New Excerpt from THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR

Tags

chimera, dragon attack, excerpt, FBI, good read, must read, new release, Paranormal high school, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series

After Art, I perused the flyers plastered between the lockers. Two more days until I had to officially declare my extra-curricular activities. I pulled a poster for fencing to carry around with me. I liked the physical activity, and learning how to use a sword against an opponent intrigued me. Then again, I might get enough defense from my REP training.

I stuck it on another board.

Exhausting the possibilities, I made my way to the basement. My only time down there was for Biology, which I barely made it to before the bell and ran from for lunch. But I vaguely remembered at least one wall of fliers.

Most of these were more science based: computer coding, robotics, potions, and…I stopped. A plain white paper stuck out from the others—something that fit me better than the rest.

A blanket volunteering program. Meet with an advocate every week to fulfill twenty hours of volunteer work a month. Variety. I needed it to stay sane. I pulled it off the wall when someone’s curse from the end of the hall echoed down to me.

The banging and reverberation of metal against cement drew me closer. The curses grew louder and more creative as I breached the door’s edge. Inside, water pooled under the metal lab table. Scratching scrambled over the tops, and a boy’s voice ground out curses I didn’t understand before he beckoned the beast back to him.

“Come on, Moon. Here, girl. I’ve got a nice little piece of lamb for you.”

Evan crept into view, making kissy noises and holding out a red chunk of meat.

It dropped me into a fit of giggles.

His back sharpened like I’d thrown something at him before he peeked at me over his shoulder.

The fear in him shoved me into his room rather than away from it.

He closed the door behind me and pushed me against it, miming to stay quiet as he returned to his hunt.

Or it seemed that way.

Until the petite gold and purple dragon doubled in size.

“Shit.”

An eight-inch flame spit from the dragon’s mouth.

She doubled in size again, crinkling the metal under her claws.

I ducked, crawling under the lip of a table as fire rebounded off the door where I’d stood.

Stomp-creak. Stomp-creak.

The metal above me crumpled, pushing me scampering back under the chemical sink—a fire extinguisher rattling behind my hips.

Stomp. Stomp.

The dragon followed my movements, bending low over its haunches, neck extending to shoot flame at me again.

Grabbing the extinguisher, I pulled the pin and sprayed. Flames licked my skin around the foam.

Bong.

Clear air.

I paused.

Evan threw a tray of lamb steaks on a far table, distracting Moon long enough to pull me off the floor. Shoved over the crunched metal, I rolled to my feet just before Evan landed behind me.

Moon slammed her tail against the door, keeping us trapped in the lab.

Blocking my view, Evan gestured my stillness as he assessed his dragon’s progress eating. The cringe of his mouth didn’t give me much hope.

He stepped us forward together, a foot at a time, his hand clasped around my bicep. Firm without hurting me, Evan signaled me to move silently. My uncle had done this to me once, skirting me out of a 7-Eleven as a kid pulled a gun on the cashier. I hid around the corner while he went back in to talk the kid down.

It was the first time I saw him work. The first confirmation of my trust in him. He was a badass.

Uncle Henry got shot that day, too, in the shoulder, but he kept the kid from hurting anyone else.

We’d stopped.

An empty plate clattered to the floor, and the dragon smacked its chops.

Her long narrow face turned our way. A screech slammed me against the concrete wall. Evan’s chest pressed into mine, his arms barring my sight of the dragon.

“Stay still.” He said through his teeth.

A sheen shimmered between us, and fire surrounded us.

I tensed, hands gripping his shirt as I waited for the pain, but the flames curled around Evan’s back, which bowed from the force.

My breath crackled with the heat.

Wide shoulders, the scent of grease and metal and orange blossoms.

His grunt made me jerk.

The fire backtracked.

Evan retreated enough for his dark eyes to examine me for a second before the flame pushed him back into me. So close that I could feel his strain, whatever he had that left us untouched took the damage.

Teeth grit, the warm metal of his lip ring scraped my cheek. “She smells you. I’ll distract her. You run.”

I met his gaze and nodded my confirmation.

Sucking in a deep breath, he pushed back, a small, shiny nugget appeared in his hand. “Go.”

Evan lobbed it into the flame, making the fire transform into a fog. Wet clung to my skin. My palms slipped on the door, twice, before I slithered out.

“Close the door.”

I slammed it shut, ducking below the window.

Pulse beating in my ears, I sank to the floor, hand tapping a rhythm over my chest—willing it to slow down.

A rolling chirp pierced the silent air. And the door opened with a puff of smog.

Green hair and a sly grin appeared within it.

“Safe to come in, now.”

Curiosity got the best of me. Dragging myself off the floor, I waved the smell of atmosphere and pine nuts from the air, and the cloud rolled out of the room.

The lab was trashed but not demolished. Two of the tables maintained their ninety-degree edges, but another five could be set outside as sculptures. Glass littered the floor from test tubes and beakers.

