Magic Thursday: A Perfectly Paranormal Valentine Anthology: How I Decided on Writing in a New World with Leisl Leighton

This last year I was asked to participate in two new anthologies, both requiring an original novella (up
to 40k for the first, and 30k for the second - so decent length novellas). For the first, the Fantasy
Realms: Warlords, Witches & Wolves Anthology which is out now, I decided to write a prequel to my Pack Bound series. There are a few characters and ideas from that world that I have wanted to flesh
out for a while now but that are not full-book length, so it seemed the ideal way to bring at least one
of those stories to life for that anthology.

However, when I was asked a few months later to be a part of A Perfectly Paranormal Valentine Anthology, I knew I didn’t want to write another prequel or side story in that world. Don’t get me wrong, it was huge fun to dive into that established world and play in it again, and I can’t wait to do more of it in the future, but for this different anthology, I wanted a fresh start with a fresh new world to uncover and explore. But what could that be?

A number of years ago, I had a stab at writing a short story for a short story competition. It became
pretty apparent very quickly that I am not a short story writer. I got it done, but the idea was too big
for a short story and as I was writing it, my mind kept on wanting to expand on this or that world-
building aspect, or this or that sub-plot, or this or that character conflict - which you can’t do in a
short story. I put the short story aside, having many other things to write at the time (including my
Pack Bound series), but the idea for it was always there at the back of my mind, waiting to pounce on
the opportunity to have its day in the sun.

The night after being asked to be in this Valentine anthology, that story started to push forward,
making itself known, throwing new scenarios up, intriguing me with new character details as I was
trying to sleep. It wouldn’t leave me alone, so I knew this story and the world it took place in was
what I needed to write now. It was an idea that never faded with the years, with characters who had
stories that demanded to be told, and so, I started to write, and the writing just flowed with one
page turning to ten to fifty then more until I was done.

I am so happy with how Jules and Bastien’s tale has unfolded in Love Cursed, and can’t wait for it to
land in readers’ hands. I also can’t wait to get stuck into the next novella in the series - a story that
started to tantalise me about one of the secondary characters as I was writing Jules and Bastien’s
story - which will appear in A Perfectly Paranormal Halloween Anthology later this year.

A Perfectly Paranormal Valentine

Valentine’s Day - celebrating forever love with roses and chocolates, claws and fangs, and a magical
spell or two ...

Whatever your paranormal pleasure, dive into these five original stories from award winning and new Australian authors in this magical anthology.

Featuring sweet or spicy romance, action, revenge, secrets and curses, this paranormal anthology will fill all your Valentine’s Day desires.

Witch, Vampire, Demi-God, Fae and Shifter: who will get their happy ever after this Valentine’s Day?

Due out: 1 February 2021

Pre-order Now

Authors Involved:
Leisl Leighton (Melbourne)
Marnie St Clair (Melbourne)
Samantha Marshall (Melbourne)
Helen Lucy Howe (Melbourne)
Georgia Tingley (Perth)

The Stories

LOVE CURSED by Leisl Leighton

A love across time, cursed to stay apart …

Coven librarian, Julianna Stevens, jokes about being cursed at love. When an old diary that speaks of
an ancient Love Curse is found, she realises it isn’t a joke. To break the hex, she must uncover a
secret spell and travel to Rome to be in the exact spot with her unknown soul mate by midnight on
Valentine’s Day, or her soul will be doomed forever. No pressure – but it’s going to be Happy Never
After if she can’t.

BAD VALENTINE BATCH by Marnie St Clair

Avery Lloyd does not like being a witch - it's all rules and hard work. She also hates dogs. As in, really hates dogs. So, when her boss Alec insists she attend the Valentine’s Day charity event at the lost
dogs’ shelter, Avery casts an unlawful spell to get out of it. But something’s not quite right about this
batch of magic, and before she knows it, Avery has ruined Alec's life. She has until Valentine’s Day to fix it, or the damage will be permanent.

CATNIP by Samantha Marshall
For reclusive dragon Oaklyn Airecross, spending Valentine’s Day with a stack of book boyfriends and
chocolate mousse sounds like heaven - until an uninvited guest picks a fight with a bean bag, and she’s thrust bodily into a mess of runaway cats, vampire intrigue and frypans. In order to reclaim the
Valentine’s Day of her dreams, Oaklyn must set aside her preconceived notions on true love, the
perfect man, and exactly what that bulge might be when it twitches inside of his pants.



FILIGREE AND FATE by Helen Lucy Howe
Famous fae-artist, Zhulija, is asked to create decorations for a wedding, but things don’t go according
to plan. Infamous unseelie, Dario Eribifax, after recognizing his ‘true mate,’ appoints himself her
personal assistant in an effort to convince her of their fated connection. What could possibly go
wrong?

