The writing of the Virtus Saga
Writing the Virtus Saga was a real challenge, particularly since I’m still not sure on how to go about creating a series. Mine, believe it or not, built itself on its own, starting with a recurring image in my mind—a horse rider lost in a place close to home who finds shelter from a thunderstorm in a beautiful woman’s run-down shack, and she looks too familiar to be a stranger, though he has no recollection of her, of who she is, not even of a name—and developing apparently on its own, details being added as I went along without any pre-conceived plot. As incredible as it sounds, it felt like I was reading it, rather than creating it. Yes, like any other reader starting with The Sex, I had no idea what the plot would turn out to be or why characters did certain things, then progressed to The Game, Book 2, and The Festival, gathering information without the chance to glimpse ahead. All I had was a concept, which I’ll gladly share with your readers for the first time ever.
The planet Sendar is controlled by a mechanical device as part of a vast social experiment. This sophisticated mechanism channels people's aggression into sex, which in turn guarantees their feudal society knows no violence.
Other than the above, I didn’t know myself where the story was going when it started, so much so I still don’t have a definite ending to it.
Interestingly enough, the characters played inside my head for quite some time before I set them down on paper. At first, I saw this handsome dark rider, a prince I thought to myself, with long hair flying wild as he braced nature’s hostile elements—a storm about to hit him just to make the situation more tragic—on his black horse, utterly lost in a land he should’ve known like the back of his hand but oddly didn’t, until he sees candlelight shimmering in a window. When he gets to it, he realizes he’s not lost at all, in fact he’s very close to home, only with the storm’s fast approach, he decides to stop there for the night if they’ll offer him hospitality. But the woman standing on the thresholds feels awfully familiar, though he hasn’t the slightest idea who she is or why she should feel like someone he’s intimate with. Now why doesn’t he remember Ylianor since he’d grown up with her? And since readers will find the answer in Book 4, The Leader, it proves how little info the characters shared about themselves while I was writing, telling me only what they wanted me to know when it was time to know it, no earlier, so from the first line to the last, which is still to be written, it was just small pieces until they composed a great picture that still amazes me for its complexity.
And Christopher Templeton is the key to the whole design, although he came to me after Duncan falling for Ylianor, overshadowing what would have been a classic romantic meeting with its predictable ending had he not been there to make it different from the start. So I gathered he had been Duncan’s only love from the beginning, no question about it, since the earliest age possible, and no woman would ever replace him in the prince’s heart, not if he has any saying in it. In time, I’ve come to love how Chris defends his territory, fiercely eliminating competition, doing his dammed best to make sure things stay the way they started out, however impossible that will be to accomplish. Yet in the end, readers realize Lord Templeton loves Duncan so much, he’ll only do what’s in the prince’s best interest, even if it means having to step aside and forego the most precious thing in his life like he does for two entire years of pain and agony away from his lover’s side. But I guess it’s what makes Christopher so fascinating and so attractive in his own diabolical way, unpredictably evil at time while capable of a love so all encompassing he’d be willing to sacrifice everything to it, his life included. And unsurprisingly, it all came together with the phase, the planet Sendar’s unique way for boys and girls to experience sex for the first time with someone of their own age and gender, which for both Duncan and Chris is a clear-cut choice given the powerful attraction to each other that will inevitably draw them closer than they ever imagined possible.
Laura Tolomei aka Lalla Gatta
JUST RELEASED Visionquest
DON’T MISS The Festival Book 3 newest release of the VIRTUS SAGA & the EPIC nominee The Sex Virtus 1
Also available Tasting Leon’s Mark, To Seduce A Soulmate
Website lallagatta.com
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads,
The Festival
Virtus Saga Book 3
By Laura Tolomei
GENRE: GLBT, m/m, m/m/f, f/f, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror
ISBN: 978-1-55487-614-3
HEAT LEVEL: 5 flames
RELEASE DATE: July 15th, 2010
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
COVER: Angela Water
BLURB
Prisoner of their whims, it was impossible to resist them further. With a shock of pleasure, she realized they were her masters—not just one, but both—to which she surrendered herself, body first, juggled upward and sideways, until she had no choice but to ride their tide, swept along with their passion, swelling uncontrollably as they drove her into bliss, her convulsions sucking them to the balls and squeezing them dry.
