The Otherworld Series, or Sisters of the Moon Series
Welcome to the official Otherworld Series pages, or as the series is also known, the Sisters of the Moon Series. Here you can find out more about the background of the series, the background of the characters, pronunciation guides, and eventually, other goodies. If there are spoilers, they will be clearly marked as to what book they're from.
Questions:
Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance?The Sisters of the Moon Series: Urban Fantasy or Paranormal Romance?
Ever wonder if the monsters under your bed are real....?
Meet the D'Artigo Sisters--three half human, half-Fae, wild and sexy members of the OIA--the Otherworld Intelligence Agency. Camille, a witch, Delilah, a werecat, and Menolly, an acrobat extraordinaire turned vampire, are sent Earthside to keep them out of trouble by their superiors, who consider the girls nothing but a bunch of bumbling half-breeds. But the girls soon find themselves smack in the middle of Demon-Central when Shadow Wing, the leader of the Subterranean Realms, decides to attempt a coup on both Earth and Otherworld.
From their home in a seedy suburb of Seattle, the sisters must use every ounce of erratic power they have to thwart the havoc about to unfold. Together with Camille's lust-crazed and not-quite-human boyfriends, an FBH (full-blood-human) detective named Chase Johnson who has a penchant for spicy beef tacos and wild women, a gorgeous hunk of dragon flesh named Smoky, Iris the house sprite, and Maggie--their baby calico gargoyle, they must use all of their collective talents to prevent the demons from taking over as the three sisters attempt to save two worlds, one monster at a time.
So: urban fantasy or paranormal romance?
While labeled paranormal romance on the spine, this is really an urban fantasy series. The publisher makes the determination on what genre to classify books in and therefore, the author really has nothing to do with that choice. I consider the series urban fantasy because the focus is on the action, the world story arc, and primarily, the sisters and their relationships to one another. While there is explicit sex, and relationships do play a significant part, those are not the main forces of the stories, and these are not HEA books.
Background of How I Created the Series:
The sisters just appeared in my thoughts one night, fully born like Aphrodite rising from the sea. Seriously though, people keep thinking I based them on Charmed, but the truth is that I've never seen more than ten minutes of one episode of that show. If anything, I was inspired more by Buffy, InuYasha, and--heavily--by my roots in mythology. The fact that they're sisters is based on my knowledge about the triple goddess aspect of divinity. Think Norns, Fates, the Morrigan, and other triple goddesses as the foundation for using three sisters as characters.
My view of the Otherworld in this series (as humans call it), is that it's like the UN of all mythologies--it's a massive interdimensional crossroads where all pantheons and legends can meet. Hence, it's chaotic and wild and filled with everything from gods to trolls to creatures that come out of my own personal fictional bestiary.
The sisters are half-human, half-Fae, and their mixed blood causes their powers to malfunction. Their wiring is faulty, so to speak. Camille is a witch--pledged to the Moon Mother. Delilah is a werecat who turns into a golden tabby. And Menolly was an acrobat extraordinaire until she was caught by a group of rogue vampires and turned. The girls took their mother's last name (the lineage of their father's people is recounted through the matriarchal line, anyway) and so the D'Artigo girls live in two worlds. They work for the OIA--Otherworld Intelligence Agency--an organization far more bureaucratic than any over here Earthside, and were sent Earthside because of their poor track records--more of that faulty wiring during all the wrong times.
Age Range/Sex & Violence:
People ask me if they're suitable for their teens and younger kids to read. I can't answer that. I read anything and everything by the time I was twelve. If it bothered me, I stopped reading it. I read about sex and violence and it never bothered me. But each parent has to make the determination if they think their children can handle it. One of my readers allows her ten year old to read the books after she's read them, so she can answer questions. Another won't let her thirteen year old read them.
Is there sex? Yes, and it's explicit, though never--in my opinion--tacky. The books aren't laden with it--but there are full fledged sex scenes. There's far more violence in the books than there is sex, more of a concern to me if I were a parent. At times the violence is graphic, but I steer away from full-scale gore just because of my own personal tastes. There's also a lot of humor, tolerence, and actual mythology in the books. So you need to make that decision on your own.
The Mythology:
A good deal of the mythology is accurate in terms of creatures, legends and lore, but I've taken vast liberties with some of it, and I've created my own mythology to fill in the gaps. So don't use these books for research for a term paper or you may just walk away with a "WTF" scrawled across the top by your teacher. ~grins~ I have no trouble mixing it up--and I love reinventing myths or adding on to them or exploring the parts that have vanished.
Did You Base A Character On...:
I've been asked by two different people now if I based characters on them. Rest assured, the only character who I actually based on somebody real is Maggie the Gargoyle, and she's based on a friend's cat with his permission. If a character has your name, it's coincidence. Trust me. As for qualities, my characters are more like aspects of me than anybody I know. So no--all characters are fictional.
Are the Events/Characters In This Series Real?
I've actually been asked that. And the answer is: no. While I may believe in some of the things about which I write, the stories, events, characters, and the way I write about them are pure fiction. These books are for entertainment--they're fantasy. Yes, I believe in magic, but magic doesn't work the way it does in the books. Yes, I believe in some mythological creatures, but not necessarily the way they're portrayed in my books. I hope that makes it clear. I created the stories and characters--they're products of my very-fertile imagination. :)