Samantha MacLeod's Blog, page 15

BOGO Sale!

Now’s the perfect time to check out The Trickster’s Lover, my urban fantasy romance with the Norse god Loki!

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Buy a copy this week, and I’ll include a link to download Honeymoon, the sequel novella, for FREE!

You can find The Trickster’s Lover on Amazon: http://ow.ly/YOa730hV512

And elsewhere: http://ow.ly/kWvd30hV54D

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Caroline Capello doesn’t take chances.

A graduate student at the prestigious University of Chicago, Caroline dedicates her carefully planned life to a serious, academic study of mythology.

Until a god shows up in her bedroom.

Loki, the enigmatic and irresistibly sexy Norse god of fire and lies, appears late at night in Caroline’s apartment, cuts her clothes down the middle, and rocks her studious world in ways she couldn’t even imagine. The next morning, she’s convinced it was a dream–until she sees her clothes on the floor, cut in two.

When Loki’s appearances stop as suddenly as they began, concern for her lover leads Caroline to Val-Hall, the ancient home of Óðinn’s army, where she must put everything she has learned to the test. If she fails, there’s far more than Loki’s life at stake.

The end of the world is on the horizon, and only a graduate student with a crush on a god can prevent it.

Like what you’ve read? Join my newsletter and I’ll send you a free copy of Tam Lin, my sexy modern take on the Scottish folktale.

Hot Chocolate to Get You Through the Winter

Living in Maine, I know what essentials you need to make it through the winter. A down jacket. A wood stove. And a really freaking delicious hot chocolate recipe.

So here’s the recipe for my favorite hot chocolate mix, just for you!

Process these ingredients in a food processor until ground to powder: 1 cup sugar, 6 ounces unsweetened chocolate (chopped fine), 1 cup cocoa powder, 1/2 cup dry milk powder, 5 teaspoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 3/4 teaspoon ancho chile powder (Yes, chili powder. Trust me.)

To make the world’s best hot chocolate, heat one cup of milk and add 1/4 cup of this hot chocolate powder. I use an immersion blender to make it frothy.

Optional but recommended: awesome snarky mug from Teresa Conner, whipped cream, sprinkles, and a shot of Bailey’s.

Tiny Sneak Peek at The Wolf’s Lover

The Wolf’s Lover, my urban fantasy romance with wildlife biologist Karen McDonald and Loki’s son Vali, comes out next month!

If you just can’t wait, here’s a little sneak peek with everyone’s favorite Norse god…

(This scene takes place slightly after the sneak peek I posted last year.)

The Wolf’s Lover Sneak Peek

“Okay,” I said, taking a deep breath. “So there’s a dragon in the roots of the World Tree. But what’s it doing here? In Montana?”

“This is an odd place,” said Loki, rolling his empty glass in his palms. “There are some places where the Nine Realms are far-flung, and there are some places where they are stacked tightly, one against the other. Where the borders between them are thin.”

I leaned forward and poured him another glass of scotch. Odd goods, indeed.

“Thank you,” he said. Then he raised an eyebrow at me. “Didn’t you ever wonder why boiling hot water pours from the ground in this place?”

“Well, that’s because in Yellowstone the earth’s crust is—” I paused.

“Thin?” Caroline asked.

I took a deep breath and decided to just let this debate between science and mythology go. “So there’s a dragon,” I said. “And Vali…what? He went after it? He went to stop it?”

“I don’t know,” Loki said. There was a sharp edge to his voice. He raised his glass to his lips and drained it.

“Look,” I said, “I hate to disappoint you, but it’s not like Vali texts me or anything. I haven’t seen him since November.”

Loki stared at me. For a heartbeat something flashed in his pale eyes, something dark and feral and howling. My stomach clenched painfully, and I turned away, my breath catching in the back of my throat, the words I was about to speak dead in my mouth.

“I saw him,” I said. My voice sounded choked and thin, as if it came from far away. “I dreamt of him. On Christmas Eve. He had a blue sword, and he…He went into a dark place.”

