Liv Rancourt's Blog, page 40

The Ring Toss

Today, in typically Rancourtian fashion, I’ve got about six activities too many scheduled. Oh well. One of them was to get a blog post up. In order to do that and still get everything done, I’m posting an excerpt from one of my recently released short stories, The Ring Toss. It can be found in the anthology Something Borrowed, Something Blue, and I hope that if you like this little snippet, you’ll check out the whole thing. Have a great weekend!

Peace,

Liv

The Ring Toss: A last-minute switch lands Mack in a long white dress, but can she commit?

Excerpt: {Mackenzie Reed, Ironic Bridesmaid, is a last-minute replacement for the role of Brittney, The Bride. Here she’s multitasking: running through a couple scenes while getting her hair straightened and keeping one eye on her cell phone in case she gets a message from her honey Joe…}

 

It’s beer-thirty. Where are you?

I’d never been so happy to see a text message. I ran my fingers quickly over the keys, letting him know about the change in my role. He was in New Orleans filming a zombie-vampire thing, and Miss Lonely Bits—that would be me—was making do with daily text messages and the occasional phone call.

“Type faster. You’ve got a couple more scenes to run.” Cheyenne had found her inner schoolteacher and was coming at me full force.

She’d see me in the mirror if I rolled my eyes, so I blinked slowly a couple times to get over the temptation. “I totally miss him.”

“Must be living in a state of textpectation.”

I laughed. “What?”

“When you’re expecting a text, it’s texpectation.”

I groaned and she came close to chuckling.

She shifted around to reach the next section of my wavy hair. “Yeah, texting is good for some things, except when you want a little lovin’. Then you need ‘em right up close.”

I groaned even louder. “The other night I tried to get him to send me a picture of his…you know…so I wouldn’t forget what it looked like.” I laughed. “He wouldn’t do it.”

Silence. I looked up, but her eyes were stuck on something behind my back. I slowly turned. Geneva stood beside the rolling rack of costumes in the middle of the room. Her normally polished semi-smile looked a little tight, betraying the fact she’d just heard me say I’d wanted her ex-fiancé to text me a picture of his johnson. Timing is everything and all that.

“Hi Geneva,” Cheyenne said, waving the flat iron like an oversized spatula.

Geneva stared at me like I was a bug. “Dusty thought maybe we should run through a couple of scenes.”

 

Something Borrowed, Something Blue can be purchased from the Still Moments Publishing website, from Amazon, and from Smashwords.

56 Hours

So this week I finished off my usual Sunday night shift with a 10am flight to LA. Because there’s nothing like trying to catch a nap while folded into a coach seat surrounded by strangers. Good thing it’s a short flight, and now I’m here and enjoying the heat. This is a short trip – just two nights – with a big purpose.

Research.

See, my current WIP is set in and around LA. My sister lives here, and after the 67th text message asking things like “besides bougainvillea, what do you see planted in parking strips”, she strongly encouraged me to come on down and see for myself. Between work and kids and whatnot, I didn’t have a lot of space in my schedule, but managed to carve out 56 hours for the venture.

I’m still kicking around ideas that I heard in the Geek&Sundry discussion on Urban Fantasy that spawned my last blog post. They were talking about world building,  and Emma Bull was going on about the importance of getting the details right. She said you have to know which details to use, so that if you’re writing about LA and you see a weed coming up through a crack in the sidewalk, you’d know that weed might well be a baby palm tree. Her use of the LA reference was clearly coincidental, but it brought home the point for me.

Do I know the place well enough to write about it?

And even more importantly, can I learn enough in 56 hours to fool people?

My professional training is in nursing, and the cornerstone of a nurse’s skillset is Observation (with a capital O). I can look at a sleeping baby and know a whole lot about them: how well their lungs and heart are working and whether their muscle tone is normal and if there’s tension in their face that suggests they might be in pain. None of my patients can speak, right? So I have to be able to pull together an assessment of how they’re doing from a whole variety of non-verbal cues.

The challenge with LA won’t be communication. The city was built around selling stories. It’s more an issue of scale. It goes on forever, and sorting through which details will capture it for the story I’m trying to tell is the hard part. Oh, and remembering the details in the first place. Which is why this post will be short, so I can switch over to pencil and paper and start making some notes.

Do you have any favorite LA details that I should keep in mind?

Peace,

Liv

 

Are Vampires Really Dead?

So the other night I took a little mental health break and watched Episode 1 of The Story Board, an ongoing series created by Geek & Sundry. It was hosted by fantasy writer Patrick Rothfuss (Kingkiller Chronicle) and featured guests Emma Bull, Diana Rowlands, and Jim Butcher.

Now there’s a line-up for ya.

They each had their share of interesting observations, and at some point in the discussion, one of them asked that age-old question: Are vampire’s really dead?

Meaning, of course, is it still possible to sell vampire stories to publishers, and are readers still reading them. After hashing it around some, the group decided that as fictional characters, vampires still had life since “They” had been predicting the demise of vampire fiction since the ’80s and it hadn’t happened yet.

So what do you think? Would you try to write &/or sell a vampire novel?

You could argue the ongoing popularity of vampires and other paranormal characters is the result of all the demands being placed on women in real life these days. A woman who’s working and raising kids and keeping a Martha-Stewart-worthy house while wearing a push-up bra and slut shoes requires an uber-alpha-male to keep up with her. That’s the gist of the argument in an article by Ananya Mukherjea in the journal Studies in Popular Culture (http://pcasacas.org/SiPC/33.2/Mukherjea.pdf - long article but fairly accessible and well worth the read).

