Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Author’s note
Thank you very much for reading AZURE. I hope you have enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
Check the Azure page on my blog for more info, photos and tidbits:
http://chrystallathoma.wordpress.com/azure/
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Links to all my books:
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About love and mermaids
This book is a project close to my heart in many ways. Aspects of it resonate with my own life, or are drawn from my own experiences.
Take for instance the lightning speed of love. Now, I’m not an advocate of love at first sight, and I believe that love takes time to grow. But that lightning stroke of lust/affection/need you feel when you have met a soul mate, who is more than that, who is your other half, who ‘gets’ you, sees to the core of your soul, and can complete your body so perfectly, too, that I have experienced and can confirm to be true.
From the spark to the flame, it can take only days. It didn’t take me more than two weeks with a certain man to go from friends to becoming so much more, and we have been together for fifteen amazing years now.
As for magic and mermaids... the sea has always been close to my heart and features in many of my stories. The sea is the first goddess, the Sumerian Tiamat, the sea dragon of chaos — a living body of water obeying the tides and deep currents, eating up land and spewing new continents, wrecking ships and sometimes spitting out marvels.
The Greek sea — the Aegean in particular — is often wracked by violent storms and swept by strong winds in the late summer. Stories of gods and goddesses with fishtails have been around for what seems like forever — tritons and nereids haunting the waves and inhabiting the blue depths of the sea.
In later, historical times, the old form of the mermaid goddess was conflated with the Virgin, as protector of those at sea. Panagia Gorgona (The Mermaid Virgin) has been venerated on the islands of Greece, as for example on Mitilini (Lesvos), where she has a chapel and is portrayed with a fishtail and a trident, surrounded by dolphins and fish.
About Crete
Crete is the largest of the Greek islands, with a history that echoes through mythology.
The island has been inhabited since ancient times. Paleolithic finds (from 130,000 years ago) were uncovered in one of the gorges of this mountainous island and Neolithic many finds have been uncovered, leading up to the time of the great Minoan palaces (5.000 years ago) with their red pillars in the form of lotus — as you can tell, the influence of nearby Egypt was tremendous. That was the time Crete ruled the seas and terrorized the other city-kingdoms, like mighty Athens who was forced to pay a tithe. Myth has it that it was a number of young men and women every year, to be fed to the Minotaur — half man and half bull — in the sacred underground Labyrinth (temple of the Labrys, the two-edged axe). But more likely these cities paid Crete in kind — grain, wine, oil, fruit, gold and copper.
The Cretan power didn’t last forever. The island became a province of the Roman and later the Byzantine Empire, and was Christianized. Then it was captured by the Iberian Muslims and became an emirate for pirates. The Byzantines re-conquered it later (921 AD), but it was taken from them during the fourth crusade, when the Venetians captured the island (1212 AD) and held it until 1669 AD, when the Ottoman Turks managed to make it part of their empire. And so it remained until 1858 when the Cretans, after many bloody revolts, regained their freedom and in 1906 were united with Greece.
The Cretans are a hardy, proud folk. They never stopped fighting against all conquerors, and I think they retain a lot of the magic of their mythical ancestors...
I love Crete and have been there a couple of times. It’s very close to Cyprus and Cretans and Cypriots share a lot, from similarities in their history and dialect of Greek, to character and cuisine. We have considered ourselves brothers for a long time and setting a story on Crete made me happy.
I actually lived in Germany for many years, and traveled to Crete from there a few times. Flights can be very cheap and Greece is a favorite destination for Europeans.
About Myra Crow and Shakespeare
We all know Shakespeare is real. Well, as much as we can know, really: his works exist and are admired to this day, but we aren’t sure whether the person who wrote them was a man or a woman, and whether their name was Shakespeare or if it was only a pseudonym. In any case, Shakespeare’s work continues to impress and move us today. All Shakespearean quotes in this book are really taken from his work.
