Thursday, May 30, 2013

Guest Post: Tara Fox Hall



The Thin Red Line Part 4: Immortal Desire


Part of the vampire’s allure in fiction is immortality: that inability to age. Along with youth, the creature of darkness retains his zest for life and love. He is a creature of desire and wanton cravings. We want him to want us forever. And because he will live forever, we think that he can.

 

Normal love goes through several stages. According to http://www.ericrobersonmusic.com/2013/02/14/9-stages-of-love-all-couples-go-through/, there are 9: infatuation, understanding differences, disturbance over differences, opinion-making based on knowledge, molding one another into personal ideals, being content, doubt, sexual exploration, and complete trust. These are pretty self-explanatory, and I believe that any long-term relationship that is successful does go through these stages. Looking back in the ten years of my married life, I can remember each one.

 

There is an argument that most vampiric love in novels stops at stage 6, if it ever gets that far. To be fair, most romances and romantic novels end with a couple marrying or committing in some way, which makes this logical. And the whole point of reading something romantic is to enjoy the romance of it. Who wants to hear the terrible word “doubt” when that tall handsome stranger is whispering that he’ll love you forever? The real question here is the wrong assumption that a vampire’s ability to look the same extends to all facets of his personality, including emotion. He will not change in appearance, not if the legends are true. But inside, the vampire will change with the passage of time. He didn’t always love you, right? So if he can fall in love, he can fall out of love as well. So why wouldn’t a long successful relationship with a vampire lead to all 9 stages of love? My reasoning says it would.

 

Part of the allure is that we want the vampire to remain just as he is that first moment he loved us; to lock that mindset forever in place and have it remain as unchanging as he is. We want the intensity of infatuation, the adventure of new romance, the life-and-death feeling of living moment-to-moment waiting for the next encounter. We want immortal desire, literally. But the truth is that if we could manage to stay in that exciting, romantic stage by some magic, we will never get beyond to the stage of happiness, or better yet, the stage of complete trust. Is that what we really want…forever?

 

 

Author Bio: Tara Fox Hall’s writing credits include nonfiction, horror, suspense, action-adventure, erotica, and contemporary and historical paranormal romance. She is the author of the paranormal action-adventure Lash series and the vampire romantic suspense Promise Me series. Tara divides her free time unequally between writing novels and short stories, chainsawing firewood, caring for stray animals, sewing cat and dog beds for donation to animal shelters, and target practice.

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Taken in the Night is Book #3 of the Promise Me Series.

 

Blurb: When Theo disappears, Sar is left bereft, the uncertain guardian of Theo’s newly born werecougar daughter, Elle. As months pass, clues emerge about Theo’s disappearance, yet the twisting trail ends repeatedly without answer. In her grief, Sar turns to Danial and hesitantly begins to build a life with him and Elle.

 

Excerpt: “I should go,” Danial said reluctantly. “It’s late.”

I stopped him, my hand on his arm. “Please, stay with me a little while.”

“Sar—” he began warily.

“Please, Danial. I have to talk to you. Come with me.” I held out my hand.

He sighed, and took my hand. I led him below to the bedroom that had been his not long ago. Danial sat on the edge of the bed with me.

“She understands us,” I said quietly. “I didn’t want to talk in front of her.”

“What is it, Sar?” he said tiredly.

“You remember the Hallows party a year ago?”

“Of course,” Danial said with longing. “I remember being so nervous, worried you wouldn’t show. I remember how you looked in the dress, dancing with me.” He paused. “Why do you bring it up?”

“Because you must be going to have another one soon, unless you’re skipping this year.”

“Yes, in late November,” Danial said edgily. “I closed the business while looking for Theo, and am going to reopen it next year. I need the last months of this year to finish up loose ends of old business.” He sighed. “And I need to hire someone to replace Theo, if such a thing can be done.”

“I want to be there, Danial,” I said. “If you would permit me to come.”

