Horns blare! Drumroll, please. It is with pleasure I introduce guest Luna Saint Claire who today shares background information about her début novel The Sleeping Serpent.
Luna is a costume designer and author residing in Los Angeles with her husband, a philosophy professor. She loves blues rock and Indie music, often setting her Pandora station to Damien Rice. Her personal style can best be described as eclectic bohemian. Though she now enjoys running and yoga, she spent years of her youth in the ballet studio. Her part Native American heritage informs her work as a designer and influences her storytelling.
Thrilling as The Girl on the Train, twisted as Gone Girl, and tortured as Wuthering Heights.
Losing Myself
by Luna Saint Claire
Vampires are real. Not the paranormal kind with blood and fangs, but rather emotional vampires—the ones who use manipulation and compulsion to seduce. Charming and magnetic, they appear to be perfect—the answer to your prayers. Truth is, they have targeted you.
I think we have all been there on some level. When you meet someone who you connect with—someone who seems to know who you are, and what you need. It happened to me when I met a charismatic healer. I was hitting middle-age, mourning my youth and beauty, and bored with my conventional and circumscribed existence. He had a keen ability to quickly identify my vulnerability—often called the inner wound—and hook me through my lack of self-esteem, vanity, and fears. He made me feel beautiful and important to him, and gave me confidence, opening me up to the possibilities surrounding me. Being married, I, fortunately, didn’t have a romantic relationship with him. Yet, he still had influence over me. He was a shaman and yoga master who used the power of Kundalini for the dark side of self-interest—his desire for wealth and fame.
A dark healer hooks their victim in the chakra that holds their wound—where they are weakest. In the seduction phase, he showered me with his attentions. He made me feel a part of him—of something larger, and somehow more alive. Before I knew it, I was caught in the spider’s web, struggling for survival, craving the drug that was his flattery, approval, validation. Then slowly and methodically he began tearing me down. It may have started with an argument where he lost his temper and then apologized, excusing himself by saying he was frustrated or had a stressful day. Over time it escalated to berating until I barely registered the verbal abuse. If I was unavailable at work or didn’t pick up his call, or couldn’t respond immediately to his demands, he would threaten to end our friendship. When he flew into a rage, I would be the one to apologize for causing his distress. He played a cat and mouse game of pushing me away and then reeling me back in. I couldn’t bear the thought of abandoning him, but I no longer recognized myself. I had become a shadow of my former self and my self-worth had been shattered.
I wasn’t the only one bound to him. As a successful healer with his own celebrity, he possessed an entourage of beautiful, successful Hollywood women. He ensured we each believed we were the most important person to him. I excused his behavior, saying he was nervous with a fear of abandonment, but I didn’t know about narcissistic personality disorder. Persons with this disorder do not have the capacity to love, treating others as an appendage. They operate on instinct to procure what they need, though they will never feel gratified. Just like in a vampire story, a narcissist drains another’s life force in the attempt to fill the echoing emptiness within. His affliction was the cruelest inhumanity, and his pain and suffering could never be assuaged. The extreme drama he created when his demands were not met were a plea for validation and stemmed from his fear of abandonment. The rages and meltdowns provided a euphoric high empowering him in the face of feeling worthless. I felt compelled to fix him, even though I knew I couldn’t.
How much longer and at what cost could I continue to open my veins to quell the storm that tormented him? Like many of the other women who had become ensnared in his cannibalizing web, I was faced with the choice of bleeding to death or reclaiming my life. I learned from a friend in 12 Steps about chasing the high, trying to regain the elation once felt in the initial phase of a relationship, be it with a drug or a person. Getting it back had become my obsession. The craving, desperation and painful longing—that was the addiction talking.
