Hello Linda, thanks so much for having me as a guest at your place. I’m excited to be here and look forward to answering anyone’s questions, if any of your visitors care to leave a comment.
I’d also like to offer a $10 Amazon GC as a giveaway – to enter please leave a comment telling me what your favorite supernatural/paranormal character is and why. Please also include your email address so that I may contact you if you are the lucky winner of the drawing:) Drawing will happen on Sunday, November 18th at 7:00 PM:0)
What’s the logline that describes your writing?
SPD – A mixed, not stirred, blend of supernatural, crime, suspense, paranormal romance, some with a diverse edge and others with a sublime impactful subject awareness.
Do you start a new story with the plot or characters first?
SPD – I start with my main character sketches (including villain), and then I brainstorm with another author friend, the story plot using a three-act system of incidents/events, laid out as screen writer Sid Fields teaches. At this point, I add the secondary and extra character sketches as they crop up within the story.
If you use music while writing, name your favorite types.
SPD – I listen to African Tapestries, Hennie Bekker, he also has different ambient music I like. Or, I listen to piano music (like Jim Brickman and many others). I love music without words – Yanni too:)
What is the starting point for research—story concept or when you get stuck while writing?
SPD – Excellent question – I used to get caught up in research until I had a collection of superb information, but no where for it to actually fit into the story. Needless to say, a huge waste of my time and delayed my actual writing of the story. So, now, as I’m writing the story, I’ll make a comment/notation within the story that shows I need to research on that one subject. So much easier to do that way…after the book is in a first or second draft;)
Have you traveled to any locations that appear in your books?
I have been to most of my locations, otherwise, I use google satellite imagery and research. I do like being first-hand familiar with my locations:) Living in Michigan all of my life, a lot of my books take place there.
Can you share a tip about what you do when you get stuck in creating a story?
SPD – There are a couple of things I do: first, I’ll reread what I’ve actually written, and now I keep a timeline of each chapter (which helps make sure I’m keeping on track without any repetition). Then I’ll go back to my plot points. Usually, when I’m stuck, it’s because my plot points have changed and I need to realign or update them.
Do you write in a genre other than the one of this release?
SPD – I use another pseudonym, DK Davis, for actually the same type of genre for Young Adult/New Adult.
TAGLINE
Trafficked girls marked to lose their souls by a malevolent supernatural entity require someone with explicit abilities for their rescue. Will Kendra be able to save them?
BLURB for Malevolent, a Kendra Sparks novel
Kendra Spark, suspense-mystery writer and communicator with the dead, signs on to the next FBI Special Task Force case, trafficked girls that are marked to lose their souls.
Jenna Powers, ghostified criminal analyst, sticks close to the case as she and Kendra are also marked by the same malevolent supernatural force.
Derek Knight, lead FBI Agent on this case, learns of the malevolent entity and the deeper paranormal realm of danger.
Kendra’s unfiltered feelings for Derek struggle to take a backseat, and as the menacing threat grows more intense, so does her passion for Derek.
Derek faces uncertainties he’s never dealt with in his past, like malicious entities and the loss of his heart to love. How can he protect Kendra against forces he can’t see?
As boundless supernatural danger intertwines with the future reality of the trafficked teens, Kendra and Jenna realize only they can shoulder the rescue by calling in a voodoo priestess…
BUY LINKS
Publisher
Amazon
Barnes & Noble
KOKO
Scribed
Smashwords
Indigo
EXCERPT
We left in silence, and during the whole drive to Derek’s place, neither of us said a word.
As soon as we drove into his driveway and parked near his garage, outside lights popped on, streaming through the window and shining across Derek’s face. He turned to me and said, “So what did you not tell Jackson?”
“You gotta hand it to him, our Derek is a pretty receptive dude.” Jenna snickered from the backseat.
“I didn’t tell him about Buster, the malevolent spirit from the hotel. He’s also known as a soul-sucker.”
“What does that mean?” Derek’s back went rigid straight.
“It means those girls don’t know anything about their abuse because their souls are no longer inside their bodies. The soul-sucker absorbs them as his energy source.” There was no way I would tell him females were his favorite meal, or young girls were like a euphoric dessert. “Bertellia’s prostitutes’ souls have taken up residence inside the empty bodies of the teen girls. They are using them like a vessel.”
Derek’s eyes widened to the size of half-dollars. “Are you saying prostitutes live inside those kids?”
“Exactly.”
Derek climbed out of the SUV, and so did I. He went to the back and hauled out my luggage.
“I’m having a hard time wrapping my brain around this, Kendra,” Derek stated. “It sounds like something only a fiction writer would come up with as an explanation.”
Wow, what a blow, as if he stabbed a sharp blade directly into my heart and twisted it a million ways at once. Heat blasted across my face and scurried down my neck. Maybe I shared too much, too soon. I didn’t need him doubting me, nor did I need the hurt and frustration sweeping through me right now.
“How does this guy take their souls?” He stared at me, his startling blues went stormy. “Are you telling me this thing we dealt with inside the hotel room could have taken your soul? Or Jenna’s?” He hissed an exaggerated breath, dropping his gaze to the ground and shaking his head.
“Wow, keep it coming, Derek.” Jenna stepped next to me, punching her fists at him like a boxer on steroids. “Now what are you going to tell him? Hopefully, the truth. That both of our souls are marked by that soul-stealing freak for his consumption.”
That wasn’t what I would share with Derek, considering his acknowledgment of what actually happened in the hotel room. He had some understanding of the danger.
“So, what can stop it?” Derek spoke through clenched teeth, bringing me back to his previous questions. He was already overprotective, but what could he possibly do to protect us from Buster?
How would I respond? Clueless as to the extent of Buster’s abilities, but I was sure about what Grandma Ellie said, he could steal Jenna’s and my soul. Plus, a strong intuitive feeling told me in order to destroy that beast we would have to get up-close and personal with it.
“I’m sure I’ll find answers in Grandma Ellie’s journal. It’s the research I told you I still needed to do. I’ll require specific supplies and chants, and maybe someone else’s help.” Someone that knew about malevolent spirits and what it took to destroy them because right now I hung totally out of my realm. I needed to find Buster’s vulnerability, his number one weakness, his achilleas heel.
“All this supply stuff and chanting, that sounds like pagan lore. Are you a witch, Kendra?” He rolled his shoulders and his furrowed gaze melded into mine.
“I like to think of myself as a spiritualist.”
REVIEW COMMENTS
5 stars “Thrilling ride into the world of spirits.”
S. Peters-Davis takes us proficiently into the world of malevolent soul-sucking spirits. Woven well into the world of the FBI and police investigations we are taken on a whirlwind ride into the unknown.
5 Star – S. Peters Davis does a great job of layering the suspense, keeping track of her characters and developing the romance between Kendra and Derek as dark entities threaten their world. Edge-of-your-seat action makes this a fast-paced read.
S.Peters-Davis writes multi-genre stories, but loves penning a good page-turning suspense-thriller, especially when it’s a ghost story and a romance. When she’s not writing, editing, or reading, she’s hiking, RV’ing, fishing, playing with grandchildren, or enjoying time with her favorite muse (her husband) in Southwest Michigan.
As DK Davis, she also writes YA and NA paranormal, supernatural novels that involve diverse and mature subject matter.
WEB CONTACTS
Website
Facebook
Twitter
Books We Love page
Goodreads
Linked In
