Morbid Romantic

Book Review & Personal Blog

Today at Morbid Romantic, I bring to you Sandy Lender who is out touring her latest book Choices Meant for Kings. It is my pleasure to welcome her here!

About Choices Meant For Kings
Chariss is in danger. Her geasa is hampered by the effects of a friend’s marriage. The dashing Nigel Taiman hides something from her, yet demands she stay at his family’s estate where he and her wizard guardian intend to keep her safe. But the sorcerer Lord Drake and Julette The Betrayer know she’s there, and their monstrous army marches that way. When prophecies stack up to threaten an arrogant deity, Chariss must choose between the dragon that courts her and the ostracized kings of the Southlands for help. Evil stalks her at every turn and madness creeps over the goddess who guides her. Can an orphan-turned-Protector resist the dark side of her heritage? Or will she sacrifice all to keep her god-charge safe?

Read an exclusive excerpt

As the soldier stepped toward him, Nigel reached out his arm and caught him by the neck. He slammed the captain against the far wall. He pinned him there with his body, leaning against the man as if he could crush the wind from him with his presence.

He brought his face close to the soldier’s ear and spoke lowly, fiercely, so that no one could have overheard him. The menace and intent behind the words was as surprising to the captain as the words themselves.

“I asked you to accompany [Chariss] on this journey tomorrow because I have faith in your sword, and until this moment I trusted you to keep your distance from her. Now, I find her down here at your side with a look upon your face that suggests more than you realize. So help me, Naegling, the only thing that stays my hand is how displeased she would be if she learned that I sliced you open.”

“The look you see is merely my concern for her honor. Nothing more.”

“I’m not a fool. And I’ll use every last piece of Arcana’s treasury to pay the prophets to justify my reasons for marrying that woman, so you can unconcern yourself with her honor.”

Hrazon stepped off the staircase then and saw Nigel pressed against his guard.

“I still believe you’re one of the best soldiers Arcana’s ever seen,” Nigel continued, “and I want you at her side for this journey, but, so help me, Naegling, she comes back alive and well and not confused in the least about her affections for me, or I will string you up from a tree in the orchard and attach your intestines to your horse’s saddle before I send it—”

Hrazon cleared his throat. “Excuse me. Is there an issue here I should address?”

Strong Women Offer Courage, Inspiration
By Fantasy Author Sandy Lender
http:///www.authorsandylender.com

Good stories inspire readers. It only makes sense that good characters inspire readers, too. When those readers are little girls, young ladies, struggling women, older matriarchs seeking something they can’t pinpoint, etc., the good character should, in my opinion, be a strong female lead. When invited to post an article here as part of my current online book tour supporting Choices Meant for Kings, I was asked to comment on why I felt that strong female characters are important in fiction novels. I don’t just think they’re important—I think they’re valuable gems worth mining when selecting reading material.

When I was younger, I read Helen Keller, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lucy Montgomery, and, as I got into college, Maya Angelou, Charlotte Bronte, Jane Austen, and the list goes on. (If you want to read the original feminist writer, I encourage you to read Anne Bronte’s The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, keeping in mind the 1848 society in which she lived and the conventions she rubbed against in making Mrs. Helen Graham the kick-butt heroine she is.) But having a strong feminine mind behind a strong female character doesn’t mean you have to push a feminist agenda. You could just be offering moral support, good values, a simple message, a heartfelt word of love for your fellow woman, a guide toward womanhood, etc. Women of any age can reach out to a fiction novel character for any number of lessons. As an author, I want those women to find a source of strength in the main character I’ve written.

In the summer and fall of 2008, I faced some trials in my personal life that I don’t need to hash out here. A couple of life-altering events were just about wrapped up after many months of paperwork and court dates. A “newer” health event was in full swing so I was visiting a doctor’s office or treatment center almost daily. I felt run down and haggard. The release of my second novel was postponed again and again… You get the picture. A dear friend of mine named Laura Crawford (proprietor of Crawford Writing and Marketing in Minnesota) very kindly read one of my pity-party e-mails and wrote back some wonderful words of support. She pointed out that I’d created (in her estimation) the strongest female character in fantasy literature today. She told me that Chariss, the heroine in my Choices novels, wasn’t born out of thin air, but came from me. Therefore, some of Chariss’s strength was in me. I could beat everything I was going through.

