Personal Demons (The Rifter) Quirky, Urban Fantasy Paranormal Suspense by L.R. Braden ➱ Book Tour with Guest Post & Giveaway

 

 

Dark, quirky, urban fantasy with a mystery plot, a dash of social commentary, and a sprinkling of slow-burn romantic potential.

Personal Demons

The Rifter Series Book 2

by L.R. Braden

Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal Suspense 

Protecting her secret and hunting demons is a matter of survival for possessed-practitioner Mira Fuentes. She's spent years learning to work with the snarky demon housed in her body, and it hasn't always gone smoothly. Nor has her recent partnership with an agent of the Paranatural Task Force. Ty Williams—uncomfortably-attractive and overly-protective—may never fully accept that his partner has a literal inner demon.

But work-life-demon balance is the least of Mira's problems when a figure from her past drags her back to the hometown she's avoided for nearly a decade to investigate a string of potentially-magical disappearances. Someone or something is snatching teens from the local high school.

Emotionally off-balance in a city full of old ghosts and new dangers, Mira will have to confront her past to discover what is hunting the innocent.

Praise for L. R. Braden:

"My new 'auto-buy' author. I love everything this woman writes."—J.D. Brown, award-winning author of the Ema Marx Series

"A fast-paced, engrossing, unexpected, and tension-filled magical work…A great read for every female lead Urban Fantasy enthusiast."—The Queen of Swords, NetGalley reviewer on Demon Riding Shotgun

"I LOVED this book. It's got fun. It's got depth. It's definitely going to stick with me."—Lydia R, NetGalley reviewer on Demon Riding Shotgun

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Demon Riding Shotgun

The Rifter Series Book 1

Possessed by a demon since she was eleven years old, Mira Fuentes maintains a fragile alliance with the snarky soul who shares her body. Together they hunt down unstable Rifters-- demon-controlled humans bent on causing chaos in the mortal realm. But when a routine hunt leads to a powerful Rifter with plans for Baltimore, Mira quickly finds herself in over her head and at the top of the city's Most Wanted.

Recently retired from the PTF after losing his partner, Ty Williams now works for the Baltimore PD and keeps his distance from cases involving magic. But when a person dies of clearly magical causes and the PTF doesn't have any agents to spare, Ty is the closest thing the department has to an expert. Saddled with a new partner he doesn't want and a mountain of self-doubt, it's his job to track down a suspect who looks suspiciously like the one-night-stand he brought home from the bar last night.

Mira will have to set her trust issues aside and enlist the help of a man determined to uncover her secrets if she hopes to learn the identity of the demon's host and prevent the human race from becoming meat puppets for the denizens of the Rift.

On COURTING DARKNESS: "This book was a fantastic second installment to the Magicsmith series… Truly brilliant writing!"--Richelle Rodarte, NetGalley Reviewer

"The plot was engrossing, fascinating and action-filled."--Pam Guynn, NetGalley Reviewer on Faerie Forged

**Only .99cents!**

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Excerpt from Personal Demons

by L. R. Braden

 

 

 

 

Energy surged through Mira. The old man’s blood trickled over her fingers where they gripped the knife hilt. She dared not remove the blade even now, with the demon sufficiently entangled. He’d surprised her with his power. Most demons grew stronger the longer they were in the mortal realm, kind of like the buildup to one last, grand finale before they burned out their host and were pulled back to the Rift to wait for another likely target. This one must have been within a day or two of its end, and pretty damned strong to start with.

As the dark, copper-tinged tendrils of the demon’s essence were pulled from the old man’s body and absorbed into hers, she felt the demon within her swell beyond the boundaries of their usual arrangement. Mira’s consciousness was pushed further back, to a corner of her mind where she would remain while the demon was in the driver’s seat. She imagined this was how most rifter hosts lived while possessed, a passenger in their own body. She only had to deal with it after a feeding, when the demon’s energy was too much to contain, or when they needed to call directly on the demon’s powers.

The demon continued to drain the screaming rifter. Even if the old man wasn’t aware of what was happening, he’d regain consciousness the moment the last of the Rift energy was extracted. He’d be himself for a moment, just long enough to realize what was happening. Then he’d die. They always died.

Mira looked away from the twitching, flailing, soon-to-be corpse in her hands. She still had enough physical control for that.

Ty was watching her from a crouched position on the floor. The rich brown of his irises seem almost black in his narrowed eyes. A deep frown pursed his thick lips, masked slightly by his short goatee. The sepia tones of his skin blended with the shadows of the room as the small fires caused by her fight with the rifter died down. He seemed to be studying her, examining the way the old man’s demon was pulled out of his body and into hers. His expression flickered between fear and admiration. His gaze met hers for an instant, then he turned away.

He’s freaked out to be working with a monster.

<Relax. He probably just doesn’t want to watch this guy die.>

Mira gave herself a mental hug. Her body was now being controlled entirely by the demon. He’s been a soldier, a PTF agent, and a cop. He’s seen plenty of people die.

