Welcome to my weekly Author Spotlight. I’ve asked a bunch of my author friends to answer a set of interview questions, and to share their latest work.
Giveaway
FR is giving away an eBook copy of books one and two in the series – for a chance to win, comment below.
Today, F.R. D’Angelo – Born in Birmingham, United Kingdom, I live in Northern Ireland. And I write fiction,
I love to channel the characters who waltz into my mind and refuse to leave, until I write their story.
Thanks so much, F.R., for joining me!
J. Scott Coatsworth: When did you know you wanted to write, and when did you discover that you were good at it?
F.R. D’Angelo: I don’t know if I am good at it, I started to write three years ago when I was asked by an unseen force to write a book about the mysteries of the universe and life and death. I said surely not me.
Yeah you I was told. I had serious reservations Scott because all my life I have been told I was too stupid to write, too slow to write. In truth I was an undiagnosed autistic person with undiagnosed dyslexia, so as I sat at my desk and channeled my way through three books, I knew it wasn’t me I am not that smart.
Halfway through that I was asked/challenged to write a book I love to read. Gay Romance.
JSC: What was your first published work? Tell me a little about it.
FRD: My first published work is Alive and Free, it’s a walk around the spirit world. I am taken around shown all the parts of heaven I want to look at, talk and channel with Tesla, Einstein and many more.
At first I had my serious doubts, really serious doubts until my guide was talking about a branch of science I had no idea about.
He was talking about black holes and planetary irrigation. Then the building of eco systems. I have to admit I knew then I was properly channeling a spirit guide because I know nothing about this stuff.
JSC: What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever done in the name of research?
FRD: My daughter works with a veterinary friend, and I needed to find out the exact amount of drugs to keep down a Wolf, so I needed to go visit clinic and have her work out the average size of an Aztec wolf then a random wolf and how much drugs would keep them down. Then the time it takes to bleed out from a bullet wound to the femoral artery in the leg.
JSC: What do you do when you get writer’s block?
FRD: Yes, I have had this, I know the story it’s in my head, it’s on first draft I just can’t get my wee brain to explain it right. I go around in circles and back again so now when that happens I sit at the pc and call through every character in my mind, from the alphas to the omegas. To the time hoping Vikings and I ask them questions about their world. This builds their life up in my brain and then I can get moving again. If it’s true that these characters are being channeled from another dimension then as a Medium I can and should be able to do this, right? 😉
JSC: Do you read your book reviews? How do you deal with bad or good ones?
FRD: I Love book reviews good and bad; I look at them like the dreaded no in a mediumship reading.
That’s when you’re getting it wrong. I look upon them as a gift one that just keeps giving as a bad review peeves you off each time you look at. I think its perspective, come on you need at least ten bad reviews, but then you have inspired someone enough to give it, means you have won.
That review will either make you laugh, or think well of the six billion people on the planet then only one dislikes my story, wow what are the odds of that?
Or if they upset me, they don’t but let’s just say they did I would go to my favorite authors reviews, instantly I am cheered up.
JSC: Are you a full-time or part-time writer? How does that affect your writing?
FRD: No, I am a spiritual Medium without the religion.
I have more the analytical mind, it balances out okay, just remembering to keep pen names separate.
Aztecs is built around the otherworld, and shifter life. All of the magic of the shifter and of the world unseen.
JSC: Are you a plotter or a panster?
Absolutely a Panster. That is what amazes me so much about the Aztecs where did their world come from 😉
JSC: What is the most heartfelt thing a reader has said to you?
FRD: A reader said it was my book that pulled him back from the edge, when he realized that he might be losing a lot of gifts or love in his life if he left now. I had just done a reading for the man who lost his husband in hate crime.
I then gave him the book Alive and free. It showed him that all of life is a lesson, and that his husband was now safe.
JSC: What advice do you wish you’d had before releasing your first story?
FRD: When an editor sends you a book and tells you it’s ready to go, hand it off to some more eyes. This was a big mistake with my first gay romance book. I asked a proofer to look at it, she wasn’t amused, and I asked the editor to look again, she said it was ready. Well I released it only having to pull it three days in. Took a further six months to put it back out with another editor and new cover and lots of rewriting.
It was bad I can’t say any more than that, broke my heart my book was trashed and not in a good way.
Only I have six out of the 8 books already written I would have walked away, my blood pressure rocketed, and I ended up stress lung infection.
JSC: If you had a grant to write any book you wanted as a freebie without worrying about sales, what kind of story would you like to tell?
Okay I have this on my pc on first draft this story is dear to my heart, I am hoping I can do this justice, it started as a contempary then realized I couldn’t make it fit based on some of the aspects of the main story. Though I will try if not I might have to add the paranormal into it.
