When I was growing up, vampires weren’t pretty, sparkly-in-the-sun beings. They were dark and evil creatures steeped in European mythology. They were inspired by the Strigoi, Vlad the Impaler and Bram Stoker’s Dracula among others.
The vampires I knew of fed on the blood of hapless victims and slept in coffins. They were walking corpses that preyed on the living intent on death and destruction. Interesting for sure. Lovable? Nope.
I’m picky about what appeals to me when it comes to bloodsuckers. Some of my favorites in modern fiction include Louis and Claudia (Interview with a Vampire), Xan Marcelles (Crooked Fang) and Eli (Let the Right One In). These vampires all represent beautifully that essential struggle in balancing the monster they’ve become with what’s left of their humanity. They’re likable despite what they are. They invoke emotion and feeling which is essential to any good character but is especially effective with vampire characterization where you’re taking something that is inherently bad and making it into something people can relate to and even see a little of themselves in.
My vampires don’t shine like diamonds when exposed to daylight and, in fact, will burn up like a sparkler on the Fourth of July. They fight, love and fuck like humans but are always battling the monster that lurks just below the surface. Sometimes they win that fight and sometimes they don’t.
Some say vampires have had their day and are out of fashion. I call bullshit. In my opinion, vampires will always be relevant in fiction. As an author, you have creative license to build your world however you like. It’s up to you to lay down your lore and make it believable and engaging. At the end of the day, or night, vampires can be written any number of ways as long as their journey is a real one.
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If you like vampires, check out my new release Love Voodoo.
After a chance tarot card reading in a New Orleans voodoo shop, vampire Luca is intrigued by Collette, an alluring woman with an uncanny intuition. Getting intimately involved with a human is the last thing Luca has in mind, but Collette wins his trust and their friendship grows into something deeper. When Luca’s clan learns that he has asked Collette to perform a spell to bind his psychotic sire, a deadly chain of events unravels that will change their lives.
Alyssa Breck is an award winning author of horror/urban fantasy, paranormal romance and erotic fiction. She grew up reading Stephen King and V.C. Andrews. The Shining changed her life and sparked a love of all things scary, spooky and spine-chilling. Add some romance to that and she found her niche weaving paranormal and erotic romance stories. Alyssa hangs her hat in the South with her family of humans and fur-babies.
Until Marvin Gaye sang about sexual healing, going to the doctor was anything but sexy. But taking off clothes, examining, touching, and even saving a life are right up the alley of love and steamy romance. Raise your hand if you ever “played doctor”.
I took a workshop in medical editing last spring, and it inspired me to write. Cali, the heroine of Cali’s Hurricane, told me she wanted to do more than cook. When the man she hates gets injured, she’s torn between turning her back on him and using her healing skills to save him. When it’s time for a sponge bath, she’ll have to get uncomfortably close.
Despite the racial tensions brewing in Oyster Harbor in the 1930s, three interracial couples have found love. When a hurricane blows through, will hate finally be washed away or will it grow back stronger than ever?
Jonathan Carter, filled with hate from a childhood incident, cares only about keeping the Klan strong on the island. Cali Waters, still grieving for her husband who died from a Klan attack, longs to use her healing gift instead of being the Carter family cook. When a hurricane threatens the hospital Jon started to build, an injury puts his life in her hands and a chance to heal more than his flesh.
Jonathan’s sister, Mary, is tired of the sheltered existence she’s lived since being raped. When Jimmy Clark, a black oyster shucker, rescues her during the hurricane, she heals from his gentle love. But if her brother finds out, both relationships will be put to a test fiercer than any storm.
She frowned and halted her movement. “Whatever for?”
“Cali, if you’d stop questioning everything, I wouldn’t have to give you so many orders.”
She left the cloth balled up on his belly. The sound of the lock clicking into place made him hard. When she returned to his side, she rinsed the cloth and stroked it down his legs. The sight of her skin—brown with a touch of gold—looked so perfect next to his. Made him look more alive. He was always too damn pale, especially now because of his injury.
“Ahem. You forgot an important spot.”
She glared at his jutting organ. “You can clean that yourself.”
“Not as well as you can.” He grasped her wrist and covered it with her palm. “Heal me, Cali.”
The pressure of her supple fingers through the thin cloth was gone too soon.
“Your chest needs healing. That other part of you seems healthy enough.”
“Everything is connected.” He commanded her with his eyes. “Besides, I know you want to.”
Her bottom lip quivered. “You’re nothing but evil, Jonathan Carter.”
His breath caught when she finally stroked the cloth down his length.
“Get rid of the rag,” he said. “I need to feel your healing touch.”
But she looked down and froze.
“And for God’s sake, don’t think about your late husband. You’re a vibrant, young woman in need of pleasure. Besides, he’s not here.”
