Pauline Holyoak in the Author Spotlight

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.

In the Author Spotlight: Elaine Cantrell

Cate: Please welcome Elaine Cantrell. Elaine, will you please share a short bio with us?
Elaine: Hi, Cate. Thanks for letting me come today. You have a beautiful site. Hmm. About me. Okay, I’m a southern girl born and bred. I live in upstate South Carolina and attended Clemson University where I received a degree in secondary education. I went back later and got a Master’s Degree as well. I’m a member of Alpha Delta Kappa, an international honorary sorority for women educators. I’m also a member of Romance Writers of America and EPIC authors. My first novel A New Leaf was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love Contest and was published in 2004 by Oak Tree Books. Right now I’m teaching high school social studies. If I ever get any free time I enjoy reading, collecting vintage Christmas ornaments, and playing with my grandchildren.

Cate: Thanks for your kind words, Elaine! Please tell us about your latest release and where it's available.
Elaine: My latest release is Return Engagement. It’s available as an ebook or in print. You can read the first chapter of Return Engagement at this link.
Beyond doubt, Return Engagement is my favorite of all my books. I worked on the book for several years before I was content with it, and I was making changes as long as my editor would allow it. I loved my characters so much I wanted to the best possible job for them. LOL. I loved them so much I’ve finished a sequel and am working on the third book in the series. My hero Richard is probably the reason for my obsession. I created him to be my fantasy man so it’s no wonder I fell for him.

Cate: Please tantalize us with a story blurb or excerpt.
Elaine: Delighted. Here’s a blurb to set the stage, and then I’ll share an excerpt.

Blurb:
Elizabeth Lane has heard the call of the four most seductive words in the entire English language: what might have been. Would you risk everything you hold dear to find out what might have been? That’s the choice which Elizabeth has to make.
Elizabeth is lucky, for she has it all, money, fame, a satisfying career and a devoted fiancé. Her humble beginnings are all but obscured, but she isn’t the kind of woman Senator Henry Lovinggood wants for his son, Richard. Senator Lovinggood plans to make Richard the President of the United States; he’ll need a woman from a wealthy, powerful family by his side. Ten years ago he broke Richard and Elizabeth up, but this time it won’t be so easy, for Elizabeth wants to know what might have been. This time she’ll fight back, a struggle which ultimately leads to kidnapping and attempted murder and alienates her from the man of her dreams.

Excerpt:
This excerpt takes place after Elizabeth, my heroine, receives a note supposedly from Richard. The note invites her to a romantic rendezvous.

