SSS: First peek at Orion Rising

Hey Sixers! Thanks so much for visiting, and thanks especially for your comments. 

I've taken a leap with my latest release - backward, actually, about ten years when I wrote this literary novel. I decided to self-pub it this year under my other pen name, C.A. Masterson. So here's the opener of Orion Rising, a family saga spanning the Sixties through the Nineties, with mythology of the constellations, love and loss, rock and roll, drugs and heartache, written from the multiple POVs of three siblings:

In every face, I looked for his. I knew in my heart it wouldn’t be him. Logic said that after twenty-five years, he’d no longer be a boy. But logic couldn’t stop my heart from breaking, again and again. Yet I never stopped looking.

I couldn’t.

I'll be making it a freebie on Amazon at some point, so I hope you'll grab a copy when I do.

Check out the fantastic Six Sentence authors here. Have a great week!

Orion Rising - literary family saga

Orion Rising
Available on Amazon
Literary novel

To the Byrne children, constellations were more than stick figures in the night sky. At their father’s telling, their myths became tales of adventure and romance for Percy, Allie, Mary and Aurie, whose names seem to imbue celestial royalty upon them. When the Orion River floods in 1965, the Byrne children are drawn to it like sailors to a siren’s call. After Aurie disappears in the river, their names seem more like a curse. Though self-imposed, the curse follows them through three decades before each learns the key to breaking it – love, and forgiveness. But sometimes the hardest person to forgive is yourself.

Reviews

(coming soon)

Casting Call
Who would Cate cast as these characters? Find out here.



Excerpt

The footfalls of Persephone, our father had always called it: the slow, steady patter of rain across the roof; the spring rains that, like Persephone, awoke the sleeping bulbs in the earth, the buds on the trees, unfurling, petal by petal, a world of color and life.  Persephone’s glad return to Earth from the dark depths of the shadowy, lifeless underworld of Hades signaled the beginning of a season of rebirth. I listened to the soft footfalls across the roof, wide-eyed, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fair maiden. She was more real to me than Santa Claus, whose gifts were only for one night; Persephone’s gifts changed the dreary winter world to spring.

But this spring was different. After a particularly long winter, a foot of snow remained on the ground for what seemed forever. In mid-March, Aurie and I watched from our front window as the snow piled above the bushes outside, until the snowmen in the front yard seemed to be swimming up to their necks in a frothy white sea. Sick of all that snow, we had tired of the usual sledding and skating; and the constant barrier of snow made either activity nearly impossible for long spurts of time. The snow lost its fluffy, shimmering quality and formed hard edges; dirty brown spots seeped further inward from the streets each day. Our mother tried to busy us with activities week after week, but we longed for sunshine, bike riding and roller skating – freedom from this white entrapment.

Even our father, who never hurried us, grew restless. A yearning edged his voice when he talked of wanting to use the new Unitron refractor telescope that Mom had given him for their fifteenth wedding anniversary the autumn before. The snows had kept thick, heavy clouds low over their heads, so the shelter of his attic observatory was of no use; we would all have to wait until the weather improved, he said.

Then, on the first of April, the temperature rose sharply to sixty degrees. Aurie and I watched from the window, and laughed at the steam rising from the snow, thinking it a wonderful April Fool’s Day joke. Swiftly the Orion River transformed from a white wasteland to a brown raging torrent, ripping away trees and anything else in its path. For days, the river crept further out of its banks and into nearby streets, invading homes and downtown businesses.

I thought it strange my parents spoke so often with neighbors. Worried, they listened intently to each news account, and kept a close watch on the flooding. On Willow Street, some families abandoned their homes in anticipation of disaster. We began moving some things to the upper floors, but the flood waters crested before Buttonwood Street residents had to evacuate.

Our parents resisted, but curiosity drew us all to the edge of the river to watch its destructive current.

"It's as if Mother Nature wants to wipe some of us off the face of the earth," Dad said.

Mom hugged Aurie close to her, warning, "Don't any of you come near this river until we say so. Do you hear?"

I couldn’t look away from the churning waters. This new river, so unfriendly, couldn’t be the same one to which Mom and Dad brought us on picnics. Nothing could live in this river. The current swept along large, ugly debris: ice chunks, tree branches, even small sheds from neighbors’ back yards.

Mom tugged us away. "Let's go home."

Hypnotized by its deft, frothy swirls, I didn’t move until her voice cracked with fear.

“Mary, let’s go.”

I glanced back. Percy and Allie already were walking toward home. Mom clutched Aurie against her. The fear in her eyes made her as unrecognizable as the river.

I should have known then. Everything was about to change.

Seventh Heaven an EPIC Award finalist!

Woo hoo! I nearly didn't enter this story, because I'd re-released it after the rights returned to me from The Wild Rose Press. But Seventh Heaven's a wonderful little story, set in the Sixties in my hometown of Lambertville/New Hope. And now it's a 2012 EPIC Award finalist! I'm so proud of it! 

Reviewers have called it “a wonderful story”; “an uplifting romance set in a turbulent, unique time period. I did not want it to end”; “a read that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The deep and powerful setting of this story had me wiping away tears while cheering James on”;  and “This book brought about emotions that I found refreshing. Cate Masters is a gifted writer who wrote this book with talent and marvelous imagery. I could almost see, taste, hear and touch what was occurring in "Seventh Heaven." If you are looking for a book with a wonderful plot that is very well written as well as being entertaining, "Seventh Heaven" is the book for you.”

For the trailer, I photographed my hometown of Lambertville, NJ and New Hope, PA (twin towns, separated by the Delaware) because that’s the setting for the story. A cool place, even before the Sixties. :) 

The image on the new book cover, above, is also a light from the bridge spanning Lambertville and New Hope.

Seventh Heaven now available on Smashwords

My Sixties-era romance, Seventh Heaven, is now available on Smashwords for just 99 cents! Soon it will be available for Kindle too. Just waiting on the Amazon conversion.

While published with The Wild Rose Press, it topped the bestseller list. I'm grateful to this publisher for believing in my work. Seventh Heaven was my first published ebook.

Fallen Angel Reviews rated it a Recommended Read. Other reviewers have called it “a wonderful story”; “an uplifting romance set in a turbulent, unique time period. I did not want it to end”; “a read that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The deep and powerful setting of this story had me wiping away tears while cheering James on”; and “This book brought about emotions that I found refreshing. Cate Masters is a gifted writer who wrote this book with talent and marvelous imagery. I could almost see, taste, hear and touch what was occurring in "Seventh Heaven." If you are looking for a book with a wonderful plot that is very well written as well as being entertaining, "Seventh Heaven" is the book for you.”

Here’s the story blurb:

Lilah owns the New Hope Record and Crafts Shop with her friend, Val. Independent and free-spirited, they sell their handmade jewelry and pottery to tourists in their Delaware River town. Lilah’s only hangup is James, who bartends down the street. She’s crazy about him, but lately he’s been cold and distant. Turns out he has reason to be down--he’s had his ticket punched for Vietnam. Lilah makes him a lucky leather-string choker using a silver ankh--the Egyptian symbol of eternity.James is skeptical about its lucky charms, but warms to her again. For seven months, James is in Vietnam. He comes home changed, in more ways than one. Can Lilah show him that her love is all the luck he needs?

