Guest SKHYE MONCRIEF

HAUNTED HEARTS

A Time Guardian anthology~

Get two Time Guardian tales for the price of one! This paperback includes:

SACRIFICIAL HEARTS & NAKED ON THE STAIRCASE

http://www.timeguardians.com/

*****

HAPPY FRIDAY THE 13TH!

Look out world. I started thinking...

Since tomorrow is Valentines Day, what is love?

I could ramble on about chemical reactions in bodies, about how there are two phases of love... The initial oh-I-can't-lose-him phase that's supposed to hang on three years from the moment of sexual union. Then the first phase is replaced by the oh-this-is-comfortable phase. But there would inevitably be comments posted that someone still loves her spouse as much as she did the day they met 24 years ago. Or I could talk about soul mates--the thing that usually pops up in my romance novels. But sometimes I feel like that's all I ever talk about. So, why not talk about the human condition?

Are we supposed to be here to love? Not love comparable to chocolate melting across your tongue. But the feeling of love for another human being. This is what my first Time Guardian novel, HE OF THE FIERY SWORD, is all about. I play with the idea of what it is to be human by taking a time-traveling shape-shifting dragon and transmuting him into human form (King Arthur) in medieval Ireland. He struggles with life in learning what it is to be human--his greatest fantasy. The focus is he must "live" before becoming king. And living involves his falling in love. He soon understands human loneliness and desires. But is the reason we are here to love? Or do you think love is just an aspect of the social nature of human beings? Must we fall in love to truly experience life?

This week I blogged about the Knights Templar http://blog.skhyemoncrief.com/. Their passion for their duty is still truly commendable. I'm not saying I agree with war. But I can appreciate why they felt driven. Is this love? Then Nadya Suleman just birthed octuplets. I'm exhausted just typing that whopping number. But she's thrilled to have what she deems a success. How does her perspective rank with the other situations for love? I even watched a documentary on Abraham Lincoln yesterday explaining how he loved his fiance so much that he was on suicide watch after she died of typhus. His lingering depression from her death is what is theorized to have kept him driven enough to become president. Although I've come full circle back to love between a man and a woman (or at least in a man's mind), what is this thing called love? Nature? Nurture? Are we hard-wired to yearn for connection with another human being, or something perceived to be as significant? Is this what the human condition is all about--making a connection with someone?

Oddly enough, that "connecting with something" other than the ourselves is what Joseph Campbell states drives the human subconscious. What the heck is Skhye rambling about? Campbell calls that moment the "metaphysical moment" when a person is driven beyond the self to do something selfless for another person... or even the planet. That's the kind of love I write about in romance. That's what romance authors write about. Love isn't about loving the self. It's about a person loving someone else enough to risk their own health and safety for that person they love. When you throw in something like the planet will explode if the loved one is allowed to live, well, you've got major conflict. ;) Alas, I digress too much. [Campbell is Mr. Mythology in he analzyed myth and legend (stories) in THE HERO WITH A THOUSAND FACES and is worth reading if you are a writer.]

A CONTEST...

What do you think is the purpose for love? Leave me a comment with your slant (anything goes!) by midnight, CST tonight to be in the running to win a paperback copy of HAUNTED HEARTS. Refer to the cover at the top of the blog post. I'll choose one winner tomorrow on Valentines Day! And remember, when you're trying to pick a suitable Valentines gift for your beloved, the symbolism is what counts. ;) Thanks for sharing your time with me! ~Skhye

Read my first chapters, free read, and buy my stories at
http://www.skhyemoncrief.com/.

You'll find everything on my New Release page.

"Arthur is a masterpiece..." 4 hearts for He of the Fiery Sword's King Arthur

~Diane Mason at The Romance Studio

"Intense, original, suspenseful, and dramatic... an unpredictable topsy-turvy romance... the suspense builds with every page in SACRIFICIAL HEARTS. In a world where symbols mean everything, magic is the way..." ~Snapdragon at The Long and Short Reviews

All Skhye's works are available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

http://www.timeguardians.com/
http://www.skhyemoncrief.com/

"Be the change you want to see in the world." ~Ghandi