“I had hoped you would be,” Danial said, kissing me gently on the forehead. “I wanted to invite you, but wasn’t sure you’d want to—”

“I know you will invite Samuel,” I said forcefully. “I want to question him about Theo—”

His eyes tinted red immediately. “Sar, that is not what I had in mind. I have already talked to him, and he said he did nothing.”

“I don't believe him, Danial. You weren’t there when he and Theo had words.”

“That doesn’t matter,” he retorted. “He is a Ruler. You cannot question him as if he were a mere human.”

“I certainly can—”

“Sar, I forbid it,” Danial said arrogantly, grabbing hold of me. “And that is the end of it.”

“Who are you to forbid me anything?” I said furiously.

“I’m a man that loves you,” he said furiously back, and kissed me hard, pulling the length of his body against mine as we fell backwards onto the bed.

I struggled, but he kissed me more thoroughly, his lips and body cool against mine. I shuddered in his arms, the feeling of being held and desired making me weak with relief and happiness.

Danial moved, rolling me from my side unto my back, his kisses intensifying. He shifted suddenly, pressing down with his hips. I felt his erection pressing firmly to my belly, and I shuddered, my mouth opening to let out a gasp. He saw the opportunity and took it, sliding his tongue into my mouth to taste me. I trembled, and then kissed him back for all I was worth.

Danial broke the kiss, his black eyes staring at me beneath him as he pulled off his shirt. I arched my back, pulling my sweater off over my head. All I’d needed to do was kiss him, and I wanted him so badly I could taste it.

 

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Wednesday, May 22, 2013

Guest Blog Post: Danica St. Como

Hi Everyone,

Today I am proud to have Danica St. Como on my blog. Please make her feel welcome.


At a recent writers’ conference, the discussion came up during an after hours gathering: where do writers find inspiration? Where does one go for that special idea that grows into a novel?

Not to put too fine a point on it, everywhere! The newbie writer who asked the question scoffed at first, but she finally realized I was serious. Others authors began to chime in.

This sounds so trite, but it’s true: keep a notebook with you at all times (electronic or paper, whatever works for you). I carry a notebook everywhere, even when I’m watching the tellie. Something as simple as a single word or a phrase can get the brain cells charged up. A picture. A smell—the odor of a Peppermint Pattie became the trigger for a kidnap victim in my latest book.

Blog Tour for Danica St. Como
We live on a farm. Although the neighbors hay the fields for me when they can, my job is to keep the fields mowed so we can run field trials for sighthounds (the Greyhound-type family of swift running dogs). Mowing, while satisfying when one sees the end result, doesn’t require lots of brain power. However, it does free the mind to wander. Through the process of spending hours on the tractor, a single story idea grew into a trilogy, which then morphed into six books, and is currently at nine (Book Five is with my editor, Book Six is being whipped into shape).

When I crank up the computers in the morning (PC and laptop), the first thing I do is click on the news, then take a quick look at everything that pops up—and I do mean everything. I check all the news feeds. If something interests me, I copy it to a document and save it. I keep a list of novel notes which includes such news items, so I remember why I saved it. I’m not a huge television junkie, but I do watch NCIS and NCIS:LA, as well as both History channels, and the Discovery Channel. I don’t watch reality shows, but I do watch the other stuff. I check out shows about the Secret Service and the FBI. I watch the Military Channel. (I write erotic romance with an edge of suspense—most of my books usually center around former military or law enforcement characters.) Through all this, I jot down notes.

When I see or hear an interesting name, I write it down, then do searches to discover the origin and ethnicity of that name. I begin to flesh out characters, based on those names. I might see a recipe which intrigues me—that also goes into my character-building file. I have a “stable” of vehicles that I assign to my people. Driving down the road, I see a Volkswagen Beetle. Voila! One of my characters may play Punch Buggy.

