I'm pleased to welcome paranormal romance author Stella McLeod, who has a topic I'm sure most of you will find interesting. Greek Myth and how it tied into her latest release, ALWAYS HAVE AND ALWAYS WILL and she tells us a little about herself too. So, grab some coffee or your beverage of choice :) and enjoy!
Have you ever read about the ancient Greek Gods and wondered where they came from? Well the new paranormal romance released this week, Always Have and Always Will has the answer. This luscious romance set in the Greek Islands unveils the secret to Immortality discovered in Antiquity, reveals a young ancient warrior who has waited for over 2000 years for his lover to return to him and a modern reincarnated woman who cannot remember her past-life or him. Throw in his sinister twin brother, her best friend Menander, some living Gods and the murderer and you have a plot to die for.
McLeod brings her experience as a psychologist to bear in the creation of her characters and story, making them challenging, flawed and deliciously vulnerable. Her hero is a warrior who wants to be a lover and her heroine, a lover who wants to be a warrior. With a past she cannot escape and a future he cannot accept does love find a way? Of course it does! This is a romance after all, and like all good therapists or romance writers, and despite a twisted plot, McLeod delivers that perfect happy ending.
We put some questions to Stella McLeod about her new book and being an author.
How did you become a writer?
Some people say authors are born not made, I think authors are just people who decide they want to write. I decided I wanted to write when I was a teenager, mainly because I was abysmal at Maths, Physics and Chemistry but good at English. I entered competitions, started winning awards and the positive reinforcement strengthened my behaviour. What I didn’t know and wasn’t to learn until I became a Clinical Psychologist was that intermittent reinforcement is the most powerful force in determining human behaviour and writers get plenty of that with rejections/acceptances, fans who love you and others not so much. Like the majority of writers I’ve managed to keep writing and getting published consistently, while being a mother and working in a full time occupation but a few years ago I decided to retire early from private full time practice as a Psychologist and that writing was going to be my full time, instead of part-time career. It wasn’t so much a leap of faith, rather just a reaching of a crossroad and deciding one path gave me more joy, more fulfillment. All the clues were all there anyway, like signposts, showing me which way to go; most of my friends were writers, I spent all my free time either writing, thinking about writing or reading other peoples writing.
What types of books do you like writing the best?
Over the years I’d written everything from Medico-legal reports for the courts, professional journal articles and conference papers for Psychologists, scripts for pre-school TV shows, children’s picture books and cook books, YA and teenage fiction, a series of technical cookbooks for The Culinary Library and novel length romances. When I committed to writing full time I knew, both consciously and subconsciously, it was Romance novels I wanted to focus on. One of the things I’d learned as a Psychologist was that, although every one’s stories and pain seem different there are common universal threads of humanity and we are more similar than we know. For most people it is the complexities of human relationships that they seek to unravel, understand and master. We may all start off on different roads but they are all heading in the same direction, hoping for the same destination. Romance writing is the genre that, to me, best explores the many facets of human relationship, but in the end it is the ONLY genre that absolutely delivers what most people are ultimately looking for throughout all stages of their life from childhood to death, acceptance, love and a place of peace and acceptance where they feel good about themselves and the world. (or as my heroine in
Always Have and Always Will says, she just wants to feel beloved on the earth.)
Has being a Psychologist helped you become a better writer?
I could easily and legitimately draw an analogy between Psychological Therapy and Reading Romance books. They both involve a stepping away from and temporary suspension of the everyday world, trust and faith that the therapist or author can deliver what they advertise and promise and the goal of a happy ending that makes the participant feel better about themselves, more in control and more optimistic about the world. The difference is romance readers don’t need and aren't looking to be told anything because they’re not looking for therapy in that sense. What they are looking for, I believe, is entertainment, not just to be shown a different world from theirs, but to be taken there emotionally, to be immersed in it for a few hours and forget about everyday responsibilities. But it has to be interesting, exciting and peopled with characters that they can quickly learn to love (or hate) and care about and ones they hope and know are going to find happiness if they can only stay strong and courageous. Romance novels are a temporary escape from the pressures of everyday life and they immerse the thoughts and emotions of the reader, literally, into a different world, into lives and problems that are entertaining and interesting, and a story that guarantees those problems will ABSOLUTELY all be sorted by the last page, or in my case, the last word if necessary. (Never read the last pages of a book first, your subconscious will hate you for it because it wants the chance to work it out for you!)
So why paranormal?
Always Have and Always Will is not about vampires, shape-shifter, werewolves or some of the other traditional paranormal species or human aberrations, it’s a paranormal in the sense that it introduces and normalizes the super-natural themes of Immortality, reincarnation, life after death and mind control. These concepts are not so unfamiliar that we can’t believe in them and empathize with the characters and an added bonus is the beautiful and exotic setting they allow for the action to unfold. Most paranormal characters require dark, gloomy and edgy setting to get about their bloody business. My ancient warriors, living Immortals who are alive today, are more likely to be found in the Greek Islands,(book 1) Egypt(book2) , Rome and Italy, Babylon (book 3) and the lands mentioned in the Bible. And the added plot benefit with Immortality is the complications it allows for relationships and love. Let’s face it, Immortality is shit if all the people you love are dead or if you keep making the same mistakes for centuries or if your love is unrequited. And it doesn’t matter how many decades, centuries or millennium you live there are times in your life when you are going to want to feel beloved on this earth.