<Doesn’t mean he enjoys it.>

But he wasn’t looking at the rifter when he got disgusted, Mira insisted. He was looking at us.

<Fine, so maybe watching us eat another demon freaks him out. So what?>

Yeah, thought Mira. So what? Why should I care what he thinks about me anyway? Everyone else is afraid of me. Why would Ty be any different? I am a monster after all.

Demon Riding Shotgun

By L.R. Braden

excerpt 2

 

Mira scooped a handful of shockingly cold water into her palms and splashed it on her face. She gasped and shook. Icy drips trickled down her neck, soothing the raw skin where the collar had burned her. The distorted reflection on the tumbling surface of the water threw back swathes of color with little detail, but Mira could still see that half her hair was white and her left eye shone a brilliant gold. She and her demon were matched equally at the moment, or near enough, each with one hand on the steering wheel—which might seem like a balanced partnership but was a sure recipe for a wreck.

Because her demon was naturally so much more powerful than her, their balance needed to be far from even, like a heavy-handled knife balanced on a fingertip. There was a lot more material on one end because the other was so dense. In Mira’s case, the demon could only keep the smallest portion of itself manifested or the body they shared would be torn to pieces by the force of its presence. Even now, after the feedings that had temporarily stabilized her, Mira could feel the strain on her cells. Purplish stains were starting to form around her fingernails and trace up her fingers like ground cracking in advance of an earthquake.

She pressed her palms to the damp earth and took a deep breath of moist air.

<We need to reset the anchors.> The demon’s voice swelled and faded, as though she was rapidly changing positions, flitting about Mira’s mind, unable to hold still—the incorporeal equivalent of pacing.

Nodding, Mira shifted so she was sitting in a more comfortable position. They hadn’t had to reset their anchors in years, and she wasn’t sure how long it would take. She relaxed her neck and shoulders until her chin rested against her chest, closed her eyes, and took another long, steady breath.

She opened herself up to the energy around her—not in unshielded abandon as she had in the police van, but by allowing a thin trickle to funnel through a specific point that she controlled like a sluice gate. She could feel the rift energy, the energy her demon was made from, seeping into her, filling her reservoirs. At the same time she could feel the pull of the demon’s power, tearing away the energy that kept her alive, the physical bonds of her mortal form.

This was the balance they maintained—the cannibalistic partnership—each devouring the essence of the other for the power they needed to perform magic.

 

What is your writing process like?

 Bursts of speed alternated with crippling lethargy. Seriously, some days words flow like water. Others I can’t remember that a spoon is called a spoon. Despite the ebb and flow of these mercurial tides, I sit down at my computer every day, usually first thing in the morning before the demands of life have had a chance to worm their way through my groggy brain, and try to get one to two thousand words written down. Sometimes that takes an hour. Sometimes it takes all day. Sometimes I realize the scenes I wrote yesterday had gaping holes big enough to shove a planet through and my word count moves backwards as I patch things up. But that, too, is progress.

 

How do you come up with ideas for stories and characters?

 You know that state when you’re about to fall asleep or you just woke up and you can’t quite tell what’s real and what’s only in your imagination? It’s called hypnagogia or hypnopompia, depending on which direction you’re going. That’s where stories live. Only I don’t have to be in bed to find them. I live half my life in daydreams. Walking, working, even while I’m talking to you, probably. Part of my brain seems always to be half asleep, and that’s the part that’s most alive.

 

What do the words “writer’s block” mean to you?

For me, “writer’s block” is synonymous with “depressive slump.”  I’ve never experienced a time when I didn’t have stories to tell, when I simply didn’t know what should happen next in a book or have a dozen new ideas clamoring for attention. I do, however, have days when the mere act of getting out of bed takes more energy than I can muster. On those days, even when I do manage to drag myself to the computer, I stare at the screen like a neanderthal with no idea what the darned thing is for, and worse, no desire to bother making it work.

How do you process and deal with negative book reviews?

 First I give myself a moment to deal with the sting to my ego and self-confidence. Then I remind myself that everyone is entitled to their own opinion and there’s never been a single thing in history that EVERYONE could agree was good. Lastly, I check to see if there’s any actionable feedback that I want to consider moving forward. Then I move on.

 

What is the most challenging part of your writing process?

 The hardest part of writing for me is trying to be patient while I get out all the necessary in-between bits of a story that is clamoring to get out. In my head, I’ve got a series of awesome scenes that I can’t wait to write. (Think of the key frames used in the process of animation.) But there’s a bunch of other stuff that has to happen between those key frames to turn them into an actual, readable book. There has to be time, and weather, and clothing, and funny haircuts, and accents, and a million other details that ground the reader in the story. I don’t need those, because they’re all instantaneously included in my head when I picture a scene. Unfortunately, the audience can’t see inside my head, so I have to describe all those things for the scene to make sense. It can be very frustrating having to delay the part I’m eager to write to fill in all those other bits.

