Welcome to Unabridged Bookshelf's stop on the Divinicus Nex Chronicles Blog Tour! Make sure to check out everything going on during this tour by following the tour schedule posted below.
About the Book
Title: Demons at Deadnight
Author: A & E Kirk
Series: Divinicus Nex Chronicles #1
Publication Date: January 5, 2012
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal
For seventeen-year-old Aurora Lahey, survival is a lifestyle.
DEMONIC DESTINY
Aurora has the crappiest superpower on the planet. And it’s just unleashed a hit squad from hell. Demons are on the hunt, salivating to carve her carcass into confetti.
CHARISMATIC KILLERS
The Hex Boys—mysterious, hunky, and notorious for their trails of destruction—have the answers Aurora needs to survive. But their overload of deadly secrets and suspicious motives makes trusting them a potentially fatal move.
LETHAL ALLIES
The battle to save her family, herself, and stop demonic domination may cost Aurora everything worth living for, and force her to reveal her own dark secrets. But no worries. She needs the Hex Boys to pull this off, and, chances are, teaming up with these guys will get her killed anyway.
Series: Divinicus Nex Chronicles #2
Publication Date: May 27, 2014
Genres: Young Adult, Paranormal
Survival. It’s an on-going battle.
GOING ON A TREASURE HUNT…
Aurora Lahey finally knows why supernatural slayers salivate to slaughter her, but how to stop them? Not so much. Sure, she’s discovered her own lethal powers, and has six sexy, super-charged, demon hunting Hex Boys watching her back–the hottest one watching every part of her. But when a seductive stranger delivers a deadly ultimatum, Aurora and the Hex Boys plunge into a do-or-die hunt for a legendary Mandatum treasure, which will finally shift power in their favor. Or unleash hell on earth.
NEX MARKS THE SPOT…
Pursued by demons of mythical proportions, Aurora and the Hex Boys race deeper into the shadowy world of a centuries-old mystery and brutal conspiracy, where no one and nothing is what it seems. Where love and betrayal go hand-in-hand, and trusting the wrong person not only breaks your heart, but gets you killed.
DEMONS ON YOUR TAIL…
Uncovering shocking secrets from the Hex Boys’ past, hiding her Divinicus Nex identity, lying to her pretend-wish-he-were-real boyfriend, dodging demons, breaking into ancient tombs, taking the unexpected side trip to the dark depths of the Waiting World, tracking a traitor, and passing Physics…Aurora could do that in her sleep. Or more likely, die trying.
DON’T GET CAUGHT!
About the Author
This mother-daughter duo were in and out of inter-dimensional paranormal prisons until they finally quit making up cover stories for secret societies and started writing novels. The Supernatural Continuum Warlords of the Supernatural Continuum Warlordian High Command had pity upon them, and instead of having them slaughtered by the slow, tortuous flesh eating underwater, earthworm squid, they transported them into a habitationally friendly dimension called OOARCHTOHUTHLAMADILFRUMP, also known as 21st Century Earth.
Due to a demon infestation in their sleepy mountain California town, and a lack of sexy Hex Boys to stop them, Alyssa and Eileen were forced to relocate to Los Angeles. The Amazon best seller, DEMONS AT DEADNIGHT, is book one in the DIVINICUS NEX CHRONICLES series, and the first of their exclusive re-creations of supernatural society secrets. You can uncover more paranormal, inter-dimensional classified information at AEKIRK.com and Facebook.com/AandEKirk.com.
Citizens of Earth, you are welcome.
1. Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
Alyssa: I love stories and characters and action. I’ll spare you the details my obvious love affair with reading. I am terrible at paintball, but love playing it with my cousins and brothers. Anime is the bomb. I need more time so I can watch Attack on Titan. Can it really be as awesome as everyone keeps telling me? I model costumes at comic book conventions from time to time and that is sooooo much fun. Just finished up some fencing classes with my mom and aunt. We have unusual ladies’ nights. And I’m hoping to take up archery! I just need more hours in a day!
Eileen: Mom of three, wife of one for 25 years. Big fan of anything smart, thrilling, and/or supernatural/paranormal. I’m so happy with all the new TV shows that are geared toward those genres. Sherlock and Supernatural are among my favorites. Love to travel. Lived and worked in Europe riding showjumping horses. Love to cook and read, and write paranormal thrillers, with lots of hot romance featuring six hot guys. Who are young enough to be my sons. Which…sounds a little creepy. We’d better move on now, so I can answer questions that don’t make me sound creepy. I hope.
2. Since you are mother and daughter, does that make writing together easier or more difficult?
Both. On the harder side, we can take things personally when we have disagreements. But for the most part, it makes things easier. We know each other very well and get along. We have similar likes as far as what we prefer to write, but our imaginations are very different, so we can come up with diverse ideas of how to execute the story. When one of us is stuck, the other one can come at the scene from a different angle and it works. It’s awesome when that happens!
3. What influenced you into the decision to write together?
Eileen: For Alyssa’s 18th birthday, we signed her up for a writing conference. She had just finished Demons at Deadnight and wanted to submit it to have professionals read the first 30 pages. I had a background in creative writing and journalism, so she asked if I could help her polish up the first pages. She ended up winning an award for her submission and was told she should pursue her writing. She kept working on the story, I kept helping and eventually we started working together completely. We have different styles and ideas that seem to complement each other.
4. Is there any particular author or book that influenced you in any way either growing up or as an adult?
Alyssa: Meg Cabot’s Mediator and 1-800-Where-R-U series really influenced me. I wasn’t exactly a girly-girl so reading about these strong girls who were snarky and a bit tom-boyish, but still liked nice dresses and getting nails done was really comforting. I didn’t feel so odd-girl-out.
Eileen: Charlotte’s Web was a huge favorite. When I was older I read romance then gravitated to action/adventure thrillers. When paranormal started, I ate it up. I got into Young Adult when Alyssa was looking for more to read. I ended up falling in love with it and now combine my love of talking animals (or demons in this case), romance, thrillers, and paranormal to write The Divinicus Nex Chronicles!
5. Is anything in your book based on real life experiences or purely all imagination?
Eileen: Don’t we wish it was based on real life! Well, maybe not the demons. Although if we had the Hex Boys, we’d be willing to put up with the demons! Aurora’s trust issues probably stem from real life. I had some crap to deal with as a kid that made me wary of everyone, and Alyssa dealt with some “friends” who turned out to be mean girls. I know that affected her deeply. But on the positive side, the Lahey family dynamic comes from our closeness as a family. We are in no way perfect, but we love and support each other greatly. Alyssa and her brothers are the best of friends – when they aren’t trying to kill each other, of course. My husband and I have been happily married for 25 years – when we aren’t trying to kill each other, of course. It’s real which means we have our ups and downs, but the foundation is solid, and that’s what we try to get across with the Laheys. With all of Aurora’s trust issues, she knows she can count on her family, they keep her grounded, and as time goes on she learns to not only trust herself more, but others as well. As the books continue, Aurora, and all the main characters, learn and grow!
6. Are there certain characters you would like to go back to, or is there a theme or idea you’d love to work with?
Unless they’re dead, our side characters will probably show up again sometime in the series. And honestly, in Aurora’s world, even if they are dead it could still happen. Since we have such a long term view of the story, a lot of the characters who show up have some sort of future placement in what happens. For instance, in Demons at Deadnight, there is just a brief mention of a character who you never meet. They seem irrelevant. Then at the end of Drop Dead Demons, and we mean the very end, you find out that character is extremely relevant. That’s fun for us. Setting up long term scenarios that the reader will go, “Wait, what?” And then they can go back and reread and see where there was actually a bit of a clue. One of the biggest compliments we get is that our readers reread the books and love them even more because they now see the little hints we leave along the way!
7. What was the hardest part of writing your book?
Figuring out what to blow up! Nah. Just kidding. We always know what to blow up. Anything and everything! Okay, still kidding. Kind of.
We agonize over every word, character, plot point, etc. The Hex Boys personalities are easy for us because we know them so well, but sometimes it’s hard to find enough time for all of them get on the pages. But the hardest part is letting it go. We want to keep tweaking it over and over again, trying to make it perfect, then more perfect, then more perfect then… You get the idea. If we kept doing that, we’d never get the book out!