My Hero: The fast-paced action and exotic settings don’t work if the characters aren't interesting. Mine are complex and flawed with rich inner psychological lives who are searching for, and trying to understand, love. I am particularly fond of my hero in
Always Have and Always Will. Alexander is my kind of man, He’s handsome of course, and built as you would expect an ancient warrior to be built, he’s self sufficient, reliable and tough. But he wants to be softer, gentler and a better lover, he just doesn’t know how. He’s exasperating! But my heroine, after a rocky start, starts working him out, making excuses for him and making a plan! Her humor is a foil to his seriousness and her vulnerability counters his strength. There are plenty of clues to the core mystery along the way, plot twists you won’t see coming and a fully resolved but delicious ending.
The message ? Never give up on love, it’s worth every sacrifice.
Why is it called the Omega Series?
Because it’s about time the heroine told the story and whilst we all love strong and delicious alphas, Romance Writers, I believe, are the most supportive and inclusive group of Omegas in the world. (and that included the male authors as well.) Every romance reader knows the Greek alphabet begins with Alpha and it has been adopted and used to describe the first or strongest male, the hero, but did you know the Greek alphabet ends with Omega? The Omega symbol in classical Greece was associated with Birth and Creation, it symbolized the female or feminine and celebrated a woman’s ability to nurture a child thereby achieving immortality for both herself and her mate. So although man was symbolized by the first letter of the Greek alphabet, Alpha, women get the last word because it was the Omega symbol that was considered the most auspicious and most blessed by the ancient Greek Gods. Yaaaaaay!!!
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| "Omega uc lc" by Dcoetzee, F l a n k e r - Own work. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - |
The Cover: Designed by the wonderful Hang Le (USA) who does Kylie Scott’s, Anna Campbell and Elsa Holland’s covers. And the image of Anastasia holding her
lituus is by Deanne Whitmore, a talented digital designer from New Zealand who’s work can be found as
rgus at deviantart. The
lituus plays an important role in the book. It was a perfectly straight shaft of wood, without knots or blemishes, with two intricately carved and curled golden ends. It was used by a cult of ancient diviners, priests & priestesses called augers who divined the will of the Gods. By moving the
Lituus, the auger created a
templum, a ritual or sacred space, either in the sky where birds, clouds or stars were read as portents or on the earth to create a place of power protected by the Gods. A
templum on earth was for aligning Elysium with the four cardinal points on earth, each corner for different portents, North (divine approval), South (divine disapproval), West (the sacred entrance and altar) and East (sacrifices). Buildings, gardens, animals and people inside the templum were deemed sacred for eternity. The Roman historian Livy wrote, "who does not know that this city (Rome) was founded only after taking the auspices, that everything in war and in peace, at home and abroad, was done only after taking the auspices?"
In 300 BC there were 9 augers who could wield the
lituus and who had the knowledge necessary to interpret auspices, the messages sent by the Gods.
The auger selected an elevated place, the
lituus was moved to draw two straight lines intersecting at right angles one from north to south, one from east to west. Then two parallel lines were drawn at the ends of these lines to form an external square, divided into four by the first two lines. This templum intersection, in the centre, was the tabernaculum where the augur stood or sat, facing north and asked for the Gods’ assistance. A sign on the left was good, a sign on the right was bad; Greece was always north. In the observation of birds, the augur was not confined to noticing their flight, but used cries and entrails. Pre-Christian augers existed until the end of the 4th century AD but by then, when the multiple ancient Gods were usurped by the one single God, a modified
lituus, with only a single scroll on one end, was renamed the ‘crosier’ by Christians. It is still carried by Bishops of the Roman Catholic church today and by the Pope who has replaced the scroll with a cross!
Thank you for having me as a guest today.
I hope you all love Alex and Anastasia and they inspire to greater love.
Kind Regards
Stella McLeod
You're most welcome, Stella! How can my readers learn more about you?
Feel free to visit to contact me:
Stella McLeod Pinterest Boards:
https://www.pinterest.com/authorstellamcl/
Stella McLeod Website:
http://www.stellamcleod.com/
To purchase digital download @$2.99:
Always Have and Always Will
For print version @ $12.99: Always Have and Always Will:
http://www.amazon.com/Always-Have-Will-Omega/dp/1500270598/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1443155504&sr=1-1&keywords=di+gramp
Thanks so much for being my guest today, Stella! Good luck with
Always Have and Always Will.
Nicolette Andrews is a romantic fantasy author who lives in San Diego CA. She's been trapped inside magical world, heavily influenced by Southern California, for most of her life. She doesn't likes to take life too seriously (or herself for that matter). Her favorite creative medium is writing, whether it is on paper, or on a computer but on occasion, she likes to pretend she can draw or even may attempt homemade gifts, with varied results. She enjoys cooking, baking and generally working with her hands. She spends most of her free time with her family: two daughters and a wonderful husband plus a few cats and a dog. You can connect with her via her website, Facebook or even Twitter.
Some of the faeries in my tea party are out for a little mischief so, watch out. ;) Well, what would you expect when you invite the King of the Dark Faeries to tea? 
Yes, I did. He's really a gentleman though, unless you push his buttons right. Shouldn't be a problem, though. I invited his beloved, a faery godmother candidate, to the party as well. That should remind him politeness is a virtue. Now, what kind of tea would you like, my friends? Green? Chamomile? Some tasty rose hip tea? Oh, that will do nicely. Oh dear. Do be careful with that faery dust, Ianthe. My goodness!
