Guest Blogger: Author Amanda McIntyre

Blogging is not my forte. You'd think that with seven years of writing a weekly newspaper column, it would make things a bit easier, but the truth is...I should be working on my WIP! (Ssshh!) I know, its a two-edged sword! Blogging gets you connected, but it keeps you from writing as well! So, permit me if you will to reach out on one side of me and catch my WIP, and reach out with the other hand at my present state of life and see if I can streeeetch them together in a nice...neat, tidy BLOG entry!

Present life: Twin sons just turned 16. They are immersed in a million end of school activities and I am planning a summer family vacation - we're calling it the Americana tour - which will culminate at my first RWA convention in Washington D.C.! Thats the surface... ;)

WIP: Currently, I am writing a Victorian-set erotic historical based on fictional characters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Yep, those bad boys of the art world, who revered and worshipped their muses (in many ways!) and who rebelled against the teachings of the Royal Academy, creating masterpieces that went against the standards of the day and that now hang in that same gallery that once shunned the artists themselves. It features three of the many female muses that my unlikely hero, Thomas Rodin (artist from DIARY OF COZETTE) uses as models for his painting. Now Thomas, aside from being a rebel and in my mind looking very much like Henry Cavill (Charles from The Tudors on Showtime), is a bold, passionate, charismatic man with a goal of creating art that symbolizes the beauty and grace of a more noble time. Thomas is a bit of a tortured hero in that he wants to rescue these women from their dreary lives, offering them a chance to have their lives changed, to become an icon of the Brotherhood's movement against the standards of the day. It is a novellic anthology, with the stories of three women as told by them of meeting Rodin, posing for him, and what happens to each woman. Some have asked is it a romance? Yes, it is, because my hero does fall in love with each of his "muses" and truly believes that he can offer them everything they will ever need. How can that be a romance with more than one heroine? It is women's fiction in that light, as it really appears more realistic in the path to happiness for each of these women and for Thomas.

Sometimes in life, we meet more than one person, we may date several, fall in and out of love, and eventually wind up marrying that "special" person. But everyone has their story of that first time they believe they are in love. And each of these women believed no differently. They wanted to become "something/someone" to break free of the roles cast for them by social status or gender. And Thomas simply loved women. However misguided the notion that he was their savior, their lover, their confidant--he loved each one.

Admittedly, it is a provocative look at a time when some of the greatest creative and controversial works, both in art and writing, were created. A time filled with the fierce passion that changed an era, breaking down the barriers between social classes and gender. THE MUSES (Harlequin Spice, June 2010)

It's been such fun to write, I can't lie! I think I love to write because I convince myself I have some sort of control, I think, over the story and the characters. Something I don't always feel the same about in my real life! LOL

Question: Did you know that Harlequin Spice is more than short stories? Many don't! Harlequin Spice-Books publish one title almost monthly in a variety of genres from contemporary to historical, including paranormal and blended genres. You can find out more by visiting www.eharlequin.com.

Watch for my "25 blogs in 25 days ...the TORTURED tour!" coming to the RT blog Aug. 13, 2009! I'll be giving away signed copies of my new erotic medieval historical, TORTURED, from Spice and maybe a few other surprises as well!

Until then, happy reading and be well!

Amanda McIntyre
www.amandamcintyre.net

(Note: Guest blog posts reflect the views of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or policy of RT Book Reviews.)