Shehanne Moore's Blog, page 32

In which I sign with Soul Mate Publishing

Sorry dudes, I hate to break it to you but it’s not. The lovely horror author, Catherine Cavendish

had GRAVE doubts concerning Hamstah Dickens’ work. The Misspellings. The chewed paper. What can I say but that the world, especially the publishing world, is fickle?  And brutal?

You believe in yourselves and that’s what counts.

Now then. Bear with me doing the inspirational bit here. The last several months have been pretty difficult in places.

Not seen Greeting Teeny for a while. But one thing they’ve twice taught me is never underestimate what is just around the corner. And it’s not just another bang in the chops either.

So…anyway, in the middle of total chaos I subbed The Viking and The Courtesan. Then I got antsy. Hey, I’m a writer amn’t I? I like to work. I’m also the most horribly driven person that way. It’s a family flaw. So, I started the three weeks, three books blogs thing on the nudge from the fab author Incy Black, (Nudge? She gave me a boot.)

I told myself you will  have an answer by the end and that last blog would be all about it. (Told myself? Hell, I get like Scarlett O’Hara, as God is my witness, in these moments)

Well guess what?

In the middle of It’s Scottish Week…..

having no nails to speak of–oh, ok, being in total  dark despair,  having made my Scarlett speech and thinking I need to get something to show for it, but also things are about to get even more horrendously busy, and I need this book off my plate, I subbed the partial to Debby Gilbert at Soul Mate Publishing, a house I liked the look of. Two days later she came back and asked for the full.

Going into Pirates Week….

Oh do give over, Tink… Is it my fault Hamsta Dickens ate his manuscript?

Anyway, going into 

there was still zilch. Then Debby mailed to say she’d just got to the manuscript and would be back in a month with an answer. With that offers came in–one of which landed in Spam– but that’s another story. I stopped breaking my ankle leaping about the place,  slept on it all, emailed Debby the next day letting her know.

She was literally leaving for the RWA Nationals but mailed right back saying she would read the manuscript on the plane

and come back to me by Monday.

Would that do?

How about…..I mean these things don’t happen to little old me from a housing estate in Dundee. Originally anyhooz.

As Monday came and went, I thought how right I am. They don’t. But then the next day, the 28th July, I’d no sooner put Interview with The Pirate up when

This landed in my inbox.

Dear Shehanne,

Great news! I enjoyed The Viking and The Courtesan so much we’d like to publish your book.

The contract did too.

I know that is how it seems just now little fellah, but you never know.

And hey…we are so gonna be having a Vikings week soon as, to celebrate!

You just got to interview the lovely Kate Furnivall and arrange some new guests  first.

Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: Book Contracts, Romance, Soul Mate Publishing. Shehanne Moore, The Viking and The Courtesan, Vikings

Meet My Character Blog Tour-Lady Malice….er she has many surnames

Firstly, before getting to today’s lovely visitor I want to thank my special Naughty Days of Christmas Blog buddy and regular visitor here, awesome author, Anne Lange, http://authorannelange.com/

for inviting me along on this

–lucky you –tour.

Later.

Anne isn’t just one fabulous author who writes very steamy BUT very grounded…yes, I know that seems a contradiction but it’s not…contemporary erotic romance, she’s one helluva nice lady. Her big news is she just signed with Totally Bound, so we can all look forward to even more steam.

This September in fact. More info over on her fab blog..the link is above

Anyway, the notion of this tour is we get to meet a main character.  

Of course all you ladies are queuing up and knowing how much you are desperate to meet the hero of my recently out on submission book, The Viking and The Courtesan. Smexy, smouldering, six feet of lean muscle, tanned, blue eyed, Viking man, Sin Gudrunsson, I’ve brought along Lady Malice instead.

Later. It’s not that Malice would knock Fury into a cocked hat.

 

I wouldn’t say that to Lady Malice. I’d stop calling Fury, Furry too.

Moi? Scared of either of them?

Oh, will you shut it and stop being silly.

Oh, all right, I admit it. I am quaking. Malice insisted on being here today. BUT, it might be she vanishes into thin air. She has this little habit you see.  We just mustn’t get jealous of what she’s probably up to with the sumexy Sin when she does.

Q So…Lady Malice… Lady Malice, let’s start with these things the hamsters probably think I’m quaking in… Shoes. If I may be so bold as to ask, it is true that you will ruin a marriage for a pair of them?

Malice.  How scurrilous is it that, just because my name is Malice, people think I am the kind of evil person who would do such a thing?

Shey.  So this is a lie?

