Please welcome Keri Arthur to The Qwillery. Keri is the author of several series including Nikki and Michael, Riley Jensen Guardian, and Dark Angels. Keri's most recent novel Darkness Splintered, the 6th Dark Angels novel, was published on November 5, 2013.
TQ: Welcome to The Qwillery!
Keri: Thanks for inviting me here :)
TQ: You've written many novels in several different series. What is the most challenging thing for you about writing?
Keri: Trying to keep things fresh, and trying to find a new take on old ideas and myths!
TQ: Your most recent novel is Darkness Splintered (Dark Angels 6). Tell us something about the novel that is not in the book description.
Keri: That's hard without giving away too much! Ummmm.....People die in this book—and it's not who you expect.
TQ: In the Dark Angels series, who is the character that surprised you the most? Who was most difficult to write? And do you have a favorite good guy or bad guy?
Keri: The character that surprise me the most was actually Azriel—I really didn't expect him to have such a sense of humor. The most difficult to write was Hunter—and not just because she was known via the Riley Jenson series. I wanted to make her truly evil, but not over the top unbelievable. It was a fine line to tread. My favorite good guy in this series is—of course—Azriel. Favorite bad guy would have to be Lucian. He was such a fun—if bitter and revenge-filled—character to write!
TQ: What sorts of research have you done for the Dark Angels series and what is the oddest thing you've found?
Keri: Dark Angels is set in a world I've written about for 15 books now, so I'm very familiar with it (and any world building research was mostly done in those earlier books). The research I have done for the Dark Angels series revolved around myths and legends, looking for a different type of 'monster' I could use for each of the stories.
Oddest thing? A Victorian era folklore character called Spring—heeled Jack, who was known for his startling hops.
TQ: The Dark Angels series and the Riley Jensen Guardian series are set in Guardians world. How easy or difficult is it to keep track of series facts, characters, etc. over 2 series totaling 15 novels?
Keri: It's almost impossible. I actually started making notes very early on in the Riley Jenson series, and I continue to do it, even though there's only one book left in the series after Darkness Splintered. There's simply too many characters and events through the 15 novels to remember. Besides, I might yet roll into a third series set in the same world, so I'll need those notes all the more!
TQ: What's next?
Keri: Next up for me is Fireborn, the first book in my Souls of Fire series. I'm really excited about this series, because it's set in a brand new world (though it's still set in Melbourne—just a different Melbourne to the Riley Jenson series), and it features a phoenix heroine who has three forms; fire, flesh and firebird. There's also hot dragons, a lost love returned, murdered, mayhem and maybe even a little romance. All the good stuff, in other words!
TQ: Thank you for joining us at The Qwillery.
Keri: My pleasure!
Dark Angels
Darkness Splintered
Dark Angels 6
Signet, November 5th, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Risa has angered several powerful people, and she’s starting to feel the pressure from all sides. She also finds herself under the scrutiny of the vampire council, some of whom consider her a monster who should be destroyed. But they offer her a bloody bargain: Take on the lethal head of the council and others will support her.
As the search for the keys to hell heats up, Risa realizes that she has no choice. For the sake of the people she loves, she must find the keys—and get rid of Hunter—before the next gate is opened and brings the world closer to all hell breaking loose....
Darkness Unmasked
Dark Angels 5
Signet Select, June 4, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones is beginning to believe that the only way to find the keys she’s been searching for and save her friends is by dying. And when Wolfgang Schmidt, the lover of her boss at the vampire council, is found dead, her worst fears are confirmed. With the first portal of hell permanently open, the energies of the dark path are leaching into the world.
Searching for Schmidt’s killer and the keys at the same time, Risa and reaper Azriel track a shape-shifting spider spirit capable of changing her form into a seductive woman. But when they finally find the second key, the Aedh Lucian snatches it and disappears.
Risa is intent on finding Lucian and fighting him to the death—for in her mind, she knows that neither can remain while the other lives....
Darkness Hunts
Dark Angels 4
Signet Select, November 6, 2013
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
Risa Jones, half-Aedh/half-werewolf, can enter the realm between life and death. She can speak to the dying and the dead, and she can see the reapers, collectors of souls. What she can not yet see is the identity of a stranger murdering women and draining their blood. Now Risa must summon her gifts to find him, even if it means putting her own life in danger. But Risa needn’t look far. The killer knows who she is.
