I love crafting worlds and playing the all-knowing and powerful Oz.
Though I’m probably more like that guy behind the curtain then the eerie looking floating head. Yeah, a bit more the making it up as I go along sort.
But that is okay! Because it’s all about playing for me. Even when it comes to doing something really rotten and evil to the good people in my books, it’s all playtime.
I really sound a bit…uh…like a sociopath, don’t I? Or that character in classic Star Trek…Trelane? Or Q. I could dig the idea of Q, from Star Trek: The Next Generation.
Now I sound like a nerd!
Darn it.
Anyway! I like to play, frolic and occasionally dance a bit to the Bwah-ha-ha Tango. Doesn’t mean I don’t take my creation duties seriously. I know things have to make sense. Sorta. The problem is that what makes sense to me isn’t always going to translate well.
Which is where things like blogs and being on FB and the like come into play. If something don’t make sense, reach out and slap me…uh, I mean ask me! (I’m not that sort of author, to ask for slaps. Sorry, you gotta go elsewhere for those sorts…)
Regardless, some of the things I’m learning as I go along are that what I write isn’t necessarily the same as what people read. It sounds like some strange physics experiment from The Big Bang Theory, but I do understand the science behind this phenomena. I think it’s a social science, so forgive me Dr. Sheldon.
We, as human beings – I’m making a big assumption here, aren’t I? If anyone from Alpha Centauri is reading this, please don’t take offense… So, we as…beings, create our world and how we perceive it from what we have experienced every day. And what we went through as children usually makes the biggest impression. Who we are surrounded by, how we are brought up, who we seek to emulate. Yup, we are the sum of our past.
Which means right now a lot of people are looking at me and tilting their heads. Stop it! I had a good past! A very California hippy dippy past which explains a lot about me…sorta.
But our past doesn’t always steer us in the right direction with our perceptions. We have to strive to break out them and seek new worlds, to boldy go where no man has gone… darn it, I must need a Star Trek fix!
My point? Well, we have to step outside our preconceptions sometimes in order to enjoy what is right before us. Like Benjamin Silvestri in my newest book, The Pirate Circus.
(Of course I was going to get to the promotional reasons for this blog! You knew that!)
Ben comes from England and brings with him to Tortuga all the baggage from his past. He thinks of himself as open-minded but quickly discovers…he ain’t that open-minded. Though granted, it’s a big step!
I hope, by the end of the book, that Ben will learn to set aside his preconceptions in order to… Well, I’m not going to tell you anymore! Buy the book! And if things don’t make sense to you…ask me!
*****
Blurb
Bosun Janey knows who and what she is. A pirate. And a damned good one at that. Living a life of excitement, adventure, and sailing the seas of the Kraken’s Caribbean is enough for her. But when the Quill is stuck in dry dock, Janey is left to search for distraction along Tortuga’s waterfront. How does a pirate occupy herself? Certainly not by making friends with a six-year-old boy or mooning after the boy’s father. That’s not how a pirate behaves!
Widower Benjamin Silvestri arrived in Tortuga seeking a fresh start. At first, the pirate haven doesn’t seem like a safe sanctuary for second chances, but life is full of surprises. The sun breathes life into his little boy, and new freedoms help his errant niece embrace her true nature. And then there's Janey. A pirate and most unconventional woman, she stirs feelings in Benjamin that are far from proper.
But who’s to say what is proper in Tortuga? Before he and Janey can explore the possibilities, Benjamin's son and niece disappear onto the high seas. Together, the couple set out to rescue them—because only a loving father and a cut-throat pirate stand a chance against the dangers of The Pirate Circus.
*****
Excerpt
“I’m sorry. I just….” He shook his head. “You’re a very attractive woman, Miss Janey. Here I am, alone with you in the dark of night. Do you have any idea how improper this would be in England?”
She snorted, amused yet pleased to hear him call her attractive. “Well, you’re not in England, and no one cares here.”
“Why do I care? Yet…I don’t want to care.”
God, maybe Tortuga was rubbing off on him at last. What a relief! “Then don’t. You left England behind, for good reason from what I understand. Don’t haul it back into your life.”
“I wish it were that simple.”
She slid from the chair and sat next to him, patted his arm. He was such a beautiful man, more than she could ever aspire to. But if she could help him, maybe they could be a bit more than friends. She hoped.
“Benjamin, it is that simple. They can’t touch you here. Whatever drove you here, it’s gone.” She wouldn’t mention the spirit Mama Lu had seen. Glancing over her shoulder, she hoped it wasn’t anywhere near. If it was Charlie’s mama, she should be hovering over her son.
He set his hand over hers. “You’re a good woman.”
“I’m a pirate. I sail with the Quill, and it’s a good life. Just because I’m land bound at the moment, doesn’t make me a good woman. I’m a good pirate.” The heat from his hand raced up her arm and lodged at her heart. Under the quilt, her legs drifted apart.
“No, you’re both.” He turned his face toward hers. The firelight danced on the gold in his eyes.
She stared, mesmerized. When he kissed her, it seemed an explosion struck them both, setting off a natural chain of events she had no objections to in the least.
Damn, his lips carried the flavor of the whisky, smooth and heady. When he slid his tongue into her mouth, their tongues met with heat and desire, striving to taste and savor the situation. He cupped her head with his strong fingers, but they didn’t last long there. She groaned and shifted closer, the blanket ending up in a bundle at her knees, and one of his hands dropped to slide up her thigh.
*****
So, what do you think? Are we the sum or our past? How hard is it to escape the cage our past can erect around us? One lucky comment will win a copy of The Pirate Circus, so be sure to leave an e-mail address!
I’m Maureen O. Betita and I write adventure for the experienced individual. Seasoning everything I write with life and pushing it to the edge. I can be contacted through my website, www.maureenobetita.com, where you can sign up for my newsletter. I also blog regularly at www.romancewritersrevenge as 2nd Chance and I’m often at A Daily Dose of Decadence http://decadentpublishing.blogspot.com/. Come find me on Facebook as Maureen O. Betita Author or on Twitter.
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