Tag Archives: Authors After Dark

Author Spotlight: Carolyn Crane

Look! We’ve got Carolyn Crane here today! Another author who gets to go to Nawlins! How jealous are we? Very! Luckily, Ms. Crane is here and bribing y’all with a prize today, so we can beat that green eyed monster back. Some. 😉 Also, her post is adorable. Kinda like she is. (And Carolyn Crane also introduced me to See’s vanilla suckers. She extolled the virtues of the chocolate one… but I fell for the vanilla. Nom.)

Oh nooooooo! Mister Bill! Some of my fave pop culture references are getting too old to use in books and blog pooooosts!

The other day I was talking to my husband and I told him a certain character in a book I was reading was way too much of a Gilligan. He totally got it. Because of course we both grew up watching Gilligan’s Island, and almost every week, Gilligan would use the special antenna of the radio they needed to get off the island as a fishing lure.  Or invite cannibals to dinner at their huts or something.

But when you’re a genre author in your 40s like me, you have to think twice about the references you use. Most of them ever only worked in North America anyway, but now the ones that once worked in North America have grown too obscure. I think it’s safe to say that half my audience did NOT watch Gilligan’s island.

Sucks!

I’ve quizzed my grade school nieces and nephews on these things. They know who the Brady Bunch is, but not the Beverly Hillbillies. No more cleverly calling a pool a see-ment pond! And describing a man to look like Mr. French, a favorite sly reference of mine? Forget about it!! Ditto for Doctor Bombay.

Here are some pop culture references that were once great but now may be too obscure in books and even blog posts like this, because there are now too few people who will get it. And some of these are borderline, and some seem to still be going strong.

Gilligan:
Sample usage: “I hate this character. She is such a Gilligan!
Backstory: Doofusy character from Gilligan’s Island who annoyingly messes everything up.
Thoughts: In my mind, calling somebody a Gilligan is no longer meaningful to too many people for a book or even a blog post. Out! *sob* This means “three hour tour” is also out.

RAMBO
Sample usage: “He’s such a Rambo.”
Backstory: The movie with Sly Stallone, of course.
Thoughts You can still totally call somebody a Rambo
I think. Right? I’d feel confident readers would get this.

FRANK BURNS
Sample usage: This used to be a personal fave of mine, often in conjunction with jobs, where Frank Burns types were the bane of my existence. “Joan is the Frank Burns of the Embers breakfast shift!”
Backstory: I think we’ve all worked with a Frank Burns or two—the rule-following tattletale from M*A*S*H.
Thoughts: Too obscure. Maybe still okay in conversation.

THE FONZ
Sample usage: “Who does he think he is, the Fonz?”
Derivation: The Fonz was the greaser on the show Happy Days.
Thoughts: I think this is very borderline, possibly out. Maybe commenters can weigh in.

After school special:
Usage: “The last half of the book is like an after school special!”
Backstory: I think most people know what these are – edifying shows about the evils of drugs or cults that ran when you got home from school in the 1980s. This was before kids had things like schedules.
Thoughts: Open for debate. I will continue to use this term in analogies, and I would feel comfortable using it in a book.

Don’t drink the Koolaid:
Usage: I saw this recently quoted all around online in reference to self publishing. Somebody said something like, “Don’t be so quick the self-publishing Kool-aid.”
Backstory: When Jim Jones made his cult followers drink poisoned Kool-aid and kill themselves.
Thoughts: This term is still going strong even though, as a cult reference, it dates back earlier than the Koresh thing. Still meaningful to people. I’d use it in a book or a post.

Meps:
Usage: I always liked this. I said it the other day when I dropped something.
Backstory: It’s from an old Saturday Night Live skit—these aliens always said it when something went wrong.
Thoughts: SOOO out.

OH NOOOOO! MISTER BILL!
Usage: Something to say when you drop something, or accidentally hit your friend’s hand with a hammer, etc.
Backstory: Another from Saturday Night Live – Mister Bill was this claymation character who always got squished, and the voice over would say Oh nooooo! Mister Bill!
Thoughts: I think this is way too obscure. But it was funny in the 1980’s!!

HEY CULLIGAN MAN / CALGON TAKE ME AWAY
Usage: Things to say when everything is going wrong
Backstory: Both of these are from TV ads that ran in North America incessantly in the 70’s and 80’s. Culligan is plumbing, Calgon is bath salts.
Thoughts: I was shocked to see somebody relatively young use ‘Calgon take me away!’ I would’ve thought it borderline. ‘Hey Culligan man’ is gone, though.

