Tag Archives: Paranormal Romance

Posted on by — Leave a reply

In 2010, I decided to write a book. That was the first book I had ever written, and I had never entertained the idea of creating such a thing. With the birth of that book, so began my passion for writing.

The first book was My Blood Runs Blue, and in that story, I created a world of vampires unlike any other world created. How the vampires were created, how they reacted to humans, and even how they smelled to each other came from my fantasies.

Shortly after the first book, I wrote Blue Blood For Life. There were a few years between that book and the next, and that third book, The Pulse of Blue Blood, became the second in the series to explain how Kristin got to where she was. During that time, I rewrote parts of the series’ first two books and then quickly went on to write Mixing the Blue Blood and Blue Bloods Final Destiny.

As I was writing that final book, I realized I wasn’t ready to let Kristin go. She was a police officer who gave everything to protect those she swore an oath to. Kristin was me, and I wasn’t ready to let go of who she was and what she had become. So I did the only thing a writer can do, I created another world and spun Kristin off into Blue Blood Returns 40 years later.

With this new series, I could bring new life to the stories. I could intertwine pieces of the past and introduce new characters. Kristin is still the lead, but her sister is right beside her. New and old faces were together where questions from the original series, never answered, finally were.

The new series was darker, grittier, and much steamier than the first one, but that is what I saw for my characters in the future.

In this final book, The Reckoning, I had a hard time. I knew what needed to happen but struggled to get the characters to behave. I started and stopped this book several times. I realized that one of the things that held me back was knowing that I would have to say goodbye to these characters.

Kristin was no longer a cop in this book, and neither am I. It took me a while, but I finally realized that both Kristin and I needed to move on. It was time to let the past become the past and move on to new things.

I have already been asked by some earlier readers if there will ever be another spin-off, and the answer to that question is, I honestly do not know. Did I leave it where I could jump into the future? Yes. But will I? Who knows. Only time will tell. For now, I will step away from the paranormal world for a while and finish a few other books that need my attention.

For all of you who have followed the stories of Blue Blood through the years, I thank you. You will never know how much it has meant to me to share these stories with you.

Now, it’s time to say goodbye to Kristin, Zander, Alex, Gabe, Olivia, Angelina, Trent, Hugh, and Garda and turn the page. At least for now—

Enchanted by Vikings #RachelleAyala @Mimisgang1 #mgtab

Posted on by — Leave a reply

 

Everywhere I turn there’s a new movie, television series, video game, heavy metal bands, even costume-partygoers celebrating this ancient culture that hailed from the icy regions of Northern Europe.

Why are modern men and women of the twenty-first century so enchanted by Vikings? Perhaps it is a yearning to return to what we believe to be a simpler life, one that was in touch with nature and the elements of raw survival. Or it’s the fascination of muscled and bearded men who were too wild to be tamed. Or the glory of a warlike society, where valor, honor, and bravery were highly regarded. Possibly, it’s their reputation for brutality and slaughter and the fear they engendered on their raids. Although to be fair, the Romans, Assyrians, Mongols, Iroquois, British and all other human groups were no less brutal. Or it could be the love affair we have with their gods and goddesses and the stories they told that have been passed down to us. Their antics, their cavorting, their origin stories, and their views concerning fate and the afterlife and the finality of Ragnarok.

The Norsemen did not call themselves Vikings, and a lot of the stories have become romanticized as time went by. They get made and remade into operas, movies, novels, symphonies, plays, and video games, and the characters are invented and changed. Even a Norseman’s appearance has been creatively embellished. For example, they didn’t wear horned helmets as they were commonly depicted, and we don’t truly know how they wore their hair and beards, or whether they were as heavily tattooed as movies and popular culture now depict them. From Wagner to Marvel, everyone has their own appropriation of Norse culture, mythology, legends, and stories.

For me, I like the Norse mythology–from the world tree to the serpent surrounding the world, and stories of the various gods, goddesses, giants, dwarves, and other creatures in their pantheon. The stories and myths vary with the teller, and indeed the gods take on shapes of birds, totem animals, or even other gods as they scheme and plot for either power or entertainment. The Norse were also fatalistic, believing in norns who have woven the strands of their lives before they were born. The fatalism extended to Ragnarok, the end of the world or at least the end of most of their prominent gods. No one could stop what was foretold. It happened exactly as predicted. It was a horrible ending, and yet, some minor characters survived, but nothing is recorded or survived to our day. What happened after Ragnarok will always remain a mystery or even better, we’re free to invent our own endings or new beginnings.

I did just that with Red Hexed: Ruby where a modern-day woman in San Francisco comes face to face with a Viking in search of a berserker sword. She’s drawn into his quest to stop Ragnarok when he asks her to impersonate Hella, the goddess of death. Along the way, they get tangled up with Odin, Loki, Freya, Hella, and Surt while a shapeshifting horsefly turned cockatoo leads or misleads them while inadvertently playing matchmaker. [Check it out for 99c release week special].

Travel to Seychelles

Posted on by — Leave a reply

When people ask me about the most interesting thing I have ever done in my life, I can’t help smiling as I answer without hesitation, “Traveling.”  I visited over hundred countries on vacation or business trips. 

One of my most memorable trips was to the Seychelles in the nineties, after my husband and colleagues sold the first Boeing 767 with GE engines to the Republic of Seychelles, an archipelago of 115 islands in the Indian Ocean, off East Africa, where natives speak English, French and Creole. The spouses were invited to accompany and cheer the hardworking and successful delegation on the delivery trip, or virgin trip as the officials called it.

On the tarmac of the Boeing airport in Seattle before boarding.

