Tattoo Time: Ezra Taylor and a TELESA Thank you.

It's Tattoo Time again. And today, I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all those who have been so supportive and encouraging of the e-launching of my new book TELESA:The Covenant Keeper. Whether you're buying the book, spreading the telesa word to friends and family, following the blog book tour, posting online reviews, or having me and Telesa over to visit your blog - thank you so much. I've been overwhelmed by the positive feedback and thoughtful assistance from so many of you. This journey is much less scary when you have a great support network. Fa'afetai tele lava!

Today's tattoos are brought to you by the person most responsible for successfully conveying "Daniel"s image to the world - star Samoan rugby player, Ezra Taylor. (All photos taken by Tim Rasmussen Photography, Samoa)

Ezra was born in Australia but grew up in West Auckland. (Umm, I live in West Auck but I have to tell you that I have never seen any rugby players who look like Daniel hanging out at my local grocery store.) He describes himself as a "proud Australian born New Zealand raised Samoan with Kiwi, Scottish and English blood." He was raised by his mother and describes his upbringing with his extended family as being filled with "love, generousity and fun."  He writes, "the love we share is unbreakable and built on a foundation from our grandparents who engrained in us all, a sense of generosity and service."

Ezra represented NZ at the U-19 and schoolboy rugby levels, and made his pro debut playing for Otago in 2006.  He signed with the Highlanders for the 2007 Super 14 Season, missed the 2008 season due to an injury and then played for the Queensland Reds, Super 14 before  moving to Connacht of the Magners League for the 2010-2011 season. He played for Manu Samoa in the game against Japan in July 2011. Ezra is a Loose Forward/Lock.  Ok, can you tell that I have no clue what all that rugby talk means? But for the benefit of those blog readers who actually DO know something about rugby, I'm copying this faithfully for you from Google.)

                           Playing rugby in Samoa is very hot work.

Like Daniel in the TELESA book, Ezra was a school prefect and House leader in his secondary school days. He played for the 1st XV for three years and in his final year they won the National Secondary Schools title.

"I was totally into my rugby at school and that took a lot of my focus. I always had teachers telling me that only a tiny select few go on to make a living from rugby and were very negative. In a way I wanted to prove them wrong." Ezra admits that he was "in no way the perfect student! I loved English and History, hated Maths and looking back, I wish I did give a lot more towards my education." 

       Because this post is about tattoos, we better check out Ezra's tattooed leg.

In case you were wondering, Ezra (like Daniel) is a man in love. He married NZ Olympic Basketball player, Natalie Purcell in 2009. "I had seen her on the cover of Spasifik magazine and said to a friend how beautiful I thought she was. This close friend of mine had a sister who happened to play on the NZ Tall ferns Basketball team with Natalie. To make a long story short they organized we meet and to be honest it was love at first sight and the rest is history...There's so many things I love about my wife, we bring out the best in each other and I love our strength as a couple. It's hard because we both travel a lot for our professions but we know that we are blessed and this professional sports lifestyle  is not one you can live for long. We have to make the most of our talents and opportunities - it would be very sad if one day we were the grandparents who sat with our grandchildren constantly talking about all the things we wished we had done, the regrets we have...I love supporting my wife and am incredibly proud when I see her out there on the court." (And on behalf of wives/partners everywhere, in a day and age when most sports figures are chasing Tiger Woods example - right there in that quote, is the reason why you should vote for Ezra to be rugby player of the year.)

Ezra says of adoring 'female fan attention' -  "To be honest I don't really notice it. I'm not some Hollywood superstar or big time musician so it's not a biggie. You get the odd "can I have a photo?" or "can I have your autograph" but that's about it. Female fans are generally just that - rugby fans". (So rabid fans, please keep that in mind..Dont be sending Mr Taylor naked pics of yourself or asking him to sign your rugby ball..)

When people ask me "Why did you pick Ezra to be the 'Face of Daniel' for the TELESA series?" (Well, apart from the obvious visual reasons.)  I want to say - because he's not a Man-Whore. (Apologies to all the famous, successful and gorgeous Sports Man-Whores out there... )  But I don't say that out loud because 'man-whore' is a bad word and I'm supposed to be cleaning up my vocab.

So I offer the other reason - There's not a lot of Pacific Y.A fiction out there and it was important to me that the key characters in TELESA, be representative of some of the things I love the most about our culture. 'Daniel' is Samoan, Tongan and palagi and he honors his rich heritage on all sides. He values family, honors and respects the grandmother who raised him and more. And he rocks at rugby. Cant mention 'best things' about Samoa without rugby. I wanted a rugby player for TELESA who represented a lot of similar things to Daniel and I appreciate that Ezra Taylor fits the description in many ways.Before he did the TELESA photoshoot, Ezra asked me if there was anything about Daniel in the book that "would shame my family or upset the country." I was happy to reassure him that Daniel was pretty much a dream fantasy male lead. And there couldn't be anything too nasty/skanky in my book because my parents would kill me. (Not to mention my children might read TELESA one day.) Only then , did he agree to sign up.

So there you have it people, IF / WHEN you read the TELESA book, you will discover that Daniel is much more than just a pretty face. And more than his tattoos. 

        Which seems to be true of Ezra Taylor as well.
               Thanks Ezra.

Thank you for helping my blog host a record 18,000 visits last month. My YA urban fantasy romance Telesa:The Covenant Keeper is now avail. from Amazon for US and intl readers. Check out the reviews and see if this is a fire you would like to read more of...

                                               EBook - $2.99      Print Book - $14.95 USD

NZ and Aust readers can order from these links: $24.95 NZD  and $22.95 AUD