HERE BE NEWS for March 23, 2020

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Monday, March 16 - 
"HERE BE NEWS" - All the latest from the gang at Here Be Magic.

Tuesday, March 17 -
"Celebrating WORLD FOLK TALES and FABLES WEEK" - As long as there have been human beings, there have been stories. Author Dani Harper shares her thoughts on why we need fairy tales and fantasy. 

Thursday, March 19 -
"STAY CALM AND READ" - Author Maureen Bonatch shares how reading can help in times of stress, and also how to find new stories. 

Saturday, March 21 -
This week's Bring It Back(list) features "AEQUANA" and "AEQUANA'S QUEST", sensuous contemporary fantasy romances by Linda Mooney. Scroll below for all the details.

AEQUANA
A sensuous contemporary
fantasy romance 
by Linda Mooney

#mermaid

John "Talon" Eagletalon had no idea what the government intended when it assigned him to its latest secret project - an icy blonde beauty with a miraculous ability.  All he knew was that he owed Uncle Sam fourteen more months of his life, and if it meant being this woman's partner and bodyguard until he'd paid his dues, he'd find a way to endure the ordeal. 

Until he discovered what the government had been doing to her.  And at the same time, discovered he was falling hopelessly in love with her. 

Now it's no longer a matter of protecting her.  It's a matter of keeping her out of their clutches. 
And making her his.

Warning! Contains a wise Indian saying, cold showers, extreme hazardous pay, corrupt scientists, sorry sons of bitches, chains and collars, things that bite, and a two thousand mile journey that ends in an incredible night of love.

Ebook is 99¢ for the month of March

BUY LINKS: https://lindamooney.com/AEquana.htm 
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AEQUANA'S QUEST
A sensuous contemporary
fantasy romance 
by Linda Mooney


#mermaid

She was unique in every way, including the way she loved him.

It will take a long time before AEquana heals from the abuse and torture she endured growing up in those government labs. But Talon's love is helping her vanquish those demons and go forward with life.

Unfortunately, they stumble onto a multi-million dollar gem heist, and are targeted by those who think they're easy prey. Their enemies have no idea who they're up against when they try to take on the ex-Navy SEAL and his mermaid.

Warning! Contains a mountain-side pool, phone bashing, lubricating oil, vicious attacks, the absence of cuffs and chains, and a plea and a promise that will test the strength and depth of two people's love.

Ebook is 99¢ for the month of March

BUY LINKS: https://lindamooney.com/AEquana.htm 

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Each book is just 99¢ each during the month of March 2020! Purchase links are at https://lindamooney.com/AEquana.htm 

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Bring It Back(list) - AEQUANA and AEQUANA'S QUEST, Sensuous Contemporary Fantasy Romances by Linda Mooney

During the month of March, both ebooks are just 99 cents each! (Available at all vendors and my website.)

John "Talon" Eagletalon had no idea what the government intended when it assigned him to its latest secret project - an icy blonde beauty with a miraculous ability.  All he knew was that he owed Uncle Sam fourteen more months of his life, and if it meant being this woman's partner and bodyguard until he'd paid his dues, he'd find a way to endure the ordeal. 

Until he discovered what the government had been doing to her.  And at the same time, discovered he was falling hopelessly in love with her. 

 

Now it's no longer a matter of protecting her.  It's a matter of keeping her out of their clutches. 

And making her his.

Warning! Contains a wise Indian saying, cold showers, extreme hazardous pay, corrupt scientists, sorry sons of bitches, chains and collars, things that bite, and a two thousand mile journey that ends in an incredible night of love.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

She was unique in every way, including the way she loved him.

It will take a long time before AEquana heals from the abuse and torture she endured growing up in those government labs. But Talon's love is helping her vanquish those demons and go forward with life.

Unfortunately, they stumble onto a multi-million dollar gem heist, and are targeted by those who think they're easy prey. Their enemies have no idea who they're up against when they try to take on the ex-Navy SEAL and his mermaid.

Warning! Contains a mountain-side pool, phone bashing, lubricating oil, vicious attacks, the absence of cuffs and chains, and a plea and a promise that will test the strength and depth of two people's love.

Excerpts and Buy Links

Sirens and Mermaids - Beautiful but Deadly

Sea Goddess mural in Monteray, California
Image: Bigstock.com

A new TV series, SIREN, premiered in March of this year and by May it was signed for a second season. With it comes renewed interest in sirens and mermaids, two legendary sea creatures who have merged into one over the centuries. 

In modern times we think of sirens as glamorous women who captivate men with their beauty, or deliberately lure and seduce them into forgetting their own better judgement. The term "siren" comes to us from Greek mythology and literature, in which the Sirens were once handmaidens to Persephone, daughter of the goddess Demeter. When Persephone was kidnapped and taken to the underworld to marry the dark god Hades, Demeter blamed her handmaidens for allowing this to happen to their mistress.