DON’T DO THE CRIME IF YOU CAN’T DO THE TIME
Sample usage:   A funny, snotty thing to say to your pal when she messes up and gets caught at something, or is contemplating misbehavior.
Backstory: The song from the Baretta, a cop show. Awesome!
Thoughts: I’ll still use this in conversation or blog posts,  I would even feel fine to have certain characters say this in a book under the right circumstances. Because it stands on its own – you don’t have to  know it’s from the Baretta song to get it, but knowing makes it that much cooler.

BEAM ME UP / WARP SPEED / NO INTELLIGENT LIFE
Usage: Commentary and analogies. Self explanatory.
Backstory: The original Star Trek!
Thoughts: These phrases are still totally meaningful! Yay! Not only do they have the Trek resonance, but they stank on their own. However, Tribbles, Live Long & Prosper, and Prime directive are borderline as references. I would still use them in blog posts and conversation though, and let characters who are Trekkies use them. I kind of feel like Star Trek lingo is a protected class.


http://youtu.be/HofoK_QQxGc

GENTLEMEN, WE CAN REBUILD HIM. WE HAVE THE TECHNOLOGY.
Sample usage: When something is dropped or broken, or somebody has something really high tech going on their person. “Wow, check out your new Bluetooth ear thingy. Gentlemen, we can rebuild him! We have the technology!”
Backstory: Opening of Six Million Dollar Man.
Thoughts: Questionable. Probably no longer meaningful to too many people, and it just doesn’t stand on its own. I think it would sound weird if you never watched the show. That probably won’t stop me from using it in certain conversations, but I feel I have to retire it from blogs and books. Ditto for “I can’t hold her! She’s breaking up! She’s breaking up!”

AAAAND LOVING IT.
Sample usage:  Sarcastic or tongue-in-cheek retort. Q: “Are you babysitting the neighbor’s kids again?” A: “Aaaaand loving it.”
Backstory: Maxwell Smart from Get Smart always said it. His boss might say something like, “But Max, you’ll be in constant peril every second!” And Max would say “Aaaaand loving it.”
Thoughts: This is one of those references you can still use, and even if people don’t get where it’s from, it still makes sense.

UP YOUR NOSE WITH A RUBBER HOSE
Usage:  Insult
Backstory: The character Barbarino from Welcome Back Kotter always said it.
Thoughts: I don’t think people know what this is anymore. Even in its day, it was nonsense. But, in a certain strange mood, I’d still be willing to use it. Not in a book, though.

Ah, my misspent youth! So, do you agree with my assessments? Are all of these terms totally alien to you, or do you know and use them? Or do you mourn their passing into disuse? Are there other terms you wish you could still use? Do tell!!!!

And thanks to lovely Limecello for having me over on the blog today!

Bio: Carolyn Crane is the author of the urban fantasy/romance trilogy THE DISILLUSIONISTS, as well as assorted novellas and the upcoming Parnormal spy romance series, MR. REAL (late 2012). She lives in Minneapolis with her husband and two cats.

Ms. Crane is giving away a copy of Devil’s Luck today! It’s a standalone ebook (well, novella) to her Disillusionists world. So tell us – what’re your thoughts?

Author Spotlight: Tilly Greene

Hey y’all, another AAD author amongst us! As you see it’s Tilly Greene! I’ve also got no closing because she covers it – so read on!

A Passionate Folly

The word folly means a lack of good sense, foolish, and an architectural folly is a “costly, generally nonfunctional building that was erected to enhance a natural landscape.”1  In the late 16th/early 17th century, the latter were structures added to English gardens as a means to bring a decorative element.  In the 18th century the buildings more often than not contained elements of other cultures.

The whimsicality surrounding the elaborate garden ornamentation was dramatically enhanced by how accurately they copy architecture from around the world.  Today, if you walked through a large park, drove by a grand estate or even rode a bike down a road to nowhere, in Great Britain you could find yourself passing by a Greek temple or Chinese pagoda.

They were so well constructed, many remain standing.  There were architects and master builders attached to the projects.  One of the more interesting elements to follies is that they appeared then and today to be useful, even habitable, but they weren’t and remain empty shells.

I love follies!

Fountains Abbey and Studley Royal Water Garden
in Ripon, England.  There are follies dotted around the extensive grounds right alongside ruins and a multitude inhabitable and useable buildings. The structure in the picture is the very well preserved Temple of Piety.  It can be seen from a distance and always tempts me for further inspections.  When up close, the windows are easy to peak through and sometimes the door is left open.  I can’t help but think about all the years this building stood and what might have taken place within its walls.

