Longing for a Story of Love with What?
Michael Mandrake
Good morning to all. I’m excited to be here to talk about a story I’m very fond of called Vertigo. The book is the long version of a short I did called Longing for a Normal State of Vertigo for the Riding the Rocket anthology through Sizzler Editions.
When I looked at the submission call by Sascha Illyvich, the editor of the collection, my first thought was to write a story of my main character receiving blinding love and passion from an immortal, something other than a vampire. *shudder*
At that time, I was very new to the genre and wanted to get a shot at being in this anthology by creating something totally new and different from any of the others he might have seen.
When I started writing, my first thought was to make it a historical since my main character Hayden Curry was a scientist from the 1900’s in Britain. Then I thought of the secondary character, David. He had to be someone strong and unique. Could he be a shifter, a chimera as Sascha offered that he might be? Who knows! Honestly, in the beginning, I had absolutely no idea what kind of being he actually was. Just as Hayden was clueless, so was I.
Then, I contacted Sascha later on after the anthology was released to ask him about doing a longer version. When I pulled the story back out of the WIP file, I looked it over and got more of a sense from David almost immediately. What I came up with without giving all the details is an immortal, some kind of angel or demon with powers to read minds, change forms, as well as an endless amount of sexual energy that Hayden takes a lot of pleasure in. *snicker*
So my story really has no mythological basis. It’s a complete fantasy story with the only factual things being the setting of that time period, the clothing of the characters, and the speech. The other thing I truly enjoy about my tale is the love and chemistry between my two men. How they communicate, get through trials and shortcomings during the early parts of their relationship, all the way to the ultimate test at the end which to this day I am astounded by what they asked me to write.
And to think, the basis was really, nothing! What did Hayden fall in love with? An angel or a demon? You’ll have to read Vertigo to find out.
Before I went to my haven, I glanced outside my window. Outside, the rainfall reduced to a drizzle, coupled by slow moving clouds over the moonlight. The trees blew after only a few gusts of winds, ripped the leaves off and made quite a mess on the grass underneath.
These would be the nights I would cherish with him most. After relishing in the afterglows of new inventions and glasses of wine, there were mind blowing affections to follow.
Such a good lover…
Once I got to my place of work, I immediately began searching for the vials I had for the latest concoction. When I did not see them, I lost my head rather quickly.
“Where on God’s green earth,” I screamed and walked from one end of my laboratory to the other. "Where are those samples I just had? Libertina!"
Immediately, the pale and slim maiden with dark hair ran to my aid.
"Yes sir, have you lost something again, sir?"
"I have Libertina. The tubes I examined the night before. They seemed to…oh."
Within moments, my dearest uncovered the missing necessities I searched for, right underneath my novel, The Bounded Scientist.
I shrunk back and smiled wryly. "Thank you Libertina, ahem, that will be all my sweet."
"Yes sir, if there is anything you need, I'll be tending to your clothes, sir." Quickly, she curtsied and scurried off, closing the door behind her.
Ah, what a fine young maiden I have. If I were more attracted to the ladies, then I might give her go, but only gentlemen tickled my fancy these days.
I could not be that upset even in this pitiful state. Not that many people understood me when they came to know me. Throughout the years, many thought they should have thrown me in the local mental ward because of the ideas I'd had.
Nevertheless, my determination and visions had made me one of the most recognizable names in London, apart from the fact I inherited my father's large fortune.
Still, even with all the money and notoriety, I had always felt something was missing from my life. I longed for something new to happen. Whether it was a new discovery or invention it had to be different from what I had already seen.
I looked at the experiment I had been working on for seemingly weeks in disgust. Things hadn’t been the same anyway since Lawrence departed but I was determined to move on with my life’s work despite what happened to him. I had to hold on to the hope he would return.
After around the fifteenth trial of not receiving my desired result, I retreated to my bedroom to sleep. Unlike times before, I decided not to read before bed but instead lay there until my eyes got too heavy.
I hoped the nightmares would not start again since after they occurred I stayed awake staring at the ceilings of my room, often needing a drink of the alcoholic variety to put me to rest. I felt myself becoming rather dependent on the beverages. Certainly, doing this sort of thing would cloud my senses and not allow me to function properly. Many men of science I knew had become like this and I refused to become one of them.
I’ll never.
I always reassured myself that I wouldn’t continue to down this dangerous path, however, everyday, being alone with only yourself to talk with could be a detriment to one’s mental state.
Although fully capable of doing everyday things, I’d come to accept that I was different. After all, for one, I wasn’t attracted to women. Two, I enjoyed reading more than being outside playing in games.
