Tag Archives: paranormal romance

Welcome Author @KimHeadlee: Fall #RomanticTravel

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Fall Romantic Travel

Copyright:jurajkovac; Licensed from depositphotos.com

Please welcome Kim Headlee, author of King Arthur’s Sister in Washington’s Court, with her Fall #RomanticTravel suggestion.

kh-2014-04-09-dawnflier-imag0941-532x300Kim Headlee’s Romantic Travel Idea:

I love to travel but I also love to find great deals on lodging and transportation so that I can use the rest of my vacation budget to splurge on activities. My husband and I began a tradition a few years ago to make a beach getaway in November, which is the off season for many Northern Hemisphere beach destinations. We love sharing dawn and sunset beach walks, usually with a meal afterward because we’ve worked up an appetite. We’ve enjoyed Cancun and several other Caribbean destinations, though our current favorite fall beach retreat is Myrtle Beach, SC. That region’s restaurants can be pricey, even in the off season, so getting an outstanding deal on hotel reservations is a must! Wherever we travel, we’ve found there’s nothing more romantic than the sound of the surf wafting through the balcony window on a mild fall evening.

King Arthur’s Sister in Washington’s Court
Fantasy Time-Travel Romance
by Kim Iverson Headlee

king-arthurs-sister gif“Solidly entertaining.” –Publishers Weekly
Winner, 2016 IBPA Benjamin Franklin Gold Medal for Fantasy and Science Fiction.
Winner, Summer 2016 NABE Best Fantasy Book.

Morgan le Fay, sixth-century Queen of Gore and the only major character not killed off by Mark Twain in A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court, vows revenge upon the Yankee Hank Morgan. She casts a spell to take her to 1879 Connecticut so she may waylay Sir Boss before he can travel back in time to destroy her world. But the spell misses by 300 miles and 200 years, landing her in the Washington, D.C., of 2079, replete with flying limousines, hovering office buildings, virtual-reality television, and sundry other technological marvels.

Whatever is a time-displaced queen of magic and minions to do? Why, rebuild her kingdom, of course—two kingdoms, in fact: as Campaign Boss for the reelection of American President Malory Beckham Hinton, and as owner of the London Knights world-champion baseball franchise.

Written as though by the old master himself, King Arthur’s Sister in Washington’s Court by Mark Twain as channeled by Kim Iverson Headlee offers laughs, love, and a candid look at American society, popular culture, politics, baseball… and the human heart.

kh-meme-spell-failed-300-original-king-arthur-s-sister-in-washington-s-courtEXCERPT: (from A Word of Explanation)

ALL CALL ME Queen. For my unparalleled skills in leechcraft, most call me “The Wise.” No man dares call me “le Fay,” lest he die.

I hight Morgan.

That is to say, my name is Morgan, so chosen by my mother, Duchess Igraine, to honor the Great Queen of the Old Religion, Mór Rigan, goddess of war. My mother never knew how prophetic her choice would prove to be.

I am the daughter of Duke Gorlois, the sister of Queen Margawse and Queen Elaine, the wife of King Uriens of Gore, and the mother of Sir Uwaine of the Table Round. Blessed good fortune made me all of these things.

By the capricious hand of ill fortune, King Arthur became my younger half brother, spawned upon my most virtuous and blameless mother by that demon in man’s raiment, Uther Pendragon.

I despised Arthur from the very hour of his birth.

BUY & TBR LINKS

E-BOOK, All Sites – https://books2read.com/KASIWC-by-MarkTwain-and-KimIversonHeadlee-ebook
GOODREADS – https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23268285
PAPERBACK, Amazon – http://viewBook.at/KASWIC_by_Mark_Twain_and_KIH_paperback
PAPERBACK, B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/king-arthurs-sister-in-washingtons-court-kim-iverson-headlee/1120385250?ean=9781506199269
PAPERBACK, BooksAMillion – http://www.booksamillion.com/p/King-Arthurs-Sister-Washingtons-Court/Kim-Iverson-Headlee/9781506199269?id=6712179829057
HARDCOVER, Amazon – http://myBook.to/KASWIC_by_Mark_Twain_and_KIH_hardcover
HARDCOVER, B&N – http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/king-arthurs-sister-in-washingtons-court-kim-iverson-headlee/1120385250?ean=9781939051714
HARDCOVER, BooksAMillion – http://www.booksamillion.com/p/King-Arthurs-Sister-Washingtons-Court/Kim-Iverson-Headlee/9781939051714?id=6712179829057
AUDIOBOOK, Audible – http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/King-Arthurs-Sister-in-Washingtons-Court-Audiobook/B01EQQT7Z2
AUDIOBOOK, Amazon – http://myBook.to/KASWIC_by_Mark_Twain_and_KIH_Audiobook
AUDIOBOOK, iTunes – https://itunes.apple.com/us/audiobook/king-arthurs-sister-in-washingtons/id1108145926

AUTHOR BIO:

Kim Headlee lives on a farm in southwestern Virginia with her family, cats, goats, Great Pyrenees goat guards, and assorted wildlife. People and creatures come and go, but the cave and the 250-year-old house ruins—the latter having been occupied as recently as the midtwentieth century—seem to be sticking around for a while yet.

