Rebecca Enzor

Hello and welcome to the DIES IRAE Blog Tour everyone! Today Christine Fonseca is here to talk about her new book, DIES IRAE, the prequel to her REQUIEM series which comes out next month!

First, a little about the book:

Some sacrifices should never be made—even for love. 

Mikayel lives by one rule—obey the orders of the angelic Council at all costs. But when he and his friends, Azza and Demi, are sent to Earth as teenagers, following the rules is more difficult than they expected.

Being human isn’t the only problem facing the three angels. Unbeknownst to the Council, demonic activity is on the rise, threatening to break a tenuous peace that has existed for a millennia.

Caught in a struggle for power with unseen demonic forces, and fighting against his rising emotions, Mikayel must now decide how many rules he is willing to break to save his friends, a decision that could reignite an ancient war and will threaten the only thing that matters to the angels, the survival of humanity.

The Inspiration Behind DIES IRAE and the Requiem Series

 Thank you, Rebecca, for having me today. I thought I’d talk a little about inspiration today. I often get asked how I came up with the storyline for DIES IRAE. My answer – um, I don’t know.

Okay, not totally true. But close.

The story of DIES IRAE actually comes from a conversation between Azza and Nesy, two characters in the first novel of the series, LACRIMOSA. In this conversation, Azza alludes to a friendship between he and another character—Mikayel. When I decided to write a prequel story, I thought that exploring that friendship would be fun. I also thought it could help the entire series. Boy, was that an understatement. Writing DIES IRAE deepened not only my understanding of the series, but it changed my opinion of Azza and my thoughts about the relationship between Azza and Mikayel.

As for what inspired the series, I would have to say it was the mythology of angels in general. A long time ago, I researched angelic mythology for a class. A few of those stories stayed with me, twisting and turning in my subconscious until, in November 2009 when I was supposed to be finishing my NaNo project, the idea for LACRIMOSA was hatched.

With DIES IRAE, I also pulled on the mythology of angels and demons, this time tapping into some of the legends of Iblis and the Jinn as well as the stories of the fall of Lucifer. In reading some of these stories, I got a clear understanding of the realm I was working to create, a clear understanding of the particular story. DIES IRAE, as well as LACRIMOSA and the other stories are an offshoot of that understanding.

In school, I was a student of world religions and spirituality. Not surprising as the most influential person in my life, my mom, was also a teacher of world spirituality. This series, as well as other stories I’ve written, take my understanding of world religions and mythology and meld it together with our common human experience. The result is hopefully a story that both captures the imagination and resonates with that common mythos we all share.

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Obviously I am all about the mythology, and I have to say that DIES IRAE melds it well. For a bunch of angels who aren’t supposed to have feelings, they sure are angry/jealous/loving/scared and every other emotion you can think of! Plus *fans self* dialogue! I love me some dialogue

Thanks for visiting with us today, Christine! And thanks to everyone joining the blog tour today – I hope you learned a bit more about the book and the series.

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About Christine Fonseca

School psychologist by day, critically acclaimed YA and nonfiction author by night, Christine Fonseca believes that writing is a great way to explore humanity. Her debut YA Gothic series, The Requiem Series, including DIES IRAE and LACRIMOSA, examines the role of redemption, sacrifice and love. When she’s not writing or spending time with her family, she can be sipping too many skinny vanilla lattes at her favorite coffee house or playing around on Facebook and Twitter. Catch her daily thoughts about writing and life on her blog.