In fact my mom would frequently say that she wished I’d be like “normal” boys and go play ball instead of reading. This from the same woman who didn’t know how to read until after she birthed me. With the help of my caregiver, I taught myself how to read the written word thus showed my mum in the process. Still, even afterwards, she didn’t consider it as an important skill. “I’ve always had people to do things like read for me,” she said, giving illiteracy credence. Totally absurd but true.
If I wasn’t able to read and learn I might die.
Such is true of me, Doctor Hayden Curry. I preferred to have my mind stimulated before anything else. This isn’t saying that I didn’t enjoy the sins of the flesh because I did, but, books were like gold to me, more important than any penny I owned. I’d inherited most of it which allowed me to live the lavish lifestyle and work on experiments instead of seeing patients to cure their ailments. I wasn’t interested in short term solutions anyway. I wanted results that could change the world and mankind forever.
****Comment with email address and win a copy of Vertigo and a $10GC
***Grad prize A Kindle Touch and a 60GC
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38 comments:
what a sexy cover! thanks for participating in the hop and have fun!
Leia wrote exactly what I was thinking, the cover is great.
acm05atjuno.com
Hi luv-- Waving hello! Have a great HOP! *hugs* Tara
Great excerpt and cover, indeed.
Thanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
In your excerpt, I think you nailed the style of speech for the early 1900s.
For the hop:
I love Angels.
strive4bst at yahoo dot com
Thanks for the chance to win!
Demons are my favorite.
natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com
Thanks for sharing!
bacchus76 at myself dot com
Those boys on that cover are beautiful!!!
andieleah78@gmail.com
The book sounds very inventive and sexy! (And angels for me...)
vitajex(at)aol(dot)com
I already have Vertigo but would love to be signed up for the rest.
Demons are more my style ;)
sionedkla@gmail.com
Sexy! And sounds intriguing! Thanks for the opportunity.
Amanda
manna_greene(at)yahoo(dot)com
Sounds interesting. The cover definitely catches the eye as well.
decepticonverse@gmail.com
Great excerpt! Looking forward to reading more of it :)
laceyblossom1(at)gmail(dot)com
Thanks for the contest. Deb P
r.d1@myfairpoint.net
I did a course on evil in culture and literature and of course demons were part of that. It's fascinating how the perception of evil and demonst has changed somewhat through the centuries. Demons become more subtle and refined, which was not always the case!
Thank you for the giveaway!
anzuazura(at)yahoo(dot)de
Would love to win Vertigo and I love the cover!
Yvette
yratpatrol@aol.com
Sounds good, count me in please!
lyra.lucky7ATgmailDOTcom
Great post! I loved the excerpt.
molly(dot)frenzel(at)gmail(dot)com
WOW ! GREAT COVER!!! Thanks for the awesome excerpt.
Mel
bournmelissa at hotmail dot com
As far as angels vs demons, who doesn't love a bad boy? Demons baby! mawmom@gmail.com
Nice excerpt :)
penumbrareads@gmail.com
I love bad boy/warrior angels.
isabelli3619 (at) aol (dot) com
wow, Dr. Hayden seems an interesting character. I love the concept of "mad scientist" :D
Please count me in. ayamekaoru@yahoo.com
Btw, I actually prefer demons. There's something about the forbidden fruit :P
Love the excerpt! And the cover's great too! Thanks for the giveaway!
suz2(at)cox(dot)not
So much hotness on the hop that I don't know what to do...LOL
koonie2888 at yahoo dot com
i prefer angels. thanks for participating in the hoP! emily joy drake at gmail dot com
Thanks for the amazing excerpt and giveaway. Vertigo sounds like a fantastic read!
elizabeth @ bookattict . com
I loved the excerpt and the cover. I'm looking forward to reading this.
sstrode at scrtc dot com
Great cover and excerpt. Thank you for the giveaway chance :)
manning_j2004 at yahoo dot com
Great excerpt! Thank you for the giveaway!
Hope
Jibriel.O at web dot de
Very hot! Can't wait to read more!!
Lisa
yankssssrule08(at)yahoo(dot)com
Great excerpt! Thanks!
Team Demon all the way!
snhoveln@gmail.com
Vertigo sounds lovely. I am generally a demon girl but I have read angel stories too.
geishasmom73 AT yahoo DOT com
Thanks for sharing the excerpt. Sounds great!
beckerjo at verizon dot net
Thank you for participating in this fun hop. Today I am choosing angels!
dz59001[at]gmail[dot]com
Nice excerpt. I like demons.
bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com
Fallen Angels! Okay, maybe demons. I love bad boys! :D Nice teaser! Thank you for the awesome giveaway!
shadowluvs2read(at)gmail(dot)com
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