Tuesday 15 January 2013

Interview with paranormal romance author Debbie Christiana


I am honored to welcome my friend and fellow Black Opal Books author of Twin FlamesDebbie Christiana, for my very first interview.

Thank you, Nana, for having me as your guest today. I love to talk about Twin Flames, past lives and writing, so you many never get rid of me. I thought it might be fun to add a few brief facts or theories about past lives before I answer the first question.

The idea of reincarnation appears to have been around since the Iron Age. The Greeks, pre-Socrates era held a doctrine of reincarnation as did the Celtic Druids. Hindus, Buddhists, New Age and several million others that don’t affiliate themselves with a particular religion or philosophy believe in reincarnation. That’s about a quarter of the world’s population. While it may seem to people living in the West to be a new, wacky religion, it’s really an old concept that many advanced cultures believed in or still do.

Do you believe in past lives?  
One of my characters in Twin Flames, Mariella Tremonti says, “None of us know anything for sure, but we’ll all find out one day.”  While that’s true, I find myself leaning towards a big YES!

I’ve had many déjà vu experiences - which I love when they happen. They pass so fast I wish I could hold on to that feeling and remember what it is that is so familiar about that moment. But I never do. I’ve also met a few people that from the minute we’re introduced, I feel I’ve known them forever, the conversation is easy and everything clicks. I’m still close friends with each one of them. On the other hand, I’ve met two people in my life that from the second I laid eyes on them, the hair on the back of my neck bristled. Not in fear but they made me extremely uneasy and agitated and we hadn’t even spoken. I also think it explains many issues in our lives; phobias, uncontrollable fear of certain things, our bad habits as well as many other things. I guess I’ll find out for sure someday J

Where did you get the idea for Twin Flames?
Well, I’m a bit of a romantic and I love unusual love stories. My mother was a big believer in reincarnation and books on the subject littered our house. I started reading them and became fascinated. Being an avid reader, I always wanted to write so it just seemed the natural thing for me to start with. I was in my favorite Italian restaurant in New York City at Christmas time and the waiter at the bar had a beautiful but strange tattoo that covered most of his arm. When I asked him about it all he would say was “It tells a long involved story.” That’s when I had it.

Some people say that the characters write themselves. Is this how writing Twin Flames was for you?
Yes. I had the story in my head for a while before I sat down at the computer so it just flowed from me. It was as if Marc and Natalia hired me to write their story. They dictated and I typed.

When Marc and Natalia were undergoing their past life regressions, I wanted them to open more doors.  The stories you told about their past encounters were wonderful and it made the connection between them that much stronger.  Sorry, no question here, just wanted to express my opinion on the matter.
Thank you, Nana. That was the hope when I wrote it. Marc and Natalia will be opening more doors, because I’m working on the sequel. I’ll keep you posted.

Where did you find all those wonderful quotes about past lives?
The internet can be a wonderful thing. I Googled quotes about past lives, reincarnation and soul mates and voila, there were hundreds to choose from. I love quotes so reading through them was a labor of love.

The grapevine (your blog) has it that you have a book coming out later this year. Please tell us a little about it?
Solstice is a romantic suspense that will be released by Black Opal Books. The heroine, Sofia, is a Strega or an Italian hereditary witch that must break a curse on her love, Armend’s head by his thirtieth birthday on the winter solstice. Their adventure takes them from New York to the ancient ruins of the Goddess Diana’s temple in Sicily and back to New York while being pursued by a psychopath who wants them both dead and the curse intact.

It’s a little darker than Twin Flames but it has its share of light and humorous moments, and it was a blast to write.

Before you go, please give an analogy of what writing is like for you. This is hard and I’m afraid I may have come up with a lame analogy but writing draws me to it like iron to a magnet.  I can’t stay away from it. Thank you again, Nana for inviting me today. It was a lot of fun.


Thanks for spending your time with me Debbie. I can’t wait to read Solstice when it comes out this year. Move fast on the sequel to Twin Flames because I’m getting antsy to read it.


TWIN FLAMES - BLURB
The last thing forty-year old Natalia Santagario expected was to be sitting on a Manhattan barstool ogling a man she has never met, but swears she knows.

The mysterious dark-haired woman at the end of the bar stops twenty-eight year old Marc Tremonti in his tracks. His head assures him she’s a stranger, but his heart tells him otherwise.

