A warm welcome to author Ryan Loveless joining us today to talk about the release of “His Cursed Prince”.
Ryan talks to us about writing Magical Realism and shares an excerpt!
Welcome Ryan 🙂
Writing Magical Realism
Hi everyone,
First, let me thank Dani for hosting me today. I’m here with my new fairytale release, His Cursed Prince. The world in this story is a fusion of fairytale and modern. Characters wear tunics and robes, but they also wear jeans and sneakers (or tennis shoes or trainers, depending on where you are from). They have smartphones, they tweet, but they also pay for things with a tuppence and have newsboys acting as town criers.
I have lately discovered magical realism in books such as Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson and the Raven Cycle series by Maggie Stiefvater. I loved each of these books. They have become go-to recommendations for me. As someone who has never been able to get into fantasy, magical realism provided me an in-roads to a fantastical world that was still connected to the world as I know it. For me, it makes things more relatable. I had this idea in mind in developing the world of His Cursed Prince. It was great fun for me to write, and I hope you enjoy reading it!
Title: His Cursed Prince
Author: Ryan Loveless
Release date: Dec 28, 2018
Blurb:
Three facts about Tuckington Belle:
1. Given the choice between illegally scaling the royal castle’s walls to steal flowers for a client at his family’s dress shop or going on a date with a girl his brother set him up with (“He’s fertile, and he can sew!”), Tuck will scale the wall like a spider after a fly.
2. If, upon knocking himself unconscious when he falls off the wall, Tuck wakes up bruised, blindfolded, and inside the castle, where—based on the unearthly wails heard nightly—the prince no one has seen in ten years is probably a ghost, Tuck would still choose this over a date with a girl.
3. Tuck thinks it’s time to admit he’s gay.
Three facts about Prince Frederick George Deor (Read and approved with great reluctance by Lord “Protocol is Protocol. Stop Being a Pain About It” Todd):
1. He brought a curse upon himself and now bears the skin of a snake.
2. He can’t take his eyes off the injured thief recovering in the castle.
3. Friendships born from lying and insisting the other person wears a blindfold can blossom into true love—which he needs to break the curse.
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“He’s not coming, is he? I’ve scared him! He knows I’m hideous!” Prince Frederick whirled on Lord Todd, pulling him up sharp by his lapels. Lord Todd slanted his gaze to the right and succumbed to being shaken like a doll.
“You are not hideous.” As he balanced on his tiptoes, Lord Todd tried to infuse sincerity and conviction into a phrase he said for Frederick so often, but the best he could manage was rote exasperation.
“Then why isn’t he here?” Prince Frederick punctuated the demand by stomping his booted foot. “Sir Michael told him to return at the same time. It’s twenty past!”
“Perhaps he was caught in traffic,” Lord Todd said through clenched teeth.
“Traffic,” Frederick repeated. This mollified Frederick enough to release him. Lord Todd smoothed down his tunic. Frederick continued to pace. Lord Todd concentrated on remaining still and attentive. (Breathe in. Don’t smack the prince with your clipboard. Breathe out.)
“He’s here!” Gracie burst into the room, face shining. “Your Highness, he’s here!”
“Where? What happened? Why was he late?’
“He’s been in the kitchen. Sir Michael wouldn’t let him come up in his current state.” Gracie trotted after the prince as he almost ran toward the kitchen.
“Your Highness!” Lord Todd yelled, uncertain if he should scold the prince’s comportment—the first in line to the throne did not run through his castle like a peasant at a picnic—or point out than he was about to burst upon the unblindfolded Tuckington. With a fit of speed, he darted around the prince, swung into the kitchen, and grabbing the only thing at hand, a large pot, dropped it over Tuckington’s head. Only then did he step back and notice that Tuck was sitting shirtless on the table with a kitchen towel over his lap. Other than the towel and the pot, he was nude.
Lord Todd reared back, spluttering. He’d never, not in all his… he looked to Sir Michael for explanation. “He brought soup,” Michael said, explaining nothing.
“I was in a rush to get here, and I spilled it,” Tuckington said from beneath the pot. “I am sorry.” He sounded mournful. “It was good soup. My mother’s special recipe. I wanted to share it with all of you. I had hoped George would share it with His Highness.” He stopped and his hands came up in a position of shock. “George? Are you here?”
Lord Todd turned when no answer came. Prince Frederick was indeed there, frozen against the door and staring at Tuckington in all his partially toweled glory. His Highness looked stricken with panic.
“If you’re here, I’m really sorry I’m late. I had an accident. Please don’t be upset.” It was difficult to tell with the pot on his head, but based on his slumped shoulders—not that Tuckington had the best, or even half-decent, posture to begin with—he did look sorry. Lord Todd nudged Frederick, hoping to get something from him, but the last thing he wanted was the expression of grief Frederick turned toward him. He’d seen it before, at the time they had locked the doors and many times since. Frederick stepped away, turned, and walked back the way he’d come. Lord Todd perused Tuckington, taking in his broad muscles—worker’s muscles, probably from climbing walls to commit crimes—his hands, with callused fingers, most likely from picking locks, and his legs, which seemed unnaturally hairy on his calves and almost bare at his thighs. And yet for all that Lord Todd saw to criticize, he couldn’t deny Tuckington was a beautiful man, and that was what set him running after the prince.
Author Bio: Ryan Loveless is the author of numerous M/M romance novels and short stories. She is honored to be recognized as a Rainbow Book Award winner (several titles), an Epic eBook Awards finalist (In Me an Invincible Summer), and a Florida Author and Publisher Association bronze medalist (Ethan). She lives in New York with her family, a sentence that brings her great joy to write.
Twitter: @ryanloveless
FB: https://www.facebook.com/ryanlovelessbooks/