Author of Renegade Angel.
Joining me today is another of my co-conspirators from the Realm of Darkness boxset. I am chatting with Fantasy author, KC Freeman about her contribution to the boxset, Renegade Angel, which releases on October 4th, 2022 and is currently available on preorder.
Helen: Welcome Karen, I am so excited to chat with you about Renegade Angel. I was fortunate enough to read an ARC of your book, and I can’t wait for it to be released. You can find my book review here. Tell us a little about your book.
Karen: My contribution to the ROD boxset is titled Renegade Angel. It’s about a guardian angel with a heart of gold but a body for sin. He’s more comfortable in jeans, leather jacket, and on a Harley Davidson than with wings. And he’s a Casanova! Despite being an angel he also retains all his humanity so he’s not held to the same constraints as pure blood angels. He’s off to the wilds of Montana to save a rodeo clown from an unknown evil only to find she’s no clown but a full-blown hottie who he happened to save years before when she was a child. She hasn’t lost her crush on him and his primal urges may get in the way of his objective when a maniac Etruscan goddess tries to possess his lady love.
Helen: I loved Jasper, he was definitely a baddass angel and it was great to see him knocked for six by Savannah. It’s nice to see them both on the cover. Tell us how you came up with the design.
Karen: The cover designed by the amazing folks at MiblArt, showcases Jasper’s bad boy persona, Savannah’s ethereal beauty against the backdrop of a rough, Western rodeo landscape which is where the bulk of the story takes place. Savannah is a rodeo clown but longs to be a bigger part of the rodeo and part of a family which she never had. When Jasper saved her years ago from demons threatening her life, she had been a runaway multiple times over as she ran from abusive foster homes. He handed her off to a lovely couple who traveled with the rodeo and it has been her life ever since.
Helen: Is there a story behind how you chose the title?
Karen: Jasper has never been an “angel’s” angel. He’s a bad boy with a heart of gold. He’ll battle demons all day, then seduce all the pretty ladies in sight. His bad boy status is what’s paramount in the title, Renegade Angel. He’ll break the rules, actually he enjoys doing so. But he’ll fight to the death against evil in all forms.
Helen: What made you write a novel for an anthology?
Karen: I’ve participated in short story anthologies before and it’s always a fun and rewarding experience. With ROD, I didn’t run into the same problem of trying to rein in my words to avoid generating a story too large for a short story. It allows me to introduce more readers to my favorite guardian angel, Jasper who has been a hoot to write! He’s so much fun!
Helen: You definitely had fun! What made you write this particular book for the anthology?
Karen: I first wrote Jasper in the three-book series, Greylyn the Guardian Angel. Greylyn is so much more serious, but Jasper was just FUN! He definitely needed his own series.
Helen: Which genre do you typically write?
Karen: I prefer fantasy and paranormal –sometimes with romance and sometimes without it. It’s fun, it’s magical, it can be anything you want it to be. There’s no limit on your imagination when it comes to fantasy and paranormal.
Helen: I agree, it is such fun to let your imagination run wild. What other books have written?
Karen: I’ve written the Greylyn the Guardian Angel trilogy (Rekindled Prophecy, Revelations, and Redemption), Hunted (a spicy shifter romance), a short story that was included in the 2017 Bowman’s Inn anthology (paranormal romance), another PNR short story for the After Dark anthology which has since been taken down, a YA dragon shifter story, “Dreaming of Dragons” that went into the Something About Dragons anthology.
Helen: You’ve been busy! What made you first start writing?
Karen: I’ve wanted to write since I can’t remember when but it was put aside as my life’s dream because my parents didn’t consider it a good option for job security. Guess they were right about that, but I spent couple decades pursuing a career I despised (but paid well) instead. Once the option became viable for me to stay home with the kids, then the kids went to school and I hate housework so I looked for hobbies, which led me back to my first love of writing.
Helen: I think it is every writer’s dream to be able to give up the day job and live off their writing. Unfortunately it is not a secure income for most! Where do all your ideas come from?
Karen: I’ve been asked this a lot. The best way I can describe it is… channeling. The story unfolds in my head and I type. Story ideas pop in my head all the time with no rhyme or reason.
Helen: Seeing as we’ve all finished our books for Realm of Darkness, what are you working on now?
Karen: I just finished the first book in the Fallen Angel series, Falling for the Devil, which will release January 24, 2023. The title is pretty self-explanatory. It’s a salacious, twisted take on the fall from grace of the most notorious angel ever–Lucifer.
Helen: Who is your main character, and if they were asked the question, ‘Why shoud you read this book?’ what would they say?