Now, to those of you who don’t know me personally, I should take a moment to tell you that my brain tends to see the romantic potential in the oddest ways and then plot bunnies are bred.  With that confession shared, it shouldn’t surprise anyone to know with my previously stated affection for follies, I’ve managed to put them into stories.  The hero of Highland Heat, Hamish Buchanan, owns an estate with extensive grounds in the Highlands that actually has three follies on it.  Grace Strachan, the heroine who is a successful milliner, grew up and lives in the city, and this is how she views her man’s extensive property:

Maybe she should change things around for womankind and have one built for her man.  Laughing out loud and not caring if anyone heard her, she continued trying to find her way around the main house.  With all the wings and floors, the place was a true maze.

©Highland Heat, Tilly Greene, December 2008

While I may have been introduced to the joy of follies in the United Kingdom, it’s interesting to know they can be found in a variety of countries.  Ireland, France and Russia are a few other countries that have produced these types of structures since the eighteenth century.  I believe the historical aspect plays a part in how I view them and my interest grows in how they reflect the times and culture in which they were built.  Culture along with the erotic aspects of the story helped shape how I first used follies in a story.

Pleased with where her musing had led her, she looked up to the hill and its green roofed pavilion and wanted to investigate it further. With her heart lightened, she giggled and jogged the last few yards. How could she have guessed she’d be walking naked around a private piece of paradise, when just yesterday she’d been terrified for her life?

As she stepped between the red pillars, she froze. The ceiling had been painted with clouds and cleansing rain, the Yin and Yang symbols used to represent the joining of man and woman.  A thick swath of blue fabric hung from a hook.  Her gaze went to the surrounding panels, each of the dozen or so paintings depicted a different ancient Chinese erotic vignette.

Her jaw dropped, this was not a place to rest or escape the sun.  This was a place created for only one purpose
to enjoy sex.

“So, what do you think?”

Turning around, she found Yi standing behind her, naked and grinning.  He’d followed her, had been right behind her, even though she hadn’t heard a thing.

“It’s
”

“Not what you’d expected?”

“No, it isn’t.”  It was difficult, but she looked away from the intense heat riding his dark eyes to finish taking in all the folly’s details.  She noticed a ledge placed between some pillars and what appeared to be drawers beneath it.  Stepping closer, she opened the first one and was shocked at what she saw inside.  Glancing over her shoulder Jia looked at the grinning, nude hunk.  She lifted an eyebrow in question and waited for him to answer.

“I told you this pavilion was built for you—your pleasure.  The drawers are full of toys to give you delightful satisfaction.”

“You are naughty.”

“It’s because you bring out the best in me.”

©An Invitation to the World: China, Tilly Greene, July 2007

When the structures were built, they weren’t intended to be anything other than frivolous decoration, and they certainly entertained me.  There are so many different types of follies and ways they could be used and would surely be fun to have a historically accurate structure hanging about for use.  So share your dreams for a bit of folly fun.  What would you design and build?  A classical Greek inspired temple for the dog, a colonial with a little porch under a tree as your special reading room, maybe brightly colored Russian domes to hide your trash and recycle cans, or what about a medieval tower attached to a garage for the kids to play in?

Okay, time to spill, what type of follie would you put up and how would you use it?

Thank you, Limecello, for giving me space to share my love for follies – I enjoyed sharing and hopefully hooked a few more converts.  I’ll be at Authors After Dark readers conference in New Orleans this August, so if you see me on a panel, walking the halls or signing books, stop me and say hi!

Email Tilly Greene, visit her Website for the latest news
Her favorite haunts are Hot Thoughts Blog│Facebook│Twitter│Pinterest

1. EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica. EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica Online. EncyclopĂŠdia Britannica Inc., 2012. Web. 16 Mar. 2012.

Author Spotlight: Manda Collins

Hi friends! We’ve got Manda Collins visiting with us today, as you can see! She was supposed to be here last Thursday too, but got a bit overwhelmed with her blog tour(s)? so she decided to condense. Which worked out for us, right? Because Myke Cole was here! We’ve got a totally different perspective about romance from Manda, which is also fun. So without further ado… Manda’s post as an AAD author!

Cover Me!

