Hi Everyone! As a new contributor to this blog, I want to thank the ABM authors for bringing me on board. It’s a thrill to be part of such a warm and talented community.

By way of introduction, here are some details about my background and books. I’ve been writing since grade school, but never really thought about letting anyone read it, much less trying to get it published. That is, until my children were born, when I decided to write a bedtime story for them, and maybe even try to sell it. It started as a fairy tale (20-something pages long) about a young princess who didn’t know she was also a sorceress. But it didn’t stop there, because somewhere along the line, I realized I was actually writing a bigger book about a modern-day heroine who had heard this bedtime story from her grandmother and who – yes, you guessed it – didn’t realize that she was actually a descendant of the princess and a sorceress in her own right. Even more amazing, a charismatic warrior and an ancient sorcerer have both been searching for her for years.

In other words, it turned into a fantasy novel with strong romantic elements. The market for such stories was tough back then (almost twenty years ago) so I tried my hand at a time travel romance, and ended up selling it along with its sequel. Those two paperbacks – Timeless and Time Weaver – are being re-released as e-books from Samhain Publishing. Timeless is a March release (the 19^th, just a couple of days after St. Patrick’s Day).

Back in my paperback days, I showed my first editor the bedtime/fantasy story, and she urged me to make the romance more prominent. After that, Kensington released it as A Dream Apart and A Dream Embraced (so in other words, my first book became my third and fourth published books). By then, I was hooked on writing for publication, and since then, I’ve written historical romance and science fiction as well as some spy stories for the now-defunct Bombshell line.

In the meantime, my children kept growing, and when they started school, I went back to work as a lawyer, and learned to juggle like crazy. Wife, mom, author, attorney – I’ve truly had the luck of the Irish, haven’t I?

I hope you have a great St. Patrick’s Day! See you again in April.

I love research. It opens doors in my mind and is often a source of ideas. When I browse the pages of books and web articles or scan websites, surprise plot twists evolve. Not always, but when they do, they’re a real bonus.

  While researching Chaco Canyon of New Mexico, the setting for Flames on the Sky, and the pueblo Indians in the area, I ran across the word nukpanas, which means evil spirits. What a perfect name for the evil spirit that plans to destroy the ancient artifacts of Chaco Canyon. Further research allowed me to create a villain I could be proud of, one I hope my readers love to hate.

Though I have several books on the pueblos in New Mexico, the majority of my research data came from websites, in particular The New Mexico Parks Service and Government Archives. The Anasazi of 1000 A.D. held a monopoly on the turquoise trade so I spent a lot of time researching where they might have obtained their turquoise. I strove to make all aspects of the story—the Native American people, their language, dress, and etc. as accurate as possible.

The remains of Una Vida below.

Flames on the Sky is the second book of The Turquoise Legacy. In the first, My Heart Will Find Yours, I used the ancient piece of turquoise in Texanna’s locket, ley lines and spin torsion fields to initiate time travel. In the second story, I use those phenomena again but added the vortex to the mix. Until I started writing time travels, I never knew of these natural occurrences. Now, I can’t say they can actually cause time travel, but hey, that’s what imaginations are for.

Here is the link for the book trailer for My Heart Will Find Yours on U-tube.

The book trailer for Flames on the Sky won Most Artistic Trailer for June 2010 from The NEW Covey Trail Awards. Click on the book title to go to U-tube.

Both books are available in both ebook and print formats. You can purchase a copy at Amazon.com, The Wild Rose Press, Fictionwise.com and other online book stores.

Thanks for reading!

Linda

The Fun in Being Eclectic by Terry Spear

As I began to write my stories, I heard—you HAVE to brand yourself, write in one area, develop a following, be like McDonalds with the Golden Arches, Pizza Hut with the red roof, or well, a genre that readers will see and say—oh, I know an author that writes that, and to stick to it.

But I love to write about a variety of different kinds of worlds from contemporary romantic suspense to fantasy, to urban fantasy romance to contemporary romance to historical romance to time travel romance to…even true stories.

