Terri_Garey wrote:
>>Is Selene going to make an appearance in Sammy's series?<<
Selene is a part of Sammy's world, but she's not going to be the main focus of it, by any means. Part of what I'm enjoying about this new series is the worldbuilding itself - creating the creatures that surround Sammy in his kingdom of Darkness, while keeping him grounded in the real world (if that makes any sense).
He's existed for eons, and it makes sense that there would be other creatures besides succubi like Selene for him to interact with.
Tell me, by the end of Silent Night, Haunted Night, had you figured out what Selene's real problem was regarding her feelings for Sammy, and why she was really going after Nicki?
Terri
I don't think I really realized it until their very last confrontational scene together. But then it made perfect sense, far more sense than any other motivation would have. I kind of liked them together in a weird way.
>>Is Selene going to make an appearance in Sammy's series?<<
Selene is a part of Sammy's world, but she's not going to be the main focus of it, by any means. Part of what I'm enjoying about this new series is the worldbuilding itself - creating the creatures that surround Sammy in his kingdom of Darkness, while keeping him grounded in the real world (if that makes any sense). He's existed for eons, and it makes sense that there would be other creatures besides succubi like Selene for him to interact with.
Tell me, by the end of Silent Night, Haunted Night, had you figured out what Selene's real problem was regarding her feelings for Sammy, and why she was really going after Nicki?
Terri
Hi Debbie!
No, you really don't need to read the books in order. I worked very hard to ensure that each book is a stand-alone read. While I occasionally mention events that happened in other books, I give enough backstory snippets to make it sure it's not confusing, without overdoing it. (At least I hope I do!)
Perhaps someone who's read the series has an opinion?
Melanie, when I started the series I gave no conscious thought as to whether I wanted to do a Christmas setting for any of the Nicki books, but since it's a continuing series and the book itself was going to be released just before the holidays, it made perfect sense. I intended Silent Night, Haunted Night as a modern-day version of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, Nicki Styx style. 
Three spirits come to visit Nicki in the night, and make her look at life in a different way. Only in Silent Night, they're the ghosts of the villianess's past, present and future (mother, maiden, crone), not Nicki's, and they're evil as all get out. Little Kate was creepy, wasn't she? LOL
The number three is amazingly common (three Fates, three Wise Men, three Little Pigs, three ring circus, three strikes you're out), and the more I ran across it, the more I began to wonder about it. Most people think that midnight is "the witching hour", but it's actually 3am, if any of my paranormal research is to be believed. It's believed to be the hour that the veil is thinnest, and I think you'll find that deaths in the early morning hours are very, very common, as are paranormal experiences like "old hag syndrome" and ghost sightings. Who knows about these things? I really con't claim to be an expert, I just do a lot of research. (Maybe too much!)
The idea of the three Fates being three different ages is not entirely unheard of - the Celtic goddess Brigid was often depicted with the three different faces of mother, maiden, crone. Another fascinating topic I wanted to include in the storyline - that's the problem with enjoying your research too much, there's always something else to write about!
Hi Terri, and hello to my fellow romance fanatics here at the board.
I've been following this thread all week knowing that my reading requirements are huge and still I've ordered the books.
I'm ashamed to say that I'm a Nicki Styx virgin but that will soon be remedied. I can't wait to sink my teeth into the first installment.
My question Terri is should I read the series in order to get all the nuances of the characters?
And I can't wait to read all your books and am really looking forward to the new series.
I just recently for the First Look club here at B&N read Hush Hush which is about fallen angels but is a YA read and also JR Wards new series about them starting with Covet. So this is so right up my alley.
Thanks for being here and talking to all of us.
From your future fan. 
>>oh wow, that's fascinating news, Terri! I can't wait to read Sammy's book. How many books? And please tell us that Sammy will get a happy-ever-after as well??? He's got to shake that skanky ex of his, pronto. Can't wait!
Eloisa<<
Hi, Eloisa! Thanks again for that wonderful review in your column this month! As for Sammy, here's the official announcement:
The dark side is calling, and it's hard to resist... particularly when it appears in the form of a smokin' hot guy wearing tight jeans and a leather jacket! I'm thrilled to announce a brand-new series based on my favorite bad boy from the Nicki Styx series, Sammy (Satan) Divine! Here's the official announcement from Publisher's Weekly:
The Devil's Bargain trilogy, a spin-off of Rita Award-winning Terri Garey's Nicki Styx series, featuring the ultimate fallen angel, Sammy (Satan) Divine, and the souls of three lost women, again to Erika Tsang at Avon by Annelise Robey and Christina Hogrebe at Jane Rotrosen Agency. (World English)
Yes, the Nicki Styx series continues with a deeper look into the dark side as the world's most diabolical bad boy takes on the job for which he was originally created... that of a guardian angel. Blond-haired, blue-eyed and sinfully sexy, Sammy is hotter than Hell, and lives there, too. Once divine, now cast down, forever blamed for the seduction of Eve and the destruction of Paradise, the angel once known as Samael has his own version of mankind's fall from grace, believing temptation goes both ways. For centuries he's made it his business to lurk the shadows, wreaking havoc in the lives of humans.
Now offered a chance to step into the Light, will he take it, or remain forever trapped by the darkness he himself created?
Yes, that ex-girlfriend puts whole new meaning into the phrase, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned", hm? Sammy will get his happily-ever-after, but it will take him a couple of books to truly grow as a character, I think. In the last book in the trilogy, it's definitely going to be a challenge to save him from himself.
Thanks for stopping by!
Hi, Tawny! Hope you enjoy it! *waving*
Melanie, I got the idea for Nicki Styx from several different things - I wanted to write a paranormal romance, but I didn't want to write about a main character who was a vampire or a shapeshifter, etc. I wanted to write about a real person, who'd had a life-changing paranormal experience, and how it affected her life. I started thinking about those of us who are fascinated by the paranormal, and wondered just how many of us would be fascinated by the dark side if the tables were turned, and the dark side became interested in us, instead. I personally find the whole idea of ghosts to be very intriguing, but I don't want to see one, because I'm a big scaredy-cat! So I took something that both scared and intrigued me, and created a character who could deal with it better than I ever could!
Then there was the whole "near-death experience" phenomena, which has fascinated me for years. My own mother was resuscitated on the operating table during surgery many years ago, and told us afterward how she'd actually seen the doctors working on her as they put the paddles on her chest. Until that point, I'd never heard of such a thing, but if you can't believe your own mother, who can you believe? She didn't come back from the afterlife with the ability to see ghosts, but what if she had?
Terri