And an excerpt:
James stood in the open doorway. The choker gleamed from his neck. “I came by to say thanks.”
The distance she’d felt between them last night was gone. His warm eyes searched hers, reaching again for a connection.
“I didn’t know it was you.” She stepped from behind the counter. No more barriers between them.
He closed the door. “So. Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. It looks good. It’s an–”
“An ankh. I know.” Something seemed to be holding him back, but somehow she knew she must be patient, and let him come to her.
“The Egyptian symbol of eternity.” She didn’t know what to do with her hands, and her breath was jagged. “Sorry. I mean, Ben told us. It really stinks you’re leaving.”
He ran a finger across a glazed jug. “Bad timing.”
She clasped her hands in front of her. “I guess it’s never a good time…”
He glanced up and flashed a switchblade smile. “I mean, I wish we had more time.” His soft voice rushed at her like the wind and billowed the sails of her heart’s rocky boat.
The air thinned, seemed rarified. “Me, too.”
He stepped closer. Time felt maddeningly slow. She wanted to run to him, fill her arms with him.
Instead, she crossed her arms. “I hope you’ll write me, if you get a chance.”
“Yeah?”
He was within arm’s reach. His gaze flowed over her inch by inch, over every curve and hollow.
The floor needed sweeping. And needed to be smaller. Or his steps needed to be more expansive. “Sure, I’ll keep you up on the local gossip. Send you goodie packages.” A lock of her hair. A photo of herself so he’d think of her every day. And night.
His eyes locked on hers. “That’d be nice.”
“We’re going to miss you around here.”
“You will?” The timbre of his voice rumbled inside her like an earthquake.
With his last step, he was so close her skin tingled with his heat. “No one can make a margarita like you.”
He fingered her hair, tucked a strand behind her shoulder. “Come back tonight. I’ll make you all the margaritas you can drink.”
In her head she was already there, sipping at a wide-rimmed glass, serenaded by Dylan in the background, James attending to her alone. “OK.”
“See you about seven, then?”
She smiled. “Seven it is.”
He backed toward the door, slowly, as if still taking her in. The silver ankh winked in the light as he turned to leave.

More links to reviews and the trailer (another old one I need to update!) are here. Thanks, as always, for checking it out! :)

The value of authenticating details

This morning, I received the final galleys for my “Rosette” story, Seventh Heaven. I’m still waiting to hear when The Wild Rose Press will release it.
As it is set in my hometown of Lambertville, New Jersey, and New Hope, Pennsylvania, proofing it brought back many memories.
Several story details originated with my family. My oldest brother Joe (aka Boo) is a Vietnam vet who told us the story about the young Vietnamese boy throwing a grenade into the back of a truck, so that, in fact, was the catalyst for this story. My sister Claudia used to wear a flag T-shirt. When I was a teenager, one of my favorite things to do was walk across the bridge linking the twin towns to New Hope with my good friends Nora, Winnie and Mary Louise, and browse through the many shops, especially the record store near the bridge. Like Lambertville, New Hope is famous for its cultural diversity, including the Bucks County Playhouse, where my sisters Claudia and Annette to this day usher at plays. Fran’s Pub was a favorite hangout of my husband Gary’s in the seventies and hence earns a special place in the story.
While growing up, I vividly recall hearing musicians perform at The Music Circus. My mother once brought me to see Robert Goulet, but I was a young teen at the time and sadly, unappreciative of her gesture, as I would much rather have seen The Young Rascals, or even Chicago – I remember hearing their brass section clearly through the woods. The Music Circus drew many famous musicians and performers. As in my story, Judy Collins was there in 1967. And no story about the Sixties would be complete without musical references – Dylan, Hendrix, Donovan and especially the Beatles were such a deep-rooted part of my youth, they provide the soundtrack to my adolescence.
I had done loads of research on the Sixties era for one of my novels, so this story was one of those that came together in my head fully formed. Among other things, a Time-Life book titled The Turbulent Years: The 60s provided specific details I could not have accurately remembered, having been born just before that decade began. I remembered the buttons, but would have probably spelled the Hippy Power button as hippie, the more popular spelling.
So, as you have gathered, authenticating details can bring a story alive, as Dave Koch writes in his article, Authenticating Details. Write with as much specificity as possible. Avoid generic terms – instead of “hat,” write “bowler” or “Stetson.” Add background music. Describe the scents in the scene. Bring your readers into the experience of the story, and hopefully, leave them wanting more.

