Talk about your books: Dracula's Secret.

 

Yesterday, I was meditating about my books - what I'm going to do this year, what my goals are, what I want for my writing.

 

I heard a very clear message that said, "Talk about your books." I thought I'd start at the very beginning with Dracula's Secret. 

 

The idea of Vlad Tepes being born female came from a nightmare. In it, I dreamed that Dracula in a dress was talking to Napoleon's generals for the Peninsular campaign. They didn't listen to her, so she went outside, changed into men's clothes, and they proclaimed her genius. 

 

Other than this being a weird insight to my brain (I don't normally dream about Napoleon, I promise), this image stuck with me. The folk tales of Dracula's violent behavior made sense if someone had been born a woman and was trying to keep her people safe. 

 

  

From there, I wondered what kind of person could love someone like that. That brought me Lance Soliel, a man with his own darkness.  I based him on Daniel Craig. 

 

And two dark characters needed someone to bring them hope, and thus John Jante, one of my favorite characters, came to my vision. 

 

He's based on my Charming Man, who is very pretty and smart. But he doesn't like having his picture posted, so you will just have to take my word on it. :) 

 

If I were to jot down what tropes this story uses, I'd say:

 

Morally gray characters searching for redemption, age-gap relationship, international intrigue, fast burn, and fallen angels.

New Covers!

NEW COVERS!

Sometimes, an independent author just feels the urge to shake things up. So I got my first three books, Dracula's Secret, Dracula's Desires, and Dracula Unleashed, new covers and pretty formatting. 

Amazon.com

 

 

The holiday season is barrelling down at us. May I humbly recommend books as fabulous gifts? They always fit, after all! Depending on what kinds of books your friends and family like, I'd like to think I've got you covered. Do you like sexy romance with lots of adventure? The Blood Wings Series (Dracula's Secret, Dracula's Desires, and Dracula Unleashed) are the darkest of my books. There are intense scenes of both hot sex and fight scenes.  They are also multicultural and GLBTQ-friendly.       Less dark and more James Bond-like is Curse of the Spider Woman. This is a story with shapeshifters and the Greek Gods. Set against the backdrop of the Greek financial crisis, this story brings two former lovers together again.             Or do you prefer sexy short stories on a variety of topics? Again, multicultural and LGBTQ friendly, I have Linda Mercury's Naughty Notes. Full of short stories and poetry, this book is wonderful to read aloud to your romantic loves.   Do you like gentle, woman-power, magical realism that take place in small towns? My co-author and I, Shea MacLeod write a series called The Dream Factory! The third book will be called A Dream of Words and will be out in early 2022. These books are all-ages appropriate and filled with hope.    Or do you dig non-fiction? That will be the next post!   Buy Links: My Web Site Amazon Barnes and Noble Kobo Apple Books

Halloween Giveaways, Dracula's Secret.

 

In keeping with the Halloween theme, let me introduce to you, Valerie Tate. She is the heroine of my Blood Wings trilogy; Dracula's Secret, Dracula's Desires, and Dracula Unleashed. This were my first three books ever published! They have been completely revised since then, with more adventure and thrills than before.

 

I created a giveaway for the first book, Dracula's Secret, just for my newsletter people.

It is HERE.
 

Again, like last week, if you don't mind a less than perfect hard copy, head on over to my website for for the scratch and dent sale. Use the coupon "Scratch and Dent" to get $3.00 off on Dracula's Secret.

 

 

SHE HUNGERS FOR HIS LIGHT

She calls herself Valerie Tate. One of the few vampires left on earth, as
beautiful as she is powerful, Valerie has resisted her craving for human blood
for years, just as she once hid her true gender. But the night she lays eyes on
the most enticing man she's ever seen, her appetite can no longer be denied.
He radiates goodness and light-and searing sexual energy. Valerie must have
him. Taste him. Consume him. For he is temptation-and he is her destiny . . .

HE BURNS FOR HER DARKNESS

Lance Soleil is a rugged war veteran who runs a homeless shelter in Portland.
At first gaze, he knows what Valerie is-and wants her even more. But when he
welcomes a pack of werewolves into his shelter, he attracts the attention of
Valerie's oldest rival-her bloodthirsty brother, Radu, who hopes to become the
first vampire President of the United States. Valerie knows Radu has a hidden
agenda, and with Lance's help she is determined to stop his unholy rise to
power. But first, she must risk their growing love by fully revealing herself-as
the one and only Dracula . . .

Buy Links:
My Web Site
Amazon
Barnes and Noble
Kobo
Apple Books

Cliches that gotta go, Part Four.

 Cliche: Telling us how sexy someone is.

 

 Show us how sensual a person is.

From American Photo, Nov/Dec 1993

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One day, I got ice cream with a male friend. Conversation lagged while we enjoyed our treat. 

 He closed his eyes and swirled his tongue around the scoop, licking and sucking at the cone. I nearly orgasmed from watching his mouth relish the smooth, cold, silky cream. He was entranced by the flavor and simply abandoned himself to the sensations. If I hadn't already been thoroughly besotted already, I would have fallen just from watching him get into the moment.

A few years later, I showed my book hero impressing my heroine by his firm, assured handling of her classic muscle car, a 1966 Ford Shelby. This car model boasts 350 horsepower and went from zero to sixty in 4.5 seconds. This is the kind of automobile that easily could be pushed and pushed hard. I almost had the hero gunning the engine, squealing the tires - basically pushing the ferocious engine to its limits. But wait.

I remembered how my friend’s un-selfconscious pleasure seduced me. I wanted my character to seduce the heroine by showing how he handled power, by showing that he had class, sensuality, and stamina. I wanted her to be intrigued by his ability to unleash this magnificent automobile's potential with a long smooth ride, not something rocky, jerky, and way too short.

Don't just describe your sexy person. Show us what about them turns on the observer.

At long last!!

Kensington Press and I released the first edition of Dracula Unleashed, the third book in the Blood Wings Trilogy, in early 2013. I had to write the book in less than four months, while doing promo and edits on the first two books. As a result, I wasn't terribly thrilled with the results. I got my rights back to the trilogy and released Dracula's Secret in 2016, Dracula's Desires in 2017. And then....nothing. 

My well had run completely dry. I had no idea how to strip this book down past its bare bones and completely rebuild it. 

It took several books for me to get even an inkling of an idea for Valerie Tate's final adventure. It wasn't until I finished The Cafe of Hopes and Dreams that I realized what she needed. She needed sweetness, dreams, and her own hopes. At last, the words flowed. 

And now, the book is available for pre-order at https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0934FVTBS?notRedirectToSDP=1&ref_=dbs_mng_calw_2&storeType=ebooks!!

After centuries as the Dracula of legend, disguised as a male, Valerie Tate's current incarnation is the last thing she expected: mother of a precocious half-angel, half-vampire, and wife to two men. But Valerie is more familiar with battlefields than domesticity. . .

Some overwhelmed mothers relax with a glass of wine. Valerie soothes her immortal soul with a refreshing blood and coke. How else can she deal with her toddler Minerva's psychic powers--not to mention her determination to throw knives. Thank goodness for Valerie's two loves, John Jante and Lance Soleil. Without them, the trauma of her dark past and her primal, urges for violence and power would overtake her. Yet in a world where humans and paranormals uncomfortably co-exist, Valerie's peace will be short-lived. . .

Someone is killing the world's best paranormal diplomats. And Valerie's vampire brother and nemesis, Radu, is at the center of the conflict. Now Valerie finds herself as vulnerable and as weak as she had been as a human....

Good Ol' Dracula

This year marks the 8th anniversary of the first printing of my first book, Dracula's Secret! As a result, I'm revisiting some early blog posts about my process.

Even the most cursory look at the secondary and tertiary sources on Vlad Dracula shows a stunning (or tedious, depending on your personality) number of resources on how bloodthirsty and cruel this particular historical figure was.

To find out where they got their information, I did what every self-respecting historian does. I checked their bibliographies for their primary sources. This is what I found.

Vlad Dracul II lived from 1431-1476.

No sources survive from Vlad himself (despite it being commonly reported that he was highly educated and literate). This includes any of his legislative acts.

No sources survive from his brothers, father, wives, other relatives, or even friends.

The only primary source that is contemporary to Vlad's life is in the Monastery of St. Gall, in Switzerland. It was written by an unknown author in 1462. The manuscript gives a number of anecdotes about Vlad (thirty-two, according to the translation I read). The translator claims that six of those thirty-two stories are confirmed by other sources, but does not name those sources.

The stories discussing Vlad's crimes against humanity were not verified by other contemporary sources.

The Russian and German documents that discuss Vlad's preference for disemboweling animals, etc., etc., etc., date from 1490 at the earliest.

The woodcut portraits of Vlad date from 1488 and 1491. The famous oil portrait comes from the second half of the 17th century. Which, I might point out, is nearly 200 years after Vlad died.

Many scholars make much of the oral transmissions of the folk tales of Romania. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any analysis of these stories by anthropologists or historians that would confirm the accuracy. Folk tales often are multipurpose stories - they could be cautionary tales or money makers to fleece the unsuspecting. I've not seen any studies done of where the folktales agree with the primary sources.

For example, contemplate the relationship people in the United States have with George Washington. The old cherry tree tale has been discredited, but how many of us still remember it and tell it?

What all this boils down to is very simple:

We don't know that much about this historical figure.


So as a result, I felt like I could play with this person, bring my own interpretation to the story of Dracula. After all, my outrageous ideas seem to fit right in with the rest. :)

I'm sure that I've missed a lot of information on the historical Dracula. I look forward to hearing from others who want to share their research with me.

Literary Life: Re-releasing Dracula's Desires

Back in 2012, Kensington Publishing and I released the second book in the Blood Wings series, Dracula's Desires. This book continued the adventures of the real Vlad Dracula in present day.

I got my rights back for all three books and now I am re-releasing all of them! I've already put out Book One: Dracula's Secret (oh, and what a secret it is!).

And now, it is time to reveal the new cover for Dracula's Desires!

Isn't it gorgeous! I plan to release this book in June (just in time for sexy and brave summer reading).

And just for a tease, here are the first few paragraphs of Dracula's Desires:

Dracula's Desires by Linda Mercury

John Janté’s life hung by a thread.

Valerie Tate smelled his blood hanging in the air. If those idiot Fallen Angels let him die, she’d empty Hell itself in vengeance.

She gunned her black 1966 Shelby Mustang to the limit, burying the tachometer in the red. The tires howled as the car fishtailed against the gravel-laden highway cutting through the Swiss Alps. Cursing, she spun the steering wheel against the skid and roared between two honking tourist buses.

“Lucifer’s wormy teeth, I spit at thee ,” she damned the slow-moving vehicles.

The heavily forested mountains and charming villages blurred until the view out her window seemed an unending wall of green and stone. Lake Geneva was nothing but a long blue line below her. The powerful engine propelled her through the hairpin turns faster than a vampire could run. Her smaller weapons duffel sat on the passenger seat, an innocent black bag filled with high-powered destruction.

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Buy here.