The following message from the past, from the desk of Goethe, has been my guiding light in the years I have worked on my book and remains a strong inspiration. In the moments I lack belief in a  particular course of attact, I remind myself that it is boldness that creates opportunity. It is this lack of commitment and trust in herself that has kept protaganist, Alexandra, stuck and unable to move forward in he life . Her journey will teach her the power of commitment to oneself. 

Until one is committed

there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back,

always ineffectiveness. 

Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation)

there is one elementary truth

the ignorance of which kills countless ideas

and splendid plans:

That the moment one definitely commits oneself

then Providence moves too.

All sorts of things occur to help one

that would never otherwise have occurred.

A whole stream of events issues from the decision

raising in one’s favour all manner

of unforeseen incidents and meetings

and material assistance

which no man could have dreamt

would have come his way.

Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.

Boldness has genious, power and magic to it.

Begin in now.

Goethe

Ramey Sandeley, the central male character in The House on Black Lake, has lived his life controlling his environment. He brands his animals with his own tools, runs worldwide entrepreneurial pursuits and his wife and children live by his rules. But Ramey has a lesson to learn. Although that was not his intent when he made plans for Alexandra’s visit.

Men have forgotten this truth. But you must not. You are responsible forever for what you tame.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

When Alexandra Brighton first takes the eyes of Ramey Sandeley she is newly married and believes she is in love with her husband. She has been taught to accept a superficial concept of what love means, and her husband,Matthew Brighton, has the perfect pedigree. He is highly attractive, successful, well educated, and offers all the worldly goods one could desire. Yet, when she looks into the eyes of Ramey, she feels a dormant part of herself come alive, and nothing matters except the wild brilliance of this feeling. Ramey is also wildly handsome, successful, and newlywed. But there is a vast difference between the two. At their first meeting something both terrible and wonderful happens.

 
For the first time in her life, Alexandra comes viciously alive and experiences an explosive desires to run away with this stranger and free herself of the material world.   She's seized by fantasies of riding with him on a winged Pegasus or flying carpet to a world devoid of society - where there are only the two, nature, and nothing else but candlelight, moonlight, bonfires, forbidden writings, crashing waves, thunder, chilling rain, strange bazaars, burning sands, exotic plains, skin on skin, dangerous animals, bareback rides, swinging through trees, danger, inside and out.

 
In a startling flash, she realizes she is daily judged and heavily reined in by the world around her and nearly owned by a husband who is more master than equal lover. It's now infinitely clear she doesn't even know her husband, let alone understand the nature of his soul. Yet Ramey speaks to her without words - and those unspoken words are powerful. Alexandra has found a true love for her lost soul, but the possibility of their union cannot be achieved until she has claimed the right to this kind of love. And, this will involve many years of great hardship, trials and sorrow.

 
True Love comes unexpected and unbidden, and when it strikes it  both destroys and creates. It will not be denied. For those who settle for less there is no journey. For those who are bestowed the gift and choose to follow, there is a heavy price to pay. It will be nearly thirteen years before Alexandra once again lays eyes on the man who destroyed what she believed an idyllic life, and awakened the brutality of  true love.  Her days on Black Lake will further peal away the layers of her encased soul to release the divinely idyllic within - the spot where True Love unites. 

Anastasia Blackwell

  Paradigms for women are terribly outmoded.   Shall we stay at home, or shall we work?  Neither glamorous options, most would admit.  There is rarely the sense of purpose, romance and danger in the nest, or the sterility of the workplace. So, the marketplace becomes the focal point of passion, a place to feel the rush of something beautiful and new.  Unfortunately, nothing bought can sooth the hungry soul.  Our closets overstocked; we have nothing to wear.  As Andre Labat advises Alexandra in The House on Black Lake, “The self must first be known before it can be clothed or accessorized.”

But the old ways are crumbling, and as we fear the loss of our power to obtain goods, we are actually gaining the power to attain something far greater.  As women delve deeper into themselves and begin to take the heroine’s journey, a new paradigm will evolve – a far richer reality, incorporating creativity, artistry, self expression, fearlessness, adventure and possibly fierce romantic love. 

In Maureen Murdock’s book, The Heroines Journey, she writes, “In the myth of romantic love, a woman is said to search for a father/lover/savior she thinks will solve all her problems.  The unspoken message is - I don’t have to figure out what I want to do.  I can live his life.” Men comply with the societal expectation that they take care of a woman and protect her from taking her own journey. They perpetuate the belief that she need not take a heroic journey. A man’s sense of self is enhanced by rescuing a woman.  Women are waiters.  Women are trained into a sense of expectancy.”

Women have not been taught how to take their Heroine’s Journey.

“In most fairy tales the woman is taken out of her state of waiting, her state of unconsciousness, and dramatically and instantly transformed for the better.  The catalyst for the magical change is usually a man.  Snow White, Cinderella, Rapunzel, Sleeping Beauty, Eliza Doolittle all share variations of the same prince.  When the transformation of the heroine really occurs, however, it is usually the result of not rescue from without but of strenuous growth from within, and over a long period of time.”

 The journey comes first, like the Hero, and the voyage of discovery leads to personal riches.

The transformation of the heroine is what leads to romance – it cannot happen until she is whole.

Anastasia Blackwell

When I set out to write The House on Black Lake, I did not consider the genre of the book. I only knew I had a story to tell that was so powerful, it consumed much of my time and passion for the next four years.  When the book was fully edited, I was told I must find a genre to market my book to a niche audience.  My editor had warned me that many agents will turn you down outright if you mention the words "romance" or "erotic."  So, I chose "psychological thriller", an apt title for a book about a woman's journey into the dark shadows of herself.  However, I quickly realized I was on the wrong course.

I solicited a second opinion from another agent, asking for an analysis of the first few chapters. I was aghast when she informed me my book was a "contemporary gothic romance", or "erotic gothic romance." I  professed to have never read a tawdry romance or erotica novel, although I had read many erotic and romantic literary works. I associated the former with lonely women locked in loveless marriages, who lived their lives through others.  These books were certainly not for an independent and adventurous woman such as myself.

Some have called romance novels porn for women, and they, with only a few exceptions, are generally viewed with distain by the literary commununity.  Of course, it is a fact that many romance novels are poorly crafted and feed off the needs of women who desire to lead more vibrant lives than allowed by mainstream society.  Yet, there have been masterpieces of romantic literature, most promintently Du Maurnier's Rebecca, the Bronte sisters and the works of  Jan Austin.  Whether or not they deserve respect, the romance and erotic factories are where the majority of books are sold, in times of affluence and in time of depression. Romance and erotica are what a large population of women want, despite the taboo.

Yet, it can be successfully argued that every book is a romance novel.   In every genre of fiction, romance drives the novel. Love/ Passion for "someone or something" creates conflict and drama. Even in the most male driven books, some kind of romantic influence generally finds its way into the plot.  So, all books incorporate elements of  romance, and it is time to come out of the closet.  Human beings strive for love and a sense of completeness with an opposing other.  It is true of both men and women.

I chose the genre,"Neo Gothic Suspence," not because I want to avoid stigma and lose readers like myself,  but because it would be redundant to call it a "romance novel".  The House on Black Lake is a journey into a woman's soul.  It is highly  provocative,  romantic and erotic, because that's want we want- taboo or not.

Anastasia