Tena StetlerAuthor of Paranormal Romance/Suspense & Cozy Mysteries With Magic Spark!

Sep 28th Author’s Secrets Welcomes Linda Nightingale

Give a warm welcome to Linda Nightingale, author of A Vampyre Rhapsody a collection of short stories detailing Morgan D’Arcy.

Pull up a chair, grab a drink of your choice from the blue cooler, a Chocolate Chip or Peanut Butter cookie from the plate, and let’s find out a little about Linda and Morgan D’Arcy.  I believe Isabeau will be by later.

Born in South Carolina, Linda has lived in England, Canada, Miami, Ft. Lauderdale, Atlanta and Houston.  She’s seen a lot of this country from the windshield of a truck pulling a horse trailer, having bred, trained and showed Andalusian horses for many years.

Linda has won several writing awards, including the Georgia Romance Writers Magnolia Award.   She is the mother of two wonderful sons, a retired legal assistant, member of the Houston Symphony League, and enjoys events with her car club.  Among her favorite things are her two marvelous sons, a snazzy black convertible, and her parlor grand piano.  She loves to dress up and host formal dinner parties.

Contact Linda at:

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/LNightingale – @Lnightingale

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/LindaNightingaleAuthor

Web Site:  http://www.lindanightingale.com – Visit and look around. There’s a free continuing vampire story.

Blog:  https://lindanightingale.wordpress.com/ – Lots of interesting guests & prizes

Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4839311.Linda_Nightingale

Pinterest:  https://www.pinterest.com/lbnightingale1/

Now Mr. D’Arcy a few questions for you.  Thank you for patiently waiting. Did you get a bottled blood from the red cooler?

I did. Thank you.

Tells us about the real you—   My name is Morgan Gabriel D’Arcy. I was born in Devon, England, in 1632.  I am an Earl, a concert pianist, and have been a vampire since 1659, the year before Charles II returned to the throne of England.

What event in your past has left the most indelible impression on you?  The years I spent wandering the continent with then Prince Charles after he escaped Crowell.  As a Royalist, I accompanied my King first to France, but thereafter, we were at the mercy of different European Courts. I wouldn’t say we were paupers, but we were, in essence, beggars.

What do you most value?  These are difficult questions.  I value many things, but I suppose at the heart of them all is my desire to find one woman to love, who loves me as I am, and sire an heir to my title.  I have found that woman.

What is the type of woman you want to spend the rest of your life with? Isabeau is beautiful, intelligent, and kind. I appeared to her as the Angel Gabriel when she was a child, influencing her career choice.  She is a talented geneticist.  She will need more than intelligence and talent to save our child, but I am here to guide her every step of the way to solving a genetic fault with the offspring of mortals and vampires.

 What do you consider most important in life? Love.

 What is your biggest secret?  Isabeau.  What I plan flies in the face of Vampyre Law.  Isabeau, the child, and I could easily stand before a Tribunal, our lives forfeit for my sins…and dream of a race of immortals with human morals and vampire powers.

Thank you Morgan.  I know you have places to be, so we won’t hold you up anymore. Morgan stands and exits through the rear door, as Isabeau is waiting at the front.

Isabeau, thanks so much for stopping by, have a seat.  You just missed Morgan.

I like to start an interview with the question, who are you really?  I’m a geneticist, an avid reader.  I know what you want. (She smiles) To peel back my skin and see the woman inside.  I’m not sure I know her, but I’ll try to answer your question.  I am, and have always been, in love with Morgan D’Arcy, even though he manipulated my entire life.  I am a woman in love.

Who were the biggest role models in your life?  My mother and father. And I guess Morgan.

What kind of man do you want to spend the rest of your life with?   A vampire, but only one of them…Morgan.

What kind of man would you never choose?  Almost anyone.  I am already in love, but I could never live with a man who wasn’t affectionate and kind.

What is most important to you in life?  To love wholeheartedly—the kind of love that comes only once in a lifetime because no one is strong enough to bear it twice.

  What is your biggest fear?  To end up never finding that kind of love.

Linda, a couple of questions for you. 

Tell us a little about writing this story.  These stories simply told themselves.  It is always like that when it is a  Morgan story.  He isn’t shy about telling me the tale.  Was it fun or difficult?  They were fun and not difficult. A Vampyre Rhapsody is a collection of short stories detailing Morgan’s earlier affections.  Do your characters always act as you expect? Absolutely not, particularly Isabeau and Morgan.  Are you a plotter, or fly (write) by the seat of your pants?  I’m a pantster all the way.

Me too, I can’t plot my way out of a paper bag.  When I’ve tried, the characters merely thumbed their noses at me and went there own way. So I gave up. LOL

Tell us a little about A Vampyre Rhapsody .

The greatest enemy of a vampire is boredom. Four centuries of existence have taught Lord Morgan Gabriel D’Arcy to fear nothing and no one. Humans and their weapons have little chance against his preternatural speed and arcane powers. Vampires are viral mutations of human DNA. Still, the Vampyre code requires secrecy, and he has learned to hide his nature from the world. The lure of mortality, of a life in the sun, puts Morgan again and again at the mercy of calculating human women though they fail to consider his charm and determination into the equation. However, even grooming a future bride from infancy proves to be fraught with heartbreak. And second chances are not always what they seem unless… you are Morgan. Immortality and beauty, aren’t they grand?

Wonderful how about an excerpt from the book?

Never Goodbye

 Isabeau, my Isabeau.

Isabeau with blonde-streaked brown hair and the most beautiful purple eyes. How could she forget me so quickly and return to that bastard?  Dark-haired, dark-eyed John Payne—my complete opposite—was my sworn enemy. One day soon, he’d die.

The Grim Reaper—with fangs—would teach him that Isabeau was mine.

I’d been present at her birth, had chosen her to be my wife in that moment, and had watched over her as her guardian angel. She’d been the most exquisite blonde child.

I’d influenced her career choice and financed her education by grants through anonymous foundations. I’d even bought her a white Andalusian horse. These things I’d given her. She’d given me more than I’d ever dreamed. To this unknown bargain, Isabeau had brought beauty, grace, and a vast intelligence. As a geneticist, she could find a cure for the fatal gene of madness that all progeny of vampires and mortals suffered. She had the required vampire DNA, mine in fact, but she didn’t know about the flawed chromosome. It was tragedy that she’d driven me away before I could confess.

Isabeau had been born in Beaufort, South Carolina. Her parents were friends that I’d chosen carefully to breed my future bride. She’d attended the College of Charleston, one of the finest Ivy League universities, and returned to Charleston when LifeGen, a genetics firm, offered her a position.

I’d given her my heart, unconditionally, and she’d broken it. After she banished me from her life, she returned my letters, deleted my emails, and refused my phone calls. Why? She’d discovered how I shaped her life and accused me of manipulating her.

For the thousandth time, I lifted a phone to my ear to make a hopeless call. This time, I was in Charleston. She wouldn’t recognize the number as I was ringing her from my hotel room.

“Hello.” Her voice! Music to my ears.

For a moment, I couldn’t speak, then I took a deep breath, and plunged. “Isabeau, you must talk with me.”

“Morgan, I’ve made it perfectly clear that I never want to hear from you again.” Anger stained her voice a shade deeper.

I imagined her in her sunshine yellow kitchen, leaning against the granite counter, coffee brewing and filling the room with its rich scent. Isabeau was tall and beautiful with a captivating smile. At the moment, unfortunately, she’d be frowning.

God, how I missed her! She was my light—I her dark—two pieces of a soul.

“Please, don’t ring off.” I paced the confines of my hotel room. “I’m in Charleston. I want to see you.”

“I have a date,” she said coolly.

A vision of Isabeau dressed for a night out on the town blinded me. Was she wearing one of the lovely dresses I’d given her while we lived our idyll in my house on the Battery? The Rover House overlooked the ocean. She’d left her Orange Street home to come to me. For five short months, we’d lived in a dreamlike state of bliss…together at last.

“A date with that bastard John Payne.” My hand fisted at my side. I wanted to strike something or someone. Tonight, the Royal Pain would join his ancestors.

“It’s none of your business.”

“You’re carrying my child, Isabeau. That makes it my business.” I washed to a halt by the bed. “You love me.”

You can get your own copy of Vampyre Rhapsody by clicking on the link below. 

Morgan D’Arcy: A Vampyre Rhapsody

Wow, I can wait to read Vampyre Rhapsody.  It’s on my ipad as we speak. Thanks so much for arranging for Isabeau and Morgan to meet with me.  And for taking time out of your busy schedule to visit with me. Please feel free to stop by anytime.  

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