#AtoZChallenge – I is for Ivan

IvanI knew from the beginning that if I introduced Anne, I would also have to introduce Ivan, her not-quite love interest. So here I am at my ninth A to Z Blogging challenge entry, with smoldering eye candy again.

🙂

Here’s how Anne meets him in Dust to Blood:

For as much research as I’ve done and for as much as I’ve absorbed intellectually of Sam and Igor’s arguments, I’m nonetheless unprepared for the man Igor presents to me as Ivan Krempenski. I would say he had been named after Ivan the Terrible for his intense personal charm and the volatile intelligence his visage betrays, but I also know that Ivan is a common Russian name, and it’s likely every fifth orphan shares the name, if not the distinctive characteristics embodied in this particular version. His eyes are a piercing shade of blue, so electric that they really should have been a clue to the physical reaction I feel on first contact with him.

I reach out to accept his handshake after our introduction, and am shocked, literally, by an electrical charge strong enough to make my arm tingle. Suspecting a strange practical joke, I surreptitiously shift my hand so I can see whether there are any telltale wires or batteries in evidence, but see nothing that would betray a mechanical origin to the shock.

In my bemusement over this unconventional connection, I almost miss my cue, when Igor introduces me as Anne Crosby, an American research associate. After only a slight hesitation, I respond with the usual well-mannered platitudes, trying out my schoolgirl’s introduction of “Kak dyelah?”

I’m closing in on my final edits this week, so am really looking forward to getting the complete work out for public consumption.

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5 thoughts on “#AtoZChallenge – I is for Ivan

  1. Keep trucking with it! I am officially out of A-Z challenge because I was two letters behind, and I’m sick, but I will be keeping the ultimate blog challenge for 30 posts this month (I have guest posts waiting in the wings). Yay!

    1. awww… Sorry you’re dropping off the list–but congrats on the 30 posts! I won’t have managed that feat even after participating in this madness, fun though it is. 😉

  2. I love anything Russian (even though I’m of Ukrainian descent — close enough for me) and the name Ivan especially. Nice photo too. I can picture the character, and can’t wait to read Dust to Blood (mention this on current post comments as well, which I thank you for: you rock).

    1. How kewl is that: Anne and her posse visit the Ukraine, so even more reason for you to read my book… If only to imagine more mental eye candy. 😉 (And you rock too, so totally deserve support.)

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