I couldn’t speak for the other equipment in the room. I’d never seen anything like most of it, which surprised me. Growing up in my father’s lab exposed me to an ever-changing line of machines.

“Where’d she go?” No cage stood out. No purple movements. Nothing to indicate a habitat.

“Under her tarp. She needs to calm down.” He pointed to a white rectangle on the far wall. Bent to snatch something, he held my gold scarf out to me.

My hand patted my hair, yanking it free of the disarrayed ponytail. “Right. Thanks.”

Hands on his hips, he surveyed the room before he gauged me. “I’ll fix it tomorrow. Are you hungry? Let’s get out of here. Come on.”

That was the most normal thing he’s said to me since I sat next to him in class. It freaked me the hell out, but I followed him out of the lab, which he locked. His silence seemed to suck in extra energy when he normally deflected it.

What type of chimera was he?

 

 

Check out the official book trailer:

THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR launches October 1st!

The Official blurb:

Lily is the daughter of Lucifer, a mother she’s never met.

When she’s laughed off the soccer field, Lily’s delivered to her FBI uncle and a new, paranormal, high school where she’ll be trained to keep other creatures in line.

Gaining few allies under the thumb of her obsessive mentor, she struggles to prove that something more is going on in their little town than anyone wants to admit.

If you like the innocence of Twilight, the snark from Buffy, and the wit of the Lunar Chronicles, you’ll be engrossed by Alisha Costanzo’s new dark and satirical YA series.

Read THE GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR and fall into a world worse than hell—welcome back to high school.

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Chimera

Tags

blue-blood, chimera, dr. jekyl and mr. hyde, ethology lesson, fracture personality, hybrids, must read, new release, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lily Graves Series

We’re closing in on the last few ethology lessons, so I’ve saved my favorites for last. The chimera. These guys are those unpredictable anomalies, much like the creatures described in my hybrids and chaos post a little bit back.

Unfortunately, Lily’s ethology book doesn’t explain their natures and behaviors well, listing examples and explaining that guessing their natures is just as accurate, so she’s had to rely on her surly mentor for information:

“They come in two forms, the genetic chimera that exhibit the physical characteristics of their combined lineage, and the blue-blood chimera that possess a single line’s traits but hold both internally—much like two creatures inhabiting one vessel.”

Like Dr. Jekyl and Mr. Hyde.

“The book only mentions the first kind, so I thought we’d explore the blue-bloods, thusly named for their abilities to blend in with their dominant species. The most common combines one of us with a human, like our shifters. In fact, they are so common that we don’t call them such anymore.”

“Blue-bloods are hard to decipher unless they reveal their genetic makeup or undergo a series of tests, none of which are fun or kind. But they are often inhabited by more than one creature, creating what can be called a fractured personality. They’re both conscious and present. They interact with each other, and often share control over their limbs. This is not always to their advantage.”

Adam descended into examples, like the book. And what I pulled from it was that they tended to be more aware of their surroundings, seemed to have conversations with themselves, and have high reactionary skills. But apparently, they weren’t good with other people.

Essentially, as her bestie, Starr, explains, they’re rather mythological, even for the paranormal community.

Originally, the chimera was a monstrous fire-breathing Greek hybrid composed of the parts of more than one animal, usually depicted as a lion with the head of a goat growing from its back and a tail made of a snake’s head. They were the offspring of Typhon and Echidna, sibling of monsters such as Cerberus and the Hydra. Often, the sight of such a monster foreshadowed disaster.

Other cultural chimeras are: the Mesopotamian monster, Anzu; the western dragons; the Ancient Egyptian, Griffin; the Assyrian deity, Lamassu; the Japanese, Nue; the Greek, Pegasus; the Chinese mythical creature, Pixiu; the Iranian flying creature, Simurgh; the Jewish griffin-like bird, Ziz; and etc.

In reality, a genetic chimera is a single organism composed of cells with distinct genotypes: an individual derived from two or more zygotes, with differing sexes and sex organs, and are created by merging multiple fertilized eggs. This can also occur from organ or bone marrow transplants.

Can’t wait to explore more of the chimera in book two, especially since one of my favorite characters, Evan, is the rarest of them all. And as he is the representation of my husband as a teenager, I based the chimera on his psychology and behaviors. Believe me, the oddities and paradoxes run deep.

 

Stay tuned for a new excerpt this Friday from one of my favorite chapters.

And guys, I cannot wait until this is released for y’all. The responses I’ve been getting from my ARC readers prove the promise of this being a good read. Oh, the happiness this brings me.

The Girl with the Glowing Hair, Cover Reveal & Excerpt

Tags

cover reveal, graves, Lilith, Lori Grundy, lucifer, must read, Paranormal high school, Paranormal Parody, The Girl with the Glowing Hair, The Lilith Grave Series

Oh. My. Shit. Y’all.

I am so excited about this book on so many levels, and now, I have an amazing cover to go with it.

