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Albert Camus

Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.

Saturday, September 20, 2014

Guest Post: Broken by Traci L. Slatton

Published: September 5th, 2014

Description:


Power is pornographic

Can love sustain light when the forces of evil close in?

Paris, 1939-1942. A fallen angel is trapped in the web of German Occupation. The deadly noose of Nazi control grows ever tighter, ensnaring her and two of her lovers, a bullfighter and a musician working in the fledgling Resistance. Can she save them and the Jewish widow and her child that she has come to love, or will betrayal take them all?

I highly recommend this book and although it is not something that I would normally pick up and read, I can't describe how much I love this book. Thanks again Traci for writing such an amazing novel and I can't wait to read more of your works! - Goodreads

If you enjoy a tale that feels like a piece of sculpture with its defined lines and solid feel, Broken is a dark tale that will draw you in and rattle your senses as it refuses to let you go. We all like different types of art, modern, Renaissance, whatever, but when a piece of art hits you, no matter the medium, it draws you in and stays with you long after you’ve finished viewing it, standing in awe of the artist’s talents. That is how I feel about Traci L. Slatton’s work, a little different, very deep and memorable. - Goodreads

GUEST POST
Developing the leading heroine of BROKEN 
by Traci L. Slatton 
June, 2013 I spent in Paris. It was a personal writing retreat, so I was supposed to be writing. I was also researching World War II for a novel set primarily in Berlin and Munich; Paris was going to be my base for that, since I can negotiate the French language but do not speak German. 

I found myself walking around the City of Lights. The weather was warm, not hot, and the sunlight, like an opulent perfume with unending sillage, lasted until far into the evening. So I explored the city on foot. For hours every day, I traipsed around the boulevards and the byways, falling ever more deeply in love with the white limestone buildings, cafes with their wicker tables and chairs, curving Seine, and arrondissements with their distinct personalities. 

Somewhere in all this perambulating, a story about a fallen angel living in Paris rooted itself in my mind. I daydreamed it as I strolled down the Boulevard Raspail. Daydreams aren’t enough to turn an idea into a concrete book, so I began to think carefully about my protagonist. What was she like? Who was she? How did falling affect her, and what did it mean that she used to be an angel? 

Three or four fully developed traits make a for a three-dimensional character, I find. Fewer than that and a character feels flat. More than four and the character gets unwieldy, and it’s hard for readers to get a handle on the character. So I formulated Alia’s traits as ethereal, tolerant, mirthful, and profoundly sensual. 

Alia, I imagined, was ethereal, with a kind of appealing lightness and delicacy of being, because she had originated in heaven. She was tolerant because she had chosen to fall, which is a straightforward choice to sin. So she wouldn’t judge anyone for their choices. She was mirthful because she had a large perspective on things. She’d seen the panoply of history, after all. 

The sensuality came partly from mythology, from the stories of Cupid and Psyche, Cupid being a winged being who had a sensual relationship with his wife Psyche. Cupid’s Greek counterpart is Eros. I also had in mind Canova’s deliciously sinuous sculpture of Cupid and Psyche, and the Biblical stories of angels mating with human beings. So these images combined to give Alia her erotic nature. 

Once I understood her, her time in Paris while it was occupied by the Nazis took shape…

About the author:
Traci L. Slatton is a graduate of Yale and Columbia, and the award-winning, internationally published author of books of fiction, poetry, and non-fiction. She is also the founder of Parvati Press, an independent press which was recently recognized by the IRS as a 501(c ) (3) not-for-profit corporation.

She lives in Manhattan and her love for Renaissance Italy inspired her historical novelIMMORTAL, which was published around the world and achieved bestseller status in Italy, Russia, and Brazil. BROKEN tells the sensual, heart-rending story of a fallen angel in occupied Paris from 1939-1942. Her novel THE BOTTICELLI AFFAIR is a contemporary romp through the art history byways of vampire lore. Her novel FALLEN is the first of the acclaimed romanticAfter Series set during the end times. Its sequel COLD LIGHT and Book 3 FAR SHORE further the dystopian tale. The quirky, bittersweet sci fi love story THE LOVE OF MY (OTHER) LIFEseeks to answer the question: What worlds would you move for your soulmate?

DANCING IN THE TABERNACLE is her first book of poetry; PIERCING TIME & SPACE is a non-fiction look at the meeting of science and spirit. THE ART OF LIFE is a photo-essay of sculpture history and philosophy written with her husband Sabin Howard, whose work is also showcased.

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