So, without realizing it, I had created a strong female character who could inspire me as well as my readers. It still makes me smile to think about it. And it strengthens my belief that women can look to fictional characters for courageous ideas, moments of inspiration, and, yes, strength.

“Some days, you just want the dragon to win.”

Sandy Lender will be stopping at other places along the net, so follow her tour for a chance to win a first edition, autographed, hard copy edition of the first book in the trilogy Choices Meant for Gods. All you have to do is comment here and on her other tour stops.

It is my distinct pleasure to bring to you today a guest post by Michelle Moran, author of Nefertiti, The Heretic Queen, and Cleopatra’s Daughter. I have no shame for my obvious envy of Michelle Moran– she has seen things that I can at this point only dream of… The Mamertine, The House of Augustus, the original floor of the Senate… it’s just too much to think about. For this reason, I am absolutely delighted to welcome Michelle Moran to Morbid Romantic to discuss her love of history since I also share a deep love for Ancient Rome and Egypt.

For every novel I have written, I can look back and say that there has been a very specific moment of inspiration – usually in some exotic locale or inside a museum – where I’ve said, “Aha! That’s going to be the subject of my next novel.” I never began my writing career with the intention to write books about three different princesses in Egypt. In fact, I had no intention of writing about ancient Egypt at all until I participated in my first archaeological dig.

During my sophomore year in college, I found myself sitting in Anthropology 101, and when the professor mentioned that she was looking for volunteers who would like to join a dig in Israel, I was one of the first students to sign up. When I got to Israel, however, all of my archaeological dreams were dashed (probably because they centered around Indiana Jones). There were no fedora wearing men, no cities carved into rock, and certainly no Ark of the Covenant. I was very disappointed. Not only would a fedora have seemed out of place, but I couldn’t even use the tiny brushes I had packed. Apparently, archaeology is more about digging big ditches with pickaxes rather than dusting off artifacts. And it had never occurred to me until then that in order to get to those artifacts, one had to dig deep into the earth. Volunteering on an archaeological dig was hot, it was sweaty, it was incredibly dirty, and when I look back on the experience through the rose-tinged glasses of time, I think, Wow, was it fantastic! Especially when our team discovered an Egyptian scarab that proved the ancient Israelites had once traded with the Egyptians. Looking at that scarab in the dirt, I began to wonder who had owned it, and what had possessed them to undertake the long journey from their homeland to the fledgling country of Israel.

On my flight back to America I stopped in Berlin, and with a newfound appreciation for Egyptology, I visited the museum where Nefertiti’s limestone bust was being housed. The graceful curve of Nefertiti’s neck, her arched brows, and the faintest hint of a smile were captivating to me. Who was this woman with her self-possessed gaze and stunning features? I wanted to know more about Nefertiti’s story, but when I began the research into her life, it proved incredibly difficult. She’d been a woman who’d inspired powerful emotions when she lived over three thousand years ago, and those who had despised her had attempted to erase her name from history. Yet even in the face of such ancient vengeance, some clues remained.

As a young girl Nefertiti had married a Pharaoh who was determined to erase the gods of Egypt and replace them with a sun-god he called Aten. It seemed that Nefertiti’s family allowed her to marry this impetuous king in the hopes that she would tame his wild ambitions. What happened instead, however, was that Nefertiti joined him in building his own capital of Amarna where they ruled together as god and goddess. But the alluring Nefertiti had a sister who seemed to keep her grounded, and in an image of her found in Amarna, the sister is standing off to one side, her arms down while everyone else is enthusiastically praising the royal couple. From this image, and a wealth of other evidence, I tried to recreate the epic life of an Egyptian queen whose husband was to become known as the Heretic King.

Each novel I’ve written has had a similar moment of inspiration for me. In many ways, my second book, The Heretic Queen is a natural progression from Nefertiti. The narrator is orphaned Nefertari, who suffers terribly because of her relationship to the reviled “Heretic Queen”. Despite the Heretic Queen’s death a generation prior, Nefertari is still tainted by her relationship to Nefertiti, and when young Ramesses falls in love and wishes to marry her, it is a struggle not just against an angry court, but against the wishes of a rebellious people.

