Hot New Paranormal Romance from Bianca D'Arc

I had a new book release earlier this month and the follow-up book will be out on 11/11/14. Here's a little bit about them. First, JACOB'S LADDER, the next book in the String of Fate series that started with CAT'S CRADLE and KING'S THRONE.

A man on a mission...

Jake can see the future and there's a special woman on his mind. She needs his help and he's just the man to help when danger stalks her every step.

A woman with responsibilities...

For Ria, being the Nyx - the leader of her people - comes with burdens that few can understand. Her special abilities make her a target of the Venifucus, an ancient faction that hopes to pervert Ria's hereditary power to their own evil purposes. She's lived her life on the run, but the time has come to turn and confront the bad guys on her trail.

Can they stop the Venifucus from using the ancient power of the Nyx to return evil to this world? Whatever the cost, they must stop it, before it's too late.

Buy Now From Amazon - Barnes & Noble - iBooks - Kobo - Smashwords

And the follow-up book is called HER WARRIORS...

Love triangles are always more interesting when they come equipped with claws...and flippers?

Beau has anger issues, but not when he's around Jacki. The fierce tiger shifter has been following her around like a puppy, but she hasn't taken notice of him...until now.

No matter how long Geir has lived in the States, he's still the odd man out. A tiger shifter native of Iceland, he is a Master of his craft, training other warriors the skills he has perfected. When he sees Jacki for the first time, he knows she is the one for him.

Jacki is the privileged daughter of a prominent shifter Clan. Most of her relatives are lion shifters, so she knows how to handle cats on the prowl, but she is a much rarer selkie-a seal shifter-imbued with magic and surrounded by mystery. When an opportunity arises to step into a key role in shifter society, she is uncertain, but willing to try. And when she's told she doesn't have to choose between the two tigers, but rather, can have them both, she is more than intrigued. But someone is stalking their path and they must work together to nullify the danger, all while trying to figure out a complicated relationship that has all three of them questioning fate.

Warning: This story contains graphic language and menage a trois between two tiger shifters and one very special selkie woman. Rawr.

Pre-Order Now From Amazon - iBooks - Smashwords.
More sites coming soon. Available everywhere after release.

This series is related to all my other paranormal series, but follows a group of big-cat shifters on the East Coast of the US and Iceland. The events in the String of Fate series are related to the events in my Redstone Clan series and some characters and situations are shared between these two series as well as my Tales of the Were as a whole. And readers of my Brotherhood of Blood series will recognize the themes and a few of the supporting characters as well. It's all one big happy, complicated family! ;-)

For more information on all the related books in these various series, check out my website at WWW.BIANCADARC.COM. Happy reading!

Dragons and Cougars and Bears, Oh My...

When you stop to think about it, what we call romance fiction today is quite a far cry from what it used to be. Shapeshifters and fantasy creatures have gone mainstream in a big way - something that was taboo when I first started reading romance back in high school. Back then it was all sea captains, pirates, gang bangs and rape fantasies.

So in some ways, we've evolved. Rape and incest (yes, I remember those books too! Published by big "NY" publishers!) are no longer considered allowable by most publishers. Thank goodness. And character types that were discouraged - I clearly recall submission guidelines saying "no vampires" for example or "no rock stars or celebrities" - are now commonplace.

I think a lot of this came about because the tiny cabal of publishers congregated in New York (where I was born and raised, and still live, by the way), have lost their monopoly on what books get published. The advent of small press publishing, and now, self-publishing, means that the readers decide what they want to read, rather than a small group of twenty-something editors fresh out of college and the elder statesmen in their editorial meetings.

Now, readers vote with their wallets. If they like a particular type of hero or storyline, they search it out and buy the book. As hundreds of thousands of people do this, it becomes clear what the reading population considers worth their time and money. It's very democratic, actually, and kind of beautiful.

I, myself, have been dipping my toes into the self-publishing waters this past year with what I consider good results. I see it as cutting out the middle-man. And as a bit of a control freak, it puts me in charge of a lot more. I get to choose the cover. I get to oversee the editing process. I choose who I hire to edit and proofread. I choose the cover artist and work with them to finalize the design. These are luxuries you never get from a traditional publisher.


It must be working because my indie book, Slade, is competing in All Romance eBook's Ultimate Shifter Challenge. If you haven't voted yet, please consider voting for him! He's in the 9th pairing this week, so scroll down and click! :)

I haven't given up on traditional and small press publishing completely though. An all-new novella in my Dragon Knights series is coming out later this month, on August 20th. It's called Master at Arms and it is a companion piece to the second book in the series, Border Lair, which will be re-released in print in October.

In fact, all the Dragon Knights books are being re-released in print, starting with Maiden Flight this September, one book per month until next March's release of Keeper of the Flame in print. And I'm very proud to say that Maiden Flight was just honored with a TOP PICK! from RT Book Reviews Magazine in their latest issue.

Sci fi is another area that was never really considered part of romance until recently. I've always loved it and looked for it when I was younger and thirsting for romances set in some fantastical future - or better yet - in space. My EPPIE Award Winning, futuristic erotic romance series, Resonance Mates, will draw to a close with the fifth and final book, Harry's Sacrifice.

I turned in the completed manuscript a few weeks ago and just signed the contract last week. (Because that's the way I like to do business, when possible - I hate signing first, then having due dates and deadlines. Who needs all that stress?) I'm hoping the book might make it onto their publication schedule for next March, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see what the publisher comes up with.

And as far as indie books go, my next project is called simply, Red. It's the second book in the sub-set of stories devoted to the five Redstone brothers. The Redstone Clan books are part of the larger Tales of the Were series that started way back when with a book called Lords of the Were.

The follow-up to that, called Inferno, was also published by small press, but then the series took a departure. I did a short story that was set in that world as a promotion for ARe a couple of years ago and after that, I decided to take the rest of the series indie.

In December of last year, I published Rocky. It was a story I had written years before and was finally able to pull together the way I always wanted it. It met with what I consider huge success. I had intended it as a test, but the readers responded well enough that I decided to write more. Rocky led to Slade and Slade led to Grif, the first of the Redstone Clan.

Grif was also a book I had written years before, but I'd never finished it or submitted it anywhere. The Redstone brothers and their relatives have shown up in cameo and supporting roles in many of my paranormals, but I never had a chance to tell their stories... until now. Over the next six months or so, the rest of the Redstone brothers will get their books, starting with Red, followed by Magnus, then Bobcat and then finally, Matt.

I hope you'll enjoy the ride as much as I do! And I'm sorry for getting so long winded. Usually, I never know what to say when I sit down to blog, but today, for some reason, I'm finding it hard to stop! (I've already cut this blog down three times!) ;-)

To find out what I'm up to, visit my website at www.biancadarc.com or catch me on facebook! :)

Until next time,
Bianca

When Shifting Goes Bad...

 

Shapeshifters have become pretty popular among authors and readers, from dragon shifters to dolphin shifters to bull shifters. (Really. I kid you not.) When I was growing up I never thought much about the perils and pleasures of having the ability to shape-shift.

But now that I'm working on a series with cat shifters I'm paying more attention to the little things, the details that bring a character to life. And the problems that being a cat shifter would have.

For example, Rebecca, my cat shifter, has exquisite hearing—to the point of pain. Imagine if you could hear so well that you could eavesdrop on conversations in another room. It sounds like fun, right? Until you expand that to walking down a busy city street and the noise, the noise, the NOISE around you like a huge wave of sound slapping you with every step. Just imagine the sounds battering your senses and the effort it'd take to lock yourself down and control the constant input.

