Guest: Jennifer Ivy Walker and THE LADY OF THE MIRRORED LAKE

Today we have a guest here on Paranormal Romantics, Jennifer Ivy Walker. She's here to share some tidbits about her new book THE LADY OF THE MIRRORED LAKE.

Background

When I earned my MA in French literature, I fell in love with the medieval legend of Tristan et Yseult. As a high school French teacher, I had my advanced classes read that  roman courtois as part of our study of France in the Middle Ages. I enhanced my students’ learning by illustrating the story with puppets, playing the French musical, “Tristan et Yseult”, teaching a medieval Breton dance, and watching the French version of the film “Tristan and Isolde” (with James Franco and Sophia Myles), culminating in “Le Théâtre en Classe”-- where my students reenacted the story in costumes, even performing a play I had written for them at the annual state French competition.  I decided to write my trilogy based on my love for the medieval legend, the different musical, theatrical, and cinematographic interpretations of that French tale, and the play I had written for my students.

Retelling the legend of “Tristan et Yseult”

I never liked the tragic ending of the original medieval legend. Tristan and Yseult pined for each other throughout the story and ended up dying of broken hearts, much like Romeo and Juliette. Although I did retain a lot of the original storyline in developing my trilogy, I created new characters and rewove the plot with much more inclusion of the Arthurian myth related to the French legend. I also incorporated paranormal fantasy elements, such as Druids, forest fairies, Elves, dwarves, and dark lore from the mystical Forest of Brocéliande. I even created my own version of Avalon --based on French research--with an entirely different ending than the original medieval French legend of Tristan et Yseult.

 World Building

I read and researched French legends from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande for many aspects of the fantasy world, including tales of Lancelot, Merlin, the Lady of the Lake, and Avalon. I also drew upon my childhood experiences growing up on a tidal bay in Maine and my keen interest in plants, herbs, and healing crystals. I’ve always loved Victor Hugo’s works, having studied French Romanticism with a passion, and I incorporated that love and creative inspiration into my novels as well.  As a French teacher, I frequently traveled to France, visiting châteaux, sites of medieval pilgrimage, and troglodyte caves of the Loire Valley. I blended all of this together, weaving in certain aspects of fairy tales, such as Snow White and Sleeping Beauty, to embroider the medieval legend of Tristan et Yseult with creative, vivid imagery and fiery, romantic passion.

 Conclusion of the trilogy 

 “The Emerald Fairy and the Dragon Knight”—book 3 and the conclusion of The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven trilogy—will be published June 21^st—the summer solstice. And I am delighted that my novel, “Winter Solstice in the Crystal Castle”, will be published later this year as well. It’s a medieval romance between a feisty French Viking princess forced to marry a man she loathes and the sullen, chivalrous knight who suffers an impossible love for his vibrant, valiant Valkyrie.

 Excerpt

“I love you, Issylte. With every breadth of my soul. With every beat of my heart. I am yours. Now, and forever.” His sea raven heart soared in the love light shining in her forest fairy eyes.

“And I love you, Tristan. You are my warrior. My friend. My teacher.  The only one who ever believed in me. Who promised to fight for me. Beside me.”

 Rising onto her knees, she took both of his hands in hers and kissed them. Her eyes glistening, she whispered, “You gave me weapons. Trained me to fight. To defend myself. And that…” she choked, gazing up at him, “is not only the greatest gift I have ever received. It also saved my life.”

She kissed his hands again. “You are helping me to grow, Tristan. To believe in myself. To face the wicked queen who denies me my birthright. Who killed so many of those I loved.  Whose evil threatens us all.” Lying down at his side, she laid her head over his pounding heart. He softly stroked her long blond hair. “You have made me strong, whole, and complete, Tristan. I am totally, utterly, undeniably yours. “

He held her for a few moments. His wild rose. Then, rising to his feet, Tristan took her hands, and pulled her close. He wrapped his arms around her waist, gazing intently into the deep green eyes of his Muse.

 “Toi et moi. So it shall be.  You and I are entwined. Eternally.”

