Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Let’s Talk Locations! Carol Van Atta, author of Soul Defenders: The Black Orchids




Take a peek at the majestic Mt. Hood
The locations an author features in his or her stories play significant roles in the development of the story, plot, and characters. Some authors enjoy writing about faraway or imaginary places, while others choose locals they’ve actually visited. For me, I’ve done a bit of both in my writing. However, in Soul Defenders, I know exactly where my characters are going! No unknowns for me with these locations.

Take a peek at the majestic Mt. Hood
The primary setting, Cherry Creek, Oregon, is based on a small rural community called Eagle Creek. I usually change the name of the main town or city and leave the surrounding communities with their real names. This makes for a nice blend of fiction and reality, as well as, gives the reader an opportunity to play a part in imagining where the story is unfolding. I’ve also been told by readers familiar with specific areas that they enjoy trying to figure out what real location I’m alluding to.

Soul Defenders takes place in several Oregon locations. And, yes, I’m from Oregon and have written about Oregon in much of my work. Soul Defender’s opening scene mentions Mt. Hood towering in the background. When I’m writing, I truly envision the popular mountain and the communities that rest below.

The Historic Benson Hotel
Mt. Hood is also an active volcano, which plays a key role in the story. Characters also visit several locations in downtown, Portland, Oregon. 

The primary villain has a meeting at the historic Benson Hotel’s lounge. Runaway, Lily Howard, seeks drugs in Old Town and hides out in NW Portland with her new dangerous friends. 

Side note: NW Portland is a trendy area with numerous shops and yummy restaurants. Homes, lofts, and older apartment buildings are also prevalent. Take a look!




  Old Town, Portland, OR

NW Portland Neighborhood
 I chose to share a photo of a neighborhood in NW Portland where the houses are built snuggly together. This architecture is common for the area. When you read Soul Defenders, you will observe Lily and Vince walking a street just like this, with a demonic henchman and angelic warrior close on their heels ‒ one eager to orchestrate their demise while the other fights to save them.

Now that you’ve seen some of Oregon, who knows … maybe you’ll visit. But, more importantly, I hope this post has given you a taste of how locations in a book, like background music in a movie, influence our feelings and our reading experiences. Whether the world is one we can find in photos, a place we’ve imagined, or somewhere we’ve visited, it is crucial that we, as authors, present it in a way that is believable, making our story stronger.

If the world our character’s experience isn’t laid out in such a way that readers can clearly envision them, we need to rethink our approach to setting up locations. I want my readers to travel along with the characters as they fulfill their destinies.

After all, “seeing” is believing. 




Soul Defenders: The Black Orchids
Soul Defenders, Book One
Carol Van Atta

Genre: Christian Fiction/Thriller/Suspense

ISBN: ISBN-10: 1479246964
ISBN-13: 978-1479246960
ASIN: B00974IOLC

Number of pages: 310
Word Count: 95,510

Cover Artist: fantasiafrogdesigns.wordpress.com


All other e-version available at Smashwords or through Amazon, Nook etc.

Book Description:

Will their prayers move Heaven's Heart before it's too late? 

When Ted Lyons accepts the new pastorate at Cherry Creek's Community Church, he has no idea just how handy his former law enforcement skills will become. A murdered pastor, the pastor's kidnapped wife, and their runaway daughter are only the beginning in a series of problems he wishes were part of a bad dream. Ted soon realizes he's facing a battle better fought on his knees, in prayer, than with his gun. 


As ruthless demons, summoned by an international cult - The Black Orchids - take over the town of Cherry Creek, angelic warriors are dispatched to protect the weary residents and stop a diabolical plan of destruction. By surrendering their lives to God and forming an unlikely alliance, Ted and a rag-tag group of struggling believers work together to slay the shadows of evil that threaten their very existence. 


This fast-paced tale of supernatural suspense will thrill fans of Frank Peretti's This Present Darkness and Randy Alcorn's The Ishbane Conspiracy







About the Author

Like most authors, Carol Van Atta is no stranger to the written word. She penned a short novel at age 12 (somewhat frightening illustrations included) and had a creative writing piece published in her high school newspaper. Devouring books from numerous genres, she developed a thirst for more reading materials and could almost always be found with her nose in a book. She has contributed to several popular inspirational anthologies and devotionals, published by Zondervan and Regal Publications, and was a regular writer for Campus Crusade for Christ's Christian Women Today. Writing fiction is her greatest joy. Soul Defenders: The Black Orchids, is the first book in a trilogy of spiritual warfare thrillers.





Three of the Greatest Meals of My Life So Far Guest blog with Emily Kimelman





Three of the Greatest Meals of My Life So Far

Food is very important to me but it doesn’t come up much in my Sydney Rye mysteries because my protagonist, Sydney Rye, doesn’t have time to think about it. She’s usually busy with all sorts of important “fighting for justice” stuff. Granted, she loves oysters, even lived on an oyster farm for awhile in DEATH IN THE DARK, and Sydney makes one hell of a tequila gimlet but the fact is food and drink are not her focus.

However, international justice seeker, I am not. I, the author, am but a mere vagabond with little more to think upon then what my next meal will be. Since food is such a preoccupation for me, today, I’d like to share three of the greatest meals of my life so far (in no particular order).

Borche in a Ger

While riding horses in Mongolia we hit a patch of bad weather and had to canter through sideways, freezing rain for hours. When we finally made it to camp my hands and face were numb. I was wet and cold to my bones. That night our cook stirred up a pot of borche on her little, dung-fire stove. She served the beet stew with yogurt from the local herders. I’d never tasted anything like it. The hardy stew warmed me, bringing color and heat to my cheeks. That night I fell asleep near the fire while rain pelted the felt covered ger. I don’t think I’ve ever felt cozier. 

Crawfish on a balcony

While visiting New Orleans, the home town of my friend, and cover artist, Autumn Whitehurst, I ate crawfish on a balcony, overlooking streets busy with music and fun. The boys (my husband Sean, Autumn’s boyfriend, Chris, and Will, Autumn’s brother) pulled a table out onto the balcony of the apartment we were renting. They put a lamp, it’s base wrapped in a plastic bag, at the center of the table. Then they covered the whole thing with newspaper. To serve, they dumped the bags of crawfish out into the center, mounding it around the lamp. We ate the crawfish with our fingers and gulped down ice cold beer that the girls (me, autumn, and my good friend, Mette) had brought. It was a warm night, music floated up from the street, the crawfish tasted salty and lemony with a spice mixture totally New Orleans. I’ve never felt so at home in a strange place as I did that night.

Giant Snails on a First Date

On my first official date with my husband, Sean, he took me to a very nice restaurant in our neighborhood of Park Slope, Brooklyn. It was famous for it’s raw bar and though I didn’t like oysters (Sean changed this in the years to come) I admitted to enjoying escargot. Sean told the waiter to bring us two of the Welks he’d spied on ice at the bar.  They came in the shell and were by far the largest snails I’d ever encountered. The snails came out of their shells with a pop and quivered on the end of our forks, slimy and leopard spotted. We made eye contact and smiled weakly. Options seemed bad, I could either put this whole thing in my mouth and hope it wasn’t going to be horrible or I could try taking a bite and risk my new beau seeing me gnaw on a giant slug. We both went for the all in approach and were pleasantly surprised. The snail was neither tough nor slimy, it was perfect, the perfect escargot. I don’t know if it was the snails but Sean and I left that restaurant madly in love. There are not many people who enjoy a good Welk, and we’d found each other.

So there you have it, three of my favorite meals. What are your favorite meals? Do you think they were good because of the place or the food or the company or a combo? Anyone know where to get Welks from a raw bar? We have not been able to find them since that night.

Emily Kimelman’s first novel UNLEASHED received the “Awesome Indie” of the year award in 2011 and is a Kindle Top 100 bestseller. The follow up novella, DEATH IN THE DARK, was released in December 2012 and debuted in the Mystery Kindle Top 100. INSATIABLE, the third book in the series released January 2013 has joined the other Sydney Rye mysteries on the bestseller lists for Hard Boiled and Mystery.

The Sydney Rye series is recommended for the 18+ who enjoy some violence, don't mind dirty language, and are up for a dash of sex. Not to mention an awesome, rollicking good mystery!

