My book, Make That Man Mine comes out at Ellora’s Cave on 15 June. My story features a special shapeshifter called a taniwha. Most of you probably don’t know what a taniwha is, so my TT today is about taniwhas.
Thirteen Things about Taniwhas
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.
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 upcoming 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 about 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 on 15 June. 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 think you’d like a taniwha in your local lake or river? What are your favorite armchair travel destinations? Do you pick fiction or non-fiction books when you armchair travel?
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Now *that’s* unique! :)
Definitely an interesting take on the whole idea, I must say.
So, whose side were you on in the road debate?
Happy TT!
by Ms Menozzi June 11th, 2009 at 1:21 amCiao!
Hi Ms. Menozzi – I thought it was political correctness overdone, but part of me wanted there to be a taniwha. I would have paid my admission fee to see it!
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:19 amHello….My 13 is about mockingbird facts, baby chick photos and crepe myrtle bushes in bloom. Stop by if you can!
Your 13 is interesting…good luck with your book.
by Hootin' Anni June 11th, 2009 at 3:18 amI’ve never heard of a taniwha, but the one you’ve captured on your book cover looks worth researching. Happy TT!
by Brenda ND June 11th, 2009 at 3:19 amFascinating. Ive never heard this legend. I’ll take one if they all look like Jack :)
by Adelle Laudan June 11th, 2009 at 4:07 amHmm, Me + Jack + armchair…
Happy T13!
I’d not heard of a taniwha before either. I do love the different shifters you write about!!
by Christina Phillips June 11th, 2009 at 4:19 amWho knew?
http://iamharriet.blogspot.com/2009/06/13-best-places-to-live-in-usthursday-13.html
by Harriet June 11th, 2009 at 4:37 amThat is so cool! Sounds like a great story, Shelley! I hope you get a ton of sales. Happy Thursday! *Hugs*
by Stephanie Adkins June 11th, 2009 at 5:31 amI’m so buying this one!
by Ella June 11th, 2009 at 6:18 amI love New Zealand. Three weeks honeymooning in a campervan & I never once saw a taniwha!
I’ve never heard of a taniwha – I love reading books that introduce me to new cultures, new places. One reason I got so tired of historicals set in Regency England.
This sounds like a great story, Shelley!
by Leah Braemel June 11th, 2009 at 6:26 amFascinating! You picked an excellent premise for this one.
by Alice Audrey June 11th, 2009 at 6:57 amI love different kinds of stories and not the same old shifters over and over! This sounds wonderful, Shelley. I can’t wait to read it. I love reading about local myths and legends. A taniwha in my river would be great! I do pick fiction and non-fiction that takes me to new and exciting places.
by Kaye Manro June 11th, 2009 at 7:28 amIf Jack Sullivan is the guy on the cover, he is HOT!
by Julie@Momspective June 11th, 2009 at 7:31 amOoh, taniwhas are new to me–can’t wait to read your take on them! As for armchair traveling, I love “going” just about anywhere, and I usually pick fiction–part of the whole getting away feeling!
by Fedora June 11th, 2009 at 7:44 amWhat a cool T13, Shelley. I’d never heard of these beings before today, but I’m liking them!
by Julia Smith June 11th, 2009 at 8:34 amI think I simply need an automatic download and extraction from my checkbook when you have a new release, Shelley! Give my checkbook a break already.
by Catherine Bybee June 11th, 2009 at 9:10 amFascinating facts … reminding us all of the research needed to create stories ;–)
by storyteller - my other blog June 11th, 2009 at 9:29 amHugs and blessings,
Fascinating topic — I’d never heard of the taniwha before.
by Heather June 11th, 2009 at 9:40 amVery cool!
by JK Coi June 11th, 2009 at 10:33 amInteresting…veddy, veddy interesting. Not sure I’d like to ‘meet’ one, though!
by Kristi June 11th, 2009 at 10:48 amThats a different kind of shapeshifting book I’ll have to check out. Make That Man Mine! Yum,yum,yum!!! Congrats Shelley!!
by Connie B June 11th, 2009 at 12:09 pmHmmm…without constant sexual stimulation, I shift into a monster, too!
by Janet June 11th, 2009 at 12:43 pmInteresting TT! Congratulations on the new book!
*hugs*
Paige
My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/
by Paige Tyler June 11th, 2009 at 12:52 pmNow THAT is much better than cockroach shifters.
Don’t ask…
by Susan Helene Gottfried June 11th, 2009 at 12:53 pmThanks for all the cover compliments. I really like it.
Susan – LOL – you know I want to know the deets about cockroach shifter now, right?
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:25 pmKaye – thank you. 2009 is turning into a year of different shifters for me. So far I have black leopards, orcas, a taniwha, a caracal and tigers.
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:27 pmCatherine – I think what goes around comes around. Only yesterday I was complaining about my trembling credit card to an author. It was all her fault!!
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pmElla – you have to know the right places to go.
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:28 pmYou find the coolest things to write about, Shelley!
by Helen Hardt June 11th, 2009 at 2:31 pmThanks, Helen! My head is swelling and becoming larger as I type.
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 2:45 pmlove, Love, LOVE the new shapeshifter! So cool… I’m excited to read about it.
Maybe Taniwhas will be the next rage — overtaking vampires and weres?
by Marianne June 11th, 2009 at 3:04 pmOooh fantastic!!!!!
by Jennifer McKenzie June 11th, 2009 at 4:54 pmOur local river is the Fresno river and its dry most of the year, and now that we’re in a drought there isn’t any water at all.
Yeah, if we had a taniwha, I bet it would be dead or at least left high and dry.
Happy TT.
Janice~
by Janice~ June 11th, 2009 at 4:58 pmSounds absolutely fantastic!
I am definately a fiction arm chair traveler! I love fantasy and paranormal!!
by Colleen Love June 11th, 2009 at 5:23 pmMarianne – I certainly hope so! That would be very cool.
Janice – you know a taniwha would probably cope. He’d eat people to keep up his fluid intake.
Colleen – I enjoy armchair traveling to paranormal worlds as well.
by Shelley Munro June 11th, 2009 at 6:40 pmWhat an interesting legend! Kim Harrison has a similar secondary character in her Hollows series, I wonder if she’s familiar with the taniwha? Hers is a “troll” that lives under a bridge, and gains size when it’s in the water. I visualized it very much like a water dragon when it was full-sized.
by Nicola O. June 12th, 2009 at 9:58 am[...] features a special shifter called a taniwha. To learn more about taniwhas check out my most recent Thursday Thirteen, which is all about the [...]
by Shelley Munro Blog » Blog Archive » Make That Man Mine June 15th, 2009 at 1:46 am