The night before the actual delivery trip we arrived in Seattle, home of the Boeing Co., for a reception and the next day we headed to the Boeing hangar where we boarded the brand new airplane. After a takeoff closely monitored by the engineers, the plane flew directly to a freezing airport somewhere in Newfoundland to refuel, then crossed over the Atlantic Ocean, transited in Paris for two hours, and continued to Kenya where it had to drop boxes of medication as part of an international aid program. The Kenyan minister of tourism received us with drinks and snacks and then led us to a tower for a panoramic view of the area surrounding the airport. He kindly invited us to come back for a safari–still on my bucket list.

Map and general view of the Seychelles.

The plane landed in the largest island of Mahé, home of the capital Victoria, to the sound of music. Young girls welcomed us with flower leis. The president himself shook hands with each one of us, and toasted the arriving guests with glasses of palm wine Kalou and coconut water. 

L- Arrival at the airport. R- In downtown Victoria. In January, it’s summer in the Seychelles.

We spent our first afternoon in Mahé, and couldn’t wait to run to the Beau Vallon beach and experience the white sand and turquoise water of the Indian Ocean. The evening gathered our delegation for a dinner of local fish and seafood cooked with rice in a Creole style and the delicious octopus and palm salad. Let’s not forget the mouth-watering exotic fruits that appeared at breakfast, lunch and dinner: mango, papaya, passion fruit, guava and a few I didn’t recognize.

The next day the Minister of Tourism invited us on a submarine tour to admire the underwater life, flora, corals and colorful fish; later we swam and snorkeled in the area.

On day two, we flew to the island of Pralin in a twelve-seat plane. In Pralin we visited the rain forest called Vallée de Mai, home to famous—or infamous—Coco de Mer, a huge coconut, for the female fruit, and an… hum… extra long penis for the male fruit. Seriously, you have to see it to believe it. These fruits grow on the tallest trees in the world. We had a fantastic day, but we were eaten alive by hundreds of mosquitoes guarding the rainforest. Back in the hotel, we spent the evening rubbing our legs and arms with a soothing cream made with the oil of Coco de Mer.

In the left top picture we are standing in the Valée de Mai, home of the Coco de Mer. On the right is a picture of the male nut.

On day three, we used the same small plane to go to La Digue island. It landed on a gorgeous white-sand desert beach with black granite rock shining in the sun—in my humble opinion, it is the most beautiful beach in the world. In La Digue, we also visited a park housing giant turtles. On the way back we had a bad surprise. Our small plane sank into the sand. We had to go down and push to get it out!

Over the years, I accompanied my husband to the Seychelles three times and enjoyed the islands tremendously: the beaches, the activities, the food. A perfect place for a honeymoon.

I wrote about the Coco de Mer in my book, THE GODS OF DARK LOVE, a sensual romance based on the legend of the gods, Isis and Osiris, in the Egyptian mythology. On Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B076K8442S/

Chapter 15 is set in the Vallée de Mai, home of the Coco de Mer.

“This forest is Gehanna created by a devil,” Shafika grumbled. “It has the most indecent fruits I have ever seen. I want to go away from here.”

“Stop it,” Isis ordered. “It’s the wrong time and place to whine.”

The girl pouted. “But my lady, look at those fruits. They must have been created by—”

“We have already seen so many of them at sea. Stop acting like a child.”

“But my lady, I am not talking about the Sea-Cocos.” She pointed to the top of a tree. “Look at these donkeys’ things.”

Exasperated, Isis exhaled and raised her gaze to where the girl pointed. Her breath clogged her throat. “Oh, oh. Osiris, look.” She caught his arm and shook it.

Osiris stared at the long fruits, shaped like a phallus as long as his arm, as long as a donkey’s penis. He swallowed hard and counted a dozen such cones on that tree.

Busy Summers & Peanut Butter!

Posted on by — 6 Comments ↓

If you are like me, you can’t believe it’s almost the middle of August! Where do our summers go? So busy!! Since June, I have finished writing four books, took a 12-day vacation, and now have had my almost 3-year-old grandson with me for a week and he’s staying for at least another week. Luckily, I have all my books written for this year so I can enjoy my time with him!

A few other of our Authors’ Billboard Authors have talked about Food in their monthly posts, so I thought I would share that I just learned how to make fresh peanut butter! It is so simple – All I do is pour a jar of Honey Roasted Peanuts into my brand new Pampered Chef Cooking Blender and set it to grind mode! Less than 3 minutes and I have perfect peanut butter!!! So good and no extra sugars! And thankful that I have this because my grandson has a peanut butter addiction!

Now, I’m not sure if my characters in the My Blood Runs Blue Series enjoy peanut butter or not, but the gang sure does have a knack for trouble! My Blood Runs Blue was the first book that I ever wrote, back in 2010. Shortly after that, I wrote Blue Blood for Life, and then the series got put on hold while I started writing a lot of other books.

In 2016, I got the chance to write a short story, The Pulse of Blue Blood, which is actually meant to go in between My Blood Runs Blue & Blue Blood for Life. For a long time, the series sat waiting for me, but I am working inally finishing it up. Mixing the Blue Blood, book 4, comes out August 21st – and the final book, Blue Bloods Final Destiny will release in the spring!

At the time that I started writing, I was a police officer. This series deals with Officer Kristin Greene finding out that there is a whole different world out there, and everything that she knew isn’t necessarily correct. It’s a sexy paranormal series with a lot of police procedural details. And right now, My Blood Runs Blue, The Pulse of Blue Blood and Mixing the Blue Blood are all $0.99 each.

I hope you all enjoy the rest of your summer!!! Now off to make jam in my new cooking blender to go with my peanut butter!