Meet Elliot Parker, author of Demon, Interrupted
BBB: Tell us about yourself.
EP: Good Morning! My name is Elliot Parker and I am a 38 year old author of Urban Fatasy. My debut novel Demon, Interrupted is out today! I have been transplanted into the deep South from the stark and cold North. My day job is in academia. I have a deep love for science and analytics but me life would not be complete without art. When people talk about right brain and left brain I always feel like I am split right down the middle. Writing for me has always been the perfect blend of both. I can use my analytical brain to plot and structure and scheme, and I can use my creative brain to spark the initial ideas and fill in all the fantasy and finer brush strokes of my stories. I love animals and am constantly finding new ways to add to my menagerie of dogs, cats, turtles, fish, birds, goats, and horses.
BBB: What inspired your book, Demon, Interrupted?
EP: What started my writing journey was the need to connect with an old friend. My best friend from childhood and I had grown apart after high school. We traveled different paths in our lives and our connection had grown sporadic. When we reconnected after years apart she was struggling very outwardly with depression. It helped me to understand and reflect on my own very inward struggles with depression. We both needed a lifeline and it was writing. A joint venture began to write together, and consistently communicate by trading ideas and pages and critiquing each other. What started out as a way to reconnect, turned into fulfilling publishing journey for both of us. My journey was much slower (because she is a WAY better writer than me), but no less rewarding. To this day she is one of the first people I turn to with new ideas or when I need help.
The story of Demon, Interrupted itself was spawned from a kind of “Ah-ha” moment when I recognized that Catholicism has such a deep and rich history. It would be a never ending well of material if I could harness it. How could I use Catholicism the way Rick Riordan uses the Greeks? The Patron Saints were my answer. There are so many each with multiple unique “powers”. What if those powers were real and genetic? What if they could be passed from generation to generation? That is the crux of my fantasy world in Demon, Interrupted.
EP: Good Morning! My name is Elliot Parker and I am a 38 year old author of Urban Fatasy. My debut novel Demon, Interrupted is out today! I have been transplanted into the deep South from the stark and cold North. My day job is in academia. I have a deep love for science and analytics but me life would not be complete without art. When people talk about right brain and left brain I always feel like I am split right down the middle. Writing for me has always been the perfect blend of both. I can use my analytical brain to plot and structure and scheme, and I can use my creative brain to spark the initial ideas and fill in all the fantasy and finer brush strokes of my stories. I love animals and am constantly finding new ways to add to my menagerie of dogs, cats, turtles, fish, birds, goats, and horses.
BBB: What inspired your book, Demon, Interrupted?
EP: What started my writing journey was the need to connect with an old friend. My best friend from childhood and I had grown apart after high school. We traveled different paths in our lives and our connection had grown sporadic. When we reconnected after years apart she was struggling very outwardly with depression. It helped me to understand and reflect on my own very inward struggles with depression. We both needed a lifeline and it was writing. A joint venture began to write together, and consistently communicate by trading ideas and pages and critiquing each other. What started out as a way to reconnect, turned into fulfilling publishing journey for both of us. My journey was much slower (because she is a WAY better writer than me), but no less rewarding. To this day she is one of the first people I turn to with new ideas or when I need help.
The story of Demon, Interrupted itself was spawned from a kind of “Ah-ha” moment when I recognized that Catholicism has such a deep and rich history. It would be a never ending well of material if I could harness it. How could I use Catholicism the way Rick Riordan uses the Greeks? The Patron Saints were my answer. There are so many each with multiple unique “powers”. What if those powers were real and genetic? What if they could be passed from generation to generation? That is the crux of my fantasy world in Demon, Interrupted.
BBB: Tell us about your main character.
EP: Evangeline Lawson, my main character is the last living descendant of Saint Anthony of Pauda, the Patron Saint of Lost Articles. She has the supernatural ability to find any missing object. Her family has been hunted and systematically extinguished leaving her scared and untrained in her abilities. When her back is against the wall she follows a supernatural trail of breadcrumbs to the world’s most morally ambiguous angel. She will be trained and tested within an inch of her life if she hopes to survive long enough to take her place in this supernatural world (or lead it…maybe).
BBB: What do you think readers will find most appealing about your book?
EP: I hope what readers will find most appealing about my book is the blend of science into fantasy. All my training and education is in research science so even when I am weaving fantastical powers, I try to support it in some basis of science. I am fascinated by Quantum Theory and on an atomic level especially. Things can get tangled quickly when you take into consideration the affects an observer can have. I exploited the theories of observer affects in my novel for many of the powers the character exhibited. What if a person’s will power is tangible? What if they could not only exert it on a particle but expand it to an entire living being? The stronger your will power the more powerful you could be in this world. You don’t need money or prestige to become powerful in this world, you only need to have a strong will.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
EP: I love hearing from and connecting with readers. Writing is a lonely endeavor so to know that someone out there in the ether connected with something that I wrote? It brings me such joy! Please find me at my website www.elliotparker.com, on Facebook @authorelliotparker, or on Twitter @AuthorEParker. If you sign up for my newsletter you can get a free prequel to Demon, Interrupted called the Sins of Saint Anthony. Thank you so much!
EP: Evangeline Lawson, my main character is the last living descendant of Saint Anthony of Pauda, the Patron Saint of Lost Articles. She has the supernatural ability to find any missing object. Her family has been hunted and systematically extinguished leaving her scared and untrained in her abilities. When her back is against the wall she follows a supernatural trail of breadcrumbs to the world’s most morally ambiguous angel. She will be trained and tested within an inch of her life if she hopes to survive long enough to take her place in this supernatural world (or lead it…maybe).
BBB: What do you think readers will find most appealing about your book?
EP: I hope what readers will find most appealing about my book is the blend of science into fantasy. All my training and education is in research science so even when I am weaving fantastical powers, I try to support it in some basis of science. I am fascinated by Quantum Theory and on an atomic level especially. Things can get tangled quickly when you take into consideration the affects an observer can have. I exploited the theories of observer affects in my novel for many of the powers the character exhibited. What if a person’s will power is tangible? What if they could not only exert it on a particle but expand it to an entire living being? The stronger your will power the more powerful you could be in this world. You don’t need money or prestige to become powerful in this world, you only need to have a strong will.
BBB: How can readers discover more about you and your work?
EP: I love hearing from and connecting with readers. Writing is a lonely endeavor so to know that someone out there in the ether connected with something that I wrote? It brings me such joy! Please find me at my website www.elliotparker.com, on Facebook @authorelliotparker, or on Twitter @AuthorEParker. If you sign up for my newsletter you can get a free prequel to Demon, Interrupted called the Sins of Saint Anthony. Thank you so much!
