A Time of Demons

Why I
Wrote A Time of Demons






(First book of the
Before The End series)



By Kathryn Meyer Griffith



***



Damnation Books Buy Link



http://damnationbooks.com/people.php?author=79




All
Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Books available at Amazon.com here



 

***



You Tube self-made Book Trailer



***



Around 2003 or so, as many times before in my roller
coaster thirty-nine year long writing career, I had about given up. Again. I
had eleven published novels (mostly romantic horror and horror) and six short
stories to my name published between 1984 and 2003 with Leisure, Zebra, and Avalon
Books.



In 2003 I’d had a dark murder mystery called Scraps of Paper from Avalon Books come
out, had finished the second All Things
Slip Away in the series for them. I was proud of the mysteries and the
books themselves. The two had fairly decent, but mundane covers, and were
hardcovers…my first.  I believed the
novels were my best so far. Contemporary and simple, but people loved the
characters and the quirky town they lived in I’d tongue-in-cheek called Spooky.
The price was steep, I thought though, at $26 dollars each. But I’d already
seen the writing on the wall. I’d gotten a $1,000 advance for each but there
was this sneaky little clause in their contracts I’d learned that said I
wouldn’t see a dime more of royalties until 3,500 books were sold. That alone
would probably keep me from seeing any more money – unless the books were run
away hits and more would be printed, or other rights would be sold. That rarely
happened I’d been told by other authors for they only printed about 1,750 units
at a time and that meant it would have to go into a third printing to gain me
anything else. And Avalon didn’t usually go after outside subsidiary rights of
any kind. Of course, over the years, though both books have had great reviews, A’s
really, neither book has gone into a third printing. Oh, well. As warned, I
haven’t seen another penny though the novels still seem to be on sale
everywhere. Everyone loves them and wants a third. No way. I’ll wait until my
long ten year contracts are up before I write another Spooky town mystery and not for Avalon Books. You live and
learn. It seems like over my career I’ve had a lot of such lessons to learn.
Ha.



Anyways, I’d missed my horror genre so much and had
been thinking for a while about this new book of mine. Oh, okay, yes, I said I
was ready to throw the towel in…but stupid me, I never do. When will I learn?
It all started with a tiny seed. Two characters. Siblings. These characters, a
loving brother and sister, Cassandra and Johnny Graystone, would be nightclub
playing musicians who’d lost their whole family (five brothers and sisters and
a mother and father) twenty years before and in the present would be living
with and taking care of their elderly aunt and uncle. The aunt would have Alzheimer’s and the uncle, age catching up
with him, would be frail, as well. They’d be Catholic. As I’d been raised. The
uncle would believe the end days had come. Cassandra would be happy with her
life singing out with her brother and living with her sick aunt and uncle. Until…she’d
begin to know when people were going to die and she’d begin seeing these
hideous creatures– demons–hiding behind some of her human audiences’ faces; bad
things would start to happen around her, and she’d think either she was going insane
or something terrible was happening to the world.



Turns out her uncle was right. The end days had
come.  I saw demons and angels swirling
around her that only, at first, she would see. Then I saw her with a glowing
sword that she’d use in battles with other human soldiers of her kind she’d
meet along the way fighting a growing horde of demons. The apocalypse not far
behind.



Ah, it would be an apocalyptic novel. That’s it.
But one with heart; characters you could root for and love, more a layman’s
view of the biblical end-of-days, and not near as much preaching as The Left
Behind series which I’d read years before and liked.



Since I’ve always wanted to write an end-of-days
novel –I’d loved Stephen King’s THE STAND so much– the story had taken firm
root and wouldn’t leave me alone until I started writing it. I had to. It would
be my masterpiece! The book called to me that strongly.



The woman eventually discovers she is one of many
who will have powers to see and fight demons, with the help of angels, as the
end days draw near. She must seek out others like herself and convince them to
join the fight. She must begin to battle the powerful evil entities she alone is
aware of, as well. In the process I send her, her brother, aunt and uncle, and
their friends, on a rousing but dangerous quest across the country in a RV…after
tornadoes and demons destroy their homes. The world is falling apart around
them.  Catastrophic earthquakes, tornados
and hurricanes are everywhere. A rise in terrible human crimes…most caused by
demons or demonic influences. But I tried to make it a story of family and
human love as well as a survival story in the face of overwhelming odds as the
world spins to its end.