Related to this is an idea that turned up in a recent blog post by Erica Manfred, author of Interview with a Jewish Vampire, a book I will be reading as soon as I finish The Seduction of Phaeton Black (which is a YUMMY book, fyi). In her blog post The Undying Appeal Of Vampires, she argues that  vampires are the Bad Boys for women who have seen it all. Sullen and angry just aren’t enough, we need an actual threat of death to find a man appealing. And, she reminds us, they are gorgeous.

She has a point with that.

I turned to my trusty Google, hoping to find actual data, maybe statistics describing books sales or hard-hitting articles by agents who deal with this stuff. While it wasn’t a completely fruitless endeavor, there wasn’t as much out there as I might have hoped. And not much of it was recent. There were blog posts and discussion lists, but nothing after about 2010 (which, in today’s publishing world, was a LONG time ago). Even Erica Manfred cites sources from 2008 and 2010 – and I don’t mean that as a criticism, just an illustration of how the conversation seems to have fallen off the radar.

From what I did see, there was a unifying theme, which is articulated pretty well in this quote from Nathan Bradford, writer and former literary agent with Curtis Brown, Ltd.

Now. That doesn’t mean I don’t want you to query me with urban fantasy or paranormal. But I’m not going to be favorably disposed to something that sounds like the same old paranormal story. It needs to be something different and it needs to feel fresh. I know it’s really difficult to do something different and fresh when everyone and their mom and their grandma and her mom are writing paranormal. But thems are the breaks….You have to either trod new ground or trod the existing ground with spectacular, mindboggling execution. 

Even though Mr. Bradford was writing this in the distant past of 2009, I believe his ideas hold true, and they are echoed by Blake Snyder in Save The Cat, when he talks about doing the same thing, but different. A fresh story, well-told, will find an audience, even if there are vampires involved. Good writing wins.

Well, that settles that. I guess. And next week, we’ll examine another age-old question: Vampires or Zombies?

Yeah, no we won’t. I hate zombies. Ick.

Have a great weekend!

Peace,

Liv

 

Photo Credit: Luigi Diamanti

Crimson In The Very Wrong Fairy Tale…with Liz Jasper

Okay, so if you’ve ever read my blog before, you’ll know that I’m somewhat of a connoisseur of fine vampire fiction. Now imagine my delight have having THE Liz Jasper visit the blog (author of Underdead and Underdead & In Denial) . She’s here to talk about her new YA release, Crimson In The Very Wrong Fairy Tale, and apparently she’s got a thing for Ouija boards. Who knew?

Liz Jasper

Hi Liv, Thanks for having me here. I adore your blog. The Ouija board pointer is awesome. At slumber parties as a kid we’d always play with the Ouija board. I desperately wanted it to point to “Yes” after we’d ask if so that so and so liked but it never did. Hold on. I hate the Ouija board!

Liv’s Ouija board: Don’t hate the messenger, Liz

Liz: But I digress. Happens. Probably a necessary thing for a writer. Otherwise, how would we ever come up with the stuff we write about?

Liv’s Ouija board: What do you write about?

Liz: I like to write about normal, girl-next-doors who are slightly dissatisfied with their lives for some reason they don’t quite understand. And then they get pulled out of their humdrum existance by something that seems great at first…but then there’s a twist and the adventure begins. In my UNDERDEAD mystery series the twist for Jo is that her great date bites her on the neck. She just thinks he’s taken the goth thing a leeetle too far–until she starts turning in to a vampire. Sort of. She lives in the real world where everyone knows vampires don’t really exist. And then someone starts killing her colleagues and she’s trying desperately to get back to her normal life. The problem is that normal no longer exists. I have two books in the UNDERDEAD series and plan on at least two more. Meanwhile, I have started a new YA series. The first, CRIMSON IN THE VERY WRONG FAIRY TALE, has just been published and is appearing at Amazon and Barnes and Noble and itunes, etc. etc. now. It’s about a rather nice girl-next-door who doesn’t quite fit in to her LA high school. She’s trying to avoid drawing attention to herself and just make it through high school without any hassle. And then on her 16th birthday she learns that she is really a princess–of darkness. Think The Princess Diaries meets Hellboy.

Liv’s Ouija Board: Ooooh! Sounds like my kind of books!

Liz: (Mumbles) Yeah, you just love hearing about girls getting thrown to the wolves, don’t you, Ms. “We couldn’t possibly have lied a little to junior high school Liz to make her feel better” Ouija board? Well my heroines don’t stay down for long, Ouija!

Liv’s Ouija Board: I’m sorry. Did you say something? Tell me about how you write. What’s your desk like? Liz: Sigh. It’s a freakin’ mess. I’m a champion piler. Catalogs, bills, files of files to be filed, notes for book ideas, reminders, to-do lists…and everything’s littered with post-its. I write on anything: the backs of grocery receipts, those free pads you get in the mail from charities, white space ripped out from the morning newspaper… all that’s piled in there, too. I like a certain amount of clutter — very tidy spaces make me nervous — but every so often I hit the point where I can’t take it anymore. I organize my papers and clean every inch of my desk and it slowly turns back into a trash heap. Here’s a picture of a relatively clean corner of it. It’s got my EPIC award for UNDERDEAD, a carved hippo my dad brought me back from Africa, Zombie Steve, Death Mints, a sticky fish my sister got me to throw against the wall if I hit writer’s block, and a bin of paper clips. And, yes, I do occasionally water that plant on the window sill.

Liv’s Ouija Board: (Pointer stumbles across the board.) My. That’s an… interesting…desk. Okay, tell me more about CRIMSON IN THE VERY WRONG FAIRY TALE.

