Merry Christmas from Clan Dantonville

Merry Christmas and all the blessings of the season

I wish all my lovely readers a very merry Christmas, Happy Holidays and a safe and prosperous new year.

In my last newsletter I said that the next time you all hear from me will be from my brand spanking new Wordpress website. Alas, life too often has other ideas and interferes with the best laid plans.

Anyone who knows me well, laughs when using my name and technology in the same sentence. So sadly, my Wordpress website is taking a little longer to set up then I anticipated. But, it is coming together and my Home page is done. Here's the link if anyone would like to check it out and tell me what you think of it http://www.timamarialacoba.com 

And if anyone knows how to add a slider to my Book page header, please let me know. I'd be most grateful.

Until then, I'm posting from my old blogger site.

NEWS ABOUT BLOODWISH AND TERENS

I'm thrilled to announce that BloodWish will be released in time for Valentine's Day - Feb 14th 2018. I can't wait to share this final book in Laura and Alec's story. But, that's not the end. I've listened to my readers who've asked for books on the other guys in the Dantonville Can. So, the next book in the series will be on Terens, which is scheduled for Christmas 2018.

And does he have a story to tell! Let me just say that there's more to "Sexy Terry" than what you've read so far.

I hope you'll enjoy reading it.

Since Christmas is practically upon us, I've been baking. My family is originally from the Czech Republic, and the traditional seasonal cookies, cakes, buns and breads are to die for. They're also waistline killers!

But what the heck, it's only once a year, right?

Unfortunately, here in Australia, Christmas is in summer and the temperature can soar way past the hundred degree mark. Without the good old air-conditioning blasting away, there's no way anyone could have a hot oven going. And what's Christmas without turkey, pudding and cookies?

And being the sharing girl that I am (*wink*) here's a plate of my Czech Christmas cookies.

Most countries, and even individuals, celebrate Christmas with a range of traditions. One of the most famous is kissing under the mistletoe. That one's fun.

While writing BloodPledge, the second book in my Dantonville Legacy Series, I needed a particularly gruesome tradition for Terens and Sam, the once former Roman soldiers. So, it couldn't be anything soft, and being vampires, of course, there had to be some blood involved. It also had to be unique and based on something practical.

I had a ball writing it.

Here's the scene: 

‘Don’t you think it’s ironic. Nobody speaks Latin anymore, yet Frisian’s everywhere—in modern English? Maybe it’s just as well I didn’t waste my time learning to speak yours.’

Cal guffawed, reached for the decanter and poured himself another glass of wine. ‘How you gonna counter that one, Terens?’

‘Only one way I know.’ Terens rose from his seat and flexed his right arm. ‘Brand new model.’

‘By all means, test it out.’ Sam’s chair scrapped across the floor as he too, rose and began flexing his right arm. ‘Ready to lose some fingers?’ The two stood facing each other, grinning.

Kari rolled her eyes. ‘Oh no, not this stupid game.’

Alec leaned toward me and whispered, ‘Maybe we should go for a stroll around the deck.’

‘Why?’ I asked. ‘What are they going to do?’

‘Their version of an arm wrestle.’ Alec looked uncomfortable. ‘They do it every Christmas.’

‘It’s gross, Laura.’ Kari grimaced. ‘The loser must chop off a finger and hand it over. The one with the biggest collection wins.’

‘You’re kidding! At Christmas?’

‘It’s the only time they can do it—good way to test the strength of the Ingenii blood. Any lost appendage regenerates in an instant,’ Alec said.

‘Sorry boys, you know I can’t stay to watch,’ Judy said. ‘If anyone wants me I’ll be in my room.’ She wished us goodnight and kissed Luc and Marcus on the cheek. The men rose and bowed as she left the room.

‘Think I’ll do the same,’ I said when I saw Terens move one of the candelabras aside and pull a blade from beneath his trouser leg. ‘No way am I going to watch them cut off fingers, even if it is some weird Christmas tradition.’

‘Allez, ma petite, this is not for a lady’s eyes.’
‘I agree,’ Kari said, and skipped to my side of the table. ‘Let’s join Judy.’

I still had Alec’s Christmas present. This was a good time to slip away and give it to him.

