World-Renowned Tattoo Artist Tabitha Hawke is retired. An artist trained in the beautiful Irezumi style, she’s spent the better half of her career catering to Gangsters and corrupt Politicians alike. But after a vengeful ex-lover bombs a convention center and almost kills her and hundreds of others, she’s more focused on keeping herself alive than canoodling with the seedy underworld of Japanese organized crime. Hurt and still recovering from her emotional injuries more than anything, she’s hidden herself away in New York’s upper East Side. But with the Yakuza still on her heels for one reason or another, peace is about to get really hard to find.
Alluring and Resolute, Kaito Yamaguchi is the current head of the Yamaguchi-Gumi Crime Syndicate. A dastardly bastard who’ll stop at nothing to get what he wants, he knows just who was responsible for Tabitha’s assassination attempt and is hellbent on making him pay. Unrivaled in power, there are few who will cross the Mob Boss, and fewer still who know his dark secret. A one-thousand year old Fox Demon, he’s a God amongst men, and all he wants in this life is a spiritually-awakened artist who thinks she can outrun him.
With an ex-CIA agent returning to finish her off and a stubborn Yakuza who wants more of her than she’s ready to give, Tabitha quickly finds herself on the ropes. Never one to run from adversity, she’s only left with one option, but with guilt and the loss of a cherished life still looming over her head, escaping her demons may be a fight she just can’t win.
With everything going on in the world right now, from school shootings to the blatant rejection of social and scientific progress by a particular political party, as a Romance author I believe now more than ever love is something we desperately need to cling to.
I wrote Taken by the Dragon God for a plethora of reasons, the most important being to celebrate cultural differences and explore characters of color in ways we don’t typically get to see them. American media paints both Black women and Asian men in not so positive ways. From negative stereotypes, body-shaming and flat out racism; we need diversity in character types just as much as the characters themselves. Taken challenges racial stereotypes in the most thrilling way, making the characters human first and POC second.
Taken by the Dragon God is the first in the Dragon God series and follows a Nigerian Historian and archaeologist Risa Vance as she and her team travel rural China in search of the remains of an ancient Tang Dynasty princess. When she survives a car crash that is fatal for her colleagues, Risa is left to fend for herself. But, little does she know, a sip from an midnight Well will be her saving grace.
Xiao is capable and strong, but the laws that govern his kind are precise in what they expect from him. He is expected to claim a Mate, a human woman who survives the fire from the Black well, or he will lose his kingdom to his power-hungry sister forever. He may not have all the time in the world to woo his potential Mate, but he is a fearsome lover and protector of anyone he calls his own.
These characters are meant to be more than just fillers to meet some racial quota. They are real. They are whole. They are people who live, learn, love, make mistakes and most importantly remain true to themselves in the face of any adversity. This project is one that is dear to my heart and to my cause as an author of color dedicated to bringing you authenticity, diversity, and most of all love.
I look forward to your feedback!
If you want to check out the first book in the Dragon God series, check it out exclusively on Amazon.
I have a secret to confess. I’ve been working on a project for about six months now, steadily hacking away at it in secrecy. But, no more! I’m ready to share Winterborn with you in all its greatness and imperfection!
Winterborn was a project I started as a way to get back to my Paranormal Romance roots, so to speak. Growing up, I was enamored with Vampires, Werewolves, and Witches, the quintessential staple of Paranormal and fantasy literature. It’s been years since I’ve written about any of them and I thought it was high time that I featured them in my work. Thus, a dinky little five-thousand-word short story was birthed and promptly forgotten about. That is, until I realized the little nagging feeling I felt at the back of my brain wasn’t going to go away until I stared my characters in the face and said: “Okay, the hell do you want from me?”
Enter Winterborn’s main characters, Edna, Byron, and Seth. Old school names for an old school story and a plot rife with elements I haven’t touched for years. This blog post will serve as an introduction to the characters and plotline of a story that is not yet completed but is quickly cementing itself as one of my favorite books not yet written.
