Valentine's Day Contest and the winner is...Andrew Meek.

Congratulations Andrew Meek. This lovely letter has won the Valentine's Day Contest.

My Darling,

Just this morning, as I sat at my desk, my back to the light of the day, a sudden breeze blew the scent of the earth my way, and in an instant I was whisked away. 

It was fifteen years past and you and I where beneath the shade of an orange tree escaping the heat of the midday sun. We were in Venice, in the garden of a church, away from the crowds and the noise. Our daughter sat between us, not quite a year old then, and she ran her fingers along the tips of the grass and she giggled as it ticked her skin. 

Our lives were changing then, at the start of a time when we would no longer just be us two. These past fifteen years have been full of joy and sorrow and such love for another beyond our love for each other; a love I could never imagined before you gave me this gift of another life: Of us, but not us. A true union of our being becoming unique, our gift to each other, and to the universe.

     
And now, she is becoming a woman, and soon perhaps, she will leave us behind, as we left our old lives behind when we found each other. Perhaps she will be lucky like us and find someone who will love her all her life, cherish her, make each day not just a day.

     
And we my love, we will be just two again. And though our bodies will have aged, our hair grey: when I look at you I will still see that girl I saw all those years ago that caught my eye and held it a moment, time enough to alter the future, shape a path through time. I will try all I can to make it easy on you, letting go of the life we made. I will kiss you each morning as I do now, and as I kiss you each night before we sleep. And I want you to know that I would sell my being to bondage for eternity, to have one more hour of life with you.

Book Review "Seithe" by Poppet.

SEITHE
A Novel
by
Poppet.
Meus Mortuus Diligo

I begin to read having no idea what to expect other than the anticipation of knowing that "Seithe" is written by Poppet; and I recall with delight just how damned good "Darkroom" was, and how much I enjoyed it as I begin.



"Seithe" is written in first person and that works well for me …always has.
First person drags me into the voice of Phoebe and her world.


A world that within three chapters has Phoebe going from being red-hot angry at being in a dead end relationship with yet another lazy son-of-a-bitch asswipe; to wandering into a club in search of some mind numbing alcohol.

Simple, yes?  Not a chance. This club is not on the regular tourist route and Phoebe finds herself inside a world of pounding music and dark mystery ... silver eyes and scorching heat, pain and pleasure.


Phoebe meets Seithe and nothing in her world can ever be the same again.


Who is Seithe? … Or better yet, what?

What of the warning issued to Seithe by Darise “hurt her without her permission and you’ll answer to me!”


What the hell{Or someplace like it.} has Phoebe stumbled into?

Too late to worry about that… she is rapidly addicted to the pleasure of the pain, the joy of touch, the sensory delight of taste.

Addicted to the beauty and the danger that is Seithe.


Primordial excitement in a place peopled only by the bold or the extraordinary.


Phoebe is blindfolded and blinded by Seithe, he of the ever changing eyes and moods. Eagerly seeking out human experiences by the observation of her reactions to him and everything he does.


Cold and heat, taste and touch, Phoebe has never experienced the sensations so intensely. She has never felt more intensely, frighteningly, helplessly, alive.


The lessons accumulate…a bite that needs licking..pain that needs celebrating, a life that needs re-learning.


The author has us enthralled and entwined in this relationship. Leading to what?


This is so beautifully paced that I find myself reading faster and faster needing to absorb more and not content to stop and restart. I am writing these notes on paper as I read, I don’t want to stop reading long enough to go into another screen…my notes a strange sort of hieroglyphic that I hope I understand when the book is finished and I need to transcribe what I have written.


There is humor between these pages, the quick witty sarcasm of dialogue and inner thought will raise many a smile as you recognize yourself and other people so clearly.

The author has a knack of dropping a sentence on you that still has you smiling paragraphs later. And hoping you remember the words for future reference.


“You are bound … I can’t have you until you are free”.

 Freedom is what this book is leading me to. The author has a deep insight into what drives our fear and what perpetuates us remaining inside that fear.
She uses that insight to surprise us and shock us. All very effectively.

The author throws down a challenge, are we brave enough to accept? We live inside cages of our own making. This book dares you to open that cage, step out and learn to live.


What is Seithe? An angel or demon?

At this stage of the book I don’t really give a damn what he is … I'm hooked. I want for them both to be able to remain together so badly..I hasten on; needing to know.


I am not going to say more. To spoil this book for you would be an outrageous thing on my part.


It is simply too damned good to have it ruined by revealing any more.

This book is a joyous, at times frightening, mesmerizing and un-put-downable journey into the frailty of the human condition, the fears that drive us and the needs that bind us.


Author Poppet has another hit on her hands.