Ronan is an assassin; he hasn’t defined his sexuality as he was abused in Belfast as a child in the orphanage boys home. One of many. Joins up serves his time and is out discharged honorably.
Antonio is a lawyer from Italy also abused in the same home in Belfast as a child, when his parents were killed in a bomb in Belfast during the troubles.
He is married, to a younger man Jayson a musician.
For many years they have tried the legal way to take down the priests, through many courts in the land, nothing has worked they have been protected. Through underground resources.
The Lords have been resurrected an old Belfast gang. With a fraction in USA, Italy and Dublin, all with an axe to grind. The Lords employ a hacker Callum from the USA born in Ireland. To infiltrate the Vatican computers for all information regarding a those protecting them.
Callum the son of a priest, born to an abuse victim is adopted to an American couple. He is also a rocker from the band blue ice, big in USA, he arrives in Belfast a day early to interview a drummer, Jayson. When they visit a club in Belfast they are both kidnapped by the Priests, a gang made up of priests seeking revenge on the Lords for dragging them through the courts.
It’s a hard-hitting story and yes I would love to release it as a freebie it would be a story well worth telling, it’s very dear to my heart.
JSC: What was the most valuable piece of advice you’ve had from an editor?
FRD: Make sure you know just who is talking in each scene as my books have a lot of characters, there is more than just two in any one conversation.
And to read it back, just because you know what’s going on, look at it from a readers point of view, as if you had just picked up the book.
JSC: What character gave you fits and fought against you? Did that character cause trouble because you weren’t listening and missed something important about them?
FRD: When I had to take a chopper of Warriors to Alaska to pick up Stevie’s Omegas, as we start and we pick up their story before they all go out drinking for a night, their bitching amongst themselves had me roaring. I couldn’t write it for laughing. Proper bitches and drama queens there were, right up until the warriors got there.
Poor Stevie was injured because I didn’t pull him out in time. Had I have seen it coming as their attitude changed so fast. He wouldn’t have been injured, what can I say.. He is healed he needs to count himself lucky Zain was on the chopper.
JSC: What inspired you to write this particular story? What were the challenges in bringing it to life?
FRD: It brought both my world in which I work and the shifters I love into one world. It’s my inspiration.
The biggest challenges was there is just so many characters, they just kept coming. I am going to be writing this story till I’m old, there is just so much going on. I would have loved to bring on another author who could see the side characters stories and write for them. However, writing to me isn’t that simple they are my characters I might want to palm them off especially the awkward ones like Hunter, but I love them dearly and know they came for a reason. I can see me writing this for me in the end if no one loves them that much.
JSC: What secondary character would you like to explore more? Tell me about him or her.
FRD: Angel and Brads story is on the pc in first draft I wrote it two years ago just after I wrote book three of Aztecs, but I know it can’t go out till book three has gone out. When we release this one, I will work on theirs and get it out. A freebie I think.
Angels father threw him away when he realized he was gay he was only 12 years old when he put him on the streets. He was the only alpha to fully come from the human world. Born and adopted as an awkward child, his father disliked him when his mother died. He didn’t know he was shifter.
Angels bad childhood follows him throughout his adulthood only changing in book three of Aztecs. When the readers read angels story, a particular scene in book three will give them a lightbulb moment.
JSC: Who has been your favorite character to write and why?
FRD: Jewel is my favorite to write for, he is such a complex character. He has ptsd and challenged Azkin for Zain in book three, it’s a shame for him he came from the labs, before he was rescued by the Aztecs. Leaving him poorly and not looked after and pretty messed up. He has thrived and blossomed under the care of his mate. He has such a big part in this story.
JSC: Are you happy with where your writer left you at the end? (don’t give us any spoilers).
Azkin: Absolutely no not really I mean who jumps out of bed mid BJ?
<Elbows his mate>
Though we had no choice with this book though, but our author gave a bit in chapter one, from the next book. So, our readers are not upset with her.
JSC: As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
FRD: Alive. You know I don’t know I had a rotten childhood, I didn’t have many aspirations What I am now is a surprise, when your told you can’t or your too stupid you don’t think much for yourself.
JSC: If you had the opportunity to live one year of your life over again, which year would you choose, and why?
FRD: This year, I would do a lot of things differently, I lost so much money on bad editors and pa’s that I learnt that I trust to easily. I should have asked more authors for more help. I know we need to learn at our own pace but its money I do not have to lose. I just wish more people had more integrity than they do.
JSC: Tell me about a unique or quirky habit of yours.
FRD: I can see past lives, dead people.
JSC: We know what you like to write, but what do you like to read in your free time, and why?
