Taste of Kiwi: Blog of Author Shelley Munro

In a few hours, the final story in my Middlemarch Mates series: Twin Trouble comes out at Ellora’s Cave.

Middlemarch Mates started out as a little 15,000 word Quickie called Scarlet Woman. Positive I’d written the best-ever story I emailed it off to my editor. When she emailed me back, it wasn’t a contract offer. She’d sent me a revise and resubmit instead. She liked the characters, the idea and the plot elements but thought I had too much plot for a short story.

Back to the drawing board.

I rewrote the story, doubling it in length, and the Middlemarch Mates series was born—the story of a leopard shifter community who lives secretly amongst humans in a small country town called Middlemarch.

My series bears an element of truth because the real town of Middlemarch has a shortage of women of marriageable age. To combat this shortage they held a singles’ ball to attract women to the area.

At the same time news articles started appearing in our New Zealand newspapers about sightings of an alien black cat in Canterbury. (That’s near Christchurch where the earthquake recently struck). I decided to combine these ideas and came up with Scarlet Woman.

Saber Mitchell is at his wits end. His four younger brothers Felix, Leo, Sly and Joe are out of control. He’s determined to marry them off at the inaugural Middlemarch Singles’ ball, except it’s Saber who ends up caught like a fish on a hook. Once he meets Emily he’s determined to keep her.

The next Mitchell brother to meet his match is Felix. He runs into Tomasine, a reporter the locals have dubbed Peeping Tom.

There’s an assassin running loose in Middlemarch and she has Leo squarely in her sights.

Logically, the next characters to get their own story should have been Sly and Joe, the Mitchell twins, but they didn’t seem old enough to find their happy-ever-after. Luckily the Mitchell brothers have lots of friends. Saul, their neighbor, stepped into the fray followed by Duncan and Jonno. All three men found their mates. Then it was Leticia’s turn – (I still get tears in my eyes when I read this one).

Still not quite ready for the twins, I introduced some new characters—tiger shifters who moved into the area. Brother Rohan and sister Ambar took over the village store and created more than a little turmoil with their arrival. In fact something that occurred after their arrival left Saber and Emily (from Scarlet Woman) reeling and this led on naturally to the tenth book in my series, Blue Lady.

Finally, it was time for the twins. I thought about them long and hard. Originally I’d planned a different story but the twins are both so cheeky I decided to be really mean and made them suffer. I hope you’ll enjoy Twin Trouble and their journey to happiness.

Here’s the blurb:

Man wanted: confident and charismatic, a virtuoso in bed and capable of supporting a woman in her quest for freedom.

Shifter Kiera Pascoe is desperate to foil her brothers’ plan to ship her back to England. She needs help, and hunky Joe Mitchell is the perfect applicant. Joe misses his twin Sly, and Kiera presents a diversion from his isolated state. From the start, hunger explodes between them and sparks fly with each intoxicating touch. The sex is fun and challenging—mutual ecstasy with a little spanking and kink.

Sly arrives home unexpectedly, creating chaos with their erotic hijinks. Emotions tangle and create a dilemma for all three. Joe has feelings for Kiera and wants to keep her. Kiera worries about exchanging one set of pushy males for another while Sly lusts after his twin’s lover. Two sexy shifter twins and one gorgeous feline woman—they’ve got trouble in Middlemarch and it’s gonna take time to unravel the steamy muddle.

Purchase at Ellora’s Cave

A final note: I wanted to have an even number of stories—an even dozen. To thank all my readers, I’ve written a free story called Lightning Strikes Twice. It is due for release on 25 April and is set at the same time as Scarlet Woman. Don’t forget to watch for Lightning Strikes Twice and download your free copy at Ellora’s Cave on 25 April.

Happy reading,
Shelley

According to our local newspapers a high country farmer intends to prove the existence of the mysterious black leopard that supposedly lives in mid-Canterbury, New Zealand. He has built a trap to capture the creature and wants to do DNA tests to prove one way or the other that the alien cat is fact rather than fiction.

What is an alien cat you ask? It’s actually large feline, such as a leopard or cougar, sighted in an area or country where it’s not indigenous. Many countries have sightings of alien cats including my home country of New Zealand, Britain, Australia, Finland, Denmark and Hawaii.

It was an article in the newspaper about sightings of this black panther in the South Island of New Zealand that first snared my attention a few years ago. Since the 1990s, witnesses have seen the big cat on several occasions, but a search by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry found no physical evidence to support the sightings.

And yet the alien sightings continue.

A big cat could certainly live happily in the area of Ashburton. The climate is suitable and food is abundant, ranging from birds and rabbits to deer and domestic livestock. As in the case of all alien cats (no matter what part of the world they’re sighted) skeptics want to know how they got there. They also want proof such as a carcass bearing bite or claw marks. Most sightings, they say, are of domestic cats or other animals.

Supporters of the alien cat stories state that big cats are secretive by nature. Sightings aren’t common in countries where they are native and many big cats are nocturnal, reducing the chances of eyewitness sightings.

Documented reports of alien cats in New Zealand are too numerous to ignore. One eyewitness said he and his wife looked down onto the river flat and saw the cat. It was a very large black cat, similar in size to his Golden Lab/Mastif cross with a long tail. Once it got wind of them, the cat disappeared smartly. Before he was skeptical, but seeing something with your own eyes is very definite.

Maybe it’s the romantic in me, but personally, I like to believe in alien cats. It’s certainly an interesting topic to debate, and the story about the black panthers stirred my imagination. I collect ideas and combined the panther story with one about a small New Zealand town called Middlemarch. If you follow my blog you already know the town has a severe shortage of women of marriageable age and they organized a dance to entice more young women to the area. My paranormal series called Middlemarch Mates was born from the marriage of these ideas. I am currently working on book nine in my feline shapeshifter series, which is available from Ellora’s Cave.

What do you think about alien cats? Fact or fiction?

This week’s theme for Snippet Saturday is parties. I’ve picked an excerpt from Cat and Mouse, book five in my Middlemarch Mates series. This book is a standalone erotic romance, although you will probably enjoy it even more if you’ve read the other stories. Oh, and there are a few adult words in this excerpt. I thought about chopping them out, but in the end I thought I’d leave the excerpt as is. Enjoy!

CAT AND MOUSE by Shelley Munro

Country and Western music poured from the huge marquee along with laughter, some of it with a tinge of alcohol-induced hilarity, filled the air by the time Duncan and a couple of the other cowboys wandered over from the campsite. Determination rode him because he knew he’d have a fight on his hands to get close to Lana. Even though tonight wasn’t the main event, there were still a lot of people gathered at the party to raise funds for the local fire service who also carried out search and rescue in the area. The local men, the visiting cowboys and the woman herself would all get in the way of his goal. Too bad. He’d waited a long time and wasn’t about to back off without a fight.

The local committee had gone all out with decorations including wanted posters and a display of Western memorabilia just inside the entrance. He paid his admission and sauntered into the marquee looking for Lana or either of the Mitchells. Difficult to scent anyone in this crowd. Men and women packed the dance floor attempting to do a line dance.

Damn. He couldn’t see Lana. Cursing softly, he pushed his way through the crowd, pausing here and there to say hello to friends and acquaintances. Along with his unease came a contrasting sense of contentment. It was damned fine being home, spending time with his fellow shifters.

“Are you looking for me?” The throaty voice dragged his attention from the dance floor.

Jesus, she looked beautiful. She wore a dark green dress with tiny straps to hold it up. It clung to her curves before falling to swish in loose folds around her knees. The color highlighted her eyes, deepening jade green to a darker, more mysterious hue. The shadow of her cleavage drew his attention He took half a step toward her before stopping abruptly. Not the time or place. The closest he would get to touching during the next few hours would be a slow dance, or if he could persuade her to take a walk with him outside where the air was cool and privacy easier to find.

“Yeah. I thought you might be dancing.” But glad he didn’t have to see another man touch her.

She stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the lips, a brief brush on the mouth that had his feline purring. “I have been dancing. I saw you come in and wanted to say hello.”

The line dance ended and the band rolled into a slow dance. Perfect.

“Wanna dance with me?”

“Sure.”

They walked over to the makeshift dance floor and she slipped into his arms where she belonged. Her arms stretched up to grip his shoulders and their bodies brushed.

“You look beautiful.” Nothing less than the truth. The full skirt of her dress flirted with the tops of her knees, stirring with each gliding step. He would have preferred that she wear a sack, just so none of the other men could ogle her sexy form. Unfortunately, he could hardly complain since the other women were dressed in a similar manner. He wondered how long it would take to talk her out of that dress, pondered again the advisability of taking a walk.

“Thanks. You look pretty good yourself.”

They danced in silence for a while, Duncan content to hold her in his arms. One dance flowed into another.

“This is nice. I never have a chance to dance.”

He grunted an affirmative reply. That would make him a bastard if he asked her to take a walk. Fuck. Maybe he could steer her into the far corner where some enterprising cowboys had dimmed the lights. Yeah. Sounded like a plan. He danced her slowly across the floor, navigating dancers, cuddling her close and reveling in the soft feel of her body brushing his, her enticing scent of vanilla and the crisp outdoors.

The song ended and regretfully he stepped away from her. “Would you like a drink?”

“Sure. Emily and Saber are over in the corner. Do you want to sit with them?”

“Do you want wine?” Damn, the woman ate him up with her eyes. She shouldn’t do that—not if she knew what was good for her.

Lana winked, her dark lashes sweeping over her cheeks in a sexy fan. “That would be great.” His gaze drifted to her soft, glistening lips. Appealing and sensual. He fought the urge to dip his head and claim a taste.

“Go and sit with Emily and I’ll bring the drinks over.” He started for the bar before stopping and turning back. “Lana, don’t dance with anyone else.”

“But that wouldn’t be polite.”

“Fuck polite. You offered me the weekend.” Duncan strode off to the bar, urgency simmering through his veins. The bloody woman made him crazy. He knew what it felt like to bury his cock deep in her hot pussy and now he wanted a repeat. Once with Lana wasn’t enough.

Purchase at Ellora’s Cave or for Kindle

To read other Snippet Saturday excerpts follow the links below:

Vivian Arend
Moira Rogers
Ashley Ladd
Kelly Maher
Leah Braemel
McKenna Jeffries
Sasha White
Taige Crenshaw
Shelli Stevens
Shelley Munro
Eliza Gayle
Jody Wallace
Elizabeth Naughton
TJ Michaels

Although I’m away, I’ve scheduled posts every day. There’s a Thursday Thirteen, a Snippet Saturday and I thought I’d give you a tour of some of the places I’ve visited in New Zealand. Since my next Middlemarch Mates book is due out very soon, the first photo is of Sutton Salt Lake, which is not far from Middlemarch.

Sutton Salt Lake is an inland lake and is unusual because, as the name suggests, it’s a salty rather than fresh water lake. During the summer the water evaporates and you can see the salt on the surface. This photo was taken in late November and it was almost completely dry, despite it not being the height of our New Zealand summer. (that’s around late Jan, early Feb).

Don’t forget to enter my contest. Go here for details.

Thirteen Photos of New Zealand

I thought I’d do a photo blog today, introducing you to some of my favorite parts of New Zealand. Unfortunately, I lost quite a few of my South Island photos when our computer crashed last year. It’s a good excuse to make a return visit, I think!

1. Wellington – this photo is taken from the top of Mt. Victoria looking down on the central city and waterfront. The stadium (the round thing) is the home of the Hurricane rugby team.

2. This is Karori Wildlife Sanctuary, not far from inner Wellington. They have many rare and endangered birds here. The birds are free to fly in and out, but the entire sanctuary is surrounded by possum proof fencing to keep these and other pests out. The lake was originally a reservoir for the city. When it was no longer requried, the area was restored to forest and wetlands.

3. This is Rangitoto Island, the youngest of the dormant volcanoes in and around Auckland. The distinct cone is visible from many parts of the city. This shot is taken off a boat on the harbor.

4. This is Middlemarch. It’s a small country town in the South Island and the setting for my Middlemarch Mates series. This is a shot of the typical country surrounding the town. Look closely and you might spy one of the Mitchells…

5. This is Lady Knox geyser, not far from Rotorua in the North Island. It was discovered by a prisoner work party. They were sent to do their washing in the warm water of the thermal stream and some of their soap dropped into a crack. The next minute a lot of foam bubbled up and then it exploded with prisoners and washing flying in all directions. When I visited as a kid, you could stand under the geyser as it erupted with the warm water raining down on you. These days visitors have to watch from afar. The geyser plays most days after the guide puts soap inside the funnel. It’s a very interesting process to watch.

6. Huka Falls – the Waikato river (the longest river in NZ) exits Lake Taupo (the largest lake). Huka Falls is not far from Taupo and there is a beautiful bush walk to get to it.