Malice. What it is, is a concept I believe many women are familiar with. If one cannot have a man, one has shoes. Hundreds of pairs of them.

Shey. And does one need a big wardrobe to keep them all in?

Malice.  One does. Or rather one did, till one was made homeless.

Shey. And whose fault was that?

Malice. As if you don’t know. My husband, Lord Cyril Hepworth, was entirely to blame.

Shey. And that was why you stuck a cushion up your dress and told him you were pregnant?

Malice. A case of needs, devil and driving. When he had gone to magistrates complaining he had not had his money’s worth, what was I meant to do?

Shey. So Lady Malice, this little business you run…

Malice. Strictly Business. Do let me give you my card.

Shey. Thank you. Can you tell us a little about it?

Malice. But of course. It is very simple really. For a hundred guineas I will get you that hard to obtain divorce. And myself a pair of shoes, or ten. Perhaps even twenty.

Shey.  And you don’t feel guilty about this?

Malice. Would I draw so many lovely picture of daisies on my blotter if I did?

Shey. Then the unexpected happens and you meet Sin Gudrunsson, who has a fiancée, his childhood sweetheart,  I believe…

Malice. Do not get me started on her and what a perfectly dreadful, bossy woman she is.

Or how terrible and unhygienic it is in Viking times. Do you know they have piglets trotting about the floor?

Malice. Then there is the quite scurrilous matter of them wanting to have bed-slaves.

Shey. But I thought you liked Sin?

Malice. But not his piglet.

 

Shey. (Aside) His fiancée either the trouble you started there.  

 

Malice. Unlike Fury, a less imperfect person could not exist on the face of this earth…which is why I cannot, for the life of me understand anyone naming me Malice. Can you explain this to me Shehanne?

Shey. Oh look at that hamster there…

Shey. Well, what counts is that Sin doesn’t see anything wrong with it.

Malice. Hardly surprising. You called him Sin.

Shey. Anyway, putting the piglet biz aside  the whole bed-slave idea is that he just wants you to make a few noises. Are you telling me you did more than that?

Malice. I am telling you nothing. For that your readers must wait and see.  But running a marriage wrecking business has its uses. Did I give you my card?

Shey. Well. if any of you readers need a marriage wrecked you know who to contact. I leave you with a short, unedited extract. AND the five fab authors  I’m passing the blog hop baton to.  These ladies will be posting next Monday, So please make a note in your diaries.                            

 “You might as well know Malice, I’ve chosen you for a reason.”

Malice raised her chin and faced him in the dim light. Oh really? Now, let her just see what it was. Goodness, him having lugged her firstly aboard the Raven and now having lugged her up here, it couldn’t possibly be…oh, no, just wait. Just let her think a moment. He couldn’t possibly want her advice on how to improve his illustrated biceps could he? Or maybe even his revolting house?

Or was it just possible? Oh heavens, why did she not blush to think it, he wanted her for a bed slave?

“I’ve chosen you because it’s something you’re good at.”

Her? A virgin? Well. Her fame had certainly spread. Across several centuries at that.

He raised his chin, his silver gaze, iced, but with the faintest trickle of warmth  meeting hers in the candlelight.

“Whatever you’re thinking, I just need you to make a noise.”

  Jane Hunt http://jolliffe01.com/

Incy Black http://incyblack.weebly.com/

Felicity Kates http://t.co/N8AKk8N1k3

Mishka Jenkins https://twitter.com/WriterLifeForMe

Elyzabeth M Valey. http://www.elyzabethmvaley.com/

Filed under: blogging, heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: blog hop, Lady Malice, Shehanne Moore, Sin Gudrunsson, The Viking and The Courtesan, Vikings

And it’s Hey for the Tartan. A little moon sharing with Sharon Struth

 

Hey, hey, hey, what’s with this? You guys know fine that that was the other week. Don’t confuse my readers.  Hell, don’t confuse me.

But guys, that was earlier this week.

Nonsense. I am always the essence of surprise.

Well today, we do indeed welcome Sharon Struth. And NOT to It’s Girl Friday either. What can I say re the lovely Sharon? Well, in addition to her being a good writer pal and one talented writer, oh, and having this special deal on just now on her first book,

The Hourglass

To Catch a Thief…Some dating tips.

 

Unlike his nibbs, Lord Devorlane Hawley hero of Loving Lady Lazuli….