Their attraction instant and enigmatic, they travel back in time only to discover they have spent hundreds of lives together as lovers and Natalia holds the secret to Marc’s puzzling birthmark.

But their reunion in this life is complicated by a kind, albeit confused almost ex-wife, an unfortunate accident and a temporary bout of amnesia.  When a mischievous ghost from their past decides to help them, what could possibly go wrong?

Twin Flames is available through BlackOpalBooks.com, Amazon.com, Barnes&Noble and Smashwords.

Contact Debbie:
Twitter: @DebChristiana



22 comments:

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    1. I can only ditto Debbie's comment. Thanks, Christine.

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  2. Thanks, Christine. Glad you could stop by!

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    1. I can't leave a proper comment for some reason, so I'll just reply here if you don't mind. What I wanted to say was, that I do believe in past lives, and future ones. I think, it assume there's only this one life to live with nothing ever to follow would make me go cracy. And if you ever had this strong feeling of déja vue, you know you've been here already...maybe a long, long time ago :-)

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    2. Thanks for stopping by Piper. I read in 'Conversations with God' that we live all of our lifetimes now. All of our lives are happening at the same time. This is a little broad to wrap my head around, but I'm a mere human.

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  3. Great interview, ladies. Can't wait to read the book. I am a huge fan of everything past life and reincarnation. In fact, I'm working on something, in which reincarnation is the theme, right now.
    Wishing you lots of success with your books Debbie and Kudos to you, Nana, for a job well done!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by Aneta. Reincarnation is an interesting topic to write about and even more interesting to read. Twin Flames is a great read and I highly recommend it.

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  4. Thanks, Aneta for stopping by. Very cool about your reincarnation story. It's so interesting in real life and for authors I think it opens up a whole new world for plot, characters, conflict. I hope it becomes a more mainstream topic.

    Nana's book has a reincarnation theme, too. She's being modest :)

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  5. Bravo! Let's hear it for reincarnation! I'm a fan. Jesus was, too. We've got a long tradition of believers. I mean, KNOWERS. :) Looking forward to SOLSTICE!

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    1. That's interesting Valerie. I said the same thing to my uncle about Jesus the other day. Thanks for stopping by.

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  6. Thanks, Valerie, my dear - you are so right. No reincarnation in Solstice, but lots of cool energy from the universe and ancient goddesses. I'm so glad you stopped by.

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  7. I've enjoyed reading Twin Flames it has everything a girl would want in a book, the love, the past lives is thrilling read and the mystery behind every door they opened.

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    1. I totally agree with you Zrinka, but you mustn't forget the passion. It was hot. And the food, oh the food.

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  8. Hi Piper, I agree, it seems other things in nature come back to life, why not humans? Many of my reincarnation books talk about how we all plan each life, with other souls, complete with all the events in our lives. The deja vu feeling of having seen/been somewhere/someone is us remembering something we planned and is God/Nature/the Universe's way of letting us know we are on track.

    Nana, I read all the Conversation with God books by Neale Walsh. That theory is fascinating and I watched a whole series on the Discovery channel about String Theory and other dimensions and us living multiply lives at once. The show was in lay terms but I still couldn't grasp it. Mere humans is right :)

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  9. Thanks, Zrinka. You always have kind words about Twin Flames. I'm nervous writing the sequel, LOL.

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  10. Hi Debbie and Nana
    Reincarnation is such a intriguing concept. And so much fun to write about.
    Bev Irwin / Kendra James

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    1. Hi Bev, Thanks for stopping by. It is a fun subject to write about, you can do so much with it.

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  11. I've had some deja-vu moments, but to be honest, I'm a sceptic when it comes to multiple lives. But I'd definitely love it if we could do this life over sometimes :-)

    Twin Flames sounds interesting. I particularly like the fact that the woman is so much older.

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  12. Hi Empi. I have heard many theories about deja vu but I had never heard of it being connected to past lives until Debbie mentioned it. Thanks for stopping by.

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  13. Wonderful interview, Nana and Debbie. Actually, I've had some moments of deja vu in my life, infact several that I cannot even explain. And this makes me quite uncomfortable with the subject, simply because I cannot explain. Twin Flames sounds fascinating.

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    1. Thanks readinpleasure (one day I'm going to learn your name). It's funny how so many people have experienced deja vu, but it makes them uncomfortable. Thanks for sharing.

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