Read it in Houston: Guest Post A.K. Morgen - Author of FADE (and Giveaway!)

Thanks to my friends at YA Bound, I have a fantastic guest post by the author of FADE. So I will step aside and let Ayden take the reins.

What do you do when you realize nothing in your life is what you’ve believed it to be?

When Arionna Jacobs loses her mother in a tragic accident, her world is turned upside down. She’s forced to leave her old life behind and move in with her father. Dace Matthews, a teaching assistant at her new college, is torn in two, unable to communicate with the feral wolf caged inside him.

When they meet, everything they thought they knew about life unravels. Dace has intimate access to Arionna’s mind, and something deep within her fights to rise to the surface. They don’t understand what’s happening to them or why, and they’re running out of time to sort out the strange occurrences around them.

Their meeting sets an ancient Norse prophesy of destruction in motion, and what destiny has in store for them is bigger than either could have ever imagined. Unless they learn to trust themselves and one another, they may never resolve the mystery surrounding who they are to one another, and what that means for the world.

Fade (The Ragnarök Prophesies #1)
A.K. Morgen
New Adult Paranormal Romance
Intended for readers16 years of age and over.
Published 9/7/2012

Ayden's Top Ten Romantic Pairings of Legend

One of my favorite things about writing FADE and The Ragnarök Prophesies series has been introducing readers to some of the myths and legendary figures I fell in love with when I was a kid. Not only do I get to play with the Norse myth of Ragnarök in the series, but I get to delve into the myths and love stories of many different cultures. I feel like a kid in a candy store.

Here are ten of my favorite romantic pairings from mythology and legend, many of which you'll find referenced in some fashion in Arionna and Dace's world.

1 Eros and Psyche –Their story is so full of drama and intrigue; I just can't keep myself from cheering for these forbidden lovers. When Aphrodite gets fed up with the beauty of Psyche, she sends her son, Eros (Cupid), to shoot Psyche with one of his arrows while she sleeps. Aphrodite plans to present a hideous creature to Psyche when she awakens, but when Eros pricks himself with the arrow, things don't quite work out that way.

2 Diana and Orion – Meet two of the world's earliest star-crossed lovers. When Diana is tricked into killing Orion by her brother, Apollo, she takes his body and places it amongst the stars, thus immortalizing him and our love of star-crossed lovers. There are many different versions of how Orion earned his final resting place in the stars, but this has always been my favorite.

3 Tristan and Isolde – When I read Romeo and Juliet as a teenager, I wasn't particularly impressed by them. Perhaps because I'd already fallen in love with Tristan and Isolde, another legendary pair of ill-fated lovers. Their tragic story broke my little heart into pieces . . . and still does so. I cry like a baby every time I read their story. While the latest movie version leaves out so much of the story, I've fallen in love with it as well. James Franco crying? Be still my heart!

4 Izanagi and Izanami – The story of Izanagi and Izanami is unique. It does triple duty as a love story, a creation myth, and a cautionary tale. When the lovers join as husband and wife, Izanami gives birth to the eight islands of Japan. From there, things rapidly begin to unravel, and the story ends with their broken marriage. Granted, the end is not very romantic, but it's still such a fascinating love story.

5 Diana and Lucifer – No, not that Lucifer, but the one found in Charles Leland's Vangelo delle Streghe. As with Izanagi and Izanami, this story doubles as a creation myth. But the ending here is much happier. Diana falls madly in love with Lucifer, God of Light, but he flees from her. She searches out the most primordial part of herself, and learns that she must fall in order to be reunited with Lucifer. Diana does so, and as she falls through the Seven Planes, she divides, becoming lifetimes upon lifetimes of souls, and eventually reunites with Lucifer who helps her spin the wheel that set the universe into motion.

6 Pyramus and Thisbe – These two Babylonian lovers, denied the opportunity to wed by their parents, plan to meet beneath a mulberry tree near Ninus's tomb to declare their love for one another, but a pesky lion ruins the day, and leads to the deaths of these lovers. When the gods hear their tragic story, they change the color of the mulberry from white to red to honor Pyramus and Thisbe.

7 Procris and Cephalus – Procris and Cephalus are madly in love when Cephalus is kidnapped by Eos, who tries desperately to convince him to forsake his wife. He refuses, and finds his way back to Procris, but not before Eos plants the suspicion that Procris has been unfaithful to him. Much drama ensues, and these two lovers eventually make up. But a grave misunderstanding happens, and Cephalus accidentally kills Procris.

8 Niu Lang and Zhi Nü – This is one of the most famous stories to come from China, and is still celebrated throughout the nation. Each day, Zhi Nü descends from Heaven to bathe in a pool. One day, Niu Lang sees her, and the two fall madly in love. Soon they wed, and when Zhi Nü's father (the Jade King) finds out, he's furious but is too late to do anything. One day, Zhi Nü visits her father in Heaven, and when she leaves to return to Niu Lang, her father places the Milky Way in her path, only removing it one night a year so the lovers may reunite.

9 Lancelot and Guinevere – Their love, according to legend, was the undoing of one of the greatest kingdoms. When King Arthur learns of his queen's affair with Lancelot, Guinevere is sentenced to death. Lancelot swoops in and rescues her at the last moment, which causes King Arthur to declare war on the errant knight. Eventually, Guinevere is imprisoned by Mordred, who attempts to wed her himself. King Arthur learns of this plan and returns from his war with Lancelot to kill Mordred. He is seriously wounded during their confrontation, and is whisked away to Avalon while Guinevere spends the rest of her life in a convent.

10 Freki and Geri – These wolves were Odin's most beloved of companions. He fed them from his table. In exchange, they followed him everywhere, keeping his loneliness at bay. Geri and Freki's love for one another was so great that, according to legend, when Odin and the Æsir created humanity, Odin sent the wolves to the humans to show them how to care for and protect one another. Humanity learned much about love from this pair, and grew to revere the wolf, a tradition which continues to this day in many parts of the world.

About the Author
A.K. Morgen

Ayden lives in the heart of Arkansas with her real life hero and their four pets. She graduated summa cum laude with her Bachelor of Science degree in Forensic Psychology in 2009, and immediately entered graduate school. In 2012, Ayden completed her graduate degree in Criminal Justice and Law, once again graduating at the top of her class. Ayden now puts her education to use for the state of Arkansas, where she works within the Division of Aging and Adult Services. In her spare time, she works as the volunteer coordinator for her local Ronald McDonald House, volunteers heavily, and fundraises for non-profits and causes close to her heart. Ayden's debut New Adult novel, FADE (The Ragnarök Prophesies: Book One), published by Curiosity Quills Press in 2012, is available in print and ebook format at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and most major book retailers. FALL, the second book in the series, will release later this year. You can find Ayden on Twitter, Facebook, or at: http://akmorgen.com.

**Giveaway**