Launch Party for Lori Corsentino's Destiny's Awakening

Today is the launch of Lori Corsentino's Destiny's Awakening, book one in the Tales of the Fey series from 5 Prince Publishing.  Join us today in celebrating the release.  Also leave a comment for a chance at a $10 Amazon gift card.

Lori’s love of reading has transcended to include penning her own tales of romance. She is experimenting with writing in several different genres, including paranormal – a definite favorite. “There is just so much you can do when you step outside the known world,” she explains “and creating a paranormal story allows you to take yourself and your readers anywhere your imagination wants to go!”

Destiny's Awakening is Lori's first foray into a planned paranormal romance trilogy. Spanning both the mortal and Fey worlds, be looking for the second novel to continue the legacy with Crown Princess Annora Ambrasia de Sha’mi’liari and Sebastian "Bas" St.
James in early 2013 from 5 Prince Publishing.

Visit her website at www.loricorsentino.com and follow her on Twitter @LoriCorsentino and
on www.Facebook.com/LoriCorsentino  

Men of the present weren’t able to hold archaeologist Evelyn Wright’s interest for long. Her passion lay with discovering the lives, loves, and legacies of men in the past. 

Five hundred-year-old Prince Alexander slumbers alone in an enchanted sleep.  Imprisoned by ancient Fey magic to stave off a civil war, he awaits the woman who is destined to awaken him. 

Thrown together by an unseen force, the career-minded modern woman and the aristocratic Fey Prince share a magical kiss that sparks more than mere romance. 

Together they will create a key to open their hearts to a true love that will thwart the plans of an evil Wizard and save their worlds. 

Excerpt of Destiny's Awakening

Evelyn Wright could hear her momma’s voice now, reminding her to think before she acted. “Evie,” she’d always say, “now don’t you be runnin’ so far ahead that you lose track of yourself.” She’d become familiar with those words through most of her early childhood. They weren’t necessarily a nag. Instead, they were more of a constant reminder to look both ways before she leaped.

She’d been an excitable, active child full of curiosity and a fierce desire to learn. Momma had told her once she’d often sat up after putting her to bed and cried. She’d been convinced her little Evie would never live to see five years old. The scrapes, bumps and bruises she’d accumulated during her early childhood life were legendary. When she reached her fifth birthday, then celebrated her sixth the next year, Momma said she’d breathed a sigh of relief. It was obvious her little girl was made of some pretty stern stuff.

She just might make it.

Today she was living proof of her heartiness. Happy and healthy, 26-year-old Evie had a bustling career as an archaeologist. The pay wasn’t spectacular. The hours were horrific. The industry was dominated by stuffy college professors and an over-abundance of male colleagues. None of that mattered.

She was living her dream.

She got to travel to exotic places. Egypt. Rome. Greece. She got to explore and discover new and wondrous things. Tombs. Chapels. Castles. Through her work, she pieced together clues from the past and learned about everyday lives long gone by. She was passionate about her work, well thought of, and successful.

And she was still impetuous.

Oh, her little character flaw reared its head from time to time. Most often it was when something truly out of the ordinary crossed her path. The sheer excitement of it all encouraged her to toss away rules and grown-up things. Her weakness whispered how amazing it would be to become a child again, with all its wonderment and the constant itch for more. It was at these times she invariably heard her momma’s voice suggesting caution. When she didn’t pay attention, she usually found herself in trouble.

Like now.

Today she’d jumped heedlessly off the wagon and strayed too far off her given path. She’d given in to temptation – and landed herself in a fix she had no idea how to get out of.

All because of a sword.

This morning had started out normal. Before dawn, she’d left her cabin carrying a picnic breakfast. She’d arrived at her mountain meadow right as the sun rose above the horizon. Surrounded by one of the most beautiful ranges in the majestic Rocky Mountains, the locale was one of her favorite places in the world. Teeming with life and the fragrance of wildflowers, her hideaway was encircled by a dense forest of pine trees and aspen groves. The lush verdant grasses and trees, in varying shades from lime to evergreen, were getting their first kiss of morning dew.

It was her haven. Her sanctuary away from the stresses of work and life. A perfect place to relax, eat, and have some time with nature. She refused to think about the day ahead. Instead, she enjoyed her meal. There was no need to worry. Reality would set in soon enough. She rose and grabbed her trusty walking stick. There was time to take a quick jaunt along her favorite trail before leaving nirvana. She knew it was going to be a long day at work.

