Meet @KimKasch and The Viking Princess #PNRThursday

Today is the final Paranormal Thursday post, so please welcome Kimbra Kasch, author of The Viking Princess. This truly sounds like a unique and fascinating paranormal romance.

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Hi everyone!

I’m a romance writer who grew up in a family with 9 kids and only 1 t.v. so I spent my days reading and, later, writing. I love books. . .maybe because I never got to pick t.v. shows we watched. But I’d run home after school to catch the last fifteen minutes of Dark Shadows

I’ve just had my first novel published and am looking to share it with the world. It’s a story I was inspired to write after visiting Hamlet’s Castle and seeing an enormous Viking statue down in the tunnels next to the dungeons.

During the dark ages, the Vikings were more than merely heathen marauders. In truth, they were brave explorers. Men and women who took the original Captain’s Oath, vowing to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man (or woman) had gone before.

They were not the pillagers that the British portrayed them to be but people searching for new lands and new civilizations and along the way, they faced gripping family sagas that questioned more than their strength, agility and patience. These journeys brought into question alliances and loyal friendships, while testing their faith. And, there was nothing more important than family relationships. If a Viking couldn’t count on his family to help him survive, he perished.

But it wasn’t only the men, these warriors were women as well as men, who stood side by side on the battlefield. Perhaps that is the reason and the truth behind the tales of the Valkyrie and Valhalla, which still haunt the stories of the Vikings.

The VIKING PRINCESS is one such tale of the extraordinary lives and epic adventures of two people: Holger Danske and Morgaine LeFey.

And Holger Danske was not the first Danish Prince to appear on the printed page or to share a well-known castle as his home. Hamlet’s story is set in the same structure that stands on the sound between Denmark and Sweden. Holger’s home is in Kronborg Castle, known to most English speaking people as Hamlet’s Castle.

It was there, inside this Castle that I first was introduced to Holger Danske and the legends surrounding his iconic life. He was a warrior, a Prince destined to become King of all the Norse lands during the time of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table.

I found it odd that everyone had heard of King Arthur and his magical sword, Excalibur, which he received from the Lade of the Lake (a Norse Goddess) who had also given such a sword to Holger Danske. Holger’s sword was named “Cortana”, and was made from the same metal and magic as Excalibur. Yet no one I talked to outside of Denmark had ever heard of Holger or his sword.

And, even more interesting was the fact that Holger and the Vikings invaded England, yet somehow, even as enemies, Holger and King Arthur’s half-sister, Morgaine LeFey, were able to share a forbidden love.

Viking Princess coverTheirs was a romance that threatened two kingdoms.

THE VIKING PRINCESS has never been told outside of Denmark…until now. Morgaine and Holger faced an attraction more powerful than any sword, stronger than any warrior and more magical than all the powers of Merlin.

Short Excerpt:

He laughed at her, making her senses bristle.

She was not amused. “Am I humorous?”

“I have heard you are many things,” he replied, “but humor has never been cited as one of your virtues.”

“First you laugh at me, and then you belittle me. Is this the way you treat all women?”

He pulled back on the reins. His horse slid to an immediate standstill. Then, burying his face into her hair, he whispered in her ear, “I have shown enormous restraint. Would you like me to show you how I treat all women?”

The burning ember inside her flared to a flame. The muscles low in her belly tightened, as she clenched her legs tighter, wrapping them around his steed. Sucking air into her lungs, she felt the immediate pulse of desire race through the core of her body. She wanted to reach back over her head and wrap her arms around his neck, to pull him even closer.

It was all she could do to hold her tongue and keep from begging him, when all she wanted to say was, “Yes, yes, please show me.”

Her body motionless, she could feel the warmth of him as his hands grew bold, slipping beneath the soft linens covering her, his fingers gently gliding up over her stomach, traveling beneath her breasts and edging up…

A voice whispered inside her head. What are you doing? This man is your enemy. He intends to kill you, your brother, everyone you love…

She grabbed his wrists, holding him still and steady. “You have caught me, kidnapped me, and dragged me here. I may be your prisoner, but do not think that I am interested in your advances.”

