Penyanyi : Guest - Cecilia Dominic
Judul lagu : Guest - Cecilia Dominic
Guest - Cecilia Dominic
Today, we're serving cappuccino and anise flavored cookies. Help yourself, find a spot in one of the comfy chairs and enjoy!
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Inspired by Being Italian
One question a lot of writers hear is "where do you get
your ideas?" I suspect most people are referring to plot when they ask. Of
course characters and their backgrounds also require a lot of thought. In the
case of Long Shadows, the main character Lonna Marconi, her context, and back
story were inspired by my own Italian heritage. Okay, I'm a stealth
half-Italian with red hair and blue eyes, but I happily claim it (the other
half is Belgian).
I'd like to dedicate this blog post in memory of my own
Italian grandmother, whom we called Noni. She passed away this last Valentine's
Day. It was sad, but I'm glad she got to join my grandfather, who was the love
of her life and whom we lost in 2001, for a Valentine's evening. She was an
avid reader and even started writing a novel once. She passed down the love of
the written word to her kids and grandkids. Her favorite genre was mystery, and
she said she enjoyed reading the first Lycanthropy Files book The Mountain's
Shadow when it came out last fall.
I originally loosely based Lonna on my best friend, who
shares her curvy appearance and straightforward manner. At the end of The
Mountain's Shadow, I wanted to explore what happened with Lonna, and I was
excited when my Samhain editor gave me the go-ahead to write her book. It picks
up about two months after The Mountain's Shadow ends.
Like many young people, Lonna struck out from her family to
create her own life and identity. Her parents are dead, so her main connection
to her family is her aunt Alicia, with whom she isn't as close as she'd like to
be. As she says,
I’d ended up talking to [her caretaker] more often than to my aunt, who liked to keep her phone conversations to questions about school and money, nice concrete topics. As I did well in school and was good with money, they were usually short phone calls. – Long Shadows
The Italian side of my family comes from Boston, and as I
was growing up, I couldn't help but notice the contrast in manner and attitude
between them and my Southern friends' families. The older generation especially
has that Northern lack of overt affection. I drew on that while creating
Alicia's character, but she has reasons for her reserved manner. She does
deeply love Lonna, which readers and Lonna discover as the story goes on. I do
want to mention that not all my Boston relatives have prickly exteriors. My
grandmother was sweet and gave serious hugs.
Of course a lot of the scenes in Long Shadows take place
around kitchens and food. This has gotten to be a Lycanthropy Files theme. The
book's disclaimer reads:
Warning: Some sexy scenes, adult language, and alcohol
consumption. Also descriptions of Italian food that might offend carbophobes.
Mmm, Italian food… When I was growing up, we'd visit my
grandparents' house, first in Boston and then in Florida. Noni pulled out boxes
of homemade cookies, and they were always a highlight of the trip, as were her
gnocchi, ravioli, and meatballs. As she got older and developed arthritis, she
couldn't manage the pans anymore, and she passed her recipes along. Italian
brownies are really more like chocolate chip cookies with spices than brownies.
As my sister said when I gave her some, "They smell like my childhood and
happiness." I gave Lonna good memories of them as well:
Later that morning, I woke disoriented. The sun poured through the leaves of the tall magnolia trees outside the gable windows and made dancing shadows over the walls, bed, and me. The first thing to orient me was the smell. Aunt Alicia’s house had always smelled like cinnamon, ginger, and anise, the flavors in the Italian cookies my mother liked. I’d always gone for the chocolate ones, Italian Brownies, which had a kick of cinnamon as well. – Long Shadows
I'm a stress baker, so I made a large batch around Christmas
when we were having some renovation work done on the house and lost the living
room and office for three weeks. There's a chocolate glaze on top of them:
(Italian brownies.jpg)
Unfortunately, I have not been given permission by the
family to share the recipe. Noni was always very protective of her recipes and
would only share them with people she approved of. My husband jokes he had to
marry me so he could get access to my family's tomato sauce and meatballs
recipe. I retort that he's stuck with me now because divorce isn't an option –
I'd have to kill him first to keep the family's secret recipe safe.
I am happy, however, to share a link to my go-to lasagna
recipe, which I make with homemade sauce and sometimes homemade pasta noodles,
and I substitute ricotta for cottage cheese. It's from Cooking Light, so it's
not too unhealthy. The best part is that you don't even have to cook the
noodles, but you don't have to use those weird no-boil ones, either:
http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/turkey-lasagna-10000000521236/
Readers sometimes wonder how much of an author goes into her
characters. In Lonna's case, quite a bit, at least with regard to her Italian
heritage. Including some of those aspects made the book fun for me to write,
and I hope it will be fun to read as well. I think my grandmother would be
proud.
Long Shadows, The Lycanthropy Files Book Two
Being unique isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be.
