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Sunday, March 7, 2010

SUPERNATURAL SUNDAY

Please help me welcome author Barbara Edwards into the moonlight today. Barbara is the author of Annie's Heart, Another Love and Rachel's Rescue. Her newest release is Ancient Awakening.

Some of Barbara’s passions include Civil War Re-enacting, Antique Roses, and strong opinions she’s not shy about stating. I think it’s pretty cool that you re-enact the Civil War. I’ve never known anyone that enjoys the re-enactment part, but my step-father will practically siphon books of the Civil War into his brain. So, I find this tidbit about you fascinating, Barbara, very fascinating. And I’d be interested in seeing some of those antique roses because that sounds pretty interesting too, but then I love wandering around antique shops and looking at all the stuff.

To learn more about Barbara, visit one of Barbara's websites below.

~~~~~

GRACEN: March has a few popular dates to celebrate. Which one are you more apt to celebrate, St. Patrick’s Day, or the First Day of Spring, or both and why?

BARBARA: Both take second place to my birthday on the first. I consider myself the incoming lion and mellow a bit towards the first day of spring. I love the first shoots popping up, daffodils, purple hyacinth and then the variety of tulips.


GRACEN: Because of its Irish heritage, St. Patrick’s Day is a big party day in Wisconsin (and many other areas) in which everyone gets in on the action from free pub crawl busses to breweries making green beer/spirits and some stores selling green colored/decorated food and sweets. Does anything similar occur in your area? Even if you do not participate, please tell us what activities are going on around you. Anything you feel is unique or especially interesting?

BARBARA: There is the typical St Patrick’s Day parade in the capitol. The past two years I’ve gone to watch my grand-daughters Irish Step Dance. If you’ve never seen this clog dancing, it is a beautiful dance with intricate steps and costumes. I love to watch the competitions and am very proud that they both won.


GRACEN: Do you like to decorate for spring/St. Pat’s Day or is this the time of the year where your house has a break from special décor?

BARBARA: I check my garden daily for flowering bulbs. I have crocus, daffodils, hyacinths, and tulips planted. There is something about the promise and then the flowers that lift my spirits. I look for those little pots of ‘shamrocks’ sold in stores and put them in my tables.


GRACEN: Ireland is steeped in myth, legends and lore. Do you have any favorites? Please briefly share them with us (include links to other information for interested readers).

BARBARA: Of course, I love the frightening things. My favorite, the Banshee apparition is a harbinger of death and bad luck. She appears as an old hag or a beautiful woman to warn of coming disaster. The Banshee in Celtic culture is part of pre-Christian spiritual beliefs in the pagan Gaelic culture. The Bean Sidhe, meaning "woman of the fairy mounds" is part of the mythical spirit world known as Aos Si or "people of the mounds". The Banshee myth claims the spirit is a woman who died in childbirth; in some cases, a murdered woman. The cry of the Banshee varies from a wail to a scream; screech of an owl to a low, sorrowful song. The wail of the Banshee is woven into death traditions of mourning songs or prophetic omens.
Lysaght, Patricia. The Banshee: The Irish Death Messenger. Roberts Rinehart Publishing, 1997.


GRACEN: Spring is considered a time of renewal, a time of rebirth. Do you do anything “special” to commemorate this idea such as planting flowers or cleaning out your house? Please share with us your way of celebrating this time of rebirth.

BARBARA: I throw open all the windows on the first nice day. The March wind blows away all the old stuffy air. It’s like giving my house a face lift. Suddenly everything is brighter, cleaner, and ready to start a new journey. Then I plant pansies near the door. I’ve replanted the potted hyacinth bulbs near the porch and inhale that wonderful scent in the morning.


GRACEN: Magic is often tied into Celtic myths and legends, or at least we like to think it is. Why do you think that is? Why, in your opinion, does Ireland carry so much mystery and magic for the rest of us?

BARBARA: I think there is a Celtic core in us all that responds to the music of the land. The green hills, the sea, the oldness make me wonder what great things I could find there.


GRACEN: If you could be any mythical or legendary Celtic creature or character, what/who would it be and why?

BARBARA: I had to stop and think. There is so much. I am fascinated, by leprechauns and fairies, the Sidhe, Irish kings and queens. I’d probably choose to be a Banshee screaming a warning on the wind for fearful travelers. My goal would be to make them shiver and cower around their fire. I like to think my paranormal Ancient Awakening does that.


GRACEN: Please tell us some of the favorite/best books you’ve read with Celtic myths/legends or ties in them. (They can be fact or fiction, just be sure to indicate what type of books they are in case our readers might want to check them out.)

BARBARA: I love Nora Roberts and she’s written more fiction books in that venue than I can name.


GRACEN: Now, let’s get to your writing, Barbara…What genre is your writing considered to be? Why this genre? What was the draw for you?

BARBARA: My new release, Ancient Awakening is a paranormal romance. It didn’t start as a paranormal, but it was a romance. Before too long, the characters took over the story and twisted it into a dark, scary tale. All my books have a dark undertone, a side of me I reveal when I write. Writing in the paranormal genre is like finding my long-lost home.