His body tensed and he pulled back his hands, gripping her firmly about the waist. “I, Holger, the prince over all the Norse lands, have never had a woman decline the privilege of being my lover.”

“Prince or pauper, it matters not to me what rank you hold, for I, too, am highborn and accustomed to many privileges,” she snapped back, unwilling to let him bask in his own conceit. “And being your lover is not a privilege I would prize.”

If you want to purchase THE VIKING PRINCESS click on AMAZON or BARNES AND NOBLE,

Visit me at www.kimbrakasch.com

And www.kimkasch.blogspot.com

Other authors participating in the tour:

Carmen Stefanescu: http://shadowspastmystery.blogspot.ro/
Daisy Banks: https://daisybanks.wordpress.com/
Flossie Benton Rogers: http://flossiebentonrogers.com/blog/
M. S. Kaye: http://booksbymsk.com/
Kim Kasch: http://www.kimkasch.blogspot.com
Cassandra Ulrich: http://cassandraulrich.blogspot.com/
Julie Dárcy: http://juliedarcystoryweaver.blogspot.com.au/
Margo Bond Collins: http://www.MargoBondCollins.com
Adrienne Woods: https://woodsadrienne.wordpress.com/
N. N. Light: http://princessofthelight.wordpress.com
Penny Estelle: http://www.pennyestelle.blogspot.com

Writing Realistic Romances for Young Adults and Beyond by Barb Caffrey

Barb Caffrey is here today to tell us about writing romances for young adults and beyond. Barb and I both have short stories in the new anthology, Exquisite Christmas.

BC-AnElfyontheLoose coverWriting Realistic Romances for Young Adults and Beyond

By Barb Caffrey

I’m delighted to be making an appearance at Linda McLaughlin/Lyndi Lamont’s blog today. I hope you’ll enjoy my stay…and check out Linda/Lyndi’s post over at my blog site, affectionately known as the Elfyverse as well!

When I first started writing the novel that became the Elfy duology (part one being AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE, part two being A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE), I had no idea that it was the first step toward writing a realistic take on young love. My hero, Bruno the Elfy, was young, short and not from this Earth at all; he felt he had nothing whatsoever to offer anyone, and was told he was too green to even be looking.

Little Elfy coverAs most readers of romance novels know, that’s often the best type of protagonist for a romantic hero. Someone who is not looking for love, but finds it anyway, can be delightful to read about. And when you see a pair of young lovers like Bruno and his girlfriend, the mostly human Sarah, discovering just what love is about, it reminds us of our own first steps toward finding a romantic partner that suited us way back when.

You see, when you have a pair of teenagers, you have more license to talk about how they feel. They don’t know exactly what it is that they want from their romantic partner just yet, because they don’t have a lot of experience. (In the case of Bruno and Sarah, they had exactly zero experience between them. Neither had so much as kissed another person.) All they know is that they want…something. Affection, assuredly, and friendship, and caring, and maybe if they’re lucky, a deeper commitment…but it all starts with being willing to try to be open, and to try to make some sort of a connection on the friendship level.

Exquisite Christmas coverNow, when you write a romance meant for adult readers, a wholly different set of circumstances comes into play. For example, my characters Marja and Tomas from “Marja’s Victory” and “To Hunt the Hunter” in the Exquisite Christmas anthology are both at least middle-aged. Marja is a shapeshifter and a woman of size who makes no bones about the fact that she’s not beautiful – she doesn’t even want to be. (When she takes on other forms that are conventionally attractive, she does so because it helps her profession as a detective and bounty hunter, that’s all.) And Tomas, her lover, is a telepathic mountain Troll who doesn’t like to wear shoes and apparently doesn’t care much for the company of other Trolls.

How did these two end up together? My hunch is that they became business partners first, and found they were congenial in other ways later.