He tells her his victims are infected by darkness and he’s fated to destroy them. Fascinated by Risa, he engages her in a sinister game: the chance to save the life of his next victim by deciphering his series of clues. In a race against time, she enlists the help of the reaper Azriel.
But as an attraction between them grows, so does the fear that the stranger’s motives are only part of a larger, more dangerous stratagem—one that that has lured Risa and Azriel into the dark.
Darkness Devours
Dark Angels 3
Signet Select, June 26, 2012
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
New York Times bestselling author Keri Arthur has been hailed for her “smart, sexy”* urban fantasy novels. Now, she continues her Dark Angels series set in the realm of danger and desire known as the Guardian World… Half-werewolf, half-Aedh Risa Jones can enter the realm between life and death, and she can see the Reapers who collect the souls of the dead. Now, she is using her gifts—and the investigative know-how of a man who broke her heart—to find a cabal searching for the power to control time, reality, and fate. And this is besides her work for the Vampire Council, half of whom want her dead. But for now the Council needs her alive. Someone is killing blood-whore addicted vampires, and Risa must find the guilty party. If she succeeds, she may finally convince the council to lift the execution order on her life. But before she succeeds, she must first survive…
Darkness Rising
Dark Angels 2
Dell, October 25, 2011
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 368 pages
The sexy, thrilling adventures continue in bestselling author Keri Arthur’s new Dark Angels series, starring half-werewolf/half-Aedh Risa Jones.
Risa will go to any lengths to avenge her mother’s murder—even if it means making a pact with the most evil vampire she’s ever met. Lethal and powerful, Madeline Hunter is leader of the vampire council, and will put her resources behind finding the killer—for a price. The venerable vampire requires the assistance of Risa’s psychic powers. Quid pro quo.
Someone—or something—is targeting the elders of the local council, cursing the immortal vampires to rapidly age, sink into madness, and die. Risa must track down the vengeful being responsible. But Risa’s father, a rogue Aedh priest, also enlists her in a dangerous mission. And not even the great Madeline Hunter may be able to protect her from the shadowy forces that desire nothing less than Risa’s destruction.
Darkness Unbound
Dark Angels 1
Dell, September 27, 2011
Mass Market Paperback and eBook, 400 pages
The fight against darkness rages on for the next generation—in New York Times bestselling author Keri Arthur’s exciting new series set in the world of the Guardians.
Being half werewolf and half Aedh, Risa Jones can enter the twilight realms between life and death and see the reapers, supernatural beings that collect the souls of the dead. But she soon makes a terrifying discovery: Some sinister force is stealing souls, preventing the dead from ever knowing the afterlife.
Reapers escort souls—not snatch them—but Risa is still unnerved when a reaper shadows her in search of someone Risa has never met: her own father, an Aedh priest, who is rumored to be tampering with the gates of hell for a dark purpose. With the help of her “aunt”—half-werewolf, half-vampire Riley Jenson—and an Aedh named Lucian who may have lost his wings but none of his sex appeal, Risa must pursue whatever shadowy practitioner of blood magic is seizing souls, and somehow stop her father . . . before all hell breaks loose.
About Keri
Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter @kezarthur ~ Google+ ~ LiveJournal
The Giveaway
What: One commenter will win a Mass Market Paperback copy of Darkness Splintered (Dark Angels 6) from The Qwillery.
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I got into Keri with the Riley Jenson books and have loved this series just as much - Thank you.
ReplyDeletelooks and sounds fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteKeri must have done something really good to please the Cover Goddess because her books looks awesome!
ReplyDeleteI haven't read this series yet, but i had read another series from Keri books. I like it.
ReplyDeleteI very sure i will like this series too.
Thank you for such a fantastic post. You make me want to be a faster reader. Stunning covers.
ReplyDeletethx u for the chance of win :)
ReplyDeleteNever read this author before
ReplyDeleteThanks for the chance to win!
ReplyDeleteI love Keri Arthur's books and I can't wait to read Darkness Splintered!!