She was the overlooked daughter and cousin, dark and small when her cousins were tall and golden. A princess, she would be sacrificed in marriage to buy peace for her uncle's kingdom. A visionary, she glimpsed the future and events half a world away in her dreams. Her heart longed for the old ways, when the one Goddess was worshipped in peace, rather than the new, brutal male gods.
He was the cunning trickster king, lying as easily as other men breathed. He trusted no one, or so the heroes and warriors of Achaia believed. Then he met a woman who could match him in cleverness and vowed he would win her, no matter what it took.
Odysseus went to Sparta with the other princes and heroes to win Helen as his bride, but quickly realized Penelope was the queen who could protect his precious Ithaka through the turmoil of the future. He schemed and lied, and waited until Sparta's king was desperate for a way to protect Helen from the disappointed suitors. Odysseus wove the vows binding all the princes in honor to defend Helen, her husband, and Sparta. The price of his help was Penelope as his bride.
Their love grew despite his schemes and tricks and her quietly rebellious heart. When Paris carried Helen away to Troy, the vows Odysseus wove became the chains that took him from their home to ten years of war.
Their love triumphed, despite vengeful gods and enemies who would have stolen kingdom and queen, and became the greatest love story ever told.
Autorentext
On the road to publication, Michelle fell into fandom in college and has 40+ stories in various SF and fantasy universes. She has a bunch of useless degrees in theater, English, film/communication, and writing. Even worse, she has over 100 books and novellas with multiple small presses, in science fiction and fantasy, YA, suspense, women's fiction, and sub-genres of romance.
Her official launch into publishing came with winning first place in the Writers of the Future contest in 1990. She was a finalist in the EPIC Awards competition multiple times, winning with Lorien in 2006 and The Meruk Episodes, I-V, in 2010, and was a finalist in the Realm Award competition, in conjunction with the Realm Makers convention.
Her training includes the Institute for Children's Literature; proofreading at an advertising agency; and working at a community newspaper. She is a tea snob and freelance edits for a living (MichelleLevigne@gmail.com for info/rates), but only enough to give her time to write. Her newest crime against the literary world is to be co-managing editor at Mt. Zion Ridge Press and launching the publishing co-op, Ye Olde Dragon Books. Be afraid ... be very afraid.
www.Mlevigne.com
www.MichelleLevigne.blogspot.com
www.YeOldeDragonBooks.com
www.MtZionRidgePress.com
@MichelleLevigne
Look for Michelle's Goodreads groups:
Guardians of Neighborlee
Voyages of the AFV Defender
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