Loki closed his eyes. “So he’s found Hrotti,” he muttered. “Vali has claimed the ancient sword of heroes.”

I felt cold as I remembered the dark mouth of the cave and the burned tang in the air.

“What do we do?” I said.

Loki shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. Caroline wrapped her arm around his shoulders.

“What do we do?” I said again. “You came here for a reason. You want something from me. What do you want?”

For a long time neither of them moved. The refrigerator kicked on again with a hum; the clock ticked softly in my study. Finally Loki sighed and reached for the Glenlivet. He divided the last of the scotch into our two glasses.

“Take us there,” he said, raising his glass to clink against mine. “Maybe it’s not too late.”

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Excited? Me too!

You can read the first eight chapters of The Wolf’s Lover – for FREE – right here, or preorder the entire novel for just .99 right here.

Like what you’ve read? Join my newsletter and I’ll send you a free copy of Tam Lin, my sexy modern take on the Scottish folktale.

Cover Reveal: The Wolf’s Lover

My urban (rural?) fantasy romance The Wolf’s Lover comes out on February 21!

But you get to see the gorgeous cover Teresa Conner made for my second novel right now…

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What will that fancy text be, you ask?

A little something like this…

Karen McDonald buried her past.

Five years after her divorce, Karen is a wildlife biologist studying wolves in Yellowstone National Park. But when the wolf she tranquilizes turns into a man – a man she recognizes from the recurring dreams which have haunted her for years – her rational, scientific world gives way to something stranger and more dangerous.

The man is Vali, son of Loki. He was imprisoned thousands of years ago, cursed to live inside a wolf’s body. Now Vali tells Karen he’s being hunted…and he’s hunting as well.

Because something has awoken beneath the volcanic caldera of Yellowstone, an ancient power that could spell the end of everything, unless Karen is willing to risk her life, and unearth the secrets of her past, to save her world.

Ready to check it out?

You can download the first eight chapters – for FREE – right here, or preorder the entire novel here.

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Like what you’ve read? Join my newsletter and I’ll send you a free copy of Tam Lin, my sexy modern take on the Scottish folktale.

Book Review: Lovers and Liars Series by Liz Meldon

Sometimes you read a book that makes you say, “Damn, why didn’t I think of that?!?”

The Lovers and Liars series by Liz Meldon has three of those books.

Manhattan, the first book in Meldon’s Lovers and Liars series, opens with the Greek goddess Aphrodite, who is a bit bored with life in the modern world.

Sure, she’s got a fabulous apartment, a cushy job writing advice columns for the lovelorn (which provides a clever frame for all three books in this series), and any mortal man she could desire, but isn’t there something more to life with the humans?

Enter Loki, our very favorite Norse god.

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(For the record, no, I don’t automatically love any book with Loki – see my review of The Gospel of Loki.)

I’ve read a lot of portrayals of Loki since I sat down to write my own Loki romance, and I have to say, I love Meldon’s version. Loki in the Lovers and Liars series is spot-on — seductive, untrustworthy, at turns vulnerable, snarky, and defensive.

While Aphrodite has survived in the modern world by finding a job and, occasionally, marrying for money, Loki tries another tact. He’s solving supernatural crimes in exchange for human worship, and hoping to regain his former powers.

After several explosive sex scenes (thank you, Liz Meldon), Aphrodite is pulled into Loki’s world, which proves to be far more interesting than her advice columnist gig.

The first book in the series, Manhattan, has Loki and Aphrodite facing a maenad. It’s also FREE, so you have absolutely no reason not to one-click that puppy now.

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The next two books, Vancouver and Westwick College, have the pair of gods traveling across North America and tracking down various mysterious entities. Each book in the series raises the stakes, both for Loki and Aphrodite’s relationship and for their very survival.

I suppose you could pick this series up in the middle and start with Vancouver, but I recommend starting at the beginning. Trust me, you won’t want to miss any of Loki and Aphrodite’s adventures.