But perhaps I would never have chosen to write on Nefertari at all if I hadn’t seen her magnificent tomb. At one time, visiting her tomb was practically free, but today, a trip underground to see one of the most magnificent places on earth can cost upwards of five thousand dollars (yes, you read that right). If you want to share the cost and go with a group, the cost lowers to the bargain-basement price of about three thousand. As a guide told us of the phenomenal price, I looked at my husband, and he looked at me. We had flown more than seven thousand miles, suffered the indignities of having to wear the same clothes for three days because of lost luggage… and really, what were the possibilities of our ever returning to Egypt again? There was only one choice. We paid the outrageous price, and I have never forgotten the experience.

While breathing in some of the most expensive air in the world, I saw a tomb that wasn’t just fit for a queen, but a goddess. In fact, Nefertari was only one of two (possibly three) queens ever deified in her lifetime, and as I gazed at the vibrant images on her tomb – jackals and bulls, cobras and gods – I knew that this wasn’t just any woman, but a woman who had been loved fiercely when she was alive. Because I am a sucker for romances, particularly if those romances actually happened, I immediately wanted to know more about Nefertari and Ramesses the Great. So my next stop was the Hall of Mummies at the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. There, resting beneath a heavy arc of glass, was the great Pharaoh himself. For a ninety-something year old man, he didn’t look too bad. His short red hair was combed back neatly and his face seemed strangely peaceful in its three thousand year repose. I tried to imagine him as he’d been when he was young – strong, athletic, frighteningly rash and incredibly romantic. Buildings and poetry remain today as testaments to Ramesses’s softer side, and in one of Ramesses’s more famous poems he calls Nefertari “the one for whom the sun shines.” His poetry to her can be found from Luxor to Abu Simbel, and it was my visit to Abu Simbel (where Ramesses built a temple for Nefertari) where I finally decided that I had to tell their story.

It’s the moments like this that an historical fiction author lives for. And it probably wouldn’t surprise you to learn that my decision to write Cleopatra’s Daughter came on an underwater dive to see the submerged city of ancient Alexandria. Traveling has been enormously important in my career. My adventures end up inspiring not only what I’m currently writing, but what I’m going to write about in the future.

For more information about Michelle Moran:
Website
Blog

First, I must apologize to author Terry Spear because I was to have this up yesterday and time ran away from me! But it is my pleasure to bring to you her wonderful guest post, which is an honor to have up to welcome her to Morbid-Romantic.net. I have yet to read To Tempt the Wolf, but I have a copy of it won from another blog that I look forward to reading when time allows.

So, without further ado:

The Human Side of Wolves, er, Werewolves!

Thanks for inviting me to share my werewolf world at Morbid Romantic where I wish to dispel the myth that werewolves are the bad guys! Well, some are, but some really are not—think sexy, naked humans, who are very comfortable in their skin, human and wolf alike.

In my latest book, To Tempt the Wolf, Tessa Anderson has a mission: rescue her brother from prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Hunter Greymere has a mission too: well, he was supposed to be rescuing his sister, but a little accident happens and now he’s lying on an Oregon beach right before a winter storm rolls in. The same beach that Tessa goes to find firewood before the storm hits.

What do they have in common? Wolves. He’s one, and she’s obsessed with them, photographing them whenever she gets a chance. But other wolves are obsessed with her right back.

Welcome to my world of wolves—werewolves that is. But when they’re in their wolf form, they’re just like wolves, except they have human sensibilities. And what does this mean? No matter what they’d like to do as wolves…their humanity steps in. On the other hand, their wolf instincts stay with them whether as man or wolf. Not only that, they have their “werewolf” side to consider—no matter what, they can’t be exposed for what they are. So three sides really.

That makes for a lot of man! And woman!

I was reading another author’s blog on how she wrote about horses in her story, but didn’t really know much about them. So I’ll make a confession also. I’ve never once met a werewolf. But I’m sure if I did, I’d find him just like the heroes in my stories. At least I hope I would. I wouldn’t want to run into the nastier werewolf characters in my stories for sure.