Liz: Here’s the back cover blurb:

Crimson has a strategy for surviving high school. Blend in. Don’t cause trouble. It works pretty well–until her sixteenth birthday when her long-lost father shows up and all hell breaks loose. Literally. It turns out that he is a demon king, which makes Crimson…a princess. Of Darkness. Her castle is a sulfur-reeking cavern underground. Her Princess Training has nothing to do with tea and crumpets. Prince Charming isn’t rushing in to save her. And, to top it off, she still has to go to high school. She can’t tell anyone the truth, not even her best friends. To survive, she will have to risk everything and use a cunning she didn’t know she possessed. And even then there’s no guarantee she or anyone she cares about will be alive tomorrow–for neither Hell nor high school comes with a manual.

Thanks for having me Liv! And Liv’s Ouija board. (Unlike SOME beings who don’t mind crushing the hopes of eleven-year-olds, I was raised to be polite.)

~

Crimson in the Very Wrong Fairy Tale is available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Smashwords (and maybe other places but I couldn’t find them).

And be sure to check out Liz on her website, on Facebook, & on Twitter. I haven’t read Crimson yet, but can totally vouch for the entertainment value to be found in her Underdead books. Can’t wait for the next one!

Peace,

Liv

Tuesday Mash-up

So today’s post is about writing, a collection of links that I pulled from blogs I follow through Triberr and various WANA permutations. While I didn’t really have a theme in mind, except that the posts all have something to do with writing, you’ll notice that most of them explore various takes on the self-publishing vs traditional publishing debate. I still haven’t resolved this in my own mind, although the perspectives in the links that follow have definitely given me food for thought.

First, though, here are a couple craft-related posts. In the first, Casey Wyatt slices and dices the editing process in Don’t Fear The Reaper.  She gives good information in a well-constructed post.

Then Janice Hardy hosts Tiffany Reisz on her blog The Other Side of the Story in a post called Forget He Said, She Said – Three Easy Tips For Better Dialogue. Janet’s blog is always informative, but this post is so much fun that I was on my way to Amazon to check out Tiffany’s book at the same time I was using her advice to rethink every line of dialogue I’ve ever written.

The next couple of links look at the self-publishing process. In her “Treating Writing Like a Business” series, Karen Rose Smith has written some great posts. Her new one asks the question of the hour: Are You Ready To Indie Publish? It’s a great introduction to what the self-publishing thing takes.

In a post that expands on Karen’s ideas, Veronica Sicoe explains why knowing your audience is SO important in What Every Writer Must Know. I like this post because of its emphasis on the relationship between writer and reader.

Kristen Lamb is all about relationships, and her post The Five Mistakes Killing Self-Published Authors gives constructive feedback that we all can learn from.

The next posts look more specifically at the great debate. Jami Gold reframes the traditional relationship between author and publisher in The New Publishing Paradigm Part Two: What Value Do Publishers Add? It’s an empowering piece and one I expect to return to.

And finally, here’s an article by Mark Coker on How A Traditional Publisher Could Harm A Writer’s Career. It’s a different way of looking at the author-publisher relationship and describes in financial terms what self-publishing can mean.

After reading and now re-reading all these posts, I’m still not ready to self publish my work. I’m not afraid of the promotion or social networking angle – every author has to do that, regardless of whether they’ve got an agent and a Big Six contract or they’re selling ebooks from Amazon and their own website. I like to think I’m building the relationships that are a critical part of selling books. It’s the feedback process that I worry I’ll miss out on.

For example, I have a paranormal romance with a working title Only The Lonely. In it’s initial incarnation it was about 55k words and had some bits that I really liked. I passed it out to beta readers and got some feedback, edited it, and started the query process. No interest from agents.

I took a class on the query process and got some feedback from a more experienced author, and as a result, I reworked the whole thing, changing the paranormal nature of romantic hero and upping the ante for the main character. The piece is about 65k words now, and while I had to cut some of the likable bits, I created other, equally likable bits. I think it’s a better piece now, and while I haven’t started the query process again, I will as soon as everyone’s summer vacation is over. I could have published the initial incarnation and probably even sold some copies, but would that have been the best outcome? I’m still not sure Only The Lonely is as good as it needs to be and I can’t promise I won’t massage it some more.

And I may end up publishing it myself.

For those of you who have self-published, how did you know when  piece was ready? And if you’re working with a traditional publisher, would you consider self-publishing as an option for the future?

Peace,

Liv

 

 

 

 

What Jeaniene Frost Did Right

So recently, my friend Amanda sent me a link to an old blog post by Jeaniene Frost, author of the Night Huntress series, wherein her character Bones gets into it with Ilona Andrews’ character Kate Daniels. Now, up until this point I hadn’t read anything by either of these authors, but the post cracked me up and left me motivated to download Halfway To The Grave, the first Night Huntress book. And then, about 36 hours later, at 1am, I downloaded the 2nd one.

God I love my Kindle.

The Amazon reviews for Halfway To The Grave ranged from three to five stars. That and $5 will get you a fancy cup o’ joe most anyplace you go. The reason I liked the book had more to do with how many things I saw Ms. Frost doing well. These days I find it increasingly difficult to turn off my writer-brain as I read, and I was just so impressed by what I saw in this book. Here’s a list of the top three things I thought she got right in Halfway To The Grave.

I’ll try hard not to include spoilers, but no guarantees…

#1 She started strong

I  stiffened at the red and blue lights flashing behind me, because there was no way I could explain what was in the back of my truck.

Now that’s a solid hook. You have tension, you have intrigue, you have vulnerability. You’re immediately in the moment, trying not to panic with this person who’s trying to hide something from the cops. I’m generally pretty law-abiding, but could totally relate to that flash of guilt.

