Everyone, say "Hello" to Yolanda Sfetsos~

CJ: Hello, Yolanda. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to talk to us today. We’re excited to have you here today!

I’m excited to be here too. Thanks for having me.


Q: So, first of all, we want to know about your latest novel. What can you tell us about Boundless?

Well, Boundless is the third novella in my Alyce Kerr, Faith Healer Trilogy. It wraps up several story arcs which started with Faithless and continued into Careless. It’s also the story that pushes all the characters to their limits, with some strange and surprising results.


Q: I think everyone would love to know what inspired this particular novel. Can you tell us about that?

Sure, I’d love to. I’ve always been intrigued by faith healers. You see them on TV and think they’re nuts, totally making it up. Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder… how cool would it be if there really was someone who could do that? But they weren’t born with the ability, and instead conjured a demon who would give them the power to heal.

That’s how Alyce Kerr was born. She bound a demon to herself and became an instant success. Yet, she’s not happy. How can she be when this demon is slowly eating away her soul?

I had a great time exploring just how close Alyce gets to the edge of darkness, rekindles a past relationship, and then finds herself in a situation that could tear everything apart all over again.


Q: I’m dying to know more about the Main Characters of your novel. Can you give us a brief description of each?

I think this might be the best way to do it:

Alyce Kerr: Is a blue-eyed blonde with curly long locks. She’s a Faith Healer who starts out touring the country and selling out nightly shows. She loves healing people, but despises her existence because of the demon piggybacking her soul. She starts out pretty negative and weak, maybe even a little pathetic, but as the trilogy moves along and she gets back together with Ross, she starts to find an inner strength that is helped along by some very peculiar events.

Ross Garcia: Is brown-eyed and has longish dark hair. He’s a Demon Hunter who fell for Alyce the first time they met. And even after they broke up, he kept an eye on her. Until he figured out she’d gotten herself into some pretty deep demonic trouble and became determined to help her out of it. No matter what the sacrifice.

Buer: Is the horrid demon Alyce conjured and bound to herself. He’s got two shapes—one is that of a centaur—but spends most of his time in his original form. That shape is a demented head with arms and legs haphazardly situated. He turns like a wheel, more than walks.

Kelly Dawe: Is an older woman who looks after herself pretty well and makes it hard to determine her age. She hides away in the Blue Mountains and happens to be a demonologist who leads Alyce and Ross to believe that she can help them sever Buer from Alyce. However, she’s got her own plans and adds a lot of trouble to their lives.

Sebastian Morrow: Is the tall, blue-eyed, and very mysterious best friend and colleague of Ross. He hunts demons, but is actually something supernatural too. And he’s very mysterious. He does everything he can to help them out of their latest jam, with some surprising results.


Q: Okay, I’m a huge fan of quotes taken from novels. Would you tell us one of your favorites quotes from Boundless?

This is something that Sebastian says: “In spite of what people believe, most demons can’t survive in our world without being attached to a human host to offer them energy.”

After I read this bit of dialogue a few times, I realized how important it was for Alyce to hear this from someone. All of the other quotes I could think of were too naughty to share. ;)


Q: A little about you. When did you decide to write your first novel?

Oh, I’ve been writing for a long time now. It all started when I was in my teens. I always had a very overactive imagination, and soon found myself writing down ideas and characters, until they eventually turned into stories.

I wrote my first ‘real’ novel when I was about sixteen.


Q: Do you have a system or particular ritual you do before/ during writing to keep the words flowing?

I don’t really have a ritual, but I do like to make sure that I have everything related to my current WIP nearby. Otherwise I feel like something’s missing and can’t concentrate properly. Also, if I’m alone and in the right state of mind, I can be sure that the words will flow when I need them to.

Of course, things don’t always go according to plan.


Q: What do you find the easiest part about writing? The hardest?

The easiest part about writing has to be coming up with the ideas, writing everything down until it starts making sense. This is also when I have fun researching online, or casting my characters with pictures of celebrities. It’s great!

The hardest thing has got to be the waiting. We’re always waiting aren’t we? Waiting for responses, waiting to develop each idea, waiting in between drafts… you get the picture.


Q: We all know writers spend a great deal of time researching. Can you tell us one of the most interesting things you’ve discovered while doing research for your writing?

Sometimes, when the story is just an idea scratching away at my brain and I get started on the research I’ve found that the actual act of casting characters and then looking up the things that I need to know more about, makes the overall story become a little clearer. The more I research, the more concrete the story becomes.

I’ve actually stumbled on creatures and other facets that I hadn’t expected to include in the story by doing just that.

Besides, I’m a huge fan of research. It’s exciting, and always gets the creative juices flowing.


Q: If you could physically visit the world in any book, which book would it be and why?

What an awesome question! I’m going to go with my own stories…

As dark as Alyce’s world is with all the demonic threats, I would absolutely love to visit her world. I would also enjoy a brief stay in Trina’s world. She’s the main character in my upcoming urban fantasy series, The Hidden.


Q: What one work of fiction do you think has made the biggest impact on your life? How?

Definitely Cabal by Clive Barker. I actually watched the movie first, when I was in high school, and absolutely loved it. Nightbreed was one of those weird and macabre movies that hooked me in and took me on an insane ride. When I got my hands on the book, wow! I read it very quickly and found a depth that only added to the enjoyment of the movie.

Up until I read this book, I’d been toying with several horror ideas but when I read this book, I started my adventure into storytelling in the darkness of worlds hidden, or a little different from ours—a place where the monsters aren’t always the bad guys and good people don’t always do the right thing.


Q: Last question before we wrap this interview up. Please finish this sentence in a way that best describes you, for us. “People would be surprised to know that...”
“ I’m a compulsive double checker.”

Actually, I’m double checking this interview right now. :) Oh, okay, maybe they wouldn’t be that surprised. I double check everything—ranging from my stories, all the way to checking all the doors are locked at the end of the night.


CJ: Thank you, again for visiting with us, Yolanda. I would invite all our guests to check out Boundless: Book 3 of the Alyce Kerr Faith Healer Trilogy by Yolanda Sfetsos on sale now at Damnation Books. Below is an excerpt from Yolanda’s novella, Boundless. Please read on!

Excerpt from Boundless: Book 3 of the Alyce Kerr Faith Healer Trilogy

“I just want to know how far you’re willing to go for him.”

“Have you found something that might help?” Hope surfaced and made her heart beat faster than it had for days. “I miss Ross so much. I would do anything to get him back.”

Sebastian turned to look at the curtain-covered window. “Good, because I just might have an answer, then.”

“What is it?”

He shook his head and stood up, putting the cigarette out in the ashtray on the bedside table.

Alyce grabbed his free hand, feeling a rush of goosebumps race up her arm. “Sebastian, whatever it takes.”

“If I’m right, that’s exactly what you’re going to have to do, so I hope you mean it.” He turned away, and she let go of his hand, watching him approach his bed again as he dumped the book he’d been scrutinizing for another, smaller one. When he opened the black, leather-bound book, she spied the title scrawled in gold: Sex Magic & Ritualistic Practices.

The title didn’t fill her with confidence or provide a glimpse into his solution, but she decided not to think about it until Sebastian was ready to let her in on the plan.

Instead, she lay back on the bed and closed her eyes. Maybe with the sun still streaming through the window, she might be able to catch a few hours’ worth of sleep without the nightmares darkness brought on. She just wished she could enjoy the happy dreams she’d started having after Ross reentered her life rather than the frightening, soulless Buer-induced ones hounding her lately.

Ross, I’m coming for you…

An excerpt of my novel...

Rian stopped her horse atop the same plateau on which Bradyn had stood only a few hours before. Kendall was sleeping in her arms. Her gaze traveled across the valley lighted by a dim red horizon. She had no idea what time it was, but she knew that sundown had come too early today. Far too early.

The lights of Laramie glittered in the distance. What would have been a welcoming, heart-warming sight for a wayfaring stranger only filled her heart with dark apprehension. A black aura had begun building a cocoon around the city. It was the presence of evil making itself known. She shuddered and shifted Kendall gently.

