Friday, July 19, 2019

Terrifying new fiction from Tray Wainwright

In an Instant by [Wainwright, Tracy]

In an Instant
Tracy Wainwright

Pelican Book Group
July 19, 2019
 $5.99 ebook

About the Book
The Clock is Ticking...
Julie Montgomery left for work but never arrived. Her husband, Luke, reports her disappearance, but Officer Terrence Cooper isn't convinced anything's amiss. As he looks into the case, he discovers that not only are Luke Montgomery's fears warranted, but that Julie had been hiding a dark secret.

Julie vanished in an instant. By the time Terrence unravels the truth, will it be too late to get her back? 

A Brief Interview with the Author
Tracy, what do you love about this book? I love that this book is one that told its own story. While the mystery is first and foremost, along the way I got to meet some great characters and get to know their stories. While the mystery is one we all one solved, we also get to see how God uses a tragic situation to bring people together and bring healing to several individuals.

Introduce us to the villain. Ah, this is a tricky one. I can’t give too much away, because the reader doesn’t find out who the villain is until the last part of the book. I will say, however, that he is a man who has a gross misunderstanding of what love is and instead of using a strong will and determination to push through difficult circumstances to succeed in life, he uses them to get what he selfishly wants out of life.

Share a couple of things you learned while researching this book. I learned that domestic violence is much more prevalent than many of us realize. I also learned that there are lots of organizations and people who want to help those suffering from violent relationships.

What do you hope readers will tell others about the story? That this is a mystery with heart.

What are you reading now? The Mended Heart by Suzanne Eller, None Like Him by Jen Wilkins, and Consider the Thorns by Michelle Lynn Brown.

What's next for you? I’m working on an 8-part women’s fiction series. The plan has been fleshed out and I’m reworking books 1 and 2. I also hope to get another cozy out in the next 6 months.

About the Author
Tracy Wainwright has always loved reading, but didn’t become a writer until she was almost 30.
Words became an outlet for her through a trying time, grabbed hold of her, and never let go. Tracy works her writing in-between and around raising and homeschooling four children, squeezing in time for her hubby, and now entertaining a new puppy. She always has her hands in multiple ministries and enjoys speaking to church, women’s and writers groups. To cope with a very full, blessed life, she consistently works on perfecting naptime.


Tuesday, July 16, 2019

Time Travel for teens by Katie Clark

Whispering Tower

Whispering Tower
Book 2 in the Beguiled series
Katie Clark

Pelican book group
May 2019
Young Adult Inspiration Time Travel Fiction

$5.99 ebook
$10.99 Print
Buy on Amazon 
Publisher

About the Book
Stuck in London for one of her mom's work trips, Skye can't help holding a grudge when she ends up roped into a summer tour group with Philip-who-crushed-her-heart. But when Skye and Philip find themselves barreling through time after unsuspectingly opening the veil between the past and present, they're thrust into a world where Skye's very life is in danger.

If Skye had known her choices were between summering with Philip or being sacrificed to the god of the skies, she might have changed her attitude. Now she must figure out what's most important to her—getting even for the past or having a future.

My Review
Sweet young adult story, second in a series, but a standalone. Time traveling teens Skye and Philip use Stonehenge for an experiment and accidentally return to ancient Sumer in time for Skye to be mistaken for the goddess Hebat to be sacrificed at the Tower of Babel.

Skye wears a boatload of angst on her shoulders as her mother uses her as a "personal therapist." That's not a fair relationship between a workaholic divorcee and her teen daughter who's not crazy about being yanked from the last three weeks of school and forced to make nice with her mom's business partner's son, Philip, a boy who let her down and whom she now despises.

Things change when a tour around ancient ceremonial sites takes a weird turn and the two are forced to rely on each other for safety and a return, somehow, to their own time. Both Skye and Philip get a fresh chance to know each other and understand their strengths and weaknesses through the lens of wealth and slavery in a pagan culture on the cusp of the worship of one God.

I quibble with the timeline, but it’s not really important. Told through both perspectives of Skye and Philip, Whispering Tower is an enjoyable and safe story for fourth graders who read well and up.

About the Author
Katie  ClarkKatie Clark's published works include YA spec fic novels, multiple children's books, inspirational romance novels, and more. You can learn more at her website, www.katieclarkwrites.com

Find Katie on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter @KatieClarkBooks!

