Guest Post with Author Marie Treanor and Giveaway

Today I would like to welcome to the blog author Marie Treanor. Marie is currently on tour promoting the release of her book Blood Eternal which is part of her Awakened By Blood series. So please everyone, give Marie a big warm welcome. 

Speaking Scots by Marie Treanor

As a reader and a writer of romance, I can’t help being aware of the popularity of Scottish Highlander romances. I set a lot of my own books in Scotland – at least partly. For example, my heroine of the Awakened by Blood trilogy is Scottish, and some of the important action in each book takes place in both the Highlands and the Lowlands of Scotland. So there are Scottish characters there; in other books I have had Scottish heroes – even occasionally in kilts! – and of course they all do their fair share of talking, both in my head and on the paper.

Probably because I am a Scot (by residence as well as birth!), one of the things that stands out for me in the Highlander romances is the tendency of many to quote the direct speech of Scottish characters in dialect. I imagine it must draw readers into the story more, make it more real for them, to have the accent constantly there - especially if they like Scottish accents!

However, I've never been able to write speech in the "accepted" dialect - partly because, to me, Scottish speech is normal and I doubt I hear it as non-Scots would anyway. But I do love accents and different ways of speaking English, and in my direct speech I try to follow the rhythms and word patterns of the accents rather than altering the way the words are spelled, whether the speaker is English, American, Scots, Hungarian or whatever. (Unless my character is taking the mickey, of course)!

For Scottish characters, I also like to throw in some uniquely Scots words - some of which are pretty funny even to me! - although the difficulty here is that unless I explain them, I run the risk of no one outside Scotland understanding them! Anyway, I thought I might entertain you today with a few amusing Scots words, which I may or may not have used in my books…

1. bahooky; hurdies – bottom (as in buttocks!)
2. maroculous - drunk
3. stoatin' – literally “boucing”, but also used to mean “great”, or alternatively “drunk”!
4. nyaff – a twerp with vaguely hooligan tendencies (apparently has some connection to “knave”)
5. wean; bairn - child
6. stoor - dust
7. ashet – a particular type of pie dish or plate
8. pruch - freebies
9. haver – talk rubbish; or vacillate.
10. dreep – to drop down from a height.

I’d be interested to know if you’ve ever heard any of these words before, or if you could have guessed their meaning without the translation?

Blood Eternal
Marie Treanor
Awakened by Blood, Book 3
Signet Eclipse Mass Market Paperback
4th October 2011

Secrets don't disappear after seduction... Elizabeth Silk is struggling to reconcile her passion for the vampire overlord Saloman and her allegiance to the vampire hunters. When a shocking vampire revolt calls Saloman away from her, she refuses to follow him. To make matters worse, Saloman’s beloved cousin Luk has been found and awakened by one of his greatest enemies. Frenzied with bloodlust, Luk embarks on a killing spree and prepares to expose Saloman’s biggest vulnerability: Elizabeth. But under Saloman’s regime, vampires have become less concerned with secrecy, no longer willing to hide their power. Rumors are swirling about attacks on humans. After Saloman joins forces with the vampire hunters to consolidate his power, Elizabeth begins to understand her role in the inevitable collision of the two worlds. She could bring resolution between vampires and humans—if she can manage to stay alive long enough to play both sides…

Places to purchase:

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**Excerpt**

Set up: An Ancient vampire, believed to be Saloman’s newly awakened cousin Luk, has gone on the rampage in the Turkish hills. Elizabeth Silk is helping the hunters to track Luk and his allies…

Luk began to run, and as his limbs stretched out, he remembered their strength and what they could do. A surge of excitement urged him to speed up, to run around the entire world and never stop. But her scent was close and sweet, and as he leapt down the final fifty feet to land right in front of her, he grew dizzy.

Startled, the woman fell back, her dark hazel eyes huge in her beautiful face. Hair the color of a long-forgotten sunrise whipped against her soft cheeks in the breeze. Blood pumped through her delicate veins. The sound and smell of it drove him to new hunger, but this was one human he’d never kill.

