Mermaids Marry in Green and Other Aquatic Creatures by Alice Renaud #fantasy #romance

 MUSE MONDAY

Please welcome Alice Renaud back to Discover... I love her fantasy stories so grab a cup and sit back and enjoy!

I grew up in Brittany, western France, my father was Breton and my mother is Welsh, so you could say I received a double dose of Celtic heritage. Welsh myths and legends are a big source of inspiration for me. Especially the monsters. Welsh monsters like water, and water features heavily in all my stories. The first two books in my Sea of Love series are set in, near, or under the sea; the third, Mermaids Marry in Green, on pre order now, is set in London, but a lot of the action takes place near or in the river Thames. 

Here are a few of my favourite aquatic creatures! 

The Water Horse (Ceffyl Y Dwr)

The Water Horse is a spirit who takes the shape of a horse and offers unwary travellers a ride on his back, only to throw them off and try to drown them in the marshes. In some stories he can also take human form. He can live in any body of water: the sea, rivers, ponds, even baptismal fonts in churches. The Water Horse features in the second book of my series, Music for a Merman. 

Mermaids and Mermen 

The whole Sea of Love series revolves around mermaids and mermen. My merfolk are shape shifters who can take human shape, but also have an aquatic form. In their aquatic form, they have webbed hands and feet and a tail, but not a fish tail. They are one hundred per cent hot-blooded mammals. 

Afanc 

The afanc lives in lakes or pools. He is part crocodile, part beaver. Folk think he’s a terrifying monster, but in my third book, Mermaids Marry in Green, he is an intelligent, magical, lost creature. The mermaid heroine Caltha teams up with the hero, Jonty the warlock, to find the afanc. Once she has found him however she has to rescue him, which brings her in conflict with the warlocks who want to capture and study him. 

Torrent spectre 

This malevolent spirit haunts mountain torrents and streams high up in the hills, and often takes the shape of a terrifying, evil old man. He can cause flooding and chaos and revels in it. He is related to the mist hag, a fearsome old woman who hides in thick fog and shrieks the names of those who are about to die. I think both would make great villains in my next book! 

The Giant Cat of Anglesey 

This needs no description! I just love the idea of a giant cat roaming an island, chasing horses as if they were mice. King Arthur captures him in one of the legends. 

Blurb: Mermaids Marry in Green 

Caltha Dooran is the toughest, fiercest shape-shifting mermaid in the western seas. She has three Clans to rule, and no time for romance. But when a warlock, Jonty, turns up and asks her to come with him to London to capture a water monster, she can't say no. In London, away from her duties, her attraction for Jonty grows... and they soon fall under each other's spell. But will his past and her responsibilities pull them apart, or can they find the only true magic, the one that binds two souls together? 

Buy Links

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FCQQ75P

https://books2read.com/u/3LglAN 

Excerpt 

A pile of twigs shuddered and slid to the side. Two yellow eyes peered at her out of the tangle of wood and litter. Excitement exploded in Caltha’s chest, rocking her whole body. She’d found him! But she strove to keep her voice low and soft.

“Afanc?”

A reptilian head that looked like a crocodile’s, but smaller, pushed through a plastic bag. The mouth opened, revealing a row of sharp teeth. “Morwenna?” the creature hissed, in Caltha’s language.

She tried to repress the trembling in her body and appear calm so the creature wouldn’t take fright. “Yes, I am a mermaid.” She lifted her webbed hands to show him. The afanc extended a furry paw, tipped with powerful claws. Caltha brushed the damp fur with her fingers. “I’m Caltha.”

The afanc let out a sigh. “Morwenna Caltha,” he said. He stared at her with shining eyes full of hope. “I am lost. Can you help?”

Caltha’s mind went blank with surprise. She’d expected a powerful water monster with awesome magical powers, not this vulnerable animal pleading for assistance.

The afanc stretched its neck towards her. “Please?”

Compassion engulfed Caltha. “Of course I’ll help you.” 

Bio

Alice lives in London, UK, with her husband and son. By day she's a compliance manager for a pharmaceutical company. By night she writes fantasy romance about shape shifting mermen, water monsters and time-travelling witches. Her first book, “A Merman’s Choice,” was published in January 2019 by Black Velvet Seductions. It is the first book in a fantasy romance trilogy inspired by the landscapes and legends of Brittany and Wales. The second book, “Music for a Merman,” is out now and the third, “Mermaids Marry in Green,” will be released on 1 November. Alice has also written two short stories for BVS anthologies, “The Sweetest Magic of All,” in “Mystic Desire,” out now, and “The Holiday Mermaid” in “Desire Me Again,” out in October. Alice loves reading and writing stories, and sharing them with anyone who’s interested! 

Social Media Links:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AliceRenaudAuthorRomance/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/alicerauthor

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alice-renaud-author-4219b6166/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alicerenaudauthor/

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18670218.Alice_Renaud

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/profile/alice-renaud

Amazon page: https://www.amazon.com/Alice-Renaud/e/B07L52P17B

 

Wickedly Challenging Characters by Helen C. Johannes #WickedWednesday #fantasy

WICKED WEDNESDAY

Ohhh, those characters that want to hide and tease an author. Helen knows a few things about wickedly challenging characters. Please welcome my guest, Helen C. Johannes

Writing fantasy romance is a challenge, creating worlds from literally the soil upward. But I can handle that. All it takes is imagination fused with relevant life experiences.

For instance, I’ve never lived as a cursed warrior in a land populated by beast-men, but I have experienced a high mountain meadow in spring, ridden horses, and learned about panning for gems from my father’s Alaskan experience. I’ve never fended off danger with swords, but I’ve travelled the UK, hefted swords to learn about balance, and explored tumble-down castles.

None of that, however, made writing these three characters from BLOODSTONE any less wickedly challenging.

#1: The Shadow Man

Mirianna and her father fell into place, but my hero, the Shadow Man, refused to tell me his real name. I wrote a third of the book before he reluctantly revealed it. That resistance was clue to his character. Being an ‘into-the-mist’ writer, I had to keep writing to discover the truth.

The Shadow Man wants to be left alone. But beneath this stated goal is a deeper need: he’s lonely. When the opportunity comes to relieve his loneliness with a blind boy servant, he impulsively acts against his stated goal. Conflict ensues. His neatly ordered life, miserable as it has been, falls apart despite repeated attempts to maintain his solitude. What he thinks he wants and what he needs are at odds, and that’s just his internal conflict.

Add a woman so determined to protect her aging father she embarks on a dangerous journey, an old enemy seeking power, and a—possibly—magical lion shadowing his every step, and my hero has more than enough conflict. By first draft’s end, he had dug up and faced every ugly truth preventing him from being the man he ought to be, the man he’d chosen to bury (that real name).

Whew!

#2: The lion

I’ve never lived with a mountain lion, but I’ve lived with cats. However, even I didn’t know when I started writing who or what this lion would be. (Remember that seat-of-the-pants thing?) She appeared with various characters at critical moments, and I had to let her gradually reveal how she was connected. Additional challenge: she has no point of view, so I couldn’t get into her head like I could my hero. (He was just stubborn; she was downright enigmatic.) So, write a mountain lion-like cat into a fantasy when you have no idea why she’s there, except she was in the very first scene from which this book sprang, and you have the idea of this wicked challenge.

#3: Gareth

I’ve worn corrective lenses since childhood, but I’m in no way as severely visually limited as Gareth. Thinking of sensations, sounds, and smells as his primary means of interpreting the world forced me to expand my means of description. I also had to remember he was 13, not an adult. Writing him was a definite challenge, but also wickedly satisfying.

Conclusion: Don’t be afraid to write what you don’t know. Fuse a bit of imagination with a fragment of authentic experience and even the seemingly impossible can become satisfying and convincing fiction…if you’re up to the challenge.

Author Bio:

Helen C. Johannes writes award-winning fantasy romance inspired by the fairy tales she grew up reading and the amazing historical places she’s visited in England, Ireland, Scotland and Germany. She writes tales of adventure and romance in fully realized worlds sprung from pure imagination and a lifelong interest in history, culture, and literature. Warriors on horseback, women who refuse to sit idly at home, and passion that cannot be denied or outrun—that’s what readers will find in her books.

BLOODSTONE, Launching a Star Winner in Fantasy Romance, from The Wild Rose Press.

What if looking at the face of the man you loved meant death?

Years ago, warrior Durren Drakkonwehr was cursed by a mage. Now feared and reviled as the Shadow Man, he keeps to himself, only going to town to trade rare bloodstones—petrified dragon’s blood—for supplies. Though he hides his face, he can’t hide his heart from the woman who haunts his dreams…

Needing bloodstones for a jewelry commission, Mirianna and her father journey across the dreaded Wehrland where the beast-men roam. When their party is attacked, only the Shadow Man can save them. Strangely drawn to him, Mirianna offers herself in return for her father’s rescue.

Living in the ruined fortress with the Shadow Man, Mirianna slowly realizes that a flesh-and-blood man, not a fiend hides there in hoods and darkness. But are love and courage enough to lift the curse and restore the man?

Book Links:

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Bloodstone-Helen-C-Johannes-ebook/dp/B00G8GTHRC

Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/bloodstone-helen-c-johannes/1118715556?ean=2940148119272

Audible: https://www.audible.com/pd/Bloodstone-Audiobook/B07KFQKTMB

Other links:

Blog: https://helencjohannes.blogspot.com/

Author Central: https://www.amazon.com/Helen-C-Johannes/e/B003JJDQWS/ref=dp_byline_cont_book_1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4031965.Helen_C_Johannes

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/authors/helen-c-johannes

Contact email: helen.c.johannes@gmail.com