Deborah Wilde on ‘Big Demon Energy’—An Enemies-to-Lovers Urban Fantasy

November 23, 2023 Chris Well

A wickedly addictive urban fantasy with a supernatural operative investigating magic crimes and a second chance, vampire romance. What could go wrong?

“Growing up, I devoured stories with hidden, magical worlds, and kids going on adventures, preferably with no adults around. There was one book, however, that changed my life. I was eight years old, looking through the carousels of novels by the library checkout counter, when I saw a cover that said Don’t Panic on it.”

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A Double Life and a Vampire Ex? Aviva Fleischer Has Her Hands Full in Jewish author Deborah Wilde’s Big Demon Energy…

“She’s just a demon, standing in front of a vampire, trying not to punch him.”

If you’ve been looking for funny urban fantasy or paranormal women’s fiction starring sassy women who kick butt, strong female friendships, and swoony, sexy romance, then Deborah Wilde has a new series for you! She kicks off her Bedeviled AF series with Big Demon Energy: An Enemies-to-Lovers Urban Fantasy.

Her fiction includes the urban fantasy detective series The Jezebel Files, Magic After Midlife, and the Unlikeable Demon Hunter Nava Katz series. Wilde loves writing smart, flawed, wisecracking women who can solve a mystery, kick supernatural butt, banter with hot men, and still make time for their best female friend, because those were the women she grew up around and admired.

In our interview with her below, Wilde tells Monster Complex how The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy changed her life, she reveals the personal drive that compels her stories, and she explains why she seeks the challenges that come from worldbuilding without more common fantasy elements.

About the book

Big Demon Energy: An Enemies-to-Lovers Urban Fantasy
(Bedeviled AF #1)
Deborah Wilde
Te Da Media Inc.
Categories: Psychic Thrillers, Vampire Thrillers, Psychic Suspense

She’s just a demon, standing in front of a vampire, trying not to punch him.

Aviva Fleischer has a secret life. To all appearances she’s a paragon of the magic community. She’s from a respected family and has become a top supernatural operative policing crimes committed by magic humans. In fact, Aviva is about to be promoted to head up her own unit, all by the age of thirty. Exactly as planned.

But should anyone ever learn that she’s a half-demon—an infernal—her entire life will go scorched earth. In her world, vampires are celebrated like rock stars, but demons, their kissing cousins, are reviled and hunted. Talk about a double standard.

Then a rash of bizarre murders break out and the Powers That Be opt to make her co-leader of a special new squad. One that mixes humans with their vampire counterparts—investigators who hunt down rogue vamps and demons.

Co-leader? Seriously? That major wrench in her leadership plans is bad enough, but even worse? She’s being partnered with Ezra Cardoso, jet set vamp and playboy extraordinaire. Aviva should know—he broke her heart six years ago.

Ezra is also the only one other than her mom who she’s trusted with her secret. Will he betray her to get ahead? Try it: she’s got a wooden stake with his name on it.

Featuring a smart, funny heroine and a second chance, vampire romance, this wickedly addictive urban fantasy will keep you reading way past bedtime.

Dive in now for a fiendishly good time!

Find Big Demon Energy on Amazon

About author Deborah Wilde

Former screenwriter, global wanderer, and total cynic with a broken edit button, Deborah Wilde writes funny, sexy urban fantasy and paranormal women’s fiction. The cornerstones of Her books are beloved by readers craving magic adventures, swoon worthy steamy romances, hilarity, and happily ever after.

Wilde loves writing smart, flawed, wisecracking women who can solve a mystery, kick supernatural butt, banter with hot men, and still make time for their best female friend—because those were the women she grew up around and admired. (Granted, her grandmother never had to kill a demon at her weekly friend lunches, but Wilde is pretty sure she could have.)

Wilde’s fiction includes…

The urban fantasy detective series The Jezebel Files with a headstrong heroine, clever mysteries, and a dash of red-hot romance.
Wilde also wrote the urban fantasy series Magic After Midlife starring a middle-aged, divorced, and hormonally imbalanced woman who gets magic. (“Underestimate her. That’ll be fun.”)
Her Unlikeable Demon Hunter Nava Katz series spotlights a snarky heroine, kickass action, and spicy romance.

Interview: Deborah Wilde on Big Demon Energy—An Enemies-to-Lovers Urban Fantasy

Q: How do you describe your fiction that you write?