This time she found 2341. The numbers flaked from a small sign in front of a run-down, decrepit motel. Elizabeth shivered. She didn’t like this look of this place at all. She’d bet anything the owners had abandoned it. Just look. One of the big plate glass windows in the office had shattered and been boarded up. A few straggly shrubs were all but swallowed by weeds.
She still didn’t understand why Richard wanted to come to such a trashy looking, slightly scary place, but she trusted him. His surprise would undoubtedly make her forget all about her troubles getting here.
She turned into the front parking lot which was empty of cars and saw a faded and dusty closed sign in the office window. Wonder how many years the place had been closed? Okay, she’d try around back.
She drove around to the back side of the motel where she found a late model silver Buick and a black Jaguar parked side by side. Richard must have a Jaguar, too, thought Elizabeth. She wondered who owned the Buick and decided it probably belonged to someone helping him with her surprise.
She parked beside the two cars and looked around. Richard hadn’t mentioned a room number, but all of the doors were closed except room 205 which stood partially open. That must be the one. She hurried across the parking lot and stepped inside Room 205. It smelled musty and seemed dark to her, but the sun shone brightly today. She paused a moment to give her eyes time to adjust.
The room was bigger than she’d expected. Actually, it was a suite, not a single room at all. At one time it had probably looked very lovely, but now it just looked old and battered. Water-stained wallpaper peeled from one corner while the carpet underfoot was littered with some type of black, loamy substance, maybe dirt, maybe mildew. She didn’t see anyone, so she called, “Richard? Where are you?”
No one answered, but she saw an interior door hanging from one hinge near the back of the room and decided to check it out. She took three steps into the quiet darkness before she finally realized something was wrong. Things didn’t feel right in this room. Every nerve in her body screamed danger, and she seemed to have ice water instead of blood in her veins. She was getting out of here!
With a gasp she turned to run, but she had waited too late. A small man stood between her and the front door. He held an ugly, black gun that pointed straight at her.
“Miss Lane, how very good of you to come,” he began, his voice cultured, precise, and quiet. “This gathering would not be complete without your presence.”
“Who are you? Where’s Richard?” Elizabeth shrilly demanded.
“All of your questions will be answered in time, Miss Lane.” He didn’t take the gun off Elizabeth as he backed toward the outer door and shut it. “Please walk in front of me toward the next room. There’s someone in there who’s waiting for you.”
Elizabeth had no choice, so she turned around and entered the next room. Her eyes hurriedly scanned the interior. If Richard had decided to play some kind of joke on her, he was in big trouble.
Her heart almost skittered out of her chest when she saw a gagged man bound to the bed. He turned his face to her, and Elizabeth recognized Senator Lovinggood.
“Senator!” She darted across the room to remove the cloth stuffed into the Senator’s mouth, but the quiet, cultured voice prevented her.
“No, Miss Lane. Don’t remove the gag. I’ve grown weary of listening to the senator. You are, however, standing in the right place. Feel free to sit down beside Senator Lovinggood if you wish. You’ve gone a little pale, and I wouldn’t want you to faint and hurt yourself.”
Elizabeth defiantly faced the small man even though her knees felt like jelly and her arms had pimpled with goose-bumps. “You’d better let us go right now. You have no idea who you’re messing around with.”
The man chuckled. “Of course I do. I’m in no danger from either of you. Please don't bother to threaten me.”
“Who are you? What do you want?”
“Excellent questions, Miss Lane. My name is Kensington Brady, and what I want is justice.”

Cate: Wonderful! What inspired you to write about the theme?
Elaine: Oh, that’s easy. I’m a romantic at heart. My husband and I are still in love after being married for thirty seven years. He’s working out of state right now so every night we Skype each other. If you don’t know, Skype is a program where we can see each other on the computer as we talk. Romance just seemed like the natural place to begin my writing career.

Cate: Very cool. How do you develop your plots and characters?
Elaine: I generally start with the germ of an idea which usually comes to me when I get in the “what if?” mood. From that point I imagine the type of characters that might be conflicted over such an issue. I usually have a starting point, and I know where I want to end up, but the details in between are usually hazy.

Cate: Do you feel as if the characters live with you as you write? Do they haunt your dreams?
Elaine: You’d better believe it! I thought about my characters in Return Engagement for years. Once after I’d spent the evening writing I called my husband Richard the hero of Return Engagement.

Cate: What's next for you?
Elaine: Right now I’m revising the sequel to Return Engagement, and working on book 3 of the Lovinggood series. I also have a book that’s probably coming out early next year from Lachesis Publishing.

Cate: Any other published works?
Elaine: Yes. My first novel A New Leaf was the 2003 winner of the Timeless Love contest and was published by Oak Tree Press in 2004. The book is available at http://www.oaktreebooks.com
Purple Heart is available at http://www.thewildrosepress.com
The Welcome Inn at http://www.wings-press.com
The Best Selling Toy Of The Season at http://www.midnightshowcase.com
Return Engagement http://www.whiskeycreekpress.com
Grandfather’s Legacy is only available as a PDF because the publisher passed away. Email me at elainecsc@aol.com

Cate: Describe your writing in three words.
Elaine: Smooth, fast-paced, and, exciting.