Here again is the story blurb:
Lilah owns the New Hope Record and Crafts Shop with her friend, Val. Independent and free-spirited, they sell their handmade jewelry and pottery to tourists in their Delaware River town. Lilah’s only hangup is James, who bartends down the street. She’s crazy about him, but lately he’s been cold and distant. Turns out he has reason to be down--he’s had his ticket punched for Vietnam. Lilah makes him a lucky leather-string choker using a silver ankh--the Egyptian symbol of eternity. James is skeptical about its lucky charms, but warms to her again. For seven months, James is in Vietnam. He comes home changed, in more ways than one. Can Lilah show him that her love is all the luck he needs?

My first cover from the Wild Rose Press!

What a great way to start the day! This was in my mailbox this morning. Nicola Martinez did an outstanding job, don't you think?

No release date yet, but soon.

Here’s the blurb for Seventh Heaven:

Lilah owns the New Hope Record and Crafts Shop with her friend, Val. Selling their handmade jewelry and pottery to tourists in their Delaware River town keeps them independent and free spirited. Lilah’s only hangup is James, who bartends down the street. She’s crazy about him, but lately he’s been cold and distant. Turns out he has reason to be down--he’s had his ticket punched for Vietnam. When Lilah makes him a lucky leather-string choker using a silver ankh--the Egyptian symbol of eternity--James is skeptical, but begins to warm to her again. Can Lilah show him that her love is all the luck he needs?

And an excerpt:

Candles light the bar, daisies and daylilies fill a vase at its center. Bob Dylan moans that the answer is blowin’ in the wind.
James walks out of the kitchen. When he sees her, he takes long strides toward her. “Hey, right on time.”
Her voice seems stuck in her dream-filled head. “Well, yeah, I didn’t want to jinx my lucky number.”
He lays his hand on her back, and its warmth seeps through her white cotton blouse. “Come on in.”
She wants to tell him how wonderful the flowers are, how romantic the candles are. How time feels like the river, static, but slipping away too fast. “This looks great.”
“The old guy downstairs loves to garden. He gave me the flowers.” He steps behind the counter. “Are you hungry?”
“No, not at all.” Her stomach is knotted so tight, no food would fit.
“Thirsty?”
She sits on the stool. “Absolutely.”
His muscles ripple as he mixes the alcohol. Cologne scents the air, cologne he wasn’t wearing earlier.
“Another slow night,” she says. The bar is empty except for her and James.
“All week. Very unusual.”
The tang of the drink seeps into her. “Not that I mind.”
“I’m kind of glad.” He leans toward her, and time seems to reverse a few weeks, a river reversing its flow.
Jimi Hendrix croons about the wind crying Mary, his voice a richly toned instrument, as electric as his guitar.
She smiles. “I like the music.”
“Hendrix is always a crowd pleaser.” He watches her mouth as her lips curl around the salty rim.
She sets the drink on the bar. “Let’s hope the crowds stay home for this one.”
He holds out his hand. “Come on.”
She takes it, though she doesn’t understand. Separated by the counter, they walk hand-in-hand to the end of the bar, where he pulls her close. It feels like whooshing up a mountain, like flying. When he moves her across the floor, she’s drifting on air currents high above the earth.
Candlelight reflects in his dark eyes, making them sparkle. He tightens his embrace and they move together like water over a rock. He leans his cheek against hers, and his breath warms her skin.
The song ends. He groans into her shoulder, his hands running slowly across her back. He leans away to look at her. “Want to go for a ride?”
“On your Harley? Hell, yes.”
He laughs, the first real smile he’s shown her in weeks. “Let’s go then.”

