Speak of the Devil ROCKS

It isn't often you have an author who gets you all the material you need weeks prior to their interview. However, Shawna Romkey is one of those precious few. Now, *hangs head* I have to admit I scheduled my vacation to Death Valley at the same time I scheduled her interview. Sometimes, life happens. Sometimes, family takes precedent. Sometimes, you wish you could rewind the clock.

That said, I AM a Five Star Reviewer of  Speak of the Devil. This novel ROCKS. I am so excited Shawna agreed to postpone our interview until today. 
 
Hi, Shawna. Thanks for your patience. Tell me, when did you first start writing?

When I was 5. I remember in school our first trip to the school library and I fell in love with books. I loved reading and started writing poetry that night.

That is so sweet. I have an up and coming writer in my family. So, you knew right away what you wanted to be.

Yes. I got an English degree in university with a creative writing emphasis.  Then I got a masters in literature. When I couldn’t find work with those, I got a degree in teaching, so I could eat.

Food does tend to be important. *smile* What genre do you prefer or do you mix it up?    

YA paranormal, so far. I’ve done some contemporary and some fantasy and even written some plays, but YA Paranormal has worked out the best for me so far.

Where does your inspiration come from?

This story is based on an event I experienced in high school. Three of my friends were killed in a car accident, and like Lily I ran away and had to figure out how to deal with something like that, which is hard enough as an adult.

Oh, Shawna, I am so sorry. I learned young how difficult it is to lose people you care about. I trust your publishing experience has gone well. 

So far so good. This is my first, so I’m still experiencing new things every day, but I love all of it. The good and the bad, because it’s better than the alternative of having this manuscript sitting in a box in the garage with all of the others.

I have a few of those myself. Do you have a certain routine you have for writing? i.e. You listen to music, sit in a certain chair?

I have to be undisturbed, so I wait until the husband and kids leave for work, I get back in bed with my laptop and write, comfy, in my pj’s with dogs sprawled around me. Luckily I teach part time, so I have the luxury most days.

You are very fortunate. How do you come up with characters names and place names in your books?

Place names are twisted from actual places. Park High in Speak of the Devil came from Oak Park and Park Hill and I think there was another Park named school in KC. I always thought it was funny. Character names have to be based on their current age, like I wouldn’t name a teenager today Ethel unless that was an oddity in the story. The angels in this book are twisted version of the seven deadly sin demons. Lucifer’s sin was pride and he became Luc. Asmodeus was the demon representing lust. He’s Mo. Leviathan is Envy. That’s Violet. Belphegor is sloth, and that became Gregor.

Who is your favorite character and why?

I just finished the second book in the series and Lucifer, the Lucifer, not Luc, was my favourite to write. Lilith is in there too, and she is a close second.

Did you learn anything from writing your book?  What was it?

All of those demon names for the sins above. I did a lot of research on angels and demons in various cultures and religions. In the second book I found lots of interesting stuff on Lilith, too.

How do you market your work?

Like a crazy, chaotic town crier.

I love that line.

Luckily I have marketing experience. I’ve run my own businesses and teach marketing now at the college level. I’ve also spent some time marketing books for other indie authors. My target market is YA, so I do a lot of online marketing, Facebook and twitter parties, and mainly being available to connect and build relationships with readers. I tell my marketing class that the saying “If you build it, they will come” is a bunch of hooey. You build it then promote it like crazy and hope and pray they’ll come.

Can you describe the feeling you had when you saw your published book for the first time?

I haven’t seen the print copy yet! It’s driving me crazy because people I know have ordered it online and have it already. I’m in Canada so it’s taking longer to get to me. I just saw the Kindle version today though and it scared me to death. I was like, “Geez, anyone can read this now. It’s out there for people to love or hate.” It’s a bit surreal.

Favorite authors? 

George RR Martin, Marion Zimmer Bradley, William Faulkner, Edgar Allan Poe, Robert Browning, Shakespeare

Have you ever suffered from a "writer's block"? What did you do to get past the "block"?

