Kat Duncan's Blog, page 14
November 21, 2011
Guest Blogger Donna Shields
Please welcome our guest, Donna Shields!
Out Now at Soul Mate Publishing: The Swan Cove Murders: Where the dead speak to her, danger finds her, and love saves her.
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As if the violent murder of Lena Dixon's fiancé hadn't been bad enough, now his brother, Nicholas Hunter, is court ordered to live with her for the next thirty days. And to top it off, the murderer's ghost is asserting his innocence and refuses to leave until Lena and Nicholas prove it. The skeptic in Nicholas believes Lena has lost her mind until he witnesses some unexplainable events and is forced to believe in her psychic abilities and his heart's desire. As their sexual chemistry heats up, so do their guilt levels. Can they make their newfound relationship work, or will it be too late when the real killer comes calling for her?
KD: Congratulations on the release of your book, The Swan Cove Murders from Soul Mate Publishing. Tell us a little bit about the book.
DS: Thank you so much for having me here today. The Swan Cove Murders is about spirit writer/psychic Lena Dixon and her deceased fiance's brother, Nicholas Hunter. As they investigate a murder, they are court ordered to live together for 30 days. And each is contacted by a ghost. Nicholas by his dead brother and Lena by the dead accused serial killer. As they come closer to figuring out whom the true killer really is, their love for one another strengthens. But, the murderer has different plans for Lena. Nicholas has to race against the clock to save Lena from the crazy killer.
KD: What did you enjoy most about writing Lena and Nicholas's story?
DS: Nicholas's ghost encounters with his brother, Earl, because these open his narrow-minded thinking.
KD: The Swan Cove Murders has romance, mystery and paranormal all blended together. How difficult was it to blend those three elements and which one do you think stands out most?
DS: Very hard as you have to keep all three going throughout the story. I think they are all equally distributed for the most part. If I had to pick, I'd have to say the paranormal.
KD: Blended genre books often have a hard time with traditional publishers. How difficult was it to get this book published?
DS: It was difficult. But, luckily I found an editor who took a chance on me and The Swan Cove Murders. She loves it.
KD: Soul Mate Publishers is a fairly new epub and trade paperback publisher. How has your experience with them been? Would you recommend other authors to submit their work there?
DS: My experience has been wonderful. Debby is an awesome editor and I would highly recommend everyone to at least give her a shot. She responds to me practically instantly on anything I may need clarified or issues or cover art. Really anything.
KD: You write suspense and paranormal. Have you always liked reading these genres? What is it about them that draws you in as a reader? As a writer?
DS: Oh yes, I'm a huge fan of both. As a reader, I love being on the edge of my seat wondering what's going to happen next and find out half the time I'm wrong, lol. As a writer, I like being able to find that slightly different edge for a story and leaving my readers hanging until the end.
KD: Tell us a little about your background. What was it like growing up? Were you a good student in school?
DS: I come from a large family. I'm the 9th and the baby of the group. I led a pretty active childhood with a very active imagination. We were always thinking up something new to play – like pretending we were Charlie's Angels - and when I hit middle school, it was all about the ghosts in and around my mom's house. That wasn't my overactive imagination. We found out some interesting information about the history of the land and the house. We'd 'investigate' and pull out the Ouija Board. That was until a Bible went flying across my bedroom and that ended that! I was a good student in school up until I hit high school. Then it went downhill. I don't regret the mistakes I made as I can't change them anyway. Besides, every path I walked down and every decision I made led me to who I am and where I'm at in my life now. I can say my life has not been dull by any stretch of the imagination.
KD: What was your time-frame for writing The Swan Cove Murders? Was this book the first manuscript you completed?
DS: Not my first one to be started, but yes the first one completed. My rough draft was written in 35 days thanks to Savvy Author's May Bootcamp. Then, I had to edit and that took about another 1 ½ months. Then came the pitching Savvy Author had in July. That was a nerve-racking time. Debbie, my editor, wanted to see the first 50 pages and the rest is history. The total time of writing and editing before the pitching was roughly 2 ½ months.
KD: Tell us a little bit about your writing process. Do you write every day?
DS: I try to, but it doesn't always work out that way. Now that I have a full time job along with promoting The Swan Cove Murders and other volunteer obligations, there's not much time left over for writing. But I do try to write on the weekends. My writing process is I'll make a rough outline of a couple chapters and then buckle down and write. Sometimes I'm thwarted by my characters when they pull 'This is what needs to happen here' and it will be four chapters ahead of where I'm at.