Over the first chapter, the author carefully works in details, laying the foundation for Cat’s character. There’s something different about her. She has no friends and her only boyfriend ended badly. She doesn’t know her father and has huge Mommy issues (hello, go kill vampires for your mother!). And then, imho, Ms. Frost saves the cat. She drops in a little something that said more about the unhealthy nature of the mother-daughter relationship than just about anything I could have come up with. Here:

My mother was asleep in the room we shared.

Um, ick. She’s in her twenties and still sharing a room with her mother? Who has boundary issues? The quote goes on:

I’d tell her about it in the morning. It was the first question she asked on the weekends. Did you get one of those things, Catherine? Well, yes, I did!

Honestly, the first time I read it, the main thing I remembered from the first chapter was that Cat still shared a room with her mother. If Cat is broken, I gotta think Justina pretty much raised her to be. From my understanding of Blake Snyder’s book, the purpose of the Save The Cat moment is to give the main character an added dimension, one that makes the reader care about them. The shared bedroom thing did it for me.

#2 Likeable characters

Cat is complicated. She snores and hogs the covers, she doesn’t deal with her Mom very well, she’s ballsy and resilient. She’s a very relatable character, although I’ve never been half vampire and likely never will be. There’s a lot going on in there, and a lot to like.

And I have to say that for me, there might be even more to like in the character Bones. Now, I haven’t read many of the reviews &/or blog discussions of this book, so maybe what I’ve got to say is yesterday’s news, but does he remind anyone else of a certain platinum-haired vampire with an English accent? Here’s his first line of dialogue that’s more than two words long:

Bad timing, luv. Have to wait until later. Be a good bird and fly away, I’ll find you.

When I read that for the first time, I heard the voice of Spike. Now, after having read two books in the series, which provide ample evidence that Bones is NOT Spike, I still hear James Marsders.  Bollocks pet, Bones sounds just like Spike. IMHO, that’s not a bad thing. If you’re going to borrow from someone, go for the best.

And then there’s the small matter of SEXUAL CHEMISTRY THAT’S SO HOT I THOUGHT IT MIGHT MELT MY KINDLE.

Um, I’m going to let you discover your own examples for that one. (And yes, Book 2 Ch 32 IS all that.)

#3. Internal transformation

Like the good little writer I am, I’ve studied plot and character development, and have a working familiarity with both Joseph Campbell’s Hero’s Journey and Christopher Vogler’s work. I know your characters are supposed to change and grow over the course of the story, both on the level of their external circumstances and their internal environment.

Ms Frost deftly structures Cat’s development. She changes from a loner who has staked a few vampires to being Queen of the World (well, not really, but I don’t want to give any spoilers away), though frankly, it’s the external change that I have the most quibbles with. She gets some kind of exponential magic boost right near the end that turns her into a super-staker, which is cool and all, but was sort of extreme.

It’s the internal change in Cat that I find most satisfying. At the opening of the story, vampires are all bad, all the time. They’re all trying to get her and she has no problem with killing them. In fact, she gets her mother’s approval by doing it. Things are so black and white for her that it comes as shock when she learns there might be something good about vampire blood.

Vampire blood heals?

That happens on page 28. About ten pages later, she has her first semi-positive thought about Bones.

He laughed again. It transformed his face into something I just realized was very beautiful. I looked away, not wanting to see him as anything but a monster. A dangerous monster.

I’m kind of in awe of the way Ms. Frost wove details throughout the story, letting Bones educate Cat and creating a realistic change in the way Cat views vampires and herself. You could probably quibble about the fact that it took the love of a strong vampire to help Cat grow up, but the love story is so integral to the plot that there’s really no point otherwise. When it comes right down to it, it’s up to Cat to take the risk and to allow herself to change, and that part was beautifully done.

And in the end (at the risk of spoiling it for everyone) she is no longer sharing a room with her mother, which was a huge relief to me.

So thank you, Amanda, for introducing me to this series. I’d seen it before but hadn’t picked it up because I figured it was cut from the same cloth as the Lords of the Underworld by Gina Showalter. Nothing against those books – I’ve read four or five – but you know what you’re getting. The Night Huntress books are very different, and a whole lot of fun.

If any of you lovely Rancourtesans have suggestions for paranormal series, leave them in the comments…I’m always up for something new. Have a great weekend!

Peace,

Liv

 

 

Eternity….with Tmonique Stephens

Roman Nicolis…Looks like a hero to me, right?

This morning I’m welcoming the lovely Tmonique Stephens to the blog. I believe Tmonique and I crossed paths on the Creativity Cauldron discussion list, and while I haven’t read Eternity – it won’t be released until 8/15 – her main character sure makes it look appealing.

Right?

So let me get out of the way so she can tell you about how she came up with such an intriguing…storyline… Oh, and keep reading, because she’s also included a fun little interview with Mr. Nicolis.

Why did I choose to write about the Egyptian Gods?

About five years ago, I decided I wanted to write a series. I’ve always loved paranormal romances, vampires, werewolves, the fey, shape shifters, novels about other worlds inhabited with different species. Naturally, I gravitated to what I enjoyed reading, but I was tired of the usual books populating the genre. I considered writing about the Greek Gods, but I had recently started reading a popular series about the Greeks and I felt I had no new ideas to offer.

Then I thought of the Egyptian Gods. Ancient Egypt is one of the most well documented cultures. Although the Egyptian Gods have a wealth of history and folklore, there aren’t many fiction books about them. Their story still remains untold.

