Guest Blog
Mists of Time
Time Travel has always fascinated me. I guess that because growing up I read both science fiction and romance, it was inevitable that I merge the two and write paranormal romance. I count Time Travel romance in the category of paranormal. The thing I like about writing time travel is that you get to go to an entirely different place and historical period with every book, if you want. That means new research, maybe even a trip to the area, and I consider that a lot of fun. It keeps writing interesting—very important when I work about six to nine months on every book.
When I decided to write The Mists of Time about Camelot, I already knew a lot about the south of England. I think I’ve been to Great Britain about eight times so far. Cornwall was a special favorite. I’ve been to both Stonehenge and Avebury, locations of two very different kinds of standing stone circles, and I know both the mountains and gorges, and the lovely flat plains of Devonshire, Somerset and Wiltshire. But for this book, I also got to research Camelot—the real, historical version in 450 A.D., not the pretty medieval castles with pennants flying that you see in movies. I wasn’t surprised that Arthur and Mordred were real characters, but I was a little disappointed that Lancelot doesn’t appear to be historical at all. He was first introduced in the 12th century.
The other fun thing about time travel is that you get to fool around with what would have happened if you changed something about history. And that is absolutely crucial to the story in The Mists of Time. Diana Dearborn makes a terrible mistake, and she and Gawain must put time right again. In the process they fall in love and put themselves right again too. They will both be forever changed in The Mists of Time. By the way, want to see the origin of Leonardo’s wonderful machine? You can find it in One With the Darkness, in my Companion Series.
The
Mists of Time
Di
Vinci Time Travel Series
Book
Four
Susan
Squires
Genre:
Paranormal Romance
Date
of Publication: August 31, 2010
Number
of pages: 339
Cover
Artist: Rebecca Poole, Dreams2Media
Book
Description:
Divided
by Centuries
Diana
Dearborn knows all about romance, at least in the books she writes.
But passion eludes her in real life—until she’s offered the
chance to travel back in time to Camelot. The world of King Arthur
and Guinevere is nothing like she pictured, and neither is the knight
she encounters upon her return to San Francisco: Gawain, the hero of
her current project. He’s complicated, mysterious, and sexier than
anything her imagination could conjure. And he’s been waiting for
her…
Entwined
by Desire
Now,
joined together in a desperate race, Diana and Gawain must prevent an
ancient, evil force from wreaking mayhem in the all-too-real present.
Diana must learn to trust Gawain, even while she encounters secrets
about her own past. But even if their mission succeeds, does Diana’s
destiny lie with this man from another time—and will their love
alter history forever?
Excerpt:
Making love to her
had been a miracle. Gawain couldn’t regret it. The way she opened
to him, the way she trusted him. He’d worried when she was so
hesitant. He’d wondered if she was too damaged by her previous
experience.
Had he been gentle
enough with her? It had cost him every ounce of his control to go as
slowly has he had, when he wanted to claim her as his own, fast and
fierce, with the right to protect and defend her, the right to make
love to her, for them to bear children together and stand together
against all comers.
Gawain felt her stir
in his arms. She still had her sleep shirt on, though it was entirely
unbuttoned, leaving her soft breasts pressed against his chest. He
had captured her thigh between his own as she dozed after sex. This
was how they should sleep together, always.
She wiggled the leg
between his. He opened his thigh immediately. “Did your leg go to
sleep?”
“No. I just liked
the feel of it against your, uh, you know.’
He raised his brows.
“Against my ‘you know’? Those are my bollocks and my cock
you’re speaking of.”
Her eyes went dark.
“Yes.”
“I know you know
those words. You use them in your books.”
“Yes.” She
cleared her throat. “Well, it’s a little different saying them to
someone in real life.” She cleared her throat again. “I, uh, I
hope it was okay for you.”
“Yelling is a
clue. You don’t often get yelling.”
She tried to
suppress a smile and looked down.
He felt his cock
springing to new life. Would he ever get enough of her? “I’m not
sure your research is yet complete if you have to resort to ‘you
know’ to describe things.” He rolled over on his back and scooted
her over next to him. “Don’t you think you should explore a
little yourself? Just in the name of research.”
She grinned but
looked away.
“You can’t
possibly be shy after opening to my mouth the way you did.”
“Was…was I too
brazen?” She looked stricken.
“A man likes his
woman to be lady in public and brazen in bed. You were perfect.”