Buy Links:

Amazon link:  https://www.amazon.com/Lady-Mirrored-Lake-Wild-Raven-ebook/dp/B0BKYHZGFJ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=13647SWRD1MQV&keywords=lady+of+the+mirrored+lake&qid=1673574202&sprefix=lady+of+the+mirrored%2Caps%2C135&sr=8-1

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-lady-of-the-mirrored-lake-jennifer-ivy-walker/1142600233?ean=2940186700920

 

Author Bio for Jennifer Ivy Walker

 Enthralled with legends of medieval knights and ladies, dark fairy tales and fantasies about Druids, wizards and magic, Jennifer Ivy Walker always dreamed of becoming a writer. She fell in love with French in junior high school, continuing her study of the language throughout college, eventually becoming a high school teacher and college professor of French.

As a high school teacher, she took her students every year to the annual French competition, where they performed a play she had written, "Yseult la Belle et Tristan la Bête"--an imaginative blend of the medieval French legend of "Tristan et Yseult" and the fairy tale "Beauty and the Beast", enhanced with fantasy elements of a Celtic fairy and a wicked witch.

“The Lady of the Mirrored Lake”—book 2 of “The Wild Rose and the Sea Raven” trilogy--is a blend of her love for medieval legends, the romantic French language, and paranormal fantasy. It is a paranormal fantasy adaptation of the medieval legend of "Tristan et Yseult" (Tristan and Isolde), interwoven with Arthurian myth, dark fairy tales from the enchanted Forest of Brocéliande, and otherworldly elements such as Avalonian Elves, Druids, forest fairies and magic.

Explore her realm of Medieval French Fantasy. She hopes her novels will enchant you.

Website:  https://jenniferivywalker.com/

Goodreads Author page: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22671046.Jennifer_Ivy_Walker

Bookbub: https://www.bookbub.com/books/the-lady-of-the-mirrored-lake-the-wild-rose-and-the-sea-raven-book-2-by-jennifer-ivy-walker

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferIvyWalker

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/bohemienneivy

Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/jenniferivywalkerauthor/

Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@jenniferivywalker

 

Guest: Diana Rubino FOR LOVE OF HAWTHORNE #paranormal @DianaLRubino

Please welcome our guest author Diana Rubino who writes historical fiction. So why did we invite her here to Paranormal Romantics? Her latest story about Nathaniel Hawthorne has some very interesting paranormal qualities. But, wait. Let's let Diana explain.

In 19^th century Salem, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s clairvoyant bride rescued her beloved husband from a perceived curse that spanned generations.

Meet Diana

My passion for history and travel has taken me to every locale of my books and short stories, set in Medieval and Renaissance England, Paris, Egypt, the Mediterranean, colonial Virginia, New England, Washington D.C. and New York. My urban fantasy romance, FAKIN’ IT, won a Top Pick award from Romantic Times. I’m a member of Romance Writers of America, the Richard III Society and the Aaron Burr Association. My husband Chris and I own CostPro, an engineering firm based in Boston. In my spare time, I bicycle, golf, play my piano, devour books of any genre, and spend as much time as possible living the dream on my beloved Cape Cod.

About FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE

Salem, Massachusetts witnessed horrific and shameful events in 1692 that haunted the town for three centuries. Accused as witches, nineteen innocent people were hanged and one was pressed to death. Judge John Hathorne and Reverend Nicholas Noyes handed down the sentences. One victim, Sarah Good, cursed Noyes from the hanging tree: “If you take away my life, God will give you blood to drink!” She then set her eyes on Judge Hathorne. “I curse you and your acknowledged heirs for all time on this wicked earth!” Hathorne was not only Sarah Good’s merciless judge; he also fathered her son Peter and refused to acknowledge him.

In 1717, Nicholas Noyes choked on his own blood and died. Every generation after the judge continued to lose Hathorne land and money, prompting the rumor of a family curse. By the time his great great grandson Nathaniel was born, they faced poverty.

Ashamed of his ancestor, Nathaniel added the ‘w’ to his last name. His novels and stories explore his beliefs and fears of sin and evil, and he based many of his characters on overbearing Puritan rulers such as Judge Hathorne.