Bradyn was down there. He was there in the town. She could sense him. She could see his light. It was a tiny, shining speck of blue against the black.

The auras had come and gone all afternoon until she and Kendall had seen the ravens. After that, the colors had remained. As their journey had progressed, she had begun to feel excitement at the new phenomenon that had captivated her senses. A turbulent knowledge awakened within her. This was all happening for a reason and she knew she had some part to play in whatever dark horror was coming.

Wind and shadow encompassed her. A fierce tremor ran through her body as she sat looking out into the twilight sky. She ran her hand over the dagger strapped to her thigh, its cool hilt filling her with valiant anticipation. A fluid understanding pulsated deep inside her soul. It was ancient and powerful. She didn’t know where the knowledge came from, but she knew a battle lay ahead. A battle of Life and Death. It was fast approaching, and she knew that there was so much more at stake than a few human lives. She didn’t know if the man Bradyn had ridden into town to meet was there, but she felt a presence. An evil presence. She knew it was waiting for them to come.

Her dream from the night before, which now seemed eons in the past, resurfaced in her memory for the thousandth time that day. There are two of them and they are waiting for you Bradyn.
She ran a finger down the length of the dagger. “Please be careful. Please be safe. I love you,” she whispered as she watched his aura twinkle in the darkness below. “I love you.”

The mare blew out a breath and shifted its weight easily underneath them. Kendall slept on, his breathing deep and even. He was so unaware, so untouched by the world around him. Rian sat watching his face with silent awe. She was unwilling to wake him just yet. She didn’t even want to move. A voice inside told her to wait. Tonight she would have to ride into the valley of shadow, but not right now. Her presence would be needed very soon, the voice told her, but not yet. Not yet.

Rian's Torment ~ An excerpt of my novel "To Stand with Angels"~

Rian awoke with a start. Cold sweat was running down her back. She sat up and felt not the soft down of her bed, but the hard grit of gravel and dirt beneath her finger tips. She looked about in confusion. Then, with terror, she recognized her surroundings. She had been here many times before.

It was twilight. The sky was still an ugly, murky orange marbled with engorged, blackish-red clouds. She shuddered as she looked up the empty street. The buildings on either side stood dark and stared vacantly down at her with windows that were hollow, ominous eyes. Their shutters flapped sluggishly despite the fact that the air was eerily still and malignant. A chill ran down her spine as she turned to look along the other side of the street.

At the far end, just at the town’s edge, was the outline of a man sitting on a horse as black as the Devil’s heart. It was not the horse, but the man, injured and slumping atop the horse, that drew her attention. This time, she knew who it was.

She could not make out his face but the picture was all too familiar. A scream, silent and gagging, wedged in her throat. Rising with the horrid sluggishness of one trapped in a nightmare, Rian ran to the horse. Her footsteps clanged like the fall of a blacksmith’s hammer on steel as they struck the ground. “Bradyn!” she cried in a voice barely more than a mocking whisper.

"Bradyn!”

Limp and lifeless, he sat upon the horse whose eyes glowed with the raging fires of Hell’s brimstone. His body was riddled with bullet holes, but only a thin trickle of blood ran from his chest. She screamed out to him again and this time he lifted his gaze to her. Rian felt her blood run cold as she looked at his face. He was missing an eye and his mouth was nothing more than a bloody, bashed-in hole. She saw that his hands had been sliced and bruised, then tied to the saddle horn in horrible reminiscence of the day she’d first seen him.

Fierce anger and numbing fear drove her to his side. Stumbling up to the horse, she worked frantically to untie him.

“I wouldn’t touch him if I were you.” A voice as deep as a river and as electrifying as a jagged streak of lightning filled the street. “I wouldn’t touch him.”

Rian turned slowly and felt the fury of a thousand hurricanes begin to churn through her blood. Two figures stood at the other end of the town. They were black against a dismal setting sun. Their dusters flapped lifelessly in the heavy, unmoving air. Why were there two men now? Who had the demon brought with him?

“Stay away from us!” She heard her voice, a foreign and distant shriek, echoing down the dead-calm street.

