stephaniedraven.com » nymphs

The Mythology of Heartbreak

Stephanie Draven — Thu, 30 Sep 2010 16:07:02 +0000

Cross-posted from Bitten by Books The ancients thought the heart was the source of all human emotion and passion. This is probably because of the way our heart thumps when we fall in love, and the way our heart seems to seize inside our chests when we’re frightened or grieving. The heart is a wonderfully resilient [...]

Poisoned Kisses First Chapter

Stephanie Draven — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 10:00:11 +0000

Once a month, a bunch of authors get together and post excerpts from published books, contracted work or works in progress, and link to each other. You don’t have to be published to participate just an writer with an excerpt you’d like to share. For more info on how to participate, head over to the Excerpt Monday site! or click on the banner above.

Chapter One Kyra was dressed to kill. Literally. Just beneath her short red skirt and only inches above her high-heeled boots, a small but deadly hunting knife was strapped to her thigh. A gun might have been more useful, but Kyra preferred the weapons of an older, less complicated time. A knock came at the nightclub’s bathroom door—probably another gaggle of drunken Italian socialites—but Kyra wouldn’t be rushed. She stared at her reflection in the mirror to steel her courage. She might not be able to do much to thwart Daddy and his bloodthirsty minions, but she could do this one heroic thing for humanity. This was her destiny. She’d been born for this. But the mirror reflected a distorted image. It was cracked, as if the thumping club music burst through the wall from the other side. Still, she could see that her plunging pearlescent halter top complemented neither her black tresses nor her ghostly pallor. No matter. Kyra never let mortals see her true form, anyway. Tonight, her prey would see her as she wished him to see her: with blue eyes and cropped platinum hair; after all, she’d studied Marco Kaisaris long enough to know his type. And she was ready. Hydras like Marco were dangerous, but surely not to someone like her. She just had to kill him. Like Theseus and Perseus of old, she had a monster to slay. With that thought, Kyra gave the bathroom door a shove and it swung open like a gate to the underworld. She stepped into the nightclub’s press of bodies and people made way for her, as if they sensed her power. As the dance beat drummed at her pulse points, she brushed against the crowd, and it excited her because she had a nymph’s nature; she found the vitality of humans to be infectious and distracting. This was, of course, one of the many dangers of getting too close to mortals...

Something Really Nice to Wake Up To

Stephanie Draven — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 17:44:43 +0000

I've had a pretty great year, but with deadlines looming, I'm a stress-case right now and the day didn't start well. I woke up to snow outside and cat-hairballs on the inside. But then I found this little gem in my inbox ...

Nymphly Music to Write By

Stephanie Draven — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:48:33 +0000

My first full length novel for Silhouette Nocturne will feature a nymph of the underworld. The ancient Greeks called them lampades, the Romans called them Nymphae Avernales, but we would probably more properly think of them as dark angels. Part of their mythology is that they were torchbearers of Hekate–the enlightening flames they carried could show mortals [...]