During the summers Emily lives on the Hudson River aboard OUR WAY, her trusty trawler, with her husband, Sean, and their dog, Kinsey (named after Kinsey Milhone). The rest of the year they are vagabonds and can be found anywhere from Goa, to Paris, to New Orleans, to San Francisco. You can follow Emily on Twitter, Facebook, and her blog where she shares photos from her travels and updates on the Sydney Rye series.





INSATIABLE
A Sydney Rye Novel Book Three
Emily Kimelman

Dark Murder Mystery

ISBN: 1470136023
ISBN-13: 978-1470136024

Number of pages: about 320
Word Count:  75,000

Cover Artist: Autumn Whitehurst

Book Description:

INSATIABLE is the third novel in my Sydney Rye Series of dark murder mysteries. This series feature a strong female protagonist and her canine best friend. It is recommended for the 18+ who enjoy some violence, don't mind dirty language, and are up for a dash of sex. Not to mention an awesome, rollicking good mystery!

INSATIABLE begins with private detective Sydney Rye living a simple, disciplined life in London, but when a dangerous man from her past calls, Rye finds she cannot turn him away. Robert Maxim explains that the daughter of a powerful friend has gone missing and he wants Rye to find her. In exchange he offers her something she had given up hope of ever having; freedom from her past.

With her dog, Blue, at her side, Rye meets up with her new partner, a handsome man she's not sure she can trust. Heading for Mexico City, they go undercover, posing as husband and wife. After meeting with the bereaved parents, Rye starts to sense that there is more going on than just a missing girl. But it isn't until they arrive in the Yucatan Peninsula, hot on the girl's trail in Paradise, that all hell breaks loose. Sydney has to reach out for help from old friends and deal with the consequences of her past, if she's going to find the girl and keep them all alive.

Author Bio:

Emily Kimelman lives on a boat in the Hudson Valley with her husband, Sean and their dog Kinsey (named after Sue Grafton's Kinsey Millhone). Kimelman has a passion for traveling and spends as much time as possible in the pursuit of adventure.

Her Sydney Rye series feature a strong female protagonist and her canine best friend. It is recommended for the 18+ who enjoy some violence, don't mind dirty language, and are up for a dash of sex. Not to mention an awesome, rollicking good mystery!




Sunday, January 20, 2013

Interview and Giveaway with Author Mom Jean Murray


Please share a little about yourself, your genres, any other pen names you use.

Professionally, I am a nurse.  I recently retired from the Navy after twenty years of service.  They were some of the best years of my life.  I miss it, but it was time to settle in one place with our young family. 

I’ve always been an avid reader over the years, but military suspense mostly.  Then I read my first paranormal romance in 2008 and my whole life changed.  I started writing in 2009 and obtained my first publishing contract for the Key to the Cursed series in 2010.  I predominately write paranormal romance and urban fantasy.  I couldn’t be happier.  I love the mix of the unusual with romance, such a powerful combination.  I write under my own name.   

Tell us a little about your latest or upcoming release.

Soul Awakened is the second book in the Key to the Cursed Series and picks up where Soul Reborn left off.  War is waging in the human realm and the Carrigan sisters are the only things standing in the way of the Pantheon’s enemies. In Soul Awakened we get to meet Kendra, the youngest Carrigan sister and Egyptologist, tasked with awakening Asar’s son, Bakari, from his cursed slumber.  Bakari has been tortured at the hands of their enemies and left in a darkness for five long years.  He awakens to find his world at war and his soul tethered to a beautiful woman. She is his salvation or the only barrier to ending his pain.

Are you a mom (or parent)?

I am the mother to 3 boys – 7, 5, and 2 ½.  It’s quite an adventure to say the least, having grown up with all sisters.  My father always wanted boys and had four girls instead. He raised us as tomboys, great training for me.  I wish he was here to see his grandsons.  He would have loved it.

If yes do you find it hard to juggle writing and parenting?

Absolutely.  In addition to parenting I work full time like most moms, so it leaves very little time for writing.  I wait until the boys go to sleep and then I write.  My laptop follows me all around the house, on errands, doctor’s appointments, the hair salon...  I take every opportunity to write, but my family always comes first.   

Have you ever based your book or characters on actual events or people from your own life?

