Month of Monsters guest Leanna Renee Hieber
Posted in Romance on October 2nd, 2009 by guest
Winner! The winner of a signed copy of THE STRANGELY BEAUTIFUL TALE OF MISS PERCY PARKER is…Hales! Congrats, Hales!
Hey friends! I’m thrilled to be back here at Cynthia’s place, where it’s always a lovely time. Thanks for the opportunity, Cynthia! I loved our chat about Demons earlier this year, now I’m thrilled to be talking about yet another delightful topic. Monsters.
I get so excited to talk about anything associated with Paranormal, every time I become even more of a fan of the genre I’ve always adored, and I continually appreciate just how much fun it is to write. And it’s true. Monsters, especially, are fun. It’s most fun to come up with the particulars that make a monster what it is; how protagonists must deal with the problems it creates, and how to get around the creature, use it to their advantage, or to best or outsmart it. Of course sometimes monsters might work for the good guys, I don’t want to discriminate J. When monsters show up in a Paranormal, it’s a great opportunity for world-building – especially if it’s one that the characters are previously unfamiliar with. That’s one of my favourite moments in story-telling, the first reveal of a major paranormal element.
Here’s a brief insight into the first of my Strangely Beautiful series. From the back cover of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker:
“What fortune awaited sweet, timid Percy Parker at Athens Academy? Considering how few of Queen Victoria’s Londoners knew of it, the great Romanesque fortress was dreadfully imposing, and little could Percy guess what lay inside. She had never met the powerful and mysterious Professor Alexi Rychman, knew nothing of the growing shadow, the Ripper and other supernatural terrors against which his coterie stood guard. She knew simply that she was different, haunted, with her snow-white hair, pearlescent skin and uncanny gifts. But this arched stone doorway offered a portal to a new life, an education far from the convent—and an invitation to an intimate yet dangerous dance at the threshold of life and death…”
So here’s the first appearance of my heretofore unseen monster in The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker:
An infernal thing the likes of which The Guard had never seen passed through the structure of La Belle et La Bête and descended upon their table. Snarling horrific, snapping teeth in their faces and shredding tablecloths, the abomination was a huge cloud of black smog that became one dog and then one hundred, a chimerical, shifting creature that was at first incorporeal and could pass through walls, but which then flickered into something deadly with claws, jaws and horrible red eyes. In the next moment it became a cloud again, impossible to catch.
“What in God’s name is this?” Rebecca shrieked, scooping up her wool skirts as she spun and dashed to the door, her companions following. “Josie, Miss Linden’s upstairs. We’ll not test her with a thing such as this. Have her lock herself in!”
Josephine raced upstairs. Elijah backed down the alley outside, staring at the demon cloud with horrified fascination as it followed, floating at the level of their heads and taking up nearly the entire width of the alley with its bulky canine body and flickering profusion of heads. It hunched forward, ready to attack.
Michael took Rebecca’s hand on one side, and Jane took the other. A powerful wind whipped around them. Josephine, having bade Miss Linden stay within, swiftly joined their ranks. She took Michael’s left hand. “Elijah, come,” Rebecca commanded.
The beast lunged, but Withersby ducked out of the way. “Please tell me this is just the Black Dog of Newgate,” he exclaimed, joining his friends in their circle of clasped hands. London’s most gruesome tale of spectral revenge was much less horrifying than entertaining thoughts of a whole new breed.
Rebecca shook her head. “No,” she replied. “We’ve never seen this.”
The dog whipped around to face them, snarling. But as it prepared its next attack, Rebecca shouted a command in the ancient language of The Guard. The hellish thing cocked its head, opened its many maws wide and jumped—only to disperse at the last moment into a grey mist and pass through them.
(End of Excerpt)
YOUR TURN: Do tell: I want to know what gets you all excited – or nervous – about monsters! What’s your favourite monster of all time?
(And, of course, because I love giveaways, one commenter will win a signed copy of The Strangely Beautiful Tale of Miss Percy Parker!)
Blessings!
Leanna Renee Hieber