I love to diversify, because I’m an eclectic reader. I read everything.

True, I’ve branded myself with paranormal romance, specifically werewolf romance. I have 15 contracted wolf books, nine out, four more either written, turned in, still being edited, or being written. With having so many wolf books out in the same series, I finally made USA TODAY bestseller with A SEAL in Wolf’s Clothing. I truly believe it had some to do with branding. Not quitting at writing three or four wolf stories, but writing several with more to come so that if readers like your world, you develop a following. I’ve had fans who say that they see a picture of a wolf, read about a wolf, they think of me. Fans send me pictures of wolves and articles about them. One sent a picture of her family dressed as Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf, which I featured on my blog. That’s branding.

So yes, it’s important.

But I love to write about a variety of different kinds of worlds. It helps me to keep my longer series works fresh. I’ve just started a jaguar series with Sourcebooks also. I’m working on book two with book one, Savage Hunger, coming out in October. It’s new, the jaguars much different than wolves in personality, yet they are shifters like wolves and I’ve begun to make connections between the two worlds for fun. I hadn’t ever intended that, but…that’s the way I write. I don’t plot out whole worlds and a whole series, or…even a whole book at once.

The characters create the story.

That’s some of why I create different worlds. I get an idea, and take off running. When I wrote The Dark Fae, all I thought of was I wanted to write about a world where the fae coexist with us and where they are the reason for some of our missteps in life. The series took off. I had never planned to write more than one book. I did it for fun. But I had so much success with it, I wrote three more in the series with another one on the way. So some of the reason for writing eclectic is that I can enjoy writing something different, and find that readers love the new world, too. Or some that wouldn’t touch one kind of book that I write, might like something else I write. Others read everything I write, so for me it’s a win-win situation.

I also write a Highland historical series. I have two out with readers clamoring for more, but haven’t had time to write them. I am in the process, and have three books started. Winning the Highlander’s Heart began the series. I love to read historical romance and I love to write about Medieval times. I have a lot of Scottish roots, so write mostly about Highlanders, but I’ve written others also.

I also have a YA vampire series and adult vampire books, with another couple partially written that when I have time, I’ll finish up.

I’m just editing a book written some years ago—a third marriage comedy kind of book. It’s a contemporary, Marriage under Duress, in the line of Marriage, Las Vegas Style, and Exchanging Grooms. I wrote them for Flipside, but my stories have humor and a serious side to them so they didn’t work for the line. Again, they were a fun diversion from other works I was writing.

For me diversifying is the key to keeping my writing fresh. Branding is great, but for some of us, we need to try something different to keep the creative juices flowing.

The voice is what makes the work ours. With mine, I have mystery, adventure, romance, and humor. It can be set in the 12^th Century Highlands, or in contemporary world America. It can be our world with a paranormal twist with vampires or werewolves or jaguar shifters living among us. It can be pure fantastical worlds or futuristic even. Or we can drop everything and travel to the past like in A Ghost of a Chance at Love, a time travel western ghostly romance.

That’s because I’m an eclectic reader and love to read everything!

What about you? Do you tend to read in one special genre exclusively? Or do you like to read for variety? And if you write, which is it for you?

Thanks so much for having me here today!

Terry Spear

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

USA Today bestselling author, Terry Spear has written over three dozen paranormal romance novels and two medieval Highland historical romances. An award-winning author, Terry’s Heart of the Wolf was named a Publishers Weekly’s Best Book of the Year in 2008. A retired lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserves, Terry Spear works in a library by day and spends every spare moment writing paranormal romance as well as historical and true life stories for both teen and adult audiences. Spear lives in Crawford, Texas, where she is working on three wolf books, another jaguar book, and has a variety of other eclectic works in progress! For more information, please visit http://www.terryspear.com/.

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With this summer’s theme being the Summer Solstice, I decided to share some of my research for my two time travel books in the series The Turquoise Legacy being given away in the Paranormal Gift Basket. Book two is set in Chaco Canyon which is a prime example of how the solstice calendar was used in past civilizations.  Since the time period for the paranormal basket runs through June 18th, get your comments in TODAY!

