I’d never written a novella before, so when I heard about the Red Sage Alpha Male Novella Contest, I figured I’d give it a go. Nothing like a bit of a challenge, huh?
Hang on. Red Sage publish erotic romance? Yikes! Not just a challenge, then, a really biiiiig challenge! So after I’d calmed the “no way can I do this!” demons, the first thing I got stuck into was some research. I bought a couple of Secrets anthologies and a selection of Red Sage novellas to read. Woot! Gotta love that excuse to buy more books ;-)
The research told me that Red Sage editors aren’t afraid to take chances.
I’d recently watched the TV series, Saving Grace. Grace is a cop who’s lost someone she loves. Her coping mechanisms are booze, cigarettes and sex…with her married partner. Only three or four episodes of the series screened here in New Zealand but Grace’s flaws, her strength and vulnerability in the face of her determination to do what she wanted and to hell with the consequences, stayed with me.
So I decided to take a risk and write heroine who’s not at all a “nice” girl.
Leisa, the heroine of Even Demons Get The Blues, sure looks like an angel but she’s on a slippery slope straight to Hell. Under the influence of a Destroyer demon, Leisa was provoked into committing a terrible crime. She’s lost everyone she loves and she’s filling the empty space in her soul with alcohol and casual sex. And those morning afters, when she wakes up next to some guy and can’t even remember his name, sure ain’t pretty.
So what kind of hero would be man enough to cope with a woman like Leisa?
Someone strong and determined, someone with a dark soul of his own, someone who wouldn’t be put off by the things she’s done. Hmmm. Perhaps not a man, then, but a demon. And not just any old demon, but the most badass demon in my version of Hell.
Introducing Rezon, the sole surviving Drakon demon.
Rez spent the last 4000 years as his king’s enforcer. And no-one kicked demon butt better than Rez. But he got fed up with all the gory bickering and back-stabbing, and much to King Asmodeus’s disgust, Rez opted out and took up Beguiling. When he can be bothered fulfilling his quotas, Rez is the quintessential poster-boy of the Beguiler Unit… until he cops a glimpse of Leisa.
Rez watches Leisa in a be-spelled mirror — he’s got that whole borderline stalker thing going on. Then Leisa picks up one loser too many and Rez convinces himself that if she’s going to fuck anyone tonight, it might as well be him. He whisks her off to his lair to show her what a real man — uh, make that horny demon! — can do for her.
Of course, Hell hath no fury like a Felinoid demon scorned. Rez’s current lover doesn’t take Rez’s unsavory obsession with a slutty human female lying down. She rats him out to King Asmodeus… who’s righteously pissed. Now that Rez’s transgression has been made public, Asmodeus must “officially” kick his scaly lizard ass into oblivion and beyond to teach him a lesson. And Asmodeus isn’t at all certain his own handsome ass wouldn’t get whupped in the process. Lucifer’s hairy balls, sometimes it just sucks to be king!
When the scales of good and evil are in balance, life is all peachy keen for my denizens of Heaven, Hell and Earth. But when Rez and Leisa indulge in a session of hot demonic sex and Leisa accidently breaks through Rez’s defenses and bonds with him, the scales aren’t just tipping, they’re verging on meltdown!
The sole surviving Drakon demon bonded to a human whose soul is tagged by a Destroyer? Now there’s Hell to pay. Not to mention Heaven. And an even higher power that has the potential to redeem both Leisa and Rez… if they manage to fulfill their destinies before they’re obliterated from this life and the next. Now they just have to figure out what those destinies might be!
I was rapt when Even Demons Get The Blues finalled in the Alpha Male Novella Contest. I was even more delighted when Red Sage offered to publish my manuscript—it was a June 2009 Red Sage Presents release. I hope you enjoy reading about how Rez and Leisa finally get their happy ending, despite some pretty dire odds.
And for those of you who might be wondering what happened to Rez’s Felinoid ex, Naamah’s story is currently with my editor. In “Let Sleeping Demons Lie” Naamah tangles with a Leonine Lycan prince, so it’s kitty vs lion, with some truly heinous hyenas thrown into the mix…mwah hah hah!
