Historical romance author Zenobia Neil and her erotic romance, Psyche Unbound, are featured today at the blog.
But before we start the interview, mark your calendars for Monday, Feb. 8th at 6:30PM! Autumn, Xina Uhl, Zenobia Neal and I will be doing a free panel discussion on Loving Historical Romance for the Santa Clarita Public Library. Click here to register for this fun event. Blogger Erin Davies will moderate. Click on the event under Feb. 8th to register.
Blurb:
A princess of Rome, Psyche is celebrated for her great beauty until she provokes the jealousy of Venus, the Goddess of Love. Soon Psyche finds herself naked and abandoned on a beach, awaiting sacrifice to an unknown monster.
Cupid, the winged son of Venus, arrives to bring Psyche to the palace of the monster. As he carries her, she looks into his eyes and makes the grave mistake of falling in love.
Blindfolded and tied to a bed, Psyche bravely awaits her fate. Instead of offering her death, the monster offers her marriage on one condition: she must never see his face. After many dark nights together, Psyche comes to love her shadow husband. But she still can’t stop thinking about Cupid, the God of Love.
One night, consumed by curiosity, Psyche breaks her promise. Her husband, enraged, banishes her from the palace. To get back what is most important to her, Psyche must complete three impossible tasks and outwit Venus herself. If Psyche succeeds, her true love will return. If she fails, she will lose everything—including her life.
Zenobia Neil was named after an ancient warrior queen who fought against the Romans. She writes historical romance about the mythic past and Greek and Roman gods having too much fun. Visit her at ZenobiaNeil.com.
Ancient Mythology compared to Sexy Mythology
By Sheri Fredricks
Many thanks to Linda for hosting me on her blog today.
Greek mythology, both in art and literature, believed mythological beings once inhabited the Earth. They were god-like, creatures and people to be worshipped as deities.
With thousands of artifacts pointing to the possibility of their existence, I wonder if mythics did indeed exist at one time. At one time, there were dinosaurs. Chinese history proclaims an emperor long dead had kept dragons. So why not mythological beings?
In my modern mythic romances, I give history a little twist and go out on a limb. Rhycious, in Remedy Maker, is born as a sexy shape shifting Centaur descended from ancient Greece. Like people everywhere, his ancestors left their country to find a new life elsewhere. They settled in the Boronda Forest.
Before I started writing this novel, my knowledge of Greek mythology was limited to what I learned in school. To educate myself, I dug into the research and crammed my head with TMI facts. Never boring, the intrinsic belief held for these beings fascinated me at each site I viewed.
And let’s face it—who wouldn’t want to meet a hot Centaur or sexy Wood Nymph?
Blurb:
Man by day, Centaur by night, Rhycious is a remedy maker who needs his own healing.
He’s the royal physician, famous for his cures. War and posttraumatic stress disorder has broken his spirit, preventing him from finding true happiness. Then a direct order from the queen to investigate an uprising forces him out of his secluded cabin at the edge of the forest.
Patience is an optimistic, good-natured Wood Nymph who works as a mediator to ensure harmony within the Nymph sector.
Environmental pollution in the aquifer stream that feeds the taproot tree of her heart is slowly killing her. Resigned to the fact she will not live long, she sets out to discover the mysterious disappearance of her sister. Experience has taught her to deny herself the love of a male, but the gruff Centaur is different. He doesn’t push his expectations on her, only his healing nature.
When Rhycious loses his grip on reality, he believes his inability to control his disorder will drive Patience away. Nevertheless, desire flares, and Patience draws him close. Kidnapping and betrayal turn their mythic joint venture into a deadly bout.
Will their love endure when survival hinges on trusting each other?
Here’s an excerpt. Rhycious (shapeshifting centaur) is with his Amish friend Samuel when he meets Patience (wood nymph) for the first time:
“You ever see her before?”
“No, I haven’t.” Rhy ran his hands down both bare legs and a slender exposed arm. He checked for broken bones, noting her supple skin and a clean woodsy scent.
Her blouse had an unusual design, made of homespun fibers. It had a diagonal cut neckline with tiny puff sleeves, pink and soft. Created from the same material, a short skirt flared, and was embroidered with spring-green leaves.
A tickle teased his neck again, but not from annoyance this time. He repeated the examination of her other arm. Tension curled tighter in his gut, suspicion spread like spilled wine.
Tilting her head with care, he pushed her dark brown hair from her smooth décolletage, sucked in a short breath, and froze.
“What is it? Snake bite?” Samuel raised the brass lantern higher and leaned over for a better view.
Rhy tapped his thumb against her neck. Designs a few shades darker than her natural color marred the creamy complexion. The millennia old skin formation carved its way into his painful memories. It started behind her ear, an inch wide at the hairline, and extended to the other side.
The words choked out of him. There was no use trying to hide his revulsion. “Wood Nymph.”
Sheri’s #RomanticIdea Suggestions:
Romantic Ideas don’t have to mean draining your wallet at expensive restaurants. There are plenty of affordable (and entertaining) things to do with your significant other. After all, it’s the time spent with them that matters. Here’s a few romantic ideas to try:
Go for a hike in a beautiful park.
Go to open mic night and sing your heart out.
Go swimming together.
Stargaze and name the constellations with the help of an app or book.
Try an upcycling project. (See this list of 200 suggestions.)
Always on the hunt for the uncommon things in life, award-winning author Sheri Fredricks thrives on creating romantic adventures.
A former engineering secretary, she lives on California’s beautiful central coast. “I wanted to move away from a profession of inflexible right angles and create an unboxed world with no boundaries.” A voracious reader since her early years, Sheri found her brain crowded with stories of her own. “Ultimately,” she says, “my husband encouraged me to write them all down.”
Winner of the Paranormal Romance Guild Reviewer’s Choice Award, and a Finalist multiple times for InD’Tale eMagazine’s Reward Of Novel Excellence award (RONE), she has numerous five-star reviews everywhere eBooks are sold.
Sheri loves to spend time at home and connecting with readers. A computer hutch keeps her focused on creating stories, but the panoramic view of life on a ranch will call her outside to play in the sun.
But before we start the interview, mark your calendars for Monday, Feb. 8th at 6:30PM! Autumn, Xina Uhl, Zenobia Neal and I will be doing a free panel discussion on Loving Historical Romance for the Santa Clarita Public Library. Click here to register for this fun event. Blogger Erin Davies will moderate. Click on the event under Feb. 8th to register.
Blurb:
About the Author:
