The Bookpushers would like to welcome Ms Thea Harrison back in honor of her last, for now, novella set in the Elder Races world. She treats us to a guest post and a giveaway of one of her novellas. Enjoy and don’t forget to comment for a chance to enter. Edit The winner will be announced on Tues 25 Sep. (The links all open in a new window)
An Owl Loves a Dog
I don’t even remember how this happened now, but one day while I was taking a break from work, I ended up on YouTube watching videos of owls, and I completely fell in love with the creatures. Someone on Twitter suggested I write a blog about the owls, since I had tweeted several links as I watched them. I thought this was a great idea!
A few of the clips I really enjoyed are:
Lovely Owl
But my absolute, all-time favorite has to be the Owl Love For a Dog video.
I have a crazed kind of adoration for this little piece of film, and I must have watched it a dozen times now. In fact, as I started this blog post, I had to watch it all over again. Not only is the owl in this stupendous, but the bird dog that the owl is petting has the patience of a saint.
Some of you might think, that’s all very well and good, but what does this have to do with writing?
I’m glad you asked that!
As a writer, there are many things that I put into my stories that I fully intend to do, but this gets really interesting when I start to see things in my work that I didn’t consciously plan. For example, I just realized not too long ago that none of the romantic pairings that I have written—to date, that is—are a straight up match of anything. In fact, I’ll give you a short list of what I mean.
In book one, Dragon Bound, the heroine Pia is a *whistle* you-know creature (←spoiler free!), while the hero Dragos is a dragon.
In book two, Storm’s Heart, the heroine Tricks/Niniane Lorelle is Dark Fae, while the hero Tiago is a thunderbird Wyr.
In book three, Serpent’s Kiss, the heroine Carling is a Vampyre, while the hero Rune is a gryphon Wyr.
In book four, Oracle’s Moon, the heroine Grace is the Oracle (a human witch), while the hero Khalil is a Djinn.
See the pattern now?
The same holds true for all of my Samhain novellas. In #1 True Colors, both the heroine and hero are Wyr, but they’re not the same kind of Wyr. In #2 Natural Evil, the differences are even more pronounced—the heroine is human while the hero is Wyr. In #3 Devil’s Gate, the heroine is a medusa (one of my more exotic creatures) and the hero is a Vampyre.
Even in #4 Hunter’s Season, which releases on the 18th, there is a sense of cross cultural tension. Both the heroine Xanthe and the hero Aubrey are Dark Fae—but they don’t come from the same part of society.
Apparently I get a great deal of satisfaction in creating stories—again, to date—where I can explore different cultures, expectations, tensions and conflict between the two main characters.
No wonder I love that owl and the dog!
Which stories have you enjoyed that have explored cross-cultural themes?
Comment for a chance to the ebook of your choice from my Samhain backlist! If you already have the three novellas on my backlist, you can always give your prize to a friend!
Thea Harrison
I won a copy of
dragon bound sometime ago.read it and became a huge fan of ms Harrison’s’ books.luv luv her tales…..my fav is of course dragon bound and oracle’s moon….
Hi Thea. I love your books. I have read some of Nalini Singh’s books that have explored cross-cultural themes. 🙂
I love your books Thea. I think that every book I read has cross-cultural aspects since I read 90% paranormal romance :). Thank you so much!
vsloboda(at)gmail(dot)com
Love this and can´t wait for a chance to read =)
best wishes, Linda
Two authors immediately come to mind (besides you of course) is Lynsay Sands Vampire/human and Shelly Laurenston/GA Aiken’s stories. Shelly’s were-beings are forever crossing cultural and species boundaries with bear/human, wolf-dog/bear, human/wolf, wolf/wild-cats…She thrives on the conflict and finds humor everywhere. Your stories are filled with the same but not so in your face funny. I adore your wyr. Dragons, griffins, thunderbirds, and gargoyles have forever captured my imagination. Vickie Taylor once had a fantastic series about gargoyles and Allyson James/Jennifer Ashley has one about dragons I wish she’d get back to. My son once played an owl in an elementary school play and I found them fascinating. I’d love to see you put one in your series 🙂
Hi everybody!
Once again, I have to offer a big thanks to the wonderful folks at The Bookpushers for having me on their blog. Such a delight to visit with you all again!
And Kam Lin, Crystal, Viki, Linda and Glittergirl, thanks so much for your kind words. I’m delighted you all are enjoying the series!
I need to explore the Shelly Laurenston side of the wonderful GA Aiken. I haven’t yet read those…
Happy reading!
Thea
Nice post. I’d say Kresley Cole’s Immortals After Dark series.
Kevin Hearne’s Iron Druid series features not only lots of Irish and Druid mythology, with Atticus O’Sullivan encountering other mythological beings from Viking and Native American lore. In Faith Hunter’s Jane Yellowrock series, Jane is a Cherokee skinwalker, so we get a lot of Native American background in the stories, mixed with vampires and other supernatural creatures.
I haven’t read any of Thea’s stories yet, but I have enjoyed Jennifer Ashley’s stories.
yadkny@hotmail.com
I like Nalini Singh and Kelley Armstrong’s series.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
I’m not sure if it counts as cross cultural but MJ Scott’s Shadow Kin is a great read. The heroine was brought up in the Night World – demons whereas the hero is a human light mage.
I normally don’t read much PNR, but because of recommendations, I read Dragon Bound, and it was fun.
This is a series I’ve been wanting to read. Great cover btw!
Thanks for the chance to win!
justpeachy36@yahoo.com
Many I’m sure , but what comes to mind are the druid Chronicles by hearne and nalini’s Psi/Changeling series.
acm05atjuno.com
I love reading paranormal romances, and they tend to touch on the cross cultural theme quite regularly. Your stories, Thea makes the top of my favorites list, along with Shelly Laurenston’s shifters, Nalini Singh’s, archangels and shifters, and Eileen Wilk’s, Lily Yu series.
caity_mack at yahoo dot com
Thanks for the giveaway.Please enter me. Tore923@aol.com
Ever since I discovered your books (by accident), I have been looking forward to the next book in the series.
kmccandle(at)yahoo(dot)com
I absolutely love this series. Ever since I picked up Dragon Bound I fell more in love wih each book but! Gotta admit Serpant’s Kiss is my favorite of the bunch. I’ d love to win a copy of an Elder araces Novella to add to my collection!
Kemanzano.hb@gmail.com
I’d have to go with Shelly Laurenston’s Pride series. She is constantly mixing cultures up in that series. And I love every minute of it!
I really enjoyed Dragon Bound. I was in a dry spell of finding paranormal/fantasy/romance books that were fresh and well written. When I got to the end, I immediately thought that this book was very much like one of my Keepers: Devil’s Bride by Stephanie Laurens. Thank you for giving me another Keeper.
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