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/
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