Category: Historical

A MelanieM Review: A Suitable Replacement (Deceived #5) by Megan Derr

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

A Suitable Replacement coverReturning home after three years abroad on an exhaustive research expedition,  Lord Maximilian wants nothing more than to see his twin sister Mavin and meet her fiance to whom she got engaged while he was away.  But as usual with his imperious sister things have already gone awry on his first day home.  Shortly after Max’s return,  a man barges into Max’s study demanding to see his sister.  The problem?  It’s Master Kelcey Moore, Mavin’s fiancé  wanting to know where Mavin has gone and why. Max doesn’t know what’s going on.

It doesn’t take much investigation on Max’s part to find out that his bold as brass sister has run away with someone else’s fiance, leaving her own (and another’s) far behind without warning to handle the social and personal embarrassment by themselves.  Floored by his sister’s actions, Max gets to know Kelcey, the man left behind.  He’s hurt, embittered by the fact that he thought Mavin was his friend and impoverished by his circumstances, something the marriage would have alleviated.  It isn’t soon before Max is finding himself concerned by Kelcey and his future.

Max thinks he has found the answer to all Kelcey’s  problems in his marriage contract to Mavin.  A suitable replacement must be found if the marriage doesn’t take place.  So Max reasons, all he must do is find a replacement for Mavin.  Another rich, suitable person for Kelcey to marry.  As more problems pop up to confront Max and Kelcey, the biggest of all just might be the fact that Max is wishing the suitable replacement to be himself.

In the world of Megan Derr, the word “typical” and “normally” are banished to the realm of others.   If Megan Derr is  writing an story that might seem historical on the surface, you can be sure that dragons, or trolls, or something magical or mysterious is lurking just around the corner, alongside carriages and horses and things.  In the world of Megan Derr, the young heir to the title and lands is not the twin brother but his twin sister, Mavin, a force of nature of her own.  Mavin, the cigar smoking,gun wielding, imperious and yes, impulsive wild child and head royal here.   Her twin brother, Max, also has his moments of wildness and peculiarities but they are nothing when stacked up against those of his sister.  I loved that its Mavin who fills the role of the  “typical” uncontrollable heir instead of her brother.  And its her exploits that set off the explosive and crazy events to come.  But back to Max and Kelcey.

Max is your “preoccupied disheveled scientist” in a historical context.  But what is Max researching?  Troll magic, an unpopular if not totally rejected subject for research and scientific study.  Not typically an historic element.  Apparently, there was a Troll War and Max is determined to research what he thinks is the use of magic during that war.  Max is most at home in his study or at the various bookstores where he is known as a generous patron.  But  when he gets the idea to find a replacement for his sister for Kelcey to marry, Max must once more take up the trappings of society and his royal status to achieve his ends.  This is just the sort of character Derr does so well.  Irritable yet soft hearted, highly intelligent and isolated, and truly in need of love.  He finds his match in Kelcey, an enigmatic man who pushes all Max’s buttons.  The courtship between them starts off slow and then takes off at a gallop. No, really a gallop at they flee town together.

There are quite a few obstacles to happiness and HEA thrown in their way.  That they are raised by the actions of Mavin in the first place, ones she shows little accountability for later on, might take away some of your enjoyment of her character and this story.  I thought her thoughtlessness of others around her and her self centered outlook was perfectly in keeping with her character.  Did I want to see her throttled? Of course but I found her a viable and interesting persona.  You need a character like her to add a prickly tartness here and she does that well.  And how Max and Kelcey react and adjust to the following chaos is lovely to behold.

The resolution is a little drawn out in a manner that might put off some readers.  Mavin’s actions has some real consequences, and as in real life, the person responsible is not always the person who pays the price.  I thought it realistic but for some this might be a tad unpalatable. I do wish a troll or two had shown up or even a magical wand.  That would have been stupendous (although not necessary for the plot).  I would love to have known more about the Troll Wars and past history that Max was researching, that got my interest going too.  But this story?  I still enjoyed the heck out of it.  Like them or not, I think you will find yourself empathizing with their circumstances, relationships and events to follow.  I loved the plot and the twists Megan Derr wove into a typical Regency novel.   Consider A Suitable Replacement totally recommended.  Now off to find the other stories in this series.