If you haven’t been following along with the ethology lessons in Lily Graves’s world, this story is basically my serious—but not so serious—parody of the paranormal high school, featuring Lilith, the daughter of Lucifer, her super-villain partner, a fabulous witch bestie, an overbearing mentor, and wonder-twin guardians.

Feel free to catch up here.

Now, for the money shot…

Isn’t she beautiful? Lori Grundy from Cover Reveal Designs did amazing, detailed work and found a girl who actually looked like Lily. Psst, I don’t have their character pages made yet, but you can take a peek at them over here.

All right, I’m dropping you in an excerpt. Enjoy!

 

I met Starr in front of her oversized colonial. Inside was all high ceilings and glossy wood. Science, research and teaching, paid my dad well, but we weren’t wealthy like this. This was Jenna wealthy, and the comparison made my skin itch. But Starr’s smile wasn’t fake.

“Hey, girlie. Get in here before anyone else gets home.” Her heels from school clicked along the hardwood floors, clanking as she turned into a kitchen that gutted me with envy. The island in the middle was bigger than the entire room at Uncle Henry’s.

She pulled two small mugs from beneath a sputtering espresso machine. My knees rattled as I cupped the porcelain in my hands. The fragrant foam sat me at her counter. Man, I could get used to the taste of that.

Snow White’s ruby mouth perked, and she sat beside me. “We have to practice down here until my mom gets home because the brats will be mayhem in about an hour.”

“That’s cool. I’m more worried about how long it’s going to take me to scribble spells competently.”

“You and those ten-dollar words.”

I bit my lip and sipped the cappuccino. “My mission this morning didn’t go well. We’re going to need your guy.”

Her cup chinked against the counter, and her fingers tapped her phone. With one final flourish, she scooped up her caffeine and posed. “Done. I’ll have the thumb drive in the morning.”

My phone lit up on the counter, which startled me. I didn’t have people who talked to me anymore, other than Starr. A message popped up:

Meet me at the diner at five.

It was from Evan.

“Well, apparently, you have a date.” The glint in Starr’s eyes made it really hard not to roll my own.

“Then, we’d better get to work.”

“Mmm. While we do, I have some update-worthy news.” She fished out a pad of paper and pencils from one of the island drawers and crafted three doodles she designed for me to practice.

I grabbed a pencil and waited. “Are you going to tell me, or what?”

She fished a locket from beneath her shirt.

“A romantic gesture?”

The purse of her lips confirmed it. From her too-perfect boyfriend. “I don’t think I can stand it much longer.”

“Have you told him how much you hate the socialite stuff?”

“Ugh. Yes. To deaf ears.”

I scribbled out the first spell, wincing at the wobbly and uneven lines. “It’s more torture to slowly peel off the bandage than it is to rip it off. If you’ve made a decision, act on it.”

“And leave me ostracized by my parents, friends, and community for giving up on such a perfect future?”

“Talk about ten-dollar words.”

She snorted. “Yeah.”

“You’ll be in good company.” Both Evan and I were outliers, as Dad would call us. “We’re way ahead of the curve, so…”

“I’m not sure being grouped with Evan is such a positive move.”

I shrugged. “He’s been a pretty good friend so far. Attitude aside, he’s helped me out a lot.”

“You make it hard not to dig my nails in that.”

“Guys and girls can be just friends you know.” An argument I’d had about Blake for three years before we did, in fact, date. But I’d never really thought of him like that until he’d made a move. I scribbled out another drawing, paying less attention to the lines and more to the emotion Blake tapped into my chest. A few bubbles of mist seeped from the paper.

“Hey. Look at that.” Starr hovered above the drawing to see the change. “The spell is still distorted, must have been something inside you. What’d you think of?”

“My ex.”

“The one you left at home?”

“Yeah.” I set the pencil down and tried to push the feeling away.

“Got a picture?”

Really?

“Hey. I’m human, which means I’m curious. Come on. Was he embarrassing?”

Unlocking my phone, I gave her free reign on my photos. Her eyes grew and grew before it dropped to her lap and her mouth followed.

“Man. Talk about pretty. And you were popular.”

“My friends were popular.”

“Same thing.”

“So, our friendship means I’m popular? It doesn’t feel that way.”

“Okay. You’ve got me. Although, you’re more infamous because of the delinquent.”

“I’m sure I’m breaking all sorts of social norms with the pair of you.”

Her laugh made the grime from my old life slip away, even if just a little.

“I knew there was boy drama in your life somewhere. Makes me feel less alone, you know, so stop holding out on me.”

“He broke up with me for my best friend after I moved.”

A sharp intake of breath released a hiss from her ruby lips. “Bastards. You should sic your psycho on them.”

That teased a laugh out of me, and I took up scribbling again.

Each round sent new billows of fog into the kitchen, larger and thicker each time, until Starr had to turn on the oven fan to clear the room. Her siblings giggled and ran around in it, but the distraction stalled the magic.