When Nathaniel first met Sophia Peabody, they experienced instantaneous mutual attraction. Sparks flew. He rose upon my eyes and soul a king among men by divine right, she wrote in her journal.

But to Sophia’s frustration, Nathaniel insisted they keep their romance secret for three years. He had his reasons, none of which made sense to Sophia. But knowing that he believed Sarah Good’s curse inflicted so much tragedy on his family over the centuries, she made it her mission to save him. Sarah was an ancestor of Sophia’s, making her and Nathaniel distant cousins—but she kept that to herself for the time being.

Sophia Peabody’s home next to Charter Street Burying Ground, resting place of Judge Hathorne, Salem, MA

Sophia suffered severe headaches as a result of childhood mercury treatments. She underwent routine mesmerizing sessions, a popular cure for many ailments. Spirits sometimes came to her when mesmerized, and as a spiritualist and medium, she was able to contact and communicate with spirits. She knew if she could reach Sarah and persuade her to forgive Judge Hathorne, Nathaniel would be free of his lifelong burden.

Sarah Good’s son Peter had kept a journal the family passed down to the Peabodys. Sophia sensed his presence every time she turned the brittle pages and read his words. John Hathorne’s legitimate son John also kept a journal, now in the Hawthorne family’s possession. Living on opposite sides of Salem in 1692, Peter and John wrote in vivid detail about how the Salem trials tormented them throughout their lives.

Nathaniel finally agreed to announce their engagement, and married Sophia on July 9, 1842. They moved into their first home, The Old Manse in Concord, Massachusetts. Wanting nothing else but to spend the summer enjoying each other, we became Adam and Eve, alone in our Garden of Eden, Sophia wrote in her journal.

The Old Manse, the Hawthornes' first home as newlyweds

As success eluded Nathaniel, they lived on the verge of poverty. After being dismissed from his day job at the Salem Custom House, he wrote The Scarlet Letter, which finally gained him the recognition he deserved. But the curse he believed Sarah cast on his family still haunted him. In the book he asks for the curse to be lifted.

The House of the Seven  Gables, Salem, MA, built in 1668

Sophia urged Nathaniel to write a novel about the house, knowing it would be cathartic for him. While they lived in Lenox, Nathaniel finished writing The House of the Seven Gables. The Gothic novel explored all his fears and trepidations about the curse. He told Sophia, “Writing it, and especially reading it aloud to you lifted a tremendous burden off my shoulders. I felt it physically leave me. I carried this inside me since my youth and couldn’t bring it out to face it. And I have you, and only you, to thank.”

But he did not believe the curse could be lifted.

Sophia invited renowned spiritualist John Spear to The Gables. She explained that she needed to complete one final step to convince Nathaniel the curse was lifted.

Read More About John Spear

http://mysteriousuniverse.org/2014/06/the-bizarre-mechanical-messiah-of-john-murray-spear/JohnSpear

John Spear urged Nathaniel to forgive Judge Hathorne. “You don’t have to say it out loud,” John said. “Just forgive him in your heart.”

Nathaniel whispered his forgiveness.

John, Nathaniel and Sophia went to Judge Hathorne’s gravesite to give the journals proper burial.

Grave of Judge Hathorne, Charter Street Burial Ground, Salem, MA

Why I wrote FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE

I live near Salem and have been to all the Hawthorne landmarks there, and in Concord. The House of the Seven Gables has been my favorite house in the world since I'm a kid. I've always felt a strong spiritual connection to Salem, and always wanted to write one of my books set there, including the witch trials.

I read several of his books and stories, to get a better background on him. Nathaniel wrote from the heart, about his true beliefs, and his loathing of how the witch victims were treated. He did consider it disgraceful, and it certainly was. He added the 'w' to his last name to distance himself from the judge. That tormented him and his family all his life. It must have been cathartic to him to have his writing as his outlet.

Visit Salem

www.salem.org

I was fortunate to get a private tour of the House of the Seven Gables when I was writing the book; two of the guides, Ryan Conary and David Moffat, showed me around, and it was fabulous.

