Today we’re excited to share a guest post from Colleen Houck, the author of Recreated!!
Below you’ll find Colleen’s guest post, information about her book, plus a giveaway!
Poetry and Spells
My readers who’ve been with me a while know of my love for poetry. This love affair of mine started, like most things, with a teacher. I credit the same teacher, in fact, for instilling a love for mythology in me as well. When I was in the sixth grade my English teacher tasked us all with memorizing a passage from Romeo and Juliet. I can still remember it word for word today. Here’s the passage.
Juliet:
O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?
Deny thy father and refuse thy name;
Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love,
And I’ll no longer be a Capulet.
Romeo:
[Aside] Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?
Juliet:
‘Tis but thy name that is my enemy;
Thou art thyself, though not a Montague.
What’s Montague? It is nor hand, nor foot,
Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part
Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!
What’s in a name? that which we call a rose
By any other name would smell as sweet;
So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call’d,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title. Romeo, doff thy name,
And for that name which is no part of thee
Take all myself.
Romeo:
I take thee at thy word:
Call me but love, and I’ll be new baptized;
Henceforth I never will be Romeo.
In high school I had to memorize a Shakespearean sonnet. It was Sonnet 18 that begins, “Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?” This one was another English assignment. I ended up liking
Shakespeare so much that I took an entire course on Shakespeare in high school.
Even before I started writing Tiger’s Curse, I wrote poetry. In fact, Kelsey’s poem called Grooming, was one I wrote when I was working as a full time interpreter in, you guessed it, high school. I liked that one so much, I kept it and loaned it to Kelsey.
There is a carefully worded prophecy in each of my tiger books and, like the tiger series; I begin each of my Egyptian books with a poem. In doing so, it kicks off the theme of the book in my head and, hopefully, gives my reader a small sense of what to expect when they begin.
Since Ren was my poet (I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for him because of that), I needed a different sort of outlet when it came time to begin a new series. That’s why I turned to spells when I wrote Reawakened. In the beginning of the series, my hero, Amon, casts a spell to bind himself to my heroine in order to survive. Now there’s a story to tell the kids.
They use spells to defeat the bad guys and the goddess Isis, we learn, is a very special spell caster. Her sister, Nephthys, is a seer who can discern hidden messages shared by the stars. Melodic language is very important to me and careful readers will catch times when I purposely repeat the beginning of sentences in my prose or offer paragraphs full of alliteration.
I’m not sure how this passion of mine will play out in the future. It’s likely I’ll continue using poetry and spells in one way or another as I write new books. But, regardless, one thing’s for sure, I owe everything to my wonderful teachers.
Meet Recreated!!
From Colleen Houck, New York Times bestselling author of The Tiger’s Curse, comes Recreated, the second book in the epic Egyptian-inspired Reawakened series, in which a seventeen-year-old must literally go to hell to save the love of her life.
Lily Young thought traveling across the globe with a reawakened sun prince was a grand adventure. Now she’s about to embark on the journey of a lifetime.
When Amon and Lily part tragically, he transports himself to the Netherworld—what mortals call hell. Tormented by the loss of his one true love, he’d rather suffer in agony during Lily’s mortal years than fulfill his duty to protect humanity.
Heartbroken, Lily seeks refuge on her grandmother’s farm. Yet she can feel Amon’s pain, and she has been having dreams—dreams of Amon continually suffering.
For before he departed, Amon gave Lily something very special, an item that connects them even though they are worlds apart. Now Lily must use this object to free him, and to free their realms from darkness and utter chaos. She will do whatever it takes.
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Meet Colleen Houck!!
New York Times Bestselling Author Colleen Houck is a lifelong reader whose literary interests include action, adventure, science fiction, and romance. Formerly a student at the University of Arizona, she worked as a nationally certified American Sign Language interpreter for seventeen years before switching careers to become an author. Colleen lives in Salem, Oregon, with her husband and a huge assortment of plush tigers.
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Recreated
By: Colleen Houck
Release Date: August 2, 2016
*GIVEAWAY DETAILS*
Five winners will receive Five Reawakened & Recreated Book Sets (US only).
*Click the Rafflecopter link below to enter the giveaway*