If you’d like to sign up to my website newsletter I’ll keep you posted on my progress. Oh, and don’t forget to leave your postal address in the confirmation email, so I can post you an Even Demons Get The Blues bookmark!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’d like to thank Roxanne for letting me wax poetic here on Fang-tastic Books and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.
Oooh, almost forgot. Through a random selection process—namely me putting all commenters names into a hat and one of my kids rummaging about and picking a name—one commenter will win a pdf of Even Demons Get The Blues. Talk to you soon!
Cheers
Maree Anderson
http://www.mareeanderson.com/
http://www.writersgonewild.blogspot.com/
http://www.eredsage.com/
Hang on. Red Sage publish erotic romance? Yikes! Not just a challenge, then, a really biiiiig challenge! So after I’d calmed the “no way can I do this!” demons, the first thing I got stuck into was some research. I bought a couple of Secrets anthologies and a selection of Red Sage novellas to read. Woot! Gotta love that excuse to buy more books ;-)
The research told me that Red Sage editors aren’t afraid to take chances.
I’d recently watched the TV series, Saving Grace. Grace is a cop who’s lost someone she loves. Her coping mechanisms are booze, cigarettes and sex…with her married partner. Only three or four episodes of the series screened here in New Zealand but Grace’s flaws, her strength and vulnerability in the face of her determination to do what she wanted and to hell with the consequences, stayed with me.
So I decided to take a risk and write heroine who’s not at all a “nice” girl.
Leisa, the heroine of Even Demons Get The Blues, sure looks like an angel but she’s on a slippery slope straight to Hell. Under the influence of a Destroyer demon, Leisa was provoked into committing a terrible crime. She’s lost everyone she loves and she’s filling the empty space in her soul with alcohol and casual sex. And those morning afters, when she wakes up next to some guy and can’t even remember his name, sure ain’t pretty.
So what kind of hero would be man enough to cope with a woman like Leisa?
Someone strong and determined, someone with a dark soul of his own, someone who wouldn’t be put off by the things she’s done. Hmmm. Perhaps not a man, then, but a demon. And not just any old demon, but the most badass demon in my version of Hell.
Introducing Rezon, the sole surviving Drakon demon.
Rez spent the last 4000 years as his king’s enforcer. And no-one kicked demon butt better than Rez. But he got fed up with all the gory bickering and back-stabbing, and much to King Asmodeus’s disgust, Rez opted out and took up Beguiling. When he can be bothered fulfilling his quotas, Rez is the quintessential poster-boy of the Beguiler Unit… until he cops a glimpse of Leisa.
Rez watches Leisa in a be-spelled mirror — he’s got that whole borderline stalker thing going on. Then Leisa picks up one loser too many and Rez convinces himself that if she’s going to fuck anyone tonight, it might as well be him. He whisks her off to his lair to show her what a real man — uh, make that horny demon! — can do for her.
Of course, Hell hath no fury like a Felinoid demon scorned. Rez’s current lover doesn’t take Rez’s unsavory obsession with a slutty human female lying down. She rats him out to King Asmodeus… who’s righteously pissed. Now that Rez’s transgression has been made public, Asmodeus must “officially” kick his scaly lizard ass into oblivion and beyond to teach him a lesson. And Asmodeus isn’t at all certain his own handsome ass wouldn’t get whupped in the process. Lucifer’s hairy balls, sometimes it just sucks to be king!
When the scales of good and evil are in balance, life is all peachy keen for my denizens of Heaven, Hell and Earth. But when Rez and Leisa indulge in a session of hot demonic sex and Leisa accidently breaks through Rez’s defenses and bonds with him, the scales aren’t just tipping, they’re verging on meltdown!
The sole surviving Drakon demon bonded to a human whose soul is tagged by a Destroyer? Now there’s Hell to pay. Not to mention Heaven. And an even higher power that has the potential to redeem both Leisa and Rez… if they manage to fulfill their destinies before they’re obliterated from this life and the next. Now they just have to figure out what those destinies might be!
I was rapt when Even Demons Get The Blues finalled in the Alpha Male Novella Contest. I was even more delighted when Red Sage offered to publish my manuscript—it was a June 2009 Red Sage Presents release. I hope you enjoy reading about how Rez and Leisa finally get their happy ending, despite some pretty dire odds.