GRACEN: If you could describe your writing with a word or phrase, what would it be? Please be creative and delve into the core of your writing to tell us what word or phrase you want readers to take with them when they've finished reading your story.

BARBARA: Love conquers all is such a cliché I am reluctant to use it, but there it is. I believe each of us must reach inside to find strength during adversity and that strength comes from love. Love for children, parents, siblings and finally, if we’re lucky enough, our love for our mate.


GRACEN: Do you prefer magical or human ingenuity for problem solutions? Does that show through in your writing? If so, how?

BARBARA: I firmly believe in people taking control to solve their problems. Each of my characters is faced with obstacles, must decide what is important then take steps to overcome adversity. The bigger the problem is the better in my opinion. For example, my heroine must solve a murder on one else believes is a murder.


GRACEN: Who decides what you write about, you or your muse? What kind of influence do you have over your story, or is the muse always the one strumming the harp? And why?

BARBARA: I never thought about my muse being separate from me. Hmmm. I like to think I determine where it’s going, but on many, many occasions the story has escaped. I don’t know is that’s because of my muse taking turns and twists I didn’t foresee, but it takes me down strange roads.


GRACEN: What was the character or creature that you had the most fun creating and why?

BARBARA: This might change, but today Annie in Annie’s Heart is my favorite. She’s left with all the problems of a destitute widowed mother and saves herself and her children by making the necessary choices. While researching the background, I wondered if I had been there in a past life.


GRACEN: If you had the opportunity to meet just one of your character/creature creations in real life, who would it be and why?

BARBARA: Stephen Larkin, a secondary character from my first historical romance, Another Love, is the man I would like to know better. He’s a handsome man, wounded by events and in need of a good woman. His story is on my to-do list and he calls to me in my dreams.


GRACEN: Which of your character/creature creations would you never want to meet under any circumstance and why?

BARBARA: Lord, the blood-thirsty creature in Ancient Awakening, has all the frightening features of a nightmare. In fact, he came from a nightmare about the cemetery next to the house I grew up in and I couldn’t forget him.


GRACEN: Of all the stories you wrote, which was the storyline that you had the most fun fleshing out? Why?

BARBARA: Rachel’s Rescue was the most fun. With a setting in the African Sudan, I had to start from scratch with a place I’d never visited. I interviewed a friend who spent years there and loved the area to get a good feel for it. (Nice guy) Then I researched in the children’s section of the library. I’ve found children’s books give better background, description and simple facts. Plus I love libraries.


GRACEN: As writers, inspiration comes from everywhere. What, specifically, inspired your latest story, the one we’re promoting here today?

BARBARA: As I mentioned, Ancient Awakening involved a nightmare. I think it was a way to face my childhood fears from an adult perspective.



BLURB:

In Ancient Awakening, Police Officer ‘Mel’ Petersen investigates a death only she believes is murder. By disobeying direct orders from the Rhodes End Chief, she risks her career to follow clues that twist in circles to her backyard and lead the killer to her.

Her neighbor Stephen Zoriak is a prime suspect. Steve worked for a major pharmaceutical company where he discovered a weapon so dangerous he destroys the research. He is exposed to the dangerous organism. He suspects he is the killer and agrees to help her find the truth.

In the course of their investigation Mel and Steve find the real killer and a love that defies death.


EXCERPT:

Legend gave him many names, but the wide halls of his mountain retreat no longer echoed with countless worshipers. He could have ruled the world had his ambition not died with the passage of time. The endless whispers were from the cold winds and the few praying priests. He didn’t care that he couldn’t remember his real name or birthplace.

For an eon he’d regretted the loss of softer emotions. Love had been the first feeling to die, along with the woman who had insisted he would never harm her. He couldn’t recall her features just the merry tinkle of her laughter and the bright smile she had greeted him with every morning. He licked his lips. She’d tasted sweet.

Fierce need flared in his gut and he sniffed the air. Outside his chamber a single acolyte in long brown robes waited to escort him. His mouth curved with a mirthless smile. The silent servants had ignited the flickering wall torches. Shadows jumped and shivered in the drafty halls like nervous virgins.

Available from http://www.thewildrosepress.com/

Please feel free to visit me at http://www.barbaraedwards.net/ for more excerpts and buy buttons.
My other releases: Another Love; Annie’s Heart and Rachel’s Rescue are available from http://www.wings-press.com/

Check my blog for intermittent postings at http://barbaraedwards.net/blog/blog.asp for Barb'Ed Comments

Author Barbara Edwards is a featured panelist at the RTBookReview Conference in Columbus, Ohio,

PSYCHIC FICTION: PSYCHIC HAPPENINGS
WEDNESDAY: Peer into the dark side of psychic phenomena. Ghosts and psychic vampires are only the beginning. Learn how the darkness can enlighten your characters while enchanting and enhancing your story.

Panelists: Barbara Edwards, Angie Fox, Erin Kellison, Keena Kincaid

Moderator: Shannon Delany

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