Guest Author Elizabeth Preston

Elizabeth Preston is with me today to give us a look at her novella,
The Outcasts, a story of the Australian Rainforests, prejudice, and an unlikely love.

(The Outcasts is scheduled to go live on Amazon TODAY! I will post the buy link as it comes available)

Back cover blurb:

In 1889, the Northern Australian Rainforests are cruel and prejudiced places to live.

Hunter, born from an English mother and a native Australian father, does not fit well with either group. He is an outcast. The new English settlers fear and demonise him because he is dark skinned, unpredictable and frighteningly strong.

Long ago, Hunter survived his mother’s murder. An Aboriginal witch doctor found the dying boy and used tribal magic to save his life. Hunter grew fearfully strong, but this gift of ferocity and strength came at a cost.

Now, as an adult, he wanders the rainforest at night venting his anger and frustrations. He is not safe to be around.

But wayward Alice thinks otherwise.


Excerpt:


 “So, is this how it is to be? The English have sent me a prize this time, a fine English lady who also knows how to be a whore in bed?”

That was it! She was seething now, way too angry to feel fear, or restraint. “No one has sent me. I am my own person, I go where I please. I do not care what the others say. And I would not make advances toward you if my life depended on it.”

“Ha!” he said. “I think you might.”

“I can assure you,” she hissed, “that I would not. I’d rather seduce a python, I’d rather bed a Tasmanian tiger and I’d kiss a web filled with spiders rather than be intimate with you. All three creatures at once would be a preferable fate.”

He roared with laughter. Then he stopped laughing and crept close enough so that his heavy lashes brushed against her cheek. “If I kissed your beautiful mouth, then you would respond. I would see to it that you did.”

Almost spitting, she said, “You are rude, contemptuous and . . .” She struggled for words. “. . .gravely misguided. The English do not sacrifice their women. And what on this God-given earth makes you think that anyone, not just the English but anyone at all, would want to please you?”

“You have been sent down here to warm my bed. I am sure of it.”

Alice supposed that she should be scared. Anyone that deluded deserved to be feared but she was simply too angry to care. “The others warned me about you,” she said.

“There. I knew it. You lied. You do know more about me than you let on.” He backed away, almost satisfied.

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About Elizabeth:

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Elizabeth spent her first life in New Zealand but now calls sunny Sydney home. She lives with one patient husband, one grown son and one very naughty little dog.

She always wanted to be a writer but tried everything else first. She’s been a teacher, a ship’s cook, a ticket seller and an advertising person paid to spend other people’s money. She likes being a writer best.

Elizabeth dreams of moving to the postcard-perfect Southern Highlands of New South Wales. There, she will unleash her dark heroes and dastardly plots and generally cause mayhem. The dream also involves flapping ducks, wandering alpacas and an assortment of other animals for her dog to bark at.

Elizabeth won an award from The Society of Women Writers, WA and slogged away at a writing degree from Southern Cross University.

The Outcasts, published by Soul Mate Publishing, is her first novella. Elizabeth’s blog address is: http://elizabethpreston.wordpress.com.

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