A BROOMSTICK BREW by Georgia Tingley
When Wysper uses a ‘love potion’ on Valentine’s Day to make the man of her dreams fall in love,
things take a turn for the worse. She finds herself falling for everyone she looks at. A hilarious
witchcraft backfire!

~~~~

Award winning author, Leisl Leighton, is a tall red head with an overly large imagination. As a child, she identified strongly with Anne of Green Gables, and like Anne, is a voracious reader and born performer. It came as no surprise when she did a double major in English Literature and Drama for her BA and Dip Ed, then went on to a career as a performer, script writer, script doctor, stage manager and musical director for cabaret and theatre restaurants.

After starting a family, Leisl stopped performing and began writing the stories plaguing her dreams. She is addicted to the Syfy channel, her shelves are full of fantasy, paranormal, Sci-fi and romance books and DVDs, she sometimes sings in a choir, has worked as a swim teacher, loves to ski and
horse ride, and has been President of Romance Writers of Australia from 2014-2017. She now has aGraduate Diploma in Publishing and Communications (Advanced) and continues to write novels and also helps other writers make their manuscripts shine with her manuscript assessing and mentoring services.

Leisl is the author of the paranormal Pack Bound Series, romantic suspense novels, Dangerous Echoes (Book 1 in the Echo Springs Series), Climbing Fear and Blazing Fear (Books 1& 2 in the CoalCliff Stud Series.) She has won and placed in many writing contests in Australia and the US. Most recently, she has been a finalist in the 2019 RUBY Awards (for Moon Bound), a finalist in the 2019 ARRA Awards (for Climbing Fear) and long-listed for the 2019 (Dangerous Echoes) and 2020 (Climbing Fear) Davitt Awards.

You can catch up with Leisl at: www.leislleighton.com | Facebook | Goodreads | Instagram | Twitter
@LeislLeighton |

Other authors in the anthology

MARNIE ST CLAIR
Marnie St Clair loves her romance with a heaping dollop of mystery and magic. She grew up in
country NSW but now lives in a lovely leafy suburb of Melbourne with her weather man husband and
two gorgeous daughters. Apart from a deep and abiding love of all things romance, Marnie has a
wide array of unusual and embarrassing passions including playing Bridge, growing succulents,
visiting deserts and getting down on the Zumba floor. No points for guessing which is the
embarrassing one.

Marnie also writes contemporary romance and romantic suspense. Her novel, No Place Like You, has
been called ‘a feel good, sizzling romance that will leave you swooning,’ her office romance, Deal
Breaker, a ‘terrific addition to the trope’ and her romantic suspense, Blue Steal, has been called, ‘fast
paced’ and ‘spectacular’.


You can find out more about Marnie and her books on her website

SAMANTHA MARSHALL

Award winning and nominated author Samantha Marshall writes romance - as long as it’s got

paranormal creatures, space odyssey features or anything in between she’ll be there writing happily

ever afters to rule them all.

She lives in Melbourne, Australia, with her husband, two children, a fluffy golden retriever and a

turtle. She is most at home in front of her keyboard with a hot cup of chai tea and a raven on her

shoulder, bringing her imagination to life.

Samantha’s series, The Weaver’s War and The Kin Chronicles, have both been well received with

Sorcery and Stardust (Book 1 of The Weaver’s War) winning her Favourite Debut Author in the 2019

ARRAs and Aislinn’s Shadow (Book 1 of The Kin Chronicles) being nominated for 2 awards in the 2019 ARRAs.

When she's not hiding in her dragon cave, Samantha can be found at www.sliceofsammy.com or

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | 

HELEN HOWE

Helen Lucy Howe is a bookworm who teethed on romantic fairy tales and went on to voraciously

devour anything paranormal. She became a Professional Reader and a Closet Scribbler because

who’d want to look at the mad ramblings of someone who hates getting dirt under her fingernails

and thinks ironing was invented as a torture method?

Nowadays, Helen loves inventing paranormal and fantasy romance from the comfort of her cosy

study, with a hot cup of tea beside her laptop and her little spaniel, Lexie, snoring at her feet. With

her anthology contribution of Filigree and Fate, Helen has been dragged kicking and screaming from

her closet and into the deer-in-headlights world of being a Real Author.  

GEORGIA TINGLEY

Georgia Tingley began her author journey with her breakout paranormal thriller/romance novels

Justice and An Unholy Gift - the first two books in her Angel Calling Series.

Since then, she’s moved onto writing steamy romances, creating the Mature Love series which

feature women over the age of 35 – Having Faith and All The Dumb Things. She’s also written a

steamy, but fun Christmas novella, Whistler Wonderland which earned her Romance Writers of

Australia’s Romantic Book of the Year – Novella Category RUBY Award in 2020.

Georgia loves writing and creating stories so much, that it’s become her drug of choice and freely

confesses to being an addict. After deciding to take on the thrill of writing, she hasn’t looked back.

Having lived in various countries while growing up – India, England, Canada, New Zealand and

Australia, she calls Western Australia home, living near some of the best beaches in Australia.

In her downtime, she loves to read, read and read, following politics, watch TV shows and movies, do

crafts, and work in the garden. Swimming and snorkelling are favourite pastimes and she tries to do

laps at every opportunity.  She and her husband enjoy taking their caravan on trips into the

Australian Outback and seeing as much of the ‘red’ country as they can.

