30 Days of Demons–Day 1 with Anya Bast Back to Blog
Update: The winner of Anya’s bag of goodies is…commenter #70, Stacey Smith! Congratulations, Stacey ! I’ll email you with prize details. Thanks for all the comments!
To kickoff my 30 Days of Demons, it’s my pleasure to have national best-selling author Anya Bast here. Anya’s got some great demon info to share from her books and one lucky commenter will win a bag of goodies. (Anya, you rock!)
The Demons of the Elemental Witches Series
Demons seem to be a whole new trend in urban fantasy and paranormal romance these days. Sometimes they turn up as the good guys, the bad guys, or sometimes a shade in between. The demons of the Elemental Witches Series are shade in between. Well, except for the Atrika. They’re pretty much all bad.
There are four demon breeds in my worldbuilding for this series:
The Ytrayi (E-TRAY-EE) – The leader caste. Loyal and operating on a strict Code of Conduct, they rule things in their world. The leader of the leaders is called the Cae. His name is Rue.
The Syari (S-YAR-EE) – The scholar caste. They are the archivists, holders of knowledge and do all magickal research.
The Mandari (MAN-DAR-EE) – The builder caste. Responsible for creating and maintaining the structures in the capital city of Ai and in all of Eudae. The buildings are made of lavender and rose marble, sometimes black or gray, and are built in columns, gentle slopes and arches. The palace, called Yrysvront, is majestic in its architecture.
The Atrika (A-TREE-KAH) – The warrior caste. Genetically engineered by an unknown hand, they are brutal and unforgiving. They are also like passionate children, following their whims no matter the destruction they might cause. Their favorite food is rotting meat and they have a nasty habit of cannibalizing their enemies on the spot in battle.
In my series the elemental witches are a hybrid of human and demon. Long ago, during the early days of human civilization, the daaeman, (who reside in an alternate reality called Eudae), opened a portal to Earth and came through it to interact with human beings.
In the beginning, it was a free-for-all on humans. Some of the demons hunted them for sport, others respected humanity and helped them improve their societies, and still others fell in love with them. For the ones who fell in love and wanted to marry and have children, there was a problem since the basic difference in the genetic makeup between humans and daaeman didn’t allow for mating. Human women couldn’t carry daaeman babies.
Out of this need, the daaeman constructed a magickal solution, using the four elements as a base. The children born of these unions were demon/human halflings and their magickical abilities were tied to one of the four elements used in the spell—earth, air, water or fire. They became the elemental witches.
It was decided that the daaeman were interfering too much in the evolution of humanity and so they withdrew from Earth, closing all the portals. When they did this, it shrouded the origins of the elemental witches in secrecy. The elemental witches learn about how they came about only midway through my series, when the witches begin interacting with the daaeman once again.
There’s a little interesting side-effect of the hybrid demon/human condition. The elemental witches with an overabundance of Ytrayi genes tend to be the good guys—the coven witches. Those with the Atrika genes tend to be the baddies—the Duskoff warlocks, who have turned their back on the tenet of harm ye none and betrayed the coven.
But there are the quirky ones, like Micah, who definitely has a bunch of Syari in him. And there’s Jack McAllister whose father was the head of the Duskoff, yet Jack never inherited his father’s baddie leanings.
So there are no blacks and whites in this world, just shades of gray, which is the way I like it best. Makes it far more interesting, and, I think, more realistic.
In Witch Fury the threads I’ve pulled between the Duskoff, the coven witches, and the daaeman throughout the series will finally weave together in an explosive mix. The Atrika and the warlocks have things planned for the coven witches and it just might end them.
Thanks so much for Cindy to inviting me over to talk about the demons of the Elemental Witches series! I’ll give away prize of a grab bag of goodies (sounds fun, huh?) to one commenter just ’cause that would be fun. You can talk to me about anything. Just go ahead and shoot. I’ll be here to answer any questions you might want to ask.
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Your latest book looks interesting and the series fascinating. Demons are usually seen as the “Bad Guys” how did you come up with the idea to have several castes of Demons and makes some of those “Good Guys”?
Welcome Anya!
I thouroughly enjoy your books. I just finished Vegas 2 and loved it, I cant wait to start your series about witches. Thank you so much posting here today.
Anya,
I love your books and can’t wait to read the latest installment in the Elemental Witches series.
I want to get my hands on the Vegas 2 book I tried to win it from your web site.
thanks for sharing the world with us.
I love the way authors and taken demons and run with them. I really enjoy reading all the different worlds that they live in. So much fun. 🙂
I am sorry to see the Witch series ending. I have enjoyed reading the books.
i am looking forward to what comes next!
I loved your post now I am going to have to go check out your books. I love to read about different demons or characters that Authors come up with!!
Hi Anya! Great to see you here and loved reading all about the intricate world you’ve created for Elemental Witches–thanks for sharing it with us.
Cyber hugs all the way from New Zealand!
Hi Anya! Love this series and so glad you explained how to say their names! I usually guess in my head because I can’t hear them so I often guess what I think they sound like! So this is neat! I love this series and don’t know if you signing in KY this year? I have a dear friend who I often order your book through!
Too it was great to chat with you the other night and so looking forward too, to more set in the TAKEN ‘world’ you created!
In looking at the castes of demons, I am fascinated by the specialized vocabularies that fantasy writers come up with. The good ones, like yours, aren’t just jibberish, but seem to follow a set of rules like a “real” language. Sooooo, how do you do it? Do you start with sounds, do you develop a set of guidelines, what? It seems like it would be so difficult but done well, it adds some much to the book. It really contributes to the feeling of uniqueness.
Congrats on the new release! Sounds great!
Hey Anya – Just wanted to come by and say hi. I am so glad I’m not the only whose noticed the trend with Demons. I prefer Demons as heros – so do you have any plans for any demon heroes in the future?
I haven’t read the last book yet but I have purchased it; I also listened to you on writerspace.com yesterday and was thrilled to be there. The book sounds great and I wish you had more in this series
Hi Anya! I have many of your books and I have to say that I loved them all. Keep writing the good stuff! Oh and Yeah Demons!
Great I just discover this series to find that its ending. Well at least I won’t have to wait for the next one to come out.
My question is how did you come up with the names for your demons are they based on any mythology or truly Anya creations?
I haven’t read any of the Elemental Witches Series, but they sound very interesting.
Hi Anya!
What a great post. I have the first couple of books in the series, but haven’t had a chance to read them. I’m looking forward to it!
I have been waiting for Witch Fury to come out so I can spend a weekend with the series. I can’t think of another question but I have enjoyed seeing the answers to the ones others have asked!
Just wanted to say hi, Anya! I’ve got book one on the TBR, and I really enjoyed your post–I love learning more of what’s gone into your world-building, and am amazed at how rich a universe you’ve created! Definitely looking forward to reading these!
I have not read your books yet but i agree grey keeps the book not to good and not to bad hope to get your books soon they look great.
sasluvbooks@yahoo.com
Ok I have to check this series out! Sounds great!!!
I like the way you broke it down for us explaining all about the basics of the demon-kinds in your books. My only question is, how did you come up with such a great story line?! I love your books and cannot wait to get a hold of Witch Fury. Sounds great!
Sorry to see the series end but happy there will be new stories coming with new worlds. Love demons good and bad.
Just wanted to pop in and say hi to Anya and Cynthia!
Anya, I really enjoyed how you explained to us the different kinds of demons that are in your books. 🙂
Hi Anya, I’ve just getting into the 3rd book. I like seeing demons as heros and those shades of gray, there are good and bad in all species, supernatural or not I think. I like the Fae, too, so I’ll be watching for more on that new series.
Thank you so much for all the comments, all! You guys are going to have a great time over here this month.
Let’s see if I can hit the rest of the Qs:
Angela — I write mostly paranormal and erotic romance. I have two anthologies out from Harlequin Spice. The first is contemporary and the follow-up is paranormal (What Happens in Vegas… and What Happens in Vegas…After Dark.) Both of those feature Lauren Dane, Kit Tunstall and Jodi Lynn Copeland too. Then I have a bunch of different series at Ellora’s Cave. Vampires, fae-based, historical fantasy. They’re all very hot, though, so be warned! I hope that helped a little. All my series are on my web site — http://www.anyabast.com
Donna — This will be the last one! There are four in this series, though they’re all stand alone. I’m starting a new paranormal romance series later this year. 🙂
Amber — The first book in this series is titled, WITCH FIRE. 🙂
Brandy — I just always feel there should be shades of gray. Within humanity there’s many shades of gray, so why not another race? 🙂 (I’m all about the happy faces this morning in my comments. LOL.)
Greta — No demon heroes immediately spring to mind, but the hero I’m writing right now is dark enough to be one. LOL.
Marnie — They’re a mix of history and my own imagination, heavy on my own imagination. *g*
Have a fantastic day, all! And thanks again to Cynthia for hosting me.
~ Anya
Hi Anya! I’ve heard great things about your series. It’s on TBR list. And the explanations about different kinds of demons only make me wanna grab the books this minute 🙂
Thanks for the chance to win a book
Looking forward to reading this series, definitely on my TBR list.
Anya is such a great author! I wish I had more time to read more of her books.
sounds like a great series
Hi Anya,
how many books have you planned in your Witch series?
I realize I’m here a day late but I just wanted to say this series sounds like a keeper and I’ll have to start reading to catch up . 🙂 Always enjoy your books Anya.
Carol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com
I had loads of fun reading the interview!