My soon to be published novel "The Chamber of Curiosities" explores the star-crossed love story of Darney Veska, a charismatic circus "freak" and the beautiful young trapeze artist, Clare Dupuis. Set against the back drop of a carnival in an ancient bastion perched above a vibrant seaport, it is a tale of obsessive, possessive, forbidden love.
More about the book, scheduled for publication in 2013 at:
The stilted language of Christian Grey, of Fifty Shades of Grey, has me wondering if he is, in fact, a vehicle for the spirit of Lord Byron.
E.L. James,the author of FSG, a West London housewife and former TV exec, married to an academician and screenwriter (who edited her books), lives and was educated in the land of Byron. Ms. James has admitted that the story of obsessive love and dominance and submission is her own fantasy. However, it is highly doubtful she has spent time in the company of twentysomething Seattle billionaires (if there are any). Rather, her sexual fantasies would have been forged by likes of such romantic figures as Lord Byron, and his contemporaries Percy Shelley, and Keats.
I am a native of America's Pacific Northwest, Christian Grey's fictional stomping grounds, and know well how those guys walk, talk, think,and act - and Christain Grey would be laughed out of the states of Washington and Oregon, had he ever existed. And, let's be honest, most women would prefer to be held captive in Byron's gothic castle than in a sterile Seattle penthouse.
Clearly, Christian is of a different breed, land, and era. Perhaps the time of Lord Byron, who was a brilliant poet, war hero, and notorious naughty boy whose aristocratic excesses included incest, and the seduction at age nine by his nurse, Mary Gray. A descendant of "the wicked Lord Byron", who was known to be eccentric and violent, Byron gave over his beloved ancentral home, Newstead Abbey, in 1803 due to financial problems, and stayed there as a tenant of Lord Grey.
E.L. James began writing "Fifty Shades of Grey" as fan fiction of Twilight, so the character of Christian was based on a the character of Edward, who (as written) is well over a century old. Byron was a highly popular poet, and leader of the English romantic movement, in the early 1800s, and was said to have fallen into an abyss of sensuality before departing for Greece to redeem himself and fall to a greater cause.
She walks in Beauty is one of his most famous poems - note the reference to "a heart whose love is innocent","all that's best in dark and bright", and "one the more shade".
She Walks in Beauty
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow'd to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One the more shade , one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
I have felt an affinity for Byron since I touched his name, carved by his own hand into a Greek column outside Athens. "Fifty Shades of Grey was written after The House on Black Lake, and my blogs on obsessive, possessive love, and other similar romantic topics were hot on the search engines when the author wrote Fifty Shades. Is it possible James also channeled my name, Anastasia, and "the scene with the belt" from "The House on Black Lake" during research for her novel?
In a series of interviews in historic Jacksonville, Oregon I was asked about the nature of obsessive possessive love and the character Ramey Sandeley. Here are my thoughts.
Please Note: The House on Black Lake has been adapted to screenplay. Go to Home Page to view provocative trailer filmed by award winning cinematographer.
The House on Black Lake teems with jealousy and obsession. World-weary Alexandra Brighton travels with son Samuel to visit the man who has haunted her heart for years. She seeks resolution to an obsession that has brought her former life to ruin. But the fire is only stoked by charismatic Ramey Sandeley. Ramey is a man who has never heard the word "no" and expects life to give him everything he desires.
But he has never tasted the drug of love or any desire beyond the physical. The feelings awakened in him by Alexandra are twisted to jealous rage when he learns she has given herself to seductive young French artist Andre Labat. When she returns to the house he confronts her and threatens to administer a whipping for her discretion. This is only the beginning of a battle of wills that will lead the couple to the edge of destruction and threaten the safety of those caught in their orbit.
Yet, they are not the only ones driven by obsessive feelings. The lake's inhabitants are caught in tormented web of frustrated desire and and the drive to create unity at any cost.
Fifty Shades of Grey joins a long line of dark lovers. Crazy in love, jealous, obsessive, possessive males make intense romance heroes. The top alpha picks (taken from personal surveys and popular romance forums) can be found in the following novels, in no particular order.
And, I've added my new Historic Romance, The Chamber of Curiosities to the list, set in an ancient carnival teaming powerful, dangerous alpha males
14. Bitten, Women of the Otherworld Book 1 by Kelley Armstrong
15. Dragon Bound by Thea Harrison
16, Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire
17. A Hunger Like No Other by Kresly Cole
18. Forever Mine The Moreno Brothers 1 by Elizabeth Reyes
18. Always Been Mine The Moreno Brothers 11 by Elizabeth Reyes
19. Under the Cowboy's Control by Lynda Chance
20. Blackmailed into Bed by Lynda Chance
21. The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie by Jennifer Ashley
22. Tempt the Devil by Anna Campbell
23. Playing Easy To Get Immortals After Dark 1 by Kresly cole
24. Pleasure of a Dark Prince Immortals After Dark Series by Kresley Cole
25. Clockwork Angel The Infernal Devices, book 1 by Cassandra Clare
26. One Bite With A Stranger The Others Book 6, by Christine Warren
27. Submissive Desiresby Carolyn Faukner - SD chronicles a woman's journey of complete submission under control of dominant ex navy seal. The book is erotic and too extreme for most, but well written for those who enjoy or desire insights into world of BDSM.
