CELEBRATION TIME!

Join me in celebrating! I got word today that Elphame's Choice won the Holt Medallion for best paranormal/fantasy novel! Well done Elphame! I'm so proud of her!

PC

Excerpt from GODDESS OF THE ROSE (release date - March 06)

Okay - here's a little part of the first scene where my heroine, Mikki, and the "Beast," who is Guardian of Hecate's Realm of the Rose, interact. The set up is that Mikki accidentially broke the spell Hecate had placed over her Guardian, (which turned him into a statue that eventually showed up in Tulsa's Municipal Rose Gardens), and transported both of them out of the modern mundane world. Mikki finds herself Hecate's High Priestess, or Empousa, in the realm where dreams and magic originate. She's just completed casting a sacred circle and performing the initiation ritual which binds her to Hecate. Now she's alone on the balcony of her room, trying to eat dinner...still thinking that it's more than likely that she's stark raving mad...

“Well,” she said aloud, lifting her glass in a solitary toast. “Here’s to insanity. May it always be this enchanting.”
Raising the goblet to her lips, she paused, brows drawn together in confusion. Floating in the middle of the tiny scarlet sea was a rose blossom, so deeply red that it appeared almost black.
What the heck was a flower doing in the middle of her glass of wine? Not sure of the correct protocol for rose blossom extraction from wine, Mikki glanced from the table to the crystal goblet. Should she pull it out with her fingers? Or was she supposed to use a fork? Maybe a dessert spoon would be more appropriate?
“I can’t even call for a new glass,” she muttered, thinking that finding a rose bud in her wine was a perfect punctuation mark to a truly bizarre day. “What would I say? Hey, waiter, or in this case, handmaid, there’s a rose in my soup, uh, glass, uh, wine.” She shook her head and laughed aloud. “Doesn’t it just figure?”
“The Ancients believed that a glass of wine could not be fully enjoyed unless there was a rose blossom afloat within it.” The deep, powerful voice rumbled from the area of the balcony that was shrouded in the darkest shadows. “It is a belief to which I adhere.”
Mikki jumped and fumbled with the glass of wine, almost dropping it.
“Forgive me for startling you, Empousa.”
“I just wasn’t expecting a…” Mikki faltered, trying to see through the shadows. She could discern only darkness within darkness, but she didn’t need to see him. She knew to whom the voice must belong. Her stomach tightened. She took a deep breath and pulled the blanket more securely around her shoulders, suddenly very aware that she hadn’t changed from her ceremonial dress that exposed far too much of her body. “I thought I was alone,” she said, amazed that her voice sounded so normal.
“I did not mean to disturb you. I came only to see that you grounded yourself after the ritual.”
Mikki stared blankly in the direction of the faceless voice. Ignoring the rose blossom, she took a long drink of wine. It was him – the statue – the beast from her dreams. Unlike her voice, her hands could not hide their emotions so easily and she had to wrap both of them around the goblet so that their shaking didn’t clatter the crystal against her teeth.
When she didn’t respond, he continued speaking in that deep, rough voice that was at such odds with the civilized words he was saying.
“Again, Empousa, I ask that you excuse my lack of judgment. I thought only to see that all was acceptable to you so that your grounding could be completed. I did not intend to disturb, or to discomfort you.”
She stared into the dark space from which the voice originated.
“You did all of this?”
“I directed the servants, yes. Empousa, you must always remember to eat and drink after you cast the sacred circle and perform any ritual. In that way you will once again be grounded to this world. If you do not you will feel weak and sick at heart.”
Mikki had to swallow down a hysterical bubble of laughter. She was conversing about post-goddess ritual rules with the living statue of a beast who talked like a college professor in a voice that could have belonged to Godzilla.
She was totally fucking Loony Tunes.
Mikki took another long gulp of the wine. This time the scent of the rose bud tickled her nose and she noticed the way its elusive sweetness heightened the richness of the wine. She put the goblet down and looked out across the table. Fine linens. Transparent porcelain china. A crystal goblet and pitcher etched with a rose design. Plates heaped with carefully chosen delicacies. A blanket and warm, comfortable slippers. He had ordered all of this for her?
Mikki glanced at the corner of the balcony, then hastily averted her eyes and poured herself some more wine. His silence was making her even more nervous than his words. Had he left? Was he sneaking up on her?
The erotic chase scene from her last dream flitted through her memory, causing her cheeks to flush and nervous words to rush too loudly from between her lips.
“I didn’t know about the grounding thing. And everything is delicious. I guess I owe you my thanks.” She wanted to bite her lip at her idiocy. She guessed she owed him her thanks?
“You owe me no thanks, Empousa. I am Guardian of this realm, and as such it is my duty to see to the welfare of those within the realm, which includes Hecate’s Priestess,” he said gruffly.
“Oh, well,” she mumbled, feeling awkward and not knowing what to say, but wanting to be polite. “Still, I appreciate–”
“Do not!”
She felt the force of the command against her skin. It battered her and made the flush that had heated her cheeks drain white and cold. Hecate’s assurance that the beast wouldn’t harm her seemed only weak, faraway words. Mikki pressed her hands into the arms of the chair and bunched her legs under her, preparing to sprint for her room. Maybe he wouldn’t come in the castle. Or maybe she could call for help and…
“Forgive me. It seems I have again frightened you. That was not my intention. It is just that your appreciation is not appropriate. It is simply my duty and my life. It is why Hecate called me into her service. Do you understand?”
