From the Muse… Michael Mandrake
Hi… *waives and has a seat on the couch*
For those unfamiliar, my name is Michael Mandrake. I’m one of the muses that came from the wild imagination of this multi faceted author. Interestingly, I’m only one of three personalities that Sharita considers to be the voices who assist her as she writes stories of love and romance through many genres and subgenres.
Inside this black woman from Chicago, Illinois is a middle aged, gay white British male who tells tales of men in love as they struggle to gain acceptance among their families and peers. In most of my stories, the men are already comfortable in their own skin and no longer have the issues with the “coming out phase.” The characters in a Michael Mandrake story want love, open communication, commitment, and a healthy sex life. *grins* How they achieve this is all up to the plot Sharita and I come up with and most of the time, it takes them a while before they achieve this.
Why you ask? Well, Sharita and I love to torture our characters. In the first story we did, True Meaning of Love, it was sort of, for lack of a better word, incomplete. There was only one major scene where you got to view that struggle between London and Brandon from the sidelines. I assure you in its sequel you’ll see more since what we aim to achieve is taking our characters “through the wringer” before they get their desired result. Of course, that result is mind-blowing sex and mutual understanding. Now, it might take ten thousand words or more before they get that climax. And oh when they get that, they respond. Nothing is more satisfying than to see them in the afterglow and once they get done, they move on to a new challenge or the story will get ready to end.
What about our characters? They might be visually appealing to the eye but are severely flawed. Matthew in Only When I Lose Myself has Attention Deficit Disorder, his partner, Adrian, is a singer who in my editor’s words was a selfish git. He also had his own demons he was battling which would be the reason he had a shrink. That one psychiatrist was only one of the reasons they got together.
Another would be my doctor in the novella, Vertigo. Hayden Currie is a gorgeous man, tall, well-defined, and very rich but his need for the new and unique drives him literally mad and he desires a lover who will take him on an interesting ride. He finds him, a “shifter” by the name of David, who turns out to be more than a science experiment. When they finally find out things about one another, the union is bliss but to achieve it, one has to pay a hefty price.
Those are only three examples of the characters I create. Usually, the models are the beautiful men Sharita has found on the net or ones she admires from afar or is it the ones she obsesses over. *winks* The plots come from headlines, song titles and lyrics or any number of challenges she deals with in daily life. Whatever she’s infused her head with there most likely will be a story behind it. Why? Because me, BL, and Rawiya force her to have one. *giggles*
So in conclusion, I, one of the Sharita Lira muses, do exist in her head. Hopefully as we get better at honing our craft, I’ll be one of those that will become a well known name in erotica romance along with BL and Rawiya. That’s our ultimate goal and since we control Sharita or the head as we’ve aptly named her, we expect to achieve this sooner than later.
*evil snicker*
Michael Mandrake is the author of several novellas including his latest, Vertigo from Sizzler Editions. His next books, True Meaning 2: The Complete Portrait from XOXO and Under the Gun from No Boundaries Press are due out in 2012. To find out more please visit http://tabooindeed.blogspot.com
After losing his lover to mental disorder, Dr. Hayden Curry throws himself into work, silently wishing he could experience something extraordinary in love. He finds his match in David, a creature Hayden revives after discovering him and hauling him back to his lab. Upon awakening, David asks Dr. Hayden’s help in discovering more about himself. Hayden agrees but senses secrets in David. Will he get to the bottom of things and be able to continue the special relationship he and David have, or will the secrets that come forward tear them apart?
Before I went to my haven, I glanced outside my window. Outside, the rainfall reduced to a drizzle, coupled by slow moving clouds over the moonlight. The trees blew after only a few gusts of winds, ripped the leaves off and made quite a mess on the grass underneath.
These would be the nights I would cherish with him most. After relishing in the afterglows of new inventions and glasses of wine, there were mind blowing affections to follow.
Such a good lover…
Once I got to my place of work, I immediately began searching for the vials I had for the latest concoction. When I did not see them, I lost my head rather quickly.
“Where on God’s green earth,” I screamed and walked from one end of my laboratory to the other. "Where are those samples I just had? Libertina!"
Immediately, the pale and slim maiden with dark hair ran to my aid.
"Yes sir, have you lost something again, sir?"
"I have Libertina. The tubes I examined the night before. They seemed to…oh."
Within moments, my dearest uncovered the missing necessities I searched for, right underneath my novel, The Bounded Scientist.
I shrunk back and smiled wryly. "Thank you Libertina, ahem, that will be all my sweet."
"Yes sir, if there is anything you need, I'll be tending to your clothes, sir." Quickly, she curtsied and scurried off, closing the door behind her.
Ah, what a fine young maiden I have. If I were more attracted to the ladies, then I might give her go, but only gentlemen tickled my fancy these days.
I could not be that upset even in this pitiful state. Not that many people understood me when they came to know me. Throughout the years, many thought they should have thrown me in the local mental ward because of the ideas I'd had.
Nevertheless, my determination and visions had made me one of the most recognizable names in London, apart from the fact I inherited my father's large fortune.
Still, even with all the money and notoriety, I had always felt something was missing from my life. I longed for something new to happen. Whether it was a new discovery or invention it had to be different from what I had already seen.
I looked at the experiment I had been working on for seemingly weeks in disgust. Things hadn’t been the same anyway since Lawrence departed but I was determined to move on with my life’s work despite what happened to him. I had to hold on to the hope he would return.
After around the fifteenth trial of not receiving my desired result, I retreated to my bedroom to sleep. Unlike times before, I decided not to read before bed but instead lay there until my eyes got too heavy.
I hoped the nightmares would not start again since after they occurred I stayed awake staring at the ceilings of my room, often needing a drink of the alcoholic variety to put me to rest. I felt myself becoming rather dependent on the beverages. Certainly, doing this sort of thing would cloud my senses and not allow me to function properly. Many men of science I knew had become like this and I refused to become one of them.
I’ll never.
I always reassured myself that I wouldn’t continue to down this dangerous path, however, everyday, being alone with only yourself to talk with could be a detriment to one’s mental state.
Although fully capable of doing everyday things, I’d come to accept that I was different. After all, for one, I wasn’t attracted to women. Two, I enjoyed reading more than being outside playing in games.
In fact my mom would frequently say that she wished I’d be like “normal” boys and go play ball instead of reading. This from the same woman who didn’t know how to read until after she birthed me. With the help of my caregiver, I taught myself how to read the written word thus showed my mum in the process. Still, even afterwards, she didn’t consider it as an important skill. “I’ve always had people to do things like read for me,” she said, giving illiteracy credence. Totally absurd but true.
If I wasn’t able to read and learn I might die.
Such is true of me, Doctor Hayden Curry. I preferred to have my mind stimulated before anything else. This isn’t saying that I didn’t enjoy the sins of the flesh because I did, but, books were like gold to me, more important than any penny I owned. I’d inherited most of it which allowed me to live the lavish lifestyle and work on experiments instead of seeing patients to cure their ailments. I wasn’t interested in short term solutions anyway. I wanted results that could change the world and mankind forever.
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