I was recently interviewed about obsessive, possessive love. Here are my thoughts.
The world went mad for Christian Grey in Fifty Shades of Grey, But he is preceded by a long line of dark lovers in film and literature.
Wade Gotwals and Anastasia Blackwell in Scene HOBL trailer
ATTENTION READERS: New Romantic Fantasy, The Chamber of Curiosities has been published.The epic story, set in a carnival in an ancient land, features an obsessive, possessive romance hero and heroine, as well as supporting characters with intense love obsessions.
Nothing is more rewarding than delving into the psyche of an obsessive, possessive, romance hero. A sexy, powerful man possessed with love has undeniable allure.
Ramey Sandeley from The House on Black Lake is an obsessive, possessive male who has never heard the word "no". Ramey first appears in the novel sweaty and burnt, fresh from branding animals with his custom tools. He believes his preternatural good looks, charm, wealth, and power afford him the right to own whatever and whomever he desires. But he meets his match with Alexandra Brighton, who, after having been possessed by her previous husband, and having made a vow at a shrine to be true to her manifest destiny, will no longer allow herself to be owned or controlled by anyone.
The night Alexandra arrives at Black Lake with her young son she is world weary from a brutal divorce, and in a highly vulnerable state. Soon after she is rowed out by Ramey and his wife to stay in a deserted Victorian in an island, with no way out. That night she dreams she is tied to a four poster, waiting for a burning brand to seal her wedding vows. Their battle of wills will lead them both to the brink of self destruction, and threaten the lives of those caught in their orbit.
To be adored to the point of obsession is truly a rare and beautiful thing. Possessed film heroes can be found in - Twilight, Legends of the Fall[ The Phantom of the Opera Cruel Intentions, Bram Stoker's Dracula, Meet Joe Black, Possession, King Arthur, The Last of the Mohicans, Ladyhawke, Tristan and Isolde, The Thorn Birds, A Streetcar Named Desire. The Man Who Cried features Johnny Depp as a gypsy who rides a beautiful white horse, and Original Sin offers some of the sexiest scenes on film as Antonio Banderas outplays Angelina Jolie at her own dangerous game, with her possessive brother played to perfection by Thomas Jane (of Hung). There are also notable darkly seductive tortured souls in literature, and many of the aforementioned tales began as novels.
Following are a few novels that feature such brooding males:
The Carpathian Series by Christine Freehan
An Independant Wife by Linda Howard
Immortals After Dark Series by Cresley Cole
The Madness of Lord Ian McKenzie by Jennifer Ashley
The Misted Cliffs by Catherine Asaro
The Silver Devil and The Flesh and the Devil[/amazon_link], by Teres Denys - Note: These are cult classics and can be expensive
The Wolf and the Doveby Cathleen Woodiwess
To Love an Earl by Elizabeth Thornton.
The Devil's Embrace. Catherine Coulter's first novel. Some have called it creepy, cruel, and disgusting, but everyone has their own tastes.
The Ground She Walks Upon by Meagan McKinney
The House of RohanRuthless, Breathless, Reckless, by Ann Stuart
Shadow Heartby Laura Kinsdale
Uncommon Vows by Mary Joe Putney
Double Standards by Judith McNaught
Gold Ring of Betrayal by Michelle Reed
Murder Game Ghostwalkers series 7 by Michelle Freehan
Into the Dark Lands by Michelle Sagora
The Dark Jewels Trilogy by Anne Bishop
Prince of Dreams by Lisa Kleypas
The Chamber of Curiosities by Anastasia Blackwell
The Twilight Saga Stehanie Meyers.
Julie Garwood, J.R. Ward, Fallen Angel and Black Dagger Brotherhood SeriesGena Showalter are other notable authors who specialize in the genre.
Gone with the Wind gives us Rhett Butler, who is in a class of his own.
For those who desire a darker, more erotic experience the following are well written in this genre:
The Man in the Black Leather Mask follows a female attorney's transformation from powerful woman to submissive beneath the hands of a ten years younger dominant colleague
Kidnapped for Christmas by Evangeline Anderson - Average, overweight woman's skinny sister plans her own kidnapping as a sexual lark, but man takes wrong woman and the more conservative sister finds herself a submissive to a very sexy man
Surrender To Me by Shayla Black - a woman's secret desire is met by her boyfriend in a Las Vegas trick where he consents to menage with friend, who also happens to be Navy Seal. An obsession is sparked between the woman and her new friend and nothing is the same for the two.
Master of the Mountain by Cherise Sinclair - an less than figure perfect ad agency artist complies with boyfriend's request to visit remote swinger's cabin. During her stay she sees boyfriend with other woman and realizes her relationship is over. However, she meets a man that is emotionally scarred and afraid of commitment who takes her on a journey into the underworld of dominence and submission.
Submissive Desires by Carolyn Faulker. Very severe story of a woman's five year journey to complete submission in the hands of a fiercely powerful and possessive ex Navy Seal.
What will it take to relieve him of his torture?
Obsessive, possessive, brooding romance hero
I was recently interviewed about obsessive possessive love and the character of Ramey Sandeley. Here are my thoughts:
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