Author Maggie Shayne wanted to write an old-fashioned spine-tingler for her novella in the new HQN paranormal romance anthology Heart of Darkness… and use a concept she’s wanted to write about for years. Find out what it is as Maggie guest-blogs about “Love Me to Death” on Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance Blog…
by Maggie Shayne, author of “Love Me to Death” in Heart of Darkness anthology (HQN Books, January 2010)
In “Love Me to Death,” my story in the anthology HEART OF DARKNESS, I did something I’ve been wanting to do for a long time; I wrote a reincarnation story.
I love, love, loved the idea of bringing someone back from a prior lifetime that ended too soon, with important things left undone. I’ve been fascinated with the idea of a story like that since I read THE REINCARNATION OF PETER PROUD as a kid. (All my childhood reading was of the paranormal sort, beginning with Poe in the third grade.)
Anyway, I loved the notion. I don’t necessarily buy into it, though. At least, not the way it’s depicted here. Personally, I suspect that when we die, our souls blend back into the mix of All That Is, until they’re scooped out again by some cosmic dipper, and poured into a new body. So I think we are parts of many when we return again. In that way, all the knowledge we’ve gathered in each lifetime is shared with everyone, and we all grow a little wiser.
But my beliefs, like everything else in life, are constantly evolving and I’m open minded. In this story, however, I stuck to the more common notion of reincarnation.
Another issue I tackled in this one, and necessarily, given the plot, was having quite a large age gap between hero and heroine. It might bother some people, but it was another area I’d been hoping to tackle, since I’m in just such a relationship–and happier than I’ve ever been in my life. In fact, I didn’t really have the space in a novella length piece to give that issue as much attention as I would have liked, so you can look for me to take it on in some future book, for sure.
I also wanted, in this story, to write a good, old fashioned spooky feeling, spine-tingler, and I think I accomplished that as well. As a kid, I loved nothing better than a real scary movie. I don’t care much for today’s slasher flicks, and don’t even get me started on the ones where people get tortured to death. Ick! I like my scary movies done honestly. Don’t gross me out. Make me jump and gasp and look in the back seat before I get into the car to go home.
And so I’m hoping this story does all of those things, while touching hearts with a powerful love story at the same time. You’ll have to let me know if it does.
For those wanting more info on what’s coming up next from me, I’m taking a brief (very brief, I promise) detour from the paranormal realm to pay some overdue attention to my other best loved genre, romantic suspense. This summer look for “The Secrets of Shadow Falls” series from MIRA. This trilogy begins where my former one, which has come to be called the “Mordecai Young” series by readers, left off. Many readers have been asking what happened to Dawn, the girl who could see dead people in those earlier books. Well she’s back in these. They are: KILLING ME SOFTLY in July, KILL ME AGAIN in August, and KISS ME, KILL ME in September.
After that, I’ll be back to the world of the undead with a duet you’ve been waiting for in 2011, or sooner if humanly (or inhumanly) possible.
Until then, enjoy HEART OF DARKNESS!
Keep visiting Harlequin’s Paranormal Romance Blog this week for more posts from the authors of Heart of Darkness, Gena Showalter and Susan Krinard! Until then, use the widget below to read excerpts from all three novellas in the anthology:
