Imagine driving down a curvy and dangerous road where any minute you could make one mistake and drive off the side of a mountain. And then imagine deciding this would be the perfect setting for a series of books about cougar shifters. That’s exactly what happened to me. Sort of…Actually it was the name for this stretch of dangerous road that lured me in. Tail of the dragon. A road that lures thousands of motorcyclists each month and claims so many as its own there is a tree at the mouth called the Tree of Life. It is adorned with helmets and other belongings from those who didn’t make it out alive.
Dramatic enough yet?
So far it’s all true and as a writer how could I not be lured. If you had a clan of shapeshifters who didn’t want to be found, what better place? That is how easy a series is born for me. A road.
Settling on a cougar took a little more time. I though about Jaguars, leopards, lions, you name it. The setting for this series is in the North Carolina mountains and I wanted to write about an animal you would actually find here. Bobcats are the most prevalent but they are so small and I just couldn’t see my big strapping heroes as overgrown house cats. When in my research I stumbled upon a Native American myth about the elusive Black Cougar here in our mountains everything clicked and I knew where I was headed.
Part of the legend says that when you come across a black cougar then death is coming for you. This really got me going as I developed three brothers, the only black cougars of their clan. Held up as guardians and expected to protect their secrets at all costs. They became the death enforcers.
Lucas, Kane and Malcolm.
Lucas’ story came out in eBook in February at Phaze Books (print sometime this month) and in it you meet all three brothers and I promise they won’t be what you expect. You can however expect three very alpha men as I have a serious thing for alpha heroes and women who keep them on their toes. There’s a lot of action, not everyone survives and it’s pretty steamy.
Kane arrives at the end of April and I can’t wait to see what readers think. For many reasons this series had been quite a challenge and a long time coming (Lucas was written in 2006 and partially rewritten in 2009) but I like to think it’s all been worth it.
Blurb for Lucas:
Kira MacDonald is in trouble. Plagued by false visions and erotic dreams of a man she’s never met, she fears losing both her psychic powers and her sanity. The cure? Finding and bonding with her mate. The stubborn red-haired warrior might not want one, but fate has other plans, plans that include her rescuing Lucas Gunn.
As the Guardian of his shape-shifting clan, Lucas Gunn lived a quiet, solitary life. Until he was kidnapped, examined, and tortured. Now imprisoned, his only tie to the outside world is the memory of his dreams and the passionate woman who appears nightly in them. He thought she was nothing more than a vision. Then she came for him.
An uneasy alliance, a mating call that won’t be denied, rituals that must be honored, and unrelenting enemies who will stop at nothing to get what they want. It all comes together in the first of Eliza Gayle’s sensational Black Cougar Series. Passion and Pride. Duty and Danger. In the end, there’s really only one choice…for Lucas.
On a completely different note but lots of fun. If you hang out at Goodreads at all, I hope you’ll stop by and friend me. I am a voracious reader who loves to see and compare books to other readers. Thanks to my friends at Goodreads I have a TBR list a mile long. http://www.goodreads.com/eliza_gayle
Take care and thanks so much for having me.
~Eliza
About Eliza Gayle:
Eliza Gayle lives a life full of sexy shapeshifters, blood boiling vamps and a dark desire for bondage…until she steps away from her computer and has to tend to her family.
She graduated Magna Cum Laude (which her husband translated into something very naughty) from Park University with a dual degree in Human Resource Management and Sociology. That education, a love of the metaphysical and a dirty mind comes in handy when she sits down to create new characters and worlds. The trick is getting her to sit still.
Join her in her world. The door is always open and the next red hot adventure is just a page away.
Want freebies?
How about a free pdf of Lucas?
One lucky winner who comments on this post will receive an ebook copy of Lucas
Contest closes midnight EST March 16, winner announced March 17
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