Skip to main content

Interview with Tosca Lee

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.13.2007

Today I have a fun interview with author Tosca Lee talking about her novel, Demon: a Memoir!

One night changes everything.

Recently divorced and mired in a meaningless existence, Clay drifts from his drab apartment to his equally lusterless job as an editor for a small Boston press--until the night Lucian finds him and speaks the simple words: "I'm going to tell you my story... and you're going to write it down and publish it."

What begins as a mystery soon spirals into chaotic obsession as Clay struggles to piece together Lucian's dark tale of love, ambition, and grace...only to discover that the demon's story has become his own.

And then only one thing matters: learning how the story ends.






And now, here’s me and Tosca!

What inspired you to write Demon?

Through the 90s, I was into online, collaborative storytelling. By “into,” I mean totally addicted. My group and I loved writing up stories for new characters and playing them off one another. Actually, we were obsessed. Anyway, around 1999 I was trying to come up with a new story character—something different. An angel. No, an expatriate angel. What would that be like? Would she go around tempting people to smoke? To shoplift? To lie… to eat carbs?

I mean, definitely to eat carbs. But the other stuff… it seemed really petty. It didn’t fit with the wider and serious scope that I think beings in the spiritual realm really fill. So I started thinking about the world—and particularly humans—from a fallen angel point of view. And I realized that the demonic vendetta wasn’t about being petty, but about being vindicated.

Side note from Camy: There’s a really neat href="http://www.demonamemoir.com/story.html" target="_blank">Story Behind the Story page on Tosca’s website.

What's your favorite scene from Demon?

Well, in terms of imagery, which I’m really in to, it’s in chapter five when the fallen angel invades Clay’s dreams with the memory of Lucifer’s attempted ascension to heaven. It was a trip to imagine what this was like, to fix it with words, you know? This is what I love about writing.

But personally, I giggle every time I read the scene where Clay is on his way to Cabo. There’s a short, Asian man there with a receding hairline wearing gold-toe socks. That’s totally my Dad.

How neat you have a shar pei! I have a mutt named Snickers who's the biggest butthead on the planet, but just too darn cute to stay mad at. Any fun dog stories you want to share?

Attila the Flatulent Wonder is quite the adventure to live with. The story that comes to mind is from a few years ago, when Attila had a black cat, named Chicken (I always thought it’d be funny if I said “Chicken” when my husband called to ask what was for dinner). Turns out Attila was allergic to the cat, but we didn’t know that then. Anyway, I realized one day that Chicken really didn’t require a lot of litter-box cleaning. Which was fine with me but after a while it did sort of give me cause to wonder. Because you know, some things are just supposed to happen in that litter box. But it was basically clean, all the time. I couldn’t figure it out.

Then one day I saw little bits of cat litter sprinkled all over the hallway rug where Attila liked to take his special treats and eat them.

Lo and behold, he had been eating Kitty Crunchies.

ROFL!!!! Sounds like Snickers, she loves those things. Almond roca for dogs.

If you were a dessert, what would you be and why?


I’d be Death By Chocolate. Total cocoa rigor mortis.

Do you prefer coffee or tea, and why?

I am trying to give up coffee. I was doing fine until just now. Thanks. Thanks a lot.

Oops. Sorry about that. (I sound at least a smidgen sorry, don’t I?)

What novel are you reading right now?


I’m reading so many theological commentaries right now while working on Havah: The Story of Eve, that I haven’t had a chance to ingest in mind candy. I’m going to go crazy in a few more days and read a bodice-ripper or a stack of People Magazines or something because I won’t be able to take it any more.

I’ll send you some of my husband’s Star magazines. :)

You're off the hotseat! Any parting words?


The Kitty Crunchy thing was gross, wasn’t it.

Camy here: LOLOLOLOL! I liked it, but then again, I’m weird. Thanks for being here, Tosca!

