Interviews

Astra's interview with Henry Bakerson of Choices Meant for Gods Fame

Hey everybody, check out Astra's interview with Henry Bakerson, Nigel's charming sidekick from Sandy Lender's highly successful fantasy novel, Choices Meant for Gods. Astra was surprisingly reasonable during the interview and even managed to reveal some really interesting things about her family, Guardian Angels, and the psychology of dealing with anger issues when you can't reach the top shelf. It was a great interview.

That Henry does have a way with the ladies...even Tweener ladies!

Read the full interview

Astra's interview with EM Sky of Mindunbound.com

EM: Welcome back to The Cobblestone Café! Joining me today is Astra Q Phelps, star of Sam Cheever's new release, 'Tween Heaven and Hell. Welcome, Astra!

Astra: How’s it goin’ EM. Glad to be here.

EM: So, Astra, how has the premier circuit been treating you? 'Tween Heaven and Hell just came out four days ago... Have you been enjoying the publicity?

Astra: Sure, it’s great to be out there among my fans. People really seem to be taking to Astra Q. Phelps, Demon hunter extraordinaire. I think they like the idea of a woman who can hold her own with the bad guy and still be feminine enough to attract the hottie leading man.

EM: Hey, who wouldn't like that? Speaking of the leading man, how has that been going for you? Do you enjoy working with Dialle? Is he a lot of fun on the set, or would you say he's more the serious type?

Astra: Actually, he’s a total cut up. The other day he sent a picture of Wormhead, the demon from ‘Tween Heaven and Hell to an online dating service. They had to completely shut down the website within twenty minutes. They may never recover.

EM: And what about Emo? Are you two as close in real life as you are in the book?

Astra: He’s really cute isn’t he? We’ve been friends for a long time. His mother and my father were Angels together, before they fell. But, between you and me, I’m having trouble getting used to his new look. I’ve always thought of him as kind of a brother. Now he makes my palms sweat when I look at him. It’s not a comfortable feeling for me, you know?

EM: I'm sure it's quite the transition. But what do you think? Is there a chance for some real chemistry there?

Astra: I'm not going to rule it out completely. We're both young and recently attractive. Who knows what might happen.

EM: How about Sam Cheever? Has she been fun to work with? And do you like what she's done with your character?

Astra: Sam and I have what you might call a challenging relationship. Every once in a while she yanks my chain a little. Like, for example, she recently told me that she was writing me into a scene with a lot of rats. I hate rats. Give me a good old slavering gargoyle to deal with any day, I can handle those, but rats....[shudder].

Anyway, turns out she didn't really mean it, she was just teasing me. That kind of honked me off you know? But mostly we get along. We're both enjoying my character a lot and she lets me have fun with it. She gives me latitude as we say in the business.

EM: So tell us a bit more about you. I mean honestly... demon hunting? How does someone get into demon hunting as a profession? Is this something you always wanted to do? When you were a child, did you sit around the house thinking, "Boy, I can't wait until I'm old enough to hunt demons!"?

Astra: Well yes, of course! I mean, I have a fallen Angel for a father, a Royal Devil for a mother, a magick phobic sister who thinks she has the right to boss me around all the time, and an extremely cranky guardian Angel named Myra. That’s a lot of baggage to haul around, you know?
On top of that, I’m very short. You’ve heard of little woman syndrome haven’t you? We’re talkin’ a lot of anger type issues here. Something had to be done or I would have started turning the other little kiddies on the playground into mutants.

And let’s face it, demons are very expendable. It’s still PC to vaporize a demon. You get into lots of trouble blasting human type critters. And it’s worked out fine for me. I’ve definitely found my Chi. In fact I’m flippin’ wallowing in Chi.

EM: So how do you reconcile your profession with your personal relationship? Isn't your current romantic involvement with Dialle essentially sleeping with the enemy?

Astra: Technically that’s true but I have an out. All evidence points to Dialle being the answer to a 2000 year old prophesy which states that a devil of Royal birth will unite the light and dark worlds to save humanity. If that’s true then we’re kind of on the same side. Anyway, I’m going with that. After all, have you seen him? I mean he’s totally crashin’.
EM: If you had your way, what kinds of developments would you see up ahead for Astra Q Phelps? Besides leaving out the rats, what else do you hope Sam has in store for you?

Astra: Well…I’m hoping that I can get my Father back on the Big Guy’s payroll. He’s never been the same since he met my mother and fell.
And of course I want my career to keep on keepin’ on. I mean, dark worlders are a volatile group. Talk about anger issues…yeesh! Who knows when they’ll just take each other out and leave me without a job. In fact that’s exactly what’s about to happen in ‘Tween a Devil and His Hard Place, which Sam and I are working on right now. We have our hands full dealing with that mess let me tell you.

Also, Sam’s promised me we’ll get the love life thing worked out, which is good, ‘cause there have been some new developments in the sequel that have me seriously confused.

EM: Well, you heard it here, folks. Sam Cheever's 'Tween Heaven and Hell is now available from Cerridwen Press, with more trouble and romance on the way. So stay tuned!

And three... two... one... that's it, we're out. Thanks, you two. Good job.

EM: Hey, thanks for stopping by, Astra. It's been a pleasure to have you on the show. Drop by any time! But... um... just don't bring any pet gargoyles or anything, OK? I really don't like those things. They give me the creeps.

Astra: Thanks for inviting me EM, I’ve enjoyed it. Don’t worry about the gargoyles, I’ve got a handle on those.

Anyway, you might have bigger things to worry about. You remember Torre, the bartender from Demonica? Well…he spotted you at the premier the other night and apparently he thinks you’re a hottie. You might want to make sure you keep your holy water close for a while just in case…I’m just sayin’…