‘Meet you there, Kari. There’s something I need to do.’ I mouthed the words, 'Present for Alec'.

She nodded, and gave me a knowing smile as she left.
I turned to Alec. ‘I accept your offer of a stroll around the deck.’
With his arm around my waist, Alec led me from the dining room just as Sam and Terens took up their position, elbows on the table, hands clasped, steely gazes locked. Two long, menacing-looking knives lay in the centre of the table.

I shuddered and turned away. 

Did I succeed in making your squirm? If you'd like to read the rest, assuming you haven't read BloodPledge yet, read it here: 

Amazon US   Amazon CA   Amazon AU   Amazon UK 

All books are also available on Kindle Unlimited.

Until next time, have a wonderful Christmas and New Year.

It's Sneak Peek Time Again - Terens

This week we go back in time to Roman Britain.

The year is AD 261, and a young Sextus Terentius Varro, later known as Terens, has been given his first military assignment.
The scene takes place at the Varro villa outside the Roman legionary city of Eboracum (York) in the north of Britannia, two years before the tragic event that changed his life forever.

Sextus Terentius Varro adjusted his sword belt and glanced at his reflection in the bronze mirror. It’d been a while since he’d worn anything else but his equite toga, and it took getting used to seeing himself in uniform again, this time as tribune - tribunus equitus.

He should be grateful.

His father had paid a lot of money, and favours too probably, to purchase his commission into the XX Victrix. It had been his old legion, as he never tired of reminding his son.

Sextus rolled his eyes. If they were expecting him to be anything like his father, they were in for a surprise. He was nothing like his pater. Which is why he wasn’t surprised to learn the unit he was assigned to was sending a detachment of troops to some god-forsaken outpost on the Wall.

He was sure his father had had a hand in that.

Yeah, he should be grateful.

‘I don’t want you to go!’ His little sister Tia, latched onto his waist, one hand dangling her favourite doll. At eight years of age, she was still too innocent in the ways of the world to know why he was being sent away.

He crouched down to peer into her eyes, large dark brown ones like their mother’s. They’d begun to fill with tears. ‘Hey, you won’t miss me. You’ve got Julia here,’ he indicated her doll, ‘and Tadius and Saena,’ children of the household slaves, ‘to play with.’

Tia sniffed and wiped her nose with her sleeve. ‘I ‘spose. But you tell jokes and make me laugh when Papa is so serious.’

Yeah, and didn’t he know it.

If not for their mother telling him otherwise, he would’ve sworn Father had been born wearing a frown. It had etched permanent lines onto his brow. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d seen him smile.

‘Tell you what. What if I promise to send you a joke every week?’ At least her laughter would cheer up the dreary place.

‘Promise?’ Her sweet face lit up as if he’d just given her an armful of Saturnalia presents.

‘Make sure they’re clean ones.’ His mother, Cornelia, stood outside his room, the morning sunshine creating a halo around her dark curls. Her smile alone could lighten any dark mood.

He’d often wondered if she wasn’t a demigod, for how else could she have put up with the dour, austere man she’d been wed to.

‘Mother.’ He raised her hand to his lips and kissed her fingertips.

She smoothed his hair from off his forehead. ‘Oh Sextus! I’ll miss you, but your father’s right. This commission will do you a world of good.’

‘Nothing like fighting barbarians to make a man of me, right?’

She sighed, and beckoned to one of the slaves hovering nearby. ‘Take Tia to her lessons.’

Tia blinked away more tears and crushed her face to her brother’s, giving him a long, wet kiss on his cheek before running from the room, the slave traipsing after her.

He remained crouched a little longer, his gaze following her out. It would be at least a year before he’d see his little sister again.

‘Your father means well for you, Sextus.’ Cornelia seated herself on the edge of his bed and smoothed her long, light woollen robe over her knees. ‘This last year, you’ve been idling, with no sense of purpose in your life, drinking too much … and saying things best kept to yourself.’

He threw his head back and glared at the red-coloured ceiling. Okay, so he’d said some stupid things but it’d been enough to get a reprimand from the chief magistrate of the city.

‘I was drunk.’

‘That’s no excuse. If you had been anyone less than Gnaeus Terentius Varro’s son, you could have been executed!’ She closed her eyes and covered her hand with her mouth as a shudder racked her body.