One of the first aphorisms one learns as a child (and I’m not sure why) is that you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. And as a grown up romance reader, I long ago realized that sometimes the books with the most deplorable or boring covers are the ones I most enjoy reading. Look at the original Fabio cover of Laura Kinsale’s Flowers from the Storm, for instance. There’s no way I could have known from looking at that prime bit of cheese that the tale inside would be one of my all time favorite romances.

When the time came to see my own cover for the first time, I have little shame in admitting that I teared up. In part because of the excitement of seeing my first book brought so starkly to life with real people in the key roles, but also with gratitude that it was so beautiful. And secure in the knowledge that I’d have no qualms about showing it to my romance-skeptic family and friends. What can I say? I blush easily. And I’m darn tired of defending the genre from the Fabio stigma. It’s been twenty years since he was on a cover, people! Move on!

One of the things I adore about my cover is that the hero’s face, Lucas I suppose I should call him, isn’t visible on the cover. I know that some people deplore the headless romance cover, but I have a huge affection for them. Mostly because I prefer not to have my own imagining of the hero and heroine interrupted with the faces of the cover models. And as I get older the cover models seem to get younger and younger.

So, with those thoughts in mind, here are a few of my favorite cover trends of the past few years, in no particular order:

1) Gowns! – Largely due to the advent of digital publishing, which requires there to be texture to set one cover apart from another, it is difficult to browse a row of historical romances without there being at least one cover showing the heroine in a billowing gown. I particularly love the richness of the colors in gown covers. Like this one of Cecilia Grant’s A Lady Awakened. The tone on tone, coupled with the nuances of the velvet gown make this one pop for me. Especially with the contrast of the heroine’s red hair against the backdrop.

2) Breaking the Fourth Wall – This is a term from theatre, that describes what happens when an actor speaks and looks directly at the audience. The first cover I can remember noticing that did this was Julia Quinn’s The Lost Duke of Wyndham which shows the heroine looking out at the reader. And lots of covers since, including my own, have followed the trend.

3) In the Middle of Things – These covers are those, like Eloisa James’ fairy tale novel covers, that seem to capture the heroine in the middle of things. The first fairy tale story, A Kiss at Midnight is an especially good example of this, as it shows the heroine  running down the stairs, her glass slipper left behind. Another author whose covers follow this pattern are Kate Noble’s which often show the heroine racing off somewhere.

So, now I’ve told you what some of my favorite cover trends are, tell me some of yours! Do you prefer your hero and heroine with heads or without? Or perhaps you have some ideas about contemporary romance covers! Do tell! Inquiring minds want to know! One commenter will win a copy of How to Dance with a Duke.

Author Spotlight: Mari Freeman

Hi Everyone! Today we have another AAD Spotlight going on – for my delusions that I’ll be able to go to New Orleans. Delusions are fun! Visiting with us is author Mari Freeman. You may not know much about her, but you should know she’s awesome. How do I know this? Because she’s a Buckeye. And anyone who went to The Ohio State University is a winner. Done.

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the post as much as I did.

Hello, Limecello!

Thanks so much for having me over to your lovely home on the internets. I’m really excited about Author’s After Dark this year. It’s my second but I have a real love for the city of New Orleans. I used to visit from Texas several times a year with my high school BFF, Cindy. She was a native of the area and had lots of older friends and her boyfriend was still there.

Cindy set me up on my first blind date on one of these trips. I’ll never forget it. His name was Theo. We met her very cute guy on the levee near the giant paddleboats. I was a nervous wreck, changed clothes something like ten times. You know the girlish nerves. And this was long before computer dating, so all I had to go on was that he’s cute and he’s nice.

RIGHT
 Theo turned out to be a cross between a donkey and Barry Manilow, all buck teeth and combed back hair. He was wearing a light blue, v-neck, velvet shirt. Yes, ladies. I said velvet in New Orleans, in August. And he snorted when he laughed, which, by the way, was constantly. He tried to blow in my ear— from across the table.

That night was a bust, but I’ve has so many great nights in the Big Easy since then. I try to get down there at least once a year. I hope you’re all planning on coming down for some smoking food, great music and all your favorite authors.

My latest release is About to Blow. It’s the first in a new series titled Valkyrie’s Vow. The series opens with the story of Mist. She’s a Valkyrie, kind of a junkie, and when she meets up with vice cop Kurt Stone she find’s herself in a whole other world.

About to Blow, Valkyrie’s Vow, Book One

For a thousand years, Mist has shepherded battle-slain warriors to their choice of Valhalla or Asgard. It’s the task she was charged with upon her own death, the mission she chose when becoming Valkyrie. Never before has she fallen for one of those warriors. But then, never has she felt emotions like those evoked by Kurt Stone.

