Adventures of a Bookish Foodie: Meet Guest Host Stella McLeod
Hi there I’m
Stella McLeod. I write paranormal and contemporary romance but like all authors
there’s more to me than that. I am a Clinical Psychologist and I’m also a
trained chef. (Elizabeth Russell’s French Cookery School, London and The Cordon
Bleu, London). 
My new
release is a paranormal romance, Always Have and Always Will, about an Immortal
ancient warrior and his long dead partner who has been reincarnated after 2000
years as a modern woman.
Some people say authors are born not made, I think authors are just
people who decide they want to write. The only problem is that once you begin
you don’t want to do anything else. I
decided I wanted to write when I was a teenager. I was abysmal at Maths,
Physics and Chemistry but I was good at English so I entered competitions and
started winning awards. And that old adage about positive reinforcement strengthening
behaviour is true. But what I didn’t know and wasn’t to learn until I became a
Clinical Psychologist was that intermittent reinforcement is the most powerful
force human behaviour.
The biggest
problem about being an author is it’s sedentary. You sit in a chair for hours
on end and when you’re on a roll you don’t want to even get up for a loo break
or a cuppa! And when it’s going slow or you’re editing or writing in the middle
of the night you have to think a lot which requires sustenance, nibbles,
coffee, chocolate, often alcoholic beverages. And then there are all your
writer friends you have to keep up with or keep informed through emails,
face-book, blogs, websites, launches, cover reveals, writing holidays, get
togethers, etc etc. So there is a tendency for even the youngest, beautiful,
tanned and slimmest of authors to get a little older, paler, tubby or bottom
heavy as the years go by. It can be an occupational hazard which is why it’s
better to have your author photography done early in your career, head shots preferably.
(Romance authors love each other regardless of poundage but fans can be a
little more sensitive to change especially the ones who confuse their authors
with their favorite heroines!)
I have lots
of pinterest boards including many food ones as well as book ones. You can find
my one there for this book. (I also write a series of cook books under the
pseudonym D & P Gramp which sell through Amazon).
My love for
food is something that’s never going to change and I have a successful food
blog with one of my daughters. It’s TheCulinaryLibrary.com, so you can also
visit me there.
Rather than
select a recipe today I’ve included some images from my food blog, ones that
don’t need a recipe, ones that will hopefully inspire some creativity.
I hope you
enjoy them while you’re reading Always Have and Always Will.
The digital
download is available here:
The printed
book is available here:
Kind regards
Stella
Mcleod
Always
Have and Always Will
The
Omega Series
Book
1
Stella
McLeod
Genre: Paranormal Romance
Date of Publication: October 1,
2015
ISBN: 1500270598
ASIN: 978-1500270599
Number of pages: 264
Word Count: 70,000
Formats available: pdf
Cover Artist: Hang Le
Book Description:
Reincarnation is easy until you
have to face being murdered a second time. A life destroyed 2000 years in the
past, a buried Greek temple with the secret to Immortality, ancient families
torn apart by betrayal and a modern reincarnated woman who holds the key.
Ana Black thinks a villa on a
Greek Island will be the perfect summer holiday but her plans don’t include
Alexander Petrakis. He’s an ancient warrior who thinks he’s Immortal, says he’s
waited 2000 years for her to return and claims she’s his reincarnated lover, a
woman he freely admits he failed to protect in her past life. Even if she
believes him and gives him a second chance, what hope he won’t fail her again?
With a past she cannot escape and
a future he cannot accept, all they have is the present. Will they find a way
or are they both out of time?
Available at Amazon
Chapter
1. Island of Monemvasia, Greece. Present day.
“I would rather be tied to the soil as another man’s
serf ...than be King of all these dead and destroyed.” ~ HOMER, The Odyssey
When the last
shutters close nothing moves but the wind in the trees and the thin fabric of
my dress as it drums and billows in the air.
I knew it was a
mistake, like my hair. When I’d left it had been neatly arranged in a loose
knot and now it’s unraveling out of control. Like my life.
The streets are
quiet and everyone is inside but I try not to think about the shitty weather,
try to pretend it’s not a bad omen. The oppressive summer heat has given way to
warm autumn days that gave no hint of the winter to come, the blue skies were
bluer, the air cleaner.
Until today.
Today the grey started and rain threatened.
A short while
ago I felt safe, now my imagination creates danger where there is none. But it
doesn’t matter, just like the rain and mist in the darkening streets don’t
matter and the shutters closed against the coming storm don’t matter. The local
villagers snug and warm behind those shutters though, are smarter than me.
But I have no
choice. I have to meet him or the Greek authorities are going to burn my
passport, lock me up and throw away the key.
I rub my arms,
not for warmth but to brush away the goose bumps that thinking of Alexander
Petrakis brings. I should be scared and I am, I should abandon my crazy plan
but I can’t, and if I try walking any faster in these high-heeled shoes
skipping the country is going to be a lot harder with a broken leg.
So I keep my
head down, watching for rising cobblestones that might trip me up and see a
scruffy dog instead. He’s too happy to see me, too sad to be anything but a
stray. If he were mine I’d have him inside on a night like this. So I stop for
a few minutes to give him a scratch behind the ears and a few words of comfort.
“Gotta go now,”
I say shooing him off gently, making promises I can’t keep, watching him amble
away with his hunched shoulders and limp tail in search of comfort and shelter
he will never find. I walk away fast, think of other things but my hearts
racing and breaking for not turning around and not doing the right thing. I
should take a lesson from him, do a runner and take him with me. But it’s too
late for me for that.
I pass an
ancient olive tree that flashes its leaves to me in the wind, flipping them
silver to green then silver again, sending me a thousand SOS’s. I ignore their
warning and instead look out to sea at the jutting island with its crumbling
relic and ancient ruins that fills tourists with awe. I shudder. It makes my
flesh crawl and affects my mood. Dark weather stirs dark thoughts, and dark
thoughts are perfect for dark deeds.
Across the
narrow straight of choppy sea I estimate distance, current, and opportunity.
It’s far, but not too far to steer a boat against the tide. I calculate the
risk of missing the dock against the likelihood of being smashed against the
rocks; glad I didn’t make that mistake.
That mistake I
avoided by going the long way around and walking across the long causeway, but
I’ve made plenty of others.
He’s chosen the
place. I would have preferred the plush Chrisovoulo or the Kastraki for our
meeting rather than his stuffy restaurant but he’s insisted, owns it evidently.
I guess it doesn’t really matter in the end because I doubt I’ll feel safe
anywhere in Greece at the moment. At the moment I just feel betrayed.
I walk along the
waterfront then turn into the small lane and make my way carefully up the steps
to the Bellagio. I don’t want to open the door. That fact alone should chill me
to the bone, instead
I’m on fire,
feel slightly sick, getting a temperature maybe. I take a deep breath, push
harder and step across the threshold into my future and a blast of hot air
where my skin is cold, then hot, then cold again; tingling with dread or
excitement, I’m not sure which. My senses are confused. My life is confused.
Same old, same old, nothing new tonight then for Ana Black.
About
the Author:
McLeod’s books deliver exotic and
interesting locations with characters flawed in quirky everyday ways and as a
Clinical Psychologist, she draws on psychological insights into human behaviour
and motivation to bring her story and characters to life. Published for over
twenty years in a variety of media including television, books, electronic and
print media, with additional qualifications as a London trained chef, food
writer and lecturer means her readers will always find psychological
complexity, tension and food written into her books. Stella McLeod is a member
of the Australian Romance Writers Association.
Web: www.Stellamcleod.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/di.gramp
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/authorstellamcl/
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