Better To Marry Than To Burn
(Michal Scott is the pen name of Anna Taylor Sweringen)
Blurb:
Freed Man seeking woman to partner in marriage for at least two years in the black township of Douglass, Texas. Must be willing and able to help establish a legacy. Marital relations as necessary. Love neither required nor sought.
Excerpt:
Caesar looked at Queen. His eyes glistened with unshed tears. She swallowed hard, unnerved by the sight. Her lips trembled.
Reverend Warren smiled. “Caesar, you may kiss your bride.”
Kiss? Queen flinched. There’d be no kissing in this marriage. She’d promised to be his wife for two years with sex provided at agreed upon intervals. At the end of two years that requirement would end, and she’d be free to live as she chose. She could go anywhere she pleased, especially with the respectability of missus before her name and Caesar’s promised severance. No. This coupling made them business partners. Business partners did not kiss.
She extended her hand to seal their arrangement. He returned the handshake, but instead of releasing her, his too rough fingers imprisoned hers and pulled her to him. With his other hand, he captured the back of her head and secured her mouth to his.
A squeal of surprise parted her lips. His thick tongue swept into the shelter of her mouth. The assault ambushed her with pleasure and vanquished her resistance.
Her hands rose, as if of their own volition, and pressed against his chest. The firm muscle beneath his shirt coaxed her hands to linger, to explore— however discreetly—the muscle beneath her palms and fingertips.
Caesar broke off the kiss.
The embrace didn’t last more than a few seconds, but Queen swayed, robbed of reason and resentment.
Buy link: https://amzn.to/2KTaGPH
Meet Michal/Anna:
NA: How did you come up with the idea for your book?
ATS/MS: Better to Marry Than to Burn was inspired by a New Testament scripture that I’ve always considered bad advice on having sex: “But if they cannot contain, let them marry: for it is better to marry than to burn.” and my love for Much Ado About Nothing. I wondered what the battling between Beatrice and Benedict would look like if the characters were African American. Since I mostly write post-Civil War erotic historicals I set myself a challenge to see if I could tell that story.
NA: What sort of research did you do to write this book?
ATS/MS: For the hero, Caesar, I read books and articles on the lives of former slaves who made their way to the West instead of staying in the South or going North. For my heroine, Queen, I relied heavily on W.E.B. DuBois’ The Philadelphia Negro to get a sense of life for a free-born Northern Black woman.
NA: What is the main thing you want readers to take away from your book?
ATS/MS: That the history of African Americans is wide and varied. And although my family’s story traces back to slavery, not every African-American’s does.
NA: Do you have a day job?
ATS/MS: What was your job before you started writing full time? I’m a retired minister.
NA: What started you on the path to writing?
ATS/MS: A challenge from my mother-in-law. I used to write X-Files fan fiction and she asked me why didn’t I write about characters of my own. Her question reignited a desire to be a writer that I hadn’t realized I’d buried. The rest as they say is history.
NA: What do your friends and family think about your being a writer?
ATS/MS: They love bragging on me. My husband blushes when he thinks about my erotic works, especially since I feminized his name for my erotic pen name, but he looks forward to me getting a movie deal someday. : )
NA: Do you outline books ahead of time or are you more of a by-the-seat-of-your-pants writer?
ATS/MS: I’m a plotter on steroids, but I’ve got a recessive panster gene that comes out to play when I least expect it and which has more than once upset my plotting apple cart.
NA: What do you like to do when you’re not writing?
ATS/MS: I love watching old movies from the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s.
NA: What are your top three favorite books of all time?
ATS/MS: I’ve got too many to choose from, so I’ll answer with the top three romance/books with romantic elements on my keeper shelf: Beverly Jenkins’ Topaz, J.D. Robb’s Conspiracy in Death and Michelle Reid’s Gold Ring of Betrayal.
NA: Why did you choose the shirt you have on?
ATS/MS: I’m wearing a Stuyvesant High School sweatshirt I bought during my 25th high school reunion because the morning was a little chilly and this sweatshirt not only warms my body, but some fond childhood memories, too.
NA: First thought when the alarm goes off in the in the morning?
ATS/MS: Hit the snooze. I always set my alarms earlier than I have to get up so I have psychological time: additional sleep time that blunts the resentment that having to get up always creates.
NA: What errand/chore do you despise the most?
ATS/MS: Hate, hate, hate shoveling snow.
NA: What are you working on now?
ATS/MS: I’ve three projects I’m working on. The first, Seasons of Light, is a contemporary romance about how the holidays of Hanukkah and Kwanzaa result in second chances at love for the main characters. The second, Or What’s A Heaven For, is the first in a series of four retellings of the Wagner Ring cycle with African-American characters in post-Civil War New York and told from the women’s POV. The third is a novella I hope to submit to the Wild Rose Press’ One Scoop or Two 2020 summer reads series. I’ve outlined four possible stories. Hopefully one will be picked up.
NA: What is any question we didn’t ask that you would like to answer?
ATS/MS: You’ve been so comprehensive, I can’t think of one. Thanks for the opportunity to share about me and my writing. I learned a lot about myself. : ) [Our pleasure!]
Meet the author:
A native New Yorker, Michal Scott is the pen name of Anna Taylor Sweringen, an ordained United Church of Christ and Presbyterian Church USA minister. Using the writings of the love mystics of Begijn, Michal writes Christian erotica and Christian erotic romance (i.e. erotica and erotic romance with a faith arc) and regular erotic romance, hoping to build a bridge between the sacred and the secular in erotically arousing stories. She has been writing seriously since joining Romance Writers of American in 2003. She writes inspirational romance as Anna Taylor (Twitter – http://twitter.com/revannable) and gothic romance and women’s fiction as Anna M. Taylor. (FB – https://bit.ly/31jtTAK).
Website: www.michalscott.webs.com
Twitter: http://twitter.com/mscottauthor1
Cece Whittaker is a Christian Romance writer who lives at the southern New Jersey coast. She has created the Serve Series, stories that take place during the 1940s, featuring four women whose antics and romances are as entertaining as they are involved with caring for others. Cece’s website, naturally enough is 
Cece Whittaker is a Christian Romance writer who lives at the southern New Jersey coast. She has created the