Cate: Please welcome M.L. to my special Halloween celebration. M.L.,
please tell us a little bit about yourself.
M.L.: Thanks for inviting me to
your blog. I write both historical and contemporary paranormal books. I'm
published with Kensington, Passion in Print, and self published. I write about
both demons and vampires with a dusting of witches and dragons.
Cate: What do you love most about Halloween?
M.L.: I love the scary shows.
I'm stuck on the old Halloween movies with Jamie Curtis, Stephen King movies, and John Carpenter.
Cate: Do you have a favorite memory of a Halloween past?
M.L.: My favorite memory is the
eating candy after Halloween. My mother bought us a huge plastic pumpkin to
fill up with treats. My brother and sister and I would sit in front of the
television on Saturday mornings watching cartoons and indulging in chocolate.
When I was a kid, cartoons were always on Saturday mornings.
Cate: Have you ever had an unusual experience you couldn’t explain?
M.L.: When I was in Scotland, I
stayed in a haunted castle. The little girl who haunted the castle wore a
yellow dress. In the middle of the night, I woke up and someone wearing yellow
passed my nightstand. I closed my eyes. Something sat next to me. Still didn't
open my eyes. My friend wore yellow pajamas, but to this day, swears it wasn't
her.
Cate: What frightens you the most?
M.L.: Real demons. I only saw
the Exorcist once and once was too many.
Cate: I hear you *shudders* Ever gone on a ghost tour? Or ghost hunting
on your own?
M.L.: I love going on ghost
tours. The best one I went on was in London: Jack the Ripper tour.
Cate: Any favorite Halloween recipes you’d care to share?
M.L.: Does sticking a chocolate
bar in peanut butter count?
Cate: Counts for me! Lol Tell us about your latest release, and where
readers can find it online.
M.L.: I have two new releases.
One of them is with Passion in Print, Punishment, Angels of Death, and the
second is A Vampire's Fallen Christmas Star. They are both available at Amazon.
Cate: Care to share a blurb or excerpt?
M.L.: Punishment, Angels of
Death:
Chapter
One
A
gust of wind swirled around Blade, churning faster and faster. Dirt and leaves
sprayed into his face, stinging his eyes, slapping his cheeks, slipping into
his mouth. He gagged and raised his arm, burying his face in the crook of his
elbow. Cold penetrated his skin and frosted his bones into brittle icicles. He
bent his legs and jumped into the air to fly, but his wings failed to open.
Instead of falling, the wind lifted him, spinning him around and around and
around, his arms and legs flailing, his stomach churning.
“Balthazar,”
he screamed, “Help me.”
But
the demon Balthazar refused to answer. Only the wind answered, taunting and
hissing his name.
Blade
slammed onto the hard ground and rolled and rolled until he banged into
something hard. The air was knocked out of him, and pain stabbed his shoulder. He
groaned and put his hand on his forehead. Pine branches blew over his head.
Between the branches and clouds, the moon played peek-a-boo. He spat out dirt and
leaves and inhaled, filling his lungs with sweet mountain air. Where the devil
had the Archangel Raphael sent him?
He
shook his head and pushed himself off the ground into a sitting position. Pine
needles and twigs stuck through his long-sleeved tee-shirt, pricking and
scratching his skin.
He
brushed the debris. “Why the hell am I in pain? I'm a bloody demon, a fallen
angel.”
Raphael
shimmered in front of him, his white wings spread out wide, and stared at him
with those large silver eyes that always made him squirm. He cocked his
eyebrow. “Balthazar? Really, Blade?”
Blade
gritted his teeth. “You didn’t think I’d ask for you.”
The
full moon rose high into a cloudless sky littered with a million stars. A cool
breeze blew the tall pine and aspen trees. He shivered. “Where the hell am I?”
“Frisco,
Colorado.”
“Why
am I here?”
Raphael
shrugged. “For your penance.”
Blade
put his hand down and pushed himself up. “My what?” He grimaced. His body
ached, but his right shoulder screamed with agony.
“You
heard me. Peddling the Hell drug, Xanadu, is a serious offense. You killed
innocent people to satisfy your lust for revenge.”
Blade
clenched his fists. “If you would have healed Samantha, I wouldn’t have
fallen.”
Raphael
shook his head; blond strands fell from his loose queue. “I keep telling you, she
wasn’t your angel-mate. You never spoke the binding words.”
“I
would have if Samantha hadn’t been murdered.”
“Samantha’s
death was not Heather’s fault. Heather couldn't control her client. The man was
an addict and refused to accept Heather’s treatment.”
Bitterness
swirled in Blade’s mouth. “The bitch shouldn’t have released someone from her
rehab center unless he was fully cured.”
Raphael’s eyes glowed. “There’s…somebody else
for you.”
“Like
hell there is. I have no intention of repenting. Forget it.” He rubbed his
shoulder and winced. “Why the devil am I in pain?”
“You’re
human and will remain human unless you repent.”
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Cate: What inspired you to write about the theme?
M.L.: The series of Angels of
Death is not only about repentance, but forgiveness. The story originated with
a ceiling painting of people smoking. The painting is actually over a smoker's
room and smokers looked up to see a funeral. This intrigued me. What would
happen if the angel death showed you your funeral? Would you change your life?
Or refuse to believe?
Cate: Anything else you’d like to share?
M.L.: I'd just like to wish
everyone a Happy Halloween!
Cate: Woot! M.L. has a giveaway for you guys!
M.L.: An ebook copy of
Punishment, Angels of Death.
Cate: Thanks for joining the Halloween party, M.L.! Happy Halloween!