“But wait!” you say. “You write that your werewolves are like real wolves. Do you know any personally?”

Okay, no, I admit I’ve watched video tapes of them, both in social settings and…ahem, settings that should not have been caught on tape—a little privacy folks. But it did give me an idea for Seduced by the Wolf that I used to good purpose. I’ve also listened to numerous tapes on howling—forget music as a backdrop for story writing. And I’ve studied numerous photos on their behavior. Plus, I’ve read a lot about them from wolf biologists’ points of view. And yes, I’ve seen them in zoos before. But those aren’t the kind of wolves I’m creating in my stories. Although no, I haven’t sat and played with their pups or gotten to know a real wild wolf.

Urban fantasy is fun to create. I’m not writing about Dances with Wolves here, where the wolves are real, but werewolves who appear to be real wolves.

Plus, I raised tons of dogs, and they still exhibit some of the wolf behavior. When my standard poodles would play with each other, they would snarl, and bite, and growl, just like when we would play tug of war with our Labrador retriever. And when we played chase with our Afghan hound, she was terrifying!!! They’re from Afghanistan and are bred for speed and hunting agility. One nip in the back, and after that, she’d have us pinned to the ground. In every instance, they were playing, just as wolves do. But it’s a way for them to show who’s boss also in the pack. And chasing and taking each other down? It’s a way to keep their hunting skills in good working order.

I love dogs. I love wolves. And I LOVE werewolves. The perfect, sexy beasts are great protective guys to have around year round!

So what do you think? If you had a chance to go on a wilderness trip with a guy who really knew how to take care of a girl, would you consider a werewolf hunk as your guide? Companion? …and More???

Hope you check out just how hunky werewolves can be, and shatter that myth that they’re just scary old monstrous beasts.

Thanks for dropping by, and again, thanks to Valorie for having me!

Terry Spear

“Giving new meaning to the term alpha male.”

To Tempt the Wolf—In Stores September 1

In this third in the series, wildlife photographer Tessa Anderson must prove her brother innocent of murder charges. But when she discovers a gorgeous naked man barely alive on her beach, she’s got a new world of troubles to deal with, not least of which is how he affects her with just a look, a touch, or a whispered word.

Hunter Greymore is a lupus garou, a grey werewolf. Hoping to keep a low profile at Tessa’s cabin on the coast, he’s drawn into her life—and into her bed. His animal instincts war with his human half, but in the end, the only thing he can do about this fascinating, adorable woman is to leave her forever —unless she becomes one of them.

About the Author
A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, award-winning author Terry Spear has an MBA from Monmouth College. An eclectic writer, she dabbles in the paranormal as well as writing historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas. Her 2008 Sourcebooks Casablanca release, Heart of the Wolf was named a Best Book of the Year by Publishers Weekly. Destiny of the Wolf and To Tempt the Wolf are in stores now, and more are on the way: The Legend of the White Wolf (February 2010) and Seduction of the Wolf (August 2010). For more information please visit Terry at the following places:
http://www.terryspear.com
http://twitter.com/TerrySpear
http://www.facebook.com/terry.spear
http://www.myspace.com/terryspear
http://www.terry-spear.blogspot.com
http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com
http://www.wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com
http://shapeshifterromance.wordpress.com

Giveaway!
closed
Would you like the chance to win a copy of To Tempt the Wolf by Terry Spear? Of course you would, and this is your chance thanks to Sourcebooks. There are a number of ways you can win this book, each good for one entry each. For each entry, leave me a separate comment. Also, make sure that you leave me a way to contact you if you win.