Cate: What’s the most challenging aspect of writing? Most rewarding?
Elaine: I’m better with dialogue than with description. It’s always a challenge for me to write descriptions. The most rewarding? Creating a scene that I think is practically perfect. Of course, my editors usually don’t agree with me about that. :)

Cate: What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?
Elaine: The one that I liked best came from a lady who doesn’t usually read romance. She finished Grandfather’s Legacy and called me to talk about the book. She said, “Why, that could be anybody.” I like that comment because that’s what I want readers to feel. I want them to think that romance can happen to anyone, not just a character in a book.

Cate: Who are some of your favorite authors and books? What are you reading now?
Elaine: Right now I’m reading an Elizabeth Peters novel The Serpent on the Crown. She’s one of my favorite authors as is Karen White. I recently finished two of her books, The House on Tradd Street and The Girl on Legare Street.

Cate: Where can readers find you on the web?
Elaine: My web site is www.elainecantrell.com
My blog is http://www.elainepcantrell.blogspot.com
My Facebook page is http://www. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=100000153041486

Cate: Is there anything you’d like to ask our readers?
Elaine: I’d like to invite them to check out my blog and my Facebook page as well as my web site. I love to meet new people.

Cate: Thanks for being my guest, Elaine! Best of luck to you.

Story Elements: Surfacing

Once upon a time, I was sifting through emails on an author loop when lo and behold! another author said, "I haven't seen a mermaid story in a long while." Which made me think, "Hmm. I haven't either."

So I began researching mermaids. I'd always loved Hans Christian Andersen's Little Mermaid (even the Disneyized version). As I expected, mermaid lore and legends abound. I was surprised to learn how far-flung the legends are, from Japan to Ireland to Israel and Greece, and just about everywhere in between.

In Ireland, for example, mermaids are called The Fairy Mistress or Fairy Sweetheart, Leanan Sidhe, which translates to My Inspiration Faery. A dark, unearthly beauty, she's a Celtic muse who lives off the eastern coast of Ireland, sometimes coming to shore to find a new lover. Usually an artist of some type, whom she inspires to genius.

As early as 5000 BC, the Babylonians worshipped the god Oannes, who was half-man, half fish. Oannes was a force for good, light and life, representing the positive values connected with the sea.

In 1493, Columbus claimed to discover mermaids who "rose high out of the sea, but were not as beautiful as they are represented." Some argue they were simply dolphins, but who knows?

Pliny the Elder, in the first century A.D., believed in "Nereides." In the fifth century, descriptions of mermaids appeared in Physiologus: "a beast of the sea wonderfully shapen as a maid from the navel upward and a fish from the navel downward."

Bartholomew Angelicus wrote that mermaids charmed seamen with music. "But the truth is that they are strong whores," who lead men "to poverty and to mischief." She lulled a crew to sleep, kidnapped a sailor, and took him to "a dry place" for sex. If he refused, "she slayeth him and eateth his flesh."

Definitely not the Disney version.

Religious leaders condemned mermaids as "whores" and in Elizabethan times, the mermaid was used as a symbol of prostitution.

A surprisingly detailed account from 1900 describes a mermaid found dead in a stream: the upper part of the creature was "about the size of a well-fed child of three or four years of age, with an abnormally developed breast. The hair was long, dark and glossy, while the skin was white, soft and tender. The lower part of the body was like a salmon, but without the scales."

Much magic is associated with mermaids around the world. Able to grant wishes or heal, they're also generally vain - but mostly because they're gorgeous. According to Japanese legend, eating the flesh of a mermaid will bestow immortality.

A few things were clear: these "women of the deep" live a long long time (no one's sure exactly how long, of course), are beautiful enough to lure any man to a watery grave, and can sometimes be lured themselves by a handsome guy with a great singing voice.

To place the story in a contemporary setting, the handsome guy would be the lead singer/guitarist in an indie rock band.

So the mermaid, of course, would love rock music.

I also came across the Weeki Wachee Springs amusement park, where women perform as mermaids. What better place for a modern mermaid to surface without too much notice?



Surfacing was also an opportunity to showcase some of the music that I love. Inadvertently, of course, with no copyright violations. :)

And because Elvis has ties to Weeki Wachee Springs - he once visited there, and this photo supposedly hangs on the wall there - he also has a small part to play in Surfacing. His charisma, stunning looks and amazing singing voice would of course make any mermaid fall in love.