Obviously. Although it’s not exactly how he is now. Now he’d sooner pour over the brandy and opium. Oh and the ladies. Still…

Isn’t he the smart one?  Of course there’s no such thing as actual thieving manuals. But it’s still…

Just what books might Dev have read that would have helped him identify the fact he’s dating a thief?  Not a lot in 1809 but scroll forward and how’s about,

Tink….I wondered just when you were gonna show up. Okay, then how’s about…

Better? Or maybe Trollope is a hit or miss? Well, then there’s what’s reckoned to be the first English detective novel..

 Or even…

No. She never. You know something, maybe this one

isn’t about a jewel theft, the first chapter when Valentina spits out the diamonds she’s swallowed is some chapter. Kate Furnivall will be here next week guesting too.

Putting the books Dev might have read aside, how might you know your new squeeze is a thief? Apart from the fact the candlesticks are missing from the mantelpiece and she already left you holding the bag like a prize klutz? I mean it just might be you give her the benefit of the doubt, unlike Dev.

WRONG. CORRECT.

CORRECT.

 

 

I think we’ve got it,

NOT.

 

 

 Hmmmmmmmm.

Only one man in England can identify her. Unfortunately he’s living next door.

Ten years ago sixteen year old Sapphire, the greatest jewel thief England has ever known, ruined Lord Devorlane Hawley’s life. Now she’s dead and buried, all the respectable widow, Cassidy Armstrong, wants is the chance to prove who she really is.

 But not only does her new neighbor believe he knows that exactly, he’s hell-bent on revenge.  All he needs is the actual proof.  So when he asks her to choose between being his mistress, or dangling on the end of a rope, only Sapphire can decide…

 What’s left for a woman with nowhere left to go, but to stay exactly where she is?

 And hope, that when it comes to neighbors, Devorlane Hawley won’t prove to be the one from hell.

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, Lists of, writing Tagged: Jewel thieves, London Jewel thieves, Loving Lady Lazuli, Shehanne Moore, The Eustace Diamonds, The Hot Rock, The Moonstone, The Russian Concubine, tips for dating a thief, To Catch a Thief

Every saint has a past, and every sinner has a future.”…Sort of anyway

 

 

A contradiction there, with the title about saints and sinners?  

 

 

 

 

 

OKAY. Enough. Like it or not, it is….

 

We are building up to a spesh announcement. And we are talking today about saints, sinners and disguise. After all, many  crooks have done what Sapphire, the heroine of –

does. That is reform. And many crooks have lain low for long periods in their lives. Those ones, interestingly were all masters of disguise, which I said last post Sapphire also is.

Look at Jenny Diver -

To quote Captain Flint… ‘Door’s there sweetheart.’

And after all he gave you it back. So suit yourselves.

One of London’s most famous pickpockets, Jenny Divers was able to mix among wealthy people without attracting suspicion, cos she  was fabulous at disguise.

What I was meaning was that Jenny was arrested, gave the court a false name with no criminal record, and was convicted as a first-time criminal. On both occasions when she was transported–kinda saying something — she bribed the captain on the prison ship to allow her a comfortable travel with her property, bribed the governor in Virginia to let her go and bribed the captain to take her back to London again. 

What I am trying to say…badly..is that Jenny lived for long periods where she was straight. How did she do that, when some things obviously never left her, and, like Sapphire, you still steal cos you don’t know any better?

Disguise? OR is the calling too strong? Let’s move to Charlie Peace.

Charlie, whose life inspired stories by Mark Twain and Conan Doyle, just as Jenny inspired The Beggar’s Opera, may have nicked right, left and centre, murdered too, he may have told his lover if she did not stick with him he would shoot her, he did at one point for two years have a quiet life….framing pictures, with his family. No-one knew who he was?

I think what I am trying to say is that when it comes to saints and sinners it’s hard. There were parts of themselves that Jenny and Charlie couldn’t let go of,  but, being used to subterfuge and disguise  they thought for a while they could play things straight.  Or, were they surprised when these bits resurfaced?

In my book I liked leaving Saff on that note.

 

 

Only one man in England can identify her. Unfortunately he’s living next door.

Ten years ago sixteen year old Sapphire, the greatest jewel thief England has ever known, ruined Lord Devorlane Hawley’s life. Now she’s dead and buried, all the respectable widow, Cassidy Armstrong, wants is the chance to prove who she really is.

 But not only does her new neighbor believe he knows that exactly, he’s hell-bent on revenge.  All he needs is the actual proof.  So when he asks her to choose between being his mistress, or dangling on the end of a rope, only Sapphire can decide…

 What’s left for a woman with nowhere left to go, but to stay exactly where she is?

 And hope, that when it comes to neighbors, Devorlane Hawley won’t prove to be the one from hell.