The same with the sense of smell. I've smelt some pretty disgusting things in my life but I can't imagine how it would be to have that amplified. I've walked through some pretty ugly alleyways in Toronto where every puddle was a toxic dump and the dumpsters were overflowing with rotten food. Sure it'd be great to pick people out by their scent or smell their fear through bitter sweat but add in rotten Chinese food and a dash of vomit and suddenly it's not such a great thing.

But it's not just cat shifters who'd have to deal with problems. Werewolves, or wolf shifters, would have their own twist on these problems. And I love seeing writers deal with the reality (for lack of another word) of the negative side of shifting. It's easy to write and relate to the positive aspects of being a shifter—not so much when there are ongoing issues from living in two worlds.

We all point at the werewolf loving his rare steak between full moons or sniffing out his mate in a crowded room, sensing their connection in a raw, animalistic form. But there's a lot of downsides and I enjoy reading about how the grass may not always be greener on the other side when you're more than just human.

So let me toss the question out—what do you think would be the biggest downside of being a (blank) shifter? Dragon shifter always setting fire to the curtains? Cat shifter clawing up the furniture? Selkie leaving wet towels on the bathroom floor?

 

 

13 Edits I Made In My Manuscript Recently

I'm writing a book set in the world of Pack and Coven. In this story, the hero is -- like the hero in Pack and Coven -- a shifter. He can turn into a wolf. I've been enjoying revisiting this world, but I'm finding myself somewhat indecisive about certain aspects of the manuscript... Read on for a glimpse into the writer-brain! Or just to feel sorry for me.

1: Just wrote a scene in hero POV when he's in wolf form and licks his no-no. Hahaha! So funny. I am amused.

2: Scene in hero POV where he's in wolf form and licks his no-no. Have I seen this in a book before? A book sort of like mine, I mean, not a spoof of paranormal romance. I didn't read Twilight. Did Jacob lick his no-no? Maybe I should take this scene back out. It might not be what genre readers are expecting.

3: Scene in hero POV where he's in wolf form and ... What's missing here? I have a note to myself to fill this spot in, and I don't know why. I should write better notes to myself. What's this about a no-no? OH WAIT. I remember. I've slept since then. Maybe I should put that back in, since it actually fits the pacing of the scene.

4: Yeah, delete delete delete.

5: I'm going to move on to the next scene. I AM! The scene where he... And finds his... Dammit. I can't move on to the next scene until the previous scene is done.

6: Scene in hero's POV where he's in wolf form... He's trying to really LOOK and ACT like an actual canine. Wouldn't it be realistic if he did lick his no-no? Yeah, better add that back in. Luckily I saved it.

7: There. That scene is done. Moving right along. Hero has managed to--while acting realistically like an animal instead of a shifter--sneak past the bad guys to the place where the heroine is. And when she sees him, since he's acting so much like an animal, she...

8: She'd know it was him, right? Does he need her to believe he's an animal? Should he act very much like a real animal HERE? Should I put the scene of him acting very much like a no-no licking animal HERE, to fool the heroine, so her expression doesn't give them away?

9: Come on. She knows it's him even if he does lick his no-no. And if he licks his no-no, she's never going to let him live that down. Her snort of laughter when he actually licks his no-no is going to clue the bad guys in that something is amiss, and I'm not ready for the big confrontation scene yet. So he absolutely cannot lick his no-no here.

10: But what about in the original spot, where he's just sneaking past the bad guys? And--I hate to say this--but I think I need to add details, so I should probably consider senses beyond vision in this scene. Hearing, smell, taste... OH GOD I AM SO CUTTING THIS PART.

11: NO! I am GENIUS! I'll make him PRETEND to lick his no-no, consciously, because he's good at subterfuge! He's layered!

12: He's... Yeah, I'm taking that back out.

13: This scene is so damn long! I think I may have a writerly disorder called "Cantshutupitis". I conceive of a story idea and flesh it out and worldbuild it and start writing it and it goes on and on and on and suddenly I'm at 80K but the story is only halfway over, so I have to keep going if I want to find out what happens. You know how it is. But I'm not about to toss 80K worth of work out the window just because it's not done yet since that would be wasted effort on my part, so I roll up my sleeves and plug in my laptop and get serious and try to finish it in 20K...40K...some reasonable amount of time, fearing, of course, that "rushed ending" syndrome I've seen readers complain about with books that are paced well until the end when it seemed like, I dunno, the author had to wrap things up in 10K because she had a 90K publisher-set limit? Something like that. Anyway, I just don't know what's wrong with me! Why can't I write 80K books? Where do all these words and plot twists COME from and why do they all have to be every book? I don't...

***

Hopefully when I finish this book, I'll land my publisher of preference and you'll be able to see this scene in action!

Jody W.
www.jodywallace.com * www.meankitty.com

New Release

I know this month is about Steampunk and I adore that subgenre and I KNOW that shape shifters theme has passed, but I had a new release involving shape shifters.

Also I've been away during March Break and couldn't think of anything to say on Steampunk other than I love it! I love, love, love it. Pathetic I know.

Anyways, the bear one I hinted back when we were all talking about beasties.

Mounted Release was released on March 9 from Ellora's Cave.

I hope you all enjoy it as much as I enjoyed writing it. It's my first shapeshifter and probably won't be my last.

Here's a little excerpt:

Sheridan tumbled out of the cruiser holding her head as if in pain and his heart skipped a beat. He hoped there wasn’t something seriously wrong with her internally, like a hemorrhage or concussion, that was causing her to be a bit clumsy.

“Are you all right, Miss Stevens?” He rushed to her side and held her steady. Even through the thick snow that clung to them he could smell the heady scent of lavender and sun-baked hay, it reminded him of summers down on Rice Lake. Summers he spent swimming and fishing, it seemed like ages ago. A pang of homesickness engulfed him. He hadn’t thought of home in so long.

Sheridan froze and pushed his hands away. “I’m fine.” She began to shiver and he slipped his parka over her shoulders. “Don’t you need this, Constable Thomas?”

“I can handle the cold, besides you were the one in the accident.”

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Gordon nodded and slung his rucksack and his rifle over his shoulder. “Come on, it’s this way.” He held out his hand and she took it, letting out a gasp of surprise when they touched.

“You’re hot, I mean…oh lord.” She blushed. “Forget what I mean.”

Gordon chuckled. “I understood what you meant. It’s okay. I’m used to the cold.”

She sent him an inscrutable look as she tried to keep up with his pace through the high drifts.

“No one is that used to this kind of cold.”

“It would be colder if it wasn’t snowing. If it were a clear night I would be setting up camp in the patrol car instead of hiking out to the cabin. However, I don’t see this storm ending any time soon.” He waited for her to catch up. He tried to make his steps even and deep so she wouldn’t have to break the snow, but where he stood at six foot three she was a hell of a lot shorter. If he had to guess she was about five foot six. Tiny compared to him.

She stumbled and he reached out, catching her before she went face first into a snowbank.

“Dammit I hate the snow,” she cursed.

“Then you’re living in the wrong place, Miss Stevens.”

“Just call me Sheridan, and I’m beginning to question my judgment on coming up here.”

“Where are you from?” He didn’t get an answer immediately.

“Don’t I have a right to remain silent?”

Gordon cocked an eyebrow. Now he really knew something was fishy. “You don’t have to tell me, I was just making conversation.”

“Thanks, but I’m not in a conversing mood. I just want to get to somewhere warm where I can defrost.”

Gordon laughed again. “Totally understandable.”

They continued on in silence. He stopped every once in a while to let her catch up, but all too soon he could see the exertion of walking through the snow was too much for her. Sheridan had been through a lot tonight and if they kept up at this rate it was going to take them hours to get to the cabin. He scooped her up, causing her to cry out.

“What are you doing?”

“Carrying you, you’re exhausted.”

“You can’t be that strong, to carry me.”

Gordon grinned at her and fought the urge to place a kiss at the end of her little pixie nose. “It’s nothing to me. We’re almost there.”

Sheridan shook her head. “You can see your way in the dark, you’re not affected by the cold and you’re as strong as a…” She trailed off, her body stiffened in his arms. “Don’t mind me. Just tired.”

“You’ll be able to rest soon.” Gordon was pretty sure she was going to say bear. How right she would be, but he also got the sense that she knew what he was but was denying it.

A shiver ran down his spine and it wasn’t from the cold. Was she Mukswa too? Females of the clan couldn’t shift, only the males could. If she was female, what the hell was she doing out here alone? Female Mukswa were revered and protected by their clan. Especially during the years they were able to have children.

If she was a Mukswa it would explain the reason why he was reacting to her like an untried youth and it also probably meant she was in heat. Gordon inhaled deeply and recognized the cloying perfume smell. Yes, she was in heat.

Where was her mate?

The thought of an enraged male encroaching on his territory up here made him sick to his stomach.

Whether Sheridan Stevens liked it or not he was going to get some answers from her and he’d find the mate mark on her body. He didn’t want an angry male up here.
The last thing he needed was a fight on his hands.

The cabin was a welcome sight. He set her down and opened the door. She followed him inside cautiously, clinging tightly to the parka as if her life depended on it.

The cabin was adequate shelter. It was a large, square room with a small kitchen tucked into one corner, a fireplace against the wall and a wooden bunk in the other corner. He strode over to the opposite side of the cabin and opened the door to another small room, which had a stock of firewood, some canned goods and a composting toilet.

When he entered the main room Sheridan Stevens was still huddled by the front door, shaking in his oversized parka. He walked past her and locked the front door.

“I’ll get a fire started.” He dropped his rucksack on the roughhewn table but took the gun with him. Female Mukswa or not, he didn’t know her and he damn well couldn’t trust a female on the run. He knelt down by the fireplace, on alert now, waiting for a male to show up.

“What should I do?” Sheridan asked nervously.

He didn’t even look back at her. He was angry she was here. He had left Ontario to escape the clan. He didn’t want to be near another one. For ten years he had managed to bury that part of his life and yet here he was, locked in a cabin with a female. In heat. This was going to test his willpower, more than he cared to try.

“Constable Thomas, what should I do?”

“Once I get this fire started you can get undressed and show me your mate mark so I know who you belong to.”

What Are Your Worlds Like?

Worldbuilding. What an intriguing word. Just the sound of it makes me feel omniscient, all-powering, and well, a bit goddess-like. But oh, how wrong I am!

When I think of worldbuilding, I tend to think of faraway planets, lost galaxies and lands lost in a different time. But worldbuilding isn’t restricted to those places. In fact, worldbuilding can exist in the present. A world built within our own sometimes boring world.

For instance, I write paranormal erotic romance. Most of my books are set in the here and now, right under our noses and based in contemporary time with today’s verbiage and surroundings. But I’m still worldbuilding.

There’s a catch, you see. I take the world and flip it on its side. Is it still happening right now? Yes. But is it worldbuilding? You betcha.

Consider a world where shifters walk among us. Although they may bump shoulders with a normal human on the street, they are a part of a subculture, a hidden society all its own. Do they live in our world? Or do they inhabit a world I created for them? The answer is both.

But let me ask you. Don’t all of us build our own worlds, even sub-worlds for our lives? People join specific groups and, thus, form another world, another reality, within their “regular” world. My worlds include the world surrounding my life as a wife and a mother. Yet my other world is the one where my wife-mom world gets put on the backburner, sometimes even forgotten, as I step into the world of writer. The only difference between the worlds everyone creates and the worlds created by writers is that writers get to make all the rules. Of course, that’s the part I enjoy the most!

So, tell me. What are your worlds like?

Beverly - www.beverlyrae.com

Favorite shifters...

I love shapeshifters. Beyond the traditional werewolves, there are shifters who can take any form. There are those who are restricted to particular creatures. My daughters also enjoy shifter stories. Luckily, they've been able to find quite a few Young Adult novels that are not only well-written, but include some wonderful characters.

In honor of the Halloween season, here are some shifter stories -- mostly YA -- you might want to check out. Some you've probably read or heard of; the rest may be a pleasant new find. If you have some to add, please do!

1. Shiver (Wolves of Mercy Falls) by Maggie Stiefvater

2. Linger (Wolves of Mercy Falls) (M. Stiefvater)

3. Forever (Wolves of Mercy Falls) (M. Stiefvater)

4. Clockwork Angel (The Infernal Devices, Book 1) - by, Cassandra Clare

5. The Hunchback Assignments - by, Arthur Slade

6. The Dark Deeps -- The Hunchback Assignments, 2 (A. Slade)

7. Empire of Ruins -- The Hunchback Assignments, 3 (A. Slade)

8. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban - by, JK Rowling

On a more 'adult' note:

9. Eat Prey Love - by, Kerrelyn Sparks

~~Meg Allison
Indulge your senses...
http://www.megallisonauthor.com

I was a rotten kid. As a child I loved to torment my brothers and boss around the other kids on my block. As a result, I didn’t have many friends. (Yeah, I know. Sad, but I deserved it.)

That’s when I started making up my imaginary playmates. My first playmate was a boy named Larry. I adored Larry and took him everywhere I went. He would sleep in the imaginary bed across from mine. He would sit next to me at the dinner table. Heck, he even played softball, standing right next to me, although he was never a very good player.

Best of all, Larry was as rotten as I was. Larry was the culprit whenever my hand developed a mind of its own and thumped my brother in the head. Larry took the blame whenever I “accidentally” bumped a bowl full of vegetables off the table to scatter awful-tasting peas across the floor. Larry was with me, egging me on when I dropped water balloons off the roof onto unsuspecting neighbors. Larry was the one who made me stay up late and miss the school bus. Larry was, for all the wrong reasons, the perfect playmate.

Then I grew up and Larry went away. Or did he?

I love writing all the characters in my books, both good and bad. Heroes and heroines alike find a place in my heart. But I have to admit that the bad boys claim a special corner. Why? Perhaps it’s because each of my bad boys, whether or not they turn out to be the villain or the hero, has a part of Larry in him.

For instance, the three Cannon brothers in my Cannon Pack werewolf series are different, but they all have a bit of Larry thrown into their personalities. Jason Cannon has Larry’s uninhibited streak. Devlin Cannon has Larry’s witty sarcasm and Daniel Cannon is the guy who acts more calloused than he really is. In my latest book, CLAWED (Wild Things, Book 3), Conan is a bear (literally) of a man who takes on Larry’s habit of one-word answers. Like Larry, he’s stoic, aloof and sometimes downright rude. But in the end, Conan─again like Larry─will do anything for his girl.

So you see, Larry continues to live. Sure, he went away while I grew up and developed other interests. But when I wanted him again, when I became a writer and needed a bad boy, Larry came back to stay.