Surfacing's now available in print too!

Whiskey Creek Press has also released Surfacing in trade paperback! Woo hoo!

By clicking this link, you can also read the first chapter online. Or purchase your own copy! :)

New cover for Surfacing!

I couldn't wait to share this new cover. It just came in my email, and I love love love it! Right down to the fin on the spine. :) Kendra Egert did an amazing job.



The blurb is on the back cover (and you can read it if you click on the image to enlarge it), but Surfacing is the story of struggling indie rocker AJ Dillon, who moves to his grandfather's house in Florida because he has nowhere else to go. Grandpa lines up a job at Weeki Wachee Springs, home of the famous mermaid show. There he meets Cassiopeia, a real mermaid.

Whiskey Creek Press will release Surfacing in August.

This cover really made my day. What do you think??

Another contract with Whiskey Creek Press!

The New Year is off and running! This weekend, I received a contract for my novel, The Bridge Between!

Here's part of the pitch I sent to Whiskey Creek:

In The Bridge Between, photojournalist Jessie Moore returns to her hometown when a friend dies of AIDS. When Jessie reconnects with past love Billy Black, he fuels her artistic passion, too.

The story is set in my hometown of Lambertville, New Jersey, an arts community across the Delaware River bridge from New Hope, Pennsylvania. Similar to Richard Russo’s Empire Falls, the town follows its own story arc and is almost a character itself.

A work of women’s fiction, The Bridge Between is complete at 108,000 words.


These shots I took in Lambertville a few years ago. You may recognize the images from my trailer for Seventh Heaven, also set in Lambertville/New Hope. :)

So the novel is, in part, another homage to my hometown. Literally, these shots depict The Bridge Between, though for my novel, the phrase is meant metaphorically.

New contract for contemporary fantasy novel!

This week, I signed a new contract with Whiskey Creek Press for Surfacing, my contemporary fantasy novel!

Last year, I entered Surfacing in the Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest. One of 10,000 entries received last year, it made the first-round cut. You can read the reviews, and the first 10,000 words, here.

This story weaves many elements dear to my heart. Music, first and foremost. A bit of the fantastic and magical, too. And at the heart of it all, a love story - though not technically a romance. All told from the point of view of AJ Dillon, a down and out wannabe rocker.

Here's the pitch I made to Amazon:
AJ Dillon is trouble. The former lead singer of an indie band has no home, no money and no future. His grandfather is the only relative willing to take another chance on him. AJ arrives in Weeki Wachee, Florida, with his guitar, a few clothes and a bad attitude. The only good thing about Weeki Wachee is the ocean -- the one place AJ feels at home.
Grandpa lines up a job for AJ piloting the Wilderness Cruise at Weeki Wachee Springs, home of the Weeki Wachee mermaid show. A mindless job, but at least AJ gets to watch beautiful women perform underwater. Grandpa says real mermaids exist, and a handsome singer can mesmerize one. AJ dreams of meeting one, but his greedy co-worker Chaz plans to make a fortune by creating a real mermaid show. AJ and Chaz get their chance after Cassiopeia saves AJ from an alligator. AJ falls in love and his passion for music resurfaces when he sings to her. He tries to keep Cassie a secret, but Chaz follows him and learns the truth. Chaz threatens to kill them if AJ doesn't go along with his plan. Reluctantly, AJ agrees. In saving Cassiopeia, AJ unearths long-hidden family secrets that, once brought to light, open possibilities for healing old wounds. In saving Cassiopeia, AJ learns the greatest gift – unconditional love. In saving Cassiopeia, AJ saves himself, too.
This novel, my fourth, layers family conflict onto suspense, danger and romance, and combines my love of music and research. Finding Weeki Wachee Springs provided a natural step to a contemporary fantasy, a genre whose limits are mapped by a writer’s imagination. Surfacing will appeal to teen readers through adult.