Click here to see their book about the house.

 The Wayside, the only home the Hawthornes ever owned, in Concord, MA

Nathaniel added that room at the top for his writing studio

An Excerpt From FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE (Sophia and Nathaniel’s visit to his cousin Susan Ingersoll at The House of the Seven Gables)

I went over to a curio cabinet and swept my eyes over the items on the shelves—a china doll wearing a calico dress, a stack of gold cups and saucers, a red and blue glass checkerboard propped up to display its surface…and a wooden hammer on the top shelf. Upon closer inspection, I saw it was a gavel that judges use in trials. Out of curiosity I picked it up and a shock ran through me as if electrified. Dear God, was it that gavel?

I dropped it to the rug. It landed with a thump. I bent to retrieve it. Somehow I knew it wouldn’t shock me this time—that was only an initial warning. “Something about it made me want to touch it, to pick it up and hold it.”

Nathaniel approached me. He stared at the gavel in my hand, horror darkening his eyes. His lips parted but no words emerged. I knew what he was thinking—the curse. He turned to his cousin, pointing at the gavel, his arm trembling.

Susan hurried over to us, took it from me and placed it back on the shelf. “Yes, it’s Judge Hathorne’s. What happened, Sophie? Are you all right?”

I looked down at my open hands, palms up. They burned as if I’d touched a hot poker. “That gavel—it carries something evil. Has anything happened to you with this, Susie?”

Nathaniel backed away and before Susan could answer me, he grasped her arm. “I begged you to get rid of that accursed thing! You know it shouldn’t be here!”

She looked from him to me, heaving a deep sigh. “I’m not inclined to dispose of it, Natty. It’s a family heirloom, notwithstanding its past.”

He gripped the chair, his face drained of color. “It’s downright evil. You know what he used that thing for.”

She held her hands up in surrender. “Very well, I’ll conceal it.” She took it off the shelf and slid it behind the checkerboard.

“That should not be in this house!” He stood his ground, his eyes fixed on the checkerboard as if it would melt in such close proximity to that horrid object.

“It’s fine there, Natty. It’s concealed from sight now.” She looked at me and gestured for me to sit again. I sat and gulped my sherry.

“Nathaniel’s always overcome with distress at the witch trials.” Susan explained what I already knew.

“And so should you be,” he cut in.

“If I must speak for Judge Hathorne, I heard stories of him from my grandfather.” Susan looked from Nathaniel to me. “The whole hysteria that caught up the judge was started by unscrupulous men to further their own riches. But spectral evidence was still admissible. No sane person could believe that blithery.”

Purchase FOR THE LOVE OF HAWTHORNE

http://getbook.at/LoveOfHawthorne 

Connect with Diana

My Website

www.dianarubino.com

My Blog

www.dianarubinoauthor.blogspot.com

Facebook

https://www.facebook.com/DianaRubinoAuthor/?ref=hl

Twitter

https://twitter.com/DianaLRubino

GUEST: Veronica Scott Talks Egyptian

Thanks for having me as your guest today to talk about Lady of the Nile.

I love ancient Egypt and have been fascinated by the civilization and the people since I read Mara, Daughter of the Nile as a kid. My mother also had all the old Time-Life picture books about life in the ancient world and I used to pore over those as well. I hadn’t actually tried writing a story set in ancient Egypt until 2011, when Carina Press put out a call for ancient world romance and I decided to go for it. That book, Priestess of the Nile, became my first published book. (I’m more well-known nowadays for my scifi romances but that’s another story…)

I’ve written a total of seven books in my Gods of Egypt connected series now, which all have the same Pharaoh and his court as the touchstone. But, being me, I can’t write straight historical romance because as soon I start the story, I want the gods to be involved and there to be magic and mystery. So I went with paranormal!

A particularly fascinating thing about ancient Egypt was how long the civilization endured, and how unchanging life was for the most part. Pharaohs came and went, there were invaders and wars, but for the ordinary citizen, life stayed pretty much the same. I started thinking about a lady of the court who’d allowed her own life to become as unchanging and realizes almost too late she’s trapped herself and might be missing out on things that are important to her.

