I was tagged...

Thanks for Tagging me Cassie Mae!!

This was convenient as Friday's, on my newly renovated blog, is a day for a little shamless self-promotion. And guess what this 'tag' is about? Promoting your WIP! Excellent.


I guess I'll answer the questions:


For this post I'll do SAMSARA, which will be published soon by Curiosity Quills. And by soon, I mean, Novemberish.

Where did the idea come from?

I was on the couch, thinking about current books and how there are a lot of mythology books on greek gods and goddesses but not - that I've found - any books on Hindu mythology - fictional wise. So the instant I came to that conclusion I began researching. It was all the colourful pictures and amazing 4000 year old fables which gave me a wealth of material to write about. :)

What genre does your book fall under?

I would say it fell under the new genre of New Adult. Urban Fantasy. It's set in India and Eygpt in today's world, but with mythological characters.

Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a movie? 

Ah, I'm not going to answer this question as I never like putting faces to my characters. I see them clearly in my head and don't think they look like anyone else! Plus, they all have characteristics which sets them apart. The male lead for instance - Shankara - has a tiger pelt running over his head and down his back, so that isn't common. :)

Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

Neither. It will be published by the amazing and rapidly growing Curiosity Quills Press

How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

First draft of 93,000 words took 7 weeks. I then took 2 months before rewriting a little and doing a final edit.

Who or what inspired you to write this book?

The amazing myth's and tales of the Hindu faith. I appreciate the lessons and amazing wealth of gods and goddesses which make up the belief - over 400 Deities to be exact.

The main characters are:

Loka ( Silver hair / Rainbow Eyes / Henna painted hands )
Shankara (half beast, half man / Black Diamond Eyes)
Brahma (4-sided head God of Creation)
Shiva (God of Destruction)
Vishnu (God of Preservation)
Chetan (Guide from the Gods to help Loka.)
Chinmayi (Human Soul Loka helps save.)


And just for fun here is a brief excerpt from SAMSARA when Loka meets Shankara for the first time:


Staring straight across the road, I locked onto a pair of eyes.

I expected a human; a white knight in shining armour. Instead, I stared at the most eclectic mix of beast and human I'd seen. Soulful onyx eyes seared into me. Even across the street, with traffic whizzing between us, they glittered with what looked like fallen stars. His face was all sharp angles, ebony skin stretched over perfect bones laced with a thousand scars. His skin danced under the sun with multiple silver threads.

My mind shattered into a million pieces. Questions surged. Who?

I drank him in. He was a feast for art lovers with his male, animalistic perfection. The sides of his torso furry with orange and black stripes; the tiger fur continued up over his skull to provide a pelt of hair, before continuing down his back to end in a whip of a tail with a dagger tip. It licked back and forth, slicing through the air like a nettled feline. The rest of him was of human origin, his legs muscular and sheathed in supple leather.

Chetan touched my elbow, causing me to twitch in shock. I hadn't noticed he'd come to my side. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the diamond black gaze across the street.

Slowly the beast-man smiled. His lips pulled back to display sharp lupine canines as long as a lion's. It altered him, turning him from silent work of art to a mind numbing agent of hell. I exhaled, but not from fear. I didn't know what I was. Enthralled was perhaps the right word. Mesmerised, addicted. . . lost.

(and it isn't want you think... she doesn't fall in love with him straight away - major pet peeve of mine btw!) 

Okay that's it for today, move along. :) 

Jade Hart