A cluster of birds took flight. Evie raised her head to follow their flawless departure. She smiled and admired the beauty and grace of the winged creatures. She bet they were going out for breakfast. She was so busy admiring the scenery she didn’t notice what was in front of her until her booted foot met a heavy object strewn across her path.

The sword.

There it was. Lying there. In its scabbard. On a mountain path in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. What were the chances of that?

It was massive. Almost four feet in length, it was housed in an elaborately decorated metal scabbard. Evie, the archaeologist, admired its shiny, long length and the swirls of etching decorating the fine, polished metal. This wasn’t any old sword. Evie, the woman, was dazzled by the richness of the metal and jeweled hilt.

She was enchanted.

Without thinking, she set aside her walking stick and reached down with both hands to lift the weapon. The second she touched it, the blade emitted a thrumming noise and a low vibration. The metal seemed to sing. A pulse ran from her hands up her arms and into her shoulders. In the next second, the scenery around her faded and everything turned to black. Every scrap of oxygen seemed to vanish, leaving her only what was in her lungs. Gone was the forest path, sprinkled with bits of sunshine filtering through the fragrant pines. Two seconds later she landed on her ass in a fancy enclosure of some kind, sword still in hand.

Sales Links for Destiny's Awakening: (as the links become live I will post them)

Amazon 

Barnes and Noble (coming soon)

Smashwords

All Romance eBooks

iTunes (coming soon)

Contest: Please leave a comment for the author.  One winner will be randomly drawn for the $10 Amazon gift card.  This contest is sponsored by 5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC.  The prize and/or denomination can not be changed.  Winner will need to leave contact information or check back in with the site to contact Bernadette Marie to receive their prize.  Entries after 11:59pm MT on 6/28/12 are not eligible.

Petals Book Launch with Rebekah Roberts

My publishing house, 5 Prince Publishing, is launching its latest book Petals, by Rebekah Roberts today!  We are very excited. Join us today, leave a comment, and you could win a $10 Amazon gift card!

“Beauty might just be the beast.”’

Calla Williams is not like other girls.  Most girls spend their whole lives trying to be beautiful, Calla already is…and she hates it.

When she is shipped off one summer to live with family friends in their dilapidated Mississippi plantation, Calla is faced with the prospect of living with strangers and their teenage son.  This is annoying because, like any other boy, he is sure to fall in love with her on sight. However, Griffin Davenport is not your typical teenage guy. With his hot temper and half of his face severely scarred, “hate at first sight” is closer to what she finds.

Though the two teens try to stay out of each other’s way, an odd attraction to each other makes staying away anything but easy.

Now, Calla must deal with growing feelings, her own prejudices, and finding the secret to Griffin’s past. As hate turns to friendship and friendship becomes something more, Calla learns a startling truth: God uses even how we look in His plan for our lives.

An Excerpt from Petals, by Rebekah Roberts

He wondered what time it was. With the bandages over his face, it was hard to know anything, even whether it was day or night. He sat rigid and uncomfortable. More than the cloth was suffocating him; the darkness was unbearable. His hands itched to rip the bandages off his face, but he resisted the urge, choosing to clench his hands until his fingers ached.

The door creaked open, and he heard footsteps coming into his hospital room.

“Honey?” The soothing sound of his mother’s voice filtered through to his ears. “Are you awake?”

He tried to answer, but it came out as more of a muffled grunt than words.

“The doctor’s here. It’s time.”

The corners of his mouth rubbed on the cloth as he smiled. She meant it was time to take the bandages off.

Moments later, he could feel the presence of the doctor close by and felt hands begin to remove the binding from his face. Slowly they unwound the bandages, going round and round his head. His arms shook with tension as he gripped the bed sheets in his fists.

Light began to show through the last few layers, and then he could finally see. The world seemed to spin around him, and he blinked rapidly in an attempt to focus. When everything was still, he saw his mother, with her bright red hair and smiling face; and she had tears in her eyes.

“It looks like the infection is completely gone,” the woman, whom he assumed was his doctor, said. “I think he’s healing nicely.”

A nurse, who was standing beside the doctor, nodded as a strained smile crossed her face. He couldn’t help but notice how pretty she was.

“I want to see,” he said, sitting up straighter in his hospital bed.

“Sweetie, you might need to wait and eat something first,” his mother said, putting a hand on his shoulder.

“I think he should know now. It’s not going to get much better,” the doctor said. There was something ominous about her voice.

The nurse handed him a mirror. Looking into it, he did not see the familiar face of six months before. Instead, a twisted mockery of his former self glared back at him. A thick lump formed in the pit of his stomach, and he thought it might come up.

He looked at the women around him. Their pity-filled stares bored into him, especially the nurse’s.

“All of you get out,” he said in a harsh whisper.

“Honey, please. It’s not-”

“Get out!” He threw the mirror across the room. It shattered as it hit the floor. He dug his fingernails into the rough, uneven surface of his face and let out something close to a growl.

His mother reached for him, trying to stop him from hurting himself. He pushed her away. They all crowded around him, grabbing his hands, wrenching his wrists.

“Please…” he whispered, not fighting back anymore. He hung his head, trying to hide his face. “I just want to be alone.”

Purchase Petals here: (As the links become live with will change them, but please keep checking back)

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Smashwords

All Romance eBooks

iTunes

About Rebekah Roberts

Rebekah Roberts’ obsession with fairytales, romance, and Jesus came at an early age. She knew as a young teen that she wanted to write books for girls that were both fun to read and good for them.

While working as a nanny and volunteering in her church’s youth group, Rebekah continues her mission to write wholesome romances and uses fiction as a platform for The Unfolding Rose Ministries; where she helps to promote true beauty and self confidence in girls.

Rebekah was homeschooled through high school.  She continued her education at Moore Norman Technology, where she studied creative writing. She uses her education to instill a love of the craft in the next generation through teaching writing classes.

Growing up in small town Oklahoma, she loves the old south and history, which finds its way into her writing and everyday conversation with dreams of plantation houses, WWII dances, and Victorian trivia. She has a passion for taking an old story and making it new.

When she is not writing or working with youth, she loves to watch sci-fi movies with family or enjoy a pot of tea with good friends.

Petals is her first novel. www.RebekahRoberts.net

Website: www.RebekahRoberts.net  Twitter: @RebekahFRoberts,

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RebekahRobertsWriter , Email: rebekah.thestoryteller@gmail.com

Contest: Please leave a comment for the author.  One winner will be randomly drawn for the $10 Amazon gift card.  This contest is sponsored by 5 Prince Publishing and Books, LLC.  The prize and/or denomination can not be changed.  Winner will need to leave contact information or check back in with the site to contact Bernadette Marie to receive their prize.  Entries after 11:59pm MT on 6/27/12 are not eligible.

Have you ever heard of anyone who died from embarrassment?

As a martial artist I have the opportunity to enrich lives of others.  One way is by teaching them how to physically take care of themselves if they are ever in a threatening situation.

Whenyou’re trying to explain this concept to kids, however, they will tell you how they can take the bad guy out with one punch. To hear my six-year-old talk, he could take a three hundred pound man and pummel him to bits. 

Thoughthat’s thinking big, perhaps it’s not that realistic.  We teach the kids To run, scream, and make a scene.  And why would you do that?  To get away.  To live to see another day, because the bad guy might get you if you don’t, and no one ever died of embarrassment if you happen to have misunderstood the situation.

 

Perhaps a drastic way of looking at your writing career, but don’t we do that too?  Sure we do. Our three hundred pound bad guy, isn’t really bad at all, but just as scary and could crush us all the same. We know we have what it takes to write one book and make it to the top of that list.  We think big. 

But how many of us attack the big bad guy? We lurk in private places egging on the bad guy by writing our stories. We walk in dark alleys (aka, our offices while others sleep.)  Only those we trust hear our secret whispers, “I’m working on writing a book.”  We protect what’s ours, but then someone asks, “What’s it about?”

You’vebeen approached by the enemy.  Danger is now looking you in the face.  One option to deal with the enemy is to not tell them anything.  Keep it hidden.  Walk the alley at night.  And what happens?  Your manuscript has been crushed by the bad guy, and never sees the light of day.  You’re not dead, but your dreams might be.

OR…you could run, scream, and cause a scene! 

That’s right you could tell everyone what’s been happening in that alley.  Bring it to the light and let them see.  Run through the streets and let the world know you’re there.  Someone might even ask to see this book you’ve been writing.  And you might get embarrassed!  It just might happen.

But remember, no matter whether you’re running from an attacker or putting yourself on display for the world to critique, no one has ever died from embarrassment.

Happy Reading!

Bernadette Marie

Interview with Kristina Knight

Today I am thrilled to have with me Kristina Knight!

Once upon a time, Kristina Knight spent her days running from car crash to fire to meetings with local police—no, she wasn't a troublemaker, she was a journalist. When the opportunity to focus a bit of energy on the stories in her head, she jumped at it. And she’s never looked back. Now she writes magazine articles by day and romance novels with spice by night. She lives on Lake Erie with her husband, three-year-old daughter, and twenty-year-old fur-kid. Happily ever after.

What is your favorite thing about being a writer? – My favorite thing about being a writer is that I get to experience a lot of different jobs, places and I'm always meeting new people. It's also the best excuse I've found for people-watching, one of my favorite hobbies.

What genre(s) do you write? – I write contemporary romance.

What was the hardest part of writing your book?- editing is always the hardest part for me. When I'm writing the first draft, I'll do small things like spelling or grammar fixes, but I leave the big edits for a week or so after I finish the draft. That space helps me see errors I made…but sometimes fixing those little glitches is downright painful!

Are you a plotter or a pantser?- I'm a pant-lotter. Yes, I made up a new word. I usually have an outline – major scenes or events I want to write. But it's a very loose outline and rarely does the outline match exactly to the final book.

What do you hope readers take with them after reading one of your stories?- that love really does make things better. Opening yourself up to love is a beautiful thing. It's scary and it hurts sometimes, but it's definitely worth it.

What other careers have you had?- I was a television journalist for 10 years – and some of the stories I covered for the news were way stranger than any fiction I've read or written!

How would you describe yourself if you were “speed dating” your readers?- I'm quirky, silly and a bit of a romantic.

How do your family and/or friends feel about your book or writing venture in general?- They are very proud of me. Although my daughter, who just turned 4, thinks it would be better if there were pictures in my books!

Has your life changed significantly since becoming a published writer?- I'm much busier, because along with writing the books now I have to promote them. But the trade-off is great because I've met so many amazing writers (and readers!) that I have a constant source of encouragement and ideas!

Do you work on one project at a time? Or do you multi-task?- I'm a multi-tasker who works well with deadlines – I think it's my years in TV news. I usually only have 1 first draft, but as I'm editing that draft I usually start a new project. That new project is a carrot to sit my butt in the chair and finish edits, which are not my favorite thing!

When not writing, how do you relax?- Water sports relax me. So when I've just finished a book, I'll reward myself with some pool time or maybe a day spent with the family jet-skiing or going to a water park. I could float for miles and miles and hours and hours…if only my sunscreen would hold up!

Please share with us your future projects and upcoming releases. – What a Texas Girl Wants is my debut novel; it is out June 4. My second book, The Saint's Devilish Deal was just picked up by my publisher and will be out in the fall…and I'm working on two new projects which will – hopefully – be released early in 2013!

You can find Kristina Knight on the web! 

www.kristinaknightauthor.com, www.facebook.com/kristinaknightromanceauthor, www.twitter.com/authorkristina, www.pinterest.com/authorkristina

Buy link for What a Texas Girl Wants: http://www.amazon.com/What-Texas-Girl-Wants-ebook/dp/B008195BIS/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1336496939&sr=1-1

Kathleen Witte is a down-to-earth girl. She has to be, with the family ranch on the verge of success. After seven months of keeping it all together by swearing off men, however, Kathleen needs a bit of fun in the sun. Waking up with a husband she can’t remember isn’t how she planned to blow off steam.

The last thing Jackson Taylor wants in his life is a down-to-earth girl. He has four weeks of freedom in which to find his birth mother. He’s done well avoiding commitment until now, so when he wakes up on a Mexican beach with Kathleen his first reaction is curiosity. When he spies the matching wedding rings on their left hands curiosity turns to concern.

Neither Jackson nor Kathleen want to stay married, but when her family shows up, they have no choice. Once back in Texas, however, can they keep this all-business marriage from turning into an all-consuming love?

Meet the Keller Family

The past few weeks I have been very blessed with the outpouring of love for my Keller Family which I feature in the Keller Family Series.  Currently THE EXECUTIVE'S DECISION and A SECOND CHANCE are published.  Expect OPPOSITE ATTRACTION, book 3, at the end of summer 2012 and CENTER STAGE (book 4) in early 2013. Book 5 is not yet titled.

So who are the Kellers?  Well, let's meet them.

Alan and Emily Keller are the heads of the dynamic and eclectic bunch.  Regan makes mention in T.E.D. that one of the unique features of her mother is when her German heritage and her Tennessee home intermix with her accent.

Alan and Emily have only one birth child, Curtis.  The rest of their family was built through adoption, building a close knit and unique family.

Arianna is the eldest of the Keller children.  She was two when the Kellers took her in as her foster parents.  Arianna is an actress living in New York and perusing her dreams. When we meet her she has landed her first On Broadway production. Her story, CENTER STAGE, is her coming home story to open her own theater with the help of John Forrester, Zach Benson's right hand man.

Regan Keller was an infant when the Kellers took in her and her sister.  She doesn't remember any other home.  Regan's wanderlust took her away from home after college where she worked in L.A. at a law firm and met the man that would change her life forever.  Though that man was not Mr. Right and nearly killed her, without him she wouldn't have fallen into the lap of her true love Zach Benson in THE EXECUTIVE'S DECISION.  Regan has the most haunted past of all the Keller children, and she will have to face past decisions as they come to light again in a future book.

Carlos Keller was seven when his biological parents were killed after having moved to Tennessee from Puerto Rico.  The Kellers took him in and like Arianna and Regan, he never left.  Carlos married the love of his life when they were young.  Though in love, they couldn't make their love hold their marriage together and after three children, he and Madeline divorced.  Their story is found in the pages of A SECOND CHANCE--because perhaps there is one.

Curtis Keller is the only biological child of Emily and Alan Keller, but not favored.  He is a resident doctor and spends most of his time at the hospital.  There is little time for him to create a lasting relationship in his life, but Zach Benson's best friend Simone Pierpont is about to turn his world upside down in OPPOSITE ATTRACTION.

You'd think the series could end, right?  Four kids, four books.  But book five will take us on an adventure of the next generation as we get to know Eduardo Keller as a grown man working with his uncle at Benson, Benson, and Hart.  I have to say, after writing Carlos and Madeline's story, this is the one I can't wait to get my hands on, but that's all I'm going to say for now.

So why Nashville, Tennessee?  The entire series was based on one even that I thought about.  What if you were caught in a rain storm, forced on a bus, and fell into the lap of your future boss and the man of your dreams.  One quick jerk of the brakes on a bus could toss you into a whole new world.

So, funny enough, the only time I was caught in a flash rain storm was indeed in downtown Nashville.  I've never been so wet!  But it stuck with me and what a fond memory I have of that day.  So when I began to pen the book Nashville was naturally where they landed and where Regan was caught in the rain storm.

I hope you enjoyed a little break down of the Keller family.  I have enjoyed writing them.  I am also working on a long term series the Aspen Creek Series set in the fictional Colorado mountain town.  The fun of this series will be the different dynamics I can bring to it with different families and different characters.  The first book FIRST KISS brings a retired NFL MVP back to town to close out his father's estate.  Another encompasses that love between a single mother and a younger rock star. Of course my martial arts sneaks in there with a very great and eclectic Irish/Korean family.  There is so much you can do with a town, but we will explore that next week.



Until then, remember if you haven't read THE EXECUTIVE'S DECISION you can find it on Amazon and iTunes for FREE!

Interview with Deborah J. Lightfoot

I am pleased today, to have as my guest, Deborah J. Lightfoot.

