Remember the year two major studios both put out movies about an astroid hitting the earth? Remember the year every book in the B&N was about Anne Boleyn? Remember the year a certain author *cough* published a book about Cleopatra’s daughter and so did everybody else?

I’ve always assumed this kind of thing happens because there’s a sort of collective conscious at work. Creative people are influenced by their times to be fascinated by certain subjects, so maybe it’s not so strange that ideas happen in clusters.

But I’m also certain that there’s a bit of serendipitous magic at work. And when you’re a writer, it feels like destiny. Case in point? The recent historical erotica story that I’ve been writing like a maniac, night and day, for the past week.

The setting? The 1920s. The heroine? A silent film screen siren loosely based on Clara Bow. The hero? An American aviator. They fall in love while trying to make a hollywood movie about WWI fighter pilots.

I’m thirty-five thousand words into this novella. It’s almost done. I’m putting the frosting on the cake now and pulling it to a conclusion, so I decide, on a whim, to look up the popular films of 1927.

And what do I find? But Wings, the first film, and the only silent film, to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. It starred none other than Clara Bow. If that weren’t freaktastic enough, this historic film–which was believed to be lost–is going to be released in its restored version THIS MONTH!

If only I could write and publish this in time for the January 24th release of the film, I’d be a happy girl. In the meantime, I’m going to have to settle for the mystical sense of satisfaction that maybe I’m writing something I was meant to be writing.

THE VIRTUOUS BRIDE is my contribution to Romance Divas Fourth Annual E-Book Challenge.

If you are my mom or anybody related to me, this story is NOT FOR YOU! This story is an experiment in transgressive erotic fiction, something that’s altogether different than what I write for HQN’s Silhouette Nocturne. It makes me really uncomfortable, and that’s usually a sign that I’m stretching myself as an artist. Hopefully it will make you a little uncomfortable too, but in a good way!

(Click on the cover art to read it now! A PDF is also available upon request.)

I hope you’ll enjoy reading the many FREE stories posted by forum members on their sites and blogs. If you enjoyed this story, please visit Romance Divas for MORE Free Stories!