Many agents, editors and publishers turned it down.
Too religious. Not religious enough. Not enough this, not enough that. .. I
wasn’t a big enough writer. How dare I write something on such a huge religious
scale. Oh, no, you have angels in it? Oh, no, you have demons in it! Whatever. But I believed so much in the book I didn’t
give up. I kept sending it out.



In 2010 I finally sold it to Kim Richards at Damnation
Books, her brand new publishing company (and now she also owns Eternal Press).
She read and loved it. She got it. By then I’d also finished
another horror novel, more a romantic horror tale about a witchy vampiress
resurrected from her Civil War era tomb and now haunting her old home, an
atmospheric lovely  bed and breakfast run
in the present by a loving husband and wife. The wife has to fight to save her
husband’s life when the vampiress believes he’s her reincarnated soldier/lover
from the Civil War days and tries to take him back for her own. A real eternal love
story. A dangerous love triangle. Of course dead drained corpses show up all
over the place. I called that book The
Woman in Crimson. Kim loved and contracted both of them.



An editor, Lisa Jackson, helped me polish up A Time of Demons until it shone and
Annie Melton created a striking, scary, cover in vivid scarlets with the two
main characters at their microphones and a demon-hiding-behind-its-human faced
customer at a nearby table.



So that’s how the BEFORE THE END: A Time ofDemons was given life. Hopefully, in the next few years I’ll write the
second novel in the series…when I get all my old Leisure and Zebra paperback books
(going back to 1984) all rewritten and out again between June 2010 and June
2012. Kim offered to reissue all ten of them, revised and with astonishingly
striking new covers, and I couldn’t say no.  It’s been a heck of a lot of work, but a labor
of love. What writer wouldn’t want a second chance to make an old book a better
one and have it rereleased all over again? Not me, for sure. Grin.



And A Timeof Demons ? Since its release last May it’s gotten fantastic reviews (see
there all you naysayers!) and has even won the She Never Slept’s 2010 Nightmare Award, as one of the
three best romantic horror books they’d read in all of 2010. Yeah! Now if more
people would give it a try, a read, I’m hopeful they’d like it, as well. It’s
far more than a simple horror or religious parable…it’s a family and earthly human
saga. All I can do is pray, hope…and promote, promote, promote!



I’ll never give up. How can I? It’s my masterpiece and I hope to write its sequel
someday. As my mom used to say,
winners never quit and quitters never win. And me, I’m not a quitter. Or I try
not to be. Sometimes the crazy book/publishing world can drive me plumb nuts.
But I always get over it. Grin.



So thank you all for letting me ramble on and on…warmly,
author Kathryn Meyer Griffith



P.S. Below is the blurb and an excerpt of A Time of Demons . Hope you like them.



***



A Timeof Demons Blurb:



Since Cassandra Graystone was
a child and her family perished in a fire she knows and sees
things other people don’t…when someone will die or that a demon lurks beneath a
human skin. She sees phantoms. Yet she craves a simple life singing out with
her musician brother, Johnny, and caring for her elderly aunt and uncle; to be
with her friends, Sarah, a psychic, and Walter, a clown in a carnival circuit.
But when Sarah sees apocalyptic events in her tarot cards and demons are
everywhere, Cassandra fears she’s going insane or something terrifying is
happening in the world.



Rayner, an ancient blood
demon, lodges next door. He becomes obsessed with her. Never having felt pity
or affection for a human before he believes he loves her, would die to protect
her. The demon realm gathers for the final confrontation between us, Rayner
warns. The apocalypse comes. You and your friends must prepare.



Cassandra flees that knowledge
until an angelic being, Manasseh, appears. Your powers will grow. You must
fight for humanity’s survival after the first wave is taken. Seek out others
like you. Persuade them to join the battle. Only these can see and challenge
the demons until the end when all eyes see them. She doesn’t want her life to change; doesn’t want
to be a nomad who battles demons. Doesn’t want to be anyone’s
protector.  Until a tornado flattens
Sarah’s house. Johnny’s apartment. There are monsters maiming and killing
everywhere. Demons persecute her and those she loves, burn down her home and
force her family and friends onto the road, as everywhere cataclysmic weather
and signs of the end days make things hellish for humans. Cassandra and her
friends can no longer deny their destinies. They must fight…or see the remnants
of humanity engulfed in flames.



***



A Timeof Demons Excerpt:



Beyond the windows, darkness and
rain had arrived, slamming a storm surge against the glass. Thunder and streaks
of electricity ripped and echoed across the sky. The windowpanes rattled in
their mountings and the lightshow brightened the world. Even with the downpour,
the temperature had become warmer. The humans drifting into the bar were soaked
in water and perspiration and were short tempered as the heat and the noise
level rose to a shrill crescendo.



Manasseh recognized demons behind
several of the human faces.



More than usual tonight.



They were one of the reasons
Manasseh didn’t like going into buildings where there were crowds. The ratio of
demon to mortal was shifting quickly. There were demons everywhere.



Manasseh detected and avoided them
and they couldn’t see him. For now. There’d come a time when the blinders would
be lifted from everyone’s eyes, including theirs, and he’d have to kill them.
They’d have to try to kill him.



His foot tapped softly at first
and then faster. His body tensed. He couldn’t wait for the day when he could
raise his sword and strike all the fiends down once and for all. It’d been
coming for so long and he was tired of waiting.



There were demons, disguised as
humans, drinking at a table beside the bandstand. “When’s the damn music going
to start?” one griped.



“Yeah, when are we going to get
some entertainment in this dump?” His friend threw the remaining contents of
his drink at the waitress as she scooted past, barely missing her. He stuck his
booted foot out and tripped a man returning from the restroom. The guy sprawled
on the floor, stunned surprise on his face. But when he looked up at who’d
waylaid him, he just lowered his eyes and stumbled off to hide in a corner.
Demon mind control. The weaker the human mind, the stronger the control.



Dressed in T-shirts, ball caps,
and blue jeans the demons appeared to be ordinary mortals of different ages and
races. Manasseh never understood why, but most of them wore beards and never
robed in bright colors. They especially hated yellow and sky blue. Most were
wearing dark glasses. That he understood. In certain lights, their eyes, empty
as their souls or, when angry, burning like crimson embers, betrayed them.



Manasseh could hardly bear to be
in the same room. Demons had a stench of burnt blood and ash around them and
their minds were as dark as the place they’d come from. They mingled among men
and committed the crimes that made humans cry: arson, wife beating, torture,
and murders. Manasseh scowled. If there was a heinous crime being committed
somewhere, there was most likely a demon perpetrating it or somehow behind it.



They were making him angry. He had
to remind himself why he was there and that his first responsibility was
guarding Cassandra. It was difficult because all he wanted to do was to
exterminate them.



Not here. Not yet.



Cassandra, guitar case in hand, wandered
in with her brother in tow. They set up their equipment, tested microphones,
got something to drink, and after tuning their instruments began to play.



The demons were instantly agitated
at the sound of Johnny and Cassandra’s voices. One of them glared balefully at
the girl as another snarled something to his friends, his face shifting into a
sneer.



Manasseh didn’t like the looks of
any of them. They were a fight waiting to happen. Malevolence glinted in their
looks and their pretend smiles had no mirth. But he knew their kind. Most of
them were cowards and wouldn’t hurt Cassandra or Johnny in such a public place.
It’d garner too much attention and they wouldn’t want that. They usually waited
until they could get the humans alone somewhere to do their damage.



An omen of things to come, thunder
rippled through the sultry air and eerily mimicked the resonance of human
screams. Manasseh shifted uncomfortably in his chair.



Still there was no sign of the
demon, Rayner. Perhaps he wouldn’t show, though there was enough danger lurking
in the crowd without him.



Manasseh listened to Cassandra and
her brother. Choir music was more his style, yet their voices were harmonious
and their instrument playing skillful. There was an innocent goodness in their
demeanors and the messages of their songs that made their performance
compelling. And behind the melodies, their souls were luminous and shone like
beacons from their eyes. Both of them were pure of heart and strong, the
brother not quite as much as the sister, and would need to be because the
future wouldn’t be easy for either of them.



An hour went by. The songs and
sibling banter were entertaining. People drank, conversed, and socialized.
Rayner never showed up.



The demons behaved themselves as
much as they were able, hiding their impatience behind their smirks. No doubt
they were planning something wicked for after they left the bar.



He was about to see to Obadiah,
when one of the demons behind him threw a bottle at Cassandra. She ducked
before it made contact and smashed into the wall.



Another demon flung one and hit
Johnny in the head…and the brawl was on.



Everyone shoved and kicked each
other. Fists and flesh collided. The demons had instigated the clash and
notched it up and that alarmed Manasseh. Though it was in their nature to cause
pandemonium wherever and whenever they could, they were usually less obvious
about it. Another bad sign.



The room was an erupting volcano
and people spilled into the stormy night to escape the flying glasses and
bottles.