A rumbling chuckle drifted through the town. Quiet at first, it grew in volume until it was an eerie, ubiquitous thundering. Ravens gathered by the hundreds on the roof tops and along the streets, their cackling caws blending with the demonic laughter.

“Stay away from us!” she shouted again. Her eyes searched the town for someone, anyone who could help her.

One of the men began walking toward her, his body weaving hypnotically. He floated down the street as though his feet did not touch the ground. She worked furiously to untie Bradyn, but the knot only grew tighter with her efforts. “Bradyn!” she shrieked. “Bradyn, you have to get out of here! You have to! If you go into town, they’ll kill you!”

“Who’ll kill me?” Bradyn asked. His brutalized face twisted into a horrific, toothless smile. “No one is going to kill me, Rian,” he assured her in a taunting voice.

“It’s too late for him.” The voice, menacing and barely more than a whisper, touched her ears.

She turned. He was standing right behind her now. Shrouded in the purest black, his eyes glowing red from beneath the brim of his hat, he stared at her with a wide grin upon his face.
Rian choked on her tongue as it rolled with thick, terrified indolence to the back of her mouth. She knew him, she knew his face. Long, bony fingers closed around her arms as he smiled evilly down at her. His teeth were sharp fangs, long and viciously canine. His eyes were a dastardly, malicious yellow now.

“I’m coming for you,” he whispered as he licked his lips like a feral dog. “I’m going to kill your precious lover, and then I’m going to rip your heart out of your chest and eat it. I’m coming for you, Moriana.”

“No!” Rian screeched as she felt his teeth sink into her neck with rabid hunger. She looked up at Bradyn sitting lifeless on the horse. His eyes were glassy with death. She hadn’t been able to save him. “No!” she screamed again. ”Oh, Bradyn, I’m sorry, I’m sorry…”

"TO STAND WITH ANGELS" on sale now at Amazon (PRINT & KINDLE) and Eternal Press (EBOOK EDITION).

Kyle Bodeen…The “To Stand with Angels” character inspired by Josh Holloway.

Cool green eyes? Check.
Sweet, southern charm? Check
Golden mane and silver tongue? Check-check.
A smile to melt your insides and a body to turn any saint into a sinner? Oh, yeah.

Kyle Bodeen was the first, and main, character to be “cast” in my novel, “To Stand with Angels”. Inspired by Josh Holloway’s character, “James ‘Sawyer’ Ford” (of ABC’s “Lost”), Kyle possesses the mannerisms and personality traits that make him much the devilishly handsome, yet mysterious and possibly villainous, character that Mr. Holloway portrayed toward the beginning of the series (though, we all know he was an absolute doll in the end).

Is Kyle a doll? No so much. From the start, he is a charmer. Cool, sophisticated, and well dressed, he comes to town and takes Laramie by storm. He isn’t in that Wild Western, god-forsaken city an hour before he’s solicited as an assasin by Liam Briggs and managed to seduce Liam's girl, Contessa Lang, behind his back.

Contessa falls for Kyle hard, regardless of the danger she puts his life in, should she stir up Liam’s jealous rage. But she needn’t worry. Kyle can take care of himself…


Liam Brigg’s may be “To Stand with Angels- Villain You Love to Hate”, but Kyle Bodeen is this novel’s “Bad-Boy You Can’t Help but Love”… of course, that's just until the fangs come out and his true nature is revealed!

Kyle’s Memorable Quotes:

“I don’t shoot men in the back, Briggs. It’s uninspiring and tasteless to me.”

“A man that lets you wander around dressed like that, in a place like this, alone? He must be pretty jealous alright… or completely insane. I wouldn’t let you a minute out of my sight if you were my woman. Who’s your man? Liam Briggs?”

“You hire guns to kill all your enemies, do ya, Briggs?”

“That boy was too impulsive and reckless. If it hadn’t been you, he would have picked a fight with some other gunslinger and still would have gotten his idiot head blown off. His kind lives to die for foolish reasons.”

“It must be torture to have a soul that remembers every wicked thought and every vile sin.”

“Hello, Liam. What can I do for you? ...Besides your woman, of course.”