Ok, I couldn’t be more tickled about this feature story in Romantic Times Magazine’s online blog today. The article goes through each of the stories in my Mythica series and compares them to the actual mythology and then demonstrates how I twisted each story to make it a romance.

Here’s just an example:

Book Four: “Siren Song”

Greek Myth Element: Sirens. The sirens are by far some of the most enchanting creatures in Greek mythology. Seductresses capable of luring sailors to their doom with their captivating singing, these Greek creatures are some of the most famous. However, according to Greek myth, they spend most of their time on land.

Draven’s Take: The author gives sirens a contemporary spin for her fourth story in the series. Chloe is the bombshell lead singer of a popular indie band. No one has resisted her soulful crooning except for naval officer Alex, so of course that’s the one man that Chloe is interested in. However, Alex knows a secret that not even Chloe has guessed, her voice is magical and that’s why she’s become so popular. Alex recognizes that his fellow navy forces can’t help but become entranced by Chloe’s song. But can Alex explain the truth to Chloe before he falls under her spell? It’s up to him to protect his men and hopefully get the girl.

Go read the rest!

Baklava is a flaky mediterranean desert comprised of butter, walnuts, phyllo dough, sugar, honey…and did I mention the butter? My mother makes a version that is so rich my mouth starts watering just thinking about it and since we’re heading into the holidays, I thought I’d share my thoughts on this desert with my readers.

Another reason I’m thinking about Baklava is because it’s the favorite sweet of my Arab-American hero in Dark Sins and Desert Sands, a paranormal romance novel about a modern day minotaur who intends to use his mind-control powers for revenge against those who have destroyed his life, but ends up falling for a modern-day sphinx instead. Here’s a little snippet from the book, then stay tuned for a delicious recipe!

“It’s sooo good,” Layla said, with a sensual moan. She literally writhed in the passenger seat, her elegant fingers flexing around her soda bottle with pleasure.

She’d been doing that with every bite of the cookie Ray had picked up for her in a convenience store and her enthusiasm was starting to turn him on. He glanced over in time to see her licking chocolate from her fingers in a way that made him twitch. She aroused him so easily, under any circumstance, without even trying. Maybe especially when she wasn’t trying.

For as long as he’d known her, she’d been a serious woman, but now she started laughing. It reminded him of how she’d sputtered with joy in the bathroom of that crappy little motel when she’d first touched him. The pleasure of the memory—of being touched in a way that didn’t bring pain—set him off-balance. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s just that I can’t believe I’ve gone two years without eating anything sweeter than a bran muffin!” Her laughter cut off suddenly, and she stammered, “Oh—oh, Ray. I’m sorry. Next to what you’ve been through…”

“Don’t do that,” he said. It’s true that he’d spent two years eating any slop they shoved through the slats of his prison cell, but she’d been in a kind of prison too. He was glad she was finally free of it.

“Don’t walk on eggshells like you pity me, Layla, or like you think I’m going to explode at any moment.”

“Okay,” she said, offering him a bite of the dessert as a peace offering. “Do you want some?”

“No, thanks. I’m not big on sweets unless it’s my mother’s baklava. The way she brushes the phyllo dough with butter and spices the nuts… My whole family goes crazy for it.”

Layla stared at him. “What’s it like to have a family?” It was an odd question, and his expression must have said so, because she explained, “When I didn’t have my memories, I always hoped that there was a family out there somewhere looking for me. Now I know that I don’t have parents. I don’t have siblings or children. Just Seth.”

“What’s it like having family?” Ray repeated, struggling for an answer. “It’s like asking someone what it’s like to have an arm or a leg. You can explain what it’s like to lose it, but you take it for granted when you have one.”

So let’s see if we can reproduce Ray’s childhood memory for our holiday tables!

Holiday Baklava

• 1 (16 ounce) package phyllo dough
• 1 pound chopped nuts
• 1 cup butter
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey

1. Preheat oven to 350. Butter bottoms and sides of a 9×13 inch pan.
2. Chop nuts and toss with cinnamon. Set aside. Unroll phyllo dough. Cut whole stack in half to fit pan. Cover phyllo with a dampened cloth to keep from drying out as you work. Place two sheets of dough in pan, butter thoroughly. Repeat until you have 8 sheets layered. Sprinkle 2 – 3 tablespoons of nut mixture on top. Top with two sheets of dough, butter, nuts, layering as you go. The top layer should be about 6 – 8 sheets deep.
3. Cut into diamond shapes. You may cut into 4 long rows the make diagonal cuts. Bake for about 50 minutes until baklava is golden and crisp.
4. While baklava is baking, boil sugar and water until sugar is dissolved. Add vanilla and honey. Simmer for about 20 minutes.
5. Take baklava from oven and drizzle sauce on it. Cool. It Freezes well.

To visit the other sites on the blog hop and get more delicious recipes, go here!

So, it’s that time again. Back cover copy writing time. This is the little enticing summary at the back of a book that is supposed to tell the reader what the book is about while drawing in their attention with all manner of unanswered questions. So, for my latest novella, THE FEVER & THE FURY (Jan 2012), I’ve come up with the following. Comments & suggestions welcome!

Once, he was an officer and a gentleman, but the horrors of war have transformed Luke Lazaros into an immortal bad boy on the run. Wanted by his own government for spilling state secrets, Luke is haunted by his strange transformation into a phoenix. He’s been changed, body and soul, into a man who cannot die, and his new pyrokinetic powers have somehow unleashed the wrath of the ancient gods. Now he’s stalked by a dark huntress, whose beautiful green eyes blaze like justice. He may not face a judge and jury, but there’s no escaping the eternal torment of a fury. Phaedra is a relentless crusader, torturing him night and day, trying to force him to repent of his supposed crimes. But when Luke realizes that she’s not just a creature of darkness, that she’s also a woman with centuries-old pent-up needs, he turns the tables on her. Phaedra has never been touched by any mortal who wasn’t trying to fend her off…can he seduce her with a smoldering kiss?

For centuries, Phaedra has been a dark force of justice, meting out vengeance. She’s an ancient fury, a tormentor of mortal men. But this time, the man she’s been unleashed upon isn’t mortal at all. Luke Lazaros was transformed by the horrors of war into an immortal bad boy who cannot die. He’s a war-forged phoenix with pyrokinetic powers that make her burn, inside and out. She cannot leave his side until he’s redeemed or driven mad; but he’s too strong–and too stubborn–for her to handle. She needs to make him atone for his crimes, but being near him has become her own personal torment. Phaedra has never touched another person except to inflict pain, and she’s certainly never been touched by anyone who wasn’t trying to fight her off. So when Luke uses pleasure against her, it’s a weapon for which she has no defense. And revenge has never tasted so sweet.