We’re overdue for our first Kiaras Festivus post, folks, so let’s get started! To refresh your memory, this February we’re focusing on three brilliant but under-appreciated authors who have new releases in February and March. And remember – at the end of the month, I’ll be drawing three winners to receive a book of their choice from any of these authors!
This week we’re shining the spotlight on Diana Rowland. Ms. Rowland is the lovely & talented author of Mark of the Demon and the upcoming Blood of the Demon. You can find her on Twitter here. She also has a blog here, and you should read it.
Hailing from Louisiana, Ms. Rowland has accomplished all the things a Southern woman should: a black belt in Hapkido, a marksmanship award while working as a police detective, and the performance of multiple autopsies. What? These aren’t the things every gentlewoman aspires to? [Read the full bio on her website here.]
Now, let’s get to know the books!
Mark of the Demon blurb
(My review is available here.)
When Homicide Detective Kara Gillian finds traces of arcane power on a body, she quickly realizes that this is no ordinary murder. The serial killer known as the Symbol Man is a nightmare that Beaulac, Louisiana thought had ended three years ago, but now he’s back for an encore and leaving every indication on the flesh of his victims that he is well-versed in demonic lore.
However, Kara is a Summoner of Demons, and may be the only cop on the city’s small force who can stop the killer. Able to see and interact with a world most people can’t, Kara must draw on her skills as a police officer and master of the arcane to stop the Symbol Man from killing again and possibly summoning something even she can’t control.
But with a demonic lord of unearthly beauty and power haunting her dreams, and a handsome yet disapproving FBI agent dogging her waking footsteps, she may be in way over her head….
Buy Mark of the Demon at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Indiebound or your favorite local book shop!
Blood of the Demon blurb
(Available February 23, 2010)
The serial killer known as the Symbol Man has been dealt with, the demonic lord Rhyzkahl is no longer invading her dreams, and Detective Kara Gillian is doing her best to get her life back to normal after being kind of dead for a while.
Unfortunately, there’s little about Kara’s life that is ever normal or simple. As a skilled summoner of demons, she’s hoping to use her arcane abilities to retrieve her aunt’s essence and restore it to her body. But when Kara discovers that FBI Agent Ryan Kristoff is somehow known to the demonkind–and not in a good way–old doubts surface and new problems emerge. Moreover, her investigations into the deaths of several seemingly unrelated victims reveal disturbing links to the arcane, with unsettling similarities to her own situation.
But matters get more complicated when she discovers other links between the victims, leading her into a morass of political corruption. And it doesn’t help that Rhyzkahl has asked her to be his own summoner, a commitment that could have quite a few advantages and plenty of pitfalls. Politics–whether among humans or demons–is a dangerous game with very high stakes, and Kara is learning that lesson the hard way.
Buy Blood of the Demon at Barnes & Noble, Borders, Indiebound or your favorite local book shop!
Don’t those sound nice? So, please, if you have a bit extra in your book-buying budget this month or if you’re looking for a great new author, try picking up Mark of the Demon. You won’t regret it!