Seventh Heaven - Vintage (Sixties) short romance

Available in ebook from Amazon

and Smashwords

Lilah owns the New Hope Record and Crafts Shop with her friend, Val. Independent and free-spirited, they sell their handmade jewelry and pottery to tourists in their Delaware River town. Lilah’s only hangup is James, who bartends down the street. She’s crazy about him, but lately he’s been cold and distant. Turns out he has reason to be down--he’s had his ticket punched for Vietnam. Lilah makes him a lucky leather-string choker using a silver ankh--the Egyptian symbol of eternity.James is skeptical about its lucky charms, but warms to her again. For seven months, James is in Vietnam. He comes home changed, in more ways than one. Can Lilah show him that her love is all the luck he needs?

Reviews

Seventh Heaven is a wonderful story about overcoming obstacles. Lilah has to overcome her shyness and fear of rejection to pursue the love of her life. James has even bigger issues to overcome before, during, and after the war. This is a touching, three hanky read. Seventh Heaven is an uplifting romance set in a turbulent, unique time period. I did not want it to end.

Fallen Angel Reviews: 5 Angels, Recommended Read

Cate Masters blows me away with this spicy-sweet story. Lilah... seems so real you feel like you have known her for ages. This is a read that will leave you on the edge of your seat. The deep and powerful setting of this story had me wiping away tears while cheering James on. Cate has a great story on her hands with this.

WDRF Reviews: Memorable Good

I don't want to give away anything in this book but I can say that the situations that arose were brilliant on the writer's behalf. This book brought about emotions that I found refreshing. Cate Masters is a gifted writer who wrote this book with talent and marvelous imagery. I could almost see, taste, hear and touch what was occurring in "Seventh Heaven." If you are looking for a book with a wonderful plot that is very well written as well as being entertaining, "Seventh Heaven" is the book for you. I look forward to reading more of Ms. Masters' work.

Long and Short Reviews: 4 Books

Excerpt

James stood in the open doorway. The choker gleamed from his neck. “I came by to say thanks.”

The distance she’d felt between them last night was gone. His warm eyes searched hers, reaching again for a connection.

“I didn’t know it was you.” She stepped from behind the counter. No more barriers between them.

He closed the door. “So. Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. It looks good. It’s an–”

“An ankh. I know.” Something seemed to be holding him back, but somehow she knew she must be patient, and let him come to her.

“The Egyptian symbol of eternity.” She didn’t know what to do with her hands, and her breath was jagged. “Sorry. I mean, Ben told us. It really stinks you’re leaving.”

He ran a finger across a glazed jug. “Bad timing.”

She clasped her hands in front of her. “I guess it’s never a good time…”

He glanced up and flashed a switchblade smile. “I mean, I wish we had more time.” His soft voice rushed at her like the wind and billowed the sails of her heart’s rocky boat.

The air thinned, seemed rarified. “Me, too.”

He stepped closer. Time felt maddeningly slow. She wanted to run to him, fill her arms with him.

Instead, she crossed her arms. “I hope you’ll write me, if you get a chance.”

“Yeah?”

He was within arm’s reach. His gaze flowed over her inch by inch, over every curve and hollow.

The floor needed sweeping. And needed to be smaller. Or his steps needed to be more expansive. “Sure, I’ll keep you up on the local gossip. Send you goodie packages.” A lock of her hair. A photo of herself so he’d think of her every day. And night.

His eyes locked on hers. “That’d be nice.”

“We’re going to miss you around here.”

“You will?” The timbre of his voice rumbled inside her like an earthquake.

With his last step, he was so close her skin tingled with his heat. “No one can make a margarita like you.”

He fingered her hair, tucked a strand behind her shoulder. “Come back tonight. I’ll make you all the margaritas you can drink.”

In her head she was already there, sipping at a wide-rimmed glass, serenaded by Dylan in the background, James attending to her alone. “OK.”

“See you about seven, then?”

She smiled. “Seven it is.”

He backed toward the door, slowly, as if still taking her in. The silver ankh winked in the light as he turned to leave.

Thanks to The Wild Rose Press for first publishing this story! I'm very grateful.