EXCERPT LINKS
EROTIC- PG
Romance at Heart – Leave your own review on Goodreads
BUY LINKS
eXtasy, ARe – Fictionwise – Ebookwise - Mobipocket
EXCERPT PG M/M
“Oh, no, lover, no you don’t!” Springing to his feet, Chris went forward. “This has nothing to do with me or the way I treat her, which hasn’t changed since you left me at Blue Oasis.” Moving closer, their faces almost touched. “No, I didn’t care about her then and I certainly don’t now! If it’s anybody’s fault, my guess is it’s yours.”
“What?” Confused, the prince took a step back.
“Yes, you’re the one who’s changed toward her and maybe it’s time you start asking yourself why…if you want to keep her, of course.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did, lover. Closing the channel between the two of you was a way of denying her, like telling her to stay out of your life.”
That each of them had a strong power, or Virt as the ancients called it, was something Prince Caldwell had learned only recently. But why did mine have to begin and end with her, our silent communication the greatest joy and the darkest curse of my life? And why do I miss her so fucking much, like I’d lost a piece of myself? Since I hushed her whisper in my head, I’ve become the loneliest man on this world and I can’t stand it one minute more! Raising his head, he retraced his step, coming up against Chris again. “All right, maybe I tried to silence her voice.” His lips curved in a wry smile. “But since Arthur died, things have been happening so fast and the sheer weight of them…” His voice trailed off, unsure how to tell his angel about the strangeness of it all.
Somehow though, Chris needed no words to understand. With a comforting embrace, he swept Duncan in his arms and held him tight. “I know it’s hard.” The hot breath whispered in the prince’s ear. “Arthur used to tell me about the load, the blazing lights, the noise—”
“It’s like when we were at the Nephis Valley, with the same bright flashes and the humming, only it never stops—not the lights, not the sound. And this damn shoulder, burning every time there’s a new flicker or a higher tone.” He shrugged. “I didn’t think I could handle her, too, not with all this mess that’s been running through my head.”
“Because she’s louder than all the other sounds combined?”
“Oh, Angel, you have no idea!” Pulling slightly away, Duncan gestured aimlessly in the air as if he wanted to draw a picture of what was tormenting him. “And it’s not only her. Both of you are stronger than whatever else is going on in my head. If your fire is the brightest star of all, which alone can dim the thousand lights flashing day and night, she’s the loudest sound that no amount of humming can ever silence.”
“From what you’re saying, she’s just as important as I am.”
Duncan looked straight in his eyes. “I didn’t think so at first, not until I cut off the connection. I believed I’d feel better without having her inside me, only to discover I’m unbearably alone if she’s not there. It’s like with Virtus. You don’t know where it ends and you begin.”
“And it’s not just your head that misses her.” Chris clasped his cock. “Your body craves her, too, even if you work hard at denial.” Another squeeze, then the intriguing blue-gray eyes fixed on him. “At least, unlike you, I’ve seen it coming from the start, dreading it actually until I had time to think it over.” Taking a deep breath, he looked as if he were about to seal his destiny forever. “It was hard enough to accept sleeping beauty in my life, not to mention in your bed, as a permanent fixture and I wished you had some other choice—the gods can testify to that. You, more than anyone else, know how much I love you and just being with you every day, every thirty-six-hours of it, is reason enough for me to live, even if I’m no nearer to understanding the magic you work on me than I was ten years ago. Yet somehow, you made her a part of it, too, and so damn well, I can’t think of the two of us without her.” Sighing, he held on to Duncan. “It’s all so fucking confusing and maybe Virtus just adds its own load to bring more chaos to the world, but the one sure thing I know now is she’s not necessarily a threat. I used to hate the way you cared for her, so I wished her gone a thousand times. But, after you left Blue Oasis, she’s looked after me without being the obsessive presence I feared, rather someone available only if I needed her. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see her for days on purpose to test her reactions and never once did she complain or make a scene because I neglected her.” With a loving gesture, Chris brushed a loose strand of hair off Duncan’s face. “And that’s when I understood she won’t change the way we feel about each other nor interfere with our time either. You can have both, if that’s what you want, and in a way, it’s making you more complete, even when it comes to me.” Standing so close they could have easily kissed, the angel grabbed his arms. “So I’ll be damned before I allow you to throw away what you need most, besides me, of course.” He grinned mischievously. “Now get your ass to her before she leaves or does something even more stupid.”
Their lips met in a fierce kiss as their energy linked, the fiery blaze surrounded by the cooler one, until the prince let go and went out the door, followed by his angel’s last words. “And be sure to tell her I want her to stay, too.”
