Holiday Stories

I love reading holiday stories so much that this year I wrote two of them, both free short reads. The first is called Homecoming and is set in the world of my Reaper series. If you're not familiar with the series, Reapers are men infected with a parasite that turns them into cannibalistic zombie-like creatures. That has Christmas written all over it, doesn't it? It's set in an alternate version of the wild west just after a cure has been discovered for the infection. Homecoming is about the trouble John, a newly cured Reaper, has going back to his old life. I thought I'd share an excerpt....

A sliver of wood as thin as a snowflake peeled away beneath the sharp blade and drifted down to lay atop his bare foot. The scent teased his nostrils, but he held back a sneeze as he followed the stroke around the curve of the eagle’s uplifted wing. He didn’t want to screw up this delicate part and, besides, if he let loose with a sneeze now, someone from the house might hear him and that would be no good. No good at all.

Head bowed, John tickled the roof of his mouth with the tip of his tongue. His sister Alice had always sworn by that method of fighting off sneezes and she would have known. With hay fever and a preacher father who insisted they sit in the front pew every Sunday no matter what, Alice had had a lot of practice at smothering sneezes. She was gone now with the rest of his siblings. Eight of them and he was the only survivor.

Setting the knife aside, he picked up the small chisel. Really it was only a large square-headed nail he’d found sticking up from the soil a few weeks past. He’d scrubbed the rust from it and sharpened the end and it worked remarkably well for his purposes. The feathers…well now, that was the challenge here. He cupped the eagle in one hand, thumb anchoring the neck and his pinky finger curled around a leg. Catching his tongue between his teeth, he began the fine work.

The feathers had to be etched individually to make it look real. He could appreciate symbolic art, but he had his preferences. His grandfather, who’d taught him to carve, had made creatures so real looking that as a child he’d been convinced the hand sized wolves and bears prowled about his room as soon as he drifted off to sleep.

He blinked the sweat from his eyes and swiped his sleeve across his face. He’d nearly forgotten that. He had forgotten it. It was another memory come back to him, and a precious one. He wished he could remember them all…the good ones and forget about the bad. Wheat and chaff. Gather up the wheat, throw the chaff into the fire. Some days, it seemed to work the other way around. Some days it seemed there was nothing left but chaff.

If you'd like to read the rest, you can find it here.

The other (super short!) story I wrote is from my Twilight of the Gods series. If you're not familiar with that one, it's about a clan of Norse demigods who've taken refuge in a little town in Iowa after the destruction of Asgard during Ragnarok. This scene takes place after Dragonslayer and has Christian and Fen talking about Yule and what gifts they're getting for their significant others. I wrote it for Mistletoe Madness. You can read it here and also enter the giveaway for a signed copy of Witch Bound and an Yggdrasil necklace.

Happy Holidays everyone, however you choose to celebrate. Do you have a favorite holiday story?

The Romantic Appeal of the Warrior Hero

What I like best about the Warrior-type character in Romance is their selflessness, their willingness to put their life on the line in order to help other people. They’re also usually highly trained and competent people, exactly the kind of partner you want to have by your side in a dangerous situation. And since those dangerous situations crop up so often in paranormal and fantasy romance, the warrior hero or heroine is a frequent fixture.

In contemporary romance, the warrior role is usually filled by a soldier, but in paranormal romance it’s often less formal than that. Warriors can be enforcers, knights in shining armor, angels, or demigods. Or they can be characters like warlocks whose fighting ability is primarily craft and mental, not raw physical strength.

But the most important quality of the warrior character is selflessness, and that’s also what makes him so appealing as a romantic partner.

In my newest book, Dragonslayer, my hero is a warrior. Christian rides with the wild hunt twice a month to keep the jötnar who destroyed his home world from invading earth too. He’s been raised to serve and he accepts that burden willingly, but it complicates his life. I found that the biggest strength of the warrior hero—his selflessness—also caused the biggest conflict for the hero and heroine.

Christian had a big responsibility to his clan, and he regularly risked his life to protect them. He wasn’t conflicted about that at all, but as the heroine, Jacey began to fall in love with him, she had a problem with him risking his life so readily. And as she stepped up to try to help, and also watch his back, it made Christian unhappy because then she was placing herself at risk when all he wanted to do was protect her.  Of course, that kind of selflessness caused all sorts of sparks in the bedroom. And they do get their happily-ever-after. But it’s hard won. Good thing they’re both fighters.

My favorite conflict with the warrior hero is when he tries to protect a heroine who either doesn’t need protecting or balances his brawn with her wits. Do you have any favorite warrior stories?

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Eleri Stone is a RITA-nominated author of fantasy and paranormal romance. Born and raised in New Jersey, she now lives in Iowa with her husband and their three children. All of her stories have some element of speculative fiction, and they all end with a happily-ever-after.
www.eleristone.com

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One year after his bride left him at the altar for his best man, Christian Jager is stuck in a rut. Working at the local co-op, dating the same handful of women he’s known since childhood, riding with the wild hunt twice a month to keep the jötnar who destroyed Asgard from invading earth.

He wants something more, but he’s not quite sure what it is until Jacey Morgan blows into his life like a breath of fresh air. A wildlife biologist who’s come to Ragnarok to investigate rumors of a strange predator in the area, she’s also a native Midgardian who can’t ever learn the truth about Christian or his clan. His job is to distract her and get her the Hel out of town as quickly as possible so the Æsir can take care of the problem themselves.

Jacey wants the case wrapped up quickly too, and she’s not about to get distracted by the sinfully sexy man who’s so unexpectedly determined to help. With a new degree and a plan to get out of Iowa, she’s ready to move on to bigger and better things… A dragon isn’t quite what she had in mind.

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This week is Warrior Week on Here Be Magic where we'll share what we love best about warrior heroes and heroines. If you missed it, be sure to check out Shona Husk's kick-off post: Paranormal Warriors.