Blurb for Lady of the Nile:

Tuya, a high ranking lady-in-waiting at Pharaoh’s court, lives a life of luxury, pageantry and boredom. Khian, a brave and honorable officer from the provinces temporarily re-assigned to Thebes, catches her eye at a gold of valor ceremony. As the pair are thrown together by circumstances, she finds herself unaccountably attracted to this man so unlike the haughty nobles she’s used to. But a life with Khian would mean leaving the court and giving up all that she’s worked so hard to attain. As she goes about her duties, Tuya struggles with her heart’s desires.

When Tuya is lured into a dangerous part of Thebes by her disgraced half-brother and kidnapped by unknown enemies of Egypt, Khian becomes her only hope. Pharaoh assigns him to bring the lady home.

Aided by the gods, Khian races into the desert on the trail of the elusive kidnappers, hoping to find Tuya before it’s too late. Neither of them has any idea of the dark forces arrayed against them, nor the obstacles to be faced. An ancient evil from the long gone past wants to claim Tuya for its own purposes and won’t relinquish her easily.

Can Khian find her in time? Will he and his uncanny allies be able to prevent her death? And if the couple escapes and reaches safety, what of their fledgling romance?

The excerpt wherein the goddess Mut issues a stark warning about Tuya’s life choices:

She stood on a hill, in the shade of a beautiful palm tree, watching groups of people walk along a path across the river from her. They danced and laughed and kissed and talked amongst themselves, as if going to a wonderful festival or special event. Men and women strolled hand in hand, oblivious to anything but each other. Families traveled in little groups, the babies in adult arms, toddlers and young children skipping and running ahead, only to rejoin their parents.

“How do I get over there?” Shielding her eyes with her hand, she searched for a path leading away from where she stood, or a bridge to cross the river.

“But you positioned yourself here, why do you now want to leave?”

Surprised, Tuya turned to the woman standing beside her whose presence she hadn’t noticed before, being so intent on the parade across the way. She seemed familiar, but no name came to Tuya’s tongue. “I didn’t choose to stand here.”

                “Indeed you did. You worked hard and cleverly to achieve this elevated role. Don’t you remember all the times you chose the path of service over more demanding—and perhaps frightening—opportunities? Opted for the safety of the familiar?”

“I never—”

“You refused numerous offers for your hand, stating you couldn’t leave Ashayet early in her term as Royal Wife, or when she was pregnant or nursing or later as a young mother.”

“I was needed!”

“The Royal Wife has fifty ladies-in-waiting, with dozens more who’d relish the chance for the appointment for a year or two.”

“I also serve the goddess at the temple.”

The woman laughed. “As one of a hundred. Did anyone other than the goddess notice when you stopped singing today? Or started again?”

Feeling a chill, and a bit frightened at her unknown companion’s knowledge, Tuya searched again for a path to the river. A low wall surrounded the spot where she stood, and she got goosebumps when she realized there was no break, no exit. She could step over the rows of nearly laid bricks but fear made her pause.

“Where are they all going?” she asked.

“They travel the road of life,” the woman said. “With all the experiences, good and bad, you’ve chosen to shield yourself from. The highs and the lows of a life lived. Not merely observed, not simply drifted through, like a ship caught in the backwaters of the Nile. You chart a safe course going nowhere except the tomb.”

Buy Links:  Amazon     iBooks     Kobo     B&N     Google

Author Bio:

USA Today Best Selling Author Veronica Scott is the “SciFi Encounters” columnist for the USA Today Happy Ever After blog. She grew up in a house with a library as its heart. Dad loved science fiction, Mom loved ancient history and Veronica thought there needed to be more romance in everything. When she ran out of books to read, she started writing her own stories.

Seven time winner of the SFR Galaxy Award, as well as a National Excellence in Romance Fiction Award, Veronica is also the proud recipient of a NASA Exceptional Service Medal relating to her former day job, not her romances! She  was honored to read the part of Star Trek Crew Member in the audiobook production of Harlan Ellison’s “The City On the Edge of Forever.”

