Dear Reader, Love M.K. Theodoratus

Dear Reader…

I think I can. I think I can. Survive the publishing process, that is.

Yeah, I’m complaining about the silly publishing process…again. I much rather be sitting in front of my “confuser” trying to attach words to the scenes I see in my head.  Who cares which words I use when I’m only amusing myself?

The thought of someone out of my comfort-zone reading There Be Demons makes me cringe.

Why am I self-publishing? If I sought a traditional publisher, I could always hide under the excuse “no editor has offered me a contract”.

That’s the problem. During its long gestation, There Be Demons did have an editor/publisher. Unfortunately, she was part of a mom-and-pop operation that imploded.

The book is no longer the same book, but I feel I owe something to Spring Lea who loved Britt and Gillen’s story enough to give me a contract. I even went through the process of trying to “build the proverbial platform”, including self-publishing short stories set in Andor. The stories expanded the scope of the world, especially after I finished the second book set in it. While the current book is much different than the book Spring Lea first saw, the core is there, lurking in the corners. I fear one of the loose ends is going to reach out and strangle me.

Then, there’s all the story-stuff I didn’t emphasize or mention or ???? enough. Example. When going through the copy-editing process, I noticed Britt’s brother complained their father preferred they speak “American”. Uhhhhmmmm. They live in Andor. Wouldn’t that be Andorian?

Another blatant item jumped out and bit me today while I was staring at my morning coffee: Britt’s middle-school-years-silliness. Okay, I know those friendships, disasters, and crushes are important to the growing up process. But…Britt’s in shock. She’s suffered two hurtful blows: her accepting great-grandmother has died [story in Showdown at Crossings]. plus she’s been uprooted from her comfortable suburban life and thrown into the projects. My excuse for leaving it “as is”. All the friendships have disappeared from her thoughts while her days with Granny Nan comfort her.

Then, I think I should have written a chapter from the viewpoint of the Angeli. Demons get some stage. Gillen’s thoughts on training his Chosen are a main component of There Be Demons. Britt’s grumbling through out, wondering not so much about the demon threat but what to do about Cahal. Guess the reader is going to have to just accept the Angeli commanders as dense bureaucrats who can’t see beyond “things normal” etc.

So, here I am neck-deep in the publishing process with the release date of There Be Demons looming like the proverbial sword of doom. Makes me wish I didn’t decide to reach for the golden ring. All I want to do is to jump off of the carousel, but I won’t.

There’s that silly fantasy that a few people might buy the book. [Actually, that’s a lot of people if I’m going to be truthful.] Hey, even writers dream with themselves being the main character.

Whatever. I hope you enjoy my story and remember heroes come in all shapes and sizes, sometimes from the least likely places.

Love, Author

About the Author

Fantasy has always been part of M. K. Theodoratus’ life, starting when she starting playing with an imaginary friend when she was three. Comics, books, TV, and movies followed throughout her life. A northern California girl, many of her Andor alternative-world stories are firmly rooted there. Today, she lives in Northern Colorado with her husband and two lap-cats, and writes when she’s not wasting time on social media.

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About the Book:

Title: THERE BE DEMONS
Author: M.K. Theodoratus
Publisher: Independent
Pages: 360
Genre: YA/Fantasy/Paranormal

BOOK BLURB:

Heroes come in all shapes.

The war for Andor has lasted a century. Humans and their allies, the Angeli, fight demons from another plane who need a warmer planet to hatch and raise their young. Trebridge becomes Ground zero when Abraxas, a minion of the demon Prince Vetis, opens a secret portal into the city. The demons’ goal is to build an army to subjugate the city before the humans realize they are under attack.

Standing in the demons’ way are two disparate groups: the humans of Andor and their Angeli allies who command gargoyle warriors.

Leading the four gargoyles guarding Trebridge is Gillen, a proven war hero who uses magic to fight demons. But Gillen is an outcast, mocked for his tuft of hair that normal gargoyles lack. It’s up to him to prove once and for all that he’s worthy of his command, in spite of dissention in his ranks. When Gillen asks the Angeli Commanders for reinforcements to fight the growing demon menace in Trebridge, headquarters send four human teens from the projects.

The leader of the humans is Britt, a 14-year-old half-Hispanic girl who is one of the four magic-possessing Chosen. But Britt was never trained in the art of magic, and like most girls her age, spends her days preoccupied with school and romance. Like Gillen, she must rise above her station in life--if she is to save the ones she loves.

But Gillen and Britt are facing formidable demon foes, Abraxas: a chicken-headed demon who possesses several humans as part of his plan to build the demons’ base in Trebridge and power-hungry Prince Vetis who is his commander. Neither will let the deaths of expendable humans get in their way of the conquest.

In There Be Demons, author M.K. Theodoratus spins a brilliant tale of good versus evil. In this thrilling Young Adult fantasy novel, unlikely heroes rise to challenge a relentless enemy. Join them as they risk everything to save their city.

 

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