You can watch the book trailer for Katie Clark's Enslaved Series on YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1q3Fg06I0A
And check out the book trailer for Shadowed Eden, the first book in Katie's upcoming Beguiled Series! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGl3i7ZhJLs

Friday, July 12, 2019

The Waiting by Carol James



Kindle Edition


The Waiting
Carol James

January, 2019
White Rose, an imprint of Pelican Ventures LLC
Ebook $5.99
Buy on Amazon 

About the Book
When Katherine Herrington was a teenager, she made "The List" and believed God would bring her the husband she desired. That faith helped her to keep life under control just the way she likes it. But then Katherine loses her mother, her job, and her boyfriend, and after years of praying, she accepts the probability that God's answer is, "No." 

A professional soccer player, Sam Tucker has lived the life of a celebrity in the UK only to discover that, despite all the wealth and fame he has acquired, his life is empty. He returns to the one place where life last had meaning, and goes in search of the one woman he's loved since he was a teenager—Katherine. He wonders if she'll remember him after all these years... And fears she just might.

As God weaves together a rejected proposal, a mission trip, and a devastating storm to turn their hearts toward Him and toward each other, Katherine and Sam will have to let go of their fears, find forgiveness and trust, and realize that their future together was worth the wait.

My Review
Yes, I needed tissues at the end, which is saying a lot since at the beginning I really didn’t think I was going to like these people. They were too…realistic. I like my take-me-away fiction to take me away from all that. But I was compelled to follow these two oddball people in The Waiting, which is not Amish fiction, by the way; just really sweet and wholesome even with some pretty significant tension. Hence the reality part; hence the tension.

I am accused of not letting my characters out of the bag of life when I choose to let them exercise self-control and not use sex for recreational purposes. I think it’s awkward to forcedfeed vicarious lifestyle choices on others without opportunity to make choices and changes. James’s characters, Katherine and Sam, are certainly flawed, but modernly appropriate. Katherine is so wound-up following rules she made for herself, in being so regulated that she forgets to stop and enjoy life. Sam, the professional athlete with a self-realized dream life, wakes up alone one day and realizes his life is one meaningless mess, lived for all the wrong reasons. When these two hook up, you want to cheer for them. They have issues to deal with, of course. And they frustrated me, but in a good way. This is a romance, so of course it has a given outcome, but this is one journey readers of romance will enjoy.

Told in multiple perspectives, this lovingly created romance hits all the right highs and lows.


About the Author
Carol James
Carol James is an author of inspirational fiction. She lives in Lilburn, Georgia, a small town outside of Atlanta, with her husband, Jim, and a perky Jack Russell "Terrorist," Zoe.

Having always loved intriguing stories with happy endings, she was moved to begin writing to encourage others as she'd been encouraged by the works of other authors of inspirational fiction.

Retired from her "real" job, she enjoys spending time with her husband, children, and grandchildren, traveling with friends, volunteering at and serving on the board of a nearby Christian school, and serving in the production department at her church.

She is also a soccer fan extraordinaire and keeps her DVR busy recording Atlanta United and English Premier League games.

And, most days in the late hours of the night or the wee hours of the morning, she can be found bringing her newest novel to life.



Tuesday, July 9, 2019

Guest post Alexis A Goring Thankful for God's Protection




Thankful

I thought of Psalm 91:11 (a verse in The Holy Bible) earlier this afternoon, when I saw what is becoming a familiar sight at one of my favorite town centers. 

When I drove into the town center earlier today, I saw for the second time this year, a squad of men and women dressed like secret service agents (people with “serious” no-nonsense looks on their faces who are dressed in Black slacks, Black blazers, white shirts, shiny black shoes and wearing ear pieces to communicate with each other). Just like the first time I saw them, they descended on the town center and set themselves up on the four corners surrounding the area in which a cupcake shop is central. They had the entire area covered. Each guarded a checkpoint. Each person looked serious as they surveyed their surroundings and if they had a weapon, it was concealed. 

I do not know who these secret service agents were guarding but I think the person may be a high-profile politician or government employee given the area that the town center is located. It’s only a few miles away from important places where people in power gather for business and work-related matters.

It’s the second time this year that I’ve seen this happen. But today was the first time that my mind drew a parallel and life lesson from this scenario.

Ready to hear it?

Here it is: After today, I realized that just like those secret service agents guarded every corner of the area where their Very Important Person (VIP) was visiting, staying vigilant and ready to defend the VIP if needed, God sends His Angels from Heaven to guard us every single day, in every way!

The Bible says in, Psalm 91:11, “For He will give His angels charge concerning you, to guard you in all your ways.”

According to Belief Net (website), “This translates literally to mean that God will instruct His angels to watch over individuals. God will give each of His angels a purpose: to guard His children. Those who are faithful will be under the constant care of His angels.”

It’s comforting to know that God’s Angels are always watching over you and me, guarding us and delivering us from evil. They are stronger and smarter than the world’s best-trained secret service agents and unlike mere mortals like you and me, they will NEVER fail an assignment to cover us. They cannot be killed and they are very skilled at doing God’s will.

The Bible also says in Psalm 34:7, “The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.”

According to Belief Net (website), “The angel of the Lord can mean any one of God’s angels. In this passage, it is noted that God would send His angels down to His true loyal children and rescue them from danger. His angels will lift us up and keep us from harm if we choose to trust in Him.”

Situations in life can be scary but you don’t need to be a VIP to be covered by God’s protection. God has promised to be with you wherever you go. He will never leave you or forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). He’s holding you close in His Hand (Isaiah 41:13) and taking care of you from the moment He wakes you up in the morning (believe it or not, it’s not our alarm clock that wakes us up) to the moment you go to sleep for the night then His angels are on guard as you sleep! 

God’s protection over all of His children here on Earth is a 24/7/365 operation. He has unlimited resources to help us and deliver us from evil. All we need to do is trust Him to take care of us and obey Him. Remember, there are consequences to our sinful actions but God is merciful. He’s ready to forgive you of your sins if you ask Him. But then He expects you to turn away from your sins and seek Him. Life can be messy but God is with you in your mess. He will never give up on you! I’ve heard stories of how He’s protected people in the middle of their mess and rescued them from dangerous situations.

Point is: If you believe in God, you’ve already got a protection squad in the form of His Heavenly Angels. You may not be able to see them but they are always with you. God’s Angels are here to help us make it through our journey here on Earth. Hebrews 1:4 (KJV) says, “Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?” 

So next time you’re in a situation that scares you, ask God to send His protection. Pray for His protection even when you cannot sense danger or think that everything is okay. Remember, God sees what we cannot see and He protects us more than we may think! So don’t only ask God for protection, thank Him for it!

Trust and believe that your Creator (GOD) loves you. He is there for you, sending His Angels to protect you and guard you in all your ways. Best of all, you don’t need an ear piece to communicate with God, He’s only a prayer away and He knows what you need even before you pray! 

Perhaps God’s Protection can be summed up in the words of Isaiah 65:24 (KJV) in which He says, “And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”

Isn’t God Awesome?

In closing, I’d like to share this song, “Angels Watching Over Me” by Virtue. You can listen it to here. God bless you, dear hearts! 


Always remember that you are loved and protected by your Maker (God)!

Love,

Alexis A. Goring
Founder of "God is Love" blog

This post originally appeared on God is Love.
Used with permission.
Photo: courtesy of Lisa Lickel, Hawaii rainbow, March 2019

Friday, July 5, 2019

Write Now Literary presents We Are One by Muriel Gladney



Write Now Literary is pleased to be organizing a two-week book tour for We Are One by Muriel Gladney. The book tour will run June 24-July 5, 2019. Book a tour here.


Book Title: We Are One         
Genre: Non-Fiction
ISBN-10: 1644387190
ISBN-13: 978-1644387191

Meet Muriel
An abusive childhood had led me to become a full-blown atheist by the time I was 16. God introduced Himself when I was 52. This journey to true life is recorded in my book: Mine: An Everlasting Promise of Love, Deliverance, and Wholeness.

Now 76, I have spent the last twenty-four years learning to walk free in the shoes of being a child of God, while also honing my God-given skills as an ambassador and writer for Jesus, author, and speaker. After moving to California, I returned to college at the age of 61. There I received an Associate Degree in Arts with honors, functioned as a reporter and Editor-In-Chief of the college newspaper, along with receiving numerous rewards for writing, such as the 0CCWF Beverly Bush Smith award. I am also published in God Encounters, a book by author James Stuart Bell. 

Connect Socially
Website      Facebook

About The Book
We Are One presents an unchanged, endless, truth—women were not created to live in disappointment, disillusionment, and defeat.  We Are One is bursting with inspiration and encouragement as each chapter utilizes the raw, true life, experiences of several women who endured personal pain and yet came through empowered and victorious.  How? Through the use of a key that a woman never knew she had. We Are One unveils the key.  It will heal a woman’s soul, as item powers her to live a life that is not defined by trials and persecution. Women will know the power of a woman’s purposed influence and thus her eternal value.

Please enjoy this excerpt:

Chapter 1 – A Petite Giant Killer

We can do all things through Him [Jesus,] 
who strengthens me, Philippians 4: 15
T
he children of Israel were dealing with a flesh and blood enemy Goliath whose size alone struck fear into the hearts of experienced adult warriors, 1 Samuel 17. The men turned and fled in fear. King David, yet a youth at that time, heard the boasting of the enemy. His faith in God led him to ask the men around him what gifts would he receive if he slew the giant. The men mocked and taunted David, including his own family. When Goliath saw David, he also scorned him because of his youth and size. 
However, it is written that David knew and trusted Yahovah, our heavenly father and God. Goliath told David come on so I can kill you. David said I’m coming but I am coming in the name of the Lord whom you have insulted. David ran towards the enemy and killed him with a stone.
It wasn’t the stone. It was David’s faith in God that gave him the victory. 
Pilar Garcia’s story is reminiscent of a current day David fighting Goliath. Standing a mere 4’ 11”, her battle against death, her spiritualGoliath, has spanned five decades.
Born in Ecuador, Pilar is now 72. 
Pilar wanted to be a nun when she was young. She always believed in God because her aunts and uncles were the first missionaries in Ecuador. They often took her with them on their missions. However, her life would run a different course.
At the age of 22, she was on the plane that was kidnapped and taken to Cuba.
“Money was required by the government to be paid before the planes would be released,” Pilar stated. “An additional price was charged for American citizens.”
However, during the initial flight, she sensed something was wrong when she looked out of the window. She knew from previous trips they should have been flying over the mountains to their next destination to catch another plane to the United States. Instead they were flying over the ocean. She asked the stewardess what was going on. She admitted that they had been hijacked. Then, without warning, the man sitting next to Pilar pulled out a gun. He was one of the hijackers. Over the past few years, Pilar said she had heard that some of the hijackers are now living in the United States. 
“I tried to find them on Facebook,” Pilar said. “I couldn’t locate them.”
At the time of the hijacking, Pilar was living in the United States, but she often went back to Ecuador for vacation. When the plane landed in Cuba, they were not allowed to leave the airport. She was not yet married. However, she was ready to fight for her freedom.
A devout Catholic from childhood she knew God would protect her. She was 22 at the time. Some of the younger girls, ages 17 to 18, looked to her for strength. They were in Cuba for almost a week. During that time, they did not have a change of clothes. Pilar showed them how to wash their clothes and especially their underwear in the bathroom. One night they heard a strange sound. It was Pilar who opened the door to confront the possible attacker.
She returned home to the United States.
Death tried to sneak up on Pilar again. Although it was her first pregnancy, she kept trying to tell the doctor that something was wrong in her stomach. They insisted that she was simply homesick. She staunchly maintained her position and kept telling them that was not the problem. Her complaint was ignored. The baby was born in March of 1971. However, the pain in her stomach continued for another three months. 
“At times it was so bad I felt like I was dying,” Pilar stated. 
Her husband kept insisting that she needed to go to Ecuador to see a doctor. She prepared to leave but she was so sick that she felt she was not going to make it. Then out of the blue, one of the doctors called her and asked her to come to the hospital right away. 
“I was in so much pain that the mere touch of the sheets over my body hurt,” Pilar said.
They took her to surgery and opened her up. But then told her that there was nothing they could do. In their opinion, she was going to die after they informed her what was wrong with her stomach.