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: Charlie Peace, Jenny Diver, London Jewel thieves, Loving Lady Laziuli, saints and sinners, Shehanne Moore

So, you want to be a jewel thief?

So? You don’t want to meet that gentleman jewel thief extraordinaire?

Sorry, that should have been…I mean one thing he doesn’t want is someone knowing what he looks like.

Sniffles has a ton of advice to give re pulling a jewel heist.

Not at all. The first thing Saff would tell you is CASE THE JOINT.

That’s CASE not CAGE you klutzes. Do it inside and out.

Also, don’t hide the loot in any  food.

Try and look unobtrusive.

Sapphire wasn’t just unobtrusive, she was the mistress of disguise.

Make sure you know the exits as well as the entrances. You may have to escape the unconventional way, like Cass did on that occasion.

Stay calm. To betray a nerve is to betray everything.

 

Apart from the obvious? Cos I wanted to explore a scenario where the gloves are off from the start  as opposed to one  where the wool gets pulled. When it comes to heroes, I like ‘em smart  and sexy.

I think writing should be about the unexpected, not the hackneyed.

So that’s the tips. Now let’s just see how you fare knocking off the necklace. Extract………

That damned conniving vixen had been roughly sixteen. Or so he’d reckoned. And he’d stuck to the belief through thick and thin. She had been far too young to be Sapphire , the notorious jewel thief whose name had been on everyone’s lips that season. And the entire two seasons before that. Entirely justified as the heists piled up: The Lambeth heist that saw a reward of a thousand guineas being offered for the return of Madam De Courcy’s diamond tiara, gold locket, and topaz bracelet from a chest in her chamber—although how Madame De Courcy came to have a diamond tiara in a chest in her chamber, when she had apparently fled the Terror in France in her stocking soles, had never been fully explained. Or how she could afford the thousand guinea reward either. Then there was the Weaverfield Mansion heist, a mystery involving a locked room and its even more mysteriously missing contents. Then, within two weeks, as if Sapphire needed to prove her worth, because rewards were being offered, because people were desperate to see her hang, the Buckleys, the Fieldings, the Mornays—all families of note—found their jewel boxes lighter, that no safe was safe enough.

How many times had he been told only Sapphire would have possessed the guile and daring to have snatched the Wentworth emeralds from beneath the Wentworths’ noses?

The crime had her hallmark stamped all over it: A glittering house-party. A bauble worth a king’s ransom. A sudden, daring raid. How on earth could Sapphire have only been sixteen? It wasn’t possible. It meant she must have started stealing when she was nine or ten.

It was the single reason no one had been prepared to believe him. Not even his own family. Although, now he considered it, not one single description of Sapphire existed in any newspaper. Or any wanted sheet. Like Lady Armstrong, she was a mystery. An enigma. A mythical creature no one had ever actually seen.

 

Only one man in England can identify her. Unfortunately he’s living next door.

Ten years ago sixteen year old Sapphire, the greatest jewel thief England has ever known, ruined Lord Devorlane Hawley’s life. Now she’s dead and buried, all the respectable widow, Cassidy Armstrong, wants is the chance to prove who she really is.

 But not only does her new neighbor believe he knows that exactly, he’s hell-bent on revenge.  All he needs is the actual proof.  So when he asks her to choose between being his mistress, or dangling on the end of a rope, only Sapphire can decide…

 What’s left for a woman with nowhere left to go, but to stay exactly where she is?

 And hope, that when it comes to neighbors, Devorlane Hawley won’t prove to be the one from hell.

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: Etopia Press, How to pull a heist, London Jewel thieves, Loving Lady Lazuli, Sapphire, Shehanne Moore

Gold cannot be pure, and people cannot be perfect

 

Which means it’s really…

My last themed week to do with each of my books.

 

Sorry fellahs, that’s as maybe, we got to move on to my last couple, Saff and Dev, who are…well…

  

I mean it wouldn’t do to have had them different from the other couples now would it? One of these days I must surprise myself and write someone nice.

How did this pair end up like this? Well, the real answer is in the genes, the personalities and the family fit…. AS for Saff…

Saff’s been made to steal since she was five.

Enough. We are trying to be sensible here.

Okay. So..we have the seeds of discord so to speak Now…

OOPS Vonnie, did you mean to look like Tonto?

Well….Anyway, the catalyst is the night this pair first meet. He’s been sent home, having drunk enough port to ‘sink the British fleet at anchor’, when he clocks this absolute babe at the side of the road. In more ways than one, since the plans aren’t just laid, that’s what he fancies getting.