As punishment, Demeter marooned the hapless women on a beautiful green island surrounded by treacherous rocks. Any ship that ventured too close to the island would be wrecked so that rescue was impossible. However, merely banishing the women wasn't enough for the vengeful goddess. The women were changed into strange half-human creatures. Still alluringly beautiful, they are sometimes portrayed with bird wings and feet. However, in many versions of the story, they became the first mermaids. While we usually picture them as possessing the head and upper body of a lovely woman and the lower body of a fish or a dolphin, there are some legends where mermaids have legs and appear human.

Demeter gave these unfortunate women unearthly voices and commanded them to sing without ceasing. Sailors in passing ships would hear the sirens' song, and either steer the vessel onto the rocks, or dive from the deck into the sea and drown. Any man that managed to survive the ocean and the rocks would make his way to the island, but find it far from a paradise. So enchanted was he by the siren's songs that he would follow the women wherever they went, forgetting everything else in the world. The hapless sailor would even forget to eat and eventually starve to death. The island became covered with bleached bones.

The Sirenuse Islands in the Mediterranean Sea
Image: Bigstock.com

Embittered by their unfair fate, the Sirens eventually took great pleasure in their cruel task of luring men to their doom. Stories tell that they would often sing passing sailors into a deep sleep. The sirens would then board the ship and kill all the men as they slept, feasting on them for days afterward and tossing their gnawed bones into the ocean—or making musical instruments from them!

The only man to hear the song of the Sirens and live to tell about it was Odysseus (also known as Ulysses). He filled the ears of his men with wax and bound their heads with cloth, so that they would be able to row directly past the deadly island, unaffected by the alluring music. Odysseus himself, however, had not plugged his ears. Instead, he commanded his men to tie him to the mast, so he could hear the Sirens' songs, but not be able to jump overboard or steer the ship into danger.

Demeter's magic had condemned the Sirens to live forever—but only until the day came that a mortal was finally able to resist them. After Odysseus's successful plan, the Sirens were said to have flung themselves into the sea which turned against them and drowned them.

Ever since, maritime superstition claimed that hearing the song of a mermaid is a sign of a particularly ferocious storm approaching, or even spelled certain disaster for the ship.

Mermaids are found in the mythology of many countries, including China, Cambodia, Thailand, Africa, the Phillipines, the Caribbean, Brazil and Japan. They are called merrows in Ireland, and rusalkas in eastern Europe. Undines are freshwater mermaids from Celtic legends, which live in the faery realms of my Grim Series novels. In some myths, the mermaids are kind, even benevolent. In a few stories, a mermaid even falls in love with a human (Hans Christian Anderson’s 1837 tale, “The Little Mermaid, was based on such folklore). Unfortunately, most of these sea creatures behave like the Greek sirens, luring men to their doom, drowning them, and even eating them!

Female figureheads ensured fair weather
Image: Bigstock.com

Christopher Columbus wrote of sighting mermaids on three occasions, noting that they weren't as beautiful as the legends claimed. It's generally accepted that what he actually saw were manatees. However, the infamous pirate Blackbeard also noted in his ship's log several times that he had witnessed mer-folk, and instructed his crew to steer clear of the areas they frequented. And in more modern times, from 1870 to 1967, both sailors and ship's passengers have reported seeing mermaids in the waters off British Columbia, Canada!

Strangely, despite all the ancient tales of dangerous sirens and mermaids (and later, the notion that women on board were just plain bad luck), there was a prevailing belief for at least two thousand years that the sight of a woman's bosom could settle an angry ocean.

By the 1800s, most sailing ships featured an amply-endowed female figurehead on the bow, often with breasts exposed to the salt sea air. And the most popular of all? A mermaid!

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THE GRIM SERIES by Dani Harper

The fae are cunning, powerful and often cruel. The most beautiful among them are often the most deadly. Hidden far beneath the mortal world, the timeless faery realm plays by its own rules—and those rules can change on a whim. Now and again, the unpredictable residents of that mystical land cross the supernatural threshold…

In this enchanting romance series from Dani Harper, the ancient fae come face-to-face with modern-day humans and discover something far more potent than their strongest magic: love.

See ALL Dani's novels on her Amazon Author Page

Here Be News

New Releases

New!

AEQUANA’S QUEST

AEquana, Bk. 2

Sensuously Erotic Urban Fantasy Romance Novel

by Linda Mooney

Word Count: 55.5K
$3.99

She was unique in every way, including the way she loved him.

It will take a long time before AEquana heals from the abuse and torture she endured growing up in those government labs. But Talon's love is helping her vanquish those demons and go forward with life.

Unfortunately, they stumble onto a multi-million dollar gem heist, and are targeted by those who think they're easy prey. Their enemies have no idea who they're up against when they try to take on the ex-Navy SEAL and his mermaid.

Warning! Contains a mountain-side pool, phone bashing, lubricating oil, vicious attacks, the absence of cuffs and chains, and a plea and a promise that will test the strength and depth of two people's love.

Click here for excerpt and buy links.

http://lindamooney.com/AEquana.htm

Mine to Hold (ES Siren #4) by Shona Husk

Getting caught between two lovers has never been more dangerous.