I write funny, sexy urban fantasy and paranormal women’s fiction, or, as I like to describe it, magic, sparks, and snark! Whether my heroines are in the 20s or 40s, they’re smart woman determined to live life on their terms.

My stories also involve strong female friendships and worldbuilding and magic systems drawn from Judaism and Jewish mythology.

Q: How do you explain your unique spin on urban fantasy and paranormal fiction? What inspired you to go in this direction?

I was an avid reader growing up, but I never saw myself reflected in the books I read, unless it was about the Holocaust. Those are crucial stories to tell, but I wanted a Jewish girl going through the wardrobe into a magical land or down a rabbit hole. As an adult, I still wanted those types of stories, but in a way that resonated with my life experience, so I started writing smart, funny, flawed Jewish women having magic adventures with a huge dash of steamy romance.

I’ve also always loved writing demons. My first series, THE UNLIKEABLE DEMON HUNTER books, featured the first female demon hunter inducted into an all-male Brotherhood. Her best friend was a half-demon, a secret which comes out in the first book and causes a lot of problems. That character was a lot of fun to write, and I wanted to make a half-demon my main character at some point. However, it didn’t come together until I came up with the title (of my latest book) BIG DEMON ENERGY and how that phrase would apply to developing a main character.

Vampires, on the other hand, were something I resisted writing for a long time, because I didn’t feel like I had anything new to add to the conversation. I only began including them in my third series Magic After Midlife. There is a Jewish prohibition on consuming blood, and I wanted to explore what it would mean for a formerly religious Jew to become a vampire. He wasn’t a main character, or a romantic interest, however.

That changed in this series. Ezra Cardoso, Aviva’s ex, is one of the only Primes—vampires who are born, not turned. While this is public knowledge, he too, wears a lot of masks. I was excited to explore that similarity with Aviva—and do it in the context of a second chance romance. It’s been six years since they were together, and both are older, wiser, and more scarred. These two have the capacity to hurt each other worse than anyone, but on the flip side, they understand and see each other more clearly than anyone else does. Throw in that they need to have each other’s backs to survive this case and it became a delicious and delightful creative opportunity.

Q: When and how did you become interested in writing your brand of stories?

Growing up, I devoured stories with hidden, magical worlds, and kids going on adventures, preferably with no adults around. There was one book, however, that changed my life. I was eight years old, looking through the carousels of novels by the library checkout counter, when I saw a cover that said “Don’t Panic” on it. (Someone had put it in with the back cover facing out.)

I immediately checked out THE HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY—and my mind was blown. The books I’d been reading were serious, and yet here was this galactic adventure with this crazy cast of characters and an absurd humor that I couldn’t get enough of.

I wrote stories all the time, but I never believed I could be an actual author. That wasn’t something that kids from Vancouver grew up to be.

Instead, I became a screenwriter for twelve years, where I worked on a lot of different projects, including animation. That was great training in worldbuilding and creating rules for magic use in my storytelling.

Some of my gigs also let me play with incorporating witty dialogue in the vein of old screwball movies like His Girl Friday or The Philadelphia Story. Writing banter is my happy place. All those elements came together in the stories I’m telling now.

Q: What are your favorite things about the section of urban fantasy that you occupy?

Before I published my first urban fantasy, a top NY agent told me that I’d have to tone down the magic mysteries in my book and posit it as paranormal romance, or tamp down on the romance to label it urban romance. I disagreed and I’m glad I did.

The joy of writing these characters, for me, isn’t one aspect of their lives or another, it’s exploring the entirety of their world. I love merging my love of magic, hidden worlds, and my addiction to crime dramas, with spicy, swoony romance. And I’m incredibly fortunate that readers are more than happy to come on that journey with me.

Plus, I’m proud of incorporating worldbuilding and magic systems that lay outside the more traditional realms of Greek, Roman, and Celtic mythology. I’m not the person to add anything meaningful to those stories.

Q: What are the best ways for fans to keep track of what you’re writing (and related author news about you)?

Join my author newsletter: https://deborahwilde.com/subscribe/

Follow me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DeborahWildeAuthor

For news only relating to new releases and promos, join my list at Deborah Wilde Books, where I sell direct to fans. https://deborahwildebooks.com

Thank for having me here today! It was a blast.

More about Deborah Wilde online

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