Book Reviews / Favorite Books I've Read: DEMON SLAVE TOUR

Welcome to the Official Demon's Slave Blog Tour

It's with great honour that I introduce you to Danielle D. Smith, Author of Demon's Slave

Danielle D. Smith was born in San Diego, California, USA. She was first published at age 29. In addition to being a writer of bestselling gritty angel-and-demon themed supernatural fantasy stories that have cracked the Amazon bestseller list and gained a dedicated cult following, she is an accomplished fine artist and illustrator whose visual work has appeared in various public, private, and gallery exhibitions and in national publications, and has studied everything from costuming to tattooing. Dani, as she is known by many who are close to her, lives in San Diego with a large number of books, indie flicks, and documentaries. Her novels appeal to dreamers, troublemakers, dark romantics, horn dogs, and general escapists. She is the proud owner of a beefcake husband, a beautiful new baby boy named Ryker, and several beautiful tattoos. She is hard at work juggling motherhood and working on the graphic novel versions of two of her books, Black Dog and Rebel Rose and Psyche's Gate.

Demon's Slave by Danielle D. Smith

Rose, Nephil daughter of a Warrior of Heaven, has betrayed her celestial heritage by falling for the guy from the wrong side of the tracks: Skriker, tattooed half-demon hunter, and the most irresistible chunk of hard meat that she has ever taken to her bed.

Rose knows that there is no love in all of Creation more forbidden than that between an angel and a demon, and that knowledge has left her terribly fragmented, despite her passionate love for her Halfling bad boy.

As Skriker's "Dirty 30" approaches, she will offer him the ultimate birthday gift: she will be his devoted sexual slave for three days and three nights, laying aside her angelic pride to fully commit to his pleasure (and hers) with every part of her being...and neither Heaven nor Hell will have any power to stop it.

**Publisher's Warning: This sordid tale contains graphic BDSM sex, including forceful oral and anal sex, bondage, blindfolding, slapping/spanking, nipple clamps, toe-curling dirty talk, hot wax, and crazy hardcore sex in a church.**

Welcome Danielle to my blog:

1. What made you decide to write this book?

My fans! I had a conversation on Facebook with a few of my closest fans-turned-friends, and they all told me that they would love to read a story looking strictly into Rose and Skriker’s private life, rather than the regular paranormal hunt with sex thrown in along the way. When I suggested BDSM, the answer was a resounding online “YES!!!” The BDSM theme ended up allowing me to show how much Skriker and Rose’s relationship needed to grow and mature, and how much these two mismatched beings really need each other. I still feel that I made the right choice, and the end result has been a huge success.

2. What character did you have the most fun writing?

As usual, it has to be Skriker, my salty-and-sweet tattooed half-demon bad boy. He is the most fun character to write in any story, bar none. His humor, sharp wit, laid-back attitude, and demonic ancestry allow me to drop him into pretty much any setting with great success, whether that be a vampire hunt in a rotten ghost town, a barbed wire cage fight in an underground club, or a good sweaty roll in the sheets with his dearest lady love.

3. How long did it take you to write Demon’s Slave?

On and off, about four months. I was pregnant at the time, and had to work through periods of creative exhaustion where I could barely come up with a missionary position scene. LMFAO! But when the spark came back (sometimes almost at random), I could type for hours and still have the ideas zinging through my cranial corridors while I was trying to go to sleep.

4. Do you ever come up with anything so wild that you scare yourself that leaves you wondering where that came from?

Oh, yeah. I think that any creative type has those moments…the ones where you start to wonder if you aren’t just a little too twisted for your own good. Apparently my twisted side has come out more often than not in my work…and the book reviews sure reflect that! But what can I say? I gotta be me.

5. Do you have a favorite book of yours? Why?

I adore “King Rat”, the debut release of London-based author China Mieville. It’s a twisted, urban “weird” fantasy story retelling the old German Pied Piper tale. I have probably read it ten times and still never get sick of it. It was a major influence on me when I wrote my first two books, “Psyche’s Gate” and “Black Dog and Rebel Rose”. I still bust it out now and then if I need a little bit of dark urban fantasy inspiration while I work on a new project.

6. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Childhood dream El Numero Uno was to be an artist. I had huge dreams of becoming a great painter…part of me still does. But as I have gotten older, I have moved away from the more fine art aspect of things and into the art-as-storytelling phase of my interest—specifically, graphic novels. I also apprenticed as a tattoo artist for two years, and that was a hugely influential experience for me. Being a writer was a close second. Basically, I ALWAYS knew what I was “meant” to be, and never questioned it. I think I’m lucky in that way, even if the artistic life means periodic poverty and struggle, a bad credit score, too many cigarettes, etc. *wink*

You manage to become more spiritually rich, even if your pocketbook suffers.

7. What was one of the most surprising things you learned in writing/creating your books?

That I could keep researching angels and demons and not get sick of them. I have amassed a small library of angel and demon-focused literature, including ancient history, anthropology, sociology, art, fiction, Biblical/Judaic literature, etc. and I have yet to feel bored when busting out one of these incredible resources. Vampires and werewolves may be the trend, but angels and demons are most definitely my paranormal meat and milk.

8. What do you do to unwind and relax?

Hmmm…one thing I won’t mention and leave to your fine imaginations. ;-) Moving on, I love to read (of course), watch great movies and TV shows (my current addiction is “Sons of Anarchy”), draw random images of my characters that won’t actually go onto a book cover or into the comic book I’m working on right now, smoke Camel cigarettes, sample the food and wine of my hometown, and generally just tool around with my hubby or my little sister.

9. What does your family think of your writing?

They love it! My dad always says, “Dani, you should be a millionaire.” I say, “I wish!!!” Very sweet sentiment from a parental-unit, but as the old saying goes, you can wish in one hand and shit in the other and see which ones get filled first. LOL!

10. Do you have any suggestions for budding writers?

Rule #1: Write what YOU would want to read. As you have noticed, I don’t write vamp or shifter stories because I’m tired of them and have lost all interest, even though I’d make more money if I did. You need to decide if you want to write something that you would enjoy, or if you are just trying to jump on the bandwagon of mainstream fiction. I always choose integrity…er…I mean, what I would enjoy reading. It makes me a non-mainstream writer with a non-mainstream image, but whatever. Rule #2: Polish, polish, polish!!! As in “till it shines”, not “sausage”. (Don’t we just love the English language?) Make your manuscript the best it can be, and when you submit it, follow their rules EXACTLY. When you sign along the dotted line on that first contract, it will have been worth the pain-in-the-ass submittal hoops they made you jump through. Rule #3: DON’T GIVE UP!!! Seriously.

11. Do you hear from your readers much? What kinds of things do they say?

I hear from my readers all the time, especially via Facebook, and I wish even more would contact me, only because I love hearing from them so very much. Usually they tell me that they love my work because it ain’t the same old thing. And they love Skriker. Ohhh, MAN, to my reading ladies love the old Skriker man! I think he’s become the naughty fantasy of about half of Australia alone. LOL. Sometimes I’ll get an email or message with some kind of criticism tacked on—“your plot was predictable” or “you used to much foul language” or my favorite, “Black Dog and Rebel Rose read like a Duke Nuke ‘Em video game with sex in it”—and that’s good, too. I like hearing the good and the bad. The good makes me feel, well, GOOD, and the bad makes me go, “Hmmm…something to learn from/think about.” Anyone who says a writer stops honing his/her craft after they get pubbed is full o’ shit. You never stop learning…that’s what life is.

12. What elements do you need to make a good story?

A.) Interesting characters that aren’t too “perfect”. One huge pet peeve of mine in the PNR genre is the heroine who is “perfect in every way”. She can kill 20 guys even though she weighs 90 lbs. Every dude wants to fuck her and falls at her feet. Gets REALLY old. Yes, my main heroine is a kickass chick with a hot body, but she has FLAWS. Her face is scarred, her soul is fragmented. She’s shitty to her man more than she should be. She has room to grow. Make your characters interesting and they will be your foundation. B.) Pull a plot out of your pretty ass that doesn’t read like the same old thing. Mix it up a bit…and don’t get scared.

13. What tools do you feel are must-haves for writers?

Cigarettes and strong coffee. And the cajones (testicles) big enough to say, “I’m gonna do this, so f*** you all who say I can’t.”

14. What are you reading right now?

“Primal Myths” by Barbara Sproul.

15. What were your feelings when your first novel was accepted/when you first saw the cover of the finished product?

YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! And then I performed the “fuck you” dance for everyone who said I couldn’t do it.

Please find below the schedule for Demon's Slave Tour: