Archive for September, 2020

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In three-novella collection Yokai Enchantments, in e-book or trade paperback.

[Many people over the decades have written pastiches of C. S. Lewis’s THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS, so I decided to try one. This scenario imagines that the novice tempter Wormwood, having served out his sentence in the House of Correction for utterly failing with his first “patient,” has been given a second chance under the supervision of his Uncle Screwtape. The junior demon, on probationary status, has been transferred from England to the U.S.]

My dear Wormwood,

Yes, a period of political turmoil offers excellent opportunities to undermine your patient’s faith and virtues. However, I am afraid you may be on the wrong track. Do not waste your energy encouraging her to consider the “rights” and “wrongs” of particular issues. That’s the sort of thing the Enemy and His agents worry about. Our goals are purely practical—how can we use any given controversy to lure humans away from the light toward outer darkness? Furthermore, debate on the merits of an issue would stimulate the patient to exercise her reason, the last thing we want. We want beliefs and actions based on emotions and slogans, what modern humans label “sound bites.” As for matters of national policy, those decisions are made by spirits far deeper in the Lowerarchy than you or I. All government officials and other public figures, of course, have their personal tempters. Your sole concern is with your own patient.

What the humans call “social media” can be extremely helpful for guiding her in the desired direction. Encourage her to read messages that agree with the positions she already holds and ignore those that disagree. Or, if she does encounter opposing opinions, incite her to react with automatic outrage rather than rational thought. If you keep her immersed in an atmosphere of conflict, with luck she’ll soon exist in a perpetual state of anxiety and anger, poisoning her whole attitude toward life. If it occurs to her that she should spend less time with the “news” sources that provoke those emotions, remind her of her duty to remain an informed citizen. You should try to induce a mood of constant, low-grade fear as to the outcome if the “wrong” side prevails on Election Day. As I’ve mentioned before (in the context of your previous abysmal failure—I trust you have learned from it, for do not imagine you will be offered a third chance), leading a human to obsess over hypothetical future disasters can impede her embrace of the duties and pleasures of the present moment. Don’t let her pause to realize that it’s impossible for all of a dozen incompatible catastrophes to happen. Make her oblivious to the fact that the real world in which she’s now living bears no necessary relation to the future horrors she imagines.

If you can’t keep her away from “organized religion” (a useful label by which the Church is often delightfully stereotyped), steer her toward clergy who fuel hostility toward the political opposition rather than those who preach compassion, tolerance, open-mindedness, justice, mercy, and other qualities favorable to the Enemy’s cause. Study the letters to the Corinthians written by that supernal nuisance Paul and influence your patient to do the opposite of what he advises.

Discourage her from regarding her political opponents as fellow citizens who happen to hold different opinions from hers. Instead, train her to accuse them of offenses such as “racism” or “hating America.” Thus you inoculate her against any danger of considering the rational merits, if any, of their positions. Convince her that even entertaining the possibility that the other side may occasionally be in the right constitutes “treason.” Even better, get her into the habit of using formerly neutral words such as “liberal” or “conservative” and labels such as “communist” or “fascist” as mindless insults rather than defined terms with specific, historically grounded meanings.

These interactions provide fertile ground for several of the cardinal sins, notably envy and wrath. Anxiety over allegedly limited resources may develop into avarice. Contemptuous dismissal of opponents as delusional plants the seeds of pride. The belief that the world will only grow worse and nothing an individual does will change it can lead to apathy and sloth. The patient can be discouraged from any civic participation, including the vote, on the grounds that it won’t accomplish anything. In time, apathy may blossom into the sin of despair.

Regardless of the results of the upcoming election, by exacerbating these conflicts we may rely on another four years of envy, avarice, wrath, pride, and sloth in American public discourse.

Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape

Welcome to the September 2020 issue of my newsletter, “News from the Crypt,” and please visit Carter’s Crypt, devoted to my horror, fantasy, and paranormal romance work, especially focusing on vampires and shapeshifting beasties. If you have a particular fondness for vampires, check out the chronology of my series in the link labeled “Vanishing Breed Vampire Universe.” For my recommendations of “must read” classic and modern vampire fiction, explore the Realm of the Vampires:
Realm of the Vampires

Also, check out the multi-author Alien Romances Blog

The long-time distributor of THE VAMPIRE’S CRYPT has closed its website. If you would like to read any issue of this fanzine, which contains fiction, interviews, and a detailed book review column, e-mail me to request the desired issue, and I’ll send you a free PDF of it. My e-mail address is at the end of this newsletter. Find information about the contents of each issue on this page of my website:

Vampire’s Crypt

A complete list of my available works, arranged roughly by genre, with purchase links (gradually being updated as the Amber Quill and Ellora’s Cave works are being republished):

Complete Works

For anyone who would like to read previous issues of this newsletter, now that the Yahoo group is useless for that purpose, they’re posted on my website here (starting from January 2018):

Newsletters

This is my Facebook author page. Please visit!
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Here’s my page in Barnes and Noble’s Nook store:
Barnes and Noble

Here’s the list of my Kindle books on Amazon. (The final page, however, includes some Ellora’s Cave anthologies in which I don’t have stories):
Carter Kindle Books

Here’s a shortcut URL to my author page on Amazon:
Amazon

My Goodreads page:
Goodreads

Below is another snippet from my paranormal romance novella KITSUNE ENCHANTMENT, scheduled for release on September 23. It’s a follow-up to YOKAI MAGIC but can stand alone. How can a writer of graphic novels and her reclusive artist partner find happiness together when he has a secret life as a fox shapeshifter?

In this excerpt, half-human kitsune Ryo gets cornered by a co-worker who’d accidentally seen him changing into a fox.

This month’s interview showcases romance and women’s fiction author Mona Sedrak.

*****

Interview with Mona Sedrak:

What inspired you to begin writing?

When I was a child, we moved around a lot. In fact, I don’t remember going to the same school or having the same friends year after year. There was a lot of movement and constant change and instability that impacted my world so much that I learned to escape in books. We didn’t have a lot of money to spend on books, but my mother was very wise. She was a librarian for Harvard University and understood the gift of books and reading. She brought home many books for me and she would stop by any yard sale she passed and buy boxes and boxes of books. She didn’t necessarily limit what I read, and therefore, I read everything from engineering textbooks to romance. I learned to love books and the escape they provided. I consumed volumes of books, and she could barely keep up with my voracious appetite to read and learn. By the age of 13, I was reading probably 10 to 12 books a week on every subject under the sun. Nothing bored me. I also found out that I could teach myself anything by reading a book better than anyone could teach me. Then I started journaling and writing short stories, and I discovered that I communicated best through the written word.

As I matured my love for books only increased and my ability to learn on my own was even more pronounced. In my mid-30, I found my voice, first through academic publications–– journal articles and textbooks–– and then fiction. Fiction is my passion and I enjoy creating a world that readers can sink into and forget what is happening in their world. When I write, I too escape into that world, and perhaps that is why my academic life has minimal impact on what I write.

As a tenured professor and college administrator, my academic life is filled with rules, conflict, and stress. I love academia, and I love academic administration, but I have found that I am better as a person if I am able to escape and express myself in a different way through my writing.

What genres do you work in?

When I first started writing professionally, I was published in medical journals, chapters of various medical texts, and I co-authored a pharmacology textbook and an internal medicine review for physician assistant students.

About five years ago, I began writing fiction under a pseudonym and wrote two romance novels. My last two novels, published by The Wild Rose Press, are categorized as mainstream fiction/women’s fiction.

Do you outline, “wing it,” or something in between?

The very first work of fiction I wrote, which I never published, I completely winged it. I wanted to see if I could write fiction, and once I started the words flowed, and I found that I absolutely loved writing fiction so much more than academic work. As my writing matured, I found that I had to do some significant research and character building before I began writing. I also began outlining the story using software called Scrivener. I can’t say that I outline the novel from beginning to end, but I come pretty close. Sometimes when I start writing I do follow the outline fairly well, but then the characters take over, and they do whatever they want and all that outlining I did goes right out the window. The character development, the world building, and the research is priceless. I know everything about my characters before I begin to write. I even choose pictures from the Internet so I know exactly what my characters look like.

I always know how a story will begin and how it will end. But each and every time I write, the characters take over and run amuck in the middle, and I always have to rein them in and many times I fail. The story unfolds as it wants to, and I go along for the ride.

What have been the major influences on your writing (favorite authors, life experiences, or whatever)?

Earlier in my writing career I would’ve said that certain authors made a huge impact on my writing. I still think that my writing is influenced by the many, many great authors whose novels I have enjoyed and learned from. However, now I believe life experience has the most impact on my writing. I think I have led an unusual life and have had many experiences that have molded me into the person I am today. There is no escaping from those experiences. Even if I suppressed or attempted to suppress those experiences from the words I write, they would still unconsciously have an impact on my writing.

Beside life experiences, I find people to be very interesting, and their actions and decisions never fail to surprise me. Sometimes hearing or reading a news story will spark an idea. Other times, a story idea comes to fruition just by listening to a conversation or speaking to family and friends. For instance, I was on vacation one year in a tropical location and the woman sitting next to me by the pool said she was waiting for a man she had never met before. Apparently, they had been emailing one another for years but had never spoken or seen each other’s picture. They lived in different countries and over the years, just through writing one another, they fell in love and decided to meet for the first time and get married. Neither knew each other’s age, background or family, or what they look liked. Their entire romance unfolded before my eyes over the next week, and I always thought their story would be a pretty cool prompt.

What academic field do you work in, and how has experience in that form of writing affected your fiction (if it has)?

I started my career as a clinician and then earned a Master’s degree in education, research, and leadership and a doctoral degree in higher education. I entered the world of academia over 20 years ago and taught in graduate health sciences for many years before I entered higher education administration. Several years ago I moved across the country and changed to undergraduate education. I am an Associate Dean at the University of Cincinnati Clermont. I also teach in the undergraduate health professions and still dip my toes in graduate education now and then.

Writing academically is very different than writing fiction. I enjoy writing fiction much more than I ever did writing academically, but I have to say that the experience I have with academic writing has positively impacted my writing on the whole. My experiences in the academic field probably impact my writing now in terms of research. I also watch people much more closely now and notice mannerisms and habits and forms of speech. I often draw from my experience as a clinician as well. As a clinician, the first thing one has to do is be an excellent listener. So, as I people watch I also listen very carefully to what they say and how they say it. My medical background often impacts my writing, and in fact, in my new book, Gravity, one of the main characters is a medical assistant.

What kind of research do you do for your fiction?

I do quite a bit of research before I ever start writing. I like to research as much detail I can about the setting in which the story takes place. Most of the time I can do the research via Internet, but sometimes it requires a visit to the location. After I know exactly where the story will take place, I research restaurants, stores, accents, special words or phrases in that area of the country, temperature and seasons and even architecture of buildings. If I’m going to describe a house or an apartment, I actually search the real estate ads and find a home that fits the story line and the location, and I do a virtual tour as if I was buying the house. Sometimes I take screen pictures so I can appropriately describe each room if need be. If the character is going to travel anywhere, I research time zones, how long a flight would be from one area to another, costs of the flight, etc. and then of course I have to research that setting as well.

I like to be as realistic as possible in my description, painting the picture for the reader. Gravity is mainly set in Florida. I visited Florida on a number of occasions and took many pictures and had many details, even about what time the sun set in a particular month. A reader just told me that they read the book while they were on a beach in Florida and each scene was so well described they felt that they were actually part of the story. So, details do matter quite a bit. While fiction can stretch the reader’s imagination and the writer can go as far as they want in creating their own world, when I write women’s fiction I like to create a realistic world and a realistic story. It would be different if I wrote science fiction or in a different genre.

Do you have any tips for authors wanting to start a newsletter (scheduling, subject matter, etc.)?

Newsletters are an interesting way of reaching readers, but they can also be incredibly annoying if you send too many. I will admit that I have a wonderful personal assistant who handles my newsletters. When I first started writing, I made the mistake of sending out way too many newsletters. Now, I send them seasonally or when something exciting is happening such as the release of a new book, a contest, a sale on my books or awards my books may have received. There are number of platforms that authors can use to build an audience where newsletters can be used. Readers are more likely to open a newsletter if there’s something in it for them such as a giveaway or contest. Telling readers a little bit about yourself, what you’re writing now, and even asking them questions about their opinions on your latest book or if you’re having trouble finding a name for a character or restaurant. Engaging the reader is huge and I tend to do more of that via social media than newsletters.

While I do not manage a blog myself, I am interviewed on quite a few blogs throughout the year. I also use a promo company who I love called N.N. Light. They are wonderful where blogs and getting the word out through social media is concerned and come up with a lot of great ideas such as character interviews, etc. They are also very affordable and you get to know a lot of other writers they work with. Will support one another with retweets and Facebook.

What is your latest-released or soon-forthcoming work?

Gravity was released on July 15, 2020. It is a woman’s fiction novel with strong romantic elements based on the Middle Eastern culture. Even though I am Middle Eastern, I still had to do some research, and actually, it was a harder book to write than other novels I’ve written. Perhaps this was due to me being too close to the subject matter and spending a lot of time making sure I offered a balanced message. This story is about a young Middle Eastern woman, Leila, who was born and raised in the United States, but lived a very sheltered life. She makes a decision which leads to her being shunned by her family, and for the first time in her life she’s alone. She has to learn who she is because she never identified with the American or Middle Eastern culture. The story is complex and has strong cultural elements. After being sheltered for so long, then thrust into the world on her own, Leila must rebuild her life and learn forgiveness, understanding, and tolerance. The story also is about an American man, Aiden, who is a single father of a child with down syndrome. Leila and Aiden come from remarkably different backgrounds and yet they are inexplicably pulled to one another. There are many challenges they have to overcome including each other’s cultural backgrounds and beliefs. At the end of the day, I want readers to understand that while we all may be different, our similarities outweigh our differences. With understanding and tolerance, the world is a better place.

What are you working on now?

At the present time I’m working on two different projects. I’m outlining a family saga which will be a five book series. I love writing about families and strong female characters. This series has a lot of drama, a lot of action, and a lot of twists and turns. I’m also working on a memoir for my family. I’m using StoryWorth to answer questions my children pose to me in story format, and at the end of the year, the stories will be bound into a book. This actually is very time-consuming as I have to dig up pictures and call on family members all over the world for information. I immigrated when I was five years old and many family members moved to other countries. Both projects are a lot of fun, and I often wish I had more time in the day to complete everything I want to do.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

I think aspiring authors are often terrified of putting themselves out there. They keep putting things off day after day, waiting for the perfect story to suddenly pop into their head and the perfect words to magically appear on paper. The thing is, there is no perfect story, and there are no magical words. The best advice I can give an aspiring writer is… Words on paper. Just do it. Sit down, start anywhere, and put words on paper. Once you start, the words will begin to flow. Your first draft will be just that––a draft and nothing more, but you should be proud of yourself because you would have completed an entire novel. Then comes the really hard part. You must share your work with someone. You can’t keep it locked up in your computer or in a notebook. Every writer struggles with sharing their work. We are all terrified of rejection that sometimes we let that fear overcome us, and we forget to visualize what success would be like. The best way to get feedback is to join a writer’s group locally or online. You’ll find that everyone is in the same boat, struggling to write the perfect story. They have the same questions you do about publication, marketing, and promotion and is it all worth it. They wonder if their work is worth anything, and if they should even send it to any publishing company at all or should they self-publish or should they try to find an agent. They have the same exact fears that you do. Therefore, when you join a group you will feel supported so much that the words will flow, and you will find an entire community that will support you through the process, but you must do the hard work. You have to write the words, and you have to share your words. Don’t let fear rule you because you will regret it.

What’s the URL of your website? Your blog? Where else can we find you on the web?

Social Media Links
Website: Mona Sedrak
Amazon: Amazon
Twitter: Twitter
Facebook: Facebook
Goodreads: Goodreads
Newsletter: Mona Sedrak’s Newsletter
Instagram: Instagram
Bookbub: BookBub

*****

Some Books I’ve Read Lately:

THE OTHER BENNET SISTER, by Janice Hadlow. I’ve always been disappointed that Mary Bennet in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE is treated so shabbily by the author. Jane Austen presents the bookish, socially awkward middle sister as a figure of mockery instead of showing her intelligence as worthy of respect. I enjoyed PRIDE AND PROMETHEUS, by John Kessel, which imagines Mary developing a bond with Victor Frankenstein and his creature. Hadlow’s book takes a realistic novel-of-manners approach, writing in a style similar but not identical to Austen’s own and focusing on the same issue central to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE: How can a woman with limited financial resources find her place in society? By her early teens, Mary has internalized her mother’s judgment of her as the plain daughter, a disappointment compared to all her sisters. In Mrs. Bennet’s view, marriage, which depends on beauty, is the only worthwhile goal for a young woman. Mary decides to concentrate on her strengths, music and reading. The pompous statements she interjects into conversations constitute her attempts to win respect for her scholarship. When she realizes her father, who she hopes will recognize her as a kindred spirit, regards her with the same detached amusement as he does the other girls (with the possible exception of Elizabeth), she feels her lack of worth confirmed. When she gets her first pair of spectacles, she’s delighted to be able to read comfortably but doubly convinced of her plainness. The early part of the novel passes rapidly over the events of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, seen through Mary’s eyes as an outsider to her sisters’ dramas. The main story starts after all four of the other girls are married, even Kitty (to a respectable clergyman), and Mr. Bennet dies. After the loss of the family estate, Mary has to depend on Jane and Elizabeth to shelter her. She even returns briefly to their former home as a guest of their friend Charlotte, now Mrs. Collins. Hadlow develops Mr. Collins, the clergyman presented as a buffoon in PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, into a rounded character who engages the reader’s sympathy. When Mary turns as a last resort to her mother’s London relatives, the Gardiners, their affection and the example of their happy home life lead her to self-respect and, finally, a love worthy of her, a man who shares her deep enjoyment of literature and philosophy. I did notice one tiny, annoying error that an author this perceptive and intelligent shouldn’t make: She repeatedly refers to the children of Mary’s Aunt Gardiner as Mary’s nieces and nephews, using the correct “cousins” only once that I remember. But on the whole this novel should delight any fan of PRIDE AND PREJUDICE.

THE CARE AND FEEDING OF WASPISH WIDOWS, by Olivia Waite. This is the second of Waite’s nineteenth-century lesbian “Feminine Pursuits” romances, following THE LADY’S GUIDE TO CELESTIAL MECHANICS. It’s not exactly a series, since the two books don’t share characters or story elements. Like the earlier novel, this one focuses on female characters working at unusual vocations for women of that era. Penelope Flood, beekeeper in the village of Melliton, has a platonic marriage with a man who’s actually partnered with her brother. The two men spend most of their time away at sea. Agatha Griffin, a widow with a nineteen-year-old son, owns a print shop in London. When a swarm of bees colonizes her warehouse in Melliton, she hires Penelope to deal with them and finds herself reluctant owner of a beehive. Back in London, she corresponds with Penelope about the bees, and soon their letters progress to intimate friendship. While Agatha begins to make regular visits to Melliton, she has to cope with her son’s radical tendencies and the romantic attraction between him and her young female apprentice. Meanwhile, Penelope clashes with the village lady of the manor and the minister of the local parish. The deep affection between the two heroines grows against the background of political unrest catalyzed by the alleged adultery of Queen Caroline. Waite makes the physical, social, and cultural setting come fascinatingly alive. The technology of printing and the lore of honeybees are presented in absorbing detail. Both Agatha and Penelope are strong characters in their own ways. Each hesitates to express her feelings openly, but of course they eventually do. Before they can form a permanent union, though, Agatha has to settle the issues of her London business and her son’s potentially dangerous radicalism, as well as his future with her apprentice. The love scenes between the two heroines are hot, sensual, and deeply emotional. Recommended for fans of unconventional historical romances.

CATALYST, by Sarah Beth Durst. Although the premise of this early-YA novel sounds silly at first glance, it’s a surprisingly good book, with the implications of its fantastic elements seriously explored. Twelve-year-old Zoe finds a lost kitten small enough to fit into her hand. She has a habit of rescuing stray animals of many different species, and after the skunk incident, her parents forbade her to bring home any more of them. The tiny kitten, whom she names Pipsqueak, is easy enough to hide in Zoe’s bedroom—until she grows far beyond normal cat size within a couple of days and starts talking. Zoe has gotten permission to keep the kitten, on strict conditions, but a giant, talking cat is another matter. When her parents wonder where the little kitten has gone, and Pipsqueak grows almost too big for the backyard shed, Zoe and her best friend, Harrison, decide they have to find a way to return her to normal. Zoe writes to Aunt Alecia (her mother’s estranged sister), considered the crackpot of the family, and her aunt invites Zoe to bring the cat to her home for a solution to the problem. So, with the cover-up assistance of Harrison’s teenage girl cousin, Zoe and Harrison embark on an adventurous journey, riding on the kitten, who’s now the size of an elephant. Along the way, they pick up an extraordinary dog and mouse, too. Given the fantasy premise, Zoe’s problems and her relationship with her lively, affectionate family are realistically rendered. The answer to the riddle of Pipsqueak’s transformation is one I would never have guessed.

SURVIVOR SONG, by Paul Tremblay. Horror author Tremblay has written a story of the temporary breakdown of society during a lethal epidemic, presented intimately through the eyes of two women in desperate straits. Its publication at this point has to be an uncanny coincidence, given the length of time required to write a novel, then get it printed and released by a major publisher. The virus in SURVIVOR SONG is a mutated form of rabies with a frightfully short incubation period, often transforming a human victim into a ravening beast in as little as an hour. Like animals (which are also susceptible to the disease), human sufferers have an aversion to water and a compulsion to bite. Although they don’t die and revive, the term “zombie” inevitably occurs to many people, including Natalie, a woman in late pregnancy whose husband is killed by a rabid man before her eyes. She manages to slay the attacker, but not without getting bitten. She seeks help from her best friend, Dr. Ramola Sherman. Together they manage to get to the hospital where Ramola works. There Natalie receives an injection that may prevent her from developing the disease. She needs a transfer to a facility where she can have a caesarian delivery to prevent the baby from getting infected. The plan goes wrong, of course, and the rest of the story (except for the epilogue) is intensely compressed into the brief period while Ramola and Natalie search desperately for a hospital or clinic able to perform the procedure. As Natalie’s condition deteriorates, they struggle with traffic congestion and hysterical crowds, while encountering maddened disease victims, a self-appointed militia cohort, and a pair of teenage boys determined to label the outbreak a zombie apocalypse and react accordingly. Because of the infection’s virulence and rapid development, it proves easy to contain after the initial chaos. As the epilogue, set ten years later, portrays, the world does recover and return to normal. Despite inevitable personal tragedies, the story ends on a mood of hope. The book is told in present tense, which as usual, I consider a pointless distraction, aside from the journal entries Natalie dictates into her phone as a record for her unborn child. In fact, in my opinion their poignant immediacy would come across better if the third-person passages were in the conventional narrative past. Still, the novel’s unrelenting tension gripped me, and the two women are three-dimensional, sympathetic characters. I could even overlook Natalie’s constant use of obscenities, which she herself often remarks upon with disarming humor.

