Some people say authors are born not made, I think authors are just
people who decide they want to write. The only problem is that once you begin
there comes a time when you don’t want to do anything else. I decided I wanted to write when I was a
teenager. I was abysmal at Maths, Physics and Chemistry but I was good at
English so I entered competitions and started winning awards. And that old
adage about positive reinforcement strengthening behaviour? It’s true. But what
I didn’t know and wasn’t to learn until I became a Clinical Psychologist was
that intermittent reinforcement is the most powerful force in determining human
behaviour.
Like the majority of writers I’ve managed to keep writing and getting
published, spasmodically but consistently, while being a mother and working in
a full time occupation but a few years ago I decided to retire early from
private full time practice as a Psychologist and that writing was going to be
my full time, instead of part-time career. It wasn’t so much a leap of faith,
rather than just reaching a crossroad and deciding which path gave me more joy,
more fulfilment and the fact that all the clues were all there, like signposts,
showing me which way to go. Most of my friends were writers, I spent all my
free time either writing, thinking about writing or reading other writers.
Over the years I’d written Medico-legal reports for the courts,
professional journal articles and conference papers for Psychologists, scripts
for pre-school TV shows, YA and teenage fiction books, a series of technical
cookbooks for The Culinary Library and novel length romances. When I committed
to writing full time I knew, both consciously and subconsciously, it was the
Romance novels I wanted to focus on. One of the things I’d learned as a
Psychologist was that, although every one’s stories and pain seem different
there are common universal threads of humanity and we are more similar than we
know. For most people it is the
complexities of human relationships that they seek to unravel, understand and
master. We may all start off on different roads but they are all heading in the
same direction, hoping for the same destination.
Romance writing is the genre that, to me, best explores the many facets
of human relationship, but in the end it is the ONLY genre that absolutely
delivers what most people are ultimately looking for throughout all stages of
their life from childhood to death, acceptance, love and a place of peace and
acceptance where they feel good about themselves and the world. (or as my
heroine in Always Have and Always Will says, she just wants to feel beloved on
the earth.)
I could easily and legitimately draw an analogy between Psychological
Therapy and Reading Romance books. They both involve a stepping away from and
temporary suspension of the everyday world, trust and faith that the therapist
or author can deliver what they advertise and promise and the goal of a happy
ending that makes the participant feel better about themselves, more in control
and more optimistic about the world. The difference is romance readers don’t
need and aren't looking to be told anything because they’re not looking for
therapy in that sense. What they are looking for, I believe, is entertainment, to
be shown a different world from theirs, an interesting and exciting one peopled
with strangers, characters that they can quickly learn to love (or hate) and
care about and ones they hope and know are going to find happiness if they can
only stay strong and courageous.
Romance novels are a temporary escape from the pressures of everyday
life and responsibility, they immerse the thoughts and emotions of the reader,
literally, into a different world, with lives and problems that are
entertaining and interesting, and a story that guarantees those problems will ABSOLUTELY
all be sorted by the last page, or in my case the last word if necessary.
(Never read the last pages of a book first, your subconscious wants a chance to
work it out for you!)
So why paranormal? Always Have
and Always Will is not about vampires, shape-shifter, werewolves or some of the
other traditional paranormal species or human aberrations, it’s a paranormal in
the sense that it introduces and normalizes the concepts of Immortality,
reincarnation, life after death and mind control. These concepts are not so
unfamiliar that we can’t believe in them and empathize with the characters and
an added bonus is the beautiful and exotic setting they allow for the action to
unfold. Most paranormal characters
require dark, gloomy and edgy setting to get about their bloody business.
Ancient Immortals living today are more likely to be found in the Greek
Islands, Egypt, Rome and Italy, Babylon and the lands mentioned in the
Bible.
The added plot benefit with Immortality is the complications it allows
for relationships and love. Immortality is shit if all the people you love are
dead or if you keep making the same mistakes for centuries or if your love is
unrequited, betrayed or abused. And lets face it, it doesn’t matter how many
decades, centuries or millennium you live there are times in your life when you
are going to want to feel beloved on this earth.
So if you like a face-paced action, exotic settings and complex flawed characters
with rich inner psychological lives who are searching for, and trying to
understand, love, then you’ll love Always Have and Always Will. It’s characters
and plot deliver on every promise with humor, vulnerability, strength and a
plot twist you won’t see coming but will love.
The message ?
Never give up on love
Why is it called the Omega Series?
Because it’s about time the heroine told the story and whilst we all
love strong and delicious alphas, Romance Writers, I believe, are the most
supportive and inclusive group of Omegas in the world. (and that included the
male authors as well.) We all know
the Greek alphabet begins with Alpha but did you know it ends with Omega? The
Omega symbol in classical Greece was associated with Birth and Creation,
symbolized the female and celebrated her ability to nurture a child thereby
achieving immortality for both herself and her mate. Although manwas symbolized
by the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Alpha, it was the Omega symbol that
was considered the most auspicious and most blessed by the Gods. Yaaaay!!!
Always Have and Always Will
The Omega Series
Book 1
Stella McLeod
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: October 1, 2015
ISBN: 1500270598
ASIN: 978-1500270599
Number of pages: 264
Word Count: 70,000
Formats available: pdf
Cover Artist: Hang Le
Book Description:
Reincarnation is easy until you have to face being murdered a second time. A life destroyed 2000 years in the past, a buried Greek temple with the secret to Immortality, ancient families torn apart by betrayal and a modern reincarnated woman who holds the key.
Ana Black thinks a villa on a Greek Island will be the perfect summer holiday but her plans don’t include Alexander Petrakis. He’s an ancient warrior who thinks he’s Immortal, says he’s waited 2000 years for her to return and claims she’s his reincarnated lover, a woman he freely admits he failed to protect in her past life. Even if she believes him and gives him a second chance, what hope he won’t fail her again?
With a past she cannot escape and a future he cannot accept, all they have is the present. Will they find a way or are they both out of time?
Chapter
1. Island of Monemvasia, Greece. Present day.
“I would rather be tied to the soil as another man’s
serf ...than be King of all these dead and destroyed.” ~ HOMER, The Odyssey
When the last
shutters close nothing moves but the wind in the trees and the thin fabric of
my dress as it drums and billows in the air.
I knew it was a
mistake, like my hair. When I’d left it had been neatly arranged in a loose
knot and now it’s unraveling out of control. Like my life.
The streets are
quiet and everyone is inside but I try not to think about the shitty weather,
try to pretend it’s not a bad omen. The oppressive summer heat has given way to
warm autumn days that gave no hint of the winter to come, the blue skies were
bluer, the air cleaner.
Until today.
Today the grey started and rain threatened.
A short while
ago I felt safe, now my imagination creates danger where there is none. But it
doesn’t matter, just like the rain and mist in the darkening streets don’t
matter and the shutters closed against the coming storm don’t matter. The local
villagers snug and warm behind those shutters though, are smarter than me.
But I have no
choice. I have to meet him or the Greek authorities are going to burn my
passport, lock me up and throw away the key.
I rub my arms,
not for warmth but to brush away the goose bumps that thinking of Alexander
Petrakis brings. I should be scared and I am, I should abandon my crazy plan
but I can’t, and if I try walking any faster in these high-heeled shoes
skipping the country is going to be a lot harder with a broken leg.
So I keep my
head down, watching for rising cobblestones that might trip me up and see a
scruffy dog instead. He’s too happy to see me, too sad to be anything but a
stray. If he were mine I’d have him inside on a night like this. So I stop for
a few minutes to give him a scratch behind the ears and a few words of comfort.
“Gotta go now,”
I say shooing him off gently, making promises I can’t keep, watching him amble
away with his hunched shoulders and limp tail in search of comfort and shelter
he will never find. I walk away fast, think of other things but my hearts
racing and breaking for not turning around and not doing the right thing. I
should take a lesson from him, do a runner and take him with me. But it’s too
late for me for that.
I pass an
ancient olive tree that flashes its leaves to me in the wind, flipping them
silver to green then silver again, sending me a thousand SOS’s. I ignore their
warning and instead look out to sea at the jutting island with its crumbling
relic and ancient ruins that fills tourists with awe. I shudder. It makes my
flesh crawl and affects my mood. Dark weather stirs dark thoughts, and dark
thoughts are perfect for dark deeds.
Across the
narrow straight of choppy sea I estimate distance, current, and opportunity.
It’s far, but not too far to steer a boat against the tide. I calculate the
risk of missing the dock against the likelihood of being smashed against the
rocks; glad I didn’t make that mistake.
That mistake I
avoided by going the long way around and walking across the long causeway, but
I’ve made plenty of others.
He’s chosen the
place. I would have preferred the plush Chrisovoulo or the Kastraki for our
meeting rather than his stuffy restaurant but he’s insisted, owns it evidently.
I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end because I doubt I’ll feel safe
anywhere in Greece at the moment. At the moment I just feel betrayed.
I walk along the
waterfront then turn into the small lane and make my way carefully up the steps
to the Bellagio. I don’t want to open the door. That fact alone should chill me
to the bone, instead
I’m on fire,
feel slightly sick, getting a temperature maybe. I take a deep breath, push
harder and step across the threshold into my future and a blast of hot air
where my skin is cold, then hot, then cold again; tingling with dread or
excitement, I’m not sure which. My senses are confused. My life is confused.
Same old, same old, nothing new tonight then for Ana Black.
About the Author:
McLeod’s books deliver exotic and interesting locations with characters flawed in quirky everyday ways and as a Clinical Psychologist, she draws on psychological insights into human behaviour and motivation to bring her story and characters to life. Published for over twenty years in a variety of media including television, books, electronic and print media, with additional qualifications as a London trained chef, food writer and lecturer means her readers will always find psychological complexity, tension and food written into her books. Stella McLeod is a member of the Australian Romance Writers Association.
Web: www.Stellamcleod.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/di.gramp
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorstellamcl/
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