Cate: Please welcome Pauline Holyoak. Pauline, will you please share a short bio with us?Pauline: Thank you for inviting me Cate. I grew in Southeast England, in a coal mining village my husband calls, “The place that time forgot.” It is nested between the notorious city of Canterbury and the medieval town of Dover. I came to Canada (as a nanny) when I was 21, in search of adventure and a new life. I live in Spruce Grove, Alberta with my sports crazy husband, adorable sheltie dog and cantankerous ginger cat. We have two grown children. They are the gems in my treasure chest.
Cate: Tell us about your latest release and where it's available.
Pauline: Merryweather Lodge – Ancient Revenge is the first of a trilogy. When Emily Fletcher meets the gorgeous Jonathan McArthur she is infatuated and consumed with lust. Will he go with her to the dreaded wood-lot, to remove the bloody ancient curse, before it’s too late? In the first half of my story my protagonist is fourteen years old. In the second half she is forced to return to the cottage, at the age of twenty. My novel contains elements of horror, humor, fantasy, romance and sex. I have created a world into which my readers can escape and an atmosphere that will evoke their imagination, stir their emotions and engage their senses. This book was inspired by my own experiences in a remote little cottage near Stonehenge. Available at www.whiskeycreekpress.com and www.amazon.com
Cate: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Pauline: Here is an excerpt...
”Let’s go somewhere privet.” She said, grabbing my arm. She guided me to the passage and plunked me down on the bottom step of the attic stairs. My back straightened. Panic rose within me as an icy shiver ran down my spine. It was as if I had been lead to an old cemetery, sat on a grave and left among the tomb stones.
“That was her room you know.” She said as she pointed up the stairs. “Who’s?”
“Mary Eliss.”
I turned my head ever so slowly and drew eyes up to the portal at the top of the stairs. I shivered and quickly looked way. “I know it was.”
In a low voice she whispered. “Do you suppose she’s still up there?” Then she grinned mischievously.
I looked into her strange glassy eyes. “She was, the last time I was here and I have a feeling she hasn’t left.”
Cate: Chilling! Can you tell us why we're going to love your hero?
Pauline: Jonathan McArthur is strikingly handsome, strong yet sensitive; charismatic, with a luscious English accent that will make your mouth water. He’s intelligent, witty and very creative. He has a soft spot for animals, the less fortunate and forgotten people. Jonathan struggles to stay in his safe world of logic and predictability but the world he is forced to live in is neither logical nor predictable. He’s in my book trailer, on my website. Take a look and tell me what you think.
Cate: He sounds wonderful. Tease us with one little thing about your fictional world that makes it different from others.
Pauline: My fictional world holds traces of reality. Some of the elements and events in my spine-chilling novel are true.
Cate: What's next for you?Pauline: I’m in the process of writing the second book of my trilogy... Merryweather Lodge – The Malevolent Spirit.
Cate: Cool. What inspired you to draft your first story?
Pauline: Every summer, when I was a child, we would visit my aunt and uncle at their quaint little cottage on Salisbury Plain. It was called Scotland Lodge and was situated not far from the historical Stonehenge. My uncle worked as a farm hand for the local squire. My aunt tended the manor house. It was there as I roamed free, deep within the English countryside, that I experienced joy, enchantment and some very strange and frightening occurrences. It was like a fairytale kingdom with a sinister twist. The memories of my summers at Scotland Lodge stayed with me, as a sort of nagging unsolved mystery all my life. A few years ago I revisited my childhood wonderland (the old place still emanates a strange and eerie essence) and was lead by some mysterious force into concocting this story and writing this book. It is from my mystifying experiences at Scotland Lodge that this book has emerged.
Cate: You make me want to visit there! Do you have a writing routine?
Pauline: I write long hand in my purple room, at my antique desk, under a large picture window and then I type it into the cold inanimate piece of equipment I call my computer and edit as I go. Young people think this is weird but the blank screen does not inspire me. The view outside my picture window does.
Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?
Pauline: www.paulineholyoak.com Please come visit me, view my book trailer and meet my characters.
Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Pauline: What attracts them to a book? The cover, the blurb, author’s bio, genre, recognition of the authors name or something else?
Cate, it was wonderful to meet you and your readers like this. I really enjoyed it.
A Very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, to all of you!
Cate: The same to you, Pauline! Readers, Pauline is giving away an ebook book to a random commenter... so start commenting. She'll pick a winner on Wednesday, Dec 29th and post the winner’s name here.
Thanks so much for being my guest Pauline! All the best to you.
