The Curse Giver by Dora Machado‏


Dora Machado is the award winning author of the epic fantasy Stonewiser series and her newest novel, The Curse Giver, available from Twilight Times Books July 2013. She grew up in the Dominican Republic, where she developed a fascination for writing and a taste for Merengue. After a lifetime of straddling such compelling but different worlds, fantasy is a natural fit to her stories. She lives in Florida with her husband and three very opinionated cats.

To learn more about Dora Machado and her novels, visit her website at www.doramachado.com

Subscribe to her blog at http://www.doramachado.com/blog/ , sign up for her newsletter at http://doramachado.com/newsletter.php and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

For a free excerpt of The Curse Giver, visit http://twilighttimesbooks.com/TheCurseGiver_ch1.html

About Dora Machado's Novels:

Dora Machado is the award winning author of the Stonewiser trilogy and her newest novel, The Curse Giver. She is one of the few Latinas exploring her heritage and her world through the epic fantasy genre today. Her first novel, Stonewiser: The Heart of the Stone, won the 2009 Benjamin Franklin award for best debut novel. Her second novel, Stonewiser: The Call of the Stone, won the 2010 Independent Publishers Book Award's (IPPY) Gold Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy book of the year. Her third novel, Stonewiser: The Lament of the Stone, won the 2012 Independent Publishers Book Award's (IPPY) Silver Medal for Best Science Fiction/Fantasy book of the year. All three novels were finalists in ForeWord Magazine's Book of the Year Award in the Science Fiction and Fantasy Category. Her latest novel, The Curse Giver from Twilight Times Books is available July 2013.

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Lusielle's bleak but orderly life as a remedy mixer is shattered when her husband betrays her and she is sentenced to die for a crime she didn't commit. She's on the pyre, about to be burned, when a stranger breaks through the crowd and rescues her from the flames.

Brennus, Lord of Laonia is the last of his line. He is caught in the grip of a mysterious curse that has murdered his kin, doomed his people and embittered his life. To defeat the curse, he must hunt a birthmark and kill the woman who bears it in the foulest of ways. Lusielle bears such a mark.

Stalked by intrigue and confounded by the forbidden passion flaring between them, predator and prey must come together to defeat not only the vile curse, but also the curse giver who has already conjured their ends. 


Q) What inspired you to write this story? 
The Curse Giver was inspired by an ancient pair of clay tablets that popped up on my screen one night while I was researching another story. The clay tablets dated from 600 BC and were part of the same collection that gave us the famous Gilgamesh epic. Visually, the tablets weren't much to look at, chicken scratches on clay. But the translated words had a huge impact on me.

"May all these [gods] curse him with a curse that cannot be relieved, terrible and merciless, as long as he lives, may they let his name, his seed, be carried off from the land.”

I know, hardly an inspiration for most. Me? I immediately thought of the man who had been thus cursed, of the pain and hardship such a curse would bring upon him and his people, of the character that eventually became Bren, Lord of Laonia, in The Curse Giver.

Who would cast these curses and why? What kind of creature could be capable of such powerful evil? What would motivate a person to curse another? As I explored these questions, a new character began to emerge in my mind, the curse giver herself, someone whose understanding of good and evil was very different from my own.

But once cursed, how could a person defend himself? A third character emerged from this question, Lusielle, a common remedy mixer, a healer of bodies and souls, someone who didn't realize the scope of her own strength until it began to transform her life.

With Bren, Lusielle and the curse giver thus crystalized, I set out to write this fast, plot-twisting fantasy romance about an innocent woman condemned to die for a crime she didn't commit, who must ally with the cursed lord pledged to kill her in order to defeat the curse giver who has already conjured their ends. The Curse Giver is an epic fantasy story with brawn, brains, and lots of heart, something that I think your epic dark fantasy romance readers might enjoy.

Q) How long did it take you to write?
About four months, give or take.

Q) What is your favorite thing about writing? 
I really enjoy the whole experience of writing, the creative process, the research, the planning and plotting, the writing of the first draft, the editing. I just love what I do. But if I had to settle on the one thing that I love most about writing, it would have to be the readers. Yes, definitely, the readers.

Q) What is your least favorite thing about writing?
Self promotion. I'm afraid it just doesn't come naturally to me.

Q) If you could be any famous person for one day, who would you be and why?
I don't know that I would ever want to be someone famous. In fact, the mere notion freaks me out a little. But I would want to be someone with access to knowledge and insight, someone able to look at the world in new and wondrous ways. I think it would've been great to be that first human who realized that if you add yeast to the mix, bread rises; or the person who first understood that when you put a seed into the ground a new plant grows. I think it would've been really cool to journey with those first explorers who broke out of Africa or came across the Bering Sea, or with the Hopi's ancestors, or the Vikings, or maybe even with the universe's future explorers.

Q) What is the oldest thing in your fridge and how old is it? 
Yikes. I just found a bottle of Wishbone Light Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette dating to 2009!

Q) What can readers expect from you in the future?
Lots of stories, fantasy adventures with lots of twists, conflict, meaningful relationships and lots of romance. I'm very excited about The Curse Giver, which is now available in e-book format and will be coming out in print on October 15. I'm also thrilled because the first book of the Stonewiser series, Stonewiser: The Heart of the Stone, is now available as an audiobook at http://www.audible.com/pd/Sci-Fi-Fantasy/Stonewiser-udiobook/B00F52CJIY/ref=sr_1_1?qid=1379186069&sr=1-1. If you enjoy a complex, beautifully narrated story, then this one's perfect for you.

Subscribe to Dora Machado's blog and/or newsletter and enter for a chance to win: 

1) One of three autographed books of Dora Machado's Stonewiser Series.

Or

2) One of ten special edition bracelets commemorating The Curse Giver's EBook release.

This handcrafted, customized, limited-edition, 1/4 inch aluminum bracelet from Silver Statements is hammered and stamped with The Curse Giver's signature message—Knowledge, Reason and Awareness, and flanked by the stylized outline of butterfly wings. Inside, the bracelet is stamped with the word Strength. Aluminum is a great metal for jewelry. It won't turn your skin green, doesn't oxidize or tarnish, and its water safe. Plus it's so lightweight that you might even forget you're wearing it.

For a chance at one of The Curse Giver's limited edition bracelets subscribe now at:

http://www.doramachado.com/blog/?page_id=48

And/or

http://doramachado.com/newsletter.php

Yes, you double your chances when you subscribe to both the blog and the newsletter! 


Giveaway Terms and Condition:

New subscribers to the blog and/or newsletter will automatically qualify to participate. Names will be selected at random from the list of new subscribers on November 15, 2013. Subscribers will be notified via e-mail. Winners will be asked to provide a mailing address for delivery.
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