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Maybe you've been reading my fic? Perhaps you saw a post I wrote
on a BtVS or Ats related forum? Or you stumbled across this site
by accident? Either way you're probably wondering who is iyaorisha?
iyaorisha is my pen name, my screen name, my alterego, and my avatar.
The name means mother of the spirit in Yoruba the language
of a Nigeran ethnic group. It is used as an honorific for priestesses in the West-African derived syncretic religions that
have taken root in the Americas.
I do not practice Candomble, Santeria, or Vodun --I am
actually a fairly observant Catholic. But I have a great and abiding admiration of these faith systems which survived the
horrors of the Middle Passage and chattel slavery. They echo my own beliefs in the presence of power and the nature of the
sacred and the profane themes that appear in my fanfics.
So, who is the real woman behind iyaorisha?
I am
pretty protective of my real identity. I am chary of people who think iyaorisha is their new best friend because they
really loved a particular fic (usually "Look What Love Gave Us" --what is it about that fic?). Worse, there are those folks
who (as they are clearly unable to draw the line between the cyberworld and the real one) invite me to all manner
of unseemly...um, extracurricular activities.
However, I can tell you that I am a 31-year-old African-American wife and mom whose obsession with BtVS and AtS continues to puzzle my family.
I have been writing smutty fanfic for about two years. It is my
favorite guilty pleasure, one that I seldom get to indulge now that I am working full time. (It helps that I have sporadic
insomnia.)
I proudly attribute the salacious things I write to being a Scorpio
(Pluto Girl) and spending my adolescence at very conservative all girls Catholic school.
I've written fifteen
fanfics, most of which are not yet published. I have nine fics posted at Fanfiction.net. One, Relating to a Psychopath
(Xander/Dru), has been archived on a few other sites and was nominated for a Shades of Grey Award. I'm still pretty shocked
at the buzz it gets.
A handful of nominations later, I'm happy to announce that "A Night of Firsts", my take on Angelus' and Spike's first
sexual encounter, won the Candy Store Award for Best Angel(us)/Spike fiction. Yay!
Bloodtearsashes is my first attempt at a BtVS and Ats related website. If you read the homepage, you know
that this site is not intended as a home for my fanfic (someday, I might post a few fics here), but rather as a window into
my life as a Buffyverse fanfiction writer.
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