By day, Lonna Marconi’s busy career keeps her mind off the
fact she was turned werewolf against her will. By night, a dose of wolfsbane
lets her inner wolf out to play while her physical body stays safe at home.
When an overheard phone call at work warns her a trap is
about to be sprung, she turns from hunter to hunted in the blink of an eye.
She finds refuge with the Ozarks pack she never claimed as
her own. Upon discovering a family secret that explains why she’s unique among
her own kind, Lonna finds heat in the arms of Max, who’s the one thing she
cannot trust—a wizard.
Another kidnapping attempt sends her navigating the
treacherous metaphysical borders of a centuries-old war, pursued by rogue
sorcerers, a band of ghostly wolves, and repressed memories that prevent her
from reclaiming her heritage. All the while, trusting her back to a wizard who
demands the price of her heart…who may not have the luxury of giving his in
return.
Buy links:
From Samhain Publishing (all ebook formats available):
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/long-shadows-p-73287.html
From Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/long-shadows-cecilia-dominic/1117685729?ean=9781619220140
Also available anywhere else ebooks are sold.
To read the first chapter, visit:
http://www.ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2014/02/long-shadows-excerpt.html
The Mountain's Shadow, The Lycanthropy Files Book One
Some mistakes can literally come back to bite you.
First it was ADD. Then pediatric bipolar. Now the hot
behavioral disorder in children is CLS, or Chronic Lycanthropy Syndrome. Public
health researcher Joanie Fisher was closing in on the cause in hopes of finding
a treatment until a lab fire and an affair with her boss left her without a
job.
When her grandfather leaves her his multimillion-dollar
estate in the Ozarks, though, she figures her luck is turning around. Except
her inheritance comes with complications: town children who disappear during
full moons, an irresistible butler, and a pack of werewolves who can’t seem to
decide whether to frighten her or flirt with her.
Joanie’s research is the key to unraveling the mysteries of
Wolfsbane Manor. However, resuming her
work means facing painful truths about her childhood, which could result in the
loss of love, friendship, and the only true family she has left.
Warning: Some sexy scenes, although nothing explicit, and
adult language. Also alcohol consumption and food descriptions that may wreck
your diet.
Buy links:
Samhain Publishing:
http://store.samhainpublishing.com/mountains-shadow-p-73020.html
Barnes & Noble:
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-mountains-shadow-cecilia-dominic/1116010910?ean=9781619218109
Also available anywhere else ebooks are sold. Paperback
release date is October 7, 2014.
For an excerpt, see:
http://www.ceciliadominic.blogspot.com/2013/08/excerpt-mountains-shadow-lycanthropy.html
Bio:
Cecilia Dominic wrote her first story when she was two years
old and has always had a much more interesting life inside her head than
outside of it. She became a clinical psychologist because she's fascinated by
people and their stories, but she couldn't stop writing fiction. The first
draft of her dissertation, while not fiction, was still criticized by her major
professor for being written in too entertaining a style. She made it through
graduate school and got her PhD, started her own practice, and by day, she
helps people cure their insomnia without using medication. By night, she blogs
about wine and writes fiction she hopes will keep her readers turning the pages
all night. Yes, she recognizes the conflict of interest between her two
careers, so she writes and blogs under a pen name. She lives in Atlanta, Georgia with one
husband and two cats, which, she's been told, is a good number of each. Her
debut novel The Mountain's Shadow, an urban fantasy featuring werewolves with a
scientific twist, was released in October 2013. The second in the series, Long
Shadows, was released yesterday on March 25, 2014.
You can find her at:
Web page:
www.ceciliadominic.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/RandomOenophile
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/ceciliadominic/
Amazon Author Page:
https://www.amazon.com/author/cecilia_dominic
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-- Lynda Again
Thanks, Cecilia, for the terrific look into your family and characterization. Those cookies look delish! Too bad you can't share the recipe but I certainly understand family recipes and traditions. Thanks for being with us today.
Everyone, I have a birthday coming up in April and one lucky member of my newsletter will receive a birthday prize! A variety pack of Body Essential Oils!
You can join the newsletter by clicking the link below.
If you haven't heard, I've sold Rider in a 3 Book deal to Entangled Publishing! To celebrate that, I'll be offering a prize (or maybe a couple of prizes) near its release date. We're going to rename Rider, which was always just a working title and I can't wait to see what we come up with ;-)
You can join the newsletter by clicking the link below.
If you haven't heard, I've sold Rider in a 3 Book deal to Entangled Publishing! To celebrate that, I'll be offering a prize (or maybe a couple of prizes) near its release date. We're going to rename Rider, which was always just a working title and I can't wait to see what we come up with ;-)
Contact me:
Website http://www.lyndakscott.com.
Twitter: http://twitter.com/LyndaKScott
Facebook Author Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lynda-K-Scott/201599553208653
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