Today we have an interview and giveaway with the author of Blood on Silk, Marie Treanor.What was your inspiration for Blood on Silk?
I suppose, the fact that I’ve always loved vampire stories, and Gothic fantasy and romance. This scene came into my head of a vampire arising from stone and advancing on my stunned heroine, and Blood on Silk was born from there.
How did you come up with Elizabeth Silk? I found her almost comical in the beginning, the way she absolutely refused to believe even when the evidence quite literally bit her in the neck.
Yes, she tries very hard not to believe, and I’m glad you found that scene funny J. The thing is, she’s spent two years debunking vampire myths; she really doesn’t believe in the supernatural, so while she’s quite aware she’s been attacked, she knows her attacker has to be either a maniac or a prankster - or a combination of the two!
How did I come up with her? I wanted a heroine with enough intelligence and humour to intrigue a vampire of Saloman’s vast age and experience; someone strong enough not to crumple into a helpless gibbering wreck, yet still have the potential for growth and development once she understands what’s going on. She desperately wants to do the right thing, and works hard to learn to deal with this new and frightening world she’s been catapulted into. And although I shouldn’t say so myself, I like the way she grows into her potential J
Would you like to share a blurb and/or excerpt of Blood on Silk?
I’d love to! Here’s the blurb and an excerpt from the awakening scene:
BLOOD ON SILK
An AWAKENED BY BLOOD Novel
By Marie Treanor
Out Now from NAL Signet Eclipse.
Scottish academic Elizabeth Silk is spending the summer in Romania researching historical superstitions for her PhD. While she is tracing local folktales, one subject in particular sparks her imagination. His name is Saloman, legend's most powerful vampire, a seductive prince staked centuries ago. Now, in the ruins of a castle crypt, Elizabeth discovers the legends are real. Her blood has awakened him. Her innocence has aroused him. But Elizabeth unleashes more than Saloman's hunger.
An army of vampire hunters has amassed to send Saloman back to hell. Sworn to help - yet fearing Saloman's deadly blood lust - Elizabeth seeks to entrap him, offering her body as bait. But something stronger than dread, more powerful than revenge, is uniting Elizabeth to her prey. Caught between desire and rage, Elizabeth must decide where her loyalties lie...and what the limits are to a yearning she can no longer control.
*
There was nowhere to go but backward, until the wall ground into her shoulder blades and buttocks, and still he kept coming. Tall and broad-shouldered, his very size threatened her. Most of his handsome face was in shadow, hiding any expression. She could only make out his eyes, blacker than the surrounding darkness, yet glistening with some deep, wild hunger it hurt to look at.
He lifted his hand once more to the wound in her throat. His fingertip was cold, yet seemed to burn her skin. She gasped, quivering, and when he bent his head toward her again, gazing at her bleeding injury, she began to fight, crashing her fists into his chest, pushing uselessly against his shoulders.
He smelled of earth and cold stone, gave off no sense of human warmth. So why did her body begin to weaken its resistance? Her fists, her struggles, made no impression on him. He continued to lower his head to her wounded neck. At least she could no longer see those terrible eyes…
At the first touch of his lips, she gave up. Because she could do nothing against him. And because some dark, perverse part of her remembered the unique, agonizing thrill of his first bite.
But he didn’t bite. He surrounded the wound with his lips and licked it once. She shuddered, helpless in the grip of fear and something she couldn’t – or wouldn’t – name. Then he lifted his head and she stared at him, speechless, because the pain had gone.
The hunger hadn’t left his eyes, but in the glimmer of torchlight, she thought it was overlaid with mockery. The bastard was laughing at her.
“I’m saving the rest for later,” he explained.
Her eyes widened. He was letting her live after all? At least for another minute. “L-later?” she stammered.
His fingers trailed across her throat, butterfly light, making her gasp. “Later. Your blood is strong and heady. I’m taking time to absorb it.” He bent nearer her, inhaling, almost sniffing the air around her head and throat. The skin of his face looked so smooth she had an insane urge to reach up and touch it. His sculpted lips moved faintly, as if a smile almost danced across them, never quite forming before it faded.
“Interesting,” he observed, and his voice was different now, quiet, almost whispering, with just a hint of hoarseness. “I have to thank you for waking me…What is your name?”
She swallowed. “Elizabeth. Elizabeth Silk.”
The almost-smile tugged at his lips and vanished. His cheek brushed against hers, barely touching and yet her stomach seemed to plunge. “Silk. How apt,” he murmured. “Like your hair…And your skin, so soft and warm…”
His fingertips caressed her face, slid down over her chin to her throat and she gasped, jerking in panic. But the movement only brought her into contact with his body. Hard, solid, and surely that stiff ridge against her stomach was his erection… Vampires had erections? Unless that part of him was still made of stone?
Oh Jesus Christ and fuck!
She shrank, pressing her back into the wall once more. Shocked, she could feel wetness between her legs. It’s just fear, not lust, it can’t be…
“And you are English,” he said, changing to that language without warning.
“Scottish,” she returned mechanically. What the hell does that matter?