Reflections from 20 Below

It’s been cold here in Maine.

Like, “hurts to breathe” cold. “Special weather advisory warning not to go outside” cold.

I didn’t grow up with this sort of thing. I was raised in Colorado, on the front range. And yes, it gets cold on the front range, but usually not for long. The sun comes out, the snow melts, and it could be 60 degrees any day of the year.

Maine isn’t like that. Here in New England, it gets cold in the winter, and it stays cold.

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The world changes when the temperature drops this low.

The snow squeaks when you walk on it. Your house starts to behave differently; doors that usually close swing open as the wood contracts, pipes freeze, appliances don’t work, and cars get temperamental. And, oddly enough, the sun is usually shining on the coldest days (cloud cover would retain some heat, and lately it’s been too cold to snow).

The first morning it reached -20, my daughter and I went outside to see what it was like. The sun was just rising over the hill behind our house, and I expected the entire world to be silent, still, and frozen.

I was wrong.

All the birds were singing from the treetops.

It sounded victorious to my ears, like the tiny creatures were celebrating their continued existence in spite of the cold. There’s something inspiring about the chickadees, who weigh less than half an ounce, singing their hearts out at -20.

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So Long, 2017!

Yup, it’s that time of year again.

Champagne is flowing, people are wearing silly hats, and I’m writing a self-indulgent blog post about my life!

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I don’t write a lot about my personal life, because I’m…well…pretty boring, to be honest. I spend most of my time teaching, grading, chasing kids around, or writing. Still, I’ve made some non-writing-related changes this year.

First, I got a job teaching English to immigrants and refugees. It’s a good job (aside from the pay – ha!) because it turns out it’s impossible to feel sorry for yourself when you’re teaching someone who had to leave their entire family behind and is living in a homeless shelter and has never been in weather colder than 65 degrees and still manages to come to school with a smile. My students are all amazing.

I also joined the Board of Directors for my local library, and now I’m the Publicity Director (also unpaid – ha!). I did this because I believe in libraries, goddamn it, and they could use our help.

Looking back, it’s pretty clear the current political climate really influenced my personal life this year. I suppose many of us felt a loss of faith at the end of last year; I sure as hell did. Suddenly, the values and institutions that once felt like a fundamental part of our society are at risk.

I didn’t think of my job or library board decisions as especially political, at least at the time. But looking back, I think I was responding to that loss of faith with a, “Shit, I guess someone’s gotta stand up for immigrants and libraries and all the other things that make this country actually great.”

And that person might as well be me. Damn it.

Oh, I also still have children. Two of them. I’ve managed another year of parenthood, and they seem fairly well-adjusted.

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I have to yell at my seven-year-old to stop reading at the dinner table, but secretly that makes me incredibly happy.

Haircut

Change Your Hair, the sign read, And Change Your Life!

So I walked in and got a haircut.

It looked good, too. Damn good. I snapped a few selfies in the parking lot, but they didn’t look as good as I expected. Something was still missing. I decided I could use some new lipstick to go with the new haircut. And, what the hell, why not a new purse too?

I went next door, to the department store, and found myself some new lipstick. Bright red. It looked good. I got some red heels to match, and some sexy new jeans to go with the heels. I threw my old loafers and pinstripe slacks into the trash can on the department store’s sidewalk, then caught the bus and took it to the train station.

There was an ATM at the train station, right by the Starbucks. I got a large vanilla frappuccino and withdrew everything I had in my savings account.

You can’t withdraw too much at one time, of course, so I kept going back. I tried a white chocolate mocha with sprinkles next, and then a caramel macchiato. The ATM spat twenty dollar bills, which I stuffed into my new, red purse. After my heart started to race from the caffeine, I switched to a decaf green tea smoothie. It took a couple of hours, but eventually I got everything out of my bank. By then I’d had plenty of time to study the Amtrack route maps.

I went to the ticket counter and bought a one-way to Miami, which is as far south as you can get on a train. Before boarding, I threw my empty decaf green tea smoothie cup and the keys to my office into the trash can on the platform.

