AUTHOR INTERVIEW / M.K. THEODORATUS, AUTHOR OF THERE BE DEMONS

Fantasy has always been part of M. K. Theodoratus’ life, starting when she starting playing with an imaginary friend when she was three. Comics, books, TV, and movies followed throughout her life. A northern California girl, many of her Andor alternative-world stories are firmly rooted there. Today, she lives in Northern Colorado with her husband and two lap-cats, and writes when she’s not wasting time on social media.

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Q: Welcome to The Writer's Life! Now that your book has been published, we’d love to find out more about the process. Can we begin by having you take us at the beginning? When did you come up with the idea to write your book?

Sometime before 2010, I was wasting time looking at pictures of gargoyles. As the repetitive French cathedral gaudies grew boring, my mind started asking questions, like: What kinds of problems would a gargoyle have?

My mind started hopping around, as it is wont to do. Seems like demons were invading Gillen’s territory, the scion of a powerful gargoyle clan was lusting for his position as lodestar, and his commanders were slow to send him reinforcements. Yeah…Gillen got his reinforcements--four untrained teens from the projects—and the story took off limping.

Story got written. Story got critiqued. Story sold. Then, I began wondering how that turned out. How did Gillen cope with Britt? A different There Be Demons got drafted, revised many times, and now, published.

Q: How hard was it to write a book like this and do you have any tips that you could pass on which would make the journey easier for other writers?

Every writer’s craft process is different, but the goal is the same—an interesting story. If readers get mired in slow-moving storyline, most go elsewhere. The crucial thing to know is writing a book isn’t the end. It’s the lack of revision and editing that you’re your dreams.

Tip? Simple. Write. And keep writing—whether you outline or run by the seat of your pants—but write until you get to the end. You can always change things around. It’s easier when you have something to work with.

Q: Who is your publisher and how did you find them or did you self-publish?

I’ve self-published short stories. I farmed out the parts I couldn’t do and merrily tried to build a platform when I had a contract with a mom-and-pop publisher for There Be Demons. [They imploded before they published the book.]

When I realized I had finished a second Andor book, I decided to go back and self-publish There Be Demons. After I rewrote the book, I contracted with Wooden Pants, a local outfit, to do the publishing parts I’m too old and tired and ignorant to do.

Ta-dah, There Be Demon is an ebook and print-on-demand. It’s still a long tedious process.

Q: Is there anything that surprised you about getting your first book published?

Not really. I thought it would take time away from my writing…and it does. I’m really starting to itch about writing the third book.

Q: What other books are you working on and when will they be published?

I’m still at the thinking and dreaming stage of a possible third, stand-alone book set in the Demons Wars, Rendezvous With Demons. One of the main foci of the book will be the conflict the conflict between Gillen and Britt again, but I think the main conflict’s going to be between Britt and Pillar from the second book.

On the Run, the second complete Andor book, happens several years after There Be Demons and features a half-breed Angeli/human, Pillar, who seeks a place to belong. I plan to publish that book in six months. I may also reissue a color-a-comic pre-primer a friend and I did many years ago around Christmas time.

Q: What’s one fact about your book that would surprise people?

My Angeli commanders are incompetent bureaucrats? I’d say than the Demons, Angeli, and humans use the same form of magic--only they call it different names.

Q: Finally, what message are you trying to get across with your book?

Duty and good can appear in surprising places. Heroes come in many forms.

Q: Thank you again for this interview! Do you have any final words?

If you are a reader, keep on reading. If you’re a writer, keep writing and reading.

About the Book:

Title: THERE BE DEMONS
Author: M.K. Theodoratus
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 360
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal

BOOK BLURB:

Heroes come in all shapes.

The war for Andor has lasted a century. Humans and their allies, the Angeli, fight demons from another plane who need a warmer planet to hatch and raise their young. Trebridge becomes Ground zero when Abraxas, a minion of the demon Prince Vetis, opens a secret portal into the city. The demons’ goal is to build an army to subjugate the city before the humans realize they are under attack.

Standing in the demons’ way are two disparate groups: the humans of Andor and their Angeli allies who command gargoyle warriors.

Leading the four gargoyles guarding Trebridge is Gillen, a proven war hero who uses magic to fight demons. But Gillen is an outcast, mocked for his tuft of hair that normal gargoyles lack. It’s up to him to prove once and for all that he’s worthy of his command, in spite of dissention in his ranks. When Gillen asks the Angeli Commanders for reinforcements to fight the growing demon menace in Trebridge, headquarters send four human teens from the projects.

The leader of the humans is Britt, a 14-year-old half-Hispanic girl who is one of the four magic-possessing Chosen. But Britt was never trained in the art of magic, and like most girls her age, spends her days preoccupied with school and romance. Like Gillen, she must rise above her station in life--if she is to save the ones she loves.

But Gillen and Britt are facing formidable demon foes, Abraxas: a chicken-headed demon who possesses several humans as part of his plan to build the demons’ base in Trebridge and power-hungry Prince Vetis who is his commander. Neither will let the deaths of expendable humans get in their way of the conquest.

In There Be Demons, author M.K. Theodoratus spins a brilliant tale of good versus evil. In this thrilling Young Adult fantasy novel, unlikely heroes rise to challenge a relentless enemy. Join them as they risk everything to save their city.