 Cover artist: Aisha Akeju.  Terrific cover, totally works here.

Sales Links:    Less Than Three Press     All Romance eBooks (ARe)        Amazon         A Suitable Replacement

Book Details:

ebook, 218 pages
Published August 6th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC (first published August 4th 2014)
original titleA Suitable Replacement
ISBN 1620044013 (ISBN13: 9781620044018)
edition languageEnglish
seriesDeceived #5

Review: Somebody to Love by Merry Farmer

Rating: 3.25 stars out of 5

MerryFarmer_SomebodyToLove_CoverBanker Phineas Bell has, by necessity and law, hidden his sexuality behind a kind but prim exterior, one expected of a banker in Montana in 1901.  But the arrival of Elliott Tucker in Cold Springs, Montana  stirs up old feelings and desires Phineas thought he had buried.  Elliot is a vet from Teddy Roosevelt’s Rough Riders in the Spanish-American war and has been looking for a place to settle down and call home.  A homosexual used to hiding his preference for men behind dalliances with women, Elliot thinks he knows what’s best for  Phineas as well as for himself.

When the only room available in town for the new sheriff is as a lodger in Phin’s house, the close quarters make the sparks fly but the consequences might be not only traumatic but costly when Phin’s uncharacteristic behavior causes an uproar.

But even more dangerous are the scoundrels that have come to town to make sure that Phin’s friends don’t open a store in their mine owned and operated town.  When their insidious plans don’t pan out, then desperation  causes them to kidnap someone close to Phin’s heart.  Elliot and Phin must race to catch the kidnappers before something unthinkable happens and the child is hurt.  But will their hidden romance be revealed?  And at what cost to the themselves, the town, and their loved ones waiting for them to return?

I have very mixed feelings about this story and some come from the westerns I love and read growing up.  Those stories by Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey set a standard against which, right or wrongly, I judge all western stories I read.  From their characters to their authentic settings and plots, I reveled in every story of theirs I could get my hands on.  Luckily for me, my dad was an ardent fan of both authors so I had their entire library of stories to pull from whether it was Louis L’Amour’s The Sacketts or Zane Grey’s Riders of the Purple Sage.

Now I can hear you grumble that this is a m/m romance and that’s true.  But that doesn’t make the comparisons any less relevant.  I bring to these m/m western romances a need to hear a dialog that would make sense in the time period involved.  I want behavior and mannerisms in keeping with the times and culture of the west.  That includes Easterners that have made their home in the territories (for surely they would have appropriated some of the local colloquialisms and idiosyncrasies after they settled in the area) as well as taciturn cowboys and soldiers who have learned to hide their sexual preferences.  I am also a stickler for detail and historical accuracies.  While I have seen more than one author tripped up by poor research and inattention to detail, I have also read stories by authors (m/m authors) who embraced the genre and made it most memorably their own.    With all that in mind, Somebody to Love is a mixed bag for me.

This is the first story I read by Merry Farmer and its apparently one in a series called Montana Romance.  Without the other books as a support, I don’t know if the issues I have with Somebody to Love are pertinent only to this story or all the others too.  So let’s start with the elements I thought were well done.

Merry Farmer has researched the era and physical setting of her story.  The town of Cold Springs, Montana comes alive here with its stores, bank and lively citizenry.  The section of the book that deals with the underhanded tactics of mine owners protecting their interests feels authentic and true to the times.  The “Copper Kings” and the Anaconda Mining Company were ruthless in pursuit of their interests and holdings and their tactics were as varied and wide ranging as their need for domination of the copper market. Those agents are represented here by two women and how you feel about their characters, their “realness”, and their placement in the plot might guide your feelings about the story.

I did enjoy Farmer’s plot.  I found it interesting and certainly entertaining.  But what held me back from connecting with these characters and their passion for each other was believability.  I never found their behaviors or actions to be realistic for both the time period and the setting. Phineas Bell is a “confirmed bachelor”, typical of that age.  He has never demonstrated any interest in the women in town, and other than his adopted family of friends and their children, Phin occupies himself with his bank and financial dealings.  In short, he is an upright, well regarded member of the community.  Into town comes Elliot Tucker to upset everything, and I do mean everything, including the believability in their romance and story.

For me Elliot is everything that is “off” about Somebody to Love.  Elliot is a former member of the Rough Riders that stormed San Juan hill and has arrived to take the Sheriff’s position in town.  But almost immediately, without “taking the lay of the land” so to speak, Elliot decides to admit he’s gay to the town banker he just met, kiss him, assume he knows best for Phin and urges him to flirt and date girls in town, including some of the more disreputable bar girls, to act as beards for their affair.  He starts a fight that Phin is involved in, all in a matter of hours and days.  This is the man the town is supposed to have faith in as a Sheriff?  Someone so completely lacking in judgement that his actions and hotheadedness would surely have gotten him killed in action before now.  And our staid, closeted and utterly reliable banker is following his advice?  Why would the town continue to let him hold their money and futures in his bank when all of a sudden his actions are unaccountably crazy?  The fact is that they wouldn’t and a later scene with a run on the bank should have come much earlier in the story if the author had wanted to remain realistic to the times and actions of a small town in the territory.   And Elliot’s strange and impetuous behaviors continue throughout the story to my astonishment.  In the space of a few days the author has Elliot almost completely destroying Phin’s reputation and business and we are supposed to connect with this man? It never made any sense or came across as realistic for the times.  For a war hardened soldier with the past that Farmer provided for him, Elliot is a strange and unbelievable character from start to finish.   And he takes the character of Phineas Bell down the rabbit hole with him.

Merry Farmer included some wonderful and suspenseful scenes within this story.  There are fires, and rescues, and all sort of shenanigans that will make you catch your breath and tense in anticipation of the action to come. Those segments are described with energy and are bright with emotion. But time after time, an element rises up to disconnect me from the story with its irrational and unrealistic idea or plot point.  The town is flooded with counterfeit money at the exact same time to strange women come to town with threats and devious actions.  Elliot and Phin figure it out but the town immediately assumes it’s Phin whose the culprit? And the actions they take, even after some initial investigations into the nefarious goings on, had me dumbfounded because they were so far removed from reality and common sense.  The behavior of Phin and Elliot seemed to change according to the needs of the plot instead of being aligned along those of human nature and societal norms of 1901 in the Territories.   I just could never lose myself in either their romance or the storyline as it proceeded no matter how I appreciated other parts of the story and various characters I met along the way.

It’s a difficult task authors set for themselves when writing historical novels, western or otherwise.  They must bring their characters and stories to life within a defined range of cultural morays and mannerisms found in the particular time period they have set their stories.  Everything, from the dialog and to laws and societal norms must be taken into consideration and still connect the readers to the plots and passions of those involved.  That’s a huge undertaking, and it’s one I’m not sure Merry Farmer accomplished here.  For every element I enjoyed there is its opposite that served to disconnect me from the story and the characters.

Somebody to Love is similar in my mind to a m/m “Paint Your Wagon” sort of story.  Part of it made no sense, likewise the casting.  Parts of it were fun, absolutely enjoyable while others were, well, lets be kind and just say perplexing. But not every reader will feel as I do and for some, this journey into 1901 Montana and a Cold Springs romance might just be the thing for them.  It’s all in how you approach historical fiction and your tastes might vary from mine.

But if, like me, you are a fan of the more typical Western, including m/m Westerns, there is a host of other stories and authors to explore.  Start with the older authors such as Zane Grey and Louis L’Amour and then look at the 5 star western m/m stories circulating now.  There is a book and author out there for everyone.  Let me know who is at the top of your list of authors and stories who brought the West alive to you!

Buy Links:    All Romance (ARe)          Amazon  ” title=”Amazon”>Somebody To Love

Cover Art: The lovely cover is by Pehr Graphic Design.

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 288 pages
Published April 27th 2014
ASINB00K02UWIS
edition languageEnglish

Author Spotlight: An Interview with Merry Farmer & her release “Somebody To Love”

spotlight on books

 

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Somebody To Love†is the fourth full-length novel in Merry Farmer’s highly acclaimed, historical†Montana Romance series. In this novel, which has already found a home atop Amazon’s LGBT romance lists, she writes about the love between two men, Phinneas Bell and Elliott Tucker, and the issues that surround them as they try to make their way in 1800s Montana.