Her stomach was full of pus. They could not even decide what to do because of the extent of the infection. The doctors gave her 24 hours to live. Pilar said about 40 doctors from teaching colleges came to see her and study her body because they could not figure out why she was still alive. They admitted that they had never seen this type of infection. They said it was a form of gangrene and had spread throughout her entire body. They hooked her up to tubes to drain the infection. Ten 5-gallon bottles later, they still could not figure out what it was or what had caused this type of infection. Pilar said it was the color of yellow egg yolks. She was in the hospital for three months because her gallbladder had also become infected. Every day, for about three months, the doctors would come into her hospital room and tell her that she had perhaps one more day to live. 
“I prayed continually and asked God to heal me because I had a new daughter to raise,” Pilar calmly stated.
In other words, she did not pray just for herself so she could just live. She knew the importance of raising her daughter. My ears have heard many testimonies from women over the years. And many are yet so traumatized by the past, they can barely talk. Pilar’s Faith in God was so deep that she might as well have been talking about a kitchen recipe. 
A second surgery was performed. The infection was still in her body but not as bad. The tubes, that had been draining the infection, had been in her for such an extended length of time that it hurt to pull them out.
Pilar was told not to have any more children. It was the doctor’s consensus that it was the pregnancy that had caused the infection. Two years later she became pregnant again. The doctors insisted that she have an abortion. 
Like David, Pilar stood her ground. She said no. She knew it was a miracle that she was even pregnant. Therefore, she was going to have this baby. It was a costly decision. She broke out in hives all over her entire body.
“I looked like a monster,” Pilar stated. 
When it was time for the baby's birth, she started bleeding extensively. 
“I could hear the doctors saying that I was going to die,” she said. “In my mind, I said no, I will not die. I kept praying that God would allow me to live because I had two children now to take care of.”
God heard. She lived. The doctors told her husband to have a vasectomy.
Pilar and her husband had met and married in the United States. He was also from Ecuador. After the second child was born, he had started working for Dole pineapple Company. After getting his bachelor's degree, they moved back to Ecuador.
Life was normal for about 15 years. During this time, they had established a relationship with a friend who was a doctor. Pilar and her husband were godparents to his children. Suddenly one morning Pilar woke up with a feeling as though something sharp was in her throat. 
She thought it was her tonsils. This doctor took her complaint serious and sent her to a cancer doctor. The diagnosis came back. She was in the last stages of throat cancer. And it was in the glands in her throat. They did a biopsy. Rather than rely on anyone, Pilar said she went to the pathologist to get her own report.
“I lied to get it,” Pilar said. “I wanted to know for myself.
She asked the doctor how long she had to live. He stated three weeks. She said what about surgery. The surgeon told her there was no hope. Pilar, the petite Giant Killer, did not take no for an answer. After informing the surgeon that God was her hope and the Lord has the last word, she insisted on having the surgery. 
She called a couple of members of her family, of whom one is a deacon, to tell the family to be at her mother's home that evening. The family came. Pilar called her dining room table the roundtable for family conversations.
She still does this at her home in the senior community in which she lives. Sometimes it is just girl talk. Sometimes it is for bible study groups.
Pilar told the family about the throat cancer. Her pituitary gland was also infected. Stranger still, the doctors said the cancer had started in her ovaries but spread to her throat. 
Initially, the family wanted her husband to send her back to the United States. Pilar said no. The doctors had informed her that she needed a period of rest or she would bleed to death during the surgery. She also told her family that the country did not matter. 
She explained to the family that if the Lord wanted her to be alive it would be so. 
The petite but gentle Giant Killer stood firm. 
Unlike King David’s brothers, her family did not mock her. They finally understood because she had raised them to know God. They accepted her explanation. They prayed.
Talking to God was not strange to the family because both Pilar and her husband utilized prayer in every situation whether it was thanking God, or asking for help.
Privately, Pilar said she prayed to the Lord for a message.
“I am going to open my bible,” she said she told God. “Please show me, give me a sign because I still have daughters to raise.” 
He answered.
She opened her Bible. It was the book of Isaiah, chapter 38, where Hezekiah was sick and about to die. God had heard his plea and extended his life for 15 more years. However, there was something more that God had the prophet tell Hezekiah.