My daughter manages two retail stores, and comes home with the most outrageous stories about her customers. Baddabing! New character traits are added to my list. Are you antsy because you’re stuck in line at the grocery store? Pull out your notebook (hey, cops do it all the time), write down your impressions of people, children, what’s weird in the produce aisle. what’s on sale.

At the end of our discussion, our newbie was slack jawed when she realized the world around her was teaming with ideas, just waiting for her to weave them into her stories.

What’s in your world?








Blade Dance
By: Danica St. Como | Other books by Danica St. Como
Published By: Decadent Publishing Company, LLC
ISBN # 9781613334867
Word Count: 21000
Available in: Epub, HTML, Microsoft Reader, Adobe Acrobat, Mobipocket (.prc)

 


About the book




Pissed off, crabby, and contemplating getting a guard dog, Wallis Gardner is goddamned tired of being laid up with a gunshot wound while her men—blond, blue-eyed Austin Cooper and dark-haired, grizzly bear Michael Gallo—finish the job they’d all been working on with the Bureau of Criminal Investigations.

An anonymous tip sends her partners on a futile chase, leaving Wallis to deal with the massive cast on her leg and the creepy new tenant in the small cottage at the edge of her property. When Austin and Michael return, the welcome home party leaves them all exhausted but satisfied before a call comes in with yet another missing girl.

Unprotected, Wallis finds herself dancing at the end of a killer’s blade. But with life and love on the line, this is one dance she intends to lead.

An excerpt from the book



hey’re back. My boys are back. They…are…baaack! If it wasn’t for the cast, Wallis would be doing an energetic Snoopy Dance of happiness.

The last assignment had been the first time their team had been dispatched, short one member. She was honest enough with herself to admit she missed her specialty, which was pouring through evidence. Missed the adrenaline kick when her theories panned out. Missed working within the tight, cohesive unit formed by the three partners as they worked major crime scenes. She’d been stuck at the house, feeling useless, awkward—and oh, so lonely.

Wallis leaned on the kitchen counter, elbows on the cool tile, mug of fresh, hot coffee cradled in her hands. She gazed through the multi-paned windows over the sink, enjoyed the color-drenched patch of relentless wildflowers that struggled for survival at the back edge of the lawn. Engrossed in her reverie, she yipped when a pair of strong arms grabbed her around the waist.

Austin nuzzled the back of her neck.

“Yuck, cowboy, I spilled my coffee. And your hair is still wet. You’re dripping on me.”

“Sorry, darlin’, I couldn’t bear to spend another single minute away from you.”

She twisted in his arms, kissed him. “That’s the best excuse I’ve ever heard. You’re forgiven.”

He took her face in his big hands, returned her kiss with enthusiasm.

She leaned into him. “Mmm, baby, I missed you, missed you, missed you.” She inhaled, deeply. “And you smell so good.”

“Definitely better than I smelled before. I missed you, too. You left me alone with Gallows-Boy. You know how cranky he can be, especially when he’s tired.”

“It wasn’t like I did it on purpose, y’know.” She tapped against the cast with her fingernails.

Austin snorted. “Like getting shot in the line of duty is a good enough excuse for leaving me with him.”

However, his interest in her closeness was immediately evident beneath the towel wrapped around his waist.

Her eyebrow arched then she smiled. “Wow, you did miss me.”




Danica St. Como Author Bio:

A Jersey girl born and bred, for the past nine years Danica St. Como has written at her farm in central upstate New York, surrounded by any number of Whippets—both under desk and underfoot—as well as a malevolent treadmill that stares at her from across the room. She puts her pen to paper, in a manner of speaking, under several romance sub-genres: contemporary, MFM  and MMF ménage a trois, MM pairings, erotic historical, paranormal -- all hot, all steamy, and all sexually explicit.




St. Como is a member of the Romance Writers of America and the Central New York Romance Writers chapter of the RWA. Readers can contact her at Danica@DanicaStComo.com. 

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