(The other Debra here... I'd like you to help me welcome semi-regular guest Deborah Smith! In about a week, her first urban fantasy under the pen name Leigh Bridger should be shipping. I'm sure she'll answer questions about the book but she's blogging on art ! For those curious about the book--please be curious, I've added a synopsis at the end of the blog. And one lucky blog reader who comments will win an ARC/Bound Galley)
This is what happens when a tame women's fiction author turns to writing urban fantasy: I stood in the art-studio corner of my basement, brush in hand, chortling happily at
a bloated, red-eyed, fanged demon.
Compare him to this sample of art from my pre-demon days. Yes, kids, that's a pair of cartoon puddy-tats. For the children's book I'm working
on.
Seriously. This is my Jekyll and Hyde confession: By day I write women's fiction and cartoon kitty books; by night I write about cannibalistic demons and heroines who indulge in threesomes with ghosts.
After Deb Dixon, my Bell Bridge Books partner, editor, and trusted art critic, pronounced my first demon painting "smiley and bloated" but not remotely sinister, I tried again. I 
set "Smiley" aside and painted this one. Check out this demon manhood. Skull Head, as I call him, is a hunka sexy non-human seduction, IMHO.
His, uhmmm, "focal point," which is NOT covered by a green Photoshop graphic on the actual canvas, is so amazing it prompted my startled husband to suggest I "tone down that highlight." Men get so testy when their wives prop a three-by-four-foot painting of demon junk on the living room coffee table.
If nothing else, my amateur art skills helped me create more much more vivid characters on the page. I promise you, the drooling, slurping, fanged, clawed demons in my book are far creepier than Smiley and Skull Head.
SOUL CATCHER, under my new nom-de-fantasy, Leigh Bridger, comes out next week. Now I'm back to work in the gentler world of women's fiction, writing a novella titled THE TOMATO MOONS OF MORNING GLORY and also working on a big trilogy (first book: KITCHEN CHARMS.)
But the lure of the dark side continues to call me, so, hopefully, I'll follow up with SOUL HUNTER next year.
Hmmm, let's see. The demon will have a head like a goat, ears like a bat's, tusks, razor-sharp heel spurs, and a twin set of . . . well, you'll just have to wait for the painting.
SOUL CATCHER: From the gothic eccentricity of Asheville, North Carolina, to the terrifying recesses of the Appalachian wilderness, from modern demonology to ancient Cherokee mythology, Soul Catcher follows the tormented journey of folk artist Livia Belane, who has been stalked through many lives by a sadistic and vengeful demon. Livia and her loved ones, including her frontier-era soulmate and husband, Ian, a Soul Hunter, have never beaten the demon before. Now, in this life, it's found them again.
21 comments:
This sounds like a great book. I can't wait to read it.
As always, Deb, everything you write intrigues me. Can't wait to check it out and thanks for riding today
You are amazingly talented Deb. I love the puddy tats the best.
This makes me want to start painting my characters. But no one else wants that.
Welcome, Deb! This book sounds awesome and I love your paintings.
Man, I'm starting to want to write a paranormal, but I have a feeling I'm too late to the game. Course I need a little thing called an idea. You've got some great ones, Deb.
I also love the puddy tats too. Your book sounds like a winner.
Love & Hugs,
Pam Keener in PA
Wow! Talk about the two side of the psyche manifesting in your writing! And very cool that you can put to canvas the images in your stories. I try to do that on occasion, but am never satisfied.
Hey, all
Thanks for the nice comments. Deb Dixon lets me post my art on her fridge like a doting mom . . .
As for the book, fingers crossed that it finds an audience, cause I found writing it to be tremendous fun and very different from women's fiction. You can't toss a demon into the scene in the average domestic drama (well, you can, but only in the form of a *personal demon*). Plus in Soul Catcher I get to use really naughty language and write the kind of sex scenes I've never written before. Yum.
debs
It sounds like a great book! The art is wonderful too. Both styles are so different!
I'm slightly cringing at the thought of a naked demon as DD's fridge art... lol
Soul Catcher WAS a great book. In fact, it was difficult for me to proof, because I kept getting involved in the story -- there's lots of action and things going on -- so I was forgetting to watch for errors. And now I can't wait for the next in the series!
I'm slightly cringing at the thought of a naked demon as DD's fridge art... lol
Hey, Jane. I hear she's put worse on her fridge
Deb Smith would probably give away an ARC/Bound Galley to one lucky commentor! I'm going to go update the post! (I can make her. I'm her editor.)
I want to hear about the worse-than-a-naked-demon on your fridge, DD. *g*
The worst example of fridge art was from my brother. In his bachelor-pad days, he was into lions. A lion in brass on his coffee table, a lion done in oil paint on his den wall, etc. There was a large magnet sleeping lion on his fridge, which was the bad part -- every time you saw it, you'd get that song stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
*sings*
A wim-o-weh, a wim-o-weh...
In the jungle, the mighty jungle, the lion sleeps tonight...
Jane-- I think she means the picture of her hubby sipping a Cosmopolitan. (Which I now drink, BTW) I'm not a drink kind of person, but I liked those enough that I now have a cocktail I can swill when in a swilling environment.
Yes, I admit it, my man drinks a pink girly cocktail. And every time he orders one the waitress tries to give it to me when she delivers it. No, I'm the one drinking the brewski.
Hi, DebS! I'm blown away by your art work. 'Course I've always been clown away by your books, and Soul Catcher is now at the top of my TB (to buy) list. It sounds like my kind of paranormal. Mysticism!
This really sounds like a great book. An author and an artist. Boy you are multitalented.
Hey Kathleen
I started painting about ten years ago. Still not very sophisticated but getting better. Skull Head is the first full-body figure I've painted who looks more-or-less realistic. I mean, humanoid (despite a hint of wings and horns.)
Oh your art work reminds me of my daughters - she's currently going to college for graphic art - and she's always had a dark side. My mom is always asking her for flowers and scenery - only for her lol. How wonderful that you are gifted both verbally and artistically :)
Bless you all for feeding my art ego. Just for the record: demons are just a minor sideline; I mostly paint flowers, cats, folk art possums holding quitars ... Happy to say a couple of my music themes now decorate the walls of the local coffee house -slash- music hall. The Peasall Sisters performed there last year. They were in Oh, Brother Where Art Thou with George Clooney. So via "six degrees of separation" my art is connected to George. (swoon)
Looks fantastic, can't wait for it to come out so I can read it. Thanks for all your great entertainment already.
Yay! I am so waiting for this new book. But I really really also loved the Waterlillies series - any chance that you plan to explore that world further?
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