Hunting Hearts...

Image courtesy of Wikipedia Commons.

I met a friend online who gave me a prompt for Hunted Heart. Her idea was to have a strong heroine as the Hunter from Snow White who is given the job of killing the prince. Heartbreak, magic mirrors, and poisoned apples all wound themselves into the plot, and fifty thousand words later I had an adult take on the fairytale.

My publishing group, Myrddin Publishing, does a charity publication each year in December. This year my Myrddin effort is Hunted Heart and all royalties will be donated. It’s available for pre-order on Amazon, and you can add it to your reading lists on Goodreads.

When Tali is hired to cut out the heart of Prince Kas, the huntress can’t refuse. Tali realizes there is no escape from the dark magic of the queen’s mirror, even though her own feelings for the prince are far too complex to understand.

As they try to run from their shared destiny, Tali and Kas have to rely on their wits and each other as hunter becomes prey and hearts are won and lost.

A genderbent Snow White for adults (18+ only.) All royalties go to Save the Children.

My illustrator did a lovely job with the book. Here is Lisa Daly’s cover for Hunted Heart:

About the author: Alison DeLuca is the author of several fantasy and steampunk novels. Currently she lives in New Jersey with her husband and daughter, where she wrestles words and laundry.

You can find her on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Goodreads.

Spoiling by the BBC

The BBC are spoiling me.  Really they are.

 

I had awaited, with breath bated, Christmas Day when I knew Matt Smith would regenerate into Peter Capaldi and we'd had a new era of Doctor Who.  The day was upon us and, due to it being Christmas Day and me having various Chrismassy/family things to do, I had to watch it on my tablet on catch-up later.

That was fine, I didn't mind.  I just needed to watch it.  I'm a little unsure about the episode.  When the wonderful David Tennant transformed into Matt, there was a lot more action and tension.  Probably because this hand-over was spread over 300 years or so, that tension somewhat evaporated.

 

Still.  I enjoyed it.  It was a very different episode to the normal 'Phoenix from the ashes' we're used to.  We saw The Doctor age, something that was, until now, unheard of.  I liked that touch.  It was, also, good to see the Crack back, and the Silence - though they could have been built upon.  I wonder if Clara's tears as she said goodbye to 'her' Doctor were real?  Capaldi's first line ("new kidneys") mirrored Tennant's "new teeth", which was a nice touch.  Let's hope he can shine as bright in the Whovian Universe as his predecessors have.

 

When Eccleston reinvented The Doctor, I didn't think anyone could fill his shoes, especially someone I'd only known from Casanova.  Of course, for me at least, David Tennant equalled Tom Baker. Matt Smith had a very hard act to follow and did so very well, becoming a much more physical and madcap Doctor.

 

With Capaldi, we've returned to William Hartnell's age, the previous Doctors growing steadily younger, and we have a whole new slew of regenerations available inside him.  I'm pleased he began with humour, and I'm sure he'll be able to bring a certain darkness we've not seen before.

 

So.  Doctor Who.  Cool.

 

THEN...!

 

I heard on the radio, after a multitude of 'Coming Soon' ads on the TV and the Many Happy Returns minisode on the Internet, that Sherlock is back on New Year's Day!

 

Whoop!

This is the third, and I assume final given that Cumberbatch is now known worldwide thanks to Star Trek and The Hobbit (along with Martin Freeman - his Watson), series of the updated Sherlock series.  I have loved the series so far.  Really loved it.  From the comedic elements of dogging in the Hound of the Baskervilles to Sherlock's sharpness and intellect.  And I thought the end of series 2 (no spoilers for those that haven't seen it) was EPIC!

 

So, New Year's Day, BBC1, 9pm, I know where I'll be!

 

Oh yes, and there's more.  I, myself, will be on BBC Radio Humberside from around 11:30am (UK) on Thursday January 2nd!  I'll be interviewed by Blair Jacobs on my involvement with the wonderful Christmas O'Clock charity anthology and my writing in general.  Drop by if you get chance.  Their website is http://www.bbc.co.uk/radiohumberside.

 

Oh, and if only they actually did the episode where the Doctor comes to visit Sherlock and Watson, as per the little teaser trailer someone (I don’t think it’s official) has spliced together and scattered about the internet.  It looks SO good!

 

What time is it? Christmas O'Clock!

A couple of years ago, I sat down to write some of the sequel to Sin.  As usual I had no idea what I was going to write, but I knew Sin would be 'strutting his stuff'.

 

1,000 words later, I discovered I'd written the beginning of a story which came to be titled 'Rudolph Saves Christmas'!  In the story, Rudolph (you’ll never guess) had to save Christmas!  No, really.

 

Anywho.  I have no idea how venturing into the world of an escaped lunatic who kills people with his mind could morph into a children’s Christmas story, but that’s pretty much how I work.  I just write.  I’ve just read an excellent blog post by Connie J. Jasperson, the author of the equally excellent Tower of Bones series on how she’s forcing herself to work to an outline to ensure things happen in her books the way she wants or needs them to.  I wish, sometimes, I could do that.

 

It appears I can’t.  Hence Santa from Sin.

 

I’m a member of the Myrddin Publishing Group and, under their banner, published my anthology Dark Places.  A number of the talented authors from the group, including Connie, have lent those talents to a very seasonal collection, with all of the proceeds going to charity.

 

The collection is called Christmas O’Clock and contains two books and six stories with subjects ranging from Magic Coal, a girl who has to face the North Pole courts to clear her name from the Naughty List and playing Scrooge in a school play.

The charity we’ve chosen is Water for Life, an international project aiming at helping people develop safe and sustainable water sources for their communities.  The charity’s website is www.waterforlife.org.

 

I join forces with such authors as Alison DeLuca, Nicole Antonia Carson, Connie Jasperson, Irene Roth Luvaul and Mary K. Mitchell in the collection, each of whom have successful books in steampunk, fantasy and more.

 

You can find Christmas O’Clock at the following places:

 

Amazon US:

Ebook: http://amzn.to/CoCusE

Print: http://amzn.to/CoCprint

 

Amazon UK:

Ebook: http://amzn.to/CoCukE

Print: http://amzn.to/CoCprintUK

 

Anyone who buys a copy of the book is welcome to a free copy of either Zits’n’Bits or Rudolph Saves Christmas, my own children’s books.  Just contact me through either my website or my Facebook page and leave me a message and I’ll be in touch!