Yes. I didn’t at the time. I quit writing for a very long time. I had a phoney agent con hundreds of dollars from me and was so scarred by that, I quit writing for 15 years. Before my publishing contract, I wrote differently, so writers block would stall me for weeks, months, even years. Now I treat it more like work. I’m more confident about it. The fear of writing isn’t as paralyzing, so I just write through the pain until I get to a place that makes it easier to continue.

What piece of advice would you give to a new writer?

Write. I know a lot of people who want to be writers but never write. I was one of them. You can’t get better at it if you don’t write and practice. It’s a skill, like anything. And you definitely can’t get a blank book published as a work of fiction.


Are you working on anything new?  If so, can you tell me about it?

I’m working on revisions for the second book in the Speak of the Devil series. It’s called The Devil Made Me Do It. Since it’s the second in the trilogy, things don’t go well for our heroes. The tag line is: The demons strike back.

What genre is Speak of the Devil?

YA Paranormal Romance

On a personal level, I loved Speak of the Devil. I enjoyed it as much as the adult novels I read. What's your web address?

www.shawnaromkey.com
 
What a beautiful website. I found it easy to navigate. And your blog address?

http://www.shawnaromkey.com/?page_id=13

Before we get to your excerpt, please share your Social Media connections and a few reviews.

Website  | Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Goodreads

Buy links:  Amazon Print | Amazon eBook

Barnes & Noble Print

Reviews:

---->My 5 Star review:

After a tragic accident that leaves two of Lily Tyler's best friends dead, Lily moves in with her father and enrolls in a new school. Her near death experience has shaken her and as she works through her depression strange events conspire against her, introducing her to even stranger friends.

Speak of the Devil by Shawna Romkey is not just for the young adult. The debut novel attempts to answer life and death questions that we can all identify with.

The writing is tight and well-paced, the storyline captivating. Lily is a sympathetic character and while the so-called friends are a bit off, they are interesting. I read Speak of the Devil in one day and enjoyed taking a peek into the creative mind of an up and coming author.

Kudos to a work well done.

“ If you like YA with a more adult narrator and a slighter darker theme, you will enjoy this book. ” R. Trogner  

“ Angels, fallen angels and an absent God, this book kept me spellbound right from page one. ” Kate Robbins  

“ Lily is realistic, multi-layered and very sympathetic. ” M. E. Wilson

Whoo hoo! Those are some awesome reviews. Now, let's read about Speak of the Devil.

Blurb:  

What happens when falling in love and falling from grace collide?

After dying in a car accident with her two best friends, Lily miraculously awakens to grief and guilt. She escapes to her dad’s to come to terms with the event and meets some people at her new school who seem all too eager to help her heal. Sliding deeper into sorrow and trying to fight her feelings for two of them, she finds out who…what they really are and that they are falling too.

 Can she find the strength to move on from the past, reconcile her feelings for Luc, find a way to stop a divine war with fallen angels, and still pass the eleventh grade?

Excerpt

Rain fell, not uncommon for late spring in Missouri. “If you don’t like the weather here,” my grandfather would say, “wait five minutes.” Of course, I’d visited distant relatives in Maine once before, and they said the same thing.

Julie fumbled with the wipers while I pulled the sun visor down to check my face in its little rectangular mirror, even though I’d only left my vanity like five minutes ago. The lights on either side lit up the interior of the car. I reached into my tiny party purse to find my lip gloss, which was easy to locate since I’d only packed the essentials in my bag: phone, some cash, and make-up. As I glanced at myself, I saw Mike in the reflection, smiling at me from the back seat. I stuck my tongue out at him, making him laugh, and put on the lip-gloss, fully aware of how flirty I acted.

The windshield wipers couldn’t keep up with the sudden downpour. The pitter-patter turned to thumping. Hail came down in gumball-sized pellets. “Damn.” Julie jerked the steering wheel to keep The Whale off the curb.

“Slow down, Jules.” Mike gripped Julie’s headrest. “We can pull over until it passes.”

“Yeah.” She squinted to see the road before her.

I pressed my lips together to smooth out the gloss. “Damn is right. I didn’t bring a jacket.”

The Whale swerved to the right crunching along the gravel on the side of the road. I braced myself in my seat. Julie leaned up to the steering wheel and peered over it as my grandmother sometimes did when she drove. I squinted because of the stupid light up visor mirror. I slammed it shut, but Julie panicked and over corrected, pulling The Whale to the left and careening over the yellow dotted line in the middle of the street.

“Julie!” Mike shouted.

Time slowed and ticked out in heartbeats.

Ba bum.

Julie cringed, her hands moving up to shield her face. Her head turned away from the highway.

Ba bum.

Mike reached protectively from the back seat.

Ba bum.

The headlights illuminated the rail of the overpass.

Ba bum.

The car hit the rail on the opposite side of the road with a hard thud.

Ba bum.

Crap. We’re going over the bridge.

Ba bum.

The Whale’s nose pointed down toward the water.

Ba bum.

A jolt forward and my forehead slammed into the dashboard.

Ba bum.

The Whale flipped in the air. I’m upside down.

Ba bum.

Pain.

Ba bum.

Did my mom say good-bye when I left?

Ba bum.

Cold water rushed into the car.

Ba bum.

Is this it?

Ba bum.

I can’t breathe. Oh my God, I can’t breathe. I can’t see or breathe!

My heart quickened. It pounded. The Whale leaned on its side under the surface of the water which rushed in fast, and I couldn’t see a damn thing.

Calm, stay calm. Don’t panic. They say when you’re drowning not to panic because you use up your air faster.
Dammit, am I drowning?

I tried to get myself upright and jerked out of my seatbelt. Luckily, it gave way. I fought the latch to open the door facing up, but the pressure of the water from Black Water River held it closed, trapping me inside.

Jesus. I know this river. It’s more of a creek. It can’t be more than fifteen feet across and ten feet deep.
I pushed at the door. Opening my mouth to scream, I swallowed water.

I couldn’t see or hear Julie or Mike. My watch ticked. Or was it my heart beating?

Ba bum. Ba bum. Ba bum.

Darkness.

Silence.

Cold.

Wet.

Defying gravity.

Nothing.

The dreams came. Like a good sleep you don’t want to wake up from. I felt heavy and floaty. I wore this long white gauzy gown and the wind blew my dress and my hair like in some feminine hygiene commercial. I could breathe slowly and deeply. Completely relaxed and at peace, but I was alone.

I floated along in a white space for a while. Drifting. Breathing. Relaxing. Had I gone to a spa? After an immeasurable amount of time, others appeared. They wore white clothing, too, and they floated like me, reaching out. They opened their arms as if to welcome me to them.

I stopped and frowned. I heard no sound, and I didn’t know who these white floaty people were or why they welcomed me. They smiled, genuinely happy, and held their arms out to me. I panicked.

Where’s my mom? My family? Wait, Mike and Julie were just with me, where are they? Are those wings?
I noticed the others floating with me had white feathery wings.

“Lily,” one of them called out.

Holy hell. I’m dead.

Thank you for sharing. What a wonderful excerpt.

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Shawna grew up in around farms in the heart of Missouri but went to the University of Kansas, was raised in the US but now lives on the ocean in Nova Scotia with her husband, two sons, two rescue dogs and one overgrown puppy from hell. She’s a non-conformist who follows her heart.

She has her BA in creative writing from the University of Kansas where one of her plays was chosen by her creative writing professor to be produced locally, and two of her short stories were published in a university creative arts handbook.  She earned her MA in English from Central Missouri State University where she wrote a novel as her thesis.

She’s taught English at the university and secondary levels for close to twenty years and can’t quite fathom how all of her students have grown up, yet she’s managed to stay the same.  She’s a huge geek and fan of Xena, Buffy and all kick ass women, and loves to write stories that have strong female characters.


Thank you for being with us this week. Be sure and pick up a copy of Shawna's new book. It is well worth your time and your money.


Happy reading!


(((hugs)))

Louann

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