I have a new guest author this week – the wonderful Shelley Munro! She’s here to share some unique New Zealand mythology and give away a copy of Make that Man Mine! I’ll hand things over to her now…
The Terrifying Taniwha
My name is Shelley Munro, and I was brought up hearing tales from Maori mythology. Everyone in New Zealand knows of Maui who fished our country from the sea. One particular beast from the legends has always fascinated me, and that’s the taniwha.
The taniwha (pronounced tan-e-far) is a Maori monster, a ferocious beast that ate naughty children and devoured warriors and other hapless people who found themselves in the wrong place.
If I were to describe a taniwha to a non-New Zealander I’d say they were a water dragon since many taniwha live in lakes, rivers and the sea. According to my research they were often called lizards by the Maori people. In Maori mythology lizards are symbols of death and the appearance of one is an ill omen. Our New Zealand lizards are small, but the idea of a large one inspired fear in everyone.
While most taniwha lived in water, some made their homes in caves or under mountains. Those earthquakes—caused by a taniwha! Some of the monsters could fly while others were capable of traveling underground. Some taniwha looked whale like.
Local Maori tribes were able to appease taniwha with offerings of food, and they received protection in return. But the taniwha were known to turn on their benefactors if the food supply dwindled or wasn’t good quality. Beware the grumpy taniwha!
Occasionally a man or woman transformed into a taniwha after carrying out bad deeds. Sometimes the transformation happened due to bad luck.
Taniwha can talk, which makes for easy communication, although I understand their growls can be fearsome too. The other thing about taniwha is that they like to take human wives and aren’t above stealing them if the opportunity presents itself.
I used the legend of the taniwha in my romance Make That Man Mine.
Make that Man Mine
by Shelley Munro
On her 25th birthday Emma Montrose decides it’s time to show bad boy investigator, Jack Sullivan she’s more than an efficient secretary. She’s a woman with needs, and she wants him.
Jack is a taniwha, a shifter, who requires women to satiate the sexual demands of the serpent within. Nothing more. Then work forces the reluctant Jack and ecstatic Emma undercover as a couple. Thrown together, pretence and reality blur generating hot sex laced with risk…
Of course, I changed the legend to suit my story. Jack, my taniwha, is a private person and working with Emma pushes his buttons in a big way. He’s fighting both his own taniwha instincts and Emma’s enthusiasm. I fear he’s fighting a losing battle!
Buy Links
Ellora’s Cave http://www.ellorascave.com/make-that-man-mine.html
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0031Y9CV0
All Romance e-books http://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-makethatmanmine-452836-144.html
Source: Taniwha, Giants and Supernatural Creatures by AW Reed and Ross Calman
Think about myths and legends from your country. Is there one that you think could work in a romance?
Author Bio
Shelley Munro is tall and curvaceous with blue eyes and a smile that turns masculine heads everywhere she goes. She’s a university tutor and an explorer/treasure hunter during her vacations. Skilled with weapons and combat, she is currently in talks with a producer about a television series based on her world adventures.
Shelley is also a writer blessed with a VERY vivid imagination and lives with her very own hero in New Zealand. She writes mainly erotic romance in the contemporary, paranormal and historical genres for publishers Carina Press, Ellora’s Cave and Samhain Publishing. You can learn more about Shelley and her books at these links.
WEBSITE: http://www.shelleymunro.com.
BLOG: http://www.shelleymunro.com/blog
FACEBOOK: http://www.facebook.com/ShelleyMunroAuthor
GOODREADS: http://www.goodreads.com/ShelleyMunro
PINTEREST: http://www.pinterest.com/ShelleyMunro
TWITTER: http://www.twitter.com/ShelleyMunro
AMAZON AUTHOR PAGE:Â http://www.amazon.com/Shelley-Munro/e/B001JOWGNK
I love stories around mythology and legends. It’s cool to learn new stories. Thanks for the giveaway.
mythic021@gmail.com
I do too, Vanessa. Thanks for stopping by.
Ghosts are great in romances, but I love the ideas from the SouthWest. You need to write one 🙂
Very cool legend! I’ve never heard this one before but it’s very interesting and how cool that you were able to use it to write your own hot romance book! Thanks for the giveaway too.
No, we keep the taniwha corralled down this end of the world. Lucky for you 🙂
Felicity – thanks so much for having me to visit today.
Cery interesting. I never heard of a taniwha. TH eonly legend I can think of is the chupacabra.
LOL I haven’t heard of a chupacabra. I’m going to have to Google. I don’t know what we did before Google!
I can’t think of any legends we have in my area of the U.S. Now we do have many stories of hauntings and I love ghost stories! Thanks for the giveaway!
You’re welcome, Susan. I enjoy ghost stories too. In fact I’m definitely adding a ghost to a story I’m mulling over at the moment.
Yea!
Wow! I always wondered why they were called dog soldiers. I’m not sure that I’d go out after dark to search for them. A ghost-hunter, I’m not!
the only one i can think of is the fact that on the east coast of canada is a cove called peggy’s cove and it gets its name from a woman who drowned there while waiting for her love to return
Oh, that’s a little sad. It reminds me of the balconies called widow’s walks where the wives of sea captains used to go to watch for the return of their husband’s ships. Thanks for stopping by!
This is going to sound completely bizarre, but what if someone wrote a shifter romance where the shifter was Big Foot? Lol! We love reading about a tormented hero(ine), right? Ya don’t get more tormented, and in need of a loving significant other, than Big Foot!
Oh! Oh! I’ve read a Big Foot romance. Paige Tyler wrote one for Ellora’s Cave. I can’t remember the title. I think it’s a great idea BTW. A good writer can make me believe anything 🙂
Bigfoot is the one that comes to mind for me, too.
Big Foot could be quite sexy, I think 🙂