Blog: https://veronicascott.wordpress.com/

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/vscotttheauthor

Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Veronica-Scott/177217415659637?ref=hl

History, Mystery, and Magic by Guest Nancy Northcott

Thank you to the Paranormal Romantics for having me as a guest.  I’m excited to be with you today!

I’ve always loved a good whodunit.  Considering that I devoured every Nancy Drew mystery I could find, that’s not surprising.  So when a classmate (and fellow history major) handed me Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time and said, “You have to read this book,” I was intrigued.

The story is about a Scotland Yard detective who’s laid up in the hospital and becomes interested in the National Portrait Gallery portraits of Richard III and Henry VII.  Studying them and reading other materials friends bring him leads him to conclude that perhaps Richard III was not so very villainous after all. While I wouldn’t recommend character analysis based on a portrait painted long after its subject’s death, the issues raised by the story interested me enough to dig further.

I learned that there was ample evidence to contradict Shakespeare’s villainous Richard III, and the more I read, the more convinced I became that the king deserved at least the benefit of the doubt.  Most of the Shakespearean charges against him are fairly easy to dismiss, but it’s inarguable that his nephews dropped out of history’s pages during their uncle’s reign. What happened to them? 

The Tower of London was a royal residence as well as a prison for nobles charged with serious offenses.  Many people worked there, in the residence, the prison, and the grounds.  Edward IV’s sons had household attendants. If the boys rode out with someone, or suddenly weren’t there anymore, many people would’ve noticed. And yet, no one at the time reported whatever happened.

Naturally, that kind of mystery is appealing to a writer.  It kicked off a round of “what if” that led me to what would happen if a wizard unwittingly used his magic to smuggle the boys’ killers into the Tower and their bodies out, all unseen? How would that wizard feel when he learned what he’d really done?

In my forthcoming Boar King’s Honor Trilogy, which launches with The Herald of Day at the end of this month, the wizard is overcome by guilt and remorse.  He throws himself on the king’s mercy and is ordered, because of the political situation, to keep his secret until the king tells him to speak up.  Only King Richard then rode off to Bosworth Field, where he was killed. Henry VII became king.

Having a weak claim to the throne through a bastard line, Henry sought to smear his predecessor’s reputation to make himself look better.  History, after all, is written by the victors.  And Shakespeare wrote his Richard III during the reign of Henry VII’s granddaughter. 

The wizard, Edmund Mainwaring, dared not speak while the Tudors reigned.  Desperate to atone for his part in the murders of two boys and in the tarring of a good king’s reputation, he swore that neither he nor his descendants would rest in life or death until they could prove the truth about the murders. When they die, they can’t pass through the portal to final judgment but are trapped in a shadowland between the worlds of the living and the dead.

Edmund sought justice, never dreaming that the blood curse would endure for generations. Fast-forward a couple of hundred years, and the Mainwaring living with the curse is Richard, Earl of Hawkstowe, the hero of The Herald of Day.  Having seen what the family curse did to his parents’ marriage, with his mother resenting his father for the burden Richard bore and his father desperate to remove it, he has sworn to be the end of his direct line.  No more of his family will be condemned to the shadowland or go mad because of the Edmund’s vow.

He holds to his resolve until a magical summons brings him together with Miranda Willoughby, a powerful but untrained Seer.  Attraction sparks between them immediately, but she thinks he’s out of her league, and he foresees only tragedy if they act on their feelings.  As history changes and reality shifts because of a powerful wizard’s plan, Richard desperately holds to his course--until a near-disastrous event forces him to realize how much she means to him. 

But how can he bring her into a union that will be doomed by resentment and anger, as his parents’ was?  How can he sire children who’ll share the curse?

I had great fun writing The Herald of Day, digging into the history of the Wars of the Roses and Richard III.  Now I’m enjoying the research for the next book, The Steel Rose, which has a climactic confrontation at the Battle of Waterloo. The final book, The King’s Champion, takes place during the World War II Battle of Britain, between the evacuation of Dunkirk in May 1940 and the start of the Blitz that fall.

