Demon Storm Book Three
YA Fantasy
Date Published: 04-13-2023
Publisher: Shadow Spark Publishing
Evil never really dies. It rises, again and again.
Now—Kari knows it’s rising inside her.
After barely defeating wicked Shadow Witch Raven, the wolf-demon knows her turmoil is far from over when her vanquished foe invades her dreams. And a new power stirs within her: thanks to Raven’s cunning, Kari’s potential as the Catalyst has awoken. A conduit for a terrifying, world-cracking force—one that could open at any moment.
Kari has resisted this new temptation thus far. But Raven again forces her hand, unleashing a demonic abomination to draw her prey out—a deadlier foe than any Kari has faced before. If she taps into this dark new power, she could become strong enough to defend the people she cares about. But the Catalyst has bloodthirsty designs of its own…
If she submits, what new horrors will be inflicted on the world Kari’s come to love?
INTERVIEW
What is the hardest part of writing
your books?
For me, the
hardest part of writing has always been the rewrites/edits. For a long time I
fell into that class of writer who says “okay, I have to rewrite EVERYTHING
FROM SCRATCH using my new ideas!” and I would hit snags where I’d be sad,
because I REALLY liked a previous scene or line I’d used.
Eventually I decided that was a silly
way to go about it for me. Now I handle rewrites as major edits, keeping the
majority of my previous drafts and just adjusting scenes. Unfortunately, this
DOES rely a lot on beta readers or the like, because I am super likely to miss
something like tone changes or inconsistencies…but it’s worked out for me!
What songs are most played on your Ipod?
A lot of
anime covers/original songs by Amalee, Divide Music, and Jonathan Young from
Youtube. I find anime songs of various styles hit the vibes for my writing
PERFECTLY. In particular, Unravel by Jonathan Young (Tokyo Ghoul) and Enamel by
Amalee (Black Butler) are top on my iTunes lately—those two songs are perfect
for Storm & Shadow and The Storm Darkens.
Sometimes I will just go through these
people’s playlists and just find songs that vibe with the feeling of the book I’m
writing at the time. If anyone has even a little bit of anime or video game
vibe and needs some inspiration, music is always great, but anime covers are
top notch.
Do you have critique partners or beta
readers?
I have my brother
who reads all my stories and currently two critique partners. I’ve been ABSOLUTELY
blessed with the people willing to help me perfect my stories. My critique partners
and I swap works, of course, but I feel like I have SO much more I’m throwing
on them, and I’m so grateful they’ve stuck with me so long. Really, my books
wouldn’t be half of what they are without them.
I did have beta readers for a long time,
but some of them dropped off and the others required payment so I eventually
slid away from them. Writing is so much about learning the craft as much as you
can and using ALL of that knowledge at once to perfect your work. In that
essence, I feel like I’ve gained an unimaginable amount from the many, many people
who have helped me at some point or another in my writing journey.
What book are you reading now?
A lot. I’m
rereading (or relistening to) Once Upon a Broken Heart, beta reading Annihilation
Book 1 by Jess Moon (and will soon start The Winter Court by Amelia Grimes),
reading Heir to the Sun by Karen Lykkebo, Malevolent Nevers by Tom Rimer, and
Truth in Blue by Mirai Amell.
I bounce between all of these depending
on my mood, except for the beta reading ones where I try to read a bit every
day. It’s a LOT! But it’s fun, I get to read a lot of different styles and try
to support my fellow Indies~
How did you start your writing career?
I started
writing when I was very young, but it wasn’t until my mid-late twenties that I
started considering Bigger Steps into the publishing world. I first went to
some college writing classes trying to better my craft and get some outside eyes
on my work. Eventually I realized Twitter and the WritingCommunity existed, and
set out on my primary goal of “get agent – get published!”
I spent a lot of time going through a
few editors before I found one that I stuck with for about a year. She helped
me out SO much, including giving me some publishing advice (like that publishing
with traditional publishers is a huge pain and a gamble and you lose a lot of
rights to your story). In the end, begging for an agent wasn’t my game, and
getting to Harper Collins like I always dreamed was so impossible, I went with
an Indie house instead. When I found Shadow Spark, and got accepted, everything
changed.
Tell us about your next release.
My next book
is The Storm Darkens! It releases April 13th, and is the third book
in my Demon Storm series. It picks up shortly after the events of Storm &
Shadow, where Kari and Ari finally returned home, to Raziac Village, after watching
Raven escape.
For Kari, The Storm Darkens is a dive into
the darkest temptations. She is going to face tribulations and have to make some
hard choices. In a way, The Storm Darkens is where the series’ main plot really
starts to crack open. There will be more mystery, more pain…and honestly, I
think Kari and Ari’s relationship really shines in this one!
About the Author
Valerie Storm was raised in Tucson, Arizona. Growing up, she fell in love with everything fantasy. When she wasn’t playing video games, she was writing. By age ten, she began to write her own stories as a way to escape reality. When these stories became a full-length series, she considered the path to sharing with other children & children-at/heart looking for a place to call home.
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