My sisters asked me that same question, as my Key to the Cursed series follows three sisters.  There are similarities, but my characters are homegrown. I will say that some of my life experiences have been weaved into the stories.  Kendra’s journey is not dissimilar to my experiences and perspective over the years – gaining the confidence to stand up for yourself and doing what is right.     

Is there a theme or message in your work that you would like readers to connect to?

The Key to the Cursed series has an emotionally driven storyline and follows the tagline, “Only the strongest love can unlock the souls of the Underworld.” Each of the books has a theme of love, forgiveness, redemption, and second chances.  Most importantly, they are full on love stories.   

What would your readers be surprised to learn about you?

I deployed when my first son was only 7 months old.  I had six months orders, which thankfully were cut down to three.  Leaving him in my husband at the airport and getting on that airplane was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life.  My son started crawling when I was away.  My husband sent me a video file of his great achievement.  

Is there a genre(s) that you’d like to write that you haven’t tackled yet?

I’m dying to write a SciFi Romance.  Beat up spaceship traveling the galaxies.  I am obsessed with world and character building, so it would provide the perfect backdrop for new heroes and heroines.  Think of the possibilities!

If this book is part of a series…what is the next book? Any details you can share?

I’m working on the third book in the Key to the Cursed series, Soul Unbound.  Bomani, the Underworld Legion Commander, has lost his faith in honor, something he valued above all else.  Unable to face his shame, he abandons his post and escapes to the human realm, but his choice drives him into the hands of a new master.  In order to stay among the living (a place he does not belong), he is blackmailed into tracking a goddess marked for execution. He is given strict orders to watch but not touch. One look at his mark and he knows he is doomed. 

Siya, the Goddess of War, has only done what she has been asked and where has that gotten her?  Marked for death.  Exiled from the Creation Pantheon, Siya has vowed to make the most of her time left on earth – protect humans at all costs.  But, darkness lurks in the shadows, threatening to take it all or possibly, give her a second chance at love.

What is next for you? Do you have any scheduled upcoming releases or works in progress?

Soul Awakened just released this past week (Jan 14, 2013).  I’m so excited for Kendra’s and Bakari’s story to be heard.  It is one of those labors of love, probably one of the hardest novels I’ve written.  So far the review feedback has been enormously positive.  They are ‘getting’ the book, which is the biggest compliment an author can receive.
My goal for 2013 is to get Book 3 on the shelves by the end of the summer. J 

Soul Awakened Book Trailer:



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Excerpt:

Kendra laid her head on the ancient text. The old leather scratched her cheek. She had been staring at the thing for over week. Over twenty books and thousands of pages later, she was no closer to finding the spell to release Bakari. She looked along the rows and rows of bookcases. Too many to count.

“I don’t know if I can do this.”

Bomani moved from his position along the wall and stooped next to her. “You need some rest.”

She sat up and rolled her knuckles over her tired eyes. The hieroglyphics on the page blurred. When she first arrived to the archive, she had been certain she would find the right spell. Her watch ticked by the minutes, hours, and days of Bakari’s confinement. His suffering prevailed because of her failure to find the answer.

Irritated, she pushed the frizz from her face and tucked her long unruly hair behind her ears. When had she lost her hair band? She glanced around the chair. The stupid elastic band had deserted her somewhere in the last few hours. Traitor.

Okay, now she was losing it.

“Are you looking for this?” Bomani’s gentle voice soothed her insanity.

“My hair band. I hate when my hair gets in my face. Drives me nuts. You wouldn’t know because you have no hair, but trust me. I should cut it off, I really should.” Sighing, she leaned back again in her chair. “Maybe you’re right.”

Bomani glanced away and smiled. He looked as tired as she did. In fact, she realized he had been with her the whole time, even after the huge battle. “Laugh all you want, but you are not much better.” She poked him in the chest. His grin broadened.

“We make a pretty sorry pair, do we not?”

Sorry was right. She felt downright stupid. Who was she kidding? She was a fraud. Everyone believed she was so smart, getting her Doctorate by the age of twenty-two, but she cheated. Her gift gave her the advantage, not her smarts. And now her gift was blind and her incompetence showed. Or at least she felt that way.

“You are frowning, not laughing. I did not mean to offend.”