All I knew for certain when I started writing “Marja’s Victory” (the first of the two stories in Exquisite Christmas) is that both had been hurt by others in love. But somehow, some way, they became close to one another, and fell in love, warts and all.

But perhaps I should show you what I mean by giving you a few examples of the difference between writing Bruno and Sarah’s more innocent romance and Marja and Tomas’s adult tale.

First, here’s an excerpt from A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE from p. 277-8:

Sarah turned to him, and said, “I know you love me, Bruno. And I haven’t said it back to you, not yet.”

“You haven’t felt well, either,” Bruno pointed out. “We have been through a lot.”

“That doesn’t matter. Just so you know,” she glanced up through her eyelashes, “I do love you. I did from the moment I saw you, even when I thought I was too young and you were too old, and that you’d probably not wait for me even if we were both Human, or both Elfy. And I want to be with you, now and forever.”

“Same here,” Bruno breathed. He felt as if his heart would burst. She’d finally said that she loved him! How much better could it get?

Next, here’s an excerpt from To Hunt the Hunter:

I looked down at the snake. “You may as well change, Stefan. I know who you are, and I know why you’re here.”

A dark-haired teenaged boy coalesced out of the air. He was dressed in a dark mage-robe, his eyes were dark with pupil, and his face wore the oddest smile I’d ever seen. “Have you seen Megyn?”

“No, I haven’t,” I said shortly. I assumed Megyn was one of those rare beauties that everyone adored. “But she’s promised to another.”

“I love her, though. So, so much…” He sat down unceremoniously on a nearby sopha.

“That doesn’t matter. She doesn’t love you, Stefan.” I couldn’t afford to show him any empathy—the man was a thief—but inside, I understood. It hurt to be rejected by someone you thought you loved.

::I’m here now, and I love you. Those other fools who passed on you do not matter anymore. So who cares about them?:: Tomas’s voice whispered into my mind.

Note that both stories have a great deal of action, but as A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE is a novel, it was easier for me to find a straight-up romantic scene. (As soon as I can figure out how to write a longer story about Marja and Tomas, I should be able to rectify that problem!) But you can see at least a few differences here, if you look closely.

First, Bruno and Sarah are obviously young. This is their first and only serious relationship, and they are both respectful of one another and innocent, to boot. (They both like to think they’re not, of course. But that comes with the territory.)

Marja and Tomas, on the other hand, are not young. They have been in a serious relationship for quite some time and work well together. But there is genuine love there, and genuine understanding, besides – note that Tomas says, “Those other fools who passed on you do not matter anymore.” No male of any species would ever say that to a woman if he didn’t truly and deeply love her. And no woman would smile just for him (as Marja does, though I ended the excerpt before she smiled for the sake of brevity) after hearing something like that unless there was genuine love on her part as well.

So, to my mind, the main difference between writing a young adult romance and one between older and more mature lovers is simply this: A young couple doesn’t know exactly what they want out of each other, but they know they want something. Whereas an older couple understands the physical act quite well, and usually knows exactly what they want from a romantic partner — but may have years of bad experiences to get past before making the attempt.

But the magic of love, of belonging, of believing in yourself and your partner, and being understood and appreciated for yourself, is exactly the same regardless of age — which is one reason writing about romance is so very much fun!

************

BarbC-2014Picture-200x300Barb’s Links:

Blog: http://elfyverse.wordpress.com

Amazon Author Page: http://www.amazon.com/Barb-Caffrey/e/B00H8EROC8

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BarbCaffrey

Google-Plus: plus.google.com/101403408003727584589

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/barb.caffrey.1

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/2843982.Barb_Caffrey

Books:

AN ELFY ON THE LOOSE

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00JMSPR5Y/

A LITTLE ELFY IN BIG TROUBLE

Amazon link: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B018B4699W

EXQUISITE CHRISTMAS

E-book now available at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and coming soon to iBooks and other retailers. Print anthology available at Amazon and Barnes & Noble.

Exquisite Christmas print cover