Kryssie Fortune: Five Facts Thursday - please welcome Shauna Aura Knight

Five Fact Thursday: Shauna Aura Knight

1. My vampire romance novel A Fading Amaranth takes its title from a mythological flower, the amaranth, which was an immortal, unfading flower. Nathaniel (the vampire) is a poet, so it was the perfect title for the story.

2. The mages and guardians introduced in A Fading Amaranth are part of a longer urban fantasy series I’m working on, the Key and the Rose. Jocelyn, Jen, Aono, Vuir, Rhea, and Fiona all have a much longer tale ahead of them.

3. The restaurant Nathaniel and Alexandra go to for barbecue, Fat Willies, is a real restaurant and my favorite place to get brisket in the city. I love barbecue.

4. Along with writing paranormal romance and urban fantasy, I also write nonfiction and travel the country teaching to the Pagan/Wiccan/Earth-centered community. I primarily teach topics of leadership, group dynamics, facilitation, and how to lead rituals, but I also offer workshops on magic, dreamwork, and personal and spiritual transformation. So whenever I write about ritual work in my fiction, I’m often pulling from real-world Pagan rituals.

5. I’m a geek. I used to run room parties at scifi conventions where we’d decorate the rooms with scenery to reproduce scenes from the Star Wars movies. This included building a life-size Jabba the Hutt. When I was ten I entered an ice sculpture contest and won $50; I wanted a Nintendo so I could play Legend of Zelda. I’m often inspired by music when I’m writing. I have a deep love for Zelda and Final Fantasy soundtrack music, along with a number of other soundtracks. And I used to attend sci-fi conventions dressed up in leather armor and costumes I made myself. Go geeks!

A Fading Amaranth

Nathaniel’s been a vampire long enough to grow weary of glamoured seduction, and he’s lost his poetic muse. He meets reclusive artist Alexandra—her telepathy has overwhelmed her for years, and she can bear no one’s touch. However, she can’t hear Nathaniel’s thoughts, and she’s immune to his vampire glamour. During scorching nights together, they rediscover their passion for life.

When a Faerie creature stalks Alexandra, the lovers find themselves snared in a paranormal battle alongside Chicago’s mage guardians. Worse, Nathan’s rising bloodlust places Alexandra in danger. Will she master her abilities before going insane? What will they risk to be together?

Excerpt

“I must go now,” Nathaniel rasped. He had to, or he risked biting her whether or not she was glamoured. Yet he couldn’t stand the thought of leaving Alexandra there, of not tasting her. There was something about her, something that made him want…he didn’t even know what he wanted. Given his life, it probably wasn’t something he could have. “I have to find…I have to feed.” His hands shook. That was a bad sign.

“All you had to do was ask.”

He looked up at Alexandra in surprise. “What?”

She took a step closer to him, and he caught her wrist, unable to resist scenting her again. She wasn’t overcome with lust in the way she would be under his hypnosis, but she did want him. When they touched, he could feel her attraction to him growing. Fascinating, he thought, that he could sense her feelings like that, even though he couldn’t bring her under.

He wanted her so badly he burned, but it wasn’t just his teeth, his blood. He wanted her in a way he hadn’t desired a woman in years. He ached to kiss her. Could he do it without biting her?

With the blood hunger riding him, could he stop himself from trying?

“I’m sorry,” he whispered.

She caught at his wrist, and he looked at her in surprise. “Don’t go.”

“I must. I have to go. Quickly.”

“Am I right that you only take a small amount of blood? Is what I sensed correct?”

“Yes,” he hissed as she stepped closer.

“Just ask.” She reached up to caress his cheek, and he barely suppressed a flinch.

“I cannot, my lady. You are not susceptible to….It will hurt. I cannot allow that,” he said, though he still found his head dipping down to her. He had no idea how he was even coherent; his vision hazed with red, throbbing to the beat of the pulse in her neck.

“Oh.”

He couldn’t resist nuzzling his cheek against hers, brushing his lips across her neck. Ah, the taste of her. He pulled back, shaking, and she reached up to pull him closer. He shut his eyes and gave in, kissing her, trying to keep his fangs from cutting her lip. She slid right up against the line of his body. He growled, opening her mouth to his, hauling her against him, wanting her, wanting inside her, cupping the curve of her ass to grind her against his erection until she mewled in pleasure. She tasted like heaven, her lips were hot silk against his.

Moaning, she kissed him back, pulling herself against him until he wrenched himself back. “I must go,” he snarled. Her desire nearly shattered his control completely.

Excerpt and all links to buy

http://www.shaunaauraknight.com/books/fiction-books/excerpt-a-fading-amaranth/

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00WIRD6ZY

B&N: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1121792895

ARe: https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-afadingamaranth-1789730-143.html

Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id988533893

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/ebook/a-fading-amaranth

CreateSpace: https://www.createspace.com/5434029

Shauna Aura Knight

An artist, author, and presenter, Shauna is passionate about awakening mythic imagination and her work is inspired by the stories of heroes, swords, magic, and the shadows we each face. She is the author of urban fantasy and paranormal romance novels including Werewolves in the Kitchen, Werewolves with Chocolate, A Winter Knight’s Vigil, A Fading Amaranth, and The Truth Upon Her Lips.

Shauna’s mythic artwork and designs are used for magazine covers, book covers, and illustrations, and appears on many walls, t-shirts, and other places. She travels nationally offering intensive education in the transformative arts of community leadership, facilitation, and personal transformation, and is the author of numerous articles and books on those subjects including The Leader Within, Dreamwork for the Initiate’s Path, and Ritual Facilitation.