When Angels Mourn, Sarah Beth James, releases 17th Jan 2020 from Hot Ink Press.
How far are you willing to go for the love of your life?
A twisted piece where the old pagan gods are returning to retake Earth from the Christian God and Devil who have enslaved them to gain the earth for themselves by using Lethe’s throne from the Underworld to erase the memories of the lesser gods — making them think they are ‘angels’ and ‘demons’ serving each side. To warn them when the older gods start to return from their slumbers, they have kept two captives. A male and female, who think they are an angel and a demon, working in the service of their betters. When the pair fall in love, it is a warning that the Unity between Christian God and Devil is failing. Unity will do anything to keep the pair apart, even kill them while the pair are left fighting for their lives and their memories.
We were surrounded, I was separated from Edmund. I fought to return to his side, to protect him from the sea of monsters. I was held back by the sheer mass of bodies around me, hacking at them with my blade. Our eyes met over the battlefield, he smiled at me for the very last time as the demons ripped the wings from his back. Torching them in hellfire. I could smell the burning feathers His scream of agony reverberated through my whole body as he sunk to the ground as nothing more than a human. The demons held me tighter, I could only watch as they tore out his heart. I stood there as the creature I loved died.
Hi, my name is Sarah and I am here to talk about my new release, When Angels Mourn. We see the love story of Edmund and Alyssa unfold through the pages of the book. Alyssa is an angel, and believing Edmund has been killed, she has fallen to Earth in her grief. Edmund chasing after her, discovers that Alyssa no longer remembers him or anything about her life before where she is now. Working as a roadie for a band on tour. Leading Edmund to first ask the Goddess of Love for help, which isn’t exactly the aid he expects it to be. Before entering into a dangerous quest to the Underworld to find a way to bring Alyssa back to him.
I couldn’t believe it, all these months of searching and there she was. My beloved Alyssa looking just as radiantly beautiful as the last time we had spoken. I had kissed her goodnight before going to work, not realising that I would lose her. If I had, maybe I would have lingered longer. Kissed her deeper, hell skipped the ‘work’ shift. Anything to gain a few more precious seconds with her, something to remember her by in these long months we had been parted.
Where did this story come from? For me, there are two main things at play. Firstly, there is the Christian God VS Old Gods theme, which comes from my upbringing of a Christian father and Pagan mother. Before eventually deciding to become a Pagan myself, although I do still believe in Angels having experienced something that could be considered angelic. The second thing at play is a gender fluidity of several characters in the book. Beta by people of the correct community to make sure it is done non offensively, I also self-identify as this. I decided back in 2018 that I wanted to write something pro this, due to being sat at college with a tutor of ‘professionalism at work’, who was meant to be mentoring us about diversity and how to correctly treat people of ‘other genders’. Who was completely transphobic, and kept saying that no matter what surgery they had a man was still a man not a woman and could not expect to be treated any differently? He also stated several times that being trans or more than one gender was ‘a mental illness’ and there was ‘no fact in science for this’. At which point I snapped and started talking about intersex people throughout history, and other points. Which he stated was a very rare case of maybe 1/100000. At which point there were three LGBTQ* members of the class including myself who wanted his blood, but one of the older men dressed him down before we got there. I started writing this story in class ignoring his teaching after that and reported him to the head of the college. The ignorance of some people! Sometimes there just are not enough words to re-educate them, but perhaps this book will go a way towards that goal.
I rubbed my eyes. “Typical, I come looking for a goddess and end up with some southern comfort.”
“Oh, I’m not goddess enough for you?” she asked dryly. “Want me to be fifty-foot high? Wear a crown? All that showboat bull crap the others use? I’d rather pool my energies into the only thing that really matters, true love!”
“Shouldn’t you be a leggy blonde with clamshells and all that shit?” I countered.
Aphrodite sighed, changing to the stereotypical appearance, picking at the blonde curls as they got in her eyes. “Whatever floats your boat, sugar, this is your fantasy, not mine. Yet, perhaps this frame suits your tastes better?” she asked, swapping into the red-haired, slender form of Alyssa. In that stunning black gown she had worn the very first time we had met. The temple around her transformed with candles in sconces, flickering away in the darkness and statues of the goddess’s various forms lining the walls, rich tapestries appearing, dotting the walls.
The last thing I want to say about this book, is that all my royalty from it and the book itself are dedicated to the late great Piper Kay, a LGBTQ* best selling novelist that we sadly lost just before Christmas. Without Ms Kay, I would not be the author I am, nor would I be lucky enough to be working with the fantastic publisher CHBB.
Hope you love the book as much as I do
Sarah
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