Meet Laura Tolomei.
If you really want to know, I was born in 1965 in Rome, Italy, but soon started my travelling career. At the age of five, my parents took me to Lagos, Nigeria, where I grew up free and hot like I've never been since. I loved it there and still think of it with nostalgia. Anyway, it was also where I learned English.
After my African experience, I was ready to tackle the US. I lived in Atlanta, GA, five teen-age years, attending the Crestwood High School, where I started my writing career by publishing a short story Nostalgia on the Crestwood Journal. Very thrilled about discovering my new talent, I went ahead during college, writing for the Emory University journal The Phoenix. Three articles mark my first-and last-steps in journalism, "The peace Corps", "WAMM, Women Against Military Madness," and "Lesbism".
After my American experience, I moved back to Rome, but still kept living from time to time abroad, spending several months in Mumbay India, a country I always felt very close to me in more ways than one.
Today, I write both in Italian and English, mostly fiction of various genres, from fantasy erotica, to mysteries up to plain ordinary life stories.For those of you who read Italian, you can simply visit the Italian sections of my website, but if you feel particularly lazy, here's a short summary:
I have a short story on line Incontro Metropolitano (Meeting at the Subway) and two books:
Piccolo Crocevia a Cinque (Little Five Points, for those who know Atlanta it's a spot near Emory University), printed by Editing Edizioni, to be released December 2008.
L'Investigatto (loosely translated The Cat Detective), publisher Ennepil Libri, 2009.
In English, I write erotica in various genres, mostly fantasy, sci-fi and paranormal, sometimes trespassing into contemporary. Feel free to look over my current and future projects by clicking here.
Visit Laura's Website
VISIONQUEST - A GLBT dark shapeshifter erotic by Laura Tolomei
It wasn't till he took me to his bed and made love to me, for the first time - no competition between us, no unspoken challenge, no master-slave, no blood, no death, nothing but intense emotions overwhelming me with the sheer power of his feelings, a sea so deep, a tide so strong I thought I'd drown as he took me face up, raising my legs above his shoulders and plunging deep before preying on my mouth, too, in a never-ending kiss that took my breath, not to mention my resolve, away - that in spite of everything, I gave him what he wanted most, my soul in its entirety, for I knew right there and then I was sealing my destiny forever.BUY THE BOOK *** READ THE EXCERPT
WIN - Leave Laura a question today about her or her new book and your name goes in the hat to win a copy of it!! Please leave your email address, so we can contact you if you are today's winner - Good Luck!
Morning Laura! Or should I say good evening - since you're across the pond in Rome right now!
ReplyDeleteSuper congrats on the new release - I totally LOVE LOVE LOVE that cover - it might be my favorite of your covers - you have to be thrilled with it!
This is a shapeshifter story, is it your first? I know you've written a lot of dark paranormals but can't remember a shapeshifter from you before.
Tell us about this dark and dangerous world you created here for VISIONQUEST and any chance we'll see more from this new world?
Hope VISIONQUEST is your biggest seller yet!
What made you start writing for a living?
ReplyDeleteelizabeth_14@hotmail.co.uk
Congrats Laura on the release of Visionquest!!
ReplyDeleteSandy B.
sandyevebutler@yahoo.com
It’s good evening for me, DeNita, practically good night since it’s dinnertime already. But I’ll gladly spend part of my night with you, celebrating this new release of mine.
ReplyDeleteAbout the cover, I’m more than thrilled, I’m ECSTATIC about it, printed it and hung it behind my office desk for the whole world to see. It’s great, magnificent, sexy dark, enough horror to give the right idea about the book, too. And as usual, I have to thank my husband. He’s the one who comes up with all the ideas for my covers and for my titles, too. Just love him when he gets it right, even if I don’t know how he manages it all the time!
And no, it’s not my first shape shifter story, but it’s the one where I go in greater detail. I tried my hand at it with Bloody Passion, last Halloween’s release, though I didn’t make it clear it was shape shifting because it’s something the main character discovers late in the book. Anyway, I liked it so much, I decided to repeat the experience and this story, like Bloody Passion is in first person POV, only it’s from the non-shifter’s POV.
The idea for Visionquest came to me while visiting Romania and Count Dracula’s castle in particular…I think this says it all, especially for the setting! Time frame is approx that of Dracula, medieval times with few noblemen and the rest of the people being practically their slaves. I also fell in love with the characters, both Ilenio, the young man whose task is to help his master turn into a predator, and Lord Lord Brahany, the Seigneuros of the land, who turns into an eagle to fight evil. And they need to be as connected as possible in order for things to work out and believe me, it’ll get as deep, as hard, as hot as it can ever get!
Thank you for the wish. I’m keeping my fingers crossed…
Laura
Congratulations on your new release! I love the cover. And I liked the excerpt. You've actually been to Count Dracula's castle? Wow!
ReplyDeleteHi, Elizabeth, I wish I wrote for a living. Instead, I have a regular day job, then spend my nights imagining the wildest things and putting some of them in my DOC files. And all this effort because I love writing, always loved it, only for a number of reasons, never had the time to dedicate. Now, after 30 years since I started with my first short piece published on the high school journal, I have the perfect conditions that allow me to devote time and energy on what I really like and some day hope to turn into a living, though it seems a long way ahead. But one thing I learned is that if you have a passion for something, it won’t go away until you’ve satisfied it, which is exactly what I’m doing.
ReplyDeleteHave any visual artists told you that they were inspired by your work?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on the release of Visionquest.
lenikaye@yahoo.com
Congrats, Laura, and good luck with the launch of Visionquest
ReplyDeleteHi, Nas, To be sure, it’s not the actual castle because the original was destroyed piece by piece by Dracula’s enemies. What they now pass as his own is another castle built roughly in the same period only it wasn’t destroyed. After medieval times, it was the Austrian Emperor’s last residence after he lost the First World War. So the castle is well kept, dark and full of mystery as Dracula’s real one must have been, too, complete with secret passages and such. The castle is in Bran, about 40 Bucarest and I really enjoyed the visit when I went there last year.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by,
Thanks, Megan, also for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteCiao,
Laura
Actually Leni, there’s been one of them who was very inspired by my story to paint a dark, bloody picture about one of my novels and it came out great. In fact, he thanked me for the inspiration because it had been a while since he had last painted.
ReplyDeleteGreat cover. Frankly, I love long sentences, but my editors always cut them down. Visionquest sounds like a great read.
ReplyDeleteI have read some of Laura's other works and just loved them. Visionquest has been added to my MUST HAVE NOW list.
ReplyDeleteThanks,
Tracey D
booklover0226 at gmail dot com
Hi, Tracey, great to see you here, and even more to know you appreciate
ReplyDeleteAnd it’s people like you that make it all worthwile, so thank you so much!
Laura
That excerpt sounds delicious! What kind of shifts? I love the cover too.
ReplyDeleteNix
historyofpink@gmail.com
Congrats on the new release. It sounds really good.
ReplyDeleteI like the cover,did you have any input with it?
elaing8(at)netscape(dot)net
I'm wondering how difficult it must be to write in English for you. This is me assuming English is a second language. You must be completely fluent & don't translate in your head. My mind is going off on tangents today.
ReplyDeleteCheers!!
marypres@gmail.com
Hi, Nix, the shift is mainly from human to eagle, which also explains the cover that many mistook for a fallen angel. But my character is more demon-like than he'll ever be an angel, even if his fight against evil redeems him in the end.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a great cover, however you look at it LOL
Laura
About my covers, and titles too, I seldom have a say in it, 'cause I leave it all to my husband. He's the real genius who can come up with one word that says what takes me a whole book to say, or one image that fits perfectly not just th stoy, but captures its mood and general tone. How he does it is beyond me. I think it's a real talent for synthesis, to sum up even the hardest concept in just a few words, and he's great at it. So all compliments about covers and titles should go to him.
ReplyDeleteLaura
Actually, marybelle, writing in English isn't difficult at all, maybe because I learned it when I was five so I consider myself a mother-tongue, or perhaps the fact I've always kept it up by reading, watching TV and movies in English whenever I could. At work I use it frequently because I work in international trade, so have to maintain relations with people and companies all over the world. And no, I don't translate in my head, never have, not even with the other languages I know, which are Spanish and French. It becomes automatic to think in that language alone and already know what it means without having to go through another language.
ReplyDeleteIn a way though, it also makes it hard to think I could ever translate my books from one language to another. An Italian publisher asked me once if I could provide a translation of one of my works, but the task was so strenuous and he wasn't even sure he would publish the material that I didn't feel up to it. Besides, when I think of a story in one language, it's almost impossible for me to make the switch to the other language, as if each were a world on its own without cross-overs.
This works perfectly for my writing, too. Only at times, when I'm looking for a specific word, it'll come to me in Italian rather than English, so I always keep a dictionary Italian-English handy to look up the translation of what comes to me in one language alone. Other than that, I find no difficulty, really.
I hope I made myself clear marybelle because when it comes to explaining how my head works with the different languages, it's not easy since I haven't understood it so well myself LOL
Ciao,
Laura
Hi Laura congratulations on your new release.What is your favorite paranormal creature to write about as well as to read about ?
ReplyDeleteflanagan@mebtel.net
Congratulations on your new release. This sounds like an awesome book.
ReplyDeletesstrode@scrtc.com
Congrats Laura! Awesome cover!! And reading the description had me squirming! (blush)
ReplyDeletejessangil at gmail dot com
-Jessica
Congrats Laura on your new release.Amazing cover. Is this a stand alone Laura or will there be other books ?
ReplyDeleteCarol L.
Lucky4750@aol.com
Flying in the sky losing perception of the reality is just the dream of the actual society, but having someone to watch over you it seems just perfect
ReplyDeletecongratulation for having written it
Congratulations on the new release! I have to read this book. You have caught my interest with the blurb about it.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing with us.
I love the reading of this, you have a wonderful way with words.
ReplyDeleteaibopals AT gmail DOT com
Congratulations on the new release..it sounds stunning, can't wait to read this one.
ReplyDeletemiztik_rose@yahoo.com
Sorry for being absent yesterday, it was one of those days you just run, run, run, and then run some more until all you want to do is crawl in a warm place to sleep.
ReplyDeleteNow about your question, L., if this is a stand alone, I'm not sure yet. Ilenio and Lord Lord Brahany are such great characters, I want to continue their stoy, but I don't know when that will be. At the moment, I have to concentrate on my soon to come release, Re-Scue, which has now been in the working for 2 years, then I have Virtus Saga that alone is quite a task. So maybe in the future, sometimes down the line, you might find a sequel to this incredible story.
Ciao,
Laura
"Flying in the sky losing perception of the reality is just the dream of the actual society, but having someone to watch over you it seems just perfect"
ReplyDeleteThose are the words of my husband, a poet at heart who is can now find the words of his incredible poetry in a foreigh language, too. And I can't tell you how proud it makes me.
Thanks, lover, and I love you, too.
Laura
Thank you, ladydi6497, for stopping by.
ReplyDeleteLaura
And thank you all for coming to my party and sharing your thoughts and comments about my new release.
ReplyDeleteIt was great fun answering your questions or simply get to know you better, and knowing you're all out there gives me new energy to continue writing my stories.
Oh, and the winner of my contest is Elizabeth, so I'll be in touch to confirm your email addy.
A great weekend to all,
Laura