Today, Saturday 21st April 2012, is somewhat momentous. After many months my lovely, lovely mate Wendy, finally becomes “fellow author Wendy Steele” with the release of her cracking début novel ‘Destiny of Angels’.
I persuaded Wendy to take five minutes out of her busy day to answer a few searching questions about the novel, and Wendy Steele in general
1. What’s ‘Destiny of Angels’ about?
Destiny of Angels is about Angel Parsons, who experiences two traumatic events in her childhood. She decides to revisit the scene of her childhood pain and, with the help of her new ‘family’, offer the perpetrators of her distress the opportunity of redemption, rather than exact revenge upon them. She offers them the choices and opportunities to change their lives for the better but only they can choose.
Angel and her partner Aidan, a landscape gardener and former strippergram, enjoy a passionate, strong relationship. The ‘family’ Angel has brought together are Sophia a slim, smart and sassy young woman who runs her own company, carrying on the philanthropic work of her granddad, Maddy a petite, doll-like young woman who runs her own events company, Eli a big, triathlon running hunk who adores women and has a laid back approach to life, Zach a broad, dark, quiet man who runs his own fitness centre and Jed a rugby playing Adonis who runs a security firm and helps Aidan expand his business into vertical gardens.
Angel also meets up with her one childhood friend from school, Jenny, and she and her family play a fundamental part in the story. Angel was welcomed into their family as a small child and so, it is from this experience she bases her belief of what family is.
The story unfolds as Angel’s ‘family’ present the childhood miscreants, Clare, Rob, Tiffany, Justin, Danielle and Vincent, with opportunities to improve their lives and the choices they make, as well as Jenny and her brother Tim, moving forward with their lives.
Angel too, with the help of Lilith, the dark goddess, learns about what really matters in her life and that, all the money in the world won’t bring you happiness if you don’t have love.
2. What inspired you to write ‘Destiny’?
I’ve always been interested in where people come from, their start in life and how this affects them as adults. Some people carry their past as a burden while others break free of the past and start their lives anew.
The knowledge that Angel acquires during her childhood and young adulthood, gives her an unusual perspective on life and with these powers at her disposal, she takes control of her own destiny by deciding to close the chapter in her life that caused her so much trauma.
I wanted to write a story about a different character, someone living her life from an unusual starting point but still a story about everyday people that readers would recognise.
3. Angel Parsons is a fascinating character. At times it’s quite ambiguous whether she’s a ‘goodie’ or a ‘baddie’ – can you tell us more about what inspired you to create her?
Life isn’t black and white. Angel is a real woman, full of emotion and passion and she too, like everyone in the book, has choices to make based on her own experience. Those choices make her who she is and it’s up to the reader if they want to see her as ‘goodie’ or ‘baddie’. I see her as the whole package.
4. Did you already have the story planned, or did it develop as you were writing it?
It started out very differently! I had an idea and wrote about four chapters before I began to see how the whole book would work. I’ve been studying the Qabalah for a couple of years and using the paths on the tree of life to develop the story seemed the natural way to continue. I then made a skeleton plan but, it was the characters themselves that then drove the story.
5. Have you already written the next book in the trilogy?
The second book in the trilogy, Wrath of Angels, has a skeleton plan, so I know where I’m going and I’m looking forward to my characters propelling the story forward.
6. Is ‘Destiny’ going to be available as a paperback?
Yes, definitely! I’m a lover of paper books and now, with the eco way of printing books on demand, I want to give my readers the option.
7. Aside from writing, what else makes Wendy Steele tick?
I’m a simple soul. I love to dance and Tribal Unity has provided me with a wonderful group of sisters to dance with and I hope to take Tribal Bellydance toWaleswhen we move. My children inspire me every day and my partner is a constant source of support. Our home is always full of people and music, oh and cats!
8. What’s next for Wendy Steele, and more importantly her readers?
The paperback of Destiny of Angels is next. The second book Wrath of Angels is under way, as is my cook book for those of us with food intolerances, Wendy Woo’s Tummy Friendly Cookbook. I’ve a number of other projects simmering on the back burner but I’m concentrating on The Lilith Trilogy at the moment.
‘Destiny of Angels’ is available as an ebook from amazon.co.uk and amazon.com for a mere £1.99 (or equivalent).
If you like the look of the book, you can do Wendy a huge favour by LIKING her facebook page.
You don’t need a Kindle Reader to enjoy the book – download the FREE kindle app for your iphone, ipad, blackberry, android phone, pc and mac from the amazon website.
Download from amazon.co.UK | Download from amazon.COM
(Don’t have an e-reader? Bit busy right now to download the app? Buy the book anyway! It’ll be there waiting for you for when you’re ready)
Find out more about author Wendy Steele at wendysteele.com
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