Writing the Virtus Saga was a real challenge, particularly since I’m still not sure on how to go about creating a series. Mine, believe it or not, built itself on its own, starting with a recurring image in my mind—a horse rider lost in a place close to home who finds shelter from a thunderstorm in a beautiful woman’s run-down shack, and she looks too familiar to be a stranger, though he has no recollection of her, of who she is, not even of a name—and developing apparently on its own, details being added as I went along without any pre-conceived plot. As incredible as it sounds, it felt like I was reading it, rather than creating it. Yes, like any other reader starting with The Sex, I had no idea what the plot would turn out to be or why characters did certain things, then progressed to The Game, Book 2, and The Festival, gathering information without the chance to glimpse ahead. All I had was a concept, which I’ll gladly share with your readers for the first time ever.
The planet Sendar is controlled by a mechanical device as part of a vast social experiment. This sophisticated mechanism channels people's aggression into sex, which in turn guarantees their feudal society knows no violence.
Other than the above, I didn’t know myself where the story was going when it started, so much so I still don’t have a definite ending to it.
Interestingly enough, the characters played inside my head for quite some time before I set them down on paper. At first, I saw this handsome dark rider, a prince I thought to myself, with long hair flying wild as he braced nature’s hostile elements—a storm about to hit him just to make the situation more tragic—on his black horse, utterly lost in a land he should’ve known like the back of his hand but oddly didn’t, until he sees candlelight shimmering in a window. When he gets to it, he realizes he’s not lost at all, in fact he’s very close to home, only with the storm’s fast approach, he decides to stop there for the night if they’ll offer him hospitality. But the woman standing on the thresholds feels awfully familiar, though he hasn’t the slightest idea who she is or why she should feel like someone he’s intimate with. Now why doesn’t he remember Ylianor since he’d grown up with her? And since readers will find the answer in Book 4, The Leader, it proves how little info the characters shared about themselves while I was writing, telling me only what they wanted me to know when it was time to know it, no earlier, so from the first line to the last, which is still to be written, it was just small pieces until they composed a great picture that still amazes me for its complexity.
And Christopher Templeton is the key to the whole design, although he came to me after Duncan falling for Ylianor, overshadowing what would have been a classic romantic meeting with its predictable ending had he not been there to make it different from the start. So I gathered he had been Duncan’s only love from the beginning, no question about it, since the earliest age possible, and no woman would ever replace him in the prince’s heart, not if he has any saying in it. In time, I’ve come to love how Chris defends his territory, fiercely eliminating competition, doing his dammed best to make sure things stay the way they started out, however impossible that will be to accomplish. Yet in the end, readers realize Lord Templeton loves Duncan so much, he’ll only do what’s in the prince’s best interest, even if it means having to step aside and forego the most precious thing in his life like he does for two entire years of pain and agony away from his lover’s side. But I guess it’s what makes Christopher so fascinating and so attractive in his own diabolical way, unpredictably evil at time while capable of a love so all encompassing he’d be willing to sacrifice everything to it, his life included. And unsurprisingly, it all came together with the phase, the planet Sendar’s unique way for boys and girls to experience sex for the first time with someone of their own age and gender, which for both Duncan and Chris is a clear-cut choice given the powerful attraction to each other that will inevitably draw them closer than they ever imagined possible.
Laura Tolomei aka Lalla Gatta
JUST RELEASED Visionquest
DON’T MISS The Festival Book 3 newest release of the VIRTUS SAGA & the EPIC nominee The Sex Virtus 1
Also available Tasting Leon’s Mark, To Seduce A Soulmate
Website lallagatta.com
MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads,
The Festival
Virtus Saga Book 3
By Laura Tolomei
GENRE: GLBT, m/m, m/m/f, f/f, Fantasy, Paranormal, Horror
ISBN: 978-1-55487-614-3
HEAT LEVEL: 5 flames
RELEASE DATE: July 15th, 2010
PUBLISHER: eXtasy Books
COVER: Angela Water
BLURB
Prisoner of their whims, it was impossible to resist them further. With a shock of pleasure, she realized they were her masters—not just one, but both—to which she surrendered herself, body first, juggled upward and sideways, until she had no choice but to ride their tide, swept along with their passion, swelling uncontrollably as they drove her into bliss, her convulsions sucking them to the balls and squeezing them dry.
EXCERPT LINKS
EROTIC- PG
Romance at Heart – Leave your own review on Goodreads
BUY LINKS
eXtasy, ARe – Fictionwise – Ebookwise - Mobipocket
EXCERPT PG M/M
“Oh, no, lover, no you don’t!” Springing to his feet, Chris went forward. “This has nothing to do with me or the way I treat her, which hasn’t changed since you left me at Blue Oasis.” Moving closer, their faces almost touched. “No, I didn’t care about her then and I certainly don’t now! If it’s anybody’s fault, my guess is it’s yours.”