KD: Thanks so much for visiting Write About, Donna! Readers, read on for a great excerpt, a short bio on Donna and links to find Donna on the web.
Excerpt:
The door slowly opened, and she slid through the slim opening. The purple smudges under her beautiful hazel eyes spoke volumes to him, crushing his heart. Be strong.
"What do you want? The sheriff already delivered the papers." The glare radiating from her hazel eyes spoke of wanting to set him on fire, burning him alive. She'd been crying.
"I know."
She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, you also know Earl left me the house."
"A small technicality which will be fixed the day after tomorrow in court."
She sighed. "Then what do you want today of all days?"
"I would like to get into my attic." When she didn't answer, he smiled. "Please."
Suspicion crept into the fiery gaze. "Why should I let you?"
"I have a key. I can come and go anytime I please." Vixen. "I thought I'd be nice and ask, before forcing my way in."
"You certainly aren't winning me over."
He put his hands together as if in prayer. "Please. I just need the trunk." His and Earl's trunk. After the funeral, Lena had insisted Nicholas take the treasure trove with him, but the memories inside had been too much to handle at the time.
Her swollen eyes softened a little. "Well..." She pushed open the door and waved him in.
He made his way through the foyer, pausing when he spotted the family photos hanging on the wall. "I see you haven't changed anything." He hadn't been inside the house since Earl's death.
"Why would I?"
His eyes caught the flower arrangement on the side table near the staircase along with the card sticking up in the middle. "Secret admirer?"
Her face flushed. "How about none of your business? Do you want time with the trunk or what?"
Bio:
Donna Shields grew up on romance and scary stories. With her love for suspense and the slightly unusual, she enjoys tying these elements together to create stories full of love, danger, and the paranormal.
She lives in the beautiful upstate of South Carolina with her husband, her children, and some great haunts. She's a mom, a 'gramma', a wife, a friend, an avid reader and writer. When she's not occupied with all that, she loves traveling to Playa del Carmen and Jamaica.
Purchase links for Donna's book:
Soul Mate Publishing http://soulmatepublishing.com/the-swan-cove-murders
Amazon: http://amzn.com/B0065M6GNM
Finding Donna on the web:
Blog: http://donna-realworldwriting.blogspot.com/
Website: http://donnamshields.wordpress.com/
Soul Mate Authors Group Blog: http://smpauthors.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Donna-Shields/192982964105589
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Donna_Shields
November 19, 2011
New Release! Ransom's Bond
The newest release is coming soon!
Ransom's Bond is a quirky, romantic suspense novella that turns the romantic suspense genre on it's head. Look for it soon!
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Arliss MacDonald is the newest con-man to arrive in the Edinburgh financial district. The inheritance he plans to steal from Marinel Bethune is locked in a land war between two powerful family corporations, the Campbells and the MacLeans. Before Mari will let Arliss steal her fortune, or her heart, she has a few old scores to settle. And Arliss is the perfect man for the job.
Excerpt:
The rhythmic click of high heels echoed in the prison cell corridor. The steel door whined open and she stepped in. Long legs, slender waist. Crisp wool suit.
So this was Marinel Bethune. Not bad for a prosecutor from the Crown Office. Long and slow, she eyed him over. He stood up to better enjoy her stare and went tangent on the misty, moss-colored eyes.
Brian, you didn't say your cousin was a luscious dux.
"He won't give his name?" she asked the guard in a tone of tedious duty.
"Not a word, ma'am."
"Brian wasn't this good looking, but I haven't seen him in years." She stared him in the eyes until his jaw tensed, making her gaze fall to his mouth.
Focus Arliss, you're here for a reason.
"Take off your shirt," she ordered.
"And if I don't?"
"Your loss." She turned to leave.
He started with the buttons.
Stepping closer, she slid the loose shirt from his shoulders and pressed her hand against him. He didn't resist. She turned his torso into the light. Her gaze darted down the contours of muscle.
"Brian had a scar," she mused out loud, "right here." She ran an electric finger across his chest. His shoulders tensed.
"How would you know?" he asked.
"I put it there."
She thumbed a bullet scar on the front of his shoulder, the one from Kandahar, the one he'd been decorated for, then re-examined his eyes. Her head tilted and a sweep of black hair breezed over her shoulder, shimmering like the plumage of a rare bird. The faint scent of cinnamon made him want to just close his eyes and breathe her in.
