RELEASE OF WHISPER OF YESTERDAY
Today I will be telling my visitors a little about myself, posting a small writing article, and telling them of my brand NEW novel which has just been released in all digital formats with Secret Cravings Publishing on March 28th. 2012. http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292&zenid=ea492b8647f5fda1af787ac961fe1faa
Today I will be telling my visitors a little about myself, posting a small writing article, and telling them of my brand NEW novel which has just been released in all digital formats with Secret Cravings Publishing on March 28th. 2012. http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292&zenid=ea492b8647f5fda1af787ac961fe1faa
WHISPER OF YESTERDAY will be
available on Amazon and all other good online bookshops on Monday. Today I will be giving away 2 pdf. copies of
my Novella, Urban Fantasy “Face of a Stranger.” You only have to post a comment
below stating the name of 2 of the characters in my novel and your email and
your name will go into a hat for the draw. I have also posted a bit about
my writing history below, I am an author of 15 years, and a writing article I
hope you will enjoy.
“Whisper of Yesterday” is a cross
genre- Paranormal/Historical/Suspense/Romance. Readers
who enjoy books with spies, ghosts, England, witches, reincarnation, the moors,
or haunted castles will adore this novel. I wrote this novel seven years
ago, but for personal reasons decided not to seek a publisher at the time. This
is its first publication.
Here I have posted the beginning
of the review by ex Romantic Times Reviewer, Cornelia Amiri –
Julie A. D’Arcy
Secret Craving Publishing
March 2012 - Ebook / September 2012 - print
Historical / Paranormal / Romance
Amazon
Monday April 2rd
Reviewed by Cornelia Amiri
"He glanced down to see a red rose-the color of blood by firelight. He could have sworn it hadn't been there before. He picked it up. It was ice cold, sending a chill through his hand. He rubbed at a petal, and found it waxy almost slimy to his touch. And as he watched, one by one, each petal dropped away to wither and turn to rust upon the bare wooden floor. He realized whatever Thornwood held in store, it would not be of the ordinary."
You may purchase Whisper of Yesterday at http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292&zenid=ea492b8647f5fda1af787ac961fe1faa
Now, please make yourself
comfortable, put up your feet, grab a cup of your favorite whatever ... and a
block of chocolate(any wonder most writers are over weight) and take the time
to read about “Whisper of Yesterday.”
I really enjoyed writing this
novel! As it is set in Cornwall a place I have always had a fascination for and
would dearly like to visit one day. I am sure I must have lived there in
another lifetime J
Perhaps even in the castle J
The rest of the review for “Whisper of Yesterday”
Paranormal Romance
28th March
2012 http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292&zenid=a6df2303ddd48b75d2b26d75cbdf7cd3
Indeed there is nothing ordinary
about Thornwood castle or the romance
novel set there, Whisper of Yesterday by Julie A. D'Arcy.
This incredible cross genre novel is a Paranormal/Historical/Suspense/Romance.
Readers who enjoy books with spies, ghosts, England, witches, reincarnation,
the moors, or haunted castles will adore this enchanting novel.
The tale begins in the modern era when an American, Cole de Morgan, inherits a haunted castle in Cornwall, but there are stipulations in the will. He must arrive on All Hallows Eve and stay a month. As the story unfolds, the reader is taken to the 17th century when the heroine, Aylssa Llywellen de Morgan, is burned at the stake as a witch in the courtyard of Thornwood castle. She puts a curse on the man who killed her husband, her child, and herself, Gedrych de Morgan, causing his line to be cast from Thornwood Castle until Cai walks its halls once more. Cai de Morgan was Gedrych's son and Aylssa's husband, who except for having longer hair looked just like Cole. After burning her at the stake, Gedrych bound Aylssa's ghost to the castle by moving a ring of ancient druid standing stones into the courtyard.
As the tale continues it moves into the early nineteenth century and we meet our hero, Lord Aidan Tristan Wyndmire de Morgan, an English spy, who wins Thornwood castle in a card game. His appearance is also the exact likeness of Cai de Morgan except his hair is shorter. He soon becomes involved with the resident ghost, Aylssa, and seeks to explore his attraction to her and to discover the secret of the hold she has over him. As the story travels between the three time periods, the reader beholds a love so strong and magical it overcomes death.