Now here’s the question for you. Since most of us have had an imaginary friend at one time or another, does your friend still live on in you? Is your friend by your side whenever you shake your head and answer, “I don’t know who did it”? If no, don’t you wish you had your imaginary friend back in your life?

Thursday Thirteen – 13 reasons to read my new book, Worlds Collide.

I’m totally stoked about my new novel, which my author copies for just showed up in the mail today. I thought I’d share some of that excitement with y’all. More TT fun can be found at Dreamtime and Xakara's Blog

13) World Collide has an ass kickin’ shape shifter heroine!

12) You know you love vampires that don’t sparkle…we got those too.

11) The story happens in Madison, Wisconsin… you did know that’s where the cool people live, right?

10) Did I mention the sexy female vampire heroine? The very, very sexy female vampire heroine!

09) Worlds Collide has got adventure and suspense!
08) One of the heroines is a veterinary student. What’s sexier then an animal lover, especially one who can turn into an animal?

07) For those of you who read Natural Order, there’s at least two characters from that novel who have guest spots in Worlds Collide.

06) The villain is deliciously nasty.

05) Who doesn’t adore a culturally diverse setting with empowered women?
04) The romantic elements of Worlds Collide are sensual without being overly graphic.

03) Did I mention our ass kickin’ shape shifter heroine must chose between love and duty? What will she do?

02) You know you can’t get a story from me without a bit of humor thrown in too.

01) Worlds Collide is a love story, a story about fighting for what’s right, and a story about inner strength and courage. Come join the adventure!

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!

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Foxfire

Shapeshifters are cool. As disguises go, theirs is perfect. They don’t just look like somebody else; they become something else. But I never grooved on the werewolf thing. Rigid hierarchies, savage fights for dominance, brutal consequences for going it alone—I grew up an Army brat, in what universe would that be my fantasy? And much as I love big cats, their beauty, their grace, their independence, I can’t help wondering, who’d change the litter box? Raptors? I have a picture of myself sporting a live bald eagle on my shoulder. My smile is a terrified rictus. Have you seen the claws on those things? And that beak…less than a foot from my eyes… That thin whine you just heard was me remembering the occasion.

Maybe it’s because I’m a redhead and short, but I always identified with the wolf’s smaller, smarter cousin, the little red fox. Frankly, when it comes to canids, I always thought we domesticated the wrong one. Given the choice between something that’s pretty, intelligent and ferociously devoted to her family, and something that looks at you and immediately starts prepping a nice Chianti sauce, which strikes you as a better candidate for hearthside companion?

Logic notwithstanding, growing up I often felt like the only person in the whole who saw the fox in that light. Despite their presence in our farms, suburbs and cities, foxes have a bad rep in European and American folklore. Aesop accuses them of sour grapes. People use “vixen” as an insult. In the “Uncle Remus” stories, African-American folktales collected by Joel Chandler Harris, Br’er Fox is the villain, devious and cruel. There’s Zorro, of course, but how many people know his name means fox? In a similar vein, the medieval French and Germans devoted several mock epics to the adventures of Reynard the Fox, but the valor and wit of the peasant hero fox only makes sense if you know a lot about medieval Europe. The oppressive collusion of church and state doesn’t translate well to standard fairy tale compilations.

In one sense, the best part of growing up is not having to read in the kid’s section anymore. You can uncover the historical backdrop of Reynard’s jousts with the wolf Isengrim, and so much more. The Internet added another world of resources. Suddenly, the folklore and fairy tales of every nation are no more than a few keystrokes away. At the same time, Japanese anime was making inroads into American consciousness.


To this lone, fox-friendly writer, anime and Asian folklore came as a revelation. In the place of single-minded EBIL BITCHES—er, vixens, you had shapeshifting fox women and men with adventures and love stories as complex as the humans in their world. Sure, there were evil foxes—those who used their foxfire like will-o-the-wisps to mislead travelers or possessed the unwary to eat their fill of fried tofu. But there were also fox patriarchs who apologized to their neighbors when their kids made a ruckus, maternal foxes who risked their lives to protect the children—human and fox—under their care, devoted wives and lovers wronged…by the human half of the couple. They even hold conventions. According to Japanese legend, all the foxes in an area gather around an old tree at the eve of the lunar New Year to receive their marching orders and strategize the year ahead.

Foxes are the principal servants of Inari, the Shinto kami (a kind of divine spirit) of rice, fertility, agriculture and industry. Asian foxes are shapeshifters extraordinaire, and Inari shares their fluid sense of identity. Depending on the temple, Inari could be a young man, an old man, a young woman or a collective of five different kami. Inari can appear as a pure white fox, but the kami also uses foxes as messengers or assistants, as when she helped the blacksmith Munechika forge the legendary sword Kogitsune-Maru (Little Fox).

Implicit in all the Asian fox tales is the idea of perfectibility. All magical creatures grow wiser and stronger as they grow older. They can always change for the better, whether they are a young fox with only one tail or a semi-divine ancient possessing nine. It all comes down to your choices. This notion resonates powerfully with me as a writer and a person. It’s bigger than redemption. It’s self-determination, setting your own course, mastering your fate—all those expansive, broad-shouldered American concepts we don’t normally associate with the lands where karma reigns supreme.

But what of the fox itself? Can it be perfected—er, domesticated? When I was growing up, the answer—and justification for all those evil fox tales—was a resounding no. The fox was a wild and vicious creature that would always bite the hand that fed it.

Turns out “common knowledge” on that front was wrong, too. At the same time people were telling me how intractable foxes were and would always be, Russian researchers were conducting experiments which proved otherwise. By breeding Siberian silver foxes for “tame traits”—willingness to allow humans to approach, curiosity versus wariness, etc.—they created a strain of silver foxes which act like house pets. They lost their distinctive “musky” fox smell, and their colors changed. Domesticated silver foxes display the wide variety of colors and splotches we associate with domestic dogs—without being crossbred with anything except other Siberian silver foxes. They bark, wag their tails and lower their ears like dogs. If raised with cats, they learn to use a litter box, and they love to cuddle. If they weren’t so expensive, I’d be tempted to look into my home state’s exotic animal laws. (Want!)


The Russians weren’t the first to succeed at this, either. Archaeologists recently analyzed a 16,500-year-old burial site in Jordan. The site provided plenty of evidence of the connection between ancient people and their pets. Dogs were interred with humans, presumably their owners, in graves dating from 13,000-11,000 BCE. The shocker for the scientists was what they found in the older graves: people buried with foxes. There’s even evidence the remains of the foxes were moved with those of “their” humans.

It’s a turnaround worthy of Reynard, and it hit the news the day before 2011’s lunar New Year. Coincidence? Probably, but still, I wouldn’t have minded being a fly on the tree where the foxes gathered that night. Something tells me we’re in for a wild year.

*

Illustrations (from the top):

"The Studious Fox", a margin decoration from The Hours of Utrecht (c. 1460).

"The Forging of the Blade Kogitsune Maru (Little Fox)" by Ogata Gekko, 1873. The fox spirit assisting the blacksmith Munechika is depicted as a shadowy woman surrounded by foxes.

"Fox Fires on New Year's Eve at the Garment Nettle Tree at Oji", a woodblock print from Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo series, 1857.

Jean Marie

The lure of Vampires...

Ah, the romance...the danger...the irresistible lure of immortality...and the man who would share everything just to be a part of your life.

Yep, you guessed it...the lure of the Vampire.

