The Beautiful Damned Novella's: Lunar Light

Monsters should not walk the daylight,
but cower in the dark....

When the full moon haunts the sky, Evangeline prowls the dark as a Wendigo; a fearsome mix of human and beast. The night an injured outcast falls into her claws she must defy her keeper, the laws of nature and her own morality to protect him from the Hunter who wants his head as a trophy. Struggling to reconcile her cannibalistic urges and gentle temperament, Evangeline must move beyond the ancient curse of her ancestors blood, and become legend.

The Beautiful Damned Novella’s. Something I’m going to have a helluva lot of fun with. These are supernatural stories that focus on creatures and legends that fascinate me. The protagonists do not resonate (with me) enough to carry into a standalone novel or series (at present), but have enough fire to feature in their own novella. The first is already completed and will help me keep my mind snappy in the run up to the release of A Demon Day.

Lunar Light was so much fun to write. It’s my favourite title so far and the cover disturbs me the longer I look at it. The ugliness and brutality of the Wendigo has always called to me. It was a very conscious decision to take my mind to that dark, sensual, animalistic place, but I didn’t want to do it with werewolves. Balancing Evangeline’s (lead protagonist) gentle temperament and cannibalistic urges within a young women confident in her sexuality yet virginal ... was bloody hard. I tried to be honest about it all and not romanticise sex to the point of delusion nor make it crass. Have I achieved this? I don’t know ... feedback will tell.

Wendigo’s (in the imaginary land where they exist) are killers; higher up in the food chain and not ashamed of it. They eat people. So how would you (as a person who is quite empathetic and good) come to terms with that? Evangeline is not ashamed of what she is but what she represents. The story will be bold in its violence - the legend of the Wendigo cannot be tamed into something pretty - and the monsters beautifully ugly. The romance is sweet ... in a twisted way.

It’s my first stab at Fantasy Romance so it should be interesting to see people’s reactions. It was surprisingly difficult to keep the central theme about love rather than get wrapped up in the supernatural lore.

Lunar Light will be released in February and will be a free download to introduce the collection. The novella comes in at just over 30,000 words (approximately 2.5 hours reading time). This is a Dark Fantasy Romance and not suitable for younger readers! The Beautiful Damned Facebook Fan Page is already up and kicking, and I’ll update the page on each book in the collections release. 

***

Fuck me, I was short of breath and dizzy. Blood rushed in my ears and I had to keep my back flat against the cave wall for support. I stared at her and she smiled faintly, her hand sweeping between her legs for a brief moment.
     “You better be worth it,” she murmured.
     Evangeline, my woodland goddess, walked to the cave ledge, spun into a crouch and slipped those long legs off the edge on one lissome move. “Come. The sun is rising and I want to use the last of the dark to cover our way home.” The crown of her head disappeared out of sight.
     Still pressed into the wall like I was terrified of falling, I blinked then scrubbed a hand through my hair and barked a laugh. I needed to pull my shit together if I was going to survive her that was for sure.
     Making my way to the edge of the cave I climbed down after her.