"You are not Brian MacCrae," she concluded.
"I wish I were, if he's a bloke you would want…for anything. Spring me and I'll buy you a plonk to celebrate."
"Oh, you're an Aussie," she commented. "That's why we couldn't trace you."
Her warm hand lay still against his skin, but her slim wrist pressed at him with stubborn determination. Instinct made him reach to hold her sleeve. She withdrew her hand, and her moist palm slid over his, giving his heart the jolt he'd been guarding against.
"You know him," she stated, stepping away. "You were driving his car when you were stopped."
"Card winnings, at an inn near Dumbarton."
Her jaw clenched tight. Finally a crack on the stony expression. Brian must mean a lot to her and she was worried. The poor drunken bloke said he was the only family she had left.
"If it's yours, why is the car title still in his name?"
"I guess we never caught up with all the paper work."
"Was he – okay?"
He couldn't maintain a swagger against the pleading look in her eyes. "Yeah. He looked fine. A bit overtired, but not strung out or anything."
"Can you get a message to him?"
"Sorry. Wrong guy. All I have is his car."
"Look," she said, tempering her gaze. "The car hasn't been reported as stolen. Give us your name. We give you a written warning for running the red light, and you walk free."
He didn't budge.
"What are you hiding?" Her oblique question was more to herself than to him.
"What are you hiding?" he returned.
With a huff she turned to leave the cell, but a new guy blocked the way. A big hulk of a man with a laughing, ruddy face, flitting, nervous eyes and a head bristling with dirty blond hair.
"Fancy meeting you here, Mari," the man boomed. "I thought you might show up."
"You're out of luck, Corley. He isn't Brian."
The big man's smile collapsed.
"Nice try. Your buddy Taggart won't be pleased to discover you blew it again." She patted the dejected man on his shoulder. "I'd buy you a glass to drown your sorrows, but you'll need to stay sober long enough to come up with a credible set of lies." She stepped past him, and into the corridor. Corley's face reddened. He slammed the iron door back against its hinges and stormed after Mari.
From inside the cell he watched her go. "Quite the lady."
"That she is," the guard replied, stepping out and swinging the cell door shut. "She's as cuddly as a coil of barbed wire."
November 13, 2011
Considering the needs of Agents and Editors
Traditional publishing editors and agents are a hard bunch to please. They know exactly what they want, but they can't quite describe it in so many words. They want "fresh voices", "unique situations", something that is "original" and "surprising" that "grabs their attention" and "makes them keep reading". They want "hooks" and they want you to tell them "what makes your book different". Sigh. A pretty tall order to fill, especially when you can't very well define different if you don't have a solid handle on what's ordinary.
Good advice is to read, read, read in the genre you intend to write. This is hideously time consuming even if you love to read and read fast. Two shortcuts I can recommend are to read genre short stories and download samples of ebooks in your genre of interest. The sample downloads get you the critical first chapters and short stories give you a complete story in a nutshell. Once you have a pretty good idea of what's out there you can compare it with what you have and begin to see what might bore an agent or editor.
Caveat: look carefully at the samples of books for the publishers you're targeting. Why? Because something that is published by smaller presses, or published independently may be quite different from what big, traditional publishers are looking for. I point this out not as a qualifier about the quality of these books but to raise awareness for authors looking to be published by traditional publishers. Big publishers and the agents that work with them have very specific ideas about marketability. While we may not always agree with their definitions, awareness of what they want is the key to working with them. Cross-genre books are a good example. Most traditional publishers will not be interested in your novel that is equal parts science, history and romance. They expect a romance to be mostly romance with a bit of science or a bit of history sprinkled on top.
Any other advice for how to please these agents and editors?
October 14, 2011
Bias in Writing
[image error]Fiction, by nature, is not objective nor should it try to be. It is subjective even when the omniscient point of view is used because it contains the ideas, themes and outlook of the author. The entertainment aspects of a story are weakened when bias is not used properly. Bias is defined as prejudice for or against someone or something, usually interpreted as being unfair. You definitely want to learn how to be unfair in your writing. Unfairness, if nothing else, raises the hackles of readers and gets their emotional blood pumping! There are many ways to show bias.