Eternity is a story of reincarnation and redemption. Roman Nicolis, a mercenary falls in love with the Elyssian, the wrong woman. He seduces her, taking her virginity and cursing them both. For two thousand years, Roman wanders the earth searching for the only woman he can love. Time and again, Roman finds her, only to lose her horribly. Now, in present day New York City, they meet again. And this is his last chance to get things right.

To learn more about Tmonique or to find Eternity when it’s available, you can check out her website or go to Soulmate Publishing.

Interview with Roman Nicolis

After weeks of begging for an interview, Roman Nicolis agreed to meet at a restaurant one block away from his Park Avenue townhouse. I was calm, cool and collected until Roman walked in. 6’7” and muscular with wavy dark hair and intense blue eyes, I swallowed the drool forming and nearly fanned myself. I had to stay focused. I wasn’t here to drool over the man. I had questions that needed to be answered.

His hand swallowed mine when he shook it. He sat opposite me and ordered a scotch neat.

“Would you like something Ms. Stephens?” he asked while the waitress waited.

Yes, but a fruity drink wouldn’t steady my nerves. “Water, please.” As the waitress walked away Roman’s full attention landed on me. “I don’t have much time so let’s get this over with.”

Thanks for the prodding. I whipped the tape recorder from my purse. We already agreed I could record the interview so I didn’t expect him to balk. He scowled, but said nothing. I pressed record and began.

 

“Hi this is Tmonique Stephens, I’m here interviewing Roman Nicolis, CEO of Nicolis Security. Formerly, one of the most eligible bachelors in New York City who has finally agreed to sit down and talk to me.

“Sir, you’ve been missing from your company and the city for two months. Why the disappearing act?”

Roman Nicolis. “I’ve been on an extended vacation.”

TMS: “To where. There’s no record of you leaving the country.”

RN: “Are you stalking me, Ms. Stephens?” (a smile tweaked the corner of his mouth)

TMS: “Yes, I am. Mr. Nicolis, there has been some speculation on how you’ve made most of your personal fortune. Some say your company is just a cover for illegal activity overseas. Care to comment?”

Roman Nicolis: “I don’t comment on speculation.”

TMS: “So you’re not issuing a denial?”

RN: “There’s nothing to deny or confirm.”

TMS: “O.K.” (shuffles through some papers) “How’s the wedding preparations coming along with your lovely fiancée, Bianca Maylor?”

RN: (his face becomes shuttered) “I’m no longer engaged.”

TMS: “Really, the wedding was three months away. Is it because of houseguest, Miss Stella Walker that you’re no longer engaged?”

RN: “My personal life isn’t up for discussion.”

(The waitress returns with his scotch and my water. He downs his in a single gulp while I try not to choke on mine. His lips are compressed into a thin angry line)

TMS: “Okay, next question. You have a very interesting family. Can you tell us more about them?

RN: “There is not much to tell. I have 6 brothers. Thane, E.J., Avery, Tyrone, Brayden and Quin. Oh, and Hector, my butler.”

TMS: “Yes, but they’re not really your brothers. Not biologically.”

RN: “Blood couldn’t make us any closer. Many are descendants of my sister Aria. They were orphaned and adopted by me.”

TMS: “Wait, descendants of you sister? Just how old are you?”

RN: (His smile turned and wasn’t warm or welcoming)

TMS: “You look surprisingly youthful for someone who adopted several young boys who are now adult men. What’s your secret?”

RN: “Plenty of water and eight hours of sleep”

TMS: “Who lets a single man adopt young boys?”

RN: “Are you saying I did something illegal?”

TMS: “Did you?”

RN: (He gives a cool chuckle) “No. Next question?”

TMS: “Alright. Is it true there has been a Nicolis in every war since The Revolution?”

RN: “. . .  Possibly.”

TMS: “More than possibly. I’ve done some research and dating back to the 1777 there’s documentation of one a Roman Marius Nicolis. And in each subsequent war I’ve found variations of that name until The Vietnam war. You come from a long line of military men.”

RN: “Is that an insult or a compliment, Mrs. Stephens?”

TMS: “Definitely a compliment. I also discovered some pictures of those men. They all have a striking resemblance to you. Any comment.”

RN: “Strong genes.”

TMS: “Speaking of genes, is there anything you’d like to say about your twin?”

RN: “My twin is dead. There’s nothing more to say. Next question.”

His anger surprised me. Flustered, I shuffled my papers trying to get the interview on track.

TMS: “Now that you’re single again the ladies will hang me if I don’t ask you some questions, so here goes. Blonde, brunette or red head?”

RN: “Brunette.”

TMS: “Miss Maylor is blonde while Miss Walker is brunette. Interesting. Petite or statuesque?

RN: “Both.”

TMS: “Athletic or curvaceous?”

RN: (sighs) “This is ridiculous.”

TMS: “I must placate my female reader, please.”

RN: (leans closer) “You want to know what type of woman I’m attracted to? I’ll tell you without the silly questions. I want a woman with a mind of her own. One who knows what she wants and won’t stop until she gets it. One who isn’t afraid of life and living. A woman who will love me as much as I love her.

Whoa! I can’t take my eyes off him. His intensity is intoxicating. A drug I would gladly get addicted too. I grab my water and slowly drain the glass. After a deep breath I was ready to continue.

TMS: “Have you already met the next Mrs. Roman Nicolis?”

A wry smile flashed across his face, but his eyes were forlorn.

RN: “I have time for a final question, Ms. Stephens.”

TMS: “What is your biggest regret, Mr. Nicolis?”

RN: “This interview.”

TMS: “Come on. Give me one.”

RN: “. . . I have many regrets. None I care to share with your rapacious readers.”

TMS: “Why did you agree?”