*****

Excerpt from KITSUNE ENCHANTMENT:

When Ryo managed to stop worrying about ContrariCon, his thoughts reverted to the problem of Joel Brady. On the following Wednesday, Ryo’s next day at the office instead of working from home, he tried to stay out of Joel’s path. He succeeded until he left his desk late in the afternoon and headed for the elevator, only to find the corridor blocked by the very man he wanted to avoid.

“Ryo, just who I need to talk to.”

Ryo couldn’t quite make himself shove past Joel. “What for? I’d like to hit the road before the traffic gets bad.”

“Come on, I’m sure you can guess what I want to discuss—what happened last week at your place. I know what you are.”

Ryo’s pulse accelerated. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Sure you do.” The other man smiled as if inviting him to share a joke. “I saw you change into a fox.”

“Are you kidding or just losing your mind?”

With a glance down the hall, where two women were rounding the corner toward the elevators, Joel said, “You don’t want to talk about this where anybody could hear, do you? Let’s go someplace private.” He clutched Ryo’s arm and steered him toward the nearest vacant conference room.

Ryo let himself be steered, not eager to have his coworker raving on about magical transformations in range of potential witnesses. What can he do to me right here, anyway? Maybe I can convince him he imagined the whole thing…

Leaning against the window frame, he warily watched Joel, who took the seat at the head of the table as if preparing to chair a meeting. “Give it up, Ryo. I wasn’t high on anything. I know what I saw.”

“Sounds like your reality check bounced. You saw me, and then you saw a fox. I don’t know what made you imagine some kind of connection.” He kept his hands relaxed at his side rather than clenched and drew slow breaths to calm himself inwardly as well as outwardly. The last thing I need is to sprout ears or a tail with him staring straight at me.

“We spend most of our waking hours on video games about wizards and monsters. Why shouldn’t I have an open mind about the supernatural?”

“You really believe this?” Ryo tried to echo the other man’s casual tone.

“I’d rather believe you changed into a fox than think I actually have gone crazy.” Joel leaned back in the chair, his gaze fixed on Ryo as if expecting the change to repeat at that very moment. “I’ve been reading up on kitsune. Fascinating stuff, including little details like their favorite foods being tofu and red bean paste. According to the folklore websites, you’ve got some amazing powers.”

“So work them into a game. Which you seem to be confusing with reality.”

Unfortunately, the repeated denial didn’t deflate Joel’s confident manner. “The legends mention a lot of other abilities besides changing shape. Foxfire, invisibility, possession, and a bunch more.”

“If I could turn invisible, the first thing I would’ve done was dodge you.”

As for fox possession, when Ryo had discussed it with his mother, she had warned him as a teenager not to try. “Until you gain much more experience, that would be dangerous for you. It is too easy to lose yourself in the mind of the person you attempt to possess, unless you have a companion to support you—ideally another kitsune.”

“But you’re the only kitsune I know,” he’d said.

“A human partner would do, if you find one you can trust completely.” Her wistful tone gave him the impression she’d never found one, even in marriage.

He had little hope of forming a bond with any such person, and it certainly wouldn’t be Joel. Ryo started toward the door, but Joel stood up to block him.

-end of excerpt-

*****

My Publishers:

Writers Exchange E-Publishing: Writers Exchange
Harlequin: Harlequin
Whiskey Creek: Whiskey Creek
Wild Rose Press: Wild Rose Press

You can contact me at: MLCVamp@aol.com

“Beast” wishes until next time—
Margaret L. Carter