It is always hard for an author to find a creative way to involve a ghost, with the limitations of a spirit's body, in the tantalizing, heated love scenes of a romance. Julie D'Arcy's method is smooth, superb, and original. I found myself so attached to the intriguing, fully fleshed out characters of Alyssa and Aidan that I know they will haunt me for some time to come. Whisper of Yesterday is a page turner from a familiar Gothic beginning, when an American Scientist braves a blinding thunderstorm on Halloween to reach a castle he unexpectedly inherited, to a surprising, thrilling, and joyful twist at the end. Whisper of Yesterday is an enchanting read, not to be missed. This one's for the keeper shelf.
The tale begins in the modern era when an American, Cole de Morgan, inherits a haunted castle in Cornwall, but there are stipulations in the will. He must arrive on All Hallows Eve and stay a month. As the story unfolds, the reader is taken to the 17th century when the heroine, Aylssa Llywellen de Morgan, is burned at the stake as a witch in the courtyard of Thornwood castle. She puts a curse on the man who killed her husband, her child, and herself, Gedrych de Morgan, causing his line to be cast from Thornwood Castle until Cai walks its halls once more. Cai de Morgan was Gedrych's son and Aylssa's husband, who except for having longer hair looked just like Cole. After burning her at the stake, Gedrych bound Aylssa's ghost to the castle by moving a ring of ancient druid standing stones into the courtyard.
As the tale continues it moves into the early nineteenth century and we meet our hero, Lord Aidan Tristan Wyndmire de Morgan, an English spy, who wins Thornwood castle in a card game. His appearance is also the exact likeness of Cai de Morgan except his hair is shorter. He soon becomes involved with the resident ghost, Aylssa, and seeks to explore his attraction to her and to discover the secret of the hold she has over him. As the story travels between the three time periods, the reader beholds a love so strong and magical it overcomes death.
It is always hard for an author to find a creative way to involve a ghost, with the limitations of a spirit's body, in the tantalizing, heated love scenes of a romance. Julie D'Arcy's method is smooth, superb, and original. I found myself so attached to the intriguing, fully fleshed out characters of Alyssa and Aidan that I know they will haunt me for some time to come. Whisper of Yesterday is a page turner from a familiar Gothic beginning, when an American Scientist braves a blinding thunderstorm on Halloween to reach a castle he unexpectedly inherited, to a surprising, thrilling, and joyful twist at the end. Whisper of Yesterday is an enchanting read, not to be missed. This one's for the keeper shelf.
Reviewer's Note: Print Book
will be on Amazon AUG 2012. Author's website for more info http://www.julieadarcy.com/whisperofyesterday.htm
Short Excerpt
She searched his face as he smoothed a strand of dark-red
hair back beneath her bonnet. For some uncanny reason, he could not look away
or lower his hand, and his fingers curved of their own accord to fit the
contour of her cool cheek. He hadn’t bothered to collect his gloves before he
had left his grandmother, and her skin seemed warm, almost hot, beneath his
touch. He couldn’t move and had no will to do so. “I have only met you once,
but I cannot help but feel we have met before. Does that sound ridiculous?”
“No, not at all,” she whispered. “I feel it too. Perhaps we
met in another lifetime.”
He leaned in closer. He could feel her soft breath on his
face, smell her rose perfume embracing him. Even her scent seemed familiar. “I
would like very much to kiss you. I am
going to kiss you, for I cannot help but do so.”
She swayed into him, and his arms came around her. His lips
claimed hers in a soft caress, then searing, branding. He crushed her to his
chest. He had wanted to be gentle, coaxing in respect for her innocence, but
from that first touch, he was lost. His tongue pushed into her mouth, and she
welcomed him with a sweet sigh, her mouth a pure aphrodisiac, hot, smooth and
tasting of honey.
An image of Cai and Alyssa flashed into his mind.
Her fiery hair, wild
about her shoulders, her eyes bright, her face flushed with passion. They were
in the tower room on the floor. Hot blistering passion. She melted into him as
if she belonged, as if she had always belonged. Pressing, melding, bodies
grinding, entwined. Flesh upon flesh. Her hands burned feverishly as they
pressed against his abdomen, dragging at the laces of his breeches.
Aidan tore his mouth from hers, and the image fled. He ended
the kiss with passion riding him hard. It was all he could do to stop from
tossing her to the grass like a whore and burying himself between her thighs.