But Saff has other plans. A valuable necklace is burning a hole in her pocket  and a road block lies ahead. So she planks the necklace on him and scarpers. She sure did. After kissing him first too. When Devorlane rolls home with the necklace in his pocket his family have had enough. His protestations fall on deaf ears.

He’s seen off into the military as an ordinary recruit. Boy the fun the other recruits have with that.

When Saff goes home without the necklace…well, she’s already late so her invalid brother has been turfed into the gutter to die. The beating she gets is nothing compared to that.  Now scroll forward ten years of mistreatment.  They’re hardly going to be nice, well-rounded people. Of course the catalyst didn’t have to be each other that night. In addition to looking at what shapes your characters ..and let’s face it, what shapes them, makes them the people they are on the page, good, bad, scarred…whatever… the ping pong effect is also very important in writing. Sure, it is. But it’s educational. Ahem.

 

Oh…..Not now you’ve got the door back eh? What is this? A day with Flint and look at you.

Oh and he’s so Mr Good Guy…not.

Look. For today I’m just, you know, talking about the importance, not just of goal, motivation and conflict and also understanding why your characters do the things they do, it’s making sure that everything that happens in the story, is  action, reaction, action, stemming from these characters.  That you don’t just create a plot to stick them on. 

Tomorrow…Well, let’s just see what that brings…..

***

 

Only one man in England can identify her. Unfortunately he’s living next door.

Ten years ago sixteen year old Sapphire, the greatest jewel thief England has ever known, ruined Lord Devorlane Hawley’s life. Now she’s dead and buried, all the respectable widow, Cassidy Armstrong, wants is the chance to prove who she really is.

 But not only does her new neighbor believe he knows that exactly, he’s hell-bent on revenge.  All he needs is the actual proof.  So when he asks her to choose between being his mistress, or dangling on the end of a rope, only Sapphire can decide…

 What’s left for a woman with nowhere left to go, but to stay exactly where she is?

 And hope, that when it comes to neighbors, Devorlane Hawley won’t prove to be the one from hell.

Amazon

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: London Jewel thieves, Loving Lady Lazuli, Shehanne moore. Etopia Press, Starkadder Sisterhood, writing

Interview With the Pirate

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay. Okay. I was going to be finishing with the star attraction. The idea is sound.We interview James Flint Blackmoore, the hero  of

 

But  not if I’m going to have the blog nicked from under my keyboard next….. So, Flint do you think you could stop stealing long enough to answer a few questions on things like what is your favourite pirate book and sea shanty.

Flint. Is that a question sweetheart? Flint. Just give me a minute.

 

Flint. No it ain’t..I mean…. isn’t. Fine. I don’t believe I’m talking to a hamster here.

Shey. Well, so long as they don’t make rules, you should do just….dandy….to quote yourself. SO, do tell us, why are sea shanties so important to pirates and what is your favorite?

Flint. Like I said to Fury, I’m not a pirate. I’m a privateer.

Shey. And like she said to you. Let’s not quibble about the words. Besides at one point you do say you’re a pirate. I’m guessing sea shanties fall in the same class as parrots and babies crying. You’d sooner cut off your ears than listen.

Flint. Well. Kind of. But sea shanties are important to raise morale and co-ordinate onboard tasks, although it don’t mean I’m going to start singing them.Nice choice.

I thought this interview was about me?

You fellahs strike a hard bargain. Well, isn’t that just dandily familiar?

Shey. Seriously, Flint, is it true pirates have rules?

Flint. They ain’t the only ones.

Rules? Yes they do. In fact Ching Shih a famous Chinese lady pirate  had special ones for female captives. Of course her standard practice was to release women, but apparently  the pirates made their most beautiful captives their concubines or wives.  ( I am saying nothing here.)

Shey. Is it true that if a pirate took a wife he had to be faithful to her?

 

Ching Shih set the ugliest free and any remaining were ransomed. Pirates that raped female captives were put to death, but if it was consensual sex, the pirate was decapitated and the woman he was with had cannonballs attached to her legs and was chucked off the side of the boat.

Shey. SO you wouldn’t exactly have fared well on her ship. Flint. My lips are sealed. Fury wouldn’t have done too well either.

Shey. What about Storm and Fortune?  Are there rules for children on board pirate ships? Flint Oh, You guys would have to swear not to sing sea shanties for a start.

Shey. Actually how was it meeting Storm for the first time?

