Interview with Gemini Rising's Alain Alastair - Prizes!

Today, I’m interviewing Alain Alastair, a most interesting man.  Please, Alain, have a seat and we’ll begin.  (A tall, stunningly handsome man with pale, long blond hair glides into a chair by the fire.  He speaks with an aristocratic English accent)

 What is your greatest temptation?

            In women:  Long legs

            In food:   Madeira on vanilla ice cream 

            In clothes:  Cashmere sweaters.  The sea wind chills the island, and the castle can be bleak in winter though we do have central heating.

What is your greatest weakness (example: buying shoes)?  Intelligent women.  I think a clever woman with a quick wit is sexy.

If you could have any kind of car, what would it be?  Aston Martin

Your dream home - mountains or ocean?  Alastair Keep is surrounded by the sea. I love the sound of the waves crashing on the rocky shore and the beauty of the endless blue.  I’ve never lived in the mountains. I’d like to spend some time in Colorado, but escape from The Keep is impossible.

Why impossible?  I’m heir to the title and the estates.  Every time I escape, something brings me back.  Often I feel that I belong to the Keep, not that the island belongs to me.

What inspires your inner child?  Riding my horse.  He is aptly named Spirit, and he is both spirited and part of my soul.  We’re working third level dressage now, but he loves to jump.  I’d swear he has wings.

What is your favorite book?  There’s a long list of them.  I liked the V.C. Andrews books.  Have you read Flowers in the Attic?  But I suppose my favorite is The Picture of Dorian Gray.  The thought that life is a mask and Wilde’s lush language are provocative.

What is your favorite movie?  Legends of the Fall.  It’s a very tragic story, but I’ve watched it several times.  For days after, I’m depressed.  (He laughs, the sound musical and as beautiful as he)

Who is your favorite historical figure?  Edward VIII, who abdicated the throne to marry the woman he loved.

You have an identical twin.  Your birth shocked the foundations of the medical world.  You and Alina are the only monozygotic twins born different sexes.  How has that affected your lives?  We try to fly beneath the radar to avoid notoriety. As to affecting my life, I can’t imagine not being a twin.  I'd like to say that we are identical except the differences between a man and a woman.

I guess, as a twin, you are very close to your sister.  (A hesitation)  Yes, of course, we are one being split in two.  As children, we spoke in sync.  Although she is married to my best friend, we are still very close.

Do twins really have a secret language?  (Alain nods)  The formal name for twin talk is idioglossia.  Alina and I can communicate without speaking.  I know what she is feeling.  If she’s in pain, I hurt.  Very inconvenient at times actually.

Amazing.  Thanks for being candid, Alain.  I hope Gemini Rising is a big success.  Where can we get a copy?  Double Dragon Publishing 

Check out the video on YouTube:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=08IGfFxPCWQ

 Prize:  Autographed cover flat and keychain.

Prize 2:  Download of The Night Before Doomsday (available at Amazon.com)

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: