Me, Snakes, and All About Charming Alice by J. Arlene Culiner

FEARLESS FRIDAY

Please welcome back to Discover... my guest, J. Arlene Culiner for Fearless Friday with a fascinating post. Snakes and romance!

It was a warm beautifully calm afternoon inthe village where I live in France. Birds were singing in the tall trees in mygarden (jungle), and I decided to go sit in the (rather wild) cobbled courtyardjust behind my house. I was about to step through the doorway when I lookeddown and saw, a mere two feet away, a very long snake. There it lay, perfectlystill, sunning itself. Was it aware of my presence? Probably not. 

I was shocked at first (a natural reaction,apparently, when most of us see reptiles), but I calmed myself, letfascination take over. It was a fairly largesnake, possibly 4 or 5 feet long, and wonderfullybeautiful. In the sun, its scales had turned a phosphorescent green-gold, and itwas also remarkably elegant. 

I do my best in life to harm no creature,and I didn’t want to ruin the snake’s obviously pleasurable sunbath. Taking afew slow steps backward, I sat down on a chair and let myself bask in this raremoment with an unknown creature. So there we were for the longest while, bothof us perfectly at peace, doing nothing, and enjoying the calm. 

That snake was probably a Western whipsnake. Females can grow to six feet in length, and they are verypowerful. They can be obstinate when annoyed, twisting about on the ground,biting and striking. This tactic enables them to overcome threatening enemies,but poses no problem for humans. In fact, like most snakes, they prefer to fleehumans, weaving away to safety through grasses and hedges. 

The delightful time with thisparticular snake came to an abrupt halt when the telephone behind me rang. Istepped back to answer, and when I returned, the snake had gone. It never again appeared in my courtyard, but it did send me a messageof sorts: a few months later, I found its outer skin close by—snakes and otherreptiles shed their skins periodically in a process called Ecdysis. 

Thatsnake did me a favour. It broadened my world, and I have since sought other snakesin the wetland habitats they are so fond of, in dry grasslands, and ponds. I’m alwaysthrilled when I spot one for familiarity has vanquished fear. And it is myappreciation of these hated creatures that inspired me to create the heroine ofmy contemporary romance, All About Charming Alice. 

Aliceis a former actress who has changed her life by moving to a semi-ghost town inthe Nevada desert. She now works as a herpetologist, studying, photographingand protecting snakes—“the mostunloved creatures on Earth. As she explains: 

“All snakes arepassive, and they would much rather slide away to safety than strike. If youleave them alone, watch them from a distance, they’d never think of hurtingyou. Even if most people are instinctively afraid of snakes, snakes aren’tinstinctively afraid of people, so they sometimes slide into backyards,innocently passing through on their way to somewhere else. They should be leftalone, of course, but people kill them as soon as they notice them. Then,there’s the danger of habitat destruction, and rattlesnake roundups. Very fewsnakes manage to survive their first encounter with humans.” 

All About Charming Alice 

Trust in love and solutions will appear 

Alice Treemont hasno intention of falling in love. Living in Blake’s Folly, a semi-ghost town,she cooks vegetarian meals, rescues unwanted dogs, and protects the mostunloved creatures on earth: snakes. What man would share those interests? 

Jace Constant is inNevada, doing research for his new book, but he won’t be staying. He’sdisgusted by desert dust on his fine Italian shoes and dog hair on his cashmeresweaters. As for snakes, he doesn’t just despise them: they terrify him. 

So why does the airsizzle each time Alice and Jace meet? A romance would entail far too manycompromises. 

PurchaseLink : https://books2read.com/Charming-Alice

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6l2VyHtsY7A 

Writer, photographer,social critical artist, and impenitent teller of tall tales, J. Arlene Culiner,was born in New York and raised in Toronto. She has crossed much of Europe onfoot, has lived in a mud house on the Great Hungarian Plain, a Bavarian castle,a Turkish cave dwelling, a haunted house on the English moors, and on a Dutchcanal. She now resides in a 400-year-old former inn in a French village of nointerest where, much to local dismay, she protects spiders, snakes, and allweeds. She particularly enjoys incorporating into mysteries, non-fiction, andromances, her experiences in out-of-the-way communities, and her conversationswith very odd characters. 

AuthorWebsite: http://www.j-arleneculiner.com

And here are all mylinks in one place: https://linktr.ee/j.arleneculiner