Flint. Meeting Storm was incredible. I was nervous. She has that little bit of attitude–well, she’s Fury’s daughter isn’t she?  You know I think she was astonished she had a father. I mean you’d have thought Fury would have told her all about me.  Anyway, she’ wasn’t too broke up about the fact she’s had to come away with us, even if Fury did have her head stuffed with talk of fancy suitors and that.  As for Fortune and her…well, that’s a far bridge right now, but after trying to drop her over the side once, she is starting to like her.

Shey. Two final questions

Flint. Shoot. 

Shey. Any tips on being a pirate?

Flint. Now that, like coming by the Beaumont heir, is hard.

Flint. Keep your cutlasses primed, and be sure to leave the lady hamsters on shore. Lady hamsters and boats don’t mix.

Flint. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Shey. What’s your favourite pirate film.

Flint. Pirates of the Caribbean 7. On the High Seas with Ratsy and Vonnie.

Shey. Well, that’s it for It’s Pirates week folks. SO we’re goign to let Flint get back to his travels on the pirated Palerna with her ladyship. Next up it’s jewel thieves week…leading to a special announcement. Like Flint, my lips are sealed.

Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: There will be no touching…

Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.

Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…

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http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Unraveling-Lady-Fury-ebook/dp/B00C2I62D2/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-

 

 

 

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: It's Pirates Week, Pirate rules, Pirates, Sea shanties, The Unraveling of Lady Fury

All the bad girls love a pirate…

 

 

 

 

 

When it’s

No Tink…come on.

Yeah, do shut up. Firstly, after showing off this.

from the lovely Aquileana.   http://aquileana.wordpress.com/ a most amazing classical blogger,…

No. Actually, I haven’t forgotten. Fridays are girl day. We get enough of les guys the other days. Fridays is when we wonder about them. But two things……

AND an award, it’s like the ten rules have become ten nominees. More later.

So? What’s it like dating a pirate? Can we expect a lot of ‘Arrrrr’s’, him to sling his hook, shiver his timbers? Well come on? How do you know you are dating one? Who is better to answer these questions than my heroine, Lady Fury of the Unraveling of Lady Fury. (We won’t ask how she unraveled. I don’t know about you but I like being in one piece.)

Shey. So Fury…

Lady Fury. Now Shehanne, you know that’s Lady Fury to you.

Shey. Not really.  Aren’t you a brothel keeper’s daughter after all?

Stay right where you are Tink. After all I wrote this woman. SO. Dating a pirate? Is this something you would recommend at the…say…online dating?

Lady Fury. Providing they can fill out the form you mean? Or is it advisable to stay away from these profiles that say?

Shey. Either. Unless you can give us some advice on speed dating?

Lady Fury. Oh a pirate is very good at that. Usually because they have the law on them. SO if a gentleman arrives at a table wearing a cutlass, expect him to vanish like snow off a hot stove. Either that or start swinging from the chandeliers. Although equally, that could mean they are a hamster.

Shey.  So talking cutlasses, is this how you would know you are dating a pirate?

Lady Fury. Well it can be difficult in an embrace to differentiate between certain things BUT. Indeed certain things do hold true. I mean  firemen, for example,  sport other tiresome things. 

Shey.  So Fury, I think we’ve got how you would know you’re dating a pirate as opposed to a fireman, or indeed a hamster.  

Enough. This isn’t about you. This is serious. What can we expect on that first pirate date?

Lady Fury. Something that involves something long and hard and wet.

Oh, for goodness sake, of course I am meaning the plank, a bit of walking and the sea. So do take your waterproofs along, no matter how unseemly they make you appear.  Of course this is just if you disagree with them and won’t tell them what they want to know.  I imagine if you do they are probably quite nice and amenable, I was just unlucky that way. Shey. Hmmm.

But you would recommend it?

I mean come on Fury, you regularly get into fights with Anne Lange and Aimee Duffy over on your blog over Flint. The there was the biz of you going titz at Catherine Cavendish, so they must be.

Lady Fury. Oh very well. A deserted cove. The sun bearing down.    Warm sand. Fish frying on the spit. I suppose some dates can be very nice.

Shey.  So any tips? What are the do’s and don’ts of dating a pirate.

Lady Fury. How long is a hamster’s tail? Oh very well. Don’t pretend to be things you’re not. Pirates get very stroppy about that. And don’t  expect them to be pushovers, dress up nicely, leave their treasure alone, or have any table manners, although equally some may fuss if you drop a crumb on their cabin floor. .

 

You may be keel-hauled for such a crime. A few pieces of paper on the floor for goodness sake. Ones that just happened to be …torn. Because. Torn…because they had a little accident. Pirates have rules. And really these rules are the main problem of dating a pirate

I don’t know what you mean. The do’s of dating a pirate are like this…. a sexy one will mess with your head and even worse, you might end up loving them forever. And then you would be in trouble when they leave devastation in their wake.