Popular Posts

No Cold Bums toilet seat cover

Captain's Log, Stardate 08.22.2008 I actually wrote out my pattern! I was getting a lot of hits on my infamous toilet seat cover , and I wanted to make a new one with “improvements,” so I paid attention and wrote things down as I made the new one. This was originally based off the Potty Mouth toilet cover , but I altered it to fit over the seat instead of the lid. Yarn: any worsted weight yarn, about 120 yards (this is a really tight number, I used exactly 118 yards. My suggestion is to make sure you have about 130 yards.) I suggest using acrylic yarn because you’re going to be washing this often. Needle: I used US 8, but you can use whatever needle size is recommended by the yarn you’re using. Gauge: Not that important. Mine was 4 sts/1 inch in garter stitch. 6 buttons (I used some leftover shell buttons I had in my stash) tapestry needle Crochet hook (optional) Cover: Using a provisional cast on, cast on 12 stitches. Work in garter st until liner measures...

Toilet seat cover

Captain’s Log, Supplemental Update August 2008: I wrote up the pattern for this with "improvements"! Here's the link to my No Cold Bums toilet seat cover ! Okay, remember a few days ago I was complaining about the cold toilet seat in my bathroom? Well, I decided to knit a seat cover. Not a lid cover, but a seat cover. I went online and couldn’t find anything for the seat, just one pattern for the lid by Feminitz.com . However, I took her pattern for the inside edge of the lid cover and modified it to make a seat cover. Here it is! It’s really ugly stitch-wise because originally I made it too small and had to extend it a couple inches on each side. I figured I’d be the one staring at it, so who cared if the extension wasn’t perfectly invisible? I used acrylic yarn since, well, that’s what I had, and also because it’s easy to wash. I’ll probably have to wash this cover every week or so, but it’s easy to take off—I made ties which you can see near the back of the seat. And...

What Is a Brutus Cut? A Regency Hair Trend Inspired by Ancient Rome

Regency Haircuts and Disguises in Lady Wynwood’s Spies In this excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor , Phoebe prepares for a dangerous mission—one that requires her to disguise herself as a young man. The hairstyle she receives, called a Brutus cut, was actually quite fashionable during the Regency. Read on to find out more about this curious trend and why it suited her new identity so well. Excerpt from Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 8: Traitor : By far, the absolute worst part of Uncle Sol’s plan was that Phoebe had to cut her hair. Of the four agents, Phoebe and Mr. Coulton-Jones would be the least likely to be recognized when they entered the Ramparts building—Mr. Coulton-Jones, because of his skill in altering his facial features and his posture, and Phoebe, because she could play a convincing young man, which no one would expect. A disreputable hat would hide her long hair to an extent, but it would not fool anyone who looked closely. Also, because she would lo...

Free Christian Romantic Suspense Novels by Camy Tang / Camille Elliot

Curious about what my writing is like? Here’s a list of all my free books and the free short stories, novellas, and novels that you can read here on my blog. I’ll update this post as I add more free reads. Christian Romantic Suspense: Necessary Proof (Sonoma series #4.1, novella) Click here to buy the FREE ebook on all retailers Alex Villa became a Christian in prison, and because of his efforts to help stop a gang producing meth in Sonoma, he has been set up for the death of a cop. Can computer expert Jane Lawton find the evidence that will prove his innocence before the gang eliminates them both? Fantasy short stories: Pixies in a Garden in Kyoto There were pixies in the garden. Since she was in Kyoto, she was certain they were not called pixies, but she didn't know what they would be called in Japanese, and they certainly looked like what she imagined pixies would look like. The King’s Daughter The trees in the King's garden were full of colored pixie lights. The...

Meet the Dashing Spy on the Cover of Lady Wynwood’s Spies, Volume 3

If you enjoy clean historical suspense with slow-burn romance and a touch of danger, you’ll love my Lady Wynwood’s Spies series! It’s a multi-volume Christian Regency serial following a group of unlikely aristocrats battling a dangerous conspiracy in 1811 London. Today, I wanted to give you a behind-the-scenes look at one of my favorite covers in the series— Volume 3: Aggressor. Who is that handsome gentleman? The model on the cover represents Mr. Michael Coulton-Jones, one of my main characters. This clever spy with a tortured past finally gets the cover spotlight in this volume, which is one of my favorite covers because the model is so handsome. 😄 I absolutely love this cover model! His name is Anatolii and here’s the original stock photo . It was really tough to try to decide which photo to use for the cover! It was a tossup between him and the main heroine, Miss Phoebe Sauber, for the cover for book 1, but I eventually went with Phoebe. Then in book 2, he was kind of...