As an undercover cop, Kurt expected a shortened life. He didn’t expect an afterlife spent jumping from realm to realm, screwing a tattooed hottie who makes his blood boil. He should be choosing his next destination, but he’d rather spend eternity indulging in Mist’s delectable body.

The vicious betrayal that led to her death has made Mist reluctant to trust, let alone love. If Kurt can help her face ancient demons, they both might find their idea of Heaven
together.

You can read an excerpt here.

See you all on Bourbon Street!

~Mari

I’m an exotic adventurer disguised as a normal suburbanite in central North Carolina.

My favorite things include: animals, food, exercise, wine, movies and books. In my previous lives, I’ve held an interesting array of occupations. I’ve been a project manager, used cars salesperson, a software testing manager, pumped gas at a truck stop and I worked in a morgue. I hold a degree in Forensic Anthropology from THE Ohio State University.

My favorite stories include alpha females in love with even more alpha males. I find the clash of passionate, strong willed personalities fascinating. I write contemporary, paranormal, and a little science fiction/fantasy.

Mari can also be found on Facebook or twitter: @marifreeman

Ms. Freeman has very kindly offered a giveaway of her current release or one of her backlist in ebook. So what I want to know is… have you ever been to New Orleans? Have any stories to share? Or – what about a blind date? Or if neither – just a crazy trip. Out of all those options everyone has to have something! 😀

Author Spotlight: Abigail Barnette

Hi everyone! So today we have the awesome and hilarious fun Abigail Barnette visiting with us! (Seriously – just reading over her post I was giggling.) 😀 Let’s hope she’s willing to come back and visit with us again! I especially have a very fond spot for Ms. Barnette in my heart because she saved me from all the ideas swirling around in my head/nothing to post. Yay!

Oh – and a bit more detail. So I’m potentially one of the “official bloggers” of Authors After Dark. Who knows if it’ll happen – but better to cover all my bases, right? We’ll be hearing from a number of other AAD authors as well. Those handy dandy tags will be a good indication. 😉

But for now, Ms. Barnette is the very first so here we go!

Since this is an AAD-related guest blog, I thought I should share my tips for having a super awesome AAD experience.

  1. Pick up other people’s drinks. Last year, there were several opportunities to get well and truly soused for free, but the lines were crazy long. Make yourself useful by picking up drinks other people have set aside and abandoned. Drink the hell out of them. Hey. Stop looking at me like that. AAD is about family, damnit, and family doesn’t have germs.
  2. Introduce yourself. To everyone. Just walk up to strangers and start asking them intensely personal questions. Even if they’re not a part of AAD. Last year, I learned a lot about the MBA program that was conferencing at the hotel at the same time. Also, a drunk student
    showed up to grind on people at the karaoke party, and he wasn’t terrible looking. See? Make new friends, keep the old, all that.
  3. Ask questions at panels. Last year, someone gave out chocolate to everyone who asked a question. Seeing this, my friend Jill raised her hand and asked if she could have some chocolate. It was a question, it counted, and now who has two thumbs and a Hershey’s bar? Jill does.
  4. Tell the pool guy about threesomes. I can’t stress how much enjoyment I got out of swimming laps while the pool guy talked to me about everyone he knew who ever was in a threesome. That’s not facetious. I really did enjoy it, and I made a new, creepy, custodial friend.
  5. Bring an empty suitcase, because you’ll have stuff to take home. You won’t even know how you got it. In Philadelphia last year, I vowed that I wouldn’t take any books home, but when I pulled into my driveway and opened the back of the car, it looked like a freaking library. And bath salts. Not the drug, the useful kind of bath salts, for soaking in a tub. I got so many packets of bath salts. And pens and post-it notes, hell, I don’t even office supply shop anymore if I know I’m going to AAD. The swag is ridiculous, and the volume of it is ponderous.
  6. Always bring a towel. No particular reason, other than this seemed like sage advice to close on.

Now, I’m really excited and pleased to introduce you to my latest novella, BEAST. Set in the fictional kingdom of Chevudon, the latest installment in my Naughtily Ever After series is a re-imagining of what else, Beauty and The Beast. It’s all about love and redemption, and since so many people asked when they’d get to see his story, it’s also all about Prince Philipe. So please, enjoy this blurb and excerpt, and one lucky reader will walk away with a free copy!