I remember being in college in the early nineties. Yes, I'm dating myself, but it's for a good cause. My Gothic Literature class had Dracula on the reading list. I read it with a consuming fascination and had furious debates with Dr. Ian Crawford, my advisor, about the influence it had over the books emerging from the period.

It was even being made into a movie, much to the horror of the Southern conservatives who loudly decried the entire movement as an attempt by the devil to lead the nation's youth astray. And that was my first step down the rabbit hole.

Maybe it was the taboo factor, but as a young woman struggling to find my balance in an uncertain sea of chaos, it struck a cord in me. So much so, in fact, that my thesis in college was the Vampiric Element in the Victorian Novel. I immersed myself in the myth and legends only to devour classic books of the era with my trusty highlighter in hand...searching for elements, clues, and validation that I wasn't alone in believing the classics held a darker understory if one chose to look for it.

And, way back then, before I had the confidence to ever believe I would see my name in print, I sketched out what I thought my vampire world would be like. The rules, the correlations to real life, the influence the dark and mysterious could have on my own protagonist.

It was a fantasy that stuck with me through the years. Every time I started to wander back down the path toward the vampire in my mind, I pulled back believing the idea had been done ten ways to forever and it wouldn't be original anymore. But I couldn't dismiss it. It simply would not be forgotten.

Then, one day, I discovered Destiny in a random scene writing exercise. I thought, why not? Wouldn't it be great to have a protagonist strong enough to withstand that intoxicating temptation?

You know, the thing about vampires is we think we can resist. We, as modern women, can simply smile and tease...and walk away. It's like playing with a tiger in the zoo. It looks tame and starts out innocently enough, but once you let your guard down, the claws come out and you're a goner.

I thought Destiny was made of sterner stuff. I thought she was the perfect foil for Marcus.

I didn't count on exactly how much power the idea of the vampire lover held. I fought the story. I struggled to detangle Destiny and Marcus as they pulled themselves tighter.

In the end, the vampire won. But doesn't he always?

What was your first taste of blood and destiny?

Much ado about nothing...

I'm struggling through book two of my paranormal series at the moment. Besides my own lack of confidence, life issues and plot-knots, there are other difficulties making it hard to write. One problem being that the hero of book three plays a small part in book two. He's a secondary now--one with major attitude--yet, while I'm working on this book, he's trying to dictate his story instead. I have a hard time writing two different projects at once. :\

(Men can be so difficult.)

My other problem is I have to figure out all the nuances of his character--and his talents/abilities, etc--so that they carry through from one story to the next. Personalities I can handle fairly well. Making up my own mythology isn't quite as easy. Plus, I have to make sure that whatever I write now is something I can live with for the long haul.

One particularly tricky aspect seems a bit...well, silly. But since the hero of book three is a shape-shifter, it is of utmost consequence to both him and the story itself. My conundrum is this: What to do with his clothes when he shifts?

The mere question brings to mind the old Incredible Hulk television show where the hero went through several shirts per episode. (Morphing muscles are hell on poly-cotton blends.)

Is that what I want for my hero? No, I can safely say I'd rather he have a modicum of control over his shifting. Much easier on the clothing budget--not to mention it adds to his innate heroic bent. Heroes must be in control. At least in some respects.

So then I have the option of him undressing every time he wants to morph. That could work. However, it also makes for other tricky and perhaps, funny, situations. Hmmmm, he really doesn't have a great sense of humor. Do I dare try it? Not sure. Also, he doesn't seem the type of man to take a moment and neatly fold everything into a small pile to be retrieved for future use.

I can also use another, less popular plot-device and have the clothing become part of his animal-persona. Yeah, I kind of like that one, except I wonder if it comes off as a cop-out?

I might even try the 'magical wardrobe' idea. However, that concept has been used by at least one of the more popular para-romance writers around. Would I seem like a copycat? :\

What to do? Any ideas? At the moment he's quite naked...and more than a little cold. ;)

Pinch me...

BLOOD AND DESTINY has launched on the world!

It's been a crazy week. The feedback has been kind, generous even. And I keep saying, "Pinch me."

Years ago, I swore I wouldn't write a book featuring a vampire as a primary character. I meant it with every fiber of my being. And when I introduced Marcus into the storyline, he wasn't intended to become the hero of the story. In fact, there wasn't a hero to the story at all.

He had other ideas. When I shared the opening chapter with my critique group, the Cookie Monsters, the general question was, "Does he know he's not a primary character?"

Marcus foiled every attempt I made to phase him into the background. He stubbornly refused to go away! After several revamps of the outline of the story to carry him forward a little bit further, I finally gave up and threw it out. If the blasted vampire wanted to be the hero of the story, then I was just going to have to let him.

Of course, it didn't help that Destiny was in love with the blasted blood-sucking playboy. Not that there isn't a lot to love about him, but it definitely interfered with my plans! And I couldn't be happier.

BLOOD AND DESTINY is close to my heart, not because it's my newest release, but because it is a story that wrote itself. I hope the readers enjoy it as much as I do.

Ohoh, before I skip off to share the blurb and buy link, let me metion that I am celebrating Destiny's release with a contest. The grand prize is a Sony Pocket Reader to be awarded on June 21st. Details can be found on the contest page of my website.

Now for the blurb: When the past bites, bite back.

Ladies of St. George, Book 1

For Destiny St. George, shapeshifting lioness and private investigator, her best friend’s looming wedding is little more than a reminder of her failed relationship with vampire king Marcus Smythe. Tired of being only one of many mistresses—and dinner entrees—she’s stayed away from the vampire scene altogether. Until a missing-person case forces her to seek his help.

Knowing that pressing Destiny is not the way to convince her to give their relationship another try, Marcus has been waiting her out—and his patience is rewarded when she steps into his nightclub. Now is his chance to lure her back into his arms. This time, he plans to keep her there.

Destiny’s not sure which is worse: working with Marcus, or trying to remember all the reasons she called it off with him. And when it becomes clear the case is an elaborate trap to avenge a millennia-old grudge, she finds herself caught between love and instinct—while the clock ticks down on an innocent victim’s life…

Product Warnings

Vampires determined to take more than a bite out of the heroine. A lioness sure that she’s going to have the last word.

Click HERE for the Buy Link.

LOVE AT FIRST SHOT, Fringe, and New Books!

Have you ever had something that rattled in the back of your head and just wouldn't go away? A character, an idea, a little nagging voice?

Most of the writers out there will raise their hand with a roll of the eyes. Of course we have! Well, one of those little nagging stories finally came out of the closet this week.

My Paranormal Romance Novella, LOVE AT FIRST SHOT, released from The Wild Rose Press on Wednesday. This spicy little number spent years smoldering in the back of my mind before I finally sat down and wrote it. TJ Jackson is a doctor who works hard when no one's looking, approaches the world with the type of enthusiasm usually reserved for small children, and believes there's no time like the present to have a little fun.

Emma Feltman takes the world entirely too seriously. Of course, when you're a master mage in training, very few people take you seriously no matter how innately powerful you might be. Since her latest relationship broke up because her lover was a cheating dog, she's been on a sexual hiatus. Unfortunately for everyone around her, the higher her frustration mounts, the more unpredictable her magic becomes.

Now, we learned in elementary science class that opposites attract as long as they're in the immediate vicinity. Ordinarily, these two would probably never be close enough to let the magnetics do the work. So, what brings them together? A dead werewolf, of course.

Here's the blurb:

What do a dead werewolf, a kidnapped coroner, and an inept witch have in common? LOVE AT FIRST SHOT. Emma Feltman is a master mage in training with one minor problem: sexual frustration has twisted her ordinarily powerful magic into an unpredictable force of chaos. Her current job assignment is the Supernatural Clean-up Crew.

