Monday, October 20, 2014

The Conjuring of SAURIMONDE II




SAURIMONDE II is available now at Amazon.


The Conjuring of SAURIMONDE II


While I was visiting Los Angeles last November Melissa and I started to bounce some ideas back and forth for the structure of SAURIMONDE II. It was a bit of a tricky beast because we knew certain things which we wanted to happen but there was no way to give Saurimonde the typical ass-kicking, dominant female character arc that most stories call for nowadays. Having become newly human after being demonic, and having built up a body count, Saurimonde wasn't ready to come into her own power yet. So instead for most of the story she is a victim of circumstance - and they are pretty darn mean. It is only when she has lost everything and is deep within the long dark night of the soul that she finally gains her power and becomes proactive. It's a backwards plot structure, and a risky venture, but that's the way the story wanted to be told. What can one do but take a chance? So we decided on the night of the Hunter's Moon to cast a spell to aid us with the creativity and success of SAURIMONDE II using a little good old fashioned sigil magic.


Photo by Marnie Shelton-Klein
Photo by Marnie Shelton-Klein
In the middle of March I was lucky enough to find myself living in a 50 room 500 hundred-year-old chateau in Chalabre in the south of France called the Yobaba Lounge. Feeling like I had been dropped straight into a Gothic romance I rolled up my writing sleeves and got down to work. I cannot rave enough about how conducive Yobaba Lounge (chateau) was to the creative process. Although I must confess, the house was so completely magical that I felt like I should have spent some of my time wearing gauzy gowns and slowly wandering down the long hallways with a candelabra like one of the women in Jean Rollin's 'Requiem for a Vampire'. It was like living in a real life version of 'Gormenghast' along with a huge walled garden and a menagerie of exotic cats (I wrote some more about the house in my blog ). In the mornings I would get up and quietly pad down the immense wooden stairwell and over Persian rugs and Romanesque tiled floors to make fresh pressed coffee. Then I would grab my pen and notebook and greet the morning sun out in the garden amongst the wild lavender and sage with the cats while I sketched out the next scene. This is a fairly normal way of working for me and I don't just write on the page, I scribble all over it and make small drawings, adding words here and there in the margins. Once I had all the ideas in place I would either take a walk up to the castle, or to one of my favorite spots in the woods, or I would go and have a sandalwood scented bubble bath in a huge antique claw-footed tub to let these ideas collate. After lunch I would make a pot of Earl Grey tea and get down to business and get as much of the chapter down as possible. I would finish around 8:00 pm and send it off to Melissa who was just getting her day started in Los Angeles. She would then work on the material during her day and add what she wanted or delete what she felt didn't work and send me notes as well. This was a perfect system and we were able to work very quickly this way. By the beginning of May we were more than 3/4th's through the story and the finish line was in sight.

But then life went haywire like it does and the best laid plans went quickly South. We won't go into particulars here about what went wrong and only say the human heart can be foolish and the wise ones are right when they say love is blind. But it is what it is and in the middle of that mess and trauma, Melissa and I managed to get the damn thing finished only not in the timely manner we had anticipated. I was more than ready for it to be over with because I was exhausted from holding the Saurimonde universe inside my brain and I know Melissa felt exactly the same way.

But just because you are done, doesn't mean you are really done. There's editing. Then reading aloud. And more editing. Then more reading aloud. You worry and fret and chop some more sentences down, and then rearrange the furniture a bit. It's like running a marathon that feels like it will never end. Then one day suddenly that's it - you're done. You take a deep breath, push the button, and the damn thing is born. Let me tell you that is the scariest moment of all because it's the point of no return. So now our latest venture is out in the world and we will be hitting the promotional trail starting tonight. Here's the info if you would like to join us on Facebook (and we hope that you do!):

Monday, October 20 at 8:00 pm to 10:00 pm EDT, Melissa and I will be making our first stop on our promotional tour of SAURIMONDE II at a Ragnarok Publications event here:https://www.facebook.com/events/577239332405796/
Join us and many other authors for book giveaways and more!
Here's more info on the event:

Join Ragnarok and their authors, including Kenny Soward, Tara Cardinal, Alex Bledsoe. Mercedes Murdock Yardley and more as they celebrate their new books! Giveaways! Virtual food and drinks! GNOMES!

And here's some info on Ragnarok:
DARK GENRE FICTION. Dark Fantasy | Urban Fantasy | Speculative Fiction | Supernatural Horror |www.ragnarokpub.com | 'RAGNAROK. Books that ROK!'https://www.facebook.com/RagnarokPublications
Come for Dark Genre Fiction, stay for the Gnomes!

Photo by Marnie Shelton-Klein
And as we come into the turning of the season's Melissa is hard at work on her next book which is a fabulous sci-fi tale entitled, 'XODUS'. For myself, I am just starting on my first attempt at historical fiction which will of course contain old world magic and erotic overtones. I don't have a title yet, but it will come as so many plans and changes are in the wind.
One last thing. We have a favor to ask you. If you read SAURIMONDE II and enjoy our twisted tale then could you please leave a review on Amazon and/or Goodreads? These reviews make all the difference in the world to independent authors and it doesn't have to be more than a couple of lines. Thanks in advance to those who do so!

May your darkest dreams and wishes come true,
Scarlett & Melissa