Thirteen Things about Taniwhas by Shelley Munro

When I wrote Make That Man Mine, I looked to my home country of New Zealand for inspiration and decided to look to the local myth of the taniwha.

1. A taniwha is a creature from Maori mythology. It lives in lakes, rivers or the sea. Legend says there’s a taniwha living at every bend of a river.

2. The best description I can come up with is a water dragon. And it’s pronounced tan-e-far.

3. According to legend many looked like serpents, had wings and they ate people. Sometimes they liked to kidnap women and live with them, treating them like a wife.

4. Other stories say the taniwha are guardians who protect the tribe or iwi.

5. In 2002 work on a road in the Waikato region (south of Auckland, New Zealand) was halted because locals said a taniwha lived there. Public interest was high. Some cheered for the taniwha while others thought it was political correctness gone mad! This stretch of road has a high death rate and local Maoris have long blamed the taniwha for all the deaths.

6. The taniwha who killed, kidnapped and ate people needed to be destroyed. Enter the taniwha-slayer. These brave men lured the taniwha from his den, captured and killed them. They were considered big heroes.

7. Witi Ihimaera, the author of The Whale Rider, says that he has a kaitiaki (guardian) which is a taniwha. Her name is Hine Te Ariki and she lives in the Waipāoa River. The movie Whale Rider is amazing. If you haven’t seen it check out the link.

8. My release, Make That Man Mine features a shapeshifting taniwha called Jack Sullivan.

9. Jack Sullivan works for a private investigation firm in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s called George Taniwha & Son. Guess what George and his son are?

10. Blurb: On her 25th birthday Emma Montrose decides it’s time to show bad boy investigator, Jack Sullivan she’s more than an efficient secretary. She’s a woman with needs, and she wants him.

Jack is a taniwha, a shifter, who requires women to satiate the sexual demands of the serpent within. Nothing more. Then work forces the reluctant Jack and ecstatic Emma undercover as a couple. Thrown together, pretence and reality blur generating hot sex laced with risk”¦

11. Of course, since this is an erotic romance, I added a twist”¦

George glanced at the calendar pinned on the wall then cast his attention back to Jack. “There’s a blue moon coming up. It might fall before the mission is completed.”

Jack filled in the blanks. The blue moon would erode his powers and make it difficult to remain in human form. Without constant sexual stimulation, he’d shift into a taniwha, the legendary monster from Maori mythology. Jack snorted at the thought of being trapped in taniwha form in the middle of a mission. It had happened to other shifters on George Taniwha’s staff but not to him. He imagined the pandemonium if a change occurred in the middle of the bustling resort. His lips curled in disdain.

Little did New Zealanders know, but the species taniwha survived and lived among them. Jack didn’t intend to be the first taniwha to make headlines in the New Zealand Herald. No way. No how. If he had to find a woman to keep the monster at bay, then that’s what he’d do.

12. Of course things don’t work exactly the way Jack plans. He’s partnered with Emma, and she is determined to get her hands on the man who has caught her eye. Little does she know of the beast Jack harbors. He’s not just grouch and growl, he’s bite as well!

13. Make That Man Mine is available for sale from Ellora’s Cave. If you like your reading hot and would like to armchair travel to New Zealand to experience life with a different kind of shifter, this is your book!

Do you enjoy reading stories featuring myths and legends? Do you have any favorites?