Cate: Please welcome Diane Scott Lewis. Diane, will you please share a short bio with us?Diane: Hi, Cate, I’m thrilled to be your guest today. I am an ex-navy radioman (woman) and write book reviews for the Historical Novels Review and worked at The Wild Rose Press from 2007 to 2010 as a historical editor. I served as president of the Riverside Writers, a chapter of the Virginia Writers Club, inc. from 2007 to 2008.
Cate: Tell us about The False Light and where it's available.
Diane: My debut novel, The False Light, was released in April this year by Eternal Press. The reviews have been wonderful, and I won the CTRR award from Coffee Time Romance.
Here is a blurb: Fleeing the French Revolution, Bettina Jonquiere struggles to survive in a remote Cornish village, discover the secret behind her father's death, while attracted to a man who may have murdered his wife.
The ebook is available from www.eternalpress.biz, and the paper back from www.amazon.com
Cate: Very exciting! Congrats! Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Diane: (My heroine confronts a man who has taunted her at the inn where she works)
“Who are you?” Bettina tried not to squirm in the saddle. “What do you know about my family?”
“I seek information to do with your father. You were not easy to find, hiding in this remote place. But I am the best, as you see.” He reached out and grabbed her horse’s reins below the bit. “Let us ride elsewhere to talk.”
“You ask me here. I will not go with you.” Bettina jerked on the reins. She ached to know anything about her father, but fear soared up in her like a whoosh of icy wind.
“Let go of my horse.”The Hunter laughed again, a nasty croak like the malignant toad he resembled might emit. He pulled her gelding toward the bushes.
“Here, we will stay here! Tell me about my father!” She yanked on the leather, her hands stinging. “You cannot steal my horse!”
He nodded and continued to drag her mount along. Bracken scratched at her legs. Bettina jerked up her skirt, swung her left leg over the pommel and slid off Shevall’s right side. She stumbled when she hit the dirt, but lurched up.
The Hunter frowned and looked about to dismount.
Bettina rushed into the woods. She’d made a serious blunder in seeking him out alone, with no weapon or aid. Her skirts hiked to her knees, she jumped over brush and darted around trees and over gullies.
Out of breath and dizzy, she saw the back of the Camborne barn and stables, the rear of the estate.
After a dash over the low hills, she passed a cemetery knoll, flew across the clearing and ran to the rear door of Bronnmargh. She pounded her fist on the kitchen door, gasping for breath. She had to find help.
The door creaked open and she flung herself inside, propelled by fury.
Hands grabbed her.
Cate: Whew! Compelling. Can you tell us why we're going to love your hero?
Diane: Everett is a strong, hard-working man who took in his orphaned nephew out of compassion. But he’s damaged by his cruel experience with marriage, until he meets my heroine and he reveals a passionate heart.
Cate: Tease us with one little thing about your fictional world that makes it different from others.
Diane: Though it is fiction, I try to research the day-to-day lives and history of the era to ground my stories in their time-period. In other words, the gritty truth, not the idealized version you see in so many novels. People didn’t bathe much in the 18th century, and I show the struggle of the poorer classes.
Cate: What's next for you?
Diane: I’ve finished revising a novel, Elysium, that takes place on the remote island of St. Helena during Napoleon’s exile. I throw a fictional heroine into the French entourage who will change the accepted course of history. I’m very excited about it.
I’m also working on my sequel to The False Light.
Cate: What inspired you to draft your first story?
Diane: watching historical movies inspired my interest in the past. Then I’d read books about the different eras and think of myself living in those times and what I’d do, how I’d manage. I love inserting someone in a strange place and seeing what she does to cope and rise above the struggles.
Cate: Do you have a writing routine?
Diane: I try to write early in the morning, sometimes I rise at 5 a.m. That seems to be my more productive time, 5 to about 1p.m-when I can manage it around family obligations!
Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?
Diane: Please visit my website where I discuss other books I’m working on:
www.dianescottlewis.com.
Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Diane: What compels you to purchase books? If you purchase my book, please contact me through my website and let me know what you enjoyed about the story.
I’ll give a free PDF of my book to a random commenter, and pick the winner on August 21st around 3 p.m. EST.
Cate: You heard Diane - don't miss your chance to read this exciting novella!
Thanks for being my guest, Diane. Best of luck with all your projects.