And for those of you who might be wondering what happened to Rez’s Felinoid ex, Naamah’s story is currently with my editor. In “Let Sleeping Demons Lie” Naamah tangles with a Leonine Lycan prince, so it’s kitty vs lion, with some truly heinous hyenas thrown into the mix…mwah hah hah!
If you’d like to sign up to my website newsletter I’ll keep you posted on my progress. Oh, and don’t forget to leave your postal address in the confirmation email, so I can post you an Even Demons Get The Blues bookmark!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I’d like to thank Roxanne for letting me wax poetic here on Fang-tastic Books and if anyone has any questions, please feel free to post a comment and I’ll do my best to answer.
Oooh, almost forgot. Through a random selection process—namely me putting all commenters names into a hat and one of my kids rummaging about and picking a name—one commenter will win a pdf of Even Demons Get The Blues. Talk to you soon!
Cheers
Maree Anderson
http://www.mareeanderson.com/
http://www.writersgonewild.blogspot.com/
http://www.eredsage.com/
Posts
21 comments:
Maree - my copy is waiting in the TBR pile and after reading this post, I can hear its call louder. :)
Thanks for stopping by, Maree! I really enjoyed this novella and am hoping to read more set in the same world.
Enjoyed reading about your novella. It sounds very good. It seems to have quite a bit of action with many twists and turns.
Oh. My. Word. There's a sequel and I haven't read it? It's not out yet? How can this be? (Willing Madame Editor to HURRY!)
Sounds like my kind of book!!! I also love Saving Grace, she's a kick ass gal who would make a great heroine.
Holy smokes, if the book is anything like this post (and I'm sure it is!), I'm a reader for life! And my new favorite curse shall be "Lucifer's Hairy Balls!" LOL Thanks for a delightful post, Maree!
Thanks for the great post, Maree. Can't wait to read the book.
Hi all - just woke up and thought I'd check in before I rush off to do crossing duty supervision up at my son's school... oh happy joy!
Eleni - my demons won't rest until you've read their story, LOL! And thanks for the lovely feedback, Chris :-)
Liane - I have a new editor who seems to have fallen in love with my writing style - woohoo! So I'm biting my fingernails while she evaluates Let Sleeping Demons Lie.
Judy, Cybercliper & Jen, thanks for stopping by and I hope that if you give Even Demons Get The Blues a try, you'll fall in love with Rez & Leisa, and alternately cringe & giggle over Asmodeus's antics.
And Roxanne, thanks for being such a gracious hostess!
Cheers,
Maree
Oooh I received my bookmark a few days ago - would love the book to go with it lol.
Sounds like my kind of story!
Oh I REALLY want to read it now, sounds great! Have retweeted :)
Back from crossing duty now - not exactly fun with a cold but hey, at least it wasn't pouring with rain.
SarahKay - thrilled to hear your bookmark arrived -- I've been worried that some of the letters might go astray & subscribers might think I've forgotten to send them one. I gotta say, I love the way they turned out, and, silly I know, but I get a real kick out of using one of my own bookmarks when I'm reading a print book *blushes*
Estella - thanks for stopping by!
Lorraine - I really appreciate the re-tweet!
Sounds like my kind of story! Hope to read it soon.
I'd love to read your book. Also love the fact that "Saving Grace" is a favorite of yours. She is an ass kicking pint sized ball of contradictions, who makes me laugh and cry for her at the same time.
got my book mark the other day and loved it. This book is on my tbb list as soon as time and money allows.
I've heard about Saving Grace but haven't seen it yet. Your heroine sounds intriguing, too.
Thanks for stopping by, everyone! It was great talking to you all :-)
Now comes the fun part--I love this bit! I wrote all your names down and put them in my Akubra, then got my daughter to pull out a name.
And the commenter who has won a copy of Even Demons Get The Blues is:
SarahKay.
Congratulations, SarahKay!
Now you have the eBook to go with the bookmark *VBG*. Hope you enjoy reading it (and I'd love to know what you thought of it!)
I'll be in touch, or you can email me:
maree AT mareeanderson DOT com
Cheers!
M
I think it sounds great! You have a great mind. Keep writing.
The book sound like a good read. Keep writing.
loretta
Even Demons Get the Blues sounds terrific! Thanks for the opportunity to win a copy.
sounds yummy - hope I win :)
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