Kim has been an award-winning novelist since 1999 (Dawnflight, Sonnet Books, Simon & Schuster) and has been studying Arthurian legends and literature for nigh on half a century.

2015 YouTube video interview: http://youtu.be/DV5iKrEIROk

FOLLOW KIM:

WEB SITE – kimheadlee.com
BLOG – http://kimiversonheadlee.blogspot.com/
NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/boiQ0z
TWITTER – https://twitter.com/KimHeadlee
GOOGLE+ – https://plus.google.com/+KimHeadlee
FACEBOOK – https://www.facebook.com/KimIversonHeadlee
PINTEREST – http://www.pinterest.com/kimheadlee/
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE – http://www.amazon.com/Kim-Headlee/e/B001KE2LK2
GOODREADS – http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/845537.Kim_Headlee
LINKEDIN – http://www.linkedin.com/in/kimheadlee/
YOUTUBE CHANNEL – http://www.youtube.com/user/gyanhumara

Happy Howloween! #Werewolf Lore & Romance #PNR

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For your Happy Howloween reading pleasure, I’ve delved into my research notes for a little werewolf lore I discovered while writing my paranormal romance, Ilona’s Wolf.

When I was a kid, werewolves were villains of horror movies, not heroes in romance novels, so why the change? I wonder if it has something to do with restoring wolves to wild areas, like Yellowstone Park, and the resulting awareness of these beautiful, magnificent animals.

Grey Wolf by birch tree

Grey Wolf (Canis lupus) By Birch Tree, Copyright: gkuchera

Yes, they are predators, but they have proven immensely useful in controlling the deer population and in some areas the ecosystem has benefited from the re-introduction of the wolves.

But back in the Middle Ages and earlier, people were terrified of wolves and of the idea that some humans could transform themselves into wolves and attack. Hence, the popularity of the Little Red Riding Hood fairy tale, inspiration for Ilona’s Wolf. Wolves were hunted relentlessly in Europe and the British Isles. Some of the ancient beliefs are werewolves are…

Lycanthropy is the term for transforming from man to wolf and it dates back to Roman times, probably no surprise since the brothers who supposedly founded Rome, Romulus and Remus, were said to have been suckled by a she-wolf, a lupa, as babes.

During the Middle Ages, people believed that witches practiced lycanthropy. Alternately, witches were charges with riding werwolves during their rituals, and thus were werewolves associated with magic, a fact I took advantage of in Ilona’s Wolf.

We’ve all heard of the witch hunts of the 16th and 17th centuries, but did you know there were also werewolf hunts in the same time period? In France, there were over 30,000 cases of supposed werewolves. Some were executed; others confined due to insanity. For more information and possible real causes of werewolf-like symptoms, see http://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/werewolf5.htm.

Werewolf means “man-wolf” though there are varying theories of the evolution of the term. In Old English, the word wer(e) meant man and not in the general, human sense. In Norse, the term varg had two meanings: a wolf or a godless man. Each country had a different term. In France, werewolves are loup-garou; in Spanish hombre lobo; and in Italy lupo mannaro. And there are many others.

In the Middle Ages, people believed that the werewolves hair grew inward and the skin reversed during transformation. Talk about itching under the skin! I don’t think I’d like that.

Werewolves are known to have superior strength, nocturnal vision and sense of smell, just like real canines. In addition, thanks to the transformations undergone, they are immune from aging, and thus nearly immortal, except when in their more vulnerable human form. My hero, Sir Rolf, usually shifts into wolf form when danger threatens.

The notion that werewolves transform at the full moon is attributed to medieval chronicler Gervase of Tilbury, and is now an almost immutable fact of werewolf lore. I chose to ignore it for my book in favor of letting my hero shift at will. (Much more useful, plot-wise.)

Ilona's WolfBlurb for Ilona’s Wolf:

Imagine a world filled with magic, a tormented knight, a damsel in distress, an evil sorcerer…

While picking herbs in the woods, Princess Ilona is rescued from a woodsman by a wolf. When the creature licks her wounds, it is suddenly transformed into a man. A very handsome, very naked man who makes passionate love to her in a glade.

Cursed by an evil wizard, Rolf was trapped in wolf form until he tasted the blood of a royal. Now he must escort the princess on a hazardous journey back to the castle to stop an ill-fated wedding.

Passion flares between them, but both know there is no future for Ilona and her werewolf. Or is there? In a world where magic and passion combine, anything may be possible.

Available for only 99 cents from: Amazon Kindle Store, BN/Nook, iBooks and Smashwords.

Click here and scroll down to read an excerpt.

Happy Howloween!

Lyndi