Bias as a Pattern of Expectation
You most typically show bias by showing a pattern of assumptions or errors that support one particular view or by simply ignoring facts that might disprove the point of view or support an opposing view (aka putting a "spin" on things). If the author, or character, systematically highlights details that favor his viewpoint and ignores or discounts details that oppose it, he is biased.
It'd only taken a couple of stints as a hitchhiker for Sarah to conclude it wasn't the way for a single woman to travel. Granted, the knife she'd had held to her throat by the second—and last—driver she'd ever flagged down would only leave a tiny scar on the outside, probably some deeper damage to her psyche. The buckshot presently lodged in her side from a run-in with a territorial farm owner… Now that injury seemed poised to linger. Whoever had given her the impression that people from postcard-pretty places like Montana would be kind and welcoming… Well, next time she'd ask for proof.
This paragraph happens near the beginning of the book. Not only does it give the reader insights into the cynical worldview of the character, Sarah, but her two bad experiences resulting in physical injuries are also somewhat difficult to believe. Yet, this is all the author presents as evidence of Sarah's trek across Montana. The author does not attempt to provide a balanced view that might include the more ordinary or even somewhat pleasant aspects of her journey. What about the first driver she flagged down? That experience is not included.
What does this bias do for the reader as far as entertainment? You might say it sets up a hostile mood. By sympathizing with Sarah, even a little, we feel the sting of her injuries as well as the sullen expectation of more unpleasantness. We don't yet know the purpose of Sarah's journey, but we can guess that if it was not important, she would have turned back. Without knowing what she intends to do, we are being drawn in to seeing her succeed. Or we may scoff at the idea that she was so badly treated by strangers and wait for her to meet a nicer person if only to prove her wrong and restore our faith in humanity. In short, we are "expecting" more of the same, but also hoping for a better outcome. This author successfully built sympathy for a character in a single, short paragraph.
Bias by Labeling
Attaching a specific label to describe something or someone or some action or using more extreme labeling for one character than for others is a way of pushing bias onto the reader.
It was almost impossible to look into the shocking eyes of the vampyre, and yet the gaze of the creature was compelling. It was like attempting to force two poles of a magnet together. Erik could barely withstand the blaze of scarlet energy that flowed into his view. The vampyre's words were a vice, locking his head in position, insisting he answer.
Four short sentences to describe the vampyre character. The word choices: "shocking", "compelling", "force two poles of a magnet", "blaze of scarlet energy", and "a vice, locking his head" all create a bias that tells the reader that the vampyre is dangerous and since they are given from Erik's point of view, we know that Erik is frightened and rightfully so.
How can you take advantage of this kind of bias? Look for areas of short description of characters appearance or actions. Choose words that reflect the emotion of the person doing the describing. Use simple metaphors, preferably ones that add tension, rather than ones that are more poetic. Notice that the four sentences do not use big, unfamiliar words. Even the action words are simple. KISS. This author was able to describe a character using only the emotion that character evoked in another character (with the assistance of a couple of analogies).
Bias by Placement
By mentioning something and then putting something else right next to it, you can make it so that a reader draws a particular conclusion.
Jaq came from the streets. A homeless teen with a five-year-old sister had nowhere to go except Mother. The agency had approached her—they recruited youth on the streets from time to time—trained her, and housed the two sisters, and all Jaq had to do was become an agent, then take assignments to keep watch on the megacorps. Bovine had been young then and took to her like an older brother. Harp hadn't looked at her like family. Not at all, but that was past. She blinked fast to clear the blurring sting in her vision.
In this example, we're getting the impression of a character who has seen tough times. Then, the paragraph mentions "Bovine" who treated her like an older brother, and "Harp" who didn't. We don't know exactly what that means, but with the addition of "to clear the blurring sting in her vision" we can conclude that she was unhappy about it and is still feeling hurt by Harp. This author has created sympathy for a character in a few sentences, and has opened a question we would like to see answered, "How did Harp treat her and why is she upset about it?".
I'd love to see any more examples you can find! :)
October 5, 2011
Guest Blogger Mima
Please welcome our guest blogger, Mima! Mima is blogging today about mistakes. It's a powerful lesson for all of us. Let's listen and learn:
Your Biggest Mistake
Newsweek has a regular editorial where people reflect and share about their biggest mistakes. This serial interests me because I am the author of interactive fiction. I make it my business to think about choices, consequences, and the psychology of feeling empowered vs. trapped. Why are some people challenged by difficulty while others crumple?
