heels. Linda lives with her husband in Murrieta, Calif., where she is working on her next book, A Demon Does it Better, set to release in January 2012. For more information, please visit http://www.lindawisdom.com/.  

Linda’s new book, a paranormal romance called Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend, was released by Sourcebooks Casablanca on April 1, and let me tell you those fire demons are HOT! The nice folks at Sourcebooks will be giving away two copies, so read through to the contest info at the end!

First, about Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend:  A Bewitching Woman on a Mission…Feisty witch Maggie enjoys her work as a paranormal law enforcement officer—that is, until she’s assigned to protect a teenager with major attitude and plenty of Mayan enemies.Maggie’s never going to survive this assignment without the help of a half-fire demon who makes her smolder…A Hotter-Than-Sin Hero with an Agenda…Declan is a proprietor of an underground club and busy demon portal. No way he’ll allow his demon race to be blamed for the malicious acts of some crazy evil Mayans. But he’s already got his hands full when the sexy witch offers him a challenge he can’t refuse… 

Welcome, Linda! You seem to be partial to witches! What is it about the witch that attracts you as an author (as opposed to, say, a werewolf or a selkie)?

I’ve always been drawn to witches and never could figure out why. A pagan friend told me she strongly senses that I’m a natural born witch, so that’s perhaps why. I see a variety of personalities in witches that I don’t always see in the weres or vampires. And I see a diversity of power among them. They also talk a lot more inside my head. :-) 

How does writing Maggie and her world differ from the witches in the Hex books? Is writing a darker paranormal more difficult? 

Maggie’s world is a bit more compact since the story is set in the compound she lives in. You have an assortment of creatures there, not all of them members of the Guard but all working together. It’s also a close, almost family-like atmosphere, because they count on each other. Maggie also delves in the deeper bowels of magick, battling creatures that the other witches might not encounter. She is an ultimate protector. I don’t find writing darker paranormal more difficult. Maybe because I love horror movies or because there’s more meat, so to speak, in the dark. Things that go bump in the night, the monsters in the closet or under the bed. Not that I want to scare my readers, but I think in that element as I write along with looking to the past for bits and pieces I can bring into the present.  

Declan, a half fire-demon, is literally hot! Talk a little about your worldbuilding, and what role your demons and the Hellion Guard play. 

Demons are usually seen as the villains although they’re showing up as heroes more. I wanted a demon who was a half breed, who worked hard to climb up the ladder to achieve his dreams of owning his own business. Declan does what needs to be done along with protecting his sister from his father’s machinations for more power. Declan’s world deals with his plans and what he does with the demon world to hold onto what he has. The Hellion Guard is there to keep order. While the Guard has compounds all over the world, they still travel where they’re needed. Each time has a different character so that there’s a balance of power and gifts there. While the demons have never worked with the Guard before, they find themselves doing just that with some interesting results. 

What’s on your nightstand to read next? Do you read in your genre while you’re writing, or try to avoid it? 

I read a lot of urban fantasy, mystery, and young adult, so it depends on my mood at the time. I have read UF when I’m writing. Next is Anton Strout’s Dead Waters. 

What is your favorite scene in Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend? (I have to admit I'm still chuckling over an early scene where Maggie douses Declan with an isolated “rainstorm.”) 

LOL! And Declan deserved it, didn’t he? I wouldn’t say a favorite scene, but Courtney’s reaction every time she tries to use a magick word or say the word witch and something else comes out still makes me laugh. 

You have written more than 70 novels (I grovel at your feet!). Do you have a favorite? 

I think I have favorite characters and some books have meant more to me than others, but I don’t have one strict favorite. 

What’s next in the Demon series? 

A Demon Does it Better features Lili, who’s been mentioned in previous books. She’s a healer, a doctor, who returns to San Francisco to find out what happened to a friend who disappeared from the supe hospital here. Lili works in the asylum where she encounters a sexy demon named Jared who’s been labeled as very dangerous, but she’s convinced he’s not. Jared also has a demonish (hm, is that a word!) way of leaving the asylum for short periods of time. There’s also a preternatural community introduced along with new characters and creatures. Lili’s sidekick is a diva silver chinchilla-colored Persian cat named Cleo – yes THAT Cleo – who believes it’s her job to instruct Lili in her love life. The reader will get to see what a hospital for the supernaturals looks like and works. Basically, ER for the after dark set. 

Thanks, Linda! Want to win a copy of Demons Are a Girl’s Best Friend? Leave a comment, and you know the rest of the drill. One entry for comment, another for blog follow, a third for a Twitter follow @Suzanne_Johnson, and a fourth for a Tweet or Retweet. Be sure to include your email. Now...Go forth and comment!