Sextus’s heart lurched. He threw himself onto his knees at his mother’s feet and grasped her hand in his. ‘Mother, please …’

‘Your father loves you. Don’t ever doubt that. He called in a lot of favours to protect you and get you out of the city. And whether you like it or not, Postumus is emperor of Britain and Gaul. Gnaeus has sworn his allegiance. Do not endanger us, Sextus, I beg you.’ Her voice shook.

That broke him. Sextus hung his head as a pang of guilt gripped his heart.

Her eyes glistened as she lifted his chin to meet her gaze. ‘You always were an impetuous child; acting before thinking. Isn’t it time that changed?’

He hated to admit to it, but this time his abandoned carousing and loose tongue had endangered those he loved most in the world, and no damn emperor was worth that.

May the gods curse them all!

He kissed her cheek then stood and reached for his helmet on the table by his bed.

‘Let me do that.’ Cornelia placed the helmet on his head and fastened the strap beneath his chin, her hand lingering there as if reluctant to let go.

‘I’ll do you proud. I promise.’ And unless any of the fickle gods decided to have sport with him, Sextus Terentius had no intention of breaking his word.

Goodreads Interview—Everything You Wanted To Know About Me, And Were Not Afraid To Ask!

Recently I've been interviewed on Goodreads, and I have to admit, some of the questions were tough—made me think too hard for a weekend! Anyway, it's something new they're trialling. I suppose to help authors promote their books, but whichever, I thought to share that interview here.
As a debut author, I've experienced the mountains and valleys of writing and publishing, and the challenge of writing a series. The creative part is fun (the marketing sucks, but more on that in the next few weeks.)

1. How long did you want to write a book before starting it?
I began writing BLOODGIFTED the day the idea popped into my head—one quiet and sunny, Sunday afternoon. With fingers on the keyboard I typed out the first chapter within an hour. Ten months later I had a complete novel, but it took another nine months (like pregnancy) to edit, polish and perfect it.

2. What prevented you creatively (blocks etc. - not external influences)?
Thankfully, I've never had one of those—the ideas keep coming. But saying that, sometimes I can hover excruciatingly on dialogue or the description of a scene. When that happens I leave my desk, and my beloved laptop, and go do some baking, housework and gardening, until my house is spotless enough to be featured on Better Homes and Gardens. By that time my mind has cleared and everything is flowing again. Needless to say, I have cleaning binges.

3. How did you approach writing (on the fly, lots of planning), did it change, and did you write more or less as it did?
A bit of both, I'd say. I'm 65% planner and 35% pantser. Initially I planned the entire story, even the genealogy and backstory so I know how it ends, who the characters are and their little traits and quirks. In between, I allow them to dictate the next scene, but only as long as they behave and continue to move in the direction I want. Nothing much has deviated from my original plot, only little things like name changes and scenes.

4. 1.     If you were a planner or became one, what was your method?

I use the old fashioned A3 sheet with diagrams, arrows leading in all directions, which I then bluetack to the wall above my desk. It helps keep me focused. As anyone can see from the pic, it's not exactly high-tech stuff, and my handwriting can pass for Egyptian hieroglyphics, but hey, I can follow it. 

5. 1.     How did the process change over time (if it did)?

It didn’t really, as it works for me—I’m a visual person. To also save time, I refined my writing by setting deadlines, eg. 1,000 words a day as that’s achievable, and not stress over sentences and paragraphs that don’t do as they’re told. Editing will fix that later.

I also created profiles of each character—adding pics of actors I think would be prefect if ever a movie is made of my series. Hey, I can dream! I'm sure some of the faces are recognisable. Look closely and you'll see Thor, although in my Dantonville Legacy series he's Lucien.

6. Do you feel any changes/evolutions/adaptations in your writing helped or hurt your creativity? 

If anything, my writing is evolving and improving all the time, and that’s what a writer strives for.

7. What would you tell the old you to get that book finished sooner?

Lol! Good question. I’d probably tell her to get off social media and write! The old me is still learning.

Well, that's it for now. If anyone has any questions to ask me, feel free. You know what to do—leave a comment and I'll get back to you.