Monday, December 26, 2011

Mechanical Hearts & Fairytales


This morning I'm enjoying some strawberries and homemade whipped cream. Yum. For some reason it had me thinking about fairy tales.

I love writing fairy tales. I love the concepts involved in steampunk stories. And I love melding the two into storytelling. In "The Forever Heart," Valentina Peacock is a hearthealer, she is someone who is skilled at mending broken hearts. A heart, be it human or mechanical is a very fragile thing--sort of like clockwork, it takes a very steady, firm, yet delicate hand to tune such a complicated instrument. In "The Forever Heart," there is also a bit of mystery surrounding Valentina's past. There are those who fear for her, who love her enough to want to protect her from painful memories.

I like my happily ever afters, too. And "The Forever Heart" is a happily ever after fairy tale that involve the human heart and the mechanical heart. Two men, one woman, a mystery, and love and possibilities.

Valentina Peacock of the Kingdom of Hartfall is a hearthealer guilder; her lover, Flavio, is an automated man with a ruby heart. Valentina's past is lost to her and her craft of mending broken hearts and her lover at her side are all she needs or wants. Suddenly her calm, well-ordered world is shattered when Flavio brings her a summons from the heart-king--it is a royal command to attend his court. Will a journey to court bring back her memories of a passionate forgotten love? Or will it shatter her finally and forever?

ISBN: 978-1-60272-641-3

An Excerpt:

“I would say you’re working at optimum levels,” she said as she slowly unwound her legs from around his body. Her bare feet met the hard, cold surface of the cobbled red slate floor of her workroom. She stepped away from him and then straightened the folds of her skirt to cover her nakedness.

Yet he was still bare, hard, rippling muscle, fashioned perfect and handsome. Not a line misplaced. His was a body that it seemed she had known forever, fashioned to conform perfectly to her. She reached up to stroke his thick, wavy hair. He caught her hand and brought it to his lips, crushing a kiss to the palm.

“What is it?” she asking, sensing things were amiss. She knew there was something he had to tell her.

Releasing her hand, he walked across the room to his long, blue woolen coat that hung on the heart-shaped hook beneath the narrow window. As Valentina watched he removed a white envelope, then he turned back to her.

“From the newly crowned king,” he said as he held it out.

Something nudged at the back of her mind. She didn’t want to know the contents of the envelope. But she found herself reaching out to take it. Then she looked at Flavio.

“He means to take you from me, doesn’t he?”

He didn’t answer her, and somewhere in the vicinity of her golden heart, a sharp pain twisted and then shafted through her chest, bright and fierce as being struck by a lightning bolt. It wasn’t possible, of course. That type of pain was only a memory from when within her chest had nestled a truly human heart. It was only remembered pain of loss, not something she could truly experience with her gold heart.

Her fingers whitened as she gripped the white envelope emblazoned with the regal gold seal. She looked down at the small square of bright white etched with a bold hand.

Flavio turned his back to her and began dressing, offering her some privacy in which to peruse the missive. She wanted to have Flavio again—to forget the majestic monarch who had written the note encased inside the envelope.

Her heart ticked faster. She smoothed her fingers across the flap, then broke the seal and opened it.


Read another excerpt at my website.

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