Castles in the cornfield provided the setting for Deborah J. Lightfoot’s earliest flights of fancy. On her father’s farm in West Texas, she grew up reading extraordinary tales of adventure and reenacting them behind tall ramparts of sun-drenched corn. She left the farm to earn a bachelor of science degree in journalism and write award-winning books of history and biography, including The LH7 Ranch (University of North Texas Press) and Trail Fever (William Morrow, New York). High on her Bucket List was the desire to try her hand at the genre she most admired. The result is WATERSPELL, a complex, intricately detailed fantasy that begins with Book 1: The Warlock and Book 2: The Wysard, and concludes (for the present) with Book 3: The Wisewoman. But a legal pad filled with notes and tucked away in a desk drawer suggests a possible Book 4 before the saga may fairly be said to be finished.

Deborah is a professional member of The Authors Guild. She and her husband live in the country south of Fort Worth, Texas. Find her online at www.waterspell.net.

What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

I love the “writer’s high”: that exhilarating feeling of being in the zone, hearing voices in my head as the characters talk to each other—or shout at each other, as is often the case with mine—and typing as fast as I can to get the whole scene down on paper in “real time,” while the action is happening.

I also love the chance to peek inside my subconscious. Writing provides a direct link to a submerged part of the mind that is accessible in no other way, except sometimes through dreams. But I don’t always remember my dreams!

What was the hardest part of writing your book?

Getting past Chapter 1 of Book One! I wasted nearly a year, just tinkering with Chapter 1. Finally I yelled at myself—the way my protagonist does to get herself to “Move!”—and after that I charged ahead, to complete Book One, then Two, and eventually Three.

It wasn’t until I finished WATERSPELL Book 3: The Wisewoman that I really understood the layers of the story. At that point I began again from the beginning. With my fresh, new, clear-eyed grasp of the whole complex series of events and all the characters’ relationships, I was able to fine-tune the trilogy and declare, at last, that it was finished. From the first draft of Book One until the finished manuscript of Book Three took me more than a decade.

Are you a plotter or a panster?

Definitely a panster. I knew where WATERSPELL began, and I had a vague idea of where it would end. But in between, the characters drove the plot. I didn’t know what would happen until it happened. The story told me what it was and how it wanted to be structured. The cliffhanger ending of Book One isn’t something I planned. That’s the way the story demanded to be told.

What other careers have you had?

My degree is in journalism. After college I worked for a newspaper, then as a magazine editor and feature writer. These days I earn my living as a freelance editor for a national nonprofit organization. My first three published books were history and biography. Each grew out of research I did for magazine articles. Research is something I can get madly obsessive about. In the case of those magazine articles, I ended up with so much additional information that I had to put it all in a book, or three.

Over time, my evolution as a writer has brought me to my present reality: Now I’m a novelist. I gotta admit, this is more fun than writing nonfiction.

Everything a writer learns, though, influences her work. My background as a writer of history has helped tremendously with the historical elements in WATERSPELL. Lots of research went into getting those details right.

What’s something fans would find fascinating about you?

I’m from the Great Plains of the United States but I’ve always loved lush green mountains and tree-ringed lakes. I also love to travel. In the landscapes of WATERSPELL, readers will see nearly every place I’ve ever lived or visited: plains, mountains, woodlands, highlands, lowlands, lakes, and seashores. Parts of the trilogy were written while I lived in the tropics, in an open house on a high mountain lake. I’d work late into the night while all around me fell silent except for the splash of the waves and the occasional hoot of an owl. The perfumes of night-blooming flowers wafted in through the screen doors. It was an unearthly experience. Magical! Those eight or nine years that we spent in the tropics were an especially creative time in my life.

Thank you for the interview and for hosting me on your blog!

  

Please share with us your future projects and upcoming releases.

Now that all three books of WATERSPELL (The Warlock, The Wysard, The Wisewoman) are done, I’ve got a new work-in-progress called “Out of Mind.” It’s a story of the paranormal set in the American West of the far future. Eventually, too, there may be a WATERSPELL Book 4. Still mulling that over.

Connect with Deborah J. Lightfoot here:

Website — www.waterspell.net

Facebook — www.facebook.com/Waterspell

Goodreads — www.goodreads.com/author/show/5372062.Deborah_J_Lightfoot

Blog — djlightfoot.blogspot.com/

WATERSPELL’S Celtic Connections

by Deborah J. Lightfoot

            In the books of WATERSPELL, readers will hear echoes of Scottish and Irish English. You may also notice references to traditional folklore. I made a deliberate effort to pay my respects to those great Irish and Scottish storytellers who are a link to the Celtic mythology that underpins much of the fantasy genre. Readers who are familiar with Irish Fairy & Folk Tales (1892, edited by William Butler Yeats) may recognize some of the ways in which I’ve used traditional sayings. For instance, I adapted the old saying: “Rowan, amber and red thread / Puts witches to their speed.”

