Book Review: Elemental Thief by Rachel Morgan

 

Elemental Thief is book 1 in the young adult fantasy series, the Ridley Kayne Chronicles, by Rachel Morgan. Set in a futuristic dystopian-esque environment, the Global Simultaneous Magic-Energy Conversion caused a devastating world-changing magical overload, which subsequently caused magic to be outlawed, and created a deep divide between the have and have-nots. Ridley Kayne is like a modern-day Robin Hood, robbing from the rich and giving to the poor, in order to narrow that gap. 

Magic, in a land where it has been outlawed, is Ridley's superpower. It's how she's able to slip through the cracks and infiltrate high end properties to steal valuable items, sell them to her fence, collect the money and give to those in need. Chaos is bound to explode when using magic. Using it is risky. But in this world, magic for some is as inherent as the air they breathe. Tamping it down and denying it has dire consequences.

As in most YA, Ridley has a love interest in her nemesis Archer who is good looking and full of secrets. I've no doubt we are going to be seeing the pair working together more in subsequent books because they have a world to right again. 

Though not listed as a dystopian read, the setting in this book has the vibe of a planet damaged by human's overuse of magic and has echoes of the challenges we're now facing with out own planet. It reminded me that we are living in the future now...an interesting thought. 

There is plenty of action in this book, fast-paced with lots of twists and turns. A murder, a wrongful arrest, and a quest for justice where maybe none is due…

Lots to like and hold your attention. I had forgotten how much I liked YA and this book reminded me.

If you'd like to read it, it's FREE on Amazon. 

Book Review of Heart of Malice by Lisa Edmonds

 

This was my first time reading a book by Lisa Edmonds. She writes urban fantasy, and Heart of Malice is the first in a six-book series called simply, the “Alice Worth” series. 

Alice has a very disturbing backstory of being tortured by a paranormal organized crime cabal run by her grandfather (how many grandpas are heartless psychos!!!?), and of having to use her wit and magic to escape the deadly org. This is set up to explain her extreme PTSD and inability to trust or get close to anyone, plus her need to create an entire false identity (Alice Worth) for herself going forward. Talk about high stakes!

The story has tons of action, and the magic is explosive. In fact, the author’s descriptions of the magic are what stick in my mind most clearly. This is both a strength, but also a minor critique, in that while I learned a lot, I sometimes found her almost mathematical blow-by-blow explanations of how the magic worked too clinical and almost boring. 

That said, the romance between Alice and Sean, an alpha werewolf, who she finally learns to trust just a little (LOL) by novel’s end is hot and I do like both characters. Edmond also creates interesting side characters in Malcom, her ghost assistant who must hide in her earring, Alice’s client, a seemingly wispy victim, and the fashionable, edgy vamp who advises her.

I don't want to reveal any plot points so I dare not explain any more. I will say, it was a big deal for me to read an entire book since the pandemic year, where my desire and ability to read was almost non-existent. I'm happy to report that I am reading at a decent clip again, and working on a new book series, so I will always associate this book with my renewed sense of creativity.

 Nothing is simple and the twists keep on coming. A fun start to a long urban fantasy series.

Get the book at Amazon and see the series here.

#Fantasy Worth Reading: Flex #Bookreview

Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz is an engrossing fantasy set on modern-day Earth. I loved his space opera, The Sol Majestic, so had to try another book by this talented author.

The magic system has a bad side. For every wonderful gift, a dire consequence is required. The costs of doing magic are high and leave the ‘mancer with less and less. Something of value has to be given in order to do magic.

Magic takes their homes, their friends, everyone and everything they love. Using magic is like a drug in this realm, and the magic users are addicts. They give up everything for their moments of glory and marvel.

The main character, Paul Tsabo, is an ordinary person dealing with some bad luck. He was once a cop, who gained notoriety for taking out a ‘mancer. He lost a foot during the battle, and the loss required him to take a new job. He now works as a claims adjustor at an insurance company.