Now we swapped ten rules on sex for ten versatile bloggers.

Shey. Did we?

Lady Fury. I must say the lovely Aquileana’s blog about the Greek myths is quite a blog.

Whatever I say about her and she says about me, Shehanne has been kind enough –finally–to let me choose the ten bloggers who are versatile in terms of their blog.

All they need do is display the logo, link back to the blog who nominated them and choose the ten. Why, they make my rules look like a piece of cake..NOT. So here we go….

Noelle Clark…Not only a wonderful writer, her blog http://t.co/f36t0xR1dx is always fascinating. And her interviews are legendary

Incy Black….She’s the same. Oh…and always has some great posting ideas. http://t.co/v1k7uIXzM7

Catherine Cavendish …When it comes to horror she’s in the tradition of the old masters! And her blog is always one hell of a read! http://t.co/NekQqtJiEc

Carol Balawyder http://carolbalawyder.com/ An amazing writer, her short stories are a treat. Carol also loves to blog some real blasts from the past when it comes to other authors.

Veronica Haidar http://veronicahaidar.wordpress.com/ I just love this lady’s posts, the ones she writes when she’s not tapping away on that typewriter of hers! Although when she types, she types great pieces.

Jane Hunt http://t.co/qWAtN94xTV Lovely Jane doesn’t just write fabulous books she is amazingly supportive of other authors and her blog reflects this.

Rachel Carrera http://rachelcarrera.wordpress.com/ When she rants she rants, when she’s funny, she’s funny. Either way she’s brill and her interviews are amazing. As is her writing.

Sharon Struth http://t.co/fwHWRlJXmk Her second book Sharing the Moon is due out soon…She will be appearing here. So not only is she some writer her blog always has great posts.

CeeLee. Come swim in the adult pool with the lovely CeeLee, an amazing, funny blogger who is also an amazing writer. http://swimintheadultpool.com/author/shaydesofceelee/ I just know this girl is gonna make it soon.

Harliqueen or Mishka Jenkins, a talente4d new author, http://awriterslifeformeblog.wordpress.com/2014/07/11/and-im-feeling-good/ of 3 books , with more on the way. Miskka blogs her writing journey.

Susana Ellis http://t.co/1hrfAD9n her parlor is quite the place to be if you want to know the Regency world. She’s also one talented writer of that world.

OOPS. Did I miscount that? It was meant to be 10. Well, you know me on rules.

Lady Fury is  a brothel/innkeeper’s daughter and premiere blackmailer from Jamaica.  Privateer Captain James Flint Blackmoore has called her a ‘goddamn bitch’ ,  her maid, Susan, who refers to her as Madam, has often lamented her inability to do a thing she’s told.  Comfort and Joy author, Charley Descoteaux has talked of her refusal to have anything below the upper hand. While  Tempted by Trouble author Susan Arden  puts it more succinctly when she says, ‘Fury…oh dear what a woman. The perfect heroine who wants the impossible.

She wants it all but refuses to admit it.’

Fury spent years married to Thomas where she was a much abused wife. Because she eventually had enough of him, he met with an accident and she was forced to find someone else to sire the Beaumont heir.

The Duke of Malmesbury, Count Vellagio and Earl of Southey   were the main contenders.

But that’s not how it turned out and it would be spoiling things to tell you how it did.

Fury has lived all over the Caribbean and in Genoa in Italy and,  now she is again on the run, anywhere at all.

Fury loves shoes, clothes, perfumes, and a certain man. Not necessarily  in that order.

 

 

Filed under: heroes, heroines Tagged: Bad boy heroes, It's pirates week. Dating a pirate, Lady Fury, Pirates, Shehanne Moore, The Unraveling of Lady Fury, Versatile Blogger award

Yo ho. Yo ho. A pirate’s wife for me.

 

 

Somehow I don’t think so. I think Tink’s gonna be as rare as blog readers after that last post. Come on dudes, get your heads out the sick bucket, you’d never do at sea.

Actually Tink’s gonna be as rare as  a woman aboard a pirate vessel. No. Seriously, you can forget this — stuff. Women and pirates tended towards onshore mixing, except for those scurvy wenches who became pirates themselves. Why? Well, why do you think? Not many women were up to the physically demanding tasks the crew had to do. In fact, there were not many men who were up to it, either.

Women were  regarded as bad luck among pirates. Can you imagine the arguments over them?  My hero Flint Blackmoore knows this.

