Why did I chose this book cover?

Why did I choose to use this special woman as my book cover?

Simple! I love the art! After more than ½ years of searching for what I imaginary had in my head, I found the Mexican Airbrush artist Daniel Esparza from Los Angeles, California. He has enjoyed painting since he was a child. As soon as I saw his art, I fell in love with his creation. Amazing. I just knew; this is it! What he had created was exactly what I had fantasied about for my book cover. He specializes in Dia de Los Muertos (Day of Dead). This ancient festival is rooted in Mexico's pre-Hispanic past. It is celebrated every year on November 1 (All Saints 'Day) and November 2 (All Souls' Day). 

Daniel Ezparza Art

So, why chose that theme? Daniel Esparza’s female creation had the fire I needed. She had the sparkling in her eyes and expression of what I felt my female character represented. The Burning Desire for love and yet she was living among the dead and lost souls. 

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/article/top-ten-day-of-dead-mexico

The first time I was intrigued by Dia de Los Muertos, was when I saw Frida Kahlo many colorful paintings. Frida died in the mid-fifties and first became famous 50 years after her death. I subsequently learned that Frida Kahlo is enjoying something of a cult status now among those of Mexican heritage. The heart of the holiday is the honoring of deceased relatives. Still, why then use this theme? My characters in the book are not dead. The story is not about honoring the dead. As a catholic, I somehow do believe in welcoming back the souls of lost love ones for a brief visit.

Watch the video below:

This is Day of The Dead Parade in Mexico City (Dia De Los Muertos)

Then I kept on having this picture in my head of; La Catrina who has come to symbolize El Dia de Los Muertos. La Catrina is created in 1800 by Mexican José Guadalupe Posada, portrayed as an elegant well-dressed woman, with a wonderful face and she refers to rich people. She has the ace of spades which is a perfect symbol to represent the ambivalence between life and death and considered both a symbol of good luck and the opposite. Well, my character Mary has some good luck and also the opposite. She is also rich and elegant, yet Mary thinks everyone is equal in the end.

Later, the Mexican artist Diego Rivera, husband of Frida Kahlo, who painted her on a mural in Mexico City, giving her a new body and identity, La Catrina. Now she is famous and often used among tattoo artists. I subsequently realized I had some special feelings regarding my love for Spain and Mexico. Their Spanish culture and the language. Strangely and by coincidence, all the artists where somehow all the sudden linked to each other in my imagination for the book cover. This was without me having that specifically in my mind. I often have had some kind of Deja-vu experiences regarding Spain and their culture and have always felt magically drawn to it since I was a teenager.  

Daniel Esparza had captured all the important things I needed for the book cover. The Catrina women, the rose in her hair, the spider web, the floral ornaments to the religious and the sophisticated elements with his stunning art of the women, representing the Burning Desire. Great work, without making it over-dramatically deadly.  

Copyright © 2020 ^. All Rights Reserved ^. M. L. Stark

How a psychopath gains power by doing safe/unsafe in an interaction.

.....I've read it. It is a very exciting reading. It is interesting to read how a psychopath gains power by doing safe/unsafe in an interaction. 

And his seduction is so cunning that it is more than enough. His behavior goes beyond normal limits and is a means of power and is so well unfolded in your text. Personally, I'm not that much for such books, but I think there are many who will read your book with great interest. Good luck with the authorship. ❤️

By the way, I also think that you’re vignettes with quotes work incredibly well.

February 2020

- Line Geertsen - Danish journalist and TV host at DR

*******

Awesome reviews on Xlibris and Amazon. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Thank you very much. I am very glad you all enjoyed the book. 😁 😁 😁

*******

8th April 2020

• • I hope things are going well. And many read and learn during this fiasco. Thank you for your contribution to educating people. Your subject matter exposes a big problem in today's relationships. Hope you reach many. Stay safe!! - Eric Jones

*******

March 2020

• Nicki McFarland Thanks Stark! I’m not a fiction reader but it sounds like your book keeps people on the edge of their seat! Writing is so therapeutic!! Thanks for the friend request

• It seems like an excellent book and I am certainly interested in reading it! Thanks for sharing! -Noel Rhodes

• It sounds like a book I’d probably not put down till I finished it! - Lea Ann Hannum's comment.

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2020

Format: Kindle Edition

AMAZING! Must Read!! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is an amazing story that keeps you wanting more. can’t wait for part 2!

The Shady Lizard and the Women

INTRODUCTION:

Will you believe it? There he is, watching me unscrupulous on a hot stone resting in the sun.  

It is my ambition to say in ten sentences what others say in a whole book.

—Friedrich Nietzsche

It’s more than difficult to get this all down on paper because I want it to be authentic. I wish to rationally sense life as Mary experienced it with her ‘lounge room lizard’. All the names of the characters, the establishments, and the places have been changed. The story is fictional, but it contains ideas based on real events.

There is merely one problem! How to tell it in ten sentences? It can’t be told in a few words. Sorry, friends! However, ten sentences might be easy to read. So, let’s jump to it. A wise man once wrote, ‘Screw it. Let’s do it.’[1] So I did it! In my new process of life, I can add one more quote by the same man: ‘Do not be embarrassed by your failures. Learn from them and start again.’ Thank you for the push. It gave me a new beginning.

Living near the beach is my dream. Walking it day and night. Falling asleep with the windows open to the sound of the waves crashing on the beach. Letting the moonlight shine through the window and watching the stars in the clear night sky. My decision to finish the story began when I moved into my new apartment, in the first row of homes facing the sea. It provides a stunning view from the balcony and is barely fifty metres from the sea and the golden sand. 

The first night is peaceful as I wake up to a hot August summer morning on the south coast of the United Kingdom. The sun is shining through my window as it awakens me at ten o’clock in the morning. I’m still resting in my silky white sheets, warmly tucked around my naked body. Stretching my limbs like a lazy cat, I have no desire to get up. After rubbing my eyes, I sit upon my bed to let the blood flow through all my veins, and I look around in the room in confusion. Oh my goodness! Boxes in every corner. 

The balcony door is open, and a nice fresh and cool sea breeze sneaks into the room. The sound of the crashing waves reaches my inner ear with a pleasing calmness, and I think, Why not? Leave the boxes and begin writing a new book or finish the other ones I’m working on. I know my life is rather unreal. I was heartbroken for a long time, so I’ve not had the time or psyche to finish them. Being loved one day and completely upset the next turned my life upside down. The man I love often tells me, 

Trust me.!

I love only you!

We are meant to be! 

‘We will be together 

for the rest of our lives!

I’m devastated because it’s not as he promised. It’s all a lie! The many red flags slipped past my attention about him being a dangerous person. It’s difficult to imagine and understand life without him. He is the best thing that I believe has happened to me. Too late, I figured out the meaning of the phrase ‘lounge room lizard’. I believed him and trusted him with my life. That’s the biggest mistake I ever made. I allowed myself to reveal something gruesome. The same thing he did to me also happened to the other woman I know about.

Why is it so important to use the expression ‘lounge room lizard’? This is usually a reference to lounge musicians, most often in a negative sense. This person has the character of a medieval, ordinary man, who looks charmingly good. He resembles a dehydrated, oppressed lizard and is romantically involved with a wealthy woman. He is typically shown as a well-dressed man and frequents surroundings where the rich and famous gather. He is the type of man who will seduce a wealthy woman with his flattery and deceptive charm. 

Oh golly gosh! Do you believe it? He has so much charisma. He is extremely convincing and pretends to be a first-class trustworthy and charming person. I have never met any person so full of good ideas as he is. Amazing how he can captivate people in front of an assembly. This chap is enchanting with his skills and high energy. 

Trust me!

Those were the main words during our time together. Later, various problems began to arise, with his many cunning plans. His professional approach or his projects usually started to awaken a great deal of speculation, but often, it was too late to see through his disguise. Unfortunately, I did all my research too late, so I was excruciatingly conned, loving him blindly. 

A Russian proverb says, 

‘Love is evil. 

You can fall in love with a goat.’ 

In other words, 

love is blind, 

and 

the pretty headless chick 

becomes blinded.

The phrase ‘lizard’ presumably relates to the cold and insinuating quality of the reptile. It has sharp claws like an eagle, which is unscrupulous when snatching his next victim. It’s usually a distressed woman, whom he wants to lure into marriage. Mary is such a sorrowful pretty little doll. He eagerly tries at the early stage to seek some benefit from her, because he never married the previous one. The woman usually has valuable possessions and money that the lizard man can profit from. The more naive, unhappy, and helpless she is, the better for him. He strikes with his nasty sharp claws into her vulnerability and misuses her to the last drop, without any empathy or remorse. He chillingly torments her until she is severely wounded, like a helpless animal lying in the gutter, abandoned and helpless in its misery! 

Why has he done so? 

Later, she discovers the maliciously cunning narcissistic artist in him, an evil psychopath! A bloodsucking leech who sucks the last blood out of others through his entire life. His complete lack of self-discipline and respect for obligations, rules, and social norms are immense, and his speech patterns are repeated lies. His mood swings are almost impossible to see through, and this is the man she trusts! He has the flawless ability to bend the facts. It’s always someone else’s fault. That is his best play. No matter what, that’s how it’s done. 

It’s never his fault!

---

[1] Sir Richard Branson.

Copyright © 2020 ^. All Rights Reserved ^. M. L. Stark

Taknemmelighed – IN DANISH

Taknemmelighed! 

Jeg er dybt taknemmelig for alle, der støttede mig i min udvikling gennem en vanskelig proces i mit liv og hjalp til med at gøre denne bog til virkelighed. Skrivning er bestemt ikke en let opgave!

• Tak til min familie, barndomsvenner og deres familier for at have affundet sig med min besættelse med alle mine rejser gennem de sidste mange år. Tak for at være mine børn, I gav mig børnebørn, var loyal og støttende i hele min svære tid. I er alle væsentlige for mig. Mine bedste barndomsvenner, I er som en søster og bror for mig. Jeres forældre er de forældre, jeg drømte om at have. Tak til mine venner i Jylland, til de mange mennesker, jeg mødte under mine verdensomspændende rejser, og særlig tak til mine to private chauffører i England.

• Tak til Dexter Lopez, min forlagskonsulent i Xlibris og for den enorme støtte. Du gav mig det sidste spark og viste bundsolidt i troen på bogen.

• En særlig tak til Daniel Esparza, USA for tilladelsen til at bruge dit fantastiske kunstværker som bogomslag.

• En særlig tak til Elena Dudina digital kunstner for at have afsluttet bogomslaget med tekster og fotomateriale til de sociale medier.

• Drake Lucifer Bates, tak for at have tilladt mig at elske dig. Heldigvis lykkedes det dig ikke at bringe mig helt ned, selvom du ødelagde min værdighed. Mit liv blev aldrig det samme igen, men jeg lærte af din ondskab. Jeg elskede dig virkelig. Det eneste, jeg beklager i mit liv, er de mange gode ting, jeg gjorde for dig.

Nyd læsningen!

Copyright © 2020 ^. All Rights Reserved ^. M. L. Stark

China Hits a Coronavirus Milestone

China Hits a Coronavirus Milestone: No New Local Infections.

”We are at War.  The enemy is invisible and it requires our general mobilization.” says France President Emmanuel Macron and declares France ‘at War’ With Virus, as E.U. Proposes 30-Day Travel Ban for nonessential travel. 

Macron also commanded the French to stay at home for at least 15 days and The movement of French citizens will be tightly restricted. Anyone violating the order faces punishment. Only food shopping and essential activities are allowed. Soon many other countries in Europe follow the temporary rules of France and Italy. 

”We are at War.  The enemy is invisible and it requires our general mobilization.” says French President Emmanuel Macron and declares France ‘at War’ With Virus, as E.U. Proposes 30-Day Travel Ban for nonessential

travel. Macron also commanded the French to stay at home for at least 15 days and The movement of French citizens will be tightly restricted. Anyone violating the order faces punishment. Only food shopping and essential activities are allowed. Soon many Other countries in Europe follow the new temporary rules from France and Italy. 

Boris Johnson warns Britons to avoid non-essential contact as Covid-19 death toll rises – as it happened. 

Schools are being closed and Rishi Sunak, the Chancellor, announced another £350bn in government spending and loan guarantees on Tuesday, focused on keeping businesses afloat through the turmoil.

 “I always treated the Chinese Virus very seriously,” Donald Trump tweeted. “And have done a very good job from the beginning, including my very early decision to close the “borders” from China – against the wishes of almost all. Many lives were saved. The Fake News new narrative is disgraceful & false!” How dare he say so? Accusing the Chinese for it’s a special Chinese disease, despite it, all began in China. 

Late February the president of USA Donald Trump tweeted; “The Coronavirus is very much under control in the USA. We are in contact with everyone and all the relevant countries. CDC & World Health have been working hard and very smart. Stock Market starting to look very good to me!.” But the stock market is bleeding Worldwide. Everyone is losing on that account.

“Mr. Trump has a habit of taking credit for supposedly healthy markets and doesn’t always ground his claims in reality. Not a good day to invoke them as an indication the crisis was “under control” – as we now know it wasn’t.” Says The Independent 24^th February 2020 

Dear readers, despite the world, has gone mad with fear, there is always a light at the end of the Tunnel. Let’s celebrate 🎉 🥰🌎 the dark clouds are about to disappear, beginning in China where it all began. Though the rest of the world is still bleeding, be sure that a better time will come again. Be positive. The sun will happily shine upon us again. 

I wish you all a great day. 

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark.

THE BRIGHT SIDE OF LIFE

My meridian clock tells me that I am normally not an early bird. Strangely the last couple of days I’ve been up earlier than usual. Why? So, what did I do? Morning coffee and a smoke. Next, I shower, washed my hair and got dressed. 

Should I continue writing? Damn, I’m still lacking the momentum. News is coming in on the TV. It’s all about Covid-19. It’s serious in the UK and the rest of the world. Will you believe it. Only Montenegro, a Balkan country with rugged mountains and with a population of about 630.000 are so far free from the devastating virus. The rest of the entire world is massively hit by Covid-19. I used to live for some years in Montenegro. A stunning country. I’ve written about in Burning Desire - Part 2. 

VIDEO Beautiful Montenegro

So, what did I do today? I went shopping. Christ’s all shelves are empty, but I got milk, 6 eggs, some meat, and bread. Will you imagine it? On one of the shelves, I see 10 packages of toilet paper and 5 packages off kitchen rolls. I grab one of each and are lucky to get 4 rolls of toilet paper and 2 kitchen rolls. Kindly, I, of course, leave the rest for others. A younger couple passes me and grabs the rest. I’m dumbfounded. Shame on them. The elderly lady didn’t get any. The young couple didn’t share with the others. 

My car is almost emptied for gasoline, so the next stop is at the gas station. Dam it was low, so I fill up the car and then drive back home, unpacking all my goods. I sign some of my first edition of Burning Desire – Part 1 and hand over a copy to a friend. 

I decided on a walk and are strolling along the beach. The wind is rough, but the sun is shining. On my way back home through the many green areas, I see to my surprise the many Spring flowers blooming. I realize despite the horrifying time we are looking at; the circle is going on. I get joyful and take some pictures of the flowers. 

Sit down on a bench and start writing what I did today. Maybe this is my new momentum to continue writing and I chose to see positive on the horrifying things we experience at the moment in the entire world. As Monty Python once sang: Always Look on The Bright Side of Life.

Have a lovely day.

Monty Python - The Bright side of life

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

Do you know the feeling is of being stuck in your writing?

I feel so stuck at the end of the pier. I'm lacking momentum while writing on book # 3.

It must be all this talk about the coronavirus that's bothering my head.

I wish you all good health. Hopefully, this will soon be over. Be there for each other and take good care.

Have a lovely day.

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

The sun is still shinning

Don’t forget in these tragic times that The sun is still shining out there. I wish everyone in the entire world a great recovery and great health. Many thoughts to all who became a victim of this cruel virus. I deeply feel sadden for those who passed away and for their families and loved ones. I’ve deep respect for everyone in health care. I’m sure they are doing everything and the best they can do. Take good care of yourself, your neighbors and your loved ones. We all need to be there for each other. 

I wish you all a lovely day 🌹😘

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

1st Edition of Burning Desire - The Psychopath and The Girl in Black Prada Shoes - Part 1

I'm so proud. 1st Edition with boxes full of books has just arrived. Now it's a reality. The book is out.

BURNING DESIRE -  The Psychopath and the Girl in Black Prada Shoes

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

How did I come up writing this book?

How did I come up with writing this book?

Having been a victim myself, made me realize how
little help and understanding I got during my period 
of being trapped by a psychopath and living in my 
own Hell. I was dealing with the worst and most drawn-out suicide of my life. The 
struggles to survive inspired me to write about similarities of my emotions and 
experiences of the living Hell. 

A story that needed to be told to the public, especially women who have been abused
by a psychopath. I feel it's a major suppressed theme in our daily life, but it's also a 
massive taboo people don't want to talk about, especially from abused and scared women. 
I believe too few in our society don't understand or know what the abused women are 
subjected to and don't know about the danger the victim is living in. Many don't know 
what the can do for the victim to help them. 

I wish Burning Desire Part 1 and Part 2 can give the reader more insight and inspiration
for what is going on emotionally for the victim. Get the feeling of how malicious the
psychopath truly is to Mary.

Have you read the book? Did you like it?
Others have rated or comment on it. Do you want to rate my book? Ist much appreciated.
I hope you will enjoy reading.

Top review

5.0 out of 5 stars 
Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2020

• AMAZING! Must Read!! This is an amazing story that keeps you wanting more. can’t wait for part 2!
• It sounds like a book I’d probably not put down till I finished it!
• It seems like an excellent book and I am certainly interested in reading it! Thanks for sharing!
• I’m not a fiction reader but it sounds like your book keeps people on the edge of their seat! Writing is so therapeutic!!
• .....I've read it. It is very exciting reading. It is interesting to read how a psychopath gains power by doing safe/unsafe in an interaction. And his seduction is so cunning that it is more than enough. His behavior goes beyond normal limits and is a means of power and is so well unfolded in your text. Personally, I'm not that much for such books, but I think there are many who will read your book with great interest. Good luck with the authorship. ❤️ By the way, I also think that your vignettes with quotes work incredibly well.   - Line Geertsen - Danish journalist and TV host at DR

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

Special Thanks

I’m grateful to everyone who supported me in my growth throughout a difficult process in my life and helped to make this book a reality. Writing is certainly not an easy task!

Thanks to my family, childhood friends, and their families for putting up with my obsession with traveling the past years. Thanks for being my children, giving me grandchildren, and being loyal and supportive throughout my difficult time. You are all essential to me. My best childhood friends, you are like a sister and brother to me. Your parents are the parents I dreamt of. Thanks to friends in Jutland, to the people I met during my worldwide travels, and special thanks to my two private chauffeurs in England. 

Thanks to Mr. Dexter Lopez, my publishing consultant at Xlibris, for the massive support. You gave me the final kick and showed rock-solid belief in the book. 

A special thanks to Daniel Esparza, the USA for the permission to use your stunning artwork as a book cover. 

A special thanks to Elena Dudina digital artist for finishing the book cover and social media.

Mr. Drake Lucifer Bates, thanks for allowing me to love you. Fortunately, you did not succeed in bringing me down, although you took away my dignity. My life was never the same, but I learned from your evilness. I truly loved you. The only thing I regret in my life is the many good things I did for you. 

Enjoy the reading!

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

Mary is an established woman. Her lifespan is a petrifying mess.

About the Book

Mary is an established woman. Her lifespan is a petrifying mess. This is about dating a truly creepy sociopath, one who swindled others throughout his entire life. A self-absorbed, lying person using people.

He presents himself with a public persona of normalcy. She could not see what lay behind the dark shade of Drake Lucifer Bates. He was inappropriately flirting with her; he was a doctor and she was his patient. During a treatment session, he goes too far. Does he get hard when he treats patients? It was too late for her to escape.

Unintended she becomes captured in his mean spider web. Drake won her compassion with his enormous intellect and glimmering charm. Something vastly magical happened around him. She begins a passionate love affair with him. Their life seemed blissful on the outside. Behind his malicious plan, it was chilling.

Trusting him with her fragile life, she doesn’t see he is like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Believing him was fatal. Swindle wealthy patients, was his primary target. His manipulative behavior and scams end disastrously for Mary. She is a character in his horror movie. He sinks into his mania of deceives and lies. He is a predator! She doesn’t know anything about psychopaths. How does she figure out what she can expect from such people? Her life was never the same, but she learned from his evilness.

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

The constant element of unpredictability was great, while I knew Drake

You can fool people some of the time, but you can't fool them all of the time.

     ––Aesop

The constant element of unpredictability was great, while I knew Drake

It was never to know what was meant or what he wanted. 

What was good yesterday or today was often gibberish tomorrow in his mind. Some people are truly great manipulators. They can lie, cheat, treat you badly and 

somehow manage to make it all seem to like it's all your 

fault. Drake was a true Puppet Master dragging Mary 

around as a subjugated and scarred dancing Circus Bear 

in the arena.

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark

Wolf in Sheep's Clothing - Aesop

The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing caught Mary

Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves.                                                               

–– The Gospel of Matthew 7.15

A certain Wolf could not get enough and one night he found a sheepskin. Dressed in the skin, the Wolf strolled into the pasture with the Sheep. Soon a little Lamb was following him about and was quickly led away to slaughter. The Wolf pretends to be nice and harmless but is really a monster.

- Grimms' Fairy Tales, originally known as the Children's and Household Tales. Brothers Grimm, Jakob and Wilhelm, first published on 20th December 1812. 

Grimms Fairy Tales

The wolf is an expression of:

Greed, fraud, cowardice, ludicrous intentions and aggressive intentions behind seemingly peaceful behavior. 

This is the expression I have of Drake Lucifer Bates

Copyright © 2020 · All Rights Reserved · M. L. Stark