Welcome to Friday Fantasy here at Sassy Vixen Publishing. I'm The Vixen and excited to welcome our guest today. Author Ruby Fielding starts off her mini tour of our sister blogs. Today's post we get an introduction to her characters from her novella Hunters: A Shifters' World. Sit back and relax and get to know Selene, Skinner and Marshall. Tomorrow Ruby will stop in to visit with the Four Seduced Muses!
Ruby Fielding’s new shifter novella, Hunted, was recently published by James Grieve Press:
Should she struggle
to survive alone or give in to desire and risk the - perhaps deadly - company
of others?
In a world where
plague has swept civilization away like leaves in a storm, where viruses that
cause people to shift and change have altered what it is, for most, to be
human, a few survivors hold out in a desperate attempt to save the human race.
Selene lives alone in the forest, protecting herself from human and shifter
alike until one day a stranger turns up: a young man called Skinner, out on a
quest to hunt down and destroy any shifter he can find. Torn between desire and
fear, Selene must confront her true nature and make some impossible choices if
she is to survive this harsh, post-apocalyptic future.
Hunted: a Shifters' World novella - a
shapeshifter erotic romance of survival and desire in a deadly future from the
co-author of Seduced by Moonlight and
The Touch.
“I'm a huge shifter
fan. I get a kick out of reading even the predictable stuff over and over
again, but Rudy Fielding's novella is an all original treat.” - from a
five-star Amazon reader review.
Want to learn a bit more about Selene, Skinner and the other
characters in Hunted? Read on!
Selene
Well... that’s what
they call me. That’s the name Tabitha gave me when I ended up in that strange
enclave, the Sanctum. Until then I’d lived a quiet life. I had shelter, and
supplies of food and water. I kept myself safe, and I shut myself away at
night... away from the shifters, the ones who had no control and became wild,
dangerous beasts at night. That kind of existence, hiding away from the dangers
of the world... well, it could never last. And sure enough, when Skinner
blundered in with his smoldering eyes and his smooth turn of phrase, I knew
that life was over. I wasn’t prepared for the intensity for the, for want of a
better phrase, sheer animal
attraction that might easily overpower me...
Skinner
I grew up in the
camps, one of many refugees, protected from a world changed by viruses that
turn humans into something else entirely. I grew up in the camps, determined to
break out and see something of this scary new world. And so I took the first
opportunity to go out hunting the beasts. They didn’t call me ‘Skinner’ for
nothing.
Marshall
I am one of the
last true humans, untainted by the shifting viruses, and I have taken it up on
myself to preserve my kind. I am the founder of an enclave of true humans, a
place we call the Sanctum. We protect ourselves from the plagues, and from the
beasts, and our long-term strategy is to breed our kind. Yes, I am a man
surrounded by women and some might see me as lucky to be in such a position.
But me? I am simply serving my kind.
Tabitha
I serve Marshall,
but he barely sees me. In a community where a woman’s role is to breed, a
barren woman is a non-person, little more than a slave. But a person in the
shadows who nobody sees can be full of surprises, and I think that in Selene I
have found not only a true friend, but a person who is key to this dangerous,
changed world of ours.
Excerpt
What
he’s like.
He was a good half a head taller than
Selene, broad across the shoulders, narrow at the hips. He had blue eyes that
cut right through you and fleshy, sensuous lips. Dark hair, a fuzz of stubble
along his jaw and a scar that ran down one side of his neck.
He looked at her as if he were sizing up a
horse. His gaze worked up and down her body as if he could see through her
gown, before fixing on her eyes again. “So,” he said, in a deep voice, “you’re
the new one. You think you might like it here?”
She met his look. She wasn’t going to be
intimidated. She had survived this far on her own, after all.
So why did her voice fail her at that
moment? Why did she open her mouth but only a faint croak escape? “I...” That
and a shrug were all she could manage.
He stepped closer then, and raised a hand.
For an instant she thought he was going to
strike her, but then he simply reached out, and pressed his knuckles to her
cheek, a surprisingly gentle touch. “I hope you do,” he went on. “I’d really
like you to stay. Come. Let’s walk.”
He took her by the arm and led her outside
into the harsh morning sunlight.
“What is this place?” she asked, as they
walked across a yard where women tended neat vegetable plots.
“The Sanctum,” he said. “A sanctuary from
the wild lands. A refuge for pure humankind. We protect ourselves. We are the
future of our species.”
Passing through a gap between buildings,
they emerged in an open space, children running around, tended by more of the
Sanctum’s women.
“These women,” said Selene, clarity
striking her mind like a beam of sunlight breaking through the clouds. “These
children...”
Marshall nodded. “It is our duty to
preserve humankind,” he said.
He moved round to stand in front of her, so
close. “We all must play our part.”
“And if I don’t want to?”
“I would be duty-bound to persuade you.”
With that, he took the back of her head in
one strong hand and pressed his mouth to hers. A brief kiss, and then it was
over, he was stepping back and turning away. She was left standing there, her
heart racing again and her responses so mixed up and contradictory she didn’t
know whether to run or throw herself at him.
“I...” Her voice was gone again. Why was
she reacting like this? She was a strong, independent woman, a survivor.
It was a thing to fear, she knew. Such
strong, immediate reactions. Animal responses. It scared her.
He paused and turned back, smiling, an
expression that was totally disarming. “And I tell you,” he said, “persuasion
is one of the best parts.”
Hunted: a Shifters' World novella is
available from:
Ruby Fielding is a British author, currently living in the heart of a New
England forest. She travels widely, and has lived in England, Scotland, the US,
France, India and Australia. Wherever she happens to be living, you're likely
to find her at the nearest wifi hot spot with her laptop and a large mug of
coffee.
She writes mainly paranormal erotica and romance, sometimes in collaboration with her old friend Polly J Adams; their joint stories are published separately and collected together into the single volume, Seduced by Moonlight.
She writes mainly paranormal erotica and romance, sometimes in collaboration with her old friend Polly J Adams; their joint stories are published separately and collected together into the single volume, Seduced by Moonlight.
All the latest news
on Ruby's writing and publishing can be found on her website and on her Amazon
author page; also, why not join her mailing list, or hook up with her
on Facebook?
