I'm happy to have a good friend, Ash Krafton, here today as my guest. She's talking about the fine line between paranormal romance and urban fantasy in her Demimonde Series. Be sure to check out her great giveaway at the end of this post.
BLEEDING HEARTS is the first book in Ash Krafton's Demimonde Series (urban fantasy novels with strong romantic elements). The book has won several awards and distinctions, including Finalist rank in six different RWA chapter competitions. Today, the author talks about the biggest difference between paranormal romance and urban fantasy…and why BLEEDING HEARTS was written to skirt the rules...
A Hard-Earned Happily Ever After
Romance. It's one of the most popular genres of books these days, and with good reason…it is so diverse! There is a flavor of romance to tickle any palate. Regency, western, pirate, paranormal, historical, suspense…and every level of heat imaginable. Despite the seemingly endless list of categories and variations, people who enjoy romance literature can all agree on one thing: there has to be a HEA.
HEA stands for "happily ever after". It's the ending our lovers are struggling to reach, their hits and misses and obstacles creating the story that sweeps us up in their journey. After watching two people go through so much together, we want them to get their HEA. We need it, ourselves.
When I set out to write BLEEDING HEARTS, I didn't intend it to be a paranormal romance. I knew that the story arc was going to be too big to wrap up neatly by the end of the book. Marek and the Demivampires had a lot of challenges ahead of them, serious issues that would keep him from being able to give Sophie a HEA by the end of the novel. The book was definitely urban fantasy (or paranormal chick lit, by some standards) but, because it didn't meet the single most criteria—the requisite HEA—BLEEDING HEARTS was not a romance.
Was it romantic? Sure it was! Sophie and Marek overcome many issues to allow themselves to fall in love. It's no surprise that more readers are on #TeamMarek than any other. They know there is more to their story than what we get at "The End" of the first book.
Over the course of the next two books, Sophie and Marek encounter more obstacles, more tender moments. Along the way, she gets tangled up in #TeamRode and #TeamDierk…but those aren't roadblocks. They were the kinds of challenges people meet along the way to the HEA of their dreams.
When I wrapped up WOLF'S BANE (Demimonde #3), I sat back and thought two things: With the Books of the Demimonde I'd completed an urban fantasy trilogy…but I'd also created an epic paranormal romance. And I was truly satisfied with how the story played out because I needed a HEA for me, too. We all did.
So if anyone asks what genre The Books of the Demimonde are, the answer may vary depending on which book I'm thinking about at the moment. Readers who pick up BLEEDING HEARTS and BLOOD RUSH know they are urban fantasy because of the ever-elusive HEA…
But those who get to "The End" of WOLF'S BANE may answer very differently. All you have to do is see the grins on their faces when they close the book to know the series goes far past the boundary of urban fantasy to that sweet place that romance readers crave. After getting to know her so well, I believe Sophie deserves her HEA.
But those who get to "The End" of WOLF'S BANE may answer very differently. All you have to do is see the grins on their faces when they close the book to know the series goes far past the boundary of urban fantasy to that sweet place that romance readers crave. After getting to know her so well, I believe Sophie deserves her HEA.
And, as the readers who have come to know and love her, we deserve her HEA, too.
Demimonde
Book
One
Ash
Krafton
Genre: urban fantasy
Publisher: Ash Krafton
Date of Publication: October 13,
2016
ISBN: 978-1-946120-00-7
ASIN: B01M7PCLWJ
Number of pages: 380
Word Count: 94k
Cover Artist: Red Fist Fiction
Book Description:
Sophie Galen is an advice columnist
whose work leaves her neck-deep in other people's problems. Thanks to her
compassion, her gut instinct, and her magnetic charm, Sophie really knows how
to attract little black clouds.
Marek Thurzo is no little black
cloud; he's a maelstrom. Marek is Demivampire, a race with the potential to
evolve into vampire. A warrior who's taken his share of spiritual damage, he
hovers dangerously close to destruction.
Sympathy for his plight becomes
true empathy as Sophie's hidden nature is revealed. Marek suspects she may be
one of the Sophia, oracle and redemption of the damned Demivampire. She alone
can turn back the evolutionary clock.
All she needs is the courage to
face her fears. Can she save him from Falling?
Blood
Rush
Demimonde
Book
Two
Ash
Krafton
Genre: urban fantasy
Publisher: Ash Krafton
Date of Publication: October 13,
2016
ISBN: 978-1-946120-01-4
ASIN: B01M7PCWFD
Number of pages: 376
Word Count: 94k
Cover Artist: Red Fist Fiction
Book Description:
Sophie doesn't believe in happily
ever after. These days, she'd settle for alive after sunrise.
Advice columnist and
newly-appointed oracle to the demivampire, Sophie Galen has more issues than a
Cosmo collection: a new mentor with a mean streak, a werewolf stalker she can't
shake, and a relationship with her ex's family that redefines the term
complicated. And then there's her ex himself, who is more interested in playing
leader of the vampire pack than in his own salvation.
Becoming a better oracle is tough
enough, but when Sophie encounters a deadly enemy - one she never dreamed of
facing - it will take everything she's ever learned in order to survive.
Demimonde
Book
Three
Ash
Krafton
Genre: urban fantasy
Publisher: Ash Krafton
Date of Publication: October 13,
2016
ISBN: 978-1-946120-02-1
ASIN: B01MA3JHUV
Number of pages: 388
Word Count: 104k
Cover Artist: Red Fist Fiction
Book Description:
Since becoming oracle to the
demivampire two years ago, advice columnist Sophie has battled werewolves and
survived a vampire attack (or two). However, not only was she powerless to save
her lover Marek when he slipped to the brink of evolution, she also witnessed
his transformation into a falcon, the symbol of Horus United.
Sophie’s quest to save Marek is
further complicated when rock star Dierk Adeluf – who also happens to be the
king of the Werekind – invites her backstage after a concert. Just when it
seems she will find respite from heartache, Sophie is bitten by a werewolf and
Dierk decides she is destined to be his queen.
Sophie is caught between the
demivamps she loves and the Were who commands her to love him. Throw in his
jealous wanna-be girlfriend—a true bitch if ever there was one—and an ambush by
witches, and there you have the big mess that Sophie calls her life. And, hello?
Her soul mate is still a bird.
About
the Author:
Ash Krafton writes because if she
doesn't, her kids will…and NOBODY wants that. A speculative fiction girl
through and through, Ash writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels as
well as poetry and short fiction. Her work has won a bunch of awards and was
even nominated for a Pushcart Prize. When she's not writing, she's practicing
Tai Chi, listening to loud rock and metal, or crushing on supervillains.
Most recently, she's re-released
her urban fantasy trilogy THE BOOKS OF THE DEMIMONDE because she never really
left the world of Sophie and her Demivamps.
Find out more when you visit www.ashkrafton.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/ashkrafton
Facebook: http://facebook.com/ashkraftonauthor
Goodreads: http://goodreads.com/Ash_Krafton
Pinterest: http://pinterest.com/demimondeash
Tour
giveaway:
JOIN MARSHA'S MAILING LIST and receive a free copy of her paranormal romance story RULER OF THE NIGHT.
Read Marsha's COON HOLLOW TALES of paranormal romance and her ENCHANTED BOOKSTORE LEGENDS for adventurous epic fantasy romance. For a FREE ebook download, read her historic fantasy, LE CIRQUE DE MAGIE, available at Amazon and Smashwords.
1 comments:
Thank you SO MUCH for having me, Marsha. I'm so glad for your support...hope your readers enjoyed the post! (And good luck to everyone who enters the giveaway.)
Cheers, Ash
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