Once I disentangled myself from him, I reflected on what had called the relationship to me. It had been my fear of aging—of becoming invisible—no longer having heads turn when I walked into a room, no longer feeling desired. Weathering this personal storm was a valuable experience that made me stronger and wiser. It is only through such an eroding experience that I believe one can transform. Whether by free will or fate, my encounter with a narcissistic sociopath provoked a storm that shattered my perception of identity, duty, morality, and self-worth. The storm didn’t blow in from the outside. I was the storm. Its turbulence forced me to confront the darkness, uncovering my secrets and my pain.
Purchase ↓ Available on Amazon (booklinker) myBook.to/SleepingSerpent
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March 6, 2017 at 2:21 am
Really like the sound of this thanks for sharing. 🙂
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March 6, 2017 at 4:59 am
Great post, Tess. One day I will read all the books I’d like to. This might creep up to the top though. Thanks.
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March 6, 2017 at 7:13 am
Thank you!
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March 6, 2017 at 5:21 am
Sounds intriguing 🙂
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March 6, 2017 at 7:15 am
Thank you Cathy! I follow Rosie Amber’s blog and also Twitter and Facebook. I would be honored to have you read for an honest review.
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March 6, 2017 at 7:49 am
Please stick around and comment to your readers. ❤ ❤ ❤
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March 6, 2017 at 12:16 pm
Thank you 🙂 I’m pretty snowed under at the moment though and wouldn’t be able to review for quite a while.
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March 6, 2017 at 9:02 am
A great introduction to Luna and her work. Thank you for sharing.
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March 6, 2017 at 9:44 am
Thank you for reading and don’t be shy. Click a few buttons or reblog. 🙂 ❤
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March 6, 2017 at 12:47 pm
Lol! Already done:)
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March 6, 2017 at 10:52 am
Thank you @lizziechantree — If you do get a chance to read The Sleeping Serpent please let me know. I am following you on Facebook and Twitter please follow me back and I will happily share your posts.
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March 6, 2017 at 12:51 pm
Hi Luna. I will happily follow back. I’m heading over to take a look now. I just shared your work on Twitter:)
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March 6, 2017 at 5:15 pm
Thank you so much for the follow and the reblog! I am around plenty, but trying hard to write and still stay connected! Thank you ❤
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March 6, 2017 at 10:31 am
Nice to meet Luna. Have a great week Tess. Hugs!
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March 6, 2017 at 10:56 am
Thanks Teagan, and nice to meet you too! I just followed your blog and Facebook! Follow me back and friend me. If you liked the essay, please reblog!
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March 6, 2017 at 11:00 am
Just the blurb you’ve posted sounds frightening. It sounds like it will live up to the mashup of Gone Girl, Girl on the Train, and Wuthering Heights.
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March 6, 2017 at 11:29 am
Thank you Jacqui! It is truly a modern day Anna Karenina but I fear Tolstoy may scare off some readers. I hope you may get to read it. But thank you for your comment, and please reblog if you can. 🙂
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March 6, 2017 at 11:21 am
Reblogged this on Smorgasbord – Variety is the spice of life and commented:
Tess Karlinski hosts Luna Saint Claire today and shares her book The Sleeping Serpent.. “Vampires are real. Not the paranormal kind with blood and fangs, but rather emotional vampires—the ones who use manipulation and compulsion to seduce. Charming and magnetic, they appear to be perfect—the answer to your prayers. Truth is, they have targeted you”.. head over and read more about this dark story.
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March 6, 2017 at 11:35 am
Thank you so much Sally! I really appreciate the Reblog! My experience was chilling and quite the cautionary tale.
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March 6, 2017 at 11:41 am
It must have been Luna but as you say hopefully a warning to others.
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March 6, 2017 at 11:38 am
Thank you so much for this opportunity! It took me until I had both the time and the distance to write The Sleeping Serpent – a woman’s struggle to break an obsessive bond, and reclaim her life. Now, I’m on book 2 — so I’m putting me head down right now. I’ll check in later to comment! Have a great day!! And thank you for reading my essay.
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March 6, 2017 at 11:41 am
Wish you a truckload of success. Rest. See you later. 🙂
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March 6, 2017 at 1:10 pm
Thanks for the introduction, Tess.
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March 6, 2017 at 5:17 pm
Hi John! And thank you! Hope we are following each other — I will be sure to check”
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March 7, 2017 at 9:15 am
Hi John, Following you on Facebook! and Twitter! 🙂
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March 7, 2017 at 3:48 pm
I’m following you as well.
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March 6, 2017 at 1:36 pm
Fantastic interview Tess and Luna. I had the fortunate experience of reading about and connecting with Luna from Tina’s blog. 🙂 ❤
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March 6, 2017 at 5:19 pm
Thank you Debby, and I am so glad we have connected!
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March 6, 2017 at 6:17 pm
Excellent feature, Tess! ‘The Sleeping Serpent’ reads fascinating. I’m intrigued!
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March 7, 2017 at 9:23 am
Hi Vashti, The Sleeping Serpent is a psychological thriller that is quite the cautionary tale! I am following your Twitter and both FB pages!
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March 6, 2017 at 7:16 pm
I’m so pleased to see Luna featured on your blog, Tess. Your layout is superb, and your intro spurs curiosity to read further.
Luna, your article speaks to the heart of addiction. Whenever we allow fear to consume us, we grab hold of something equally powerful to numb and obscure in order to survive. Well written and on point.
This is an outstanding post, girlfriends! Hugs to both of you 💕
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March 7, 2017 at 9:30 am
Hi Tina! I didn’t get back on here until this morning! Thank you for your kind words, and endless support. In The Sleeping Serpent, woven into the dark story of a sociopath is the aspect of fear (both Nico’s and Luna’s) and its paralyzing influence of the dark side over higher truth. We have a similar cosmology, I’ll be reading your work soon!
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March 6, 2017 at 11:06 pm
Lovely post, Tess, about this fabulous sounding book. It is interesting to contemplate on how addition takes so many different forms.
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March 7, 2017 at 9:34 am
Hey Robbie! Thank you for your kind words. I had never hear of narcissistic personality disorder until I met it head on! I heard the term narcissistic and aligned it with vanity. I didn’t understand its roots and the full-on behavior and desperate craving for adoration and validation along with the violence that accompanies it. I also never assumed addiction could include relationships — though I thought I understood co-dependency. This story gives a greater understanding of why people stay in abusive relationships.
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March 7, 2017 at 9:35 am
Thank you again to Tess for the beautiful layout with the images. The design of this blog is superb!
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March 7, 2017 at 11:38 am
You are more than welcome. It’s a pleasure to ‘meet’ you. Wish you a truckload of sales. Can’t wait to read your book. Sigh. My TBR list winds through my notebook like a snake. 🙂
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March 7, 2017 at 9:55 am
Loved reading this book by Luna Saint Claire and you will too!
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March 9, 2017 at 6:57 am
I’m looking forward to reading it too. Thank you for the visit. ❤ 😀
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March 8, 2017 at 2:18 am
What a great interview – I learned a lot.
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March 18, 2017 at 11:35 am
Thank you Isa! And thank you for your amazing 5-Star Review! I am honored and thrilled!
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March 18, 2017 at 11:36 am
Thank you Sharon, I am delighted you liked the interview!
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March 10, 2017 at 3:05 pm
Thanks for the introduction to Luna and her writing, Tess. It sounds like an amazing read!
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March 18, 2017 at 11:36 am
Thank you Christy B! If you do read it, please let me know! I always like to get the feedback.
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March 20, 2017 at 11:03 pm
Wow–sounds like an intense book. I have known people like this, and it’s very hard to break free. Putting the information our there like this is a good way to help people see through the tricks of those who seek to control others.
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April 25, 2017 at 5:03 pm
Oooh, this looks deliciously ardent. I do love complex relationships, er, in books and onscreen only. I hope to read this. Pleased to meet you Luna and thank you, dear Tess for the lovely introduction. Hope this week is treating you all well. 🙂
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