            When I started researching the early Irish legends and Celtic myths, I was looking mainly for “the telling detail”: authentic figures of speech, colorful descriptive terms, gritty background textures. But as I read, I noticed that aspects of the mythology had their counterparts in this fantasy I was writing. Or vice versa. For instance, water often has mystical qualities in the legends: Irish rivers like the Boyne were held sacred. It’s pretty obvious from the series title—WATERSPELL—that water has magical properties in my story, too.

            The traditions tell of quests, leading into the Otherworld and back. “Other worlds” figure prominently in WATERSPELL—the premise being that what’s harmless in one world or reality may prove deadly if it arrives, whether innocently or by skullduggery, where it doesn’t belong. Also central to my work is the heroic quest, traditionally undertaken to gain information or wisdom, to bring healing, or to find or restore lost objects.

            I am by no means an expert on Irish legends. Given the huge number of books that have been produced on the subject and the very few of them that I’ve read, I can barely claim a nodding acquaintance. My sole aim, in working details from the legends into my writing, is to make WATERSPELL “fit” into the world of Celtic mythology the way Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings fits with traditional Scandinavian mythology. I’ve tried to create a fantasy world that is deeply rooted in an ancient tradition. I wanted it to be real.

            And to me, it is! I hope it feels real to you, too.

            Thank you for the guest blog opportunity.

For your enjoyment here is a sampling of Waterspell Book 1: The Warlock

Excerpt from

WATERSPELL Book 1: The Warlock

by Deborah J. Lightfoot

From

Chapter 1. The Swordsman

It happened too fast to hurt at first. But, oh! the blood—lots of it, streaming from a gouge that crosscut her knee.

She hunched over the wound, her masses of unkempt hair tumbling around her face, strands of it trailing in the gore. Blindly Carin fumbled in her belt-pouch for something to stanch the bleeding. Her fingers met only flint and steel for fire-making, pebbles for arming her sling, and a length of twine that was useful for everything from tying back her shaggy auburn mane to rigging a brush shelter.

Abruptly a hand grasped the shank of her leg, and another shoved at her shoulder. “Straighten up,” her captor snarled.

Carin threw back her head and flung the hair out of her eyes. “You!” she gasped. “But—” She hadn’t heard the swordsman’s approaching footsteps—a seeming impossibility through the crunchy carpet of autumn leaves. Yet here the man was, crouched beside her and brandishing a dagger. Carin’s hand flew to shield her throat, but it was her knee he put the blade to.

Stay away from me! she wanted to shout at him. She couldn’t get the words out—not in a way that made sense. As sometimes happened when she came unglued, Carin lapsed into a language of her own. The sounds that passed her lips weren’t gibberish, but no one ever understood a word she said when she got like this. Carin yelled at the man, in her own private language, and tried to wrench free of his grasp.

“Stop your noise,” he barked. He held her leg tighter and waved his dagger in her face. “If you can’t be quiet, I’ll cut out your tongue.”

Copyright © 2011–2012 by Deborah J. Lightfoot. All Rights Reserved.

Sample Chapter 1 in full at www.amazon.com/dp/B00686UIFW

Six Sentence Sunday! featuring FIRST KISS

Six Sentence Sunday!

Today I am bringing you a quick sampling of FIRST KISS my work in progress as the first book of the ASPEN CREEK SERIES.

Cade Carter is headed back to the small town where he was raised.  Only this former NFL MVP has his head in the clouds, but his old friend Olivia Baker is about to pull him back to Earth.

He’d had no intentions of getting to his own father’s funeral on time.  

Cade gripped the steering wheel tighter.  He did owe him the decency to be at his funeral, because Cade Carter had been the worst son, and he knew it.

The first sign that would alert drivers to the small town of Aspen Creek was coming up on his right.  A left would take him over the next hill to the elite ski resort town of Aspen Hills.  The road he veered down would drop him into small town hell.

 Look for the first installment of Aspen Creek Series will arrive in the fall of 2012.