7. Goat Island Marine Reserve – not far north of Auckland. It’s a marine reserve that’s popular with divers and snorkellers. You can also paddle off the beach and huge snapper swim around your legs. Personally, I didn’t like the look of their teeth and felt safer looking down from the rocks! This is a popular day trip for families.

8. Waiotapu, one of the thermal regions near Rotorua. This is the beautiful Champagne pool. The colors don’t show that well in the photo but they are terracotta and turquoise. Very pretty. The day we were there the wind came up blowing steam around and spoiling the photo.

9. This is a shot of central Auckland from the harbor. You can make out the Sky Tower, which is the tallest building in the Southern hemisphere. The Sky Tower is mentioned in my book Summer in the City of Sails.

10. This is a shot of the crater of Mt Eden in Auckland and some of the city looking out to the sea. Many people go up the Sky tower to get views of the city, but I think it’s hard to beat the view from the top of Mt. Eden. And it’s free! If you look closely you can make out people standing deep in the crater. Look for the colored dots.

11. This is Queenstown and Lake Wakatipu. It’s a beautiful spot and a place that’s also mentioned in some of my Middlemarch Mates books. It’s the heart of adventure sports in New Zealand and tourists flock here to scare themselves silly.

12. Mt Cook – New Zealand’s tallest mountain and part of the Southern Alps range. I used this as the setting in Stray Cat Strut.

13. This is a shot of the Kaikoura mountains, north of Christchurch in the South Island. This area is known for whale watching and is one of the few places where you can watch whales all year round.

And a shot of one of the whales.

Do you have any questions about New Zealand?

1. Middlemarch is a small country town, in Central Otago, New Zealand. It is about 80 km West of Dunedin. It’s located in the Strath Taieri Valley.

2. Several suggestions exist about how the township was named. One is that Mrs Alice Humphreys, whose husband Edward Wingfield Humphreys owned and had surveyed for sale of sections in this new township, was reading George Eliot’s novel Middlemarch. Another is that the name is from the obsolete English term “march” meaning a boundary – in this case a middle area between two rivers.

3. Middlemarch is the setting for my feline shapeshifter series, Middlemarch Mates.

4. Each year Middlemarch holds a singles dance and a special train (nicknamed the Love Train) carries women and men to the dance from Dunedin.

5. HOW IT ALL BEGAN – the dance.

In November last year our Community Board was presented with some statistics about rural health and other services in this area. As part of her presentation, Pauline Carruthers, the local Plunket Nurse, District Nurse and at that time only local practise nurse in the area, noted that we needed more nurses and made the flippant comment that we should marry some of our bachelors off to some nurses.

The Community Board took the idea one step further and suggested to the local A & P Society that it would arrange for the sponsor of the Dance for its Centenary Show. We contacted Country & City Contacts (NZ) Ltd. They are an Amberley-based dating service that has had huge success in the rural areas, especially of the South Island. Henk & Joy van Leir were enthusiastic and supportive of the idea of publicising the dance as a good place for their clients to meet each other and also some of our bachelors.

6. The area has some rare creatures – the mountain weta, the Otago and Grand skinks and the NZ falcon.

7. The area is also home to the Sutton Salt Lake. The water in the lake evaporates during the summer.

8. There are also special clouds in the area called the Tairei Pet. A cloud formation reportedly found only in one or two places in the world. It is formed by high north westerly winds being forced upward over the Rock & Pillar range – spectacular and unnerving by its sheer size and its association with the high winds.

9. It is the start of the 150km Otago Central Rail Trail, a path that stretches from Middlemarch to Clyde. People can walk, cycle or ride horses along this path, staying overnight at stops on the way.

10. As I mentioned earlier, there’s a train from Dunedin. It travels through the spectacular Tairei Gorge and is popular with tourists.

11. Scarlet Woman, Peeping Tom and Stray Cat Strut are all set in Middlemarch and feature various members of the Mitchell family.

12. Go here to learn about how the series was born, plus there are photos. There are also Middlemarch photos here.

13. Assassin, Middlemarch Mates book 4 is coming on August 6.

Here’s the blurb:

Feline shifter Leo Mitchell is the pretty brother who attracts women with ease, but he’s turned picky. He suspects the mystery blonde hanging around Middlemarch is the one for him. If only he could grab the elusive female and seduce her. Oh yeah. He craves some hot, sinful lovin’ with the lady in black leather.

Assassin Isabella Black has harbored a huge crush on hunky Leo for ages. Because the timing sucked she’s watched him from afar, praying another woman won’t snatch the hottie away before she’s free to stake a claim.

Finally the pair meet. Isabella offers her naked body but Leo counteracts with a cup of tea. Seems Leo likes to call the shots when it comes to sex. A day later they’re finally dancing horizontally. It’s smokin’ hot, steamy, delicious—everything she’s ever wanted. Isabella is ecstatic until another assassin threatens to ruin her happiness. It’s life or death now. One wrong move and her secrets will destroy the Mitchells along with everything that has become dear to her…including Leo.

Do you like small town settings or do you prefer sophisticated city settings for your romances?

I’ve been hiding in my writing cave during the last couple of days, trying to finish the polishing on my current Middlemarch story. If I work late tonight I think I’ll get it off to my editor, which is great news because I can get back to writing, the part I love most.

Cat and Mouse, the fifth book in the Middlemarch series has a release date of 1 October. As soon as I get this manuscript off, I intend to update my website with a blurb and excerpt.

Have you checked out Brenda Novak’s Online auction to aid Diabetes Research? Check it out here. There are loads of great things on offer. I have to admit I’ve been a little…um…carefree with my bidding. It’s so exciting to see all the agent and editor items to bid on. For a moment there I lost all control and had to remind myself it was real money I was bidding with! Can anyone tell I’m new to this bidding business?

Lots of my online friends have books out this month, especially at Ellora’s Cave. Check out that coming soon page. I think I should also be on there this week. For me the appearance on the coming soon page is when the books start to feel real.

And finally, you might have noticed Emily Veinglory’s cover for The Sculptor’s Muse on my sidebar. Emily is running an experiment to see if online promo helps with sales. She’s doing promo for this book and has another book that came out around the same time for a control. Click on the cover and check out her blog for the details of her experiment. The Sculptor’s Muse is available from Loose Id.

The well-known game Monopoly is going global with the World Edition launching soon. Currently there’s a worldwide online voting campaign to select which cities will fill the 20 available spots on the monopoly board. Queenstown, located in the South Island of New Zealand, is the only New Zealand city on the leaderboard and is competing with 68 other finalists for a spot.

I love Queenstown. It’s not far from where the fictional Mitchell family lives (my Middlemarch series) and my next release in this series, ASSASSIN is partially set in Queenstown. It’s a tourist mecca in both summer and winter, the town dominated by the beautiful lake Wakatipu and the majestic Remarkables mountain range. This photo was taken from the gondola on the way up to our dinner at the hilltop restaurant.

Queenstown is currently sitting in 18th place.

Vote for your favorites here.

Which cities do you think should be on the World Edition of monopoly?

I’ve been tagged, not once but three times. Cassandra Curtis, LA Day and Debbie Mumford have all tagged me with this meme. Like Cassandra, I’m changing the rules and blogging about my Middlemarch characters.

Here are seven things about my Middlemarch characters that you might not know:

1. Saber Mitchell from SCARLET WOMAN is the head of the family and his brothers and members of the leopard shifter community generally listen to him but he’s putty in his wife’s hands and adores Emily.

2. All the unmarried brothers seem to go to Emily Mitchell for advice. She likes to tease them because after all, they are males, but gives them great advice. She adores all the brothers and still can’t believe her luck in finding a man like Saber.

3. Felix and Tomasine Mitchell from PEEPING TOM are hiding from assassins but unknown to them they’ve been coming into contact with an assassin on a regular basis. So far, they’re still alive but danger lurks…

4. The assassin, who you haven’t met yet but will in ASSASSIN (Aug 2008) likes to ride a motorbike and looks great in black leather.

5. Sly and Joe Mitchell, the twins and youngest of the Mitchell brothers, who you met in SCARLET WOMAN are currently languishing in Dunedin because Shelley can’t quite decide on the exact hijinks for them to get up to. Although Shelley did say the wait would probably end this year.

6. Leo Mitchell from ASSASSIN helps run the family vineyards and he’s good at it since business is booming, but he still likes to help out on the farm.

7. Felix Mitchell is currently working on a new project with Tomasine. They’re busy trying to make a baby.

And because this is all about my characters, here are the links to their books:

Scarlet Woman
Peeping Tom
Stray Cat Strut
Assassin