He shoved her from him before thought become reality, though he did not release
her, and his fingers bit into her soft upper arms. He saw her wince, but she
didn’t cry out. She was stronger than he imagined. He held her there at arm’s
length, his anger bubbling like an inferno in his chest. “What was that?” he
hissed, releasing her abruptly and backing away. “I thought I knew you.” He
shook his head, his breath coming harsh, fractured. “But I don’t know you, do
I? Not at all. No properly brought-up young lady kisses like that. Nor does she
press herself into a man’s arms in such a wanton manner. No. I don’t know you
at all.” He twisted and strode swiftly to disappear through the rose arches at
the side of the garden.
* * * *
Alyssa watched him go in
silence, restraining a wild urge to race after him, to call him back, to tell
him it was always like this between them. Her hands trembled; confusion filled
her head. Had he seen what she had seen? She had thought the vision that had
played in her mind while they kissed had been a memory. Now doubt filled her.
Had her being a ghost worked some strange power upon them both? Had they
somehow been transported back to a time when he had held her so and their love
had burned?....
THAT’s ALL
FOR NOW FOLKS.
The buy link
is http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292
****
A writing Article a friend
lent me to post. I thought you might find interesting-
Characterisation
Creating a character for a novel is like painting on
a blank canvas.
You add colour, texture and shape with your
imagination. You use your own
experiences with people and your visual perception of people you know
personally to expand and enhance your work.
Behavioural traits you dislike or admire or that
frighten you or challenge you move the drawing of your characters into areas
both familiar and strange. No matter how deeply you know someone, there is
always that small secret characteristic or experience or desire you don’t know
about, something they have probably kept hidden from everyone except
themselves. Find that secret, inside
yourself if necessary, and make your reader aware of it or the possibility that
something like it exists. This will make
your reader search for that secret or begin to invent one of their own. The
possibilities are endless.
You imagine beauty or ugliness and paint them into
your characters, either externally or internally. Even if your character is colourless on the
outside, you may construct an inner self for them that is seething with
suppressed emotion. What you see is not
necessarily always what you get.
You give your characters work to do and places to
go. You transport them in ways chosen by
their own peculiarities. E G if a
character is a big brawny man in jeans and work boots you might give him a
freight transport to drive or a farm truck.
If your character is an elderly grey haired lady with a nervous tick she
might drive a Morris minor or, if you want to go out of character, she could
drive a Porsche and be a terror on the road. Your brawny man might drive a pink
sports car and talk with a lisp. It’s up to you whether your character is a
stereotype people instantly recognise or whether your character acts out of the
normal range and does something completely different - like Monty Python for
instance.
Each character you create will be something of a
shape changer. No one is ever exactly as
you see him or her. That is because their thoughts, ambitions, ideas and
emotions are usually hidden from view. EG. A good-looking, fit, well-spoken
schoolteacher might be hiding someone totally different inside. The real person
might come out after dark or as soon as they leave the schoolyard. They may be
angry, depressed, gay, the life of the party or anything else you choose. They might never come out of their own
particular closet but keep that person inside them totally under control at all
times. That will be another characteristic
of their personality and you will give them other personality traits as they
attempt to deal with their own suppressed emotions.
You invent relationships and relatives; you give
them friends and enemies. You give them memories and experiences that shape
their lives and make them do the things they do. What sort of emotional baggage
do they carry? We all have leftovers
from our childhood, things that we remember in our subconscious but which are
brought out in behaviour and in quirks of personality.
You love or hate them but you must never feel
negative towards your creation or your reader will also feel negative and will
forget them as soon as possible. They
will NOT read on and more crucially, neither will your prospective
publishers. Your characters and your
manuscript will be returned to you unexplored and unwanted.
Encourage the reader to barrack your hero on to
victory or happiness. Make him or her
the sort of person who deserves to win.
Make your reader want the villain to lose in a major way but you may
want to give the villain some redeeming characteristics which make him
extraordinary and well worth defeating.
Remember Moriarty in Sherlock Holmes.
He was a worthy opponent. To make
a well-rounded villain you should have something about them that is not so bad,
or even something good. Why do they do what they do? How did they get so far off the path of
right? Were they abused as children or deprived in some way? Was their life a pathetic joke played on them
by an uncaring parent? Give them reasons just as you would your hero or
heroine.
