Erato:

Book Two in the Sophia Katsaros Series

Hello everyone, I thought I would post an update on the series. I just finished book 2 and am now in the editing process. Yay! Once I've read through it and made some changes I’ll send that off to my editors. I’m hoping the book will be out in March or April.

Book 2 picks up at exactly where book 1 ends. Obviously, as there is a book 2, Sophia manages to survive the encounter with the wolf in her apartment. I don’t want to ruin it for you, so I won’t tell you how.

When I began this book, I thought I knew how it was going to end. And while that ending stayed true, I had characters still living that I expected to be dead. Which just goes to show that I don’t have any real control over my characters. I just take dictation.

So, what’s this book about? Well, as with the last book, there are several threads that are woven together as the story progresses.

With this book there is a wolf story-line. The wolves are being hunted. No one knows who is doing it, or why and the wolves bodies are left burnt and smoldering. This is not how the wolves tend to their dead and they find it incredibly offensive.

Then there is Sophia’s story line. Her story is the tent pole that all the other ribbons twine around.  So, as I said the wolves are being hunted and based on the events of the last book, Sophia is their main suspect. The Efarmostís, the enforcers for the pack, are sent to eliminate what is perceived as a threat to them. That would be Sophia. But America is not Europe and giant wolves in Cincinnati Ohio create quite a news sensation.

Unfortunately, there are some innocent people that are killed. In an effort to protect those she loves Sophia makes a deal with the Alpha of the pack to help him find the killer. The problem with that is the Efarmostís are a law unto themselves, and once they are dispatched they are not so easily recalled.  So, what remains to be seen is if Sophia can find the real killer before the Enforcers find her.

And lastly, there is the story of the Dryad. If you stop and think her story is the reason for all of the others. In her quest to find love she had a child, Accalia. That child became queen and was betrayed. That betrayal was the cause for the curse that created the Lykaonas pack. In this book we learn more about the dryad. Her loves, and losses and about her decision to interact with humans. Her relationship with her grandchild Illyanna is developed. And we learn what role, if any, she is to play in Sophia’s life.

This series hinges on the notion that the Greeks gods are only myths. But that within those myths lay truth. And those truths include dryads, naiads, oceanids and wolves that take human form. In this book, I take the myth of the Satyr god Pan and explain that. The image above is of Pan playing his pipes for the dryads to dance to. 

I had a lot of fun writing this book. It took me on a journey of twists and turns. There are some new characters as well as the return of some old favorites. The rise of ancient evil and explanation of dryad magic round out the book.

I look forward to sharing this with you, and hope that you enjoy it as much I did.

~Sharon 

Lykaia: Book 1 of the Sophia Katsaros series can be found in all formats

E-book

Paperback

Audio

Coronus

It is no secret that I love mythology. Over the years I have read and re-read many myths, and yet I still recall the very first one. It’s about the crow. Let me share it with you….

She was princess Coronis, daughter of Phlegys, King of Lapiths. And yet she stood on the dias, speechless. He told her father that he loved her and wanted to be with her. On some level she recognized that he never mentioned marriage, but she was too shocked to give voice to it.

Had any other come to the palace and made such an offer, to have the daughter of the king as a concubine, his head would be gracing a spike along the palace walls. But this was no mere man. This was Apollo, the god of medicine and healing, music and poetry. And he desired her.

So she did as her father commanded. She submitted to Apollo. He was handsome enough and the novelty of it all glimmered like gold for many months. Eventually she became pregnant. She shared this news with Apollo who seemed genuinely happy about it.

But he was gone so often. Apollo had eternity, an so did not realize what the separation did to his new consort, a human, confined to a finite span of years.  Any peers that she had were no more. She was the consort of a god. And those she counted among friends now visited her with tongues filled with poison. They cast their darts, wicked words that stung and left her in tears. She was so lonely It was this loneliness that led her to the arms of Ischys, son of Elatus. He was kind and gentle. And she loved him. She had never loved Apollo. She had been fascinated by him, but she had never loved him.

