Beth Johnson interviews Stacia Kane, author of Personal Demons.

Beth: So for starters... one of the things I really loved about Personal Demons was Megan. She was a good, strong character without being one of those attitude-packing tough broads so common in urban fantasy. What made you decide to make her that way? Was that how you originally envisioned her, or did she end up having her own ideas?

Stacia Kane: It's basically how I envisioned her from the beginning. While I enjoy reading storie...

Personal Demons by Stacia Kane

The beginning chapters of Stacia Kane's Personal Demons is a bit choppy. There are some strange cuts and splices. In particular, there are several instances where important, plot-relevant conversations occur offscreen and are only mentioned in retrospect as Megan muses about them. (I think it would have been more effective to show these conversations rather than narrate about them after the fact.) I also had trouble getting a feel for the passage of time in these early chapters. I would think days passed, and it would turn out to be hours, or vice versa.

However, it was worth my while to persevere past the beginning. Personal Demons turned out to be a fun novel, if not necessarily one that will stick in my mind forever. I love the premise: Megan, a psychologist, is the host of a radio talk show that promises to "slay you... Read More

Demon Inside by Stacia Kane

You know your family is dysfunctional when demons are better company.

As Demon Inside begins, Megan Chase is adjusting to her new role as Gretneg of the personal demons. A Gretneg is a leader, similar to a Mafia don, and much like a Mafia don, Megan has to show a ruthless side in order to keep her charges' respect and avoid being bullied by other Gretnegs. This is no easy task. Megan shrinks from the violent discipline the demons are used to. A rival demon has murdered several of Megan's demons. To top everything off, Megan's maybe-boyfriend Greyson is being evasive, and Megan is not sure where she stands with him.

At first, Demon Inside was exactly the book that Personal Demons led me to expect it would be. The early chapters are chock full of action and sex, but sometimes it got a lit... Read More

Demon Possessed by Stacia Kane

The title Demon Possessed has a double meaning. On the surface, it seems to refer to the book’s murder-mystery plotline, which involves several characters who may or may not be possessed by demons. But it also refers to Megan, who must decide in this installment whether to become fully “possessed” by Greyson, the demon world, and the demonic side of her own nature.

The interpersonal-relationships plotline is the real gem in Demon Possessed. Stacia Kane does a great job of portraying Megan as a modern career woman thrust into a demon society that’s almost medieval in its treatment of women. Megan faces the work vs. family issue that so many women have to contend with, and due to the constraints of demon politics, she has fewer viable choices than most of us. She learns that Greyson must marry soon to secure his position, and ... Read More

Unholy Ghosts by Stacia Kane

Unholy Ghosts is the first book in the Downside Ghosts sequence and introduces us to Chess Putnam. She lives in a world where Church and religion has been pushed aside in favour of the Church of Real Truth, because of an uprising by the undead in the form of ghosts. Chess is in the employ of the new Church, helping to judge whether complaints about haunting are true or not, since it has become lucrative business to try and con the Church. When Chess picks up a new case, she finds much more than she bargained for — especially when she also finds herself dealing with rival drug gangs and her dangerous attraction to her dealer’s ruthless enforcer.

Stacia Kane has written a tautly-paced, gripping and, above all, unique urban fantasy novel. The idea of a new world where ghosts can kill and where h... Read More

Unholy Magic by Stacia Kane

In Stacia Kane’s second Downside Ghosts novel, Chess Putnam is pulled between two cases: the official Church investigation of the possible haunting of a celebrity, and the serial murders of prostitutes in Downside. She soon discovers that there is a dangerous sort of magic at work, and is forced to walk a fine line trying to balance all the elements of her life and work.

“Self-destruction was one thing, but she was turning into a one-woman wrecking ball.” In this book Chess is falling into an appalling addiction, but tries to convince herself that she is still merely a user. Her drug use compels her to keep visiting Lex, even though she knows she has to finish things with him to become a true part of Terrible’s life.

I found Unholy Magic desperately hard to read — at the same time as I wan... Read More

City of Ghosts by Stacia Kane

City of Ghosts is the third book about Chess Putnam, as she goes through the business of debunking hauntings. In this novel Chess is drawn into a Black Squad (government department) investigation, bound to silence about her doings. She struggles to work through the meager clues of the case as danger tightens around her, throwing everyone she cares about into the gravest peril.

I’ll say straight out that I adore this series, but I find that most series tend to have a weaker book. In my opinion, City of Ghosts is that book for Downside Ghosts.

I still greatly love all of the encounters between Chess and Terrible, which are heartbreaking and blisteringly sexy by turn. However, the whole plot dealing with Lauren from the Black Squad and their investigation seems unnecessa... Read More