1.) Leave a comment below telling me that you’d like to win.
2.) Blog about this contest and leave a comment with the links.
3.) Add me on twitter (@morbidromantic) and Tweet this contest then comment with a link to the Tweet or your username.
4.) Stumble this giveaway or my main site and comment with your StumbleUpon username.
5.) Rate my blog at Blogged. Click here or find the graphic on the sidebar under ‘ranks.’
6.) Add my RSS reader here and leave me a comment telling me that you subscribe to my feed.
7.) Comment on and rate (rating is found in the header of the post) any of my previous book reviews and leave me a comment telling me that you have.
8.) Add me to your Technorati favorites: .
9.) Add me on LibraryThing, Good Reads, Shelfari, Book Blogs, or BookBlips and leave a comment telling me where you’ve added me and (if you can), your username/name.
10.) Answer this question: what do you think is the most interesting thing about werewolves?

If you do all of the above, you will get ten entries. That’s ten chances to win.

Winners will be selected on 11:59pm EST on September 29th. I will be using Random.org to select the winner. When you win, I will send you an email asking for your physically mailing address, which you have 3 days to respond to before new winners are selected. This contest is open to the US and Canada only.

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It is my pleasure to welcome C.L. Talmadge to Morbid-Romantic.net, who is here to give us a lovely guest post about love. She is here promoting her Green Stone of Healing series, of which book four Outcast is to be released in October. And yes, there is even a giveaway at the end!

About The Green Stone of Healing Series

The series features four generations of strong-willed female characters who inherit a mysterious green gem ultimately revealed to mend broken bones and broken hearts, protect against missiles, and render its wearers undetectable.

For more information about each book, please visit http://www.greenstoneofhealing.com/.

Love and healing

By C.L. Talmadge

During a romance, life often seems brighter, happier, packed with promise and possibilities. The rush of romance is compelling and exhilarating. It’s also so tantalizing that we always crave more of it. We want every day to be full of the excitement and allure of romance.

Why not? Romance is based, at least in part, on love (as well as on lust and self-illusion), and love is healing. Not just in an abstract or conceptual sense, but in a most literal manner. Love is the ultimate healing force in the entire cosmos.

So what is love? All of us feel and perceive love in a unique way. Frequently, the hidden issue between romantic partners is their different understanding of what love is and how love feels to give and to receive. Each side loves the other to the best of that person’s ability. Even so, each side also cannot give to the other the kind of love that the other person can recognize and accept as love. The tragic result? Each side in the relationship does not truly feel loved. Eventually, romance dies.

It might help a great deal, then, to define love. Since love is healing, defining and exploring the nature of love is one of the major themes of the Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic.

At its most basic, love is unconditional. This means no judgments, no standards, no hooks, no exceptions, no expectations, no ifs, ands, or buts. Just love. Other words for unconditional love are grace and agape, which definitely have spiritual/religious connotations.

Because it has no limits, unconditional love is the most powerful essence in a universe that is based on vibration. Everything that exists in our universe vibrates at some level. Unconditional love just happens to be the ultimate vibration — the highest, finest, fastest, lightest vibration possible at any given instant. Other words for this unconditional love-vibration are God, Yaweh, the Great Spirit, Allah, Universal Mind, etc. More spiritual/religious implications.

Unconditional love heals by raising the lowered vibration rates of anyone who comes in contact with it. This ineffable, illusive healing experience has been described by saints and mystics, yogis and rabbis for millennia and regarded as something reserved only for the fortunate (or crazy) few.

That’s not true. The healing power of unconditional love is freely available to all of us, provided we know to ask, know where to look for it, and how to welcome it within ourselves. Since unconditional love is not tangible, we cannot hold it in our hands like we do a lover. Instead, we hold and feel unconditional love in our hearts, with the help of our souls.

Most of us, however, cannot manage this consistently, even though we yearn to feel loved unconditionally. Instead, we and our world suffer from a severe shortage of unconditional love. Such is certainly the case for Helen Andros, first-generation heroine of the Green Stone of Healing® series, and the culture of cruelty in Azgard, the island nation where she lives.

Helen is deeply wounded emotionally and spiritually, and has almost no sense of self-worth. She longs to feel unconditional love, yet when she does so, she cannot claim it for very long. Same goes for the society around her. It is brutal and repressive because the majority of its members regard love as a weakness instead of recognizing that love is the ultimate strength.

Helen and her descendents go all of their lives searching for unconditional love and suffering from doing with out it. Where they could find it and how they could claim it for keeps is explored in depth throughout the series.