He was clearly trying to modulate his voice to a softer, less intimidating register. She recognized the attempt, even though he was being only partially successful. Instead of answering right away, Mikki took her death grip from the chair handle and, two-handed, lifted the wine glass to her lips. After she’d had another fortifying drink she stared into the darkness again. This was ridiculous and twice as scary because she was talking to a disembodied voice and letting her imagination fill in all the gory details of his appearance.
“I’m trying to understand, but it’s not easy. Especially when I can’t see you.”
There was a long pause, and it felt to Mikki as if time suspended. Then he stepped from the darkness. The crystal goblet slid from between her numb fingers and shattered against the marble floor. He made a movement like he was going to approach her and with a rush of adrenaline, Mikki surged to her feet, knocking over her chair with jerky, panic-laced haste. Shards of broken crystal crunched under her feet.
Instantly, he stopped his approach. “Have care where you step. The glass can cut through the soles of your slippers.” The words were meant to be gentle, but the voice that spoke them rumbled with an inhumanly thunderous warning.
Mikki couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t make her vocal cords work. She could only stare at the creature. Then he sighed and it was in that lonely, wordless sound that she heard the echo of a familiar roar. That one small thing pushed through her panic, allowing her to draw a gasping breath.
“I did not come to you tonight to harm you. You have my oath that you are in no danger.”
Her lips felt cold and numb, but she forced them to speak. “You’re the statue. The one from the rose gardens.”
He nodded his massive head. “Yes, you have known me only as I was in your world, entombed in marble amidst the roses. Now that I have awakened I have resumed my rightful position as Guardian of the Realm of the Rose.”
Mikki brushed a shaking hand across her forehead, trying to clear her mind.
The creature took a step closer to her, his hooves thudding inhumanly against the silent balcony.
“No!” She blurted, her blood pounding in her ears. “Stay away!”
As if to show that he meant no harm, he raised one huge hand toward her, palm up. Except for its size it appeared normal, but Mikki was sure she caught a flash of the candlelight glinting off something sharp and deadly. She stared at his hand without blinking.
He closed the hand and let it fall to his side where it was enveloped in shadow. “I was only concerned that you might faint.”
“I’m fine,” she said automatically, but she did pick her way carefully between the broken glass, righted her chair and sank into it before her legs gave way. “I don’t faint.” She forced herself to sound as normal as possible. He said he wouldn’t hurt her. Hecate said he wouldn’t hurt her. And, anyway, if he was going to attack her it would do no damn good for her to hyperventilate and freak out. She clasped her hands together to stop them from shaking. “Really, I’m fine,” she repeated, more for her own assurance than his.
“You should eat,” he said. “It will strengthen you.”
She just stared at him. How the hell was she supposed to eat with him standing there?
She was surprised to easily recognize comprehension on a face that was so alien. And at the same time she recognized something else – something that clouded his powerful voice like fog. Sadness…
Did he really sound sad or was she just imagining it?
“I should leave you to your meal. First allow me to…” he broke off and spoke a sharp, unintelligible command. He held out one large hand and almost instantly a crystal goblet, identical to the one she had broken, appeared in midair. His hand closed around it.
A noise, somewhere between a sob and a scream, squeaked from Mikki’s lips.
“Did you not desire another glass?” He asked.
Mikki could only nod. Her swarming thoughts semi-hysterically said that what she really wanted was a valium to go with the wine.
He was watching her closely and she thought his expression might have softened, but his face was so fierce that it was hard to tell. “May I bring this glass to you?”
She nodded again with a quick, slight movement.
Slowly, he stalked forward with an athletic grace that was as powerful as it was feral. His ebony hooves sounded unnaturally loud in the silence of the balcony. Mikki couldn’t look away from him. As he moved closer to her, she couldn’t help pushing herself against the back of her chair, where she sat rigid and unmoving. Her heart was pounding hot and loud in her ears and for a moment she thought that she might make a liar out of herself and actually faint.
Would he catch her if she did? The thought of him touching her shivered through her body.
When he reached the broken glass he made a dismissive gesture with one hand and muttered a word under his breath.
The shards instantly obeyed him, blowing off the balcony in a tiny crystal tornado.
Then he stood beside the table. This close the light from the candelabrum flickered over him, illuminating the hard, inhumanly muscular lines of his body. He kept very still, allowing her time to study him and to become accustomed to his nearness.
The statue in the park had not been clothed, but the living Guardian was. He wore a black leather breastplate over a short tunic. The outfit reminded her of something Russell Crowe would have worn in Gladiator, except had the two stood side-by-side the Guardian would have made the Aussie actor look like a boy in dress-up clothes.
The creature was huge. He had to stand almost seven feet tall. His hair was the unrelenting black of a new moon night. It fell thickly around his massive shoulders. Two dark horns protruded from his head. They curled forward and tapered to dangerous looking points. His face was the same as the statue’s, with powerful masculine features that did not completely dominate the Taurean beast that lay so close to the surface. The breastplate and tunic left quite a bit of his muscular body bare. The skin that covered his torso was dark, and looked like living bronze in the candlelight. She let her eyes travel down his body. She knew what she would see, yet still she sucked in a shocked breath at the reality of it. His thick legs were covered in dark fur. Instead of feet, the flickering light glinted off cloven hooves.
He was the personification of animalistic power and though he did not move to threaten her, the aura of feral viciousness that surrounded him was almost palpable. Mikki shivered and pulled the blanket more closely around her shoulders.