Your hero or heroine should have some flaws
also. This is true human nature. No one is all good or all bad. A much more
interesting character would be the one who is doing their best to live their
life according to their own standards, failing a little to sail through life in
perfect accord with everyone else. There
will be times they lose the plot completely and times they win the lottery. It’s up to you to make your people likeable
and interesting and to make them human.
What does your character look like? (Eyes, hair,
height, skin, size, teeth etc.) How old, male or female (other)? Voice, how do
they speak? What do they wear? What is
their job? Do they like movies? What do they read? Do they play sport? What about music? Do they like certain foods and how do they
spend their spare time? Are they clever
or artistic? Are they well mannered or
feral? Are they confident or repressed? Hobbies? Is anything odd about them?
Where and how do they live? What kind of
car do they drive? These things indicate
a lot about your character without you having to say anything. Do they have relationships? Are they happy or sad, mean or kind? Do you like them or feel sorry for them? Do they take drugs? Are they hypochondriacs
or are they genuinely ill? Are they religious or political? Are they worth writing about and do you want
them to have a future in your book?
Give your characters interesting dialogue to express
what they are feeling and to show the reader who they are. Make them talk to you, to yell and scream and
curse. Make them come alive through how
they express themselves. Make your
reader believe in them.
Allow your characters to grow within the story. They will change and develop their own
personality, which in turn makes more changes happen. Think of your character
as a bottle of grape juice. As time and
circumstances happen it will ferment and become either drinkable wine or a
strange brew containing salmonella, completely unusable. It will only remain static if it is put in
cold storage. “Boring.”
Be consistent with your character traits and
looks. To this end, write all of it
down, either with cards for each character or a list in a file. You will inevitably forget something and make
a slip somewhere so write it all down.
Finally, you frame the canvas with your plot. Move your story along by bringing out
characteristics that enhance, threaten, challenge or tease. Make the reader desperate to keep reading
until the end.
Marguerite
Turnley©
***
Julie A. D’Arcy-
lives
in Wangaratta, North East Victoria, Australia with her life partner Philip and
her spoiled Tonkanese cat Jessalyn. Julie attended Monash University in
Melbourne, Australia where she majored in Art and Design. She started writing
at 38 when she became disenchanted with the books on offer to read. So wrote a
book combining her two favorite genres, Fantasy and Romance and has not looked
back since.
Julie’s first
two novels Time of the Wolf and Silverdawn were first published in 1999
and 2000 and Shortlisted for several prestigious awards, including the PEARL
and Sapphire, with Time of the Wolf winning the 1999 RIO (Reviewers International, Dorothy Parker Award)
in the Fantasy category for Women’s Fiction. Both books were also runners up in
the prestigious Australian, RUBY* Award run by the Australian RWA.
Julie began
writing seriously in 1994, and is the author of a series of Fantasy romance
novels based in her fictional medieval world of Tarlis. The first book, The
Dragon and the Rose will be the next book released by Secret Cravings Publishing.
Julie has
written for such publishers as ImaJinn Books, Mundania Press, Eternal Press,
Moongypsy Press, Noble Romance Publishing and is now proud to be part of Secret Cravings Publishing.
Julie is the
author of 8 full length novels (now out of print, but being released again
soon) and 2 novellas. She has written in such genres as Fantasy Romance,
Vampire Romance, Ghost Romance, with all books crossing many genres, such as
witchcraft, reincarnation and all of her books are very much plot driven, with
most reviews scoring no less than a 4-5 and several receiving BEST READS by
Reviewers.
More of Julie’s
titles, excerpts, extra Bio information and her gallery of book covers can be
found at www.julieadarcy.com
You may visit her
Blog at http://satinandlipstick.blogspot.com.au/
Julie also loves
nothing better than for her readers to contact her with feedback about her
novels. You may do so on julie.darcy3@bigpond.com
Or, help spread the
word about Julie’s novels by writing a short review to place on Amazon Book
Reviews, found on the Amazon Book page under her titles.
Thank you for having me here today Aj.
You may purchase Whisper of Yesterday at http://store.secretcravingspublishing.com/index.php?main_page=book_info&cPath=13&products_id=292&zenid=ea492b8647f5fda1af787ac961fe1faa
