RT BOOK REVIEWS: You are best known for your Kara Gillian Demon Summoner series. Can you give readers who might not have had the chance to read your Urban Fantasy series a short rundown of what they can expect from Kara and her world? 

Diana Rowland: Cops! Demons! Murder! Sex! Or, for those who want more detail: Kara Gillian is a homicide detective with the ability to summon supernatural creatures — known as demons — for aid in her investigations and her personal life. While performing a routine summoning of a fourth-level demon, something goes wrong and she instead manages to bring through the Demonic Lord Rhyzkah — who immediately takes an “unholy” interest in her. And he’s not the only one! FBI Special Agent Ryan Kristoff seems to know far more about demons than any normal person should, as does his partner, Agent Zack Garner. Soon Kara is swept up in supernatural intrigues encompassing both our world and the demon realm. She’s at the heart of it somehow, and she’s going to need all of her mundane skills as a police officer as well as her supernatural abilities to figure out why — because there’s a lot more at stake than just her own life. 

RT: As a writer, what drew you to writing about demons interlaced with some good, old-fashioned police work?

DR: I worked in law enforcement and death investigation for close to a decade, so writing a police procedural was a bit of a natural for me. However, my geek/nerd roots run deep, and I absolutely love paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and anything of that ilk! I simply couldn’t write an “ordinary” mystery/thriller. I wanted to have all of the fun and chilling supernatural stuff in it, so when I was first brainstorming my characters I knew I wanted my main character to have an arcane ability that could be used to help her solve crimes. However, I wanted her to still be completely human — with human weaknesses and foibles. Therefore it made the most sense for her to have the ability to summon and use creatures that were not human in any way.

RT: Kara started as a loner, but during the course of your last few books, she has gathered quite an entourage of friends and assorted hanger-oners (some supernatural, some not). Other than your heroine, do you have a favorite character in the series? (We are, of course, asking you to decide between demonic lord Rhyzkahl and FBI agent Ryan Kristoff!) 

DR: Oh, but they’re both so amazing and aggravating in their own way! It’s almost a Spy vs. Spy thing sometimes between those two! And if I tell you which one is my favorite it would give sooo much away. And you wouldn’t want that, now, would you? 

So, other than the two “boys”, right now my favorite character is Kara’s demon bodyguard, Eilahn. She was insanely fun to write, and I can’t wait to bring her back into the mix!

RT: You have at least one more Kara Gillian books in the works. Can you give us a rundown of a scene that you are currently plotting for this next story? 

DR: There are (hopefully!) at least four more books planned for this series (though the actual fiddly contract parts are still being worked out). (Cross fingers!)

Hmm… a rundown of a scene? Well, there will definitely be much more Rhyzkahl in this book. And Eilahn will be back, of course. And there will be this thing that happens and Kara will be all like, “Oh no, he didn’t!” And Kehlirik will be like, “Oh yes, he did!” And Kara will be like, “OMG What a dick!” And Kehlirik will be like, “I know, right?!” (Okay, that probably won’t be the exact dialogue…)

Anyway, I can’t really say too much just yet, because there’s so much that’s going to happen in Touch of the Demon. Everything changes, and Kara finds out that most of what she thought was absolute truth ... isn’t.

RT: Kara isn’t your only popular heroine. Earlier this year you introduced Angel in My Life as a White Trash Zombie. If you had one tweet (140 characters) to sum up the difference between Kara and Angel — what would it be?

DR: Kara has always known she has power and is now learning why. Angel is discovering that she has true potential—more than she ever realized. (Whew, made it in 136 characters!)

RT: Angel from My Life as a White Trash Zombie is nominated for RT’s Reviewers’ Choice Award for best urban fantasy protagonist — what was something that you constantly kept in mind while writing an undead leading lady?

DR: My main thought when writing Angel was that I wanted to show that becoming a zombie was the best thing that ever happened to her. Angel doesn’t have much going for her — she’s a high school dropout, addicted to drugs and alcohol, her mom committed suicide in prison, her dad’s an abusive alcoholic and her boyfriend is a total jerk. Moreover, Angel believes she’s a loser, and has given up trying to improve her life. But once she becomes a zombie, she has to grow up, learn how to be responsible and keep a job, and most of all, believe in herself — and there are a few times when dying just might be the less painful option.

RT: We have just heard that you have another zombie book in the works, this one will be called Even White Trash Zombies Get the Blues. What will readers get to learn about in this series second that was not explored in the first book?

DR: Readers will get to learn a lot more about how the zombies “work” in this world, both biologically and socially. (Zombie Mafia!) Angel will discover that simply learning to survive is not enough for her anymore — now she wants to learn how to thrive. But on the way she’ll discover that there are people — living and undead — who have some seriously nefarious plans that could threaten all human life as we know it, and she just might have the perfect combination of guts, attitude, and, well, brains to save the day.

RT: If you had to pick a favorite fictional zombie (not your own) which would it be? And what about a demon?

DR: My favorite zombie movie is Shaun of the Dead, hands down. So my favorite zombie would have to be Ed (Nick Frost) at the very end of the movie. (Or maybe Bill Nighy, because, well… Bill Nighy!) 

Favorite demon is a bit harder, mostly because the demons in my books have zero relation or connection to the “creatures from hell” that most other demon books or movies use. So I’m going to cheat a bit and change the question to “favorite supernatural creature,” and for that my answer is Beetlejuice. Totally charming psychopath!

RT: You have been writing since 2009, what’s something you know now that you wish you’d known when you started?

DR: I wish I’d known back then that when you get the brilliant, plot-fixing idea just as you’re drifting off to sleep, it doesn’t matter how many times you repeat it to yourself and tell yourself that something this brilliant could not possibly be forgotten by morning, because, trust me YOU WILL FORGET IT! You will wake up in the morning and be completely unable to recall any aspect of the brilliant idea except for the certain knowledge that it was brilliant and would have totally fixed the gaping hole in your plot, and thus you will spend several hours staring despondently into your cup of coffee as you desperately attempt to remember what it was, but all that time and effort will be for naught because it is gone, gone, gone.

After having experienced the above a few dozen times too many (I’m a slow learner and I like my sleep) I’ve finally trained myself to at least reach for my phone and leave myself a voice memo. And usually when I listen to it in the morning it isn’t anywhere near as brilliant as I thought it was, but every so often it is. And those precious few moments are as awesome as fluffy unicorn kittens belching rainbows and prancing in magic chocolate sunbeams.

RT BOOK REVIEWS: And finally, because you have had such an interesting career as both a cop and a forensic assistant, we are dying to know which parts of your stories come out of your real life experiences and which come from your imagination. (Please be specific, but be warned, if you tell us that zombies and demons really exist and the police are looking out for these supernatural threats, we just might believe you!)

Diana Rowland: All of the autopsy scenes in the White Trash Zombie books are taken directly from my own experience. In fact, one of my duties when I worked at the morgue was to cut the heads open and take the brains out! Other aspects, such as the dark humor used to relieve some of the horror of the job are absolutely true and from my own experience, as well as the fact that no one ever jokes when the victim is a kid. 

Otherwise, I can’t think of any specific scenes that were drawn “word for word” from actual events. However, almost all of the procedural elements as well as the interactions between cops were most certainly based on my own experiences, even if I did nothing more than do my best to recapture the mood of the scene or moment. A number of the characters are based on former coworkers (with their knowledge and approval!) and minor characters are often amalgams of some of the quirkier and unique personalities I’ve encountered over the years. Because, honestly, I’m not sure I could make some of this stuff up.

And, I think the closest I ever came to speaking to any sort of supernatural creature was the time I was in the home of a woman who was quite mentally ill and suffered from delusions. She called 911 because the “people in her walls were bothering her.” (This was not the first time she’d called with this complaint, and it’s a tragedy of our mental health system that she was unable to get the help she clearly needed.) I went out to her house, listened to her explanation, then banged on the wall and yelled at the “people” to keep it down or I was going to haul them all off to jail. She heaved a sigh of relief, told me that they’d finally shut up and she was going to go to bed now, and thanked me for coming out to help her.

Is it any wonder why I write the stories I write?