Interestingly enough, my husband and I had visited Santa Fe and Madrid, New Mexico and been on part of the Turquoise Trail, though unfortunately we did not visit the Carrillo Mines where the Anasazi of Chaco Canyon obtained most of their turquoise back around 1000 AD. Chaco Canyon was a center of trade and prosperous during their time trading turquoise for items not available to them in the canyon. Remains of parrots, macaws, seashells and other artifacts indicate traders came from far distances to barter with the Anasazi.

The Anasazi occupied Chaco Canyon between 850 AD and 1100 AD. No one knows exactly where they went or what happened to them. There are several theories surrounding the mystery. The one I prefer to believe is they migrated to live with other Pueblo tribes.

Chaco Canyon is a mysterious place and covers a vast amount of space. It includes ten buildings, some of which are believed to have been five stories high. “Pueblo Bonito also the center of an elaborate solar calendar:  all of the buildings are either part of the solar calendar that traces the 18.5-year lunar cycle.”

A large rock structure, Fajada Butte, is seen as you enter the canyon.

There archaeologist discovered a sun calendar that has been named “The Anasazi Dagger.” “Concentric circles carved in the rock, with slabs of rock placed in just such a way that would make the light passing through turn into a dagger which, when it hit the circles would reveal the solstices and equinoxes.”

It is now believed that the entire Chaco Canyon, the way that its buildings were placed, the directions of the roads, etc. indicate they were aligned so as to line up with the arc of the sun and moon on important dates of the year.

Though Pueblo Bonito is the most impressive structure, my story revolves around Una Vida as it is nearer the visitor’s center and the setting was perfect for the scenes I created back in 1000 AD.

Cliff drawings behind Una Vida

Me halfway up the cliff behind Una Vida.

If you’ve not visited Chaco Canyon, stop by if you’re in the neighborhood. Be prepared for a rough ride on the way in to the park and if I remember correctly it’s twenty miles of unpaved road. Take a picnic lunch because they do not sell food other than snack items in the visitor’s center. They do have a camp grounds, but the only other lodging is Grants, New Mexico. We stayed at a B&B in Thoreau called Zuni Mountain Lodge. I don’t know if they’re still in operation or not. We were there in 2007.  You can read a little about it on my December 7, 2007 post on Linda LaRoque’s Musings.

Here is a teaser for Flames on the Sky, book two of the Turquoise Legacy.

The Anasazi whispered of this evil and of the

woman who could defeat it.

Fire, sky, and stone must unite to fulfill an ancient prophecy.

Madison Evans inherits a turquoise locket, travels to New Mexico, and discovers the stone dates back to the Chacoan Anasazi. When she’s attacked, parks ranger Lonan Stone, of Chacoan ancestry, fears Madison’s turquoise is a missing twin of the revered Fallen Skystone, an egg size piece of turquoise on display in Albuquerque. The mystical stone is missing two slivers – one’s in Madison’s necklace, the others whereabouts unknown, but if united by evil they can destroy.

Madison and Lonan are part of a 1000 year old prophecy to save Chaco Canyon. Thrust back in time, they meet a witch, solve a murder, fall in love, and imprison a 1000 year old evil spirit. Their mission complete, can these two people from different cultures blend their lives as the prophecy predicted?

References:

http://www.garygordonproductions.com/chaco2.html

http://www.angelfire.com/indie/anna_jones1/sundagger.html – photo of sundagger.

http://www.jqjacobs.net/southwest/chaco.html – photo of Fajada Butte, Pueblo Bonito, and photo 2 of sundagger.

Links of interest:

http://www.nps.gov/chcu/planyourvisit/directions.htm

http://www.exploratorium.edu/chaco/HTML/canyon.html – this site has interactive videos showing solstice patterns and lighting changes in the canyon.

Thank you for stopping by today. Hope you’ll leave a comment for an extra entry for the basket.

Linda

www.lindalaroque.com