Procrastination...

Well, I'm deeply swamped in Deadline Hell. Past my ears...going under...ugh. Which also means that I'm struggling with my greatest adversary. Is it self-doubt? Nope. Lack of ideas? Nope again. Creative exhaustion? Uh uh. Writer's block? Don't believe in it. My greatest adversary is PROCRASTINATION. Up until about p. 250 of a new manuscript I fight my procrastination demon daily. After p. 250 it's like the monster has been banished (probably to the realm of my next new manuscript), and I'm on a rollercoaster ride zipping to the bottom/conclusion.

Right now (at exactly 1:58 am) I'm on p. 196.

I'd wash my cat, but he's been sick and it really wouldn't be right to torture him like that. Sigh. My puppies (2 Scotties who are 4 months old) are sound asleep. I could wake them up and wash them, or maybe clean out their ears, but you know what they say about sleeping dogs. I think you're supposed to double it for sleeping puppies. I already surfed the internet "researching" pictures of hot springs, even though I knew damn good and well what the hot springs in Goddess of the Rose look like. Big sigh.

So now I'm writing in my blog. Excellent procrastination technique, especially because I'm new to blogging and I feel guilty that I don't write more in it more often. I mean, some authors blog daily - and they're funny. Or at the very least informative...Hey! I could search through my files and find the article I wrote about creating living, breathing characters!

Or I could behave myself and get back to Goddess of the Rose, which has to be turned in the first of July. Or thereabouts.

Yes, it'll be done. I don't miss deadlines. So I'll end up exhausted and neurotic (I mean more neurotic) pounding the keys for 12+ hours a day by the end of June.

Which wouldn't be necessary if I'd STOP PROCRASTINATING.

Also, I'd like to be reading Marianne Mancusi's new book, A Connecticut Fashionista in King Arthur's Court (Dorchester Love Spell).

Check out this blurb:
Once upon a time there lived an outspoken fashion editor named Kat, who certainly was not your typical damsel in distress. But when a gypsy curse sent her back in time to the days of King Arthur, she found she'd need every ounce of her 21st century wits (and pop culture references) to navigate the legend. After all, surviving a magical plot, an evil prince, and a case of mistaken identity--all without changing history or scuffing your Manolos--takes some doing!