When a werewolf is unlucky enough to get hit by a car, Emma's crew is sent in to retrieve the body. Dr. TJ Jackson happens to be the coroner on duty. When it's discovered his mind is immune to magic so they can't erase the incident from his memory, they do the next best thing. They take him with them.

Stashed in a cabin miles from anywhere, Emma and TJ start things off with a bang. Literally. But can a relationship built under extreme circumstances really work?

Interested? Click HERE to skip over to The Wild Rose Press bookstore to check the excerpt out.

Now, you may be wondering what Fringe has to do with the LOVE AT FIRST SHOT. Well, TJ and Emma have a decidedly personal connection to Thursday night television.

While TJ's character may have originated in my imagination, his face looks decidedly like Joshua Jackson all the way down to his signature quirky grin. And watching Fringe really brings TJ to life for me. Curiously enough, Emma's avatar face in my notebook was Emily Deschanel AKA Bones.

Last night, I curled up with a mug of hot tea and thoroughly enjoyed that HD TV I bought my husband for Christmas. *sigh*

Okay, let me pull my mind back on business. If you're looking for some weekend reading, I hope you give LOVE AT FIRST SHOT a glance. There's also another novella that released this week from Samhain that you might want to check out since we're talking about magnetic attraction: SERENGETI STORM by Vivi Andrews.

This is the second Serengeti Shifters book. We're all familiar with the "bad boy" books. But...how about a "Bad Girl" book? Vivi writes a powerful story of love and redemption in her return to the Serengeti world. I couldn't put this story down. Here's the blurb:

The bitch is back, and nothing gets in her way. Except her own heart...

Serengeti Shifters, Book 2

Shana Delray is hissing mad. The pride's Alpha has chosen a mate - and it's not her. Bred to be his consort, she's not going to let some runt of the litter take her destined place - no matter how much ass she has to kick in the process.

Her way back into the pride is Caleb Minor - her former lover, the Alpha's loyal enforcer...and the runt's brother. And if she has to go through Caleb to get what she wants, so be it. She'll do whatever it takes to pry the little usurper out of her way.

Caleb's familiarity with Shana's manipulative ways serves him well when he's assigned to keep the seething she-cat in line. A nearly impossible task, as he's forced to use his body - in more ways than one - to save her from herself. Now if only he can save his battered heart from the explosive desire that isn't as dormant as he'd thought.

Caleb's stronger now. Tougher and harder. And, to Shana's fury, he won't be used. The harder she pushes, the more she finds her heart yielding...and suddenly she wonders if she can somehow win back the man she spent a decade trying to destroy...

Interested? Click HERE to link over to My Bookstore and More for an excerpt.

Now, I'm off to do a little light reading of my own...unfortunately, my own work. :) It's print galley time for ANGELIC AVENGER!,

Selkies and other water shifters

I recently sold a novella (my first standalone novella) to Samhain. The heroine is a selkie. So I got curious to see what other selkies or ocean-creature shifters had been published by Samhain. I figured there would be a few and found six. In no particular order, I'm going to list them, and if I miss any let me know!

I'm giving some teasers from the blurbs. There look to be some interesting reads of all different sorts. I love to see different takes on this. Books 5 and 6 are coming soon, by the way, and not yet released, though I think they'll be great summer reads. (Mine's not out till August, and it's entitled Selkie Island.)

ETA: Added #7

1. In the Shadow of the Selkie by M.A. duBarry

   In the dangerous world of the selkie underground, a selkie vampire king and a mortal woman join forces to fight the queen of darkness that would destroy them all.

2. Heart of the Sea by Sela Carsen

   Can the promise of true love overcome a bitter Selkie curse? Ronan Burbank once had it all. Wealth, privilege, a thriving company. But one tragedy turned everything he touched to ash. Meriel Byrne’s life was fairytale perfect until the day she fell into the sea off the Rhode Island coast.

3. Sealed With a Kiss by Lila Dubois

   When a man who isn’t human is accidentally enslaved by a woman who has no idea what he is, the result is magical. Signing up for a one-week adventure vacation, Helena expects to be kayaking in the Pacific, not having every sexual fantasy fulfilled in her guide’s bed. Ocean is more than he seems, his kayaking business a cover for his deepest secret.

4. The Ocean's Shadow by Jennah Sharpe

   Storms erupt when a merman’s treasure is stolen from him. A dark, shadowy creature haunts the waters of Copperberry’s rugged coast. Feared by the villagers, he incites lust in the lonely women of the town. A servant, escaped from abusive employers, Claire never expected to live through the storm she threw herself into.

5. Lycan Tides by Renee Wildes

   Selkie princess Finora is all too familiar with betrayal. Betrayal by her curiosity, which led her from the sea. By her body, which yielded to a handsome human under the full moon. By the human, who hid her skin and took its location with him to his grave.

6. Tidal Wave by Vivian Arend

   After she’s gifted with a beautiful, dolphin-etched medallion, she finds herself surrounded by the golden boys of summers past. Her body is filled with longings she can’t explain and dreams of blue lights that turn into lovers. Joshua Marley and his cousin Anthony are merfolk, a people capable of living beneath the waves as either dolphin or human.

7. Abhainn's Kiss by Carolan Ivey

   Hidden away on a misty island off the Irish coast all her life, Abhainn has no idea she is the last of her Faery race—until a troll tries to kill her. Her peaceful world shattered, she has only days to fulfill her destiny. She must defy a curse that dooms her to hide from the sun, and take her rightful place in the Great Circle on the Isle of Avalon.

   
   

January

In some ways, January and September are my favorite months. I guess I like beginnings, or I like the end of vacations. Even if I like vacations too!

But routine is a friend to me, and it's great being back in the swing of writing again. I finished up a project in the first week of January—not that there won't be edits. And I've got two new ideas running around in my head. So this week I want to write partials. Which are, obviously, beginnings.

One is easier than the other. It's set in the same world I've been writing in for a while, with shapeshifters (cats and wolves) as well as the occasional psychic. I'll read up a bit more on cats, because I like doing things like that. But most of the work is in the story itself.

The second project is in a different place and has different research needs. It makes me excited, to read about history and lighthouses and seals and the ocean and…well you get the idea. But that takes times, of which I never seem to have enough. But I'm still going get a partial out of this. I'd hate for the idea to fade away. This way, if I write my partial, then if I have to leave the idea alone for months (because of the other project), I should be able to find my way back to writing the entire thing.

Anyway, who else has writing projects for 2009? Or reading projects? I've signed on for a reading challenge which I hope I can keep up with. First assignment is reading a category, so I'm going to look for an old Silhouette Intimate Moments (my favorite and, sadly, now-defunct line) and read that. In fact I better pick it up soon!

New Releases from Bianca

Sweeter Than Wine is now available in print! Here's the blurb:

An abused woman has the power to unite werefolk, fey and vampire against an evil that would see them all dead—if she can learn to love again.

Christy lies near death after a brutal beating by her estranged husband. Her preternatural friends reach a desperate conclusion: The only way to save her is to turn her. Sebastian steps forward to take on the burden of being her Maker.

For him it’s no burden at all. She draws him as no other woman has for centuries. With the help of a werecougar friend, Sebastian teaches Christy about her new life and abilities, making certain she is as strong as he can make her. Only then can she face her abusive ex-husband and put her old life behind her. But Christy’s ex-husband is involved in something more dangerous than any of them had guessed.