Karen: Jasper is so much fun to write. He’s sexy, snarky, and … well, fun. He kicks ass, sweeps the girl off her feet, and has a good old time no matter what monsters came after him. Jasper would say to read my book because it’s all about him. He’s also got a bit of an ego.
Helen: Who do you enjoy writing the most? Heoroes or villains?
Karen: Anti-heroes are the most fun to write – they’re bad but there’s good in them. Writing the contrasts and how they emerge is what keeps me at the computer too many hours out of the day.
Helen: Let’s switch to a few questions about your writing process. How do you fit writing into your daily life?
Karen: With the kids in school, it’s easier. When they’re home, I had to learn to roll with it. It’ll be written when it’s written and not a moment sooner.
Helen: Do you like to write in silence or do you have a writing playlist?
Karen: I usually write in silence but there’s always a soundtrack playing in my head. For the Greylyn series, I had “Bring Me to Life” on repeat the entire series.
Helen: Do you like to plan your books or do you make it up as you go along?
Karen: I’ll admit, I’m a freeform pantser but am trying to rectify the situation. Having an outline makes the writing go faster, less room for writer’s block, but I do have the tendency to go off the grid.
Helen: I must admit the more I write, the more I am planning. Though there is always room for a little free form writing where the characters take over! Which do you prefer: Writing or Editing?
Karen: I love writing and I love editing (for others). Editing for myself… not so much.
Helen: When not writing, what hobbies do you have?
Karen: Ha! Yeah, I don’t know what spare time is anymore.
Helen: I know the feeling! If you didn’t write paranormal fantasy, what would you write?
Karen: Historical fiction – I’m a sucker for anything Tudor dynasty related or Ancient Egypt.
Helen: Tell us something random about yourself.
Karen: I love going on paranormal investigations. However, I don’t get to as often as I’d like so I binge watch paranormal investigation shows.
Helen: I bet that helps generate new ideas all the time. Thank you for joining me today Karen, it’s been great chatting with you. Just to finish, what advice would you give aspiring writers?
Karen: Write the story you want to read. Don’t give up. Writing is hard but only you can be the author of your own story.
Helen: Great advice! I am so excited to be part of this anthology, it has been a great experience, and I can’t believe the launch is in a few days. It has come around so quickly! You can preorder the anthology here for the insane price of 99c!
Make sure you can check out some of my other posts as I spotlight the authors as they reveal their covers!
About the Author:
KC Freeman, paranormal romance/urban fantasy author. She mostly writes fantasy and paranormal romance novels, especially angels and demons, enemies to lovers romance. Her debut novel, Rekindled Prophecy, won the 2021 Firebird Book Awards for Paranormal Fiction and was a finalist in the International Book Awards for Fantasy Fiction.
After leaving the corporate world to raise her five rambunctious children with her husband in North Carolina, KC Freeman eventually found her way back to her lifelong desire to write fiction. First, she dipped her toes in the writing world by ghostwriting cozy mysteries and romance novels before striking out on her own to write paranormal and fantasy.
Rekindled Prophecy: Greylyn the Guardian Angel Series Book 1 was originally published by Zimbell House Publishing November 2019; however, due to the publisher closing their business, KC relaunched the first book in the Greylyn series, Rekindled Prophecy and shortly thereafter released the remaining books in the series, Revelations and Redemption. The entire trilogy is now available in a convenient boxset.
Additionally, she contributed a paranormal romance short story to the Autumn/Winter 2017 anthology The Bowman’s Inn; as well as another paranormal romance short story released March 21, 2019 with the After Dark anthology where readers were introduced to another character from the Greylyn saga, the wolf shifter, Adeline. This story can now be found in Hunted by KC Freeman (released March 2022).
KC contributed a full-length novel to the Realm of Darkness boxset which will be released October 2022. The story, Renegade Angel, is the first in a series dedicated to Greylyn’s best friend and guardian angel mentor, Jasper.
Currently, KC is working on a couple different paranormal series (Working Titles: Falling for the Devil and Psychic in Suburbia).
When she is not writing, KC is running her children to practices, football games, swim meets, wrestling tournaments, and generally all over town. In her spare time…who are we kidding? She doesn’t have any of that.
For all the latest news:
Other books by KC Freeman
Rekindled Prophecy, book one of the Greylyn the Guardian Angel series
Link to ebook on Amazon UK | Amazon US
Link to paperback on Amazon UK | Amazon US
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If you enjoy fantasy romance books then you will love my new release SoulBreather, part of the Realm of Darkness Anthology, and my epic fantasy Sentinal series. As a new threat against Remargaren is discovered, only one man can wake the ancient guards who can protect them, only he doesn’t know how. Start the adventure and stay for the journey. Sign up to my newsletter and download a free novella called Sentinals Stirring and get notified when my next books are published.
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Helen Garraway 