Thing is, it’s there he learns he has a gift – bureaucracy ‘mancy. He can do extraordinary things with forms and reordering the world. He has to hide his gift, but he can’t stay away from it, especially once his daughter is horribly burned in a fire caused by the consequences of someone else doing magic.

He's as obsessed with saving his daughter as finding quiet moments to do ‘mancy. This leads to him tracking down the ‘mancer who caused the fire that injured his daughter. Although he wants revenge in the worst way, he also needs to learn to hone his magic so he can help his daughter. This odd alliance and the search to find a better way to do magic drives the story.

The characters are very relatable. Most of us love to get lost in the beauty of our daydreams, which is very much like how the magic works in this book. It’s a great adventure with a great dose of self-discovery. Paul has to figure out what matters most and how to tame his ‘mancy for good.

I was entertained until the last page, and was rooting for Paul, his new ally, and his daughter. I was also rooting for magic. I highly recommend this fantasy.

Here's the official blurb:

The first in a series by the author of The Sol Majestic that is “what might result if you put Breaking Bad and Reddit in a blender and hit ‘frappe.’ ” (B&N Sci-Fi Blog)

FLEX: Distilled magic in crystal form. The most dangerous drug in the world. Snort it, and you can create incredible coincidences to live the life of your dreams.

FLUX: The backlash from snorting Flex. The universe hates magic and tries to rebalance the odds; maybe you survive the horrendous accidents the Flex inflicts, maybe you don’t.

PAUL TSABO: The obsessed bureaucromancer who’s turned paperwork into a magical Beast that can rewrite rental agreements, conjure rented cars from nowhere, track down anyone who’s ever filled out a form.

But when all of his formulaic magic can’t save his burned daughter, Paul must enter the dangerous world of Flex dealers to heal her. Except he’s never done this before—and the punishment for brewing Flex is army conscription and a total brain-wipe. 

 

Speculative Fiction Worth Reading - 3 Reviews for Untethered Realms Authors

Nora's life goes from rotten to worse when she moves with her newly divorced mother to a decrepit farmhouse in the middle of nowhere. As soon as they move in, strange things start to happen, and Nora discovers a magical journal in the attic. She learns about the past and what is going to happen again, if she doesn't stop it. All the while, she finds herself falling for a gorgeous local boy whose parents may have been victims of this horror. Will Nora be able to figure how what's happening in time to save not only those she cares about but herself as well? 

This is a fantastic YA paranormal read. I was sucked into the detailed setting of the old farmhouse and little town. The perfect creepy atmosphere for all the supernatural happenings. There are a lot of layers to the plot. What was happening in the past, how it is touching the present, and everyone going on in the modern day. It was very well done how Nora is dealing with her parents' divorce, and even how her writer mother is dealing with it. It is in no way painted as an easy thing. Then to add just being a teenager moving to a new place, trying to fit in and make friends, and falling for a guy named Rebel who may or may not be trouble! Plus ghosts, a beast, and magic. It was so much fun!

Buy The Upside Down of Nora Gaines here!

Indigo Rain discovers an ancient plaque in a seabed burial site and is asked to become an esteemed Keeper. She is paired with the handsome Bay Finley, who is a Royal merfolk Keeper. His haughty attitude infuriates her, but there is something that draws her to him. Indigo must unravel the mystery of the plaque before the threats on land and in the sea kill her.

This is another incredible book in the paranormal romance series, The Keepers of Knowledge. I love the author's take on merfolk. The marvelous history of the merfolk and how they evolved to mingle with people on land. Indigo is not your typical sea beauty. She's the daughter of a kelp farmer and an intelligent scientist. Bay seems like a playboy prince at first, but his layers peel back as Indigo gets to know him. I love the twists and turns this story took me on, and the unique settings underwater alongside the now familiar town of Pyreshore.

Buy Secrets of the Mermaid here!

Ami and Luke are immortal coincidence makers, but it isn't a fate Ami would wish on anyone. When they are tasked with getting two people to meet to become like them, Ami isn't certain she wants it to happen. Luke disagrees, and things are rocky as they meet up with old friends as they discover that perhaps the bio-terrorists they believed they had thwarted are readying for another attack. While they have not been tasked to stop it, can they stand by and let millions of people die or will they take the chance and do this on their own?

This is the second book in this thrilling speculative fiction series, and it is even better than the first. It's immensely well-written and smart with a layered plot. I empathized with Ami as she struggled with wanting to recruit the new coincidence makers and wanting to let them choose their own fates as she did not feel she got to choose her own. The rogue coincidence makers had decided they're not taking orders any more and want to act as gods, but that's not the role Ami wants to play either. All the while there is a job to be done and a huge terrorist attack to stop. There are twists and turns which made me gasp, and while this could be a stand alone book, it sets the stage for even bigger things to come. I can't wait!

Buy In Defiance of Fate here!

Researching & Launching a Novel During a Pandemic

 Launching a book during a pandemic is no joke. Nevertheless, the date I picked turned out to be smack dab in the thick of it. Witch of the Wild Beasts is a dark fantasy for dark times, and hopefully a good diversion, which we all need a dose of. The process of researching a book is always a deep diversion from the daily grind, pandemic or no pandemic. Allow me to tell you about the process.

          I’ve been fascinated by the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia ever since I visited for their Halloween fright tour, and saw the actual, untouched surgical room from when they opened in 1829. It still had a rickety metal operating table, sharp and crusty medical tools, and frighteningly tiny holding pens. The idea for Witch of the Wild Beasts rushed in right then and there: a thriller involving doctors devising medical mischief and unlucky prisoners, including Evalina Stowe, a woman accused of witchcraft.
It turns out that in the 1850s, when my novel takes place, Philadelphia experienced an explosion of new medical “breakthroughs”, from the wacky to the notable. At the offbeat end, there were herbal remedies inspired by the German Pow Wow or Braucherei practitioner, a combination of ritual prayer, herbal applications and the chanting of charms to not only heal the patient, but protect the farmers’ cattle and sheep. On the remarkable side, were the “plastic operations” of Dr. Thomas Mütter, who pioneered plastic surgery at Jefferson Medical School, and who invented applications we use to this day, such as the Mütter flap. This uses a flap of living skin, still partially attached, to cover open, damaged areas until they can heal, at which point the connected flap is cut and stitched. Dr. Mütter, who appears in the book, was quite the flamboyant dresser, who liked to match his suit to the color of his carriage. To this day, the Mütter Museum is a go-to attraction for all sorts of medical oddities, including dozens of wax molds of eye diseases and ‘The Soap Lady’, a woman whose body was exhumed in Philadelphia in 1875. She is nicknamed this because a fatty substance called adipocere coats her remains.
I grew up in Philadelphia and thought I knew a lot about its history, but in the process of research for the novel, I learned many new, startling facts. I love writing historical fantasy for this very reason.
Before Eastern State Penitentiary was built with its single cells and solitary confinement, people of all ages, including children were thrown in one holding pen at another location. Thus, Eastern State revolutionized the system and was considered state of the art when it was built. It was equipped with skylights, central heating and some of the very first flush toilets, and inspired by the Quakers’ belief that solitary penitence could quell an inmate’s urge to commit crimes.
Yet it wasn’t long before people realized that “paying penitence” 24/7 alone in a cell did not cure people of criminal behavior. Rather, the isolation drove them stark raving mad. Charles Dickens, who visited the prison, wrote a scathing treatise, saying, “Solitary confinement is rigid, strict and hopeless… I believe its effects to be cruel and wrong.” Oddly enough, during that era the phrase What the Dickens was a euphemism for What the Devil! Go figure.
Even in this cultured, modern city of Brotherly Love, superstition and chaos were alive and well. According the an article on the Historical Society of Pennsylvania blog, a sensational case occurred in 1852, with newspaper headings entitled, "Superstition in Philadelphia," and "Witchcraft - Evidence of an Enlightened Age”.
"Mary Ann Clinton & Susan Spearing, residents of Southwark Ward, were formally charged at the 'Court of Quarter Sessions,' with "conspiring to cheat and defraud George F. Elliott, by means of fortune telling and conjuration," in order to extort money. The 'Commonwealth of Pennsylvania' alleged that the two women were giving Mrs. Elliott, "a bottle containing some portions of Mr. Elliott's clothing, and telling her that as the clothing decayed, so Mr. Elliott would moulder away, until he would finally die by virtue of the spell..."