Vampire, were, and even a fey knight must work together to put an end to the threatening evil. To overcome her past, help keep the darkness at bay, and fight for a new life with Sebastian, Christy must draw on all of her new-found strength.

Samhain link - MBAM link - Amazon link

And on Friday, a new, much longer version of my very first vampire story will release. Here are the details on that...

One & Only by Bianca D'Arc
ISBN: 978-1-60504-264-0
Length: Novella
Price: 3.50
Publication Date: November 7, 2008

A deadly crash forces the hand of one lonely vampire. Should he save the one remaining human survivor, or end it all for both of them?

Charmed by an intriguing mortal woman upon boarding a doomed mini-bus, vineyard owner Atticus Maxwell saves her life after the vehicle crashes over the side of a rain-slick mountain road in the dark of night. Only her faint heartbeat calls him back from the edge of his own oblivion. He'd almost given up on life -- until he caught sight of her.

Lissa is heading for a conference at the mountain resort in a last-ditch attempt to find a job. What she finds instead, is the love of her life. When he saves her from the wreck, she learns quickly that he is not quite human. He's weakened from his injuries, but he gains strength from drinking her blood. Now that she knows what he is, she is even more fascinated by the man who stirred her latent psychic abilities from the moment she first saw him.

Breaking the news of her rescue by one of the most eligible, if reclusive, bachelors in the valley to her closest friends, Lissa gains acceptance for Atticus and the relationship that seems to have blossomed overnight. Things are moving along according to their plan when Marc LaTour, the Master Vampire of the region, reveals the accident that brought Lissa and Atticus together might not have been an accident after all. He warns them to be careful, but without knowing who their enemy is, all they can do is try to be careful as they go about their lives. Will it be enough?

More Information: http://samhainpublishing.com/coming/one-and-only or http://biancadarc.com/tales/OnO.html

Buy Link (after Nov. 7th): http://samhainpublishing.com/romance/one-and-only

I hope you all had a great Halloween!

Puma

My new book, Puma, a cat-shifter romance, is now out. I'm excited that it is featured at Books on Board, made #2 on the My Bookstore and More bestseller list and got an 81 from Mrs. Giggles!

BLURB

Only in each other will they discover how to be truly free.

Callie, a cat-shifter, is a loner by virtue of the puma that lives inside her. After a job gone bad, her very human need for contact sends her in search of the only family she has. Callie finds her foster sister in a disturbing living arrangement. Something is seriously wrong in a place where people “belong” to one man and silence is enforced to the point a seven-year-old girl pretends to be autistic.

Dev Malik thinks it’s odd to see a strange woman in the tall grass behind his house, but he doesn’t have the time to ponder why. He’s too busy trying to shelter the child and woman in his household from Scott, the control freak who lives with them.

The truth is more dangerous than Callie imagines. Scott’s control is powerfully real. And Dev’s need to protect the vulnerable is as strong as Callie’s own. Their desire is as inevitable as it is frightening, for only by looking deep within each other will they find the strength to free them all from an unspeakable evil.

Warning: This title contains explicit sex.

EXCERPT

Instead of replying, or even responding to her statement, his gaze dropped to her mouth. His hand slid over her shoulder, across to her neck; fingers forked up into her hair and made a fist to anchor her head so she couldn’t move. His mouth was a mere breath from hers.

“I’m going to kiss you, Callie.” He watched for her reaction and she didn’t know if she was supposed to give a verbal yes, or not. He must have seen something to encourage him. She thought he would kiss like before: sudden, deep, all his for the taking.

His lips brushed hers and before she could protest his leaving, he returned, caught her lower lip between his gentle teeth, scraped it lightly. Like the end of this morning’s kiss, but this was a beginning. A noise rose from her throat, in question, in desire, and with the fist that held her hair in his grip, he angled her head.

“God,” he said, a guttural sound, before his mouth covered hers, forcing her mouth open, stroking her tongue with his. He tasted of mint and chocolate and Dev; and she tried to welcome him though all she could do was accept as he devoured her. She’d been kissed before and hadn’t much liked it, hadn’t liked the invasion. Dev was different, demanding, yes, but focused on her. His large hand splayed across her back, between her shoulder blades, and pushed her flush against him so they had full-body contact. The flood of sensation, from his talented mouth—she had never felt so thoroughly kissed, his tongue demanding hers to dance, then withdrawing to explore her lips before delving in again—to the warmth of his body pressed against hers.

She actually went weak in the knees.

As she sank against him, he cupped the back of her head, holding her in that kiss, while the other arm wrapped around her waist, anchoring her to him. He slid his hand under her T-shirt and clasped her ribs, his palm and fingers warm against her skin.

His tongue released hers, and he retreated to nibble her lips. He kissed across her jawline and descended to her neck where he sucked at the sensitive skin there. Her throat vibrated, half-groan, half-purr, all pleasure. As he kissed across her collarbone, he said, “Callie, Callie. I want us to make love.”

He pulled back sharply then, as if to give himself a shake, and she reached for him, hands on his shoulders, scared he would go away. She couldn’t stand it, couldn’t take being released by him now.

He eyed her while he raised his hands to rest upon hers. For a terrible moment, she feared he was going to remove her hold on him, return to that “don’t touch” manner he sometimes projected. Instead, he caressed the backs of her hands, feather-soft strokes of his fingertips over her knuckles, between her knuckles and, most sensitively, between her fingers. She trembled in reaction, amazed that her hands could react to his touch so. A warmth gathered in her belly.

He did lift her hands off, but linked fingers with his and brought their arms down together, pulling her up against him again. Perhaps he too craved touch despite his… She bit her lip.

“What, Callie?”

“Earlier you said you weren’t interested in sex.”

He stiffened and she closed her eyes, wishing the thought hadn’t flitted through her mind, wishing she could have lied or at least fobbed him off with a “nothing”, though it was important to her that she be honest with Dev.

She rested her face against the crook of his neck and willed him not to push her away after her reminder. When she kissed him, he shuddered. They were soft, almost chaste kisses, not like his that had ravaged her neck.

He brought her arms behind her, clasped both wrists in one large hand, while with his other, he pressed a palm against the small of her back. Her belly felt him hard against her. Aroused.

That made her smile into his neck.

“Look at me,” he demanded, so she tilted her head back to meet his gaze. “You like that, that you’ve made me hard, that you’ve made me want you?”

“Yes.” She struggled a little, which resulted in her writhing against him, but he didn’t release her arms. Lifting his free hand to her face, he held her gaze to his, palm on her cheek. With the pad of his thumb, he traced the bone just under her eye, traced her cheekbone, then ran that thumb over her lips.

“You’re beautiful.”

It made her breathe faster, these words, these intense caresses, this attention. He trailed fingers down her neck to the swell of her breast. He was watching her very carefully as he lightly palmed her breast and her sensitive nipple began to ache.

“Dev?” She wasn’t sure what she was asking.

“Hmmm?” His mouth dipped to her neck, teeth scraping the soft skin, then soothing it with a kiss. And again. His hand slipped under the hem of her T-shirt, and rose to catch her nipple between thumb and finger, rolling the nub. “Do you like that?” he murmured as he kissed her throat.

She arched against him and he swallowed her “yes”, his mouth taking hers in a punishing kiss.

Her knees gave out this time, but he caught her, finally releasing her arms, though not her mouth, as he lifted her and she wrapped herself around him. He brought her to the bed.

