Reader questions are answered in this interview with Donna Boyd. If you have other questions, contact the author here.
Q. It’s been ten years since The Promise. What happened?
A. The short version is that no one wanted to publish a sequel to a series that had been abandoned by the original publisher. Over the years, fans begged me for another book, and I considered publishing the sequel myself. But until recently the technology didn’t exist to allow me to do that affordably, and I was not able to come up with a story that I felt was worthy of the other two books.
Q. It seems to me there have been other promises of a sequel in recent years. What happened to The Covenant?
A. Yes, there have been a few near-misses, in which I was certain enough that a deal was in the making that I announced the probability to my readers—and then it would all fall apart. The Covenant was set in the fourteenth century and told the truth about Queen Eudora, and I am sorry that there are details in that story that readers will not get to know. However, parts of it have been reworked to form the background for Renegade.
Q. What made you decide the time was right to revisit the Devoncroix Dynasty?
A. The virtual collapse of the global financial market in 2008 was really just too close to the dire predictions made by Nicholas’s advisors in The Promise for me to ignore. My imagination was stirred, and I started to think What if….
Q. So does Renegade pick up where The Promise left off?
A. No. Renegade takes place in real time, or perhaps even a bit in the future. However, much of the book is spent with the events that led up to that moment, and covers thirty years of the characters’ lives. For this reason you will be able to pick this book up and understand what’s going on even though you haven’t read The Passion and The Promise in ten years—or if you’ve never read them at all.
Q. How is Renegade different from the first two books?
A. In many, many ways. First of all, it’s told from the point of view of a human, which has its own difficulties and limitations. The voice, therefore, is very different. Secondly, the first two books were quite erotic. The love story in Renegade is much more subtle. I think Renegade is in many ways a more sophisticated read than the other two.
Q.Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about the story?
A. The Passion begins with, “They say it all began with the massacre in New York…”, but we never really knew the truth about what happened the night of the massacre. Renegade tells that truth… and a lot of other truths no one would have guessed before.
Q. Will we find out what happened to David Devoncroix?
A. Yes.
Q. Do you have any concerns about readers being able to find you after all this time?
A. Absolutely. The first two books are still in print, but barely, and quite difficult to find. A few readers have kept in touch, but ten years is a long time. Most importantly, the explosion of paranormal romance and urban fantasy novels in recent years has built up a rather distinct set of expectations in readers’ minds for this kind of novel. If you come into Renegade expecting the same old, same old, you’re going to be disappointed. These are not your ordinary werewolves, and this is definitely not urban fantasy.
Q. Is this the end of the series, or the beginning ?
A. I’ve certainly left room for the story to continue, but this book is pretty much complete unto itself. The main thing I wanted to do was to give my readers the closure they’ve been asking for. However, if the response to Renegade is sufficiently enthusiastic, I do know where I would like to take the storyline from here.
Q. What’s next for you?
A. I have other projects in other genres, of course, but I am really looking forward to a short novella I want to do featuring the stories and the voice of the character from Theater Devoncroix. It will be called Memoir of a Werewolf, and right now it’s #2 in the project queue. I also have another werewolf series in the works that’s based on a premise similar to that of the Devoncroix werewolves. I’d like to launch the first book early next summer, but who knows what might get in the way between now and then?
Q. Last words for the readers who’ve waited so long for Renegade?
A. Thank you.
