We are so glad to have Christine Henry with us today to talk about her wonderful BLACK WINGS series!

Hi Christina! Let’s start with you telling our followers about Madeline Black and your BLACK WINGS series.

BLACK WINGS is about an Agent of Death named Madeline Black. She’s stressed, broke and has a hungry gargoyle to feed. On top of all this, her supervisor is a pain in the ass. She’s pretty much just trying to get by with this crappy inherited Death gig when her whole world is turned upside down, first by a mysterious stranger who wants to rent the apartment in her building, then by a monster that shows up out of nowhere and starts eating people.

BLACK NIGHT picks up about a month after the events of BLACK WINGS. Maddy’s life has completely changed since she’s learned more about who she is, and because of her unexpected inheritance she gets sucked into a diplomatic mission to the local faerie court. Unfortunately, the last ambassador was killed for a breach of etiquette and Maddy is hardly a subtle individual, so things are practically guaranteed not to end well.

In BLACK HOWL, ghosts are popping up all over the streets of Chicago, and Maddy's boss wants her to find out way. She's also collected a number of enemies since BLACK WINGS, and all of them are out for her head.

Beezle, (Maddie’s gargoyle) has such funny characteristics. Tell us about him and how you created him in your mind before he became alive on the page?

When I first started writing Black Wings, I had only the vague idea that I wanted to write a book about the Grim Reaper. Then I heard Maddy’s voice in my head, and the gigantic, brooding male reaper I’d been envisioning became a short, slightly overweight female with a huge attitude.

I love to write dialogue, so I wanted to have someone around that Maddy could converse with on a regular basis. Thus Beezle, the tiny gargoyle with the mighty appetite, was born.

Once Beezle appeared – sarcastic, crabby, and addicted to sugar – I wondered (like Maddy) how I would have ever gotten along without him. When you write in first person there’s a danger that you’ll spend too much time in the character’s head. Having another character on hand for Maddy to bounce ideas off keeps the narrative fresh and prevents Maddy from spending too much time brooding over her problems. Really, how can you brood when you’ve got a hungry gargoyle to feed?

Plus, since Beezle is a home guardian he’s pretty much always around, unlike a roommate or relative who might possibly have a life of one’s own. Beezle’s life is Maddy’s life – he delights in sticking his beak in her business – and everyone else’s business for that matter. This keeps him readily on hand for whatever I might need.

Escorting souls into the afterlife leaves Maddy little time for socializing-until devilishly handsome Gabriel Angeloscuro agrees to rent the empty apartment in her building. But when demons start appearing on Maddy’s front lawn, she realizes there’s more to her new tenant than meets the eye.

The series has a wide variety of character species. Angels,demons, werewolves, faeries,... will you expand the spectrum of supernatural in future books? If yes, can you tell us about it?
Maddy's world is building toward a major conflict, so there will definitely be more creatures introduced as that conflict develops. Everyone is going to have a stake in the outcome. That said, it's a tricky balance to try to expand the world without making it too large and unwieldy.

Gabriel seems to be the silent type. He doesn’t express a lot of what is on the inside. Can you help us to understand him a little better?

Gabriel has suffered a lot in his life, and because of that he’s very cautious about what he says. Pretty much everything in his life has been used against him, and he’s gotten in the habit of keeping things to himself.

If obstinate dead people were all that Maddy had to worry about, life would be much easier. But the best-laid plans of Agents and fallen angels often go awry. Deaths are occurring contrary to the natural order, Maddy’s being stalked by foes inside and outside of her family, and her two loves-her bodyguard, Gabriel, and her doughnut-loving gargoyle, Beezle-have disappeared. But because Maddy is Lucifer’s granddaughter, things are expected of her, things like delicate diplomatic missions to other realms.

With six books planned for this series, we know this must absorb most of your focus, but have any different or new ideas popped in your head for future projects?

I have a few ideas, but I don’t have any time to write them right now! I’m hoping to do some serious work on a new project later this year.

Maddie isn’t a size zero. What made you decide not to make her shape, super model skinny? (By the way, we are glad to see heroines with a bit of fluff)

So many heroines are physically perfect, and I don’t think that’s necessarily relatable for the average person. I wanted to see someone who wasn’t a perfect specimen, someone who gets out of breath when she runs, like a normal human being.

When I run I don’t look like Kate Beckinsale in a leather jumpsuit in UNDERWORLD. I look like a basset hound with a sweaty red face and all my stuff jiggling. I think someone like Maddy is more like the way most of us are.

Would you like to trade places with Maddie for,... oh let’s say a week?

Not a chance! She’s always tired, hurt, and hungry…I’m more like Beezle. I like sitting around eating as many cinnamon rolls as I can.

As a runner, how do you find the time to do it between laundry, writing, and being a mom?

I start early! I’m out the door by 6am every day to get my run or workout in before my husband leaves for work. When I come back I’m energized and ready to take on the day.

Something is wrong with the souls of Chicago’s dead. Ghosts are walking the streets, and Agent of Death Madeline Black’s exasperating boss wants her to figure out why. And while work is bad enough, Maddy has a plethora of personal problems too. Now that Gabriel has been assigned as her thrall, their relationship has hit an impasse. At least her sleazy ex-fiance Nathaniel is out of the picture–or so she thinks…

A lot of changes take place in BLACK HOWL, is this taking the series down a different road in your new release, BLACK LAMENT?

I’m thinking of the series in two distinct arcs right now. The first story arc ends with BLACK HOWL – the discovery of Maddy’s powers, her growth as a person as she works through her identity. BLACK LAMENT begins a new arc, where Maddy comes to terms with her legacy from Lucifer and the ramifications that may have for the world at large.

To read the first chapter of BLACK LAMENT, set to be released October 30th, click here


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CHRISTINE's giveaway prize is a copy of BLACK LAMENT to one of our Lucky Followers. (US residents only) 
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A second name will be drawn for a goody bag of swag that includes a signed BLACK HOWL bookmark, from the blog (US residents only).

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