She tried to contain her disappointment as he set her down on the mattress. He yanked off her shirt, then his, her shorts then his, all in short order. It had been a revelation, this kind of foreplay, but now he was ready to have sex.

He crawled over her and for a moment she thought he was going to move up so he’d take her mouth, but he reached back and pulled her up so they were face to face again, her under him. He’d wanted to make love, she remembered, and that reassured her.

“You make me feel, Callie.” The words seemed almost to be dragged from him and she touched his face, roughened because he hadn’t shaved.

“I think you’re beautiful too, Dev.” She wanted to offer him something of her feelings, though that barely described her real emotions. Tentatively she ran a hand through his short hair, which was surprisingly soft to touch.

“Are you scared to touch me, Callie?”

“No.” The question caught her off guard, and it must have shown.

“You prefer that I touch you?” He skimmed a hand down her side and across her stomach. Her underside. It made her feel vulnerable and he seemed to notice, because he crossed his palm back and forth across her soft belly until she relaxed into the touch. “Tell me what you like,” he urged.

She didn’t know. He traced some ribs, but he didn’t release her gaze so she said, “I like you.”

He smiled then, so pleased, the smile wider than she’d observed before, like she was seeing a new Dev.

“I like everything you do. You make me feel so warm. Inside.”

His slightly bemused expression made her add, “Is that wrong to say?”

“No,” he said immediately. “Nothing is wrong to say.”

Jorrie Spencer
Buy Puma here.

New in Bianca's World

Lots going on here on The D'Arc Side... it looks more and more like my out of print vampire stories will be finding a home real soon. I'll be posting on my website and blog when I get the official details, so stay tuned there in the next week or two.

The stories One & Only and Rare Vintage have been greatly expanded and essentially re-written. They are the first two of my vampire stories and feature the love stories of Atticus & Lissa and Marc & Kelly, who are featured in cameo roles in subsequent books (including Sweeter Than Wine).



In other news, FireDrake came out in ebook forms since last we "spoke." Here's a little bit about it:

A knight most unexpected...

Fifteen years ago, Drake left everything behind for a life in the shadows. While it broke his heart to leave his grieving dragon behind, serving Draconia as head of a network of spies suited him better. Far better than never quite measuring up to Mace, the “perfect” knight his father wished he could have been.


Mace has always done his duty, and done it well. Drake, his childhood friend and rival, was the charmer who effortlessly stole every woman who caught Mace’s eye. Some things never change—not one day back in town, and Drake’s already putting the moves on Krysta, the woman Mace has been courting.


And now the three of them have taken on the dangerous task of rescuing a kidnapped prince.

With each day that passes on their perilous journey, Krysta sinks deeper into the complicated relationship between the two men and their meddling, matchmaking dragons. Mace is clearly the safer choice for a mate; yet Drake tantalizes her with that unpredictable gleam in his eye. When the three of them come together, any sense of torn loyalty burns away in nights of fiery passion.

The safety of the stolen prince hanging in the balance, Krysta accepts the challenge to unite two strong men—and their dragons—into a real family.


Here's the Buy Link, if you're interested. ;-)


My next eBook release will be in August, with Jaci's Experiment, and then I have two print books coming out before the end of the year. Both Sweeter Than Wine and Davin's Quest are available for pre-order on Amazon right now and will be out at the end of October and December, respectively. Like I said... lots going on here! :)


Bianca
http://www.biancadarc.com/

Ergot, Schmergot

Werewolves. Yummy, sexy werewolves. Unless, y’know, they’re the horrifying, monster, eat-your-face-off kind of werewolf.

I’m sure by now we’ve all heard about some of the origins of werewolves and lycanthropy. That whole moldy wheat scare in the Middle Ages that convinced some people they were wolves. Hey, did you know that Ergot is one of the base ingredients in LSD? Yeah, I’d hallucinate, too. That theory is actually pretty far out there. There’s no scientific, physiological basis for lycanthropy, which is derived from the Greek for lycos (wolf) and anthropos (man).

But aside from food poisoning or mental illness, how did the tales of men becoming wolves begin? That’s difficult to track. Humans and wolves have had intimate connections throughout history. Witness the tale of Romulus and Remus, raised by a she-wolf. Greek mythology gives us the story of Lycæon, who was cursed into a wolf’s form after serving Zeus a dish of human meat.

Stories of werewolves abound primarily in Europe and most of them are evil. No. Not just evil, but eeeeeeeeeevil. Malevolent witchcraft and grave mortal sin surround those who succumb to the wolf. For some, the change is involuntary, the result of a curse laid on them. For some, however, it’s a perfect cover for serial murder.

Not quite a werewolf tale because there’s no hint of human transformation, the story of the Beast of Gévaudan tells of over 80 deaths in south-central France during the 18th century. The attacks are attributed to a monstrous wolf-like creature.

Seventh sons, sorcerers, drinking water from a wolf’s paw print, or wearing a belt made from a wolf’s hide are often noted as methods of becoming a werewolf. Also being a Christmas Eve baby in Russia, or certainly having parents who are werewolves will increase your chances of turning furry in the moonlight. Being bitten by a werewolf is a modern-day fiction, rarely found in older, more traditional legends.

The one exception in the old stories where werewolves aren’t pure evil comes from a 1692 trial of an elderly Livonian man named Thiess. Almost all the references I’ve found to this story seem to be direct copies of the information on Wikipedia, so take it with a gigantic salt lick. Anyway, Thiess claimed that werewolves were actually the “Hounds of God” – warriors who went down into Hell and did battle with the Devil and his minions. When they died, they were welcomed into Heaven for their services. He got ten lashes from the Inquisition for idolatry and superstition.

There are two medieval stories, both from around the same period, one French, one from Breton. The original story is probably Bisclavret, written by Marie de France in the 12th century, one of a dozen lais she wrote that were transformed into other tales. The Lay of Melion is Breton and relates to Arthur. In an earlier blog, I mentioned that Brittany has closer ties to Cornwall than France.

Bisclavret/Melion tells of a valiant and good knight who is married to a treacherous woman. The knight goes to hunt and the wife tricks him into revealing his secret. He’s actually a werewolf. From what I read, the stories don’t go into detail of how he became a lycanthrope. In Bisclavret, he needs to keep his clothing in a safe place or he can’t become human again. In Melion, there’s a magical ring that transforms him. As soon as the knight becomes a wolf and goes off to hunt, the wife steals the clothing (and in Melion, the ring, as well) and disappears. For years, then, the knight is condemned to wander as a beast of the forest.

Eventually, the king (Arthur, in Melion) goes out hunting and encounters this wolf. Melion/Bisclavret had been a friend of the king and goes to him in friendship. The king recognizes the strangeness of this and decides to keep the wolf as a companion. After some time, however, the estranged wife and her lover show up at the king’s court. The wolf goes mad, attacking the couple. In Bisclavret, he actually tears off her nose. The king, knowing that the wolf has never acted like this with anyone else, investigates and the evil-doers confess and tell where they’ve hidden the knight’s belongings. The wolf puts on his clothes and becomes human again. The wife and her lover are banished and in Bisclavret, all the wife’s children are born without noses.

The history of werewolves throughout the world is a gigantic study. Tales of lycanthropy differ from culture to culture and the modern version of werewolves differ significantly from the old horror stories. We’ve anthropomorphized them, made them more human and accessible. Indeed, we’ve made them heroes, but who can blame us? The ultimate alpha, that touch of animal lust. The shape shifter in all his forms is a romantic mystery we love to unravel.