Danger: Women Writing

#37 – Using Random.org, I’ve picked a winner for $10 Gift Card, autographed copy of SINS OF THE FLESH, STRONGER THAN SIN Tote bag and an autographed copy of AZTEC GOLD.: Rachel Comment # 7 Please e-mail me your postal addresses so I can send out your prize.

I’m so excited to have my wonderful editor, Selina McLemore, here to share some fresh buzz from Forever Romance! Leave a comment on today’s blog for a chance to win a $10 Gift Card, autographed copy of SINS OF THE FLESH, STRONGER THAN SIN Tote bag and an autographed copy of AZTEC GOLD.

Selina began her publishing career as an intern for a magazine—Sesame Street Magazine. But soon instead of editing pages full of puppets, she was editing stories about heartache, heartbreak and the kind of love that can make you forget you ever felt any of those things in the first place. Now Selina is a Senior Editor at Grand Central Publishing, where she acquires literary and commercial women’s fiction and narrative non-fiction, multicultural fiction, and all types of romance. Some of the authors she’s had the privilege of working with are New York Times bestselling author Kimberla Lawson Roby; national bestselling romance author Jennifer Haymore; New York Times bestselling paranormal romance author Caridad Piñeiro; and New York Times bestselling author Stella Cameron.

Prior to Grand Central Publishing, Selina worked at HarperCollins Publishers and Harlequin Books. She is a graduate of Northwestern University, where she earned degrees in English and Spanish Literature.

Without further ado, here’s Selina!

So when I was asked to do this, I was told I could write about anything I wanted. ANYTHING. I thought about the customary topics, you know, the stuff editors typically write about: the kind of submissions we want, upcoming books, company news, etc. But I don’t want to do that. Or at least, I don’t want to do just that. Because sure, I do want readers to know that I’m looking for new books–lush, sensual historicals; dark, edgy paranormals; sweet, funny community-based contemporary romance. And sure, there are a lot of books coming out in the next few months that I’m excited about and think you’d love to read. But before all that, there’s something else I want to talk about: The Royal Wedding.

Don’t worry, it’s not what you think.

This isn’t a post where I go on and on about how much I loved the dress or the hats or Prince Harry (Well, maybe a little about Harry. Come on, how can you not love him? He’s the goodtime prince!) See, I was totally mocked for being so excited about the Royal Wedding. Not in a mean way—the teasing was all in good fun. But over and over again I found myself trying to describe why I was so enamored of it.

I loved the Royal Wedding because it marked a new beginning. Not just for William and Kate personally; it’s like a royal reset button for the British monarchy. Instead of royals entering unhappy marriages, having illicit affairs and trying to sell access to one another, we get a young couple who seems genuinely, happily in love. The even seem normal, in their own way. And so whatever is to come down the road, right now, at the beginning, we get to believe everything is good.

I like beginnings. I think anyone who likes romance does, too. Stories of people who take risks for a chance at a new life with a new love—or sometimes a new life with a former love, that counts too. I find myself drawn to novels that make me believe the characters are truly about to begin something wonderful, and in the next few months I’m lucky enough to have several authors beginning brand new series that do just that:

In July I have a new author who makes her Forever debut, Kendra Leigh Castle. Her novel DARK AWAKENING is the start of her new Dark Dynasties series. It’s the story of a woman who discovers she’s the heiress to a powerful legacy, and the sexy, shape-shifting vampire who vows to protect her.

Before I was lucky enough to be Caridad Piñeiro’s editor, I was one of her many fans. She’s kicking off a new series this summer too, when she releases THE LOST in August. THE LOST begins the Sin Hunters series, featuring dark, ancient magic and heroes with unimaginable powers.

As if that weren’t making summer hot enough, I have another new series starting in August, this one from historical author Jennifer Haymore. CONFESSIONS OF AN IMPROPER BRIDE is the story of a woman reinventing her life, and is the debut of a series featuring the Donnovan sisters. Trust me, wherever these girls go, scandal is sure to follow.

With that, I think I’ll bring my blog post about beginnings to an end. Thanks for inviting me to be a Dangerous Woman for a day!

If you’d like to know more about Forever, you can find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/ForeverRomance and follow us on Twitter @ForeverRomance. And don’t forget to download our free Forever Yours App, and put your picture on the cover of a romance novel!

The other day we talked about female demons who seduced men – succubi – so it seems only fair that we give the same attention to male demons who seduce women on today’s Dark Side Demon Monday.

I guess this kind of demon is stuck in my head because I just finished reading Larissa Ione’s fabulous PLEASURE UNBOUND which features a rather sexy and honorable incubus. If you haven’t read it, be sure to check it out.

But back to the incubus. In most myths, the incubus seduces a woman to have sex with him and sometimes such intercourse will result in a child – a cambion. A cambion has special powers as a result of the inheritance of the incubus powers. The most well-known of cambions is probably Merlin, who is said to have been conceived as a result of an incubus impregnating a king’s daughter. Much like Merlin was conceived with deceit, so, too, Merlin uses deceit to produce Arthur and use him to achieve his desires.

There are some instances in myth and religious discussion that hint that an incubus might be bisexual, assuming a female form to trick a man into having sex and then using the results of such sex to impregnate women while in the form of an incubus.

Very interesting! It seems to me that the mores of the times could not imagine that sex was something people wanted to do. Blaming demons to justify unwanted sexual desires made it easier to hide or deal with these issues.

Have you read any good books where an incubus was the hero? Or a succubus as a heroine? Please share with us if you did!

One kind of demon you don’t really see all that often in paranormal novels is the Chimera – a creature that is a blend of several other beings. The origin of the Chimera dates back to Greek mythology where the Chimera appears as a fire-breathing demon with the body of a lion, snake’s head tail and the head of a goat sticking out of the center of its back. Not a pretty creature.

References to Chimeras can be found in works by Homer, Ovid and Virgil, but then this demon seems to disappear for some time in more modern works. Recently, variations on the creature have appeared in television shows such as Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, CSI: Las Vegas and The X-Files, films such as The Relic and paranormal novels such as Marjorie Liu’s Dirk and Steele series.

The CSI episode was particularly interesting because it did not deal with a fictional Chimera, but rather a real human version of the ancient Greek myth.

Did you know that it’s possible for a human Chimera to exist, namely, an individual who has two different sets of DNA in their body?

How does this happen? Oftentimes this kind of mix can be seen in non-identical twins who shared a blood supply via the placenta. It can also occur when there are twins and one dies during gestation and is absorbed by the other twin. The cells of the dead twin which are incorporated into the surviving twin can carry distinct genetic material from that of the surviving twin.

I think it might be interesting to see a shapeshifting story where someone could change into blend of animals, each one providing its best properties. The speed of a cheetah combined with the power of a wolf, or something like that.

What do you think? What kinds of combinations would make for interesting chimera demons?