Life isn't a choose your own adventure, with replays and takebacks. But I love reflecting on what could have been. I guess it's my writer's imagination. I use several categories of choices when I design my branching-path stories: the major, the minor, and the dire. Today I'm focusing on the major choices that have come up in your life.
Share a major choice you made, with a thought about what could have been. Share regrets or confirmations as you choose. Commenters are entered for a free Take Control book of their choice.
After I graduated, I interviewed for jobs as a school librarian at several schools. School A called me and I was delirious with relief. It was a forty-five minute commute, a small, rural high school with an outdated program that would need a total overhaul and virtually no fiction section, which I found telling and appalling. A week later, School B called me. They were a fifteen minute drive, a large suburban district with many resources, including a higher salary. I stammered on the phone. I WANTED THAT JOB. But I had already told School A I would go with them. I had not signed a contract. I asked School B for time.
I called my mother and cried. I called my fiance and cried. Both of them advised me to take School B. There would be no personal or professional issue with it, they assured me. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't. This other school had decided on me fast, and I had the distinct impression I was not School B's first choice. I stayed with School A.
I had to get up at 5AM for four years. I was twenty-one and many of my students were only a few years younger. I was learning a career with a hostile clerk, no budget, and a tepid administration. I cried in the magazine closet often. Every day I went to a job with the deep belief I was not effective and had NO idea how to become so. When my fiance found a job five hours away, I was giddy at the prospect of leaving after only four years.
In hindsight, I can blame the district for not giving me any teacher-training, not the slightest bit of support that a classroom teacher received in management, curriculum, active lessons, record keeping, none of it. In hindsight I can realize that putting a twenty-one year old in charge of eighty young adults is a rough road.
With my imagination, I wonder what working at that larger school with a robust library program would have been like. What kind of support I would have had, what kind of leadership would have shaped me, how the student body was of a different economic class. All the dawns and deer accidents and dangerous blizzard driving I would have missed…
And I would have missed the defining moment of my career as a teacher, when I was on the verge of burning out two years into the job, exhausted and beaten down with failure. An eighteen-year-old hair stylist young mother looked at me out of the corner of her eyes and said, "Before you, I didn't know people wrote books about people like me."
"What?" I said eloquantly.
"That book you left on the table. When we were all sitting around saying no book ever told the truth about us. You didn't say anything. You took it off the shelf without even looking and put it on the table. And I read it. I mean, the whole thing. I could see it in my head. Do you have more books like that?"
I gave her some. Then I went to the closet and cried. She never finished any of those other books. Later, she told me she didn't think she'd ever get through another whole book, not with the life she had. But she had read one. And it made her think. Because of me.
Wow, Mima! That's amazing. That one book made her think, probably made her dream. And with luck, she passed some of that thinking and dreaming on to the people around her and perhaps her children. Well done!
Mima's Bio:
Mima lives in the Finger Lakes of NY. She is the author of 19 fantasy romances which can all be seen at mimawithin.com. The Take Control series features interactive, choice-based fiction stories in the scifi, contemporary western, and paranormal genres.
Blog readers, please comment and share your choices, regrets, could-have-beens. Comment for a chance to win one of Mima's Take Control series books. A random winner will be announced on Thursday, October 13.
September 15, 2011
2nd Edition News
Telling Details has been updated with several new articles AND it's still free!
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Need quick, useful info on how to use action details, sensory details, telling and showing. Try this free ebook with articles taken from my most popular workshops. Available at:
Six Days to Midnight is now available in print!
Amazon (print)
Amazon (ebook)
Six Days to Midnight
The finance mogul thinks Janet Thompson is worth a fortune. The President wants her for revenge. The nuclear arms trader needs her dead. The diplomat is willing to rescue her. And Janet thinks she's only taking a break from her boring job.
Review
Wow! Six Days to Midnight is loaded with action, suspense, and romance right down to the last sentence. Twists and turns abound, many much unexpected. A great cast of characters tell a story that is pulled right from today's headlines, which is scary but also makes for great reading material. Kudos to Ms. Duncan for offering readers a great read!
Read complete review here:
Link
Excerpt
The Russian minister's eyes grew hard, and his face stern. With one powerful blow he slammed the desk top with the palm of his hand. The glasses danced. Clear liquid spilled from Janet's glass. The desk groaned and bent under the power of the man, the wooden legs grinding against the cement floor.
