Welcome to the Enchanted Orb for September. Today Christina Ashcroft has graciously agreed to talk about what inspired her to write. While she's focussing on archangels at the moment, you should also know that she also writes hot historical romance. So settle in, and I'll let her tell you about where her ideas come from.
Take it away, Christina!
The Inspiration behind the World of my
Archangels
Unlike many of my author friends, my mind
isn’t overspilling with a thousand different story ideas. I don’t have twenty
different heroes battling it out in my head, demanding that I write their
story next. My process is painful in the extreme and I suffer from huge panic
attacks that this book is the last one I will ever create.
But luckily, as I approach writing the
final third of the current book, another hero or heroine takes up residence
with my Muse and over the next few weeks make themselves very much at home. I
have this superstitious fear that if I try to analyse where my ideas come from
they’ll vanish, so if I can possibly help it I just kind of let it all bubble
away doing its own magical thing. But since I’ve been asked where I find my
inspiration, I’ve tried to nail it down!
My new series for Berkley Heat is about
fallen Archangels. The first inkling for this idea came from a random comment several
years ago by our very own Eleni (and I’ll be talking more about that in a
couple of months!). From nowhere this archangel invaded my mind and I was
instantly hooked, despite having no idea who he was or why he was rampaging
through the universe.
A few years later, after encouragement from
my editor, I revisited this moody, Alpha Archangel
in the hope he’d be more forthcoming with his story. But this time, a couple of
other things began to stir into the mix.
I’ve always been fascinated by the myths
and legends of a lost continent. What’s not to love about the idea of an
ancient civilization that we know next to nothing about? This fascination was
fed more than twenty years ago when I read something that pointed to evidence
that the pyramids and Sphinx are thousands of years older than we’ve been led to
believe.
Add to this my morbid delight with the
whole Mayan calendar legacy and suddenly the world that my Archangel
inhabited in his wild, untroubled youth unfolded before me.
It was the spark I needed to illuminate the
dark side of the Archangel Gabriel. And while I still don’t have a thousand
stories hammering in my mind demanding to be told, I do have a fabulous world
with a multitude of archangels, demons, vampires and various other immortals. I
might not know their stories yet, but I’m sure that when they’re ready to share
they’ll let me know.
Christina Ashcroft writes about bad ass
Archangels and the women who capture their hearts for Penguin/Berkley Heat. Her
first book in this series, ARCHANGEL OF MERCY, is out on 4th December 2012. Hopefully the
Mayans got it wrong…
Between an angel
and a desperate woman comes salvation-
and a raw
passion that challenges them at every turn…
When Aurora Robinson
attempts to open a rift between dimensions to embrace her true heritage, an
arrogant Archangel is the only one who can
save her from the jaws of hell. And while she owes Gabriel her life, she’s
determined not to fall at his feet-despite the desire she feels whenever
they’re together.
After his wings were
brutally destroyed millennia ago, Gabriel has no compassion for humans like
those who ruined him and betrayed the ones he loved. But when he inexplicably
finds himself defying ancient protocols to rescue a woman from a fate worse
than death, he is shocked by the searing attraction he feels for a mortal.
As the ancient
forces that seek to punish Aurora
for her actions close in, Gabriel offers the tempting woman protection at his
private sanctuary. But as they both succumb to their desires, they discover an
even deeper connection-one that threatens to consume them.
Archangel of Mercy can be found at:
Visit Christina’s website for more info:
http://www.christinaashcroft.com