8. What was your favorite chapter or part of the book to write and why?
Alyssa: My favorite scene is at the end of Drop Dead Demons which means I’ve got to be careful with spoilers. For those that have read, its where Aurora is without backup … in a place that is not the Waiting World or Gossamer Falls. I like how it expands Aurora’s world and gives the readers a broader sense of the Mandatum’s reach.
Eileen: The last chapter! Because then it’s done and out to the fans! Okay, as for a particular chapter… In Book 1 Demons at Deadnight I love when Aurora and Ayden are in the confessional. It’s fun and sexy and I enjoy their back and forth, trying to get the one up on each other. In Book 2, it’s when they’re on the beach with Jenny and you find out some interesting news about Rose. The story gets a twist and starts a whole new ride.
9. If you had to go back and do it all over, is there any aspect of your novel or getting it published that you would change?
We would have gone self-publishing route sooner. We spent so much time working at getting an agent. Then we got an agent and spent time shopping around to publishers, doing the back and forth. We could have spent all that time writing and publishing more books instead! Self-publishing is hard, you have to do all the work yourself – except the editing, always get a professional editor, and cover designer, and interior designer and…okay we don’t do everything ourselves, but we have to find all the professionals ourselves. But while it’s hard work, we get to make a lot of the decisions that are important to us, and we feel closer to our fabulous fans for whom we have a massive sense of gratitude!
10. For fun, if you could have one superpower what would it be?
Alyssa: Flight or teleportation. Haven’t been able to decide between the two since I was twelve. How cool would it be to soaring around above the trees, skimming over the ocean? But then teleportation would let me be anywhere in an instant! I could pop over to France for some breakfast then be back home in time for work!
Eileen: When I get ideas, I see a story or scene play out in my head. My superpower would be to have what I see and think magically go from my head into words on a page exactly how I want it written! Imagine how many books I could kick out like that. It would be heaven!
TOUR SCHEDULE
Monday, October 13th
Curling Up With A Good Book Auhtor Interview
Tuesday, October 114th
Books and Things Character interview
Wednesday, October 15th
Blissful Book Reviews Guest Post
Thursday, October 16th
Book Lovers Life Guest Post
Friday, October 17th
Watcha Reading Author Interview
Monday, October 20th
Her Book Thoughts! Guest Post
Tuesday, October 21st
Sassy Book Lovers Guest Post
Wednesday, October 22nd
fuonlyknew ~ Laura's ramblins and reviews Guest Post
Thursday, October 23rd
Forever Obsession Character Interview
Friday, October 24th
Sweet Southern Home Guest Post
Monday, October 27th
The Haunting of Orchid Forsythia Author Interview
Tuesday, October 28th
Bad Bird Reads Guest Post
Wednesday, October 29th
Supernatural Snark Guest Post
Thursday, October 30th
Unabridged Bookshelf Author Interview
Friday, October 31st
Auggie-Talk Character Interview
Monday, November 3rd
Penny For Them... Guest Post
Tuesday, November 4th
Bewitched Bookworms Guest Post
Wednesday, November 5th
That Girl With Books Teaser/Excerpt
Thursday, November 6th
Addicted Readers Guest Post
Friday, November 7th
Romancing the Dark Side Character Interview
Each week of this tour will feature a unique Divinicus Nex prize package giveaway, so be sure to follow along for more chances to win! The weekly prize packs:
WEEK 1: Choice of ebook (book 1 or 2), celtic cross necklace, feather hair clips
WEEK 2: Choice of ebook, (1 or 2), Signed Hex Boy Heaven Poster, Love letter from a Hex boy
WEEK 3: Choice of ebook (1 or 2), Signed Hex Boy Poster, Divinicus Nex earrings
WEEK 4: Choice of ebook (1 or 2), Hex Boy Heaven Mug
Tour-Wide Giveaway: One lucky winner will receive a grand prize package consisting of a $100 Amazon gift card AND the chance to name a character in the third installment!
At each tour stop you will find a daily question. To be eligible to win the grand prize, you must answer at least 4 different daily questions. So go and visit the other tour stops, check the amazing content and answer the daily question!
Question: You’re the producer of the TV series The Bachelor and get to choose a Hex Boy for the next show. Who do you choose?
Please enter via the Rafflecopter form. Giveaway is open internationally.
Thank you for visiting Unabridged Bookshelf!