Pilar picked up on this divine direction and utilized it to heal her body thousands of years after this biblical miracle with Hezekiah. In other words, God is unchanged in his love and care for those who trust him and believe in him.
Hezekiah’s illness was due to boils. And the prophet Isaiah had told him to make a plaster of figs and lay them on the boils. 
Pilar followed suit. The next day after reading the Scripture she went to the Farmer's market. However, figs were not in season. And in Ecuador, figs are usually used for Passover. 
Nevertheless, God was in control. A lady whom she knew from years before called out to her that she had figs. The next step was to prepare them.
People were available who would prepare them for her. But, Pilar wanted to do it herself because it was God's message specifically to her. She boiled the figs until they were soft like smashed potatoes. 
Remember, the cancer had started in her ovaries.
“I laid the plaster on my stomach that morning and left it on all day,” Pilar said. “Then, I waited until my period came.”
After getting ready for the surgery, her friend the doctor said do not let them do a biopsy on the tumors on her ovaries and the glands. At first the surgeon refused to operate. Then for some reason, he came back to Pilar and said that he didn’t know why, but he would do the surgery. She also let him do the biopsy. 
“Afterwards, I felt that literally I had a pain in my soul, just as her friend Otto had said,” Pilar said. “I started crying. I didn’t know what to think.” 
But God was still in control.
The surgeon who would perform her operation always prayed prior to surgery, and for his patients before operating. After the surgery was completed, the doctor told her there was literally a line inside of her body, almost as though it had been drawn with a pencil. The surgeon told Pilar that he took everything out below the line, including her fallopian tubes, her uterus, and ovaries. After the surgery, all lab tests showed that she no longer needed chemo for cancer. The cancer was gone. 
Pilar recovered and raised her daughters.
Pilar returned to the United States. However, she started feeling bad in her stomach area again. The doctors had told her there was nothing wrong. Their diagnosis for her illness was that she was emotionally suffering from the loss of her husband. She flew back to Ecuador. 
“Again, I felt so sick,” she said. “It felt like I was going to die, again.”
The doctors did a complete checkup. Her blood pressure was okay. Her sugar levels were okay. They didn’t give up. They decided that an endoscopy was needed to find the source of her pain. She stayed at her brother's house. He was the only sibling still alive in Ecuador. 
The procedure was recorded. The rest of the family was in a viewing room and could see what was happening. 
The doctors discovered twenty polyps in her stomach. The recording showed that when the doctor opened up her stomach, the nurse made a face from the stench of the infection. The year was 2012. The doctors could not understand how she had been able to get on a plane and fly to Ecuador. The pressure alone could have caused the polyps to explode. They said it was a miracle that she survived.
Pilar, the petite giant killer, had no problem in telling them how she survived. She emphatically stated that it was the Lord who had kept her. Once she was back in the United States, Pilar tried to show the recording of the procedure to her American doctors. They refused to even look at it.
She stayed in Ecuador for three weeks. They gave her medication for six months because they knew the same medication was not available in the United States. She revisited Ecuador in 2014.
During these times that her life was in jeopardy, her faith never wavered. When asked did she ever wonder why she had to endure so much, and did her family’s faith grow, Pilar responded as follows.
“I have believed since childhood that God loved me,” Pilar stated. “They [the family] watchedmy faith hold steadfast no matter what the situation was. Now as adults, they tell me my faith taught them to do the same. However, if I were allowed to ask God one question, it would be this. Why do people who are mean and selfish seem to have a life void of pain.”
I understand her question. But, one thing that I can declare as one who grew up without the benefit of instruction by a true godly family. Her family’s dedication to teaching her about God when she was a child made the difference in her trust in God. 
Now 72, Pilar is still going strong despite the enemy’s attempt to take her out. More so, her I.P.S. system simply got stronger with each attack.
The knowledge of God is the fertilizer for the I.P.S. system that is within every woman. For those who do not receive this nourishment at an early age, the journey to complete reliance upon the I.P.S. system is more perilous. In fact, sometimes it takes another Damascus Fall to make God’s point clear about its necessity for this battle.

Purchase a Copy
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Tour hosted by Write Now Literary

Tuesday, July 2, 2019

Meet Vivian Alderdice the Girl with the Dagger


The Girl with the Dagger: Vivian Alderdice in
The Waxwood Series

Photo Credit: Lady in Prison, Raja Ravi Varma, date unknown, oil on canvas, Sri Chitra Art Gallery: Praveenp/ Wikimedia Commons / PD Art (PD Old 100

Vivian Alderdice is the unofficial main character (MC) of my upcoming historical fiction family drama, the Waxwood Series. The reason I call her the unofficial MC is that she’s not the sole MC of any of the 4 books in the series. But she is the character upon which the many themes of the series come to a head. She is present in all the books (the only character who consistently is), and her point of view, even when not the main one, is psychologically always present.

So what makes Vivian so special that she earned her place in a four-book series? The fact that she’s a Gilded Age debutante, caught right in the crossroads of an old century about to be hurled into the modern age is one reason. History writer and doctoral student Evangeline Holland writes of the Edwardian debutante in her blog Edwardian Promenade, and although the post mainly covers the first few decades of the 20th century, her point about the American debutante rings true for Gilded Age young women of wealthy families. Vivian comes from a wealthy and socially prominent San Francisco family and, like the Edwardian debutantes, becomes a woman when she reaches the age of eighteen. Until that age, she went about with long hair and shorter skirts. When she turned eighteen, her hair went up, her skirts lengthened, and she earned her first pair of “slippers” (the name for high heeled shoes at that time). But more than that, once she hits eighteen, she has a set of rigorous expectations placed upon her, namely, to marry as soon as possible and marry well (I.e., a man whose wealth and social standing is equal to the Alderdices).

Most Gilded Age young women accepted this as their fate. Indeed, they were conditioned by the separate spheres to believe this was their destiny. But I write about characters who are both a product of their time and rebels of it. So Vivian is different. Her own zest for life and her recognition of the hidden truths, evasions, and lies that make up her dysfunctional family tree have made her desire more out of life than what the Victorian separate spheres has to offer women.

In addition, her insightful personality makes it impossible for her to shy away from the unpleasantness of the past. Unlike her mother and brother, who have a “don’t ask, don’t tell” life philosophy, she faces adversity head-on. This is why Vivian is the Dagger Girl. She isn’t afraid to plunge the dagger into the heart of a matter and twist the knife. The problem is, sometimes her daggering hurts people she cares about and forces them to face demons they’re not ready to face.

There was no real life inspiration for Vivian, but she is the person I wished I was twenty or twenty-five years ago. At that time, I was blind to my own family dysfunctions, unwilling to dig for the truth and twist the dagger. Characters are often times a composite of people the author has seen and known or heard of, but I think they also frequently contain an element of the author that he/she wishes they were or had been.

Vivian didn’t start out as this kind of dagger-plunging character. I wrote here about how the Waxwood series evolved from a novel in three voices to a four-book series. The original character of Vivian (named Daisy) was a more passive character looking for a mother’s love and finding it in the most unlikely place. But when I conceived of the series, I knew I wanted to make Vivian more active, flawed in that she is too direct and truthful at times but also with the guts to face her demons and look back at the past. As I wrote The Specter, I related Vivian to her grandmother Penelope Alderdice, whose own dreams had been squelched by society’s expectations. Vivian emerged as a strong voice, a voice specific to the new century see-sawing between the old ways and the new promises of the modern age.


To what lengths will one go to exorcise a specter?

One rainy morning in 1892, people gather to mourn the death of San Francisco socialite Penelope Alderdice. Among them is a strange little woman named Bertha Ross, who claims to have known “Grace” in the 1850’s in the small town of Waxwood. But Penelope’s granddaughter, Vivian, has never heard of Grace or Waxwood.

Bertha reveals surprising details about Grace’s life in Waxwood, including a love affair with Evan, an artist and member of Brandywine, Waxwood’s art colony.Vivian’s mother, Larissa, insists Bertha is an imposter who has come not to mourn a woman she knew in her youth but to stir up trouble.

Vivian, however, suspects the key to her grandmother’s life and her own lies in Waxwood. She journeys to Brandywine where she meets Verina Jones, Evan’s niece, and discovers a packet of letters her grandmother wrote forty years ago about her time in Waxwood.

As Vivian confronts the specter that holds the truth to secrets buried in the family consciousness, she examines her grandmother’s life as a mid-19th century debutante and her own as a Gilded Age belle. Will she find her way out into the world as an autonomous being, or will she be haunted by the specter of her grandmother’s unhappiness all her life?

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Tam May grew up in the United States and earned her B.A. and M.A in English. She worked as an English college instructor and EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teacher before she became a full-time writer. She started writing when she was 14 and writing became her voice. She writes historical and contemporary fiction about characters who must examine their past and the time in which they live to move on to the future.


Her first book, a collection of contemporary short stories titled Gnarled Bones And Other Stories, was nominated for a 2017 Summer Indie Book Award. She is currently working on a Gilded Age family saga, of which the first book, The Specter, is now available. She is also working on a historical mystery featuring a turn-of-the-century New Woman female sleuth. Both series take place in Northern California.

She lives in Texas but calls San Francisco and the Bay Area home. When she’s not writing, she’s reading classic literature and watching classic films.

For more information on Tam May and her work, feel free to check out her website at www.tammayauthor.com.