C.L. Talmadge is the author of the Green Stone of Healing® speculative epic. The fourth in the series, Outcast, will be published Oct. 1. Vote for the first book, The Vision, through Sept. 25 and get a free e-book on healing, love, and spirituality. Details at her blog: www.healingstonebooks.com/stonescribe.

Giveaway!!

One lucky commenter will be chosen to win an autographed set of all three books in the series. This winner will be chosen at random from all of the comments on C.L. Talmadge’s book stop, so comment for your chance to win!

If you’d like to win, comment with an answer to this question: What is love?

Participating Sites:

September 1: For the Love of all that is Written
September 2: A.F. Stewart
September 3: Wendi Zwaduk
September 4: Laurie J. Edwards
September 5: Deborah Panger
September 6: Lily Stone Books
September 7: Space Snark
September 10: Fang-tastic Books
September 11: Amber Scott
September 18: Inspiration Ink
September 19: Marianne Arkins

I would like to thank Loucinda McGary for stopping here at Morbid-Romantic.net as part of her blog tour for The Treasures of Venice. The Treasures of Venice is a book that I am looking forward to purchasing because, let’s face it, the Renaissance is just beautiful. And a Renaissance scene set in Venice, the most beautiful of all. So, welcome Loucinda McGary!

An Up-Close and Personal Interview with Loucinda McGary

Thank you for inviting me to be a guest here on Morbid Romantic. My second romantic suspense novel published by Sourcebooks Casablanca was ‘officially’ released this week, though it has been popping up on store shelves since the last week of August. I’m excited to be promoting The Treasures of Venice, because not only does it make me a multi-published author (that phrase has such a lovely ring to it!), but it is also the first romantic suspense I wrote and is truly the book of my heart.

The Treasures of Venice is unique in the romantic suspense sub-genre because it has a few paranormal elements, and features a dual storyline set in both modern day and Renaissance Venice. Here’s a blurb describing the story:

When American librarian Samantha Lewis and Irish rogue Keirnan Fitzgerald set off to find priceless jewels, they become embroiled in a 500-year-old love story that eerily prefigures their own…

In 15th century Venice, beautiful and wealthy Serafina falls in love with Nino, a young Florentine sculptor. They decide to flee to Padua, and to fund the trip, Nino copies a set of jewels that then disappear.

In modern-day Venice, Keirnan needs Samantha’s help to locate the jewels so he can pay his sister’s ransom. Samantha must decide whether the man she’s so drawn to is her soul mate from a previous life…or are they merely pawns in a relentless quest for a priceless treasure?

Now that you know a wee bit about my book, I thought I’d answer some personal questions. I’ve heard from both reliable and dubious sources that readers like to ‘get to know the real author.’ So I asked my intrepid critique partner Cathy D. to send me some questions she thought readers might like to have answered. So here are my answers warts and all!

When you are reading for pleasure, what is the one thing that will make you put down the book and quit reading?

Glaring mistakes that pull me out of the story. Two examples that spring to mind were both in recent novels written by well-known authors. The first was actually in a book set in Venice and the heroine was running around for hours during Carnevale wearing nothing but a bedsheet – no shoes, no undies, nuttin’ honey! Well, I’ve been in Venice just a few days after Carnevale (that’s why The Treasures of Venice is set at the same time of year) and trust me, she would have had hypothermia after about thirty minutes. The second story had the hero taking his motorcycle for a long drive west of Los Angeles. I’m a native Californian, so I fell on the floor laughing, but you only have to look at a map to see that the only thing a long way due west of LA is the Pacific Ocean!

When you were in Ireland and Venice, did you know you would be setting novels in those places?

Afraid not. I visited long before I started seriously writing for publication. But both places left lasting impressions on me, and I always take photos and keep extensive travel journals on my trips. Pulling those things out stimulated my memories and made me recall the sights, sounds, smells, and other things I experienced. I also bought guide books and maps before I started writing to be sure I had my facts straight. No long drives into the Adriatic or the Irish Sea!

How do you pick names for your characters? Are they family names for the Irish heroes?

