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

Last spring was dry. By June fields were turning yellow, not the beautiful bright green of fields and yards today. Late in April of 2011 wildfires destroyed hundreds of homes and killed large numbers of livestock across Texas. There are still areas that are suffering. Hopefully they’ll get rain soon.

The rain we’ve had so far has produced a splendid display of wildflowers–in particular bluebonnets, the state flower of Texas. Joining them are the Indian paint brush and Indian blankets. When they bloom together in the same field, they paint a colorful landscape. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture to share.

The picture below was taken in central Texas between Copperas Cove and Gatesville. It’s interesting to see them among the mesquite trees, trees which rob the ground of moisture. I think they’re pretty trees but farmers hate them.

The following picture was taken at Ogletree Gap, the site of a historic post office, in Copperas Cove just outside of Killeen. I love the old fence.

The most amazing displays were seen in east Texas, around Ennis.  Of course, I don’t have any to share from the Hill Country. Theirs probably rival the ones in east Texas. These pictures were taken by my cousin Carole Dudley two weeks ago.   Aren’t they beautiful!

I love this picture of the longhorns grazing amid the flowers. We drove by a small herd of cattle but couldn’t stop as cars were in a hurry behind us. Hubby wasn’t interested in turning around and another perfect photo opportunity with bovine included didn’t present itself.

My short time travel, A Way Back, is set in the Texas oil fields in spring. The landscape would be similar to those in the pictures above. Imagine bluebonnets growing between oil derricks. Sounds pretty, huh? More realistically, the oil drilling equipment and the trucks used to haul the equipment in ruined the land smashing the flowers and rutting the earth.

Blurb:

In the 1930s oil fields of Texas, a woman from the future finds new purpose as she helps a banker rebuild his financial empire.

Amber Mathis, a Wall Street investment banker, returns to her office after burying her mother. Distraught, tired of the rat race, she’s determined to make a career change. In the elevator she falls and rises to find herself in a vintage lift.  The date is February 25, 1930, and a man stands on the window ledge in her office ready to jump.

Wellman Hathaway, owner and CEO of Hathaway Bank in New York struggles to pay his depositors half their losses. A woman claiming to be from the future appears in his office and involves him in a scheme that forces them into marriage. With Amber’s knowledge of the financial history of the 1930s, they travel to the oil fields of Texas to recoup Wellman’s funds.

Two people from different centuries are thrown together to survive a difficult time. Will they find more than A Way Back to prosperity?

Please leave a comment and tell us what state you’re from and your state flower.

Thanks for reading and writing!

Linda

www.lindalaroque.com

http://www.lindalaroqueauthor.blogspot.com