It appeared that Mrs. Elliott suspected her husband was guilty of infidelity, a belief that "had so strong an effect upon her as to make her wish for his death." Thus, she had enlisted the services of Clinton & Spearing, who also encouraged the jealous wife, as an "ordeal of witchcraft," to "take her husband's clothes, tear them to pieces, fill the bottle with them, then boil the contents nine times, and this would give him such extreme pain as to cause his death."
Enter my heroine, Evalina, accused of witchcraft when her pet bird, flies down the throat of her violent boss and chokes him to death. Add to this mix, Dolly Rouge, her prison neighbor and ex-bawdy house madam, Lightning, a homeless urchin who knew Evalina’s brother and was jailed for stealing horses, and Birdy, a handsome, kind Irishman jailed for a tragic accident while blasting granite for the railroad who Evalina falls for. Oh, and add a handful of sinister doctors, and Evalina’s perilous plot to gain justice for her brother’s murder.
Research is the grounding for the fire that ignites the writer’s mind. And let us all remember that after the Black Plague came the Renaissance. May we have one for 2020.

To see the novel on all sites click here.

A Review of Familiarity: A Winston and Ruby Collection by Kristine Kathryn Rusch #fantasy #cats #familiars

Winston: A kind and quiet wizard possessed of small magic.
Ruby: A familiar with a big mouth and even bigger heart.

My Review: Winston lives in a small town on the Oregon coast along Highway 101. He runs a small curiosity shop catering to the tourists. The locals know him as "that crazy guy with the cat." The locals do not visit his shop, which makes little money. His real line is a mail order business. He ships potions on a weekly basis all over the United States, Canada, and Europe. He's not rich but it is a living. He has a small magic. And the shop gives him somewhere to go every day, a reason to leave his cottage.

Winston's magic would be nothing without his familiar. He works best with cats and they choose him. (If you live with cats, this won't surprise you.) His familiars also have a lot of attitude and have no problem expressing their opinions and desires in perfect English.

Winston wants to live a quiet life somewhere below the radar and tinker with his potions in the workshop in the back of his store. He used to live in San Francisco but an unpleasant misunderstanding required him to leave quickly. He wants nothing more than to avoid trouble but trouble wanders into his shop on a regular basis.

Familiarity collects five Winston and Ruby stories. “Familiar Territory” tells the tale of how Ruby came to live with Winston and the death of Buster, Winston's former familiar. Buster leaves some odd instructions for his funeral and his spirit sails off in a blaze of glory, literally. In “Saving Face” Winston and Ruby work with a local detective to track down a killer when a woman who visits Winston's shop turns up dead. In “Searching for the Familiar” Winston hears rumors that familiars are going missing and when the rumors become a reality for Ruby, Winston is frantic to find her. “Disaster Relief” tells the story of Ruby's attempt at altruism. She convinces Winston to open their cottage to the magic users and familiars displaced by Hurricane Katrina. In “Un-Familiar” Ruby teams up with a toy poodle-Chihuahua mix. Ruby usually has nothing to do with dogs and she won't tell Winston what's up with the poodle-Chihuahua.

If you love fantasy and you love cats, Familiarity was written for you. The characters are truly charming. My only disappointment is that the collection comes to an end and as far as I know, there aren't any more Winston and Ruby stories.

Review of Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

When I decided to teach novel craft via Ocean at the End of the Lane to my college writing workshop students I had no idea what I was in for. Sure, there's a plot arc, chapter hooks, rules for magic, and themes: the nature of memory and time, identity, the importance of friendship. Still, Gaiman's newest tome defies definition. It's a mash up of magical realism, psychological horror, fantasy, a coming of age, and dare I say cosmic Jungian theology. Okay, let me back up...