He’s desperate throughout the book NOT to get involved with the heroine  again.

But the fact is he WAS involved with Lady Fury  before and the pair of them sailed for months all over the Caribbean together cos he’s not very good at being on his tod where women are concerned.

 

So he’s not a… leave the little woman at home type, much as he’d like to.

Of  course some of the world’s most famous pirates did marry–just so you know. And not just any scurvy wench either. The infamous….

A Dundee man by the way. Sorry Greenock, the baptismal certificate turned up here. One of the most notorious pirates in the history of the world or one of its most unjustly vilified and prosecuted privateers, married  Sarah Bradley Cox Oort, an English woman in her early twenties, who had already been twice widowed and was one of the wealthiest women in New York. It was early in his sailing career and there’s no records of her actually sailing with him although he does look very dapper in the red coat.

 

Welshman Morgan of noble stock married  his uncle’s daughter Mary, again before he fully took to the high seas. She survived him by 12 years.

Old Blackbeard himself from Bristol in England–ah how these seafaring cities produced the pirates–didn’t just stop at one wife. No apparently he was a ladies man, who fell in love at the drop of his tricorn 14 times.

All aboard a ship apparently which it is purty unlikely, given this biz of women on board. His 14th wife— who he also ‘apparently’  gave to his crew, a bit contradictory for a man who fell in love like that –

was said to be Mary Ormond, the daughter of a plantation owner.

As for the other 13……they’re the stuff of legend, like Old Blackbeard himself at times.

Well…..As you can see from this extract about  Flint.

“He’s a cabin boy.”

“What?”

“Yes. Of some damnable pirate.”

Fury blinked. “Flint?”

“Yes, that’s the fellow’s name. The scourge of the Caribbean, so I was told. And that is the scourge’s cabin boy, James.”

Cabin boy? But was it so surprising? It was just the thing Flint would do if he were cornered and there was no other way out. But not telling her, when he had the temerity to blackmail her, was another matter.

“Small wonder he’s so good at cleaning shoe buckles.” Malmesbury huffed out a small laugh. “Imagine the consequences if you messed that up on board the ship of a scourge. You’d probably be marooned on some deserted island in the middle of nowhere, made to walk the plank.”

Indeed. “So this Flint was never caught?”

“How the blazes would I know what the blazes Flint was? Next you’ll be telling me you knew the scurvy damned blackguard—”

Intimately.

“—and you sailed the Caribbean with him—”

   Sort of.

“—and then he brought you to London, where you met Thomas.”

Her gaze froze. To guess so much, if not quite everything…

“Me?” She shrugged. She tried to keep her expression neutral. If Malmesbury or any of the others knew, she would be back on that wharf, working it. If she were lucky. “I’ve heard of him, but that’s all. In Jamaica, everyone had. His name was legendary. But, as you know yourself, Jamaica is a big place.”

She hoped her voice didn’t sound too distant. In truth she had heard of Flint. Everyone had. She’d just never met the notorious bastard until she had stepped on board the Calypso.

“I imagine there would be quite a reward for him. But that’s of no importance to me.”

No. But it was useful information just the same.

***

Genoa 1820

Rule One: There will be no kissing. Rule two: You will be fully clothed at all times…

Widowed Lady Fury Shelton hasn’t lost everything—yet. As long as she produces the heir to the Beaumont dukedom, she just might be able to keep her position. And her secrets. But when the callously irresistible Captain James “Flint” Blackmoore sails back into her life, Lady Fury panics. She must find a way to protect herself—and her future—from the man she’d rather see rotting in hell than sleeping in her bed. If she must bed him to keep her secrets, so be it. But she doesn’t have to like it. A set of firm rules for the bedroom will ensure that nothing goes awry. Because above all else, she must stop herself from wanting the one thing that Flint can never give her. His heart.

Ex-privateer Flint Blackmoore has never been good at following the rules. Now, once again embroiled in a situation with the aptly named Lady Fury, he has no idea why he doesn’t simply do the wise thing and walk away. He knows he’s playing with fire, and that getting involved with her again is more dangerous than anything on the high seas. But he can’t understand why she’s so determined to hate him. He isn’t sure if the secret she keeps will make things harder—or easier—for him, but as the battle in the bedroom heats up, he knows at least one thing. Those silly rules of hers will have to go…

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Filed under: heroes, heroines, writing Tagged: Blackbeard, Captain James Flint Blackmoore, Captain WIlliam Kydd, Henry Morgan, Pirates, Pirates' wives, Shehanne Moore, The Unraveling of Lady Fury, Women in piracy, Women on baord pirate ships