Myra Crow is another story altogether. As you may have guessed, Myra Crow is not a real person and the quotes from her work are all made up by yours truly for the sake of fiction.
About being blind as a bat
As for Olivia being almost blind and losing her lenses all the time: this is from experience, guys. I’m very blind and rely on my contact lenses to navigate life. As it happens, I often lose them — when my eyes get too dry or when I cry, and being the absent-minded person I am, I often forget to pack my glasses along. And yes, when not wearing lenses or glasses, life does look like a colorful blur. In the mornings, I need to feel my way to the bathroom, and I know exactly where everything is in my apartment. Put me in an unknown place and I’m lost.
One last thing...
A huge thanks to all of you who followed my heroes on their adventures. I hope you enjoyed spending time with them. I am thinking of writing a sequel, so if you have enjoyed this novel and if would like to read more, please let me know.
Finally, I’d appreciate it very much if you could write a review. It would mean the world to me.
Here are three recipes for you from the book in case you would like to try them out:
Three Greek recipes
Kaltsouni
For the dough:
1 cup butter
2 egg yolks
1 tbs. sugar
1 cup milk
5-6 cups soft flour
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
For the filling:
1 kilo mizithra or ricotta cheese
3 tbs. sugar
2 eggs
½ tsp. grated orange peel
Put flour in a bowl and make a dip in the center. Pour the melted butter into the dip, then the egg yolks, half the milk, and sugar. Knead the ingredients together, adding milk as needed to create a soft, smooth dough.
Divide the dough into three parts. Roll out each piece until it is about 1 cm thick. Cut into circles, about 4-5 cm in diameter.
For the filling, combine cheese, sugar, 1 egg, and grated peel. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each dough circle and push dough in from the edges to form small tarts. Brush the surface of each tart with beaten egg and sprinkle them with cinnamon. Bake at 180C for 25-35 minutes.
Frappe (Fra-pee)
(despite Olivia’s reaction to it, I like it in the heat of summer...)
Put 1-2 teaspoons of instant coffee in a tall glass. If you like your frappe sweet, also add 1-2 teaspoons of sugar. Pour 1-2 fingers of water in the glass and use a hand-held whisk (electric if possible) to turn the mixture into foam. A good frappe has a lot of foam. Then add more water and/or milk to fill the glass, and ice-cubes. Add a straw, stir and enjoy.
Watermelon Rind Sweet Preserve
The rind of a watermelon
1 kilo of sugar per kilo of peeled rind
3 cups of water
; 1/3 cup lemon juice
The peel of 2 lemons
Cinnamon and cloves
Peel and cut the rind into rectangular pieces 5-6 cm long.
Put the pieces into a large bowl, cover with cold water and the lemon juice, and leave for an hour.
Rinse thoroughly and drain, then rinse the peel under cold water. Return the peel to the bowl, cover with fresh cold water and add half the lemon juice and leave to soak for another 30 minutes, then drain.
Dissolve the sugar in water in a large pot, then bring to a simmer. Add the drained watermelon rind and the lemon peel, cover and simmer for about 1.30 hours until the syrup becomes dense. When ready, the rind turns a shade of transparent yellow.
Ten minutes before the end add the cinnamon and cloves.
Remove from the heat. Best served cold.
About the Author
Greek Cypriot with a penchant for dark myths, good food, and a tendency to settle down anywhere but at home, Chrystalla likes to write about fantastical creatures, crazy adventures, and family bonds. She lives in Cyprus with her husband and her vast herds of books. She writes mainly fantasy and science fiction. Her dystopian YA science fiction series “Elei’s Chronicles” (Rex Rising, Rex Cresting, Rex Equilibrium) and her urban fantasy series “Boreal and John Grey” (now you can get the complete Season One as a boxset) are available electronically.
Where to find all books and series: http://tinyurl.com/buth6k6
Other links:
Blog: http://chrystallathoma.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/chrystallathoma
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Author-Chrystalla-Thoma/117863861560579
Azure (Drowning In You) Page 23