The unnamed narrator returns to his boyhood town for the funeral of an unnamed person (Let me add myth to the mash up list). Distracted by unsettled emotions stirred by seeing his old stomping grounds, the narrator wanders down the lane to neighboring Hempstock Farm. There, he talks to Ginny Hempstock, and inquires about Lettie, her daughter and his childhood friend. He remembers Lettie's claim that her backyard pond was actually a vast ocean. When he sits and looks at the pond, he "remembers it, and in remembering, remembers all."

Lettie, her mom Ginny and the Hempstock granny are no ordinary trio. Old Mrs. Hempstock claims, "I've been around since the moon was made," and these ladies know the magic of "snipping and binding". He recalls taking refuge at their farm after an opal miner renting a room in his parents' house takes his dad's car and kills himself in it. Soon after this, the boy runs to Lettie's when his new babysitter, Ursula Monkton turns out to be a terrifying monster who knows everything about him. Not only that, but she claims to have wormed her way into this world from boring a hole in the boy's foot and traveling up to his heart!

Ursula is a truly frightening thing, and Gaiman has wicked fun in creating her. She is, in turns, a flea, a dirty mess of flapping canvas, a beautiful woman who has transfixed the boy's father, an alien from another time who tells the boy, "I've been inside you and I'm always watching you." Her defense in being creepy is that, "It's your fault. You brought me here. You tore a hole in Forever." Indeed, it's a dangerous thing for the boy to "be a door."

When Lettie and the boy band together to fight Ursula and "send her home" they must deal with supernatural varmints, or as Lettie calls them, Hunger Birds. These ravenous critters not only peck and injure, but they devour the world, part by part.

I won't tell you what happens except to say that the boy is tested in every way. For one, he must remain alone all night in a fairy ring stalked by visions and specters who try to coax him out of the safe zone.  Gaiman's magic is quite creative, and the last section of the book blossoms to a cosmic level. Gaiman's visionary language is brilliant, and his message transcends the bounds of the fantasy genre. Highly recommended.

Ceylon, Elle & April - 3 generations of women & the water sprite who helped them

For our last Elements anthology, Sprits in the Water I spin a three-generational tale of strong women and the sprite who helps them. Ceylon was a dancer who followed the Grateful Dead. Her daughter, Elle performed in water ballets, and her daughter April, not a dancer herself, now follows Britney Spears from concert to concert because she's obsessed with Britney's dancers. There's a problem... Back in the mid nineties, Elle made a wish at the Hotel Bellagio fountain in Vegas, and was never seen again. Hope you enjoy the little excerpt!

The new anthology cover!

The fountain at Bellagio in Vegas

Maizy of Bellagio (Or Little Helper) 

excerpt by Catherine Stine 

Maizy was born in Vegas from a wishing penny someone tossed in the musical fountain at Bellagio. Most of the color sprites were born of pennies, though some were attracted there from afar by the fantastic reports. Rumor had it the fountain sprites at Bellagio enjoyed gourmet eats, lively company and splendid karma if they were lucky enough to connect with the human who flung the coin and grant the wish. The magic strings that connected the sprites to the owners of the coins were gauzy and ethereal, and the sprites needed to navigate skillfully up the center of the strings in order to make contact. This part was tricky because the newborn sprites needed to test their veined wings. Often the sharp nubs of their wing-joints broke the strings, which melted away, leaving the sprite lost in flight.

Before the sprites born of the pennies were able to work in the fountains, they had to prove they could beat their wings at 180 beats per second, and produce colors as they did. Many couldn’t whip their wings that fast, or only emit a flickering gray shade. Others fainted from the effort.

In the dead of night, when the humans finally straggled to the elevators after a long night of debauchery, the sprites would minnow up from the water and flit into the lounges, bars and cavernous dining halls. There, they would fill their bellies on exotic flowers from Bellagio’s stunning gardens, and slurp spilled wines from the long mahogany bar tables—velvety reds from the south of France, virgin blush from Sonoma’s most rarified vineyards.