He held his two huge hands up before him, turning his wrists and admiring his hands like a sculptor.
"These two hands build Transnov. They not happy is without oil. They not want Anechka open it. They want go there and reopen pipepline themselves."
He gestured, turning a huge imaginary valve wheel to release the black gold once again into his pipeline, a satisfied smile overtook his face as he worked.
Then he leaned his weight back into his chair, its wooden frame strained to the limit, creaking like a ship under heavy sail. He rested his two huge feet on top of his desk.
"I've missed my old villa on Caspian Sea." He closed his eyes in dreamy rapture. "Janet, you have chance to enjoy spa?"
"Yes, I did. It was very lovely."
"Yes," the man intoned, his voice sliding into a comfortable sigh. "I will enjoy having my old villa back."
Janet tried to imagine which would be worse, sharing the spa with Nikolai or Andy. It would be equal she decided. They were both the same. Two people divided by a common personality.
"Nikolai," Brandt pleaded. "Your army must not move on Azerbaijan."
"Why?" the man roared. "Give me one reason why I should not."
Brandt's eyes darted back and forth, knowing the man had every reason to invade, and none for restraint.
"Your men. Do you want to risk Russian lives?"
"If American recession gets any worse, my men will need target practice Azeris will provide."
Brandt licked his parched lips.
"Nikolai, please," Brandt spoke in desperation. "Give me two weeks. I will get the Transnov reopened without the Russian army."
"Two weeks without Russian army. Two days with Russian army."
"Nikolai," Janet interrupted, "what about your legacy? Do you want to be the one who is remembered by history as the man who was duped by Mirza ul-Beg and Zelman to destroy America?"
Nikolai sucked in his cheeks contemplating Janet's words.
"One week. You deal with Zelman and relieve ailing economy, or I deal final blow to she-wolf Anechka. But, I promise nothing," he said, standing to end the meeting. "Now go."
September 8, 2011
Positively Creative
When I first wrote my medieval novels, I never imagined it would lead to connecting with some amazingly creative and talented people across the globe. You never know where creativity will take you!
If you like things with a medieval flair, here's a couple of resources to check out:
Nan Hawthorne brings you a searchable database of medieval novels at http://medieval-novels.com/. She has everything categorized by location as well as by time period. She's even started adding movies and TV to the mix. If you search the collection and know of a book that's missing, or are the author of a book that fits the time period, you can use her Add a Book feature to add the book to the database. I've just added the first two books of my medieval Cumbria Trilogy. Nan is also and author and she's agreed to be a guest here on Write About, so check back soon to learn more about Nan's many talents!
The amazing array of clothing and accessories at http://www.sharpe-designs.com/ will put you in the mood for medieval, celtic, and fantasy worlds. Their romantic, gothic, medieval, witchy, pagan clothing designs don't skimp on either flair or fashion. But that's not all. They carry jewelry and gifts, handbags, gloves, scarves, wallets, greeting cards and exotic perfume bottles. Sharpe Designs graciously allowed the use of their photo of a blue velvet dress for the cover of A Lady of Worth. Don't miss the Dragonesque Gallery which showcases some of the most creative uses of their wares. http://www.sharpe-designs.com/dragonesque-gallery.htm
If you're an author, has your writing taken you into new areas that you wouldn't have explored before? If you're a reader, are there books you've read that lead you in a new direction in your life?
September 2, 2011
Book 2 of the Cumbria Trilogy
A Lady of Worth is the sequel to Without a Lord, which is now just 99 cents!
Without a Lord will be coming out soon in free audio book format. Check back for details...
A Lady of Worth
Sir Ian, castellan of Fellswick Castle, sworn to protect the lands during his lord's absence and following a personal oath to assist all women cannot resist the lovely fragile lady brought to his care through treachery. His courtly attentions to her veer out of control into true love, tempting him to break all his knightly vows and risk all he is sworn to protect to win her love.
Lady Seline only needed to fulfill one vow, birth her husband a male child, so he would keep his promise of returning her to Flanders. Stranded, fearing for her life and desperately starved for love, Seline can scarcely believe that such a stern and austere man as Sir Ian would capture her heart. Will her attempt to oppose her false husband bring her valiant knight to ruin?
Purchase Links
Smashwords
Amazon
Excerpt from A Lady of Worth:
"Do not touch me! Oh, please do not!"