She rolled her head to the side to look at him. Sincerity weighted his eyes. “It’s not you.” She knew she was being too hard on herself. Her normal bubble of optimism deflated with each passing minute

Everything had come easily to her—until now when Asar’s son needed her most. Heck, the world needed her to unlock him. More than enough families had lost someone to the curse. They had lost their father to it. Kepi’s death at Bakari’s hand would break the curse and maybe she could see her father again in the afterlife.

“You put too much pressure on yourself.”

“How can’t I?” Kendra sighed in defeat. “He’s stuck in there. And I don’t know how to get him out. The texts I picked should have the answer, but…” She looked at the hieroglyphics etched into the parchment. The passage she had been reading simply stopped. She turned the page and it started a completely different spell category. “There aren’t more volumes of these books?”

Bomani stood and raked a thick hand over his skull trimmed, black hair. He glanced down the center vestibule and cursed quietly, too low for Kendra to translate. She jerked upright. 

“There are other texts?”

She jumped out of her seat and surged toward the back of the library. Why didn’t he mention it sooner? Well, he hadn’t but she could guess as much from his agitation.

“Wait.”

He snagged her arm and stopped her. When she looked up at him, he ran a hand over his face and then at the base of his neck. Whatever it was, he didn’t want her to see it. “There is another section, but I was hoping we would not have to go into the vault.”

“Why?” Miffed, she took another few steps away, but he tightened his grasp.

“Because what is contained there is very dangerous. I do not want to expose you unnecessarily.”

“What if it contains the spell I need? I could be wasting my time up here.”

“We do not know that, it could be right here.”

“Do you want to bet Bakari’s life on it?” Kendra countered.

Darkness flickered in his gold eyes. He shook his head and his eyes brightened again. “Of course not. Listen, we need to have our wits about us when we go in there. Right now neither of us is in any condition to enter. We need to rest.”

Irritated, she put her hands on her hips ready to make her argument, but he raised his hands in surrender.

“Give me twenty-four hours. You should be strong enough then. I promise I will take you there.”

Despite the small burst of energy, it waned. The heaviness of fatigue and defeat made its home in her mind and body. He was right, they needed rest. If a strong warrior was uncomfortable going in there, then there had to be a good reason. “Twenty-four hours.”

He nodded. “I assure you Bakari is safe. One more day will not make a difference. With some sleep your head will be clear to focus on the task. You want that, right?”

“Yes, of course.” Safe? Sure, nothing would happen to Bakari, but all she could imagine was him locked alone in darkness. Her own worst fear.

“Good. Let me take you to your room.”

Too tired to argue she complied and followed him out. One more day was a day too long in her opinion. 
 





Soul Awakened
Key to the Cursed Series Book Two

Genre:  Dark Paranormal

Publisher:  Crescent Moon Press
Date of Publication:  January 15, 2013

ISBN:  978-1-937254-97-1                     
ASIN: 978-1-937254-98-8                    

Number of pages:  292
Word Count:  92,000

Cover Artist:  Taria A. Reed

Book Description:

LOVE FOR BLOOD OR HONOR

Kendra, an Egyptologist and demi-god in waiting, is the key to unlocking Bakari, the Egyptian God of Death, from his cursed slumber. Desperate to free him, she inadvertently binds herself to the god with a spell that only death will undo. To save Bakari from himself, she may have to sacrifice her innocence, and possibly her soul, before he becomes his family’s worst enemy.

HAUNTED BY SINS OF THE PAST

Bakari awakens to a world at war and a beautiful woman who has tethered his soul to hers. In the wake of his self-destruction Kendra is his only hope of salvation, but another has vowed to keep Bakari from the one thing he craves most-- his Parvana. His butterfly.

About the Author:

In her pursuit of a nursing degree, Jean Murray aspired to see the world and joined the Navy. At the end of 2011 she said a heart-breaking goodbye to her Navy family and retired after twenty years of military service. Although her dreams of writing full time have yet to come true, she continues her writing journey and draws inspiration from her travels abroad. She enjoys spending time with her family and of course, writing about the “Carrigan sisters and their mates, Gods of the Underworld,” to bring you the next installment of the Key to the Cursed series.




                      

Goodreads: 

Book Trailer Soul Reborn: http://youtu.be/smSJsJp5o74

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