Demelza Carlton's Blog, page 28

Toilet Paper on the Titanic and the Trevessa

Was there toilet paper on the Titanic? Or any boat of its era? One of the fun parts of writing historical fiction is researching some of the everyday details you normally wouldn’t think about. Setting a story on a ship makes it just that little bit harder. Was there toilet paper? Or plumbing? Or electric […]

The Alpha-Male Seal – Seven #SexySnippets on #MySexySaturday with #SaturdayScenes

Romance just isn’t complete without a sexy, alpha-male seal. And this one’s all hot and bothered, in pursuit of his quarry, but all he wants is a taste in today’s seven snippets: One of the seal-shooters had evidently found a reluctant subject for his photograph. Williams ran full-tilt out of the prickly scrub, shouting as […]

Seven Reasons Why Scottish Heroes are Hot

It’s 1923. A cargoship steams to a halt when the lookout spots a raft in the wintry Indian Ocean waves with what looks like a girl’s body on it. The superstitious crew want nothing to do with it…all but one man: Scottish engineer William McGregor. He volunteers to take a boat out to the raft […]

Cocks, Condensed Milk and Cecil – Survival at Sea in 1923

“All cocks shall be in positions which are accessible at all times under ordinary circumstances. They shall be so arranged that in the event of emergency…” - SOLAS 1929 Wouldn’t you love to know what sort of shipping disaster made the 1929 International Conference on Safety of Life at Sea thrust THAT requirement on international shipping and […]

Sharks in Your Soul – Seven #SexySnippets on #MySexySaturday with #SaturdayScenes

Want to know how to get people to obey your commands? Ask a mermaid for advice. The future leader of the Indian Ocean, Sirena, gives an insight into the appearance of power in today’s seven snippets: I set my bag on the bunk nearest the door and pulled out the hessian sack containing my filleting […]

Guardians at the Gate: Charon, Acheron and Cerberus

Where’s the point of even having a gate if no one guards it? Lucifer being the Lord of Hell, he has plenty of demons, monsters and strange souls to take care of that for him. Including Charon, Acheron and Cerberus. Charon Charon is the cloaked ferryman in Hades who ferries newly dead souls over the […]

The Gates of Hell

Hell’s gates must be horrible – a the door to the underworld, where eternal torment awaits. Doesn’t seem to be the sort of place with a cheery, red glitter door sign that says, “A sexy devil lives here,” and a welcome mat. Well, not unless an angel’s been there… So what was my inspiration for […]

Open Your Mouth – Seven #SexySnippets on #MySexySaturday with #SaturdayScenes

Motorcycles, mermaids and MMA – in the 1920s, no less. It shouldn’t surprise many people to learn that this will be part of my Ocean’s Gift series – but a prequel, set before most of the events in the series as it exists today. My new work-in-progress is a set of three novellas collectively called […]

Saint Michael the Archangel – The Man with the Sword

St Michael the Archangel is one of three archangels mentioned in the Christian Bible, together with Raphael and Gabriel. In the Quran, only two angels get mentioned – Michael and Gabriel. Healer, protector and leader against the armies of Satan, Michael’s name means, “Who is like God?”. He’s described in Christian, Jewish and Islamic religious […]

Beer and Bull: The Legendary King Minos

As St Peter is believed to judge souls at the gates of Heaven, so Minos is the man who hands out accommodation assignments in Hell. Minos was a legendary king who appears in many stories involving other, equally mythical characters. There are so many of them that there may have been more than one man […]