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I have Merry Farmer sitting in our Author Spotlight today for an interview about writing, her story and the muse behind Somebody To Love:

STRW:
Why did you choose to write M/M stories?

Merry Farmer:  It wasn’t so much that I started out to write an m/m story as much as I knew from the beginning of the series that I needed to write a love story for the character of Phineas Bell. He was part of the Montana Romance series from the start, and I always felt as though he deserved to find love too. So it was only natural to write that story of Phin falling in love.

STRW: Where do you find your inspiration?

Merry Farmer:  
You know, I find inspiration in the strangest places. History itself has always been a source of wonder and stories for me. So many of the actual people and events of history are fantastic stories in and of themselves that it takes just a little imagination to spin them into a complete book. I am also inspired by those quirky little questions that pop into my mind for no apparent reason, like “How were animals originally domesticated by the earliest humans?” That simple question inspired my entire Grace’s Moon science fiction series as I went on pondering how civilizations are born.

STRW:  What is for you the perfect book hero?

Merry Farmer:  Ah. Here’s something that makes me a little different from other Romance writers. I’m madly in love with beta heroes. I love the intelligent, clever men who might not be as macho or hunky as an alpha hero, but who love the heroine with their whole heart. I love the sidekick who never gets the girl and absolutely adore writing books where the nice guy wins.

STRW:  When you start a book, do you already have the whole story in your head or is it built progressively?

Merry Farmer:  
I usually have a general idea of where I’m going with a story before I start and maybe one or two important plot points, but I certainly don’t have everything figured out before I start typing. In fact, I learn so much about my characters and their world and the story of what happens to them as I write that a lot of times I need to go back and rewrite the beginning once I finish so that it matches the end.

STRW:  Do you pay attention to literary criticism?

Merry Farmer:  Sometimes. It’s important to take criticism with a grain of salt. Occasionally you can learn something from the faults that readers see that you were unable to see yourself. It can help you to write better in the future (or revise that book after publication). But a lot of the time reading criticism will just get you down.

STRW:  What inspired you to write your first book?

Merry Farmer:  Well, I’d been dating this guy for a while. I was certain I was going to marry him. Then suddenly, he broke up with me. I was devastated. Even more devastated when, six months later, he got engaged to someone else. I fell into a horrible, horrible depression. I’d been writing since I was ten years old, but in the depths of that break-up depression, something just clicked in me and I knew I had to WRITE. I sat down and started writing The Loyal Heart and it pulled me right out of that depression. The rest is history.

STRW:Do you have a specific writing style?

Merry Farmer:  I think I do. I would be hard-pressed to define it, though. I’ve been told by people that know me that they can hear me speaking when they read my writing, so in terms of prose, I think I write like I speak. As far as subject matter and theme, I have always been more interested in the underdog and people who had had to struggle in life more than the alpha heroes and standard heroines of much of Romance fiction. I would like to be known for writing romantic stories about the non-dukes and the middle class characters of the world.

STRW: How do you come up with the titles?

Merry Farmer:  Titles are HARD! I struggle with them through the entire process of thinking about and writing my stories. I spend a lot of time (especially when I’m driving) thinking up word combinations, possible titles, shifting things around, counting syllables, all sorts of weird tricks. Ultimately, something just pops into my head and I know that’s it. Sometimes it’s song lyrics. Somebody to Love comes directly from the Queen song of the same name because it fits my characters and their journey…and because it came on the radio as I was driving.

STRW:  Is there a message in your novel that you want readers to grasp?

Merry Farmer:  Be true to who you are, even if it’s not popular, even if it’s difficult, even if it’s dangerous. You can stand to lose material things, but integrity is more valuable. If you stay true to yourself, true love will find you against all odds.

STRW: Is there anything you find particularly challenging in your writing?

Merry Farmer:  
I guess I have a problem with saggy middles. But I have that problem in real life too. 😉

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Get Somebody To Love†on Amazon, Amazon UK, Smashwords, Barnes & Noble,  ARe ,
and iBooks.
Add In Your Arms†to your Goodreads to-read shelf!

About Somebody To Love

MerryFarmer_SomebodyToLove_CoverFor Phineas Bell, love has not only been out of reach, it has been impossible. In a world where men who love other men are anathema, he has poured his love into his work, his town, and the friends who accept him as family. But when a handsome new lodger takes over his home and his heart, breaking all his careful rules, Phin must choose between playing it safe and letting love in.

War hero Elliott Tucker is the answer to Cold Springs ís prayers for a sheriff worth his salt. But with every single woman in town throwing themselves at him, Elliott has eyes for only one person: Phin. The sparks are hot between then, but in spite of Elliottís best efforts, Phinís heart proves the toughest nut to crack. A love that starts with fire threatens to burn them both until a shocking abduction throws Phin and Elliott together on the trail of ruthless kidnappers. Will their efforts to save a child wrench them apart or will it prove that at last theyíve found somebody to love?

Genre classification:†M/M LGBT Western Historical Romance

Get†Somebody to Love†on†Amazon,†Amazon UK,†Smashwords,†Barnes & Noble, and†iBooks.

Add†Somebody to Love†to your Goodreads to-read shelf!

About the author

Merry FarmerMerry Farmer is an award-winning author of Historical Romance and what she likes to call ìSci-Fi for Women.î She lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats and enough story ideas to keep her writing until sheís 132. Her second novel, The Faithful Heart, was a 2102 RONE Award finalist and her unpublished futuristic novel A Manís World won first place in the Novel: Character category at the 2013 Philadelphia Writerís Conference. She is out to prove that you can make a living as a self-published author and to help others to do the same.

Find Merry Farmer on her website, Facebook, Twitter, and Amazon Author Page.

 

 

On Tour with Lee Brazil and the “Less Than All” Book Blast

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ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords is happy to welcome Lee Brazil here today.  Lee is one of our favorite authors, most notably through the Pulp Friction author group and series.  Today Lee is talking about his latest release, Less Than All.  Be sure to check out the excerpt that follows further down in the post and the contest for a $10 All Romance Gift Card.

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Book Name: Less Than All
Author Name: Lee Brazil
Author Bio:

Somewhere in a small town in up-state New York are a librarian and a second grade teacher to whom I owe my life. That might be a touch dramatic, but it’s nevertheless one hundred percent true.

Because they taught me the joy of reading, of escaping into worlds crafted of words.

Have you ever been nine years old and sure of nothing so much as that you don’t belong? Looked at the world from behind glasses, and wondered why you don’t fit?

Then turn the page and see… there you are, running from Injun Joe in a dark graveyard; there you are fencing with Athos; there you are…beneath the deep blue sea- marveling at exotic creatures with Captain Nemo.

I found myself between the pages of books, and that is why I write now, it’s why I taught English and literature for so many years, and it’s why my house contains more pounds of books than furniture.

If I’d had my way, I’d have been a fencer…or a starship captain, or a lawyer, or a detective solving crimes. But instead, I am a writer, and that’s the best thing in the world to be if you ask me, because as a writer, I can be all those things and more.

If I hadn’t learned to value the stories between the pages, who knows what would have happened? Certainly not college…teaching…or writing.

Author Links:
Twitter: @leebrazil

Less-Than-All400x600Book Details:
Cover Artist: Laura Harner
Photograph: Dan Skinner
Publisher: Lime Time Press
Blurb(s):

Nicholas Danville doesn’t trust his lover to share the depth of his attraction.He knows full well Victor must marry to fulfill his duty to his aristocratic family. Assuredly marriage will mean the end of their liaison.

A youthful indiscretion leads to a humiliating encounter between Nicholas Danville and Lord Victor Ware. Nicholas is sent home in disgrace, and Victor continues life in the Ton. Years later, Nicholas’s reproving parents send him to town to attain a degree of polish before he prepares for life as a member of the clergy.

A chance encounter with an old friend leads to a new confrontation between Nicholas and Victor. This time, the attraction between them burns brighter, Nicholas is old enough to know his own mind, and Victor is done with self-denial.

From ballrooms to gardens and opera houses, Victor sets about proving that a passionate liaison between two men is possible even under the narrow gaze of the Ton.

Excerpt:

Peter had evidently taken the time to pull his glossy Hessians back on because Victor had swallowed half the glass before he heard the door click behind him. Lifting the glass to study the amber liquid in the firelight, he spoke without turning around.

“I pay you an adequate allowance to cover your own establishment Peter, exactly because I do not wish to find hordes of drunken revelers have invaded my home.”

“I’m glad for Peter’s sake that you’re a generous man, My Lord Ware. But I’d hardly call our little gathering a horde.”

Victor whirled about to find Danville lounging in altogether too close a proximity. A single lingering glance impressed upon Victor the slender lithe frame, lovingly outlined by tight buff colored breeches, fine white linen shirt open at the neck. Both his discreetly embroidered waistcoat and his black tailcoat hung open. Danville’s inappropriate dishabille enticed him as the devil tempted sinners. He held up a hand as though to ward off the smaller man, but Danville stepped impossibly closer, and Victor groaned as his blood thrummed and his head swam.

Strong arms wrapped around his neck, tugging his head down, and soft wet lips pressed lightly against his mouth. “I’ve waited years for this moment, Ware.”

Then Victor gave up listening, gave up fighting the response of his body as an agile tongue probed the seam of his lips, seeking entrance. He accepted Nicky’s kiss, opened his mouth to suck at the questing tongue. He chased Nicky’s tongue for what seemed like ages, his body hardening and heating with lust.

His arms closed around Nicky’s slender waist, hauling the man close so he could seek solace for the ache of his prick in grinding against the silk of Nicky’s evening breeches. The shattering of his whiskey glass on the hearth broke the mood, and Nicky pulled away, retreating to the door.

“I’m going now.” He paused, hand on the doorknob. A strangely earnest expression crossed his face as he tilted his head to glance back at the stunned Victor. “Shall I return? Or do you forbid Peter’s friends the run of your home?”

He slipped from the room while Victor struggled to frame a coherent response.

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Tour Dates: June 26, 2014

LessThanAllBadgeTour Stops: Parker Williams, Amanda C. Stone, Fallen Angel Reviews, Love Bytes, Emotion in Motion, Havan Fellows, MM Good Book Reviews, Rainbow Gold Reviews, Scattered Thoughts & Rogue Words, Hearts on Fire, Book Reviews, Rants, and Raves, Prism Book Alliance, Top2Bottom, Kimi-Chan, Iyana Jenna, Because Two Men Are Better Than One, Wicked Wolves and Dreaming Dragons, The Hat Party

 

Contest:   Use the Rafflecopter link provided to enter.  Must be 18 years of age or older to enter. Rafflecopter Prize: $10 AllRomance Gift CardWillPride

Buy Links:            Amazon                 ARe

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rafflecopter Code: a Rafflecopter giveaway

Author Guest E.E. Ottoman on Song of Spring Moon Waning, Story Inspiration and Book Contest

ScatteredThoughtsandRogueWords is happy to have author E.E. Ottoman here today.  Ottoman’s recent release Song of the Spring Moon Waning was recently reviewed and is one of my highly recommended stories.Song of the Spring Moon Waning cover

Book Giveaway: To go along with  E.E. Ottoman’s guest blog, we are giving away one copy of Song of Spring Moon Waning.  To enter, just leave a comment, as well as your email address or method of contacting you in the body of the email.  By leaving a comment and entering, you are agreeing that you are over 18 years of age. Contest ends 3/15.

I asked E.E. Ottoman to talk a little bit about the inspiration for this  magical story, and the ancient Chinese setting because I felt that it came across not only as authentic but artistic as well.

E.E. Ottoman:

I wrote Song of the Spring Moon Waning in the winter of 2012-2013. When I started I had it in my head that I was going to write a fairy tale. Not a retelling of a fairy tale, although I love those, but a story in the style of a fairy tale with all the imagery, and motifs of a fairy tale where the protagonist learned something about his or herself by the end. I debated where and when to set it but the only thing that felt right was Medieval China.

Now for full discloser, I study history. When I was writing this I was in graduate school for history. I don’t though study Chinese history. I study Asian American history, and although I focus on the Chinese immigrant community I only look at that community in the United States and then in the late 19th century or early 20th.

Song Dynasty China, which is what Song of the Spring Moon Waning is based on, is not only a totally different country from the one I study, but also many hundreds of years too early. I had taken some classes on Chinese history though and for one of them written a research paper on same-sex relationships in Chinese history. I had also done significant research into the lives and roles of palace eunuchs for another project before I started working on Song of the Spring Moon Waning. So the ground work for that was already laid out.

Still having done one or two research projects in no way made me qualified or ready to portray an entire society and time period.Which meant that in order to write Song of the Spring Moon Waning I had to do a lot of additional research.

Lucky for me studying history at a major university did give me the upper hand in doing historical research. I had access to academic databases, I could and did check lots of books out of the university library. Plus my advisor at the time WAS a historian of China and even more lucky for me focused on the Imperial examination system.

A lot of the research I did was pure factual: how did the examination system work in the Song era, what did people wear, what did houses look like, how where dreams thought of and interpreted, was there a Song Dynasty equivalent of fast food?
I did my best to find the answers to all these questions and any other details that came up while I was writing. I tried to do as much fact checking as I could using the resources I had.

That meant I did a lot of research up front, but also as I wrote I was constantly stopping to check details. A large part of my editing was also fact checking, although I’m sure from a straight up history perspective the story is a long way from being error-free.

Song of the Spring Moon Waning isn’t just a historical though it’s also a fantasy story. So in order to better understand how fantasy elements could be combined with a historical Chinese setting I started watching loads of wuxia tv shows and movies.

For those of you who don’t know wuxia is a genre of art and fiction that revolved around a chivalrous martial artist figure. According to Wikipedia:

“Modern wuxia stories are largely set in ancient or premodern China. The historical setting can range from being quite specific and important to the story, to being vaguely-defined, anachronistic, or is only used as a backdrop for the action. Fantasy elements, ranging from fantastic martial arts to ghosts and monsters, are common elements of a wuxia story but not a prerequisite. However, the martial arts element is a definite part of a wuxia tale, as its characters must know some form of martial arts. Themes of romance are also strongly featured in some wuxia tales.”

Song of the Spring Moon Waning is not a wuxia story since neither of the main characters are martial artists. It does combined a premodern Chinese setting, fantasy elements and a strong romance. Also learning about modern wuxia stories allowed me to better understand the way Chinese history and fantasy are combined in Chinese media itself.

China — especially premodern China — can often be portrayed in US media as a mystical or magical place but it is almost always in a distinctly Orientalist and therefore racist way. Because of this, I very much did not want to base my own story only on Western representations of Medieval China or Chinese fantasy.

Actually I’d say Hollywood is a really bad place to start for anyone who wants to write any sort of story based on any Asian culture. The faster you can forget any movie made or popularized in the US the better off you are. Luckily we lived in the computer age and it is easy to find good movies and shows made in China for a Chinese audience, even with English subtitles. That being said :: puts my historian hat on:: movies and tv is never a substitute for actual historical research ::takes my historian hat off::

I also read a lot of Chinese folk tales and tried to soak up the way that Chinese fairy tales are constructed and the kind of imagery that is used in them. I also can’t emphasize how amazing my friend Ginger was. Having grown up in China, she knew all different versions of various folk tales and kindly told me every single one in detail and let me ask questions about them. At the end of the day I took all this and combined it into a story that also had my own unique style and voice.

Song of the Spring Moon Waning, for all the fantasy elements, is very much a story about Wen Yu, about his struggles and insecurities and about his relationships with Liu Yi, how that relationships changes him and makes him look at the world in different ways.

I hate stories that tie everything up in the end and much prefer my fantasy and fairy tales to have the heroes going off to take part in more adventures. So that was exactly how I ended Song of the Spring Moon Waning. Wen Yu has learned to make his own decisions and live with the consequences of those decisions. Now he and Liu Yi are ready to face more adventures together.
Song of the Spring Moon Waning is part of the Jade Mountain series which also include Zi Yong and the Collector of Secrets, also published by Less Than Three Press. You can see more about it here. The third book in the series will pick up where Song of the Spring Moon Waning leaves off.

I am excited about it and I hope you all are too.

Thank you so much to Melanie for having me on her blog.

STRW:  And my thanks to E.E. Ottoman for a fascinating look at the inspiration behind this remarkable book.  I can’t wait for the next story to arrive.  Remember, to enter the contest to win a eBook copy of  Song of Spring Moon Waning, leave a comment below and an email address to I can contact you.  The contest ends March 15th.  Good luck everyone!

I leave you with a picture of the Snow Dragon Jade Mountain in China.JadeDragonMountain12

Song of the Spring Moon Waning coverBook Details:

ebook, 32,000 words
Published January 15th 2014 by Less Than Three Press LLC
ISBN13 9781620043004
edition language English
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Review: Convergence (Proud to be a Vampire) by Talya Andor

Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Convergence coverLong time friends Chris Bryant and Ling Tam work for Chris’ father in Bryant’s Teas and Curiosities, a store that buys and sells antiques and oddities.  Chris and Ling have long searched for a certain treasure and now they think they have found it.  But in order to succeed they need the assistance of a very special and dangerous being, a vampire.  Chris places a discreet ad in the newspaper and it is answered by Dorran Gracen, a Welsh vampire who accepts the job and the challenges of the journey.

But traveling with a gorgeous predator has its own challenges and attractions, physical attractions that Chris Bryant has kept hidden from his family and society.  As their journey to China continues, he starts to yearn for more from Gracen than just his help to obtain the treasure.  At the journey’s end, will Chris and Ling find the treasure they have searched for or will Chris’ attraction to the vampire cost them everything they have worked for and his life as well.

Convergence is a wonderful little story by Talya Andor that reaches beyond its 22,000 word scope for something larger and, for the most part, succeeds.  It appears to take place in England sometime in the 1800’s, but this England is a place where vampires are a  reality, although a carefully hidden one.  Andor crafts a totally believable world, from Chris’ store to the voyage that takes the trio to China and their buried treasure.

I loved the relationship between Chris and Ling as well as the one that develops between Chris and Dorran.  Given the time period, unusual relationships such as those between people of differing races and social rank are not easily tolerated.  So in a lovely twist, Andor shows that while Chris and Ling consider themselves to be equals, they hide their  true friendships. A neat twist is that they consider themselves almost brothers, but still have to pretend to have a master/servant relationship, one that switches around once they reach China.

It is a time when it is equally dangerous to be gay so among the many things Chris is hiding, he is also careful not to disclose his homosexuality.  The only one who knows he is gay is Ling, his straight friend.  So many secrets here in Convergence, including the true nature of Ling and Chris’ collection of artifacts.  Then Andor adds another layer of deception with the introduction of her Welsh vampire, a somewhat civilized predator with an agenda of his own and truly, all paths and deceptions converge within a mountainous lair of puzzles and treasure.

The treacherous path to the jeweled artifact is a lovely combination of torturous puzzles and challenging physical hurdles.  I really enjoyed the planning and thought that went into this hunt.  The vivid descriptions made the atmosphere and setting come alive.  I had only one quibble with one hurdle that I am sure the author could have answered given a longer length.  Ok, how did those sharks stay alive given their location? Hmmm?  But the rest of it was so neatly planned out, that I can look past this curiosity.

The only other quibble I had with this story was that I wanted a little more of the growing relationship between Chris and Dorran.  The scenes we were given were so tantalizing that it made me want so much more.  They are a great couple and the ending makes me hopeful that there will be more of this couple and their hunts for oddities and treasures.  Whether you love vampires or romance or a combination of both, this is a story you won’t want to miss!

Note:  It appears as part of a bundle titled Proud To Be A Vampire, No. 1 and No. 2 but I don’t see any further references to these main characters so I am not certain where this story comes in.  It can certainly be read as a stand alone.

Cover designed by Aisha Akeju works wonderfully for the story and the treasure within.

Book Details:

ebook, 22,000 words, approx. 80 pages
Published October 9th 2013 by Less Than Three Press LLC
original title Convergence
ISBN13 9781620042519
edition language English