The humans assumed the fountains’ colorful patterns coordinated to the music were the result of high-tech digital processors. That’s what the Bellagio brochures boasted.
But the color sprites knew better. The water show depended on their ability to gather seamlessly in arcs and circles, pulsate their wings at high velocity while dancing just under the water’s surface.
Maizy’s special color was pink. Her spot in the fountain alternated between the pink and yellow wielding sprites. The colors appeared to rotate, but it was only because the sprites themselves fluttered back and forth between two bands.
But she learned this all later. After she met her wish-maker, April.

***

April Tulle, a pretty twenty-one year-old human, sat in front of her bedroom’s faux Rococo vanity in the Bellagio and glued the last paper flower onto her floral halo. She’d made it herself, paper dahlia by paper daisy, leaves as pert as the first bursts of spring, tiny berries on winding vines, and a sprinkling of paper butterflies—a teal one here, a polka-dot one there. She applied a creamy lipstick to match the crown’s baby’s breath, and a lavender eye shadow to play off the forget-me-nots.

April sighed at the thought of not forgetting. As excited as she was to see Britney’s newest show live, she was committed to remembering her mother, Elle. Staying here at Bellagio unearthed upsetting emotions. It wasn’t that April herself had stayed here before. She hadn’t.

It was because Elle had been found in the mid-nineties when Bellagio first opened, floating in the fountain. Or more accurately, her floral headpiece. Her body was missing and the mystery never solved. So, if April was being completely honest, she didn’t actually remember her mother. April had only been a year and a half when her mother disappeared and April was shuttled back to Arizona to live with her granny, Ceylon.

Sure, April recalled sensations—Elle’s gentle hands stroking her head, the glide of a baby spoon around her mouth to clean away food puree. And she remembered her mother’s perfume, because every time April smelled Muguet des Bois her chest filled with a welter of sad-happy emotions.
April honored her mother by making her own flowered halos, and wearing them at every concert. She was obsessed with expert choreography like the ones in Britney Spears’ troupe. OMG, the oiled men in loincloths, the women slinking around like lionesses. April wasn’t a dancer herself, she was into writing dark song lyrics, but she so admired them. She came from a dancing dynasty.

Her granny, Ceylon had been secretly hired by the Grateful Dead in the seventies to pirouette and freeform in the front of the stage. A Rolling Stone cover was tacked to Ceylon’s tree bark wall: of her dancing braless, her diaphanous paisley gown billowing in the wind. She boasted that her lithe movements and white-blonde hair captivated as many people as Garcia’s guitar extravaganzas.
“Sure, there were drugs,” Ceylon explained, “distributed with fanfare. Little helpers,” she called them, and showed April the beaded purse she’d kept them in, hung from her unbleached hemp belt.

In the mid-nineties, April’s mom, Elle had met the members of Starfish, a synchronized swimming ensemble at one of Ceylon’s garden parties. Elle swore she’d found her true calling, and soon after she toured the country with them. The swimmers formed swirling pinwheels, water cartwheels and stood on their heads as they held their breaths, scissoring their legs to the roar of the crowds.

Gazing into the vanity mirror, April blinked away tears as she shaped the color on her lips. Where had her mother’s body gone all those years ago? Against her will, she asked this question every single day. Had it gotten stuck in a large drainpipe? Decomposed in the bowels of the Vegas sewers? Or had a gambling necrophiliac stolen it? Too much lurid speculation was bad for April’s mental health. She snapped her lipstick case shut and shrugged off the horror.

To be continued in the forthcoming anthology!

All About the Tarot

The Tarot has fascinated me for quite a while. I remember when I first left home I was not quite eighteen. I moved into a large ramshackle house in Philadelphia, and I would climb over the fence dividing my place from the next-door neighbors. Why? Because the lady who lived there was an expert Tarot card reader! She would read my cards almost every night. Did I take it all seriously? Not really… but it was completely entertaining and sometimes the cards messages rang true.