RN: “Lack of good judgment.” (He stood) “Your time is up Ms. Stephens.”

TMS: “One last question. If there was one thing you could change, what would it be?”

RN: (He pauses. For a brief moment his gaze becomes distant, almost wistful. Then his features became guarded) “I’d change nothing. I would live my life as I have, on my own terms with no regrets. (He leaves)

0

Rated 4 for Spicy with some language.

 

Blurb

Roman Nicolis

Cursed for 2000 years, Roman Nicolis has tracked his lovers’ soul through each reincarnation only to lose her horribly every time. Reclaiming their love is their only salvation. He’s been her friend, her father, her neighbor, but never again her lover … until now.

STELLA WALKER

A late night walk home throws Stella into the path of a killer. The last thing she remembers are the deep blue eyes of the man trying to kill her—and the first things she sees after a seven day coma are the same blue eyes in the handsome face of the man hired to protect her. Is he truly the owner of a security firm assigned to protect her or the man who wants to finish her off? Is it fear she feels when Roman touches her or the memory of something sweeter? She will have to push past her fears and reclaim a love that has lasted two millennia.

 

Past secrets haunt them. An angry demon stalks them.

Roman will do anything to recover what they had. Though Stella’s ruined childhood has made her closed her heart and body to any man, he must get past the walls around her to gain her love and trust for it will take their union to defeat an unexpected enemy sent from the Egyptian Gods. A man Romans respects, and Stella trusts.

TWO HEARTS.ONE SOUL FOR ALL Eternity.

Coming August 15th from Soulmate Publishing

 

 

Tmonique’s Biography

In high school, Tmonique Stephens wrote her first novel about a reporter and a hockey player after the U.S. hockey team won gold in the 1980 Olympics. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Creative Writing from City College of New York where she won an English Department Award for her play Tea with Salt in 1987. She took a break to graduate from college, get married, have a daughter, but she never gave up on her dream.

She loves paranormal and fantasy romances and will read anything about fairies, demons, or angels.  She also enjoys Stephen King and Dean Koontz. The first romance she remembers reading was a Harlequin about a sheikh and his forbidden love for an American woman way back in middle school. That’s before loves scene were included. Tmonique loves writing flawed characters who reflect the emotional baggage we all carry. She writes complicated stories for complicated people. Hopefully, you will enjoy her efforts.

Tmonique Stephens was born in St. Thomas USVI, but she grew up in The Bronx, New York one mile from Yankee Stadium. She loves the SyFy and History channels, and Asian cuisine. But her heart and stomach longs for anything from the Caribbean. Have any Caribbean recipes out there? Please share! Her mother died before she had a chance to teach Caribbean cooking secrets.

Currently, Tmonique is working on an Egyptian God series. Why the Egyptian Gods, you ask? She challenges that with, “Why not?” All the other gods have been extensively covered, except the Egyptians. Undiscovered territory has always appealed to her.

Expect her first book, Eternity, out this August from Soulmate publishing. You can find her on her fan page Author Tmonique Stephens and Like her.  Also stop by http://www.tmoniquestephens.com for more information on future projects.

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Author-Tmonique-Stephens/334686337991

https://twitter.com/Tmoniquebooks

 

Eternity Book trailer on YouTube.

http://youtu.be/WLBSiOVSltg

 

EXCERPT:

“You’re asking me to sleep with you?” Roman said.

“I’m offering to share the futon with you,” Stella corrected.

Standing next to the futon, he whispered, “Why?”

She jumped, her hand stretched out in front of her, searching for him. “Damn, how can you move that fast? I didn’t hear you.”

“Answer the question. Why?”

“I … can’t let you sleep on the floor.” She scooted over and waited for him.

He should resist. The many reasons why ticked by, but the futon creaked as he lay beside her and stilled. Everything he wanted rested inches away.

“Can you see me?”

“No,” he lied, watching her bite her lip. Slowly, she relaxed, believing the darkness covered her. He sucked in a sharp breath when her hand brushed his bare chest.

“Sorry,” but a smile tweaked her lips.

“No boyfriends,” she told McCabe. It was too ridiculous to be true. But … could she be a virgin?

“Roman,” she breathed his name and lust raced down his spine, igniting every nerve ending and wiping his brain clean of every thought, but one. He caught the belt of her robe and followed it up to the knot. A finger slipped in and loosened it.

“Yes.” His breath fanned her face. She tilted her chin up at the perfect angle for his lips to cover hers.

“I’ve never had a man in my home before.”

His finger stopped. What the hell am I doing? She drugged him with her words, frailty and covered body. He had to get out of her bed, her apartment, maybe the city, let one of his men protect her.

She touched him again, ran her palm over his stubbled jaw, then traced a finger over his eyebrows and down the bridge of his nose. She played with the shell of his ear until his chest rumbled with suppressed laughter. Then her fingers found his lips and the laughter stopped.

 

 

 

 

 

The Incorruptibles

So at the risk of offending True Believers, I’m going to write about a subject that’s kind of fascinating. In a recent blog post about traveling in Sienna, Italy, a friend of mine mentioned going to the Basilica San Domingo and seeing the head of St Catherine of Sienna in a golden shrine.

When I travel, I prefer the locals to keep their heads attached.

This led to a discussion about The Incorruptibles, Catholic saints who are said to maintain the integrity of their bodies following death. The tradition holds that they appear as if they’re simply sleeping, with intact skin and flexible limbs. They are also said to give off The Odor of Sanctity, a sweet scent, like roses or lilies instead of, say, mouldering flesh.

The incorruptiblity of the body is said to be a reward for the purity of the life these people led, and there are some 200 or so Incorruptibles being venerated in churches, mainly in Europe.