Once the train slipped past Baltimore, I called Brian, my boyfriend, and dumped him. Actually, I he didn’t even answer his phone. I left a voicemail. It’s cool. Even now I’m sure he was cheating on me.

By that time the sun was setting, so I got up and walked to the dining car to buy myself dinner and a little half-bottle of white wine. On the way I stopped between cars, right where the sign says Do Not Stand, and dropped my cell phone onto the tracks.

Clackity-clack, said the track.

Don’t look back.

From Miami I kept going south, hitching rides until I made it here, to Key West. I tended bar for a couple of years, which was a good job. Never had to get up early, never had to explain myself. It was easy enough to find a place to live, and you don’t have to worry about things like heating down here. Hell, if you’re flexible, you don’t have to worry about a lot of things down here.

The bar got old after a while, of course, what with all those alcoholics, and the overweight middle aged men with a white tan line where they’d slipped off their wedding rings trying to grab my ass. So I enrolled in beauty school, and now here I am, running my very own hair salon.

Come right in, because I can tell you, I’ve got just the thing for you.

You do know what they say, right?

Change Your Hair, And Change Your Life!

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Yes, I just got a haircut. And yes, I celebrated with some flash fiction. Sadly, I’m not writing this from Key West.

Like what you’ve read? Join my newsletter and I’ll send you a free copy of Tam Lin, my sexy modern take on the Scottish folktale.

Turning Toward the Light

Happy solstice, my friends!

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If you’re in the Northern hemisphere with me, today is the shortest day of the year. Here in Maine, that means the sun rose over the ridge behind our house at 8 this morning, and it’ll set over the stream across the street at 4 this afternoon.

And tomorrow, it’ll set just a little later!

I’ve never been a big Christmas person (see here), but I have always loved the solstice. Today is when the world turns back to the light, when the sun begins its long trek back to the height of summer.

Today we turn toward the light.

To celebrate, here are a few gifts for you, my lovely friends.

First, check out this beautiful rendition of one of my very favorite Christmas songs: Phoebe Bridgers’s Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. It’s dark, nostalgic, and melancholic – the perfect antidote to all those forced holiday cheer songs piped into literally every single retail outlet in the country.

And second, treat yourself to a good book!

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Paranormal and Urban Fantasy Book Bargains is hosting a Winter Solstice promotion where you can find tons of sexy, magical reads – yes, including The Trickster’s Lover – guaranteed to keep you warm on this, the longest of nights.

Thirteen Years of Writer’s Block

What did you want to be as a kid?

For me, the answer to that question was always a writer.

Even before I knew how to write, I’d fill entire sketchbooks with elaborate stories told in crayon stick figures.

[image error]I’d like to think my dialog has improved since then.

So I graduated from college and jumped right on that author thing, right?

Not exactly.

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From 2002 to 2015, I didn’t write anything more than a grocery list (or maybe a quick poem on the back of that grocery list).

Yup…I had thirteen years of writer’s block.

The problem wasn’t a lack of ideas. I’ve always had tons of crazy ideas. The problem was me. All my story ideas seemed to involve too much sex, or too much romance, or too many wildly implausible things like magic and other worlds.

They just weren’t Serious or Literary.

So I gave up.

Oddly enough, having kids pushed me back into the world of writing.

When my daughter turned four, she started to have opinions about what she wanted to do when she grew up. And it dawned on me that, someday, I’d have to tell her I had a dream once too, back when I was a kid.

But I gave it up when the going got tough.

So, once she started kindergarten, I decided to give this writing thing another whirl. Only this time, I ditched the Serious and the Literary.

And I decided to write the kind of book I’d like to read.

The result is my first novel, The Trickster’s Lover, a whirlwind romance between Norse god Loki and University of Chicago graduate student Caroline. It’s filled with sex, magic, other realms, and the end of the world.

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I’m not claiming it’s either Serious or Literary.

But it was a heck of a lot of fun.