Vlogging It Up!

Can I tempt you with my latest book, Vamping It Up? It makes an excellent summer read. :)

Warning - naughty language!

Perhaps you need a second helping?

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Dracula's Secret: Valerie's Response

Try it!

Last week, I showed how writing a supernaturally strong character allowed me to face my fears. I gave the set-up - my female lead, Valerie Tate, was being surrounded and harassed by a group of teenaged males.

And this is her response:

Predictable. A slow, knowing smile curled her lips. Bullies were always good for a giggle.

Killing them would take hardly any time. That was her problem with young men. Once she got started, it would be so hard to stop. Like humans and their potato chips.

My Vampire world.

Buy here.

My father (Dr. Dad, PhD), often asks me, "Why Vampires?" And being the smarty pants he is, he then goes on to wise crack such things as, "Do you carry a lot of garlic to keep those vampires away?"

I have no idea how I survived growing up with that.

But seriously, I do have a fascination with the mythology of vampires.  They represent our suppressed Shadow sides, the part of ourselves that crave power at any cost. For me, vampires are also completely unafraid of confrontation. Since they are physically strong, they have to fear of walking alone in the dark or dealing with hostility.

One of the first scenes I wrote for Dracula's Secret explores what it would be like to face one of my greatest fears: being trapped by a group of people much stronger and aggressive than myself.

“You lookin’ for a good time, darlin’?” Chad propped his fist against the old brick building, blocking her in with his arm. The rest tightened their circle, like hyenas crowding a wounded zebra. Anger and lust from his skin teased her nostrils.

Their smell and movements telegraphed their intentions. As a group, they moved, boxing her in. Nowhere to run. Nowhere to hide. No one to come to her rescue.

They would throw her against the wall. She would reel, stunned. The boys would start off with a little light brutality, moving on to rape. They needed to recover face from their earlier defeat.

 Stay tuned for next week for how my character Valerie Tate handled this!

Quotes and snippets: Vamping It Up.

Celeste sipped her drink. “Enough of work. We are on vacation. Cheers.”

“Gan Pei!” Holly clinked their glassed together and they drank.

“And I see something that fits our vacation mood,” Celeste smiled. She beckoned to someone behind Holly.

 A perfectly ripped young man in a Roman gladiator outfit approached them, a golden tray of small bites on his shoulder. He stopped in front of the two women. “Fruit, ladies? Chocolates, perhaps?”

 “Some of us embrace the power of ‘and’.” Celeste smiled, her half-open eyes smoldering in admiration.

The waiter sat on the arm of Celeste’s chair and selected a fat, wet, strawberry. Grinning like they had a naughty secret, she bit into the luscious fruit. The berry’s juice stained her already red mouth.

 Holly blushed but she didn’t glance away. She watched as her aunt licked her lips, leaving a moist sensual shine. The boy’s eyelids dropped and he focused on Celeste’s mouth. The two shared a languorous, heated look, setting the cool indoor air on fire. He whispered in Celeste’s ear, making her lashes lower in agreement. With a small tilt of her head, Celeste motioned for their gallant to serve Holly.

He pivoted, a grape waiting for her in his fingers. Holly opened her own mouth, making him come to her. He sat on her chair and laid the purple-black globe on her tongue. She bit, relishing the juices bursting through the thin skin.

Their attendant stood, his thigh muscles shifting under his battle kilt. He blew Celeste a kiss, winked at Holly, and disappeared into the crowd. Sweat gathered on the back of her neck. The little display lasted less than a minute but the power of pleasure and attraction filled her.

At Amazon
At Barnes and Noble

Quotes and Snippets: Dracula's Desires

 John Jante’s life hung by a thread.

Valerie could smell 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 deep 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.

The Blood Wings Trilogy:
Dracula's Secret, Book One. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula's Desires, Book Two. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a chapter!

Dracula Unleashed, Book Three. At Amazon. At Barnes and Noble.
Check out a Chapter!

New book!

As you know, I have a new book out! Vamping It Up, an erotic coming-of-age novella was released on October 25th. This is my fourth book, and the first I've self-published. And I am so stoked. :)

How about another teaser snippet?

She stretched and yawned. What adventure could happen next?“

Good morning,” a half-asleep masculine voice greeted her from the hallway. Holly opened her mouth to say hello, but her jaw stayed open.

A half-asleep Dante was a mostly-naked Dante. Oh, last night, he’d looked mighty fine in a pair of black trousers and a half-unbuttoned white linen shirt. In the morning light, though, he wore a pair of red boxer briefs cut high on the thigh and the crotch cupped his package.

She swallowed. Dante had no worries in the cock-size department. Her nipples rose against the satin.

To buy:
Amazon
Barnes and Noble

Available both in e-book and print.

Vamping It Up: Are you ready?

Vamping It Up will be released on Friday, October 24th, 2014 - Just in time for your Halloween reading needs!

To whet your appetite, here is what happens after Holly decides to free herself from her ex's mindset.

***

“Hey, what did that door ever do to you?” Her neighbor, Steven Dearborne, spoke from his doorway. The only time Blaine met Steven, her former fiancée claimed the other man was a horn dog. “Don’t talk to him. He wants to fuck you. A guy doesn’t smile at a girl unless he wants to fuck her.” She had believed Blaine’s assessment. After all, her ex-fiancé was older and more experienced. Hindsight told her his order revealed more about Blaine than about Steven. As a result of her blind trust, she knew very little about Steven.

He was a graduate student in math, shaved his head, and wasn’t with his noisy girlfriend any more. Today, his bald scalp gleamed with perspiration.

Unlike slender, hairless Blaine, Steven’s auburn chest hair decorated a broad barrel chest set with heavy muscles. He would have been right at home in one of those old pirate movies with strong men chained to the oars. Holly gazed at his chest. His pectoral muscles rose from his sternum in a graceful arch. His belly wasn’t a cobbled eight pack, but it was flat and tight, belying the stereotype of the sedentary math major. His reddish body hair was fine and pettable, like the softest fur.

Under that thin coat, his muscles moved with a supple enticement, drawing her attention to the line from his navel to his crotch. Holly glanced down, expecting to see the ubiquitous cargo shorts all men wore around campus. Instead, Steven wore a black and tan sarong decorated with enormous, frolicking geckos. His lax genitalia pressed against the thin cotton. He hooked his thumb under the waistband of his sarong and fanned his fingers.

Steven was framing his wedding tackle. Steven was uncircumcised and dressed to the right. Well, hello, Steven.

Vamping It Up; Are you ready?

Poor Holly! What is she going to do now that her long term fiance has revealed himself to be a liar and a cheat?

***

The harps sounded again.

I want the ring back. Bring it by tonight.

 Rage welled inside of her, hotter than the blistering road. The sun no longer burned.

“Fuck.”

 Holly rarely let herself use the ultimate profanity. As the expletive burst from her mouth, a valve inside of her soul released.

Fuck him.

Fuck his father, fuck her dependency, and fuck her making him the axis of her universe.

She wasn’t going to be his patsy, his best friend, his lover-but-not-really. Holly was done being his doormat.

She poked out the words to her return message. You want it, you get it yourself.

The harps sang with Blaine’s response. If you want to cop an attitude, that’s your problem, not mine.

Holly dumped the phone back into her bag. With the same hand, she removed the offending Batman comic she had bought for his gift. With deliberate, precise movements, she tore open the slick plastic bag. She gripped the front cover and with a surge of strength, shredded each and every page into tiny, multicolored confetti.

The story had been a steaming pile of misogynistic doo-doo anyway. She dumped the heaping pile of crap into the garbage can by the driver.

Hell.

She should have gotten her money back. The refund could have paid for her first vibrator.

Vamping It Up will be released Friday, October 24th! Meet Holly Barros, a shy, young woman who is about to find out some very unwelcome news.

***

An angelic harp arpeggio emanated from her backpack. “Oh.” That was Blaine’s text message tone. She plunged her hand into her cavernous bag. Probably some last minute instructions for tonight’s party planning dinner. What to wear, perhaps, or who she needed to talk to. Huffing and puffing from the heat, she unlocked the screen.

Theresa  is having my baby. I won’t marry you. 

Holly froze. He couldn’t mean Theresa Harrison, the bane of Holly’s existence? Her arch enemy from kindergarten to sophomore year of high school?

She blinked her eyes, shook her head. The heat must have done a number on her vision. Blaine couldn’t have said that. She must have misread it. Confident again, she opened her eyes.

And there it was, in damning black and white.

Theresa is having my baby. I won’t marry you.

The words twisted in front of her. The bottom of her stomach plummeted, leaving her hollow and brittle. The seat burned her thighs, but it barely registered. Nothing mattered except the message on the screen.

Blaine didn’t want her. Her entire existence for the last five years had been centered on Blaine. When she traveled to see her aunt or to attend out of town school functions, he complained. Holly knew it was because he loved her and wanted her around. She called him every morning to wake him and she called him at night to tuck him in.

The skin on her scalp yanked tight, adding to the headache streaking along her brow line. Unthinking, she unwound her ponytail. The curly black strands stuck to her forehead and neck. She’d not cut her hair since she was seventeen when Blaine told her he liked long hair. Even the cherry-dotted mini-sundress she wore was in response to Blaine’s tastes, even though its beige background clashed with the brown skin and black hair of her Portuguese ancestors.

Small, strong, with a full bottom but small breasts, she secretly wanted to wear pin-up girl clothes to show off her rear. Instead, the little dress was cut straight up and down; a style best suited for a narrow-hipped, fair-skinned waif. Like Theresa.

Who was she if she wasn’t Blaine Harrington’s girlfriend?

Vamping It Up Cover reveal!

Do you want to see the cover for my new novella? I said, DO YOU WANT TO SEE THE COVER FOR MY NEW NOVELLA????
 
Well, since you insist. ;)
****

When half-vampire Holly Barros’s fiancé dumps her via text, she knows she’s gotta do something new with her life. Her glamorous great-aunt, vampire Celeste Barros, states that the girl needs a vacation, and how!

Celeste flies Holly from Seattle to Las Vegas, where she discovers the real meaning of Sin City. The Strip is full of sexy men, eager to tempt and please the broken-hearted young woman. 

Can Holly find out who she wants to be, vampire or human, in the midst of the whirl of Nevada? She’s willing and ready to find out!

 

***

Holly will be released on the world soon!

Vacation!

World's coolest tree in Lahaina.

Hello from Maui! I'm soaking up sun and relaxation before I start the push to self-publish Vamping It Up.

But to keep your appetite whetted, here's an excerpt from Chapter Two:

“Shit.”

Holly stared at the broken key sticking out of her apartment’s deadbolt. Frustrated beyond belief, she pounded her fist against the metal door.

Damn, that was satisfying.

She pounded again. And once more, with all her strength. The impact jarred her clavicle.

“Double shit.” She shook out her arm. The gathered sweat under her dress cascaded down her back.

Yuck.

The air conditioning in the apartment building hadn’t been turned on yet, either.

She dropped her head on the blessedly cool door. “Triple shit.”

Vamping It Up: In Production!

It's all about the junk.

I have finished my edits of Vamping It Up, an erotic coming-of-age novella. I'm attempting a mid-October release - just in time for a sexy, Halloween read. :)

Here is an excerpt from Chapter One.

His high, round ass, the only fleshy part of his physique, moved easily under his jean shorts as he shifted back and forth against the sway of the bus. Those shorts were low enough to show a teasing strip of heather grey boxer-briefs, but not low enough to make him waddle like a penguin.

Always a turn off, that, Holly thought.

His tight butt promised he could fuck all day. Holly rubbed at the sweat collecting on her collarbones. She wanted his narrow hips between her thighs, his package rubbing against the crotch of her panties under her dress. His long arms would brace him above her, giving him a great view of her face and breasts as he teased her, promising he would enter her, but at his own pace. He would demand she fall apart underneath him and she’d scream and scream and scream….

Monster Mash.

Welcome to my very first blog post, from February, 2009!!


Hello, world, and welcome to Linda Mercury's Blog!

Today's topic is Monster Movies. How curious is it that a woman who loves to write vampire novels doesn't watch monster movies?

I made up for lost time this week, though, by watching The Mummy (1999), The Mummy Returns (2001), and Nosferatu (1922) all in one week.

What exactly does a novelist take from watching movies? This novelist, at least, takes the importance of setting, body language, and story structure. How do they keep the pace going or not going? How do the film makers create a sense of anticipation and danger? Can I identify the story arc for each character? How can I translate an action scene into words? What little things 'make' each shot special? What makes a character sympathetic?

But most importantly, I get images of really hot men. I confess, I now have pictures of Arnold Vosloo and Oded Fehr pinned above my writing desk. Their physicality and charisma definitely have inspired me to write a much hotter hero than before.

 

Noferatu was a different proposition. Dracula's Secret explores facets of the Dracula myth and as such, I figure I'd better watch some of vampire classics. The print I rented through Netflix had the most distracting music I'd ever experienced in a silent film. Something about cheerful string arpeggios when Count Orlok is being his creepiest just really killed the experience. I turned the sound off and enjoyed the film that way.

What did I learn from Nosferatu? The importance of soundtrack! Listening to frothy, uptempo music when I'm writing something frightening or even sexy is self-defeating, to say the least.

What monster movies do you like? What do you get from them?