They kept the affair quiet. But such things are hard to keep secret. Apollo had given her a pair of crows as a gift. Her name, Coronis, meant crow. She could tell no one of her love for Ischys, but she could tell her crows. She loved the birds and would often stroke their soft downy white feathers while she extolled the virtues and virility of her lover. Those confidences would be her undoing

The crows, being the pets of Apollo, took the news back to him, but he did not believe them. So, he cursed the crows for telling lies, instantly their feathers turned from downy white to deepest black.

The seed of doubt had been planted, and so the son of Zeus watched. He watched as his beloved Coronis met Ischys in a glen. He watched them lay down together. Then he could watch no more. Devastated, he poured out his anguish to his twin sister, Artemis.

Artemis, enraged on behalf of her brother, killed Coronis and threw her body on the funeral pyre. Apollo killed Ischys in the glen where he and Coronis had been meeting. Coming to stand beside Artemis at the funeral pyre Apollo took sympathy on the unborn child and saved it from the fire. He was sure it was his, but did not have the heart to raise a child by her.

He gave the child that he named Asclepius to the centaur Chiron. He instructed Chiron to teach him about medicine and healing. To the crows that he had cursed he made the bird sacred. Giving it the task of announcing important deaths in an effort to make amends for his disbelief.

In all of my reading I have yet to find a happy ending in Greek Mythology. And still the stories call to me, and hold me in thrall. The next story to capture me was the myth of King Lykaonas of Arcadia.

Lykaonas was the father of 50 sons. They were bold and proud and thought themselves better than most, and denied themselves nothing. They invited Zeus to a dinner party. Zeus came, but he had neglected his people. They were angry and they wanted a sign of his blessing. Proof of his divinity.

A human child was sacrificed and baked into the pie that was served to the god. Upon tasting it the god immediately knew what it was. He became enraged. ‘Because you have behaved like an animal, so shall you become!’  Then Zeus spoke the curse that had those gathered at the party shaking in fear. Where once the mighty king stood, now sat a great shaggy beast. Wolf. 

Because the king had been a faithful follower, Zeus granted him a small reprieve. If the king abstained from eating human meat for nine years he would be returned to his human form.

Then Zeus collected all the pies, but there was not enough left of the sacrificed boy to revive him. And so, the father of all the gods made a memorial to the boy in the heavens. A constellation that the king would see whenever he hunted at night. Forever reminding him of his foolishness for attempting to trick a god.

It is from this myth that the term Lycanthropy takes its name. And it is this myth that inspired my novel Lykaia, book one of the SophiaKatsaros series. In Lykaia, Dr. Sophia Katsaros receives a cryptic phone call from Greece. Her brothers that had been vacationing there are missing. In an effort to find them she becomes entangled in a 5000 year old mystery surrounding the ancient king of Arcadia. Along the way she is forced to accept that there are more things in the world than can be explained. Including the possibility that one or both of her brothers have become Wolf during an ancient ritual call the Lykaia.

I had a great time writing Lykaia and am now working on book 2: Erato. In this book Sophia is back, as is the Lykaonas pack. In book 2 the wolves are being hunted and based on the events of the last book, Sophia is the main suspect. The pack’s enforcers are sent to eliminate her. In an effort to protect those she loves she makes a deal with the alpha to help find the killer. 

What remains to be seen is if she can find the killer before the enforcers find her....

The Sophia Katsaros Series

From the very beginning Lykaia was a story that took hold of me and refused to let go. I first found the myth of King Lykaonas several years ago whilst doing research for an historical fiction novel set in ancient Greece. I didn’t have a reason to use that myth but the notion of stayed with me.

Last October I entered a Flash Fiction contest.Since it was Halloween themed I thought a werewolf story would work well.  I finally had the chance to incorporate this myth that had intrigued me so much. The prologue in my novel Lykaia is flash fiction piece that I wrote.

But the Lykaonas wolves were not content with a 1000 word flash fiction piece. They demanded a novel. So, I wrote one. Along the way I found a strong, intelligent and sometimes irreverent female main character named Sophia Katsaros. And like the wolves, she demanded more. She was not content with just one book. She wanted a series.

I am thrilled to announce the publication of Lykaia. Book one in the Sophia Katsaros Series.

The cover is complete and thanks to the original artwork of Chris Paradis it is gorgeous. The inspiration for the cover is an ancient urn depicting a man wearing a wolf skin in an attempt to become Wolf. In Lykaia it is Wolf that becomes Man instead of the traditional werewolf story wherein a man is bitten and transformed into an animal.  Chris created an urn with a wolf wearing the skin of a man. The result if phenomenal. I couldn’t be happier with it.

Lykaia will be available in print and e-book July 31^st with an audio version coming a few months after. Sophia had a neat orderly life. Thanks to the Lykaonas wolves and a dryad that life will never be the same again. There are so many exciting and terrifying things in store for Sophia. I hope you will come along for the ride.

Sharon Van Orman

Cover for Lykaia
Artwork by Chris Paradis

Lykethos-dolon
On display in the Louvre

Harper Collins Review of Lykaia

 Hello everyone,

As most of you know I posted a partial of Lykaia on Harper Collins' site Authonomy.com. It is a site for writers and basically serves as the slush-pile for HC. Each month the top 5 books are selected for editorial review by an HC editor.

When I first uploaded Lykaia, the last day of December 2011,  its entry rank was around 5600. Within 2 weeks it was 152 and by the end of the first month it was #10. It was selected as the #1 book on the site in March.

Generally, the reviews take months to come in, but today I received my review! I'm not unhappy with it. They said Lykaia was publishable and marketable. Which are good things. And keeping in mind that I wrote this in 7 weeks for Nanowrimo (National Novel Writer's Month) and while I edited for punctuation and grammar I've made no changes to the story. So, Lykaia in its current form is still a first draft.

Also, I recently signed a three book deal with Spore Press!  Lykaia will be traditionally published in both print and e-book form and should be out before Halloween to coincide with when the story starts.

Thank you to everyone who has come along with me on this journey. I promise to keep you posted as the adventure continues.

All the best,

Sharon

*************************Harper Collins Review of Lykaia***********************


When Dr Sophia Katsaros, a Forensic Pathologist living in modern day Chicago, receives word that her two brothers have disappeared from their apartment in Greece, she travels to Europe to learn more. Although characterised by her Western reliance on logic and empirical systems of knowledge, Dr Kat is unable to ignore her hunch that there is more to her brothers’ disappearance than is first apparent. Confronted by the cryptic reactions of the locals and disturbing body of evidence, she begins to consider the possibility that their disappearance might relate to the Lykaia: an ancient, cannibalistic ritual rumoured to transform men to wolves.

‘Lykaia’ falls within the fantasy genre, but stands out from the current fashion for epic Fantasy by using a modern setting and including elements of mystery and thriller. The narrative takes as its basis the Greek myth of King Lycaonas and his fifty sons, transformed into wolves by Zeus after challenging the God’s divinity. This works well as a hook; resituating the myth within the context of the 21st century helps you avoid ‘Lykaia’ being too niche or too overdone.

There are some areas, particularly where the plot and characterization are concerned, that are under-developed, but these could be resolved. On first reading I felt a key issue to be that, though evident, Dr Kat’s struggle to defy her natural reliance on fact and logical probability to consider the implausible is not complex enough. Further motivation for her entertainment of the possibility of the supernatural, even when the narrative sets her firmly against it, would make her dilemma more compelling.

Following on from this, Dr Kat’s inconsistent reaction to her brothers’ potential death is problematic – you need to tease out and clarify why she reacts in the way that she does: oscillating between extreme concern, grief, detachment, and curiosity. It’s not that these are an unlikely array of emotions to experience in her situation, but I didn’t believe as a reader that she was conflicted. I would have liked to have the narrative expand on the idea of ‘that other voice, the one that enabled me to do my job without breaking down [and] demanded that I set these emotions aside’ – this, I believe, could provide a rationale for what at times seem like paradoxical responses.

The writing is atmospheric and at times very effective: during the opening sequence the uncertainty as to whether we’re following a man or a wolf emphasises the animalistic nature of humans, unsettling the boundaries between reality and supernatural from the very start. You also do well to create good levels of tension throughout the novel, particularly where the narrative was both fast-paced and evocative. There are other moments, however, where you could pare the language down – sometimes the metaphors or descriptive passages can be repetitive and a hindrance to the story. The description of dawn/dusk ‘heralding’ the day/night , for example, recurs a number of times, while similes including the wooden staircase ‘that reached up towards the second floor, questing like a lover’ feel over written and not in keeping with the broader narrative tone.