The eldest sat at a stool opposite me, looking a bit more traditionally like a witch.

“She’s not a witch,” Starr’s sister said.

“Nope. She sure isn’t.” Starr wrangled one of the other three siblings, who squealed and kicked her feet as she got swung around. “You know what she is?”

Brown gaze overbearing, almost like a hot touch.

“Nephilim. A strong one. Lucifer’s.”

Alarm clanged straight through me, and my fingers dug into the counter’s edge without my consent. I looked to Starr for an explanation. How could she know that unless her sister already told her about my mother?

“Mary’s what we call a bloodhound. She can interpret magical origins of pretty much anything, and she just started training this last year.” The child in her arms swung down to its feet and tugged her toward the fridge. “Fine. Yes. I will feed you heathens, but you have to go wash up first. You know what momma says.”

“The war on germs means hand-to-hand combat,” the youngest three hollered before zooming off to the bathroom.

“The war on germs means hand-to-hand combat?” I asked.

Starr shrugged. “If it works, it works.”

“Speaking of work, I’d better go meet Evan. I’ll keep practicing and let you know what’s up tonight.”

“Yes. I want to hear all about your date.” She shooed her eldest sibling off the stool to do as the littler ones had, and with no retort, I ran off to meet Evan at the diner.

He sat on the bench outside with two Styrofoam cups—the smaller of which he extended to me before I sat. Coffee.

“Thanks.” Starr’s words wiggled in my brain, but I shook it off. We were barely friends, and I needed more of those than I did anything else. “How come we’re not inside?”

The chill battled with the heat in the cup against my fingers.

“I can’t stay. Have to get straight home.”

“What, are you grounded?”

The straw bent under the pressure of his mouth. “Not yet, but I will be.”

“What did you—?”

“We have to go in this weekend. It’s our only option. Sunday between dusk and dawn, so whatever you have left to figure out, figure it out.”

Offense pounded against my lungs and heart. Good thing I’d made some progress, and really, I didn’t want to wait longer than I had to. Not with people in danger. So, I agreed and sipped my coffee, burning my tongue.

“Good.” Evan stood and walked away, stunning me in my seat for a few minutes before I made my own way home.

 

 

The Official blurb:

Lily is the daughter of Lucifer, a mother she’s never met.

When she’s laughed off the soccer field, Lily’s delivered to her FBI uncle and a new, paranormal, high school where she’ll be trained to keep other creatures in line.

Gaining few allies under the thumb of her obsessive mentor, she struggles to prove that something more is going on in their little town than anyone wants to admit.

If you like the innocence of Twilight, the snark from Buffy, and the wit of the Lunar Chronicles, you’ll be engrossed by Alisha Costanzo’s new dark and satirical YA series.

Read GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR and fall into a world worse than hell–welcome back to high school.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

Camp NaNoWriMo: the Final Update

Tags

Assetato, bear, big bad wolf, Broken World, Camp Nanowrimo, little red, Loving Red, must read, NaNoWriMo, shifters, Work in Progress

Camp NaNoWrioMo, how I miss the simplicity of life when I could complete you.

But life happens, especially when you own a business.

What I still love about July and trying to write a whole piece in a month is that I always—ALWAYS—gain out of it is more words than I would have written otherwise.

Did I win? Not officially. But having 5,000 words I didn’t have before is a different kind of winning, and I’m okay with that.

So, instead of lamenting about where I went wrong, I thought I’d share some of what went right.

Here are some of my favorite bits from the short so far:

 

I shook it off, compartmentalizing, and swung into the kitchen to show Maddy my face before I disappeared upstairs. She’d mount my head on the wall if I snuck off without saying hello.

“You’re back.” Maddy’s smile lit up the stark kitchen, my nephew banging around the metal bowls to coat the fried chicken. “Have they been feeding you? Theo, make your uncle a bowl of stew to take with him.”

“I can feed myself just fine.” Although, I struggled to find the time away from the crew to find safer options as I wormed into their cliques. The taste of human flesh wasn’t my favorite, but I’d scavenged it a few times as a cub when I was desperate.

A few of the younger bosex gravitated my way as I ate grilled animals and human snacks. The older crew called me a hipster or vegan or hippie, but the plan wasn’t to convert them all, just their young, and the boys saw in me a lot of what they wanted as a man. Mostly, I was good with the ladies, and their hormones controlled much of their thoughts, but that was why the Assetato sent me in to infiltrate the group.

My nephew handed me a box with stew and bread enough to last me the night, and I nodded him my approval.

“Don’t hide away all night. We have a surprise performance from some locals that you wouldn’t want to miss, and I could use you at the door.” Maddy pinned me with her practiced mothering look, one she practiced on me throughout our childhood before she ever became a mother. It didn’t matter how many times I told her that she was only a few minutes older than me; she claimed older sibling status and waved it in my face like a dude with a big dick.

I might have gone through a phase. Sue me.

 

###

 

I sent her a deadly wink and enjoyed the pink brushing her cheeks.

“You must be Maddy’s younger brother.”

I snorted. “Yeah, by two and a half minutes.”

“Twins. Makes sense. She worries about you.”

I draped an arm over the back of the empty hostess stand. “Does she? I didn’t realize she talked about me so much.”

A slender shoulder shrug, bouncing her hair as she drew a swig from her own beer. “Maybe it’s just me. We’re nearing friendship territory. Girls night and all.”

“It’s likely just you, little red. My sister isn’t a frilly type.”

The quirk of her mouth sweetened her scent. “Neither am I.”

“Must be why she confides in you then.”

“Oh, you don’t think she talks about you every chance she gets?”

“Not unless she wants me locked in a cell.”

“Are you telling me you’re as dangerous as you look?” She swiveled on the stool, crossing her legs and swinging her beer between her fingers. Her lips puckered around the tip of the bottle, her thumb running along the moisture on the neck.

A fire rumbled in my gut as I thought of a few things I’d like her to do with her mouth.

“Depends on how dangerous you think I look, little red.”

Her smile said she appreciated the name. “You make it sound like you’re the big bad wolf.”

“More of a surly bear.”

Her gaze danced along the front of me. “Big enough, but aren’t bears supposed to be hairy?”

I grinned for her. “Not when we live in the age of clippers and razors.”

“Are you trying to put images in my mind, bear?”

“None that aren’t already in there.” A new group of patrons pulled me from the naughty look in her eyes.

 

###

 

I had the door open, waiting for her without pause, and her finger found my arm on her way by. Close behind her, the door shut, and we were alone. The moon swaying with her hair as she bounced to her car and threw the bag in her trunk.

“Did you need me to check the backseat?”

“You mean that bear nose can’t smell it from here?” The slow blink of her eyes as her gaze tilted up at me teased me, but it didn’t persuade me that she might know more than she let on.

 

###

 

The steady flow of people kept me busy, but I checked on Kaia often enough to question myself. Other males seemed to take note of her as well, both human and not, and a pang of protective instincts hit me below the belt.

Worse off when Maddy stomped out from the kitchen with a tray in her hand and settled up to their table. I cringed at their laughter and smiles and the way Kaia touched the man’s arm.

And I lost myself in the bouncing beauties a young blonde in a blue wig laid out for me on the bar. I grinned at her attractive smile and made her a drink to match her costume.

The distraction didn’t last long, but before I knew it, Maddy jabbed her knuckles into my back. “Did you want a dinner break? I saw you eyeing that stew pretty hard.”

I rolled my eyes at her mom-tone.

“Or was something else distracting you? Not often so many women give you the sex-me eyes and you don’t take your dinner in the broom closet.”

“I have always wanted to know what a Smurf tastes like.”

 

 

Okay, I’m going to have to stop myself before I share the whole damn thing. Obviously, I’m excited about what I’ve got down.

Have you been pushing yourself to write more? Read more? Get more done? Let me know in the comments below.

NaNoWriMo Update,Take Two

Tags

author, fantasy, Loving Red, must read, NaNoWriMo, paranormal, works in progress, writer's block, writing

So, here I am, traveling again, and wouldn’t you guess it, I’ve written diddly squat.

This means I need a plan.

And that is early morning writing sprints. Before the real commitments of my day smack the creativity from my life, I need to plant it and write.

I know. I know. That’s what I said last week, but you know what it’s like to visit with family. Plans and people become the priority. Well, writing needs to shift back up there, and do it will, even if I have to wake up extra early to get it there.

So, bear and little red, I’m coming for you.

Are you participating in NaNoWriMo? Tell me about your struggles and triumphs, and I’d love to hear about your WIP, regardless of the stage you’re in.

BORN TO LOVE WILD: Pre-order & Excerpt from M.T. DeSantis

Tags

anthology, born to love wild, fae, good reads, magic, must read, nymph, paranormal romance, romance, stars and stone books

Excerpt from M.T. DeSantis’s “Forever Love”:

If she didn’t find love tonight, she never would.

Karli tugged at the halter top of her dress where it weighed against the back of her neck. The dress was not one she would normally wear. The neckline dipped low between her breasts, showing the curving tops of what had been called her “best assets.” How she wanted to cover up. The only thing about the dress she liked was the color. At the top, it was the green of grass beneath noonday sun, and it flowed down into darker shades, ending in a forest hue. The fabric, so light, whispered around her bare legs like a spring breeze, making Karli shiver. In a bold moment, she’d bought the dress for the dance at which she now stood—the summer eve’s dance of the fae. Her grandmother’s stories from years ago promised beauty beyond comprehension and love found by midnight’s arrival. Those humans lucky enough to catch the eye of a fae might be granted eternal life to spend forever with their love.

Karli hugged herself. So far, the first part of her grandmother’s tales had proven true. A violet hue joined the sky’s usual blue. Silver shimmers, more brilliant than stars, fluttered through the unending color overhead. An orange tint glimmered across the moon, the result of the human and fae worlds blurring together. Something exotic spiced the air. It was clove and pepper and roses and, at the same time, none of those things. Yes, her grandmother’s first promise was kept. It was the second one, the finding love, that Karli doubted. She’d never had much luck there.

But then, wasn’t her bad luck why she was here? And if she didn’t actually get out among the dancers, she’d never see if her luck improved.

With a deep breath to steel herself, Karli stepped from beneath the elm tree where she’d spent the last hour hiding. Out under the sky, the music grew stronger, filling Karli’s ears and soul in a way no human melody ever had. The languid plucking of strings and haunting tones of flutes played a song both sensual and ethereal. All around, fae and humans swayed to the sound. Two human men held hands, gazing at one another with expanses of stars in their eyes. A nymph with sky-blue skin and waist-length raven hair glided between Karli and the men. A human man followed, steps slow and trancelike. His dark eyes fixed on the nymph with love or lust or some combination of both. When they passed, the two male dancers were locked in a passionate embrace, bodies rippling in time to the music.

Karli watched, knowing she shouldn’t stare. What would it take for someone to hold her with such desire? She shook her head and turned away—to find herself gazing into a set of green eyes flecked with silver.

“You are human,” the eyes’ owner said. It was a fae woman with ebony skin and ivory hair. She looked about Karli’s age, but for fae, the appearance of thirty meant she could be three hundred.

“I am.” Karli ducked her head, heat rising in her cheeks. It hadn’t been a question. “I mean, you know that.”

The fae laughed, low.

The sound struck a chord in Karli’s body, humming in tune to the music.

The fae held out one slender hand. Delicate fingers tapered almost to points. “I am Ellowyn, and you wish to dance.”

Ellowyn. The name was a song in itself, a harmony of bells. The silver in Ellowyn’s eyes danced to the tune of her name. Of its own accord, Karli’s hand reached to grasp the fae woman’s. Ellowyn’s flesh was satin and lace. Karli shivered.

Smoldering heat curled in Ellowyn’s gaze. She pulled Karli closer until their bodies almost touched. The tease of contact fluttered over Karli’s skin like feathers tossed in the wind.

“What is your name?” Ellowyn purred the question.

Karli’s mouth went dry. The desire in those four simple words sent sensations she’d never known coursing through her. “Karli,” she said in a breathy half-whisper.

Ellowyn smiled, revealing brilliant white teeth. “Karli.” In the fae’s carnal purr, Karli’s name was a decadent dessert of chocolate and cream. “Dance with me, Karli.”

© 2018 M.T. DeSantis

 

Featuring: USA Today Bestselling Author Traci Douglass, Cara McKinnon, Sheri Queen, Pepper McGraw, M.T. DeSantis, Read Gallo, J. Bigelow, and Andie Biagini.

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Traci Douglass – “Blood Strong: A Blood Ravagers Novella”

One guardian demon in love. One witch with a secret crush. One evil threatening their newfound connection.

Cara McKinnon – “A Change of Heart”

She’s a hybrid shifter who’s not supposed to exist. He’s a wolf who was born to protect her. But her secrets force him to choose: his mate, or his pack loyalty?

Sheri Queen – “The Robinson Agency”

Some are born with the gift to see into the future. Others create their own destiny.

Pepper McGraw – “Full Moon Shenanigans”

The full moon’s coming and it’s time to embrace the wildness within.

M.T. DeSantis – “Forever Love”

To find a chance… A chance to find…

Read Gallo – “The Flying Saltines”

When a river falls in love with an ordinary person will New York City survive?

J. Bigelow – “Focal Point”

Sometimes a wizard from Sweden needs help from a medium from Michigan.

Andie Biagini – “Water Temperature”
An engineering student and a cryptozoologist. One of them can talk to sea monsters, but it’s not who you think.

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Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Elementals

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divine objects, elementals, lady gaia, must read, paranormal, pigmy, salamanders, sylphs, the earth mother, undines

I am fascinated with elementals. I have one in my Broken World series, Nami, but in Lily Grave’s world, they’re a bit more than humans who can control the elements.

They often appear as clairvoyants and tricksters who love jewelry and are feared by humans, but they’re often the workers of Lady Gaia, the Earth Mother. With spirits made of raw, volatile energy, they are ageless and cycle with the earth, absorbing negativity, changing, and being reborn to do it again.

Many use divine objects created by god and work with alchemy to channel their powers.

Some are human or human hybrids. The only way for an elemental to gain a genuine soul is to marry with a human and produce offspring.

Allow me to break this down with some examples.

The Pigmy or Gnome, who tend the earth through the season’s cycles. They manage energy wells, cleaning the negative imprints left by humans. Most dwell in caves and mountains.