Luckily, she's got her very own knight in shining armor, Lancelot du Lac, on her side. The honorable-to-a-fault and devastatingly handsome champion insists on helping her out, even though she's not quite sure she wants him to. After all, shouldn't he be off romancing Queen Guenevere or something? Will Kat manage to stay out of trouble long enough to get back to her beloved café lattes, cosmopolitans and cashmere? And what will Lancelot's forbidden love mean for the kingdom of Camelot?

Sounds hilarious! Has anyone read it yet? If so, please post a review so I can continue to PROCRASTINATE by reading it.

Okay, off to try to go over the 200 page mark tonight.

Or...maybe my closets need to be cleaned...

PC

The voice of a Goddess!

Hi all!
You guys have to check out Colette Baron-Reid (http://www.colettebaronreid.com). She is a Canadian singer/songwriter who sounds like a Goddess come to earth. Take a listen at her beautiful website and let me know what you think!

PC

Goddess of the Rose/Beast Preview

Well, I thought I'd post the prologue of my next Goddess Summoning Book, which is either going to be titled GODDESS OF THE ROSE or GODDESS OF THE BEAST. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for of the Beast, but you never know. I'm hard at work on this book, and am falling hopelessly in love with my Beast, whose name/title is Guardian. In my version he has never been a man, but is the son of a Titan, and is the creature on which the myth of the Minotaur was based. Think Tim Curry's character in the old Tom Cruise movie, Legend. (Yes, I do hear you cheering, Moon!) So here it is...


Once upon a time, when men still believed Gods and Goddess walked the earth, Hecate, Great Goddess of the Night, was granted dominion over the crossroads of man. The dark goddess took her charge seriously, for not only did she stand watch over mortal roads and byways, Hecate guarded the crossroads between dreams and reality…between the corporeal and the ethereal. Her dominion was the place from which all magick originated. Thus the Goddess of Night became Goddess of Magick as well as Goddess of Beasts and the Ebony Moon.
Ever vigilant, Hecate called to her service a monstrous beast of olde. Willingly the beast swore to be the Goddess’s Guardian of the crossroads and to do her bidding. This creature was the perfect melding of man and beast; a being like no other. As reward for his fidelity in answering the Goddess’s summons, Hecate gifted her Guardian with the heart and soul of a man, so although his appearance was monstrous, he was a wise Guardian. Hecate felt secure, intrusting him with the protection of the boundaries of the magickal crossroads, which the Goddess christened the Realm of the Rose, as well as the Priestesses of the Blood who served Hecate there. For centuries the Guardian stood faithful, following the dictates of his sacred trust, for he was as compassionate as he was powerful and as wise as he was mighty…
…Until one Spring. The Guardian knew his duty. But, alas, even a great Guardian can grow weary. Our Beast did not err because of selfishness or greed or ignorance, his only mistake was in loving too well. He broke trust with his Goddess, and in a flash of anger Hecate cast a spell over her Guardian and the Realm of the Rose. They would sleep eternally unless the Guardian was awakened by a woman who carried the magickal blood of Hecate’s priestess, and was wise enough to see the truth, and compassionate enough to act upon it.
And so the Realm of the Rose and the Guardian slept while the Goddess waited…

What do you think? Could YOU ever love a beast...

PC

Fantasy and sex...

Thought you guys might like to read an article I've written on adding inter-species sex to your fantasy or paranormal novel. Enjoy!