Most of my main characters pop into my mind with their complete names – first, middle, and last – intact. Though I will say that my hero Keirnan’s nickname, Sionnach came about when I was looking up some Irish Gaelic phrases. I came across the Irish word for “fox” and thought it the perfect moniker for my clever hero.

I purposely try not to use family names for my Irish characters. Wouldn’t want to insult any relatives (any more than I usually do), or give them an over-inflated ego!

While researching online, I ran across a great website that lists the most common Irish surnames (from 100 year old census records) broken down by county. I use these largely for secondary characters, since as I’ve said, my main characters appear with their names.

Interestingly enough, when Keirnan Fitzgerald popped into my imagination, I knew he was from County Kildare, where they breed many Irish thoroughbreds, and that his father was a horse trainer. Later, when I looked at the most common names from County Kildare, Fitzgerald was on the list!

Trust your characters. They really do know best.

Are you hurt when someone criticizes your books? How thick is your skin?

Even after years of rejections, I’m afraid my skin is still not quite thick enough. Negative reviews do get to me, and no matter how many wonderful, glowing reviews I get, it is the negative ones I remember most. Go figure!

I know not everyone likes the same things, and I really don’t mind when a reader or reviewer says something like, “this story just didn’t appeal to me.” But it is another thing when they attack the genre (if you know you don’t like something, don’t read it!!), or they totally miss what I was trying to achieve with the plot or characters.

Usually, after I read a really negative review, I’ll pour myself a tall, cool drink and hurl a few choice Irish curses as I quench my thirst.

All right, I’m afraid I may have revealed entirely too much of the real me! Do you have any other questions about my writing process? My books? Where I came up with such cool Irish curses? Ask away!

About the Author

Loucinda McGary took early retirement from her managerial career to pursue her twin passions of travel and writing, and sets her novels of romantic suspense in the fascinating places she has visited. She was a finalist in the 2006 Romance Writers of America Golden Heart contest in Romantic Suspense. She lives in Sacramento, CA. For more information, please visit http://loucindamcgary.com/.

Giveaway!!

closed
Loucinda McGary’s The Wild Sight and The Treasures of Venice
I have been given the amazing opportunity by Sourcebooks to give out 1 two book set that contains Loucinda McGary’s The Wild Sight and The Treasures of Venice. There are a number of ways you can win this book, each good for one entry each. For each entry, leave me a separate comment. Also, make sure that you leave me a way to contact you if you win.

1.) Leave a comment below telling me that you’d like to win.
2.) Blog about this contest and leave a comment with the links.
3.) Add me on twitter (@morbidromantic) and Tweet this contest then comment with a link to the Tweet or your username.
4.) Stumble this giveaway or my main site and comment with your StumbleUpon username.
5.) Rate my blog at Blogged. Click here or find the graphic on the sidebar under ‘ranks.’
6.) Add my RSS reader here and leave me a comment telling me that you subscribe to my feed.
7.) Comment on and rate (rating is found in the header of the post) any of my previous book reviews and leave me a comment telling me that you have.
8.) Add me to your Technorati favorites: .
9.) Add me on LibraryThing, Good Reads, Shelfari, Book Blogs, or BookBlips and leave a comment telling me where you’ve added me and (if you can), your username/name.
10.) Answer this question: what would you want to see or do if you went to Venice?

If you do all of the above, you will get ten entries. That’s ten chances to win.

Winners will be selected on 11:59pm EST on September 21st. I will be using Random.org to select the winner. When you win, I will send you an email asking for your physically mailing address, which you have 3 days to respond to before new winners are selected. No PO Boxes. This contest is open to the US and Canada only.

I would like to welcome Judith James to Morbid-Romantic.net. I was fortunate enough to get to review Highland Rebel, so it is a double pleasure for me to get to have Judith James, author herself, guest blog here. Welcome!

