Why do Blue John stones figure prominently in Shadow Over Avalon? Check the link. This is a special crystal formation with set attributes http://www.crystalsrocksandgems.com/Healing_Crystals/BlueJohn.html
What happens when everything, including their name, is taken away from a person? What happens when those memories start to return and the person knows what they have lost? Rage builds, for there is nothing of value left to lose. A killer is born, and yet can they be salvaged? Should they be salvaged? And how does this impact on a beleaguered humanity with only one last chance left for freedom? The stakes are terminal. Failure cannot be an option, or hope will be gone. How does this resolve? Who will win and who will lose? Find out now in Shadow Over Avalon
Genetics is a tricky area to play in. When a person has left no living decedents, it is necessary to reach into their ancestry to recreate them. However, it is also necessary to endow the recreated person with extra gifts. This is when all hell is let loose. Nothing is what it seems and no one can be trusted. The fate of mankind rests on untried shoulders. Let fortune fall where it will.
The characters provide the motive for the story, but without a cohesive setting it doesn’t come to life for the reader in my opinion. So what is it about setting? For me, I have to be able to look through the character’s eyes and see what they are seeing. This has to be real and that involves research. Yep, that is right, down to the flower that will be in bloom in that season.
How to accomplish this? Each season has a certain feel about it. Think fall, when the smell of overripe fruit permeates the air and the drone of bees made sluggish by the chill of night fills the morning air. This is the season where everything is closing down for the winter sleep. Why is this important? It gives a marker in time that allows the reader to progress. Without this marker, the time is static.
How about an epic science fantasy? Did you ever wonder what would happen when the legendary King Arthur returns to save his people in the time of their greatest need? Set in the far future, Shadow Over Avalon take the reader to a level of suspense unsurpassed. Nothing is as it seems. Humanities survival hinges on the lives of a few. If even one of them dies, so will all hope for the future.
http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Over-Avalon-C-N-Lesley-ebook/dp/B00GAN6HMG/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1
I happen to believe it does. This is why I devote many, many hours into intensive research. It doesn’t matter to me if the product of my research is a part of my physical book or not. This is ground work that to my mind, must be accomplished. I need to have a take on the culture and the setting of a world to make it come alive and to do that, I have to make sure I have my facts correct.
Yes, it is really easy to get stuff off the web, but how accurate is this? Mostly not. Nothing beats the real live investigations with impartial informants. Will my physics work? I ask my dear husband, who is one of those people at the cutting edge of technology. He will tell me straight off it this will fly or not.
With history, or religion, it is important to understand how politics of the time comes into play. People are persistently guilty of projecting the politically correct version of events. It is therefore necessary to dig really deeply to get to the source from many different angles. This produces some very surprising results. Temporal and religious institutions have taken it upon themselves to rewrite history to present themselves in a good light, or to revile others in order to look good. Nowhere is this more apparent than the dark ages, where women did have power and were people in their own right. Moving on a few hundred years or so, this was not the thing. These women of history must be reviled to level down the effect of felinity, currently not the flavor of the month. Historical lies are then manufactured to promote the supremacy of men.
Nope, I am not a feminist. I am an equalist. Each compliments and supports the other. This is how it was meant to be. I abhor how women were put down in history and I abhor how men are now being sidelined. Note to book cover artists. Men are naturally hairy. This comes with testosterone. Producing covers with chest bald individuals is promoting all body waxing products. Did you really want to do this when you are not getting a cut in the profits?
Actually, a very high percentage of the witch hunts were as a result of greedy men wanting to acquire the possessions of women. Anyone, who is tortured enough, will say whatever it takes to make the pain stop. The definition of witches is also interesting from a Christian perspective as it is the antithesis of Christianity. In reality a pagan is not someone who is anti Christian. A pagan is someone with no interest in the Christian belief and who does not follow the concepts of that faith. A pagan follows a far older faith with no roots in Christianity. From historical texts, it is not an antithesis of Christianity, it is something else entirely. Again, accepted religion and politics come into play.
My new series, the Shadow books, are based on the tarot. The first book, Shadow Over Avalon, out now on all ebook platforms, is the first one and runs with the mystic of the wand. How does magic feature in a futuristic dystopia? How does Merlin figure in all this? You will have to read it to find out. In the meantime, there are small snippets on this site and a larger helping on Amazon. The next book, Sword or Shadows, is self explanatory. This is due out in 2014 from my publishers, Kristell Ink, an imprint of Grimbold Books.
In light of the recent five star rating and comment on Shadow Over Avalon, I have gone into a quiet corner to think this through. My characters explode in my mind in the form or dreams and they are fully fledged individuals set on a certain path. I don’t work to construct an interesting character. Honestly, I have no idea how to do this. It is a visceral thing.
My story lines come through dreams. A scene pops up and I run with it, wherever it leads. What is important to me is that I must be able to see through a characters eyes. The characters must live in the eyes of the readers and therefore, they must live and breath in mine. I had not really thought about this before, but they do come alive.
Not one character is totally good, or totally evil. Life isn’t like that. People are an admixture between the two. A foul toad may well have reasonable wants or needs of his own. A hero/ heroine will have character flaws. None of us are perfect people and this must be reflected. Good people do make mistakes and bad people do have mitigating reasons in their own minds. It is what it is.
Not one single character from my books was taken from real life as far as I am aware. I have been told by physics that I am an old soul, who has had had previous lives. Opens mouth wide to shovel in a ton of salt with this. Wherever my characters come from, they are very real to me. The only life form I have ever brought into my books from real life was an amalgam of my cats for the character of Kryling, a firedrake from Darkspire Reaches, so there you have it.
I signed up for NANO at the eleventh hour. So what did I do today? Prevaricate. I found fifty million things I ‘really’ had to do instead of getting stuck into writing a book. However, I eventually ran of excuses. While my word count isn’t stellar, the prep work is. The story is taking off and now has a life of its own. I can see the scenes and the characters. I know where the action is leading.
The book is coming together and I am not concerned about quantity. This has always been about quality for me.
On another note, I got a really stunning review for Shadow Over Avalon. http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Over-Avalon-ebook/dp/B00GAN6HMG/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=&qid=
This is coming out on Halloween and I am so excited. However, just to set some matters straight, as I can anticipate howls of outrage that someone from Canada has dared to write an Arthur book, I am owning up to holding dual Nationality. I have indeed visited all the Arthurian sites . I have also extensively travelled in the UK. All the settings, aside from those offshore,, and off planet, are places I have personally visited.
On another note, I have invested a great deal of time thoroughly investigating the legends, going right back to the original Welsh stories. It is so interesting how politics of the time flavor historical accounts. The Mallory tale comes from Geoffrey of Monmouth, who took it upon himself to discredit all women of power in order to establish the supremacy of men. Now what a chaste monk was doing, having thoughts about incestuous relationships beggars the question and blows the mind. Needless to say, none of this politically motivated bunk will appear in Shadow Over Avalon, or any of the upcoming books in this series. I stay true to the original legend.
That being said, this series is not about what has gone before. This is what happens next, when the king promised to return in their time of greatest need for his people. Nothing is as it seems. The release date is very appropriate. Prepare to be scared. Enjoy.
cnlesley 