You can contact her at www.georgiatingley.com or sign up to her Newsletter. You can also catch

her on: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram |

Magic Thursday: Writing a Prequel with Leisl Leighton

Earlier this year I was asked to write a novella for the upcoming Fantasy Realms: Warlords, Witches and Wolves Anthology. The other authors involved are a group of amazing Aussie romance authors I admire, so of course my answer was ‘hell yes!’

Then came the panic. I’d never written a novella before. I’m known for my large, sweeping

tales with multiple characters and subplots underlining the larger narrative. How could I write
something so much smaller? And what story would I write? All my other story ideas were
full-blown 100k+ word ideas. Quite the dilemma.

Then I remembered some of the romances I’d hinted at that had already occurred in my award
nominated Pack Bound Series. I’d always meant to go back and write their stories as prequels
to the series - laying out some history for those who’d read the series but introducing the
world and characters to those who hadn’t as a possible lead into the series.

This would be the perfect way of doing just that.

And I knew exactly who to start with: Skye and River’s parents, werewoman Ivy McVale and
warlock Paul Collins.

I was filled with enthusiasm and dove right in. It was a joy to be back in my Pack Bound
world again, exploring earlier narratives suggested at in the main series. But writing their
story wasn’t as easy as I thought it would be. In Pack Bound and Moon Bound, it is revealed
that they died trying to save Skye and River from an evil coven and there is a covenant in the
romance world that you break at your peril: Thou Shalt Not Kill off Lovers from an Earlier
Book.

Of course, this was happening the opposite way around - I’d written of their deaths before
attempting to write the prequel story of their love, but it still meant I had to step very
carefully. I very quickly fell in love with Ivy and Paul - characters I’d only mentioned briefly
in the main series - and wanted the very best for them. It helped that the story of their love
occurred in their early twenties, this giving them a good twenty years of happiness before the
death that is remembered by Skye and River in their books. But, with some careful writing,
some deep emotional searching, and a hint of a HEA possibility despite what had already
been written, I think I have managed to pull off this most difficult of dives into the pool of
romance rules. So far, the feedback has been positive and I can’t wait to hear what you all
think.

Witch Bound

One Fate, one mate, a bond too strong to deny …

Paul Collins, duty-bound Pack Warlock and seer, must marry a strong witch for the good of
Pack McVale. But his hidden feelings for his best-friend’s sister, maternal wolf Ivy McVale,
make this a more difficult pill to swallow every day. Especially when they begin to mate.
Then Paul has a vision: If they mate, Ivy will die. Desperate, Paul uses his powers to change
destiny and make Ivy think she’s always hated him. He can deal with any punishment the
Fates make him pay for tampering with destiny, as long as Ivy lives.

After recovering from a bewildering month-long illness, Ivy notices her nemesis, Paul, is
tormented by something. And strangely, she is the only one who can feel it. Unable to endure
such unhappiness—even if he does call her Poison Ivy—she is determined to help him, no
matter the cost. Because Pack McVale cannot survive without him, and curiously, neither can
she ...

Witch Bound appears in the Fantasy Realms: Warlords, Witches and Wolves Anthology
coming out on November 9th.

Warlord, Witch, or Wolf: what’s your poison?

Whatever your fantasy, dive into 11 original stories from bestselling and new Australian
authors for a limited time only.

Featuring rousing action, sizzling or sweet romance, and journeys to far-off lands, the heroes
and heroines of Warlords, Witches and Wolves will keep you on the edge of your seat and
conjure your darkest desires.

What are you waiting for? Unleash the beasts, summon the magic, and conquer new worlds
today!

Contributing authors are:
Michelle Diener, Lana Pecherczyk, Claire Boston, Daniel De Lorne, Shona Husk, Leisl
Leighton, TJ Nichols, Demelza Carlton, M.J. Scott, Cassie Laelyn & S.E. Welsh.

Pre-order now and get your copy of these thrilling paranormal and fantasy novellas for only
99c. This price will only be on offer until release date, so don’t miss out.

Amazon | Amazon Aus | Kobo | Apple | Barnes&Noble | Books2Read

Win a free Advance Reader Copy of Fantasy Realms: Warlords, Witches and Wolves

There is a free ARC of the anthology up for grabs every day at the Fantasy Realms Anthology
Readers Group . Sign up now and follow the post of the day to go in the running to win your copy of this amazing anthology.

About Leisl:

Leisl Leighton is a tall red head with an overly large imagination. As a child, she identified strongly with Anne of Green Gables, and like Anne, is a voracious reader and born performer. It came as no surprise when she went on to a career as a performer, script writer, script doctor,
stage manager and musical director for cabaret and theatre restaurants.

After starting a family, Leisl stopped performing and began writing the stories plaguing her dreams. She is addicted to Sci-fi and romance books and DVDs, she sometimes sings in a choir, loves to ski and horse ride, and was President of Romance Writers of Australia from 2014-2017. When she’s not writing, she helps other writers make their manuscripts shine.

Sign up to Leisl’s Newsletter and be the first to find out about new releases, appearances,
special deals and exclusive giveaways or find her online at her website:
www.leislleighton.com; Instagram; Facebook; Twitter @LeislLeighton