“So, uh, I should
be brazen now.” She slid a glance down to his groin.
“Yes.”
She took her lip
between her teeth as though she were girding her own loins. “I
suppose you know that all those things I wrote in my books—they
were pretty much just words to me. I know the words well enough but…”
“But you should
explore the reality,” he said.
She smiled shyly.
“If you’re sure you wouldn’t mind.”
“I’ll bear up.”
At least this time he could wait. He’d had one hell of an orgasm
less than an hour ago.
“Well, I think
I’ll start with your nipples. I was very curious earlier, but I
didn’t like to, uh, just.... Well, you know.”
“You think you’re
conveying something with this phrase ‘you know.’ But you’re
not. Could you mean ‘lick them’?”
She sighed as if
relieved. “Yes. Lick them.”
She bent over him
and touched her tongue to his right nipple. Sensation shot to his
groin. He hadn’t expected that. Not from just a nipple. Not after
having spent himself so forcefully less than an hour before. She ran
her tongue over it and then sucked gently. He cleared his throat. Now
she raked her teeth across it, not biting, but the mere possibility
of biting made him feel open and vulnerable to her. She continued
working at it, alternating techniques while her other small hand
gravitated toward his other nipple and began to tweak it.
She pulled up. “Now,
describe how that feels please.”
“Good.”
She frowned at him.
“I can’t just say it feels ‘good’ in my books.”
“Well, I’m a
man. Men don’t wax flowery over…over things like that.” He took
a breath. “That doesn’t mean you have to stop.”
She slipped down and
slid her tongue into his navel. “I have other fish to fry right
now. I’ll try to get back to them later.” She pulled his thighs
apart and he obliged her. “I’ve read,” she said meditatively,
“that the area just behind the testicles is very sensitive.” She
took two fingers and rubbed the spot in question slowly, deeply.
Lord, he was hard as a rock already. Could things get any more
intense? “Is that true?” she asked.
“Uh, yes.” Where
did she read these kinds of things? In books like hers?
“Pleasurable?”
“That would be
yes.”
“And balls, do you
like them caressed if I promise to be very gentle?”
“I, uh, I don’t
know. No one’s ever done, uh, that exactly to me.”
“You surprise me.”
She gave a knowing smile. “A man with your experience?”
The last woman he’d
had was the Green Knight’s wife, and that was many years ago. At
the thought of the Green Knight and his failure of honor, his heart
contracted. He had to put that failure away. This was for Diana. He
would perform the act of loving with her, for her, as a healing rite.
That was the height of honor. And if it wasn’t, then honor be
damned.
About
the Author:
Susan
Squires grew up among the giant redwoods of California. She thought
she was being practical by changing her major in college from theater
to English literature. Immersed in a PhD. Program, she slowly
realized that none of her graduating friends had work. So she dropped
out after receiving a Master’s degree to take an paying job in the
business world.
As
an executive in a Fortune 500 company, she returned to her love of
writing while continuing to hold her day-job, much to the amusement
of her fellow executives. Her novel Danegeld, had already been
purchased by Dorchester by the time she accepted a Golden Heart for
Best Unpublished Paranormal Manuscript from Romance Writers of
America. It was the first of an eclectic group of historical and
contemporary paranormal stories known for their intensity. Body
Electric was named by Publishers Weekly one of the ten most
influential paperbacks of 2002, for blending romance and
science-fiction. Book List compared No More Lies to the works of
Robin Cook and Michael Crichton, but it was also a Rita finalist for
Best Published Paranormal Romance by Romance Writers of America.
Susan’s
Companion Series for St. Martin’s Press, continued to garner
attention with admiring reviews and several visits to the New York
Times Bestseller List. Publishers Weekly named One with the Shadows a
Best Book of the Year, and several of the series received starred
reviews. Her books have won the many regional contests for published
works of paranormal romantic fiction.
Susan
no longer has to use tales of romance and adventure to escape budgets
and projects. She finally left her day job, and researches and writes
her books at the beach in Southern California, supported by three
Belgian Sheepdogs and a wonderful husband named Harry who writes
occult mysteries as H.R. Knight.
***
Thanks for hosting the release tour! I hope your readers like The Mists of Time. I liked writing this book so much I used the ideas in it to jumpstart my new Magic series, set in modern day with no time travel in sight. But the big Tremaine family has that pesky DNA that has one tricky gene. The one they got from Merlin. The first in that series is Do You Believe in Magic?
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