Mortal Musingsby Aria Glazki Publication Date: 25 August 2015
Genres: Paranormal, Romance
Muse
Alexandra has had it with the arrogant, ungrateful humans she is obligated to
inspire. When the internal ranting of her latest charge pushes her past reason,
she disregards the rules and forces her own words through his fingers, and is
instantly entrapped in mortal form. With no magic, no identity, and no
resources, Allie has no alternative but to navigate the mortal realm, depending
entirely on her reluctant host while discerning what exactly caused her
transformation — and how to reverse it.
Brett doesn’t
have a chance to consider the words that mysteriously showed up on his screen;
he’s too distracted by the stunning woman who appeared in his office out of
nowhere. Before his brain can catch up, Brett’s uninvited guest becomes
enmeshed in his everyday life. Her artless innocence gradually lessens his
suspicions. Most importantly, the writer’s block that’s been plaguing him
dissolves under the fantasies the naively beguiling Alexandra inspires.
All too soon,
the forced proximity sparks a confounding awareness neither writer nor muse are
able to resist.
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An excerpt from Mortal
Musings
Brett blinked at the
words he couldn’t remember typing. A poem? He turned slightly, looking first at
the curl of hair brushing his shoulder, then to the unfamiliar face beside his.
The stranger who filled
his vision paid no attention to him. Her cheeks were flushed. Before Brett
could process what he was seeing, she turned away to stalk about the small
room. She examined their surroundings unabashedly, scoffing at his possessions
as though he himself were inconsequential. Almost as if he wasn’t even there.
Had he passed out at the
computer? This didn’t feel like a dream, but maybe he’d hit his head on the
desk, hard enough to jumble what was left of his mind.
Brett couldn’t look
away. Such undiluted condescension intrigued him almost as much as the drapes
of silken cloth he supposed were a dress, floating about her body like a cloud,
though of course that wasn’t possible. Then again, was “possible” even a factor
in what he was seeing? The nearly transparent, grayish-white material shifted
as she moved, exposing tantalizing glimpses of her flesh to his curious eyes,
but she didn’t notice him staring.
Similar clouds must have
filled his brain, since he hadn’t even wondered yet how she’d gotten into his
house—into his office!—without him noticing. Maybe she was a friend of his
sister’s, playing some poorly planned prank? Or maybe hours of staring
fruitlessly at the blankness had caused him to hallucinate, and neither the
strange words nor the girl were actually there.
Brett’s lips pulled into
a humorless smile. Maybe this was his muse, sent as a joke by whichever powers
that be as a response to his mental ranting.
What a completely
idiotic idea, especially since muses were supposed to be invisible. And not
real, he reminded himself yet again.
There
is also this interesting guest post by Aria Glazki titled "What You Don't
Know"
How many times have you
encountered the advice: "Write what you
know"? Even those with no relation to the writing community have
likely heard this touted as the cardinal rule of writing.
It's true, writers spend an
inordinate amount of time and effort on observing the world around us to amass
a solid basis of that which we know. And yet, if we were merely to transcribe
the events around us, it would make for some extremely dry reading. No one
would read past the first couple pages, if that.
In reality, what we write is a combination of observation, knowledge,
and imagination.
If I wrote only what I knew, I
couldn't have set Mending Heartstrings in Nashville and Portland, or Mortal
Musings in Colorado. I hate to disillusion anyone, but I've never been to any
of these places. Neither have I met a muse that took corporeal form (though
that would have been cool).
The thing is, what writers
"know" isn't limited to our direct experiences thanks to others'
shared stories, research (the amount of information available online is truly
astounding), and our imaginations. All of those weave together into a wealth of
material from which we can pick and choose pieces that we can recombine into
(hopefully) evocative works of fiction.
Fantasy and paranormal novels are
of course the best example of this Ñ all these worlds and creatures
painstakingly crafted not from something the writer "knows" but from
imagination, and often collaboration. These stories remodel the fabric of
reality, melding what the author knows--whether
from observation or lore--with the plasticity of
the imagined. And really, every effective story must do the same.
So don't
write only what you know. Observe everything, learn what you can, then tear it
apart and reimagine it all into something incredible.
Check out the rest of theblogs on this tour, including book reviews.
About Aria Glazki
Aria’s writing story started when
her seventh-grade English teacher encouraged her to submit a class assignment
for publication. That piece was printed, and let’s just say, she was hooked!
Since then, Aria has run a
literary magazine, earned her degree in Creative Writing (as well as in French
and Russian literatures), and been published in a few collections. Though her
first kiss technically came from a bear cub, and no fairytale transformation
followed, Aria still believes magic can happen when the right people come
together – if they don’t get in their own way, that is.
Other than all things literary,
Aria loves spending time with her family, including her two unbearably adorable
nieces. She also dabbles in painting, dancing, playing violin, and, given the
opportunity, Epicureanism.
Buy the book via:Amazon US • Amazon UK • Amazon CAN • Smashwords • Barnes & Noble • Book Depository
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