I’ve written contemporary paranormal romance, but The Herald of Day is primarily historical fantasy and alternate history.  It does have romantic elements, though, as you can see from what I’ve said above, because I just don’t enjoy writing a story as much if there’s no romance in it.

What about you?  Do you read genres with little or no romance?  Do you have a favorite historical period?  Do you have any questions about Richard III or the Wars of the Roses?

Thanks again for having me!

The Boar King’s Honor Trilogy

A wizard’s fatal mistake

A king wrongly blamed for murder

A bloodline cursed until they clear the king’s name

Book 1: The Herald of Day

In 17th-century England, witchcraft is a hanging offense. Tavern maid Miranda Willoughby hides her magical gifts until terrifying visions compel her to seek the aid of a stranger, Richard Mainwaring, to interpret them. A powerful wizard, he sees her summons as a chance for redemption.  He bears a curse because an ancestor unwittingly helped murder the two royal children known as the Princes in the Tower, and her message uses symbols related to those murders.

Miranda’s visions reveal that someone has altered history, spreading famine, plague, and tyranny across the land. The quest to restore the timeline takes her and Richard from the glittering court of Charles II to a shadowy realm between life and death, where they must battle the most powerful wizard in generations with the fate of all England at stake.

Excerpt from The Herald of Day:

This is from Chapter 1.  Miranda works as a tavern maid and so is selling bread at the hanging of a local woman for witchcraft.  Because of Miranda’s own powers, she knows the woman is innocent, but saying so will only gain her a slot on the gallows.  Desperate to ease the woman’s passing, she wishes she could do something, and then…

Wrenching pain lanced through her head, and the crowd vanished. Purple-gray mists swept around her, swallowing the shouting, hooting voices.

Beneath her feet lay solid shadow, and the nasty odor of rotten eggs pervaded the dank, foggy twilight. Her neck and arms tingled with magic. With cold foreboding.

The fog receded, revealing a white boar--with blue eyes, not small, black, piggy ones--lying on a carpet of deep blue bordered in mulberry. It struggled to rise, its eyes dark with pain and mute appeal that wrenched her heart.

Above it loomed a red dragon bugling in triumph. White and green striations shimmered on the undersides of its spread wings. Blood dripped from its talons and flowed from gouges in the boar’s side. She’d always loved tales of dragons, but this one’s joy stabbed into her with the certainty that the creature was evil.

Summon the boar’s knight, said a voice in her head.

Knight?

As she backed away from the gory tableau, the reeking fog closed around the images. A man’s face flashed into her mind, his strong, stern features framed by a knight’s helm. Clad in gleaming, silver armor, he galloped a black charger through the swirling vapors to confront the dragon.

On his left arm, he bore a shield emblazoned with twin stripes of mulberry and blue down the middle and a white rose backed by the rays of a sunburst in the center. Etched boars and sunburst roses covered his armor.

Beneath straight, dark brows, his blue eyes narrowed as he eyed the dragon and its prey.

If he opposed the dragon, did that mean he was a force for good? Her instincts said yes, but how could she know?

Preorder Links: 

Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Herald-Boar-Kings-Honor-Trilogy-ebook/dp/B01MUUZJVO/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1486520673&sr=1-1&keywords=The+Herald+of+DAy

iBooks: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/the-herald-of-day/id1194266368?mt=11

Bio:

Nancy Northcott’s childhood ambition was to grow up and become Wonder Woman.  Around fourth grade, she realized it was too late to acquire Amazon genes, but she still loved comic books, science fiction, fantasy, history, and romance.

Nancy has written freelance articles and taught at the college level. She has also given presentations on the Wars of the Roses and Richard III to university classes studying Shakespeare’s play about that king.  A sucker for fast action and wrenching emotion, Nancy combines the magic, romance and high stakes she loves in the books she writes.

Reviewers have described her books as melding fantasy, romance, and suspense. Library Journal gave her debut novel, Renegade, a starred review, calling it “genre fiction at its best.”

Nancy’s Social Media links;

www.nancynorthcott.com

Twitter: @NancyNorthcott

Facebook:  https://facebook.com/nancynorthcottauthor

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3468806.Nancy_Northcott