The Wiccaning
Paranormal/Romance
In Progress
Image is not cover art, just a representation of the story
An unplanned pregnancy is the last thing divorcee' Justine St. Clair needs after a night of ill-advised, but wildly unrestrained passion with a long-haired, chiseled bad boy from a local bar. Especially since doctors warned that another pregnancy could threaten her life...and her sinful regress with a man she realizedmust be in league with the Devil, threatened her soul. When fate intervenes to convince Justine that a curse is responsible for the string of miscarriages that nearly ended her life, however, she determines to save her unborn and break the bonds of evil once and for all...by becoming the last thing a "good Christian girl" ever dared imagine.
Rion Silverhawk has too full a plate--and no desire--to get wrapped up in another doomed romance. He's got a jewelry business to run, a family home to maintain, and beliefs to embrace...the beliefs of a solitary witch. Avoiding his ex by chatting up a sultry goddess seems innocent enough at the time, until a night of sexual magic ends with Justine blasting him as an "evil Satan worshipper." Leave it to him to find the only Christian in a pagan bar, one Rion is all too happy to stay away from. A series of impassioned dreams and disturbing whispers from the Tarot and beyond, however, offer him the shocking knowledge that their fates are inexorably intertwined...and it's up to him to shake the truth from her unshakable dogma.
EXCERPT FROM THE WICCANING:
The white sting of harsh overhead lights flickered by in a blur of detached, surreal interest as a woman of brittle and vulnerable silence lay on the gurney.
They're in such a hurry. Not like the other times.
Another spasm rocked her abdomen, cutting loose an involuntary whimper from her throat. A tear rolled from the outer corner of her eye as she unsuccessfully willed her body to be still.
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The Wiccaning Q&A
Q. How did you come up with the idea
for this story?
A. The idea of family curses hit me one day and I was doing some research into the matter. For those who haven't, a general school of thought is that curses cannot work if one does not believe in them. While there is some active truth in the concept of lending power to something by the will of our belief, the "fiction writer" part of me thought that rather too simple and overly convenient. What if a woman's very ability to be a mother was challenged by a curse? What if it couldn't be undone by the traditional methods of modern medicine, "good" living, and prayer? To what lengths would a woman go to protect her unborn?
Q. You refer to the hero Rion as a "witch." Aren't men supposed to be called "warlocks?"
A. Either is technically correct, though nowadays 'some' men who follow a magical path consider warlock to be offensive. One of the varying definitions for the term means "oath breaker," which is not an association that some want to make. Thus, here I've opted for the more general term. Easier than saying, "pagan magic practitioner." heh heh.
Q. Is there really such an event as a "Wiccaning?"
A. Yes, though interestingly enough, I wasn't aware of that when I came up with the book title. The title refers also to the new beginning and journey for both Justine and Rion--who pushes aside some of his own beliefs after an unfortunate incident involving his coven.
On an interesting side note, I came up with the name Rion by turning noir backwards, a play on the idea of darkness in reverse. Later I discovered that the name Rion also has pagan roots, meaning a giant among pagans or pagan giant. Considering the character's spiritual ambitions, a very fitting name indeed. This happens to me quite a bit in my fiction writing. Seems like my muse knows what he's doing, even when I'm just tossing stuff out at random!