The Undines, who guard the seas, protecting the water, control tides, and have a hand in climate. They cleanse the waters poisoned by industrial waste and pesticides, recharge electromagnetic fields and currents, and clear mankind’s emotions, like selfishness, anger, abuse, anxiety, and indulgence. They can appear as mermaids and live in the waves.

The Sylphs, who aerate life, directing air currents and the atmosphere. They nourish all living things, purify the air before it can taint the water and earth, and cleanse the mental plane, too, of hatred, racial prejudice, rebellious bigotry, resentment, pride, ambition, greed, and jealousy, etc. They are thin and ethereal, transforming gracefully in mid air as they travel great distances in a short time and often appear as butterflies.

The Salamanders, who infuse organic and inorganic life with creation fire, sustain life, and provide electricity’s flame for daily use. Without it, life would decay, corrode, and disintegrate. They hold the burden of absorbing huge conglomerates of negativity over large cities, including crime and darkness. Although they sustain life, they are often taken for granted. Most often, they appear as lizard-like creatures.

I can’t wait to explore these guys in Lily’s world as the series grows, and they may become some main players. Ooo, the ideas are swirling.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

Did You Know…About the Paranormal War?

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Assetato, atlantean pantheon, atlantis, Boot Camp, Celampresians, must read, mythology, paranormal, Romulus, shifters, vampires

I have two distinct groups in my Broken World series, the Celampresians and the Assetato, who fight for rule over the paranormal world.

First, the Celampresians are named after the queen of the vampires, the first one in existence: Phea Celampresian. She’s vain, so she named her army after herself.

I chose that name after some research about Altantis and what type of surnames may have come from their culture. “Celam-” means the noble, and Phea was part of Atlantean nobility as her stepfather held a high-ranking government position. This also plays into her heritage: she was born of an Atlantean human woman impregnated by the primordial god, Chronos; therefore, making Phea the granddaughter of the Earth Goddess, Gaia. I infuse this mythology in her story, “Maiden of the Underworld.” In any case, I’m going off on a tangent, as I do. The second part of the name, “presian,” came from my tweaking two other names: Ampheresian, which means unsophisticated, hardy, and enduring, and Diaprepesian, which means ambitious, untrustworthy, and sly, all of which describe Phea’s personality not long after she becomes a vampire.

Essentially, the Celampresians are the bad guys, an evil coalition that aims to kill off most of the shifter races because Phea wants a dictatorship with all paranormal creatures under her control. This stems from her birth as the first paranormal creature, the mother of all vampires and the grandmother of all shifters.

Second, the Assetato have a bit simpler of a back-story. I knew that Rosalie, the head of the Assetato, was Italian royalty before she was stolen and changed by one of the Celampresians. Once she freed herself from their reign, she banded with important allies and founded the organization in order to undermine Phea’s hold on the paranormal world so that vampires, shifters, and humans can live together. Simply put, I named them the Italian translation for “The Thirsty,” as they work not to kill humans in order to survive.

The Assetato are supposed to be the good guys, but their means of fighting don’t always seem so pure. They combat Phea’s control over them and want to live more peacefully, although they also battle their natural impulses to consume human blood and flesh. They are mostly good-doers in the U.S. but are more aggressive in Europe, as I will explore in an upcoming spin-off novel THE SISTER WITH THE STOLEN POCKET WATCH about a mermaid-unicorn, but that’s a whole new tangent.

This is why they create safe houses, like seen in LOVING RED and “The Mark of the Phoenix.” To house their brethren away from the Celampresians, to protect humans, to let their soldiers heal, and to safeguard humans against their base natures.

The last note I want to make about the Assetato as an organization and all of the links between the two groups is this—Anthemos Romulus Celampresian. You may or may not recognize that name from book one and the short story “The Mark of the Phoenix,” where I give hints of his role in this world. Anthemos, or Mumu as his mother likes to call him, is the Atlantean god of beasts, the only god remaining from that pantheon, and the father of shifters.

To put it bluntly, he’s both Phea’s son and the real driving force behind the organization that combats her. Besides all of the Atlantean threads at play in Ria’s tale—my current perspective, Anthemos’s function is far more strictly tied than I’ve let on. He is, after all, his mother’s son, and their relationship affects a lot more than a few camps of creatures.

Looking forward to revealing more about this magickal place!

 

Want to know more about Altantis? About Phea? Check out Did You Know…About Phea and James, my interviewwith Phea, the vampire queen, and my free download of her creation story, “Maiden of the Underworld.”

 

Did You Know…An Ethology Lesson on Ghosts

Tags

afterlife, aswang, corporeal ghosts, ghost stories, mononoke, must read, the hungry ghost, the white lady, urban legends, vanishing hitchhiker

As Lily investigates the missing kids at her school, she encounters corporeal ghosts, a group that pretty much hates everyone but their own. They’re lively and have a flair for drama. They’re my punk kids, my conspiracy theorists, my gang for making mischief. They skirt the line of playful and illegal.

But most ghostly legends and mythologies are tackled individually—a particular being has reason to stick around after death—be it a grudge, a wrong-doing, a broken heart.

