The Story Behind Riftsiders
For years, I was writing uncredited or under other people’s names. I knew enough about audiences and publishing to know I had some ideas that would gain a lot of traction. My wife is a big fan of serial mysteries like the Stephanie Plum books, and she thought that I should do something like that. But. I tend to write fantasy, horror and sci fi. So, we kind of came up with the concept together of what if someone like Clive Barker was writing romantic mystery novels? I just needed a hook.
I met my wife in High School. We often talk about how people meet. One day, when we were taking a walk to the diner, we were musing about meeting people at various meetings and functions. I pointed out that dating someone from an addiction support group was strange because it was its own red flag, but you had a common ground to share from. Then it struck me as the weirdest extrapolation that it would be funny as hell if you started dating someone from your group therapy session of possessed people. Don’t ask how I got to that idea, I don’t know.
That was it. My hook.
The lead couple meets at a possession support group.
It had everything in it. It told you is was romance. Horror. And the idea is just so quirky, it led to a weird humor edge. For a few weeks I dug into worldbuilding. It’s this world, just a few shadowed alleyways over. Why were there possession support groups? What was it like? Clearly, a lot of people were possessed if support groups were needed. Then I tied it back to the addiction idea it started with. What if being possessed was like being addicted? Some good people (and some bad) caught up in something they couldn’t get out of. And society looking down at them.
I needed characters to inhabit this new world. People that would make the plot hold together. But I wanted them to represent already repressed social groups, which we view through the slanted vision of them being possessed. Our stout-hearted lead, Enrique, the immigrant, is inhabited by the haughty and self-superior British riftsider demon Tzazin, immediately recalling nationalist conflict. The duality of the feminine side is found in sweet, autistic yoga teacher Elle, scorned due to her neurodivergence. Her riftsider is the amoral Key, a demon driven by sexuality. The two of them work as our stand-in for what society does and does not expect a female to be at any given moment. There’s a weird double standard of innocent sexy that seems to be the impossible target in today’s world.
The others in the group fill similar roles as people of varying color, race, religion and sexuality. Some are good, some not so much. This holds true for the Riftsiders as well. Demon is a bit of a misnomer. But in some cases, the word isn’t strong enough.
Throw it all into a blender, add some monsters, mystery and mayhem, and Riftsiders was born.
Sending out that hook - The lead couple meets at a possession support group – quickly landed me an agent who understood this was a horror/romance/comedy AND a social commentary. It wasn’t long until a small press asked for an expansion into a series.
And here we are.
Enrique Marin wants a quiet life after the death of his wife. Just one problem stands in the way–he’s possessed by the misanthropic English demon, Tzazin. A violent night under demonic influence accidentally leads Enrique to love, and it’s anything but quiet. Shy, autistic yoga instructor Elle thought allowing herself to be possessed by the very-not-shy sex demon Key would help her find love. She finds Enrique, but she didn’t count on coping with the anti-demon bigotry of society. Fate–and AA meetings for the possessed–brings them together, but hostile forces, demonic and human, fight to keep them apart. It might cost them everything to keep their love alive.
Book Information
Release Date: April 18, 2022
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Soft Cover: ISBN: 978-1509241231; 292 pages; $16.99; E-Book, $4.99
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3HZpkPE
After graduating from Hofstra University with a split degree in English and Acting, he worked in the board gaming and roleplaying industry for decades, including officially licensed projects for Star Trek and Lord of the Rings. He did not win the Origins Award for Best Miniatures Rules in 2004 and has forgotten that bitter defeat. When not playing and working on games, he is sometimes found touring internationally, giving lectures on worldbuilding and character design.
Being a professional full-time blacksmith for several years made him realize how much less painful it was to go back to writing. He’s been lucky enough to hold the Top Humor Writer badge at Medium multiple times and has had his work narrated by James Cosmo (Lord Mormont from Game of Thrones) on multimillion-dollar Kickstarter projects.
It is also worth noting that having never taken any bassoon lessons, he still cannot play one.
His latest book is the urban fantasy/paranormal romance novel, RIFTSIDERS: UNLAWFUL POSSESSION.
Visit his website at www.PaulADeStefano.com or connect with him on Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads and Instagram.
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