On fantasy and sex…

So you’re writing a fantasy with a dragon -- a vampire -- a merman -- a werewolf -- a beast. The list goes on. And you want to spice it up with romantic tension, or even (gasp!) sex. It can be done. After all, fantasy is no long just for 13-year-old boys. There are some basic rules to follow so that your scene will not fall flat and cause laughter and eye-rolling. Here’s where you start – whatever species your character is, remember that the number one rule in writing fantasy is that you must suspend your reader’s disbelief in order to write successfully. This is particularly important when you consider adding sex to an already fantasy-filled plot. How do you do that? Basically, the same way you do it in any fiction writing – you make your character live and breathe. You make him or her so real to your readers that it doesn’t matter if he/she has wings, fins, fur or fangs – he/she is still real and is therefore able to evoke empathy in your audience.
To begin, you must know your character intimately. Where was he/she born? Or how was he/she created? What motivates your character? Construct a detailed past for him/her. Whether you actually end up using such a detailed past in the actual plot of your novel matters little. You must understand the creature’s history to build a believable present and future with him/her for your readers.
Then construct a sexual past for him/her, just as you would any human character. Does he/she prefer to be the aggressor in a sexual relationship? Or is he/she more passive? Why? Is he/she afraid of expressing his/her needs fully? Why? What is his/her secret fantasy? How many partners has he/she had? How was his/her last partner? Has he/she ever had an orgasm? Overall, what type of experience has he/she had in bed? You need to know the answers to these questions because your character’s sexual past (or lack thereof) influences how they will react in the present. By knowing your characters, you help the reader know them. You know the emotional risks your hero and heroine are taking by being together, and that, in turn, enhances sensuality, building tension and adding emotional risk, as well as believability. What is emotional risk? To answer that question you must first decide what your characters have to lose and/or gain. By creating a complex history for your alien/fantasy character, and the world in which he or she lives, you will be able to discover his/her conflicts and needs, and ultimately understand what’s at stake for him/her emotionally.
These questions keep the reader turning the pages, not the sex act itself. Like a well-written horror novel wherein it’s not the violence itself that is so intriguing, but the building of tension that leads to the eventual explosion. It is the same with a well-written fantasy sex scene. You build sexual tension and intimacy well before the act itself, and then because you have created characters with whom the readers identify, they naturally want to know what happens to them next. Remember that a love scene is not the story in itself. It is not used to pad plot holes or bolster weak stories. Sex has to be used naturally, as an authentic next step in the relationship development between your hero and heroine.
It is important in any love scene, but especially an interspecies or fantasy love scene, to utilize the five senses. Your alien character needs to have a reaction to the differences between himself and his lover. The same holds true for the human character. She must have a reaction to the differences between herself and the alien. What are their different smells? Their different skin textures? How would they taste? Speak? Do the intimate parts of their bodies look different? Let the characters notice these differences and respond. This helps the reader picture the scene and creates a web of believability.
Once that is done, you must consider the problems their differences create. In my novel, GODDESS OF THE SEA (Berkley, Oct 03), the hero is a merman and the heroine is a human. The first problem is that the heroine can’t stay underwater or she’ll drown. How, then, can she make love to the merman? The hero needs access to her body outside of the water. My solution was to create a magnificent underwater grotto that allows the hero to stay partially in the water, yet have full access to the heroine who is no longer in the water.
One of the wonderful things about writing inter-species sex is that you have an endless range of possibilities for the way you bring about the physical act of love between your characters. Use your imagination! In my fantasy novels set in the world of Partholon, I have centaurs and humans who sometimes become romantically involved. In the prequel to ELPHAME’S CHOICE (Luna, Dec 04), my hero is a centaur and the heroine is a human woman. My centaur is a High Shaman, and thus he can shapeshift so that the two can make love, but the act of changing forms leaves him physically drained, which limits their opportunities to make love. I solve this problem by having my centaur hero bring my human heroine to climax through discovering what pleases her human body without actually engaging in intercourse; thereby satisfying his lover, bringing the characters emotionally closer together, as well as enticing readers with the intimacy and sexual tension that has been built within the hero, but not yet released.
In ELPHAME’S CHOICE, my hero is a demon/human hybrid, and throughout the novel he struggles against his darker, more violent side – especially because it is awakened by the act of lovemaking. Instead of driving my hero and heroine apart, this problem draws them closer together, and when they finally join it is an ultimately intimate act that goes well beyond the physical. In the sequel to Elphame, BRIGHID’S QUEST (Luna, Dec 05), my hero is a human man who cannot shapeshift. My heroine is a centaur Huntress who also cannot shapeshift. But they fall in love and are put in a position where they must handfast (or marry) because it’s best for their two races. Naturally, part of Brighid’s actual quest is her journey to become a High Shaman so that she can shapeshift and physically mate with our hero, but that doesn’t happen until after they’ve already fallen in love and been pledged to one another…and after I’ve written in quite a bit of intimacy and sexual tension between the two of them. It works – but it works because of the details of the relationship, not because of the sex itself.
So remember – when writing inter-species sex the differences between your characters are of the utmost importance because they help ground the reader in reality. Ask yourself a barrage of physically based questions. Are the creature’s eyes sensitive to light? Does he prefer sweet or sour tastes? Does his hair curl at the end? Does he have hair on his body at all? If so, what does it feel like? Are his hands rough? Is his skin texture different than a human? Mix sensory details with an intimate knowledge of his past, and you will have a recipe that will create a being who will live and breathe, love and laugh, and, ultimately, entrance your readers.

Welcome

I'm a blog virgin. I have not a clue what I'm doing. Actually, I'm just trying to find my blog. Here blog blog! Here blog blog!

PC