“Tsigana,” he whispered.

The name held Elizabeth frozen. She’d had an instant’s warning from the Ancient detector, which suddenly, after indicating his slow plod away from her, went nuts, the readings obviously failing to keep up with the speed of the vampire who leapt out in front of her a bare instant after she’d known he would.

She’d had time to press her buzzer, at the same moment it had gone off in warning. The others knew. So she backed off, giving them time to get here, holding the stake poised for the vampire’s attack that didn’t come. He stood unmoving, staring at her.

The ordinary vampire detector in her pocket was still and silent. So the Ancient was alone. She prepared to attack, targeting the spot in his chest that she needed, but before she could fly at him, he said, “Tsigana.”

If he’d said her own name, if he’d called her Jane or Esmeralda or Buffy the Vampire Slayer, she wouldn’t have hesitated in the slightest. But he said Tsigana, as if he’d seen straight to her one weakness, a jealousy that amounted almost to fear of the long-dead human woman who had once held Saloman’s heart.

Her fingers curled convulsively on the stake, altering its aim by accident, and she had to readjust it. The Ancient who was Saloman’s cousin, his onetime friend and his betrayer, one of Tsigana’s three vampire lovers, continued to stare at her. She had the impression that if he breathed he’d have been panting, but weirdly, she sensed no threat from him. He lifted his arms slowly, reaching out to her with intense, weirdly unfocused longing. Understanding slammed into her like a blow.

“I’m not Tsigana,” she said between her teeth. “I’m Elizabeth, the Awakener.” And she flew at him, aware her aim was true. She summoned every ounce of strength, every ounce of power she believed in. Because she didn’t know how long the hunters would take to get here, she had to try to do it alone, as she’d once tried to kill Saloman alone. She still believed she could have slain him, using her power as his Awakener, but she’d never found out for sure, because her heart, not her body, had prevented it. There was no such prevention here; Luk was the cause of most of the unbearable pain that had haunted Saloman for centuries. He was as good as dead, and she couldn’t even regret her lack of compassion.

But he didn’t wait for her. He leapt back so fast she didn’t even see him move. Her stake sliced through air, almost overbalancing her.

“Not Tsigana,” Luk repeated. He sniffed the air. “Tsigana is dead.” Again she leapt, this time before she finished speaking, but again he evaded her. A howl rent the air, like a dog or a wolf in agony. It had to be coming from Luk, as his distant figure leapt back up the hillside at impossible speed, the bloodcurdling wail fading with him into the night. Not because he’d stopped crying, but because he was too far away to be heard.

“Shit,” Elizabeth whispered. With shaking hand she retrieved the Ancient detector from her pocket. The pointer indicated the hill up which Luk had vanished, the display counting madly as the distance increased. Then it went dead. Elizabeth delved for her phone, just as the needle swung rapidly several degrees to the west, and the display galloped forward.

Oh, hell, he’s doubling back. He’s gotten over Tsigana and now I’m dinner.

**Author Info**

Marie Treanor lives in Scotland with her eccentric husband and three much-too-smart children. Having grown bored with city life, she resides these days in a picturesque village by the sea where she is lucky enough to enjoy herself avoiding housework and writing sensual stories of paranormal romance and fantasy.

Marie Treanor has published more than twenty ebooks with small presses, (Samhain Publishing, Ellora’s Cave, Changeling Press and The Wild Rose Press), including a former Kindle bestseller, Killing Joe. Blood on Silk: an Awakened by Blood novel, was her New York debut with NAL.

In the Awakened by Blood series, Marie is delighted to be able to bring together her long-standing loves of vampire stories and Gothic romance.

Places to find Marie:

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**Keep a lookout for a review on this book coming soon**

**Giveaway**

Courtesy of Marie Treanor and Bewitching Blog tours, one lucky commenter will win a copy Blood Eternal-US shipping only. So make sure to leave a comment and fill out the Rafflecopter form.