At times the narrative voice can be a little wooden, mainly when in the first person. The overly-sentimental nature of Dr Kat’s emotional responses to her brothers (‘the bond that grew between my brothers and I was without measure...It was only now that I realized what I had squandered. Time. It was like the spoken word and loosened arrow, all things that could never be retrieved.’) can come across as contrived, contributing to a more general tendency to labour the point that she is dispassionate and rational without being emotionally sterile. You establish Dr Kat as likeable and relatable through other details – her sarcastic sense of humour, playfully chastising interactions with the young intern at work, and her tedious relationship with her mother – so I don’t feel that this sentimentality is necessary to ‘humanise’ her.

Structurally, I am unsure about the effectiveness of the short ‘sections’. At times these are illuminating, juxtaposing interesting elements of the text – Dr Kat dissecting dead bodies and wolves tearing them apart – while maintaining the fast pace of the narrative; but at other times they are under developed and occasionally distracting (the story hops around quite a lot!). But, I appreciate that this may be a personal preference.

Finally, the inclusion of different mythological narratives (Greek mythology alongside your conception of the ‘Queen of the woods’) could have the potential to confuse; it would be worth clarifying how these different threads are entwined. While the metamorphosis trope is clearly lifted from Greek mythology, the way it was reworked in ‘Lykaia’ wasn’t immediately clear to me: some of the wolves were more ‘man’ while others were more ‘wolf’. It’s not necessary for you to reveal everything early on or restructure the story, but you need to consolidate what has happened at each point. This might be accomplished in a dialogue between, say, Stavros and the Wolf King, who could state in more explicit terms what has occurred without detracting from the suspense. I found that it was only on a second reading that some things became clear, but you can’t rely on all readers taking such considerations, so it’s important to ensure the details are clearly drawn out for a first time reader.

In all, I think you have a very marketable concept and that that writing is generally good. It does need some work though, but if you are willing to take time to conduct edits, and work on some of the issues raised above (all of which are a testimony to how engaging your character and plot really are), then I think that ‘Lykaia’ has definite publishing potential, and I wish you the best of luck with it.

To My Unknown Friends…. Happy is he who...writes from the love of imparting certain thoughts and not from the necessity of sale-who writes always to the unknown friend. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

 I am a writer, though I would never aspire to be an author. It is a term that seems far above what I do. Which is to say that I write so that the stories in my head quite down a bit so that I can navigate my life.

Last October I wrote a Halloween themed Flash Fiction piece called “Lykaia”. The story evolved from the Greek Myth of King Lykaonas who was cursed by Zeus to become a wolf. The very first werewolf. In fact the term Lycanthropy comes from this myth.

In November I entered Lykaia into the National Novel Writers Month contest or NaNoWriMo. I finished the book just before Christmas at around 83,000 words. I then took the finished novel and uploaded it to Authonomy in January. It was selected in March for the editor’s desk.

A couple of weeks ago I began the submission process. And after speaking with several publishers on the phone and reviewing a few contracts I chose to go with Spore Press. They are a small press but ultimately they are the ones that seemed most excited about my book. I couldn’t be happier with my choice.

This story, that was just an exercise in a new genre, has grown into a full length book, and now into a series. Dr. Sophia Katsaros is a fun character to write. She is intelligent, witty and quick on her feet with a wry sense of humor. What more could you want in a heroine?

And so I am pleased to announce that Lykaia will be available in e-book and print in time for Halloween. I hope that you will enjoy going on this journey with Dr. Kat as much as I enjoyed writing it.

I will be sure to keep everyone posted. Until then, my unknown friend, happy reading.

Sharon

Statement from Spore Press:
Signed three book deal with Sharon Van Orman for her series of thrilling books that span the 5,000 year history of lycans: beginning with Zeus cursing King Lykaonas of Arcadia and his fifty sons, their histories, the secret religious society that has looked after the lycan since the beginning, and the modern female protagonist who is threatening to expose it all. I called her the minute I finished the first read through and told her we had to have her books. It is that good. We will be rearranging the schedule to get this out in June.


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Also check out Spore Press at :

 http://sporepress.com/