Guest Blogger: Louisa Kelley

The winner of Louisa's book is: Sarah Raplee. Congratulations, Sarah! Give me your contact information and I'll pass it along to Louisa. Thanks to everyone who participated.

Thank you Lynda, for inviting me to be here today!

HERE BE DRAGONS

This is a big shout out to all of your dragon lovers out there. Are you as crazy about dragons as I am?

As I am a paranormal romance author, I absolutely HAD to write a story about these myth-drenched creatures -- with my own special twist of course! As you can see from the cover of my book, Lydia and the Draca, this erotic paranormal story is about dragons; specifically, a clan of lusty shape-shifters called the Draca.

What on earth is so incredibly compelling and fascinating about the dragon mythology? Certainly I’ve asked myself that many times over the years, as my obsession with all things dragon has been with me since I started reading fantasy books in my childhood. And did dragons ever, really exist?

Here’s a quote from Wikipedia: “Statistically improbable, Dragons are the most likely impossible creature to exist, with a higher (though equally near infinite) improbability assigned to Fairies, Gnomes, Pixies, Witches, and Elves, in that order.”

Hmmm. Truly, they never existed? Sadly, probably not. However, the legendary powers and character aspects of dragons contain a powerful imagery that illuminates something deep in the human unconscious.

A dragon is a symbol of the raw, primal power of life itself. Left alone, it is dormant. Awake, it can manifest as the power of chaos and destruction. Yet, with guidance and education, the dragon's manifestation of power can be constructive, liberating, illuminating. Power of good and evil all encompassed in one entity — exactly the same for us human creatures. Human capacity for good is equal only to its capacity for evil and destruction. Both powers lay within our bodies and spirits, waiting only for the proper trigger to bring them forth.

Which do we choose? Evil or good? (Is there even a gray area anymore?) The mythology of dragons plays out our choices.

Oriental philosophies tended to portray dragons as kind, wise and in service to their enlightened masters. Occidental mythology portrays dragons as evil creatures, laying destruction where it dwells. Fire! Chaos! Death! Yet, in all cases, dragons are shown to have great power. Power that humans have difficulty taming, capturing or controlling. Don’t humans show the same difficulty taming our own destructive natures?

Tales of dragons span cultures and centuries. Almost every religion has stories involving dragons. There is a widespread belief that earlier cartographers used the Latin phrase: “hic sunt dracones” i.e., “the dragons are here, or “here be dragons,” to denote dangerous or unexplored territories on maps.

“Here be dragons” could be used in exactly the same way to denote the unexplored territories of our personal unconscious. When we really dig deep, down into our secret, hidden places, will our findings be dangerous? Exciting? Disastrous? Painful? Full of fire or full of illuminated light?

Which do we choose?

I happily took the entire dragon mythology to a different level, with the addition of the shape-shifter aspect, along with romance and sex. Was it hard to write a story like that? How about incredibly titillating, coming as it did from years of a crazy, secret, fantasy life! Dragons that can become human. Humans that become dragons. Dragons that can love in every possible way in all of their forms. Ahhh…yes!

For artistic inspiration, I use the fantastic dragon images of Ciruelo Cabral. In my opinion, he is one of the great masters of dragon art. I’ve got one of his dragons framed as my muse next to my writing desk.

Check out this site to see what I mean: http://fantasygalleryart.com/ciruelo_cabral.html

And just for fun, if you’re interested in ‘Discovering Your Inner Dragon” take the quiz found at: Discover Your Inner Dragon: http://www.quiz.dmbh.org/

Louisa Kelley continues her obsession with dragons while she writes the second book in her series, “Tales of the Draca.” She'd love you to join her in some over-the-top erotic adventures with the Draca; dragon shape-shifters of a very different kind.

To learn more about Louisa, visit her website at: http://www.louisakelley.com/
http://www.loose-id.com/Lydia-and-the-Draca.aspx

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Louisa will give away a copy of her book to one commenter. Her winner will be selected and posted on Tuesday evening. Stop back by to see if you won. (Louisa is at work all day and will check comments in the evenings.)