You know when you have a crush on a character? First let me say that Janine Ashbless is a magician, this series is so compelling and more time for me to spend with my crush, Egan! Janine has been very kind to interview him for me and yeah, I am swooning! Come spend some time with me, Janine and Egan–and of course get the book if you have not already!!!
Janine Ashbless: Today I’m here with Egan Kansky, one of the two main men in my new novel, The Prison of the Angels. Egan is a renegade priest-slash-trained-killer working for a secret agency within the Vatican, and his rival in love is a fallen angel; they’re both after my heroine Milja. Hello Egan – you’re looking good!
Egan: Sure, thanks. I think.
JA: I mean, at the end of the previous book, In Bonds of the Earth, you were literally dying.
Egan [coldly]: I got better.
JA: Roshana had beaten seven shades of hell out of you, hadn’t she? Smashed both your legs. Broke a bunch of ribs.
Egan: Nephilim are deadly dangerous. And they only get worse after you kill their bodies. That’s how you end up with demons.
JA: But Milja dealt with her. She told you how, I presume?
Egan: She did. She’s incredibly resourceful, is Milja. And brave. And loyal — in her own way… Sure, I’d have left the Big Guy to rot, in her position. But she went back for him, despite the odds.
JA: You make a good couple, you two. And you’ve let slip to her how you feel about her, at last. Yay! You’ve told her twice, in fact; you just don’t remember the first time.
Egan. Ah … that wasn’t smart of me. We both know that it can’t happen.
JA: Funny how it keeps happening, then. You just can’t stay away from her, can you? Can’t keep your hands off her, either. We know what happened in that lodge in Norway last night!
Egan [looks uncomfortable]: I never said I was a good man. Just the opposite, actually.
JA: Yeah… I remember last time we talked. But, for the record, I want to tell you I enjoyed writing your sex scenes even more than I did those for fallen angel Azazel. In this love triangle I’m sort of on your side, to my amazement.
Egan: What do you mean?
JA: I know Azazel’s technically better-looking, ‘cause he’s an angel, and he’s like this non-stop sex-machine, and he’s even sort of sweet in his murderous Baphomety way…
Egan: Is this your idea of a pep-talk?
JA: But you — Wow. You are so complicated! You are a mess of contradictions, and you’ve got these layers and layers of half-lies and denial and really serious kink and darkness under a shell of “nice”. I’ve just loved finding out about you! You’re like a puzzle that I’ve had to solve while writing the trilogy. And every time you get close to Milja it’s, like, more agony and anguish for you! It’s really hot, from my point of view.
Egan: You’re a bit of a sadist, aren’t you, Ashbless?
JA: And don’t you respond well to that! Come on, Egan — you love it when Milja pushes you to the edge. It drives you nuts when you’re constrained and out of control. I mean, if we look back to the first book, Cover Him with Darkness, that very first time you met Azazel…
Egan: Whoa. We are not going there!
JA: Oh, we’re going further than that, lovely boy. I’ve got a scene lined up for the three of you that’ll send you to the edge and beyond. It’s going to break you, Egan. Don’t panic; you’ll thank me for it afterward.
Egan [through gritted teeth]: Oh, I really doubt that.
JA: You will. Because I’ve got to break you to make you open up to Milja. To tell her the thing that you’ve been hiding from her all this time.
Egan: You mean … about the other archangel? Rome?
JA: No. I mean about you. I mean that. You’re going to give up your secrets, Egan. Even the worst one in your heart. Because you can’t really love her until you trust her.
Egan: Please, no…
JA: C’mon. You know how I love it when you beg. [laughs] Brace yourself Egan — it’s got to get worse before it gets better…
The Prison of the Angels, the final novel in the Book of the Watchers trilogy, and the story of a young woman who releases a fallen angel from centuries of imprisonment, is now available from Sinful Press.
“When there’s war in Heaven, on which side will you stand?”
Praise for this series:
Book 1: Cover Him with Darkness
Book 2: In Bonds of the Earth
“An absolute must-read.”
—Rose Caraway, The Sexy Librarian
“Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code, only much better written and with much more sexiness involved.”
—Clitical
“Oh it’s incredible. I love this series and the final book is a masterpiece.”
—Anna Sky, Sexy Little Pages
Janine Ashbless is a writer of fantasy erotica and steamy romantic adventure – and that’s “fantasy” in the sense of swords ‘n’ sandals, contemporary paranormal, fairytale, and stories based on mythology and folklore. She likes to write about magic and mystery, dangerous power dynamics, borderline terror, and the not-quite-human.
Janine has been seeing her books in print ever since 2000, and her novels and single-author collections now run into double figures. She’s also had numerous short stories published by Black Lace, Nexus, Cleis Press, Ravenous Romance, Harlequin Spice, Storm Moon, Xcite, Mischief Books, and Ellora’s Cave, among others. She is co-editor of the nerd erotica anthology Geek Love.