Meet Adonis Devereux

Adonis Devereux is two people made one. He grew up in Michigan and rural Indiana, a Midwestern boy with a passion for story. She was rootless, a Virginia native who lived in London, Paris, and Rome before her parents settled just outside Tokyo. Like him, stories burned in her. They met in university at a poetry reading, and their love story continued into marriage, graduate school, and half a dozen children. Now he is a professor at a Japanese national university, and she teaches children to invert fractions and decline Latin nouns, all while researching ancient Roman and medieval recipes for their novels. Together, they are Adonis Devereux, and they are pleased to be working with Evernight Publishing.

Julie: Who is Adonis Devereux, and when did the dream of being a writer begin?

Adonis: We are actually two people, a husband-wife writing team. He began writing in high school, and in college he switched primarily to poetry. She began writing at 12, and her first work was a 100,000-word unpublishable monstrosity. But though we both enjoyed writing, it was a hobby for us, not something we ever thought would really happen. Then, in 2011, we finally decided to take our writing seriously.

Julie: How long did it take for you to get your first book published?

Adonis: We worked on the manuscript that eventually became Worth His Freedom from February of 2011 until April of the same year. We wrote it, polished it – and then sat on it until June, too nervous to send it anywhere. Finally, in June, we decided that all this hesitation was useless, and we submitted the manuscript. And got back acceptances from two different publishers! In July, we signed with Evernight Publishing, and we have been working with them ever since. They are fabulous!

Julie: What did you do before you became a writer?  Do you write full time?

Adonis: We don’t write full time, though that would be lovely. He is a professor at a national university in Japan, and she home-schools their six children and is a professional editor. Before we were published, we were doing mostly those same things, but she had not yet taken up editing. We wrote only for our own amusement then. Looking back, we now consider that our apprenticeship, our “million-word tax” before getting published.

Julie: Your book, Chasing Earth and Flame, sounds delicious. Can you tell us more about it?

Adonis: Chasing Earth and Flame is the third novel set in our fantasy world of Gilalion, and it follows the love story of two Lorin, that is, elemental mages, against a backdrop of political intrigue. It involves Nevia, the daughter of the highest house in the city, and Melenius, the outsider-nobleman, who lacks sufficient fortune to address her. Nevia wants Melenius, and despite the fact that she is her father’s property, she is determined to have the man she wants. She is stronger than her domineering father suspects, and Melenius is willing to do whatever it takes to gain the woman he has loved from a distance for years.

Julie: How would you describe your lead characters in Chasing Earth and Flame?

Adonis: Nevia is a born noblewoman, with the haughty attitude to match her birth. She is small, slender, with white-blonde hair and skin so pale it has almost a blue cast to it. She is also a fire-mage, and her temper suits her elements. She is a strong woman, one who wants a man strong enough to dominate her. Melenius is tall, dark, with olive skin and a black beard. He is not of proper birth, being an “imported” noble, and he does not forget his ethnic origin. He is also proud enough to meet Nevia head-on, and he is the only man she has ever known who can dominate her the way she likes.

Julie: If you weren’t writing romance, what would you be writing?

Adonis: Probably fantasy or paranormal, as our romances already fall into those subcategories.

Julie: What’s next for you?

Adonis: Well, there are three of our upcoming works already contracted at Evernight, two novels, Love Comes Twice and The Soldier’s Lotus, and one short story, Burn Like Ice. We have a sequel in mind for The Soldier’s Lotus, our July release, and we are also turning our hand to a vampire novella. We know that people say this all the time, but really, it does have an original take on vampires.

~

Coming Soon

Love Comes Twice, Evernight Publishing

Burn Like Ice, Evernight Publishing

The Soldier’s Lotus, Evernight Publishing

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Tagged: author interview, behind the books

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