“His spirit is always around me,” she whispered.
“No, it isn’t. We locked the door.” He rotated his hips under her hand even though it made his chest hurt like hell. “We deserve a little pleasure after that miserable night.”
“It was rough,” she agreed. “But you confuse me.”
“The feeling is mutual.” He sighed. “Are you going to wash me or not?”
Her slender shoulders rose and fell with a shrug. “I suppose a bath isn’t so evil.”
His head thrashed against the pillow as she cleaned him with a few swift strokes. Since she insisted on using the washcloth, he plucked it away. A spasm gripped his chest from the feel of her bare palm against his swollen flesh.
“Cali,” he gasped. “A little more.”
Wet and soapy, her hand skated across him. Closing his eyes, he imagined he was inside her instead. Someday, he would be. Strong, virile, and pinning her to the bed. Driving into her hard, over and over until she shattered.
A flash of blinding pleasure ripped through his balls before he could warn her.
“Oh!” she exclaimed when his seed coated her fingers. “The more I clean you, the dirtier you get.”
Coming Soon
Hidden Moon – Hot Moon Rising series – Decadent Publishing
The sentimental jewelry used during the 18th and 19th centuries is fascinating to me. These tokens of affections are sometimes very elaborate or made from unusual items, such as a loved one’s hair.
One short-lived jewelry trend that started in France sometime in the mid 1700’s and spread to London was the exchange of eye miniatures also known as lover’s eyes. It is generally believed that the Prince of Wales, who later became George IV, popularized this form of jewelry in London.
These portraits feature only an image of the eye, allowing a person to present it to a lover while keeping their identity a secret from others. They were also exchanged among family members. Lockets, containing portraits were another popular item but contained covers to hide the identity of the person. The anonymity of eye miniatures meant they could be worn openly.
Photo Credit: Yale University Art Gallery, Unknown eye, circa 1805-10, Watercolor on ivory.
The trend lasted until the 1820’s. It is estimated that less than 1000 eye miniatures exist in the world today with the Skiers of Birmingham, Ala. owning the largest collection.
My research into eye miniatures inspired my short story, “An Eye for Love”, which will appear in Delilah Devlin’s Rogues, a romantic erotic anthology. My heroine, Lady Olivia, is a collector of eye miniatures who discovers one of her miniatures missing and hires the hero to help her recover it.
I’m an author. There, I said it, not whispered, not ducking my head. I can’t help the flame in my cheeks. I’d happily sit back in a hole and type away at my keyboard, typing the words until they see the light of day, never seeing another soul.
One of the hardest parts? Talking about it. Putting myself out there. I don’t do it for me. I do it for my books, for my characters. They wanted their story to be told. Sometimes too many crowd my head and if I talk about it, I see that look come into people’s eyes.
Really, I’m sane. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! So, about those stories.
I’ve an affinity for dragons. They fascinate me. The myths and legends, the exotic pets, I’ve read and researched anything I can get my hands on. Yes, I own almost every Dragonology book printed. Fascinating to follow the adventures written there.
I can’t help but believe that they were real. Too many tales weave throughout history. They disappeared somehow. Okay, I see that look in your eye! Just think about it. I have.
It all comes out in my writing. Dragons and the apocalypse, my other obsession.
My series starts with the world dying, missiles exploding, disease spreading and dragons waking. You don’t see all that though. I get right into the nitty gritty of my dragons and their hunt for their fated mate. I just needed the rest to get my mind in the correct place. Starting the background for my dragons to live.
The result? Stealing Hope. Stealing Hope is an erotic paranormal romance-book one in A Dragon’s Fated Heart series.
The apocalypse has come and gone.
Those who survived learned to adapt.
Dragons awaken to once again reign over the skies.
Upon eruption of a volcano, Ari awakens to a changed world, and a knowing that his dragon’s mate is near. He saves her twice—once as a dragon, and again as a man—and wins her confidence.
Hope cried out, moaning, “just change me with pleasure?”
Hope is restless and unfulfilled until she meets Ari, the man of her fantasies. The sensual tension between them heightens with every touch. When their passion explodes, Hope gets pulled into the dragon’s mating ritual…and into a world of erotic sensation she never dreamed existed but now cannot live without. The dragon binds his mate to him with a ritual that shows Hope her true nature in this humorous erotic romance.
Beverly Ovalle dabbled with writing on and off for years when her best friend finally dared her to submit a story to a writing contest. Beverly decided she had nothing to lose and since she’d always wanted to be an author sent it in and agonized for months waiting to hear back. Contract in hand she has never looked back.
Beverly has been obsessed with dragons and romance since she was a young girl, collecting dragon books and reading everything she could find on them even down to the care of real life dragons. She’s always been slightly panicked that the world as we know it will end, so has prepped for it, haunting survivalist pages and prepper projects she felt she needed in the event SHTF.
An avid fan of all romance, Beverly’s goal is to share her love of the written word and write the hot and erotic romances that she enjoys. She writes what she loves to read and it was only a matter of time before her obsessions crept into her writing for her to share. She hopes you enjoy her tales as much as she loves writing them.
A Navy Veteran, Beverly has traveled around the world and the United States enabling her to bring her settings to life, meeting and marrying her husband of twenty five years along the way for her own romance. Reading romances since the fourth grade she’s followed as the genre changed and spread into the vast cornucopia of romance offered today.
Once upon a time, there was a farmer. This farmer was very busy, because he’d been rude to his wife and she left him to fend for himself in the wilds of the wilderness, with only his little farm to keep at bay the darkness of the big, wide world around him. Working all day didn’t help, because when he stopped work at night he still had many tasks undone.
One night, a bird flew by looking for his mate and he saw the farmer toiling in the barnyard. He flew up to the top of the barn to watch for a while, because maybe the farmer missed some hayseeds as he raked up the bedding for the horses and fed the pigs.
After watching for a long time, the bird took pity on the man as he went from one task to the next. He knew the farmer must be hungry, and so he went hunting for worms in the soft loam by the creek. Just before dawn, he found it – a fat worm, just waiting to become the bird’s breakfast. The bird caught it in his beak and flapped his way back to the farmer. The man sat on a hay bale, watching the sun come up, and the bird arrived. Just as he set the worm down for the man, the man let a handful of corn fall for the bird in thanks.
About this time, a lady bird saw the action of the bird and her heart swelled for she knew this would be her mate. She flew up and alighted on the edge of the fence, watching the bird and the man. The bird took one look at her and made a decision. Rather than gorging on the good, sweet corn, he hopped back so she could have it. She ate her fill and the bird – well, the bird, he got his worm.
And that’s why they say “the early bird gets his worm.” It’s all because the farmer was rude to his wife.
—
“It takes courage to grow up and become who you really are.”
– E.E. Cummings
Seven Sensuous stories by New York Times and USA Today bestselling author, Sabrina York, with bestselling and award-winning authors Maggi Andersen, Lynne Conolly, Eliza Lloyd, Suzi Love, Hildie McQueen, and Victoria Vane. Enter a world of passion and mystery where dashing heroes and dauntless heroines come together in a scorching conflagration that will will tip your world on its end.
LUSCIOUS by Sabrina York Revenge…or redemption? Which will he choose?
ONE SCANDALOUS NIGHT by Maggi Andersen Can one night with a rake be enough for a lifetime?
THE DEVIL YOU KNOW by Victoria Vane She found heaven in the devil’s arms.
UNDER A SILVER MOON by Hildie Mcqueen The shadows of the past fall over a man and a woman attempting to start anew.
MY DEAR MR. FORRESTER by Eliza Lloyd He can’t resist a woman in trouble. Will he ever learn?
WHAT HE WANTS by Lynne Connolly Love hides in unexpected places…
PLEASURE HOUSE BALL by Suzi Love Love revealed at a courtesan’s ball.
When Deveny Hargrove rescues a waif in a rainstorm in the middle of nowhere, he has no idea that she represents his long-awaited chance at vengeance. When she offers him her virginity—in an attempt to escape an unwanted society marriage—he has to agree. To his surprise, very little of his motivation stems from punishing her brother.
The fact is, Matilda Paddington represents his chance at revenge…or redemption…but his choice could destroy them both.
Read an excerpt
What Providence. That this man—one who, other than the beard, was perfectly acceptable for her purposes, and damn handsome to boot—should stop and pick her up?
Clearly God in heaven above was on her side.
“You do realize this is something that cannot be undone?”
She had the sense he was asking the question purely because his moral code required it. “I do.”
“You are quite young…to be making a decision that will change everything.”
“Everything?” she asked. “Do you really believe that one act changes who a person is? At their core?”
He stared at her as though stunned to hear such words from a lady’s lips. But then he said, “I certainly hope not.” Read the rest of this entry »
That phrase—“I wouldn’t (insert verb here) with you if you were the last (insert gender/sexual orientation here) on Earth!”—we’ve all shouted or thought that in frustration to someone at some point in our lives, haven’t we?
But…what if it were true?
What if that wasn’t just a line? What if you and another person actually were isolated, alone, the only two people left on the planet after a cataclysmic event? And what if you were standing there, on a lonely freeway with (randomly choosing here…) a battle-hardened Marine Sniper, and this man thinks you and he might possibly be the last two people alive on earth?
What then?
I read Stephen King’s book, The Stand, ages ago and I loved that story. I mean I loved it. I took it out and petted it. I read the book twice and watched the miniseries a few times too. What really got to me about that post apoc plague story was my fear over the scope of the disaster, the trauma over the death of most of humanity—and the echoing, hollow emptiness surrounding the meeting of two people trying to start the world over again. This somehow made their joining, their romance, more poignant and more intense. That idea has stuck in my mind ever since.
Stephen King, not being a romance writer, had very little romance in The Stand. *sniff* It was small and yes, unsatisfying in its tininess. To me, this was the book’s only flaw. The romance lover in me yearned for more. MORE ROMANCE, PLEASE! Then I thought, wait, why can’t I have more? And hence the Catastrophe series was born…
Die For You is a post-apocalyptic romance where two people have survived a world-wide viral outbreak with a 99% mortality rate. This is the story of two people who are very different, yet fall in love due to forced proximity and shared goals.
That’s the key here, two people meeting who would normally have never met.
I love these types of stories. Add road romance to the forced proximity, and I’m in romance heaven.
What about you? Which type of forced proximity is your favorite?
Two months after a virus took out civilization, Rachel Donnelly is the last living soul in California, as far as she can tell. Until she runs into a Marine sniper, battle-hardened but alive and healthy.
Adam Sanchez would love nothing more than a slamming session of I-can’t-believe-we’re-alive post-apocalyptic sex in the back of his Hummer. But Rachel’s fragility, inexperience—and much younger age—hold him back from exposing her to his raw, aggressive sexuality. If anything, Rachel needs protection. Especially from himself.
As they band together with other survivors to battle feral animals, violent ex-cons, and motorcycle clubs jockeying for power, Rachel grows stronger in mind, body, and spirit—strong enough to give the dangerously sexy Marine what they both crave.
The power of their passion rocks Adam’s world, bringing him to his knees—which, he discovers too late, is the worst possible place to be when danger springs from the shadows.
Warning: Contains a sexy Marine, a tattooed ex-con, a girl who blossoms into a sexually assured young woman, laughter despite the pain, m/f/m ménage, hope, love, and more bad language and violence than are strictly necessary.
Excerpt
Rachel had a clear view of the Hummer from her driver’s side window. She watched with eyes wide as the door swung open. First one buff-colored boot hit the pavement, then a second, and a dark head rose above. The door shut and her jaw dropped.
“Shit, he’s huge,” she said.
A soldier. He wore army camouflage pants. A black T-shirt crossed his wide shoulders and covered the tops of his massive arms. He looked Hispanic with dark tanned skin and buzzed brown hair. She couldn’t see his eyes through black sunglasses. But one thing she could clearly see–he had enough firepower strapped to him and in his hands to take out a small army.
Rachel had been raised to trust and respect soldiers. Instinct told her to fling her door open and run into this man’s arms. She watched him plug a clip of ammo into his handgun and hold it up with both hands, finger on the trigger. She bit her lip, shook her head and clicked the automatic lock for all four doors. Nope. Safer to hide in the car.
He looked right at her. Uh, oh. She slumped in her seat.
A moment later, he tapped his knuckles on her window. “Ma’am? Can you hear me? Come out, it’s safe.”
Terror kept her glued to her seat. “Safe. Yeah, right,” she snorted, gripping her gun.
He brought his face level with hers and yanked off his glasses. She blinked. Her breath caught in her throat. Wow, he was handsome. No, gorgeous–gorgeous like Benjamin Bratt. And he had a wicked scar that carved down the right side of his face, which in reality, only made him more handsome, an edgy I’m-about-to-ravage-you kind of way. Coffee-brown eyes and full lips curved into a tight smile. “Ma’am? Are you okay? Are you sick? Roll down your window, please. We need to talk.”
Polite too.
“I’m not talking to you,” she muttered. “I don’t care how cute you are.”
“What?” he said. “I can’t hear you.”
His deep voice sounded soothing and trustworthy. A siren song.
She examined his face again, searching for the answer to her most burning question. Was this man a gentle giant, or trouble on two legs? Either way, ignoring him wouldn’t prevent him from shooting her in the head through the car window. Rachel decided to negotiate.
She lowered the glass an inch. “I’m not sick.”
“Good,” he sighed.
“I have a gun.”
“So do I.” He smiled. “Several.”
Her nostrils flared. She straightened her shoulders. “I’m not getting out. I’m leaving. Okay, pretty boy? You go on back to your car, and I’ll stay in mine and I’ll drive out and we’ll go our separate ways. No harm done.”
The big, scary guy frowned. “That’s not a good idea. You could get hurt on your own.”
“And I could get hurt with you. Thanks, but no thanks.”
Author Bio:
Michele Mills teaches High School English to unruly teenagers and enjoys cooking for her husband and two sons. Die For You, her new post-apocalyptic romance with Samhain releases May 2016. You can find her pretending to be professional on Twitter and Facebook.