He inclined his head, clearly humoring her. His body touched hers at breast and hips, hardening her nipples into aching peaks. Perhaps he felt them, for he said, “Do you know how long it has been since I have had a meal or a woman?”
Her stomach seemed to melt into her womb. Sweat had broken out on her palms, was trickling down between her breasts. But somehow she managed to do the math. “Three hundred and twelve years?”
His gaze dropped to her lips. “Don’t ask me. After the first couple of centuries, those decades just fly by.” He lifted his hand from her neck, tracing one tapered fingertip along her lower lip. She was afraid to move.
“Do they really?” she managed.
“No. But they let me work up some heady appetites.”
“For what?” She sounded more suspicious than terrified. Was that good? Perhaps. The almost-smile reappeared and vanished as his face leaned nearer hers.
“For dinner,” he answered. “And dalliance.”
His finger slid to the corner of her lips, pushing gently until she gasped, and when her mouth opened he took it with his.
Heat consumed her, drowning her in some strange, welcome weakness. His cool lips moved across hers, sampling, parting them. He should have tasted of dust and death and corruption. At the very least he hadn’t brushed his teeth in three hundred and twelve years. Yet what she inhaled in panic was something overwhelmingly seductive, an earthy sweetness, powerful and masculine, and God help her, she wanted it. She wanted to give herself to his mouth, feel his kiss deepen and dominate while he pressed that large, hard body closer into her. She wanted to push herself against the hardness nudging her abdomen. She wanted it between her legs, pushing into her, because she’d never known a kiss as arousing as this, and the sex would be so…
Oh God!
How many Awakened by Blood novels are currently planned?
It was planned as a trilogy following the fortunes of Elizabeth and Saloman. But I admit I’m finding it hard to leave them now J
When will the next book be out?
Blood Sin comes out on 5th April 2011, and the final book, Blood Eternal, in October.
Your bio says you live in Scotland. Are you Scottish born or did you move there?
I’m Scottish born and bred. I was brought up in Glasgow, my mother’s home city, moved around a bit when I was in my late teens and twenties, studying and working, then came home to Scotland to be with he-who-became-my-husband J. We lived in Edinburgh for about ten years, then moved out to a quiet village by the sea, which I love.
Ok let's talk holidays:
How do you celebrate the holidays in Scotland? I've read Scotland does the twelve days of Christmas and the big celebration is actually on New Year's Eve which is called Hogmanay. How do you celebrate?
I believe Christmas used to be much more low-key – strict Presbyterian anti-“idolatry” influence! – and New Year was always the big celebration. When my mother was a child, people used to have to work Christmas Day. But nowadays Christmas is celebrated just as enthusiastically in Scotland as anywhere else. Although we do still make a big fuss of New Year!
We love Christmas in our house – we have three kids, one of whom is only seven and still enjoys the magic of Santa Claus, although I suspect this may well be the last year she does L. By custom my husband teases the life out of the kids, making them get dressed and eat breakfast before letting them see their presents, which are all piled up under the Christmas Tree in our front room. After present-opening, my husband and I have a glass or two of champagne while cooking the Christmas turkey dinner, which we always have formally around the table.
Do you have any customs or family holiday traditions you'd like to share?
Well, I’ll tell you more about Scottish New Year :-). The custom on Hogmanay (New Year’s Eve) is mainly to get plastered in time for “the bells”, which is when midnight strikes. Traditionally, you should be in your own home for the bells - I remember when I was young, everyone rushing to catch the last bus before the bells so we’d make it home in time, and the driver was understanding enough to stop anywhere to pick people up.
Then your “first foot” is important – ie, the first foot over your door in the New Year should, to bring you good luck, belong to a dark man (believed to be a hangover from the days when a fair Viking was a threat and definitely bad luck, though it may be even older than that), bearing a useful gift. To be on the safe side, my Dad used to get pushed outside the front door with a lump of coal in his hand at two minutes to midnight, and then be let in as soon as midnight struck. After which we’d all toast the New Year, and then the serious business of first-footing other people would begin. My Dad took his bottle of whisky with him and we’d go off and visit neighbours, who’d all get a drink out of my Dad’s bottle after we’d enjoyed their hospitality. Then we’d take the bottle with us to the next house.
Sadly, some of the old first-footing traditions are dying out now in favour of huge parties like the one held in Prince’s Street Gardens in Edinburgh, or smaller events like our own village ceilidh (a party with traditional Scottish music and dancing, and an inevitable outburst of Auld Lang Syne at midnight!). But you can still see and hear people wandering the streets all night, shaking hands with whoever they meet and wishing them “Happy New Year.” It’s a very happy night!
New Year’s Day can be a bit of a write-off for many people recovering from hangovers, but if you’ve got the strength to pig it out, it’s traditional to have a steak pie dinner with your family. We try to do that – we generally have family staying for most of the Christmas and New Year period.
Thank you Marie, for joining us during the holiday season.
Thank you for having me! I’ve enjoyed answering your questions, and would like to wish you and your readers a very merry Christmas and a happy new year when it comes!
To be entered to win a signed copy of BLOOD ON SILK by Marie Treanor, leave a comment on this post for Marie or you can ask her a question.
Please include your email address
A winner will be announced on Wednesday
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