Meredith Mansfield, Author

Those of you who’ve read anything I’ve written can probably tell I don’t seem to be able to write anything without squeezing in a little romance along the way. I once wrote a short story that had literally one character (man-against-nature) and I still got a little romance into it if only in the character’s thoughts and motivations. (That story has ties to my Dual Magics series and may get a brush up and see the light of day–be published–sometime in the next year or so.)

Romance, while not absent, isn’t usually a huge element of Epic Fantasy or Sword and Sorcery, yet there’s been a consistent strain of it in my Dual Magics series, too.

THE SHAMAN’S CURSE had a romance threaded through it that actually played a major role in the main character’s ability to overcome his inhibitions about magic–which, in turn, allowed him to finally triumph.

Romance was a smaller element in the second book, THE VOICE OF PROPHECY, but there was still a mostly behind the scenes love story between two of the side characters.

The parts of that romance that were cut from the book may also make an appearance some day as a tie-in short story.

Now, in writing the third book, presently titled BEYOND THE PROPHECY, I get to write another romance that, like the first, is more central to the overall plot. This one is between two of the younger characters. (If you’ve read “Becoming Lioness” you know which two.

“Becoming Lioness” is free, by the way.) This is the early part of their relationship and they’re going to have more to overcome before their Happily Ever After. Still, it’s a lot of fun writing this part.