Ian pulled back the heavy cloth curtain separating the bathing area and shouted to Geoffrey who hovered ever at his lord's hand.
"Go see what that's about! I won't have a woman assaulted."
Geoffrey rushed to the great chamber's door, and bolted through a series of adjoining chambers. Ian heard the fading footfalls as he ran down the narrow court way next to the great hall, following the distant shrieks of the woman.
Ian had stepped back behind the gauzy curtains, but he could see the woman as she passed through the chambers with Geoffrey. She was dressed in a long bliaut of deepest blue silk trimmed at the neck, hem and sleeves with embroideries of silver thread. The sweep of it trailed the ground, and she lifted a bit of it in one hand to walk forward more easily. About her waist was a wide swatch of folded linen, bleached purest white and wrapped twice over with a girdle made of intricate woven bands of damasked silver, polished to a brilliant shine. Over her other hand was draped another swatch of white linen, a wimple, which the guards must have torn from her head in an effort to identify her. She was a strikingly beautiful lady, with a lavish stream of black hair and pale blue eyes.
"Just wait here a moment my lady, if you will please," said Geoffrey.
She stood exactly where he indicated, and with swift, measuring glances surveyed the large chamber with its comfortable furniture, fine rugs and tapestries and the large window overlooking the lake.
Ian stepped out from the bathing alcove. He wore only his chausses and braies, and since his chest was now dry, he was rubbing a cloth on his head to towel the moisture out of his long, thick hair.
"Did any of the guards harm her?"
"They didn't harm her, my lord. They wouldn't let her out," said Geoffrey.
"Out?" asked Ian, quelling his racing heart, "How did she get in?"
August 27, 2011
Kindlegraph is here!
You can now get my autograph for your Kindle books! Check out
http://kindlegraph.com/authors/Write_About
to request a personalized message that is sent directly to your Kindle. All you have to do is sign in with your Twitter account. It's fun, fast and best of all: free!
August 20, 2011
Historical Coming Soon
A Lady of Worth is the sequel to Without a Lord.
Without a Lord will be coming out soon in free audio book format. Check back for details...
A Lady of Worth
Sir Ian, castellan of Fellswick Castle, sworn to protect the lands during his lord's absence and following a personal oath to assist all women, cannot resist the lovely fragile lady brought to his care through treachery. His courtly attentions to her veer out of control into true love, tempting him to break all his knightly vows and risk all he is sworn to protect to win her love.
Lady Seline only needed to fulfill one vow, birth her husband a male child, so he would keep his promise of returning her to Flanders. Stranded, fearing for her life and desperately starved for love, Seline can scarcely believe that such a stern and austere man as Sir Ian would capture her heart. Will her attempt to oppose her false husband bring her valiant knight to ruin?
Excerpt
"Do not touch me! Oh, please do not!"
Ian pulled back the heavy cloth curtain separating the bathing area and shouted to Geoffrey who hovered ever at his lord's hand.
"Go see what that's about! I won't have a woman assaulted."
Geoffrey rushed to the great chamber's door, and bolted through a series of adjoining chambers. Ian heard the fading footfalls as he ran down the narrow court way next to the great hall, following the distant shrieks of the woman.
Ian had stepped back behind the gauzy curtains, but he could see the woman as she passed through the chambers with Geoffrey. She was dressed in a long bliaut of deepest blue silk trimmed at the neck, hem and sleeves with embroideries of silver thread. The sweep of it trailed the ground, and she lifted a bit of it in one hand to walk forward more easily. About her waist was a wide swatch of folded linen, bleached purest white and wrapped twice over with a girdle made of intricate woven bands of damasked silver, polished to a brilliant shine. Over her other hand was draped another swatch of white linen, a wimple, which the guards must have torn from her head in an effort to identify her. She was a strikingly beautiful lady, with a lavish stream of black hair and pale blue eyes.
"Just wait here a moment my lady, if you will please," said Geoffrey.
She stood exactly where he indicated, and with swift, measuring glances surveyed the large chamber with its comfortable furniture, fine rugs and tapestries and the large window overlooking the lake.
Ian stepped out from the bathing alcove. He wore only his chausses and braies, and since his chest was now dry, he was rubbing a cloth on his head to towel the moisture out of his long, thick hair.
"Did any of the guards harm her?"
"They didn't harm her, my lord. They wouldn't let her out," said Geoffrey.
"Out?" asked Ian, quelling his racing heart, "How did she get in?"