Crouched down behind the bar,
Maggie shouted into the phone: “Morey, you better get over here quick. There’s
a big fight and everything’s being busted to hell. I’ll try to call the
police–” The phone obviously went dead in her hands. “Damn!” She dropped it and
ran out the door.



Someone threw a table through a
window and wind and rain splattered in. Everyone was screaming, slugging each
other, or trying to escape through a door or window.



One of the demons hurled itself at
the two singers as if it wanted to tear them apart. Cassandra nimbly stepped
aside and the fiend overshot and ended up beneath a table scrabbling to keep
from being booted by a bunch of furious cowboys.



Amidst the chaos, Cassandra shoved
her wounded brother towards the back exit, their guitars protectively cradled
in their arms.



Manasseh followed them into the
alley. He’d shield them if he had to. But Cassandra knew what to do. Survival
was an instinct she’d been born with. Through the falling water, she aimed her
brother towards her car and they scrambled in.



The sound of police sirens rivaled
the thunder.



There
were demons behind Cassandra and her brother and Manasseh slammed the door in
their faces as the pair of humans drove away. ***



*******************************************************************************



All
Kathryn Meyer Griffith’s Books available at Amazon.com here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=Kathryn+Meyer+Griffith



                                                                                                                                                



Novels and short
stories from Kathryn Meyer Griffith:



Evil Stalks the Night (Leisure,
1984; Damnation Books, 2012) 



The Heart of the Rose
(Leisure, 1985; Eternal Press Author’s Revised Edition 2010) Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615722327  



Blood Forge
(Leisure, 1989; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2012)  



Vampire Blood
(Zebra, 1991; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition,
2011) 



Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615724253



The Last Vampire
(Zebra, 1992; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition 2010) Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615722075 



You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZU77j_q4S8



Witches (Zebra, 1993;
Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition 2011) 



Damnation Books Buy Link:http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615723553



The Nameless One
(short story in 1993 Zebra Anthology Dark Seductions ; Damnation Books
Author’s Revised Edition, 2011) Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615723201  



The Calling
(Zebra, 1994; Damnation Books Author’s Revised Edition, 2011) 



Damnation Books Buy Link: http://damnationbooks.com/book.php?isbn=9781615725007



Scraps of Paper
(Avalon Books Murder Mystery, 2003…soon to be an Amazon Kindle Direct ebook)



All Things Slip Away (Avalon
Books Murder Mystery, 2006…soon an Amazon Kindle Direct ebook)



Egyptian Heart (The
Wild Rose Press, 2007; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011)  Eternal Press buy link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615724437 
My self-made



You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cogCNYKzPqc 



Winter’s Journey (The
Wild Rose Press, 2008; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011) Eternal
Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615724604)




You Tube Book Trailer address: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZYCs2DVhHg



The Ice Bridge (The
Wild Rose Press, 2008; Author’s Revised Edition, Eternal Press 2011)



Eternal
Press Buy Link:
http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615725182  



You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=28HZqu-my1g



Don’t
Look Back, Agnes novella & bonus short story:
In This House (2008; ghostly romantic short story out; Eternal Press 2012)



You Tube Book Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3q9rZryFMo



Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/people.php?author=422



BEFORE THE END: A Time of Demons (Damnation Books 2010) 



Damnation Books buy link: httphttp://damnationbooks.com/book.php?is...



You Tube
self-made Book trailer with original song http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0-U9c2Lwfo  



The Woman in Crimson (Damnation Books 2010) 



Eternal Press Buy Link: http://www.eternalpress.biz/book.php?isbn=9781615721979




You Tube Book Trailer Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcRBvDI5G4Y



The Complete Guide
to Writing Paranormal Fiction:
Volume 1 (I did the
Introduction) 



Dinosaur lake (from Amazon Kindle Direct 2012)



 



My Websites:



http://www.myspace.com/kathrynmeyergriffith (to see all my book trailers with original
music by my singer/songwriter brother JS Meyer)



http:// www.bebo.com/kathrynmeyerG  

http://www.facebook.com/#!/profile.ph...



http://www.authorsden.com/kathrynmeyergriffith



http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pr...



http://www.goodreads.com/profile/kath...



http://www.jacketflap.com/K.Griffith



http://www.shoutlife.com/kathrynmeyergriffith



http://romancewriterandreader.ning.com/profile/KathrynMeyerGriffith



http://romancebookjunction.ning.com/profile/kathrynmeyergriffith



 



E-mail me at rdgriff@htc.net  I love to hear from my readers. ***



 
A Time of Demons