Accused of treason by his own father, Prince Philipe of Chevudon finds his flight to safety cut short by an arrow to the shoulder. There is only one person to whom he can turn for help, the only woman he ever loved, the only person he ever truly betrayed


Following the destruction of her home and family in a fire that left her horribly disfigured, Johanna has lived a life of hardship and pain. When her lost love comes to her, wounded and on the run from his father’s guard, she cannot turn him away. But she cannot forgive him either.

Can a prince who was once a beast earn back the love he cast aside?

A hot bath, a good meal, and a vigorous whore were all Philipe longed for, in that order, as his horse pounded down the frozen road. Knowing that such luxuries were unlikely didn’t stop him from wanting them. He’d been riding hard for three days, his father’s men at his heels like dogs on a fox.

“We’re but a mile from Clatterbuck,” Jessop, Philipe’s companion, once captain of his palace guard, called to him over the thunder of hooves. He was breathless from the ride, and red-faced, and Philipe knew that he might as well have been staring into a mirror. An exhausted, unshaven mirror.

“If Lord Fueil has not forsaken us, I may make it out of the kingdom alive.” He gripped the reins tighter in his swollen fingers, the cold leather of his gloves creaking.

It was a strange position he found himself in, that of the fugitive crown prince. His father, once Albart the Wise, King of Chevudon, had become Albart the suspicious, Albart the confused. Albart the paranoid and vindictive, who’d driven his own son from the palace with allegations of treason.

Philipe plotted the route in his mind. Shelter for the night behind the walls of Fueil’s fortress, then to the border and beyond, where his father’s men could not seek him. But as they rode on, his own suspicions deepened. The hovels on the outskirts of Fueil’s land showed no signs of life. Further into the village, not a chimney smoked nor a babe cried.

“It’s deserted,” Philipe said, scanning the low rooftops. His exhausted horse nickered and stepped restlessly.

“I don’t like this, Your Highness.” Jessop looked over his shoulder. “I think we may already be trapped.”

He’d barely finished his sentence before a thump widened his eyes and he fell from the saddle, an arrow protruding from his chest. Philipe ducked and tugged the reins, bringing his horse around to shield the fallen man. For but a moment, he considered trying to save Jessop. Another arrow sliced through the air, striking his horse in the neck. The animal reared back, spilling Philipe to the ground. He caught the reins of Jessop’s horse. The man lay on the ground, unmoving, as the hooves of Philipe’s wounded, maddened horse struck the mud around him. Jessop was dead, that much was clear, and Philipe did not intend to waste such a noble man’s death. He put his heels to Jessop’s horse, freeing the animal to carry him wherever it may, so long as it was out of this place.

Fueil, you bastard! When this was finished, when Philipe returned to his kingdom to inherit his throne, he would have the traitorous lord’s head on a pike.

Something struck him in the shoulder. A stone? He was nearly unhorsed, but righted himself in the saddle, arm aching. Only when he tried to lift it did he feel the sharp, shattering pain of splintered muscle and bone. The shaft of an arrow protruded from his shoulder, and hot blood wet his arm inside his sleeve. He cursed and reached for his sword, but the pain of the motion made him scream as the world blackened, only for an instant. He fought to clear his head. If he were to fall now, it would be over. He would wake in father’s dungeons, awaiting execution, or perhaps he would not wake at all.

Snow drifted through the treetops as riders pursued him, back the way he’d come, farther from the border that would be his safety. In his mind, he conjured a map of his father’s kingdom. It was thirty leagues to the border, and his horse was good for a few miles, at most. If he could have burned Fueil’s lands with the fire of his rage, he would have.

Fire. The word branded the map in his head with another, wholly unpleasant option. To the northeast lay Hazelhurn. The one place in the entire kingdom he might trade for the underworld. But it wasn’t death that frightened him so. He had to live, so that his father’s throne would be inherited by someone with reason and sanity, not some power-mad courtier who would be worse than the feeble-minded old man.

He would go to Hazelhurn, and the gods help him. But first, he had to lose the men following him. Plunging his horse headlong into the trees, he kept low and prayed that the lord of Hazelhurn would be far kinder to him than he deserved.

What’d you think? Have you ever read anything by Abigail Barnette before? Or… her “writing alter ego” Jennifer Armintrout? Any thoughts on the excerpt? Do you enjoy fairy tales? Twisted ones? Sexy ones? Let us know! (Oh also – there’s no “buy” link for Beast because it’s not available or up on amazon yet. When that happens i̶f̶ ̶I̶ ̶r̶e̶m̶e̶m̶b̶e̶r̶ I’ll update it.)