FRD: I read the Avanti chronicles, by Hannah Walker, these helped me out of a bad depressive state before I started writing. I also now love Hailey Turners metahumans, wow.
Aside of gay romance I love to read anything science that stretches the brain. I did a course this year with PhD science I didn’t expect to be able to understand it, I loved it. It wasn’t a science course it was a everything course solar flash, polar flip all that sort of stuff, the universe and signs. It was great I would do it again.
JSC: Describe yourself using… (choose one: a food, a book, a song, a movie, an animal, a drink, a place etc)
FRD: Marmite/vegemite I am a like me or loathe me.
Introvert.
JSC: If you could create a new holiday, what would it be?
FRD: Moon inside I want to poke around in there.
JSC: If you were stuck on a desert island all alone with only three things, what would they be?
FRD: Generator with a built-in power cord and kindle, And Coffee. (Somehow I would make hot water)
My next book to work on is Redemption book two but also Angels book, both of these are in draft form, I am polishing them as well as working on a workbook about animals, all the ones that have impacted our lives, where their soul comes from and the animal kingdom. So, I am busy.
And now for F.R. D;Angelo’s new book: The Aztec Alphas: Twin Souls:
Zain surprises Azkin with a honeymoon in the city, Zain knows his mate needs a break from the recent rescues. The Omegas in the pack are finally settling and healing from their traumatic rescue.
Azkin surprises Zain while on honeymoon. Upon their arrival the Pack surprises the Alphas, welcoming them in spectacular style, does this all prove too much for Zain?
Zains life is at risk, as he slips into a coma, Azkin turns to the ancestors for answers. The pack is devastated as one half of the Aztec alphas is at death’s door. Can Azkin find a way to heal his mate?
The cause of the illness rocks the pack, bringing with it lasting and troublesome issues for others. As cubs are lost and some of the recently rescued omegas are failing to thrive. Alpha Protectors, Angel and Brad, realise the issue lies within the pack itself.
Azkin begins to wonder where it will all end. Protectors vow to exact their revenge. The revelation and depth of betrayal shocks them all. The newly established Aztec pack should be celebrating their lives were looking up, with so much of their future now resting upon Azkins ability to heal Zain, how many more lives are on the line?Follow the Aztec alphas as the Prophecy deepens and continues to rock their lives.
Get It On Amazon
Excerpt
Zain and Azkin sat in silence for a little while, Azkin was quiet and Zain was worried.
“Az? Love? What are you thinking about?” he asked.
“Zain, there was no need for this. No need at all. I’m done, I’m through.” Azkin couldn’t put his feelings into words.
Azkin got up from the table and walked toward the cabin door, Zain followed. He had felt the tension rolling off Azkin the longer he had sat, and he needed to let his wolf out.
As he passed the door frame, Azkin shifted, and Wolf stood with his back to Zain. His fur was shifting in the breeze, static electricity licked at the tip of each colored strand. When Zain ran his fingers through his coat, the crackling broke the silence.
Jesus, Wolf is mad. Zain thought.
Zain stood next to Wolf offering his mate support.
The roar that Wolf gave made Zain sigh, he knew it was coming, he had felt it all day, and while Wolf and Azkin were two separate entities, both man and beast had been balancing on a knife’s edge of emotions all day.
Wolf’s roar was loud, no doubt it would be heard at the cabin, Wolf didn’t give a shit, he felt pure outrage at what the humans had done. More than upset, he roared and growled for the cubs, the omegas, and the injustices of their world.
Zain stood next to Wolf, his hand upon his shoulder gently, his fingers caressing fur, the lick of pain from the static grounding them, glowing blue over the surface of his skin.
Azkin shut down the connection to the pack, he didn’t want to talk to them right now. Knowing he was taking on a massive responsibility by agreeing to be The Aztec Alpha, he knew this would come, a day where he was sorry for agreeing to do it. As much as he loved his new life, killing cubs, no matter whatever the reason, was never right in his eyes.
Author Bio
Born in Birmingham, United Kingdom, I live in Northern Ireland. And I write fiction.
I love to channel the characters who waltz into my mind and refuse to leave, until I write their story.
The magic of the other world is in the books I write, it’s not forced it just is. We all need a little magic in our lives.
I am often found with my head a book, or earphones on as I listen to a book, or I am writing.
The biggest challenge so far has been the dyslexia. I have a set routine, and many do not run on the same. It’s been frustrating for the most part. Though lots of Coffee seems to help, though the animals in my life ground me.
I love to listen to or read about science of the universe, and other worlds. I also have a list as long as my arm of characters who want to me to write their story.
My passion lies with the paranormal of our world, I also love Sci-fi.
I love to show my dogs, it gives me something to do outside of sitting in front of the pc, and I have 3 homebred boxers of my own.