Main Characters:
Edna Deveaux Ersland:
The great granddaughter of Evelyn Deveaux, a Haitian Mambo (Voodoo
Edna Deveaux Ersland played by Amandla Stenberg
priestess) who brought black magic to the French Creole after migrating from Haiti in the midst of the Haitian-French Revolution and slave uprising started by Toussaint Louverture. She is the subject of a “Final Destination” style generational curse that’s actively trying to kill her. Head over heels for Byron Lee since they were kids, she’s dedicated to keeping the newly transformed wolf out of trouble, even when he’s more of a danger to himself than anyone else. Edna, although an adult at twenty-three, is a classic teenager dying to escape from a controlling parent. Having no real concept of time and being an Ancient, Seth quite literally treats her like a child, which is almost entirely to blame for her rebellion and her constant need to test the boundaries of their parent-child relationship. Part of her wants to see how far she can push the Vampire, the rest of her enjoys the danger it brings because she knows without a doubt that he would A, never hurt her, and B, he’ll always be there to have her back.
In a Nutshell: Edna is an extraordinarily powerful young woman in love with a man both her controlling father-figure and the world want dead. Having the power to keep him alive isn’t the issue, it’s fighting off her own demons that will determine their survival.
Byron Lee Wallace:
Byron is the literal boy next door. He grew up in Warwick Rhode Island beside the Ersland Manor and moved back recently after his alcoholic father was murdered by Ioan Sharks. This move comes years after the drunken brute beat
Byron Lee Wallace played by Joo Hyuk Nam
his sickly mother to death. Because of his hard, strictly religious, upbringing, Byron has always longed for a normal life (white picket fence, the whole nine yards), a prospect that was stolen from him permanently when he was attacked, bitten, and subsequently transformed into a Lycan. He was found one night by his childhood friend and crush Edna, clinging to the shreds of his humanity after accidentally mauling a young woman to death, and she’s been taking care of him ever since. He openly returns the witch’s feelings but, after several mishaps where he’s accidentally scratched and even bitten her, he tries to keep his distance. Much to her dismay. Byron lives in a perpetual whirlwind of guilt, self-pity, and self-deprecation because he blames himself not only for the woman he killed the night of his transformation but for the murders and missing persons cropping up all over town. He still has a very human mindset and has not yet completely transitioned into the realm of the supernatural. Where death, missing persons, and magic are an everyday occurrence for everyone else, he still sees things through the eyes (and morals) of a mortal. He’s a welpling, a literal puppy who’s still in the midst of learning to control his transformations and will be forced to grow up very, very soon.
In a Nutshell: Byron takes being a good person to an entirely new level, but he’s soon to realize that being a good guy and staying alive doesn’t always fall in line. Watch him grow into a formidable force as he realizes that protecting his mate means more to him than his father’s religon ever could.
Seth Ersland:
Seth is a very old Vampire. So old that his personal history is lost to antiquity. (Okay, let’s cut the crap, Seth is Dracula. Literally, the OG Vampire himself. But that’s just between you and me.) Rumor has it, he met Evelyn during the French Revolution and aided her escape to the American South. No one really knows the relationship they shared, but Seth took it upon himself to watch her cursed
Seth Ersland played by Valery Kovtun
family after her unfortunate passing. Some suspect that the two were lovers and her dealings in black magic allowed her to give birth to Seth’s children, thus creating the curse that has now all but wiped them out. The master Vampire has lovingly admitted to having been reduced to a “Housewife with fangs” and it is noted by Lenora Bulwer (a Huntress and agent of the Vatican) that bringing him out of “retirement” would be extremely bad for anyone who crossed his path. Lenora hints at his power and at the fact that he was born Vlad Dracul, the former ruler of Wallachia in what is now modern day Romania. Why he abandoned his life after his suspected death in 1476 is up for debate and is purely speculation. After Edna returns home covered in unexplained cuts and bruises he discovers her illicit relationship with Byron and contracts Lenora into hunting and killing the wolf. He is extremely protective over the last of Evelyn’s brood (and possibly the last of his living bloodline) and will stop at nothing to keep Edna alive. He also could or could not be responsible for all the disappearances in Rhode Island and has a fondness for burning beautiful houses to the ground.
In a Nutshell: Seth is daddy, by all meanings of the word, and someone you’ll want to keep your eye on. He loves his child, takes care of all who are indentured to him, and rains merciless hell on anyone who even thinks to abuse those he loves.
Stay tuned for more about Winterborn, including more character introductions, the Antagonists, Supporting Cast, and MUCH much more!
Fiction for the Masses 