Captain Leo Grady is making his third trip to Solitaire. He's spent five years in space and is ready for a change. Not wanting to go back to Earth, he's chosen to pay off on Solitaire. All he needs is a woman willing to be his wife. Given that women are heavily outnumbered on the fleet of first settlers he knows he can't sit around and wait. He has to act.

Vance Knox has been working with vet, Silke Rask, for the last six months. He fancies her, but refuses to do anything about it because he still has a twenty year sentence to serve. He has nothing to offer any lover and he expects nothing. He made his choices a long time ago. But it burns to see her getting closer to Grady.

Silke is torn between the sensible choice of Grady and the more dangerous attraction she has for Vance, but as secrets are revealed she realizes that she has to fight for what she wants. Not everyone on the ship is there because they earned their place, and old Earth money still has power.

When disaster strikes and threatens the lives of everyone on board she realizes that that sometimes no choice has to be made. Why should love have limits?

Buy links:
https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/mine-to-hold-es-siren-4/id929906316?mt=11

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00OIKC880/?tag=shohus-20
http://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/mine-to-hold-es-siren-4
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/mine-to-hold-shona-husk/1120558595?ean=9781760082369

New Release!

Falling from the Light (Night Runner book 3) - Regan Summers

Phoenix, AZ

All Sydney Kildare wants is a minute in the slow lane, some time to decide where she’s going with her vampire lover, Malcolm Kelly. But after sitting out the last battle, the powerful Master Bronson is giving orders again, and he isn’t above blackmailing his former courier to get what he wants.

With Mal sent to track a vicious killer, Syd is forced to infiltrate a pharmaceutical company responsible for a drug that turns vampires into real monsters. She’s unprepared and alone, but fiercely determined. If her investigation doesn’t satisfy the Master, Malcolm will pay the price. A wrong turn throws her into the middle of a vampire power play. Caught between twisting forces, with their freedom at stake, she’ll have to decide what’s more important: love, power or revenge. But choosing what feels right might turn out all wrong.

94,000 words

ISBN-13: 9781502236265
ISBN-10: 1502236265

Buy: B & N | Kobo | iBooks | Amazon

New Release!

Nominated for Best Fantasy Romance of 2014 in the RT Reviewers Choice Awards

The Tears of the Rose (The Twelve Kingdoms book 2) - Jeffe Kennedy

Three sisters. Motherless daughters of the high king. The eldest is the warrior-woman heir;the middle child is shy and full of witchy intuition;and the youngest, Princess Amelia, she is as beautiful as the sun and just as generous.

Ami met her Prince Charming and went away to his castle on the stormy sea-cliffs-and that should have been her happily ever after. Instead, her husband lies dead and a war rages. Her middle sister has been taken into a demon land, turned into a stranger. The priests and her father are revealing secrets and telling lies. And a power is rising in Ami, too, a power she hardly recognizes, to wield her beauty as a weapon, and her charm as a tool to deceive…

Amelia has never had to be anything but good and sweet and kind and lovely. But the chess game for the Twelve Kingdoms has swept her up in it, and she must make a gambit of her own. Can the prettiest princess become a pawn-or a queen?

Buy: All Links Here

Other News

Eleri Stone: I have a free Reaper short story on my website for the holidays. You can read Homecoming here: http://eleristone.com/homecoming/

Give me those 'More Interesting Secondary Characters'!

 

“What? No! We all know he lives - he has to come back for the next movie! Go back to Syrena and Phillip! How did she save him? How’s he breathing under water? Did she eventually turn him into a merman? Damn it!”

I couldn’t help yelling at the TV as the credits for Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides rolled. Yes, I was happy Jack lived to plunder, and stagger about another day, but I really didn’t give a hoot about him right then. His survival was a given (million dollar franchise that has another film in the pipes, anyone?). All I wanted to know was what happened to the ‘different’ mermaid and her human love.

Did she actually heal him and imbue him with the ability to breathe under water with a single kiss? If so, why weren’t sailors regularly capturing mermaids to force them into giving them what would be incredibly beneficial powers? If not, how long did she have to drag Philip to a place where he could actually survive? Who would help her heal him? Would mermaids even allow a creature their species essentially viewed as a less-than-happy meal to be healed? What would Syrena have to do to convince her kind that Philip was worthy of being her companion? Would she have to leave her people to have a life with him? Where would they live? If he remained human, but with the ability to live under water, how would his physiology eventually be affected? What would his and Syrena’s children look like?

So many unanswered questions! Argh!

Such is the fate of the ‘More Interesting Secondary Characters’ - forever doomed to live on in the ‘what ifs’ of viewers, until the franchise creators drop a breadcrumb or two in subsequent movies or book tie-ins.

Or they live on in fan fiction. Lots and lots of fan fiction.

I can’t be alone in my M.I.S.C. lamentations - which secondary characters (in movies, books or TV series) do you wish had a LOT more screen time?