Tuesday 18 November 2014

Guest Post: Casual Curses and Meticulous Magic by Lee Roland



Casual Curses and Meticulous Magic
The Gramarye Series, #1
Lee Roland
Genre: Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
Publisher: Highland Press                  
Date of Publication:  September 24, 2014
ISBN: 978-0-9916439-2-9
ASIN:  B00NOZCUB0.
Number of pages: 292
Word Count:  92,000
Cover Artist:  Iris Hunter


Book Description:

What happens when a dysfunctional witch and a tough PI work together to save an aging apartment house filled with ghosts, dragons and one oversexed house plant?
Spirits, spells and mayhem…Magic rises in the Gramarye

Melian Devlin is a witch who often resorts to exotic and slightly illegal methods of acquiring money to maintain the 300-year-old Gramarye, the stone apartment house that’s her heart and home. Her life is a series of skirmishes that occasionally end with her behind bars. 

Titus Moran is a no-nonsense PI who makes big bucks busting insurance fraud schemes.  So how did he wind up in a tortuous battle to keep Melian out of jail?  Did the delightful young witch with her gray eyes and magic at her fingertips enchant him—or does the Gramarye hold greater mysteries.  

Titus will enter a new exciting world when he joins Melian in her quest to save the Gramarye.  Melian will fumble along in her usual impulsive way, leaving a trail of disasters behind her.   If they’re lucky, they might survive.

Available at Amazon   BN  Smashwords   Books A Million


Top Ten Witches in movies, TV and books.
1.      Shakespeare’s witches represent the original witches for me.  Dark and treacherous, no nose twitching, no special effects, they are pure evil. Casting a spell—Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn and cauldron bubble—to recognizing latent evil in others—By the pricking of my thumbs, Something wicked this way comes.

2.      Veronica Lake’s witch in the 1942 black and white film, I Married a Witch, is perfect.  Beautiful, seductive, vengeful, but saved by true love, it is the classic romance story for fantasy lovers.

3.      Erica Jong’s Witches—all of them. (2004)  Jong’s fantastical world of witchcraft book is filled with poetry, prose, and historical reality.  Though published 20 years ago it is delightful and on my keeper shelf.  Recommended for all who love to read or write about witches.

4.      The Witches of Eastwick.  (1987 film from a book by John Updike.) Preferred the film to the book because the book was a heavy read.  The film was fun to watch.

5.      The Blair Witch.  1999 super scary film. I just love evil witches.

6.      The enduring witches from L. Frank Baum’s the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.   The famous 1939 Wizard of Oz film starring Judy Garland is the one that immediately comes to mind, but the 1910 American silent fantasy film is the earliest surviving film version of the story.  Glinda the Good Witch and the Wicked Witch of the West seem cartoonish today, but given the countless movies, radio, stage adaptations of the book over the years they are enduring models.

7.      Bell, Book and Candle. (Film 1958)  Gillan the witch is played beautifully by Kim Novak as she seduces Jimmy Stuart.  We have an unfortunate tendency to identify beauty with goodness and Kim Novak, unlike Veronica Lake in the 1942 black and white film, is so lovely she defies the idea that she might be evil.  Of course, she is saved from immorality by falling in love with Jimmy. 

8.      The Craft (1996 film).  Neve Campbell (of the Scream movies) is perfect as Bonnie who is wonderfully wicked.  Okay, so she winds up strapped to a bed in an asylum, but when she was bad she was outrageous.

9.      Charmed.  (Television series)  I don’t care for most of the TV witches, but the witches of Charmed had style and a bit of class.

10.  This comes under the heading of I hope it happens. The Last Witch Hunter is an upcoming supernatural action film that will be directed by Breck Eisner. The movie will star Vin Diesel as an immortal witch hunter that must stop a plague from ravaging New York City.[2]The film is scheduled to be released on October 23, 2015.






About the Author:


Lee Roland is a full time writer who lives in North Central Florida. She loves the peaceful rural area where she shares a home with three small dogs who think they are pit bulls and an evil cat with sharp claws.
 
Lee writes stories of urban fantasy and paranormal romance where strong men and women battle the wickedness hiding under the surface of the modern world.  Her characters are passionate in life and love and are formidable enemies to the malevolent criminals in their worlds.

Her first series, the Earth Witches, was published beginning in 2011 by NAL.  Her website, www.leeroland.com offers samples of the Earth Witches books and information on their world. There are short stories and news of any upcoming books and events.





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