Why don’t I just write all the fun key frames first and deal with the other bits at the end, you ask? Imagine a plate of food. Half the food is your favorite dish, the other half is something you hate. If you eat what you don’t like first, you may give up before you get through the meal. If you eat your favorite thing first, you may decide not to bother with the other bit. But if you alternate the bites, you can get through everything without it being too bit a deal. I want to finish my books. Simple as that. Delaying the fun scenes gives me something to look forward to on days when I’m faced with a plate full of raw squid.

 

How long have you been writing, or when did you start?

 I wrote a few stories (or pieces of stories) in high school just for fun, not ever thinking that “writer” was a possible career path. When I went to college I spent a lot of time on other creative outlets, mostly sculpture and metalsmithing. I got a BA is studio arts, but because I’d also taken just about every class that promised I could read books for credit, I also earned a BA in English literature. Oddly enough, despite the English degree, I never once took a writing class. It wasn’t until I was in my twenties that the idea of actually writing a book occurred to me. I’d read thousands of books at that point. I knew what I enjoyed, and I had an idea that I thought would make a good story. So I thought, why not? It took me three months to write that first book, and five years to get it published. A Drop of Magic came out in 2019.

 

What advice would you give writers working on their first book?

Take your time. Be kind to yourself. Don’t give up.

How many books have you written, and which is your favorite?

Right now I have eight books published. Six of those are in my Magicsmith urban fantasy series. Demon Riding Shotgun was the start of a new, spin-off series set in the same world, and Personal Demons is a sequel to that. I also have short stories in a couple of anthologies. Choosing a favorite book is like choosing a favorite child. Each one is unique, with its own triumphs and failures, and thinking about any one of them gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling that brings a smile to my heart.

 

How do you develop your plot and characters?

 Because I write mostly in series, some of my characters and plot lines are dictated by what came before. Having said that, every book is different and I love the creation process before I start actually writing, when I get to look at all the infinite paths a story can take and come up with the plot hooks and characters that will bring that story to life. I plot my stories in advance, at least loosely. I find this helps keep me motivated and on track. That doesn’t mean there are no surprises. I’m always finding new alternatives and connections as I write, so the plot grows organically. It’s like cultivating a bonsai tree. You can coax the plant in a desired direction with a bit of judicious pruning, but in the end, the branches will grow where they want to grow. The same thing happens with my characters. I start with an idea of who I want in my story. They might start as a personality, or an ability, or a trauma. I flesh them out with a character bio to get to know them better, but it isn’t until I’m writing that they truly reveal themselves. And sometimes they weren’t who I thought at all!

 

What inspired the idea for your book?

When I created the spin-off character of Mira and gave her a story of her own in Demon Riding Shotgun, people really took to her, and she and her demon were just so much fun to write that I wanted to do more. That first book had been a good introduction to where Mira is in her current life. With this next book, I wanted to show readers how she got there, where she came from. Of course I didn’t just want to have a backstory info dump. I had to make it fun, exciting, and new. I had to show not only where Mira came from, but where she was going. That meant giving her a reason to face her past that would also allow her to grow as a character. That’s what Personal Demons is.

What was your hardest scene to write, and why?

 The scene where Mira is ambushed by her overbearing family when she returns to her abuela’s house was difficult for me to write, mostly because of the number of people I had to juggle in the scene. I wanted the reader to get a sense of how Mira was overwhelmed by all the people wanting to talk to her, ask her questions, give advice, judge her, etc. But I didn’t want the readers themselves to become overwhelmed, because that wouldn’t be much fun. I had to be careful not to bombard the reader with names and descriptions while still giving the impression of a room full of people. I also had to be very careful with my dialog tags to avoid confusion as people talked over and interrupted each other. And that was further complicated by the fact that Mira often has secondary, overlapping conversations with the demon in her head while she’s speaking out loud to the people around her. Scenes with a smaller cast are definitely easier, but sometimes you just need a lot of characters to get a point across.

L.R. Braden is the bestselling author of the Magicsmith and Rifter urban fantasy series, as well as several works of short fiction. Her writing has won the Eric Hoffer Book Award for Sci-fi/Fantasy, the First Horizon Award for debut authors, the Imadjinn Award for Best Urban Fantasy, and the Colorado Authors League Award for writing excellence in multiple categories. She was also honored as a finalist for the 2023 Colorado Book Award in Sci-fi/Fantasy and for Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers’ Writer of the Year award in 2021 and 2023.

While she loves to travel, she’s always happy to come home to Colorado, where she lives in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains with her wonderful husband, precocious daughter, and two quirky cats. When not writing, she spends her time playing games, enjoying the great outdoors, and weaving metal into intricate chain mail jewelry that she sells in her Etsy shop, WimsiDesign.

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