Judith James Guest Blog, author of Highland Rebel
Morbid Romantic; September 4, 2009

Fact, Fiction and Stereotype

The Encarta dictionary describes stereotype as an “oversimplified conception or standardized image of a person or group” Obviously stereotypes have some basis in fact. The key word is oversimplified. Stereotypes take complex phenomena and simplify them so they are easily communicated and understood, but in the process they loose the tremendous diversity and complexity that lie at the heart of what they describe. One thing research has taught me is not to mistake historical stereotype as fact. Many common stereotypes we hold about the past are mistaken for absolute historical truths, to the point that things that actually happened are sometimes challenged as anachronistic; modern day habits, customs and mores applied to older times. Many of them revolve around women’s roles, social life, and patterns of speech. Here are just a few I came across researching Broken Wing and Highland Rebel.

Aristocrats never took to piracy they say? A little research on the Huguenot expulsions from France and the history of the buccaneers might just surprise them. Female upper class pirates historically inaccurate? A modern fantasy imprinted on older times? What about Grania, the Irish chieftain who stood toe to toe with Elizabeth in the 16th century? It’s said that Elizabeth gave her a handkerchief and enjoyed her immensely, even though, to the horror of the gathered courtiers, she blew her nose in it. What about Lady Mary Killigrew of Cornwall, the female pirate and lady in waiting who got herself into hot water with Elizabeth when she oops…got greedy and took an allied vessel and Elizabeth could no longer look the other way? She was a bloodthirsty woman who had a nasty habit of putting the crews she captured to death until her husband was ordered to lock her up.

And then there’s the language. It makes some people cringe to see the F#@% word used in historical fiction. Well they may object on moral grounds, but they certainly aren’t on firm footing on historical ones. If the word upsets them they wouldn’t want to read any of the works of the 17th century court poet Rochester or those of his merry band of f#@#sters, or the ode a young Horace Walpole wrote to the Earl of Lincoln. Seventeenth century gentlemen also used slang, much of which is not repeatable here, and contractions such as won’t, don’t, can’t, ben’t, shan’t, etc., were all in common use at that time. A quick read through Sam Pepys diaries or most any Restoration era play will convince you if you believe it an’t so.

These are just a few examples of some common stereotypes I found to be less fact based than I originally thought. There are enough about women and their roles to merit a blog on their own and I will be talking about that at a later date, but for now I guess it won’t surprise you if I tell you that my stories aren’t full of well bred lords and proper ladies in lovely gowns, though of course there is some of that. I am always more interested in characters that challenge the stereotypes of their time and gender. My characters curse and swear, they fight and kill, and though they all have their own sense of honour they tend to be rebellious, and question and challenge the rules of the society in which they live. They also deal with moral issues and moral ambiguity, and they insist on living life on their own terms, something some people have been doing all through history. These are the people I find most interesting from a story telling perspective, and it’s particularly true of Catherine and Jamie in Highland Rebel. It’s something that draws them together from the beginning and forms the basis of a friendship that leads to many adventures and makes them question everything they were taught to believe.

I’d like to thank the Morbid Romantic for inviting me today. What a great name! And I’d like to thank everyone who stopped by. All comments are welcome and I’m delighted to answer any questions you might have, but I also like to end with one of my own. I remember a book by Bettina Krahn called Caught in the Act that made me pick up a book of poetry by Ovid when the hero read it to her in Latin and her toes curled, and more recently Lisa Marie Wilkinson’s exciting Fire at Midnight made me look up The Great Storm of 1703. Has anything like that ever happened to you?

Highland Rebel by Judith James, in stores September 1, 2009!

Amidst the upheaval of Cromwell’s Britain, Jamie Sinclair’s wit and military prowess have served him well. Leading a troop in Scotland, he impetuously marries a captured maiden, saving her from a grim fate.

A Highlands heiress to title and fortune, Catherine Drummond is not the woman Jamie believes her to be. When her people effect her rescue, and he cannot annul the marriage, Jamie goes to recapture his hellcat of a new wife…

In a world where family and creed cannot be trusted, where faith fuels intolerance and war, Catherine and Jamie test the bounds of loyalty, friendship, and trust…

About the Author

Judith James has worked as a legal assistant, trail guide, and counselor. Living in Nova Scotia, her personal journey has taken her to the Arctic and the West Coast. Her writing combines her love of history and adventure with her keen interest in the complexities of human nature and the heart’s capacity to heal. For more information about Judith, please visit http://www.judithjamesauthor.com/.