The Incorrupt body of Saint Zita in the Basilica of San Frediano; Lucca, Italy.

This picture above is of Saint Zita (1212 – 1272). She is the patron saint of maids and domestic servants, and is someone you can pray to when you need help finding lost keys. If my husband wasn’t Lutheran, he’d be all over that. According to the Wikipedia page on her life, Saint Zita had an evil, abusive employer and was picked on by just about everyone she knew, but she kept the faith and returned their malice with joyful service. In the end they came to appreciate the good work she did and put her in charge of running the household. She converted the family she worked for and became known for her good works. She only slept half the night to give herself extra time to pray, and would give her own food to the poor. At one point, visitors to her kitchen found angels baking bread for her.

I’m sure there’s a lesson in there somewhere.

And as you can see from her picture, it takes a certain level of faith to see a sleeping person. With all due respect, Saint Zita looks like she’s dead. I have no doubt that if I ever traveled to Lucca, Italy and knelt at St Zita’s shrine in the basilica of San Frediano, I would feel the inner peace and honest spirituality that years of veneration bring to a holy place. But the figure that I’d be contemplating would look like a mummy.

And the Catholic church isn’t alone in this particular eccentricity.  Over 1000 years ago, Bhuddist monks, called Sokushinbutsu, practiced self-mummification. After a period of careful preparation, they brought about their own deaths, hoping their fellow monks would find a mummy. Many monks tried but only around twenty were successful. The successful ones were identified as Bhuddas and brought to the temple for veneration.

I honestly don’t mean to be pointing fingers at people’s beliefs. Heck, I’m Catholic after all. If you want skepticism, you can find it HERE. What I’ve got to offer is more like befuddlement. If the focus of religion is the afterlife, why are we elevating the physical evidence of THIS life? Equally interesting to me is the apparent lack of thoughtful evaluation of the practice. I’m all about researching via google, but when I searched Incorruptibles, I got hits from believers and hits from skeptics, but nothing that looked at WHY you would want to visit a shrine that held the arguably well-preserved remains of a holy person.

It’s right up there with seeing Jesus in your Captain Crunch cereal.

Not really. I think there’s something almost romantic about such old-school beliefs. And gothic. I’m starting to wonder if there’s a story for me in here somewhere. What do you think? Do you have ideas about why the practice of venerating the long-dead body of a saint still exists? Or does it just plain ghoul you out?

Peace,

Liv

If you’re interested in checking out more on this topic, here are some links:

Wikipedia – Incorruptibility

Amusing Planet – Sokushinbutsu (awesome pics)

 Top Ten Incorrupts

 

 

 

Lust & Bound

So a couple months ago I saw a tweet from  a friend, asking if anyone wanted to take a look at the first couple chapters of her current WIP and help her sort some things out.

Right on. I could do that.

So she emails me and says, the title is Lust & Bound, and I have to warn you, she says, it’s a little bit naughty.

Well duh. Lust & Bound? Didn’t think you were writing about convent politics, dear….although that might be interesting…

And so, with all the grace and style I’ve come to see as her trademark, W. Lynn Chantale is here today to celebrate the release of her newest novel, Lust & Bound. I know from first-hand experience what a good read it is, and am very happy to give y’all a sneak peek. And don’t forget to leave a comment at the end, cuz Lynn’s got a giveaway going on, too.

Here’s Lynn…

Recently I had a conversation with an author friend, chatting about writing and promo. Lately I’ve begun to shun the whole promo/marketing things because it’s gotten to be too much. Some of you are probably going, “but I hardly ever see you”, or some will agree that you see me too much. Either is fine, but I know I hate the necessary evilness of promo.

Anywhoo, she mentioned how I don’t talk about my characters. Books yes, but not the characters.

You coulda heard a pin drop.

She was right. Whenever I’m on a blog or interview, it’s about me. Selfish, right? Or the book I’m pimpin’, but not so much about the characters that I’ve lived and breathed for however long it took to create their story.

What if I told you my heroine, Trisha dislikes romantic movies, is a total girlie-girl and hates pepperoni on her pizza? Since her marriage failed she’s taken the advice of her best friend and embraced the one night stand, even though she’s been ogling a man she thinks is out of reach.

And Zach. I just love Zach. (Ed. note…I kinda love Zach, too. Just sayin’.) He’s got a wicked sense of humor, knows exactly what he wants or in this case who he wants and not afraid to pursue her. Is he aggressive? Sure. Overprotective? Most men are when it comes to the woman they love. Does he care about Trisha’s feelings and opinions? Absolutely.

So take a walk with me, get to know my characters and enjoy their story.

This has got to be the hottest thing I’ve ever put up here on the blog. Love it!

 

Also if you leave a comment you’ve have a chance to win some Lust & Bound swag, which includes a tote bag, magnet, pen and keychain.

Thank you, Liv for hosting me today. It’s been a blast.

 

Please visit me in my cyber home and don’t forget to Indulge Your Inner Romantic.

Website: http://wlynnchantale.com

Blog: http://wlynnchantale-decadentdecisions.blogspot.com/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/wlynnchantale

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/W.LynnChantaleAuthor

 Excerpt

The last thing Zach expected was the incredible night they shared. He’d often dreamed of Trisha’s voluptuous body, but to hear her voice what she wanted from him left him aching.  Since her divorce, she’d always seemed to keep him at a distance. He thought it had something to do with him being a client of hers and not wanting to mix business with pleasure. Or someone else.