That’s what makes them the most fun to play with. They can be anything: the cold that bleeds fear into a room, the knocking in the attack, the flash of eyes in the dark.

Most often, they’re just stuck.

I thought it might be interesting to explore some of the particular cultural mythologies they embody.

(Photo Credit (c) Vanishing Hitchhiker by Nevardaed)

Like the vanishing hitchhiker legend in the US, where people traveling encountered a normal passenger who’s left something behind or asks to borrow protection from the cold. Often, the loaned garment is found draped over a local gravestone.

Close to home in Rochester, NY, comes the White Lady, who haunts Durand-Eastman Park. She’s also been noted as the Lady in the Lake, wandering the park and obsessively looking for her daughter’s body, who’d been slain by a boyfriend. The mother, the White Lady, died of heartbreak.

Another version of the White Lady comes as a murder or suicide victim that died before she could share the location of a hidden treasure in the UK. In Germany, the wife of a prince was caught cheating. The lover drowned in a moat, and the prince locked the princess up behind a wall with some food and water. He died in battle, and she died in the manor.

In Brazil, they are the victims of honor killings. Yet, for the Netherlands, she embodies the banshee, abducting babies and women, punishing people who treated them badly.

The White Lady burned in a castle farm on her wedding day in the Schinveldse Bossen forest. And in Malta, a young bride jumped to her death, wearing her gown, the day before the wedding.

The White Lady is such a popular ghost tale that she’s found a home in a slew of pop-culture shows, like Supernatural, and movies such as, The Grudge, and Scary Movie 2, etc.

The Mononoke, from Japan, are vengeful, dead, and live spirits in their classical literature, who possessed individuals and made them suffer, caused disease, and sometimes death. They are often referred to as changed beings.

One of my favorites is the Filipino Aswang, a shapeshifting monster who combines the vampire, the ghoul, and the witch. The creature was meant to frighten the people and discourage mobility in the sixteenth century. The story of dwelling in the outskirts of forests spread quickly between towns.

Another interesting ghost comes from Chinese Buddhism and traditional religion: the hungry ghost. As most become a regular ghost when die then slowly weaken and die a second time, a hungry ghost occurred in unfortunate circumstances or evil deeds. They exist in perpetual emptiness, aching for fulfillment or relief.

All of them suffer for something that happened in life, by their own doing or not, something that cannot be denied any version Lily may come across.

 

Stay tuned for more mini-ethology lessons from Lily Graves’s world and sign up for an ARC of the first in her series, GIRL WITH THE GLOWING HAIR.

 

Got a ghost story to share? Tell me about it in the comments below!

 

Getting my Camp NaNoWriMo on.

Tags

cliff-hanger, Harmon's Plot Embryo, must read, NaNo Prep, NaNoWriMo, Novel drafting, Planning, plot points, story outlining

I’m doing it again. Trying to write a complete project in a month. But this go around, my word-count goal is so much smaller than my last four attempts at a measly 20k.

Yes, I just put measly before 20k, but on average I aim for 40-50k in a NaNoWriMo session, and I’ve only hit that goal twice.

Finally, I’m getting to work with my LOVING RED characters again. This one will be a prequel, outlining both Kaia’s background with Dev—the bear and ex—and the circus incident with the Scarlet Queen, whose just appeared in Ria’s world. I am so excited to continue this story thread. If you don’t know anything about the LOVING RED gang, their storyline jumpstarted with Facebook roleplaying…which is why many of my characters have their own profile pages.

Anyways, I don’t so much want to talk about their story (but I’ve done that here, here,  and here if you want to know more). Instead, I wanted to set y’all up for the NaNoWriMo advice and exercises I’m going to be throwing at you over the next few months.

Now is the time for planning…even though I may have outlined this story at the end of last year, it’s nice to review and remind myself what the hell I’ll be doing.

Originally, I used Harmon’s Plot Embryo to develop my ideas and create more symmetry in my stories. I tend to lean toward the cliff-hanger and don’t want to be a one-trick pony. My notes on that below, and an excellent YouTube post I took these notes from.

From this process, I teased out the major plot points and decided on an alternating point of view. Like in LOVING RED, I will use first person for Dev—as he is the character I created and played in roleplaying, and third person for Kaia, who was played by a close friend.

That let me create my current outline, which I’ll sneak peek right here.

For the rest of this month, I will be reading this over, working through details as best as I can, and will probably start the opening scene(s) before July hits. Yes, I know that’s cheating, but I’m doing this to get my first draft down, not to win anything. Besides, I play by my own rules!

And that’s it for now. I’m set up, finishing another story, hopefully giving myself a week break in between, and jumping in to this novelette.

Are you using the summer to complete some writing goals? Do you participate in NaNoWriMo? Let me know what you’re working on, what your goals are, how you plan to meet them, and if you want to hear about keeping on track, catching up, and adapting to real life as you craft.