Fast forward to present day, I’ve become an expert card reader, and I collect them for their variety, beauty and even humorous images. Most decks have spectacular art on them. As for their history, they are thought to have originated all the way back in ancient Egypt, as a cosmic source of wisdom and divination of the future. The Egyptian word tar means royal and ro means royal – thus the royal road to wisdom. Later, in northern Italy, a complete deck for card playing and gambling was devised. In France in the 1700s, a “cartomancer” named Jean Baptiste-Alliette created the imagery in the decks we often see today. There are cups, swords, wands, and pentacles. And the Major Arcana cards that hold great symbolism, such as the hermit, the world and the death card (which can also mean rebirth!).

In my novel, Witch of the Cards Peter Dune has a Tarot and Séance shop on the boardwalk, where he holds readings and séances. In walks Fiera, who not only has a mysterious and electric connection to Peter, she can do more outrageous and unexpected things with the Tarot than simply reading them! I won’t give away the surprise, I will only say I’m pretty sure you will not be able to guess. She is also a sea witch so her supernatural powers are twofold. I love reading Tarot for my friends, and I love writing dark fantasy with plenty of frightening magic and mayhem.

Do you know how to read the Tarot? What’s your favorite card?

Get Witch of the Cards here: Amazon, UK, iBooks, Kobo, B&N/Nook

What inspired Witch of the Cards, my historical fantasy

My historical fantasy Witch of the cards launches in mid-March. I want to tell you about specific elements from the real world that inspired this dark fantasy. It's set in 1932 in Asbury Park, NJ, a beach town I've been going to for years. A while ago, I wandered into one of the boardwalk stores and saw old photos of a shipwreck that beached on the shores of Asbury for an entire year.

It was a party cruise boat called the Morro Castle that sailed from New York City to Cuba during prohibition, so high-rollers could drink without penalty. In my novel, the disaster at sea was caused by very different events! Peter Dune, one of the main characters in my novel sails on the Morro for a business meeting. For fun, I added cameos on the Morro of Bela Lugosi (the actor who played Dracula), Irene Ware (a 1930s movie star), the great surrealist Salvador Dali and Elsa Schiaparelli, a famous clothing designer who collaborated with Dali.

Schiaparelli

Ware

 

Dali

Lugosi

From the nucleus of a real life paranormal museum in Asbury Park, I created Peter Dune's Tarot and Seance. A salt water taffy store on the boardwalk got transformed into a magical place with a very strange speakeasy in the basement. 

The novel summary:

Fiera was born a sea witch with no inkling of her power. And now it might be too late. 

Witch of the Cards is historical, supernatural romantic suspense set in 1932 on the Jersey shore. Twenty-two year-old Fiera has recently left the Brooklyn orphanage where she was raised, and works in Manhattan as a nanny. She gets a lucky break when her boss pays for her short vacation in Asbury Park. One evening, Fiera and her new friend Dulcie wander down the boardwalk and into Peter Dune’s Tarot & Séance, where they attend a card reading. 

Fiera has always had an unsettling ability to know things before they happen and sense people’s hidden agendas. She longs to either find out the origin of her powers or else banish them because as is, they make her feel crazy. When, during the reading, her energies somehow bond with Peter Dune’s and form an undeniable ethereal force, a chain of revelations and dangerous events begin to unspool. For one, Fiera finds out she is a witch from a powerful sea clan, but that someone is out to stop her blossoming power forever. And though she is falling in love with Peter, he also has a secret side. He’s no card reader, but a private detective working to expose mediums. Despite this terrible betrayal, Fiera must make the choice to save Peter from a tragic Morro Cruise boat fire, or let him perish with his fellow investigators. Told in alternating viewpoints, we hear Fiera and Peter each struggle against their deep attraction. Secrets, lies, even murder, lace this dark fantasy.

Join the Facebook Witch of Cards launch party! Check when book links go live.

What real life elements would you love to turn into historical fantasy?