The momentary stab of jealousy made him grit his teeth. He did not like the raw emotion crawling through his belly, not when he already thought of her as his. He crossed to the bed and eased onto the mattress. She didn’t stir. A faint smile creased his lips. Just as well, it gave him more time to study her beauty.

He couldn’t believe she’d agreed to his plans. Well, it had taken a bit of coaxing, but all he wanted to do was get her alone. And what better opportunity than dancing. A dance floor provided the perfect opportunity to hold her close, and maybe even get her somewhere secluded where he could seduce her, dive into all those tempting curves, and show her what she’d been missing. And he knew she was missing something. He’d seen the hunger and bridled passion in her eyes. He longed to be the one to release her inhibitions. On some level he wished he’d driven the hour back to his place. But he thought a weekend on neutral territory would’ve given them a reprieve, at least until he found a note shoved under the door. He hadn’t left the room all night, so how had his stalker found him?

You can find Lust & Bound at Evernight Publishing, Amazon, and All Romance.

 

The Bohemian Tarot…with Cora Ramos

So today, my dear Rancourtesans, I have a fabulous guest on the blog. Cora Ramos is here, talking about the Tarot. I’ve been following Cora’s blog through WANA112 & Triberr, and she’s done a truly fascinating series of posts on how to build characters using astrology and the Tarot. Here’s a link to her post on Aries (that would be my sign) so you can check it out and see what I mean. I asked her if she would do a post here, explaining the Tarot, so prepare to be educated…and entertained…and probably intrigued…

Thanks Cora! Appreciate having you here.

Peace,

Liv

Old Tarot Cards by Talia Felix

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Bohemianism is a way of life. A state of mind. An atmosphere. It’s about living richly and irreverently, beyond convention. It’s about being uninhibited, unbuttoned, creative and free.” The Bohemian Manifesto

 

The Tarot fits right into that mind set.

 

Once upon a time, the wise ones of ancient Atlantis could see the coming catastrophe that would wipe out their great civilization. To guard against losing the wisdom and story of who we are as a human race, they began disseminating the knowledge around the world into different cultures. Eventually, this knowledge came down to the ancient Egyptian, Thoth Hermes. Only the priests and priestesses, who passed a series of tests and challenges, were deemed worthy to receive the ancient secrets and carry them forward.

 

Is that true? I don’t know, but it makes for good story.

 

When Liv asked me to do a post for her on the Tarot, extending what I am doing on my own blog (coraramos@blogspot.com) with the Tarot, I decided to go into its history—the known and the speculated. No one can prove or disprove the origin of the Tarot.

 

Tarot is the book of secrets, or more aptly, the secret books. The Tarot cards are said to contain the wisdom of ancient civilizations—the occult doctrines (deeper truths) of such bibles as the Jewish Kabala, Hebrew bible, the Koran, the Christian bible, the bible of Freemasons, the Odyssey bible of Greece and the Hindu Vedas. It is said to be the Bible of bibles, the book of Thoth Hermes—the book of Adam.

 

Tall order!

 

Is any of that true? Again, it makes for good story only now we see many of the same symbols and their meanings being shared among these different religions, metaphysical and mystic groups. I find it interesting when religious zealots get all fired up over their segment of truth being the only right one, to the exclusion of all others, when in fact they all share many of the same symbols. Only the interpretations vary (which is probably why the Egyptian priests allowed only those who showed they understood the knowledge to have it).

 

When the dark ages were on the horizon in Europe, the keepers of esoteric knowledge wanted to keep that knowledge intact. Freedoms of thought and expression were becoming more than a little difficult to maintain. People were being tortured or burned at the stake for speaking anything other than the official line of the current religious or secular rulers.

 

Think of the great alchemists (chemists) that had to hide their own explorations and beliefs because it was considered magic and evil by the Inquisition—Nostradamus, Paracelsus, Isaac Newton and Leonardo da Vinci to name a few. If you were not careful, you could end up like Joan of Arc (a mystic).

 

And so, this knowledge was transformed into visual/symbolic format. A picture is worth a thousand words, as the saying goes—thus, the creation of the Tarot deck. The deck includes information of numbers, astrology (the astronomy of the day), science (which to many at the time was seen as magical) and esoteric secrets. These cards were then cleverly given to the nomadic gypsies, who used them for fortune telling and gaming to support themselves, insuring that the knowledge hidden in them would be spread around the world. Clever idea—no one suspects the poor guy just trying to make a living.

 

Some believe they are just playing cards.

 

Whatever Tarot is said to be, it is definitely a group of 78 cards that can be used for divination or meditation (56 of which are the playing cards we use for fun or gaming—called the Minor Arcana, or lesser arcane, and the other 22 are the picture/story cards called the Major Arcana).

 

I am truly amazed at the reaction different people have to the Tarot. “Witchcraft, demonic use, devil worship and consorting with evil spirits” are a few of the fears harbored by some people regarding anyone using the Tarot. (Is this leftover fear conditioning from more repressive times in history? It could be. In addition, it doesn’t help that the symbols or cards are often used in movies at some kind of devil ceremony or murder scene).

 

“Evil is as evil does.” (A Forrest Gumpism)

 

They are just a deck of cards, people! They have symbols embedded in them. You can learn the symbols and their meanings or you can meditate on them and let your own creative mind bring in fresh insight to your writing, problems, relationships, etc. just as you do with any book of writing or inspiration.

 

Whatever the truth is, use the Tarot wisely and be rewarded. It holds many truths that can enlighten, inspire and instruct if you let it. You might even be accused of having a bohemian life style. Like that’s a bad thing?

 

Come visit me at my Cora Ramos Blog for the rest of the month for more tarot readings on writing and inspiration.  And thank you Liv for having me guest on your new, exciting blog.