“What?” Confused, the prince took a step back.
“Yes, you’re the one who’s changed toward her and maybe it’s time you start asking yourself why…if you want to keep her, of course.”
“I didn’t—”
“Yes, you did, lover. Closing the channel between the two of you was a way of denying her, like telling her to stay out of your life.”
That each of them had a strong power, or Virt as the ancients called it, was something Prince Caldwell had learned only recently. But why did mine have to begin and end with her, our silent communication the greatest joy and the darkest curse of my life? And why do I miss her so fucking much, like I’d lost a piece of myself? Since I hushed her whisper in my head, I’ve become the loneliest man on this world and I can’t stand it one minute more! Raising his head, he retraced his step, coming up against Chris again. “All right, maybe I tried to silence her voice.” His lips curved in a wry smile. “But since Arthur died, things have been happening so fast and the sheer weight of them…” His voice trailed off, unsure how to tell his angel about the strangeness of it all.
Somehow though, Chris needed no words to understand. With a comforting embrace, he swept Duncan in his arms and held him tight. “I know it’s hard.” The hot breath whispered in the prince’s ear. “Arthur used to tell me about the load, the blazing lights, the noise—”
“It’s like when we were at the Nephis Valley, with the same bright flashes and the humming, only it never stops—not the lights, not the sound. And this damn shoulder, burning every time there’s a new flicker or a higher tone.” He shrugged. “I didn’t think I could handle her, too, not with all this mess that’s been running through my head.”
“Because she’s louder than all the other sounds combined?”
“Oh, Angel, you have no idea!” Pulling slightly away, Duncan gestured aimlessly in the air as if he wanted to draw a picture of what was tormenting him. “And it’s not only her. Both of you are stronger than whatever else is going on in my head. If your fire is the brightest star of all, which alone can dim the thousand lights flashing day and night, she’s the loudest sound that no amount of humming can ever silence.”
“From what you’re saying, she’s just as important as I am.”
Duncan looked straight in his eyes. “I didn’t think so at first, not until I cut off the connection. I believed I’d feel better without having her inside me, only to discover I’m unbearably alone if she’s not there. It’s like with Virtus. You don’t know where it ends and you begin.”
“And it’s not just your head that misses her.” Chris clasped his cock. “Your body craves her, too, even if you work hard at denial.” Another squeeze, then the intriguing blue-gray eyes fixed on him. “At least, unlike you, I’ve seen it coming from the start, dreading it actually until I had time to think it over.” Taking a deep breath, he looked as if he were about to seal his destiny forever. “It was hard enough to accept sleeping beauty in my life, not to mention in your bed, as a permanent fixture and I wished you had some other choice—the gods can testify to that. You, more than anyone else, know how much I love you and just being with you every day, every thirty-six-hours of it, is reason enough for me to live, even if I’m no nearer to understanding the magic you work on me than I was ten years ago. Yet somehow, you made her a part of it, too, and so damn well, I can’t think of the two of us without her.” Sighing, he held on to Duncan. “It’s all so fucking confusing and maybe Virtus just adds its own load to bring more chaos to the world, but the one sure thing I know now is she’s not necessarily a threat. I used to hate the way you cared for her, so I wished her gone a thousand times. But, after you left Blue Oasis, she’s looked after me without being the obsessive presence I feared, rather someone available only if I needed her. Sometimes, I wouldn’t see her for days on purpose to test her reactions and never once did she complain or make a scene because I neglected her.” With a loving gesture, Chris brushed a loose strand of hair off Duncan’s face. “And that’s when I understood she won’t change the way we feel about each other nor interfere with our time either. You can have both, if that’s what you want, and in a way, it’s making you more complete, even when it comes to me.” Standing so close they could have easily kissed, the angel grabbed his arms. “So I’ll be damned before I allow you to throw away what you need most, besides me, of course.” He grinned mischievously. “Now get your ass to her before she leaves or does something even more stupid.”
Their lips met in a fierce kiss as their energy linked, the fiery blaze surrounded by the cooler one, until the prince let go and went out the door, followed by his angel’s last words. “And be sure to tell her I want her to stay, too.”
1 comment:
Nice Blog. Interesting blurb. Great excerpt. Made me want to buy the book. Thanks for the info. Timing couldn't have been better. Been thinking of writing a series.
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