Gemini Rising Print Release Party -- Prizes!!

I am offering a lovely necklace to celebrate the print release of Gemini Rising!  (Pix below)

When I lived in Miami, my friend Deborah and I became interested in many aspects of the New Age philosophies.  We did past life regression, visited a psychic and had an astrologer do our charts.  I am a Capricorn with Aquarius rising.

At that time, I started writing Gemini Rising, which was then called Seeking Eden.  The idea shook me out of bed early one Sunday (after a late night at South Beach), and the characters were most insistent that I tell their story.   I wrote the book in disjointed scenes then left it to ferment in my computer.

This year, a writer friend, Toni Sweeney, encouraged me to finish the book and submit it to Double Dragon Publishing.  When I got back into the story, I really liked it.  From long ago, I remembered that astrological reading, and the new title came to me.  Gemini Rising was perfect for the twins’ tale.

Alain and Alina Alastair (try to say that fast!) are identical twins—male/female defined only by the differences in the sexes—an impossibility that shocks the medical world.  Monozygotic twins are always same sex and share identical DNA.  An interesting aside I found while researching is that a DNA test cannot discern one monozygotic twin from the other but a simple fingerprint can.

Excerpt:

Alain tucked the in-flight magazine into the seat pocket and gazed out the scratched window of the 747.  Distance vanished on clouds fleeing beneath the silver wings, carrying him from a dark-eyed beauty to a fair-haired princess locked in an island castle.  From one life in the sun to a score of problems.

Someone was going to get hurt.

Already he hurt—a low throbbing like a toothache.  If he returned to Portugal, Alina would be devastated.  His father would disown him.  If he picked up his discarded heritage, a part of him would die and Maritza would grieve.  For a time.  He wasn’t vain enough to think the black-haired beauty would die without him.

The choice lay in his hands.

Damn life got complicated when he tried to declare independence from The Keep.  He shifted his long legs cramped beneath the airline seat.  He preferred not to think, but fragments of memory plagued the corners of his eyes.

A vivid picture of Alina supplanted images of recent days drenched white-hot by a Portuguese sun.  His twin’s presence was more corporeal than the woman sitting to his left.  Welcome or not, Alina was there inside him, the mere thought of her a compulsion.  He sensed her anticipation mounting as the miles melted.  Excitement tingled over him.  In self defense, he grasped at a memory of riding the splendid Lusitano stallions.  As he pictured Maritza framed in an arbor of roses, his heart dived.

I’ll be the first to admit that Gemini Rising isn’t for everyone.  There are elements of the story that some will not like and might offend.  I would beg those readers to stay with me to the end.  However, if you are inclined to step off the beaten path, Gemini Rising is for you. 

Thanks for joining us at the Pavilion and enjoy the many wonderful authors’ release parties.  Catch my later post.  I'm interviewing Alain (with another prize)

http://www.lindanightingale.com

Twitter:  @Lnightingale

Buy Link:  Double Dragon Publishing:  http://www.double-dragon-ebooks.com/single.php?ISBN=1-55404-978-4

The necklace: